goin analog

Stopped by the local stationary store today after work and picked up a whole slew of goodies. Pens, markers, paint and cutters, oh my! Anyway, can't believe I haven't started this yet, I've been here for 7 months already for cryin' out loud. Damn, time flys... Again, anyways, I've been wanting to keep an illustrated/collage diary like the one I did while in Tokyo. Daily is a bit ambitious for me at this point, considering this first rusty attempt occupied the better half of a perfectly good Friday night. Priorities, priorities. And lately my creative brain has been sitting on the couch while involuntary reaction has taken over, so its good to spend some time with the music going and just creating something with no rules, guidelines or deadlines. A rare activity these days and I'm fortunate to have the time to do just that.

School's been goin well, starting to fall into the routine. The school year is ready to wrap up at the end of March and then I'll be getting all new 1st graders and seeing everyone else level up. Been snowboarding as much as possible. It's hard when it's nice as hell during the week then turns to blizzard on the weekends, but I've been able to get in a good number of days. It's gonna be sad when riding season ends, but that just means all the festivals will be starting up! I can't wait for cherry blossom season and hanami under the blossoms.
Das all fo now!

さっぽろ - Sapporo

Got back from my trip up to Sapporo this week. Such a dope place. There were about twenty or so of us from Yamagata that went up to see the snow festival that is held every year. It's only about an hour flight from Sendai and we got in Friday evening. That night I met up with some other friends and went to the bar you see in the video. These guys just busted that act out of nowhere, we were not expecting that at all. Good thing I actually brought my camera this time! but I filled the memory card in one go shooting that performance, but luckily I had a smaller spare so I could get some shots of the festival. The next day we got up about 7:30 to ride and it turned out to be a good day considering I went to bed at about 4am the night before. The next day was just meandering around the snow festival looking at huge blocks of snow and ice carved into amazing and sometimes barely recognizable statues. Oh, yeah, the night after riding we all went to the Sapporo beer factory for a huge all you can eat/drink dinner. Needless to say copious amounts of beer were consumed, as well as plate after plate of meat for the grills set at each table. Peep the pics on the next post and I will be posting more as well in a few...

Riding twice a day? why not...

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day. I went to Fumoto elementary school for the first time since snow has been falling pretty consistently. I had the plan to go riding after work that day so I threw all my gear in my car in the morning so I could head straight up to the mountain. After finishing up my three classed for the day I had two periods of down time. I was sitting in the office playing kendama when my teacher asked jokingly if I wanted to join the 5th and 6th graders on the ski hill in back of the school. I said, "Sure! I have all my stuff here!" We ran it by the principal and two minutes later I was grabbing on to a tow-rope for the first time in 9 or so years. I'll post a pic when I get 'em back from the school! So after school it was up to the mountain for a good night session. It was a clear night, so visibility was finally good. Gettin better at the boxes and getting psyched to ride in Hokkaido this weekend!!!!