barok
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Posts posted by barok
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thrills OR comfort, either way you just gotta have a plan.
If you are going for comfort, a good plan (finding the best deals and routes) can save you 50% easy.
If you are going for thrills, a good plan can get you to the mountain when you want to be there with the right people, good food, nice place to stay if you need it, for little more than bare-bones budget, and to me pulling up to an empty lot and a mountain full of powder is the best piece of mind you can find.
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Goals - got em written down somewhere
backside 180's and 360's off big jumps
switch backside 180's, 360's off of big jumps
fronside 720's, 900's off big big backcountry stuff
pull at least one of each of the following - misty flip, rodeo 540, backflip, frontflip
pull corked 540's and other off-axis jumps
jump 100 feet
backside boardslide
boardslide kinked rails
gap to boardslide
360 to 50/50 on a straight rail
learn about a million halfpipe tricks
ride 100 days
spend a month in British Columbia
compete in the local halfpipe circuit
get into pharmacy school
not die
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So I have noticed myself getting this feeling as of late, see if anyone can identify.
I am just going about my daily business, when I make a decision to do something, say, cross the street - I look for cars, but I have already taken my first steps. I see the cars coming for me, but because I have already set myself on this course of action, I am powerless to turn back - It all culminates in this slow motion - "What the hell am I doing . . . I need to turn back . . . Why am I still running out into traffic . . . That car is coming right for me . . . Wow! I almost got hit by that car" kindov scenario being played out in my head, and in real life.
Another example would be understanding the stupidity of drunken unprotected sex while engaging in said activity. Kindov a "Why am I powerless to stop my actions? " kindov vibe.
I can't stop mid-course, what's up with that ? I am thinking that this kindof mentality developed while hitting the big air jumps at Hakuba, where I knew if I backed down I was dead, but I dunno.
Can you relate ? I am afraid it could really go bad for me one day here.
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WOOOOOOO ! ! ! DRUGS ! ! !
The most popular recreational drug in America is Caffeine, by far. It is found in coffee and will wake you up.
Number 2 would have to be alcohol, It can be found in beer. It makes you charming, strong, brave, and more attractive to the opposite sex. It is also known for making members of the opposite sex appear more attractive.
After that you have marijuana. It can be found in marijuana. Effects include chillin' groovin' and a real stony heady buzz. It is basically a harmless drug, but can have adverse effects on people's motivation and ability to do stuff - drive, study, engage in intelligent conversation.
After that, in terms of popularity, it would have to be cocaine. Effects include numbness in your mouth, wanting more cocaine, and an incapacitating hangover the next day. It is more of an image drug than anything, it is really no fun. Speed is kindov along the same lines, but even more habit forming and hard on your body - don't take speed unless you want to end up as human wreckage.
After that it is kindof a mixed bag. You get alot of people who pop pills - pills have all sorts of effects, but a common one seems to be that they are habit-forming.
You also get freaky-deaky's who get into Hallucinogens - examples of hallucinogens are LSD, DMT Psilocybin-containing mushrooms, Mescaline, ecstacy also fits in here. These drugs are great and should be experimented with by everyone, at least at some point in your life. You get to see stuff that isn't really there, and feel stuff that isn't really happening - I mean, how cool is that ? And unless you take too many, long term side effects are pretty minimal, unless you do something stupid while you are whacked out. Most of these drugs are non-habit forming, although you gotta watch out for extacy - being an amphetamine, it will grab hold of you if you are not careful.
After that, there is alot of garbage that people put in their systems - heroin, inhalants, ketamine - all of it just pure garbage. Sure you will get high, but it is just really not even worth experimenting with.
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I am under the impression that prostitution is illegal in Japan - but that like so many other lawbreaking activities, it is ignored by the cops. Is this right ?
Anyway. . .
Gotta disagree with you badmigraine, not based on any personal experience, but saw a doc where a long-time porn industry worker was talking about all of the people that he has known and worked with, and how he doesn't even try to make friends in the industry anymore, because almost everyone he had known had as a result of their jobs, turned in to pathetic junkies and crack-whores. The guy just got fed up watching all of his friends turn into zombies.
I would imagine that alot of sex industry workers develop drug problems, other addictions, because of a quick fix, instant gratification mentality that they gain by getting paid more money than they have ever had before, right after sex, repeatedly, over and over again. just a guess though.
Ocean 11, as for women as objects, why is that so hard to imagine - for hundreds of years, black men and women were seen and treated as property here in America. No thought was paid to their humanity. And slavery is still rampant in the world today. I don't know about Japan, and it's sex industry, but I would imagine there are plenty of sex slaves all across the country, given the demand for sexual services in Japan, and Japan's proximity to the countries that export slaves.
And I would disagree with sex workers being paid respect in most places in the world, although in Japan they probably do get more. Why bother respecting someone who A) needs only cash and not respect in order for them to perform their job
does a job that anyone can do ? As for taking a girl out vs. paying her, this whole analogy is just pointless. First off, if you just want to sleep with some girl, wining and dining isn't the right way to do it, buying expensive dinners, spending money on a girl, wining and dining her is the most surefire path to rejection in my book.
womens lib - i dunno - seems like most of these gals are more luis vuitton - realized/actualized, than self-realized/actualized.
I didn't meet any sex workers while I lived in Japan, but my gf's cousin is a sex worker. My gf said she got into it because of her low self-esteem developed as a result of her father's abusing her. She didn't do anything useful with the money. She only bought brand items, vuitton, gucci, etc. I am not sure if this story proves anything except that some of these girls mentality's are pretty screwed up, and that they could be much healthier, much more self-realized if they sought some form of professional help.
I do agree that if a good way can be found to regulate the sex industry, it can serve a valuable role in society. As for Japan, some condoms or an STD testing program might be a good start.
Another story - a friend of a friend married a japanese guy and had a couple of kids. The guy was a typical businessman and went to the soaps. He got some nasty disease, and brought it home, and now the poor gal can think of nothing else but leaving this fool and getting the hell out of Japan with her kids. This kind of thing doesn't just affect the seller and the buyer.
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the yakiniku sauce is key, yo.
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most common injuries amongst intermediate to advanced snowboarders are broken wrists.
I knew a guy in Hakuba who had one of his forearm bones exit his hand after a crash off the big kicker on one of the last days of the season.
Intermediate to advanced skiers have alot of head injuries, because they overshoot the landings of their jumps, and land all wrong.
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If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be ?
Now take that question and extend it into the past with Hindsight 20/20. If you could be anyone for a day, in history, who would you be and in what point in time/day of their life would you jump to ?
and why ?
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miteyak - maybe it is "aye" but I don't think so. But the situation to which I am referring would be one where people ask for a count of votes.
"Who in this family votes in favor of moving to Nozawa ?"
"I."
"I."
"I."
"I."
"Well, the I's have it then, pack up yer stuff."
Ocean - Yeah I figgered some snakes and some flying insects, but not all of them. Whales - I think that depends on how you define jump - did you mean beach or breach ? I guess I don't know what breach is. If that was a typo - beaching doesn't fit my definition for jump.
As for paper folding, I think you are generally correct. So. . . 1) when you are talking about a very thin piece of paper (as per my example), the thickness has been diminished. 2) If you are talking about a very long piece of paper (as per my example), you can bring much more leverage down on the paper, because the point of downward force is far away from the pivot point - think long crobar vs. short crowbar. If I have two pieces of paper - one is 100m and the second is 200m, the seventh folds will be 0.78125m and 1.5625m respectively. much more downward force can be exerted on the longer piece of paper, because your lever arm is longer. (I think).
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yeah, I just got back here to the States - fat people, bad food (dare I eat my words), English language everywhere yah go in all of it's dialects and bastardizations, and yeah, rude service people.
I miss Japan like a long lost friend, but the weather here is great!
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Unpopular - sure, unappetizing -possibly, but somebody please tell me, what the hell is sooooo scary about human cloning.
Is it the human organ farms complete with rows encepholatic clones hooked up to matrix-like life-support baths , or the legions of hyper-obedient super-soldiers that has everybody's imagination up in arms?
maybe I just answered my own question.
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Always with that paper folding thing. I have folded many a piece of paper in half 8 times, even folded a few pieces of paper in half nine times. Think about taking a 100m long piece of toilet paper, seperate it so that it is one ply, then you go 50m 25m 12.5m 6.25m 3.125m 1.5625m 0.78125m that is 7 folds. are you telling me you couldn't fold a piece of 128-ply toilet paper that was almost a meter long in half ? I think it would be easy, and if not, just get it wet, and she'd fold at least two more times.
and yeah, I would be surprised to see plenty of animals jump - worms, snakes, slugs, flying insects, whales, octopii, several varieties of fish, even hippos and giraffes would surprise me.
The sentence "I." in response to a question would be shorter than "Go." Both sentences have either assumed subjects or predicates, so are of equal validity.
And if you break the bone in your upper arm, or have your arm amputated, far from your mind as it may be, you can indeed lick your elbow.
The other two English words with no rhymes are "oblige, and orange," but I haven't checked those out exhaustively.
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Good stuff ! !
Is music yer full time thing ? How is bizznizz ?
I found it to be tough - I was a promoter for 5 years, and I found that it was impossible to work a job in the business with any conviction whatsoever if you don't absolutely love what you are doing.
but I guess as an artist, you probably try to get away from the biz aspect of things as much as possilbe ?
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Going back home. . . tomorrow. Reason - pharmacy school - or at least that is the plan. Probably will come back to live in Japan again, when I get the chance, but for now, I am homeward bound. Had a lot of fun in Japan, my year here exceeded my (very high) expectations. Had fun on the message board as well, and will of course continue to post.
Bye everyone ! !
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As Gavin`s car careened wildly around the fourth switchback, swiping the guardrail and then swinging back towards the rocks, barely making the turn, I looked over to find my friend slouched over the wheel, cold passed out.
I punched him in the head, in an attempt to get him conscious again, no good ! ! ! We were headed for the next turn. . .
car accelerating
no guardrail
drunk driver fast asleep
In a last desperate attempt, I replaced the Barbara Streisand`s Greatest Hits CD that was in the automobile`s pumped up sound system, with Svendla`s CD, which I had snagged at the last minute before leaving my room, out of some still lurking morbid curiousity. Then I dragged my hapless friend on to the top of the car, strapped him and myself into our snowboards, which were thankfully mounted in the roof rack and held on as the car sped closer and closer to the end of the road. . .
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So yeah, what are some good souvenirs ? What have you bought here in Japan, or anywhere else for that matter, that has been truly appreciated.
Alcohol seems like an obvious choice to give to men, but what about women ?
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That`s weird, I had the same dream as both of you. . .
but 2 people can`t have the same dream can they ? And if they can, then can somebody have the same dream as 2 other people, even if one of them is dreaming about the other one ?
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Come on you guys - you know the answer to your own questions.
Why don`t the bars, restaurants, hotels in tipping countries just raise their prices and pay the staff properly ?
Because competitive pricing is the way such businesses attract customers. And I`m sure that in America, such a practice would be seen as communist. Your not a . . .
communist
are you db, kamo ??
Advertising competitive prices and screwing their employees is the way that these businesses run. Other kinds of business scrape their customers - not aimed at you db, but from a customer`s perspective, banks are the classic example of a business that rapes it`s customers with service charges - these banks can advertise their great rates, but it`s ATM fee here, checking fee there, and if you make a mistake - hold on while the bounced check or canceled check fees clean out your wallet. I don`t consider any of these services worthy of reward, yet I have to pay them all the time. Can someone explain to me why a bank deserves a service fee at every turn, while a waiter or waitress doesn`t ?
And for all of you who tip only when it is deserved, or as a reward for only the best service, do you tip here in Japan, where the service is often excellent - head massage included with your haircut, for example.
Such a service is probably above and beyond what you would receive in your country of origin. And before you go ahead and say it is standard - included in the high price. There are times I have received such a service at the 1500 Yen Shops, and times I haven`t received this service at the 3500 Yen shops. Also vice versa. There are times when I receive the service one month, only to not receive it the next.
My philosophy for tipping - do as the Romans do, and when in a restaurant in a tipping country, good service 15%, excellent service - a couple bucks on top of that 15%, lousy service - screw `em.
Bartenders - I used to be one, so I tip `em if I want their attention, or if they are making me something that I can`t make myself, and it`s good.
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It`s not that hot - I mean has it even hit 30 C recently ?
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the list of celebs waiting to get on is huge. mind you this is heresay.
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it sucks here.
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I think it has been a pretty mixed bag throughout the years - some weeks you get a great episode, some weeks its mediocre.
Recently they have been coming up with just crazy ideas, because the Simpson family has done everything. I like those episodes when they abandon all grip on reality.
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Weegeoff - Me watching my own news? Better than you pulling it out of your magic hat. A quick websearch will reveal . . . ta da . . .
On March 24, 1999, NATO launched an attack on Yugoslavia, making good on a long-standing threat to strike if Serbs refused to sign a peace plan for Kosovo. The assault included air- and sea-launched cruise missiles and bombing runs by American, German and French aircraft.
And for the record, I never supported the US invasion of Iraq. I think the whole thing sucks. Dead 14 year-old kids included. As this kid was killed in a raid, he was probably just trying to protect himself.
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I just wouldn`t buy anything second hand from a store with a name like hard-off.
where to ski for beginners?
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I think there are big differences in beginner slopes.
Zwelly I am surprised that you didn't pimp your home mountain.
Nozawa Onsen has an incredible beginner slope that is two lifts long, wide, well groomed, and has beautiful views.
It is not in Hokkaido, but it is the best beginner slope I have seen. Hakuba 47 didn't really even have a beginner slope. I taught a couple J-girls at Noz and they had a great time, and learned how to snowboard (linking consecutive turns) in one day.
When it snows, the snow is soft, and it can't be beat.