You may have noticed that I no longer post to the Higo Blog like I used to. Since I started work at the aquarium, much of my energy has been put into starting up a blog at Monterey Bay Aquarium, and it’s been a much larger challenge than I had ever suspected. Blogging has become work, and so when I get home, I don’t often feel like posting about much of anything.
This makes me sad, because I am posting things on an internal blog that only a very few people will ever have access to. Meanwhile, this blog is starving for posts and new content.
So why this post, today?
A co-worker gave me a picture book of Kumamoto, and looking at it transported me back to another lifetime when I lived in my mountain village, Ubuyama. This prompted me to take a long look at my successors’ blogs, and then my own, to remember what has slipped to the back of my mind.
I’m re-reading my posts from my time in Japan, and realize that I used to love to post. I was once a prolific blogger. There was a time where I would come home and look forward to concentrating my thoughts and pictures into a post. I would think of things that I wanted to post about the future and it became something that I really enjoyed.
I need to take some time to re-evaluate what this weblog means to me, and what I want to post here, and I think the best way to do that will be to start editing my blog from the beginning. As I brush up older posts, I hope to find inspiration to start writing and shooting again.
Or maybe I just need to move abroad again…

does publishing work here?

One of my favorite Mos Def songs…

Something dropped onto the nape of my neck and slowly scuttled down toward my right shoulder blade. Reflexively, I reached back with my left hand and squished the unseen creature between my thumb and forefinger with enough force to crush a Skittle.
Not feeling any pop or give, I was startled to see that it was a large tick. Intending to burn the little beast, I drowned it in the dregs of my tea instead.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of multiple hairy insect legs crawling over naked skin, and I would gladly never again like to experience it again. Especially little insects that can pass on diseases that can kill me or severely impact my quality of life…

It turns out that my hunch, that I wrote about in February of 2006, was correct. Nova, one of the big 3 eikaiwa (English conversation school) chains in Japan, has closed its doors to students and employees alike. How much does that suck for everyone?
link
If you are looking to join a much better program (better pay, benefits, and quality of candidates- the only real con is that there is much less flexibility as to where you are stationed), check out JET, which will be accepting applications up until December 3rd, I think, for next year.

It’s sad to look at who, in our culture, is perceived to be a role model in the media. It sucks to see people get rewarded for being jackasses, to to watch these behavior patterns virally ripple out in all directions.
That’s why stories like this are all the more extraordinary:
Reclusive Philanthropist Steps into Spotlight
Would you or I do something like this if you were put in a similar situation?

As the son of two parents who grew up in L.A., and one of two brothers who spent a few years in Japan craving and trying to faithfully recreate our beloved flavour of Mexican food, I have some pretty strong opinions about tacos.
I love food that reminds me of the way food tasted when I was a kid. I love my taco shells to be made of corn tortillas, freshly fried in olive oil. I love letting the cheese, preferably a nice cheddar, melt inside as the hot oil works transforms the texture of the tortilla from dry and grainy to crispy, slightly chewy, and a bit caramelized.
In Japan, corn tortillas were so expensive, and of such poor quality, that we subsided on flour tortillas, which could only be obtained during a rare expedition to the nearest Costco. Going to Costco was almost the equivalent of making a road trip to Vegas, only better because you were certain to return feeling 10 times richer than however much you spent, and some people I knew turned a profit from going on Costco runs for others.
Meat must be prepared with the standard “taco mix”, and fried with diced potatoes, minced garlic, and chopped onions. By mixing the meat with these other ingredients, you will help to stretch out the meat, but more importantly, the onions will impart sweetness, and the potatoes will add to the textural flavourscape of your tacos.
Finally, to top off the tacos, guacamole is nice. I like mine to be a simple mixture of avocado, garlic salt, lemon juice, pepper, and minced garlic.
Recently, I have decided that lettuce is to be avoided, and replaced with a 50/50 mix of chopped cilantro and green onions.
On salsa: fresh salsa, both tomato and tomatillo based are awesome. Lacking these, Tapatio, or better yet Cholula, make for good substitutes.
Tacos should be enjoyed with friends and family. This is not to say you can’t enjoy a taco alone, as sometimes this is a satisfying way to eat a meal, but I find that good company brings out the full flavor, both actual and sentimental, of the taco.

lorum ipsum or something