A friend from work vacationed in Japan and was kind enough to pick these up for me.

The book is so beautiful that I don't want to take it out of the plastic but I also very much want to read it.

This is my Sophie's Choice.

This is shockingly bad icon design. Okay, the outlook icon looks like an envelope, fine.

The second icon makes me think of the letter E, so excel, except it’s the wrong color. Excel is green, so the third icon makes sense if you realized it’s trying to show individual cells…

Doubles match, opponent backspin serves. I return with as much backspin as I can. Barely makes it to the net, clipping the top. Ball hits table next to the net. It bounces up, reverses and backspin climbs over the net to my side.

I will never hit a shot that perfect again.

Okay, that 11 is going to piss me off all weekend. Like I said right after taking it, there were parts that seemed to test memory, not English comprehension and I'm certain that's where I got dinged.

Time to see if I remember how to do this!

Hubris

It's been 8 years since I last walked through the snow. I'd forgotten what a sensory experience it is. The bracing cold. The slow crunch underfoot. The pervasive quiet. The tingles of snow dust gently falling from a branch onto your face after that small, fat bird alights from a branch... magical.

So how was my first year (9.5 months) in Vancouver?

I doubled my 2023 daily activity. I fell short of my goals, mainly because I slacked off in the summer. I guess I'm the opposite of most people: cold weather makes me want to go outside, warm weather to stay in.

Boardgame industry people: can anyone recommend an artist who can match this style?