back in tha sad-dle a-gain. she's back in tha sad-dle a-gain!
i'm happy to report my cruddy mood has lifted and i once again love everything small and cute in this strange lil land i call home. and with this colder weather and i enjoying the luxury of warmed toilet seats more and more. this weekend rocked. saturday night after work i met Louise and Kylie for drinks at Sunny Side Up, a small pub where the bartender speaks a bit of English and, more importantly, he freepours. mmmm, vodka and OJ was just what i needed after my week! we played some darts, and i kicked some major butt. ah, beginner's luck! the dart boards here are all automatice. no crusty old dude sitting in the corner taking your score. you just throw and it adds up your points, and even tells you your game average. that night i met two other gaijin, Greg, who has been here two years, and Larry, who has been here 6 yers and is SO Josh it's uncanny! Greg and i got on the topic of running and well, i have a new running partner! plus he has a hook up who can give me deets on half marathons and marathons in the surrounding area. sweet! maybe running will boot me off the menthols. if its any consolation to those of you who do not condone my use of tobacco, i am happy to report that i have not had coffee for many moons now, and that i have replaced my morning caffeine jolt with a nice glass of barley greens.
on sunday i travelled to Koriyama with Manager, Mizuko-sensei, and Michelle. We went to Lake Inawashiro, the largest lake in Fukushima prefecture. it was so gorgeous. the water was turquoise blue and there was an excellent view of Mt Bandai. Bandai-san and I will be meeting in the coming months when Cam and I hit the slopes. We went to the Morihashi art musuem which boasted an extensive collection of Dali, along with Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, and others which the passage of time has erased from my brain. Dali was a crazy cat. I dont think he was so so obscure as everyone makes him out to be. i think he was just ahead of his time and misunderstood, as all creative genuises (geni?) are. I think my two favourite works of the day were his bronze statue entitled Space Elephant. it was an elephant with a huge quartz obelisk on its back. Maybe a lil power source to attract the aliens from space and a way they could recharge their spaceships from earth.. The second one was aptly titled Alice in Wonderland, which is incidentally what i will become for Halloween. it was a bronze figure of a tall, willowy woman with roses for hair and leaves covering her face which looked awfully similar to alien eyes. her arms are extended over her head and she's holding a rope forming a circle high above. i was once again moved to tears when i saw Van Gogh's {Peasant Woman{. I just adore Van Gogh and whenever i see his works i just get so choked up. hah, who knew i was so emotional? i remember the first time i saw his works live was in first year university, back in '00 (!) when dad came to toronto and took me to the ROM.
Afterwards we wanted to check out a glass museum but it was closed so we headed back to Iwaki, about an hour.5 away, for dinner at Bamiyam. good eats. when i got home my friend Ritsuko picked me up and took me to Atsuko's nabe party. though the nabe was over, it was still fun to see everyone- Kylie, Dan, Phil, and some japanese friends. Nabe is a big pot and you can make vegetables and pork or chicken or beef in it. like a quasi fondue i suppose. Atsuko felt bad that i had missed the nabe so she is planning anohter party soon. speaking of parties, Dan and Phil *not sure if i've already written about them. they are two Brits working at NOVA* are hosting a halloween party on November second. and there are plans in the making for my birthday celebration next month. Kim's birthday is on the 17th so we will have a double celebration. i am so excited for my birthday this year, and i think this is the first time i've even been excited one. karaoke is going to be super!
interesting. my social life in Japan is much more thrilling and fun than mine was in Toronto! i love it! what i really dig is just walking down the street and meeting people. i saw Kim today and we chatted for a bit. tomorrow night we are going out for dinner with Louise. I'm so glad I've met some cool chics here. they are both so down to earth.
today Mizuko and I went out for lunch at this funky indian restaurant where i met Baba, the cook. Baba is a really nice gentleman, and he speaks english. the food was scrumptious. we had nan bread *ahhh finally NAN bread!* two different curries, salad, and some vegetables. and chai tea! mmmm... we even got some samples of the tea as we were leaving. then we went to city hall and signed up for a japanese tutor so now i just sit back and wait until they call me with someone who wants to volunteer! hopefully it will be a guy with chiselled features and skateboards. oooh, wouldn't that be sweet! then i did a lil shopping and got this killer hoodie that's grey blue with a red D on it with a yellow crown on top. so there you have it folks, in print! i really AM a princess after all... ya know if was funny cuz when i came here i was like ya everyone is going to be so conservative... ya right!! people dress so cool here. and i'm getting back to wearing comfy grungy clothes and feeling deliciously comfortable in them. ya blouses are nice and all but i can't get out of them and the pinstripes fast enough when i get off work.
my eradication of the seven sins is going well, thank you for wondering. i'm really working on Sloth and i bust up laughing at least ten times a day at myself. i am CONSTANTLY giving myself a lil pep talk or reality check. "JUST CLEAN IT UP DANIELLE! STOP BEING SO LAZY!!" "Laziness laziness! nobody likes a sloth!" "There IS no mom here. clean it now!" ooh Vanity is a hard one to get out, but Envy is going well. as for Revenge... well... i think the best revenge is living well so i can't really get rid of that one.
the upside of living on my own is the ability to eat a chocolate cake and popcorn and call it dinner. could there be a frat boy hiding beneath this beautiful exterior? yet conversely, i'm growing weary of these mundane lil details in my life like cleaning, making lunch, and doing laundry, which eat up my precious time. is this what reality is? is this what i have to look forward to the rest of my life? F that noise brotha! I just don't know how to avoid them, they seem like an inevitable part of my day. geesh, i'm starting to understand my parents more and more every day. i've also been rethinking this whole working 9-5 everyday *ok, like 11-8 right now* five days a week. i get the tuesday morning blues when i'm back. i mean it's not that i don't love my kids, it's just that i finally get in the groove of relaxing and finish with the aforementioned boring details when BOOM i have to go back. maybe i'll just become a writer and write and write and travel and write for a living. i know this, i can't work a steady everyday job for more than a couple of years before something snaps inside. i've also been thinking about going back to school and getting a science degree. oh i'm just a bubbling pot of ideas and ambitions these days! it's all the Carl Sagan and Herman Hesse i've been gobbling up.
speaking of snapping, and gad could my segues be better in this post, i'm working on another project in my life of letting go of all my fears. *not that i have a lot of fears. just mainly of being raped, and going to bed n waking up in the mental institution.* especially my fear, which i didn't even know i had until recently, of going crazy. i'm so scared of losing my mind. cuz if i don't have my mind, how can i go on? how can life be so beautiful without having the capacity to express that, to store information, to recall, to create...? i know i have an immense creative side and a wild imagination and sometimes i think what if i just lose it and end up acting out one of my fantasies? what if i'm walking down the street when i jump off my bike and break out into song and dance and swing around with an umbrella and run up to strangers and do all kinds of strange hand movements while singing about the wind and the trees... or what if i start dancing like an Egyptian in the middle of class?... but i figure you know what? Screw it! i'm just going to live and talk to myself and think my 'crazy' thots and entertain myself with my visions and love life and if i end up crazy in the end than at least i will have had a wonderful time in the process. and what is crazy anyway? a big misunderstanding? so be it. i've never endeavoured to be understood.
one more thing before i leave, and i must leave quickly because michelle's christian rock is starting to permeate too deep into my long term memory and if i'm singing *He's Got the Whole World in His Hands* in the shower tomorrow i will be pissed, i must say that since i've been here i have had SUCH an increase in my connections with the Cosmic Consciousness. call them coincidences, synchronicities, 6th sense, deja vue, whatever you want. but i know this, the more i trust my mind, the more i am rewarded. and it makes living so much easier, it's like half the battle is won. you think about someone and behold! there they are. you wonder about something and soon after you see it. i'm truly starting to feel like i'm right there in the flow of the river of life. when you're more in tune with your surroundings, and your inner self, everything just feels right and you don't have to force anything or feel like you're constantly hitting a wall in what you are trying to accomplish. plus it's fun to see all the things you can predict in a day. anyway, that's my philosophical spew for the day. in short, life is good.
Joel, my precious mouffin, please send me your address cuz i want to mail you a letter! and oh! i had a pogo the other day! i was so excited when i saw them sitting in the heater at 7-11. so i bought one and of course they wrapped it up in a million different bags. so i:m riding home and i:m absolutely dying to eat this pogo so i: m trying to upwrap it while riding and i kinda sorta did. ooh, this pogo is going to be sooooo tasty i thought. i dont: even care if i:m going against the unwritten rule of not eating while biking/walking/moving. i head up the hill to my place when i hit a bump. it was like a slo mo movie. i see my pogo and it:s bag take flight, sailing through the cold night air. the pogo emerges from it:s wrapper, a lonely lil batter covered weiner and SPLAT. lands on the pavement. recalling the incident now i may have screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!. there was a look of horror upon my face!
but of course, having no shame i picked it up, dusted it off, and ate it.
the lengths i will go to to indulge in the one disgusting deep fried, mad cow ridden junk food i love.
i'm happy to report my cruddy mood has lifted and i once again love everything small and cute in this strange lil land i call home. and with this colder weather and i enjoying the luxury of warmed toilet seats more and more. this weekend rocked. saturday night after work i met Louise and Kylie for drinks at Sunny Side Up, a small pub where the bartender speaks a bit of English and, more importantly, he freepours. mmmm, vodka and OJ was just what i needed after my week! we played some darts, and i kicked some major butt. ah, beginner's luck! the dart boards here are all automatice. no crusty old dude sitting in the corner taking your score. you just throw and it adds up your points, and even tells you your game average. that night i met two other gaijin, Greg, who has been here two years, and Larry, who has been here 6 yers and is SO Josh it's uncanny! Greg and i got on the topic of running and well, i have a new running partner! plus he has a hook up who can give me deets on half marathons and marathons in the surrounding area. sweet! maybe running will boot me off the menthols. if its any consolation to those of you who do not condone my use of tobacco, i am happy to report that i have not had coffee for many moons now, and that i have replaced my morning caffeine jolt with a nice glass of barley greens.
on sunday i travelled to Koriyama with Manager, Mizuko-sensei, and Michelle. We went to Lake Inawashiro, the largest lake in Fukushima prefecture. it was so gorgeous. the water was turquoise blue and there was an excellent view of Mt Bandai. Bandai-san and I will be meeting in the coming months when Cam and I hit the slopes. We went to the Morihashi art musuem which boasted an extensive collection of Dali, along with Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, and others which the passage of time has erased from my brain. Dali was a crazy cat. I dont think he was so so obscure as everyone makes him out to be. i think he was just ahead of his time and misunderstood, as all creative genuises (geni?) are. I think my two favourite works of the day were his bronze statue entitled Space Elephant. it was an elephant with a huge quartz obelisk on its back. Maybe a lil power source to attract the aliens from space and a way they could recharge their spaceships from earth.. The second one was aptly titled Alice in Wonderland, which is incidentally what i will become for Halloween. it was a bronze figure of a tall, willowy woman with roses for hair and leaves covering her face which looked awfully similar to alien eyes. her arms are extended over her head and she's holding a rope forming a circle high above. i was once again moved to tears when i saw Van Gogh's {Peasant Woman{. I just adore Van Gogh and whenever i see his works i just get so choked up. hah, who knew i was so emotional? i remember the first time i saw his works live was in first year university, back in '00 (!) when dad came to toronto and took me to the ROM.
Afterwards we wanted to check out a glass museum but it was closed so we headed back to Iwaki, about an hour.5 away, for dinner at Bamiyam. good eats. when i got home my friend Ritsuko picked me up and took me to Atsuko's nabe party. though the nabe was over, it was still fun to see everyone- Kylie, Dan, Phil, and some japanese friends. Nabe is a big pot and you can make vegetables and pork or chicken or beef in it. like a quasi fondue i suppose. Atsuko felt bad that i had missed the nabe so she is planning anohter party soon. speaking of parties, Dan and Phil *not sure if i've already written about them. they are two Brits working at NOVA* are hosting a halloween party on November second. and there are plans in the making for my birthday celebration next month. Kim's birthday is on the 17th so we will have a double celebration. i am so excited for my birthday this year, and i think this is the first time i've even been excited one. karaoke is going to be super!
interesting. my social life in Japan is much more thrilling and fun than mine was in Toronto! i love it! what i really dig is just walking down the street and meeting people. i saw Kim today and we chatted for a bit. tomorrow night we are going out for dinner with Louise. I'm so glad I've met some cool chics here. they are both so down to earth.
today Mizuko and I went out for lunch at this funky indian restaurant where i met Baba, the cook. Baba is a really nice gentleman, and he speaks english. the food was scrumptious. we had nan bread *ahhh finally NAN bread!* two different curries, salad, and some vegetables. and chai tea! mmmm... we even got some samples of the tea as we were leaving. then we went to city hall and signed up for a japanese tutor so now i just sit back and wait until they call me with someone who wants to volunteer! hopefully it will be a guy with chiselled features and skateboards. oooh, wouldn't that be sweet! then i did a lil shopping and got this killer hoodie that's grey blue with a red D on it with a yellow crown on top. so there you have it folks, in print! i really AM a princess after all... ya know if was funny cuz when i came here i was like ya everyone is going to be so conservative... ya right!! people dress so cool here. and i'm getting back to wearing comfy grungy clothes and feeling deliciously comfortable in them. ya blouses are nice and all but i can't get out of them and the pinstripes fast enough when i get off work.
my eradication of the seven sins is going well, thank you for wondering. i'm really working on Sloth and i bust up laughing at least ten times a day at myself. i am CONSTANTLY giving myself a lil pep talk or reality check. "JUST CLEAN IT UP DANIELLE! STOP BEING SO LAZY!!" "Laziness laziness! nobody likes a sloth!" "There IS no mom here. clean it now!" ooh Vanity is a hard one to get out, but Envy is going well. as for Revenge... well... i think the best revenge is living well so i can't really get rid of that one.
the upside of living on my own is the ability to eat a chocolate cake and popcorn and call it dinner. could there be a frat boy hiding beneath this beautiful exterior? yet conversely, i'm growing weary of these mundane lil details in my life like cleaning, making lunch, and doing laundry, which eat up my precious time. is this what reality is? is this what i have to look forward to the rest of my life? F that noise brotha! I just don't know how to avoid them, they seem like an inevitable part of my day. geesh, i'm starting to understand my parents more and more every day. i've also been rethinking this whole working 9-5 everyday *ok, like 11-8 right now* five days a week. i get the tuesday morning blues when i'm back. i mean it's not that i don't love my kids, it's just that i finally get in the groove of relaxing and finish with the aforementioned boring details when BOOM i have to go back. maybe i'll just become a writer and write and write and travel and write for a living. i know this, i can't work a steady everyday job for more than a couple of years before something snaps inside. i've also been thinking about going back to school and getting a science degree. oh i'm just a bubbling pot of ideas and ambitions these days! it's all the Carl Sagan and Herman Hesse i've been gobbling up.
speaking of snapping, and gad could my segues be better in this post, i'm working on another project in my life of letting go of all my fears. *not that i have a lot of fears. just mainly of being raped, and going to bed n waking up in the mental institution.* especially my fear, which i didn't even know i had until recently, of going crazy. i'm so scared of losing my mind. cuz if i don't have my mind, how can i go on? how can life be so beautiful without having the capacity to express that, to store information, to recall, to create...? i know i have an immense creative side and a wild imagination and sometimes i think what if i just lose it and end up acting out one of my fantasies? what if i'm walking down the street when i jump off my bike and break out into song and dance and swing around with an umbrella and run up to strangers and do all kinds of strange hand movements while singing about the wind and the trees... or what if i start dancing like an Egyptian in the middle of class?... but i figure you know what? Screw it! i'm just going to live and talk to myself and think my 'crazy' thots and entertain myself with my visions and love life and if i end up crazy in the end than at least i will have had a wonderful time in the process. and what is crazy anyway? a big misunderstanding? so be it. i've never endeavoured to be understood.
one more thing before i leave, and i must leave quickly because michelle's christian rock is starting to permeate too deep into my long term memory and if i'm singing *He's Got the Whole World in His Hands* in the shower tomorrow i will be pissed, i must say that since i've been here i have had SUCH an increase in my connections with the Cosmic Consciousness. call them coincidences, synchronicities, 6th sense, deja vue, whatever you want. but i know this, the more i trust my mind, the more i am rewarded. and it makes living so much easier, it's like half the battle is won. you think about someone and behold! there they are. you wonder about something and soon after you see it. i'm truly starting to feel like i'm right there in the flow of the river of life. when you're more in tune with your surroundings, and your inner self, everything just feels right and you don't have to force anything or feel like you're constantly hitting a wall in what you are trying to accomplish. plus it's fun to see all the things you can predict in a day. anyway, that's my philosophical spew for the day. in short, life is good.
Joel, my precious mouffin, please send me your address cuz i want to mail you a letter! and oh! i had a pogo the other day! i was so excited when i saw them sitting in the heater at 7-11. so i bought one and of course they wrapped it up in a million different bags. so i:m riding home and i:m absolutely dying to eat this pogo so i: m trying to upwrap it while riding and i kinda sorta did. ooh, this pogo is going to be sooooo tasty i thought. i dont: even care if i:m going against the unwritten rule of not eating while biking/walking/moving. i head up the hill to my place when i hit a bump. it was like a slo mo movie. i see my pogo and it:s bag take flight, sailing through the cold night air. the pogo emerges from it:s wrapper, a lonely lil batter covered weiner and SPLAT. lands on the pavement. recalling the incident now i may have screamed NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!. there was a look of horror upon my face!
but of course, having no shame i picked it up, dusted it off, and ate it.
the lengths i will go to to indulge in the one disgusting deep fried, mad cow ridden junk food i love.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home