getting ready for school
Originally uploaded by renfield
ramen!
ramen!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Didn't eat lunch (again) so was damn fine hungry by 8pm. Took pity on of the new graddies Suzuki-chan and fed her some quality ramen at Suzuran in Shibuya. The infamous rangiri (random cut) noodles with melts-in-yo-mouth pork.
And gyoza.
OMMFGSG.*
* Oh My Marsupial Family Gerbil So Good
beware of you
The true voice of reason. I have always said that worrying about terrorism is stupid when you smoke a pack a day, don't wear your seat belt, and only eat green if it's a celebratory St. Patrick's Day doughnut.
chocolate sauce sandwich and sausages for breakfast
chocolate sauce sandwich and sausages for breakfast
Originally uploaded by renfield
Breakfast started simple enough: sausages with chocolate sauce for dipping. White bread, with chocolate sauce. She showed moderate interest in the sandwich and ate almost a whole sausage...
...then she just gave up on the food and went straight for the chocolate sauce:
chocolate sauce
Originally uploaded by renfield
12 plates
12 plates
Originally uploaded by renfield
9pm conference call and I was in no mood to sit in the office any longer. Hit the dojo at lunch and hadn't eaten since breakfast, so headed to Pintokina and dropped 12 plates in 20 minutes. Damn fine eats. Then I headed to Starbucks for my conference call. I must say the earpiece-with-built-in-mic is a superDork accesory, but it works well; left the Blackberry on the table and kept my hands free to take notes (doodle, wave at co-worker returning DVDs, scratch my head...)
swingin
swingin
Originally uploaded by renfield
She damanded we go to the park and since the weather seemed to hold, I rolled her up and the place was pretty packed with kids. She swinged and slided and sandboxed; always manages to borrow some older kid's sandbox toys -- it's good to be small sometimes. After a while some older boys dug a huge hole and filled it with water, making a giant mud pit. I couldn't tear her away and she was getting really into playing with the mud, so I finally dragged her away and stuffed her into the stroller. She was crying and screaming but mainly because she was tired and had not napped yet. Took her to the corner French place where she ate a couple fries before getting into the stroller herself. I finished off the fries and after a leisurely five minutes she was out. Headed down to the Takanawa Bucks like yesterday and surfed the web on my phone for an hour. She kinda woke up so I took her home but she passed out again. After sleeping in the entrance for a while, she woke up and P help her on the couch for nearly another hour. Finally up now and getting to be time for dinner!
onigiri and calpis @ sunkus
onigiri and calpis @ sunkus
Originally uploaded by renfield
Took the bus back from Shibuya station and had a quick lunch before heading home. In proper ghetto style we kicked it on the curb in front of the Sunkus, eatin' and drinkin'.
apple juice break @ tokyu dept store
apple juice break @ tokyu dept store
Originally uploaded by renfield
Post pee break and diaper change. She managed to pee in the toilet, which is exciting these days. Then I changed her diaper and she had a little apple juice before running out and playing with the Miki House toys. And then five minutes later she pooped. Why does she always poop AFTER I change her diaper? Well at least she didn't do it WHILE I was changing her diaper.
chocomint icecream
chocomint icecream
Originally uploaded by renfield
We did some shopping in Shibuya; bought some cool hair bands and hair clips, then got some iced tea and a chocolate chunk scone at Bucks. On the way back to the station she spied Baskin Robbins. She can't read but she know the important logos! So we had some pre-lunch mintchip icecream on the curb. And yeah, her jacket is still backwards.
funny face, jacket backwards, backpack on
funny face, jacket backwards, backpack on
Originally uploaded by renfield
I don't even know what to say. She's got a towel in one hand, Nintendo DS lite in the other (in a Penelope case). Also note that her camo and jacket and socks match. She picked the socks herself.
recently she likes wearing everything backwards
recently she likes wearing everything backwards
Originally uploaded by renfield
Jacket's on backwards. This is her latest thing. REFUSES to put it on the correct way. No idea how she comes up with this stuff.
diaper hat
diaper hat
Originally uploaded by renfield
After taking a shower,she wanted to put her diaper on...her head. Yup. Also note that her bathrobe is on backwards. Real big these days.
letters to walken
"While Artist-in-Residence at Cornell's arts dorm, I was expected to come up with stimulating art-related programs for the students to participate in. 'Letters to Walken' allowed them the chance to write their yearly Christmas letter to Christopher Walken."
korean feast for tmg
korean feast for tmg
Originally uploaded by renfield
All hail the mighty Ton-sama! This place defines ghetto: widescreen TV on the far wall playing Korean dramas or Korean soccer, mom in the kitchen, daughters waiting tables, crap service (they spend more time watching the tv than they do serving customers), greasy walls, smoky air, rickety stools and folding tables, and we were the only table that wasn't entirely Korean (we did bring a Korean though, to ensure that we ordered properly.)
AND: huge slabs of thick porky goodness, killer chijimi, best chapjae this side of Seoul, piles of kimchee on the grill to soak up all the meat drippings, kalbi so tender it melts...seven of us ate and drank until we popped for the grand total price of 21,000 yen. That's like 30 bucks a person for you Americans. Quality!
seminar
Strong turnout at the seminar: 40 people, plus Hoshina and Hashimoto and Salty to help teach.
After running through all the basics with the whole group we broke up into four blocks. I got the three 5dans.
I immediately announced "I am going to now ruin your kata", and proceeded to do just that.
We started with a basic mental exercise: for the zagi kata, is the enemy sitting butt on heels, or up on his knees? The difference in distance is about the length of the thighs, and this changes the dynamic significantly. Same thing with where and how you are sitting, too. So for example in shin, assume he is up on his knees, drawing overhead, so attack low, under the exposed right armpit. Same for ren, only he goes low so you go high. Now for sa and yu, you are sitting so he attacks on that line, but as you come up on your knees you actually clear off that line to the side, turn, and attack. Thus sa and yu and just like enyo.
More fun: musogaeshi, ryoguruma, and munazukushi are all the same footwork. Exactly the same.
Say you have your left foot forward, right foot back. Put all the weight on your left foot, then bring your right foot up to be next to your left foot. Simple.
Now do the reverse: both feet together, simply open up the right foot and move it away from the left. That's munazukushi.
Now turn right so that your right foot is forward, left foot back. Face 180 degrees to the left and bring your right foot to your left foot. That's musogaeshi. The fun bit here (the martial artsy stuff) is that the left leg, which is theoretically holding your body weight, is also turning 180 degrees, whilst the right foot moves up to come next to it. Easier said than done. But if you can figure out how to do that, ryoguruma and enyo become simple, and you start to get the difference between koshi-wo mawaru and ireru; you stop turning or rotating through a series of 180 degrees and simple face one way and then the next instant face another way. It is a much more economical way of turning that, if you are not careful, is so easy you end up overturning, especially on the second cut of ryoguruma.
After the seminar we did a quick hanseikai. So great to have Hoshina around, as she never misses anything and has been training forever (years longer than I have.) She pointed out one really key thing: we should standardize on practicing basic cuts for beginners, right foot forward and practicing yose-ashi. No real point in switching between left and right until you figure out those basics.
Expanding on that we decided we'd write up a short list of things all beginners should learn or at least recognize in their first month: kissaki agari and sagari, te-no-uchi, etc. Basic stuff but it's amazing how much things are different between groups.
After running through all the basics with the whole group we broke up into four blocks. I got the three 5dans.
I immediately announced "I am going to now ruin your kata", and proceeded to do just that.
We started with a basic mental exercise: for the zagi kata, is the enemy sitting butt on heels, or up on his knees? The difference in distance is about the length of the thighs, and this changes the dynamic significantly. Same thing with where and how you are sitting, too. So for example in shin, assume he is up on his knees, drawing overhead, so attack low, under the exposed right armpit. Same for ren, only he goes low so you go high. Now for sa and yu, you are sitting so he attacks on that line, but as you come up on your knees you actually clear off that line to the side, turn, and attack. Thus sa and yu and just like enyo.
More fun: musogaeshi, ryoguruma, and munazukushi are all the same footwork. Exactly the same.
Say you have your left foot forward, right foot back. Put all the weight on your left foot, then bring your right foot up to be next to your left foot. Simple.
Now do the reverse: both feet together, simply open up the right foot and move it away from the left. That's munazukushi.
Now turn right so that your right foot is forward, left foot back. Face 180 degrees to the left and bring your right foot to your left foot. That's musogaeshi. The fun bit here (the martial artsy stuff) is that the left leg, which is theoretically holding your body weight, is also turning 180 degrees, whilst the right foot moves up to come next to it. Easier said than done. But if you can figure out how to do that, ryoguruma and enyo become simple, and you start to get the difference between koshi-wo mawaru and ireru; you stop turning or rotating through a series of 180 degrees and simple face one way and then the next instant face another way. It is a much more economical way of turning that, if you are not careful, is so easy you end up overturning, especially on the second cut of ryoguruma.
After the seminar we did a quick hanseikai. So great to have Hoshina around, as she never misses anything and has been training forever (years longer than I have.) She pointed out one really key thing: we should standardize on practicing basic cuts for beginners, right foot forward and practicing yose-ashi. No real point in switching between left and right until you figure out those basics.
Expanding on that we decided we'd write up a short list of things all beginners should learn or at least recognize in their first month: kissaki agari and sagari, te-no-uchi, etc. Basic stuff but it's amazing how much things are different between groups.
stairs and slide
stairs and slide
Originally uploaded by renfield
After Harajuku Ton wanted to ride the slide, so we hit the park in Azabujyuban.
dessert posse
dessert posse
Originally uploaded by renfield
Post-gyoza lunch we enjoyed the reasonably ok weather by having dessert outside at cafe Anniversaire Cafe, where we got to witness two weddings, complete with trumpeter.
But first Tonchan was running up the street with her heavy backpack and lost her balance, doing a beautiful faceplant and making a nice big red bump on her forehead. Being the tough guy that she is though she quickly shook it off and was prepping for her afternoon nap.
She crashed out in my arms so I kept having to get up and go out to the sidewalk so the noise of the wedding procession wouldn't wake her up.
gyoza gang
gyoza gang
Originally uploaded by renfield
Met Newman, Jeremy, Naho, and Mari for lunch in Harajuku: quality gyoza!
fries @ homeworks
fries @ homeworks
Originally uploaded by renfield
Picked up the Ton from daycare, headed back to work to finish off some bits and bobs (and let her finish her icecream), then we headed home to drop off our stuff and got some dinner at Homeworks. She inhaled a few french fries and lotsa ketchup, peed in the toilet like a big girl, got bored, and wanted to go home. So we took most of the fries home for later consumption and headed back. P came home shortly afterward and it was bathtime and then time for bed, after a little Totoro of course.
white sesame tantanmen with roger
white sesame tantanmen with roger
Originally uploaded by renfield
Had lunch with The Roginator over in his part of downtown. He opted for the not-on-the-menu-but-you-can-order-it-if-you-know-what-to-ask-for Peking Duck Rice Bowl. I chose the above pictured stunningly mellow and delicious ramen. Not too spicy, plenty of sesame, good strong noodles: quality!
sword and phone
Got a pretty decent Tuesday evening schedule:
Leave work around 7pm.
Head to Kudan Dojo.
Help out with the cutting session.
Cut some stuff.
Come back to the office before 10pm.
Get on 10pm conference call.
Get really, really hungry.
Ignore hunger.
Walk home.
Shower.
Pajamas.
Call Sakaguchi and be told yes I did in fact forget to put my sword away but he cleaned it and locked it back into the locker for me.
Think about sitting.
Give up.
Sleep.
Tonchan kicks me in the head.
Sleep.
Tonchan pushes me off of my own pillow, steals my pillow.
Tonchan rolls off my pillow.
Steal pillow back from Tonchan.
Sleep.
Leave work around 7pm.
Head to Kudan Dojo.
Help out with the cutting session.
Cut some stuff.
Come back to the office before 10pm.
Get on 10pm conference call.
Get really, really hungry.
Ignore hunger.
Walk home.
Shower.
Pajamas.
Call Sakaguchi and be told yes I did in fact forget to put my sword away but he cleaned it and locked it back into the locker for me.
Think about sitting.
Give up.
Sleep.
Tonchan kicks me in the head.
Sleep.
Tonchan pushes me off of my own pillow, steals my pillow.
Tonchan rolls off my pillow.
Steal pillow back from Tonchan.
Sleep.
crying at the end of totoro
crying at the end of totoro
Originally uploaded by renfield
She watches Tototo at least twice a day, and cries at the end every time because she doesn't want Totoro and the Neko-bus to go away.
tonchan running in muji
tonchan running in muji
Originally uploaded by renfield
Did some wandering and shopping in Ginza; had lunch at Muji Cafe and got Ton some summer clothes. She also spent way too much time at Hakuhinkan toy store checking out the Totoro and Miffy toys and stuffed panda.
sharp sh04a
Finally upgraded my cellphone to something with a half decent camera. Sharp's SH04A sports a proper 5.2 megapixel camera with face and smile detection and all the trimmings. It also aspires to be an iPhone killer, with a beautifully large touch screen. Sadly, it being from Sharp, the interface and OS are expectedly mediocre. However it does sport a full querty keyboard, more than making up for the crappy UI. But seriously, if Sharp (and every other cell phone maker in Japan) hired a proper interface designer and could make the political decisions necessary to remove the 4579 features that are totally unnecessary, then they'd have some kickass phones.
Either way, I am happy I have 7 different ways of calling up the new email screen and I am even happier that I have an all-u-can-eat packet plan, because the browser and OS supports flash, various video formats, and Microsoft docs.
Oh, and I can watch 7 different channels of digital broadcast TV. In surround sound.
Either way, I am happy I have 7 different ways of calling up the new email screen and I am even happier that I have an all-u-can-eat packet plan, because the browser and OS supports flash, various video formats, and Microsoft docs.
Oh, and I can watch 7 different channels of digital broadcast TV. In surround sound.
new shirt from baba!
new shirt from baba!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Baba sent this cool newt-shirt, which of course Ton would not take off and slept in. Here she is post-breakfast, after having dribbled miso soup and bits of egg and ketchup on it. I think she likes the shirt. Thanks baba!
honbu
Managed to stop by Honbu for an hour or so. Salty was just finishing up his kids' class; a mom doing iai and her four kids: two girls and two boys, aged 4-9. As Salty says: "Someone ends up getting hit in the head, someone is laughing, someone is crying...but it's never boring."
After that we put on the head protectors and smacked each other around for a couple of minutes with the foam short swords; neat but not scary enough. Wood is better.
Class then started and there were way too many on the floor, so after doing a couple hundred warm-up cuts, I stepped off, changed, and went back to work to do my regularly scheduled conference call.
After that we put on the head protectors and smacked each other around for a couple of minutes with the foam short swords; neat but not scary enough. Wood is better.
Class then started and there were way too many on the floor, so after doing a couple hundred warm-up cuts, I stepped off, changed, and went back to work to do my regularly scheduled conference call.
head shaving @ kawamura with tonchan
head shaving @ kawamura with tonchan
Originally uploaded by renfield
Ton and P came with me to Barber Kawamura to see if we could cut Ton's hair. We couldn't. But I got a nice shave and Ton was relatively well-behaved checking out all the cool kit, playing with the blinds and sitting on all the chairs.
lunch @ crayon house: cold!
lunch @ crayon house: cold!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Lunch at Crayon House. Awesomely wholesome, healthy, organic buffet. However everyone else in Tokyo with kids had the same Sunday Lunch idea so it was understandably crowded. Wasn't so cold outside, but in the shade it was a bit chilly so we wrapped up the Ton in a nice blanket and poured warm miso soup into her nose.
muji apple juice
muji apple juice
Originally uploaded by renfield
A little shopping in Shibuya; hit Muji to get some ladels for the kitchen, took a little apple juice break, then walked up to Omotesando for lunch...
flipping pancakes
flipping pancakes
Originally uploaded by renfield
Tonchan earns her keep by helping to make breakfast. After cracking an egg into a bowl and beating it, she poured in soy milk and pancake mix and mixed it all up. She let P do the actual pancake cooking, but Ton was the pro flipper, launching many a saucer into the air.
dolphin jump
dolphin jump
Originally uploaded by renfield
Since we were alrady in Shinagawa, we headed over to the aquarium and checked out the most excellent dolphin show. Way, way too loud with the stupid music and dancing girls, but the fish were most excellent. Tonchan got a bit freaked out by the music and noise, but watching the dolphins jump and swim was awesome.
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