hello! yoshi

So between feeling uber yucky (no, not the flu or anything like that - just plain aches and pains) and the issues with moving this from one server to another, I’ve not had a chance or inclination to really post anything of substance.

I’m just checking in so that no one in the blogosphere that I might know will not think that I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. I’m still here, I’m just pulling hairs and taking vicodin.

On your way now. Move along.

I’m kind of changing servers around, and this site is one that will look a little funky here and there as it gets set up.

Please excuse the mess. It’ll be a bit funky going on around here today.

[updated] Things should be back to normal. But if you experience any funkiness let me know!

One of the things I really miss about living in Japan are the festivals. Of all the festivals, I think one of my favourites is the Cherry Blossom Festival. In Iwakuni, the festival took place around Kintai-kyo. Kintai-kyo (or Kintai Bridge, as we all called it) is a bridge that was built in 1673 by a japanese warlord. What’s the real big deal? It was originally made without nails! Around this bridge, people would set up “camp” and get ready to party. You’d also find tons of stands with food, candy, toys, you name it.

Those were some great days, and let me tell you, the food was the greatest. I remember buying grilled corn on the cob, flavoured with good ol’ soy sauce, that’s pretty much it. takoyaki, another one of my favourites during a lot of festivals, always makes an appearance. I just love festival food.

Just walking around, the people were so friendly, and would often call you to their area to have some fun, a few drinks, and laughs. I remember a few guys dressed up in kimonos and make up, acting like Geisha. That was particularly a lot of fun I remember, because a few of my friends were really reluctant to go say hello to them.

If you ever get a chance to go to Japan, I’d really recommend not going during the festival times, because of the business of travel and such. At the same time though, you almost can’t miss a festival in Japan.

[tags]Memory Monday, Iwakuni, Kintai-kyo, Takoyaki[/tags]

Because I’m a photographer of clouds, what else would I put up as “soft”? :)

You may notice that we’re having some issues right now. No fear, we’re working on it.

I’m not sure what the cause is just yet, but you might see me up and you might see me down.

Talk about headaches.

[updated] In the unlikely event that you were curious and wondering why we were down, there was apparently a DDOS attack on the server. Go figure.

This last weekend was a pretty long weekend. Although I did a little bit of work on Monday.

I totally forgot about PhotoHunt Saturday, although I’ll admit that I didn’t have a photo for the theme.

We went looking at Mini-coopers this weekend. Meesh test drove one, just to make sure she really liked it I suppose, but I knew she would love it. Talking to the salesman, we found out that the original colour she wanted, Purple Haze is no longer available. What the hell? So I wasn’t on drugs when I made a Mini-cooper with that colour on their website. Her second choice, Mellow Yellow, we found out, is going to be discontinued as well. So I think she’ll definitely be getting that one.

We also went to Hooters for our friends birthday party. I’ve never been to Hooters myself, but I did notice that everyone goes there for birthdays. I’m pretty sure the bulk of customers are there for the birthday thing, because they do some crazy stuff to you. I will admit they do have good food. I had the philly cheese steak. Not bad at all! All I know is one thing: I don’t want my birthday there. I want my birthday, (like a lot of my past birthdays) to just go by without incident.

Monday, we went to go see Ghost Rider. Great movie. There was a lot of cheese factor, but when Nicholas Cage turned into a flaming skeleton, it was pretty damn cool. I really hope it does well in the Box Office. Again, I don’t spoil movies, so I won’t talk about it here. But if you like Marvel movies, then you’ll probably want to go see this one. Plus, it’s nice to see Sam Elliot in a movie again.

First of all, send Suki some love, her grandfather is in the ICU in critical condition after an accident.

So this week, we went to go see Smokin’ Aces. We wanted to go see a movie, but wasn’t sure which one, so we saw the trailer, and remembered, “oh that had a lot of stars in it and looked good” so we went to see that. It was pretty damn good. The ending wasn’t too surprising, but it was still a good movie. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so that’ll be all about the movie itself. If you like action films, this is a movie to watch.

Now, before the movie started, let’s talk about the people in the theatre. Normally, when we go to see a movie, depending on what type of movie it is, there’s always one person (or group) that is annoying. This time? Not really. I was kind of amazed. There was the guy behind that made a remark before the movie started “So what’s up with this movie, Smokin’ Asses?” that warranted a couple snickers. But that’s about it.

But that’s the problem with leaving your home, you lose control of your environment. Which is not an entirely bad thing, I suppose. But still, I’m just saying.

[tags]random, Smokin’ Aces, movies[/tags]

Normally I don’t really care about this holiday except concerning the wife (because I like love her or something), but today, I thought I’d at least acknowledge that this day does exist.

So for those of you celebrating Valentine’s with your beloveds, happy valentine’s!

And for those of you who are not celebrating Valentine’s day, because it is an evil evil holiday, happy un-valentine’s day.

You may all now carry on with your normal days activities.

[tags]valentines, un-valentines[/tags]

You know you’re hungry when celery tastes really good.

So, feeling nostalgic about living in Iwakuni, I decided to take out my super old Geocities website that I had, that got some pretty decent hits in the old hey day. It even got reviewed and received 3/5 stars (read: crappy) in some Internet magazine. (Jeff remembers that one I’m sure.) Anyways, this portion is what I wrote about Hiroshima so long ago (1997 or so - that’s the geocities days right? And sorry the image is so small! Even the clicked on image is a bit small.):

If you were to go north of Miyajima, taking the JR for about 6 or 7 more stops (don’t quote me on that one), then you would arrive at Hiroshima. Hiroshima is historical worldwide not for it’s commerce, or industrial power, but because it was the first city to have a nuclear device used upon. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” upon the city of Hiroshima, and an estimated 200,000 people were killed that day. It is truly sad to know while we would walk through Peace Park that not so long ago, people were fighting to survive this catastrophe. Surely, as my friends and I, as part of the United States Navy, were very guilty to be walking through the park, feeling rather remorseful. However, we know that we did not do it, and that made it feel a bit better. But walking through the hallways of the Peace Park Museum, it was very hard to not feel somber. The displays had remnants of clothes, watches, uniforms, and other structures showing the effects of the A-Bomb. I would have to say that all in all, Peace Park and the Museum was a very sobering experience. There were people from all over the world, and in this one place, we could see what devastation such devices wrought. In some areas of the newly designed Museum, you can see the current growth of nuclear arms in the world, and it is by far rather sad. Though I have not been there in a long while, I’m sure it hasn’t changed. War is not a good thing.

You can see me in the above picture standing in front of what is now called the “A-Bomb Dome”. This is all that is truly left of 1945 Hiroshima, a reminder of those times of war. It is truly a breathtaking site, in the middle of this industrial city lies a now dead building, shown as a shrine would be.

[tags]Hiroshima, Japan, A-bomb Dome, nuclear arms, Peace Park[/tags]