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.

It's so much worse than 2017, and even though I expected it to be, it's something else to witness it. The cliche would be to call it a slow-motion train wreck, but it's more like all the trains in the country wrecking at normal speed, and none of it has to happen, but no one who wants to stop it has access to the brakes. And while none of these trains have yet crashed into me or mine, I can hear ominous hurtling metal sounds coming at us from multiple directions.

But the wisest things I've heard all week came from an AOC TikTok and from one of the Straight White American Jesus podcast hosts. I think they were both quoting other people or advice they'd been given, but anyway, here's some wisdom but definitely not MY wisdom:

From AOC: If there are no good people left in the world, then be the last one.

From SWAJ: Just keep doing the next right thing.

So I'm going to go out and do my weekend errands, which will include getting some nonperishable goods for my church's donation bin and also for our emergency kit. I need to start writing the sermon I'm going to be preaching on 2/9, and given that the week's readings are about speaking out and bearing witness to God's kingdom, you'd best believe there will be references to Bishop Budde's sermon. And I'm also going to work on my current novel, because I've done all too little fiction writing the past 8 years, in large part because so much of my time and energy has gone to listening to ALL the political podcasts and writing literal thousands of Vote Forward letters and postcards to voters. While I'm not going to quit podcasts and voter outreach cold turkey, I'm not going to do them at the expense of my creativity and urge for storytelling anymore.

That sounds like you are on the right track, Susan. Not the one with impending crashes.

Self-care first, Susan!

My cold has taken a further retreat, though I'm still very mucus-y. Resisting the impulse to go outside, I haven't been out since Tuesday!

I'm feeling up to tasks like changing sheets on the bed, doing the dishes, picking up all the little wads of Kleenex that have sprouted like sticky flowers on nearby surfaces, et cetera.

-t and Theo, may your colds disappear soonest.

I had a pretty productive day, declutter-wise. Now I'm job searching and watching Father Brown Mysteries in the background.

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

Matilda went off into Tokyo herself this morning to get her nails done! One of her priorities.

Yesterday, we tried to collect my paid-for-in-advance Shinkasen tickets at the nearby Shimbashi station (so close that our hotel has an entrance directly into the station). Despite having the necessary QR code and authorization number and the correct ticket vending machine with scanner...it wouldn't scan the QR code. So I'll give it another go today and if it doesn't work will have to eat the original tickets and just buy new ones.

We're still struggling with lack of data outside the hotel (though fortunately Tokyo has turned a lot of old phone booths into Free WiFi spots, and you can always duck into Starbucks (which is how Matilda ordered a new ESim card while we were out and about). However we can text and call each other so that alleviates some of the worry about going out separately.

Advice to Laura about Japan planning: shit sells out months in advance! So we shan't be going to the Ghibli Museum. teamLabs should have available tickets week-of but the available ticket buying websites are not letting me buy anything though they say they have open slots.

Despite such thwarting obstacles, we still venture out. The nice thing is that the Metro is so comprehensive and easy to negotiate that we can go anywhere and know we can get back to the station near our hotel. Or take a cab.

Yesterday we explored our local neighborhood (which we were going to do on the first day, but we went to Asakusa instead on that day to try to fix Matilda's phone situation).

Asakusa was really fun to explore anyway, so that took the edge off a task-filled day. It has a huge shopping/souvenir arcade (dating back to the Edo era), and was filled with adorable 13 year olds just out of school in their full straight-from-an-anime school uniforms. Also it's an area where you can rent kimonos so many women (local and Western) going out beautifully dressed (hair and makeup too) in kimonos.

Lots of rickshaws there as well, one pulled by a bantam young woman who leaned into it and gave a hearty battle cry as she hauled it into traffic.

Matilda had been requesting a massage so I looked one up locally and went to a very nearby, old school-ish mall/arcade where the entire second floor was filled with (non-porny) massage salons. We went to the recommended place but nobody was at the front desk (these places are tiny), but a woman at another salon down the hall invited us in English to her place.

And that's how Matilda and I were stripped down to our skivvies with a couple of women we'd just met thirty seconds before. We each got 60 minute massages, which were thorough and expert and the total cost was about $34 in total for both of us. (Remember, no tipping in Japan either.)

Dollar is really strong against the yen right now and everything feels very inexpensive.

Extra fun: my glasses were lost and it took them fifteen minutes to uproot the little space where I'd received my massage. They'd fallen out of the basket and back behind something on the floor. Phew.

Jilli sent us on a side quest to go find a Japan-only eyeshadow palette, so we checked out a makeup counter. They did not have the brand she wanted but Matilda got sucked into interacting with the makeup lady and wind up buying a new foundation with a more pale look (more typical of Japanese fashion).

We celebrated with fancy pastries and hot chocolate. Dinner plans at the fancy Kobe beef place in the hotel were thwarted once again by David's lack of planning as they didn't have an open slot until 8pm (on a Saturday night). We'll do better tonight.

After Matilda gets back from Nails we'll go explore Harajuku and the Kichijoji neighborhood for thrift shopping.

Laura if you're still on FB, this group has been super useful: [link]

I have to say our hotel, which I picked primarily for its closeness to train and subway lines, has been fantastic. We are "Premier" guests at affordable (for what I'm used to in the states) prices, which has a ton of amenities. Not least, the full free breakfast which we can take as room service or from the (very nice) buffet, or at the French restaurant (as we did this morning - beautiful calm space and great omelette). Incredible bathroom with deep luxurious tub I've been using every day. There's also a Premier Lounge that I can access with a bar etc.

Daiich Hotel, Shimbashi: [link]

Another cool thing about the hotel is that it has several floors dedicated to bridal services, so we've seen at least two or three wedding parties coming through taking photos, or gathering in the banquet rooms. Bride and groom in full ensembles for photo shoots. Many women in Kimonos.

We're going to Japan in June (trying to get Ghibli Park tickets in March), so I am following with interest, though our wants and needs with a 6 year old and nearly-2 year old are quite different

Well, the EPA sent out an email (after close of business on a Friday?!) that all remote work agreements are rescinded and employees are expected back in the office

oh, flea, my sympathies. One of my former staff is now a GS-14 at EPA and he lives well away from the office.

That said, I don't see how they can throw the remote work agreements out the window so easily. Many agencies don't have the space, and many employees took those position AS REMOTE. It doesn't really hold up. But I'm sure that doesn't help Mr. flea much right now.

At the moment I'm more upset about the fact that "they" cancelled the MLK event at the regional center scheduled for this coming Monday. They shut down our leadership/diversity group (which really just runs the annual organizational culture survey). When I go back to the office on Tuesday I will look to see if they took down the sexual harassment posters.

I've been reading some of the fed employee reddit forums, and those are full of horrifying details.