nobirth's Xanga

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:14:02 GMT

I've been doing an surprisingly awful job of updating this site. I can't believe the last thing I wrote was back in Cambodia. Since then I've gone through Thailand, gone back to Japan, come back to the US, bounced around the Bay for awhile and finally started at Stanford Law. That's a lot of xaga blogging that just won't happen :(
Suffice to say that Thailand was great. Scuba diving Phuket with lionfish, Moray eels, turtles, 3 ft. long cuttlefish and a million other wonders of the sea rocked. Same thing with going around above shore and seeing the islands. Ko Phi Phi, where they filmed the Beach back in the days, is gorgeous, even though yo can see the areas where the tsunami tore it up. Phuket is a mix of gorgeous beaches and plush hotel accomdations and tourist hell. In Saipan I loved going around the island, but I wasn't even tempted to walk one step inland at Phuket.
Bangkok is fun (more fun without Reiko, but that's neither here nor there :P I guess if you get in deep it would be enjoyable, but I guess I never really felt the appeal. note: people in Bangkok are as styling as those in Tokyo and way more so than HK, imho.
I ran around Japan for a week and enjoyed some going away parties and generally good times bofre coming to the states and feeling surprisingly out of place. Since my folks have moved in their own ways, I guess not having a house to call home here may be part of that. But, I definitely suffered froma sense of dislocation when I got back and, while it has disappeared a bit, sense that I'd probably be back in Japan in a few years. I didn't expect that exactly and I've enjoyed hanging in the city a ton. Still, it's a little weird being back...
...especially because I both drink and party way more here at Stanford than I did Dartmouth. This drinking wed-sat thing is just a little new to me. I mean, if I'm not in class or the library I seem to be out drinking. I don't know if I'll keep it up, but it's been a good run so far :P
The people here are a blast and law school really is a lot of fun (besides the law part ;) Actually, learning the law is a lot of fun too. I've got a pretty solid group of teachers who are insanely intelligent, fairly funny and only occassionally mean. I'm a little jealous of some the "lighter" sections, but I do feel like I'll learn a lot.
Anyways, I need to get on with some studying. But, in the meantime, one quick pic from last night.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 08:30:36 GMT

I just finished my first real day of scuba training. It's pretty impressive actually. For my $200, I've been able to enjoy 1 on 1 lessons and I'll be finishing my open water in 3 days or so. Plus, depending on how I how handle things I might be able to do advanced for free ;) So,you know those pools with people falling awkwardly and looking like idiots wearing full scuba gear when everyone else is wearing regular suits? Didn't do that. Instead, we went out for 45 minutes on a stormy sea, tied up off an island called Elvis and then navigated through the coral to get to sandy beach. A gorgeous beach with tons of live coral and one fisherman boat. Sweet jees, so nice. Then,being solo, I covered a ton of techniques quickly and we did 2 dives before a major front hit the area. Absolutely awesome. So many of big freaky sea urchins with their little orange eyes...
I guess the conditions weren't actually that good (between the storms, only 27 degree water (I don't use Fahrenheit much :/), 2m vis etc.), but it kicked the crap out of the pool, I saw a bunch of cool fish/corals and had some solid experience. Staring up from 6m and realizing that you're pretty far down is pretty freaky. And tomorrow, weather permitting, we're going down 18m.
Otherwise, I went and hit up one of the local bars last night. Met some UK girls and hung out with the owner and her family (pretty cool bunch really).
At some point I will get pictures online. Since I'm storing all my stuff on a Mac formatted iPod it's a little difficult to read stuff on PCs. Sigh...

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:25:02 GMT

I've recently made it to the south coast of Cambodia. I spent the first few days in Siem Reap, then 1 night Phnom Penh, and then I got down here earlier today. This country is an utter and complete trip. Well, Angkor Wat and the rest of the country are completely different for starters. Paying the internet kinda sucks, so this won't be an amazing entry. Rather you get an email I sent Reiko earlier ;)

Stuff is still going pretty smoothly down here. I went out and around town last night. Some of the bars are pretty kicking and the only thing that sucked was loosing at connect 4 to some underage age girl at some bar ;) I had to stop playing when she said, "ok, next time you lose you break up with your girlfriend." At that point the stakes were too high. I wonder what I would have lost next...
It's kinda weird, it's pretty easy to see what's happening here. We met this guy and he''s been trying to get his brother out of the country. He made a good point, "you can get anything and you think there aren't any consequences. But that's not the case." meth and vietnamese girls never do the body good :/
it's weird, the guy I was hanging out with is actually pretty scummy. I've never seen such a Janus faced guy. There was a kid who was begging outside the open window of our and the driver (his older friend) jokes that you could spit in his face if he annoyed. Pause. Then driver starts to do it and I say no. End of story. Nope, Chicago Law says he's 100% for it and the guy turns around again. I guess I stopped them(more the wrong energy than anything I said) but I worry about these guys being here for a week. Trashy...
So, I saw lots. On a side note, PP is absolutely gorgeous city. French architecture, temples, the river etc. Those last two paragraphs sound bad, but it's a pretty awesome place. It's justeasy to see what's wrong with it.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 10:06:04 GMT

Tomorrow I'm off to Thailand and Cambodia. I'll try and update along the way. Peace...

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 01:42:49 GMT

Hahah, I was joking about Reiko about this the other day. She had an interview about her companies products the other day and I said she'd get her name in the New York Times. Well, she did ;) I have to say, that seems like some sort of standard for success in life. When you're in NYTimes even though you live and work in Tokyo you're doing pretty well. ;)

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 01:19:41 GMT

I'd been meaning to write about my trip to Saipan, but I really didn't have a good chance until now. There's been a lot of turnover at work and I've been putting in some time for my boss as a favor. Honestly, it's a fun job and I don't mind putting a little more cash in the bank. But, it has taken away some of my free time...

Saipan is an awesome little place. Saipan is one of the islands in the North Marianas, a small chain of islands next to the Mariana trench. It's notable for providing an airfield close enough to Japan to allow bombing of Tokyo (and subsequently getting taken over as a Japanese only tourist resort ;). At least for Japanese people it's a bit like Hawaii-lite. And, in case you know anything about, it's exactly the sort of vacation resort that I normally hate.

I made sure we signed up for the least hotel-like hotel and tried to avoid all the tourist traps. Honestly, I figured it was a trip that I owed Reiko so we could sit on the beach and get massages (we both just got our Hepatitis A shots for Thailand so I guess I got my "authentic" trip too). But, I actually had a great time. Why? Snorkelling. I've never snorkled before and I never really thought twice about it. But, I discovered the remaining 70% of the world and got hooked. Now I'm on this humongous, but unfulfilled scuba-diving binge. I really, really want to learn how to scuba. I don't know how I'm going to get certified before leaving for Thailand (or during the first year at law school) so I'm sorta pissed :/ But snorkelling through little trenches of coral with foot wide blue starfish and little eels slipping across the bottom of the sea was, I don't know, envervating in a way that I never would have expected. (It will also make my photography habit ridiculously expensive when I have to buy underwater housings for my camera...

Otherwise, Reiko and I spent some time driving around the island, eating American sized portions, and just relaxing. It's great to take a week off after some hard work to refresh. Now I need to pack, conserve my cash and get ready for Thailand. I guess the fun stuff is only beginning...

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 00:23:58 GMT

SAIPAN
====================================
7/5-7/8 Saipan
Mariana Spa and Resort
http://www.marianaresort.com/english/index.htm
Flight: Northwest NW076/ Return NW075

THAILAND AND CAMBODIA
=====================================
7/22-8/6 Thailand and Cambodia
7/22 Thailand
Flight: United UA881
7/23-7/31 Traveling in Thailand and Cambodia (no set plans/places to stay etc)

7/31-8/2 Bangkok
Mandarin Hotel
Flight: Bangkok Air PG931

8/2-8/5 Phuket, Thailand
Mon Tri's Boathouse
http://www.villaroyalephuket.com/
Flight: Bangkok Air PG806

8/6 Return to Japan: Flight UA 882

USA
==============================
8/16-18
Return to the US via Seoul on Asiana Airlines and arrive at 2:30 on Aug. 18
AUG 16TH SEOUL (INCHEON) OZ121
AUG 18TH SAN FRANCISCO OZ214 19:40 14:30
_________________________________________________________________

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 10:12:53 GMT

I miss Campbell soup. When you have a cold the best thing is some canned soup.
So, when I get a sore throat in Japan and the only thing available is dried noodles in styrofoam (even though it's so good), I miss having Campbells. Oh well, time for my harusame soup with chicken broth ;)

Monday, June 13, 2005

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:09:38 GMT

This is the funniest article I've read recently. It's one of the pre-tyson fight hype articles, but it describes Tyson's marketing genius in Iron Mike's own words. The best thing since Al Sharpton quotes in the Democratic primaries.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 05:09:39 GMT

For some reason, this article about the effects of meth on people's dental hygiene is giving me the chills. I really don't know why...

Another day at work. Another lovely day during the Japanese rainy season. It rained yesterday, it will rain today, and it'll probably rain tomorrow. Once the weather's like this, Japan becomes a less pleasant place.

Actually, I had a class with a student whose dad had died in the Western Japan train crash. I think it was covered in the West too, but it was a major story here. Talking to someone about a major loss is unbelievably draining. Even when it's someone you don't know, it can get you down.

It's weird, I've had this feeling recently that some part of me isn't as set as it used to be. Either I've let down some emotional barriers and am more affected by other peoples problems or I've just grown less callous as life has gotten easier. Still, I find myself troubled by a lot more stuff than I used to be...