22 September 2011 Images and Movies
13 October 2011 Notes from Miyazaki, Nippon. Douga to shashin wa shita desu.
Thumbnails of the project in general, captured one day before another trip to Miyazaki, Nippon (Japan), are provided below. Click on a thumbnail to see the images. Portrait oriented images generally load sideways, alas. Sorry, though I understand the cause, I can't resolve that problem due to time constraints. I also didn't have time to distill the array to the best images - I simply captured lots of images, then posted all of them. Sorry...
Two movies are also provided, as indicated by the mp4 suffixes. They're very large files at 574 MB and 246 MB. But you might find them amusing. 1.mp4 is best (though still crude) - 2.mp4 was essentially a rehearsal. The background music in 1.mp4 is courtesy of Yuko Pomily-san, whom I consider a superb young artist, and whose music I absolutely adore, and savor very frequently. Her album cover can be seen in images 167 through 171.
Due to darkness, I didn't capture any good general outdoor images, which is a shame because the grounds are much cleaner now. All traces of the derelict mobile home are gone, and the construction of the sewer and water pipes which serve the aircraft's aft lavs has been completed, and the trenches back-filled (except for a short span of the sewer trench associated with the area where future construction of the left main landing gear pillar will occur), making the area far more pleasing to the eye.
The aircraft's interior is a composite of a modest sized and humble but functional living environment combined with construction materials, tools, and 727 components in the aft section, and essentially only construction materials and components in the forward section. I have the luxury of hot water now, and though the shower stall construction is incomplete, the shower is functional. As mentioned earlier, the shower will be rather large, and attached to the wall of the right aft lavatory, and will encompass the cabin windows from that wall to the right aft service door. It's not clear when I'll complete the shower - now that it's functional, other priorities, such as the left main landing gear pillar construction, come first.
The left aft lavatory's toilet remains fully functional, and has proven to be reliable. (I still intend to replace the current brown passive seat with a white washlet seat later.) And the construction of the outdoor sewer and water lines which serve both aft lavs is fully functional and essentially complete - only very minor enhancements remain on that agenda. Insofar as all the service lines are concerned, the aircraft can now dance quite freely in an earthquake without damage - all service lines are coiled and held with slotted plastic clamps which open under modest strain so that the lines can uncoil to a substantial distance, as you might be able to discern in images 178 through 201. The exception is the aft sewer pipe, which is flexible, but of limited length. But it would disconnect without damage at a junction designed to do so under modest strain. Once the left main and forward landing gear pillars are complete, the aircraft should easily withstand any earthquake, providing falling tree damage doesn't occur (I am concerned about that possibility, and considering what to try to do about it).
I'm trying to keep as much mass as far aft as possible in an effort to make construction of the landing gear pillars a bit easier (especially the front pillar), and to minimize stress on the temporary front cribbing support. This is a nuisance though - stashing materials densely in my primary living area cramps that area, an ongoing inconvenience. But it's necessary...
Yes, that's my last will, revoking all previous versions, appended to the front of the refrigerator in images 90 through 92. Please honor only that document when my pump stops working. (A task which won't require attention anytime soon I hope.)
As mentioned last year, but with a few edits:
I'm very happy with the left aft toilet, and I'll modify the right aft toilet in the same manner as soon as time permits. And then, later, the forward toilet (but it will require separate sewer and water connections, which I suspect I'll leave disconnected most of the time due to the messy outdoor visual impact they'll cause).
The futon sofa easily flattens to a bed suitable for two (or is comfortable for one in sofa position as shown). Many thanks to a very dear friend for her excellent taste, and a truly delightful day of shopping. And so much more...
The support pillar for the front landing gear was replaced by a new support structure a bit aft. I hope to build a permanent or at least semi-permanent support pillar for the nose gear in the summer of 2012, after which the temporary pillar behind it will be dismantled. I hope to have a permanent left main gear support pillar built at about the same time, though that's a much bigger job. But it's important - I no longer fully trust the existing temporary support pillar. The right main gear rests at ground level, so a permanent pad for that landing gear can wait as necessary.
There are numerous other stories to relate, including both high drama and, for outsiders, insipid and desperately boring melodrama. A taste of the bitter melodrama is linked rather prominently from my home page. That problem persists unabated, and is one element (though certainly not the only one) that motivates me to spend most of my time in Miyazaki, Nippon, and some time in Korea. Many wonderful and very dear friends and my beloved sweetheart are here in Miyazaki. And my physical health fares better here, as indicated for example by an interesting eye defect whose symptoms typically reappear when I'm in Oregon, then disappear after returning to Miyazaki. Aside from its normal function, my left eye now serves as a 'sense of belonging gauge'. When I feel a warm sense of belonging, its vision is normal. Otherwise, as has been the case in Oregon in recent times, lines I know are actually straight appear to have a midsection deviation - a bump - due to an inflamed retina blister, as was the case last month. But now that I'm back in Miyazaki, straight lines look straight again. My sense of belonging is healthy here...
There's another very important factor too which, though no secret at all here in Miyazaki, is, by social necessity, a carefully guarded secret in Oregon. And there are other elements. But the rest of these stories are, mercifully for you, beyond the scope of this page.
The bottom line is that I now consider Miyazaki my spiritual home. Korea has a similar appeal, but I haven't visited my friends there since February, which is a shame. Hopefully I'll be able to spend some time there again soon.
This displacement between my infrastructure home and my spiritual home obviously creates a daunting practical problem which has a considerable impact upon my airplane home project, and my life in general. But I just have to manage the situation as best I can. And ultimately try to reconsolidate my spiritual and infrastructure homes, if possible. That won't be easy. It might even prove impossible.
We all just try to do the best we can...
I appended an abridged excerpt from a recent email message which touches upon that subject below the thumbnails in case you're interested.Thanks everyone and regards, Bruce
An embellished and edited excerpt from a recent email message:
...As a American misekake asobi-nin (superficial playboy) in Asia, and especially in Nippon, I get a lot of joy and fulfillment by not actually being misekake at all. My time and resources aren't unlimited of course, and are usually badly strained. But I do genuinely care about all my friends and loved ones, and try my best at all times, at least with those close at hand, to contribute to their amusement and happiness. And that pays huge personal dividends for me - I am a very, very happy man in Miyazaki - I'm lucky beyond all reasonable measure. It's not clear to me how life could get much better than this, other than to have a guaranteed eternal extension of it.
But it is quite different for me in America, for numerous reasons. One of them is cultural of course, and some are personal. But another is that I miss the simple beautiful magic of Asian eyes, which I find absolutely compelling and irresistible in both romance and friendships. And civility seems to be a finely refined art here in Miyazaki - it's not perfect, but compared to home, there's a very clear difference in my personal experience. I never feel unsafe here, and almost never encounter rude behavior. And the charm quotient here is stratospheric. As is the atmosphere of romance. Home, alas, is different...
But I love my 727 too, so I've got a serious infrastructure problem of course.
I'd love to park one or two of the certification testing dedicated 787s here, adjoining the large Seagaia resort facility, which could richly benefit from fresh, cool, and inspiring novelty to bolster visitor numbers. Ideally I'd like to make one a home for me and my heart stopping class beautiful sweetheart. I gather those birds will never carry passengers due to the rigors of testing, and might even end up being scrapped. And one is rendered in ANA colors, making a partnership with ANA almost trivially easy to physically execute. Many other business and government partnerships seem immediately obvious, not the least of which is Seagaia of course, but also including a restaurant chain, an apartment chain, a retailer chain, local airports and associated firms, and others, all of whom could benefit from the cool factor, which they could leverage into effective publicity in this web intensive age. And government entities too, for reasons both subtle and overt.
And the Miyazaki airport is logistically terrific - it borders the ocean, and I believe it has a barge supporting dock abutment. So getting the birds onto a barge should be genuinely easy.
Moving them from a barge to the ocean-side grounds of Seagaia would be difficult since there's no suitable dock nearby (so far as I know), and for other reasons. So significant money would have to be spent to build adequate ramps and to shuttle steel plates bucket brigade style on the sandy beaches and elsewhere. But it could be done, and perhaps at a rather reasonable cost.
There are enormous hurdles of course, and my chances of actually pulling everything together are very slim. But boy I'd love to rouse each day next to my stunning sweetheart in the superb cabin of a remarkable 787 overlooking a sun rising over the Pacific Ocean. The rewards would be cosmic class...
Thanks everyone and regards, Bruce
Copyright 22 September 2011, Howard Bruce Campbell, AirplaneHome.com.
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