Japanese Me

A whole bunch of people thought that knitting something challenging for the duration of the Olympics would be fun.  I agreed and picked out a crazy project – a lace blanket over six feet across that uses 1700 yards of yarn.  After many late nights, 60+ hours of knitting, and a blocking session during the [...]

Haven’t felt much like blogging lately.  I’ve been on a real study kick, trying to squeeze a bunch of new kanji and vocab into my brain.  I’ve taken to tackling lists of things I think I should know – government ministries, planets, major organs.  I’m discovering some neat things while I’m at it.  Example: I’ve [...]

I managed to cast off another pair of socks today.  Really small needles and really thin yarn equaled a really long, tedious knit.  Worth it, though. Prima Julia [ravelry]. In other news it’s Golden Week, an extremely well-placed series of national holidays.  This year they land so we get five days off in a row–sweet.  [...]

It was a great night and I was lucky enough to have a great photographer attend.  Michael T. Halligan took all of these shots (follow the link to his flickr page). The party itself was at Frjtz in Hayes Valley, San Francisco.  You get a whole bunch of fries with all sorts of crazy, wonderful [...]

I love Japan but it irks me sometimes.  Allow me to vent, starting with this story: Near the end of last year I was diagnosed with borderline high cholesterol.  This was a shock for me–yes, it runs in my family, but I eat decently and walk a bunch.  Time to walk and exercise some more, [...]

This weekend: Last Albany River Rat game Last dinner out with the whole family Watch the last ep of John Adams (my mom and I have been steadily working through it along with a bottle of white wine) First and last trip to Bombers And soon: Last time I’ll see snow for a whole year [...]

It’s called blip.fm and it’s fun.  Think of a song you like, any song.  Even international music–I’ve found a ton of Japanese stuff.  Punch it in, maybe write a comment, and blip (≈tweet) it to the world.  If listeners like it they’ll give you props.  Find other people (“DJs”) whose music you like and have [...]

This is always a weird time for me before a move.  It’s the point where you can truly start to say it’s your “last” of everything–last Thursday in town, last time in a particular neighborhood, last time seeing friends.  I’ve also been making a bit of a restaurant tour, getting final fixes of great bistros [...]

Okay, it was kind of mean to make that my title.  I don’t have any resolutions.  Not one.  I haven’t done any for quite a while, either.  Will Shortz (editor of the New York Times crossword) said it best on NPR this morning–if I find a chance to improve myself at any point during the [...]

Did you ever play Memory as a kid?  You know, that game where you try and match cards before your opponent does?  Well, it turns out the Japanese had the same idea, only in the 13th century and with much more panache.  It’s called 百人一首 (hyakunin isshu) or literally “100 people 1 poem”.  It’s traditionally [...]