Well now. (さて。)

Well, that was an interesting way to start a Saturday.

With an epicenter in Kyoto, even. That's impressive.

Probably the most intense earthquake I've felt in a while... and yet I still wasn't convinced that's what it was until it was updated on the JMA.

Honestly, it kind of felt like something ran into my apartment building.

But I suppose that, in light of Japan's relative position on the Ring of Fire and all... that's the far less likely possibility.

Oh, well.

Too bad I won't be home to watch the news tonight; I bet we make at least a local headline.

Oh, right. 宇宙戦隊NOIZ concert!

But I've written about that quite enough. The earthquake was by far the most novel experience for the day.

... though I am going to Shiga. Which is a first. (Er, when it comes to live destinations, anyway.)

Although considering the fact that Melon and I are going straight back to Shiga for BUCK-TICK next week... it's not all that impressive.

...then again, tonight I'm going all the way to Yasu. BUCK-TICK's only in Otsu.

The highlighted one, as you may have surmised, is Yasu. The big one right next to Kyoto is Otsu... and I'm assuming that the BUCK-TICK concert is going to be somewhere near the very bottom tip of the lake there. (Yea, the thing in the middle is Lake Biwa. Shiga is mostly lake, dontcha know.) Couldn't tell you about the NOIZ concert tonight... All I know about Yasu is that the last train at night to get there is quite conveniently late.

So, yea. It's not as far away as the train ride makes it feel, I guess.

See? None of this is nearly as exciting as the fact that the earth kinda moved a little bit.

Especially because it was a tiny one that (theoretically) didn't hurt anyone.

Really, though, they're the only ones to get excited about.

...yeah.

This is Edo, signing off still feeling phantom quakes every five minutes or so.

The power of the desert compels you! (砂漠の力が強制する！)

That translation might be a little suspect, but then again Japan doesn't have quite the cultural history needed to really make that phrase work.

Which suggests that I might have been better served picking a slightly more universal title.

... but since when do I bow to the powers of untranslatability.

(Since never, that's when.)

And besides, it's incredibly fitting.

Because, seriously, just look at this dude:

LOOK AT HIM.

I really wish I had a picture of when he was small to compare it with... Definite lack of foresight on my part.

But for some textual perspective: he used to be shorter than the fake fruit he's in the pot with.

Admittedly, he did grow under Melon's care, but unless my brain deceives me (which I admit it sometimes does), he has shot up in the month or so that he's been back under my care.

Because clearly, my desert heritage has the power to super-charge cacti wherever I go.

...or something like that, anyway.

Given the option, I prefer to think that I have ecologically based super-powers.

This is Edo, signing off with a strong urge to run amuck through local garden stores.

Then and now. (当時と現在。)

I thought this would be a particularly apt topic for a New Year's Eve post. (Well, Eve still where I am, anyway. You'll have to bear with me on that one.)

Sometimes I, unbeknownst to the common observer, have mild periods of prolonged philosophical pondering whilst engaging in the everyday humdrum of cleanliness upkeep. (The lengths I go to for alliteration.) Today I found myself thinking of a common problem I've noticed cropping up in my life more and more recently, sometimes with alarming frequency.

It seems to me that I am in a constant state of flux between the utterly uneducated, unevolved, and really simply naive "then" and the supremely sophisticated, adult, remarkably mature "now." Sometimes the "then" will be in the (somewhat) distant past, and sometimes it will be disturbingly nearby... say, in the past year or so. The period of transition is either instantaneous and undetectable or, conversely, so gradual and unassuming that by the time I reach the tipping point, the build-up has been such that I am thoroughly acclimated to my "now"ness once I am able to define myself within its parameters.

My pondering, therefore, leads me to wonder whether this state of flux will eventually lead to a permanent state of "now" where I am thoroughly and completely "grown-up" and developed, or whether I will continue progressing through these stages, each of varying length, until my dotage, constantly looking back and lamenting how very foolish I was in only the past decade.

If, of course, I will reach a "now" at some point that will last me until the end, the question becomes "when" is "now"? It hardly seems fair if that "now" is much beyond, say, the 3/4 mark of my life, as it seems that I won't have much time to spend basking in my understanding and true appreciation of the world. Yet, if the "now" comes to early, say before the half-way point, how can I truly say that I am at my peak? Would such a "now" be worth striving for, if it would only lead to stagnation and developmental decay?

However, if my life (and, extending this bit of rationale, that of everyone else) is meant to be and indeed forced into being in a constant state of flux, how can we truly say that we are the same person from month to month, year to year? For example, I would, if possible, completely disassociate myself from the me at, say, 19, for no other reason than sheer embarrassment at my emotional immaturity, undeveloped thought processes and the resulting actions taken. I would not trust an individual who knew me only at that time period to, say, give a character reference. Even so, being who I was at 19 is somehow integral to who I am now--without experiencing that period of blatant "stupidity," I would not have developed into the person who sits here writing somewhat pointless and yet hopefully thought-provoking blog posts close on the midnight hour.

And when it comes right down to it, there's really nothing that I, as a person, can do about the situation either way, aside from talking to you lot about it. Nevertheless, these are the places that my mind wanders. Just something I think about, of an evening, as it were.

I'm no Descartes over here, people.

Regardless, a Happy New Year and a 良い年を to all my lovely readers. My resolution, as it has been for a few years now, is to not be so easily embarrassed, and to maintain a level of self-confidence such that the passing thoughts of strangers observing my actions no longer preoccupy me.

This is Edo, signing off whilst welcoming everyone into the year of the dragon.

There are no words. (言葉がない。)

For the sheer AMAZINGness that is... that is...

THIS PHOTOGRAPH.

Yes, that is YOSHIKI and Stan Lee. Together.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN.

Sometimes, the world, she is amazing.

This is Edo, still attempting to put a lid on her fangirlish delight.

PS- Look at that man's face. He is a 45-year-old rock star. Yoshiki is magic.

A lizard's tale. (トカゲの物語。)

So, I had a visitor the other morning.

Not, of course, in the human sense. Visitations of the human variety don't often rank up with what I consider to be blog-worthy material.

(Admittedly, however... Me, personally, receiving any sort of personal visit at this juncture might be so completely unexpected and out of the ordinary as to merit some mention... Um.)

It was a lizard. From the desert.

A colorful one at that.

There he is. Hey, little dude.

Places to go, concrete to cover.

Now, I'm sure you're aware that a lizard in the desert is not, usually, a note-worthy occurrence.

A lizard on the porch? Maybe.

A lizard on my window sill scrabbling for entry? Yea, we have news here people.

Yo.

... so I may be blowing it a little out of proportion, excitement-wise, but hey. Wild animals are cool.

Yea, you're a regular ninja with that camera, man.

Dude's a budding interpretive dancer.

Anyway. As he came, lingered, then inexplicably left all in the space of a Monday morning, I have yet to discover what, exactly, he was doing. Lizards aren't very good with that whole courtesy note thing.

Hi,


Nice window you got here. Just thought I'd drop by, look around. Maybe chill in the shade for a bit.


You should probably change out that toothbrush, you know.


Sorry to disturb.


-The Lizard


Not so much. Writing must be a real bitch without thumbs, after all.

Toodles.

Thus, left, as I am, bereft of any sort of explanation for this reptile's strange behavior, I am forced (yes, forced) to come up with some hypotheses.

And hey, who am I supposed to share them with?

....The Dalai Lama isn't returning my calls, so second choice it is.

Theory 1


The lizard was hot, and the shade of the porch combined with (maybe?) some residual air-conditioning coolness creeping out the windows made my sill the idyllic little reptile getaway for a mid-morning break.

Boring? Utterly. Plausible? Sadly. Reality has a distressing lack of imagination, sometimes.

... it also has a certain negative connotation when it comes to energy efficient window moorings. Hm.

Theory 2


The lizard was the designated explorer of his people, sent out to investigate the strange, flat shiny thing wedged into what, for all lizard intents and purposes, is no more than a large, funny-shaped rock that large pink things go in and out of regularly.

He was to examine, take notes, and report back immediately should this turn out to be of more interest or use than "oh, yea, that shiny thing."

More interesting? Yes. Plausible? I don't know, I am not at all familiar with lizard infrastructure. You tell me, mister fancy-pants herpetologist.

Theory 3


This lizard was, in fact, the Harbinger of Doom and Prophet of Despair.

This was, after all, the morning of the day when I received my "Congratulations on being an alternate!" letter from MEXT. Maybe he was trying to warn me. Or, conversely, had mistimed his arrival to revel in my personal Doom and Despair. Sucks to be him, then.

I'm... not going to touch this one. I don't like the idea of my fate being handled behind beady black eyes and decorative head-crests.

Theory 4


The lizard was not, in fact, a lizard at all, but was a beautiful man who had been cruelly transformed into a small reptile against his will by an evil force bent on stealing his power and wealth! While I was busy taking picture and marveling at nature, I was in fact dooming a man to live a cold-blooded life forevermore and missing out on the beginning of my very own personal 少女 (shoujo, girl) manga adventure!

...

NOOO DON PABLO!*


(It's a 少女 manga, after all, so he's delightfully, if inexplicably and unreasonably, European. No, no, don't ask why, that just ruins it.)


Who knew that my camera would be such a horrible sealer of fates. The Luddites may have a point.



*This is actually Jang Keun-Suk, or チャン・グンソク (Chan Gunsok, kinda) as I first knew him (Japanese does strange things to Korean names. Or maybe English does. My Korean pronunciation is absolute rubbish, someone want to help me out? Here's the Hangul: 장근석) He was appearing on the cover of everything in late April of this year in Japan, and I credit him with being the prettiest man alive. I mean seriously. Look at him. Good lord. 



In the end, we will likely never know why, exactly, a random lizard decided to crawl onto my porch, camp out for a bit, and peep into my bathroom.

But without rampant and at times unnecessary imagination, where would my blog posts humanity be?

This is Edo, signing off wondering how many herpetologists actually read her blog and are currently tearing out their hair in frustration at her willful ignorance.