Neill the Nomad

update

nothing too new. i just thought i would sign in due to my overall slackness the last couple of weeks. trying to snap back into involvement. no man should imitate an island, dont ya know.

anyhow, we never made it into fukuoka for G love & special sauce. sorry, G!... ya just didnt make the cut - though i woulda loved to have gone to the show. miki is in the throws of the cold. she always gets it after me and usually a harsher version. she's a sneezing mess. im still achey but mostly out of the viral dog house.

we did score tickets to see japanese ska legends, The Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. they are giants here... and playing a really small venue in a few weeks in fukuoka. (dont know why. they played a place five times the size about that many months ago. Drums Logos (venue name) has a capaciy of maybe 500 people. theyre playing three nights. we're going friday, the first night. They are one of two japanese bands when i came over here that I considered a must-see if i ever got the chance. Them and the post punk noise band, The Boredoms (Yoshimi on drums.) And the boredoms are circulating again - after a haitus - under the name, "The Vooredoms", so there is hope i will secure the set eventually. But anyhow, im stoked to be catching "Skapara" (as the kids call em) in such a small place. 10 people on stage. should rip the roof off the place. and one great thing about seeing a band at drums logos is the tasty ramen joint just across the way.

we leave for nara/osaka in two days. gonna try our hand at fugu (potentially lethal blowfish). there's a fairly famous fugu restaurant in osaka. going there for my birthday on monday.) they serve it 3 ways i believe:

1. spiral -and oh so carefully - sliced sashimi,
2. nabe (basically soup that you make yourself at the table by adding the ingredients to broth in an especially large ceramic pot as it is cooking on a burner at the table. The name of the pot itself is "nabe" hence the name of the dish.
3. and kara a'ge (deep fried)

its served in courses and is not a cheap dinner. i have heard its not as delicious as its legend suggests it would be, considering the risk of death. but miki loves it. i will let you know. (hopefully.)

i've been teaching an adult english class at the local community center, which is my second favorite project with this job underneath the speech/recitation contests. we have all levels of students from ultra basic to smei-advanced. as young as 26 and as old as 78. fifteen students. we're teaching shopping vocabulary tonight. miki gives lectures and workshops on grammar each class.

well, i guess thats about it. gonna cook okonomiyaki for dinner.

take care... and again, if youre reading this, let me know youre there. always good to hear from friends, especially when this far afield.

quote of the day: "A true friend can't be lost... only misplaced."