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What a year, let me tell you. A veritable roller-coaster one could say. Without order nor priority, formatted in such a way to be relatively legible, and generally grammatically correct, in 2019 here are some things I did.
Got rid of the wonderful Honda Airwave for an old Subaru Outback
Confirmed that said Outback can float, for a short distance, during floods
Experienced typhoon 19 with flooding and wind; evacuated though luckily had no damage
Did a cross-country solo trip along the Japan sea up to Akita by motorcycle and hammock
Made washi
Made traditional aizome tenugui (natural indigo died cloth)
Did yoga too many times to count
Surfed far too many times to count (now with sweet carves!)
Slammed a surfboard into my nose, fixing a years-long breathing problem an ENT couldn’t fix
Waited a grueling 12 weeks for my 8th one-year-visa in a row
Had over a dozen job interviews, several conducted fully in Japanese
Took a 240-hour Japanese for the workplace language course
Made a seasonal vegetable mini-farm
Toured with my mom around our area, stayed in a nice ryokan, had hanami under the sakura
Did some wild off-roading on Ana’s Benly 50cc (and later repairs)
Celebrated the 100th “Izu English Running Club” in August, then kinda stopped the club
Ran the "Minami Izu Trail Marathon," 20km that ends with onsen and ise-ebi soup
Had Influenza “Type A”, likely the most physically painful sickness I’ve ever had, coupled with 36 hours of something much worse than a very bad psychedelic trip.
Took “Xofluza", a miracle pill that literally stopped all flu symptoms within 6 hours, but destroyed all digestive functions for 2 weeks. Not recommended.
Had a fever brought on by stress that was also physically debilitating.
Joined and helped many hunting/butchering/skinning/sausage-making get-togethers (including Tochigi)
Continued to study for hunting/gun licensing tests
Built many new friendships with people from around the world, from Italy, India, Switzerland, Scotland, Brazil, China, Vietnam, and more.
Made a website for a local tourism company
Made an artistic rendition of my good friends to display at their wedding
Spilled an entire cup of coffee on my laptop as a “cherry on top” of some stressful times
Got a girl pregnant
Spent xmas day watching “A Christmas Story” from a hospital bed
It was an awesome year. My goals for next year are similar to Woody Guthrie's.