I’m sitting in our one bedroom airbnb apartment in Nakano,
Tokyo in Japan. This room has three main purposes: to sleep, work and relax. It
has a double bed in the corner, two large office chairs tucked under the two
long tables and I’m lounging on the couch with my tea and breakfast smoothie on
the coffee table.

There’s ample wardrobe space to fit every item we brought with
us. It’s 7 degrees outside but in here we’re nice and toasty as the reverse
cycle air-condition sings us a song. It’s quiet and still except the scratches
of my pen as I scribble away and the tap, tap, tap as Tim types on his laptop.
Outside, someone wheels a trolley, pausing only to let a car drive pass. We
could be anywhere and for the next five weeks this is home.

We’re essentially living in a tiny house, which is very exciting
because everything we need is just a few steps away, in an organised fashion,
hidden in the closets and arranged on the desks and drawers. I love the idea of
a tiny home, the simplicity and only owning what you need is within your reach.
We’ll do everything in this three-purpose room (apart from cooking and going to
the bathroom) and that’s pretty cool.

Japan is our first of many stops but it is here where we’ll
be living in each others pockets (again). I have one volunteering gig lined up
that takes me out of the house for one afternoon but apart from that I too will
be at home. Unlike Hong Kong, I don’t have a remote part time job or a place to
volunteer at everyday. So I will be here, probably on this couch putting my non-stop
monologue into readable words.

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I’m not worried, I’m excited, I get a do over, I can make it
even better this time around. In September last year Tim and I worked from home
for two months in our airbnb apartment
in Hong Kong. For the most part it was fine, but I get bored and distracted
so easily that I tend to yearn for a playmate and unintentionally bother Tim.
But I’ve learned from that and I have a plan _naturally_.

I have a list of things I want and love to do and as my
mantra goes “do
more of what makes you happy”, I’ll be singing that in my head on
repeat as I pick one (or two) things to do. And as long as it’s still fun, why
stop? So here’s to pocket
living, a month of inspiration and a vessel to pour all my creative juices
into.