Genmaicha and slumps

• Last week I had my performance review at work. I had really positive feedback which was nice and am starting to think about my goals for next year. I’m trying to figure out what I want to focus on in the next stage of my career and there are a few different options for me to consider. I also got a Japanese mentor at work who I spoke to for the first time on Thursday. It was really fun and also reminded me just how different it is to chat to someone than be learning from a textbook.
• I finally had a trip down to London. I got to see a couple of friends around the time of their birthdays which was lovely, caught up with some other friends for the first time since before Covid and spent some time with one of my nephews. In the office I met a couple of people who I hadn’t met in person before which is always nice, and I had a lovely catch up with a couple of folks.
• I had some unexpected health news a few weeks ago which I’m not going to go into in depth, but it threw me a lot and has taken me a while to get my head around. One of the consequences is that I’ve changed my diet so I’m eating very strictly at the moment, which is something I find hard (my diet is generally healthy anyway, but I find it stressful to restrict the things that I eat which is what I need to do at the moment). It has meant that I’ve been trying out some new recipes which has been fun at times. And I remembered genmaicha tea which I love.
• We finished some intense training with Peg and unfortunately haven’t made any progress with the issue that drove us to training in the first place: her obsession with cars. She’s really difficult to walk down the road and it’s hard to think about moving to somewhere a bit busier when she’s like that. We’re really hoping that she’ll grow out of it, but also trying to think about how we can give her the life she needs but also be happy and where we want to be.
• I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump. I think I’ve been spending lots of mental energy on preparing for Christmas (buying gifts, writing cards, etc) and probably getting a bit obsessive about that which means that it’s really hard to slow my ADHD brain down to the speed required for reading. I gave up on a couple of books and have now been reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida for a few weeks without really getting into it. It’ll pass and I’m not worried, but I do miss really getting lost in a book when it’s not happening. I have been watching some of the football and we started season 2 of White Lotus last night.