Today, I was able to work from home so I decided to sit on my new outdoor furniture on my newly Ikea tiled lanai and soak in the sun and the beautiful not too hot weather as I listen to Haruki Murakami’s vinyl collection Spotify playlist and check out Kathy Fish’s flash fiction classes on Skillshare.

My lanai was a nightmare.

I have lived in this apartment for over ten years and have never used the balcony for more than hanging laundry as everyone in Japan do. The landlords had painted the floor, so the paint had been peeling away for years, layers upon layers of paint for each tenant. It was so disgusting I hid it when people came over, hoping they would never want to go out there.

Finally, we decided since we couldn’t travel or go anywhere because of self-quarantining, we would use that money to finally do something about the lanai. Ikea tiles, a wooden table and chairs set, and a hammock chair later and we have something that reminds us of home. You never realize how much you miss having an actual lanai until you recreate one for yourself. I guess for me what we had before was functiona,l not at all what I was raised thinking of as a lanai. Now, it’s more than a place to hang my laundry. It’s a place for dining, writing, reading, and enjoying the outdoors (I miss camping). I am grateful for that.

I also signed up for Skillshare so I could try Kathy Fish’s classes. I look forward to generating some new stories from them. I really admire her work.

Finally, the soundtrack to my day has been the jazzy mix of Murakami’s vinyl collection based on a Q&A on “Murakami San No Tokoro” curated by Masamoro Fujiki on Spotify. I don’t think I will ever finish it as it is over 235 hours long, but it’s been fun listening to it. It reminds me of my jazz choir days at Boise State University where I totally sucked at scatting (singing not pooping).

It’s been a good day so far and that good ol’ Gunma wind is blowing. I got a few work hours left so I will see what else I can get up to…