9.20.2005

Summer Spectacular


Well the summer is finally drawing to an end and along with it goes my blogging drought or is it draught (or is that just for beer?)...Wow I am confused. I think that for all practical reasons I will say, "dry spell".
Firstly I can only hope that I still have a few people that will look my way and see that I am still alive and that damn it, my musings aren't that difficult to stomach. But in order to get those few I had better get to the musings.
So yeah, Mikey came to visit. It was awesome; truly Michael, thanks. It was not only nice to get to see a dear friend that I haven't seen in two years, but it was also great because it gave me another chance to see Japan through a new set of eyes. I kept trying to think of ways that I could show him something completely new and unreal. But then again it is Mikey, the lease likely to be blown away by something. I wonder what it is that goes on in that head of yours...One hell of an imagination I would gather. Anyway, new eyes, rebirth of enjoyment and all that good stuff and then I get laid up with stomach issues for a few days and am kind of limited a little bit to the house...But Mikey was a trooper and made the most of it.
It just dawned on me that I don't need to recap his whole trip; if you would like further details then please talk to the man hisself. He told me that he enjoyed it and he also smiled a lot, which made me happier then any amount of free sho-chu. I love ya mikey and I hope that you are able to make it over again.
To the rest of you...I am still here and I will be for a while. I have access to rooms for free and futons a plenty. Food and entertainment can be arranged.

So school starts soon and I am pretty excited about it. My classes this semester are the a-typical Level A, B, High-Level, etc.; however I have managed to throw in some other interesting little tidbits such as "American History: The Great Depression", "American T.V. Show" (show to be decided), and "Humorous Reading: American Comics"...yeah I am going to have a class about reading and interpreting old Calvin & Hobbes, Fox Trot, Far Side, and Get Fuzzy. Things are looking up. The best thing for me will be that with school resuming I do believe that my relationship with my little lady will improve...lately it's been a little tough. I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to having nothing to do and no one to hang out with. So let's all say a prayer for Noriko and hope that her patience lasts another couple weeks. She's a good girl...it's just that no work and T.V. makes Danny a little clingy.

What else to talk about...I like darts. Yup that's right, I like the bloated old Irish/Englishman's game; and I'm not too bad either. Going to get better...or so I hope. Kind of a hobby for me; but then again rugby season is soon approaching. Yeah! This year should promise to be a good one for ole Danny boy. I have really been looking forward to the new challenge. This year should see a lot more action for the big guy. I hope to be on the scoring end of many a balls. I know that most of my reading audience doesn't really know all that much about the sport, but you don't have to worry, neither does the author. However I do know that I, a prop, work within a scrum and that my main objective is to run straight when given a ball and that I am also to respond quickly to any type of maul or ruck (the aforementioned occur when a runner is tackled; mauls form when the runner is still on his feet and his teammates form around him to get the ball out as well as gain yards, whereas a ruck occurs when the runner is on the ground and the ball is presented, ruckers are there to keep the other side from jumping over and taking the ball. Hope that helps a little...it did wonders for me, thanks). Should be good stuff. I will try and keep you all in the loop with results and anything else that I can pass on.
Let's try and keep out relationship going baby; I mean I promise to write more often if you only come over and check me out e'ery once'n a while. I treat you right momma.

And now, on a more serious note, I leave you with the words of Bill Maher. Comedy with purpose has recently been shining into my neck of the woods and I have to take my hat off to Al Franken; wow, never have I heard such an honest (and well documented) argument for any side in politics. I know that he puts a bad taste in many folks mouth, but the least you could do is go to the library and rent his book on tape. You will still get a laugh or two...at least out of the introduction.

And now, on a more serious note, I leave you with the words of Bill Maher:
"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more.
There's no more money to spend--you used up all of
that. You can't start another war because you used up
the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your
term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping
poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's
bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking
to you. Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose
interest and walk away. Like you did with your
military service and the oil company and the baseball
team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next
fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I
know what you're saying: there's so many other things
that you as President could involve yourself in.
Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to
do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the
sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over
to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae.
Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why?
Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've
performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't
given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that
walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty
president, but even he never conceded an entire city
to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies,
the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a
piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans.
Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't
love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse
it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is:
'Take a hint.'"

think about it

Mikey's Big Trip To Japan...my interpretation


Rooftop BBQ in Kobe
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
Mikey got here safe and sound, but at first it didn't seem as though he was having a good time. Often standing off in odd places all alone looking in at everyone else...like in this picture where I found him on a random roof. I just didn't know what to do. I thought that maybe it was the flight that set him off in the wrong direction, it is 13 hours after all. That's a long time without certian necessities of life. So I began to think about just what it was that I could do...at first I didn't know.

(Author's note...it was a great trip and I will be sure to include the truth within the next post...my big Back from Summer Break Special...coming soon!)

Jet Lag + Last Train=Anywhere's Okay

I didn't quite know what to do to make his trip the best it could be, so I just let him do what he wanted to. And then it dawned on me that I wasn't living up to my full potential. I mean here I am, the host, and here he is, asleep, I needed to do some quick thinking and even quicker acting...so here's what I did...

Sushisan


Sushisan
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
...after letting him sleep a little I did my best to show him a truly authentic Japan with my little Geisha routine...just kidding. I didn't do anything of the sort. I just fed the tired tiger.

Tastes the Same to him


Tastes the Same to him
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
...so he tried the local grub....

gaijinno chingching okina!


gaijinno chingching okina!
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
...then we made some penis jokes...

Together at Osaka Jo Castle


Together at Osaka Jo Castle
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
...and then we saw some sites and it was smiles for miles from here.

Everyone at USJ..."We Love Here"

Everyone over here in Japan just absolutely loves "The world famous Beagle". We had to wait at least 2 hours for this picture opportunity. Population density, whatta gonna do about it. So yeah, this is us at Universal Studios Japan (USJ). It was fun and I got to ride the Spider Man ride twice. yeah.

Mikey, Me and the Moose...and Tomoko or Alliteration goes out the window.

So I wanted to get a picture with every walking puppet or costumed freak that we saw...but in the end I only got Chilly Willy and Bullwinkle. It's all good.
USJ was pretty cool...I like the 4D rides...they were fun.

Samurai Mikey


Samurai Mikey
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
and before you knew it he was most definately turning Japanese.

7.18.2005

Life is full of so many choices, but I only want to suck the fig from the newton...ya dig?

So you know how depressing it is to get up on a monday morning and check my e-mail only to have a message from ABC news? Pretty damn depressing. But hey, I am curious to read about a bunch of new crappy tv shows that I won't be able to see. Nothing would make me happier. At least the kind folks, with no sense of creativity, have the decency to drop me a line. Ah, who am I kidding. I'm not angry, I just wish that I could have had a little shout out from someone...I mean anyone. Just a little nod o' the head and a grunt would be appreciated.

Enough bitching.

It's hot over here. And I know that it's probably hot over there, but I'm talking about a new level uncomfortable. I'm talking about like late August St. Louis heat. I'm talking about walking around and taking two or maybe three extra shirts with...for sanitary and sanity reasons.
Okay so I pretty much have to walk everywhere that I want to go in this country. Or I at least have to walk to the train station (a little under one mile) and then I have to walk to whatever my destination. So I would easily say that on a given day (If I go anywhere, which I usually do) I am walking about 3-5 miles. That's a lot of sweet in this crap. It's wicked...speaking of wicked, who here as tried Wicked Pete's Strawberry Blonde? It is a delicious little brew. At least as I recal it was pretty tasty last summer. Good, light beer. No it isn't fruity or anything like that. It's just a smooth wheat beer with a bit of a strawberry aftertaste. It's a lot better than actual beer aftertaste.

As if the heat weren't enough we also have cicada's or do we call them June Bug's? Either way they call them "semi"s here. They are really annoying and now their vacant shells are all over the ground. They sound a lot like a downed powerline. It feels a though Japan was cursed with some sort of plague...if so then it must have happened a long time ago because the people sure don't give two shakes about a thing. They just go around saying "atsui desu ne", which I think is, "Hot enough for ya"?
Hai!

7.11.2005

His-sach-a-booty (J-pan "e's" for It's been a long time...sucka)

Well then. How is everyone? I hope that you enjoyed the few random pictures that I posted. I am sorry that I was not able to post all of the randoms that I have of everyone, but just so you know, I care about and miss you all. I appreciate the random mails that I get from time to time as well.
So what's up? Well not much here. I do have to say that last night I watched an excellent movie called, "How to Kill Your Neighbors Dog". It was really pretty funny and in the end I truly enjoyed it. Therefore I would like to suggest it to you all as well, here it goes, "You all really should see the aforementioned film. It is enjoyable and I beleive that most people will enjoy the main characters cynicism. It was way better than 'sideways' but then again so was 'A league of their own', 'Dick Tracy', and about a million other movies".
So recently in class I have been doing some fun activities...such as reading Calvin and Hobbes as well as giving tests on following directions by having the students play through the training session on the XBox game "Splinter Cell", all in all the end of this semester has been highly enjoyable. I have two days left until the official end. I am beginning to think up ways to spend my time while not working. I think I might start lifting weights...ha, just kidding. Seriously though. Maybe I'll finally write that book, or at least read one or two.
At his point of the post I would like to make an observation: is it just me or do comics really suck as of late? Now I'm not talking about Marvel or DC or things of that ilk, but moreoever just the plane ole funny pages comics. I have to admit that after the retirement of Gary Larson (The Far Side) and Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) comics just aren't the same. I do however enjoy a little Get Fuzzy from time to time. But it's just not the same.
Well I think that this is enough for now. I shall talk to you all again soon. In the meantime do as I do and get in touch with your femine side by listening to The Misfits, thanks Kelly!

"hungry? why wait?"


"hungry? why wait?"
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
So this is what started all of this. I found a disc the other day with a bunch of old pictures. As I began to look at them I got a little sad and lonely and thought that perhaps I should share them with you all...or at least you three or four that will glance at 'em. I miss you all and I hope that you enjoy the pictures as well as I do. Take care and as the late great Johnny Cash said, "damn your eyes", oh wait, I meant "we'll meet again/don't know where and I don't know when/but we'll meet again some sunny day".

Chemically Inspired


Chemically Inspired
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
A little design that I made for a softball jersey. I thought that it was pretty good. That Zoloft bubble thing is so cute!

you are missed as well


ChrisnJen.gif
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
Chris makes an ass of himself. Nothing new under the sun there. Summer orientation 2003. Whatta cake job. I mean, I learned many things while performing this service to the fine institution that is Loras College.

Which way to the weight room?


Which way to the weight room?
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
Honestly, I lifted both of them up on my shoulders. No ropes or harnesses were used in this performance. This was taken on my first trip to Ireland. Some random night out...on the left is Pat McMahon and the left is Seamus Ahern; don't know why I included the information. But it's there if you want to know...next!

880 Loras Blvd.


880 Loras Blvd.
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
I miss lazy Saturday's and watching a random sporting event and acting as though I actually cared...

Last night Dublin 2004


Last night Dublin 2004
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
...and I miss you two as well...

Waiting for the man


Waiting for the man
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
Chuckles and Patrick wait with myself and Drew for the Pizza guy. This picture was taken in the Summer of 2003 when I visited Pat in Iowa City for a few days that turned into a few weeks. Daewoo...great car, if you want to get stranded. That's not a complaint by the way. I was lucky to be able to spend so much time with such sexy men. Special Note to Chuck: you are definately fatter than me.

Mikey and Drew at Gabe's Oasis


Mikey and Drew at Gabe's Oasis
Originally uploaded by dbaxelson.
One could only imagine what kind of conversation these two were having. I would imagine that Mike said something shocking and Drew probably shook his head a lot and said that he was wrong. Sigh...decent conversation...or at least a conversation beyond, "How are you?" and the quick blanket response of, "I am fine" accompanied by a blank look. I know they are trying, but I could go for one of Mikey's strange and humorous anecdotes or even just a strange outburst.