with approximately 400 people per square metre — nothing says “hello neighbour” like an electric guitar, right? so there we were in ochanomizu this afternoon, & the place is full of music stores, &, well, my new guitar is a bright yellow fernandes zo-3 (zo is japanese for elephant, 3 in japanese is san, so, zo-san is mr elephant - take another look at the photo if you haven’t worked it out yet)… it’s tokyo-sized (i.e. teensy - 22 fret neck) & just too cute with a pretty nice action, & it’s got a little 5 watt built-in amp that doesn’t sound all that bad either… (at least, not in the hands of someone who can play… my mileage may vary…) & now… to google! in search of tab…

kaze — sick today, or, more accurately, for the last week or so… finally dragged myself to the doctor today & was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, & am now the proud owner of the world’s most expensive antibiotics… health care here is insanely pricey… i think maybe it’s more reasonable if you’re part of the national insurance scheme, but i have private insurance arranged through work… i’ll get reimbursed at some point, but still it’s always a shock to see the bill…

technophilia transfer — over the years, my technolust has been variously focused on cars, then motorbikes, then computers, then mountainbikes, then back to computers, then back to mountainbikes, etc… i’ve discovered over the last few months that i’m also perfectly capable of fixating on baby cars (i.e. strollers)… & so, on sunday…

how cool is that?!? (those of you not currently enamoured with specification charts for strollers need not feel compelled to answer…) but yes, it’s way cool! if a little big. in fact, in one sense, it’s a little bit like the SUV of strollers. but still. cool. uh oh. now i’m in trouble. (sumie just about had hana asleep & then i sneezed, &, well, the whole process has to start again… this weblog will be closed until further notice.)

just cause you feel it — doesn’t mean it’s there… is it just me, or have recent posts (few & far between as they’ve been) mainly consisted of baby photos? ah well, what can ya do?

i don’t wanna over-generalise, but — babies are cool. at least, our baby is… your mileage may vary. but yeah, hana is lots of fun. & growing quickly. & constantly learning new things. useful things, too, like how to steal food from people’s plates (as alluded to the other day) & how to make unexpected farting noises with her mouth. she’s developing all the skills. &, of course, the smiling & the giggling & the babbling & the looking cute…

strategic mistakes i’ve made in recent days — the other day hana was inexplicably wailing (i’d checked the short list of things she normally gets upset about & drawn a blank) &, in mild desperation, i decided to try doing a funny dance (yes, it’s true, that’s my only style) which, as it turns out, hana thought was the funniest thing she’d seen for a while… funny enough, in any case, to stop howling & start giggling… that was all well & good at the time, but now i feel dutybound to try a funny dance whenever she looks like she’s about to start crying… which leaves me feeling like my life is quoting something from a film (was it monsters inc.? i seem to remember billy crystal’s voice saying “i’m dancing! i’m dancing” as he tried to prevent a small child from bursting into tears…) anyway, for the most part, it works, & has the side benefit of also entertaining sumie’s dad…

in other “news” — i was walking home from ebisu station this afternoon after a shopping trip to shibuya & for some reason my brain decided it was a good time to drag out & review the plans for the content management system i was thinking about building four or five years ago… this does not mean that i’m any more likely to ever build it, but why it suddenly turned up on my mental agenda again today, after i hadn’t given it a thought for who knows how long, i don’t know… other things i was was thinking about today which are also unlikely to ever happen include singing with Thom Yorke, singing like Thom Yorke, & being as thin as David Bowie. brains, huh? can’t live with em…

hi kevin — happy birthday mate. hope you have a good day, & a good year ahead (even if the crocodiles don’t win the NBL. again. & sure, losing 6 in a row ain’t great, but i’m sure they’ll come good at the end of the season… bwahahahahahaaa!) anyway, happy birthday, have a good one.

okay — that’s just about got the backlog cleared…

some recent snaps — various pics from various locations over the last few weeks… hana’s getting progressively stronger & more inquisitive… & she’s started making grabs for things like, well, everything… we went to this food festival thing last weekend & she grabbed a huge handful of barbequed ribs off my plate… bad baby! bad baby!

ohayo gozaimasu! sashiburi desu! kyou wa honto ni samuii desu! & yes, it’s been a while. we’ve been all different kinds of busy, from lazy busy to full on busy busy. also, giant baby! sixty-five centimetres tall & seven kilos heavy & the gurgling & yelling, etc. photos? yes. yes there are. more exciting news to come either shortly or in, you know, a month or so…