The Bends

I thought that I could try and ease myself back into Western life. So I've been, except for a weekend in Austin, mostly staying home. Turns out that I'm in need of something like a hyperbaric chamber for the rest of the world. Small talk is still difficult, I'm having trouble catching the verbal and gestural cues that augment meaning, and I can't stand more than 30 minutes of commercial television. I mean, I used to be able to watch TV for hours on end. And now, well, let's just say some old or foreign commercials are more entertaining to me than the programming

2:49 AM and I don't feel like sleeping. 1:37 PM and I couldn't stay awake.

Let us just say that I may be trying to get back too quickly, and the change has carbonated my brain.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Been in Austin, Texas over the weekend.

Having a very good time.

Photos and comments later...

Fight Cavities: Aid Terrorism

Okay, so some people (who we're not being allowed to see,) were apparently foiled in their plot to blow up multiple airplanes (which flights/airlines we're not being allowed to hear) using some sort of liquid explosives.

So now US travelers are not being allowed to bring any liquids, gels, pastes or non-Newtonian fluids onboard.


With the exceptions of prescription medication, baby food and breast milk.

The toddlers in front of me got to keep their applesauce, but I had to throw away my toothpaste and deodorant.



Seriously: gel deodorant = bad, breast milk = okay.

Like Malaria, I figure...

I get the feeling that it's going to take me quite a while to get Japan out of my system, and that it'll probably never be gone completely. I'll be minding my own business when suddenly I'll get all dizzy and feverish under a wave of nostalgia for getting a hot towel served with my beer or having a room full of kids repeating after me "vampires want blood." The last week was a struggle (that I usually failed in) to not start every sentence with "in Japan..."

Sorry, y'all, but that's pretty much all I've got in the way of personal experiences for the last couple of years. So while I try and accrue some new material, I'll be working through a backlog of stuff that I meant to post but never got around to. And hopefully, at some point in the near future, I'll be able to talk about something else.

Like maybe my long-rumored-but-as-yet-unsubstantiated plans to go back to school...

(Did that do anything in the way of building suspense? C'mon, tune in next time.)