WHERE DO I BEGIN
Let’s start with Saturday.
Saturday’s event was described to me as an “oyster party” at the house of some artist who made stuff out of wood. Being quite fond of shellfish and woodworking, I eagerly agreed to attend. Upon arriving with some people, I found that it was eating oysters, etc. in the barn/workshop of a freaking amazing artist. He had just come back from a show in Tokyo and it was a welcome back party they were holding. Here is that amazing artist’s not-so-amazing website. A friend of his built him a custom planer that lets him do some crazy stuff with wood… it was quite amazing stuff.
Speaking of the guy who built the crazy planer, his wife is one of the most amazing bakers I have ever encountered. She made THE best apple pie I have ever eaten. We found out she has a mail-order cake subscription service, and thus decided to found the Kushiro Cake Club to gather and enjoy her cakes (also because we cannot reason ourselves into affording the cake subscription on our own separately).
On Sunday, I had to take my driver’s permit test. I also let a friend stay over my house Saturday night, so I was being an awful host and letting her wander town herself that day. Anyway, the actual driving bit was straight forward. The written portion, however, was some awfully sick joke. It consisted entirely of 50 true/false questions, but the questions are worded so trickily that it was more of a test of your semantic comprehension, rather than an on-your-feet understanding of the driving regulations. Here’s an example: When you’re approaching a pedestrian crosswalk with people crossing, you’re supposed to stop in front of it, and at the stop line if there is one. If the question is phrased: “You should slow down when there is a pedestrian crosswalk with people crossing,” that is false because it does not mention the stopping, even though it is true that you slow down before you stop. Did I mention you had to get 45 out of 50 correct?
Another question asked about fuel economy and I swear that shit was not even in the section of the book we were supposed to be tested on.
Later that day, I rejoined my guest and we went to a live band event at the usual bar/cafe/live hall. We saw most of the band boys from Halloween there. They dropped the polite speech this time so we were just chilling and talking about random stuff. One of the band boys from last time was playing with his band. They were pretty hilarious… real showmen, complete with ridiculous getups, hilarious songs, an upright bass, an unplanned call from dad, and a kazoo.
Today, I visited a school for the first time. It’s right down the street from my house, but that did not stop nature from making me freaking cold by the time I biked there. It’s on the lower end in terms of academic performance, but the kids are nice (and enthusiastic in their own way), and the teachers are super friendly. A bunch of them live right next to me, so we’ll have to go out for kaitenzushi or something.
After that, I rode all the freaking way to driving school… and drove on the Real Streets. Man, was I glad I enrolled in driving school right then. I really need someone sitting next to me telling me what the heck I’m doing wrong and reminding me to STAY ON THE GODDAMNED LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD. After completing the circuit, I realized that I did not check my left blindspot a single time during the entire excursion, and would thus have nearly side-swiped half a dozen bikers, had it been a good day for biking (luckily for them, it was not).
And finally, when I got home, I found a postcard from an awesome recently-retired professor in my mailbox. I’ll have to send him some pictures of that artist’s stuff, because I’m sure he’d appreciate it.
