Long Time Expat In Japan
Book Review Saint Odd by Dean Koontz At the beginning of the year I reviewed a bunch of Odd Thomas books. I read a bunch of them back to back. It was kind of like binge watching your favorite show on Netflix. For TV, that can often be a lot of fun. Many shows now … Continue reading Book Review – Saint Odd
The first installment of my "Japan is weird, sort of" posts. As a reminder, these are things I used to find weird, but actually really like, now that I've lived here for 17 years. Bathrooms Twenty five years ago, I saw my first squat toilet. It was a big deal, even a traumatic experience. But … Continue reading Japan is Awesome – the bathroom
I've spent more of my adult life in Japan than in my home country. I came to that realization the other day. It shouldn't have been such a realization. Simply do the math. Assuming 18 as an adult, I've lived 31 years as such (that makes me 49 for the arithmetic challenged). I live in … Continue reading My “Japan is weird – sort of” Series
Book Review Annihilation: a Novel By Jeff VanderMeer The fantasy/mystery novel hooked me at the beginning, but failed to keep my interest the whole way through. I did read it all the way through, however. I've decided to stop reading mediocre writing anymore, so it passed that bar. A couple of things pulled me in; … Continue reading Book Review – Annihilation: a Novel
My good friend and partner in blogdom, JT, posted recently that he has "been discovered" by the Russian Spambot Overlords. With 50 pageviews from Russia, where he knows no one (I assume), compared to 28 from the US, where the vast majority of his friends live. I almost never check my own stats; I'm not … Continue reading Spambot Overlords
I am way too excited that I leveled up in Kanji last month. I had been struggling a little bit. When I have to stay within the rules, write textbook style, I tense up and really don't do well. I've been doing this for over a year now (since September of 2014, so 15 months?), … Continue reading Level Up! Kanji ! and Kana, both!
This month's kanji reads hakugan soushin in Japanese, or baiyan shuangxin in Chinese. Like a lot of these four character sayings, it evokes sense imagery and invites you to fill in the gaps. Hakugan (baiyan) means white goose. Sou (shuang) means frost. And shin (xin) means to believe, to know, to inform. Long story short, when … Continue reading November Shodo
I am not a user of Uber. I think it fair to state this up front. My reason for not using Uber has nothing to do with my feelings about the company or the service. I think it is perfectly fine as a service. I have read some controversial things about hiring practices (if you … Continue reading Where is the Open Source Uber?
Book Review The Bone Clocks By David Mitchell Cover Image from Amazon.com As time passes (what I really mean is, as I get older) I am increasingly unforgiving about what I read. If a novel doesn't appeal, I will give it 60 pages to recapture my interest. If, after those sixty pages, it has recaptured … Continue reading Book Review – The Bone Clocks
It is slightly less than a month since I made my public declaration. One month without video games or TV. The fact that I am writing this less than a month on should give you a hint. No, I did not, in fact make it a month without. On the 15th I had what some … Continue reading Screen Withdrawal – pt 2
B.S. Donovan 