So yesterday I managed to do something that I had always prided myself on avoiding before. Namely, forgetting a bag on the train. Sure there had been a couple previous instances where I left a cheap umbrella, or perhaps a bit of undesired rubbish, but never before had I managed to forget something that was actually important. Blast, maybe my mind really is becoming more addled with age!

The set up is simple. I had been in Shinjuku yesterday—having the day off in compensation for working on Saturday—and decided to stop by the main Seikaido art store; one of my favorite stops in Tokyo. There wasn’t a whole lot I needed, so I just picked up a couple canvases and a new paintbrush and was on my merry way. I had to meet someone across town for dinner, so jumped on the subway and settled down for the quick ride over. Since the bag was a bit awkward with the large canvases, I decided to put it on the rack above the seat, reminding myself not to forget it on the way out. Well, forget it I did. And as soon as I started walking up the stairs, I realized my mistake—exclaiming in shock as startled looking salary men hurried past me. I of course immediately went back and reported my loss, and was directed to the lost and found office. They were really nice there, and got everything sorted out surprisingly quick. They wouldn’t be able to grab my bag until the train reached its terminal, so they gave me a number to call a bit later, and had me on my way. When I did call, they informed me that they had indeed found my lost bag, and had it waiting at the station…

…that is the station where they pulled it off…the very last station on the line. A quick check revealed that in order to travel all the way there, pick up my bag, and travel all the way back would in fact cost more than I had spent on the entire purchase. So, counting my losses, I said goodbye to my $10 and went to drown my sorrows in some delicious pork cutlets; making sure to order the cheapest selection on the menu to help offset the cost of my fit of forgetfulness.

The moral of the story of course is: Never leave a glass half empty. Or is that half full? Oh, who cares? I want my $10 back!

After some gentle prodding and reminding from some concerned friends and family, I’ve finally come to the realization—and finally acceptance—that I have a problem. Hello, my name is Calum, and I’m an infrequent poster….

The signs started to show themselves a few months ago. I realized that my posts had begun taking on larger and more cumbersome topics, and with it the aspects of my viewing audience were swelling to expectations that I could simply no longer match. Also it was taking me a really long time to write the things. Yeah, mostly it was the time.

I started compensating a bit by focusing more on small updates through Flickr and Twitter, and hoping that people were getting some good information through that. And the thing was, unlike my overwhelming dread at spending most of an evening chipping away at a really long post, I actually enjoyed the process of giving short, succinct glimpses of my everyday life. In that vein, I’ve decided to reapply my efforts at maintaining my website, but with the aim of giving smaller, and more easy to digest (and likewise write) posts. And in the spirit of keeping things small, you can find my first attempt immediately following (er, preceding?) this one.

Thanks, and enjoy!