I wish I was roaming around Tokyo, even if my esim card wasn’t working.

*sigh*

It's the Christianized version of the Khmer Rouge method, starting with the government workers who actually keep things working. They must be removed from their jobs, preferably by quitting because we've made it impossible for them to come work in an office that doesn't actually exist.

Alas too many Trump voters are going to be really badly affected by this in the near and distant future, and the propaganda machine will tell them it's the fault of DEI and trans.

That's just abominable, flea. I'm sorry.

Yay for passport!

Japan continues to sound delightful.

all remote work agreements are rescinded and employees are expected back in the office

I can only imagine the number of thousands of families disrupted by this action. Burning it all down. Putting incompetent heads of departments in place whose objective is to close down the department. Making it miserable enough that employees leave. And yes, the propaganda machine will somehow blame the consequences on 'the others', whether that is DEI, or the Dems, or whoever is being targeted at the moment.

I'm grateful to have the Japan narration to distract me! David, when you get back and things settle down, I will get tips from you and Cashmere for planning my trip.

Here at Casa Holt my world is still a bit bright, although better every day. I have some peripheral flickering when adjacent to a bright window or screen, but they say that it is just the incisions that are healing. But the colors, man! Must be trippin'.

Brendon is suddenly the head coach for the varsity team because the previous coach quit with four games left in the regular season. Short version of entire season has been drama drama blah blah politics academia drama drama. Former HC had taken the position when his son transferred to the school, then the first month of school he transferred the kid to some prep school in CA, which was too good an opportunity to pass up. He stayed while the wife moved and continued to coach a team not good enough for his son. He was crap coach with a 3 and 13 record when he quit, after several of the team had quit over the past few weeks. The principal called DH and asked him to take over, so he asked his assistant to take over JV and he jumped into it. He has coached the last 2 games, winning both and all parties are excited. It is a lot, but the powers that be at school are providing him anything he asks for and we need to make a decision as to whether he will continue this next year. He loves the kids and has a good relationship with the department heads, so I'm thinking it will probably happen. That was the really short version.

I hope he can wrangle work and life and everything to continue that if he wants to -- between his enjoying it and knowing how great it must be for the kids to have him as a coach in their lives, that'd be great.

I still remember my volleyball coach so fondly. Just one or two little random things he did that were completely mundane but made me feel... competent? Seen? Something. He was also my gym teacher one year, and we were doing calethstenics, and he said, "Prior! Come up here and show the class how to do the crunches..." Me! Showing other people how to do a *physical activity* right! WHAT. I mean, crunches -- right? No big. But we did them at practice, so he had me demo. Seriously, forty-odd years later, that still makes me smile.

Wrangling work and life and everything is indeed a challenge. The administration has agreed to purchase the fancy AI video system which does the statistics and all kinds of amazing video feats. Doing film and stats is enormously time-consuming. Insane as it is, the coaches have always done the laundry at home, and they have agreed to take over that function. Again, time consuming. He'll have an office with a computer and all that so he can work there without having to balance a laptop on his knee. They want him to stay. He could be a full-time employee if he will do some substitute teaching. He tutored math in college, so he could do that. Just not English!!

There are a lot of details that would need to be worked out, but we have time for that. I assume that there will be standard recruiting requirements, but kids, parents, and administration all love him so if he decides it is what he wants then it will likely happen. It is 100% his decision because that is how we roll, but he asked my initial feelings, and I think it is now or never and he should do it. The school is 7 miles away, so only an hour in city traffic. (jk, but it can be 15-45 minutes depending on bridges, time of day, the usual city stuff)

I have a very low threshold for quality when it comes to movies like Day After Tomorrow. I love them fairly unconditionally. I don't know why.

Same. Give me alllllll the disaster action movies, the sillier the better. (Hello, The Core, I am talking about you.)

Susan, I'm so relieved for you and Alex. Cash, I hope your kids are able to stay safe.

Aeryn's passport expires next year and I doubt I'll feel safe letting them apply for an X gender marker. (They are comfortable with any/all pronouns, which is fortunate, but it would be just so awesome if this decision didn't have to be made based on fear of my own goddamn government.)

That sounds much more manageable with the changes. I’m sure he’ll decide what’s best for him, but it really sounds like an awesome opportunity.

Gotta stop doom scrolling and do something today. I’m already getting myself into a funk. I’m also struggling with getting my diet and eating back into shape. Some of you maybe know I lost like 80 pounds over the last year and a half. I put 10 or 15 back on over the holidays so I’m trying to reverse that trend but it’s slow going and makes me frustrated with myself. I actually quite like the program that I’m doing which makes me extra annoyed when I slip. Making deliberate choices to go off plan, like the other night when we got to do a four course dinner with a James Beard nominee chef. I’m totally happy with. Randomly snacking on shit that I shouldn’t be is a different story.

But! In happier news I get to go to London next week for some team meetings. Already have tickets to a show at the Globe on Friday night with my boss

I know it’s a small part of it, flea, but that notification being an email sent after EOD Friday is just so typically bullshit. The real harm that is going to come from these g-d people making stupid decisions based on nothing but spite and ill will makes me so angry.

Anyway, I’m giving in to the cold I’ve been fighting for what feels like forever so I’m cranky. Sorry.