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Recently I’ve been posting pictures of my cat, Noboru (“Non-chan”), over at hipstacatic.tumblr.com. I post one a day every weekday, and as of today I’m up to 50 images total. Why not go check it out? Hit the “random” button a few times, and maybe it’ll brighten your day little. And if you like it, give it a “follow!”
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“Nuclear power plants, which were supposed to be efficient, instead offer us a vision of hell. This is the reality… We should have been working to develop alternative energy sources to replace nuclear power at a national level, by harvesting all existing technologies, wisdom and social capital. Even if people throughout the world had mocked us, saying, “Nuclear power is the most effective power generation system, and Japanese people are really stupid not to use it”, we should have retained the aversion to nuclear power that was triggered by our experience of nuclear weapons… It is the job of experts to rebuild broken roads and buildings, but it is the duty of each of us to restore our damaged ethics and values.” — One of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami, gave an impressive speech criticizing Japan’s embracing of the nuclear energy policy. The full English translation can be found on facebook, or you can watch a video of Murakami giving the speech in Japanese on YouTube.
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From camping this weekend. I’m up in the top right. Thanks to Chris for the picture!
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These are some of the people I spent my first post-Charity-Show weekend with. They are awesome, and my weekend was FANTASTICally relaxing, including (chronologically): my first gig of 2011 (and my first ukulele-only gig), bowling, poker, meeting with a guitarist, a drummer, and a bassist to talk about forming a band (looks like it’s gonna happen), going to the beach and swimming in the ocean TWO DAYS IN A ROW!, a BBQ with tons of friends, and discovering a great restaurant that I had no idea was no more than a 5-minute walk from my apartment!
I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated for this work week! Bring it on!
Next weekend is a 3 day weekend, and for me it’s going to be all about our neighboring prefectures. On Saturday I’ll head over to Ishikawa, to the West, where I’ll spend the night on what I’ve heard is the best beach in our area of Japan. Then on Sunday I’ll head all the way back in the other direction to Niigata—our neighbor to the East—to camp out in Geo Park, which is supposedly huge and has beaches, volcanoes, hiking, abandoned mines, rivers, etc. I can’t WAIT!
(picture via behealthyeatcleanliveright)