00:12
Hello from 羽田空港.
This is going to be a noisier version than the usual episode because
well, I am at the airport and
just dropping here to say that we're gonna need a week off to catch up on some episodes
and whatnot. Yeah, I've been traveling for 学会 and long-ish 出張 as well. So
have been out of town, out of Hong Kong for a month now, but I'm coming back and you know,
we'll have access to microphone and whatnot. So yeah, lots of new stuff to catch up with Len.
So just for today and the following episode, the Thursday episode, we're just gonna
be on our mini holiday. Yeah, I mean that's just a PSA and
I really like traveling. I feel very at home at the airport for some reason.
I like that no one is staying here. Everyone is kind of in transit. Everyone is
yeah, like slightly different versions of themselves when they're going through an airport,
you know. It's kind of fun to observe that.
But damn, 羽田空港めっちゃ綺麗だわ。 Especially this like new terminals. So so clean. I mean
maybe that's just Japan quality, but god I've been to some pretty old, not quite the relic per se,
but some airport that's given me a lot of you know
80s, 90s vibes. Yeah, those would be things. I don't really have anywhere to go with this
episode. I'm just kind of, you know, it's what? I've been up since 5 30. It is now 7 30.
Have about an hour to kill until my next flight, which is the last leg of my flight before you
know this U.S. tours that I've been doing. So hopefully I would go home. Hopefully my apartment
is not moldy. That's my biggest concern, leaving Hong Kong for a long time. My apartment and the
03:05
mold. Yeah. Okay, I was just gonna end that PSA right there, but as I was walking around this
area, I found a guy, I don't know, maybe in his 50s, おじさん, editing his PowerPoint with ChemDraw.
I just caught that on the, you know, on the corner of my eyes and that was, I don't know why,
but that made me very happy. I wanted to be like, I get you. Of course I wouldn't. Why would I?
I would never do that. But you know, it's like catching a Pokemon in the wilderness.
Ah, I see you, chemist, you know. So that was kind of nice. Yeah, like you forget that
these people are out there going about their day. I guess maybe he's on his way to conference.
Maybe he's just catching up on some teaching materials, you know, while they're traveling.
I guess it is a conference season right now, so that will be fun. But yeah, it just made me
kind of giggle to myself. Yeah, how do- that makes me think. How do people think?
How do you, listeners, think about working in transit? I actually kind of like it, because
usually when I'm traveling, I have like, you know, limited time per little snippets of time.
Like you're waiting for a flight, you're waiting for your transportation,
something like that. Or you're trapped in this seat for x many hours. And I actually
find myself surprisingly productive in this kind of constrained setting for some reason.
Yeah, when I was an undergrad, I used to do that. I would purposely not bring a charger to the
bring a charger to the library, so that my- I can only work until my battery runs out.
And that kind of, you know, that time constraint made me focus pretty well.
So it's the same effect for transit working, I think. However, I did find that sometimes
I need to use this transit time to just rest and like not do anything. So one time I couldn't find
06:06
Wi-Fi, or maybe I did, but it was so goddamn slow. And I ended up, you know, not really doing
anything. I could only listen to musics that are downloaded, which were not much. And I forgot to
download podcast episodes before my travels. So I was just kind of stuck, forced to do nothing
really. And I finished my ebook already. So I was just kind of, yeah, sat there in silence.
And that was nice. I think I napped a little, but that was kind of nice to
to be in an environment where you just, you know, could not work. That hasn't happened in a while.
And so I like travel for that too. But yeah, I don't know. It's a weirdly productive time for me,
traveling. Whether I am sort of doing more output type work, like writing or
responding to emails or, you know, making PowerPoint or something. Those are good.
But I also enjoy just kind of input, reading. And because you are sort of usually
constrained in whether it's time or physical location-wise, you're sort of stuck somewhere.
You're forced to engage with whatever you have in front of you or in your head and there's no escape.
And in that kind of bound condition you
find and see things slightly differently than usual. And that can be surprisingly
good ideas, I found. So yeah, I wonder how people are using these travel times.
You know, whether you're the rester type, you know, catch up on some sleep or
you know, weirdly productive type on the tiny seats in the airport or airplane, I guess.
Yeah, either way. But yeah, that's all. I just found a chemist in the wilderness and it made me happy.
So anyway, we'll see you or you'll hear us in a week. So no episode this Thursday,
but you'll hear us shortly. Enjoy some of our past episodes, maybe.
And also maybe listen to the Kawakukei Podcast for the month of June.
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The Spotify playlist should be out there. I can put the link onto this episode.
Give it a listen. I also need to catch up on a few episodes from that playlist.
So, all right. Have a wonderful time, whatever you're having. Bye!
That's it for the show today. Thanks for listening and find us on X at Eigo de Science.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E. See you next time!