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.

My friend who works at the VA in Pittsburgh (with severely mentally ill vets) shared some of their memos with me.

She only teleworks one day a week but said they moved the building she works from after Covid. And there is NO WAY they have space for all the psychological staff. And they can’t just pack a bunch of therapists into shared offices. They have privacy issues with treatment.

She said the early decisions were not made with short terms in mind and it will be a big, shitty dumpster fire.

But she also said, “We HAVE to obey patient privacy laws so fuck them and their anti-DEI memos.”

We had a really good day and I am here to report that I have conquered a QR Code!

Not all of them, by god, but the most important imminent one: the one that gave me our two reserve Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto on Tuesday.

We went to Kichijoji today - which is the neighborhood where the Ghibli Museum is. We did not go to the museum because I foolishly did not buy tickets to said museum back in November. (Actually they release tickets on the 10th of every month for the following month. Take note Debet! Feb. 10 for March tix. (Double check that, but I think that's right.)

Today was our first really successful day in that we had a plan and executed it and it was all fun. The other days were either getting our bearings or trying to fix the phone or jet lagged. But my longstanding traveling practice of picking one interesting neighborhood, and building a day around it worked beautifully.

Also, I have abandoned trying to find exact recommended restaurants. If the menu looks good and some locals are eating there, it's going to be yummy. That's how we found our yakitori (grilled meat on skewers) today and it was perfect.

We walked through Inokashira Park and stumbled across the cutest little creperie on the edge of the park, near the Ghibli Museum. So quaint and humble and cute. Got some postcards there.

Matilda said, "Well, hello there" and I turned around to see a man walking a stroller with two young owls perched on the edge. The owl swiveled his head around and stared at her owlishly. The boutiques and shops near the station were cute and fun.

Matilda scored a beautiful coat from a little boutique having a sale. Very Japanese and drapey, super soft.

We had to take the Metro and then transfer to the JR train lines (like going from Muni to BART, or NYC Subway to Path [I guess?]) and managed to sort it out together. Cool seeing the outlying neighborhood. Lots of older infrastructure - reminded me of Oakland in parts. Since we had an elevated train view I could see lots of roofs and lots of TV antennae!

Well, that's a disappointment about the Ghibli museum, but the rest sounds super-cool!

(I wonder if it's possible to scalp tickets? But you'd pretty much have to read/speak enough Japanese to penetrate the social layers to find someone to sell them. Or ask the concierge?)

(Note that I've never actually paid for scalped tickets, or looked for them, so it's all theoretical to me. But my mild knowledge of hotels is that the concierge knows if its possible, and how to go about it. Or else they open their concierge jacket and they've got preprinted tickets to various events lined up in clever little pockets.)