"We feel that means are more important than ends.
We're coming to see you as friends.
And that's the truth."

We got rained out on the Fourth, but here's a couple of photos of what we did instead.

Japan's trains are generally known for three things - 1) They're crowded, 2) They're nearly always on-time, and 3) The super-express (Shinkansen) trains are fast.  Many of the trains are less crowded than before (thanks to more of them and to companies allowing flextime), but unfortunately, breaks with the schedule seem to be increasing. .....

movie. dinner. friends. kitties.

I purchased a steak and made it to my specifications. I AM A VERITABLE CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY.

Disaster Movie is less than 2 months away from making $20 million opening weekend.

*and other stuff

New Orange Kitty still doesn't have a name, though I'm sort of leaning toward Calcifer, after the fire demon in Howl's Moving Castle. He is a little demon -- I can tell by the scratch marks on my arm.

And the following lies between me and the weekend, and holidays:

This is a personal view of the past year, coloured by emotion.  This is from memory, so the timelines may be mixed and confused, and facts may be completely wrong.  I don't care.  This one is about the visceral side of politics, about my emotional response to all this.

A year ago, I wrote a lament for socialism.  Brown had secured the leadership of the Labour Party without an election, and so became Prime Minister.  I predicted he would be the same as Blair, only with different presentation skills.  Well, I suppose he tried to be the same as Blair, but his lack of presentation skills of any sort scuppered that.

"A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles."