teh Forum

Lured from that other place to your scrapbook, I was pretty amazed at the beauties within. Some very nice pics. Looks like you have something of an eye for the shot. Your naiive captioning is also refreshing "Gosh, lemons, on an actual tree! Cool!" - I like that.

I have a few observations and questions.

- You seem to have had some very good weather. Did you only photograph when there were blue skies, and fluffy clouds, or was there just no rain?
- Where are the fat people that we hear so much about?
- There are some very beautiful places in your collection. California looks intensely exotic. Did you also see any real shitholes not represented here?
- Sarah. Mmmm, cute. Was it a road trip with lurve? BJs in Big Sur? You don't have to answer that. But it would be nice to know.
- Your dad grew up in a very bijou (though no doubt modest) residence. I can see why you seem slightly awestruck. It compares very well with the urban, brick-faced squalor that my parents grew up in. I wonder if your dad actually liked living there...?
- Drake can talk right? He looks like he can.
- Yosemite. Wow, what a place. I used to pronounce it yo! zemight before I knew better. And why not eh?

I'm very envious, hence I call you a wanker. But it's very good of you to share these pics - what a great way to spend a rainy Saturday morning, flicking through somebody else's views.

Hey I really appreciate those comments. I spent a ton of time, something like 16 hours (seriously), editting all the pictures I took (over 600), cropping, rotating, etc, then organizing and eventually creating the website. It took a really long time and I kept thinking, "I like these pictures, but does anybody else really care?!" Nice to know someone does.

As for your specific comments:
Until I returned from California I hadn't seen rain in 2 months. I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain and for a moment I was really confused. The weather on the trip was beautiful the whole time except for the fog on the Oregon coast. But you know what? Consistently great weather is what California is famous for.

Oh they are our there. I didn't photograph that many people in general.

Tijuana was not particularly nice. I designed my trip around seeing some of the best sights on the West Coast. The American Pacific coast is certainly one of the prettiest places around.

Sarah is a very close friend of mine, nothing more, and anyway - it is none of your damn business.

Maybe he can comment on that for himself as he reads this site occasionally. I really liked Santa Barbara to the point that there is a pretty good chance I will be spending an extended period of time there when I return from Japan.

He can certainly yip.

I still pronounce it yo-sem-aight. As I said in "that other place" I was really amazed by Yosemite. The pictures do not do it justice.

Oh yeah, since I haven't updated my site yet with a link, we are talking about this: http://enderzero.net/calitrip

Thanks Ocean

16 hours? I can believe that. These things are a lot harder than they look.

I would dearly love to have the time one day to do some road trips in the States. I once flew into LA from the north, and the coastline before LA was beautiful and on a mammoth scale that I have never seen before or since. (English people who have been like to say, oh yes, the States, it's very big, is it time for tea yet? But I reckon I'm more honest when I say I couldn't believe my fucking eyes at most of the scenery and civilization coexisting with it. It was nice to revisit that through your pics.)

Oh, and judging by a look at your feet, I'd say you won't be best pleased with the snowboard boots you can find in Japan. If you know that, say, Malamutes fit, it may be best to order the new version from the US.

Is it really necessary that everyone know I still live at home?

Very nice tour of the West Coast. Looks like you had a lot of fun. The old lady and I think that the work you put into it was well spent. Are you planning on attending any of those schools in the future? Two of them were in my top six....

Which two? There is a good chance I will find myself at UC Santa Barbara or Berkeley in a year's time.

Beeeph - yes.

Stanford and Berkeley.

Beeeph, don't worry, not like your going to be bringing any chicas back to the crib to look at your console.

bwahahaha!! Is your normal pickup line, "hey, you like to play killer instict?"

McNevin got it figured out.

Nice pics, ender! Looks like you guys had a good time. Seeing those Cali shots brings back da memories of when I was kickin' it kindergarten stylee at the Palm Crest School in La Canada, CA. I've only done the drive up Route 1 once from LA to San Fran, but it is chock full of coastal beauty.

I might have to pick your brain on San Fran doings since Naomi and I are gonna spend 3 days there in October. Was thinking of showing her the Redwoods if we can do that in a day.

....

Hahaha, I was going to say the same thing about the facial metal, but figgered it was too close to old fogeyism.

yea ender... what is that shit in your face?


just kiddin... I just figgered i'd jump on the bandwagon.

You old men will see soon enough. How do you think the everyday Japanese will react to the pierced up gaijin?

How will they react? That depends on whether you can drink a beer without dribbling everywhere.

Might also make slurping ramen interesting.

Importantly, are you still able to say "BRRROOOOM BRRROOOOM" correctly? Nothing worse than not being able to imitate a car.

Would you rather...

Dribble when you drank beer or ate ramen, or...
look uncool with a boring old-fashioned plain lip?

I have a feeling it won't last a long time once I hit foreign shores. I like the ring, but I am constantly conscious of people looking at me and reacting to me differently. This is liberal Seattle, as well, where I see other people with lip piercings on a daily basis. But a big ring in your lip is just so in your face (ignore the pun). The le-bret (soul patch piercing) I used to sport was less socially abrasive, and although I actually like the look of that piercing more, I had to take it out after 2 months because it bothered my mouth so much. The lip ring, on the other hand, healed completely in less than 2 weeks and doesn't bother me at all, even when eating ramen. You will also be happy to know I have the full range of motor sound effects still at my disposal and I have even trained myself to whistle correctly again.

It is definitely strange to see the way people react. Most average people in their 40s and up seem a bit startled at first. They sort of look away for a second or at least appear to be trying to avoid direct eye contact with the ring. It is like I am some woman with large breasts that some guy just wants to casually rest his eyes on but is making every effort to not be some kind of perv. On the flip side, I feel more confident (not that I had a problem before) in bars, concerts, places where loud music is being played, etc. I feel less likely to get beat up (weird I know). I get the occasional extra glance from a like minded girl. Pretty much all of my friends think it's pretty cool.

Anyway, it has been an interesting experiment in social interaction. I think it will shock the hell out of already uncomfortable Japanese. Gaijin alone on a train (or wherever) is already a point to focus on. Imagine if that whacko gaijin had a big fat ring in his lip. Think about all the poor obaasans at the inaka conbinis. We'll see if it lasts.

Hey Ocean and all, Ryland's Dad here. What's not to like about growing up 2 miles from the beach in the 60's California Beachboys Surf's Up era? Except that my parents wouldn't let me get on a surfboard because I was seriously accident-prone as a child. But that didn't keep me from hanging out beach-side with my buddy Peter and watching him surf, all the while perfecting my body-surfing skills. One summer in our mid-teens Peter and I created a business picking lemons from an abandoned orchard and selling the bounty to natural food stores and co-ops for $.05/lb. The orchard was in the valley where we lived and technically we were trespassing, but noone gave a hoot about it. We had orders coming in from as far away as San Jose once the word got around. Nothing like getting a call from a grocery saying they'd be by later that day looking for 1200#'s of organic lemons. It went on all summer and finally we picked the orchard dry and had to fold up the business. But not before making a lot of money (in those days) and spending most of it on keggers at the beach. So yeah to answer your question I had a blast growing up next to the ocean.

But I like Washington better.

Murray! Good to hear from you. My worst fears are confirmed - not only did you grow up in a great looking place, you were also lucky enough to appreciate it. And lemons are great too. I used to think of them as very bog-standard fruit, but I'm coming to appreciate foods and drinks flavoured with lemon a lot more.

ender, I look at metal like that and wonder how I'm supposed to distinguish between that and the commonly acknowledged naffness of dental braces. There are quite a few schoolkids even in Nagano who have this kind of shrapnel hanging off their faces, so it's not even that unusual.

About a year ago, I started shaving my head.

Actually, this isn't much of a problem in Japan, although in England it would 'raise questions'. Of course you can see this kind of thing as a test of people's sincerity - if they dismiss you and look askance simply because of your harmless eccentricity, well, you don't need people like that anyway. But even for sincere people, there's often a period of 'looking beyond' that eccentricity to find a decent person behind it -'Maybe he does have that weird proclivity for piercing, but actually he's a good bloke'. In my case, shaving my bonce is a big convenience - no shampooing, no dandruff, no haircuts, a cool head. To hell with anyone who doesn't like it. Some people actually do like it too (strippers mostly...)

But piercings are just ugly. I reckon a lot of people in Japan will 'look past it', but they'll still wish you hadn't uglied up your pretty face. S'wot I reckon.

Ray Fae, I say leave it in. If any Jap gives you a funny look or disrespects you for having that thing, just beat him up. I got my goverment grant to study computer engineering, which means I'm quittin the Comp, which means I'm gettin a loop stuck right down the center of my lip in a couple weeks. And if that heals good, I'm gonna get my clit done too.

And since we're all posting the scariest pictures we can find of ourselves, I thought I'd post mine as well.



I tan alot.

Oh and laugh all you want, cuz the ladies dig the new console! I had a girl over here the other night playing Killer Instict till TWO in the morning. Yeah, late night! And boy was she not hot.

And there I was thinking that was a fish Fuqin Joe had caught and slung over his shoulder. I thought he was pointing and saying something witty like "I got mine, where's your fuqin dinner"?

enderzero wrote:I think it will shock the hell out of already uncomfortable Japanese. Gaijin alone on a train (or wherever) is already a point to focus on. Imagine if that whacko gaijin had a big fat ring in his lip. Think about all the poor obaasans at the inaka conbinis....

I hear what you're saying, but I think it's really easy to underestimate japanese propensity to ignore even the most outrageous in-your-face things. Here and there I've seen unusual people and behavior that your everyday tanaka will ignore (or at least pretend to). My bet is that the biggest reaction you'll get from anyone outside our age-group would be a quick ninja glance.....

oh... and as long as everyone's posting pics of themselves:

Ocean11 wrote:And there I was thinking that was a fish Fuqin Joe had caught and slung over his shoulder. I thought he was pointing and saying something witty like "I got mine, where's your fuqin dinner"?

No fish, just my gay wardrobe. And no I'm not witty, but DYAM...do I look good!

Yeah Baby Ponch Rocks...He will forever be my California HWY Hero

Hey MizThang, can we get a blown up version of your avatar?

...or are you in Mexico?

Mexico Baby ............but we can discuss our other options...
.......That is the coolest emoticon...
is up with that ocean 11 guy...is he serious?

This one might be a better version, but all my attempts to crop animated gifs have been somewhat unsuccessful.

There's some more here: http://enderzero.net/smilies

Yo ender: we're in San Fran right now; can you refresh my memory on the name of that restaurant you loved? Looking for good eats!

ps we'll be back in the 'Yo on Friday afternoon if'n you guys need a place to stay again. Might be better than the internet cafe...

Thanks bro - but we are outta here tomorrow. Get your SE Asian Whoooooooo Whoooooo on.

The place is called the Beach Chalet and it is all the way out on the ocean, just down the hill from the Cliff House. There is some kind of museum or something under it. http://www.beachchalet.com

Also, go to the Palace of Fine Arts if you get a chance. Definitely worth squeezing in.

Hope the trip is goin well man. Say hi to Naomi. I'll catch you when we get back.

Thanks bro - but we are outta here tomorrow. Get your SE Asian Whoooooooo Whoooooo on.

The place is called the Beach Chalet and it is all the way out on the ocean, just down the hill from the Cliff House. There is some kind of museum or something under it. http://www.beachchalet.com

Also, go to the Palace of Fine Arts if you get a chance. Definitely worth squeezing in.

Hope the trip is goin well man. Say hi to Naomi. I'll catch you when we get back.