Toast to Life 41 (Year 2022 Diary)

A story that may bring you a minor brightness, as I hope. 

I keeping diary. The 2022 edition of "Hobonichi Techo" (literal translation is "Mostly Everyday Diary"), which I had ordered online, arrived the other day (photo above). The 6th year, the 6th book. The accessories this time were three-color ballpoint pen, which is the same as before, and "a small spoon of a bear being not scary".

A bit before the year 2012, the year when I moved to Singapore, I had already used a French diary Quo Vadis with a black leather cover made by Tsuchiya Bag Co., Ltd. in Japan. The fastener on the cover, however, became loose in Sinagpore, and I shipped it to Japan for repair. The fasteners came back with it too tight then, resulting in inconvenience. "It must be for everyday use." 

Since then, I switched my diary to "Hobonichi". The vertical description per day, common features for both diaries, is quite easy to use, for me at least.

I had started keeping a diary with a sneaky mindset. In my life until today, have met former soldiers and intelligence officers, and all of them, without exception, keep diaries. To me, it was "wow & cool" experience. So, I too stared it.  

There was a former British Army SAS, with whom I traveled around African countries for business in the early 2000s. In an country, we had promised to have a light dinner at a hotel we stayed. When I arrived at the bar, spotted him to be seated at an assigned table and be writing his diary. "Why are you keeping a diary?" He answered "no one will know when s/he dies. You too can start it!" 

A former U.S. Marine soldier was also another diary advocate to recommend me to. On our way in the US roadshow trip with the same client, he even bought me a set of a mechanical pencil and a ballpoint pen along with a leather case for them. The case color was deep-blue, as I remember still. 

The active Japan Self-Defense Force, whom I still owe a lot, keeps his version everyday with his favorite fountain pen. A few years ago, from Singapore I visited him at Ichigaya, HQs of JSDF, when he strongly recommended me to do it. He also introduced an anecdotal story for his fountain pen. Hope he is still using the pen.  

When I got sick and was hospitalized last year, I realized how important it was to keep it. Today, as it turns out, I cannot stop it. For the Weekly page section, my version is to record daily basic physical vitals, the schedule of a day including my family members, the deadline for my work, etc. In the Daily-page section, the latter half of my diary "Hobonichi", I keep what happened, but this is not so constant. I often switch to smartphone app "Daily Note".

The feature of Hobonichi's diary is, it is quite thick for a single diary book, about 1.5 cm. The photo below shows how for me to use a Weekly-page section. The fountain pen placed in the center is Parker's "5th", which I was given by a great friend in March 2012 before leaving Japan for Singapore. He even had my name carved into it for commemorating our friendship. Oh dear! 

The color of the ink filled in is now navy blue, my favorite. After returning to Japan last year, I bought three more online.

In the photo (sorry for the Japanese), November 10th was marked as the day of the regular medical consultation and examination. On the very morning home before the hospital, my higher blood pressure recorded 155. The record should have been the value only after the anti-cancer drug was infused. Maybe I was stiff just before the consultation. After that, the value number was down to normal as I had imagined. 

Today, down the road to 2021 Christmas, it's also the time to change the diary to the new one. My daily life carrying the two books together continues for a while, at least until the end of 2021. The old edition is full of nostalgic memories and gives me good opportunities to look back on what happened the year. The new one for 2022 smells a mixture of a typical new book by flipping it with my fingers, and expectation and anxiety on "what comes next" by looking at the book, all of which tickle my heart from now.

(To be continued)