It has become clear to me over the years that the harder you go looking for a good time, the more it can elude you. I got into an arguement with someone about this last weekend, and I still hold it to be true. It seems to me that most often the moments worth remembering happen all of their own accord.

For instance, take the trip to Kyoto I went on recently. It was a well planned out trip, complete with great lodgings and cool people. What types of memories do you think I have taken away from that trip? Kyoto is a beautiful city, with millions of ancient temples and shrines and hidden ninjas and whatnot. If you look at a piece of wood in that city, chances are it's older than the US of A. There are kodak moments everywhere, and what do I remember? I remember how hilarious it was when I woke up at noon to find that everyone in my bunk room had gone off to see these beautiful temples while I slept. I remember returning from the shower at 12:30, in my towel, to find that somehow the door had locked behind me. After that we went to an art museum for a little while. I do remember one painting that I liked. It looked like a glass of wine, or maybe it was a woman, or something.

The next day I saw two temples. My camera died that first day, so I have no pictures of either of them, save whatever a few other JETs might have taken of me. I've forgotten the names of both of them, but they were pretty. They had little curlycue roofs and dragons all about. One of them was a temple to water. It had water.

Now, please don't misunderstand me here, I have a lot of respect for all of those sights, but I'm just not the one to go visit them. I am a pretty bad tourist. I get sleepy as soon as I set foot in a temple or museum. I look for the coffee shops and restraunts and prefer to sit and eat or drink. I'm perfectly content to wait for you while you flit about. I got nowhere to be.

If it was up to me, I could have eaten and drank my way across all of Kyoto and considered it a victory of a weekend. I can't remember the name of that fox-temple, but I can tell you how great that Pizza place was I chilled at with a few of the Jets. It was at the top of the station. You should check it out.

You want a random sweet moment? How about this one: the other day the owners of this ramen shop I go to several times a week took a picture of me with their little niece, and one of me on my scooter. I assumed it was all in good fun, a bit of a momento for their scrapbooks. I walked in the restraunt the other day and what should I find hanging above my usual seat? That's right, an 8 by 10 portrait of me sitting on my scooter with my helmet on. The other photo of me and the little niece was prominently featured, in portrait size as well, right above the cash register. Now thats something I'll be telling people about.