The Village Well (Whereverhome)

Cold Heat and Trees

2012-01-16T02:58:00.000-08:00

Amsterdam, Holland

West LA, California

Downtown LA, California

Mataró, Catalunya

Barcelona, Catalunya

The cold air enters the old wooden blinds in my old room in this beautiful old city. At some time between 10 and 11 am, when the large building across the street allows it, the sun shines straight into my space, where I sit and soak it up. It's January, and the time it takes to warm up jogging up the mountain near my home, to warm up the low-water-pressure shower, to warm up my hands when I'm typing, drawing, writing, or rolling a cigarette, all takes longer. The sun thaws me out, as does my old oil heater in times when this sun isn't out.

Been into trees lately; shifting from Autumn to Winter, from place to place, metro to metro. Had a great time back home, and seeing these masts of life in the new year, well, it's a good thing.

Where the Wild Things Are: Barcelona

2011-07-18T15:10:00.001-07:00

Night of the Spike Jonze movie in an outdoor theater at the Castell de Montjuic, then some good old foosball (babifoot). Te amo, Barcelona, abarazame, Barcelona.

Having Left Beloved Okinawa

2011-04-08T02:09:00.000-07:00

The trip continues. Amidst crazy tragedy and wild tumult in Japan, Ileft Okinawa on April 5, where I lived for three years. I'll never forget all the wonderful people who I met there, and will keep this in my heart as I move on, in a similar way to when I left Australia back in 2008. I'm now at the home of the first friend I ever had (when I came back newborn from the hospital, she was there as a one-year-old) in Yokosuka, Japan.

My home, again, is wherever--but not just wherever randomly, but wherever I am. Wherever I am feeling myself, wherever I am able to skate, wherever I can make money, wherever I can encounter the good people and good ideas, eat the good food, breathe the good air, and be.

So here are a couple of photos from my last days in Okinawa. Big thanks to everyone I met, worked with, and spent time with in Okinawa. I'll miss you. What's next for Aki? Stay tuned for my next post...

It Pays to Explore

2010-02-22T04:32:00.000-08:00

Went skating with a good homie Jon... we were skating this bus terminal with curbs, then found a nice grass hole gap. You never know what you're going to find, huh.

British Bullseye

Oceanic Photos from a Recent Dive

2009-08-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

The Islands of Kerama

2009-07-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

Daaaamn I'm like that dude who used to be all into blogging and stuff, then got over it for a couple months and then was like, I should do this again... I admit it's a nice outlet. But if anyone actually does even read this shiat, I apologize for being em-eye-ay (mia).

Seems I have been em-eye-ay much of the time sometimes, since I've gone and become an expatriate. But I'm always thinking about my friends back home, those who I've met on my travels, my family, and also I don't ever forget friends who have left us early on earth. We live for you, SHL.

I got through my first semester as an elementary school teacher in one piece, and it is quite energy-consuming, but a daang awesome job. Especially since there is an overwhelming strict code for Japanese teachers to follow in school policies and reports and those weird Japanese hierarchy concepts, but I'm the "foreign language teacher," which kinda automatically makes me exempt from all that. Sweet. So I do my thing and have fun with the kids. I teach third through sixth grade, so its a messload of kids. I'm like, "I'll beatbox so you sing the ABC's. Loud." Seems to work well enough.

I wish I had photos of all the kids and the two schools I share my weekdays at, but I keep forgetting to take my camera to work. I did, however, take my camera to Zamami-Jima in the Kerama archepelago southwest of the main Ryukyu island Okinawa. I went with my girlfriend and another couple, and we watched (or tried to watch) the solar eclipse from the hour and a half ferry ride, along with this other couple from Colorado who happened to be on the boat. I had an underwater camera too.. Ah, I just remembered, I got to go pick up the film developed at the camera shop! Here's Zamami:

Kenyu Soh, one of the best-hearted people on Earth.

Forest road to the on the unpopulated side.

The view was siiick. Perching it with Takashi Z.

Climbing around Chishi before some scuba.

The whole population of Zamami.

So the forest was amazing, the beaches and coral reef all around were amazing too. Ahh, it's a good thing to be a teacher: summer vacation! Yuup, and JLo is coming to town in a couple days! Yeah LCC represeeent! Miss yall coyotes.

Arright, since I have a bit more time on my hands now, I think I'll do this whereverhome thing again, for anyone who would want to know what Aki's been up to these days. And let me know how you are too.

Bwahaha, last night I went out drinking with some American friends, and we went to this craze spot where a buunch of Japanese women were out mingling with a buuunch of Marines and Army people who think they're hot shit looking to get laid. Ah jeez, it reminded me of some Miss Saigon themed shit. What is the world coming to?

Peeace

Best Burgers in Ginowan

2009-04-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

What's the goings on with all the goodburgers in the world? I mean like, special sauce Sunday barbeque fat patty fluffy bread-type goodburgers? I wonder how good they are in Germany, has anyone been to Hamburg? If you're from Hamburg are you a Hamburger? How are the hamburgers out there, Hamburger? daahahaa

Anyway, today was a good day as any to pick up a Jumbo Burger from My House with my girlfriend. Yup, My House. That's the name of the damn burger joint. And there's a rotating staff of smiling Okinawan women average age 55 up in there, so you know that the food is like how momma makes.

Scrumptuous I would say.
How do they do that with the sauce?

E I E I uh oohh, like Nelly.

They have the original Raiden arcade console in the shop, right
under some old school Orion beer ads (hot shit).

Highway 58, my commute, where I stay.

I'd Like to Explain Myself

2009-04-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

Sooo, ever since I moved over here to Okinawa after my stint as a pearler and bus driver in Australia, I haven't had any internet up in my place of living. Finally, today, I got my internets connected. Yes! No more internet cafes for me.

My days bumping around on the pick up trucks of Cambodia, skating the bright streets of Hong Kong, diving into a salty, soupy Indian Ocean at lunch after chipping pearl shell all day, and seeing any and all things with my naked eye have turned into my days teaching little Okinawan kids in two elementary schools in the middle of the old Koza city, one bustling urban and one chill quiet, driving in the spring rains my new car that my friend who moved back to Osaka hooked up, reading Raymond Carver and Charles Webb, eating really good yakiniku at my girlfriend's house, and still seeing all and any things with my naked eye.

My experience makes me feel blessed everyday, though I did wish I was able to be back in my home country for the inauguration earlier this year. But I'm seeing things from a different perspective- the fourth graders at Moromi were chanting "Yes we can, yes we can" in class like it was the first English phrase that was driven into their brains...

The closest I get to the US these days is Gatorade bought at the store on the Marine Air Base or the Chili's we had on-base the other day. Damn that was some good steak! Anyway, I hope if you 're ever bored enough to read this you'd understand the meaning of my juxtaposition of red Gatorade with the city of Ginowan: I was real thuuursty and came out of my apt door to a beauty of a sunset the other day. I dunno, I wasn't really like, playing sports or nothing, but the Gatorade was pretty good, yafeel?

I also added a middle name to my full name as well: Weston. This whole thing started like two years ago when my dad was driving me to the airport. Merging from the 405 north to the 105, he said he wanted to change his name to Johnny. I was like, "Yeeah man!" I was about to make an American name in 7th grade, but was too lazy/clueless to get to the courthouse to change my name. So then we got to talking, and last month we were both like, okay let's do it. So now I'm Aki Weston Murai, and my father is Johnny Yoshiro Murai. And that's that.

I'm still Aki. Weston is secondary. Aki knows you and that will never change. Shit feels weird, writing in third person. That last sentence sounded like a facebook status message... aahhh, the wonders of coming back online...

Peace, I'll be putting up them alphabet drawings in my classroom tomorrow. laaaterr

I Think I May Have a Cracked Rib

2009-03-25T00:21:00.000-07:00

So like a month ago, I was pooting down the main Highway 58 on my nice little moped, and was going through a green light near Chatan (yeeah, it's where all the cool kids kick it) and this dumb chick with her obese girlfriend in a tiny jalopy decide to turn left last second no signal to get to the dingy club they were going to. And the only place they went to was Right In My Right Front. It was like baaamm-booooomm. I impacted the passenger side and then kinda flopped over on my left side. I got angry, got the info, got back on my bike with a cracked light.

I thought I was coo, but now, four weeks later, the little scratch I had on my left underarm part is starting to ache and pang. Kinda sucks... whoooa

So yeah, you know, watch out for them skanks in little cars turning left, is all I'm saying.

I'm pretty sure my rib's allright, hopefully. Let's go get some ribs at Tony Romas!

Too Epic Not To Post

2009-03-01T23:08:00.000-08:00

So these past couple months, I've been going to work everyday over here, and am so glad to have internet at work because I can finish with my classes and such, then have maybe a bit of time to check my email and my favorite sites online. I'm sorry, I may be buying in or whatever, but ever since I found the Berrics, it's definitely been on the top of my list. Sometimes I don't even bother with the email; I go straight to Steve Berra and Eric Koston's skatepark in LA. Daaamn they're doing such a good thing... especially for people like me who can't go out and skate good ol LA everyday... the rocks and old sidewalks and crazy weather in Okinawa doesn't let one skate too often. The Berrics, and also Crailtap, feeding my hunger for skate culture while I live on a not so skateable island. Thank and bless you people for putting shit like this on the web.

And here, we have the skate fiends (wantus- skateboardius)
of Phnom Penh, typically residing in and around open-air markets.
Photo from like, about a year ago.

But anyway, get out and doooo iiittt.
skate fiend.

One Liner Diners

2009-02-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

Rather than sitting down at a Denny's here, I'd rather sit in the Jimmy's restaurant across the street and have a scone.

Jimmy's sells the Aussie 2-litre orange-mango juice we used to drink back in Beagle Bay.

What Jimmy's doesn't have is the "Morning Start Juice", which was one of the dopest juices I've ever had.

Borrowing my friend's manual-shift-light-car makes for a good time. Because it's lite, too.

軽自動車： Lite-car.

Natto and coffee don't really go together that well.

Lately I've been climbing my apt stairs further up in the morning, for a "start" and kicks.

Good thing I've recently met another Nikkei homie.

"Give me my biscuits, Malloy! "

No chips ahoy for morning starts. Perhaps natto will go better with orange juice?

Big ups to all the travellers out there.

Bit-o-Movie

2009-02-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

For some reason I really wanted to watch this about 17 minutes ago.

So, this here is a scene from a movie that I'm all abooouuuut. Not necessarily the movie, but the scene, I'm so down for. Why? Because it features one of my favorite people who I don't know but would love to meet. And also because I hate inanimate objects when they look at me that way, you know, with the slanted screws and kind of sideways stare... anyway, The Gonz!! Hellyeah.

The movie is Gummo, if you're into that kind of thing, you're into that kind of thing. If you're at all into skating, then you already know who Mark Gonzales is. Leg-end.

Peace from the far east.

Skate And Create (an old event)

2009-01-28T16:44:00.001-08:00

We roll.

So these are some pictures I found from my digital camera of this event that was happening on Okinawa called Skate and Create, where there were all these Japanese artists' graphic skate decks at this shop in a town called Urasoe. Dude who works there was dope; he hooked me up with some books for cheap and he made the last piece phototted here. My girlfriend and I also went to the closing party at this nice little club, with a guitarist who knew every style you can possibly know and a little mc battle, and the whole time they were showing early nineties skate videos on a screen behind the stage- alien workshop, jeremy wray, element biizzz

Art n cultcha, brah, das what im sayn.

Graff in Okinawa

2009-01-17T02:12:00.000-08:00

If anyone not from Okinawa comes to visit and they're even minimally into street art, I'll take you to the seawall in Chatan, and there's also one in Okinawa Shi that has numbers and numbers of graffiti murals. You can see the ocean and beyond over the wall that's like waist height, and some of the pieces are good, and some are, like stick figure-Stussy S (ahahah remember that? try to draw one now) status. There are other stretches of the wall that is reserved for Okinawan elementary school homerooms and other kids' mural projects. Pretty dope.

Anyway, I came back to Okinawa after winter break and it seems like there are more graff pieces along the roads that I frequent; for sure graffiti survives longer than in the big cities here on this little island, but I was quite pleased to see art under the bridge, on the street electric box, and in a closed down gasoline stand, like this one. I'm just down for art, and if this was the Whereverhome Art Gallery, we would sit and judge these pieces while eating camembert and drinking Cabsav, but it's not, and so just take a look at a bit of expression on the island of Okinawa. The unsung heroes:

Gas station- it was sooo cold this day riding the good ol moped.
Imagine your hands like ice sculpture blocks of cheese.

Smiley dude.

Same writer, saying like, aahh well, sucks not

to get into the ladies room with em, but whatcanyado?

Can you go wrong with Popeye-ish imagery?

So ill.

This is right next to the gas station. "Tomato House"

You know you shake that ciggy box.

2009-01-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

An attempt at one-liner diners.

Hunger makes my face all shriveled up and shizz.

The lady and the girl on the plane; one in English, one in Japanese.

When it's cold, wear your hightops.

Some people laugh maniacally riding home in the piercing hurting cold on their mopeds. (me)

My planner is planning my demise.

Japanese humor sometimes requires losing out on intelligence or acting like it.

Sporks are fine.

Do people shake the last bit of drink left in the bottle before they terminate it?

They call 2-liter bottles of drink pet bottles here.

This bottle is for my pet iguana.

My thoughts line up sometimes orderly for the next order, sometimes they act like unruly three year olds in a field of PixiStix.

Happy-New-Year-Bike-Ride On The Wesst Cooast

2009-01-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

What it is, happy new year! Hope all is well wherever you stay, and I'm back in the living in Japan mode, chilling in a sort of chilly Okinawa. LA was pretty cold though, and though the cold was biting on this day New Years Eve, we rocked our bicycle mob all the way up the beach path to the end of the road. It was an epic journey, and super fun. Ahh, to be home with good folks and a couple wheels. Here are some pics courtesy of Chuck's new artistic photographer camera. Happy 2009!!

About to go down Iowaaa

Woooo, B with the skills...
He got that seat-surfing down as well.

Nice location, nice idea, niiiice photo.
Yeah, good one Seth.

Artsybrakelights.

Destination found... Man what a perfect
place to kick it and turn back around... and the
marine was starting to layer on us.

I really like this one.

Back after the ride, where people are like drapes.

And then capturing lights into night.

"Well, it sounded good at the time..." & Australian Bank Account (part one)

2008-12-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

So I've been back in LA for a minute now, on vacation, and have had some good conversations again with people who I haven't seen in a while, like Mr. Rekik, my moms, and that yellow-teethed crazy on Santa Monica and Purdue, among others. These re-connections are finally helping me again to partake in a passion that I've been neglecting a little bit. I'm doing my thing in Okinawa, and a big part of "my thing" that I haven't really been keeping up on lately is creative writing.

So anyway, I'm going to start a bit of a project, just to give myself a necessary kick in the arse to write stuff that I want to write. I guess this is going to try to be a Whereverhome blog-collabo fictional experimental piece for myself, with some sort of meaning behind putting it on my village well. On the wall of the well. So that when it starts to stink I'll kick it into the depths. Australian Bank Account will be in separate entries from regular blog entries, at least that's kind of how I picture it right now. But seriously, please don't expect too much. Wooord. Presenting:

Australian Bank Account (part one)

How did he come up with such a bad idea? Kaito knew that my friend had an account in Spain, and he once told me that his uncle's godfather had numerous bank accounts overseas. But was it simply because we were talking about old movies and Swiss investments in that rickety old ramen shack that one evening that he came up with it? "What on earth's goodness do you plan to do with something like that?" I remember asking him. I didn't have much to go on, honestly speaking, but still, it was a horrible idea, if you ask me.

I would've thought that I would have more to go on, now, seventeen months later- that I'd be aware enough to make quick judgements on friends' decisions- but the truth is I still have none-to-zero awareness. But let me tell you that this ricket-ramen-shack in Okinawa is an investment itself of an old schoolmate. From kindergarten. His name is Melvin, and he used to bring these funny noodle sculptures to show and tell. And now, on the shelves of the square-shaped room with sliding glass doors sit sixteen glistening copper-wire works that mimicked those old pieces we'd eat at recess. Melvin even sold a couple to a gallery in Shibuya, for a good amount, enough to buy himself a brand new bicycle and some electronics. The restaurant is called Shinbunshi, because of the newspapers neatly pasted on the walls and the fresh issues from all over the world on a rack next to the self-serve water jugs. As Melvin stirred the huge pot behind the beechwood counter, I sat at my table next to the bar with a coffee and The Dagbladet, a paper from Denmark. I looked at what I could read and saw that the date was September 16, a Thursday. Was that our date here, or Denmark's?...

to be resumed later or continued

Skating in Okinawa

2008-12-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

There's not much to skate on the island of Okinawa, but you know that there's always the good old parking lot down the street. I live uphill where I can skate toward the ocean and try to ollie this ratty torn up cracked out four stair with Sanpin-cha bottles strewn on the side, and a cuurved out run-in that goes around a manhole, and the wondering gasoline stand kids stare, waiting for those little Japanese cars to come into the stand driveway.

There's not much time to skate in Okinawa, with work and that, but it's always like, no matter how tired I am or how late at night it is, if I do get up on my board for a little bit, that rattling and crunching and reverberation brings me back. And then I hang up on that tall curb and eat shit... hahah Aahhh, the beauty of skating in a place where the buildings are old and the sidewalks look like mini-earthquakes were thrown onto them for the rats. I got to roll down 58.

Two Years of Summer

2008-11-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

Finally, I get a winter after three consecutive summers.

Mt Fuji, took a while back, snowcaps from an airplane.
Probably like two years ago I took this photo... for some
reason it was in my LA file. My LA file, like
LA Gear black and neon green.

So last summer I was in Los Angeles, chillin at the Colby house, working nights at that restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd and at the Institute for Intercultural Studies during the hot bicycling days (big ups to Dr. Han). Then I moved to Australia, which I'm sure you know is in the opposite hemisphere north-south ways. For some reason this creates a January mid-damnin-hot summer, I think because of the tilt of the world. Then this year, I came back up past the equator to Okinawa for a burning hot summer on a tropical island. So the last time I tasted real, good cold air was like two years ago.

It made me realize how much I love summer, but a perpetual one wouldn't be good for me. I need some sort of seasonal change; I think we all do. Isn't that why the Earth, like, turns? Yeah, change is progress, and I get really cold recently riding my moped with two jackets on, hunchbacked and notredamed, teeth chattering, but I'm actually down for it. Watttuuupp winterrr.

I'm coming home! I got a flight back to LA on the 23rd of December and will be in America until Jan 6th... I'm pretty hyped; I actually miss my country, the smooth sidewalks, Comedy Central, right-gear-shifts, all my clothes in storage, my books, two tacos for a dollar... Let me know if you're around- I'll probably be staying in Torrance, near that Benihana's. Which is good to the Wilmington skateplace you say about, Geoff. Damn, I'm about to just drive out to the Korean Bell and kiiicckk ittttt.

Words, there's a new live music class in our curriculum here, which is pretty sick, and all is ever-proceeding with Okinawa Actors School and Live City, too. I'm lucky to be able to be doing this translating, curating, teaching and filming.

Peace, see you soon.

Yeah

2008-11-05T19:39:00.001-08:00

YEEEAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

ATLiens Running OKInawathons

2008-11-03T01:29:00.000-08:00

How's it going? Today is a rainy rainy day, and I was listening to this CD that my friend gave me a while ago- Outkast's ATLiens instrumentals... of course the Elevators track is sick, and my personal favorite is the instrumental for Wheelz of Steel. The following poem came on top of the best classic beat though, ATLiens, number two... (I know my poetry sucks, but if you read it while listening to the instrumental, you'll only get bored of it halfway through instead of after reading one-third) Enjoy. Or make sure you have a sofa or bed nearby to throw your computer at after you get angry at yourself for reading such garbage. But enjoy that too.

Interesting
That no I'm not from the ATL
But rather I have the power in me to yell
That I come from Los Angeles County
You get more aware of that while living in a different country

It's likely
That most, many, or some of the people who we meet
In this Japanese nation or on an Okinawan street
Have only visions of movies and television
Cultural differences and a foreign vision
Allow me to perceive how I perceive
Not through any media except my own eyes
The information that I receive
The ways that people create both laughter and drawn out sighs
It's like good roasted pork meat
Like a timelessly marinated OutKast beat
It's all quite neat
and
Interesting.

I don't know about that sighs part.. what do you think?

Aaaanyway.....

It's good to know that my absentee ballot is either in the LA County Clerk's office or just a couple miles away now. Big day tomorrow. To be honest, I feel really American right now. Letss doo this!

Later y'allestikos

Surroundings （日本式）

2008-10-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

How's it goin, hey? A photo essay-slash-journal-slash-commentary that started from an uploading mistake:

I begin at home, sitting on the ground with the fan going....

I get up and get in my girlfriend's car. Speed is good...

Weird antennae creature lurks upon the car's radiator, and Okinawan
lights pursue, just a normal picture...

Damn, this movie was siiiick.

Did you see Wes Anderson's latest? It was pretty late to come out in Japan, but I was like, so comforted. His movies are dope.

So we're putting on another surfball tournament this weekend, and we've got a team made of Marines. They're actually pretty cool, which is a little rare.

Filming for our TV show, Live City, is continuing as well. We're on Episode 28 now, jjeeah.

laaater, and yes, i would like to know how you're doing, please let me know. Big ups to cold green tea!

Recently, my cell phone got up and took some pictures.

2008-09-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

It was crazy, he was like, yo straighten me out, flip me out homie. Then he grew eyes and was like, yeah, that's good, yeah. So then he told me to "put these on the web cuzz" and I was like, okay, whatever you say. Crazy technological Japanese telephone. They're mini-computers, and I still can't work like 5/8 of the functions. The camera works well though. It told me to work harder, he was like, "I'm doing all the work here dumbass."

My ride. Uuuhhhhhhhh

Good ol pool art behind a very abandoned building.

Sunrise from Mt. Fuji, Shizuoka prefecture, far from here.

A neon store right downstairs from my apartment.
The owner has this little toy-poodle, but he's all tough
and beer. It's pretty rad, he sells these old MGD t-shirts
and coasters from like 1986.

iMoved

2008-09-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

Yup, I have no actual pictures yet because I'm lame and I haven't taken pictures of my new habitat, but I now officially live in the Building with the Giant Buck-Toothed Dog on Top, Ginowan City, Okinawa. So if you read this, and if you're my friend, and you're ever in Ginowan, there's a tatami mat with your name on it! (well not actually written, but if you really wanted to, you could burn your name on tatami with incense sticks, cuz i accidentally dropped a bit off and that shit looks like a little 2-D rat poop.. just a simple FYI)

So I'm planning on going to this cafe across the street where I might get a good view and maybe some pictures. I didn't even notice I moved in under _______ (my landlord said he doesn't have a name, and I haven't named him yet) until my sister said, "Do you live in the building with the big dog on top of it?" And I went home and there was a dog on top of my building. A bit more info on the dog to come..

Happy Respect-for-the-Aged Day (9/15). I looked up 敬老の日, the Japanese holiday, and that came up. Really though, props to all who are living large and madd yearrrrsss. Respect.

Roppongi, Yanbaru, and the end of the Olympics (among other things)

2008-08-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

What it is? I'm back in Okinawa after five days of metro-madness up in the crazy city of Tokyo. And you know what, I'm not afraid to say it: I love nature and I'm completely content living on this island with beautiful ocean and forests. Although it was good to get into the city for a bit. Them Kenyan brothers at the entrances to the clubs between the Roppongi metro station and my brother's pad (thanks Ohki, foshoooo) be like, "YO Aniki, aniki! Kawaaii-YO, Aniki!" Loosely translated, "Hey, brother, brother the girls are cute here, brother." And at first glance you'd think these dudes are from like New York or maybe Washington DC, but naw, they're like, from Cameroon and Zimbabwe. Yeeah, aniki. It was a good time getting back into the buildings and crowds and shops.

So here are some photos, as Beirut sings, it's 'A scenic world'...

Tokyo trains take time to tolerate; people passing
publicly passive, robots require resuscitation.

The girlfriend and I went to Tokyo Disneyland, and
this pic of Pixar hats is a decent depiction of height
difference, at least. Maan, we became small children again!

It was sunny all day and then rained a little bit
when we were in line for Thunder Mountain,
which was refreshing.

The Toei-Oedo line was Londonese to me,
reminded me of England.

And back to Okinawa, a quick drive through the forests.

Woo.. good one Shoko

Yessirr, that's how some of it went down. I took a video camera and taped my (real) Aniki and myself climbing Mt. Fuji two Fridays ago, which was quite an experience, but my camera broke on the way down the mountain and I have yet to extract the pictures from it.

Now I'm back in the office, comfortable and getting ready for the new semester starting next week. Yeah!! And hopefully I can continue filming as well, jeeeeaaahh! I'm finishing up a Hemingway book on bullfighting, pyyeeaaahhh. And I picked up a new Raymond Carver collection, sssssssssseyyyyyyyyyyyeeaaahhhh.

Hell yeah Olympics were ssiiiiiick! Later yalls, I miss all of you back home, and in whereverhomes. Holmes. Sherlock.

Waddup Now Bruddahh

2008-07-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

YOo, how is everything? My brother Ohki came and kicked it with my sister Yuki and I Aki (we two both live and work in Okinawa) this past weekend, and it was really, really nice to be back with the family siblings again. It's always kinda new after we've been apart for a while, but for sure after a while there's that feeling of chilling out with bloodrelatives that definitely comes back. We went out to eat pasta and drank coffee and Ohki got lobster-burnt at the beach... Enhancer that shit, bro (the Yuki hookups)! Here's when we ate in the tree-restaurant near the airport on Sunday night.

The food was allright but the service was shit
so I had to down hot clams and salmon so
we wouldn't miss Ohki's flight. If you're ever
in Okinawa, check out the tree-restaurant; it's on
the right when you come into the city out of the airport.
You can't miss it. I don't necessarily recommend eating
there, though. Although they had a bigscreen playing
The Making of Blue Planet, which was minimally
cool. Questionable, but cool. How about this essay-type
caption for two photos? Yeah

So, getting goodly busy these days with a different kind of work from teaching... I'm getting the chance to learn to be a cameraman for Live City! Siiick! I like cameras, and cameras are suuper dope to work with, just like the amazing people here. Yeah, reminds me of good ol Kam-Ra back home- how you iiisss homie? I'd like to thank people. Thank you, momma. Later, more to come. Peace my fleece. For Fuji.

Happy Fourth of July

2008-07-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

Living in a foreign country, it's easy to feel detached from my home country. But just leave it up to all the Armed Forces stationed on Okinawa to bust out them barbeques and meaningless tattoos and footballs and strong come-ons to the local girls out on the beach. It's a crazy type culture out here, you meet some down people both Okinawan and American, and the interactions between all cultures is right interesting.

But I always tell people I meet- and they are always like "Oh, you're from Los Angeles, you must have like 28 bullet holes in your front door and your aunt must carry a gat"- and I'm like, damn, people really do base a lot of what they know about America on television and movies. I guess it's an obvious thing. But I always say, sure there's crazy shit going down all the time, but there are also some of the best people and great moments happening in the U.S.A. even now. Reality is reality, and there are lots of misconceptions of the reality of the U.S.

Anyway, it's good to be able to rep my country and connect back to my blood at the same time. And there's always the new experience. I'm getting a bit used to work and life here, but I don't ever want to forget all the little thangs that make it fun- like aasaa(seaweed, good in soup) getting stuck all up in my naplocks when I go for my morning dip in the ocean. Gotta make sure to wash it out though, aasaa could get mighty stank.

So America, America, America, I miss you, all the good and the bad. The people, the people. Happy Fourth! Then on to Bastille Day! I don't see nothing wrong with the French. Ou revoir, baby. Is that from a Van Damme movie? Naw, he doesn't say baby, that's hasta la vista. Who remembers that Van Damme movie set in Quebec where he says ou revoir, something? Damn, let me know if you know... anyway, laaater dudes. Chyeahh

Finally Some Vision

2008-06-29T02:24:00.000-07:00

YOo, I hope you are well, and getting some good meals up in the system. I ate some really good cutlet curry right quick at a manga-kissa, which is this pretty dope concept where you go into a cafe/restaurant with walls filled with madd comic books (the good Japanese kind) and kick it and read, write, eat, drink, fiddle fingers. And its also dope cuz I just looked at the word マンガ喫茶　written in Roman alphabet and it seems like a place where all these people get together to make out with Spiderman, Ranma 1/2, and Captain Tsubasa. But alas, that is not the case. Well, I guess you can kissa the pages if you want. The cashier/server/all around boss lady probably wouldn't be havin none of that, though.

I finally got my camera running again, and so here are some photos from a snorkel trip some of my students and I went on yesterday. I'm in the classroom and the office all day on weekdays, so it was really nice to get out with our school's marine crew, WaterWorld.

The ocean at Sesoko, up on the northwest side.

I still can't really calculate how many kph equals
how many mph... we were going like 120 kph, which is
like as fast as a doped up donkey, I guess.

Nice block.

Yeah WaterWorld! See all them W's?
Represent, foooooooooooooo

And this here is a photo I took after the Surfball tournament we had held last Saturday down on the south part of the island. Surfball is a sport we invented when I went to school here a couple years ago, and it's siiiick. Keeps you madd fit too, cuz it's crazy on the lungs and legs. Check the site if you want, though it's all in Japanese: www.surfball.jp

Nothing like a beautyful sunset after a long day
running around on the beach.

So while I'm at it, I'd like to promote one of the main projects we're doing at our school. Yeeeaaahh publicity, homiiee. My sister Yuki is a madd talented screenwriter, and she writes and produces a badass TV show called Live City, it's all kinds of wicked, and everything is done by the students, from the shoot schedules to the cameramen to the acting. It airs on Okinawan TV on Saturday mornings at 10:55, and it's in its second season, and getting reeeal interesting. You could at least see the pictures and stuff on the Japanese website: www.livecity.tv

I'm blessed to be a part of something as great as this. I have the awesome job (no joke, it's so good to see all the different places and work with such a commited group of people) to drive the crew van whenever I can. I like driving. Allright, I gotta translate this song for class, thanks for the comments, and please let me know how you're doing. I miss yall. Peace for your niece.

Keeping in with the TaiChi

2008-06-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

Starting position. I have a friend named Pepe here, so I hooked up a photo.

Duuuude, how it iiisss. Hope you're doing well, if you're reading this at all, sorry for the long intervals in between. Damn I want to see that movie Darjeeling Unlimited. I've been trying to either run or swim in the ocean every morning if I have time, but it only seems to work if I can get to sleep before 1 am. Maybe I'm just lazy. The ocean is getting madd nice, warm even in the am, cleansly. And also a bit of TaiChi everyday, thanks Baylen, I'm trying to keep it up. I need to learn more, get a master or something.

A note on the Pacific: it's definitely not as salty and soupy as the Indian along the west coast of Oz. It's real nice and kind of soft, like the coral reef put in some kind of elixir or something that makes it all ex-for-e-ating or whatever. That's what I feel like, like my skins freaking ex-for-ee-ating when I sweeeem in ze oshun.

Good busy days, the school is going well. I want to give props to Dr. Han for training me well, thank you.

Right, I gotta eat some foods. Ahhh damn the Okinawa-soba is good stuff. Had some for lunch today, which is pretty rare. Yo, eat while you can! That's what they say.... Laaater.

The Joys of Fridays

2008-05-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

So I was talking to my friend the other day, he's from New Zealand, one of the downest dudes that I know. He was like, remember how you were all high from your trip, don't let that buzz come down, don't forget to keep it going. And I thought that that is like a lot of things... there are a lot of things that can bring me down, getting used to a certain way of living, always a sniff of stagnancy when you start that "getting used to" business. So at least as my own mindset, I'll be on my travels for a while longer, even if I go home during them or even if I get into a certain rhythm.

I've created a pretty crazy schedule for myself these days, with teaching and getting a faculty-type system together, curriculums, texts and meetings. But I find the things that are just as important- taking a swim in the ocean for 10 minutes, going for a 20 minute skate, zoning out at my desk for a couple seconds (that one I just did.. duuuuuhhhhh)- are hard to find time for but so crucial. I want to give thanks, and to be able to know that I'm so damn lucky to be doing what I'm doing. Woooord.

A location-descriptive list: CDs strewn, white walls, pen lines, humidity, Port of Pearls the book, the Calypso, my ￥100 mug, backaches, library, Aesop, Japanese words, vending machines, little cars, a fire extinguisher that says Hatsuta on it. AAnnd the Belafonte:

Yeeeah, watchoo know about daatt? Thanks, Steve. Right then, take it eeeasy, thanks for reeeading.

In the Week of Gold

2008-05-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Children's Day in Japan, and everyone is on vacation and all the malls are busy and people gather in large swarms where there are Golden events. Why golden, you say? Well, that's what I asked, and the answer that I got from these foos, my friends, my co-workers, is that this is a period in Japan where there's a bunch of national holidays lined up, so it's like a second spring break in the middle of May, and it's called GOLDEN WEEK. siiiick.

So yeah, hope you're doing well, and my week is about chillin and getting ready for the next long semester at this school. Yeeeashh, along with making up conversation worksheets and stuff, I'm also doing a marine class and we're going to choose boats- be like Jacques Cousteau on the Calypso or Charles Darwin with the Beagle- and do madd research on an imaginary journey so we can get some knowledge and do something to help save the dying coral reefs of Okinawa. I'm also teaching English playing sports and stuff, saying like "Pass the ball!! Here!" Good times, good times... This teaching thing is pretty dope, but that's probably because the institution I work for is pretty free and still developing, rather than already set in educational values, methods, and rules. I'm real lucky to be given this opportunity to try things my way. We'll see how it turns out.

So yeah, I've also been running around on the beach three times a week, playing this sport we invented... Everyone keeps telling me I look all dark, but I can't really tell myself. Dipping in the ocean after a morning of running full speed- mmm, nice. And never forget the food, the food, so lucky to have food! Way different from my college-writing days when I lived on trail-mix and Folger's. Hahaha- Hope you're all doing well back in LA, in Australia, in Japan, everywhere.

Woo Gnarl's Barkley Odd Couple, and also Nat King Cole and Thelonious these days...

Of Mopeds and Cold-Sunny Days

2008-04-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Hellooo from this side of the Pacific. I'm at my other home now, this here home, with all my Japanese homies and other random people. It would be really easy to write something about the American occupation situation here on Okinawa, where a good amount of the land and economy is controlled by the US government, but I'm simply just another American occupant, so I can't really rant or whatever. That said, there are a lot of people from the midwest here, which is different for me, coming from a Southern Cali upbringing. Okinawans are a great people- chill, kind, and good cooks, who live really long. I really like being on this island, where the spring air is crispy like Japanese KFC I had the other day (it was allright, but no Popeye's)

In other news: I recently picked my fro, I bought an Oolong tea from the vending machine two days ago and I got a bottle of water, fresh is the word, my Honda moped speed-demonizes everyone, and I haven't had much clothes to wear because I have only what was in my backpack for 6 months.

Sorry there are no pics, the battery on my camera died again. I really should get a rechargeable one. I miss you all back in LA, hope things are well. It's nice to think.....
of Clouds and Hot-Tasty Foods.

I made it back to the island

2008-03-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, long time no see... How are you? It was a crazy trip, but for now this leg of my journey has come to a close. I type from the office at the school I now work for in Ginowan City, Okinawa. The weather has been nice, but it's pretty weird coming from a full summer down under to a spring about to go into summer.

So my journey through Southeast Asia was really good, I kind of sped through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Hong Kong in ten days. I'm still kind of in "reflection mode" or whatever, getting ready for the new semester here, starting in April. So yeah, here are some photos, kind of like my recent mind-photos (I've been working on my photographic memory), and I would like to thank everyone who I've met, who helped me out along the way this time, in Australia, Battambang, that pickup truck, whatever. I'm really lucky to be living this life I am. Word!

The river runs through Bangkok.

Battambang, Cambodia. My favorite city that I hit this time.

Phnom Penh, the capitol. Everyone wants to skate in Cambodia!!

On the train from Ho Chi Minh to Ha Noi.

French-looking old ladies in Ha Noi. Check the flag.

I tripped out on Hong Kong, crazy city! Siiiick skating there.

Yup, yuuuup. Good times. So I'll catch you again, I'm going to be in Okinawa for a while, so let me know how you are! Laaater.

Hello from Phnom Penh

2008-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hi, how are you today? It's like day 4 since I started my venture into Southeast Asia, and all in all it's freaking awesome. I found an internet place in the capitol of Cambodia; but the best city I've been in so far is Battambang, kind of in the countryside. The markets here are siiiick; I've been eating madd mangoes, mandarins, skewered chicken and weird boiled eggs they sell on a little egg-stand. My nose is all messed up from the dust and pollution, and the four hour ride in the back of a pickup truck from the border into Cambodia with 25 other people tried to blow it out, but it just stuffed more dust in my face. hat-cheww-- Woord.

Pictures to come probably when I get back to Okinawa, if you want to see some crap photos I've taken from guest house balconies and stuff. Ah well, hope you're doing well. Daamn this is a trip...!

Peace Beagle Bay

2008-02-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

So I just came off the boats into BroomeTown after I finished my last swing with Arafura Pearls. Sad to leave the pearling, but moving on. Props to everyone who's moving on! And that's everyone who's alive, so if you're reading this goodonya, mate. Here're some photos from Beagle Bay. Just a side note for Chuck and all you other net-capitalists: the mother farm for Arafura Pearls is up north in a place called Elizabeth Bay. Guess what they call it: E-BAY. hahahhaha "Life is Good."

This dude was chilling a lot of the time when you're on
the john or having a shower. Or maybe that was his
cousin. Taking a shower.

Wickaaaaaas. Wickers, the skipper for the
Christine Marie. LEG-END.

Uh, this is called pulling the line. You pull up panels with
shell from the water and push them through that
cleaning machine behind me, and then the crew on the other
side chips all the sea-shit off. Spew

The boys, Stevo, Johnno, Fart-Manaki, and Jem.
Whatnow, you mobbb

Stevo is the only dude I know who can do a real even Wesside,
cuz he got the tip of his finger chopped off by a rope on the boat.

He owns the best shirts and a remarkably high voice. Yeeah bro.

The crew leaving for work yesterday.
Ahhyeah, I'll miss yall and the sea.

Yup, I'll definitely miss Beagle Bay; it treated me well. Now I continue my way up north to Darwin in the Northern Territory, then Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and hopefully anotherhome in Okinawaaaa. Wish me luck, and good luck to you. Bring the serious funs, homie.

Colors (Iro-Iro)

2008-02-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hello, what is the goings on? Today I 'm feelin artistic or something, listening to good Nujabes beats... if you like mellowish hiphop, look him up; highly recommended- song called Feather is wicked. These beats have been stuck in my ears for like, years, or large decimals of years now. Thanks Yayoi. Anyway, here're some photos, I like the colors of Western Australia. Iro-iro.

AM at Beagle Bay- battle of the ships.

Same AM, storms and shrouds.

Midday at the jetty beach in Broome. Melting hot.

Andrew and Sharmila's backyard in Roebourne,
random pointing and a red afternoon.

Sunset before the kangaroo hunt, out bush in the Pilbara.

Night of the Shovellor Band Party, Roebourne.
Camera- waved meteorites.

Back in Beagle Bay, brightest moon
during the last king tide.

Take it easy breezy peas-e, never cheezy. OW!

Catch of the Day(z)(e)

2008-01-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

How's it going to-day? Did you watch the Australian Open? Did you hear Heath Ledger (RIP) died? Saturday was Australia Day here, and we watched one of his movies Two Hands (pretty good movie) and drank a lot of beer. We made a small pool out of an unused pearl shell breeding tub. Ah the pearling life, the pearling life.

So there are lots of animals in the wild west of Australia. Here's a couple caught on a couple days after work. Scotty the reptile man (and marine engineer) is always getting some lizard or snake and we all play with them before we let them go. And we've been fishing quite a bit (pretty spoiled, fishing-wise, in the Norwest). Yeah Animales!

Wicked skin on a goanna, which is apparently
good eating, if bigger. Haven't tried him yet. Mm

Scotty with a crazy frill-necked lizard,
goes all running on two legs and shit. Crazy.

This is a queenfish that I caught after work one day-
good fight, good fresh sashimi. I was daamn happy.

YO! Give thanks to NAY-CHA! Keep it reeeah! (that's my new slogan that's going to go on my new trapper keeper. did you know the school year starts now down under? summer holiday is over, everyone! whaaat)

Back in the wayoutback, I reminisce of my last day in town...

2008-01-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

So I'm back at Arafura Pearl Farm at Beagle Bay; it's good to be back bush. But alas, as the new year begins, our boats are screwed. Yeah, we spend a good amount of time servicing our vessels, since an oil intake pipe is busted here, the steering fluid leaks there... I'm learning a small amount about boats, but the engines are damn dope, huge loud things. I feel like a kid again, in awe of massive machinery. Of course, we're also back to cleaning them pearl shells as well, since there are so many lines of shell out there. This here is the boat we use to ship to and from shore and the chipping boats; we call it the Eggshell. I'm glad it's alive, it sunk early December. Lots more roomy than the little tinny dinghy.

So anyway, I had a whole weekend in Broome to chill before coming back to work, and I had a real nice day on my last day in town. It seems like a while ago, sitting in the farm office typing... so anyway, I woke up in the morning at the Lasty's- Last Resort- my home in Broome, one of the best backpackers' I've stayed in (funny name, the people are real, like some Kiwi fishermen or Japanese chick who lives there waiting for her fishing boyfriend every week, there's a rock pool with running water, it's super comfy for me) and thought of what to do that day. And only one thing came to my mind. SKATE. So I drank madd water and skated down to the skatepark. Broome Skatebpark, on the way to Cable Beach: sooo good, real mellow transitions, a little flatbar, pyramid, banks... This is an homage to a UK television show that I've never seen, but I've heard of the boosh ride, and had some. Skate forever. It was real good, just cruisy and real warm, nice session.

And what's a skate mission without some of the locals? I met these kids (semi-primary colored t-shirts, whaaaat!) in the parking lot at the shops, and we had a good little skate, speed bumps and the local security guard lady told us not to grind the metal hatch-thing on the sidewalk. Good kids, definitely. While we were skating, I was all into it and I left my camera on the brick planter, and when I looked again it was gone. I was like daaamn, super bummed, and these three dudes helped me look for it for a while. I was like, aw, it's done, imma go now, thanks anyway bros. I was halfway back to the Lasty's when they come on their bikes like, "AAArrkkiiiii!!" and I turn around and they're like, "We found your camera!!!" YEEESSS! Awww the happiness! I was freaking elated, and I was like let's take a photo yo. And so, some of these photos are treasures because they were once lost and then found again. Thanks Jermaine and Co. Check the steez. That's Broometown, yeah.

Here's a bit of historical goodness, and in a way I feel like I am retracing the steps of some of my ancestors. This is the Japanese cemetary in Broome, where a plaque states that most lying here died from the bends from diving for pearls or in massive typhoons. A big reason why I came to work on the pearl farms in Broome is the history of Japanese people who came here in the mid 1800s from places like Wakayama and Taiji, and sort of their legacy. I've been to the library reading up on some stuff, and if it weren't for the Japanese, much of the industry wouldn't be what it is today. I paid my respects, and the cemetary really reminded me of those few I've visited in Japan. Thought of my grannies and grandfathers. A bit of an indirect ohakamairi, I guess. It's really a beautiful place.

Yup, now I have a stomach full of chicken, peas, and sweet potatoes, so I shall leave and go to sleep, for tomorrow is a new day. Later yalls, let's hope the boats don't break down too bad tomorrow.

Happy New Euhear (Yaheeeeard)

2008-01-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

Hello, I hope you all had a great holiday-time, wherever home you are at. Christmas and New Years in Australia was wicked. Sooo good, I was in a great woody place south of Perth, Margaret River, with the Woods, as in the wonderful, eccentric family of Sharmila. Fact, these warm eccentricities cannot be found anywhere else. We hit up the beach where the huge waves smashed the big rocks everyday, and the water was really different from up north, chilly when you just put your feet in, but super nice once you dive in.

Anyway, this entry will be a photo gallery from the world famous Christopher Gurney (I hope that loose verbal permission was enough for me to put these on, bro. ) Christoph Le Guhrn, aka Goontits, aka friend-of-milk-puker is also cousin of Sharmila, and a super good bodyboarder- el rollos like nothing. Talk about talent. Chris is truly the homie. From homie to homie to family- Enjoy.

Redgate Beach, Moorumburri and Aki.

House that John Wood built (with friends).

Flight of the Andrew.

The Forests of Margaret River & species Doofus elfus.

Redgate in colour (with flavour (madd flava)).

Man in charge. Of many things, like WeetBix and bread.

As for me, its back to the boats on Monday... Stay tuned from Arafura; thanks for looking and reading and stuff. 今年も　よろしくお願いします。　じゃね！　May the new year be well for all of you.

Nawseriouslytho

2007-12-18T00:56:00.000-08:00

I'm getting used to this pearling business-- it's a lot of hard work, and a lot of great fun, and a lot of ocean and boats on the sea. These here are two of the boats we use for work- The Shady Lady and the Ute, photoed at sunrise on Beagle Bay. I've been up on the Shady these past couple days, the one on the left. It's dope once you get used to it, the pearl shell cleaning machine is manual and you have to push the panels through, unlike the machine on the Christine Marie II-- maybe I'll get a pic of that big ship later-- where there's a conveyor that pulls the shell panels through, blasting them with high-pressure salt water. I'm sure this doesn't make any sense, crazy pearl jargon and whatnot, but the Shady has an open back that you can run and dive off of during smoko (brekkie (breakfast)) and lunch. Jeeeaah.

This is Bully, the farm dog, and his name is short for Bullet. He is still a puppy, really dumb and kind. He tries to bite the tires on the dinghy trailer every morning, and we all yell at him to get out of it cuz he might get run over. Bully is super dope, but aggressive too, you have to kick him in the face once in a while. My buddy. He had a large battle with a little snake the other night.

WOOO the dinner bell's ringing! Foooooood! I say, Eat while you can yall. Peaces everywhere.

I think I'm turning into a Seaman

2007-12-05T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hahaha, that's definitely one of the funniest terms, how the word seaman sounds, like if you see it on the back of the England National Team's goalkeeper jersey, like, you're like, Seaman, hahaha... I was watching Beavis and Butthead on TV last night..

But yes, my forearms and legs are all scraped up by barnacle cuts, weird oceanic allergic reactions and fireweed burns (damn, fireweed buuurns), my feet joyously never see the insides of shoes anymore, and if I shook my head really fast and my nappy hair sprayed some water on you, it would be really salty. I bet my fingernails are salty, but I haven't bitten them in a while. I'll bite my nails now, just for the Well's sake. Kinda salty. I think I'm becoming a Seaman. Like He-Man, but of the sea. But not quite like Chicken-of-the-sea, cuz that's fake.

I'm learning bit by bit how to function on a boat, and we're getting new people in too, so it's the ideal environment to learn how to tie boats up, replace engine coolant, check dead clams for pearls. Yessir, I have found a couple pearls already, in the emptied shells. Beautiful, and really crazy, that those things come from those things. Good onya, shell. And yeah, it's really necessary for everyone to pull their weight on the boats, cuz if someone doesn't, then something goes wrong. But the people here are so good; we got each others' backs, and we actually want to do the work. Plus we get good times after work to relax, and drink like Aussies. Oi. Grab another beer.

Sorry no pics, hopefully I can get some technology or something working. But the ocean stretches everywhere, so if you take a picture of the ocean or the sky near where you are, then it'd be the same damn ocean or sky that I'd be taking pictures of. I always think of that kind of stuff.

When the water splashes up in front of the boat cutting through waves, perfect spheres of water form just for an instant, then they disappear. Hope you're coo where you're at... thanks for the comments, too, I love them like I love Chicken-of-the-sea (not tuna) (though Spam is the King of Canned Foods) (SPAM=KoCF.)

Cleaning dirty shell with beauty inside

2007-11-24T00:54:00.000-08:00

Yoo. How are you today? I am at Arafura Pearl Farm at Beagle Bay, two hours north of Broome. Resources are mighty limited here, so here are some bare minimum details, if you're interested in pearl farming. Or some stuff that I've been up to. Or big, gigantic poisonous snakes.

I get up at 5:30 and watch the sunrise from the boat out to the pearl lines, and begin chipping the gnarly barnacles and purple amoeba formations and thick soups of oceanic wildlife cemented onto the shells. We work all day on the boat, and come back into land at 3pm. Then we kick it, hard. Suuuper tired, go to sleep at like 9.

First night I was here, I was going to brush my teeth and this massive King Brown was hanging off the roof and appeared hissing in front of my face. Yes, I nearly soiled myself, chilled in my room for a while (a long while, taking deep breaths), then went to brush with dinner plate eyes darting all over. Woo-whawasthat

We almost caught a 1 meter and a half long hammerhead shark on a line baited with a huge Travelli head that homie Jem caught.

Johnno, the Vietnamese-Australian, was on the banks of a creek digging for delicious fat mudcrabs when we saw a huge scaly tail in the mangroves to the right of our tinny boat. Big croc jumped down the bank into the water. We jetted. Daaaamn we jetted.

The cook Sarah cooks awesome food; we had pasta-stew (that's beef stew on top of those little tubes I don't know what they're called pasta) for lunch that we warmed on the diesel engine. Now it's almost time for tea (they call dinner tea; word!) I hope you are doing well, keep eating food, it keeps you alive. Mmmm, fooood.

Last day in Roebourne

2007-11-18T17:48:00.001-08:00

Fish in front of the Ngarluma Resource Centre,
where I spent lots of afternoons drinking tea, and
stole biscuits. (Sorry yall)

Ernest Kerr and weird dude.
You have to talk super loud to Ernest, he's deaf.
Not to say he's not super cool, he's def a bro.
(no pun, no pun geeeez)

Alice, the artist of all artists. She smells like onions,
walks with a purpose, and doesn't
give a fuuuck. "Whatime-wego-in?!"

Loreen and I discuss the intricacies of her land depiction.
"Mmmyeess, this layer of rock is quite exquisite."
Actually, we were just like let's act like we're talking about it.
The stories behind the paintings, though, truly amazing stuff.

It's like we're both doing some funked improv with handpistols.
But Andrew was telling a story about falafel or shawarma
I think and how to present it to someone.
Proppa, son!

Huge thanks to Andrew, Sharmila, Jill, everyone in Roebourne, the boys at the courts, Cossack Crew, really, everyone I met in the village. You will be remembered. Thanks Moorumburri, I appreciate it, now I'm about to get on the boat today! yeeeah

More to come from Arafura Pearl Farm.

Places under the radar for millions of years

2007-11-13T06:04:00.001-08:00

Bucky Graham, been painting warlu (snakes), now into turtles.

Sea turtles, affirmative (yeah!)

Coming up on my last couple days in Roebourne, Western Australia. I will truly miss this village. I was talking to my friend earlier how I felt a powerful family-oriented culture here similar to Hawaiian or Okinawan culture (something to do with islands, maybe? everyone is an island. or remote places, I should say. but not everyone is a remote). The Aboriginal people are deeply and thoroughly connected through their families; many times I've been talking to someone about someone else and they've informed me "Oh yeah, that's my brother." or "Mmm, you know my daughter is his nanna." It's a real connection I feel- even as an outsider- that the family tree is also directly engrained into the land, like Shintoism in Japan. Props to Moorumburri and the cousin-sisters from the Burrup and Croydon. Word, family, word. If any Murai's are reading this, that's what I say, thanks, from around the world.

We went camping in the Chichester Mountains over the weekend. It was an amazing trip. This here is the best waterhole I've ever swam in. The Pilbara region is desert, desert, and no rain, desert. So many town around here rely on the freshwater springs that come from inland. This is one of them, in Karajini National Park. There are sheer cliffs that border these clear streams, and there was a huuuge rounded out hole/cave in a wall, where eras of erosion, I think from minerals as well as flowing water, carved out this cave. A true Shrine of Nature.

Here we are actin-a-fool up in a national park where we were the only people around for many kilometers, except for some crazy dude living with a full bed and amenities outside his lone hut who we skillfully avoided as we picked mangoes off an abandoned tree. The rocks were amazing on the ground, like little people came and heaved the rocks around and painted deftly colored murals on each stone. Really little, really talented people, simile-ly. That looks like smiley. Yeah, let's say they were smiley people, too. Wha?...

....Annd yup, what's a road trip without a little car trouble? We fixed a flat at Auski roadhouse in the middle of nowhere. We thought we were going to be stuck there for weeks because we were parched for fuel and the power was out when we arrived. Luckily the power came back on and the petrol tickers worked again. But it was bloody hot. Please believe me when I say it was bloody hot.

This is Millstream. I wanted to trick the reader and flip the photo upside down so it looked like it wasn't a picture of a reflection in the Fortescue River. But I don't know how to work this shizz. Cools down right, though.

Swimming in groundwater clear enough to read newspapers through, as long as you encase the paper in a big ziplock, is very healing, a different kind of immersion from the Indian Ocean. But I am yet to immerse myself in the pearl farms of Broome, where I am taking the bus to in two days. I shall not know how often I can write entries when I'm up there, but I'm pretty sure the well hasn't dried up yet.

Dude, I just jumped in my seat. This huuuge beetle careened into the wall near my ear and made a sound like Goliath knocking. Damn. Hope you're well.

There's something about the Indian Ocean...

2007-11-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

I've always loved the ocean, it all started with the Knob Hill spot in Redondo, but there's something about the Indian Ocean that's real "spiritual" or whatever (words do no justice here). Maybe it's the minerals and the mixing of fresh and saltwater at the inlets in the Pilbara; maybe it's that it's connected to a bunch of islands in the vicinity. It could also be the fear that tries to grip me when I see little sharks and crocs swimming around. Anyway, we went to the ocean for a dip after work yesterday, and I was climbing around on these rocks that look like gigantic pieces of bark. My friend Sharmila took some photos of the idiot scrambling around up there, doing taichi and watching birds dive into the ocean for salmon. "Spiritual" Roooight, hehe.

The unshy wildlife and phenomenal natural occurences in the Pilbara are alive everyday, without fail. The fact that the ocean is connected to every other place in the world, like Venice, Ginowan, Catalina, and Sri Lanka makes me real happy when I swim in it.

Though I claim not to like Shakespeare (more Wordsworth and Blake, for me) I remember in A Comedy of Errors, one play that I actually really enjoyed, a brother is a drop of water searching for another drop- his twin- and he delivers this elaborate soliloquy about how a drop when joined into the ocean isn't a drop anymore, but becomes a massive entity that's part of a whole. Or something like that. I butchered it. Haha, in your face Shakespeare. But I like that idea. Truly. Connects me back to everyone back home, my girl in Okinawa, the Inuit in Greenland cleaning his seal blubber in the fjord over there. Take it back to the village, dry it up, save it for winter!

Then I went to play basketball in the village. They just recently got government funding for this dope outdoor basketball court, which is easily the nicest facility for the people, by the people (Jill Churnside, my homie's mum, apparently fought the battle against the government and corporate land-drillers for it). I ball up with the local boys a couple times a week, and it's super fun.

Roebourne basketball is like Brazilian football to me (woo have you been watching the Champions League? Wooooo Barcelona!) - musical and poetic, with tobacco no-taco acro-dunks. (wtf does that mean? duh, smokers, absent shredded carne, and windmills all go together, of course.) (yeah, spiritual.)

And here's my homie Noonie who paints wicked paintings, and we took this photo for his RAG profile. He's been in prison more than half his life, and a lot of Aboriginal people get thrown in maximum security for some of the stupidest shit- like drunk driving and stealing- but now Noonie is super into painting and is a true PROfessional. Word. Good onya, mate. We chill a lot; he's been teaching me a bit of painting, too.

I'll miss this place, but I'm getting my Greyhound Australia ticket up to Broome for next Thursday, where I will be up on the pearl farm, finally. Days on end on the Indian, yes. Can't wait. Hope all is well wherever your home is. Late.

Dude, it's just about summertime

2007-10-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the beauties of technology in the face of hot desert winds. My camera isn't working very well, so I haven't been able to upload pictures to this well thing, but oh well, that's well anyway, yeah? So it feels like spring has passed, and now we're coming into summer in Australia (October to February, I think. They say that December is the hottest time ever) and awaiting these massive cyclones brewing in the Indian Ocean. It's really hot here.

We went out last week hunting for kangaroo with one of the elders, a park ranger, and we got two. It was dope; I was the spotlight guy. The thing with the Ngarluma people is that they don't waste much in the ways of bush tucker, and they know exactly where and when to get good, fresh roo, emu, fish, or goanna (bigass lizards that apparently taste really good). Had some kangaroo-stew the other night in the bush, and it was just plain heavenly. Really good stuff. And there's plenty of kangaroos out there, too... they hop across the highways at night, to their unfortunate demise in four-wheel-drive headlights. I guess they're kinda like deer.

Hope all is well where your computer functions, and my thoughts go out to all the people affected by the crazy fires in LA. Is everything coo over there? Peace (especially for Rangoon).

Yeah, that's me. The Bus Driver

2007-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Bujee-Nhoor-Pu represeeeennt fooooo. This place is dope. I'm living the Otto dream. Driving a nice bus, talking to people about paintings, working with coo people, getting to know the land... things are coo. Work's been getting a bit busier, bussing people to and from Roebourne and neighboring towns (by neighboring I mean like 4o minutes going 115 km/hr, not like Benito's to 5o's Cafe, or a quick skate to the courthouse... aahh, good ol west LA.) I got a car tape mp3 adapter thing today, so now I can bump my own tunes for my passengers, although the Triple J radio station aint bad at all. They were playing aaalll these songs off the new Radiohead album today. I liked some of them.

So here are some photos of where I work, I think if you sniff the screen enough you can smell the air (dooo it!)

And it was pretty gnarly last night, we came home from work and there was all this smoke in the air, and we didn't know where it came from. I've witnessed quite a few bushfires around, with big clouds of smoke billowing into the air (ahha, billowing, haha) and smelled them too, when there are a lot. This is the super arid outback, and along with gigantic spiders and frogs in the shower drain there are these fires that move quick on the spinifex grass. So we looked out the window, our eyes all squinting from the really strong wind, and saw this crazy fire just up over the hill near town.

We were like, uhh, that's pretty close to town. We drove up the hill to Mt. Welcome, and saw this big fire like a mile out of town. Then later, after we borrowed some scissors from Jill, Andrew's momma, we came back and the volunteer firefighters were kinda circling around the fire, didn't really seemed like they knew what they were doing. So they called backup, and they waited a while, scoping out the fire's movements, then like after a while, when we were back home chillin, they put it out. So it really wasn't that big of a deal. It looked and smelled pretty cool. Stay tuned for more frog-inspired notifications.

Posted up for a bit

2007-10-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hey, what's the going on... here's an update in my battle with the crocodile, That Foo. That Foo has taken it underground. Or under-inlet-that-adjoins-the-ocean-with-small-streams. I haven't seen him since my first day in Roebourne. I have plenty of time, too, seeing that I now work in out at Cossack, right near where That Foo can spy on me. But little does TF know that I'm on it; I got radio-controlled submarines and croc-sonar in my control room. (jk, i just got a nice knife and some paint brushes.)

No worries, though, they're only dangerous if you go in the water. That Foo will not be getting into my workplace. So yes, as of now I've decided to post up here in Roebourne with Andrew and Sharmila until mid-November to save up some cash for my move to Broome- the pearl farms, my ultimate goal. Sharmila hooked me up with a really, really, reeeally dope job. More details to come, but I run the Bujee-Nhoor-Pu art center/gallery, part of the Roebourne Art Group-RAG- near the ocean. It's siiiick, I help out with the Aboriginal artists, clean up the building, sell paintings and my Chinaman soul to tourists (haha the tourists here are gnarrrly, like, daisy dukes old gentlemen galore). I'm also the bus-driver who picks up whoever wants to go paint every morning from the ghettos of Roebourne and Cheeditha, and bring them back in the afternoon. It's a little 12-seat Toyota HiAce, wicked fun to drive. Isaac and I have been working on getting some shelves up in the building, and I get to do a bit of painting. Like at the farmers' market. Long live WLAFM! (Handle that Seth.)

I'm at the RAG office right now, and I took some photos of my work environment today but I don't have my cable, so I'll post up the pics the next time. Word. Still can't wait to get up on the boats in Broome. Thanks to yall who have been letting me know how you're doing. Thanks world. The well is not yet dry.

Out Back in the Outback

2007-09-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yeeah, still on the travels. Seems like I haven't been home in a while, but then again, seems like everywhere I go is home, and Roebourne is definitely anotherhome, whereverhome, whateverhome-boyy. A lot of events have occurred in the past couple of days, and I want to put everything down, but that would be quite near impossible. But I'm here, as comfortable as can be, at Andrew and Sharmila's home in Roebourne, Western Australia. And yeah, Andrew and I were chillin in the backyard earlier, and I was like this is the life for sure, out back in the outback, with good people, good food, good feelings. Thanks Andrew and Sharmila. I really feel back in the element, and you know this, I'm feeling the land.I am in Western Australia, the state that is my destination, just a couple hours drive south of my specific destination within WA, Broome, where the pearl farms are. Yesterday, I visited Cossack, where the first pearl farms were established in 1864, and where I definitely saw my first croc in the little inlet there. That foo saw me and dipped under into the muddy soup. Gnarly, and the skeptics shall know that me and that foo met eyes before he descended. The crocodile I saw at Cossack shall heretofore be called That Foo. That Foo better not bite me when I'm diving and shit. Watch your tail, Mr. Foo.

That's not a croc, it's a crazy floating beetle. Less harmful yeah. Floating around a bit, it took a while for me to get up here, finally to Roebourne, but I found some of the best and warmest solace from my backpacker's solitude my second and last night in Perth, when I was mumbling in front of an ATM in central Perth getting money out for a deposit on a room at the Aberdeen Lodge. My prepaid Telstra mobile rang, and it was Sharmila's mum, on whose machine I left a couple messages earlier. She was super coo and said, "Would you like a free bed?" Woooooooooooo! And I had the most super comfortable, hospitable dinner and conversations and best sleep in a while, not worrying about weird dudes staring through the dark or waking up to find my backpack replaced with a bag of roo-shit. Soooo nice. Great grate-ful-ness, for sure.

Then I rolled out on the Greyhound Australia for a 24 hour ride up from Perth to Roebourne. Awww, the characters on this bus! A chapped lipped writer who was going to pick fruit on a whim, an old retired French lady who still had to work to pay for the 7 homes she had all around the world, a country teenager who was blacklisted for driving drunk on the highways- "The speed. That's what I live for- the speed and the bush." We watched Dude Where's My Car on the bus DVD together. Annnd theeennn

Yeah, good times. Here's a pic of the bugger that crossed the Nullarbor, across the continent from Sydney to Perth. It's called the Indian Pacific Railroad, and it's one of the longest in the hemisphere. I saw it roll in before I left for Roebourne.

These travellers, these beasts, these flying wonders. Now, I'm immersed in the land, red, like this face of movement. Finally. I want to learn more about the land. Then on to the ocean. As of now, though, beside the rocks, where spirits are good. Later.

On to the West Side

2007-09-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

When I was in hunior High, I remember reading with particular devotion a certain Japanese comic book called Captain Tsubasa. It was a story about this kid soccer player in Japan who becomes one of the greatest to ever play-- his touch on the ball is like music, every ball and person he meets playing football he befriends (Yes, soccer balls are his friends.) Anyway, my older brother was into the main story, but I was more interested in some of the side stories, like this guy Shingo who never really got recognition in high school ball but moved to Italy on his own to try to make it on a team in Milan while shining shoes near some fountain. So this kid was an amazing juggler, and he'd go do crazy tricks with the ball without having it ever touch the ground, kind of street performing for loose change. And the way the artist drew the football pictures made you feel like you were better after you looked at them, you know? Like you can do the same shit, rolling the ball off your heel into the air and balancing it on your forehead like nothing.

Anyway, on my last night in Sydney, I met the personification of Shingo in the mall under the Sydney Tower. I was skating by when a soccer ball rolled to me, and I was super happy because I'd been wanting to kick around a ball, so a couple Japanese dudes and I had a small juggling session, then they started drumming, I danced around a bit, and this kid started a one man show, attracted a crowd of like 35 in this mall, and killed it. Killed it. Everyone in the area was drop-jawed by his soccer skills. And they gave really good money for the show. I chilled with them a bit, and turns out they all met there and made their living with the show. They were all down dudes. Talk about inspiration. Regrettably I have no photos, sorry.

So after that I got on a plane this morning to Western Australia, had a verrrry pleasant bus ride through the suburbs of Perth, and am now in a shabby-esque hostel in the city, having a good time chillin out. Feels kinda like a frat house. No beer-pong though, alcohol isnt allowed in here. Oh yeah, I finished Bill Bryson's book In a Sunburned Country (Down Under in Australia) on the plane today. Super good, funny, informative, check it out if you're interested in reading about Australia. All right, onward up north soon. Laater

Shid-knee

2007-09-21T00:35:00.001-07:00

This morning I awoke to the wonderful aroma of the guy in the bunk above me dumping four gallons of Axe/Tag body spray directly into my sinuses and throat. The smell is so nice; I’m sure that he’ll spit many a dope a game with the ladies today. I ate breakfast and came back and the entire 8-bunk room was still stenched completely. The fact that the Sydney Railway Square youth hostel is probably the best I’ve stayed in made me forget the cologne attack, though. I sit in the communal living room now, the sun going down in the big windows between financial buildings of Sydney.

I admit, the last entry I wrote in Okinawa was pretty wack—rushed and non-informative. The typhoons held me back a day in Okinawa, which turned out to be nice—I was able to relax an extra day with my girlfriend, her family, and some friends. Then two nights ago I left for Sydney by way of Taipei. I met this Norwegian chick on the plane; she was wearing a WESC hoodie in the waiting area and it was that weird thing where we ended up sitting next to each other. During the flight and train ride to the Central Station we talked and I slept a lot. She was on her way to Sydney to climb mountains and chase her boyfriend. Finding parallels in our situations, it was pretty dope to be able to witness their reunion in the rain at the train station. Like a movie—if I was a film director, I couldn’t have directed it any better.

So that was yesterday, last night I played foosball and billiards with two Belgian dudes and this guy Sam from the south of London who asked everyone to carve their names in his guitar with a knife. Explored with this Japanese dude who’s leaving for Melbourne in a bit. Today, head groggy from the Axe Attack, I took off to skate the city, and went all around the financial district, Darling Harbour, Royal Gardens… I had one of those timeless skate sessions with this teenager with earphones in his ears and fingerless gloves at a triple three stair mellow spot. We didn’t talk at all—he ripped, and we were both like yeah or dare I say jeah. For some reason I got back-180s on lock. I was thinking it’s a committal thing. Feels good to be committed to these travels. A lot of positive energy in Sydney—though there was a dude singing “Whyyy should I caarre whyyy should I caaarre?” walking around. That’s a good question. Maybe it’s pointless to care like Meursault (sic?) in Camus’ L’etranger. But as of now I care about my next meal. Later yawl.

Embark Down Under

2007-09-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd drop a line before I drop a turd in line with the wonderful people about to get on this Taiwan flight. There was a gnarly typhoon yesterday that hit Taiwan (the winds and rain in Okinawa were intense at times, but I'm sure the island over near China got it bad) so my flight was cancelled. I got an extra day to kick it and chill before getting to the west coast of Australia. Damn the ticker on the internet 100 Yen is going fast. I'll be back. Many nice goodbyes in Okinawa. Island home.

It`s been begun

2007-09-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings yawl. I moved away from Los Angeles last week for good- meaning not "for good" as in necessarily forever but for the good of spirit, myself, and potato salad tastes everywhere (turns out pasta goes pretty well in potato salad, had some last night). I'm a wanderer for real now, bent on making the most of what I've got, wherever I'm at (currently Okinawa, Japan, then on to Sydney and Broome in three days). And I thought I'd put it down on this weblog treefrog thing, so check back if you're ever interested in toxicity and bright colors (both of which may be lacking, in fact, but interest is a coo concept anyway).

This is the intro, like "Just when you thought it was overrr...." on that Gravediggaz album (haha Geoff), or like the prologue to that Danielewski novel House of Leaves where it gets all crazy right from the title page. Since I no longer have a true home (recently left the Comfort of Colby, parents sold the house, and my skateboard isn't large enough for my sleeping bag), I've decided that this blog will be a home for my ideas. From now on, Home is Wherever I'm at. "Village Well" is simply the chinese characters of my last name (村井）loosely translated. So dip a bucket.

Here's a photo taken at a park nearby the school where I'm looking into a future job in Ginowan City, Okinawa. The giant mammal whose teeth I'm picking is called a shiisaa, kind of an Okinawan gargoyle. I asked a large beetle the size of the original iPod to take a pic of me cleaning his gums. Okay, dunno how often I can get back again, but check the well whenever. And let me know how you're doing too. Bye-cha.