Reusing

Sairiyou

I always get slammed this time of year. You can tell by the blog archives. From late August to September, I’m on blog silence every year. I also stop running/ exercising and sewing. But this year the slam has been longer than usual. I won’t blog about work, so it’ll suffice to say that I will survive.

I’m usually jealous of Americans on election years because their votes actually make a difference. Here, you know it’s going to be the Liberal Democratic Party’s essentially continuous one-party rule. Plus, the Liberal Democratic party is neither very liberal or democratic. This election year, however, I feel sorry for Americans. Even through the filter of my reasonable, sensible, politics-avoiding friends, I can see how terribly divisive it has all become. And how disappointing it is especially for women of color. Since I am a full-blooded Japanese living in Japan, I am basically the analog of the upper middle class white woman in the US. This US presidential election will make me take a good hard look at my own society and what I personally can do to make it better.

I’m trying to de-clutter my clothes. I see that I have so many duplicates. Last weekend, I discovered I had eight (!) Uniqlo Heat Tech long sleeved shirts. I also have flared trousers that still have the tags on them. I put the sorry looking items and the stuff I hadn’t worn for a year or more in the “to chuck” pile but then I remembered that Pumpkin City doesn’t won’t collect old clothing on “burnable trash” collection day. You’re supposed to put it out on “recyclables” day with the old newspapers. Supposedly, they’re supposed to be sent to Southeast Asia as donated items. I certainly hope not, because I can’t really see my flared trousers in too-sorry-shape-to-alter ending up being worn. I’d imagine them in a pile of trash, like the one I saw a while back in Jakarta between high-rise buildings, which is another rant for another day.

In the interest of reducing the burden on Jakarta or Hanoi or Bangkok or Rangoon or wherever, I made drawstring bags out of an old button up shirt and an old Uniqlo T-shirt and an old cotton jersey dress. I even used parts of clothes for the drawstrings (the waist tie from the dress and ruching  ties on the legs of cotton jersey leggings). These are great for travel. You can open your overnight bag/ suitcase in public without worrying about people finding out what color underwear you own, and they double as laundry bags. (The blue bag I got a long time ago as packaging for a brand name dress).

Then I cut up the remaining cloth to use as disposable wipes. I stashed a few in the drawstring bags for quick wipe-ups of hotel room coffee spills.

Dinner tonight will be dumplings and bean sprout namul and egg drop soup and plain white rice.