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Showing posts from January 13, 2008

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 ...

Old Bridge crossing the Tioughnioga River in Whitney Point NY

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There is a lot going on. It looks like a lot of changes are coming for this year. Things are all intertwined between work, aspirations, finance, goals, travel, and so on. I have learned about 60 Chinese characters so far on my way to know about 1000. After I get a vocabulary of 1000 I can read a Chinese newspaper. It is a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. It is a good exercise in patience and "doing the impossible." Just as I have said before I am not really sure what I will be doing next. I went to the Marathon Hamfest this past week end as well as finally getting back in the air. Both were fun. The greatest thing about my flight lesson was that it was self-guided. I flew where I wanted to fly at the altitude and speed I wanted. It was exploring from the air. I went down around Deposit, N.Y. and the resovoir and generally flew around checking out new areas from the sky. I also had a great workout and I seem to be getting the move on the next level of my cap...