No obvious side effects yet from the sake last night, we live, we seem to learn, but we don't quit acting the idiot. Still, a lightweight relapse, no complaints. The sake cupboard is empty and probably won't be replenished until after my guitar lesson this coming Thursday. Hup. A recollection of summer weekends when I was in school: bright clear afternoons, a bright clear head, good reasons to go out (with the usual crew) and experiment in the various watering holes of the Pacific Northwest. Different days, yet in some ways the same I guess.

You do understand you're making a mountain out of a mole hill, do you not? Three or four drinks in an evening and you think the sky is alight?

We gotta talk about something here now, do we not? What else was I up to last night that I might write?

You could spin it a bit. Add some salt, add some pepper, add some interestingly invented locals to this trip.

Later. A nap. I needed a nap. Definitely needed a nap with the fewer hours of sleep last night and yes, from the sake. No way around it.

The temperature was up into the low seventies, so I set out with a long lens camera and headed for the lake, taking a picture or two as I arrived. A picture of two birds to test the lens. The red eyes are always a trip. The whatever moose horn this player was playing in a corner of the arched interior of the white columns required a shot as did the tight rope walkers and the other group beside them of what - rope climbing acrobats? - these on the way to the farmers market. The day was progressing well, even with the obvious double vision and the aching palate.

Ice cream now for a second day in a row for lunch at the morning café sitting and noting the extent of the double vision, pronounced in the distance, none for the close in, best not to try to land any airplanes. Back at the apartment now with the television droning in the background. The Japanese national news program (NHK) is playing, talking about cherry blossoms. Not a surprise. The cherry blossoms. Better than tsunami's and nuclear meltdowns. People homeless. Families fractured. Radioactive water in the gardens.

Snap out of it! It's a nice day and your double vision has finally straightened itself out.

Right. I mentioned I'd gotten quite a bit of time in on the guitar yesterday, lets see what we can do today.

Later still. OK, the late afternoon and evening have gone quite well, no problem with the double vision, the aching upper palate off to its own devices. Watched the Scandinavian police procedural at six, one of the series I've usually found worth watching, playing along with it on the guitar (in Swedish). Life in the fast lane, but at speeds never exceeding a local limit.

You're done.

I'm done.