David Chart's Blog

Author: David Chart

  • Tamao

    Today I am starting online publication of another fantasy novel, Tamao. I am doing this a bit differently from Ice Yearning. Tamao is free to read, and updated in daily installments, with a new piece going online every day at midnight Japan time. Most days, the new material comes to between five and six hundred…

  • End of the Year

    I’ve just written an enormous post for my Japanese blog looking back over the year, so this version is likely to be a bit smaller. The Japanese blog does tend to get prioritised over this one, I’m afraid. So, from a personal perspective, it was a good year. It was our first full year as…

  • Merry Christmas

    Merry Christmas, everyone. I’m going to spend time with my family today, rather than sitting in front of the computer, but they aren’t awake yet, so I have time to write a quick blog entry. I suspect this is likely to be the last Christmas for some time when Mayuki isn’t awake yet at half…

  • Getting Better

    Mayuki seems to be getting better. Yesterday, she wasn’t at all lively when she woke up, but she quickly perked up, and by the end of the day she was more or less her old self. She refused to eat any of Yuriko’s udon at lunch time, but happily ate my spaghetti, while at dinner…

  • Mayuki Update

    Mayuki still wasn’t lively when she woke up yesterday, so Yuriko took her to the doctor. While there, she (Mayuki) threw up twice more, and the doctor diagnosed her with “vomiting and diarrhoea syndrome”. Well, yes… Anyway, he also provided treatment guidelines, which do seem to have worked. She hasn’t thrown up again, and she…

  • Illness

    I suppose I could use our illness as an excuse for not updating the blog in ages. Actually, the more I think about it, the better an idea that seems, so let’s do it. I haven’t been able to update the blog because we’ve been ill. Please ignore the daily updates to the Japanese blog.…

  • Boil the Scrapings from Under His Fingernails and Drink Them

    This is, apparently, a standard Japanese phrase: 爪のあかを煎じて飲む. It means “learn from him by imitation”. Yuriko suddenly used it last night, with reference to me, and it was the first time I’d heard it, so there followed a short clarificatory discussion. (“Why do they want to boil my fingernails? What have I ever done to…

  • Imitating Her Parents

    Sorry about another long delay. I’m quite busy at the moment, and writing the blog gets squeezed out. Mayuki continues to come on in leaps and bounds, although actual leaps and bounds are still a bit beyond her. She can jump up and down a bit on the spot, but only a little bit. She…

  • Mayuki Update

    It’s far too long since I wrote a blog entry in English, so I’ll have to write about Mayuki, or large portions of my audience will never forgive me. She’s still fine, still cute, and still lovely. Of course. My Dad was in Japan last weekend, so she had a chance to play with her…

  • The US Election

    So, the US elections are finally more-or-less over. The American people appear to have given the Democrats larger majorities in the House and Senate, important results that should not be overlooked in the general rejoicing that they have also elected Barack Obama as president. The first African-American president is of great symbolic importance, and it’s…