Two Things

1. What is up with this weather?? There's flooding in the midwest, Washington DC is hovering around 100 degrees and, here in Seattle?

Ouch.

Remember that week of 80° weather?

Yeah, neither do I.

2. I made okonomiyaki tonight. I've been craving it ever since I wrote about it last week.

I even bought the good bacon.

Damn, it was tasty.

Moving Pictures!

Finally got around to starting up a You Tube account. (How perfectly 2006 of me.) I wanted to get some videos online right away so I figured I'd post some of the time-lapse work I did from my apartment on Alki Point.

Here's a nice chunk of a busy Saturday afternoon on Puget Sound...



Here's a cool sunset...



Finally, my favorite...



Check out the two storms converging at around :34 seconds. Man, the world is just awesome.

Boom de yada.

I'm not stalling...

I'm self-medicating!

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

7 killed, 10 injured in Akihabara stabbing spree

Violent crime is so rare in Japan.

I remember when I first arrived there in 2003, a Japanese girl I was dating and I were walking through Osaka after dark and I cautiously followed her as she strolled, without hesitation, under an unlit bridge, something I would feel weird doing in the safest of neighborhoods here in the U.S.

It would take a while to get used to it but, once I did, I can say that I've never felt safer than I did during my time in Japan.

And, aside from the depressingly high number of suicides, it seemed like the worst crimes that were reported in the paper involved graffiti and vandalism.

So that's what makes stuff like this all the more shocking...

7 killed, 10 injured in Akihabara stabbing spree
(via The Japan Times Online)

"Seven people died and 10 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed passersby Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo's busy Akihabara district."

Terrible.

Save the Clock Tower!

Oops. Too late.

AP: Large fire devours movie sets at Universal Studios

Officials say the iconic courthouse square from "Back to the Future," has been destroyed, and the famous clocktower that enabled star Michael J. Fox's character to time travel has been damaged.

Wow, this really depressed me.

UPDATE!!

Marty: What about all that talk about screwing up future events, the space-time continuum?
Doc: Well, I figured, what the hell.

[via slashfilm.com]

Some slightly good news for Back to the Future fans. I just got off the phone with Universal and have confirmed that the Clock Tower used in the trilogy is still standing, after a huge fire broke out on the Universal Studios Backlot earlier today. The Courthouse square set surrounding the only slightly damaged Clock Tower is said to be completely destroyed. Universal’s New York Street is also said to be in ruins. Both Courthouse Square and the New York Street sets are again scheduled to be rebuilt.