Kid Ethnic: 103 Days At Sea: CORRECTION: Typhoons Scare Me. Lots.

CORRECTION: Typhoons Scare Me. Lots. · 9 September 04

Wreckage on my balcony.

I would like to acknowledge a huge error that I recently made here on kidethnic.com. I wrongfully implied both here and here that typhoons were a　joke for a durable half-blood like me.

I stand very corrected. Typhoons scare me so much that the mere memory of the last one makes me pause and consider whether or not to wet my pants out of residual fear.

When the storm began in the middle of the Monday night, I was going to see yet another over-hyped thunderstorm. Sure, the word “Typhoon” sounds scary, but so does “pancreas”, and everyone knows that your pancreas is a delightful friend to be loved and cherished.

Even when the rain and win began in the a.m., I thought the morning would be peacefully spent photographing leaves as they stuck to my glass doors.

Green leaf on window

I should have known something was up when the light behind the leaves became not-so-cute.

Dark sky, green leaf.

A typhoon is, in fact, just a hurricane in a different ocean. And it might rip things like, oh, I dunno, the dividing walls along your apartment’s balcony to tiny sharp pieces. As seen above.

And it might forcibly remove your bike shelter’s sheltering bits.

The bike shed lost it's cover.

It does, however, provide a lovely background for one to perform creative work. Like movies. Or, in my case, films.

Take, for example, the stunning Flight of My Garbage Can (a tiny download, very short, Quicktime required).

Note how the filming of the Slipping and Sliding of My Garbage can builds suspense for the beautiful moment of flight. Note how careless viewers will not even notice the garbage can’s flight over my balcony wall. Note that this is due to the murky focus and dodgy camera handling, and note how I will insist on swearing that these elements are part of my oeuvre.

Note that I cannot define that word.

And note, for future reference, that storing your garbage in little sacks around the house because you don’t know where in Japan one purchases a garbage can makes for a very smelly crib.

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We have some mild flooding that halts the subways. You have a typhoon that rips things to bits yet you still have time to make a film for all of us to enjoy. So I guess you win. Again.

Glad you’re okay.
— Liz 2009 days ago #
Hey, is your town in a swing-prefecture? Is the Prime Minister flying in to distribute bags of ice and use a natural disaster as a tool for political gain? No? Hm, what a weird place you live in, this “Japan”, if that is a real place.
— Jim Ray 2009 days ago #
It ain’t about individual winnings, yo. It’s about forming the worlds most superhuman crew. Wanna join?

Man, I really don’t know much about Japanese politics at all. Except that the people in my prefecture don’t like Koizumi. They express this by likening him to George W. Bush.
— saleem 2009 days ago #

Quick Note: Saleem is Not Dead | Watch the Tan Kid Blush