Holy crap I love my new camera! Such a difference! Even without all of the additional features and controls, the basic functions like flash are so much better and more powerful that it’s hard to imagine how I ever survived for so long with a little ultra-compact. Not that I don’t still like having a tiny camera – it’s wonderfully convenient for taking pictures out at night with my friends, but for actual photography it’s just…bleh.
This weekend turned out to be quite a kicker. And to start a kicker off with a nice kick, nothing beats a good Halloween Party…except maybe a Halloween party followed by two afterparties.
I started immediately after Friday’s class on what would end up a two-hour quest for some white makeup; I couldn’t very well go without a costume, and after some careful consideration I determined that the best choice would be Edward Fourty-hands. As it turned out, finding fourties proved much more difficult than finding the make up. I ended up going as Edward 633ml hands instead. The people at the party didn’t seem to mind.
Afterwards we all came back to my apartment for drinks followed by a club downtown until 4:00am. It was good times, but certainly didn’t help me get over my cold.
The next morning I awoke at 10:30 and rode my bike across town to pick up one final piece of furniture: a washing machine! It sure will be nice not having to ride my bike to a *ahem* laundromat (not my old dorm…I would never go there to do my laundry!) with a gigantic backpack full of dirty clothes.
After I got back to my apartment and hoisted the thing up all three flights of stairs, there was nothing I wanted to do more than just pass out for a few hours. My head reassured me that I did indeed go out drinking the night before, and my throat that I was indeed sick. But by the time all of the washing machine-related business had been handled it was already time to head right back downtown for the Jidai Matsuri. Consarn it.
In my mind, there are two kinds of festivals in Japan: the intense, action-packed ones (like the Tokushima Awa Odori) and the slow-paced pretty ones (like the Jidai Matsuri).
Although I tend to prefer the environment of the rowdy ones, I could not have asked for a better opportunity to break in my new camera. I realized, though, that I’d really need to sit down one of these days and play with all of the settings with my laptop right next to me. That way I’ll be able to immediately see how everything affects the pictures. One of these days I guess.
After the parade I spent a few hours just riding my bike around the city, something that I really enjoy doing but haven’t had any time for since returning from China. While doing so I decided that rather than taking a train up to Kurama for the day’s second festival, I would ride. This proved to be a simultaneously good and bad decision.
The good part, other than the fact that I got to take a nice ride up into the mountains, was that I didn’t have to wait in a two-hour line to cram myself into a sweaty train up to the top. Because Kurama is such a small town, its usually sufficient one-car train is nowhere near capable of handling the thousands of spectators that jam its streets for this one night of the year.
The bad part was that during the ride home it was cold arctic. Winter is almost here.
The Kurama Himatsuri itself (translation: Kurama Fire Festival) was great…but because I have a midterm tomorrow that I’ve yet to begin preparing for, I’ll save that for my next post.
So, catch ya later Bill n’ Ted!
Nice pictures. I’m sure I’ll be looking at new cameras soon myself, as I spent today writing the first draft of my JET application essay. That’s right, first stage in Operation: Get My Ass Back To Japan: COMPLETE. I’ll bring you some forties when I come. And always remember, Be Excellent To Each Other.
dude whats up with kyoto…its like every week they have 3 festivels and 1000 fireworks
Your white facial makeup was almost as flawless as the lady you took a picture of in the red kimono =)
LOL Soraida!!!
I am glad you brought Edward 40 hands (aka Edward 633mL hands) to Japan 🙂
Andy