Programmed to Consume

Still no mega-update yet, too busy. However, two things.

I bought a tie at work today. No, not on the Internet. There I was, sitting in the teacher’s office, minding my own business, when this older gentleman walks in with what looks like a large briefcase. Everybody smiles and nods at him, so I do as well. I figure he’s a member of the Board of Education, or a repairman, or something along those lines. Then he sets the case down and opens it.

It’s full of ties.

Some of the other male teachers come over to look, and nod appreciatively. He gestures me over and smiles, so I come over. He hands a few to me, so I examine them. They’re fairly nice ties, so I nod and smile back. He says something to me, and I make it clear that I have no idea what he’s saying. At this point I’m fairly bewildered; I have no idea what’s going on, and everyone else is busy and not paying attention to me and this nice tie-man. Then he says something I do understand: “Sen en”. One thousand yen. He punctuates it by holding aloft a finger, and then pointing at one of the ties.

He’s selling ties. Like, door-to-door.

What could I do? I found one that I liked and bought it. He smiled at me nicely, packed up his case and left, to a warm chorus of “sayonara”. The experience had a surreal quality, like a fever-induced dream, where even the most trivial act becomes suffused with meaning. But I’m holding the tie in my hand as we speak, and it’s pretty stylish, so it must have been real.

And to you, good tie-man, I say godspeed. May you always find welcome wherever men’s necks are undecorated.

The second thing is, today I bought this.

Damn you Sony! Damn you to hell!

I am a consumer whore.

Do we work for what we’ve created?
Just byproducts of man-made gods.

What’s Going On

I’m still here. I’m finally over my cold, and I’ve got stuff to say. It’s just so much to say, that I haven’t had time to get it all down on (digital) paper yet. I’ve got a bunch of pictures too, from Canada and from the latest festival, so I’ll be putting them up soon.

For now I’ll just leave this right here. It’s nice to see there’s still someone in America who’s as quietly outraged as I am. Or was at least; now that I’m out of the US and I can’t see a good reason to return, I honestly don’t give a crap anymore. Let King George declare martial law and re-sculpt the Statue of Liberty in his own brilliant image, I’d rather go back to the Frozen North and risk being eaten by polar bears. Or just stay here in Japan; if I can’t understand what the news or the politicians are saying, I can’t get so goddamn angry I go cross-eyed and start to snarl and bite people.

And no, it’s not going to change one way or the other after the election. As Lewis Black once put it, “When you walked into that voting booth, you had a choice between two bowls of shit. And let’s face it, the only difference was the smell.”

Alright, I’m done with my disingenuous railing against American government. As I said, not my problem anymore. I’ll be nice* from now on, I guarantee.

* Not a guarantee.

Peace or annihilation?

 

I’m Back

…and I’m half-dead due to the fact I seem to have caught the Black Death. Or maybe it’s just a cold, I can’t tell anymore.

Reports of the sojourn in my homeland will have to wait until I am no longer spewing mucus from most of my orifices like some kind of goddamn virus factory. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to try and find some orange juice. And an exorcist.

Bleah.