Takumi's Blog

Tri-Met is awsome, I love it. I wish that all the buses were the frequent ones so it has a 15 min wait instead of a 30 min wait though. The MAX comes every 10 min or so (the MAX is a light rail train type thing).
On my way home the driver of the bus I was riding was new and was training. It was fun to see new people drive the bus.

It kind of got me thinking about the Portland Public Schools. I mean, I’m not enrolled anymore but I thing Portland is a great place, and if they don’t invest in these kids, they’re going to have an even larger problem.

I see it as a downward spiral right now. The majority of the Oregonians don’t want to pay more taxes for school, (because they’re fucking lazy, fat, and complain like little kids).  School’s don’t get the funding they need, and then the kids who grew up in an environment that didn’t educate that well are uneducated. And then those adults now don’t want to pay taxes, etc.

The way I see it, it’s either take a hit now, or a bigger one later. Someone’s gotta step in, even if it’s the hard thing to do.

Mercury News reports on a subpoena to Google for their database information. Claiming it’s part of their investigation “Child Online Protection Act” and requires the information to make decisions.

Then there’s the Google Watch people who are “afraid” of it being a Big Brother. Personally, it sure doesn’t seem like they’re using the information they have wrongly, so I don’t mind them recording my info. Same with Apple… But Microsoft on the other hand….

I guess some of you may know how I am totally against most type of religion. (Except for Buddhism, although I’m not Buddhist). Stowe Boyd mentioned an article from The Times that talks about how countries with a strong religious belief also tend to have the most problems.

It bugs me so much how Christians are always like “God saved me”… This reminds me of another article a couple years back from Times. In it there was some research done that mentions some part of our DNA is responsible for how strong of a believer you are in a religion.

Here goes my story which happened about a month ago, when I first came to Japan this summer… Was pretty hyped up, I mean, I’m leaving America! (I’ll be back, don miss me).
I had everything, I thought I would need for my trip, money, passport, clothes, and my computer stuff. Departure; fine, arrival; fine, customs; fine, pickup;… Trouble.
I arrived at Narita International Airport not knowing where my grandmother lives, having the wrong telephone number for her house, and having no idea what to do! I thought I’d be more prepared than this! (no joke)…. Well, what I really thought was “come on Kazuhiro, u should be here to pick me up… That’s what my dad said…… Don’t leave me alone in this airport!”. But that’s it, that’s exactly what happened. I was left alone in the airport. Abandoned, in a not so foreign area… lol. I was puzzled… I decided to send a few emails of help, and stay the night at Narita, not knowing the airport closes at 10pm! (shock!) What type of International airport, especially one to Japan’s largest city, Tokyo, would close at 10pm! They could make a whole lot more money by staying open 24/7!
The night was probably the most interesting part of this story, after all, I’m spending the night with a guard outside a room where all of us travelers who are staying the night are kept. It’s not sleeping room, no beds, just.. Floor, vending machine, Â¥100/10min internet kiosks…During the day it’s known as the “Meeting Point”, during the night it’s known as “Sleeping Point”. I, the naive me as I usually am, thought it was open all night, and didn’t eat dinner thinking I could get something anytime…Obviously I was wrong, and went all night without food.
I met three traveling peoples there too, all from Europe. Two guys (Rich &Rich) just graduated I think, so like 18-19) and they were traveling around the world… The other was a girl (can’t place her name), and she was about… 22 I think… Anyways, we played cards, chatted, etc. ’till about 4 in the morning, which was when we thought it was about time to get some sleep.
Next morning woke up at exactly 6 am, you know, that’s when the Airport opens, so they turn on the lights, etc. We all get up, with our luggage and everything walked towards, guess where… Mc Donalds! Only surprised to find it didn’t open until like 9:30 or something, so we were soooo hungry.
Long story short, they left for their next destination, my cousin came to pick me up, and I got to my grandmother’s house safely.

I woke up early today so I can prepare my stuff to go to Singapore, today as I had planned. Got the packing finished, ate breakfast, last check of email, ate lunch and off we went to the airport. A 3 hour train + bus ride that costs about �1,400 one-way for an adult (My grandmother and I together was about �2,800).

Get there on time, around 3:00 pm, and there is NO LINE at all to go check-in. So far no problems, or so I thought. I had a little trouble getting through security first, my grandmother had no printer, so there was no way for me to print out the e-ticket at home to show them that I actually did have a flight� I had written my NW confirmation number and everything down on a sheet of paper instead.

So the security person gave my passport to I guess the woman in charge, and she said I�ll meet you at the other side of the checkpoint. The lady came back with my passport and said �Sorry sir, there is no record of a ticket for you today.� I was shocked; today�s the 24th right? I told all my friends I was leaving today, there should be a ticket for me on that flight!

She brought me to the ticketing counter and after about 30 seconds we confirmed that my ticket was actually for the 26th!!!!! I felt sooooo stupid. I had never done this before, I even wrote down all that information from the net and I STILL MISSED THE DATE.

She said there was a seat available for me today, but it would cost an extra $50. I needed to check with my grandmother and friend in Singapore to make sure leaving today was okay (otherwise going home and coming back would cost more then $50). Grandmother said it would be best to leave today and ask Suzuki-san if I can come two days early. Unfortunately the only way to get in contact with him was by email, since I did not know his cell phone or home phone number.

An hour later I received an email from him and he was like �call me immediately!� I thought he was going to be pissed, and he probably is, but it didn�t sound like he was very pissed on the phone. He said since it�s only two days early it doesn�t make much of a difference, and to come on the flight for today.

I walk back to the NW counter� wait no I don�t even get there for another 30 minutes, the line goes on! Out of no where there was a huge line for NWA. I managed to get the attention of the woman who helped me before, and I got to the ticketing counter 10 minutes earlier then if I waited through the rest of the line� guess what, they were sold out of tickets� I had a feeling this would happen. She told me to go back in line and check back at 5:10 pm.

Walked back to the end of the line, another 30-20 minute wait� wait, right when I get there, an announcement for me asks me to go to the ticketing counter! Hurray! They have a ticket for me! The problems aren�t over yet, after I got my ticket, I had to check in and get my boarding pass� they thought I was too young at (15) to travel to Singapore alone, although I�ve already been to Singapore by myself once when I was 13 with escrort, and I cam to japan by myself with no escort.

I just read some articles about Korea being succesful in cloning and extracting stem cells from it for research.
With Clones Come Complex Concerns & Bush Condemns S. Korea’s Stem Cell Advances
I think cloning is a good thing, my morales could be a little messed up to some people, but I think cloning to create stem cells for research would benefit us in the long run.
I’m also interested in the future where you can clone yourself, and transfer your personality and memories to the new body (though that is a little too sci-fi-ish).