Snow Yuki Good!

The Coast is freezing now. I rise in the morning and my breathe hovers in the air for some moments. Today the sun shines brightly. My thoughts have become gentle lately. Classes are over for this year. I taught my last elementary class yesterday, singing Christmas Carols and playing guitar. I look forward to Christmas and the holidays, making rendezvous with good friends and celebrating a holiday centered on the concept of giving and being together and of course the color red with white. My English teacher taught me something new about Christmas the other day. I will ask you if it's true. Is Santa Claus Red and White because of the Coca Cola Company? I can't imagine a green Santa, but pre 1940's that was supposedly the color.
We decorated the English room with Christmas decorations. I tried to draw a picture of the inside of my house at Christmas as well, which went over quite well . There are 2 songs that seem to stick out as favorites among the Japanese. Everyone seems to request Mariah Carey's Christmas Carol and Jingle Bells. I know Jingle Bells really well. I'm excited to head home for the holidays and ski. The snow here is just starting to fall and that means that powder is in recipe books. Pow Pow Pow Pow. I ask you this what is snow??!!! We can say what rain is. You go outside and water sprinkles on you, but snow is different. When you walk outside and hear snow falling it is a gentle sound almost like silence.

There is a pace when snow falls
And many people feel it should be a bell
A soft bell with a kind sound, high-pitched, happy, yet quiet as well.
And when you focus on the sound the snow does really make
And do not take a rustling step
You witness this soft ,almost silence
Especially if your smokey breath you retract as well.
It's just you and the soft chimes singing of the times.

Here's a new one for ya

Picking the Vegetarian food style has it's challenges when living in Japan or where I am. I also feel secrets are revealed. Lately the navigation setting on my phone has pointed my life in a confident direction literally. I love looking at my little blip on my screen as I navigate around Earth now I'm here..... and now I'm here... and now I'm on a train.... and now I'm in my car... and now I just hickup'd.... and now I just Far..... we'll let that one rest. While in Tokyo my new found love of exploration has recently been Vegetarian Restaurants. After checking into a Hostel in Asakusa, which is close to Ueno and called the Asakusa Annex, I asked the friendly staff where I might stab some local vegetarian delectable s. Luckily one of staff members was vegetarian herself and recommended a place called Pei Pe Saitan. The dining establishment was supposedly located in Kinshicho, a close distance away "a new adventure says I" with my new map finding tools at the ready I struck off for the location. Kinshicho station was estimated to be about a 30 minute walk from where I was and I was in the mood for a walk. The night was cool and narrow streets crisscrossed this way and that. Traffic lights blinked from red to green to yellow as there were few cars and few people on the streets. I reached the train tracks and turned left and found myself on a lively street. Kinshicho station was full of people. I watched a really good robot dancer in front of the station for 2 minutes before continuing my search for Pei Pei Saitan. Pei Pei Saitan was seemingly a dream as it was not showing any signs of being present in the actual world according to my Google sources on my hand held apparatus. Feeling a bit deflated I did a search to see if there were any veg like establishments in the area and inflated again when I found there was a "famous place" called "It's Vegetables" Yes that was the name and interestingly enough it was in the same vicinity of where my Pei Pei Saitan place was supposedly-- a change of name says he...... a slip of the mind says I..... and so I found myself on a Saturday at about a little before 7 entering a little food place excited about the prospect of vegetables. The place was cheery and intimate and I sat down at a little table and a friendly older man gave me a menu. At first glance it looked as if it was just a regular restaurant as I saw many different selections, but upon further inspection all the dishes were made using vegetable products and suited both the vegan and vegetarian fan. The food was delish could have fooled me. Maybe I was fooled it is possible that everything was real meat in which case all cows and pigs of world I apologize, but It was tasty and the plan is to venture again. I had not been seated more then 5 or 10 minutes when someone joined my table and we were introduced. The restaurant required that kind of open perspective as there were few tables available in the cozy space. We hit it off. She was a vegetarian too and had been so for 12 years. It was great practice for my Japanese test that next day. She had a daughter living in Canada that played the Violin and she herself was a piano teacher. What followed was a pleasurable te to te and a sharing of ideas and thoughts over cuisine. I eventually joined another table as I was invited and listened about how one of men at the the table was a shipper of goods and had worked in Indonesia for the last 20 years of his life. His family had traveled with him and they had thus navigated the greater part of the world. It was a great story and I felt humbled by his experiences. My Japanese test was that next day so I retired to bed early, found my way home first of course! and wondered what JLPT would be like the next day.

Frost on My Window

I woke up this morning to frost on my window. Just 17 hours ago I was sitting at the a table eating Cheese Nan and sipping beautiful tasty Chai. About 24 hours before that I was pumping my legs down the side walk by my house next to the street that leads to the local grocery store. At the store I hung a left and dashed through the parking lot. I have recently made a running loop that I do frequently that is short. When I do it I imagine myself as an Indy car or a fast bike taking sharp corners and then accelerating up the hills, weaving through the streets. I usually complete this loop twice and end back in my parking lot. When I finish it is unusually dark and the world plunges into a evening darkness. 10 minutes later I'm in the shower, water running, drain making gurgling sounds as water drops into the dark depths below, sometimes I think about where it goes, but not too regularly. About 15 minutes later I'm in my car idling at a stop light heading to Iwaki and that is usually how evenings start off.

Thursday

It has been a cold Thursday. It was cold outside today. It was actually quite warm this morning, but things have chilled down since then. There is a beautiful sunset shaping up outside my windown and the sky is lighting up orange. I have a tendency to strike off on my own and find some neat places. I would like to share those places with you. First off there is very tasty Mexican food restaurant in Tokyo that I have only been too once, but plan on venturing to again in the future. It is hard navigating Tokyo sometimes. When I go I always find it is a random search with many different odd turns that I end up taking along the way. What results is the inevitable discovery of new places and locations which in the end make the detour worthwhile and an adventure. The Mexican Restaurant is located next to the Ace Hostel in Tokyo. Basically walk out the door of Ace Hostel turn right and cross to the other side of the street. You will notice a big road above you running perpendicular to the street you are on. You want to follow that street. There are stairs leading up to that street. Go up the stairs. Once you are on the street follow that street walking away from Ace Hostel. Walk for about 15 or 20 minutes and then you will find a nice little Mexican Restaurant on your left. I completely forget the name of the restaurant, but it is tasty and cozy as well. Lately I find my self in Sengawa regularly as well. There is a Vegan Live house Restaurant there that serves delicious Ramen and desserts too. To find the restaurant. Walk out of Sengawa station and walk towards the big supermarket. You will pass a starbucks and a really nice international grocery store. keep walking and explore the area. It is very calm and has a neat feel. Keep walking and you will run into a huge department store with many bikes parked outside usually. Turn left and walk 60 steps. The Kick Back Cafe is the restaurants name and many people play music there during dinner hours. It's a great place to kick back and relax. Do so!!! Non-sweetened soymilk goes great with any kind of noodles. I encourage everyone to create! Do so often

The mirror

It happens to be Tuesday today. Yesterday was Monday and the day before Sunday. Sunday I found myself looking in the mirror in the boys bathroom at Shibuya Station. Sometimes when I look into mirrors it is as though I reach a check point. It happens less and less recently, but I looked in the mirror that day and realized I was in Japan and in Tokyo and this was my life. Sometimes I flash back to a winter scene, my skies over my shoulder, the crunch of the snow as I punch steps up to a ski mountain. Each crunch helps dim the static feeling in my toes as they gradually grow cold. I switch my ski's from my left side to my right side every couple of minutes to stop the cold from invading my right or left hand. My hands and feet are always cold on these days, but the snow is delightful and my breath comes out misty warm. The air is fresh and clear. I'm about to get the feeling of powder skiing once again. Sometimes I flash to a brilliant orange sunset over canyon walls no shirt on this day letting the warm last rays hit my skin and dry the water off my back. The last rays of sun cast diamond flickers on the rivers edge and make my eyes squint. As I looked into the mirror that day I noticed I was in a different scene. I hint of perspiration at my brow from lugging my guitar around the stations, the background blur of Japanese station personal informing the populous, and sometimes the familiar JR Chimes that accompany the station experience. I had just finished baking tasty cookies with my good companion and the left over banana still lingered in my thoughts as well. This is what sometimes happens when I look in a mirror in some places. A surge of adventures rush up and give me a current standing point as to my position and the change that is about me. That day I'm wearing a black shirt, a belt, nice pants. Then I move on. Striking off I soon found myself in the hustle and bustle of the station once again. I like the different flavors that Tokyo offers. When I step off the train at Tokyo station later that day the mood is all together different. There is an old wholesome feel that I can smell.

Somtimes

Sometimes I drive down the road near my house and look out at the beautiful countryside around me. The sun glitters in lighting up the rice fields in morning fire. Every morning starts with a cold shower followed by an hour of meditation and the day starts out minty fresh right after I brush my teeth. Today for the first time my teacher is out of the school so I will be teaching the middle school kids by myself. I prepared the lesson at the beginning of the week and presented it to the powers that be. They seemed satisfied and I'm eager to try out the game on my 3 classes of kids. It is a beautiful morning. Blue sky paints across Naraha blending in with the sweater of the sea. I walk in to my middle school to the song of Imagine by the Beatles ringing in the cool morning air coming through the school speakers. The kids are outside in full uniform standing outside and they greet me as I make my way to the entrance. Lately my lovely companion and I have stumbled across a scrumptious cookie recipe.
((((2 bananas are mashed mashed mashed in a bowl followed by two spoons of maple syrup and then 2 spoons of non-sweetened soymilk. Then one hefty spoonful of peanut butter is added to the mix ( use a big spoon such as a Tea spoon for spoons to be used.. good for stirring Tea as well! やぱりね！）yapari...ne (just as I suspected) and stirring commences. While that is under way a little vanilla extract is added and mixed as well cinnamon and any spice that tickles your fancy please さきにどうぞ (go ahead) sakinidozo... The dry mix takes up the other bowl and contains 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour and and 2 cups of dry steel cut oatmeal-- mix, mix, mix and then add to the wet mix and then mix, mix, mix. In Japan we don't have ovens and so I cook the cookies in my toaster oven at maximum settings (200 degrees). Make little balls with your mix and butter the pan with peanut butter. Pop them in and wait 10 to 12 minutes. Then eat preferably with a peanut butter banana soy milk smoothie! The design yields about 15 to 20 small cookies that go great with blueberry Jam as well.

))))))) :) All the ingredients are fresh as can be. The peanut butter "almond butter works wonders too" is organic the maple syrup is organic. The bananas come from Banana Trees... Ahhh to be a Banana Tree!!
- There is a macrobiotic grocery store in nearby Iwaki that my good friend James showed me a couple of months ago and I frequently visit and retrieve ingredients and morsels and drink tea that is offered. I'd like to live there I think. They have food from around the world there. Cookies from France, Bread from Germany, China, Thailand maybe too. This weekend I venture to Tokyo and visit my friend who is currently married too the Daughter of the grandparents who run the store. The world is small I know!! That is why we must all climb.

Good Morning!

Well lets countinue the story!

Sometimes I go swimming. When I swim all the thoughts go out the window. It is just me, my heart and the water and a forward progression. I get to be a science geek when I'm swimming. I start pondering the quantum physics of my actions. Sometimes I zoom out my perspective and see myself from space in a small pool going back in forth. Each time I stretch my arms a little further. I work on snapping my shoulders from side to side reaching out further each time. It's lovely to swim with other Japanese swimmers and take breaks and speak Japanese to them. Some of them swam in High School, College and others just enjoy the sport. Usually I swim for about 45 minutes pushing myself to swim 15 minutes more sometimes. Sometimes I start out with a 15 minute swim and lose my distance, just enjoying the pace. I think of man as a machine when I'm swimming. Each arm is a piston driving towards some far wall. Sometimes I focus in on my breathing coming in slow and then fast, but in rhythm. I witness the energy that I have being transferred to movement.
The other night I took off on a run as well. It was a split moment decision as most of my runs are. One moment I'm in indoor clothes and the next moment I'm gliding down the hill by my home passing the small grocery store on my left and on this night a big white full moon lights up. The wind rushes and each step gives me grounding to Earth. I realize that I am. My stomach feels tight and yet smooth like butter on bread. Again I see myself from Space and see this little dot making it's way to the big blue sea. The waves are crashing in the distance, but the full moon fills my eyes and controls the sea. I feel small and yet good that there is a moon there to take over to lead. Just the other day someone commented to me "you know the moon... you can stare at the moon.... you can't stare at the sun..., but you can stare at the moon" I remember that comment as I shed my thin coat and toss it to the side of the road. Heat escapes and reveals the energy that was hidden inside my coat and now I'm light and fast and the air itself. I stop at a bridge and turn around. I have to remember to pick up my coat.

Recently

Over the past couple of months I have taken on life changes. Three years ago I took a class through the Art Of Living Foundation that has since then made a big impact on how I live. Lately I have followed quite the vegan diet and have been really cognizant of what I eat. Recently, I have also been studying Shakahatchi with a teacher in Tokyo. My mind thinks a lot. Especially living in Naraha, a relatively small Japanese village. I have a lot of time to think. I like that, but then sometimes I don't. Sometimes I prefer to just hear the breeze.

While I was at my Shakahatchi lesson yesterday I learned another good thought to think about and I would like to explain that thought to you. My teacher explained to me that a good Shakahatchi player has the ability to observe another Shakahatchi player and determine whether they are an expert. A skilled musician has the power to do anything with his instrument, yet the control to play the smallest note. The explanation turned out to be a very good definition of power and I pondered further.

Lately as I read "Celebrating Silence" daily by Sri Sri I am reminded with his advice to live life in relative austerity. A poor man gets up everyday and looks at his piece of bread and maybe a piece of fruit and eats that as that is all that he can afford. Yet ironically, to be rich in life in both mind and maybe monetary wealth as well requires the realization that living with austerity, without luxury is the best way and the happiest way to live. The rich man has the ability and skill to have all the riches in the world, but has the power to "play the small note with skill". He has the power to realize that he benefits and is most happy in life eating the poor mans diet, a piece of bread and a piece of fruit. It is the realization that is the only difference! For me as well I have tried to put the knowledge into practice. I have noticed that my concentration level has improved significantly when I eat "salads only, green vegetables and juices" I am able to concentrate and hold my attention much longer. Listen to your body. Be a scientist! Sri Sri recently gave this advice to some students in India. It is is just one example of how power can be used. My mind doesn't think at times like this it just does!

As of Late

Hello All!

Today is Sunday and yesterday was Saturday. Yesterday I played music in a lovely park and then ate at a delicious restaurant where I had a Pumpkin Soup! Lately I've been taking lots of walks. Just the other evening I walked to my closest 711 store and back again in the rain. Walking I find is a great way to enjoy the outdoors, but also avoid the humid feel if you happen to be in a humid place. I find when I go on a run here in this village that I get itchy and feel uncomfortable after going for a run so I have switched to walking. Every Tuesday and Thursday I have been attending Kendo as well. It is a great way to sharpen my Japanese skills as well as learn ancient culture. It requires discipline though. What is important in Kendo is no so much mastering the techniques themselves, but more so learning the customs behind the techniques. It is really a dance within a dance. Lately I have been reading a lot of knowledge by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. I feel everybody should know this knowledge. Right now he runs an organization called the Art Of Living. It is a institution that bases itself on changing the world through changing people first. Please take the course! I went into it 2 years ago apprehensive about the program and I feel now that it is making the world a better place. I have getting into practice as of late and encourage everybody to start. Even Dan Brown's new book "The Last Symbol" describes the knowledge that is in the world. Google became a successful company because it created value! It was a company who's founders had some information they knew could change the world. It has changed the world that we live in. Guru Dev says that we must have intention, but not desire! Desire is accompanied with feverishness while intention is not. Intention is putting a goal forward................ he says it way better please read his blog http://wisdomfromsrisriravishankar.blogspot.com/

Everybody be in the knowledge!

Just Breathe

You know I really don`t know where we come from. I don`t know where humans come from. What is true for all of us is that we get to be here! we get to live. We get to feel what it is to breathe! and to see and to smell! Maybe there was an auction before we lived and you needed a ``a golden`` ticket to be ``chosen`` to go to Earth and live. Everyone of us is lucky for that reason. Even the poorest person in the world and the most wealthy. We are all here living!

Japan as of late

After a somewhat lax period of time not writing I have decided that now is a good time to resume. I`m torn right now with the fact that it is quite expensive to travel in Japan. It is 60 dollars to travel from my town of Iwaki to Tokyo and that is just one way. However, I have figured out a solution to beat the system. I am torn with my motivation to do this sometimes. I am always looking for ways around obstacles. Should I just go along with the common? What I`ve found is that if you get on the train without paying for a ticket and ask to buy your ticket on the train then the train master will charge you only 20 dollars. I do this every time I go to Tokyo. When I do this though my mind comes up with all these different thoughts. What is the environmental impact of your train ride to Tokyo? Should you really be paying the full amount? As we enter the next years of our life it becoming increasingly important to travel to other nations. I do believe that the age we are upon will rely heavily on interdependence. As I speak with many people on the subject they all come to agree with me. One of the great conflicts with this however, is that if we do this we are flying airplanes more and planes are very dirty to the Earth. I really want to know how clean my travel is an my train to Tokyo. It is an electric powered train, but there is still a generator somewhere getting power some way. The way the Japanese culture works is by leading the individual by hints rather then answers. Japan is a very clean place, however as my sister has recently remarked there are no trash cans anywhere. I`ve tried it once. I`ve dropped my trash and just walked away refusing to carry my trash and no person around me said anything even looked at me. There was no cold shoulder or comment. After 2 minitues though I went back and picked the trash up led by my own pressure. It leads me to believe. What would happen if the U.S were going to take away their trash cans would that improve the situation? Culture leads these people and their practices.

Thunder

The day is shaping up quite nice here in Naraha town. The sun is shining and a light blue sky brings in a gentle breeze from the ocean. Yesterday I awoke to a sunny humid Japan that I was familiar with. The ocean blue glistened and summer let me know it was coming. Later in the day rain poured again and the sky turned dark and thunder rolled a few times, but then a few moments later the blue weather peaked on through yet again and lit up the land in golden light. I pulled into my home after the festivities of the day and watched the leaves and water shake and drip for a while. It was one of those scenes where it was as if the whole world swallowed a mint and gave itself a fresh breath. I snapped some pictures of the scene and then retired to my home and wrote a song. Today everything is dry and it was actually quite cold this morning as I piled on two jackets and brushed my teeth. Later I greeted my 2nd year students and what I found interesting was that it was quite hard for them to distinguish the numbers 30 and 13 when I said them aloud. The `` thir de`` and the ``thir teen`` sound is hard to decipher and the other respective numbers as well.

The Recent, The Present, and the Future

3 days ago I knew I was going to Tokyo. It`s best to do so early in the morning before the day starts. I also knew that I was cold when I left my house and it was snowing. On the train the doors would open and close and open and the cold air would rush in. I got into Iwaki and immediately had a desire to buy something warm and so I ducked into my favorite clothing store or was going to duck into the store when I realized that the day had not started yet. The day starts at 10am and there I was with some other early bird risers at 9:30 on a Saturday morning waiting for the Iwaki buy center to open. Me and an old man followed each other up an elevator trying to see if the entrance could be breached, but soon found that the doors were locked. There was however, a coffee shop that was open and so I went there and ate some egg and bread and sipped on a Kilimanjaro hoping that the coffee would take me away to Africa, but it didn`t. I ate fast and paid the bill just as the clock struck 10am and the flurry of early morning risers entered the big mall. I had 15 minutes to buy my warm clothing and get on the train to Tokyo. Life seemed to go from way too slow to way fast and I ran. I scrambled into the clothing shop and quickly tried on a shirt and decided on the purchase and paid. I looked at my watch and it read 10:12. I booked it to the train station and found that the train had gone. The next train would come an hour later putting my launch off point at 11:00. I decided to strike off and search for other faster ways to get to Tokyo and the first thought that popped into my head was that a bus would be a good idea. It was cheaper too. Some time later I looked out the bus window and watched as Iwaki disappeared into first factories and then rolling hills.
The first reason I had wanted to go to Tokyo was to learn how to play the Shakuhatchi. I was eager to learn some direction to the instrument and found that there was a seemingly well known teacher in Tokyo and so I emailed him up and he emailed me back and a date was set on Sunday. It never makes sense to go to Tokyo for just one day and so I had to invent other reasons to go to Tokyo. My girlfriend was close and in the vicinity, but she was hanging out with her Mom that day and so that was quickly omitted from the list. I would`ve gone to Tokyo for that reason alone to go see her. When in doubt though, I found wherever you are in the world you can always find places to climb and or play music and so climbing took center stage. I was going to Tokyo to find climbing and so that is why I sat 0n the bus on Saturday and tried to figure out things to do to be productive and pass the time it would take for the bus to make it to Tokyo. I tried reading and that didn`t work and so I tried playing a video game, but that seemed worthless, and I tried studying Japanese, but it seemed I was getting nowhere with that either so I just thought about my current situation and focused really hard on what I was going to do later in life. What was going to be next on the dinner menu of life after I left Japan? I thought about this the whole way to Tokyo.
I had memorized the directions to one climbing place that I had searched on the computer the night before. I had to find the best way to find Takonobaba station. I got off the bus at Ayase, which is the entrance of Tokyo and after some navigating on trains and using McDonald`s as usual to steer my way I arrived a Gravity Gym. The climbing wall reminded me of art the way it was set up. Each hold had a colored symbol next to it and the route was followed by following colored symbols. It was a small climbing wall more like a long hallway, but it had a nice feel to it kind of like an interactive art museum. I met many Japanese people who had my similar interests and made many friends and studied lots of Japanese and got better at climbing. It was good things coming at me for the next 5 or 6 hours and after leaving I decided that food was what I wanted. It also popped in my brain that I should`ve taken a picture of the place, but my food craving and forward progressing situation stamped out that action and I soon was ordering Katsudon or something quite like it and that is precisely when my phone went off and my lovely Iyo called me.
She has the sweetest voice like water and sun and flowers all mixed together and then sprinkled out. After her voice and hearing her voice and knowing that she wanted to see me the Katsudon and food offering before me became an obstacle I would have to overcome instead of a mere product of consumption. I quickly ate the meal and rushed off to meet Iyo in 20 miniutes time in Shinjuku. I was in climbing mode white and dusty and my life became a mission right then and there. The print off of the mission arrived right after I exited the restaurant. It said change your shirt, brush your teeth, look clean for your lady and so I went to the only place that would accomplish these tasks in record time, the convenience store. I changed my shirt in their little tincy wincy bathroom, brushed my teeth and even bought hygiene products. I then ran to the train and then was soon waiting for Shinjuku stop to appear on the train digital map. I soon found Iyo and held her hands and thought to myself this day is getting even better. We walked off to go see the a huge tower that she had a hard time pronouncing and soon found that it was too crowed to see because the whole world seems to come to Tokyo every Saturday and Sunday all year long and there were lines and people waiting and cold air approaching. We walked off and tried to figure out other things to do and finally found refuge in a small coffee shop and we were just together and that made us happy. But soon she had to leave and I as I walked away that night I had to think to myself ``hey you got to see her today that wasn`t even part of the plan`` I soon arrived at my favorite hostel in Tokyo and soon found music being played and made some more music friends on the 9th floor of the hostel where people from around the world gather and talk about the places they`ve been, sing songs, and talk about Tokyo, Japan. I sang my songs for wonderful people and then knew that the day was coming to an end and so bought a drink and out of a vending machine and let Tokyo pass me on the highway and send me to dreamland.
Early morning was when I checked out and and got up and looked for breakfast and later found the place where I was going to learn Shakuhatchi and later get lost for a little after playing Shakuhatchi and finally returned home on the train paying 60 dollars instead of 20 dollars and I listened to some really nice music in Ueno station that was so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes and made me feel really happy all the way home. And then home came again and my recent past became like a distant dream and I learned or became aware again that a volcano was letting off smoke in Iceland and keeping the world on land for the time being, except birds, which were still allowed to fly.

Today just some things that I read

These are some ways to be well!!!

what wonderful things to share !

1. coloring (yes, grown-ups can do it, too)
2. crisp cotton sheets
3. soft skin
4. old family recipes
5. the first daffodils of spring
6. sleeping in
7. an exercise endorphin high
8. window boxes
9. a perfect cup of coffee
10. a genuine compliment (giving or receiving)
11. the way babies smell
12. a handwritten letter
13. waking up in a good mood...for no real reason
14. singing in the shower
15. finding a couple forgotten dollars in your pocket
16. doing something nice for your neighbor
17. a home cooked meal
18. laughing
19. movie theater popcorn
20. playing hookey
21. a bubble bath
22. swimming
23. an afternoon nap
24. street musicians
25. your favorite song
26. saying thank you
27. helping someone in need
28. old fashioned photo booths
29. fresh whipped cream
30. inspiring blogs
31. a glass of wine
32. rainy afternoons
33. the funny things kids say
34. a novel you can get lost in
35. finding the perfect piece of clothing...on sale
36. clean laundry
37. the wind in your hair
38. treating the person behind you at the drive-thru
39. sharing an umbrella
40. the smell of lavender
41. a long walk that clears your head
42. a bear hug
43. The Beatles
44. smiling at a stranger
45. eating with chopsticks (Chinese food optional)
46. butterflies
47. staying in your pj's all day
48. singing along to the radio and knowing all the words
49. fresh herbs
50. ordering in pizza
51. happy endings...even if they're fictional
52. flying a kite
53. puppies
54. root beer floats
55. holding open the door...
56. ...or having someone hold the door for you
57. fountain soda
58. white, fluffy towels
59. sunshine
60. spending an afternoon at a museum
61. really great advice
62. green lights all the way home
63. the sound of rain hitting the windows
64. sitting in a booth
65. holding hands
66. a great hair day with no effort
67. building a fort with your kids
68. when someone falls asleep with their head on your shoulder
69. fireflies
70. the perfect taco
71. geraniums on a windowsill
72. slow dancing
73. the smell of fresh-baked bread
74. cheesy, uplifting musicals
75. great stories
76. the smell of gasoline
77. the cold side of the pillow
78. love letters
79. old friends...
80. ...new friends
81. a pull-through parking space
82. a baguette -- crisp on the outside, airy on the inside
83. when a dog licks your hand
84. sitting at the counter at an old-fashioned diner
85. using your favorite dishes
86. reading your child a bedtime story
87. Girl Scout Cookies
88. flossing
89. kissing someone you love
90. the smell of onions and garlic cooking
91. hot chocolate
92. jumping in puddles
93. old photographs
94. birds hopping on the sidewalk
95. Ella Fitzgerald
96. a spoonful of peanut butter straight from the jar
97. your softest t-shirt
98. a new magazine in the mail
99. fireplaces
100. having exact change
101. bacon and pancakes cooking on Saturday morning

To Sheep!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to write a book. Sometimes I sit on the floor in my apartment with a pencil and paper and just try to think of words to say. The heater with it`s orange glow just kind of stares back as if waiting for me to write the words. Sometimes when I`m sleeping I come up with ideas and I think to myself in my dream. Wow when I wake up I should write a book about that. When I wake up though the idea is washed over like clouds hanging on mountains on a foggy day. Clouds do different things here. About 2 weekends ago I was driving up the highway and the clouds were below me as I continued on. It was really much like a dream. So now one year has almost past and I have decided to remain for one more year. When I finally do leave Japan this is what I will miss:

1. 711 Shops- These shops are really convenient. They have lovely little rice balls, food you can cook at home. They sell shampoo. They are perfect and small and have great trash cans. You can pay your bills there too.

2. Onsens!!! I love hotsprings and in Japan there are lots and lots and lots of hotsprings. I will miss the feeling of sinking into deep water and feeling very oriental like a monkey in Baraka. You all should see that movie.

3. My car. I love my car and cars in general in Japan. They are so small and can squeeze through tight spaces and make big turns and they don`t guzzle gas. I will miss my car

4. Gosh I`ll miss a lot of things here. When I leave I know I will always think to myself ``why did you ever leave Japan``  but when I`m here I`m asking myself the same question sometimes. Ahhh to be a world traveler!

Allassss though live here and now. Here is the place to be!! and so here I am sitting at my desk writing this to you. I am staring out at Naraha`s playground in the middle school office. I am continuing my job as an ultimate observer. Although my Japanese has improved I still drowned out most conversation. Sometimes I make a conscious effort to pick up words, but my brain has been adapting to my environment and now just kind of sees it as static on a TV screen. Actually as I am observing right now. The office is always very quiet. Nobody says much to each other. We just sit next to each other and work or pretend to work. I drink lots of tea during the day. When in doubt be hydrated is what I say. I love the kids here. The 3rd years graduated and I`ll miss them very much. They are very intelligent and are very friendly. I love teaching Elementary school here. I actually have my most in depth conversations with Japanese people outside the classroom. That is where I get some of my most rewarding moments in Japan. I`ve met many interesting people.

1. A guy who works for the Nuclear Power Plant - He commutes from Tokyo every Tuesday to work. That is a 2 hour drive. He stays in Naraha while he works for a few days and then commutes back. That would be a hard life

2. A father who works for Playstation- He gave me a pen and pencil made of the plastic that Playstations are made out of. He has a son who lives in Hokkaido and Daughter as well. He lives right next to Mt. Fuji.

I`m meeting a lot of people through trying to discover the Japanese music scene here. Yes I do speak a lot of Japanese outside of school. I really don`t speak much inside school. I would if I could. I`d love to get up and just have a conversation with the staff. I think they would like that too, but the environment itself does not lend itself to conversation. Maybe what I`ll do is this. I will make a survey and then go around and ask all the teachers the questions. It may get some response I will try it.

I`m reading two books right now. The first one is about the origination of the zipper and the paperclip and the second is a story about finding a sheep in Hokkaido. Both books are complete opposites of each other. I find that amusing. I am playing music in Tokyo this weekend. I`ve got a treasure map and the path is set. Music has been that for me. It is kind of like an endless adventure. It`s as though I`m skimming on the surface of humanity weaving in and out of the gears of human progression and popping up into the sunlight to play what I love to play. I`ll leave you with that. It`s really like Sheeep right now!!!!

Well Hello All. It is snowing outside and the mountains are getting snow. Lately I've been having fun with a camera and have found some pictures too isn't that wonderful. Gosh I love when you find pictures that you thought you lost. It is always way neat when that happens. The Japanese music scene I am slowly getting into and as I meander I'm finding in the nooks in crannies some more music. Let's get down to business shall we?!

First off I'm doing some music playing with my friend Mark who loves music. We're playing together in May in Tomioka should be fun. Tomioka is a bigger town about 10 min from my little town. It has a bigger supermarket there and I frequently go there to buy food, hang out with some other chill teachers and now play music.

And here is a Japanese candle just because. It's a Japanese candle because it's in Japan otherwise I'd say it's an American candle if I was in the U.S.

That is a lot of sushi plates right there. I think this is what fast food should be. The hot water for the tea actually came out of the table. I hung out with the Ashiguchi family. You can see the faucet in back of me on the table. It was pretty convenient. Earlier that day I was playing music with Mark... yes the one above and his son mentioned that he worked at a Sushi restaurant. Guess what Sushi restaurant he worked at.

He ski's, plays music and I teach him English. His English is pretty good though. Just jammed last night at my house. You should always play music with people I think.

So I've just found these pictures that I thought I had lost. Here was the beginning of Thailand. The flight was long. I mostly remember getting to Phi Phi at 10 pm at night somehow we got on a van aka taxi and after many detours were led to our accomodation. Parties were in full swing. The humid air hit our eyes and made us squint even though it was night. Really loud music came from every corner and we dodged motor bikes to get into our hostle. Upon first arriving I thought the place I had researched to stay at had been a bad place, but it turned out to be a wonderful establishment. The guy was really nice. Phuket is bustling explosion right now. I remember falling asleep that night to a ceiling fan slowly jingling and cool air blowing on my shirt. The lights in the hallway went off at 6 am that morning. As I awoke the party was still going, but had died down and by the time Val and I hit the streets morning has started and Phuket was in breakfast mode. We snapped some pictures. There is no traffic lights in Thailand or very few and seldom followed. Lots of tourists still rent motor bikes here.

Yep the 711 lives on in large numbers serving many different purposes. It was very convenient here as well. Ok well gonna leave you with that more story to come.

Went Climbing!

A notebook and a pencil. I went biking today. The wind was blowing right after I started and so I switched directions and went the other way. It was warmer today and spring is creep'n in I can feel it. I love Japanese pencils and their little notebooks here. They are perfect. There is something to be said about a new notebook just the way it feels in your hand. It seems to speak possibility.

That was lunch today. Gosh it is good. That there is called Katsu Curry かつかれ. I eat at this little restaurant that's pretty close by. I love this meal with just a little Miso Soup too on a cold day mmm mm mm.

I sat right by that heater it was cold yesterday. Today it is much warmer. They put water on top to humidify the air. One day at school I lifted the pot up and was going to pour my self a cup of Joe. They quickly showed me it's purpose learn something everyday!

Here is class today. It was sunny sunny sunny. These are 2nd year students and the lesson was "shall I" Shall I open the window it's hot in here. I read that to them a whole bunch of times. Sometimes I pretend I'm a music conductor when they repeat the sentences back and move my hands like so...... I know you really can't see. They laugh and it's fun.

Here's my town and cute little cars. This road is called route 6. In japanese Rokunomichi.. or that's what I call it. I think they actually call it something else and laugh when I say that. It's pretty fun to say. In translation that would be equal to saying "road of 6" That's how it's constructed in Japanese. For instance if I were to refer to my house I would say "The house of John" and that is why Star Wars reminds me of Naraha sometimes... or one of the reasons...or Japan. I also visited a lovely climbing gym yesterday that was 2 hours away by car and it was raining cats and dogs and every time my car hit a puddle it surprised me! The road I drove on was called Nipapa and it's one of the oldest roads in the area. It's comparable to Independence Pass in my hometown except it's in Japan. The climbing was exquisite!

To Iwaki!!

Last night I took some pictures. I'm starting to love the expressway in Japan. Granite you do have to pay to ride, but it is smooth sailing once your on. So that is the way I arrived at Iwaki yesterday evening. The night soon came and the city lit up. It is a quiet night life here. It is always happening yet it whispers where as Tokyo's nightlife shouts. Here's some examples

There's a Mcdonalds on the corner. Sometimes there is this musician that sits out on the corner in the cold and plays. You can hear him for blocks. He wasn't there last night it was quite cold. Everybody's steps could be heard more easily.

It was fun to be out and in the town. I love the library here as well. There is an English stack I like to dig into. They have every subject from time travel to biology to classics in literature. I read the Toyota Story just a little ago. The company is a good one I feel even with the trouble.

Mostly I'm just having fun with pictures right now. Right now I just noticed I am writing in blue. I don't know how that happened. I didn't change the font. I'm running with it. Finally I ate some delicious Yaki Niku. The people were nice and I told him that Colorado was in the middle of the U.S. They knew about Denver and immediately remarked that there are lots of car factories there. I guess they are correct. I will ponder on that for next time.

mmmmm yaki niku. Well to close it up lets hear it for the Japanese vending machine with hot and cold drinks anytime of the day!

You follow the bird and he leads you too a small field. The rest of group continues on their way and you soon lose sight of them. You feel like you should follow the group, but you countinue to follow the small little bird. He leads you to a cave inside an old tree and you follow him inside.  Down many steps you go and he leads you to a small room with desk and a drawer. He looks at you and blinks and chirps for you to open the drawer. You open the drawer and inside is a glowing yellow wheel. It is small though. You pick it up and it sings to you.

``you have found the wheel that stores singing and secrets a prize for any to find

use it to reveal pathways and find what there is to find

For you are the only carrier and all others are really just fakes

Do not mistake it for another for some will surely do wrongly and lead you into swamps and

lakes`` 

You store the wheel in your pocket and the bird bows for some reason. Soon you rise back into daylight and are happy to do so. The inside tree cave was quite gloomy. The bird quickens his pace and you follow faster. Soon you come to a clearing and you see far in the distance the rest of the bird party making there way to circle of trees in the middle of a fast field of green. The bird gives one tweet and spreads his wings wide.  flutters away leaving you to catch up on your feet. You break out into a run and soon find the path that the convoy had just made. You dart across the field maneuvering over rocks and stumps and soon you are quite close to the bird party. The little bird glances at you but quickly looks away and signals with a wing tip for you to be careful. You are very quiet and sneak back into the line. The rest of the bird group seems unaware of your presence as you catch up to the group and you act as if nothing has happened. Soon you stand at the foot of 400 foot trees stretching up into the late afternoon sky. At the top of the tree there seems to be platform. The millions of birds break out into song once again and it is a beautiful song. It fills the field and things start happening. The birds clear out from around you and you notice a flower that is growing out the ground next to you is growing longer and longer. A bird mimics for you to grab the stem of the flower and you do so. Soon you realize the reason. The flower is not one flower, but a small branch of a flower tree and it is growing out of the ground with increasing speed. You are soon in fact lifted above the ground and your grip on the branch remains strong. The platform is slowly growing closer and seconds later you find yourself at its entrance. You step out onto it`s large wooden surface and soon all the birds surround you, but they are not on the plat form but flap their wings effortlessly surrounding the wooden surface.  They all gather around you and soon you are encased and take center stage in this world of birds. One single bird assumed to be the leader of the group you suppose enters the platform and ceases flying he comes up to you and speaks.

   ``I have learned the language through constant study and am one of the few. You can understand my language I do presume. Well here you are at our home plate in the sky a place for gatherings and joymaking arise. I present to you upon your welcome the wheel of secrets. It is our most sacred treasure and we would like to give it to you. You see the yellow glowing wheel that the bird pushes towards you with his beak. You try to find the small bird in the crowd of flapping wings. Do you take and touch the yellow Spinning wheel? 

So you stand your ground. You notice that all the birds are not only different colors, but are changing colors as well. The song is beautiful that they sing. There are no words but just sounds. They seem to tell the story of the forest around them and each note rings true. You stand there in awe listening and enjoying the sun as well. Just moments before snow filled your scenery and now green is everywhere you look. The end of the music comes and the birds clap their wings together. the biggest of the birds wears a crown on his head and he makes his way forward to you walking proud, beak raised high. He bows before you and in his wings is a letter that he places at your side.

``hello kindest friend that has listened to our beat

we welcome you to Forest Land and hope that you find it neat

fear not wise sir for you are in a land of green and breeze

we are the bird people of Sorowndow and only like to sing.

We sing secrets that help in other times that you can store if you have the wheel

We`d like you to join us at our tree top perch for some local food, a meal!``

You you do not pass up the request and follow your new bird friends. As you are walking through the forest a small bird comes behind and beckons for you to follow him off the trail. Do you follow him or remain with the group? 

Well you choose blue. You veer right and the trail descends down a hill. The snow becomes deep and pretty soon you find with every step that the snow is swallowing you whole. When you try to stop and retrace your footsteps you can`t and soon you`re free falling through endless snow, but you can breathe and you find that quite odd. Soon you are just falling through space and there is no snow around you, but then oddly the snow is starting to come back and your fall is being slowed down until your falling quite slow again and then you stop. You are completely covered in snow and you are quite glad to have your warm snow clothes still on, but you feel a breeze through your boots and oddly notice that your feet seem to be sticking in the air. With all your might you push yourself out of the hole and enter a green forest with millions of birds perched in the trees around you. The birds are every color imaginable and they are singing beautiful songs all in symphony. Immediately you strip off all of your warm clothes and adjust yourself to the warmer climate. There is no trail, but you do notice that there is a part of the forest where the birds aren`t gathering. Do you want to check out that area of the forest or remain at the spot you are at and listen to the symphony?

Here is the start of a story. Choose what color you want to go down and the story will countinue

You start out in a snowy forest. The snow falls down slowly and the whole world seems silent. Your breath steams up the air as you walk through. The trees are full with snow, but you are warm inside your snow gear. You have been walking for sometime and you hear the crunch of the snow as you make your way up the trail. Suddenly you come to 3 trails and you do not know which one to take. Each trail has a tree next to it and on the tree are different colored stars. There is a yellow star on the tree on the left, a green star on the tree in the middle and a blue star on the tree on the right. Which trail should you follow?

Understanding Ver Standing 2006/08/02

The boy tapped his pencil against his desk. He noticed the surface of the table was cool to the touch as he laid his palm against its surface. An idea popped into the boys head. "I wonder how it would feel if I laid my cheek against the table?" The curiosity of his thoughts took over. Soon his head was turned sideways with his cheek resting on the surface of the desk. He noticed his breathing moistneing the surface of the table. WIth each exalation he made, the texture of the surface of the desk turned to a wet darker appearance. Immediatly one thought crept into the boys thoughts. "tic tac toe game" Carefully, taking his pointer finger he drew a line through the wet space that his breathing had created on the desk. A dry line appeared down the middle of the wet condensation puddle. Another thought crept into the students brain at that precise moment. "tic tac toe requires 2 people" his eyes gazed upwards. The teacher was blabbering away. His eyes glanced at the school notebook beside him. Not many notes were jotted down. "there's got to ba better way to take notes, maybe if I write smaller that will focus my attention better" slowly his pen made out a "J" starting to spell the word juxtapostion. The teacher had reapetedly said this word and it bared some signifigance in the boys mind. Later that evening he would get home from class and would know with a quite amount of certainty that the word "juxtaposition" had some signifigance in that days lecture. The student righted himself from his slouched postion and tried to engage himself in the lecture.

With numbers flashing by 2006/07/25


both feet firmly placed on the floor and the steady humm of numbers in progress. I stay placed in an office chair with headphones wrapped around my head and classical music lulls me to words, which I will write down. Yeah I was planning on writing something down. I got my pen in hand and the yellow pad of paper in front of me was soon found as well. Yet as soon as I thought about the circumstances I figured I hadn't written in this time keeper for a while and thus felt the need I'd have a go. It's very peaceful here tonight. There's just the hum of an office and me and the slow taps as I put each letter into words onto this writing in front of me. I guess it is a peace of mind I am in right now. Music is touching my soul and and the piano crecendos into worlds of imagination as I sit here at my own piano and create music with words. It is important I do not think to much. That is a problem with many as with myself. I must not think to hard. Yeah that sounds about right.
There was a grand lightning show today. Flashes of light lit out of the corner of my eye as I focused on sleeping in green comforter that covers my sisters bed. The rain when it did come, came down in torrents in waves, created by the wind as the wind blew the the rain fell. Thunder struck quite close bam's and boom's and drums and cracks. The cat thought the end of the world had probably come. The halloween cat is what she turned into, puffed out like a blowfish eyes as big as eyes get. Ohh I have 30 miniutes until my job ends. Video editing is quite peaceful. It could be boring, but I like writing and thus right now the occupation seems to suit me well. Many odd jobs have entered into my life this summer. The restaurant bizz, the music bizz, and now the editing bizz. I'm a busy bee bzzzzzzz. Got to watch those sunsets, sunrises, moon shines. I've been doing that as well. Running to the tops of mountains to catch those or biking to lost distances. How's everybody else doing in this world tonight? Some are laughing I bet, some are jumping, some are dancing. Probably some are singing as well. I bet some are sleeping too, which means, some are dreaming. Probably some people are dreaming so heavily that they think they are in actuality flying, but will be rudely awakened when morning comes around. Let them enjoy that for now though. So here I sit listening to the ideas festival in Aspen CO on a computer surrounded by computers. I'm in the NASA space station of editing. There's so much machinery, I don't even know how to turn the whole system off. OR actually I do but it takes out 15 buttons or switches or latches. Well soon conclusions will made for tonight and another day tomarrow will come to have a countinuation of a pretty awesome wonderful life. Signing out to the lovely world,
happy trails

well then 2006/03/12


Yes I am well. Great day of skiing yesterday. We found the powder. Need I say more? Now I am procrastinating, pondering, and scrutinizing my world, which is fun. Morning is a good time for me. I'm awake, alert, energized and all other descriptions which do not define a comatose human being. At about 1 or 2 pm I go into a slumber. Keeping the eyes open is a stretch. After 7 or 8 pm suddenly I'm awake again. This comes at a cost. The later I stay up, the more tired I'll be in the morning. Ohh the cycle! usually before 12 is the official bedtime, but sometimes oh man....sometimes I go to bed after 12 and that happens, usually when I am procrastinating, pondering and scrutinizing my world, which happens a lot.

Here are some past Things

So here is some past writing. It`s all a time capsule!

times 2005/02/03


Everyday is a day to write, to think to ponder. Right now I sit at my computer desk jamming with my roomate to music. How can that produce such pleasure? Times like these you never know whats going to happen. Last night I went to yet a new climbing location. Caverns and inclines covered the rockclimbing gym. I felt as though I was in the canyons. Its was a grown ups jungle jim. Climbings for those people who never grew out of swingset. Oh those were the days, my squeaky swing set back home in Aspen, light pouring through the trees. There was good times on that swingset. It's not there anymore. It is now at another childs house where he or she is getting to explore the sets numerous bars and handles. The set is living on. Life is passing out onto a new realm. Navaste and Funk So Rubber

maybe another song 2004/12/20 



I'm really starting to enjoy the mogols because their challenging. I definitely want to get better at Teleskiing over Christmas so I'm trying to go as much as possible. Its dark outside now. If a painter was going to paint the valley at the moment he would use a lot o dark blues and purples, and maybe a hint of pink. Everything is still this evening. Maybe I'll write another song. What should it be about? All songs these days are about love, which does dominate the thoughts that are coming from the human mind, but there's other subjects to write about. How about a story song

One day a man decided to leave his house go away and explore

left his yard, left his town, and decided he wanted more

He ended down in Mexico and started a Second Hand Food

whenever people asked where he was from, he said I don't know, but my life sure is good



all he could remember was he had a dog named spot that could run like the wind

He treated the dog like a son, and wondered how the animal had been

He ran the store and drank green tea from the leaves growing out his back door

Until a girl stepped into his life and convinced him to explore more

Chorus:

she forced him to remember his past and the life that he had there

he remembered the memories, good and bad and admitted he still cared

as he sat with her under the stars so bright and told her of his ways

he spoke of a time and a place when he might go back and visit one day



Time went on and everything seemed perfect tell the day she left his face

he tried to get back to his life and the flow with which time paced

No matter how he tried his life wasn't going okay

So he left the lands and his store and remembered the vow he made one day

Chorus

he got back into town started where he left off and found his long lost friend

worked in town at an old bike shop and quickly remembered the trends

until one day a girl walked in from a past in the south where he had been

and she told him of a possiblity once again she said


   
Everything seems alright 2004/12/19



A song?:

Ask a girl walk'n down the street askin for something

can you see me with another girl

she walks down the street constantly humm'n

about a song that only girls can tell

She tells me I told her the meaning of life

how everythings perfect and their is no strife

how what you believe is you reality

isn't wierd the simplicity

Chorus:

As the day comes to a close and the moon starts its couse

a sunset paints across my mind and darkness fills the world

and every man and every being who has that light inside

wakes up every morning with that sense of pride

and love passes by



It takes anothers love to discover its way

how its pounds the mind and and heart each and every day

listen said the old man with the twinkle in his eye

don't worry about the past, instead ask why

Copywrite 2004

Because I Laugh

Laughing is only a good thing. There are no negative sides of laughing. What is laughing? Is it the act of making sound to acknowledge another persons action? Is it the uncontrollable sounds that the body makes when something incredible happens? Laughter is a wonderful entity, thank you laughter for being there.

I wish I could laugh for the rest of my life, just laugh, the instance of finding something so hilarious that I would never stop laughing. In early years I remember that seemed like it would happen. Something would be so comedic that whoever was involved in the laughter with me could not cease laughing. The sounds would die down and then a friend would make one grin and the laughter would commence and it seemed it would never stop. That痴 what they should do to make people lose weight. My stomach really hurt after all those laughing sessions. There are different kinds of laughter. Sometimes a joke causes some snorts and for a few seconds everyone痴 laughing. Usually, this laughter is short lived and everybody wants to hear another joke that痴 just as entertaining. The common loves to laugh. We all love hearing jokes. We all sound different when we laugh, sometimes it痴 the high pitched wail that could be crying, but the smile gives it away, other instances it痴 the common giggle. Another is a variety of both, a laugh that starts of as giggling then goes to high pitched wailing. My favorite is when the laughing doesn稚 make any sound. Something has to be very funny for this to happen. Their laughing so loud when this happens that no one hears it, and I mean nobody. All you see is a great big smile on their faces and time stops. Laughter痴 wonderful. I think if the whole world laughed constantly there would be no war. How is one able to shoot a gun when their doubled over laughing, or set off a bomb for that matter. Imagine the whole world laughing. That would be the talented comedian, the person who could say a joke that would make everyone in the world laugh. He would have to be an actor because there are a lot of different languages in the world so he would have a barrier to overcome. Laughter is the sound expression of love. It is the most friendly a person can be to another person and the two don稚 even have to know each other.

The only bad thing is laughing underwater. I did that scuba diving once and that痴 a bad idea. Not only do you use up a lot of oxygen air but all the divers around you crack up because you probably look pretty hilarious with bubbles exploding from your mask. The long and short of it is everyone starts laughing and then you have a sea bunch of divers and some confused fish. Maybe fish know how to laugh too. I致e never seen one laugh; they just really enjoy blowing bubbles. That痴 all they do their whole lives is blow bubbles and eat little things at the bottom of the ocean. Wouldn稚 that be a wonderful life? They must love their life blowing bubbles and eating. Oh, plus they get to see all the underwater marine life, which is beautiful. But laughing is a great pleasure. It痴 probably one of the greatest pleasures on the earth. It痴 the extreme sense of a smile. When a person is happy he/she smiles. Then when the happiness gets greater they smile a little wider and the eyes get involved. But then after that the body gets involved and pretty soon there you have it, laughter. Sometimes humans will fall out of their chairs because of laughter. They won稚 be able to control themselves. Some people die laughing.

That痴 how I want to leave, yes that would be perfect, to die laughing. One moment my mind is feeling wonderful and the next warm darkness. In fact, I bet that痴 all god does is laugh. That痴 probably why he can稚 answer all our prayers because he痴 always laughing. He痴 laughing so hard that he can稚 think straight to answer some prayers. We probably get up into heaven and start laughing really hard and realize how funny our interactions are with one another. Well, until one of those awesome laughter tantrums hits me again I wait in anticipation, what a positive subject to speak about. Laughter is real and amazing and it will forever be.

Just writing today 2004/05/12

Okay well today seemed like a good day to write. Its cloudy outside and basically nothing better to do. I'm one for writing songs. I love music and I like writing. Probably if I had the time I'd write novels. But I don't have the time so its simply a source of wanted thinking. Yeah, thats a good definition. Well for the past 3 days I've been taking the IB tests and now their over. Good riddance is all I can say about that. 4 hours of writing gives a good degree of writers cramp and basically your brain ceases to function after those 4 hours. Now I'm finished with testing and so what do I do. I write some more. Thats not making sense at all. Hmm write for 4 hours and then go home and write for fun. Except its not for fun its simply a way to pass time and make the mind think your getting something out of the way at the same time. Okay well now I will get to the subject of what I so desire to talk about on this cloudy day in the end of May. Kayaking. I love the sport. I will try to describe to the world a few hours on the river and I will bring you to my favorite spot to give you that experience. Oh yes this will be kind of fun. Okay well sit back and enjoy: "Whats the river running at today" I ask the man behind the counter. He replies "oh about 1600 give or take a few cfs marks" Everyones excited. I'm with my friends and were about to run Shashonie, a section of river in Colorado known for its great wave play. Doors shut and we pull off onto the freeway. Soon the section of river comes into view. The best way to imagine this section is a water park where talent is required. A series of waterfalls dip into calm afternoon pools and the reflection of the green trees gives the surface an orange glow. We soon turn off on the exit ramp and soon were in the parking lot ajaccent to the river. The place is packed today. Boaters from miles around kayak this river everyday and numerous vehicles are parked in the small lot. Every vehicle is a good vehicle to transport kayaks to and from the site. One time I saw a porche with two kayaks strapped to the top. Ewwwww easy on the paint job. Oh well what ever floats your boat and gets you down the river. Any way onto the river. After the shuttles have been run and everything is just hunkydory we scramble across some rocks and enter our kayaks. Were a group of about 5-10 people entering the not so warm waters of the colorado. Its a hot day where water is welcome and everyone has a smile on their face. We enter the water and paddle upstream about 500 yards to warm up. Just the act of being in a kayak is exilerating. Your strapped into a plastic stick, given a paddle and wished the best of luck. Sounds like one of those sports that a Scots man would invent. Pun off of Robin Williams. So we goin to strap you into a plastic structure and send you down river. oh like sea kayaking. F**k no we put you in some rough water and let you swallow some water for a while. Yeah well any way that was off the point so where was I. Ahhh yes. Okay so when your in a kayak it brings you down to the level of the water. You feel every wake that the current produces and you use your hips to manuver as well as a paddle for support. Now running the river is half the fun. The other half is what is called play boating. This entails surfing, cartweeling, playing in hole features and a whole bunch of other stuff. I paddle up to the current sway my hips back and forth and then thrust my hips forward the boat goes vertical and then you balence on the edge for a period of time and then switch ends. This may seem boring, but it is a great feeling. Surfing is another great thing to do. You paddle up to a wave and and then the current takes a hold of you and picks you up and the whole current of the river is flowing under your boat and theres a rushing in your ears and your carving through natures butter using your paddle and your just feeling the energy.Thecurrent moves so fast that a current produced wind blows across your face. I love surfing river waves. Then there's those momements where its you in a canyon and canyon wall tower on either side of you and the only sound in the soft stirring motion your paddle makes with the water. Every once in a while a bird will fly over head scaling the canyon walls. Its just a great experience. Well back to to my group. After warming up in a slow current we continue downstream. I say to Weston. "okay here we go" and immediatly I drop over the falls huge waves crash over my boat and each rollar wave is like a rollar coaster. Its an adreniline rush. Thats what it is. A drop of 30 feet over 20 meters of river. The roar of white water fills your ears and you punch through each wave each time gaining speed. Your boat becomes a bullet and you punch through the water until your sitting in a calm pool below looking up at the tangled mess you just went through. Then you see your friend get pounded by a wave and get flung 5 feet up in the air before riding a column of white white water down to another huge wave. And then David decides to skip the waves altogether and you see him thrust himself off a rock wall frothing with current and his boat enters the white abyss and dissapers for a few moments before popping up a little down stream. Rapid one is over with. High fives are exchanged and the convey moves down river. We eddy out behind a rock. Eddy out means to take a rest behind a rock where there is no current and the water remains calm as you watch the current flow past you. We try cartwheels and talk about the previous wave and look forward to what is to come. Westons says " aww man I got pummled in that last wave, I was down for about 5 seconds there at the mercy of the river and then the current rolled me back up. David basically has I similar story as he describes his submarine adventure and his cliff jumping experience. We continue down the river and enter a section called rock island. These are a whole bunch of rocks that the kayaker has to manuver around Is fun because its like going through an obstacle course. You manuver around each rock and lean either to the left or right to innitiate a turn. You squeeze by rocks and your boat whips around turns. Once that section is over the "All Day Wave" rumbles in the distance. The wave is a huge foam pile which is probably the best surfing wave in the river. A huge foam pile circulates like a washing machine and your main goal is to catch this feature and enjoy the ride. I approach the foaming heart of the wave and my paddle strikes the water like a turban. Then I feel myself being sucked into the waves center and my boat bounces over the water. The wave makes the sound of a train and a 15 foot foam pile of white water ecases your boat and propells it towards an unknown destination. You feel like you are going 500mph but really only the rivers going that fast. Using your hips you manuver and carve turns in the waters surface and the sun glistens on the top of the wave as time seems to stop. You feel your heartbeat matching the rythem of the current and then you are truely free. Of course the wave spitts you out and usually you try to catch it once more. Your friends take their try at catching the wave and a tapping of a paddle between your mates is always a must if somebody catches it. Yeah man "I was on for 1 miniute there, oh that was swwweeeeeeeeeeeet" and then the group moves on. One more rapid is left. And I've seen david do summersalts over the waves because the current was so strong. Well as the last rapid ends everybody comments on the run and reflects on "good times" then the take out is in sight so we eddy out, struggle out of our kayaks which have no seemed to have attached themselves to our bodies and become one with our legs. Lets just say walking isn't too easy for the first 5 minites. We load up the Kayaks and pile into our vehicles, turn on the the music and start the 1 hr drive back home. The sun is usually setting on the river and the whole vally lights up sending a pulse of light down the river bank and displaying a rainbow of different colors on the waters edge. It was a good day.

What to Write

What Do I write about today? What inspires the mind to write? Do we write because we feel the need to express our thoughts, maybe? Or is the process of writing down words and engaging the brain a great pleasure to humans? For whatever reason most people write. Yes I believe that. Even if they don稚 come right out and say to the world, yes I write, they do. Sometimes even a short note can change a day. I happen to be the creative writer type. Facts are important and analyzing papers is probably necessary, but I love when the mind wanders. It is doing so now. I sat down at my computer this morning and basically had nothing to say. Now as I type, I知 finding I do actually have an opinion to today. My opinion just happens to be condensed into a very simplistic form. For this whole paragraph I have been asking or pondering 努hy is it people write?�And in essence, after asking myself all the above questions I feel confident I have found an answer. The answer cannot be expressed because then I would be considering a fact, which really just isn稚 possible in creative writing. I love comedy. That痴 the beauty of creative writing. If I was doing an analysis, I would have to press the return key before switching to the new topic of comedy. However, in creative writing, or more in this particular piece of literature I have changed topics about 7 times to be exact. Anyway, comedy is the topic I am speaking about so now I will get down to business and focus. I love reading comedy. Bill Cosby, Robin Williams. Ellen Degeneres. I sometimes sit in book stores and read the comedy selections and just laugh. Other people may think I致e gone crazy, but I say at least I致e changed their day, so what can you do? I love how in one of Ellen Degeneres books she refers on how by making the words ALL CAPITALIZED IT MAKES THE READER THINK THE WRITER IS MAD. Well what if the writer is not mad but is simply taking the public speaking cue to 都peak up�and only wants to be heard. I COULD WRITE THE REST OF THIS PAPER IN CAPITALIZED LETTERS AND THE TEACHER WOULD PROBABLY GLANCE AT THE WRITING AND AUTOMATICALLY THINK ONE OF TWO THINGS. SHE WOULD THINK, WOW HE担 GOT GRAMMER ISSUES, OR, BOY HE担 REALLY MAD. I樽 ACTUALLY WRITING IN 鼎APS LOCK�JUST TO PROVE A POINT, OR TO BE HEARD, WHATEVER. I guess my introductory paragraph is now seemingly the bulk of the whole paper, of which I am writing today. Since we are on the topic of comedy I will tie comedy in with propaganda. The whole reason for comic propaganda痴 success in the media world is because it痴 humorous. For instance Borgmans, 泥eer Field Mall�comic is quite laughable. Now I will go into an analysis, back to reality.

The CAPITAL LETTERS TALK ABOVE TURNED OUT TO BE IMPORTANT. The last panel on the deer field mall cartoon displays in CAPITAL LETTERS the words 泥EER FIELD MALL�across the mall building. Now in this case I think Borgman was mad. He finished drawing the previous 2 panels and now he realized he was steaming with anger. So he took his big black pen, marker, or tool and emphasized his dislike for the Deerfield Mall by displaying it in Caps Lock. Yes, he was mad. Or maybe he wasn稚 mad and simply wanted to be heard. For whatever reason unlike the sign for coffee shops, and other small convenience stores around small towns, he put that message in capital letters. It meant something to him. I have reason to believe he values preservation.

So all and all this paper has been random thoughts, although we did get down to business and talk about some propaganda and comedy subjects, which was important. I say authors should write in capital letters whenever they feel like it, for whatever reason. All people write, you might as well be heard.

Dancing

What are people? What are we? Living here in this place gives me lots of time to ponder the world. I`m in a weird situation where I am interestingly removed from the world and yet not. I therefore have lots of time to ponder existence. What are we? I know that 23 years ago almost 24 years ago I entered this place. to put it into perspective I have now almost circled the sun 24 times and spun a whole bunch. I don`t think we are to find the answer to this question of what we are. The world is so old and universe is even larger and we are just a part of the story. It is amazing I feel that we coexist so sensitively with these things that we for the first time can ponder our existence. When say ``we`` I refer to us the human being and our ability. Let us not think too hard about these things because it confuses my mind whenever I think about them and I think it may do the same to you. The biggest part of living in another country is the fact that I am able to witness how people in another part of our world live. In many ways we live in very similar ways. In fact all in all the difference is so small. Every human in the world shares 99.999 % of the same stuff and yet we are different! That is precisely why I use the word ``sensitive`` to describe us. I have gotten somewhat used to life in the place where once my family of old thrived. I bow at every door take my shoes off when entering the school or my home and say certain Japanese phrases when leaving, after eating, or greeting a home. The fact remains through my learning and which I consider now is that people that live in different places and practice culture have lived in that particular way for a very long time. Everybody has a different dance. We all have a different dance. 

blue Stuff

    

Lately I've been trying to figure out what is the best food to eat in Japan. Right now I have to say my favorite for convenience and taste is none other then lovely Japanese rice and Nori. Now this idea and it's origin actually don't take place in Japan. When I was a little kid sometimes I would come home from school and there would be my dad sitting in his chair with a big bowl of white rice. I would look at him inquisitively and he upon noticing my reaction would reply "you don't know what this is?" this is GREAT!" and I was introduced to a little of Japanese culture right then and there. Nori is seaweed, but what I'm talking about is a paste called Gohandesuyo. It is seaweed, but also has other yummy things in it. "You just take a little bit of rice like this with your chop sticks" my dad would show me "and then a little rice" and by now my sister had come to see the attention or was there the whole time in her pink pajamas, she was three or four " "and then you take the rice and put them together and there you have it dinner. I love this dinner for a couple reasons. My house is an ice box! the kitchen and the bathroom is an icebox. The rest of the house is fine, but let's just say my toothpaste freezes and once you have frozen toothpaste it kind of changes the toothpaste. Therefore my trips to the kitchen are always done in a hasty fashion and some personal coaxing is needed to venture into the location. The lovely dinner, snack is a favorite of mine and has been used my times with perfect success.

The winter is starting to retreat now I can feel the icy fingers retracting and I now want to go experience some more skiing. I will have to do so soon. Recently I have also just been to Sendai, which has been a desire of mine since I first learned of its proximity to my Naraha home. Sendai has a good feeling to it. It was very cold when Iyo and I went so we spent most of the time darting to warm places in search of warm food or things to do in warm locations. It is quite entertaining to people watch in Japan I still have not tired of simply the past time of watching Japanese daily life pass. Slowly I am comprehending more and more of the conversations taking place, but still I find difficulty of taking many conversations at once and making sense of them. For instance when we were walking around Sendai I had no clue what the women at the front of the store was shouting at the top of lungs repeatedly. It was apparent she was selling something. There is a lot of oratory advertising that goes on in Japan. I look forward to returning to Sendai when it is warm!

So now I have been in Japan for about 7 months. It is amazing how quick life changes. Sometimes I feel like just yesterday I was pushing my nose to the plastic window pane of a 747 watching the Denver lights twinkle in the distance. At other times my other life appears as a distant dream that gives me a smile and a twinkle to my eye when I think about it. I have just experienced skiing for the first time in my prefecture. I was able to go with my town and boarded a bus last Saturday at 5:30 in the morning with 20 or so other members of the Naraha town district. There were children and adults all there freezing in the middle of a freezing parking lot at 5:30. We arrived at the ski resort some 3 hours later and by the time everybody piled off the bus the environment had turned to the familiar winter scene. It was dumping snow! It was cold and a little windy and I was glad to have many warm layers on. Before everyone got on the slopes we all warmed up together. We touched our toes and then wiggled our hips and did all this in ski boots and full wear with 30 mph winds blowing snow. I loved it! It soon became apparent to me that I was one of the only ones in this group of people who had skied frequently before and so the day started off with me teaching lessons to some cute little kids in Japanese. After some time of this my friend Kosei suggested that I strike off on my own and explore Adatara mountain. Kosei was a pretty good skier himself having done so a lot in college and so I tallied forth and picked a random lift which I made out to be "Green Lift" in Japanese characters. Somehow the town had gotten my size right perfectly. The ski's that I rented were 1980's Rossignols, but I was happy and powder hungry. The mountain was quite small pretty comparable to Abasin in Colorado, but had some nice terrain on it and the snow was perfect. After taking a few runs I had the feeling that lunch time was growing near and so I struck out for the hut where the Naraha Town group was meeting for lunch. This was one of the highlights of the day. I took my ski's off and and opened the hut door and huge ramen bowls and steaming plates of curry were all around me. It was time to eat! I put my 600 or so yen into the vending machine (6$) chose what I thought looked good and what I could kind of read and then my ticket popped out and I waited in line. The cooks were cooking bowls of noodles in giant pots that could have been small hot tubs and the steam tried to warm the whole room as people passed in and out into the cold outside blizzard. My bowl finally came and the bowl was seriously the size of my head or maybe even larger and full of steamy noodles. I ate it right up slurping along with everybody else and my friend Kosei handed me a beer as well. It was a celebration of steam! Soon lunch was finished and Kosei who had been teaching lessons for the morning wanted to ski with me and I was itching to see what the mountain had to offer. We piled on our gear and headed for the Gondola. The mountain was small, but they did have a Gondola to the top more advanced portion of the mountain. A girl joined our group as well and her name was Hidoko.

The cold air bit our face as we arrived at the summit. The snow was deep and no one was on the mountain. There were some people, but powder was everywhere. Kosei was a pretty good skier as well as Hidoko and we all got our share of powder on our ski clothes by the end of the run, which is a SPO (Successful Powder Objective) Soon the day was over as the road back home was predicted to be very snowy indeed and indeed it was. I caught up on sleep on the way back as did everybody else and so gladly lost track of time, but it did take us some 5 hours to return to Naraha and when we arrived some sparkling snow had greeted even our town.

It is amazing how you start start talking about one thing and you go on about a complete side story. Anyway, yes life has changed indeed and Japan as the rest of world continues to change naturally.