Sunday, November 30, 2008

it feels like Christmas today

Today I emerged from my apartment and 7:30 pm only to walk to SATY (like a Japanese Target) to buy Sister Act 2. Came back home, made guacamole, watched the singing nuns (glorious) and went to sleep again.


I surprised myself last night when I referred to California as “California” and Japan as “home.”

jenni and katie sing the hits

diminishing decorum: a photo documentary


THE ARRIVAL







ONE A.M.







TWO A.M.







THREE A.M.







FOUR A.M.







FIVE A.M.






SIX A.M.











SEVEN A.M.




Tuesday, November 25, 2008

the answer to the weight problem in america

the american food pyramid
six groups:


the japanese food pyramid
five groups:


which group is missing? why, the one recommending fats, oils, and sweets, of course!



Monday, November 24, 2008

kego park christmas lights

i'm a sucker for christmas lights and fake snow. kego park offers an abundance of one of these things.

to see my family <3

I know I told a couple of people at home that my goal was to be on a Japanese game show. Well, this weekend I got one step closer. I was on some sort of TV show. All I did was stand there with my answer card…they gave me a packet of tissues as a gift.



The question: What do you want for Christmas?

Here’s what I really wanted to say, but couldn’t fit on the card:
1. Make a Japanese dinner for my family
2. Peach Towers party
3. Visit Indie
4. Bingo at the casino with Mike S
5. That Mexican restaurant Zamorah took me to for my birthday
6. Jet Rag Sunday sale/Fairfax flea market
7. The Italian place Mauro and I found in Silver Lake
8. Life Plaza with Laura
9. Snuggle with Zoe

Sunday, November 23, 2008

hakozaki shrine


there's a flea market in front of this shrine once a month! i bought a present for my mother!




ikaaaa maniaaaa

went to Karatsu today for what turned out to be quite an interesting meal


first i got caught


then we took pictures of the scenery while waiting for our table


anna's super nice parents and i framed by worsening weather


a row of squid. i will never see so much squid as i did today.


market


a cartoon character spin-drying squid. naturally.


the sights. the tourist boats were shaped like squid, just in case anyone hadn't gathered what the main attraction was.


inside the famous ika (squid) restaurant. the squid live in the middle there.


the main attraction. my face says "oh shit, when this picture is finished i'm going to have to try this."


inside the boat you'll see strips of raw squid atop two live squid for decoration. one of them kept grabbing anna's chopsticks when she went in for the sashimi. there was something heart wrenching about his efforts to defend his fellow mollusk. those two guys were later made into tempura. R.I.P.


karatsu castle



200 years ago a prince beheld his kingdom from this very balcony


now it's just anna + me + a coin-operated viewfinder







tomorrow we go to the flea market!!!!!!

nomihodai in kurume...again

my saturday night:

i guess haruka and i had a photo sesh








i'm really sorry for posting this... but every time i see it i laugh. she's like a wild animal!!!



horrible quality but you just can't retake a photo and expect to capture the same enthusiasm

Friday, November 21, 2008

We regret to inform you that the C.A.C. cannot authorize your cover request at this time.

I'm listening to a Michael Buble sort cover Eleanor Rigby, syncopating it beyond recognition--and if that wasn't enough, there's also a sax solo.

I'd like to begin an organization called the Cover Appropriations Counsel in which musicians must apply for approval to record a cover of any given song. Live disasters will not concern us. Only those which can be played over and over in coffee shops and supermarkets.

Our creed:
We at the C.A.C. aim to improve the sonic conditions of our world by protecting the general public from inharmonious and generally deplorable cover music.

We will hand out magnets that say "We've got you covered" in front of supermarkets and shopping malls.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

cocoa/winter/banjo/peanut butter

Woke up to someone's half-drunk hot cocoa peering at me from under my coffee table. Was displeased. Yes, that’s right—there's a hot/cold vending machine in my building, which dispenses hot cocoas at the exact temperature one would like hot cocoa to be. Jealousy's a disease.

Leaving work, I let out a great exhale and upon seeing that exhale in the air before me, I was let in on the news that winter is, in fact here. And I'm still without a proper coat.

I go through a great struggle each night as I leave work—to Sunny or not to Sunny. You see, this very convenient and well-stocked 24 hour grocer is just steps away from my building and if I'm lucky I'll find a lovely pumpkin salad. The trouble lies with the Christmas music—I'm relatively sure they loop exactly three Christmas songs—and the fact that I find myself humming one of these three choice Christmas songs when I return to my apartment. I feel it's worth mentioning that one of these songs is a banjo rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful." And if that sounds cool, it's not.

Even the packaging is more polite here. The wrapper of my little peanut butter sandwich puffs (do not recommend) says, “This snack contains peanut butter made from peanuts of good quality. You can enjoy it as is or after toasting it light.” Why thank you!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

self-actualization

Today I brought up Maslow's hierarchy of needs to explain to my friend why she should quit her job and I felt like such a tool afterwards.

Dyed my hair yesterday. I'll post a picture when I figure out a way to take a picture of my new hair without looking like a girl who takes photos of her new hair and posts them online.





Monday, November 17, 2008

foreign correspondence

Today my mother informed me that the local butcher reads my blog. So Nick, if you're reading this, I'm not really down for the meat but I would love to sample some o' dem gourmet cheeses you're hiding in the corner fridge. See you at Christmas.

Monday, November 10, 2008

what then shall we choose? weight or lightness?

Spoke to Michelle yesterday, which was quite nice. I was her birthday. 23… so young.

Let's not even talk about how Anthony's just barely hitting 21. What an embarrassment. It's a good thing I’m cheap—otherwise the parking lot pre-parties would not fly.

I gave a friend “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (probably my favorite novel) for his birthday and before I did, I attempted to reread the entire thing in one night. I was unsuccessful. However, I did get through the first 150 pages and in doing so stumbled, once more, on some interesting thoughts:

A single metaphor can give birth to love.

'Pick me up', is the message of the person who keeps falling

When the strong were too weak to hurt the weak, the weak had to be strong enough to leave.




Sunday, November 9, 2008

mitte!

harold and maude finally finished downloading and i'm elatedddddd

Friday, November 7, 2008

gaijin

i finally found someone who expresses how i feel about tourism:
"If there is one thing more hateful than another it is being told what to admire and having objects pointed out to one with a stick."
Francis Kilvert

similarly, i'd like to take a moment to discuss the gaijin (foreigner) population of fukuoka. some friends pointed out that all the gaijin always look unhappy, and how true that is! i think most of them feel that by looking happy they reveal they are amateurs, because smiling is what tourists do. i probably look unhappy too, but not because i am. it's because i am doing any combination of the following things:
-trying not to get run over by a taxi while looking like i don't care
-figuring out how to say what i need to say in japanese as i approach my destination
-cursing the heels i have to wear to work while trying to remain graceful on cobblestone sidewalks

warning: politics ahead

let's talk about prop 8 for a hot minute 'cause i'm all fired up. i know people living in california have probably had enough by now but chill out for a minute--it obviously wasn't enough if 52% of voters still think same-sex marriage is somehow going to infringe on their rights.

reading this article
i was disheartened by not only the results of the vote, but also the reminder of obama's stance on same-sex marriage: against the ban, for unions; but, against marriage and has said it's "not a priority."
LGBTs are openly discriminated against in the united states. don't ask, don't tell; not allowed to give blood; and i forgot to mention how HIV/AIDS is listed under LGBT issues on obama's site! what the fuck?! cooperative ignorance like this diminishes the "leaps forward" that all the papers and world leaders have been gushing about this week.

what a mess.


sign the petition to re-open the vote in california here

a funny side note--if you'd like to contact the author of the petition, her email is:
break.danse.not.hearts@gmail.com

let's all take a minute to soak that one in...



this one's for anthony.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

san kyu very much

i need to start taking pictures

dinner with haruka and aya was lovely. we ordered some "chiizu chiizu pizza" because we guessed that meant there were two kinds of cheese. the waitress brought out a small carafe of honey to put on top. there's always something...

last weekend i went to this gem of a store called Thank You Mart, which has a bunch of nonsense, costumey weird stuff and secondhand clothing. i bought a dress. i was supposed to be buying a halloween costume.
everything is 390 yen (about $3.90) and yesterday Anna explained the pun to me:
everything is 390 yen and in Japanese 3 is san and 9 is kyu, so "san kyu" sounds like "thank you," hence the name Thank You Mart. yesssss