20,000 miles and Revenge of the Giant Umeboshi
Successful trip down to Great America today- it was busy but not too badly crowded. I hadn't been in awhile, but not too much was different. I was proud that I was slightly less of a wuss except for the drop rides- I still freak out on the tops of those ^.^;; Maybe I just dun have too much faith in the phenomenon of electro-magnetic braking. While standing in line for Top Gun, my sis and I realized that neither of us had actually ever watched the famous movie~ so we rented it on the way home, will hafta check that out laters. Coming home, somewhere in San Mateo, my car's odometer hit 20,000 miles! wooo- go Josie! Which also means she needs a tune-up, but that'll hafta wait until I get down to LA (in less than a month O.o; ) Also needs a wash, which *might* happen *if* we have sunny weather this week.
If you were of the Takayama crew (Heidi, Shishika, Shuv) then you'd understand exactly why I burst out laughing when I passed a nondescript building with "Sukyo Mahikari" written on it and a 6-pointed star along the section of the 1 between Stonestown and I-280 in San Francisco. That refers to an extremely fringe Japanese religion that believes that we all possess the ability to channel our energy through a locket and radiate pure, healing light (mahikari) to cure disease and purify food. Now- how do I know this? thanks to a trip through the Sukyo Mahikari's "Main World Shrine" on the outskirts of Takayama, Japan. This building was sooo incredibly tacky, especially so as it was surrounded by quaint Japanese wooden buildings and snow-covered mountainsides. It was massive, shaped vaguely like a temple, but nearly completely golden, and covered with 6-pointed "Stars of David", and two pillars out front: one topped with the Buddhist "Manji" and the other with the swastika (they're mirror images of each other). This was all topped with a giant red ball sitting on a leaf on the top center of the roof. It looked like a giant umeboshi (pickled plum) Well, as quoted by my guidebook "Opinion is divided on whether the New Religion believers are harmless loop-the-loops or anti-Semitic doomsday cultists" And, after ready that- how can you not go and see what the heck is up with this shrine??
It was really creepy. The entrance was in this huge covered bus depot- but it was entirely empty. Then the first building we entered was spotlessly clean, huge, and completely empty except for a circle of people chanting in the bathroom. Thus the trek towards the "Main World Shrine" continued outdoors towards the main building. (At this point we sent one person through at a time to make sure the doors opened both ways and we wouldn't be locked in) At least the main building had some girls dressed in the white kimono and red hakama of traditional Japanese shrine maidens. They wouldn't let us take in cameras, bags, jackets, or anything that could disrupt the sanctity of this place. It was a huge auditorium covered in red plush seats and glowing stars. With a golden mini pagoda on a dais behind a wooden lattice at the front (where the deity supposedly lives) with lots of fake flowers and giant koi in tanks. A little old lady grabbed onto us and chattered on in broken English about the religion, littered us with pamphlets (including the phone numbers of branches in the US) until the service started. I don't know much of what happened, but there was lots of chanting and bowing- didn't understand a word ._.;; we booked it outta there. But I guess they're spreading, just like oil spills, cancer, and bread mold.
Oh, BTW- I just took an online geek-test... my score was a respectable 13.8%!! probably as it's aimed more at CS people than the engineering types. But this brought up... exactly where does the word "geek" come from? And the answer, according the dictionary.com- is that it is a word that was taken from the vocabulary of circus performers. Originally meaning:
"geek - A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken"
Now- don't you feel smarter?
If you were of the Takayama crew (Heidi, Shishika, Shuv) then you'd understand exactly why I burst out laughing when I passed a nondescript building with "Sukyo Mahikari" written on it and a 6-pointed star along the section of the 1 between Stonestown and I-280 in San Francisco. That refers to an extremely fringe Japanese religion that believes that we all possess the ability to channel our energy through a locket and radiate pure, healing light (mahikari) to cure disease and purify food. Now- how do I know this? thanks to a trip through the Sukyo Mahikari's "Main World Shrine" on the outskirts of Takayama, Japan. This building was sooo incredibly tacky, especially so as it was surrounded by quaint Japanese wooden buildings and snow-covered mountainsides. It was massive, shaped vaguely like a temple, but nearly completely golden, and covered with 6-pointed "Stars of David", and two pillars out front: one topped with the Buddhist "Manji" and the other with the swastika (they're mirror images of each other). This was all topped with a giant red ball sitting on a leaf on the top center of the roof. It looked like a giant umeboshi (pickled plum) Well, as quoted by my guidebook "Opinion is divided on whether the New Religion believers are harmless loop-the-loops or anti-Semitic doomsday cultists" And, after ready that- how can you not go and see what the heck is up with this shrine??
It was really creepy. The entrance was in this huge covered bus depot- but it was entirely empty. Then the first building we entered was spotlessly clean, huge, and completely empty except for a circle of people chanting in the bathroom. Thus the trek towards the "Main World Shrine" continued outdoors towards the main building. (At this point we sent one person through at a time to make sure the doors opened both ways and we wouldn't be locked in) At least the main building had some girls dressed in the white kimono and red hakama of traditional Japanese shrine maidens. They wouldn't let us take in cameras, bags, jackets, or anything that could disrupt the sanctity of this place. It was a huge auditorium covered in red plush seats and glowing stars. With a golden mini pagoda on a dais behind a wooden lattice at the front (where the deity supposedly lives) with lots of fake flowers and giant koi in tanks. A little old lady grabbed onto us and chattered on in broken English about the religion, littered us with pamphlets (including the phone numbers of branches in the US) until the service started. I don't know much of what happened, but there was lots of chanting and bowing- didn't understand a word ._.;; we booked it outta there. But I guess they're spreading, just like oil spills, cancer, and bread mold.
Oh, BTW- I just took an online geek-test... my score was a respectable 13.8%!! probably as it's aimed more at CS people than the engineering types. But this brought up... exactly where does the word "geek" come from? And the answer, according the dictionary.com- is that it is a word that was taken from the vocabulary of circus performers. Originally meaning:
"geek - A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken"
Now- don't you feel smarter?