breath

upload: tokyogoat.

it's important to remember to breath in this modern sedentary world. many struggle through using only 10% of their lung capacity and wonder why life seems like a constant state of anxiety, stress, heart palpitations and heartburn. as simple as it seems the recommendation is to stop, breath some air, perhaps even do some exercise to bring on necessary deep breathing. failing that one could turn to breathing exercise a la yoga or visit the place in this picture.

Well-worn rocker

upload: lil.

blogging a photo from my flickr buddy Lil

Didn't really have much to say about it other than with the turn of the sesaon, the warmer weather having arrived and the relentless stinking heat on it's way these dancin' fools will have a few solid months of scratching around like chickens at the entrance to Yoyogi park on a Sunday. Good luck to them I guess.
Good pic though. Nice one Lil. Check out some more.

cool

upload: tokyogoat.

a couple of weekends ago we went to the Thai festival in Harajuku. Everyone insists on saying it is in Yoyogi but I maintain that in fact it is not but is in the NHK grounds. Anyways, as can be seen at most outings in Tokyo it was packed. The plague. So to make the hours slip by we had a couple of beers. This shot was of a new-ish beer to Tokyo "Phuket". Tasted like beer it did. Lucky for that eh. Was glad to have a chance to meet with some friends who'd had a kid a year ago. Ended up at karaoke.

another holiday

upload: tokyogoat.

so here we are on a Friday night having returned to work today after 3 days off and we are faced with the weekend....ahh it's a hard life. Calls for some beer.

japanese-water-drain

upload: tokyogoat.

another place we visited over golden week was the yanaka area, near nishi-nippori. there are numerous temples and old shopping alleys. we were on shopping bicycles, a big plus in one way but stopped us from strolling through all the back alleys that i love so dearly. as per usual i can't really report too much on the historical aspects of the area but i did take a few nice photos. much more instant gratification there. ahh...cheers.

backstreet-bucket

upload: tokyogoat.

so we have perfect weather for the public holidays. skys are clear, sun is bright, temperature coolish-mild. So what I decided to do to make best use of this rare gift of fine weather is sit inside at home and stare relentlessly at my screen for a few days insanely clicking through the same few webpages which include flickr, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News, my blog, a few friends blogs, webmail, dpreviews, the NRL webpage....and thats about it, day after day. [didn't feel like linking all those pages]. I did do some work on my own photos when not re-checking "comments on yours" in flickr. It's modern day madness, it is... anyways

So this is quite obviously cranked in photoshop. Is the shot better because of it?. well yeah, kinda. There wasn't really much going on before bringing up the colors. the fake-ness factor does bother me, and I know this issue has been visited by many, on many occassions but hey...give it a shot for cheap, public holiday fun. I can call it art!! Look at me everyone, I am an artist and a photographer...OH!!, and a musician...cause I have stuff...and I know stuff about everything. Just ask me. If you want a second opinion, well, ask me again. Next thing is to start posting self portraits...artistic ones.

golden week

upload: tokyogoat.

to be honest i am not sure which days are counted as golden week this year and which aren't. anyways today whilst in golden week mode and feeling the usual pressure to do something product with everyone else, we went to zoshigaya graveyard to view some famous peoples graves. natsume soseki was there as was hideki tojo. i generally resisted taking direct pictures of people graves to put to rest karin's belief that my camera will allow a spirit to escape the grave and possess my computer.[the way my machine plays up sometimes i already wonder].

i did however try to be scary and a bit tricky by taking pics of people down the far end of lanes to come off a bit ghosty. anyways this pic managed to scare me cause i can't remember if the figure down the end was a person or the shape just looks like a person or....

anyways the bark on that tree was reason enough to post this.

movement

Managed to tear myself away from the computer and flickr long enough to achieve a few positive things today.

- Had a haircut today.
- Bought some new work shirts.
- Vacumed the apartment.
- Did the laundry.
- Took some photos.
- And...drum roll...went for a run!!

Really have to keep the exercise thing up cause I can definitely notice a fast down-hill slide from office / computer work.

he's going the distance, he's going for speed..

upload: tokyogoat.

the intensive, whirl-wind tour ended today. things were capped off nicely last night with a fine dinner. after chasing him all round tokyo the pain and the weariness finally found spiceblog on the last evening in this little izakaya tucked away in Kita Ikebukuro. How did they know we were there?

upload: tokyogoat.

took the day-off and charged around tokyo with spiceblog/manthatcooks. all sorts of eating, drinking, shopping, wandering was done. the highlight of the day thus far was the ramen performance at Tokyo Tonkotsu. undeniably the greatest ramen shop, on all levels, in tokyo. true masters and true professionals.

chicken on a stick

upload: tokyogoat.

every festival, izakaya and what-have-you carries the same. YAKITORI...Japanese can't get enough. I suspect the Aussies can't get enough as well.

I remember a time many years ago when an extremely drunken friend of mine walked over to one of these yakitori stalls, at a New Year Festival in Asakusa, and without attempting to process the desire any further just starting picking up sticks of chicken and eating them. That didn't go over too well...Nice one James.

skillz

upload: tokyogoat.

this is what a new camera and fancy lens can do. low-light, handheld but still sharp. The entrance to a restaurant as the subject matter is not so intersting or unusual but good to look at [for me] in this pic. Noise doesn't seem to be a problem either.

and for you sir....

upload: tokyogoat.

some sake and a wide choice of fine foods, outside in the spring air with the blossom trees looking over your shoulder. grab your work mates, offer up some idle chat and lip service to your boss. all of a sudden the office ladies are so much more interesting and ones Japanese language takes steps up to new found levels...ahh...ohanami.

first few shots

upload: tokyogoat.

So after careful consideration and perusal of numerous forums, discussions, spec sheets, review sites, sample pics, comparison charts, and owners opinions, and after considering my own likes, dislikes, needs, wants, biases, hopes and dreams I bought a new camera. Here is one of the first few shots I fired off this morning. First impressions are good. I quite like the tones in this pic. Rest assured that as usual there were loads of pretty ordinary pics in there as well.

HOWZAT!!

Woke in the grey-zone of the night to hock-up a large, juicy, nasal oyster, a direct effect of my newly aquired hay fever. we all know the time around 3:00 am when the ghosts and ghouls galavant. After quickly forgetting about the supernatural I lay awake stewing and brooding over general work irritation and anger. Then, as you do in the grey-zone, I wondered what the state of indoor cricket is in Australia. Seems to be surviving. Check it out!!

safe and secure

upload: tokyogoat.

April 1st 2005 sees Japan introduce a new set of laws relating to the protection of personal information. Companies are required to implement new standards, policies and procedures for the daily operational handling and storage of personal information to meet the new requirements. Like most things, it works both ways: The implementation of these new laws and resulting internal policies and procedure will serve to better protect an individuals personal information and will also provide companies with defensive arguments in the event information security is breached and ammunitions against individual employees who fail to adhere to the newly adopted rules.

5000 yen

5000 yen is all it takes in Japan to have a precious belonging magically returned to you. followed a weathered and worn map to a flat piece of land covered with concrete in the dodgey back streets of Ikebukuro. stumbled through some arkward and pointy japanese phrases at an old man. walked over to a row of metal and rubber marked 2005/03/11. I was instructed to prove my identity and ownership by producing "the key". I fumbled around in my pocket and then "KA-CHING". was further instructed to go and talk to a man over by the small hut. provided said man with some written details at which point I was asked to pay 5000 yen and was handed a green piece of paper. I was alllowed then to ride away from the impound on my beloved red shopping bicycle.

upload: tokyogoat.

before the cherry blossoms billow above us the plum blossoms come out as a kind of gentle warning to start preparations for the "ohanami" activities for the year.

Ohamami= sharing food and drink under the cherry blossom trees.

thievin'

Someone has flogged the aka-chari...
Was it a thievin' bastard, friday night, pisshead...
Was it a thievin' bastard, Local Counsil, revenue raiser...
Either way it's gone. Took it in my stride, now that I have to walk...

blindness, the worst affliction??

"change the approach, my son"
"Instead of WHAT you see change to HOW you see it"
"can you see, Grasshopper...?"
"Do you see, Grasshopper...?"