This is the bridge that separates my island from the mainland. It’s the longest suspension bridge in the world, nearly 4 kilometers long. It costs over 2500 yen to cross it in a “futsu-joyosha” (rougly means regular car in the sense of size, power, and purpose) one way. Yes, I pay this both ways whenever I go off the island.
Month: October 2003
Overpass on Awaji Highway
This is one of the footbridges that are built over the highway on my island. I’ve never seen anyone on them, and I think they demand closer investigation.
Desalination Towers
Actually, I have no idea what these towers are for, but they looked really neat against the sunset when I was driving home…
Weekend Doings
Bad News first:
Forgot to call home for my mom’s birthday. The doghouse in which I currently reside is quite dark, to better accomodate hiding.
Much Better News:
1.
Weather was absolutely brilliant. Drove to Nara in approximately 12 parsecs. Sylvia was at the top of her game and we ate a Skyline GT-R for lunch. Shame, shame.
This guy had serious “GT-R: King of Road” machismatic issues or something, because he suddenly floored it when I moved to pass. It had not been my intention to challenge him at all, I just wanted to get off the island quickly in order to reach Kobe before traffic started, but this bitch move got under my skin real quick… Really not much I could do about that as he was simply driving the faster car, but I cursed him – and it worked: GT-R boy found out just how front-heavy those type-32 Skylines really are when he stepped on the gas and pushed hard through a long downhill curve… When he hit a bump coming out of it, the car’s rear jounced down hard, and let me tell you son, those tires were smokin’. He started to fishtail so I dropped back and watched as he almost oversteered (jerk the wheel Left, then Right, then Left, then…) into the guardrail at warp speed. What a show!
We passed him as he was shitting brick, mortar, and trowel in the slow lane. Homeboy had a white-knuckled kung-fu DEATH GRIP on the steering wheel and was watching the road VERY INTENTLY so perhaps did not see me waving to him.
Then my radar detector saved us from doom further down the road. This was the third time in as many weeks. (Props to god for mostly limiting the Dark Ones around me to detectable speed guns and fixed cameras that are often out of film.) I would just like to make a quick note here that as far as type-32 Skylines go, I find that skilled drifters tend to choose the GTS-T version over the vaunted GT-R, probably because it leaves more to the driver. My cousin who recently stopped racing (and now drives a big-ass Hi-Ace van – LOL!) confirmed this; he also drove a GTS-T.
2.
I called together some cousins (literal) and friends for a night out. It was fun. Good conversation. Good tunes. Good people. Partway through the night I went seriously Otaku with my keitai camera and went so far as to make drunk people pose for multiple takes. Then I got into the “mini Photoshop” app on my phone and created some seriously scary photos with various effects/filters. At the time of this post, some can be seen on the right column of this page (they will automatically be replaced as I post new pics) . You can see them all, anytime, on my moblog.
3.
Nam and I drove home yesterday evening, directly into a red sun framed by blue sky and the last remaining wisps of silver clouds. When the sky reddened and turned the horizon into a pinkish band of fire, for some strange reason it reminded me of Tatooine. Except that the Jawas were driving Corollas instead of Sand Crawlers, and my destination (the port at Sumoto) does not accomodate space vessels (yet). Go figure.
It seemed a bit too cool to keep the windows open all the way, but the sun’s rays made it too warm to close them. I compromised by closing Nam’s and leaving mine open, which usually suits us both just fine (How can girls sacrifice the sensation of wind blowing through their hair just for the sake of appearance? Use a good gel or something for chrissakes!). This was a nearly ideal drive home to the island:
Left ear: Soundgarden, loud.
Right ear: Soundgarden, in a storm.
Purring engine, green hills streaking by, fiery sun reluctantly passing reign to sister moon… Damn that was a sweet drive!
I took some pictures with my phone while driving (how many laws is that breaking?) and a few turned out OK, I’ll post them after renaming them later.
Hands Clasped
Created with the “pencil sketch” filter on my keitai’s graphics app. The original photo was too dark to see, really. I upped the contrast and applied the filter…. Voila! Nana’s hands, BTW.
“Tha Ill”
My cousin Nana. Resident of Asuka Mura. No, I will not “hook you up.”
Grotesque
This was a good photo to try my keitai photoshopping skillz on. This is my cousin Tate shortly after a Cuervo shooter. Tate’s dad, my uncle Takatoshi, is the head minister of a church in Nara, and it seems Tate is under a lot of pressure to get his act together… He has a younger sister and brother, and I take them out as often as I can.
Hell, we met some relatives in Kyoto for the first time last month… Aw crap I just realized that whatever I write here will be overshadowed by the photo.
Spooky Kana
The original, untouched version of this photo was not a keeper. Several thumb taps later, it became what you see here. Spooky with a Gothic kinda tip, a keeper in my book – if you can stand to look at it long enough to recognize the subject, that is.
Got it?
Hint: It’s a girl praying to god for me to stop running around taking pictures like a wired monkey, or for Armageddon, whichever can be arranged sooner, justpleasepleasehurrymakehimstopmakehimstop…
Nah, Those Ain’t Balls!
Kohei did not believe me when I said that a genki drink called “Tough Man” has a pair of balls on the bottle. Drink it and weep, I say. I am just guessing that this company took a pretty hard hit when they legalized Viagra in Japan.
At the Bar
Wow! This photo really came together well considering that the only illumination was the flame from my lighter (set to medium) and indirect reflections of the 8-ball clock off the wall they were facing. The original color photo came out well, but I like the monotone better. I admit that I staged this shot and had them pose for it – but it looks like a natural bar scene to me. I’m simply amazed this was possible with my keitai cam.