Rain Episode

Just a story on how today went. I think it could've been a contending episode for a daytime sitcom. That or a TV drama gone wrong. But then again I'm the type who laughs over prison cell humour and cries over MasterChef finale episodes so...

Anyway.

Some food for the soul I read earlier in the day.

The colds have gotten bad. I don't know what it is I've caught but I can tell what a serious bad ass of a virus it must be because it just won't flush out of my system amidst all the water I've been drinking. Coughing, sneezing, eyes watering, I give Reindeer Rudolph a bad rep. I think I've grown a nerve in my head to surface from all the hardcore coughing I've been pulling. And as if physically being at work wasn't a struggle enough, it had to be twice as worse because of the clients I had to meet. Two of which were firsts! Talk about striking memorable impressions.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief because finally, my day at work was over. Have I mentioned that the entire week's forecast was of ominous clouds and torrential showers? This time though, I had a small (and disposable) umbrella in my bag so I decide to push my luck. Before catching the train home, I stopped by Dean & Deluca for my weekend popcorn stash and the Takashimaya deli for some soup (only to end up buying instant Tom Yum noodles). Already starving and extremely exhausted because it was already past 3PM and I had not eaten since breakfast, I got on the train. But as soon as the doors shut and the conductor makes the announcement I realise I wasn't headed home. That's actually when the sadist sitcom bit of the story comes to life. This had already happened to me once before and more or less under the same circumstances: exhaustion and starvation.

There's just no way you could pick up distress by looking at this photo. I mean, it's shoes. Which braved through ankle-deep puddles, btw.

I got off the first stop which is already outside the city. It's a small town, very deserted and doesn't look very appealing especially under whatever light ominous clouds selfishly shed. I sit comfortably on one of the benches as I wait to board my train back to Nagoya. I thought, "this isn't so bad". I was so calm and collected that I even took a photo of my feet to Instagram and document such fleeting moment! Getting the right shots, picking out the perfect filter and typing in the caption reduced my dying phone to 5%. I still thought, "this isn't so bad, the train will be coming soon".

Then it started to rain. Nothing of the cute kind. The kind where horror movies are set and a protagonist dies. Also the kind where they announce that your train isn't just delayed but that it's never coming because it's too dangerous. That's when the calm evaporated. I know how inappropriate it is to be saying this now but long story short, to get home, I had to take a different train at a different station which I had no idea how to get to. Judging from the two-point directions the train ticket master gave me, I assumed it was next-door. But I had to be sure so I brought out my emergency Japanese skillzzz and asked the old lady in the elevator with me where the station was and she volunteers to walk me all the way there. IT WASN'T NEXT-DOOR. IT WAS A 10 MINUTE WALK. IN THE RAIN. I got to the station safe and in one-piece albeit soaked along with my deli haul. And oh, spoiler alert! I made it home safe, too with my verbal diarrhoea in the zone.

It's luckless days like this I'm even more grateful that I live in Japan surrounded by very helpful people. I never have to worry about anything more than experiencing bad weather because I know everything else will pan out right. So I smiled when I got home and made myself an early dinner (spoiler: the instant noodles were disgusting).

And somewhere in the middle of my phone being under double digits of juice, I managed to read my emails and look what turned up. :)

Something I don't want to get into but it couldn't have come at a better time as I've been having my INA episodes as of late again. I'm not deeply religious, I admit, but reminders like it are more than comforting.

I hope your day was better but if not, I hope you find a reason to think it can't be completely horrible. xx