The new me

I haven't been blogging much lately. I have been going crazy instead. No one wants to read about that, how does the saying go? When you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. Here is my humble attempt to find something nice to say in the mist of the chaos in my head.

We had the movers come to the house today for an inspection. We have our date for picking up the "big" shipment confirmed for January 22nd. It will take 60-70 days for our stuff to get to Mississippi and so it should arrive before or shortly after we do. We will have a second, "small" shipment right before we leave and those items won't get to Mississippi until a couple of months after we do. This gives me about two weeks to sort through everything we own. Give away what we no longer need. Separate "big" shipment items from "small" shipment items and of course the items we will be carrying on our back from here to there. I love going through the closets, it is a time for seeing all the things that I keep because they are so special, but put away because they have no function. Pictures, mementos from trips, pressed flowers, old journals, letters, baby books, the memories are wonderful. Too bad I am finishing up two classes and have papers, computer programs, final exams, all happening now when I need to be sorting through all the stuff.

I have found that keeping busy is helpful. (Not really, but I am trying to stay positive) Jeff is doing a scavenger hunt this weekend. He went snow shoeing last weekend. He is going to Tokyo with Mandy next week to see Sumo wrestlers. He is really getting the most out of his final months in Japan. Yippee for him. He is lucky that he is so handsome and sweet or I might accidentally poke him in the eye while he is peacefully sleeping.

I am really looking forward to my trip to America. To getting away from all those people I adore. We made a mistake on the dates and didn't catch it until too late and now instead of going for a week I am going for almost two weeks, darn! Jeff's boss's boss has invited me to stay in her guest room, for free, and our realtor will be driving me around, no car rental, and that is saving us about $1000. Which is nice because traveling from here to there is very expensive, even at this time of year with all the discounts, there are still all the trains and buses to consider just getting from my house to the main airport of Japan. It is all paid for and the tickets are due to arrive here soon, yeah!

I am so excited to be looking through houses and finding just the right one for the next 5 or 6 years, or maybe more you never know.

Every time I move I feel like I am leaving behind all the things I don't like about myself. Starting over with a clean slate in a new place. With every move I actually do redefine myself a bit, some of my bad habits rear their ugly head, but I have grown so much and learned so much with every move. I enjoy coming to a new place and making new friends and being the new me.

When I moved to Japan I wanted to share all my experiences from traveling around the world with people. I thought my pictures and stories were so very interesting. I thought that it was important to invite people into my home when they first move here and show them everything I have learned about Japan. But, I was instead just a big fat know it all. Here I learned to only give advice when asked. People like to figure it out on their own. It is a subservient position to have to listen to someone else tell you how it is and people don't really like that. So with this move I am going to work on being a good friend. I am working on being the type of person who listens more than speaks. The type of person who makes others feel special and therefore others want to be around. This is a complete and total change from the know it all person I have always been. It will be interesting. Let others be the expert, I am the student.

See I was able to find a way to finish this post on a positive note.