Wii New Year's Eve

The Wii Dance thing is so fun! And, a lot of exercise!

LF invited me for Eve dinner with her family and fed me a lot, phew. After dinner, we started chatting and her daughter got bored. She wanted to play Wii. I had played Wii only once long time ago, tennis or something. Anyway, we started doing the dancing stuff. I had thought it'd be all about swinging the controller. No way. I was wrong. I got exhausted after a song. But, the little lady played a song after another. Oh man, my right arm hurts. I will get muscle pain tomorrow. But, it was great exercise after a big meal. I didn't expect I would do that much exercise on New Year's Eve. Hilarious!

A happy New Year in three hours!

Christmas Gift

DS and her family gave me a couple of bottles of wine and a wine glass on Christmas Day. I was so grateful for their gift, especially the wine glass, because I just broke my cheap wine glasses in a row, two of them.

Today, I tried the wine glass and realized it's huge, bigger than my old wine glass. 13 ozs.? Gigantic. And, you know what? I overdrank. Man, I should've been careful.

iPad doesn't Help Newspapers?

Um, this survey shows iPad won't be a savior of newspapers. Most respondents (a.k.a. iPad users who participated in this survey) were well-educated, upper-middle-class businesspeople, so survey results don't reflect the general population. But, I assume that this group of people consists of the core of the readership of newspapers. This is not a good sign for newspapers anyway.

Major issues of iPad are the price and the infrastructure. iPad is a fancy product. Kindle and nook are much more reasonable but not as stylish as iPad. What is worse, Kindle is black and white. Forget it.

To get back to another issue of iPad, the infrastructure. Wi-fi may be available everywhere in big cities, but it is not the case of rural areas. Wi-fi is quite rare. iPad is a product for people with disposable income living in big cities. In this regard, digital divide because of socioeconomic class may be widening. Mm, this is not good for society.

Hot Pot

My stomach has been upset for a while, probably because I've been drinking a lot and eating the same amount though I'm not doing enough exercise. So, I decided to make hot pot to calm down my stomach. And, I found a great recipe of hot pot soup. Here it is:

4 cups of soup stock
2 tbsps. of sake
2 tbsps. of mirin
1/4 cup of soy sauce
salt

This is really good. Even you want to finish the soup completely.

Get Real, Buddy!

Oh, ho, ho, this is hilarious, sadly.

Tempeh Sloppy Joe

S took me to this beer place. She is a sweet person, and we have a great time to chat around over beer :)

I hadn't been there before, so I didn't know what to have. Well, I know what to have in terms of beer always, IPA, whoo-hoo. But, I didn't know what to eat. So, I just chose something sounds interesting, which is Tempeh Sloppy Joe. Sloopy Joe?! What's that?! It turned out very good with beer! I just fell in love with it. Probably, because it was cooked with tempeh. I'm not sure I liked it if it was cooked with ground beef. Mind you, I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't simply like cheap beef.

I found a recipe, thanks to the Internet :)

200g tempeh, crumbled
2 tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, dices
1 tbs. soy sauce
100g barbecue sauce
4 buns

Wisdom Teeth?!

My doctor friend kindly asked his dentist friend about my symptom, jaw pain. That dentist suspects that my wisdom teeth are coming out. I am at quite good age, but I have had none of my wisdom teeth taken out. An X-ray that I took a while ago shows all of my wisdom teeth are horizontally lying under gums, and they do not seem to come out. That's why I have bad teeth order. Anyway, I wonder now they are causing my jaw pain and ear pain. I may need to see a dentist. Ahhhh, unexpected expense!

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder?

My left jaw joint hurts, terribly hurts! Even this pain echoes to my ear, like my left eardrum is beating loud. I can't sleep at night because of this pain. I remember the same left jaw hurt a few months ago, but I let it be because I thought it was just a temporary pain and my ear didn't hurt back then. And as I expected, the jaw-ache was gone in a month. But this time, it seems more serious. I hope it's just because of the stress and pressure that I'm feeling from my dissertation. My D think is giving me a headache, oh well, jaw-ache.

American University Education

I have felt students (mostly freshmen) this term are really bad in terms of their attitudes and intellectual capacity.

Here is a premise. The class had the final at night. Now, here are things that I experienced only today.

This morning, I got an email from a student by saying that she wanted to know what grade she got on her writing assignment. My question was, "So, what happens if she knows her grade on her paper now? Is she going to study hard for the final? Or drop the class in this finals week???" Of course, I didn't tell her her grade because grades of paper assignments were not open yet. I don't know what she did because she didn't respond to my email. That's the way of students. They are rude.

Around 4, I got another email from a different student. He wanted to have answers for study guides for two days that I assume are days he missed class. Man, too late. And, those days were a month ago. If he really wanted to know the answers, he could have visited me during my office hours, much earlier, not like three hours before the exam. Give me a break. I emailed him back, but I didn't give him answers.

During the exam, I was asked several stupid questions. That happens all the time. The most brilliant one is, "Um, I just want to make sure federal is nationwide?" What?! Don't you know what "federal" means?! Are you really from a country governed by a federal government? Are you a citizen paying federal tax? Have you watched police movies and TV shows in which people are wearing jackets with the sign of FBI? Who are those FBI people? Jeez, she doesn't deserve college education.

Zumba!

Oh, I love zumba!. It's hard dancing and sweating. Latin, salsa, reggae, and what else? I usually go out of my breath from dancing zumba. But, it's really fun. I love it!

Because I love this class and this particular instructor (she is awesome!), I went to her zumba class at a different fitness club tonight :P Oh, this class was much better because it was not crowded at all. Also, the studio has a stage on which the instructor dances so that even if you are in the back, you have a clear sight. It is not the case of my fitness club. Her zumba class at my fitness club is always crowded, actually packed with people, which is stressful. Because the studio doesn't have a stage, if you stay in the back, you can barely see her movement. But, in terms of atmosphere, my fitness club is better. People (oh well, including me) are whooing throughout the class. I love it!

Rewrite!

I knew it! I knew it! I knew that I had to rewrite, ughhhhhh! I'm fed up with revising my writing, but at the same time, I'm kind of getting used to it. No! It's too bad!

Anyway, I saw my adviser this afternoon for his feedback on my two chapters. He was happy about my method chapter, which is good. And, it should be satisfying because I had already rewritten once and revised once. But, he was not happy about the introduction chapter at all, AT ALL! According to him, what I described in my introduction should be in the background chapter, which I didn't expect to have. So, I will end up having the background chapter and rewriting the introduction chapter. Ugh!

To my adviser's credit, he is a good person who is trying to help me. He is patient and approachable. I'm very much appreciating that. And, I'm pretty happy to have him as my adviser.

December ...

Geez, it's December already ...

Gift Box from Japan

Yeah, tons of decent Japanese stuff arrived! Thank YO as always. I will be able to have nice Japanese Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow by myself. DS usually invites me for Thanksgiving dinner, but she is traveling over Thanksgiving with her family this year, and no one else has invited me. Oh well, that's OK because now I have lots of Japanese stuff, which makes me happy. Yay!

Second Accident Witnessed

That intersection must be famous for car accidents. I mean by that intersection the intersection is near my favorite supermarket. I turn left at the intersection toward the parking lot of the supermarket, and I usually sit on the left-turn lane for a while, waiting for the traffic arrow going green. As usual, I was siting there in very front because the arrow was red. But, the two lines next to me were running because their lights were green. Suddenly, I heard the noise of car crash. A minivan next to me was crashed on the left side by a truck changing lanes from the far right. The truck driver mustn't have checked traffic before he changed lanes.

I also witnessed a car accident at the same interaction in the beginning of this month or later last month. I was again sitting on the left-turn lane. A car came from left to right when the lights just turned from yellow to red. And a car on the far right lane started driving forward because its traffic light turned green. Then, this car hit the side of another car from left. I assume the car on the far right couldn't see the other car approaching because there were two cars left next to the car.

Anyway, I have to drive carefully. Well, even I drive carefully, if others don't, I will be in trouble. Please drive safe, everyone!

Nice Surprise

Social media are interesting. I don't frequently update my status or check "friends"' status or even log in, but social media sometimes bring nice surprises.

Today, I got a "friend" request from GT through LinkedIn (well, I don't think LinkedIn calls this friend request, which sounds really Facebook). Anyway, after more than 15 years of no communication, I got a message from GT. It is totally out of blue, but social media make this possible. It's amazing he remembers me after all those years. And, it feels good to think that someone thinks about me :) This kind of little, tiny, trivial thing keeps me going.

Feel Better

Today was an interesting day.

Last night, I was desperate, looking for someone to talk and somewhere to go, but no one was available. Today, at the regular lunch meeting, I saw SB. I called him last night, but I was transferred to his voice mail. He explained that he couldn't pick up the phone because he was in the board meeting, and it was too late to call me back. OK, I accept whatever excuse.

Then, when I came home from the meeting, I got a call from D. I also called him last night, but again I was transferred to his voice mail. He told me he didn't realize my call because his phone was on vibration mode while in the library. When he found my voice mail, it was too late to call back. So, he called me back today. How nice of him! Furthermore, he patiently listened to my complaints. He is a sweet person, I know that.

Interestingly enough, I ran into SA who I also called yesterday on campus. I haven't seen him for long, maybe more than a year, but this happened right after the miserable night. It's an interesting quirk of fate. Anyway, I feel good to talk with him. I feel really good to talk with all of them.

Give Me A Break!

Tuesdays are exercise days. I went to YMCA to attend my favorite class and came home around 6:45. It was around 7:00 when I got out of a shower. When I opened the bathroom door, I found my roommate and her friend in the living room. Again?! Two nights in a row?! Give me a break.

My roommate was about to cook something like cookies or whatever. I went like, "Are you going to use the kitchen? This is my dinner time, you know." Then, she said, "Are you OK?" What do you mean by "Are you OK?"? With "Whatever," I went to my room and changed my clothes to leave the apartment.

At the front door, my roommate said like, "Are you going back to school?" That snapped my patience. "Where else can I go (dumb ass!←this is the voice in my mind)?" Trying to pulling myself together, I told her that I'd appreciate if she tells me beforehand when she invites her friends, and I left.

I didn't want to go back to the library, two nights in a row. I called everyone who seemed available, but no one was available when I needed! I reluctantly went back to the library. Geez, I felt miserable.

When I finally got out of the library around 11:00, I found my phone got a voice mail. That was from DS. I called her and told her what happened today and yesterday, which made me feel better.

Introduction Chapter

Another chapter is down! Well, I just submitted it to my chair, and I don't know what he will say about it. If he doesn't like it, of course, I have to rewrite, ughhhhh!

Let Me Stay at Home

After a long, stressful day, I came back home around 8:00. I found my roommate was cooking with her friend, with music on. Shit. I just wanted to have a glass of wine quietly in my room, but it seemed not doable. You know what I did? I went back to the library again. Yeah, the library is my primary home now.

It was frustrating not to be able to relax at home, but it turned out OK because I could force myself to start working on another chapter of my dissertation. I will finish my dissertation by June!

Method Chapter

OK, after revising twice, I finally submitted my method chapter (the first chapter that I wrote for my dissertation!) to my committee chair! Ugh, I'm already scared of what feedback I will get from him. The first draft was just a crap. But, the second draft became much more like "dissertation" thanks to GM's suggestions. So, the third draft, which is what I submitted to my chair, should be better. Ahhh, I hope it'd go OK with my chair.

More Pressure?!

Congrats on GM. He defended his dissertation this afternoon and officially left school! Oh my Buddah, my cohort is really fast, which gives me a lot of pressure, good pressure I should say.

Coco, My Starbucks Name

OK, since I got a Starbucks card, I regularly go to Starbucks. My nearest Starbucks is busy whenever I go. So, when they take orders, they ask customers' names so that they can call customers' names when their orders are ready. The problem is, baristas never catch my name correctly. When my order comes to an end, a barista calls, "Tall soy latte for ... um, ah, what?!"

It's funny. My name is everyday name in Japan, but here, it's not. Everyone has a hard time to catch it.

Anyway, in order to have my order correctly, I have come to a Starbucks name: Coco. This is originally created by my friend's daughter who was four years old back then, a few years ago now. She tried hard to pronounce my name with her mother's help, and finally she said, "Coco Moco." Well done! I like it.

So, I took only Coco from it because the Moco part would confuse Starbucks staff. Now, Starbucks staff calls when my order is ready, "Tall soy latte for Coco!" Alrighty.

BOA Sucks

Why BOA is always trying to suck money from ordinary people?! Since when BOA took $25 from me for nothing, I have completely lost trust in BOA.

Tonight, I got a call from a BOA sales person. He was offering me a program that protects me from identity thefts and enhance my credit record. But, the trick was, they will charge me $20 something after 30 days. The guy said, I have to call 1-800 number to cancel if I don't want it. So, I told him, "I don't want to bother myself to call whatever number to cancel it in 30 days! Cancel it now!"

I know that person was just cheap labor of BOA, maybe in India, and the real bad entity is BOA, not this person. BOA elicits and allergic reaction from me. BOA is evil!

Football Crazy People

I don't care about football at all until it affects me. But, this weekend it did, jeez.

During the weekend, the parking lot near the library become free. In other words, you can park your car without permission and for free. Who comes to campus during the weekend? Only nerds like me, right?

But, I realized today that there is other type of nerds. That is, football nerds!

Expecting there would be plenty of room in that parking lot, I drove there. And, I found there was no empty spot at all, AT ALL! Cars sitting in the parking lot carried green and yellow stuff and/or a college flag. That means, those cars are football fans'. I should have known that there would be a football game this afternoon, damn ass ... See, I don't care about football games at all.

Anyway, because I couldn't find a free parking spot, I drove back to my apartment, parked the car in my parking spot, and biked back to the library. What a waste of time and gas!

After I went back to campus and before I shut myself in the library cell, I went to Starbucks to get some coffee. Baristas were talking about how crazy their business was in this morning. Compared with that hectic morning, the time when I was there was almost like spooky, they said. Yeah, they were right. Whenever I'm there, there is a long line. But not this afternoon. I was served immediately, without making a line. Yes, it was spooky. By the way, they told me that there was a long line even out of the shop in this morning. Wow.

Renee Got Older

What happened to Renee Zellweger?! She hasn't been perfect beauty, but charming. But, in this movie, the color of her face is weird, like reddish brownish? And, her face color doesn't match the color of the rest of her body (neck, hands, etc.). Creepy, and she looks much older than she really is.

Too much about her appearance? OK, story. The story is creepy also. I don't like this kind of kid. Who likes this kind of kid, anyway? The story doesn't well explain why this girl gets that power to kill people and manipulate people to kill people. If this girl dies, this evil thing (?) also dies? I don't know. Renee Zellweger will be treated as a crazy person like other adults around this girl afterward? I don't know.

Simply put, this movie is not so convincing. Well, it's just another thriller. What do you expect?

Lowest Motivation Level Recorded

Ahhhhh, I just want to get out of my miserable life here.

OK, one of my committee members told me that I have to rewrite this (one of my dissertation chapters). I appreciate her suggestions, but I'm simply tired of doing this kind of unrewarding, unproductive stuff. I feel like I'm doing the same thing again and again and again for nothing. No one will appreciate my work. No one pays attention to my work in the first place! Even if I finish this thing, I don't see any future beyond that. Don't take me wrong. I really appreciate people who have helped me including my committee members, interviewees, friends, and family. But, right now, I feel like nothing.

I don't understand myself why I came back to school to do this for nothing. Sigh ...

Starbucks Card

OK, I'm using a Starbucks Card. When was it? Some time last month, someone gave it to me, and I started using it.

Yesterday, I got an email from Starbucks by saying that I was promoted to Green Level whatever it means. But, I realized that there are some benefits of being Green Level, again whatever it means. One benefit goes, "We'll add flavored syrup to your drink, or customize with soy milk, for free." Wow, this is good news. I don't care about syrup at all, but I do soy milk. I usually have soy latte at Starbucks. And, I know Starbucks adds 50 cents for soy milk. A 12 ounce cafe latte is $2.50, and with soy milk, it becomes $3.00. So, I usually pay $3.00.

I was wondering how a barista knows I'm Green Level and qualified for 50 cents discount. But anyway, I went to a Starbucks this afternoon to have, of course, soy latte. I ordered as usual, "Can I get a tall soy latte?," sticking out my Starbucks card. And, the barista said, "It's gonna be $2.50." I remember it was before he swiped my card. Then, how could he know I'm qualified for discount?! Or, simply, he may have forgot to add 50 cents? I didn't want to mess things up, so I just kept my mouth shut there. But, I will try again anytime soon to see if they make a discount for me from now on.

Starbucks Card Revisited

Wow, I didn't notice, but I have gotten several discounts already!

Jayson Blair

For future use, maybe, if I stay in university ... Well, who knows?

Gala 2010

I like this extravaganza though I don't participate in the spending big bucks part of it. But this year is the last year I joined them. I will miss this event.

Obama Wants Support from Young People, Definitely

The American

Geez, this is disappointing. George Clooney made a bad choice. I believed that he was always in "unique" movies," but not this time.

What pissed me off most was the description of an Italian village. It's too stereotypical. I assume Italian audiences would go, "Are Americans dreaming?!" Also, the movie describes like the United States is a better country, which made me like, "Ha?!" In the movie, for instance, Italian girls want to go to the United States (one of them wants to leave Italy with George Clooney for the United States). Damn, this is not true, man. The United States is not an ideal country, and Italy is not bad. My Italian friends love their country, anyway. Well, I will ask my Italian friends for their opinion.

Another thing, being American is ridiculed in the movie, but it's not enough. Oh, well, I understand the movie doesn't want to upset American audience. Political economy is the biggest concern in the movie industry.

Wrinkles!

I was scared by myself. I went to a fitness class this evening, well, as usual. Usually, I do exercise in the back to avoid cool air from the air conditioner. You know, Americans love cool air.

The fitness classroom is surrounded by mirrors. So, there are mirrors behind me. I don't usually care about mirrors because I can't see things and people clearly even though I wear contact lenses. But, today, we did exercise, using exercise balls. One exercise went, I had to face to the mirror! I could see myself very close, and it was awful! I was doing exercise just next to a young guy who I guess is in his late 20s. His skin looked so smooth, on the other hand, who is this old woman with tons of wrinkles next to him! Ahhh, I didn't know how many wrinkles I've got on my face. A lot! I feel awful, awful ...

The Power of Tom Cruise

Wow, I didn't know how powerful Tom Cruise is. He obviously gave a lot of pressure on Comedy Central to cancel reruns of an episode of South Park about him and Scientology. But, in this Internet age, the episode is posted online.

Duck Race 2010!

Banding Party

This was a unique, fun party, yay!

Yay, Japanese Stuff!

Yay, I was looking forward to this box full of Japanese stuff, which YO, a lovely supporter of mine, sent to me. Hee hee hee hee, my pantry is now Japanese! I'd love to cook some of those right away, but I realize that I have class this evening, exactly my dinner time, and keep office hours until 8:45, which is ridiculous. Who visits a teaching assistant that late?! Anyhow, I will enjoy the Japanese stuff little by little. Thanks, YO!

Varicose Vein Supporter

OK, I acknowledge that I have varicose veins though I don't want to. This is genetic because my mom has them on her right leg, my grandma has the same, and even my cousin has the same. You can't fight against your DNA.

Before I came back to the States, I saw a doctor over my bloody leg. He said there's nothing to worry because varicose veins don't have any negative effects on the rest of the body, but they are ugly. The doctor suggested to me to wear varicose vein stockings if I like though it's not necessarily. So, after I came back to the States, I cruised a couple of drug stores, which ended in vain because they only sell size M and larger that is of course huge to me. In the last resort, I searched online and finally found size S! Great! No wonder, the Internet has become amazingly popular and prevailed so rapidly. Anyhow, this is the supporter that I bought online. It tightly but comfortably fit my leg. I will see if it slow down the development of my varicose veins.

Further Cutbacks on Bus Services

Geez, I just realized that the bus company completely terminated a route that I regularly used. Also, they run buses shorter time. This is very inconvenient! Reasonable bus services are needed more in this economically hard time than any other times. Why did they implemented cutbacks?! Oh, yeah, this is a silly question, because they are also financially in trouble. But, economic hardships make me angry!!!

Where's the Bus Stop?!

I got panicked this afternoon, not being able to find my bus stop. I know this sounds ridiculous, but my bus stop disappeared!

Since June, I haven't taken a bus because I was out of town. Today, I needed to go to school to attend a meeting that I didn't want to. Anyway, because it was cloudy and kind of drizzling and I was lazy enough, I decided to take a bus. So, as before, I left my apartment 5 minutes before the bus would arrive at the bus stop, which I would catch a bus at a good timing. I walked down the street, and when I came close to where the bus stop used to be, I found there's no pole (bus stop sign)! I got panicked, but quickly thought that they might stop stopping there because of the budget cut. So, I rushed to the other bus stop which is a couple of blocks away. Then, again, I got panicked because the bus stop that used to be there was not there!!! Finally, I thought the bus company would completely terminate that route.
I was running out of time. I rushed back to my appartment to collect my bike and biked to school.

At school, someone who lives the same apartment complex as mine told me that the bus company changed the route and took away those stops. They were the nearest and nearer bus stops to my apartment, damn it! I can't believe this aftermath of the serious economic recession.

Wow, Ow, Ow, Where Am I Going?!

OK, I missed the flights to come home. But, it is not a big deal to miss domestic flights. So, I just calmly went to the checking counter at the Charlotte airport to ask rescheduling. The Continental Airlines kindly rescheduled my flights between Charlotte and Portland and told me that I needed to reschedule with the Alaska Airlines (from Portland to the hippie town) myself. As I was told, I called the Alaska Airlines to make sure if my original flight boarding pass is valid. See, my brain was confused that time already. I saw my new boarding passes with the Continental Airlines and thought that I would arrive in Portland around 5:30 pm. The customer service asked me what time I would arrive in Portland. Seeing my boarding pass, I said 5:30. Then, the customer service said, of course, that my original boarding pass was still valid because my flight was scheduled to leave Portland 7:30ish. 5:30, which made me confused, was actually the time of boarding for the flight from Houston to Portland. Bomber!

I was calm in the flight between Charlotte and Houston. And I was still calm in the beginning of the flight from Houston to Portland. But, suddenly, I realized, watching my watch, "Wait a minute. It's 8 already, which means 6 in the West Coast! Damn, I cannot make it!" For the rest of the flight, I was in a panic status. And, when the flight finally arrived in Portland 8:30ish local time, I called my friend who was supposed to pick me up at the airport of the hippie town around 8:15 by saying, "Don't come and get me. I missed the flights and I've just arrived in Portland!"

In the Portland airport, I rushed to the Alaska Airlines concourse to reschedule my flight. The ground staff of the Alaska Airlines was nice (much nicer than other airlines ground staff) and willingly rescheduled my flight. But the funniest thing was, they put me in a flight to Seattle first and another flight from Seattle to the hippie town to finally get me in the hippie town today. It is ridiculous because the hippie town is 40-minute south of Portland. You know, Seattle is 40-minute north of Portland. Actually before the ground staff gave me this itinerary, he told me it was ridiculous, but there's no other ways to get in the hippie town in this day. Otherwise, I would have waited until tomorrow. Jeez, I never understand airline tricks.

Anyway, with the help of the Alaska ground staff, I finally arrived in the hippie town around midnight. And DS and her boyfriend came to get me. Phew, I'm home.

Playmates

These girls provide good distractions for me. Basically, what I'm doing here in the empty town is job search and application, sitting in front of the computer, browsing websites, filling application forms, writing cover letters and stuff, which tires my brain and eyes. So, once I get fed up with doing those, I go outside and play with these girls. But today, it is really hot outside, and they don't bother to come out of the shade :P

Nothing But ...

Since I came to visit DM and CM on August 18, it has been almost ten days. But in the last ten days, nothing special has happened. This is a very rural, empty town in the South. What do you expect?


But today, we went to take some photos of a run-down tobacco shed and horses. Well, nothing but a shed and horses. What else can I expect?


Well, there's one positive aspect of this kind of empty town. You can concentrate on what you have to do, in my case job applications. Yes, I'm working on applications almost everyday!

CNN

Yay, CNN! The first thing that I wanted to do in Atlanta is to visit CNN! Atlanta is the birthplace of CNN!


Though I had heard that the Inside CNN tour is not worth taking, I did anyway because I was a fan of CNN (I still am of Anderson Cooper, not Anderson Cooper 360, mind you). Yes, when I was a college kid, watching CNN International, I longed for being a part of CNN International (not CNN). I was naive :)

OK, so, the tour ... is not worth paying $15 or something (I paid $12, exploiting my student status). You may see some anchors actually on air and the newsroom, but so what?

During the tour, I thought I could not work in this environment. I can't stand being surrounded by flickering monitors. I would go crazy, ahhhhhh! Also, I can't stand huge wage gaps between superstar journalists (if you call them journalists) and newsroom workers. News organizations are totally hypocritical.

Coca-Cola Propaganda

Atlanta is also the birthplace of Coca-Cola. Ha, globalization started from Atlanta! Coca-Cola, CNN ...


Inside the World of Coca-Cola is totally about Coca-Cola propaganda! I had a bottle of water, and at the security check, a staffer peeled off the lebel of the bottle. I asked why, and she said, "It's Pepsi. Nothing but Coca-Cola is allowed." Wow!


And, they call the World of Coca-Cola the happiness factory or something like that. Wow again! They never refer to negative aspects of the Coca-Cola production such as environmenttal issues, cultural imperialism, and health issues (of course not!). Everything inside is propaganda. It was really interesting. I almost felt like I was in Disneyland, which is another total propaganda place of Corporate America and globalization.

MLK

Atlanta is the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., which I didn't know until today (I thought he was from Alabama). So, I visited the area where he was born and grew up. It is a little away from downtown, but you can walk down there from downtown. It is kind of a worn-out (black) area so that you may feel uncomfortable walking down the street. You don't see anyone other than African-Americans on the way, but you see lots of tourists in various colors including white (if you say white is a color) around the MLK historic site, which is interesting to me. I assume those tourists drove there and would drive back to their comfortable area as soon as they finish taking photos of the historic stuff there. Interesting, and sadly, very much American.


Americans love eternal flame stuff? This eternal flame is for MLK. And, I remember I saw the eternal flame for JFK in the Arlington National Cemetery long time ago :P


Again, I was wrong. I thought MLK was from a poor family, but he was actually from a middle class family. This is the house where he was born.

Conference is Secondary?!

Well, I presented my papers before I visited the MLK historic site. I should have mentioned earlier because it should be the primary reason of my visit in Atlanta. But obviously it was not :P

Dali

Yay, I'm lucky! The special exhibit of Dali is now on at High Museum of Art. I happened to know about the exhibit yesterday at the information desk of the Atlanta airport, but I believe I am destined to be in Atlanta this period of time because of Dali!

The exhibit was good with a bunch of pieces from his museums in St. Petersburg and Figueres. Actually, there are many pieces that are familiar to me because I have been to both museums. Appreciating Dali masterpieces is really something. His vision, imagination, technique, and everything are astonishing unique, and therefore, it never gets worn out. He is a genius.


There is a weird house-shaped piece of art outside the museum. It looks like this (above) from an anterior view. A flat house. But it is actually bent inward from the side (below). Interesting ...

Tired of Flying

Flying is getting less and less comfortable each time I fly.

I am so tired in a hotel room in Atlanta. I woke up 3:40 in the morning to catch the 5:20 flight. I changed planes twice to get to Atlanta. Thanks to a flexible Delta ground staffer, I could catch a two-hour earlier flight. In Phoenix, we were kept in the grounded plane for about an hour because our plane was empty of fuel. Who forgets pumping fuel?! Come on! Anyway, I ended up arriving only one hour earlier than originally scheduled. Sigh, flying is really tiring and stressful.

Compared with air travel, ground travel is much easier and more punctual. And I found the railway systems in Atlanta are quite convenient. The airport and downtown are linked with railway systems, and they are close, only 20 minutes. I understand why Atlanta is a hub airport. Unlike KIX and Narita, Atlanta Airport is conveniently located.

Chaotic United

Airports are stressful places, in today's case, Kansai and San Francisco, both of them. I had been sad, thinking of leaving my country and not coming back until next summer, but my sadness turned anger while I was making a long line to check in. I understand August is one of the busiest seasons, also I understand many passengers are excited about their trips abroad, but people, move! Take your turn! Respect others! Sigh, I was already tired in the line.

So, I had a mug of beer to refresh myself. Do I sound like alcoholic?!

After 10 hours of flight, I found San Francisco Airport was chaos. In fact, I was sent to the security check for international flights instead of that for domestics flights. The domestic security check area was obviously working well because of tons of inexperienced passengers.

I was scheduled to spend 11 hours of downtime in San Francisco, which was another factor that worn me out. Anyway, I asked a gate podium to change my flight to an earlier one. I didn't have anything to lose, then why not ask? Then, the answer was that the United would charge me $50 to put me in the standby list. What?! I haven't heard about or experienced that kind of thing. Usually, if there're any empty seats, they flexibly switch flights. Because I thought it's ridiculous, I gave up. But I changed my mind after a pint of beer. I went back to the same podium and found a different ground staffer there. I thought, "Good!" I was right. This person put me in the standby list without any conditions. I don't understand why the previous staffer asked me $50. Does United not have a standardized customer handling manual or something?

Thanks to the flexible ground staffer, I could catch the second earliest flight (I couldn't make it the earliest one) and arrived my hippie town five hours earlier than scheduled, yay!

DS and R (I realize that I don't know his last name) kindly came and picked me up. I am staying at DS's house for a couple nights. We celebrated my earlier arrival with wine. Yeah!

Itakiso Shrine

If you pass through the tunnel of this trunk, god(s) will protect you from bad luck and danger. This belief tracks back until the time of the Kojiki (an ancient chronicle in the eighth century). OK, then, why not try? I did. I will be protected from the danger of being unemployed next year!

Tama Station

Recently, maybe a week or two ago, the new Tama Station opened. The new station looks like something from Miyazaki movies, which is very nice and impressive.


The neko (cat) train is painted like a cat (Tama, I guess). There are other types of train, with patterns of strawberries or toys.


Inside the station, there were a bunch of tourists who I guess took either the cat, strawberry, or toy train to get there or drove there like us. I think using Tama as a tourist attraction is a great idea to stimulate (even a little) the local economy. Otherwise, this rural town has nothing to attract tourists.

KIX

I have to leave for the States next Wednesday :(