I'm staying at a hotel with an (onsen-style) public bath and so I wore the provided yukata and slippers to the bath. But when I got out, someone had taken my slippers.

So then I had to decide if I was going to be the gaijin that steals some other person's slippers or the gaijin that walks through the hotel lobby barefoot like some kind of animal.

No good option.

I had too much to drink last night so I immediately checked my phone upon waking to make sure I stayed out of trouble and realized that all I did was write a (5-star!) review on ProductHunt for buttondown.email

What the hell's wrong with me.

Heading to Japan this morning to undertake my first field report as a Test Double foreign correspondent.

My Uber arrived early, we encountered no traffic, and I breezed through security. Even the Delta lounge was empty. So with my luck, that means my flight is sure to disappear over the Pacific.

Nice knowing you!

Fun fact: this Apple Support document is just flat-out wrong. It says: "you can identify [a fast charging] cable from other chargers by the USB-C connector and the aluminum around the magnetic charger", but the very short 0.3m USB-C cable Apple started selling in 2018 and has since discontinued meets these criteria and, wouldn't you know it—can't fast charge an Apple Watch.

As someone who travels light, I figured I'd bring my 0.3m cable if I could. Because the Internet provided zero help here, I figured I'd feed the web to mention that as of 2023, the only Apple Watch chargers that support fast charging are 1 meter long. Oh well.

My cousin just contacted me for the first time in a decade to ask for advice on planning her first trip to Japan. As if to punish her, I turned around 3000 words in under two hours. That'll teach her!

(Maybe I can salvage a blog post from it, at least…)

I was getting free Paramount+ through my T-Mobile account, but that promotion ended, so now I get it through my American Express Platinum card, which offers a free Walmart+ subscription (via statement credits), which in turn includes a free Paramount+ subscription. walmart.com/partner/plus/amexplatinum

Ok good talk.