Week 11: Last week I caught a cold and spilled tea on my laptop

June 7th, 2026

Last Sunday, Yoshio, Emily and I went out to a darts bar and played darts. My goal was to get a low ton, and I got two in one game! And then Yoshio had to one up me by getting a hat trick. It was pretty awesome.

I presented my midterm in Japanese History, which was about historical capitals of Japan. I thought it went well, and I tried to make it pretty funny because I'm incapable of making a normal presentation.

I went shopping after classes on Tuesday, because there was going to be a typhoon on Wednesday. I got some groceries, and then just stayed in. It was pretty rainy and windy the next day, and class was cancelled, but it wasn’t too crazy. I just stayed cozy and did some work.

On Thursday I had dinner with Mike, who used be one of the directors of the Rowan Arboretum. He made the website that I now maintain, and it was really nice to see him and meet his wife. We went out to a chicken restaurant about a 20 minute busride away, and I got some yummy oyakodon. The chicken was charcoal grilled, and had a unique smoky taste.

For some reason, when I got to the restaurant, I completely lost data on my phone, so I couldn't look up how to get back, and I couldn't find the bus stop on the opposite side of the road, so I couldn't just take the bus I took before. I ended up taking a train route that I knew, even though it was slower. I later found out it was a big outage from the e-SIM company I use, and they gave me a discount code for next month. I think that’s a win!

Friday morning was mostly spent catching up on some work, until I got a package in the mail. It was the Pixlens, something I’ve wanted for maybe 2 years. To get it shipped to the US, though, it would cost an extra 90 dollars because of shipping and tariffs. To get it shipped in Tokyo though, it was only 3 dollars!

It’s essentially a little cube that pixelates everything in front of it. It’s so cool, and I’m so glad I finally got it. It especially looks cool moving around, and I will definitely show more videos and pictures I take with it next week.

After playing around with my new cube for a while, it was time to go see a concert! I was off to see Laufey (pronounced lay-vay), who I have been aware of for a while but wasn’t super into until I saw she was doing a concert here. I decided to give more of her stuff a listen and enjoyed it a lot, so I bought a ticket. I was on the third floor, but right up at the front, so I had a great view even if I was a little far.

She put on a fantastic show. It was a great mix of jazz-pop and bossa nova. She sang and played guitar, cello, and piano, and the band was amazing. She’s got a beautiful voice and great stage persona. Most of the show was a very big performance with backup dancers and choreography, but one of the acts (she split the show into 5 acts) was an intimate jazz quartet where she went to the front of the stage with a trio and did some of her jazzier songs. I had a lovely time and would definitely see her again (although in the US, tickets will be way more expensive).

Unfortunately, something I didn’t think about is that buses can’t exactly handle 8,000 people walking out of a venue and needing to go home, so the line for the bus was so long that it would have taken forever to get on. I ended up walking to a nearby station, taking the train, a bus, another train, and another bus. It would have been about the same amount of time to just walk home.

Over the weekend I took it pretty chill. I went to a firefly festival with Etsuko and Emily on Saturday, but only saw like 5 fireflies. I’m not sure what I expected, because it’s in the city. I didn’t mind that much because it was very pleasant weather to be in, and I see plenty of fireflies at home.

A short one for this week, but next week should be a bit more eventful. I have a few more plans, including a 2 day trip. And then the week after, another 2 day trip! Lots to look forward to.

Until then. Have a lovely day.
-Dan