preparing for winter

炬燵

こたつ

kotatsu

small table with an electric heating element on the underside

It's been a long, long time since I've had the full autumn experience—mourning the waning daylight, feeling the brisk chill in the air, and most of all, watching the color-shifting landscape. The cold has been rapidly approaching since the end of October, and with it, a rapid change in the temperature in my apartment. I suppose the nostalgia of the autumn seasons of my youth are keeping me afloat at the moment, but there's no doubt that the thought of winter, when the temperature isn't likely to climb much above freezing, has me a bit worried. Fortunately, I'm no longer living on a Peace Corps salary and I can actually afford to make my life a bit more comfortable. In this entry, I'm going to introduce some of the things that will hopefully get me through the harsh winter of Japan.

another adventure, another blog

Rather than figuring out the far more important "what I need to pack", I set up a new blog so I can write a complete nonsense post. Now this feels vaguely familiar...

My flight into Narita International leaves in little more than a week, and I haven't even begun to consider what's going into my bags (maybe just bag?) yet. I suppose this is a sign that packing for a long trip has become something of a challenge for me. A challenge to see how much time I can spend doing other things before all the pent-up nervous energy forces me to take action. Sort of like playing chicken with the departure date. Unfortunately, I don't anticipate Time swerving out of the way at the last second to protect me from being unprepared. I hope something happens soon because I'm supposedly responsible for buying gifts for all my new friends. Note to self: shop for gifts.