Pigeons.

Today's Engrish Word of the Day Brought To You By Iittala.

I Love It When Animals Say It's Ok To Eat Them.

More Tobacco Haiku..

Exactly what is "existence"?
What is real and what isn't?
If one cannot experience something does it cease to exist?

I Don't Want Anything that "Ploughs" Anywhere Near My Eyes..

Billy Blanks.

Billy Blanks has recently released a fitness CD (Billy Blanks Boot-Camp) that's all the rage in Japan.
As a result his "movies" are "popular" again for a while.
This one even hasa Bobby Ologun seal of approval.

Train Delay on Tokaido Line.

Kawasaki Station.

Now He Has A Heater..

At least one of us is warm all day..

Oh, The Fucking Roaches..

I just found one crawling on my can of cockroach spray.

On. The. Can.

I stood there and waited patiently as it circled the can and finally crawled off onto the floor so that I could proceed to use half a can on it. Worse part is I had a half-filled beer sitting on the table, so now I have no way of knowing if it's been walking on it or if there's one inside.

Well..it is the last beer..

I'm not afraid of them, but I feel like I'm thrown to the winds most of the day so I'd like to exercise a little control over my apartment.

Apartment.
I guess if I close the sliding door I could call it that; then it'd be two rooms instead of one. When I first moved out of the overpriced Nova accommodations this place was like a palace: I was alone, the place was clean and best of all I was still paying ¥20,000 less. Now that I have more money it seems like I've outgrown it.

My place is clean enough..it's just old. A while back I noticed that the cupboards underneath the sink were rotting away.
Just as I was about done convincing myself that it wasn't so bad a cockroach ran into a rotted gap. I promptly called the landlady to see if I could have it replaced.
My landlady isn't bad; she only charged me two month's rent to move in (something I appreciated incredibly at the time); she let me go 2 1/2 months without paying rent during the whole Nova fiasco; she helps me communicate when I'm having trouble with my bills..
..but she was not going to spend any real money on that cupboard. I could see that.
Here are some of the reasons she gave me to explain why I had cockroached in my apartment:

• The apartment wasn't clean
  She has regularly commented that my apartment is the cleanest apartment she has. maybe that's not saying much, but what I mean to say is that I keep my apartment clean.


• The cockroaches are thirsty
  There is water nearby that the cockroaches want to drink. You mean like the water dripping from the sink onto the rotting cupboards?


• I don't throw out my garbage fast enough
  What garbage? You mean that tiny bag from Origin over there? The one I bought the onigiri in?


• Grobal Warming
  My personal favorite. I think I laughed out loud for that one.


• It's winter
  The gokiburiゴキブリ　are looking for somewhere warm to sleep. Nope. Definitely not my apartment lady..

This went on for a while, so we compromised; she made arrangements for a handyman to come over and take a look at it. I left work early so I could be there to witness any attempts at repair.
It was worth it:

Well, I coulda done that. Thanks. Can you leave now?