I'm in columbus now.
In Japan I experienced.
3 earthquakes
a $57,000 downswing at poker.
a loss of 4lbs of bodyweight.
couchsurfers crashing with me.
Tokyo Vegan Runners club.
My best friend attempted suicide and is in the hospital now.

coming home!

be home monday nov 3rd at 420pm.
livin at the legion

let's hang out !

marathon

did a half marathon today, it kicked my butt... my endurance breathing was fine, but i didnt strethch beforehand (big mistake) and i am not flexible enough in general.. my hamstrings tighened up severely, and my knee started hurting at about kilometer 13.. (i was keeping a 5 minute per kilometer pace until kilo 13) at this point i driopped off to about 6 minutes per kilo. Then the last 3 kilo I had to walk cus my knee was in so much pain from running. None the less, I finished, in 2 hours and 6 minutes or something. (I decided to run the race after regrestration was full, so I wasn't officialy registered, I just ran anyway, without the number bib) Only once did an old man notice I had no official number bib and tried to talk to me about it but I just kept running.

It was fun, and I will get in better shape so I can do better next time.

Also I got runners nipple, which hurts!!

things i wanna learn

juggling
magic
freestyle rap
gymnastics
yoga
italian
french
ASL
thai
chinese


i will practice these (more often) starting today

life and stuff

i got internet... i've been running... josh went home

i joined ICU swim club, i'm gonna go swim in a little while
if you e-mail me your e-mail address, or leave a comment, i will share my google calander with you, so that you can see what i am doing everyday.. it's mostly just sports, and dates to hang out wtih friends.

Tomorrow is japan vegetarian festival, and a raw food potluck.
i will add pics soon.

I'm trying to work towards a goal of doing 3 miles in 18 minutes, and 10km in 40 minutes... we'll see how it goes.

oh yeah

i know it's not the best idea but i have been playing on borrowed wireless.
it disconects sometimes, and has cost me aproximately 2000 dollars so far, but i'm up around 25k on the connection so *shrug*.
won like 9k yesterday and then 2k today, which was nice cus i was down pretty big, and ended up a little.

i also dumpstered : curtain, silverware, jeans
foraged: 2 oranges and 1 persimmon.

I lift weights at ICU (my former university in Tokyo). It's 2.9 miles from my apartment, so I just run there, lift weights, and run home usually.

Also tomorrow wakana is coming over. She is doing a lot better lately, I took her to blind runners of Tokyo, and she tried running, also i helped her lift weights a few times (which she asked me for). we also went dumpstering togehter.

she spends the night about every other night, cus her parents make her go home SOMETIMES.

anyway, i also remembered i want to learn ASL american sign language, and chinese. I think when I go back to school i will take chem2, bio2, and either ASL I or CHIN I.

If i start swimming i might get a triathlon bike here in tokyo and put in some miles during the winter.. i hear you can do it, it's just cold :) Also 2 friends of mine are visiting me in 2 weeks. 2 girls i met in thailand, they're super cool and we had a fun day together hangin out in bangkok.

Oh yeah, anyone who reads this and wants to visit me, feel free to come sleep on my dumpstered carpet with me. I can promise you a place to stay, electricity, and hot water :).

exercise

been running a lot lately.
did 13k yesterday, and did 3km at a fast pace today. saturday vegan runners meetup we are doing 25km along arakawa river. i am hosting a couch surfer tomorrow, and also josh is arriving on sunday.

the house i tried to buy seems that the real estate agency was shady and gave verbal acceptance, then went and accepted someone else's higher offer. wtf m8.
i get fiber optic internet installed on saturday.
i've been lifting weights every other day for about 2 weeks, its fun.

also i found swimming club at ICU so i will hopefuly start swimming 4 days a week.

world championship triathlon is sunday.

no internet lately

haven't had internet lately
been running a lot.. mostly 10km a day
wakana spends the night
i eat fruit.
i take walks..
i dumpstered some clothes...

updates more to come when i get internet (hopefuly in 3 days)

Bad day..?

So I lost like 5500 today and somehow i let it affect me.
SO I was kinda in a bad mood, mopin around, etc...
Didn't do much exercise, just a little stretching in the AM.
Anyway I started to really feel like crap by night time.
So I had the strength to convince myself to go for a jog.
Then I got home and stretched a lot and did a little meditation and now i feel a million times better.

I'm gonna watch a movie and go to sleep :)

today poker, cold.

lost like 2k today...
its cold here i need to get clothes

gonna go running 10km tomorrow.

Doing a half marathon in october in Chiba Tokyo.

p.s. new pics were posted, a couple days old. scroll down to see.

woah sunshine

so it is a sunny day!
sun woke me up layin on the floor.. i shall get a curtain.
later i will try to take pics of stuff to upload for you guys.

i played poker for about 90 minutes, made about 21k.

Now i'm gonna do laundry and hang it outside, then tidy up my room.
After that I will do yoga. I'm going running in the evening.

Today there is badminton at 5pm but I don't think I'm going.
Tomorrow there is softball game to watch at 10am.
I'm in the softball club but i dont play in the games, but watching is fun!

anyway, off to clean hou!

dumpster diving in JP

Today I had a great day.
Wakana spent the night.
In the morning we took a walk to Kichijoji station, and walked through inokashira park.
When we got to the station we dumpstered some cardboard to make the bed that i sleep on thicker, because only one piece of cardboard was kinda hard.

We carried the cardboard, and i also dumpstered some disposable chopsticks that are ubiquitous in japan. I took all those back to my apartment, then eventually me and wakana went to ICU (the shcool). She had class, while i signed up for a soccer team with some old friends, played frisbee, and then played catch-ball (throwing a baseball back and 4th). Then I lifted weights, stretched, and did yoga in the ICU gym. After that me and wakana laid in the grass and talked about life and death. Then i took a shower in ICU sports club house, then went to juggling club with wakana. At the same time as juggling club is badminton, and futsal club. So I skipped off from juggling for an hour and playhed futsal, and badminton. Then I escorted wakana to the bus home. Then I went back and played more badminton, then took shower, and rode bike with badminton club to near the train station where we have "nomikai" which is drinking and eating with club-mates. I drank some table dived-bear, and rice and tofu. I rode my dumpstered bike home, and on the way home saw a desk and chair and carpet in a "dumster". I then went back to the dumpster, and turned the desk upside down, put it on top of the rolly-chair, then put the carpet on top of that, and pushed this the aproximately 3km (or 2 miles) home, which took me about an hour. It was kinda loud and ppl looked at me strange, and right outside my apartment is a police station (koban) but i waited till there was no cop looking and pushed it home. I live on the 4th floor so i carried the desk up to the 4th floor, put it in my room (not before the carpet) then went down and got the chair.

Now I am typing this on my borrowed wireless, on my dumpstered desk, sitting in a dumpstered chair on top of dumpstered carpet, still feeling a slight buzz from table dived beer.

I'm gonna do some yoga and go to bed.

Tomorrow I am running 10km, buying organic fruit, and dumpstering more.




This is my room, you can see the window, and i have clothes drying outside.
3 pieces of cardboard, then on top of that i folded a piece of carpet in half to make the bed.
And a blanket that wakana lent me.


The desk, and chair. On top of it i smy laptop, and some mikan oranges.
Also the carpet is dumpstered obviously.

im in my apartment, and it's ok.
there is wireless internet from the nighbors, and me and wakana ate some peanuts and fruit.

im gonna try to buy a motorbike, 250 cc.
also went to the organic food store, it was avg, but i will try dumpstering there as soon as i get a motorbike.
will also try to get my own internet so ican poker.

today me and wakana lifted weights.
tomorrow we have juggling club to learn to juggle at ICU.

In a manga cafe in tokyo japan

you can use these places basically as hotels. a place to sleep for 20 bucks.

i am scared.
scared of having left things unfinished in cbus, like school, my aunt, a house, my friends.
im scared of living alone in tokyo.
im in this manga hotel thing at 4 in the am and i cant sleep.

i know i have to do this, to stay intokyo, but it is not easy, but i will do it.

i just worry about others, my friends, and family.

i will do my best to stay healthy, and stay in touch with those who i care about.

in Tokyo

I came to Tokyo on short notice.
A friend needed me to be there for them, and here I am.

I originaly bought a ticket for 2 weeks, and would return the day before classes started in CBUS so that I could finish my pre-med for med school.

It l ooks like those plans will be put on hold for a while.

For now I will be getting an apartment in Tokyo and concentrating on a few things.

Helping my friend enjoy life.
Running/Swimming.
Raw vegan food.
learning to juggle.
Poker.
Learning Chemistry so that I can be prepared when I do have the chance to go back to school.
Yoga.
Becoming healthier as a person.

It looks like I will probably be here for several months.

I have almost no clothing (and no cold weather clothing).
I have almost no possessions.
I don't want to be a consumer.

I will be joining an organic food COOP.
I will become even healthier.
I have been running a lot lately, and will likely run the chiba half marathon, (chiba is a prefecture of tokyo area). It is 13.1 miles or 21 kilometers. I hope to do it in 105 minutes or less.

Today I am going to go trail running (basically running in the woods). Or maybe actualy just walking cus my left leg is soar from softball practice. (I kinda joined the ICU softball team). Tomorrow I should be paying my money so I can get an apartment.

Its 11am now and i'm going to go to Gruppe the organic store, and buy some fruit, and then lift weights in the ICU gym. After that I will take a shower and do some laundry in the ICU sports club house, and then go to the trail and exercise.

excercise in beijing

i have been running at night, to and then around tian'amen square.
also swimming and soccer,
i also got a road bike and ride it around beijing, although it's hard with polution in the air, wind, and other bicyclists and pedestrians, but i'm getting the kilometers in.

I htink my mom is gonna come visit me in China.

i can do handstands better now, maybe stand for 5 seconds and take a few steps.

i am gravitating towarda a raw diet.
at least much less processed foods

in beijing

im in beijing.
i played soccer a few times at an indoor field that is outside, for like 1 dollar a day.
every1 was pretty bad and the field was so slippery, but it was excercise.
p.s. there is lots of polution in beijing.
the field is pretty neat though, its a big sportspark in the midst of tall buildings
also i play ti jienzi everyday, its like chinese hacky sack but they use a weighted badminton shuttle cock.

i am learning xianqi which is chinese chess.

i go running at night, near tian'amen square, which is really fun.
food sucks.
MSG
OIL
processed foods
white rice
white bread

blah

i usualy eat tofu with veggies, or bananas and peanuts and apples and pairs and juice
pistachios, and tea.

yeah.

triathlons are cool too

traveling china

i have been in beijing for some time.
i tried to find an apartment and couldn't

i met some cool people (sweedish people) and we are going to travel around china together.
shang hai, qumin, and dali.

this will be a few weeks.

after that traveing, i'm not exactly sure what i will do.

i might not right much over the next couple weeks, but rest asured i am safe and having fun.

I am learning "jienza" it's like chinese hacky sack, but played with a weighted shuttle-cock type ball. Also I am learning chinese chess (like western chess, but a little more complicated i think). and my Mandarin is improving steadily.

I basically have stopped playing poker for a couple months now, and it's really relaxing without it. I haven't played soccer yet, but I plan to soon.

ANyway i love you all and will talk to you in a few weeks.

went to laos

got back from chiang my to bangkok, then took night train to laos.
when to vientiate, the capital, it was pretty laid back and nice.. then took a 2 dollar bus for 4 hours to vieng vaing. its a place that has somehow got popular at first cus of its beautiful environment, river, caves etc.. so ppl would go scuba diving, rock climbing, kaykaiing.. but then drugs got popular, like mushrooms, pot and opium, now everyone sells "happy food"... anyway then that got popular, and ppl wanted to chill out, so there were tons of bars that sprung up, playing friends reruns, on full volume, with places to laydown and watch... at night time when i walked around, i probably saw about 10 bars within 100 meters of eachother, all playing friends reruns, with high/drunk foreigners laying down drinking beer, eating shakes and pizza, and watching friends, in the middle of no where laos.. viang viang is like population 5000 or something small, kind of like in this desssert like place, mostly poor and abandoned except for this one strip of road, with bars and neon lights.. its insane.. i stayed there for 1 nite and then left... really weird. kinda twilight zone ish...

i plan to go to china soon, today or tomorrow will start, but i get there by taking night train to laos, then either bus, train or plane to hanoi vietnam, then 45 hour train from hanoi to peking. i mean beijing china.

chiang mai

I took an overnight train for 25 dollars for 13 hours to chiang mai in the north.
It was realy fun train ride, you get your own bunk bed.
I brought along peanuts and water and bananas and ate them.
ALso the view out the train window was cool.

I enjoyed this night train so much, I might take the mammoth 43 hour journey from Hanoi Vietnam, to Beijing China, by train. although i hear it costs like 120 dollars, which seems like a lot *shrug*. I mean couldn't you fly that far for almost that much?

Anyway, lots of vegeterian/vegan food in Chiang mai, and it's really warm, and less polution than bangkok.

Although there are lots of "treks" into the wilderness and see hill tribe people etc.. but it all seems like mostly b.s. *shrug* i dont know

I really want to go to vientianne laos, suposedly the most laid back capital city in the world.

dumpster diving in bangkok

so i found a backpack in the trash, it's a small one, and the smallest pouch zipper is broken, i will see if i can fix it myself tomorrow (it's 330am now).. then across the alley i saw another thai dude dumpstering, he was a bum i think... at some super market he was dumspteiring, we pulled out 5 dozen eggs (doubt they are organic), and a bunch of white bread, and some microwavable pizza, and a mostly dranken bottle of thai wiskey.

we chopped (poker term meaning split 50/50) the thai wiskey(we drank it on the spot obvoiusly), and i took only 1 dozen eggs, doubt i can eat much more.

also on the way home, there is a bar where you aren't allowed to take alchohol into, and there was a full, barely opened wine cooler, which i drank.

all in all it was great :)
i'll try to put in pics tomorrow

stuff in bkk

probably go to laos next, but i don[t know when.

for now i'm at donna guest house inn, in backpackers paradise khao sarn road.


i play a lot of chess, .. everyday

khao san rd.

i am in backpackers central khao san rd. my room is 150 baht a night about 4 dollars.. here is my average day.



wake up at 10 am, get fresh squeezed orange juice and get pankcake with mango and banana at the vegan/organic resturaunt for 2 dollars www.maykaidee.com

hang out, read books do some handstands,.. soccer at 5pm.. then take taxi to the best university in thailand Chulalangkorn, and play badminton from 8 to 10pm.. after badminton, get this vegan icecream like dessert, that is sooo good for 50 cents near the university.. then back to khao san rod for vegan eggrolls and hanging out.

in thailand

i am safe

i am staying in sukhumvit suite

\icu

\i slept at tyler's house, it was great, then we went and got vegan organic lunch at this place called monks foods in kichijouji. then i came and hung out at 2nd mens dorm at \icu and slept at pain sol's dorm room. it was him and me and his roomate and his roomates female friend, the 4 of us, it was quite fun.
tomorrow i fly to bangkok, and it looks like i mite have an apartment lined up.. more details and pics to come later.

Started asia trip - but in Japan

So my flight from Columbus was delayed.
In columbus I met a Chinese friend from badminton... A few weeks ago He had told me he is going to Taiwan on february 19th , and I said I was going on the 20th. But it turns out his flight on the 19th got delayed till the 20th. So we were on the same flight together from CMH to Chicago and Chicago to Tokyo. Actualy as it turns out He also went to upper arlington high school and was in chess club. We knew eachother there apparently, but didn:t really talk much. Anyway it was cool to see him on the plane. Anyway since the CMh to chicago flight was delayed, I missed my connecting flight in chicago to tokyo, so I took the next flight an hour and a half later. So then when I got to tokyo, I missed my conencting flight to Bangkok. So I decided to stay 5 or 6 days in Tokyo to visit old friends. So I go to bangkok on the 26th, and for nwo i:m at my old school ICU hanging out.

That is a whole story in itself. So I arrived at ICU 4 days unshaven, and kinda dirty, so I went to a 100 yen shop (like a dolar store in usa) and obtained a disposable razor/shaving cream set. I took the train, and then bus to ICU university. I immediately went to the *abandoned bicycles* section. They are bikes that are left on campus for so long abandoned, that the university gathers them and puts them in this one area and then eventualy throws them away. When me and evan and Yuko where there there were probbaly 30 bikes or so. But this time there were only 10. So 10 bikes, of those. probably 6 were locked with a key thing that I couldn:t break, one was locked with a number keypad that i could probably crack in a couple hours, by brute force of 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 etc. So aprox 3 other bikes didn:t have locks. Of those 3 bikes, 1 had no chain. So 2 other bikes, one had two flat tires, and one had 1 flat tire. So I took the one with 1 flat tire, and rode it over to my old classroom building. There I went into the handicapped bathroom, locked it, and shaved, washed my face, changed into badminton clothes,and headed over to the gym.

As my luck had it, badminton was in progress, and coinciedentaly it was the *OB reunion day* OB = old boy = anyone who used to be in the club but has now graduated or moved on. So I am an OB, and lots of my old friends were there. So I entered the OB tournament, which was really fun and played with all my friends, and I have improved a lot at badminton since ICU 2006!. after that I asked the clubpresident my good friend *asami kun* if he could help me pump up the flat tire, (i was just hoping it needed air). So he produced a pump in about 60 seconds, and together we pumped it up. It held air. So then after badminton everyne rode to the nearest train station area, for *nomikai* which is group drinking party. We ate japanese food, and drank crappy japanese alchohol, and had fun. I have some pics which I will load later cus i dont know how to on this comp. Anyway, it was a fun feeling riding with all the badminton friends from ICU to the train station, after having no intention of spending time in japan, and being able to play badminton with all my friends, dumpster a working bicycle, and now goin to drink and socialize with them, when I had intended in being asleep in some youth hostel in bangkok lol. Oh by the way, because I was so busy playing badminton and hanging out, I am already on a Japanese sleep schedule, no jet lag.

Also my flight from chicago to Tokyo was so empty that I laid down in my row of 5 seats, all to myself. Slept most of the way.
At the nomikai i borrowed a friends cell phone and emailed Tyler, and tam. Tyler let me crash at his place, and we had fun talking and drinking. Today Tyler and I are gonna go get some lunch at Monk]s foods, a vegan organic restaruant in Kichijouji.

ok. There is also soccer practice at 4pm which I might go to.

shoulder

yup, doc said it's seperated. ice ice ice he said.

i'm not ready yet to go to asia.

stuff

yesterday i didn't buy hornsby's hard cider 7.99
also didn't buy mad mex burrito 5.50.

donate both of those to charity.

also won 80 dollars playing poker.

have a ton to pack
have to clean out my room

mom is lending me her digicam
i'm exhasuted.

oh yeah i injured my shoulder while playing soccer yesterday. I'm going to the froctor "free doctor" today at OSU to see what's up, i think i seperated it, we'll see.

i'm gonna take a nap.

Preparing for Asia

I leave in 3 days.
I haven't done any prep yet.

I have been sinus infection lately.
I played badminton rpac today.
I had dinner with family.
I will go play badminton rpac again.
and swim.

i Will fly into bangkok leaving wednesday, and arriving thursday at 1155 pm.
i ordered vegan meal.

i am taking 1 backpack, and am undecided on laptop.
I had my worst month at poker in a year and a half last month. I only made 1200 dollars or so.

yesterday was OK.
i played a bunch of soccer and stretched and it ws good, but i also played a bunch of live poker, and ended up winning around 12 dollars, which was super dumb.

today i have done chem homework, went to RPAC with ben, and ate some good food.
there is a show tonight i might go to.

oh yeah i won around 300 dollars playin poker in about 90 minutes

today was a good day.
i went to class, ate lunch with mommy, won around 1050 dollars playing poker, we had a fun show at our house, i helped jimmy cook a little, and i got a bunch of chores done.

somehow i got my passion back
it's great
i do fun stuff all day, and stay active

i have done my list everyday now for 3 days. pushups situps brushing teeeth, excerc ise stretching, etc.

i can do this

i had a productive day.. went to RPAC I dumpstered, i bought a car, and taught ben some poker.
i'm gonan do my list then go to bed
i have class in 8 hours

i meant, i should make a list of thigns that i should do, and then do them, and then this will make my life better.

i think it's a good idea.

also i feel like making it public will encourage me to do them more so here goes a few more

these aren't daily, but things i will work at doing more

reading.
watching documentaries
making new friends
riding bicycle
(which means get a bike soon)
cook more (me learning to be the lead cook too, instead of ben)
stretch
yoga
meditate
eat healthier
spend more money on things i want to support.
resspond to people's emails.
keep up with my notebook i made for myself with todo lists for the day in it.

i will say more when i think of them.

i finally care again, for some reason.
i'm gonan grab it, hold onto it and do it forever.

today i did well at poker, went to school, played soccer, hung out with friends, ate good food, did everything on my list.
basically best day ever.

from now on everyday will be up there as best day ever

fuck the government

i figured out how to make my life better and then mnade a list of things taht i should do daily

situps.
pushups
brush teeth twice
handstands
some kind of cardio (badminton, swimming, soccer, running etc.)
clean my room if it's messy
clean my car if it's messy
write in this blog.

today was a great day and i was in the best mood in weeks.
it was really warm.
i went to class, it was OK, and I know I can get an A.
I played soccer, I did average, but it was good excercise and fun.

tomorrow me and ben are gonna go to cleveland to buy a car, so i'm gonna go to bed early tonight. i'm gonna do my list and then go to sleep.

i've been going to bed earlier.
I made around 800 dollars at poker today, it was a great day.
yesterday i was up 900 dollars and then ended losing 700 dollars so a 1600 dollar down swing which sucked. but now i'm back up...

this writing in a blog is pretty fun.
anyway off to do "list" before bed.