yesterday was a real ball. we saw some stuff and i took pictures. ain’t that neat.

first place we went was the imperial palace gardens, which were a bit manicured for my taste but they were far-reaching and there was an attention to detail that was worth appreciating. i think my favorite part was a waterfall i found at the end of a crude stone path, just tucked away enough to feel private in a crowded space. in the middle of a shallow pond was a solid black cube that overflowed with water at the top, framed by a trickling stream that came from a small rocky hill. it was strange to find a modern looking structure in the middle of this more classical garden, it looked like a save point in a video game.

[took a lot of pictures for a change here. although i don’t think fountain is done justice. oh well. it is just a block.]

second place was the meiji shrine, which i swore i had been to before, because i had! the shrine was quite large, the gates were as tall as the trees and the complex was vast and spacious. it was sunny, but a the shade from the trees provided a cool temperature. when i went with my parents 11 years ago it was a light rain, midday, and there was a wedding taking place on the complex. as i was walking i remembered how at peace i felt the first time and how i wished something so ancient existed near my home. i thought about the destruction of north american old growth forests, and how the world was robbed of bigger trees. i thought about how i am old enough to have 11 year old memories, and what had changed between that time and now.

every time i talk about the destruction of america’s old growth forest i feel like i’m making it up due to the extent of the damage and the lack of public knowledge on the matter. like, we just cut 90% of the oldest trees on a continent and no one gets taught about it in schools! most people have no idea how big a tree can get because we chopped down all of the biggest ones and they used to be EVERYWHERE. that sounds SO MADE UP because if it was real EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW AND BE AS MAD AS I AM ABOUT IT. anyway. being surrounded by Big Tree is such a valuable and rare experience in this world and i hope that some day i might be lucky enough to see them more regularly. probably not though. due to the fact that they’re all gone. haha.

[i could hear crows calling deep into the forest and when they came close enough to see they were huge. as big as my arm.]

i’m not sure what happened after this honestly. i know we went home and i must have eaten somewhere, it probably wasn’t that interesting anyway. while i had fun today and i loved the places we went, my head wasn’t in the best place. it’s probably best for the both of us to move on i think :2