So, I finally finished the illustrations for theTurtle story. For the most part, there's no text on the pages, I figured it was better to do the illustrations and add in the text via photoshop or whatever. I thought I'd post a copy in a locked entry for those of you who have seen the earlier version with several placeholder illustrations, but that is becoming more difficult than it should be. I could just take digital camera shots of what I've got and use that for here liek I did last time, but I figured maybe it would be a good idea to get scans of the images anyway, so I set out to do that today.

The sketchbook paper I used to do the illustration on isn't that big, it's a little larger than a standard notebook page. I could scan them myself, but my scanner has a sort of lip on either side and the paper doesn't quite fit into without the scanner lid causing creases in the paper and cutting off part of the image. I went to a print shop in town, they couldn't scan anything over A4 size. They directed me to another shop, at which they said they could scan that size paper, but only in black and white. Another place could do it for me and put the scans on CD, but would charge me ￥300 (about $3) per scan. I can get photos printed for less at some places. Scanning all 17 pages at $3 per... probably more than double the retail price the book would be, should I ever get it published- something I need to start looking into (I worked in a bookstore for several years. I know a bit about the book business at the retail end, not so much about the publishing end).

As yet, my artwork is unscanned.

Tags: leap year turtle

For being in a country that really doesn't know much about Halloween, I managed to have a pretty good- and extended- one. I mentioned before that I'd helped out setting up the Niseko Annupuri village Halloween party. I went back last Wednesday and did some more work. Then I noticed on a local website that a bar was having a trivia & Halloween night on Friday. I decided to recycle theWerewolf costume from last year, since I still had the prosthetic pieces. I didn't have a team for the trivia, so I was matched up with one other guy who was flying solo. We lost the trivia horribly- well... we took last place, but only by like one point (and the next smallest team had 4 people). However, I took first place in the costume contest. The werewolf costume rocks, not that there was much competition. Only one other person had dressed up at all, and so I also won the "team competition" prize for us, since 50% of our team was in costume. I also got a lot of compliments, had my picture taken quite a bit, made a kid cry because I was too scary, and gave a fair number of the adults the wiggins. When I decided it was time to leave, I sat at the door and whined until someone opened it for me. The next day was the Niseko Halloween party. I got up in the morning and did the normal ritual- dog walk, etc (I had taken Nana for a short walk while in full werewolf makeup the day before, but there was nobody around to see it). Then I started corpsifying myself and putting on the zombie face. I decided to go with a gray base, which I should've gone thicker with on the forehead and neck.
 
Then I went in with white for the non-shadowed areas, then black for the shadows and sunken areas, followed by just a touch of purple around the eyes, on the lips, and in the sunken areas. I took one of my old teaching shirts that Nana had chewed a button off the cuff a long while back (and was a little tight in the shoulders) and cut it up, then applied a little stage blood. I still don't have a tripod for my camera here, so it took a couple of tries to get a pic of it before I left, and I made a mistake on one shot by forgetting the timer function, but if I put them together as follows, I think they fit the zombie theme well enough.
The zombie costume was a success. I kept the blood toned down since I didn't want to freak out the kids too badly. One family showed up quite a while before the party started, and were sitting in the parking lot as I went out to check on Nana, who was chilling in the car- no worries about overheating, it started snowing that day. The kids wouldn't come out of the car. I took Nana for a short walk (me walking zombie-shuffle style) which I wish someone had caught on video. The kids saw me, and one of the other party staff came over to see Nana, so the kids tentatively came over as well, and started calling me "Zombie-san". There's a twitter account out there somewhere by one of the party sponsors (don't currently have the link, but saw it this morning) where they posted "Halloween has started" with a picture of me. At one point, just before we opened the doors, the were putting some last minute tape lines down on the floor. To tamp down the tape, I did the foot-drag zombie walk over the lines, which got a few laughs. The MCing went fairly well, though they had to jump in to help out my Japanese. During some slow spots in the program, I walked around the dining tables and did some magic tricks for the kids. At the end of the night, a few kids came up and gave me some candy they'd gotten from the trick or treating portion of the party. After the party finished, I got back in the car, dropped Nana off at home, and booked over to Chitose, since I'd been invited to the Halloween party there as well. I rolled in a few hours after the party had started (making pretty good time from Niseko- it's usually about a 2 hour trip, but since there was nobody on the roads that evening, I did it quite a bit faster), and walked in doing the zombie shuffle to a great reaction from the party-goers and staff. Afterward, I joined the group that was going on to the "2nd party" as the Japanese call it, which involved a bit of karaoke. Having done bits of "Thriller" all day long, it was a no-brainer that I'd be singing it, and much to my surprise they had the mash- they had the Monster Mash- on the playlist as well. I did not do any Rob Zombie, nor did I look for the Cranberries' Zombie.

I left that party before it broke up, since it was getting late, I'd had a long day, and I still wanted to visit some of my old haunts in Chitose, like the darts bar. I had a blast dragging myself through the city's bar district and getting reactions from people- it was now about 1:30 am. I was stopped by several groups to have a picture taken with the Zombie, then met up with a bunch of old friends at the places I used to go. Eventually, I made my way back to where I was crashing, broke out some facial cleanser pad thingies, and stripped down the makeup. After having worn it for over 15 hours, it came off fairly well, though traces of the shadowed areas remained until my next shower, leaving me looking like death warmed over, actually a fairly large step up from death re-animated.

Now, once again, the question is... what am I going to do for next year?

Tags: halloween, werewolf, zombie

So another couple out there has done a Star Wars themed wedding cake. That in itself doesn't sound so bad. You might be thinking along the lines of Han and Leia as the figures on the cake, or if you're into the comics and novels and such, Luke and Mara. Heck, even Anakin and Padme if you aren't concerned with how that ended up ("Yeah, well choke on this!"). But what did this couple choose as a scene for their wedding cake? Luke shoved halfway into a dead tauntaun. I'm not making this up. 

Now, I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but even I'm trying (No, try not. Do, or do not. There is no try) struggling to see the logic behind this choice. Looking at the pics, I have to admit that it's very well done. Amazing work, actually. But... why this scene? For your wedding of all things? Is it meant to be a symbol of your undying devotion, that you would gut an animal and shove your somewhat delirious significant other inside its still warm carcass on a cold night? 'Cuz nothing says love like the spilled entrails of a beast of burden. And do you really want people commenting about your marriage by saying "I thought they smelled bad on the outside". Han doesn't appear on the cake, so which one of you is supposed to be the tauntaun?

Tags: star wars

Today I went out to the Annupuri Nook area to help set up and decorate for the Halloween Party on Saturday. They put me in a group with four Japanese guys and sent us upstairs to set up the dining hall area. Once the tables and chairs were set out, they gave us some decorations and told us to see what we could do with them. I put up the first of the cobwebs, then got the other guys doing them as well. There were a bunch of fake Christmas trees sitting in the back of the room, as well as several standing coat hangers. I asked if we could get some old sheets (the party is sponsored in part by a couple of hotels/lodges), and if we could scrounge up some old shirts, pants, and pillow cases. They were able to find everything I asked for, so the trees are now ghosts, and there are scarecrow sort of thingies hanging from all the coat racks. I was going to use a black marker to make faces, but they brought in some construction paper, so we cut eyes and mouths out of that and taped them on. I also got several people started making more Jack O'Lantern decorations out of the rest of the construction paper, which adds a lot to the rest of the decor. The distribution of the small pumpkins and gourds was also my idea. There's going to be a lot of kids coming, so I went more with Spooky-cute than Halloween scary, but all things considered, I think things turned out ok.



While we were working inside, another group was outside carving Jack O'Lanterns, and another group was working on the Haunted House. I haven't seen the Haunted House yet. A little while after they were done with the pumpkin carving, I happened to look out the window, and saw a fox checking out the spot they'd been working. I grabbed my camera and went out- this fox wasn't very shy, and actually came pretty close to me at one point. I got a couple of nice pictures.

Tags: fox, halloween

Dropped off the pieces for the next exhibit. Exhibit opens on the 21st. I'll post pictures once things are up and running.

Tags: kanji

Nana and I had a houseguest for about a week while I dog-sat for a guy who was going to Tokyo. Nana had met Woodley a couple of times before, and they played together fairly well, so I figured they'd get along well enough.

I picked up Woodley on the way home from Kendo class, so it was well past dark when I got back home. I let Nana out, and let them tear around the yard a little while I unloaded the car, then put them both on leashes and did a little jaunt around the trails to help reinforce who the pack leader is for them. I also made them both stay until I was in the door, then let them come inside. I also started teaching Woodley a couple of new tricks, having Nana run through hers as well. Nana was very jealous about me giving Woodley any treats or attention- I kind of figured she would be, and was looking forward to working on this with her. Over the course of the 6 days Woodley was here, she did get better. After a few days I didn't need to be standing between them, keeping Nana back mostly with body language. She's still possessive, but not quite so aggressively as before. By the end of the week, I could give them both a treat, and Nana wouldn't try to take his. Also by the end of the week, I could put both their food bowls down and not worry about them trying to steal from each other. I continued to make them both wait for my invitation to go in or out of the house rather than just booking out the door the second it's opened a crack, as well as made them both sit and stay before they could eat.

They had a few moments when they were outside playing where they got a little rough and yipped, but that's just part of dogs teaching each other appropriate play. It never escalated into an all-out fight. Woodley's larger, younger, and more energetic than Nana, but was good about letting her chase him sometimes. Woodley also responds better to verbal signals. If he started running off, just calling his name was enough to get him back. Nana has selective listening, and will ignore you if she thinks something else is more interesting. On the other hand, Nana is a little more clever, and learns things faster.

One of the mornings I took them out for an hour-ish walk, we got caught by a passing shower torrential downpour- it was bright and sunny before and after. While in the midst of the sheets of rain flowing down, we passed by a farmer's house, and the farmer in question was standing in his entryway looking out. He offered me an umbrella, but I held up both hands, fully occupied with a dog leash each, and he smiled at me as I went on my way. It wasn't so bad, I was just wearing what I refer to as my "dog clothes", the ones for being out in the woods or playing with the dog, the ones that it doesn't matter if they get rained on, ripped, torn, whatever.

Now that Woodley's been back home a couple of days, I think Nana misses him a bit. She's been whining a little and wanting some extra playtime.

I got a message from Woodley's owner, as well. He says Woodley is much better behaved since he got back, so apparently my little bit of training did some good.


Yeah, they got along:

Tags: dog, nana

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. I've been invited to the annual Halloween shindig in Chitose, where I used to live (now a 2 hour drive). I was planning to go, since I'd see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time- former students, friends. And setting any semblance of humbleness aside, I traditionally brought quite a bit to the spirit of the Halloween parties. I was sort of the Jack Skellington of the Chitose Halloween parties a few years running. But then...

I've also been asked if I want to help out at the Niseko Halloween event. I'm not absolutely sure  in what capacity I'd be helping out, but they are looking for an MC. Looks to me like this is mostly a kids (with parents in tow) event. This would give me a chance to be a little more involved and recognized in the community. I've been living the quiet life of an artist/writer/recluse over the summer, and though I've met a few people, I haven't been all that social, so this might be a good thing.

It's possible, just, that I might be able to do both. But that would be working the Niseko party from 10 am to 8 pm, and having to book out of there as soon as it was over to get to Chitose by 10:30pm, and that's an early estimate.

So... Chitose party, Niseko party, or try to do both?

And I'm thinking zombie this year. Was thinking about zombie samurai, but don't have everything for the samurai outfit, and limited budget.

Tags: halloween

Last winter, when I moved to Niseko, I tracked down a Kendo club that met at a time when I could actually make it to class. This has been one of the plagues of my working schedule during my time in Japan. When I was an English teacher at the conversation schools, my work hours had to be at times when other people were not working and could therefore go to class. Things like martial arts, painting, and any other sort of thing I might want to get into were on the same schedule, meaning I was working when most of them met. But last winter, I was finally on a different schedule and could start doing some of these sort of things. Sort of.

Just over a year ago, I had surgery on my shoulder; scraping down a bone spur that was pinching (and partially severing) the rotator cuff, as well as some re-attachment of some of the partially severed muscles/ligaments. It's been a long, slow recovery. When I started the Kendo class, I couldn't do the full range of motion, had to limit how much power I put int the moves, and had to go at a slower speed. The doctor did seem to think that it would be decent exercise for the shoulder, though, as long as I was careful. Over the winter, the range of motion started coming back, but the strength just wasn't there. Then in April, I slipped on the steps and dislocated the finger. Those of you who saw the X-rays know it wasn't just a slightly out of place joint, but rather more of a "how in the hell did that bone get way over there" sort of dislocation. Six months later, that joint still (and will probably always be) looks swollen compared to the other fingers, and is a little tight when trying to make a full fist. But it's good enough that I can hold the shinai (practice sword) again, and over the last couple of months the shoulder strength has started returning (In July, I tried doing a push-up and couldn't. Now I can do about 15 before I start to feel too weak in the shoulder) so I've recently started going back to class after a long hiatus.

Last Sunday, they had a small tournament in Kutchan (the neighboring town). I went, just to watch. I'm nowhere near ready for competition- neither in strength nor skill. I found myself pressed into helping out. They needed more people to help run the rings. My job was to hold up a small sign when the judges called out a scoring hit. This turned out to be a good thing. I think I learned more about what they're looking for than I would have had I just observed, and it also kept me more focused on the matches instead of trying to take in everything that was going on.

Watching the tournament gave me a little more impetus to get get myself to class more often. I had been trying to go on Fridays (leaving the rest of the week for some cross-fit and kickboxing training in Niseko), and failing as often as not. I'll be going in on Monday and Friday nights, now. I consider it all part of the Jedi training.

Tags: kendo

Not sure what this sign is trying to say, but it's pretty emphatic about it.

The kanji here are "crown, water, pour, idea". The "pour" and "idea" together pretty much mean "caution" or "warning", and I see that on signs a lot. No idea what the "crown" and "water" together mean.

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2009/09/16/president-obama-wan-kenobi/