gerard

ha ha. Um, no, I don't think that's it.

I had a very similar conversation with a customs guy recently. ...Eventually it came to this: "What's this?" "Er... Condoms." That was pretty much the conversation stopper, there. He let me go pretty qick after that.

So what's your "native language" then, Thursday? English, Cantonese?

Originally Posted By: Creek Boy Why do they insist on using English words but in Japanese usage? If you cant use it right in the first place, then dont bother using it at all. I mean, its not like we are talking difficult grammar here, but Japanese and English are often hopeless. Yea, some ppl are against elementary school English coz they say kids needs to master their first language first. But it's not early English ed that's deteriorating the Japanese language. It's the twisted fasination with English in mainstream Japanese culture - advertising, songs, just about everywhere... Se

Originally Posted By: RobBright Do you know what is just as bad as xenophobia? Stereotyping. Naw. Xenophobia is a lot worse than stereotyping. CB, you OK? Maybe you need to get out of the city. Time for a trip down to Shikoku or up to Hak?

Originally Posted By: Captain Stag Last weekend at Remarks was pretty good too.. Too good for messing about with a camera on the Saturday but on the sunday all the easy pow was gone and we had to hike for it so we had time to film some of it. With the lower quality clips for the internet it gets a bit hard to see some of the more distant shots but I'm sure you get the idea. We get the idea. Good that you got out the camera.

Silly but good fun.

I'm a hundred pages into Noble House but difficult to find long solid blocks of time to read.... Been through the others years ago when I had more time. Gotta like Clavell

Originally Posted By: RobBright Reading the god delusion now. some good arguments in there for there not being a god. Haven't read the book but I love the author's cold cutting delivery. He comes off like a right bastard IMO re. religion "Whatever gets you through the night" Just don't try to try to lay it on me.

Great pics, great nighttime lighting.

If everyone's buying rounds then whatever, but I'd rather just drink at my own pace and quantity.

I had a feeling you'd get in on this one, Jynxx. .........Yeah, something like that.... I don't know. My reading of it, anyway is that New Ageism and trying to get in touch with our Indian roots and the whole psychedelic thang etc. etc. is cheesy fluff for white kids who are trying to fill some kind of deficit in their lives. Fair enough imo, but the whole quest for something deeper is all very superficial and this apparent reverence for 'primitive' cultural stuff really just plays into stereotypes and is quite condescending in a way and doesn't really scratch the surface for the most

Interesting. I clicked on a footnote from the wikipedia article and found this from the Pacific School of Herbal Medicine: http://www.pshm.org/datura_poisoning.shtml Interesting read from the second half and touches on some heavy related issues. Actually I'll just paste it in here: Quote: There are broader issues here. Why are people, completely outside of appropriate cultural context, ingesting datura seeds for fun or enlightenment? It never provides the former, nor the latter for those without appropriate guidance from within the few Native American cultures that still use datura se

Nice pics. We haven't really gotten into the summer groove down here this year with two kids under 3 yrs old... But good to see you guys are rockin through summer.

Gotta leave the windows open when you do the timer thing or it'll be HOT for sure as soon as the air con stops. The heat seems to have lost its edge a bit the last couple of days.

Originally Posted By: Go Native One of Michael Moore'S films showed him walking around was it Toronto in Canada?. He went up to a whole lot of houses and just tried the doors. Most were unlocked, some with people home and some not. As an American he found this to be quite astounding and inconceivable. His argument was that Canada didn't have the same culture of fear that prevailed in the US. People just didn't fear that someone would invade their homes. It's simply my argument as well living where I do. I can't think of any good reason to lock a house if you have no fear of someone invading

Good point.

Originally Posted By: pie-eater Jacket time hey scouser. I was out in a t-shirt, a bit chilly at times. Can't complain! That's why England is so WORLD-FAMOUS for it's marvelous weather (as well as it's stellar cuisine, right). Well, HOT it is, right now but next week I'll be swimming and chilling in the deep inaka in Kochi so bring it on, baby! I Hope all you guys in Japan at the mo get a chance to do the same.

It's been a little too hot for me the last few days, man. Haven't been able to escape from town and I've had to use the air con for sleeping, which always feels kind of gross somehow. The heat's heading as far as Hokkers from tomorrow apparently.

A girl, 5'3" and petite, and into all mountain freeride to boot! Good on you, Schneebored.

I'm generation X, I suppose but I don't like the label and I thought that the Winonna Ryder movie was cheesy too. Statistical trends and fancy labels and stereotypes that the media latches on to are two different things. Back in the 90's the buzz was that we were all searching for something more meaningful as we were entering society because we were the first generation who would be worse-off than our parents. If anything, we've been a bubble generation up until now though. All that deep emo-angst stuff was just flattery and media-hype.

Originally Posted By: MitchPee My friend gave me this documentary once, and I found it to be a very interesting watch. Yea, that's really interesting. I'm watching part 3 of 5 right now. "Ecstasy Rising", it's called. Kind of nostagic too, with lots of footage from the late 80's/early 90's. Nancy and Ron Reagan in there, and the whole thing is narrated by Peter Jennings. X was just coming on the scene as I was finishing up University. Then I came to Japan shortly after that so I kind of missed out on the whole scene unfortunately. One of my current close friends who

Is E considered a hard drug, then? The classifications are different in N. America and UK I guess but I heard something to that effect. Anything hallucinogenic is probably difficult to categorize on the same linear scale I think.

>I can catch a lift up to 3000m, and 10~15 km run depending how you pick a run down to base at 1800m 10-15km over 1200m vert. That sounds a little too safe imo

I think so too. But in practice, that's pretty much what they do now, isn't it? I don't think the cops waste a lot of resources in Canada anyway trying to weed out all the potheads and throw them in the slammer. Except for busting large organize-crime controlled grow-ops....