Um, Sir...there's a feather in your hair.

     Some mornings I actually take in my surroundings as I'm commuting to work. I have to admit that normally I'm just sort of drifting in a tired daze and slowly waking myself up as I make my way to the school I teach at...but one day last week I was actually somewhat rested and enjoying my commute for once. First, you should probably know that my commute right now (until Brian and I move into our new apartment later this week) is LONG. I take not one but three trains from one end of Tokyo to the other and altogether it takes about an hour and a half to two hours to get where I need to be.

     First I walk to the train station from our student housing. This takes somewhere around twenty minutes and is sometimes a great way to wake up in the morning. In fact, it's not the walking that bothers me at all...it's the train to Shibuya that bothers me. Train lines in Tokyo are somewhat like funnels (my friend called them "funnels" yesterday and I decided this is indeed the most appropriate descsription). All the lines funnel in to four major stations on the outsides of the city, and then from there everyone spreads out amongst all the inner-city lines. I happen to go to one of the more chaotic stations in the morning - Shibuya Station - which means my entire train ride in on that first train is ridiculously crowded. Normally I could probably say "Sardines in a can" or something like that - except this is more like if the Sardines were shoved into the can, and then the can was crushed...slowly...until there was barely anything resembling a can left. Yeah, that sounds about right!

     So after pulling myself from the Shibuya train and allowing my lungs to take some full breaths of air, I only have two more trains to go. These next trains are considerably more pleasant and I often even get to sit down for the rest of the ride to work. It seems a bit odd probably to those back in the U.S. who are used to driving everywhere - but three trains actually isn't that overwhelming. I personally wish it was a shorter commute, but someone recently told me that the average Tokyo employee commutes at least an hour so I suppose I'm par for the course. Also, I happen to be moving to an apartment that is only 20 minutes to work...so this inconvenient commute will soon end.

     Ah yes, back to Thursday morning...I was between trains and riding an escalator...just chilling out to the left side and letting all the coffee charged businessmen rush past me on the right....when suddenly I noticed the young man (probably about 25 and on his way to the office in his polished suit) in front of me had something in his hair. Upon closer inspection, I realized there were little, white, down feathers all through his coif. We're not talking a couple of feathers here - I mean there were at least twenty little feathers poking out from his hair. It was as if his jacket or pillow had exploded all over him and he hadn't noticed. So I wondered to myself, what's the protocol for this? I think in the US I would say something like, "Um, Excuse me, you have something in your hair..." But in Japan I have no idea how to approach this situation (nor do I possess the appropriate Japanese translation for the word "Feathers)." So I continued to ride the escalator debating what I should do to help this poor guy - who was probably going straight to the office and who knows if anyone there would say anything before his boss saw him - when suddenly he got off the escalator and rushed off into the distance. Wherever you are, feather man, I hope your day was not full of problems...

    In other recent news, I've been re-watched Venture Brothers Season Three and it definitely reminds me how much I love that series. If you haven't watched Venture Brothers yet, then you're in for a treat if you're into action-comedy cartoons with a sick, yet intelligent sense of humor. They often do spoofs of Johnny Quest and other adventure cartoons, which honestly makes the show even better - but in my opinion the ultimate character on that show is Brock Sampson. Brock is essentially the ultra-macho action hero character pushed to the absolute limits of ridiculousness and awesomeness at the same time - plus, he's voiced by Patrick Warburton and I can't picture anyone else filling the role so well.

 Here's a fun clip I like from Season Two:




     Let's see, what else have I been up to? Well, other than my incredibly crazy work and school schedule, Ive been finishing up the editing for the Cosplay Research Project Documentary Chapter on Julia with Jasmine. We've been working on this thing forever but I think it's coming together quite nicely and I can't wait to upload it to show everyone.

     I guess that's it for now. More soon,
 Lady Jones