I think I'm forcing this.
Until I have something to say.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
random pics
The delicious chicken soup that has kept me alive for weeks.
Dim Sum lunch at a restaurant called Restaurant Wong's in downtwon. it was okay, not great, not terrible, okay. It was cheap though. all that including tax and tips was about nine bucks.
I had to go to the hospital. after months of traveling in central america I got really sick. The doctors diagnosed me with a serious case of Latin Fever.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Once I saw mountains angry,
And ranged in battle-front.
Against them stood a little man;
Aye, he was no bigger than my finger.
I laughed, and spoke to one near me,
"Will he prevail?"
"Surely," replied this other;
"His grandfathers beat them many times."
Then did I see much virtue in grandfathers-
At least, for the little man
Who stood against the mountains.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
In heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
"What did you do?"
Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind, Ashamed.
Presently, God said,
"And what did you do?"
The little blade answered, "Oh my Lord,
Memory is bitter to me,
For, if I did good deeds,
I know not of them."
Then God, in all His splendor,
Arose from His throne.
"Oh, best little blade of grass!" He said.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Upon the road of my life,
Passed me many fair creatures,
Clothed all in white, and radiant.
To one, finally, I made speech:
"Who art thou?"
But she, like the others,
Kept cowled her face,
And answered in haste, anxiously,
"I am good deed, forsooth;
You have often seen me."
"Not uncowled," I made reply.
And with rash and strong hand,
Though she resisted,
I drew away the veil
And gazed at the features of vanity.
She, shamefaced, went on;
And after I had mused a time,
I said of myself,
"Fool!"
Monday, August 23, 2010
The sage lectured brilliantly.
Before him, two images:
"Now this one is a devil,
And this one is me."
He turned away.
Then a cunning pupil
Changed the positions.
Turned the sage again:
"Now this one is a devil,
And this one is me."
The pupils sat, all grinning,
And rejoiced in the game.
But the sage was a sage
Saturday, August 21, 2010
What is it about 20-Somethings?
What is it with us?
Just as adolescence has its particular psychological profile, Arnett says, so does "emerging adulthood": identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between and a rather poetic characteristic he calls “a sense of possibilities.” A few of these, especially identity exploration, are part of adolescence too, but they take on new depth and urgency in the 20s.
I thought it was just me, but apparently, other people feel the way I do. <sarcasm> How reassuring </sarcasm>.
The stakes are higher when people are approaching the age when options tend to close off and lifelong commitments must be made. Arnett calls it “the age 30 deadline.”
There's an age 30 deadline?! I haven't even started yet! FML .
The issue of whether emerging adulthood is a new stage is being debated most forcefully among scholars, in particular psychologists and sociologists. But its resolution has broader implications. Just look at what happened for teenagers. It took some effort, a century ago, for psychologists to make the case that adolescence was a new developmental stage. Once that happened, social institutions were forced to adapt: education, health care, social services and the law all changed to address the particular needs of 12- to 18-year-olds
Damn it. I just missed out on having an entire institution dedicated to helping me figure things out. It's too bad, I need it because this backpacking trip is doing nothing for me. I am having too much fun to waste time trying to figure life out.
gradually broadening his sample to include New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He deliberately included working-class young people as well as those who were well off, those who had never gone to college as well as those who were still in school, those who were supporting themselves as well as those whose bills were being paid by their parents. A little more than half of his sample was white, 18 percent African-American, 16 percent Asian-American and 14 percent Latino.
A sample with 16% Asian-Americans? Thank you!
The more profound question behind the scholarly intrigue is the one that really captivates parents: whether the prolongation of this unsettled time of life is a good thing or a bad thing. With life spans stretching into the ninth decade, is it better for young people to experiment in their 20s before making choices they’ll have to live with for more than half a century? Or is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence?
Answer: Self-Indulgence*
*see rest of blog fo references
Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background.
No, Yes, Sometimes, mom please deposit another $1,000 into my account when you read this.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Update: I thought about this mid-20's life crisis of mine and realized there is only one thing I can do, start a Fight Club.
Just as adolescence has its particular psychological profile, Arnett says, so does "emerging adulthood": identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between and a rather poetic characteristic he calls “a sense of possibilities.” A few of these, especially identity exploration, are part of adolescence too, but they take on new depth and urgency in the 20s.
I thought it was just me, but apparently, other people feel the way I do. <sarcasm> How reassuring </sarcasm>.
The stakes are higher when people are approaching the age when options tend to close off and lifelong commitments must be made. Arnett calls it “the age 30 deadline.”
There's an age 30 deadline?! I haven't even started yet! FML .
The issue of whether emerging adulthood is a new stage is being debated most forcefully among scholars, in particular psychologists and sociologists. But its resolution has broader implications. Just look at what happened for teenagers. It took some effort, a century ago, for psychologists to make the case that adolescence was a new developmental stage. Once that happened, social institutions were forced to adapt: education, health care, social services and the law all changed to address the particular needs of 12- to 18-year-olds
Damn it. I just missed out on having an entire institution dedicated to helping me figure things out. It's too bad, I need it because this backpacking trip is doing nothing for me. I am having too much fun to waste time trying to figure life out.
gradually broadening his sample to include New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He deliberately included working-class young people as well as those who were well off, those who had never gone to college as well as those who were still in school, those who were supporting themselves as well as those whose bills were being paid by their parents. A little more than half of his sample was white, 18 percent African-American, 16 percent Asian-American and 14 percent Latino.
A sample with 16% Asian-Americans? Thank you!
The more profound question behind the scholarly intrigue is the one that really captivates parents: whether the prolongation of this unsettled time of life is a good thing or a bad thing. With life spans stretching into the ninth decade, is it better for young people to experiment in their 20s before making choices they’ll have to live with for more than half a century? Or is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence?
Answer: Self-Indulgence*
*see rest of blog fo references
Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background.
No, Yes, Sometimes, mom please deposit another $1,000 into my account when you read this.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Update: I thought about this mid-20's life crisis of mine and realized there is only one thing I can do, start a Fight Club.
Update 1: Free Assange!!!!
Sweden has cancelled an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on accusations of rape and molestation.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority website said the chief prosecutor had come to the decision that Mr Assange was not suspected of rape but did not give any further explanation.
Learn2 follow-through, CIA.Update 2: Colbert interview with Assange. Articulate, smart,unapologetic, fearless, irreverent, insightful... Assange is a bad ass. He makes me happy and hopeful. Someone needs to make the famous Obama Hope poster with Assange's face instead.
FREE ASSANGE!!!!
Swedish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, following a sexual assault complaint aginst him.
Assange denied the allegation on Saturday, saying via Twitter that the charges "are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing".
The prosecutor's office in Stockholm said the arrest warrant was issued for the 39-year-old Australian national late on Friday
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
random pics
Picture of Matilda looking for support before she jumped. There is no picture of me standing in that same spot, the guy who took pictures for me, didn't do a good job of it. But there is a DVD of my jump. I have yet to watch it cuz I hate watching myself on video. Maybe I will upload it if I can bring myself to watch it.
The view looking down.
lol, get it?
Windmills in El Salvador. who would have thought el salvador would be so progressive?
Monday, August 16, 2010
LOL
Oh, internet. I love you so much.
On Thursday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a gathering in London that the secret-spilling website is moving ahead with plans to publish the remaining 15,000 records from the Afghan war logs, despite a demand from the Pentagon that WikiLeaks “return” its entire cache of published and unpublished classified U.S. documents.
“The United States has the cyber capabilities to prevent WikiLeaks from disseminating those materials,” wrote Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen on Friday. “Will President Obama order the military to deploy those capabilities? … If Assange remains free and the documents he possesses are released, Obama will have no one to blame but himself.”
The U.S. government has other, less legal, options, of course — the “cyber” capabilities Thiessen alludes to. The Pentagon probably has the ability to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks against WikiLeaks’ public-facing servers. If it doesn’t, the Army could rent a formidable botnet from Russian hackers for less than the cost of a Humvee.
"There have been unreasonable statements made in private by certain officials in the US administration," Assange replies. "How would you define 'unreasonable'?" "Statements which suggest that they may not follow the rule of law."
A 1.4-gigabyte encrypted file labelled "insurance" on WikiLeaks, prompting speculation that it contained the full, unedited War Diary, and that the pass code to access the files would be released if any action were taken against the site by US authorities.
Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/08/cyberwar-wikileaks/comment-page-1/#comments (hilariousness in comments/flame war section)
update: Oh Keith Olberman, I love you so much too. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/38731398#38731398
Still alive
We do what we must, because we can http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI
Bungee jumping was one of the scariest things I have ever done. Possibly THE scariest (and hardest) thing I've ever done. There's something grossly masochistic about stepping to the edge of a rain slicked bridge and jumping off; especially if you do it for no other reason than getting your rocks off.
After a short shuttle ride with a nice Swedish girl, we got to the bridge. When I looked down at the river 265 feet below me, I suddenly had second thoughts. That shit was high. We were given a two minute briefing then strapped up. Matilda wanted to go first, so like the gentleman I am, I let her go. She hesitated only for a little while before charging it. She didn't make any noise at first, but halfway down she started to scream. I did the same thing, for some strange reason, you don't start screaming until halfway down.
I was pretty calm until I stepped onto the platform. Up to that point, I had done a really good job of not thinking about what I was about to do. But once confronted with the reality of the situation, I felt the intense fear and hesitation I was expecting. I made the mistake of looking down. The operator told me to look up and I did, which helped a lot. Then the operator gave me a countdown. I passed on the first "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, jump!" But I did it on the second try.
The hard part is overcoming the fear and making the leap. Once you're in the air, it's cruise, there's no fear. You don't think in the air, only a sense of exultation that you actually did it. I thought I would be scared until I felt the bungee rope holding, but once I was off the platform, I only felt relief and exhiliration.
There was a Zen lesson learned here, but I know you guys aren't interested in that.
Good times. It was one of the scariest and funnest things I've done. I want to do it again. There's a guy at the hostel I've gotten to know named Eric who is also in San Jose for a long time. He said he wanted to do the bungee jump too, but he had plans to visit friends this weekend. So I think I will try to convince him to do it next weekend and I'll go again if he goes. The second jump is only $30. Half off the first jump price.
Protips:
1. Use the countdown. The operator said that having a countdown prompt is a very effective pyschological aid for making people jump. And it's true, I don't know how long it would have taken me to jump without the countdown.
2. operator said about 2-3% of people totally back down and completely refuse to jump. These people still have to pay 50% of the price. So don't back down.
3. Don't look down. cliche advice, but it's true. Looking down makes it harder. If you don't look down, you can pretend there isn't 265 feet of empty air below you.
Bungee jumping was one of the scariest things I have ever done. Possibly THE scariest (and hardest) thing I've ever done. There's something grossly masochistic about stepping to the edge of a rain slicked bridge and jumping off; especially if you do it for no other reason than getting your rocks off.
After a short shuttle ride with a nice Swedish girl, we got to the bridge. When I looked down at the river 265 feet below me, I suddenly had second thoughts. That shit was high. We were given a two minute briefing then strapped up. Matilda wanted to go first, so like the gentleman I am, I let her go. She hesitated only for a little while before charging it. She didn't make any noise at first, but halfway down she started to scream. I did the same thing, for some strange reason, you don't start screaming until halfway down.
I was pretty calm until I stepped onto the platform. Up to that point, I had done a really good job of not thinking about what I was about to do. But once confronted with the reality of the situation, I felt the intense fear and hesitation I was expecting. I made the mistake of looking down. The operator told me to look up and I did, which helped a lot. Then the operator gave me a countdown. I passed on the first "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, jump!" But I did it on the second try.
The hard part is overcoming the fear and making the leap. Once you're in the air, it's cruise, there's no fear. You don't think in the air, only a sense of exultation that you actually did it. I thought I would be scared until I felt the bungee rope holding, but once I was off the platform, I only felt relief and exhiliration.
There was a Zen lesson learned here, but I know you guys aren't interested in that.
Good times. It was one of the scariest and funnest things I've done. I want to do it again. There's a guy at the hostel I've gotten to know named Eric who is also in San Jose for a long time. He said he wanted to do the bungee jump too, but he had plans to visit friends this weekend. So I think I will try to convince him to do it next weekend and I'll go again if he goes. The second jump is only $30. Half off the first jump price.
Protips:
1. Use the countdown. The operator said that having a countdown prompt is a very effective pyschological aid for making people jump. And it's true, I don't know how long it would have taken me to jump without the countdown.
2. operator said about 2-3% of people totally back down and completely refuse to jump. These people still have to pay 50% of the price. So don't back down.
3. Don't look down. cliche advice, but it's true. Looking down makes it harder. If you don't look down, you can pretend there isn't 265 feet of empty air below you.
Random Pics
One of those women who sell refreshments and snacks to bus riders.
Me at that volcano during the volcano surfing trip.
Hobo-Jenga, I call it. Giant jenga game with pieces of 2x4's. A nice, calm and respectable lady went into the pharmacy, walked up to the pharmacist, looked straight into his eyes, and said, “I would like to buy some cyanide, please.”
The pharmacist asked, “Why in the world do you need cyanide?”
The lady replied, “I need it to poison my husband.”
The pharmacist’s eyes got big and he exclaimed. “Lord have mercy! I can’t give you cyanide to kill your husband. That’s against the law. I’ll lose my license! They’ll throw both of us in jail! All kinds of bad things will happen. Absolutely not! You cannot have any cyanide.”
The lady reached into her handbag and pulled out a photograph of her husband in bed with the pharmacist’s wife.
The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, “Well now, that’s different. You didn’t tell me you had a prescription.”
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Last Will and Testament
If you are reading this, it means I really did die doing that bungee jump. I can posthumously say I regret doing it. I also have many regrets in my life, many of them pertain to the friends and family who read this blog. I have closure-bringing things to say to all of you, but I am taking them with me to the grave.
Give all my possesions to the two people I love most in the world, Tegan and Sara. Just kidding. I don't care what you do with my stuff because I'm fucking dead.
I wish for my remains to be cremated, then I want the ashes to be flushed down the nearest toilet. Seriously.
Don't look in the brown bag in the bottom drawer of the desk in my bedroom. Seriously, don't.
Tell my mom what she wants to hear. Tell Ray, my property manager, I'll see him in hell. Tell George W. Bush I called him a fucking cunt with my dying breath (because there is a 50% chance I actually did).
Tell her I love her.
Please smack Justin Bieber in the head for stealing the title of Most Watched Video on Youtube from Lady Gaga.
I want a big party thrown in my honor, I want everyone to get super wasted and have a good time. I want people to eat, drink, dance, do drugs, vomit, get arrested, suffer moderately serious injuries, and commit hilarious felonies and misdemeanors with Seth Rogan. Don't drink and drive. Unless it's inconvenient to walk or take a taxi, in which case, go ahead and drink and drive.
If you are reading this, it means I really did die doing that bungee jump. Or, it just means I forgot to delete this automatic post before the post-date . But either way, don't look in the brown bag in the bottom drawer of the desk in my bedroom. Seriously.
Until we meet again on Dec 13, 2012,
Give all my possesions to the two people I love most in the world, Tegan and Sara. Just kidding. I don't care what you do with my stuff because I'm fucking dead.
I wish for my remains to be cremated, then I want the ashes to be flushed down the nearest toilet. Seriously.
Don't look in the brown bag in the bottom drawer of the desk in my bedroom. Seriously, don't.
Tell my mom what she wants to hear. Tell Ray, my property manager, I'll see him in hell. Tell George W. Bush I called him a fucking cunt with my dying breath (because there is a 50% chance I actually did).
Tell her I love her.
Please smack Justin Bieber in the head for stealing the title of Most Watched Video on Youtube from Lady Gaga.
I want a big party thrown in my honor, I want everyone to get super wasted and have a good time. I want people to eat, drink, dance, do drugs, vomit, get arrested, suffer moderately serious injuries, and commit hilarious felonies and misdemeanors with Seth Rogan. Don't drink and drive. Unless it's inconvenient to walk or take a taxi, in which case, go ahead and drink and drive.
If you are reading this, it means I really did die doing that bungee jump. Or, it just means I forgot to delete this automatic post before the post-date . But either way, don't look in the brown bag in the bottom drawer of the desk in my bedroom. Seriously.
Until we meet again on Dec 13, 2012,
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Last words
Let my tombstone read: "No Sympathy for the Devil".
If I die in a gruesome, freak, closed-casket-funeral bungee jumping accident tomorrow, remember one thing: No sympathy for the devil, you buy the ticket, you take the ride.
In this case, a $65 ticket to jump off a 265 foot bridge (price includes transportation, DVD and certificate, second dive is only $30!). For some reason, I am more nervous about this bungee jump than when I went skydiving. With skydiving, you are attached to the instructor and don't have much choice when he decides to jump out the door. But in the bungee jump, you have to take that big step. Just thinking about having to willingly jump off the edge makes my dick tingle.
If I die in a gruesome, freak, closed-casket-funeral bungee jumping accident tomorrow, remember one thing: No sympathy for the devil, you buy the ticket, you take the ride.
In this case, a $65 ticket to jump off a 265 foot bridge (price includes transportation, DVD and certificate, second dive is only $30!). For some reason, I am more nervous about this bungee jump than when I went skydiving. With skydiving, you are attached to the instructor and don't have much choice when he decides to jump out the door. But in the bungee jump, you have to take that big step. Just thinking about having to willingly jump off the edge makes my dick tingle.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Random Thoughts
Okay, okay, I got another one: What kind of bees make milk? (answer at botttom)
I nostalgia'ed hard after watching a Red Vs. Blue video for the first time in 5 years. The theme song was what did it, brought me back to those old carefree days at UW.
The most interesting thing to happen to me today was the mouse I saw squeezing itself into a crack in the sidewalk. I stepped outside of the hostel and saw this fat mouse, as soon as it saw me it dove into this hollow crack in the sidewalk. The crack was a half inch wide and maybe two to three inches long (that's what she said). It was funny cuz the fat mouse tried to run away but got stuck halfway through, so it's furry ass was sticking up and it's little legs were kicking in the air, until it finally wiggled it's way through. It was hilarious. It totally reminded me of that little hamster character in the movie Spirited Away. I threw a piece of a cracker down the hole as payment for the amusement.
Apparently, my krav maga teacher is ex-Special Forces and does intelligence and private security work on the side. He has shrapnel scars from Somalia... anyway, he says that intelligence says latin america is going to blow up in next year or two. Between Venezuela, and Nicaragua(!?) and the resource rich south american continent, shit is going down.
Ship cats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_cat
answer: boobies.
I nostalgia'ed hard after watching a Red Vs. Blue video for the first time in 5 years. The theme song was what did it, brought me back to those old carefree days at UW.
The most interesting thing to happen to me today was the mouse I saw squeezing itself into a crack in the sidewalk. I stepped outside of the hostel and saw this fat mouse, as soon as it saw me it dove into this hollow crack in the sidewalk. The crack was a half inch wide and maybe two to three inches long (that's what she said). It was funny cuz the fat mouse tried to run away but got stuck halfway through, so it's furry ass was sticking up and it's little legs were kicking in the air, until it finally wiggled it's way through. It was hilarious. It totally reminded me of that little hamster character in the movie Spirited Away. I threw a piece of a cracker down the hole as payment for the amusement.
Apparently, my krav maga teacher is ex-Special Forces and does intelligence and private security work on the side. He has shrapnel scars from Somalia... anyway, he says that intelligence says latin america is going to blow up in next year or two. Between Venezuela, and Nicaragua(!?) and the resource rich south american continent, shit is going down.
Ship cats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_cat
answer: boobies.
An Alligator walks into a bar...
This alligator walks into a bar and grabs a seat. The bartender approaches and tells him to "GTFO, we don't serve your kind here." The alligator's all like "WTF yo! Look, you better give me a drink or...you see that blonde over there? I'll fucking eat her. Right here in front of everyone." And then the bartender's all like, "Pssh...go ahead motherfucker, I'm still not serving you." So the alligator goes up to the blonde and swallows her in one big gulp...a half hour later, the alligator wakes up passed out in his own vomit outside the bar. Confused, he gets up and goes back in, sees the bartender and demands, "You drugged me! What the fuck did you do to me!" The bartender says...(drumroll please)... "Hey buddy I didn't do a thing...it was that bar-bitch-u-ate. Lol.
Krav Maga IRL
Yesterday in class we did a really fun excercise. The instructor took us outside one by one, and did a real life simulation excercise. It was dark and we were told to walk towards our car in the parking lot. We were then attacked by one of the other students who was hiding somewhere and depending on the type of attack, we had to defend ourselves properly. The second run through of the excercise, you already expect to be attacked by the student who is hiding somewhere in the parking lot, but in the second run, the instructor was walking behind me and instructing me when he suddenly attacked from behind. The whole thing was really fun and a good learning experience.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Watched penelope cruz and scarlet johannson making out.
"more violence!" he requested.
Everything Shirley Manson touches turns to gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=690k85FQNXs&feature=related
Caught the wrong bus again.
Played chicken with San Jose drivers on a sidewalk-less highway.
Got hot and sweaty with a woman who was really into being choked.
"more violence!" he requested.
Everything Shirley Manson touches turns to gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=690k85FQNXs&feature=related
Caught the wrong bus again.
Played chicken with San Jose drivers on a sidewalk-less highway.
Got hot and sweaty with a woman who was really into being choked.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
If you love me...
If you love me, you will watch these three short videos with an open mind.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PcVHDZZquI
Slight variation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP2VzDlL8Mg
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWLW3yUV6wA&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdso1S76zn8&feature=related
I have everything I could possibly want, i.e. a backlog of 6 months of Tegan and Sara interviews and videos to slowly digest whenever I want. A pig in shit has nothing on me. They have an interview with Motherjones.com that I am saving for a special occasion.
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PcVHDZZquI
Slight variation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP2VzDlL8Mg
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWLW3yUV6wA&feature=related
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdso1S76zn8&feature=related
I have everything I could possibly want, i.e. a backlog of 6 months of Tegan and Sara interviews and videos to slowly digest whenever I want. A pig in shit has nothing on me. They have an interview with Motherjones.com that I am saving for a special occasion.
Size Matters
I've noticed that my backpack is smaller than those of almost every other backpacker I've seen. Everyone else has these giant backpacks that probably have twice the capacity of mine and they're often stuffed to the brim. I am quite proud that I can live out of my small backpack. And my pack would have been a lot smaller and lighter if it weren't for first-timer inefficiences.
Inefficiencies such as carrying a large beach towel as my travel towel. From previous experience, and on the wise advice of Douglas Adams, I knew a good towel is absolutely necessary for travel. But the towel I had was too big and didn't really serve any other purpose than as a bath towel. So, I am quite happy to have picked up a traveler's towel (really thin and absorbent material) that somebody had left behind. I mentioned before how it's really cool to see what kind of loot people drop at hostels and this is the best example of it. I've been wishing I had one of these towels for a long time, and now I have one, so I can get rid of the beach towel. This hostel is great for getting free stuff and food. A lot of people fly out of San Jose at the end of their trip, so a lot of people leave behind toiletries, equipment, food, etc.... here.
Another inefficiency is all the books I'm lugging around. I still have the guidebooks of countries I've already been to. My plan was to sell them (or exchange them for other guidebooks), but I haven't found a good bookstore that would buy them or exchange them at a good rate. It's always two-for-one exchange or a really bad price offer. So, they may end up being really bulky and heavy souvenirs. Plus, I have my spanish textbook that I haven't had the heart to get rid of because I keep telling myself I'll study it and teach myself spanish though I haven't opened it since Hawaii. And I have a fairly large spanish dictionary that I keep thinking I will need, but again, I haven't used it since Guatemala. Plus, I have the bulky sweater/poncho I bought in Guatemala. On the one hand, it is a cool souvenir poncho. On the other hand, if I had known, I would have brought a thin, warm rain jacket instead of that heavy cotton poncho to save a lot of space in my backpack.
So, If it weren't for the excess guidebooks, the too-large towel, the bulky poncho and the unnecessary spanish reference materials, I think I would actually have a lot of extra space and a much lighter pack. But even though my pack is kind of bulky and heavy right now, it's only a problem for those short times when I am going from hostel to bus station and bus station to hostel.
Inefficiencies such as carrying a large beach towel as my travel towel. From previous experience, and on the wise advice of Douglas Adams, I knew a good towel is absolutely necessary for travel. But the towel I had was too big and didn't really serve any other purpose than as a bath towel. So, I am quite happy to have picked up a traveler's towel (really thin and absorbent material) that somebody had left behind. I mentioned before how it's really cool to see what kind of loot people drop at hostels and this is the best example of it. I've been wishing I had one of these towels for a long time, and now I have one, so I can get rid of the beach towel. This hostel is great for getting free stuff and food. A lot of people fly out of San Jose at the end of their trip, so a lot of people leave behind toiletries, equipment, food, etc.... here.
Another inefficiency is all the books I'm lugging around. I still have the guidebooks of countries I've already been to. My plan was to sell them (or exchange them for other guidebooks), but I haven't found a good bookstore that would buy them or exchange them at a good rate. It's always two-for-one exchange or a really bad price offer. So, they may end up being really bulky and heavy souvenirs. Plus, I have my spanish textbook that I haven't had the heart to get rid of because I keep telling myself I'll study it and teach myself spanish though I haven't opened it since Hawaii. And I have a fairly large spanish dictionary that I keep thinking I will need, but again, I haven't used it since Guatemala. Plus, I have the bulky sweater/poncho I bought in Guatemala. On the one hand, it is a cool souvenir poncho. On the other hand, if I had known, I would have brought a thin, warm rain jacket instead of that heavy cotton poncho to save a lot of space in my backpack.
So, If it weren't for the excess guidebooks, the too-large towel, the bulky poncho and the unnecessary spanish reference materials, I think I would actually have a lot of extra space and a much lighter pack. But even though my pack is kind of bulky and heavy right now, it's only a problem for those short times when I am going from hostel to bus station and bus station to hostel.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Update 3: old news
The modern US military and the wars it is fighting is logistically maintained and physically fought by private contractors. Mercenaries and private contractors get paid by the US government to do what US soldiers and the military used to do in-house (but with mark up paid for by US taxpayers) . In 2007 there were more contractors than combat troops in Iraq. Transportation and trucking is contracted out, meal preparation is contracted out,
maintenance and repair of equipment is contracted out,
laundry is contracted out, everything is contracted and then subcontracted to for-profit corporations, which is why we spend over half a trillion dollars a year on the defense budget (all deficit spending). In ten years, we will have spent well over five trillion dollars on war. With half that amount, we could have universal healthcare for all of America with money left over to build a few wind turbines; this, while Iraq's constitution (that the Bush Administration wrote in 2005) guarantees universal healthcare for all Iraqi citizens.
"The frontline FOB where I landed and its soldiers, by contrast, are spic-and-span. Credit for this goes largely to the remarkably inexpensive labor of crews of Filipinos, Indians, Croatians, and others lured from distant lands by American for-profit private contractors responsible for making our troops feel at home away from home. The base's streets are laid out on a grid. Tents in tidy rows are banked with standard sand bags and their super-sized cousins, towering Hescos filled with rocks and rubble.
The tents are cooled by roaring tornados of air conditioning, thanks to equipment fueled by gasoline that costs the Army about $400 per gallon to import. It takes fuelers three to four hours every day to refill all the giant generators that keep the cold air coming, so I felt guilty when, to prevent shivering in my sleep, I stuffed my towel into the ducts suspended from the ceiling of my tent."
"Many young soldiers told me that they actually live better in the Army, even when deployed, than they did in civilian life, where they couldn't make ends meet, especially when they were trying to pay for college or raise a family by working one or two low-wage jobs. They won't mutiny. They're doing better than many of their friends back home. (And they're dutiful, which makes for acts of personal heroism, even in a foolhardy cause.) They are likely to reenlist, though many told me they'd prefer to quit the Army and go to work for much higher pay with the for-profit private contractors that now "service" American war.""All this helps explain the annual cost of maintaining a single American soldier in Afghanistan, currently estimated at one million dollars."
Update 1: New News: Former Senator Ted Stevens in a plane crash. Traveling with an executive from European Aerospace firm EADS (revenue of $26 billion in first half of 2010). The plane and summer lodge it was flying to are both owned by GCI, the Alaskan telecommunications company (second quarter 2010 revenue of $162 million).
Update 2:
"Defense Secretary robert gates said the Pentagon needs to save money by further reducing a “cumbersome” U.S. military hierarchy, setting up potential battles with members of Congress who support targeted programs.
Gates announced plans yesterday to lop spending on support contractors by more than one-quarter over three years and close a military command in Norfolk,"Update 3: "Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls."
"In Michigan, at least 38 of the 83 counties have converted some asphalt roads to gravel in recent years. Last year, South Dakota turned at least 100 miles of asphalt road surfaces to gravel. Counties in Alabama and Pennsylvania have begun downgrading asphalt roads to cheaper chip-and-seal road, also known as "poor man's pavement." Some counties in Ohio are simply letting roads erode to gravel."
Well, it was good while it lasted.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
First, for context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVWFgh8iocI&feature=related
then, (listen don't watch): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztvJdAIGk54
finally, for awesome twisted 90's awesomeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oirtBNejdr0&feature=channel
then, (listen don't watch): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztvJdAIGk54
finally, for awesome twisted 90's awesomeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oirtBNejdr0&feature=channel
I went to the mall yesterday and bought a pair of bright pink headphones (for 2,100 colones) so I could listen to music on youtube. I have too much free time here. The mall, Multiplaza Escazu, was huge. There was no brand or store you couldn't find in any American Mall that wasn't represented here. Everything from Calvin Klein to RadioShack (where I got my 'phones).
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Update 2: Should I join facebook
actually, it was a fleeting desire because I randomly looked up this girl I fancied years ago and she was on it and I wanted to "facebook stalk" her, like all the kids are doing nowadays. Fortunately, that momentary insanity passed.
The Italian Girl In Algiers
Scene: Two americans, on a bus in Costa Rica, talking in Chinese, on the way to see an Italian opera.
Last night, I went to see an opera called The Italian girl in Algiers at the National Theatre. It was fun, the old historic theatre was beautiful (the president of Costa Rica was in attendance and his car worked perfectly fine afterwards).
The experience of going to an opera was really funny. There were lots of well-to-do looking ladies and gentlemen with jackets and suits. At intermission Cecilia and I were walking around the beautiful foyer and there would be these groups of well dressed intellectual types with glasses of wine in their hands and it looked...cliche, and you know how much I love cliches.
There was a guy sitting next to me during the opera that was incredible. He was caucasian, skinny, intellectual type, fairly young, in a dressed down jacket and shirt. He had intellectual wire framed glasses and would occasionally fan himself with the program pamphlet. He had very proper posture and would sit with his hands clasped on his lap. He frequently laughed a kind of "breathy chuckle" at humorous parts of the play, but he'd laugh at parts no one else did. I guess pretentious is the word I am looking for. I'm sure he's a very nice and interesting guy once you get to know him, but man, he was being such a pretentious asshole at the opera. And for that, I love him.
Me with a cigar in the stairwell during Intermission. I knew I was carrying that long sleeve dress shirt around Central America for a reason. It was a good thing I decided to dress up for the occasion (as dressed up as possible for a backpacker anyway). You can´t see it, but I am wearing running shoes.
The stairwell. The pictures are blurry because of inappropriate camera settings, apologies.
The historic sitting room where officials and elites would hold events.
The Teatro Nacional during the day.
End of the show when we were allowed to take pictures.
Last night, I went to see an opera called The Italian girl in Algiers at the National Theatre. It was fun, the old historic theatre was beautiful (the president of Costa Rica was in attendance and his car worked perfectly fine afterwards).
The experience of going to an opera was really funny. There were lots of well-to-do looking ladies and gentlemen with jackets and suits. At intermission Cecilia and I were walking around the beautiful foyer and there would be these groups of well dressed intellectual types with glasses of wine in their hands and it looked...cliche, and you know how much I love cliches.
There was a guy sitting next to me during the opera that was incredible. He was caucasian, skinny, intellectual type, fairly young, in a dressed down jacket and shirt. He had intellectual wire framed glasses and would occasionally fan himself with the program pamphlet. He had very proper posture and would sit with his hands clasped on his lap. He frequently laughed a kind of "breathy chuckle" at humorous parts of the play, but he'd laugh at parts no one else did. I guess pretentious is the word I am looking for. I'm sure he's a very nice and interesting guy once you get to know him, but man, he was being such a pretentious asshole at the opera. And for that, I love him.
Me with a cigar in the stairwell during Intermission. I knew I was carrying that long sleeve dress shirt around Central America for a reason. It was a good thing I decided to dress up for the occasion (as dressed up as possible for a backpacker anyway). You can´t see it, but I am wearing running shoes.
The stairwell. The pictures are blurry because of inappropriate camera settings, apologies.
The historic sitting room where officials and elites would hold events.
The Teatro Nacional during the day.
End of the show when we were allowed to take pictures.
Fail
Yesterday, I was trying to figure out how the bus system works in San Jose. I took four different buses and out of those four, only one went anywhere near where I thought it was going to go. That is a 25% score, fail. The system here is really confusing. I see a lot of locals always asking the bus driver where the bus goes and asking other locals for bus directions. The buses have signs for the general area they go to, but the route they take to get there can be very circuitous. that plus the fact that most of the streets are one way mazes, means I did a lot of backtracking and walking yesterday.
Now I get it
What little spanish I have learned has helped me understand things in my life I never really understood before. For example, in a Sublime song, Bradley sings, "much gusto, hey I'm a Bradley". Now I know that mucho gusto means "Nice to meet you".
And the band name Yo La Tengo. I couldn't figure out what it meant at first because the grammar structure of Yo La Tengo doesn't match what I learned. Someone told me while we were having a discussion about music that it translates to "I have her".
I also learned that Tesoro (the gas station) means "treasure", which is an appropriate name for a gas station considering the fact that oil is buried underground and countries go to war over it.
And the band name Yo La Tengo. I couldn't figure out what it meant at first because the grammar structure of Yo La Tengo doesn't match what I learned. Someone told me while we were having a discussion about music that it translates to "I have her".
I also learned that Tesoro (the gas station) means "treasure", which is an appropriate name for a gas station considering the fact that oil is buried underground and countries go to war over it.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Too much free time
I made an epic pot of chicken soup the other day. Chicken drumsticks, cabbage, carrots, potatotes, tomatoes, corn and powdered chicken soup stock. As I was adding all the ingredients into the pot, it couldn't hold it all, I had to upgrade to the largest pot they had in the hostel.
So that soup has fed me for the past 3 days, and I still have one more meal's worth of soup for tomorrow. It reminds me of batch cooking with my crockpot back home. I get tired of eating the same meal six times in a row for three days.
I have too much free time here. I am reading these terrifyingly satisfying novels. They always seem to be about middle aged adults having love, marital, career and family problems and mid-life life crisises. It is so bizarre and disheartening to realize I can enjoy these novels and sort of relate to them. It is so bizarre to think that these problems in our lives are real problems and that the lifestyle depicted in these novels have any relation to reality when I watched a homeless man pee into a plastic bag and carefully set the bag aside for later. Or when I watched a well dressed young man hustling toothbrushes in downtown San Jose. Stupid novels.
Krav Maga
I took my first Krav Maga class last night and it was really fun. I was worried about my conditioning because I've been smoking too much lately, but the class is all technique and practice, no conditioning required at all. As advertised, Krav maga is about practical, effective self defensive training, none of that kata and forms bullshit, it's all about knees to groin and elbows to throat and running the fuck away. Just the way I like it.
After that first class, I was cursing the fact I couldn't find a club in Hawaii. The instructor suggested I get certified and start teaching in Hawaii, which isn't a terrible idea and I am adding that to my list of potential post-backpacking-trip career/jobs.
After that first class, I was cursing the fact I couldn't find a club in Hawaii. The instructor suggested I get certified and start teaching in Hawaii, which isn't a terrible idea and I am adding that to my list of potential post-backpacking-trip career/jobs.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Update I: Big News Day
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday,
assassinated on Saturday,
buried on Sunday,
then go back to work on Monday.
I always liked this song. Don't know how well Wyclef would do as president, but I can't imagine Haiti getting any worse than it already is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pq_3OheqzU
LOL: D for forward, R for reverse. Oh, Obama, you.
Prop 8: If Tegan and Sara are happy, I'm happy.
Gulf Oil Spill: Officials: static kill worked and most of the oil "appears to be gone". Oh Really? Where the fuck to, I might ask?
Lady Gaga: Record 13 MTV award nominations. 10 different nominations including Best Video for "Bad Romance". I told you so. Didn't I tell you so?
The Other Boleyn Girl: Book way better than movie.
I'd get elected on Friday,
assassinated on Saturday,
buried on Sunday,
then go back to work on Monday.
I always liked this song. Don't know how well Wyclef would do as president, but I can't imagine Haiti getting any worse than it already is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pq_3OheqzU
LOL: D for forward, R for reverse. Oh, Obama, you.
Prop 8: If Tegan and Sara are happy, I'm happy.
Gulf Oil Spill: Officials: static kill worked and most of the oil "appears to be gone". Oh Really? Where the fuck to, I might ask?
Lady Gaga: Record 13 MTV award nominations. 10 different nominations including Best Video for "Bad Romance". I told you so. Didn't I tell you so?
The Other Boleyn Girl: Book way better than movie.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Rum and Coke in a can?!
Rum and coke in a can?! What will they think of next? Mint Mojitos in a box?
How do I know I am acculturizing to central american life? I get annoyed when I see toilet paper in the toilet instead of the wastebasket where it belongs. I remember those young naive days when I didn't understand and hated the waste basket...
Life in the hostel here is easy, maybe too easy. It's a little too much like home that it makes me uncomfortable. I watched The Prince of Persia and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the past couple of nights. I also read The Other Boleyn Girl (that was made into a perfectly casted motion picture movie with Scarlet Johannson and Natalie Portman). I haven't seen the movie yet, but luckily, the hostel has a copy of the movie, so I am definitly going to watch it now that I finished the book. It was a good read and would recommend it, I finished it in a couple of days, I couldn't put it down.
Yesterday, I walked around San Jose for many hours. the first time to find an english bookstore with Panama guidebooks, which I found in central san jose. The second time to find the Krav Maga gym. I walked for two hours around the Sabana/Escazu area and couldn't find the place.
I learned that hitting the alt+shift keys at the same time switches your keyboard settings to different languages and/or configurations.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
San Jose day two
This STD store was a total rip off. I paid USD$15 for gonorrhea. I later found out I could have gotten it from the woman on the street corner a couple blocks down for $12.
Living costs here can be pretty high but I found some decent places that serve cheap food. These set plates are 1,700 colones which is a little over 3 dollars. clockwise from the salad, it is melon stuff, beans, beef thing and rice in the center, and it comes with a juice drink. Pretty good deal. 
This is the park a couple of blocks from my hostel. It's really big and has a pond, there is supposed to be canopy zip lines and Go Carts, but I didn´t find them. There were lots of people there playing soccer and having picnics and just enjoying the good weather. The weather in San Jose is pretty good. It´s been perfect cool weather for jeans and t shirts. The sky is overcast all day so I don´t have to worry about walking around in the hot sun. and it starts to rain after dark.
There are these guys who perform at this intersection during red lights. This guy twirls the hourglass shaped thing on a string between two sticks, another guy juggles balls and bowling pins. The perform during the red light, then ask for money from the cars. I wonder if this is worse than selling little bags of peanuts for 5 quetzalis in Guatemala.
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