MM and I had quite a task trying to absorb all the alcohol by ourselves. It was fun watching him try to redraw the darts scoreboard while three sheets in the wind. I'll try to post the photo of the result sometime soon.
We have every intention of trying to work up a playlist for next year's fireside pickin'-n-grinnin' session. One never knows when one will be called upon to do road construction for the devil and it doesn't hurt to have a supply of paving stones on hand.
My . . . time does go fast. I'm looking forward to having you on my badminton team then next year, Kirirao san, so do keep up that training and I'll try to do the same, and we'll play a game of 'blazing birdies.'
Yes, we could say that Mikawa san was at the first two . . . in a way . . . and while there are small changes along the way (for example the wider badminton net, the marked-out with actual field liner field, the new, competition, bristle dart board, and some of the little lady's friends joining us as well), I think it very safe to say that it is 'a hoot and a holler.'
It's always a real treat to see Mike pull up under his garage the day before. Yes, you heard right . . . he has his own spot every year at that time, and it's kind of like his coming back home for a spell, before going back out in the rat race out there. He didn't have as many cameras with him this year, but he did have some boxes of a slightly different focus--and room to spare for doing art with them. [hey, more of you'll just have come listen next time, huh?] I think he forgot his jumper here too. (so he might come back a little earlier to get it? . . . )
Well, Pachipro san, ASHIKAGA san and Mike have put it about right. Once you see the photo of the lines I had drawn up for that one game (was it last one? I honestly can't recall . . . blame Mr. Johnnie Walker for that one), you'll understand. Now in the game where it was myself against the other two, someone kind of forgot about closing their twenties, and allowed me to get something like 120 points in just a handful of throws, but otherwise, I'd say it was quite balanced . . . both El Diablo and Johnny--I meant, MIke--Cash can throw some mean darts !!
Yep . . . I'm gonna hafta be careful about my mixing next year...first fill the glass to about 3/4s cola, then finish up with 12 year JW Black label or WT 101, instead of the opposite order. . . hee, hee, hee...
SO, next year is set to go . . . and it'll be on the third, or the fourth of May, so go ahead and make your plans, folks !! We DID miss Taiko666 and his little lady this year, but I am really counting on their presence next year (with a beat to the music that makes us all just wanna get up and dance).
I spend so much of my time stuck in traffic and on the major roadways in the course of my work as a truck driver that during my off time I go out of my way to avoid crowded highways. Fortunately, I have an old beat-up car the value of which fluctuates daily, depending on how much gas is in the tank. That means I don't care in the slightest about what sort of road I take it on. On my trip to Mars this year I stayed on the back roads and went through some splendid mountain passes. It takes longer, but for long stretches I can often have the road entirely to myself.
I thought I'd share a photo of one section of road that I took:
The lo-o-o-ng and winding road, tha-a-a-t leads, to M-Mars...yes ! Nice shot there, Mike! And, I might add, provides an example of the grade of terrain that Thomas will have loads of fun traversing up here next year, in his (perhaps) slightly different-terrain-from-usual pedal pushing fun...right THOMAS !!!
AND we'll have Dutch Baka san et al. up here giving tips on the fineries of sipping Belguim beers, there histories, and how to drink as much as I did this past time, but without losing the ability to draw straight lines, or write capital Ms with the right number of peaks...rather than like a sales chart in economic hard times; ain't that right, Dutch !!
I'm sure we'll have Iron Chef, helping us with cooking up some real good 'n hard eats; Pachipro with that additional Southern gentleman style of raising hell again; Taiko666 with drums, charming young lady, and all; and of course many others of you all too. If only Tsuyoiko had wings to fly, and could swoop on up to Mars, it would be great (if I could control myself from falling erotically in love with her in front of lady Mars Man...hee, hee, hee...)
May May come merrily moving on down the calendar soon, once again !!
If only Tsuyoiko had wings to fly, and could swoop on up to Mars, it would be great (if I could control myself from falling erotically in love with her in front of lady Mars Man...hee, hee, hee...)
ooh...and people thought it was cold up on Mars? . . . nah; it gets quite warm at times . . . hee, hee, hee......but I do wish you too, could make, sis !
Well, there WAS this one Japanese guy who had somehow managed to stay sober through the day, and he ended up beating Mars Man and Mike Cash in a two-on-one match... He is known in the darts world as "El Diablo" but people here may know him better as ASHIKAGA!!!!
OK, to be fair, MM was pretty far gone by the time that match took place. It was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to throw the darts at all without injuring any of us.
OK...ok...I know, it's a bit TOO early for that...BUT it is NOT too early for this !!
Thomas san, Dutch Baka san, Iron Chef san, ArmandV san, Damicci san, bakaKanadajin san, when you guys buy your 2011 calendars, desk planners, or whatever, before you get it out of the store, even MARK off May 3-5, so that you CAN BE HERE !! Yes, Thomas san, you HAVE TO DO YOUR CYCLING IN SHIGA, HERE, NEXT YEAR !! Dutch san, bring the whole, I mean the WHOLE family, drag 'em on up here !! (you'll never taste better BBQ in Japan...right, Mike Cash?!
Pachipro san, go ahead and reserve your plane seat NOW !! Tsuyoiko chan, take that Siberia Express and a couple of short ferry rides, and come down from Russia to Hokkaido , and on down to Shiga for the 2011 meet ! Taiko666 san !! You've gotta be here this year...musical tools, sweetheart, and all !!
ASHIKAGA san, to be honest, I can't really remember if you did actually beat me at darts...and while I trust your sober opinion, I throw down my other glove, and say 'come on up here again, and throw your best darts !!Kirirao san, you said you would train for next year's badminton 'demons from hell' firefight--lightning flashing, great balls of fire stinging down from the other side of the net, supported by the winds of Santana. Put it on your calendar, Kirirao san...and bring your sleeping bag this time and stay over, so you can watch me make sure of not letting ASHIKAGA whoop my bald head on my own dart board.
AND...one last word squeezed in here (and I am NOT joking) preparations for the up-coming one ARE underway already, you see. Yep, hard work is in the process, things are already starting to come together...I mean you've gotta do this when Thomas san is coming to stay over at your place, and Dutch Baka san is bringing his little lovely and their creations, right?!!
AND then...finally, I am very grateful for the title change to this thread..Uncle Frank san? If it could be up-dated, I'd be happy, and grateful too. 2011 may seem like a long way off, but, folks, it's not any further off than the day you buy your new calendars in a couple of weeks or so !!
The man don't lie. I had such a good time (again) this year that I went back up for solo overnight visits twice more over the summer. Mars Man doesn't stint on the BBQ and the hospitality whether it is for one guest or a dozen guests.
It may be worth pointing out for some folks that the "Shiga" referred to is the name of MM's town in Nagano Prefecture and notShiga Prefecture .
ASHIKAGA san, to be honest, I can't really remember if you did actually beat me at darts...and while I trust your sober opinion, I throw down my other glove, and say 'come on up here again, and throw your best darts!!!
My right wrist is stronger than ever. Thanks to many hours of lifting and some intense visualization training ( "I'm one with the dart.... I AM the dart...." ), it is now a finely tuned dart throwing machine!
Now that you've thrown down your Be-dazzled™ glove, I pick it up and wipe my you-know-where, and say, "BRING IT!". :box:
Like Rocky in The Eye of the Tiger, I rise from inner doubt and confusion, from the malign mayhem inspiried by the breasts of 101 dazzling maidens, draped solely in feathers, with kisses of sugar. I gain in inspirational strength from the touch of enlightenment's teaching me to move on past the realm of Meliorism, into that of the gods themselves. I focus my neural fields of power to alter the very quatum spin of the parallel universes, aligning all strings into a single, inevitable and inescapable oneness of point, to point attraction--wherein I release the point that must but meet the point, at perfection of oneness. OHM ...
In May we meet, and may the greater deity win all !!
Ah HA !! And the challenge is on !
Like Rocky in The Eye of the Tiger, I rise from inner doubt and confusion, from the malign mayhem inspiried by the breasts of 101 dazzling maidens, draped solely in feathers, with kisses of sugar. I gain in inspirational strength from the touch of enlightenment's teaching me to move on past the realm of Meliorism, into that of the gods themselves. I focus my neural fields of power to alter the very quatum spin of the parallel universes, aligning all strings into a single, inevitable and inescapable oneness of point, to point attraction--wherein I release the point that must but meet the point, at perfection of oneness. OHM ...
Some of you more normal folks please show up so I don't end up in a corner drinking by myself when this nonsense gets going for real. (I never knew there was so much to darts! Why didn't somebody tell me boobies were involved!)
Then, from the humbleness of my heart, and in tune with the thankgivingness of the season, I offer to share with you, in the interests of mankind, those 101 dancing damsels, those genii in a bottle--as I will be merged into embodiment with the dart board on that eventful-to-be evening yet to come. I, on that evening, will have become pure, and will not, this time, allow those particular feathers of debauchery to taint the quantum entanglement of my oneness of dart point and board point.
Not to worry. Dutch Baka will be there, compelled to go there by his son who will have by that time become entranced by the quantity of LEGOS and ELECTRIC TRAINS and TRACK. A whole city--airport with lifesize jet liner (from the scale of a small child's imagination), dock with containers and drunken bums, firetrucks, helicopters, armies of men and women carrying what appear to be (according to my sons who had earlier pieced them together) vaporiziors, and enough railway track to make a 10 tatami room no longer traversable.
Dutch's problem will NOT be one of going there, but rather, one of having gone there, trying to pry his children from that toyhouse dream of a space. (and of course, losing to me at darts)
Now don't tell me you haven't heard of the JREF Meet in Shiga !! (not the prefecture, but the little countryside, middle of nowhere hillside on the far, far outside of Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture) That means you need to go back and study a bit of recent Japanese history. I mean you know, Golden Week wasn't always around, you know. Yep, you figured correctly, Golden Week was set aside by the Japanese greater government just to make sure that the JREF Meet in Shiga could happen every year !!!
We're gonna have a gang here, and we'll have even better than usual treats for eats, and treats for other pleasures as well !! Of course I have asked the weather people to save that clear, deep blue sky for those several days, there, so safe there. Also, I'm gonna try to see if I can set the ping-pong table up outside this time, so folks can do that too. (though there is a chance that I will not be able to find a steady, level place for it)
Yep, May does come fast, but here, in Shiga, time pretty much tends to stand still. I'm looking forward to a great May, and an even greater JREF Meet in Shiga this year--2011 !
It just happens that Ping Pong (I'd prefer the term, Table Tennis, BTW) is my favorite sport!! You ping, I pong, everybody pingpong ramadamadingdong! Please DO make that happen!
Alrighty, then . . . I shall work on setting aside the time to do the planning so as to make sure the work for making a level place gets under way, and finishes in time to have a large flat area outside fo that. The table is in the dozo at the moment, and on the first floor. Mike helped me 'hide' it two years back, so that it cannot be recognized as a table tennis table (since the downstairs area in the dozo is quite tight, actually, and a good game cannot be played on that full-sized table).
So this year, you may go home with sore legs (from badminton jumping, quick body spins, stops, and gos, and falls and rolls), sore fingers and wrists (from dart release and last nanosecond flight path adjustment), sore shoulders and ankles (from the table tennis power thrusts, and continuous bouncing motion), and sore jaws (from all the eating you will do) [and I'm not going to mention any other possible sore things that may occur due the wonderous experience of the annual JREF in Shiga, such as, sun-burned skin, over-soaked brain, or blown out ears...hee, hee, hee....]
Alright guys, I will keep that noted in my plan book. As it is, I am running just a bit on a tight schedule at the moment, yet ahead of what I usually do--so I want have to keep Mike waiting while I tidy up some stuff that should have already been done (as I have done most every year that he's been coming [except maybe the very first one, with the neighborhood party]). It is too bad, however, that you guys can't make it this year... there'll be some folks coming that I'd bet many would love to be able to meet.
Anyway, things should be fine for next year as well !! I always look forward to having you two here--being able to finally meet Damicci san in person (rather than just on the phone), and seeing Revenant san again ! This year I'm gonna do my best to make some handmade tortillas for the fajitas the morning after--if I can see straight that morning after, that is...hee, hee, hee....
Alright !! I will definitely keep you in mind when we are going full swing--as long as such circumstances allow me to keep my mind !! (oh...and we have lots of nice things around the place that critters that like to eat green things would thoroughly enjoy....so you can bring them along too !!
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