Lately I’ve been distracted. In previous chapters of life I prioritised work above all else and I tied it to my sense of self-worth. There’s lots to say on that subject, but, not today. Lessons in-hand, in this chapter I’m now prioritising life too, and am re-learning some things including my self-worth, which is bringing new ups-and-downs. But I’m enjoying them, a lot. So, yes, I’ve been distracted.
My highlight of the week was a team dinner with one of my teams, which we realised was the first time we’d all assembled in person. We discovered many things including a shared love of Mexican food - which led to a recommendation of 3 Hermanos - and to my discovery of a new lunch spot near the office.
Getting a chance to learn about more advanced framework features in Rails has been fun. After I clocked out for the week, I connected some dots and realised a mistake in my work which I now get to fix. It’s been a while since I had a moment like this with a novel tech-stack, so this is refreshing in a good way.
Careers were a hot topic at dinner this week. I guess this comes up every summer and every winter.
Went to the gym nearly every day this week. When I’m skipping cardio it turns out that 15 minutes is sometimes plenty. This is a big revelation. Perhaps not one worthy of this blog.
Enjoyable side-quest this week: Finding a new home for a colleague’s prized collection of cards. Much digging and wandering later, I was able to find it a new owner. And now the three of us are connected.
Not so enjoyable side-quest involving a very different card, a slack channel and a delivery.
Late one evening I was summoned using the combination phrase of “FT” and “drinks” and was delighted to see a familiar face on the other end. We had another Buddhist ceremony. My calligraphy is getting better, but my ability to spell my own name is not.
I’m now officially re-enrolled in language class, and we had a mid-week kick-off. I understood about 80% of our teacher’s self-introduction/自己紹介 which felt like a huge milestone compared to hearing a string of these previously and not understanding any. Next goal: Crossing the Pareto chasm.
It’s embargoed for now, so this is mostly a reminder for myself, but I accepted a true Faustian bargain this week.
Went to the Azabu-Juban festival, twice, which was a lot of fun. I’ve gone through many festivals here but this is the first where the energy really grabbed me.
Checked out the “Inner Mythology” exhibition, which was very intricate and evocative of old world artwork and yet slightly unsettling. At the same time I saw “Beyond the Eyelid” which was powerful. Both were good fuel for Sunday’s contemplative mood.
Oh yeah, also some stuff about my kitchen and cooking, but there’s already too many words in this post.
Considering I live in Tokyo, I hear a lot about Nagoya. Should I visit?
