I'm Back

 Hannah and I just got back.

We had a lovely trip, I really enjoyed every day we were away, but I'm happy to be home.

Sam was waiting for us!

I'm exhausted and need to sleep in my own bed! The hotel beds were comfortable, but I love my own bed!

Just a few photos for now, I'll do a few posts about the trip over the next few days!

Mojiko Station

The Kamon Strait

View from the hotel in Mojiko.

I have a load of photos and a few videos.

I hope I'll have some energy to write tomorrow.

One good thing, David cleaned a lot while I was out! That helps a lot.

Getting Ready

 Tomorrow, Hannah and I are going on our little trip, 3 nights, 4 days away.

I'm really looking forward to it. Any chance to get away from this house helps.

I hope that during this time, I can have a chance to figure out some things. 

One of my biggest worries is my income, or lack thereof. David has been putting leaflets for our English school, but no calls at all. I'm trying to have hope that there are people out there who want or need English, but I really don't know. Our main target is elementary school kids, especially since the schools teach English from 3rd grade, but the level of teaching is a bit hit and miss; most teachers don't really speak English and are just reading from a book! But I found out that one of the local elementary schools has closed, as there aren't enough kids to keep it open. A bit worrying!

We will keep the idea of having an English school here open for a while longer. I do enjoy teaching; I've been doing it for 35 years. 

I would love to make some money from my blogs, this one and my cat blog (81 Lives......Another Cat Blog). The cat blog needs some work done on it! I was thinking of selling some merch. One lady, who has a lovely YouTube channel, has T-shirts, hoodies and tote bags with her motto on, in English and Japanese, "Life is a Journey". I asked AI what a good motto would be for this blog. It came up with a few interesting ones. The one that stuck out was "I came for the culture, I stayed for the snacks". Not the sentiment I was looking for.

I hope that while I'm away from here, I can look at things more objectively and find a few new ideas to make money. Being away from the daily distractions of a messy house, messy garden and noisy cats might help me a bit! Having Hannah with me will give me somebody to bounce ideas off.

I digress. This afternoon we have to pack a suitcase, that should be easy, maybe. Last time we went to England I packed the suitcase that Christopher, Hannah and I were using 3 or 4 times. I kept chaning my mind about what we needed! Let's hope we don't have that problem today, I don't have the energy for it!

I'm really looking forward to this trip but at the same time I'm a bit nervous as it's going to be a lot of walking. I told Hannah I can walk but it has to be slow, a stroll not speed walking!

I'll post when I get back unless I can figure out how to use Hannah's iPad to post on.

Hannah's suitcase

Not too big, I hope big enough for both of us. I have one that is a bit bigger but I don't want to struggle on the trains and buses!

Storage Wars

No, I'm not trying to buy somebody else's storage unit; that isn't allowed in Japan because of privacy laws. No, this is my fight with my storage room.

Next week, Hannah and I are going on a little trip, so I wanted to find one of the suitcases we have. I glimpsed one when I was upstairs the other week. I thought it would be easy to find it. But between me seeing it and today, things have been moved around a lot!

The other week, David and Mikey bought the old chest of drawers down for me. I wrote about that here, Jackie's Japan Journal: A New Chest Of Drawers. To get to the chest of drawers, they had to move a lot of boxes. They just randomly stacked them, with smaller boxes on the bottom (why?). The suitcase was in that general area!

Hannah and I spent a good 20 minutes moving boxes. sweeping up the trash on the floor and trying to organise one little corner. I found the suitcase, but we aren't sure we are going to use it as it's a bit bigger than I thought and might be difficult to lift on and off trains and buses. Hannah's suitcase might be big enough; we will see.

While I was moving some of these boxes, I found some of my old clothes, still looking new. A few tops and a pair of trousers. I decided to bring them down as they might fit, or at least be close to fit, another incentive to lose some weight. I know I said yesterday that I wanted to get things out of my bedroom, but I do need a few new tops for summer. If these fit, I can save a bit of money; if they don't, I can throw them away.

Another thing Hannah and I did this afternoon was to edit a few older videos together. Actually, Hannah edited it, and I watched, trying to learn how to do editing.

I never intended to start a YouTube channel, but I can't upload videos from my computer to this blog any other way. There is probably a way, but this was the easiest choice for me.

Here is the video Hannah made. It's very good for a first try!

I really like how she put the text on. I tried to do it, but got frustrated with the process. 

Hannah Is Back

 Hannah came home this afternoon for a few days. It's nice having her here, but of course, I had to clean my room.

I do this every time she comes home. I clean my room, make space for her futon, and vow to keep it clean, which lasts for a week or so.

As I was cleaning today, I'm trying to identify where I'm going wrong with this cleaning business. I'm in my 60s, I have had my own place for 40 years, surely by now I should know how to keep house, it's not rocket science, is it?

One thing that I've noticed is that I focus my cleaning on the areas that everyone uses. The kitchen/dining area, the bathroom and toilet, the corridor and the entrance are the areas I clean a lot. I'm also spending a lot of time trying to get the tatami room to look nice, as I'm still hoping to get students, and that is the room I will have to use.

My room is always the last place to clean. I think I have too much stuff in my room. The TV is in here as I'm the only one who watches it, and there's no living room. My desk and a lot of books are in here as well. I actually spend most of my days in here, which is rather depressing.

At the moment, we don't have money to change anything in this house, and whatever money we get, the first things that need to be done are the water areas, kitchen, bathroom and toilet. Once that is done, I'm hoping to build an extension onto the dining room and have a small living area. 

It's a dream! 

What can I do now to make things easier and better for me? This is what I've been thinking about today. Dreams are great, but the reality is that the money just isn't there, and even small jobs cost an arm and a leg. 

One thing I'm planning to do after my trip is to sort out this big cupboard; there is too much stuff in there. Do I need ot keep everything in there? I have two big plastic drawers of off-season clothes. I think I'll buy some plastic boxes that are insect-proof and then store the clothes in the storage place. I have another big drawer of sentimental things; I don't know what to do with that. I don't need them nearby, but there is some comfort in knowing they are near. I've already put some things in the storage area. Can I let the rest go there as well? It's just next door, but I worry about the conditions in there, hot and humid in the summer, with lots of critters running around the place, but this house is about the same.

Time to think about these things.

Just a video of Fred looking out the window.

Mojiko And Shimonoseki

 Next week, Hannah and I are taking a little trip to Mojiko and Shimonoseki. These are two historical port towns on the Kanmon Strait.

Mojiko is on the island of Kyushu; Shimonoseki is on the island of Honshu. They sit face to face; the waterway is so narrow that there is an underwater tunnel that you can walk through. We are going to do that, I'm not going to think about earthquakes!

A lot of the history in this area is from the Meiji Era, 1868 to 1912. This was a time when Japan was opening to the world. Mojiko became an international trading port and later a major railhead connecting Kyushu with the rest of Japan. There are a lot of lovely buildings from this period that have been preserved as part of the Mojiko Retro district. There are a few different museums to walk around. The Mojiko Station is also an older building. It looks really beautiful, I hope I can get some good photos.

I asked AI what is good to do the first thing that came up was to try Yaki -Curry. It is a baked curry dish that originated in Mojiko. Hannah isn't keen on curry but will try it. I hope the weather is good so we can have a little stroll along the waterfront.

After walking under the sea, still not sure about that idea, we'll have a couple of days in Shimonoseki. 

Shimonoseki is known for its maritime heritage, fresh seafood and historic sites.

The one place I'm looking forward to seeing is the Former British Consulate. It's an older building that is now a museum. We have booked an afternoon tea, that's one thing I'm really looking forward to. 

I haven't had an overnight trip in many years. I'm actually looking forward to staying in a hotel!

I really hope the weather is nice, the cherry blossoms might have started, that would be really nice.

The weather here has been crazy, but typical spring weather. Cold, the warm, then cold again. We even had rain yesterday. My student, who is a farmer, was very relieved by the storm. I like rain, but not when I have to go out. Visibility was very bad along the river. I took a couple of short videos!

Even though I'm not driving, this kind of weather makes me tense!

Blood Pressure Meds

Last week, I got really hit by the side effects of the new blood pressure medicine I was prescribed.

I managed to get them changed to a lower dosage, but that hasn't really helped; I'm still very sleepy, dizzy, and unfocused, though not as intense as last week.

I want to go back to the hospital, but the only time I have is on Friday, which is a national holiday. So I've decided to stop taking the medicine for now and track my blood pressure. I know talking to my doctor is best, but I just don't have time. I also know that if I can get some exercise in and eat better, then I should be able to deal with this problem naturally! A good friend of mine managed to do that, even in a very stressful job!

High blood pressure worries me because it was the underlying cause of Hisao's early death. He'd had high blood pressure most of his adult life, but never got treated for it. Except for the occasional severe headache, he wasn't sick; it really is a silent killer. We didn't know how bad it was until he went into heart and kidney failure. His heart had weakened so much that it could pump blood effectively. He ended up with fluid around the heart and kidney failure. This was 3 years before he passed away.

When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, I went into full panic mode. All I could think about was that was what killed Hisao, I didn't think about dealing with it naturally, or what I could do myself, I just accepted the medicine. Now, I want to take responsibility for my health and address this problem more naturally.

I think it's all part of being more consistent. 

I was talking to Hannah about being consistent, she said that I was very consistent in writing this blog, so what is the difference between that and exercising, eating right or cleaning? I realised that I enjoy writing, I love the challenge of finding something to write about and then crafting a good post. I don't enjoy exercise, not being able to eat what I consider nice, comfort foods (bread, sweets, etc.), and I hate cleaning. 

But I'm going to have to change that. I have to enjoy exercise to get in enough in a week, about 150 minutes a week. I need to challenge myself to find healthy ideas for meals and snacks, and embrace low-sugar ideas. Cleaning is going to be the most challenging! Maybe listen to something while I'm doing it. Any ideas?

Just a few photos of my daft cats! These animals raise my blood pressure sometimes, especially when they are fighting. But at the same time, having a cat on my lap, purring away, helps my blood pressure come down!

Fluffy found the best place, in front of the heater.

Being Consistent

 I'm on a couple of Facebook groups for diet and weight loss.

I'm amazed and inspired by some of the stories I read. Some people start out at really heavy weights, some are over 500lbs (226 kgs), almost bed-bound, some house-bound, but they consistently work at losing weight; it might take years, but they get there. No private trainers, no fancy foods, just working at it every day. One lady I read about said that she struggled to walk down her drive, but she did it every day. Once she could do that, she added two more steps, then two more until she could manage a mile. Small things done everyday bought big changes for her.

I know my problem is being consistent. I try something for a while, but then I just stop. In Japanese, they say mikka bozu, 三日坊主, literally a 3-day monk. The saying comes from the fact that to become a Buddhist Monk takes a lot of discipline and hard work; most give up after a few days!

I realised this morning that my inconsistency rules my life. I start things, diet, exercise, study, even cleaning, but don't keep at them. 

I have my reasons; the exercise was too hard, the diet too boring, the study too hard and cleaning, who wants to do that?

But are they reasons or just excuses to keep the status quo? 

But I'm not really happy with the status quo; I want to change. I have to lose weight, I need to get off the high blood pressure meds as they don't suit me at all. Even the lower dosage makes me sleepy! I want to be able to walk more when I go out with Hannah. I would love to buy clothes from a store, not just online! 

I have enough reasons and some motivation, but keeping on is so hard.

One thing I've thought about is scheduling my life more. Make a schedule to exercise and study, make a reward schedule for sticking to my diet, maybe buy myself something little to keep on or treat myself to some nice tea or fruits. Make a cleaning schedule for the house and garden so I don't keep thinking "I'll do it tomorrow" As my Mom always said, tomorrow never comes.

I have my to-do lists, but they are vague time-wise. Today I have a chance to go to the 100 yen shop, I'll see if they have some schedule books. If I find something, I'll post it here.

I'm getting too old to be constantly failing at everything!  I need to turn things around now!

Just a couple of photos of the lovely flowers in the garden!

Lovely colour

And nosey cats!