Christianity vs Scientology--A Rocketboom Video Production

As brought to you by Amanda Congdon

If you don't know who Amanda is, click on the above picture and you will get about a 3 minute video from Rocketboom. Rocketboom is a "vlog" that has a 3 minutes clip each day that usually covers wired news, web sites, social comentaries, and off the wall skits.

Amanda was the host until sometime earlier this week when either she got fired or quit (it is in dispute). The new host is ok but still new. I suggest you look through the archives.

For sure click on the pic at top of this entry. Altho this entry wasn't wired-related, it is pretty funny! "It's an interesting approach. Oddly Marketable."

I like the webcam and pizza data show. I am sure Mike will like Chris Christmas Rodriguez and this pulp. This Ghetto Mario is for Milo.

Photobucket Now Ready

I have organized my photo storage site that I use to post pictures on this blog. Not all of the links in this blog are fixed, but you can view my photobucket site here.

Each of the blue titles are a folder you can browse. I even have a `vids` folder with two videos I have uploaded. Nothing exciting yet, I was just testing the video feature. It takes much longer to upload videos then it does to download them.

And finally, here is a misc picture of toe socks for your amusement.

I Wonder Where the Restroom Is...

For all of us non-Japanese speakers, they sure made their signs easy to read. I am sorry for all the potty jokes, but with this kind of material what am I supposed to do?!

Squatters

The infamous squatter! The bathroom is so little I could not hide my shoe. At least they have a little metal basket for all you smokers out there.

Japanese Elevator vs American Walmart Greeters?

I think I like Japanese Elevator Greeters better!

Bare With Me

Or is it `bear?`

Anyway, I am at the net cafe trying to organize my photobucket account before it gets out of hand. This will break my photo links for who knows how long, but in the long run it is the right thing to do.

An Affair with Toilets

When I first sit down on the toilet at Hiro-chan's home, it makes a little whirr of anticipation. No joking. It is weird. I look over to where the toilet paper is and there is also a little box that looks suspiciously like the sprinkler controls at my momﾕs house. In essence that is what the box is.

It is true, all the houses in Japan have smart toilets that wash you, dry you, and auto-flush. Maybe not all toilets, but enough to warrant the reputation. In fact, toilets in Japan fall into the full range of expectation--from the unbelievable to the enviable.

What is there to envy beyond the controls and noises? How about the how the toilet keeps itﾕs seat warm 24/7? The unbelievable toilets are the public squatters where you are required to bring your own toilet tissue. Talk about uncomfortable! And yes, that is squatter--as in a hole in the the ground you squat over to relieve yourself. I am always worried something will fall into my pants.

Back to the enviable; I have not dared to push any buttons yet. The last thing I want my in-laws to see is me away from the pot with a stream of water shooting up my back as I am hopping back to the toilet after calling for help because it wonﾕt turn off. No thank you!



**Here is a little cultural fact for all you Jeopardy players. Apparently it is shameful for someone to hear you urinate (I am thinking this only applies to girls), so a long time ago girls used to flush twice in order to drown out the "peeing" sound. Japan is not a country of waste; now the public toilets are equipped with a button that starts a sound like flushing water. Only it is really loud so that it drowns out the sound of the person using the restroom.

Picture Problems

I signed up for a site called Photobucket. I am linking my ics from that site, but I have been having some problems of some of my thumbs not linking to the bigger picture. If you would like to see them, you can visiti my photobucket site here.

One of these days I will have real blogging skills. Until then, sorry.

Picnic Bread Shrine

Day 6 June 5th, Monday





In the morning I went to the uncles home to do internet. I first helped him move some boxes of produce to sell at the market. At around 11:00 we went hiking up a little hill in-between Tachiarai and Ogoori that turned out to be very steep to have a picnic. The hike up had many stairs, but we had brought the stroller. I carried the stroller and Hiroko took Toshi.

Their family was very happy to spend time together. At the top we had a Japanese picnic of radish, apples, rice balls, cantaloupe Jell-O, and fake fish bars. We took a different route down that was quite scenic. It was a longer walk but we could use the stroller and it was very beautiful.

After lunch we went Akizuki which is a little town where it is illegal to remodel with western style architecture. It is very old. Toyotoshi took us to a famous little bread shop. He spent $14 on fresh bread. It was yummy tho. We then went to a shrine that Hirokoﾕs family goes to often. Hiroko use to play by they shrine as a kid.



After that we stopped at a parking lot and walked through an old district that used to be a Shogunﾕs Palace. The castle is long gone, but there was a nice stroll through a lane of cherry blossoms (not in bloom) and overpriced shops.

We continued the walk to my favorite shrine hidden in a forrest. On the way there we saw wild raspberries and ate them.





I went to that/this shrine when we had a Japanese reception. At that time we could go in and see original bullet holes from the Christian wars. It was closed, but we could walk along the ground.

On the way back to the car Toyotoshi, Hiroko, and I explored the ruined grounds of the palace some. There was not even a foundation left, but there were little statues from that era and a middle school built where the castle used to be.
Before we went home, we stopped at Hirokoﾕs favorite restaurant The Ringer Hut. We had noodles and dumplings. At home I was so tired I crashed until morning. I am not sure what everyone else did.

Farming and Flowers

Day 5 June 4th, Saturday

I took a little stroll by myself this morning. We had breakfast when I got back. Bajang took Toshi for a walk during breakfast. Toshi sat on her support stroller. I was worried about them, but Hiro-chan assured me that the whole town is nice.

They have all been neighbors for decades. No one moves in Japan unless they move because of marriage where they never divorce or a job which they never leave. Until Hiroko came to America, she lived in this house her entire life. Her Grandma has lived here her entire life.
During the walk Toshi jumped out the ﾒgrandma strollerﾓ and ran to a dog. Grandma was frantic because she could not catch up to him. A neighbor brought him home. Hiroko and I went and got grandmaﾕs stroller.

We spent some time at Hirokoﾕs familyﾕs farm. Hiroko and her mom scattered manure, her dad plowed with a tractor, grandma uprooted green pea plants, and Toshi and I picked peas off of the uprooted plants. All the neighbors seemed to be working on their respective farms.
We came home and had lunch. Naoko took Toshi to her neighborsﾕ house so Toshi could play with their kids. Toshi came back happy.

Everyone took a Sunday afternoon nap. Afterwards Naoko took Hiroko, Toshi, and me to a Shrine in Amagi and a Flower Garden. The Flower Garden consisted of a huge field filled with pink and red flowers. It is in the shadow of a Kirin Beer factory. The flower place is called ﾒBeer Farmﾓ and is financed by the company.

On the way home we stopped at a market and then at Toyotoshiﾕs little brotherﾕs family. A market girl loved Toshi. Naoko wanted to show off Toshi to her relatives.

I found out they (Hiroko's Uncleﾕs family) have internet access. He disinvited Naoko (in good humor) and Hiroko, Toshi, and I had dinner with Him, his wife, their daughter, and her boyfriend. He wanted me to drink with him soooo bad. Hiroko wanted me not to just as bad. I will leave it at that. :P

After they served us fried meat with sauce and fresh garlic and I checked my e-mail, we walked home. They live less then a 5 minute walk from Hirokoﾕs home.

When we got home we got ready for a family walk (tradition), We left Toshi with Fukuko (Hirokoﾕs sister) and went on an hour walk. On the way home we saw Fukuko and Toshi. Apparently Toshi cried a lot after we left and went looking for us. Fukuko followed him out where we found them.

Cows Raman Walk

Day 4June 3rd, Saturday

This morning I woke up very early. Hiroko was so tired and she needed to sleep. I took Toshi on a walk to practice walking to the train station. When we got back, we played blocks and spent some good daddy-son time together. After Hiro-chan woke up, we had our typical breakfast. I am not sure I will like fast food when I get home.

We had an easy morning. I went on a walk with Naoko and Toshi to go see some cows. For some reason the cows bothered Toshi. He would not look at the cows and looked really sad. When we left he waved goodbye at the cows behind his back.

Hiro-chanﾕs sister Fukuko took us to Ichimi Raman in Kitano city for lunch. It was really good. We get to tell them how spicy we like it and how hard we want the noodles. The store was in a little neighborhood.
Fukuko dropped me off at the train station so I could go to Kurume to go to the internet cafe. She, Hiroko, and Toshi went to go shopping at a used book store in another city.

An older man stopped me and wanted to practice English while I was eating bread from a shop at Kurume station. I think he was either very lonely or a little mentally ill. Maybe both.
I forgot where the cafe was, so I walked around the station. Eventually I found it. I was able to update my blog and shoot off some e-mails. I took the train back to Hirokoﾕs town. I walked the 20 minutes to her home and we all had dinner. It was stir fry noodles and squid.

Naoko tried to feed me a whole squid...but I was full. We went on a walk as a family--Hiro-chan, Toyotoshi, Naoko, and me. Toshi was asleep and we left him with grandma. Hirokoﾕs parents REALLY had a good time.

They leave at exactly 8:30 every night for their walk. They really missed walking with Hiroko. They do two huge laps around their neighborhood--it takes about an hour. Hiroko and I only did a little more then a lap before we went home. We didnﾕt want to overdo it.
Life is good.

About Frogs and Gods

The coolest place I have visited (so far) was the frog shrine. I took about 120 pictures there. It is nestled in a suburb in Ogoori. One minute you are on a road, the next you enter the shrine.

Shrine is a deceptive word. It is more like a park. You walk in and there are rows of little stone frogs along a wall greeting you. People leave money on them for good luck. There is some green bushes on your side. As you go further along the path you start to encounter LARGE statues of Gods and Frogs. Some are angry, some are funny (to me).

You turn and are in a densly wooded area. There are statues both big and little in all the green. You go through woods and find different shrines. We went in three of them. It feels like you are in a whole new world. You can go into the shrines.

There are bells to ring, incense to burn, and even some trinkets to buy. The funny thing is that there are not workers that you ever see. In the area where you buy frog trinkets, it is done on the honor system. You take what you want and leave the anount of money you think is worth the item.

One of the shrines was rather large and we went exploring in it. Toshi liked to ring the big bell in front of the shrines. He also liked to put money in the donation box (in the shrines). He would take money off of the frogs and drop it in the box. It was cute.

I can`t quite describe the beauty or size of the shrine. It looks so little from the outside. However, I will post several pics at my Frog PhotoBucket Site. Please visit it.

You may need a fast internet connection. I uploaded a lot of photos.

Frog God I am Tired

Day 3Friday June 2nd, 2006



We slept in today. It felt very good. Hiro-chanﾕs mom, Naoko, took the day off. We went to a frog shrine and then she took us out to eat at the Garden House. It is a upper-class pasta joint, but we ended up getting curry.




We needed to go to Toyotoshiﾕs school so Naoko could pick up something. He is the principal of an elementary school. The kids treated me like a celebrity. Toshi had fun.
We went to a library so I could update my blog, but the blog site and Emil were blocked. We got home around 4:00pm. We took a nap, but I slept for 6 hours! I then went to bed. What a restful day.



This all happened in the town of Ogoori.

Fancy a Cone?

Not an ice cream cone. How would you like a rice cone wrapped in seaweed with fish eggs on top? One of the things I like about Japan is that many restaurants will have their food displayed on the outside of the establishment so you can decide if you want it.

Come to think of it, I only have seen this at the food places at subway/train stations. Kurume station sit atop and within a bnch of stores. Many of these are food places. As you walk up and down the station, you can see which food you would like to eat. I am still trying to decide if they are made of plastic or are real.

　　　　　　　　　　　　

A Day in Kurume and Tons of Meat

Day 2 June 1, 2006Thursday

Today I woke up to Hiro-chan making stir fry for breakfast. As she cooked, Toshi played with grandma. They made blocks then went outside. She wanted to take him for a walk, but I was scared bajang (grandma) might not be able to handle him. Bajang is 91 years old. She still works in the garden everyday.

I went on a walk with bajang and Toshi. Normally she needs a stroller-like-cart to balance herself while she walks. Today she used Toshiﾕs toy car to push him and balance herself on. It was very cute. They love each other.


For breakfast we had stir fry, fresh seaweed, fresh spinach, and fresh radish and apples that Bajang grew. Hiroko and I (and Toshi) took a train to Kurume to spend family time. We went shopping. We ate at a raman store and occasionally stopped for bread. We spent a long time at a dollar store where Toshi played with bubbles.

After food and shopping, I went to an internet cafe while Hiro-chan took Toshi upstairs to a place I can only describe as a getaway for mothers. There is a big play area that is free as long as you are with your child. Toshi had so much fun playing with other kids. I posted some entries on my blog, but I could not get my pictures to post.

We came home and went out to eat with Hiro-chanﾕs mom and dad. When Toshi saw bajang he ran to her laughing. Hiokoﾕs parents took us to an expensive restaurant where we had meat, meat, and more meat. There was a salad bar where I had fresh pineapple and seaweed. After we made ourselves sick eating pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, and sausage barbecued in front of us, Naoko ordered intestine. I declined that last little bit of food.

It was good tho. I am amazed that everyone except Toshi ate more then me!! At home I showed Fukuko some of the features of her laptop and she said I could use it to resize my pictures in the future and save them on my external hard drive. Time for sleep!

Silent Hill Continued

This one is for you Mike. Until I can get home and make a slide show, I will just tease you with some pics.



Into the haunted courtyard.



Where is Toshi?! I have got to find the right room.



Did I just hear the phone ring on the wall?

Silent Hill, New Cam, and Hiroko`s Favorite Restaurant

1st day May 31, 2006Wednesday

I am not sure what day it is in Japan. It is late at night. Hiro=chan and Toshi are asleep.
We slept in today, which was nice. I woke up to breakfast which included yellow pickled radishes that were cut into strips, miso soup, rice, and some type of tofu. We went to Hirokoﾕs momﾕs work. She is a principal at a kindergarten.

They were having a birthday party. They have one once a month for everyone whose birthday is in that month. The party consisted was more like an assembly where they presented the kids with a picture and asked them basic questions.
It was really fun. The kids loved Toshi. They played well together.

Japanﾕs population has officially started to shrink. Naokoﾕs kindergarten used to have over 100 students, now it has less then 50. It is connected to a grade school which is also shrinking. There were a lot of empty rooms. I was reminded of the video game Silent Hill, which partly takes place in an abandoned elementary school.

Hiroko, Toshi, and me went exploring while Naoko worked. We took lots of pictures. I canﾕt wait to see how they turn out. We ate lunch there. It was rice with TONS of anchovies, a small amount of fish, and a piece of fruit that tasted like honey-dew.

We came home and slept for a few hours. Later grandma (Hirokoﾕs), Naoko, Toyotoshi, Hiroko, Toshi, and me went to lunch at .....I forgot. We had noodles and dumplings. My little family went with Naoko to go shopping for a new digital camera. We got one.
We then went shopping for mugi-cha (barley tea). Naoko was so funny pushing Toshi in the store stroller and walking real close to people so they could comment on how good looking Toshi is. Hiro-chan and I laughed a lot.

Frustrated

It is June 1st. I am at an internet cafe and everything is in Japanese. The keyboard will type English--but it will only write in lowercase if I am holding down the shift key. Typing is slow.

The blog page is in Japanese, and Hiroko is out with Toshi. Kids aren`t allowed inside. I can`t read the instructions. It is not letting me post pictures for some reason, so I will have to do that later. I will be posting a day or two late. I won`t write down today`s journal till tonight.

I have resized my pics, I wish I could post them. Oh well, next time I am here someone may be able to help me. I will have more time.

Have fun all.

A Very Long Day

May 28th, 2006. The night before.

I am trying to get this laptop to work. I would love to learn more about Macs, and so I am taking this iBook to Japan with me. It is 11:15pm. We will wake up at 4:40am, but I think it is worth it to get this up and running so that I can keep a journal on the plane.

Hiro-chan has worked so hard to get us ready. I hope this is a good trip. Off to bed. I think I got the iBook basics figured out.

---

May 29, 2006
Monday 9:11 am LA time.

Well, we are settled at our gate (76) at the LA airport. From now on, I will refer to time as the time of the place I am currently located. Our plane leaves at 12:33 pm. Looks like a three hour wait. Hiro-chan is off walking with Toshi. She has got him on a leash thingy she bought off the internet. After this entry, I will go for a walk with him as she rests.

The drive to Vegas was pleasant. Traffic was sparse. The temperature was cool. Peb, Hiro-chan, me, and occasionally Toshi, laughed and chatted. We ate at McDonalds and then mom dropped us off at the airport. Life is good.

The plane ride to LA was a little scary for me. As we took off there was a very unusual glump thump thump sound by the landing gear. I have flown a lot and never heard that sound before. It sounded like the gears were breaking/grinding.

My plane, on a trip to Korea some while ago, had landing gear problems. The tires caught on fire on take off. We had to do an emergency landing (the Korea Trip) after we dumped fuel. The plane was smoking and they expected the plane to flip on landing---since it was minus some wheels.

However it only cut grooves in the runway. We made the news. It was weird to watch our plane dump fuel over the ocean and then come back to a fleets of ambulances, police, and news crews. We are fine, obviously, but the memory came back as the landing gears on the Vegas to LA flight made such strange noises.

Now we are waiting. I wish I brought my portable DVD so we could watch Baby Einstein or Bourne Supremacy.

---

To Japan
My internal and external clock are off.

Darrrgh. We got off to a bad start. Right before we got onto the plane, Toshi broke my digital camera. He was playing on the Airport Computer, and while Hiro-chan was off to the restroom, I pulled him off. It looked like there were people waiting to get online.

He pitched a fit. I decided to let him play with my camera. He was having so much fun taking pictures that I let him continue. As soon as Hiro-chan came back, he threw it on the floor and ran to his mom. Now it wont finish turning on--the lens gets stuck as it tries to come out. *cry*

That set me off in a bad mood. I was mad at myself for giving him the camera to placate him.

When we got to the plane, we found out that we did not get a door seat or a seat in front of the plane (before first class). Those areas have plenty of leg room so Toshi could sleep on the floor, but the girl who checked us in gave us really cramped seats in the back--even tho we requested a roomier seat. Hiroko is mad about that.

I felt better once the plane started to take off. I canﾕt take pictures at the Tokyo airport, but I think we can find another digital camera in Japan. :P Hiro-chan feels happier because the stewardess got us a first class Japanese newspaper and really did try hard to find a better seat. Even if we can not get what we want, having somebody care and try to help makes all the difference.

Hiroko and Toshi are asleep. Oh, I found out that my cell phone automatically adjusted to California time. Who knew!?

---

Almost Mcphee
Sitting at the Narita Terminal at the Tokyo Airport


Man I am a sweaty mess. After landing in Tokyo, we had to switch terminals. That involved a nice little bus ride and going up and down and down and up stairs. It is like a maze. Even Hiro-chan got a little lost. But let me reminisce on the flight.

I have learned the difference between an 11 hour flight with adults and an 11 hour flight with a 22 month old. Toshi was actually really good. He slept a lot and Hiroko took him for walks around the plane. The stewardesses got really rude with Hiroko. I think they didnﾕt like she was walking him so much. They made her sit down because the seat belt light was on. She did, but later she had to use the bathroom REALLY bad. Other people were getting up and using the restroom or getting luggage, but one particular nasty stewardess kept redirecting Hiroko to sit down and wouldnﾕt let her use the restroom. Finally when she left, Hiro-chan just went.

They started to show Nanny McPhee, but it looked like there was no tracking on a VHS tape. There was also no sound. They gave up and showed Narnia---all three screens I could see were either almost black and white or faded. I was a little bummed.

Anyway, we got to Tokyo safely.

---

Off ot Fukuoka,.
Up in the air.

We have a 1 hour and 45 minute plane ride to Fukuoka. By From there we take a bus for one hour to get to where Hiro-chanﾕs family will pick us up. By the time we get to her house, we will have traveled for 26 hours.

I am tired. Toshi and Hiroko and asleep and I am fading. I am so excited to be here, The Japanese stewardesses are very nice--Hiroko wanted me to point that out.

---

Home

We got home safely. Hirokoﾕs family LOVED playing with Toshi. At first he was shy, but he warmed up fast. As I took a shower then bath, Naoko wrestled with toshi and laughed. Toyotoshi went out and got be me bread. I called mom and went to bed.

Tragedy

In his morning briefing, Rumsfeld tells the President that yesterday, in serious fighting outside Fallujah, 3 Brazilian troops were killed.

The blood drains from the President’s face, his head collapses into his hands on his desk and he remains there for several, long breaths.

When he composes himself and comes to an upright seated position, it is clear his eyes are moist. He asks Rumsfeld, “Just exactly how many is a Brazilian?”

---

Thank you Jay for a good pick-me-up.

Skinny Legs and All

When we go on our morning walk Toshi likes to put his legs on the safety rail. This is my view of Toshi 90% of the time we are on a walk. EDIT: Hiro-chan wanted to point out that the red mark on Toshi's leg is where he drew on himself with a red pen and not an owee.
The camera the camera! GIVE ME THE CAMERA!!
What a happy good looking kid! He just warms my heart...

Except when he is pulling out my precious hair. My new strategy to get him to stop is to hold his hands for 10 seconds. If he does it again, I hold his hands for 11 seconds. Each time he does it I add one second. He usually quites after 13 seconds. He crys and then he is happy. If anyone has other ideas to help him learn to not pull hair, let me know.

Isn't she Beautiful?

There are not nearly enough pictures of Hiro-chan on my blog. She is such a good friend, wife, and mom (to Toshi). She is Japanese and very sweet. Here is a collage of pictures. Poor Hiroko, as soon as she lays down, Toshi jumps on her and wants her attention.

I am so excited. We are going back to Japan for 3 1/2 weeks soon. Hiroko misses the green and her family misses Toshi. They miss each other too! I just want to get away for a bit.

My Birthday

My birthday was a couple days ago. It started off at my mom's house where we opened presents. Before we got started, we talked in the living room. My brother Jim is so good with kids. Toshi loves him. I am actually a little jealous of this picture.
Toshi chose this ribbon for me. He placed it with the picture he drew that my mom framed. He wanted his precious ribbon back.
We got matching hats and sunglasses for my present. I had a lot of fun wearing matching stuff with Toshi. My mom knows how to pick presents. Hiro-chan also got me a hat. We go for morning and/or evening walks almost everyday, and I get burned easy.
We ate at cracker Barrel. I tried to take a picture of him playing, but all I have to do is pull out the camera and he runs to grab it from me.

Cracker Barrel has a cool puzzle on each table. Toshi just loved it. Even tho we had to wait an hour before we could eat, the puzzle kept Toshi occupied. It was a good thing too, because I was extremely tired. I almost felt like I was going to pass out. I crashed when I got home.

I am an Artiiiiiiist!!!

Toshi eyes the 3000 page ream of dot matrix printing paper his dad brought home from work. His long delicate fingers on his little hand grab a pen as he races across the living room floor. Toshi is twice as tall as the cardboard box housing the paper, so the ream makes a perfect desk.

Leaning down he meticulously scribbles what's on his mind. The intensity of his concentration is expressed by the pictorialized thoughts that give voice to his existential awakening. Suddenly, with all the tumult of a frustrated eccentric artist, he rips the top page off and flings it behind his back, bringing with it a stream of connected paper as his daddy shouts in unison, “Gah! I am in Artiiiiiiist!!!”

Before the white rainbow can settle on the floor, Toshi is furiously creating his next work.

***

Over and over, day after day, Toshi hones his skill. The cycle of intensely creating something and dramatically discarding it finally begins to give form to what is on his mind. At first the face seems too abstract to comfortably identify, but each rendition is clearer. Finally on his dad's birthday he creates his first Master Piece at his grandmother’s home. He signs it with a dot in the right hand corner, his Grandmother frames it for his dad, and we learn that Toshi is a happy boy. He turns 22 months in another week.