Updates in English:
News, Discography, Concert Schedule, Anime Connections, and still working on the "internet appearances" page and translations.
Updates in Japanese:
News, Discography, Anime Connections, and still working on the "internet appearances" page.
Coming soon... Spanish?!? In an attempt to reach out to even more of Fukuyama-san's international fans, Pedro (with Nidia's help) has offered to help translate part of my site into Spanish! I'm quite excited about the prospect! Keep an eye out for it! ^-^b
peace
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mothers' Day to all you mothers - and grandmothers - out there!
For today's breakfast, I wrote "kids plan it" on the menu. Half the house ate pop tarts and the other half poured a bowl of cereal. (shrug) Ah, well. I just took advantage of the fact that I didn't have to please everyone today and scrambled together some green onion, shiitake, spinich, eggs, and cheese. Yum!
I also used the fact that it's Mothers' Day to bludgeon my way into full control of the computer and the TV at the same time! (heehee) If I didn't still have to go to work in an hour, everything would be perfect... Right now, I'm eating and watching Electric Fire 2007 for the umpteenth time. It was expensive, but worth it!
I've also been watching clips from a TV special featuring JAM Project's Japan Flight 2008 tour. Wow! They just keep getting better and better each year! I look forward to he DVD going on sale! I suspect it won't be until after the world tour end next November though... They'll no doubt be adding a few clips from that to the extras disc like they did last year when members went to events over-seas. (If you have the DVD but haven't seen them yet, click on the airplane on the menu screen...)
Oh, for all you Becca-isms fans out there, I thought I'd shared with you the breakfast she just showed me she's eating: a bowl of strawberries mixed with broccoli and a cup of peanut butter mixed with Nutella. Well... it's good for her, at least. ^^b
I've done some work on my site last night and this morning. Anime Friends in Brazil finally made official the announcement that JAM Project's Brazil stop will be at their convention... just as we all figured, eh. ^-^ No doubt Ricardo Cruz will be joining them there since Anime Friends is his home territory, eh. I noticed in the Japan Flight clips that he's performing as a fully integrated member of the group now when he's with them. It made for a much smoother overall performance, and show-cased his own abilities better, than when he was just brought in as a featured artist for a couple songs during the encore like last couple years.
Speaking of encores, I saw the clip with them singing Skill just minutes after Fukuyama-san broke his collarbone... that guy is amazing! Aside from the fact that he wasn't bouncing around so much, there was absolutely no indication in his performance of how badly he was hurt! Wow! That's a pro!
On that note, here's today's updates list. Look for new entries on: the concert schedule page; the page following Fukuyama-san's recovery from the above mentioned broken bone; and I'm revamping the Internet Appearances and Concert Reports page - it's actually starting to have "internet appearances" info on it. (What a concept!) Working on, but not up at all yet: English translations for "No Border" and Disc 2 of the Electric Fire 2007 DVD.
See ya ^-^
peace
I also used the fact that it's Mothers' Day to bludgeon my way into full control of the computer and the TV at the same time! (heehee) If I didn't still have to go to work in an hour, everything would be perfect... Right now, I'm eating and watching Electric Fire 2007 for the umpteenth time. It was expensive, but worth it!
I've also been watching clips from a TV special featuring JAM Project's Japan Flight 2008 tour. Wow! They just keep getting better and better each year! I look forward to he DVD going on sale! I suspect it won't be until after the world tour end next November though... They'll no doubt be adding a few clips from that to the extras disc like they did last year when members went to events over-seas. (If you have the DVD but haven't seen them yet, click on the airplane on the menu screen...)
Oh, for all you Becca-isms fans out there, I thought I'd shared with you the breakfast she just showed me she's eating: a bowl of strawberries mixed with broccoli and a cup of peanut butter mixed with Nutella. Well... it's good for her, at least. ^^b
I've done some work on my site last night and this morning. Anime Friends in Brazil finally made official the announcement that JAM Project's Brazil stop will be at their convention... just as we all figured, eh. ^-^ No doubt Ricardo Cruz will be joining them there since Anime Friends is his home territory, eh. I noticed in the Japan Flight clips that he's performing as a fully integrated member of the group now when he's with them. It made for a much smoother overall performance, and show-cased his own abilities better, than when he was just brought in as a featured artist for a couple songs during the encore like last couple years.
Speaking of encores, I saw the clip with them singing Skill just minutes after Fukuyama-san broke his collarbone... that guy is amazing! Aside from the fact that he wasn't bouncing around so much, there was absolutely no indication in his performance of how badly he was hurt! Wow! That's a pro!
On that note, here's today's updates list. Look for new entries on: the concert schedule page; the page following Fukuyama-san's recovery from the above mentioned broken bone; and I'm revamping the Internet Appearances and Concert Reports page - it's actually starting to have "internet appearances" info on it. (What a concept!) Working on, but not up at all yet: English translations for "No Border" and Disc 2 of the Electric Fire 2007 DVD.
See ya ^-^
peace
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Update History Archive
I'm changing my index page and moving the update history into the diary. Here's the last few updates prior to today:
Alinda Sue's Yoshiki Fukuyama site
Concert Schedule, Discography,Main (News) (April 11, 2008)
Main (News), Concert Schedule, Discography, and Profile (November 3-4, 2007)
Concert Schedule, Lyrics (October 16,2007)
Discography, Main, Concert Scheduleand large Lyrics and Translations update (October 7, 2007)
Lyrics and Translations (August 23, 2007)
peace
Alinda Sue's Yoshiki Fukuyama site
Concert Schedule, Discography,Main (News) (April 11, 2008)
Main (News), Concert Schedule, Discography, and Profile (November 3-4, 2007)
Concert Schedule, Lyrics (October 16,2007)
Discography, Main, Concert Scheduleand large Lyrics and Translations update (October 7, 2007)
Lyrics and Translations (August 23, 2007)
peace
Autism
Autism has come up a lot in the news lately. I think March was National Autism month or somethhing like that...
Interesting that, because Kirk's birthday is in March. Kirk, my son, is autistic.
He's quite a charming 24 year old with long curly "rock star" hair that he frequently wears tied back into a ponytail.
He loves food that begins with "P": pizza, pop, potato salad, and peanuts. He loves trucks, busses, and trains. He loves going places in our van. His favorite place to go is the dollar store where he can buy "eyes" (sunglasses), "hello" (toy cell phone), and "sky" (chalk).
He goes through a lot of chalk by drawing pictures of the "sky" on our patio. It started a few years ago after watching a fireworks display at a friend's Independence Day party. The next day he was drawing fireworks style arcs of color and proclaiming proudly that it was "sky". The sky changes with the seasons and events, such as the lunar eclipse we all watched a couple months ago. Suddenly, "sky" started to have a big orange circle in the middle of it...
I went to Border's to look for a book last fall. While there, I stumbled on an interesting manga story. It's called "With the Light Raising an Autistic Child" by Keiko Tobe. Originally called "Hikaru to tomo ni", it's the story of a family with an autistic son named Hikaru (translation: Light) and the everyday challenges they go through as they try to navigate their way through the special education system and society's prejudices. Some of the situations she goes through look very familiar to me.
Since I bought this one in English for a change, everyone in the house (except Kirk, of course) has gotten into reading it - even my husband. According to the Wikipedia entry, there are 12 volumes in the original Japanese, but only two volumes have come out in English so far. I look forward to the next one!
You may notice I'm finally getting back into writing in my blog here. Dan and I have both decided after eleven years that it was time to take a break from staffing Sakura-Con for a while. It feels strange actually having time to work on other things besides the con, but I'm finding I may just get used to this!
Right now, I'm in the middle of a gradual overhaul of my home page, cleaning up outdated links and tightening the design a bit... and there's the usual updates. Last week, I updated the concert schedule page and the discography and news pages (in both languages). This week, so far, I've updated the English version of the links page and overhauled the diary pages. Tonight, the plan is to revamp the index page and add another entry to the page following Fukuyama-san's progress as his collar-bone heals.
Oh! JAM Project has announced their USA stop on their world tour... looks like I'm going to Otakon in August! Of course, there'll be a report after. Look forward to it! ^^b
Till next time,
peace
Interesting that, because Kirk's birthday is in March. Kirk, my son, is autistic.He's quite a charming 24 year old with long curly "rock star" hair that he frequently wears tied back into a ponytail.
He loves food that begins with "P": pizza, pop, potato salad, and peanuts. He loves trucks, busses, and trains. He loves going places in our van. His favorite place to go is the dollar store where he can buy "eyes" (sunglasses), "hello" (toy cell phone), and "sky" (chalk).
He goes through a lot of chalk by drawing pictures of the "sky" on our patio. It started a few years ago after watching a fireworks display at a friend's Independence Day party. The next day he was drawing fireworks style arcs of color and proclaiming proudly that it was "sky". The sky changes with the seasons and events, such as the lunar eclipse we all watched a couple months ago. Suddenly, "sky" started to have a big orange circle in the middle of it...
I went to Border's to look for a book last fall. While there, I stumbled on an interesting manga story. It's called "With the Light Raising an Autistic Child" by Keiko Tobe. Originally called "Hikaru to tomo ni", it's the story of a family with an autistic son named Hikaru (translation: Light) and the everyday challenges they go through as they try to navigate their way through the special education system and society's prejudices. Some of the situations she goes through look very familiar to me.
Since I bought this one in English for a change, everyone in the house (except Kirk, of course) has gotten into reading it - even my husband. According to the Wikipedia entry, there are 12 volumes in the original Japanese, but only two volumes have come out in English so far. I look forward to the next one!
You may notice I'm finally getting back into writing in my blog here. Dan and I have both decided after eleven years that it was time to take a break from staffing Sakura-Con for a while. It feels strange actually having time to work on other things besides the con, but I'm finding I may just get used to this!
Right now, I'm in the middle of a gradual overhaul of my home page, cleaning up outdated links and tightening the design a bit... and there's the usual updates. Last week, I updated the concert schedule page and the discography and news pages (in both languages). This week, so far, I've updated the English version of the links page and overhauled the diary pages. Tonight, the plan is to revamp the index page and add another entry to the page following Fukuyama-san's progress as his collar-bone heals.
Oh! JAM Project has announced their USA stop on their world tour... looks like I'm going to Otakon in August! Of course, there'll be a report after. Look forward to it! ^^b
Till next time,
peace
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Living with War
I just heard Neil Young's new album, "Living with War". You can listen to a streaming broadcast of the entire album, on his site. Check it out!
One of the things that has really disturbed me about this whole thing with Bush's pet project (the war in Iraq) is how sanitary it has all been. The administration has done everything they can to make this war as painless for the American people as possible. They would even prefer deploying and re-deploying the same troops over and over rather than activate the draft. Why? Because if we had an active draft, the American people might actually feel the effects of being at war. It quits being just another reality show and starts becoming actual reality.
As much as I hate the thought of a draft, I also hate the fact that the American people are not allowed to see the realities of war. Newsmen are not even allowed to photograph the flag-draped coffins of those soldiers who "give the ultimate sacrifice" following the orders of their Commander-in-Chief. Since they don't see it, don't feel it, the average American has become complacent. While our leaders send more and more of our sons and daughters off to war - and whittle away more and more of those freedoms that our sons and daughters are supposed to be fighting for through means such as the Patriot Act, domestic spying, ect - "inquiring minds" are more concerned about the marital affairs of the latest Hollywood celebrities than they are about the war or even about preserving their own constitutional rights.
Neal Young's new album, "Living with War", is a protest album, plain and simple. A protest album of the likes that you'd hear from Michael Franti or a 60s era Joan Baez. Will it change many people's minds about the war? Probably not... but maybe it'll be a catylist to wake those millions of us who are already against the war from our media hypnotized stupor and motivate a greater number of people to actually go out into public and and join in the protests shouting, "Stop this insanity now!"
I can only hope. I will never willingly give up my freedoms... and hope is one freedom they can never take away.
Listen to the album. If you want the CD, you have to pay, but it doesn't cost anthing to just listen. My favorite song off the album is the title song. ^-^
peace
One of the things that has really disturbed me about this whole thing with Bush's pet project (the war in Iraq) is how sanitary it has all been. The administration has done everything they can to make this war as painless for the American people as possible. They would even prefer deploying and re-deploying the same troops over and over rather than activate the draft. Why? Because if we had an active draft, the American people might actually feel the effects of being at war. It quits being just another reality show and starts becoming actual reality.
As much as I hate the thought of a draft, I also hate the fact that the American people are not allowed to see the realities of war. Newsmen are not even allowed to photograph the flag-draped coffins of those soldiers who "give the ultimate sacrifice" following the orders of their Commander-in-Chief. Since they don't see it, don't feel it, the average American has become complacent. While our leaders send more and more of our sons and daughters off to war - and whittle away more and more of those freedoms that our sons and daughters are supposed to be fighting for through means such as the Patriot Act, domestic spying, ect - "inquiring minds" are more concerned about the marital affairs of the latest Hollywood celebrities than they are about the war or even about preserving their own constitutional rights.
Neal Young's new album, "Living with War", is a protest album, plain and simple. A protest album of the likes that you'd hear from Michael Franti or a 60s era Joan Baez. Will it change many people's minds about the war? Probably not... but maybe it'll be a catylist to wake those millions of us who are already against the war from our media hypnotized stupor and motivate a greater number of people to actually go out into public and and join in the protests shouting, "Stop this insanity now!"
I can only hope. I will never willingly give up my freedoms... and hope is one freedom they can never take away.
Listen to the album. If you want the CD, you have to pay, but it doesn't cost anthing to just listen. My favorite song off the album is the title song. ^-^
peace
Friday, May 12, 2006
Macross 25th anniversary
Hello, everybody ^-^
2007 will be quite a year! Not only will it mark the 10th Sakura-Con and my 25th wedding anniversary, but it is the 25th anniversary of Macross.
If ever there was a perfect year to invite Yoshiki Fukuyama to Sakura-Con, this would be it!
If you like Yoshiki Fukuyama and attend Sakura-Con or would attend if Fukuyama-san was a guest there, please join me in trying to convince Sakura-Con's Director of Relations to invite him.
Here's a copy of a message I wrote on the Sakura-Con message board:
Thank you for your support. ^-^
peace
2007 will be quite a year! Not only will it mark the 10th Sakura-Con and my 25th wedding anniversary, but it is the 25th anniversary of Macross.
If ever there was a perfect year to invite Yoshiki Fukuyama to Sakura-Con, this would be it!
If you like Yoshiki Fukuyama and attend Sakura-Con or would attend if Fukuyama-san was a guest there, please join me in trying to convince Sakura-Con's Director of Relations to invite him.
Here's a copy of a message I wrote on the Sakura-Con message board:
This really makes me feel old because I was married by the time Macross came out, but it's recently come to my attention that 2007 is the 25th anniversary of the Macross series.
I know there are a lot of Macross fans out there. This is the year to make yourself known! It would be great to have some Macross related guests at Sakura-Con 2007!
http://scmb.sakuracon.org/viewtopic.php?t=13095
Post who you want to see at Sakura-Con 2007. Even if the person you want has already been mentioned, please, mention him or her again. Sabrina is looking at how often possible guests are asked for.
My personal choices:
One of the things that separates Macross from just any decent Mecha show (like Gundam) is the music. For that reason, I would like to see the main vocalists from the two main Macross series: Mari Iijima and Yoshiki Fukuyama.
As everyone knows, Mari Iijima is the voice of Lynn Minmay in the original Macross series. She's done several conventions and would no doubt be fun to have at Sakura-Con.
What some people may not know is who did the 99% of the singing voice and all the guitar work for the main character in Macross 7 - mainly because in the show and even on most of the soundtrack CDs the songs are all attributed to Fire Bomber, the fictional band in the show. However, if you look in the "thank you" section of the CDs and at some of the song writing credits, you'll see his name: Yoshiki Fukuyama.
Even for that segment of Macross fans who thought the only good thing about Macross 7 was the music would enjoy watching Yoshiki Fukuyama perform. I've seen Fukuyama-san in concert. Not only is he an excellent singer and masterful guitarist, but he's also friendly and just plain fun!
Aside from their involvement in Macross, both these performers are currently active. Fukuyama-san especially has been extremely active, both on his own (opening theme to "Overman King Gainer" and others) and as a member of JAM Project ("Panda Z" theme and many others).
Anyhow, if you'd like to see either of these people or others from Macross, we have to convince Relations to invite them. Please, click on the above link and post in that thread.
peace
Thank you for your support. ^-^
peace
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Happy birthday, dear website!
It's a few days late, but Happy New Year!
It's been four years now since January 8, 2002 when I put together a few web pages "just for the sake of learning how to make a web site". I guess I'm still learning, because I keep making new pages for the site. ^-^b
I just spent the last few hours doing exactly what I did this day 4 years ago: adding new information to the Yoshiki Fukuyama profile page. It's hard to believe there were only six pages on this site back then!
Ever since Christmas, I've taken the time to slow down a bit and actually catch up on my web site and some email. There's even been a little activity on the BBS! I happy. (^^)
Recent updates in the Yoshiki Fukuyama site to watch for:
- actually finished creating translation pages for the Fire Bomber 2005 DVDs with the help of my daughter, Eleanor, and my friend, Pedro.
- Updated the discography page with some new, some updated, and some corrected (thanks, Zhane) information.
- corrected the titles of a couple songs on the lyrics page (thanks, Zhane)
- updated the concert schedule page for the new year and added new concert information
- checked, updated, and added to the links
- updated the news pages
The rest of this weekend is to be devoted to finishing email. After that, I need to spend the next week or so finishing some work for Sakura-Con. As soon as I can, I plan to get back to translating. As it says on the page, "the translations are done in no particular order as I get to them," but there seems to be a lot of interest these days in the JAM Project songs used in the show "Gravion", so I guess they are next on my list, eh.
There's also a wonderful TV interview transcript a fan in Japan wrote out that would be great to translate for everyone. Here's a link to the transcript:
part 1 http://nagashi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-182.html
part 2 http://nagashi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-183.html
I'll get get caught up, eventually - some year.
In other news, Becca updated her blog again... thanks to Jones soda and (yes, I'm going to say it) assholes. Your going to have to read it to find out exactly what that's all about. I found it quite interesting...
Well, see y'all later, eh. I promise it will be within the month.
peace
It's been four years now since January 8, 2002 when I put together a few web pages "just for the sake of learning how to make a web site". I guess I'm still learning, because I keep making new pages for the site. ^-^b
I just spent the last few hours doing exactly what I did this day 4 years ago: adding new information to the Yoshiki Fukuyama profile page. It's hard to believe there were only six pages on this site back then!
Ever since Christmas, I've taken the time to slow down a bit and actually catch up on my web site and some email. There's even been a little activity on the BBS! I happy. (^^)
Recent updates in the Yoshiki Fukuyama site to watch for:
- actually finished creating translation pages for the Fire Bomber 2005 DVDs with the help of my daughter, Eleanor, and my friend, Pedro.
- Updated the discography page with some new, some updated, and some corrected (thanks, Zhane) information.
- corrected the titles of a couple songs on the lyrics page (thanks, Zhane)
- updated the concert schedule page for the new year and added new concert information
- checked, updated, and added to the links
- updated the news pages
The rest of this weekend is to be devoted to finishing email. After that, I need to spend the next week or so finishing some work for Sakura-Con. As soon as I can, I plan to get back to translating. As it says on the page, "the translations are done in no particular order as I get to them," but there seems to be a lot of interest these days in the JAM Project songs used in the show "Gravion", so I guess they are next on my list, eh.
There's also a wonderful TV interview transcript a fan in Japan wrote out that would be great to translate for everyone. Here's a link to the transcript:
part 1 http://nagashi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-182.html
part 2 http://nagashi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-183.html
I'll get get caught up, eventually - some year.
In other news, Becca updated her blog again... thanks to Jones soda and (yes, I'm going to say it) assholes. Your going to have to read it to find out exactly what that's all about. I found it quite interesting...
Well, see y'all later, eh. I promise it will be within the month.
peace
Thursday, December 29, 2005
It's official...
Straight from the horses mouth, so to speak...
Fukuyama-san finally updated his diary. ^-^
He says that it's been about 2 months (since November 1st) since he quit smoking! Yeah! He says that he still has the urge to smoke, but he hasn't been doing it. I imagine it must be pretty difficult. Tobacco is a strong addiction to overcome. I wish him the best in his efforts.
Well, gotta go to work now. I just thought you'd be interested in the news. See y'all later. ^-^
peace
Fukuyama-san finally updated his diary. ^-^
He says that it's been about 2 months (since November 1st) since he quit smoking! Yeah! He says that he still has the urge to smoke, but he hasn't been doing it. I imagine it must be pretty difficult. Tobacco is a strong addiction to overcome. I wish him the best in his efforts.
Well, gotta go to work now. I just thought you'd be interested in the news. See y'all later. ^-^
peace
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Merry Christmas... a little late
Hello everyone. Long time no see. I guess I'm pretty bad at keeping my diary updated. It's been even longer since I updated mine than it has been since Fukuyama-san updated his (October 8th)! I guess my web site reflects my life. I get so caught up in everyday living that I neglect contacting friends and family... and when I have time on the computer, I get so caught up in updating basic info that I forget this diary...
Today, I updated Fukuyama-san's discography and checked and added to the page of Yoshiki Fukuyama related links.
So, did everyone have a good Christmas? We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Dan and I are both working two jobs, so we had less money worries and more festive spirit. I also went on a chrocheting binge this year. I made several ponchos and shawls and hats, etc this year. It felt good to work with my hands again, even if it did mean more time away from the computer.
To be honest, today and yesterday, I've been very lazy. They were both off-work days and I needed to just rest. I'm the oldest child in my family, and the one with the house, so everyone met here for Christmas Eve... and others came on Christmas Day. It was enjoyable, but exhausting. Then I went to work the next day. On the way home from work, I pulled over to the side of the road and slept for an hour. It was better than driving tired. I slept for almost 9 hours that night... very unusual for me. I usually only sleep 4 or 5 hours.
No one uses my BBS much. I take that back - SPAMMERS use the BBS more than anyone. It's gotten to the point that I am considering making people register to post... or maybe I'll just give the "general" area to the spammers and mark it as such so everyone knows to stay out of there. What do you all think? Please comment.
Well New Year's Eve is very soon. I hope to get my Christmas greetings out before then... well, maybe they'll just be New Year's greetings. A couple friends in Japan sent me Christmas ecards... They definitely are tops on the get them in time for New Year's list, eh. If I start tonight, maybe I'll get there in time... must remember that the new year starts in Japan at 0700 December 31st here. Time zones are such fun!
By the way, have you seen timeanddate.com yet? It's a great site I found that helps keep track of the whole time zone difference issue, along with several very interesting international communication issues. I use the site a lot!
Wel, I still need to update the Japanese version of the diary, so I'll see y'all later. Hopefully, not much later though, eh.
peace
Today, I updated Fukuyama-san's discography and checked and added to the page of Yoshiki Fukuyama related links.
So, did everyone have a good Christmas? We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Dan and I are both working two jobs, so we had less money worries and more festive spirit. I also went on a chrocheting binge this year. I made several ponchos and shawls and hats, etc this year. It felt good to work with my hands again, even if it did mean more time away from the computer.
To be honest, today and yesterday, I've been very lazy. They were both off-work days and I needed to just rest. I'm the oldest child in my family, and the one with the house, so everyone met here for Christmas Eve... and others came on Christmas Day. It was enjoyable, but exhausting. Then I went to work the next day. On the way home from work, I pulled over to the side of the road and slept for an hour. It was better than driving tired. I slept for almost 9 hours that night... very unusual for me. I usually only sleep 4 or 5 hours.
No one uses my BBS much. I take that back - SPAMMERS use the BBS more than anyone. It's gotten to the point that I am considering making people register to post... or maybe I'll just give the "general" area to the spammers and mark it as such so everyone knows to stay out of there. What do you all think? Please comment.
Well New Year's Eve is very soon. I hope to get my Christmas greetings out before then... well, maybe they'll just be New Year's greetings. A couple friends in Japan sent me Christmas ecards... They definitely are tops on the get them in time for New Year's list, eh. If I start tonight, maybe I'll get there in time... must remember that the new year starts in Japan at 0700 December 31st here. Time zones are such fun!
By the way, have you seen timeanddate.com yet? It's a great site I found that helps keep track of the whole time zone difference issue, along with several very interesting international communication issues. I use the site a lot!
Wel, I still need to update the Japanese version of the diary, so I'll see y'all later. Hopefully, not much later though, eh.
peace
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Catching up before heading out...
Good morning, everyone ^-^
I'm leaving town (and my computer) for a few days to go camping. We're traveling up to the North Cascades and then heading over to Sun Lakes State Park to visit with my mom and step-dad who are camp hosts there this year. It should be a lot of fun! Look for me to be back Wednesday night or Thursday. I'm not keeping a strict time schedule... the object of this trip is to take our time and relax.
This will be my second foray into the mountains this year. The first time was on my birthday, August 15th - which just happens to be the same day that Fukuyama-san's DVD went on sale to the open public. More on that later...
For my birthday, we went to Mt. Rainier, or as the locals here call it "the mountain". With the Olympic Mountains up in the northwest corner of the state and the Cascades bisecting the state from British Columbia to Oregon, we actually have quite a number of mountains in the area - but only one mountain is THE mountain: Mt. Rainier. I see it daily. It calls to me. For my birthday, I shed myself of all obligations and I answered.
Well, actually, I did still have to go to work that morning. It's a good thing the mountain is relatively close. I got off work at 13:00, drove home quickly, threw the kids and supplies in the car, and headed out. Oh yeah... and I checked the mail, but more on that later...
Since it's only an hour and a half drive to the mountain, we've been there a fair number of times. There are several ways to enter Mt. Rainier National Park. The easiest and most common is the main entrance that takes you up to Longmire and the visitors center in Paradise. (Directions from here: east on South 38th Street to Pacific Avenue and hang a right. Then keep going on that main drag for about 50 miles till you bump into it.) You can also approach the mountain from the Packwood area to the South, coming up from Mt. Saint Helens, and travel through Ohanapacosh and Stevens Canyon up to the visitors center in Paradise. You can also approach the Mountain from the north by going through Enumclaw to the White River entrance -that'll take you up to a smaller visitors center at Sunrise - or you can bypass the White River entrance and loop around to the Stevens Canyon entrance heading up to Paradise.
This time we entered through the Carbon River entrance. I hadn't been to the Carbon River side since I was a teen and the kids were curious to see what up that way. This particular entrance has been closed a number of times over the years due to road washout and the route is not connected to the roads that loop around the mountain, so it is a good deal more primitive than the rest of the park. We hadn't planned on camping, although I did add a few blankets and extra food to our supplies in case I needed to pull over and sleep. It's a good thing I did! We got about 100 feet into the park and the road turned into a narrow gravel road that was often only one lane wide due to washouts. To someone like me who's from a family of mountain goats, the road wasn't too bad, but I definitely didn't want to try navigating it in the dark.
Anyhow, we stopped and took a short trail through the river headed for a waterfall. We ended up stopping before the end due to a bridge being washed out, but we had a lot of fun at the river anyhow. (Most of us could have navigated across that stretch of river anyhow, but remembering that a group is only as strong as its weakest member is key to wilderness surival.) After spending a fun couple hours there, it was getting late, so we decided to head all the way in to the campground.
We ate dinner (sandwiches bought at Subway on the way up) at the campground. It was a nice campground and on that Monday night it was not too crowded. There was no running water and pit toilets, but I came prepared for that. We had plenty of water. What we didn't have, because I hadn't really planned on camping, was a tent. We moved things around and got "cozy" in the van for the night. Despite the less than ideal sleeping conditions, the kids really enjoyed that campground. In the morning, we walked around and explored the campground for a while. We found the trailhead leading up to Carbon Glacier - about a 4 hour hike - and made plans to come back again, better prepared and with more time so that we can hike up that trail next visit. Then we ate some graham crackers and peanut butter and washed it down with a little Tang and headed back down the mountain.
On the way out, we visited an interesting old cemetary in Wilkeson. Actually, the cemetary is still in use and it was fascinating to compare the recent graves to those from over a hundred years ago.
When we got home, I opened the package that had come in the mail the day before.
I mentioned that Yoshiki Fukuyama's DVD went on sale to the general public on my birthday. Well, it was available for early sale during his concerts, starting the end of July. Pedro, knowing that the DVD was going to come out and not wanting to hassle with the people at Three-Nine, had left some money with a friend who was going to the concert in July. He left enough for the friend to buy copies for both of us... and my copy arrived precisely on my birthday! That was the best birthday present I got this year! Thank you, Pedro!
About the DVD: Yoshiki Fukuyama's FIRE BOMBER 2005 ~Tribute to Nekki Basara~, recorded live at Shinkiba Studio Coast in Tokyo. It's the Tokyo version of the same show Pedro saw in Osaka. Unlike Fukuyama-san's first DVD, the one is a first rate production. They went all out this time, showing the entire concert with the entire songs and very little of the MC segments cut out. It's a truly professional looking production that makes it easy to enjoy the wonderfully crazy personalities of Fukuyama-san and the members of his band. There's also a second CD that has interviews and behind the scenes footage of the concert. There's also a segment where Fukuyama-san talks about the making of the working replica of Nekki Basara's guitar that he had specially made for the tribute tour. True to Fukuyama-san's standards, the replica not only works, but it works well. The sound is awsome!
Of course, the entire thing is in Japanese. Eleanor and I have begun work on creating a full report of the DVDs, complete with translations... but it's going to be a while before we can finish it. This week, my computer's decided to have major problems and I can't access my largest hard drive - the one with all my editing and word processing software on it - so I can't update my site until we get things fixed.
There are several updates that need to be put up. For now, I'll post information here.
First, the upcoming JAM Project tour is now call "King Gong". ^-^
JAM Project finally has their own official site
They also have a new CD single coming out October 21st. It's the opening theme to a drama called "Garo".
In other news, Becca-isms was updated a few days ago. Also, now daughter #3 also has her own site: TZone
And... my friend Flavio's anisongs.net site is down temporarily while he does a total renewal of the site. Grand Re-opening should be in a couple weeks.
I think there's a couple other updates that I'm forgetting. They'll have to wait until after the trip.
See y'all when we get back!
peace
I'm leaving town (and my computer) for a few days to go camping. We're traveling up to the North Cascades and then heading over to Sun Lakes State Park to visit with my mom and step-dad who are camp hosts there this year. It should be a lot of fun! Look for me to be back Wednesday night or Thursday. I'm not keeping a strict time schedule... the object of this trip is to take our time and relax.
This will be my second foray into the mountains this year. The first time was on my birthday, August 15th - which just happens to be the same day that Fukuyama-san's DVD went on sale to the open public. More on that later...
For my birthday, we went to Mt. Rainier, or as the locals here call it "the mountain". With the Olympic Mountains up in the northwest corner of the state and the Cascades bisecting the state from British Columbia to Oregon, we actually have quite a number of mountains in the area - but only one mountain is THE mountain: Mt. Rainier. I see it daily. It calls to me. For my birthday, I shed myself of all obligations and I answered.
Well, actually, I did still have to go to work that morning. It's a good thing the mountain is relatively close. I got off work at 13:00, drove home quickly, threw the kids and supplies in the car, and headed out. Oh yeah... and I checked the mail, but more on that later...
Since it's only an hour and a half drive to the mountain, we've been there a fair number of times. There are several ways to enter Mt. Rainier National Park. The easiest and most common is the main entrance that takes you up to Longmire and the visitors center in Paradise. (Directions from here: east on South 38th Street to Pacific Avenue and hang a right. Then keep going on that main drag for about 50 miles till you bump into it.) You can also approach the mountain from the Packwood area to the South, coming up from Mt. Saint Helens, and travel through Ohanapacosh and Stevens Canyon up to the visitors center in Paradise. You can also approach the Mountain from the north by going through Enumclaw to the White River entrance -that'll take you up to a smaller visitors center at Sunrise - or you can bypass the White River entrance and loop around to the Stevens Canyon entrance heading up to Paradise.
This time we entered through the Carbon River entrance. I hadn't been to the Carbon River side since I was a teen and the kids were curious to see what up that way. This particular entrance has been closed a number of times over the years due to road washout and the route is not connected to the roads that loop around the mountain, so it is a good deal more primitive than the rest of the park. We hadn't planned on camping, although I did add a few blankets and extra food to our supplies in case I needed to pull over and sleep. It's a good thing I did! We got about 100 feet into the park and the road turned into a narrow gravel road that was often only one lane wide due to washouts. To someone like me who's from a family of mountain goats, the road wasn't too bad, but I definitely didn't want to try navigating it in the dark.
Anyhow, we stopped and took a short trail through the river headed for a waterfall. We ended up stopping before the end due to a bridge being washed out, but we had a lot of fun at the river anyhow. (Most of us could have navigated across that stretch of river anyhow, but remembering that a group is only as strong as its weakest member is key to wilderness surival.) After spending a fun couple hours there, it was getting late, so we decided to head all the way in to the campground.
We ate dinner (sandwiches bought at Subway on the way up) at the campground. It was a nice campground and on that Monday night it was not too crowded. There was no running water and pit toilets, but I came prepared for that. We had plenty of water. What we didn't have, because I hadn't really planned on camping, was a tent. We moved things around and got "cozy" in the van for the night. Despite the less than ideal sleeping conditions, the kids really enjoyed that campground. In the morning, we walked around and explored the campground for a while. We found the trailhead leading up to Carbon Glacier - about a 4 hour hike - and made plans to come back again, better prepared and with more time so that we can hike up that trail next visit. Then we ate some graham crackers and peanut butter and washed it down with a little Tang and headed back down the mountain.
On the way out, we visited an interesting old cemetary in Wilkeson. Actually, the cemetary is still in use and it was fascinating to compare the recent graves to those from over a hundred years ago.
When we got home, I opened the package that had come in the mail the day before.
I mentioned that Yoshiki Fukuyama's DVD went on sale to the general public on my birthday. Well, it was available for early sale during his concerts, starting the end of July. Pedro, knowing that the DVD was going to come out and not wanting to hassle with the people at Three-Nine, had left some money with a friend who was going to the concert in July. He left enough for the friend to buy copies for both of us... and my copy arrived precisely on my birthday! That was the best birthday present I got this year! Thank you, Pedro!
About the DVD: Yoshiki Fukuyama's FIRE BOMBER 2005 ~Tribute to Nekki Basara~, recorded live at Shinkiba Studio Coast in Tokyo. It's the Tokyo version of the same show Pedro saw in Osaka. Unlike Fukuyama-san's first DVD, the one is a first rate production. They went all out this time, showing the entire concert with the entire songs and very little of the MC segments cut out. It's a truly professional looking production that makes it easy to enjoy the wonderfully crazy personalities of Fukuyama-san and the members of his band. There's also a second CD that has interviews and behind the scenes footage of the concert. There's also a segment where Fukuyama-san talks about the making of the working replica of Nekki Basara's guitar that he had specially made for the tribute tour. True to Fukuyama-san's standards, the replica not only works, but it works well. The sound is awsome!
Of course, the entire thing is in Japanese. Eleanor and I have begun work on creating a full report of the DVDs, complete with translations... but it's going to be a while before we can finish it. This week, my computer's decided to have major problems and I can't access my largest hard drive - the one with all my editing and word processing software on it - so I can't update my site until we get things fixed.
There are several updates that need to be put up. For now, I'll post information here.
First, the upcoming JAM Project tour is now call "King Gong". ^-^
JAM Project finally has their own official site
They also have a new CD single coming out October 21st. It's the opening theme to a drama called "Garo".
In other news, Becca-isms was updated a few days ago. Also, now daughter #3 also has her own site: TZone
And... my friend Flavio's anisongs.net site is down temporarily while he does a total renewal of the site. Grand Re-opening should be in a couple weeks.
I think there's a couple other updates that I'm forgetting. They'll have to wait until after the trip.
See y'all when we get back!
peace
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Well, it's been a while...
By popular demand (well... not so popular, but demand anyhow...) I'm finally updating the diary on my site. Hi, Pedro!
By the way, Pedro's back... has been for a couple months now. He's posted a couple entries about his trip in his blog. He's got more to post yet, but I suppose I'm in no position to fault him for being slow, eh.
Well, anyhow, today, I have a rant and a report about what happened on my birthday. I suppose I'll start with the rant, just to get it over with. Maybe putting the rant first will give me incentive to keep it short, eh.
Anybody out there who has not heard of Cindy Sheehan? The last couple of weeks, she's been a focal point around which a lot of anti-war groups have begun to rally. It's gratifying, but odd that so many people waited until now to come together. Ms Sheehan's began her work long enough ago that I've had a link to her website on my page for months.
For anyone who's been living in a cave and doesn't know who Cindy Sheehan is: President Bush's latest piece of idiocy is to declare that we have to stay the course in Iraq because pulling out now would be dishonor the soldiers who have given their lives to the cause. Ms Sheehan heard this and was outraged. Not only was her son's life wasted in a war that was begun under false pretenses, but now the same president who invoked those false pretenses was now using the sacrifice of soldiers, like her son, as justification for not bringing the rest of the troops home! Then he went on vacation.
So she set up camp on the road to his "rustic" vacationland and said that she was going to stay there till he came off vacation at the end of August or until he came down of his high horse and actually faced up to her. When news of this hit, she was quickly joined by many other people and groups that felt the same as she did about what's going on.
She had to leave early due to a family emergency, but the other protesters still remain to support the cause and to let Bush know that the American people don't believe his nonsense any more. His "approval rating" has never been lower. Now that she's left, he's finally come out of hiding... not to address Ms Sheehan or the groups supporting her, but to "answer to" Ms Sheehan at talks at a few specially selected policy friendly audiences. What's he saying in answer to her? Almost word for word the same speach that he gave before she set up camp. He's either an idiot, or he thinks the entire United States is populated by nothing but gullible fools who'll accept anything if you say it often enough.
Well, maybe so... We were going through looking for a video the other day and stumbled across a tape of the movie, Animal Farm, based on George Orwell's book of the same name. I would reccommend that book (or the movie) to anyone over the age of 12 who hasn't read it yet. I first heard of the book when I was in high school. I remember the teacher saying that the story in the book was often sited as a comparison to the history of communism, despite the fact that the author clearly said that he had not fully intended it as such. It's the story of some animals on a farm that rebelled against and drove out their human oppressors. Then the set up a free and equal society with a constitution of sorts that governed their society painted on the side of the barn wall. The first article in the costituation was "All animals are equal". Slowly, over the course of the book, the constitution started to subtly change with someone making slight changes in during the nights. Of course, as the governing document changed, so did the society with it... until at the end of the book, the first article now read, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
Read the book, then take a good look at our "Homeland Security" and "Patriot Act". If you aren't as frightened as I am by the similarities there, then you just aren't paying attention.
Well, so much for keeping the rant short. I need to go get milk because we are out. I'll post about my birthday (yes, Pedro, and about the DVD) later this afternoon.
Real quick, in closing, I found a couple op-ed pieces written by Ted Rall that say quite elloquently some of the same things I've been saying about the world situation. (Except I have no problem with "Victory Gardens". I think they'd be great tool in the "war" against poverty.)
GOT EMPATHY?
SACRIFICE? COUNT ME OUT
peace
By the way, Pedro's back... has been for a couple months now. He's posted a couple entries about his trip in his blog. He's got more to post yet, but I suppose I'm in no position to fault him for being slow, eh.
Well, anyhow, today, I have a rant and a report about what happened on my birthday. I suppose I'll start with the rant, just to get it over with. Maybe putting the rant first will give me incentive to keep it short, eh.
Anybody out there who has not heard of Cindy Sheehan? The last couple of weeks, she's been a focal point around which a lot of anti-war groups have begun to rally. It's gratifying, but odd that so many people waited until now to come together. Ms Sheehan's began her work long enough ago that I've had a link to her website on my page for months.
For anyone who's been living in a cave and doesn't know who Cindy Sheehan is: President Bush's latest piece of idiocy is to declare that we have to stay the course in Iraq because pulling out now would be dishonor the soldiers who have given their lives to the cause. Ms Sheehan heard this and was outraged. Not only was her son's life wasted in a war that was begun under false pretenses, but now the same president who invoked those false pretenses was now using the sacrifice of soldiers, like her son, as justification for not bringing the rest of the troops home! Then he went on vacation.
So she set up camp on the road to his "rustic" vacationland and said that she was going to stay there till he came off vacation at the end of August or until he came down of his high horse and actually faced up to her. When news of this hit, she was quickly joined by many other people and groups that felt the same as she did about what's going on.
She had to leave early due to a family emergency, but the other protesters still remain to support the cause and to let Bush know that the American people don't believe his nonsense any more. His "approval rating" has never been lower. Now that she's left, he's finally come out of hiding... not to address Ms Sheehan or the groups supporting her, but to "answer to" Ms Sheehan at talks at a few specially selected policy friendly audiences. What's he saying in answer to her? Almost word for word the same speach that he gave before she set up camp. He's either an idiot, or he thinks the entire United States is populated by nothing but gullible fools who'll accept anything if you say it often enough.
Well, maybe so... We were going through looking for a video the other day and stumbled across a tape of the movie, Animal Farm, based on George Orwell's book of the same name. I would reccommend that book (or the movie) to anyone over the age of 12 who hasn't read it yet. I first heard of the book when I was in high school. I remember the teacher saying that the story in the book was often sited as a comparison to the history of communism, despite the fact that the author clearly said that he had not fully intended it as such. It's the story of some animals on a farm that rebelled against and drove out their human oppressors. Then the set up a free and equal society with a constitution of sorts that governed their society painted on the side of the barn wall. The first article in the costituation was "All animals are equal". Slowly, over the course of the book, the constitution started to subtly change with someone making slight changes in during the nights. Of course, as the governing document changed, so did the society with it... until at the end of the book, the first article now read, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
Read the book, then take a good look at our "Homeland Security" and "Patriot Act". If you aren't as frightened as I am by the similarities there, then you just aren't paying attention.
Well, so much for keeping the rant short. I need to go get milk because we are out. I'll post about my birthday (yes, Pedro, and about the DVD) later this afternoon.
Real quick, in closing, I found a couple op-ed pieces written by Ted Rall that say quite elloquently some of the same things I've been saying about the world situation. (Except I have no problem with "Victory Gardens". I think they'd be great tool in the "war" against poverty.)
GOT EMPATHY?
SACRIFICE? COUNT ME OUT
peace
Monday, June 13, 2005
Sorry, didn't get the updates done.
It's been a very busy week. Hopefully, I'll get them up this week sometime this week...
Pedro was able to get an email out to me... apparently he's having trouble getting into the hotel's wireless network for internet...
Anyhow, I found out that he definitely got to Fukuyama-san's concert and met Tsuyoshi-san there, but something happened and he didn't make it to Tsuyoshi-san's concert. What happened, I can only speculate on for now. He returns to Puerto Rico from Japan sometime tomorrow, if I remember right. I'll ask him about it then.
Well, see ya later, eh.
peace
Pedro was able to get an email out to me... apparently he's having trouble getting into the hotel's wireless network for internet...
Anyhow, I found out that he definitely got to Fukuyama-san's concert and met Tsuyoshi-san there, but something happened and he didn't make it to Tsuyoshi-san's concert. What happened, I can only speculate on for now. He returns to Puerto Rico from Japan sometime tomorrow, if I remember right. I'll ask him about it then.
Well, see ya later, eh.
peace
Sunday, June 05, 2005
I messed up...
This morning I was rearranging the BBS message areas to more clearly match my home page and accidentally erased all the messages in "Yoshiki Fukuyama Fan Chatter". ^^;
Sorry. We're going to have to start over from here, eh. By the way, I added a Fukuyama-san related poll to the message area.
I finally got word that Pedro made it to Japan ok. Tsuyoshi-san posted on his BBS and on Fukuyama-san's BBS that he found Pedro at Fukuyama-san's concert. ^-^ Yeah!
He's going to Tsuyoshi-san's concert today... or actually, he went to Tsuyoshi-san's concert yesterday. (They are 17 hours ahead of us in Japan. It's already almost 2am over there.) I look forward to seeing their reports of the concerts... and Pedro's pictures. I told Pedro to take lots of pictures...
As I said, we went to Folklife Festival in Seattle last Sunday. As usual, it was totally cool! We saw some performances by a a group of flaminco dancers, a rock group singing in Punjabi, a trio that consisted of guitar, drums, and bagpipes, and a small but ecclectic klezmer band. Also, as usual, there were lots of street performers everywhere... some of them were buskers and some were just people who decided on the spur of the moment to just play. My favorite was this couple on guitar and spoons (I think)... and their little daughter, who couldn't have been more than about 4 or 5, who would hold out a cup and say "money, please".(heehee) Her parents told her to dance around instead, but we got more kick out of watching her with the cup.
Actually, we got to the festival a little later than usual this year because on the way we kind of made a slight detour to Kinokuniya so the girls could get their monthly manga fix. Of course, I also picked up the CDs I had ordered: Fukuyama Fire! (by Yoshiki Fukuyama) and Insert Song Collection (by JAM Project). After that we walked the couple miles to Seattle Center from the International District which had the desired effect of tiring the kids out enough that I was actually able to sit and watch a couple whole performances. (Yeah!)
Fukuyama Fire! is cool. Go and add it to your Fire Bomber collection - if for no other reason but for the new song, "Like a fire"! I'll be adding a translation of the song to my site sometime tonight (I hope). I'm also working on JAM project's "Peaceful One" off the JAM-ISM album and "asu he no hougou" off the "Insert Song Collection" CD that I just bought.
Till next time...
peace
Sorry. We're going to have to start over from here, eh. By the way, I added a Fukuyama-san related poll to the message area.
I finally got word that Pedro made it to Japan ok. Tsuyoshi-san posted on his BBS and on Fukuyama-san's BBS that he found Pedro at Fukuyama-san's concert. ^-^ Yeah!
He's going to Tsuyoshi-san's concert today... or actually, he went to Tsuyoshi-san's concert yesterday. (They are 17 hours ahead of us in Japan. It's already almost 2am over there.) I look forward to seeing their reports of the concerts... and Pedro's pictures. I told Pedro to take lots of pictures...
As I said, we went to Folklife Festival in Seattle last Sunday. As usual, it was totally cool! We saw some performances by a a group of flaminco dancers, a rock group singing in Punjabi, a trio that consisted of guitar, drums, and bagpipes, and a small but ecclectic klezmer band. Also, as usual, there were lots of street performers everywhere... some of them were buskers and some were just people who decided on the spur of the moment to just play. My favorite was this couple on guitar and spoons (I think)... and their little daughter, who couldn't have been more than about 4 or 5, who would hold out a cup and say "money, please".(heehee) Her parents told her to dance around instead, but we got more kick out of watching her with the cup.
Actually, we got to the festival a little later than usual this year because on the way we kind of made a slight detour to Kinokuniya so the girls could get their monthly manga fix. Of course, I also picked up the CDs I had ordered: Fukuyama Fire! (by Yoshiki Fukuyama) and Insert Song Collection (by JAM Project). After that we walked the couple miles to Seattle Center from the International District which had the desired effect of tiring the kids out enough that I was actually able to sit and watch a couple whole performances. (Yeah!)
Fukuyama Fire! is cool. Go and add it to your Fire Bomber collection - if for no other reason but for the new song, "Like a fire"! I'll be adding a translation of the song to my site sometime tonight (I hope). I'm also working on JAM project's "Peaceful One" off the JAM-ISM album and "asu he no hougou" off the "Insert Song Collection" CD that I just bought.
Till next time...
peace
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Hey, Pedro!
Pedro, my friend in Puerto Rico is leaving on a trip to Japan tomorrow. On June 4th he's going to Yoshiki Fukuyama's tribute to Macross 7's main character, Nekki Basara. (For those who don't already know, Fukuyama-san was the singing voice of Basara during the run of the series, 1994-1998.)
I do have to admit to a just little bit of envy, but I'm very happy he's going. I look forward to seeing his report. (Lots of pictures, right, Pedro... LOTS of pictures!)
He'll be posting his report on his site:
Road to Jungle Fire
Anyhow, for the sake of Pedro and anyone else who may be interested, I translated the announcement on Fukuyama-san's site about the tour goods that will be on sale at the concert. It's posted on the main news page of the Fukuyama section of my site.
By the way, for anybody that is trying to reach me today: the kids and I will be at the Folklife Festival in Seattle. I'll tell you all about it when we get back. ^-^
peace
I do have to admit to a just little bit of envy, but I'm very happy he's going. I look forward to seeing his report. (Lots of pictures, right, Pedro... LOTS of pictures!)
He'll be posting his report on his site:
Road to Jungle Fire
Anyhow, for the sake of Pedro and anyone else who may be interested, I translated the announcement on Fukuyama-san's site about the tour goods that will be on sale at the concert. It's posted on the main news page of the Fukuyama section of my site.
By the way, for anybody that is trying to reach me today: the kids and I will be at the Folklife Festival in Seattle. I'll tell you all about it when we get back. ^-^
peace
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Nekokoshan and Kitty
Nekokoshan died last Sunday.
For those that don't know, Nekokoshan was Yoshiki Fukuyama's cat. He entered into Fukuyama-san's life as a kitten, way back in the very early 90s. He and a fellow member of Humming Bird wrote a song about the kitten called, of course, "Nekokoshan". The song was included on their first album and Fukuyama-san has been singing about Nekokosan ("Mr. Kitten" in little-kid speak)ever since.
We have a "nekokoshan" of our own: her name is Kitty. She originally belonged to a friend's daughter who had to move and couldn't keep the cat. Six years ago, when we took her in, I asked if she had a name. My friend didn't know. She said that they all just called her "kitty", and we were too lazy to think of another, so that's what we call her to this day...
On his concert DVD, Fukuyama-san told of how they named the cat nekokoshan because they were too lazy to come up with another name. 16 years later, the old grandfather of a cat was still called by his kitten name, Nekokoshan.
Interesting enough, Fukuyama-san's cat and our cat have more than just name origins in common. They both look alike too.
It's amazing how cats work their way into our hearts. They literally become part of our families... and we grieve for a while when they are gone.
We all learned of Nekokoshan through a song. The tale of his antics brought him into our homes... and, in a way, he became part of all of our families. We will all miss him.
Goodbye, Nekokoshan. Rest in peace. We'll never forget you.
For those that don't know, Nekokoshan was Yoshiki Fukuyama's cat. He entered into Fukuyama-san's life as a kitten, way back in the very early 90s. He and a fellow member of Humming Bird wrote a song about the kitten called, of course, "Nekokoshan". The song was included on their first album and Fukuyama-san has been singing about Nekokosan ("Mr. Kitten" in little-kid speak)ever since.
We have a "nekokoshan" of our own: her name is Kitty. She originally belonged to a friend's daughter who had to move and couldn't keep the cat. Six years ago, when we took her in, I asked if she had a name. My friend didn't know. She said that they all just called her "kitty", and we were too lazy to think of another, so that's what we call her to this day...
On his concert DVD, Fukuyama-san told of how they named the cat nekokoshan because they were too lazy to come up with another name. 16 years later, the old grandfather of a cat was still called by his kitten name, Nekokoshan.
Interesting enough, Fukuyama-san's cat and our cat have more than just name origins in common. They both look alike too.
It's amazing how cats work their way into our hearts. They literally become part of our families... and we grieve for a while when they are gone.
We all learned of Nekokoshan through a song. The tale of his antics brought him into our homes... and, in a way, he became part of all of our families. We will all miss him.
Goodbye, Nekokoshan. Rest in peace. We'll never forget you.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Just for fun ^-^
I ran across this survey while link hopping. My results came as no big surprise:
Becca took this same survey and came up 25% normal... (heehee)
Hope you all have a chance for some fun today!
peace
You Are 35% Normal (Occasionally Normal) |
 You sure do march to your own beat... But you're so weird, people wonder if it's a beat at all You think on a totally different wavelength And it's often a chore to get people to understand you |
Becca took this same survey and came up 25% normal... (heehee)
Hope you all have a chance for some fun today!
peace
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Stress!!
It's a good thing I'm crazy, because right now it is the only thing that's keeping me sane.
Always the optimist, I'm going to give you the "glass half-full" view of this week's events.
The good news is...
*Since Dan stayed home sick from work last weekend, I was able to take a couple of my daughters up to Kinokuniya in Seattle to pick up everybody's manga. While there, I was able to put in an pre-order for Yoshiki Fukuyama's upcoming "Fukuyama Fire!" CD.
*Pain can be your friend. Because Dan was having a lot of pain in his back, we were able to convince him of the need to call the clinic nurse, who told him to go to the emergency room and he was able to receive proper treatment before the pnuemonia became too life threatening.
*While sitting with Dan in the emergency room, I got a good long start on what's turning out to be a very nice crocheted blanket for our bed.
*We finally got medical insurance a couple months ago.
*I had enough gas in both vans to make it through most of this week.
*Both Dan and I have very understanding bosses... and a little sick leave saved up.
*Finding out that my son not having the "funding waiver" I'd been trying to apply for for months had again kept him from getting something he needed was finally the catylist his case worker needed to finally get the application started.
*Dan only spent three days in the hospital.
*I was not personally involved in that accident that backed up traffic for nearly 10 miles on I-5 yesterday while I was on my way to work. When the traffic jam became to much for our little van and it overheated, I was at a place where there was enough shoulder for me to pull over.
*Of all the people who decided to try beating the above mentioned traffic jam by using the shoulder of the road as a traffic lane, only one of them hit me... and he spared me the inevitable unpleasant conversation with him by immediately ducking back into the real traffic lane and driving off... and he didn't do too much damage to my van (fortunately)... AND my boss was very understanding when I told him I'd be over an hour late.
*Cranberry juice is good for overwhelmed and painful kidneys (not mine - Dan's)... and the nurse was on call at 03:00 this morning to tell us so... and Safeway is open 24 hours!
*Today is Saturday and, for once, I have no meetings or major errands to go on. Yah!
Sakura-Con was a lot of fun for me this year. ^-^ My kids are finally old enough that I was able to sit through a full event there... FOUR full events, in fact! Opening ceremonies, the guest reception, the angela concert, AND closing ceremonies. It was amazing! I think I like having teens and pre-teens! ^-^
For the first time in the many years that I have been involved in Sakura-Con, I actually got to go to the guest reception. It was a very enjoyable experience. Dan and I sat at a table with a girl from a "professional cosplay" group. She went by the pen name "Michiru". It was a lot of fun talking with her. I did my best to to try talking with her directly without going through the interperator...
We asked her questions about herself, what she did, and how she got into cosplaying. She asked us questions about ourselves also. When she asked about what anime we watched and I mentioned that my favorite anime was Macross 7, I learned that she was also a fan of Fukuyama-san. ^-^b
The angela concert was cool. ^-^
It started with Kumiko Kato as opening act. Kato-san was small and cute and even if she had never uttered a word, the guys would have still gone wild. However, she did open her mouth to sing... and she danced! I found myself extremely impressed by her muscle control as she danced. She sang well and she was beautiful - in more ways than one.
angela was next. angela is the duo of atsuko, on vocal, and KATSU, on guitar. atsuko-san spoke a fair amount of English and mc'd for the group. KATSU-san managed a few words of English here and there. He got quite a reaction by using the "phrase he learned for the concert": "She's a babe!"
They played songs that they had done for the animes, Stellvia... and I forget the name of the other one. (Sorry.) Their music was high energy and a lot of fun. KATSU was especially fun to watch! He has a cordless amp connection on his guitar, so he was free to prance all over the stage while he played! He may not speak much English, but he communicated well with his music. After a couple encores, the audience left the room very excited and satisfied.
The con got it's money's worth this year, to be sure!
Kato-san returned to perform during the closing ceremonies. That's when I found out that Kirk actually does look at the magazines before he shreds them. He was carrying around his backpack and his con bag with him like a security blanket during the event. As soon as she stepped on the stage, immediateley, he pulled out his program book in excitement to show me her picture. He'd never seen her before, but he know who she was. She was that beautiful girl in his book! He talked about her for days after the convention!
One new thing this year: programming brought in a comedy improv group called the 404's. One if their specialties is working the audiences at anime conventions. Bringing them in was a brilliant move on the part of programming! Always at events there are the inevitable stall for time periods as a performer or speaker gets ready to go on stage. The 404's were just the ticket for getting us through those tough times. I hope to see them again next year. ^-^
By the way, Sakura-Con 2006 will be in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, March 24-26th. Planning has already started...
peace
Always the optimist, I'm going to give you the "glass half-full" view of this week's events.
The good news is...
*Since Dan stayed home sick from work last weekend, I was able to take a couple of my daughters up to Kinokuniya in Seattle to pick up everybody's manga. While there, I was able to put in an pre-order for Yoshiki Fukuyama's upcoming "Fukuyama Fire!" CD.
*Pain can be your friend. Because Dan was having a lot of pain in his back, we were able to convince him of the need to call the clinic nurse, who told him to go to the emergency room and he was able to receive proper treatment before the pnuemonia became too life threatening.
*While sitting with Dan in the emergency room, I got a good long start on what's turning out to be a very nice crocheted blanket for our bed.
*We finally got medical insurance a couple months ago.
*I had enough gas in both vans to make it through most of this week.
*Both Dan and I have very understanding bosses... and a little sick leave saved up.
*Finding out that my son not having the "funding waiver" I'd been trying to apply for for months had again kept him from getting something he needed was finally the catylist his case worker needed to finally get the application started.
*Dan only spent three days in the hospital.
*I was not personally involved in that accident that backed up traffic for nearly 10 miles on I-5 yesterday while I was on my way to work. When the traffic jam became to much for our little van and it overheated, I was at a place where there was enough shoulder for me to pull over.
*Of all the people who decided to try beating the above mentioned traffic jam by using the shoulder of the road as a traffic lane, only one of them hit me... and he spared me the inevitable unpleasant conversation with him by immediately ducking back into the real traffic lane and driving off... and he didn't do too much damage to my van (fortunately)... AND my boss was very understanding when I told him I'd be over an hour late.
*Cranberry juice is good for overwhelmed and painful kidneys (not mine - Dan's)... and the nurse was on call at 03:00 this morning to tell us so... and Safeway is open 24 hours!
*Today is Saturday and, for once, I have no meetings or major errands to go on. Yah!
Sakura-Con was a lot of fun for me this year. ^-^ My kids are finally old enough that I was able to sit through a full event there... FOUR full events, in fact! Opening ceremonies, the guest reception, the angela concert, AND closing ceremonies. It was amazing! I think I like having teens and pre-teens! ^-^
For the first time in the many years that I have been involved in Sakura-Con, I actually got to go to the guest reception. It was a very enjoyable experience. Dan and I sat at a table with a girl from a "professional cosplay" group. She went by the pen name "Michiru". It was a lot of fun talking with her. I did my best to to try talking with her directly without going through the interperator...
We asked her questions about herself, what she did, and how she got into cosplaying. She asked us questions about ourselves also. When she asked about what anime we watched and I mentioned that my favorite anime was Macross 7, I learned that she was also a fan of Fukuyama-san. ^-^b
The angela concert was cool. ^-^
It started with Kumiko Kato as opening act. Kato-san was small and cute and even if she had never uttered a word, the guys would have still gone wild. However, she did open her mouth to sing... and she danced! I found myself extremely impressed by her muscle control as she danced. She sang well and she was beautiful - in more ways than one.
angela was next. angela is the duo of atsuko, on vocal, and KATSU, on guitar. atsuko-san spoke a fair amount of English and mc'd for the group. KATSU-san managed a few words of English here and there. He got quite a reaction by using the "phrase he learned for the concert": "She's a babe!"
They played songs that they had done for the animes, Stellvia... and I forget the name of the other one. (Sorry.) Their music was high energy and a lot of fun. KATSU was especially fun to watch! He has a cordless amp connection on his guitar, so he was free to prance all over the stage while he played! He may not speak much English, but he communicated well with his music. After a couple encores, the audience left the room very excited and satisfied.
The con got it's money's worth this year, to be sure!
Kato-san returned to perform during the closing ceremonies. That's when I found out that Kirk actually does look at the magazines before he shreds them. He was carrying around his backpack and his con bag with him like a security blanket during the event. As soon as she stepped on the stage, immediateley, he pulled out his program book in excitement to show me her picture. He'd never seen her before, but he know who she was. She was that beautiful girl in his book! He talked about her for days after the convention!
One new thing this year: programming brought in a comedy improv group called the 404's. One if their specialties is working the audiences at anime conventions. Bringing them in was a brilliant move on the part of programming! Always at events there are the inevitable stall for time periods as a performer or speaker gets ready to go on stage. The 404's were just the ticket for getting us through those tough times. I hope to see them again next year. ^-^
By the way, Sakura-Con 2006 will be in the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, March 24-26th. Planning has already started...
peace
Friday, April 01, 2005
Real quick! Before I head out the door to work...
I was looking at the links on Yoshiki Fukuyama's official site this morning and found a site I hadn't noticed before. It's an anime music site in Brazil called Anime Songs Net.
There is an article with an interview with Fukuyama-san on the site. Based on the content, I'd say the interview was the beginning of last summer... It's been translated into Portugese (of course) and, for the English speakers out there, there is an "English version" of the interview. The English isn't perfect - but if you've ever been to an "English version" of a Japanese site, it's about the same. Odd at times, but readable. I rather enjoyed the article - in both languages. (I dabbled a little with Portugese a few years ago when my sister-in-law went on a mission for our church there. ^^)
One thing I found very interesting was the article above the interview. Apparently, they did their research on the internet to write it before interviewing him. The interesting part is that, except for one mistake, it all looks like it came off the profile page of my Fukuyama site...
And the mistake? They say he is from Tokyo instead of Kamakura (which is near Tokyo... in much the same way that Tacoma is near Seattle... about 45 minutes away by car).
I gotta go... see you later. ^-^
peace
PS Just one week left until Sakura-Con 2005!
There is an article with an interview with Fukuyama-san on the site. Based on the content, I'd say the interview was the beginning of last summer... It's been translated into Portugese (of course) and, for the English speakers out there, there is an "English version" of the interview. The English isn't perfect - but if you've ever been to an "English version" of a Japanese site, it's about the same. Odd at times, but readable. I rather enjoyed the article - in both languages. (I dabbled a little with Portugese a few years ago when my sister-in-law went on a mission for our church there. ^^)
One thing I found very interesting was the article above the interview. Apparently, they did their research on the internet to write it before interviewing him. The interesting part is that, except for one mistake, it all looks like it came off the profile page of my Fukuyama site...
And the mistake? They say he is from Tokyo instead of Kamakura (which is near Tokyo... in much the same way that Tacoma is near Seattle... about 45 minutes away by car).
I gotta go... see you later. ^-^
peace
PS Just one week left until Sakura-Con 2005!
Friday, March 25, 2005
Always something going on...
Good morning ^-^
Yea, I know... it's been a while. Sorry. Life has been very hectic this year.
I recently had to ask my boss to rearrange my hours at work. I was finding that the mid-shift I was working was leaving too much burden on my older daughters. I wasn't getting home until 8:00pm, after people started to get tired. It was getting especially hard for them dealing with their brother. He may still be child mentally because of his disabilities, but he is 21 now and he knows it. He seems to find it easier to follow the orders of his mom than his sisters. In his eyes, a little sister is still a little sister, even if she is suppose to be the one in charge when mom's gone...
So, I cut back my hours at work a bit. It means a bit less money, but some things are more important than money, eh. The good news is that I am home and near the computer more often, so maybe I can get caught up on my email and site updates... well, maybe in a couple weeks...
...after Sakura-Con. I am volunteer coordinator again this year and have also helped a bit with the Japanese version of the site. I'm also ANCEA's treasurer now. ANCEA is the parent company that oversees Sakura-Con.
In other news, a chat friend of mine in Puerto Rico named Pedro is going to Japan in June. Amongst his plans is going to Yoshiki Fukuyama's tribute to Nekki Basara concert in Osaka. He already has the tickets! I wish I could go (no money this year) but I am happy that he gets to. It's been fun working with him helping him get ready and introducing him (via internet) to some of my friends over there. I look forward to reading his report of the trip!
I recently added several links to the Spread Peace page. Please check them out. One particular favorite of mine is Eyes Wide Open. Eyes Wide Open is a traveling exhibit put on by a group of Quakers who have figured out a peaceful way of showing the horrors of war. If you can get to their exhibit when it is in your area, please do. It will be in Tacoma on April 12-13. I plan to take the kids to see it.
If you're in the northwest united states, they have exhibits coming up in Washington and Oregon. You can download the flier here. (.pdf format)
Well, see you next time... this month, I hope... well, eventually anyways, eh ^-^
peace
Yea, I know... it's been a while. Sorry. Life has been very hectic this year.
I recently had to ask my boss to rearrange my hours at work. I was finding that the mid-shift I was working was leaving too much burden on my older daughters. I wasn't getting home until 8:00pm, after people started to get tired. It was getting especially hard for them dealing with their brother. He may still be child mentally because of his disabilities, but he is 21 now and he knows it. He seems to find it easier to follow the orders of his mom than his sisters. In his eyes, a little sister is still a little sister, even if she is suppose to be the one in charge when mom's gone...
So, I cut back my hours at work a bit. It means a bit less money, but some things are more important than money, eh. The good news is that I am home and near the computer more often, so maybe I can get caught up on my email and site updates... well, maybe in a couple weeks...
...after Sakura-Con. I am volunteer coordinator again this year and have also helped a bit with the Japanese version of the site. I'm also ANCEA's treasurer now. ANCEA is the parent company that oversees Sakura-Con.
In other news, a chat friend of mine in Puerto Rico named Pedro is going to Japan in June. Amongst his plans is going to Yoshiki Fukuyama's tribute to Nekki Basara concert in Osaka. He already has the tickets! I wish I could go (no money this year) but I am happy that he gets to. It's been fun working with him helping him get ready and introducing him (via internet) to some of my friends over there. I look forward to reading his report of the trip!
I recently added several links to the Spread Peace page. Please check them out. One particular favorite of mine is Eyes Wide Open. Eyes Wide Open is a traveling exhibit put on by a group of Quakers who have figured out a peaceful way of showing the horrors of war. If you can get to their exhibit when it is in your area, please do. It will be in Tacoma on April 12-13. I plan to take the kids to see it.
If you're in the northwest united states, they have exhibits coming up in Washington and Oregon. You can download the flier here. (.pdf format)
Well, see you next time... this month, I hope... well, eventually anyways, eh ^-^
peace
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