David Chart's Blog

Month: October 2007

  • Diary Entry

    I’ve put up a new diary entry, covering Mayuki’s Hatsumiyamairi.

  • Everyone Has Gone Home

    Everyone has now gone home. I had to get up at 4am to get Mum, Ray, and Silver to the airport, and then come back here to get Dad and Joy on the train to the airport, so I’m quite tired. However, everything went really well, and I plan to do a diary entry with…

  • Busy Week

    Mayuki’s Hatsumiyamairi (the Japanese equivalent of a christening; more when it’s happened) is this weekend, so large portions of family are arriving in Japan to attend. So, last week I was trying to get work cleared ready for the invasion, and this week I’m coping with the invasion. Mayuki is fine, as are we, but…

  • Waiting for Wolves in Japan

    This is a very interesting book, concerned with attitudes to wildlife in the mountain villages of a small region in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. It’s more interesting than that makes it sound, because that draws in attitudes to nature more generally from all across Japan, although the focus is on the one small region where the…

  • One Month Checkup

    Today was Mayuki’s one month check-up. She’s fine. Right, well that’s that, then. OK, a bit more detail, although there really isn’t a lot more to it. I had an interview with a potential new student immediately beforehand, so I had to go straight to the clinic from Mizonokuchi. Fortunately, I made it in time,…

  • Shadowrun, Fourth Edition

    Shadowrun is a cyberpunk roleplaying game with elves and magic. It’s set in, in this edition, 2070, after magic returned to the world in 2012, awakening dragons, elves, dwarfs, orks, trolls, and magic. The player characters are freelance criminals who do dubious work for corporations. Although, since large corporations are effectively countries, they might better…

  • Better Not Die, Then…

    Today, I got a letter from the life insurance company saying that they wouldn’t insure me. I didn’t know I was that sick. Actually, I suspect I’m not, but the combination of asthma, slightly high cholesterol a year ago, and non-Japanese may have put them off. This means that I can’t get really useful life…

  • Atheism and Agnosticism

    Recently, atheism has become a a major topic of discussion. One of the most notable proponents is Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology and originally author of The Selfish Gene (which is, incidentally, a very good book). The debate has even made it into the Guardian with some frequency. All this attention to the topic makes…

  • Mayuki is a Good Girl

    So, one reason why I’ve not been posting much about Mayuki is that she’s been good. Sleeping, particularly at night, drinking milk, using nappies, and waving her arms and legs around in a generally uncoordinated fashion. Pretty good for a baby of her age, really. She’s also been cooperative with my teaching; she’s been quiet…

  • Growing Bigger

    Oops, I seem to have skipped a few days there. We went back to the clinic on Monday to have Mayuki looked at, and she now seems to be putting on weight at an acceptable rate. We’ve increased the amount of formula she’s getting in addition to breast milk, because she’s still a bit behind…