Olympic season is upon us, after a year's delay. i am totally not feeling it at all. considering the circumstances, i think that the olympics should have been cancelled. it's hardly the right time to give emphasis to something non-essential like sports. but i also remember a lesson from the cartoon american dad. it said something along the lines of sports events and concerts being an escape from the mundane 9 to 5 routine. and i can appreciate that people need a break now and then, even more so now that the pandemic is raising everyone's stress levels. still, the level of grandstanding and the disproportionate emphasis placed on athletes is off-putting to me.

having said that, i also feel for some of the athletes. i've read that some athletes have received flak for pulling out of their event for whatever reason (mental health, COVID concerns), or for not performing up to expectations. singapore's gold medallist at the last olympics didn't qualify for the semi-finals this time round, and keyboard warriors haven't been kind to him because of that. but i'm heartened that people (including the president) have stepped up to defend him. of course, the ugly type A in me also wonders why there was such a drop in performance, but it's more for personal curiosity. i don't blame him in the slightest. because after all, no other singaporean has the right to criticize his performance. nobody else can say that they've won a gold medal at the olympics. in fact, i think most regular people would be hard-pressed to beat his time for that race. and i'd say that having been at the very peak of something, even only momentarily, is enough.

got my vaccination yesterday, and i'm taking today off to recuperate, hence me blogging in the middle of a workday. the process was fairly painless, both administratively and physically. i've had a phobia of needles since young, but as i grow older, i realize that i can handle them better. not that i LIKE to, but i can when the situation calls for it. i wonder why? i think it's a combination of growing up, so my brain processes things better than it did when i was younger; and having been exposed to more/greater levels of pain while growing up. the pain of an injection pales when compared to say, spraining an ankle, or having a tooth pulled. even though i know all of this, needles still make me somewhat nervous, and i always tell the medical personnel that, as a precaution. the paramedic this time was skilled, though! it would be a lie to say that i didn't feel anything, but it was most definitely minor.

the aftereffects actually hurt more then the injection itself! there's aching at and around the injection site (expected), minor discomfort in the chest area (not pain, no cause for alarm. but i'm taking precautions to avoid exercise for the next few days anyway), and my body just generally feels heavier than normal. yes, insert weight gain joke here. all in all, i think i'll be ok. 

-random thought of the day: 3 weeks to shot #2.-

Scared myself a little earlier, when doing my weekly weigh-in. the scales showed that i'd gained close to a kilo, which didn't feel good. but then, i weighed myself again after a trip to the toilet, and found that my post-toilet weight was about the same as last week's reading. i'm relieved, but it also shows that i'm plateauing. well, i've been plateauing for the past 3 to 4 weeks, actually. but it's normal. i just have to take it in my stride and look forward to the next phase of weight loss, while maintaining and improving on the good habits so far.

one modification that i'll make is to stop baking bread for the foreseeable future. even with the better oven, my bread still isn't rising significantly. i've narrowed it down to 3 possible reasons: (1) weak/ineffective starter; (2) poor dough-handling technique and method; (3) different ingredient properties. somehow, i don't get the same look and texture of dough as the youtube baker whose recipe i'm using, despite following all the numbers exactly. not to mention that the lack of bench space in my kitchen area makes working less enjoyable. the plan is to work on my starter with the little remaining flour that i've got, then put it into cold storage when i see that it's more active. might resume baking in the autumn/winter periods.

i will, however, continue making singaporean desserts for the time being. not just for my own consumption, but for the people in the office too. the plan is kueh lapis for national day, then ondeh ondeh within this year. i'll be more precise with the layering the next time round.

looking at exercise, i figured that my activity levels will drop over summer since i don't have to be in schools. so, i should make more effort to increase my activity by walking or cycling to work, as well as on other errands. the snag is that i'm due for my first vaccine shot this thursday, and there's been much said about how a possible side-effect is heart inflammation. in fact, people are advised to refrain from strenuous physical activity for about a week after each vaccination! well, walking should be fine. just have to leave the house early enough to not need to walk fast or run to not be late for work.

that's it for now, i guess. it's a lovely day, so i'll get some more cycling practice in. i still have to try cycling to work or to get groceries, but my confidence hasn't built up to that point yet. all in good time!

-random thought of the day: Today's loaf turned out flat too.-

Kueh lapis turned out ok. actually, it was pretty decent. the flavour and texture are both good, but the layers are uneven. that's more of a user problem. i'll admit to eyeballing the volume of batter that i poured in each time, because the one good ladle i had was otherwise occupied. i was pleasantly surprised that the layers could still be peeled apart! it was probably a little too wet too (because i remembered the wrong volume of hot water to use) but thank goodness it firmed up and set properly in the fridge!

just in case you're interested, i followed this recipe. the 2 things i'd do differently from that recipe are to use coconut cream for a stronger coconut flavour (in my case, that means using more powdered coconut milk in the same volume of water), and to chill the whole block of kueh in the fridge before attempting to cut it. even cutting it while it was at room temperature like the recipe recommended produced ragged edges.

here's a photo of the finished product. notice anything atypical? (and yes, i know the layering sucks)

the colours are more muted, and reminiscent of hanami dango. food colouring that's available here might be made more to suit that purpose, come to think of it. it's different from the singapore version, which features bright reds and greens; think like traffic lights.

overall, i'll take it as a win! it tastes good, despite the less-than-ideal appearance. more importantly, the texture is exactly how i remember it from my childhood. again, it's odd, isn't it? in the past 10 years, i've probably eaten this a maximum of 5 times. i wonder if i'll be attempting to recreate japanese food when i no longer live here?

-random thought of the day: Baking day today!-

License conversion isn't going as smoothly as i'd have hoped. for one, the interviewing officer wanted proof that i'd been in singapore for a period of 3 consecutive months after getting my license. normally, that would have been checked via immigration stamps...except that singapore uses biometric gates, not immigration stamps. so, he asked me to give him my letter of conferment from NUS, and a screenshot of the degree verification page. it really seems like he's going through the motions, but it's not his fault. if anything, japanese bureaucracy is to blame.

the officer also told me that it might take a while to pass the test. that sucks, because i was counting on getting my japan license by the end of august. bad thing is, i can only book test dates after they review my paperwork. worse, the review process takes 2 weeks minimum. worst, it won't begin until i submit paper copies of the requested documents. so we're looking at it beginning next week at the earliest, and a test date of around mid-august? not forgetting that there's a written test in addition to the practical one. i asked for the english version, which should be manageable for me. the practical test looks to be easier that the singapore one in that there are less elements (no parking, stopping on a slope), but the difficulty is having to memorize 3 routes around the circuit, from which the actual test route will be selected. of course, i could memorize just 1 or 2 routes and pray for good luck, but that's taking a larger chance than i'm comfortable with. i've had a glance at the maps, and it seems that the elements are the same for all 3 routes, just in different order. not to mention that there are the crank and S-courses, which i have literally not done since my driving test in singapore, 12 years ago! but i figure that if i go slow and be extra careful, it should be doable.

what i would/should have done differently is to get the interview out of the way much earlier, like during the term break in april. that way, i could have booked my driving test while the kids were having exams, and given myself more buffer time in case i failed. as it is now, i can afford maybe one failure at the most without disrupting classes in schools. otherwise, i have to take leave during term time. i can probably squeeze in a test date in october if needed (mid-terms for the kids), but anything else will require more disruption. oh, in case you're wondering why i'm this worried, my international driver's permit expires in november. and being license-less in rural japan won't be fun at all. originally, i thought that i'd have much more time to settle things, but somehow, it ended up being less time than i'd anticipated, mainly due to the long waiting times between steps.

better news - i've got the oven, and cleaned it a little bit. the numbers got rubbed off when the previous owner cleaned it with some solvent, so i'm going to put them back on with correction fluid. got my starter fed, but it's still not looking all that active. i'll feed it again tonight, then bake on saturday. my big project during this extended break is kueh lapis, which i'm aiming to do tomorrow. that also means that i'd better make sure i have all the required ingredients and hardware ready. the headache now is finding a steaming vessel large enough to accommodate the dish. maybe i should stop by the home supplies store to pick up a larger pot? or make multiple batches in a smaller vessel. that might be smarter.

-random thought of the day: Can only renew exit permit from 01 October!-

You won't get the thing you want until you complain about it...or so the adage goes in singapore. i've found it to be true, but maybe it's a coincidence. like this past week, i was telling the other JETs that despite living in a rural area, i don't experience the stereotype of rural folk giving their neighbours food. just for reference, the stereotype is most commonly associated with vegetables that the neighbours have grown on their own land. but this past week alone, my vice-superintendent has brought cucumbers and bittergourds that she grew herself, and a kid's parent gave me some fishcakes during an after-school event. so, yes. complaining does work. to be clear though, i wasn't really complaining like i deserved gifts. it was more like, "this doesn't match the stereotype!". part of me wishes i could have received something more substantial, especially after hearing that my friend's town gave out free salmon, but i appreciate this kindness equally. remember the thing about what not to do with gift horses. more interestingly, it's the first time i've seen a cucumber with thorns. bumps, yes, but not full out prickly thorns. they're sitting in my fridge now, and i'm wondering what i should do with them. pickling, maybe?

another kindness of which i've been on the receiving end is the oven. the leaving JET said i could have it for free! i volunteered to pick it up from her place, which is the least i can do. her town is south of my town, and i've actually never driven down that way. kochi city as well as the next-nearest city where i go for haircuts are all to the north (north-east, to be precise), so this'll be fun. while doing research on google maps yesterday for the drive down, i kind of noticed that it seems to be more developed than my town, in the sense that there are more businesses and places of interest. i might consider visiting there more often!

it's not been a good week for singapore. first, the increase in COVID cases due to KTVs, and then a literal axe murder in a school. is that even the same place i left last year!? to me, it seems like the country is on a decline. there are several factors that i think have contributed to this, and i've actually blogged about it before. by some coincidence, there are 2 quotes from epic rap battles of history that i feel apply to the whole picture. the first is "it's a country, not a company you can play like monopoly" (from obama vs. romney). increasingly over the last decade or so, singapore has been run like a corporation, at the expense of the social/human element that a country should have. that's why i tell people who ask that singapore has no soul. the second quote goes "your whole miserable country is the size of one state" (from roosevelt vs. churchill). only in singapore's case, it's even smaller. going by land area, singapore should not be difficult to administer. yet, we have the highest-paid politicians in the world, who have spectacularly failed the people in this time of need. and worse, who refuse to acknowledge that they might be out of their depth.

enough depressing stuff. this post started out so positive, too! time to go shower and pick up the oven. also, going to a further town to start the license conversion process. might detour to kochi city for a treat - godiva is offering a 99% cacao chocolate drink. bonus is, it's in collaboration with a series of characters that i quite like. today will be a good day!

-random thought of the day: 5 day weekend!-

Fruit has been the latest contributor to me spending more than absolutely necessary. i've become mildly hooked on japanese grapes, which are superior to regular grapes that i could get at NTUC in basically every way...except price. the main difference is, the flesh of japanese grapes are quite separate from their skins, which allows you to suck the insides out through the stem-hole. that looks way more NSFW written out than it sounded in my head. but yes. eating japanese grapes is much easier than the regular american ones. they taste better, too!

so far, i've tried the kyoho, campbell, and delaware varieties. the last one has small fruits tightly clustered together, so the way to eat them is to kind of directly suck them off the stem/vine. just imagine a cartoon depiction of luxury, where a servant lowers a bunch of grapes into someone's mouth and the stem comes up empty - something like that. campbell grapes smell super good; imagine the scent of artificial grape flavouring. it's exactly that, but natural. only downside is that they have seeds, so more care has to be exercised while eating them. normally, seeds would be an instant deal-breaker, but i'm strangely ok with them in this case. kyoho is the stereotypical japanese grape - big, sweet, juicy. i think that one of the bunches that i bought was a little older, because there was a bit of a wine-y quality to the grapes. might have been because of natural fermentation.

all the grapes mentioned above are purple-skinned varieties. there's a green-skinned one called shine muscat that i want to try, but the price is a huge deterrent. we're talking like over 3000 yen (SGD 40) for a medium-sized bunch. and that segues into my next point, which is why is fruit in japan so expensive? regular kyoho grapes go for about 1500 yen a bunch of about 30 to 40 grapes, so i've been buying discounted small portions at like 300 yen for 10 grapes. the delawares and campbells are slightly more affordable, at 500+ yen a pack. but even then, that's expensive compared to SGD 2 or 3 for about double the weight of american grapes. granted, it's not an apple-to-apple comparison (well, it actually is a grape-to-grape one), because of the different varieties and the different locations where they're sold.

there's no denying, however, that fruit is generally more expensive in japan. it's not due to import cost either, because most of the really expensive fruit is produced within the country. it's because japanese society places a premium on something if it took a lot of effort to produce. i'd understand if something was particularly difficult to grow, say, like if they tried to grow a tropical fruit in a temperate climate, but oftentimes, the difficulty is self-inflicted. for instance, there was this show about how japanese farmers produce the perfect melon. apart from only allowing each melon tree to produce just one fruit, one step involves hand-rubbing/polishing the melon several times a day. they even said that the farmer wears through several pairs of white gloves a day from all the rubbing! this is what i mean by creating their own difficulty.

another factor is the overly strict and quite arbitrary judging criteria. honestly, i don't think the average consumer would be able to discern the difference in taste between the two top grades, and most professionals probably wouldn't be able to either in a blind taste test. along with their obsession of having aesthetically pleasing fruit, like perfectly round melons with a nice pattern on the skin. i suppose it also lends to the image/impression of eating something ridiculously premium. because you paid a bomb for it, you want it to be good, and that biases your experience. here's an idea of what i mean by ridiculous - the highest grade of hand-polished melon can sell for 20000 yen (~SGD 250) per fruit! that's got to be at least 50-75 times more expensive than a regular melon. that's way way beyond what any sane person should pay. although granted, i don't think the regular japanese person eats $250 melons every day. they seem to be more for gift-giving. in my case, i wait for clearance sales, or less pretty fruit that's been marked down, because i'm a cheapo.

quite a ramble on such a pointless topic! i guess it was also an insight into how people's minds work. coming back to more relevant topics, i was a little annoyed yesterday. background: the primary school english teacher asked me to go early to attend their staff meetings on friday morning, because there's a segment where the other english teacher and i are supposed to conduct a short english speaking session for the teachers. i'm not one for early starts, as you all might know. but that's fine. what annoyed me is that the english sessions were cancelled for the past 3 weeks because the meeting overran. i wouldn't mind going early and doing the thing i was going early for, but it's annoying to go early for nothing. to be fair, i'm only annoyed in the morning when it happens, because the thought of 'i got up early for nothing' is foremost on my mind. but i'm ok with the arrangement on a whole, because i get to finish work earlier on friday too.

it makes me wonder how much emphasis is placed on english, particularly in rural japan. i'm grateful that most teachers will make the effort to speak some english to me, even if it's just a simple "good morning". but the general public...i don't know. it's a bit premature for me to say this because i don't have a large enough sample size, but i'm running a survey for the kids, where one of the statements is "i study english only for the sake of passing exams", and they have to rate how strongly they agree with it. i've gotten a few "strongly agree"-s, which saddens me just a little. but hey - i can kind of understand it. i was interested in history in sec 2, but i just wanted to pass it in sec 3 and 4 because of the syllabus and the teacher. like i said before, some of the kids will probably never use english after they graduate, so it won't matter much. maybe i should use the angle that sometimes in life, you have to do things that you don't like. and being pushed out of your comfort zone is an opportunity for personal growth. i wonder how many will listen, though? 15-year old me probably wouldn't have.

remember what i said about getting to leave early on fridays? that didn't happen yesterday, because my newer supervisor forgot to tell me that i was due to submit a column for the town newsletter. worse, the deadline was thursday, ie. one day before she told me about it. so i ended up writing a first draft while at school A in the afternoon (thank goodness they didn't have class), and doing a refinement of the draft after going back to the board of education. that caused me to knock off late. i'm not TOO upset over it, but i hope it doesn't happen again. it's not fun to rush documents in a language with which you're not familiar. all things considered though, i think i did ok! it's due to be published in august, so i naturally wrote about national day. despite my feelings about the people in charge, i'm still grateful that i grew up in singapore. i wouldn't want to raise a kid in modern singapore, though.

just had a mild earthquake. just some slight swaying, nothing serious. but it kind of puts my nerves on edge, you know? threat of the nankai in the background and all. i hope i'm just thinking too much.

-random thought of the day: Need to catch up on sleep!-

Good news - sourdough loaf 2 turned out better than the first one did! less good news - it's still lacking in certain aspects. if my perfect ideal sourdough loaf was 100%, #2 would be 65%, and #1 would have been 35%. let's do a quick summary again:

what i did this time

- followed a lower-hydration recipe.

- the recipe was 100g 100% hydration starter, 450g flour, 310g water (i used 300g), 8g salt.

- didn't proof my bread for as long.

- rested it in the fridge overnight.

- preheated my oven for an hour on the maximum temperature setting (200°C).

- put a small bowl of water inside to generate steam.

- baked it without a loaf tin

- used the broiler/grill to brown the top of the bread.

- allowed the bread to cool on a wire rack - super important!

the good

+ the crust is harder, browner, and tastes better

+ air bubbles are more numerous and more distributed throughout the bread.

+ there was a satisfying hollow sound when i tapped the bread.

the less good

- the lower third to quarter of the loaf is still dense.

- the crust is on the chewy side (could be good or bad).

- the bottom was still tacky.

after some evaluation, i've come to the conclusion that the oven is the weakest link right now. the heat it generates simply isn't enough. i haven't measured the temperature yet, but the fact that the little cup of water didn't boil even after being in there for an hour makes me doubt that the internal temperature ever reached 200 degrees. also, there's no bottom heating element, which makes me think that the bottom of the loaf isn't receiving as much heat as quickly, so the outside doesn't crisp up and it doesn't cook inwards from both the top and bottom. i've contemplating getting a new oven, and just nice that a JET in the next town is leaving and holding a farewell sale! if that doesn't work out, there's a decent low-end model going for about 7000 yen on rakuten. i'm hoping the soon-to-be former JET's oven is in decent condition, because she wants to let it go for 2500 yen. huge savings!

surprisingly, another contributing factor to the lousy bottom was me letting the bread cool on a cutting board. my guess is that the moisture on the bottom of the loaf had nowhere to escape to, so it went back in and made the bottom gummy. i put the loaf onto a wire rack midway through, and i saw a difference after only like 10 minutes. such a small modification, but it made such a huge difference.

second-last week of school next week! tests are over, and there's a bit more breathing room. i'm not sure what the teachers will want me to do, but i'm expecting classes to be more relaxed. i've got class on saturday as well, so it's going to be just a bit more taxing than a regular work week. but the bright side is that thursday and friday are holidays (sea day and sports day in some order), plus i'm taking my off-in lieu on wednesday to begin the license conversion process. that's a total of 5 days off! it's actually called "silver week" in japan, and it's normally another prime travelling opportunity...but COVID.

physical well-being check in - weight is stagnating, time for some exercise after work. i'm drinking between 2 to 3 litres of water a day, yet i can feel an ulcer developing in my mouth. i wonder why? too much salt in my diet? or maybe i'm losing more water due to sweating. should up the water intake, because i realize although i'm drinking more water, my toilet frequency/volume is fairly unchanged...but that's probably a little more than you all want to know. i'll end on that note then!

-random thought of the day: Hope the air-con repair won't cost too much.-

Attempt #2 for sourdough is currently in progress; i'm between the second and third set of folds. it's supposed to develop gluten and strengthen the dough, something like that. changing the ratios really helped! the dough is so much more solid and handle-able. still sticky dough (though - sorry), but nothing a bit of flour or dampened fingers can't fix. next obstacle will be oven temperature, which i'm going to try and work around by preheating the oven for longer.

more insect updates, i killed another few more cockroaches, and i seem to be hosting a mosquito colony somewhere. i've been bitten close to 10 times in the past week! something that i discovered was that my clothes and room freshener spray is a great mosquito-killing aid. while a spray of it doesn't kill the mosquito outright, i think the droplets weigh down their wings to the point where they can't stay airborne. so they crash to the floor, and i take great satisfaction in smashing them into oblivion. it works for cockroaches too! somehow they get immobilized after a hit of the spray. since i probably only get bitten when i'm sleeping, i'm thinking of getting mosquito repellent/insecticide of some sort. while my immediate thought is mosquito coils (thanks, SAF) i don't want to deal with a potential fire hazard, since i'm living in a largely wooden house. not to mention the smoke and the smell. googling has turned up that electric and wind-dispersed repellents are available too. maybe i'll drop by either the pharmacy or hardware store.

my guild had a watch party for black widow (the movie) last night. the movie was good, but it deviated in a couple of very significant points from the comics. guess that's why it's called an adaptation. i still liked it though! there were several plot twists, some of which i saw coming, others which i didn't. i think i'd want to watch it again, because there are several small details that i think i missed during the early part of the movie, which became more relevant in the later part. overall, i'd recommend watching it.

coincidentally, or maybe because of it, i had quite an action-packed dream last night. as with most dreams, they rarely stay in my memory for long after i wake up. i wish i remembered it (and more of my dreams in general), because for something to leave an impression, it must have been, well, impressive!

been sleeping with the air-con every night for the past week. i'm a little afraid to receive my next electricity bill, but as long as it's not ridiculously expensive (like within 1.5 to 2 times of my usual bill), it'll be worth paying it just to get away from the heat. the thing i found interesting was how closing the door confined the cold to the room. yes, i know from a scientific view that there's no such thing as "cold", just absence of heat, but it's easier to explain this way. what more, the door between my room and the computer room is just a wooden lattice with paper serving as the main cover. i didn't expect such a thin door to have such a great effect! also, i like the way japanese houses are designed. they're very...partitional, which means you can open up regions of different areas depending on the need.

nothing much happened this week...just the usual classes and stuff. i've been making summer break worksheets for the kids, while bearing in mind that they'll have homework from the other english teachers and the other subject teachers too. 4 to 5 worksheets for 6 weeks of break should be manageable, right? hopefully they use the time to catch up on things they're weak in. although thinking back about how i was as a student, i don't have too high hopes. but hey, i turned out fine(-ish) in the end. i'm sure they'll be ok eventually.

-random thought of the day: I should go cycling tomorrow!-

Point-form quick update for sourdough!

the good:

+ it tastes nice; good flavour.

+ it wasn't as difficult as i'd imagined.

+ i got some air bubbles and a nice top crust.

the bad:

- the bottom half of the loaf is dense.

- overall texture is leaning towards chewy/tacky.

- the dough was too wet.

- the bread tastes a little too salty.

learning points:

1. use less water; youtube bakers recommend about 70% hydration.

2. if i do it right, the loaf should be able to hold its shape without a tin.

3. my oven only goes up to 200 degrees. i need 230 degrees initially.

4. don't let the dough ferment for too long.

next try this weekend!

-random thought of the day: That should settle all my snacking needs.-

End-june/early july will now be a key frame of reference for me in japan. it's when the weather suddenly takes a turn for the hot and humid. at least, it was this year. i can stand heat, as long as there's shade and moving air. but when sweat won't evaporate off my skin, it just feels horrible. i've gone from feeling comfortable both indoors and outdoors, to sweating like a proverbial dog. proverbial because literal dogs don't really sweat. but yes. it feels like summer has really started now. good thing that i won't have to be in school during the hottest period of summer!

couple of unexpected expenses over the last week. first, my car battery died. according to the mechanic, i didn't close a door properly, and the interior light that remained on drained the battery. good thing i tried to go somewhere last sunday, and found out about the problem then! i'd have hated to only discover it on monday. also because given the time i leave home for work, i'd definitely run late. to my immense fortune, the mechanic was available on sunday, and he came down to see the issue. not only that, he lent me a car while he took mine into the shop. end result was that he changed the battery, and i'm 8250 yen poorer for it. the other unexpected expense is going to be my air-con, which stopped responding to the remote. i'd thought it was a case of depleted battery, so i went to the supermarket last night to get AAA batteries, but that wasn't it. probably a problem with the sensor on the unit itself. so that's going to cost some money to repair. the good news here though, is that i found out the air-con could still be turned on using a small little button under the cover. so that saved me a tremendous amount of discomfort and sweating last night.

i finally decided to attempt making a loaf of sourdough bread. my starter's had about a fortnight already, and i reasoned that it should have had enough time to stabilize. i started it yesterday, and it's currently resting in the loaf tin before i bake it tomorrow morning or evening. one mistake i made was leaving it in the fridge last night. i should have left it out in the open for bulk fermentation. but well, it's just a matter of time. i don't have too high expectations, considering that this is my first go at it, plus my oven only goes up to 200°C, which is 30 to 50 degrees below what most youtube bakers recommend. i figure that as long as it's not overly dense and tastes decent, i'll count it as a win. something to improve in the next loaf (if i decide to do it again) would be to use less water. the dough still feels a little too flowy/sticky. apart from that, 2 more things i want to try are ondeh-ondeh and kueh lapis. i have most of the ingredients ready, except for cooking oil (used to prevent the kueh lapis from sticking to everything). in the coming weeks, i guess.

less good news on the weight loss front, i appear to have stagnated since last week. perhaps i'm finally hitting that plateau. to be fair, i knew it would come eventually, but it still doesn't feel good on some level now that it's here. i guess it's time to start including some physical activity before and/or after work. and i've admittedly been a little lax about the dieting thing in recent weeks; buying more snacks more frequently and even eating more for dinner. reminders to self: although i've come a decent way, there's still a long way to go as far as this journey is concerned. some discomfort is good, it means that there's change. and while i should be strict, i shouldn't be overly hard on myself either. after all, it's only been 7 months, and i've progressed to about halfway in terms of weight to lose. that's something to be proud of! perhaps the most important thing is to keep the weight loss sustainable and sustained. that's something that i'll have to deal with even after JET - probably for the rest of my life. but let's not cross bridges too early.

2 more weeks until the end of school. the last day of school is tuesday, 20 july (why, japan!?) and school will resume on wednesday, 01 september (again, why!?). that's 6 weeks of freer time, within which i have 3 days of summer leave (already blocked off) and more liberty to take leave. while i don't think i'll need to take extra days off, it's good to have the flexibility there in case something crops up or if i just need a break. i'm planning on assigning holiday homework to all levels, but i haven't decided on the specifics yet. although now that my mind drifted to the topic, ideas are beginning to form. just nice that tomorrow is the beginning of test week, meaning that i don't have classes, and have more free time to work on those ideas.

-random thought of the day: Contemplating getting a new pen...-