Remember the Hop Coasters?

While browsing the band’s website recently, I was surprised to find a photo set from the same sidewalk gig outside Shinjuku Station. There was a female photographer moving about at the same time I was shooting. I assume Kumika Amagai was her name. Chances are, I’m just out of frame in most of these shots.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m doing a photo series of sorts. I have a huge pile of “leftovers” from Japan worth sharing.

A moment of silence for my dearly departed second molar.

Had myself a root canal today. It’s not an experience I care to repeat, but all things considered, it wasn’t too big a deal. I wonder why the procedure gets such a bum rap?

I had been ignoring the offending tooth for awhile. It happily played along for a year or so, but the night before I left for California, it finally gave up the ghost. Thankfully, that brief, initial toothache was the worst it had to offer - the pain was dull and intermittent thereafter - but, not wanting to push my luck, I decided to go ahead and get it over with.

So, no big deal. It took a little bit of extra lidocaine to numb things up nice and good, but after that, it was just sit back, relax, and let the dentist go to town. I should point out that my dentist is an all-around great guy (all the more reason to get it over with, given the impending move to Colorado and all), and took pity on my not having insurance by knocking a few hundred bucks off the final bill.

I’m still waiting for the anesthetic to wear off, so whether there’ll any post-op pain, I can’t say. I’ll have the crown placed on Friday.

I’m a bit jealous of Brent’s recent redesign. It’s a classy sort of simplicity. Make sure to refresh for different sidebar images - some better than others.

Don’t expect any redesigns around here, though. Every time I dare to tinker with the current look, I end up trashing the changes. I’ve been playing this game for years now, and I’d have to say this particular design is a personal favorite. Why mess with it?

Famous last words, I know.

That said, I think I’ve finally started to tire of blogging. I still dig the concept, no doubt, but I’m not sure if care much for the practice. The Anime Blog was a real success thanks to its sharp focus and (fairly) regular update cycle. Unfortunately, sharp focus and regular update cycle suck up a lot of time - which is why I eventually gave it up. I consider jumping back in the fray almost daily, but I always return to the issue of time. It’s not that I don’t have the time. It’s just that I’d rather use my time for something else… even if that something else entails sitting on the sofa, staring at the wall.

Betsu ni, however, is kind of a funky child. I’ve been blogging since before blogging was even worth blogging about, so I’ve just about run out of things to write about. Actually, I have run out of things to write about. The only thing that keeps this blog going, I’m afraid, is the pretty pictures. I’m cool with that, of course, and I suspect most of my readers are as well. Let’s keep it our little secret.

I’m just glad I chose (long ago) to roll my web presence and real life presence into one… because trying to maintain two separate identities would have been a total pain in the ass.

It keeps going and going and…