Sorry. Hos before prose, bros.

Hah! Like the subject header? No, this month-long hiatus from blogging hasn't been because I've met some special woman. I just chose the header because of its whimsically delightful internal rhyme scheme. As for why I haven't posted ... well ... a bit of laziness, a bit of business, and a lot of not much to say. I frequently make psychic posts while waiting for and riding on trains, but I just haven't felt like sitting down at the keyboard and putting together a true post for the ole blog.

Until now.

And don't get your hopes up for unending paragraphs of my pristine writing. It's late, I got little to say, and I think I'll let my camera do most of the talking.

On April 3rd I moseyed over to Himeji, a town about 60 minutes from my home that's reputed to have Japan's best castle. These pictures were taken slightly before the Sakura trees were at their fullest blossoming period. (I know, I know ... "Look, Fellas: The first snapdragon of the season!")



Here's some photos of the garden directly adjacent to Himeji castle, taken on the same day.



A few weeks later, I went to Kyoto, about an hour from my home in the other direction. The first stop was Sanjusangendo Temple, a massive shrine that houses 1001 elaborate and semi-identical Kannon Buddhist statues.

I imagine that one question is likely raging through your mind: Sanjusangendo? A massive shrine thirty-three bays in length? Could this location also be known as Rengeoin, the site of the legendary duel in 1604 between the ronin swordsaint Miyamoto Mushashi and Denshichiro Kempo, head of the legendary Yoshioka Kempo School of Swordsmanship?

The answer is yes, and I'm impressed you knew that. Compare the above photograph with this old black & white photograph taken on the day of the duel:

And, just to elevate the general coolness of this blog (as if that were possible), I include another photograph, this one in rudimentary colors, of Musashi, the coolest fucking bastard ever to wander Feudal Japan, and the eventual outcome of his historic duel with Denshichiro:

In the same day, I also went to Kyoto's fantasmonious Kyomizudera Temple. Here's a picture of the view from there.


A few nights before this, I went out with some coworkers to welcome Jordan, my old colleague and new coworker, to her new job at Kaisei. As a general rule, the more eager Japanese people seem in trying to impress you with their culinary creations, the more nauseating the experience turns out to be. Take a gander at this gourmet dish I was politely assaulted with:


In the west, you're supposed to throw catch like this back. But this is Japan. And yes, I ate them both. Here's a photo of me holding one fish's head (which I was able to decapitate by using only the edge of my chopstick):


And then another photo of me, shortly after popping the fish's head into my mouth.

Two observations on eating fish in the traditional, Japanese style: (1) Skull fragments aren't as delicious as you might think; (2) Most Western cultures disembowel fish before eating them because the bowels are where compacted feces is stored, and unless some disreputable porno producer is paying you in ridiculous amounts of pure cocaine, there's no reason for feces of any sort to ever enter your mouth.

And not much else has been going on. I realize I never talked about the whole Hokie-shoot and the following blame game. Guns? Psychotropic meds? Gun-free campuses? Bullying? Lack of psychiatric oversight? Racist culture? The promise of media limelight? Who/what to blame? Well, I blame Cho. He felt inferior to everyone on the planet because he was inferior to everyone else on the planet. Sayonara, douche.

Along similar lines, I'm coming to a general political conclusion:

Liberals hold individuals responsible for nothing, but everyone collectively responsible for everything.

Thus, Cho is seen as a misunderstood and tragically confused martyr living in an oppressive American society and deserving serious post-humous lefty love. (I am alluding specifically to "Poor Cho" shrines set up on Daily Kos.) That such mourning seems strikingly counterintuitive and nonsensical only verifies the general emotional "truthiness" uber-libs perceive in their hearts. As more me, I prefer my brain to analyze questions of truth.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I sometimes worry I've grown too conservative in this past year. My liberal friends all seem to have given up on me, and when left alone to my own devices, I find myself sliding to an easy, natural predilection of political conservatism.

Oh well! Hope no one minds.

2 pieces of Good News before I sign off:

(1) Errol's coming to visit for the two weeks straddling July and August. His spontaneous silly walks ought to go over quite nicely here, and I'm super-stoked.

(2) I'll be following Errol back to the United States for a five-week vacation. Initial plans are to spend three weeks in Colorado and then two in Florida, where I would visit both Mr & Mrs Ryan B and hopefully Matt, Errol, and anyone else able to come out as well. I'm kicking around the idea of putting Florida first and Colorado second, but I haven't decided yet.

1 final observation/rumination:

Ole Pal Zach Thaxton will soon be facing off against fellow High School Alum Adam Atchison in the rough AM ratings war over Colorado Springs. This is interesting: I love Zach, but Adam's story of ascension is compelling in its own right. Where "Thax" was sincerely (and wisely) voted "most likely to succeed", "Atch" was derisively chosen Homecoming King, a designation widely interpreted as sarcastic, bullying, and cruel by the voting public. There were more than a few losers among the boys in the class below us, and I'm thinking specifically of, not Adam, but rather the muscle-headed fartknockers. From my vantage point, Adam seemed socially awkward, largely friendless, and notable mostly for his striking resemblance to Mr. Bean. High School can be rough, especially Heritage, and it's good to see a target like Adam taste professional success.

That said, if the ratings war must turn violent, I wouldn't be disappointed to hear that Zach brutally eliminated the competition with a trident.

OK! Now I lay me down to sleep. I'll try to post again. Sooner rather than later, this time.