Sometimes (esp when my *former Company* is in the news), folks surface – who apparently missed out on last 9 years of my life – so, catching someone up, I told them these items:
its a photo of me, standing jauntily by a post box as though that’s normal behaviour
I struggle with brevity and not sure where you “last left off” so:
I live in an underappreciated corner of provincial Japan, forever
Have a darling arborist/jazz singer wife and an adorable son
Dealing with chronic and complex illness #mecfs
Making lots of creative projects as all my “archives” are here and a historic barn turned studio {Audio, video, scrapbooks, postcards and now a poetry book underway}
most of my time is spent folding laundry, washing dishes and taking hot baths
PS UW is here being his very best self (but chose a strange country to live in for various reasons/purposes ;))
frequent diaries and personal archaeology at: daveostory.com (you are here) with rss feed & extensive longform personal musings and moderated comments & also postcards
(yes, that is my address but don’t come visit unannounced)
I believe in babies, gardens, fresh laundry and poetry. And that the world is useless unless we have safe housing, clean energy, sustainable food and public transportation for everyone. Everything else is just extra – peace & health to all. Especially you.
Unrelated photo of Japanese Corespondent and Multi-purpose pontifying pundit
Another talkie talkie scene report about Tokyo2020 Olympics from Japan on CKNW 980 AM radio Vancouver from Monday Aug 2nd, 5PM PDT (or Aug 3rd Tues 9AM JST) with Martin Strong / embedded and downloadable for your convenience.
No shortage of topics & conundrums 😉
Discussed: medal and C19 counts, table tennis, Judo, USA v CAN Football, Belorussian refugee, Georgian miscreant bubble breakers, lack of celebration, mixed emotions, going rogue, quasi-states of confusion and emergency, typhoons and surfing, 13 year old and sibling champs, unwanted positivity & hopeful negativity etc.
Questions welcome. Unrelated photo above for amusement.
Notes:
statistics ahoy medal counts case counts high temps typhoons 13 year skateboarders fainting archers boycotting doctors exiled Georgians positive pole vaulters endless table tennis food complainers overwhelmed translators yet more quasi sorta states “Olympics fever” headlines impending elections bed hijinks grandstanding IOC double speak (we were fine to cancel but… ) war chests “athletes should just do their job” protests refugee Belorussians legacy of athlete’s “standing up” for a minute 4% of revenues goes to athletes my idea of Sean Lennon singing Imagine woulda be great(er)
Covered a lot of ground but so much more. Looking forward to keeping you up-to-date from regular folks’ point of view as #Tokyo2020 gets underway.
Tokyo 2020, for many reasons will be a very unique iteration (understatement!) of the Olympics with very few spectators, loads of precautions and a host city in 4th state of emergency.
Importantly: truly hope events occur w/o public health consequences.
Lots of anxiety / frustration about IOC hubris & government waffling.
(I realize) it’s not unusual for Olympics to get off to a rocky start that’s for sure and once they get going, a lot of the negativity fades and good times prevail.
For record, at +/- 16% vaccination rate in Japan.
In “better news“: Since anybody watching (aside from oligarchs & bureaucrats) will be watching on TV (regardless of all the things going outside of the sports venues), fancy new technology will make sports (including a few new ones *skate, surf, rock*) look really great on TV – might as well get to know crazy tech – cameras, clouds, microphones etc.
Hey that was fun! could talk with Jody Vance for an hour (one tech hiccup when my phone *automagically* connected to wife’s car via bluetooth – ooops :))
We didn’t get to riff about the extra challenges for athletes coming from Delta-heavy countries, the onerous participant waivers athletes have to sign, and IOC chief Bach’s visit to Hiroshima and other gaffes…
wall of kura barn somehow the contrast makes sense
strange dreams (despite all the goodness)
So many weird dreams last night. Did nice “loving kindness“ meditation before sleep and tried to let all the natural disasters & human conundrums float into night sky but maybe it’s all getting to me a little bit.
Themes of not being able to catch up and do enough on “anything“.
Wishing peace and calm to all sentiment beings as possible.
So much wonderfulness in my life but sometimes well, the serotonin and dopamine or whatever just get a little out of whack… So much I want to do but I have to remember to roll it slow.
Everything is trucking along and yeah, reflecting on how much has happened in this last year under unusual circumstances. I better just pick up the ukulele…
##
Ed says, “Seems to me u just might be overthinking the situation a little. Or, u just might be holding yourself to a higher standard than others expect from you. You’ve been doing great, accomplished one hell of a lot in a short period of time. Lighten up on yourself. Enjoy, just enjoy what you’ve got. Deep breath. Love ya.”
Kim says, ” This is my constant struggle! You’re doing a great job, just knowing you’re out there in the world really helps to keep me calm & inspired!”
Evidence of a passport renewal, the mustache means I’m a distinguished person to be taken seriously, right? Am I doing this right?
* two years towards forever *
There was a time when I was disappeared, when I was invisible, for reasons unnecessary to explain right now.
So much collapsed, lost, left, leading to confusion, despair and seeking… Far — I mean *all the way* — deliberately lost, comfortably lonely, finding ways and means of healing, picking up the pieces, starting again, recycling some bits, rebuilding from the foundation, working backwards from the mis-quoted Buddha koans… there were poetry, scrapbooks, letters and tears.
* reinventing to who I already was *
But what I came here to say is “it’s all about the cycles“ and as it goes… two years ago I came here to begin a new life. I will live here forever.
When I was a kid, I knew right away I wanted to “go places, make stories, share with others“ I’ve done a lot of the first two, now can do a lot of the three while still doing more of the two and maybe some of the one, but only maybe. And I’m cool with that.
Anyway, since I arrived here:
* Massive epic wedding with so many wonderful people (so great!)
* Wonderful relationship with in-laws (so incredibly grateful for this)
* Remarkable baby delivered safely in the midst of public health crisis
* One funeral (extended Buddhist social distance style) of a long-lived grandmother shortly after the baby (who shares a name – but not kanji – with her late husband) arrived
* Several museums slowly visited, getting to know the buses, street cars, villages and shrines in our local area
* Many, many bowls of Ramen & teas/coffees (extensively documented for historical research)
So much paperwork and registrations, i.e.:
* national health insurance
* pension program
* “my number” card
* foreigner registration card (& renewal)
* updating a handful of passports
(all of the above requiring slightly different sized photos)
* koseki tohon (family register)
* post office bank account
* international transfer bank
* various library cards
* several hospital cards
* a few mysterious phone numbers
* taxes in multiple countries (such a good boy Dave!)
* various government records in previous countries updated (usually by postal mail since heaven help me if I’m gonna spend four hours on hold)
* Several of the same of the above for wife’s name change & Ichiro’s various registrations and citizenship(s), often requiring certified translation and notarizations
* Add in a consulate visit for an affidavit
* Monthly hospital visits with the neurologist (no, no real progress #mecfs but well… I’m in the system) + frequent “Seitai” treatments / hard to explain but very useful + Several emergency room visit (I’ll spare you the details) + Investigations into LDN/new strategies
* Hundreds, possibly approaching thousands of postal mail items (postcards, letters, dossiers) sent out into the world
* Hundreds, possibly approaching thousands of blog posts (diaries, personal archeology etc.) sent out into the world
* An extended ramble to far-flung corners of under-known Japanese provinces to visit sensei in fishing ports and wizard hermits in mountains (also museums, hot springs, and roadside attractions)
* So many various trains and styles of accommodation utilized / several of which are documented in various forms (the trains, not the hotels/guest houses/capsules/ryokan/minshuku/retreats…)
* Relatives in Nagasaki hospitals and abacus tournaments visited / Plus atomic bomb memorial, and evidence of early Dutch trading settlements, met a noodle-making friend, saw an damaged industrial island that looks like a battleship
* Two Christmases/New Years, one raucous, one subdued
Several, but nowhere near enough, Hot Springs visits > However, wonderful new bathtub installed at our cottage
While on the topic, a couple of double-pane windows, wall repairs and other things to make the house more cozy and efficient (documentation about current construction project omitted to avoid excess redundancy)
Exhibit of my paintings of post boxes, sometimes with haiku, and Shibuya and Mac Kobayashi ’s goat farm, plus a magazine and cameos on TV
Several Mae Maes (Ryoko Olson’s band) shows (plus a YouTube channel) / i’m the proudest husband when I get to go watch her perform + Love to support her when she is organizing concerts and making postcards, flyers, pins…
Going with Ryoko to tea ceremonies at lovely sensei’s house or “out and about” to special events (e.g. ceramic town Bizen where we also visited master potter Hosokawa’s studio) – Learning the tools and the combinations and the processes and the nuance + rocking kimono
Started a sort of kind of little shop thing to sell postcards & poems (including paintings and post boxes, lomos from India,…) I mean the part about sharing the stories I mentioned above preamble
Started a project to sell some things which exist only in memories and on paper

Got some new glasses, gave up some habits, hung out at some barbershops (also wife cut hair), learned some new words, organized some archives, turned 50 years old (did a big personal archeology project about that #daveo50), wrote a few poems, tried some new calligraphy techniques, sorted and organized art supplies, tidied up a tool shed and the barn, listened to a lot of records – some old and some new (to me), books out of boxes and onto shelves, many new books ordered…
Other things & items forgotten (but likely documented elsewhere…)
Most importantly though is remarkable wife and adorable baby and wonderful in-laws and kind and thoughtful friends scattered around the world (you).
#ForeverHome
Fondly, dvo 
Photo: Evidence of a passport renewal, the mustache means I’m a distinguished person to be taken seriously, right? Am I doing this right?
Memento: Birthday Tarot reading (in scrapbook), 2016
I’m of the mind to believe in everything and nothing, and keep my mind open, except when it needs to be closed and taking the things that serve me well and to let go of the things it don’t except when i’m wrong… In other words: going with the flow and seeing where the current takes me.
Anyway, this is to say that I have a wonderful friend who, on a few significant occasions, pulled Tarot cards for me, and read them diligently and insightfully, sharing the messages – which I then processed, and keep them in a scrapbook where I found them to be shockingly prescient at times, and at others, well maybe less so regardless, very grateful for her kindness and wisdom.
In this case, I believe was my birthday in a really hard year, I felt very lost, scared and alone and in great danger / turns out i was all of those.
Coffee is brewing here at Tsuchida cottage as we kick off our three day anniversary fun times… We’re going to write letters, make videos, have chats with friends, do some kimono dress up photo fun time, play music, more coffee, more kisses etc.
But to kick things off yesterday, we took a new step in our relationship, something big & important: we merged our art and office supplies. It’s serious now, really serious.
There’s a system, there are shelves, they are multiple printers, several paper cutters, probably a dozen scissors, at least 20 rolls of different kinds of tape and glue sticks and what not, supplies for framing art, making silkscreens, oil paints, acrylic, watercolors, oil pastels, soft pastels, well over 200 different pens, slightly fewer pencils ++ Several boxes of postcards, drawers of various letter sets, Dozens of notebooks and memo pads and journals on standby waiting their turn, dossiers of oversized art, several kinds of printer photo paper including several batches of blank postcards.
Yes, this is love, and this is what it looks like today.
Note: new/used iMac just arrived yesterday but doesn’t have a mouse and keyboard yet + there are five or six external drives waiting to be sort-ganized.
Wearing a smoking jacket at Tsuchida Cottage, Dave riffs on recent activities including: planting vegetable garden, playing piano, buying baby clothes, and sort-ganizing archives including digging out loads of books. As such, shows books by Douglas Coupland, Nick Bantock, Gary Snyder, Ethan Hubbard, and reads from Jack Kerouac’s American Haikus, plus riffs about Tintin, fire lookouts and mailing postcards.
Round-up from the kura barn/mixed-media-creative-studio-in-process…
this is the key to the main (of 3) mighty heavy doors to the get into the kura barn. if this key gets stuck inside, well we’re hosed. it looks simply but its a deliberate puzzle to open the vault
Next up, going to attempt to carry up a big shelf cabinet – then, hopefully can squeeze in another bookcase and start unloading the huge stash of records and books into something more manageable. [Update: done]
In the meanwhile, here’s a few odds and ends of items which maybe didn’t get floated out there, just to, well… float em out, round em up for your amusement along the way. Progress and all. Annotations in-line with evidence.
so much Tintin stuff! including many “bootleg” remixes – seen here with sea capn’s black globe and brass laternK. Foster painting, property of R. Scales (still smelled like DTES stank)Ryoko having dress-up fun with old scouting sash and camp hat of pins and fringe (yes she thinks i’m adorably weird)explaining the Ryoko what lederhosen are and why i have a fancy pairstill life of fringe suede jacket and sea capn’s globe and latern with Walt Whitman-esque wooden statue in the backgroundyup, another view of the beloved suitcases – while they are lovely, tis truly the contents which are important, so much to be revealedclothing sash mostly organized – winter items, hockey.soccer jersey, costumes/specialty wear, the bins of hats and scarves in there too and then a blue bag of kinda things in limbo (my indoor closet is rather limitedOf course, must get the stereo set up but, there’s a little broken plug connector thingy snapped off inside of the speaker connector place. Not quite sure how to resolve but… One revolution at a time. This is a great little Onkyo set-up repatriated to its origin land – need a new CD deck to match / and figure out the mixing board for other projectsa rack of jackets! including US forest service, a Saskatchewan hockey team, a corduroy Inuit, camel air emergency fancy clothes (used for lobbying efforts) so on – seen with Vancouver collage on easel and a load of media and board gameshard to tell from this snap but in these boxes is an epicly eccentric and varied record collection – will share as i get to it but oh wow, we’ll have funa few books set aside for another look or sudden serviceyet another panorama of the project in process – so much done, so much to dowhich is better: the handmade Mavilli hat (with ear flaps), the curlig sweater (with patches), or the moustache/sideburns combo
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