One Weekday October Day

   (06:43) - On the train this morning I looked out the window and watched the city flowing by... construction cranes, trains going in the other direction... fellow passengers in masks.  Before the Virus Era, I typically found it inspiring in some way - all those buildings, the trains carrying people throughout the city.  This morning there was only a feeling of fatigue.  Maybe just a mood thing, but we're coming up on a year of living in the Virus Era and - as I read the Canadian Prime Minister put it recently - it sucks.  Hopefully the long stretch of living irresponsibly (as a whole - we bipeds) is coming to an end and we can learn to fit in with the world and complement it instead of destroying it.

  I used to write outside on a laptop I carried around.  I got out of the habit when I got back into taking pictures, but I brought a computer with me today and am thinking I'll return to writing at various genba.  It just doesn't work to think "I'll write about this on the weekend" - it could happen I suppose, but for years now it hasn't been happening, so once again I am trying the write-at-genba approach.

  Hmmm.....  I just realized I'm feeling better after being off of the train system for a bit - sitting out in the open with no one near me - the mask temporarily pulled down.  Hope seems to be returning.  I guess there's nothing for it but to charge ahead and do what you can.  Things might not work out but - by God - not because you didn't try.  Words to myself, but I think they apply to anyone.

  Well, time to put the computer back in the backpack.  This really does seem to be the ticket.  At genba, while feeling things, the words come.  Memories fade so quickly.  (Feelings of appreciation for language.)

  (Evening) - Now what.... go straight home or go somewhere for pictures, etc?  I feel like going somewhere and walking around taking pictures, but have mostly gotten in the habit of just going straight home - to get the commute out of the way so I can relax without a mask on at home.  While I ponder what to do, time continues to flow....

  (For some reason, spell check isn't working at all....)

  (Later) - Figured out the spell-check issue.  I installed the program set to US English, so the US English spell check dictionary was installed automatically, but the file was (for some reason) set to UK English, and since there isn't a UK English spell check dictionary installed, spell check wasn't functioning.  I did a [Ctrl]+[A] to highlight everything and then set the language to US English and spell check came to life.

  Anyway - the above details are probably not worth writing about, but there it is.  As I sit outside and am a little cold (although the day has been unseasonably warm), it occurs to me that there's something about being able to write into a computer in a location without power and where it's not ideal (no table, so my laptop computer is sitting on my lap - gee I wonder why they call these machines laptops [sarcasm]), and it's a little cold and slightly uncomfortable... that encourages writing.  I first noticed this phenomenon with telephones.  Before cell phones, if there was a pay phone handy, I'd often call someone because the rare ability was there.  Once I had a cell phone and could call anytime, I began actually using a phone less and less.  Same with a writing instrument it seems.  When I'm at an AC-powered comfortably housed computer, I do a number of things with it but don't get much writing done.

  Anyway... I don't suppose this is the time to be writing about the time portal?  That will have to come later.

  I wasn't going to say anything about the machine I'm writing on, but the importance of it to the fact I'm sitting in central Tokyo outside on a bench writing is considerable.  Back when I carried a laptop around and did a fair amount of writing outside, I was using a thick, heavy machine that had a functional battery, but it could only run for about 50 minutes before being connected to AC for charging again.  Useful enough, but limited.  The machine I'm writing on now I picked up used inexpensively, and while I knew the hard drive had bad sectors (over 600!!), the very day I got home with it and started using it... or attempting to use it I should say, it became nonfunctional due to the hard drive.  So I bought a new SSD drive, which made the machine more expensive overall, but has both dramatically improved its performance (very fast response times) and increased running time on the battery (no motor, so - I think - dramatically less power consumption).  It's quite remarkable really.  Having lived with Nickel-Cadmium and Nickel-Metal-Hydroxide batteries, Lithium-Ion batteries are light-years better.

  Since I'm less enthusiastic about filling up my backpack with a single device now, it's important that this machine is light enough and small enough to easily carry (not super light, but not all that much heavier than a large tablet computer), and it both looks cool and has a good keyboard for typing and a touch pad that actually works (although I did turn off the "tap to click" functionality of it, as I always do).  So it's sort of the computer equivalent to getting a new used car you like, fixing a few issues it has and discovering what a great machine it is to drive in.

  See what I mean?  I don't think I ever would have written all that if I were comfortably at home or somewhere else where the technology to write is there, but a thousand other distractions are also there.   This machine has WiFi of course, but I've got it turned off - so there are no incoming messages from various applications coming in and getting in the way of concentration/productivity.

  Well, it is the Virus Era after all, so I better get out of the cold before I catch a cold that could be mistaken for something else - and.... there's a man to my right a few seats down (and fortunately downwind) who is sniffling up a storm.  Probably just an ordinary cold, but it's not pleasant to listen to and isn't something you want to be near.

  Before I go though, a couple of things:

  - I passed a flowering tree today that was in bloom... clearly confused by the suddenly warm weather as I've never seen it in bloom any other year outside of spring.

  - A laptop with a keyboard can be used as a writing machine, but tablets aren't much good for anything other than looking at things and very minimal text input.  There's no way I could have written all this text in the limited time I've been outside on this park bench with a touch-screen.

  Okay, now I really do want to get away from the sniffle-storm guy!

  (Later - on a train) - OK... writing on the train is more difficult than I remembered... train motion?  No sweat.  Distractions?  No problem.  Elbow room!  You can't touch type without having your elbows by your sides!  I've got them almost by my sides, but it's really hard to type without being able to pull your elbows all the way back....  Alright - I give up.  I'm putting the machine back in my backpack.

  Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon - www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/ - youtube.com/lylehsaxon - lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/ - lookback1997.blogspot.jp/