Justin, I have one-upped the story that you linked to.
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With the support and encouragement of my family, I’ve moved to Monterey after accepting a position with the aquarium. Though I’d ideally like to live in Southern California, I can’t complain about living up here- the possibilities for hiking, diving, fishing, and other activities are more plentiful than I could have hoped for. They even have jiu-jitsu up here!
One thing is for certain: I am glad that I didn’t have to take any of the jobs that I was offered in Orange County. With the exception of teaching sailing, I wasn’t having much luck finding a job that I wanted to do. All of the jobs that I was offered where I could use Japanese left much to be desired.
Instead of making a pitiful amount of money, spending a few hours a day stuck in L.A. traffic, and working insane hours for a Japanese corporation, I’m going to be doing something that I want to do for a living and during my leisure time. I realize that most people are not lucky enough to get to pick and choose what they want to do, and am very grateful for the opportunity.
Life just seems so unreal sometimes. As soon as I’ve ended one leg of my “career”, another one starts in a different place. I still don’t feel like the adventure that I embarked on when I left for college has really ended.
It’s cool to see what you end up with if you are always on the move. It turns out, in my case, that I don’t need a lot to be content- clothing, a camera, some books, music, computer stuff, sports equipment, assorted tools, and my camera can all be fit into a few suitcases, and are all that I need.
Posting might be light for a while, since I’m still in transition. While I’m getting started up here, I think I’ll buy a new computer. What a great excuse to get something that I have really wanted, as I’ve been without my own computer since I left Osaka! Hmmmn… What to get?

I just started watching Robot Chicken, and I like it.

Mark is referenced in the St. Louis Post in an article about the Hash House Harriers. My question: why did they omit the “ass” and keep the “Disco”? You can’t have the Disco without the ass!
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This sign reminds me of the opening to Happy Gilmore. I love the signs in Japan!

On Sunday, I went for a walk by the beach, where the Santa Ana River drains into the Pacific Ocean. I hesitate to call this place a delta, because this river, the victim of massive amounts of concrete and man’s will to use every inch of real estate in So Cal, is severely channelized and is is really just a massive rain gutter. As I was walking by, this area really started to remind me of the Yodogawa.
The following pictures, on the top of the bodies of text, are those of the Talbert Marsh (Huntington Beach) area, and those on the bottom are of the Yodogawa (in Osaka).
Input/Output

North of the river, the Talbert marsh is flanked by a sewage treatment (I’m guessing this because of the smell) or some sort of wastewater treatment facility.
The Yodogawa doesn’t stink, but I wouldn’t eat any fish I caught out of it, nor would I go swimming in that water. That being said, the residents of Osaka depend on the Yodogawa as a water supply. This is one place in Japan where water does not taste good straight from the tap.

Life by the River

There is a whole community living in improvised housing next to the Yodogawa, and the trailer park on the Newport/Huntington Beach border have a similar appearance. A key difference would be that the people living in Newport are paying (and I bet rent isn’t really that cheap, relative to other trailer parks), but the community living across from the Osaka side of the Yodogawa are very resourceful homeless people.

Waterfront Property

Another thing that these two groups of people share is that they both live in an area with a fantastic view. These wetlands provide a home for people and for a great assortment of birds.

Invisible People

There are homeless in both places, but not so much in Newport Beach. In both cases, I found their makeshift houses under the bridge, and out of view of the public eye.

Juxtaposition

Concrete, asphalt, and rusted iron girders don’t blend into their beautiful surroundings. These are the places that people explore and fewer have to depend on for shelter. It must get cold during the winter time, especially along the Yodogawa. Where do they go when it floods?

Boundaries

In this one block of Newport, the Pacific Coast Highway divides the wealthier from the trailer park. You can see that the people who live next to the beach have a glass wall that blocks the noise, while the trailer park has little to mitigate their situation (the top of low brick wall is at street level).
The Yodogawa is the border that separates the more upscale Umeda from the seedier Yodogawa-ku, across the river. I liked to spend time on both sides- Fireworks, house parties, and festivals were more fun on the Yodogawa-ku side, while Umeda offered more places to shop, eat, and go out with friends.

Cat and Spanky are waiting to be fed, be it toes or avocados.

Here’s Spanky, pictured after eating half of an avocado. They also like guavas.

I used to play video games regularly up until a few years back. For some reason, playing video games just stopped being something I wanted to do on a regular occasion, but if I need to get my Half Life fix without going through the hassle of installing it on my computer, I think I’ll drop by this site: link

I caught a cold that prevented me from eating a proper Thanksgiving for the 4th year in a row, and I plan on nuking it.
Today I kept warm, making sure to dress in layers and stay in blankets. I drank a few liters of tea with honey (an antibacterial substance used by ancient people to treat infections, and more recently gaining popularity in modern medicine), and soup with a metric buttload of garlic. I’ve been taking vitamin C with a bunch of other supplements, along with Cold-Eeze lozenges and Theraflu – Nighttime Severe Cold. Just to be safe, I’m going to bed early tonight. With any hope, I will have obliterated this bastard by tomorrow morning.
I don’t care that Thanksgiving is past, I refuse to wait another full year to enjoy my own Thanksgiving. As soon as I’m well, I’m getting myself the turkey, yams, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, pie, and other foods that I’ve been waiting so long to eat.
BTW, the Theraflu tastes rather unpleasant, so I will not be happy if I don’t see results…
Update: It’s still with me, but I am seeing immediate results with a secret weapon- pizza topped with crushed garlic.
I am topping each slice of pizza with at least one large clove of pressed garlic, and toasting it in the oven. It immediately cleared up my nasal passages, and has given me awesome breath! It has the added benefit of tasting really good (my brother and I discovered this almost unheard of topping on a trip back to Huntington Beach when we were searching for the best pizza a few years back).