Tokyo Sumo Club (homage to James Clavell and Betty Friedan).

"Daddy,"
our daughter asked.
"Why aren't there any girl sumo wrestlers?"

I thought briefly.

("For a long period of time, men called samurai followed a code of honor called bushido; this paralleled an era of isolationism and feudalism in which these male samurai warriors served powerful lords called daimyo, and this may have had a certain and frequent impact on the contemporary expectations of gender roles in modern Japan today; thus perhaps being an underlying cause for the dearth, or rather, total absence of female sumo wrestlers today.")

That is what I THOUGHT.

Then I realised I was subconsciously pulling together the first several chapters of Shōgun, which I last read in 2003. So what I SAID may have been closer to something like this:

"Umm...hey, let's get a cookie!"

So we haven't yet finished the female sumo conversation, and she's too young to read James Clavell yet so maybe we'll just take a field trip to Tokyo next weekend and find someone who can satisfactorily answer this excellent question. 

Anyone wanna save us a long flight?

We’re in this together now (Reznor remix).

I've been thinking a lot about mistakes we've made as parents, like the time we let our kids eat chips and salsa in the car a couple weeks ago while driving, and how glad I am it was Becca's idea and not mine, so I guess it sort of wasn't so much my mistake;

I guess we can all learn from those big mistakes and try to move on. 

Guest post : Exposed by Jeremy M. Long

JOSEPH LONG:EXPOSED

Earlier, I called my brother Joseph on the cell phone. Within 3.3 seconds, he hung up on me without an explanation, promising to promptly call me back. Since then, he has posted three lengthy anecdotes on Facebook.

YOU HAVE BEEN UNVEILED.

Sincerely,

Abandoned

This was my reply:

What? I must have tried calling you at least 37 times! I suppose it is fruitless to tell you that my phone literally died mid-sentence.

And that I have tried twice since.

But in the end, he had my number. Pun intended. Sometimes you gotta hoist a white flag.

Well played, Six. Looking forward to a very expensive cuppa coffee with you.