Working on a hand-made site that will replace the current Wordpress blog. I'll be uploading it here as a work-in-progress because why not!

new essay: THE GEOGRAPHY OF GEOGRAPHY

HOLIDAY UPDATE 2024 -- reflecting on the year gone by, and preflecting on the year to come...

ooo, i have not seen that UCC blended coffee before... i have a sangaria can that sounds similar to the one you described, amusingly the brand name is "Quality Coffee", the kind of name that would be guaranteed cheap junk if it was an american product

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2-%E7%82%AD%E7%84%BC%E7%8F%88%E7%90%B2%E5%BE%AE%E7%B3%96-190g%C3%9730%E6%9C%AC/dp/B008985OR4 This is the Sangaria can. Seems to be separate from their main "Quality Coffee" series, and I never saw it in Japan. According to this page it has a coconut sub-flavour, which I definitely never noticed.

Hard to tell based on my destroyed post-COVID tastebuds, but I think the UCC Blend is quite a bit better than the Sangaria. Although I can't ignore the possibility that the can's colour/design is playing a major role in this judgment.

Also I'd like to take this opportunity to admit that it took me about four months of living in Japan before I realized that カフェオレ meant "Café au lait" and not the phrase I kept saying in my head: "Café, olé!"

new essay: HE WHO DOESN'T KNOW SAYS, 'LENTILS -- BALCKWELL ROUND-UP 2024 -- a "round-up" of unfinished fragments from throughout the year, with additional commentary

new essay: WHAT'S THE POINT OF LIKING MUSIC? -- about how one creates a "self" both online and in person

new story: FROM THE JOURNALS OF A MAN NAMED PAUL -- "I find that I must say it, despite not believing myself when I do: I still love you."

new essay: THE SIX-MINUTE MILE -- a strategy for being bored at work

new essay: AND I WAS THE MONKEY KING -- in three parts: 1) BEING DEPRESSED WHILE FEELING GOOD; 2) REGARDING THE VIDEO GAME SUPER MARIO 64; 3) I WANNA LIVE AS A MONKEY KING

new essay: ON THE ROAD TO NEKOMACHI

the idea of overly-familiar routes becoming internalized as extensions of our boundaries that make up "inside" is very thought-provoking, especially as someone who is prone to resigning to rigid routines and aversion to unfamiliarity. nice piece!