You will not believe who i ran into

andrew fleury, in japan, what the hell are the odds? we bumped into each other at osaka castle and we were both only in osaka for one day. like seriously, insane. anyway, other than that osaka was pretty lame except it has an awesome aquarium. they had a whale shark. coolest thing ever, and the manta ray was pretty awesome too, i didnt know they were that big. i still wanna go to the aquarium in monteray though.

kyoto was freaking awesome. i went to 8 temples/castles in 2 days and my feet are very sad because of it. i realized i walked over 20 miles in three days, in sandals. anyway nijo castle, the golden pavillion and this path through the mountains with thousands of those red arches on it were the highlights of the trip. i also got bit by a spider or something and my right hand is really itchy and red, suck. everyone should go to kyoto. it is an awesome city. yeah thats about it. i might be coming back to the us early if i can. ill let you know when ill be back when im sure myself.

-Jason

shoot me now..

i manage to turn down free ComicCon tickets...
good news is i get to do more naked ppl drawings!

sigh, hows summer people?

btw when i get back i wanna plan a trip to the aquarium so i just wanna see who's intrested.

-DK

an interesting conversation i had with a bum

the following is what i wrote down after talking to a bum at a street festival, it may not be exactly how it went down but its how i remember it so it should be pretty close, my thoughts are in brackets and actions are **'ed.

Bum: "mumblemumble eyes mumblemumble read mumble able to mumble."
me: "yes" (what the hell did he just say to me and why is a bum talking to me?)
Bum: *incoherent mumbling*
me: "yes" *nod head, this is repeated several times for about a minute*
Bum: mumblemumble?
me: (crap. that was a question) "I dont understand, sorry, my japanese is only ok"
Bum: "mumblemumble I am japanese but mumble" *points to eyes*
me: "I am American"
Bum: "mumblemumble"
me: "yes" *nods my head several times*
Bum: "you see him?" *points to another bum* "hes an idiot." *i laugh* "yes, yes idiot, yes, idiot" *bum laughs kinda crazy like* "mumble mumble"
me: (man this bum smells really bad, there are lots of people around so hes prob not going to attack me but damn he stinks, im gonna go) "otsukaresama" ***
Bum *blank look, pulls booze from unknown location and slips deeper into the realms of drunk*


***note: i dont know what otsukaresama means, so far ive had people say it to me when i would say such things as "hello", "goodbye" , "toast", "thankyou", "please", and "youre welcome" so i just whore it out whenever i wanna be polite and no one seems to mind, very convenient***

anyway i thought that was amusing. i have another convo written down from another festival, ill post that later so that its not a huge post. anyway im going to kyoto this weekend so hopefully ill have a cool story when i get back on mon.

-Jason (i dont have any cool knicknames but feel vaguely compelled to jump on the band wagon to feel like one of the cool kids) glasser

Actually I can read more than titles

I just have to edit from blogger.com, and not actually change anything, which turns out to work out okay.

Anyway, they show the world cup thingies in the theaters here, which I thought was pretty cool. Also, I found a pirated copy of pirates of the carribean - also pretty cool. It seems everyone's summer is going ok...er, that, too, is pretty cool.

Meanwhile, stuff here is totally badass - AND, I was recorded by a cctv camera (cctv is like the government sponsored broadcasting company) while I was in a museum with my cousin. It's kinda hot here - like....30-35 degrees celsius + humid, though not as hot as Japan. On the plus side, popsicle sticks cost 1 RMB, or basically 12.5 cents. BWAHAHAH

Rode on camels and horses in mongolia, which was badass. And dude, my english is totally deteriorating (notice the lack of variety in words), which is not cool.

I dunno what else to mention, there's too much going on. And while it was interesting to think that I could only post and not read, I do enjoy reading everyone's posts.

Anyway, later everyone.
Chris "I have nicknames too" Yap

River Rafting

Anyone up for river rafting this weekend or next?

My parents have given me a key to Tahoe so we could head up there. Rafts are $25 a day per person if you reserve them a day in advance.

Also my mom got two Costco things of Rootbeer, so come on over and make a Rootbeer float.

crazy.

http://blog25.fc2.com/a/artlinks/file/monnalisa.html

crazy...
-DK

haha! go yap! make more videos of china!

i went rock climbing yesterday! it's surprisingly fun. i think i'll go back once my fingers can grip things again.

yap: "it taste like potato chips"

mmm... david hungry....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QElc1cqoUH8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOMiDgQFEMA

-found in yap's facebook, not that i check everyday.....

yap i bow down to you...

My summer

class ends aug 18
class begins sept 11

i just wanna know who's going to be back and for how long. i wanna hit the zoo again, and hopefully this time the birds wont miss michael.

-DK

Too bad Chris Yap can only read the titles

Not like this he's missing much here: http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/07/debauchery_frid.html

ive become addicted to cacao

seriously, they oughta rename the stuff crackao, except then people would prob confuse it for a city in poland famous for its trumpeters (does anybody remember what that book was about? other than a guy who played a trumpet in poland?) yeah its freaking delicious. i looked it up on wikipedia and it just says it the bean chocolate is made from. i wanted to edit it so that it said "fucking delicious" or "bitchin" but i dont think they let that kinda word be posted on wikipedia. anyway i just had to share cus ive been eating these chocolate bars that claim to have extra cacao in them and theyre awesome. that is all.

-Jason

(i feel so lame posting twice in a row, but it was something i had to accept, cacao is that awesome.)

signs can be misleading...

so this weekend i decided to go to the zoo. i decided to do it on the hottest day of the summer so far. that was prob a poor plan. i also forgot my water bottle in my room after i filled it. oops. anyway. the zoo was cool in a i cant read any of the signs kinda way. but a tiger is a tiger and an elephant is an elephant no matter what language the sign telling you that it is a tiger or elephant respectively is written in. anyway taht was cool i took lots of pictures and got very dehydrated. after that i was walking back to the bus stop when i saw a sign "kitakyushu palace 1.1 km->" this sign intrigued me because i was not aware there was a palace in kitakyushu. so what the hell i think, its less than a mile, ill go take a look, it sounds cool.

after walking about a mile and a half i get to thinking that something is not quite right... also i think im about to pass out from heat exhaustion. i track down a vending machine and drain an entire can of energy drink (poccari sweat, sounds gross but actually quite delectable) anyway now feeling a little less dead i trudge on cus goddammit im gonna find this palace. another half mile and i come to a drive way. "kitakyushu palace" the driveway declares itself. i look up at a red brick square building also claiming to be the palace. damn. its a community center/hotel/gallery/something thats def not a palace. anyway taht sucked, a lot. i muttered some profanity and tried to take a short cut back, it wasnt a short cut. i did find a haggen daas ice cream parlor on this not-a-shortcut so that worked out. anyway i went home and drank a 1.5 litters of said energy drink and passed out. next time i think i'll fight the urge to go exploring in ninety-degree weather.

-Jason

Laundered Shirts

I just got my shirts back from the dry cleaners, and, let me tell you, they did a fantastic job. Like, seriously - this is amazing. Washed and ironed to perfection. They look almost brand new. Seriously. Wow. Just...wow.

-chris "all about division of labor" yang

it's brilliant

http://www.worldjumpday.org/

stalin

How to Enjoy Sushi

An absurd look at sushi etiquette: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4946101556303618610

-chris

poor chris yap who can only read titles of posts in the heavily censored country from which my ancestors came

disturbing yet amusing image of the day: my 11 year-old sister and her friend playing dead or alive xtreme beach volleyball. i'm kinda wondering if i should be trying to shield them from the boobies waving in their faces... anyhow. i probably should have put it somewhere where they couldn't have found it.

as for a day in the life of stacy, i've already detailed to you guys some of the exciting calls i get answering the phone lines; i haven't, however, gone in the past couple of days because i have a tonsil infection that hurts like hell and makes me not want to swallow ever. i am currently on amoxicillin and i didn't manage to fall asleep yesterday until 6 am, despite going to bed at a little past midnight. and that was only after i took an advil and dissolved multiple throat numbing drops in my mouth and frantically tried to fall asleep before the numbness wore off. not a fun time... so, yeah, i've been minorly out of it.

i've applied to several menial labor jobs because i realize that volunteering doesn't take up anywhere near enough of my time. i think it's kind of late though :P.

i managed to, via diplomatically worded emails, defuse a potentially bad situation in fencing which might have resulted in a coach being terribly offended and leaving; i even managed to get what the club wanted out of him despite everyone's low expectations for the outcome of the situation. it was pretty complicated. i suppose if anyone's interested in the details you could ask, but i don't think anyone is. seriously, though, it was a delicate situation and i'm quite pleased.

StaLin

chow yung fat is in Pirates of the Caribbean 3!

yeah, my teacher just told me the Disney people just showed him a preview of the movie. and apparently its cool. yeah... but i think my teacher just used that as a wake us up device. anyway back to the blog, Kevin is here and we play 360 daily. um... people should come and visit me, i'll bring u guys to the Korean bbq place. :D

-DK

Somewhat Random Thoughts, and yo Chris, nice to see you're enjoying China

Blatantly ripping off of Chris's post, I have decided to randomly say things also. So here we go:

Being unemployed has its downsides, but for the most part it's been good. My undead priest in WoW is nearing level 30 after three weeks, and I've been chipping away at Castlevania for the DS (which I convieniently left at Nick's house, along with Apples to Apples. Oops). Big Brain Academy has its amusing moments, so I pop that into the DS every once in a while. I also spend time daily debating with myself about the merits of putting only a single space before a sentence when typing. I have always used two spaces between sentences, but most people now seem to use a single space.

I really should unpack my bass. I've been playing piano for the most part, so I haven't really gotten the urge to snag the bass. Speaking of pianos, out of tune pianos bug me. I was at Irving's house and damn was his piano out of tune. Could play wrong notes and it'd sound just about as bad as playing the correct ones. And while I'm bitching about pianos, electric pianos also bug me. They just don't feel right. Sounds okay though, and doesn't have that out of tune problem.

Fourth of July was an interesting day. On the third, Irving suggested that we watch the World Cup game (Germany vs. Italy). He said it was at 8 in the morning, so on morning of the fourth I picked up Mike and went to Irving's house. Ends up the game was at noon, so we watched the Twilight Zone marathon and a Chuck Norris movie until 11:30.

Mike and I then left for Nolan's house for the bbq which started at 10 ("fashionably late", we called it). We got there, but then noticed that no one else was there. So I called Nolan, Nick and Stacy, in that order. First two didn't pick up. Stacy picked up and informed me that the bbq was moved to 1. So to whoever failed to inform me of the time change, screw you and your dog. Mike and I returned to Irving's house to watch the soccer game. During the transit back to Irving's, David Kau showed up at Nolan's and then called me with the exact same question I had for Nolan, Nick and Stacy. I redirected him to Irving's house, and we watched the game til a bit before 2, when it went into overtime.

So then David, Mike and I went to Safeway to pick up the stuff we were told to buy. We then shuffle over to Nolan's house at a bit after 2 (fashionably late, again), just in time to catch the second half of overtime, and to witness Germany's last minute loss to Italy. After the bbq (delicious meat. thanks to Nolan, Alex and Stacy for the food stuffs), we played some pool and then headed home. I guess the plan afterwards was to go with everyone to watch the fireworks, but I ended up spending the evening proof-reading English homework for a person in Korea. Actually, it was the person's brother's English homework. Some sort of script for a skit. I was about Soccer and love. Wacky stuff. So all in all, I got to listen to fireworks while I read about how an idiot of a soccer fan let soccer obsession piss off his wife/girlfriend/ambiguous. I then went to sleep early (11:30 abouts) cause I was tired from waking up at 7.

Wow, I've had a lot more to say about that day than I thought I did. Well, time to see if my economic manipulation of healing potions prices worked.

-tytl

P.S. I tried the DS Lite, and didn't like it. Too light and too small, and I don't like the pasty white color, so about the only improvements that I did like was the screen and stylus upgrades. Huzzah clunky plastic designs! Now to get it back from Nick's house...

Jason + AIM

Jason, do you not have AIM over there?

Random Thoughts

Inspired my Jason's recent stream-of-consciousness post, I have decided to randomly say things. Here we go:

Work is...something. I'm not underworked, like Jason seems to be, nor am I overworked in any capacity. The days are long but not for any particular reason. I'm just there because I have to be. For those that would like to know, I'm doing some silly computer-y, database-y stuff. It wouldn't be too bad, except I'm handling an unwieldy amount of data, which makes each of my tests take like 15 minutes. It's not enough time to really do anything else, but it's definitely long enough to be frustrating.

I hope to obtain a camera, so I can do a "Day in the Life..." thing - you know, pictures of just a regular day. Actually, it'd be awesome if you guys did it, too. I'd love to see your respective foreign countries, Jason and Chris Yap, but really, I'd like to see everybody's days! Come on, break out those cameras!

July 4th was kind of stupid - I sat around the entire night watching Chappelle's Show. Having very few friends around, that's basically the most fun thing I had to do. I could hear the distant thumps of the fireworks (Boston has quite the large Independence Day party, I hear) , but a Chappelle's Show marathon was pretty distracting.

I had a super bizzarre dream the other night. I dreamt I met Kelly Buchanan (feel free to correct me on that spelling there). For those who didn't know her in high school, she was, among other things, the PR person for the Robotics team our freshman year (which is, of course, how I primarily knew her). We actually were in the same Journalism class also, where we had one conversation about Monty Python, Shakespearean sonnets, and her Humorous Interpretation team, that she (most likely jokingly) invited me to join. She came over to my house once to work on a NASA grant application (for Robotics). I never actually talked to her after that, I suppose. She must have graduated or something (I think she was Jake's year).

Anyways, we were in the same Literature analysis class, which is absurd because I would never take a Literature analysis class. We caught up, but in one of those generic movie montage sort of things, but I woke up with a strange desire to actually talk to her. So if anyone knows how to reach Kelly Buchanan, please let me know. It's weird, I know.

It's cooled down quite a bit in the last hour. The weather in New England borders on manic - we alternate between thunderstorms and 90 degree heat. Sometimes it's both. The cool thing about working is that I just have everything just dry-cleaned now, so like, I do very little laundry. Very awesome for me.

Alright, well hope everybody had a good holiday and I hope that you're back up if you've ever been down.

-chris 'say my name, bitch!' yang

P.S. I got a DS Lite. Damn, it's sexy. I also bought New Super Mario Brothers. I hope you realize that Nintendo has managed to sell me a game system so I can play Super Mario like 3 times now? Jesus Christ, they're good at their jobs.

From beyond the China's Great Firewall

Dude, I can't see the posts anymore, so I have no idea if you guys can read this - blogspot.com is censored, but blogger.com is not - so I can get to my setting and add a post, but I can't read it (actually I can by looking into settings, but it sounds cooler and more science-fictiony this way - plus, I can only read the titles, I can't look at the contents).

Anyway, China is SO COOL. There's like stuff, and more stuff. There's also different stuff. And the best part is, none of it costs any money in US dollars, they use this funny money called "RMB" that you can get like monopoly money in exchange for US dollars.

Dunno what else to say, but figured I'd drop you guys a line and let you know that I am still okay.

The man pointing his gun at me insists that I type this:
LONG LIVE THE PRC

boredom leads to weird thoughts

i thought id give a brief account of some of the things that cross my mind while i stare at my computer screen twiddling my pen trying to look busy when i havent been given any work.

i wonder what i would look like with a shaved head. i wonder what chris (yang) would like with a shaved head. maybe i should shave chris`s head when hes not looking. wait hes in boston and im in japan, damn, some other time. if i shaved david`s (kau) head and called him buddha would people worship him? was that thought rascist? i should go find mr. clark and kick his ass for calling me a rascist in 6th grade, what a dick. i wonder why so many of my friends have the same name. whats up with that? 4 chriss (yang, yap, wang, chang) 2 davids (kau, zhang) 3 michaels (lin, lin, germeraad). thats weird. why is weird spelled with an e before the i, that is weird too. damn i really want a steak, or a burrito, i freakin love burittos.

yeah that was just a small portion of my thoughts. i wonder if putting down in writing that i was considering kicking mr clarks ass on the internet was bad. well just as a disclaimer, mr clark i mean you no ill will, you are a dick for calling me a rascist in 6th grade when i said i could not tell the differecne between a chinese person, a korean person, and a japanese person just by looking at them. i would also venture to say that i could not determine if a person was british, german, or american just by looking at them so stick that up your pompous ass. for the rest of you, yeah i really dont like mr clark. anyway. back to my deep thoughts. and mcsweeneys internet tendency which as chris claimed is indeed hilarious. hmmm i wonder why im so long winded, i prob just like to hear my own... type? o well. as they say in the city of Dis, peace out.

-Jason

silly dk

ok, i will be more specific. i am available *late* saturday night. but we should do monday! monday's happy. yeah, where is everybody?

stalin