the melodica eludes

This is me with my new melodica. Unfortunately, I have discovered that I am a crummy melodica player, but I am trying.

autumn’s musical greeting card

It’s my favorite season – so much anticipation heightened by the crisp air and crunchy leaves. This year, I suppose the crispness and the (slightly) crunchy leaves have spurred some musical energy in me — I’ve been playing a lot more ukulele, kazoo, and got a few toy instruments, and I’ve been writing some songs that perhaps one day I will put up once I get over my shyness.

Having had some extra money in Paypal, I purchased a melodica on impulse. Of course, despite this recent purchase and being the greedy little girl that I am, I am currently daydreaming about loop pedals and Telecasters.

Otherwise, this new October has found me in a flurry making mountains out of colored paper to decorate my wall. I moved in about a month ago, so I suppose I have had to time to make myself a proper room, and yet these mountains are solitary figures on my wall. This means this week will be about better time management and finally moving out of my sandbox bed, hopefully.

PS I got a job at FashionablyMarketing.Me! I will bury myself in fashion blogs as well as academic essays like the good chinchilla that I am…

I dissected a giant squid tonight

I am back. Back as in I now have a working computer (though with a semi-functional return key) and can thus stare at glowing things all day, and also back as in I am in the U.S. for at least a couple of years. I plan to spend the next few years chomping on bagels with cream cheese & lox, stacking books higher and higher (I am going to be a student again), trying to be very disciplined at not talking about Japan all the time, and living in Washington, D.C. Hopefully, I can quell my travel lust by practicing the ukulele and kazoo more often. I might buy myself an accordion to weigh myself down in America.

From Tokyo it was Seoul and then Paris to visit a very good friend I hadn’t seen in two years.

I wielded with me a very large backpacking backpack on my back, a computer bag slung across my chest, and a suitcase the size of a giant squid. The Giant Squid Suitcase had in it two musical instruments wrapped in yards and yards (meters and meters) of bubble wrap and winter clothing.

I undressed the ukulele today, and it is in good condition.

**

There’s an interview with me about zines on Tokyo Art Beat that you can read here. Jean Snow even linked to it, so it’s as if I briefly shook hands with an internet celebrity.

fallen on bookish days

Lust struck in the bookstore once again. I twitched. I went a bit dizzy.

And now I have two new books in my possession.

To the left is Ume Kayo’s book of photographs, Danshi (男子), which I have wanted for awhile.

To the right is Dandelion – a book of photographs by Takahashi Yoko of actress Aoi Yu traveling through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. (You can see some photographs from the book here)

Of course, Dandelion was purchased on superficial inclinations. Aoi Yu is very pretty, and the clothes, colors, & setting lull me into lip-biting whimsy.

**

Working on a new project, so my floor and desk have fallen on gloomily disorganized days. Details soon.

**

Saw ASA-CHANG&巡礼 in concert the other day, and how rare! I feel invigorated about music again.

asa-chang & junray performing in france:

…and a music video:

prof. michael jackson

Since odes/laments to Michael Jackson are all the rage now, I suppose I will chime in with my own meager and makeshift words.

I have so many little mundane memories about Michael Jackson. I suppose most everyone does. Now is the time we can gather them all up and make grander assessments about what Michael Jackson has taught us about life.

For me, I learned that fantasy – in which sidewalks light up when you step on them and whales fly over your head – is far preferable to the constant disappointment of reality.

I also learned that I don’t really want to live in Los Angeles, especially not a mansion/amusement park/zoo in Los Angeles. My imagination is grandiose but perhaps not that grandiose & seeks a slightly more old-fashioned city like New York. Werner Herzog (♥) says he lives in Los Angeles for its substance and collective dreams, but I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, survive. Just like Michael Jackson…? (Up for debate)

Though, it would be kind of cool to have a zoo in my backyard.

Moreover, I learned that small actions that are respectful of other countries & cultures (and saying things like “I like bimbimbap” every once in awhile) are probably more important in creating global unity than what politicians can do.

Furthermore, I learned – perhaps unforgivingly late – that sparkly items of clothing are preferable to non-sparkly items of clothing.

And lastly, I learned that it’s better & far more remarkable to flounder around in search of an undiscoverable self – flirting with eccentricity and loneliness – than it is to attain a handful of yawn-inducing adjectives.

RIP.