Very brief update today, as I turned 31 last Friday and I am now more scatterbrained than ever before. One family picture today, courtesy of Cousin Mark. From left to right: Josh (looks like Mike), Kirsten (looks like Karen), and Mark (looks like expendable bad guy from Steven Seagal movie). Location: the Coliseum in Nimes, France. Jason will be turning into a husband later this month. I want to go see it happen, but my office and travel times (12 hours one-way, done twice in two days, with a class on translation to teach immediately upon my triumphant return; not sure about that) are keeping me from the festivities. I hear that Jason and Leanne are planning a junket to Japan later this year, though, so I will be feting them in style then . . . Tokyo style!!! Lotsa lotsa raw fish and odd things in vending machines, in other words. All for now. Watch this space for more huge news and updates. Well, don't watch THAT hard, but do pop in from time to time. --PRD 8/20/2001
						No real reason for today's update of this page, except that it had not had one for a while. Also I wanted to put some more pictures up for your enjoyment. Top of the stack is Jessica and Chino, when (a) she had hair and (b) he had the ability to retract his tongue. Quite a rare shot, all in all. The next two are to be viewed in order. First is me and Adam enjoying west Tokyo in the springtime, perhaps seven or eight years ago. We are at Jindaiji. A wise Buddha looks over our shoulders and offers us lessons in self-restraint, inner calm, and other things that will get us off the wheel of endless rebirth. In the second shot we are shown in Nogawa Park, ignoring all those lessons. With stretching, pain, and raw willpower, I was able to fit the ridges at the top of the can inside my teeth. Adam just popped it in effortlessly. I think he has a disjointed jaw like a snake. I know at least one person is reading this site--Dad wrote to say he had checked out the writing section and was looking forward to more postings there. He qualified this hope, though: Unless, of course, it were to end up some horrific "The Unrelenting Cruelty of My Father" type of drivel. However, if that were the case and it turned out pretty good, maybe I could be played by Al Pacino. Ha! Al is busy, Dad. You'll have to settle for Jeffrey Jones, the guy who plays Ed Rooney in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I am watching that on DVD as I type this . . . silly movie. Anything to keep from having to correct my stack of papers. Yes, even a bum like me--the only one in my family without a Master's degree of some sort--is allowed near the front of a classroom. I am teaching translation at a language school here in Tokyo. It's a nice piece of extra cash, but more than that it's an opportunity to look at my job in a more careful way than I usually do, since I have to explain what the process involves to a bunch of students who are HANGING ON MY EVERY WORD. OK, I admit it's a power thing. But it is rewarding for me. Also rewarding is my Tuesday class, in which I teach English and do the odd translation job for the Tokyo Science Museum. The students are very laid-back and someone usually brings beer to the lesson. Loosens the lips . . . Happy July all, --PRD 7/1/2001
						It is beastly hot today here in Japan and I am in a summery mood. Two summery pictures posted on the left. To the top are three wine-touring fans of breezy attire: Hang (Adam's main squeeze) is flanked by her best guy and his sister. The sister presents a Janusian face to the world with her alluring smile and her threatening tattoos. This dual nature is also found in most of the world's major religions. (Except for Buddhism, which appears to be the one that inspired her arm art; but this seeming contradiction merely adds fresh layers to an already deep palimpsest of significances in her case.) Enough lit lingo. Below you will find Lisarae surrounded by a horde of hounds. Fall River Mills at its finest--and thus the connection to summer. Like how I tied that all together? I am redoing the site to make it easier on the eyes (and more importantly, easier to code) and hopefully a faster load. As always, please let me know if it doesn't display well on your machine. Let me know what browser (Explorer, Netscape, Opera, ?) and OS (Windows, Mac, Commodore Basic) you use to look at inconsequential vanity sites on the World Wide Information Highway. I could add deep writings and articles of note on topics of interest to the general readership, but that wouldn't be as fun as things like this. All for now. Enjoy the pix. More to follow. Send some in . . . --PRD 5/20/2001
						Jes wrote and said she might be moving back to Santa Cruz. She also said she might be coming to Japan for a visit in May. Either way, she'll be doing something. I'm in favor of doing things. It's a better way to live than sitting in an apartment on a rainy day, typing things to go on a Website that nobody reads. I'm going to mail all the durf.org addresses and tell people to look at this page. Cynthia wrote mail and said she had visited the site. She even signed the message board. I think more people should. Time to start sending out mail when I update? Or time to start putting up things that people actually want to see? Coming up this week: LIVE NUDE PIX!!!! That oughta bring in the eyeballs. I just can't mention they'll be pictures of me. Oops. --PRD 3/25/2001
						Jason is now winning in the "pictures sent in for inclusion on the site" contest. Fabulous prizes await! About email addresses: If you are a Durfee you have a forwarding account, probably. You can send mail to addresses like: peter jessica adam jeremy kristine jason cynthia steve mike mark kirsten josh karen chino all with an @durf.org on the end. Did I miss you? Want another one? A different one? Let me know. Later! --PRD 3/20/2001
						To the left is Adam. He is a big shot in San Francisco, where he makes much less money now that the Nasdaq is tanking, no doubt. But he did mention that his company is getting bought. Maybe that will make him even richer. Long ago (last year) Jessica asked me to find her a page. Proud of my WWW search skills, I took up the challenge, but to no avail. So I made what she asked for. Check it out. I have been playing with some settings, but I think the site looks better in Netscape than it does in Explorer. How are all of you finding it? Is anyone at all looking at this thing? Might be time to do some advertising . . . --PRD 3/14/2001 (Happy White Day!)
						Jason has checked in. At left is a picture of his house, or as he describes it: Leanne and mine's house (would it be Leanne and mine's or Leanne and my or mine and Leanne's? Quien sabes?) We bought this little guy in September and it is quite cute. We love this old place (built in 1939) and has already captured our hearts. A good first house. . . . I have a small black cat resting on my right arm now as I try to write this, so I will get going. I love your site, or, should I say, my site? He is right. This is his site. It's also your site (if you are a Durf). Get mentioned on it! Send pix and info. --PRD 3/11/2001
						And an update already! This was sparked mainly by the need to corect my stopid spelling on the first upload, but I am also taking this opportunity to show you Mark's kids, Nolan (top) and Tatum (hungry). I also got mail from Mike, who writes: "I am honored to be so noted in such an auspicious institution, a story to tell my grandchildren. . . . The Durfee web will validate my aging presence as one of the more senior of the curious South Pasadena branch of a noble tribe of often tall and baggy eyed men and the famous brothers of Bobby who may soon have email." Steve also checked in, sharing the news that he is "deaf as a post" and that one of his songs has been translated into Mandarin and Cantonese. He is happy with his current work at the Gospel-Chinese-Hard-Of-Hearing-Recording-Studio (GCHOHRS; pronounced like "horse" at the same time you cough up something that went down the wrong pipe). More to come! You can look at Jessica's site in the meantime. --PRD 3/7/2001
						Hi family. Uncle Steve has a site up at a similar address, but there can never be too many of us on the web at the same time. Members of my family have heard from me about the new @durf.org addresses. If you are someone I have missed, let me know if you want one. Mark has been kind enough to send along a pic of his young ones (one of them is eating cardboard, as near as I can tell). That will be up soon. He has also been evil enough to promise me "more pictures than I could possily ever want." While it is true than my 100MB of server space can only hold so many images of goat-impersonating Durf tykes, he did also mention some old Nita pix (scanned or ?) that might be very nice to have up. Mark, I am looking forward to that. Next up on the project list will be the message board. Once this is running to my satisfaction I will have it here as a site for various Durfs to leave, well, messages for one another. Go figger. I'll let you all know when this happens. --PRD 3/7/2001
		Going out in style! This sobering family memento from the page of Cliff Durfee.
				Jessica | Steve & Darlene | Your site here