Desperation Post

I had to switch internet providers in my apartment, since the one I currently have (Plala), does not have a direct ADSL connection with the internet, and does not allow my Vonage router to make calls back home. It doesn't help that the name of the company (Plala) doesn't really make me want to subscribe to it either. I should have known that a company with a name that sounds like the title of a poem from Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends isn't worth signing up for in the first place. My new internet service provider has demanded that I cancel the current DSL feed so that they can stream their own to my phone line, which will leave me sans internet for 10 days, an emotionally grinding experience that I'm already preparing for--I'm stocking up on canned goods and AA batteries as we speak. Its strange, once I have internet, all I accomplish is checking my gmail account a few times in succession, and going through the Sports Illustrated Countdowns on CNN's website. Now that I'm restricted from having it, I feel as though one of my inalienable rights has been violated.



As suggested by the title, this will be a brief, whirlwind of an update on what I've done in the past few days.

These are my two best Japanese friends in Hagi so far. The one of the left is Mackee, and he always wears this XXL I LOVE REGGAE t-shirt. The kid is a genius though. The one on the right is Oni.

I was asked to play for Acoustic Night at No Side, one of the regular bars us foreigners go to when we can't stand being alone in our apartments anymore. I sang Bob Dylan's Girl from North Country, Beatles' You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, 2 originials I made since I've been here, and Jimi Hendrix's acoustic version of Angel (special request of the bartender). I received a lukewarm response from the crowd. They were probably still trying to figure out how the hell I got into their country.

I posted this photo because the "lape me" guy was in the background looking pensive.

This is a famous Japanese artist I met, who lives in Hagi. His name is Juko, and his work has been shown in the Louvre in Paris a couple of times. I shared with him my limited knowledge of art history, and we got along very quickly. He has an exhibit in his basement, and he is currently working on a special exhibition that will be on display in Paris, and hopefully New York. He can replicate anything from pretty much all movements, but he is particularly interested in toying with themes and ideas from the Surrealists (his favorite artists are Magritte and Dali).

This is one of the paintings that was on display at the Louvre. I didn't quite catch in Japanese it's title.











So now I've gotten you all up to speed before the giant phone compant NTT shuts me down for a few days.