Recent Things

I added “Bookshelf” to this blog to share what I am reading and plan to read. I might incorporate passages that I like from the books. It would make me happy if others are interested in it, but my primary goal is to read more. This will happen when I introduce a smidgen of public accountability into it, the way I did with running. I also want to mitigate my brain’s way of forgetting all but the broadest strokes of a book or movie or TV show approximately six months after my consumption thereof. I guess what I want to achieve is more presence when taking in a piece of art. On top of all this, having your thoughts, Dear Reader, on the books, and recommendations of other books, would be a further boon.

For now I have only included the two books on my nightstand. I have not populated my queue. But the thing I plan to always do is link the book titles to Powell’s Books, which is at the very least a lesser evil of a major bookseller, and which delivers to Japan in my experience. (At what cost, I do not recall.)

I think I will post thoughts under each title, or maybe snapshots of the page when I see something I like. It needs to be easy to sustain.

I read a solid hour in bed before turning out the light and sleeping last night. My sleep data as measured by the Apple Watch showed a nice and even heart rate, with good sleep as usual. Maybe I am searching for things to back up what I already want to do, but I also wonder if reading is best for getting to sleep. the heart rate seemed a bit flatter, which is to say lower from the beginning of sleep, rather then the usual comedown I see. The rate was the usual 39 BPM or so once established.

Yesterday evening, when attending the monthly Squad Leader Meeting, I wore my old Shobodan coat, with the “Hachioji City Shobodan” embroidery covered by a piece of tape, because the older coats are no longer allowed to be worn on duty, or off duty with the official stitching on them visible. The coat is very comfortable and has what I think is a nice retro style. When I returned home, my wife said “You look housed, but like a person who is down on their luck and seeking day-labor work.” I count this as a win.

At any moment now, the excellent local renovation contractor who created the estimate and evidence for our hail damage insurance claim is coming to visit and plan the work. the main thing will be a new roof. We will see what else the funds we have already received will allow.

I have developed a weekly-or-so habit of visiting your blogs (as seen in the comments here) and others I am accumulating on my list of blogs to visit weekly-or-so. From 2022 to 2024 I used an RSS feed to monitor blogs. I stopped doing it. I don’t dispute that it is convenient to have notification that someone has updated their blog. More than that kind of notification, though, I like the idea of consciously deciding to visit each blogs in my good old browser bookmarks, arriving at the blog with it appearing the way you intended, and seeing at that moment whether or not you did your duty to the world and wrote something.

I have culled from my list the blogs that were not updated in the past two years, and of course the ones that folks let lapse from existence. The feeling of seeing that someone in whom I have an interest (you top this list) has updated their blog is satisfying indeed. I will say that I don’t see as many comments sections in your blogs. This is fine, but I wish there were a more certain way to say “I read and enjoyed your blog,” so that is the intent of this missive.