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    Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave?

    The walls in my apartment can talk.

    Not in the if-these-walls-could-talk sense. Don’t expect, if you come for a visit, to have the intercom system chat with you about whether I’m usually wearing anything when I eat breakfast. It’s the water heater and ventilation system. Like those in Atsushi’s apartment, they have enough buttons and lights to make you feel, as a friend of mine once put it, afraid you might launch something equipped with a nuclear warhead if you push the wrong part of the touchpad. Unlike those in Atsushi’s apartment, they don’t just beep at you when the fan goes on or the bath has finished filling. Instead, a chirpy woman’s voice tells you, “Power is now turned on!” or “The bath is heated!” I’m sure it’s a great boon for blind people living alone, but I just find it grating. I figured there’d be somewhere to turn it off, but I haven’t found it on any of the (three) control panels. Yeesh.

    2 Responses to “Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave?”

    1. Zak says:

      The lamp in my new “mansion” says “You have now achieved 80% energy savings” when you dim it, and in that annoyingly high-pitched Japanese female voice that you know has been selected for the sole purpose of making Japanese men downtrodden by society feel just a little bit better about themselves and their masculinity.

      Where was I? Right, it’s really annoying, and I really want to turn it off. Theoretically possible, but that would require reading the manual, and part of me balks at the idea that I have to read a manual for a damn ceiling light.

    2. Sean Kinsell says:

      Oh, did I mention it plays a little jingle–not making this up–before o-neesan announces that your bath is ready? Good GRIEF.

      With you about the manual, too.

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