Keep your promises.

Those that can’t adapt die.

Once you’ve made a decision, stick with it.

Quickly admit your mistakes and move on.

Which one is it? Are they mutually exclusive? Must you always hold true to your decisions? Must you always turn around when you think you’re heading in the wrong direction?

Extremes are generally bad. If seems to me that you should analyze your decisions and reverse them if they were incorrect/ineffective and don’t compromise a promise that you’ve made to someone else.

Moreover, it seems like a good idea to hold off on reversing a decision for at least a few breathes. A big decision naturally leads to anxiety and that can be expelled by simply letting go. Breathing deep for a bit helps.

Extreme physical activity seems to help too.

This is so very, very much what I want to do. At least that’s what I feel until I give it significant thought.

When you read over his posts it seems like he always on the move and never settled for any length of time. I’d like to see a lot of different countries and throwing it all away to travel for months/years at a time sounds wonderful, but it must be a bother in its own way.

A friend of mine recently went on a round-the-world self discovery trip. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but she was so concerned with money and time that she only spent about one day in each city/country. It seems to me that self discovery kind of requires peace and quiet.

If you’re constantly looking for your next plane ticket then how can you possibly create a real connection with the places that you’re visiting? Won’t all you’re memories be just one airport/train station/bus stop after another.

Regardless, I want to go to Antarctica!

My most memorable classes at Saint Lawrence were the ones in which the prof required us to think analytically about everything including out textbooks. The short paper below sparked a class long discussion questioning our primary text on International Politics. It (my paper) wasn’t particularly well writen, but it was fun to have everyone yelling, “you don’t really belive this do you” at me. I hadn’t had that much fun in class since the time I questioned the existance of Jesus and God during a summer school history class in Northern Virginia. In that case the teacher stopped his, “The Causes of World War I” lecture to allow all the other students to disprove my contention.

Anyway, I am a Nation State

Nations are entities made up of an arbitrary number of people that recognize a common history, culture, or some other type of shared bond. States are legal entities which recognize no legitimate higher authority. Nationhood and statehood are relative terms. The government of Taiwan asserts that it is a state. The majority of the world does not agree. In order to prove that nationhood and statehood are relative terms, I will prove that I am a nation state.

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Years ago Josh was really into colors. He used to go on about nice blues that he’d see while driving around. He even planned on taking an overdose of viagra because he heard that 1% of the user population would see yellow spots.

Increasingly, I find myself into smells the way Josh used to be into colors. If I’m feeling stressed or lonely at work I often sniff my tenugui. Instantly I’m in the dojo and at peace if only for a few seconds. Tonight I grabbed an apple on my way home and for some reason I held it to my nose and inhaled. I haven’t be on a fork lift in Ronnie’s orchard in West Virginia since I was about 8, but that was were I was suddenly. I could almost feel the temperature drop as if I had just entered a cold storage room filled with crates of apples.

I wonder if I’ll be able to remember WVa so vividly when/if I make it to 80.

I’ve been struggling with your question regarding the difference between Boston and Tokyo. I guess you are referring to atmosphere which would be comprised of architecture, historic connections, people’s demeanor and other intangibles.

As far as architecture is concerned Tokyo and Boston are almost completely different. They are similar in that any fauna in the downtown area is isolated in parks. Otherwise there is very little space in between building in Tokyo. There are high-rises everywhere you look and the funny thing is that even the short building (less than 9 stories) contain shops on almost every floor. When you are walking down the street looking for some place to eat you need to keep looking up. When I first moved here I missed a lot of good places because I kept looking at street level or below.

Tokyo, obviously, has a lot of connections to history. The Alias, however, bombed the city to dust, so most of the buildings are relatively new and anything that looks old is probably a rebuild. There are lots of historically important temples and of course anything used by the Imperial household is well connected to the history of Japan.

In regards to people�s demeanor, the Japanese are everything you expect when you read about the sociology of the country. They are very kind and conscientious of their friends and acquaintances, but they are downright rude to strangers. The customer service is on the face great, but if you need anything out of the ordinary it is atrocious. In contrast to nearly the whole of Las Vegas and some areas of Boston I feel safe just about anywhere I go.

If you feel claustrophobic in crowds, never come to Tokyo. If you can�t stand 40 degree heat with oppressive humidity, don�t come to Tokyo. If you love food and are willing to experiment, but can live without buffalo wings and great bagels, never leave Tokyo. If traffic jams make your blood boil, never come to Tokyo.

So I’m in the US on a business trip until this Thursday. Ever since I arrived I’ve been craving basic no frills Japanese food. It was impossible to find in Las Vegas, so I was really looking forward to going to Porter Square yesterday. I wasn’t disappointed.

I had lunch at the usual place; Cafe Mami, but not in the usual way. This time, unlike 2 years ago, I was used to hearing and using Japanese. I ordered in Japanese and said thing to the waitress in Japanese without noticing or really intending to. It’s not exactly a great feeling, but I guess it is satisfying. Anyway, as I was leaving I said goodbye in the standard fashion without much thinking about it. One of the staff was surprised and giggled a bit. I noticed it and suddenly felt self-conscious. All of a sudden all my feelings of progress evaporated.

I was suddenly nervous and wondering if I had made mistake. It was the same feeling I have in Japan in irregular situations. I’m sure I know how to get my point across, but I’m not sure which words or phrases are the most appropriate for the situation. It’s a problem of culture not of language if you can actually separate the two.

Anyway, I didn’t make a mistake it was the correct thing to say in that situation. She just didn’t expect to hear it from me. My chiropractor back in Tokyo has told me on occasion that he’s been amused with me when hearing me speak very simple and regularly used phrases, without looking at me he’s mistaken me for a Japanese person. I wish I could feel like this is a sign of progress, but the phrases are so simple that if I couldn’t pronounce them correctly by now, I may as well just give up entirely.

Why is it that some people will disclose their financial details at the drop of a hat? Are they bragging? Are Americans prone to this behavior?

And why does Safari keep switching focus to the tabs that are loading?!