May 5th, 2005
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Yes, I post less
There are several reasons for this, but they’re not worth discussing right now. In the meantime I’ll just say that our schedule has been extended again, and now my “vacation” to someplace outside of Japan has been pushed back to July. I was wanting to go to France first, but recently I’ve been dying for a nap on the beach so much that this Hawaii thing people keep recommending is starting to sound more and more like the way to go. Anyway, still two months away (sigh).
It’s Golden Week in Japan, which is one of the three times a year when basically everything goes to sleep for ten days or so. We have a title to ship, so that didn’t happen for me (you may remember that last year I went to Bangkok), but since my manager is benevolent, and I am eternally waiting for assets to integrate, I did get two days off this week.
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Tuesday I went to Kamakura, which is dubbed the “little Kyoto” of the east. It has a lot of temples and shrines and the like, mainly because it became the seat of government after a grand series of battles about a century ago. I had a big plan to see lots of stuff, but you know how things go when you’re with someone else. No one is as Clark Griswold-crazy as I am when it comes to checkpoints and sightseeing. Fortunately I am getting mellower and mellower, and it doesn’t really bother me much when we only accomplish twenty percent of my initial objectives.
For lack of a printer, I took advantage of the high resolution nature of the PowerShot to score some completely readable maps from the web and elsewhere, accessible at virtually any time. This small glade is part of the Kakikomidera, a temple dedicated to the protection of battered wives. A sad, but inspiring sanctuary. Also, we have here the second largest Buddha in Japan (the first of course being the one at Todaiji whose nostril-sized hole I wriggled through last summer). Originally, it was housed in a temple, but a killer tsunami washed it away. This place is not right near the seashore. Wow. So from this we learn that the timeless patience of Buddha is stronger than any storm or shelter built by man.
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The train ride to Kamakura is a bit long, so I used my Yodobashi points and got a turquoise Nintendo DS and a copy of Nintendogs to play with on the way down. I now have a Welsh Corgi named Ein. (If you get the reference, two points for you!) We haven’t won any dog contests yet as “sit” is still a hazy subject, but we did find a soccer ball in the trash. Once used games become cheaper, I’m sure I’ll have Meteos, Electroplankton, and some other yet-to-be-released DS title. Maybe something with music and kitschy humor.
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It’s been a week or so since my last gardening update, and as we can see here the edamame are now about six inches tall, and the carrots that get more sun are, not surprisingly, far more well along than those in the shade. The monster mustard greens are constantly fatigued, but there’s little to be done about it unfortunately. Spearmint tea is just coming into season. Hurrah. And with that it’s past bedtime after a long day of sports and talk about techno.
