Chillin'
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Ocean Odyssey
I have just watched possibly the best ocean documentary, ever. That’s pretty much all I can say, because it just completely blew me away. Well, on second thought, I guess I can quickly describe it as a two-part show (1 hour each) that traces the life and amazing journeys of a sperm whale. I should also add that this show features some of the best computer graphics I have ever seen in the sense that the models are just real enough – they aren’t too real so as to seem spooky ala the Uncanny Valley effect, but they were good enough in places to make me wonder if it was…
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obvious conclusion
me: i need to delete this chat later Taro: hahaha why? me: or my grandchildren will know what a disgusting old man their grandfather is when they go through my gmail account Taro: How? me: you can access all of your past chat sessions through gmail look at the Chat item in the menu on the left Taro: oh but it was not me it was not written by Taro. me: holy shit, I am not me, either! who the fuck is taro? who the fuck are you? Taro: I dont know me: dont write depraved shit here! Taro: maybe somebody just broke in this chat me: hah you’re a…
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Future Spirits
Taro’s aunts called from Horyuji to say they were harvesting this year’s plums from the ancient trees in their front yard and to ask if I wanted to come pick up the resulting umeshu in seven or eight years. Um, yes. I can think of many stupider reasons I’ve heard for visiting Japan.
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Bottled Water
In general, bottled water from France is expensive and disgusting. Funny, it doesn’t taste nearly as bad drinking it when you’re in France. Maybe they save the good stuff for domestic consumption and export the lower grades. After all, that’s what Japan does with, say, solar panels (I’ve seen the sorting bins at the factory so I know this to be true; Grade A stays in Japan, Grade B is exported to America, and anything below that is shipped everywhere else.). The worst tasting bottled water, in my opinion, is evian. And of course, evian spelled backwards is naive. That is as far as I can bear to think today,…
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Butcher Standard
That video I posted yesterday is stuck in my head. On one hand, it’s been positively liberating having that tune on my lips all day. Delivery truck cuts me off on the way to work? Hey yo, fuck the shit. Cleaning lady wants to sweep out the stall next to mine while I’m dropping a load? Shit the fuck. The air conditioner in our ferroconcrete office breaks down for the third time this month, on the hottest day so far this year, and we can’t have it fixed because it requires tearing out part of the ceiling which is a safety hazard during work hours? FUCK THE FUCKING SHIT. On…
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Sumoto River Update – Explosion of Turtles and Mullet
The view out of the bus window this morning was unusually interesting. A huge crane pontoon was working in conjunction with a tugboat to maneuver a trash barge (used to transport river silt dredged from the river bottom) next to it. The crane operater was very skilled and the men working under the huge yellow arm completely trusted him. He had a soft touch and you couldn’t even hear the metal scoop as it grabbed the side of the barge – why is heavy machinery so fascinating to me? I think in another life, I was a dumptruck driver who ran a freelance backhoe operation on weekends. Anyway, the Sumoto…
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Gandalf Bridge: A Farewell to G-Man Fam
G-man is transferring to Osaka this week, so we spent a great part of this past 3 day weekend hanging out and contemplating our lives and times on this great island/origin of the Japanese archipelago (according to the Kojiki). One of the places we decided to visit for the last time was the Gandalf Bridge. Even though I am not leaving for another four months or so, I doubt I will visit it alone because it is right near G-man’s house, which is up on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Gandalf Bridge got its name from the hordes of Shelob-sized arachnids that spin webs across its railings, necessitating…
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In the grass
Nam called me up in a panic yesterday because she crossed paths with a snake in the yard of our house (in Thailand). She told me it was about a meter long and light green, and she asked what she should do so I said LEAVE IT ALONE, because all I could think of was: Behold the awesome glory of the White-lipped Pitviper. Of course, it might have been the Toothless Leaf-eating Snake of Northern Thailand, but I wasn’t about to ask her to see if its head was shaped like a diamond or not (and I’m sure Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin would have agreed with that decision). Meanwhile,…
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Feverish Meat Dreams
I’ve been down with a completely unprovoked itchy throat/summer head cold the past week (damn you, yahweh!), which I think is more than evident in my writing. Not that I care. I have a cold, you see. It makes me want to glom a big phlegmy sound like “mweh” at the world. So: mweh! But what is a puny cold to a man in the land of samurai ninja kamikaze? Pshaw. I have been down, but not completely out of action (and as such, I may have unwittingly figured out why so many feudal lords suddenly died of pneumonia – “What’s that? Rest, you say? Ridiculous! It’s just a little…
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Scary
“Hey Justin, can you call back in ten? Nam’s driving right now.”
