keiko takamura's blog.

CHRISTMAS ANT MASSACRE

2009-12-27T04:19:06Z

These ants have been driving me fucking batshit. We knew when we moved into the apartment two years ago that there had been an ant problem. The tell-tale sign was that there were little plastic flower-shaped Raid Ant Bait traps underneath the kitchen sink. It's gotten to the point that I see ants in my kitchen every day. If I don't take an hour or so out of my day to murder a long line of marching ants and clean up whatever they're after, it's a good day. They've been wearing on me for the last couple of months, though.

Over time, it felt almost as if the ants were trying to personally hurt me. At least once a week, while I'm watching TV or something, an ant crawls over my glasses. My GLASSES. Some mornings, I would wake up and find them nomming on a spoon that had sugar on it from my cup of coffee. I would sigh, wipe them up, and continue about my day. Ants like sugar. This is to be expected. But then, another day, I brewed a cup of coffee and found a dead ant floating in it. They DEFILED my sacred, precious Hello Kitty coffee maker. Why? Why would they be in my coffee maker? There's nothing in there that tastes good on its own! I found a few of them inside my rice cooker, too -- and it was empty! Why would they possibly want to get into an empty rice cooker? Because they hate Asians. These are racist ants, my friends.

Another personal jab to me happened during the special time during a girl's life when she bleeds out her vagina for a week. Back in my old apartment, I learned not to trust the toilet when flushing tampons, so I'd wrap them and toss them in the trash. Somehow, the ants had eaten a hole through the caulk in the bathtub and later that night, I came home to a ravenous swarm of ants EATING MY USED TAMPON.

I can't keep living like this. I just can't. These ants are RUINING MY LIFE.

We've tried the very same Raid Ant Bait Traps. We've tried being extremely meticulous about not leaving anything the ants might find appetizing. To keep from harming our kittens, we made special "natural" ant bait traps out of honey, Splenda, and 20 Mule Team Borax.

Those looked like they were working. We slipped them underneath the kitchen counter and behind heavy bags of cat litter. Within a couple days, there were long, thick lines of ants swarming over the poisoned honey traps underneath my kitchen sink. Zero ants in plain sight.

For a few weeks, the ants and I had a truce. I'd re-stock the ant trap with various poisoned goodies -- sugar-water, mayonnaise, watered-down cat food slurry -- and they'd stay off of my counters. It was kind of fascinating to see how many of them would eat themselves to death every day. Some would just drown in the poison, unable to swim back to safety.

But last night, after the Christmas festivities were over and I was trying to relax, I found two lines of ants marching over my counters. They had broken the truce. And on the night of Christmas Day, I had finally had it. I locked the cats out of the kitchen, opened the window, turned on the fans, and blasted some Coheed and Cambria on my iPod. I took the poisoned goodies and I dumped them out in the sink, then I ran the garbage disposal. And then, the big guns: I used ant spray on those little motherfuckers and sprayed the shit out of the crack between the wall and the plumbing they were coming from. Then I used duct tape to seal them off.

I wiped up their soggy ant corpses and then I cleaned the rest of the kitchen to make sure there was nothing else they would want to eat. I know deep down that this was just another battle, and the war is far from over. They'll be back. I've got a sugar bowl on the kitchen table I use for my coffee -- I'm sure that's next. But, this Christmas, the ants were not going to get the best of me.

Merry Fucking Christmas, you disgusting little fuckers.

Sibling rivalry

2009-12-16T01:01:03Z

"I assure you, mom, that other stocking ALSO says 'WiCC'."

Art post?

2009-12-15T20:43:39Z

For lack of a better term, here's an art post.

This is a poster I made for my next show. Inspiration: "How to make hangovers look appealing?"

MS Paint on the big TV while listening to Pandora Xmas music. This is the result.

Comic!

2009-12-10T22:34:26Z

Still working on fdtcomic.Have you seen my newer stuff? I've been trying to stylize the characters rather than making them generic-comic-book-character-looking.

Child's Play Charity Fundraiser!

2009-12-08T05:10:48Z

Child's Play Charity Fundraiser/Pizza Party/Live Concert!

Friday, December 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM (PT)

http://childsplaypizzaparty.eventbrite.com/

Pizza & Drinks For All

Live Music by The Shebangs

Silmulcast into Second Life for extra geek points

Food, drinks, music, helping out sick kids! What could be better?

Smell what I'm cookin'. SMELL IT.

2009-11-26T08:52:29Z

Happy Turkey Day, everyone. This will be my first vegetarian Thanksgiving ever! Basically, it means I eat everything but the turkey, gravy, and stuffing. I'm making an organic green bean casserole and thyme & garlic-roasted fingerling potatoes, parsnips, & carrots. Yeahhhh.

Band stuff is looking up. We got rid of our old bassist, but we're auditioning four (4!!) bassists on Sunday. We're also adding keys/ 2nd vocals into the mix. The keys/vox chick is 1/4 Asian, so between my 3/4ths and her 1/4, there is ONE WHOLE ASIAN in our band.

Remember when I posted a bunch of drawings of spy-assassins a year ago? No? That's cool, it'll be a surprise to you, then. James and I are working on an idea for a webcomic called FREE DRINKS TOMORROW and it will be a scifi-action-dramedy thing. Here is the link to the official FTD pre-production blahg. http://community.livejournal.com/fdtcomic/

What are your holiday plans?

I'm speaking at a Social Media Event Thing! Tomorrow!

2009-11-17T22:12:24Z

http://sfsvnov09.eventbrite.com/

Social Media Club San Francisco / Silicon Valley brings together musicians and their fans to discuss music our collective love of music and the new ways the artists and their supporters are connecting at our November meetup.

We have a panel that includes musicians who are using social media to build their fan base as well as communicate with them, raving fans as well as social media professionals. We're looking for an audience that is ready to discuss the music they make - or that moves them - and how social media has impacted their interaction.

Panelists:

* Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora
* Victoria 'VDog' Haller, music fan and in the Chris Mann video 'Heartless'
* Chuck Fishman, musician
* Christel Vanderboom, online promotion for Blame Sally
* Jean Shirk, Public Relations for the SF Symphony
* Keiko Takamura, singer/songwriter and virtual celebrity in the world of Second Life
* Jonah Matranga, musician

In addition to socializing and networking, you can participate discussion that includes exploration of:

* Helping musicians/artists build a fan base and keep connected.
* Helping fans share their passion with other fans. Listeners using social media to discover new musicians.
* Connecting with live performers with audiences across the world.

Halloween Funtimes in RL!

2009-10-25T19:28:03Z

My friends had a big Halloween party last night. It was, of course, a costume party. They live is the San Mateo/Bellmont area and we live in the city, so we had to sit on the train with our costumes on to get there.

Here are our costumes.

Unfortunately, we couldn't compete with Gabe's costume: Eddie Riggs from Brütal Legend.

I won Best Pop Artist for the 2009 Stream Scene SL Music Awards!

2009-10-23T00:58:02Z

They had me perform, also. Weeee!

Halloween Funtimes in SL!

2009-10-17T00:19:27Z

keikotakamura @ 2009-10-15T15:35:00

2009-10-15T22:36:39Z

My weeks have gotten considerably more cramped. That's probably a good thing, since it keeps me busy. I took up a part-time job working for James's dad's company, so I get to work from home. That means I have to be at my computer from 10:30-5, but that's not too different from how it was before. I'm also on commission for doing little YouTube commercials for a green building non-profit I have been interning for. So, that's been awesome.

The band is going well enough. We have an assload of new songs and new ideas for songs and stuff like that. We just need to plaaaay. If we can play out with other bands who have a decent following anyway, or at a venue that has built-in clientele, that would be fantastic.

I just discovered that I have two pairs of jeans in the closet that straight-up do not fit me anymore. I cannot get my fat ass into them. This is hardly surprising, but still sad.

LULZ SL!

2009-10-09T18:50:41Z

In the Live Music Enthusiasts group chat:

There are 4201 members in this group. Hahahah.

Everytime you masturbate, God drinks a slurpee.

2009-10-02T19:29:07Z

I'm so torn.

It's Domo-kun, which is awesome.

It's 7-11, so that's stupid.

It's apple-flavored, which is something I can't pass up.

But it's Fanta, which is basically Hitler's soda. (Look it up, kids.)

I'll probably end up trying it.

Looking to play shows with similar bands

2009-10-01T21:20:19Z

Hey Internet,

We are looking to play some shows with other similar sounding bands. We have about 13 songs and can play upwards of about an hour's worth of originals. On a weekend slot (Friday or Saturday nights) with enough notice, we can draw upwards of about 40 people. Our influences lie anywhere between Juliana Hatfield, Tegan and Sara, the Breeders, with a dash of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.

If you like what you hear and want to play together, drop us a line. We would love to hear from you.

Peace, love, and music,
The Shebangs

Hooray for local indie radio!

2009-09-21T07:50:41Z

Did you miss our radio appearance? You can download it here, under the Links section on the right! http://unboundsoundshow.blogspot.com/

[VIDEO] The Shebangs - Hang On

2009-09-15T20:33:25Z

From the Kimo's show in San Francisco. 9/13/09

Gas Man vs. The General

2009-09-09T05:18:34Z

This is a crazy, effed-up dream I had a couple years ago. It was a little while after my dad died. I remembered it the other night.

Here it is, presented to you on TokiDoki/Hello Kitty stationary, in 4 parts.

Part 1

Part2

Part3

Part 4

listening to "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1" on Blip

2009-09-09T00:36:36Z

[Video] I still totally want to cover this song. While playing the game. That would be epic.

Contentedness

2009-09-05T22:49:46Z

Life is pretty good. I live in an awesome city. I'm in a band. I got a good man. I got two cats.

I'm trying to get an internship at Linden Lab. If they take me on, I'll be working with the Japanese residents. So don't ask me why you can't find things in your inventory, k.

My band has two shows coming up, and we're working on more songs.

I have a pot of coffee waiting for me. Life is pretty good.

MEGA-MA-PHOOOOONE

2009-08-31T20:34:35Z

listening to "the bird and the bee - Polite Dance Song" on Blip

2009-08-27T19:10:59Z

The Bird and the Bee is my new drink/dance/fuck music.

listening to "Siouxsie - Here Comes That Day" on Blip

2009-08-25T20:29:04Z

This is what I was listening to on the train. Makes me feel like a mobster. Siouxie - Here Comes That Day.

listening to "Metric - The List (Album Version)" on Blip

2009-08-25T20:25:32Z

Do lawyers have lawyers? Do landlords have landlords have landlords? One more cheap suit in the loop, more chlorine in the pool.

Bloody Mary

2009-08-21T20:00:18Z

SLCC Video... featuring Hamlet Au!!

2009-08-18T19:49:32Z

Read the writeup on Hamlet's blog.