Dance Recital Madness 2012

At the end of February for the last 5 years I’ve had the pleasure of going to not one, but two kindergarten dance festivals.

I’m invited!

  

I even get VIP seating at one of them … while I just lurk around at the back of the gym at the other one.

  

At one, I get 30 or 40 kids sitting in the crowd calling my name … and I do my famous “walking down imaginary stairs” move … and sometimes “going down an imaginary elevator” move. I haven’t pulled out “rowing in an imaginary canoe” trick yet … maybe next year.

At the other, I just lurk … and get the occasional nod  … or low flying punch of recognition from kids who see me. This year one kid crawled through my legs without me knowing until the last second.

At one, half the parents wonder who the hell I am … at the other they wonder who the hell I am.

At both, parents keep looking around for a half Japanese kind of kid on stage.

At both, the parents seem to be getting younger.

At both, the kids seem to stay about the same age.

At both, I enjoy a couple of hours of kids in costumes on stage for the first or second or third time of their lives dancing their hearts out to a biased audience … with extensive video equipment.

note: I kind of liked the dinosaurs this year.

 double note: the other of the Big Three are here:

Numata Matsuri 2008 / Numata Matsuri 2009

Kinder Olympics / When Was The Last Time?

Dance Recital Madness / Dance Recital Madness: Day 2 / Another Of The Big Three

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Today #352

Today turned out better than I thought it would: I shouldn’t doubt Sundays.

Rambo

 

“Rambo” in Japanese means “violence”.

“Rocky” in Japanese just means the boxer guy in all those movies. 

 

note: words are only meaningful if you know what they mean, otherwise they are just panhandlers holding out their hands to people with their eyes shut.

double note: I was going to say “blind person“, but thought that might not be political correct. I don’t even call that “can’t see spot” in a car while driving a “blindspot” anymore. I must be a political activist now!

triple note: why are Chinese characters cool tattoo material, but Hebrew characters, Russian character, Korean character, …  … not so popular?

quadruple note: I had to do a “… …” in that last note, sorry.

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Today #334

Today someone said “Cheese Hamburger“. I’m sure that was pretty common back in … before I was born!
(I’m glad I was born when I was, otherwise I’d probably sound weird.)

Stop Taking Crappy Photos: Tip #1

 

I’ve discovered how to stop taking crappy photos of moving things!

 

 

I let Mr. Pettit  take the photos.

 

note: I went to a BBQ on the weekend expecting this:

 

… but this was on the menu before the steaks

 double note: sometimes I’m in the right place at the right time … and even invited!

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Today #260

Today didn’t have any BBQing or Tahitian Dancing in it. … bummer.

The Numata Matsuri 2011

 

  

The Numata Matsuri has come and gone for another year.

It arrived too slowly and departed too quickly: like the slug that turns into a race car … that I saw somewhere … or another.

When I think about the Numata Matsuri, all 5 senses are involved.
My 6th sense, about not drinking a lot of beer, isn’t involved so much at all.

Sight: seeing this many people doing cool stuff because they want to blows my mind.

Hearing: “The Tengu Drummers” hold everything in the Matsuri together. This year I’ve finally realized that “The Tengu Drummers” are the straw that stirs the drink: without them … it just doesn’t gel.

Taste: “Kebabman” is my favourite food stall  player. (I don’t see too many Kebabs during the rest of the year sadly)

Touch: the feel of room temperature cork as I load it into my air rifle for the kill shot. (actually I’m banned from doing this because of me poking all the stuff over by just using the gun barrel last year)
I don’t have any pictures of me sweating and drinking cold beer … so this had to do.

Smell: the smell of another Numata Matsuri next year … and kebabs … and hot sweaty weather … and everything attached to the Numata Matsuri!

 

 note: I have P.M.S. … Post Matsuri Syndrome.

 double note: 362 days of anticipation to follow
… crap! Next year is a leap year!

triple note: apologies for not visiting your blogs … I’ll be back lookey looing soon.

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Today #224

Today I’ve realized that I am a “homer” … just not from where I grew up though.

Symbolicking Good

 

In Japan, highway service area signs use the “knife and fork” symbol to let motorists know that there is a restaurant on location.

I’ve never seen the “chopstick” symbol; it must be difficult to draw or something.

 

note: there should be a “two hand” symbol on highway service area signs, if there is a McDonald’s there.

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Today #218

I was too dazed today.

Harry Potter

 

It’s easy to pretend to be Harry Potter in Japan

… most of the time I have two wands in hand

… while I eat.

 

note: there were about 40 different “costume play” people at one of the places Mr. Pettit  gigs at … wearing all sorts of anime costumes … but these 2 were the nicest out of all of them. We interrupted them as they were eating their lunch and they happily set down their riceballs, took a quick check in their mirrors, and produced their wands for the photo.

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Today #195

Today smelled like summer … but I caught a whiff of January on me.

Gunma Holiday

 

I live in Gunma-Prefecture.

I’ve been on a Gunma Holiday for the last 5 days: visiting places in Nagano-Prefecture, Tochigi-Prefecture, and Niigata Prefecture.

A Gunma holiday is more involved than other places … or involves more other places … for some reason.

 

note: Gunma is pretty big! … you have to drive through it on the way to where you are going quite often from here.

double note:

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” Don Williams, Jr.

… “Gunma: it’s a journey.” planetross

triple note: apologies for not responding to comments. It was a split-second decision to actually go somewhere: I thought about it for a second, then I split.

quadruple note: the poster in the picture was created to make Gunma look more cool as a tourist destination. A person doesn’t have to live in Japan for too long before they understand that Audrey Hepburn is/was/will always be the best foreign actress ever … and “Roman Holiday” the best movie.

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Today #185

Today is the last day of holidays before going back to work for a day … then it’s the weekend! woo hoo!

Nozomi Ohashi … Again?

 

Nozomi Ohashi is back again!

If I was a Japanese child, I don’t think I would like her very much: she only seems to show up to notify kids about tests these days.

I bet if you saw Mickey Mouse on your decatheter or Hello Kitty on your speeding tickets, they wouldn’t look so cute anymore.

I have visions of Nozomi trying to hold back the tears in some Tokyo park while shouting, “No! There isn’t a test! … I just want to play tag with you!” … as all the other kids run away from her.

 

note: do you know what’s better than …

        ?

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       hee hee!

 

double note: the other Nozomi Ohashi entries are here and here.

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Today #183

Today is the last day of work for a week: I’m on holidays. I’m going to be like a bad idea for the next week. … I’m not going anywhere.

Still An Another Update

 

Just a quick update to say that things here are still quite normal.

The gasoline stations are being supplied with gas a little more regularly than 4 or 5 days ago, but there are still long line-ups/queues for it.

I can walk most places I really need to go, so I’ll probably have forgotten how to drive and will be in better shape in another couple weeks.

There were donation boxes at many stores the day after the earthquake and tsunami, but I noticed that people were collecting money for the aid effort outside of supermarkets today. A bit of public guilt seems to loosen up people’s pocket books a bit … especially when they are carting groceries to their cars.

The crisis at the nuclear reactors is definitely worrying, but I’m actually more concerned about the hundreds of thousand of people who are spending day after day in evacuation centres up north in less than ideal circumstances.
The Government is making plans to relocate many of them to facilities in unaffected areas further south.

I will be glad to get back to work on Monday as just sitting around isn’t very good really.

 

note: “Stress” is my middle name, … but “No” is my first name, so I’m okay.

double note: apologies to S. Le  and others for not captioning the picture on “An Another Update“. If I had a mind, I’d say it slipped it.

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Today #152

Today I realized that I see more people I know when I walk places.

An Another Update

 

Things here are about the same as they were a few days ago.

On the walk to the gym this morning I noticed a few businesses closed, but most were open.
I went into a convenience store and bought a sandwich: there were normal supplies.
I went to the gym: it was normal.
I got a haircut: maybe it was a “panic haircut”~!
I stopped by work to tell them I would be at work next week: it was normal.

I went to a grocery store: it was normal.

Everything is still normal … just an underlying note of stress and concern in most people I’ve met.

 

 

note: it’s hard to see charity boxes without shoving money in them.

double note: I’m a bit stressed, but hopefully I will lose a lot of weight in the process. I’m looking for a lose/win situation.

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Today #151

Today nothing happened: that’s not a bad thing.