It dawned on me as I set out to walk toward Kyoto Station from the hotel that I could take the subway there and avoid the frigid air for at least part of the journey out to the start line of the Kyoto Marathon. And so, beneath the streets of Kyoto, I rode… …only to […]

While it would no doubt be banned as a performance enhancement drug, I kinda wish there was a NyQuilian runner’s drink. It probably already exists as Red Bull or Powerade or some such. But I could use a run time sniffling, sneezing, coughing, achy, so you didn’t rest and now need to run a marathon medicine. […]

This story begins almost 20 years ago.  My then writing partner and still best pal in LA and I were query lettering for Hollywood representation.  But a blind letter to some agency seemed less likely than having at least a name of somebody to send the query listing our myriad spec TV shows and feature […]

I’m killing time waiting for the subway to open, much like those passed out girls here in the Samurai Club. I’ve ambled over to the Family Mart to get my Coca-Cola Zero fix. There’s a drink card option in the capsule hotel but they only have fully leaded drinks: I love my genetically modified, scientifically […]

Part of the fun and adventure of being in Japan is getting lost, both spatially and temporally. With kanji characters and a foreign language best described as the Star Wars-ian Force (**) mysticism, I’m truly a stranger in a strange land. (**) This is because my brother has a power I don’t understand and could […]

In some ways, the biggest victory was just getting to the start.  It’s true sometimes for a marathon race and it was definitely true this morning as we struggled to find the South side of the Kyoto Avanti shopping mall that was the meeting point for the start of our city tour.  Nonetheless, we persisted. […]

You know the “old” movies? Ones that at some point require the protagonists to trail by sleeper car train to some other city? It Happened One Night has one… though maybe that one is a bus. Some Like It Hot definitely features one. But the reason I bring this up is that that’s kinda how […]

If it’s Thursday night, it must be Kyoto… So… I guess I *wasn’t* kidding when I told mom this’d be an adventure. We are apparently staying in a cabin style hotel here in Kyoto. I’m too tired from the flying to do anything else but accept that I totally blew this.     In my […]

It’s a small world after all… I’m sitting in the OneWorld club at the Tom Bradley International Airport (TBIT for short). An email message from Shellie asks if I’m in LAX as a mutual friend thinks she sees Kevin the club. Sure enough Mikki and I are both headed to Japan — she’s off to […]

I’m pretty sure the record locator is K-A-F-K-A-1. Upon checking in at Orlando International Airport, my bag got tagged all the way through to Kansai (KIX) but American Airlines was only able to issue my ticket to LAX. They were unable to issue my boarding pass from LAX to KIX because despite being a code […]