Happy?

I got to chat to Ritti last night. That was fun. I told her some news, we chatted about what was up, who she'd spoken to, how people were, it was all good, and she asked me if I was happy.

"How loosely woven is the fabric of our happiness. A tug or two and it unravels to reveal how empty our everyday lives really are. ... Simple beast! He has peered beneath the masks of happiness we all wear, and seen what lurks below, infected by our sorrow, his once care free [canine] world has been shattered, forever."

That quote, prosaicly beautiful, wouldn't look vastly amiss in classical literature. Poe or something. Alas, as documented in the remainder of the play, the speaker is flawed, as he learns merely minutes later that what he has just said is as fragile as the happiness he seemingly destroyed. He goes on to say:

"Even the happiest of us can find reasons to be unhappy if only we look for them. So don't look for them. Take a tip from our dog friends, and treat yourself to your favourite toy; whatever that might be. ... This is Dr Frasier Crane, reminding everyone that life is too short to dwell on every bump in the road."

I say that because that particular episode of Frasier was poignant, and I enjoyed it a lot. It involved the characters trying to find every depressing thing about their lives, and it didn't achieve anything, and convinced that they had no reasons to be happy, they found their fortunes changed at the mercy of biscuits.

So I replied to Ritti that life was really swell. Not just at the acquiring of new material possessions, but because I'd spent a lot of time with Emma and Housei, and we'd done a lot of fun things, like race Mario Kart together, and complete Mario Bros 3, and sit there making translation puzzles for each other. I realised that being around them made me laugh so much. Emma gets me like no-one outside my family. Housei is just a really fun guy, and they obviously care for each other.

I picked Becky up from Reading today. She was too tired to get her rats, but I hope she plans on getting them tomorrow. They aren't hyper-pleasant smelling. Mandi came over and saw them. And I saw her rats too, they seem very cute. And slightly smaller than Becky's.

I leave you with that minimal news. And this picture I made. It's geeky, but keep up with the news.

I Remember the SNES

I saw Qian, and I gave her the presents for her and Weiwei, and she really liked hers. So I'm glad, I made the right choice. She gave me a tshirt too, a really nice one. Emma says it's too good for me, but I will wear it immediately after showering.

Well, I picked up Becky's rats after that. I'm looking after them for the weekend with Emma, and we found one has proceeded to bite anything that comes near, the other is friendly and nice and defecates all over our sofa. But we prefer him to the horrible one.

I was planning on going to Geek in the Park, a geeky get together with Web Accessibility lectures and lots of techies showing off. Becky said I was a nerd, but she can hardly talk, she's going to a reading festival!

I'm looking after her rats because she's going to Reading (the music festival, for those unfamiliar), and my parents are away. I drove her at 6AM, her and her two friends, to Reading. My car doesn't cost much to run, I am proud of it. It was very tiring, and since I didn't sleep, I technically got to bed at 10AM.

For the rest of the day, Emma and Housei and I watched YouTube movies and then I turned on the XBox, booted up the SNES Emulator on it, turned on Mario Kart, and House heard the intro music and almost flipped, stating (in Japanese) that he was really good at it. Turned out, he is. He drives Bowser, and I drive Koopa, but he is fast. We then played Super Mario Bros 3 for about 6 hours, getting to world 6 I think, and it was really fun. We'll play more SNES soon enough I'm guessing. More Star Trek downloaded.

Anyway, I'm going to watch Frasier now. Goodnight.

Oh And Speaking of Normal

I'm seeing Qian today. I have missed her and Weiwei. I'll be giving them their gifts as well. I don't have much to say, other than I have been watching one eBay item incessantly, almost obsessed, never closing the window, even though it ends in eight hours. I'm quite interested.

Post 180 by the way.

Hey Hey Hey

Mizuki's back!

The house is returning to its term time state of affairs. In two weeks Kiana comes back, and the house will be alive and bustling like it is during the term time.

What else is back? Prison Break. I surprised Emma with an episode from the new season, and she was happy enough. It is good to start getting back into the Serial television phase. We had it with Lost and we miss Lost. And now we have a minor place filler for the mean time. Which is a pretty good show. And omigod they're pulling some nasty stunts for a beginning of season.

Anyway, I might have to go up to Norwich on Thursday or Friday. It's a 3 hour drive, but it'll be worth it once I get there.

I have now watched Frasier from Season 1 to 3, and have begun to watch Season 5. The quality television I have been watching has risen. I have also been filling my 42" screen with more Original Star Trek then I have ever seen before. I'm noticing more precursors to TNG than I anticipated, and it's a better series than I remember. And I'm getting more Futurama jokes.

I drove Mandi to my old school today.

I'm not going to tell you why.

Anyway, it's far too late, and I'm needing to play some CS on German servers. Speaking of all things geeky, I got rated +5 interesting on a Slashdot comment I made. Here is the link to the article, but you'll have to find my comment yourself. But it's really cool, isn't it? Only if you know what it is and you don't think I've made a typo if I go /..

Anyway, this is now appearing on my Facebook, and this is the first entry where it should auto-update. Hugs to you all.

Sad Movies

You know that sad movie that really tugs your heart in the right way? I see them every so often, where the main character dies, or loses his/her girlfriend/boyfriend, and it's really sad, but makes the movie great. And I think it's good to have that kind of emotion every so often, taking over from the usual Hollywood endings, but aside from relief, I wonder how sad it would have to be to become unwatchable/unreadable. I know of certain films and books that really hit hard, and become difficult to watch or read, but afterwards, you do feel satisfied with the story.

I read something today that didn't have that quality. It was too sad to read, and having read part of it, I feel much worse than before I read it. I regret reading it. That isn't on the merit of writing, that is on that the content is too sad for me to deal with, and had I read all of it I would be in a worse position.

I haven't had that before.

I Made You Sweat, Didn't I?

Don't worry, this blog isn't going anywhere.

It's just, there's nothing much to write. I have been looking for cheaper car insurance, I have been seeing my sister, and I have been hanging with Emma tons.

Oooh, ooh, Facebook! I signed up for Facebook. Roehampton can now, it's great. I found many people online, though the low quality and sometimes inaccurate pictures make it so I cannot tell for certain if it's the person I'm looking for. But it reunited me with some people I didn't want to lose contact with in California, and Dan started a Roehampton group. I saw some photos of me I wasn't expecting, and I am enjoying it. When I do the redesign, I'll incorporate some kind of badge. Maybe.

Don't worry, minions, a redesign is coming, as soon as I'm not too lazy.

I installed and started playing Prey, which is better than I was expecting. Mandi, you can come over and play as soon as I make my room suitable for humans. Which could be very soon, but I'm very bad at that. But right now, the mess is insane.

Now just because I'm not leaving threats doesn't mean you should stop commenting. I'm loving the extra comments I'm getting, and I think 10 is the highest in a while. And don't expect those daily updates either. Sleep tight internet land.

Here is a picture I didn't draw and am linking without permission.

What is Normal?

Well, I haven't updated in days. I think I'll stop updating until December, when I'll only make three posts, then I'll go and stop again, and then start again in June of next year. How does that sound?

Terrible, I know.

But here's an ultimatum, people: Unless I get four comments on this post, I won't update again. And these comments must be from different people. And only one of them can be anonymous. So you'd better comment, or QB go Bye (remember, you can comment anonymously).

After that you don't have to comment as much, or at all. I just need to know people have kept reading after America. CounterStrike... wow, I have missed that. I'm still not any good, and I barely ever get positive kill ratios, but I love it so. I think I'm getting better after 3 days of almost solid playing.

I saw Dan and Natasha today. I haven't seen them in so long, and it was good to re-acquaint myself with their annoyances and intricacies, and I displayed my annoyances at full blast with the windows down. We had a fantastic day, and Dan brought his car. We drag raced for the first time, and while his 1.2 litre engine does outshine mine a bit, and he did get out from the lights faster, I did beat him home. We argued about who won all night, but I think we enjoyed it. It was a hell of a rush, but I don't think we'll do it often at all. I'm still better at CS no matter what he says.

I also saw Stacey and Mandy today, I hadn't seen them in ages and it was good to have a chat.

Don't you love planning things? I hardly ever plan stuff, people always ask me to do plans, especially in academia, but I hate doing them unless I care about the event enough. I seem to plan endlessly when I care about it.

It was very good to see my friends again, friends are the most important thing when you realise that money is fleeting and time is short. So I love my friends and hopefully they love me. I keep trying to see people online and I keep missing them, so I am sorry, and I will try to be online more.

Anyway, comment away. I'll comment on your blogs too if I see the opportunity. Erin mentioned how much happiness can be attained in achieving something you expected yourself to be incapable of, and how you can make yourself so happy by surprising yourself. While not to the same extent as her, I have surprised myself in what I have done recently, and I am very happy with some of my hobbies.

Post 175

What an odd number to notice! Well, it's one above my sister's lucky number.

Just a brief post to say hello, not that Google has taken over all search capabilities of MySpace, and that I didn't watch that Mac thing.

Our microwave started shooting sparks this morning. Unless I like my food with extra radiation and burning, we decided to replace it. Since my landlord is no longer doing anything for us, we went to out leasing company, and they promised us money for a new one. So now we have a nice, shiny, powerful (800W) microwave sitting in our kitchen, waiting for some serious use. I have yet to find a use for its powerful grilling capabilities, but I will.

So short, and so little to say. I'm in England. Life here is boring. I will be seeing Becky tomorrow though. Yay!

Welcome Back to England

I'm back.

I feel different from when I returned from Japan. I missed people a lot more this time, but I had a wonderful time. When I last made an entry (which was at the end of yesterday for me), I had just seen a musical, and was very hungry. I'm back in my house, my room, and listening to the soundtrack to the musical.

It's good to have things back to normal. The keyboard feels so deep compared to a laptop keyboard. The keys actually move. It's leading to a lot of typographical errors, but I'm working on getting more used to it.

After I woke up on Thursday morning, I cleaned up, I packed up most things, and I went on a last shopping trip in local Brooklyn. I just bought snacks and some drinks for Henny. Reaching home with not long before I had to leave and a slice of pizza, I finished everything and waddled with my heavy bag all the way to the subway, and from there caught a series of interconnecting trains all the way to JFK.

I spent my last money on tickets and an Oreo McFlurry, before boarding my final route home. And it was one of the worst flights I have ever taken. I just felt so ill the whole way, I had a nasty headache that wouldn't let me sleep, and while it had built up all day, I was able to resist it until I was on the plane. After a while I was brought some aspirin, and it helped. But not being able to sleep on the plain caused some problems, and I was quite tired for my return to England, much like I was after Japan when I slept on Dan's sofa the next day.

It was very good to see my family again, and I showed them the presents I bought and the sweets I'd purchased, and we had a good laugh over an English breakfast. Then I drove home (what a relief to drive again, drive properly), and saw Emma, which was also an amazing feeling. We hadn't seen each other properly in so long. Her hair had grown and she was full of bouncy energy, and it was great. After much photo sharing, I needed to nap.

And since then, I have been reading about Nigerian scams and CIA handbooks. It's great. My computer is so much more powerful than the laptop. I appreciate the laptop's higher resolution though, and in tribute I set mine back to 1600x1200, at least for a bit. Everything's small, but it's the best resolution for a 19" monitor.

I need to play some videogames before I sleep, I'm still adjusting though.

I'm back, I'm home, everything is going well, and I have missed this country. Not enough for me to want to stay here forever, but enough to plan to enjoy the next year to the full extent. I probably won't blog as often as I have done while I was in America, but less happens here. Hugs to you all, I'm home.

Lucky Last Day

If I hark back to August of last year, when I was about to leave Osaka, I remember being about to leave, about to go back to the hotel and sleep, when Emma and I chanced upon some friendly people and we had an amazing evening. Some people I met I still have contact with. This was August 11th (and 12th) 2005. Today being August 3rd (and 4th), I somehow recreated that luck and had another comparable, magical evening, that has been a perfect end.

I entered the lottery for Rent, as I always did, and then I walked to 34th Street, so I could see the Empire State Building. When I got there, I walked back quickly, in case they called my name. After a few names, I got used to not hearing my name, and felt like I should go home early. Then I heard him say my name, and I was ecstatic., I started shaking with happiness and anticipation. It was amazing. Someone asked if anyone had an spare tickets (like I had wanted to do the previous days), and I said I did. I'm not sure if those were the rules or not, but it was ok. When you enter the cheap ticket lottery, you put down whether you want one or two tickets. I always put down one, but it seemed that almost all winners put down that they wanted two. So I did this time. It worked.

This girl gave me money and I bought her a ticket as well, and then I went for my usual coffee, finding I only had $12 to spend, I had water. I made that quick entry, and then made my way to the McDonalds to attempt to draw money, which worked, and then bought a pretzel from a street vendor. Then I went and queued and made my way into the Nederlander theatre.

I sat next to the girl I bought the ticket for, in the very front row, at the very furthest left of the central seat block. It was an excellent seat. I love the front row. She told me of her previous theatre trips, how she'd just been in London and seen lots of shows there, how this was the third time she'd seen Rent here, and was a very colourful and interesting person. Then the show started, and I was blown away by a very powerful performance.



Most of you will be at least partially familiar with the idea behind Rent. Urban Bohemia in New York, struggles with AIDS and addiction, and trying to make that one beautiful thing in your life before your time is up. The writer, Jonathan Larson, worked on the project for ten years, and died as it opened. The tragic story is deepened by the show's brilliance, and I found the whole show to be a discovery of sadness, and while a lot of the issues don't translate directly into my life, there isn't much that isn't relevant to being alive.

After the show, my new friend and her friends took me to go and meet the cast, where I had my programme signed by all the main cast members, the people who played Benny, Mark, Maureen, Roger and Joanne. The guy who played Roger, Tim Howar, enquired about my accent and chatted with me for a while about London, as he'd been living there recently. He was a nice guy. I also made a brief video which will start my video blogging, which could take off, or could be awful. With 5 signatures on my now wonderfully sentimental programme, we all made our way towards the Subway, where I headed Downtown and they headed Uptown, both headed for Brooklyn.



I walked around the streets near Henny's place, very happy. The evening had come together, and I realised then that it wasn't just the evening. The holiday had come together, everything had worked out ok. It hadn't been too expensive, it hadn't been too troublesome, and while it had its stresses, everything was worthwhile.

Lightning flashes signaled a tropical storm, which brought a holiday from the heat, which signaled the end of my time in America. It was a ramshackle holiday that barely held together, and brought about a lot of self reflection and joy, as well as some beautiful revelations. Who am I right now? I can't ever know properly, but I know where I am in my life. And right now, I am happy. I have lived America, and there were times I wanted to leave early, there were times I didn't want to go. Now is neither, I know that I have done what I needed to do, I have reached the perfect level. I know where I am, I know what to do, and I have a better idea of what truly makes me happy.

I came here to do that. I'm done.

A Happy Ending

It's my last day in New York. It's my last day in America. In less than 24 hours, I will be in the air, and on the way back to England. Considering I'm almost out of money, that's probably a good thing.

I've hit a few revelations on this holiday, such as my consideration of religious guidance has been worthwhile, though unpractised, and that through that, I will become a person of love.

I listened to a lot of music too. A lot of music that wasn't mine, and some of it made a big impression. Santana and Michelle Branch is my road trip song, and that cool Cure song which has that awesome synth intro and chorus (The Walk?), that played in Starbucks, as did Jack Johnson. The DDR Butterfly song as well was important, but the most memorable songs will be On The Radio, and listening to Kiana and Charlie sing Light My Candle or something, with and without backing.

Kiana plays a lot of Rent songs, and I really enjoyed them, which adds sugar to the fact that today I won a discount ticket to go and see Rent.

They hold a lottery every performance for 34 tickets to go for only $20. I entered everyday (twice on Wednesday) only to lose, while several winners won twice. I found it unfair, until they called my name today, the final day that I could enter, the last day here. And I have the ticket. And I'm seeing it in an hour and a half. I cannot express how happy this has made me, it's what I've been hoping for since Monday, and it has made my day (which hasn't been as hot, thankfully).

So, I have had faith in karma re-established, and I'll enjoy my final bite from the Big Apple. I have $12 left, and Becky still wants sweets. I think I'll have to get my credit card working. I owe part of this lack of money to the comedy having a two drink minimum, and no cheap drinks, as well as Chambers Street station eating $6 of my money in a failed ticket update. But I have enough to get back to England, and I leave with no bitterness. Plus, Starbucks water is free.

I'll post this, and relax for a while. I have a show to see tonight.

I Laughed

I spoke about how New York didn't feel like Africa at all.

I went to two and a half hours of some pretty good comedy, including a writer from The Daily Show and a film comic, and I really enjoyed it. I got some great lines to steal, and I had a long laugh. It all cost about $20, and was worth it. I stepped out of the air conditioned building; it felt like Africa.

The heat got worse. It's still bad. I have a terrible headache, which I think is helped by the large amount of sugar in my system, and I feel too tired to do anything tomorrow but sleep. I woke at 7:30 today to try and get to Comedy Central before 9. After 45 minutes of trying to find it, I actually forgot what I was doing and almost passed out. I also didn't manage to get my good steak. Instead I went to a steak take-away, or as I call it, if you'll forgive the obvious pun... a take-away steak. It was terrible and I will be very ill, but I didn't mind too much. In the best case scenario it'll put me off meat enough to make me vegetarian when I get back.

I am disgusted with the use of my Flickr Account. Checking out the number of views, I see that people who are looking at it are all looking at the hot photos of me. The one of me staring at Monterey Beach has nearly 30 views, while the dull pictures of New York are relatively ignored. What? What is up with that? Oh well.

Reading comments on Yukina's Blog, I almost threw up when I read what Erin said, because I was in semi-uncontrollable hysterics:

Yukina: Good news. The dirt on my feet is coming off a bit, well still dirty though.
Hehehehehehehehe
So what did you guys do without me??

Erin: orgy

While that won't make much sense, it was probably the best thing said ever on the internet. Out of sheer respect, I mirrored the page, and framed a print out of it. I wanted to reply, but anything added to that page would only make it worse.

Carlos updated! After over 2 months of no updates, he finally said something. It was a relief. And I felt lucky to get the first (albeit anonymous) comment in. That's what I get for checking everyday. I rule, oh yes. Anyway, ego aside, I need to rest, and cool down more, and then progressively sleep. I don't know how you sleep progressively, but if it's possible, it will be achieved tonight. Adios.

Further NY Theory

Perhaps a couple of you giggled at the mention of how New York smells; maybe in reverence to Bill Hicks, maybe just on solo reputation. I don't blame you, it's not a fantastic smell in this city. Nor does every street glow with cleanliness. This is a very populated city. It stinks and its dirty. But I knew that before I came. That's in integral part of New York. It would be a different city were it pleasant to be around. London is hardly clean (cleaner, yes), and only Japanese cities have impressed me with odour and dirt levels. But when I holiday, I try to experience what it's like to live there. I'm living in New York. I don't have a hotel or a tour guide. I am just trying to experience it.

This brings me back to the character and personality of the city. This is like the most densely populated part of London, multiplied over a massive area, spanning islands. It is just full of people, all going about fast paced and stressful lives. And I am more stressed here than in California, especially in the record breaking heat, but that is the lifestyle, and I love it. It's like the city is throwing obstacles at me at every corner, and when I dodge, I get great rewards. A wonderful view, a gust of cold air, a massive commercial store selling stuff you've seen in every television show about New York... spectacles. It's somewhere I could live, I'm enjoying it like I expected, and I could live here (if I could afford it) for a while. Not forever, but I am a city person, and this is THE city.

But I am always reminded by memories that it isn't really important where you are, it's who you're with. My old friend Christopher Kiew-Smith said that just before I went to Japan last year. I only learn its truth more and more each time I go anywhere.

I was too hot today. It's just too hot. I have to go inside somewhere every few minutes to survive. Cold drinks are crucial, and staying out of the shards of sun makes life easier. Starbucks has been my friend. It's like walking into a fridge.

I just encountered a group of very friendly elderly women, who chatted with me for a long time about all sorts of topics. I spoke about my life and my plans, and they seemed to be impressed, and they shared their tips for the city. The one I spoke to mainly grew up in Brooklyn, and recommended good things to do, such as a comedy club and a good steak house nearby. It was very fun to share stories of my experience, and it was good to speak with genuine New Yorkers, despite being occasionally interrupted by a noisy Frappucino machine.

The subject of comedy came up because I just purchased a ticket to Improv, the club where Seinfeld shot the comedy scenes and Eddie Murphy started out. I should have considered comedy beforehand, but I'm going to the matinee soon enough.

I'm considering a temporary blog redesign just for the next few days. It just involves an image change rather than a redesign, but it'll be relevant and temporary.

I've spent my time in Starbucks now, and I've used my last free drink coupon. I still have a free McDonalds one, but that isn't as tasty or refreshing.

Thoughts on NY

I'm considering this blog very focussed on travel. It's when I do my most frequent posts, and when I feel like saying the most. I have a lot to say on New York, and this is my outlet.

Tall buildings creep up on you. You walk along, and you don't notice towers until they are next to you, and craning to see the top takes you by surprise. This is despite there being so many. I noticed this when Henny pointed out the Rockerfeller Center, and out of almost nowhere, it loomed overhead.

Today was hot. Particularly hot. This city suffers the same difficulty as Japan. With the air conditioning making the indoors survivable, you don't expect to scorch outside, and it shocks when you do. It was quite breezy later in the afternoon luckily, enough to temporarily cool you until you approached an open office building door. The select cuts of sun that managed to get through the buildings were also refreshing, but you could feel the extra heat, and you quickly wanted to escape the beams. Frequent cold drinks made it more bearable, but the heat added to the personality of the city. New York is very distinct from any other city, the lattice of roads and the eclectic building styles make it instantly recognisable, and wherever I look, I know I could be nowhere else. And I don't do much, I wander the streets, thinking about how everything appears, how everything smells, how it sounds, all the aspects that create this distinctive, modern atmosphere.

Anyway, I took a few shots of the buildings and I got a few pictures of me taken by Henny. I'll post them when I can. I'm going to look for Chinatown and Little Italy, and either eat there, or look for a decent steak.

---

I walked, today, from Times Square all the way down to Greewich, where by accident, I found Lips. From there I walked further, made the quick post about my feelings of the city, then walked further. I found the Moondance Diner, and walked further, until I finally made it to Chambers Street Station. My feet are extremely tired right now, and I'm looking forward to relaxing this evening, but I have an early start tomorrow. I'm going to try and get tickets to a taped TV show if I can. I didn't manage to get my meal, and I think I found Chinatown, but I'm not sure. I might go out and find a cheap meal before I sleep.

Flickr

I don't have much to say, but I want people to see my Flickr account.

My Flickr Account

I hope you all enjoy it, and look at all my photos from America. Don't abuse the privilige or I'll delete it.

If You Can't Take the Heat

My laptop is too hot. It's not overheating, it's just very warm. I gather a laptops get that way, I guess I just haven't noticed this one ever being too hot to touch. I guess it's part of the heat in this part of the world, and that I have been using it a while.

The Starbucks I was in had issues with its wireless, and I couldn't post. Instead I went to another one a few hours later to post.

After writing that post, I walked down to Times Square, and made it in time to check out different musicals. Nothing was showing on Broadway on Monday, so I didn't bother checking much out, and proceeded to get another discounted (free) McDonalds. It's not healthy, but it's very cheap. And I'm not eating the burgers. I wish they had a deal like this for Taco Bell, I'm saving a fortune.

Heated wandering and a few hours later, I returned home, annoyed that The Daily Show was full, and looking for rest for my feet. New York is big. I didn't quite walk the length of Mido-suji, but I did a big walk, and I covered very little of the place. I tried finding the Nintendo store, but I was disappointed in finding nothing at the said address. Apparently it's further West, but hey. I'll look again tomorrow. Henny is photographing a premiere at the MOMA, and it'd be cool to hang around for that. He said he'd take some photographs of me while he was there, so I can get some nice shots of me in New York. Professional photographs. Excellent. I'll wash my hair. God... I should take my nice jacket, but it'll be scorching. I will be wearing the good jeans.

Since in England the month rolled over to August about five hours ago, my Flickr account allowed fresh photographs to be uploaded. I was very happy about that, and I filled my front page with new images. Good thing is, the upload counter isn't showing any uploads, so I might upload some of my less impressive pictures and I won't be charged in bandwidth! Or it could be an error and I could waste all of this months bandwidth on rubbish before my good photos come through.

For several hours, I uploaded and commented my photos, and I put up a lot of good ones. I have saved some bandwidth for later. In those hours Henny also worked on his laptop, with his headphones on. I felt very geeky when I used my DVD drive for a coaster on the sofa.

Tomorrow I will be going to New York again, attending the premiere, and looking for more musicals to go and see. You do feel central to the world, especially in popular culture and the cutting edge of the West.

On the day before Yukina left, we had a meal in San Jose. In this I had a very tasty dessert. I offered some to Yukina, and in offering I was overly gracious and very Eastern. She accepted in the proper way. Erin took a photo. This is the result, Douzo.



We laughed so hard at that picture when we saw it. It summed up the entire time in California with Erin and Yukina. Just silly, and fun, and doing silly, funny things. This is one of the beautiful views I got from Big Sur, Pfieffer Beach.



We all did dancing moves, and this is one of mine. In fact, it's the only one where there's a photo of it. I look rather cool, even though I'm totally posing.



The same night, just before the posing photo was taken, we had a perfect sunset over the Bay. We had a photo taken of it, and since Yukina's camera was pretty good, the photo came out really well. This was just one evening that we had a lot of fun. We took more photos inside, and I think that was a really good evening of my pink shirt. I remember it all well.



Those are a few of my photos from this holiday. I will post more when I won't kill your pathetic computers with massive downloads for each image. GO AMD WOO!