Well, no turkey for Thanksgiving this year, but I was able to meet up with some friends and crush a bomb-ass nabe party. Then headed up to Zao mountain for a decent day of riding. The weather was nice for the first half of the day, then when we headed down to the base around 4, it was raining. Snowboarding in the rain is weird. That was a first for me. Anyway, not feeling like typing much now, so enjoy the pics!
snow, snOW, SNOW!! Well, it actually snowed for the first time since my arrival. Not sure if winter is really gonna start yet or if this is just a tease, but when I woke around 6 am from an unusually cold morning and pulled back the curtains I was blinded by bright fluffy flakes pouring down onto an already decently deep base. It pretty much came from nowhere, and the forecast is rain for the rest of the week, but it strengthens my hope for a serious winter with ample snow for a good season of riding.
Earlier on, we (yamagata ALT's) had a seminar in Tendo which wrapped up with a neon-themed party down in Yamagata City... pretty dope, good times, check the pics here....
Today I started work again and was psyched to go outside during break with the kids and play in the snow....I should have expected it, but as soon as I got out into the middle of them, it became the target of what seemed like some premeditated simultaneous attack from all directions. Heavy wet balls of snow hit me in every part of the body, probably twice, and I did my best to get in a few shots, but the odds were not in my favor. I eventually rallied a few kids to my team, and then broke away to try and make a snowman... no chance. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to.
Thats all for now... OUT!
じゃあ、まず、オレのブログを読んでる人はだいたい日本人じゃないから最近日本語で書いてない。。。けど！日本語難しくても堪忍してください！！ それで、自分の意思を見つけた。多分。オレはコロラドからやってきた。ここはコロラドの姉妹都市。オレがアートが大好きから、コロラドのアートとこっちらのアートの合うことがいいと思う。それで、結果は目立つじゃない？オレはコロラドのアートと山形のアートの交流を唆したらどう？
Ok, I'm done writing japanese because I just read my last three sentences and couldn't even understand them....even though I wrote 'em. Anyways, all I'm trying to say is that I come from colorado, excuse me Colorado. I check as I type so be patient. Anyway. I love art and have been following the Boulder/Denver scene for a while now and since I'm over here I thought, shit, why not try to do some cross-culture show!? For those of you who might not know where I'm at, or rather a few minutes south, is Boulder's Sister City in Japan! Yamagata City to be exact. So, While Colorado artists are doing there thing... and I've been following it, looks dope by the way; I thought, why not increase the already established bond between Colorado and Japan. Shit, it's not Tokyo but, fuck it. That's what makes it bad ass. Even though a show happens here, I want it to feel like it's part of Boulder's scene. It's all about increasing our awareness of our neighbors etc.... So, without further ado, please contact me if you are seriously interested in participating in a cross-cultural/cross-national exhibition to display here and hopefully be responded there in Denver/Boulder. This is where art/design meets the "real" world. Where people grow and eat their own products. Yet where design sensibility has a profound impact on what people consider national, rural, organic, local or tasteful production. Please contact me with your response!
Much respect,
Former Boulder Resident,
Alex Carter
So I was reading the news paper today during work and ran across an ad that explained a program I could download for my phone that "reads" pictures or illustrations in magazines and newspapers and directs my phone to that product or info's website. The image has tiny yellow lines like a bar code I guess that are invisible to the eye, but with my phone's camera it can scan the image and then take me to the site.... fucking dope. I downloaded the program and tried it out on the article's test pic and it somehow worked. FP code (fine picture code) images should start popping up in mags and newspapers from now on.
In addition, I was watching TV the other day and their was this show about new holographic technology that could possibly work in much the same way. But instead of taking you to a website, the magazine picture you captured on your phone would become a three dimensional model, viewable from all sides....
A rad article from the current issue of GOOD Magazine....
makes me think free will is only ignorance in the face of predictability.
This was a pretty dope weekend. My boy Lee came in from Colorado on his way around the world before his final destination in New Zealand. So it was fun to have some one to show around my neck of the woods and offer a different aspect than that of Tokyo.
So, for starters, we headed up Zao mountain to see the fall leaves and check out the huge crater at the top, which I still had not seen. But as we approached the summit it became so foggy I could hardly see 15 feet ahead. By the time we reached the spot we were attacked by a blistering wind and needless to say, could not even begin to see the crater from the view point. Oh well, maybe in the spring...
After recovering from the cold and disappointment, I made due with a postcard. We then headed down to the ski area of the mountain and went to the onsen I remembered from my last trip. There we relaxed in the hot sulfur water outside under the changing leaves. Japanese style relaxation gots it on lock down. Getting back to the car Lee pointed out I had misplaced my gas cap from the last fill up. Aw shit. So on the way back I swung into a suzuki dealer hoping to be able to purchase a new one. With what little Japanese I know about cars and their parts I was able to get my point across, but the didn't have any caps there. The manager then told me to wait there a bit, and he then personally drove to another dealer, got a cap, and brought it back fitting it into place free of charge. Sometimes its unbelievable how helpful people are here. So once more we were on our way. For dinner we stopped off at an okonomiyaki place and grubbed until we couldn't move.
Saturday was a big day. Got up and drove to Matsushima, one of the three famous sightseeing points in Japan. I had been there once, but by train, so I was pretty much driving blind. My directions consisted of about two roads and three turns, so I was hoping it would be as obvious as the directions led to to assume. We made it there without any problems and luckily ran across a free parking lot thanks to an accidental turn. We checked out the temple, and ate some oysters, matsushima is known for its oysters, and then walked out to one of the hundreds of islands that dot the cove.
After Matsushima it was off to Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku region. Getting back was a bit more confusing and I quickly got lost in the city's grid. We drove around for about an hour until I found my bearings and then attempted to find a parking spot. Yet every place I went into the owner would quickly run out and yell my car was too tall to fit. What!? MY car is too big? My car is one of the smallest things on the road.... yet I guess its tall....
So eventually we found a place and it ended up being right near the restaurant we were going. I took Lee to the same restaurant I ate at on my last trip. A small little inconspicuous place tucked in the back streets along with all the hostess clubs. There we had grilled cow tongue, another specialty of the area, making it our full third meal of the day.
After that it was back home and out for drinks at the bar near my house. It was a full weekend but good to see those spots and eat some bomb food. Enjoy the pics and sorry for the long post, but.....
check the pics here
Back in the office. Pretty chill week, and finally got around to taking care of some loose strings. Got my hair cut for one, I was looking like a rapscallion but now I'm all ship shape. It was kinda scary I admit, my first time to a barber shop in Japan. I mean, my hair's not that different, just blond and not as thick right? Anyway, there's always the possibility that being a small town, they just dont know what I'm going for. We'll in the end I got sorted out and he did decent job.
Also picked up a sofa as well. Bringing nothing from the states and moving into a two bedroom place you can imagine how empty it was (is). But the sofa in the spare room really ties the place together... Luckily, I inherited a bunch of stuff upon arrival: dishes, tables, fridge, washing machine, curtains etc. but being the designer that I am, I feel the constant cringe that these are not MY things, even though I own them, and that I'm just here temporarily. I sense an unstable feeling in the back of my mind that I can't really settle down unless I make the decisions. My car was bought with my money, and my searching it out (with great effort received from a good friend) and that feels like home. But the hodge podge of random collected interiors feels more like a college dorm room than a home. But isn't it a waste to go and hand select all the implements of life only to move away in a couple years? Perhaps I must settle and let a new relationship breed between myself and these alien objects. I did buy a couple basics, forks and spoons, that I always will choose to solicit their utility over the second hand goods, unless the occasion of receiving company designates the necessity of their use.
My personal collection of cutlery; however, offers great relief in preparing my daily bread. Even though I rarely have the chance to use the more professional equipment, my basic preparation knife holds familiar in my hand and I trust its edge despite the many times it has disagreed with me. My defeats are not easily distinguished until cheap and plentiful spirits have turned the scars brilliant red and they become affected like the leaves from this approaching winter.
It is cold. And colder it will become. The two comforters that ornament my bed provide more comfort in the thought of warmth than actual escape from early morning chill. Heating this winter is still an unresolved problem. Economy dictates restraint from conventional methods, so more 'primitive' means will most likely be the resort.
Just shy of skinning my own bear, and no thats not a masturbatory pun.
PEACE!!
