It's Not Denial. I'm Just Very Selective About the Reality I Accept

"Ah, here's the problem. Somebody evidently left the rat faucet on down here!"

A blog of two parts, each one different as black and white, as night and day, as Captain Planet and the Abominable Snowman!

I'm sure you can tell which kind of part this is already.

Our first story of the day: Ice Cream Man! The Entertainer was playing in my office and now the darned thing is stuck in my head.

Next, we move to Western Canada, specifically the prairies, where it is very cold. -30 and lower in Calgary this week, and lots of snow. Makes me glad I'm here. Except of course, my kitchen, showers, and washroom are not heated. Which makes for chilly trips to the washroom in the morning. Not as bad as riding the C-Train or snow shovelling... yet...

From there, a more serious topic, I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 on Tuesday, which is a very good book by the way, I don't know why any sane person would want to ban it. And then I read the news on Wednesday, about Newt Gingrich wants to restrict freedom of speech. He thinks the government should be able to shut down websites that may be used by 'terrorists'. It's just like Bradbury's book, which was written over 50 years now and is still extremely relevant. The scariest parts... this is coming from a man who is thinking of running for president... and a poll on MSNBC has 31% of the people agreeing with him!

To a more lighter topic... people in Leader, Saskatchewan are protesting the horrible conditions of their roads by creating a calendar that has them posing nude in potholes. Since that story speaks for itself, I have nothing more to say on the matter.

Next, the hiccups. I have them.

In Monday's meeting I heard the phrase Bisuta numerous times, which I think translates to Vista. This scares me. MS Vista comes out today, so maybe they were discussing the conversion from XP to Vista. Why is this scary? Well, the reason I can use Japanese XP is because I know English XP so well. I know nothing about Vista, so navigating options, menus, etc in Japanese may be trixy.

All I can say is that it better be possible to move the Start bar onto the right side of the screen. If not, expect a large rant. And yes, I'm aware that probably less than 0.001% of the population have their Start bar on the right side.

Finally, Kansai Invasion. I suppose I have to blog about it. But it'll be brief, don't worry.

First off, it was a blast, people came to Kansai from Tokyo, Hamamatsu, Nagoya and Fukui. 20+ people total involved in the events this weekend.

So I'll start up where I left off... Thursday night consisted of an all nighter at JJs... doing everything from basketball to pool to karaoke to DDR vs Boon Hau, it was a blast. I even got to sing Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)! Me and Keith even discovered the Super Famicom (SNES) and spent a few hours playing Super Donkey Kong (Country). Oh the memories, and we still knew where the secrets were. Only got halfway through world 5 before going to bed, but we'll be back to finish it! And then I got 2 hours of sleep in a hammock.

Friday, I went with Keith, Kevin, and Victor to Universal Studios Japan. It was just like walking back into the US (United States, not Universal Studios... though i suppose both would be applicable)! Except of course, for all the Japanese people. The rides were all the same (except in Japanese) with two additions, Jaws and Spiderman. Spiderman was done quite well, half ride, half 3D movie. Lineups were huge compared to the last time I went to US Hollywood (when lineups were about 5-10 minutes). 60-90 minutes per ride usually. We went to Namba for a bit afterwards, since Keith had time to kill before meeting up with his friend, then it was off to Nara for Anton's party.

Party was fun, loud, and full of alcohol. Thanks and sorry to Anton, who had to apologize to the neighbours for all the noise we made. I watched the drinking games from my futon throne, and we watched Neil on Cool! Japan, a Japanese TV show which follows gaijin around to see what they think of Japan. Cool to see Neil on it. Amusing videos of Jen were recorded, cake landed on the ground but was recovered according to the five second rule, Neil succumbed to the effects of eating eel liver combined with too much alcohol, and I slept in my private bed in Anton's closet.

Not a lot of sleep again, 4h max, and then off to the Arashiyama Monkey Park. "None of us is as dumb as all of us" applies here, when the group is too large, trying to get everyone both together and moving is next to impossible. Monkey park was the same as last time, only Boon Hau and Clement learned firsthand why not to stare at the monkeys. And we got to see the feeding this time. And the fall leaves were very cool. However, combine the fact that this is the best time of year to go, plus it being a long weekend, it was very busy. The train ride back to Kyoto was brutal, the worst I've seen it yet in Japan. Kinda like during the Stampede on the C-Train.

Well, after 6 hours of sleep in 3 days, I decided to skip clubbing, I went home and went to bed. Others went to temple light up and clubbing, but I was too tired. My Kansai Invasion ended there, with a relaxing Sunday at the gym and downtown.

Part I ends here. Please insert DISC 2.