Congratulations! You've Destroyed All Fun (Day 3592 - 9/25/19)

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Stephen talks about how there aren't any surprises in this household anymore. He says that after breakfast, Mallory went outside to fill the bird feeder. Within 2 seconds of Mal going outside, the doorbell rang and it was a delivery man with a package. It was a package that Mal has been looking forward to getting. Stephen thought that this would be a good opportunity to surprise Mal with the package, so he was gonna hide it and surprise her with it. Then, Mal finished filling the bird feeder and immediately checks her phone. She then opened the front door and was looking around outside. She walked backed inside and told Stephen that she was supposed to receive a package today, but it's not there. Stephen then tells her to wait because he was worried that she would actually report that she never received the package.

Mal asked him why he did that and he explained that he thought it would be fun. Stephen says that now that sense of surprise doesn't exist anymore because Mal has an app called Informed Delivery that tells her every piece of mail that's going to be arriving. He says that the app is great most of the time, but there can no longer be anymore surprises. If he wanted ever wants to buy Mal something, then he will have to get it sent to his parents' house and sneakily go get it. Stephen then congratulates Mal on destroying all fun.

Then, he asks her if she wants her package to which she says yes. Stephen tells her that he hid it somewhere and gives her the hint "Oprah". Mal guesses the car and Stephen says that it was a great guess, but that it's incorrect. Stephen is then uncertain about whether "Oprah" was the best hint. He tells Mal that the hint could be "any talk show". Mal checks the TV stand drawers and then she guesses the couch which was correct. Stephen's thinking process about the hint was that on talk shows they often tell the audience to look under their chairs. Mal explains that the package contains all the things for her 2020 Hobonichi Techo.

She had ordered a Techo cover that had pixelated art of Mr. Saturn. Mal says that she always gets an extra Mother-themed item along with the Mother-themed Techo covers she orders. This time, it came with Mother-themed post-it notes. She also mentions that for some reason they didn't include an extra item when she ordered her 2019 cover. Mal talks about how she had received post-it page markers with the Chosen Four as the extra item when she first started ordering Techos. Last year, she got a giant Mr. Saturn sticker. Mal was really excited about the Mr. Saturn cover since it had a bunch of Mr. Saturns in a pixelated art-style.

Additionally, Mal ordered a clear cover to protect the Mr. Saturn cover since the Mr. Saturn cover is made of fabric. She says that she had taken her 2019 Techo to China and she didn't want it to get dirty in her backpack, so the clear cover was useful for keeping it clean while travelling. This year, Mal decided to also get a weekly planner in addition to her regular daily planner, and she also got clear covers for that planner. Mal says that she usually writes about what happened during her day and how she feels in her daily Techo while also including some scrapbooking elements. She explains that her weekly Techo will be more of a to-do list for the week. Currently, Mal has been using a makeshift graph paper notebook as her weekly planner. She says that now that she got a weekly planner for next year, she won't have to create a spread for every week.

Mal then talks about how her 2020 daily Techo is the only planner that's available in English. She says that when she first started doing Techos, there weren't any planners available in English. So, she got a Original Avec which was in Japanese and it was also split into 2 different notebooks. Next, she talks about her weekly Techo which is only available in Japanese. The only thing you miss out on is the section at the end that has some fun facts that are in Japanese because the Techo is in Japanese. Mal says that one year, they had information about sweets from all around the world. She says that the information at the end might be different for the daily and weekly Techos, so she might miss out on that information. The months, days, and days of the weeks are written in Japanese as well as English in the Japanese Techo. Having studied a little Japanese, Mal says that figuring out the bits of Japanese for the months and days of the weeks was easy. Mal says she will also miss out on the quotes on the bottom of each page in the Japanese weekly Techo. But, the quotes will be translated in her English daily Techo, so it's not a big loss for her.

Also, she got 2 pencil boards for both Techos. She explains that the pencil board protects the pages when she presses to hard while writing. Mal says the pencil boards will be her place markers for the date. She mentions that when you order a Techo, it always comes with a multi-pen. The multi-pen always has the same design and ink colors, but the color of the body changes each year. The color of the pen for this year is red. Mal mentions that the Techo also comes with an extra item. The extra item included this year is a Japanese card game called Uta-garuta which involves cards with poems on them. Mal explains that you can play it alone like solitaire or with 2 players.

Then, she talks about some other accessories she bought like a ruler clip. She says that it's more convenient than having to carry a full length ruler around. Mal also got mini-scissors for cutting washi tape, 4 stencils, and 3 packs of anything pockets. She explains that these are clear pockets that stick to pages and allow you to slide things into them. Mal had gotten some of these pockets at the Techo store in Kyoto and really liked them. She ran out of the ones she got from Japan, so she decided to get some more.

Mal says that the worst part about ordering a Techo is that the shipping cost is expensive, but it's cheaper than getting a plane ticket to Japan. She recommends ordering stuff with other people and splitting the shipping cost. Mal says that only downside of not living in Japan is that she isn't able to physically go into the Techo store to pick stuff out. Stephen says that Mal has been anxiously waiting for the Techo and is glad that she finally got it. He feels bad that he couldn't surprise her though. Mal replies that she already knew what was in the package since she ordered it. Mal talks about how she ordered everything except the Mr. Saturn cover when they were at Chaz and Jeff's house before going to China. Then, she had to order the Mr. Saturn cover when they were at Mark and Rhonda's house the next night since the cover was on next-day release. Mal left everything on a shipping hold because she was worried about Hurricane Dorian coming through. She thought that the package might get stuck at the post office and get lost if the mail is delayed. So, she left it on shipping hold until they got home. It took a week for the package to be delivered. Mal was glad that it didn't take that much longer to ship. She was hoping that it would've arrived before they got home though.

Stephen hopes Mal gets some use out of her weekly Techo. Mal says that she can't use the Techos until January since they're for 2020. He says that she can get some use out of the accessories she got though. Stephen mentions that halfway through filming he had to turn off the dishwasher since it was so loud.

Later, Stephen talks about how Mal was feeling alright this morning, but she started feeling ill as the day went on. He says that Mal went to bed earlier than she did last night. He is glad that she got some happiness this morning from unboxing her Techo though and hopes that getting some sleep will help her feel better. Stephen says that when they both get the same sickness, Mal usually gets better really quickly while Stephen is sick for a longer amount of time. So, it weird that he has less symptoms than she currently does. Mal is having all kinds of body aches. Stephen says that he isn't feeling well either and he's been having some sinus problems, but it's not as bad as the symptoms Mal is dealing with.

Stephen says that he will put a link in the description to the website where you can order a Hobonichi Techo. He says that not all of them are in English, but you only miss out on a couple things with the Japanese version. The fundamental function of the planner is still there and the quality is pretty high in terms of planners. He adds that it's also a fun novelty knowing that Shigesato Itoi was the one responsible for the planners. Finally, he mentions that they ended up moving Lunch Bunch to tomorrow.