Monday - 2008-0414-0100 - Rain - Kojima Rain; Kanji Characters; Chris Rice; Why Am I Up at This Hour

Rain - Kojima Rain Larger Image

Chris Rice Larger Image

A nigh time image of rain by Kentaro Kojima at KPC network web of Konan University near Kobe, on the main island of Honshu.

(Japan consists of many islands; the four largest of which are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyu-shu and Shikoku. I mention all this because I never know how to indicate directions for places in Japan. As you can see from the links, it is a geographically complex country.)

The photo has a time-lapse style to it that gives it an enigmatic quality. Everything seems slightly out of kilter. Nothing is quite recognizable. The body language of people carrying umbrellas is always intriguing. The way this person is cowering under it make me think the rain is intense. I just now realized that the dark section over the right shoulder is most likely a knapsack.

A couple of other items struck me about this image. It's one of those site that was vital at one point and then more or less forgotten. The last indicated update was 2006.

It is seldom mentioned but the language of the web is English. So no matter the country or the language, the hypertext markup language will always be in English. All browsers allow you to see the underlying code. Under Internet Explorer, look under Page, View Source. The very strange looking characters are the Japanese characters as represented by IE. They should appear in Kanji form, but they do not not, at least on MY laptop. However, under Firefox, it appears correctly. Why this happens under Firefox but not IE is very much a curiosity. I know that for Kanji characters to appear, the appropriate character set must be installed, but I thought that was independent of the browser. Very odd!!!

Last week, when I was looking for more images for the pensive guys section, I spent most of my time with James Dean, but I decided to also try the home page of Chris Rice. Under his photo gallery were several new images. I especially like the one at the left. I love the neo retro 40s look. It certainly makes him look delicious.

Chris has a new book out, "Blind Falls" that I bought this afternoon. I read his previous novel, "Light Before Day" and was amazed at the "maturity" of it. A intricate plot that I honestly can say that I did not totally understand. But there was the constant feel that the book was written by an older author.

When he first started writing, it was easy to say he was using his place as Anne Rice's son as a entrée into the publishing world. That may or may not have been the case. But it is certainly not the case now.

OK! This started last week. Thursday was the last day of my antibiotic Avelox, and the first time I felt like doing anything. So I did several loads of laundry, picked up debris in the yard, raked, did some painting clean up in the living room. All of which was too much after several weeks of inactivity.

During "CSI" at 8 pm, I developed a mind-numbing headache. At first I thought it was sinus, but then I realized it was gastro. One of those infernal maladies that happens after a period of antibiotics have upset your system. I actually had to stop "CSI" and go to bed after taking a Clonazepam and a Alprazolam. Fortunately, I was able to sleep.

However, when I awoke Friday, I felt terrible. So I backtracked to the tummy prescriptions the doctor had given me several weeks before and took a Promethazine. Which I'd taken several weeks ago but didn't seem to have any effect. But this time, I'm guessing the combination or accumulation of meds took over and I slept all of Friday and part of Saturday.

This afternoon, I again has a headache and wound up sleeping for about five hours. So obviously my circadian rhythms are off. But the "normal" cycle is off by about four hours, so this just makes it more off. Hence that's why I'm keyboarding away at this time of the morn.

(In Monday - 2008-0414-0100 / Out - 2008-0414-0300) This entry was written in a single setting. When I attempted to upload this entry at 0300, I was unsuccessful which most likely means someone was doing early morning maintenance. So the entry was not posted until 1030.

Pax! Erin go braugh! Je accuse...