• ⇤
• ⇽
• ≡
• ⇾
• ⇥

taking the long way home

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I worked from home today. It really was a scramble all day to keep up with the many communications platforms. Texts on the phone, emails on both the phone and laptop, instant messages to both platforms, and calls and video conferences. I learned one interesting thing about the culture: the eigojin (foreigners who interact in English) like to put their cameras on; the Japanese do not. Moreover, the Japanese aren't comfortable with seeing someone's home in a video conference.

After a blur of a day I walked back to "mouth of the gully" to find some more housewares. It's really incredible how it never ends. This time it was a shower curtain and rod, and a thing to hold my razor and toothbrush. By taking an unfamiliar road away from that area, I found myself at the foot of a good-sized hill that stood between me and home. So I climbed the many steps and then the long slope of a road. At which point I found myself with a commanding view of the land all around: all right, commanding glimpses, anyway. I got in at 20:30 or so, and set up the things I'd bought.

Then I had a chat with Mari and the kids, and it turned out that UPS had sent a surprise bill for $77.66. It was the duty and HST on the shoes I'd bought in January, plus "brokerage fees". I was sure I'd paid it but I tried calling what turned out to be a number of 1-800 numbers and also signed up to pay the bill on the website. Nothing worked. I went to bed frustrated and took quite a while to fall asleep. I felt oddly out of sorts.