In order to make an Apple Pie...

In order to make an apple pie...

Clichéd I know, I also don't care. I seized the chance to test out my rib recipe, which I didn't even have created until Friday the 13th at about 4:30 PM. usually to be a good chef you have to follow the rules to then be allowed to break the rules, but I've never followed the rules and I'm a good chef, and the only rule I've followed is 'red means hot'. Everything else to cooking isn't sacred to me, never has been, that's why I whipped up the currently secret recipe of 'Pawesum Soz' my BBQ rib sauce which contains a whopping +25% Alc. Yeah... It should of course be no surprise that that due to that fact and my methods of extreme care taken in cooking my ribs where a friend of mine said 'I'm waiting for you to start massaging them' wound up winning me the cook-off for my squadron. believe me, I'd LOVE to work as a chef, but I couldn't innovate unless given the chance, thing is all I do is innovate, recipes are sins to me....unless it's baked goods, that would just end badly.... let's leave how to our collective imaginations then shall we?

(insert gratuitous pictures of meat)

Mine are in the lower right corner.

Anyway, because of my innate cooking abilities, yes I'm bragging, and my Pawesum Soz, I'll be competing at the base level for $1,000.00 USD for my squadron, here's hoping that these are awesome enough to win it. Even if I don't win, second place would be fine, never really done any sort of a cook-off before, and I don't know whether I'm still drunk on the sauce, or my ego has swelled to gargantuan proportions, but I'll do the best I can and try to win it.

speaking of doing the best I can, well here's hoping the future proceeds according to the plans of whatever mysterious stranger is at my back, be it an angel, a chief, a colonel, general, or god himself... I couldn't tell you how many chances I've had all I know is that I've well exceeded my second. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, be thankful, or to become paranoid and believe that I'm some plaything of fate living in a castle in the sky. and if all we are playthings of beings dwelling in castles in the sky why has nobody noticed? Are we so tied up in lemon drops and gumdrops that we can't recognize the sugar floss binging us to the paper cone that is reality? I know, strange analogy, but I'm in a very strange state of mind right now, I have no clue if I should be relieved, hopeful, or keep up my typical cynical veneer? well cynicism has served me well thus far so I'll just wait to see in which direction the great taffy puller moves me.

Ok, enough with the ham fisted candy analogies...there's a mental image! Ham fisted candy....

I'll just keep my typical cynical self as the primary front and just plan for both outcomes, and of course the un-seeable third and fourth, whatever happens the future will be fun. And I'll try to stay upbeat about anything I do between now and then, whenever then is. Isn't that the one all encompassing question? What happens then? that has to be it doesn't it? What happens when we do, move, learn, love, laugh, and die. What happens then? does it really need to be such a metaphysical question or can it be something so rooted in the stone of logic that nothing can effectively grasp it? Perhaps not even then, maybe it doesn't need to be grasped, or what we can perceive is so massive that to us it's immovable and all encompassing, but to the next level there is something else? I'm reminded of the world tree, Yggdrasil, it grew with its branches encompassing Asgard, Midgard rooted around the middle, and Hel near the bottom. To what then was Yggdrasil rooted? As the 34 stanza of the Poetic Edda states "on that tree of which no man knows where it's roots run" begs the question, if the world as we know it is supported by Yggdrasil, what supports it? Which to me begs the question and simply put, 'Once we have perceived all the universe what then?" That is the question of which I speak. as Carl Sagan said "in order to make an apple pie, you must first create the universe", as far as I'm concerned that can be taken to mean that you can't understand anything without understanding everything.

Take from this what you will about me, but I hold no illusions about the future, the present, or the past, after all to grasp the concept of an illusion you must first grasp the concept of reality, and when things are so fleeting, so ephemeral as to said that they barely matter or have barely existed at all, can you honestly say that you know what reality is when you're bound to only one form?

Differences

Things really have changed here over the last few months, and no, this isn’t more navel gazing or self-reflection. As you all know the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck the northern coast of japan closer to two months ago and while things have returned to a slight sense of normalcy, at least in places, in others the differences are profound. Last weekend I went down to Shibuya as I will every so often to take pictures of the city, the sights, sounds and people. At first glance things did appear to be normal, thousands of people crammed into a very busy intersection with people running in all directions at once, groups of friends gathering, chatting, or just chilling. You wouldn’t think that anything negative would have occurred such a short time ago. So I walked around taking lots of pictures visible here http://www.flickr.com/photos/58409124@N03/ http://verseless-photography.com/ http://www.verseless.deviantart.com/

Note, none of them, or at least very few, are actually of the city, that’s for a reason. Sundown finally came and I set up my camera at about 15 till, and I start to look around expecting the lights to come on any second hoping to get some great pictures of the city and people. Maybe a few nice low light shots. Possibly a good spontaneous portrait or two. The sun goes down behind the labyrinthine cityscape, the last copper hues of the sunset fading into….dark? The city was dark, for Shibuya anyway. The closest comparison that I can give to it would be like standing in Times Square and all of the billboards, all of the video screens, were turned off. And that’s exactly it, all of the video screens, all of the advertisements, the brighter streetlights, even shop lights were deactivated to save power. Now, I am unsure of the exact state of the infrastructure here in japan right now, but I know that since the Fukushima Daiichi plant got hit life appears to be at least a little less colorful in Tokyo.

People have been through worse in the world, and thankfully Tokyo just seems to be rationing power, no daytime lighting on the trains, or air conditioning at all, no heated seats either, small little conveniences that I’d begun to take for granted now no longer evident in anyone’s lives. Might just be my observation, who knows, maybe they’re flawed, that could be. But to see all of those bright, comforting, and saturating lights and sights just gone….it made me feel like something had been lost. It made me remember that everything we’re doing to help these people will actually have an effect. It may be years, it may be decades but to see Shibuya return to its former shining glory will be worth it at some point. A transformation has taken place in the nation of Japan and they’ll never be the same. The lights will eventually return, the glitz and glamour will be back to inspirational levels at some point, but for now things are subdued if only in some degree.

I wouldn’t say that any of this has been inspirational though, that word just doesn’t cut it, to apply such a finite word to a series of events such as these, to apply such a word to the relief effort that started the day it happened, the month of nonstop support that numerous nations provided and continue to provide still, the coming together of branches of numerous militaries, raid organizations, and even firefighters from all across the globe coming together to forge a cohesive response force well within a month to help these people, is not inspirational. It… is… legendary. It’s not about medals, news coverage, a renewed sense of responsibility, strong senses of pity, regret, conscience, or anything like that. It’s that almost jubilant feeling of pride you get hearing that perhaps barely intelligible ‘thank you’ from people that genuinely have many things to be thankful for. I’ve only ever personally received the smallest part of that, one lone man telling me that we’re ‘big hero country, thanks for what you do.’ I can only imagine the kind of thanks that rescue workers deserve and received when they helped those directly affected by the tsunami.

If you’re coming here don’t expect all the ultramodern conveniences that have been touted for years, even some basic amenities are still hurting, come here expecting the warm reception of a thankful nation and from those truly in need. If you’re leaving here, like me, then I hope that you’ve received a sense of pride that you’ll never forget. Those who leave may go on to do great things, but remember, the greatest thing that one can hope to accomplish is to have been deserving of a simple ‘thank you’ from one you’ve helped however indirectly.

In Direct Support

Sendai lies in ruins, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant is going down the drain, damage estimates past the 100 Billion Mark, 977 deaths so far, 170,000 evacuated, and I have never been more inspired by the United States Air Force. It all started after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday one of the most massive quakes to my knowledge. All we felt here was moderate shaking and well I thought that was it, most of us did, oh we were so wrong. The same day of the event our wheels started turning on a massive relief effort to help our host nation of Japan. Here I am on day +2 after the Sendai tsunami and we are generating airlift. They call it Operation: Tomodachi or friend in English, a more fitting moniker there could not be. Already help is arriving for the city of Sendai and affected areas, US Marines From across Japan, navy detachments from who knows where and more Air Force support at this base than I’ve ever seen in my short time here. Yet this is Day 2, the veritable tip of the iceberg, if past efforts of the Air Force are any indication we haven’t seen anything yet.

So far we’ve just been making sure that the planes can get up and go picking up essential material for the rebuilding to come and the shelters now, planes flying everywhere nonstop, supplying everything basically. In the days to come I expect to see massive coordination with the Japanese Military and civilian organizations, something on the scale of Katrina back in the states. I’m sorry but I must disagree with my brethren that are against what we’ve done so far to be perhaps overly hospitable to the units that we will likely play host to. We may not consider ourselves heroes by turning wrenches, splicing wires, and fueling planes. But for each plane we send up in the next couple of months, each plane I send up makes us all heroes to someone.

We may be in the initial stages of this as of yet we aren’t heroes to anyone on a large scale yet nor will we be soon, those of us in the maintenance group will likely never see ourselves as heroes if we look at the small limited scope of our own job and career field, we are one, we are one force working together to generate missions that will help Japan to rebuild, never have I dreamed that I would be in direct support of operations like this, nor did I want to be, who actually wants a massive disaster to happen at all? This is the time for humanity to show the best of itself to help our fellow man; our darkest hours will forge our brightest days. Maybe not on a grand scale, but those that care about it still think fondly on the Berlin airlift, and while we may not be dodging Soviet fighter jets, this is going to likely be one of the most massive Airlifts since then, it’s already getting massive watching something like this grow is absolutely inspiring to me as a junior Airman. I can only imagine how the decision makers are feeling now; stressed, worn out, yet hopefully like myself they’ve been inspired to persevere and to make an effort to help our hosts.

These are going to be some hard times, we’ve got to buckle down, do our jobs, get to work and never forget that Humanitarian relief is part of what we do, this is why we are here. When given a chance to shine, how you respond and what is in your heart when you do so will determine the effectiveness of what you do. It will determine the memorability of what everyone does, and will reflect on how the world views us all. Some people will be working because they want to get a Humanitarian Relief medal, others because they wish to be called a hero, not me. I will be out there fixing planes, changing parts, and making sure the mission goes. Not just because this is my day job, but because I feel that this is the right thing to do, there is no doubt in my mind of that fact, so I ask you out there…

How would you respond?

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this blog are not the Opinion of the United States Air force or the Department of Defense. The views expressed there in are solely those of the author.

Justice?

With recent events that have transpired tonight I find myself asking if justice has been done. Who knows maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. I’ve received the punishment coming to me and I am unsure if it is fair or not. I know that punishment of sorts can be light every now and again and this time it feels that way, admittedly being restricted to base for 30 days hurts me quite a bit. I won’t be able to photograph at the Fashionweek and because of that I will not be able to take the pictures and sell them to (insert name of fashion magazine) so I can kiss a very conservative few hundred good bye right then and there. And oh yeah, the Cherry blossom festivals so yeah I’ll need to get creative with my work on base in such a way to edit out any overly identifying features and still produce high quality work that I intend on selling.

The other hit comes in a demotion; it’s mostly the symbolism that hurts me the most. Sure I’ll be losing roughly 5,000 USD over the course of the time it’ll take to gain my rank back but if I play my cards right with photography I can make more than that. Huge IF there. BUT what really hurts me is the symbolism of being demoted, and it is the commanders reasoning that ‘I cannot be trusted’ that really hits hard for me. I have tried hard to prove that I can be trusted; I always try to show that I am a good person, and that I have personal responsibility, but being told that I can’t be trusted stings. It’s hard to not take that as an insult but I must look at things objectively and from my Commanders view point. I realize that punishment was absolutely necessary in order to instill the proper behavior, but to be called untrustworthy is something else that I cannot adequately describe.

I do not feel angry though; all I feel really is a mix of disappointment, confusion, and satisfaction. I feel disappointment because I have let many people including myself down to levels that feel like God’s disappointment in Lucifer when he was cast down. The confusion stems from wondering whether or not this is all fair, and either way I will be discussing this with legal as such things are too complex for those untrained in the legal profession to decide adequately. I want to appeal the loss of m rank, but someplace in the back of my mind is against that, and another part of me is curious if that is just a sense of selfishness taking over the old ‘but it’s mine’ mentality left in all of us from our childhood days. I thought I’d outgrown that, and there’s another part of my disappointment in myself, that I don’t yet seem to be fully matured into an adult yet based on how I feel when something of mine is taken away, and finally the satisfaction, of a morbid sense of affirmative premonition. I was both wrong and right about a few things I was right that I haven’t been stuck in jail, I was right that meeting with my commander face to face may have helped, and I was right that a discharge isn’t pending, (sorry for those of you who hate me). Those are the petty reasons for satisfaction again, the rest are a little more sadomasochistic, from here on out since I’ve been kicked to the bottom of the pit I am satisfied that every positive action I accomplish will help me climb out of it, I am satisfied that I will continue to serve at least for a time through all of that the overriding sense of myself right now is one of ‘doom and gloom’ partly brought on by a very small amount of soju. I have said it before that I am disappointed in myself at my actions, absolutely I am, and I feel that my time in the military is swiftly running out, and it very likely is, but I’ll try to do a good job as that’s all that I can do.

All of that said I’ll try to not let my situation, or others, get the better of me. If I start walking around in a deep funk somebody please slap me upside the head and tell me to shape up. But by the same token I don’t intend to take any s*** from anyone. If you wish to give me any run it by my supervisor. I’ve worked hard to get my anger issues under control and I’ve been better at it, but I will not allow anything to resurface due to what happened with me. You want to give me any bad vibes here go ahead and do so; they make ‘delete’ buttons for a reason. If you work with me you know who is in charge of me so take it up with them, I won’t take anyone’s disrespect nor will I dish any.

Now, hopefully for a change of pace and topic…..I’ll …I can’t really think of anything aside from the fact I’ll have the opportunity to finally finish Don Quixote, Atlas Shrugged, and the plethora of other pieces of literature I am currently working through. I’ll also have the chance to refine my photography skills, and again everything from here on out will be obnoxiously watermarked as I intend to use my work as a source of supplementary income. While I am typically against the use of artwork in commercialization and for pure monetary gain, it seems that I may have to move in that direction, and for once I have no issue with ‘selling out’ especially as the most I’ll likely be is a freelancer. There’s no ‘selling out’ if you don’t get a regular paycheck from someone. But ah well, guess I’ll just have to learn to love pissing off hipsters and skillfully maneuvering around copyright laws.

Something new, something old, sometimes secrets are better told…

Well so I’ve spent a huge chunk of change albeit stupidly but at least I paid cash as much as possible so there’s a plus right there. The money was spent on some investments though, in a Carbon Fiber monopod for my camera, new lens at half the cost in the US and all. Purchasing the lens marks the second time I’ve been asked for my passport by a sales clerk, alright fine, I’m tall, white, and have very short hair apparently that doesn’t translate to ‘military’ especially since when I go off base I try to dress well. Who knew trying to look decent diverted some attention. So I had to show my military ID and say ‘Yokota-kichi’ (Yokota Base) to the clerk to let them know I lived here. Never shopping at that store again, or at least I’ll be avoiding otherwise imported goods. I’ll also be spending some more money to help out my GF which she knows about, hey I’ve always thought that love required sacrifices, a normal sleeping pattern and some small amount of money is a bargain to pay for love I say. Moving on Shall we? So here’s some pictures I used the new lens for, it’s a SIGMA 70-300 mm Macro-telephoto lens and I made sure to put it through its paces.

Pictures are as follows in no particular order, An Akita, cherry blossoms, the Tama monorail out of Tachikawa Station, and the entrance/concourse of Showa-Kinen Park as well as the cultural center of it, (Showa memorial park) which seems to commemorate the late Emperor Showa or as the western world knows him, Hirohito. Fitting I think that the grounds of the park take up part of what used to be an Area of Tachikawa Air Base which started out as a Japanese Army airfield, was ceded to the United States, then handed back in the 1970’s very fitting I think. Wish I knew more history of the area will really have to learn Japanese while I am here, for however long that is.

Now about that last bit who knows how long I’ll stay here in Japan anyway with the Air Force reducing manning and the paper trail I’ve accumulated I feel that my hourglass is swiftly running out. Now not to beat a dead horse, but I enjoy my job when I do it and my time off as for the rest of my time in the military it is little more than a steady job to me. I try to be honest about it if politically correct. Sure that doesn’t mean I don’t TRY to do a good job but well, I know that I am far from being the best example of a service member out there especially as I seem to care more about my secondary professional interests (photography). And well this is true, in all honesty should I be allowed to actually have time off at all the week of the 20th -25th (japan time) I’ll be photographing at the 12th Annual Japan Fashionweek and I’m already contacting several major publications about the process for submitting freelance work. As far as what publications I’ve been contacting, just name a fashion magazine, lifestyle section in newspapers, etc…I’m sure someone would be willing to purchase some high quality freelancers work….sure I do stand to make a good chunk of change off of that but I’ll be happy if I break the 100 USD mark, that would being a word, fabulous, with all the sequins and farting glitter that word implies. May not happen, would be awesome if it goes through but in all honesty if it doesn’t I’ve only I to blame and well punishments are called such for a reason.

So a word to the wise, nice guys always finish last, but finishing first isn’t worth the scorched earth. That said I wouldn’t change being nice at all, just everything I’ve done to shoot myself in the foot. After all Karma is a bitch you do one good thing and have two bad happen, do one bad thing and pay forever. As an aside I was looking at my Grandfathers old A1C stripes, he also got out when the AF was downsizing, at the same rank that I currently hold. I think he served just three years also, maybe that’s a sign? It could be sure, but the secondary professional opportunities here in Tokyo are numerous enough that I won’t take that chance. I’ve gotten this far by the seat of my pants, sheer good luck, a smile, good attitude, and someone’s both real and metaphysical watching my back. Let’s see what I can accomplish if I put as much effort into my primary career as I’ve been doing for my secondary.

Oh and all of my pictures can be seen here. Please contact me if you wish to use my work, from this point forward everything will be obnoxiously watermarked.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58409124@N03/

I don't know what to say....

I don’t know what to say.

At least in the sense that I don’t know the specific phrasing to use to put everything in perspective. When life feels like you’ve been hit with a concrete block, each piece of the gritty texture tearing into you and clearing away the old rough parts leaving things new and raw under the surface exposed to the cold air, exhilarating, worrisome, and familiar all at the same time. Yet at the same time nothing feels the same this time around. I’ve made mistakes all of my life and I seem to live for the little lulls in between the feelings of anxiety caused by my mistakes. If there’s one thing to be said about messing up, it’s that when things go right they feel amazing and to relish such a feeling of things going your way is almost like feeling a cool breeze on a hot day.

Speaking of old mistakes one my most common ones is re-opening old wounds so that they never heal. I’ve done so over the last day or two talking to a former similarly employed person, I hesitate to use the term co-worker as the mutual fact is known that we’re immiscible in any capacity. In a brief conversation that can only be described as abusive, I found myself wondering, ‘Just who is the bigger man, and what determines that?’ While there is no good answer and either side will come up with their own answer I believe the best option was the ‘block’ button at least for now, and extensive evasion in situation where we may meet, though the other side of the coin and I rightly feel that I know enough about the person in question, would feel that my death is the best option. And in all honesty I do feel correct in my assumptions here. Though as to who is the bigger man? So far as I am concerned it is neither of us as one personality has a superiority complex as well as extensive issues relating to basic manners, in my opinion anyway. And I have chosen the avoidance option, however, that is of course after trying to deal with the issues in a polite manner. Sure, there are people that will never get along, yet nobody need be hostile, to do so is only a waste of effort. All conflicts are avoidable; I’ve been a firm believer in that for many years. As for my other mistakes, they’re all of a more general nature, nothing worth talking about really so I’ll just move on to the next topic then.

As far as things that are going right, well this is where things feel like that cool breeze after a hard work out on a blisteringly hot day. For one, I’ve managed to get my girlfriend a few perfect gifts for her Birthday/Valentine’s day, which I am actually quite proud of. While you needn’t know exactly what said gifts were, know that they were of a more thoughtful nature, and while not complete surprises to her they couldn’t have been more appreciated. Something else that is going right, at least potentially. I used to be a photography major in college, or at least was on that track, major or not I have more than enough skill to do what needs to be done in an artistic and professional manner. And considering I live in the Tokyo area now it makes perfect sense to attend the 12^th Japan Fashion week as an International Photographer. Pictures will be posted here of course, I also plan on contacting a few newspapers to try and sell the fruits of my labor, and well hopefully I’ll be successful in that regard. In not I’ll simply gain a slight amount of experience in Fashion Photography over the two days that I’ll be able to attend Fashion week. Sure, I am spending a bit on equipment, new lens, monopod, quick release base for the monopod, and some lens filters, perhaps a new flash thrown in there, but it will increase the scope of what I’ll be able to do so far as my longer range photography is concerned. So for me, either way, being able to attend it or not it is a win/win. Or at least is according to where I stand, as much as I’d love both new equipment and being able to attend fashion week (I’m already registered as an official photographer) I’ll take either of those options any day of the week. Other things that are going right include my cooking and fitness. I've been experimenting with cooking, fish predominantly as it's cheap and i know how to cook it, at least for the basics. The experimenting comes form the side dishes I make. Week one that i cooked the side dish was Matsutake mushrooms and apples cooked in cider, which came out excellent. And just this Sunday the side dish was carrots and mushrooms cooked in white wine, with the same type of fish for the meat. In all honesty I'd love to share my cooking, yet i don't know anyone willing to try my cooking. I promise, I won't kill you. For having an under equipped kitchen set, and improvising my dishes and preparation utensils, I do have a great eye for ingredients and how to cook things, note that I do everything off the cuff, so if you want to try my cooking and don't mind a chef that experiments, and live in my dorm, let me know, i'll cook dinner for you.

I’ll close with this because I’d rather you not have to read more than about 1000 words for this post. Nobody is perfect, nothing goes flawlessly, and opinions are always wrong looking from the perspective of someone else. My suggestion is simple here, do what you feel is right, legal, and just, you’ve lived as you should, people can tell you how to live according to their views on right and wrong, but they aren’t you, nobody is you, none of you are me, and all of us are always wrong according to someone.

Observations and Life in Japan

Well to start off my shipment of household goods would seem to have arrived, if anything I’m quite happy about that, so I was finally able to implement my plan to brush up on my photography skills and get out into town and take pictures. I felt really gung ho about it and took a chunk of yen out of the bank for ‘walking around’ money, and my camera an old model Canon EOS Rebel X2. I took on the order of 500 or so and as most photographers are wont to do only used a tiny fraction of them. I’ll generally use 1 out of each set of pictures, so I should have 35 usable shots, I have far fewer than that. Because it seems my camera/lenses are broke, namely the autofocusing feature. So I’ll have to get those replaced, fun time, not looking forward to paying the price for those good here in Japan, at least I can just go to Akihabara and get what I need.

If anything living here in japan has changed my perspective on a few things that most people will consider ‘normal’ and take for granted, the biggest thing would of course be the langage, being American and having lived in the States, namely the Midwest for most of my life I’ve generally come to expect that most people will speak English as a first language. Of course I’m not expecting to be able to communicate 100%, but well that’s one thing to get used to. Also actually being the ‘foreigner’ is another big thing for me, especially as I’m a ‘big’ foreigner, not fat,, just tall. Hence the blog title…I’ll get lost is a huge group of people, but I’ll still stand out. And here is where the difference is big, but in a great way. Portion size, having all of these meals in japan is quite refreshing, small, filling, generally pretty healthy and it all tastes amazing so far. Then I went to the Chili’s on base the other night and couldn’t finish my meal as it was like 3 ‘japanese’ meals.

Fresh fruits and prosciutto Salad from Forbidden fruit


I will say that I really enjoy Tokyo and the environment, the food is awesome, and generally looks good as you’ll see here. I had a nice salad in a little café place called ‘Forbidden fruit’ while I was down in Harajuku. However eating isn’t all that I did while I was down there, also picked up a brand new coat, just a nice sport coat like design. I will say this, it feels nice wearing designer clothes. By the way, I didn’t find out about this issue until I uploaded the pictures and found out that most of the pictures were incredibly blurry. *sighs* At least I got a few of them post worthy, so yeah…gratuitous pictures in 3….2….1….

And here's my Flickr for more http://www.flickr.com/photos/58409124@N03/


The Meiji Shrine





Dinner (Udon noodles and tempura fried eggplant)




An expensive cake 'worth' 40 USD

Fah who lah who

Ok. So Christmas has come and gone with New Year’s just around the corner. And although I dislike quite a few things politically back home, over here, and just in general. I’ve been ‘re blued’ or have become a patriot again. My reasoning for this is simple. Because we’re overseas not everyone gets mail on time, from everyone, etc.. So they’ll provide cards for us from varied sources. I pick a card out of the box addressed to ‘our hero’. Sure heartwarming sappy, whatever….But the card itself. The card itself brought me to tears.

It was just a generic card though Santa with a tree, the printed lettering saying ‘Merry Christmas’, but thee text written inside it is what brought me to tears. So there I am on a chilly December day in Tokyo opening a Christmas card from god knows who in the door way of a chow hall. And what I see written is the last thing I expect. In simple black pen in young, yet not childishly messy handwriting I see the lone sentence. “Thank you for our Freedom.” I broke down right then and there. It made me realize that I’m not serving to defend my country, the politicians, the overly fattened political system that we have, no. I was fighting for that. The innocent naiveté that is present in all of us at some point. I’m here serving not my country, but hope. I serve to defend that hope in some kid’s heart, hope that will be destroyed if we fail as a country.

That said, yes, we need to change our ways or that innocent little line will be for nothing and there won’t be any more American heroes to thank for freedom, there won’t be any Americans as we recognize them today. All there will be are members of a country that none of us alive today can fathom. It’s that hope, that one innocent line that has renewed my faith that making the choice I did was the right one. Some may question the morality of serving at all such as certain radical churches in Kansas, but seeing such innocence displayed in that way leaves no doubt in my mind that service to defend hope, to provide people with the freedom to be thankful for such an intangible thing is what it’s all about. On paper and in voice as follows:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

But in my heart and my soul, I serve the hope of all those thinking that we are doing the right thing.

Anyway enough of my proselyting and time for an actual blog entry…how about that hmm?
Well a few days ago while cycling to PT in the cold December rain I misjudged the amount of water on the road, went off of the road and straight into some train tracks. While I sustained only minor personal injuries ( a few scrapes and bruises), I still got checked out to make sure I was fine. Something that is smart to do whenever severe pain is felt in the chest. Believe me, landing on hardened steel handlebars hurts like a sonovagun. Anyway I was reporting into my superiors every step of the way, and the doctor seeing me gave me the ‘likely’ injuries from where I sustained impacts. I caught hell for that later as word of my potential injuries trickled up to my Commanding Officer. Mind you, when I reported in I made sure to use the words ‘possible, might, and could be’ in the same places the doctor had used them before broken, cracked, internal damage respectively. They wound up calling me good and prescribing me antibacterial cream for my wounds. Yet I still caught hell for reporting in as I was given information. I didn’t inform them I’d be riding my damaged bicycle over to the base hospital, and the people I informed rightly assumed I’d be doing so, but well. Let’s just say that I learned a lesson about disseminating information that should be obvious. Anyway I’m done complaining as it’s not my style, I learned a lesson about information dissemination, so I’m fine now.
Moving on…

Christmas was decent. Had Christmas dinner at the house of one of my superiors, it wasn’t what I expected in that there were no fresh vegetables on the table, just mayo and sugar covered salad and green bean casserole. I tend to like peas, corn, carrots and other vegetables not out of a can, cooked into other things, or covered in goop, my definition of fresh is, simple plain vegetables either raw, or lightly cooked. Everything tasted good and the bosses’ wife makes an amazing pumpkin pie, so it was overall a decent meal.

As I’m going to a new shift soon I’ll need to alter my sleeping habits and I have that planned out already, it involves another All-nighter, or a set of them in Roppongi. I’ll stay away from the main drag with all of the strip clubs and actually go to someplace where I want to. I likely won’t drink much, but I think that new years at Roppongi could be a very cool thing to do, provided I actually go in a mood to have fun, which of all things is my biggest fault. I tend to take things quite seriously, value meaningful conversation and intelligence and have my sun issue from that. Mingling with a group of strangers is new for me especially for long lengths of time. Then again…if I can strike up a conversation with a German woman in McDonald’s at 3 AM I can mingle at a club for 8 hours right?

One month in Japan

Well I've been in Japan for one month to the day and I must say it has so far been a wonderful experience. If you've read my blog so far you'll know numerous things that have happened that I won't recount here.

I will say that hubris has gotten the better of me and smacked me down on one major occasion, the penance of such was a pie in the face literally and figuratively. I learned quite hard that not everybody is up for everything when not stated. There is generally such a thing as implied consent, however respect is another thing I also need to recognize in people. I've never blogged about work until now. For you all to understand this well we had some fun with our commander, the guy crammed into an Elf costume on Christmas because we paid to get him into it via a fundraiser. I thought I could do the same thing here, so i put some money on my commanding officer....bad idea. Didn't get paperwork, just told that 'I don't play that' and to remove the money. Of course I did so within the hour of being told to do so. Later that week I paid for it via a cherry pie. No this isn't a euphemism for anything, I got hit with a cherry pie, in the face.

Now I deserved it, I know it. If anything I thought I learned my lesson from that but well, a few days later I gave myself some more problems, I really need to learn to keep my big mouth shut. That would honestly be best for me in most if not all situations that don't require me to 'slackjaw'. Anyway enough about hubris for now It's something I need to deal with on my own.

Now so far this country has proven to be incredibly beautiful in most aspects of it. Walking down a cramped and oh so crowded side street in Harajuku feeling almost 'closed in' to some respects, yet perfectly comfortable in others. Nobody standing around and lingering everyone moving with a purpose and a drive that i rarely if ever got to see in the States. The amazing thing about it all none of it was what anyone from the US would consider 'loud' sure there were vendors and advertisers on the street trying to get people to 'go here or buy this' but despite the hustle and bustle that everybody was encased in, very quiet overall. While it may be a stereotype that the Japanese are incredibly polite, it seems to be one that is well founded, I've only encountered one or two rude people so far in my time here, and even then that was because I didn't know the custom relating eating a bowl of Ramen.

Living in another country has really been an eyeopening and life changing experience, I'm quite curious as to how I'll view the United states when i eventually return there after my tour here in Japan, or overseas in general is over. Truth be told of the camaraderie that I've experienced so far it has been better than anything I encountered back in Oklahoma or in Texas before that. Perhaps if I felt this close to my co-workers, roommate, or the other people on base, maybe my career would have started in a better place.

I made a promise to someone and I plan to keep it. That doesn't mean I won't experience the culture here though.

All-nighter in Roppongi

Well….



Pulled an all-nighter in Shibuya/Roppongi last night just acting as the wingman of one of my buddies. Interesting experience, being well not-single in a place filled with whores and strip clubs, but I’ll get to that soon enough. The night started well enough, going to the Enlisted club trying to win the 900 dollar jackpot. Surprisingly they had a rather amazing buffet there and it provided an awesome free dinner. Sadly nobody won the 900 dollars so I’ll go next week maybe when it’s up over 1,000. I mean really? Woman that had the winning ticket left, what is there more important than wining nearly 1,000 dollars and making a 1,000 dollar profit. Hopefully the person had a sick kid or an emergency at home.



After that I left with my buddy to head down to Shibuya so he could meet up with his date and get the night started with a few drinks, while I abstained personally from alcohol as bad things happen and considering I have a girlfriend alcohol in a place filled with whores and strip clubs don’t mix. Shibuya itself was cool, mostly a shopping district with a few clubs and bars. I’d go back there I think, so long as I have the money but I think I’ll save up for a good while before going out again, spending money on coffee got expensive. Speaking of which I’m a victim of Brand recognition, had some vending machine coffee and the only reason I had that coffee is because I thought the Tommy Lee Jones commercials were funny as hell. Let me make this clear I only had the coffee because Tommy Lee jones was selling it……. I hate being a victim of advertising campaigns, was good coffee though, so yeah.



I have no idea how many times I had to say variations of ‘No thank you’ to people trying to get me to go to strip clubs, or whores offering massages with ‘happy endings’ than I care to count. For that reason not a place I’ll go back to during the night time. I did however go see Tokyo Tower at night, long cold walk, past the Russian embassy and Aston Martin dealerships, past pricy business and then up a very steep hill, and get to look up at the bottom of a very well lit icon of the Tokyo landscape, quite breathtaking if taken in the right context. Hell even the police guarding the entrance were marveling at the thing.

If you’re wondering where my buddy was all this time, he was at a club I had no interest in. I’d rather not pay 2,000 yen to get into a Rap club where drinking is mandatory, we did keep in touch with our phones so I didn’t abandon my wingman, and the night ended well for him.



Anyway after walking up and down the street for the millionth time saying no to the same club pushers and whores I dip into what turns out to be a rather fancy restaurant and order a few things. I had what turned out to be an appetizer, grilled beef with potatoes and Miso, now it was an absolutely amazing use of my money, should have gotten a bowl of udon but well que sera sera, I also had pumpkin mousse, and that was an absolutely amazing choice, the rich creamy texture with the strong pumpkin flavor was absolutely marvelous. Now at this point it’s about 2:30 AM trains have stopped and I’m tired of saying no to the same whores, so I dip inside Starbucks and have a coffee, black and wind up dumping 6 or 7 packets of sugar and honey into it to try an improve the flavor, that worked for about 15 minutes until Starbucks closed, then over to Mc Donalds to use the restroom. But only place open was the ordering area, McD’s had private security guarding the upstairs where the seating areas and restrooms were. Let that sink in for a little bit, Private Security At a fast food restaurant. Typical rent-a-cop uniform, and deformed security guard and everything, guys ear looked like it had been chewed up and spit out, but yeah so I order another coffee, and let me tell you, I STRONGLY prefer starbucks over Mc Donalds, but that doesn’t mean the coffee tastes much better. So I’m sitting at Mc Donalds just watching the street and a girl winds up sitting next to me, blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin. I figure ‘what the hell’ lets hope she speaks English. So I start up a nice and polite conversation with the woman, turns out to be German, and just finishing up an extended vacation before she starts college. Nice person to talk to while waiting for the crack of dawn. Then I see what may be my first encounter with yakuza activity. The two of us ‘me and the german woman’ are watching from the 2nd floor window when this guy gets kicked out of a big van with blacked out windows, approaches the drivers side and kneels, forehead touching the ground, for about a good two minutes before running back into the van. NO clue what he did to insult the driver, but from what we could see they looked like Sterotypical yakuza, nice suits, strict behavior customs, young.



Anyway so 5 AM rolls around and me and the German say our good byes and go home to our respective ends of Tokyo, should have gotten her facebook she seemed very nice, and by this point I’m fighting off sleep like Indiana Jones fights Nazis. The lyric from an iron Maiden song comes to mind ‘He’s walking like a deadman’…that’s how crappy I felt. And yeah finally make it back to base and PTFO for a few hours.

So that was my all-nighter.

Akiba Thanksgiving

Ok, so today is thanksgiving in Japan, well on base anyway. Yay! So I get up have a light breakfast at the chow hall hop on my bicycle and ride to the train station and head down to Akihabara (Akiba). Akihabara also known as Akibahara Electric Town or simply Akiba is one of the main consumer electronics centers in Japan. You need a computer built or repaired? You can find what you need on the street there in these little stalls. How crowded some of the streets are reminded me of Harajuku except only about 5 streets were that packed (I went on Thursday) and instead of designer clothing it was hard drives and comic stuff. That’s another thing about Akiba, very VERY Otaku centric place. I walked into an Internet Café to see how they do It, all I see is a long empty hall way with a computer room at one end filled with the bluish white glow of computers, the acrid smell of old cigarette smoke, and the lights of a vending machine that promised ‘hot meals’. It was the same for a Pachinko parlor I stepped inside of except then you had billions of flashing lights and high pitched electronic music so loud that not even Rambo with a machine gun could be heard over the music. Anyway….i went there in search of Gundams for my girlfriend, couldn’t find any I felt like purchasing as they were either cheaper in the states or too big for me to carry on a bicycle with no backpack with me. So I got something else that I know she’ll like. Why does blue hair have to be such a staple of Anime?



Lunch was after a few hours of walking around, had a bowl of Sushi for about 1,000 yen. Was just a big bowl of rice, shrimp, egg, tuna, shrimp, salmon eggs, and other raw fish I can’t place. It was very good, cheap, and quite filling. It came with Miso soup and some type of egg stuff I couldn’t figure out what to do with. Tasted good, but I’ve made enough faux pas already, Hell one of the other patrons was laughing at me trying to pick up the salmon eggs with my chopsticks. I did it…but I guess the big American at the bar he was too small for was quite funny. Speaking of they tell us to not attract attention to ourselves….oops. I wore red, so there I am, big American wearing a red shirt, blue jeans, surrounded in a sea of Japanese businessmen all in suits. I I don’t mind attracting attention due to my size (It happens anyway), but I was very conscious of HW much I stood out today. May go to Roppongi next….or back to Harajuku, good food there, that or to Shibuya and try to find the Stormtrooper.

A Day in Harajuku

Ok you can take my manhood from me if you wish for this. But the first time I go out of walking distance i don't go to a bar, a strip club, a sporting event, or even on a date, or to go racing...I go to Harajuku. And i don't care yes i went to a World fashion Capital on a day off and window shopped. You know what? I enjoyed it too hell I'd have bought some stuff but what i could afford couldn't fit, what could fit I couldn't afford, and as I'm Military I couldn't buy one of the hats ANY of the stores were selling because I'm Anal about having to HOLD a hat inside a building, besides I have a weird head shape...hats just look goofy on me. Though i did see one jacket that made me REALLy want to go out of my price range of the 7,000 Yen I had to spend. Anyway being exposed to fashion the way I was got me thinking. With as many consider it a hobby, passing fancy, career, or life,and seeing the attached price tag, it made me think: Is it worth it? The answer is vague: It's subjective. there can never be a true and honest opinion on fashion because of numerous factors, is it pleasing, ugly, or too pricy...all of it is subjective. There is no answer I guess even calling it 'fashion' is subjective if someone doesn't think it is. But you know what? I found stuff my sisters would like and stuff I liked. So while out of my price range, it was quite nice to experience.



Now everyone goes on about the fashion in Harajuku, but you know what? The food is...amazing. I saw some little cafe in Harajuku called 'Cafe cloud' that was near empty. had lunch there. Lunch was a tomato based vegetable beef soup, a leafy green salad with a ginger dressing, and a a sandwich. the sandwich was on a baguette it had tuna, olives, green pepper, and fresh tomato. All of it diced really fine and toasted. People can have their 500 Dollar Ralph Lauren polo shirts, designer jackets, and Louis Vuitton handbags, but the 800 or so yen (about 10 USD) I spent on lunch was more satisfying. Besides later chatting with some Brit and his Girlfriend made for an interesting day.



Story behind that in my failed search for a jacket I bump into a 6'5" brit searching for a jacket also I make the comment 'Amazing stuff here, but none of it fit". So we're just walking and talking about random stuff for a few blocks, now let me tell you bartenders are interesting dudes to chat with, and let me make this known...I love the c*** that comes out of the mouths of brits.



Anyway...here i am in my dorm room with a stomach full of Eggplant, tomato, and sukiyaki Curry (CoCo's Level 8) and blogging again strongly considering getting a proper blogger account on another website. This is fun. Next week....Roppongi..or Tokyo itself.

I Never Blog

I never blog but well When you race the sunrise, get lost in Fussa, experience shouting produce, and bitch at your bank from half a world away things need to get mentioned.



It all started with a red Eye flight out of seattle headed to my new posting in japan. Terribly excited and even more tired once the boarding had begun. With sunrise at about 7 Am central or so these days I figured the jet had a three hour head start, so it was then we started racing the sunrise on a long cross pacific flight with no stops. Very fun times. At least the trip up to Seattle was fun, i'll never forget sitting between a flight attendant (That actually looked good) and a retired AF Pilot. I learned things talking to those two that i'll remember forever. Things such as...Halloween in New Orleans and what happens when a friend tatto's a fake pen**, wears a kilt, and talks like a caricature of a Sean Connerry caricature. Also what happens when the whole flight crew is asleep.



Getting lost in Fussa was an interesting experience. With my VERY limited grasp of Japanese finding a bicycle store (jitensha shoppu) was incredibly long and fun. Anyway, I eventually get to the store with the help of this 4 foot nothing octegenarian running to show me the way to find a great bicycle in all respects but one, It was 10 cm too shot, BUT the seat post length made up for this fact. Anyway, so through very broken engrish translations and miming gesture I get the store clerk to equip a kickstand, and minipump to this 80,300 Yen bicycle. grand total of my purchase....1100-1200 USD (depending on the exchange rate) This is where yelling at my bank comes in.



I had them install a block in my account so that no more than 900 USD can be spent in one day WHILE telling them I'd spend in the 1500 USD range on a bicycle very shortly. So either it was this...or the fact the transfer of 5 bills is still pending into my checking account that held up the transaction. So here I am blogging about of this while hoping that the nice store owner in a beat up part of Fussa honors his word and keeps my goods for me till tomorrow.



The trip back was....unique. Being as interested in other cultures as I am i decide to visit what seemed to be a small shopping center. This is where I encountered the yelling produce.. I see a few vegetable stalls outside so i go to look at what seem to be gene-modified apples. We're talking Granny smith's the size of my head (I'll take a picture when my camera arrives). So i enter the store to see among other things whole frozen fish, and foot long roots straight as an arrow that I can't even place. Then it hit me....the ever present sound of a pitch man wasn't a speaker system, but proximity sensors hidden amongst the daikon. If one enters a 5 foot radius of these sometimes not so hidden sensors they blare at you in rapid japanese the prices of the item, what it is, and other things I can't fully grasp.



To establish communications I sign a new cell phone contract with some company called and i sh** you not 'SoftBank'. The phone is a basic model, call, text, can do pictures, make video calls, scan barcodes, you know normal stuff, all twice the size of my old cell phone. The one thing truly unique about it....the users manual is ONLY in Japanese, so im stuck slowly deciphering what is sometimes a very nearly engrish menu system, and for the life of me I can't locate the 'delete' button when entering a number.



Anyway... After the adventures with produce I stop by a little bakery type place and pick up a riceball with sweet bean paste, after that another bakery and I have a fruit tart, and then I get lost. To sum it up....been up the better part of 24 hours, skipped thursday, got yelled at by vegetables, nearly bought a bike, got a new cell phone that is brick compared to my old one,bitched at my bank, had uniquely japanese food, and got lost. And you'll never believe this...encountered what was at least a 6 foot japanese woman.



This is all on the first day...any time to relax, turn on the TV, and hope the first thing that comes on ISN'T tentacle pron... And here's hoping im the proud owner of a brand new bicycle tomorrow 21 speed road bike here I come....if my bank cooperates.