9AM Get out of bed Dave, get out of bed Dave, get out of bed Dave. You’ve got to go to the hospital Dave. Put on clothes Dave, take your medicine Dave, get on the bus Dave. Make sure you’re wearing pants Dave. Oh my goodness, have to decide what shoes to wear Dave.
Yep, just waiting for the bus as usual
10AM OK, I did it… Up, medicines, beard oil’d, snappy outfit-ish, shotgun coffee and out the door just in time and experienced all four of Japan’s seasons within the four minute walk from home to the bus stop.
Felt a little bit more springtime when I first looked out the window
{They taught me well at the school for “worlds worst secret agents”}
All of the seasons, all at once: Grey rainclouds, bright sunshine, crispy windiness all at the same time (on rather warm stuffy bus)
11AM Rocking to Belly (the band)’s “Dove” en route to Okayama University Hospital 岡山大学病院 / usual as only this & Bob Dylan’s basement bootleg are in the basc “music” app for past years (i have stashes in Bandcamp & Relisten)
Along with Belly, I’m a huge fan of Tanya Donelly’s solo EP series “Swan Song” and am partial to her songs in Throwing Muses
PS Also have signed #vinyl
11:30AM This is a “foursquare check-in” from Okayama University Hospital. I think I’m the mayor by now :)
Injections impending / 1st of 8ish checkpoints
12AM Update: nurses love my spring blossom vibe tie
{Many things happened}
My tactic with communicating with hospital doctors is taking a printed memo in both English & Japanese (i use machine assisted translation) as most doctors studied medical terminology in “English or whatever” and having something they can read rather than listen is a huge help
{in preparation, February 8, 2024}
2:45PM At least eight hospital checkpoints completed – both medical and administrative – Plus pharmacy (with all the QR codes and special booklets) and now my secret Kissaten was closed but reopened to serve me this glorious lunch with flowers on the table & 3 beverages.
While doing a photo shoot for Ichiro’s 100 days at Homare Photo Atelier here in Okayama, the photographer Yoshihiro Matsushita-san and i rocked a fun mise en scéne with:
typewriter
sea trunk
Lomo sardine camera (with yellow tiny flash)
books, various
rocking horse (just ‘cause)
my ever-present been-all-around-this-world suitcase
~ in front of a battered green paper (shade of van Gogh’s pool table) and a red rug… to go with Ryoko’s stellar Fluevog shoes & 1964 vintage lace party dress (such details!) and my bespoke-in-Chiang Mai secret agent suit, Stetson fedora & Florsheim Imperial shoes (bartered). Ichiro rocked a sweet blue Japanese onesie – gift from my dude Kitazawa Takaya-san.
Time Traveler Family, v. 2
Anyhow… (with my foggy self) we worked quickly – imaging ourselves sitting still for a bellows camera before setting sail to steam around a cape or horn – maybe Taisho-era, maybe just back from Venus & teleporter time gauge malfunctioned. There was probably a daguerreotype and/or dirigible involved, if not a phone box at least.
Time Traveler Family, v. 3
What is displayed here are 7 of the best iterations which were then made into some special cards, ergo: the digital snaps were printed on laid textured paper, then attached to handmade washi paper with rough edges with olden photo corners, annotated with a fountain pen as was custom poetry written on reverse in English and Japanese, various appropriately cancelled postal stamp glued, usual inky stamps for sure (urgent! confidential! air mail – or a suitcase) – some got seal stickers, often slightly more dangerous metallic sealing wax which caused minor fire damage #smouldering!
Then finally some received our family hanko stamp, and Ichiro’s inked finger print – truly collectible. Then… (very) delicately scanned (at this point forgotten how many digital to analog conversions overall in the project) – Just barely in time to get the “pick of the litter” posted to wish greetings on January 1 to you lovelies around this spinning globe.
Steady On Time Travelers – reverse of art card with poem in English and Japanese (plus Ichiro’s fingerprint, family hanko and other details)
Regardless, we are all the time travelers and must hold steady, be adaptable, be where we are, find the ways to blend in (or gracefully exit) when finding one’s self in an unpredicted situation, eat healthy rations (whether known or not) and ease into comfortable shelter as possible.
Time Traveler Family, v. 5
While the world spins fast, let’s breathe backwards to slow it down. {noting after I wrote this poem – alluding world is spinning fast *emotionally* and thus causing pandemonium in many ways/souls – i learned physicists also suggest the planetary orbit speed has physically increased. I do not understand their methods but seems agree with their results – albeit primarily aesthetically.}
Time Traveler Family, v. 6
Finally: the final handmade creations / all slightly different in photo & embellishments went to various thoughtful directions, ergo, 1 to seitai sensei, 1 to forestry sensei in Noto, 1 to tea ceremony teacher, 1 to ephemera master in VicBC, 1 to writing professor (ret’d, Torrey, UT), 1 to artist Noriko Miyake – 2 for archives (for the inevitable retrospective exhibit of cards, letters, visual poetry and invitations).
Florsheim Imperial brogues (scored by consulting) & Fluevog Champey (Vancouver to Okayama via Amsterdam)
Dress-up time/traveller family photo shoot fun time for Ichiro 101st day with fun Matsushita-san at Photo atelier Homare (岡山・倉敷・写真館）- FB / ありがとう / You’re gonna love what we came up with together… Mixing eras and cultures and styles, riffing on a theme.
mixed-media art library, global diary, project dossier and whole life documentation
