Tag Archives: canada

Post’d: received, delivered & stamped, (various catch-all)

Eph in West Greenwich doing *this* exactly correct / topsy turvy

By now you know I enjoy making cards, sending cards, receiving cards… and then documenting both the sending and receiving as possible. As you might expect, this sort of routine easy to fall behind on and well… that’s fine cause not really the important part anyway.

That said, sometimes when things slip through the cracks and/or don’t really have a theme or “container”, they seem a bit lost or sad lost in some digital shoebox. But, this is just me overthinking, right?

postcard and custom cassette mix tape (with art flag by Noriko Miyake)

Moving on, here are some cards that i made/mailed which were delivered and the recipient photographed and sent evidence. While in other cases, some envelopes received with splendid stamps on board or, cards otherwise received which possibly were not inventoried.

from the Leo card series 2021, not sure who, was it you? thanks

At the risk of redundancy, some of these may appear and other dossiers. Regardless, enjoy – there are always more more more.

another from the Leo cards series 2021, again, recipient unknown, you can see why this task is tricky right?
Continue reading Post’d: received, delivered & stamped, (various catch-all)

(Almost) cross Canada Rock n Roll Train / Flashback and Preview

Such goodness out now

10 years ago, I was on a train going from Vancouver to Toronto with 11-ish rock ‘n’ roll bands, CBC Radio 3, mixed media documentary film crew and other free radicals + I was on board as Svengali-like guru ;) / advisor.

It was our own 90 person indie rock Festival Express co-mingled with the usual passengers and doing ridiculous / ill-fated whistle stop shows along the way and ended up at NxNE festival for showcase and I presented a keynote talk about social media disasters…

Recursive/meta photo of a TV with Grant Lawrence of CBC showing a TV with a video of Grant, me and others on the train from Green Couch film YouTube

And finally, the documentary is coming out in chapter/band parts starting June 8th iirc. Consider yourself warned, amused and excited.

All the goodness at Green Couch Films Tracks on Tracks

Handy playlist at YT: https://www.youtube.com/greencouchfilms

Continue reading (Almost) cross Canada Rock n Roll Train / Flashback and Preview

Healing: Journals and a Postcard

sorry, i guess – no not at all

As I’m stumbling along on my “healing ramble” series (please watch the intro video for overview and disclaimers, not unusually, finding myself a little bit overwhelmed with all the artifacts, memories, items, even data, to share. So, rather than obsess over it just putting it all out there, even if it’s a bit redundant.

The next “real” dispatches from the series include my “tips for travelling with a chronic illness” (which is rather practical and logistical stuff), plus another entry from Sri Lanka, another from Nepal, a tough one from Pacifica California, more from other places i forgot and maybe I’ll even fill in the missing gaps from Adelaide Australia, Austin Texas, and crossing Canada looking for a home.

In the meanwhile here are the fronts of some notebooks and a postcard which allude to some of the above.

Continue reading Healing: Journals and a Postcard

Item: Canadian mail-in election ballot #voting

Pick a winner &/or a whiner. Whatever, I’m not telling you what to do (in this case anyway).

For me it starts with true sincere reconciliation with First Nations, meaningful immediate climate action including halt on old-growth logging & tar, and appropriate support for disabled / chronically ill plus other folks who have “slipped between the cracks”. #Elxn44  

Memo: Mine showed up in Japan by DHL 2 days after election was called. Wrote in my choice (look up candidates in riding online) put envelope inside envelope inside envelope & zoom’d it back to Ottawa by standard airmail. *Probably* didnt pick a winner but hey i participated so not a whiner

Effectuating positive change from heart (with ukulele)

Just back from cleaning the grandparents’ graves and regrouping in century+ old barn studio, i riff a few things in my head about communities, hubris, restitution, sincerity, safety, life and death, empathy, seeds, cycles and children and everything.

As well as attempt a few chords on ukulele and talk about an air conditioner.

Memento: Stay Hydrated, p. 2 (global coconuts)

As the world stumbles, stay hydrated (p. 2) / coconuts, various locations (Kerala, Phitsanulok, Davie Village, Likkle Bay, Irie Cove, somewhere Indo, etc)

Items: assorted / luggage tags, woggles, keychain

Items: assorted / luggage tags (including Vancouver Grizzlies), woggles (including CJ81), keychain (feat Lorne Olson)

Life During Wartime(ish) / Talking Heads and Peanut Butter

“I got some groceries, some peanut butter, to last a couple of days…
I got three passports, a couple of visas – You don’t even know my real name”

++

this ain’t no disco
This ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain’t got time for that now… (Actually, i have allll the time for lovey dovey ;))

++

The fact that this peanut butter is like as good as any peanut butter I’ve ever had in the world, and it’s available at a certain store that the wife found and totally reasonably priced, organic, made in Canada and delicious… makes Japan perfect for me , no change required (well maybe a few things about the patriarchy but that’s another post)

Diary: Stop Making Sense / Talking Heads and Tacos

from my side of couch

Taco night in Japan with 1984 Talking Heads classic concert film Stop Making Sense. As the box says “let’s taco!” Aye we shall taco.

Note: even found my favorite hot sauce, Marie Sharp’s from Belize.

Yup that is a cheap and cheerful projector in a tripod and a screen hanging from twine… “Aint got no TV, ain’t got no big screen, this is chill on your eyes.”

I shared anecdotes about Talking Heads, seeing DB and Tom Tom Club in various instances and segued into other important Dave/ids of history and then a search for the other DB (Bowie)’s Serious Moonlight concert filmed Vancouver 1983. Continue reading Diary: Stop Making Sense / Talking Heads and Tacos

Diary: Hermiting, baby, art, archive & you you you + us us us

I hermit like Obi-wan is his “lost years” / indeed, a Gen X kid with a lot of hobbies and a chronic illness – i know the flow. Got the food delivery service, plenty of books and art supplies and several versions of loungewear/pyjamas.

Keep in mind, here in Japan, we’re a couple months into “all of this“ – schools, events, museums, public places and gatherings have been canceled for many weeks now, and things, at least where I am the outskirts other rather minor provincial capital city, are generally calm / however, a quick glance at Twitter videos plenty of vitriol about the governments response (or lack of, or too much of, or…) especially in terms of testing (not enough of it, especially compared to neighbour South Korea) – Of course much debate and sabre-rattling about wither the Olympics – what to do? (seems to me just pushing forward exactly one year would make sense but hey, no one’s been on the phone to me to ask).

I have visited a few hospitals in the last six weeks for other reasons and found them to be calm, not busy, extremely tidy and efficient. Also note that Japan’s elderly population means much experience at treating pneumonia which has some similar respiratory components and thus treatments as current conundrum.

Certainly my first priority is taking good care of my adorable pregnant wife, though she requires very little assistance in *anything* aside from reminding her to slow down. With her business as an arborist, she is her own small business/boss and is still doing bits and pieces of work, no longer climbing trees however #ThankGoodness but with all appropriate precautions and out in the gorgeous spring weather here.

We have a check in with our doctor tomorrow though the “Papa’s Class” series at the birthing clinic has been canceled indefinitely. (This was also serving as my Japanese study session as I try to learn new vocabulary related to pregnancy and childcare but… We shall carry-on – Noting that I have absolutely zero discipline in regards to language study).

Canada’s Prime Minister implored Canadians to “come home“ before impending doom etc. and while this is wise advice for many, I live here in Japan now permanently. Plan is to grow old here raising a happy kid, write poetry and letters, make paintings and friends and books and gardens – Come visit, we’ll have tea and hit up a museum.

and… Very excitingly, my “entire life archive” arrives in a container after a trans-pacific journey on Thursday. So, just in case I’m not sharing enough creative artifacts to keep you amused 😉 40+ years of journals, scrapbooks, fanzines, photos, letters, certificates – as well as books and records and funny hats – are all being offloaded into a 300-year-old grain barn for sort-ganizing and sharing.

Anyhow, thinking about each of you wonderful people out there in the world and, as I’ve mentioned before, if you need any advice about staying chill and keeping your mind busy whilst indoors (aside from being watching television problem etc. which I don’t know too much about), I remain your semi-useful uncle in custom-made pyjamas.

Your turn, tell me about everything going on in your world, where you’re at, how you’re feeling, what you’re working on, what’s inspiring you, what do you dream about and so on and so on. All of it all of it.

Note: You can write a letter if you prefer