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Mum discovered that she qualifies for a visa to Japan as a ‘first-degree relative’ of a long-term resident (i.e. me). It’s not clear how long it will take to get—maybe a month—so it’s possible she’ll be here by June. As prosaic as this all is when viewed in a completely rational manner, it’s all a little unreal after so long in relative isolation.
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Emma had her first injection with the infant vaccine. She kicked up a stink the night before and wasn’t especially enthusiastic at the hospital itself but has been fine since coming home. Eri’s third shot is next week.
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My neck problems have basically resolved themselves. I did reposition my futon such that it can be fully extended. I don’t think that should have made a significant difference because my legs were always able to fully extend but maybe there was some psychological effect that was causing my psychic stress? In any case, it’s good that it’s gone.
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A week or so back we ordered a storage unit for Emma’s school things that we wanted to put in the living room. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it. In Japanese, it’s a randoseru rakku, i.e. ransel rack. (Wikipedia tells me the most common etymology for randoseru is from the Dutch ransel, meaning ‘backpack’. The Japanese randoseru is the ubiquitous leather backpack used by schoolchildren throughout primary school.) I keep wanting to call it a ‘hutch’ but Wikipedia tells me that’s incorrect. You can of course just see the thing here.
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The reason to bring this up is that the… thing arrived on Friday and, given Friday was a holiday, I unpacked it, thinking I’d have time to assemble it. This was hilariously wrong and instead it sat on the floor throughout Friday and Saturday as a kind of crappy obstacle course everyone who wanted to sit on the sofa had to get past. I finally put it together on Sunday which felt like much more of an achievement than it was.
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The playoffs continue to be a lot of fun. Often the first round is a bit of a slog but with the exception of the series between the Bucks and the Bulls, that wasn’t the case this time around. A lot of fun storylines and a lot of enjoyable games. Every year I think I shouldn’t renew my League Pass subscription next season and then the playoffs come around and I reconsider. There is (or at least was) a playoff only package and maybe I should just switch to that.
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Given Friday was a holiday, I set aside some time to watch Encanto (Disney+) with the kids and it was a delight. They were a bit scared in places on the first watch, but they enjoyed the songs and we watched it once more in pieces over the weekend. This is old news to everyone else who’s seen it no doubt but I was very surprised to discover that Stephanie Beatriz was the voice of Mirabel. Like a lot of people, I’m most familiar with Beatriz for her role as Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and wouldn’t have thought she’d be able to pull of a bubbly fifteen-year-old. She’s great, though, and Mirabel is one of my favourite Disney protagonists.
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I also watched the Adam Project (Netflix) which went less well. I’d heard it was bad but it seemed so absurdly geared to my tastes that I’d enjoy it regardless. That was not the case and, if anything, the fact it was so absurdly geared to my tastes made the entire thing feel like it had been written by one of those experimental AI systems that can write short essays.
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The musical selection this week is obviously the Encanto soundtrack (Apple Music). I’m not a big Lin-Manuel Miranda fan but I think part of the appeal of his songs is in the deepening appreciation you have for the lyrics on repeated listening. That’s certainly been the case for me (especially so with ‘Surface Pressure’).
