I'm not dead. I just kinda shifted my focus to facebook, since all my pals are forced to read whatever I write.



"There is no IRL, just AFK."

"We are Anonymous. None of us is just as powerful as all of us; and we are never, never, never your personal army." -Anonymous

"Dear Swiftblade, how do I nazo nazo?"

Swiftblade is back to write about Japan.

Japan is an incredible place despite the fact that it is not too different from America in terms of how it is run. It is hard to describe Tokyo in itself. Tokyo and Japan are two different entities, yet Tokyo is so large, so famous, and contains such a large portion of the population that the two are often though of as one. For the rest of this Note, Swiftblade will refer to Tokyo as Japan and vice versa.

There's something that makes Japan such a nice place; the first being TRANSITION. Remember that word. The Japanese are masters of the art of transition. Every single thing they build, organize, and make, are made for transition. Little things like the doors, the products, the trains, everything is just so transitory it feels weird. I'm used to have to kicking things to make them work, to step over that giant crack in the sidewalk, but nothing.

Vending machines every 100 feet is pure brilliance. I am never thirsty. Trains go everywhere. There's walking space for every pedestrian. There are millions of businesses all stacked upon each other that make customer service their primary goal. For all I know, they could absolutely despise their job but never show it. That is why I always try to be sincerely polite and helpful, because for all I know they could be cursing the very air I breathe behind my back. This worries me.

I don't like forcing the Japanese to speak English to converse with me because it reminds me of back home where my government is forcing all my teachers to speak Spanish. Absolute bullcrap, so I use Japanese whenever I can, and request for them to speak it as well. No culture should ever have to bend over backwards for tourists. It works rather well for learning. Asking for directions is easy, and words I don't know I simply request the meanings to. Come to America, learn English. Go to Japan, learn Japanese. China, France, etc.

Japan is fun in unique ways. For starters, no space is wasted. Tokyo is a tight place. So a 12-story office building will have 12 different businesses in it, not just one. The really big (REALLY big) businesses like Yodabashi Camera will have entire buildings for themselves, and each floor will have different services for customers. Not only that, basement floors are heavily used. A manga(comic) store I visited today was 5 floors underground and had more manga than a Barnes and Noble had books. That is frightening. Not to mention I nearly wandered into the yaoi doujinshi section... yeah.

I stayed in what is known as a Capsule Hotel in my first day because I couldn't get to the offices of my place before their closing time. For those of you who don't know what a capsule hotel is, go here.
For those who want to see my room, my photo albums are on facebook anyway.

I don't know why the people often assume the Japanese are mechanical and uncreative. I've seen more fashion statements and uniqueness in Harajuku and Shinjuku in three days than ill probably ever see anywhere else; kinda weird fashions, but they are there. Also, people in Japan do have senses of humor, believe it or not. Even the old business dudes laugh around. I think the rules for Japan are the same rules for America. As long as people have something to be happy about, they'll be happy. All there is to it. I can't tell if they are thinking something horrible, but if they are simply doing good things, that is good enough for me.

(Don't come to Japan without learning Japanese first. It's rude, as though you are not even making an effort to communicate properly even though you have the means to.)

~Swiftblade

"There's an incredible amount of energy in Japan and increasingly in China." -Vinton Cerf

Unfortunately TeamServe rejected my application saying that all their spots were full for the Japan missions. Then, I attempted to contact WLE (World Link Exchange) for their 8-week trip to Japan whose deadline I had missed. I called and they said the most depressing thing; that they were accepting late applications but all their spots were full. So finally after scouring the net I found a rolling-admissions Center for Study Abroad. If all goes well (which it should) I should be leaving on July 6.

By the way, I think THIS MACHINE is the smartest idea in the world.

The only problem is housing. My parents do not want to pay 250$ a week to stay with a host family. I don't mind staying in a guest room at Sakura House for 400$ a month, but I don't know how reliable it is or how far away it is from the school(they didn't give me the address yet).

It will take place in Tokyo, so it shouldn't be boring, despite the 3-hour Japanese class every morning. I'm just worried that i'll get lost on the subway.

So, uh, wish me luck.

~Swiftblade

"Nothing risked, nothing gained; or lost."

So I flipped over a new leaf today and decided to try out the xanga themes application. I think I like it... we will see what happens. I hate conformity, though. I've always prided myself that I never relied on code to build my page.

So I want to extend a question to you guys. Do you see a really annoying light blue ad every time you visit my page? That ugly retirement home blue? If you do, I will change it back.

One of my biggest beef with xanga is that it must have ads on every person's blog; it's nasty, it interferes with the color, etc. And this stupid Premium service is the only way to get rid of it. That's retarded.

So comment.

-Nate

QUOTE: "Republicans have a history of being anti-war." -Ron Paul

I've been watching some news lately, which I don't usually do anymore because I can finally see current media for the thing that it is; completely manipulated by government and celebrities. Terrible, when America must turn to Comedy Central to find the real version of their news. I'm not criticizing The Daily Show or the Colbert Report (I love these shows) I just wish I could trust my current media enough so that those shows wouldn't be my sole source of news receiving (well, that, and Digg)

After a little while, though, I began to notice a particular candidate, Ron Paul, who seemed to stand out from the rest of the candidates as an honest speaker. A lot of what he said ran true; he quoted specific sources such as the 9/11 Commission Report and the CIA and didn't use simple rhetoric to sway the crowd, unlike the rest of the candidates (Mitt Romney: Double Guantanamo, uh huh. And the Jack Bauer guy. Sheesh)

I'll be watching Ron Paul, but here's the interesting thing. Paul is up at the top of every YouTube's list, he is winning every online poll that FOX doesn't fix, and he is gaining a lot of attention despite CNN's Obama card and FOX's Giuliani card. That being said, this may be the first candidate that could win through the internet alone.



I know that a lot of people say that America is beyond saving, and that we have already lost so much that to fix all of the nasty mistakes that our government has made, such as the removal of habeas corpus, the ability for the President to overcome the Legislative and Judicial branches of government in times of "emergency," our lost respect from every international view, etc.

Less power to the central government, more to the states.

Powerful security, but maintaining freedom.

Go get them, Paul.



JAPANESE TERM OF THE DAY: "neko & inu" ::: cats and dogs

~Swiftblade