here're some more pictures, this time of Ueno. I think I missed the good photos on this walk. When I passed through Yushima shrine, there was a lady with a monkey making surrounded by a thick semi-circle of old folks and housewives. There were more sakura popping there too.

the further case against dogs.

Dogs can't make a sound that is pleasing. They can't even make a sound that isn't annoying or frightening.

5 recent keitai photos

ai kyan kukku.

After a buttery, buttery weekend, I put my game face back on and returned to the 3 sq. ft, I call my kitchen. And what did I produce but a reasonably edible "gratin"! (I'm used to calling it a "casserole".)


Bechamel sauce + macaroni + cheese + panko + 200 degrees and some time = gratin!

I'd give you a more detailed recipe, but it was all by ear, and honestly, hard to mess up. Would taste better with something more thrown in the mix.

(a loaf of bread, a container of milk and) ONE POUND OF BUTTER

For the last hour or so, my stomach has had a lump of lead the size of a tennis ball in it. The same thing happened last night, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. Rather, I'd say is completely natural.
You see, I've eaten nearly a pound of butter in the last 4 days.

shortbread recipe (not especially tasty) = 280g
kitchiri = 1/4 cup (i didnt measure)
gorgonzola spaghetti (also not so good) = 20g (plus, 120g of cheese and some cream)
sauteed satsuma-imo = more butter.

Whatever the math, 400g of butter have disappeared since Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, my guts aren't the only ailment. My skin is a little shitty, and my heart stopped back when I was cooking.

end: money discussion

In just a couple days, money won't be such a problem anymore. I intend to shut up about it then, and get on with my life. However, before I grow up about this, I think I'm entitled to one last moan. (moan presented in pink italics)





With my first three paychecks, I have repaid 430,000 in loans. In addition, I've bought a microwave, a rice cooker, curtains, and smaller furnishings for the apartment, and paid 3 months of rent. To accomplish that, I've skipped meals, lost weight, snubbed friends, and performed the same damned calculations in my head a million and five times.

It's been a kind of shitty winter.

Spring is right around the corner.

in defense of librarians

from comedyguy21, in response to the video "librarians are ugly":

"librarians are hot as hell great looking bodys sizes 2 though 8 and just because they are not big in the chest part of themselfs does not mean jack shit shut up you dumb girls who are putting down the library look and open your minds more!! glasses rule on females!"

the blaise pascal says, μ

The internet doesn't agree on this matter, and I can't get a concrete source, but Pascal is said to have quipped:

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone."

the breakup song

I assign you an eternal fate. I curse you with the ultimate curse. May it seize you instantly as it leaves my mouth.

Never may you have a home and family, never caress a child of your own. May your man prefer younger prettier girls; may he beat you as a housewife beats a rug. May you never acquire bright alabaster or shining silver the dellight of men. May your roof keep leaking and no carpenter fix it. May wild dogs camp in your bedroom; may owls nest in your attic; may drunkards vomit all over you. May a tavern wall be your place of business. May you be dressed in torn robes and filthy underwear. May angry wives sue you. May thorns and briars make your feet bloody. May young men jeer and the rabble mock you as you walk the streets.

May all this be your reward for seducing me in the wilderness when I was strong and innocent and free.


--enkidu, book 7 of gilgamesh.

huh?

The Number 23 looks like a bad enough movie, but if you can be bothered to watch the trailer to the end, you'll be treated to the little known fact that the hiroshima bomb was dropped on august 15th.
How the hell does that make it through?

(this, by the way is a pretty good trailer)

EDITTO 2/21:
A certain friend of mine makes a good point. I am wrong. "8:15" was the intended "eight fifteen", and is considerably more correct. My apologies.

useful contributor

almost every blog writer has a few moments when they think "why am I writing this blog?"

While I've had a few such moments along the road, I really don't sweat it. I write because I like writing, and because I need the practice. If someone reads and enjoys it, all the better.

all the better... so I'm thinking now, wouldn't it be nice if my blog were actually a little useful to those that stumble onto it? With that in mind, I'm going to try to document some of the recipes I make and the restaurants I go to.


Not much to report today though. I made that same hokkaido-style nabe again, and it was, just like last time really good.

how it feels

This is how it feels to work where I do:

greedy bitches

What I'm about to write, I normally think of as misogynistic, and kind of stupid. So, uh, apologies ahead of time.

They say you can't con an honest man. While I don't really keen to that, the phrase did occur to me as I was watching "damens walker", my first japanese drama in ages. I've only watched the first episode, but that same theme everpresent in japanese media for women recurs. The woman, always searching for "the big one", gets played.
Before I go further, let me make clear what "the big one" means. It is, of course, "the love of one's life", but these men being targeted have one big thing in common. They're freaking ideal. They're young, rich, successful and attractive. There are no social restrictions on that matter in Japan. Women on TV want rich dudes, and rich dudes only; stable, healthy, loving dudes need not apply. (except in that specific genre)
These women are, as per the time honored tradition, mostly trying to finagle these men into long term relationships using sex, or at the bare minimum, calculated overtures toward sex. The men express no special interest in long term situations, but why should they? They're young and succesful. There is absolutely no hurry for them to get involved in a lifelong relationship.
Yet the women, who don't bring the issue up until after sex, expect the man to be on bended knee as soon as they get on their knees. Then when the woman's scheme clearly hasn't worked, she inevitably cries, which again, the man should respond to with a proposal. Should he fail to do so, you can be sure that he will get a comeuppance for daring to have sex. This time, it was a kick to the groin.

Thank god Japanese women aren't much like Japanese TV women.

UPDATE 2/16
actually, by the end of this drama, the women who had spent their time bitching about all the trickery and shortcomings of men realized that they were creating the problems themselves, and that the whole world was a lot more fluid than any stupid set of principles contrary to ones own desires.
They're even so brash as to suggest that for certain women, being paired with a man who incessantly cheats may well be a reasonably happy situation. Though being uncoupled does seem to be undesirable, regardless.

some thinks I'm thoughting.

#1, hell yes. It looks like global warming has come to the rescue, and winter is on it's way out. Please don't expect me to feel this way when the daily high is 20 degrees higher in August.

#2, the new visitlondon campaign is the ugliest I've encountered. Living in tokyo, I've been subject to a train full of adds for zippers, for hamburgers, for temporary agencies, for tongue brushes, and on and on. The Yamanote line sell the advertising space for an entire train pretty often, so I've been the victim of advertising overload on plenty of occasions.
It wasn't until today though that I really disliked any of the ads. These visit london ads are UGLY. I don't know why, but there's something really repulsive about them, to the point that I think I'll just let the train pass next time if it's the awful blue bunny train.
Aside from bad photography of boring people in half-assed bunny getups, there's something really strange about the ads. Of the 16 or so portraits of "london people" on the train, all 16 are white people.

#3, greedy bitches. I decided to make this one a whole entry.

what I ate today

mcdonalds pancakes
a mehrkornbroetchen from andersen
two (rather large) onigiri from that place right by the akiba yodobashi
--(one okaka and cheese, one yaki-tarako)

a mcdonalds "3 corner choco pie"
my leftover hokkaido nabe from last night with a serving of ramen noodles thrown on top.

I also drank two cups of milk tea at home, and a can of that super sweet milk tea from a vending machine.


recipe for hokkaido nabe:

4 potatoes
1/4 kabocha
2cloves garlic
2-3 eringi
~ ingen, kanikamaboko, canned corn
3.5c soup
2.5c milk
1T white miso
10g butter
pinch salt/pepper

peel, cut potatoes bite size, cut everything else bitesize too...
cut ingen in halves. throw the soup and veggies (minus corn) in a
nabe, turn on the heat
add the milk, bring to a boil, removing the foam as is comes.
boil until stuff is soft.
add corn, kani, miso, boil a little longer
add the butter and seasonings, eat.
(the remaining broth is good for ramen)