Check-In: September 29

What I’m working on: I haven’t got much going on this week. I’ve been working on a pretty big custom order, so that’s nice… but not exciting. I did make a new banner image for my shop and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Yay! I need to start working on more note cards and invitations next.

What I’m reading: I got Where’d You Go, Bernadette from the library… but I haven’t even opened it. I’ve gotten so bad at reading lately. I’m the wooooorst.

What I’m watching: Here’s a problem I rarely have — I’ve got too much to watch. Season 6 of Portlandia is out on Netflix, and I’ve almost finished it. I’ve got 150 more episodes of The Chris Gethard Show to catch up on. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 2 is happening right now and it’s everything. I’ve also for some reason decided it’s high time I watched Twin Peaks.

And now Lyn has me hooked on Eat Your Sushi (formerly Eat Your Kimchi). It’s a YouTube channel presented by Simon and Martina, a Canadian  couple who moved to Japan this year after several years in Korea. I have to admit, I was a little bit put off at first because the initial impression is that they’re a little overly otaku-y. But, they really grew on me and I kind of feel bad for the knee-jerk reaction. (Especially considering what a weeb I used to be.) And I’m kind of supremely jealous that they’re living in Japan and being internet stars.

Sometimes they find a lady walking a rabbit on the street in Tokyo and react very much like I would (i.e. freaking the eff out).

What really hooked me though is the look into their every day life in Japan. I love travel shows and I love food shows and I love Anthony Bourdain waxing poetic about global issues while eating pho. But what I find endlessly fascinating is how normal people live in other countries. Beyond the famous sights and cultural treasures… I want to know what houses and schools and grocery stores look like in the rest of the world. Watching a video blog by a couple of ex-pats is good for that. They’re figuring out how to live in a new country, not just visit it. Anyway, if you’re at all interested in every day life in Japan (or what to see all the crazy snacks they find over there), I recommend it.

Where I’m going: I’ll be MIA next week, because the husband person and I are going to Chattanooga, Tennessee at the end of next week. Hopefully we’ll get to experience a little bit of real life fall. Something we don’t get much of here in the subtropical Deep South. I’ll be back the week after with pictures!