DaveO

youtu.beThis Is Not My First Apocalypse: Essential Tools, Time Travel Insights, and LessonsYouTube video by Vancouver AI

1 Sept

dig me on a stage riffing (for well over an hour ;)) about pocket knives, mimeograph, telegram, apocalypses, revolutions, modems, hippies, laundry, dreams and schemes (at a planetarium in Vancouver for an event about *AI*) youtu.be/lSsFz0umIng?...

just here to make friends

tomorrow is our neighborhood's Halloween thing with absolute minimal viable effort with 4 or 5 checkpoints around the neighborhood for kids to hustle around, grab some hastily prepared bags from watch-checking adults. I post up on a camp chair at one of the checkpoints and do my banter w/ kiddos

and no shade, I mean it's no big deal, but I'm trying to build some wider community vibes by wrangling Christmas party, now 3rd year {tree, illumination, music ~ live and CDs ~ hot cocoa, proper cookies, coloring pages, photographer / & of course a *very earnest* rep from Santa Claus Association}

just here to make friends

listening for the witch with the megaphone to call my magic pink number to win an undetermined prize of some sort Also handmade a newspaper double handled tote bag, purchased a sweeet handmade leather carabiner keyholder, and a denim tissue pouch (photos to follow if surprisingly intrigued)

loaded up with congas, mic stands, all sorts of snacks and candies and handmade items have seven yen left in my wallet after many cheap and cheerful yet quality goods purchased 2:20 PM and I'm completely wiped. going home for a bath, bed with oxygen and earplugs (& laundry)

just here to make friends

all right here's the guy I showed you before making the soba noodles, and here's my ¥500 bowl

spent ¥300 on a small jar of local honey. Gotta support the beekeepers, it ain't an easy racket these days. Plus often reading Sylvia Plath #poems from Ariel which touches on bees and honey and beekeeping a lot

just here to make friends

some bandmates (not full squad today)

stage crew

just here to make friends

there is about to be some puppeteering

yes I live in a Wes Anderson movie

just here to make friends

wrangled up a posse

wifu & mae maes band singing "moon river" #totallynormalsaturday

just here to make friends

¥100 yakitori? Three please

artisan handmade soba in a parking lot? Oh you know I will

Was gonna save this for my only fans but think this is a safe space, right? Everyone has a pair of handmade patchwork bell-bottom leather trousers right? right...?

{pulled out the big bin of fun dress up artifacts, clothing and otherwise for Halloween good times ~~ of course have the family kitted out as cowpokes and / or hobos} ps those leather beauties ^ are maybe only 4th wildest thing in the box PPS we call a costume box a "tickle trunk" in Canada

left house on non-hospital business today bus > and train to artisan printer in Bizen Unstaffed stations, missed timings > long waits, printer occasionally open Bento at station Picked up "Nepal aerogram" double sided diorama, 100 copies only Discussed next 2-1/2 "DaveO dispatches" project

which means i should get up (wearing a fetching black jimbei) and get the kitchen in order will fold laundry while watching film Ichi choses, yet hoping it's that 70s-made Egypt documentary (we've moved from dinosaurs to Neanderthals to Alexander 'not so great') but might be something puppets

thank you for being my #diary many things on calendar, I'm quite anxious but doing my best {PS took overhauled Olympia typewriter to kura desk, Olivetti on caboose desk} [both with the distinctive smell of machine oil]

oh and my outfit was quite cute and/or smashing today (yet forgot token photo) an elderly lady from Nara on train was eager to talk to me ~ because my sweet beard stuck out from mask explained her grandfather grew a beard down to his belly in the Meiji era she waved and smiled from the platform

Friday nights are "special day" at our house which means we play library DVDs from a projector onto a sheet clip'd to the curtain rod + Eat something fun: mini burgers, DIY pizzas or iro iro handy leftovers (pork belly & chicken in fridge today) Tomorrow, Ryoko sings at a festival (maybe raining?)

not exactly chapbooks, not a mail club, not zines, not broadsheets… yet kind of all of these things, but none at once each with different design/layout/paper/printing mix of #poetry, diaries, sketches, snapshots, ephemera limited runs, hand finished, numbered signed and stamped envelopes matter

every detail has a backstory & every backstory has another story 'I meant to tell you' (but I have 1 million things to tell you) will make four or five publications per year, forever the secondary market will be feverish all sent via letter post (or small packet when required)

1) Misasa Sojourn (now in 2nd printing) 2) Advocate: vanish now and again (sold out) 3) Nepal aerogram (in preparation with *many* includes) 4) "present is an unfinished poem…" Field notes (single sheet, at printer) 5) Entire coast of Portugal (map fold, in-design) 6) Items, Forgotten (v. 3)

Went to post office Purchased many stamps Many Reminded again: the local post box is all tattered and worn with no information about pick-up times Purchased a box of Sri Lankan tea, at the post office Sat in park to record #poetry pod about homes, seas, cliffs & ships with Lowry, Ginsberg and me

~ sweet potato harvesting, Ryoko's singing at a festival, also a tree doctor exhibition something + neighborhood Halloween (we'll be old-timey cowboys), usual doctors & trying to train to Bizen for pick-up 'Nepal aerogram' project And a recurring thought about Kyoto, so close / far ~ head hurts

{occurs to me: maybe most people don't realize ~ among my creative projects ~ is "Postcards from Gravelly Beach" a spoken word literature podcast rolling slow since 2006, recorded in so many locations, various equipment, tender vibrations, yes subscrib-able, gratis (from Russians to the beats)}

also updated Japan post bank book, slid some bills into the dispenser Earlier today: printed fictional guesthouse letterhead (A5), personal letter (A4), bespoke library checkout card and card catalog card for a special book as an activity with Ichi-Stan {Looking at calendar with trepidation}

youtube.comtypewriter fresh up chitchatYouTube video by DaveO Storytime

a meandering story about sending 2 #typewriters sent to Kobe for overhauls ~ returned with the wonderful smell of machine oil put one on desk & made a chitchat live stream while typing a letter {tryin' to keep blues away with a bit of creativity every day} www.youtube.com/live/esqzE2j...

while hanging out in various pajamas and loungewear, preparing and ordering a few other treasures to include in the next "Dave O dispatches" (misasa, 2nd edition and Nepal aerogram) yet realizing it will probably be next spring before I can really put them on offer as surgery in January #diary

special things to a couple especially kind folks been looping me into pleasant music and general good vibes. Truly appreciated

youtube.comtypewriter fresh up chitchatYouTube video by DaveO Storytime

i'm just telling you the above out loud to get it out of my head, spending a lot of time looking at the ceiling fan & hitting my max of obscure historical topic and personal diary podcasts, plus various audiobooks. Scribbling postcards, dictating emails and voice messages from time to time ✌🏻

just don't have the mental bandwidth or physical capability for much more We've got sweet potato harvesting event coming up at preschool, Ryoko has a band live at a festival & a tree doctor fair, there's neighborhood Halloween, some Vancouver friends visit visiting Kyoto I wanna see but... dunno

youtube.comtypewriter fresh up chitchatYouTube video by DaveO Storytime

The machines are: * Olivetti Lettera 34 (Japanese model with ¥), handy lightweight plastic clamshell * Olympia SM3, a heavy metal beast with a portable case but gosh you don't want to carry it Of course there are dossiers about each at usual place

[still really struggling at returning to anything close to baseline, the headaches, exhaustion, brain fog and neurological fuzz are all way past acceptable limits #MECFS & #CSF yet it's also Ryoko's super busy season so I'm trying to keep the house running a wee bit without further crashing]

localelections.caWest Vancouver (School District) Election Results

another note about the #BCPOLI elections (yes I'm a guy who lives in pajamas in Japan however…) a huge congratulations to Richard Loat, who is now a school board trustee in West Vancouver You might recall his charitable hockey campaign "five hole for food" localelections.ca/election_res...

@seanorr.bsky.social high-fives from Japan

thank you Internet, especially folks in BC… I'm kind of in hermit mode these days for various reasons but it was nice to feel connected to the people "outside the wall" for a little while Remember peace and kindness PS send me love letter postcards

no matter who wins these civic elections in BC, the combo of Justin McElroy, Steven Quinn and Lein Yeung & colleagues on #CBC lay it out so good somehow my life intersected with all 3 of in very significant ways so even though not a voter, watching just to see them #bcpoli #vancouver

large heavy box arrived by courier from Kobe inside, 2 overhauled olden #typewriters opened box with Ichiro and his pocket knife skills faint smell of machine oil slid paper into the Olympia SM3 and he typed "I love dad" (handwritten carbon paper invoice and bank transfer information inside)

66.7 ps 5 letters written, only 3 mailed due to lack of ¥140 stamps pps made a ginger and cinnamon tonic with ginger dug from the backyard (by friend with wife's shovel) ppps sourced Nepalese bank notes

getting my new conceptual art installation ready for exhibition on the art islands #Setouchi #JapanArt