Jet lag is not for sissies

August 5, 2018 / katherineukim / 1 Comment

I’m writing this at almost 8 am, and I’ve been up for 4 hours already. Still, that’s way better than yesterday when I woke up at 2! If I can sleep in till 6 tomorrow, I’m going to call it a massive win.

So yes, we made it to Tokyo. It’s hot and muggy and so far we’ve barely ventured out for more than groceries, but I don’t care. I’m feeling pretty damn good about life! My husband has taken some time off today to take us to the ward office and get our resident cards all done up official-like, and then we’re going to do something about my cell phone situation.

I’ve got a ton of stuff to work out (I started by re-organizing half the kitchen and doing a serious scrub down of it this morning…) but I think I’m starting to get into a minor groove. It’s going to be a few weeks before I have a really solid handle on our day-to-day rhythms, but I think it’s going to be okay.

Now if I could just convince myself not to try living off nothing but combini pudding…

Depending on when you read this, a second sample chapter of Brewing Trouble may be up on my Patreon– it’s scheduled to go up mid-morning- and the short story is still available!

Summer vacation?

July 30, 2018 / katherineukim / 4 Comments

Okay, not really a vacation that’s vacation-ish, where I get to hang out with my family and rest up and do fun stuff, although some of that’s probably going to happen if I’m lucky. You all know that The Boy and I are moving soon. From the East Coast of the U.S. to Tokyo Japan. It’s causing just a wee little bit of stress here at Chez Kim, and I’m totally handling it in very healthy ways like not starting to drink immediately after getting up in the morning.

Basically, everyone I know is a bit concerned for my health, and self-care has become a rather vital thing in my life. As a result, I’m going to be dialing it back here a little since I have to focus on packing and making sure we have the tickets and passports and all the things, and then I have to figure out unpacking and how to re-jam together two households back into one household and sort out our new schedules and… well. Life. I’m a little shocked that the Anxiety Gnomes haven’t launched an attack, but then I think even they’re exhausted by everything so, small blessings?

So for the next month (August, basically), I’m going to be posting here only once a week. I’m going to keep up with the Patreon page since the short story is almost ready to post now, and I have the chapter available for preview. I should have a book cover by the end of the month as well, so that’s going to be fun. Also, I’ll be posting some Adventures over on Instagram, because that’s pretty quick.

Mostly, though, I’m going to spend August focusing on how to get our lives rolling in Tokyo and getting Brewing Trouble finished up. And trying to help my friends live vicariously by going to places they want to go and taking copious photos. Any requests?

Space Patrol

July 23, 2018 / katherineukim / Leave a comment

Photo credit: darastar via Visual Hunt / CC BY

The packing continues. The Boy’s sheets and most of our winter clothes are in a box and in a couple of hours I’ll trek down to the post office to ship it all to Tokyo. We’re not really taking much, but that still ends up being a ton of stuff. So much that I’m surprised, actually. Clothes take up a remarkable amount of space, it turns out. I’ve been going through all the stuff I don’t wear, or don’t love, and the pile for the charity shop is getting to be fairly substantial. That doesn’t even count the kid clothes I’m pulling because The Boy is growing like kids do.

It’s a good thing he’s got a fancy whole-apartment-in-one bed from Ikea, or we’d never have anywhere to put The Boy’s things. In addition to the clothes and the bedding, he’s got an army of stuffed animals that he will die without. And books (in English and Japanese) that he requires for his continued good health. And Legos. I have tried to explain that we won’t have all the space there that we have here in his grandparents’ house, but it’s like shouting at a rock.

And, of course, all his school things are there already as well. We’re sort-of homeschooling until his Japanese reading and writing catches up a bit to his peers, and the online school we’re going through has sent two boxes of supplies, from books to an inflatable globe to art supplies. His desk and shelves and dresser will be full to overflowing with his things and it’s going to be an adventure keeping everything tidy.

Meanwhile, I get two shelves in closet and no room for all my books. I’m heartbroken, my bed doesn’t even have fancy drawers under it! Kids get the best stuff. What would you take if you had to live essentailly out of a suitcase?

But where do I put all my books?!!! Photo credit: OFTO via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA