Sunny Thursday, went to the Holiday Market and heard this in my head the whole walk there.

we wish you a merry... whatever it is you celebrate----

27

I'm turning twenty seven on Saturday.  TWENTY SEVEN!

The holiday season

There is no thanksgiving in Japan and Christmas here is only for couples. It's not that I care about those holidays but I wish I had a family or friends to exchange presents with on Christmas. That's the ONLY fun thing about Christmas besides the fact that the whole family gets together. I remember staying up till 3 in the morning to make mix cds for everybody and missing breakfast because of that last year. I probably have to work on Christmas this year. Damn it!

Three dollar movie night at the Bijou

 

I just got back from a freezing cold bike ride home after seeing this movie. It was so indescribably beautiful and sad. I kept laugh-crying the whole way home.

Before the movie the older lady said to me " have you read the book?"
"no"
" this is my favorite book, so I know I'm not going to like the movie, but oh well"

When the movie was over I noticed she was sniffling and had tears in her eyes also. I said "what did you think?"

"Oh, it was wonderful!"

It was wonderful. I hope you get an opportunity to see it, I think you'd really love it.

Relief

It's been two months since I've been back in Japan. I finally got a job cleaning and making beds at the hotel nearby. After TWO months of job hunting I ended up with this. I can't FUCKING believe it. But no my boss is really nice and I have a good feeling about the job so thank you universe. Here are some pictures of the table I made when I was unemployed feeling shitty. I guess it wasn't a waste of time after all.

Good Read

An awesome radio piece by high schooler

http://www.albany.edu/talkinghistory/radiodiaries/rd-td-nick.mp3

I've probably listened to this close to 15 times in the last 3 years. I just love it.

Found Note

A few days ago I was walking to the U of O for my morning class as I began to spot little torn up pieces of a note written in purple pen. As I walked the next few blocks I picked up a piece here and there, some with the purple pen writing and some in normal pencil. As I picked up the pieces I got more and more excited. I always imagine that someday I'll find a note that will answer it all. Eventually I got to the origin of the scraps of paper, a big pile of small ripped up pieces outside of a church. Some older man watched me from his SUV as I practically ran from scrap to scrap, trying to get them all and madly shoving them in my coat pocket.

Because they were so wet I waited until last night to I began trying to reassembling the note. It took hours and ultimately proved unfruitful- there are big chunks of the notes missing and because it's about 8 pages long it's difficult to know where it begins and ends. From what I can glean it's written by a girl in 8th grade about a three month relationship she had last year. It involves a drawn out friendship that turned into a relationship, a trip to mexico and florida and a longing for "the way things used to be". It's full of emoticons. What it really interesting is that for the majority of the note she talks about the girl and boy in the third person "they became more then friends" and by final (?) page she switches it to first person, using the terms "I" and "we". I wonder who this retelling of the relationship was intended for. Was it ever received?

Just finished it

It's very funny and relateable.

Great book!

Work

I made this coffee table out of scrap wood.

It's still summer in Japan.

Good morning. It's 9 o'clock in the morning here. It's been a while since I posted something last time so here I am. As I'm writing this at the internet cafe near my house, people are playing darts at the arcade behind me making a frightening noise every time there score a point. I wonder if they have jobs, kids or are married at all.

 Since I haven't been on top of keeping you posted, I'm gonna put up some pictures from the past few weeks.

I came across this bridge when I was biking around.

 and thought this was brilliant.

Hmmmm. Maybe someday...

Ohori Koen.

Pretty..

I went to the mall in Tenjin and saw this awesome looking car on the six floor of the building. How did they get it up there?

I sat down to rest on the first floor and looked up at the ceiling. It made me dizzy.

Song of the Day

Friday Morning

Song of the day

Japan's own Hiroki!

This guy makes his djembe speak. he is very gentle and down to earth. I think we have similar qualities as people and drummers.

Eugene, Or

Freezing cold day here, but really sunny and bright.

 The housemates and I spent the afternoon thriftshopping for curtains and picking up the kitchen table at my parent's house

Bike ride

I got up feeling relaxed today because today was my day off. The good thing though is that my work environment doesn't stress me out because I can work at my own pace without being told that to do. It's pretty nice. The night before I had decided that I was gonna find an Indian restaurant in town and eat there for dinner, so I got on my bike and left the house. 

I have to cross this bridge to get to the other side of town where all the restaurants and stores are.

I saw a Torii in the corner of my eye.

And I came across this Japanese Macdonald's.

I heard a loud noise so I looked up and saw an airplane. I still can't get used to it. It's frightening.

 And I noticed there was a cool looking temple.

An older guy getting his coffee at the convenience store.

Nice porch!

I forgot to take pictures of the Indian restaurant, but I had a great meal and promised them that I would come back soon.

Fall out the front door

This tree was green when I moved in 2 weeks ago