As I sit here munching on junk food, I am also writing my post about a workout routine. You see, Rainman has been talking about starting the P90X exercise routine for a few weeks now. That’s cool and all, but he wants me to go through the 90-day program with him.

Say wha?!

After reading through some of the literature, I can understand why. It’s intense with a strict diet and workout schedule to adhere to. Every day. For 90 days. Once he gets all the equipment and things needed for the program, I guess he’ll begin. Or should I say, we’ll begin it. I’m not opposed to exercise. I took a weight training class in college one semester, I’ve done tae kwon do, yoga and more. But this looks to be more than just exercise. It’s more like a lifestyle change. And there are some things I just don’t want to change.

Then again, it would be nice to have some pants fit without feeling like a struggle. I have put on weight since coming back from Japan, so maybe this’ll be good for me.

Here in the Austin area of Texas, it’s been freezing the past day or so. Literally. The temperature as I write is 21 degrees Fahrenheit. For those of you in the rest of the world, that’s -6 degrees Celsius. Now, to people up north, it’s really not that bad, not when they have temperatures of below 0 F. I offer up the follow explanation, but not defense, for what drivers in Texas are so awful during winter weather:

1. Have you seen them try to drive in the rain? It’s bad. Now change it to a different form of precipitation, say, snow. It’s rare down here, so you have drivers paying more attention to the snow than the road.
2. The ground here usually stays warm, so when that snow hits, it melts, but the wind comes over and turns it into ice. Thin layers of ice we call black ice. That’s part of why people here can’t drive during winter: we can’t see the ice on the road.

What does this all mean? Perfect weather for job hunting! Well, except for when I have to venture out to the temp agency next week to see if I can find some work. As long as it gets me on my way to paying off a few bills and saving up money, I’m down with that. Of course, if I could get hired on directly with a company to have benefits, that’d be even better.

When I spoke with my mom about my idea, she kept asking, “OK, but once you’re in Japan and you learn more Japanese, then what?” I replied by telling her that I wanted to work in Japan, and she kept asking, “Doing what? What will you do in Japan?” At the time, I didn’t have the best answer really. Now, I think I’d like to stay in the publication design field or try to get into localization/translation.

Since coming back from Japan I feel happier than I’ve ever been. Rainman can testify to this, as he’ll watch me burst into fits of laughter when I enjoy some of life’s simple pleasures. Or maybe I’m just being silly, I don’t know. What I do know is that in the four months I’ve been back, I’ve been in a bit of a funk.

Have you ever anticipated something for a while, and then when it happens it’s totally and completely amazing? How about that feeling afterward. Not immediately afterward where you still have that high, but maybe a few hours, days or even weeks after. For me, it’s a bit somber.

I’d looked forward to visiting Japan for about 16 or 17 years. I finally visited in 2007 for one week, and the experience blew away all my expectations. I knew I had to find a way to live over there. And live over there I did. But after 7 months, I returned, not because I didn’t love Japan, but because I wasn’t doing anything I felt was fulfilling to myself. I had no passion in what I was doing. My desire to be in Japan hasn’t left me though. Continue reading My to-do list →

It’s probably been about a year since I baked any bread, but this dry spell will ended in a few days. I have been asked to baked some rolls for Rainman, family and friends for Thanksgiving. I’m excited, though I do wonder how well my bread recipe will work when used for dinner rolls. I hope they’ll be OK.

Baking is a strange thing for me. I can be rather impatient with various things in life, so it’s a little odd I enjoy baking so. I only do my bread from scratch, and entirely by hand. I’ve never used a bread maker in my life, and if asked to make bread with one I would have no clue how to do it.

The feel of dry flour on my hands sends shivers down my spines and instantly makes my skin perk up with goosebumps. Even the mere thought of it now as I type this makes my skin crawl. But once it starts to form into dough, the fun begins. I can knead. I find the act of kneading bread to be relaxing. Almost therapeutic. I can be very rough, or as gentle as I want, and the dough is forgiving for the most part. The 6 – 8 minutes of kneading.

The first time I really had a thought of trying to make bread on my own was after watching a few episodes of an anime called Yakitate!! Japan. It’s one of those anime with crazy battles, but instead of physical altercations, the encounters happen in a kitchen where the best bread wins. It was a fun show (albeit it with a crap ending, in my opinion) that sparked my interest in the baking arts.