spring cleaning 3

i spend some more time today de-cluttering the bookshelves for no obvious gain. i tackle decades' worth of administrative binders files and envelopes and am repeatedly tempted to stuff them back into the shadows. perhaps i give in to the temptation too.

i need to have a goal to this death cleaning, i think. what exactly am i trying to achieve? clearer shelves? a better filing system? to discover lost worlds? in my mind i think i would like to clear out some (lots of) garbage filed over the years and hallowed by age. i would also like to discard half our collection of sticky cables but i am paralyzed by potential future need. 

in other news, more photos crawl out of the woodwork for digitization.

June 30th

after today we will be in the second half of the year during which one can legitimately look forward to cooler weather vacations celebrations get-togethers and christmas. i've only been waiting all year for this!

mystifying encounter

E and i are down at the foot of our block for his evening ablutions. here is the background: i like my solitude. (that is to say, i don't like to talk when i am tired or if the weather is hot.) E likes his solitude. (certainly he likes big dogs more than he likes little dogs.)

enter, stage left, a woman and her little dog. E and i stand to attention and hope she moves off, although out of courtesy i attempt a half smile across the distance.

woman and dog approach. how is your dog? my dog doesn't really like other dogs. is yours a boy or a girl? is he neutered? my dog doesn't really like other dogs. she repeats as she gets closer and closer.

really, i think to myself. if your dog doesn't really other dogs would you mind leaving me and my dog to our evening activities? E, bless his doggy heart, does not show any interest in the little dog, as expected. and yet it takes us minutes to be disencountered.

american kingpin - nick bilton (2017)

it's epic all right. riveting and jolly exciting too, like watching it on screen. it helps the pace that the chapters are short and snappy and he gives you just enough foreshadowing to keep you hooked. i am glued to the book for the chapters leading to his arrest.

the writing is verbose but the story is thrilling and the prison terms are satisfyingly long. 

until i read that the perpetrator received a presidential pardon this year. come on, guys. are you serious? (not bolton's fault, obviously)

spring cleaning 2

... by which i survive the internal medicine housemanship rotation, back in the day.

in other news, half of the bookshelves have been (modestly) decluttered but i find myself continually sidetracked by the contents that i mean to prune.

will i need the stuff inside the books? (actually they are hopelessly outdated and you know it)

will i ever read this again? (no, you only read e-books now, remember?)

the conclusion of today's döstädning is that the shelves look somewhat unchanged. i need to ask the two questions and cull again.

diary of a day

a working day too, and mostly i have food pictures to show for it.

pet names

a commentary on acquaintance pets' monickers:

• Meko, Poppy, Benji, Kai: just cryptic enough not to make sense
• Coffee, Biscuit, Blueberry, Marshmallow, Oreo: these are food, people (not dogs or hamsters i mean)
• Ninja: aspirational, for a chihuahua
• Bear: mistaken and misguided, for a rat (the name and the choice of animal)
• Labbit, Wabbit: spot of brilliance here. the species the familial connection the unique IDs all addressed
• Socrates, Aristotle, Spider, Cricket: a family of black cats. spot the outlier!

if we get another dog i want to call him Reginald.

weather forecast 2

one moment you are sitting in the bus wondering why the driver turns the windshield wiper on for the few diddly raindrops and the next minute you are out on the street hanging on to the brolly for dear life.

and voila! the gentle sunset barely an hour later. it appears the drenching ends with me.

weather forecast

followed five minutes later by white-out thundery showers. if this is not fickle i don't know what is.

questions and anticipation

in between decisions, HOM and i.

do we endure painful (exciting) (costly) renovation and finally move to the bigger place so we can gladly welcome J1 J2 and the extended rest of the family when they visit?

or do we behave rationally stay put in a comfortable situation for most of the year and suffer the tight squeeze when visits happen?

do we commit to another move when we can no longer climb stairs?

how do we solve the problem of an elder dog with short legs in a home with many steps?

watch this space, is wot i say.

deepseek

looking for information will never be the same again.

you ask a question incorporating your parameters and AI helpfully churns out a list of reasonable answers that you use to get started on your deeper search. or you ask some follow-up questions and refine the list and get started on your deeper search. how to i minimize my kitchen pipe blockages? which robot vacuum is most cost-effective and easy-to-use and that i can buy from harvey norman? which louis cha quote is the chinese minister referring to?

what i like is the way i get to learn about things i do not know i do not know.

what i need to bring is some wariness and willingness to double check. and questions! 

over till the next one

the last of the hanjuku cheesecake, and the last of this quickie indulgence. one is getting unashamedly addicted to these extended weekend getaways, i confess to HOM.

the full moon coffee shop - mochizuki (2025)

i finish this on the flight back from shanghai in between judge dee mysteries. pleasantly bijoux for a nice quickie read but the astrology stuff throws me off. it flows in the style of we'll prescribe you a cat.

repast

loving the food in shanghai. my favorite must be the xiaolongbao shengjianbao and the sweet soy eel.

my kinda tourist thingy

we are not cut out for the hard core tourist stuff, we realize. forget the temples and famous sights and de rigueur photo opps. HOM and i spend a delightful afternoon amidst the dappling sunlit avenues of the french quarter and wander into an art exhibition several rug shops and accidentally into the insta-famous cafe selling teddy bear ice cream. not much to show but much to remember.

(the real) bucket list

a qipao from shanghai.

pretty much every girl's vintage dream.

even though this is an energetic modern young female tailor who promises to ship the finished product to me and not the fabled old man who only speaks in incomprehensible dialect. she promises me a garment in xiangyunsha silk and i promise her to return for more if she delivers.

recording my thanks to HOM for his cheerful long-suffering presence over multiple fittings.

hangzhou

 

west lake is really quite gorgeous and i almost want to return in the autumn and the winter.

but we are middle-aged wimps and almost fall into our coffee with relief at the end of the half-day tour.

shanghai (again)

revisiting an old lady and finding charms yet:

• the qipao tailors this time (if i had a bucket list this would be so on it, i murmur to HOM)
• the old and the new effortlessly juxtaposed at least from the didi rides we are in
• food remains quintessentially acceptable even for picky eater me
• and is much better priced than recent comparators (CA and BC)
• i'm back in the land of the automatic flushing loo! and luckin! and general public safety!
• and in comparison to other spots in china, they actually obey do not smoke expectations

this could become my favorite getaway city. 

also, waiting on tenterhooks for my new qipao.

kingdom of characters - jing tsu (2022)

sweeping powerful epic fascinating inspiring and quite simply jolly satisfying account of the metamorphosis of the chinese language over the past century as it was dragged kicking struggling reluctantly and resentfully into the twenty-first century.

it is amazing to realize how far behind it was back when putonghua was not even a thing and how much the chinese ecosystem has leap-frogged the rest of the field today.

the old memories 2

random thoughts from scanning old photos:

• time was when after a wedding one would receive a keepsake envelope of photographs of the happy couple the banquet table and select candids
• time was also when after an event one poor bugger would go around like a human excel with a list for you to fill up which photos you wanted to purchase order those photos collect your monies sort out your orders a couple of weeks later and deliver them to you. possibly the most unsung hero of our youth
• remember the big notice boards with sheets of numbered photographs for you to decide which to order? 

am i glad we are in the digital age.

less ded

the ol' reliable appetite is back. it is a wonderful thing to be able to enjoy one's food, i tell you. the preacher is right that there is nothing better than to rejoice in the here and now and in food and drink that our good God gives.

in other news, a 5 per cent weight loss over four days has reduced me to looking like a haggard hound.

the old memories

random reflections on digitizing our early collection of family photos:

• the faces look happy 
• we did quite a bit together
• my babies are grown up now

and i think, humbly gratefully although admittedly not necessarily theologically accurately, so somewhere in my youth or childhood, i must have done something good.

the psychology of money - morgan housel (2020)

a most interesting read because it never occurs to me to think about how we think about money. meta-finance, if you like. or possibly meta-financial planning.

he is surprisingly (ok, i judge) self-effacing a little bit altruistic and quite refreshing for an american writer although he runs true to verbiage.

worth a read, with bits of skimming.

half ded 2

gingerly emerging from the grogginess of the past week

like the fragile butterfly breaking out from the cocoon

first day after many without overt myalgia

and coffee tastes good again

cautiously optimistic

thank God for HOM and O who allow me to be sick without having to lift a finger to help myself. and thank God for E for sensing i need his company more than he hates my hugs.

half ded

let's just say the perfect storm requires more than that.

specifically, you might add in non-stop vomiting diarrhea and the mother of all bodyaches.

after 4 days of near-starvation i graduate to a diet of chicken soup and japanese cheesecake today.

practice-changer

most valuable app 2025, is wot i say. i spend the day digitizing 12 years of photos. perhaps that's why my body aches so badly.

glycemic chaos

eastbound jet lag

hacking cough

new sensor

a perfect storm, if you ask me

stock take

just the other day i accidentally write '24. soon we'll be saying the latter half of the year.

not done:

dinners with old friends

cross-stitching. felting. embroidery. piano

reading theology

done:

reading lots of (fairly eclectic) books

four trips (excluding JB)

babysitting

still:

working (part-time)

enjoying the work (mostly)