Reborn As An Early Retiree, I Now Wander America’s Costliest City: Volume 2, Chapter 2

WHAT’S ON MY MIND

Finances. I've had my fun, so it’s time to pitch nickels like they’re manhole covers. I canceled NFL Sunday Ticket so I’m free on Sundays, and I’m not buying a sim racing setup to eat up space in my living room.

I’ve decided that Miku and Yukino are the perfect early birthday presents to myself. It’s a nice first world problem to have when I look outside my living room window and I can’t decide which one to drive for an errand.

Oh, who am I kidding? If it’s before 10 am or after 2 pm and the weather’s nice you know whose keys I’m grabbing.

WHAT I ATE

Mochi. It’s an ice cream bite wrapped in rice flour, only 80 calories, and the perfect after dinner treat. I’m surprisingly quite fond of the matcha tea flavor.

WHAT I BOUGHT AND LISTENED TO

MEGAN by Megan Thee Stallion. Now Yukino’s and Miku’s stereo systems bob and bounce to explicit versions of “Otaku Hot Girl” and other songs almost as much as I do in their driver’s seats. 

Arigato, Tina Snow!

WHAT I ALSO BOUGHT

There’s something special I bought on Etsy that should arrive later today, and that deserves a separate post. Moving on…

WHAT SACRED TEXTS I READ

• Ladies On Top, Volume 6 (final volume)
• Fly Me To The Moon, Volume 24
• Cat + Gamer, Volume 5
• Uzaki-chan Wants To Hang Out!, Volume 11
• Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu!, Volume 6
• Shikimori Isn’t Just A Cutie, Volume 17

Also in progress from J-Novel Club

• The Royal Hostage Has Vanished: The Black Wolf Yearns For The Persecuted Princess, Volume 1
• The Hero And The Sage: Reincarnated And Engaged, Volume 1
• The Poison King: Now That I’ve Gained Ultimate Power, The Bewitching Beauties In My Harem Can’t Get Enough Of Me, Volume 1
• An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels For Me!, Volume 8

WHAT I WATCHED

Too much “mid” anime. It’s a tedious process to sort the wheat from the chaff every anime season, and this Summer there’s a lot of new isekai anime to sample. The better ones end up on my watch list, while others make me wish I was the one who got hit by a truck and then reborn in another world.

I imagine here in America I’d be shot while shopping at the mall before I’m isekaied. Anyway…

AM I ALLOWED TO LAUGH AT THIS?

When D’Station Racing returned to the Super GT grid this season, they hired an English driver named Charlie Fagg. Yes, you read that correctly. Charlie’s a talented English driver, and that’s him on the left in the above image. If that doesn’t make you clutch your pearls, D’Station also hired a Frenchman named Erwan Bastard to drive their World Endurance Championship entry.

Imagine if NASCAR racer Dick Trickle were still alive…

WHAT MADE ME HAPPY

Rent-A-Girlfriend, my favorite dumpster fire rom-com anime, is officially getting a fourth season in 2025. It will cover the Hawaiians arc, which is wrapping up in the English translated manga as we speak.

WELCOME TO SLAPSVILLE…

The 3-series Beemer driver that cut across all four lanes, as well as Yukino’s front bumper, at a forty-five degree angle so she wouldn’t miss her freeway exit the other day. She deserves two slaps for reminding me that Tesla drivers are just an electrified copy of the rudest drivers traditionally found on California’s freeways.

FUN FACT: Both Miku and Yukino have the same turbocharged four banger under the bonnet as that 3-series Beemer, but you rarely if ever see MINI drivers pull that shit.

A FIST BUMP GOES TO…

Aussie Supercars star Cam Waters, who won the first 250k Townsville race in rainy weather and followed that up with a 2nd place finish in the second race. Great job!

WHAT BUTCH THING I DID

Miku has a diffuser and dual exhausts below her rear bumper as part of her S sport package. When I bought her, I thought the chrome exhaust tips were a lost cause due to carbon buildup. With a lot of patience, a rag, and a quality polish I bought at O’Reilly Auto Parts I restored the chrome to a like new finish. I'll attempt to remove that last bit of caked on carbon on the edges sometime this weekend.

I did the same for Yukino, who didn’t need nearly as much elbow grease to shine.

WHAT I ACCOMPLISHED IN GRAN TURISMO 7

I picked both winners in the Gran Turismo World Series races held in Montreal last Saturday and won 2,000,000 in game credits. Cha-ching!

WHAT’S UP WITH MY HEALTH

Despite my high stress life, I lost 1.4 pounds this week. I’m now 11 pounds above my lightest weight during the past thirty years. 

Or as my friend noted the other day, I’m going to do some damage with the ladies if I ever decide to make myself available. *blushes*

I’ve set a new goal to drop another 50 pounds from here. That would take me to the weight I was when I used to be the monster in an upscale hotel fitness center’s weight room six days a week. I look forward to this challenge, and most importantly, to maintain whatever my total weight loss is.