journal features

the cold house

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2022.01.18

It's not cold in Tokyo, but the houses sure are. I gave Mari and poncho thing for X'mas that plugs into her PC via USB to keep her warm. She uses that plus a heating pad I bought her the year before plus the air conditioner built into the ceiling of the room. Because you can't work for long in -1º or 5º, and our house is as cold as the outdoors. The windows are single panes of glass and the walls have literally zero insulation. In fact there are gaps between the floor and wall. We paid $10,000 in fees and so on to move in here. Japan's housing stock is lousy.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force