nicole @nicole@myna.social

I couldn’t find Chibi this morning, but I did find half a fuzzy donut.

I’ll never understand sports people, but I’m happy to photograph them.

Korea Town was a fun shamble. I had the best meal of the trip at an adorbs little Korean Izakaya. Then we wandered over to and through Nihombashi, where we got kicked out of one shop for being gaijin, denied entrance to a bar for being gaijin, and I found the butter gachapon for my dairy products of Hokkaido bag tag collection.

That’s a successful outing!!

(Photos of Ōsaka streets in the rain are such a cliche that I hesitate to share, but whatevs)

Okay, after a bit of morning sadness and feelings ramble, we’re heading into Ōsaka. Destination: Korea Town!

“Vacation”

My “favorite” part of every trip: mailing presents and laundry back to the States. 😂

Asahikawa was full of surprises. We had a wonderful yakiniku mutton meal at Chinngis Khan, after which we stumbled into drinks with a friendly hostess and high school teacher at Café Nan. From there a gay bar, Ciel, where had a round or two before a representative of the nearby trans bar came to collect us. We made it back to our hotel before 0500, and negotiated a 1400 check-out, which we barely managed.

Having reached the northern-most tip of Japan, we now turn around and begin our return. In a week, I’ll be back stateside.

Yeah, so a fictional robot dog died in an anime today, and I spent 10 minutes sobbing about it, 20 minutes fixing my makeup, and an hour holding Chibi tightly to my chest. 🤷‍♀️

Chibi’s like, “the bleep’s wrong with you, woman?”

I brought summer colors to Montreal with me. ☺️

Not all the stuff I listened to back in the 90’s still lands, but some of it does. 😭

My goals today are simple: (1) support my engineers; (2) be kind to myself; (3) cry when I need to. .

Any day where I can capture four decent photographs of my friends and their families is a good one in my book. 🥰

Excite.

One of my all-time favorite Chibi photos.

Back in California, where the food isn’t quite as sumptuous, but there’s a little dō who jumps for joy when she sees me.

Today’s Chicago lunch was sourced from Big Star, a fairly well-regarded local institution.

I’m an absolute snob when it comes to Mexican food. Color me Not Impressed. I’ve had better; I’ve had better in Chicago; I’ve had better in Chicago on this trip.

Had a lovely day of walking ten miles, eating three breakfasts, and doing the irl reenactment of my coming out for friends I could only reach by text two years ago.

Also, my company’s performance cycle, but that didn’t fit in the fun-shaped hole.