Be Prepared

After two years of living 15 minutes from classes/campus, I’d gotten out of the habit of making sure that I have everything I needed. What did it matter if I accidentally left my cellphone on my desk? At the most, I’d only be separated from it for as long as it took me to realize it and walk back from the science building.

In Japan, of course, ‘home’ is a fifty-minute (or more) commute and I’ve taken to making sure that I carry almost everything I could possibly want during the day.

Ha. Add my laptop to this and picture my back in fifty years time. From the back, left to right: blue binder for handouts (of which they are many), baby squirrel folder for Translation, red Translation workbook (may it die horribly), The Backpack itself, kitten folder for Japanese class, knitting bag, raincoat-inna-bag, purse with American wallet and spare pen, ibuprofen, Nintendo DS with kanji dictionary cartridge, name card for class, pencil bag, second wallet with passport and other important bits, as well as the bulk of my cash (muggers, take note), head scarf for windy days, coin purse, sunglasses, notebook for noting new vocabulary, notebook for keeping track of expenses (usually snacks), fan for days when the air conditioner isn’t reaching your desk, enevelope with various maps (North Ward, Nagoya, Japan), folder with pending part-time job paperwork, planner/schedule book, Japanese textbook, notebook for random scribblings, notebook for Japanese, and kanji practice book.

All of this is occasionally augmented by the aforementioned laptop, my journal and/or sketchbook, camera, iPod, umbrella, and recent shopping acquisitions.

Anyways. I was loading my recent pictures onto the computer and came upon this:

Okaaaay. Nice, tree-lined street? Could be anywhere in my neighborhood and there was nothing particularly interesting that caught my eye. Then I clicked to the next picture.

Oh. Right. This was the photographic evidence of my walking past the sign for the inn that my dad hopes to stay at in November. Five times. Though, as you can see from the first picture, it didn’t exactly jump out at me.

Finally, a request. Do any of you guys have any things that you want me to write in particular? Any topics or questions that spring to mind. I’m definitely okay with doing an occasional (or one-off) ‘Reader’s Questions’ post. Please leave a comment, or e-mail me with your suggestions.