On May 21st at 7:30am, I went out of the hotel to watch solar eclipse. It was first in 125 years for people on Honshu island (the main island of Japan) to be able to observe such a rare solar eclipse. Although I understood the significance, I totally forgot to buy the proper glasses to watch the eclipse. Luckily (or more like intentionally) I ran into a kind dentist next door, who lend me his glasses for me to watch solar eclipse. The solar eclipse was beautiful! I couldn't take a good picture of it, but I took a a picture of 木漏れ日（sunshine diffracted through the tree, which normally exhibits circular pattern of light) that the kind next door dentist taught me (shown above). I hope you understand how exciting it was to see the waxing and waning of the sunshine pattern!!
Almost time for...Next week I have an appointment with the hospital for ultrasound examination. As far as I touch my lower left neck, where lymphoma used to occupy, it doesn't feel like it grew back. I have a mixed feeling, I certainly hope there's nothing going wrong, but I also subconsciously became prepared for the worst case scenario. The feeling is similar to taking an exam at school; I just want to get over with it and hear the result, so I know what to do next, regardless of the result.
The other day I saw a short documentary on a member of a Japanese rockband, who had been diagnosed with malignant lymphoma. I couldn't watch the part where he was being dosed with chemo drugs, it still reminded me of old bad times. When he was going through the side effects, he told his wife that he had severe chest pain in the night that he thought was going to die. Then, his wife couldn't go to sleep because she thought he could die any minute, she had to place her hand on his nose to check if he was breathing every hour or so. When I heard that story, it was a little odd to me, because even though I experienced severe chest pain, stomach ache, nausea, and everything else, I never thought of an idea that I was going to die. I guess it's good that I was being positive in a way, but I just didn't think I would die that easily. I think I was also trying not to even think about it, because it only make myself and others sad. Well, the story is a little bit different with the rockstar because he seems to have been in stage III when he was diagnosed, and he is much older, in his 40s. I guess when you're young, you are, and you should be much more hopeful for the future ahead, regardless of the life you live in.
Fortunately the chemotherapy was successful for the rockstar, he started rocking the world again once he entered the remission stage, just like me.
