city of blinding lights or bust

wasn’t I saying something about updating more often? lol,...

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:08:48 -0400

wasn’t I saying something about updating more often?

lol, oops.

anyway, photos from my weekend.

Saturday: Design Festa & Wonder Parlor.

Sunday: all the festivals. (well, not all of them - after all, Sanja Matsuri is next weekend.)

one more back post and after this I will try to update in a...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:50:16 -0400

one more back post and after this I will try to update in a timely manner.

last weekend was Tokyo Rainbow Pride. no, it’s not as big as Boston Pride or Chicago Pride, because Japan is still very closeted. we had fun anyway~ there were a lot of gaijin there, maybe even about half of the attendees. (see also: Japan is still very closeted.)

there was an after party in 2chome, but I had work in the morning (unlike the rest of the country).

oops, I realized I never posted any お花見 pictures here! so,...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:44:00 -0400

oops, I realized I never posted any お花見 pictures here!

so, belatedly: a few of my favorites~ they’re all gone by now, so have them in memory.

shrinehoppers: today I (Frances J.) had the day off for Golden...

Fri, 04 May 2012 18:39:00 -0400

shrinehoppers:

today I (Frances J.) had the day off for Golden Week, but Koji was stuck at work all day ;~;

although I should know better about going to the spirit world by myself, I did a little shrine hopping while I was out on my biking adventures. this time, to Nezu Shrine (根津神社)! it’s actually not very far from where I live, tho I’d never been there before.

it is beautiful. the main shrine itself is very impressive, but my favorite part was the little Inari Shrine (稲荷神社) on the grounds. there were lots of little torii gates (鳥居) so small that I (5’5”) had to duck a little bit to get through them!

there are a whole lot more shrines around the Yanesen (谷・根・千; Yanaka-Nezu-Sendagai) area, so I hope one of these days Koji and I can get the same day off and go do some shrine hopping together! we were supposed to go to a festival near where he lives in Omiya yesterday, but it was pouring rain. (we went to Otome Road, instead, but that is not exactly relevant to this blog.)

it’s been six million years since I posted here. promise...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:38:43 -0400

it’s been six million years since I posted here. promise I’ll try to do better. >_<

today I accidentally walked to 湯島天神 while I was waiting for Koji.

what I've been doing

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:04:39 -0400

shit happened
staying in Tokyo prolly for another year
possibly moving in with Koji??? this summer
お花見
doing SCIENCE!! at work with the students
preemptive nostalgia
my mom sent me Easter candy and I ate it

so ok I know I’ve been really bad about posting here and I...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:02:05 -0400

so ok I know I’ve been really bad about posting here and I promise I will make up for it eventually with six bajillion hanami pics but first I have an announcement to make:

Dear whoever stole my bike,

Why would you do that?
I hope you step on a Lego.

Sincerely,
me

so Koji and I went out today, ‘cause it’s his day...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:02:52 -0400

so Koji and I went out today, ‘cause it’s his day off. we met in Akiba, but wandered off instead. we ended up at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church in Ochanomizu. who knew? from there, we went to this Confucian temple and then to Kanda Myojin, a Shinto shrine… all easily within a mile of each other. that’s why you’ve gotta love Tokyo.

if you’re wondering what’s up with the pony… it lives at the shrine for the kamisama there to ride. (we asked.)

some things that have been going on while I have been too lazy to post one year anniversary of the...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:27:51 -0400

some things that have been going on while I have been too lazy to post

one year anniversary of the big earthquake.
White Day.
we had a science exhibition! it was hectic trying to help all of the students prepare everything on time, but I think they did great! my first graders carried out independent research on natural resources and presented their findings in a variety of formats.
first graders are amazing.
considering a degree in education. lol omg this is an inevitability I’ve been fighting, isn’t it? not sure that’s a bad thing.
also I’m depressed as fuck. whoops.
doing better’n this time last month, anyway.
going out on weekends and doing things is fun.
the ume (plum) trees are blossoming, and the sakura (cherry) trees should start soon.
thinking about going to Hakone during my break (week after next)? if I can get the money together.

hi there blog. I haven’t forgotten about you.

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 07:22:04 -0400

hi there blog. I haven’t forgotten about you.

rinlin: tokyo-fashion: The famous old “Takeshita Dori” sign is...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:50:21 -0500

rinlin:

tokyo-fashion:

The famous old “Takeshita Dori” sign is GONE! It’s been replaced by this shiny new digital sign. I was shocked when I saw the change today!

Omg, what?

whaaaat.

for those of you playing at home, this is what the Takeshita Street sign used to look like.

not sure how I feel about this sleek shiny new one. doesn’t quite fit the ~vibe of Harajuku somehow. but I’ll give it a chance.

some photos from Koji’s first weekend back in Japan! dual...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:16:00 -0500

some photos from Koji’s first weekend back in Japan! dual wielding chopsticks and testing out the cool new tech in Akihabara by drawing some Captain Harlock.

drkotobuki: I’m off. See you soon. see you soon! have a safe...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:17:03 -0500

drkotobuki:

I’m off.

See you soon.

see you soon! have a safe flight(s), O Fearless Leader!

おかえり

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:04:21 -0500

drkotobuki:

transpacifique:

so Koji’s getting in at like 5am on Friday. he’s staying at my place, but I’ve got work all day and I can’t miss any more ‘cause I’ve had so many sick days.

bummer.

w/e, we’ll figure it out. I’ve gotta clean all the things before he gets here, and probably also buy groceries ‘cause most people eat things other’n toast and ramen.

#KOJI #KOJI #KOJI LOOK I AM TAGGING THIS SO YOU WILL SEE IT #KOJI #KOJIIII

O_____O

YES I WILL SEE YOU SOON.

#AAAAAAAAAAHHHH #YES I SEE IT THANK YOU

just making sure. you said to tag things we wanted you to see, so I tagged it. and you saw it. ta-da!

"BE RESOLVED AND THE THING IS DONE."

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:33:26 -0500

“BE RESOLVED AND THE THING IS DONE.”

- Chinese proverb (on the page-a-day calendar at work)

cleaned my apartment to make space for Koji. took some pictures.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:31:36 -0500

cleaned my apartment to make space for Koji. took some pictures.

おかえり

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:06:48 -0500

so Koji’s getting in at like 5am on Friday. he’s staying at my place, but I’ve got work all day and I can’t miss any more ‘cause I’ve had so many sick days.

bummer.

w/e, we’ll figure it out. I’ve gotta clean all the things before he gets here, and probably also buy groceries ‘cause most people eat things other’n toast and ramen.

haven’t posted much. haven’t been doing much. it rained all day on Saturday so I stayed...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:24:00 -0500

haven’t posted much. haven’t been doing much.

it rained all day on Saturday so I stayed in. no excuse for staying in on Sunday, too; just didn’t feel like going out.

oh, well.

going home this summer.

my last day of work is 22 June.

jerkbrain

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:52:34 -0500

oh yeah, that depression thing.

started crying at work because one of my best students asked me to take a picture of the cool thing he made with blocks. missed Monday because I couldn’t get out of bed.

managed to get into work today but I don’t think I was at 100%.

trying to figure out how to get hormonal birth control because my bad days are usually followed closely behind by my period. is this new? I think so. maybe it was more of a problem back in the day but it hasn’t been recently.

pretty tired of feeling like my heart is being ripped out of my chest all of the damned time.

late post is late, because I was too depressed to function for...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:49:58 -0500

late post is late, because I was too depressed to function for the last few days. yay. =|

before that all happened, tho, I had a great time at 大江戸温泉物語 with my bb, rinlin. it’s an onsen resort themed like an old fashioned public bath.

when you get to the resort, you borrow a kimono for the day. we chose matching pink yukata that were very popular with the other girls and young women.

from there, we went into the baths. yes, they are public (but segregated by sex) and yes you have to be naked. no, you cannot wear a towel or a bathing suit into the baths. it’s really not as awkward as you might think, honestly. both of us had been in onsen before, so it was no big.

we alternated soaking and walking around the (kinda cheesy) little “town” inside. there were a bunch of baths to choose from; some that were cooler, so you could work your way up to the lava hot ones; a carbonated(!) one; one with jets to massage you; one that the website describes as “like molten gold,” because it’s very mineral rich and when you look down at the water, it is a golden hue. there was even an outdoor bath, which was actually fun to go in but getting in was exciting in the February weather.

(by “exciting,” I mean “fucking goddamned hella freezing omg.”)

there was also a foot bath, with rocks that were supposed to somehow massage your feet as you walked but actually just hurt. really, idek how slightly pointy (but not sharp) rocks digging into your feet at odd angles is supposed to be fun, let alone good for you. ow.

and we had sushi for dinner, yum.

it was definitely a great day! a nice way to spend my birthday weekend.