Fuck that, Steph.

I don't know if it's my doctor's office dragging their feet on the prior authorization questionnaire (and seriously FUCK my insurance for requiring they fill out a fucking questionnaire) or if it's my insurance dragging their feet on the approval process, or both, but I am seriously wanting to kick some asses. Or use Dark Willow-style magic to just get this goddamn prior authorization pushed through and approved.

That's such a bullshit rigamarole, Steph.

So fucking unnecessary.

Absurdly frustrating!

Since my eyes are more functional, I have been catching up on the archived Wordle and Connections puzzles I missed. There were 5 days over the past month when I just didn't look at screens at all. Doing them one after another is making me feel all smarty pants. In a zone here.

I survived a day of work! In the world outside my house! Interacting with actual people!

Also the news that there would be an all-staff meeting at 10 AM. "Is it bad news?" I asked some of the inner office staff, worried that it would be because a fellow staff member had been killed or who knows, I was out of the loop for a couple days.

No, our parent company (hospitals and clinics and a few assisted living residences) will most likely be selling the ALRs to another healthcare company, another nonprofit owned and run by the Carmelite nuns, which specializes in this sort of stuff and has highly rated residences, to boot.

I am just so thankful that it's not venture capital, which has now driven two hospital systems into bankruptcy that I know of.

Venture capital is a scourge, and I their role in undermining whatever social contract there existed is under appreciated.

I'm so glad for you that this seems like something entirely other!

I had my semiannual check-up today and found out I've lost 7 lbs. since the last one and had the best cholesterol numbers I've put up in over a decade (total of 166, a drop of over 45, woot!). Also very good blood pressure numbers and almost everything else except a borderline A1C.

Excellent, Matt!

We're having room service breakfast and packing up to go to Kyoto.

Glad I checked with the most fluent staff member last night and she clarified that we cannot take the Shinkansen from Shimbashi station (right near the hotel) but we need to go out of the main Tokyo Station. Fortunately that's a five minute cab ride and that will be easier to haul all of Matilda's too-much luggage into the station.

We're going to get there plenty early so we can get bento boxes for our trip, and settle on our platform without running.

We're on the Pacific Ocean side of the train, which normally would be a plus, but Mt. Fuji is on the other side. However, if the train isn't crowded we can just slide over. I'm hoping a Tuesday train at 12:48 is not going to be packed.

I made a mistake yesterday by planning the morning about walking over to the Emperor's Palace and grounds, with the idea of taking another outing after noon to an outlying neighborhood that looked cool (as we did with our Kishijoji outing).

First of all the Emporor's Palace burned down centuries ago and all that's left are the (admittedly impressive) moats and some gates. It might be because it's January but the surrounding gardens were...not garden like. Rather huge paved sections and open areas of no plants, just sand. Really a fucking waste of time. No owls whatsover!

Do Not Recommend.

Anyway, came back to the hotel because Matilda's phone was supposed to be cleared to activate its ESim (finally) and we did that at the hotel with the strong wifi.

And it worked! For her. My data is still not forthcoming. Oh well, she's the one that needs a working phone in Japan through April.

Then we got stuck out of our room because housecleaning had to wait to do it, so we loitered in the Premium Lounge and had tea and macarons.

We managed to salvage the evening by going to the fancy Teppen restaurant in the hotel (top floor! Great view!) and got front row seats in front of the chef while he made us our glorious kobe steak meal.

After, I dragged Matilda out into the night and across the tracks to the fancy Ginza neighborhood where we tracked down a Don Quijote store (aka, Donki) on a side quest to find an eyeshadow palette for Jilli.

Monday night at the Donki store was a madhouse on a par with shoping at the mall on the last Saturday before xmas. Absolutely packed and kind of claustrophobic. Also, we found the brand Jilli wanted (Flower Knows) but they were out of eyeshadow.

Nonetheless another fun outing, and Matilda picked up some souvenirs and skincare for herself. Just going out into a busy Tokyo neighborhood at night is like Vegas/Xmas Lights/Disney Electrical Parade. Everything's lit up and every alley seemed to have a dinky food counter of some sort that totally pinged my Bladerunner fantasies.

I wish I had focused more on the plan that had worked with Kichijoji - which is pick one neighborhood to explore each day. Just find a restaurant when you're out and focus more on the living vibe of the city.

I've been watching How To Take The Shinkansen From Tokyo to Kyoto videos on YouTube in prep of our our leaving. Just need to shove the room service cart out of the room so we can finish packing. I sure wish Matilda had brought less.