Manzokuman

Blogged

2009-09-06T09:03:00.001+10:00

I haven't blogged for days, i have been busy on the road and doing stuff to help the family out in a new project that will be coming up soon. This will involve another move...moving always is tough.

Another blog post on the run...

It's all about the smile...

2009-08-18T01:01:00.003+10:00

Well, you will wait for the service.... But this is some happening food. The best bet is the Thomyum or the padthai. Too many prawn chips though... Look at them..mmm

Satisfied

2009-08-13T07:51:00.001+10:00

Whoa, sometimes satisfaction is found in the little things. Replaced the rear right power window regulator on the VW Golf.
Four working windows are ready for the summer.

Road trip

2009-07-03T23:44:00.002+10:00

Well dandy, all is dandy, words look really cool when they spley out like the lines of the freeway that i like to get on in good time, so the trucks don't get me.

Personal space

2009-05-25T09:39:00.006+10:00

These strawberries were given to me by a friend, some of them are GIANT! I have never seem strawberries this big before all crammed together in a box...

The escapists paradise, I often wonder how so many people on such a small bunch of islands can live together in harmony. The basic laws of courtesy are strong and the Japanese are still miles ahead of any other country I know in terms of understanding and respecting each others personal space. When I first met my Japanese father in law I was admittedly nervous. I lurched toward him right hand outstretched for the customary handshake of introduction, I was surprised when he lithely took two large steps backward, dodging my hand, his head bowed slightly and his hands firmly by his side. I timidly tidied my lonely hand away and smiled sheepishly, remembering all too late that people don't touch each other here...

A simple afternoon in the local supermarket is another reminder of this phenomenon. People will go out of their way to get out of each others way and to maintain the harmony. Eye contact is strictly avoided and the emphasis is on minding your own business. To most people this may seem isolated and uncomfortable but the Japanese people have a way of going about their business this way with everyone, including fellow Japanese. When asking a shop attendant in my near perfect Japanese which aisle I might find a Lime in, her answer was, 'sorry, I don't speak English!'

Sunset over suburban Gifu

2009-05-24T12:13:00.003+10:00

I found this shot earlier today and it reminded me of getting lost on the streets of Japan. It was taken a couple of months ago from Nishi Gifu station in the evening. The evenings in Japan reveal the best colours and this crappy camera doesn't grab the best of it but the sentiment is still there. When I watch the sun go down like this the surprising thing for me is the speed in which it disappears, so fast, you can really see it when you have the comparative backdrop of the mountains.

Shit happens

2009-05-23T10:49:00.004+10:00

Shit happens

What’s with today nothing seems to go my way
Shit happens the world keeps turning the good times all fall away
It’s all in my way nothing more that I can say
Shit happens the fog isn’t clearing the bad times seem here to stay

No sun shines on my face it’s a beautiful rainy day
Friends come gather around shit happens every day

Blowing or snowing sometimes not knowing is all part of the fun

I’m on my way nothing more that I can say
Shit happens the world keeps turning good times come back to stay
I’m turning round in a way nothing more that I can say
Shit happens the clouds are clearing the good times are on the way

No sun shines on my face it’s a beautiful cloudy day
Friends come gather around shit happens every day

Raining or hailing my engine keeps failing its all part of the fun

I’m on my way there are many people out today
I’m moving the world keeps turning the good times are here to stay
Take it my way another way to face the day
Shit happens the sun keeps shining the good times are here to stay

The sun shines on my face it’s a beautiful day today
Friends come gather around shit won’t stop us today

Shit won’t stop us today

Zen and the art of vehicle maintenance

2009-05-16T16:17:00.002+10:00

I got to thinking... oh shit, here we go!

You only really get to know about something when it breaks down.
I never knew anything about the inner workings of my car until it broke down, all the mechanics and people I have talked to about it have really given me a greater understanding of how cars work. I used to be the same with computers, after re installing the software a couple of times and sitting there figuring it all out, I now have a good understanding of how computers work and how to fix them. So yeah, am I glad that it broke down?...

Do we go out and bust things up now so we can see how they work?
Not without paying the price. The cash spent on the road to vehicular recovery has been pricey to say the least. The most annoying thing I guess is that these guys can really talk the price up and if you are not 'in the know' to a degree then you can end up paying big.

I found a nice pink coloured cover version of the book and having found it I am going to have to read it again as it has been a good couple of years since I last read it and it is a classic. I hope I can find a copy with a different colour... I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but...Pink?

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance and my recent experiences have brought me back to the concept of quality. (This reads like a summary) Is imperfection the base of true beauty? If life went on without any breakdowns or things going wrong, where would we be? Am I the ultimate positivist?

Broken down with a trunk full of bottles

2009-05-15T13:42:00.000+10:00

Well the car is fixed, the call came from the mechanic who called the auto electrician because the computer was fried. I was driving down the road and suddenly the car just died, really quietly, I didn't know what had happened but the car just started to slow down so I whacked on the hazard lights and slowly moved off the road. Dead.
I tried car CPR by way of turning the ignition but nothing.
Max from roadside assistance came out and told me it was dead, can't fix it so he called for the tow truck and it got towed away.

The mechanic told me on the phone that cars breaking down come down to three things; air, spark and fuel. It turns out my car had given itself a heart stopping jolt from the misdirected distributor sending a spark right back into the cars computer. Is this like car suicide? I wash my car quite regularly and I wax too.

Now I can finish what I was originally on my way to do, delivering my load in the back. Yep, I was taking empty beer bottles to the recycling station. A trunk full.

What goes around comes around... Karma??

2009-05-10T17:02:00.000+10:00

Is it true what they say about what goes around comes around? In this time when I am trying to find a job, hitting the pavement hard, I find myself thinking back to my work lifestyle two months ago when I was hiring and firing without a second thought about struggling to find employment. Did I take that shit too lightly?

Am I paying for it now? Two months out of work?? Only just now my second hope out of three running chances I have was shot down by the form of a no thank you! email.

Its desperate times when you get reduced to hanging on to the two chances you have left..

Bugger. This post is only going to go sour.

My old man's joke

2009-05-04T23:50:00.000+10:00

So I went for the job at one of the big banks in the city as a customer service type person and my old man offered to drive me to the station. On the way he told me this joke..

There was a bank robber and he walked into a bank to rob it. He pulled out his shotgun, waved it in the air and his mask fell off. He quickly picked it up and strapped it back on his face. He went over to the first bank teller and asked "Did you see my face?" The bank teller answered that he had and the bank robber shot him dead. The bank robber went to the next teller and asked "Did you see my face?" and the bank teller answered "Yes" so the bank robber shot him dead. Finally the bank robber walks up to one of the customers that was at the head of the line at the time of the robbery and asked him "Did you see my face?"

The guy answered "No, I didn't, but my wife did"

A week later me and my old man went to visit my brother. My brother was talking about going to play a poker game at the casino. My old man told the same joke changing the bank details to casino details....without batting an eyelid.

I do what i do

2009-04-24T11:55:00.001+10:00

I found this little fellow hanging around in the Higashiyama zoo in Nagoya city. All of the animals there are too clean to be animals! They all look like toys! I really like this photo even though it is taken on a dumb camera, I like the colour of this little guys eyes. I think he is just curious but his left paw does look ready for action... better go now... slowly.

What are we looking for?

2009-04-19T15:49:00.000+10:00

What is it that we are looking for? Is it something that is hard to find? Is it in the drawer? Is it in the bag? No matter how hard you look for it you just can't find it. What are you going to do from now? Are you going to just stop looking?
Why don't you stop looking and come away with me? Into the dream,
into the dream. Don't you think it's worth trying to get there?

The lyrics in my head from a song I have always liked. It's written by a Japanese folk musician called Inoue Yosui.

Expatriot in Japan

2009-04-09T11:46:00.000+10:00

Too many people go to Japan and leave the place after however long learning absolutely nothing, it really disappoints me. It seems that the majority of people that go there to work (teach English) are running from something back home or are at rock bottom back home. To be honest there are some good people over there that are there for the right reasons and happy to climb on the vertical learning curve that is learning about the Japanese way of thinking. But the majority? Whoa! steer clear. I was walking down the shopping arcade in Asakusa a few years back and the shop manager of this sushi shop was yelling at this American guy who had his hands up in the air and was shouting back at the shop manager. It is not usually in my character to intervene in these situations but I could spot a major miscommunication in progress so I did. These sushi train shops where the food travels around on a conveyor belt charge a certain amount of yen for a plate based on the content and you keep the plates on your table until it is time to pay, you then ask the waiter/waitress to count the plates and you pay your bill. Easy? yep. dead easy. This American guy obviously didn't understand the process and was taking the sushi off the plate and letting his empty plates continue their journey along the belt much to the dismay of staff and other customers in the shop. I helped out in calming everyone down and asking the man to apologise for his mistake and pay the bill. I mentioned that it was better to do this here and now than to spend the afternoon in one of the local police boxes, possibly to await trial. This guy was so angry and he felt that he was in the right kicking up a fuss until the police came and started to interview me as the gentleman's 'friend'! That's when things got too far. Sometimes it is better to not get involved and I learnt the hard way. I tend to learn the hard way a lot.

A recurring dream I had living in Japan

2009-04-01T06:00:00.000+10:00

I was in the city, it was quiet and the grey city buildings towered over me. The usual bustle of the city was no more. The raft that I was clinging to was enough to keep me afloat and just by looking around I could calculate that the water level was at about the twelfth floor. The thought of the many that had drowned below me in the calm waters made me shudder as I paddled. The eerie silence was broken by the occasional shouts from people inside buildings all around calling to each other while scrambling up floor by floor to escape the rising waters, desperately crawling over each other.

I took a breath and pushed along quietly. I came to a familiar building, paddling around to the back I could see the fire escape ladder jutting down. If I can somehow climb into the building I might be able to make it to the top and stay clear of the waters in the hope that they stopped rising.

Breathless from my time in the water, I reached up with my swollen arm and grasped the rusty ladder, pulling myself up to the first rung. Gathering all the energy I could muster, I pulled up to the ladder step until I could maneuver my aching body onto the landing platform that housed the next ladder leading up. I decided to try to enter the building from the emergency exit. To my surprise the door opened easily to reveal a small evacuation room with the number 12 painted in large black letters. “That much I had right”, I muttered to myself as I opened the internal door leading into an office style hallway with light grey carpet and wooden office doors on either side. A sudden panic came over me as I sensed a presence at the end of the corridor. I proceeded slowly down the corridor trying the doors one by one but all of them seemed to be locked from the inside, all of them except a maintenance locker that opened easily. The locker held equipment used for cleaning and general storage, towards the back I noticed several straight metal pipes leaning against the back wall. I took one and gave it a few practice swings. I prepared myself for anyone that might try to stop me and I continued on down the corridor.

The last office door on the right was slightly ajar, I could tell just as the emergency lights flickered as the backup system ran out. There, I could see it in the corner, I couldn't believe it. The height of a man, it was scaly by appearance, like a lizard.
It was hissing and running forward toward me, charging with a speed and a power I had never seen before. By sheer luck I raised the metal pole just as I crashed into the wall of the office. The creature was on top of me by then and I could see the end of the pole shaft, gleaming in the dull light shinning through the broken office room window. The creature was screaming and wriggling, trying to speak. I realized the creature still had enough strength to harm me as it flailed around impaled on the metal pole that was now firmly planted into the office room wall. Now, it was leaning against me bleeding its strange foreign blood profusely and trying to communicate some message to me.

After a few minutes of awkward babbling and miscommunication, the creature smiled and then went still. I pulled myself out from under this magnificent being and crawled toward the broken window. The calm waters just below the floor seemed still as I looked up into the sky and saw what appeared to be a crack like that on an egg shell but looking at it from the inside. A small egg shell fleck was missing and the light was shining through.