this sand dune
built by the
storm last night—
whose grave
is it . . .?
I fled from
my mind today
like a sick beast
in panic
running away
—Takuboku: Poems to Eat, trans. Carl Sesar.
[1] ひと夜さに嵐来たりて築きたる この砂山は 何の墓ぞも
[2] 心より今日は逃げ去れり 病ある獣のごとき 不平逃げ去れり
My DS is now Ghibli-approved.
And as you may be able to tell from the picture, I convinced myself that I needed to reread, and own, Watchmen before the movie comes out and all forthcoming editions say “now a major motion picture.” I happened to be at Borders today, but the fanboys had already plundered the stock there, so I went to my trusted local comics depot—R & K—and snagged their last copy.
Cool. Now what’s Rorschach’s real name?
[I began writing this entry more than a month ago, but I never got around to posting it.]
Every time I’m at the intersection of Wilshire and Sepulveda, I can’t help but notice the bird dangling from the power lines. It rotates, slowly, in the wind. It’s a yellow-greenish color and seems to be made out of cardboard. Definitely a bird. It looks like it’s hanging from a wire, attached to the line by a combination lock.
J. and I had our own theories about it (”they must be running a crack operation on this corner”), but I decided to see if I could find some more information online. It turned out that there was a healthy conversation going on at Metafilter about these birds, which had been spotted all over LA in all sorts of colors.
They’re the work of an artist named 4eightyone. That’s a link to his Myspace. Lots of pictures—but no explanations! I suppose that’s what makes it cool.
[The last time I was at that intersection, in June, the bird was no longer there.]
Wouldn’t the world be a different place if they taught street art in high schools? I had a visual arts class in my sophomore year, but after learning about Christo’s environmental art projects, the only thing I ever did was to put big red-and-white mushrooms in some of the trees at my school. And in retrospect, that even sounds lame. I wish I had pictures for the purposes of this blog, though.
When it comes to street art, I particularly enjoyed Posterchild’s installation earlier this year of the Weighted Companion Cube from Portal. One half’s on Bloor Street at Yonge in downtown Toronto, and the other’s at Bloor and Euclid.
Just genius! And pretty titillating for a softcore gamer like myself (i.e., one who happily ignores everything else in The Orange Box in favor of Portal’s quirkiness).
I wonder if I’ll get to see it…?
This year, one of Kat’s friends, a Toronto local, has promised to show us a good time, and I hear that my grandmother’s new place is closer to downtown. I’m excited!
tiptoeing
through the cold
suddenly
in the squeaky hallway
her mouth on mine
mumbled something
just now—
what . . . ?
I shut my eyes
and taste my drunkenness
—Takuboku: Poems to Eat, trans. Carl Sesar.
[1] きしきしと寒さに踏めば板軋む かへりの廊下の 不意のくちづけ
[2] 何事か今我つぶやけり かく思ひ 目をうちつぶり酔ひを味ふ
I’ve been trying out the homebrew application Colors! for NDS.
It’s pretty cool—I just wish there was an undo function for stylus jumping! :(
If you also use a supercard and have been experiencing contact issues (OS will not load, DS simply remains on health warning screen and asks you to “touch screen to continue”; alternatively, DS randomly warns that cartridge has been removed during regular play), you might try the fixes in this thread. Sliding a thin piece of paper between the very edge of the plastic and the golden teeth seemed to resolve my problems, more than a layer of cellotape on the outside.
[Part two of two. See part one.]
We made one excursion out of Taipei, to Ri Yue Tan (Sun Moon Lake). After taking the high-speed rail to Taichung, we boarded a bus and arrived at the lake after about two hours.
We walked through the forested Hanbi Trail and ended up at the back entrance of the Lalu hotel, which was a bit strange, but exciting nonetheless. As the hotel staff took care of our check-in paperwork, they showed us to a seat in the lobby and served us perfectly salted almonds and a much-desired drink of cool lemonade. After being shown to our room, which boasted a magnificent view, we were prepared to declare this place heaven on earth. The clouds drift low over the mountains, enhancing that image.
I only wish I had the means to stay at this hotel again. It was incredibly luxurious; some would call it overpriced, but I think the experience was worth it. You simply can’t argue with that view.
We took a lot of pictures around the hotel. :P A light rain came and passed as they served us afternoon tea, a small snack, and fresh, crisp lei (pears). The lotus flowers adorning the grounds floated on, undisturbed by the weather—and a rainbow appeared within minutes. At night, we treated ourselves to the five-course meal at the hotel’s Western restaurant, and the next day to a light snack at the tea house.
We explored the small (but incredibly atmospheric) library, and even paid a visit to the gym—to look around, though. The weights were too new to be comfortable in hand, and I doubt anyone really goes to this hotel to work out. ;)
This butterfly was perched right in front of us, so I had to take a picture. But either it had landed there to die, or someone must have killed it—because by the time we came around again, it was in pieces.
On a happier note, Sun Moon Lake, but the Lalu especially, was an extraordinary experience that I won’t forget anytime soon.
Being treated as honored guests, and surrounding ourselves with so much elegance and luxury, it actually didn’t seem that we had to worry about money. I felt as if the Lalu was someplace on a different plane, someplace far removed from mundane, worldly matters. Of course, that’s not the case in reality, but it’s a far cry from the way I felt in Japan, that every tenth of a yen mattered.
Japan was incredibly harrowing this time around, mainly because I often felt that my Japanese skills weren’t good enough to handle the situations we encountered. We got lost a lot. Not knowing where the hotels were was the first straw; not finding something where I’d drawn it on a crude map was far from the last. Being limited to five or six days was difficult, too.
But we did do the most important items on our itinerary. I took J. to my beloved Ryoanji (♥) and we both saw Fushimi Inari for the first time. Foxes are the best! We ran through the torii à la Memoirs of a Geisha, which I’ve never seen. Man, I felt like such a tourist. And now I just feel like a poser. It’s okay, though, because I encountered a white couple from San Jose, and they’re more gaijin than I am! (Wait, they live in Japan now. So I’m just a racist. Sigh.)
Anyway. J. and I had been playing The World Ends With You (DS) like mad, so we made a stop in Shibuya and ran around the scramble, as well as up and down Center Street. (We also later stayed in a love hotel in Udagawa, but that’s another story.) In some of the arcades, they now have a Gundam game where you enter a pod and get to pilot a Gundam as if you’re actually in the suit. There’s a headphone for you to teamspeak with other players in the arcade or online.
Oh, right. Figuring this game out was especially harrowing, because I had absolutely no idea how to play, there seemed to be a line of people waiting, and I felt like I couldn’t let J. down because he really wanted to try it. In the end, I talked to a Japanese guy who was pretty chill; he explained it to me very patiently and in easy-to-understand terms. So J. got his fun, and I got my motion sickness. :[
In the end, I got my fun at the Ghibli Museum. What can I say? It was absolutely magical. It was unlike anything else. The Totoro zoetrope centerpiece in the permanent exhibit left me breathless. The recreation of the artists’ rooms was especially touching, as the walls are lined with sketches and memorabilia from every Ghibli movie.
We saw one of the “secret short films” at the theater: Mizugumo Monmon. Definitely a treat, but spoiled by a baby bawling through the whole thing. Parents: SUCK IT UP AND TAKE YOUR BABY OUTSIDE. More spoilers included people blatantly taking photos, including one trio that insisted on capturing themselves every three steps up one of the (narrow, beautiful) spiral staircases.
Anyway, on our way back from the Ghibli Museum, we stopped at the Cat Cafe Calico in Kichijoji. You may have heard about it before… I think I nearly died of the cute. (This was the place that was so hard to find.) The cafe’s tucked away on the 4th floor of a building near the station, and after scrubbing your hands, you can play with kitties and enjoy a drink or two.
The people there were extremely friendly, and you could tell that they absolutely loved cats. I got to making pretty regular conversation with one of them, who informed me that they had 26 cats and that the one dog belonged to the owner. (I wasn’t sure who the owner was; it might have been the man who had a cat mincing all over his shoulders and back? So cute.) I told her that I really liked “Letoro,” a very regal- and motherly-looking black cat. I said the kittens moved around a little too fast for me and that I liked Letoro because she was quiet and majime (serious). She then showed me a photo album of Letoro when she was a kitten! I couldn’t believe it, and I thought that was really nice of her.
So that was extremely cool, and if we weren’t so short on time I would’ve definitely gone back. Instead, I went to go meet my seastar and her boyfriend at the posh Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, where they were staying for a wedding. At first I had some difficulty finding that, too, and then I realized, “Oh. It’s the huge thing.”
We hung out and went to go eat at Crayon Kitchen, off Omote-sando (delicious, organic eats!), and the next day Ootoya (savory, satisfying eats!). We also noshed on cakes (♥) and did some fabulous rounds of karaoke.
On the morning we left, they treated us to a superb breakfast buffet at the Hotel New Otani. It was the best I could ask for. Thanks, seastar, and happy birthday~ :)
And that about wraps it up. Hope to see this side of the world again soon…
[Part one of two.]
I’m back from Asia; it was really fun, and pretty “whirlwind,” as these things go. Ten days in Taiwan wasn’t enough (try a month next time), and five days in Japan definitely didn’t cut it. It also didn’t help that the G8 summit was happening while we were there, so nobody was allowed to store anything in the coin lockers, which was inconvenient because we were moving around a lot.
Sometimes, I think that I’d like to live in a place like either of these countries. I definitely experienced some reverse culture shock right upon my return—American customs officers are so brusque! I mean, it’s not as if the same officers talk more in Japan (one might call them “prickly“), but service is such a priority there that you would think it’s why prices are so high. That, in addition to the expectations that you will receive something clean and trustworthy.
Taiwan’s a little different, depending on whom you’re talking to, but it’s certainly no America.
More than culture shock, though, talk about sticker shock. Going from a country where the yuan’s purchasing power is absurd to a country where transportation alone will cost you an arm and a leg… there’s nothing quite like it. That’s not to say that everything in Taiwan is cheap, but a great deal of it costs only a pittance.
Some initiatives, like the 25% discount on subway fares for using the smartcard system, make already measly prices even cheaper. The high-speed rail cost 500 NT, or $17 USD, to get us to Taichung (130 km). The distance between Kyoto and Tokyo is much further at 372 km, to be sure, but compare that price to a shinkansen fare of $130.
I wish we’d explored the island better (we nixed plans to go to Lu Dao, Alishan, and Taroko because of lack of time and imminent typhoon), but we did get to experience Taipei with the help of J.’s family. His aunt knows the ye shi (night markets) like the back of her hand, and when a pushy salesperson was heckling me, she didn’t think twice about calling her out on her fake braid. A kicker of asses, in other words.
His cousins are really chill, too, and showed us to some pretty chic eateries around town. You might see from the above picture that they like their hot pot; this particular venue, which I think is called Ding Wang, is apparently booked for the next year. People will take a number, go see a movie, and come back as their number is called. We were pretty lucky to be seated immediately. (Though I have to say, neither the sour broth nor the spicy is exactly to my taste.)
J.’s dad is native Taiwanese, so he showed us areas like Da Dao Cheng, where he grew up—you can still see a lot of architecture from the colonial era, when brick-and-mortar construction was popular. The main street is a huge shopping row for traditional Chinese herbs. To a Westerner, it might seem quaint. The Chinese in me feels a bit ashamed calling it that, so we’ll just stick with “peculiar.”
I can’t dig Chinese medicine completely. Some of these remedies have cured my eczema, dissolved my back pain, and such. In Taiwan, I was eaten alive by mosquitos—including a bite on the eyelid! J.’s aunt gave me this ointment called bai hua you (white flower oil), insisting it would soothe the itching and repel any more bugs. I can’t say for sure whether it worked, but I liked the way it smelled, and there doesn’t seem to have been anything too toxic in there.
We did hit some tourist spots: the top of 101, for example. But we also got to see Jhong Da (National Central University), where J.’s dad teaches. Though unfortunately it was only by night, it was pretty interesting to visit his office and get an inside look at the new mathematics/physics building he’s coordinating. We also took a look around Tai Da (National Taiwan University)—though that was mostly just traipsing around in the Fu Garden. :) We found a cool little physics museum there, to J.’s taste.
On another day, we decided to take a look inside a Taiwanese IKEA, since there was one on our bus route back to Taishan, the suburb of Taipei where we were staying. It was so classically Asian. I could not imagine how most of it would sell in America (it wouldn’t). The showrooms themselves seemed dingy, and the paintings crooked.
Coming up: Ri Yue Tan and Japan! See part two…
Rabbit rabbit! Welcome to June!
So in order to get with the times (i.e. I’m becoming all Web 2.0, harhar), I’ve decided to embrace RSS feeds and Google Reader.
I like that I can keep track of friends on Google Reader and share feed items or random pages with comments very easily. It makes linkblogging/linkrolling much easier and Googlefied, which is good. One thing I don’t like, however, is that you can’t edit these comments, so if you make typos at 3 AM like I do (excuse any in this post), you have to delete and start all over again. Sucks for longer paragraph+ comments.
Anyway, while asides still aren’t ready on my new layout, I can’t provide you with all the nifty content I see while traveling the Web. Unless! Unless you read this blog through a news reader. If that’s the case, you can subscribe to Sirocco[complete], my blog+linkblog collective. If you don’t want those little updates (spam) and just want to see the meat (steak)—which from now on will have to be much meatier, since I can’t make posting links an excuse to blog anymore—you can subscribe to Sirocco’s feed on FeedBurner. RSS isn’t a new feature of Wordpress by any means, but I’m just now embracing FeedBurner and all the ways it powers content.
Call it part of a New Technologies experiment. See? This class is changing my life. And! While you’re with me, I’d really appreciate it if you’d please take my class survey on website participation. (Thanks if you do!)
The future is bright. What we do in life echoes in eternity…
