From where i sit

I can see the mountains in the distance, and the sea of buildings that stretches from here to there. I can see the clouds and i can only assume that the clouds can see me. We all paused to watch a helicopter roar past . What bliss it is to be able to travel in three dimensions.

Ulala is slightly mad at me. Or was. Maybe she isn`t any more but i won`t know until she gets home from work. I am already home from work because there were only two lessons available today. These two unfortunate facts about my current reality stress me out far more than they probably should. Ulala will almost surely be fine by the time she gets home (our dispute was miniscule and inane and - of course - my fault) and lesson numbers go up and down like my own personal stock market (but it`s the not-knowing that largely causes the stress).

So this afternoon i will see Michelle (who is just ending a brief but awesome visit on her way back from Bali) off at the airport bus and then i will plan lessons, practice mixing (DJing - not tending bar), and most likely do housework and whatever else i can do to distract myself from worry (including blogging). I need a switch somewhere that disconnects the stress circuit in my brain and ceases these constant fantasies of personal terror that plague my idle mind. Unnecessary? Yes. Melodramatic? Definitely. So why the hell does my brain do it? Meh.

I started a new project the other day. As if i don`t have enough hobbies already. It has already fallen by the wayside. It was an idea that i can`t remember why i had. The plan was that for the month of June i would take pictures - one a day - of whatever and glue them in a book. Underneath them i would write a line or two that impressed me from a song. This project lasted exactly two days. On the 3rd day i looked at the photos (one of Ulala`s feet while she was sleeping and one of an underground walkway here in Osaka that has crazy lighting) and i looked at the song lyrics underneath and realized that these things had no connection, nothing to join them but they paper they were on. I`m not really sure if my goal was art or journalistic or a need for creative outlet or what. Perhaps it was just some weird arts and crafts flashback from childhood, when making things didn`t need a point. Now i have this mostly empty notebook with two pictures and a couple of song lyrics in it and the really weird thing is that I don`t want to throw it out! I have somehow become attached to this misguided, not-quite-creative brain-burp. All the more reason to toss it.

Also, while wandering around downtown yesterday with the girls we came across this punk-puppy. Now i have a whole new way to define the word awesome.

Guinness The Large

Well it`s been a busy month and continues to be so. Alas, i find little time to post on the blog. Meh. Michelle is visiting for a couple of days on her way to and from Bali, i have a DJ gig coming up on June 7th at Zerro with fellow Canadian Gerry Belanger, owner and operator of Nice and Smooth records (check out "Solazul" if you can - they`re awesome), and work is keeping me happily busy with lessons and projects and a crazy swiss-cheese schedule ( i make use of my vast amounts of train riding time to read the latest Chuck Klosterman book or study Japanese). You`ll hear no complaints from me. Life is good. =)

So for now i`ll just post these pictures of Guinness, my family`s puppy. I`ve put a couple pics from his first week at home (in January) and then more current pics sent to me by mom. He`s only a few months old but look how much he`s grown in that time!!!! Insane!!! He`s like one of those "just-add-water" creatures! And he just keeps growing! Look for "The Dog That Ate Toronto" in theatres in the future...

Back Ho`z in my `Hood

These two Hoes (sans pimp) have been busy at work on the next block making a helluva racket. I have named them Myrtle and Skeezy Jane. They`re off work for a few days for Golden Week thankfully. Meh. When whatever is planned for the space starts going up i figure the noise will only get worse. But i have more or less gotten used to the constant sound of construction here in our little busy corner of urban Japan. It never stops here. At any time i can see a minimum of half a dozen cranes from any side of this building. Amazing.
Haven`t blogged in a while since i haven`t been feeling very good (physically, that is) and have been busy working as well. More to blog later this month, no doubt. =)

R2-D2 - Laundry Version

So we got a new laundry machine a couple weeks ago and it is AWSEOME. It`s one of those fancy washer dryer combo units. Yup, i`m domesticated. But with this thing i have no complaints. Except that Ulala won`t let me use the dryer every time. I tried to tell her that it`s spelled launDRY but she didn`t go for it... Meh. This thing has a ton of settings and i have to study a bunch of kanji characters just to be able to start it. And it sings a little song as it starts up, then another little digi-tune when it finishes. Funny thing is that it`s designed for Japanese houses with no space and limited options for venting so there is no vent for the hot air! How weird is that? As a result the drying takes a long time but the machine never really gets hot. Washers with dryers in them, cell phones with cameras in them, digital personal organizers that do just about EVERYTHING! The future is now, people!! Now if you`ll excuse me, i think i`m going to do some laundry.

Ulala in Kimono

Lots of posts today. While i`m at it i thought i would post these pictures of Ulala in her full kimono. She went to her cousin`s wedding a couple weeks ago and everyone in the close family was dressed traditionally (or at least very formally). She had to go to a special kimono shop just to have them help her get dressed! and then had to go to a hair salon and get her hair done in "kimono style," which near as i can tell just means fancy up with some flowers (don`t get me wrong - it looked great). All this cost a small fortune, not including the gift money for the bride and groom! Yikes! But she tells me the wedding was beautiful and well worth it all. I didn`t go because i was at owrk (and i don`t really know her cousin at all).

Plum Blossoms

Before there are sakura (cherry blossoms) there are the ume no hana (plum blossoms. They are the hope that winter is ending and Spring is almost here. I actually took these pictures weeks ago but forgot to post them. Oops. These trees are located at the shrine where (most likely) Ulala and i will have our wedding, Ikutama-jinja. So i wrote a haiku:

Time passes so quickly,
Are they plum or cherry blossoms
That make my love smile?

The Little Shrine

These pictures are of a tiny (and i mean TINY!) little shrine right outside my Japanese teacher`s school. The shrine is well maintained and elegant in its simplicity but just REALLY SMALL! So i used the close-up on my camera and tried to get some nice pictures.