Well, I made it to Canada after a loooOOOOoooOOOoooOOoong journey. Landing in Chicago was crazy! The winds were so strong we had to make 3 attempts to land. And when we finally did, the storm got worsen, making it almost impossible to fly out. But luckily, I made it only after a 4 hour delay. (Some people were in the airport for about 2 days).
I'm here now and it feels good to be back. Had dinner at Bombay Bhel, my favourite Indian restaurant. I kind of want to go back again! mmmmmmmm samosa!
Anyway, it's really winter here! Not unbearably cold, but definitely below zero. And the best part is that there's LOTS of snow! It really looks like Xmas, except this year the Christmas lights are not EVERYWHERE like last year. I guess people are getting smart about being energy efficient.
MERRY X-MAS EVERYONE!!!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
post 200
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well...as of today I will be travelling. In a few days I will arrive in Canada. So the posts will be slow in between. I'm really excited to see my friends and family. And I'm a little anxious about Canadian winter...Here I've been walking around with a spring jacket, and going out for lunch without any jacket. I mean, it's still raining here! In Canada it's between -10°C and -1°C. And I bet there's more than 30cm of snow already.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. I have a good feeling about 2008! 良いお年を!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Usagi to tsuki no odori
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007
next week
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Ok. Well, as it has become a tradition, I will write a list of the things I want to do/eat:
•A&W Poutine (with a frosty mug)
•zucchini and cauliflower
•CENTRAL HEATING!!!
•see friends and family (of course)
•praat Afrikaans
•bagels and croissants
•feel REALLY cold!
•talk to a stranger
•go pants shopping
•see the AGO and the ROM
•have dinner on the CN tower—while it's still the tallest in the world!
Ok well, those are the things I want to do/see/eat while I'm back.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Go Tiesma, Go!
This is a shout-out to Benjamin!
His original Xmas song still makes me a little weepy when I hear it. I was there when he and Alison recorded it in our little Albion shack in London. It in itself was a precious Xmas memory. Ah, Alison...Where did you go? Anyways, here is this years Xmas song by Benjamin Tiesma: Snowflake Heart. (Left click to play, right to download)
Thanks, Benjamin, for adding to the 'Holiday-music-I-don't-hate' list. Yes, buddy, you are right up there with 'Christmas in Killarney'!
If you have a link to 'Missed You So' (I think that's what it was called, right?), please send it my way!
Well, here we have it folks a little Xmas present for everyone, courtesy of Benjamin.
His original Xmas song still makes me a little weepy when I hear it. I was there when he and Alison recorded it in our little Albion shack in London. It in itself was a precious Xmas memory. Ah, Alison...Where did you go? Anyways, here is this years Xmas song by Benjamin Tiesma: Snowflake Heart. (Left click to play, right to download)
Thanks, Benjamin, for adding to the 'Holiday-music-I-don't-hate' list. Yes, buddy, you are right up there with 'Christmas in Killarney'!
If you have a link to 'Missed You So' (I think that's what it was called, right?), please send it my way!
Well, here we have it folks a little Xmas present for everyone, courtesy of Benjamin.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
the messiness of life
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The theme is the moon. The thumbnail I drew looks something like this:
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Of course it's not done yet. The final is in progress on my desk. And when I look around in my room, I see exactly how crazy messy your environment has to become to work on art. I`m not sure if it's like this for everyone...I mean, I'm sure there are some artists who have a spotless workshop as if they wipe up every spilled drop of paint.
My creativity almost demands that it be messy. Everything I could possibly need within grabbing distance.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
remarkable eyes
I posted a story I wrote recently here. It's nothing special, but it spontaneously came out of me, and I had time during my internet-less period to write it out. So Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
punctuation!!!
I love this! I wanna reproduce something like this as a skit. I wish I knew about this when I went to arts camp!
Monday, December 10, 2007
meat rocket!
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Friday, December 07, 2007
the winter feast
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Good times!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Crazy Canadians!!!
This is crazy! First time I look at Canadian news and this is what I see!
Basically: Guy breaks up with girl. Girl goes crazy. Grabs a katana and goes on a rampage. Destroys a car and slices a fire-fighter.
READ ALL ABOUT IT! WOMAN GOES NUTS WITH A KATANA!
Maybe we need a sword registry in Ontario...
Basically: Guy breaks up with girl. Girl goes crazy. Grabs a katana and goes on a rampage. Destroys a car and slices a fire-fighter.
READ ALL ABOUT IT! WOMAN GOES NUTS WITH A KATANA!
Maybe we need a sword registry in Ontario...
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
games shows
Japan is a country of game shows. The television is almost always filled with some kind of game segment, a panel of experts giving their opinion on something, and a section on food. It is all pretty entertaining. Although I never watch TV except in very rare situations, when I do (even in a few brief seconds) I usually catch only GOLD!
This is from one of these shows. Psychological, man...I tell you.
This is from one of these shows. Psychological, man...I tell you.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Katakana words
Well, it seems my internet came back just in time for the "Two girls, one cup" video phase...Not sure what that's all about...
Anyways, I have the net again! YAY!!
So I thought I'd start small, so as not to hurt myself.
Here are some katakana words that sounds very funny:
A little bit of unexpected truth here. When you read the name of the November special, you get 'Mac Crap'. How true...I wish all McDonald's products were named this honestly — McChickenHead, McSaw-Dust, McProcessed Junk, and the old favourite, McMutant Chicken.
Not sure what this is exactly, but the flavour is 'Penis.
This is a bottle of spray paint I was looking at. The colour is 'Ass Brown. What kind of marketing is that?!?
Anyways, I have the net again! YAY!!
So I thought I'd start small, so as not to hurt myself.
Here are some katakana words that sounds very funny:
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Saturday, November 24, 2007
bowing signs
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
tea ceremony
On Sunday I went to a tea ceremony. I'm consedering either a calligraphy or tea ceremony class for the new year. The teacher was a small, grey-haired lady in a beautiful black and red kimono, who spoke proudly of zen, the seasons, and Japanese culture. She seemed very nice and even tried to speak English a little bit. We communicated very well, stumbling only on ceremonial words, names for certain tools, and old Japanese words. But all in all, it was a beautiful experience.
I sat Japanese style for about an hour and couldn't feel my legs by the end. I didn't even try to stand up because that certainly would have been impossible. But I'm getting better at sitting seiza style. When I got here it was hard to sit on my knees for more than 15 minutes.
The sensei explained that tea ceremony was a kind of past time for the ancient Japanese people. They didn't have TV or radio so they used to sit together and have tea. Here's what makes this different from English tea:
The room is small, there's a hanging scroll on which a beautiful haiku is written about the season. (In this case "Slide open the door to see blowing leaves".) You can hear the rain in the garden all around, and the smell is one of incense burning beneath the pot of water. The cups are themed to match the red leaves of fall, the migrating birds, and the rice harvest. Everything is a perfect microcosm of nature. Like being in a tea ceremony you feel at once part of nature and outside it. It may be the perfect zen paradox. The ceremony with all it's rules, creating the spontaneous sensation of the natural world.
It was beautiful.
Sorry no pictures...
I sat Japanese style for about an hour and couldn't feel my legs by the end. I didn't even try to stand up because that certainly would have been impossible. But I'm getting better at sitting seiza style. When I got here it was hard to sit on my knees for more than 15 minutes.
The sensei explained that tea ceremony was a kind of past time for the ancient Japanese people. They didn't have TV or radio so they used to sit together and have tea. Here's what makes this different from English tea:
The room is small, there's a hanging scroll on which a beautiful haiku is written about the season. (In this case "Slide open the door to see blowing leaves".) You can hear the rain in the garden all around, and the smell is one of incense burning beneath the pot of water. The cups are themed to match the red leaves of fall, the migrating birds, and the rice harvest. Everything is a perfect microcosm of nature. Like being in a tea ceremony you feel at once part of nature and outside it. It may be the perfect zen paradox. The ceremony with all it's rules, creating the spontaneous sensation of the natural world.
It was beautiful.
Sorry no pictures...
Friday, November 16, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
calligraphy and the park
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Saturday, November 10, 2007
on my desk
I believe that you can tell a lot about a person by listing the items on their desk...or in their bags, for example.
If you empty out the contents of a woman`s purse, you`d be able to give a pretty accurate description of her psychologically.
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So here is a picture of my desk.
The items are listed like this:
a map of the world with australia at the centre, drawn on a 3M post-it note;
a whiteboard with my dream house drawn in the corner;
spiderman pen;
my personalized water bottle;
kanji practice cards;
(some work);
a giant origami ball;
a walkie-talkie...
What does this say about me? ...I wonder...
If you empty out the contents of a woman`s purse, you`d be able to give a pretty accurate description of her psychologically.
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So here is a picture of my desk.
The items are listed like this:
a map of the world with australia at the centre, drawn on a 3M post-it note;
a whiteboard with my dream house drawn in the corner;
spiderman pen;
my personalized water bottle;
kanji practice cards;
(some work);
a giant origami ball;
a walkie-talkie...
What does this say about me? ...I wonder...
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Re: NTT telephone line
To whom it may concern:
My internet is not working. I have been having trouble with my NTT telephone for the last few months, and it was disconnected last Wednesday. I have been unable to receive phone calls on it, and so it seemed to me unnecessary to have. Especially since I am paying over ¥2000 for what is now basically a desk ornament from the 1980s.
Much to my chagrin, when my phone line was cut off, my internet also stopped working. I suppose I need to reconnect my phone line, just to have the internet. So, I want to let you know that my posts will be few and far between until my desk ornament is connected again.
Sincerely,
Graeme Lottering
PS. Thanks to all who left comments on the last post. :)
My internet is not working. I have been having trouble with my NTT telephone for the last few months, and it was disconnected last Wednesday. I have been unable to receive phone calls on it, and so it seemed to me unnecessary to have. Especially since I am paying over ¥2000 for what is now basically a desk ornament from the 1980s.
Much to my chagrin, when my phone line was cut off, my internet also stopped working. I suppose I need to reconnect my phone line, just to have the internet. So, I want to let you know that my posts will be few and far between until my desk ornament is connected again.
Sincerely,
Graeme Lottering
PS. Thanks to all who left comments on the last post. :)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
visiting beauty (culture tip #14)
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Every once in a while, I will have a real spiritual experience. Perhaps I have been neglecting myself lately, or parhaps I have been too busy to look out into the world recently. I`m not sure, but it's been about a year since I've had a spiritual thought. Yesterday, however, I certainly had a beautiful, serene experience when I visited a temple in Nagoya. (Yes, yes, there's nothing to do in Nagoya, I know! But this temple popped out as I exited a subway and was a delightful surprise.)
Sometimes you just feel that there's something great about the place. It leads you in and you find yourself wondering around the yard, listening to chants and thinking about life. I stood on the porch for about 45 minutes, breathing incense and staring at pigeons scavenging the yard for food.
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The temple yard was surrounded by buildings because Nagoya is a rather big city, but standing on the temple porch was completely quiet and peaceful, and life seemed to go by at the slow pace of nature.
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I sat on the porch thinking and thinking. And under the giant lantern tied with people's wishes, I felt some deep 4th-dimensional feeling of understanding. Like time was overlapping and the I saw life ever-so-briefly through the temple's eyes. It's impossible to fit into words...But it was beautiful.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tojimbo
Last weekend, I went to a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn to have a meal. We drove about an hour and a bit into the next prefecture. Fukui, is a relatively rural prefecture on the Sea of Japan, known for delicious crab and their funny accent.
The Ryokan was right on the sea, perched like an Eagle's nest on top of these cliffs. The food was incredible and YES! I managed to take a photo of it before eating this time!
The food was absolutely incredible! It was served with hand-made clay glasses of beer or sake. Along with the sounds of the waves breaking below on the rocks. We could actually see the ocean through the windows in all directions. I took some pictures but it's pointless to show because it couldn't possibly convey the feeling of it.
The ryokan also had a hotspring! There was no one else in the mens' onsen, so I thought I would sneak in a camera to FINALLY take an onsen picture for my blog.
The onsen was also right next to the sea. I could actually hear the women in the bath next to me, but we were unable to have a conversation because the waves were to loud.
After the delicious meal and a soak, we drove to Tojimbo, the main tourist attraction in Fukui. It's basically these enormous cliffs that reach like grasping hands into the ocean.
Here's my hyper-UNrealistic picture of one side of the rocks. On the background there's a long red bridge leading out to an island.
When we got there the sun had just started to set. And there was a massive hawk floating around the sky, looking for fish.
My own version of Hokusai's The Wave.
Erin taking a picture of the ever-present hawk.
The Ryokan was right on the sea, perched like an Eagle's nest on top of these cliffs. The food was incredible and YES! I managed to take a photo of it before eating this time!
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After the delicious meal and a soak, we drove to Tojimbo, the main tourist attraction in Fukui. It's basically these enormous cliffs that reach like grasping hands into the ocean.
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Thursday, October 25, 2007
a walk around Nagamachi
While walking around Nagamachi, the neighbourhood around my house, I saw some persimmons hanging over an old samurai wall.
The area is usually filled with tourists, but that day it was serenely quiet. It was as if I stepped back 200 years...Except, I had my cell phone out to snap a pic of this delicious-looking fruit. (Actually, I never heard of persimmons until I came here)
Lucky I had my phone out and on camera mode, because as I crossed the canal. A giant heron swooped down and slowly walked under the bridge I was standing on to search for fish.
And he caught one!!! Unbelievable! He speared it with his beak. It was an interesting walk through Nagamachi.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Halloween...already?
Yeah, i know it's early...
Here are the pictures from our Halloween Party!
the atmosphere was great! Lots of people showed up and most were dressed up. It was just like a cosplay party gone wild! All the staff were dressed like pirates. The next day my voice hurt from saying 'Yarg!' too much.
me, Remi and Erin
an Indian woman, a witch, and a princess
Jason, me, and a mad scientist
Jason getting murdered by Keiko
me and Kotaro
me and Captain Kontani
the school girl you expect to see in dirty manga: Tomoko
Here are the pictures from our Halloween Party!
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Saturday, October 20, 2007
monolith
Just came home drunk off a real-life geisha experience!
No jokes, yo! Very different from the maiko you all imagine, but lemme tell you...Interesting!
Anyways, I won't go into detail. You can read about it from my previous experience here. (Yay! cross-referencing)
I just wanted to post a video, actually.
The Monolith
Add to My Profile | More Videos
No jokes, yo! Very different from the maiko you all imagine, but lemme tell you...Interesting!
Anyways, I won't go into detail. You can read about it from my previous experience here. (Yay! cross-referencing)
I just wanted to post a video, actually.
The Monolith
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Thursday, October 18, 2007
the truth behind punctuation
check out this hilarious link!
The funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
I laughed my ass off. Mainly because I know exactly how he feels!
The funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
I laughed my ass off. Mainly because I know exactly how he feels!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
you gotta be kidding!
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I couldn't believe it when I saw it myself! I was pretty confused when people started selling bottled water in North America some years ago. The truth is, I couldn't understand why people would buy water when they could just open a tap and drink perfectly good potable life-essence. I mean, I can understand in South/Central America and Afrika, where the running water is 60% human waste, but in North America?! In Canada?! Canada basically has fresh-water mana flowing out of its taps. The water there is more healthy than a vegetable omelette! And yet, despite everything, it caught on.
Well, I guess after all that, I'm not surprised that people would be buying DIET water...
The next thing we'll see will be oxygen cigarettes, that filter out the "bad" air.
Am I right?! I'm right, right?
Monday, October 15, 2007
commuting to clown school
Friday, October 12, 2007
buildings
This post is about some cool buildings I've seen around Japan.
This one looks like it came from an anime. I like the dark Gothic look, mixed with sci-fi. It almost has a Batman feel.
This one from Tokyo's Odaiba area, it looks like a spacecraft too. The inverted pyramid look must be in these days.
Another upside-down pyramid right here in Kanazawa! Let's all go for a ride in the Stargate, boys and girls!
In Japan, all buildings that are being renovated are covered in a Christo-esque canvas.
What?!? This building has my last name!
By the way, I love the look on the guy's face. It's as if his towel called him a bad word. Simultaneously shocked and disgusted. But they must be good friends, because why would he be carrying a towel anyways?!
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By the way, I love the look on the guy's face. It's as if his towel called him a bad word. Simultaneously shocked and disgusted. But they must be good friends, because why would he be carrying a towel anyways?!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Takayama
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