Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the Suicide cliffs of Okinawa. At the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. They jumped off the cliffs at the souther end of the main island. If you have seen theoriginal color footage taken at the time. I am sure you were moved with mothers holding their babies jumping to th...
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Well I forgot to log that I did win my speech contest at the club level. I participated alone.

Now it is on to the Area Competition, Area 6 that is. I expect approximately 60 or so people to attend. I hope I can be funny. I taped my last effort... listening to it, I can see that I need to relax a little more. No one thinks a person is funny if they seem uptight.

Cheese is the word of the day. I am working on a class assignment on the classifications of cheese. It is very interesting. I only left a few cheese books in the main library in rochester, just a few. Just thinking about all that great cheese makes me reach for the fibercon.

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