michael lambe

I had a bit of a weird dream the other night. There were a group of boys staying in a dormitory and they had a big secret of mystical significance. All these other people came into the room and the boys were all worried the secret would get out. Then one boy started to get into a fight with someone else, so to stop him from blabbing the secret I grabbed him from behind and put my hand over his mouth and then at that precise moment a flaming-screaming-spirit-phoenix descended from the sky, through the roof and the boy and I melded with it and flew off (still screaming and flaming) to do battle with elemental forces of evil. We were now a two-headed, seven-legged, four winged phoenix… After we had returned to human form we found ourselves in a far distant country and had to travel a long way to get back to where we had begun, but when we finally arrived there we couldn’t recognize anything. Everything was changed. Transformed.

So what does that mean then?

Rik reckons it means I’m a homo (seven legs see). I’d prefer a different interpretation. A quick google search seems to suggest a link between the mystical number seven and the symbol of the phoenix… Feel free to make comments.

Anyway, back to reality, it’s Gion Matsuri. http://www.flickr.com/photos/46253270@N00/135815278/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gion_Matsuri

I wandered round the Matsuri last night, eating various festival foods, drinking street beers (well, one), people watching and bumping into people I knew (including some very excitable high school students). There seemed to be a fair bit of nampa going on (see here for nampa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanpa), with different groups of young girls and boys all eyeing each other up. The air was electric! Tomorrow is the “yamaboko junko” when they drag the floats to Yasaka Jinja, but I think it’s unlikely I’ll be up in time for it. There’s a “Gion Party” at the English cafe tonight but I can’t be arsed with that either - I mean, it’s raining. I fancy… pizza. Mmmmm…

Oh, and here’s a link to the latest Strongbad email. As usual, inspired stuff.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail153.html