Summer 2008 Light Object Exhibition

It's dark. I fear that I might step on a frog. I definitely hear them, but I can't see them. But I am soon comforted by the fact that meters in front of me are floating orbs on a tree and illuminated bubbles that look like frog's eggs.

My friend told me about this Summer 2008 Light Object Exhibition that was currently running at Yamagata University's Art & Design School. I immediately phoned her back and said,

'I have nothing to do, let's go today!'

So off we went and I was so excited to get out of the house. We met up with one of her classmates from her English Conversation Class in Yamagata City. She was so nice and younger than I expected! I love all my friends who are old enough to be my mother or grandmother even, but it's nice to meet someone younger every once in a while.

We got there a little early (the sun was still out, you need it to be dark to get the full effect). So we ate dinner at this restaurant called 'Eco' that was in the shape of an iceberg. I have no idea why. It was so cute and quaint and the view was pretty cool.

Found out that her friend likes to knit! Whoo hoo! You know what that means... I'm one step closer to hosting my very own Stitch n' Bitch Party =) Any other takers?


We headed back to the university and looked at the displays. I didn't really understand the concept of it all, and my friends couldn't explain it to me (they didn't understand it well either). Some of them seemed to be under the impression that if you slap a random English title onto their work -- it immediately becomes profound. Or that could just be my art ignorance speaking louder than it should.

There was one display in the middle of the water that had what looked like a huge Conch shell and it was completely surrounded by PET bottles. The title of this piece was,

'Harmony.'

Gyeah, um... I don't know. But hey if you're interested, you're in luck because it's for sale! My new friend turns to me and says in awesome English:

'Who would buy that?'

There were some cool pieces inside including a huge scary mouth (something about kisses), cool giant flowers, a whole mess of yarn (something about death?) and my favorite one was called 'Raindrops' (I loved the colors). I left a message for one of them saying:

'Very interesting! It reminds me of lawn gnomes.'

Unfortunately, my camera's battery died at the beginning of the whole experience and I didn't get many pictures. Bummer.



The Art School looks really cool. Most Art Schools do, but this one was very simple, but really pretty. The buildings were kinda funky looking, but what drew me in the most was their outdoor theater. The roof looked like your classic Japanese-style roof and it was built over the water that surrounded the front of the main building. My description won't justify how grand and ethereal it looked, but it reminded me of the large outdoor organ in Balboa Park, San Diego.


When we drove up to the university I had a momentary lapse of 'natsukashii'--the reminiscent feeling you get when something reminds you of the old days, i.e. you long for those days.

Coming to this university reminded me of the time when I went with my friend to Soka University for his master dance class. Our friend from Washington had just flown down and we were excited to be reunited. The weather was great and surroundings seemed so relaxed.

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Anyway, it was a good evening of friends, food and art. Yay!

On the flipside of things... I went to bed later than usual and for the first time since I've been here, I was late for work.

I woke up in sweat, panic and shock at 8:15 AM. Work starts at 8:30. Gyeah, I wasn't going to make it...

But my co-workers and supervisor are all really cool, and they just laughed at my story and said that it wasn't a problem. Then they gave me what they called, 'Morning, Wake-me Up-It's Okay' Coffee to help jumpstart my day. Thank you.

But you can bet your butt that I quadruple-checked my alarm clock the next night to prevent future panic attacks.