Went to Dr. Suzuki, my belov'd dentist today. Had my teeth cleaned, and the one molar on the upper left turns out to be a receding gumline exposing a wee bit of tooth root. Not fun, but not too painful. It's tooth #26: the top right teeth are 10s (10-17), top left are 20s, bottom left 30s, and bottom right 40s.
Also went to Zennittoko (Zen Nihon Toko) to buy a new scabbard and had a lovely chat with the crazy old man who runs the place. Got me thinking about changing all the fittings on my sword...
Taught the student's practice for the first, official time. Worked hard on the basics; slow and careful, focusing on where the opponent is, hands and hips, and only two kata. I ended up talking too much (as I always do) and it was COLD. Everyone was shivering, so next week, less talk, more movement; will try to run through basics in less than an hour, and then get through at least 10 kata.
the ends justify the means
That's what I was told when I finally successfully cut jinrai. My first 2 attempts where pretty sad, as I was really nervous. But Naganuma-sensei told me to take a deep breath, keep my hands where they should go, and then I finally nailed it.
The day was spent practicing and then in the afternoon a bunch of testing, including 4th and 5th dan testing.
Then everyone went to a local bar/restaurant and got rallyingly tanked; Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei having a grand time, and everyone having fun with Andrew, trying to set him up with the various drunk females.
The day was spent practicing and then in the afternoon a bunch of testing, including 4th and 5th dan testing.
Then everyone went to a local bar/restaurant and got rallyingly tanked; Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei having a grand time, and everyone having fun with Andrew, trying to set him up with the various drunk females.
gyoza
Once again it was a successful gyozafest. This time we cranked out about 500 skinfuls of delight, including tomato & beef, shrimp, tofu, & cabbage, pork & burdock root, and the traditional pork & cabbage.
Baby Amy enjoying some of the fine gyoza (ok it's actually banana.)
Baby Amy enjoying some of the fine gyoza (ok it's actually banana.)
drivin' like jehu
Besides being the name of one of those college bands that I was SURE was gonna make it big, like The Mr.T Experience, LAWSUIT, and Green Day, it's an accurate description of me on my mighty steed, Boing (thusly nam'd because of the AMIGA sticker affixed to the left rear panel.)
On Wednesday I rode from Ebisu, trough Azabu, past Shinbashi, through Ginza, and all the way up to Akihabara on the 15/17. Surprisingly easy, and how quick and easy it is to weave between the cars! Tonight I'll give a whirl up the same route, this time stopping just before Kanda Station, to attend Niina-gosoke's practice. BTW, it seems I am officially on for demo-ing the elusive jinrai cut on Sunday in front of everyone at the promotions exam, as a way of practicing for the Kyoto Butokusai (Traditional Martial Arts Demonstration.)
Last night Hiroko and I went to Omotesando and got haircuts from the illustrious Ozawa-tencho, store manager extraordinaire of UR. Then we walked down to Nishi Azabu Crossing and had some yummy curry at Kenbokke.
On Wednesday I rode from Ebisu, trough Azabu, past Shinbashi, through Ginza, and all the way up to Akihabara on the 15/17. Surprisingly easy, and how quick and easy it is to weave between the cars! Tonight I'll give a whirl up the same route, this time stopping just before Kanda Station, to attend Niina-gosoke's practice. BTW, it seems I am officially on for demo-ing the elusive jinrai cut on Sunday in front of everyone at the promotions exam, as a way of practicing for the Kyoto Butokusai (Traditional Martial Arts Demonstration.)
Last night Hiroko and I went to Omotesando and got haircuts from the illustrious Ozawa-tencho, store manager extraordinaire of UR. Then we walked down to Nishi Azabu Crossing and had some yummy curry at Kenbokke.
blood blood blood!
It's all about nosebleeds these days. I have, since an early age, been a nose-bleeder. I seem to recall my mother telling me once that she too, was a nose-bleeder. I have many nose-bleed-related memories:
Once in elementary school I remember going to our family doctor (in the strip mall near the Radio Shack I think) who looked in my nose and declared something to the effect of "You have so many capillaries right up there on the surface, we couldn't cauterize them all without burning your whole nose off."
I remember visiting New York in the sweltering heat of summer, staying at Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf's place in the village, and waking up in the middle of the night with two-nostril flood. I immediately woke up my mom, who sat bleary-eyed with me on her lap and her fingers a vice on my nose until it stopped, a good 20 minutes later.
There was that time I was staying at my friend Sonny's house and, right before we were going to go to Splash Mountain, the water park, I got a nice trickler. His mom was a doctor, but for some reason it was his dad who swabbed my nostrils with a vaseline-laden q-tip and reminded me "Keep the nose moist. Dry makes it bleed."
And of course this morning, for the third time in as many days, I was washing my face in the sink only to see watery-red trails splashing all over the basin.
Whenever I get a nosebleed in the shower, I immediately pretend I'm a famous boxer at the tail-end of a mediocre career, who's maybe got one last fight in him. It's the 8th round, and both I and my opponent have been to the mat twice. Points-wise, I'm behind, but if I can get through his barrage of jabs and plant a couple of solid body shots on his punished ribs, I can finish him with a KO uppercut. But those jabs are making blood pudding out of my nose. I stare at myself in the mirror on the shower wall; guard up, blood running down my face and framing my lips, eyes focused, feet dancing, watch his left, watch his left, duck and cover, guard up, in with the left-left-right to the body, then he drops his elbows and I see my opening, streaking my Anvil Uppercut into his unsuspecting chin. He stumbles back, reaching for the ropes, but drops on his back, arms flailing. The ref counts...8,9,10! KO! And I raise my arms in victory, my face bloody as I shout "Adrian!"
And then Hiroko yells at me to clean the blood off of my face and stop messing around, she wants to wash her hair.
Once in elementary school I remember going to our family doctor (in the strip mall near the Radio Shack I think) who looked in my nose and declared something to the effect of "You have so many capillaries right up there on the surface, we couldn't cauterize them all without burning your whole nose off."
I remember visiting New York in the sweltering heat of summer, staying at Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf's place in the village, and waking up in the middle of the night with two-nostril flood. I immediately woke up my mom, who sat bleary-eyed with me on her lap and her fingers a vice on my nose until it stopped, a good 20 minutes later.
There was that time I was staying at my friend Sonny's house and, right before we were going to go to Splash Mountain, the water park, I got a nice trickler. His mom was a doctor, but for some reason it was his dad who swabbed my nostrils with a vaseline-laden q-tip and reminded me "Keep the nose moist. Dry makes it bleed."
And of course this morning, for the third time in as many days, I was washing my face in the sink only to see watery-red trails splashing all over the basin.
Whenever I get a nosebleed in the shower, I immediately pretend I'm a famous boxer at the tail-end of a mediocre career, who's maybe got one last fight in him. It's the 8th round, and both I and my opponent have been to the mat twice. Points-wise, I'm behind, but if I can get through his barrage of jabs and plant a couple of solid body shots on his punished ribs, I can finish him with a KO uppercut. But those jabs are making blood pudding out of my nose. I stare at myself in the mirror on the shower wall; guard up, blood running down my face and framing my lips, eyes focused, feet dancing, watch his left, watch his left, duck and cover, guard up, in with the left-left-right to the body, then he drops his elbows and I see my opening, streaking my Anvil Uppercut into his unsuspecting chin. He stumbles back, reaching for the ropes, but drops on his back, arms flailing. The ref counts...8,9,10! KO! And I raise my arms in victory, my face bloody as I shout "Adrian!"
And then Hiroko yells at me to clean the blood off of my face and stop messing around, she wants to wash her hair.
the slump continues
Ran through a few forms last night at the student's practice. I supposed to take over officially in March, but next week Kanai-san can't make it, so I'll take over from next week. Then again, we only have one practice the first week of March due to the unavailability of the gym, so it's a mild start. And yes I'm still slumping. I thought I'd work on my cutting for a while, but word from Tanaka-sensei and Naganuma-sensei is that we won't be having cutting sessions for the time being until they work some things out -- been getting a bit too loose lately and, although it is fun, it's also a serious martial art and the most dangerous part at that, as everyone is using sharp blades and swinging hard to cut targets. So I guess I'll work on my basic techniques, though I need to find out if I'm still supposed to demo cutting this weekend at the promotions exam and and/or in Kyoto in April -- if I'm still expected to perform, I need to figure out how to practice cutting!
slump
Naganuma-sensei said it would happen, and it has. I am in a serious slump. Did ok at cutting practice on Sunday, but yesterday at practice I just couldn't do anything right. I spent the first 30 minutes teaching the basics to a couple of beginners, so I didn't really warm up too much, and then when we started to do forms, I was just all over the place. And from March I'll officially be in charge of teaching the Tuesday students' practice, which means even less time for my own practice...a long road indeed.
chop chop
Had a sweet cutting practice -- managed to successfully cut jinrai twice, though of course the second cut always comes out as a shallow diagonal cut instead of the straight horizontal it's supposed to be.
Took some videos of Sano-san, Tamitsuji-san, and Gojyaku-san. I tried two full rolls at once but could barely get into the second one. I realized that strong shoulders aren't enough and I've got to work on my speed as well, especially for horizontal cuts.
But the best was, in the afternoon when Gojyaku-san showed up, he gave a hakama! He's the kimono-king, and I guess he's trying to support and encourage my kimono habit. It's not how well you cut, it's how good you look!
Took some videos of Sano-san, Tamitsuji-san, and Gojyaku-san. I tried two full rolls at once but could barely get into the second one. I realized that strong shoulders aren't enough and I've got to work on my speed as well, especially for horizontal cuts.
But the best was, in the afternoon when Gojyaku-san showed up, he gave a hakama! He's the kimono-king, and I guess he's trying to support and encourage my kimono habit. It's not how well you cut, it's how good you look!
shopping
Hiroko and I had a Shibuya date -- went to Loft and Tokyu Hands to get some supplies (wood putty and black tape to fix my sword scabbard) and look for furniture. We need a couple of small tables, one for next to the couch and another for the bedroom. Failed to find anything decent, but did stuff ourselves silly at T.G.I.F.'s.
Lucky
Valentine's Day, and also our 5th anniversary! Went to Kubota-sensei's practice in Nagatacho for the first time in a while (no Niina-gosoke practice) and then met Hiroko at Lucky for dinner. Mama wasn't there, but someone called her and told her we came in. She was really busy and couldn't come back to the restaurant, but she did give us a Happy Anniversary message and of course they gave us some free food -- I love that place!
quilt
Remember when I said my dad is cooler than your dad? Well, my mom is cooler than your mom and dad put together, eating sushi and riding Segways.
My mom maid me the coolest quilt on the planet. First, it's huge, dwarfing our queen-sized matress. Second, it's made with all the cool Japanese fabrics I've been collecting over the years and sending to my mom. Third, it's mostly blue, a color which, as you know, is superior to any other color in the universe.
As soon as I overcome my stupendous laziness, I will download the photos from Hiroko's digital camera and put them up.
Oh yeah, I've just been officially told that as of March I am to be lead the Tuesday student's practice. I guess this means I will get my assistant teaching credential soon, too.
My mom maid me the coolest quilt on the planet. First, it's huge, dwarfing our queen-sized matress. Second, it's made with all the cool Japanese fabrics I've been collecting over the years and sending to my mom. Third, it's mostly blue, a color which, as you know, is superior to any other color in the universe.
As soon as I overcome my stupendous laziness, I will download the photos from Hiroko's digital camera and put them up.
Oh yeah, I've just been officially told that as of March I am to be lead the Tuesday student's practice. I guess this means I will get my assistant teaching credential soon, too.
movie and noodles
Saturday Hiroko and I went to see Bowling For Columbine. Excellent flick. Asks the tough question: what's up with Americans killing each other? The murder rate in the US is 10 times more than in any other first-world country. So what gives? Violent history? How about Germany and Japan. Proliferation of guns? Canada's got 10 million households and 7 million guns, but they don't shoot each other in large numbers like Americans do.
After the flick we got some dame fine udon; fat noodles nice and al dente.
On Sunday I went to Nippon Budokan to see the 26th All Japan Traditional Martial Arts(kobudo) Demonstrations. Pretty cool; 30 or so different martial arts, from ancient rifles to spear, sword, naginata, and weaponless arts. Some cool highlights: women in kimono practicing naginata forms from 400 years ago. Best move: woman's naginata gets entangled by attacking guy's sword, he knocks her weapon from her hands and goes in for the kill, but she grabs the short sword in his belt and kill hims with his own sword. Also some cool kusarigama versus sword where the weighted chain is used to wrap up the swordsman's foot or neck.
Much of the sword work was...different than what I'm used to. Alot of it was very slow and deliberate, but maybe it was just my ignorance about other styles. Some cool samurai arts done in full armor, including knife work with takedowns.
After the flick we got some dame fine udon; fat noodles nice and al dente.
On Sunday I went to Nippon Budokan to see the 26th All Japan Traditional Martial Arts(kobudo) Demonstrations. Pretty cool; 30 or so different martial arts, from ancient rifles to spear, sword, naginata, and weaponless arts. Some cool highlights: women in kimono practicing naginata forms from 400 years ago. Best move: woman's naginata gets entangled by attacking guy's sword, he knocks her weapon from her hands and goes in for the kill, but she grabs the short sword in his belt and kill hims with his own sword. Also some cool kusarigama versus sword where the weighted chain is used to wrap up the swordsman's foot or neck.
Much of the sword work was...different than what I'm used to. Alot of it was very slow and deliberate, but maybe it was just my ignorance about other styles. Some cool samurai arts done in full armor, including knife work with takedowns.
workin' late
Went to practice and came straight back to the office. Ordered some pizza from Brendan's Pizzakaya and cranked out some major intranet turnovers. Amazingly, things went fairly smoothly. Incredible how weeks of planning and preparing can help make a project run smoothly and finish on-time.
funky dreams.
Two nights ago I dreamt I was in high school, flying. I woke up face down, right arm stretched out above my head, left arm stretched out to the side. My left clavicle hurt all day.
Last night I dreamt I was in high school (again) taking final exams. Everyone else was taking finals to get into college, but I was taking the written test for the driver's license exam. And when I was handed the test, I also mistakenly was given someone else's test that had already been graded and corrected. I managed to check out the first question, which was multiple choice: A,B,C,L. I thought the answer was either L or A, and looking at the corrected exam, L was marked incorrrectly and A was written next to it.
If flying means a longing desire for something unfulfilled, what the hell does cheating on the driver's license written high school exam mean?!
Last night I dreamt I was in high school (again) taking final exams. Everyone else was taking finals to get into college, but I was taking the written test for the driver's license exam. And when I was handed the test, I also mistakenly was given someone else's test that had already been graded and corrected. I managed to check out the first question, which was multiple choice: A,B,C,L. I thought the answer was either L or A, and looking at the corrected exam, L was marked incorrrectly and A was written next to it.
If flying means a longing desire for something unfulfilled, what the hell does cheating on the driver's license written high school exam mean?!
jack valenti
Is either an idiot (doubtful) or a liar.
Some of the quotes in that are just brilliant:
"We now lose $3.5 billion a year in videocassette analog piracy." -- but don't bother counting the fact that movie studios make more money selling tapes and DVDs than they do on theater showings!
"What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law. " -- excuse me? Copyright law Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107.
"But you've already got a DVD. It lasts forever. It never wears out. In the digital world, we don't need back-ups, because a digital copy never wears out. It is timeless." -- oh right, I forgot, DVD's last FOREVER. Data NEVER WEARS out. I guess he's never scratched a CD, or had a hard-drive fail...where can I get me one of those infallible discs?
"I think lobbying is really an honest profession...Money, however, is negative--it's corrupting the body politic." -- so he's opposed to the millions of dollars he and the MPAA spends lobbying Congress? So stop paying!
More comments from the interviewer, Derek.
Some of the quotes in that are just brilliant:
"We now lose $3.5 billion a year in videocassette analog piracy." -- but don't bother counting the fact that movie studios make more money selling tapes and DVDs than they do on theater showings!
"What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law. " -- excuse me? Copyright law Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107.
"But you've already got a DVD. It lasts forever. It never wears out. In the digital world, we don't need back-ups, because a digital copy never wears out. It is timeless." -- oh right, I forgot, DVD's last FOREVER. Data NEVER WEARS out. I guess he's never scratched a CD, or had a hard-drive fail...where can I get me one of those infallible discs?
"I think lobbying is really an honest profession...Money, however, is negative--it's corrupting the body politic." -- so he's opposed to the millions of dollars he and the MPAA spends lobbying Congress? So stop paying!
More comments from the interviewer, Derek.
cold
Last night practice was cold. Like snow flurries outside cold. Like "I can't feel my feet!" cold. As always Kanai-san and I were there, and this time Iawata-chan showed up, too, as he finals are over and she's got nothing to do for a couple months but practice and work. All the other slacker students? Most of them use finals as an excuse to skip practice in this freezing weather...shows how much smarter they are than I.
drinkin'
So Ishida-san from Iai thinks she's a hard drinkin' woman, and she's rarely ventured into that bastion of human digression Roppongi. So I rallied the troops and gave them whatfor. Kevin found a cool place for dinner called Saga that looks like an old Japanese brothel. Stevie was on time for once, and shortly after Mallardi showed, Ishida and Hanada and 2 more girls arrived. Pitchers of beer were downed immediately, and before long the mood was festive. We then lost a couple and hooked up with a couple more (including Ollie and girl) at Hobgoblin's newly opened Roppongi pub. The lager and cocktails flowed, and my Redbull kept me alive until about midnight, at which point I begged off to sleep and get ready for Sunday morning practice.
According to Kevin, they ended up at Castillo's, dancing away to the 70s and 80s music and getting rightly hammered. No word from Ishida-san yet, but when Kevin cabbed home about 4am, the girls were still raging and supposedly Ishida-san went straight to work on Sunday.
According to Kevin, they ended up at Castillo's, dancing away to the 70s and 80s music and getting rightly hammered. No word from Ishida-san yet, but when Kevin cabbed home about 4am, the girls were still raging and supposedly Ishida-san went straight to work on Sunday.
my dad is cooler than your dad
You say your dad is cool? My dad is cooler. You say your dad has a website? My dad's website is bilingual and animated. You say your dad takes photos? My dad is an award-winning portrait photographer.
My dad is cooler than your dad.
My dad is cooler than your dad.
like the cure sang: "it's never enough..."
Tuesday student practice, and I was the only one who showed up. All the students are supposedly in the middle of finals, but then again it's really REALLY cold in an unheated gym these days. So Kanai-san and I had the whole place to ourselves for 2 hours. I spent most of it in front of the mirror trying to figure out how to cut horizontally. Obviously, I failed.
Wednesday at practice in Akihabara Naganuma-sensei congratulated me for making 3dan, and then after watching me do some forms, tore me up into little tiny pieces: "Good thing you didn't test with me, I wouldn't have passed you." He then proceeded to school me for several minutes on all the little and big things I was and wasn't doing. "You're left handed, so use that strength to carry the blade. Why do you kill your own strength? Your horizontal cuts aren't; the blade is titled, making waves, and you're not using you hips. And it's slow. Your sword tip wobbles around, and when it stops it's not pointing anywhere useful. Where's your opponent? Where are you cutting? Is that how you were taught to hold a sword?"
At the end he gave his patented Naganuma Smile and finished "I've never once thought I was any good. Not once. So there's no way you should either. I don't criticize you to make you feel bad, I do it because if you think you're any good, you never will be. You get better by realizing how bad you are, and trying to fix what's broken. You have potential, you've got a fingernail grip in 3dan, and from now on it gets serious. You've shown dedication to make it this far, but the things you could get away with up until now won't cut it anymore, literally."
Wednesday at practice in Akihabara Naganuma-sensei congratulated me for making 3dan, and then after watching me do some forms, tore me up into little tiny pieces: "Good thing you didn't test with me, I wouldn't have passed you." He then proceeded to school me for several minutes on all the little and big things I was and wasn't doing. "You're left handed, so use that strength to carry the blade. Why do you kill your own strength? Your horizontal cuts aren't; the blade is titled, making waves, and you're not using you hips. And it's slow. Your sword tip wobbles around, and when it stops it's not pointing anywhere useful. Where's your opponent? Where are you cutting? Is that how you were taught to hold a sword?"
At the end he gave his patented Naganuma Smile and finished "I've never once thought I was any good. Not once. So there's no way you should either. I don't criticize you to make you feel bad, I do it because if you think you're any good, you never will be. You get better by realizing how bad you are, and trying to fix what's broken. You have potential, you've got a fingernail grip in 3dan, and from now on it gets serious. You've shown dedication to make it this far, but the things you could get away with up until now won't cut it anymore, literally."
breath of fresh air
My BlueAir 501 air filter arrived yesterday. I set it up behind the comfy chair in the living room and turned it on. On the medium setting it's almost silent, and the only indicator that it's on is the blue light on the front brushed metal panel. Very cool. I can hardly wait for the hay fever season to start so that I can breath clean air in my own apartment!
sumo
Hammer got some sumo tickets friday night, so we skipped out of work early to check it out. That's the way to watch sumo; box seats fifth row, with bags and bags of food and stuff to take home. At the end of the tournament, after Hammer had put down serious quantities of beer, the retired Terao himself appeared. He was mobbed by grandmas, but Hammer battled his way through the crowd and I managed to snap a photo with my cell phone:
glad I remembered
All day iai on Sunday -- morning was a beginners session and I thought I was going to teach but only 3 new students showed up, so I and Kanai-san and Oki-san got some hard training from Tanaka-sensei as Ando-sensei took the beginners. In the afternoon Gosoke's special seminar was tough as always. A couple of hours into it, he goes "Sekido-san! recite the member's duties!" Sekido-san got through most of them, but then couldn't remember the organization's principles. Otsuka-san got the principles ok, but couldn't remember the member's duties, and down the line it went. When he finally got to me, I managed to stumble through both. Gosoke laughed and said "Well, that'll do. Too bad for everyone else...ren, you're promoted to 3dan! The rest of you, you think just being able to do the forms is enough? You gotta use your head, too! Hah hah hah!" Ah, the seemingly frivolous but infinitely deep Niina-gosoke; he's always got a chuckle and a smile, but the key is, are his eyes laughing, too? If so you're ok, if not...so at least I don't have to worry about testing, and can focus on cutting in preparation for the demo in Kyoto this spring!
After practice went over to Nancy's Casa Feliz for a house-warming party. I brought a bunch of food from Outback Steakhouse and we chowed well. Stevie's been fired, but he hated his job and his Mormon boss, so he's actually kind of happy. Ed's collecting unemployment and doing well "consulting", Tony brought champagne and is planning a Murder Mystery Night...the usual zaniness.
After practice went over to Nancy's Casa Feliz for a house-warming party. I brought a bunch of food from Outback Steakhouse and we chowed well. Stevie's been fired, but he hated his job and his Mormon boss, so he's actually kind of happy. Ed's collecting unemployment and doing well "consulting", Tony brought champagne and is planning a Murder Mystery Night...the usual zaniness.
more cutting fun
Otsuka-san sent me some more photos from Sunday:
Yasuda-san, double-handed yoko ichi-monji through full roll.
Ishida-san, one-handed gyaku-kesagiri through half roll. First time, nice cut!
Two half rolls spaced about a foot apart, from a seated draw.
Yasuda-san, double-handed yoko ichi-monji through full roll.
Ishida-san, one-handed gyaku-kesagiri through half roll. First time, nice cut!
Two half rolls spaced about a foot apart, from a seated draw.
as bad as expected
I totally blame Kevin. He got me started reading Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and I must admit the first couple of books were really good.
Now, however, I've just finished the 10th book in the series and it's just painful.
First of all, there is absolutely no chance Jordan will ever end this stupid series anytime soon. 10 volumes into it, and there are so many characters, plots, subplots, and unresolved issues that things will culminate into the "last battle" where good squares off against evil to decide the fate of the world.
Where the first books had chivalrous knights, cool magic, and neat battles against trolls, the story now suffers from "Dragon Ball" syndrome -- the characters are so strong that the good guys wield magical swords that destroy entire armies and the bad guys are evil incarnate.
Furthermore, the complex social interaction and political maneuvering was interesting at the beginning, but now every chapter devotes far too much time to characters being stone-faced without giving away any emotion, but wondering whom to trust, what that glimmer in the eye or straightening of the skirt ruffle meant. And there isn't nearly enough fighting anymore. In fact, the 10th book takes place at basically the same time as the 9th book, but there are so many main characters that nobody knows what anybody else is doing and it takes two books to explain less than a month of nothing: One guy is looking for his kidnapped wife (kidnapped 3 books ago), finds where she is, but before he tries to get her back, goes to the nearest town to buy grain and supplies only to find that the town is haunted. Another guy spends the entire book hiding from the bad guys with a travelling circus, with the enemy princess fated to be his bride whom he kidnapped (and I can't even remember why he kidnapped her.) The main good guy spends this entire book doing what he was doing for the whole last book, and at the end finally decides he wants to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bad Army From Over There. And everyone else spends their time plotting, swearing oaths, breaking sworn oaths, wondering who's really sworn, wondering who's evil and is just pretending to have sworn, and figuring out ways to get around their sworn oaths without breaking them.
Far too much scheming women, heaving breasts, straightening skirt hems and smoothing wrinkles, looking stone-faced with a glimmer in the eye, sighing, sword-practicing with sweat glistening, creeping silently through the forest, smelling evil, respecting honor, and generally introducing too many damn characters and not moving the story along one little bit.
Now, however, I've just finished the 10th book in the series and it's just painful.
First of all, there is absolutely no chance Jordan will ever end this stupid series anytime soon. 10 volumes into it, and there are so many characters, plots, subplots, and unresolved issues that things will culminate into the "last battle" where good squares off against evil to decide the fate of the world.
Where the first books had chivalrous knights, cool magic, and neat battles against trolls, the story now suffers from "Dragon Ball" syndrome -- the characters are so strong that the good guys wield magical swords that destroy entire armies and the bad guys are evil incarnate.
Furthermore, the complex social interaction and political maneuvering was interesting at the beginning, but now every chapter devotes far too much time to characters being stone-faced without giving away any emotion, but wondering whom to trust, what that glimmer in the eye or straightening of the skirt ruffle meant. And there isn't nearly enough fighting anymore. In fact, the 10th book takes place at basically the same time as the 9th book, but there are so many main characters that nobody knows what anybody else is doing and it takes two books to explain less than a month of nothing: One guy is looking for his kidnapped wife (kidnapped 3 books ago), finds where she is, but before he tries to get her back, goes to the nearest town to buy grain and supplies only to find that the town is haunted. Another guy spends the entire book hiding from the bad guys with a travelling circus, with the enemy princess fated to be his bride whom he kidnapped (and I can't even remember why he kidnapped her.) The main good guy spends this entire book doing what he was doing for the whole last book, and at the end finally decides he wants to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bad Army From Over There. And everyone else spends their time plotting, swearing oaths, breaking sworn oaths, wondering who's really sworn, wondering who's evil and is just pretending to have sworn, and figuring out ways to get around their sworn oaths without breaking them.
Far too much scheming women, heaving breasts, straightening skirt hems and smoothing wrinkles, looking stone-faced with a glimmer in the eye, sighing, sword-practicing with sweat glistening, creeping silently through the forest, smelling evil, respecting honor, and generally introducing too many damn characters and not moving the story along one little bit.
milk does a body bad
After careful, scientific analysis, my mother finally gets to say "I told you so." I hereby declare: I am lactose intolerant. But fear not! I cannot live without my pizza and parmesan cheese and tazo chai latte. Once again the miracle of science to the rescue: lactaid. Pop one of these suckers and it's Italian gelatto with all the flavor but none of the up-all-night-hunched-over-in-the-corner-of-the-bathroom-in-pain.
chop chop
Saturday I did my standard round of stuff; drycleaners, laundry, various bits and bobs of shopping.
On Sunday we had cutting practice and I really got a chance to use my new cutter that I bought from Tanaka-sensei.
In the morning session I was doing ok. Working on jinrai, the okuden form that I'm supposed to do in Kyoto in April.
Had a couple of decent attempts, first time getting the second cut sloppy but really blowing the first cut, second attempt the first cut was ok, but the second cut was just plain off.
(Note: scowling and/or making funny faces helps your cuts...really!)
Damn, but Tanaka-sensei (quicktime move, 4.3MB, right-click and download to watch) makes it look easy.
Also getting some great advice and standard abuse from Naganuma-sensei, who said he wasn't going to teach us any more because:
1 - when he was learning to cut no one taught him and he had to figure it all out for himself, and
2 - he doesn't want any of us getting better than him (trust me, no fear of that happening...ever)
After practice we were supposed to go over to Mallardi's for a taco-fest, but he had a major meltdown at work and was spending quality time with the lawyers. So I went over to Beck's and we had some pizza and watched Minority Report -- damn entertaining flick, exactly what one would expect from Spielberg.
On Sunday we had cutting practice and I really got a chance to use my new cutter that I bought from Tanaka-sensei.
In the morning session I was doing ok. Working on jinrai, the okuden form that I'm supposed to do in Kyoto in April.
Had a couple of decent attempts, first time getting the second cut sloppy but really blowing the first cut, second attempt the first cut was ok, but the second cut was just plain off.
(Note: scowling and/or making funny faces helps your cuts...really!)
Damn, but Tanaka-sensei (quicktime move, 4.3MB, right-click and download to watch) makes it look easy.
Also getting some great advice and standard abuse from Naganuma-sensei, who said he wasn't going to teach us any more because:
1 - when he was learning to cut no one taught him and he had to figure it all out for himself, and
2 - he doesn't want any of us getting better than him (trust me, no fear of that happening...ever)
After practice we were supposed to go over to Mallardi's for a taco-fest, but he had a major meltdown at work and was spending quality time with the lawyers. So I went over to Beck's and we had some pizza and watched Minority Report -- damn entertaining flick, exactly what one would expect from Spielberg.
jenn!
Dear Jennifer Hale, such a trooper. After getting an MBA she worked for every startup in San Franciso (I have a separate business card file just for her cards) before getting a job with a company that wasn't founded by a Stanford dropout. And in another few weeks she'll have been at the same company for a whole year!
She's in charge of marketing for Gregory Howell & Associates, Inc., a cool travel company that puts together tours for indivduals, groups, and companies. She's in Japan for a couple of days doing some research and will hopefully be coming back with a Japan tour group.
Oh yeah, and she's still really cute, though she was obviously holding back on the Japanese, because she used to speak some bad-ass mean Kansai-ben! Blonde girl flowing fluent Kansai slang is something to see, believe me.
She's in charge of marketing for Gregory Howell & Associates, Inc., a cool travel company that puts together tours for indivduals, groups, and companies. She's in Japan for a couple of days doing some research and will hopefully be coming back with a Japan tour group.
Oh yeah, and she's still really cute, though she was obviously holding back on the Japanese, because she used to speak some bad-ass mean Kansai-ben! Blonde girl flowing fluent Kansai slang is something to see, believe me.
palindromes
My mom and dad are SO cool! They sent me this awesome palindrome book! I love palindromes. My favourite: Flee to me, remote elf!
all kinds of excitement
Well, the might steed had some problems last week. My beloved Honda 50cc scooter wouldn't start. Actually, the key wouldn't fit in the lock. Someone had been messing with it -- either tried to steal it and failed, or just wanted to give me problems. Called the scooter shop and a guy came with a truck, dragged the scooter out of the parking lot onto the truck, and ended up having to replace the whole key system. For the bargain price of 18,000yen. Joy.
It was a 3-day weekend for Adults Day (turning 20 in Japan supposedly makes you an adult, though they way the usually act, one must wonder) and Hiroko's parents came to Tokyo for a couple of days to get some culture and have some fun.
Had dinner at Lucky on Friday, sitting at the counter watching master do his thing
and chatting with mama.
On Sunday we had our Shinnenkai (First Official Practice of 2003) -- couple of hours of practice in the morning, with Ando-sensei absolutely schooling us in the basics. Then a husband/wife team of "healers" talked about nutrition, chiropractics, energy healing, did a couple of quick checks of folks that made me realize the mind has some freaky powers over the body, then more practice, then we had a lovely buffet and everyone got ripped as usual.
I am officially now in Yoseibu, which in English unfortunately translates to something like "Special Education Group". Basically it means I get extra-specially beaten on now, in preparation for someday maybe being worthy of being in Denshobu (another group that defies English translation, but comes out as something like "Legendary Followers".)
It was a 3-day weekend for Adults Day (turning 20 in Japan supposedly makes you an adult, though they way the usually act, one must wonder) and Hiroko's parents came to Tokyo for a couple of days to get some culture and have some fun.
Had dinner at Lucky on Friday, sitting at the counter watching master do his thing
and chatting with mama.
On Sunday we had our Shinnenkai (First Official Practice of 2003) -- couple of hours of practice in the morning, with Ando-sensei absolutely schooling us in the basics. Then a husband/wife team of "healers" talked about nutrition, chiropractics, energy healing, did a couple of quick checks of folks that made me realize the mind has some freaky powers over the body, then more practice, then we had a lovely buffet and everyone got ripped as usual.
I am officially now in Yoseibu, which in English unfortunately translates to something like "Special Education Group". Basically it means I get extra-specially beaten on now, in preparation for someday maybe being worthy of being in Denshobu (another group that defies English translation, but comes out as something like "Legendary Followers".)
new sword
After practice last night I gave Tanaka-sensei 300,000yen and took posession of of his cutter. It was made in Mugeihachiman in Gifu Prefecture by Kanekuni in 1999. 2-shaku, 4-sun, 1-bu (69.4 cm) long; a bit shorter than my current sword, and heavier at 950 grams, but that's perfect for a cutter that I'll be using from the draw quite a bit.
It's pretty well scratched up, but since it's been Tanaka-sensei's personal cutter for a while, I have complete faith in it, and when I tried it last month it felt really good. Cutting practice is on the 19th, so here's to keeping all my fingers!
It's pretty well scratched up, but since it's been Tanaka-sensei's personal cutter for a while, I have complete faith in it, and when I tried it last month it felt really good. Cutting practice is on the 19th, so here's to keeping all my fingers!
hawaii marathon
Well, I guess if you're going to torture yourself by running a marathon, you might as well do it in Hawaii!
Yu-Ching and friends did just that. More power to 'em.
Yu-Ching and friends did just that. More power to 'em.
wonder woman
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
All the world's waiting for you,
and the power you possess.
In your satin tights,
Fighting for your rights
And the old Red, White and Blue.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
Now the world is ready for you,
and the wonders you can do.
Make a hawk a dove,
Stop a war with love,
Make a liar tell the truth.
Wonder Woman,
Get us out from under, Wonder Woman.
All our hopes are pinned on you.
And the magic that you do.
Stop a bullet cold,
Make the Axis fall,
Change their minds, and change the world.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
You're a wonder, Wonder Woman.
From who else? Jeremy of course.
All the world's waiting for you,
and the power you possess.
In your satin tights,
Fighting for your rights
And the old Red, White and Blue.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
Now the world is ready for you,
and the wonders you can do.
Make a hawk a dove,
Stop a war with love,
Make a liar tell the truth.
Wonder Woman,
Get us out from under, Wonder Woman.
All our hopes are pinned on you.
And the magic that you do.
Stop a bullet cold,
Make the Axis fall,
Change their minds, and change the world.
Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman.
You're a wonder, Wonder Woman.
From who else? Jeremy of course.
snow and flying cars!
A couple of nights ago it snowed! Didn't stick much, but it was nice to see big fluffy snowflakes.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you: a flying car!
Yes, it looks just like a normal Hummer, but this is in fact a FLYING Hummer? The proof? It's parked down the street from my apartment, and there is NO way a car that wide could have possibly been driven to it's current location, so it must have fallen from the sky.
I guess the owner is either:
1. a genius for inventing a flying Hummer
2. a rich idiot who deserves the misery of trying to drive such a huge car down the narrow streets of Tokyo.
While I simultaneously envy his absolutely stunning display of consumer-capitalist wealth, I put him in the same moron category as the (several) Ferrari drivers who live in my neighborhood.
And lastly, a word of advice: if you're so rich and carefree that you leave your convertible 360 Spider double-parked with the engine running while you run into the 7-11 to buy a pack of smokes, you most certainly shouldn't care when some idiot on a scooter knicks the door with his side-view mirror. (Oh yeah, and if you're going to go to all the trouble of buying a Ferrari, at least get something with 12 cylinders, eh?)
Ladies and gentleman, I give you: a flying car!
Yes, it looks just like a normal Hummer, but this is in fact a FLYING Hummer? The proof? It's parked down the street from my apartment, and there is NO way a car that wide could have possibly been driven to it's current location, so it must have fallen from the sky.
I guess the owner is either:
1. a genius for inventing a flying Hummer
2. a rich idiot who deserves the misery of trying to drive such a huge car down the narrow streets of Tokyo.
While I simultaneously envy his absolutely stunning display of consumer-capitalist wealth, I put him in the same moron category as the (several) Ferrari drivers who live in my neighborhood.
And lastly, a word of advice: if you're so rich and carefree that you leave your convertible 360 Spider double-parked with the engine running while you run into the 7-11 to buy a pack of smokes, you most certainly shouldn't care when some idiot on a scooter knicks the door with his side-view mirror. (Oh yeah, and if you're going to go to all the trouble of buying a Ferrari, at least get something with 12 cylinders, eh?)
happy new year
Fairly typical new year holidays so far: lots of eating, lots of watching DVDs:
Vanilla Sky - I liked it. That whole "it's all a dream" thing is played out sometimes too much, but I think this movie pulls it off. At least worth the rental price. And no I haven't seen the original, so get off my case.
Ghost World - reminded me so much of my friends in high school it was scary. Loved it.
Ame agaru - not another samurai flick, that's for sure. Nice guy ronin, real Mugairyu! I'm so proud. Beautifully shot, too.
Blade 2 - how can you NOT love it?! Why do the vampires always have the coolest weapons?
As for my new year's resolutions:
1 - Make sure Hiroko is happy.
2 - Get promoted.
#1 is a given, #2 refers both to work and to iaido, but probably more for iaido. (^^)
Vanilla Sky - I liked it. That whole "it's all a dream" thing is played out sometimes too much, but I think this movie pulls it off. At least worth the rental price. And no I haven't seen the original, so get off my case.
Ghost World - reminded me so much of my friends in high school it was scary. Loved it.
Ame agaru - not another samurai flick, that's for sure. Nice guy ronin, real Mugairyu! I'm so proud. Beautifully shot, too.
Blade 2 - how can you NOT love it?! Why do the vampires always have the coolest weapons?
As for my new year's resolutions:
1 - Make sure Hiroko is happy.
2 - Get promoted.
#1 is a given, #2 refers both to work and to iaido, but probably more for iaido. (^^)
turkey
Went over to Nancy's new place tonight for a Losers-who-had-no-place-to-go-this-holiday-season turkey dinner. Damn that turkey was juicy! I was in charge of the mash'd potatoes, but the SpudsInABox soon ran out. So Tony and I popped off the the mom--n-pop grocer around the corner and grabbed two bags of potatoes. A quick skinnin', hearty boilin', tireless mashin', and lots of cream, butter, spices, and sour cream, and we had us a heaping bowl of mash'd potatoes. Nancy and the gang were busily cranking through bottle after bottle of wine as Hiroko and Haruka put away plates of feeding. I had a heaping plate before I headed back to the office for the always exciting Friday-night-at-work-because-everyone-else-was-smart-enough-to-turn-in-their-vacation-requests-early night.
n504iS
I got a new cell phone: NEC's N504is.
It has a high-res CMOS camera on it that takes wonderful pictures:
It has a high-res CMOS camera on it that takes wonderful pictures:
snowboarding
.
Had a lovely weekend at Appi Kogen. Matt at Tabibito Travel sets up these killer ski/snowboard tours. We crashed at Rocky Inn -- a really nice "pension" with a sweet fireplace in the middle -- and hit the slopes for 2.5 days.
The conditions were pretty bad; not much base and many runs closed. Kind of icy and grass showing through...but then Matt and some of the more wacky folks jumped some ropes into the closed trails and we found tons of fresh powder. Amazingly, ski patrol never even came by, so we kept ducking ropes and hitting untouched powder on closed-off trails for 2 days. Once, when walking out of the bottom of a sweet face of powder, some official-looking dudes on a snowmobile came up behind us with the siren blaring. But all they wanted was for us to get out of the way, and off they went!
After boarding we hit the onsen in the hotel across the road, hung out around the fireplace at Rocky's, and basically talked smack and goofed off all night. And damn the icecream was good, too.
Had a lovely weekend at Appi Kogen. Matt at Tabibito Travel sets up these killer ski/snowboard tours. We crashed at Rocky Inn -- a really nice "pension" with a sweet fireplace in the middle -- and hit the slopes for 2.5 days.
The conditions were pretty bad; not much base and many runs closed. Kind of icy and grass showing through...but then Matt and some of the more wacky folks jumped some ropes into the closed trails and we found tons of fresh powder. Amazingly, ski patrol never even came by, so we kept ducking ropes and hitting untouched powder on closed-off trails for 2 days. Once, when walking out of the bottom of a sweet face of powder, some official-looking dudes on a snowmobile came up behind us with the siren blaring. But all they wanted was for us to get out of the way, and off they went!
After boarding we hit the onsen in the hotel across the road, hung out around the fireplace at Rocky's, and basically talked smack and goofed off all night. And damn the icecream was good, too.
freaky dreams
OK, what the hell does this one mean?
Hiroko and I are in high school, it's the day of the yearly school festival. Most of the students are fairly rowdy, no-good types with little interest in the formal proceedings in the gym. Hiroko and I are outside the gym. There are two very high, white slides. I'm on the steps outside the gym, looking down at all the shoes. Hiroko can't find one of her shoes (the red pumas) but I spy it and point it out to her. She gets her shoes on and goes up the one slide's ladder. I go up the other slide's ladder. It's high. I mean REALLY high. I get almost to the cut and I see Hiroko climbing back down the ladder. She's smiling and having fun [reality check: Hiroko is deathly afraid of heights], so I decide to climb down, too. Did I mention it's high? And my hands are sweating and the metal is slick, painted white. And I'm sort of hanging from a light trellis or something, but I finally climb down.
Scene change (as only can happen in a dream)
I'm in a boat going down the street (all the roads are waterways, like Venice, only it looks like a midwest town that's been flooded) to the wedding reception.
I get there and am hanging out with some less-than-respectable mafia youth ruffians. One dude is going around the table checking the pockets of the jackets hanging on chairs, pulling out the wallets, and grabbing the money. He gets to the bag of the dude who was with me and takes out the wallet and cash. I'm kidding around with him but remind him that's not a very nice thing to do. He puts it back and asks why everyone tells him that when you study calculus in college, first the review all the algebra. I remind him that I've been out of university for a while, but as far as I know the reason they do that is because everyone always forgets the algebra basics since they don't use them so much. You're still in highschool, right? I ask him. You just taken algebra recently, do you remember it? And he goes no, not really, and looks satisfied with my answer.
[alarm clock, cue reality]
Hiroko and I are in high school, it's the day of the yearly school festival. Most of the students are fairly rowdy, no-good types with little interest in the formal proceedings in the gym. Hiroko and I are outside the gym. There are two very high, white slides. I'm on the steps outside the gym, looking down at all the shoes. Hiroko can't find one of her shoes (the red pumas) but I spy it and point it out to her. She gets her shoes on and goes up the one slide's ladder. I go up the other slide's ladder. It's high. I mean REALLY high. I get almost to the cut and I see Hiroko climbing back down the ladder. She's smiling and having fun [reality check: Hiroko is deathly afraid of heights], so I decide to climb down, too. Did I mention it's high? And my hands are sweating and the metal is slick, painted white. And I'm sort of hanging from a light trellis or something, but I finally climb down.
Scene change (as only can happen in a dream)
I'm in a boat going down the street (all the roads are waterways, like Venice, only it looks like a midwest town that's been flooded) to the wedding reception.
I get there and am hanging out with some less-than-respectable mafia youth ruffians. One dude is going around the table checking the pockets of the jackets hanging on chairs, pulling out the wallets, and grabbing the money. He gets to the bag of the dude who was with me and takes out the wallet and cash. I'm kidding around with him but remind him that's not a very nice thing to do. He puts it back and asks why everyone tells him that when you study calculus in college, first the review all the algebra. I remind him that I've been out of university for a while, but as far as I know the reason they do that is because everyone always forgets the algebra basics since they don't use them so much. You're still in highschool, right? I ask him. You just taken algebra recently, do you remember it? And he goes no, not really, and looks satisfied with my answer.
[alarm clock, cue reality]
last practice
Had the last iai practice for Shibuya last night, after which we went out for an End-of-Year group dinner at a cool place in Shibuya. On my way home there was a lane closed off with cops all over the place, randomly diverting cars into the other lane. I was flagged and pulled in, not knowing what was going on. My first thought was "I have a sword strapped to my back" but then this cop sticks what I thought was a microphone in my face and goes "Blow hard, testing for alcohol." Ah! I breathed on this thing and then I was on my way. Later down the road I was stopped at a red light, and as soon as the light changed the car behind me squealed his tires and revved hard, almost clipping me off my scooter as he shot around me. I caught up with him at the next red light. He was playing with his cell phone. I pulled up on his left side and knocked on the passenger window. He looked confused and I started yelling at him in English. He got an even more confused look on his face so I switched to yelling at him in Japanese. I was pulling out every bad phrase I had ever learned from hanging out with 15 year-old street punks and watching yakuza movies. Then he got a really scared look on his face as he realized how pissed I was. I don't think he even realized what a dickhead maneuver he pulled at the last light, but he sure looked like he was afraid I was going to bust his window open and drag him into the street for a beating. Which I considered. Then again I still had my sword strapped to my back, and there were cops all over the place, so I decided against it.
weekend warriors
A bunch of folks from iai joined in the festival at Sengakuji Temple on friday:
Kanai-san and Terao, the famous sumo wrestler.
Tanaka-sensei, warrior.
On Saturday we had lunch with Jeremy and then watched some Jackass on his laptop in Starbucks. Oh my dear lord, them some crazy fools.
Saturday night we went to a wedding reception for some of Hiroko's former co-workers.
Spent all day Sunday doing iai; cutting practice in the morning so I got up at 7am and went up into the freezing boonies that is Saitama. Then came all the way back down for a special seminar in the afternoon with Niina-gosoke. By 4:30pm I couldn't move my arms any more. So I came home and Todd and Narumi and little Amy were there already so we stuffed ourselves on crab with a big kani-nabe. There was some left over so guess what I had for breakfast?
Kanai-san and Terao, the famous sumo wrestler.
Tanaka-sensei, warrior.
On Saturday we had lunch with Jeremy and then watched some Jackass on his laptop in Starbucks. Oh my dear lord, them some crazy fools.
Saturday night we went to a wedding reception for some of Hiroko's former co-workers.
Spent all day Sunday doing iai; cutting practice in the morning so I got up at 7am and went up into the freezing boonies that is Saitama. Then came all the way back down for a special seminar in the afternoon with Niina-gosoke. By 4:30pm I couldn't move my arms any more. So I came home and Todd and Narumi and little Amy were there already so we stuffed ourselves on crab with a big kani-nabe. There was some left over so guess what I had for breakfast?
communication day
Yesterday was The Day.
Bad news: didn't get promoted.
Good news: got a bonus and still have a job.
Better news: Todd and Hani got promoted, so there is justice in the world.
Did my once-a-year drinking last night, but I reaffirmed that I really, really don't like the taste of alcohol. And I verified that fish & chips are good. Didn't get slammed, and since we started at 5pm, by 10 everyone was tanked and I was hungry. Got home by 12:30 with all my morals and brains in tact.
Bad news: didn't get promoted.
Good news: got a bonus and still have a job.
Better news: Todd and Hani got promoted, so there is justice in the world.
Did my once-a-year drinking last night, but I reaffirmed that I really, really don't like the taste of alcohol. And I verified that fish & chips are good. Didn't get slammed, and since we started at 5pm, by 10 everyone was tanked and I was hungry. Got home by 12:30 with all my morals and brains in tact.
snow!
Woke up this morning to see Tokyo blanketed in white. Causing havoc with the trains, but the cold is easier to deal with when it's snowing.
Jeff and Ericka arranged a fancy year-end dinner, so on Saturday we all went to Tableaux for some eatin' and drinkin'.
Then on Sunday I spent all day at iai; popped a blister on my right index finger and damn that hurt.
Masa came over for dinner so she and Hiroko made up a big pot of tonjiru and we feasted. Watched some tv, but got bored so we cranked a few levels of Torneko's Big Adventure 3.
Jeff and Ericka arranged a fancy year-end dinner, so on Saturday we all went to Tableaux for some eatin' and drinkin'.
Then on Sunday I spent all day at iai; popped a blister on my right index finger and damn that hurt.
Masa came over for dinner so she and Hiroko made up a big pot of tonjiru and we feasted. Watched some tv, but got bored so we cranked a few levels of Torneko's Big Adventure 3.
company x-mas party
Me and Shino being festive:
In standard end-of-year fashion, the annual Morgan Stanley Year End Party was a drunken debauchery, held in the glorious Ebisu Westin Hotel Galaxy Room.
And was of course followed up by many a drink and salty chip at Inishmore.
In standard end-of-year fashion, the annual Morgan Stanley Year End Party was a drunken debauchery, held in the glorious Ebisu Westin Hotel Galaxy Room.
And was of course followed up by many a drink and salty chip at Inishmore.
myoclonic jerk
Thanks to Kevin for the clarification:
http://www.psywww.com/asc/dreamfaq/node20.html
http://www.psywww.com/asc/dreamfaq/node20.html
scary dreams?
What's up with that thing where you're sleeping just fine, and then all of a sudden your whole body jerks and you wake up all of a sudden? What the hell is that? I mean, I know it sometimes happens when you dream you're falling off a cliff and it happens just as you're about to hit...but what about when you're just sleeping and dreaming that you're, I dunno, baking apple pies or rowing a boat or something, and then *WHAM* you have the bodySpasm and you're awake and you wife is going "What? WHAT?!" and then you go "Nothing." and then she's all grumpy that you woke her up for nothing (like I guess it'd be better if your appendix was about to explode or something.)
even more photos
Finally put up the photos from Hiroko's camera:
Lee & Charity's wedding
Smith & Wollensky's
Had a kumitachi seminar this weekend: smacking each other with wooden swords. Damn that's fun! And I even motivated enough to wake up early on Sunday and go to Tamitsuji-sensei's practice. Came home to find a box of apple's from Hiroko's mom's apple tree, so I made some apple pies after we fed Masa.
Lee & Charity's wedding
Smith & Wollensky's
Had a kumitachi seminar this weekend: smacking each other with wooden swords. Damn that's fun! And I even motivated enough to wake up early on Sunday and go to Tamitsuji-sensei's practice. Came home to find a box of apple's from Hiroko's mom's apple tree, so I made some apple pies after we fed Masa.
wedding photos
Haven't put up the photos we took yet, but here's some from other folks.
Also my dad took some photos of me and Hiroko with his Big Camera.
Also my dad took some photos of me and Hiroko with his Big Camera.
murphy's law
"Why haven't there been any bloggageness about Lee & Charity's wedding and this wonderful NY vacation?" you wonder. Blame Murphy. By some miracle Hiroko and I got upgrades for the flight out to NY, so after getting some grief from the Lounge Lady, we found Beck and were kicking it with free drinks and snacks. And my laptop died. Kevin called an IBM buddy who was on the original ThinkPad team, and we found out that a Bios 8611 error is a "pointing device" problem. Basically, the nipply pointer is broken, rendering my whole machine useless. So glad I dragged it all the way across the planet.
Anyway, when I get back I'll put up photos from Hiroko's digital camera, but the wedding was a raging success.
We also did some time in the city and hanging with the parentals. Shopping. Eating. Shopping. Eating. Watching tv. Shopping. Eating.
Anyway, when I get back I'll put up photos from Hiroko's digital camera, but the wedding was a raging success.
We also did some time in the city and hanging with the parentals. Shopping. Eating. Shopping. Eating. Watching tv. Shopping. Eating.
buy! buy! buy!
Oh lord what has the world come to. You can now buy your very own GIVE YOUR MEAT goods!
Shop early for the holidays! Get that special someone that special something with that special message: GIVE YOUR MEAT!
Shop early for the holidays! Get that special someone that special something with that special message: GIVE YOUR MEAT!
new york, new york!
Off to the city tomorrow and praise the lord we got upgrades to bid'ness. Gonna hit Lee & Charity's wedding in New Jersey and then hang out for a week shopping and watching videos.
Tanaka-sensei came to student's practice last night and we did the first 5 seated forms 10 times each. Damn he's fast, and so effortless. And there is no doubt that his cuts cut.
Tanaka-sensei came to student's practice last night and we did the first 5 seated forms 10 times each. Damn he's fast, and so effortless. And there is no doubt that his cuts cut.
national tournament
A bunch of photos are up on Gojyaku.com. Japanese, but you can see the photos. That foreign guy looks familiar...
And some more photos on the Muygairyu homepage.
And some more photos on the Muygairyu homepage.
shopping
A weekend of good consumerism and family fun.
On Saturday Haruka and Reichan came over with little Kailey and mom. We made some lunch and Kailey played with all my pens and colored pencils. That little gremlin ate a whole banana in about 5 seconds, then finished off half a french baguette one piece at a time. Small children are tiring.
Sunday Hiroko and I double-dated with Kevin and Z. We met in Harajuku at the infamous Aux Bacchanales and loaded up on french fries and baguette sandwhiches before launching into a shopping spree that bounced us through Uniqlo (cheap winter coats, gotta come back), Bornelund (cool magnet toys), North Face (snowboard gear?), FCUK (sweater on sale 70% off!), Kiddeyland and Oriental Bazaar (stuff for Lee & Charity but I won't say what as they might be reading), and finally Tocca where Hiroko got the killer black dress for Lee & Charity's wedding.
Z then went home to start cooking dinner and Kev and Hiroko and I went to Bic Camera in Shibuya for the day's main event: Hiroko's digital camera. Ended up getting a Canon IXY 320. Very slick little digicam; takes compact flash and even does short video! 2x zoom + digital zoom, easy to use, USB connector, long-lasting battery. To celebrate we went back to Z's and feasted on home-cooked Indian curry while watching FOX (Friends and Buffy the Vampire Slayer...I really don't miss American TV that much.)
On Saturday Haruka and Reichan came over with little Kailey and mom. We made some lunch and Kailey played with all my pens and colored pencils. That little gremlin ate a whole banana in about 5 seconds, then finished off half a french baguette one piece at a time. Small children are tiring.
Sunday Hiroko and I double-dated with Kevin and Z. We met in Harajuku at the infamous Aux Bacchanales and loaded up on french fries and baguette sandwhiches before launching into a shopping spree that bounced us through Uniqlo (cheap winter coats, gotta come back), Bornelund (cool magnet toys), North Face (snowboard gear?), FCUK (sweater on sale 70% off!), Kiddeyland and Oriental Bazaar (stuff for Lee & Charity but I won't say what as they might be reading), and finally Tocca where Hiroko got the killer black dress for Lee & Charity's wedding.
Z then went home to start cooking dinner and Kev and Hiroko and I went to Bic Camera in Shibuya for the day's main event: Hiroko's digital camera. Ended up getting a Canon IXY 320. Very slick little digicam; takes compact flash and even does short video! 2x zoom + digital zoom, easy to use, USB connector, long-lasting battery. To celebrate we went back to Z's and feasted on home-cooked Indian curry while watching FOX (Friends and Buffy the Vampire Slayer...I really don't miss American TV that much.)
again i am confused
On the train on my way to wednesday practice in Akihabara. Almost at the station, when Kiyokawa calls me: "Dude, there's no one here. No practice tonight!"
What? Again?! So we meet at the station, get back on the train and go all the way back across Tokyo to go to Shinjuku. Then we wander around west Shinjuku for 20 minutes until we finally find the place.
Practice was great: Sano-sensei basically gave me one-on-one instruction for half an hour. But then the last draw of the evening, I snag the mouth of my scabbard and take a tiny chip out of the blade tip! Well at least I didn't cut through the scabbard and slice off my thumb, which is usually what happens. Still, it's a bummer, but then again I'd rather have a chipped sword than a bloody thumb.
What? Again?! So we meet at the station, get back on the train and go all the way back across Tokyo to go to Shinjuku. Then we wander around west Shinjuku for 20 minutes until we finally find the place.
Practice was great: Sano-sensei basically gave me one-on-one instruction for half an hour. But then the last draw of the evening, I snag the mouth of my scabbard and take a tiny chip out of the blade tip! Well at least I didn't cut through the scabbard and slice off my thumb, which is usually what happens. Still, it's a bummer, but then again I'd rather have a chipped sword than a bloody thumb.
zatsu
Went to student practice in shibuya last night like I do every tuesday. Got there early so nobody was around. Went up to the gym. Locked. Asked the dude at reception and he looked at me like I was the freak I am and told me there's no practice. Doh! Totally forgot! Called Kiyokawa and he said to come to Suidobashi, so I scootered down to Shibuya Station and got on the subway. Got lost coming out of Suidobashi Station but finally found the place. Sano-san was running us through the basics, and I was a complete mess: zatsu.
Looking to test for 3dan in February, but I'm nowhere near ready. Too slow, too messy, too bobbly. No speed, no snap, no stability. On sa and yu I can't turn and draw smoothly. The first cut of ren isn't cutting, the second cut is too weak. I stop the sword too high off the ground. I have no focus. I cut small. zatsu. *sigh* Much work to be done...
Looking to test for 3dan in February, but I'm nowhere near ready. Too slow, too messy, too bobbly. No speed, no snap, no stability. On sa and yu I can't turn and draw smoothly. The first cut of ren isn't cutting, the second cut is too weak. I stop the sword too high off the ground. I have no focus. I cut small. zatsu. *sigh* Much work to be done...
national tournament in shimane prefecture
I'll do a more thorough write-up later, but suffice to say:
1) 12 hours on a bus with a bunch of drunks is both really fun and really tiring
2) I got 1st place in division! 2nd place in team competition
Here's a couple of photos. Ohtsuka-san took a bunch, so when I get a CDR from him I'll put up more.
Sekido-san and I in the finals. Note all the things I'm doing wrong: kissaki (sword point) isn't pointing at the opponent's eyes, wrist is bent up so the blade angle is off, arm is too high. *sigh*
Sonkyo -- paying respect to the opponent I've just felled. Note all the things I'm doing wrong here, too: Right hand is too low, back isn't straight, chin is lowered (should just lower the eyes, but keep the head level.)
Tanaka-sensei (5th dan, Denshobu) and I in the finals for team competition. Our teams were one for one, so this was it. By some miracle, I managed to get one out of three flags, so it wasn't a complete crushing. But still, this is the difference between an uppity student and a serious instructor: besides the fact this his gaze probably burned a hole through his opponent before his blade ever cut, note how deep his cut is, blade all the way through the diagonal, hands well past his left knee, back straight but full body put into the cut, blade angle just right, kissaki the correct height above the ground.
1) 12 hours on a bus with a bunch of drunks is both really fun and really tiring
2) I got 1st place in division! 2nd place in team competition
Here's a couple of photos. Ohtsuka-san took a bunch, so when I get a CDR from him I'll put up more.
Sekido-san and I in the finals. Note all the things I'm doing wrong: kissaki (sword point) isn't pointing at the opponent's eyes, wrist is bent up so the blade angle is off, arm is too high. *sigh*
Sonkyo -- paying respect to the opponent I've just felled. Note all the things I'm doing wrong here, too: Right hand is too low, back isn't straight, chin is lowered (should just lower the eyes, but keep the head level.)
Tanaka-sensei (5th dan, Denshobu) and I in the finals for team competition. Our teams were one for one, so this was it. By some miracle, I managed to get one out of three flags, so it wasn't a complete crushing. But still, this is the difference between an uppity student and a serious instructor: besides the fact this his gaze probably burned a hole through his opponent before his blade ever cut, note how deep his cut is, blade all the way through the diagonal, hands well past his left knee, back straight but full body put into the cut, blade angle just right, kissaki the correct height above the ground.
cleaned and oiled
Noxon is magical. Gave my sword a thorough cleaning and oiling in preperation for the national tournament this weekend. I'm sure it'll start rusting as soon as I put it away, but that's how it goes when you're a sweaty dude in a humid country. Thinking about getting the handle re-wrapped in silk instead of the leather I have now; the black dye in the leather turns my hands black because my hands get so sweaty.
puchi hates me
The damn dog that lives in the house next to my building just hates me. It's getting old. Every morning I go out to get on my scooter to go to work, the dog starts barking his head off, mom comes out, sees it me, we say hello, smile and laugh, and then she tries to calm the dog down until I leave.
I've burnt through a bag of dog jerky and the mutt still fears me. Screw him. Next time he barks at me I'll just bark at him louder. He thinks I'm scary? I'll show you scary.
Had to leave work this morning for a couple hours nap -- allergies were killing me. Head all swollen and nose stuffed and red hives on my face and neck...no fun this allergy thing. I think I'll go to a doctor in the US and see what they say. Is it REALLY totally incurable?
So I'm not feeling too hot, so no iai tonight. No practice tomorrow either because I've got my Thursday night conference call, so that's it until the national tournament this weekend. 12 hours on a bus leaving Friday night to get down to Shimane Prefecture...not looking forward to that, especially since I'm on the "B" bus, otherwise known as The Bus For Drunks and Degenerates. Just leave me alone and let me sleep!
I've burnt through a bag of dog jerky and the mutt still fears me. Screw him. Next time he barks at me I'll just bark at him louder. He thinks I'm scary? I'll show you scary.
Had to leave work this morning for a couple hours nap -- allergies were killing me. Head all swollen and nose stuffed and red hives on my face and neck...no fun this allergy thing. I think I'll go to a doctor in the US and see what they say. Is it REALLY totally incurable?
So I'm not feeling too hot, so no iai tonight. No practice tomorrow either because I've got my Thursday night conference call, so that's it until the national tournament this weekend. 12 hours on a bus leaving Friday night to get down to Shimane Prefecture...not looking forward to that, especially since I'm on the "B" bus, otherwise known as The Bus For Drunks and Degenerates. Just leave me alone and let me sleep!
Momoya
Hiroko and I went up to Ibaraki yesterday to play with Momoya, daughter of Hiroko's buddy from back when she was little. We met Satchan at Ueno Station and then took the Joban Line up to Toride Station.
Momo and her dad picked us up at the airport and we went back to their house. In traditional Japanese-boonies style, the first thing we did was eat. Then Momo gave me some cool colored pens that smell like the color (peach, strawberry, melon, etc.) and I gave her the books we bought in the US: Olivia and Olivia Saves the Circus.
Momo and I played around outside a bit, then we all went to the Ibaraki Nature Museum.
It was getting dark and we were getting hungry, so we asked Momo what she wanted for dinner. Most typical 5 year-old girls want to eat something fun, but Momo is actually a 60 year-old man in the body of a five year-old. Her answer: "Ramen or Yakiniku!"
So off to cook meat it was! We drove to the local yakiniku place and started cooking up plate after plate of meat. And of course Momo orders a plate of yukke and finishes off the whole thing herself, as well as a bowl of rice and a whole bunch of meat ("Daddy, I want the really FATTY one!") Momo, are you really 5 years-old?
Momo and her dad picked us up at the airport and we went back to their house. In traditional Japanese-boonies style, the first thing we did was eat. Then Momo gave me some cool colored pens that smell like the color (peach, strawberry, melon, etc.) and I gave her the books we bought in the US: Olivia and Olivia Saves the Circus.
Momo and I played around outside a bit, then we all went to the Ibaraki Nature Museum.
It was getting dark and we were getting hungry, so we asked Momo what she wanted for dinner. Most typical 5 year-old girls want to eat something fun, but Momo is actually a 60 year-old man in the body of a five year-old. Her answer: "Ramen or Yakiniku!"
So off to cook meat it was! We drove to the local yakiniku place and started cooking up plate after plate of meat. And of course Momo orders a plate of yukke and finishes off the whole thing herself, as well as a bowl of rice and a whole bunch of meat ("Daddy, I want the really FATTY one!") Momo, are you really 5 years-old?
Harley
So I'm sitting at a red light and I heard this thunderous roar come up from behind. With my vast knowledge of motorcycles, I thought it must be a Harley. When up next me pulls a beautful, black...50cc honda scooter? His helmet covered in stickers, this guy had the biggest, meanest, loudest custom tailpipe I have ever seen. On his scooter.
The light turned green, and fifty cubic centimeters of pure, raw one-stroke engine power growled to life in a cloud of oily-blue smoke as he shot off the line. Before I knew it he was maxxed at 25 kilometers/hour and I blew past him on MY 50cc Honda scooter.
The light turned green, and fifty cubic centimeters of pure, raw one-stroke engine power growled to life in a cloud of oily-blue smoke as he shot off the line. Before I knew it he was maxxed at 25 kilometers/hour and I blew past him on MY 50cc Honda scooter.
sheryl crow
Sheryl Crow live at the Budokan was great last night! Of course I got lost on my way there. I'm so lame, I got to Shibuya Station and went downstairs to get on the Hanzomon Line, checked very carefully which direction to go, jammed onto a packed train of people going home from work and next thing I know I'm half way to Yokohama on the Den-en Toshi Line! Huh? So I jump off the train and get back on going the other direction, using the 5 seconds of cell signal when stopped in the station to email hiroko: "Wrong train! Soon!"
So as I'm walking up the hill to the Budokan I can here the kick thumping, and I jam up to the second floor and somehow get close to the seat and Hiroko goes "REN!" so I climb over the row in front of us, much to the dismay of the Japanese couple sitting there. Great show; Cheryl's so cut and she was busting out all the Japanese words she knew and everyone was just having a grand time. Very sing-along and some cool live twists on both old and new songs. And then, as only Japan can do, one encore later, the show ended right on time. Actually, 2 minutes early: 8:58pm.
So as I'm walking up the hill to the Budokan I can here the kick thumping, and I jam up to the second floor and somehow get close to the seat and Hiroko goes "REN!" so I climb over the row in front of us, much to the dismay of the Japanese couple sitting there. Great show; Cheryl's so cut and she was busting out all the Japanese words she knew and everyone was just having a grand time. Very sing-along and some cool live twists on both old and new songs. And then, as only Japan can do, one encore later, the show ended right on time. Actually, 2 minutes early: 8:58pm.
5 minutes
Last night at practice Kanai-san brought in a stopwatch. Actually it was a purple kitchen timer shaped like an eggplant. She times us doing the 5 forms for the national tournament, including the opening and closing bowing. 5 minutes is TIGHT. I barely cleared it by seconds and one time went way over. It's tought to hurry but not look like you're hurrying.
Also have some serious work to do on the forms: first cut in ren is a mess, angle is all wrong on enyo because I'm not even looking correctly behind myself at the opponent, gyokko just isn't happening, and in maegoshi I'm leaning forward and walking on a tightrope, so I'm all off balance and cutting small. *sigh*
Also have some serious work to do on the forms: first cut in ren is a mess, angle is all wrong on enyo because I'm not even looking correctly behind myself at the opponent, gyokko just isn't happening, and in maegoshi I'm leaning forward and walking on a tightrope, so I'm all off balance and cutting small. *sigh*
2dan!
Wow, crazy weekend of iai. Showed up Sunday morning all nervous and freaking out about taking the 2dan test. We have a normal practice seminar, and then just before it ends Gosoke walks over, whispers in Naganuma-sensei's ear and says "Ren, you don't have to test. You're 2dan. 3dan in February! Hah hah hah...!"
Huh?
So I'm 2dan. Freaky. Doesn't really count for much though. 3dan is where it gets ugly. For 2dan you just need to know the kata and do most of them reasonably accurately, but for 3dan you need to nail the kata AND have speed and timing. Gotta be fast cuts, smooth, and with the right rhythm. Lots of people fail the 3dan test. So I'm basically back to the beginning. As soon as the national tournament is over in two weeks, I'm back to drilling hard for February.
Hiroko made a killer pot of curry for dinner last night. Masa came over and we all watched the latest incarnation of Warau-no-inu. This season it changed from "Silly-go-lucky" to "Gonna Go Crazy! Funky Dogs!" The have a new game, too. Everyone pairs up, and the first person says something that starts with the chosen letter, and then on rhythm the second person has to make the sound of that word. So for example if the letter is "s" then the first person goes "swim! ing! pool!" and his partner goes "Splash! Splash! Splash!" As expected, it's insane and hilarious.
Huh?
So I'm 2dan. Freaky. Doesn't really count for much though. 3dan is where it gets ugly. For 2dan you just need to know the kata and do most of them reasonably accurately, but for 3dan you need to nail the kata AND have speed and timing. Gotta be fast cuts, smooth, and with the right rhythm. Lots of people fail the 3dan test. So I'm basically back to the beginning. As soon as the national tournament is over in two weeks, I'm back to drilling hard for February.
Hiroko made a killer pot of curry for dinner last night. Masa came over and we all watched the latest incarnation of Warau-no-inu. This season it changed from "Silly-go-lucky" to "Gonna Go Crazy! Funky Dogs!" The have a new game, too. Everyone pairs up, and the first person says something that starts with the chosen letter, and then on rhythm the second person has to make the sound of that word. So for example if the letter is "s" then the first person goes "swim! ing! pool!" and his partner goes "Splash! Splash! Splash!" As expected, it's insane and hilarious.
2dan?
All day iai seminars. Really tired in the AM seminar. Then Gosoke shows up and I show him the translations of the kata and now we've got a pretty good plan for making English materials to go with the iai videos. Then all of a sudden Gosoke gets that twinkle in his eye and he goes "Heah, ren, you wanna test for 2dan tomorrow?" And I stutter "Huh? 2dan?" and he turns to Nishihara-san and says "Sign ren up for the 2dan test. No guarantee you'll pass. Heh heh heh..."
So I'm testing for 2dan tomorrow. Strange world we live in.
Had dinner with Hiroko tonight at the new Thai place in Azabu Juba, Saam Roa. Damn good. And there's even not-spicy stuff I can eat like spring rolls and pad thai.
So I'm testing for 2dan tomorrow. Strange world we live in.
Had dinner with Hiroko tonight at the new Thai place in Azabu Juba, Saam Roa. Damn good. And there's even not-spicy stuff I can eat like spring rolls and pad thai.
eri nagata
Finally had some coffee with the mysterious and elusive Eri Nagata. Haven't seen her in years. The short story:
1 - She's still anorexically skinny
2 - She's still a princess
Other than that it was fun. Still not entirely sure what her company does -- some kind of placement agency or something -- but she's having fun so it's cool.
1 - She's still anorexically skinny
2 - She's still a princess
Other than that it was fun. Still not entirely sure what her company does -- some kind of placement agency or something -- but she's having fun so it's cool.
bananas
For anyone who doesn't believe the sheer quantity of bananas we got at the Festival and Tournament during the summer, check out these photos. See that big table covered in bananas? And the photo next to it, of the three folks bowing? I'm the dude in the middle, absolutely laden with bananas.
i love ninjas
This is the coolest shirt I've ever seen.
I wonder if there's a wishlist-type website, where I can collect all the things I want. I know I can make a wishlist on Amazon, and another one on drugstore.com, etc. but how about one giant wishlist for ALL the other sites out there, including the big guys like Amazon and the little guys like cafeshops.com? This could be my million-dollar internet startup idea!
I wonder if there's a wishlist-type website, where I can collect all the things I want. I know I can make a wishlist on Amazon, and another one on drugstore.com, etc. but how about one giant wishlist for ALL the other sites out there, including the big guys like Amazon and the little guys like cafeshops.com? This could be my million-dollar internet startup idea!
blog problems
Having some issues with blogger -- titles are getting messed up and can't always publish. Not sure what's up, but I think it's some issues with the latest version of BloggerPro...stay tuned...
Too much eating
Had the Too Much Food BBQ at the Calverts, and then everyone came to our place for dinner last night to finish off the weekend of gluttony. Pork chops. Wild rice. Pasta with pesto (basil from the balcony garden!) Shoe Cream. Ugh.
3 day weekend
Thank god for Sports Day.
Hiroko's birthday on Friday, but since she's not into doing big hooplas, I just sent her some flowers at work.
Iai was kinda crazy on Friday: junior highschool volleyball was using the gym we usually used, so we got sent upstairs to the RomperRoom of the kindergarden. Low ceiling, small room, six people. Talk about a cozy practice. We mostly practiced for the upcoming tests and tournament, attempting not to kill each other.
We will, however, have a BBQ at the Jeff & Ericka's tonight.
Did some cutting today and it went pretty well. Getting that one-handed rising cut (gyaku-kesagiri) almost every time. Everyone else was stressing because exams are next weekend and this was the last practice before testing. Something like 6 people going for 4dan, and they all have to do some cutting for their test. Good luck everyone!
Had a weird dream that Hiroko picked our new apartment in New York, so I go home to see it for the first time. It's in China Town. I go up to the 7th floor and enter the apartment: not bad; a decent room, kind of dark, wooden and brick walls, very much like Lee & Charity's place. But then Hiroko shows me the rest of the place: HUGE, modern white rooms with high ceilings, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors looking out onto the pool/pond, fireplace, big couches. So I ask her how much the rent is and she says "700,000 yen a month." "$7000 a month?! Are you nuts?" So then the real estate agent shows up with the contract ready to sign and say "Not paying more than 500,000 yen. $5000 is all you're gonna get, and with the economy the way it is, you'll never rent this place." And he looks totally bummed as we've already moved in and everything, and I can see on his face how he's trying to figure out what to say to his boss when he goes back with an unsigned contract. And then I woke up.
Hiroko says I probably had the dream because right before we went to sleep we were talking about her boss Terrie having an argument with his wife about their house in New Zealand.
On a totally different subject, for the national tournament next month I need a name patch for my uniform; a 10 cm x 15cm with "Tokyo" across the top and "Kuroda" in the middle. So I went to Tokyu Hands and got paper you can print on and then iron onto cloth. I designed the name patch on my computer and printed it, cut it out, and ironed it onto a piece of black felt. First one came out ok, but I ironed it too much and the letters got all yellow. So I made another one but forgot to take the backing off of the paper and when I ironed it it didn't stick to the felt. Then the third one the letters looked just right, but in the back around the letters there was some crud or something and these white lines also showed up. Tried blacking them out with a pen, but now it all different blacks.
So I went down the street the Blue and White, that cool store that has all the sashiko stuff, traditional fabrics and whatnot. The owner Amy wasn't there, but I had an interesting conversation with the other girl working:
Me: Do you do embroidery?
Her: Me personally? No. Do you?
Me: No...no I mean do you guys embroider to order? Like name patches and stuff?
Her: Oh yeah, sure! But I don't.
Me: I don't care WHO does it! You do offer such a service, eh?
Her: I don't-
Me: I know you don't! What is this, the Comedy Channel! I give you money, you give me an embroidered name patch, yes? No?
Anyway I managed to order a nicely embroidered name patch, but they have to check with the owner to see how much it'll be. Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be better than anything I could make myself!
Hiroko's birthday on Friday, but since she's not into doing big hooplas, I just sent her some flowers at work.
Iai was kinda crazy on Friday: junior highschool volleyball was using the gym we usually used, so we got sent upstairs to the RomperRoom of the kindergarden. Low ceiling, small room, six people. Talk about a cozy practice. We mostly practiced for the upcoming tests and tournament, attempting not to kill each other.
We will, however, have a BBQ at the Jeff & Ericka's tonight.
Did some cutting today and it went pretty well. Getting that one-handed rising cut (gyaku-kesagiri) almost every time. Everyone else was stressing because exams are next weekend and this was the last practice before testing. Something like 6 people going for 4dan, and they all have to do some cutting for their test. Good luck everyone!
Had a weird dream that Hiroko picked our new apartment in New York, so I go home to see it for the first time. It's in China Town. I go up to the 7th floor and enter the apartment: not bad; a decent room, kind of dark, wooden and brick walls, very much like Lee & Charity's place. But then Hiroko shows me the rest of the place: HUGE, modern white rooms with high ceilings, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors looking out onto the pool/pond, fireplace, big couches. So I ask her how much the rent is and she says "700,000 yen a month." "$7000 a month?! Are you nuts?" So then the real estate agent shows up with the contract ready to sign and say "Not paying more than 500,000 yen. $5000 is all you're gonna get, and with the economy the way it is, you'll never rent this place." And he looks totally bummed as we've already moved in and everything, and I can see on his face how he's trying to figure out what to say to his boss when he goes back with an unsigned contract. And then I woke up.
Hiroko says I probably had the dream because right before we went to sleep we were talking about her boss Terrie having an argument with his wife about their house in New Zealand.
On a totally different subject, for the national tournament next month I need a name patch for my uniform; a 10 cm x 15cm with "Tokyo" across the top and "Kuroda" in the middle. So I went to Tokyu Hands and got paper you can print on and then iron onto cloth. I designed the name patch on my computer and printed it, cut it out, and ironed it onto a piece of black felt. First one came out ok, but I ironed it too much and the letters got all yellow. So I made another one but forgot to take the backing off of the paper and when I ironed it it didn't stick to the felt. Then the third one the letters looked just right, but in the back around the letters there was some crud or something and these white lines also showed up. Tried blacking them out with a pen, but now it all different blacks.
So I went down the street the Blue and White, that cool store that has all the sashiko stuff, traditional fabrics and whatnot. The owner Amy wasn't there, but I had an interesting conversation with the other girl working:
Me: Do you do embroidery?
Her: Me personally? No. Do you?
Me: No...no I mean do you guys embroider to order? Like name patches and stuff?
Her: Oh yeah, sure! But I don't.
Me: I don't care WHO does it! You do offer such a service, eh?
Her: I don't-
Me: I know you don't! What is this, the Comedy Channel! I give you money, you give me an embroidered name patch, yes? No?
Anyway I managed to order a nicely embroidered name patch, but they have to check with the owner to see how much it'll be. Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be better than anything I could make myself!
instant lame
So the moment I get promoted, I immediately become stunnigly, phenomenally lame. I trip on my own hakama. My obi is tied too lose. I get a blister on my finger. I scratch my own arm with my thumbnail.I can't balance, I can't focus. I step with the wrong foot. I hold my breath too much. I lean to the left. My eyes wander.
Then again, as Sanno-sensei says: "Realizing how bad you are is the best way to get better. If you think you're good, you think you're good enough, and you stop getting better. Actually you get worse because you don't even notice your own mistakes." So in a way it's good, but it really sucks to be this lame 2 weeks before the national tournament! Also I found out I'm on the 'B' bus to the tournament. The 'A' bus seems to be all the normal, boring people who will probably sit quietly or sleep the whole way. The 'B' bus has Naganuma-sensei, Tanaka-sensei, Sanno-sensei, and all the other hard-drinking folks who will make the most of their time stuck in a metal box on wheels. I am afraid, very afraid.
Then again, as Sanno-sensei says: "Realizing how bad you are is the best way to get better. If you think you're good, you think you're good enough, and you stop getting better. Actually you get worse because you don't even notice your own mistakes." So in a way it's good, but it really sucks to be this lame 2 weeks before the national tournament! Also I found out I'm on the 'B' bus to the tournament. The 'A' bus seems to be all the normal, boring people who will probably sit quietly or sleep the whole way. The 'B' bus has Naganuma-sensei, Tanaka-sensei, Sanno-sensei, and all the other hard-drinking folks who will make the most of their time stuck in a metal box on wheels. I am afraid, very afraid.
two weeks off
Haven't done iai in two weeks, so of course I kill myself over the weekend. First on Saturday morning there was a special seminar run by Niina-gosoke himself, and only nine students. I was great to have one-on-one, and at the end I got promoted to shodan! So now I've got to get ready for 2dan test in February.
Went home and immediately starting making tons of gyoza with Hiroko, as Kevin and Lisa came over.
Sunday morning had iai again, so now my arms are REALLY sore. Sunday afternoon ate some leftover gyoza then walked all over Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya with Hiroko. Looked at some cool clothes and nice furniture, and bought Hiroko a cool leather jacket for her birthday on the 11th.
Went home and immediately starting making tons of gyoza with Hiroko, as Kevin and Lisa came over.
Sunday morning had iai again, so now my arms are REALLY sore. Sunday afternoon ate some leftover gyoza then walked all over Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shibuya with Hiroko. Looked at some cool clothes and nice furniture, and bought Hiroko a cool leather jacket for her birthday on the 11th.
more jet lag
Did some more work in the office meeting w/various folks about various things. Took Moka and the other Japan trainees to dinner, goofed off more with Lee and Charity.
Saturday early we took an Amtrak train up to Kingston, Rhode Island, then got a van up to the Courtyard Marriott. We got there just in time to catch everyone and headed off to Glen Manor for the wedding rehersal. Nikki's family got lost driving up from NY, and they finally arrived six hours after leaving the city.
Nice place by the way, right on the water. If this was the summer cottage, what was the main house like? Straight outta The Great Gatsby.
Finished rehersal so we headed back to the hotel and then off to Walgreens for some snacks and Kinkos so Andrew could check his email. While there in walks Danny and his wife (small town) so we head over to a local cafe for lunch because we're all starving. 6 people and the bill was 30 bucks. During lunch Dave's cousin from Texas calls: he's in Atlanta on his way to Boston. Uh, the wedding's in Rhode Island? So Danny's wife has to drive up to Boston to get him. Later we head to the Cheeky Monkey for pre-wedding dinner. Dave gave us groomsmen (me and Andrew and Danny) GameBoy Advance (score!) and the bridesmaids got various neat things. Danny got drunk and proceeded to explain to a shocked Nikki that the cute picture of baby David that she loves so much is actually a picture of Danny. Some were skeptical, given Danny's sense of humor, but mom will be consulted to verify the truth (I believe him.)
Back to the hotel and some fools continued drinking in the lobby but Hiroko and I crashed. We could here Amanda's laugh ringing through the night like the squeal of Flipper, and about 2:30 am somebody/thing crashed into our door, but we ignored it and it went away.
Awoke the day of, stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet (make your own waffles!), kicked it in the jacuzzi for a bit, and then got ready. Surprisingly, my rental tux fit just fine, and before we knew it, the wedding was underway. Saw Melissa and her man, and Binka and hers, and various other folks from days gone by.
The ceremony was short and very cool, with poetry readings and awesome vows that Nik and Dave wrote themselves (they met in a creative writing class after all), and then it was done. Many photographs by a great and hilarious photographer, and then a cake straight outta Dr. Seuss, and then more fun back at the Cheeky Monkey and presents to Nikki as it was her birthday, too.
Next morning had breakfast with Mel and Patrick, and then mama and aunt Emily joined, and before we knew it we were on the road back to Connecticut.
Mama picked up her new silver Subaru Forester, and then we stuffed ourselves on pasta and pizza and Darien Post Road Pizza before settling down to sleep in preparation for the flight back. Great flight, by the way, as the GameBoy really made the time fly by!
Saturday early we took an Amtrak train up to Kingston, Rhode Island, then got a van up to the Courtyard Marriott. We got there just in time to catch everyone and headed off to Glen Manor for the wedding rehersal. Nikki's family got lost driving up from NY, and they finally arrived six hours after leaving the city.
Nice place by the way, right on the water. If this was the summer cottage, what was the main house like? Straight outta The Great Gatsby.
Finished rehersal so we headed back to the hotel and then off to Walgreens for some snacks and Kinkos so Andrew could check his email. While there in walks Danny and his wife (small town) so we head over to a local cafe for lunch because we're all starving. 6 people and the bill was 30 bucks. During lunch Dave's cousin from Texas calls: he's in Atlanta on his way to Boston. Uh, the wedding's in Rhode Island? So Danny's wife has to drive up to Boston to get him. Later we head to the Cheeky Monkey for pre-wedding dinner. Dave gave us groomsmen (me and Andrew and Danny) GameBoy Advance (score!) and the bridesmaids got various neat things. Danny got drunk and proceeded to explain to a shocked Nikki that the cute picture of baby David that she loves so much is actually a picture of Danny. Some were skeptical, given Danny's sense of humor, but mom will be consulted to verify the truth (I believe him.)
Back to the hotel and some fools continued drinking in the lobby but Hiroko and I crashed. We could here Amanda's laugh ringing through the night like the squeal of Flipper, and about 2:30 am somebody/thing crashed into our door, but we ignored it and it went away.
Awoke the day of, stuffed ourselves at the breakfast buffet (make your own waffles!), kicked it in the jacuzzi for a bit, and then got ready. Surprisingly, my rental tux fit just fine, and before we knew it, the wedding was underway. Saw Melissa and her man, and Binka and hers, and various other folks from days gone by.
The ceremony was short and very cool, with poetry readings and awesome vows that Nik and Dave wrote themselves (they met in a creative writing class after all), and then it was done. Many photographs by a great and hilarious photographer, and then a cake straight outta Dr. Seuss, and then more fun back at the Cheeky Monkey and presents to Nikki as it was her birthday, too.
Next morning had breakfast with Mel and Patrick, and then mama and aunt Emily joined, and before we knew it we were on the road back to Connecticut.
Mama picked up her new silver Subaru Forester, and then we stuffed ourselves on pasta and pizza and Darien Post Road Pizza before settling down to sleep in preparation for the flight back. Great flight, by the way, as the GameBoy really made the time fly by!
jet lag
Went to dinner at trusty Five Points with mama and papa, Hiroko, Lee and Charity, and Aunt Emily and Uncle Dolf. Damn fine salmon, and of course chocolate fondue for dessert.
Gave Lee and Charity t-shirts from Lucky and Korean-made fake Kappa nylon sweat pants; his in yellow and hers in pink. In return, they gave me a gold, diamond-studded NY on a fat gold chain. Quality. I will, naturally, wear it to their New Jersey wedding in November.
Gave Lee and Charity t-shirts from Lucky and Korean-made fake Kappa nylon sweat pants; his in yellow and hers in pink. In return, they gave me a gold, diamond-studded NY on a fat gold chain. Quality. I will, naturally, wear it to their New Jersey wedding in November.
yes buti feel so safe!
Finally experienced new and improved airline travel. First I totally forgot about the tiny little swiss army nail file on my cell phone, but it was quickly and efficiently confiscated by security at Narita.
Then I enjoyed my fine business-class meals with a metal fork and plastic knife.
Finally we landed in JFK and the family of 5 in line in front of me was given the full security re-check. I'm surprised the security guards didn't ask the guy to put his 3 year-old and 5 year-old kids through the x-ray machine. I guess they fit the profile of luggage-laden child-toting terrorists because they were *gasp* middle-eastern! The mom had a scarf wrapped around her head and everything.
The best part, though, was when the customs guy grilled me:
him: Ya live in JAPAN?
me: Yup.
him: How long ya been there?
me: 8 years.
him: EIGHT YEARS?!
me: [looking very jet-lagged]
him: Ya been on any farms lately?
me: I live in the middle of Tokyo.
him: Yes? No? Farms? Got any fresh fruit? Been in contact with any farm animals recently? Got any meat? Raw sausages?
me: Tokyo. TOKYO. It's solid concrete 100 kilometers in any direction. TO-KEE-OH. In Japan. No sausages. No fruit. No animals. Concrete. And lots of people. Bad Asian rap music. Teen pop idols. Silly hats. Tiger-striped fashion accessories.
Then I enjoyed my fine business-class meals with a metal fork and plastic knife.
Finally we landed in JFK and the family of 5 in line in front of me was given the full security re-check. I'm surprised the security guards didn't ask the guy to put his 3 year-old and 5 year-old kids through the x-ray machine. I guess they fit the profile of luggage-laden child-toting terrorists because they were *gasp* middle-eastern! The mom had a scarf wrapped around her head and everything.
The best part, though, was when the customs guy grilled me:
him: Ya live in JAPAN?
me: Yup.
him: How long ya been there?
me: 8 years.
him: EIGHT YEARS?!
me: [looking very jet-lagged]
him: Ya been on any farms lately?
me: I live in the middle of Tokyo.
him: Yes? No? Farms? Got any fresh fruit? Been in contact with any farm animals recently? Got any meat? Raw sausages?
me: Tokyo. TOKYO. It's solid concrete 100 kilometers in any direction. TO-KEE-OH. In Japan. No sausages. No fruit. No animals. Concrete. And lots of people. Bad Asian rap music. Teen pop idols. Silly hats. Tiger-striped fashion accessories.
new york, ny
Hiroko left yesterday, so I spent the day getting ready; shopping in Shibuya, playing Kengo2 on my PS2, and packing. Left the house this morning and came to the office (taking the bus from the Westin Hotel across the street) to do a final mail check and lunch. Not entirely thrilled to be diving head-first into the assinine world of renewed airport security -- I can already imagine some monkey with a metal detector telling me to take of my boots and prove there's no bomb in them, or drink my own shaving cream to prove I'm not intending to spew toxic foam all over the plane. Well at least I've got 3 laptop batteries. I hope the movies don't suck, too.
dreams
Had a crazy dream last night: I was part of a special operations anti-terrorist swat team (me and another guy). We had all kinds of cool wear and gear. I had this great pistol that took what looked like shotgun shells but they were really giant orange rubber bullets. So me and the other dude go to liberate this high school where some of the "bad" kids were holding everyone else hostage. As we work our way up the stairs to the cafeteria on the top floor, I'm popping the occasional rubber bullet into an attacking student's stomach or knee or whatever. Doesn't kill them, but knocks them down and appears to hurt like hell.
So we get to the top floor and everyone's in the cafeteria and the leader of the bad kids (who looks just like one of those many popular young singer/actors from one of those boy-bands always on tv) comes up and says that the only way to settle this is with a knife fight.
So we all go down to the courtyard and I'm supposed to fight four of them including the leader. So first I tell the umpire (sitting in a high chair like a tennis referree) to move his white chair back and up the curb. He moves, and then I make sure all the cars are moved off the courtyard and I tell the four kids to each stand in a corner of the courtyard. The courtyard is big, like a soccer field. So they all go to their respective corners and of course in all my great gear I don't have a knife so I borrow someone's thumb knife with a lock blade.
I walk to the far corner from the leader and face the fat kid. He takes up a wicked knife-fighting pose like he's done this before, and he's kind of sizing me up and dancing around a bit and I'm just standing there. Then in super-slow motion he slashes at me and I just side-step out of the way and stab my knife into his neck. We stand there for a second: me with my hand on my knife in his neck, him with his arm outstretched slashing at where I was. Then I pull my knife out and this stream of blood just spouts out of his neck and he drops like a rock. I look back across the courtyard at the other 3 kids and they're not happy. The leader is looking a bit worried, and I start walking to the next kid in the closest corner and he's looking like he'd really rather be anywhere else.
And then my alarm clock rings and I woke up.
So we get to the top floor and everyone's in the cafeteria and the leader of the bad kids (who looks just like one of those many popular young singer/actors from one of those boy-bands always on tv) comes up and says that the only way to settle this is with a knife fight.
So we all go down to the courtyard and I'm supposed to fight four of them including the leader. So first I tell the umpire (sitting in a high chair like a tennis referree) to move his white chair back and up the curb. He moves, and then I make sure all the cars are moved off the courtyard and I tell the four kids to each stand in a corner of the courtyard. The courtyard is big, like a soccer field. So they all go to their respective corners and of course in all my great gear I don't have a knife so I borrow someone's thumb knife with a lock blade.
I walk to the far corner from the leader and face the fat kid. He takes up a wicked knife-fighting pose like he's done this before, and he's kind of sizing me up and dancing around a bit and I'm just standing there. Then in super-slow motion he slashes at me and I just side-step out of the way and stab my knife into his neck. We stand there for a second: me with my hand on my knife in his neck, him with his arm outstretched slashing at where I was. Then I pull my knife out and this stream of blood just spouts out of his neck and he drops like a rock. I look back across the courtyard at the other 3 kids and they're not happy. The leader is looking a bit worried, and I start walking to the next kid in the closest corner and he's looking like he'd really rather be anywhere else.
And then my alarm clock rings and I woke up.
photos up!
Put up some photos from the denjushiki this weekend. Thanks to Otsuka-san for the nice photos (mine are the blurry ones.)
3-day weekend
Friday
Dinner at Lucky with Eric and some folks. Eric's finally on his way back to NY after several months in his Tokyo office.
Saturday
Laundry, dry-cleaning, 6 taiyaki for breakfast. Had the Denjushiki ("Receiving of the License") for Naganuma, Okazaki, and Ando sensei. Having one Menkyo (licensed) sensei is a big deal, three is amazing. Shiokawa-gosoke gave them each a long scroll, listing that they are licensed in all 20 basic forms, plus the naiden and okuden advanced techniques. Then they each did a few kata (photos later) and finally we went downstairs to feed and drink.
Sunday
Tamitsuji-sensei convinced me to come to practice in the morning, so I went to the newly opened Meguro Ward Citizens' Center. Wow. What a brilliant waste of taxpayer's money! It's a fabulous building that opened a month ago. Completely air-conditioned gym, changing rooms, big lawn...After practice we grabbed some lunch and drove to Hatogaya for some cutting practice. Only about 5 of us, so Tanaka-sensei was giving one-on-one instruction. The result: totally successful one-handed gyaku-kesagiri (rising diagonal cut), four times in a row! I think I'm getting the hang of it, even though I still can't cut cleanly on a draw -- then again that's pretty advanced so there's no reason to expect being able to do so.
Monday
Hiroko and I braved the rain and went to Ueno to try and find Charity and Lee some Korean-made rip-off Kappa tracksuits. Mildly successful. Then we met Masa at Roppongi station and went for a 2 hour thai massage. Absolutely fabulous. This needs to a monthly event!
Dinner at Lucky with Eric and some folks. Eric's finally on his way back to NY after several months in his Tokyo office.
Saturday
Laundry, dry-cleaning, 6 taiyaki for breakfast. Had the Denjushiki ("Receiving of the License") for Naganuma, Okazaki, and Ando sensei. Having one Menkyo (licensed) sensei is a big deal, three is amazing. Shiokawa-gosoke gave them each a long scroll, listing that they are licensed in all 20 basic forms, plus the naiden and okuden advanced techniques. Then they each did a few kata (photos later) and finally we went downstairs to feed and drink.
Sunday
Tamitsuji-sensei convinced me to come to practice in the morning, so I went to the newly opened Meguro Ward Citizens' Center. Wow. What a brilliant waste of taxpayer's money! It's a fabulous building that opened a month ago. Completely air-conditioned gym, changing rooms, big lawn...After practice we grabbed some lunch and drove to Hatogaya for some cutting practice. Only about 5 of us, so Tanaka-sensei was giving one-on-one instruction. The result: totally successful one-handed gyaku-kesagiri (rising diagonal cut), four times in a row! I think I'm getting the hang of it, even though I still can't cut cleanly on a draw -- then again that's pretty advanced so there's no reason to expect being able to do so.
Monday
Hiroko and I braved the rain and went to Ueno to try and find Charity and Lee some Korean-made rip-off Kappa tracksuits. Mildly successful. Then we met Masa at Roppongi station and went for a 2 hour thai massage. Absolutely fabulous. This needs to a monthly event!
quite possibly the best picture ever taken
quoting jeremy:
Jason Lee was on Conan last night wearing a white
t-shirt with this picture on it.
Jason Lee was on Conan last night wearing a white
t-shirt with this picture on it.
morning ritual
Morning is a time of ceremony, mostly because the brain isn't quite working yet. I get up at 7:30 and Hiroko's already been up for an hour. She's usually in the shower by the time I stumble into the kitchen to cherish the last few drops of coffee. We battle at the sink, her hair dryer versus my toothbrush. I usually lose, and brush my teeth in the kitchen. By the time I start getting dressed the old man in the apartment across the street has his apartment door propped open. All the better for us to hear his throat-hacking, moaing/screaming: "ggghhhahhhhrrrrrrhhhh!" First time it happened I thought we should call an ambulance. Now it reminds me it's time to take out the garbage. As I step outside, Puchi (the dog of the Takazaki house) begins ferocious growling and barking. I hurl a bit of dog beef-jerky in Puchi's general direction and drop the trash at the designated location, bowing my way through the throngs of old women congregating on the corner. Back in the house I finish dressing and get my iaido gear together (quick oil and sword check, fold up the uniform, grab a towel and bottle of water) and then get my shoes on just as Hiroko is realized she has exactly 48 seconds to get to the bus stop or else she'll have to wait 12 minutes for the next bus and be late for work. So out the door we go in a haze of anti-bug spray.
Weekend mornings are less hurrried, but more ceremonial in that the temple behind our apartment is usually engaged in some funeral type activity. Streams of black-clad men, women, and children swarm up and down the street as the priest pounds drums, rings bells, and chants. At 7 in the morning.
Weekend mornings are less hurrried, but more ceremonial in that the temple behind our apartment is usually engaged in some funeral type activity. Streams of black-clad men, women, and children swarm up and down the street as the priest pounds drums, rings bells, and chants. At 7 in the morning.
weekend o' fun
Saturday hiroko and I went to ginza for some shopping. Her favourite shoe store Camui re-opened after months of remodeling, but she didn't find anything she liked. I, however, got a lovely pair of black sandals that I use instead of slippers at work. Camui shoes are great because they have that squishy water-filled insole that is so comfy to walk around on.
After Ginza we checked out the new Maru-Biru (Maru-no-uchi Building) right in front of Tokyo station. It just opened that weekend, so we and everyone else in Tokyo with nothing better to do crammed in there. Fairly typical: nice office building with 5 floors of retail on the bottom. Nice Conran Shop, so if we need to buy fashionably overpriced candles we know where to go.
Then we headed over to Ichikawa and hooked up with folks at Master's to get some yakitori. Lisa was in town (for a month) for a wedding so the old gang did the traditional gather-at-Masters-and-eat-and-drink thing. I helped Hugh keep little (well actually quite big) Toshiki from getting run over and grabbed bites of chicken-on-a-stick, and then we headed home in the rain.
Tried to wake up early on Sunday but failed. Ended up going to iai in the afternoon and everyone was wondering why I didn't go to the morning session. The place was full of mosquitoes so Gosoke had us close the windows and light a bunch of anti-bug incense. In a matter of minutes the room was full of smoke, but the mosquitoes had left (probably because there wasn't much oxygen left!)
Came home and Hiroko and I had a lovely home-cooked meal of rice, fried fish, and tofu -- sometimes ya just gotta eat traditional.
After Ginza we checked out the new Maru-Biru (Maru-no-uchi Building) right in front of Tokyo station. It just opened that weekend, so we and everyone else in Tokyo with nothing better to do crammed in there. Fairly typical: nice office building with 5 floors of retail on the bottom. Nice Conran Shop, so if we need to buy fashionably overpriced candles we know where to go.
Then we headed over to Ichikawa and hooked up with folks at Master's to get some yakitori. Lisa was in town (for a month) for a wedding so the old gang did the traditional gather-at-Masters-and-eat-and-drink thing. I helped Hugh keep little (well actually quite big) Toshiki from getting run over and grabbed bites of chicken-on-a-stick, and then we headed home in the rain.
Tried to wake up early on Sunday but failed. Ended up going to iai in the afternoon and everyone was wondering why I didn't go to the morning session. The place was full of mosquitoes so Gosoke had us close the windows and light a bunch of anti-bug incense. In a matter of minutes the room was full of smoke, but the mosquitoes had left (probably because there wasn't much oxygen left!)
Came home and Hiroko and I had a lovely home-cooked meal of rice, fried fish, and tofu -- sometimes ya just gotta eat traditional.
good news, bad news
Good news:
Got the results from my yearly health check: all A's! I'm healthy!
Bad news:
Our belov'd Spike not only got his motorcycle stolen, but he also got his health check results: liver=D -- very bad, too much drinking!
Chihara-kun has been busy taking photos and updating the Student Iai page. Some photos of me doing (a very lame attempt at) the first seated form shin and some cute photos of Kanai-sensei.
Had lunch with Yoshiko Motoyama yesterday. She's our Internet Analyst and she rocks. She spent the whole time destroying all my theories about the net in Japan and explaining how Softbank is kicking everyone's ass and will continue to do so. Makes me wanna finally sign up for Yahoo! BB's DSL service.
Got the results from my yearly health check: all A's! I'm healthy!
Bad news:
Our belov'd Spike not only got his motorcycle stolen, but he also got his health check results: liver=D -- very bad, too much drinking!
Chihara-kun has been busy taking photos and updating the Student Iai page. Some photos of me doing (a very lame attempt at) the first seated form shin and some cute photos of Kanai-sensei.
Had lunch with Yoshiko Motoyama yesterday. She's our Internet Analyst and she rocks. She spent the whole time destroying all my theories about the net in Japan and explaining how Softbank is kicking everyone's ass and will continue to do so. Makes me wanna finally sign up for Yahoo! BB's DSL service.
puchi no like me
Couple of weeks ago the Takazaki family moved into the house next to my building. And so did their white dog Puchi. Puchi doesn't like me very much. He barks at me every morning when I'm leaving and every night when I come home. Gets to the point that some poor Takazaki comes out, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth, to shut the dog up. And it seems to only be me; Puchi doesn't bark at the old lady who always makes sure we throw our garbage away correctly. Puchi doesn't bark at the little kids who live downstairs from me. Puchi doesn't even bark at Hiroko. Unless I'm with her, then Puchi's a raging bellows of canine fury.
So I started a new strategy. I bought a bag of doggie snack beef jerky, and every time I go outside I give a piece to Puchi. This morning Puchi ignored the snack, then a few seconds later noticed the delicious morsel sitting inside the gate. Tough to chew and bark at the same time.
So I started a new strategy. I bought a bag of doggie snack beef jerky, and every time I go outside I give a piece to Puchi. This morning Puchi ignored the snack, then a few seconds later noticed the delicious morsel sitting inside the gate. Tough to chew and bark at the same time.
ann & jacob
Got some photos from Ann & Jacob's adventures with us. Glad we could spread some traditional japanese summer fun!
vietnamese food
Had some great food last night in Nishi-Azabu at a tiny little place called Kitchen. 2 cuties making and serving Vietnamese food. Much less spicy than I thought, which is good because me no handle spice good.
Was with Hiroko and Terrie's Angels*, always good for a laugh. Finished the evening with some Hobson's icecream and Hiroko and I walked home through Azabu.
* Terrie's Angels: Hiroko, Rei, and Haruka all work at Linc Media, run by the Charlie-like Terrie Lloyd. The three go to a karate place twice a week to kick and punch away their stress.
Was with Hiroko and Terrie's Angels*, always good for a laugh. Finished the evening with some Hobson's icecream and Hiroko and I walked home through Azabu.
* Terrie's Angels: Hiroko, Rei, and Haruka all work at Linc Media, run by the Charlie-like Terrie Lloyd. The three go to a karate place twice a week to kick and punch away their stress.
azabu juban summer festival
It was a fun-filled, action-packed weekend. Got a mail from Ann and Jacob (friends of Steve and Cheech) saying they'd be in Tokyo and could we meet up? Perfect timing with the summer festival, so after some phone tag at the hotel because Ann gave me her name but the hotel room was in her boyfriend's name, we finally met up. Took the unsuspecting tourists back to our place, dressed them up in yukata and jimbei and off we went to Lucky for some eatin'. We sat next to a table of HUGE sumo wrestlers, and A&J took some photos with them. Then we went down to the festival, which is basically a billion people packed into several city blocks with vendors of all kinds. Ann tried her hand at the traditional goldfish scooping and managed to grab one, but I think the guy took pity on her and gave her an extra fish. Then we plowed our way through the people, grabbing some cotton candy, trying other games (nice keychain Jacob!) and hitting the International Bazaar, which was more of the same with a higher concentration of foreigners and weird food. Someone Ollie managed to find us, and we coordinated with Kevin and Z. to meet up later. Ollie went off to find his other friends, so we went back home to change as by now Ann's feet were killing her and she couldn't breathe with the yukata obi tied up so tight. We rested for a minute and headed back out to Lucky to hook up with Kev and Z and Ollie and some of his friends, got a room upstairs and put and put away some beverage and more snacks. A good time was had by all -- A&J hook us up with some photos!
Next day I got up early for iaido and Gosoke schooled us for 3 hours. Came home and Hiroko needed some shaved ice, so we went back up to the festival (last day) waited in line for a bit at THE shavaed ice place, pigged out, then on the way home bought up all kinds of bits and bobs for dinner. That evening we dined on a feast of Jamaican jerk chicken, samosa, pad-thai, chijimi, iwashi, and cotton candy!
P.S. Anne's goldfish died.
Next day I got up early for iaido and Gosoke schooled us for 3 hours. Came home and Hiroko needed some shaved ice, so we went back up to the festival (last day) waited in line for a bit at THE shavaed ice place, pigged out, then on the way home bought up all kinds of bits and bobs for dinner. That evening we dined on a feast of Jamaican jerk chicken, samosa, pad-thai, chijimi, iwashi, and cotton candy!
P.S. Anne's goldfish died.
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