Osaka Otsu and everything in between

I decided that I'm not going to write much on Japan until I finish my London blog.

But, miracle of miracles and oddity of oddities, here I am again. I am staying in Otsu, next to Lake Biwa, tonight in a business hotel, which despite its strong odor of cigarette smoke seems rather nicer to me than the Quality Inn I stayed at last night in Seattle. I flew into Kansai International Airport (the airport code of which is KIX, heehee) after an 11 hour flight that was mainly occupied by me flipping through what grammar books I brought and sorta kinda dozing. The airport is on a man-made island in the bay. It's impressive.

It took me five hours to get from there to here, but thankfully they were rather unhurried hours. I got lost a couple times but mainly just walked around the train stations a bit more than the average customer.

I remember coming into Tokyo and seeing flooded rice fields everywhere. I really didn't see any this time -- I don't know if the area between the airport and here isn't rural enough, or if it's not time to flood the fields yet, or what. I did see several fields of enormous cabbages.

The train smelled like Japan. Perhaps later I will try to figure out the components of said smell.

It's good to be back. I don't think I'm starting work for a couple days; in any case I shall be sleeping in for hours and hours tomorrow.

the 1840s fashionista

and a host (a small host) of other things vaguely to do with textiles and style.

So! Of late the Gochenour household (okay fine just this resident of the Gochenour household) has been All About watching Movies! In the last five days I've seen:

• Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 version with Kiera Knightley -- seen the 5 hour BBC one already)
• The Princess Bride ("You keep using that word. . . I do not think it means what you think it means. . .")
• Sleeping Beauty (the 1959 Disney version, which I saw last as a 12-year-old! yeah, it's REALLY BAD)
• Love in the Afternoon (in the genre of "Audrey Hepburn goes to Paris and falls in love with a much older man" movies, it's right up there)
• Kirikou et la sorcière (haven't formed an opinion as yet? French children's movies are not so much something I'm familiar with)
  

Those were all watched on my trusty Dell! (which, side note, I have just replaced! with an Asus. But it still works, so I am currently typing on the Dell.) BUT ALSO. My mom and I actually went to see a movie in a theater! The Ruth Sokolof Theater north of Old Market (which neighborhood is apparently called "NoDo," short for "North Downtown," by some foolish folks who apparently don't realize how moronic that sounds), to be precise. What did we see? Jane Eyre, the new remake staring Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Alice in Wonderland and one of the kids in The Kids Are Alright) and Michael Fassbender (known for having a name that sounds like it would a great brand for electric guitars or amplifiers. what. oops.)

I wore the new copper cuff bracelet I bought in the Souk in the Old Market, so I suppose I was in a stylish frame of mind. Or stylishly observant state of mind? In any case, I was in the mood to notice details.

londontimes

I've been so busy with weird-ass meta stuff (purpose statements, tumblr posts, twitter shit, self-promotional gar-bage) and fiction that I'm frankly intimidated by trying to wrangle actual experiences into some kind of a narrative.

I should also note that BECAUSE of all the meta crap, this post has taken me an unholy long time to write and generate images for (mainly maps! helpful maps.) (So, forgive the delay, if you please.)

But, you know, there's posterity and memories and such, so.

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For the two people who DIDN'T read a previous blog entry, or any Facebook statuses, or look at photos on Facebook or Tumblr (because I have been blathering on about it online for WEEKS!), I was invited to the Royal College of Art in London for an interview after applying for the Innovation Design Engineering program in January. My flight from Omaha went Saturday, March 12, and landed in London on Sunday, March 13. My interview was on Tuesday, March 15; my flight back to Omaha was on Wednesday, March 16. I was only moderately terrified, and frankly as much worried about getting my pocket picked while walking about London as I was about making a good impression on the interviewers.

thoughts on finishing the 2005 Pride and Prejudice

Things Kiera Knightley has that I do not:

• A well-defined jawline
• High cheekbones
• Flashing dark eyes

Things I have that Kiera Knightley does not:

• Thick hair
• Boobs
  

radio silence

(Omaha from the Council Bluffs side -- looking pretty sprightly on an April morning)

I have actually been working on a post about my trip to London for more than a week.

Does this prove that I am super lazy? POSSIBLY. Does it prove that I have a lot to write? INDUBITABLY. Does it prove that Tumblr is super duper addictive and most of my writing skills have been dumped into writing silly captions and somewhat thoughtful responses to other people's blog posts? Er. . . RAIN CHECK.

(Seriously, though, I am still navigating what should go on this blog and what should go on that blog? HOW DOES ONE DELINEATE???)

In the meantime, here's some stuff from a short jaunt to the Old Market last Sunday.

Mom and I decided that, given the splendid weather, we ought to run down to the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge and take a walk. I, admittedly, wanted to take some pictures, especially after noting that Sasaki (architecture firm out of Boston) was engaged in developing the Council Bluffs side. I spent a lot of time trying to take sneaky pictures of Mom, as above.