Dipping a toe back in

Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I've been online like this and I'm still not sure how much further down the rabbit hole I want to go.  The week of my birthday was a rough one both personally and for my country.  I basically shutdown my connection online.  I needed to focus on the present moment.  Limit my interactions in the social media world.  There are moments when I feel like I live my life through a cyberworld rather than the real world and I needed to disconnect.

I'm slowly re-emerging, feeling like I can take some of my excess energy and put it into outside activities which feel productive.  I'm still not ready for Facebook.  I've only been on a handful of times over the last month and a half and usually only for a few minutes.  Instead, I'm putting together some video blogs AKA vlogs (although this word always makes me tilt my head.  It's a weird word!) at the suggestion of my friend.  We'll see how they go.  I'm of course going to continue writing regular blogs; there's just going to be another facet to my sharing.

And now for something completely different!

Life has been busy for me.  I finished up my year visa in Australia and am now traveling around Japan.  It's cold but with my years in New York and Wisconsin, I guess I can't really complain.  ::chuckle::  I'm about 3 weeks in and it's been absolutely incredible.  Add on the fact I have a traveling buddy (my first in any of my travels) and it truly is a new adventure.  We've spent a week in Tokyo, splurged for a few days in Hakone, couchsurfed in Nagoya, and now we're meandering through the Kyoto/Nara/Osaka area.

I'm going to keep this short in sharing about all I've experienced thus far, but you can get a taste with two short videos I made while staying in Tokyo.  The first is the Chichibu Night Festival which happens in the mountains north of Tokyo.  Each neighborhood in Chichibu has a float which they push and pull by hand to the shrine at the center of the city.  There is also a huge fireworks display at the end.  You can read more about the festival HERE!

The second is from the light display in Tokyo Midtown.  Winter illuminations are big in Japan and we've been working our way through many of them as we travel.  You can read more about the different popular displays HERE!  There are so many different types of illuminations and some of the smaller cities have lantern displays made by students and local artists.  I have more video coming so keep an eye out.  Until then...

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!! from this Monkey with a backpack.

Chichibu Night Festival

Lightshow at Tokyo Midtown