earthy feeling

saturday 4:35pm

holy fuckin shit
there i was happily playing dress ups and the apartment started to move in a very alarming way
my first reaction is frozen with fear my second reaction is always to piss bolt anywhere usually outside - despite advice not to!
so i bolt to the door, hearing other english voices also flying down from the upstairs apartments i feel relieved, then i look down and realise i am dressed in a brightly coloured kimono and green lace tabi socks - too shitting myself to care i fling the door open and scream 'oh my god' (really loudly now that i come to think of it) just as the upstairs neighbours whom i have never met, but one of which i now realise is the girl that oddly looked me head to toe in the street the other day (at which time i was NOT wearing a brightly coloured kimono and green lace tabi socks), rounded the stair well and were met with the site of me door wide open in my finest dress up clothes screaming the lords name in vain

things i have learnt from this afternoons earthquake:
- i feel better knowing there are lots of english speakers around me
- i also feel better that other foreigners are at home on the weekends sitting on their arses instead of out exploring this amazing city
- a cell phone will be useless in a big emergency...i called zume straight away and the friggin thing kept telling me to please wait and that lady with the cute voice kept telling me that the tokyo lines were busy - when we finally got through zume said the lady with the cute voice had also been telling him the same!
- i really should study alot harder , there are times when knowing more japanese and kanji would really come in handy
- there are times when a triple vodka and tabacco laced with valium would also be handy (gonna have to go with the triple vodka this time)

just watching the news now - was between 4 and 5 in places - real close to tokyo
epi centre in chiba
dont worry the precious shinkansen is ok but some other trains have stopped
some cool footage of tv studio shaking and the shibuya crossing looking pretty much unphased (sales are on - no time for earthquakes)...looks like a few unstable structures have come down
plan to go have that vod now to calm my nerves while i watch as the news pans across the same footage for the next 56 hours

mum im ok! hope you get to feel an earthquake when you are here! its bloody scary

i am a minidisc

after a good read of udon soup i found myself suckered into another mind numbing online quiz
currently feeling decidedly behind the times after being classified as a minidisc
but according to the quiz i am just so fresh and you are all filthy stinking hippies

               

            What
            Audio Format are You?

GO ON...numb your mind too

ps sometimes secrectly wish i was a hippie

rectal rocket

life with arse jet
looked up from my book when i heard a man screeching the words asu jeto
turns out its an 'earth chemical'

3 letter word

for someone who has never studied or lived outside of japan, zume
has awesome- no stupendous english ability. his motivation is
bewildering and his moxie is enviable. of course in the last year of
knowing me he has been challenged some what to get a grip on a twisted
contorted style of english language. i often hold back with the
colloquialisms and the thick raw slang, but he's pretty quick and whips
out a good 'jeezus christ this place 'as gone to the dogs' (half of
which he already knew himself) often his knowledge and questions about
'my' native language are beyond me...

last night i went downstairs to find him mucking around on the
mac, he was showing me some stuff he thought was pretty cool...and i
noticed a small dictionary pop up in the top corner as i looked closer
at the word in the box i giggled as i saw what he had been searching
for - there were the three letters R-A-T

later i giggled again as i remembered that earlier that day
on the escalators up to tower records i had called him a 'rat
bag'

away with the breeze

i've never been one to rave about fireworks, in fact back home i would often be heard ranting about how the local bussinesses and government spent way too much money on ridiculous pretty lights in the sky that simply drifted away with the breeze, when there were plenty of worthy causes starving for funds.

i had heard many times how the japanese put on a spectacular display in the night sky. not wanting to be beaten i took a japanese friend to an australia day fireworks display on the brisbane river, a few years back. i excitedly bought lil plastic aussie flags and waved them around after a go of extremely dodgey aussie style karaoke. i was proud to show off our pyrotechnical skills and waited anxiously jumping up and down to the bad, bad hot hits that were being pumped from the speakers of a brissie radio station (i do believe there was a bit of barnsie and farnsie). after kicking in the dust for a while the countdown was on and the pretty lights were soon to astound us.

after a short burst of action in the sky, a few embarassed side glances and a couple of is-that-it? that-cant-be-it's...i dumped the flags and was back on my friggin-waste-of-money band wagon. said friend went on to try and describe with all his might the glory of japanese hanabi.

check out these old pics
australia day joy 2003
the shame the let down  -pathetic australia day fireworks 2003

i am so ready to see what tokyo has to offer
here are just a few

Sumida River Fireworks Festival July 30
7:30-8:30pm (but some set up camp as early as 9am)
20,000 fireworks (whistle)
about 1 million apparantly go to check these babies out 
we plan to be there with them
Nearest stn: Asakusa or Kuramae.

Meijijingu-Gaien Fireworks Festival
Aug 1
7:30pm
10,000 fireworks
good viewing from the surrounding stadiums
we got tickets for just 1000 yen from lawson but you can pay up to 6000yen for good seats (man they must be good fireworks)
Nearest stn: Sobu Line, Sendagaya

Tokyo Bay/Harumi Pier Fireworks Festival
Aug 13
7-8:20pm
12,000 fire works
Nearest stn: Oedo Line, Kachiodoki.

sparkles and smoke

camped by the yamanote train line last night we abondoned our bicycles for the bright lights of hanabi. in australia fireworks are not sold at the local store they are much harder  to come by so this was a first for me...i was a little apprehensive about my first pyrotechnical experience having had it drummed into my head that they are dangerous and yes i still agree setting things on fire is just not a safe practice but this was a fairly tame bout of pyromania. i expected lightning, fire, big bangs, hissing, screaming, explosions, trees burning to the ground - the works. alas our lil pack o fireworks were no more than mac daddy sparklers - but still very very fun
and we took a load of pics check out our first hanabi photo album - more to come as this season starts to get hotter and brighter
we are planning the big one - the sumida river fireworks fest - no im not gonna get there at 9am to get a spot but we do plan to get there early to catch the river side worm - all are welcome email me if you wanna come and share some of our big huge blue thingie that everyone sits on (tarp, mat, leisure seat??) OR if you have been to the sumida hanabi before and have any tips!!

ignorance is bliss

why do they write this kind of earthquakey stuff ?
japanese telepathy
'are you thinking what i'm thinking?'
'yep, lets party like its 1999?'

japanese aliens??

in europe they have crop circles and in japan they have rice field art
i will never really know if crop circles were made by aliens because there is just too much conflicting evidence...
and i will never really know if aliens created this amazing ukiyoe art on the rice fields of aomori because i cant friggin read kanji properly or understand half of what is bloody said on the news...
i suppose i could ask zume but that would take the fun out of it - so i will just have to make up my own story and reasoning in my own fantasy world

thanks to kissui.net for reminding me how amazed i was when i saw a shot of this on the tele the other night

trouble in tokyo

update: that was quick - he's back already - I THINK!! ? I HOPE
what has happened to masa?
the on the ball investigative genius, bringer of the truth tokyo style is having some trouble...what will we do without masamania