Hallelujah! Praise Be To Beans!

This stuff is just too funny to pass up.





Enjoy them. They may not be on YouTube for long.

Ellensburg

I have a lot of good memories of this town. Finding this video brought a lot of them back.

Strange to think that it was 11 1/2 years ago that I started school there.

You never know where you're going to end up. Maybe I can get back there again next time around the dial.

This really is a damn good video.

Ere...Umm, I Mean, Election Season

For those of you out there who have had the good fortune to be in Japan when an election is going on, you already know what I'm about to delve into...

But for those who have yet to be so lucky, here we go...

Election season in Japan equals campaign cars.

Kinda like the ones in Back To The Future Part 1 ("Vote for Goldie Wilson!"), except on horse steroids.

The really bad kind.

The worst part is when they drive right by your house at 8:30 on a Saturday morning when you're trying to enjoy a rare opportunity to sleep in.

Let me see if text can convey it...

Me: (snore)

Campaign Car: (off in the distance) vote for me...thank you, thank you...vote for me...

Me: (muttering) mrfffrmmff ffmrff?

CC: (getting closer now) vote for me...thank you, thank you...vote for me...

Me: (a few grunts, roll over, put the pillow over my head)

CC: (still a few blocks away, but already causing dogs to bark and the Baby Jesus to cry) Vote for me...Thank you, thank you...Vote for me...

Me: (starting to curse this cruel world that we live in, yet still attempting to sleep) razzin' frazzin' mrrffrmffrff

CC: (just up the street, now shaking the foundation of my apartment and opening up holes in the space-time continuum) Vote For Me...Thank You, Thank You...Vote For Me...

Me: (reaching for my shotgun, realizing I don't have one in Japan, and going to the fridge for some rotten eggs I've saved for just THIS occasion) I hate election season...I hate election season...I hate election season...

CC: (stopping directly in front of my apartment, as if to punish me for a deed I committed in a previous life, and calling up the Lord Cthulhu from his primordial prison to come into our dimension and eat the world) VOTE FOR ME!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! VOTE FOR ME!!!

Me: (stepping out on to my doorstep clad in Rambo: First Blood Part II gear and preparing to start World War III all by myself) YOU STUPID IGNORANT FOOLS!!!! I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE HERE!!!!!!!

CC: (speeds off in fear at the sight of crazed white man in Japan)

Me: HULK SMASH PUNY CAMPAIGN VAN!!!

(as I proceed to destroy 20 city blocks in my rage)

Life As Of Late

Mark Twain said it best...

"The rumors of my demise, and of my blog's demise, have been greatly exaggerated."

Well, maybe not the blog part...

So it's April, and as every person in Japan will tell you, it's sakura season.

Aah yes, sakura. The cherry blossom which represents the fleetful nature of life.

The ultimate goal of the samurai...to die young much in the same way a cherry blossom falls.

The ultimate goal of the kamikaze pilot...to be recognized on the breeze as the wind blew the blossoms off the trees at Yasukuni Shrine. (Now THERE'S a touchy subject, and I'm throwing in a wheelbarrowload of editorial license here, too.)

The thing is...while they ARE beautiful, they're a tad overdone.

The sakura madness over here will wear you out.

My folks have cherry blossoms at home, and THOSE bear fruit.

The main function sakura serve is to stand around and look beautiful, and not much else. They aren't all that useful.

Much like many young ladies featured in the news lately. And even then the "beauty" is debatable.

Ah well, enough ranting about cherry blossoms. I won't even get to see them up here for another month.

So, why no updates?

I've been busy working on another project that's moving along rather slowly (my fault). I need to concentrate my efforts on that, but I will update when possible.

Another reason? I can't upload photos from my office computer, because it's a piece of crap and doesn't have the programs necessary to effectively access Blogger.

I hate that computer.

This one that I have at home is good, but I need to get a new one with a bit more leeway in the memory department. I love this computer, but it can be slow.

Also, the madre and padre are here, and have been since March 23rd. There's been a lot of preparation for that, and we've been gallivanting around the countryside since they came, so...

Yeah.

Anyway, the blog is still going, and I'm still going. Plan on both of us being around for a while yet.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Check in when you can!