David B. Calhoun’s Blog

It took over five hours to drive down from San Jose to LA on Friday night, then it took over ten hours to fly from LAX to Narita international airport. And it’s done! Phew!

The plane was booked full, so everyone on the plane could only have one carry-on. This resulted in some last minute rearranging, but the important thing is that everything arrived safely, including me!

This also meant that I was inevitably sitting right next to someone, which wasn’t so bad because I got a window seat (with a view of most of the wing.. oh well..). In my row there was an old Arab man with a turban in the aisle seat and a Japanese woman slightly older than me in the middle seat. I felt bad because we were occasionally bumping legs because of the lack of space. Ok, maybe I didn’t feel all that bad after all… She seemed good natured though, even trying to help out the Arab man from time to time.

In any case, we all arrived safely and in varying states of disarray (with me zoning in and out of consciousness) and everyone went off their own separate ways.

I grabbed my checked luggage, did all the customs and procedures and such. I tried to show customs my checked baggage claim to make sure it matched with what I took, but no one ever checked. I must’ve just slipped through. In any case, the bags were actually mine, but if I had bad intentions it might not be too hard to grab someone else’s…

Got my money exchanged, and it looks like I lost about $30 total in the exchange.. not too bad for the amount I exchanged.

Went to the JR place and gave them my exchange order. For those who are unaware, foreign visitors can purchase JR (Japan Rail) passes outside of Japan and get passes for 7, 14, and 21 day periods. The use of the pass is unlimited during this period, and all you have to make sure to do is go through the JR turnstyle as you show your pass to the people in the booth.

In my case I got a 14 day JR pass, and the cost was over $500. That does seem like quite a lot, but it’s very easy to make it up. For instance, a one-way trip to Kyoto is just about $100 on the fastest bullet train (Nozomi). But the JR pass covers more than just long-distance trains - it’s also the one that runs a lot of the train system within cities themselves, so this unlimited use is also covering your excursions through the city, through railways that cost a few dollars here and there. But hey, it adds up!

Maybe the most confusing thing about the JR rail pass is having to take transport not covered by the JR pass. This can usually be avoided by researching the route first (hyperdia.com is the best resource for this). Nevertheless, this might upset the flow of the trip a bit, especially having to figure out the ticketing machines for the first time. But this isn’t too bad: near the machines there’s a map that should have your destination on it, with the fare amount next to the name. Just add this amount to your ticket and you should be all set! In any case, there’s also a help button you can press, and hopefully the person who helps you can speak English!

Anyhow, after taking care of the JR Pass and get a reserved seat ticket (which is required for this particular train for some reason), all I needed to do was board the Narita Express into Tokyo. On the way we stopped at a few stations within the airport, and the rest of the way seemed to be a direct journey to Tokyo station. Tokyo station itself was pretty crazy: it was after 8pm yet clearly it was still rush hour, as the train going the other direction was packed with people. Those who were still waiting for their train had their attention arrested by their flip cellphones, of course. There was even a guy holding TWO cellphones.

And of course I can’t end this without saying I of course saw many stylish pretty girls. Tokyo is full of fashion. Lots of people shopping and showing off the exploits of their shopping. I shudder to think of the cost (just think how high-maintenance these girls are!), but the show itself is free.

I checked into my hotel for the night, but not without raiding the vending machine and filming a short video of my room! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0-D-6D1eO4

Long time no talk! It’s been a while since I posted here. There’s not a lot of I’m proud of about these older posts. So I guess you could say I’m doing much better now than I was then! This is very likely the prime of my life and I’m trying not to waste it…

One of the ways I’m trying not to waste my youth is by exploring. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Japan in the trip of a lifetime back in April, for about a week’s worth of exploring during the cherry blossom season. Tomorrow I’m flying off and visiting Japan again, but this time for two weeks as I transition teams within my company.

Why Japan? I was greatly impressed by the country on my last visit. What made an impression on me was both animate and inanimate: the polite and courteous average Japanese person and the coexistence of the old and new contained within cities such as Kyoto (where for instance you could walk along a modern street mall and come across a very old shrine hidden away between department stores). And the cleanliness of the people and the cities themselves is unmatched (public transportation doesn’t smell like urine!).

My philosophy about travelling is this: why wait until I retire to travel the world? Yes, I have a job, but as long as there’s such a thing as unpaid leave, it doesn’t make sense not to seize the opportunity to explore the world while I’m still young.

So here I go! After celebrating my father’s birthday this weekend, I’m now prepared for the trip! I’ll be leaving Monday afternoon (tomorrow) and arriving in Tokyo Tuesday evening Japan time. And that’s the start of an adventure that will take me everywhere from the Tokyo area to the Kyoto area and beyond, as far away as Hiroshima.

There’s many stories waiting to be written, and many sights yet to be seen by my eyes and by my camera lens.

The longer I live, the longer I realize that we humans are crazy about certain fixations.

We know about what fixations are looked down upon. It’s not acceptable for someone to be so fixated on playing a video game like World of Warcraft to the point that they ignore their family, for instance.

And yet paradoxically we praise people who succeed at business at the expense of their personal lives. Because they are workaholics, they earn a lot of money, and that counts as brownie points in this corrupt world.

Then there are those who fixate on drinking and getting drunk after work. Some of my friends have become this way. It’s something to fixate on to distract them from the realities of everyday life.

A lot of people watch television. They work all day, then watch hours and hours of television, entertaining themselves to death. If not that, they spend countless hours in front of a computer screen simply jumping from one link to another, with no goal or meaningful purpose.

These are some of the many fixations society provides us. What will yours be?

I bought the expansion. Played it like any other game but I’m tired of it already. Went back to playing Call of Duty 4 with my friends on Xbox Live. That’s a game I can pick up and play whenever, then stop playing soon after, unlike WoW, which requires hours and hours.

WoW is a good game, but the game itself becomes tiring after so long.

And I can’t end this without talking about the disgusting kids who play and post on its forums.

Most WoW players care more about being a good character class than about being a good human being. They care more about being good contributors to their guild than about being a good contributor to their own family. They foresake real-life trade skills for the sake of in-game trade skills.

There was a time I thought WoW was at least more productive than sitting around watching television all day. Now I honestly think WoW is worse. It turns normal people into greedy, avaricious bastards. All for the sake of a video game that’s supposed to be played in moderation and for fun.

A young aviator lay dying
At the start of a bright summer’s day
To the mechanics assembled around him
These few parting words he did say
Take the cyllinder out of my kidneys
The connecting rod out of my brain
From the small of back take the crankshaft
And assemble the engine again

Wow, two websites to maintain and another one (this one) to vent about it! At least I’m spending my days productively, haha.

I just got back on Monday from my awesome 1,500+ mile trip to Mesa Verde. My last day consisted of me driving some 650 miles (!) from Gallup, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California. Stopped at the Painted Desert and Meteor Crater, Arizona. Wow, wasn’t expecting Meteor Crater to be that commercialized. $15 entrance fee to climb up the hill to look at a hole in the earth. I felt much better giving my $25 to drive through Zion National Park or $10 to drive to Mesa Verde or through the Painted Desert. But I feel kind of scammed giving $15 to see the Meteor Crater, especially when it says “Meteor Crater Incorporated” on my receipt (no joke…).

Anyhow, was a great drive, and definitely worth it. Hotel costs killed me on this trip though - I’ve got to find a way to cut back on those. Probably going in the summer and camping!

So I’ve decided to drive somewhere for the time I have off for Thanksgiving. I’m thinking Mesa Verde

And I’ll make it there, Lord willing! Well, still have to work out the technicalities. I’m honestly willing to sleep in my car the whole way, but campsites would be better. Need to plan!

You know what, despite my friends mocking me, I’m doing quite well. I am more profilic than I ever have been. I’ve been successfully updating three blogs and I’m learning a lot of things on my own for once.

I was going to complain about being mocked, but you know what, screw them.

While once describing my frustration over a girl, I was told I really deserve better anyway. You know what, that’s true. I do deserve better. Maybe I even deserve better friends.

I have always done my best work by myself, isolated and alone. That’s where my most meaningful contributions are made. They’re not made at endless drunken parties or being a non-contributor to society while playing endless video games. Or spending endless amounts of cash on new gadgets. #*% that. I realized early on, while that stuff is fun and neat and all, it entirely misses the meaning of life. People complain about not knowing the meaning of life, meanwhile they don’t even get off the couch or stop partying to think about it for themselves.

In short, damn you all for being so blind and for calling ME blind. And for implying that I’m somehow crazy or need professional help because I don’t enjoy the bullshit and crap that you guys enjoy.

I want to kick myself for not being confident in myself with saying this earlier, but I’m quite confident I’m not off the mark with this post.

I’m doing well. Quite well, thanks.

How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame man says that it is we who are limping. But for that we should feel sorry rather than angry.

Pascal, Pensees (#98)

Trying to get back into the hang of school. Looks like I’ll be concentrating on that for the next couple years, as I should be I suppose. Might’ve taken me ten years to finish while working full time…

Well, it’s another Friday night, and I just got paid. Sitting here at home again trying to be productive…

It feels like I’ve lost a job. I guess it’s easy to feel that way after you get a phone call telling you how much the job is offering you, and that you’ll be sent the offer letter the next day. Then to be called the next day by your manager and told that basically there was a mix-up and I’m not eligible for the position. And never to hear from HR again…

Yeah, so that was this week.

Oh well, my resolve is strengthened and I continue to carry on with my personal projects. My WWI flight sim site is still coming along very well. I continue to have a blast updating it and watching all my visitors come by. I now have the game developers themselves coming to me and corresponding with me! Or something similar, where I’m actually mistaken for the game developer and as a result, and I’m contacted by a distributor who’s anxious to hear of the release date.

I just launched the Forum over there, which isn’t wildly popular, but does have some people signed up and posting already, which is a good sign.

Also, if you couldn’t tell by now, sometimes I’m pretty open and honest on my personal blog here. But I’ve had a desire recently to keep up a professional web development blog, which I launched this summer. I’m starting to hit a stride with it finally. As a study more and more, and as I just maintain my website, I’ll update it with any stuff I learned. It’s sure to be useful to someone, somewhere…