BOO!

Halloween is upon us again!


yes, it's my favorite holiday (this and thanksgiving -- we pagans like a good time!). Unfortunatly, my little city doesn't have much in the way of halloween decorations. they have frilly cute stuff but i don't like that shit. and finding a pumpkin big enough to carve is way too expensive. so i tapped into my inner martha and created all these myself!

here are my shrunken severed zombie heads (flesh tone inspired by Dawn of the Dead which was on TV last week):




i try to give them each their own individual look. the blood took forever to dry. here they are hanging in front of the livingroom balcony doors:


now off to Yoko's homemade pumpkn patch!


these (like the heads) are paper mache molded on balloons. after it all dries, you just pop the balloon. stems were fashioned with floral tape, wire, and a little cotton and tissue. cut the bottoms so i can stick a glow stick in it to give it that glow at night. will post night pix from my halloween dinner.


spooky tenugui (from a great japanese hand towel shop in kyoto):


and my styrofoam giant spider:


will be making a big pot of gumbo along with some other goodies. menu and photos to follow!

Big Buddha Time

went out to Chiba with D and Mary to see the big Buddha. none of us really knew where we were going (D had a goodish vague idea which was enough for me). All i know is that it took two trains, a bus ride, and a ride on the ferry to get there. Great weather! here we are enjoying the boat:




there were these hawks that were trailing our boat and hovering over us. they snatched up cheetos and other snacks thrown to them. we prayed desperately not to get shat upon:


ah, the openish sea!


the water was sooooo clear!


we took a moment to admire the ocean:



time for lunch! we went to the market to pick up some food for the journey:




and headed out towards the ropeway up Nokogiriyama (yes, mary walks slow):


up, up, and away!



and more up! there were so many damn stairs. steep ones too. these were nice and new but some of them were really dangerous to walk on:


the view from the top!


D's afro blocks some of the view:


a really big buddha carved in the stone wall:



me pulling a Bolt on the edge of the cliff:


yes, that's me leaning waaaaay over the barrier:


and more steps:


there were THOUSANDS of buddhas here. they came in all shapes and sizes with different expressions on their faces in different states of wear and tear. a lot of them had been decapitated which gave them an air of eerieness:






the rock formations were truly amazing. this was one of my favorite shots on the trip:


hey, that turtle looks familiar . . . .



and on to the main show! here he is, the biggest sitting buddha in Japan (31 meters high):



D reads up on the boddi tree donated from india:


ah, the little pond on the way out:


we opted to go down the mountain towards Hota station rather than go back up the mountain to ride the ropeway down. there were so many steps, my legs were ready to fall off on the ride home so down was definitely preferable to going up. it was quite a walk to the station but it gave us an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery at dusk:




feeling nice and spiritual after that day. and also very out of shape . . . .

Not a Message of Love

forwarded from my dearest Janson:

If I hear one more slow-jam about 'love with no glove, imagine that' or something equally as ignorant and reprehensible, I'm gonna have to slap someone.

People...please, wrap it up before you smack it up. In this world of ever-evolving STIs and drugs which can't keep up, it's our responsibility to look after ourselves and each other.

Ladies, just because you're on the pill and he says he loves you doesn't mean that his infections love you too. Fellas, real men aren't afraid of wearing a condom and no, you aren't too big to find one that fits...trust.

OK, so let's all go to the pharmacy and ask for a dose of act-right before we go out and act a hot mess when we KNOW we can and should do better.

Stay tuned for more,
J

**********************************************

thank you my dear! and now for something completely different, the train has sent me this wonderful video. the song is not only hauntingly catchy, the dancing and the circus acts will leave you in tears. come, let us Fly to Paradise! you MUST check it out!

Times are tight

yes, the economy blows. prices go up as salaries go down. every month, i live the life of poverty til i make my rent (being a free-lancer can suck at times) which means i go to the market, only buy what's on sale, and attempt to make a meal out of it. sometimes the result is quite good. other times it sucks balls.

as times have grown tighter, i have also begun to eat the stuff in my pantry. i get a mysterious thrill from trying things that are either past their expiration date or have no expiration date at all. i've discovered some stale cookies and crackers, some chocolate that's gone bad, lots of dried seaweed, and heaps of tea. the unfortunate thing about this combination is that it does not yield a meal of any kind. i inevitably have to go to the market and get supplemental groceries which defeats my purpose.

entertainment is also limited when you are frugal. not that i'm a party animal (the last time i did all night karaoke was 3 years ago) but when you are poor (and so are all your friends), it's harder to get together to do things that don't cost money.

in an effort to entertain myself, i've started taking all these online tests: are you normal? no. how romantic are you? not very. are you hot? no. what's your IQ? 136 what's your personality type? ESTJ which basically means i have the personality of Stalin. My friends, run for the hills. my family, i'm sorry, but you're stuck.

i would like to extol you with the virtues of frugality but right now i'm too poor and bored. the only upside i can see is that my house is pretty damn spotless right now. i guess its better than nothing!

we can all blame Bush. not only because he's an asshole but because i truly believe that most of this is HIS FAULT. why can't he just be a quitter like Japanese Prime Ministers? my friend and i went to a cheap conveyer belt sushi joint last week and a lady asked where we were from (cuz we were speaking English). we told her we were from America and this was exactly what she said:

I HATE BUSH.

so i says, "yeah me too."

sushi lady: "no money. i blame Bush. he's very bad."

me: "yes, i think so too. sorry."

sushi lady: "yes, I HATE BUSH."

the poor woman had a bowl of miso soup and two plates of sushi. i think once his presidency is over, Bush will never be able to step foot outside Texas unless he wants his ass severely whooped. by me or sushi lady. but what's left of my money is on her.

Farewell with Yakitori

Dad got his last food fix at this shitty little yakitori joint near oyama. it was cramped and dirty and smoky. just the way a local yakitori joint should be!




dad wants another!


Thanks for coming to japan dad! Next time, yakitori is on me!