you never know

this might be love.

the winter begins to take it's crusty toll on your lips and knuckles.

it's here.

spent half the week in tokyo. people. people. more people. how could anyone even begin to fathom the beginnings, let alone the ends of the stories of so many, many people? i'm stumped.

my feet are sore and blistery. this evening after my welcome-home bath soak i whittled away at them with a pumice stone. the dead skin fuzzed off almost effortlessly, like it had been waiting for an excuse to leave for greener pastures.

i wandered through some nooks at night and day, sometimes with a friend, sometimes without. i drank alone at the bar and i scribbled furiously in my notebook when the spurts came.

they come and go. come and go.

why is it that the ones you hold the tightest are the ones who pull away the hardest and fastest?

today

was a good day.

lately i've been feeling bogged down with something i can't quite describe expect to say it's swamplike....dark and wet and shapeless, un-pin-downable. i'm starting to get itchy feet -- spending more time dreaming about crossing the sea again and standing face to face with the people i know and love and less time putting my roots down deep here.

my friend yumi and have been talking about starting a womens' group that would connect Japanese and foreign women for the purpose of exchanging ideas about our respective cultures. i was passionate about it and intended to see it through, but when it came to actually having our first meeting, i was nervous and doubtful that it would come to fruition. i had asked a few friends if they wanted to take part but they weren't quite so keen as myself. so i went to this intercultural womens' group today as the only non-Japanese woman in the bunch. my heart was beating -- doki doki -- because my japanese proficiency is as low and you can go and i didn't want yumi to have to interpret for me the whole time. but lo-and-behold, all of the ladies spoke a little bit of english and when were weren't able to communicate an idea as effectively as we wanted to, the stronger english speakers interpreted with pleasure. it was really quite a success and now my fire for the project has been rekindled.

after lunch one of the ladies and i went to rainbow plaza, a community centre for foreigners in fukuoka, and i put up a notice about the group. while i was there a woman approached me and asked me if i was interested in having dinner at her brother's motsu nabe restaurant tonite.....a FREE dinner! at first i was a little dubious but we chatted for a bit and she told me that her brother was intent on opening a similar restaurant in hawaii and wanted to know what non-japanese people thought about his food. so later tonite my friend hiro and i are going to sample his wares! i swore i'd never try motsu nabe (motsu means chicken intestines) but who am i to resist free food?

after rainbow plaza i stopped in at the library and picked up "dance dance dance" by murikami and "flowers for algerno" by daniel keyes and then popped over to the travel agency to pick up my plane ticket to tokyo. en route to the bike park i thought i spied a flyer-hander-outer making to pass me another piece of paper i don't need, but when i looked closer i realized it was my friend akane trying to get my attention! i haven't seen her since my birthday so i was beaming with excitement. she has this wonderful, relaxed countenance that just calms you right down. we made plans to meet at some point next week. after paying for my ticket (three weeks until tokyo!!!) i biked over to the art gallery to check out the new exhibition. and then home to sip peppermint tea and do some housework before going out again.

i still miss home more than i have in months, but i'm more excited about being here now than i was this morning. so if i keep having days like this, i just might have to stay longer!

let it flow like honey from a bee's tummy

radio goo-goo

we went, we saw, we ate and then we came home

this weekend was the first time takako and i could synchronize our schedules and take a trip together. and so we descended on kyoto, japon, armed with 2 kilos worth of guide books and stomachs as wide open and ready as the grand canyon. or somethin.

anyways, it was definitely a whirlwind tour; we arrived at 12 on Saturday and departed at 5 on Sunday which gave us exactly T minus 29 hours (not including sleeping time) to cram as much temple-viewing, food and touristy hobknobbery as we could into a tight time frame. and we were good for it.

danger, danger

will this be the end of me?

out in the ol' shizen living it up like the ojisan do baby

it was a hike to remember. we went for a whopping 45 minutes turned back so we could stuff our faces with pho noodles. yeah mon, we are what the coolies call HARDCORE. like a face tattoo. (ibid).