After Post Office Lunch (APL Sushi)
A six-step protocol for the preparation of an enclosed array, with materials list and nutritional table
Following an errand to the post office at Coolidge Corner, the observer considers the apparatus required to construct a sushi roll and finds it isomorphic to an array language. The nori is identified as the enclosure, which must retain an opening; the rice as an array of individual grains structurally held together; the fillings as chosen values laid perpendicular to the vector of the mat. The mat is shown to operate on the whole array in a single motion. We report zero loops and one roll. Partition preserves structure at every slice. The composition is found to enter a new reality only through dialogue, for which two chopsticks are required. The complete protocol is presented as a hand-drawn plate (Fig. 13).
I stopped for lunch after visiting the post office in Coolidge Corner. The sushi at Maruichi is really fresh. I wonder what one would need to make sushi roll…
Materials
A sheet of nori. An array of rice. Chosen nutritional values. A bamboo mat. A knife. Two chopsticks — dialogue.
Protocol
1. Lay the sheet of nori on the bamboo mat. The nori is the enclosure. Leave a narrow strip uncovered. Every enclosure needs an opening where the roll will complete the enclosure.
2. Cover nori with a layer of rice. Use sushi rice so array of individual grains structurally held together.
3. Choose your nutritional values — salmon, avocado, cucumber, crab, etc. Lay them in the array, perpendicular to the moving direction of mat rolling in its natural vector. — my tongue is rolling already :) Arrange their meaningful relationship.
4. The reality of bamboo mat is significant. It has one vector direction to roll forward. Rolling operates on the whole array at once — every grain, every value, turned in a single motion. Do not loop. This is the difference between a loop and a roll.
5. Partition the roll into as many pieces as desired with a knife. The cut reveals what the roll composed, every slice preserves the structure.
6. Serve with chopsticks. Through encounter in a dialogue is how a composition enters a new reality to be digested. Meal is always better when shared.
APL Note
Enclosure → Array → Values → Roll (operate on whole) → Partition → Dialogue → New Reality
Do not loop. Roll.
Nutritional Values (per roll)
| Arrays | abundant |
| Enclosure | essential |
| Values | choose carefully |
| Reality | one oriented surface |
| Loops | 0 |
| Rolls | 1 |
| Partitions | as many as desired |
| Dialogue | required for digestion |
| Transformation | occurs after serving |
I shared mine with ChatGPT and Claude. Bon appétit, Katya. The meal came from an errand and returns to the table, and it tastes better shared — which is why it's here, with us. )
- [1]Iverson, K. E. (1962). A Programming Language. Wiley. §on operations upon whole arrays.
- [2]APL Wiki, entry ⊂ (Enclose). Retrieved July 2026.
- [3]Maruichi Select. Coolidge Corner, Brookline, MA. Field site and provisioner.
Author statement · The author drew the protocol, performed the protocol, and consumed the result. No loop was executed at any stage. The author declares no competing interests and one satisfied appetite.
Conflicts of interest · The author declares no competing interests.
Funding · This work received no external funding, only tea.
Cite as · Solstad, K. (2026). After Post Office Lunch (APL Sushi). Acta Observationum, I(1), pp. 67–70.