February 9th to 16th in 2016

Well, it seems that I’ve been away from this far too long.
On the 9th, I know that I wasn’t feeling well. I missed part of tea ceremony. I showed up, everything hurt, and I went home. It was just the urasenke class, though.
I have no real memory of Wednesday the 10th. I taught with Inori. Evidently my stomach hurt because I only had milk for lunch. I also, evidently, missed my walk or else didn’t do much of it. My dinner was slight, too. On second thought, it looks like I did go on my walk, I just didn’t do much walking while at school.
The 11th was a day off. I managed to stay under calorie while going on a walk. I seem to remember doing very little on that day. But I also seem to remember having accomplished at least a bit as it wasn’t a total loss.
The 12th I was back to school. I taught at Eshin, which was surprisingly good. I normally dislike Eshin. It was raining, and so we had indoor recess. I also taught third graders, which was super fun. The younger kids like me more, and I like them more. 6th graders are usually miserable, but the 6th grade class I taught was with my favorite JTE. Friday I also went on a walk and to tea ceremony. From here on out, for tea ceremony, I’m going to be on my own 1:1 with the teacher for a while. I’m learning how to do temae, or, how to be the host. It’s fun and exciting. Once I learn to sit seiza better, it’s going to be really enjoyable.
The 13th I had Pathfinder, then Guitar. Then I went to Satsumasendai and ran errands. I couldn’t find most of what I wanted, but the weather was migraine-y, and I was in no mood to handle it. I did, however, find a massive thermos, which was great. Hopefully it’ll save me a ton of tea money. Then, I ended up eating a big Indian dinner. I was hoping that the veggies and the spice would . . . move things along. So to speak. Not much luck in that department.
Sunday was a waste. Migraine, and too much food. I woke up feeling well enough, and I decided to drive to Izumi to see the cranes and to do a little shopping. Well, crossing the mountain kind of killed me. Sadly. A weather front was also going through. This was also a problem. I ended up eating a lot and not exercising. I’m trying to make a lot of personal changes in my life, and I couldn’t juggle it all on Sunday. I feel bad about my failure.
Monday (yesterday, the 15th) I had my last day at Hirakawa. I also ordered my kimono (I don’t know if it’ll arrive in time for my tea event on Sunday). I will miss Hirakawa. It’s a good school with good people, even though I do imagine Red Shirt from Botchan sounding exactly like the vice principal. And looking similar. Anyway, I taught some classes, and had fun. I did some magic, which was really fun. I think I’ll go to their closing ceremony. However, I forgot my camera, so, on Thursday, I think that I will go there after I finish at Sam’s school and take some pictures. I was a relatively good boy on breakfast and lunch, but I ate ramen and gyoza for dinner. It got cold, and my stomach is bad, so I thought that maybe the garlic ramen with TONS of spice would help. I definitely felt warmer. But . . . no luck. Then, I had my first temae class in tea ceremony. I love it. Again, once I’m better at seiza, it’ll be better. Also, when you’re doing the serving, you get to stand a lot more, which is much easier on my body. I didn’t go on a walk (everything hurt) and I got to bed a bit later than I’d have liked, but I think I didn’t exceed my calorie goal by much.
Today I’m allegedly teaching with Ebihara, which, of course, means that I’m not doing anything today. I’ve got to help her with a recording, but, she usually doesn’t use me in class. Which is frustrating. Still, it’s welcome today. My head is awful, but that’s life. I think I’m going to not eat lunch today, and probably not eat dinner. I’ve got urasenke tea tonight, which is disappointing. But, it’s life. It’s my last killed Tuesday night, thankfully. Beyond that, not much to report.
This is my first real rough patch since really deciding to make things work. I’m getting sick again, my weight loss is stalled, and I’m refusing to smoke to help with migraines because I was doing far too much of that. I did order a hookah, because it’s a lot harder to get hooked on something that takes a straight fifteen minutes to set up. My head is just killing me, though, and nicotine helps. However, that’s one reason why I need to refuse cigarettes from now on. There’s till the risk, however slight, that my headache is worsened by the lack of nicotine. I doubt this because it’s been a week and a half, and when I quit vaping I had no ill effects other than wanting to vape. Still, it makes things worse. I’ve also decided to make some personal changes to a more private habit in order to lower my dependency, and it’s going well. However, the more I struggle to give up my vices, the harder it is to achieve my virtues. Add to this ill health, a frigid cold snap in an unheated house (it’s snowed lightly for two days) and discouragement from no noticeable results in weight loss and you see how this is rough. I wish I’d written more last week. Writing this, now, is really helping. I think that I’ve been sinking down into a less positive place, and I think that Courtney’s noticed (probably why you prodded me to talk when you didn’t feel like it and why you prodded me on PBs, eh?). Well, it’s a rough patch, but I’m going to beat it. Somehow or other. I’ll make it work.