Who will you eat with?

Dare to taberu no?

Please let me hold your bag

Kaban wo motasete kudasai

Year of Requirement Part 8

In my high school in Suburbia, I was on Math Team. (I was also on Speech Team, but I never competed because Japanese Saturday School got in the way of tournaments.) I didn’t even think of trying out for athletic teams (which really really makes you wonder why on earth I thought joining an athletic team in university was a good idea). Like most high schools in the US, you tried out pre-season, and you were picked to be on the Freshman, JV or Varsity team (or you didn’t make it and sulked about it or did a club team somewhere or signed up for classes at the YMCA to up your proficiency for next season).

In Japan, especially in junior high school, clubs, or bukatsu, were (and are) a big thing. Everyone can join, but not everyone gets to play. My Year of Requirement was spent in a fairly small school, so there were only a limited number of clubs. My homeroom teacher gently nudged me away from the athletic clubs and band when he found out I had no experience in any of the available clubs. (I was O.K. in gymnastics, but they didn’t have that, and swim team either practiced in their own clubs or hid behind the equipment shed and smoked. They didn’t have choir.)

I chose the drama club. I had some experience in speech, and we did musicals in junior high, so I figured I was in pretty good shape. And I was. There was no dramatic brilliance in our group. We did exercises in projecting our voices (which I’d always been good at, see also: coxing a sternloader four with a microphone is for wusses) and little skits, and the big annual event was a performance in our school festival. No competitions or anything. We were a low-key group, up there with the home economics club and science club.

One thing that drama club had that all the other clubs had was a strict system of hierarchy. First years had to answer to second years who had to answer to third years who ruled the school (of course there was hierarchy within years as well). You had to use formal language when addressing your upperclassmen and address them as “Senpai” which means “one who is ahead of me.” (This varies between schools. Most people in my part of the country used “Senpai” exclusively, but some schools address upperclassmen with the standard issue honorific of “San.” And when I was in university, you addressed upperclassmen as “Tanaka-san.”) Underclassmen fetched and carried. In athletic clubs, especially ball sports, they chased after stray balls. In band, they carried trombone cases. In drama club, they carried the lights. The peak of absurdity was underclassmen carrying the 3^rd year students’ school bags from the AV room where we practiced to the main entrance of the school. It kind of falls into the whole system of seniority that runs through the core of Japanese society. It’s moronic, but that’s how the world works, so I guess you’re getting an education when you go to a junior high school in Japan.

Finished in an instant

Sugu dekita

This one took a total of 15 minutes, including the time it took for me to get my sewing box out of the closet.

Behold, the Uniqlo quasi-straw hat from last season, with ambiguous quasi-jute tie.

And here is the same hat with the tie ripped off and 300 yen of cotton grosgrain ribbon in its place.

Koinobori

Koinobori

Yane yori takai koinobori
(Carp streamers, higher than the roof)

Ookii magoi ha otoosan
(The big black koi is the father)

Chiisai higoi ha kodomotachi
(The little red koi are the children)

Omoshirosooni oyoideru
(They look like they are having fun swimming)

Little adjustments

Kozaiku

(The word "kozaiku" has somewhat negative connotations, as in, "you should really get down to the root of the problem instead of just patching things up" but I'm all about little hacks for trivial things like clothing.)

I crocheted belt loops on my batik shirtdress. I was given this dress as a gift. It’s the right size, but the cut is a bit boxy for someone my build.

I thought about adding darts or slimming the sides, but the design of the dress made this difficult, so I decided to crochet belt loops to the side seams and tie it in the back with black ribbon. 

The dress also had a seam that was coming apart, so I stitched that up as well.

Apparently I have an H body shape.

https://www.insideoutstyleblog.com/2010/05/real-life-body-shapes-h.html

Cinching the waist with a regular belt or tying a self tie in front doesn’t work for H bodies, but the tie in the back styling does. I can’t remember where it said that H types were supposed to tie belts in back. It’s not something I discovered on my own. I think it was a YouTube video. At any rate, it's simple (especially if the dress already has a self tie belt) and it works, if your body shape is like mine.

I chose grosgrain ribbon because grosgrain is resistant to fraying. Unfortunately, it doesn't slide as well through the belt loops the way satin might. If you use a satin ribbon, you'll need to do something about the edges like paint them with nail polish top coat and cut through it when it's dry.

The first day

Shonichi

So this morning I took the Pumpkin Princess shopping, and bought groceries while I was at it. For lunch, I whipped up fried noodles with leftover meat and veggies.

I started pressure cooker chicken broth with two chicken carcasses, the green part of onions, celery leaves, and shiitake stems. I let it cook 40 minutes under low pressure, and left it to cool.

While it was cooking, I made pickled ginger. I chopped fresh ginger into matchsticks, 

salted it (about 5% salt per weight) and put it in a sterile jar full of rice vinegar.

The pinkish color isn't the lighting. It really turns pink when you put it in vinegar (think of the pickled ginger slices they serve you with sushi!).

After I turned the heat off the pressure cooker chicken broth, I headed alone to the craft shop (thank you, Pumpkin Daddy). I wanted to buy thread for my pants alterations, and ribbon for the hat and the shirtdress.

 I’d checked my thread swatches for the color numbers of the thread I needed for the pants alterations, and I headed to the craft shop all proud of myself...

This could be the only place on the Internet you will find this information in English. Tokay, a big craft store chain in Japan, carries Shappe Spun sewing thread by Fujix (most common sewing thread in Japan), but it’s an exclusive line unique to Tokay alone that has different color numbers from the thread in other stores. The usual Shappe Spun color numbers are useless.

I thought about going home and bringing the thread swatches to the store to find the best matching thread, but that would be an extra degree of separation from the correct color. I couldn’t bring the pants themselves because they were in the wash. So, no thread.

I was totally ready to shell out for nice grosgrain ribbon like from Mokuba, but all they had was the moderate grade stuff. At least it was 100% cotton. So I bought the ribbon (wide for the hat and narrow for the belt) and left the store.

I felt unfulfilled because of this thread number and non-high brand ribbon snafu, so I headed to Daiso and got 100 yen (+ tax) acrylic paint in dark brown, ochre, and black. I also got dish sponges to use for seat cushions for the sofa (any left over can be used as...dish sponges!)

I came home, and after a cup of coffee, picked the meat off the chicken carcasses and got this much meat for later use. This container is 600 mL.

I also put some of the chicken broth in the same sized container and put it away in the fridge marking it “soup" in two languages. (We don’t want any intra-fridge accidents).

Dinner was boiled potatoes; fried pumpkin slices; not-stuffed cabbage (same ingredients as stuffed cabbage but with chopped cabbage and the ground beef and onions loose in the pot); bean sprout, scallions, and chia soup (with the chicken broth); and plain white rice.

So, I'm prepared to get at least something on the list crossed off tomorrow or the day after. Not bad!

To do list

Yaru koto risuto

Today is the first day of Golden Week 2016. It should be April 29^th to May 8^th, but of course I have to work (and the Pumpkin Prince and Princess have to go to school) on May 2^nd and May 6^th. Still, I have eight days off in 10 days, so I made a to do list. 

This is the super ambitious Golden Week to do list. I like blogging my holiday to do lists because I seem to get more stuff done during my holidays when I do, and fool around less on the internet.

Docomo: Go to the Docomo store and revise my mobile phone contract. I’m paying for the Pumpkin Granny’s phone too (technically, that ‘s my phone, not hers) and she wants a smartphone. We’ll see what can be done vs what I am willing to pay.

Run x3: ‘nuff said. This doesn’t have to be done on holidays or weekends. It can happen on the Monday or Friday that breaks up Golden Week.

Tiny Vader room/ sofa: I’m going to make the Tiny Vader room for Tiny Vader as he is now. If they end up needing revamping, so be it.

Alter beige/ green pants: I thought they didn’t need altering, but it looks like they do.

Belt loops on batik dress/ slim pink batik: I went to Indonesia last year, and I was gifted with two batiks. One was a knee-length shirtdress and one was a blue and pink tunic. They were both slightly large. I want to put crocheted thread belt loops on the shirtdress so that I can tie it in back with a black grosgrain ribbon for a slimming effect. I want to add waist darts in back or maybe slim the sides of the tunic.

Grosgrain ribbon (Uniqlo hat): Last year, I bought a straw (o.k., paper that pretends to be straw) hat from Uniqlo. It had a cord of the same color tied around it. But all the fashion mags and blogs show hats with a dark grosgrain ribbon around them. A length of grosgrain ribbon is cheaper than a new hat. It is also environmentally friendlier.

Lavender cuttings: The lavender I planted in the middle of the yard looks very sad but is sprouting new shoots, so I’ll make cuttings and plant them wherever.

Flower bed: I planted a few annuals and perennials last weekend, and in true loser gardener fashion, I planted the annuals too far apart (but I don’t think the perennials are too close together. Either way, the flower bed needs a little more work.

I don’t expect to do all of these, or even half of these. I’d be pleased with about three and impressed with myself if I did four or more. For starters, none of the shopping is done. I need to get thread (for the pants alterations) and ribbon (for the hat and the shirtdress) and paint (for the Tiny Vader room) and sponge and fabric (for the Tiny Vader sofa). And of course, there is all the meal prep that must happen every day, and I'm going to take the minivan to the mechanic's for its annual checkup and to get the winter tires off and summer tires on (I know, I know). So, like I said, let's see if I can do three. Including the running (hopefully).

Let the holidays begin!