• KaZantip 2011: Black Sea Paradise

    KaZantip 2011: Black Sea Paradise

    Warning: This post contains a few NSFW photos. View only in good company 🙂 The Republic of KaZantip, the legendary Eastern European Shangri La of parties, lasts for just one month a year in a […]

  • Dare to Dream

    Dare to Dream

    Somewhere around six months ago, I was sitting in my apartment talking on the phone with my mom. From just outside my window I could hear Buddhist monks chanting at Ninnaji, an enormous wooden temple […]

  • Long Walk Down a Longer Road

    Long Walk Down a Longer Road

    Peder and I left our pousada in Trancoso and started out for our day’s 30 km walk at around 11am. The plan was to follow the coast all the way to Arraial d’Ajuda, a neighboring […]

  • Magnificent Petra

    Magnificent Petra

    At long last, I made it to Petra. Petra is a place that’s intrigued me since before I even knew its name – since I first saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a […]

  • The Mega Trip Part 9 (The Great Wall)

    The Mega Trip Part 9 (The Great Wall)

    With the land-based portion of my adventure through China nearly over, I realized that I was still missing a significant piece of what I wanted to see before returning to Japan. Kung Fu. So, after […]

  • A Different World

    A Different World

    Ladies and gentlemen, I’m pleased to announce that this post officially marks the first time in almost two years that I’m actually writing about the country I’m in! Welcome, at long last, to Cambodia 😀

I was last seen 5 months ago in Los Angeles, .

A Month in America

 Public, USA  8 Responses »
Jan 132008
 
Merry Christmas! (Sorry about the image quality…my parents’ camera settings were wrong that day, unfortunately) Merry Christmas!
(Sorry about the image quality…my parents’ camera settings were wrong that day, unfortunately)

One of the decisions I’ve been struggling with lately is whether or not to bring my laptop to Brazil. Traveling for a month without the ability to backup photos, post blog articles, and respond to e-mails would be very inconvenient. But the level of crime down there isn’t exactly a big international secret; in fact, of the four people I know who’ve gone backpacking in Brazil, two have been robbed at gunpoint, one at knifepoint, and only one was never robbed at all. A $2000 laptop isn’t something I’m particularly interested in losing.

My first idea was to buy a nice travel insurance package, but after many hours of research I realized that wouldn’t be a possibility. The best I could find was a $200 single-trip policy that’ll cover several thousand dollars of loss…with a per-item maximum of $125, all electronics excluded. Gee, thanks. I’m sure glad I bothered to read all the fine print. Pretty pathetic when compared to the Norwegian, UK, and Thai policies I found that cover any theft up to $3000 with no restrictions.
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RF2K7 (VIDEO)

 Japan, Public  5 Responses »
Dec 212007
 
Oh dear. Oh dear.

Two years ago, RitsFest absolutely blew my mind. If you weren’t yet reading my blog at that time, I highly suggest giving this post a look.

I got so pumped from the sheer energy of the two-day campus-wide festival that I resolved never to miss another RitsFest for as long as I lived in Kyoto.

Then the following year it got rained out.

The fun and active crowds were replaced by a hodgepodge of poncho-clad students who seemed more concerned with keeping warm and dry than actually taking part in the festivities. It was a sad, sad day for Justin.

Wait a minute, we’re not in that club…! Wait a minute, we’re not in that club…!

This year, however, the festival returned in full force, and Peder and I were right there to greet it with open arms. It turned out to be such a great two days of live music, jumping into group photos, making friends, and chowing down on various food offerings that we even decided to check out EVE, Doshisha’s ć­Šćœ’ç„­ as well.
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AKB48 Media

 Japan, Public  2 Responses »
Dec 192007
 
An army of nerds arrives at the crack of dawn, powers up their Nintendo DS’s, and prepares for the long wait that lie ahead. An army of nerds arrives at the crack of dawn, powers up their Nintendo DS’s, and prepares for the long wait that lie ahead.

After reading Josh’s post on the disturbing otaku underworld of AKB48 worshipers, I resolved to witness the circus firsthand on my next visit to Tokyo. So when I heard that I’d have the opportunity to accompany Felicia on her business trip this April I shot him an e-mail almost immediately.

The entrance to the AKB48 theater. Japan’s most sophisticated show? I truly hope not… The entrance to the AKB48 theater. Japan’s most sophisticated show? I truly hope not…

And as luck would have it, the man just happened to be taking an out-of-town friend to a show on the precise morning that I’d be available. We exchanged contact information and met up sometime around 6am that Sunday morning.

Thank god he was there to hold my place in line, because after coming straight from an all-night club with Eli it took about thirty seconds for me to fall asleep from exhaustion right outside of Akiba Don Quixote.
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AKB48

 Japan, Public  9 Responses »
Nov 222007
 

I first heard about AKB48 from this Sushicam article written by a guest-author by the name of Josh. Since Josh is a fantastic writer, I’m still trying to catch up on my posts, and there’s no use in re-inventing the wheel, I’ll let him describe this bizarro-world of Japanese otaku that I happened upon one quiet April morning in Tokyo… Continue reading »

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