Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Off into the great blue yonder again...

Well, Ulala and i take off tomorroow morning foor Vancouver (via Beijing) so i may or may not be able to post until i get to Ontario in a couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who came to the BBQ! it was awesome! i`ll post lots of pictures of all the things i keep meaning to post about from Canada, as well as lots of pictures of Canada! stay tuned! if anyone needs to reach me, they can contact me through my g-mail account. Thank you to everyone i have known in Japan. It has been an amazing 3 1/2 years! See most of you again in January!

-ian.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Oh, Doctor...

two best lines in a TV show in recent memory, both from the latest episode of the new Doctor Who series "Blink".
Good work, Mr. Moffat (the writer).

1) "Just go to the police! The police, you stupid girl! Why doesn`t anyone ever just go to the police?" said by a DVD store clerk talking to the television in his shop, unaware of the relevance of his comment to the larger story.

2) "This... This is my Timey Wimey detector. It goes Ding when there`s stuff. Also it can boil an egg at thirty paces... whether you want to or not actrually, so i try to stay away from hens..." said of course by The Doctor himself while stuck in the past.

maybe you have to see the show to understand...

Monday, June 4, 2007

The Plan

This is copied from a mass e-mail i sent out to friends a few minutes ago. I`m posting it here since there are so many people whose e-mail adresses i simply don`t have. This is particularly at those who read the Facebook "notes."


"Ian and Ulala do Canada Plan"

June 28th my fiancee (Ulala) and i will fly to Vancouver where we will
spend a little over a week. Then it is on to Montreal on July 9th
for three nights. We will arrive in Ontario on Friday, July 13th via
Via (that`s a Candian joke and not a very good one, sorry!). Just
in time for the Warney Family Barbecue in Morriston on July 15th ( i
will be the only one there actually named Warney - but that`s a long
story...). Then we stay a couple weeks in Ontario and after that the
family and Ulala and i are doing a two week road trip to Quebec and
the East Coast. And after
we get back (around August 12th or 14th) THEN i will be in Ontario until
probably the end of September (or mid-October possibly), when Ulala
and i will go down to Argentina (yes, you read that correctly) for two
or three months to study Spanish ("mucho gusto!") and live la vie da
loca proper in Buenos Aires. And after THAT we will be back in Japan
after briefly passing back through Ontario for maybe a week (probably
about mid-January 2008 or so). Phewf!!

Any questions? please feel free to e-mail and i would love to see any
and all of you during this time if possible! Also, if you know people
who aren`t on this list (and there are a lot unfortunately) PLEASE
tell them!!! THANK YOU!!

AND there will be some kind of reunion party extravaganza in Toronto
at some point during our stay there but i am as yet unclear about the
details so i will mail again when i know more (ie date and place).

SEE YOU SOON (i hope!)!!!!!

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Well, it`s Birthday Season again...

Coinciding nicely with Rainy Season here in Japan, Birthday Season is in full effect. Starting off with Ulala`s grandmother`s 88th (!) birthday party at the Ritz Carlton (oh yeah!). Then there`s my own lovely mother (June 2nd). Happy Birthday Mom!!!! After that we have Mike Wilson (June 4th), Kazuki Sasa, Ulala`s brother (June 5th), Darrel Brewer (June 6th), the lovely and talented Ashley Cooper (June 7th), Kasumi "My-baby-will-be-born-later-this-month-also" Nishimoto (June 8th), Our Lady of Wales Mairwen Balsten and Goto Ryoji (June 10th), The quadruple-shock of fame and fortune: Malcolm MacDowell, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and little ol` me (June 13th - i have always kept good company), Janis McCallen (June 17th), Matthew Anaka (June 19th), Darin Lee (June 22nd), Ben Howden and Little Miss TripleByPass Emi Shimada (June 23rd), Ulala`s father Shinichi Sasa (june 25th), Madeline McDaniel (June 26th), Madeline`s daughter Katherine and Canada (July 1st), David Wiggins (June 5th), Grace Main (July 7th), Bryan McDaniel (July 8th), and Marjorie Crosbie (July 10th). And those are just the ones written in my calendar! I`m sure there are others i have inadvertently ommited! Not to mention August! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!! Have a great day and a great year!!

Here is a picture from Ulala`s grandmother`s 88th birthday (which is a pretty big deal in Japan since 8 is a lucky number and 88 years is a pretty awesome acheivement in any culture).