I found another great archive of posts from Iraq by one of our soldiers (now back home):
Citizen Frank: The War Book
Month: December 2004
Ben Gay, Astro-Glide, etc.
To the Big Ho: I agree that neither Ben Gay nor Tiger Balm is good for the “Nardic Sack” in winter, but there’s no need to have it sent from the states; they sell it in Namdaemun (see center area of pic).
Update: Which is not to say it’s particularly good at other times of the year or anything.
Infamy
Many Japanese remember Pearl Harbor differently:
Pearl Harbor Part 1
Pearl Harbor Part 2
Then again, I remember a walk in the park back in high school. December 7th. Fountain Valley, CA. An old white guy approached me and said I should be “ashamed to walk outside today.” To be truthful, I had no idea what he was talking about until he started talking about “sneaky Japs,” and got in my face about “what my country did.” Then I remembered what day it was.
I remember wanting to smack him down for a brief second, but turned away in disgust. That’s how December 7 got burned in my memory for all time – some racist nutfuck branded it there.
Insomniatique
Sometimes, late at night, I swear the internet is speaking to itself.
Salaryman’s Tip of the Day 12/3/2004
One sad fact of business on a salaryman level is that an inexperienced vendor is infinitely preferable to an inexperienced client – you can always slap down a vendor, and the inexperienced ones often come back for more. Plus, slapping makes them tougher. A tough vendor is your best ally during a 15-year long economic depression.
Stupid Fucking Gaijin, et al
Discriminating against an odiferous goatfucking porch monkey penis-eating gaijin shithead isn’t illegal in Japan… But you should sue the fuckers for doing it to you anyway! So sez Debito:
Get on their case
For those that don’t have the million yen or two to spare on litigation, I offer a more cost-effective solution (all major credit cards accepted):
NINJA FOR HIRE
(Link via NichiNichi)
Half-Life 2 Deathmatch
For all of you 1337 game critics who knocked HL2 for no multiplayer functionality:
G0RD0N FR33M4N 0NZ J00!
Past its prime
This would make a good Bat-van, with a few modifications. Impressive as its custom fender and rear wing are, this abductor van is greatly in need of a wash and wax.
Monkeys & Teak
There was a post on Mefi today that got me to thinking about zines. I’ve been in Japan for over 10 years so my access to them has basically been whatever my brother sent me, as well as a few I managed to pick up on trips back home, but… I think I’ve always harbored a desire to start a zine. I came close to almost starting some type of project a couple times back in high school, but pretty much gave up after having an article on my grandfather’s internment during WWII published by the LA Times. For a nerdy teenager, it felt like the apex of my writing, quite frankly. So I never gave it much thought after that, until quite recently.
You see, blogging partially fills the void that I think publishing a zine or tackling a more demanding project does, so for the time being, it is sufficient. I just don’t have the time to take on any more creative pursuits right now. Blogging is good in this respect. I can sit down at the computer, which I’m often on anyways, and bang out whatever’s on my mind (hence the name of this blog). Blogging doesn’t take as much effort, most of the time, than it does to publish on other mediums. I, as a salaryman, am extremely thankful for it.
However, I find myself thinking about what I will do when I move to Thailand, and the possibilities that will open for me there. At this point in time, I have no solid plans at all (although I do have a strong desire to create an army of monkeys and a teak forest, among other things). There may very well be a stretch of time there for me to get really creative. I am getting excited just bullshitting about this here… And I forget what I originally wanted to say. And now I have to run off to a meeting.
Last thought: I think I could make a good run at creating a succesful zine just for the Khaosan road, however, I would probably get sick of covering that death trap reeeeal quick.