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That starts me thinking: what do people think about me based on my job? What does it say about my personality or qualities?
don’t have the same kind of burning desire like I used to when all I wanted was to escape to Tokyo, and I don’t feel excited any more about achieving a goal. That all fizzled away, like froth.
Living a life with no dreams or ambitions, getting old and wrinkled inside my coral-pink blouse.
I mean, I don’t even know myself what kind of job I want to do.
All the time I’ve been lazing around in my apartment doing nothing, not far away these two have been getting on with stuff—learning things!
“You managed to find employment, you go to work every day and you can feed yourself. That’s a fine achievement.”
But the anger overrides everything and my mind is a blank—for the life of me, I can’t think of an appropriate response.
“In a world where you don’t know what will happen next, I just do what I can right now.”
In my mind it always seems like a huge task to do cleaning, but when I actually get down to it, the small one-room apartment
will not give up. I can learn how to do this thing.
What I do know is that there’s no need to panic, or do more than I can cope with right now. For the time being, I plan to simply get my life in order and learn some new skills, choosing from what’s available. I’ll prepare myself, like Guri and Gura gathering chestnuts in the forest. Because I never know when I might find my own giant egg.
I have a hard time knowing how to deal with people.
But I know that no matter where I work, the stress of human relations is not something I can easily escape.
What are you looking for? she had asked me. I think about it. A place for these dreams that I don’t know what to do with?
The days go by more happily when you have something to dream about. It’s not always a bad thing to have a dream, with no plan for ever carrying it out.”
Anyone have one of these dreams? For me I have so many lives that I find fascinating and would love to live except knowing myself I wouldn’t actually like it as I am. Like a part of me what’s always wanted to learn how to surf and work at a surf shop on a beach somewhere…go WOOFING around the world… but I know why I can’t be a surfer and api can’t be a woofer. Backpack in Europe. Also related to jobs of. Like being an entomologist
out a hand like a lightly squashed cream bun.
“Cats, books and beer: surrounded
“You haven’t changed a bit, Ryo. Still as jumpy as ever.” The comment stings, but nostalgia wins out. It’s coming back to me now—he was always like this.
“Honestly, what’s the fuss? Moaning about a measly ten yen won’t do you any favors with girls.”
Will I have to put up with this kind of thing until I retire? Unhappily biding my time in an office doing a job that doesn’t excite me? And on top of everything, come home and not be able to stop thinking about work?
There is never any escape from the petty frictions and irritations of dealing with other people, and having to come down on them about squaring the accounts and books. I might as well be at work right now. My job controls me. A job I don’t want to be doing.
Both are main. My mind jumps to the article about parallel careers where each job is complementary, neither is secondary. That’s what Yasuhara had said.
It feels good to be sitting here drinking coffee and watching cats, surrounded by books.
“Everybody is connected. And any one of their connections could be the start of a network that branches in many directions. If you wait for the right time to make connections, it might never happen, but if you show your face around, talk to people and see enough to give you the confidence that things could work out, then ‘one day’ might turn into ‘tomorrow.’”
I say, repeating what I’d already said that morning. My limited range of self-expression is disappointing.
So when I’m working on a piece of sea glass and think about it passing through my hands on a long, long journey in time and space to the person it’s meant to be with, well, that just makes me feel super happy.”
“If it fails? Is that not allowed?” Hina demands. Oh. My thoughts do a swift about-turn. With astonishment, I realize that it is allowed.
All roads lead to the police.
There are so many things to do, but I won’t make the excuse that I have no time anymore. Instead, I will think about what I can do with the time I have. One day is going to become tomorrow.
entitled to fourteen months of maternity leave.
I had far less freedom than I expected and found it difficult to make plans. It pains
What I find most trying is looking forward to sharing the housework and childcare at the weekend, but ending up having to do it all myself.
It’s a lot of effort at the start of the week, but when I mentioned this to Shuji, he merely said, “Oh, is that so.” Recalling the conversation filled me with annoyance all over again.
Yet another of my weekend chores, one of the many small fiddly tasks that eat up more time than one would expect.
from a child’s perspective. Children don’t have the prejudices that adults do about insects we usually regard as pests.”
What am I looking for? I could give many answers: my future path in life, a way of releasing my frustrations,
blessings and think to myself, ‘Now, wasn’t that worth all the effort of being born?’”
If you can survive the ordeal of being born, you can get through anything.”
menstrual cycle and the lunar cycle are in
“Why is it always the women?”
“Why am I always the one who takes Futaba to daycare and picks her up, and has to make dinner, not knowing if you’re going to be there to eat it
The only reason I didn’t throw a mug was because I would have to clean up the mess if it broke.