Hidemi’s Rambling No.41

Yesterday, I received a package from Amazon, which contained the complete season DVDs of ‘Seinfeld’. I ordered them online as I found a great sale for them. It cost only $15 each. In Japan, ‘Seinfeld’ isn’t on air and its DVDs are three times costly. It used to be on cable for a brief period of time, but was terminated because of unpopularity -Can you believe it? Anyway, for that reason, the deal is almost unreal for me as a ‘Seinfeld’ freak. I already have its DVDs up to the season 4 and I jumped at the sale to complete the whole seasons. To save money, I ordered by a standard international shipping that takes time. But Amazon sent part of my order by air for the quick service. I opened the package dancing with joy to have received them much faster than I had expected. But, that arrived part of order didn’t include the season 6. I will be able to watch the season 5 right away, but wait for the season 6 although I have the rest of the seasons at hand. According to Amazon, the other part of my order is going to arrive on December 29th. Japan is too far away…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.42

Happy Birthday, Mickey! Today is Mickey Mouse’s 81st birthday. He is my best friend. We became friends when I visited Tokyo Disneyland for the first time twenty three years ago. Since then, he has taught me a lot and made my life a fun ride, which is otherwise a bumpy one. He has also helped me to big decisions such as to live in Anaheim, California and to purchase a time share at Walt Disney World in long-term, numerous installments. Feeling so grateful, I threw a party today with cheese cake and Okonomi Yaki -sort of a Japanese version of pizza. The thing is, today is the day that his first movie was released, not that he was actually born. So, I only celebrate the day of his debut on screen every year. After all, when is his birthday…?

Hidemi’s Rambling No.43

I bought a desk top PC in May to use it as a TV set. I record TV shows on its HDD and watch them on its monitor. It came with a remote, but didn’t respond. I thought it wasn’t a model controllable by a remote. Yesterday, I watched DVDs of Mickey Mouse’s classic films and of ‘South Park’. I usually watch DVDs on my lap top, but tried on the desk top for the first time. While I haven’t minded watching recorded programs without a remote, it was cumbersome to watch DVDs without it. I studied the desk top closely, and found a tiny sensor on the front, which was blocked by a slender leg of the coffee table. That reminded me of a mysterious object that also came with the desk top. I rummaged it out. It turns out to be an external receiver for a remote. With one simple action, it was set up and the remote began to work. So convenient. I haven’t used this essential item for six months. One leg of a table plays a big role…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.44

The temperature has dropped unusually sharply to the one of January in Japan. Just two weeks ago, I was walking around with a T-shirt. The season passed from summer to winter skipping the comfortable autumn this year. Although I love winter, a sudden change in temperature makes me queasy or gives me a headache as low-pressure does. Today I was planning to go to the area where Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea are located. There are many hotels, restaurants and shops around the theme parks so that I look around for the Disney goods for Christmas without entering the park itself. And sure enough, I began to feel slightly sick while preparing to go out. I was afraid that it would get worse and gave up going there today. All because of the January temperature in the middle of November. Bizarre weather…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.45

A letter came from Epson yesterday. I use a desk top PC of Epson exclusively to work for my music because the CPU load and the size of data are huge. The letter told me to stop using my computer right now, or it would cause a fire. Yes. It is recall. I’ve using the computer with no trouble at all for six years. As I’ve written here before, our new song is about to be completed. The rest of work is to record chorus and to mix down. And now, they told me to disconnect the computer and send it to the factory. Why now? What’s this? A joke?

Hidemi’s Rambling No.46

I reviewed my work plan, because its schedule has been disrupted in many ways such as by my fall from the bathroom scale or my bad condition from a sudden drop in temperature. Even as a slow worker myself, I didn’t want to drag this work for our new song into 2010. I’ve already spent six years on this song. But now, it’s clear that the work won’t be done by the end of this year. Come to think of it, what is the difference between 2009 and 2010? What’s the point to finish work within 2009? Days just continue. I just visualize some kind of a big wall standing between them and feel a great deal of pressure to put every work of this year inside the nonexistent wall…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.47

I came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to comply with the recall of my computer. Our new song is near completion and has become a big project with lots of detailed configurations and complicated data. I have the backups of course, but there is a possibility that the song wouldn’t be restored and played exactly as it’s supposed to be. I can’t take that risk in this final stage. So, the question is which comes first, the song is finished or a fire breaks out from the computer. Now that I accepted going into the next year for this song, a race against 2009 is over. And here, a deadly, daring race has begun…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.48

An explosive sound woke me up at 6 a.m. I thought a war broke out nearby. But it turned out to be firecrackers. It was the day that locals of this area celebrated a festival every seven years to bless their indigenous god, who preserved the area. My hometown, which is far away from here, has a similar god and festival but they never use firecrackers. For some crazy reason, locals here cracked them every hour on the hour all day long, and I jumped at the loud noise each time. I believe the indigenous god also jumped for disturbance rather than for joy…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.49

My parents live in my hometown, Kyoto, which is located in the western part of Japan. They hate my life as a musician. They wouldn’t accept who I am or what I do, and simply keep denying me. Any contact with them, such as a visit, a phone call, a letter all of which I make every effort to avoid, is never done without quarrel. A few days ago, they sent me a box of persimmons. I was delighted to open it, but of course, there was a note of an attacking message between the persimmons. They never miss a chance to bash me. So, I am thankful for being able to continue music nonetheless. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. I hope you get together with your family peacefully…

Hidemi’s Rambling No.50

On an online flier, I found a great one-day only sale at a nearby grocery store. They had cans of tuna, jars of simmered seaweed, and packs of instant miso soup at the lowest prices I’d ever seen. They are about 35 cents each. I couldn’t miss it, but unfortunately, I didn’t feel well with a mild headache and dizziness. So, I turned to my partner but it was his working day. As a result, I utterly missed this golden opportunity. At least I tried to copy the edited TV shows on a DVD and that ended in an error. It was one of those days that everything went amiss…