aesthetically challenged

The theme of todays post is "aesthetics". This is one of those words that I came across in college and continued to use until I knew what it really meant. You see I thought that it was a great word for describing something beyond what we call "beauty", but then I just found out that it was a way of appreciating or interpretating beauty (but then again, maybe I still don't know exactly what it means and therefore and stopped using it because a. It's not what I really thought it was or b. I don't know what the hell it means). Anyway now that I have confessed my ignorance I am going to go about the rest of this post as though I didn't. Ignorance is bliss, and really all that I have at this point.
So now that November is here and soon you lucky bastards will all have a mouthful of turkey while I'm here sucking on chicken twisters (which honestly are quite delicious) I thought that I would do my best to make you slightly jealous of my lavish, yet turkeyless, existence. I shall begin with exhibit A: autumn leaf viewing. Now some of you may think, "well yes Danny boy, autumn leaves are quite nice, but I often only enjoy them from my couch or car window". Well my friends have I got a tradition to share with you: in Mother Russia...oh wait, in the Great Nihon they make an all day trip out of the event. And it isn't simply walking through a park on a nice sunny autumn noon, but it is a whole experience complete with vendors lining your path selling all kinds of crap! There are trinket stands, fall food stands, sausage stands, sweet potato stands, standing stands, you get the point. It was crazy. Honestly, I thought that it was just going to be a nice little walk in some mountainous area. But no. We had to deal with a lot of families and old folks. But all of the difficulties were all made up for when the monkeys arrived. Oh I'm not a talkin' about no British invasion or circus act, I'm talkin' about some real live monkeys just hangin' out...monkeys, hangin' out...always gets a giggle out of me. Back to the monkeys though. So they were just relaxin' in trees and eating little kids that wondered too far from the pack. It really felt like I had truly gone back to nature. Except for all the stands...but they were traditional stands, and Japanese tradition goes back like a lot longer then Caucasion tradition...so essentially I was going back to when my people were in the muck and poo of nature, it's just that this time I'm in a more developed part of the world. NO I'm not turning Japanese; just making a point.
So anyways, back to the monkees...everytime I go to Karaoke I have to sing "Day Dream Believer", no really, they make me or else they ask me to leave.
So anyways, back to the mokeys...my students told me that the mokeys out in Minoh (where I went, pronounced "Me-No") were pretty mean. Like beat you up and take your lunch kinda mean. Or at least take your lunch kinda mean. They also are quite advanced, or so I was told. This can be seen in their ability to purchase soda and tea (for other drink options see last post) from the vending machines (like I said, back to nature). However as of late they have not been able to use the vending machines due to the increase in charge from ¥100 to ¥120; their little monkey paws can't hold the three coins. The local UMWoJ (United Monkey Workers of Japan) as been in talks with the vending people in an attempt to gain some limited choices of ¥100 drinks, but to no avail.
So yeah, this last weekend I went out and looked at maple tree leaves and monkeys while surrounded by people half my size...honestly it felt I was on Monkey mountain now that I think about it....and in the end we came upon a wonderful waterfall. It honestly was very beautiful and it was nice to get out and see some seasonal wonders. I am sorry, but I don't have any pictures of the waterfall, my battery died in my camera before we got there. I do have this lovely shot.

You can see a bit of the waterfall through the trees. I hope to go back this winter and hopefully will see more monkeys and take more pictures so that your jealousy can be complete.
I just remembered that I was supposed to talk about aesthetics today. I also see that I have failed at this task. I think I can handle this by simply ignoring the fact once again.
So did I mention that they also happened to sell momiji-tempura on the road to this waterfall? I am sure that most of you are familiar with tempura? As someone from Rockford, Il. may inform you, "It's the name o'the batter that's on the shit you get at Happy Wok". Good! You guessed it. "Momiji" means Maple leaf...so yeah, put those together and what do you get? A snack fit for a fat kid at a carnival. Really, breaded and deep fried maple leaves...did I buy some? You bet your buttocks I did. "Were they delicious?" You may press, and in my best Socratic method I would reply, "Didn't I say they were deep fried?"
They look like this (with a bottle of Shochu, now an all season tradition in my home):


Well folks I grow tired. This weekend I am going to go to Nara to crank my neck some more in city parks while gazing at the wonderful fall colors. I will also be feeding and trying to ride some tame deer at Nara Park. I will charge the battery a little longer so that I can have more pictures for you next time...and possibly less words.
Take care and have a happy Thanksgiving...I hope that your center piece is aesthetically pleasing. Nothing worse then gorging yourself while having to stare at dead or dried flowers. Especially when they are in one of those ram's horn looking wicker things...why do I have the feeling I just offended a family member?