Not a Golden Week Update

Sorry, I still haven't had time to sit down and a) sort through my photos; or b) write anything about my various travels throughout Golden Week.

This is just a quick note to say that I purchased a table and four chairs, plus a computer desk (I didn't realize it came with a roll-y chair too!) from a recycle shop today! Including delivery, it cost me 256,000, which is pretty good, I think. (Having never purchased such furniture before, I can't be sure.)

The funny thing is even though I spent a lot of time measuring various things in my new apartment, the one thing I forgot to measure was the door width! When the delivery guys came, it turned out that the kitchen table wouldn't fit through the door! Luckily I'm on the ground floor and have a big set of windows/sliding doors facing the parking lot, so we were able to get it in that way.

I wonder, though, if I'm going to have to move everything--the sofas I'm planning on buying, the washer/dryer, fridge, etc.--through the window, since the door is ridiculously narrow: 70cm!

Oh well. I'm sure it will all work out somehow!

Tokyo, Singapore & Malaysia (The Short Version)

Tokyo: Walked a lot, shopped a lot, and had a lot of fun! The Ghibli Museum was AMAZING! If I lived closer, I would go there at least once a month!

Singapore: Scorching hot & humid. Did a lot of shopping, mostly books and (English subtitled) Japanese TV series.

Malaysia: Visited a lot of relatives. Ate WAY too much. Did a lot of shopping, mostly books and (English subtitled) Japanese TV series.

Summary: Am very tired and have a lot of laundry and "stuff" sorting to do! Will write more when I have recovered.

Playing House

It's official: I'm moving into an apartment in May! I haven't actually signed the rental agreement yet, but I informed my office today of my intent to move.

The timing is pretty bad--I just wiped out my account paying for my Golden Week trip(s) to Tokyo and Singapore--but I'm nonetheless very excited to be setting up my own place! True I've been living on my own for the past eight and a half months, but since the house came pre-furnished, it's not like I got to decorate it myself (although, of course, I did add my own touches).

So yeah, even though my original plan was to come straight home today to do laundry--my whites and towels in preparation for my parents and friends' visit--I ended up going to a bunch of stores to check prices on appliances for my apartment.

It's hard, though, because I have to remind myself that this is NOT my permanent home, so I should err on the side of frugality when buying things for the apartment. I need to purchase things thinking about what will give me good value for one or two years of use, but also looking for durability for up to four years.

The area I find this the most difficult is washer/dryers. Since I've been spoiled having a dryer in my house now, I decided that I'm going to buy a washer/dryer combo, even though there's a washer in storage that I could use. There are quite a few in the low 20,000 yen to 70,000 yen range (plus I found one at the recycle shop for 17,850 yen), but what I really want is one of the newer, front-loading models.

K's Denki has one on sale until Friday priced at 120,000 yen, and the regular price for an older model is between 130,000-170,000. ^^;; Considering that I'm just barely going to be able to make my initial payment (including first month's rent, brokerage fees, damage deposit, key money, etc.) of 204,000 yen, it's pretty silly for me to be looking at such high end washer/dryers (particularly since the 9kg capacity is far more than I need), but I'm still tempted. I guess it's because my dream has always been to have a front-loading washer and dryer (they're more water-efficient). But really, it would only be worth it if I ended up staying the full 5 years (meaning I'd get 4.25 years use out of it). And I think it might be hard to find someone to sell it to when I do leave, since I wouldn't want to sell it at a dirt-cheap price to an ALT.

Besides, I haven't even begun pricing essentials--like a bed--yet! I do have the couch I got from Weldon & Crystal which I can use first (I'm sleeping on it instead of my bed right now anyway), but it probably makes more sense to buy a decent bed rather than a super expensive washer/dryer...

Maybe if I end up getting a tax return (which I would keep as savings), I could assuage my guilt at using my paycheque to furnish my apartment rather than putting it into savings?

Anyway, if things go according to plan, I'll be able to sign the rental agreement on Apr. 21st. I'll request a May move-in date so I can start moving my stuff, but I'll stay at the house until the end of May (rent's cheap here anyway!) and schedule all of my bills and utilities to change over on Jun. 1st.

I'm a little worried, though, because I don't know what questions, if any, I should be asking when I go to sign the agreement. I guess I can ask my supervisor to come with me, but she's so busy getting into things at the office, I'd feel bad... Well, I guess I can ask her about it when I'm in the office on Friday and see what she thinks. I mean, doing this kind of thing is part of a supervisor's job...

But yeah, I hope everything works out!! ^_^

Lucky Number Seven?

I suspect that I have come down with bronchitis for the SEVENTH time in my life. *sigh*

The first time I had it was in high school, grade 10. I had a dry cough for over two weeks (and endured many "Melissa, you really have to stop smoking" jokes from Mr. Sawicki) before I finally went to a doctor. I got it again the next year.

My lungs took a break for a year before I got it again in the winter vacation of first year university. I got it once more in university (in third year, I think? maybe fourth year).

Then I hit the bronchitis jackpot and got it twice within one (school) year--once in November (a particularly nasty bout that was a double punch of bronchitis-laryngitis) and then again in May (when my parents were on vacation and weren't home to take care of me =/ ).

There was a time in November when I was worried that I might get it, but it ended up being just a minor cold (it went away after about two days).

This time, though, all my past experience is telling me that I've got bronchitis yet again. Monday night I developed a sore throat and the next morning I had sinus congestion and a dry cough. The cough has gotten worse and I'm coughing up a storm as I type. Wednesday night I felt slightly feverish and this (Saturday) afternoon I'm pretty sure I had a mild fever.

So yeah, everything is pointing to bronchitis.

I kind of wonder though, if it might be somewhat psychosomatic? I mean, every time I have a sore throat and a bit of a dry cough, I wonder "Could this be the onset of bronchitis?" Maybe my body gets tired of my mental breath-holding and says: "What? You want bronchitis? I'll give you bronchitis!"??

Otherwise I really don't know how to explain getting bronchitis (probably) seven times in ten years. I don't get it often enough for it to be chronic bronchitis (I think), but I get it frequently enough to wonder...

*sigh* Anyway, it's a good thing I brought lots of Ricola (for dry coughs and for sore throats) as well a bottle of Benylin with me in October. I've got a bunch of end of (the school) year enkai's right now, so I don't want to worry people by wearing a face mask or by coughing a lot.

Even though I was coughing pretty much all day today, thanks to the Benylin and Ricola I managed to not cough for nearly the entire length of the Kirita PTA enkai and nijikai (second party). I started coughing a bit towards the end of my time at the nijikai (being in a smoky room and being asked to sing karaoke probably did the trick), but it wasn't bad enough to make people seriously worry.

But yeah, if it gets really bad I may need to ask my supervisor to take me to a doctor so I can get a couple of days of sick leave.