* 🛹 Leo and I skated both days on the weekend. And for 5 minutes after school on Monday. While he is frustrated that he can't ollie yet, he is getting better control over the board. I expect he'll smoke me at skating in a month or two time. Still the dream of riding a half-pipe together persists. Unfortunately it rained on Sunday, so his skate class was cancelled. * 👀 Last week when we went to the beach the wind blew some sand into my eye. Usually you wash it and at most the next morning at the latest you're better. It wasn't the case for me this week. My eye felt like it was getting a bit better each day until it didn't and, being American, I am (still) not in the habit of _just_ going to the doctor. I went. And it turned out there was a tiny piece of plastic or something hooked itself into my eye. 30 seconds with some anesthetic eye drops and scraping of my eyeball the doc got it released. Instantly my eye felt better. Microplastics, the gift that keep on giving. * 🥔 Since teaching Leo how to make instant mash potatoes and him writing down his recipe, I feel like he's gained a super power. When he's hungry and or has a craving, he just gets on with it and makes them. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

* 🏖️ We had the first of long weekends in November. Despite it cooling down, we decided to visit the beach with Sophie, the popup tent and some coffee. I've resolved to get some decent pegs that can hold in not just grass at the park as the thing nearly blew over (but it still provided shelter). Coffee with Fuji * 🛹 While at the beach we had the idea of walking down to the skate shop directly connected to skate park. I had been thinking off-and-on for about a year about getting back into either skating and or blading, so I was quite keen see what the selection was like. Part of the selection Absolutely massive selection of decks and trucks. Larger than any of the skate shops I visited as a kid. Leo had mentioned wanting to get a skateboard a couple of times and I am keen to find another physical activity we can do together. I also think learning to skate will be good for building one's frustration tolerance up. And that it's a sport that has a large degree of freedom will be good for him (unlike, say, baseball). Which is to say, we got Leo a complete (early Christmas present) and paid for entry into the skatepark. Watching the kids (and adults!) shred it on the pipes and ramps was really great. So great that we went back the next day and I bought got a complete for me and we skated for 3 hours. I now have a new life goal to ride the pipe next to the ocean. ( Also what a fantastic place to learn to skate. And the fact that skate parks exist today generally. And to have parents that will take you to the skate park. What a lucky kid.) Flat area of the park * 🎧 The only unfortunate happening of the week was that while we were at the beach Yumi's AirPods left the case somewhere. We had a bit of hope because they showed up on FindMy 2 days in a row, and despite our best efforts looking for them, we could not find them. It will cost almost as much as a new pair to get replacement buds... maybe it's worth getting wired headphones...

* 📚 We made a visit to our local Yokohama city library and I think I want to make it part of our weekly routine. There is a English books corner in the kids section which is nice (though I think we'll read them it in no time). It's amazing the transformation of people by place, incuding boyo. While he didn't suddenly sit down and start reading heaps of books, his mind seemed to open up towards reading. In some ways, we're clones of each other, me and Leo. In others he's entirely different. I was always stuck in books, organized a library in my room, and read the most number of books in my class at his age. * 🐉 One of the reasons why this could be is the _format_ of a physical book. When you're struggling reading a book it can be quite discouraging. Turning each page you see how little progress you're making. Realizing this I experimented by putting the Kindle app (where we had a Dragon Ball manga sample) on his iPad and Leo sat down and read the entire 33 pages. Success! Building on this, I've taken an ancient iPad Mini that's been sitting around discharged and loading some manga into the Books app. This will become Leo's e-reader for now and I hope it will enable him to enjoy reading more. I also started loading kids books on to my Kindle so we can read them at night before bed. Surprisingly, it's the first time he's actually listened to chapter books in English when I've tried to read them. I _think_ it's the format. We shall see if a new routine and an easier way to read without the discouraging affordances get him over the reader hump. Captain Underpants

* 🏃‍♂️ We had sports day this week and Leo's school. Similar to last year he had a dance and a race. The weather played along where it wasn't super hot, which was nice as well. I took this opportunity to pull out my actual camera and, like every time I stop carrying it for whatever reason, I was reminded how much better the photos look from it than from any cellphone. * 🛝 We went to Chigasaki Satoyama Park, a favorite huge park that's only accessible by bus/car. It's been far too long since we went out to large park (i.e. has grass) with our sunshade and junk hung out for 4 hours. Now that it's cooler, we plan to visit more of the big parks around Kanagawa. Big skies Fresh off of the sports day the previous day, I brought my actual camera. I tried fiddling with the settings to take a shot when Leo was bouncing on the giant white bouncy thing that showed the motion and I was quasi-successful. I versions of him being nothing but a blur, but the best one has Leo jumping with his arms a blur and his face not blurred. It would have been better if he was at the very top of the bouncy bit so there was a distinct gap between bounce and the blur. * 📺 I started watching Only Murders in the Building and I think it will hook me. Steven Martin and Marty Short – you can't go wrong. They've been a favorite of mine since Three Amigos.

A Northern California aquarium has raised more than $2 million for sea otter conservation in just two days. All it took was Taylor Swift wearing a vintage T-shirt.

* 🧚 The tooth fairy made another visit to our house. Finally. This last tooth has been hanging on by a thread for (what feels like) weeks. With 4 front teeth missing, now is the time to make sure I get extra photos of that smile. * 🌽 Japan has a unique scheme called "hometown tax". Most people in Japan, regardless of where they're born, end up in one of the big cities because that's where the jobs are. This shift in population is making it difficult for rural municipalities to function without a tax base. Hometown tax lets you redirect a portion of your resident tax to any municipality in the country and the receiving municipality sends you a "thank you gift" in return. There's entire shopping sites setup for this – even Amazon runs one. For years I've meant to do it, but find myself on December 31st in analysis paralysis and miss the deadline. Finally, this week I took part. By supporting a few different towns around the country I am getting in return a year's supply of tissue, toilet paper, and a monthly delivery of seasonal veg. * 💩 I started reading Enshitification and am finding myself nodding along. It really does explain the shift in computing from being useful utilities to always seeming to get worse. I looked at buying it on my Kindle, but besides being locked in to the platform (especially with the title of the book), it was a 1 dollar cheaper to purchase it directly from the author. While I won't need a new PC any time soon, it has started the "Ugh, I kinda don't like what macOS is becoming" and and desktop linux threads in my head.... One day....

* 🥰 Most kids sleep in when there's no school. Not Leo. He usually wakes up at 5:30 - 6:00. When his mom asked him why he likes to wake up early he responded "because I want to be like papa". Melts my heart a bit, but also, yikes I should start doing more things worth emulating. * 🇯🇵 More on Leo – his English has been getting better lately. More small phrases here and there. He set a timer on the HomePod with Siri by himself (while adults weren't in the room). One mark of fluency when you're bilingual is to mix languages or code-switch. The other day he was asking something about Japanese and when referring to the Japanese language he said "Japanese-go" instead of "Nihon-go". We've never said this around him, so its neat to see him mixing his languages as he gets more confident. * 🐻 I watched Season 4 of The Bear. It was far less intense than previous seasons. I didn't notice it while watching, but I think they tied up most of loose ends where it could be the last... but reddit tells they signed for a 5th season, huzzah!

* 🇯🇵 I made it back to Japan after a week in the UK. This time I managed to time my trip to the airport perfectly because as soon as I arrived they started bag checks for ANA. Then there was zero line in security. Compared with my prior visit with the fam, where it took an hour to check-in and we had to dash to the airplane, it was a welcome change. * 🛰️ While in London I bought the Lunar Outpost Lego Technic to build with Leo and it's great. It's the most complex build we've started doing thus far. I wish we could drive it. ( I've since discovered the Lego Spike sets, which replaces Mindstorms, and can be programmed using (!)...maybe one for Santa...) * 🥳 I arrived back in Japan just in time to to spend my 40th birthday with the fam. For the day itself, we kept it simple, having a pizza and cake at my in-laws. Turning 40 is a good time to do a "mid-life" checkin and review things. What will the "theme" for my next decade be? What should I start doing? What should I stop or change? How can I create the systems that ensure change/growth is lasting? My gut (metaphorical and actual (😅)) tells me it should be health... but they're all questions I need to start pondering on...when I'm no longer jet lagged.

* 🇬🇧 I'm back in the UK, this time for a week for work. It's the first time I've made any trip back-to-back so close to another and it's a bit odd – wasn't I just here?! The weather is fantastic as per usual (not being cheeky). * ✈️ I rode with ANA this time around and the flight was the best kind, uneventful. Although rather than my usual aisle seat, I had in a window seat. While I enjoyed being able to look out the window when we were taking off / landing, not being able to get up when I want was a bummer. The entire flight I got up 1 time, which can't be good. While the plane ride was smooth sailing the trains were classic UK trains. Midway to Paddington on the Elizebeth line, we're about to depart the station and the train lost overhead power. We were stuck for 30 minutes while they sorted it out. Thankfully it has a battery on it so it was able to keep the lights on and open the doors. * 🗿 I finally did a proper visit to the British museum and it was fantastic. I'm not sure what my favorite relic in the museum was, but I did quite enjoy the Japan exhibit. Maybe it was because I live there and I could relate to it more. You get so used to these things just being around (on TV, books etc..) that it sort of becomes like the air, but seeing an explicit collection after seeing collections from other parts of the world/eras, if gives you a greater appreciation for the culture.

* ☀️ While the intensity of the heat has decreased this past week, it's still above 30 during the day and staying in the mid 20's. That seems like it will change next week but for now it's still "fierce heat". * 👴 Respect for the Aged day was this week. I'm mixed on this day (despite enjoying the 3-day weekend and it applying to me more and more each year). Why am I mixed? Children have a day (makes sense), the olds have a day (🧐) –where's the "respect for the middle aged for simultaneously keeping society running _and_ raising the next generation" day? Maybe respect for the aged day is about respecting them for surviving? If that's the case...perhaps I am less mixed. than I was initially. 👆 It occurs to me that I am closing in on the final weeks of my 3rd decade. I should set some time aside to reflect on the past 10 years. Appreciate the changes and make some plans for the next. * 🎶 I've been listening to No Question by M-Flo on not _quite_ repeat, but close enough. Sooo good.

* 🦷 Leo's front teeth have been loose for a while and this week they decided it was time. I need to get lots of photos of him while he's in this toothless state. * 🏊‍♂️ We went swimming at the YMCA. It's been about a year or more since we went swimming together and I am impressed with his ability. He could do backstroke the crawl from the middle of the pool. I think he might be part fish. * 🙇‍♂️ The prime minister of Japan has announced that he's resigning (🎁 nytimes). I feel like there's been about 4 pms in the last 5 years. I feel like the constant churn of leadership makes it difficult for a country to build rapport amongst the top, though perhaps that's what the bureaucracies are for. * 🏡 I am continuing to look around and exploring different potential futures. Most of them excite me, except the potential of commuting across Yokohama everyday. Not even across Yokohama, but more of a V into the center and back out is the pain. The thing is, as much as I moan about our location, our _house_ is comfortable enough. Moving to a smaller place in an area we're not familiar with is a bit daunting. We'd probably have people on all sides of us again. Moving into a smaller place automatically means going through the things we have and deciding what to get rid of (which is a good thing, imo). But actually getting rid of stuff, arranging movers, _selling_ the house. So much administrative work. It's a bit like betting the farm on something you're not 100% sure is going to work out. However, when you consider the alternatives (no change, commuting both ways once or twice a day (depending on pattern)), it's the only thing that makes sense. I'm sure we'll know the right move when the time is right.

* 🕹️ We beat Mario Odyssey – or at least Bowser. Next up is getting the rest of the moons and stars. Low-40's remaining. * ☀️ The heat continues and is slated to continue through September. Tokyo broke it's record for number of "fierce heat" days this summer at 26 and it's not done yet. On the plus side it's become socially acceptable for men to carry sun umbrellas to protect them from the UV. Watching the morning news while writing this and it's going to be 37. Those days in London are looking dreamy. * 💰 It took a couple of weeks for the NTA to approve all the things, but I finally got a NISA and bought my first stocks. I'm excited because rather than sending money back to the US each month to invest, I can keep it local. This saves me the Wise fees, removes a bunch of tracking that I probably should be doing more/better, and lets it grow tax-free (in Japan). Next step is to setup automation so I'm automatically saving _and_ investing each month. Automating saving is one of those things that is a game changer for personal finance. Let computers remember to do it for me. * 📺 I stumbled upon this video about the foreign community in Yokohama from 1982. Fascinating watch.

* 🕹️ An hour a day and we've almost beat Mario Odyssey. It's turning out to be a much easier game than Mario 64, Sunshine, or Galaxy. Maybe it's because we can play 2 players (with me as Cappy (Mario's hat)) and that extra bit of help makes the bosses a bit easier? Or maybe the game is a bit easier than the others? * 🫛 It hit #1 on the AppStore, so this isn't a hidden gem of an app, but Focus Friend is faantastic. It's a timer to help you focus by having a little bean that knits socks while you focus. If you use your phone while he's knitting he loses all of his work and looks really sad. But if you let him finish, you get socks, which you can exchange for decorations for his room. It's free and there are not any ads in the app. I will probably subscribe to it to support it so that it doesn't get ads. * 🏠 It feels like a new season (of life, not weather – summer isn't going anywhere 😩) is rapidly approaching. I'm starting to think that next time this year, we might not be in Izumi. As a physical structure, our house is fine and it has been great for these early years of Leo's life, but I'm not certain it matches _me_. I'm not a handy person nor am I interested in becoming one. I'd much rather pay a fee and let someone else think about and manage these things. More than the structure, I think it's just the location. Our focus when we bought this place was, we want a bit more space, being close to a primary school, and not being too far away from the in-laws so they could help while Leo was little. We nailed all of those, but it was the wrong optimization. Or at least it feels it now. Being somewhere closer to things, somewhere I could at least walk to a coffee shop when I need to get out of the house. Or be able to take out the trash whenever. A bit of _actual_ convenience. They say (at least in the US) people typically own a home for 8 years, and we're on 6.

Chinese officials have showcased what they claim will be the world's largest solar farm on the Tibetan plateau