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the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Chiba, 2008.07.27

We spent the evening in Chiba, visiting with the Satoi family. We were there to see the fireworks that were happening on the sea-shore, and come to think of it, this was the first time in at least two years that we've been to see fireworks.

It was also young Ken's first go at the fireworks, and despite the bangs, thumps and booms, he was unfased. There were some older kids who couldn't take the noise etc, maybe Ken will be the same when he's older. But for now he's a fairly placid kid.

The Satois have a couple of great kids, it's interesting to see how some kids wind up so exuberantly creative and personable even in a reserved society that places heavy emphasis on conformity.

I also took some of my beloved Minolta equipment for Satoi-san to try out. He inherited a lot of Minolta manual equipment, but unfortunately the camera bodies he received were very old ones that don't have meters. It occurred to me quite some time ago that he might like to try the lenses with one of my X-700 bodies. So I've loaned that to him on an extended basis, and threw in my only zoom lens, my once primary 35-70mm lens. I'd rather they saw some use with him rather than sitting around in my closet.

rand()m quote

I had always imagined paradise as a kind of library.

—Jorge Luis Borges