Friday, September 28, 2007
she was a bloody beast
In hindsight, I wish I had a photo shot from the traumatizing view I had as I stared my defiant dog in the eye while blood dripped down her white neck and splattered the walkway. Many of you would likely laugh at a video (if I had shot one) of Alain yelling in exasperation as he tried to pry her jaw open and yank the pigeon out, with me standing in the background whimpering.
I'm afraid I was calm, repeatedly telling Alain to stop yelling, but otherwise useless as I finally admitted to myself that my pooch is no lapdog tou-tou, she's a wild beast. In the end it took the help of a neighbour to pull the by-now-bisected bird out of G's mouth (its organs plopped to the ground as she did) .
I'll tell you one thing, I will no longer let this well-fed inu run at flocks of pecking birds for fun, for I now know that G is faster than I thought she was or there exists slower feathered friends than I knew.
I'm afraid I was calm, repeatedly telling Alain to stop yelling, but otherwise useless as I finally admitted to myself that my pooch is no lapdog tou-tou, she's a wild beast. In the end it took the help of a neighbour to pull the by-now-bisected bird out of G's mouth (its organs plopped to the ground as she did) .
I'll tell you one thing, I will no longer let this well-fed inu run at flocks of pecking birds for fun, for I now know that G is faster than I thought she was or there exists slower feathered friends than I knew.
Monday, September 10, 2007
they must be baking in those boots
I haven't made any snide comments about Tokyo fashion trends in awhile and I actually seem to remember having had a dislike of the style last year. But I just have to say that the boots with shorts/short skirts thing is back with a vengeance and seems even worse this time around because though, yes, it is September, it's still stinking hot in this fair city.
It pains me to imagine wearing boots when it's in the low- to mid-30 degree range and I myself can't walk for 4 blocks without becoming covered by a light sheen of perspiration. But apparently us Canadians have a higher core body temperature; the Japanese just don't seem to drip as much, no matter how ridiculous the humidity. In fact, I know several female Japanese colleagues who keep space heaters under their desks all summer, using them to counteract the office airconditioning, which is quite moderate.
Anyway, enough sweat talk. Two other recently skyrocketing fashion trends are those horrible rubber Croc sandals (sorry Croc-lovers, I just don't get it) and women wearing lingerie in public.
The latter consists mostly of lacy/silky, though in Japan never too low-cut, camisoles. I did also see one girl wearing an old-fashioned lacy slip as a dress. I don't think I've ever before posted about the odd dichotomy where very few Japanese women wear low-cut, shoulder- or midruff-baring tops whilst mini and micro mini skirts are everywhere and are often worn with knee or thigh-high black stockings in a nod to the tenacious and unsettlingly school-girl-look fad.
I'm off now, in my anti-fashion best (long skirt and flat shoes), to walk my unfashionably large and mutt-y inu.
It pains me to imagine wearing boots when it's in the low- to mid-30 degree range and I myself can't walk for 4 blocks without becoming covered by a light sheen of perspiration. But apparently us Canadians have a higher core body temperature; the Japanese just don't seem to drip as much, no matter how ridiculous the humidity. In fact, I know several female Japanese colleagues who keep space heaters under their desks all summer, using them to counteract the office airconditioning, which is quite moderate.
Anyway, enough sweat talk. Two other recently skyrocketing fashion trends are those horrible rubber Croc sandals (sorry Croc-lovers, I just don't get it) and women wearing lingerie in public.
The latter consists mostly of lacy/silky, though in Japan never too low-cut, camisoles. I did also see one girl wearing an old-fashioned lacy slip as a dress. I don't think I've ever before posted about the odd dichotomy where very few Japanese women wear low-cut, shoulder- or midruff-baring tops whilst mini and micro mini skirts are everywhere and are often worn with knee or thigh-high black stockings in a nod to the tenacious and unsettlingly school-girl-look fad.
I'm off now, in my anti-fashion best (long skirt and flat shoes), to walk my unfashionably large and mutt-y inu.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
no. 9 and my final plunge
I just jotted out on my bike for bread (we're battening down for Typhoon No. 9, aka Fitow) and I decided to stick an umbrella in my bike basket, just in case one of the last few days' frequent pounding showers caught me on the 5 minute ride.
And sure enough, on the way back, it started. And yes, I did it, I took the final step in becoming a true Tokyoite: I rode my bike on the sidewalk (I've become quite expert at weaving in and out of the pedestrian traffic) while holding an umbrella.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
furry friends small & large
G-dog at the D run. We stayed for over an hour. Needless to say, what with the walk there and back (which turned out much longer than we thought), we're all going to sleep like rocks tonight.
worth the rain risk
We're about to leave the house for a nice long Sunday walk to Yoyogi park (the famous one in Harajuku where the kooky kool kids hang out in their wild getups). We can now survive the 45-minute walk in each direction, because a few days ago the temperature finally dropped below 30°C after having pushed 40°C constantly since mid-July. In fact today there's apparently no humidex at all (that hasn't happened since June!), with a perfect 23°C.
The trek is all for our fur brain's sake because we discovered there is an off-the-leash dog run in Yoyogi. See our poor pooch needs to socialize with other dogs and it's hard to get her to effectively do so on-leash at various parks closer to our house where dogs tend to congregate. That because either A) she gets too excited with certain furry friends that she leaps and runs around getting the leash tangled beyond belief so that it becomes a potential danger for all dogs and adults involved or B) she's too frightened to approach a group dogs.
The latter won't be a problem at the run I think because when we went by there last weekend (we didn't enter the run because the friend I was with has 2 small kids and her own dog so we had our hands too full to be able to supervise the dogs inside the run), G-dog didn't seem at all frightened at the sight of the group of dogs inside.
I'll bring the camera today and post pix and vid of her first taste of freedom. I'm also packing an umbrella because it looks like rain. But that ain't going to stop us.
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| Harajuku girl. |
The trek is all for our fur brain's sake because we discovered there is an off-the-leash dog run in Yoyogi. See our poor pooch needs to socialize with other dogs and it's hard to get her to effectively do so on-leash at various parks closer to our house where dogs tend to congregate. That because either A) she gets too excited with certain furry friends that she leaps and runs around getting the leash tangled beyond belief so that it becomes a potential danger for all dogs and adults involved or B) she's too frightened to approach a group dogs.
The latter won't be a problem at the run I think because when we went by there last weekend (we didn't enter the run because the friend I was with has 2 small kids and her own dog so we had our hands too full to be able to supervise the dogs inside the run), G-dog didn't seem at all frightened at the sight of the group of dogs inside.
I'll bring the camera today and post pix and vid of her first taste of freedom. I'm also packing an umbrella because it looks like rain. But that ain't going to stop us.
