Skip to main content

More Giggles

I'm not totally sure what a panic attack feels like or is officially defined as, but I had one, and it lasted for most of the morning. It happens sometimes. I remember the first one I ever had was in high school, after a cast party for a play I was in. It scared the heck out me. I had never heard of panic attacks.

I went a long time without it happening again, but last year it started happening kinda regularly. I went to a doctor and he prescribed medicine, and it seemed to work, but I stopped taking it because I thought what I needed was professional counseling, which I've been doing for over a year now. 

Maybe I'll try the medicine again. I think I just need to make some adjustments to my work habits. Yesterday's panic attack was caused by a combination of work and general life pressure. I think. 

Eri and the boys and I were gonna go to grandpa's house to pick vegetables in his garden. The boys love grandpa's garden. In the end Eri and the boys went and I stayed home to catch up on work and try to get some quiet time.

It took most of the morning to just calm down and get to a point where I could concentrate on anything. My heart was racing and I was shaking. I did a few house chores and went for a walk. The quiet and solitude of the secluded ravine where Dounji Temple is always makes me feel somewhat calm.

From there I walked to this ramen shop I've always wanted to try. There's always a line out the door. Today I figured it was as good a time as any to head over there before the lunch rush and see what all the fuss is about.

They open at 11, and I got there just before that, but there was already a line and the counter inside was packed. I guess they start early on Sundays.

This place is like gourmet ramen. And just ramen. They don't mess around with gyoza and other stuff. The machine where you buy your ticket is pretty simple. Since it was my first visit I initially thought I should just try their standard, but my stomach and my curiosity and my love oily noodles led me to ordering the Deluxe Abura Soba.

And it was glorious. Handmade soba noodles with flavorful oil, a seasoned egg, mushrooms, and a full layer of grilled pork. 

For me this fits into the category of novelty noodles. It was delicious, but my next ramen trips will be to the standards - tan-tan-men, tonkotsu, spicy miso, with thin noodles and tangy soup.

I got some work done later and that helped me calm down and collect myself. I need to figure out how to balance things so I don't reach the point of panic. I always say that. Easier said than done.

Eri and the boys came home around sunset. They had a great day picking potatoes and persimmons and catching bugs. As I waited for them to return home I found myself staring out the window at the cool autumn sunset.


In the mornings I have a habit of making all the beds and folding up blankets. I even do it when I stay in hotels. I make my own hotel bed. 

This morning when I got up, even though I was feeling out of sorts with the impending panic, I made our bed as nicely as ever. Right as I was admiring my handiwork, Kenzo marched in and proceeded with his handiwork. Pun intended.


He was giggling and saying, "I have to do footprints."

I said, "Hey buddy. Don't you mean handprints?"

He looked at his hands, looked at me, looked at the bed, and said, "Oh. Yeah papa. Haaaaaand prints." More giggles ensued.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

lookin tired/feelin good

I can't even read the clock right. Eri: "You're going to soccer, right? Aren't you a bit early?" Me: "Yeah! We usually leave at this time and get there right on time. We gotta go! Let's go guys!" Soccer club starts at 10 a.m. The boys know that when the long hand on the clock gets to the 8 (9:40) it's time to go to the bathroom and get our socks and shoes on and head down to the car. The big hand was on 8. The problem that Eri saw was the short hand. It was 8:40, not 9:40. I'm going nuts. Slowly . Rapidly. An hour later, after I slowly enjoyed my coffee and disposed of the last beetle (yes, all four beetles have now gone back to the earth) and cleaned his bug box to make room for new bug acquisitions and the boys chilled out on the sofa watching TV, we set off. While the boys played soccer I headed across the parking lot to grab them some juice boxes for a job well done. This is not standard procedure, but Kenzo made his comeback today after ...
1 comment
Read more

Not About Baseball

I stayed up past my bedtime again last night. I almost made it. I watched a couple of episodes of Ted Lasso and came to a good stopping point where I was satisfied with myself for enjoying some quiet TV time with my favorite show and even though it was after midnight, I was confident I could still get a pretty good night's sleep.  But no. For some reason I decided it would be a good idea to just lay on the living room carpet and put on a movie. I saw the first seven or eight minutes of Goodfellas and then I woke up when the end credits were rolling with Sid Vicious' is cover of My Way . I brush my teeth and I can see the light of day already shining in through the bathroom window. "It’s almost the longest day of the year," I told myself, to at least rationalize why I'm brushing my teeth and crawling into bed at this hour. I was trying to minimize the mental anguish I regularly put on myself for not just going to bed like I should. I told Eri that I was thinking a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends and Co-workers

Taking a random Wednesday off from work means Thursday is going to be extra busy, and today was that. I was in meetings for a little over five hours and just barely managed to reply to emails that needed attention and attend to tasks that require daily steps forward. I have it so good because the people I work with are my friends. We even talked about this today in a meeting about our team culture. We do a solid amount of professional development and core values driven discussions. Officially, I am the manager, so my position has a certain nuance. For example, I know I'm not part of conversations that team members have amongst each other. And that's fine. It's natural. I trust everyone, as I would trust any friend, that they all have the best interests of each other and our organization at heart. They never let me down. The first meeting of the day was a two hour book study session. My team is passionate about growth, so we choose a book regularly, make a schedule, and meet...
1 comment
Read more