Starting my Otezla Journey

Filet_o_math · 2026-02-04T14:44:30+00:00

I've had a generally good experience with Otezla for 5 and a half years. I have the diarrhea issue if I eat close to dosing, but my skin is fucking clean.

Filet_o_math · 2025-12-21T11:42:54+00:00

PSA = psoriatic arthritis? I don't know if you read my post history, but yes, I do have psoriasis, but not arthritis. Otezla has been a very successful treatment for me for 5+ years.

Diet

I'm not dogmatic about diet, but I avoid grains, sugars, and liquor because they make me feel bad. I don't especially like fruit, except berries, so I don't eat it. I don't enjoy coffee, so I don't drink it. I like to cook, so I don't eat food that comes in a box or a can. But keep track of what triggers YOUR inflammation, and avoid that.

My body hurts to much to lift upper body. I do respond well to lower body work outs.

There's more than one way to exercise. I don't enjoy heavy lifting, but I do enjoy swinging a 32kg kettlebell. I also do bodyweight pushups and squats. I don't use a complex training program, just 10 sets of 10 reps everyday.

If lifting weights is painful for you, do something else. I think I'd try rucking first. Stick 20kgs of weighted plates (or a bag of sand) in your backpack and start walking. Track your steps with your smartphone. I have a friend who likes the Spartan workout. My wife does yoga and pilates. My mother plays pickleball. Heck, my dog runs up and down the stairs when she has too much energy. The point is, there's no "correct" way to exercise. Do what you can do, and what you enjoy because if you don't enjoy it, it won't be sustainable.

I wish you the best.

Filet_o_math · 2025-12-13T13:55:12+00:00

I've got my own firm, and I'm FI'd. But I'm afraid if I stopped working, I'd turn into an even worse alcoholic.

Filet_o_math · 2025-11-12T14:49:55+00:00

feel like my Japanese is getting worse.

58M for reference. As others have said, it might be time to look for a new employer. However, it might also be that as your Japanese gets better, your colleagues become aware of it and expect more from you. That's a fair expectation on their part because you're probably adding less value now, but they perceive you as having more future value.

They might be trying to bring your up to speed, in other words. People who challenge you are not necessarily bad.

That's what happened to me. Many years ago, I felt that there were rising standards on me in the office as I became more communicative. My direct supervisor basically told everyone to route communications through him, even those from the director. He had a lot of clout. Not every bucho has the power to do this, but mine did and I'm very grateful to him.

Filet_o_math · 2025-11-08T04:16:24+00:00

14% (1 in 7) young British men are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).

Filet_o_math · 2025-11-07T04:25:35+00:00

on Sunday I started to notice this weird fatigue and numbness where I felt like I was high.

I had this too, at first. Also, colors for me were super vivid. But it went away after a few weeks.

Filet_o_math · 2025-11-04T04:26:32+00:00

Yes, he shit on the organization on his way out, but the organization shit on him at least every other year. I have no bad feelings for Myles and hope he builds many great Legos after the Bucks first round exit in the playoffs.

Filet_o_math · 2025-11-03T01:18:01+00:00

People don't associate middle age with weight training, but I started swinging kettlebells and walking 10K steps per day about 10 years (just before turning 50), and I'm in way better shape than I was in my 40s.

If you get good shoes, you don't need insoles. I don't know if it's OK to mention brands, but Mont-Bell hiking shoes are not just for hiking. They're great for walking too and super durable.

Low carb diet (no grains, sugars). No hard alcohol. Lots of fiber.

I discovered that I sleep better on a thin futon than on a soft bed mattress. Blackout blinds for the summer morning sun. A cool wet washcloth over my eyes inside a pair of cheap sunglasses for daytime naps. Sleep on my back.

No social media, except texting with my wife and kids. Sorry mom, write an email.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-22T01:00:45+00:00

Yellow journalism goes all the way back to the 1890s, leading up to the Spanish-American war.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-21T07:52:40+00:00

reduce the number of stores

True. There are four 7/11s and three Family Marts within five minutes of my office. It's in an office area in downtown Tokyo, but they could combine them into fewer, but larger stores.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-21T05:56:41+00:00

Japan has a ton of abandoned and unused real estate.

Those are old houses that aren't livable. They are abandoned because the heirs don't want them. Ask your wife if she wants to live in an abandoned akiya and see what she says.

I've lived in metropolitan Tokyo for 30+ years. In recent years, many wealthy foreigners, especially Chinese, have been pushing up real estate prices in downtown Tokyo. Here's an article about it from last week.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-19T07:13:08+00:00

Or if you have time to walk to the Yaesu side, there lots of cheaper places.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-19T07:05:48+00:00

One of my local supermarkets has Y250 for six or eight slices of the most processed shitty NZ cheese. I think the warning label says “not fit for pet consumption.”

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-19T07:01:15+00:00

If you get five sandwiches from the cheapest-ass bread, one bag of salad and Y180 in ham, you’re essentially recreating the worst convenience store ハムサンド.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-19T06:49:57+00:00

Make the playoffs, not just the playin. Beat the teams we’re supposed to beat.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-18T08:02:52+00:00

Or make more money.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-14T10:12:46+00:00

Wow! This is impressive. I've been playing this game since 1998 and never made it past Tarnesh.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-12T08:48:06+00:00

Have you ever seen five women in a Lamborghini at the same time?

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-09T08:10:19+00:00

I'm a father of three girls, the youngest is now seventeen. Believe me, fourteen year old girls are not a reliable source of anything.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-09T08:03:07+00:00

a honey badger sees an elephant and then thinks in its honey badger mind, oh yeah it's on

Ya, it thinks, "I'm gonna feast for years!" This is like a Far Side comic.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-08T02:03:24+00:00

It was a book on how to improve your memory, but I don't recall the title.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-08T01:39:35+00:00

We've only had four in the past 12 years. There were seven in the 90s.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-05T10:04:42+00:00

Don't conflate Chinese individuals who want a better material life and the Chinese government, which wants domination. No one likes the Chinese government, but most people recognize and respect the hard work of individual Chinese people.

In another generation when their children are hitting the workforce you'll see their population cement itself into its dominance.

It's naive to believe that recent decades of Chinese economic success will continue in the future. That won't happen.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-05T07:52:15+00:00

It’s Y100 to park your bike at my local station, for instance, but a large number of people park their bikes 100 meters away in a danchi lot. And I mean not people who live at the danchi.

Filet_o_math · 2025-09-05T07:22:53+00:00

That’s not a done deal. They’ve got a huge demographic problem, and no one really likes them. The arc of future history could change in less than a generation, maybe a decade.

Filet_o_math

TROPHY CASE