【新年】Welcome to the new year
あけましておめでとうごあいます。
Welcome to 2022, everyone. May this year be at least slightly better than the last.
We didn't do anything special to celebrate new years. We relaxed in a warm scented bath, made Temaki-sushi and Miso soup for dinner, and then Ryu watched TV while I took a nap. He woke me up at 5 minutes till midnight to do the countdown together and then I went right back to sleep.
It turns out that the constant exhaustion I've been feeling over the past month wasn't entirely caused by my running here and there on errands. My bloodwork results came back and were disasterous to the point that the hospital called me in for an emergency appointment, re-did all exams, and then asked me not to leave my house until my next appointment. Normally, that would have been impossible, but it ended up snowing, taking away any desire for me to leave the house. The appointment is tomorrow and if my results come in unchanged, I won't be eligible to use an epidural. Though at this point, whether I can use one or not is already up in the air, as my hospitalization starts on a Sunday, and they don't offer the epidural on weekends or holidays, it seems.
This morning, I'm enjoying a home-made pancake (My first since I was 8!), non-caffinated coffee, and a warmed honey apple with cinnamon. I have about 20 pages of editing and translating to do. Part time work has been steady, luckily. It's never more than a few thousand yen a project, but it adds up and gives us a bit more pocket money until maternity leave pay kicks in, or I go back to work.
The last project I just finished gave me enough to purchase a new moisturizer and still put money aside to set up the baby's American citizenship (Which will run us about $300).
I'm also going to put aside some of that to get my hair and nails done sometime after the baby is born. I don't want to deal with frizzy hair in the humid summer, and I've always loved getting manicures, but work doesn't allow it, and neither does my hospital, so the gap after the baby is born up until I go back to work is the perfect timing for me to get it out of my system.
Ryu and I did end up going to Omiya Shrine for our first prayers of the year. The news keeps going on about increasing numbers, new variants and future precautions, but the truth is people are no longer worried about COVID, and everything was extremely crowded. We had to line up for a long while and then be led in groups in to the main area for fortunes and prayer. Pre-covid, even with crowds, everything took about an hour. This year, it took us three. A lot of people didn't bother with masks while walking to the Shrine, and put them on only just before entering the shrine area. People are going to do what they do. It makes no sense for me to stress over them. All we can do is watch ourselves. We did our best to get in and out as quickly as possible. We'll go again after the baby is born, and take it slow. Enjoy the food stalls and all that.
I prayed for: ① A safe birth ② Monetary stability ③ A smooth return to work ④ Finding a decent house ⑤My family being able to safely come.
My fortune was: 吉, Lucky.
