Inspiration is low. Work ethic is at an all time low. Holding the pen in my hand feels foreign, and I shake these days. I have hardly produced anything for the past couple of months. I have to remember that I have to make stuff, because I get sad if I don’t. I do not have an end goal, I just know I have to make things for me. Showing them off online is an added bonus, sure, but that is not why I have to make stuff.

I have a hard time explaining this feeling of control to people who do not experience the same discontent when not making stuff. I feel in control and on top of my life when I make stuff. It doesn’t have to be pretty, and it doesn’t have to be useful. if it is, it is always a bonus as well, though.

I hate writing about art / illustration / photo / creativity, because I feel it makes me seem self-righteous and full of myself. I don’t know how I can write about creativity and creating stuff without sounding pompous.

Disse bildene ble tatt for ikke så lenge siden. Sju uker , et verdenshav og noe som kjennes som et helt liv unna. Jeg sitter i Japan og ser på Canada, og vet ikke helt hvor jeg hører hjemme lenger. Noe er i endring, jeg vet bare ikke hva. Jeg finner ut av det. 

Knust glass, kirkegårder og mørke kvelder som gjør at man har tid til å tenke etter på hvor man er og hva det er man egentlig holder på med, selv om det er skummelt å snakke med seg selv. Hva vil du egentlig?

God høsttakkefest. Jeg er takknemlig for at jeg har to armer, to bein, et hode som sitter på toppen av skuldrene og en hinnsides vilje til å få gjennomført det jeg må (selv om jeg ikke alltid vil). Hva er du takknemlig for?

Jeg har ingen ord. Høsten kommer tidsnok. Jeg ser gjennom bilder fra sommeren og tenker at jeg ikke er klar for kaldere kvelder helt enda. Jeg vil tilbake til Canada og bruke altfor lang tid på å drikke kaffe hver morgen, spise mat med høyt kaloriinnhold og lavt næringsinnhold og vente på å bli kjørt dit jeg skal. Jeg vil utsette alt som må gjøres, bare litt til.

Hello and sorry for the mess! I am migrating the site over to a new server, so everything will be pretty messy here for the next little while. Will be back soon!

Yakatabune is a small boat cruise you can go on, we went on one in the Tokyo bay this summer. It is not terribly expensive, around 4000 – 5000 yen per person, and that includes both tabehodai and nomihodai (as much food and as many alcoholic drinks as you wish). It is popular among salarymen and groups of friends. The one we went on you cook your own food, and we cooked a variety of okonomiyaki and monjayaki. Okonomiyaki is probably easier to like for most westerners, the monja have been said to look like… well… vomit. It doesn’t taste like it though, promise!

Monjayaki with mentaiko!

Okonomiyaki ga dekita!!

Since we were in such a good mood after the boat cruise, we ended the evening with a couple of more drinks (ok, a lot more drinks), and ended the evening with an early morning breakfast in a small place in Shinjuku, looking at the people in the bar around us that had finally fallen asleep.

I took a walk in our neighborhood quite a while back to clear up my mind, process the year so far and relax. In the midst of a pretty heated board meeting in my head debating if my recent sushi consumption could actually harm my health and put me at risk for mercury poisoning from the, well, quite healthy amounts of maguro I had consumed recently,  I turned a corner… and what did I see?! A huge whale with obvious super-powers, protruding through the concrete and cement pavement, ready to make a leap to freedom. The thing was taller than me.

I ran away scared. Nah. just kidding. But I did continue my walk. I have been in Japan for a couple of years, and it is easy to forget all the little things that makes this city awesome. Like overgrown greens in residentiary neighborhoods and the mandatory collection of bicycles parked outside every single house. And the clutter. Omg, the clutter. If you have ever read design books about clean and minimalistic Japanese design, I can tell you – they are lying through their teeth. There is a lot of clutter around here.

I discovered an abandoned park. The clock was still working. So were the mosquitos. They were working overtime. I left the park with less blood in my body and five, fancy new huge mosquito-bites on my legs. I have unsuccessfully tried to start a new trend here half the summer with the slogan “mosquito-bites are the new black”. I wonder why that never caught on. They are both inexpensive and readily available to anyone who wants one. Or fifteen. And a lot of people are sporting them here.

No space for a garden, you say? No problem. Just build a vertical one on your wall. Problem solved. Since this is Japan, nobody will steal your potted plants anyway. I ended my walk with the mandatory girl-takes-pictures-of-their-feet-image. I then decided to down-vote the board’s decision about possibly lowering the abnormally large sushi consumption, and headed straight for the kaiten sushi.

I’ve always thought there is something strong and handsome, looking at the hands on the steering wheel from the passenger seat. Someone else takes control, and I end up just where I am suppose to go.

I haven’t driven a car in years. I would like to partly say it is because there is no opportunity in Tokyo to drive a car (public transportation and taxis FTW!), but the other half of the truth is that I have gotten a bit scared of driving. Visiting Canada I eventually tried driving a car for the first time in 5 years. And it wasn’t half bad. It was my first time driving automatic, and it was like driving a go-cart. I felt a strange sense of freedom after I realized I could, in theory, drive wherever I wanted, if I wanted. …but I’m just frozen here on the same old spot.

Ladies and gents, I present to you; Timmins, Ontario! (Don’t ask me why I am here. Long story. Let’s call it a holiday.) At the moment it is a whooping 7 degrees celsius here, which is quite different from the 36 degree weather I left back in Tokyo. In any case – Timmins life is probably as opposite of Tokyo life as I could get at this point, and it is just what I need. Tokyo life was going faster and faster, so what better remedy than going to a small town with 45.000 people in Northern Ontario. Life here is sloooooow (and I’m lovin’ it atm). Now, let me give you a tour of this fine little town and its eh… unique establishments.

…this is the airport…

…and this is downtown! They have karaoke in all parts of the world, it seems.

And this was taken right outside a Wal-Mart! Check out my exotic location! I am at a Wal-Mart! Now, for the North Americans reading this blog it is probably not very exciting with a Wal-Mart,  but we don’t have those things in Scandinavia, nor in the middle of Tokyo. I even saw the electric wheelie-cart-thingies for overweight and disabled people at the entrance, but I was told you need a special license to drive one of those. (Is that true? In that case, what a bummer, I really wanted to try out one of those things.) I was ready and excited to experience some real North-American culture! And oh boy, the sizes of food here is insane. Everything comes in twelve-packs and bags weighing in at several kg. This wouldn’t have worked in Japan. Where would we store all of the food after we bought it? My trip to Wal-Mart ended with me being excited to the point where I forgot to take pictures inside the Wal-Mart. Oh well. Next time.

And here we have… uh… empty space? Oh Cananda(!), and all of your space! And cars. And a factory in the background. Scenery is complete!

I am please to show you little golden gems like “The Pita Pit” and “Joanne’s art and gift centre”. I don’t think I have ever seen more terrible typography mashed together in one place. This is not all bad though. It is kind of like the Eurovision Song Contest, there is so much ugly it kind of implodes and turns out to be a pretty exotic and funky sight. I am sure Joanne at the “art and gift centre” agrees with me.

More taverns. I didn’t know they were that popular. I also realized that the only type of bars in this town are sport bars. What a refreshing change. I haven’t sat my foot in one of those in years. And if I were to get tired of the sport bars, I can always buy myself an edible fruit bouquet. After all, it is the perfect gift for any occasion. And advertising never lies. Not in Timmins.

Hey Norwegians! We have Vinmonopolet, but Ontario has THE BEER STORE. How can we compete with that?! That is like ten times cooler than the Norwegian Wine Monopoly. The Beer store has a wonderful logo which I doubt they have changed or renewed in at least 30 years. Beautiful. And well thought through advertising, with the phone number covered up by shrubbery.

Look, more space. And another beauty bar that will open soon. This town is booming. Ok. Maybe it isn’t. But this town is really charming, the people here are real, the barbecue parties are awesome, and people know how to party even harder than the Norwegians. And the best part is – I have time to sleep in. (Look! I actually look kind of fresh in the picture below!) Northern Ontario bliss.

Oh, hello there Toronto! Nice to finally see you again, even if it was only for 10 hours or so. I haven’t blogged for a couple of days, and part of the reason was because we bought a ticket with United Airlines. United, you broke my Taylor guitar! Ok, you didn’t. (You did break Dave Caroll’s guitar though, see video below.) But you did lose my luggage, hence no blogging for moi.

(We went from Tokyo through San Francisco, had to grab our bags and recheck them because that is the way ‘Murica works. So we rechecked them in San Francisco, and jumped on the plane to Toronto. Unfortunately, our luggage didn’t make it onto the plane. We waited at the airport in Toronto, hoping that United would follow neat rules of logic and send the luggage on the next plane to Toronto. They didn’t. This wouldn’t have been terrible, if it wasn’t for the fact that we were going on another flight to Northern Ontario the next morning. And I felt quite… unrefreshed after 24 hours of traveling with no access to clean clothes. Air Canada was nice enough to give us a small overnight kit which even had a deodorant stick. A lifesaver! Thank you Air Canada! In any case – lost luggage isn’t the worst thing in the world. I’ll survive.)

Åh, jeg husker barndommen da alle de voksne snakket om hvordan ting var bedre før i tiden, og jeg sukket og okket og kavet og tenkte at nei sånn, sånn skal jeg aldri bli. Altså en sånn person som mimrer i timesvis over barndommens enkle gleder. Likevel har jeg nå tatt meg selv i å bruke to timer av mitt liv på denne bloggen, fineminner.blogspot.com, og jeg har lest om alt fra Disneys Eventyrbånd (Tussi feirer fødselsdag!) til Nancy Drew, og har med jevne mellomrom både gryntet og laget lyder i form av små *hviiiiiin*. Hvem kan vel glemme Kræsj PINK-is med tyggis i pinnen (herregud så klissete jeg ble på fingrene), eller is med Tyrkisk Pepper. Egentlig virker komboen av salt lakris og iskrem ikke særlig forlokkende, men for den 7 år gamle versjonen av meg selv var det 7 minutes in heaven, altså. Fyttegrisen. Gi meg barndommen tilbake.

God sommer! Spis en norsk is for meg også 😉