It’s been a year and five months since I’ve had a substantial amount of time off from work, and it feels like it. Usually, I put a lot of thought and effort into my job, but it seems like the pace and load of my duties and responsibilities started to really gain steam, finally coming to rest five hours ago. It feels good to be able to leave all of that stuff behind, at least for a couple of weeks.
In two days from now, I will be in Hawaii. That plan seems so abstract right now, like a faded poster hanging in an ancient travel agency, complete with palm trees, surfboards, and tikis framing a faded blue wave crashing against the washed out white sand.
I plan to spend a lot of time in the water, to take a lot of pictures, to go exploring, to go hiking, to meet cool and unusual people, to appreciate the culinary versatility of Spam, to breath slowly and deeply, to enjoy a drink whenever offered, to poke around in the jungle, to crack open a coconut, to drink pineapple juice out of a fountain, to unwittingly start picking up pidgin, to get rid of my farmer’s tan, to go everywhere in flip flops and short-sleeved shirts, to wake up rested and refreshed, to experience excitement and not too much pain or injury, to jump over or off of objects and document the results, to seek out strange, beautiful, and horrifying organisms, to get lost and then find my way again, to forget what day it is, to fall asleep on the beach in the afternoon under the shade of a few palm trees, to hear and make some good stories, to run into friends randomly, to read a good book during the times I’m waiting for something, to stop frequently along the way to take in the beautiful sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures, and to add more things to this list.
For me, this vacation will really start the second that the rear landing wheels leave the runway pavement. Only then will I know that, barring some freak emergency, I have left my work life behind where it belongs. I imagine, in this situation, that I know how a crab, who has outgrown its rigid carapace and sheds it to grow larger, feels.
My mind is currently fogged from fatigue, and I have to say, in this state I am really enjoying the anticipation of going on vacation. Ah, good stuff.

I thought these guys disappeared!

I had two very vexing dreams in succession yesterday.
In the first dream, I was talking with my little sister in her room, when she started screaming. I turned around, and saw a baby turkey-like bird walking past the cracked door followed by a larger one. I got a pet carrier and quickly put them into it. Then I saw a pair of hands place three kittens and what looked like their mother through the front door to our house. They ran upstairs into my sister’s room.
The birds started screaming, so I ran to check them out and found my cat inside trying to eat them. It took a long time to shake Boo out of the pet carrier, and he looked pissed off when I finally got him out. He didn’t like me taking away his meal. I heard mewing coming from my sister’s room.
I opened the door and saw the three kittens’ heads poking through the blankets piled up in the corner of the room, followed by a blur of something charging. I picked up the nearest item to fend it off. When it got up close, it turned out to be a badger. It was really pissed off and trying to bite me. Almost miraculously, I was able to knock it away time and time again using an ordinary pillow! At this point I woke up.
I quickly fell asleep again, finding myself in a really boring meeting at work. I was talking about all of the things that needed to be fixed with my boss, and the talk was dragging on. Suffice to say, I was pissed off when I woke up for the second time, and then relieved to be rid of that particular dream once I realized what was going on.
I know that I dream regularly, but I rarely remember them by the time I get out of bed. In this case, I know why I had both dreams and what they mean. My mom had left the dogs over, and they woke me up with their barking, which disturbed my sleep (messing with my sleep is usually something that will make me unhappy). The second one happened because work has been really stressful lately.
I much prefer wacky dreams, even if I am getting attacked by crazy animals. Even if they are scary and I wake up with a quickly beating heart, I’ll take “fight or flight” dreams over the ones where the mundane parts of my life follow me into the sleep world every time.

Unplugged Solo – video powered by Metacafe
Now, where’s the Asian Jack Black at?

*Bonus Video**Uniqlo Bonus*

If you are looking for a scary story, you need look no further than this Vanity Fair article on Monsanto.
Monsanto is the archetypal evil organization who looks to extract wealth, despite the costs imposed on society, nature, or anything else that gets in its way. We’ve seen these types of cold, efficient operations in stories such as Star Wars, James Bond, Lord of the Rings, and countless other “good vs. evil” sagas.
Can life turn out like a Hollywood movie? Who will be the hero who, despite all of the overwhelming challenges, vanquishes this seemingly-invincible foe? Or will this juggernaut simply steamroll anyone who gets in its way and make us all its bitches?
Beware of any company that inserts a gene into an organism and names it after a relentless killer cyborg from an apocalyptic future that travels back in time to wipe out the human race. It’s almost as if Monsanto is giving us the finger as we mindlessly throw money their way.

This video reminds me of the wonderful things that my brother and I have cooked over a few drinks.

They live in the colder waters of the Pacific Ocean, and most of the research on them thus far has been done by Russian scientists. Their pectoral fins have been modified into a sucker that allows them to chill out and hang on to stuff. They have the ability to change color, and look like a cross between a sculpin and a puffer fish. Other than that, not much is known about these small, orb-shaped fish.
Behold, the mighty lumpsucker!

Google already has an April prank posted as a fake new Gmail feature, even though it’s still March 31st:
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html
Oh Google, you can do better than that…
(Don’t mind the time stamp on this entry, for all entries are posted on Japan time)