Antitheticality
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User ID: 1996
Antitheticality
6mo ago
I (American) just returned from my own "first time Japan trip" yesterday - two weeks, mostly in Tokyo, and the good news I can share from my experience is that you're going to have an amazing time regardless of how much or how little planning you put in, there's just no way to lose.
Everybody has already hit the big talking points, so I'll just add that in our experience, the limit on how much fun we were having was how much our feet fucking hurt on any given day. I was wearing serious-business hiking boots (my standard never-fail travel option) and my wife was wearing Hoka sneakers (supposed to be optimized for comfort), but by day 3-4 we were already revising daily plans, buying extra-padded insoles, and aggressively adding more "off-foot" time to the itinerary because we were simply standing and walking too much and our aching feet were making it hard to enjoy exploring. I'm no slouch, either - I hike often, run, and travel internationally ~3-4 times a year and I've never before had to take measures like this. My advice is to take some of your planning time and think carefully about your shoe/insole situation and the "on-foot" stretches of your itinerary so that you aren't caught off guard like us, having to take unplanned hotel room rest breaks to rest your brutalized feet.
Also, while I'm typing, here are the best two restaurants we ate at. Both were very popular (presumably instagram awareness), so you may have to really prioritize/go early if you want to get a table without waiting in line for an hour:
Shin Udon (Shibuya) - The perfect noodle dish??
PST Higashi Abuzu (near Roppongi) - I was baffled at how good this pizza was. Maybe the best I've ever had.
Antitheticality
8mo ago
My age/demographic/household income/child status/relationship status/etc are all extremely similar to yours, with the key difference that my wife and I already made the jump of purchasing a house and starting to put down roots in an area (US east coast). From the other side of the decision you're facing, what I can offer is that while we don't regret our choice and we love where we live, the experience of moving just a few hours drive away from both sets of parents, most relatives, and most friends was an isolating one. We're currently engaged in many slow, low-level efforts to entice family and friends to consider relocating closer to us, because life is simply more fun when you're with people you like, and meeting new people is hard (though we're working on that too). The project of "modern life" and dealing with all the little inefficiencies and surprises that spring up also becomes vastly easier with an existing support network of at least a few close relatives/friends nearby.
Preferences differ and your mileage may vary, but in my opinion an overemphasis on geography is a red herring - relationships are more or less everything. I'd spend more time thinking about who you like being around (or who you aspire to be around), who you want to spend more time with (or who may not have a lot of quality years remaining for you to enjoy their company), and who you want to have an impact on your future children's lives. Then move close to those people.
Of course, a castle in the Italian countryside also sounds absolutely incredible, I had great fun looking through the links you provided. Good luck with your search!
Antitheticality
9mo ago
Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! It'll be the adventure of a lifetime, enjoy the ride!
Antitheticality
10mo ago
Wingspan was an absolutely fantastic first choice of game, you really knocked it out of the park from the outset. The wife and I just got Ark Nova as a Christmas present, we haven't played it yet as the back of the box conveys a staggering amount of complexity. We're not tabletop newbies by any means, but we're a bit intimidated.
For my money, it would not be possible to make a better addition to your thin game library than Everdell. The gameplay, presentation, theming, art direction, and mechanics are at the top end of anything we've ever seen achieved in a board game. It also has very little "screwing over your opponent"-type gameplay, which I think makes it a very pleasant 2-player experience compared to many other games. I would highly suggest grabbing the Collector's Edition of the base game, if you can swing it. That should provide many evenings of entertainment on its own, and then any time the game starts feeling a little stale you can pick up an Expansion (there are ~5, each of which adds enough to make the game feel VERY fresh all over again). I would not recommend picking up all the expansions right away, there's no really need to binge them and you may become overwhelmed with the complexity. My wife and I have steadily explored the expansions over a series of years and it's been a magnificent experience. We're maybe 3 years into Everdell being the default board game at our regular Board Game Nights with friends, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I give it the strongest possible recommendation.
Antitheticality
10mo ago
Two quotes come to mind:
Jordan Peterson's much-memed "There are cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see"
The Last Psychiatrist's "If you're reading it, it's for you"
It seems obvious to me that anyone with your attitude, living in the current digital age - where it has literally never been easier to create and disseminate works of art - is someone who is actively choosing the role of the curmudgeon. Consciously or not, you are allowing yourself to calcify, closing yourself off from experience, embracing the lazy "nothing is as good when as I was a teenager" mentality. The state of art hasn't meaningfully changed, but your brain and your habits and your openness to experience has. Fight it. Stop being lazy.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
He's the heir to Rich Piana's legacy, providing a constant stream of blindingly parasocial, unfiltered, steam-of-consciousness buddy chats while going through a fitness-centric daily routine. And the great thing is that, unlike Rich, who was probably not a great role model for his young male audience, Sam Sulek is unfailingly humble, pragmatic, and down-to-earth. Real positive masculinity shit. You love to see it.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
I'm in the broader Philly area and would join just for the off chance of meeting TracingWoodgrains in person (who I think moved here recently?)
Antitheticality
1yr ago
I found this advice to be deeply empathetic and fairly profound. Saving for the next time I need to give a friend a pep talk. Really, really good stuff George.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
Very fair point, Gungeon might be a bit high up the difficulty ladder for a child.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
I feel fairly confident that the exact game you are looking for is Rampage Knights - it's an absolute blast in co-op, with great humor and fairly simple combat that retains all the great roguelike elements of Dead Cells.
Another strong candidate in the vein you describe is Enter the Gungeon. Again, the co-op here has everything you're looking for, but I will note that camera management is a bit more of a pain point than in a game like Dead Cells or Rampage Knights because of the top-down viewpoint.
You can't go wrong with either of these games, and if your son likes Dead Cells, he'll love these too.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
This was very helpful, thank you!
Antitheticality
1yr ago
Asking anyone who might be willing to answer - what's the cynical take on why the military got a carve-out here? Honestly, I'm confused by this exemption and I'm having trouble imagining what prompted it. A cursory look at the "military officer affirmative action" pro and con discourse doesn't show me any novel or compelling arguments I'm not seeing already in the "affirmative action in higher education" discourse.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
In the same vein as this, more strenuous exercise is always, always, always easier and more fun with another person. The "get a gym buddy to keep you accountable and motivated" advice is very real and very effective if you are one of those people who, like me, often struggles to summon the motivation to work out.
Antitheticality
1yr ago
The Bear. It's fantastic.
I strongly agree with this. OP lists freedom of expression as his top issue but the whole top post reads as an isolated demand for rigor from the left. You can't always buy the hype. Elon Musk makes a ton of noise about free speech too - but his actual track record running X is decidedly mixed on the issue of free expression. I'm a big fan of the 1st Amendment, it's important to me too. Which exactly why I've done enough background reading to know neither major American political party is particularly good on the issue of free speech!
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1850700851104358438
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