Saturday, June 11, 2011

Fireworks, Crackers and Beer at the Gallery Last Night

It was open to the public but we didn't advertise so, you had to be in-the-know, otherwise, you could consider yourself uninvited.  Anyways, we had fireworks, crackers and beer at Mike's Ryukyu Gallery last night.  We had a pretty good idea that the half million views was going to happen.

So, we took a few photos to show everybody how we gotterdun, in true Redneck Style.
The first thing, in case there's ever any doubt about us knowing what we're doing, was to document this event with photos.  Not really sure what day of the week it ever is, I threw a fireworks photo on the blog.  Then, the blog told me it was Friday, June 10, 2011. They know the date, wherever they print the thing.
Next, I thought it'd be nice if everyone could see what time it was in Japan while this event took place.  That clock, leaning up against my redneck cooling tower is showing you Japan Standard Time (JST) and it's 11:21PM Friday night June 10, 2011.
Ryukyu Rusty had to take pictures because I was getting ready to set off the fireworks. 

That yellow contraption in my hands, the Japanese call a cracker. 

I was watching the view meter, ready to pull the string.  Fireworks liven things up, always.

It's not easy shooting a camera in a gallery because of the horrible lighting, especially when everyone is drinking beer. Rusty had to use camera flash. 

You can see that I don't usually wear those girly boots you saw the other day. 

At this point, the dang meter already hit 500,001 and I pulled the string.  The cracker thing made a real loud BANG but, nothing flew out of it.  I was expecting red, yellow, blue and green streamers to fly all over the place.  Nothing came out of the damn thing but noise, BANG !

I  looked up in the sky, just in case the beer had slowed down my eyeball reflexes, but there wasn't a streamer in sight.  So, I popped another one.  The same thing happened, no streamers.

They developed some new kind of tree-saving fireworks, I guess.  These crackers come with only noise and no streamers.  What kind of redneck do they think I am, anyhow? 

Next time, I'll buy sparklers, I guess and if they don't look like fireworks, to me, I'll start making my own. 

I ain't stupid, ya know.

We celebrated with a few more beers, put my redneck cooling tower, cameras and computer away and cleaned up the mess we didn't make.  We had to get home and grab some sleep.  This morning Ryukyu Rusty, Ryukyu Mike and Doc were hopping on a boat to shoot some photos on another Okinawa island called Minna Jima.  You'll hear about that excursion later.

Right now, I just want to thank everybody who helped this blog hit the half million views mark.

Next week I'll be sifting through my mail to see who guessed closest to the date we gotterdun and mailing them their choice of photos.

Then, after I get caught up on developing this weekends shots, we'll see what kind of celebrating to do besides fireworks, crackers and beer in the event this madness continues on to the million views mark.

Cheers,
Mike



7 comments:

Ryan said...

Congratulations on the half mill Mike, I haven't witnessed celebrations like that since the millenium new year party in the centre of Edinburgh woooo I just hope you didn't blow you're entire budget on those fireworks!!!

Jay said...

Congratulations Mike on a well deserved half million mark .... Cheers :)))

RyukyuMike said...

Ryan,
Hah, you musta had a heck of a party with those millenium things.
We only have centipedes over here and I think that'd be a great idea, throwing a party for them, too.
Nope, didn't blow the whole budget. I'm saving up for the one million celebration. Maybe, give away a camera to someone. Wait and see.

Jay,
Thank you. All you folks who come here, visit and comment are what really keeps this blog going. Holler at me on that Facebook thing anytime you have a suggestion and I'll see what I can do to make your visits, even more, enjoyable.

Unknown said...

Congrats on the 500k... half way there (or is that half way back?). Shame about the crackers (for a minute there I got confused...as I was looking at the cigarette in your hand wondering what the hell ya were talking about... wrong photo!)

Good luck on the next 500k.

RyukyuMike said...

AdelaideBen,
Thank you. Aw, I get confused all the time, too. Making it to the one million mark may be a real challenge.

Gene said...

Yee Haaa 500,001 way to go ,,You'll see that million like I said last year when You wondered about 100,000! Great one man party going there Mike. Thank You Gene

RyukyuMike said...

Gene,
You're one of those folks who makes this happen. I don't think a day goes by without us running into each other, online somewhere and having a look at a landscape, wildlife scene or a good belly-busting laugh over some of the crazy things this world has to offer.
Feeling bad about a rant I made when some knucklehead claimed Japanese school kids were eating whales for school lunches, you mailed me and said, something like, "Let um have it Mike. Somebody has to tell them".
That made me feel better and I'll never forget that you were the one who picked me up when I fell down.
Most of the time I prefer humor in my writing but, once in awhile, I suppose, a rant can be a good thing, too.
You and a lot of folks, like you, who have become my friends and daily visitors, are what inspires me to keep poking away at these blasted typing machines that ain't got no ink and shine bright lights in your face.
Keep coming back and maybe, one of these days we'll party together!

Cheers,
Mike