Periodically.org

 My wife, songbird that she is, has the sleeping habits of a nun in one of those really austere convents in Austria up in the mountains where they have to break the ice that's formed in their washing basin before cleaning their face for morning Lauds. She hits 9, it's sketchy at best, 10pm she is on the floor. 11pm she's well into REM sleep. So it makes going to karaoke, which in Tokyo seems to start at 8ish, a risky propostion. Buuut, she also wants to have a walk around Tokyo before hand. So this becomes a balancing act, walk her around, let her see the sights, but don't let her get too tired. It's like I can subconsciously see the battery indicator over her head as walk (uh, going up hill, that battery is RACING to empty!) as wander about. Make her happy, but not so tired she won't want to go to karaoke. I can't be the type of guy who goes to a karaoke bar alone. That sets a precedent. Next thing you know I'm shopping for sharp pastel polyester suits ...

 Friday, penultimate day of our wonderful stay in Japan. We had a whirlwind tour of Kyoto, and it's time to take the shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo. No morning is complete in Japan (at least for us) without raiding the nearest 7-11 for a reasonably priced meal. As long as we only buy things we'd never see back home, I think we are still travelling 'properly'. This here is a pancake sandwich, with matcha something something and butter inside. If you can find this in North America, you go to MUCH more interesting convenience stores than I do. We shuffle on get into our formation. It's just a line, but it's gone by many names. When the kids were smaller, we called sandwich, because we got an adult leading and an adult at the back, so we ensure we know where we are going, more or less, and that we don't lose any kids. But now as we are older I came up with a much more Middle Aged Dad Nomenclature, the 4 by 1 tactical formation. That is totally a normal ...

Another morning, another breakfast from corner store food because we are high maintenance like that. The sophistication of this packaging, in particular, is a cultural event, at least for me. The onigiri is rice and seaweed, but it has to be packed in such a way that the moisture from the rice does not soak in and disintegrate the seaweed as the onigiri sits on the shelf. Well, all this requires is a three step process that feels like a combination of doing an entrance exam for one of the more prestigious daycares , as well as taking a course in "Resurrecting your understanding and placement in 4 dimensional space-time" (a course offered at the local community center by the 55 year old who has never given up on the Grateful Dead or ponytails despite male pattern baldness).  And then we are off to a walking tour that has been carefully planned by my partner. My job, as 'the parent who brings up the rear as my family walking though places in single file formation' is to...