Monkey Business

Here is a little tidbit of local news that might tickle your monkey's fancy...

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"Japan world record-holder Masanobu Sato announced that he will not be defending his title at this year's World Masturbate-a-thon in San Francisco.

His current record for consecutive monkey-spanking is 9 hours, 33 minutes."

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Maybe GSK, Pfizer or one of the Big Pharmas could create some biopharmaceutical megahit drug to help men with premature ejaculation syndrome out of the DNA from Sato-san's semen... One foreseeable problem with that, however, is that we might possibly see a dramatic increase in women visiting the ER for Grade 3 burns to their private parts...

Talk about going the distance!

Have you spanked your monkey today?

I love spanking --- I mean...

I love YOU!

Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

Heavenly Message / Hellaceous Translation

Ask Jaime and Jess... Oh My Buddha!

Seeing HHDL was awesome. He became a real person to me. (The Pope is not real, not yet. And neither is Christ cuz I haven't met him yet either). He smiled, waved, sneezed, blew his nose. Oh and he talked. In Tibetan. Because some of the simulcast translators dont speak English. He wanted to use English but they asked him not to. The translations were hell...

The Japanese was done by a Japanese translator and her Japanese was immaculate... for written Japanese. However it was so hard for Mayu (Japanese with excellent command of her native language) to understand that she actually went and rented a simulcast translator device so she could listen to the English!

But the problem is that the Japanese over the speaker system was so loud that it overpowered the halting, broken, sometimes absent English.I think the Taiwanese was the smoothest as they seemed to do simultaneous translation as HH spoke.

I figure that HH is accustomed to simultaneous translators because he talked and talked and talked (in Tibetan) and then the J-translator would talk for 15-20 minutes along with the drowned-out neo-English translator.

The music was pretty impressive for an hour and the Japanese monks did an amazing chant using about 10 taiko, or Japanese drums. It was very dynamic. The last performer was Sadao Watanabe!!!!! Now if you are a jazz fanatic you will likely know this name as he is a worled-renowned sax player (getting on in age I see). Very good!

The first two hours HH talked about buddhism and with the poor translations we couldnt understand anything other than suffering is suffering until you examine the suffering closely upon which you break down all the components of suffering and you cannot find anything that defines suffering... well watch one of my videos on this trip to get a better feel for what I'm trying to depict. You may understand better.

We went outside for lunch, then back in to the chanting, then the second half of the talk. HH had to use Tibetan again so Jaime and Jess left as it really was killer to understand.

Then there was a 40minute Q&A time. Some strange questions handled extremely diplomatically by HH. And one very fanatical woman with... crazy eyes (if you know what I mean) asking? yelling? her query into the mic so loud that nobody could understand what she was saying so they had trouble explaining it to HH.

The Dalai Lama eats meat!!! Yaaay! Good for him! He became total vegetarian for twp years and developed gall stones. At the orders of his tibetan and western doctors he started eatin meat and got better. He said some sects are strict vegetarian and some in the world eat meat. Neither is right or wrong, they simply are. I liked that.

Anywhoo... it's over and Mayu and I had a beer and some meat before parting ways. Im at my office station writing thiss on my keitai while taking a coffee break. Its humid. Time to go home, get naked and go hang out on the balcony.

It was a great experience!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Oh yeah... the main message was violence breeds unhappiness within. Even if the purpose is good, using force will corrupt the purpose and badness and suffering will result. We all need to focus more in our daily lives on love, respect and compassion toward others in order to shift the energy of this world to a more positive, peaceful direction.

Kind of sounds an awful lot similar to my Globalized Love, don't you think? I do! I love, respect and appreciate you!

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

What's Wrong With This Picture?

This poster is in my train station. It has been designed to teach Japanese "proper" social manners. There are many varieties of "manner posters" in the trains and stations, all designed to lead the general populace toward a "kinder, gentler race". In many cases these kinds of reminders are necessary here because a large percent of people really don't consider others. They used to... but not any more. It's sad, really...

But...

There is something wrong about this poster and the image that was drawn to depict a happy, peaceful escalator life.

Can you guess what it is?

Try.

I love you!

Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

iPad. iS.

i just finished talking to the second iPad user i'Ve seen in two days. Of course i don't know either of them... but i know the iPad. So i just started talking to them and asking questions. And they both loved it! i'M looking forward to accostin more unknown iPad users for their opinions.

Workout done, dinner done... i'M heading home to brew my bedtime triple espresso and ponder how to get to Yokohama on Saturday by about 9am, to listen to the Dalai Lama! Oops! i mean... to meet Jaime!

i love you!

cAm

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Finally Meeting Jaime after 15 Months!!

I have some amazing news for you! This is awesome! I am soooo excited!!

I have wanted to meet Jaime for sooo long now (since I moved to Tokyo), but I simply have not been able to get her to come off-base and meet me. I have never given up, and keep trying, trying trying.

Well, I guess the Universe FINALLY gave me my wish because this Saturday I AM going to meet Jaime!!!

And what did it take for this to happen? How did it finally come about?

Well, it seems that The Universe hooked up with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and set up a speaking date for him in Yokohama so that Jaime and I could meet!

The Universe and His Holiness did it all for us!

(Actually we did it for ourselves, because this is how bad we wanted to meet).

I LOVE YOU UNIVERSE!

Here is how that day is going to go when I can finally see Jaime again after all these months (since Stefnee was last here... making it 15 months ago!!!)

Date: 2010/06/26 (Sat) <-- We set a date for our date!
Time: 10:00 <-- We set a specific time that we HAVE to be together, no excuses, no being late.
Location: Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall <-- We are going to meet in Yokohama
Seating: A Seat, E Block, #3 Gate (2nd Floor) Row 17, Seats 12 - 15 <-- I have special reserved seating to meet Jaime so we won't miss each other in the crowd!
Price: JPY 8,315 Total (JPY 8,000 + JPY 315 Net Service Surcharge) <-- Yes, it costs money to meet Jaime this time, but that's OK.

Here is a summary of what "other" things will be happening at the same time (supplementary bonus):

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give Public teaching and talk in Yokohama on 26th June 2010 [Saturday] at Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall. The teaching and the talk will have Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian translation. Detail of the teaching and talk is as follows.

Public Teaching
Topic : Virtue and Practice of Connectedness and Generating Kind Heart
Time: 10:00 ~ 12:00 hrs. [The hall will open at 08:00 hrs]

Prayer Recitation
by monks from Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan and Tibet [13:00 ~ 14:00 hrs]

Public Talk
Topic : Essence of Happiness and Healthy Co-existence
Time : 14:00 ~ 16:00 hrs

Brief content of the Teaching and the talk

Everywhere in the world humans are in trouble. Between wars, economic collapse, injustice and environmental problems, our problems sometimes seem as high as the mountains. Given all this, how should we live in our new century? What is the essence of happiness? His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of the importance of our environmental challenge, our struggling economy and the possibilities of science. His Holiness will suggest what is required of us to live happily in the future, with the world and with each other.

Venue
Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall, Yokohama
Address: 1-1-1 Minatomirai Nishiku, Yokohama
Access Map: http://www.pacifico.co.jp/english/facility/accessmap.html
Access guide phone : 045-221-2166
JR Yokohama line / Yokohama Subway : Sakuragicho Station. 12 minutes walk
Minatomirai LIne (Tokyutoyoko Line Direct) : Minatomirai Station 3 minutes walk

More Info: http://www.tibethouse.jp/dalai_lama/2010japan/yokohama_eng.html

Is that awesome or what?

I GET TO MEET JAIME!!!!

I also invited Mayu, and she is so excited to come (and see Jaime again) as well. I tried this morning to get everything arranged, but couldn't pull it off. So I asked Mayu if she could do it (I'm at work, she's at home), and she did. That is fabulous. Thank you, Mayu!!

I love you!
Cam

Posted via web from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

River Runs Through It

I'm just sitting by the dock of the river...
watching the skiiers roll on by...

It's another interesting rainy season day; there is no rain but the humidity is so high and the temps are up there that it feels like living in a jungle, or a swamp. The sky is overcast and it is supposd to rain but it's holding off. I just finished chatting with one of the old guys sitting here fishing... just chatting about this and that.

The river is a lot lower than last week, about three feet or so lower. So I can see things I couldn't see in the water last weekend: like three discarded scooters and a bunch of other stuff including the old remains of a pier going out into the water.

I snoozed as best as one can snooze perched on a narrow, bumpy concrete ledge the perfect width to suntan on but not to roll over on. It's just kind of a nice way to spend the afternoon on the weekend, sitting here alone with my thoughts... relaxing and bleeding off the megalopolis stresses of constant sounds, stuff, and people. It builds and if you aren't aware of it, and don't find a healthy way to bleed it off ... strange things can happen. And lots of strange things do happen here in Tokyo.

Oh! One of the old river shrimp-catching guys left so I think I'll move over to the wider space.... Wow! I just realized that in the two and a half hours Ive been here the river has gotten noticeably shallower as it goes out into Tokyo Bat! That is a surprise to actually see the river go down!

Have a great weekend.

I love you!
Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

Curried Cookies

Tonight here at the gym I was working on a machine... and an Indian fellow sat down at the machine next to me and started working out...

As he heated up the smell of curried sweat became unbearable and I ha do stop my exercises and mouth breathe for a while to keep myself from gagging.

Then he finished with that machine and moved away. I was thankful and started to work out again even though his residual curry spice odour was still very strong in the air.

Wouldn't you know it, he moved to the machine on the opposite side of me! His body odour surrounded me and got so terribly strong that I had to stop and walk away for a water break. As I walked past on the far side of the gym his curried sweat stench pervaded the entire gym. I could see others wrinkling their nose and I thought to myself, "Geez I feel sorry for the employee who is helping him with a machine he doesn't know." He finally left, but it took a while for the sour odour of spices to fade away from the gym... I hate to say it but I hope I do not bump into him again. Oh my goddess I'd hate to be on a packed morning rainy season train when the heat is 30C and the humidity up over 90% as it is for most of the next month... I thought I might toss my cookies!

I love you!
Cam

P.S. And I was contemplating curry for dinner tonight.... NOT!

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The Shirt On My Back

Jen requested that I post one photo of me wearing one of the shirts. So here it is.

The size is L which fits my neck but is a bit wide for my lean physique. It may also be that I am used to the slim-cut shirts these days so this one "feels" big. Everyone at the office who listened to my story about the shirt price feels it looks fine. And if you want to know the truth, it stays in the pants better than my H&M shirts. The material feels like a polyester/cotton blend, but I am certain it will soften up once washed a few times.

So do I think they are worth the purchase? Most definitely!

By the way, I zipped outside after lunch to enjoy the fresh breeze and the shade. It's nice to be out of the office. Very nice indeed, in spite of all the traffic which doesn't bother me in the least.

I love you!

Cam

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