The rest of the week flew by, I couldn’t believe it. After the Wednesday bar crawl, we saw less of our VICE friends but hung out with Matt and a bunch of fellow Big Girthians at their various camps many times. We had a couple of more chill art exploration nights, and a couple of good long nights of dancing and excitement till after sunrise. It was a great mix with minimal stress. If only every year could be like that!
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The part of my Burning Man I spent the most time preparing for by far was the Burning Man Ultramarathon. I had run the race six times before, so I knew I could finish it without dying. But I knew from past years my training rigor correlated strongly with how painful the race would be, and how long it would take me to recover. There’s little sense in putting in all the effort of getting to Burning Man only to spend several days of it barely able to move — though it would still be worth it if that were the only option!
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We had a pretty chill Sunday and Monday as I mentally prepared for the race. We climbed a scary tower, then a less scary tower. We magically ran into Rob and Omar in deep playa, and then made a bunch of friends at a camp called VICE. The week was off to a great start!
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Alan and I made the journey to return Burning Man this year. We were prepared for a low key year in open camping, but it turned out wonderfully! We happened upon Rob in deep playa the first day, leading to a bunch of plans and connections right off the bat. We hung out at VICE and made many friends whom we’d see throughout the week. And I ran my fastest 50K and wasn’t dead afterward.
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At the start of this trip almost month prior, it felt like there was so much time ahead. I couldn’t believe only a few days had passed and we had done so much. It was so refreshing to be traveling again, and getting to know Patton on a’ whole ‘nother level was great. Returning to Japan briefly on our way back from Vietnam was a somewhat hectic but actually very rewarding conclusion to our trip. The juxtaposition of the two countries made me better appreciate Japan’s development but also Vietnam’s freewheeling excitement.
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We spent 2 nights in Hanoi and went on one day drip. Unfortunately I am running out of steam posting all these blogs from the trip, so this is going to be mostly photos!
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During our few days in Hanoi, we went on a day tour to the Ninh Binh area about two hours north of the city. I continue to be amazed in the amount of stuff these companies can pack into a day for less than $50 all included. It was a pretty fun trip and included a very nice hour-long boat tour through some interesting caves.
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The time on this trip has been flying recently. We finished our last few days in Saigon by getting me a tattoo, getting some art for Patton’s friend, and going to a big gay party. It was a great time, and then I was sad to be leaving Saigon come Sunday morning!
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Tuesday was a chill day, in which I ran 16 miles and then Patton and I got dinner with David. Wednesday we did another tour, this time a half day one to the Cu Chi tunnels north of Ho Chi Minh City. We ended up with the same guide, Jack, somewhat by design. Then we got dinner with him and said goodbye!
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Monday we went to the Mekong Delta with a tour group. We got to explore a bit the region called My Tho, including a well known Buddhist temple site called Vinh Trang. We took several boat rides, including one on a small boat called a sampan down a canal through some coconut trees. It was a pretty nice excursion!
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We planned to spend about a week in Saigon staying with Patton’s cousin David, who graciously let us use his guest room. In our first couple of days, we had dinner with more than a dozen of their relatives, went out to Bui Vien Walking Street and a nearby gay bar and then explored some shopping and downtown areas.
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Having spent 10 days in Japan, Patton and I left Osaka and embarked on our Vietnam adventure. I last entered the country 10 years ago. I loved my time there and was excited to see more cities there, and to hear my friend Patton speak Vietnamese! Our first stop was in the southern island of Phú Quốc. We spent three nights there.
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On a similar note as last time, we’re again leaving with the sense of having seen so much but barely scratching the surface. We spent our last day in Osaka taking a day trip over to Kobe to try the famous beef. We also tried to check out another festival at a nearby shrine, but it ended up being misinformation! But that concludes this segment of our trip in Japan. Now Vietnam awaits!
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There is so much more to do in Kyoto, but yesterday was our last day there, and we spent Monday checking out a few areas of Osaka. We started with Osaka Castle right across from our hotel. Then we went to two temples, Shitenno-ji and Isshin-ji, before going down to Shinsekai and back up to the Kita district, where we ended at some gay bars.
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Yesterday was an adventure of several cities including Nara and Uji. Today we planned to check out Nanzenji and area temples, but it turned into a different kind of adventure, as we trekked from Kyoto to the neighboring Shiga Prefecture and Lake Biwa mostly by foot.
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After our day at Arashiyama, we spent July 27 exploring several cities along the Nara line: Nara itself, where we played with deer and visited a large temple; Uji, famous for matcha; and another famous place called Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto. We could have easily spent a full day or more at each place!
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Back in Kyoto after the Osaka Tenjin Matsuri, we planned to spend the day checking out Arashiyama, a mountain area famous for its bamboo forest.
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The day after the Kyoto Gion Matsuri, Patton and I traveled to Osaka for another festival, the Tenjin Matsuri, and to meet up with my friend Chakib, who is from France but who lived in Japan when I did in 2014. Getting to Osaka from Kyoto takes about 30 minutes by train. Man do I love that about Japan.
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Patton and I left Tokyo July 24 and went to Kyoto, where we stayed about five days aside from a side trip to Osaka. We happened to be in Kyoto for Gion Matsuri, one of many festivals around Japan during these months. Then I did my first training run in Kyoto the next morning before we departed for Osaka for the evening.
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I just came back from a refreshingly packed trip abroad with my friend Patton. We visited several cities each in Japan and Vietnam. I took way too many photos, and given Burning Man is less than a week away now, I’ll post these entries as quickly as I can but likely won’t finish until September. This first one covers Tokyo, the city in which I lived for a year back in 2014, and didn’t realize how much I missed.
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I squeezed in another backpacking trip, again with Andrew and Ruffie. Having one less night than our three at Lake Aloha last month and even less time to reserve permits, we decided Thursday to check out a place not requiring reservations and settled on Gianelli Trail in the Stanislaus National Forest. We visited several lakes and hiked about 18.5 miles and 3800 feet of elevation across two days. I also got to experience locking my keys in my car for the first time, in a remote location. It was a great weekend!
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In a massive improvement to my time between backpacking trips, I managed another just nine months after going to Deafy Glade in Mendocino. This time Ruffie and I went with our friend Andrew to Lake Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness in the Sierras. We spent three nights, enough time for strenuous hikes, changes of plans, plenty of relaxation and even some animal food theft. I hiked 23 miles and 4,100 feet of elevation across four days.
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This week Monday I went back to Yosemite for a night, with Beam, Natt and Chris. It was a quick trip, but we got one good 10 mile day hike in, up 3700 feet to Glacier Point. I saw my first rattlesnake, a few other creatures, and many beautiful views. I definitely need to get back and do some more hikes!
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Sunday was our last opportunity for a hike while Vera was staying with us for a couple of weeks. Alan suggested Berkeley, so I made a plan to hike up to Wildcat Peak and also to check out an old missile launch site in the Berkeley Hills. Because we hiked near there with Remi before, I didn’t think to confirm whether dogs were allowed. Needless to say, we found “No dogs” signs upon entering Tilden Nature Preserve, which is the subset of Tilden Regional Park we hoped to hike through. We thus diverted back to the Meadows Canyon Trail we hiked a year or two before with Ricky, and had a fine time. I attempted to take some photos of plants while we were there. I need to practice more.
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I just returned from a lovely and bittersweet trip to Warsaw. This has been a long time coming.
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For the first time in a decade, I went backpacking. It was a short trip back up to the Mendocino National Forest, but it was fun. I hope it spurs me to do more soon. I just wish Remi could have been there!
I had been wanting to go camping more for years, but hadn’t quite made the time. This past weekend was a three day one, and I decided the week before to just go somewhere. I thought it’d be just me and Ruffie, as Alan had a music thing and might not want to go anyway. But he ended up going, too, if we could do a single night Sunday to Monday. I hope he’ll want to come on the next one!
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I wish I could erase the past two weeks. Alan’s beautiful Remi was healthy and active, especially for a dog of 12 years. He came into my life four years ago. We were together nearly every hour since, through the pandemic and several moves. Those years were challenging for me personally, and he helped me cope when I was struggling, which was often. I loved going on adventures with him. I loved taking care of him. I love him.
But the day after our last 6 mile hike, I gave him Frontline Plus per the directions. Two days later, Remi stopped voluntarily eating, and his muscles stiffened to the point he could barely walk. The next week was desperate attempts to diagnose, to feed, to comfort. The final hours, of trying to raise his body temperature and then rush to the hospital as my beloved Alan administered rescue breathing and CPR in the back of the Jeep, are hours I hope to never endure again. They are hours I nonetheless cannot stop reliving in my mind.
As I reflect on Remi’s life and my culpability in its end, I am only comforted that he was always a happy dog, and as far as I could tell was not in any pain through his last moments, when I am sure he heard Alan and me both telling him we love him.
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We did a road trip to Wisconsin for about 2 weeks of the past 3. That provided some great new experiences for Ruffie, but it also broke some of my training consistency. I’ve been shifting focus as I’ve been doing more research on dog behavior as well.
Running …
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Time has been flying lately.
Running
I haven’t been running much, but I did do a few runs with Ruffie so far. The longest was 6 miles on the trails 2 weeks ago, and the most recent 4.5 on the roads here just today.
Training
We’re progressing …
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Our new dog Ruffie has been adapting pretty well to life at our house. He’s still getting used to the cats and we’re barely started with training, but overall it’s much less stressful now than it was the first couple of days. Thanks to a prong collar …
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Two Saturdays ago, May 27, Alan and I welcomed Ruffie the husky into our home. He is a 2.5 year old pup who had been at the Oakland Animal Services shelter since early February. While his first days here were a little chaotic even under constant supervision, he is generally pretty well behaved and is even starting to get along with one of our cats, Kiko.
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I finally cleared off the counter so I could take a picture of all the loofahs we harvested a few months ago after having planting a few dozen seeds. Sadly, we only managed to get two specimens off a single vine, and they are small! I was excited to see them finally growing in the summer, but they clearly were missing something to reach their potential. Alan blames the poor soil in front of our house.
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Friday was a strange day. I went to bed late the night before, working till almost 01:00 to wrap something up. Then I woke to a text from fellow Fitbitter Tom D. asking if I am doing OK. I then glanced at the headlines and saw Google laid off …
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Well here we go: I’m blogging again. At least for today.
Now that I think my blog system is in roughly the shape I want to use for the
next long term, I can create new posts without worrying about adding to the pile
I need to migrate. But really I still have that problem, because I haven’t
worked out how exactly I want to structure the source Markdown files and image
folders. But that needn’t concern us today.
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Pictures coming later, but I wanted to write this now before I let it slide for a year like last year!
I expected this marathon to be bad, and it was, but I did finish. I really hope I manage to do a proper training schedule for my next marathon …
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I have been behind in blogging about the tank, but here are some more photos.
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It’s been a while since I updated about my saltwater aquarium since I have been focusing on wrapping up some personal projects as soon as possible. For now, here are a few photos and videos of strange creatures, including a pretty cool albeit not terribly high quality video of a spaghetti worm (Eupolymnia crasscornis) that climbed the glass and possibly tried to attack or at least irritated a nassarius snail, who then fought back and jumped to the ground onto a starfish.
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After returning January 4 from visiting family in Milwaukee for Christmas, I moved to a new apartment to live with my friend Yida and two others. The first months have flown by, and already one roommate moved out to return to Taiwan. I figured it is about time I post a few photos, though of course improving everything is an eternal process.
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Early Monday morning, we got underway just a little late and joined the thousands of others fleeing the city. Our timing was unlucky, and I had to fight tiredness and my bowels while driving seven hours before the first toilets. The traffic also meant Dave and Matt would not be able to join us for food, and they barely made it to Salt Lake City in time for Matt’s flight. The rest of us had a huge lunch near Reno, Nevada, and thus I was satiated for the final nine hours of driving while Erik and Phillip mostly slept.
This entry is lacking details of the final days, and I hope to add more.
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The Sunday ritual was the same as every year: I rose late, packed my things while periodically saying goodbye to those who had already finished, ate, and then proceeded to The Temple to watch it burn. I wrote about the temple my first year, so this time I will content myself to describe the day’s events briefly and share some photos.
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Saturday I mostly chilled at camp in preparation for the highlight of the week, the burning of The Man. The temperature continued its weeklong decline, but I was prepared this year with many coats! Some dust storms delayed the burn almost an hour, but that was fine as the storms delayed all of us as well. Most of our camp watched the burn together, and then we mostly danced at art cars nearby, including Dancetronauts. Due to poor planning, I was somewhat more sober than expected, but I still managed to go out for a second round with Erik and Phillip, and we stayed out dancing past sunrise. It was tiring, but I am glad I did it once this year.
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Friday I explored area neighborhoods with Steven, and we were later joined by Eric and Mike. I documented some interesting structures and collected ideas for next year. I made a quick trek to the playa before sunset to try to photograph some of the art before it was too late, and on the way back tickled a curiosity that nevertheless went unsatisfied. I went out with most of the camp, which was finally complete with the arrival of Brett and Scott and others. It was a bit of a strange night, as I didn’t feel terribly energetic, but I felt good and wanted to be with friends. Once most of us returned to camp a few hours after midnight, I made use of my speaker system to play some tracks I collected over the year. Those hours listening to music with friends around the campfire ended up being some of my most satisfying hours in days.
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Thursday evening, we went out much as we did Tuesday. We were all hopelessly slow to mobilize again and again, but I have come to appreciate those dynamics at Burning Man. That place is endlessly amazing, but it also teaches you to be self satisfied and to enjoy each unexpected moment. Just after we were finally moving, I was almost “condemned” to a night on my own when my bike malfunctioned. Dave stopped to help, and we got lucky the group hadn’t gotten too far. Not long after that, my yurt group ended up separated anyway, so we resolved to enjoy the night on our own. Joy can be an elusive thing, though. I was not sure the music differed much from Tuesday’s, but two of us were not enjoying it and eventually gave up searching. I still had a good time being on the playa and being with friends, despite injuring my hand! After they all retired for the night, some loneliness struck again and propelled me out into the desert once more. I returned still solo, not terribly disappointed but mostly just tired.
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After a low key Wednesday, Thursday was quite packed. As with Tuesday, I felt it broke naturally into two parts. We struggled to coordinate our activities given our various whims, and thus it was only after quite a few delays that I went out in search of friends whose addresses I had written down before coming. I only ended up finding my friend Luke, whom I met in Singapore last year, but I was glad I did, for I was apparently the one who introduced him to Burning Man and much of his inspiration for coming. Then I experienced my first moment of losing my group, though it didn’t last long. Overall I had a nice daytime adventure with Dave, Matt and Steven checking out the catacomb, an open mic, a tea house, a rowdy parade and more.
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I skipped the annual naked bar crawl Wednesday morning. The race no longer conflicted as in previous years, but having run it, I was less enthusiastic about the bar crawl than I imagined I would be. I relaxed at camp for the afternoon, and Dave arrived with Matt in the evening. With Erik and Phillip, we all went out for a sober night out exploring. We checked out the guild workshops around The Man before seeing some of the more prominent art – Firmament, Sonic Runway, the lighthouses – and briefly visiting The Temple. I had a good time, but also felt my first slight longing for a partner with whom to share this adventure.
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Tuesday night was possibly the best night of my week, at least for dancing. This was unexpected since I ran the Burning Man 50K Ultramarathon that morning and was quite exhausted by afternoon. I stayed in working on my lights while the group went out for the evening, but they came back around 21:00, at which point I decided to join. I loved the music everywhere we went, and I loved everyone in the group!
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There was no question in my mind I would attempt it a third time, but still I was nervous in the weeks before. I’m happy to report I did not die before finishing the Burning Man 50K Ultramarathon! It took me 6 hours, 4 minutes, and I placed 74 out of 160 who completed the race. I even managed to throw together a video, below. Thank you to Cherie and the camp Pink Lightning for organizing the race again!
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Monday I went out for what turned out to be my only day drinking adventure of the week. I took it easy and went to bed early in hopes of being rested for the 50K race the following morning.
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After our long journey to Burning Man Saturday, I woke late and did little Sunday. I think I’ve learned to be OK with that, which itself has been a long journey.
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We planned to leave Saturday before noon and have plenty of time to arrive in Black Rock City when the gate opened at midnight. Packing, of course, took longer than I hoped it would. We actually left four hours late, but most of the journey was remarkably smoother than the previous few years, and for a while I thought we would only be a little late. I was wrong. After being on the road 14 hours, we set up camp after sunrise. As a wonderful bonus, we managed to camp with friends and mark off plenty of space for others to join later.
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I just realized (in July 2017) I forgot to finish posting this entry last year. That’s a bit of a shame, as it was my best time (3:58:09) and I was now hoping to remember a bit about how I prepared. The photos will have to suffice!
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After an hourlong run and finishing my leftover tostada salad from The Little Chihuahua this afternoon, I noticed out the kitchen window a helicopter flying fairly low over the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. I didn’t think much of it till I heard it again, and again.
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After returning from Denver, I worked like a mad man, racking up 85 hours within a week in an attempt to launch a poorly managed project. That ended up being my last week working for 601am, finally allowing me to start the next chapter of my life.
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Thursday I flew to Denver for a quick company outing. I arrived late and ordered takeout, did one day at the office Friday and went skiing for the first time Saturday. It was a rush! And Yizhen went with me!
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Saturday I decided to go for a long run, but as often happens, I didn't muster the motivation till well into the afternoon. Finally driven by the certainty I won't make it back till after dark, I headed out around 3 p.m. I may come back to narrate this later, but for now, the captions will have to be good enough.
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After about 10 minutes, I got an e-mail asking me to urgently verify my current location and flight info, which I did, and then replied and kept waiting. Sure enough, shortly thereafter I had my letter. The e-mail said to use it to board the plane, but not to use it at immigration. I was to locate someone who would be holding a sign with my name, and they would assist me further.
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This got me researching later about the party scene in Tokyo. I found many forums with accounts of people doing drugs – specifically, ecstasy or (the better) pure MDMA, which is called "Molly" in the states and "Mandy" in the UK. The general situation in Japan seems to be:
* Japan is one of the strictest countries regarding drug laws, and quantity or intent matter not
* Drugs that do exist here are therefore much more expensive than elsewhere (“The street price of a gram of cannabis weed was $58.30 in 2005, over twice as much as in the next most expensive nation, Australia.”)
* People don't talk about drugs even if they do them. Similar to elsewhere, but more severe. Apparently many of the population are extremely sensitive about this, due to what I can only imagine is an ingrained sense that breaking rules is wrong (“unconscionable”) and you cannot question the rule's basis. If you even mention drugs, people will stop talking to you and you'll have no friends.
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We signed up for an elephant excursion Monday afternoon, and it was great! Yizhen had ridden elephants before, in China I think, but he and I both enjoyed this outing.
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Good morning! We woke up around 7 a.m. this fine Monday to go shooting a bit before breakfast. Here are some of my photos.
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Primarily the temple was a bridge to the hereafter, where many people paid tribute to their departed friends and family. From little messages to cards and photos and keepsakes to large sculpture tributes, burners have many creative ways to honor the dead.
There was more to this place, though. It also seemed to function as an outlet for emotions we no longer manage together as a society. This was apparent through reading just a small sample of the temple’s faces.
Some people released years of tension in their lives, apologizing for being a horrible father, forgiving a sibling for habitual abuse, or vowing to be a more sensitive friend. Some wrote inspiring messages and some asked questions, from personal to universal. “How do I be there for my son when he makes me so upset with his life choices?” “How can human kind achieve peace?” “Are we alone?” “Why me?”
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Saturday night around 9:30 is the big burn of The Man, the giant structure in the middle of Black Rock City.
I’m going to let the photos do the talking for this entry… enjoy!
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The nightlife at Burning Man is life entirely different than anything I knew before. If the day time is for wearing nothing, the night time is for wearing everything. The art pieces that are so strange, so epically large or so remote under the scorching sun come alive in the dark. It almost seems most of the people also come alive in the dark. Colored lights are everywhere, on everything.
Organizing how Burning Man provoked my mind is tough, and much of it doesn’t correspond with photos, as is usually the case with my life documenting. I’ll take a stab at providing a glimpse while narrating some photos that roughly fall into the categories of art structures, sound structures, art cars and art structure burns. Those are the things I was most able to document while immersed in my mental and physical explorations. As with most things at Burning Man, those categories aren’t even well defined. All the lines blur, sometimes disappear entirely, and you grow to appreciate fluidity.
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Everyone carries water, a dust mask and goggles for protection from the elements. Single ply toilet paper, sunscreen and snacks are also a good idea. Radical self reliance is the key. The weather was hot, but not horribly so this year. Generally people wear little during the day. Just about anything goes on the playa, and people can dress as they please without fear of judgment. This is part of another Burning Man principle, radical self expression. Nudity is not as common as I expected, but there are definitely many nudists. More commonly, I saw scarves or shorts, but not much more, which was definitely practical in the heat!
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In early February, I decided to buy some tickets for that impossible to fully describe event called Burning Man. Despite prevaling wisdom, I actually think I had a pretty good idea what I was in for. I knew it is a city that rises on an ancient lakebed within a week and then in even less time diseappears entirely. I knew it is about acceptance and free expression. I knew it is not for the feeble.
What I did not know was how being freer than I ever have been would change me. Realizations, new experiences, new friends. It was undoubtedly the most awesome adventure of my life, even though I know I barely scratched the surface my first year. You really do need to experience it, though hopefully writing about it can help me better live it every day.
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This past weekend I redeemed my United frequent flier miles for a $5 round trip flight to Seattle to visit Keith and go camping. It was a blast!
The actual flight was suboptimal, as I had to take a 6 a.m. flight Friday morning. It was the only option in the “Super Saver” category for which my miles qualified, though, so I had to make due. It ended up sort of working out because I had a lot of work to do the night before, and I stayed up all night doing it. At the airport. Because BART only runs till 1:30, and doesn’t start again till around 5 a.m.
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Yizhen and I decided to go camping this weekend Wednesday or Thursday, but we didn’t start looking for a destination till Friday. All of the desirable campgrounds in the area seemed to be booked, so we headed to the only place I knew we could for sure go: Mendocino National Forest.
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Yesterday I returned from my first camping trip of the year, that shouldn’t have taken this long to happen. I went again to Mendocino, this time with Rich. We tried to find some other people to go, but failed. It was still a wonderful trip.
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Wednesday, we got up a bit earlier, skipping breakfast at the hotel and heading to the Tsukiji fish market instead. Nob said he likes to eat breakfast near the market because the fish is fresh and cheap, so we were going to try that out. And we also wanted to see the market, even if we didn’t get there early enough to see some fish auction action.
Well, getting there was easy enough. We only got a little bit lost, but we eventually found it, before 9 a.m. And things were eerily quiet. It didn’t take long to realize the market was closed, and we eventually found a sign that read, “Today is a fixed holiday.” Apparently some Wednesdays are off days.
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We began the day by setting out to find a shoe store that sells Keen for Dan, but the destination store didn’t have anything in Dan’s size. We later found out this was the case everywhere in Japan. The walk was nice, though! After a while, Aaron and I headed back to do some work while Dan continued to wander.
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Today was a big day; the first of three or four days in the Six Apart KK office, the reason for our trip to Tokyo. And I had no idea what to expect. After breakfast, we began the short walk to the office. We left at 9:40, needing to be there by 10. Google said 5 minutes. We got there only 10 minutes late.
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This morning for breakfast I tried Nattō, which is fermented soy beans. It was pretty disgusting, and adding the soy sauce and spicy mustard it came with made it worse. Justin told me not to feel bad about not finishing it (I ate three beans), so I didn’t!
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Saturday I woke up pretty early, so I decided to go for a run around one of the parks nearby. On the map it appeared to be a few miles around, so I hoped it would serve as a nice route. And it did.
I got slightly disoriented when I crossed a river I mistook for the water surrounding the park I aimed to run around, but I got to see some city streets and eventually got back on track. I ran about six miles total, though my fricken iPhone 4S GPS reported I ran almost 10 miles. I can’t wait to get rid of the iPhone.
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I got back from my trip to Denver Tuesday night, leaving only Wednesday to squeeze in a four hour clinic appointment, a haircut, two hours of weight lifting, and a full day of work. Oh, and I had to pack for a week in Japan, but of course I didn’t do that till Thursday morning in the 30 minutes before I had to head to the airport.
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Perhaps I will write more later, but for now, here are some photos of my last days in Spain.
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I’m running out of time, so the photo captions will have to suffice! Sorry!
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Monday morning we ventured to the Musée de l'Orangerie, which houses eight Water Lilies murals by Claude Monet.
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Saturday we went to Barcelona’s Park Güell, a popular forested park area overlooking the city.
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Friday night we dined at Cinc Sentits, a fairly new restaurant in Barcelona that is already acknowledged to be one of the best in Spain. The place only takes 10 table reservations a night, as it is a small space and the meal takes hours to complete since there are so many courses.
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Today was a big day, so I'm going to split it into two posts. Part 2 is “Cinc Sentits, my fanciest dining experience to date”.
We got up and walked from our hotel apartment to the Sagrada Família, probably the most prominent church construction underway in the world. We stopped at La Vieja Tahona for coffee and L'Oreig for tea, and then went to the church.
We had 11 a.m. tickets for ascending one of the towers, so we started with that, and then did the self guided audio tour. It was really fascinating, and the building was incredible. The photos should speak for themselves.
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Unfortunately I have not had time to write these captions, so here are just a few photos from Friday while we visited the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
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Thursday morning we went to the Madrid airport to catch a flight to Barcelona, where we checked into our hotel and headed straight to Casa Batlló, a famous building designed in 1904 by Antoni Gaudí.
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Wednesday we walked along the Padeo del Prado en route to the Prado Museum, home to many works by Francisco de Goya, one of the most well known Spanish artists in history.
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I decided May 6 to book a ticket to Madrid to join my mom and her friend Terry on a trip to visit my brother, Tim, who has been working on his master’s there for a year.
I was to leave Monday, May 20, but I had a ton of work to do before that. I ended up logging 116.25 hours in those two weeks, largely thanks to three projects that were behind schedule and high priority. But the overtime allowed me to largely not need to work during the trip!
The day came, and the flight was scheduled for 7 a.m. Monday. I was to land in Madrid Tuesday at 8 a.m. after a stopover at JFK.
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Anyway, back to signing up for the gym... I had e-mailed with one of the recruiter people a few times about prices, and finally went in to start a membership after they made a reasonable offer on my desired plan: $36.95 per month with no money upfront and no contracts. Most of their other plans involved paying $100-200 up front for a monthly discount, but I decided not to try a plan that would save me money a year or two down the line when I'll possibly not live in this neighborhood and possibly be making way too much money to care. Well, hopefully. Hopefully.
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Friday morning, after getting enough rest at the hostel, I made plans to meet Nick again so he could show me his beloved chocolate restaurant, Max Brenner. Instead of going all the way back to Saeed's, I just showered at the hostel, using my dirty shirt as a towel and my underwear as a rag. I just used the hand soap as shampoo and body wash. It worked fine.
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Wednesday, I did the library working thing again, and then met a new friend Saeed for lunch. We went to a restaurant called Mos Burger, which is apparently a Japanese burger place. Afterward I found out they have rice buns, which I would have tried. But it was decent nonetheless. The portions were a little small, but that's pretty much how Australia has been... either smaller portions than I'm used to, or the food is really expensive, or both.
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I walked inside, feeling slightly intimidated, not knowing the normal process for such places. The receptionist was a girl about my age, and she was quite nice and understanding. She explained the various types of rooms ranging from eight bed to two bed rooms. I think there was an eight bed room space available that night for around $31, but it was booked for the next day. The six bed rooms had spaces for the foreseeable future, and cost $33. So, not knowing if I'd be there one night or 10 days, I opted to purchase a single night in a six bed room. If I figured out I would be there at least a week, the rate goes down about $10 per night.
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I didn't do much other than work the rest of Tuesday through Friday. Late Friday afternoon, I made the abrupt decision after talking to Daniel to leave Oliver's and go back to Brisbane. I wasn't doing much other than work, and Oliver was keeping to himself, so I thought a change of scenery and getting to know a new friend would be great.
So I asked Daniel to book me a standy ticket for that afternoon, I packed up and headed to the airport. A few hours later I was back with Daniel, and he was very excited to see me.
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Oliver's day basically consisted of waiting in lines in this barn. And we waited with him half the time. They had one big section for signatures, and another section for photos. The celebrities basically walked back and forth between signing and photographs. It was not super organized, as the times were totally off most of the time, and Oliver even got the wrong photograph for someone to Felicia Day to sign. It was some other similar looking girl. Embarrassing!
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Wednesday afternoon I went for what was supposed to be a lovely half marathon length run along the ocean. About halfway through, around mile 7, I started feeling a slight pain in my foot. Throughout my running experience, I've had lots of random pains that always went away after a while and never seemed to cause a problem. Well, this one didn't. Another mile, I took a break to stretch my foot and see what was going on with it.
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Once I got back and showered, Oliver was about ready to emerge from the house. We took the train closer to downtown to check out a popular eating and shopping area along Chapel Street. We ended up walking mostly to the end without making up our minds about eating anywhere, and then we walked back and did the same thing.
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...until you start paying attention to the roads and signs and talk to people. But overall, that they speak English here makes it infinitely easier to do everything than during my experience in Argentina last year.
Before I get too far ahead, I'll go back a couple of days to Thursday, Nov. 2, the day I was to leave for Australia.
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Last Tuesday, Josh made me watch a movie with him, "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead." Apparently he thought it was about steroid abuse for the sake of muscle gain or something, and it turned out to be quite a different movie. But we both loved it nonetheless.
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At Chicago Pride 2011, I was with my friend Ryan for most of Sunday after the parade. We were loosely tracking a group of Milwaukee gays and once in a while running into other friends. During one of our ditch-out-and-head-to-the-next-bar excursions, we saw some girls and a cute boy in the street pointing up at some apartment. I told Ryan I thought the boy was super cute, after which Ryan went up to the guy and asked his name. I was glad Ryan did that, especially when I saw how pretty his eyes were!
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Tuesday night I went to Palermo for my long awaited dinner plans with Juan Manuel and Roberto. I may have guilted Roberto into coming with, but I know he didn't regret it. :-) Juan picked out a place called Taco Box for me to try. It was nice, though our waitress really sucked. We ended up giving her exact payment for the bill with no tip, something I couldn't imagine doing in the States. I walked out quickly without looking back. :-(
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Tuesday, Dani asked what I wanted to do, and when I mentioned reading about a famous cemetery online, we decided to go there. La Recoleta Cemetery is in one of the ritzier neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. It is where tourists from around Argentina and the world go to see the tombs of such prominent Argentines as Eva Perón. Somehow I missed that tomb, though. The place is huge, and you could walk around all day and still not see all the graves.
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Last weekend was the second "long weekend" of my trip, as Thursday and Friday were days off for many people. I wasn't clear on what the occasion was, but it became clear something was going on Thursday when I tried to make my way to La Plata for the weekend to stay with Damian.
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Tuesday I decided 'twas as good of a day as any to venture out to meet a new friend, Daniel, living in Balvanera, a tad west of Capital Federal and south of Recolata and Palermo. I also was going to finally try meeting up with a guy from my home town, Brandon, who happens to be in Buenos Aires this week. The problem, though, is Brandon doesn't have a phone here and barely has Internet access, so arranging a meet when neither of us knows our schedule is problematic. But he said he was going to hang out in the Japanese Gardens in Palermo, so I figured it'd be worth combining looking for him with meeting Dani.
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Saturday was my first South American clubbing experience, and it was fabulous. Despite losing contact with a new friend who had wanted to go out with me, I still found somewhere to hang before the club. My "longtime" Facebook friend Damian was going to his friend Victor's to have some drinks and hang out, so Damian asked if I could come along. I took the bus up to the Obelisco and met Damian outside the McDonald's there.
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The last few days have been great! I met a bunch of new people and am getting a bit better at the buses. I also was told I'm the first American ever to have stayed in Lanús, which is apparently not a tourist destination. But it's been fine!
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So far I've gotten cash by bringing paper dollars from the United States and converting them to Argentine pesos at the airport, getting pesos from an ATM and using my Chase Amazon Visa and my American Express Clear cards. All the methods, except perhaps the ATMs, produce basically the same results, but clearly not all are of equal convenience.
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Saturday Fernando and I got cards for the buses so we could avoid the moneda shortage problems, Sunday I went to an Argentine barbeque called an asado, and Monday Fer and I went to La Plata to fill out some papers for his apartment and check out the city.
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Friday was pretty interesting. Fernando took me on a little tour of parts of the central Capital Federal district where lots of historic buildings stand. We left the house and walked over a bridge to the nearest train station, Estación Gerli. Fer said we probably wouldn't need to pay, but when he told me it was less than a peso (less than 25 U.S. cents), I said we should, especially since they take paper money and not only the scarce coins. But then when we got to the paying booth, the person there just told us to go through, as they weren't currently open to take payments. So much for trying to pay!
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It's been a few weeks since I've written; I hope that last, depressing entry and the subsequent silence hasn't led either of my two stalkers to fear for my life. Things have been pretty good, but I've admittedly been slacking on the photo taking and entry writing. I'm not really sure why.
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We got a pretty big (historic, I guess) snow storm Wednesday, dumping about 20 inches of snow on Milwaukee.
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I have been quite unproductive during the last two weeks... but I've also been hanging out with the new friend almost daily. I'll just briefly recapitulate the recent happenings, as I need to eat, shower and get ready to maybe go to Madison soon.
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What a weekend! I had been hoping to get to Chicago for New Year's, but it was unclear I'd have anyone to stay with or even go out with until the late afternoon New Year's eve. I was unsuccessful in locating a friend to crash with, after asking a dozen people almost, so it was looking like I wouldn't do much.
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THIS ENTRY IS NOT YET FINISHED
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THIS ENTRY IS NOT YET FINISHED
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THIS ENTRY IS NOT YET FINISHED
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I recently returned from Playa del Carmen, about 30 minutes down the coast from Cancun. With my mom, I stayed at the Grand Coco Bay All Inclusive Resort on the beach. She hoped that things would be easier staying at an all inclusive place, and that we could relax more - but as things turned out, we barely utilized the inclusiveness!
Immediately after clearing customs, we were barraged by people calling us over from every direction. We didn't know what they wanted, so we went near a man who was specifically yelling for us. We soon found out that those were salespeople giving out tickets to area tours for reduced prices. The catch: attend a 90-minute "tour" of the Mayan Palace Resort.
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