26.09.2012 - ueno park, take two.

Highlights of yesterday:
1) I went out for dinner at Eat More Greens!
So delicious.
I had 'Tonight's Pasta' which was so fresh tasting. And vegan, boom.

2) skyped with my Uncle. I miss him, too.

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And today!
I had the day off (by boss is, kindly, giving me some time to rest and make sure I kick this silly illness) so I slept in and then skyped with Da for a spell.
Ate some breakfast and out of the blue Josie Skyped me! This is exciting because she's at camp!
Anyway, ended up getting to talk to her, Magnus, Elijah, Liam, Ella, and Autumn for a while. As well as say hellos to Maggi, Zara, Blake, Josh, Aytch, and Kate.
I can't believe I'm not there, it's so bizarre. But Magnus says he's having an amazing time, so that's the important thing thing year!
I'm going to do my best to be back there next year, we'll see how my life pans out, won't we?

Elijah, Liam, Magnus, Ella, and a hint of Kate's face.

I did a bit of research on being vegan/raw (I'm not raw, but I love raw food!) in Tokyo and came up with a few restaurants I want to try, plus some tips on where to shop etc.
I love it internet for stuff like that.
I'm in a city that I know no one in (certainly not anyone who's vegan!) and I can come up with dozens of blogs, articles etc on being in my exact position.

I decided I needed to get out and go somewhere otherwise I was going to lie in my room in my pyjamas all day, which wasn't what I needed. In the ended I decided that I was going to go back to Ueno Park and see how I felt from there.

I walked around the park a little, but I just wasn't feeling it for the afternoon.

What I did end up feeling was the zoo again, to see the rest of it. Which I have now seen!
Other than some of the enclosures (mostly for the bigger animals) being a bit small, it's not too bad.
I did a really nice walk across a small lake and stuff to see lemurs and aye-ayes and it was generally pleasant.
Today was cool enough to not be sweating but warm enough to wear a sundress, perfect for how I felt.

hedgehog, for mum!

I think I'm hilarious.

red crested crane

giant salamander!

red pandas from above.

Left around 4, since a lot of the animals were going to their 'sleepy time enclosures' (which is what I will now be referring to my bedroom as, in case you were wondering.)
Came back, put away my laundry, and now I'm going to watch a movie or something and make myself some dinner.
And then go to bed nice and early, since I have to wake up for Osawa Sensei's class in the morning.
Which I hope he's at, because he's leaving to go to Halifax on Friday, so we'll see.
This weekend my father gets to be at a seminar smaller than most of his classes here, lucky duck.

Have a pleasant day, all!

28.07.2012 - summer update

Well I'm moving across the world in 24 days, so here are a few photos from my summer thus far. I've got a fair bit of film on my new (for me) minolta xg-m, I'll be getting three rolls of film back from the shop sometime this week so I'll be making a proper post out of that.

Since I last updated I first went to Montréal for a week to have an interview at the Japanese Consulate to finalise my visa application. Thankfully that went smoothly and I got it, which means I can, you know, actually move.

Then I went to Bermuda for a week for 3 days of aikido with Shihan Donovan Waite and to spent some time with my uncle, aunt, and cousins.

Now I'm just spending some time with family and friends before I go, nothing terribly exciting.
I have been hired to shoot some photos for a band, which consists of two of my friends. We'll be shooting most of it with film, which will be a new thing for me! But I'll be posting about that as well, once it's happened.

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Montréal.

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 Raw ice cream from Raw Vitality. 

It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, I do believe.

I saw my cousin Sara play a wonderful show at Divan Orange, it was the first time I'd actually seen her play at a real concert and it was a pleasure, of course.

 Giraffe weevil at the Biodôme! 

One of my earlier memories is of going and see this with my father.

 I got to meet my friend Jessica, who I know from flickr. 

We've done the 365 project at various times and I was so lucky to get to meet up for drinks!

 She's just a sweet in real life and has the most adorable French accent, which surprised me for some reason even though she is French, so it's only logical she's got one.

Vegan cupcakes! They're from Cho'Cola. 

They only bake them Thurs through Sun, but believe me, they're worth it. 

Best vegan buttercream frosting I have ever tasted in my whole life.

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Bermuda

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 Here's Sensei Waite throwing my father.

This is me with my Sensei, Sensei Smith.
He was my first teacher and I have the utmost respect for him.

 Warwick Long Bay on my father's last day there.

 Blake!

 My uncle is a professional photographer who takes a lot of his photos underwater.

I modeled for him and he let me shoot some stuff with his fancy case, which I covet deeply.

 When not underwater he likes to work through Jamie Oliver cookbooks.

 Emma made the best salad ever on my last night there.

And we went and got tattoos together! 

 this is my first one, it's in brown ink which has faded to be almost the exact colour of my freckles.

Which was the whole point, so I'm pleased.

And my second one is in black ink.

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Summer!

Skyping with Josie & Dave. 

They live far away in Seattle so I never see them. 

 The day my friend Chris went back to Montréal.

Magnus and I went on an adventure and ended up at the Sherman Hines Museum of Photography in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

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Well, that's everything I've been doing recently, I'm actually (slowly) working on getting a proper website made so I can have my portfolio somewhere. So you'll be the first to hear about that if it happens!