Random Nuclear Strikes

Yesterday I showed you some of the photographs I took during my trip customary trip to Japan during the Halloween holiday. While most of them were examples of the more common costumes, today I’d like to show you some of the not so common ones.

We’ll start out with this one of Ms. Yumi the flight attendant. It was her actions, though not her intentions, that have told me I may need to rethink my yearly trip to her home nation during this time of year.

You see, Ms. Yumi wanted very badly to be the first to greet me to her country and, knowing that I fly in every year, she actually flew into the US on Sunday with her costume in her carry-on luggage, waited until she saw me and then followed me onto the plane. She made the quick-change into her flight attendant costume which, if I do say so myself, was very convincing, and having bribed the other attendants, proceeded to wait on me hand and foot. She then escorted me off the plane, though  to her place and not to my hotel as I had asked. I think I can safely say that I didn’t mind checking in a bit late.

However, in afterthought, if it this easy for someone to get on a plane with me, I may need to rethink my travel plans for next year. I’m still wanted by some anti-John Thomas Booty husband’s association in that country.

After checking into my hotel and verifying that they had arranged my transportation to my scheduled gatherings, I proceeded to make my way around Tokyo, stopping in my usual haunts and shops.

The first party was on Monday the 30th, and there were the usual costumes like the ones I wrote about yesterday. One set of costumes I didn’t mention were the cosplay girls, mostly because I’m still trying to sort out all of those photographs. The most memorable was a lady who said her name was Jackie, though I’m sure it wasn’t.

I haven’t a clue as to whom she was supposed to be, but if said character has a high piched voice and bounces a good deal, I think her vinyl costume completed her successful emulation.

After waking up with Jackie and then helping her gather her stuff, it was breakfast, lunch and then off to the next costume party. The invtes to this one in particular were very exclusive and once in, I could tell I was in very good company, though I am not able to speak upon the other attendantees further.

The best costume, in my mind at least was this one of a late-medieval knight in shining armor.

Of course, the less armor she actually wore, I think, actually made her costume more popular

While I sat conversing with my fellow guests in the second floor lounge area, looking at the various costumes and making new and renewing old connections, were served by the venues staff of wine stewards. Actually, I should say that we had only one wine steward for the night, Miss Kitty.

If you look closely at the photo, you may see that her costume, chosen by her and provided by the venue owner, is missing something.

Pockets! Absolutely nowhere to carry a corkscrew!

Not that she needed one. She had the most interesting technique of uncorking bottles.

It almost came down to an armwrestling constest between myself and another gentleman, but Miss Kitty told me about how she had learned the technique over breakfast in my hotel room the next morning.

Seeing things.

Hello everyone. I recently got back from my usual stops during the Halloween season and am pretty sure you might like to know what I saw there.

For those who don’t know, I take a break from the Occidental Tush Institute during the Halloween holiday and travel to Japan to witness their celebrations. I do this because like just about everything American, the Japanese put 110% into it, with entire city centers going gangbusters with the revelry.

I also go because my profession lends me to be the recipient of the most interesting of party invites.

It is never the same from year to year, with certain fads lending the folks there to make sure they have not only an excellent costume, but also to see that theirs is the hipest. I’ve spoken to people who have changed their costumes two or three times, sometimes within just a day or two of the holiday.

I’ve got enough pics for two days of display, so let us begin

Of course, the Race Queens were out in force. They were all in character too. They made sure their faces were seen, meaning they wouldn’t turn around.

The number of Kittens at each party were numerous. I was able to get this one into the kitchen with the promise of a saucer full of cream.

You might also think that the nation of Japan were having some sort of national health crisis what with all the nurses running about. This young RN even had her own rolling tray and led me to a room where she squeezed something while I coughed ever so slightly.

One of the oddest costumes I saw was this girl. Can anyone guess who she is supposed to be?

If you guessed Mariah Carey, you win. I did, but only because I worked with the real Ms. Carey earlier this year. I think you’d like to get the prize I won.

See you all tomorrow. Professor Booty out.

   I really like my ultralight AG Russell “mini-bowie” — shown at left in the pics — it’s so light you forget it’s in your pocket. On the other hand, although it feels quite sturdy, I have been thinking it would be nice to have a somewhat more substantial blade on my person in the event of trouble. Also, I just like having extras around — although I didn’t learn the phrase until recently, I’ve been living the “two is one, and one is none” philosophy for most of my life.

Now, Perceval would fit the bill in a pinch, but it’s just not very quick to put into action in a stressful situation — the lack of a true handle makes it just too hard to get a good instinctive grip. An elegant design, but not a defensive knife by any means. And although I keep the new Benchmade DPT close by, during work hours I’m just not going to have it on my person.

Sooo, this Survivalblog post pointed me towards the CRKT M16 knives. The “Big Dog” model mentioned in the post was interesting, but what caught my eye was the M-16 Titanium versions. I got mine here for significantly less than the retail price shown on the AG Russell site. Some time spent web-searching might result in even more savings.

This is a substantial, solid, well-made knife. The AUS8 blade is nice and sharp; there’s an easily-operated one-hand-unlock catch that can’t possibly be accidentally moved; to top it off, there’s a little rowel lever under the thumb that when pushed forward absolutely blocks the catch from unlocking. CRKT says this makes it as sturdy as a fixed blade. I don’t know about that, but it’s a pretty good system in my view as it takes just a simple instinctive movement with the thumb to activate, and I like redundancy anyway.

Anyway, my M16-01T now rides at my left hip, over the waistband, under the belt. The clip is very unobtrusive; looks like I’m carrying a pen or something clipped to my waist. You really can’t tell it’s a knife, which is what I need. But more importantly, I feel confident that it would not fail me if I needed it to defend myself. Can’t ask for much more than that.