2025 in Review
This has been a really strange year. It has felt unusually long; when looking back at the list of books I read, movies I watched, or news events that occurred...
2024 in Review
I wrote a haiku-ish poem for every day of the year (an exercise I don't think I will ever repeat). They can be found here. I read some books this...
JYM Part 1 - The Summer Before
Introductory Note from 2024: These posts were from a Blogger blog I maintained between 2005 and 2006 while studying abroad on the Junior Year in Munich. Unfortunately, my blogger export...
Art: Seen Peanuts
It's been years since I last tried using a dip pen and ink, but I recently bought a cheap Speedball set and have done a few inkings to exercise remembering...
The Chambers Dictionary, Revised 13th Edition
General Details Title: The Centruy Dictionary, Revised 13th Edition Volumes: 1 Language: English Publisher: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd Year: 2016 Pages: 1860 + 32 The Chambers Dictionary features a quote...
On Headbands: The Katyusha or Alice Band
I'm trying to read more, in all of my languages, and my current Japanese book is the novelization of 君の名は。 or Your Name. I came across this word I didn't...
Kraft Mayonnaise Attempts to "Hack" the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year
The marketing minds behind Kraft Brand Mayonnaise sent an 8-foot replica of a jar of mayonnaise to the offices of Merriam-Webster. According to their Instagram post, this gift of "the...
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2023
A couple of days ago Merriam-Webster announced that its Word of the Year for 2023 is "authentic", triumphing over trendy words like "rizz" and "deepfake." In their blog post on...
Japan Day 12: Flying Home
I managed to get everything into my (now very heavy) backpack. I had a few hours to kill, so I decided to kill my back a little and visit a...
Japan Day 11: Tokyo Tower and Shopping
Today was my last full day. I started off by going to Tokyo Tower. It’s maybe not as cool now that Tokyo Skytree exists (Tokyo Tower is 1092 feet tall;...
Japan Day 10: Casio Inventions, Gundam, and French Fries
First, to go back to last night, I wanted to sleep but was prevented from doing so by street construction that began promptly at 8pm. Japanese culture centers around serving...
Japan Day 9: Traveling to Tokyo and Asakusa
I had a bit of a lazy morning. I had breakfast while talking to the owner of the hotel (he’s a native English speaker who just happened to have been...
Japan Day 8: Michael Ende and Elephants
I was very upset when I found out it was supposed to rain all day. I took the JR local train from Matsumoto to Nagano, and then took an even...
Japan Day 7: Woodblock Prints and Matsumoto Castle
Left Kyoto very early this morning and headed into the mountains to Matsumoto. I recorded video of one of the Shinkansen arriving and departing, in case you didn’t get enough...
Japan Day 6: Fushimi Inari Taisha, Trains, and Giant Salamanders
This morning I headed to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a head Shinto shrine famous for its thousand red torii gates of various sizes, hundreds of which form tunnels. There are fox...
Japan Day 5: Bamboo, Monkeys, and the Toei Movie Studio Park
I got up rather early this morning, and had a bit of a struggle finding the local train I wanted, but made it in the end. It was absolutely packed,...
Japan Day 4: Traveling to Kyoto
Meandered through the streets of Hiroshima to the train station. I continue to be amazed how most city streets are single-lane affairs shared by cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. I found...
Japan Day 3: Miyajima Island and Hiroshima
I’m staying in a space cat themed hostel in what is essentially a capsule hotel style mixed dormitory. The capsule has a light, charging USB and electric outlet, a small...
Japan Day 2: Arrival and More Travel
I cannot sleep on airplanes, even when a bevy of advantages are thrown my way. The plane was not very full, meaning the seat next to me was completely empty....
Japan Day 1: Airports and Airplanes
Made it through security at the airport quickly, so watched the Budweiser Brew House begin its morning opening routine while wondering who wants a beer or Cutwater canned cocktail at...
Japan Trip 2023: It's Finally Happening!
I will be traveling through Japan this October! Please be sure to check out this page starting October 3rd as I blog my adventures. I will be visiting Hiroshima, Kyoto,...
Vintage Base Ball
While on a walk through St. Louis's Lafayette Park this past weekend, we encountered a game of vintage base ball. There are four vintage base ball teams in St. Louis...
Art: Ass
Happy Pride month! It's also Shakespeare season, and I had butts on the brain, so although our local Shakespeare in the Park is performing Twelfth Night, here's a little Midsummer...
Art: Desire
I watched a “Bizarre Beasts” YouTube video on eels. In short, eels do not have a functional reproductive system until the end of their lives, at which point their digestive...
Art: Superb Starling
This weekend's painting was based on a photo I took while visiting the Saint Louis Zoo a few weekends ago. I took a picture of this Superb Starling (talk about...