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Showing posts from March 28, 2004

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. From what I understand, at the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. Besides other types of suicide, they jumped off the cliffs at the Southern end of the main island. If you have seen the original color footage taken at the time, I am sure you ...
Welcome to Laugh Lab I won second place in the area 11 speech contest. The neighbor stopped by to tell us we can fish in his pond across the street. It is a nice pond with lots of fish.
Google News I won the speech contest yesterday. Now I am in the area 11 contest this weekend. I hope I win there. The competition can get kinda tough there. If I win there, I may win at the district level. I have some birch sap. Hopefully I can boil some down this weekend. I also have to get the pig pen built 'cause I pick up two pigs on Sunday. I have never had pigs before. Life is a series of stuff I never did before.
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Future travel: How will we get around? The warmer weather is appreciated. It was 37 degrees this morning, but with the birds returning and the earlier sunrise, it seems better. Fawna is dragging herself around the paddock. We may have to put her down soon. I am competing in the toastmasters international speech competition today. I hope I win. I am getting better at teaching myself to relax under these circumstances. This weekend is the area 11 contest. I will be building the pig pen in the barn and I have located a couple of piglets for $35 each. The plan is we will keep one and sell one in the fall. I need to get feed, a generator, and a freezer. The warmer weather is greatly appreciated this spring. It was a long winter.
About birch sap and pollen allergy It is a nice warm morning. I suspect it is in the 50s! I can see fawn struggling to get around down in the llama pen. She is working at it. I am about to go back and collect birch sap. I will probably get some firewood as well. Also on the list today is working on my competition speech. I have been at work manning the printer for the big job we have going. We got a 19 hour shift out of the machine yesterday. Today we will have at least 8 hours. Farm school was pretty good yesterday. I need to take a day off and make some phone calls and otherwise decompress. I find it strange that I take my job as seriously as I do. No one else does. So why should I? My accounting class is over. That class really put a drag on me. I learned a lot, but it felt like I had a tire around my neck. I have decided not to enroll in a class this summer. I just have too much other stuff on the plate, including: new roof on house, barn work, drainage work, llama trek work, ...