Newsletter #4
Spring has finally sprung, but with some unexpected snow.
The first day of March had some really pleasant spring temperatures (think 20°C / 68°F) but then we randomly had a couple days of snow again in Tokyo.
With the extra snow, my partner and I took the opportunity to do one last snowboarding session for the season up in Gunma. I didn’t have high hopes for a mid-March trip, and the field was quite frozen and hard in the morning, but become more slushy and pleasant as the day went on. We went on a Friday, and that makes such a difference in terms of not needing to line up for lifts compared to the weekends, so it was a lot of fun.
Speaking of lining up, we also visited Universal Studios Japan down in Osaka. We did go on a Tuesday in the hopes that there would be less lines, but March is still quite a popular season to go so unfortunately there were pretty long lines on everything.
Their Mario section had opened up a new Donkey Kong ride, which we immediately bee-lined to when the park opened, but we were met with a 3-hour wait so we gave up on that idea. We did manage to hit most of the other major rides (especially thanks to the single rider lines). Lining up is tiring work so we took the opportunity to rest by watching most (or maybe all) of the sit-down shows you can go to in the park - my partner and I joked this was a sign we were getting old.
TV I watched
This month we also watched a fair bit of TV. Sometimes you feel a bit too tired after work to pick up a board game, y’know? March seemed to be the month where a lot of seasons were reaching their finale so there was a lot to catch up on:
Severance season 2: I found the first half of season 1 to be a bit boring, but things picked up the pace and I found season to be overall-interesting. I’d still say I prefer Silo and Foundation if we’re comparing sci-fi shows from Apple TV, though.
Zenshu: An isekai anime about a woman who works as an anime director, and then is reborn into her favourite anime. Isekais as a genre are done to death at this point but personally I quite enjoyed this one as it has some unexpected plot points, although I’d say the finale episode didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The opening song and its animation is quite cool as well!
Solo Leveling season 2: A very popular Korean manhwa that got adapted into an anime. Now this one is very cliche. It’s in a world where you fight monsters, but your level is predetermined and cannot be changed. The main character is the only guy that can actually level up. So he keeps getting stronger, never really loses, and it’s just very much a male power fantasy. Entertaining enough when you want to switch your brain off.
Offline Love: This dating show was an absolute gem and I would recommend watching it if you’re into the genre at all. The show has 10 participants spend 10 days sightseeing in France, without access to their phones as they get to know each other. It’s a Japanese show, so compared to the US it’s very tame and quite wholesome. The story lines were so good, it made me suspicious that the whole thing was scripted and/or acted. I don’t think it is? One or two of the participants genuinely seem to be crying in some of the more emotionally touching scenes.
Coming back to Horizon Forbidden West
I randomly had some video game cravings this month, so I dusted off the gaming PC and finished off Horizon Forbidden West. My partner had a work trip and disappeared for a couple of days so it was the perfect excuse to revert to my teenage self, slob out and play video games all night.
I last played it about 9 months ago, and had basically stopped right before the final main quest (oops) so I played that and the Burning Shores expansion. In the comparison to the base game's finale, Burning Shores' final boss battle was a lot more fun so I'd definitely recommend playing it through to the end. They've set up the story to at least have a third game, so I’m keen to see that coming.
I saw that the new Assassin’s Creed game has overall decent reviews, so I might pick that up eventually. I’m thinking I’ll wait for a sale though so I’ll try and resist the temptation. I also saw they’re releasing a new Anno game this year! I loved Anno 1800 so I’m keen to play that when it comes out.
Working out and (not) running
Going to the gym is still going well. I've been stuck at 14kg dumbbells for my bench press for a long time now, and I think 16kg is getting closer… Let's see how April goes!
I was also planning on upping the kilometres this month with my running, but my Achilles tendon has been a bit sore this month. At first I was kind of ignoring it, but then I went down a Google rabbit hole and started to get a bit more concerned - I don’t really want to screw up my feet, because I need them for hiking. So I’m going to chill on the running for a bit and add calf raises to my gym routine instead to strengthen those muscles.
On the blog
I published 8 posts on my blog this month, so it was a pretty productive month. I covered my hike to the Hanno Alps, as well as some hikes that I did back in 2023 to Mt Nikko-Shirane, Mt Nantai and Mt Hiuchigatake.
I also balanced this out with some programming posts about digital gardens and social cards with Astro and a post about how I’ve been using Cursor AI.
I’m planning on writing the same amount in April, but I’m thinking I might dial back the publishing frequency a bit. I’m going on a 10-day vacation in May, so I want to get ahead of that and build up a reserve of posts - I really like having consistency.
March in numbers
🏋️♀️ 14 visits to the gym
🏃♀️ Ran 28 km and hiked 12km
🇯🇵 Wanikani Level 39 → 41
🇨🇳 Pimsleur Mandarin Lessons 35 → 50
🇨🇳 HanziHero → Level 2
📚 Read 0 books
📝 Wrote 8 blog posts
I picked up a new flashcard app for Mandarin called HanziHero which is quite good, although I’m taking it very slowly so I’m only expecting to progress one level a month for the moment. I’m still chugging along on Pimsleur for the speaking practice, although I’m not sure I’m really retaining anything.
I think I may need to start taking studying Mandarin more seriously at some point if I want to get anywhere close to actually being able to speak it, but for the moment I’m happy with these baby steps (better than nothing!)
This was yet another not-good month for reading. It’s interesting how much I used to read and now how I don’t do it at all. I suppose it’s not on my list of priorities at the moment? Not sure how I feel about it.
See you next month!