Baroque Bach on a Glass Harp

Or otherwise known as "Tickling the Wine Glasses". An absolutely commanding performance of Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis 565 by the Glass Duo.


Toccata in D-, BWV 565


Fugue in D-, BWV 565

Thanks to my "brother from a different mother"...Paris Saizan who originally found this.

I Believe In Father Christmas (Greg Lake)

Pretty much sums up Christmas for me. It's become too commercialized in my viewpoint.

People pissin' on seats. Ah Fuck The Cutesie Rhyme.

Screw the cute sign on the wall...here's the one that's going up in the bathroom wall...if I had a public use restroom.

"If you sprinkle when you pee
It's the grossest thing you'll see
Don't be a filthy pig, be sweet
F*ng goddamnit; wipe the seat.
Cause if you don't, you're a jerk
Make the cleaners have to work
You chose to skip it, you ugly troll.
They should shove your head in the toilet bowl!!!"

Internment, Confusion and the Japanese Apology to Canadian Veterans

Japan Apologizes for Treatment of Canadian Prisoners of War

Ignorant Dumbfucks on Yahoo Canada who commented about Japanese Brutality and then proceeded to tar Canadians Interned in Interior and Ontario Internment Camps with the Same Brush

Even after 70 years and incarceration in Slocan/New Denver etc, etc...to white people, we're still "Japs". The whole goddamned Japanese apology to Canadian soldiers brought out a mountain of hatred towards Japanese of all nationalities, whether we were born in Canada or elsewhere. Things haven't changed worth shit. It doesn't matter that I've spent the entirety of my life in Canada (I was born in Edmonton), to most white Canadians, I'm still a JAP and when I get little ol' white ladies telling me how good I speak English, it makes my blood boil.

What white people don't seem to get is that we were Canadian citizens. It wasn't the fact that Canada interned Japanese...they interned Canadians. What the Japanese did in the Pacific, what Japanese did in Burma, China, Korea and the Philippines was reprehensible, but it has no bearing to what Canadians did to other Canadians whose only difference was that we had olive complexions and slant eyes. We Canadians had nothing to do with it. And people need to stop the comparisons. The only connection that we had to Japan's atrocities was that our ancestors came from that country and that's a pretty tenuous connection indeed.

The Americans of our extraction got a chance to prove their loyalty in the end. They had their 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the 100th Battalion. They rescued the Lost Battalion in Italy. They received 21 Medals of Honor (the single highest number for one battalion), won 52 Distinguished Service Crosses less the 19 that were upgraded to the MoH. 1 Distinguished Service Medal, 560 Silver Stars of which 28 had oak leaf clusters (2nd award), 22 Legion of Merit Medals, 15 Soldier`s Medals, 4000 Bronze Stars including one that was upgraded to the Medal of Honor) and of those 4000 Bronze Stars, there were 1200 Oak Leaf Clusters for a second award) - one Bronze Star was upgraded to a Silver Star, and 9486 Purple Hearts. They bled and died for the United States of America, all the while their families were being treated like criminals for the crime of looking like the "enemy".

The Canadian government didn't trust us one single bit. Do you think for a single moment that there wasn't anyone of the internees who didn't try to sign up and fight for their country and what I mean "their country" was Canada? Did you think that for one single second the anger and bitterness felt by those Canadians you called Japs wouldn't have resulted in a single battalion with so many Victoria Crosses that it would make your head spin? The 442nd RCT would have been eclipsed by a battalion with less manpower. But no. The Canadian Government didn't trust us Japs one bit. Better to stick 'em in tarpaper shacks with no heat and let 'em freeze to death. At least we weren't stuck in baking ovens and gas chambers.

The prime excuse that it was war, it was excuseable is a complete and utter copout. There were signs that said "No Japs from the Pacific to the 400 mile limit." When you have Conservative MPs like Charles Green spouting what amounts to white supremacist talk, there's an atmosphere of hatred that people like my relatives had to put up with every single day. It also dehumanized the people and made it easier to commit the wrong.

The other excuse that they didn't know what Japanese were faithful. Not one single case of espionage among Japanese ethnic Canadian Citizens was ever really accounted for. All it was, was an economic grab and the bare fact of it was that Pearl Harbor was just a convenient excuse to grab for themselves what the whites thought should be theirs. Sure, why not take their houses and their possessions, they're worth money and we're losing tons of money in the war effort and we can't determine if those slant-eyed Japs are trustworthy. Hell, the Japs were making money hand over fist and they were taking your jobs. Yeah, it was justified. Sure those slant-eyed sewer monkeys weren't human, let 'em die out there in the bush.

My grandfather, grandmother, uncles and mother were interned in the bush in Slocan. My uncle nearly died out there of pneumonia. My grandfather had to restart his life when he was 60. One of my Canadian realtor friends of my ethnicity also ended up with his family interned in New Denver. Each and every one of those families sacrificed their family and community unity. We're all spread out now. None of us are rich and we all get by and contribute to society, no matter how much society has wronged us.



I've tried to put the past behind me. I'm married to someone I care about who is the daughter of a Burma US Army WWII Veteran who despite having fought against the Japanese would have had the intelligence to determine that I wasn't the same as a Jap soldier and would have welcomed me with open arms. If there are veterans who can't and won't look at anyone who has the slightest hint of Japanese extraction without fear, loathing, and outright hatred, then that's their problem, not mine. But believe me, I will return their hate ounce for ounce, pound for pound. My relatives nearly paid with their lives when all they were trying to do were to be proper Canadian citizens and that I can never forgive. There is a distinct difference. To those who fought and picked up arms...you had the opportunity to fight. We Canadian citizens would have been shot like dogs if we had defended our property from seizure. So we went like faithful citizens, locked up and corralled like cattle in horse stalls at Pacific National Exhibition grounds, while people taunted us and called us "Dirty Japs". If it wasn't for the RCMP, they probably would have rounded us up and killed us.

And we have yet to learn from our lessons from WWII. The Americans are all ready to incarcerate all Arab-Americans because they look like the enemy, just like they incarcerated all Japanese-Americans in WWII. At least, I know that if they ever come for me again in a war against Japan, my wife will join me in incarceration and that would be an insult to her late father, a loyal veteran of the United States Army in WWII who fought so that freedoms could be enjoyed by all citizens, no matter what ethnicity. Frankly there is no such thing as true freedom. We're only allowed to think so, until the next round of atrocities is committed and then excuses will be used to turn around and revoke citizenship and freedom of mobility. We paid for that with our so called freedom after Pearl Harbor and some of the Japanese-Canadian internees paid with their lives.


Hear the grief in David Suzuki's voice when he says: "I thought I was just a Canadian Kid...but to see this...we were really Japanese..." This is the legacy of betrayal by a country that we Canadians thought that was their own.

And if you think for one single second that Canadians of Japanese extraction have to apologize for the atrocities that the Japanese committed during the war, you deserve to get told unapologetically "FUCK YOU!" Go to HELL!!! We were never Japs, We were faithful Canadians, we were wronged and as Canadians, we deserved compensation for those wrongs. The day that families of Canadian WWII veterans stop comparing us with the Japs who committed the crimes overseas is the day those wounds will finally start to heal. If not, then FUCK YOU TOO!!!

About Ready To Go Apeshit!!!

I have to be grateful for the two boys that I've got. They watched over Storm while I tried to get as much stuff as I could get done. The living room was starting to look like hell. So I needed to try to get this straightened out. The floor is now clean. The jackets are hung up where they need to be. I have to do some major dish-washing...to get it to where it's supposed to be.

I had a bit of a financial scare two weeks ago where I didn't know what was happening with the FBAR and FATCA situation and I just about nearly went into an emotional tailspin. But things are better in that I'm able to handle it now.

I need to make sure that Storm is doing well and on the curve. So this pay period, I'm going to be working on getting the rest of the damned house done; including cleaning up Heather's side of the bed as well as her folding and putting away her clothes because if I don't it's NEVER going to get done...shredding receipts...and other numerous tasks while trying to also get the dishes taken care of...as well as doing 3-4 feedings of little Stormi. She's OK, right now...though she doesn't seem to want to eat a third feeding because the ones that I've given her were rather large. It put about .8 of a pound on her. Because she was 18.8 according to the scale this time around.

Frankly, what I want is for my wife to not ever let it get to this point again. I'm enlisting the help of the kids to get this done. Because if I don't, I'm going to over-exert myself and wipe myself physically out again. And they are young and have plenty of energy.

In the middle of dishes. 1/3rd of the way done. I want to make sure that they're all done because I need to be able to spend the time with Stormi that I need to. And in order to do that, I need a clean house. I've got three months to make some serious headway on two things. I need to get her talking about 16-25 words by 21 months.

I'm going to need some serious help with teaching Stormi how to talk. I've been reading to her, but, I'm wondering if anything is getting through. With my own learning disability, even understanding what to do to help her learn to talk is difficult. But the only thing I can do is try my best. I just don't need multiple government assholes breathing down my neck. It's hard enough trying to stay on top of things and keep it at an orderly pace so that I make progress on all fronts. It's like trying to fight a multiple front war to win. The creep in WWII tried a two-front war and got his ass kicked. Trying to fight a multiple front war and achieve success is not a given. It's a matter of luck and right now, it feel like my luck sucks royally. But I'm not going to throw in the towel because the stakes are too damned high.

Save Riverview??? Bullshit!!!

When the subject of Riverview comes up, there is a hue and an outcry coming from people who want to keep those buildings up as a testimony to the help that the Government of British Columbia gave to the people who were mentally ill. This makes me turn purple with rage. My viewpoint is that the buildings responsible for the incarceration of dozens of people who were kept medically sedated with pills because the staff there didn't want to actually have to do anything, should be torn down, razed completely to their foundations. And nothing should ever be put there again other than a monument to those who died there at the hands of the BC Health Care System.

I remember 5 years of terror, this was when I believed in my mother and wondered every day why she was going crazy. The infamous Crease Clinic was a staple of my life for five years. Constant visits to my mother. The brief lucid moments that she had in between doses of barbiturates, and her pleading and begging that she wouldn't have any more of these psychotic episodes. My mother was bipolar and had these hysterical self-harming episodes or she would flip out and go batshit crazy and start hitting anything close by her. These were scary times for someone who had to deal with his mother going f*ng insane from the age of 8-12. I wouldn't wish this on any other kid. My fellow friends never knew this. This was our dirty family secret that was never to be aired. At 12 I had to go toe to toe with a doctor 45 years my senior demanding that my mother be taken off barbiturates because they were doing absolutely no good. My mother also went through shock therapy to make her mind "all straight again". That did NO good whatsoever. And electro-shock therapy back in those days was a barbaric procedure. There was torture done in those buildings in the name of "mental health...CARE". Bullshit! Care wasn't even in their lexicon. They came to the building did their work, and the sadists who comprised the staff thought it was a good day when the inmates didn't "ACT UP"!

All Jensen Ackles has heard of was rumors and perceived impression that he had met up with ghosts during his filming there. Yes, there are people who died there. Crease Clinic is not merely entertainment for the masses. How many families have suffered at Crease Clinic and Riverview? How many families wondered if their loved ones would ever see the light of sanity again? How many families lost hope? And Hollywood uses these buildings as a form of entertainment? They make money on the memories of pain and suffering of countless families who shudder every time they see the buildings involved because of the years of suffering that they had to go through? And that's appalling.

I've said before that I want to see the buildings razed to the ground. And I will hold that stance to the day I draw my last breath. Those buildings, after what went through behind those walls, don't deserve to stand as a monument to what atrocities stood for healthcare back in the early days of psychiatric medicine.

Family Like This??? Who Needs Enemies!!!

I cannot stand my maternal relatives. Evidently, I've become the black sheep of the family and frankly, I don't care. My oldest uncle is egotistical because he was 2nd in BC writing the provincial exams and he became an oh so-glorified, "my shit don't stink" statistician for the Canadian federal government. My 2nd uncle tends to be the "I'm going to follow whatever my sister and older brother says" type of person. If you don't have a backbone, then don't bother talking to me. Evidently, he doesn't think that I'm a "relative"...so to speak, but frankly, who gives a shit. Then of course he has the guts to tell me to my face: "I hope you're not here to cause any trouble". On top of that he's said some nasty things about my dad and about my dad's family. And if he's going to play that game, he'd better hope to hell I don't find his ass around my neck of the woods. Because he'll be wearing his ears as trousers.

And of course, everyone knows my innocent as a saint mother (spits). My mother has the only connection that I have to my father's side of the family, and she's going to take that information to her grave. The conniving bitch. I'm sorry to have to impugn my beloved grandmother, but my grandmother gave birth to the most conniving, egotistical assholes this side of Conrad Black.

The only person who I gave a shit about on my side of the family was my Dad. And if I don't get the information to track down my relatives in Japan, I won't have the opportunity to ever again. I don't want the information for myself: I want it for my kids who deserve to know more about their family than they know. They don't need to know about their asshole "wanna-be royalty" maternal side: (as far as I know, they were farmers and vegetable pickers) all because one of their ancestors was the Lord High Executioner (he was a burakumin despite his high and mighty title whereas the Chikamori were samurai and well respected).

Right now, my kids know more about their mother's side of the family than their dad's. My kids have a right to know their family in Japan. And my mother really doesn't want to get on my wrong side when it comes to knowing Dad's family. She will give up that information before she dies...one way or another.

I have no desire to know any of my relatives on my mother's side. Not a single iota of a chance. As far as I'm concerned, the family ended with my grandmother and grandfather. And my uncles and my mother can go to HELL as far as I'm concerned. Spit on my father's memory and they are as good as dead in my books.

Busy, busy, busy...busy...

Just finished cleaning off the kitchen table. I will have to organize the papers that were scattered on the kitchen table later. I need to also call Sonia and see if I can take a week off and try to see if I can get myself more organized around here. We're just at the cusp of getting it to the point where I don't need to constantly be on the situation to get it clean. I am noticing a difference, but it's a very thin edge between getting it completely clean and having it revert to the way it was before which I don't want it to ever become. I can't count on one hand the number of times that I've had to TOTALLY clear off the table. I think this makes about "total clean up # 7"!!! One of these days, I will get it through people's heads that the KITCHEN TABLE is a KITCHEN TABLE...not a flat surface filing cabinet!!!!

We need filing cabinets and a small shelf to put the printer and scanner on. The bottom shelves can be used to put the spare reams of paper on. Or I could shovel the laptop to one side of the desk and put the HP 1005 on the remainder of the table.

Went up to grocery shopping with the boys, fed them some scrambled eggs and sliced hot dogs. Edited some of the photos that I took last night of the tree. I'd be able to get some really good shots if I had the AF-S VR Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED. Then I'll be able to turn around and get the close-in shots that I've always wanted. But of course, I won't be able to get the 105mm until middle of 2012. Anyways, that's soon enough that I can do some flower shots and be able to do a decent close in focus shot when next Christmas comes around.



Sonia called Heather and asked if we can go in for a dual counselling session on Thursday. Sounds fine to me. Just so long as we can manage to get back in enough time for me to pick the kids up. Friday, Heather works a full-8 so it's going to be a tough haul for the whole day until she gets home. And little miss fussy-britches (Stormi) is starting to take milk off the bottle as well as her solid foods. I'm glad because it's a load off my shoulders. Tomorrow, I'm going to go up and try to take some photos of Holland Park lights.

Polyushka Polye (Field, O My Field) - Russian Folk Song

I'd have to say that Don Bellisario has a way of influencing all sorts of things. JAG brought about my marriage to my wife who is a fellow JAG fan. Another Don Bellisario series brought about my appreciation for Russian music. In Airwolf "Proof Through The Night", the Russian folk song: Polyushka Polye (Field, O My Field) is played in two locations during the episode. Initially when Moses Rostoff goes to pick up his family in the secondary location in Russia because he wanted his family to be able to exit the Soviet Union along with him; and secondly when Stringfellow Hawke goes out to have a talk with Tanya Rostoff outside his cabin (Tanya being disgruntled at having to escape Russia and go to the USA with her father).


Hawke playing his cello (Copyright Don Bellisario-Universal Pictures)


Tanya singing (copyright Don Bellisario/Universal Pictures)

The Romanized Lyrics (Russian)

Polyushko-polye
Polyushko shiroko polye
Yedut da po polyu gyeroi
Proshlogo vryemyeni gyeroi

Vyetyer razvyeyet
Eh, da po zelyenu polyu
Ih udalyye pyesni
Proshlogo vryemeni pyesni

Tolko ostavit
Im boyevuyu slavu
I zapylyennuyu dorogu
Vdal uhodyashuyu dorogu

Polyushko-polye
Polyushko shiroko polye
Yedut da po polyu gyeroi
Proshlogo vryemyeni gyeroi

Polyushko-polye
Vidyelo nyealo gorya
Bylo propitano krovyu
Proshlogo vryemyeni krovyu

Polyushko-polye
Polyushko shiroko polye
Yedut da po polyu gyeroi
Proshlogo vryemyeni gyeroi

Vyetyer razvyeyet
Eh, da po zelyenu polyu
Ih udalyye pyesni
Proshlogo vryemeni pyesni

Tolko ostavit
Im boyevuyu slavu
I zapylyennuyu dorogu
Vdal uhodyashuyu dorogu

Polyushko-polye
Vidyelo nyealo gorya
Bylo propitano krovyu
Proshlogo vryemyeni krovyu

Polyushko-polye
Polyushko shiroko polye

And the favorite recording of this is by the Russian Red Army:
(the volume sucks on this video, you may have to crank the volume on it)



I don't know if it is the melody of the music or the deep Slavic rhythms of the piece that draws me to it, but it strikes a chord deep inside.

"I'm So Blessed"...Really...Are YOU?

This will probably step on a lot of toes of Christians. Frankly, I'm a Christian myself (though I am non-denominational and non-church-going: I don't believe in being a part of man's church, I either talk directly to God or not at all). I don't believe in making a big scene out of my Christianity and yes, I do have a feeling for other religions. I don't believe in the "this religion is false" or the superiority of one religion over another.



The one thing that really annoys me about fellow Christians is when they start yammering about "I'm so blessed". It sounds pretentious and arrogant as if you were looking down from high on lesser humans. It put me off about organized churches and thus that kind of behavior started to make me look upon churches as more of a gathering place for like minded people who seem to have a "superiority complex".

I tend to quote KJV Matt 5:5-8. (5)And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. (6)But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (7)But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (8)Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Yet I hear all the time, people saying "I pray to God that I can have this...or give me the strength to overcome such and such a burden". Matt. 5:8 already says that "for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of..." Why should we have to pray to Him "for things". What we need to pray to Him for is guidance.

Evangelical Christians like to quote "right to testimony" with 1 John 1:7. "For there are three that testify:" What they do not realize is that they have cut that quote completely short. The true quote is from 1 John 1:7 - "(7)For there are three that testify: (8)the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (9) If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. As much as people would like to testify to the great things that God has done for them. If they do they fall afoul of Matt 5:7. If you wish to testify to the non-Christian, then wait until they are receptive. Otherwise it's like talking to a locked and bolted door. Do not batter on the locked doors in non-Christian forums or news comment feeds. "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son."



To me, nothing is greater than to have private communion with God and His Son. And for me His Church is the Great Outdoors (not to be confused with the Great Outdoors Church in Titusville Florida - where people go inside to pray ), where I can see his majesty and creation not sequestered in some stuffy four walled complex created by man where all I am able to do is look at structures and idols created by man. When I take my camera out with me and take a look at all the photographic opportunities thus created, where I marvel at the ducks and the geese who will walk up to me with no fear in their eyes, when I see at night the stars and the galactic vista that is displayed to me - the cosmos arrayed in front of my eyes; that's when I marvel of the creation that is the world that God created. That is why I do not need fellowship with my fellow man. I take my fellowship with God's creatures. I stand in amazement and awe of God and his creation. Heck. he created the dinosaurs as far as I'm concerned. Evolution and God may have stood hand in hand.

God has blessed me with photographic skill that I've been able to develop to operate my camera in such a way that I can capture the images He presents me with for which I am THANKFUL for such blessings.

Japan is Japanese First...

What is it with gaijin like David Aldwinckle (his attempts to Japanify his name are nothing short of ludicrous) and his attempts to change Japan by pointing out "racist" signs and other bullshit? Japan was here long before his kind came into Japan under Matthew Peary and gunboat diplomacy (Open up Japan or we'll invade and take over attitude) and will still be here long after. While his ancestors were hunting deer and gathering nuts, berries and squash, Japan was marking its feudal age (the samurai of which my family were part of) My family goes back 600 years in our koseki, frankly, my family is older than your country (the United States of America). Now they want to come in (take the name of their spouses - which is not done in Japan) and change Japan to suit the foreigner. I'm sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

Unlike the Western Countries who opened themselves up to immigration and welcomed people in with "Bring us your huddled masses, yearning to be free", Japan was forced to be "open" at the threat of "gunpoint". It was a matter of "You guys open up your country, or we'll blow it open". Frankly, Japan doesn't want foreigners "invading" their country. Our mantra is "Come, visit...enjoy...THEN GET THE FUCKING HELL OUT!!!" See the difference. If you want to stay in Japan, you play by Japanese rules. Don't like it...tough shit. On the other hand, if you're willing to play by the rules, we welcome you with open arms. Show the proper respect, remember the social rules in Japanese society and you won't be treated like a big hairy ignorant, officious gaijin who tromps around like Godzilla trying to get his own way.

BUT it doesn't matter how long you stay, whether you learn our language, whether you decide to gain Japanese citizenship, you will always be thought of as a foreigner (a learned foreigner perhaps, but a foreigner nonetheless) in Japan. Even us Japanese-Canadians (and by that extension, Japanese-Americans) are considered foreigners. Japan is a patriarchal inheritance structure: always has been, always will be. My view is if you are a gaijin male, you will never gain entrance into Japanese society as an equal (considered Japanese). You have a foreign face, a foreign set of mannerisms and a foreign sense of entitlement that will never be accepted in Japan. There are rules that govern social interaction in Japan and there are social classes. You respect your elders. You do not rock the boat. If you want to vote, you become a Japanese citizen. But do not expect the rules to change for you.

I have more of a right to Japanese land as my name is on the koseki and I am the head of my family, no matter how old my cousins are, mainly by right of my birth as firstborn son to my father. Also I have a great antagonism towards gaijin trying to hold Japanese lands. Just because it is done in Western society, does not mean it holds true in other lands. This attempt to gain land for oneself (if you are not a Japanese citizen) that originally is held for Japanese citizens is a blatant attempt at trying to horn in on Japanese culture. If it is not done, it is NOT done. It doesn't matter if it doesn't sound right to your non-Japanese brain. This is Japan, not your country.

My impression of gaijin women is that they don't come in expecting what gaijin men expect. Most gaijin women who marry Japanese men understand what they are getting into and the ones who don't soon leave. They understand that they either are a part of the Japanese family (they take the Japanese name) or they will always be considered that "outsider" who took up with their Japanese son. The Japanese women in the family are considered expendable. It was only after the Allied Occupational Forces after WWII came in and fucked everything up socially, that the women got the idea that they wanted carte blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted. In my family, once you leave the family, you cut off all your baggage (including your family name) and you start a new family with your new man. Call it sexist, call it whatever you will, but it is the Japanese family culture. You gaijin have no right to come in and mess with the family structure. That will get you ostracized so fast your head will spin. Remember again, my family has over 600 years of heritage. You don't mess with 600 years of heritage or you will be out of the family so fast you'll wonder how the hell that happened. With that family history, I expect that any woman who enters the family to respect that and adhere to family rules. The Chikamori kazoku is one of the tightest and it is very rare for outsiders to get into that family unless they know the rigid structure of that family and are willing to adhere to that family's rules. The "ie" (household system) where the multigenerational household operates under the legal authority of a household head. I am the head of my family by virtue of my birthright as the first son to the first son (my father) of the first son (grandfather) of Chikamori family. Even though my relatives (my uncles are older than I am, they have to defer to me as the head of the family.

I, as the head of my family, would not allow my daughter to hyphenate her last name. If she chooses to marry a gaijin, she's become a part of that man's family. I'm not fond of women who trumpet that they are called "Kyoko Suzuki-Wilson" or whatever the hell hyphenated Japanese- gaijin name that they ended up. You marry a gaijin or Japanese, you take on their last name. You are no longer a part of the family other than occasional visits and family blood ties. You have no right to the "Suzuki" family lands. The lands go to the men of the family. If there is no men in that family, the lands revert back to the Imperial Crown. In the feudal age, if a woman could not bear a son, it brought shame onto the family because their lands would be forfeit, once the female child was of marrying age.

I as the head of my family do not like the idea of any of my family marrying a gaijin and having that gaijin want to take my family name because he wants to become a part of my family (a gaijin male is barred entrance from my family). He is welcome to take my daughters and go create his own family koseki under his own name. My family is Japanese men with Japanese wives first and foremost, Japanese men and foreign women (who truly want to be a part of the family and not rock the boat next) and nothing will change my mind on that point. As far as only the rights of Japanese citizens being able to own land. It wouldn't matter if the foreign male spouse took Japanese citizenship. I would rather that my lands reverted back to the Japanese Emperor than allow a gaijin to take control of my lands.

In otherwords. The Allied Occupational Forces did a great job in fucking up Japan's social structure to make it more like the United States and Western Culture. That's why we see such abominations as Hentai and Otaku running around. There is no respect for authority any more. I don't excuse Japan's behavior during the war years and the expansionist imperialist regime that they went on in the Pacific prior to the war. There is no excuse for brutality and human war crimes.

I am a black sheep in that I married a white girl. My wife on the other hand married me for love and not because she had some strange fascination with Japanese culture and she does occasionally chafe under the ie family structure, however she knows that this is how we hold the family together. I am old-school Japanese cultured. I was raised by a mixed family of wartime Japanese national and Japanese-Canadian who was interned during the Second World War, and thus my generation would have been mostly influenced by the "must retain our Japanese values to survive" mental outlook.

There aren't many traditional Japanese left. And those who are, are under fire from non-traditional families who have catered to the Western culture. There is an old Western saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do..." Plainly put, don't rock the boat. Otherwise you will be always considered as the "ugly gaijin". Just remember, you have NO rights of entitlement in Japan. Japan will always be for the Japanese first. There is no "melting pot" in Japan. If you can't deal with that fact..."Go back to where you came from!"

Lots of cleanup work.

There is still a lot of stuff to clean up, however we have managed to pare everything down to one single container of stuff to be organized. The one single container contains all the loose items that we've gathered over 2 1/2 years of living together. However, this is going to need the help of a filing cabinet to sort out all the crap that we need to still sort out all out, of which there is 3 containers full. If we do it carefully, there should be enough room for the Christmas tree this year. But we need to pull the trigger on a file cabinet pretty soon. We are so close to getting the cleanup done...and I want it finished before 2012.

On the 20th we need a laundry hamper for the clothes, a small shelf container for the linens...the towels can be placed the way they are, but the linens need to go in a container. I found one at London Drugs that could be used to put our linens in. All I need is two of them and I should be fine. Sterilite Shelf-Tote 24L

I'm also looking at a way to deal with the printers and scanner so that I have a place to put them. 3-tier Wire Frame rack

I need to get a hamper to put the clothes in that need to go down to the washing machine. Laundry Hamper w/Lid-Canadian Tire.

The filing cabinet is going to have to come from Staples. Staples Brand 4 drawer steel filing cabinet And I'll be able to finally get the last few files stored and filed away.

I'm also going to have to get another wheeled recycling container from Canadian Tire. 128L Recycling Box on wheels I'll have to go up to Canadian Tire to find one.

We're just about on the home stretch and I want to get done. That's the main thing. The house needs to get clean and stay clean.

Cleanup...taking time to do it right!

Well, a thorough cleanup takes time and lots of effort. Right now, I'm 4 minutes into getting ready to start on the dishes. Then I'm going to make some rice. I've got some major shredding coming up.

The term "cleanup" tends to make me want to throw my hands in the air, scream and run for the hills. Needless to say, it's not topmost on the list of things that I enjoy doing (frankly, I'd say that it hits close to the bottom of the list, if not the very bottom). However it's something that has been post-poned for far too long and needs doing; and thus doing right. In that regard, I believe that we still have a few more items that we need to do a proper cleanup job.

1) another large recycling container, mainly for shredded materials and overflow of recycling.
2) a laundry hamper for clothes that can keep stuff headed to the laundry in one spot.
3) a file cabinet for loose important papers to be filed away (a large 4 drawer legal filing cabinet) properly where they can easily be accessed

I have a few other ideas, however it`s hard to really get a good idea of what`s necessary because there are quite a few small objects that really need to be assessed before finding what`s the proper solution for dealing with them. Either recycle it, or keep it where it can be used. I`ve done too many years of "throw stuff into a container and keep it hidden out of the way". That's how I've found that the crap just piles up...and then it becomes a major problem when you can't find enough space to put all the stuff that you need to hang onto. It also becomes a problem when negotiating your house becomes a major hazard.

I know that the house will always be a work in progress. The kitchen never seem to get clean, but that's an on-going life project. Kitchens are never the epitome of "clean". They're always in use.

It's the other rooms that I would like to get a handle on. I would like to be able to have a tidy "rest of the house" so that all I have to do is be able to run the vacuum over those rooms, and pick up a few things here and there. Other than that, my main concentration would be the kitchen and keeping that tidy. In that regard, I would like to make sure that I have hidden storage (ottomans or benches) in the living room (usable dual-functionality furniture) so that things that I would like to keep (some books and magazines) have a place to hide out of sight, out of mind. But there won't be that proliferation of containers all over the place.

I have a lot of containers inside the house, but the fact is that each one of them contains papers and items that need going through (after I get a filing cabinet) and that probably won't be until late December, early January. What I want is to get it to the point where I don't need to worry anymore about where things need to go and to have only enough things to make a move physically possible with relative ease.

That way, I'm able to manage the house with the least amount of effort, and am able to spend more time with my kids rather than "minding the house". "Babysitting the house constantly" is not a part of my job description. "Babysitting the kids is..." and unfortunately, the house has been in such a state that I've been neglecting doing anything fun with the kids because the house is stealing away time from the rest of my family. That's why I'm putting my foot down and saying "This gets done once and for all. I've had it. I want a MANAGEABLE HOUSE!!!"

Hallowe'en is Here Again... MWA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Yes, I know...I'm a twisted son-of-a-bitch. And people have told me that. Especially around Hallowe'en. I'm the sort that devises all methods of insanity...in terms of decorations designed to absolutely scare the freakin' crap out of someone. In otherwords, I'm the one who likes to put zombies and skeletons and fake graveyards all over my front yard and end up giving your little ones nightmares for a whole freakin' month afterwards.

This year if I had the money, I would have liked to have put out two zombies crawling out of their graves and one with a disembodied hand sticking up out of the grass in front of a headstone all accompanied to a chilling scream track. Then have a 6' lifesized Freddy Krueger coming out of the space between two cedar bushes and maybe a life-sized zombie looking as though it was walking down the driveway.

To potentially deter anyone from going into the backyard. I'll have a graveyard screamer corpse in the flowerbed to let out a chilling scream every time someone goes near someplace where they don't need to be.

I'd be draping cotton cobwebbing all over...and ghosts hanging from the trees. So...don't hate me...just hate my vivid, twisted imagination. HA HA HA HA HA!!!! ~evil reverberating laughter~

A Interesting Cloud Formation

It almost seemed as if the sky turned an eerie green-gray (more gray than green). There must have been some circulating winds in the upper atmosphere because there was some tendrils hanging off the clouds, but nothing like the one I saw over at the other townhouse.

What the heck is with this weather?? A Bit of Jamie and Storm

Must have come down with something over the last few days. The weather has been on and off spotty and I've been feeling run down and tired not to mention sinus congestion and a stupid relentless cough. Drives me nuts.

On the other hand, Jamie seems to be doing a lot better. He's actually exploring things and trying new textures and the thought that it was a non-organic problem has pretty much evaporated. Now we're looking for an organic cause of his developmental delay. It could very well be autism, even though the foster parent isn't thinking so. We don't know enough about the autism spectrum to know just what the gamut of socialization a child with autism does or not. It still is "socialization on HIS terms"; not when we want to socialize with him so that is something that I want to bring up with Matt (our social worker) on Monday.

I'm looking forward to seeing Stormi walk. She's already cruising the furniture and making tentative unsupported steps, but she oft-times falls on her little butt. But she's attempting it and that's what puts her ahead of Jamie in the developmental scale. Hopefully at some point, Jamie can come home. I'd just feel more comfortable knowing that he is getting the care and therapy necessary to bring him along in his development.

Animals Save The Planet Shorts.

This has to be one of my absolute favorite shorts from Animal Planet. They tend to take a humorous approach to the problem of conservation. These two eels are definitely not a couple of "bright sparks".

"Hey, Mac...Wanna Buy A Sundial???"

We have seen Beauty and the Beast Special Edition, The Little Mermaid Special Edition, The Lion King Special Edition, The MULAN Special Edition (and that really rankles my goat (no pun intended) because out of all the bloody Disney Specials that I have seen come out in Special Edition; the one Disney Movie that I really truly enjoyed and want my kids to be able to see and enjoy is "Hercules".

That, I swear, was the funniest damned Disney animated movie to ever come out of Walt Disney studios.

With lines like:

Panic: "Hercules." Why does that name ring a bell?
Pain: I don't know. Um, maybe we owe him money?
Hades: What-was-that-name-again?
Meg: Hercules.
Panic: Wait, wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were supposed to...?
Pain, Panic: Oh, my Gods!
[they run, Hades seizes them]
Hades: So you took care of him, huh? "Dead as a doornail." Weren't those your *exact* words?
Pain: This might be a different Hercules.
Panic: Yeah. I mean, Hercules is a very popular name nowadays.
Pain: Remember, like, a few years ago, every other boy was named Jason, and the girls were all named Brittany?

Hades: Pain!
Pain: Coming, your most lugubriousness.
Hades: Panic!
Panic: Oh, sorry. I can handle it.
[Runs down the stairs; trips and crashes into Pain; they tumble down the stairs; Pain is now stuck to Panic's horns]
Pain: Pain - Ow!
Panic: And Panic - eechk!
Pain, Panic: ...reporting for duty!
Hades: Fine, fine, fine. Just inform me the minute the Fates arrive.
Panic: Oh, they're here!
Hades: [shouting] What! The Fates were here and you didn't tell me?
Pain, Panic: Ohh... We are worms!
[as they grovel, they turn into worms]
Pain, Panic: Worthless worms!
Hades: Memo to me... Memo to me: Maim you after my meeting.

Hades: I can't believe this guy. I throw everything I've got at him, and it doesn't even...
[Hades notices Pain is wearing Air-Hercs]
Hades: What... are... those?
Pain: Um, I don't know. I-I thought they looked kinda dashing.
Hades: I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke,
[begins to shout]
Hades: and you are wearing his merchandise?
[Hades almost blows up in front of Pain, but stops to see Panic slurping a Hercules drink]
Panic: [chuckling nervously] Thirsty?
Hades: AAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!
[nuclear explosion blows off top of mountain]

The Pain-Panic-Hades interaction just made this movie an absolutely hilarious counterpoint to the saccharine sweet Megara and Hercules romance. James Woods just stole the show as Hades. And just the fact that they made Hermes look like composer and Tonight show bandmaster Paul Schaffer and Paul Schaffer actually played Hermes...that was one of the best parts of it. They do need to come up with a 2-disc Special Edition for this movie and they gotta do it soon.


Not going to be satisfied with Disney until they do.

This post is for my "brother" Hitoshi.

I have another "brother" from a different mother who lives in Singapore. One of my dearest friends, Hitoshi Ono, whom I lovingly nicknamed "Sponge", a real awesome guy. He calls himself a "beer loving oyaji"...I guess I'm the "camera loving oyaji" now since I'm a few years older than him. We had a great few years hanging out as roomies in Vancouver while he was going to UBC and working on the side. And he'll always be considered "my brother".


He's married now and lives and works in Singapore.

So my brother, here's my own family...now that I'm married:


My oldest son


My middle son


My beloved wife and my youngest son. (He has had "developmental difficulties" and he's being tested for autism)


My little beloved daughter; the youngest of the brood.

So, my brother, Hitoshi, here is my family.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." ~ Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs Commencement Address - Stanford University's Class of 2005, June 12, 2005.

I have never graduated college or university. The closest I came to being a university student was when I took real estate classes at the University of British Columbia. To this day, I don't have a degree. But what I do have is stubborn-ness to not take "no" for an answer, the stubborn-ness to continue no matter how many times life may knock me down and an unwillingness to listen to naysayers who have nothing better to do than to knock other people's dreams down.

I can almost see Steve Job's words directed at me. June 12th, 2005 was my 35th birthday. And on that June of 2005, I finally found out what it was that I enjoyed in life. From that moment on, I was a photographer. It has been more than six years since that commencement day address and just now I realized that even though I didn't hear Steve Job's words then, they penetrated in some shape or form.

I'm not a rich man, frankly, I could probably be considered one of the poorest in terms of finances. But there is one thing that separates those who are lost in the maelstrom that is life and those who have the ability and willingness to succeed is their perseverance. I'm dedicated in my goal, no matter how far it may seem out of reach to others. Being a professional photographer is my goal, my task, my job and I am prepared to dedicate my soul and life to it.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

~ Steve Jobs

I will not listen to naysayers. I will not let other people's doubts bring me down. I will not stop in my dedication to my pursuit of my profession of photography. As Jobs said, I need to have the courage to follow my heart and my intuition.

And that alone is my Life Journey. May we all have success and happiness in our individual Life Journeys.

More cleanup and a late-evening trip to Cloverdale

Been extremely busy with house chores over the past few hours. I'd really like to get the living room and our bedroom done so that Storm and I can actually get out and do a few fun things like go up and take photos of the various parks within our walking distance. Suffice it to say, it will be fun to go down to Bear Creek Park while Heather is at work and take some shots.

Needless to say, half my afternoon was destroyed by a stupid hacker infiltrating my computer with a stinkin' virus. I'm just glad that I was able to disinfect it. Unfortunately, I was unable to salvage my startup menu and my Lightroom icon went POOF. Oh, well, it was just a trial anyways and I managed to find it so that I could stick it on my desktop startup bar.

Stormi is asleep after eating quite a bit, but I'm going to have to feed her some more when she gets up. The weather has been rather warm so I'm grateful for a fan in any case. The $250.00 gift card from NHL.com showed up and Heather got herself a Canucks track jacket and Cameron got himself a Canucks youth jersey (Heather got it for him; he doesn't even know it yet). Looking forward to seeing the look on his face when he gets home to see it.

Edited a few pics today. Not many...and I have to also figure out the programs that I'm going to have to get in order to do some major cleanup of my computer. I may go up to LD #8 and see if I can talk to one of their computer guys. I gotta see if I can manage to get a format c:// drive rebuild after I get the programs necessary to rebuild my hard-drive after a total wipe of the system and after I backup my personal files (my JPG image files and RAW format images).

Actually...didn't manage to get up to #8. Heather called and wanted me to come down to #75 so I headed over to Cloverdale via the #320 Langley Centre bus. Of course my watch picks this happy little time to die so I had to leave early...thus having to suffer through seeing 2 Fleetwood buses (they both share the same stinkin' number) load and depart...and then having the third bus' driver make an entry mistake and hit Fleetwood. I sarcastically asked. "Hey...you know when a Langley Centre bus is going to show up???" He grins and says..."Well...made an error...I am the Langley Centre bus..." D'OH!!! Yep...it was also a full moon out tonight. Just as luck would have it, when the bus was about to depart three interesting individuals...evidently returning from downtown anime convention. You know that you're pretty much seen it all when you see a guy prancing around in a Sailor Moon costume. I would have thought I had drunk too much alcohol, but I don't have any in the house at the moment. Yes...it was definitely a full moon out...all the lunatics were all partying tonight. It's 9:30PM by the time I get to Cloverdale so I browsed around the store aisles until two minutes to closing waiting on my wife to get off work. And we headed home together. Now...hopefully, I will be able to make some headway in cleanup tomorrow. At least the stinkin' dishes are done.

Clean Up Day...Jeez...

Today is a two tier clean up day today. We have to clear up the bedroom so that we can make headway in building Heather's new dresser. And I have to also clear off the dishes out of the sink to make it clean. Is it doable? Well...we'll see how much of it we get accomplished and how much it saps out of me today. Because the past two days, due to the running around and getting groceries just wiped me out. I feel like my energy level sucked and I don't know what is causing it. I have pain in my shoulders. Frankly my upper body feels like lead and my brain just feels like it's jammed. I look at something and feel zoned out.

Well...2:35 and the dishes are FINALLY done, so I can get that off my back. The next part will be cleaning up the bedroom so that we have enough space to work on the main frame of my wife's dresser that we bought. It may actually take all of today to finish up the bedroom, and then tomorrow we work on the dresser. But at least that part will be done. I'll also try to put up the dishes tomorrow too. Then a quick going over the kitchen with the mop and that'll finish up what we can do until such time that we can manage to get a filing cabinet.

Not to mention...we now have a new little house-guest...which, due to my not liking to use violence as a means of removing unwanted pests...from this house, I've let fly around. Yes. It's a house-fly.





Now if he would just quit landing on my shoulder and asking me questions in "fly-anese"..."bzzzzzzzzzzz?"

Don't USE THIS SONG!!!!!

If there is one thing that drives me freakin' nuts it's overused songs as backgrounds for stupid video montages.

Constantly used for disaster/war montages...C'mon people give it a f*ng break.



Or there's one that's always used in sports montages.



This one ranks up in the top three, but it's startin' to grow on me.
WAZZZZZZZZUUPPPP!!!!!



This post'll increase when I find more that piss me off.

Star Wars??? Luke Skywalker Must Die???

OK...I have to admit, Tricia has some very good ideas in her blog entry: Luke Skywalker Must Die at her blog at fangirltheblog.com.



When I have thumbed through LOTF and FOTJ in the, I have cringed at the way that Luke has been written. I'm not so much against his dying. The way that he is written now would not really draw a person in sympathy to his death as a heroic "last stand" would. And face it, would a "self-centered, pretentious, control-freak" sacrifice his own life for the "greater good". Let's see the logic in that. What I see is either two ways:

1) Luke continues to descend in this "I don't care anymore about anyone, I'll use the Force the way I want to...to hell with anyone else's ideas...and I'll make sure that I use whoever I need to to get what I want" character-death-spiral...and make sure that he plants face-first self-destructively...in context...OR...

2) Luke has a "defining moment" where he realizes what he has become...recoils in horror...makes a shift in his thinking...and then BLAMMO! Gets wiped out in a heroic last-stand. That may make his character more sympathetic to fans who have seen him spiral into a "self-centered control-freak POS" character since the LOTF&FOTJ series after Mara's death.

Which sounds better to you?



I also agree that since Mara's death, there has been a void for a strong female character in the Star Wars universe. Jaina so far has been written completely wrong in terms of her vascillating between strong and weak n'unsure. They need to figure out the fact that fans are hankering for a strong female character. Mara was one that stood on equal footing with Luke for most of the New Republic series, tough, unwielding and able to trade taunts with Luke. Certainly she mellowed out in the NJO series, but that I believe was mostly due to certain authors getting roses in their eyes with the Luke/Mara matchup and wedding hangover. I still think that Mara would not have gone out the way that she did with Jacen "getting the drop" on her. She was too much of a bad-@$$ bitch to go down the way she did. There's just too much spitfire in her for her to go soft enough to lose her "assassin" skills.

As far as I'm concerned, the NJO and subsequent series is pretty much a BAD hangover and hallucination, not to mention anything not written by Michael Stackpole or Tim Zahn.

If I was still writing fan-fiction (which I probably will never go back to) I'd even go so far as to quote one of my favorite Mythbusters and all around tech and sci-fi geek: Adam Savage when he says: "I reject your reality and substitute my own". That's exactly how I feel about Mara Jade's death and Luke's downward spiral.

Lonzo and Oscar - Jangle Bells

I blame Phil for this... But I've been searching for the lyrics to this damned song for damned near close to 28 years now after Phil decided to play this once for me. Damned near busted a gut laughing my @$$ off.

Jangle Bells by Lonzo and Oscar

I found the damned song on Youtube of all places. After I listen to it about fifty times, I'll try and decipher the lyrics.

Hail...and a brewing storm.

On my way to take my kids to school today, I saw this nasty looking cumulonimbus cloud (CB in aviator terms), Nasty bugger. I'm now doing a 365 photo challenge, so luckily I had my camera with me at the time (even if it is a compact, it's something) and snapped off a few shots.







Just as I got home, the sky opened up and we had a mini-hailstorm there for a bit.