Today was my first day back to work after my break. As expected I was feeling a big heap of contradictory emotions about heading back to my desk. On the one hand, I’d once again be productive which would be a great thing. On the other hand, coming off of such a great break I was prone to a bit of post-vacation depression. Meh, whatever. Being productive trumps that.

I was debating whether to bring little gifts for my colleagues. I mean, it didn’t seem customary to really bring anything back for everyone and I kind of didn’t want to start a trend. I mean, last thing I wanted was to make anyone else going on vacation feel obligated. Eh, but in the end, I decided to just do it anyway. It wasn’t to bank any good will for any future favours–at least, I don’t think it was. I mean, who knows what’s going on deep down in my subconscious. No, I believe that I did it just to be nice. Is that possible? How crazy is that? I’m doubting my own motives.

For my project manager and the tech lead I brought these rice krispie type snacks that I bought from Nakamise-dori near Senso-ji. For the rest of my team I brought small packs of Hi-Chew. Yes, those are available here pretty widely. However, the flavour I got them was yubari melon which can only be picked up from Hokkaido. The actual melons themselves are pretty pricey. Good ones go for over $100 and are actually often given as gifts. Hell, if someone gave me a $100 melon I’d be pretty happy too. Luckily though, this yubari melon Hi-Chew is a lot cheaper than that. I sure as hell wouldn’t give $100 melons to each one of my coworkers–I mean, what am I, made of money? They were pretty appreciative of everything. I’m glad I went ahead with my plan.

I guess it’s back to a more normal life once again!