“I’m not smiling,” Kentaro said, as I pointed my camera in his direction. I’d told him to look natural, to not smile. He did his best, breaking into a fit of giggles, instead. I snapped a picture. Giggles make Japanese friends blurry. The same happens with Mako, though in subtle ways, Mako’s camera-giggles are tinged with more of a blush. I sat, with Kentaro and with Corey in the air-conditioned confines of a non-Starbucks coffee chain in Chicago’s BoysTown neighborhood. I suspect I’ve overcome my THX-1138-induced aversion to the neighborhood. It’s still there, but more like a background radiation; the presence of international friends is a nice antidote. Kentaro, like Mako, sees something different in BoysTown and enjoys it for reasons that aren’t entirely logical in the local manner. I’m rather pleased with the fact that both Mako and Kentaro can enjoy BoysTown, and express that enjoyment in an efficient, compressed language. (Japanese is an exquisitely compressed language, until you get to counting, and then it just becomes bizarre, complicated, and just flat-out odd. There are different ways of counting things, based on whether or not they’re alive or inanimate, round or long…in short, an element of Japanese linguistic compression relies of a complicated set of reasons for something simple. Japanese linguistic imports are most welcome in BoysTown, as far as I’m concerned.) Though the day began with extreme heat, a breeze wafted in from the north—it seems—and brought lower temperatures in its wake. This was a good thing, as Corey and Kentaro and I sat, guzzling iced coffee and eating something yogurt-based with fruit. We didn’t have much time together, as Kentaro had other obligations he couldn’t escape, but we made the most of the hours we had…giggling (and not smiling) and talking about…well…everything…especially Lady GaGa, and Japanese pop group, Every Little Thing. Their seventh album, Crispy Park, is currently doing rather well in Japan. (Apparently, parks in Japan are crispy?” They sound rather good, in a Japanes pop sort of way.) As afternoon meandered into the early hours of evening, Kentaro parted company with Corey and me, with promises for at least one more visit with us, before his return to Japan. Corey and I—in the mood to photograph something— meandered toward the lake and endured a massive load of synchronized clones, and apparent sports fans with room-temperature IQs. It was the clones who noticed this. As the South-sider, room-temperature sports fans passed a duo of North Sider quasi-clones: one of them declared: “Your team sucks. Our team is better than your team.” The North Sider responded with: “You were waiting all day to use that one, weren’t you?” The exchange, though brief, was amusing, though all too telling of what much of Chicago has become. I found comfort in conversation with Corey, a few photographs of flowers, random bicyclists, and…a damselfly. What began with Kentaro (not smiling) ended at sunset, with Corey and I meandering back to his apartment with a massive load of photos between us. This particular damselfly is one of the more pleasant, non-human markers of that day. I was amazed to capture it at all, and so here it is. I'm happy to say that in a way, Corey and I fulfilled the edict of BoysTown...we were productive (in terms of making photography,) we consumed, (in terms of drinking coffee and eating sweet stuff,) and thus, we were happy. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.