Health and Happiness for 2008!

*prayers*

(Photo of the torii at Miyajima Island, Japan, Oct 2007)

100% Completion

mmrgh II

17.3% more to go ...

mmrgh

64.1% completion ...

who dash saw at narita airport in oct 07

this is custom dog who greets vistors at the narita airport in tokyo ( :

he is simply known as "custom dog" - dash checked with the airport custom officers - isn't he cute?

looks just like a little sausage roll *yummy!*

what dash saw at the bottom right hand corner of the screen

.

Crumbs!

O_o"

Merry Christmas!

( : * * * * *

蘇打綠 <無與倫比的美麗>

蘇打綠 <無與倫比的美麗>

作曲：吴青峰 作词：吴青峰　

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶转

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

我若担心我不能飞 我有你的草原
耶～耶～ 你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

耶～耶～ 我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追
你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶
耶～耶～ 你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

耶～耶～ 我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

耶～耶～ 你知道当你需要个夏天我会拼了命努力

耶～耶～ 我知道你会做我的掩护当我是个逃兵　

耶～耶～ 你形容我是这个世界上无与伦比的美丽

耶～耶～ 我知道你才是这世界上无与伦比的美丽

耶～耶～天上风筝在天上飞 地上人儿在地上追

你若担心你不能飞 你有我的蝴蝶

我若担心我不能飞
耶～ 耶～ 我有你的草原

an unsuspecting walk in the green belt

*Jaws theme song plays in the background*

Chronicles of a Curious Mint I: The Cough Drops ...

A Caffeine Cough

"Ahem!" - Bless You
The Cough Drops - Upon a Clueless Tin
"Rattle Me!" - thinks a Curious Mint.

When the Tanuki attempts a Camouflage with the Daruma

[Screen shot from the animation Pom Poko (1994)]

An animation with environmentalist messages about the effects of industrialisation on the tokyo landscape. Much of japanese traditional folklore creatures and spirits (tanuki, kitsune, the faceless woman by the street, the one-eyed monster etc) are all found here.

At times, the storyline in Pom Poko is so dark that the kawaii qualities of the tanuki makes it simply too distressing to watch *exasperated* ... Till dash realised that Pom Poko was by madhouse, the same production team which brought us Satoshi Kon's Paprika (2006) and Tokyo Godfathers (2003).

Ahah! Now dash sees the evolution of the ghost and monster parade in Pom Poko to the nightmarish doll and toy parade in Paprika!

Why was the Agedashi Tofu feeling Wobbly?

{}

sea vegetables

seaweed. konbu. kelp.
all i like.

G is for "Go with the Flu"

because so many of her colleagues and students around are falling casualties to the flu bug, dash made a quick sketch for the fallen.

stay well above the bug! else go with the flu!

Slice of Watermelon

now, this is a slice of watermelon.

Uh-huh.

Slice of Orange

dash scribbled this during the counselling course this morning.

Lau who saw the sketch thought it looked like a slice of watermelon.

...

What watermelon?! *indignation*

Snoozy Time!

dash likes "Persepolis"

A very serious discussion about war and its casualties told in a easy read comic-strip form. It distills and puts in regular verbs the impact of war on family life, community, friends.

dash thought "Persepolis" has one of the best depictions of the tug of war between keeping true to one's ideological beliefs and staying afloat in a fear-clad reality. Does one "duck when the big wave comes" (a Persian saying)? It was interesting to trace the evolution of the narrator's parents in managing their ideologies in their worn-torn family life.

bump is right - This is good fuel for the mind. And definitely costs less than $2 per litre (:

dash likes "Botchan"

"Botchan" is the second novel by Natsume Soseki, and apparently his favourite.

dash likes the edokka spirit of Botchan and enjoys watching how Botchan asserts his integrity in situations where people often simply unthinkingly conform to social norms or adopt a "live and let live" attitude. For example, when the headmaster at his new school gave a speech to Botchan about the need for teachers to set themselves as a paragon of virtue for children, Botchan immediately told the headmaster that he would not be able to fulfill that, and asked that his resignation be accepted on the spot. And also how Botchan refused a pay raise after finding out that it came at the expense of another colleague's forced transfer to another school.

dash also celebrates the Aristotelian friendship between Botchan and Hotta that is built on the shared sense of samurai justice . The honest pair overcame the many misunderstandings deliberately stirred up by their conniving cowardly colleagues, and worked together to right the wrongs they and others suffered. After beating up the conniving cowardly colleagues, Botchan and Hotta even announced their residential address so that if the colleagues had wanted, they could call the police to haul them in!

And of course, dash is extremely delighted to read of Botchan enjoying his dango - rice ball dumplings coated with this sweet sauce (which dash first had in Kyoto this year, and decidedly one of dash's best finds in Japan this year :) Mmm!

Definitely a good book for a happy read - and be prepared to go "Aiyoh!" everytime you see Botchan fumbling through much social confusion with his black-and-white moral perspectives on things ( :

Mic Check!

麥克風 CHECK ONE CHECK TWO CHECK CHECK CHECK

*Take a deep breath.

就突然 你的出现爆破了悲哀

Ninja Cat ...

... poised and ready to pounce on the unaware ninja doraemon in the posting space below.

Uh-oh.

By Zounds!

dash's very first posting on psychedelic-zoo was of "unfazed frogs and mushroom mines" taken at the crane machines in tokyo in 2005.

and now 2 years later, after her 2nd trip to Japan, dash presents "ninja doraemon in the blue mi(d)st"! this time, taken at the crane machines in kyoto in 2007! (:

keke-keke siok and amy

on the topic of the red hat prruu-prruu nippon maru ...

dash presents to the readers pink cap keke-keke siok and amy!

prruu-prruu nippon maru

this. is. nippon maru at the sunny island of singapore!

in nov 07, the little red-hat prruuu-prruuu nippon maru sailed to this little red dot island!

and of cos, there was the usual batches of merry-making, hugs and cheers!

O.o

The "eye" on the left is actually a paper holder dash found in Ilya's office. The jaws underneath the eyeball holds the paper in place while the eyeball will stick onto the surface of walls by a suction force *Ouch!* O_o

The "eye" on the right is actually a blueberry in a lychee, splashed with strawberry sauce, and all floating on a coffee freeze. A halloween concoction at TCC during the bats and witches season this year that dash shared with dear amy (: