The sun is sliding beneath the waves by the docks—another day without a job, any job, seriously you’d take anything from wresting sheep to butchering eels, what’s it going to take to find a bit of employment around here?—when the man in the wide-brimmed had sidles up to you.

He has shifty, reddened eyes and smells like the burnt out cigarette clasped in his fist.

“I hear you’s lookin’ for a job,” he rasps. “I kin pay.”

He doesn’t look like the kind of guy who can pay anyone anything. But if he can…

“Yeah,” you say. “Prove it.”

The pouch he pulls out of his jacket is flaky leather, but when he loosens the top you see gold, bright shiny gold, so much of it that your mouth waters and your fingers twitch.

“You in or out?” he asks.

Your throat is a little dry. It’s been a hell of a long time since you’ve had a job, and longer—back in the bad old days, really—since you’ve seen that much gold laid out for the taking.

NEXT UP:

You say “I’m in”

OR

You grab the gold and run like hell.

Note: What is this? A twitch, an itch, a work in progress so worky it may never progress. I’ve been wanting to write some kind of Create/Choose Your Own Adventure-type story ever since I read the short story/parody “Down to the Scum Quarter” by Garth Nix and it feels like it would work ridiculously well on the internet, what with LINKS. 0_0 Neither of the options actually has a story attached to it yet…

WOW, there’s so much to do there.  We never even went to anything south of Kyoto station, and all four days were packed with seeing things.  Lots of temples, lots of shrines, the Imperial Palace and Second Castle, a couple museums, shopping districts….  It was every day filled with TONS and TONS of pictures.  And nope, just like last time, you’re not going to see all of them.  That would be INSANITY.  But I will upload one picture per place.  Many of them will not be “typical” photos, though, because you can find those easily just by Googling.  No, I’m putting in the ones I liked best, regardless of how much they show you of the place.  Sorry!  Anyway, here’s the low-down of what we did:

The hotel:

After a bit of digging around (and me trusting my GPS  a little too much), we found it a diagonal block away from the major intersection of Kitano-Hakubaicho: the Duo Inn.  It is an apartment-style inn, which means they don’t clean your room every day and there is a kitchenette, and it is much, much cheaper than a real hotel.  For our three nights (three night minimum), it was 26,500 yen.  That would be about equal to one night at a hotel.  We win. And, it was a very nice place.  Even though it said it didn’t provide commodities, it still provided toothbrushes and razors and bar soap.  You are given one towel and one hand towel per person, and what more do you need, honestly?  You’re also supposed to refill your toilet paper yourself, but since we were out all day, we never used enough to need that.

About the places:

Kitano Tenmanguu -

The shrine for the god of philosophy and scholarship.  Cool, eh?  Points of interesting: the long walkway of stone lanterns, and the statues of cows sprinkled among them.  Many folks will rub the head of these cows for good luck, though whether that’s good luck on exams or something else, I don’t know.

Imperial Palace -

Note, you must register before you take the tour.  It takes two seconds (and either a passport or a foreign registration card), but be sure to figure that into your visits.  English tours at 10 am and 1 pm (if I’m not mistaken).  The tour takes about an hour.  Anyway, our group was incredibly small – our tour guide said her groups could get up to 150 people, during this time of year.  Our group was about fifteen.  Yay, earthquake?   Anyway, the entirety of the place is interesting, but a couple special points were the painted doors (opened for viewing that day, lucky!), the story of the Imperial Treasures (ask your guide about it!), and the garden.

Heian Jingu -

Shrine for a couple emperors from long ago.  Points of interest include the giant gate (down the road from the actual shrine), the tiger and dragon fountains of purification (every shrine has these little fountains with ladles), the amazing architecture of the side two buildings (that’s the picture) and the gardens.  The cool thing about the gardens is actually the wildlife; I saw both an egret and a wonderful blue heron there, and a cat!   Though there are also a lot of cherry trees, so if you can catch that spring blossoming, it would be beautiful.  There is also a building on the premises built as a replica of the very first Imperial Palace.

Yasaka Shrine – Shrine for the dude Susano who slayed the great 8-headed serpent Orochi.  They consider him a god, actually.  Points of interesting include some pretty scenery all around the grounds, what appears to be a year-round festival (though maybe that was due to the cherry blossoms?  They had this there last time we went, too), and a park with a pond in it behind the shrine.  It’s also very close to….

Chion-in -

The head Buddhist temple of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism.  It is huge!  Notable places are the giant entranceway gate, the beautiful display in the main temple, and the rather tall stairway up to the main grounds.  When we were there, though, one of the back buildings was down for construction.  Also, please note (as is the same in most temples and shrines), no pictures within the actual temple.

Ginkaku-ji -

Villa built by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and converted into a Zen temple after his death.  He originally planned for silver overlay, but it wasn’t realized before his death.  However, it is covered in a black lacquer that is said to shine like silver in the moonlight with the light of the moon reflected from the pond beneath it.  Interesting points include the sand garden (which, no offense, I found boring, but is said to represent Mt. Fuji and is considered important), and the great view from the mountain overlooking Kyoto.

Kiyomizudera -

Temple of the Pure Waters.  It’s Buddhist again, but unlike many others, this one allows you to not only walk up into the temple itself, but to take pictures of the artifacts they have scattered around.  You still are not allowed to take photos inside the main area, but you can of the statues, paintings, architecture, and other things they have inside the building.  Beautiful year-round, notable points are the main building insides, like I said, and then from the outside as well, the huge latticed support they have support their viewing deck.  The entrance area also has some very nice Shinto-style gates and a pagoda, as well.  But perhaps the MOST fun is the small shrine behind the main shrine!  Jishu-jinja is dedicated to the god of love, and has two stones – the “love stones” – that, if you can navigate from one to the other with your eyes closed, is said to bring you luck in finding your love.  There’s also a small shrine to a god of voodoo (you nail a doll of straw to a tree and pray to this god to curse the other person…) and another to Inari in there.

Teramachi – Shopping district, if you will.  There are three huuuuuuuuuuuuuge alleyways with small shop after shop inside.  Great for gifts; the prices are pretty cheap there!  And, perhaps most fun (for anyone interested), there is a Ninja Restaurant (and a Ninja Crepe Window right next to it!) tucked away on the east side.  Good luck finding it!

Nijou-jo -

or “Second Castle,” was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu (and completed during his heir’s reign), and is a true fortress.  The Imperial Palace is just that – a palace, a place of dignity and power, but NOT defendable, not very much.  Nijou-jo, on the other hand, is very much built with defense in mind.  Two moats, gigantic iron-plated doors, archer platforms, sheer, smooth walls, you name it, this castle knows how to keep invaders at bay.  Again, the whole thing is interesting, but to me specifically, I loved climbing the walls of the inner castle, plus the huge, heavy gates.  The interior of the inner building has a tour, though no photographs or even sketching is allowed of the interior (wow, strict!).

Imperial Tomb – we never did figure out of whom.  You can’t enter, it is small, and in the end, not very notable.  But it’s not far from our inn, so we stopped by.

Kinkaku-ji -

The Golden Pavilion/Temple/what-have-you.  It was a villa belonging to statesman Saionji Kintsune before Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu bought it.  Unlike Ginkaku-ji, this one actually is covered in gold leaf.  Notable points are, of course, it itself, but also wonderful bell you can ring for a 200-yen donation on your way in, a cute small waterfall along the back path and some delicious ice cream sold at a place near the entrance (you also pass it on the way out, no worries).

Ryouanji -

Originally an estate of the Fujiwara family (and then the Hosokawa line of Fujiwaras), it was converted into a Zen temple by Hosokawa Katsumoto after his death.  Famous for its rock garden, I enjoyed much more the interior of the building it was viewable by, the gardens outside, and the large pond with island shrine on it (accessible by bridge, no fear).

Ninnaji -

Built as an imperial residence in the 9th century, it is now a Buddhist temple of the Shingon Sect.  You can still tour the inside of the residence.  The building is a great old thing, with squeaky floors.  You’re allowed to take photographs of the wonderful interior in this one, so in that respect perhaps it is more fulfilling than Nijou-jo for the photographers out there.  The paintings on the doors are really beautiful.  Other notable parts are the numerous cherry trees; there is a cherry tree garden available for walkthrough when it blossoms.  There is also a very old pagoda and several old temple buildings.

The Manga Museum – I could spend a whole day here and never notice.  Maybe not all that interesting to those who can’t read Japanese, but it does have a small English (and other foreign languages) book section for those who can’t.  Basically, it is a library with special manga exhibits, and all the books are manga.  It is said if there were more than two copies printed of the manga, they have a copy (not including doujin, or self-published fan books, however).  There are many reading areas, hallways to stand in, chairs and benches here and there, and an astro-turf area outside you can lie at if you prefer the outdoors.  Entrance fee is 500 yen, 1000 if you want access to the special exhibit.  I didn’t; I was just there to read.  Sadly, we only really got to stay for about 45 minutes (we had to get moving before the next place closed).  However, it is also notable that your ticket is good for all day, so if you leave you can come back again without repaying the entrance fee.

The Insho Domoto Museum of Fine Arts – dedicated to the artist (Insho Domoto), and all his works.  There are replicas and originals, here, and it’s worth a stop if you’re interested in art in any way.  He was a pretty talented, multi-varied artist, so you’ll probably find something you like.  I personally liked his Princess Konohanasakuya and the hunting picture next to it; huge wall paintings done in three panels put together, it was amazingly delicate, detailed, and beautiful.  Not a fan of his more interpretive works, but that’s just me.  It’s right between Kinkaku-ji and Ryouanji, so just stop in on your way through.

Other Notable Areas -
1) Gion is fun to walk through, though I always thought it looked perhaps a little seedy.
2) The Kamogawa river is wonderful to see, and if you go across one of the bridges we did, you can see a stepping-stone path that crosses it to the south and a waterfall to the north.
3) There are also a couple antique shops – one near Ginkaku-ji and one to the south of the Imperial Palace – where you might pick up some interesting gadgets, if you’re into that kind of thing.
4) Also, note that part of the fun of both Kiyomizudera and Ginkaku-ji is the walking to it; there are tons of little shops all over the streets on your way up there, selling the typical omiyage/souvenirs.  Food, I recommend.  Souvenirs, try Teramachi first; it’s probably cheaper.  And always, always try the meat buns (nikuman)!  They’re delicious!

Prompt was: write a drabble inspired by the lyrics to a song.
Warnings: you might not want to be eating anything.

* * *

(Stopping the Zombie Apocalypse,) That’s What It’s All About

The latest infestation of flesh-eating zombie bugs was eventually traced to the grave of one Al Tabor, British ex-bandleader.

“Can’t we do this at a lab?” George whined, while Elisa put the right leg back in the coffin, reconsidered, took it out to examine for eggs, then put it back to shake it vigorously.

“No zombie eggs in my lab,” she said, repeating the process with the left arm and then starting on the head. “So, these songs, were they, like, classics, or kind of hokey? Oh, look! Larvae!”

In, out, in, shake.

Sure, he had exhumed and dismembered the corpse for her, but seeing the soft, sucking grubs was too much. He turned himself around and puked over the cemetery grass.

* * *
Author’s Note: I should be so ashamed, but I’m really really not. The Hokey Pokey was the only song that stuck in my head and I caved. Also, there’s a joke like this…

Whee?

I just can’t help but think, “Great, just the times when I would be cooking breakfast and dinner,” but oh, well.  Guess all my cooking will be done around noon.  I’m not entirely certain what I’ll do for light without electricity in the evening – I may need to stock up on some batteries for my flashlight, and maybe some candles from the dollar store – but at least the amount it’ll be out won’t be so long as I’ll have to start cooking my meats for fear of them spoiling.

So, I guess I’ll be looking forward to a dark evening tomorrow, at least until electricity in my area is back on again.

Speaking of things, today seemed to be just normal, again, though I still did as much as I could to not use electricity if I didn’t have to.  Instead of turning on my heater, I just bundled up under blankets, and I kept only the light in my living room on, once it got dark out.  It was a nice day, today, a good 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and I opened up my windows for the first time since Winter came to let the breeze on in.  It’s nice to get that new air in my place.

My neighbors and I went outside and played around with a soccer ball and other various sports things for a while.  It felt good to be moving; perhaps I slept too much last night, and didn’t get moving enough during the day.  Once I had whacked the little ball around for a while, the headache that had been plaguing me all night went away.   I even got some other things done; I paid my rent, sent some money home for my school bills, and bought some more eye solution, shampoo, and toilet paper.

Random note: disaster strikes Japan, and everyone seems to think it is time they bought toilet paper.  And tissues.  As if whatever they had at home will not survive as long as it used to, and if they don’t buy it now they’ll never get their hands on it again!  Not that I’m against stocking up – I stock up all the time! – but I wonder what started this trend?

So.  Tomorrow, candles and batteries.  If I can find either anywhere, anymore.  Perhaps a trip to D2, perhaps a trip to Daiso.  We shall see.

I wonder if school will still be held on Tuesday?

Today has been quite the day of irregularities.  First, with the aftershocks of the earthquakes, plus a brand new one in the early morning from Nagano Prefecture, I did NOT sleep well.  I never felt so threatened as I had to exit the building, but I still woke up every 10-50 minutes.  I may have slept through some of the weaker ones, but even at 50 minutes, it’s not the most restful of a night’s rest.

Then, I get up (a little late, whoops) and head to work.  It’s Saturday, yep – but it’s also graduation for our 9th graders.  I found out upon getting there that some of the tiles – stone – from the ceiling of the gym had collapsed, and looking up, you could see that a lot of the ones in the middle of the ceiling had shifted towards the sides, gaps forming between them.  Maybe not the safest of places, no?  So they decided to move to the seireikan, which is the building where the kendo and judo clubs train.  It’s much smaller, so they decided only the parents, guardians, and guests and a few teachers would go in.  The actual graduates would stay in their classrooms until it was time to receive their diplomas.  They did so with a surprisingly minimum of fuss.  I expected a couple of the more rebellious ones to have dyed their hair or to act out, but they all went through the lines with a wonderful amount of aplomb.  Good for them!  (Though a couple, after having received the diploma from the principal, may have had a bit of a swagger when the left him, haha).  Afterwards the parents left, and the kids took over the building for their own little ceremony, which mainly included a lot of singing.

After this, the kids all rejoiced and went home.  Us teachers, however, had to stay (it was a work day, after all, after which Monday will be off).  We actually all received flowers from the PTA, as well; they’re sitting on my table, now, and make my room smell wonderful.  <3

The principal let us all leave early – 2:30 – so while I waited for that time to come (after eating lunch), I wandered around the school checking out the damage.  I found out that actually half of a wall had fallen (as in, looking at it from the thin side, half of that) in the home economics room.  I went to go check it out, and sure enough, I could see the beams on the inside, the plaster having all just fallen over in one big piece.  I checked it out, and it was as heavy as a rock!  I almost wondered if it wasn’t actually cement.  Good thing the room hadn’t been in use at the time!

Then I went to check out the gym, where I found three of the teachers and the principal checking it out, as well, and talking about the ceremony.  After a few jokes, 2:30 rolled around and they decided eh, let’s go home.

So I came home.  I was tired by then, my sleepless night catching up to me at last.  I got home and pretty much just buried myself into my bed and took a two-hour nap.  (If you know me, you know that means I really was tired.)

When I woke up, I took a shower and then went about making dinner.  By then it was about 6 PM, the aftershocks were really rather minor by now (though yes, still happening), and then, as I was finishing making it, I got a text from my neighbor telling me we were all being told to stay indoors, close our windows, and stay warm and dry.  If it rained, we were told to definitely not go outside.  The nuclear plant not far from Tokyo (in Fukushima) had exploded.

WHAT?!

My mind conjured up images of the nuclear bomb during WWII, of Chernobyl, of all the action film explosions I have ever seen.   My first reaction to this was “well, crap, what do I need to survive if the energy goes out?”  Luckily, our stoves are gas – I’ve never been happier of this fact – so even if the power goes out, I can still cook.  But the water?  Yay for just taking a shower, so I went ahead and filled up my tub.  How about food?  I had planned on going shopping soon, but I had over 5 kg of rice, plenty of veggies, and maybe not a lot, but some meat anyway.  I was almost out of noodles, though, and my neighbor said they were telling people to stock up on iodine-rich foods such a spinach and konyaku (some weird slippery jello-esque thing sold in blocks).

Well, that didn’t make me feel any better.  I really wanted to go shopping, and after a while, my neighbor said they had lifted the “don’t go outside” rule for us, even though the evacuation area had increased to a 20 km radius from the plant.  Great!

Then my neighbor sent me a photo from the grocery store.  All the meat on the shelves had been taken.

Aw, shucks!  But Kate, my ever-wise Californian neighbor, said maybe we could try Tobu, the store next to the train station.  I was skeptical, but since we already knew the meat at the Price was gone, I said what was there to lose?  So we biked the extra bit, and to my joy they actually still had meat!  I grabbed some chicken and some decently cheap pork, another thing of eggs (good amount of protein, and they can live sans refrigeration for a while), noodles galore, some more milk, and a little bit of comfort food in the shape of mini-cakes covered in white chocolate.  I need to feel a little comforted, too.

I also grabbed some of that slippery konyaku, and a thing of spinach, too.  They said it was also in seaweed, but I really don’t like the stuff so I passed on that.  And, just cuz it would suck to catch a cold now, I also grabbed a liter of Lemon CC, a lemon-flavored drink that has a ton of vitamin C in it.

When I got home, my neighbor told me they were telling people to fill their bathtubs with water (har har) and to reduce the amount of electricity they were using in case of power outages.  So I stuck my things in my fridge, turned out the lights other than one lamp, and finally sat down to dinner.

It was 8:00 PM.

Since I had the time, I checked up on what actually happened at the power plant.  There WAS an explosion, but it wasn’t all-encompassing.  The top of the plant has blown off, and there was a radiation leak.  The amount leaked seems to be equal to the amount a person is allowed to have in one year, though what that actually means I have no idea.  Does that mean that if they don’t get exposed for the rest of the year, they’re okay?  Or does that mean it’s actually really bad, to have that much exposure at once, and they’re now all high-risk patients for cancer?

And now, I’ve been watching the news.  Tsunami videos and pictures of devastated towns cover it, and I’m sitting in a house with literally all the metal shutters pulled over all the windows, covered in blankets and thinking I should wash those dishes before the power goes out, if it’s going to.

Well.  Definitely a day of ups and downs.

And we still are getting aftershocks.

I was in the middle of class at the time, at my elementary school, teaching 5th-graders in my final lesson with them.  We were perhaps half-way through the class, and the first shaking started.

Now, I’m not particularly versed in earthquakes.  I’ve never been in a big one; since coming here, I’ve been in a good number of little ones, but so little my only reaction to the shaking is “ooo, fun!”  Yet somehow, I knew the moment I felt it that this one was different.  It was a really weird feeling, like the feeling that someone behind you at training is holding their shinai and thinking about hitting you – only less personal, less petty, less small.  It was like my spine was a harp string and someone was tapping it – not strumming yet, but just getting it a feeling for its tautness.  Save the hand that was tapping was infinitely larger, heavier, more powerful than any human; the hand of God, perhaps, telling me be ready, be ready, be ready.

My teacher, with whom I teach, continued to teach for a few more seconds, since earthquakes are not so uncommon, and what was one more?  But even she stopped after a while, as it didn’t fade as it normally does, but steadily got stronger.  It wasn’t long before she told the kids to move to the sides of the room and sit down, crouching down to make themselves smaller.  A few of them stayed near the middle, so I stood over them, thinking I should watch over them, perhaps….until my teacher told me to sit down, too.  Oh, right.

In the end I moved to the side, though, to a group of three girls who were casting me “help me!” looks.  Personally, at one point I seriously considered opening the window next to me and tossing the kids outside, but I looked around the room and there were no cracks forming in the walls or in the ceiling or floor.  It was shaking enough that a couple of the plants on the window seat were inching towards the edge, and one of the statue busts fell over, and that gentle drumming on my spine spiked a couple times into strumming fear.  I don’t deny it; it actually did scare me a little.

But I do take pride in the fact that I didn’t let the fear paralyze me.  Even as it was pricking my chest and making my heart thump, I kicked off the flats I wear so I could actually have some traction on the floor.  Those flats have no treads whatsoever; even if my socks are fuzzy ones, they have more grip than those shoes do.  I figured if that ceiling did fall in, I was going to have to dash across those ten feet and throw myself at the kids in the center to keep anything from falling on them.  I considered asking them to move to a wall, but the shaking was enough that I honestly didn’t want to ask them to try standing up.

It did, at last, calm down, but it didn’t actually stop.  When it was weak enough, the principal got on the PA system and told everyone to calmly leave their things and exit the building through the nearest exit, abstaining from their normal switching to outdoor shoes.  The younger kids had pillow-like apparatuses they buttoned over their heads, I found out as I followed the rest of the kids outside.  My teacher was kind enough to keep telling me to leave, and I really wanted to do something more than follow the masses, but in the end I just settled for being the last one out.  The other teachers had things well in control, anyway, taking roll call once everyone was seated outside in the grounds well away from the buildings.  No one was missing, and the kids themselves seemed in rather high spirits.  (Several of them, upon spying me, said “Oh, it’s Kim-sensei!” *grin and wave*).  After a few moments, the shaking did finally, completely pass, and the principal took his microphone and told them all that they did a good job coming out in an orderly fashion and that earthquakes were nothing to be afraid of, and asked them to just sit tight because there might be aftershocks.

After that there was a little meeting between the teachers, where they all decided that it would be best to cancel the rest of classes and after-school clubs, as well.  They then led the classes back to their rooms to gather their things and go home.  Of all the kids there, I only saw one – a girl – who had dissolved into tears, and one boy who was being comforted by a group of three teachers – though I think that kid wanted to go back inside for something more than anything else, because he kept turning back to the building and the teachers kept grabbing him to stop him.  In fact, as I went back inside, a couple of the 6th graders, whose classroom is by the exit I was using, said to me “kowa~ kowa~!” (Scary, scary!) – but were grinning from ear to ear as they said it.  One even thought so much as to say it in English!  I applauded  him for it.

But me, my spine was still thrumming.  Funny to say, but I just felt like there would be another one, a strong aftershock, perhaps.  I went in and checked on the turtles (I couldn’t find the little one, but the big one was okay), took my things, said farewell to my teachers (they went around turning off the electricity in the building), and went outside.  I could see the kids from a few classes sitting out on the grounds again, most likely the kids who were waiting for parents to pick them up as opposed to just walking home.

I was at my bike, where another teacher was about to head out, when the second one hit.  I thought, honestly, that it was just a strong aftershock; I learned later that it was actually a second earthquake.  There was a woman who refused to crouch down with us, but walked on unsteady feet, yet – the teacher asked her to sit, but she pointed to a car and said “But my child is still in there…”  So the teacher willingly went on over and opened the door for the kid and the grandmother in it, and the three of them made their unsteady way to the grounds to wait it out with the other kids.

It slowed down for a second time, the teacher left, I grabbed my bike (and was told to BE CAREFUL), texted my neighbors to see if they were alright, and headed on my way.  In the distance I could see some smoke rising, and some siren started up, so I asked a good fellow who had stepped out of his house what it was.  He informed me it was for the fire, so I thanked him and continued.

The road was quite busy, so I contented myself to walking home this time, at least until I got to a road less traveled that had a larger shoulder.  I could see the smoke in the distance, almost in line with my apartment.  I sent a quick “please let it not be my place!” plea upwards and made my way home.

I passed by businesses and houses alike, and everywhere I went it was the same: people standing outside in clumps of three to six, talking, staring at the sky.  The convenience stores were closed – so much for paying bills today – and every house I passed people stood with their pets, some of the more hyper ones still barking or meowing or squirming.  On my way, I saw perhaps the eeriest thing yet: a pair of birds sitting at the top of a tree.  Just that.  Sitting.  They didn’t sing, they didn’t peck at the branches for food, they didn’t even look around.  They just sat, perfectly still, as though listening for something.

I still hadn’t gotten a reply from my texts to my neighbors, and when I tried to call my one neighbor who doesn’t have an iPhone and my English teacher, neither call connected.  When I got home, I found my neighbor, Kate, standing in the parking lot with her phone.  Apparently regular phone functions – texts and calls – were down, but the internet was still going strong, so she was messaging our other neighbor via Facebook.  She offered to help me go through my house, which I took her up on, but nothing was really wrong.  One of the roses on my windowsill had fallen, some dishes – all metal, so none broke – had made their way out of my cabinet, and my two cooking wine bottles were on the floor, unhurt.  My books, too, had slid all over the shelf – but that was expected, seeing as I don’t have any bookends (yet).

Then we went to my neighbor’s apartment to watch the news, which was more focused on the tsunamis than the earthquakes or possible aftershocks, by now.  Then our New Zealand neighbor said we shouldn’t be at home and asked us to come to her school (many schools act as emergency shelters), so we packed up and did so.

By now I was back to myself, again, no longer jumping at the rattle of a window.  It helped that I wasn’t inside; the open sky is comforting after the claustrophobia of wondering if the ceiling is going to fall on you.

At her school, the kids were still there, and being sent home in groups dependent on where they lived.  Most, again, seemed in high spirits, but the atmosphere at the middle school was a lot more tense than it had been at my elementary school.  Perhaps the kids just understood more fully the possibility of death; perhaps they just weren’t as coordinated.  I got a bit worried for my own middle school, then, and thus decided to take a walk over there.  I still couldn’t call or text.

By the time I had gotten there, I could go inside the building without feeling like the walls were closing around me.  Cleaning supplies – rags, buckets, brooms and dustpans – were littered up and down the hallways, since they had been cleaning in preparation for graduation the next day when this all happened.  I could almost see the kids abandoning them in lieu of the outdoors.

I was informed that everyone and everything was alright, though perhaps my desk was a bit out of order (it was, slightly; nothing actually fell over other than my cup and the little calendar I have, but the books had slid a bit out of their little shelf).  I checked with my teachers, of which all but one said their families were okay (the other couldn’t call yet; the phones were still down, even though it was a good hour and a half since this all started).  After sharing cookies with a few of them, chatting up the office fellow about how the kids had reacted both here at the middle school where he had been, and at the elementary where I had been, I went home once more.

On the way, I saw a few more evidences of how this had truly been such an unnatural incident.  Just little things, subtle things, but things that nonetheless drove home the fact that this had been a serious happenstance.  A shoe, a child’s shoe, abandoned in the rush on the side of the road.  A scattering of bread in the park under the trees with not a bird in sight to enjoy it.  The occasional dog’s bark, still wired, still on alert.

…On the way home, I still bought a few pots of violas.  It’s spring here, and I remember them always popping up out of the earth, purple and yellow little Johnny-Jump-Ups.  It was a whole tray’s worth for 300 yen, so perhaps I’ll give a few to the teachers at work, tomorrow.

I have a feeling after all this excitement, I’m going to sleep well, tonight.

Everything is being fried in olive oil. The frozen shrimp cakes were fried in olive oil, and then while I munched through those I fried the potatoes (along with tons of garlic powder and salt, I mean, unhealthy but delicious levels), and now, as I work my way through the potatoes, I’m frying/boiling the red cabbage. I almost didn’t go for the cabbage, but I was feeling guilty that absolutely NOTHING about dinner (and precious little for lunch) was involving vegetables. Everything tastes SO GOOD. And I’m also going to make quesada later, this delicious Spanish dessert that I CAN’T STOP EATING. And, apparently, making.

A note about the potatoes, to add the their intrinsic delicious unhealthiness I’ve been dipping them in Ali Oli, which is essentially garlic mayonaise. SO GOOD.

That is all.

Since playing TotA, I have gone through the other games with veracity – Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Eternia, and Tales of Legendia.  I watched the OVA for Tales of Phantasia (and own, but haven’t played yet), have been watching the Symphonia version as it comes out slowly through time, and I can’t play Symphonia yet (has been released for PS2, which I don’t have with me).  Now, I am playing the new PS3 release for Tales of Graces (originally released for Wii, and when it was ported to the PS3 they added the “f” to the title.  I have no idea why).

ANYWAY.  All of that chatter is rather needless background.  In ToG, there is a puzzle room as part of the extra dungeon, the Buried Ruins (found in the desert near Yu Liberte, east of the Ozwell Mansion near the coastline).  It took me 10 tries or more to figure out, mainly because I was silly and actually just went about turning the keys from start to finish.

You see, in the massive puzzle room, there are three switches with colors coming in from the left-hand side of the screen – yellow, blue and red, from north to south.  You must direct these color-energies along conduits via keys you turn either up, right, down, or left.  When they are turned, they automatically go in that order, and they all start out pointing to the left.  So if you turn once, the switch will go into the “up” position, directing the energy up the screen (north).

Also, note the game actually has a compass on-screen all the time.  When I say “north,” I don’t mean the north on that compass.  I just mean the top of the screen from the camera’s point of view.  It’s simpler to use this.

The objective is to direct this energy through certain colored patches throughout the room, getting the correct color through the correct same-colored patch, through to the other side of the room, where they power up a couple of doors, allowing you to proceed.

The trick is, there are some colors that are MIXES of the others.  There are two green patches, requiring you to mix the blue and yellow energies, one orange (red and yellow) and two purples (blue and red).  And if, by some mistake, you accidentally mix all three – or more; like an orange meets a green – together in one place, the entire puzzle shorts out and resets to zero.  NOT fun.  Trust me.

At one point, I got frustrated (okay, at two points) enough that I had to put the game down for a while.  If that happens once, I usually don’t mind, but that second time had me scouring the ‘net for a solution.

What?!  NONE?!

….Well.  I am disappointed, walkthrough-writers.

Thus, I did solve it on my own, and now I post my solution for all ye sufferers out there that want the solution without feeling the urge to bash someone’s head in.  It may not be pretty (it was me scribbling in Sai so in case something happened and I accidentally reset the puzzle I wouldn’t have to re-think it again).  The last time, I solved it without turning that first key first, so that no energies actually mixed and messed up my thinking with a reset.

Diamonds represent the color-separating nodes that separate mixed colors.  Circles represent the four corners where there are no keys.  The arrows represent which way the keys should be pointing.  I recommend starting from the right and turning the first three keys last.  It went fine for me, and I started with yellow, then blue, then red.

Yeah, not much going on in my life that I’ve thought to be actual blog-worthy.  Sure, tweet-worthy, perhaps, but not actual post-worthy.

However, I have come out with a recolor of an old pic, and a new pic altogether, so I guess I’ll throw these up here, as my 2011 start!

First the recolor.  This was, if you remember, a picture I did a while back of Hope from FF13.  I promised a colored version some day, and thus!  There it is.

Next is my “Happy 2011″ picture, if you will.  With the weird re-shuffle of the zodiac they did, I suddenly became a Taurus.  My first reaction was “noooooo, I don’t wanna be a bulllll!” but after reading up on it some, I realized that I’m much more of a Taurus than I ever was a Gemini.  Go figure.

So in the end I’m happy with the change.  To commemorate it, here’s me!  Save I don’t actually look that cool.

Other than that, not much about me going on right now.  My parents come in one month, though, and I must buy Shinkansen tickets for our trip to Kyoto.  Aaaaah, can I do it safelyyyy?