Update

 

Screenshot of an Eversnap photo from the photo booth at a friend's Minnesota wedding in June.

I'm still here!

I'm just not spending as much time online lately. As I mentioned back in January, you know, six months ago, I taught a course on Selfies this past semester. As I started to think more and more about social media, online image, and self representation in an academic fashion, I decided I needed a little Internet cleanse. In some ways it was refreshing, and in other ways I missed the documentary aspect of blogging. After a few months, and some experimentation, I have realized that I have very little interest in Facebook, a strong pull towards Instagram (not surprising for a visual person), and an occasional desire to blog things. I tried Yik Yak, and subsequently deleted it from my phone. Snapchat seems redundant and therefore pointless to me, but I'm still giving it time. 

I think I'm ready to get back in the occasional blogging game, but we'll see how the summer goes. 

Here's to a great season of relaxing on the patio, grilling, baseball games, and pool time.

Blog Post 700!

 

Greetings, people of the internet. Here it is- my 700th blog post. Hard to believe that this little site is almost eight years old and has attracted over 21,000 page views, but there you have it. After many years with my calming blue design, I decided it was time to switch things up for a new look. Thanks for reading along with me, more to come!

Japanese Christmas

 

1920s Santa is in a rush in his wacky polka-dot-pjs! Thumbs up!

Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving. The holiday doesn't mean much here in Japan, but it does make me a little homesick to see all of my friends posting things to the internet about meals, travel, and break. I have a few things planned for tomorrow and the weekend, and have enjoyed reading the NPR Project Expat series this week, so my favorite holiday of the year will definitely not go without notice.

While Thanksgiving is virtually non-existant, Christmas is a secular holiday here in Japan, something celebrated the way Americans celebrate Valentines Day or Halloween- good, fluffy fun. I'll post more about it in the coming weeks, but decided to start my own Japanese Christmas season today. In the midst of combing through 1920s newspapers this afternoon for my research, I came across an amazing 1921 advertisement for Christmas decorations at a Ginza department store, complete with cocoa served at the store (above). I took it as a sign that my own holiday season should start today, despite my usual hard line against anything Christmas before Black Friday. So, this evening, I got out the decorations that I bought at the 100 Yen store a few weeks back.

 

 

Five dollar Christmas!

I turned to YouTube, and selected a Christmas music mix with a fireplace video. Amazing!

 

 

Ah, modern life.

I poured a glass of wine, and about 15 minutes later it's Christmas in my Tokyo apartment! Yay!

 

 

Cheers! 

Brunch and the Internet

 

O.k., guys. I think we need to take a minute here and be grateful for that most amazing thing of things in this crazy 21st century world of ours. The thing that connects us and gives us news and streaming t.v. and an insane selection of music on demand and lets us do ever-so-futuristic-and-cool video chatting around world, the thing that lets us discover new restaurants and gives us directions on how to get there, the thing that provides for library searches and shopping-delivered-to-the-door. You know what I'm talking about.....the vehicle for crazy cat videos......the place this blog exists.......

The internet.

Oh my god, I love the internet.

 In lieu of writing a haiku about the internet, I will tell you about brunch. I really love brunch. If I were rich and brunch were calorie free, I would go to brunch every day. Brunch is hard to find here in Tokyo. I'm not really sure what most Japanese people eat for breakfast, but judging by hotel breakfasts and homestays I've done, I think it often has to do with rice-fish-egg-vegetable or bread-cereal products. Regardless of that, I don't usually eat Eggs Benedict at home, but it is my signature brunch order. I usually eat yogurt and fruit here (toast and almond butter in the US). Also, brunch/breakfast restaurants are decidedly not nearly as widespread as in the U.S. So, I'm really craving brunch. It's been something like ten weeks. 

What do I do? 

I go to the internet. Google. Search. See a bunch of fancy and expensive hotel champagne brunches. Think, I miss brunch, but I don't miss brunch for $50.

Keep searching. Up comes bento.com. Then...... a review for Slappy Cakes. 

Brunch VICTORY!!

Let's consider how I would have found this without the internet. Oh yeah, I wouldn't have.

Some things are passed by word of mouth, some things are serendipitous findings. This place is on the 7th floor of a department store in Shinjuku, one of the most densely packed and bustling areas of Tokyo, which is one of the most densely packed and bustling cities on the planet. Simply, I would never have just found my way to Shinjuku, which is half way across Tokyo from where I live, found my way into the Luminare Department Store, found my way to the 7th floor (one of three floors of food in this one particular department store in a city full of awesome department stores), and come across Slappy Cakes, which is one of about 15 restaurants on this floor. The probability of this happening is, well, very unlikely.

Admittedly, the internet can be a place where this ability to find a needle in a haystack can work against humanity (as in weirdos finding other weirdos to do their thing, or in our increasing self-separation politically), but it can also be amazing and can let us connect in the most wonderful ways.

I connected with my brunch companion through email. I read with great relief about the end of the Republican government shutdown on the internet this morning (while on the train on my way to brunch, incidentally). I video-chatted with my family via the internet today. I did research via KU Libraries on the internet this afternoon. I streamed music while making dinner. I practice yoga with Youtube videos a few times a week.

I know it may be obvious, but the myriad ways in which technology has transformed our lives is truly amazing. We live in the future, and let's all take a minute to think of how cool that really is.

PS- Slappy Cakes was really tasty. I can't wait to go back.

Google Fiber in KC

Fellow Americans be jealous- Google Fiber is coming to KC. Of more than 1,000 cities that applied, we were selected as the first market. With 100 x faster Internet than most of the U.S., I'm hoping it'll be about as fast as my Internet service was in Japan, where we had a dedicated fiber line (we could download an entire movie in about 3 minutes). So happy to see this video, and that pre-registration has opened. I hope that Waldo is one of the first to get it! YAY!

Live your life

Sometimes all those internet memes can get old, but this came across my path today and it connected with my world view. I've edited out the profanity at the bottom, but you still get it.

It's so easy to just follow the "path." I can't even count how many times people told me what my next step would be. I graduated college- a family friend told me I would be working "corporate" in a year. Never happened. I went to graduate school- a friend told me I would never get a job. Wrong. We got a house and a dog- everyone told us a baby would come soon. Instead we decided to move overseas. We had a kid- everyone told us we would never travel or go out on dates again. Even our hip urban friends said this. Well, that didn't happen. We travel. We go on dates. We help support the local economy of high school babysitters. Our lives are still fun and interesting. We didn't move to the suburbs and buy a minivan like everyone told us we would, instead we live in the city and I drive a mini-car.We take our toddler camping and to museums and to hip restaurants in the city. He's never been to an Applebee's, Olive Garden, or the like, but he has been to Beer Kitchen on many an occasion.

Even with all the choices I've made to live my life on my terms, there are days that feel like loops. My daily schedule this summer certainly feels like a loop. Research, reading, correspondence, not a lot of variety between a Tuesday and a Friday. It's inevitable that this happen on the small scale, but it's what we do on the large scale of our lives and how we spend our time outside of work time that I think defines us. Do we spend our evenings watching tv or connecting with other people? Reading a good book or refreshing the Facebook feed? Trying a new recipe or microwaving some junk food? It takes effort to forge your own path. But with the infinite possibilities available to those of us fortunate enough to be born into the middle class of a first world country, it's a crime to not embrace the potential of each day.

(Mis)representation

Lately I've been thinking about how people use social networking and online media to represent or misrepresent themselves. A friend of mine posted an article to Facebook that discussed how the site (and other social networking sites) make people less happy. We see what friends post, which is usually a cheery or upbeat view of their lives, and assume that they have it better than we do. By contrast I am also fascinated with those who are constantly using social networking sites to complain about their lives or to whine about their perceived circumstances. Do we really need someone to tell us that the online world isn't an accurate representation of reality? Do people really believe that what doesn't get posted to Facebook doesn't happen? A week ago Thursday I had an interesting work day, interacted with many people, had lunch with friends, had drinks with other friends, hung out with family, made dinner, read about the news in the paper (though online) among other things, yet all of this was personally experienced. The photo of my cat that I'm posting is certainly not a realistic representation of that Thursday, but it represents a part of my day. How quickly we forget about the complexities of life...