We arrived in Taipei and I’m typing this in the hotel room. The flight was long but comfortable. Eva Air upgraded their airplanes since last we flew. The new seats leaned further back and felt roomier. Each seat had a foot light activated by a huge button next to the electric seat buttons. There’s a joke there about being able to see your feet, but I’m too tired to find it.

Work thoughts continued to assail me during the flight. This is supposed to be a vacation for me (Doolies has work to do here). I tried to quiet the thoughts on the flight with a modicum of success. I have been better about recording my musings in my not-Moleskine notebook. There’s a lot of value in these thoughts. One day I hope to transcribe them and share my learning. In summary: David needs lots of improvement in social work interactions.

We had a tiring but successful weekend at our Naginata seminar and test. We passed our Sankyu test, on our way to becoming less horrible. With any luck, after our next test, we’ll just be terrible. Tanaka Sensei, Kurt and Karen Sensei’s teacher, visited for the seminar. She provided excellent pointers. When she wields the Naginata it looks to be part of her. Each strike is effortless and powerful. The last time she visited, we were rank beginners, barely a month or two into our practice. Not knowing anything we didn’t get much from her instructions. Now that we have another year of practice under our overly long belts, her instructions were incredibly useful. We had three days of practice before the test, and we improved dramatically just in that short if exhausting time.

Doolies just finished her shower and it’s now my turn. We’re meeting Doolies’s parents for breakfast downstairs when we’re ready. This is the first time we’re visiting Taiwan since getting married two years ago. Since we married, her parents allow us to stay in a hotel room (we used to bunk with them in their apartment). We chose a small boutique hotel across the way from their apartment. It’s one of those hotels without a name or sign on the outside. It turned out to be a good choice. It’s very New Yorkish in its size and amenities. The free internet certainly doesn’t hurt.