Electric Ladyland

Close to home for the New Year

Happy New Year!  Here's to a 2008 filled with joy, discoveries, and sweetness all around.

Recovering from the bug I came down with in Massachusetts, I spent the New Year at home.  I've been resting up in bed for the past several days.  Stayed up until midnight last night but then passed out promptly afterward and slept for twelve straight hours.  I'm inclined to listen to my body's needs right now given all it's been put through lately.  Rest is priority one because tomorrow I jump headlong into work with a database cutover and I want to be on my A game.

For today, however, I'm relaxing and reflecting while celebrating by cooking up a storm and singing along to some good music.  Lately I've been thinking about how much joy I feel when singing and how elemental a part of me music is even though I don't perform anymore.  There's something spiritually healing about making music and I want to incorporate it into my life more this coming year in modest measures.  Think it'll do me good.  Even now I can feel it working its good magic.  I can feel the vibrations in my chest following along with the harmonies emanating from the living room.

Cooking also soothes my soul and cooking the food I grew up with is even more soothing still, so of course I made a batch of hoppin' john for New Year's.  I must be one of the few Massachusetts natives who views this as a requirement on this day.  Got it from my Texan mom, who got it from her mom and so on and so forth.  My Southern roommate does hers a little differently from the way I was taught -- she stirs hers up with bacon and then throws rice in, which Wikipedia seems to say is more the usual way -- but Mom always sautéed the garlic and onion with chunks of pork (that is, until she converted to Judaism anyway!).  We don't include rice and although you're supposed to have collard greens as well we rarely do.  We just salt and pepper to taste and then serve it with a dollop of sour cream. 

Soooo not kosher but so delicious.   Needless to say, I prepared it Gentile style today.   Mom forgot until I mentioned it to her so I think she made a quickie black eyed peas run and whipped up a kosher batch to share with her husband.  Anyway, I've tweaked Mom's basic recipe over the years and have started adding a splash of bourbon to round out the flavor.  I think last year was the first time I poured in a little bit of maple syrup, a nod to my New England roots.  It brings out the sweetness of the bourbon rather nicely.

Now I've got a pot of Japanese ozouni simmering in the kitchen.  I rarely do any Japanese cooking at home but I've been wanting to try this for a long time since it's such a perfect warm-the-heart soup for the cold winter months.  I started with a basic recipe involving just dashi, miso, soy sauce, chicken, mochi and scallions.  If this goes well I'll try something a little more complicated next year.  The New Year is Japan's biggest holiday and they're all eating the full course of osechi ryouri right now, but I'll stick to something simple as an acknowledgment of the time I spent there and the positive influence it's had on my life.

Other than that, nothing going on and that's how I'm going to keep it for the rest of the day.  I'm enjoying the rare silence and tranquility as long as I can before heading back to work tomorrow.  I hope everyone else is having a lovely start to 2008 as well!

Party like a rock star

There's been a bit of radio silence lately because (A) until just recently I was still out in Japan having far more fun than I could have wished for (more on that later - it was an AMAZING trip) and then (B) when I got home, my body clock became all jacked.  Here I am grudgingly welcoming the sun into my room after another all-nighter.  Yesterday I tried to ride it out by wandering around New York like a zombie, going to an early showing of Bladerunner:  The Final Cut, picking up fried dumplings at the legendary (and not so interestingly named) Fried Dumpling, and then ambling over to the Magnolia Bakery (of Lazy Sunday fame) and, well, indulging in a snack attack for some of their cupcakes.  I'd never tried them before.  Damn, they're good.

But I digress.  I don't have the energy to write the "this is what my time in Japan was like" post right now.  I'm more in ADD/all-nighter mode where a cup of coffee might help but I'd still feel hosed.  So I'm just watching movies and nostalgia-surfing YouTube.  Found clips of my old beach in Hamaoka, also the cute chime sound the Tokaido Shinkansen (aka bullet train) used to make when it made a stop.  Then I got curious as to whether or not today's crop of JETs has gotten industrious enough to vlog their experiences.  Most of what's out there wouldn't be interesting to anyone who hasn't lived in Japan or taught on the JET Programme.  But this one below I like even if it recycles some footage a bit too much to fit the length of the Quiet Riot song.  I never knew my life as an ALT was so metal.  Love the shout-outs to janken and New Year's mochi-pounding.  Oh the fun my friends in Shizuoka and I could have had with YouTube had it been around but we were stuck with 56k dialup...
 

Now and always Nihon

I'm having a meta-Japan moment here.  While eating maguro sushi I've turned on the TV in my hotel room only to find a special on Japanese fishermen hunting for ... maguro.  Funny.

This is Day 3 of my vacation in Tokyo and the verdict is in:  I still love Japan.  Actually, the verdict came in while I was riding the Narita Express from Narita Airport to Ikebukuro.  I knew right away I was happy to be home.  Japan is very plug and play for me.  This is not exactly like a vacation although it does feature some vacationlike characteristics (roaming aimlessly in the city, waking up late and setting my own schedule, shopping, eating copious amounts of my favorite foods, checking out artistic events and such).  Yes, Tokyo looks like Bladerunner at night but it still feels entirely natural.  How can I feel at home in a megalopolis such as this?  I can thank New York for some but not all of the familiarity I'm feeling.  While I'm quite comfortable being in a large city thanks to my six years residing in the Big Apple, the other reason is that Japan just makes sense because I used to live here too.  I know where everything is for the most part, and I can read Japanese so if I don't know something I can figure out what it is in pretty short order.  Tokyo, like New York, is pretty much a playground for anyone with a curious heart -- and that would be me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to watch this Tommy Lee Jones commercial and put my Blendy coffee in the fridge for tomorrow morning.

Tokyo bound

Well, this is it!  Time to say ittekimasu.

After a decidedly bad week I can think of nothing better than to get the heck out of Dodge and go to, oh, I don't know, Japan!  I am so ready. 

Hadn't really been thinking much about what I'd do when I got there, to be honest.  But now that I've had a quiet day all to myself to make this mental gear shift and contemplate how much fun I'm about to have, I've got a clearer picture.  Basically, nothing's set in stone.  I'm choosing from an à la carte menu.  Here are some of the selections:

• Tsukiji Fish Market.  I did the whole get up at the crack of dawn and rush down there to eat the freshest sushi on God's green earth thing with Jo two years ago, now I'm up for a reprise of that fantastic game plan with Lisa
• Dropping mad money at Kyukyodo, a calligraphy and stationery store in Ginza.  I missed going there last time - this is a definite stop on my 2007 itinerary.  I'm going to buy some of the four treasures there.  Their web site mentions something about a Zen calligraphy exhibition being on while I'm in Tokyo.  Looks like my timing is good!
• Akihabara, spiritual center of the geek planet and scene of the Densha Otoko love story.  Last time I went with a fellow otaku and we hit up all the electronics stores and video game arcades we could shake a stick at, also stumbled upon a real tiny hole-in-the-wall old-school sushi place where we had a delicious lunch.  I'm back for more of the same
• Jimbocho, a Tokyo district full of bookstores.  Never been there, curious about checking it out.  I'm kind of wondering if I might not find some good calligraphy supply shops here too
• Hot springs (aka onsen), baby!  I'm going to make a return visit to Ooedo Onsen Monogatari, this time with Lisa.  Keiko and I have plans to stay the night at a fancy Japanese ryokan in Hakone next weekend.  The mission is to soak in hot springs, break for dinner, and soak in hot springs again.  This works for me.  Despite having lived in Japan for 3 years I never made it to Hakone.  That mistake will be corrected on this visit
• Perhaps a show at the Kabuki-za!  I loved the Heisei Nakamura-za production of Heianbo I saw at Lincoln Center this summer.  It knocked my socks off
• A day trip to Mashiko, a pottery village in Tochigi Prefecture
• A day trip to Kamakura, where the first Japanese shogunate was founded in the 12th century

Lisa and I are also talking about clubbing in Roppongi and visiting some gardens we've never seen before.  And of course there will be food, lots of yummy yummy Japanese food. 

I plan on doing something very gluttonous I did a couple of times during my last visit on one of the nights I have no adult supervision -- hitting up one of the gourmet food markets in the basement of a department store in Shinjuku, buying embarrassing quantities of top-shelf sushi and sashimi, and dragging them back to my hotel room for a private interlude.  What happens in Tokyo stays in Tokyo (unless you blog about it).  I may have food porn to share.  In fact, I probably will.

And that's it!  More from the (other) metropolis when I get there, assuming I set aside some time to blog.  If not, I'll post updates when I get back.

Full stop

This week is going to be slightly bizarro.  It's always this way the week before I leave for an overseas trip.  Enjoying the usual routine, encountering that odd feeling of "I don't want to go" even though I so want to go... and of course trying to stay on top of those last minute errands.  The ryokan is booked and I've got a sexy cell phone reserved as well.  Let's see if I don't steal it -- so tempting, those Japanese cell phones that are way cooler than ours except maybe my iPhone.  Now the question is:  book those three unplanned nights in Tokyo or at a hot springs resort?  Life's rough.

Yep, this time a week from now I will most decidedly be out of town.  Town, city, country, continent, hemisphere.  But back home in a sense.  I think of Japan as home too and I can't wait to go home.  Friends are waiting there and it's a different atmosphere altogether.  It's the place where a piece of me that's been put on a shelf gets taken back out, then comes alive.

So you could say I'm excited about going.  But I'm still feeling a little off balance after what happened this weekend.  I was working late on Friday, feeling good after having had a great, productive call with someone, when Mom called a short while later.  I heard the old-school ring on my iPhone but didn't reach it in time.  Called her right back.  "Boy am I glad to hear your voice" she said in that something's wrong voice. 

Mom was having a health emergency at that moment and, her husband being out of town, she didn't want to be alone.  Her awesome doctor said that although things seemed all right, she'd have to go to the emergency room if it got any worse.  She wanted to know if she could stay with me.  "Absolutely.  That's not even a question, Mom.  I'm not going to let anything happen to you."  "Really?" she asked.  "Yup.  Come on over."

So Mom hopped on the train and made her way to Astoria from the Bronx.  Meanwhile, I made my way home from work in the rain and then got the apartment in good shape in advance of her arrival.  Lit some candles, tidied up and then put on the soundtrack to Black and Blue, which Mom and I had seen on Broadway when I was in high school.  (I'll never forget how amazing the late great Ruth Brown was and how shocked I was when my goody-two-shoes Mom told me to listen to the double-meaning lyrics of "If I Can't Sell It, I'm Gonna Sit Down on It" because they were funny.  Mom!)  I knew the music would bring up happy mother-daughter memories for Mom too and so that was the clear choice.   When she showed up she noticed it right away and said it cheered her up.

I asked what Mom wanted for dinner and she said "something light," so I thought Il Bambino might be a good call.  They have killer paninis (whereas I used to think they were boring... these things are spectacular), among other tasty Italian treats.  So we loaded up on a pick-up order and I went out to get it.  Brought it back and as I opened the door, there she was smack in front of the door.  "I was right," she said, "I can't be alone tonight.  Even that half hour while you were gone I was freaking out."  "Well," I said, "I'm home now and I'm here for the long haul so we're in good shape.  I'm not going anywhere."

Mom and I had dinner and then chit-chatted until it was time to call it a night.  The next morning we had coffee at home followed by lunch at Panera and an outing to see American Gangster (good movie!).  All through that day she said she was feeling both physically and emotionally better.  She was glad to have the support and to know that I was there for her.  Like I said, not a question.  It was almost like an excuse just to hang out with my mom for the weekend!  Even so, I know how scary it can be to be seriously ill and all alone (pneumonia this past year for starters... not breathing is not okay as it turns out) so I wanted to be there for her.  But yeesh, nothing shakes you up like news that someone you're really close to is in danger.  Think it's going to take a while before I stand down from my general alert.  And you can bet I'll be emailing her often from that little cell phone in Japan, checking up on the Mama.

Boston bats come alive

So much for the vaunted hot streak:  the Sox owned the Rockies 13-1 tonight.  Beckett started by striking out the side and as he did, I began to think "Hm, that right there is an attractive man!" for some reason.  Was it the giant ass-whomping he was unleashing on our World Series rivals?  Yeah, that was pretty much it.  Anyway, after Commander Kick Ass signaled his continued dominant playoff presence we went into the bottom of the 1st and Dustin Pedroia smashed a homer right off the Green Monster.  That kicked off a flurry of Red Sox offense that basically didn't stop until it was far too late.  The Rockies came unglued.  They walked 3 runs in!  According to a fan Twittering live from Fenway Park, it got so bad that even the Fenway fans booed the runs being walked in.  Where does that happen?  We truly entered bizarro land.  Well, if Giuliani can be a Red Sox fan I guess the Red Sox fans can support their competition.  Go figure.

This is some way to kick off the World Series.  I will not complain one bit.  But Game 1 was Game 1 and we hit the reset button for Game 2.  It could be a totally different scene the next time those teams meet up.  I will probably be watching from the bar with my crazy calligraphy friends like last week.  There will be beer, friends and baseball (and fish and chips!  and wings!).  Should be fun.

Now I will leave you with something else bizarre to cap off this strange day.  My friend's hosting a big sushi party at her house next month and she's going all out with the event planning, queuing up YouTube videos to show on the wall as we scarf down the tasty treats.  She sent me this tonight, saying quite simply that it was "f***ed up."  I lived in Japan so you'd think I'd have some sort of explanation for this.  And I love sushi to boot.  But no, this is just f***ed up.  Enjoy it for all its bizarreness:  NHK's Sushi Picnic.

Downtown still sends me up in the sky

This takes me back.  I'm not a gamer and it's more of a self-defense thing than anything else:  if I had a Wii in my house I would probably never leave the house.  But back in my adolescent years I sunk a lot of time into mastering Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda on my Nintendo.  It's a wonder Mom didn't throw the damn thing out the window because she got really sick of hearing the music over and over again.

This is the music video for Cibo Matto's "Sci Fi Wasabi" off their 1999 Stereo Type A album, which a fellow JET introduced me to while we were both living in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture.  I used to stroll the streets of Shizuoka City and Hamamatsu listening to this album.  It was so atmospheric, left-field and original with sweet tones of samba that it really stuck with me.  Just like Björk and Beck, I think Cibo Matto kind of need their own genre with their name on it. 

I was thinking about their music earlier tonight because I just downloaded Miho Hatori's Ecydisis album from iTunes and have been really enjoying it since then.  It provided me with a few transcendent city-walking moments today that were reminiscent of the pleasant strolls in Japan listening to Stereo Type A (on a MiniDisc player at the time - this was before the iPod).  This morning the trains were all screwed up so I ended up walking over to the elevated train and putting this album on.  I watched our train snake and wind through Western Queens on its way towards Manhattan while listening to "Barracuda" and it was pretty cool.  Tonight I accidentally took the wrong train back again and ended up on that elevated line listening to some more Hatori tracks.  I really got into "Sweet Samsara Pt I" and "Sweet Samsara Pt II" as I ambled home slowly and aimlessly from the grocery store.  Time seemed to slow down and I could really sense the autumn climate around me.  Usually I just truck it when I'm running errands after work but not tonight... I took it easy. 

I actually met Miho Hatori a couple of years ago at Japan Society.  I was volunteering at the ticket desk the night of a lecture associated with their exhibition on Superflat.  A nice young Japanese woman came up to me and quietly said she had reserved a ticket, then gave the name Miho Hatori.  I didn't make the association right away but when I did, I smiled back at her and said "I love your music!"  She smiled somewhat tentatively, perhaps concerned that I would alert everyone else that she was there.  Of course I didn't -- I just wanted to let her know I appreciated her contribution to music.  She waved and smiled again on the way out after the lecture that night.  I thought to myself that it figured she'd be interested in superflat.  Her music is replete with that sensibility.  And it extends to her videos too:  there are elements of superflat in her "Barracuda" video.

And yes I'm aware that this is very trippy.  Mushrooms anyone?

Hiro is my hero

Today I got back on the crazy train.  A day full of meetings, meetings, meetings.  I'm kinda over meetings.  Think I could've done without quite so many.

Yeah, it was a blur.  I only got to start doing work-work at 4 o'clock.  And there was a very odd episode involving an Office Space premonition I had that bounced really funny.  I left the office shaking my head.

Came home and it was time for chores.  On the way to do my laundry I noticed leaves strewn on the ground for the first time this year.  Here it comes, fall.   Time for pumpkins, maple sugar candy, a trip home to Massachusetts and lots of fretting over the Red Sox.  I'm in.

Watched the season premiere of Heroes tonight.  You can tell Twitter is populated with my people because we were all twittering about it.  You can say what you want about social networking (and I have myself) but it's kinda cool to be linked up with fellow geeks and Sox fans in real time.  I've actually gotten some interesting tech resource references from people on there, stuff that's useful to know in my line of work.

Oh, back to Heroes:  so of course I couldn't bring that show up without mentioning Takezo Kensei, who is obviously a takeoff on legendary swordsman Musashi.  For starters, Musashi was also named Takezo when he was young.  I know this because I watch far too many Japanese historical dramas.  I was pretty tickled when Takezo Kensei was revealed to be an Englishman, someone of the Caucasian persuasion.  He's out there representing for all of us non-Japanese who've ever wanted to wield a katana (I actually got to do so once - it was pretty badass).   Still though, I have to say I have trouble following the Japanese dialogue spoken by the non-Japanese actors on Heroes.  The guy who plays Andoh is pretty good and George Takei's good too but our Takezo had some pretty noticeable glitches.  And the geeky side of me was hoping the 16th century Japanese people I saw would use the same old language they use on the dramas I watch.  Nope, mostly current.  But one can hope.

Also on the subject of TV, I have a confession to make:  I am getting addicted to Rock of Love.  I'm not big on TV in general and reality TV even less so but good god it's such a train wreck and there's metal and bad hair involved... I can't help myself.  15 very dodgy women vying for the affections of a man who wears eyeliner and boxy moo-cow coats.  Sure, I'll watch that!  I think it actually was good for resetting my brain after the weird day at work.

Now off to dreamland.  It's just the right temperature outside so we've got the windows open and wonderful breezes blowing through the apartment.  Think I'm gonna sleep well tonight.

Meditation in the waking state

It's Friday and I'm off work.  Can I get a hell yeah? 

Let me start by listing the good things.  (a) I'm not working and that's awesome, (b) I've got my plane ticket to Japan in my hands and that's very awesome, (c) My "There's No Place Like 127.0.0.1" babydoll t-shirt from ThinkGeek arrived today (no I will not be buying the HTTPanties),  and (d) I had a really good calligraphy session last night - the kind I haven't had in a long time.  I was so absorbed in each stroke and each movement that it was like deep meditation.  Good for my bruised spirit.

Had a very good moment this week when someone was able to get me to slow down and just notice the world around me for a very tranquil 20 minutes or so.  My whole body relaxed from the inside out over time and I felt better in body and spirit.  The same calm, warm feeling washed over me last night as I was practicing calligraphy.  I felt pleasure in applying light pressure to the brush to bring out some nuances and curves in a stroke, joy in assembling a compact and well-formed character as well.  Now I'm about to take my journal to the local coffee shop and just write about whatever.  I know the same feeling will arise again.  Like I said the other day, as I write I remember and take stock of the big picture.  Then I realize that things are in fact not so bad and the sky is not falling.  What needs to be worked on (job, cough cough) becomes clearer and easier to solve, less fraught with emotion. 

Of course feelings of panic and desperation are likely to come back at oh, about 7:10.  Yes, that would be right on schedule.  That's when the Red Sox play again.  I hope they're not on what Dad heard called their "annual late-season march to nowhere."   

A little work and a little play

Well, I got my answer.  Even He-Man is vulnerable to the advent of fall.  I didn't know it was possible but I guess, just like the warm rays of summer, we'll have to survive without views of his well toned pecs until next year's spring thaw.  I guess he's a seasonal pastime.  Well He-Man, we hardly knew ya before your conspicuous and scantily clad he-body went into he-hiding.

Spent some time doing GRE homework tonight.  Not feeling so great physically.  I've got some sinus pressure that's giving me a slight headache or even just light pain in my head somewhere unspecific.  Feels uncomfortable.  Tonight I'm going to take it easy and hopefully the Red Sox will win.

I've decided to spend a couple of hours doing something productive as soon as I get home each night, then give myself a free pass to go and have some fun or just loll about.  Little bits of measured progress.  That way what I'm working on doesn't seem so daunting and monolithic. 

Last night I spent a good solid hour at the neighborhood coffee shop emailing professors and other good people to contact about my grad school application and trip to Japan.  Knocked out four of those messages.   One was to a Zen art dealer, the other to a fellow JET alum who was until recently a professor of Japanese Studies at Yale, the third to someone affiliated with the Japan Foundation and the fourth a scholar on the Obaku Zen sect.  All four people will have different and quite useful perspectives on what I'm proposing to undertake.  Oh, and I also got a call from someone who's agreed to help me rework my resume with a grad school focus.  She gave me a writing exercise to do in advance of our meeting next week.  Separately, a current PhD student and fellow JET alum who's in a program I'm applying to happened to contact me yesterday about that and a JET alumni matter so it'll be a good occasion to check back with him about how I'm shaping up for applying to his program. 

So yeah, I guess you could say yesterday was productive.  So funny.  I forget the things I've done almost as soon as I've done them.  They run out of my mind like water downstream traveling at a rapid rate.  But when I write I remember.

Tonight's agenda of productivity involved GRE homework.  Analogies and Antonyms.  Most were easy but the advanced analogies got tricky.  I took note of the problems that flummoxed me and am going to run them by my teacher when I see her next week.  The fun activity to reward me for my diligence and faithfulness to my mission?  Well, last night it was supposed to be the Red Sox game.  Fat lot of fun that was.  If they show signs of rolling over and playing dead tonight I think I'll go watch a movie instead.  Feh.

Oh yeah.  Just about to buy my plane tickets for Japan with my friend Lisa.  Hooray!  To think I'll be back there in just a few weeks.  I'll be strolling the streets of Tokyo and Kyoto faster than you can say ittekimasu.  And I will really, actually be back at the Obaku temple where all of this originated engaging in zazen and shakyou.  Never would have thought I'd be doing this back when I saw that one piece of calligraphy by Mokuan Shoto in 2001 that brought everything into such clear focus.  But here I go.