First of all, thank you for the “welcome back” comments - unexpected, but a
very pleasant surprise. I’ll try my best to keep you entertained with my
pithy commentary from this place I affectionately refer to as The
Rock (do with that what you will: if you want to make Alcatraz
analogies, be my guest; however, that would be your own subjective reading
of potential symbols…). The cosmetic changes are still not complete and I even managed to lose my entire blog today in my efforts to “tidy up” the file tree (yes, Jay, have upgraded to 2.6 - might have to hit you up for some pointers).

So, anyway, as I was contemplating my return to the blogosphere
(could there be an uglier neologism?), I was kind of passively brainstorming
(is there such a thing? perhaps if you do it at my relaxed pace…)
potential topics and I happened to be in Shinjuku the other day and it
happened to be about 37C (but really felt about 42C in the sun) and I just
happened to come across this:

I have barely written a blog entry this entire year and, in the intervening 8 months, nothing’s changed outside of Krispy Kreme (okay, that’s not entirely true: they made a snake-type ramp at the front so that people don’t have to line up across the bridge and all the way to Takashimaya Times Square). Really…what compels people to line up for these things in the sweltering heat?

Okay, that’s done. I solemnly swear that I will never ever blog about Krispy Kreme again (that was the third time and that is my KK limit - always good to know one’s own limits, I say).

So, on to the next Shinjuku oddity.

As I rounded the corner from Odakyu Southern Terrace (the home of the now unmentionable greasy dough ring franchise) onto Koshu-kaido (the big main street that runs in front of the south exit of JR Shinjuku Station), I see this:

It is quite possibly one of the most amazing clouds I have ever seen - it was absolutely MASSIVE and, here’s the kicker: NOT ONE PERSON (aside from me) looked up and took notice (except the one old chief who noticed me and my camera and then followed my line of vision - if I hadn’t been taking a picture, he probably would’ve just carried on right across the street without looking up). Seriously…I took about 10 photos and in every frame it’s heads down across the board…

Life: you miss out on it if you’re never looking beyond the tip of your own snout…