Hello beautiful,

Just a quick message today, as there wasn’t too much that happened. At work, I was practicing my pitch training. I’m getting quite used to it now and can do eight notes while hitting each one fairly consistently. Sometimes, while aiming for the C note, I’ll hit a C sharp instead, but I’m getting better at correcting myself. It’s just using sounds like “Na” and “La” at the moment, since replacing them with words makes me hit a different note. But I’m reminded of what my teacher said about being patient and kind to myself. I also remind myself that I’ve only had one lesson with her so far—and I think this is already a pretty good improvement! I’m trying to set aside about two hours a day for dedicated practice. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but I do believe that consistent effort over time will pay off.

I’m also listening to this book called Sweet Bean Paste by Tetsuya Akikawa, a story about—well—making sweet bean paste. It’s set in Japan and follows a man and an elderly woman making the paste for his pancake shop. I’m about 20% through and apparently there’s more to the story, but so far, it’s written quite beautifully. I’m quite picky with my book selection these days. Usually, I’ll listen to a book for about an hour before deciding whether to continue with it. Even if a book has a good review or is highly recommended by others, I’ve found that if it doesn’t resonate with me, I’m not afraid to drop it. To fill the silence, I just revisit old books. They’re very comforting to me.

I also made a phone call to Agia today for the first time, and we talked for an hour. I reckon we could’ve talked a little longer, but he had to end it because he needed to sleep, which was fair enough. He’s got a very calming voice, and he’s patient too. I find that we’re able to talk freely about life. He did hint at a difficult past year or so, which we didn’t go into detail about. I’ll let him share when the time feels right for him. He also mentioned having trouble sleeping and trying a lot of different things to help—like avoiding his phone before bed, eating well, exercising, and practicing mindfulness like journaling.

I’m fortunate not to suffer from troubled sleep. In fact, these days, if I do have trouble falling asleep, it’s usually because my mind is active—thinking about home renovations or exciting plans for the future. And plus, our current job isn’t very stressful, is it? We have to remind ourselves daily how grateful we are for the comfortable life we’re living right now and to enjoy it while it lasts. Like everything in life, these good times won’t last forever. But I have faith that we’ll be able to walk through the fog with grace whenever it falls on us.

Have a good night, buddy.

Chat soon. xx