{"id":1206,"date":"2012-09-30T22:58:18","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T13:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/life-in-japan\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2012-09-30T22:58:18","modified_gmt":"2012-09-30T13:58:18","slug":"whered-my-september-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/?p=1206","title":{"rendered":"Where’d my September go?!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow… September came and went without a peep from me. Now how’d that happen? I’m usually such a charming and talkative fellow (as you all know).<\/p>\n

September was, if I were to summarize it into one word, busy. If I were to summarize it into one word emphatically, it was\u00a0busy<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. If I were to… okay, you get the point. Since I can’t think of any good segues before I continue with a more interesting topic, let me throw some photos at you!<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a>

Better than Green Rice<\/p><\/div>\n

First off, we’ve got some blue rice (and the delicious mabo dofu. I know it’s simple and easy to make, but it’s just so\u00a0good<\/em>!<\/em>). Why is it blue? Dunno! When you live alone, sometimes you get bored and decide\u00a0I’M GOING TO MAKE BLUE RICE NOW!<\/strong> No one objects (because you live alone), so you make blue rice. I really should get married.<\/p>\n

Next?<\/p>\n

\"Watermelon...<\/a>

Watermelon cake!<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s a cake that looks like a watermelon! Why? Well, you should really stop asking. I really have no good reason for half the stuff I make. I figured I’d make a cake, summer was ending, and (in Japan) watermelon is associated with summer. So I made a cake that looks like one. Obviously.<\/p>\n

And lastly…<\/p>\n

\"PB&B\"<\/a>

PB&B
Peanut Butter and Brownie<\/p><\/div>\n

Ever since I was young, I’ve always loved brownies far more than any other cakes or baked goods. Pound cake is a close second, but nothing tops brownies.\u00a0Nothing<\/em>. So to commemorate one year since moving to Tokyo (and one year at my current job), I baked some brownies mixed with peanut butter (and topped with a peanut butter glaze!) and brought them to work. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating your own mile stones.<\/p>\n

But more seriously, yeah… I can’t believe a year has already passed since packing up in Yamaguchi and moving to Tokyo. It feels both like yesterday and forever, all at the same time. There’s a lot I miss about my time as an English teacher in Yamaguchi, but I am glad to move on to other things. I may be busy, but I’m at least immensely satisfied with my job now, and that counts for a lot in your overall perception of your life.<\/p>\n

Outside of work, I’ve been busy studying for the next Japanese character exam\u00a0(<\/em>the kanji kentei<\/em>). I passed level 5 back in the summer, which puts me squarely at an elementary graduate level for writing. I’m going to try level 4 later this month, which will have me writing kanji at a level equivalent to a junior high school student. I’ve got another month left, so wish me luck!<\/p>\n

Other than that, I can’t believe it’s already October! Ever since I was a child, this has always been my favorite time of the year. You’ve got Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas\/Jason!’s Birthday\/New Years, all rolled up into one, highly concentrated season. There’s\u00a0just<\/strong> enough time to enjoy it and not too much that it all gets old and boring.<\/p>\n

I’ll actually be doing stuff and going places this month (as opposed to reading books and studying, like I did all September), so I’ll have a little more to write about. Hopefully it’ll be of some interest. If not… well, I’m sure I’ll post more pictures of bizarre foods.<\/p>\n

And on that note, it’s time for me to finish up a few things and go to bed. Back to work tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow… September came and went without a peep from me. Now how’d that happen? I’m usually such a charming and talkative fellow (as you all know).<\/p>\n

September was, if I were to summarize it into one word, busy. If I were to summarize it into one word emphatically, it was\u00a0busy. If I were to… okay, you get the point. Since I can’t think of any good segues before I continue with a more interesting topic, let me throw some photos at you!<\/p>\n

Better than Green Rice<\/p>\n

First off, we’ve got some blue rice (and the delicious mabo . . . → Read More: Where’d my September go?!<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1210,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions\/1210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jrem.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}