Smoke on the Water

So the other day I was thinking about the water sloshing around in my toilet bowl.

Yeah, this is going to be a profound post.

Anyway, what got me thinking was how metallic blue the water was. I recently tossed a long lasting cleaning tablet into the reservoir that is supposed to clean the john whenever you flush it. For whatever reason the doo-dad dyes the water blue as well. This is probably to put one in mind of the endless blue of the ocean or a mountain lake. That, and when the color runs out you know it's time to buy a new breath mint for your toilet.

But what if you don't want blue water? I think the cleaner comes in some sort of wintergreen color as well. Neon green water is not exactly a color you see in nature outside of stagnant, algae filled ponds. But why not let the consumer decide on the color of water they want? Why not red? Every time you flush you could thrill to the sight of blood red water seeping out of the fixtures. It would be like a horror movie every time you flush. That would be quite the sight.

Nothing for Something

If there was one thing that I thought I might get out of this trip to Tokyo it would be a few frequent flyer miles. Silly, I know.

The on-line travel agency I booked this trip through recently started up their very own frequent user/sucker program. [Since I'm grumbling and not actually publicly calling out a problem here I won't name names concerning the company. It wouldn't be, uh, expedient on my part.] Anyway, I managed to get in on the ground floor of this new fan club and received 2,000 points for booking passage to the other side of the planet. That sounds nice, but to qualify for any sort of reduction on future airfare you need over 20,000 points. How far do you have to go to get that many points? Do I need to circle the world five to ten times to land a reduced rate to Albuquerque? Other people must travel a lot more than I do.

I know these programs are mainly used to create brand loyalty in people with the remote promise of possible free stuff. It's the same racket skeeball games use where you need to receive thousands of tickets just to win some greasy little beanbag bear. So while I'll play along with the free aspects of this frequent flyer thing I know the chances of me receiving any rewards are about as slim as me skipping the plane and swimming to Japan.

Aaand... they're off!

Most of the time I'm the sort of guy who likes to take it easy. You know those people who will push themselves to the limit who will try to climb a mountain with nothing more than the items they can carry in a backpack? That ain't me. I do, however, understand that urge to go out and see something new. The trill of excitement that comes from experiencing something new is a sensation like no other. When it comes to vacations my urge to explore can often trump my urge not to run myself ragged. But for my latest outing I may have outdone myself.

I decided to visit Tokyo.

Since I don't speak Japanese, know anything about Tokyo, or have the faintest idea how to get around this is going to be a bit of a challenge. It looks like my urge to be lazy is going to have to be shelved until I can figure out how what in the world I'm doing on this upcoming trip.

The reason I'm posting all this self-centered blather is that I'm hoping there might be some good anecdotes to be found in my preparation. What whacky misadventures am I going to get into next? Secondly, chronicling my preparation might help me in my planning. Third, it's a blog and you're supposed to go on about yourself on a blog.

So will this trip be a success? Will I become hoplesly lost and end up starving to death in some train terminal? Will I bother to update my blog on a regular basis? Stick around and find out!

Audrey Hepburn in Mixed Media

I recently came across a manga [a comic book from Japan, for those who aren't hip to the lingo] that was a biography of Audrey Hepburn. Or, at least, the beginning of a biography of Audrey Hepburn. The volume ended with a young Audrey Hepburn leaving her father behind when her parents divorced. This happened when she was, what, six years old? Considering how eventful a life Ms. Hepburn had I have no idea how many volumes this adaptation of her life could go for. There could be thousands of illustrated pages out there recounting her adventures.

I'm not bringing this up because I think the idea of a comic strip retelling of Audrey Hepburn's is odd. Far from it. Comics -that mix of literature and visuals- can and should be used to tell any story possible. Still, I do like the idea that two interests of mine came together in this rare intersection. How often do you see an Audrey Hepburn comic anyway? Perhaps the things I like will continue to come together in new and interesting ways. I'm looking forward to the Audrey Hepburn video game and the unearthing of the long-lost Audrey Hepburn kung-fu movie.

Godzilla Movies

Yeah, it's been too long since I've updated this thing. I do need to put together some sort of outline for what I want to do with this page. Until then, I'm going to watch Godzilla movies.

http://www.crackle.com/outreach/godzilla/?cmpid=627#id=2449082

While all sophisticates with outstanding taste already own these films it's still neat to see them up and running at the touch of a button.

Outside interests

This blog sucks. I know it, you know it, it's as obvious as the nose on your face. While I am committed to making this a better on-line experience it ain't going to be happening today. Until I get my act together why not check out another page that is actually good?

To that end I recommend Art-Eater. Try it today, it's good stuff.

It's Alive

There are times I think I should start playing with a rock or some other hobby that uses objects that have no moving parts whatsoever. It seems that the more complex of an item I buy the more likely it is to have some bit of it stop working. The latest gizmo that decided to up and die on me was my Playstation 3. Okay, I'm overstating the problem by saying it "died" but it did suddenly clamp down on the game that it was running and would not let go. While I did like the game that it was hoarding at some point I knew I was going to want to play something else.

So what to do? I called up a local game store but they weren't much help. Not only did the guy on the phone unequivocally state that they didn't repair PS3 systems but he seemed slightly frightened that I would suggest he attempt such a feat. From the way he described it my only options were to buy a new system, box my console up and mail it to Sony or some other equally drastic measure. I was certain there had to be an easier solution to my problem so I called up the city's really odd game store. Independent stores often develop their own personalities but this place has taken every eccentricity to be found in a hole in the wall store and run with it. The store is stuffed to the rafters with hippies and cats. A strong litter box odor permeates the place, which must work wonders for discouraging loitering. I assume the smell is coming from the cats and other animals that call the place home but you never can tell. When I explained my console's predicament to them they quoted me a flat fee before even looking at the machine. Later, when I was in the store I heard them quote the exact same repair price to someone else for a different system. There's a strong possibility that every service offered by the store is priced identically just to cut down on paper work.

But for all the store's tics they actually do good work. After tinkering with my PS3 for a few days the store called me up, asked for the one amount of money they knew how to deal with, and gave me back a fixed console. I have no idea what they did but my PS3 has not run this well in ages. The only problem I've come across so far is that my PS3 smells like cat crap but I'm certain that will pass after it's had a few days to air out.