Slow Thursday...

Today's a bit of a slow day.

Not sure why but a bunch of students canceled lessons today and yesterday.

It's both good and bad. Good because I get more time to relax and do other stuff. Bad for my paycheck. Haha!

Anyway, this morning I did some house chores and some other stuff that I've been meaning to do. I took a nap and I finally got to drag myself back to the gym. I seriously need to fix my schedule.

My Thursday lunchtime private lesson was canceled so that gave me more free time today. Tonight, I don't have taiko lessons so I decided to do some work.

I knock at 745 though so that's good.

Just want to get some sleep. Lol!

Weekend shopping...

It was a shopping weekend of sorts.

As I may have written in a previous post, I'm at a stage where I rarely buy new clothes. Now I'm more after certain pieces. I'm more discerning I guess? Haha!

When it comes to office clothes, I'm a bit more stingy. Maybe because they're clothes I don't really get to wear on weekends. My shirts are from Uniqlo. I only have two styles of shirts, two pieces for each style. It's sort of like a uniform.

My suit used to be a mix of brands - jacket from H&M, pants from Armani Exchange. My only special pieces are my neckties, which I got from fave brand Comme des Garçons. And I only have four. That's enough, imo.

Recently though, I've been thinking that I should invest more in better suits for two reasons. One, I'm working in the business capital of Tokyo, (probably Japan). I have to look professional. Second, it's part of the whole self brand I guess. I feel like I'm doing my fellow Filipinos a disservice if I don't properly present myself. Hehe!

Thankfully, I have a good source for great suits. Last December, I got a suit from Beams. The jacket fits nicely. The pants could be a it tighter but that's just my preference. Last weekend, I went to the store again and tried a few suits. There was a Paul Smith suit I fell in love with but they didn't have my size. After going through a number of suits, I found a nice Barney's New York suit. It's charcoal gray and pinstriped. I actually like it.

The best thing was that it didn't really cost me an arm and a leg. Well, maybe it did cost me an arm. Lol.

I've also been meaning to have some skinny ties. So, I decided to get rid of two of my CdG ties and got two Dior Homme ties. Hehe!

That's it for shopping. I don't think I'll be buying new clothes anytime soon. There is a Longchamp bag I've been eyeing but I think it's a justified purchase because I don't have a weekender bag.

In any case, I haven't been the only one shopping. After a lengthy message exchange, I finally got my best friend Tey to invest in some good bags. So proud to have been able to convince (push?) her to get something from Prada and Balenciaga. Hehe.

My purpose in life is complete. Char.

Random Friday...

I went for training today so I finished work early.

Actually, I finished early because I decided not to work in the evening. It was a good decision because I was beat by the end of the training session.

The good thing was I passed the training. Yay!

After work, I was supposed to meet up with Jack. We planned to go to the izakaya in Iidabashi we used to frequent. However, he had to work overtime so we threw the plan out of the window.

Instead, I ended up walking around Shinjuku and Ginza and finding pieces I'm not supposed to get. Lol. Technically, I still haven't gotten the pieces but they're all on hold.

Hahaha!

Fun long weekend....

It was a long weekend for most Japanese.

For me, it was a normal weekend, of course.... with a hint of special. Hehe.

On Saturday, I worked of course. In the evening, I met up with Ibaraki Guy and we had dinner at a yakiniku place. After that, we went to a karaoke place as I requested for both. Hehe. It was nice seeing him.

Sunday was quite normal. I didn't work this Sunday so I had a lot of free time. It was good and not so good. It was good because I had some time to relax and do normal weekend stuff. The bad thing was I ended up doing some shopping... Lol.

In the evening, I didn't really plan to go out as I had work today. Plus, I was out all day so I was a bit tired.

However, Jun messaged and I sort of dragged myself to Nich for a drink and a dance. I was able to drag Takeshi to join us, too. Hehe! It was a good idea as the music at our fave club is awesome 95% of the time.

Today was also an awesome day. After work, I went to Nich again to see some of the taiko guys perform.

After the performance, I went to dinner with Takeshi and Liam. Jun, on the other hand, had to go to the gym. It was a great dinner with Takeshi and Liam because we talked about very familiar topics.

The good thing about our conversation was that it confirmed that my experience is something shared by other guys as well. I guess that was somewhat reassuring and worrying? Haha!

Too bad Jun couldn't join dinner. Otherwise, it would've been a scene straight out of Sex and the City, Lol.

In any case, there was a second dinner after Jun committed me and Liam to another dinner. Ugh. It was fun though, Lol!

It really was a good idea that I moved out of Katsushika.

Another one....

Yesterday, one of my regular students had his last lesson.

He had used up all his lesson points.

We usually have our lesson at lesson. After some time, you kinda get used to seeing the person.

One of my first super regular students was a guy who was prepping for his overseas assignment. He had a lot of room for improvement but he's really motivated to learn.

When we had our last lesson together, it felt like breaking up with someone.

After I had similar instances with other students, I thought it would be easier the next time but it's not. I still feel sad when it's time to say goodbye to a student.

Sigh.

I need to be tougher. Hehe!

Honne and Tatemae...

Though I may have been living in Tokyo for more than a year, the place is still one big mystery to me.

I may live here for a hundred years and I still probably wouldn't fully understand the Japanese culture.

Recently, one of the things I'm learning to understand/deal with is honne and tatemae.

Simply put, honne is a person's true feelings and desires (本音, "true sound") and tatemae is the behavior and opinions one displays in public (建前, "built in front", "façade").

It's a concept that I feel a lot of foreigners find difficult to understand.

To the outsider, it seems like being two-faced. To the local, it means being polite.

It's difficult to understand and I'm not starting to see this in the past few failed dates I've had. On more than one occasion, at the end of a date that I thought went well, the other guy would say, "Let's hang out again." "Looking forward to seeing you again."

Now, I know that they don't really mean it. It's just their way of avoiding conflict, or perhaps avoiding to hurt someone's feelings.

What I'm wondering is if they know that either way, they actually hurt another person's feelings. Hehe!

In any case, I feel I have to constantly remind myself of these two concepts. Maybe then I won't be as annoyed with some people. Maybe then I would move one step forward to understanding this beautiful country and its people more.

Not replying promptly... is it a Tokyo disease? Lol.

It doesn't really take a lot of time to reply to a message, does it?

Read somewhere:

If someone wants to be a part of your life, they will seriously make an effort to be in it.
No Reasons.
No Excuses.

So true. For this reason, get a dose of your own medicine. Lol!

Feverish Wednesday night...

There's always a first time.

So, today, I had to cancel four lessons because I'm down with fever.

Thankfully, there were only four lessons this morning (since Thursday is my day off sort of. Lol!). That means I didn't lose a lot of money (since I'm in a no work, no pay arrangement).

I could have tried to go to work this morning but I think it was smarter to stay in bed and rest.

Hmm, I dunno what happened. Yesterday morning I was feeling super genki and in the afternoon, my temperature shot up. It was a hellish experience as I had to work six straight hours in the evening.

First, I had to make sure I looked okay in front of the student. Second, I had to ensure that I was giving a quality lesson. At one point, I felt like I was going to throw up. Thankfully, I didn't.

Shitty as I felt, the show had to go on.

After my last lesson, I spoke with the manager and explained my situation. It was better to cancel this morning's lessons I told him.

Heading home was also an excruciating journey. Even though my place is 15 minutes away from work, it was the longest 15 minutes with the chills and blurry vision. On top of that, you have the stupid cold weather.

Ugh! Can't wait for winter to be over!