It takes about two minute to brush your teeth. These two minutes are an opportunity to improve balance and ankle strength. Sometimes I switch feet halfway through, other times I’m feeling more ambitious and will balance on one foot in the morning and the other that night.
Four years ago I started going to a Thai massage parlor.
This is the practice where they walk on your back, drive their elbows and the heel of their palms into you, and sometimes tie your limbs into knots. My findings are that the older and smaller the Thai lady, the more brutally she stomps on you. I spend much of the session attempting to practice the Vipassana body sweep technique under duress and trying not to vocalize the pain. It’s great and I love it.
They would of course lessen the pressure if asked, but this is both incompatible with my male ego and would go against the teachings of the Bodhisattva in the incarnation known as Patrick Swayze.
If I were a rich man I would go monthly, but I am not, so I limit myself to three or four times per year. I consider this a component of my prana-bindu training.
Two weeks ago I lost power from about 14:00 till about 21:00. This had negligible impact on my day. I took out my lamp and continued with the itinerary. My time was spent:
It was just another Saturday afternoon.
I threw Lee and Brian at judo today. Lee is 14, and Brian is 13 but taller and heavier.
I told Sibylla & she asked what my teacher had said. I said he had said it was very good.
Sibylla said that didn’t sound very character-building. I said most authorities on child psychology said a child should be given encouragement and reinforcement. Sib said Bandura and who else? I said everybody else. I didn’t say that the authorities also said a parent had to be able to set limits because I was afraid she might suddenly decide to make up for lost time and set a lot of limits.
Sibylla said: Well just remember Richie, becoming the great judo champion is not the end of the story.
I said I didn’t think I was the great judo champion just because I could beat Lee and Brian at Bermondsey Boys Junior Judo.
Sibylla said: It isn’t a question of beating X and Y. What if there’s no one you can’t beat? It’s a question of perfecting your skill and achieving satori. What on earth are they teaching you in this class?
I said we mainly concentrated on learning how to throw people to the ground. Sib said: Must I do everything myself? She was grinning from ear to ear.
Helen Dewitt, The Last Samurai
I scrub my dishes and kitchen counter tops with a Kamenoko Tawashi. The palm fiber of the Tawashi is stiff enough for a good scouring, but does not scratch anything. It doesn’t hold onto food scraps the way some other brushes do. It dries relatively quickly when hung from its wire loop or placed in a two-piece soap dish, thus supporting my war on sponges. I use the #1 size, which is small enough to fit comfortably in my hand and to be shoved into drink ware. It is the perfect kitchen brush.
I use the same brush for about two years before replacing it. Every few months I toss it in the kitchen autoclave. I could keep them for longer, but I give my Tawashi enough unintentional haircuts when cleaning knives that I’m usually ready for a new one after a couple years.
The only other brushes I use in the kitchen are a bottle brush and straw brush. I also have one of those chainmail scrubbers for my cast iron, but the Tawashi gets used much more often.
The Tawashi, my Sal Suds spray, and my pink Mamison gloves complete my kitchen ablution armaments. (The pink color is critical for maximum cleaning.)
Tawashi are made by a number of manufacturers. Many are garbage. Those from Kamenoko are consistently good. I avoid it if it does not come in the orange wrapper with the picture of the turtle on it.
Influencer is mistakenly billed as a horror film, but is actually an inspirational story of a young woman using her murder island to try to make the world a better place by pruning the insta-face-twat-tok-tuber population.
I eagerly awaited the sequel, and can now report that Influencers is even better than the first one. I am here for the Influencer Cinematic Universe.
Whoever composed the score clearly spent a lot of time listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack (and who among us has not). Specifically they seem to be a big fan of track 4.
To my great surprise, my stock of calling cards is running low.
I had a batch of calling cards printed last December. I explicitly wanted calling cards, not business cards. Something with just my name, telephone, and email address. Nothing else. I ordered samples from the typical on-demand business card printing websites, but I didn’t like any of them. Most were too glossy or printed on too thin a stock. I knew I wanted something I could write on with a fountain pen (for this is what separates us from savages), in case I desired to share information in addition to what was printed on the card.
Eventually I realized that what I wanted was a letterpress printed card. I found a letterpress printer, requested samples, and confirmed they were perfect. Tasteful thickness, subtle off-white coloring. I placed an order.
This was done mostly as a joke. Who actually needs calling cards today? I figured the batch would last me years. Two weeks ago, as I was restocking a jacket pocket before going out for the evening, I was shocked to find the box mostly empty. It turns out, as a gentleman, a man about town, a bon vivant, calling cards are actually useful.
Anyway, I have my calling cards printed by Hoban. They sent out a holiday coupon today, so I reordered another batch.
If you see me at a soiree, ask for a card.
