tamyu.net

After a lot of talking with my husband and thinking, we decided to not enroll Motoki in the athletics club. As sad as it is to say, it ends up boiling down to money. Not that we can`t afford it (it is outrageous… But that`s not the issue) – but rather that it would be a total waste to have him join it now.
The school year ends in the middle of March. For the last few weeks there are various events… The only advantage to joining now is that we would only have to pay half the regular entrance fee… A discount of 3000yen. And in return, we`d pay 2 months worth of class fees (a total of 12000yen) for two classes. In my eyes, a complete waste. I`d much rather pay the regular entrance fee and start at a point where there are a normal number of classes each month.
Motoki was disappointed, but that is life. We will consider joining again in April.

I doubt there is anyone out there who cares about this as much as we do, but more fun car info after the break!
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Last June, we decided we wanted a new car. While we love and adore our car, it`s getting old (by Japanese standards). And, just about that time our air conditioning pump developed a problem. All repaired under warranty, but we figured that it was as good a time as ever. Our car`s shaken expires in March, so it seemed a good idea to buy a car before we would have to pay those fees again. On July 1st, we put in an order for the 2010 Prius.

I have never bought a car in the US – but I understand that the whole purchase process is quite a bit different there. (Please correct me if I`m wrong…) Apparently you go to a lot and look at the available cars, usually choosing one of the many on the lot or ask the dealer to have one delivered from another lot somewhere. If you`re unlucky, you may have to wait a bit until another shipment comes in and the model/color you want is available.
In Japan, when you order your car – they make the car for you. You choose your options, your color, etc – and they actually send an order to the factory. Dealers only have display models, nothing you can drive home. Normally this doesn`t take all that much time. When we ordered our current car, it was made and at the dealer to pick up in a week or two. However, when there are a lot of orders you have to wait your turn. You get your car pretty much as soon as it is made, but there is still a wait.
With the 2010 Prius, the number of orders was (and still is) much higher than the actual manufacturing speed. We placed our order on July 1st, and have finally received news that it will begin on the production line the 17th. The car will be delivered to the dealer the week of the 25th, and we will be able to pick it up on the 27th or 28th. We will have been waiting for 8 months.

The dreaded business trip was finalized and my husband left yesterday. It is only supposed to be for a month or two… But that`s exactly how last year`s 6 month trip started. I can`t say I have high hopes this time around either.  Back to being a pretend single mother…

Ever since having Motoki, I`ve suffered from regular migraines. I had the occasional one here and there back before getting pregnant, but it was really a rarity and usually followed a serious lack of sleep or heavy pressure. Now it`s a pretty regular monthly occurrence.

Today was migraine day. I knew from last night before going to bed that it would be – I can just tell that I`m going waste the following day due to head pain. Excedrin sometimes helps, sometimes not. But it could be much worse – I`m still functional… Just in enough pain that I feel nauseous. (Although I can`t say that I`d actually want to do anything that requires me to test that.) The migraine just finished it`s course about 30 minutes ago.

One interesting thing I have noticed about my migraines is that once they are over, there is an extended period of near euphoria. I used to think this was just my body and mind rejoicing over the sheer lack of pain – but apparently it`s a common feature of migraines. So in return for suffering through around 24 hours of agony, my body gives me the closest thing I can imagine to being “high”. (I don`t have any drug usage experience to make a true comparison to. Which is a good thing, I think.) Right now I`m sort of enveloped in a floaty cloud of relief that it`s over, and incredibly tired from the whole thing. But it would be hard to call it an unpleasant sensation.

Yesterday was our anniversary. Thank you to all who wished us the best both here and elsewhere.
But once the day passed, life resumed as normal – and the business trip joy kicked in. The above photo was taken at 6 something, just after dropping my husband off for a trip to Tokyo for business. Today will be filled with lots of crossing fingers and hoping that they`ll let him make it home tonight and that he won`t be stuck there for days.
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This week, on the 24th, is my 9th wedding anniversary. We`ll finally be hopping into our 10th year of marriage. It`s already been 10 years since we first met.
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2010 has made me give a lot of things thought.
Inevitably – “Where I am” versus “Where I wanted to be” versus “Where I want to be”.

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How many people actually still check here? I imagine 99% of the readers I had before have either moved on… Or are not particularly interested in things other than Motoki.
If anyone is still around – please, comment so I know I`m not just speaking to close to thin air.

If virtually no one is around, I suppose I`ll have to look into contacting people to let them know I`m still alive and have started blogging again.

And here we are to delve into the mundane.
I said I didn`t particularly want to delve into the pointless when it came to Motoki – but the rest of my life is open.

Most recently, we have moved Motoki into his own room. That is material for another post of it`s own… But the move sparked a number of small household improvements outside of that corner of the house. I suppose making a room into a bedroom sort of puts you in the mood to do all those little improvement projects that build up over the years.

Today, we tackled the laundry room curtains.

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I was never one for the mommy blog stint. I am not a sappy sentimental mother.
I think that is the main reason that I sort of dropped out of blogging. Back when we had medical issues at every turn, back when it was something amazing to just be able to say my son was alive… That`s when there were things to post about. But after a certain point – while I can`t say things reached perfect – there really wasn`t anything to post about on a daily basis. Or even a weekly basis. Sometimes not even on a monthly basis. At least, not if I didn`t want to delve into the mundane.
But I still like to write. Just not doting motherly things – that simply isn`t who I am.

So finally, finally, after a year of procrastination filled with lots of time consuming events… I have gotten around to freeing myself from the confines of a blog named after my son. Hopefully things will me much more fun this way.