Clock & Blue Sky

Clock & Blue Sky, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

More blue sky. And with winter not so far away I can look forward to many more blue sky days - Tokyo winters are dry and clear, unlike England, where it's gray and wet most of the season.

We are almost into the second week of Novemeber and things are moving along: the new job is looking more manageable although still challenging.
I should not be thinking about what I might do after the six months, but I find myself day dreaming of elaborate travel plans.

Persimmon Signal

Persimmon Signal, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

I love it when the sky is blue. What I really want to do is is simply photograph the sky, without any subject in it all all, and then post a series of blue photo... but it's already been done... in a way - Derek Jarman.

The Phoenix and Drum

The Pheonix and Drum, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

The Phoenix and Drum sonds like a British pub name. I remember there was a number of pubs that started with The Phoenix and ....something.
I'm not sure if the metal bird on top of the drum is actually a phoenix. This was taken down our High Street at the weekend; some kind of small festival was about to take place.
It's nice to feel like a phoenix sometimes, don't you think? To rise from the perceived ashes of failure, to be born again. Life should be lived forwards.

iPod Nano

galleryimage011, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This is now my number one object of desire. I want one!
My old iPod has been a good and faithful friend for the last couple of years, and continues to be one. Never let me down; always lifted my spirits when the pressures and stresses of the day would have crushed me.
One of the original, first generation, 10 gig iPods, he is getting a little on the heavy side these days. And of course I don't help by insisting on wearing those "Egg" headphones...but the sound man! The sound!
So recently I've been thinking it would be nice to have something really small. Something that would all fit in half a shirt pocket or less, and weigh nothing. There's a lot of them out there. The iPod Shuffle of course...I would like to stay to loyal to Apple. Then there's the new Sony Walkman stick, which looks very nnice, I have to admit: small, long battery time. And then a long list of other really small MP3 players.
But this morning I'm reading on the BBC about Apple's new mobile phone, and they mention in passing that Jobs also annouced the iPod Nano.
How far can these things go? I mean, what is going to be available 10 or even 5 years from now? Perhaps it will be like the mobile phones. In Japan they got smaller and smaller until they became like little toys and almost impractical to use. So then they got bigger again but with new features. So I think future iPods will come with cameras (still and video), video play back, GPS, you name it, plus capacity for a 50,000 songs. It's coming.

Peeandpoo

peeandpoo, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Don't mess around with the Tokyo City Parks Department. They don't mince their words and they don't fudge it when it comes to calling a spade a spade and a trowel a trowel. If there is any peeing or pooing in the park they'll know about it and they will be all over you like...well, like something unplesant that you would rather not have all over you.
The bushes have eyes.
Later there is a sign which say,
"Parents, please do not let your child pee or poo in the park as dogs play and have their lunch on the grass".

Garamasala Chips

Garamasala, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Came across these Garamasala flavoured chips in my local Mini Stop a few days ago. Nice packaging I think. The chips are small, triangular, thin cracker kind of things and have a liberal dusting of garamasala powder on them. I don't think it would be advisable to eat the whole bag (55g) at one sitting, even though at first you may not think the bag contains so many chips.
Life's a bit like that sometimes... don't you think? You think you can handle the spice, and at the time you can, and it all goes down quite nicely, very tasty, but then you can't get the taste out of your mouth, or out of your head for the rest of day. Beware the bright packaging of pop culture!

Last Call for Summer (min min min)

min min, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Hot again today, a real August sorching Sunday. In the park we went to in the morning the cicadas were still calling, but not for much longer I think. The end of August is in sight and I always feel that September is autumn, at least the beginning of autumn, not matter how hot it reaches, and it can still reach pretty bloody high.
The last day of August is your last official day to have a crack at Fuji. I didn't go last week; a combination of doubtful weather and doubtful motivation and committment. The weather turned out fine and now I regret not going. But I have another chance next weekend, the last weekend of the official climbing season, although early September can be very good.
Next week is a regualar working week, which I am very happy about, last week I taught no classes and made no money. It may still be summer time, but without money the living can be far from easy. Let's Go!

Coming Soon to a Subduction Zone Near You!

raven2, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Well, about an hour ago, at 11:45, we had a pretty strong earthquake. The epicentre was off the coast of Miyagi; the nearest city was Sendai, and it measured about 6.8.
Here in Tokyo things were swinging and shaking and it went on for quite a while.
I consider this our second warning in as many weeks. After the last earthquake (the biggest in Tokyo for 13 years no less) I decided it was definitly time for action and to get prepared. Here's the list of things to buy and things to do:
Water
Gas for the camping gas stove
Batteries for the flashlight
Candles
Food
Cash, in small denominations
Decide on what do, where to meet etc.
So far I haven't done anything... it's so easy to let yesterday's earthquake slip to the back of one's mind. And then again I have been reminded that under my feet, deep deep down there, several plates are moving, sliding, building up stresses and tensions that one day, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next year, will give way and this whole city of cards will come tumbling down. And if that happens then it's a brand new game and priorities are suddenly turned on their head. What you took for granted one day will be swept away the next. The convenience store life style that so many in this city live in will be gone as quickly as the stock in the local 7-11. People will be lining up for 7 hours for a small bottle of water. Money will not mean as much as how much food and water you had stored before the earth moved.
The supermarkets are full of food right now. Now is the time to prepare... or get the hell out. The trouble is you can't really imagine that it will actually happen. It's seems like a story that everyone tells but that is just a story. Or perhaps you can believe it but what you think will happen is far from the reality of what is actually going to happen. On NHK 30 minutes ago they showed shop staff picking up the bottles that fallen of the shelves. Some people think that's what it will be like - just picking up a few fallen objects and then carrying on as before.

The ravens know more than they are willing to tell. They will all far away when the big one hits, laughing their feathers off and preparing for the feast.

Cats

Cats, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Some little ceramic cats I found on a stall in Ueno park after visiting the zoo last week. Funny, the animals in the zoo had similar expressions on their faces.

Look Out Cleveland

Look Out Cleveland, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

A word here, a call there, a meeting here and there and the next thing you know the road has changed and you are headed in a new and very interesting direction. Although I have to say that though the mountains look spectacular, the way the figures raise so dramatically to what I was used to down in the valley, those peaks are not a little scary. But I know from experience that appearances can be deceptive, especially in the case of mountains. What looks so steep from the safety (and dullness) of the valley in reality maybe perfectly easy to scale. There is a foreshortening in our perception and that foreshortening can scare us unnecessarily.
Now I've been invited to the base of the mountain, I'm clipped in and I've been given the all clear to start my ascent. No doubt there will be the occasional falling stone, a tricky patch of ice or a difficult pitch but I'll deal with those as I encounter them.
The view should be pretty good from up there. And now if you'll excuse me I have to pack...
Which reminds me I'm seriously considering a Fuji climb next week. Looks like it'll have to be a solo climb, but that's OK, perhaps I need the space to do a little high altitude pondering.

Tokyo from the 49th floor

Tokyo from the 49th floor, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Nice view from up here on the 49th floor. I'm relaxing with an iced latte and a window seat. Trying to pick out the places I know, but the city looks different from above compared to street level. I've always thought Tokyo's beauty... if it has any... is in it's details; those little surprises and small corners, which do still exist, although they are being hunted down and concreted over. But even from 49 floors up I'm not sure we can actually say the city is beautiful. It's just that we are surprised by the unusual perspective the altitude gives us, and perhaps simply the sheer size of the city and the number of buildings we can see from our vantage point. Usually you can see, how many buildings, about 10 or 20 from a street corner, perhaps more. But up here there are thousands, countless. It's all starting to look a little like the computer generated cities in the latest Star Wars movie. Perhaps Tokyo is a virtual city. Perhaps it only exists in our minds; we are not really here at all. I know a lot people here who are not really here... there is no here, here.

Stick

Stick, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Thought is the real Butterfly Effect, don't you think? A thought can cause small ripples that fan out across your reality that turn into waves and change everything. And that's how it should be.
Without the waves we would be sitting in the middle of a flat calm ocean looking at ourselves in the mirror-like stillness of the deep.
Had the very early universe been uniformly flat then small clumps of matter could not have have formed, clumps which in turn clumped together... and the next thing you know you have several billion glaxies all containing several billion stars.
Thought leads to action and action leads to movement and growth and life. That's the theory anyway. Sometimes a big thought pops into your head, which can be quite scary, and the action it calls for is more than you can manage. But the thought won't go away so you had better just get on with it and see what happens. Everything usually turns out for best anayway, so don't worry about it.
Do you ever get the feel that the universe had just been waiting, patiently, for you to move into the right place, and that once you were there it was as if a key had been turned and things started to move like they hadn't moved previously. The mechanism had always been there, like in some ancient Egyptian pyramid or lost city Indy Jones lock.
Still a few turns to go though.

July 2 2005 Live8 Tokyo

July 2 2005 Live8 Tokyo, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Went to the Tokyo Live 8 concert today. When I read there was to be a Tokyo concert I thought I might as well try to get tickets, even though the line up was not one I would normally pay to see. I was lucky and got tickets.
I watched 4 out of the 7 bands... sorry Bjork, catch you next time, promise.
After the conccert we went to Costco, the massive wholesale supermarket. An uncomfortable contrast but I shopped anyway; what else can you do.
The bands were all pretty good, in their own way. I find I'm becoming more like John Peel in my opinion of musicians, if not the music, in that I don't like to make personal criticisms of people who obviously enjoy and have a passion for what they are doing. The world needs diversity in all things.
The thing that will stay in my mind though was not the music, but the videos they showed on the big screens in between the music. One of them showed two young African brothers, unable to hold back the tears of despair when talking about their mother who had recently died. They said their father was ill and subtitles on the screen told us that their father died shortly after... Having a son not much younger than them made it unbearably heartbreaking to watch them...
What can you do? A question I increasingly would like to find an answer to rather than just ask...

See the vidoes for yourself on the Live 8 website.

End of the Line

End of the Line, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

The more things change the more they stay the same...
Or as the French say, "Ze more sings shanege, ze more zey stay ze same...".
My French is a little rusty these days, as is my Japanese, as are my knees, but that's another story.
Well, what do you think about this for a station? I teach a couple of classes here on Wednesday afternoons. And I thought it was only bloody Select that had out-of-the-way class locations!
If you can name this station I'll give you 10,000 yen, an enormous box of luxury heart stopping chocolates, a years subcription to Train Rider Monthly and half my kingdom...

Train Window

Train Window, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

The thing about change is that you never really know what is going to happen once things start happening, and perhaps that's why people often try to avoid change in the first place.
Like those puzzles where you have a diagram of some cogs in a row and you are asked to say which direction cog "E" will turn when cog "A" is turned. Except that in real life there are more cogs and they can turn in more than two directions.
But that's what makes it interesting and life enhancing...

After The Festival

After The Festival, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

These three guys had been taking part in a festival in Shinjuku today. It was one of those carrying a Mikoshi, a portable shrine, festivals. If it's so hard why not just put the bloody things on wheels!

Built in Obsolescence

Built in Obsolescence, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Went for a walk the other day and found this Play Station 2 dumped in an untended flower bed. There is a message here somewhere about the way the world is moving and I'm going to let you figure it out. Something to do with globalization, brands, the erosion of diversity, the dumbing down of culture and civilization, the tyrany of technology...

Yellow & Black

Yellow & Black, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Looking a little like a bee, this is actually a level crossing near my apartment. It was repainted recently.
My old apartment, when I was still single, overlooked this pedestrian level crossing, and I could hear the "bong, bong, bong" chimes every 3 to 4 minutes until nearly 1:00 am, and sometimes during the night too. I got used to it after a few weeks of course and soon the trains and bonging didn't really bother me - I almost stopped noticing them. But why get used to it? Why not move to a better apartment without the noise and the rumble of trains?
In the end I did move and was glad I did although it's always uncomfortable moving, and slightly scary, but you know it's the right thing to do. Life is too short to put up with second best.

E

E, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

The times they are a changing... finally.
New job and jobs; goodbye to the old, hello to the new... the more things change the more they stay the same? We shall see.
This morning, Saturday morning, I was up at the crack of dawn... it was so early that I was up before my son! That's how early it was. I was teaching a new student, a new class, for a new company, and of course nothing was quite how I was told it would be or how I expected it would - just that it was different material, no tape player... usual stuff, no problem, happens all the time, do something else, joke about it, it ain't the end of the world or the class.
Then off to Waseda for some serious listening and grammar with people who had paid their own money to be told the difference between the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuos... I have been using that grammar my whole life but recently I have decided I don't know enough... did you spot it?
So now I have just the one day off, until June hits and Select gently slides away to starboard and drifts towards the horizon. Not too far away though as I am still doing two classes for Them, but at least now I'm not on the same ship.

Recent Bees buzzing around my mind: voice recorders vs. mini MP3 players with voice recording... why? Because I want to be able to record every second of my entire waking day... don't ask why.
Reason 2.0 - the software that is finally gonna make John a big balloon in the Electronica and ambient music scene!

It's been a busy few weeks, and when I look back on them at the end of the year I will this as the turning point... where I'm heading now is a good question but I think we are afloat again and on a new heading... hoist the mainsail! Full steam ahead!

We Went Up A Mountain And Came Down A Hill

IMG_3017, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Hiking in Chichibu last weekend with William. Lovely day and a good walk.
The beard and moustache also had a lovely day, and in fact were so taken with the mountains and the sheer nature of it all that they decided to stay! I'm think Golden Week might be the next best growing season.

Lift Up Your Eyes

IMG_3030, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

So Tokyo may not be the most beautiful city in the world, far from it, but all you have to do is look beyond the skyline and there is the big blue beautiful sky. It's just so blue, and we so often take that colour for granted. But look at it! It's so bloody blue! Isn't that just amazing, and it's there for anyone to see.

On The Buses

Bus, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

And where is this bus going? It's not a good idea to stay on the bus too long because there's a good chance it won't take you where you want to go. If you stay on the same bus too long you won't get anywhere.
Get off the bloody bus! It's small, crowded and boring.
Get off the bloody bus and walk!
You will see a lot more and you will get to where you want to go independently, which is the best way to travel.
And these one-man buses are the worst, you know. Driver, conductor, money taker... they think they know what their doing and where they are going, but they are driving around in ever decreasing circles.
Get off the bloody bus!
Ding Ding!

Pennies in the Forest

IMG_3019, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Some coins left at a small mountain forest shrine.

El Presidente

El Presidente, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Hey Emil
Here's one for you.
Just think, you escaped from those jaws. Now you are a free man! Free to go where you want to go. Free to do what you want to do, without the constant fear and loathing that you might be the next Selected morsel to be thrown to the sharks.

Take It To The Fridge

fridge
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Went to see REM at the Budokan yesterday evening and very good they were as well. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, I hadn't really thought about the concert until we entered the hall. But they were great. Stipe stalking around the stage, a mask painted across his eyes, his voice strong and clear. This morning I downloaded the new CD, Around The Sun. I guess I should buy it but these days actually paying for a CD seems such an alien idea to me.

What's Your Passion?

kitkat
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

As far as I know this is a Japan only Kit Kat version. It's passion fruit flavoured and was created by a famous Japanese chef called Takagi. They are a bit more expensive than the regular Kit Kats but rather nice.

iBook

iBook
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This is where it all comes together, or not.
I really do need to get some more memory put in the little iBook, it runs so slow when I have too much open... bit like me.

Look in The Mirror

bathroomirror
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

The world of work is changing and the idea of job security is disappearing. I might be just as well off seriously studying art and writing and trying to make a living as I would be in any other field. In some ways I could be more secure, because I would have an independence that a company employee doesn't have. Their company could downsize them, sack them, go bankrupt, be bought up, sliced up and downsized. It's not like it was in my father's day.
But the Internet offers so many opportunities to those with the will, the sense and the ability to find them. There are people making a living through eBay auctions. I could be doing that! There must be things here in Japan that I have access to that people in Europe and the US would buy.
The Internet is full of opportunities, and I think we will see in the future looking back at these years just how many there were.
I mean already we can see how smart the amazons, the Googles, the eBays, the Bloggers, and more were and are. There are other, smaller scale opportunities out there; it's all a matter of keeping your eyes open, keeping up with it all and acting when you see an opportunity; don't waste time, get on with it, things move fast on the Net. Not that I want to be some dot com entrepreneur as such, but I want to take advantage of the opportunities it offers in the areas I am interested in.
Web sites like Wild West Yorkshire and Everyday Matters attract quite a lot of regular visitors, and rightly so. I think they can sell quite a lot of books because people know what they do and how well they do it. Also I think people trust them because they have been there for several years doing the same thing; they have put in the work. But you know that they don't regard it as work, I'm sure they don't.
So, anyway, what I'm trying to say is that we live in a different world than we did 20 years ago; less secure perhaps but with more opportunities to those with the perception to see them and exploit them. I want to be one of those exploiters! But to take advantage of the opportunities you have to put in the work!

How to Make a Linocut Print

how to lino print
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Someone asked me about how these prints were made. In fact someone asked me what "lino" is. I wonder if that's a British word? It's short for linoleum, the stuff that people put on their kitchen and bathroom floors... or at least they used to.
The lino used in art for printing is a little different. The traditional lino is a kind of corky, woody brown material, about 3-4mm thick. I remember using it in school. But what I use now (In fact it's the only type I've found here in Japan) is a plastic lino. It cuts very smoothly and of course you can use it many times and wash it without it deteriorating, unlike the tradtional lino. The only disadvantage is that I can only find it in two sizes: postcard and double postcard size. Traditional lino come in a variety of sizes, so you can do large pieces - Picasso did posters using linocut prints.
The cutting part can become very engrossing - a kind of right brian, zen activity - I lose alll track of time and become focussed on cutting.
Some people might regard linocut prints as the poor cousin of the more serious wood cut print , but hey if it was good enough for Picasso it's good enough for me.
Try it yourself.

Fire Engine

Fire Engine(s)
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This a postcard size lino print I made a couple of months ago. I printed it in a variety of colours.
If you'd like a copy just ask!

Seven Eleven

Seven Eleven
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This is another lino print. My local Seven Eleven. This is my most ambitious print so far - each colour represents a seperate lino board. I'd had problems with alignment of the different layers before I made a special printing board.

Forest

Forest
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This is a lino print I did at the end of last year.
The real size of the print is 15x20 cms.
I've been thinking about trying to sell some of my prints.

Where's The Map?

IMG_2863
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

If your day job, the one where you turn up at the office in the morning and drag yourself through the day watching the hands of the clock slowly creep towards the hour when you can finally leave, if that job becomes the centre of your life, the main part of your day and of your thoughts, then you are in for a grim and a long trudge. If you don't consider your job to be interesting, compelling or fulfilling, or if it doesn't satisfy you, or if you simply regard it as a necessity for paying the rent, then you had better bloody decide just what exactly does interest, compel, fulfill and satisfy you and then do it.
Life is way too short to waste even a day doing what you don't want to do. Of course sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do, in fact it happens all the time. There can't be many people in the world who have such wide ranging freedom that they have no obligations or have demands or controls imposed on them.
An obvious example, which people trot out, would be Bill Gates. We all consider Gates to be a very free man, simply because he is very rich, and therefore we assume he can anything he wants. And to a certain extent I guess he can, but he lives in the USA and is bound by the laws of that country and by the rules and laws of business in the USA and the rest of the world.
The other example we would put forward for a person who is free to do anything would be the President of the USA. That position does hold a lot of power but does power necessarily equal freedom?
It's all relative isn't it? The homeless man with nothing in many ways is freer than the salarimen with a job, house, family car etc. I'm pretty sure that if you looked at the suicide figures you would find that most of them are salarimen and not many of them are homeless. I wonder if that's true?
And your point is?
What I'm slowly labouring towards is the thought that you shouldn't consider your day job to be more important than your ultimate goals. For a start you should be clear in your ultimate goals, targets, plans and dreams - you should formulate them, write them down so you know clearly just what it is you are aiming for; just what direction you want to face and move in.
Once you have that clear direction you can then make clear plans on how to both move in that direction and how to reach the goals you have decided on. If these plans are in the same direction as your current day job all well and good, you are a person of clear perception and have made good decisions in the your life that have brought you to an advantageous position.
If, on the other hand you find that your goals and your present position are very different then you have to decide what to do to align your life more in line with your ultimate goals.
You have to remember that your goals are a much clearer representation of the real you than your present day job. Your ultimate goal (and it should not be placed so far into the future as to be meaningless; time waits for no one and nor do birthdays or the continuous rush of passing time), your ultimate goal is the place you want to be and to reach; it means that at some point you will have to stop doing what you are doing now. There will probably be some over lap time when you are doing both, in fact inevitably there will be. And so it follows that you should start doing things to bring you closer to you goal.
What I'm getting at is the fact that at some point, (and it should be early on I think) your goals and plans should take on an importance in your life, daily life and thinking much more important than the day job. The day job is a small element in the bigger picture and landscape. Your goals are the hills and mountains and lakes out there, your present day job and position is merely a stop on the journey, at least it should be. That's why the goals and plans are so important - if you don't have the mountains of your goals to guide you then you will have no direction to follow at all and will probably stay in the boring little muddy village down in the valley.
But seeing the mountain is only half of it, an important half no doubt but only half. The other half is the map and guide to help you reach the mountains. The more detailed the map the clearer will be your direction and you will have more confidence in your journey. If you know where you are ultimately heading it means you can relax a little and enjoy the trip. You can keep your gaze on the peaks and enjoy the landscape you are traveling through. There will no doubt be difficulties and problems: swollen rivers, blisters, rain etc. But if your direction is clear and you map is clear then you simply tackle each problem as it arises, deal with it and then keep moving in the right direction.
But the most important thing, the key point is that you know the direction! Without the direction you are going nowhere. Direction and then a map and then the journey and once you have started walking; once you have made the commitment and started then you can enjoy the challenge and the excitement of the journey and the new sights of the new landscapes that you encounter. If you stay in the shitty little village you maybe be safe and you maybe be warm in your small hut but you will never see the world from the top of the mountains. You will never know the exhilaration of the journey. You will never know just how far you could go, and that would be very sad.
Many people don't realize what they are missing until it is too late. They are working in the village, heads down, feeding the chickens, weeding the fields, peeling potatoes, and then one day they look up and see the snow capped peaks off in the distance, all shimmering and shining in the morning sun and they think that they would like to go up there, perhaps to the top. But they realize it's too late, they are too old, they can't leave the village now, and that knowledge just kills them, sometimes literally.
And you point is?
My point is that the clock is always running. Do not hesitate, be brave, have courage; be true to yourself; do what you know you have to do; you know what it is and what has held you back is the thought... are the thoughts that: you can't do it, I'm not good enough, other people do it much better than I can, I might fail, I'll almost certainly fail, what about the money, what about the family, and many other thoughts which hold you back.
Make you decisions. Set your goals. Make your plans. Make your commitments and get on with it!

Fear and Loathing

Fear and Loathing
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"

Then it was quiet again. My attorney had taken his shirt off and was pouring beer on his chest, to facilitate the tanning process. "What the hell are you yelling about?" he muttered, staring up at the sun with his eyes closed and covered with wraparound Spanish sunglasses. "Never mind," I said. "It's your turn to drive." I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark toward the shoulder of the highway. No point mentioning those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough.

So long Hunter, thanks for all the books. I read you a lot when I was 18 but not these days. Funnily enough I was thinking about you just last week; checking you out on the Net and in the secondhand book shop (they had FLLV by the way and I was planning to buy it, but if I buy it now it'll look like I'm just buying it because you just blew out your brains...). On one of those Net articles (most of which were praising you, especially the old stuff) one guy said that you did all you best stuff years ago and you hadn't done anything good for a long time, and that there was nothing sadder than an old man still doing drugs... well, I guess you read that too...

Lhasa 1987

Lhasa 1987
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Lhasa and Tibet are places I would very much like to visit again, but I am afraid at what I would find. When I was there in 1987 there was very little tourist "development" - no big hotels, only guest houses, and no restaurants or bars catering to the tourist trade. I fear things are very different now. And it's not even as if the increase in tourist numbers has helped the Tibetans so much - I'm sure most of the money goes into Chinese pockets. I wonder if the growth in Chinese economic power will help Tibet or simply to accelerate it's destruction.

Early Cherry

Early Cherry
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...

Little Plastic Ducks

Little Plastic Ducks
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Remember that night in the Garden? You came down to my dressing room and you said 'kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson'... You was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum. Which is what I am. Let's face it.

Here and Now

Here and Now
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

And here we are today, father and son, and I am both of those things. One good thing about having a child is that is keeps you focussed in the now, because right now he is demanding something, right now he is about to pull down all my CD's, right now he wants something to drink... It's only after he's gone to bed and is asleep that my mind drifts away and down the years.

Taj Mahal, 1987

Taj Mahal, 1987
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

One comforting thought which occurs to me, looking through these photos of my London to Kathmandu overland trip back in the spring of 1987, is that I haven't really put on much weight since I was 26 and have almost the same amount of hair. There are some men of 44 who could not say the same.
I am going to get my Zimbabwe trip photos put on CD soon. That was a trip I made in 1986.
All this nostalgia and looking at old photos of a younger you is almost certainly not such a great thing to do... too much of. Life is about falling forward into the future with a strong and postive attitude that the best could yet be to come. Life gets richer and deeper and if it doesn't you only have yourself to blame.
There's no fool like an old fool, so they say.

Grass

Grass
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

A patch of wild canabis growing by the side of an Indian road in the spring of 1987.

La Qua

La Qua
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

It was a national holiday today, Dried Fish Day or something. We went to Korakoen, home of Tokyo Dome and affiliated attractions. There is a harum-scarum, hurdy gurdy roller coaster ride that twists and turns in spine-jangaling elipses and flies through a round hole in the top right hand corner of the shopping building. I've haven't ridden it but in my mind I've been through that hole many times, and every time I emerge the track has some how disappeared and we are gliding parabolically towards the ground. We land in the space between the people in the photograph.
We were going to have a look at Koshikawa Park, which is next to the Dome, but although it looked very nice, it didn't look like the sort of garden a 17 month old toddler was going to get any kicks out of of, so we gave it a miss, for a couple of years, but hey, we'll be back.

Tibet 1987 (Part 3)

Tibet 1987
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Another photo from the Tibet trip back in 1987. It was so dry up there on the Tibetan plateau; no trees, no grass, thin air, blue sky... I'd love to see it again, but it wouldn't be same... it really is another country.
They say we replace every cell in our bodies every seven years. By which reckoning I am twice removed from the man who took this picture. The memories in my mind are twice as old as the cells they are held in, but they are still there.

Tibet 1987

Tibet 1987
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Another country...

Tibet 1987

Tibet 1987
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

In the spring of 1987 I traveled from Kathmandu to Lhasa. This photo was taken on one of the high mountain passes.
That journey stayed with me for a long time, in fact it is stuck in a place at the back of my mind and makes an appearance every now and again to remind what I did when I was 26 years old.
It's the passage of time that surprises and scares me. It dificult to look at these photos; looking at the younger me, the freer me.
There are 4 other sets of negatives here that I could transfer onto CD but I'm not sure I could handle it.
That's says something I should take note of.
Tibet is still there. Those prayer flags are still there and the sky is still a deep blue there, but that 26 year old isn't there.
Build a bridge and get over it...

Ushuaia Bay & Peaks

Ushuaia bay & peaks
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

I spent 4 days in Ushuaia, Patagonia, which was a couple of days too long actually, but I couldn't get an earlier flight out so four days (and three nights) it was. The second day, the first full day, was the best, and indeed ranks pretty high in my list of all time best days. It was a perfect day; blue sky and sea and no wind. I walked all over the town, down to the bay, and then up to those mountains and the small glacier.
The one thing I now regret about not just the days in Ushuaia, but the whole Argentina and Chile trip was that I didn't draw anything. Those four days in Ushuaia could have been so productive and creative. Photographs are great, they document the place, but to draw something means to own it deep within you. To draw something means you open your eyes and really see. When you take a photograph you're not really looking at your subject, not as closely or as carefully or as intently as when you draw.
If I ever get the chance of a long trip again the first thing I will pack is my pen and sketchbook.

The Price of Fish

The Price of Fish
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

You know fish don't grow on trees. And they don't grow on the fishmonger's slab. They live in the deep cold ocean, and if you want to catch one you are going to have to get on a boat and sail way out on to that deep cold ocean and work like hell, and not sleep, and gut and cast the net, and haul it back in again, and sometimes those waves are so big, and the air is so cold that the salt water freezes on the cold iron of the ship. When you get back to port you have to pay off the loan on the boat.
And I think I have it bad sitting behind a desk telling office guys what an adjective is.

Don't Mess With The Fowlers

Don't Mess With The Fowlers
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

We know who you are and we know where you live.

I was thinking this evening, as I was walking to the station to catch the train home after a pretty long day at work, that my son is the most perfect thing not just in my life but in this world. He is perfect and pure and everything else is corrupted and damned. He is an angel come down from heaven.
I hadn't realised how corrputed, imperfect and 90% shit everything is until he came.
Pity The Garden is only a temporary home. The snake is out there, just waiting with his knowledge of corruption and, I guess, opportunity.
So this is how it feels to be a father.

Plum Blossom

Plum Blossom
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Just as I'm getting into my winter stride spring loams on the horizon.
The days are getting longer and this morning I found this plum blossom in a small orcahrd not far from the apartment.
I like the plum more than the cherry. It's not not as showy for a start. Those small white flowers are the first sign that even though you are still freezing your bollocks off on those early morning walks to the station, warmer days are coming.
The Earth continues to move around the sun. The seasons change. All things must pass.
They say that this spring Tokyo is going to suffer a pollen tsunami, due to the unusally long and hot summer we had last year. The city is about to dissolve in a sea of snot and tears.

Only The Mistakes Are My Own

Only The Mistakes Are My Own
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

This morning walking to work I started thinking about achievement and what achievements in my life I am proud of; the shortlist was a lot shorter than I would have liked.
What kind of achievements am I thinking of here though? The obvious public ones: climbing a mountain, publishing a book, establishing a business etc. Then there are the more private ones: err... can't think of a good example... running a marathon? no that's a public one.
Anyway, the point is that to achieve something you are proud of you need a clear vision of who you are and what you are. If you know that it gives you the direction you need. Then if you can apply dedication, commitment, persistency, consistency and hard work to the thing you love you will have a life of achievement and satisfaction.
If you don't have that self-knowledge and clarity of direction you may end up floundering around not knowing which way to go, running on the spot or treading water, which gets you nowhere.
If you are one of the lucky ones who knows their life's direction early on you can just get on with. And being young is certainly a big advantage. You can start at the bottom and learn the ropes, make mistakes, build experience and slowly climb higher and higher.
The important thing is that you have complete commitment and trust in your direction; that you know that this is what you are meant to be doing. That gives you the power and courage to keep moving even when things are hard.

Argentina 2002

Argentina 2002
Originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

I went to Argentina and Chile in the spring of 2002, a three week trip which took me to the end of the world. I'd always had a dream of visiting Patagonia, ever since reading the Chatwin book. But he had longer than three weeks.