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Ulan-chan’s 15th birthday

Today is May 5th, Children’s Day in Japan. It’s also my daughter Ulan’s birthday! This lucky girl has her birthday on a national holiday. So the picture above is a cake for Children’s day (Kodomo no Hi) for the rest of the family to enjoy, and this was her own personal birthday cake:

Here’s the neat crap she got for her birthday. I got her a Dragon Quest Slime pillow with some Chiikawa character stuff. Chiikawa is some new cute character animation she’s really into and watches the videos on YouTube. I think it’s boring, but whatever. Happy girl is happy. We love you, Ulan-chan.

Oh yes, and while we were having cake, a mag 6 earthquake hit Ishikawa Prefecture, right on the peninsula. Klaxons were going off and there was even a countdown to what was supposed to be a mag 3 here, but we couldn’t feel a thing.

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My wife in the back seat on my birthday, with Slowdive in the CD player.

Today is my birthday. This morning I drove Mayu to her work. I was playing “Shine” by Slowdive on the stereo. When I stopped at a red light and looked back at her (she’s still too scared to sit in the front seat with me after she was hit by a car 4 years ago), I looked back at her and she smiled in a way that the age on her face seemed to disappear, and it felt like I was looking at Mayu from over 20 years ago, when we were newlyweds. It was like a time slip moment. I wish I could have frozen time then to sustain the moment. I love her now more these days than I have in many years. She wished me a happy birthday. I love you, Mayu.

“Shine” by Slowdive