This bike shop (chari blend actually) is across from my gym in Mizue, one station away from where I live. It's not really a "serious" bike shop for true bikers, but more of one of the kind of shops that decided to get in a plethora of colourful low end bikes for the commuters who now like to ride these things, rather than the typical "mama chari" that is so common..
I love to see the colourful bikes shining out the window at night as I head home...
I wanted to show these to Max but he has no internet, no keitai email (kmail), and no way to get it to him other than post it! (no thanks). Sorry Max. Maybe next time. But I love you!
Cam
... something that is SUPPOSED to be green!
But that's the living version of the kappa, the mythical beast who lives under bridges and eats travelers trying to cross his waters... or cucumbers.
If you plan on traversing a river, always carry a cucumber because that is the only thing the kappa loves more than human flesh.
... this kappa found at Kappabashi (or Kappa Bridge) should rival some of Harmaceutical's wacky photos!
I love you!
Cam
In case you were wondering what it looks like where I go when I say I'm off to Kobuchizawa every monday... This is it!
Today was another good day; I actually got a fair bit done. Here is what I did:
1) I had a good breakfast and read some more of my book while enjoying the best coffee in the Multiverse.
2) I cooked up most of my vegetables, and made a big salad. The lunches for the week will be much easier as long as I don't eat those vegetables for breakfast!
3) I put my boxed bike on top of my other bike and walked it to my storage compartment (1km). Then I went to Seven Eleven and had some oden and fried chicken. I also bought a can of 7/11 shaving foam, and a can of hot (no sugar) coffee. They use another kind of sweetner but it isn't as sweet as regular canned coffee. Why don't they make coffee with milk and no sweetner? That's a mystery and something Kanna asked me at work the other day.
4) I came back and went for a ride (just a little one). While I was getting some fresh air I found a bulk food store (designed to serve companies like restaurants, etc.) and was shocked at the low prices! I bought several bags of frozen vegetables (much cheaper than fresh ones), really cheap steaks (1kg), other meat, and a bunch of nuts. This stuff was much cheaper than anything I could get in the supermarkets I usually shop at. I got some other stuff that is cheaper than at the supermarket as well and carried it all home on my bike.
5) On the way home I found a Workman store and went back to that. I wandered around to see if there was anything of interest and ended up getting a neck warmer that was only about 750 yen (about $6).
6) I paid a bill at the convenience store.
7) I printed out my accounting information and emailed a copy to my accountant in Fukui. I also put my accounting info that I need to send him in an envelope and will mail it off in a few days.
8) Then I enjoyed a big cup of hot, mulled wine on my balcony while watching the helicoptors over the night view of Chiba City (I think).
9) I got dinner all ready and now I just need to cook the steak.
10) I am going to iron my shirts tonight as well (the iron just "pinged" so I think it is ready), then fold the laundry that is all dry and ready to be put away.
10) I think I'll read more of my book and finish it off (#6 in the series of 14 from Darrell) while I am eating.
11) I'll pack up my stuff for my trip to Kobuchizawa tomorrow (it's nice not going to the office at all on Mondays!)
12) When all that is done I'll have a shower and head to bed about midnight.
Speaking of Darrell, he sent me two t-shirts for Christmas. One is for me, and the other for Mayu. He got them from an online t-shirt shop called Threadless (www.threadless.com). You should be able to tell which is for me, and which is for Mayu by the way they fit.
The first one you see above is called "Red". Can you tell why? The other one you see here to the left is entitled "No More Bento". I laughed when I saw the name of the shirt and the art on the shirt. Surely enough, someone won't be getting any more obentos anymore.
I hope you have a wonderful Sunday as well.
I love you!
Cam
Things change from yesterday regarding some of my work. (This didn't post from my keitai yesterday due to the Multiply Move so I am posting it now).
I still go to Kobuchizawa on the 1pm train from Shinjuku and get back to Shinjuku at about 915pm. That is fixed. I have about 1hr of overtime I can log on Mondays.
Wednesdays I have to teach two classes after 6pm so I won’t be clocking out until 9pm. That works out to an additional 3 hours of overtime I clock on Wednesdays.
The company prefers we take the time off the same month rather than paying out overtime if it is at all possible. And in a way that’s a good policy because no matter how much one may ned the etra cash eventually it weas a body down.
Also the chances of having the odd hour overtime here and there (or even half hour) are quite high as is so a bit of extra cash will come in that way.
As for the Wednesday Weekly 3hrs I have decided to take the time off on Monday mornings. Instead of getting into a suit, going to the office for three hours then rushing off to catch this train I’ll just catch an 11:52 or 11:56 from my station and go directly to Shinjuku. That will give me 15-30 minutes to get to the platform and catch this 1pm train.
It’s perfect because I can wear more casual clothes and dress for the biting chill in Kobuchizawa rather than sweat my way to work and be underdressed standing on the platform waiting to catch the 7:18pm train back. When I was there at the end of December my leather jacket was not enough… but too much for me commuting in Tokyo.
The end result is that I can stay up or out later on Sunday, and completely avoid rushing Monday morning. I get to sleep in to 7am withou any stress of not making my 8:20 train, can cook breakfast and pack a lunch, roam the net, do some year-end accounting, write a few emails re. IMS work or private, iron shirts that took the weekend to dry, clean up and basically take my time getting to the train where I actually get a seat all the way to Shinjuku!
And… in the months when people come to visit me I will just hunker down and work a full Monday (no bigdeal really as the day consists of about 5.5hrs on trains). That way I can build up the overtime and then take it off for my friends, thus increasing the tme I can spend with them even if I don’t have enough paid holidays to take off the entire time they are here.
So it works well for me and for others. Also if I want to extend a weekend longer to say visit Max in his part of the country to enjoy a riding weekend to recharge my batteries (he told me two nights ago they have about 2m or 7ft of snow already and our heavy snows don’t even begin until January! Lots this year and I gotta miss it…)
And that’s about the size of things today.
From the keitai…
I love you!
A week or two ago I was on my balcony and happened to see that there was a "hill" off in the distance. I decided that I wanted to get there, but could not find it on my maps. I tried twice to ride through the city to the general direction but ended up on the wrong side of one of the rivers. So, today I went in the opposite direction, crossed over the Edogawa, then rode back along the river, to Tokyo Bay. I stopped at the end of the road where there were a bunch of men fishing. We chatted, talked, and laughed, then I went home, freezing my digits. I made it home, but am not sure where some of my digits are. I'm typing with my nose right now...
I found the hill; it was a garbage dump. And it's a lot smaller and uglier when you are up next to it. I guess it just seemed so much larger than real life because my apartment is on the 11th floor and the other apartments in the distance must have been smaller. So... it seemed like a hill. The entire trip to Tokyo Bay Fishing Homeless Guys Location was about15km. Then another 5km back to the Garbage Hill. Then 5km home. So... I took a 25km round trip to do 10km. Some might think I wasted a huge amount of time, but getting out for the couple of hours of ride, photographing, and chatting was definitely worth it today. And so was freezing my digits. The majority of photos are on flickr, but if you would like to see them as a slideshow, then please click here. (No porn here, sorry). Have a great Stefnee's Birthday!
I love you!
Cam
I watched this french documentary film yesterday (with japanese subtitles) at Shibuya's Bunkamura. It is an 85 minute documentary about the Maurice Béjart Ballet Lausanne, in Lausanne Switzerland.
It is a documentary by Arantxa Sanchez for Lopez-Li films. After Maurice Béjart has passed away, his Company, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, sets on to a new journey with Gil Roman, the Artistic Director. The movie is set during the creation of 'Aria', Gil Roman’s new creation.
Béjart was one of the world's top ballet coreographers. He passed away in 2007.. This film was very very good. I even teared up when the dancers in the school all said that Bejart was still with them, dancing with them, guiding their spirits and that they wanted to continue to dance for him, even though he was no longer with them.
If you have the chance to watch it, please do! I don't think you will be disappointed.
A little bit on Maurice Béjart from Wikipedia:
Maurice B̩jart (1 January 1927 Р22 November 2007) was a French and Swiss choreographer who ran the B̩jart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger.
He was born in Marseille, France. In 1954, he founded the Ballet de l'Étoile company (dissolved in 1957). In 1960 he founded the Ballet du XXe Siècle in Brussels (dissolved in 1987).
In 1987 he moved to Lausanne in Switzerland, where he founded the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, one of the most famous and successful dance companies in the world.
He made significant contribution to the Persian Ballet Repertoire in the late 1960s and 1970s performing at the famous Roudaki Hall in Tehran created under the supervision of the former Empress of Iran, with whom he kept strong ties of friendship over the years.
Among his works is a thoroughly revised version of The Nutcracker, presumably inspired by his own life story, which he staged in 2000. It still uses Tchaikovsky's original score, but completely scraps the original plot and characters, instead supplying a new story about a boy's efforts to re-connect with his mother. We also are given a look into the boy's strange sexual fantasies. The production design is full of erotic images — some of which are most likely shocking to many, such as wombs and vaginal openings. One of the characters is Marius Petipa, who becomes Mephisto. Another character is called Felix the Cat, presumably after the famous cartoon character. The production has been issued on DVD.
Yukiyo is a Taro Hakase fan. I can understand why because his violin music is simply the best. It's not your typical classical music... he has played for famous musicians all around the world and even toured with Celine Dion. I don't know how to describe it other than to say it is ... Hakase. Yukiyo and her mom came for a visit today because her mom wanted to see me, and my apartment. We had coffee and cakes and chatted for a few hours. Then we headed out to Shiodome on the Shinjuku line switching at Morishita (2 stops before my station) to the Oedo line and headed to Shiodome (2 stops before Tokyo Tower at Akabanebashi).
It was so good that I took a bunch of photos and put them up on my flickr site (slideshow here) and then I continued to make a total of six videos which you can watch any of the six at my YouTube Channel here.
And then we went to dinner!
I don't know if you will like this, love it, hate it or be indifferent because the music is not "North American". I know some NAs who are not fond of this kind of music. But I know some who really enjoy it.
Whatever floats your boat, take a look at maybe one of the six videos, and enjoy the photo shoot. I think you'll probably really enjoy that!I love you!
Cam
