Top Secret Urban Mission. Mother, Marching with a Camouflage Backpack.
Floating in black, 'SD card error detected.' From this screen, I turned into a foot soldier.
My daughter's used car, 11 years old, delivered on May 3rd.
It came with a dashcam, but no SD card was included due to privacy concerns.
'Since you're a beginner, it's better to have a longer recording time just in case.'
The airborne troops, riding the internet to land in the jungle, search for their target.
'128GB... Whoa, do SD cards really cost this much?!'
Flinching at the enemy (price), I secured the capacity while getting the cheaper 'SanDisk microSD 128GB UHS-I U1'.
That evening, as soon as my daughter returned, I just inserted it.
My daughter, a private (beginner) driver, trusts the SD card her parent installed completely.
She wouldn't notice even if the screen remained black. Such is the negligence of a private.
Since there was no report from the private, I, the superior officer, assumed it was working normally,
On Sunday, the regiment (family) went out for an exercise (drive) to Yamagata, taking turns driving and also for the private's practice.
That was when I first learned that this SD card was broken.
No matter how many times I reinserted it, the screen remained an error.
After returning home, I removed the SD card from my smartphone and inserted it, and the display changed from an error to 'Please format'.
'Ah... a factory defect.'
I immediately initiated the return process in the jungle.
Then, a return QR code was displayed in huge letters on the jungle screen.
The jungle, equipped with a state-of-the-art C4ISR (some kind of amazing command system), is beyond my understanding.
'What?! Nekopit? It's not at the convenience store?!'
The Yamato transport office is 2km away.
I'm worried about Japan's oil reserves due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. They say even potato chip bags are turning monochrome.
Should I consume this precious oil for a 2km fuel-inefficient drive?
My internal strategy meeting was held.
I am planning a hiking camping trip soon.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to walk as a practice exercise?
In that case, I might as well pick up some groceries while I'm at it. The destination is 1.2km away from Nekopit. Carrying a shopping bag would be tough.
It has to be a backpack.
The backpack I own is a state-of-the-art 45L camping model. It is far too over-specced.
After some compromise, what I pulled out of the closet was a camouflage-patterned backpack my daughter used when she was in elementary school. It used to be a cute accent to her elementary school outfits and suited her quite well, but...
For a woman in her 50s like me to wear this in the city, it is a bit too high-visibility. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I have no choice but to wear this pack.
This is my standard equipment.
If I convince myself of that and walk with confidence, perhaps I can camouflage the awkwardness?
With that belief in my heart, wearing a beige sweatshirt and denim jeans with the camo pack on my back, I departed from home.
The temperature is low, but if I lengthen my stride, sweat begins to bead on my forehead.
I arrived at Yamato at the 2km mark of the march and successfully completed my delivery mission.
I extended my walk to a supermarket another 1.2km away and stuffed the backpack with food for dinner.
In the end, it was a march covering nearly 5km and lasting two hours.
My feet, upon returning safely, were so swollen from fatigue that I felt like calling in the medical corps.
I later discovered that 128GB was over-specced for my old dashcam, and that was the cause of the errors. It seems 32GB is the limit.
Also, it seems that unless you use a high-durability card for a dashcam with frequent rewrites, it will die in seconds.
I shall air-drop into the jungle again.
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