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I get a lot of email from visitors to this site.
Enough in fact that I sometimes find it hard to keep
up with and invariably there are instances where it
takes me quite a long time to respond to some people.
And others sometime have there messages go unasnwered
as the new waves of email displace those waiting to
be answered.
To those of you who I do not get around to answering,
I apologize. I do my best to answer everyone but sometimes
there just is not enough time in the day to do all the
things I need to do.
But every once in a while I get a message from someone
in which Sushicam had sparked a change in their life.
Just yesterday I received one such email. Here is what
it said:
"Jeff,
My name is Dylan Armes, a long-time
reader of, but never poster to Sushicam. I'm a pre-med
student at the University of Oklahoma. That alone meant
that I would never be able to go to Japan to visit.
The idea of taking a year "off" to go study
abroad in Japan was ridiculous! I would ruin the plan
I had instituted when I was about 6 years old to finish
undergrad in four years, med-school, etc.
I started reading Sushicam about
two and half years ago. I spent one day getting caught
up with all of the archived posts and pictures you had
taken, and the next year anxiously awaiting pictures
and stories
of the land I had so hoped to visit.
Suffice to say that since mid-September I haven't been
checking Sushicam as regularly as I once did. Not because
it's any less interesting than it ever was, but because
I just don't have the time.
That is, your website was one of the things that made
me decide to say 'screw it' and come. Since September
17, I've been living in Kyoto!
I'm an international student at Ritsumeikan Daigaku,
and my dorm is 5 minutes from Ninnaji temple and 15
from Kinkakuji.
I guess I'm writing to say thanks.
Your pictures especially inspired me to bite the bullet,
throw away my plans, and come to Kyoto, Japan, the most
beautiful place in the world. I'll be here for the next
8 months, so if decide to come to Kyoto again soon,
drop me a line.
Dylan"
I stand humbled.
But I think Dylan is giving me too much credit here.
After all, the only thing I did was wet his appetite,
it was he who made the decision to pick up stakes and
head for the land of the rising sun. Talk is easy, it
is the follow through that is difficult.
My hat goes off to Dylan for taking the time to stop
and smell the roses.
I'm not saying that having plans in life is not important.
Not at all. Just don't let life pass you buy while you
are busy making those plans.
In the immortal words of John Lennon "Life is
what happens to you while your busy making other plans".
How true.
Dylan has also started his own blog to document his
time in Japan. I highly reccomend it. It is very nicely
designed and has great content. He does a great job
of capturing this place through the eyes of the newly
arrived. Things that I may take for granted (as hard
as I try not to) are captured and I enjoy it very much.
It reminds me of myself when i first arrived in Japan
and brings up all kinds of "natsukashii" feelings
for me.
http://dubious.blogs.com
--
In other news, since the first Sushicam prints raffle
was such a smashing success, I have decided to continue
the practice and would like to announce that the second
raffle is now open. It will run from now until December
7th. (Not because that is the anniversary of the attack
on Pearl Harbor, but rather because I like these to
be a full month long. But speaking about pearl harbor,
did you all realize that i work in the building where
Admiral Yamamoto made the decision to carry out the
attack on Pearl harbor? Strange but true.)
For those of you with a memory as bad as mine, or if
you just found Sushicam, here is how it works:
I only want to retain enough proceeds to cover the
actual cost of hosting this site so the number of winners
will be determined by the number of people who enter.
(For example, last month I had 19 entries so I gave
away 6 prints. 3 for 1st place, 2 for 2nd place and
1 for 3rd place.)
Winners will receive 8x12 inch print of their choice.
(Glossy or matte finish) Prints will be mailed directly
to you from my smugmug.com printing service. All prints
are made on Fuji Crystal Archive paper and they look
great.
Anyone can enter, as I ship to any country. But if
your country is one that Smugmug.com will no ship directly
to, then it will take a little longer for you to receive
your print(s) as I will have to first ship it to myself,
and then forward it on to you.
This first months raffle will start today and ends
on the 7th of December.
It costs $5 to enter, and you can enter as many times
as you like.
To enter all you need to do is use the Paypal "make
a donation" link located on the right-hand side
of the main intro page.
That's it.
I will keep track of the list
of entries, posting updates to it on a regular basis.
The winner will be posted on the 8th of December.
Like I said, proceeds will be used to pay for actual
hosting and bandwidth fees for Sushicam. So the more
people that enter the more winners there will be.
Note: When you enter the raffle via Paypal, please
also send me a separate email specifying what name or
"handle" you want to be listed under in the
Monthly Raffle entries list.
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