It’s too hot for me to do anything. With requirements to look after Uyu the border collie and to devote time when I can to Dino the rosy faced lovebird, I’m limited in how far I can move. Most of the time I’m stuck at home and can move only in the early morning or night because it’s too hot to go out in the day. I’ve got to buy a new computer, new camera, new phone and new clothes. But with the dog around, it’s too hard to move around outside. She’s a great dog and I could probably…
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Summer is sweltering again, turning the Kangaeroo Corner into a dustbowl, but this year is a little different because my every move is being watched by the untiring Uyu. We’ve been walking incessantly despite the heat, and the beautiful border collie had me worried because she looked exhausted and overheated when we returned home last night. Each day of her stay has exceeded 34 degrees Celsisus, with 80 percent-plus humidity, a searing sun and scorched asphalt. We’ve still walked at least 10 kilometers every day. I’m bushed. But loving it. Walking through the area has also taught me how beautiful…
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My job is over. Finished. Kaput. Ended. I am officially unemployed for the first time in 10 1/2 years. All ties to my former employer ended a few moments ago as I sent off the computer and periphery items I had used at home, where I worked from pretty much the outset of the pandemic. A brave new world awaits. I’m leaving with my former employer’s goodwill and best wishes. And I wish them all the best. I would have preferred things turned out a little different, but I think we may both be better off moving forward. I’ve got…
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It’s getting darker in the mornings, already much more noticeably than before the equinox, which was still less than a month ago. But there is some sort of light on the horizon, literally and figuratively. Although we haven’t seen much of it this week, the sun shines over the horizon at certain photogenic points along the Tama River, enabling some pretty impressive photo opportunities. For an instant, too, it seemed like the long wait for new hope on the career front had finally arrived, too, but it doesn’t seem to have turned out how I had sought. But the rainy…
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For various reasons, I got to look at YouTube for the first time in years this morning and, by sheer coincidence, got to see a video captured exactly 10 years ago to the day. The footage came from a fire that had broken out on the spectacular Rainbow Bridge, which links the Tokyo mainland (well, another reclaimed section) with the artificial island of Odaiba. I was working in the Yokoso Rainbow Tower, an exceptional work of architecture that reflected the flavor of the then-recently burst economic bubble when it was completed in 1995. I’d just finished my lunch break and…
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I had no idea until yesterday, but for years I have been living quite close to Totoro, a Shinto kami made globally famous through Hayao Miyazaki‘s utterly delightful 1988 animated movie, My Neighbor Totoro. OK, so it’s not the real forest-protecting spirit as depicted by STUDIO GHIBLI, but the topiary sculpture is wonderful. It’s a work that I’m pretty sure is unauthorized by Suzaki, a gardening company in the Tokyo suburb of Kokubunji. A cycling buddy posted photos of Totoro on social media yesterday, and with only a couple of pre-dawn hours available for anything today due to home requirements,…
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Today’s ride was bland and mundane, which made it pretty much ideal, but the sunrise did throw some color and spectacular skies in there to make for some amazing scenes. The mornings are already darker and I need to wait until about 4:30 a.m. to be assured of a ride in complete light where it had been light at 4 a.m. less than a month ago. It always seems the light disappears faster than the darkness. But I am glad to have the light in place anyway. Better light also allows for ease of riding. And I got to look…
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It’s been bloody hot the past few days, but I’ve been mostly stuck inside trying to keep up with the onerous demands being laid on me to try to get me to quit. I managed to slip in a couple of rides along the Tama River today, though, and it was totally worth it. Mrs. Kangaeroo also proved today that not only is she as hot af, which has nothing to do with the temperature, she is also as cool af, even if her choice in men is a little skew-whiff. I need salvation, but at the moment, all that’s…
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Today looks like it’s going to be all about Lazarus-like feats centered around reviving death in all sorts of ways. First there’s the Death Machine; the name I give to my recumbent bike because riding it always feels like it could be fatal with each ride. It needs a tune, new chain and brakes to get back to fighting fitness. Hopefully, this won’t lead to a chain-reaction effect requiring increasingly more parts and labor, as is often the case. That segues into dealing with another form of death: that of my career. I can’t find a job and it seems…
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I got to untether the Beast today, and by that I mean I got my first real chance to ride a new bike, and as much as I want to say it’s named the Beast because it is an amazing ride (which it has actually turned out to be), the real reason is because getting it on the road was such as beastly experience. The Beast is intended to serve as my commuter and touring bike, replacing the Trek FX3 that suddenly fell apart almost a year ago now after many years of strong and reliable service. I’d just added…