It’s amazing how flexible reality can be at times. One moment something feels like the end of the world. The next it becomes an opportunity.
Our leak turned from a disaster that stole 2 weeks of our life and may have ended up forcing us to move into an opportunity to turn our shabby apartment into a home.
It seems that the tiny nets put in when the repair man was fixing the ceiling have completely scared off the rats for now so we no longer have to keep trying to scare them away before they find a way into our apartment. He also built a new wall between the cabinet and the ceiling to cover some crevice where we had to stuff cardboard so they couldn’t enter. Now there is a proper wall.
We replaced the small foam tiles with nicer larger ones where less dust can enter between them and which look and feel way nicer. We threw out stuff we didn’t need and rearranged the room so now my music space is much larger.
Overall life feels more comfortable than it did a before the leak.
When god hands you lemons, don’t just make lemonade. Start a lemonade stand.
Yesterday we were feeling down about the bad weather which caused the flea market to be canceled. It was the last chance to sell hats on the street until April. On top of that one of our favorite bands was playing an hour away but we found out too late to make it in time.
But I trusted that it would still be a good day.
We got some food and as we were eating a new friend who had come to my last show sent a message saying he had come to check out our hats. Since the event was cancelled and our hats were at home ate lunch together and got to know him better.
We remembered a screen print artist we like was holding a pop up shop as he sometimes does and started walking there
On the way we went past my favorite clothing store and found not one but 4 cardigans that fit my style perfectly (colorful grandma man!) all on sale for 10% their original price! Not 10% off, 90% off! I’ve been hoping to level up my wardrobe to find a way to blend my work and private life more comfortably, with cloths that fit both. I managed to do it all in one fell swoop.
Then with the screen prints I could test the limits of my silliness:
We made a bunch of new prints on our clothing and had some chai tea and chatted with other people who had come cor the flea market before it was cancelled. We learned we had a lot in common!
Then on the way back to the pop up shop we noticed a familiar face who shoudn’t be there. We all froze because it was so shocking to run into them there.
It was our friends from another city! We knew they were coming but we didn’t know they had arrived already and it was wild that they walked right into us. We exchanged hugs and confusion at the situation and spent the rest of the night together until we finaly crased at 1 AM.
What was supposed to have been a quick bite to eat had turned into a wild adventure and proof that even an unfavorable plan B can turn out better than the original plan.
In a single week we’ve got a much more comfortable apartment free of charge, a new wardrobe, and have connected a bunch of friends together. Meanwhile my music youtube channel has started taking off in the algorithms, only a little but it’s nice to finally be pushed out to new listeners.
Come February, these friend will be moving much closer too so we have more opportunities to hang out and work on projects together.
Later that night, I had seen that some favorite artists had gone to that show an hour away and I may have had a chance to talk to them but I felt 0 regret. I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I will meet those artists when I am ready to.
For now I will keep on holding small events and honing my skill and making fun media to go along with it.
Here are some shorts I made from my last two live performances:
First jam on stage
I + Everything Live - Water and Air
Or for the full 15 minute session:
I+Everything Live at Mogu Mogu in Tokyo - Jam + Speaking Leaves.
