Creativity

I've ruined my sleep schedule after working on my final reports for this semester. At least this shows me just how vulnerable our bodies are when we don't care for ourselves with proper discipline. Certainly my shortcomings in college have two causes. First, I refuse to live out my life only having gained the limited scope of an technical profession without any awareness of the significance engineering can play in humanity, so I take far more courses than I am capable of handling (I was already classified a senior by the end of my third semester at NCSU). However second, and more importantly, is my inability to maintain a disciplined sleep schedule. This lack of discipline means missed appointments, low mental acuity, even eventually leading to poor physical and social health. Because I've had at least two roommates who contributed to this situation, and realizing now that living alone in Japan has been the best remedy for me, I don't plan on returning to Alexander Hall in the fall.

What makes this particular instance so depressing is the vividness and length of the dream I just awoke from. I was enrolled in some sort of class in Japan (I think I believed it was a metropolis city like Tokyo in my dream) in which our assignment was to compose a J-Pop song. My dream spanned the full course of writing the song, growing friendships with others in the class and witnessing their struggles with writing their own pieces, and eventually giving feedback on each other's pieces at our final performance which doubled as a sort of ceremony for placing our final published piece in a sort of final project shrine. As I started to wake up I realized I missed one of my classmate's performances and I was scolded for not having paid attention. Now that I had been kicked back into dream mode it started to feel like a turn towards one of those came-to-class-naked dreams (I've never had one before), so I quickly shifted gears to a flying dream. I hadn't had a flying dream since I was maybe 12 so this was great. However the experience was completely different. In the flying dreams from my childhood, I remember just wanting either to escape some situation or merely to force my will into the dream, so I would fly to nowhere in particular and everything below looked the same -- one giant residential block. This time was quite different. I have never imagined such a vivid landscape as that which I saw in this dream. The most beautiful metropolis setting imaginable, I went between diverse building zones where all kinds of people and architecture could be found. I had everything from bridges and skyscrapers covered in ivy to children's sandboxes. Of course in the last few moments before I woke up the city started making less sense, like people driving on bridges to dead ends, or giant swingsets 40 stories high. But until that point, all the places I had seen, all the songs I had composed just for the sake of this dream, everything had made me envy the power within our own minds that is restricted when we're awake. If only it weren't for this, I think I would take my music composition book with me in all my travels.

豚 (Pig)

There is something depressing about eating pork-filled steamed buns when they make the bun look like a pig. I know many fans of the movie Babe, but I tend to think more about McMug and McDull from the famous Hong Kong comic strip. In America, my copy of My Life as McDull was run over by a car, and when I visited Hong Kong, I was only able to find the new film entitled McDull, Prince de la Bun. To my despair, the original is now out of print, meaning I'll have to eBay it. Oh well. Anyway last week of classes for me. Time to study hard!

Apple Store Grand Opening

So yesterday I was one of the first 1500 people to enter the brand new Apple Store in the Sakae district of Nagoya, Japan. Kevin and I watched as the iPod shuffles got attacked by an angry mob, some people buying half a dozen shuffles in a single purchase. Within 10 minutes of entering the store, the shuffles had sold out, and there was still at least a 5 hour line waiting in the freezing cold outside. We probably should have told everybody that they had sold out, but my whole body was still frozen from having waited since 6AM outside the store after a full night of karaoke. While neither Kevin nor I made any purchases, we did get free Apple Store - Sakae t-shirts and got to groove to the music of the in-store DJ. Deciding he wanted a shuffle after all, we headed to MacMall near Nagoya station, but of course they were also sold out. After a pair of speakers, I was disappointed at the hiked price I found there. The high point of the day was definitely the meal at Wendy's afterwards, where we reminisced about the "think of something hot" spicy-chicken commercial.

And wouldn't you know it, I finally discovered a program on my computer that will allow me to choose JPEG export quality. I may fix some of the photos I've already posted (that look terrible due to Paint's poor export quality). I already borrowd iPhoto to fix up those Hong Kong pics.

Hong Kong Photo Montage

Adornment

Horse of a Different Color

Sea Urchin Fisherman

Victoria Peak

Hong Kong

I almost wish I had chosen Hong Kong Polytechnic University instead of Nagoya University. Everything that I wished I could find in Japan is all there in Hong Kong. Even my visit to Tokyo was disappointing, especially compared to descriptions I've read such as Lonely Planet's "a city you must see to believe". Japan certainly has its points of beauty, and perhaps I'd find more to my liking on roads less traveled. However, there's just too much superficiality to Japanese metropolis life. Perhaps self-introduction drinking games just aren't my thing. Not to mention $45 USD haircuts.

Hong Kong has it all. Open markets, classy malls, traditional cuisine, western food chains, architectural marvels, natural resorts, a wonderful mass transit system, residential convenience stores, a bustling night life filled with foreigners, and millions and millions of lively people. This place has a vibrancy you can taste... or is that the pollution?

Five of us went to Hong Kong and tended to stay together quite nicely until we began to feel rushed in finding souvenirs. At that point it became impossible to stay together. It seemed we all found a little bit of what we were looking for. Full television series could be found on DVD for around $25~50 USD. Soundtracks on CD for around $3. We went shopping for movies, music, clothes, backpacks, jewelry, etc. 24K gold is extremely popular in Hong Kong, compared to 14K trends in the US. We went yam cha (drank tea with dim sims, etc.), found a seemingly authentic Vietnamese restaurant where nobody could speak Vietnamese (compared to places in US where people speak Chinese but don't even attempt authentic food), and even got in a Pizza Hut the last night there. Pizza Hut costs 3 times as much in Japan, so I was feeling a little homesick for it, even though I hardly ever ate it in America.

As for the fruits of my labor learning Cantonese, I only got in a few essentials. Most of what I did learn was either useless or screwed up. At one point I pointed at a CD and asked "Where is this?" I also called the waitress at Pizza Hut "Dead sister!" which might explain the poor service later that evening. At the airport on the way home we found the only Burger King left in Hong Kong, and I was thrilled to get a thumbs up indicating my Cantonese was finally understood.

I might stop by again in March when I visit some friends in mainland China, but aside from the possibility of a semester of graduate study at H.K.Polytech.U., I don't see myself spending much time there in the future.

The Horror

(Taken 22 Oct 2004)

The horror that is my mobile computing experience. After Best Buy switched out my old failing laptop for a new failing laptop, and again switching that one out for an even newer "mobile desktop", I realize that this thing was never meant to hit the road. Packed with tons of extra multimedia software, I keep finding new programs on here every month. So far I have found at least 4 programs that claim to be able to help me work with photos, but until today I have only been able to use Microsoft Paint to crop these things down to size. Unfortunately that tends to cause a major loss of quality to my pictures, so for the first time now I'm trying out Picture It, which boasts the ability to export in pre-selected widths. So I chose the 600px width option this time and I'm not overly impressed. Until I find something better, we're just gonna have to make do. Any suggestions on what to get? I'm not dishing out the dough for Photoshop, but I'd like to at least be able to change pictures to B&W.

Getting By

These past few days I have been keeping myself busy:

• Compiling pictures for my online photo albums
• Learning CSS for fixing up this blog
• Researching events to attend in Hong Kong
• Studying Cantonese
• Attending various social events, e.g. clubbing, bowling

I'm told that I don't need Cantonese in Hong Kong because those interested in interacting with foreigners speak English, and those who aren't interested will probably give a cold shoulder. In other words, English is enough to get by in Hong Kong.

I don't want to just "get by" in Hong Kong. To me, walking around, buying souvenirs, visiting tourist attractions... this is meaningless. All the typical tourist gets is a bit of excercise, trinkets to give friends and family, sore feat, stomachaches, but most importantly, the right to say "I've been there". Any culture absorbed by tourist attractions is diluted by the presense of tourists and those taking advantage of tourists. You can get more out of a book or personal website. I am a fan of a number of Hong Kong films, but even films can be misleading. I've enjoyed getting a tatse of Hong Kong from an online photo blog, but a taste of everyday life in Hong Kong through a website isn't enough. I want to connect personally with people I meet, and using nothing but a major foreign tourist language isn't likely to get me far.

Granted, there is no way I will become fluent in the next 2 days. Even so, every little bit of effort put into a language is a gesture of respect. To me, it's like saying "I realize I'm a tourist, but I'd like to connect with something deeper than money and material goods."

Art for Everyone

I've been thinking a lot about art lately, and I've come to realise that there isn't much point to forcing art. Certainly, care can be taken to make a photograph aesthetic, but I found myself trying too hard to take "artistic" shots. I'm no photographer; in fact, my camera was a refurbished item I found on eBay not too long ago. I suppose I was thinking too hard about my shots since my only other camera is one of those multi-lensed 3D photo gizmos. Using that camera, it's best to consider how much depth can be brought into the shot.

It isn't even so much of an issue of public perception. I have a journal with nothing but blank pages because I want my first entry to establish something somehow significant. I have a number of music pieces that have been collecting dust for years, nowhere near completion. Somewhere along the line I forgot that art is merely an expression. There are expressions that take planning, hard work, rehearsal, etc., but what good is that sort of perseverence without integrety? In other words, it's all nothing but an act if you don't take time to simply expres impromptu.

To be nobody-but-yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you somebody else - means to fight the hardest battle than any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. - E E Cummings

So here I am, taking the plunge. I'm joining the blog bandwagon, months behind my peers here in Japan. Consider it a new year's resolution: to live each day to its fullest, to become self-reliant, and to take each step without second-guessing whether it can live up to the expectations of my peers, my God, and myself.