ゐなかなる男、冬は寒く、震へ過ぐしたれど、床の中ぞ温かうしてこころよく眠りけり。

目覚ましの幾度も鳴れば限りなく醒めに近づく朝の透かし日

男、しぶしぶ起くれば、息ぞ白う見ゆをみて、また眠りにもどりぬ。

ゐなかなる男、海の幸や山の幸ぞめぐまるれど、海外の幸こそ心求むるものなれ。京の友に頼みてオリーブをおこされば歌も添へり。友、ぬばたまに見ゆとて、

ぬばたまの夜思ふらむ都のあかりがつかぬおんるぞ

男、気持ちよく流さるれば、返し、

うるし夜の星ぞ明るうちりばめる都のちりがまふ秋の風

今年僕の大学からたまたま東京の大学に留学している知り合いが意外と多くて、その中の一人がこの間コストコに行ってきた。コストコに行くと知った僕はさっそく物乞いを始めた。たぶんくれないと思いながら「オリーブとピーナツバターをくれ」と頼んだら、月曜日の朝にオフィスに着いたらなんと、変な形にふくらんでいる封筒が机の上に置いてあった。開けてみるとオリーブの缶詰２本に、短歌が添えてあった。しかも枕詞や掛詞などを使った完璧な古文の歌だった。よくやるな、我が後輩が。内容はあとで詳しく書くけど、要約すると「あんた、島流しされて淋しいね」という感じのものだった。

そこで問題です：　返歌はもう詠んだけど、何に書けばいいのか。要は、田舎の良さを主張する歌なんで、田舎を代表する素材が一番いいだろう。でも何も思い浮かばない。助けてください。

Bubble Man II: Soda Planet

I had one of those days. One of those days where there’s a swirling pit of black, burning ooze at the bottom of your stomach and you can’t tell if it’s there because there’s something horribly, horribly wrong with your life and everything in it, or simply because you ate too many peanuts.

I was going to write the above paragraph yesterday, I think, but then I lost the will to blog.

Today I realized that my job has degenerated into lying to children. “My name is Noguchi Saburō.” “I don’t speak English.” “I’m 72 years old.” “I’m a robot from the planet Beebledybop.” My excuse is that they seem to enjoy it almost as much as I do.

I finally gave in to deliciousness and tried Suntory’s BUBBLEMAN II: SODA PLANET beverage of carbonated bliss. It tastes like liquid candy. On the side of the can, BUBBLEMAN himself informs you that the can contains “Even more advanced BUBBLE TECHNOLOGY.” He then urges the customer to “Experience ORIGINAL BUBBLES.”

K and I decided to rename Japan “Wacky Land.” Just throwing that out there.

I finally got my new computer at work. It’s quite nice. Except that it’s completely useless, as they have yet to connect it to the LAN. How long does it take to get the IT guy to grab a CAT5, climb one flight of stairs, and connect the goddamn computer? These people make glaciers seem like F1 racing cars.

So clearly the honeymoon period is well over by this point. It was fun while it lasted.

Edit: After facetiously claiming over IM to be weeping gently into a mikan peel, I was challenged by M to write a poem about my love life using that imagery:

実らぬ秋みかんの皮にひと雫

Azure Hell

ゐなかなる男、まはりやものなかりけむ、街を思ひて、お湯の熱きところにまいらむとて別府なる国にいたりぬ。砂に埋まるるこそ興あらむと人の言ひけるに、試さずはあらじとて男応ぢぬ。こころよく汗ながせば、急に尻のやけどせむに男かくなむ。

砂湯にしゆかば蒸し焼き外人かな

のち冷ゆる男、山のいただき見むとて綱道のれば、人の絶えずしゃべるを憂しと思ひてかくなむ。

耳ざわル、乗務員娘ノ、語尾つよク

ある夜中ふいに過去から長電話

Minatoura Bay at night

I set myself up a Flickr account and ever. so. s-l-o-w-l-y uploaded a couple pictures.

This is a particularly poor picture, I know, but it was one of the first I took, so I feel that I should properly present it first.

My town is on a long, snaking peninsula. There are bays and inlets abound, and I live at the lip of one. I was extremely bored one night, so I took a ride around town on my brand new bike, well after all the shops were closed and the people asleep (or just at home watching TV).

The bay at night is quite a sight to behold. It cuts fairly deep into the peninsula, so you don’t actually see the open ocean; from most angles, the bay looks completely surrounded by mountains, more like a lake than anything else. This night the mountains were shrouded by mist, the moon was out and bright and almost full; the whole scene had a kind of majesty that is best appreciated after living in Tokyo for a year.

I tried to take a picture, but my phone just wasn’t up to it. No amount of finagling could wring more than a few points of light from the inky sky.

The good news is that such a picture compresses quite well, and was quick to upload.

佐田岬半島にある湊浦という地域の港景色。夜景がとても綺麗で、携帯で写真を撮ろうとしたらまったく写らなかった。そこで詠んでみた、

月てらす夜のみなとうら影あおしナイトモードでもケイタイ写らず