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 :(

Aloe Jungle

Aloe is forming jungles in both front yard and backyard. I cut stems and transferred those cuttings to larger space. Then, considerably, the jungle of aloe in the front yard got better-looking (above). That is the story of the front yard. There is another jungle in the backyard, which is much thicker (below). Mm ...


Anyhow, I started consuming aloe. Remove spines, and strain grated aloe with skin. Ta-da, here's the aloe panacea. I have applied it to all over my body and drunk it, which tastes awful. Puke. I found the aloe panacea exerts absolute power over mosquito bites, which is great because I am loved by mosquitoes.