I am a pretty big fan of working from home. But I am accumulating that “I need to get out more” feeling. S and I have gotten into our routines. And going out is generally not in that routine. A lot available to us in Tokyo, but huge crowds are also included in that “a lot”. It’s … | Continue reading
Trying to keep on the reading, writing, and painting focus for the year. I have a hard time right now doing extra hobbies during the week. I have been mentally drained from work to do much of anything afterwards. But I’ve gotten a tiny bit of painting done lately. An orange/citru … | Continue reading
This is my IndieWeb Carnival post. The main focus of the carnival is to motivate people to write on their personal sites. Each month a different blogger hosts the carnival and they decide a theme. This month is hosted by Manu and if you haven’t guessed from the title the theme is … | Continue reading
Longest Voyage is Jamie Crisman's home for notes, bad writing, and randomly updated blog: During the holidays my uncle slipped while ice skating and Christmas eve a hospital trip. He’s doing fine now. At the time, my mom not really sure how to feel about the news mentions: You kn … | Continue reading
Arrived back in Japan after a quick holiday trip to the US. It was a wonderful time with the friends and family. I checked off a lot from the “I want to eat this when I get back” list1. My partner was able to put more faces to names and vice versa. The family back home is working … | Continue reading
Train line near Kichijoji Winnie and her partner have been making their way through Japan. Starting from Fukuoka and working their way east. It’s been fun seeing her blog entries and photos. In one of her posts, Winnie talks about the stimulation she gets by traveling: I had this … | Continue reading
The western corner of Tokyo feels nothing like the concrete sprawl of its city. First time we went was sometime early last year. After several trips, we’re slowly forming a routine. Hike for a bit, get back to Okutama station, have some fish and chips and craft beers while we cha … | Continue reading
We finally had a day that wasn’t miserably hot. But that was due to a typhoon. The morning was blasting rain. Shops were closed down. People largely sheltering inside. I am on my way with very wet pants to the dentist. Trying to be tactical with my umbrella usage to not ruin my p … | Continue reading
Few years ago1, I would be really quick to join any community that seemed even remotely interesting. Dozens of forums, websites, etc. If it had anything that was remotely adjacent to my interests I would sign up. I was only ever deeply connected to a very small number of them, bu … | Continue reading
At some point I became a morning person. Maybe not necessarily socialable, but I am getting up and moving around by 6:30 or so. This week I started using some of that morning time to begin running again. Thinking by starting in August it’ll only get more comfortable as the weathe … | Continue reading
I came across a blog post highlighting a Japanese watercolor painter, Yoko Tada, who is getting a collection of works published. Yoko Tada is 100 years old. They started painting when they were in their 80s. I am still quite far away from my 80s (for now). But I love hearing stor … | Continue reading
This will probably be scattered and uninteresting, but I wanted to write about a few things since it’s been a portion of my time this last year or so. Before moving to Japan, I attempted the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The levels have changed over the years, but ba … | Continue reading
At the beginning of May, Japan has a string of holidays that cluster together. At some point in time this became to be known as “Golden Week”. From what I understand, the name came about due to some movie company making extra money during the string of holidays. Then eventually b … | Continue reading
There’s something about the cold air at night in Tokyo. It’s not every night, but there’s a sort of fragrance. It comes like the smell before rain or snow. Often mixes with the smell of cooking fish, sesame oil, or garlic as you walk down quiet residential streets. It feels nosta … | Continue reading
Winter felt like it came late this year. My hometown got some icy weather, while all the chances of snow I had in Tokyo ended up not happening. Early morning Shimokitazawa before almost any shop is open. Many stores in Japan open rather late. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s t … | Continue reading
In November, I visited back home for the first time in nearly three years. It was a short two week trip. I visited very few friends and spent the rest of my time either working remotely or spending time with family. It was so incredibly good to see the family. The usual passage o … | Continue reading
Writing’s great. It’s a great example of easy to start, hard to master. Almost any device has some amount of capability to write on it. If you need a lower bar then you can go to paper and pen1. Then dropping even lower you can use the bar itself and write in the dirt. But I don’ … | Continue reading
Japan is finally opening up again. I received a voucher to get my forth shot for corona, but then we realized that it’s only actually redeemable for people who are either elderly or have underlying conditions. It’s been a slow transition. While I am fairly certain many parts of t … | Continue reading
Few meters back, there were some people standing around smoking. There were at least 5 no smoking signs posted a few steps apart. One guy was even leaning on one of the signs as he mindlessly scrolled on his phone while he smoked. Robin’s post about how an app could be a home coo … | Continue reading
There was a huge heat wave that blew through and put end of summer temperatures at the beginning of summer. It was hot and clear weather. That particular wave lasted for a whole week and for whatever reason Japan declared the rainy season was officially over. Which is an odd thin … | Continue reading
Did you ever have the experience of discovering something you enjoy. Maybe you shared it with some friends. In that space there’s a small community gathering around something they value and enjoy. It might just be among friends, but then it ends up being contagious. More people b … | Continue reading
Japan has an interesting connection with nature. There’s a respect that people have here, that I feel isn’t as prevalent elsewhere. I’ve read some believe this has to do with the earthquakes Japan gets. Constant reminders that we are simply allowed to be here. Back home you get a … | Continue reading
In the last year or so, I’ve been going through a few books on compilers and programming languages. I highly recommend checking these out: Writing an Interpreter in Go Writing a Compiler in Go Crafting Interpreters (has a free online version) So, after going through those books. … | Continue reading
George Saunders’ has a newsletter Substack called Story Club. It’s fantastic. It’s a newsletter + comments version of his latest book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Where he writes about writing and breaking down stories. It’s great from a readers and writers perspective because i … | Continue reading
I love the fall weather in Japan. It’s gotten a bit colder since, but I wanted to write about this past fall. Ginko trees lined all the way down the road. This picture is from a few years back. The corona numbers had been at a pretty stable low count for the past couple months. W … | Continue reading
It’s incredible how things can fit the “muscle” metaphor. Getting stronger over time if you use it regularly. The atrophy if you don’t. The writing muscle I built throughout last year feels like a dream. Pretty sure it happened, but I can’t quite remember doing it. Luckily, with … | Continue reading
I was able to confirm that the Moderna vaccine gives me a pretty huge headache. Better than brain fog from long covid. But got my two vaccines down. A huge relief, but we’re waiting until both of us are able to get fully vaccinated and see the infection numbers go down before we … | Continue reading
Not well. Is how I’d describe how the Japanese studying is going. But it is going. It’s a gradual slow grind that I need to keep on. I wanted to share what I’ve been doing for my Japanese studies lately. Lessons: I took group lessons with Ako-sensei. She has a variety of types of … | Continue reading
The coffee cup wobbling on the plate as I make my way back to my seat. The foamy waves of the coffee sea crashing from the techtonic plate moving 10 meters from the counter to the table. The sea settles. As does the techtonic plate. The sun soaks through the window and the cool a … | Continue reading
The transition to post-pandemic life will certainly be interesting. People regrowing their reduced social circles. Finally meeting team mates that they’ve remotely worked with for over a year. Wearing pants. Every individual now changed by the rough year. Minor changes, heart bre … | Continue reading
There was an earthquake on the night before Valentine’s day. One of the biggest in Japan since the 2011 earthquake. Luckily, no tsunami to take out a nuclear reactor. It was the largest I’ve felt since I moved here. Where I am it was just a long slow and big swaying of the ground … | Continue reading