K 

So lately, I’ve been thinking about post holiday life in the US versus Japan and actually, this was on my mind a lot last month, but we never got around to talking about it is so completely different. And I find that I’m bicultural, in my expectations, are you bicultural and your expectation,

C 

I’m not quite sure what that means, because I feel like the holiday ends and then you go back to the rest of life.

K 

So I feel like that too. But when the holiday ends, I feel it’s so different. Because in Japan, technically, all of the businesses like the holiday ended on January 3, but I’m looking at a calendar right now. So the holiday ended January 3 was a Monday, officially on that Monday in Japan. And then supposedly everybody was supposed to be back at work by the fourth. And they did go back to work. But most companies didn’t actually acknowledge they were back to work. And so a week later on the 10th, because they use from the fourth to the seventh, as a way to deal with all of their backlog. And so they just marked themselves as closed a lot of places.

C 

I feel like this is the fourth synchronization of vacation, which happens in most countries, too, because only the 31st on the first are actually holidays. Yeah. So I feel like they can make people burn at least one of their 10 days of annual holiday by saying we’re not coming back, you have to take holiday. So not every company does that. But I think that’s part of it, too. Like, we don’t want you taking vacations at convenient times, because that’s what I’ve noticed about Japan is there are the holidays. And yeah, you should not take any time off. At other times.

K 

I feel like the yes is the same. And again, this is a really, I feel really classist conversation. Because for me, I didn’t take any time off during the holidays. I tried to write, but no matter what business I start, matter what business I run. People want things from me during those days are supposed to be holidays. And even people knowing that I was hospitalized earlier in the year. And even people knowing that I was hospitalized, they were still emailing me for things. And they thought they were being really considerate in the email, and saying, You don’t have to read this now. And I hope you take time to take care of yourself. But just in case, you would like to take care of me while you’re in the hospital. Here’s all the information you need to do so. And I was like, okay, so this really isn’t thoughtful. Yo, if your email, if I tweet that I am in the hospital, you don’t have to acknowledge that you’ve ever seen that tweet. But if you send me an email, acknowledging that, you know, I’m hospitalized, and you’re going to be so gracious, let me decide whether or not I deal with it. That’s just you telling me that you feel anxious about something, and you want me to take care of your anxiety,

C 

or your email scheduling system works schedule that email.

K 

Right. And so I get it. And I usually just address whatever it is, even if I’m in the hospital, which is like a really bad habit, I really shouldn’t be working when I’m hospitalized. I really shouldn’t. But as anyone knows, when you have a chronic illness, and you spend more time in the hospital, you have to work anyways. And I think that’s bled into my understanding of holidays as well. Like, I don’t understand if something needs to launch at the beginning of January. How can I take the last week of December off? I don’t get it because people think that everything can be scheduled. And that’s not the case of button has to be pushed at the bare minimum, right? A button has to be pushed. And before anything goes out, it has to be proof read and like there’s all these so it’s not just pushing a button. So I feel like for me holidays are are just annoying. Gosh, they are so post holiday. Like even into February. I’m annoyed the fact that there was a two week holiday

C 

season. I got three weeks off this year, which that was yummy. Yeah, that was yummy for you. Yeah.

K 

It was so yummy.

C 

It was nice for me too. But I think anybody who wanted anything from me in that time when I worked a couple of hours. You worked a couple of days. Across three weeks that is so much less than I usually do. Correct, but you still worked. But the number of emails that I got over the holidays, my holidays was about 10 that weren’t automated, I got a bunch of automated emails.

K 

So I wonder at what level you have to be to actually take the holidays off. Because working minimum wage, I always work on holiday on holidays. Yeah, me too, always. And then when I was working for above minimum wage, when I was in the service industry, we’ll call it, I always work, holidays. And then when every time so I went from that to be a regular employee, where I was about middle class on the weights I was making, when I was working for ABC. And I technically had holidays off. But I did get called in sometimes during the holidays, to help families with their kids. And then so then I didn’t really get holidays off. And then I started my own business. And since then, I’ve always had my own businesses. And I’ve never been able to get time off during the holidays, because someone has to be on call during those times for the businesses to run smoothly, no matter what business I own. And I always feel like that person should be me. And I have to admit, a couple of employees had to work over the holiday, they weren’t able to take the time off. Because things came up. They didn’t have to work every single day. Right. But they had to work one or two days. So who’s getting a solid two weeks off? I wonder

C 

bank employees and government workers?

K 

Yeah, when I worked because I did work at a bank for a while. You’re right. So it’s a bank holiday?

C 

It’s a bank holiday? Yeah. I think it’s about whether your consumer facing and if you are consumer facing but the other. The consumers you’re facing are also in business. It’s about whether they’re consumer facing and whether you’re providing some need to them.

K 

What does consumer facing? What are you saying

C 

when I moved to California in 1995? So before some of our listeners were born,

K 

and you were only 19 You’re still a teenager? When you move to California,

C 

I was 20 when I moved there. Thank you very much. Because I moved late in the year I’d have my birthday.

K 

So you moved right before the New Year?

C 

I moved right before the new year. Yes. I feel like there’s

K 

a lot of fun going on here trying to act Rome. Yeah. He’s trying to ground your ground now. But you weren’t run then.

C 

So holidays were one of the few days that I didn’t work. When I started in the software industry. I worked weekends, I worked nights I worked mornings. I work days, but I didn’t work holidays, because nobody else around was working.

K 

Oh, that’s interesting. I always assumed you did. I’m learning something new about Jad. Yes, it’s so awesome. is one of the reasons why we love doing the podcast, we learn new things about each other. I didn’t know that you had holidays off. I had

C 

holidays off. Wow. I was working 70 hours a week. Yeah, other weeks. But I had holidays off.

K 

So is it that sort of because I kind of had holidays off when I was working for Applied Behavior consultants. And so like there’s a whole thing, I don’t think they’re a good company. What everything they taught me was bad. Except for the differential diagnosis courses that they had me take those who are on point. But I don’t believe in behavior modification the way that they they do it.

C 

But you’re still working for them when I met you. Yeah, I was. And you didn’t work on school holidays. If you worked with the kids at school?

K 

Yeah, but I still so I guess teachers also get the holiday off. But every teacher I’ve known during the break, they have to go in for in service days. Yeah. So they only get part of the holiday off. And then they have a parent for the school year

C 

to do homework and grading and such. And when I was teaching, I was like, Nah, I’m not going to prep any lessons outside of my work time. That’s not true. Why are you lying? No, that’s true. But I only worked part time. So I guess still not true. Yeah, I guess I was there all day. And I taught two classes. So I had lots of prep time.

K 

And then there were still experiments that you were doing at home to see if they would work.

C 

Yeah, that’s true. So but I think about all the teachers who gave us homework over the Christmas break. Yeah, who were like, here’s 50 hours of work to do over the next two weeks. And that felt like they were just mad. They weren’t working.

K 

Yeah, I feel that way too. But most of the teachers that we know here in Japan are bitter. And most of the teachers that we knew in the US were also bitter. Yeah. So we haven’t we only know like two or three teachers that weren’t burnout and weren’t bitter. So this kind of gives us a nice segue into like the difference in the US. And in the US. I find that the US starts work as soon as they’re back. to work, they announced that they’re back at work, right and that they’re open for business, but then make you wait. And so this is when I was talking about being bicultural. For me, I find that annoying. So I feel like don’t front, you’re not really open for business because I can’t ask you for anything. And I find this as really true of teachers at the PhD level, they are not ready to take on anything of mine. Right. So since we’ve come back from since we came back from the break their hat, they have not been responsive. Like they’ve responded in a way that says I’ve responded. So the clock stops on the response. taking any actions.

C 

I remember them being like, okay, submit this by the first of the year. Yeah. And then getting back to you late November, or late January rather late January.

K 

Yeah. So what was Why were you sweating me? Like, what was that about?

C 

Well, they were on vacation, even though the classes were still running.

K 

Yeah. And they do this passive aggressive thing, where, because by the rules of the university, they cannot ask me to work. But they said, Wouldn’t it be nice if that kind of thing where you know, like, if someone’s your boss and coach, and I say, Would it be nice if you work if you could work? On Saturday? Yeah, you know that they’re lucky asking you to work Saturday. And if you don’t, it’s like, I always have to think I’m like, is this worth burning Goodwill for? And like, because I was in the hospital, they just completely stopped responding to me, even though the expectation was I needed to work. So I felt like I was being double penalized for being hospitalized. I have to work while being in the hospital. But then I couldn’t do anything beyond what they beyond that, that would require interaction between the two of us, because both my chair and culture are obsessed with talking to me on the phone, and I don’t talk on the phone. So Riddle me this. How are you going to give me a talk on the phone? If I’m not in the hospital? I’m still not going to do it. You have to tell me, it’s the only possible way to do it, or that it is mandated by the university. And you’ll it’s not. So send me an email because I have really exceptional reading comprehension, despite being dyslexic. Because I’m not going to talk on the phone, because it messes up my whole sleep pattern. Yes. And can trigger insomnia, because after talk to them sometimes at midnight, and if the conversation goes from midnight to one, they think well, you could just go to bed after that. No, after that. My thoughts are racing based off what we talked about, and then be up till 6am At a minimum, which usually means up till 10am. And then I have to like go through months and months of trying to get my sleep, right. So I’m not doing that unless I have to I’m in Japan.

C 

So I feel like this is a thing that’s only recent, like 20 years ago, there were a few companies who outsource their call centers to India or whatever. Yeah, knowing that there was a huge time difference. But I feel like now, it’s kind of expected that you’ll work with companies wherever. And especially if you’re not in the US. I end up working with US companies a lot. And that means I have meetings at six or 7am.

K 

And I’m down with that. Right. But because of the time change, it will be super late for them. I think that’s all start doing. I’ll start making it convenient for me. Yeah. And not caring. Like if you want to talk to me, you can talk to me at 6am. My time, I’m willing to get up at 6am my time. I am not willing to get up earlier than that. Or we could do it by email. I’m fine either way, because I’m fine to put myself out for like, if it’s my oral defense, like, I’ll do that anytime.

C 

You’re done with that to be clear. Well, no, I

K 

did. My old defense might propose up to my old defense. My dissertation. Viva forte. Yeah. Yeah. Because I’m in Psych. Yeah. So and you did too, or? Yeah, I

C 

did. Yeah.

K 

I mean, they’re all defense of your proposal. Yes. Except you had to do that to be accepted. I didn’t have to do that. Yeah, that was right. There’s just different timelines. So for me, I wish that people would be at the individual level, I wish that everybody would understand their own capacity and say when they’re back from holidays or when they need time off, because I do something that absolutely drives people batty. And that is I will randomly drop it like it’s hot. I’m not available for these next few days. And they freak out because I’m really not available. And I will set a balance. I will set up. I will set my email. My email respond to that. Lets you know, I’m not joking. And, to quote the great Kennedy Davenport, no, that’s not curious Coco Montrese. I’m not joking, be it. So sorry, Coco. I am thinking about Kennedy fuck my drag, because that’s how I feel like everybody wants to fuck my vacation, fuck my time off, fuck my drag. And I’m like now I have to set a firm boundary and the boundary has to set so firm because people cannot help themselves that I have to set an email that tells them yo remember I’m I’m gone right now I’m no

C 

longer and like Mr. Rogers said look for the helpers

K 

is so annoying. I don’t mind being in a helping profession on on that regard or not. And and that kind of segues to like looking at the the meaning of the different meaning of the holidays. Because me yours. I’m so American when it comes to New Year’s I think of it as a time of reinvention.

C 

Yeah, the New Year’s think of it as everything as just a time to take a break, and then start again. So it’s different depending on where I’ve worked. So you’re like more Japanese, then? Yeah, it’s different depending on where I’ve worked. The company I work at now the fiscal year starts July 1, company I worked on for the fiscal year started April 1, okay, so it’s the end of the year for us because we have to do US tax things. But in every Japanese tax and Japanese tax things, but in every kind of work capacity, it’s not the end of the year from for me, it’s just a pause. It’s like a break after the busyness that was Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the whole shopping season. So I think that my view of it has changed as I have moved between industries and across different levels and things because when I was doing software, when I first started, it was oh, no, let’s get back to work. everybody’s forgotten what they were working on. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. And when I was, you know, in third, doing like, fast food and that kind of thing. I didn’t really get a break. It was

K 

nobody does right solidarity to everybody working fast food. I’m so grateful for my time. I feel like working fast food taught me how to get up and go to work.

C 

Yeah, me too. I start work at 5am. Like five to one was a great schedule for me.

K 

Because that’s the you know, you’re a good employee when you get the morning shift. right open. So proud of myself when I got the morning shift. That’s when you know that you’re on the the track to being a shift supervisor, to manager and all of that.

C 

Yeah, so I think I did three years and fast food, which isn’t that long, but I still remember it. And now that I’m in management of an area that doesn’t have external customers. It’s pretty flexible. Like the whole company didn’t have vacation, that would be inaccurate to say, because our customer service people were still working. Or warehouse people were still working all of that kind of thing. Yeah. But being an internal division that supports the other people who are the the office workers. Are they the kind shine to us that Japanese term of just generic office work? They weren’t working. So I was

K 

disappointed that using the Japanese term there for you. I think he liked saying it. It’s insane. A lot.

C 

It’s an interesting concept to me, because nobody says like white collar or blue collar or whatever. That’s not sad. Yeah. It’s are you like a company person? Or are you like, part time? So the people the grocery store generally aren’t considered kaisheng? Because they’re part time they don’t have a fixed salary. They’re paid hourly. They might not have job stability.

K 

We presume we don’t know any. We don’t know anyone who works at a grocery store.

C 

I am just presuming based on the ads that are always up for we’re hiring. And what they describe as the we’re hiring, okay. I don’t pay attention. But the factory workers are still high shine, even though they’re not really office workers. Yeah, but I find it interesting that that’s always company employee, not office worker, but it’s usually translated as office worker.

K 

I think it means company employee. It does. Yeah, I’ve seen I’ve translated both ways. And we’ve talked about before how Japanese does not translate to English. Yeah. So there’s I feel like chi sign means office worker and also means company worker, right. And the reason I company employee and the reason I think that is because they always ask Raska Are you an employee of a company? And he says yes, may say then your chi shine. Rasa doesn’t like that. Rasta wants the fact that he’s

C 

an interpreter.

K 

Yeah and interpreter to for that To be said, and in Japan, the reason he doesn’t say that he’s the head of publishing for cinnabar moth is so confusing to them. Yes. So he’s like I do interpretation because they can’t understand it. So he can only report his it’s a whole thing. I’m not gonna do that digression. And I’m not putting Ross’s business in the street like, yeah,

C 

no, it’s complicated. For me even even I have a regular job, but it’s not a Japanese company. So it was a whole range

K 

of now if you’re like a real employee of anywhere, right, really work anywhere. If you work virtually, I had

C 

to get a letter saying I was employed. Yeah. Which a Japanese companies that’s a regular thing. You just ask them for a certificate of employment. And

K 

I don’t feel like the certificate of them asking you for a letter is so strange. No, because in Japan, you get a certificate of employment when you work for a Japanese company. That’s right. Yes. I don’t think that’s where you need a letter. I feel like that’s just the culture,

C 

the discussion of whether or not that letter was valid, because they didn’t have an office in Japan to which I go was the interesting part. To me. They’re like,

K 

so what I do for that is I tell them that your company sells to took your hands. And then like, oh, okay, I was sharing the website. So I have them look at the website and then share that they sell it at Turkey hands. What do you do?

C 

I usually don’t deal with that. I used to let you deal with it. Be honest.

K 

We’ll talk but have you ever dealt with it on your own? Yeah. Do you have

C 

the revenue place? Yeah, I’ve had to deal with it on my own several times. Yeah. So what do you do? I have my employment contract. And I have a letter saying that I’m still employed.

K 

And we have a certified translation of it. So that’s important. I think what we were talking about, so there’s no like, elegant way to bring it back around. Like, what do you think of as the end of the year for you? Like, what does me years signify for you? So I felt it’s more like the, the Japanese? Yeah, New

C 

Year’s is kind of the mid year for me fiscally. Like, okay, this is happening. But you know, a lot has changed this year between 2021 and 2022. So I’m changing title changing pay, like, it really felt like a New Year this year. But a couple years ago, I had just started the job. So it felt like an interruption, where I wasn’t getting any better at my job. And then last year, it was a vacation. But then things went very sideways. Like, my boss quit and all kinds of stuff. So I feel like this is the first year that has just been time off. Yeah. And my main concern was, how are all the people who work in my team getting their time off? Some of them chose three weeks, and some of them chose two weeks. And that was kind of the extent of mine involvement with the holiday.

K 

Did you like the three weeks? I’ve only thought three weeks was a bit long.

C 

It was a bit long. I liked it. But it started to seem like, Okay, I feel like there’s gonna be things waiting for me and I, my memory is fading. Yeah, like if things aren’t on my mind. And so it was good. It took me about a week to fully relax, like, okay, it’s not gonna be disastrous for me to not be available.

K 

Yeah. And I find that was the mismanagement of your holidays. Yeah. And this year, we’re trying to do better on managing your time off and managing your holidays, so that it’s not so chaotic like that. And I understand that this is an executive issue. Because you’re an executive, you’re at your company. And for me, I look at the dichotomy between the two of us, I’m the owner, but I can’t manage my vacation times, I have to manage my workflow to see when there is time I can take off and then snatch it and claim it and announce it. And, you know, double check and triple check and send out message after message and confirmation after confirmation that I’m really not available this time. And I feel it feels very much the same with the hustle to get your shift covered if you want time off. Yeah, at minimum wage. So I look at that and I just kind of trip on it that I’m the owner, but it still feels very much like that minimum wage hustle. Where you have to, you know, see, Kim, Mary Beth, cover your chef. If Mary Beth flakes out, can Joe cover it. And you have to have like two or three people that are in line to cover your shifts and double check and triple check with them up until the day before you actually go take the time off and then disappear. Right because if something comes in on your death, you’d be like, this was scheduled every manager knew everything. employee you knew like, and then you have to justify it when you can, when you come back why issues weren’t handled by you if there was any issue with covering or shift, and I feel like this, I have to go through the same thing because it felt like, well, why didn’t this thing happen? Or why didn’t that thing happen? And with the press, I feel like would you have even promoted it? If it did? Like, what has it cost you? The check cleared, you’ve been paid. So I have to go gangster. Got your money and your money was right. Congratulations, you played yourself to have to go to my inner DJ Khalid,

C 

But I feel like you at least honor the letter of it. And I do, because my first job out of high school, my first full time job was at a place called the royal fork. And when I got hired there, I said, I don’t work Sundays. And they’re like, you don’t work Sundays, but most people work Sundays. I do not work Sundays.

K 

Yeah, I don’t work Sundays, and you gotta hold fast to that. Yeah. Everybody wants people to work on Sunday, because they don’t work Sundays,

C 

right? I don’t work Sundays. Not ever. Let’s put it in writing. And I don’t work Sundays. So I worked there a year. And then they were like, it’s Mother’s Day you’re working. And I said, I don’t work Sundays. And they said, but everybody’s working tomorrow. I said, I’m not I don’t work Sundays. Like you work tomorrow. You’re fired. I’m like, fuck yeah, I quit. Yeah, got another job. That didn’t work Sundays.

K 

I feel that it’s interesting to me. The difference between the two of us when we’re at the same level? Yeah. And so for me, and this is like, I’m checking my privilege and neckline recognizing my privilege, but I really can’t change it for the business to be successful. I think a lot of people think and we I talk about this all the time, I lament the pressure of being a business owner, but I am such a shitty employee, I have so much attitude, I have way too much tongue in my mouth. I am way too grand to be anybody’s employee. And this because like, if you’re gonna manage me, don’t manage me worse than I can manage myself. That’s my issue. And I have yet to meet to meet someone who can manage me better than I manage myself. Yeah. And that’s just it could be grandiose delusions, but I am so in my reality that that’s my truth. And my

C 

grandiose delusions, I have people work for me who are like, I want you to check in at least a couple of times a week, I want you to tell me what to do. And other people were like, tell me that goal. And leave me alone unless asked for help. In a nice way,

K 

you’re always you’re always upset that people want to be micromanaged by you like micromanaging. And I always tell you ask them, okay, I’m just gonna let go. And I’m like, ask them, Are they in the place where Jesus takes the wheel? And they’re like, No, we do not want Jesus take the wheel. We want you to take the wheel be in charge. Do your job manage me?

C 

Yeah. And I feel like they’re misunderstanding my job. But

K 

I like your job is to have meetings.

C 

Yeah. My job is mostly long term strategy stuff. And, and I think that’s where some of the difference in vacation comes in, is because I am very distant from people paying money to the company. I don’t personally make any of the products. I don’t ship any of the products. I don’t see the products. I don’t touch them. I don’t talk to the customers. I’m very, very distant from the actual money changing hands, reason and execution.

K 

It may seem weird that we’re talking about this in February. But the reason it’s been on my mind now and why I wanted to talk about it today is because I feel like both the United States and Japan see the new year as the solar New Year as a time for setting life goals, and a time for reinvention. And I’m in the process where I’m starting to apply my reinvention and I’m relaunching adjustment guidance. I guess I didn’t I was in flux with what to do about adjustment guidance. And I just, if y’all follow us on Twitter, you know that I’m a therapist at heart and I just cinnabar moth publishing is fabulous, but it’s just not fulfilling me and I feel like roster can take it over because the part of it that I do mostly is buying promote books and tweet and I don’t it’s not taking up as much of my time as I thought right my PhD knock wood is winding down and I’m looking at your finishing it not because you’ve quit Yeah, no cuz I’m finishing my PhD. I look at I’ve been doing my PhD and cinnabar moth publishing I look at I can do cinnabar moth publishing, and adjustment guidance and balance those two things. So I have I always have to have to work Three things that I’m doing are I feel really unfulfilled, and bored, I get bored really easy. And when I get bored, I just quit. And that’s not a good thing. So with my PhD, the stress of it and the pressure of it has kept me from feeling bored. Because I have deadlines. And so I’ve always been interested, and can I meet this deadline? Can I beat this deadline? And I like to play the game of can I beat this deadline. And we did it back when we were in the junior college. And we had those pilots. Yeah. And I was set deadlines and grades. And I like calculating things or like beating calculations. And my university has this thing when it’s the your PhD coach, and it tells you if you’re on track, and I love every time I finish something I can shave two months off. Yeah, estimated graduation date.

C 

I know you love that. And nobody minds. And that was the thing when we’re back at

K 

the official. Yes, it’s what is supposed to do is it supposed to pump beer and make you sweat yourself? And it doesn’t make me sweat myself. Because I’m on point like that. Then we’re back at DeAnza I’m sucking seated this up. So you would

C 

track your grades and you get to like, Okay, I don’t have to do anything more. And I have enough points to get an A,

K 

which would really be frustrating for my teacher. It would be like

C 

new rule. If you don’t turn these in you fail even if you would get an A

K 

Yes, we had a teacher that actually did that to me. Yes. Cuz I made the mistake of time them and I was like, I’m not gonna tell you. Cuz I, I would go in and go into teachers office hours and be like, Look, I have an A in your class. If I do nothing else, I’d like to stop attending. But I will still do the homework. And they’d be like, okay, and you’re like, That’s so unfair. I’m like, No, it’s not gonna talk to them. Yeah, they’re like, but the syllabus says, and I’m like, go negotiate your new adjusted syllabus for yourself. Like, do it. And you’re like, No, it’s it’s unfair to everybody who doesn’t know that they can do it. And I’m like, everybody’s not my problem. I’m trying to I’m trying to finish the course. Because I am bored of going to class. Yeah, I’m like, What are you going to do? I’m going to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee. What are you gonna do? I’m gonna go hang out in the library. I’m gonna go eat. Why do you care? So is there I’ve always been like really aggressive that way. And I find that being conceited makes it less aggressive. like to tell people I handle my business. Because I wrote the world. Yeah, it’s my world, and you’re living in it. But that made you angry.

C 

I think it’s about time ownership. The it’s my world. You’re living in it. I’m like, No, I live in my own world. But I think a lot of it a lot of holiday stuff is about time ownership. So Japanese companies like to own your time.

K 

They like to own you, yes, for life. But they don’t do lifetime guaranteed employment anymore. But a

C 

lot of the bigger companies have their company union. And that company helpfully negotiates that, okay, you get 10 vacation days, your first year by law? And then one additional day, every, every year that you work. Yeah. But then unions will be like, Okay, everybody is going to take these same 10 days off. Yes. And you don’t have a choice in it. So like, you don’t have any choice in how to use your vacation. And I’m finding that the company I work for at least is much more flexible.

K 

They’re the most flexible company I’ve ever come across. Because you can legit move a holiday that falls on a Wednesday to a Monday. Yeah. I’m sorry. I’d rather take Monday. I’m going to work that Wednesday. And I think that’s the joy of your position. I think so. And Mike and it doesn’t affect because it’s not company wide, right. specific to your team. Yeah, other people they have there is stricter. So like, I don’t know if it’s your company, or if it’s your position. And I feel like post holiday because all of your team took the holiday, there wasn’t this big crunch because it wasn’t just your team. It was the entire data sector, right. The entire technical sector of the company and operation sector of the company. Sections of the company took all of them took that time off. And some of them took even the week after. Yeah, so there wasn’t this big crunch. There wasn’t this backlog. And I thought that was really cool, because you were able to start work and just start work at a regular pace on your regular work week. So you didn’t from like Japan doesn’t find, but like America does.

C 

And I feel like a subtle thing that’s different with the Australian companies. And Australian housing too, is that things happen every two weeks. They mean, I get paid every two weeks, not twice a month, every two weeks. Yeah. And if you rent in Australia, you pay rent every two weeks. Not what not once per month, but every two weeks which Wait,

K 

wait, what are you talking about right? That is so strange to

C 

me. cuz February was always the month that I got screwed. Like, when I was an hourly worker. Yeah, February is tough because there were fewer hours, but I still had to pay the same rent. Yeah. But in Australia, they pay rent every two weeks. So Australia and Australia February is not any harder than me.

K 

Are you been serious right now?

C 

Yeah, I mean, completely serious.

K 

Okay. Chad told me a joke was that I believed and so now I’m like, Oh, he’s testing

C 

you know that soon. Other months that I have three paydays? Yeah, I did other months. You have three paydays? That’s because I get paid every two weeks.

K 

And rent is all I never took off a while. I’m just like, cool. So I’ve had my hands separate bank accounts, because in Japan, you can’t have joint bank accounts. So I don’t clock Chad’s money like that. And I have my own income. I make my own money. So because I make my own money, we just divided what we pay for. So I’m not tripping, like, do you have the money to pay for your stuff? And Chad’s like, yes. Do you have the money to save some money? And tell us like, yes. And I’m like, Cool. Yeah, we

C 

check in with each other. How are you doing? Like,

K 

yeah, like, I know, I know what’s in your account, you know, it’s in my account. I have act like I could use your passcode. And all of that. I could pick up your credit card and all of that. So it functioned in function, we shove a shared account. But in form, we have separate accounts. So I don’t pay attention to your paydays. As but I feel like you want me to pay more attention?

C 

No, I don’t want you to pay attention. Because I’m a contractor. I have to explicitly bill every two weeks.

K 

Yeah, and I don’t pay attention to remind and I feel like that’s what you want. You want support. In your billing,

C 

I get a reminder, they have a list. Everybody who has to bill gets an email

K 

all your other paperwork? Yes, different. Yeah. And that’s different. So I don’t have to do it. So I find that for me with reinventing myself this year, that I’m going to that I do the tradition of I set an idea of who I want to be after the New Year, I marinate on it for about August of so I marinate on it for about August of 2021. Right, I started thinking about who are you kissed for? What are you about? What are you doing? Get yourself together, you need to reinvent yourself, you’re stale. Because I get bored being who I am, I get bored of myself, I find myself to be very boring. And that boredom drives me to promote self growth and all of that. I think it is a really positive thing. I don’t think of it as a bad thing. I’m not advising you to think of yourself as stale. I’m just saying this is the thing that I do. And then I marinate like, what can I do? Because all of August, I’m like, it’s too hot, I can’t do anything. And then in September, I’m like it’s too hot. I can’t do anything. But I’m thinking about what could I do? I need to do something I’ve got to break out, I feel trapped. I got to break free. And then October happens. And I start thinking about what do I want? Yeah. Like, what are the things I want to do that I want to be able to do that I want to achieve? What are the goals I’m working for? Why do I even work? What do I need money for? Besides just living? Because everybody needs money to live? But how am I going to enjoy money? Is there any money to enjoy? How can I make money that I can enjoy. And I get really hyper focused on enjoyment. And that theme runs from October, November and December. And then December I get really like, you got to keep it down. We got to hold it down. The new year is about to start we have taxes. And I get hyper focused on taxes in December. I’m like completely obsessed with them. And then in January, all of that culminates into, okay, now I need to make a plan to improve myself so that I can be someone completely different by my birthday. Because my birthday is when I assess that I waste that year of life, or did I make the most of it? And what am I going to do with the next year of life? Am I going to waste it? Or am I going to make the most of it? And January, I do all of that work. So February I’m just pumped up full of pride from all of the work I’ve done because I can actually see all the work I did to self actualize. You’re

C 

gonna see everything you did up until, yeah, since your birthday. And then you can see your path beyond your birthday.

K 

Yeah, and so I’m not really conceited. I’m just proud of myself. Yeah, I’m feeling like super proud. And that’s the Post New Year on a personal level for me. And I find that it aligns well with the Japanese post new year and it aligns to the idealized version of the American New Year, right? Because I have a commitment to myself to make changes. But I don’t do what I think of are superfluous things. Like I don’t focus on weight. I don’t focus on smoking. I don’t focus on like, what Pulp Fiction, self help is or the popular self improvement. I look at, like, what are my core values? And what do I value not caring what anybody else thinks?

C 

Yeah, I find that you tend to start from what do I want? And then go to how do I get it? Rather than Who should I turn into to have everything that I want? I’m already that person. How can I manifest my dreams? Yeah. And I don’t use the word dreams. I

K 

don’t have any dreams. I have goals, right? And so that’s why I, I now like, I love like, if you haven’t watched the DJ Khaled hot ones episode, you have to watch it because it is the most gangster the most self assured hat ones ever. It’s legendary DJ Khaled taps out after two wings. So hot ones, is the show where people eat hot wings that get hotter and hotter. As they go on while they’re being interviewed. And DJ Khaled told him straight up, if the rule is that all these have to be eaten, you’re gonna eat them. And I was like, yes, thank you. I’m not eating them. I’m not gonna play myself. Like, I know my limits. This is as hot as I can take. I’m not embarrassed that I can’t eat any hotter ones. I’m not here to meet your expectations of me. Yeah, I’m not gonna look a fool on TV with, you know, crying and doing all of that. I’m not gonna do any of that. And so I have that, like, I’m not here to impress you. I’m here to be me and fulfill myself.

C 

And I think when you and I have done career coaching together when you’ve helped me with that, that’s been the thing that you’ve pushed me to do is like unshackle yourself from meeting other people’s expectations. Yeah, what is it you want?

K 

So what’s your post holiday? Deep culture? Post New Year’s thoughts and traditions?

C 

i It feels like, it’s time to grow. Like, I I started thinking about how many are you

K 

gonna accumulate mass? Like, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Yeah, I

C 

might accumulate mass. No, I’ve been. I’ve had to save even

K 

what is Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the character Matt carrying around a bag of burritos. Because he was gonna accumulate mass and then workout and become really buffed. Yeah. I’ve had the same really funny season.

C 

I’ve had the same mass for the last 10 years. I feel like this is the mass that I have. Yeah. But it feels like, Okay, what am I going to do in the new year to learn? Where do I want to move to intellectually, socially, emotionally. And it’s not a resolution, it’s just an assessment of what’s the plan, because the end of the year feels like wrapping things up. So usually, when I get certifications, they happen in November, so and it’s very much tied to the season. Because I feel like I like to be done with things before the vacation, and then come back fresh and look at what’s next to do.

K 

So what do you all do? And I’m always interested in what people do for the new year, like what the New Year means to them, because I have such a strict meaning of it. And strict idea of what it is and what it’s supposed to be. And, and those types of things. And it’s sort of like, I believe it’s a mix of celebrating myself and moving towards the next celebration. And so February is always a really happy month for me, even though March is taxes, because I prepare all of our tax stuff in January, and that bogs me down. But it’s also a really good way to see like, did you come out on top last year financially, yes or not? Because you have to look at all of the money that you spent. So on one hand is it can be sticker shock, it can be like, Oh my gosh. And other times it could be like, Okay, I was on point. And this year, everything came into budget, everything worked out really well. Even with the closing the temporary closing of adjustment guidance. I’m really excited to be relaunching that and I’m really excited about where we are. And excuse me, I’m just happy.

C 

That’s a great place to be.

K 

Yeah. So I hope all of you are feeling happy. All of our music, beautiful music notes. We completely appreciate every each and every single listener, because it’s so awesome to be in the top 10 every week on player FM for podcasts about Japan, and that wouldn’t happen without you guys. So thank you so much for listening. And if you haven’t become a patron yet, think about it for three bucks, you get several years worth of stuff. So if you did three bucks, you can just completely binge listen to a whole bunch of take teas and there’s stuff to read and look at all the different incarnations of take to it. If you’re already and you can get Chad books for free, if you’re already a Patreon for me, thank you for following us on over to the take tea and I know we’re talking about this week. We’re talking about recovering from mistakes at the E zine because I’ve made a few. On that note, thanks for listening and we’ll talk to you next week. Bye bye