So Much Awesome, So Little Time!

We spent the weekend taking our first little family road trip, in which we went to Yamagata prefecture (next to Miyagi, between us and the sea of Japan) where we watched the clouds of rain descend from the mountains, ate delicious Yamagata Beef, stopped by an odd Turkish building for ice cream and a kebab, visited a winery, and stayed in a fairly lovely little hotel. Julia joined me for the onsen (hot springs) and actually behaved herself really well aside from slipping and falling on her butt a couple of times.
Our second day included a guided tour of a country-side film-set village (for period dramas and samurai movies), a short walk around Sakata (home of a few historical samurai houses), and a long drive home.

The next day was Marine/Sea/Ocean Day in Japan, so Julia and I marched with our friends in the Shiogama International Friendship Organization. Okay so I did the dance (and messed it up a lot) while Julia ran around, chased by my good friend Hana, who was and is a lifesaver.

Today was a much-needed respite. I mostly played Minecraft with friends in Texas. Then we went to the post office and grocery store. Then we hung out until Julia crashed.
And she slept soundly until midnight. Now it's 2AM and who knows when I'm going to get any sleep.

Which leads me to another point.

GISHWHES is coming so I paid for a month of Netflix so Julia might be distracted enough to I can get some things done. I just watched 2 separate movies on Netflix made in the last couple of years that had a weekend-enlightenment-camp-turned-cult as a major facet of the plot. I can only imagine that there are quire a few cynical screenwriters in California who are bored and frustrated with what must be a fad of weekend enlightenment seminars. Both movies were lacking in a lot of ways, but the one thing that got me was how the people talked about the cult beforehand.

And they sounded a bit like me with GISHWHES. "It'll change your life and open your eyes and make you into a new person." I say, and I mean it, too. The thing is amazing, but it isn't a weekend seminar and Misha Collins isn't a cult-leader, asking for your $18.89 to power his extravagant lifestyle. The cost of entering GISH goes mostly to running costs, prizes, and charity.

The thing is a week-long experiment in complete insanity and is beyond anything I can describe well enough to be understood at 2AM.

But it is an amazing thing, and if my overly-excited geeking out about it puts you off, I would like to apologize for not knowing a better way to convey my enthusiasm to you. It's freaking amazing, I think.

But it isn't a cult. I swear. Just a bunch of people all over the globe doing crazy, cool and fun weird things for one week out of the year. Join us. You have fewer than 4 days.

Also, my team is full.

How to Change the World/Clean My Dirty House

Sorry for the whining of last post.
I've been wadding in this pool of funk for a little bit, and I have decided to try harder to get the hell out of it, and I am doing it the same way I clean my house and the same way we will change the world.

One little act at a time.

I'm exhausted and depression kills and I don't want it but sometimes that's just how it is. The way I can get out of it when I'm not in too deep yet is start trying to take care of myself in the same way I would a troubled friend. It helps more than it should.

My house is in awful condition and if there were a mafia of Japanese housewives patrolling to make sure everyone was up to snuff, I'd already be sleeping with the fishes. The place is a wreck and to such a degree that I cannot even see myself getting it done. So, when I save up enough energy, I clean one thing or another for fifteen minutes. Then I go do something else and come back to do another 15 minutes in an hour or so. If I had the energy and focus to do this every hour, my house would be clean in 2 days, but even just a couple of 15 minute intervals a day makes a difference.

And the way we will change the world is the same. Simple actions. One word at a time. There are a lot of things that need to change and it seems impossible, but we will change them. One day at a time. Do what you can to work toward your solution. When you've exhausted yourself or your options for the time being, rest. Try again when the opportunity arises.
I know this doesn't work on all problems, but for a lot of them, it does.

It's also good to have hope and be brave, but when those don't apply, do what you can and rest.

In action:
Last night, I let myself get some sleep despite the fact that my husband had to stay at work overnight and I don't usually sleep those nights, but it was the best thing to do for self preservation.
I had also worked at putting all the clothes I bought to sell on eBay online to sell somewhere else since there's some weird hitch in eBay's ability to deal with me as a seller.
I also cleaned the kitchen floor (after spilling a bunch of un-popped popcorn all over it) and the wall nearest my stove, where the off-cast splatter from 5 years of hastily prepared meals had lingered and bugged the crap out of me. Now it's gone. One thing at a time.

This morning I awoke to find a buyer lined up for the most expensive article in my stash-for-sale. I also awoke capable, thanks to the sleep, and could not only talk to my mom while getting some breakfast into my daughter as well as myself, but also I had what it took to walk across the town for Julia's music lesson, which was the best it has ever been.

One thing at a time.

Now I am in such a better mental place than I was yesterday and I am going to get the rest of this stuff sold and I am going to get this house cleaned and it's all going to be okay.

So, if there's something you can do to make things better, do it, even if it's only a little at a time.


I wish I could flip a switch and make the world a better place. I wish there were such a simple means to that end. The best I have is this. Do what you can. One thing at a time.

Whining Mostly. Apologies.

It seems like a small pile of menial BS, but here's what's been bugging me:


1) I've still only got 2 patrons on Patreon, and while it's great to have any and I am so grateful for all the help I receive, I also witnessed one of the more successful Patreon folks from Amanda Palmer's Facebook Group help to bolster $92 in support for a chick doing vague math-related things. She had a goal of $75.

I want to give up. It doesn't matter what my goals or dreams are with this. I get $14 per month, which covers shipping plus like $6, which I am paying to other people on Patreon.
And then I start thinking that my patrons are really just pitying me. They don't really want my stupid prizes and no one does because if they did I would have more than two. People would be excited about the chance to win a sock monkey. Only two people seem to think this is a good idea, and my brain can't decide what their intentions are.


I usually don't say this stuff aloud for fear of alienating my already tiny fan base, but today I am kind of crumbling.


2) I think, unless things are fixed and I am given some huge benefit for going through this ordeal, I will no longer be attempting to sell things on eBay. It is not worth my time.

If you weren't following my post from earlier in the week on social media, here is it in short form:

Thursday: Finally posted auctions for the clothes I've been kicking my ass about for the last week, obsessively ironing and photographing every second I get sans baby. To my surprise, my seller limit is 2, meaning as a new seller, I can only have 2 auctions up until 90 days after my first sale.

Friday: Both auctions are taken offline with a short email saying I went over my limit. I go online to find that my new limit is now 0. I write an email to eBay customer service.

Saturday: I get a timely response from an eBay customer service representative, saying that this is definitely an error and she will pass my case along to the higher-ups to determine what happened and why. The process will take 7 to 10 business days.

I don't know if it is worth it to continue this avenue of income generation.



It seems like everything I do, every internet based economic trust fall I attempt, I wind up flat on my ass or crushing some people to death.
Maybe that is just how it feels right now.

In brighter news, GISHWHES is just 3 weeks away. I want to be excited but today I am worried that I burned through all of my energy and enthusiasm trying to build a monetary base and won't have any left for the hunt.

So it is time to turn my focus inward, rebuild what I can emotionally, and get ready for the wild ride that is GISHWHES.

Oh, and clean my house. My husband was sneezing like a madman all yesterday, allegedly from "house dust" though today he also feels unwell at work. It's true he sneezed a lot in our home, and he didn't sneeze out in public so much, but he did have a sneezing fit in the lobby, which is cleaned meticulously all the time.
So is it really house dust? Who knows! I do know that I would like to do a thorough cleaning of the air conditioner (which you're supposed to do here in Japan and I never have) so today I get to go out and buy a ladder, a can of air conditioner cleaner, and a tarp to put on the wall around and under the AC so it can leak out all its grossness on something other than the walls and furniture.

The good news? I found an English guide, written by an American stationed off-base in Okinawa, on how to clean this specific thing. Later, I will see if I can find a guide for cleaning a bath-tub and shower room as complicated as my own.

For now I will eat and relax and talk with friends. The day will be better.

Big Roundup-- Patreon, GISHWHES, and More!

We've had a lot of little adventures recently. I'm usually exhausted, Julia's almost potty-trained, and Tomo's excited to go on a weekend getaway in a couple of weeks.

Did you know that Yamagata prefecture is home to 12 wineries...and more than 50 sake breweries?

The almost-no-alone-time aspect of motherhood is getting to me.

Last month I started my own Patreon in which I make sock monkeys, other stuffed animals, and short videos about making or selling aforementioned animals. I currently have 2 patrons, and that is awesome but also a little sad. I tried using social media, talking to other pro-patreon groups (the unofficial and official Amanda Palmer patron fan-clubs on facebook), and doing so regularly.
I added pictures. I made a silly jingle and recorded us singing it.
I even entered to a "Patreon Patron Trade" sort-of group where you sign up to give a dollar to another artist who in turn does the same for you. Having more patrons helps get others interested they say, and it works. One of the guys on there has 70 patrons!
And because he has 70 patrons, he doesn't need my patronage and would be unlikely to notice an extra dollar, much less reciprocate.
So I found someone making about $7, but since her last post was months ago, she seems to have given up and also has not reciprocated. I still gave her a dollar last month.
I posted in the group, and one of my two patrons liked it, and otherwise it has gone unnoticed.

The big pluses for the Patreon thing for me:
1) I get to make sock monkeys out of the socks I keep getting from friends.
2) I get to give the sock monkeys to winners of that month's raffle, so I don't have to keep them.
3) Shipping is surprisingly less than what I am making on Patreon.
4) I could (and did) become patron to a few more people on Patreon because, thanks to my amazing duo of my patrons, I can finally afford to do it.

The unfortunate thing is that it isn't catching on as well as I had hoped and I am essentially giving the animals away, but it's alright overall. Maybe time will help.
Want a chance to win a sock monkey or sock lemur (this month's raffle prizes)? Check out my Patreon here.

I also realized that Art and Crafts on Patreon gets very little attention. Maybe if I use more of the multimedia aspect-- Vlogging about life as a Texan parent in Japan, or random things we find, or whatever. I could do a craft vlog. I just need time to record and edit.
Maybe after GISHWHES.


Speaking of which, GISHWHES is almost upon us! Less than a month left and I am super excited to announce that my team is almost full, with just a couple of people we're waiting on and we will be ready to roll. This year, I'm saving $20 to order a box of kale from Tohoku farmers in Aomori. It's going to be awesome.
If you need more info on the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, check out the website here.

The last new thing I am working into is selling designer clothes I find in Sendai second-hand shops on ebay. Usually I use my second-hand-sale binges to revitalize Julia's wardrobe or sometimes my own, but this time I've hunted down some fancy things that might be worth more to someone than what I paid plus shipping.

So that's what I am doing.
What are you up to?

Also, there's an amazing new gelato place in Shiogama that Hana showed me the other day and it was AMAZING!