One learns best the perils of overheating first hand

Forgive me the lack of updates of late, I have some pictures I'm truly interesting in posting and mayhaps a story or two. Though, speaking of stories, perhaps "have" is too stong of a word in reference to said pictures.
Two nights previous I awoke from a sound sleep to a noise. A noise best described as a "whir, click, whirr, click." While in such a state between sleep and wakefulness I could not describe it as distinctly animal or mechanical. This being said, I approached my laptop from behind which the sound was eminating, hoping not to discover some large and angry member of arthropodia waiting for me. I found instead the sound coming from my external hard drive. At this point I could read no deeper meaning behind this sound. It was an obstacle to sleep and that alone.
Some hours later, I awoke and as my memories flooded back into my consciousness I began to form an idea about the implications of my unexpected alarm clock. The end result of this thought process: that sound is a bad thing.
Perhaps then it was only temporary. Perhaps through some magical force of will, or Robert Deniro, it had healed itself. This, sadly was not to be.
I searched the internet for some solutions, and found some help. If this is to be believed, I'll be able to ressurect my hard drive long enough to retrive my data and put it on DVD. I shall wait three days, and then roll open my freezer drawer. We shall see if I am met by a host of angels uttering hosannas unto the highest, or by the stench of the tomb, of the rotting of thousands and thousands of photos, MP3's and assorted irreplacible data.

Update: Upon the recieving the blow of sudden catastrophe, large or small, one hovers for a while living in shock and despair before deciding whether to surrender to apathy or to rebuild. This time of dumb shock may vary, depending on myriad factors. Size of the set-back, amount of warning and so forth. For now, the recovery efforts have failed and I shall find a seat and speak Japanese to bartenders until I am unware that they make such things as hard drives.

Amazing

Please forgive me the profligation of posts the past few days have seen, but I had to share this inspiring and breathtaking piece of architecture from Copenhegan. It shows what is possible in architecture when we try not to imitate nature but instead create what that which can be only manmade.
(via Slog)

Fifteen minutes? But it's just down the street!

I had a conversation with Daisuke recently that may serve to illuminate both the wuality of Japanese retail service and the expectations of the customers. The other day he bought a bento from the Lawson convenience store down the street from his bar. Upon returning to the bar he realized that there wasn't any sauce and he didn't have the appropriate one in his kitchen. So, naturally he called the store and asked someone to come and bring it as it's only a five minute walk. He waited fifteen minutes and still - no sauce. So he called again: "Where on earth are you? I've been waiting fifteen minutes." The staff responded that they were just leaving now and he was floored. In telling the story, he turned and repeated to me, "Just leaving now!" clearly amazed at their careless attitude towards work.
I encourage my North American readers, should there be any who frequent the AM/PM or such, to call the convenience store when something is missing from a purchase, such as sugar for your coffee or cheese for your soft pretzel.

Ube Kosan again, now without focus

That moth is pretty big actually a cicada

So, yeah, I went to Korea or whatever

About two weeks ago I had three days off so I figured what the hell, I'll go to Korea. Dansen was there so I wouldn't feel completely stranded in a foriegn country. It feels wierd to say that when I am in fact living in what could quite accurately be considered a foriegn country, but I feel very much at home in Japan now. Moreover, when I first came to Japn I had a place to go, a destination, and I was familiar with the language enough to navigate my way though minor hassles. In Korea I entered blindly and illiterately.
I boarded my plane in Fukuoka bright and early, it felt wierd to be punching the sky again. Living in the states I would fly more often, it's been nine months since I've stepped into one of those cigar tubes.
I spent most of the vacation wandering randomly with Dansen, having a great time meeting his Korea friends and eating wierd and wonderful food. I could give you a blow by blow of the trip, such an account though does not fit with my feeling of the trip. Usually I remember things in a linear fashion but here, for some reason this vacation comes to me as a series of impressions. I choose then to finish this entry in no particular order with no particular sequencing marks. What I remember, as I remember.
Eating spicy food with Hyung and Dansen whilst talking movies in a loud izakaya type establishment. I had a new pair of sexy, sexy sunglasses made, Dansen's friend negotiated with the shop manager to make sure I didn't get the foriegner markup. Three hours and only ¥11000 later, I had me some glasses. The last day, eating oxtail soup with Young-im. I found some metal chopsticks. They use those in Korea.
Those metal chopsticks made it very difficult to eat perhaps the most amazing meal of the last six months. Live octopus. Still writhing. You have to chew quickly so it doesn't attach to your mouth. It's tasty. I have a video. If you want it, send me an e-mail: evan.whitbeck AT gmail.com. It's a small video, so don't worry, but it suitable conveys the feeling. Expressed either as "tasty" or "気持ち悪い” (read: "ick").
I wanted to find dog, but I couldn't.
The giant underground CoEx mall, filled with young people and lights and stores. I bought some funny stickers there. And I found my store. Dancing at a club in shoes two sizes too small; they had a no sandals, no GI's policy, so I had to borrow a pair. My toe is still kinda bruised. I liked hanging out at the hostel, listening to a crazy Dane, drinking beer and watching some old movies. There was a stamp exhibition going on, it was amazing but there's only so long you can look at stamps.

So, Seoul was a lot of fun, but in the end, unless you have a long time to spend, any big city seems the same. Paris is Tokyo is Shanghai is Seoul. The language on the signs, the food and some of the shopping is different, but cities blur together. One has to live there, to learn the personality, to find the backstreets and to evaluate the craziness of the drivers in order to truly grasp the unique character of a megopolis.

Anyway, enough musing, it's time for me to go and get a haircut now.

I think the shape of this building unfinished rivals its completed form

Spiral scaffolded statuary

I love the old fashioned fountains

Vibrant downtown

Namdaemun from the inside

They should make more malls like this

When it rings, you notice

Keep clean

It's hard to look tough sometimes

Namdaemun market, where I got my new (sexy and cheap) sunglasses

Makin' some important calls

That blue tile reminds me of middle school and powdered soap dispensers

Downtown Seoul

Dansen demonstrating the correct way to eat Korean food