First Impressions

I figured this site was as good as any to use to chronicle my trip. I don't know, is that lame? Probably. It's cool. I don't really care.

It's currently 3:20pm on December 31. Meaning, 2:20am Eastern time. My body is all screwed up because of the clocks. I didn't really sleep on the 16 hour flight over here... which ended up being 18 hours because it took us two hours before we actually left the gate. Actually, that's a lie, we left the gate twice and returned.. first because some passengers were left behind, and second because they were worried about the pressure guage not working, and decided to re-fuel while we were waiting. And seeing as I can only sleep for hour-long-intervals, it sucked. That's okay. It's what I expected. Suckage. I read, but not as much as I expected, and I watched some movies. And i didn't sit next to a fat guy. So THAT's good.

First thing I noticed when I got to Hong Kong: everything reminds me of the future. The buildings are amazing, everything is high-tech, everything is compact, organized.

Second thing I noticed: similar to Tokyo, everyone wears funny little uniforms. Road construction workers wear specific red uniforms and red hats. The airport security/dude people wore specific military-esque uniforms, black with silver badges and such. It's all really formal, but super cool. Futuresque... and kind of cartooney.

Third thing I noticed: the language barrier is not much of an issue, even after the fall of the British reign. Everything's in english. Most everyone speaks english. it's great for a traveler like me who really doesn't ever want to learn mandarin.

Overall, it's very different from, but still reminds me a lot of Japan in its general aura. Just the whole uniform thing, and high-tech super futuristic look, and cleanliness. Everything looks clean. I feel surprisingly at ease, and maybe even a little bit at "home" here. I guess that'll happen when you were raised in an asian environment and are then re-introduced to it. A lot of Japanese live here, also. Actually, a lot of lots of nationalities live here. It's pretty cool. I'll have to set up some pictures on this thing.

My dad's apartment building is up against a mountainside and looks over the bay which is amazingly beautiful. The fog and humidity is heavy against the big rocks in the water, and the weather is in the mid 60s. It's cool, there's a big square hole in the middle of his apartment complex that was created by the architects who were big into fung shway (sp??) ... it's to allow the dragon spirits to get from the mountain to the water. Apparently the building would have had terrible luck if it blocked such spirits from a watersource. How COOL are little stories like that? Seriously. America, step up.

And I'm off to the gym. Fireworks tonight start at 8. How lame is that? Whatever happened to 12am fireworks?

PS. Connor is still awesome. more on that later.

The Razor

And finals are over.


Not much to say there. It's been a tumultuous couple of weeks, I guess. Totally got out of shape in the last two weeks alone. But that's not why we're here. No, we're here to celebrate the end of the beginning.. or.. the beginning of the end... or something.

I got three hours of sleep last night. So I don't really have anything cool to say.

But I did babysit some class-act dogs. "magnificent beasts" as jordan might say... but yeah. So that was awesome. Travis and Red. One of them (Red) fell down the stairs and hurt his leg. That was not so awesome... but seeing as I did not push him down the stairs, it's all good. I felt really bad at first, and I still feel bad... because he's a gimp now, but then yesterday he walked into a sliding glass door and bumped his head, and I realized that he probably has a history of doing stupid things. But I still love him. I still give him kisses when he's hurting. And I still go out of my way to rub essential oils, aromatherapy oils, to ease the pain in the tender spots of his leg. I think it worked. He's getting better every day and his spirits are higher. Listen, if I say the oils work, they work, okay? At least I'm nurturing him SOMEHOW. Jeez. Stop judging me.

I have pictures.


I took people by to see them. It was fun! I'm in third grade!
Greg and a very sad looking hurty demonic-esque Red


Travis is everybody's favorite. He's my favorite when he sleeps.
He's such a woman about stuff, though. He'd get all whiney and sad and jealous when I would do my nurturing stuff to Red and his gimpy leg. So then I'd have to go over and pet Travis, but then Red would try to cut me off... it was really quite hard to keep everyone satisfied.. cuz, you know, i've only got so much love to give...


awwww. i kiss booboos. he looks so sad and hurty.

I'm gonna miss those two.

Also, I am very sad to report that I am also going to miss Zenryu Shirakawa, my Japanese Prof. He was the closest thing I had to Mr. Miagi. His death was very sad, very sad indeed. Not to mention kind of ironic seeing as he died the day before our final review, and 5 days before our final. But I managed to ace his final, even after his death.. so... I suppose, in a way, I avenged it? A- in Japanese, baby. Gooooo ME! That's for you, sensei.


QUOTE OF THE DAY
Lokii13: gdi, your away messages are so fucking emo
Lokii13: like bleeding heart on your sleeve emo.
Lokii13: if you wikipedia "emo" there's a picture of you
Lokii13: crying
Lokii13: you're crying
Lokii13: with an arrow going through you that says "emo" on the back of it.

i don't really think he got his point across.
embrace the emo kids, it's healthy. it's a beautiful thing.

ET Phone Home

Alright. It's official. I am flying south for the winter. And I'm not even being facetious. Hong Kong or bust, as they said back in the old west. Yeah, you know they said it. Those... pioneers... headed for... Hong Kong. It's only a few more hours west of the Oregon coast, right? And south. Right. South.

My only real concern about this trip has nothing to do with the possibility of spending New Years alone or wandering the streets of Hong Kong solo-style while my family is out doing their business. No, it's really just the issue of jetlag. Don't get me wrong, I'm no stranger to jetlag.

ie: Tokyo to Boston circa 1989


It's just been a while since I've had to deal with it big-time. London in 2003, to be exact. But this is going to be a 12 hour re-adjustment. So I've got to start strategizing. Now-ish. I'm thinking I might subject myself to a 36 hour staying-awake fest, not crashing until I absolutely have to, in order to make up for the change. BRILLIANT, i say.

So many reasons I can't wait for this trip:

1) family. primarily, the Con-man.
2) escape from all this WORKKKK
3) escape from specific people that I really don't want to deal with or think about, who.. i won't have to deal with, or think about, while i'm away! hooray!
4) layover in CHICAGO!!! visiting all the people that I love! BiH especially. And Jon, of course.

In other news, I've got to get back to work. Enjoy your last days in Hell, bitches.


QUOTE OF THE DAY
(extracted from an IM conversation between Keith and his friend... long, but entirely worthy)
this chick obviously doesn't know keith very well.

Keith: OH FUCK!
Keith: the puppy died
Rachel: what?
Keith: I thought it could hold it's breath for longer
Keith: whoops
Keith: anyway, what are you doing there?
Rachel: what are u talking about?
Rachel: why is the dog dead?
Rachel: ew wahtd u do?
Keith: I was holding it's head under water
Keith: and
Keith: um
Keith: there was an accident
Rachel: why?
Keith: and now it's dead
Keith: to torture it
Rachel: i hope youre not talking bout a real dog
Keith: if you could be any animal, what would you be?
Keith: I'd be a candiru fish
Rachel: dont change the subject
Rachel: thats not a real dog right?
Keith: um
Keith: maybe
Rachel: u seriously killed a dog today?????????
Rachel: like literally w your physical hands killed something?
Rachel: who are u?
Keith: if I did, would you know a good recipe?
Rachel: please say youre kidding?
Keith: ok, I'm kidding
Rachel: are u really kdding or just saying tht?
Keith: I'M SORRY! I thought it could hold it's breath for longer than it actually could
Keith: I mean we all make mistakes
Keith: nobody's perfect
Keith: I'm sure you've screwed up in your life
Rachel: why the hell would u be torturing it anyway?
Keith: I dunno
Keith: spite?
Rachel: what the hell did it do to you?
Keith: eh
Keith: nothing I guess
Rachel: think about it.... dogs dont hold their breath, thats why they do the doggie paddle!
Keith: that's why I was letting it back up for air periodically!
Keith: I just spaced it out too far
Rachel: are you on drugs?
Rachel: whos dog was it?
Rachel: if u did that to either of my dogs id literally kill you
Keith: it wasn't your dogs
Keith: it was this one I got from petco
Keith: I was just hoping to get more mileage out of it for what I paid
Rachel: how do u not feel worse about this? if i killed something id be like torturing myself and sobbing and stuff
Rachel: well maybe you shouldnt drown it!
Keith: I WASN'T TRYING TO DROWN IT! I KEEP TELLING YOU I WAS LETTING IT UP FOR AIR!
Keith: What kind of heartless bastard do you think I am?
Rachel: well until tonight i didnt think u were
Rachel: but omg keith!
Rachel: you dont sound like you even are upset at all about this!
Rachel: dogs arent little toys that you can break and then exchange for another one
Rachel: on that note i gotta go