what i newly love about japan

the heart grows fonder after a break of years of course, but all the same there are nice changes:

• fewer ambulant cigarettes, methinks. much more pleasant to walk the city this time
• suica card / applepay interconnectivity. you can say things about tech evil but i like not having to buy train tokens
• google maps and data. how did we travel before? 
• and those clear plastic brollies. tres minimaliste. possibly there before but we were never in rain before

hello again, favored old friend!

back in a place of good memories.

what i love about japan:

the protean manifestations of food

the laborious comprehensibility of their english announcements

the kindness of strangers

the walkability

and how they anticipate your needs, from the substitute card for the card holder to the multi-function charging cable in the room

artistic licence

when you are at the tail end of a full coverage piece of embroidery featuring a myriad confetti stitches and you start to invent your own color schema.

goodbye, M1

new service provider following on a quarter century of brand loyalty.

it's a milestone, HOM says.

it's like a divorce, i say.

resistance

i want to be able to do a pull-up, i tell Jo.

this gets him mighty excited. seeing as how my usual motivation per session is the ticking minute hand on the clock. yes, that is a good ambition! you will need to build up your upper limb strength and your core. we'll give it one year. you can do it!

this alarms me. seeing as how i am still in the nice aspiration zone and not ready to sweat yet. i don't want to grow muscles, i warn him. don't worry, that's not so easy to do! he tells me. so i say (to be very clear), i don't want to accidentally grow muscles either.

M365

and just like that

we are under new management

i don't know whether to be

impressed unimpressed or insouciant

but i'll have you know

i managed the update all by myself

mobile iron

unwieldy encumbrance

inscrutable

incomprehensible

scion of paranoia

unbidden

unwelcome

and now

late unlamented