It's been a while, huh?
This distinctly irregular exercise has started to feel like one of those round-robin letters Grandma used to send to the whole family every Christmas.
I may or may not be getting back into the regular blogging habit with this post. These days, I know better than to promise you anything...
So, where have I been and what have I been doing this time around?
(I mean... I've been in Osaka the whole time, but...)
I've been struggling... AND thriving
Finding the time, motivation and inspiration to make new posts has been unusually hard. Younger freelance copywriter me would be horrified, but it's true.
(When I haven't posted a food review for over 6 months, you know things are bad.)
Even Twitter's stopped doing it for me lately, for slightly different reasons...
Since the last post like this (which was in mid-2021, ouch), even more things in my life have changed! They're almost all good, positive things, but they're pretty distracting.
I'm in a different job, again. I said last time that if I had the chance, I'd work from home. And now I do, full time, so that's all fab. I have yet to attend a meeting in a onesie, like I said I would, but just wait until winter rolls back around...
I work in translation now - why isn't that giving me writer-y inspiration on a daily basis? The truth is, this job could give me plenty to discuss... if I wasn't chained to the wall by the NDAs. Ah well.
Outside of work, the amount of life admin I have to deal with on a weekly/monthly basis feels like it went through the roof. That's adulting for you! I hear you cry.
(You are really crying, aren't you? I can tell. It's okay. None of the other adults ever need to know.)
The true constant in my life is a lack of sleep - and that's the part that I'm having a really hard time with. You'd think being on an anti-seizure medication with 'tiredness and fatigue' as main side effects would help with something like that.
Oh, I'm tired, don't get me wrong. I am so tired. All the time. Enough so... that it might be an actual problem. There's some potential material for a future post. If I can stay awake long enough.
I've been hiding... AND getting around a bit
Part of me felt embarrassed to come back and pick up this blog, after such a long time without any regular and/or relevant content. And the longer I waited, the more embarrassed I got.
My days of churning out a shiny new blog post every week may be over (or at least on hold until further notice), but if I think about it... I could tell you all kinds of stories.
Since the start of 2023, I have:
moved to a bigger apartment
placed 2nd in a friendly (but massively competitive) local round of Taskmaster held at a friend's bar, including winning the video task and the prize task
spent an afternoon in a blanket fort eating popcorn and watching Star Trek: TNG on Netflix
played tour guide for visiting family members
spotted a weasel
accidentally crashed a wedding reception while wearing a jumper covered in fast food and cats
attended the opening of a new fancy British brand store in Osaka
stayed out at a dinosaur-themed karaoke place until 2am
helped host a friend's wedding in Japanese
stayed at a ryokan for the first time
celebrated my 7th Japaniversary
dyed my hair pink
When I put it like that, my life sounds pretty fun...
There's got to be something in there you'd read more about, right?
The more I read about how much of a dumpster fire the UK is attempting to be, the more I feel like life in Osaka is still the life for me.
I've been thinking...
I definitely want to get those weird food reviews going again. It feels like the obvious choice, seeing as humans need to eat to live... Look out for updates sometime soon.
I'm not sure what direction to take this blog in yet. Maybe I should take the opportunity to experiment, and see what sticks. (See if anyone sticks around.)