There's Plenty of Nothing in Japan, Too

Holy crap!  I'm going to Japan tomorrow!

The biggest cliche in life Blogistan is weepy apologies for not posting more often and promises to be better in the future.  So, fine, this is one of those, but with a qualification that means you should take it slightly more seriously than usual.

I am, indeed, going to Japan tomorrow for a not-completely-known period of time (probably 4 months) and since:

1. I speak next to no Japanese, and get the sense that most Japanese people don't speak loads of English, and therefore I will have no-one to talk to;
2. Being on a bit of an adventure will give me something to write about for a change;
3. I've made all sorts of promises I'm not likely to keep about keeping in touch while I'm gone

... this blog is likely to be updated more often and resume its once marginal, as opposed to null, level of interestingness, at least while I'm gone.  The point will, as always, be to record the trivial and pointless, since the important and consequential can be recounted one-on-one at appropriate times without losing anything.  Also, to keep the keeping-in-touch a little more lively, my next project here is to finally start taking advantage of the Flickr page for pictures, and I think I'll even use my iWeb gallery, finally, for pictures that would violate the semi-anonymity I try to maintain here.   Finally, if there's anyone who reads this thing who doesn't pay any attention to the linklist (linkblog? delicious list? I don't know what you call that) on the right or the tumblog (top right), that's where most of the action has been lately.

Imperial Indian Summer Ale

The end of November is pretty late for a "what-I-did-this-summer" kind of post, but since significant adventures are about to ensue, and since I did not post for shit this summer, I feel like a catch-up post is called for before moving on to What Happens Next.  So, among the interesting things I did this summer:

• Went to Coney Island and rode the Cyclone, which may not be an option next summer.
• Watched movies in McCarren Park Pool, which also may not be an option next summer.
• Dated a ridiculously great guy, which I hope will generally remain an option in many future summers.
• Ate at the all Mac-n-Cheese restaurant.
• Drank the very best IPA I think I've ever had right nearby at the Brooklyn Brewery.
• Cought a few Sunday afternoon barbecues at the Metropolitan.
• Saw a bunch of friends from times past and places distant.
• Saw the production of Hair in Central Park and got a good taste of why people fall in love with New York City.
• Spent a lovely day at the DIA Beacon, which was nice even for art-grumps like me.
• Spent a lovely day sailing around the New England coast.
• Got myself a jailbroke, busted-ass iPhone (but its busted-assedness only makes me love it more).
• Got a lot of good news about friends makin' babies.
• Gave up, once and for all, trying to learn to fold fitted sheets.
• Learned my way around Korean food.
• Got myself a black president!  (Okay, didn't really happen this summer).
• Last but not least: learned a little (a very little) Japanese.

And no doubt, a whole bunch of other stuff I'm not thinking of at the moment.  I also, for reasons I can't explain, wrote several posts which I never actually posted.  I've decided to go ahead and post them where they would have gone had I posted them at the time, and link back to them from here.  I kind of want to tidy the place up before moving on, because this place is about to get busier... (see last item!)

On the other hand

At latest count, Californians, on the same day, have voted:

• 59.5% - 40.4% to transcend the dark past of America's history of racism and elect a black man as president
• 62.3 % - 37.7% to grant farm animals a marginal improvement in the quality of their short, miserable lives
• 52.5% - 47.5% to rescind the already-granted right for homosexuals to marry the people they love

I loved the time I spent living in California, and I'm glad that Californians, as an electorate, are cool with black people and chickens and cows. I admit, however, that I'm really disappointed to hear that, turns out, they're less okay with fags than they always seemed to let on.

I hope my readers will forgive me for making some targeted asides:
Dear California: I'm never moving back.
Dear Mormons: Fuck you. Seriously. I'm not a violent person, but I am going to punch a mormon in the face before I die.
Dear Straight, Liberal Friends: Thank you for voting my way, although I have to admit, I still find it unsettling to hear you talking about gay marriage as an abstraction.
Dear Straight Everybody Else: WTF is wrong with you?
Dear Florida: Don't even. I do not want to hear a fucking word from you. Sshh, freaks. Just sshhh.

Black people in the White House!

Just came back from voting for the first black president.  Took a picture of the line which I'll put up later, but for the moment, a few observations:

1. Long line; the line outside the building moved with deceptive speed.  My polling place is a school, and once you get inside, the line breaks up into separate lines for each district.  These lines move veeeeeeery slowly.
2. All the official signs were printed in English, Chinese, and Korean.  Weird there was no Spanish, but there were a couple of volunteers there helping Spanish-speakers.
3. I don't know why everybody went all crazy for the touch-screen voting machines.  The old mechanical ones they use here work just fine, and make a really satisfying "ker-chunk" sound when you pull the arm at the end.
4. I always heard Williamsburg was chock full o' homos, but I never saw a lot of evidence for it when out & about in the neighborhood.  But!  The homos - they vote!  Next time around, I'll take a shower and shave before I vote...