Brent's Blog

Is it wrong to lust for a piece of metal?

2005-11-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

So I saw Steve's iPod the other day. I now renounce my abstination from the iPod brand. I want an iPod video, it's so freaking sexy. Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression, it's not like I'd stick a newly accquired iPod video in my pants. I would put the better half of my movie and anime collection on it, enjoy it, savor it, and *then* stick it in my pants. Possibly. Just one more reason why I should get a job next semester instead of taking physics.

I got a new cd this weekend. A really good recording of the London Symphony Orchesra performing Dvorak's symphony no.9. It's shit hot. I'm listening to it for the fourth time, and I still consider it 45 minutes of pure unadulterated joy.

We did an in-class assignment with The Raven by Poe today. I was reminded why I consider The Raven to be the greatest piece of poetry ever. Every time I read it I think to myself that this is what poetry should be. But the darndable thing about it is that someone may ask why it is good, and to which I must reply, "I have no freaking clue". It just is. People will state all sorts of technical reasons, but I think it just boils down to the fact that Poe was a genius and a lot of other "poets" are absolute hacks.

Now the time has come for me to take my leave and go back to ~~Final Fantasy~~ homework.

Dear Nintendo, will you marry me?

2005-11-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

So just gazing upon the husk of a website that will be filled with mulitplayer wifi glory come the release of Mario Kart: DS has me pining for a more intimante relationship with Nintendo. Yes, one of that nature. Mario Kart will rock hardcore, and it will cut down the unbelieving heathens in a burst of holy light. And maybe Jesus will come back and we can play some head to head Grand Prix. Yes, it does indeed redefine killer app.

In other news I'm still sick, but not as bad anymore. Now the cold has left me with a constant ebbing pain, like a memory. Damn headaches. It may be time to move to the "bottle of Motrin" method of combating this infection. So if I appear giddy and happy at school, it's probably the drugs.

Last week was interesting. Monday was Halloween the holiday where people dress up and such. I didn't go all Red Mage at school, simply because it's such a damn impractical costume. Tuesday was All Saint's day, a holiday that people now celibrate by eating all their leftover Halloween candy from the night before. Wednesday was the choir performance at the state fair, followed by four hours of aimless wandering around at the state fair. Samson and I looked at some pretty neat booths. He bought some nunchaku of the rubberized variety, and I bought a bokken. In addition there was an anime booth that was selling the second half of FMA, but I think I can get it cheaper online. After coming home from the fair I realized that I had to do all my math homework. So I did. And then I went to school. You may be thinking to yourself, "shouldn't sleep have been included in that narrative?" Yes, it should have been, but wasn't because that would have made the account false. So Thursday was rather hellish because of a cold, no sleep, and four servings of amp. At one point I couldn't stop shaking. Fun stuff. I skipped class Thursday night in favor of sleep, and woke up Friday feeling much better. Friday I showed up at the Homecoming game and then went home to play WoW. Saturday night was the dance, which was a blast. Really, the epic baggler line was amazing. Well I have more to talk about but I need to get to work.

bleh

2005-10-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

So I got hit with a cold again. It's probably my own damn fault for not sleeping at all this past week. I came home last night and crashed. I ended up sleeping about 14 straight hours, an unparalledled feat for me. I feel better now, but I think I'm going to take some niquil before going to bed tonight. This past weekend has been fairly eventful. Friday night was the debate half of the speech and debate tournament. Jeff and I were competing in public forum debate, which was interesting. We won one of our three rounds, and I think we might have done better if speaker points hadn't counted. Anyways, after that we checked out the gaming cafe that Ms. Hertzberger helps her boyfriend run. It seems like a really cool place. We walked in and about ten people were playing world of warcraft; I about peed myself with delight. They have other games too, but WoW seems to be the entertainment of choice for their patrons. On Saturday we returned to Mesa high for the Speech portion of the tournament. I was doing extemp, so for my preperation I grabbed the newspaper from the driveway on my way to school. To illustrate exactly how insufficient my preparation was, some teams had four large plasic bins worth of information. But depite having to mostly wing it I was pretty happy with my speeches. After grabbing some lunch at Arby's I went to interview with Harvy Mudd college. That went well and the interviewer was friendly. I found out I didn't break to finals in extemp, so I decided to get a costume together for Mike's party later that evening. I first went to party city and realized the only stuff they even had we french maid outfits, sexy devil outfits, sexy cheerleader outfits (which they were sold out of) and sexy generic gothic girl outfits (vampire? who knows). Not encouraging for someone looking to go as Red Mage. So I went over to the mall and purchased a red shirt and the D&D starter kit (the dice and rulebook were a good excuse to get the whole thing). After that I went to MardiGras and fought my way through hordes of people to get the remaining elements for the costume. All told I think it turned out pretty well. I couldn't aquire a proper wig, or sew the plume to the hat (I'm guessing they want it back unaltered) but those are changes I can make before using it for cosplay or something. Anyways, here I am, Red Mage: The Jack of all trades

So yeah, the party was a blast. We watched Army of Darkness which was incredible for its amazing lameness. It was really the combination of poor writing and even poorer acting (and the chin) that push it over the top.

And now, operating without any real sort of segue, we come to then end, where I offer a link to crazy Japanese instant ramen commericals. 'night!

Addendum: Fanboyism

2005-10-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

OMG Blizzcon tomorrow!!!! OMGOMGOMG!!!!onehundredelevenandelevenhundredths!!

This post wasn't really necessary, but I thought you should have a barometer of my attitude tomorrow.

And now for something from the ACT

2005-10-28T01:58:00.000-07:00

So Ben, Jenny, and myself were sitting in the front of the coldest math classroom ever at Chaparral and taking the ACTs. In between fits of nearly uncontrollable shivering I glance over and notice a bit of an incogruity. So I turn to Ben and mention it.
"Hey Ben, they're using a copy of Farewell to Arms to prop up that desk so it doesn't wobble."
"Hemingway? Yeah, that's about right."

We're really holding out that rearguard effort for American literature, boys and girls.

So that's really about the most interesting thing from the ACT. Just like the SAT it is really long and really pointless. And just like the SAT you lose the will to live about three sections in. Anything that happens after that a sane human being should not be held accountable for. Yes, I have grown to despise standardized tests.

So once again I'm procrastinating. I should be frantically polishing those debate cases, seeing as how the tournament's tomorrow, but honestly I don't really care. It's probably just because I'm really tired, tomorrow morning I'll start freaking out about it. Averaging two hours of sleep a night is a really good way to make yourself not care about stuff.

The secret word is: virago

2005-10-26T03:18:00.000-07:00

God, has it really been that long since I've posted? And to think I wanted to start the blog back up again. You know, take it out of storage, try to clean out the rat feces then eventually giving up and trying to sell it, pretending to not notice the smell whenever a perspective buyer questions me about it...

So anywho.

So much has been happening that it would be pointless and time inefficient to try to expound upon the details of it all, so I tell ya what. I'll say everything that didn't happen:
I didn't slap a moose
Now, some more notable things that did happen: Visited colleges, got owned in Western States, hit level 60 in WoW, got 3rd kyu (b), washed a lot of cars, I hate America West. That's not in any paticular order. I'm leaving it to you to sort out. Like an impossible puzzle that will become the sole obsession of your life as you begin an increasingly rapid descent into madness.

So I'm basically writing right now because I just had a new double size amp, and I'm too energized to write my debate case. Which if I don't have tomorrow morning, I will be on the receiving end of painful death. So I should probably get to work, but because I've only written three rather short paragraphs let's talk about books as a sort of closer/filler.

Now, I just finished reading Catch-22 for English. Firstly Mr. Prather is a jackass and I still don't like him. Secondly, I dislike Catch-22 almost as much. "Why?" You ask in only half simulated aguish. "I loved/adored/bore the children of Catch-22!" It's simple. Catch-22 is reality viewed through the lens of madness and for something so absurd is too damned long. Now I understand that comedy sometimes grows from repetition, but honestly. Fourhundred pages of the same crap over and over. Plus, Heller tried so damn hard to make his point that Catch-22 is only known for it's dark comedy. It is not a paticularly notable book in terms of literature. The characters are flat and unbelievable, the situations are absurd, and while it makes a point, it also makes me want to take my own life for having to read 400 pages of this crap. So yes. There you have it. Catch-22 is 100 pages of goodness, 300 pages of steaming doo-doo (is that hyphenated?).

Now, on to the topic of books that I like. So I was in Barnes and Noble the other week and I noticed that they're hiring. That's something I might have to look into for next semester. I think I could make that employee discount go a long way. Anyways, I bought Brian Greene's new book. Haven't started it yet though. And I ordered a Physics AP study book and Eyes of Silver by Michael Stackpole. Eyes of Silver promises to be interesting. Once again Stackpole is on the mind because his new Age of Discovery book comes out in February! Only four short months away! Super ultra fanboy powers, ACTIVATE!

On things that are not books, and not puppies: DDR: Mario mix supposedly came out on Monday, but according to Samson is nowhere to be found as of yet. I'll have to keep a wary eye upon those store shelves, because at the same time I can detect the siren call of Castlvania: Song of something dark or some shit. And despite being the 7 billionth Castlvania game (earning it the unique distinction of having a sequel for every human being alive, *and* Al Gore) it is supposedly the best of the series, so I think I will be compelled at some point acquire this ~~new~~ game. Especially considering the dearth of quality DS games.

Truly a desperate need.

2005-10-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Londonian Gothics delivers at last!

Finally game developers have seen their way to create a game in which I can roam around 19th century London as an attractive female who wears lace dresses and solves murders! Better yet, new lace dress patterns will garner me well deserved powerups! This is exactly what the Goth Lolita RPG genre needed to revitalize it's waning playerbase! I'll be sure to import this gem the moment it hits those Japanese shelves.

Libertarian Masterpiece Theater

2005-09-22T01:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Brent,
I am writing to personally thank you for supporting my 2004 presidential campaign. You helped me spread the Libertarian message to millions of Americans throughout the country in a unique time of need.

Really? Cause I thought I just abused your bumpersticker giveaway and harassed Senor Bailey.

Now, with the success of the presidential campaign behind me, I couldn't be more driven to light the fires of liberty by running for Congress in 2006! In contrast to the presidential campaign, we have a strong chance of winning the US House of Representatives race in Texas, District 10. This is a campaign that a growing number of freedom lovers all over the country can get behind, because a Libertarian congressional vote will affect everyone in the country.

So you're saying all that money you spent on bumperstickers last year was completely pointless and that this year if you manage to win somehow you'll be an important voice - out of 434 other important voices

Imagine what it would be like to have a Libertarian with attitude in a congressional seat!

Like having any other politician in a congressional seat?

But, we need your help! Although we know this election is winnable, it will still be a fierce struggle. My hand-chosen staff and I are going to put in the time and energy necessary to walk the district and shake hands with every person we can find in the next 14 months. We will do what it takes to show people why freedom is in their best interest.

People actually work for a nutcase like you? And what makes you think freedom is in our best interests? I regularly make *very* poor desicions, why should I be free to counteract my best interest?

But we need your financial support to help us along the way!

um, yeah the check's in the mail.

---- To be fair I did get a ton of bumperstickers at their expense last election, which is probably why they're sending me what amounts to spam. But I'd say the expression on Senor Bailey's face was worth it.

Fanboy powers: Activate!

2005-09-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

In the news today Nintendo shows off its new controller at the Tokyo Game Show. *squeal*. In other news, I just peed myself. That is all.

It's that time of crisis for blogs to save the day.

2005-09-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Or if not save, at least inform others. Michael "Interdictor" Barnett is an employee of possibly the only company still operational in New Orleans. The webhosting company Zipa is still running their servers via a diesel generator and their 27 story building is fairly intact from the storm. Barnett is using the underground fiber optic line to update his livejournal, now the only blog still being written in New Orleans.

Sorry I've been away so long, I'll have an explanatory post later.

Interesting things from the depths of the interweb

2005-07-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

AIM Fight lets you compare your current popularity to others on AIM. I wasted half an hour seeing how I stacked up against everyone on my buddy list.

maybe again someday...

2005-07-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

Instead of doing anything mildly productive, I will instead discuss some of the books that I have recently read.

The Man in the High Castle: One of Philip K Dick's better known works, The Man in the High Castle is the story of a post WWII America in which the Allies lost. It is an interesting tale, and one worth reading. There is really a lack of much to talk about concerning this book, especially as it is so short. But the core of the book is pure Dick, with the dark futuristic setting and likeable characters. And considering it was written in 1962, with race relations the way they were back then one would wonder about his intent in writing a world in which Chinese are barely people and being Jewish is a crime punishable only by a painful death. The Germans upon winning WWII, take it upon themselves to "sterilize" Africa, which they accomplish in less than ten years. So anyways I'm sure he also had many deeper meanings hidden in his work about reality and the nature of free will, but discussing those themes in any depth would ruin the book in a way.

Dark Elf Trilogy / The Icewind Dale Trilogy: R. A. Salvatore actually wrote twelve books in this series, I've only read the first six, but it seems to be a good standard fantasy series. I really like the main character of the series because being of the evil race of drow elves who inhabit the underdark, he's not a typical ranger. So I'd say it's worthwhile reading if you would enjoy a romp in a decent fantasy land.

Icarus Hunt: I must say that I respect Timothy Zahn as much as any other contemporary Sci-Fi author. His environment creation follows the more contemporary style of the "used future" concept popularized by Star Wars. Unlike his predecessors, Clarke and Asimov notably, who created visions of a pristine spotless tomorrow, Zahn's universe is gritty populated by all manner of unsavory aliens and seedy bars. Anyways the story itself is good and action-packed, with the main characters being perused across the galaxy by sinister forces. I was dissatisfied with the ending however, it felt way too much like the "wrap-up time" of an episode of Scooby-Doo. But the 430 pages before that were thoroughly enjoyable.

Anywho those are a few of the books I've been reading lately. And since nothing interesting is happening I was compelled to describe them to you in incoherent detail. This post has taken me all day with stopping in the middle of sentences and stuff so I apologize for that. Anyways it's late now and I'm off to bed.

can't think of

2005-07-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm using sentence fragments for post titles, perhaps Ben will transform into the incredible grammar-hulk and kill me.

No that time isn't wrong, I really did wake up this early I need to take my car to the shop. The brakes are making sounds like a family of gnomes is being painfully eviscerated every time I come to a stop. Yes. Bad. So I'm off now, I'll try to post again today since I might not have much else to do.

And after that

2005-07-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

So, I've been saying I'll update but it never seemes to happen. Here's a quick run-down of what I've been up to. Japan ended really well, we saw a lot of Kyoto and then flew out of the Kansai airport, which is in all liklyhood the neatest airport in the world. The entire airport is situated on a man made island, and the terminal itself is very new and modern. After coming home from Japan severly jet-lagged and sleeping it off, I had a few days just to relax before hitting the road once more to engineering camp at the University of Maryland. That was pretty fun, though the weather there was terrible. We did build an undersea pirate robot, so I'm happy with the whole experiance. Some high moments: Visiting the NAVSEA research facility, touring Washington DC, basically whenever Travis refered to James as a "Southern Gentleman", and whenever Greg spoke of "Team Party" (that'd be us), and Mike walking out of the cafeteria with a giant stack of styrofoam cups for "Pluto's Fort" (I'll see if I can find a picture for that one).

So now I'm back home for two weeks. The summer seems to be slipping away, if anyone wants to do anything give me a call (my cell is working again).

2005-07-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Kyoto was the Golden Pavillion.

2005-07-19T04:29:00.001-07:00

Afterwards we visited a shrine dedicated to students.

2005-07-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

Jeff poses (not really, caught him off gaurd) during our last dinner in Japan.

2005-07-19T04:27:00.001-07:00

This station was huge, just to give you an idea, the area under those escalators in the distance is an indoor ten story shopping mall.

2005-07-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

From the top of the station, one is afforded a good view of Kyoto.

2005-07-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

Another shot of downtown Kyoto.

2005-07-19T04:20:00.000-07:00

Osaka airport.

Brent's Japan Adventure, Part 5!!!!

2005-06-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

1:04 AM June 29th, Kyoto; 9:04 AM June 28th, Arizona
These last couple days have been a bit of a downer and the fact that we leave after tomorrow doesn't help either. First, on Monday we had to say goodbye to our homestay families, which was really sad for all of us. Ricky and I got to know our family really well and I think everyone was sad to part ways. We then boarded the Bullet train (hereby referred to as the "Shinkansen") for Hiroshima. I must say, that is the way to travel. You just buy a ticket and walk on to the train, then bam! you're off at over 175mph! It took us maybe 3 or so hours to Hiroshima, which isn't bad at all. After we arrived in Hiroshima we went to the Peace memorial which was really depressing. The museum there has tons of stuff like wax models of a-bomb victims with third degree burns and their clothing fused into their bleeding flesh while they pick through ruins searching for loved ones. Really, really depressing. The whole afternoon was pretty overwhelming. After the peace park we went shopping for a little bit and then to the hotel. At this point the trip got a little more depressing because stories started coming out that some people got alcohol poisoning while at the homestays, and the hotel staff reported seeing several members of the group smoking outside. Needless to say we had a majority of our privileges revoked. Then this morning we went to Miyajima island to see the Shinto shrine there. It was a really neat shrine that is built out off the shore, so that when high tide comes in the water is literally inches below your feet. There were also a lot of really tame deer on the island who just hung out in the city looking for handouts from tourists. That was kinda strange. After the island we boarded the bus and drove for two hours to Himeji castle. This castle was huge, and it had lots of special defenses. I would not want to be attacking this place. Next we drove another couple hours to Kyoto and arrived at our hotel, where despite the clear skies earlier, it was raining. Luckily the rain stopped just as we were going to dinner. And now it's really late, so I'm going to take a shower and get some sleep. I'll post more later.

2005-06-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our homestay family took us shopping and we saw some really neat electronics (and I finally found a DS). I think this is an mp3 player phone.

2005-06-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

The Mongolian students at the cook-out.

2005-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Our homestay family and their friends. One of their family friends gave Ricky that huge carp flag.

2005-06-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

We visited the green tea fields on Sunday.

2005-06-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

The valley that Kikugawa is in.

2005-06-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

After the green tea fields we visited the Kakegawa castle, which was really neat.

2005-06-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Ronald beckons you!

2005-06-28T08:52:00.001-07:00

The Shinkansen we rode was moving so fast I could only get this shot of it.

2005-06-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

At ground zero in Hiroshima.

2005-06-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

The remains of the buiding now referred to as the "a-bomb dome".

2005-06-28T08:50:00.001-07:00

In the Hiroshima memorial museum.

2005-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

The a-bomb victim's memorial in Hiroshima.

2005-06-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

This store was really cool, it was like Atomic Comics, but the Japanese remix on steroids.

2005-06-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

We saw these really cool mp3 players that will never make it to the US.

2005-06-28T08:46:00.001-07:00

Yay, school uniforms!

2005-06-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ed got himself addicted to this Final Fantasy-type gambling game at the arcade.

2005-06-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

The hotel we stayed at in Hiroshima was really nice.

2005-06-28T08:43:00.001-07:00

The deer on this island were insane!

2005-06-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Our first stop today was the Miyajima shrine.

2005-06-28T08:39:00.001-07:00

Another shrine picture.

2005-06-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

Brandon was pondering the wide ice cream selection for some time.

2005-06-28T08:38:00.001-07:00

Watch out for the antlers!

2005-06-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

OMG look, the sky is almost clear!

2005-06-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today we also visited Himeji Castle, one of the biggest remaining feudal castles. This place was absolutely huge!

2005-06-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Me standing next to Kelsey, standing in front of the castle of doom!!!! This place was huge!

2005-06-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

A shot of the city from the top of the castle.

2005-06-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Watch your head indeed. Crap, I felt like I was going to fall down these stairs.

Brent's Japan adventure, part 4!!

2005-06-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

8:09 PM June 22nd, Hakone; 4:09 PM June 21st, Arizona
We're leaving the Hakone guest house this morning. The hot springs there were absolutely amazing. After typing for about an hour last night I hit the indoor hotsprings, and they were very refreshing, some guys were hitting the baths two or three times and then again this morning. There's just something about that steaming hot spring mineral water. I'll be sad to leave the guest house, but it will be nice to have air conditioning again. Today as I understand it we have a long drive ahead of us the the Aichi World Expo 2005, which is in fact the World's Fair. This will be exciting, I'll write some later.

10:16 PM June 24th, Kikugawa; 6:16 AM June 24th, Arizona
Well, sorry I haven't been able to post anything yet, the place we were staying for the past two nights didn't have an interweb connection. After riding in the bus for about four hours on Wednesday we finally arrived at the World Expo. That place was amazingly huge! I could probably spend a week there and still not see everything, partially because the majority of my time would be spent in line. We did however manage to see the Canada pavilion. If you ask me Canada did a pretty crappy job of representing their country. It was all this new age music and nonsensical videography with the theme of "Canada is diverse" sure it is. Nothing screams diversity like a 98% Caucasian population. After that we wandered around for a while to the tech company pavilions, but we needed a reservation to get in unless we wanted to wait three hours (which we didn't). So we wandered some more through the massive crowds until it was time to go. The place was a bit of a disappointment, because it was not exactly the "world of the future" I had envisioned. But I did learn that in the future all ferris wheels will tell the time and that robots will become our new overlords (Honda is coming up with something big). So after wandering around the expo for a while, we went to the place where we were to spend the next two nights. It in fact turned out to be a dormitory for athletic teams. The trip organizers are hearing from me about this one. It was about seven people to a room and there was one shower room for the entire building. A communal shower room. Fortunately we were the only people staying there the first night, so we took showers at our leisure. The next day we went to a traditional castle village and to a Shinto shrine. We also went to a traditional Japanese village. The village was awesome, it was like being in an episode of InuYasha or something. Then we went back to the sports complex. On Friday we packed up and checked out of the dorms at 6:30 in the morning so we could be on time to Kikugawa. Turns out that 6;30 was a wee bit too early and we made lots of long rest stops along the way to compensate. We arrived at the West kikugawa middle school right on time however. Our guide there was their American English teacher. He explained about the school to us and the JET program that got him to Japan. It sounds cool, but also very selective about 1 in 10 applicants are accepted. After visiting the school and with the mayor we finally met our homestay families. Someone screwed up the schedule and I ended up paired with Ricky instead of Jeff, but that's a change I can live with. I was kinda dreading being in the same homestay as Jeff because he is the stereotypical loud, rude American. But Ricky is pretty cool. Yesterday they took us shopping, and to my surprise we even went to an electronics store. Even the Best Buy like stores are years ahead of us. I saw technology we won't have in the US for years. I also bought a black Nintendo DS. I have been planning to buy one for some time, but this trip has provided me a good opportunity because not only are colors available here which the US will never see, but it was also about twenty dollars cheaper here. After that we went to the daughter, Sakura's, school to see a special parents day. School children here are similar to the US. Very noisy and unruly. After visiting the school we went to a barbecue hosted by some homestay families in the area. There were some Mongolian students there who are studying in Japan for three years. They seemed very nice, and one girl started talking to me a lot. So it kinda freaked me out when Erin started proclaiming she liked me, but I don't really trust Erin's judgment in such matters. Come to think of it I don't trust her judgment in any matters. But turns out the girl from Mongolia (her name was really long and hard to pronounce) was very nice and also trains in Shotokan karate. We started talking about things like tekui katas and stuff, so it was pretty fun. After the party we went to see one of Sakura's friends train in Shorinji Kempo. It seemed to be an interesting style with the majority of the techniques focused on defending yourself from an opponent who grabbed you. After the class Ricky and I talked with the sensei for a while, he seemed really cool and he showed us some basic techniques.

That's all I have time to post for now. I might be able to put up a little more Monday or Tuesday night. Today we are going to see the green tea fields that Kikugawa is famous for and to visit the Kikugawa castle.

2005-06-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a shot of the indoor hot springs at Hakone (near mount Fuji)

2005-06-25T18:18:00.001-07:00

We visited the World Expo, it was very crowded.

2005-06-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Toyota pavillion at the world expo.

2005-06-25T18:17:00.002-07:00

In the future all cars will be very shiny.

2005-06-25T18:17:00.001-07:00

Fear the mighty death chicken!

2005-06-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Behold the "mountain of dreams"!

2005-06-25T18:16:00.001-07:00

Another picture of the World Expo.

2005-06-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

This vending machine has a television, and you can pay with your cellphone.

2005-06-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

Poky from a machine!!!!

2005-06-25T18:14:00.001-07:00

Hell yeah!!

2005-06-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Mike was pissed when we informed him the liter of milk he just chugged was from a goat...

2005-06-25T18:13:00.002-07:00

Traditional castle town.

2005-06-25T18:13:00.001-07:00

Battery vending machine!

2005-06-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

OMFG!!!!!

2005-06-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

We visited a traditional Japanese village.

2005-06-25T18:11:00.001-07:00

Here's another shot of the village.

2005-06-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

We bought lots of "action" figures.

2005-06-25T18:10:00.001-07:00

It's a hot food vending machine!

2005-06-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

Meeting with the mayor of Kikugawa.

Brent's Japan Adventures, Part 3

2005-06-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

12:37 PM June 20th, Tokyo; 8:37 PM June 19th, Arizona
We just finished touring the main local government offices of Tokyo. It was pretty generic a tour, but considering it takes two fifty story buildings and 17,000 people to keep just the city government of Tokyo running is really quite impressive, we also went to an bservation deck near the top of the taller building, I was hoping to see Fuji-san, but the view was limited due to smog. After the observation deck we went to lunch at the caffeteria, the system there for buying food was forgien to me (see pictures). Right now we are on our way to a Shrine after another stop to shop. I've been told where we're shopping is close to Shinjuku (also where the government offices were) so perhaps I'll get a chance to find some neat electronics stuff.

8:20 AM June 21st, Tokyo; 4:20 PM June 20th, Arizona
Crap, no chance to get electroncis stuff, we didn't even get to see Akihabara, which means I didn't get any chance to buy a pink Nintendo DS. And now we are on our way out of Tokyo to Mount Fuji for the day, and we're not returning to Tokyo. Yesterday after the government offices a government official joined us for the rest of the day, he spoke very good English so he told us a lot of neat stuff. We went shopping in an open air market again, I didn't see anything too exciting, a lot of the stores were selling American products like shoes and shirts, but at about twice the value of the goods back home. Then we visited another Shinto shrine. This was one of the coolest experiences I've had during the whole trip because it was a small shrine and we spent three hours there. The people at the shrine had prepared lots of activities for us and the priest (he asked that we call him Guji-san) told us some basic information about the Shinto belief system. Then they gave us a chance to play the drums like they do in a festival. They then served us a snack, which was entirely unexpected but very welcome. After the snack they had us do a craft activity in which we made bowls from paper and dried leaves (it's cooler than it sounds). Then we attempted to sing some songs together (kinda painful, but fun).

8:48 PM June 21st, Hakone; 4:50 AM June 21st, Arizona
Ok, Mount Fuji was really cool we hiked there for a couple hours to a crater that was formed in the last eruption. The clouds were awesome and the winds were constantly blowing them not just overhead, but also all around us. If it was a clear day our tour guide informed us that we would be able to see the Pacific Ocean. After exploring Fuji-san we drove to a lake that was surrounded by mountains and rode the tram up to the top of one of the taller mountains. It was foggy again, so my pictures didn't turn out very clear. We have yet to see a clear day in Japan, but I suppose that's a good thing, with this humidity high temperatures could be a pain. After the tram ride and some hanging around in the arcade at the base we traveled to Hakone which is in the same mountain area. Tonight we are staying at the Hakone Guest House, which is a traditional Japanese guest house, with tatami on the floor and shoji for walls. They were kind enough to let me use their internet connection, but I've heard the next place we are supposed to have interweb is in Kyoto next week. I hope the family I'm staying with this weekend has a connection I can use (they emailed me back I would assume they do) so perhaps I'll be able to post some more this weekend.

2005-06-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are staying in a really neat gust house. It has a totally different feel from Tokyo (but still has wi-fi!).

2005-06-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

There was also a cool arcade there!

2005-06-21T04:37:00.001-07:00

Coming back down on the tram.

2005-06-21T04:37:00.000-07:00

There was also a shrine on top of the mountain,

2005-06-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

It is hard to see because of the fog, but there are three towns that are on the lake.

2005-06-21T04:35:00.001-07:00

We took a tram to the top of a mountain overlooking the lake.

2005-06-21T04:35:00.000-07:00

The trees on the mountains surrounding the lake seemed to grow in odd clusters.

2005-06-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

After Mount Fuji we went to a lake where there were pirates!!!!

2005-06-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Why is it that whenever you need to go *really* bad, the only sit down toilets you can find look like this?

2005-06-21T04:32:00.001-07:00

If amino acids aren't for you, then try Pocari Sweat!

2005-06-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

These "Amino Acid Replenish" drinks became a big joke. Kinda tasted like Gatorade.

2005-06-21T04:31:00.000-07:00

Climbing on the vent of the crater.

2005-06-21T04:30:00.000-07:00

This was our guide, I forget his name, but he said we should call him Tomo-san.

2005-06-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

These are some of the rocks tossed about in the last eruption.

2005-06-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

Some of us hiked down into the crater while the rest of the group stayed on the ridge.

2005-06-21T04:25:00.001-07:00

The mound in the center is the vent.

2005-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

The objective of our hike was a crater formed by the latest eruption on mount Fuji.

2005-06-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

This was pretty neat, you could see the tops of some of the clouds (when we weren't in the middle of one ourselves)

2005-06-21T04:23:00.001-07:00

We saw some snow hiking up Fuji-san.

2005-06-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

A disposable camera vending machine!

Brent's Japan adventure, Part 2

2005-06-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

11:15 AM June 19th, Tokyo; 7:15 PM June 18th, Arizona
I'm on the bus typing this right now halfway through the day. I'll add some more when I get a chance this afternoon. Today we woke up about 6:30 and went across the street from the hotel to the 7-11 to get some stuff we forgot to pack. They of course had merchandise that appeared totally foreign to us. I bought some cheesecake flavored pocky. After breakfast we went to the Imperial Palace. So after looking at the entrance to Imperial Palace we went to a Temple (I think it was Buddhist). In front of the temple they had a large gate and a huge outdoor market. I broke down in a store and bought a katana. It was pretty cheap, only about 11000 yen, but it looked neat with a steel blade and on the sheath was black with a golden emblem of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The lady in the store seemed impressed when I knew the history of the Tokugawa. I've taken lots more pictures today of course. Right now we are on our way to the Roppongi district, which I'm told, is the "hip" district of Japan, with lots of clubs, music stores, and upscale resturants. It's amazing how long it takes to get anywhere in Tokyo. The city is huge in addition to being very crowded, Think of New York congestion in the entire Phoenix metro area. It's like that.

Vending Machine Watch, day 2: seen lots of vending machines so far. Icluding many cigarette vending machines and one beer machine. So far I have not sighted that elusive vending machine of lore (you know the one), I shall continue my vigil.

10:43 PM June 19th, Tokyo; 6:43 AM June 19th, Arizona
Ok I thought the Roppongi Hills district sounded familiar, turns out I saw a show about the main building in the district on the Discovery channel not too long ago. The big tower is supposed to be really futuristic and a whole community in one building it was built on the "vertical city" concept. I was really excited to be there, but the buiding is closed to the public unless you take a horrendusly expensive tour. So Brandon and I managed to get into an elevator that only went to a provate club on the 51st floor, oops. After that we walked to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, wow amazing Japanese cusine. After Lunch we hopped back on the tour bus and visited a shrine to the Emperor Meiji, the shrine was really expansive, there was a long path through a heavily wooded area to get there, and a very large gate at the entrance of the shrine. We hung around there for a while and watched a wedding procession that was going on. We also got our shrine books stamped. The Shrine books are neat, you buy the book with blank pages for 1000 yen (about then dollars) and then at most temples and shrines you visit you can pay between three and five dollars to have them "stamp" your book with a page full of calligraphy. It looks really neat, but with all the shrines we are going to visit I fear it will become quite the investment.

After visiting the Meiji shrine we went to a shopping districft that I was told is very popular with Tokyo's youth. To get the the district we had to cross a bridge near the shrine that was clogged with young people dressed up for lack of a better word oddly. Like Anime Expo got combined with a hooker convention. There we permutations of dress there that no rational mind would seemingly be able to conceive. Of the "clothing" latex seemed very popular along with the color black, and some military uniforms (I think there were supposed to be WWII era Japanese uniforms). At the same time we also saw a procession of large vehicles blaring some loud march music roll by. I first assumed they were connected with the wedding we had seen earlierm, but our local guide informed us that they were protesting against the government. Come to think of it, that music did kinda have a "communist march" feel to it. Nor did the day get less strange there. The shopping district we went to was stores mostly concerned with fasion, but there we some less reputable establishments thrown into the mix. Some members of our group unwittingly wandered into a strip club (moral of the story: don't follow the well dressed buisnessmen). And Brandon and I tried to get into Condomania (scroll down for picture, I shit you not this place was real) but in addition to being crammed with condoms that store was freaking crowded with people and we really didn't want to push our way in there, or try to get into the "Love Girl Store" next door, so we wandered back to the meeting spot. After meeting with the rest of the group we took the train to the Shinjuku District for dinner. I'm told Shinjuku was near the center of Tokyo, it sure seemed like it. Shinjuku is probably what you think of when you imagine Tokyo. There was lots of lights, lots of nightlife, and a crapload of Pachinko parlors. I wouldn't call it a red light district but it seemed to be a place you wanted to be a little more careful around, and there were a few stores that while their purpose was not immediatly obvious to the Japanese-illiterate, they did have english signs inside that proclaimed them to be a "men's theme park", I'm sure you can make some educated guesses. After dinner we took the train back to the hotel, the trains are very crowded, seemingly at all hours of the day. Anyways we stopped at a music and movie store in the train station. I checked out some of the anime dvds, but it was 6,000 yen for one anime dvd! That's almost three times as much as the US! So much for buying anime while I'm here. After shopping again we returned to the hotel and now here I am writing this. I'll try to post it as soon as I can, hopefully tomorrow morning.

8:10 AM June 20th, Tokyo; 4:10 PM June 19th, Arizona
We had a small earthquake last night, only one person in our group noticed it and we thought they were making it up until we got to breakfast this morning and everyone in the hotel was talking about it. Too bad I slept through it.

P.S. if anyone has anything they want me to get while I'm here, just let me know and if I see it I'll pick it up.

2005-06-19T16:26:00.002-07:00

Engrish from the breakfast buffet.

2005-06-19T16:26:00.001-07:00

There are lots of Star Wars advertisements in Tokyo.

2005-06-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

We stopped at a book and music store on the way back to the hotel.

2005-06-19T16:24:00.001-07:00

The Shinjuku district at night.

2005-06-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Shinjuku was really neat, but we didn't get any free time there

2005-06-19T16:23:00.001-07:00

Best Store Ever! Condomania!!!!

2005-06-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

The bridge with oddly dressed people.

2005-06-19T16:22:00.002-07:00

This tobacco flavored tea is in all the vending machines.

2005-06-19T16:22:00.001-07:00

Engrish vending machine!