Shoe on my Head (profile photo)

`Nuff Said...


i`m using this post to put up profile photos:

Robbie Burns Day

I almost forgot to say HAPPY ROBBIE BURNS DAY!!! And, while i can`t find nor eat a fine Scottish Haggis in JapanLand to honour this occasion, i will quote one of Burns` less known works, "Address to a Haggis." Enjoy!

Address To A Haggis

1786

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a' yet tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin was help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin', rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit! hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad make her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckles as wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
His nieve a nit;
Thro' blody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,
Like taps o' trissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!


quoted from Robbie Burns.org

so much blog, so little time...

So i was cruising around the internet taking a look at some other blogs last night because i couldn`t sleep (again) and i`ve come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people out there with entirely too much time on their hands. this is no great and shocking revelation, of course, but the real irony is that many of the more interesting blogs (and often the longer entries) are largely about how busy people are and how crazy their lives are and how they barely have time to hold it all together. how then are these people miraculously able to find time to write 1000 word entires into their blog every day or so?!?! i too am busy. today is my day off and my to do list has run off the page and i`ve had to write the last few items on the reverse side of the paper! admittedly most of these things are the inane day-to-day crap that has piled up over the last week or so and which i must now waste my only day off this week doing so that next week isn`t a miserable quagmire of chaos, but one of the things on that list is "blog". it`s down near the bottom, squeezed in under "laundry" (which probably won`t happen) and "return DVDs" (which i didn`t watch). but after seeing that other people with far more chaotic lives than mine could somehow pinch that extra few minutes out of their day to write about their urinary tract infection (that was a weird one) or their latest attempt to juggle two kids, a job and an active dating life, I`ve decided that i too should be able to stick to my new years resolution of sorts and write my blog. and what of the myriad things not done today because i was distracted by the glory that is the internet? well, laundry will just have to wait, i suppose. if i wear each pair of socks twice this week i just might make it...


That`ll do, Brain. That`ll do....

nothing

i saw this quotation on another blog and i laughed so hard it hurt.

Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.

- Robert Benchley


the other blog was http://drifterquotes.blogspot.com/

full of great quotations to make you laugh and think. dangerous stuff.

1%

i didn`t realize this until a few minutes ago but today is also the 11th anniversary of the big Kobe Earthquake. Ulala and i watched it on the news and i was reminded of how easily all you have can be taken away and how lucky i have been in my life so far. this past year was marked largely by tragedy and disaster around the world. i read an article in one of teh English magazines here that raised an interesting idea. 1%. donate just 1% of your monthly salary to a worthwhile charity or disaster relief effort. it seems like nothing but in fact is something. and when you have nothing (as so many other people do) anything is something. for me it will mean about 2500yen a month ($25 US). not much, really, but considering that one shelter to last the winter in Kashmir (which suffered a horrible earthquake, in case you have somehow managed to avoid that piece of news) is about 3500yen ($35 US) or that one child can eat for a month for about 3000yen, it really is SOMETHING. after a year that monthly contribution will add up to about 30000yen (about $300 US) or more. not too much, but something, none the less. get a couple of freinds to join in the fun and it can add up quite quickly. think about it.

you can read the original article at Kansai Scene`s website: http://www.kansaiscene.com

time flies...

so it`s the 17th of January here in Japan and i almost forgot all about this blog. ...again. hehehe, oops.

so Happy New Year to all!! i did diddly squat on my New Years Eve. and you know what? i LIKED it!! last year my gf and i did the whole clubbing thing and it was just too crowded and too crazy. i am so old now... the year before that we went to Todaiji temple in Nara to see the second largest bronze Buddha in Japan. it is one of my favorite places in Japan and i have been there many times. it was especially moving to be there on New Years Eve at midnight. i was impressed by the fact that there were thousands of people there and it still retained a strong sense of the spirituality and some tranquility. there were children playing and laughing, a baby or two crying, old ladies pushing people and families about (that happens a lot in Japan) and even two guys with megaphones down by the gate keeping the line of people orderly. Despite all of this, or maybe somehow because of it, there was a sense of peace and uplifting within the temple. this is something i find at many Japanese temples and shrines, despite being major tourist attractions. not always, but usually.

and on that note, i`m off to work.