Friday, December 19, 2008

Yeah, I Know. It Was My Fault. But...

"Western" breakfast at an Internet Cafe

This photo was taken at 7:02 am this morning. Why did I go to the Internet cafe that early? Well, tell you the truth, I didn't "go" there early this morning. I'm still at the net cafe and I've been here since 11 pm last night. Right. I didn't sleep at home but slept here. See the pink blanket they let me use? The reclining chair was very comfortable -- could have been more comfortable than my bed, actually.

No, no. It's not that I got kicked out of my apartment and became one of the "net cafe refugees" in Japan. But I might be one soon. What happened? I lost my room key and couldn't get into my apartment room last night.

It was just unbelievable. Yes, I'm not the most careful person on the face of the earth, and do something stupid like this once in a while. But WHY did it have to be yesterday?! Yesterday morning, I had to work terribly hard. I completed almost legendary workload all by myself and got already exhausted at around 11:00 am. But I had to wash dishes again at lunchtime, too, which was also a hard work because it was a very busy day even though it was a weekday. I was almost unconscious while at work at night, being completely exhausted from the manual labor. All I could think about then was hot, relaxing bath and nice, hearty soup dish with a little drink because I didn't have to work next morning. Nabeyaki udon was my choice -- with special toppings such as prawn tempura, kamaboko, egg, maitake mushrooms, even small oysters!-- and mizuna from my balcony garden.

I looked at the clock at every five minutes and finally it was time to go home. I bought all the necessary ingredients at a supermarket on my way and went back to my apartment. That was when the tragedy started.

I checked the small pocket of my bag -- that's where I always keep my room key-- but found nothing in there. Wait a minute. I looked everywhere in the bag, but still couldn't find it. OK. Calm down. It's gotta be here somewhere, because I didn't take it out today. I took a deep breath, sat down on the steps in front of the apartment door, and emptied my bag. Still no key. Checked all the pockets of my clothes... but still nothing. OMG!

So instead of relaxing in the hot bath or enjoying hot udon noodles, I rode my bike in the cold wind to visit all the places I went yesterday: a convenience store, my locker at the workplace, the net cafe where I had a snack before night time work, the language school I work at night... Of course I couldn't find the key.

Finally I gave up all the wonderful plans for that night and decided to stay overnight at an Internet cafe. They have a special night hour rate, and at this particular net cafe, all the food is 50% off this month. And they serve breakfast for free. Not bad, huh?

So now, I'm posting this to kill time until the landlord's office opens at 9 am. I'm going to ask them to let me use the master key to get into my room. And after that, I might have to change the door lock to be safe, which would cost me a fortune! OH WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN? Yeah, I know. It's my carelessness that should be blamed. But...AHHHHH!!!

Yeah, OK. Let's see the bright side of things. The bright side of this was -- uh -- the blanket was very cute.

------------
11:10 am

Thanks so much to those who already left caring comments after reading above. And here's more to jerk your tears (... of laughter, I guess).

At 9 am, I called the landlord's office from the Internet cafe. But I was told that they only take care of the paperwork on behalf of the owner of the apartment who lives in a different prefecture, and they don't keep master keys; the owner does. And what I should do was calling a locksmith and having the door lock replaced to be safe, then bringing one new spare key to their office so that they could send it to the owner. Sigh. B-I-G expense! But no other choice. Feeling down, I used the restroom at the cafe, then the toilet flooded on me...

Now, I called a locksmith, went to the bank to get money, got back to my apartment and had the lock replaced and paid for it. Then I brought the new spare key to the office as I was told, and there was no one in the office. Yeah, right. Things will go like this all day today. The horoscope must be warning me NOT to do anything or go anywhere today. If I ride my bicycle, I might hit an old lady crossing the road, and if I go shopping, the particular thing I want would be sold out at everywhere.

OK. Fine. Then I'll go for a domestic pleasure. I'm going to take a hot bath now and after that, make nice nabeyaki udon which I missed last night. How could these go wrong? I don't know. They might, somehow. But I really REALLY need some comfort now!

------
1:30 pm, same day.

Look! Nabeyaki udon... Finally.

Dear readers,

I took a nice hot bath. Now it's a warm, sunny afternoon. I'm eating this nabeyaki udon as I watch my laundry drying on the balcony. So comfortable and relaxing...

Everything that happened last night and this morning seems like a bad dream. Maybe after I had a good sleep tonight, I would be able to laugh about the whole thing from the bottom of my heart. Now... let's go for hot tea and dessert... :)

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh how upsetting. I just locked myself out of my apartment a few weeks ago. So frustrating. Good luck... I hope you find your key!

spajonas said...

oh no! i'm so sorry to hear about that bummer of a day :( let's hope this never happens again!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That's never very funny! Quite stressful! I hope you'll find your keys...

Cheers,

Rosa

K and S said...

oh no!! I am glad you were able to change the locks, even though it cost big $$. Take care and Big hug!

froy said...

Oh dear, what a way to spend your night after a hard day's work, and then half of your day off wasted on trying to put things right!

Well, it's good to hear you finally managed to get your nice hot bath and comfort food. I hope you get a good night's sleep to top things off, and give you energy to tackle tomorrow. :)

Amelia Yap said...

Oh no!
You really had a bad day!
Poor thing you had to sleep in the internet cafe :(

Maybe tomorrow will be a super good day?

take care

tina said...

Ara obachan, taihen desu ne! Hope everything is back to order now.

Anonymous said...

silly things like that can happen to anyone but you have your ways of looking at the bright side of life and that really makes you special obachan,tom you will just laugh about it...merry christmas and all the best this coming year!

Anonymous said...

WOW! how many jobs do you have? I experienced losing the apartment's key too, and yes,replacing a key costs a fortune!! I'm glad, you have a very positive outlook, and after a bad day, you were still able to cook and make yourself a very good meal. You're such an inspiration =)

Anonymous said...

welcome to the club.

there's where dead bolts are failproof albeit it you don't misplace the dead bolt key. You have to manually lock a deadbolt from the outside of the apartment so you're always sure you didn't forget your keys by taking the extra step. Grabbing the door knob with your house keys in the same hand before the click reminds you a split-second later that you left the house keys inside might also work as well.

Anonymous said...

Of course when something this bad happens to you, it only means something really good is waiting for you, soon - to keep everything in balance.

Karen said...

Oh, fortunately the year is almost over and you will have a fresh start in 2009! :)

Happy holidays!

Anonymous said...

I am sorry you had such a terrible day. It is stupid that the apartment office cannot help you get into your own apartment, but since that is so, you must make plans now.

Please leave a spare key somewhere that is safe AND accessible -- with a trusted neighbor, or perhaps at your locker at work if that is secure. This way you can avoid ever having the problem again!

Anonymous said...

Obachan, I think losing your key was the universe's way of telling you to slow down!

obachan said...

Salena
Thanks. It's terrible, especially when it's your own fault, isn't it?
I didn't find the key but now things are back to normal.

Gleek
Yeah! Fingers crossed. ;)

Rosa
My stress level must have been definitely at the highest on the scale, I'm sure.
Now that I paid a stupid amount of money for the new lock and keys, the last thing I want is finding the old key... especially in my bag. I'd tear out my hair. LOL

K & S
It was expensive, perhaps more so than it may be in Osaka. Thanks for the hug. I needed it.

EaEjersbo
Thank you. I slept like a log in my bed that night and felt much, much better on the next day.

Amelia Yap
Sleeping in the Internet cafe itself wasn't such a terrible thing -- if the staff cleaned the rooms more quietly. (But I can't complain a thing about the staff there any longer since I flooded the toilet there...)

Tina
Hai. Taihen deshita. (TT) But yeah, everything is back to order.

Anonymous commenter
Thank you so much for your nice comment. I really hope that things would be better in 2009.

Anna
Does replacing a key cost a lot over there, too? Oh dear...But it's understandable. It doesn't happen too often and when it does happen, it's an emergency so people will pay no matter how much they charge for the service.

To be honest, it must have been better if I had someone to cook me a good meal to comfort me after something like that happen. But maybe that's a luxury that I don't deserve, and perhaps I should be happy that I don't have anyone who could worsen the problem by yelling at me or blaming me or hitting me when I did something stupid like that.

RONW
Well, my door cannot be locked without actually inserting the key into the keyhole and turning it, so I never have to worry about leaving the key in my room. What's frustrating is that after locking the door, I put the key in my bag and never take it out for the whole day, and couldn't find it in the same bag so I cannot understand why and how I lost the key.

Cara
Oh, that sounds so encouraging! Yeah, I love the balance theory. Thanks!

Karen
That's right! :D

Robin Martinez
Thanks for the advice. Those idas may not be directly applicable here, but yeah, I really should come up with a prevention plan. I appreciate your thoughts. :)

Emily Booth
Maybe so. I just wish that Heaven had chosen a less expensive way to tell me that, though. LOL

Anonymous said...

hi dear girl,

Its just GOD intervention to your daily routine.Just a slight detour to a better plan by HIM:)

There's a chinese proverb" REN SUON BU RU TIAN SUON"
Literally means how human plan, God has a better plan.
Wishing you HAPPINESS always
from malaysiaelayne

Anonymous said...

You say:
"But maybe that's a luxury that I don't deserve, and perhaps I should be happy that I don't have anyone who could worsen the problem by yelling at me or blaming me or hitting me when I did something stupid like that."

Don't ever, ever think that. Please. Sure you do, everybody does. And if they yell at you, they don't deserve you anyway. Blame it on Christmas, but don't give up on love.

Rinshinomori said...

How awful of a day! When it pours, it pours sometimes doesn't it?

Udon looks wonderful though. Big hugs.