In Akihabara, there's a camera shop called "Imtiaz's Camera Shop". I've never been in, but I really want to, just because I really need to meet a Pakistani guy running an electronics shop in Japan. It's just not something you expect to see.
Yeah, it's usually either language teaching, prostitution, or restaurant ownership isn't it? EDIT: general foreigner occupations, not specific to Pakistanis.
Pretty much - all the other foreign businesses I've seen in Japan seem to be restaurants (not counting the underpaid foreign students doing the night shift at the local konbini).
wow, thanks for blowing my mind. Is there some reason why it's consistently referred to as Fujiyama by English speakers?
A big bag of dried food and toiletries for Ukrainian refugees (my church is partnering with International Aid to collect donations). I would have got more but I'm limited to what I can carry walking to church on Sunday (it's a mile away and I have issues with my shoulders).
Fuji-san is also kind of a respectful pun since san can be either "mountain" or the gender-neutral honorific. Kind of "Mr. Fuji" to the ear.
A few days ago, after posting on my blog about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, I was browsing Amazon and ran across this little beauty: It looks exactly like a codex, the way the ancients bound books, such as gospels. In fact earlier in the day I had posted this pic of some of the codices from the Nag Hammadi library: Clearly the sketchbook was designed to look like this. I couldn't pass it up, and I got a bunch of brown pens for drawing in it. I've done this before, and it doesn't generally work out. When you have a really cool looking sketchbook you're either too intimidated to draw in it because you think every drawing needs to be perfect, or you try and the pressure is too much, so you blow it. You try to make those perfect drawings, and you screw them up massively. We'll see how it goes. Plus what the heck do you do with that long thong while drawing? I might need to rig up a clothespin or something to keep it out of the way. Awesome, but gimmicky.
Pffft!! It's officially garbage!! Impossible to draw in. I tried the pens and a pencil. The paper is so thick and soft it's like drawing on a stack of blankets. Plus whatever surface they put on it to make it look aged comes off if you erase or scrape it a little bit. Or use some water, like doing wash drawings. Not only that, but I was using a rollerball pen, and if you stop while making a line you get a big blob of ink. It could be done, but you'd need to devote a lot of time to finding exactly the right tools and techniques. Sorry, but my sketchbook is not gonna be the boss of me! Oh well, it looks really cool sitting around anyway!
Hey, I wonder if it would be possible to take drawings done on good paper and have them bound into this cover.... ?
It did, and here's the surprise ending. Brown colored pencil actually works quite well in it. Starting to like it again.
I've had a pocket Moleskine for a few years now that I love: It didn't leave my pocket for a long time, though it looked really strange. Like a wallet in the front pocket. I got a Quiver for it so I can carry a pen along the spine. I used it as a commonplace book, where you copy things you want to preserve, or take notes.
They’re great, aren’t they? I love the look of a used notebook like this. I don’t much care for the pseudo history of Moleskine (“The notebook used by Hemingway”, etc ) especially given that they’re now mass produced in China, but still very nice and perfect dimensions.
I didn't even know about that. But yeah, they're extremely well designed. A pocket book needs rounded corners and a soft cover (works best for me anyway) and I love the elastic strap and the page marker ribbon. That broke off of mine, but I cut off a short section of it to mark the current page so I can open right to it. And the quiver improves the utility massively, otherwise I wouldn't have a pen when I need one or it would break in my pocket. Being secured against the notebook keeps it from breaking.
Agree on the rounded corners and soft cover, but I must be the only Moleskine fan who hates the elastic closure. More often than not I cut it out. I don’t much care for the inner pocket at the back, either. It makes the back cover too stiff.
I'm with ya on that one, but I do like the elastic strap, except that it could be tighter. It tends to fall open too much.
One of these. Thought it might rekindle my love of coffee. Actually I bought it because I had to register a new debit card with amazon and needed to check it all went through okay.
Very nice. I've never seen one with that much chromium before. I should get one of those next instead of the cheap grocery store ones; two have broken on me.
I don’t think not going with lots of chrome is a bad idea, if it’s any consolation. I’ve had these cafeterias before and they tend to rust where the water gets trapped between metal and glass.
I recently drove to Texas and back. When I left home, gasoline was $4.29; upon my return it was $4.79. When I was filling up at a truck stop I asked one of the truckers how much his tank holds - 200 gallons. That's over $1,000 every time he fills up! Many of the stations offer a $.10 discount per gallon for cash. As I was driving I thought about it. Imagine 400 or 500 trucks per day paying cash when they fill up. That would be close to half a million dollars in cash at each truck stop every single day! Will they have to hire armed security? Will truck stop robberies become a thing? Hmmmmmmm............
