I've come to the conclusion that life gets more and more complicated. Not necessarily in bad ways, per say, but in getting busier ways, for sure! Dan starts his new job on Friday (and I think there's a path worn into the floor from his pacing...) We bought plane tickets to come home at the end of November! And I sold another photo!

This photograph, "Lantern Parade" was displayed in my art show back in May. There had been
some interest expressed in purchasing the photo by the producer of the taiko group (I mentioned the ultra-cool drummers in the entry about my show, I think.) Anyway, Shu Chiba was excited to hear that no one had bought the picture when I had Dan drop a not-so-subtle hint to see if he was still interested. :o) It turned out, he was still interested, but for a totally different reason than I had imagined... (apparently it's not just my amazing picture taking skills...)

In the picture, there is one lantern that is brighter than the others. The writing on it just happens to translate to "Shu's House" (using the same character that he uses for his name)! He bought the photo to hang in the entranceway of his house. Talk about LUCKY! We delivered the framed photo yesterday at taiko practice and the group all got a good laugh at Shu's expense. I was just stoked to sell another picture.

So speaking of taiko, another life change for us: the taiko guys are hoping to organize a tour in the Upper-Midwest. (Mainly/only Minnesota at this point.) Anyway, seeing as they have two native-English speakers who lived in the area for awhile with plenty of theatre background, etc., we have been asked to help. This is probably going to become my pet project (in tandem with Dan's amazing Japanese skills, of course). If everything works out the way we hope it does, four of the drummers, the two producers and I (and Kai) will come to Minnesota and do a concert tour at the end of April. Dan probably won't be able to come because won't have enough vacation time to spend, so that means that I would be doing the M.C.ing for the concerts, be the go-between for the band and the venues, etc. Here's a link to a video of some of Senrai's stuff. And here's on of my favorite songs. They did this with a DJ... super cool! The shamisen (three-stringed banjo) player probably wouldn't be coming because he is the best shamisen player in all of Japan (no joke) and has oodles of gigs on his own, so they are working on a modified group.

Anyway, I'm trying to sort out how to be a publicist for an international "rock band" :o) And Kai can be the trip's mascot. Anyone want to volunteer to come along and babysit if we can make this work? :o)

Anyway, signing off for now...
DAndiKai