mastodon 4.6.8+glitchI have a doctorate in ancient stuff but I'm a full-time plague-avoider. I like cats, pretty dresses, and video games.
I spent my childhood being asked "where are you from" by Ashkenazi classmates at my Jewish private school in Toronto, and my adulthood trying to reconnect to my Japanese heritage. The "current cultural climate" has me running back to safety in the Jewish community (online) and to my mom's hometown in Japan (IRL). Moved to Kyoto 08/2025.
formerly elana@mastodon.social
I did get a very cute crocheted case for it on Minne though!“Why are you avoiding catching covid, are you some sort of germaphobe health freak” dude I am reheating some highly questionable leftovers right now, it’s *other people’s* health I don’t gamble with, because I have *ethics*, what’s *your* problem
I try not to be too boastful about how J-M and I are *so* happy in Japan (we are. huge life upgrade. gigantacular life upgrade.), but you should see Meow Meow. She is *blissed out* here. She runs around like a kitten, and she loves her chair (which was supposed to be my chair), and she just looks so overwhelmed by happiness with her lil stretches and rollings-around.
My current theories of why:
1. our apartment is now smaller than the one we lived in before, and I find that cats are happier in territories that are more contained
2. the food we found here that she would accept is uproariously fancy and from New Zealand. she loooooves it
3. she can sense that we are happier and more relaxed and so she can be happy and relaxed too 
A few weeks ago, J-M was passing through the food court of one of our favourite local shopping malls, and sent me a photo of a big machine with two glowing purple eyeballs, asking, what is this??? I looked it up and it's a HEPA / photocatalytic / UV air purifier designed for large spaces. I was amazed. Could even the indoor dining spaces in Japan be somewhat safer due to a—gasp!—general actual acknowledgment of airborne infectious disease risk???
He went by again this week and felt up the outflow vents, and noted that it didn't seem to be pushing all that much air. My inner IAQ nerd tells me that that means that it's probably not doing as much work as advertised. Still, kudos to our local shopping mall for actually fucking trying???
Anyone curious about the specs can check out the details here: https://purifier.jp
Sometimes I wonder how I would fare in a Neolithic society. J-M would be totally fine; he’d be building shelters or designing tools with his big throbbing engineer brain. But I feel like my clumsy, shortsighted, daydreaming ass is so designed for settled, literate life, I would be totally useless. Maybe I’d be developing token-based counting systems and protoliteracy 😆
I wish you could hear the “ngeh!” of complaint that Meow Meow just did because I was petting her while she was asleep. I’m sorry baby! It was a lapse of judgment! I shall be more considerate 
I placed an order to restock our Pluslife tests last week and they arrived today. Seven days later.
I know I just posted about how I try not to boast about how much happier we are in Japan but HELLO??? ONE-WEEK SHIPPING ON PLUSLIFE TESTS wtfffffffffffff
I was wailing with indecision about something, and Meow Meow came over and joined me with an extended “meorrreowehhhhhh!!” and we both flopped on the futon for a while
I had to mute it a lot and be actively careless with it, which is very hard for me…!
She's very cute, so I think I'll keep her for a few days
Here's a clip of her taking a nap with the Blanket item and being whisked off to a world of imagination… I haven't let them get married and move out for many days, because I'm not ready to say goodbye…!Been hoarding gold in Elder Scrolls Online for no particular reason… until now, when they released 17 mounts available for in-game currency for the first time and I dropped two mill to get them all like it was nothing 💅
“Wow this makeup artist’s channel has so much useful information in it!”
[reaches video titled “Asian-inspired makeup” where she tries to do makeup on an East Asian woman’s face]
…
Sigh.
[she makes a mess and the model comes out looking like she walked off the set of One of Those James Bond Movies]
SIIIIIIGGGHHHHH
Here you can see how the ひろば (go for a walk to the Tamagotchi Square) option on the Tamagotchi Smart has transitioned to a springtime background 
Do you ever wonder about what happens to Laputa at the end of the movie? Does it really fly into space?
I want the robots to be happy, and I think they’d be lonely in the vacuum of space.
I think they’re in a pocket of atmosphere made by the giant tree, floating in low geosynchronous orbit. And the robots are still lovingly caring for those little creatures, which are happily undergoing further generations of genetic drift as an isolated population 😌 what a peaceful thing to imagine
I am so happy that I could be of help! And I’m excited for you to enjoy some fun new threads!!!! that was a big consideration when we were picking out our new place, and it has been sooooo nice. Enjoy the improved focus!!!!@em@babka.social Now we get into things that are probably waaaaay too costumey for most people who aren't weird in the same highly specific ways that I am. I discovered most of these shops before the war, when I was looking for really nice historical reproduction clothing. Ukraine happens to have a lot of really skilled people in this space.
Valentine Crafts Store: I got a quilted petticoat from here. She has tons of beautiful stuff, but most of it you'd need to have an Occasion to buy. The cotton chemises seem versatile though! https://www.etsy.com/shop/ValentineCraftsStore
Fiorentina Costuming: I got a super comfortable Regency-inspired cotton gown from her. I loved it but I popped a button and it went into the depths of the “to mend" pile and then I moved to Japan 🥲 She was lovely to correspond with, though. (Edit: come to think of it, I think I also got a pair of short stays from her, which are also marvellous. Also possibly some cotton chemises. It's been years…) https://www.etsy.com/shop/FiorentinaCostuming
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@em@babka.social 2. I bought a dress from Maya Hotenko, and it has been a really faithful 'look nice but actually be super comfy' dress over the years. Her shop says she's based in Kharkiv, but when I was corresponding with her a few years ago, I believe she had relocated to Poland because Kharkiv wasn't safe; I'm not sure where she is right now. Beautiful, sturdy stuff, inspired by late Victorian and Edwardian fashions. I find her linen is denser than Armstreet, and so doesn't hold up as well when Kyoto is the surface of the sun, but for every other season: beautiful. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MayaHotenkoDress
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@em@babka.social There are so many other places on my Etsy Favourites that I'm not sure I can endorse 100% because I had some quality issues with them (but they're sewing in a war zone so I'm not that mad), or because I only covet their things but haven't bought yet (because of the bounty of linen dresses I have that are still going strong). I would have advised to search for things more to your taste, but now I see that a ‘store location->Ukraine’ search yields a lot of suspiciously dropshippy stuff. I can at least vouch for these Ukrainian stores for existing before the war / seeming legit:
ByFrennka (currently on a break): I want one of her gothy linen dresses so badly https://www.etsy.com/shop/byFrennka
Royal Tailor: I popped a seam on one of their corsets basically immediately; might’ve been user error https://www.etsy.com/shop/RoyalTailor
2MakkReenactment: looks like good medieval / renfaire basics https://www.etsy.com/shop/2MakkReenactment
Most of this is probably completely unhelpful to people who aren’t me but… I tried! 😅
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