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Sep. 20th, 2024 06:09 amIt's time for another week off! Soonish. No real plans for it and I want to keep it that way. The timeframe of it is elastic; I can move it later if needed. Not too much later, as I'll already be maxed out on how much vacation time I can push into next year. Also I'll be out for 2 weeks anyway due to how Christmas and New Year's land on Wednesdays.
Speaking of 2 weeks, that will probably be the duration of my next trip to Japan next year. Last time I went, somewhere around Day 9 or 10 I was mentally ready to go back home. Maybe because my suitcases were getting full plus a box of stuff that needed mailed home. Maybe I was itching to add those 150 CDs to my music library. Maybe just to make sure the house was still standing. But I have good neighbors. Besides, the hardest thing about going to Japan is the flight. No matter what, the main flight segment is always going to be 12-14 hours. Sleeping on a flight? Naw, I can't. The most I can do is light naps to take the edge off. I have ways of keeping myself entertained for that long, and one of the main ways is to enjoy some music.
You know how there are some phrases that start off as mundane or innocent but they get appropriated for something sexual? The opposite can happen too. The operative phrase here is "rawdogging", which originally meant (and still does mean) unprotected sex. Lately, people have been using that word to describe taking a flight but not watching any movies, playing games, listening to music, reading, sleeping, etc. Just sitting. The closest I got to that was when I went to Seattle and after take-off, I discovered my cheap earbuds didn't work. That was almost a five hour flight, yo. If I had discovered this while I was still in the terminal prior to boarding, I would have willingly bought new ones from one of the overpriced stores in the terminal. After landing and getting settled in, I ended up going to Best Buy for replacements. Which were also cheap. That was okay, they just had to work well enough for the return flight, and they did.
About a month later I went to MicroCenter and bought a set of active noise-canceling bluetooth headphones and took those on my flight to Phoenix. Never thought I'd have headphones that need charging but here we are. At least they still have the option of plugging into an analog port. They were very good at blocking out the airplane noise; I'll give them that. Not bad for $100. They will come with me on future flights.
In Akihabara, there is a 6-floor building dedicated to selling earphones and headphones of any and every kind and accessories for them. Six whole floors just for headphones. During my 2018 trip, I would have done well to go there instead of Yodobashi, where I picked up a set of headphones that ended up being too small for my ears. Did I accidentally get child-sized headphones? I think I just looked at the price, thought it was good enough, and took the box to the checkout counter. I still have them but I don't really use them, especially after getting a pair of Mackies (which do fit over my ears). If I had gone to E-earphones instead like I should have, I would have probably been able to try them on first.
The Mackies and Grados are good for at-home listening; not good for flights. The Grados are open-back so they're excellent for music but don't even pretend to block outside noise. That also means if I'm listening to music with them, so is anyone else nearby. I live by myself so that's a moot point in more ways than one.
Where was I going with all this? I forget. I'll figure that out later.
Speaking of 2 weeks, that will probably be the duration of my next trip to Japan next year. Last time I went, somewhere around Day 9 or 10 I was mentally ready to go back home. Maybe because my suitcases were getting full plus a box of stuff that needed mailed home. Maybe I was itching to add those 150 CDs to my music library. Maybe just to make sure the house was still standing. But I have good neighbors. Besides, the hardest thing about going to Japan is the flight. No matter what, the main flight segment is always going to be 12-14 hours. Sleeping on a flight? Naw, I can't. The most I can do is light naps to take the edge off. I have ways of keeping myself entertained for that long, and one of the main ways is to enjoy some music.
You know how there are some phrases that start off as mundane or innocent but they get appropriated for something sexual? The opposite can happen too. The operative phrase here is "rawdogging", which originally meant (and still does mean) unprotected sex. Lately, people have been using that word to describe taking a flight but not watching any movies, playing games, listening to music, reading, sleeping, etc. Just sitting. The closest I got to that was when I went to Seattle and after take-off, I discovered my cheap earbuds didn't work. That was almost a five hour flight, yo. If I had discovered this while I was still in the terminal prior to boarding, I would have willingly bought new ones from one of the overpriced stores in the terminal. After landing and getting settled in, I ended up going to Best Buy for replacements. Which were also cheap. That was okay, they just had to work well enough for the return flight, and they did.
About a month later I went to MicroCenter and bought a set of active noise-canceling bluetooth headphones and took those on my flight to Phoenix. Never thought I'd have headphones that need charging but here we are. At least they still have the option of plugging into an analog port. They were very good at blocking out the airplane noise; I'll give them that. Not bad for $100. They will come with me on future flights.
In Akihabara, there is a 6-floor building dedicated to selling earphones and headphones of any and every kind and accessories for them. Six whole floors just for headphones. During my 2018 trip, I would have done well to go there instead of Yodobashi, where I picked up a set of headphones that ended up being too small for my ears. Did I accidentally get child-sized headphones? I think I just looked at the price, thought it was good enough, and took the box to the checkout counter. I still have them but I don't really use them, especially after getting a pair of Mackies (which do fit over my ears). If I had gone to E-earphones instead like I should have, I would have probably been able to try them on first.
The Mackies and Grados are good for at-home listening; not good for flights. The Grados are open-back so they're excellent for music but don't even pretend to block outside noise. That also means if I'm listening to music with them, so is anyone else nearby. I live by myself so that's a moot point in more ways than one.
Where was I going with all this? I forget. I'll figure that out later.
