Friday, July 17, 2009
luxury cars and lunatics
I realized today that I've had the wrong approach to blogging. I don't post much anymore cuz after 3 yrs abroad, the number of people who originally wanted to stay updated has dwindled and I don't know (or care much) how to please anonymous lurkers (stats show people read, though few comment).
Anyway, I'm not complaining! This is natural cycle of human relations stuff. What I decided is that I should be posting simply for my own future reminiscing pleasure. See, since I was about 13 years old, I sporadically kept a journal. Until I started blogging that is.
I also realized there's a lot of things about Tokyo I've never recorded. Day to day life here is old hat to me now but it is nonetheless markedly different than life back home. In the details.
Today was a quirky day that would serve as a good example. I walked the G at 4 p.m. today, earlier than I have of late because it was cloudy and therefore cooler (uh, well, less hot anyway - around 30C) than normal for this hour. Perhaps the hour change could be blamed for the memorable array of moments and sights, some usual, some bizarre.
First, after our daily visit to the spot in the cemetery drainage system where G's friend the rat lives (so Aran tells me anyway, I've never seen it, no matter how many times G leads me there), the mutt lunged into a bush after what I thought was a cat.
Nope, she came out chewing something smaller than a cat. I yelled at her, to no avail of course, except to prompt a quicker swallow. Shortly thereafter however, dog-brains has to stop walking in order to scratch at her muzzle with both front paws as she does when something unpleasant hits her palate. This time around, I suspect it was a big ole dose of wasabi! Scavenging sucker!
And little Ms Inu didn't have much time to recover before we crossed paths with a strange man holding a big umbrella (it wasn't raining) and swinging a huge stick. The grrrl don't like big sticks unless I'm holding one horizontally in the air for her to jump at. Nothing to worry about though, just one of a handful of homeless men that live amongst the graves.
Just seconds later, I'm the one shocked to find a rich lady has driven her sports coupe into a part of the cemetery that does not permit cars. She smiled at us as she was climbing back in. Oh well, at least she was friendly.
Later, in a quiet cat-less corner of the graveyard, I let dog-brains off the leash and we played fetch with her baseball after I bribed her with a cookie to drop a small cell-phone charm ball she found that woulda choked her.
As we played, a helicopter passed by on its way to the nearby American army landing pad and when I glanced up at it, I noticed a blimp cruising through the low clouds. I also noticed how many cranes are sprouting in the 'hood, despite the recession and housing glut.
Last and perhaps weirdest was the origin of a sound that caught my attention on the way home. We were passing through a small park when I heard what sounded like a remote control toy. I looked around curiously because I hadn't seen any children so was wondering about the source. Turned out it was a sparrow pecking at the belly of a huge cicada that was struggling to get away and whose beating wings were the what I heard.
A semi-typical Tokyo Friday.
Anyway, I'm not complaining! This is natural cycle of human relations stuff. What I decided is that I should be posting simply for my own future reminiscing pleasure. See, since I was about 13 years old, I sporadically kept a journal. Until I started blogging that is.
I also realized there's a lot of things about Tokyo I've never recorded. Day to day life here is old hat to me now but it is nonetheless markedly different than life back home. In the details.
Today was a quirky day that would serve as a good example. I walked the G at 4 p.m. today, earlier than I have of late because it was cloudy and therefore cooler (uh, well, less hot anyway - around 30C) than normal for this hour. Perhaps the hour change could be blamed for the memorable array of moments and sights, some usual, some bizarre.
First, after our daily visit to the spot in the cemetery drainage system where G's friend the rat lives (so Aran tells me anyway, I've never seen it, no matter how many times G leads me there), the mutt lunged into a bush after what I thought was a cat.
Nope, she came out chewing something smaller than a cat. I yelled at her, to no avail of course, except to prompt a quicker swallow. Shortly thereafter however, dog-brains has to stop walking in order to scratch at her muzzle with both front paws as she does when something unpleasant hits her palate. This time around, I suspect it was a big ole dose of wasabi! Scavenging sucker!
And little Ms Inu didn't have much time to recover before we crossed paths with a strange man holding a big umbrella (it wasn't raining) and swinging a huge stick. The grrrl don't like big sticks unless I'm holding one horizontally in the air for her to jump at. Nothing to worry about though, just one of a handful of homeless men that live amongst the graves.
Just seconds later, I'm the one shocked to find a rich lady has driven her sports coupe into a part of the cemetery that does not permit cars. She smiled at us as she was climbing back in. Oh well, at least she was friendly.
Later, in a quiet cat-less corner of the graveyard, I let dog-brains off the leash and we played fetch with her baseball after I bribed her with a cookie to drop a small cell-phone charm ball she found that woulda choked her.
As we played, a helicopter passed by on its way to the nearby American army landing pad and when I glanced up at it, I noticed a blimp cruising through the low clouds. I also noticed how many cranes are sprouting in the 'hood, despite the recession and housing glut.
Last and perhaps weirdest was the origin of a sound that caught my attention on the way home. We were passing through a small park when I heard what sounded like a remote control toy. I looked around curiously because I hadn't seen any children so was wondering about the source. Turned out it was a sparrow pecking at the belly of a huge cicada that was struggling to get away and whose beating wings were the what I heard.
A semi-typical Tokyo Friday.
