Canon's Diary

Wednesday, June 24th.
The sky is overcast, with occasional light rain. I stayed in bed until 7:30 to get a bit more sleep. I’m working from home today. I’ve grown tired of toast, so I picked up a rice ball and a chicken salad from the convenience store for breakfast.

A message came in from the construction company saying that, due to the risk of rain, they’d be postponing work for today and tomorrow. That’s a problem—I have to return to Osaka next week. I won’t be back in Tokyo until the week of July 21st. Maybe I’ll ask my wife to supervise the work in my place. I replied that I’d check our schedule and get back to them.

Living between Osaka and Tokyo makes scheduling quite tricky. Truthfully, I can do my job from either location, but I also need to make time to spend with my mother and wife. I’m organizing plans through September, coordinating tennis matches in Tokyo and dinners with friends. I’ll probably need to travel between the two cities about once a month.

When I went downstairs, my mother was sitting on the sofa in the dark. Although the living room has a large south-facing window, it doesn’t get much sunlight due to the proximity of the neighboring house, so it gets gloomy on cloudy days without the lights on. She wasn’t watching TV. Her back looked so small.

When I asked if she was okay, she said she felt unwell. My wife later told me that, since losing my father, my mother often feels sick in the mornings due to anxiety. It seems to be a symptom of depression. She later went to a mental health clinic by herself. Since my wife had the day off work, I asked her to buy some ground meat and tomatoes—I wanted to make keema curry for lunch to cheer my mother up.

After finishing my morning work and my mother returned from the clinic, I went into the kitchen to start cooking. I finely chopped an onion and sautéed it in olive oil. Once it softened, I added the ground meat, garlic, and ginger, and cooked it thoroughly. Then I added tomato juice and water, brought it to a boil, and mixed in curry roux. The flavor turned out a bit too strong, so I mellowed it with some milk. I topped it with a fried egg toasted in the toaster.

My mother smiled and said it was delicious, though she still looked a little tired. The clinic gave her medication, so we’ll monitor how she does for now.

In the afternoon, I joined a kickoff meeting online for a client project. I received some comments on the technical documents I’d submitted, but the session wrapped up without issue. While I was working, my mother apparently went to the orthopedic clinic, and my wife also went out.

That evening, I had a singles tennis lesson scheduled. Lately, I haven’t been playing very well. I changed the grip tape on my racket to help me focus. About two hours before the lesson, I had a small bowl of rice with ochazuke and added some chopped green onions. Summer lessons are especially draining, and I often get leg cramps, so I try to get a light amount of carbs beforehand without making my stomach feel heavy.

The court surface has many irregular bounces, so I decided to focus closely on watching the ball this time.

After 90 minutes of sweating it out, I took a cold shower. It had been a deeply productive session. I once again realized the importance of keeping my eyes on the ball and maintaining proper posture. I really pushed myself hard in today’s lesson.

Mind, technique, and body—how long I’ll be able to keep playing, I don’t know. But this sport is something essential for keeping my mental and physical balance.

For dinner, I enjoyed a meal my wife had prepared: grilled salmon, roast beef, lotus root salad with mentaiko, and miso soup with clams. Ever since I started cooking myself, I’ve come to deeply appreciate meals made for me. It was all delicious.

To make sure today’s fatigue doesn’t carry into tomorrow, I’ll head to bed early tonight.