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I’m late again because of a programming-related thing. Since I really only started working on it today (i.e. Monday) I’ll write more about it next week. It’s yet another new project which, I believe, makes me incorrigible.
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The big event in the week past was Hallowe’en. After planning to buy costumes and then planning not to buy costumes, I changed my mind on Friday and ordered two of whatever Amazon had left that would arrive by Saturday. That turned out to be an Elsa-inspired dress for Emma and a Jack Sparrow-inspired pirate ensemble for John. I wish I’d had the presence of mind to record it but John really wanted to be a ghost and so, of course, whined as I put the costume on him that he didn’t want to be a pirate.
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A brief aside: can 2021 hurry up and get here so we can finally watch Seinfeld on Netflix?
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After the kids were changed, we just had them knock on the door to our living room and receive the lollies from us directly. I’m sure we would have had a lot more fun visiting a friend of Emma’s who lives down our street but such is life in 2020.
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My favourite Hallowe’en tradition is the annual ‘mundane Hallowe’en’ costume competition run by the Japanese website, Daily Portalz. Nick Kapur collected his favourites from this year into a Twitter thread and Japan didn’t let us down. The real trick is in nailing a look with the absolute minimum amount of effort.
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I think I’m going to order an iPhone 12 Pro Max this coming Friday but I vacillated considerably during the course of the week as I read people’s reviews of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12. The consensus seems to be that while the new design of the Pros looks good, the materials used in the iPhone 12 feel better. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a smaller phone but it did make me wonder if I shouldn’t just stick with my iPhone XS Max.
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I also spent a great deal of time thinking about what to do for a Christmas cake this year. Japan has its own Christmas cake tradition and, while it’s nice, I want to serve the kids—and let’s be honest, eat—a traditional fruit cake with a thick layer of white marzipan icing on top. Despite there being a pastry shop for every four people in Japan, finding someone who’ll make a cake like that doesn’t seem that easy. I discussed it with Eugenia, my expert friend on all things baking, and she offered to buy one and send it to me. Will that work? Those things keep forever, don’t they?
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Eri and I were talking about Usain Bolt and I was reminded of how insane his performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was. Seriously. He basically stopped trying and still broke the world record (YouTube). I remember watching this live and it hasn’t lost any of its power 12 years later.
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One of my recurring bits with Yoshe is how much I love Beck’s ‘Dreams’. Really I’m pretty partial to his entire catalogue but realised this week how I’d let Modern Guilt’s ‘Gamma Ray’ somehow slip through the cracks (Apple Music).
