A Sluggish August 31st Morning
August 31st. Counting today, I only have three days left in this city.
I woke up feeling pretty sluggish today. You'd think having all the time in the world would be amazing, but it actually makes me a bit melancholy and lethargic. It's just so easy to slip into full-on lazy mode when you have no strict schedule.
Venturing Out for Local Street Food
Around noon, I finally dragged myself out to grab some lunch.
I decided to switch things up and walked to a street food stall a bit further away from my usual spot. It's run by a sweet mother-daughter duo. The daughter wasn't around since it was a Monday, but I asked the mom to make her recommended dish. We had a fun chat, and it turned out to be the perfect mood booster.
Escaping the Hotel Trap
After lunch, I headed straight to a cafe.
Honestly, trying to work in a hotel room is a trap. You can nap whenever you want, blast your own music—it's just too free. If I don't force myself into a cafe environment, I completely lose control of my focus.
I ended up staying at the cafe for about five hours. Got a decent amount of work done, but right at the very end, my stomach started rumbling and I caved—ordered some fried chicken. It was super similar to Japanese cartilage karaage (nankotsu). Surprisingly, it only cost around 200 to 250 yen (about $1.30 to $1.60 USD). Pretty cheap for a cafe order!
The Last-Minute Hustle
I still had some tasks waiting for me back at the hotel, so I grabbed dinner from my usual street food stall on the way back.
Once I got to my room, I fueled up and pushed through the rest of my work. It's a terrible habit, but I always end up scrambling when deadlines start looming....
I've been staying at this hotel for about 10 nights now, and it's taught me a valuable lesson. Having an overly relaxing environment just makes me lazy. I realized that to genuinely feel like I'm moving forward in life, I need to physically keep my body moving too.
