Don't Let the Scrubs Fool You

This was my second experience as an extra. It was for a Japanese tabloid documentary/re-enactment show called Seikai Gyoten News (World's Shocking News). This particular story was about an American man with Kleinfelter Syndrome.

This show, like many Japanese shows, has a format of a panel of people in a studio that are watching the pre-recorded video clips that tell a story. The pink boxes in the upper left corner are the reactions of the panelists as they watch the story.

The show alternates between story segments and panel segments, but my Japanese still isn't good enough to follow along.

The story opens with a family in a yard, then the dad gets stung by a wasp.

Wasp-eye view. Delightfully campy!

He has an allergic reaction and gets rushed to the hospital, where I am in charge of taking his blood pressure!

I'm probably putting the cuff on backward. I'm a professional, but not a medical professional.

Today's panel includes an adorable beetle pixy (far right). She is wearing beetles on her earrings, necklace, hair clip, and one the size of a backpack.

The panel learns about wasps from a woman with a real (empty) wasp nest, some charts, and a plastic bug on a stick.

After he recovers from his allergic reaction, they run some tests.

I'm not doing this properly, either. Have I mentioned that I'm not a medical professional?

 As the story progresses, he becomes a woman. Something about the wasp venom messing with his chromosomes or activating his Kleinfelter Syndrome or something. Again, I don't know enough Japanese to really understand.

I was surprised that at the end there was an interview the actual family, but it was really interesting to see the people that actually lived it.

I make one more appearance as Second Woman Walking in Background before the scene comes into focus.

I'm practically a movie star now.

Kuro Insults My Cooking

Okay, it's not really my cooking. It's a vitamin supplement added to the gravy from a tin of canned food, the only part she'll actually eat. It looks gross, but two weeks ago it was her favorite thing in the world.

Now she's being picky.

And not just picky, she's actually figured out how to say something bad about it.

 

In cat behavior, that scratching motion is only made when burying something in the litter box.

She's telling me the food is s**t. 

Maybe she's smarter than I thought.

Edit: It's possible she's just trying to save it for later, some cats do that, but she refused to eat this stuff several times a day, at least a couple days in a row (fresh batch every day). If that's the case, I'm not sure how much later she was trying to save it for. It's also much funnier if I interpret it as an insult.

Other than this, she's actually settled in quite well. She still refuses to spend any time in the living room for some reason, but she has been sleeping on the bed just about every night for the past week or two.

And I replaced some of her claw caps the other day, and she only went all bendy and squirmy for the first two. For the last two or three, she just lay on her side (purring like a wee fuzzy monster) and let me put them on her. That was a pleasant surprise.

---

Kuro is a 6-year-old spayed female, available for adoption through the Japan Cat Network. She is a little shy, but she is self-sufficient. I think she would be a great companion for a working professional or for a family. She doesn't need a lot of attention, but she appreciates it very much when she gets it. She meows a bit when she's happy, but for the most part she is very quiet.

Previous posts:
Meet Kuro
Kuro Gets Less Shy
Kuro Doesn't Understand Doors
Kuro Relaxes a Little
Kuro Doesn't Understand Video

Expert Hallway Walker in Action

Many moons ago, I talked about being in the movie Hayabusa, cast as an Expert Hallway Walker (otherwise known as an "extra"). It finally came out on DVD!

My face isn't in it, but I walk by, as is appropriate for an Expert Hallway Walker. Later, I sit.

This is a chapter that takes place at NASA. There's a meeting, a scene in the lobby, and a conference.

BEHOLD! (Also click the image for a larger version.)

BE AMAZED AT MY AWESOME WALKING ABILITY!

Hey, there I go again!

You're gonna have to trust me on this one.

Fun fact: I'm sitting next to the guy that I walked with in the second picture.

I'm almost in this one.

I know, I'm not in that last one, but it's so close I can point to where I'm sitting.

I'd love to comment on the movie itself, but there is no English subtitle option and our Japanese is still abysmal. Sad face.

It was still fun and I'm glad I got to be a part of it!

Kuro Doesn't Understand Video

Knowing Kuro is easily confused, I wanted to see what would happen if I showed her a video.
For extra points, it's the video of her not understanding a sliding door.

She watches for a while, then makes a noise at me. I'm not sure what she means, but it's probably along the lines of, "What is this witchery?"

She watches a while longer, then she touches the screen and licks her paw to see if the video has a taste. I'm guessing it doesn't.

She's a sweet cat, I hope we can find her a Forever Home.

---

Kuro is a 6-year-old spayed female, available for adoption through the Japan Cat Network. She is a little shy, but she is self-sufficient. I think she would be a great companion for a working professional or for a family. She doesn't need a lot of attention, but she appreciates it very much when she gets it. She meows a bit when she's happy, but for the most part she is very quiet.

Previous posts:
Meet Kuro
Kuro Gets Less Shy
Kuro Doesn't Understand Doors
Kuro Relaxes a Little

Fuji-san: the Expert Trip

You have to do it once.
Twice, you're an idiot.
The third time, you're an expert.

I don't know how to say everything in Japanese, but I'll try to do both.

日本語ですべてのたんごを話せませんが試します。

We left our house just after 3am and returned at at about 8:30pm. It was a long day.
午前３時行きました、午後８時半帰りました。日は長いでしたよ。

In previous years, the parking lot had been full and we walked 2km to get to the starting point. This year there was a larger designated parking lot farther away and a shuttle bus to the fifth station.
去年、ちゅうしゃじょうはいっぱいでしたから、初めての所に２キロ歩きました。今年、といちゅうしゃじょうでちゅうしゃして、バスで初めての所に行きました。

The parking lot for climbing Mount Fuji seems like an odd place to put a painting of Mount Fuji.

この絵は便利ですね。富士山のちゅうしゃじょうにあります。

So lifelike!

The weather was exceptional.
いい天気でしたよ。

Here we go! Onward, hoes!
行きましょう！

These guys are climbing Fuji. Wearing suits.
富士山登っている。スーツを着ている。すごい!

Above the clouds, still going...

背が高い．．．

Only in Japan is there a queue to climb a mountain.
日本にだけ、山登るのちょうだのれつです。

A very long queue.
とてもちょうだのれつです。

Compared to last year, it wasn't as cold, rainy, or foggy, but it was dusty enough that every time I laughed, only a series of gleeful coughs came out. Hey, at least I wasn't so tired I didn't find things funny!
去年より、今年の天気の方がいいでした。でも、 ほこりがたくさんありました。

That said, it was just as painful as previous years.
痛かった。

See you again next year, Fuji-san.
富士山、まで来年。