I spent yesterday rolling around in bed. I can't remember the last time I did that though it couldn't have been too long ago. Most days I either feel motivation to move, or my back is tight and I need to focus on stretch and massage (more and more former, less and less latter :-) ) but yesterday I felt alright and just wanted to roll around and read manga. I got sucked in and just kept reading.
Before dinner we went out to talk to a guy who is gonna introduce us to an apartment which we may want to live in. It's supposed to be a little crusty but it's got a great view, is just a minute away and we have two acquaintances in the building so it'll be fun to live there. Not too cheap and not too expensive, we need to see what the extra fees are though.
In Japan you have to get married to everything...your job, your phone service, your bank, your apartment...everything requires a whole lot of information, a long process and lots of extra fees. The house has "key money" which is like a legal bribe to your landlord which is not refundable (1-2 months rent), a deposit ...which in theory is refundable but is rarely refunded (1-2 months rent), a landlord fee (.5-1 month rent), insurance (1 month rent) and 3-6 months paid up front..... LOL I know, right?
Maybe this place will allow us to skip the key money and just give 1 month deposit with 3 months up front and no landlord fee. So instead of 1 year rent upfront (only half actually going to rent), maybe we can get away with 3-4 months rent with most of it actually going to rent. Maybe.
We took a look at all the apartments in the area and they all seem sooo much more expensive than last year. It feels like as some people move away from the cities, others are moving towards it because of less and less work available everywhere. Or maybe the landlords are trying to make up for their losses and don't give a fuck? Whatever, we will find something that works, somehow.
My current landlord may have a place open up for us in a month but he's not sure yet. He's a cool guy though a bit too much of a conspiracy nut for me. I respect him, I respect conspiracy theories to a certain extent, but I don't like just getting into blaming people and going based on youtube videos and ambiguous evidence for everything. I usually agree with about 50% and think the other 50% is probably exaggerated misinformation mixed in to make it all look crazy. In any case, the topic of conversation isn't a problem as much as how it can drag on for hours.
But cool guy, he wanted to get into crypto and asked if it was too late. I said nah but not as good as last month...if it were me I'd probably buy ETH until bitcoin has a pullback, but then again, its always good to have SOME BTC. So he bought XRP and we both LOLed. "Crazy move!" He knows, he just wants to try and flip it, and I think he actually managed to :-) Hope he gives me another discount
I've been looking for a good accountant who knows enough about crypto, can be casual but professional (knowledgeable and won't get you in trouble) and also knows something about Americans living overseas. Want to stay out of trouble in the future when I start my own business and buy a house.
I've been trying my best to organize my life too so that I don't have to sacrifice work or art or hive and can do it all this year. I got back into making To-Do checklists. They look something like this.
1 Update accounting for students
2 Reply to __, __, ___ (students/potential new students)
3 Print new poster
4 Put up poster
5 find tax accountant
6 message ____ about new apartment
7 check real estate agents
9 update online ads
10 look for another part time job (this is in case my boss doesn't want to sponsor my visa again next year)
11 prepare next bi-weekly question post
12 Announce Smile/Cross Culture collab
13 Talk to @namiks about the thing
14 Start format for future textbook
15 make final outline of novel and get ready to write again
16 print out Japanese study review page 1
17 make Japanese study review page 2
18 reply to Hive posts
I want to put more novel-related things like "finish chapter 13" but I need to make sure I'll have a few hours a day to work on it and right now I don't think I do. Once I get 2-3 more students I think I'll be ready.
I like check lists because it’s a simple kind of gamification. I love the feeling of checking off tasks, it’s like “Mission Accomplished...speaking of which, I finished a few of these before posting this...
So that's how it is these days.
How have you been?
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