They dont even have blackberries here

Um , so this is the first time Ive ever written one of these. But I love Rhya's so much that I decided to start one too. ( sorry to copy you Rhya!)
Today I tried to read ' The Sheepman's Christmas' by Haruki Murakami in Japanese. Its really hard! Alas I am still illiterate. But I am determined to learn this year. Only 1,700 characters and zillions of combinations to learn before I can read the newspaper...
But back to the book for a second - If you ( whoever you are ) have not read any Haruki Murakami ( its in english too) you really really should!!! He is one of my favorite authors. His best in my opinion are 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' and ' The Elephant Vanishes' But his other stuff is also really good.
Other than that I didnt do too much - tried out my new webcam while I talked to my dear Jenna in Barcelona, and then went running at lake suwa. I love lakes and all bodies of water so much. I always forget until I go back and then I think ' how could I have stayed away for this long...' After my run I laid on the rocks near the lake and stared up at the moon for about half an hour. and thought about the lake 1000 years ago and how the people around here lived then, and the stories about the two gods of the lake. I dont know the story very well, but ( roughly) there was one female god and one male god but they lived on opposite sides of the lake. They were always trying to see each other, but couldnt cross to be with the other and leave their side. But sometimes during very cold winters a huge crack would suddenly split the frozen lake and it is said it is the Gods sending a message to each other. Actually it happened this winter, but I am stupid and did not get any photos.
I also know that in the middle of Suwa lake there is a tiny island with a shrine on it - and in the shrine is a giant black penis statue - it comes up to my waist and is regularly proportioned from there. I can only suspect that it is something to do with the male god of the lake... You can take a trip to this island if you rent a small pedalling swan boat - only about 1200 yen ( 14 dollars) for 30 minutes and fits 3 people!

anyway so I thought about the gods and the long time they have lived around lake suwa, and the short time I have lived around lake suwa. What would the world seem like if you watched it for thousands of years... would it seem to fast forward by or would time go slower if you had so much of it?

Going back to language for a second, its interesting how long words have been around for but we keep using them all the time and dont even think about how they connect us to the past. Of course words are always evolving, but even so there are some words that we have been using for ages and ages. Its more noticable with Japanese because of the character alphabet - you are always more aware of concepts/ basic things words are based on because each part of a word is so clearly understandable as a seperate thing from the word itself. Of course English words are also made up of pieces of other words/ ideas but they are often in all sort of languages that we arent very familiar with and so dont really know the etemology behind it. But in Japanese you can see the etemology when you read the word. It makes you more aware of the fundamentals behind things we take for granted normally. At least it does that to me...

well I guess thats enough blather for my first attempt at writing something that someone might find interesting. What exactly is the point of a blog I wonder. Am I just writing what I am thinking about? Or am I supposed to be considering a possible audience? I guess I can do whatever I want to, but its weird because you also know that people who read it will form opinions about you based on what you write. Hmm...

I read about these people in Toronto who got buried alive overnight as part of some rebirth ceremony that is derived from something similar that the something or other( I forgot the name) Indians did in Mexico thousands of years ago- the ones that Carlos Casteneda was in with in the 60's. Apparently CBC did some thing about it. I'd love to interview one of them for the Dirt Issue of Rind. ( the magazine I help run - www.rindmag.com) Its pretty weird. I am almost interested to try it myself. It would be so incredibly creepy.

maybe I should think of something a bit less sinister before I go to sleep. I have fresh bing cherries all crimson skinned in the fridge. my goodnight snack.

good bye dear readers
-ariel

ps sorry I cant seem to get the links to work I suppose Ill figure it out eventually