Hiromi Usagi!

Today is not bad, but Japanese summer is pretty brutal…yes..humid and hot..my mom got sick, and so did my grandpa. Poor my mom, she has been taking care of my grandparents /her parents since they both have alzheimer’s disease. I don’t have a job yet and having pretty much laid back days since I got back from the states, but there were a few days when I was exhausted by heat and passed out pretty early. I want a healthy body and everyone should have a health body too…

Last Sat right before my Kamakura trip, Yurie invited me and her friend, Sayuri for a nice dinner again! It was so much fun as usual, and we had healthy and yummy foods. Her famous!! lentil soup, babaganush (spell? those eggplant dish with tahini..yumm), framboise sourbet (homemade!!), and the salad which she made when she came to Chicago! The salad has sauteed shrimp, mixed dark greens, tomatos, avocado, pine nuts, and more and more with balsamic vinegrett. I brought fresh ginger from my parents’ farm and homemade miso and tofa (tofu desert that I had in Taiwan and love it since then). I bought a fresh soymilk for tofu making (not that one in a box which is processed and not able to be tofu) which comes with a NIGORI which makes soymilk solid. It turned out pretty good. I made sweet ginger sauce with fresh ginger and brown suger for the syrup. I love the warm soft sweet tofu with sweet ginger sauce. The night was really fun and they are amazing women whom I want to be like. beautiful, smart, and sweet—they both are health conscious! So am I!!

A few nights ago, my dad and I had a good conversation. I realized that I tend to overwork and warn myself out and abuse? myself until my body says no…I might not be physically weak, but I just stressed myselft out. I am getting better at it though. When I worked at tv and radio station, I was always overworked and exhausted. My health condition was not good all the time. When I traveled with Yurie to France, I always asked her to slow down and I always complained backpain or headache or whatever the pain I had. when she came to Chicago, she was surprised how strong I got, haha, you guys should know that I am getting strong!! I didn’t see drastic change except I don’t get sick as often as before. I used to hate when people don’t understand people like us who get sick all the time. How many times people told me this, “are you sick again? (with a face, you know what I am talking about)” I think that relaxation is a key…yoga, meditation, therapy, or whatever… and also how you take things or see the world plays an imporatnt role as far as stress relief goes.

To be honest, not getting scholarship for the phD program devastated me for a big time. I felt that I failed and my life became meaningless in a way, but I have good friends who supported me throughout my hardship, and I realized that my life was not so bad, haha… I do have great friends. well, I don’t have many friends, but a few good ones!!! I am talking about YOU!! Just one failure didn’t seem a big deal when I see my life with a different perspective. I think that I learned the balance is important in my life. It is still challenging and never ends, but I feel better now, probably because I have been resting for a while…haha…

Anyhow, I just wanted to say many thanks to my friends who support me all the time…