Housekeeping

First order of business: I am debating moving this blog to WordPress, just because I think that it has a better interface and--more importantly--because I can manage entries in this blog and the other Ishikawa JET blogs I will help with all under one roof. However, the last thing I want to do is lose or confuse the people who follow this blog! If I switch, I will import past content. I will aslo link to the individual WordPress posts here each time I write for at least a month, just to give people time to update. If anyone has any opinions on the subject ("go for it!" or "stay here!") please let me know.

Tried it. I like blogger more.

Now, on to more literal housekeeping. My apartment is--and has been--most set up. I say mostly because I am expecting boxes from home, and need to store things accordingly and because I have leftovers from my predecessor. I misunderstood where certain stuff was going, and now have a spare toaster, landline phone, microwave, TV, and region-free DVD player. I don't really watch TV or DVDs, don't depend on toast, don't need a landline, and bought a combo microwave/oven because I like to cook. Right now I am trying to pass these appliances on to the ALT community.　(Hint hint!) Once that's done with and the new stuff arrives and finds places, then I will consider my apartment set up.

Living on my own has turned me tidy. The apartment is small and can easily become full of interesting smells if I don't do dishes often, sweep often, take full on baths often, and do laundry often. This seems common sense, but there's another layer of meaning here: if I don't have water frequently going through all the major pipes in the apartment, it smells like rot and mold. Yaaaaay humidity! I'm not complaining, or the slightest bit upset. It turns out I really enjoy living in a clean, well-organized space.

Getting my first paycheck was an absolute joy, but it also made me take a good hard look at my finances. The first month, I did not live as frugally as I would like, mostly because I was terrified/skeptical of my kitchen and often bought meals at combini or delica. Yesterday, however, I reaquainted myself with Just Hungry and Just Bento, two sites devoted, respectively, to simple Japanese home cooking and Japanese lunch boxes. The result has been more delicious, healthy meals and less money spent. Between this and volunteering for the Ishikawa JET cookbook project, I don't plan on combini or delica lunches ever again. I'll save my not cooking food money for going to dinner with friends every so often, spending it on something I can really look forward to and enjoy rather than feeling guilty about slurping mediocre ￥500 combini noodles over my desk and wondering what to do with the plastic.

For watching my finances, I use my keitai. It has a receipt and barcode scanner that are connected to a budgeting program. With graphs and labels for expenses. On my cell phone. It doesn't need to hook up to my bank account.

Yaaay!