Small life update for January

Winter was particularly fierce last week. Temperatures were constantly below freezing and it kept snowing each day for 3 consecutive days (snow is supposed to be rare here). Indoor temperatures dropped really low that my heater alone wasn’t enough to keep me warm. I had to wear two layers of clothing indoors (three during blizzards) to survive. The worst part was probably not being able to do laundry since I air dry instead of using a dryer (my washing machine doesn’t come with that function).

This week turned out to be warmer, though, which is nice. Weather forecast shows that it’s only going to be warmer from here on (above 10 degrees celcius high), which I find it a bit weird since it’s considerably warmer compared to the past few years.

I’m not sure if anybody follows the news about Tokyo and other major cities in Japan, but Tokyo and the surrounding cities are currently under emergency state. The number of infected people have been skyrocketing recently that the government decided to close borders for now. They’re also contemplating to do the same with Osaka since the situation there is also as bad. The problem here is that my passport is going to expire soon and if I want to renew it, I’ll have to go either Osaka or Tokyo because the embassy’s there. This issue alone has been giving me some headaches because 1) I don’t wanna travel to highly infected places and 2) I still need to go renew it in the end. The ideal situation would be me getting my work visa as intended, move to Tokyo, and then reapply for a new passport once I’m there. The big determining factor here is whether the immigration will accept my visa application with an expiring passport. I don’t wanna find it out the hard way, so maybe I’ll ask my HR one of these days.

***

Recently I’ve been desperately trying to put myself into the habit of reading business books. I still haven’t finished reading any of the 3 books that my superior sent me a couple of months ago. I’m starting to feel guilty for not putting any effort to try reading it. It’s really difficult to focus your energy into something that you’re not interested in even though you know it’s something you need to do. It’s also insane because I purchased a book on persuasive speech and finished that in 5 days while my other textbooks are still untouched, collecting dust at the corner of my room. I don’t know what’s hindering me from reading it. Perhaps it’s the language barrier? But the other book I just finished reading was also in Japanese … I wish business books were more easier to comprehend and put less complicated vocabularies inside. Like, please get straight into the point and put less BS. Haha.

On another note, I discovered many YA novel titles that I would like to read. But given the current situation, I don’t think I should be purchasing and reading them right now. I did make a whole list of it, though, so I could look back and pick one up when the time’s right.

For now, I’ll stick with trying to read at least 1 of the 3 books before January ends. Whether I’ll be able to finish it or not, you’ll see in the end of the month post.