Back from Japan

And all I got is this lousy t-shirt. No. Wait. I didn't even BUY a shirt! I feel a little unfulfilled because the one, ULTIMATE gift I was going to bring back for everyone (omiyage) was this awesomest handmade green tea chocolate. I found out, while in Japan, after walking up and down to Kiyomizu Temple, TWICE, they don't make it during the summer because it's too hot and the chocolate melts.

So, after that failure, my brain kind of gave up on finding yummy snack gifts. I feel stupid and lame and a failure. I go all the way to Japan, land of the best candies and snacks and etc., and I didn't bring back much of anything. What a waste!

At least the performance went well, and we all enjoyed ourselves. We kept busy with all sorts of things (visiting temples, a castle, swordmaking town, ceramic shop, Kobe steak! etc.), so all in all, it was a successful trip.

I don't have my trip pics on this computer (at work... shhhh), but I do have pics off of my iPhone from my trip.


Museum stuff. The Tenri Sankokan Museum's current special exhibit is of Mexico. Big head they found in the forest.


Big selection of Coco Ichiban-ya Curry House. They have LEVELS of spiciness.


Kobe Steak! My friend Frank moved to Japan with his wife (who is from Japan), and I told him to take us to a really good steak place. It was so good... and I don't even care for steak!


Drinks with friends. This was at a Turkish bar in Kobe. My first (and probably only) Young Turk (Turkish cherry juice and vodka).


Vending machines of all sorts.
Beer, cigarettes, pastries... and the usual soft drinks (no picture). In the past, I have also seen eggs, batteries, toiletries.

I'm adamant about going back to Japan in March/April in an attempt to see the cherry blossoms... the lady at the shop with the chocolates said they should still have the chocolates at that time. :)

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this one to Jen Thomas. She's hard at work!

Yesterday's End of Day

Yesterday was quiet. Here's how it ended:



After I posted it all around (FB, Vox, etc.), that's when I realized his left arm is gimpy. Oh well!

Sometimes I think too much

There are a lot of What-ifs in my life. Some of them would put me in a completely different place than where I am in my life right now. It's hard not to let it come up in my mind, no matter how I feel. I guess that's just another part of life we have to deal with.

Not a Furlough Friday

Having to work on Friday just seems... wrong. Sure, everyone had complained about the state employees furloughs, but you know what? Most everyone is now well adapted to having four-day work weeks. It just doesn't feel right having to be here at work on a Friday.

Here's what I did to pass the time.


I even signed it!

Newest doodle, also posted on Allie's forum

Here's another doodle I posted on Allie's forum. One day, she will pause from being incredibly popular and say, "Hey, thanks for posting that neat-o ninja!" Yeah, right.


I did this one last week. I had thought about doing one today, but not sure if I'll get around to it (just over an hour left of office time).

UPDATE: Yeah, not enough time. I spent most of it reading some blogs (I read really slow), and then cleaning out some of my e-mails collecting in my Gmail Inbox. I got rid of about 2,000 e-mails, mostly ads (Victoria's Secret, Amazon, etc.) and Facebook notifications (___ posted a comment). Time to get out of here!

This was drawn for Allie

I have recently accepted Allie Brosh into my life. She is the author of Hyperbole and a Half. I went to her forum and decided to post a dinosaur drawing. Here's what I posted:

Bunch of old doodles

Self portrait. I was bored at work.


Aqua Teen Hunger Force! Do you remember when people would submit art and some of them would get selected and showed during the [adult swim] bumps? Well, they are lame and didn't choose mine.


This is a portrait of my friend Mandy.


Here's my first Paintified request: Temporary Lovers (I miss you guys!), a local underground rock band in Hawai'i.

Science Guy

I doodled this guy after I discovered the blog Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Her visual aids had reminded me how fun MS Paint is.



This guy is set up above my desk. I got him at a vendor show for scientific supplies from a company called Stratagene, and he's one of those stress relief squeeze things.

If I had a choice, I would choose to NOT go to Japan in July

July is the second worst time to ever go to Japan. August is the worst. Summers are HELL in Japan. The first three times I went there were all in the summertime - 1986, 1996 and 1997. The '96 and '97 trips were both for church-related seminars, where we had to do pilgrimage walks. I'm not in good shape, in fact, I'm in horrible shape. It was painful to go through those walks.

This year, we are going to Japan in July because our group was invited to perform for the 1300th anniversary celebration of the first capitol city in Japan (Nara). You can't really turn down an invitation like that, right? It's a once in a lifetime event (milestone anniversaries are a once in an any time event), so we are going to perform.