Changing My Mind

The conversation went like this:

Daughter Katie in Japan:  I need you to bring a thing of Wired (hair product).

Me:   I told you I’m only bringing a backpack.  Wired is too big to put in a carry-on.  I’m sure we can find something that will work in Japan.

Katie:  Mom, NO ONE in Japan has curly hair.

Me:  <<silence>>

Katie:  Besides, I was hoping you could bring some cheese popcorn and chocolate covered pretzels.

And just like that, I changed my mind.  I decided to bring a small bag that I got as a retirement gift and fill it full of “comfort” stuff.  Then I’ll mail the bag back with Katie’s stuff.  Excellent!

Well this has changed everything!  Now I bring a small blanket, extra pj’s, a second pair of shoes, and a heating pad (it’s cold in Japan!).  BUT, I can only bring things I am willing to leave behind.  When I leave Japan it will be with my backpack only.

So I have started this post many times.  I am so full of nervous energy and I’m really ready to just get this over with…..i.e., move out and get to Japan.  What happens 90-days after I arrive in Japan is barely on my radar and not worrying me (yet).

But I promised myself that if I was gonna do a blog I wouldn’t just put the good stuff.  “First I did this and WOW it was great!  Then I did that and OH it was amazing!”  I promised to write about the yucky stuff too.  My head is spinning.  And this morning I realized I can’t find my credit card.  Suddenly my brain felt like it was humming like the old t.v. antenna we had on our roof as a kid.

This last-minute stuff wears me out.  While I am not a “super-planner,” I am not a procrastinator.  I can’t sleep well and haven’t been working out much.  I am so distracted that meeting a friend for happy hour seems like a better solution than working out and drinking a smoothie for dinner.

But it was the letter from my apartment on my door Wednesday night that nearly made my brain explode.  Turns out, I didn’t give my required 60-day move-out notice in writing, so I’m being placed on the convenient month-by-month plan, at $2,100/month.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I was in the apartment office the next morning and, sorry, there’s nothing we can do.  I very politely explained that I understood the short-term very expensive lease I signed so I could leave in February as my notice.  Nope, they had the email they sent me indicating I had to put it in writing.

Two days went by with no call from the manager.  Honestly, it’s this kind of stuff that makes me so sympathetic with people.  I have a college degree and have been organizing this move since September—yet I missed a pretty key factor.  I started composing a letter in my head to corporate, a lawyer, the State Attorney’s Office…………I felt so frustrated to give emotional energy to this problem.  It definitely became another excuse not to work out.  Of course, I told myself over and over and over………..$4,200 in the grand scheme of life is nothing and this is definitely not a real problem.  But it had me in a bit of a tailspin.

Lo’, the office lady calls me and “guess what!? It’s all worked out and you can move out February 5^th with no penalty.  We just need you and Katelyn to come to the office by 6 p.m. to sign the Intent to Move” form.”  No problem, except Katelyn is in Japan where it is now Saturday so no notary, blah blah blah.  Anyway, all’s well that ends well.

So this morning when my head was buzzing and it was only 9 a.m. and I can’t find my credit card, and I’m trying to change my address online but they charge $1 each (what, is this a scam!?), now I’ve accomplished nothing and need to find a moving truck…………I decided to have a martini.  Just kidding—WOW I decided to do a 10-minute HIIT routine (High Intensity Interval Training).  Go ahead and laugh—10 minutes, really!?!?  Here’s the link and I double-dog-dare you to try it—I was sweating after 1 minute.

https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/quick-10-minute-lower-body-tabata-hiit

Every day is a new day and I can’t wait!!

Photo:  A great distraction yesterday when my mom, my sister and I nearly passed out laughing trying to get 4 jumbo balloons in my car for my nephew’s birthday.  They would not fit in the trunk and we only got 3 in the car.  We tied the other to our shopping cart for the next lucky shopper!