fatblueman

It seems to me that there should be a witty caption to go along...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:54:00 +0900

It seems to me that there should be a witty caption to go along with this one, but I am not sharp enough to think up what it might be….

IMG_3322, Processed with Analog

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:48:07 +0900

IMG_3322, Processed with Analog

IMG_3447, Processed with Analog

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:43:15 +0900

IMG_3447, Processed with Analog

IMG_3476, Processed with Analog

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:23:35 +0900

IMG_3476, Processed with Analog

Canadian Thanksgiving… Mmmmm….

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:10:12 +0900

Canadian Thanksgiving… Mmmmm….

"… if reality does not fit our concept, so much the worse for reality. -Zizek"

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 02:23:02 +0900

“

… if reality does not fit our concept, so much the worse for reality.

-Zizek

”

- I disagree, but it does seem to capture the spirit of the age…

Not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy...

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 02:04:42 +0900

I’m not sure if this is even truly a H.C.A. story as the commenter said, but it made me LMAO. I will be thinking about it all day, and probably recounting it a few times…

There was once a story Christian Andersen about a blue bird flying south It was late in the year and the bird froze and fell to the ground lifeless. A cow walked by and dumped on the little fellow . The oozy warmth revived the bird who with joy in his heart started to sing.A farm cat who was nearby heard this singing and stealthily traced it to the bird - Pulled it out and ate it. The moral of the story is not everyone who dumps on you is your enemy and not every one who pulls you out of #$%$ is your friend.

Thinking Back #2

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:22:17 +0900

A couple posts back I reposted the guy telling rock, paper and scissors to STOP FIGHTING. I like that one because, though of course I knew of janken (as it is called in Japan) before I got to Japan, I’ve never been in a place where it is such a big deal. It decides everything around here. We decide teams in sports using it. I’ve seen strangers in bank lines use it to decide order. I wonder if a day goes by when something in my life doesn’t get decided by this infallible trio. Definitely not a week.

I worked for a while with a food program that the YMCA was doing for homeless guys in downtown Nagoya. I remember being amazed that even among the guys on the street, janken is the rule of law. Whenever there was leftover food the guys who wanted it gathered together and peacefully shook fists until all was decided. And what blew me away every time was that the decisions stuck. No disputes once Judge Janken has ruled, no matter what part of society you’re from.

I used to work a similar job in Winnipeg’s North End. I think that is what left me so shocked at the peace and order of the whole thing. The thought of everybody sticking to a decision based on rock, paper, scissors? I think a knife fight would have been more likely.

Rock Paper Scissors, Your Logik Is Not Right

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:22:00 +0900

Rock Paper Scissors, Your Logik Is Not Right

Thinking back #1

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:34:58 +0900

Wow. The countdown to leaving Japan is really on now. A couple months. And then a decade of life in Japan is done. I think I am just completing the excitement-about-going-home phase. Now I find myself having a lot of thoughts that would be more the think-I’m-gonna-miss-this-place variety.

I keep daydreaming my way through memories of the past ten years, so it seems that maybe I should record them here. I’ll regret it if I don’t.

When we arrived, it was with a little blond-headed chipmunk who wasn’t quite two yet. As we leave, we leave with another little guy that is almost a carbon copy. And almost the same age. Jojo will be 2 and half when we depart.

I thought of this because the other day as we were sitting at a train crossing, Jojo calls from the back seat, “train cubbin’!” And it reminded me that this was exactly what Simon used to say when he was first encountering trains, and with exactly that same tendency to turn m’s into b’s.

They aren’t too many passenger trains in Canada. No more pointing out the different kinds of trains that provide so much entertainment for three little boys. No more Shinkansen.

Photo

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:24:03 +0900

Photo

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:05:12 +0900

Photo

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:31:31 +0900

Photo

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:27:06 +0900

leoreturns: I have been waiting all year to post this.

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:24:39 +0900

leoreturns:

I have been waiting all year to post this.

Jesus is coming…

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:09:38 +0900

Jesus is coming…

I hate that I can’t sleep like this anymore…

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:04:04 +0900

I hate that I can’t sleep like this anymore…

Just because I’m really gonna miss shirts like this…

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:23:39 +0900

Just because I’m really gonna miss shirts like this…

So it looks like we are heading home. Back to Winnipeg appears to be where it is at. We will be home...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:57:33 +0900

So it looks like we are heading home. Back to Winnipeg appears to be where it is at. We will be home by the summer. There is all kinds of sad and happy wrapped up in this decision, but right now the sad and the happy are mostly being displaced by the busy. And learning French, because they tell me that it is much easier to find jobs in education back home if I speak it. So je dois essayer d’apprendre le français plus vite!

Talk about lowering the bar… (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:29:55 +0900

Talk about lowering the bar… (Taken with instagram)