urgh. i know. i'm always ignoring this blog, even though it is the first. i'm sorry. it's just that it's status quo on island (except that whole doug moylan case--actually, that's pretty normal, it's the publicity that's not), and there's a lot going on in the world. i'm currently volunteering over at the south-east asia earthquake and tsunami blog, which lists and updates emergency and aid information for the countries that have been hardest hit. i'm not doing much, but the little i'm doing feels like it's helping. too bad that the admin has chosen a truly crazy acronym "SEA-EAT". it's funny that only one person seems to have taken offense enough to write in. anyway, it's sort of a mess on that site, but take a look, maybe there's something that might interest you enough to help in whatever little way.

of course, i didn't mean you :-)

some days, and i have to say it, i really hate_____________people. merry fucking christmas.

i got a phone call on tuesday from a person i went to summer camp with at northfield mount hermon like, a zillion and a half years ago. a 6'7" german guy now living la vida jet-set in hong kong, and on guam for a few days of business. he barely remembered my name but spent three days tracking me down. my insane cousin gave him all my details, without really knowing who he was. thanks!

it was an odd, awkward, but familiar reunion. with a seven foot tall man. i wasn't that surprised to hear from him, nor was i particularly excited. not that it wasn't nice, but it's like meeting a stranger and accepting the fact that when you were adolescents you were friends for no reason but circumstance so therefore, you must be friends now. and i suppose we must be because we are. i am friends with an eight foot tall german guy! i think what made it so familiar was that he is like many of my friends now--open and friendly, a travelling bug, and a partner in a committed gay relationship committed to traversing through the committed gay couples capitals of the world--palm springs, florida, greece, north africa. oh, i can omit 'gay' from that last sentence, sure, but i think the only jet-set couples i know are gay. my straight couple friends stay at home. bless.

anyway, have i said he's very tall? he's very tall. he's like, ten feet tall. he literally scrapes the sky. i think if i were his height, my weight would be perfect.
so, hello, new/old friend, i'll bet you didn't think you'd get blogged about.

last night was the 25th annual japanese autumn festival or, aki matsuri (no, you did not go to school with a guy with that name). as always, it is held at ypao beach park, and as always, it was raining. only this year it was more like monsoons than the occasional outburst. did it stop the several thousand dancing in the mud? ha! you underestimate the power of cheap japanese food, my friend.



i always go a little late because it's easier to find parking at the beach lots, but this year was packed--i was lucky to get the last cramped parallel parking slot near a dumpster with the help of a bored cop (thanks bored cop!). super muddy. super packed, although i imagine it seemed more packed because people were crowding around the tents and not in the open field. the tents, of course, mostly were about food, but there were also games for the kids, massage and fortune telling booths, and nomi no ichi, or, flea market, which looked more like a rice cooker graveyard than anything else.


why aren't we all electrocuted?



the taiko drum stand used to be on top of the stage in the middle of the field, but this year, the stage was on one end, and the drum stand high in the middle. the organizers, the japan club, didn't have as many performers come in from japan this year, but the ones they had were pretty good. there were dance groups for the dance fest on friday and the festival last night, taiko groups, and some random singers. no yomiuri giants. a couple of beauty queens testing out their english skills ("you have beautiful island. i come back one day." cheers from crowd. next.) a woman who was a karaoke champion and now professional...karaoke singer?!...or something sang a song written especially about the island called "paradise". ay. does anyone remember suzuki ami and "love the island"? cute jpop, but i think a pr flop. man, i wish i had a photo of the japanese mc. straight outta the matrix, baby. like the matrix meets japanese porn meets pink lady. realllllllllly scary.



not so scary was the drag queen dance troupe, hokkaido rah-rahs, who did a cheerleading routine to the japanese version of toni basil's "mickey" ("miki!"). i wish the photos were clearer, but i think i was too busy laughing. you get the idea though.



my favourite of the taiko drum groups was kitami fusetsu taiko, which featured two 10-year old girls, who are absolutely my new japanese idols. so utterly kawaii.

of course, the mikoshi, or portable shrine went around the festival grounds, and of course, we all indulged in "hey look at the goofy gai jin!" dancing.



you can find more photos here. ah, i think i look forward to thanksgiving only because i know aki matsuri is around the corner. can't wait for next year.