hot saturday in shibuya

Went shopping with Hiroko. The crowds were thin and the sun was shining. Felt kind of like LA; not too humid, and you could just feel the sun heating up your skin.
We went to Loft and ordered the cool blue-sky-with-clouds curtains for the living room, then went to Tokyu Hands and got some random supplies, including the ever-so-useful plastic curb-stepper, making it now a simple process to park my scooter up on the walk in front of the house.
Then we went up to Omotesando for a big kahuna burger before buying some baskets for the bathrooms.
Came home, put the curb-stepper to work, and then went in the basement to roll targets. Spend a good hour and rolled all the mats, then started soaking some of them so that I can cut tomorrow night (or maybe Monday...depends on motivation level.)
Hiroko and I watched Ghost In The Shell (finally) and then just sat around watching tv and enjoying the cool breeze from the ceiling fan.

right nostril

Past couple of days my right, and only my right, nostril has been constantly dripping. A truly pleasant experience. Allergy and hay fever drugs aren't helping. Then on the radio this morning during the weather report they announced that yesterday was a record-breaking day for low humidity. So, I'm thinking the extremely unseasonal dryness is not helping my nasal situation. Or something. Who the hell really knows. It's bad enough to be allergic to something every month of the year such that I have year-round hay fever. On top of that this ice-cap-melting global warming means that one day it's 30°C and the next day it's down to 20 °C, so I got to bed hot and sweaty and wake up chilly.
At least I have the typhoon season to look forward to, which should be starting any day now.

cutting targets

Still trying to figure out the right recipe for soaking cutting targets. I tried soaking them for a day, draining the water, soaking for the night, draining the water in the morning, letting them sit for the day, and then cut at night. But I think that makes them too dry; the targets are damn hard. Maybe I need to not dry them out so much. Tricky part is having them ready to cut at night after work and regular practice, so maybe if I drain them just after work and then cut them later that night.
Either way hard targets is just an excuse for not being able to cut very well. Still can't figure out two rolls; can't get the angle flat enough to carry through both targets but with enough speed and power to cut cleanly through the final target.

a penny saved is worthless

Abolish the penny!
My father said it, I agree with it, and now Safire extols upon it. The penny is, literally, more trouble than it's worth.

the burnmeister

Todd has shown the proper way to utilize both a Computer Science and a Linguistics degree. Behold: The Burnmeister.
Parental discretion is strongly advised; not for the weak of heart.

basement cutting

Today after class in Shibuya I did some cutting in the basement. The cutting stand is great. I, however, am lame. Gotta figure out what cuts I'll demo for the Kenkakubanrai festival June 20. If I can figure out shofu that might be a fun one. And if I can nail two full targets gyakukesa that'd be cool, too. Still got a couple of weeks so I best get cutting a couple times a week!

azabu 3rd gyoza party

The new home is coming together nicely. All the boxes are unpacked. Now if we can just sort out who's clothes go where.
The house itself is right next to the coin-parking lot, between Motorola and the Sokagakkai building:


So, to celebrate the joy that is a cathedral ceiling with loft, we are having Yet Another Gyoza Party:
Saturday,June 26. Afternoon until evening. Bring your own beverage.

tofu

After a day of mad shopping in Shibuya, hitting Loft, Muji, and Tokyu Hands for all kinds of house supplies, we headed to Bell Commons for dinner at Umenohana. Awesome tofu course. I love yuba (let liquid tofu sit for a bit and a skin forms on top, kinda like boiled milk. That's yuba.)
Hiroko's old college buddies assembled again for this first time in like 10 years. Scary.