constraint and fulfillment

In case anyone missed the debate, here's the one minute version

another round of road-trip photos

....as I slowly settle into my apartment. With a terribly leaky shower. And the dirty unfinished tiles. And come to find, no central heat. On the upside, I've got some plants now. And a bed. Bookshelves are nearly sufficient to house the herd. Maybe I need one more. Bikes are bountiful. Toaster oven cooks pizza! Moka makes coffee! Fluorescent lights rejuvenate grandfather's desk lamp! Deadbolts and locks replaced with not too much hounding of landlord!

And today two wondrous things happened. The first was a much needed 50 lb trip to the laundromat. Thanks Bubble'n'Squeak. The second was a long-awaited clean get away with a truckful of junk to end my two and a half year old affair with one of New Haven's storage facilities. Once I get all that unloaded I will definitely need another book shelf.

OK, back to the business of digging backwards through time. I'll get to my fieldnotes and interview transcripts soon enough, but first, another round of road trip pictures! Wyoming and South Dakota!

Oh.....I just realized the first round was on facebook not here. Oops. Hmm.....maybe they'll migrate.....

今年の靖国...Yasukuni 8-15-2008 (and a short aside about computers!)

A little on the slow side here. My computer is a 24" iMac I bought in fall 2006 before writing grant proposals (good excuse, eh?). The screen property paid off and I somehow managed to be very well funded over the course of my last 18 months of fieldwork in Tokyo. I was nervous when I shipped it there--$3,000 of insurance just in case, USPS air, well-packed in the original box. It arrived unscathed save one corner of styrofoam packing material that evidently took a hit and split down the middle.

Nearly two years on the veranda later (uh, the box, not me....off the verandas, fieldworkers!!), I loaded up the box once more. The outer box was badly weathered but still seemed solid enough to cover the inner box and styrofoam inserts. As an extra precaution I taped the hell out of the outer box and reinforced the broken styrofoam piece too. Shipping to Japan was about $90, shipping home from Japan by the Japan Post's EMS service ran closer to $200 but arrived much more quickly. This time with only $2500 on insurance but the same number of crossed fingers (I didn't go that native! But who knows, maybe my big mistakes are yet to come...ok, enough yakuza-talk). Last week when I opened the box somewhat timidly I was happy to find that my computer had again made the trip unscathed. Two more of the styrofoam corners were broken, however, and I decided it was time to retire the box. Good service to the international moving cause, box'n'foam. Your sacrifice will be remembered.

So, I was lucky. Very lucky. And of course had everything backed-up twice over just in case ;)

And lastly a couple great shots of what I assume is a veteran of WWII telling a young man about the war, by this guy (<-----). My fellow Japan anthropologist in training (I guess we are beyond that point by now? I mean we both got our prospectus passed. Umm....nah, still in training) Ryan Sayre. Ryan is just getting settled into his fieldwork year in Tokyo. Hopefully he'll keep everyone posted on his site. He is a lively and engaged thinker and writer so I am always looking forward to reading the next installment. I was roused to action on the 15th by a call from Ryan at Yasukuni asking where I was. In the midst of moving out, I had planned on stopping by later that afternoon. Sometimes you need a reminder. I was there about 30min later and we toured around a bit before I was whisked off to lunch by one of my informants.

By Ryan:

so evil (sorry, videogames)

I used to play this particular game a lot a long long time ago....and watching this was heart-pounding entertainment.

Apparently it's a version of the game where you can design ultra hard levels for your 'friends' and watch them die of frustration. Yipes. And kudos to who ever's commitment and determination are on display here. Get a job, you!

Palin-tology

John Ridley at the Huffington Post writes:

Up in the Twin Cities area folks are speaking a new language. Or, should I say Palinguage. It sounds sorta familiar because it's Latin based. But different from the plain English we're used to speaking, in Palinguage recognizable words take on new meanings. Won't you take a moment to learn some Plainguage so you can talk like a hypocritical conservative?

REPEAT THE FOLLOWING:

If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "token hire." If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "game changer."

If you live in an Urban area and you get a girl pregnant you're a "baby daddy." If you're the same in Alaska you're a "teen father." (Actually, according to your own MySpace page you're an F'n redneck that don't want any kids, but that's too long a phrase for the evil liberal media to take out of context and flog morning noon and night).

Black teen pregnancies? A "crisis" in black America. White teen pregnancies? A "blessed event."

If you grow up in Hawaii you're "exotic." Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential "American story."

Similarly, if you name you kid Barack you're "unpatriotic." Name your kid Track, you're "colorful."

If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're "reckless." A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a "maverick."

If you say that for the "first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country" it makes you "unfit" to be First Lady. If you are a registered member of a fringe political group that advocates secession that makes you "First Dude."

A DUI from twenty years ago is "old news." A speech given without proper citation from twenty years ago is "relevant information."

And, finally, if you're a man and you decide to run for office despite your wife's recurrence of cancer you're a "questionable spouse." If you're a woman and you decide to run for office despite having five kids including a newborn... Well, we don't know what that is 'cause THAT'S NOT A FAIR QUESTION TO ASK.

LINK

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And a couple videos worth watching:

Arrived! コネチカットに到着。亜美の帰国。And Ami takes to the skies....

A short (?!) note:

We made it to London's house late late late on Friday night after a very nice dinner with Allison in Pennsylvania and a rousing police story in Fort Lee. I think we got in to CT around 1:30 am. Damn.
But good to be back.

On Saturday morning Ami and I drove to New Haven for a very brief tour. I wanted to show her where I'd be living for the next while, and to swing by the apartment I am supposed to move into on Monday. The place was a bit of a wreck, but the current tenant is moving out Monday morning and hopefully the place will be presentable by the afternoon/evening when I come knocking. Bad news: water damage from the shower has rotted the floor in the bathroom. It was torn up mid-repair when I stopped by. Afterward I had a nice long conversation with the landlord, and it sounds like he will get things taken care of. The space is really nice, and it definitely has potential, but for nearly $900 a month there is a certain level of cleanliness/repair that needs to be met by move-in. My bad for taking the sight-unseen route. Hopefully things will work out. Beware ye apartment-seekers.

After that stop, Ami and I had a smooth drive back to New York and checked in to a Ramada at JFK. The wait was long and the staff grossly overloaded, but after twenty minutes (!!) we were upstairs relaxing and getting ready to head out again. This time it was Williamsburg to meet Ami's jr./sr. highschool friend and former Yale MFA painter Yui, the lovely mutual friend who introduced us last March in Tokyo. She has a great studio/living space in a converted industrial area. She slapped together a quick but tasty dinner for us and we made a mad dash to Times Square for the Lion King.

Musicals aren't usually my thing, but it was staged nicely and the bunraku-esque animal costumes were more than enough to keep me interested. The actors were all very good and the production was solid, so that also helped. One bad side-- a woman decided to bring a toddler to the show. The kid was right behind me and babbling loudly when she wasn't kicking my seatback. Ugh. Ami loved the show though, and I was buoyed by her enthusiasm enough to only audibly sigh once or thrice. I did glare at the lady a few times though (as did everyone in earshot at least once...).

Back to Yui's afterward to hang out for a few hours, then to the Ramada. Morning was a quick shuttle trip to JFK and then a nice but too short time hanging out before Ami went to the gate at 11:30. Take care in the air, my dear! As I took the Airtrain back to the hotel I saw her ANA plane on the tarmac loading up, but missed getting a picture. I am back at London's now, reading and uploading pictures, and starting to think about school again. What I really should be doing is sleeping. That is next on the list.

The last week has been great, but 4,000+ miles of driving over a week span takes it out of you.

But what a wonderful, wonderful trip. Thank you Ami, and thanks to everyone along the way!