swing swing

Here are a few clips of Andi and I doing a few lifts. I took the vids with my canon A80.

http://centerleft.net/images/joyban/MVI_0861.AVI

http://centerleft.net/images/joyban/MVI_0862.AVI

http://centerleft.net/images/joyban/MVI_0863.AVI

[Listening to: Oh Yeah - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Save My Soul (4:36)]

TIME Person of the Year 2004: 10 Things We Learned About Blogs

TIME Person of the Year 2004: 10 Things We Learned About Blogs

Italia!

I am going to Italy in the summer for the borate conference! YIPPIEEEE! All I have to do now is write an abstract for the poster I will be presenting there and it'll cost me a couple of hundred dollars. Trento, Italy, you will be seeing me in about 6 months!

[Listening to: Clark Gable - The Postal Service - Give Up (4:54)]

i hate being sick!

i have the flu or that's what the nurse and I think I have. I have been little feverish, ache-ish..and this sore throat is killing me! It hurts everytime I swallow. I have been eating soup and PBJ the last couple of days. It sucks! Hot liquids soothe my throat for that oh-so-brief period before the pain while swallowing sets in again. The nurse had asked to hole up in my room and not see anyone because I was possibly contagious. I think I certainly was.. So, the only person who came by for a bit was Andi who made me tea and other hot liquids. That was so sweet of her.. It's nice being taken care of because I'm the one usually taking care of other people. She does feel that being around me for prolonged periods of time might make her sick which is probably true. I don't know how much longer I'll be contagious but I don't want to get her sick. However she did tell my friends that she wanted to take care of me since I take her all the time. That was a nice thing to say. It makes me happy to see her when she visits to check up. I have been thinking of more happy moments with her like the first time we held hands or the first time we kissed.. I feel good when I think good..

I didnt attend lab or any of the meetings today.. I don't know if I should do classes tomorrow.. I guess I wait to see how I feel when I get up in the morning..

PS: Andi's my ex-girlfriend..

[Listening to: When I See You - Third Eye Blind - Out Of The Vein (3:58)]

another one of those quizzes


Your element is Fire: Strong, hot tempered,
powerful, and passionate. Well now lets see,
being fire you are quite strong and powerful,
people look up to you greatly and often seek
your protection. You have the ability to gain
many friends and you are always one people can
count on to do what you say you will do. You
are extremely loyal be it friends or family
you'll stick up for them and you are never
willing to put them in a position that could
hurt them. You know what roll you play in life,
leader, and you intend to let people know it.
Not everyone is capable of leadership but you
certainly have the willpower and flare to do
it. You have quite a temper if it shows itself,
one that can often lead you into trouble. Once
your mind is made up there is no changing it
but no one said that was a bad thing.


.:-|What is your true element?|-:. -With Anime Pictures and detailed answers-
brought to you by Quizilla

this is interesting. I found a link to this quiz on Oranges From China.


Your Heart is Red


What Color is Your Heart?
brought to you by Quizilla

my mood lately..

I have been listening to Relient K's new album "MmHmm". These are few excerpts which show how I have been feeling lately..

We were talking together
I said, "what's up with this weather?"
Dont know whether or not
How sad I just got
'Cause on my own volition.
What if I'm just missing the sun

And tomorrow, I know,
Will be rainy at best.
And the forecast, I know,
Is that I'll be depressed.

But I'll wait outside
Hopin that I'll catch sight of the sun.

Because on and off,
The clouds have fought
Their control over the sky

And lately the weather
Has been so Bi-polar
And Consequently so have I

                  "High Of 75" - Relient K


cause we're so scared to find out
what this life's all about
so scared we're going to lose it
not knowing all along
that's exactly what we need

and today I will trust you with confidence
of a man who's never known defeat
but tomorrow, upon hearing what I did
I will stare at you in disbelief
oh, inconsistent me
crying out for consistency

and you said I know that this will hurt
but if I don't break your heart then things will just get worse
If the burden seems too much to bear
Remember
the end will justify the pain it took to get us there

and I'll let it be known
at times I have shown
signs of all my weakness
but somewhere in me
there is strength

and you promise me
that you believe
in time I will defeat this
cause somewhere in me
there is strength

                  "Let It All Out" - Relient K

I just want to feel better and happy. I hope I find strength in me heal my wounds and relieve the pain. I can't remember if I have ever felt stronger emotions before I came to Coe. This place has been a roller coaster ride, with fantastic highs and depressing lows.. I'm getting a taste of real life outside the protective umbrella of home and family. I guess it's making me a man. a character building experience as people put it here..

I am staring off into space again. I just got back from a staff meeting and am trying to motivate myself to start reading again. I have some things on my mind and I am trying to remove them so that I can concentrate.. But I have that weird clammy tight feeling in my chest.. I don't know.. i'm not very happy now either but I don't want to talk about that either because it's too consuming.. I hope all my homework and stuff keeps me focussed..

[Listening to: Sober - Muse - Showbiz (4:04)]

last full day at home

after going through all those blogs, I was exhausted last night. I left some feedback on some of the people I found who did swing. I'll wait to see if anyone replies.. I took a quite a few pictures on the garden and the flowers in it. I'll have to see if they turned out well. I have started getting some things organized for the packing. My bed's covered with my stuff now. I don't think I have enough to pack both my suitcases but I have to take both back.. I'll be carrying back some cool stuff, like a couple of bottles of french Bordeaux from dad, african stuff.. yeah, things like that..

this new blogrolling thing is pretty cool. I must have over 25 links to different blogs now..i also got a movie and some software offa my brother. I need to look at his music and take some of that too.

I watched Shall We Dance yesterday evening. It got me in the mood of dancing again. It's like any other click flick. I'd rate it under the catagory of Wedding Planner, Maid in Manhattan, that type of movie..

grounding thoughts..

I'm in the weird quiet reflection mood again. damn! It always grounds me. This is usually not very positive either. I wonder why it's easier to think about the negative things than to ponder and think happy. There are some things I really wanted but I can't have them now, not in the near future anyway. Hopefully, I will accomplish and get these things later...

something I'd like to do

You know, I have always wanted to travel and go somewhere with Andi. I think it would be a lot of fun. But I don't think that's going to happen. She is going to Germany for a year, she needs to save up. I was thinking about this as I was just chatting with Sarah and she was telling about her prep for London-Florence. I just wish I could go and visit Europe instead of just transiting through the airports without actually seeing the city. I wanted to visit Kristin but then decided against it for multiple reasons. If I was asked a couple of years back, I would have definitely gone up to see her. And then visiting Andi and Inga in Germany sometime next year... I have to see if I can do that when the time comes. I guess there are a lot of factors that will go into making that decision. The most important being money.. I guess I'm going to wait and see.

My tropical winter!

The last day before I was to fly out, I packed all the things I was to carry home. I tried packing everything in one suitcase but it felt that it would burst open because it had so many things in it. I had so much of shopping to carry back along with my books, clothes and shoes. I went out with Matt and Amanda in the night for dessert from her game. I was quiet most of the time because I was reflecting on things that had been going on in my life. And they were talking about stuff they didn�t like to eat. It was funny actually. They were talking like an old married couple. Well, I guess they have been dating for a long time and they seem so much at ease with each other with no doubts about the other person. Peace of mind.

I woke up early in the morning to finish the last bit of shopping that my mum wanted me to do. Micheal�s got a lot of business from my mum. But things there are pretty expensive. So, I think we will be shopping online for mum�s pmc things now. I also bought an mp3 player and the camera that dad wanted me to buy for the office. I had such a tough decision to make when I was thinking about buying the 40 gb mp3 player or not and finally I just got it. And then I got back and left for the airport at 3 because I had my flight out at 4.45 pm. I had to go through a special security check, which meant a complete, pat down and carry on baggage check. The only people that I saw that had to go through with this check were brown skinned people. I mentioned that to a security agent there after my check was done. It did seem racial but we should be getting used to this soon I guess. I got to Chicago and had a couple of hours to burn. So I decided to call people while I had the chance. I used my bluetooth and there was this one lady who kept pointing to my headset as it was blinking blue. I smiled and told her what it was and there was a questioning look. I guess she had never seen a wireless headset. I talked to Andi for a bit, and then ended up talking to Doll and Mammi for the rest of the time.

The Delta flight to London was very spacious. I don�t think I�ve ever been on a flight that had so much of leg space. It was amazing! And I happened to sit adjacent to the lady who was pointing at my headset. It was a funny coincidence. She was a minister in a small town in Wisconsin and was going home for the winter. She taught classes to the prisoners in a maximum-security prison in that town. She was very defensive about them and told me that she loved working with them. I think she felt that I had a negative view of things in the prison system.. Like Andi said, if there were no good movies on the flight, I would actually sleep. It was true for the most part. I saw Collateral and that was the only movie worth watching. So, I did sleep most of the way there. But I did see the magnetic dartboard system that I was searching for. It was $40 though. So, I don�t know if I should buy it on the way back.

I have never seen so many Indians in one place apart from India. The London airport was teeming with Indians, old and young. I had a 12-hour layover! So, after I got my boarding pass, I decided to look around at the stores. I did look around for an hour or so and then got bored of the stores there. First, there wasn�t a lot there to see really and second, things were soo expensive. Especially since a pound was two bucks! So every thing was twice as much as the US. However, I did see that Bailey�s was cheaper there than in the US. So, I will be buying a couple of bottles on the way back. After that I just sat around and started killing time by reading Contact. I actually tried calling Sujatha aunty but it wouldn�t connect and I tried getting online at one of the kiosks and that didn�t work either. So, I just gave up and returned to sitting around. I managed to catch a wink for a couple of hours sleeping with my arms around the baggage using my bag a pillow. I did eat some there, a slice of pizza and a sandwich for $12. Isn�t that insane? Finally, about an hour before my flight was scheduled to take off, I saw the gate assigned to the plane. So, I took off to the gate and was one of the first people to reach it. I was on the plane 20 minutes later.

The Virgin flight wasn�t as roomy as the last one was. But it was ok, I planned on sleeping this one through because it was night time in Nigeria and I wanted to get on that clock as soon as I got in. I didn�t want any jetlag. There was someone from campus waiting to pick me up. I got through customs and everything in a breeze. I was however hit with the humidity the moment I got back because I was wearing my sweater and sweatshirt. It was 25 C outside with high humidity! And this was winter in tropical Nigeria. After a 2-hour ride back to campus, I was finally home.

Later in the day, I showed mum all the things I got and she was very happy with all the pmc she could now work with. It felt nice to be home after so long. It was good to see mum because I hadn�t seen her since winter. I slept for a long time after that. Mum told me that she saw my pictures while I was sleeping. They were actually very good pictures. They came out really well. I was pleasantly surprised.

And then began my every day schedule of sleeping at 3 am and waking up at 12 when mum woke me up telling me that I shouldn�t miss breakfast and it�s not good to wake up right before lunch. And then I would eat toast and drink tea. And then I would sit on the net. Around 1.30, dad would come home and we would eat lunch. After that, I would watch TV if there was something good, or sit on the net some more. On Thursdays and Sundays, my brother and I would play basketball with other people. Fridays, we had pizza night at the International House. And then, drink tea in the evening and watch some more TV. And then dinner around 10, and some more internet. Around 12, I would read till I fell asleep or answered emails. I actually answered all my emails the same day, usually straight away because I had nothing else to do really. I haven�t emailed so much and so frequently in a long time. Inga and I emailed back and forth almost everyday. Andi and I would email every other day because there wasn�t much to say really since neither of us were doing a lot.

I called some of my friends on Christmas. I talked to Andi for a little while but couldn�t talk to her much because I got her in the middle of gifts. I tried calling Kristin and Mary, failing on both accounts. I then talked to Britta for a long time. She is at ease on the phone when she talks to me even though she doesn�t like talking on the phone a whole lot. It was nice to talk to her and catch up. It did feel odd because we didn�t have the late night chats since I got home. I guess it was something we did pretty often and I got used to it. I did get to talk to Jessi and I could say that she was surprised to get my call. But I remember that I called her the last time I was home too. I couldn�t talk to Komal because she is MIA. I got to chat with most of my friends and got atleast one email if not more from all of them. I talked to Andi on Jan 1 for about 50 minutes with my mum breathing down my neck asking me why I was on the phone for so long and what could I possibly talking about! And that�s why I couldn�t call anyone else because I had the feeling that I ate up my call time allowance in one shot. Hehe.. It felt good talking to Inga after I got home because I hadn�t talked to her for a bit. I was also concerned after the email I got from her about her breakup with her long-term boyfriend.

Apart from that, nothing much has really happened. We had the acting Indian High Commissioner come to our house for lunch along with some other Indians on campus. And I finally got to see I Robot which I�ve always wanted to see.

And of course, New Years was a blast. I haven�t had so much of fun in Nigeria ever. We got to the International House around 8.30. I had this one drink called Champagne Screw which tasted like soap. Yuck! I chucked three quarters of the drink in a bush. We then waited around till 9.30 for the dinner. The dinner was a pretty good buffet with free red and white French wine. After dinner, my brother and I sat with the other kids and socialized for a bit. There was a raffle drawing in which my mum won a dinner for two at the restaurant in I-House. And then the party began, at first we just watched other people go on the dance floor. After a bit, the youth decided to and join in. There were only two Canadian girls in our group and so we were asking them to dance all the time. I don�t think they have been asked to dance so much in their life! I danced more with the 21 year old girl more than her younger sister because the other boys never left her by herself for anyone to ask. I finally got talking with the group and it was smooth sailing after that. I danced a lot and did a few of the basic swing turns and stuff that the girls could handle. I actually found an R&B song that has perfect rhythm for six count swing. After my parents left, we went nuts I guess. My brother and I tried to teach Bhangra to a couple of European women. After that, my brother switched among us to dance with the Slavic ladies. They were pretty hot and every other guy in the group thought so too. They were all looking at them and drooling.. hehe.. Plus, they were drunk so that made for a better dance experience ;). It was funny to watch them dance with us with their young children and husbands around. I don�t think their husbands enjoyed dancing as much as they did anyway. Towards the end, I talked to Michelle (the older Canadian) about what she did at home and all. It was actually a two way conversation. I remember when I got back to my house that I could have told her about Kit�s research about Antarctic�s permafrost since she was studying the Canadian permafrost up north. We got back at 4.30 fully awake but the moment I lied down, I was out in a couple of minutes.. New Year�s eve was actually fun. Yay!

christmas!

I got the best christmas present ever! Andi had a very elaborate present for me which started with a mystery snow angel with my name in my mailbox. i didn't know who it was then but then I strongly suspected Andi. of course, i asked her point blank but she lied to me with a straight face.. hehe..the first time i have seen her to do that.. and then every day for 10 days i got ornaments for the christmas tree anonymously.. I would go to my mailbox before lunch and would find one everyday. that was the highlight for several days as finals were coming up. and the days i couldn't access my mailbox, the ornaments were taped to my door.. this was because the first saturday she realized that i couldn't open my mailbox on weekends. and as days went on, i would tease her by calling the mystery person my secret admirer.. although at that point, questioning most of the friends lead nowhere. she used most of my friends in this endeavor.. although sometimes i got more information out of them that they wanted to let on.. and finally on 15th Dec. She gave me my last mailbox ornament and then sent me on a scavenger hunt for the last three. And she had the last one.. I thanked her and told her how much this meant to me.. She is truly a special person and will always have a place in my heart. she is my best friend in the whole wide world and wouldn't trade our memories for anything. she is too precious to me. i love her.

the tree full of ornaments is showcased in my dorm room. it's wonderful. and i also got a couple of games, a book on hugs, a magnet, and chocolates.. she really went all out.. i feel so special..:)

how do people deal with frustration?

I don't know how to deal with my frustration about a lot of things at Coe. I could just take an easy way out and drop stuff but I'm not like that. I take the hard route and try to fix things or work it out. But what if things are not in my control? I have had very intense emotions lately, it deters me from concentrating. Math frustrates me a lot. Real has been a rough ride. Stuff like Q2b in Ex1.26 drives me crazy at no ends. If I can't solve questions, it torments me. I remember spending 7 hours on a stupid physics problem and then when I get back in the night before sleeping. I take a last crack at it and then I solved it in a few minutes. All I had to do was reverse engineer the answer! When things frustrate me, I think about it all the freaking time.
         I know it's bad to let things in the way but I seem powerless. I am also weak willed at times. I know I can say no but when the situations arise, I always give in and say yes. There are times I didn't want to do things but I did them anyway to keep the other person happy. I think I care too much about people. Sometimes I just want to be happy without things on my mind. It has happened a few times, a few blissfully happy moments. I can count on my finger tips how many times I have been so happy and worry-less that I didn't know what to do with myself. Jessi's in the summer, Chicago in fall break and Amanda's at Thanksgiving were some situations where I had a lot of fun. Maybe I need to look in other places to remove my frustration. Playing RB helps some because I can wack the ball and it's a physical outlet. I have tried running but it never works. I need to be calm to run otherwise I start breathing patterns change.. Talking helps too. I'm glad I have friends who I can talk to and clear my head.
         I'm going to miss Jessi and Jenna next semester. I miss Kristin and Mary a lot. I miss talking to Bhav. I miss my family. I want someone to love and cherish me the way I do. I want to see Sonal. I want my friends from home to come here and study. I miss Eisha, Vandy and Shonali.

         On a little more upbeat tone, atleast Kit and I got my digital electronics lab done finally after a week of stagnation. I have 3 finals next week and then I'm going home on Saturday!! It will be the time to sit back and relax and study some and re-evaluate my priorities and make my mind mentally strong for the tough semester ahead.

[Listening to: Track 3 - All American Rejects - Unknown Album (3:57)]

Analyse this!

I have been thinking and analysing everything that happened at homecoming this time. That night, the dance seemed good but now after Andi told me that I annoyed her by taking her when she was dancing with Rob, and that I was following her has kind of killed that. I was being very aggressive for the first time at a dance like this. I am usually passive and even if I want to dance with someone, I don't go forward if they are dancing with someone else. This time I decided to hell with that. I will do what I want, when I want. I am entitled to have fun too. I danced with some of my friends even with their boyfriends right there but I didn't give a shit. I felt like dancing with them for that little bit and I did. I never took them away for more than 30 seconds. That way I made sure that Andi didn't feel ignored. Apparently, I didn't need to do that because she wanted the chance to dance with other people which is fine. It was a funny coincidence that we kept ending up dancing near Rob, might have been accidental but who knows. And she did leave me half way through a couple of songs and just turned around and started dancing with him. I was left stranded in the middle of the dance floor and I had to look around for other people to dance with. I wonder how she would feel if I did that to her... Maybe I did do that to her when I was dancing with my friends. Maybe we did spend too much of time dancing with each other. I think during the next dance, I'm going try to make a conscious effort to not monopolize her. It did seem like she had fun dancing with me but there were a few situations where I felt otherwise...

      On a happier note, the dinner was good. I wish we could have sat beside Britta and Sean but there is no point pondering about it. I saw Amanda and Matt and her friends at the Texas Roadhouse too. I really wanted to eat with them and felt like that more and more as the our group got bigger. I wish Amanda and Andi atleast greeted each other. In the end, it was fine that we didn't eat with them because it would have been very awkward with the two girls. And at the dance, I did get to dance or atleast see most of my friends. Komal was so funny! I didn't get to dance with Kelly this time though because she was with Brian the whole night. I remember last homecoming when me and Andi spent the whole dance together. I wanted to dance with some other people that time but I thought it wasn't right because Andi was my date and my girl friend at the time. This time I had plenty of oppurtunities to dance with other people but when I was alone, I could never find anyone to dance with. What luck!

      So, on the whole, I'd say homecoming was fun. It could have been better.

      You should see pics from homecoming at Joy's Odds N Ends

[Listening to: Swan Dive - Sister Hazel - Chasing Daylight (3:45)]

More pictures!!

I just posted 35 pictures on Joy's Odd's N Ends. They are from Chicago, my 21st B'day and Alburquerque.

Have fun browsing.

[Listening to: I Like It - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Save My Soul (4:19)]

A whole week away from Coe! well almost..

I'm writing this post from the computer lab at Univ. of New Mexico at Alburquerque where the SPS conference is going on. It's been a fun couple of days since we flew in wednesday. I have attended a ton of talks and few of them being pretty high profile including the talk on ethics by the National Science Advisor to POTUS and a Nobel Laureate about Bose-Einstein Condensate. And the food has been incredible. My first dinner here was a $27 meal that I paid for. And then I paid for today's lunch which was a bit more reasonable at $10. And We have been doing some drinks every ngiht..and let me tell you a lil secret..this is the 7th night in a row where I've had atleast a bit of some form of alcohol. I'm surprised but I have not gotten drunk even on my 21st b'day. Talking about my b'day, It was a wonderful day with wishes from all my friends and the dinner at Olive Garden and then hanging out wiht my friends and then Andi. She came by in the night and we had a couple of glasses of wine to end my b'day. And you know, I have never been carded in my life but since I've turned 21, I have been always carded. It's funny! Chicago was a ton of fun too. I will put up pictures once I get back to school on Sunday. Sorry about the ill-organized post this time..

Energy O' Energy! Where art thou?

I am so lethargic now. I don't feel like doing anything now. I wonder why after the hellishly long day I had yesterday. Yesterday started at 8.30 am after sleeping at 2.30 the night before after talking to Britta. And then I had class from 9-10 and then I read from 10 till noon after which I went to a talk and lunch at Physics for an hour till 1 PM. And then I was supposed to tutor someone but he never showed. So, I went back and read rest of honor's readings and then I had honors from 2-3.20. I then did Astronomy homework from 3 till 4.30 for evening's class and then had dinner. I was supposed to eat with Andi but she sat with other people and I realized that I probably should sit with someone else that I haven't eaten with for a while. Then, I walked around with Britta for half an hour before astronomy at 7. Which lasted till 9.30. But we got our results back and I did pretty well. But that wasn't enough to alleviate my lethargic-ness. I was barely awake through the class as my eyes were getting very tired. And then I had to tutor in Basic Physics from 9.30 till 10.30 which wasn't a good idea because I was tired and I was getting frustrated with my tutee and kind of snapped a couple of times. And then I had to do a short physics study group for Optics homework. However, my mind was not working so I didn't absorb a lot from this session. So, I got out at 11 and headed to Andi's for a short break. We walked around for a bit and talked... It was good talking to her because even though we see each other everyday, we don't talk much because we are usually studying astronomy together or around other people. After she went to bed, I decided to drop by Kelly's for a few minutes. Yeah...my few minutes dragged to 40 minutes. Gone was my goal to end my day at 11.30 and get more sleep. It was good talking to Kelly because I haven't talked to her that way since last semester. She is a wonderful friend, I like her a lot. I did get back at 12.40 and then got straight to bed. However, as I got into bed, Britta, Sean and Jamie came up even after I told them I went to bed. They were out for 5 mins talking and then finally once I got to bed, I was out in less than 30 seconds. And there ended my Wednesday. Why do Wednesdays have to be so hellish? I forgot about my Budget meeting at 5.30 too! I just have too much of stuff sometimes. I really wish I had a companion to help me through things. Yeah, sure Andi's still there but she is not my girl friend anymore. It's like we are together but we are not. And yeah, Andi's a stress factor too. I get stressed whenever I think about her. Arrgghhhhh! Man, I need life to be less stressful! Classes, other stuff, social life, friggin' craziness!

Another set of pictures

These are pictures mostly from the last couple of days. Most of them are from yesterday's astronomy study break. Make your way to Joy's Odds N Ends

And the rest of my japan chronicles

July 19, 2004

Get up at 6.30 bcoz taxi at 7.15. quick pack. Get there in 8 min due to lack of traffic. Wait till 7.50 for train. Board train to hakata which was 1.2 hour ride. Empty. Comfy with legs spread out. Get to hakata at 12.30 and asked a JR security guy about next train to adowara. He says 1.20 so we eat lunch. Come back and check times to see that we misses 12.43 train to adowara which would put us there at 3 something. More time to see fuji and do gondola ride. We took train that stopped at every station. Got to adowara at 5 and found out hakone was 1 hour away with the next stop even longer. So scrapped plans to go to fuji. Very sad. Atleast have some crappy pics of fuji. Called masa and told him we reach Tokyo at 6 instead of 8. we were now to meet him at 7. go to Tokyo and walked around mall. Bought some stuff. Talk about mall. Waited for masa while I looked around for more stuff. May buy some fans there later. Masa came and we went out so that we could leave out stuff at hotel. Bus ride there. Talked to miho but they can't see me because im here for too short a time.Very cool seeing Tokyo for first time. Reached hotel. Super nice for $40 each. Left for shinjeku, the entertainment district..red light district. Grabbed mcdees and walked to subway. Took a 40 min subway to there. Were to meet mamu there. Walked around. Pretty amazed. Read about the entertainment district earlier. In the train. Lot of strip/night clubs. Nudity stuff everywhere. Also some clean shopping areas. Walked around. Got hustled by porn advertisers. Went to a Japanese style bar. Describe. Very nice. Had cold sake and apple wine sour. Left to subway and missed last subway. Walked to jr train station and took train to some place 30 mins by walk to hotel. Told masa we will see him at 5 in the morning for the fish market. Walked back. Different sight past 1.30 in the night. Got back to hotel. Probably get sleep for 2 hours atmost. Doubtful though. Not seeing fuji was dissapoiting. Shit load of traveling. Missed andi a lot. Although nice traveling with ben.


July 20, 2004



Went to bed around 3 am. Set up alarm for 4.30. heard alarm and shut off and went back to sleep. Woke up at 5 when Masa walked in the door. Forgot to lock door. Dressed up quick and left to tsukiji's fish market. Mind still half asleep. Me quiet all the way there still waking up due to 2 hours of sleep. Got there and took a map of the area to use. Walked around the area with motorized carrying things for fish zipping by. The smell of fish pretty overpowering. Amazing sights, smells. Took a lot of pictures. Saw huge fish and people buying stuff everywhere. Didn't go to any sushi or food shops to try out fresh fish. Saw cutting of live fish and fish still moving after head and fins, tail cut off. Saw this market late at night around 1.30 as well and it was still bustling but with different kind of activity. Lot of fresh freight going out with fish to take all over japan. Mamu's father also deals directly here due to hotel's restaurant business relating to fish. So walked around for 1 hour till 6.30 and head back to hotel.

I got online after reaching back to check email. I went online with my instant messengers and saw a lot of people online and immediately messagin me. Talked to family in Nigeria, doll, britta. I guess I found out when they were online last day of me being here! Waited for ben to get ready and packed. And then went down for complimentary breakfast. Had a heavy one with eggs, sausage, bacon, OJ. And then took some food up for masa because he missed his train back home last night. He hadn't eaten and ended going to a bar and drinking again! I don't think he slept much.

Checked out and bill was 4000 � which wasn't not bad. Took the bus as we just made it to the bus station. Saw ben off and then me and masa went to asakusa to a temple. The guy is nice, talked all the way. Did bulk of souvernir hunting here. Spent about 10000 � or 100 $ on stuff. Saw the temple and that was cool. A buddisht temple and it had a swastika taking off the hindu heritage. So, now I had seen a castle, lord residence, temple and the only thing left was a garden. Before heading, I had to get more catch since I ran out of cash. Went to the post office and withdrew another 8000 �. hoped this would last me through til I left. Bought a couple of more things. Things are expensive but im not cheap, so I will spend on good stuff.

Head out to the imperial gardens and palace as it was close to the Tokyo station. Took subway and walked there. Took pictures in front of this cool fountain area. And then when we went to the gate to find out that the palace and gardens were closed! Due to the reason that it was open yesterday on a national holiday. Bad luck. So we went to a very swank shopping building. For the out of sight upper class. Hehe. Using Class's terminology. This outrageously expensive. But masa shops here for living stuff. He also earns well enough to afford this on a part time job. Looked around for some stationery. Just moved around for a bit and then head back to station to catch my trains back down to kumamoto. Said good bye to masa and thanked him for spending the morning with me to show me around.

Found the platform and found the train waiting. It was a 3 hour ride down. Attempted to stay awake but I fell asleep in 5 mins. Slept for an hour and woke up. Stayed up for 30 mins. And then my eyes closed again. This time all the way to shin-osaka! I was supposed to get off at Kyoto to see the Cube which was the previous station. I woke up when a conductor woke me up to tel me im at shin-osaka. I got off and found a train heading up to Kyoto again. Took that and stayed awake for the 20 min trip this time. When arrive, I found an information booth to find out about stations. Found out that a train left at 1645. so I would have 1 hour since I got there at 1545. found my way to the cube and window shopped on the bottom floor and realized that the location of the escalators I wanted. So I took them all the way to top to take a pic looking down at al the escalatos. That was special. You could look down every escalator. And then went down to look at stuff. I ended up buying about 60$ worth of stuff. I had now spent about $200 on souvernirs. I have a decent amount of stuff to give now. I also found stationery with Japanese characters on it with custom envelopes. Thought about buying bowls or tea cups but then decided I had enough stuff. When I shop, I shop! While ben spent at most $50, it seems like I spent a lot but I thnk the stuff I got were good and lot of handicrafts.

Head back to the terminal and stopped by a JR rail pass booth where I reserved seats for my trip down and also got a map with train timetables. I got to the platform and saw that I stil had a few minutes to buy some munchies since I didn't have time for lunch. I didn't want to kill my dinner appetite because I want to eat well my last night. I bought Vit D drink, OJ blend, and jap chex mix. Had to hurry because while checking out train had come. Rushed to the train and tried to find some reserved seating. I didn't realize that I had actual set seating. I sat for the brief 20 min ride in a green car which must have been the first class seating in the shinkansen. Hehe. Hurried off train because I had only 3 mins to get to the next platform. Practically ran down the stairs and then up an escalator. Just made it on the train. Initially took a window seat and got comfortable. But then the person with the seat reserved next to me got there and then so did the conductor who asked me to move to my seat. I did and moved all my stuff. And then I found out that the front rows of the reserved seating have power outlets of laptop usage. So I am using htat now to type this. The conductor said it was fine to use the laptop in the front. The only thing that was bothering me was the cigarette smoke smell during the entire ride.

I got off at Hakata and hurried to the next platform. Got onto the train in time again and this time I was in the front of the train. The seating was a bit more comfortable and basically day dreamed through the ride. I was also pretty tired. All my train rides down were on near full capacity was a bit different from all my other train experiences. I disembarked at Kami-Kumamoto. I head to the convenience store nearby to buy some shochu and sake with some other stuff. I ate the curry joint in the vicinity of the station called Take 5. I tried the beef curry with cheese this time. I also had a tall glass of some beer (which turned out to be pretty expensive, 500 �) along with the meal. I took a taxi home for 1200 �. After finding the directions to my apartments, he dropped me right in front of the building.

When I got up to my room, I started packing after taking a long and cold shower to de-grime. It took me about an hour and half to figure out where and what to put. I had to brace the alcohol bottles with lots of clothes to ensure they didn't shatter during baggage handling at the airport. So, my souvenirs are distributed among different bags now along with my load of dirty clothes because I didn't do any laundry while I was there. Actually I got there expecting a Laundromat somewhere. But anyway, I had to be sort of innovative in packing because the conventional method wouldn't work with the souvenirs and laundry. I got done at midnight and then to go to bed to be rested enough to travel again the next morning. This was my last night in Japan. I may come back.

The past three days was the bulk of the sight seeing and also spending. I probably spent about $250-300 as a rough estimate on Monday and Tuesday. When you buy souvenirs, the amount just keeps climbing. And the food ain't cheap either. All I have to do is figure out who I give what.

July 21, 2004

I woke up before the alarm went off at 7.30. I shaved and took a quick shower before I started cleaning up. I packed everything up into the bags and then took the trash down near the main entrance. I rechecked everything to see if I had left something. I got down at 8.20 to find Chiori and her mum waiting for me at the entrance. They got me more stuff! More food actually. We made a pit stop at a local temple to show me what a typical Buddhist temple looked like. I took a few pictures around this area. They bought me luck charms, one in general and one to get rich or something. I didn't particularly care what the charm did, the rich one I mean, I just liked the way it looked. But if it helps me get rich, good for me I suppose. They asked me about my trip up to Tokyo and I told them about the failed attempts to get to Mt. Fuji and Imperial Gardens in Tokyo. She told me that she wanted to take us around to Mt. Aso and some cool places in Kumamoto but her father didn't allow her. I don't know why.

They then took me to the station around 8.50 am and we found Masao waiting for us there. He must have been wondering why we were late but didn't ask. They bought me a sandwich, peach Fanta and the Vit D drink for the trip down there. They are so nice; I just wish I had met them earlier. I would have had an active and more memorable time in Kumamoto. They were helping me with my bags to get onto the train when the doors started closing. So they had to rush out. I wish I could say good bye more leisurely. But I will send them an email thanking them for their kindness and hospitality.

I started reading Deception Point by Dan Brown on the Ariake to Hakata. It got there on time as usual. I found a ticket reservation centre and reserved seats all the way to Kansai International. I wanted a reserved seat so that I could use the laptop on the Hikari on the way to Shin-Osaka. It's a 2.5 hour ride and thought I might fill in more things in the journal while listening to music instead of wasting time day dreaming. I had an hour of stopover there. So, I went down to the shopping centre of the station. These places are dangerous because I always buy something. I bought a couple of things including a hankerchief and an alternative of Unagi-Pie (I am sure it's not spelled right but that's how its pronounced). This one was made with babies of the fish or something. It tasted good and sweet, so I decided to buy it. 12 individual packs in a box were 1050 �. I got up to the platform and waited for the train to get there. I found my seat and then plugged the laptop in. I journaled while taking occasional peeks out the window. I saw Himeji Castle from a distance. It is supposed to be the most famous of all the castles in Japans.

[Listening to: The Difficult Kind (ft. Sheryl Crow) - Sarah Mclachlan - (5:16)]