Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal

Posted on April 23, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

I try very hard to get away from work early-ish these days because I want to fish for squid. The tide is high at around 6:30, the sea is calm, it is warm and sultry,

The orange circle is the sun.

The orange circle is the sun.

so what better after a day in an office and meeting rooms than to hunt the elusive squid?

Tonight there was great excitement as I actually got a bite, or maybe there is a specialist term for when a squid attacks the jig. Up to now I have wandered out from the house and cast and reeled in as in a theatre.  I am an actor strutting my time out on the stage. I have no real belief that there are actually squid out there and indeed I do not care. As I have previously stated,  the world of the imagination is usually more satisfactory than reality.  I imagine the squid are out there and I imagine that I will catch one. The fact that I never have makes no difference at all as I have imagined the moment of catchingness many times. It is very exciting.

My rod

My rod

This evening everything changed. I was reeling in, with a mind so blank that I was almost comatose when I realized that the line was resisting. Damn, caught the rocks, so I give a big jerk whereupon a squid comes catapulting out of the water, arcs into the much-have-I-travelled-in-the -realms-of-gold-sky, escapes from the barbs to plop down into the sea once more.

I am at a loss what to think.

The Brugmansia is doing very well.

The Brugmansia is doing very well. However no perfume.

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Big Data Sets

Posted on April 20, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

Beijing is a smoggy place. This is an excepted truth. However I have been to Beijing I think 6 times and each time it has displayed clear blue skies and sparkling prospects.

What does this mean? My experimental data on Beijing gives the result that it is a city of pure air. This underlines the importance of large data sets. I mean if the LHC had only run for a short time the lads may have been tricked into believing that the Higgs had a mass of half a pound of tupenny rice. It is very easy to get things wrong – especially about other countries when travelling.

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.

Hai!!

Anyway a trip to China is always a blast. I do not actually like it there much. In comparison with Japan, the folks are loud, uncouth and lack courtesy.  But, and this is a big BUT, they are full of energy, conviction, drive and common identity. I have seen the future and it works.

One day in a life.

Get up real early and catch subway across Beijing. It is rush hour and it is impossible to get on the first 3 trains as they are totally packed. The people standing around get on the train but I do not. Subway travel is a competitive sport in Beijing.

The tube

The tube

Although I am not up to the battle, the trains are clean silent and come every minute.

I am the first at the Forbidden City.

Good Morning

Good Morning

Bad smog

Bad smog

Imperial Pussy Cat

Imperial Pussy Cat

Imperial Cherry Blossom

Imperial Cherry Blossom

Thing with hole in the middle.

Thing with hole in the middle.

Get to airport, fly to Okinawa and sleep in my own bed.

 

 

 

 

 

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Breakfast in America

Posted on April 20, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

Well, in Beijing in actual fact. I get up early and for recreation I go for a tramp. The street is lined by various breakfast stalls.

Early morning smog.

Early morning smog.

Boiled beef and carrots

Boiled beef and carrots

Magaret Thatcher was guilty of offenses against minors

Margaret Thatcher was guilty of offenses against minors

Now is the time to buy gold

Now is the time to buy gold

Dumplings by trash

Dumplings by trash

If it weren't for the alligators I 'd sleep out in the woods.

If it weren’t for the alligators I ‘d sleep out in the woods.

 

Toilet over there.

Toilet over there.

Where is the smog? I must be in the wrong part of town.

 

 

 

 

 

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April in Paris

Posted on April 10, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

Well, not really – truth be told this is April in Tokyo.

I arrive very late at night and this is what I eat and drink at 12:00

I arrive very late at night and this is what I eat and drink at 12:00

So, in the hotel there is a hand-held controller for the various toilet related activities

So, in the hotel there is a hand-held controller for the various toilet related activities

Still some blossom left

Still some blossom left

I think this is a statue of Margaret Thatcher

I think this is a statue of Margaret Thatcher

And I thought the azalias in Achamore were impressive

And I thought the azalias in Achamore were impressive

Tokyo = Gigha

Tokyo = Gigha

Putting together the front page of the Mainichi Shimbun. It will be about Madame Thatche rwho is een as a world statesman along the Roosevelt, Mandela, Adenauer, lines around these parts. Maybe they are right.

Putting together the front page of the Mainichi Shimbun. It will be about Madame Thatcher,who is seen as a world statesman along the Roosevelt, Mandela, Adenauer line around these parts. Maybe they are right.

One of the entrances to the Imperial Palace from Mainichi Shimbun conference room. This newspaper, not the biggest, has 21 science writers and a circulation of of 4 million without any tits. Japan is where journalism happens.

One of the entrances to the Imperial Palace from Mainichi Shimbun conference room. This newspaper, not the biggest, has 21 science writers and a circulation of of 4 million, without any tits. Japan is where journalism happens.

La Dame au Camelias beside a road in Tokyo

La Dame au Camelias beside a road in Tokyo

Tufted Ducks hanging out by the subway station

Tufted Ducks hanging out by the subway station

Tokyo is a great city.

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Vade retro satana!

Posted on April 3, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

The title of this blog has nothing to do with its content. I am just curious whether a satanistic title will attract hundreds of readers. The readership of the blog seems to depend on the glamour of the title. My most popular blog ever was entitled “Porn and Bagpipes.” It attracted thousands of hits from bagpipers all around the world.

There is definitely a winter in Okinawa. Not like the winters of yore with Good King Wenceslas and lying thick and even, but more of a perhaps I shouldn’t go outside because I will  have to put on a sweater sort of winter.

I think the main ingredient in season change is light. I do not know if you have noticed but there is less light in the evening in winter. Now in Okinawa it gets light around 6:00 am and gets dark around 7:00 pm. The obvious result is that I can catch some desultory squid fishing after I get home.

Yep

Yep

I don’t catch anything but I absorb tranquility.

Emails should be restricted to 150 characters

Emails should be restricted to 150 characters

A little baby sea snake popped her head out of the water to say “Konichiwa.”

Hello little sea snake

Hello little sea snake

Get back Satan.

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Happy Birthday Mummy

Posted on April 1, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

Today is my Mother’s 90th birthday. Happy birthday Mummy!

She has always been a faultless person.  An example of kindness, judgement and good humour. Would we could be more like her.

So those of you who read this, please raise a festive glass to Mary Calder.

She didn't like the present I gave her

She didn’t like the present I gave her.

 

 

 

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Jiggety Jig

Posted on March 31, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

*”To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.”

The recognized method to catch squid around here is called jigging. You cast your jig into the sea and jig  it up and down as you reel it in. The squid is a ferocious animal. When it spies your jigging jig, it zooms out and wraps its tentacles around it, becoming horribly entangled in the cruel barbs of the jigging jig.

The Frost is All Over

The Frost is All Over

I love to eat squid and so go out in front of the house as the sun goes down to fish. I have been encouraged by watching this guy reel them in.

The white plastic bag is full of squid.

The white plastic bag is full of squid.

He has given me tips but for some reason I have not caught any. But who cares?

Stand out there as the sun goes down, listen to the sea, cast out your jig, suck beer. It is pretty good.

A jig is also a dance. Listen to these jigs. Maybe I should play them as I fish.

planxty – after the break – 02 – east at glendart – brian o’lynn – pay the reckoning (double jigs).mp3

More info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ucg0I7ogpM

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Flags

Posted on March 31, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

As children, well more  accurately as a child,   I remember being taken by the Scottish name for Irises. We call them Flags. It seemed like a very good name for a flower rather than the usual impossible to remember flower nomenclature, such as antirrhinum.

So, on Okinawa, where I live, there are fields and fields of Flags. I spent a semi mystical afternoon amongst them surrounded by gently smoking green jungly hills.

Who wants flowers when youre dead? Nobody.

Who wants flowers when youre dead? Nobody.

Since Iris is the Greek goddess for the Messenger of Love, her sacred flower is considered the symbol of communication and messages. Greek men would often plant an iris on the graves of their beloved women as a tribute to the goddess Iris, whose duty it was to take the souls of women to the Elysian fields. Who would have guessed?

Since Iris is the Greek goddess for the Messenger of Love, her sacred flower is considered the symbol of communication and messages. Greek men would often plant an iris on the graves of their beloved women as a tribute to the goddess Iris, whose duty it was to take the souls of women to the Elysian fields. Who would have guessed?

These my sky-robes spun out of Iris woof.

These my sky-robes spun out of Iris woof.

Cool scarecrow made from a buoy.

Cool scarecrow made from a buoy.

It is a very beautiful place with acres of flowers. They are a  little bedraggled today following the storm this morning. I buy some to put in my office, which is being transformed as I write.

Office decoration. I will probably remove the paper.

Office decoration. I will probably remove the paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYeFcSq7Mxg

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Impotent

Posted on March 31, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

So I wake up this morning to a dramatic storm. I always sleep with my windows open because my Mummy told me to. This has a disadvantage when you live by the sea, as in storms, huge waves come crashing through and make the bed wet. Well, not quite but the rain sure does.

If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.

If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron.

Anyway, it rains very hard and the wind blows and I go to make some coffee and find that the electricity is no longer there. I assume that this due to the storm and wait for it to pass, like all things. I once swallowed false tooth with a spike on it in California and it passed in Munich airport.

Same view a bit later when the sun came out. Amazing colors

Same view a bit later when the sun came out. Amazing colors

Very weird light post storm

Very weird light post storm

My house is very electric. I could not make coffee. I could not make tea. The toilet would not flush. The hot water did not come out of the shower. No computer, no nothing. I sat and waited.  I waited for about 3 hours and it was extraordinary, I mean like I could not do anything. I was impotent.

Incidentally, I sleep with my iPad so I can listen to bedtime stories. I am currently listening to “Men at Arms” by Evelyn Waugh, which is giving me a lot of pleasure.  I thought, “I may as well go back to bed and listen to the poignant tale of Guy Crouchback on my iPad.” This is when I notice that I am picking up my neighbor’s wi-fi signal. This means he has electricity. We talk, he has no electricity problem.

I finally locate my fuse box but not before Naoko phones the housing agent,which is of course open on a Sunday morning, to ask where it is because I was too stupid to find it.  Thanks Naoko.

Essentially the main breaker er breaks. Even if I switch of all the other fuses. Something is not right.

My fuse box. Note that in Japan fuses that are OK are red, ones that are not are green. This has caused me some confusion in the past.

My fuse box. Note that in Japan fuses that are OK are red, ones that are not are green.You will see that the maser switch is green. This has caused me some confusion in the past.

Gakiya-san, er like the neighbor in question,  also comes to the rescue. He phones the electricity company. They send a technician, who works out that water has blown up an outdoor power point  causing what Google translate calls an ‘electricity leak’. It is all fixed, it is Sunday, it is Japan. Thanks Gakiya-san, thanks technician.

However, for a while I felt the power of powerlessness.

 

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Billy Pilgrim

Posted on March 30, 2013 by spikekalashnikov

So taking pictures underwater is difficult. I have a tiny, cheap camera that is hard to maintain in an er like not jerking around state. If you are on the surface snorkeling then the stuff is happening too far away. If you are scuba-ing then you tend to go deeper and thus the lack of light washes out all the colors and the photos are gloomy. Today I try an experiment by going out in front of the house but with a tank. The idea is to sink down to the bottom and stay there for a long time as motionless as possible, reassuring the fish that everything is hunky dory and hopefully establishing a reasonably solid platform so as to take photos that are in focus. I am in about 5 feet of water.

I am lying motionless thinking about Montana Wildhack

I am lying motionless thinking about Montana Wildhack

It is a lovely day and the water is warming.

Tralfamadore

Tralfamadore

Red Tralfamadore

Red Tralfamadore

“All this happened, more or less.”

“All this happened, more or less.”

“People would be surprised if they knew how much in this world was due to prayers.”

“People would be surprised if they knew how much in this world was due to prayers.”

Happy Birthday Mummy

Happy Birthday Mummy

 

 

 

 

 

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