frangipani | photoblog

Boo! It's time for frangipani 2.0!

2009-09-14T02:08:53Z

Thanks to those of you who have kept me in your RSS Readers, and thanks to those of you who keep popping back in every so often to see if there's been any activity.... Well, 8 months since I left Tokyo and it's time for a complete reboot of frangipani. I plan to shut down the URL www.frangipani.info in a month or two. But don't be sad. It's not finishing, by any means. I have exported the entire database of entries from 2002 over to a new home as a sub-directory of www.martinecotton.com and I will be blogging from there from now on. Yesiree Bob, I now have 2 blogs - my professional photography news blog, and frangipani 2.0 for my personal blah-blah-blah nonsense. So, head on over to the new location: frangipani 2.0 can be found at www.martinecotton.com/frangipani

The new life.

2009-04-11T14:40:26Z

282/365. April 11. Time for a more regular old-skool post.

I took this photo this morning at the Combined Club where I was having a work meeting while the clouds rolled in and the boats passed by. My little Lumix is a lovely camera, though I get frustrated at not having more control. But dem's the breaks when you choose to carry a nice light point and shoot around instead of the big SLR kit. Anyways....

Almost 2 months since I left Tokyo. Feels like a lifetime ago already. People have been asking me just what I've been up to, how I'm really enjoying it. I'm happy to report that I *am* happy here.

I've been getting up early and going for longs walks/runs - first around the mountains near my bro's place, then the beach and headland once I moved closer to town. The weather has been incredible - magical, the kind of blue skies so blue that resort photographers don't need to retouch their pictures, and often not more than about 30 by day and cool enough for light summer blankets at night. All this nature, big wide skies..... It makes a jaded Tokyo girls heart sing, I tell ya. It's been good getting on top of my health - turns out I have a pretty hefty Iron & B12 deficiency and it's nice to work on all that in an English speaking environment so I can read the support material and ask the questions and understand the answers. So many things I am enjoying about NOT BEING in Japan anymore. And yet....

I see so many Asians around here (massive Asian population here, well, actually not here - but in Cairns an hour south), and I stare and stand close to listen to them in the hope they might be Japanese. Sometimes they are, and I stalk them with a wistful, nostalgic sensibility. Amusing how much I can understand, yet when I try to open my mouth to speak with them I usually have about 3 false starts. The Japanese food on offer here - even when made by Japanese staff - is different. The onegiri's are not as fresh or tasty and the soba and udon is very average. The tempura is made using a strange batter, heavy and tasteless. I don't understand why. It is so sad, I truly miss the flavours.

My work is pretty crazy. I am an event coordinator for the towns annual 10 day Carnivale, it's full of politics and local characters and history and is way more work that the 20 hours a week I signed on for. I haven't had a lot of time for photography - but I am getting some great work, nevertheless. I am a weekend photographer for the local newspaper - The Mossman & Port Douglas Gazette which is the weekly local newspaper, part of the News Ltd conglomerate. The editor there welcomed me with open arms and loves my photography and is throwing my name to anyone who needs photos, which is why I just did a food & portrait shoot for Vogue Entertaining & Travel Australia. Cool, huh. I am also getting real estate and the odd portrait job around the joint, did a young mum and her 3 week old baby yesterday - the pic's are for the kids' obasan who lives in Sendai. Yep, Daddy is half-nihonjin. I am working towards building the business so that once the Carnivale is over on May 31st, I can just jump straight into being a full time photographer (yeah, I know, I may be dreaming there). There is a lot of work here for photographers: hundreds of resorts and real estate agencies, and a massive wedding & events industry, there are not enough photographers to keep up with it all in the high season (which starts in May and runs till about November). Plus I'm helping my brother out with his real estate business, and once carnivale is over I'll be his Media/PR person to help get the properties for sale out there for buyers.

The locals up here in the north are a funny bunch, they do take some getting used to and I do feel like a fish out of water at times. Or maybe like a rabbit trapped in headlights.... Big & loud & straight-shooting & blunt & super friendly, it took me aback initially, after living in Tokyo where eye-contact is to be avoided at all costs. I haven't made a lot of friends here yet, but they are starting to come out of the woodwork. Getting used to epithets like darlin', bub, sweetie, sugar, honeybunch etc from complete strangers - it initially made me chuckle, now it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I think I like it. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it here.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day, Port Douglas

Is it really 2 months?

2009-04-11T13:52:57Z

275/365. April 4. Breakfast with Kat, Jake & Julie at a cool little cafe in Cairns - look at the size of the portions, dude. Insane. And delicious.

276/365. April 5 2009. The weather has been magnificent - this is the view from the top of the hill I climb most mornings.

277/365. April 6. These Blue Ulysses butterflies are everywhere.

Today is the 2 month anniversary of my Tokyo sayonara, Has it really been 2 months?

278/365: April 7. You had enough beach photo's yet? I haven't. Sorry, bear with me, it'll work its way out of my system sooner or later. Or maybe not.

279/365. April 8. More real estate photography. You can see the ocean through the trees from this verandah.

280/365. April 9. The weather has turned, lots of storms and squalls. The ocean horizon is dark and close. I made a good friend today. She cooked a veggie bake for dinner and we sat up till the wee hours talking and drinking.

281/365. April 10. Woke up on the living room floor at my new friends house in a fragile state and vowed to never mix drinks again. The household slowly got up, had brekky before heading off for a drive to visit a friend of theirs in Whyanbeel. This was their living room. Gorgeously rustic and relaxed. Made a nice change from the horrible new white bland modern house I'm staying in at the moment. Only one week till I can move into my new apartment with its red walls and can start unpacking the boxes from Tokyo which - I believe - are finally in Cairns arriving on Tuesday. I have this dreadful urge to nest.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Hangin' out.

2009-04-11T13:27:33Z

268/365. Mar 28. Flowers, flowers everywhere.

269/365. Mar 29. I took some pictures of the manager of Sea Temple Golf Course and the Carnivale Cup as a favour for him, to help promote the Port Douglas Golf Challenge Comp - a part of the Carnivale event I'm working on.

270/365. Mar 30. I cooked dinner for the family at my place. I didn't actually take this picture - my 4 year old god daughter Evie did. That's my brother David holding the wine glass to his eye. Great pic. Evie is a great photographer.

271/365. Mar 31. Sometimes the only marks on the beach are from animals..... crab balls, dog claw prints.....

272/365. April 1. I meet Nakea to take pic's of her 3 week old. Beautiful baby. We got beautiful photo's of him laid out on paperbark in the roots of a huge paperbark gum tree.

273/365. April 2. I visited my sister in laws parents at their house for a cuppa. They were babysitting Evie and her friend Kristen, who were having a great time at a tea party in the secret garden down the back.

274/365. April 3. My old Tokyo buddy Kat arrived in Cairns a few days ago, and was staying with her best friend from school, Julie. I took the afternoon off work and drove down to spent the night with them. It was great to see how much Jake has grown in the 2 months it's been since I last saw him, and fantastic to see Kat - though she was utterly exhausted from the packing and move. It's great to spend time with people who actually understand what it is to live in a foreign country, and to then return.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Brisbane, Rosebank and back to Four Mile Beach..

2009-04-11T12:46:02Z

261/365: Mar 21. A 3 hour breakfast at The Alibi Room with Mirko, Seja & Simon - the last time we 4 were together was about 4 years ago when they toured Japan. I love love love these gorgeously ace people. Breakfast was followed by a fabulous 3 hour lunch with Bronny and her kids Tsering and Pemma (sadly Tenzin was on tour down south somewhere), and an all night bender house party at Billy's house. Got to catch up with a bunch of dear old friends, dress up in silly wigs and glasses and take trashy photos of everyone.

262/365: Mar 22. Woke up to a phone call from my other aunt with whom I had planned to have breakfast - I had slept in and missed our brekky date. Whoops. We ended up having a late-brunch cuppa and chat - it's always good to catch up with her, then I made my way over to my old haunt: New Farm Park, to have a picnic with assorted old cronies. Jackie's oldest, Tallulah and I went for a walk to see some friends off and she thought it'd be hilarious to crawl into a big bush and jump out of it. Got it on camera, lucky us. A lovely lovely day.

263/365: Mar 23. Leigh, Elisabeth and I met up at Mandy's house for a morning cuppa before we drive up to Rosebank near Ipswich, to visit the cemetery where my parents grave is. Actually, my mum's ashes were scattered in Mooloolaba harbour, so it's just a memorial plaque for her here. But dad is here. Well, his ashes are. We have a family plot up there, it's in a historical cemetery as we have some famous relatives, most notably my great uncle Sidney Cotton. An adventurous cad, wish I'd known him.

264/365. Mar 24. Back at work. Back in Port Douglas. Hello beach, I missed you.

265/365. Mar 25. Thank god, only 100 days left of this silly project. The photo for today, ladies and gentlemen, is an out take from my shoot for Vogue Entertaining & Travel Magazine. Yes, Vogue. I can now say that I can count Vogue as a client. Fabulous. I think Port Douglas is going to work out just fine for me.

266/365. March 26. That trip to Brisbane was an important one. It helped me see that - despite the awesome people and cool stuff - I need to be as far away from a city as possible for a while. So I'll be staying in Port Douglas. I found a new place to live, a cute little one bedroom apartment in town, just a block from the beach. It has a red wall, and a red kitchen. I move in a couple of weeks.

267/365. Mar 27. More beach action. Coz the office is just so boring I don't want to photograph it. Definitely working too many hours there. Way more than I agreed to.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Lots of nature and a trip to Brisbane

2009-04-11T11:54:23Z

254/365: Mar 14 2009. Curls of new growth and vines everywhere. Words like verdant and lush are almost understatements in this environment, in this season.

255/365: Mar 15. Went to a big pool party with the family. Everyone was part of a married couple, everyone had at least 1 kid but most had 2 or more (have you noticed that 3 is the new 2?). Everyone talked about their kids, or people/events I didn't know, or sports. I was relieved that I couldn't stay long due to some work commitments, and I didn't go back after I finished working. But I had fun playing dodgeball with my nephews in the pool while I was there.

256/365. Mar 16. I am doing weekend photographs for the local newspaper, the Mossman & Port Douglas Gazette. I love it. I get to meet interesting people and go into their houses or workplaces and photograph them. This pond was in the open plan living area of a house up past Wonga Beach. The couple have an orchid nursery and a house built entirely by their own hands. To get it past the building inspectors who said the living space must be enclosed to keep it safe from rodents, they built a frame and draped netting over it. The bush rats chew holes in it and get in but they don't mind.

257/365. Mar 17. I love having easy access to a beach. Today was my Dad's birthday so I had a little walk down memory lane as I walked the beach in the morning.

258/365. Mar 18. Am doing some real estate photo work for my brother. We met at the Junction cafe in Mossman for a quick early coffee then headed up to Wonga Beach, 30 minutes north of Port Douglas to photograph a gorgeous house up there. Went for a quick walk to the beach - just in front of the house, and photographed the coming storm. We spent an hour there then drove back to town where I spent the rest of the day at the office where I work most days.

259/365. Mar 19. I worked a half day before Dave drove me to Cairns airport where I jumped a plane and flew to Brisbane, a 2 hour flight south. I stayed at my uncle's place - a lovely old Queenslander style house, full of character. My cousin Anna gave me her room to sleep in. She has decorated this window frame with gems and rocks and it looks great. I adore my uncle's family, they are so welcoming and relaxed, anything goes, nothing is a problem and they go to great lengths to provide support to me and my brothers family in any way they can. I like to think we do so in return. We had a great dinner and drank a little too much wine and rum (yes, rum. When in Rome....)

260/265, Mar 20. An iPhone pic of my dear old friend Elisabeth at The Tibetan Kitchen in West End. This day had been pretty fucked from the moment I woke up but she & I had a great time at dinner and out drinking afterwards, and so salvaged the day.

The day started going downhill when another dear friend, Jackie, called to say her middle daughter was sick and that she couldn't join us for dinner. Then after another dear friend (Elisabeth's sister, Mandy) dropped me off in the middle of buttf*ck nowhere to collect my freight cargo which had arrived from Tokyo - they told me I had to have my own customs agent before I could get my stuff out. Mandy had had to leave me to go to a medical appointment and then got rushed in to day surgery which meant that not only could she not come and get me but that she also couldn't make it to dinner.....(not to mention the worries about her health which is, btw, all good now)

Anyways, I spent an hour with some customs agents who slammed me with an unexpected $1200 worth of customs/quarantine/permits/handling charges/storage fees etc and who told me it would take more than 72 hours before I could get my stuff. A mighty clusterf*ck indeed. I managed to be reasonably pleasant throughout the whole procedure despite being suspicious of all these charges, and disappointed beyond words that I wouldn't be taking any of my stuff back to Port Douglas with me. I threw the towel in on the day and got a lift from buttf*ck nowhere into Toombul Shopping Town with one of the Customs Agents Staff, then caught a bus into the city and went to see the Watchmen at the movies before meeting up with Elisabeth for dinner & drinks.

Fortunately, the rest of my time in Brisbane more than made up for that horrid day. Read on.....

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

A photo-a-day long overdue catchup.

2009-04-11T11:00:33Z

247/365: Mar 7 2009. On one of my last days staying at my brother's place, we were treated to a spectacular post-cyclonic sunset (I posted the video a few weeks back).

248/365: Mar 8 2009. Harry and I became great friends on our long walks & runs through the countryside.

249/365: Mar 9 - an iPhone picture of my oldest nephew, Darcy. I've been bad about getting my camera's out since I added the CameraBag application to the iPhone.

250/365: Mar 10. Another iPhone pic, this one of my sister in law, Elissa. This woman is wonderful. This is not the most flattering picture of her - I had just dropped by the shop where she works for a quick visit and she was dismantling the outside displays and standing up high above me. But trust me when I say she is gorgeous and has the most amazing blue grey eyes I've ever seen and that without her and my brother, I would be fucked. They have taken care of me in the way only family can do. Unconditionally, unquestioningly and with joy.

251/365: Mar 11. This is the marker palm to indicate the beach entry point from far away down the beach. It stands tall and proud and does its job well. In front of it you can see some signs. They read:

Caution: Marine Stingers.
Dogs must be on leads.

All that beautiful ocean but it's unsafe to swim in until around mid-May because it's full of deadly jellyfish with long stinging tentacles. Well, not full of. But there are enough of them around to discourage the most foolhardy from a summers swim. Luckily there are plenty of swimming alternatives for the summer months. The mountains and foothills are full of fresh water creeks and swimming holes. Freshwater creeks don't have salt-water crocodiles and are the safest and most refreshing alternatives to the beach.

252/365: Mar 12. Dewy. Lush. Verdant. I love the wet season. These flowers are just outside my office.

253/365: Mar 13. I moved into my new (temporary) place a few days ago. My new roomie is a very cool local community radio DJ, music lover and single mum. She got free tickets to a bunch of shows in Melbourne including these Kings of Leon tickets. Another iPhone pic.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Shannonvale Sunset

2009-03-08T10:41:03Z

Post cyclonic sunsets are often spectacular. This is what we saw yesterday evening, after Cyclone Hamish kicked his clouds across the skies of Port Douglas. (The new Lumix has a lovely video feature that I haven't made enough use of yet.) I hope that Cyclone Hamish, now at category 5 (as strong as Hurricane Katrina) and being classed a 30 year storm, does not make land. That would be just devastating. Lordy, Australia is really having a tough year. Fires, floods, earthquakes, shark attacks, croc attacks, cyclones.

Wobbly hula dancers, hugs and lots of landscapes.

2009-03-08T07:30:56Z

241/365: March 1 2009. The Sunday markets. This is Teya, we lived together for about 3 years way back in the early 90's in a gorgeous open plan timber house in the rainforest in Kuranda. A bunch of girls lived there, the house was sometimes called The House Of Wimmin, we always had gentlemen callers and a stupidly long line up on dinner bowls spread across our kitchen bench most evenings. The were crazy, happy times. We sat in the afternoon sun, drinking pre-mixed vodka, talking about the old times and dreaming up our futures. I'm so happy we've hooked up again.

242/365: Mar 2. The weather has been glorious. I took this photo while doing a site reccy on Four Mile Beach, the location of the big "Family Beach Day" event I'm coordinating. If you are curious about what I've been up to on the work front, go check out www.carnivale.com.au and book your plane tickets. It's a great 10 day event...... maybe not as amazing as Rio or the GLT Sydney Mardi Gras but certainly a hoot.

243/365: Mar 3. Happy Harry the Horse took me on a tour down the other, less-travelled end of the road this afternoon. The mountains are timeless.

244/365: Mar 4. These old Japanese fishnet glass floats can be found in houses all around the north - they used to wash up on the beaches constantly. I found new, touristy ones at Enoshima just outside Tokyo a few years back, and considered buying some. This one hangs out on the back deck outside the office where I work. Aren't the colours just gorgeous.

245/365: Mar 5. Evie and her wobbly-hula dancer.

246/365: Mar 6. Took my brother, sister-n-law, and 2 other friends out to see my old friend and colleague KT doing her jazz show at the Cairns Tanks. We had a fantastic night, it's not often Dave & Elissa get to go out in the big city (erm... Cairns, one hour away) without the kids. It was nice to hook up with KT again, it' s been 6 years since we last hung out and well, after an intense year of working and touring together around Australia we parted on somewhat rocky terms. It was great to just hang out and catch up on each others news. The hugs were pretty good too. I'm looking forward to tea and bicky's on their back deck when I make the southern rounds later in the year.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Settling in...

2009-03-08T05:43:51Z

234/365: Feb 22. Fairy parties are fill of sugar and spice and everything nice, like fairy bread and ice-cream cake and giggling girls being as silly, loud and energetic as possible.

235/365: Feb 23. The local creek/swimming waterhole - the halfway point of my sporadic morning run. The water here is fresh, cold and utterly exhilarating.

236/365: Feb 24. Happy Harry the Horse, my walking/running buddy. So named because he's the happiest, friendliest and tartiest dog in the valley, and because the kids like to ride on his back. He is also possibly the smelliest dog I have ever known. All manner of decay awaits him on every walk, nothing is more delightful to him than getting into a rolling frenzy in some pile of putrid rotting whatever. Luckily for his human friends, he swims every day, but he also needs to be washed about 3 times a week.

237/365: Feb 25. Across the road..... if you squint you might just see the wallabies grazing on the left side of the dam.

238/365: Feb 26. The Community noticeboard. Cars, caravans and puppies for sale, rooms for rent and community events.

239/354: Feb 27. The colours of the tropics: blue and green.

240/365: Feb 28. My roomies, Evie and Fraser painting a masterpiece in the late afternoon heat.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

Sunsets, kids and real estate.

2009-02-27T01:39:44Z

227/365: Feb 15 2009. We visited some friends who live at Newell Beach, just north of Mossman, for lunch and a stroll on the beach. Evie, my god daughter & niece, got a little tired on the way back. We all got sunburnt. What is summer without some accidental sunburn. My first in about a year. These beaches are so beautiful here - long, empty and full of cool shells, coral pieces and driftwood to check out. Sadly because of the rain and flooding the ocean is all stirred up with mud from the river mouths. Not too pretty. Can't wait to get out to the reef to swim in some azure water again.

228/365: Feb 16. The sunsets are really quite extraordinary. I stepped off the verandah this afternoon to soak up the surreal pink light, looked up and saw these beautiful colours.

229/365: Feb 17. I photographed some apartments at this horribly white resort for my brothers business today (Port Douglas Real Estate), amongst a bunch of other properties. I get to satisfy all my voyeuristic tendencies with this job - we go into houses and apartments and photograph them, often while they are out at work (all pre-arranged, of course). Some places are just lovely.

230/365: Feb 18. My bro and I went up to the lovely rolling hills of Julatten to photograph some gorgeous properties, and on one of them I got chatting to these friendly horses.

231/365: Feb 19. The family attended a kind of long-time-no-see party for an old friend at the Central Hotel today. I got kinda bored - didn't know many people, too many kids running around and my nephew Fraser was playing King Sullen Sulker so I took myself off for a walk - so glad I did, the sunset off Anzac park was spectacular. I had had a couple of beers and well, the emotion of the moment really caught me. I sat on the grass and looked out at the beautiful Cape Tribulation and all the jungle-covered mountains and the still ocean and I think it really hit me. I'm not in Japan anymore.

232/365: Feb 20. More real estate photography. This one up at Cape Kimberley, just over the Daintree River crossing. This place was amazing. Fully self-sufficent in terms of water and power - a roof full of solar panels, 2 wind turbines, a creek and a private water bore. They don't even own house keys. Fruit trees, horses, a big pool..... oh, if I had the money..... . This was the verandah/living room. On the way there, we crossed over the Daintree River where a local 5 year old boy was taken by a croc just the week before. He was the son of a local tour operator. The whole community has been rocked by this, and it seems everyone knows someone who knows the family who lost the boy. His older brother was there when it happened and had to be treated for shock. God, I can't imagine how that is going to scar him. The family have tons of local support, and they are being well looked after. Not that that will bring him back or erase the experience from his brothers memory banks.

233/365: Feb 21. Evie loves the pool in the backyard. We take turns swimming laps. It takes me one stroke, and her about 10 wild paddles. Hilarious.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

New Beginnings

2009-02-27T00:44:51Z

220/365: Feb 8 2009. My nephew Darcy celebrated his 13th birthday today. This symbolic day is the reason I chose to fly back this weekend. Lots of silly showing off and excited kids and a big fancy breakfast out on the front verandah with his grandparents and the family. Lovely.

221/365: Feb 9 2009. While over 200 people and many thousands of cute furry animals (don't get me started, I'll start getting weepy) were burned to death in the most horrific natural disaster to hit Australia ever, the region where I am was copping its annual wet season. A lot of the places down south a little, and out west in the gulf country, were seriously flooded. Highways were cut and most Cairns/Port Douglas supermarkets sold out of fresh produce (fortunately my supply of banana's wasn't threatened). Hundreds of homes were seriously flooded, and some 100 000 head of cattle died as floods headed inland. Farmers 80 km's inland had to shut all the gates (in chest deep water) to keep out the circling crocodiles. Yes, I sh*t you not. This is one CRAAAAZY country. Sadly the bushfires kept the news of the serious nature of these floods out of the news (it is being called "the most under-reported natural disaster in the Gulf country's history") , and while the whole world donated generously to the fire survivors (even the flood affected), the flood victims had to staunchly soldier on with very little public and government support. Such a tragedy when 2 natural disasters happen in the same country at the same time.

222/365: Feb 10 2009. This week was all about impressions, colours, shapes, smells. Even goldie the goldfish in her large ceramic outdoor Thai pot, encrusted with moss, took on a fascinating aura.

223/365: Feb 11 2009. Just before I arrived, a carton of white wine was purchased on special to celebrate my return. We drank a bottle or 2 every day. And ate the most exquisite dips and crackers. Ah, the food. The wine. Summer, I love theeeeeee.

224/365: Feb 12 2009. Sorry, bear with me as I indulge in my fascination/love/obsession for tropical shapes, textures, etc. Even palm fronds are looking exotic to me at the moment. I'm sure this will pass, but for now, I'm soaking it up and indulging my lens in the most arbitrary of subjects.

225/365: Feb 13 2009. The backyard. Love the little people's pool.

226/365: Feb 14 2009. A friend of my brother's - well, ok, ok, the niece of one of my brother's best friends celebrated her (month-long) 21st this evening, with a most civilised 3 course home cooked feast on the back deck at their home in town. The table loved amazing, all sprinkled with little red hearts which ended up all over all of us for days to come.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

The Long Sayonara Part 4

2009-02-22T12:45:39Z

212/365: Feb 1 2009. Eiko, Taizo, Pancho. My Japanese family / landlords / upstairs neighbours took Greg and I out for a fancy meal at a local restaurant. I swapped the Olympus for a far superior Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150. This was one of the first pic's from that camera. I was so excited, they all thought I was kinda nuts. I gave them a framed print of one of my own pictures from the Dr Sketchy's exhibition. I hope they like it, I gave them what I thought was one of the tamer prints.

214/365: Feb 2 2009. My mum Helsie would have loved this Helsie, they are soooo alike. Love this girl. We had lunch at Pizza Junction in Harajuku then went makeup shopping. I bought some more pink eye shadow. Thanks baby! She's off to live and love in Germany in a few months, leaving Tokyo after some 15 years. I know she's doing the right thing, and am delighted that she is making that leap of faith, to follow that fella halfway around the world.

215/365: Feb 3 2009. Minimum, Wakako, Ono-san, me and Tamaki. Some of my Starbucks family. We hit one of the private rooms at Iseya, Kichijoji's *awesomest* cheap beer and yakitori joint where we got all teary and did the gift giving/too many photos thing. Then I went home to keep on packing/cleaning.

216/365: Feb 4 2009. Oh my. Such a fun night. Cherry Typhoon, Paulie (aka Dj Evil Penguin) and I spent the afternoon/evening doing a tour of Asakusa, finishing up at a pretty legendary sake bar with Magnus, my Dr Sketchy's replacement and talented photographer.

217/365: Feb 5 2009. That last day/night in Japan was frikken frenetic to put it mildly. After running around like a maniac all day, Kat, Darin, Jake, Christian, Yuiko and I met up for an early dinner. Greg, the Canadian microbiologist roomie turned up after work. I said my "see ya's" to the Australia-bound gaijins (knowing that we'll be seeing each other in Australia in a few months) then hit my favourite haunt, Peppermint Cafe, (with Greg) to meet up with the J-crew for a night of more gift-giving, too many photos, quite a few tears, a speech and a slow clap. In this picture: Ami-chan, Lisa, me, Mikorin, Sachika.

218/365: Feb 6 2009. Sayonara Japan. I met up with the local crew at the park Starbucks for a last coffee, then a small group made their way with me to the airport bus stop in Kichijoji where they waved me off. Such a lovely send off. I sat on the bus as it drove out of Kichijoji and tried to comprehend that the moment had finally come. I loved living there, in Kichijoji. Such a great community.

Christian came to the airport to drink beers with me. Lucky since my plane was delayed 2 hours. Old friend Hide - on his way to SF for a holiday - met up with us at the airport for half an hour too. He's such a gorgeous man. Anyways, this is the last photo I took in Japan. Quite fitting that it is yet another picture of me and Christian drinking beer. Christian, you are such a wonderful friend. I love you! You helped make my time in Tokyo so much more fulfilling, so much more drunken and way less lonely than it could have been...... Such a solid friend, always there when you are needed. Thank you.

219/265: Feb 7 2009. Hello Australia.

My new room. My new neighbour. My new life. Woohoooooo.

I'm really sorry that the past few months worth of blog posts have been so clearly rushed and, quite frankly, duller than dishwater. It's been quite a struggle to keep blogging during this period of transition but I was bloody determined to keep it up, just to have at least a part record of my last year in Japan. I'm also really sorry that the comments have been broken apparently since I did the upgrade to MT 4.23 back in early December, as I know that people wanted to chime in and say their piece during this time - thanks to you folks who emailed me directly. Your continued interest in frangipani.info constantly surprises and motivates me, so thanks for sticking on in there. Still trying to work out why the comments aren't working, but I want to get them working again asap - it's way too quite around here without them.

Love youz.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

The Long Sayonara Part 3

2009-02-20T13:49:51Z

205/365: Jan 25 2009. Gertrude found a new home at the UAE Embassy, as the ambassador's daughter's new pet. We spent the day just hanging out and whispering sweet nothings into each others ears. Their driver came to pick her up. As he got back into the car, he told me he had a turtle of his own. When I asked him to please check in on her sometimes, to make sure that she's OK - he smiled reassuringly, like a grade one teacher does to new parents, and then I felt really silly.

206/365: Jan 26. Keiko, Rumiko, me, Lisa and Hiroko. All of them awesome people. We worked together at the high school for 4 years. Gonna miss these special people. This pic was taken at la Befana, the best pizza joint in Kichijoji, at our sayonara dinner.....

207/365: Jan 27. Misaki, me, Naomi (7 months preggars), Mai, Nana, Yoko, my Mint family. Hairdressers, students, friends. They found this great organic vegetarian cafe in Naka-Meguro for our dinner, oh dear god the food was to die for. The organic wine was pretty fine too.....

208/365: Jan 28. Cherry, Ladyelle and me at my last Dr Sketchy's Tokyo. These f**king awesome ladies kick serious ass in sooo many ways, I will miss them so. Just noticed that pretty much every photo this week features ass-kicking women. I like that.

209/365: Jan 29: I met with Erochika Bamboo and Ms cabaretta for a photo shoot in the upper levels of Shibuya's Trump Room. What an amazing venue. And what amazing models. You will also be seeing more of these photos later too. We have a secret plan for world domination. Well, OK, to raise the profile of Tokyo's burlesque performers. But I'll have more deets on that at a later date..... it's all still quite hush-hush.....

210/365: Jan 30. I did a shoot with TRACE at my fave Kichijoji bar, Mishima.... then I went home and did another shoot for Tiffany and her hubby, then kept on packing.

211/365: Jan 31. Bought a crappy Olympus point and shoot camera for my "official" sayonara party, and promptly returned it the next day - you may understand why by looking at he above picture. What a piece of crap. But the photo is still a treasure - it was taken as we left the karaoke bar and made our way to Peppermint Cafe for dinner. Sarah, me, Kat & Jake, Christian, Darin, then in the front Helen, Yuiko and Yuta. Such an awesome night. I'll be putting up a ton of pic's at facebook soon - lot's of skanky drunken sayonara party shots from the 3 week period before I flew out...

Ah Tokyo. I love ya, I miss ya, but I never want to live with ya again.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day

The Long Sayonara part 2

2009-02-20T13:13:35Z

198/365: Jan 18 2009. The movie Australia was being released around the time of my departure, I felt it quite fitting really. Publicity everywhere.... this one: the back of the front passengers seat of a taxi.

199/365: Jan 19 2009. The fabulous Mz Cherry Typhoon and I met for a photo shoot in Asakusa. So many wonderful photos, you will be seeing more from this one, trust me.

200/365: Jan 20 2009. For the last 4 or so years I've been deeply conflicted about the group of people in this photo. You see, they are one of my English classes. They are one of my most fun English classes. We used to go for drinks/meals together on occasion.... Our lessons are boisterous and entertaining. But.... they were held once or twice a month on SATURDAY EVENINGS from 7:40 to 9:10 in Higashi Koganei. Oh, the torture of missing out on nights out with friends, or seeing some cool band playing somewhere.... I have wanted to QUIT this class sooooo many times. But I just couldn't. They are way too much fun. This was our sayonara dinner.

201/365: Jan 21. Dinner at Casa-Jon in Naka Meguro with my old colleague Jon and his new girl-friend Tomoko, the lovely Guy and Ben, and Ben's GF. Hilarious. Sayonara baby!

202/365: Jan 22. My India travel buddy, Ryosuke (Suzan) came up to Kichijoji to have dinner with me. We drank lots of nihonshu at one of the bars in harmonica yokocho after a delicious Thai dinner. Lovely.

203/365: Jan 23: The fantabulous MissSin had a birthday party at her fave bar down in Tsunashima, Blue Corn. She can play the spoons like a champ, as can Shingo. Their friend with the pussycat-spoon ears stays young by staying wet. Don't ask.....

204/365: Jan 24. My friend Nathan plays in a very good band, Trace - they had a gig at Super Deluxe and I came along to try to catch some of their magic with my camera. If you get a chance to see them play, you should grab it.

Technorati Tags: a photo a day