Reporting from Cambodia. Loving it, a little perplexed, certainly culture-shocked (and preparing for the second half of the punch come home and the whirlwind of weddings and welcomes and whatnot that constitutes a return!)
We spent the last two days at and around the Angkor Wat complex, including getting up at a positively ungodly hour to watch sunrise... the sky was beautiful: cornflower blue and golden blending around the wispy grey smoke of the clouds, the towers (one of which was all scaffolded for maintenance) a dark contrast against the sky.
The food is good, we are meeting tons of interesting people... and we are running out of time at our internet cafe so... so long and safe journey.
Until Canada! ♥
Take care.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
- dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free -
Well. I kind of disappeared there for a while there, hey? Getting ready to leave and not getting ready to leave takes a lot of energy! Plus, there's that whole being eaten alive by the hijinks of baseball season in Japan. That said -
...high school baseball tournaments are a lot more awesome than I'd figured they would be! I never got into the sports scene at school after junior high - taekwondo was extracurricular and in uni I was a lazy bump on a log (with the exception of the swing dancing/hip hop classes) - but, dude.
My feet are sunburned, I have a shwackload of amateurish pictures and I got up at 7 on a Saturday to sit with the brass band as we carted off to the prefectural stadium, but I don't regret a second of it. My students are awesome and fun and dorky and I finally get why the Big Bads in TV/movies/whatever always attack high schools, particularly if they're the type that feeds on energy.
It's not so much the short skirts or the crazy fashion or the sheer fact that everyone is beautiful and passionate in a way that even most people my age have forgotten to be.
They've got so much energy and potential that it's staggering. I didn't think the young man who is our pitcher was capable of moving as fast as he does; he always sleeps in my class!
As last memories go, baseball's a great one. ^_~
(...HOLY GOD, in a month I'll be back in Canada, wearing a bridesmaid's dress and worryingly unemployed!)
To distract myself from that sobering thought, I curled up under the A/C and watched "Waitress" - the Keri Russell/Captain Mal Nathan Fillion movie from a few years back. I can safely say I've watched pie porn (and a damn fine movie.) The opening sequence alone is gorgeous; if pie could be romanticized, it certainly was. It's a quirky, honest, bittersweet movie - kind of in the vein of "Amelie." So if you liked Audrey Tautou's meanderings, you'd probably like this. ^^
Also, check out this awesome flower! Something tells me it's called a passion flower; at first glance I just thought it was stunning, its tendrils and leaves tumbling over the grey stone fence a beautiful contrast. But if you look closer it's almost alien.
(And I clearly have spent too much time in the sun today, yeah?)
That's all from the peanut gallery. Take care, everyone. ♥
...high school baseball tournaments are a lot more awesome than I'd figured they would be! I never got into the sports scene at school after junior high - taekwondo was extracurricular and in uni I was a lazy bump on a log (with the exception of the swing dancing/hip hop classes) - but, dude.
My feet are sunburned, I have a shwackload of amateurish pictures and I got up at 7 on a Saturday to sit with the brass band as we carted off to the prefectural stadium, but I don't regret a second of it. My students are awesome and fun and dorky and I finally get why the Big Bads in TV/movies/whatever always attack high schools, particularly if they're the type that feeds on energy.
It's not so much the short skirts or the crazy fashion or the sheer fact that everyone is beautiful and passionate in a way that even most people my age have forgotten to be.
They've got so much energy and potential that it's staggering. I didn't think the young man who is our pitcher was capable of moving as fast as he does; he always sleeps in my class!
As last memories go, baseball's a great one. ^_~
(...HOLY GOD, in a month I'll be back in Canada, wearing a bridesmaid's dress and worryingly unemployed!)
To distract myself from that sobering thought, I curled up under the A/C and watched "Waitress" - the Keri Russell/
Also, check out this awesome flower! Something tells me it's called a passion flower; at first glance I just thought it was stunning, its tendrils and leaves tumbling over the grey stone fence a beautiful contrast. But if you look closer it's almost alien.
(And I clearly have spent too much time in the sun today, yeah?)
That's all from the peanut gallery. Take care, everyone. ♥
Friday, June 13, 2008
- stand beneath my window with your bugle and your drum -
I think I have a case of senioritis - the last two months of my time here should not be the hardest ones. It's no longer freezing. If only for that.
Maybe I have too much time to think.
The fortune-stick I pulled from a Kamakura shrine yesterday spelled out that good fortune was headed my way - that, and to keep walking forward, watch my mouth, listen to my friends about love, be ready for a mild illness, and study my language harder. (English? Japanese? Both, probably.)
...okay. ^_~
I like Kamakura a ton - it may be my favorite place in Japan right now. Chill in places, crazy in others, with lush and winding backstreets
leading to art museums and well-tended shrines and okonomiyaki stands. I think it's my Japanese Jasper.
Even if, realistically, the two places do not look at all the same, they feel the same, somehow. (Though, tourist-wise, Kamakura's probably closer in density to Banff.)
I learned okonomiyaki-fu yesterday (the trick, it seems, is to mix like hell and then to cook it on each side for five minutes) - I will be seriously wounded if I can't find okonomiyaki back in Canada but considering I didn't even know what it was before coming here, odds are not too good. I tried a hydrangea-sweet potato pudding
(it was an odd sort of sweet and definitely not for everyone but I can see myself craving it in a year's time and doing everything in my power to find or replicate it.)
I also found a new favorite painting - "Asasuzu"; a young girl in violet in the midst of a field - the artist, Kaburaki Kiyotaka, was a local to Kamakura, and his work (in what was his house and is now a converted art museum on a positively gorgeous side street) is beautiful.
I bailed out on dancing - my feet were protesting, I was oddly tired (getting old! yikes!) and I was carrying way too many souvenirs (an inevitability of traveling in Japan; plus, I'm starting to amass "going home" gifts... scary!)
I miss my home in Canada and my family&friends a ton right now, but I'm not going to back down or complain (much.) 'Cause a chance like the one I'm living is once-in-a-lifetime, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that the precious people in your life stick by you even when you tromp off halfway around the globe in pursuit of a childish dream and fueled by a youthful curiosity.
If you're reading this, it's more than likely I owe you a serious thank you; you're one of them. ♥
Maybe I have too much time to think.
The fortune-stick I pulled from a Kamakura shrine yesterday spelled out that good fortune was headed my way - that, and to keep walking forward, watch my mouth, listen to my friends about love, be ready for a mild illness, and study my language harder. (English? Japanese? Both, probably.)...okay. ^_~
I like Kamakura a ton - it may be my favorite place in Japan right now. Chill in places, crazy in others, with lush and winding backstreets
leading to art museums and well-tended shrines and okonomiyaki stands. I think it's my Japanese Jasper.Even if, realistically, the two places do not look at all the same, they feel the same, somehow. (Though, tourist-wise, Kamakura's probably closer in density to Banff.)
I learned okonomiyaki-fu yesterday (the trick, it seems, is to mix like hell and then to cook it on each side for five minutes) - I will be seriously wounded if I can't find okonomiyaki back in Canada but considering I didn't even know what it was before coming here, odds are not too good. I tried a hydrangea-sweet potato pudding
(it was an odd sort of sweet and definitely not for everyone but I can see myself craving it in a year's time and doing everything in my power to find or replicate it.)I also found a new favorite painting - "Asasuzu"; a young girl in violet in the midst of a field - the artist, Kaburaki Kiyotaka, was a local to Kamakura, and his work (in what was his house and is now a converted art museum on a positively gorgeous side street) is beautiful.
I bailed out on dancing - my feet were protesting, I was oddly tired (getting old! yikes!) and I was carrying way too many souvenirs (an inevitability of traveling in Japan; plus, I'm starting to amass "going home" gifts... scary!)
I miss my home in Canada and my family&friends a ton right now, but I'm not going to back down or complain (much.) 'Cause a chance like the one I'm living is once-in-a-lifetime, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that the precious people in your life stick by you even when you tromp off halfway around the globe in pursuit of a childish dream and fueled by a youthful curiosity.
If you're reading this, it's more than likely I owe you a serious thank you; you're one of them. ♥
Thursday, May 29, 2008
- two drifters, off to see the world -
a thought -
'Lady,' he says, 'we do not need your truths but your fiction - if you're any good, perhaps you can trickle in some sort of truth, but spare us your real feelings.'
...Hmmm. Her unnamed magician may have a solid point.
(You don't want to know my "real feelings" right now; suffice that they are dancing around the desire to dangle humanity by its collective shoelaces out of a convenient window. Off to hermit. Back in a week.)
....that muttered, the above is an excellent, evocative, dense, beautiful book. Even if I'm faintly mad at it for spoiling the end of The Great Gatsby for me, serves me right for not reading the latter earlier in life. Definitely recommended.
- Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
...Hmmm. Her unnamed magician may have a solid point.
(You don't want to know my "real feelings" right now; suffice that they are dancing around the desire to dangle humanity by its collective shoelaces out of a convenient window. Off to hermit. Back in a week.)
....that muttered, the above is an excellent, evocative, dense, beautiful book. Even if I'm faintly mad at it for spoiling the end of The Great Gatsby for me, serves me right for not reading the latter earlier in life. Definitely recommended.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
- so you were born in an electrical storm -
...okay, as if the massive earthquakes recently aren't enough, it has to be cold enough to see my breath today? I'm anything but impressed at the weather conditions, but liking the brilliant pink flowers lining all the hedges in town - they're gorgeous! I haven't been lucky (?) enough to be gifted with one yet, but they make the blur that is bicycling to school as fast as possible because there are three minutes until the bell goes and I'm supposed to be the grownup here just that bit brighter.
If you hadn't figured it out by now, I kind of have this ongoing love affair with spring.
It's not just the rebirth/new life tropes, nor the fact that my birthday's on the cusp of winterspring, nor the fact that the vampire-days are past (no more going home in the dark when it's 4 PM!)... ah, sunshine. Yeah, maybe I was a plant in a past life. ^_~
It must have been a good life, 'cause I sure moved up on the chain.
...okay, muse and myth and allusion aside, it has been a good life, lately. The Malaysia/Singapore trip was amazing - relaxing and challenging all at once. Not least was that I tried snorkelling! Diving into open water with some flimsy Technicolour chunks of rubber and an adapted ski mask and saying "go! have fun! breathe!" ... well, okay, I flailed at first. Large bodies of water and I have a history. But I quickly grew to love the new perception that said adapted ski mask granted me, and wished there could have been more time for it!)
Coming back to Japan each time is different - this was one of the more jarring reunions, and yet I could say "ah, home..." with only the tiniest of smirks. It is home; it's like the song goes;
...this could be the very moment i'm aware i'm alive
all these places feel like home
with a name i've never chosen
i could make my first steps...
...and so it's not a perfect fit - I'm not yet twenty-five, not least - but I've liked the tonality of "chocolate" for years.
Ibaraki - for all its quirks - has become home. It's still definitely a place that sets my head to spinning, but seeing past the prettiness of a place and still letting it claim a corner of your heart (or head, or pocketbook, or all three) is to me a key part of making something a home, not just a place. Looking twice.
That was an idea that worked at the street performers' festival that I ended up at last Saturday. At first, the rain and cold lent the streets an almost-dirge-like sobriety; certainly not the regular mood at any Japanese festival I'd ever attended! Still, as the three of us became six became four and lights winked on, unsurprisingly, the best performers emerged.
Living statues and steampunk stiltsmen and gorgeous firedancers and comical dancers... masks and hashi twirled (around faces, around yakisoba)... oh, we were freezing, and it took until half-past-midnight for my toes to feel normal again. But smiles grew as we searched for the troubadour duo from earlier. With a wink and a laugh we became part of their act, two of our number dancing to the accordionist's tune, her dancer weaving his way around them and playing the smaller, warmer, collegiate crowd. By day there was separation - by night we all became a little bit of a spectacle. A bit of a wonder.
And then quiet talk and laughter and thought over oolong tea and the (second!) best risotto I've had in Japan... oh, it was an unexpected day, but a good one.
This week is going far too quickly; hard to believe I only have two days of classes left; that I have only ten weeks - ten weeks! - of classes left; two more to travel, then on a plane and back to Canada.
HOLY MAN.
So maybe it's like the other song goes;
laying in bed tonight i was thinking and i was listening
to all the dogs, and the sirens, and the shots
and how a careful man tries to dodge the bullets
while a happy man takes a walk
and maybe it's time to live.
If you hadn't figured it out by now, I kind of have this ongoing love affair with spring.
It's not just the rebirth/new life tropes, nor the fact that my birthday's on the cusp of winterspring, nor the fact that the vampire-days are past (no more going home in the dark when it's 4 PM!)... ah, sunshine. Yeah, maybe I was a plant in a past life. ^_~
It must have been a good life, 'cause I sure moved up on the chain.
...okay, muse and myth and allusion aside, it has been a good life, lately. The Malaysia/Singapore trip was amazing - relaxing and challenging all at once. Not least was that I tried snorkelling! Diving into open water with some flimsy Technicolour chunks of rubber and an adapted ski mask and saying "go! have fun! breathe!" ... well, okay, I flailed at first. Large bodies of water and I have a history. But I quickly grew to love the new perception that said adapted ski mask granted me, and wished there could have been more time for it!)
Coming back to Japan each time is different - this was one of the more jarring reunions, and yet I could say "ah, home..." with only the tiniest of smirks. It is home; it's like the song goes;
...this could be the very moment i'm aware i'm alive
all these places feel like home
with a name i've never chosen
i could make my first steps...
...and so it's not a perfect fit - I'm not yet twenty-five, not least - but I've liked the tonality of "chocolate" for years.
Ibaraki - for all its quirks - has become home. It's still definitely a place that sets my head to spinning, but seeing past the prettiness of a place and still letting it claim a corner of your heart (or head, or pocketbook, or all three) is to me a key part of making something a home, not just a place. Looking twice.
That was an idea that worked at the street performers' festival that I ended up at last Saturday. At first, the rain and cold lent the streets an almost-dirge-like sobriety; certainly not the regular mood at any Japanese festival I'd ever attended! Still, as the three of us became six became four and lights winked on, unsurprisingly, the best performers emerged.
Living statues and steampunk stiltsmen and gorgeous firedancers and comical dancers... masks and hashi twirled (around faces, around yakisoba)... oh, we were freezing, and it took until half-past-midnight for my toes to feel normal again. But smiles grew as we searched for the troubadour duo from earlier. With a wink and a laugh we became part of their act, two of our number dancing to the accordionist's tune, her dancer weaving his way around them and playing the smaller, warmer, collegiate crowd. By day there was separation - by night we all became a little bit of a spectacle. A bit of a wonder.
And then quiet talk and laughter and thought over oolong tea and the (second!) best risotto I've had in Japan... oh, it was an unexpected day, but a good one.
This week is going far too quickly; hard to believe I only have two days of classes left; that I have only ten weeks - ten weeks! - of classes left; two more to travel, then on a plane and back to Canada.
HOLY MAN.
So maybe it's like the other song goes;
laying in bed tonight i was thinking and i was listening
to all the dogs, and the sirens, and the shots
and how a careful man tries to dodge the bullets
while a happy man takes a walk
and maybe it's time to live.
... p.s.: you rock my world, you know. ♥
Sunday, April 20, 2008
- i started getting dizzy about a hundred feet up -
lskdjfal;jfsa.
...okay, it just felt like a keysmash moment. Some days, I need that to get started.
It's been a good weekend - a busy weekend, not quite the weekend I expected (but then again, is it ever?)
I'd forgotten how much fun it could be to be one of the guys. Hijinks and taxi rides and dance contests and taking a picture with Mito's finest. Entirely voluntary, and no, there was no trouble had. ^_~
Not to mention that at one point in the evening we were dancing the Macarena in Japan, what (but so glad that we did) and walking back on the knife-edge of dawn - stories woven and remembered as we stumbled and danced along. Tequila shots and tacky strobe lights. Being hit on while wearing a costume. Not wearing a costume. Swing-spinning with a grin 'til I could barely stand one second; switching hips and being very not one-of-the-guys the next - being sister and curio and storyteller and friend, often in the same moment.
I've been using this snapshot-y style above a lot in recent entries; sorry it's so snippety, but my memory seems to work best that way... plus, nobody's here to read an epic.
Still, to think that that was only the latter half of the evening; I don't think anyone (the staff of the bowling alley not least!) will forget in the near future the sight of thirty-odd JETs descending on the lanes guised as go-go girls and superheroes and personas from dreams and nightmares and music videos. I never actually got around to the bowling part, but it was a fantastic chance to catch up with everyone and take some truly awesome purikura pictures... I think we might have broken the machine with our showstopping gorgeousness. Or it could just have been the purple tights.
Hahaha, purple tights. Now those were epic.
And then add shopping and ramen and blooms on my orchid and driving adventures and letters from home and thoughtful friends and new posters for my wall and a pretty dress for Malaysia -- to which I depart in SIX DAYS! -- wow. Yeah. Good times.
Take care and rock on, everyone. ♥
And because this song kind of begged to be shared:
i made claypaper wings, think they'll carry me a while
i left you a love poem, the best that i've written
my favorite words were the ones i couldn't spell
they say that i'm a lunatic, they say that i'm full of it
i say that it's worth dreaming just for the dream of it
it's all about passion it's all about perception
(don't call me on my cell phone 'cause there ain't no reception)
- journey of the featherless - cloud cult
holy man, I love this song right now. ♥ go. listen. now!
...okay, it just felt like a keysmash moment. Some days, I need that to get started.
It's been a good weekend - a busy weekend, not quite the weekend I expected (but then again, is it ever?)
I'd forgotten how much fun it could be to be one of the guys. Hijinks and taxi rides and dance contests and taking a picture with Mito's finest. Entirely voluntary, and no, there was no trouble had. ^_~
Not to mention that at one point in the evening we were dancing the Macarena in Japan, what (but so glad that we did) and walking back on the knife-edge of dawn - stories woven and remembered as we stumbled and danced along. Tequila shots and tacky strobe lights. Being hit on while wearing a costume. Not wearing a costume. Swing-spinning with a grin 'til I could barely stand one second; switching hips and being very not one-of-the-guys the next - being sister and curio and storyteller and friend, often in the same moment.
I've been using this snapshot-y style above a lot in recent entries; sorry it's so snippety, but my memory seems to work best that way... plus, nobody's here to read an epic.
Still, to think that that was only the latter half of the evening; I don't think anyone (the staff of the bowling alley not least!) will forget in the near future the sight of thirty-odd JETs descending on the lanes guised as go-go girls and superheroes and personas from dreams and nightmares and music videos. I never actually got around to the bowling part, but it was a fantastic chance to catch up with everyone and take some truly awesome purikura pictures... I think we might have broken the machine with our showstopping gorgeousness. Or it could just have been the purple tights.
Hahaha, purple tights. Now those were epic.
And then add shopping and ramen and blooms on my orchid and driving adventures and letters from home and thoughtful friends and new posters for my wall and a pretty dress for Malaysia -- to which I depart in SIX DAYS! -- wow. Yeah. Good times.
Take care and rock on, everyone. ♥
And because this song kind of begged to be shared:
i left you a love poem, the best that i've written
my favorite words were the ones i couldn't spell
they say that i'm a lunatic, they say that i'm full of it
i say that it's worth dreaming just for the dream of it
it's all about passion it's all about perception
(don't call me on my cell phone 'cause there ain't no reception)
- journey of the featherless - cloud cult
holy man, I love this song right now. ♥ go. listen. now!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
- tumbling like an echo -
this place is haunted
when it rains
(rattling cans and creaking doors, though none are open)
water curtains my windows
and the walls shiver
(explode or implode; would there be a difference?)
leave the light on
when it rains
and the stove
(create something like serenity)
create a sort of vigil
for the mourning of the sky.
...if my bicycle has not floated away by morning, it will be a surprise.
when it rains
(rattling cans and creaking doors, though none are open)
water curtains my windows
and the walls shiver
(explode or implode; would there be a difference?)
leave the light on
when it rains
and the stove
(create something like serenity)
create a sort of vigil
for the mourning of the sky.
...if my bicycle has not floated away by morning, it will be a surprise.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
- use your hips as fodder, still putting your best foot forward -
Music meme, because it felt faintly like let's-lay-my-soul-on-a-marble-slab time. (Morbidity? Me? Surely you jest.) Honestly, though, enjoy the tunes and sorry about all the videos. ^_~
1. What are you listening to right now?
"Starlight" - Muse. One of my running songs - I love that it's warm enough outside that I can go running now!
2. What song makes you sad?
"Brick" - Ben Folds Five, "Passage" - Vienna Teng (never fails), "God of Wine" - Third Eye Blind. Also, Suzanne Vega's "The Queen and the Soldier" made me cry the first time I heard it.
3. What is the most annoying song in the world?
"Last Christmas" - Wham. IF I HAVE TO SING IT AT KARAOKE ONE MORE TIME THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
4. Your all time favourite band?
I don't have one, really. U2, maybe? Dylan? Cohen? Stars? Stones?
5. Your newly discovered band is?
Rip Slyme. ...I want to hang out with these guys. ♥ Their songs sound like summer, they look like great fun dorks, and the smiles on them~!
6. Best female voice?
Right now, I'm hung up on Regina Spektor. Amy Millan's whiskey-honey whisper changed my University years. No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani's sugar-shrapnel energy embodied my childhood. ...none of these are "pretty" voices, oddly enough.
7. Best male voice?
A part of me will always love Johnny Rzenik (Goo Goo Dolls). Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Lee, and Damien Rice also come to mind.
8. Music types you find yourself listening to most?
Contemporary (and less so) folk. Singer-songwriters. Sunny j-pop. Jazz. Upbeat rock. Indie rock/pop. Electronica. Dorkpop (Say Hi To Your Mom, Jonathan Coulton, et al.)
9. What do you listen to, to hype you up?
As of late, Jimmy Eat World's "Praise Chorus." Yeah, I know. Emowhut? ^_~ "Hey Pretty" by Poe. Muse. Interpol. The mod-Brits (Franz, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, etc.) OH AND ALSO!
...Los Campesinos! for the win. ♥
10. What do you listen to when you want to calm down?
I think her name is Tori Amos. Also - anything with prominent use of the piano and/or acoustic guitar. Typical girl, I know. ♥
11. Last gig/concert you went to?
Aside from the random street performers in Japan... the Killers and Hot Hot Heat?
12. Band you find yourself listening to the most right now.
A ton of Iron and Wine - if you haven't discovered the brilliance that is Sam Beam yet, I strongly encourage a listen! Also some Rufus Wainwright and the Weakerthans.
13. Most hated band?
...Why expend energy you could use to love another band?
14. Song that makes you think?
"In An Aeroplane Over The Sea" - Neutral Milk Hotel ... in so many ways, this is my life in Japan.although I maybe like the Matt Pond PA version better, "soulless" or not though it might be, this gives you the idea, and is the original. So.
And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me
What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anne's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees
15. Band that you think the world should love as much as you do?
Spoon!
16. Coolest music video?
"Californication" - RHCP. It's got everything - game mode, giant dragonflies, rampant car chases, limited armageddon, deus ex machina like you wouldn't believe, and Anthony Kiedis. Everything save what question number 17 is looking for! Again with the Regina for "Fidelity" (I love the black/white -->colour! of it), and Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution" is phenomenal, even if I can't watch it without being spooked for weeks.
17. Music video with the most babe watch?
Let's go for playful instead of provocative. Tokyo Brass Style's got jazz, and there are eleven girls. That's a lot of leg. ^_~
18. What do you play/would you play in the bedroom to spice things up?
Every time I see a question like this, I'm reminded of the article I read that recommended making a mix CD for such an occasion with the Spice Girls' "2 Become 1" on it. So something instrumental, because cracking inopportune jokes is a talent of mine. ^_~
19. Can you play a musical instrument?
Piano, ish. I want to learn to play guitar, maybe.
20. Ever been in a mosh pit?
But of course.
21. Are you in a band?
Oh, no.
23. Ever dated a musician?
More than one.
28. Do you wish yourself that you were a musician?
Professionally, no, but I wish I was better at producing/writing/playing it.
29. Best chick band you know of?
Old-school Metric, maybe.
31. Last song that you heard on the radio/cd...etc...?
My WMA is saying "Oh My God" - Lily Allen (cover of the Kaiser Chiefs) ; iTunes says "Crystal Frontier" - Calexico.
32. What do you think of Classical music?
It's lovely, and I don't listen to nearly enough of it.
33. What do you think of Country music?
Within reason. I was raised on the Eagles and Blue Rodeo - both of which has become my nostalgia music in a land far, far away from anything "country". Plus, face it -this was the "cheer up, emo kid~" song before there really were emo kids. ^_~
34. What do you think of Death metal?
Um.
35. Last BIG band that you saw live?
...Audioslave, two years ago? My biggest concert was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in first year of Uni. ^^
36. Are you a groupie?
Haha, no.
37. Do you listen to music in foreign languages?
Mmm. See also:
38. What famous musician would you like to f***?
I've got a list.
39. Worst concert moment?
Missing out on some of my favorite Snow Patrol songs, but it was to help a friend, so...
40. Funny concert moment?
I can't remember which concert it was at, but some fan came dressed as a giant penis; in between songs, the lead singer, having caught sight of it, got a few choice zingers in. ^^
41. Saddest concert moment?
Concerts are happy things.
42. Best local act you can think of?
Ooo.
...a friend of mine has been dating the drummer for forever. ^^ Ten Second Epic's a fun band to see live, and finding their album in Japan was really cool.
Speaking of...
Fujifabric - "Akaneiro no Yuuhi" (Red Sunset?) Chill stuff. Better after the first minute or so. ^^
43. If you were a musical instrument what would you be?
My head just said "harmonica." Weird.
44. Do you listen to the radio?
...the radio has too many commercials.
45. Do you watch music TV?
...actually, I kind of don't own a TV. ..YA RLY.
46. Do you follow the music charts, like the top 40?
Observe on occasion = / = follow.
47. Have you ever met any famous musicians?
Not to my knowledge!
48. Are any of your friends/family/etc. musicians?
I know a good number of musicians, but no professional ones.
49. Song that best describes your feelings right now?
...I'm not quite sure why the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" was the first thing I thought of. That's kind of a faintly worrying thought.
50. Song that describes your life?
Oooo, there are a few. Someone once said this song reminded them of me... I like it, particularly the 'beauty in the breakdown' line. Apparently, the movie is based off of clips from a French movie. I now want to see this film. ^^
...and, at the moment:
Three thousand miles north east
I left all my friends at the morning bus stop shaking their heads.
"what kind of life you dream of? you're allergic to love."
Yes i know but i must say in my own defense
It's been undeniably dear to me, i don't know why
When every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters
I knew the worthless dregs we are,
The selfless, loving saints we are,
The melting, sliding dice we've always been
...Indeed. ♥
51. Do you know the names of all the band members that you listen to?
Ohgodsno. Not in the least.
52. Does a musician's physical attractiveness play a role in the music that you listen to?
Hey, eye candy never hurts, but quite frankly, music's truly in the sound.
53. What famous musician do you want to marry?
I really don't know. Um. I had a terrible crush on Jakob Dylan forever and ever ago, but if he ages anything like his father, um, ha, um... ^^;;
54. Favourite movie sound track?
Godzilla. Moulin Rouge (singing courtesans aside, this had Beck and Bowie and Bono all lending their talents. seriously. ♥) Spirited Away. Kill Bill(s.) Garden State (okay movie, terrible date, good soundtrack. I figure things balanced out. ^_~)
55. Any musician pet peeves?
Nothing offhand.
56. What do your parents listen to?
I'm corrupting them to listen to what I listen to. ^_~ My dad's a jazz man, while also introducing me to Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. My mom's the rock chick - Floyd, the 'Stones (oh, she has stories), Supertramp, Bowie ... also stealing her Leonard Cohen albums at a young age may have changed my life. ^_~
57. What are you listening to right NOW?
"Must Be Dreaming" by Frou Frou
(pay close attention -
don't listen to me from now on;
george will be flying this one and it's anyone's guess how he does
well it's right turn wrong universe
mmm, taking me in full bloom
- fireball, careful with that there, see what you made me do?
i must be dreaming, or we're on to something
i must be dreaming for i don't fall in love lawlessly)
58. Do you wear band T-shirts?
On occasion, but don't have any of them with me in Japan. Pity, that.
59. What do you think of people who do?
... they've been to a concert recently/ like the band?
60. What music sub-culture do you feel like you belong to?
... I drift too much to belong. Indie-folk, maybe. I seem to give off hippie vibes. ^_~
61. What song is stuck in your head right now?
Apollo Up's "Walking the Plank" is now playing, and it's impossible to have anything else stuck in your head while it's on.
62. Do you sing in the shower?
Only in Canada. The walls have more insulation there.
...
... wow. ^^
1. What are you listening to right now?
"Starlight" - Muse. One of my running songs - I love that it's warm enough outside that I can go running now!
2. What song makes you sad?
"Brick" - Ben Folds Five, "Passage" - Vienna Teng (never fails), "God of Wine" - Third Eye Blind. Also, Suzanne Vega's "The Queen and the Soldier" made me cry the first time I heard it.
3. What is the most annoying song in the world?
"Last Christmas" - Wham. IF I HAVE TO SING IT AT KARAOKE ONE MORE TIME THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
4. Your all time favourite band?
I don't have one, really. U2, maybe? Dylan? Cohen? Stars? Stones?
5. Your newly discovered band is?
Rip Slyme. ...I want to hang out with these guys. ♥ Their songs sound like summer, they look like great fun dorks, and the smiles on them~!
6. Best female voice?
Right now, I'm hung up on Regina Spektor. Amy Millan's whiskey-honey whisper changed my University years. No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani's sugar-shrapnel energy embodied my childhood. ...none of these are "pretty" voices, oddly enough.
7. Best male voice?
A part of me will always love Johnny Rzenik (Goo Goo Dolls). Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Lee, and Damien Rice also come to mind.
8. Music types you find yourself listening to most?
Contemporary (and less so) folk. Singer-songwriters. Sunny j-pop. Jazz. Upbeat rock. Indie rock/pop. Electronica. Dorkpop (Say Hi To Your Mom, Jonathan Coulton, et al.)
9. What do you listen to, to hype you up?
As of late, Jimmy Eat World's "Praise Chorus." Yeah, I know. Emowhut? ^_~ "Hey Pretty" by Poe. Muse. Interpol. The mod-Brits (Franz, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, etc.) OH AND ALSO!
...Los Campesinos! for the win. ♥
10. What do you listen to when you want to calm down?
I think her name is Tori Amos. Also - anything with prominent use of the piano and/or acoustic guitar. Typical girl, I know. ♥
11. Last gig/concert you went to?
Aside from the random street performers in Japan... the Killers and Hot Hot Heat?
12. Band you find yourself listening to the most right now.
A ton of Iron and Wine - if you haven't discovered the brilliance that is Sam Beam yet, I strongly encourage a listen! Also some Rufus Wainwright and the Weakerthans.
13. Most hated band?
...Why expend energy you could use to love another band?
14. Song that makes you think?
"In An Aeroplane Over The Sea" - Neutral Milk Hotel ... in so many ways, this is my life in Japan.
And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me
What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anne's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees
15. Band that you think the world should love as much as you do?
Spoon!
16. Coolest music video?
"Californication" - RHCP. It's got everything - game mode, giant dragonflies, rampant car chases, limited armageddon, deus ex machina like you wouldn't believe, and Anthony Kiedis. Everything save what question number 17 is looking for! Again with the Regina for "Fidelity" (I love the black/white -->colour! of it), and Pearl Jam's "Do The Evolution" is phenomenal, even if I can't watch it without being spooked for weeks.
17. Music video with the most babe watch?
Let's go for playful instead of provocative. Tokyo Brass Style's got jazz, and there are eleven girls. That's a lot of leg. ^_~
18. What do you play/would you play in the bedroom to spice things up?
Every time I see a question like this, I'm reminded of the article I read that recommended making a mix CD for such an occasion with the Spice Girls' "2 Become 1" on it. So something instrumental, because cracking inopportune jokes is a talent of mine. ^_~
19. Can you play a musical instrument?
Piano, ish. I want to learn to play guitar, maybe.
20. Ever been in a mosh pit?
But of course.
21. Are you in a band?
Oh, no.
23. Ever dated a musician?
More than one.
28. Do you wish yourself that you were a musician?
Professionally, no, but I wish I was better at producing/writing/playing it.
29. Best chick band you know of?
Old-school Metric, maybe.
31. Last song that you heard on the radio/cd...etc...?
My WMA is saying "Oh My God" - Lily Allen (cover of the Kaiser Chiefs) ; iTunes says "Crystal Frontier" - Calexico.
32. What do you think of Classical music?
It's lovely, and I don't listen to nearly enough of it.
33. What do you think of Country music?
Within reason. I was raised on the Eagles and Blue Rodeo - both of which has become my nostalgia music in a land far, far away from anything "country". Plus, face it -this was the "cheer up, emo kid~" song before there really were emo kids. ^_~
34. What do you think of Death metal?
Um.
35. Last BIG band that you saw live?
...Audioslave, two years ago? My biggest concert was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in first year of Uni. ^^
36. Are you a groupie?
Haha, no.
37. Do you listen to music in foreign languages?
Mmm. See also:
38. What famous musician would you like to f***?
I've got a list.
39. Worst concert moment?
Missing out on some of my favorite Snow Patrol songs, but it was to help a friend, so...
40. Funny concert moment?
I can't remember which concert it was at, but some fan came dressed as a giant penis; in between songs, the lead singer, having caught sight of it, got a few choice zingers in. ^^
41. Saddest concert moment?
Concerts are happy things.
42. Best local act you can think of?
Ooo.
...a friend of mine has been dating the drummer for forever. ^^ Ten Second Epic's a fun band to see live, and finding their album in Japan was really cool.
Speaking of...
Fujifabric - "Akaneiro no Yuuhi" (Red Sunset?) Chill stuff. Better after the first minute or so. ^^
43. If you were a musical instrument what would you be?
My head just said "harmonica." Weird.
44. Do you listen to the radio?
...the radio has too many commercials.
45. Do you watch music TV?
...actually, I kind of don't own a TV. ..YA RLY.
46. Do you follow the music charts, like the top 40?
Observe on occasion = / = follow.
47. Have you ever met any famous musicians?
Not to my knowledge!
48. Are any of your friends/family/etc. musicians?
I know a good number of musicians, but no professional ones.
49. Song that best describes your feelings right now?
...I'm not quite sure why the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" was the first thing I thought of. That's kind of a faintly worrying thought.
50. Song that describes your life?
Oooo, there are a few. Someone once said this song reminded them of me... I like it, particularly the 'beauty in the breakdown' line. Apparently, the movie is based off of clips from a French movie. I now want to see this film. ^^
...and, at the moment:
Three thousand miles north east
I left all my friends at the morning bus stop shaking their heads.
"what kind of life you dream of? you're allergic to love."
Yes i know but i must say in my own defense
It's been undeniably dear to me, i don't know why
When every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters
I knew the worthless dregs we are,
The selfless, loving saints we are,
The melting, sliding dice we've always been
...Indeed. ♥
51. Do you know the names of all the band members that you listen to?
Ohgodsno. Not in the least.
52. Does a musician's physical attractiveness play a role in the music that you listen to?
Hey, eye candy never hurts, but quite frankly, music's truly in the sound.
53. What famous musician do you want to marry?
I really don't know. Um. I had a terrible crush on Jakob Dylan forever and ever ago, but if he ages anything like his father, um, ha, um... ^^;;
54. Favourite movie sound track?
Godzilla. Moulin Rouge (singing courtesans aside, this had Beck and Bowie and Bono all lending their talents. seriously. ♥) Spirited Away. Kill Bill(s.) Garden State (okay movie, terrible date, good soundtrack. I figure things balanced out. ^_~)
55. Any musician pet peeves?
Nothing offhand.
56. What do your parents listen to?
I'm corrupting them to listen to what I listen to. ^_~ My dad's a jazz man, while also introducing me to Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. My mom's the rock chick - Floyd, the 'Stones (oh, she has stories), Supertramp, Bowie ... also stealing her Leonard Cohen albums at a young age may have changed my life. ^_~
57. What are you listening to right NOW?
"Must Be Dreaming" by Frou Frou
(pay close attention -
don't listen to me from now on;
george will be flying this one and it's anyone's guess how he does
well it's right turn wrong universe
mmm, taking me in full bloom
- fireball, careful with that there, see what you made me do?
i must be dreaming, or we're on to something
i must be dreaming for i don't fall in love lawlessly)
58. Do you wear band T-shirts?
On occasion, but don't have any of them with me in Japan. Pity, that.
59. What do you think of people who do?
... they've been to a concert recently/ like the band?
60. What music sub-culture do you feel like you belong to?
... I drift too much to belong. Indie-folk, maybe. I seem to give off hippie vibes. ^_~
61. What song is stuck in your head right now?
Apollo Up's "Walking the Plank" is now playing, and it's impossible to have anything else stuck in your head while it's on.
62. Do you sing in the shower?
Only in Canada. The walls have more insulation there.
...
... wow. ^^
Monday, March 24, 2008
- my war paint is sharpie ink -
...well, if I was sunburnt on the 21st, I'm extremely so today. The day (birthday!) spent cycling and swimming on tiny Taketomi Island was wonderful, and everyone was really sweet about it being my birthday. But, ow. One of my friends compared the colour of my back to roast beef - a little crude but not far off the truth, sadly! Still, despite coral scrapes and terrible burns, if Hokkaido was chill, Okinawa was epic.
We had the perfect number to travel with, and our hijinks - from beach photo shoots to being chased with sea cucumbers to izakaya hilarities always brought about uproarious laughter. It was definitely one of my busiest holidays; in retrospect, hard to believe that we did all that we did in four days! We were always moving (when we weren't sleeping, that is.)
...perhaps a little heavy on the conbini-food intake, but it gave us tons of time to make human pyramids in front of classic castles and race down the coast to watch whale sharks in a massive aquarium. Sea, sun, sand, and the occasional car of gorgeous J-guys? No complaints here! ^^
It was a holiday of scenic routes and rally stages (on car and on bike for both of the above, much to everyone's amusement); of epic omiyage shopping - largely on Naha's Kokusai-dori, as we dashed from awning to awning in the midst of a tropical storm. Of finding the most authentic tacos we could (some of them came with instructions on how to eat them, I kid you not.) It was a holiday of dancing, of wandering, of shared smiles, of laughter, of teamwork, of evil navi systems and of more snapshots than I can imagine.
Good times. Now to get around to posting those pictures!
We had the perfect number to travel with, and our hijinks - from beach photo shoots to being chased with sea cucumbers to izakaya hilarities always brought about uproarious laughter. It was definitely one of my busiest holidays; in retrospect, hard to believe that we did all that we did in four days! We were always moving (when we weren't sleeping, that is.)
...perhaps a little heavy on the conbini-food intake, but it gave us tons of time to make human pyramids in front of classic castles and race down the coast to watch whale sharks in a massive aquarium. Sea, sun, sand, and the occasional car of gorgeous J-guys? No complaints here! ^^
It was a holiday of scenic routes and rally stages (on car and on bike for both of the above, much to everyone's amusement); of epic omiyage shopping - largely on Naha's Kokusai-dori, as we dashed from awning to awning in the midst of a tropical storm. Of finding the most authentic tacos we could (some of them came with instructions on how to eat them, I kid you not.) It was a holiday of dancing, of wandering, of shared smiles, of laughter, of teamwork, of evil navi systems and of more snapshots than I can imagine.
Good times. Now to get around to posting those pictures!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
- measure me in metered lines and one decisive stare -
There's nothing quite like going to Tokyo Station and just... sitting and people watching to reassure you that despite satellites and the Internet and trains breaking 300 kph that the world remains a massive and wonderfully dynamic place. A thousand protagonists to a thousand different stories have walked past me; some notice me, most do not - some stand out, others blend in.
There was a kid with spiky hair and a bright red bag who stood in a way that practically begged to be drawn, there was a young woman in ruffly white who was so pale and ephemeral that her Coach bag seemed the most solid thing about her. There are my pillar-mates - the cowboy with his boots (heels and all) and brutally short hair, there's the quiet businessman who hasn't got off his cell phone (or said a word) in the past ten minutes.
I could write an essay on the shoes alone, or how the echo and boom of the trains below shake the station like clockwork earthquakes.
I could probably write a thousand essays and not scratch the surface of this bustling, bowing, enigmatic city - but this will have to suffice for now.
♥
circumnavigate this body of wonder and uncertainty
armed with every precious failure
(and amateur cartography)
I'm breathing deep before
I spread those maps out on my bedroom floor
(and I'm leaning on this broken fence
between past and present tense)
- the weakerthans, 'aside'
(...I just like the ring of it)
There was a kid with spiky hair and a bright red bag who stood in a way that practically begged to be drawn, there was a young woman in ruffly white who was so pale and ephemeral that her Coach bag seemed the most solid thing about her. There are my pillar-mates - the cowboy with his boots (heels and all) and brutally short hair, there's the quiet businessman who hasn't got off his cell phone (or said a word) in the past ten minutes.
I could write an essay on the shoes alone, or how the echo and boom of the trains below shake the station like clockwork earthquakes.
I could probably write a thousand essays and not scratch the surface of this bustling, bowing, enigmatic city - but this will have to suffice for now.
♥
armed with every precious failure
(and amateur cartography)
I'm breathing deep before
I spread those maps out on my bedroom floor
(and I'm leaning on this broken fence
between past and present tense)
- the weakerthans, 'aside'
(...I just like the ring of it)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
- that solo's awful long, but it's a good refrain -
...right now, this song just about says it all. Am I amused it takes place in a school? A little.
Living. Breathing. Finished two books in two weeks - more than I've read in the past two months somehow, and that's embarrassing. House of Leaves was alternately solid and scary - a pain to read with all the turning of the book (seriously) that you have to do sometimes, but tragic and twisted and ultimately well-written. Wow. Comparatively, Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun was a breeze, but I'm going to re-read it because there's a lot beneath its surface.
...coming from Canada, it's a strange thing to read about places you know - when the character talks about pursuing a mysterious woman through Aoyama, I know the streets he's talking about. When he mentions Hakone, I wonder if my upcoming school trip will take me under similar trees. It makes me wonder how people feel who have grown up in cities that are heavily chronicled - London, Tokyo, oh, poor Paris...
On one hand I envy that their cities and their histories are so well-told and twisted around into a million different inadvertent autobiographies. On the other, it gives me hope that maybe I can find one of my own for where I first called home.
Living. Breathing. Finished two books in two weeks - more than I've read in the past two months somehow, and that's embarrassing. House of Leaves was alternately solid and scary - a pain to read with all the turning of the book (seriously) that you have to do sometimes, but tragic and twisted and ultimately well-written. Wow. Comparatively, Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun was a breeze, but I'm going to re-read it because there's a lot beneath its surface.
...coming from Canada, it's a strange thing to read about places you know - when the character talks about pursuing a mysterious woman through Aoyama, I know the streets he's talking about. When he mentions Hakone, I wonder if my upcoming school trip will take me under similar trees. It makes me wonder how people feel who have grown up in cities that are heavily chronicled - London, Tokyo, oh, poor Paris...
On one hand I envy that their cities and their histories are so well-told and twisted around into a million different inadvertent autobiographies. On the other, it gives me hope that maybe I can find one of my own for where I first called home.
Friday, February 22, 2008
- sleight of hand and twist of fate -
.........was I ever that young?
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm a baby - twenty-two stumblingfumbling towards something resembling maturity (perhaps; only on half the days that end with 'y," maturity's overrated in the first place) - I'll never quite belittle what I've seen or lived but there are millions who have seen or lived more...
It's strange to find bits of your own character and quirks in other people (people are people and yet --)
...but sometimes my students just make me feel old.
Stealing sips of the cooking sake with shiftynervous smiles in the middle of the cooking class? Kids. ♥ And yet not. Not at all - I remember tenth grade and wasn't a kid then - socially active and politically aware and a bit of a firebrand, all told. Ha. In any case, I'd have punched or sent a purse flying at anyone who'd intimate that I was a kid, then. And yet, and yet.
Regardless, the days like today in which the ichinens plied me with nikujaga (think Japanese-style stew), excellent miso soup, and madeleines are certainly on my list of Favorite Days, Ever. They got a kick out of how I had been living off of nikujaga in my first month here (with a recipe I'd gleaned from one of my textbooks!), but had never had a madeleine before (they're a delicious pastry/cupcake; golden and utterly delicious. From the name, guessably French; I have one in my fridge that will be breakfast tomorrow...... mmm.)
Off to curl up with House of Leaves and some old-school U2 - I'd forgotten how awesome "The Joshua Tree" was as an album. Wow. Definitely on my "stranded-on-a-desert-island" shortlist. ^_~
Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm a baby - twenty-two stumblingfumbling towards something resembling maturity (perhaps; only on half the days that end with 'y," maturity's overrated in the first place) - I'll never quite belittle what I've seen or lived but there are millions who have seen or lived more...
It's strange to find bits of your own character and quirks in other people (people are people and yet --)
...but sometimes my students just make me feel old.
Stealing sips of the cooking sake with shiftynervous smiles in the middle of the cooking class? Kids. ♥ And yet not. Not at all - I remember tenth grade and wasn't a kid then - socially active and politically aware and a bit of a firebrand, all told. Ha. In any case, I'd have punched or sent a purse flying at anyone who'd intimate that I was a kid, then. And yet, and yet.
Regardless, the days like today in which the ichinens plied me with nikujaga (think Japanese-style stew), excellent miso soup, and madeleines are certainly on my list of Favorite Days, Ever. They got a kick out of how I had been living off of nikujaga in my first month here (with a recipe I'd gleaned from one of my textbooks!), but had never had a madeleine before (they're a delicious pastry/cupcake; golden and utterly delicious. From the name, guessably French; I have one in my fridge that will be breakfast tomorrow...... mmm.)
Off to curl up with House of Leaves and some old-school U2 - I'd forgotten how awesome "The Joshua Tree" was as an album. Wow. Definitely on my "stranded-on-a-desert-island" shortlist. ^_~
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
- casting dreams on a fishing rod -
...whoa.
Um, blame any madness whispering through the previous post on lack of sleep and reading Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves before bed? It's an interesting book - crazy and pretentious in places but ultimately addictive and a tangled mess of a narrative(s) that twists beautifully. I'm enjoying how half the story is in footnotes (actually, I think the real story's in the footnotes) and the jeu de langue employed throughout - not-so-random words colour-coded, plays on myth and legend, the absolute uncertainty because the two narrators you're given are certainly unreliable - still, there's a reason I don't read anything suspense-y. Sigh for overactive imaginations.
So. Life in Japan.
Life in Japan and its everpresent state of electing some level of bureaucracy is interesting ... colourful language fails to describe the campaigning process in the rurbanity I call home. Imagine if you will an ice-cream truck or van sized vehicle, sometimes with a small car or group of cars following it as it plods along at 40 km/hr (obeying the speed limit is key). People wave in a genki manner out of the windows if it's warm or behind them if it's cold as vintage loudspeakers on the roof of the van blare out anything from the candidate's name again and again or what probably wouldn't be a catchy slogan even if I understood all of it or odd music choices like the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (No, seriously. I was running for my train at the time and it stopped me cold. Beat the time that some of my punky kids proudly played a recording of revving motorcycle engines to the tune of the Wedding March for me instead of doing their worksheet in class. Yes, that Wedding March; oh, I managed a watery smile at the time but even the memory makes me laugh.)
Best of all is that any time after 7 AM seems to be fair game to start blaring their messages to the world. Eyesores that they are, give me lawn signs in a heartbeat over waking me up half an hour before necessary! Fortunately, election time is over in my corner of the world, but early morning trains and commutes have showed that that isn't the case elsewhere. Poor schmucks. (See, Japan? Another solid reason to insulate your houses and apartments - soundproofing.)
Completely unrelated, but holy man, sauteed shiitake mushrooms? Love. Mom, that Hokkaido butter that you thought was cheese was absolutely worth the exorbitant amount you paid for it, even though it's lived in my freezer for the last handful of months. I wish I felt the compulsion to cook more often (no local cuisine expert am I, sadly) because it almost always turns out well (as long as I don't have to bake - microwave cookies I'll leave to others' expertise!) Too often, this whole cooking-for-one thing is way too much work, which means a lot of living off of insta-food. I'd love to have people to cook for/with, as domestic and silly as that sounds, but everyone is so busy that it seems an unlikely possibility.
And as allusions to this holiday in Canada recently cropped up in e-mails from home but I can't remember just when it was (how quickly we forget...) -- Happy Family Day, whether you're family or soul-family or simply wandering through.
Cheers. ♥
Um, blame any madness whispering through the previous post on lack of sleep and reading Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves before bed? It's an interesting book - crazy and pretentious in places but ultimately addictive and a tangled mess of a narrative(s) that twists beautifully. I'm enjoying how half the story is in footnotes (actually, I think the real story's in the footnotes) and the jeu de langue employed throughout - not-so-random words colour-coded, plays on myth and legend, the absolute uncertainty because the two narrators you're given are certainly unreliable - still, there's a reason I don't read anything suspense-y. Sigh for overactive imaginations.
So. Life in Japan.
Life in Japan and its everpresent state of electing some level of bureaucracy is interesting ... colourful language fails to describe the campaigning process in the rurbanity I call home. Imagine if you will an ice-cream truck or van sized vehicle, sometimes with a small car or group of cars following it as it plods along at 40 km/hr (obeying the speed limit is key). People wave in a genki manner out of the windows if it's warm or behind them if it's cold as vintage loudspeakers on the roof of the van blare out anything from the candidate's name again and again or what probably wouldn't be a catchy slogan even if I understood all of it or odd music choices like the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (No, seriously. I was running for my train at the time and it stopped me cold. Beat the time that some of my punky kids proudly played a recording of revving motorcycle engines to the tune of the Wedding March for me instead of doing their worksheet in class. Yes, that Wedding March; oh, I managed a watery smile at the time but even the memory makes me laugh.)
Best of all is that any time after 7 AM seems to be fair game to start blaring their messages to the world. Eyesores that they are, give me lawn signs in a heartbeat over waking me up half an hour before necessary! Fortunately, election time is over in my corner of the world, but early morning trains and commutes have showed that that isn't the case elsewhere. Poor schmucks. (See, Japan? Another solid reason to insulate your houses and apartments - soundproofing.)
Completely unrelated, but holy man, sauteed shiitake mushrooms? Love. Mom, that Hokkaido butter that you thought was cheese was absolutely worth the exorbitant amount you paid for it, even though it's lived in my freezer for the last handful of months. I wish I felt the compulsion to cook more often (no local cuisine expert am I, sadly) because it almost always turns out well (as long as I don't have to bake - microwave cookies I'll leave to others' expertise!) Too often, this whole cooking-for-one thing is way too much work, which means a lot of living off of insta-food. I'd love to have people to cook for/with, as domestic and silly as that sounds, but everyone is so busy that it seems an unlikely possibility.
And as allusions to this holiday in Canada recently cropped up in e-mails from home but I can't remember just when it was (how quickly we forget...) -- Happy Family Day, whether you're family or soul-family or simply wandering through.
Cheers. ♥
Sunday, February 17, 2008
- can't you see all that stuff's a sideshow? -
...Even for me, that's an illogical, fragmented line to have popped out of nowhere on a Sunday afternoon. There's a story there, somewhere (there's always a story; you just have to remember to look.) It's better, perhaps, than
skin and bones and memory
that haunted me for four months - four months! - before realizing that perhaps unraveling isn't the smartest direction.
Five AM on the Yamanote, sandwiched between a stranger's pinstripe and a friend's purse - sandwiched on a train before it was even really morning; welcome to the big city, little girl - getting funny looks for pulling out pen and paper half-conscious and spilling puddles of black ink and really just watching as they formed words. Not caring.
Airing out those words.
And breathing with every witnessed nod or smile as I spoke.
It's (too) easy to categorize. Easy to spot patterns and say why hello there archetype. But then there are blonds who should be redheads and writings of brilliance lacking any traditional chilliness and the archetypes suddenly aren't so failproof and what did you spend four years studying, after all? Art imitates life and vice versa but they are never the same; it's a smoky mirror at best.
It comes of being born in spring and befriended by summer; entranced by autumn and cradled by winter.
Or it would, if it were that simple; as it is, it's a place to start. Perhaps it comes down to rolling stones and soul-families and stamp envy.
Don't worry.
...Smoke and mirrors, remember?
(Still, take care, and stay warm - spring's on its way, but not quite here.)
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
- blackbird claw, raven wing, under the red sunlight -
Home, to a hundred-dollar electricity bill(!) and plants that clearly missed me, feet still swaying slightly - I hadn't noticed the sway after the last ferry, but there it is; the rougher ocean this time around taking its toll.
Home from Hokkaido.
Home from the facing of various fears - of onsen, of reading writing to others, of tequila shots (thanks; you know who you are.) And yes, I happen to have illogical fears. So goes life?
Home from an awesome holiday (it's weird that this journal was supposed to chronicle my daily life in Japan and it's really been more trip reports than anything else for the last few months) that was about ten times more chill than I'd thought it might be, but more fun for it, I think. Hokkaido was filled with great times, better people, and amazing food (crab! ramen! panda buns! gluttonous amounts of lamb and beer at the Genghis Khan enkai! candied almonds that burned our fingers as we pulled them out of the crinkling crimson cone and bustled through fifty-foot-highmovie advertisements snow sculptures!) Also a lot of running for the train/subway. Did I mention how cool it was to finally see some snow? Seriously, that may have been one of my favorite parts of the trip; it's my inner Canadian showing, I think. Winter just isn't winter without it!
And it's really awesome to hear about interest in my writing, both in regards to this blog and the scribbles and short stories I've worked on in the past. (Despite the public nature of blogging, and the particularly high access to this - it's on my Facebook for heaven's sake - I still consider myself a relatively private writer, so this change is both wonderful and strange.)
In any case - here's to girl-talk and gossip and grapes from the bartender; here's to dancing under brilliant lights and drifts of snow that got into our shoes as we traversed the city; here's to thoughts shared and tumbles on the ski hill and taking over the ship lounge or kids' room as the mood swung us.
Cheers. ♥
...now to start lesson planning. (Home, also, to real life. ^^)
Home from Hokkaido.
Home from the facing of various fears - of onsen, of reading writing to others, of tequila shots (thanks; you know who you are.) And yes, I happen to have illogical fears. So goes life?
Home from an awesome holiday (it's weird that this journal was supposed to chronicle my daily life in Japan and it's really been more trip reports than anything else for the last few months) that was about ten times more chill than I'd thought it might be, but more fun for it, I think. Hokkaido was filled with great times, better people, and amazing food (crab! ramen! panda buns! gluttonous amounts of lamb and beer at the Genghis Khan enkai! candied almonds that burned our fingers as we pulled them out of the crinkling crimson cone and bustled through fifty-foot-high
And it's really awesome to hear about interest in my writing, both in regards to this blog and the scribbles and short stories I've worked on in the past. (Despite the public nature of blogging, and the particularly high access to this - it's on my Facebook for heaven's sake - I still consider myself a relatively private writer, so this change is both wonderful and strange.)
In any case - here's to girl-talk and gossip and grapes from the bartender; here's to dancing under brilliant lights and drifts of snow that got into our shoes as we traversed the city; here's to thoughts shared and tumbles on the ski hill and taking over the ship lounge or kids' room as the mood swung us.
Cheers. ♥
...now to start lesson planning. (Home, also, to real life. ^^)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
- must be dreaming (or we're on to something) -
It's a snow day and a Sunday - as soon as I convince myself that it's warm enough in my apartment to change out of the warmest (and scrubbiest) clothes I brought with me to this corner of the world, I'm going to go wander around my hometown with a camera and an umbrella.
Yes, an umbrella.
And because there's snow, it finally feels like winter, even though the days have been getting longer (yay!) and relatively warmer. I woke up warm this morning and that has to be one of the best feelings in the world, as simple as it is.
The following is one of my favorite winter-songs; oh, my singer-songwriter roots are definitely showing.
~ the atheist christmas carol ~ vienna teng.
(piano-driven and sweet; a Christmas carol without religious overtones, but in no way bitter. Hence, winter-song. Just as 'harbour' will forever be a song on my road-trip CD mixes, this one gets played around Christmas.)
Yes, an umbrella.
And because there's snow, it finally feels like winter, even though the days have been getting longer (yay!) and relatively warmer. I woke up warm this morning and that has to be one of the best feelings in the world, as simple as it is.
The following is one of my favorite winter-songs; oh, my singer-songwriter roots are definitely showing.
~ the atheist christmas carol ~ vienna teng.
(piano-driven and sweet; a Christmas carol without religious overtones, but in no way bitter. Hence, winter-song. Just as 'harbour' will forever be a song on my road-trip CD mixes, this one gets played around Christmas.)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
- but darlin' i want the same thing i wanted before -
...mwah. Go figure - I've been writing like there's no tomorrow since last week (at about four in the morning on a train much to the amusement and dismay of my companions) and I go to set fingers to keyboard and freeze up.
I shouldn't. There's been a change in the weather (though I swear it's as cold as ever) or perhaps I'm simply sleeping better, but something's different, something's changed around me for the better. Auras or some such bunk; who knows?
January, where did you go? I remember moments - first bursts of fuschia cyclamen, shopping trips and soccer games, peace bells and ghostly arches in a city full of life, green wishing hands and hands flashing victory signs and bunny ears and slipping around my shoulders - if you say run, I'll run with you - it's been a month made for running, and finding all sorts of people to run with. To move to dance to play to laugh and lean against improbably warm walls and warmer shoulders over coffee and chocolate and curry, because April might be the cruelest month but January's got to be the coldest. (I'm trying to forget the bottle of frozen olive oil in my kitchen and the layer of ice on my bicycle seat every morning, but that isn't going so well.)
...there are far too many run-ons in that paragraph. So much for not having anything to say! (But it's a good change; I'll take this in a heartbeat.)
And Sapporo is next weekend already! EXCITED. ♥
Take care, everyone.
I shouldn't. There's been a change in the weather (though I swear it's as cold as ever) or perhaps I'm simply sleeping better, but something's different, something's changed around me for the better. Auras or some such bunk; who knows?
January, where did you go? I remember moments - first bursts of fuschia cyclamen, shopping trips and soccer games, peace bells and ghostly arches in a city full of life, green wishing hands and hands flashing victory signs and bunny ears and slipping around my shoulders - if you say run, I'll run with you - it's been a month made for running, and finding all sorts of people to run with. To move to dance to play to laugh and lean against improbably warm walls and warmer shoulders over coffee and chocolate and curry, because April might be the cruelest month but January's got to be the coldest. (I'm trying to forget the bottle of frozen olive oil in my kitchen and the layer of ice on my bicycle seat every morning, but that isn't going so well.)
...there are far too many run-ons in that paragraph. So much for not having anything to say! (But it's a good change; I'll take this in a heartbeat.)
And Sapporo is next weekend already! EXCITED. ♥
Take care, everyone.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
- put on your red shoes (and dance the blues) -
Mediapost time?
Something like that. Life's been quiet - I feel a little out of the teaching vibe, which needs to be quickly and quietly reversed. I might not be as hopelessly quagmired as I thought I might be about that funny thing called a future, though, so that's always a bonus!
...I really, really should take down my Christmas tree. ^^
But since it's never too early to get a start on the holidays (shh - the hyaku-en store around the corner is just filled with confection... boxes. That's right, people make chocolates and sweet things over here - in great quantities, if the supply at my small store is anything to go by. And in what's got to be a marketer's dream, Japan has two Valentine's Days - V-Day's for the girls to give chocolates to the guys, and White Day for the reverse.
Of course it's not that simple - sure, you can give chocolates to the one you're sweet on, but there's what's called "Giri-Choco," or obligation chocolate (it sounds so much nicer when you don't know what it means, hm?) that you give to people like coworkers on VDay. In return, on White Day, while it started off just being white chocolate, horizons have been expanded. Chocolate of all colours is cool, as are more expensive indulgences - candies, stuffed bears (and probably Stitches, oh hells) and jewelry and whatnot. And if you thought the girls had it bad, the guys have (at least in theory) "sanbai-gaeshi" - the tradition of purchasing a return gift three times the value of the one that they received.
Grin, much? ^_~
In fact-checking on Wikipedia (haha), I came across White Day's evil twin - Black Day. It's a South Korean holiday where locals eat noodles with black bean sauce and "commisserate their singledom." Forgive the Keanuism, but, dude. My heart being ridiculously on my sleeve aside, and love being a manysplendored thing that is really all we need and awesome for the writing (but hard on the knees and I should really stop murdering song lyrics now)...really? ^^
Switching amusements - even though some of you have yet to get your Christmas packages from me (oops) - send me a Valentine?
Get your own valentinr
In case online declarations of amusement/affection aren't your thing, I also have something a little more traditional - a poem that I just found and fell for.
Marginalia - Billy Collins
(Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head....)
...oh, so true, although for Derrida and Socrates in my case.
And for ear-candy this time around?
Jonathon Fisk - Spoon
(has been stuck in my head all week. Tongue-in-cheek indie rock with hooky guitars.)
Take Me To The Riot - Stars
(weird video; ignore the first minute? I'm not sure what's with Torq and Amy actually playing off each other (this is strange but cool.) Stars are... Stars - Montreal indie-dream-rock with just a tiny bit of edge. My Uni band. ♥ There's less winter in this album than I'd like but it still wakes me up every morning.)
After Dark - Asian Kung-Fu Generation
(I admit it, I like this song. And the video is awesome. Business suits? Check. Awkward elevator/office scenes? Check. Drunken enkai moment? Check. Random people in costumes? Check. Enactment of the hero myth? Check-check. Cell phone cameras in time of impending tragedy? You bet. Also the lead singer looks like one of my students aged a few years.)
...take care and stay warm, everyone. ^^
Something like that. Life's been quiet - I feel a little out of the teaching vibe, which needs to be quickly and quietly reversed. I might not be as hopelessly quagmired as I thought I might be about that funny thing called a future, though, so that's always a bonus!
...I really, really should take down my Christmas tree. ^^
But since it's never too early to get a start on the holidays (shh - the hyaku-en store around the corner is just filled with confection... boxes. That's right, people make chocolates and sweet things over here - in great quantities, if the supply at my small store is anything to go by. And in what's got to be a marketer's dream, Japan has two Valentine's Days - V-Day's for the girls to give chocolates to the guys, and White Day for the reverse.
Of course it's not that simple - sure, you can give chocolates to the one you're sweet on, but there's what's called "Giri-Choco," or obligation chocolate (it sounds so much nicer when you don't know what it means, hm?) that you give to people like coworkers on VDay. In return, on White Day, while it started off just being white chocolate, horizons have been expanded. Chocolate of all colours is cool, as are more expensive indulgences - candies, stuffed bears (and probably Stitches, oh hells) and jewelry and whatnot. And if you thought the girls had it bad, the guys have (at least in theory) "sanbai-gaeshi" - the tradition of purchasing a return gift three times the value of the one that they received.
Grin, much? ^_~
In fact-checking on Wikipedia (haha), I came across White Day's evil twin - Black Day. It's a South Korean holiday where locals eat noodles with black bean sauce and "commisserate their singledom." Forgive the Keanuism, but, dude. My heart being ridiculously on my sleeve aside, and love being a manysplendored thing that is really all we need and awesome for the writing (but hard on the knees and I should really stop murdering song lyrics now)...really? ^^
Switching amusements - even though some of you have yet to get your Christmas packages from me (oops) - send me a Valentine?
Get your own valentinr
In case online declarations of amusement/affection aren't your thing, I also have something a little more traditional - a poem that I just found and fell for.
Marginalia - Billy Collins
(Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head....)
...oh, so true, although for Derrida and Socrates in my case.
And for ear-candy this time around?
Jonathon Fisk - Spoon
(has been stuck in my head all week. Tongue-in-cheek indie rock with hooky guitars.)
Take Me To The Riot - Stars
(weird video; ignore the first minute? I'm not sure what's with Torq and Amy actually playing off each other (this is strange but cool.) Stars are... Stars - Montreal indie-dream-rock with just a tiny bit of edge. My Uni band. ♥ There's less winter in this album than I'd like but it still wakes me up every morning.)
After Dark - Asian Kung-Fu Generation
(I admit it, I like this song. And the video is awesome. Business suits? Check. Awkward elevator/office scenes? Check. Drunken enkai moment? Check. Random people in costumes? Check. Enactment of the hero myth? Check-check. Cell phone cameras in time of impending tragedy? You bet. Also the lead singer looks like one of my students aged a few years.)
...take care and stay warm, everyone. ^^
Monday, January 14, 2008
saturday nights in neon lights -
...ah, Hiroshima. You feel old, you feel young, you feel new and unfamiliar and yet the closest to home I've found on this island. Friendly in a way Tokyo isn't, chill in a fashion utterly unknown in Kyoto... oh, you're a strange city - so new and so quietly hopeful and your backstreets rival Asakusa's for quirky shops and a laidback style. I have to wonder about the number of hair salons per capita, though - it's got to be something ridiculous.
You're beautiful, really; I should see you in the summer, green long before your seventy-five year sentence has passed, but you are haunting and angular in the winter ( car horns and peacebells blending in sound noise cacophony life); children laugh and teenagers flirt on teetering heels, pulling their collars up and hair down as the wind pierces even the covered arcades.
I saw a mother and daughter race hand in hand across one of your streets today, laughing as they went; black hair and white jackets not angelic but human and that's maybe the point. Gather and remember but live. Whether in the okonomiyaki villages stacked tight and close, the hands entwined to ward off the chill, the - oh, there's not a name for it, so the vibe for lack of a better - this city has known war and death and worse, despair, but... today it stands and looks both outwards and back.
It's pompous to say "may you always," Hiroshima, but I'm hoping you do anyway.
we're everything brighter than even the sun
(we're everything greater
than books
might mean)
we're everyanything more than believe
(with a spin
leap
alive we're alive)
...because e e cummings says it best. Take care. ♥
You're beautiful, really; I should see you in the summer, green long before your seventy-five year sentence has passed, but you are haunting and angular in the winter ( car horns and peacebells blending in sound noise cacophony life); children laugh and teenagers flirt on teetering heels, pulling their collars up and hair down as the wind pierces even the covered arcades.
I saw a mother and daughter race hand in hand across one of your streets today, laughing as they went; black hair and white jackets not angelic but human and that's maybe the point. Gather and remember but live. Whether in the okonomiyaki villages stacked tight and close, the hands entwined to ward off the chill, the - oh, there's not a name for it, so the vibe for lack of a better - this city has known war and death and worse, despair, but... today it stands and looks both outwards and back.
It's pompous to say "may you always," Hiroshima, but I'm hoping you do anyway.
we're everything brighter than even the sun
(we're everything greater
than books
might mean)
we're everyanything more than believe
(with a spin
leap
alive we're alive)
...because e e cummings says it best. Take care. ♥
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