Japan!

It's my third day here in Japan and everything's going great! I still haven't able to shake off the jet lag yet but it's starting to wear away. The only downside to traveling are the long plane rides and the jet lag that accompanies it.

We left on a Monday evening and got to Okinawa Wednesday morning. Missing a whole day really screws up your body. I was so out of it the day we got here. It's difficult because you want to do everything but your body wants rest.

We did manage to go to Amber and John's favorite park which I think it's called the Sports Park. I'm sure there's a more official title to that. There's a map on the desk and I think it's called the Koza Sport Stadium. There are basketball courts, an indoor soccer field, and a cycling track just to name a few. There was this really cool spider web looking thing made out of ropes that you can climb on. I don't think I took a picture but maybe we can go back so I can.

That park is huge! Oh, there was also a large pond with koi fish in it. I took some video of the huge fish. It was good to see people walking around being active. There were surprisingly a lot of elderly people there. I've read that Okinawa has one of the largest percentage of oldest living people in the world or something. Diet and exercise are some of the contributing factors.

After the park, we stopped by the base. Nothing too exciting there except that we did see a (I think) local woman trying to get gasoline. The attendant had to help her because she didn't know how to pump gas. She probably never gets gasoline on base because off base there are gas attendants that provide full service. Fill up your tank, check your fluids, wash your windows, etc. But it was still weird seeing an adult no knowing how to fill up.

We had dinner at a place called Coco Curry. Which I hear the Americans go crazy for. It's a local chain here that serves rice with curry where you can add different toppings. The toppings ranged from tofu and okra (which I got) to sliced pork and cheese (which Will got). It was decent and different. I might have gone too spicy and didn't fully enjoy the food. I don't think it helped that there was this American woman who had out of control children. The woman had to go spank one of her kids because the little girl spit on someone. It happened in the bathroom where we were sitting next to. Sometimes, kids do need a good spanking because that girl was good to go after that.

The next day we stopped by Amber's work where they had a potluck. It was good meeting all of her co-workers and see where she works. It's nice for us that Amber gets off early because it feels like she works a half day.

We all drove to the Katsuren Castle Ruins. That place was pretty cool with awesome views of the island. It was crazy to see that you could walk right up to the edge of the castle and there are no railings. I'm sure you could die if you fell off the edge, it was pretty steep.

We next hit up American Village which I am assuming caters to all the soldiers living nearby. It was an interesting place. The whole area felt like a boardwalk type place with shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and even a Starbucks. There was a shop called American Depot that felt like a more funky Urban Outfitters. There were a lot of cute clothes that were a bit on the pricey side. There was a another store that sold a bunch of t-shirts that had Engrish sayings on them that didn't make sense. American Village was right by the beach so we walked down there along the boardwalk. There was a bunch of graffiti on the walls that were pretty cool. There were also some swastikas on some of the graffiti, too. That was a little weird.

For dinner, we ate some taco rice. I guess it's big here. It's basically rice with taco meat and American cheese on top and comes with Pace-type salsa. Um, it pretty much tastes like how I described it. I can't wait to try some sushi, soba, and other more Japanese foods.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the last few days. I will post some pictures when I get around to it.

New direction

I think I want to take this lame blog in a new direction. I think it might motivate me to post in it more. I was thinking of doing a daily picture post thing but do you think that would get boring? Plus I think that might get a little repetitive and too much work for me. We'll see.

Besides boring school news, I'll be going to Japan at the end of May! I'm so excited about not only because I get to see one of my best friends but I hear Japanese people go to Okinawa as a vacation destination. Beaches and nice weather! That reminds me, I really need to kick it into gear with the exercising and eating well.

I read that shorter women have a harder time losing fat than taller women. Here's the article: http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2010/03/speed_up_slow_female_fat_loss.php

I know I'm not a fatty BUT I have never had a really defined stomach. I not only want to look good with less clothes but be stronger as well. That was probably way too much information to put out there but oh well...

Spring break, no parents!

Today marks the tail-end of my spring break and I'm not ready to go back to school. I'm starting an 8 week class on Monday which is Econometrics. I don't know what I was thinking signing up for an accelerated class that is a combination of math, statistics, and economics. It must be self-hatred. BUT on the bright side, less than 2 months away from graduation!

Had a super fun trip to Austin, TX this past weekend. It was a pretty random trip, but I'm glad I went. Visited an old friend whom I haven't seen for about 5 years. It was great; it feels as though we never stopped hanging out. We ate at some good places and just hung out. She just opened her own hair salon and I'm really proud of her! I hope to make many more trips to Austin because that place is so cool, especially for being in Texas.

After coming back from the trip, I got some promising news on the job front but I don't want to go into details because it's not a done deal yet.

Inspiration

Last night I went to go watch Henry Rollins do spoken word. It was an entertaining 3 hours. Yeah, the guy talked for three hours last night. I can barely do a 5 minute presentation let alone 3 hours talking the whole time. But Henry Rollins is not any regular person. He's an angry 49 year old man who travels a lot. Which makes for a lot of material to talk about. This was the first time seeing him and I now regret not going when he has come to town before!

Back in high school, I was into Henry Rollins. I didn't listen to his music, watch his videos, or even read his books. No, I was obsessed with his quotes. I remember seeing him somewhere and was intrigued by him. Who was this muscular guy with those horrible tattoos and thousand yard stare? I had to know. Well besides being in a pioneering hardcore punk band, he was an actor, writer, speaker, and general trouble maker.

One quote that has always stood out in my mind was:

"The best revenge is to always survive yourself."

Oh ok, well I just looked it up and it's lyrics from a song called "Alien Blueprint". The song kind of sucks... But that's beside the point. Anyway, I always thought of that quote throughout high school which were one of the many ways I survived high school.

So Henry Rollins will always be one of my personal saviors from high school.

Olympic fever

I told myself that I wouldn't get invested in the Olympics this year. After all, the winter Olympics is kind of like the red-headed (sorry, Amber) step-child of the Olympics, isn't it? I know there are only two kinds but it seems like the summer games are a lot more popular. Or maybe that depends where you live. Canada and any Nordic country? Winter Olympics is probably more popular in those areas. Plus I think there are more athletes wearing less clothes in the summer Olympics which provides some eye candy just in case you find the sport they're playing boring.

Anyway, so here I am putting off studying for an exam I have tomorrow blogging and watching the Olympics. I'm not picky to the sport either. I will watch anything! Well, except curling because that's boring. Thank God for DVR because I don't think I could handle all those stupid commercial interruptions.

Speaking of, I think NBC's coverage is horrendous. Nothing shown is ever live and even when it is "live", it's on tape delay. It'd be nice to be able to experience an event as it's happening once in a while...

Oh, I also think I'm dating Russian ice skater, Yvgeny Plushenko. I didn't think I would be, but I'm really into the men's figure skating. I love Johnny Weir! While I was watching the men skate last night, they showed training footage of a Canadian skater named Patrick Chan. Dude does some hardcore stuff, especially with core and Pilates exercises. I have to give a lot of credit to figure skaters because it seems like their training is just as hard as any other athlete maybe even more so.

I can't wait for warmer weather...

I'm so sick of the cold and (little) snow that we have been getting. I'm ready for it to be spring and be outside more!

I'm not one for resolutions but I did resolute to work out more which I have been doing! I started going about 2 weeks before school start and I try to go about 2-3 times a week. I figure I can't waste my money and needed to start utilizing my gym more. I think that was another resolution of mine this year.

Be more economical. I think majoring in economics has got me weighing the benefits and costs of every decision I make. I know I make it a lot more laborious than it sounds but I think it just makes sense to me to ask myself "do I really need this?" I'm currently taking this development economics class and it depresses the hell out of me sometimes. It makes me take a step back and be fortunate for all the things that I have access to. Simple things like indoor plumbing and a warm place to sleep.

I am going off topic everywhere but just wanted to check in with the blogging world (Amber).