Tales of a Hungry Ghost

GOLD BELLY

2012-02-13T19:06:00.004+09:00

Howdy!

Rope and Wire has just published my short story, Gold Belly.

Gold Belly is a western about a boy who accidentally swallows a rare gold nugget that just might have been his ticket out of the dangerous outlaw town Three Foot Flats.

Give it a read and let me know what you think! Also, check out some of the other stories at Rope and Wire. When it comes to a fun read, there's nothing better than a western!

The Troll Bridge

2011-10-27T14:27:00.014+09:00

Looking for a scary Halloween story?

The Moonlit Road has just published my short story The Troll Bridge.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Toybox - Stay Alive

2010-06-14T15:13:00.005+09:00

Toybox
Stay Alive

Remember the first album you ever bought? Remember how cool you were when you told people it was the Aladdin soundtrack? Yeah... What if you could say it was Pearl Jam's Ten or Green Day's Dookie, or Offspring's Smash? That's more like it. Well, Toybox's debut album Stay Alive is more than a great listen, it's instant cool points. Just for bragging rights you'll wish it was the first album you ever bought, or at least that you had it before everyone else.

From the explosive first track, “Run,” to the final spine-tingling anthem, “Straight To Your Heart,” Stay Alive has all the dynamic excitement of a budget-breaking car chase scene with plenty of shots of punching the clutch and shifting gears.

After a taste of Yo's wonderfully subtle yet powerful vocal melodies in “Run” we jump right into track two, “Double-Sided.” Naoto brings out the big guns on this one with a killer guitar riff and some serious shredding. It can't get much better than this, right? But then comes “Evolutionary Theory.” Celica lays down a fat beat to get your head bobbing like it did when you first heard “1979” by The Smashing Pumpkins. Here's where Toybox's crisp and skillful musicianship really starts to shine through. And how cool does that Japanese sound! Following is “Set Me Free,” a powerhouse with a catchy chorus that makes you wonder if it was made for radio or if radio was made for it. Then without loosing momentum we go right into long time fan favorites, “Whatever You Need” and “Tegami.” With these two songs we start to see a little of Toybox's Japanese punk rock roots a la old school Going Steady. Next, “Knife” brings back the pop groove and fills your head with another strong melody. Then with perfect timing comes “Cry Away,” a finely crafted ballad with a sharp sound that promises to keep your interest as the album builds to its climax. Track nine, “Kid's Don't Cry,” turns the amps back up to max and delivers a chorus with definite sock-knocking-off potential. And tying things up at track ten is my personal favorite, “Straight To Your Heart.” It's incisiveness just hits you.

Without disappointing, Toybox has brilliantly mixed hard rock and heavy lyrics with sunny phrasings and a strong sense of optimism. Yo spits poetry in both English and Japanese with a poignancy and originality to match masters like Brandon Boyd of Incubus, or the guys from Fall Out Boy.

To quote Adam Sandler from The Wedding Singer, “I think that's the hardest thing, to write a song.” Well, not exactly. Writing an album is harder. An album has to have a theme, a concept, an atmosphere, and a certain inventiveness—all of which crank together like gears just out of sight. Stay Alive is definitely an album. And it's one that won't leave your car CD player for a long time.

Nathan Oser
June 14th 2010

Wakaura Pictures

2010-06-12T09:47:00.004+09:00

These shots are all from different angles than the drawing, but I think the atmosphere comes through.

June Scribbling

2010-06-06T14:05:00.012+09:00

View of the bay at Wakaura. Think this is my favorite place in Wakayama. Memi's cafe is actually just down the street from this bridge. And that little island is my 'secret' romantic fireworks viewing spot.
There are people in the picture because it was supposed to be an illustration for a short ghost story I wrote. I'll have to revisit that some day maybe.

Anyway, lemme see if I can find an actual picture of the spot...

Scribblings Catch-Up: May '10

2010-06-06T13:54:00.002+09:00

Classic Spidey. It's been a while, but I still got it. Drew this on a sticky note one night when people were over and hearing all the Japanese made me space out.

Scribblings Catch-Up: April '10

2010-06-06T13:47:00.001+09:00

Same here. Another curve ball vocab. word for my public transportation lesson. This one reminds me so much of Napa. We didn't actually get to ride on a hot air balloon, but we bought plenty of pictures, posters, and postcards with hot air balloons on them. Just love the colors.... Oh, but we did get to enjoy a fantastic ride through the valley on our friends' wonderful and classic Wine Train. They have all kinds of events on the train too, and unfortunately Memi and I didn't have the time go to the mystery dinner theater, but we might go back just for that. Although, if I've learned anything from Murder on the Oriental Express, I already know who done it(what's the plural of 'who???').Don't trust anyone.

Scribblings Catch-Up: March '10

2010-06-06T13:39:00.004+09:00

This is another card I use at school. It's always fun to throw in a couple vocabular curve balls. This goes in the public transportation lesson where we learn words like bus, car, train, airplane, etc., etc.,... ROCKET!
When I drew this I couldn't get that Smashing Pumpkins song out of my head. Siamese Dream track 5, Rocket. That is one cool music video too.

p.s. I'm an English teacher so I'm allowed to make up words like 'vocabular.' ;)

Scribblings

2010-06-02T08:05:00.003+09:00

I've got a bunch of scribblings to catch up on. The drawings are all floating around the house. I just have to gather 'em up and start uploading.
That'll happen some day
soon
I hope

Another Day at the Office

2010-04-21T16:22:00.004+09:00

A lot of my students wrote me thank you letters and drew pictures for me at the end of the year again this March (the school year starts in April and ends the next March over here.) The teachers put some pictures of my class in there too. These are some of my 5th and 6th graders. Awesome, aren't they!

2010-03-27T11:34:00.002+09:00

Award-winning Novel Tackles Church Sex Abuse Scandal
www.prlog.org
Award-winning Novel Tackles Church Sex Abuse Scandal. As the Scandal Reaches All the Way To the Vatican, "Kelland" Quietly Focuses on the Victims of Priestly Abuse.

Big Boy

2010-03-18T17:14:00.006+09:00

Apparently Big Boy is a Big franchise. I always thought it was just Frisch's...
Even so, I never expected to find one in Wakayama.

I once saw a sign somewhere in Osaka, which is a HUGE city compared to Wakayama, and that came as a shock. So when they started to build one just down the street, I knew I had to go.

Now, I have to let you know there are a few SLIGHT differences between the American Big Boy and the Japanese Big Boy.
And, yes, I do believe 'slight' was just the word I was looking for.

The food was really good, despite the menu being completely different. Although they did keep the classic salad and drink bars, and one other thing........(suspense...suspense..)

The chicken fingers basket!!

Back in KY I must have eaten so many chicken fingers you'd think I was about to lay a deep-fried egg at any moment.

Even thousands of miles away, some things never change ;)

Nate

The Cat's Pajamas!

2010-02-14T11:47:00.005+09:00

Memi was the cat's pajamas at her friend Megumi's wedding last weekend. Check out that dress and that hair! She was going for a 'Bohemia~n & Hawaiia~n' theme.
Her friend Momoka in the shocking pink was going for 'Girlie Pop.'

I was going for gin... ;)

In Memory of Kazuyuki Matsushita

2010-02-07T11:41:00.013+09:00

Memi's father passed away due to liver complications on January 6th of this year at the age of 51. Way too young. But we all think he found peace knowing that Memi had gotten married, and his two sons had just started good careers.
Memi and I haven't even been married a year yet. But he always treated me like his own son. We always talked about our trip to Arizona and how he had so much fun he didn't even mind all the plane trouble on the way home. He took care of me on my first trip to Hawaii, and we were all planning another trip this summer. And of course he couldn't wait to get back to the states to see everyone again. All he did was talk about what a great family I had. He will truly be missed.

January Scribbling

2010-01-02T13:12:00.003+09:00

New Year's Dinner

December Scribbling

2009-12-24T17:14:00.004+09:00

Construction Paper Snowman. My most recent piece.

Another card I made to use at work.

I can't believe I didn't get this up until Christmas Eve. I'm really slacking...more than usual.

Merry Christmas wishes to one and all!

Nate & Memi

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T16:12:00.006+09:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!

Hope everyone had a great time, too.

Apple Cider

2009-11-19T09:45:00.004+09:00

For the past three Decembers I've been making homemade eggnog, mostly by the Good Eats recipe. I plan to make some again next month, but in the same vein I thought I might try my hand at apple cider in November. Plenty of apples in fall, and plenty of recipes online. I found out there are basically two ways to make apple cider: the hard way (which involves special tools, fermentation, and a lot of time) and the easy way. But as I found out, the easy way isn't easy at all.
8-10 quartered or sliced apples on the stove for three hours sounds easy enough, but first! do I have a pot big enough? Of course not. Somehow I managed.

Seeds, stems, spices--everything ok! Boiling and simmering 2 hours then 1 hour is enough to make mush out of anything.

Then the hard part. Take the mush and make it mushier. After that mushier batch is made mushier, then it's time to get out the cider press. Wait! Do I have one of those? No? Guess I should have thought about that before deciding to make apple cider and boil a bunch of apples for three hours. Well, I have some nets that resemble cheesecloth.

After much cider pressing by hand, I managed to get a sweet, sticky, DELICIOUS all-natural apple syrup. About half a dixie cup full. Yikes!

Well, adding a little hot water and a cinnamon stick actually made it taste pretty good. After all that work we only got two small glasses of cider. I probably messed up somewhere along the line... but it was GREAT! And, subsequently, I learned how to make fruit jam!

Nathan

Halloween Night

2009-11-16T14:00:00.007+09:00

This Halloween, I put on the apron and hung out with the oven all day. I don't know why, but the spirit of Halloween beseeched me to bake. I made little pumpkin cakes with pumpkin seeds for stems, pumpkin-shaped shortbread cookies with homemade icing, a pocky and marshmallow spider, and some marshmallow ghosts. It all went down well with a nice bottle of thick red blood...or was that wine??... and a couple of scary movies.

I think we watched a couple Stephen Kings (which I love because they're all so cheesy and Sunday-afternoon-y and easy to take naps to...except the masterpieces like The Shining, Itt, and a few others such as Secret Window and some older ones which I love.)

A classic favorite of mine: Hocus Pocus. Which is just good fun, and watching it makes me feel like I'm back in the States.

A slasher.

And one movie that really surprised me. Half Light. (I think there's probably a better-suited title, but the movie itself blew me away.) It's not what you might call a horror movie or a scary movie--per say, but I has its scares. The story is what really got me. It was so well written and well acted, it just drew me in. The only actor I knew was Demi Moore, but the others were great. Highly recommended.

Well, now it's about time to get into the Thanksgiving spirit. The new Beaujolais Nouveau comes out this week. Ken already has a couple of bottles, but we can't drink it until it officially comes out this Thursday. We'll probably head over to his place Wednesday and crack open a bottle at midnight--going by his broken clock that always reads quarter after midnight, of course. Then maybe a feast Thursday night at KFC. I'll just pretend it's extra crispy turkey.

Nathan

November Scribbling

2009-11-15T08:43:00.012+09:00

Halloween's over but I found more Spooky Pictures!

2009-11-07T16:06:00.006+09:00

Spooky Halloween Witch and Assorted Witcheries

2009-10-30T16:44:00.005+09:00

Spooky Halloween Pictures

2009-10-30T16:40:00.004+09:00

My fifth and six graders have never actually done 'Halloween' before but they can all tell me the meaning of "Trick or Treat!" I remember when I was that age, it was just a phrase that got me candy. I'd never thought that it meant "if you don't give me a treat, I'm going to give you a trick." I think back in those days I handed out tricks even to people who had given me treats. I should have been saying "Trick and Treat!"

Continuing the spooky pictures with a VAMPIRE!

2009-10-23T19:45:00.001+09:00

More Spooky Halloween Pictures

2009-10-17T09:46:00.003+09:00

I've been drawing a lot of Halloween pictures. I'm gonna miss Halloween. They don't really do anything here. There are tons of scary places though. Maybe I'll check them out in the middle of the night to get into the spirit. Or maybe I'll just rent some scary movies... And I've been using the pictures at school to teach my kids some Halloween vocabulary. That's why all the pictures have letters in them.
~Nate

October Scribbling

2009-10-04T10:54:00.001+09:00

TOYBOX

2009-08-02T16:16:00.004+09:00

The guys and gal from TOYBOX swung by Osaka last month as part of the Kansai leg of their Japan Tour. I got some cool video. Check 'em out!
http://www.myspace.com/toybx
You can get the rest of their songs and some nifty t-shirts at their myspace site.

Yomiuri Newspaper

2009-08-02T10:15:00.004+09:00

A couple months ago my friend said, "You wanna be in the newspaper?" A week later I did an interview about movies and then forgot about it. Then a month after that I got all these phone calls from my friends, Memi's friends and people I haven't talked to in a long time. They were like, "Dude, you're in the paper." I didn't even know it. hahah. But anyway, this is me talking about the movie Body of Lies which only came out on DVD a few months ago here in Japanland.

You know this guy??

2009-08-01T13:24:00.001+09:00

August Scribbling

2009-08-01T13:17:00.002+09:00

A beach down the road from us. That's where I've been hanging out lately, and I thought it would be perfect for August.

July Scribbling

2009-07-18T13:21:00.003+09:00

just a corner of a watercolor.

June Scribbling

2009-06-03T13:38:00.002+09:00

Diadri.
Really old watercolor.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:22:00.001+09:00

May Scribbling

2009-05-10T11:09:00.002+09:00

This is a game I made for my English classes. We're not allowed to play Hangman, so instead you climb one rung at a time until you get to the coconuts at the top, or fall from the coconuts one rung at a time. The kids all really like it, and it's cool because I can set it up on the black board and use it as a way off keeping score for almost any game we play.
The only thing is, I made the monkey first, then made the palm tree with the intention of putting bananas at the top. Halfway through I realized that palm trees and banana trees are different. oops. I would feel bad if when trying to teach English I accidentally taught the kids bad info about trees. So this monkey eats coconuts.
~Nathan

WEDDING

2009-04-08T14:19:00.002+09:00

For wedding pictures and general jollities, go here:
http://memiandnate2009.blogspot.com/

I'm going to get some wedding stuff up soon!

2009-04-07T08:44:00.002+09:00

Elemental Reduction Engine

2009-04-07T08:40:00.005+09:00

This is a collaboration. My brother and I made this, at least, more than 6 years ago. Really he made it, and I just added a few components here and there. Enjoy!

Immortals - March Scribbling

2009-03-08T10:44:00.002+09:00

This is an old water color I did as concept art for a game. The silhouette is of a man named Xantheis. It depicts the Destruction of Dorjan.
Enjoy~

Rin

2009-02-02T15:31:00.001+09:00

The February Scribbling of the Month

Happy Birthday Jon!!!!

2009-01-06T09:41:00.003+09:00

It may only be the 5th over there, but it's already the 6th here. Have a good one, dude!! (*ω*)√
Here's your present and cake~

Imagining the 10th Dimension

2009-01-05T12:31:00.003+09:00

Writing the previous post, I was reminded of another video Jon introduced me to when we were living together. This one will really get your brain moving!
Video - Imagining the 10th Dimension

January 2009 - Badgers

2009-01-02T11:04:00.002+09:00

Smashing Pumpkins - G.L.O.W.

2008-12-04T08:35:00.003+09:00

G.L.O.W.

The new Smashing Pumpkins video! I'm not sure if it's a song from their next album or just a little single they put together while touring. I know it was 'written for' the Guitar Hero games, but I think that might just be a publicity thing (Although I bet a riff like that would be fun to jam along with). The song itself kind of reminds me of the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness days, especially the b-sides and outtakes. The feel of the guitars and the flow of the song remind me of this old one they did around '95, '96 that I can only find live recordings of called Zoom. And that kicking bass line sounds a lot like a piece of the Pistachio Medley.
Anyway, cool song. I love the chick dancing in the sequined dress at the end. And also the very last frame where you can see Billy in a white version of his old ZERO shirt.

~Nathan

December

2008-11-30T11:20:00.003+09:00

Pastels. Another story illustration. The story takes place in the mountains of Wakayama in the dead of winter. I thought it would be a good post for December.

~Nathan

The Isle of Orange Birds

2008-11-26T08:45:00.004+09:00

Finished my book. Starting on revisions. A little apprehensive about the next step after that. We'll see.
Oh, and that's only the tentative title. Just so you don't worry, the main character is not an orange bird. Maybe I'll add some clips later on.
Nathan

Session

2008-11-26T08:41:00.003+09:00

Session now has five new songs up on their myspace!
Session

Late Scribbling of the Month - November

2008-11-24T11:27:00.004+09:00

This is a pastel illustration I did for a short story.
The old man is a ~ghost~

;)

October - Ouija Board

2008-10-08T08:44:00.002+09:00

I made this a lot quicker than I had planned cause I needed to have it ready for classes on the first of October. It's still a while till Halloween, but it's a really cool ABC activity that I want even the classes I don't have on the week of Halloween to experience.

Session

2008-09-03T15:04:00.002+09:00

My favorite band has a new record coming out. It's an EP of five or so songs that can best be described as hot, hard, rock. I imagine it will be released later this month or early October. But right now, you can get a sneak-listen of the new song 'Fallen' on their MYSPACE page. I must say it kicks more ass than Michael Phelps would if he were a professional ass-kicker rather than a swimmer.

Session

Scribbling of the Month - September

2008-09-01T17:09:00.009+09:00

Karakasa/Datara Japanese Ghoul.
Kind of a mix of creatures.
This is just another little sketch. I did make it into a computer background which you can find over on the side there.
But next time, I promise I will post full-fledged picture for y'all.

~Nathan

Hawai'i Pictures

2008-09-01T16:49:00.008+09:00

Teppan-yaki with the family!

Taking in the 'aloha!'

This one, Paul?

She's hugging us, not strangling...

Hawai'i

2008-08-24T15:20:00.004+09:00

One week in Hawai'i. Lots of shopping, walking the beaches, good food, and general fun with Memi and the family. Also a little Waikiki surfing! I think that everyone had a great time. Such a beautiful place, too.

;) Nathan

2008-08-12T12:18:00.001+09:00

Fever gone
Ears no longer underwater
Sunny day
Ready for Hawai'i

Scribbling of the Month - August

2008-08-04T14:58:00.003+09:00

Another scribbling with the orange bird. I haven't done too many real "pictures" in a while, just little marker scratches like this. And it's the only one I have that's summery enough for August.

July 12th

2008-07-12T17:07:00.002+09:00

As of today, it's been exactly one year since I moved from Arizona to Wakayama. Strange feeling...

Scribbling of the Month - July

2008-07-06T11:42:00.002+09:00

Cute little guy from another story I'm working on.

~Nathan

Aloha!

2008-06-29T09:36:00.003+09:00

It's official. I'm going to Hawai'i!!!

Summer vacation starts at the end of July, and I'll be traveling with Memi's family to the islands around mid-August. They've all been there at least 5 times, but this will be my first time, and I'm so hōpūpū!

More Kinuta

2008-06-16T16:58:00.015+09:00

* * *
Taro was as speechless as the day he was born. Never before had he seen so hideous a goblin. Could it be the same kind of creature that had tried to eat him at the lake? Taro figured the thing for some type of kappa from one of his uncle's stories, and he remembered his uncle saying once that they are not evil beings—they just enjoy the taste of human children. So he made double sure that his mask was on tight and that he did not look like a little boy.
* * *

Copyright©NathanOser2008

Gummi Octopus ≈Ω≈

2008-06-14T09:45:00.004+09:00

~Nathan

June's Scribbling of the Month: Kinuta the Kappa

2008-06-10T17:05:00.002+09:00

I looked in the mirror to draw this one.

~Nathan

Happy Birthday, Paul!

2008-05-29T16:41:00.002+09:00

Here's your birthday present. You just have to come and pick it up!

Blister me barnacles, theys eatin' Turtle Legs! or, Interhorticultural Insights - Part II

2008-05-17T10:00:00.023+09:00

Ken and I went out to sea and we were trapped on a deserted island with nothing but a cooler full of beer, and a knife to help us rustle up some grub. So we walked over the coral and the rocks and into the briny surf where we cut us off a couple of turtle legs to cook over the fire with a little sea water seasoning. I must say, they tasted much better than they looked, and I would, in fact, not be disappointed if they were on the menu everyday.
In the picture above, you can see what was left of the legs after we ate them. The nails just happened to fit perfectly over ours. But these 'turtle legs' are, of course, not real legs of turtles. They are in truth, pollicipes, or barnacles! Better known as:
o Domain: Eukaryota
o Kingdom: Animalia
o Subkingdom: Bilateria
o Branch: Protostomia
o Infrakingdom: Ecdysozoa
o Superphylum: Panarthropoda
o Phylum: Arthropoda
o Subphylum: Crustacea
o Infraphylum: Crustaceomorpha
o Superclass: Crustacea
o Class: Maxillopoda
o Subclass: Thecostraca
o Infraclass: Cirripedia
o Superorder: Thoracica (Barnacles)
o Order: Pedunculata(Stalked Barnacles)
o Suborder: Scalpellomorpha
o Family: Pollicipedidae
o Genus: Pollicipes
o Specific name: mitella
or Pollicipes Mitella, for short. Below are some more pictures to give you a better idea of what they are and why they are known as 'turtle legs' to experienced sailors such as Ken and I.

~Nathan

Interhorticultural Insights

2008-05-17T09:44:00.003+09:00

This is our little balcony vegetable garden. We've been raising all these little guys since they were seeds, and now that it's starting to get warm, and seeing as we only planted summer seeds, they're all beginning to grow up! We're so proud of them!
We have some cucumbers, which we plan on pickling, and some eda mame for snacking, and some strawberries and other things just for fun. I'll let you know when they're ready to be picked.

~Nathan

May's Scribbling of the Month: Sunken Gate

2008-05-05T11:01:00.003+09:00

So, I drew this one while I was chatting with Jon not too long ago. I began drawing the top of the shrine gate, but as it developed I started to get bored and I decided to make it halfway submerged. I used the colored markers that Memi got me for my birthday.

We already miss you, Jon!

2008-04-08T10:59:00.009+09:00

Enjoying the cherry blossoms at my castle.

Trip to Nara to see the big ol' Buddha with Ken and his son Shin-chan and our deerest friend.

At Koyasan(Mt. Koya) with Memi's Mom. This is the center of Buddhism in Japan, and the largest graveyard I've ever seen. I actually helped translate all of the English for their website: http://www.shukubo.jp/eng/
Very pretty place, and peaceful. You should go. Yakimochi?

And this is from our greatest adventure yet. Ask Jon for the details sometime!

Scribbling of the Month - April

2008-04-02T11:59:00.003+09:00

This is a really quick sketch I made to test my pastels on some new paper. I think it turned out pretty nice.
Actually I have so many little sketches like this now, that I might change The Scribbling of the Month to The Scribbling of the Week. Hmm...

~Nathan

❁春が来た❀

2008-03-28T16:54:00.006+09:00

♬Lisa it's your birthday♪Happy birthday Lisa♫

2008-03-28T16:43:00.002+09:00

Really it was my birthday. I just like that Michael Jackson song from an old episode of The Simpsons. We went to IKORA and had some okonomiyaki with Jon and some friends. They surprised me with a cake with my name on it in Japanese. And Oser usually becomes Osa, but they purposefully misspelled it to read Ossan, which means old man. We all had a good time.

Scribbling of the Month - March

2008-03-20T22:47:00.003+09:00

So here's a bigger version of my Memi sketch. Pen on notebook paper, colored in my computer from a digital photo. 10 min.

~Nathan

"The sun will shine no matter what the rest of the world's doing now"

2008-02-24T09:46:00.004+09:00

I made this video last summer using a lot of short movie clips taken with my camera.
The music is one of my favorite songs by Toybox, called 5 Sec. Till Takeoff.
You can get to know them more at: www.myspace.com/toybx

~Nathan

Hell Bent for Leather

2008-02-15T22:21:00.004+09:00

Last summer, Memi and I spent a lot of time at the beach. One of Memi's mom's friends (who is now our friend) owns a shop right on our favorite beach and sells all kinds of beer and snacks and other goodies. And one time he even let us drive his dune buggy around through the sand. It was pretty cool. And it seems that wherever we go, the batting cages, or out to eat, we run into this guy. So last week, we went to our favorite shishkebob place, Ichidai (you're gonna love it, Jon) and he was there. He apparently also owns some kind of leather goods factory or some such something, and he showed us all the nifty stuff that he makes. A couple of days later, he comes by and brings us these.
They're all handmade and personalized. He made two zippo holders for me, and a multipurpose pouch for Memi. Cool eh?

~Nathan

In the shuffling madness of the locomotive breath...

2008-02-10T20:26:00.001+09:00

On Sundays, Memi and I usually drive around town and explore some of the places that we've never been to but always drive by and think, "This looks interesting." This Sunday, some of my students from the culture center (10 of the nicest old ladies ever) took me out to lunch for some traditional-ish food. They bought me some presents too, two bottles of famous sake and some really nice chocolates. How did they know my that those were my favorite things in the world, alcohol and chocolate...? Afterwards, I was driving home and because it was such a beautiful day, I stopped by a park across the street from the castle. Every time I go by there I see these two old-time locomotives, but I can never get a good enough look because Smashing Pumpkins makes my drive by so fast all the time. But today I was finally able to get up close and take a few pictures. I wish I had taken my real camera though, then I wouldn't have had to use my cell phone. But I got some nice shots, and I was able to meet a really nice old man who comes by to clean the train every now and again. He told me all about it and let me jump up into the pilot's seat and stuff, which was pretty cool. I'll actually probably go back again sometime soon to learn some more about the trains. But the best thing about it was, I had just finished writing a story about a train just like that one and from the same time period, and now I can use all the info I got to beef things up a bit, and I can use all my pictures to help me out with my next illustration for the story. That was this week's exploration. Yee haw!
~Nathan

What can I do to put you at ease?

2008-02-06T23:00:00.001+09:00

Shall we begin like David Copperfield?
I am born... I grow up...

~One of my favorite lines. Interview with the Vampire, Louis Pointe du Lac.

I have four standing-on-stilts high hopes for this blog:
My first is that it becomes an inviting keyhole through which my family and friends can peer into my life here in Wakayama, Japan.
Secondly, I hope to share with you all that I can in the way of my writings and scribblings (so check back often).
I also hope to meet all kinds of different people and make many new friends.
And my final hope is that this blog does not fade out of existence as my previous attempts at creating a blog have. I am busy, but I will do my darndest!

So welcome! "We hope you enjoy your stay/ It's good to have you with us/ Even if it's just for the day"

~Nathan