It’s the end of the work day.

Tonight, I’m flying to Taiwan.

Next week I’ll be eating delicious food.

Life is good.

My good friend Dan unknowingly challenged me today by asking me if I was ever going to blog with more frequency than once a month. I haven’t been blogging much recently, but since I was called out on it, let me take this opportunity to explain why. The reason is…

(Big dramatic pause)

I’ve got nothing much interesting going on currently, and I tend to drain most of the thoughts out of my head into private emails and chat’s, leaving little left for the blog. The fact is that for the first time in as long as I can remember, despite the problems and challenges facing the world today, I’m just happy with where I’m at. I get to see B almost daily, and we are having a great time doing even mundane things like working out and cooking dinner together.

During the day, work keeps me pretty busy, which is great because it means my days tend to fly right by leaving me very little time to compose my (regrettably) bi-daily email to Dan, my correspondent in japan. The fact is, that I’m lacking in time and creative juice to keep this blog updated.

But I do have a plan. Now that I’m settled into my place, I plan on posting pictures of my apartment for your viewing pleasure as well and resuming the short-lived music section of the site. I’ve been practicing the piano again, so you can look forward to the return of the weekly music recording. Finally, I promise to be more forthcoming with pictures. I’ve been sorely lacking of picture evidence of my journeys, primarily because I never take my camera with me anywhere I go. I guess this means I’m a failure as a Japanese person.

I’m going to go reflect on my failure to adhere to the cultural stereotype and contemplate seppuku now.

It’s been too long. I bet no one reads this blog anymore because I let it lie idle for too long. I apologize to all my non-existant readers.

Events that have occurred since my last blog post:

1. Migrated server to dreamhost, courtesy of k and r over at the supernicety.
2. Opted to join into the collective blogging approach at tsn
3. Moved to Dallas
4. Started a new job
5. Too many things to list. If you know me, you already know

So I’ve decided to split my blog posts. Personal thoughts and weekend reports will tend to be posted here, while comments on politics, society, consumerism, and techy stuff will tend to be posted over there.

On to the weekend report!

A successful weekend by any standard. Friday night was spent with the lady friend doing nothing at all. We’ve gotten to do this much more than ever before now that I finally live in the same city as her. It’s wonderful.

We decided Saturday was to be our own public transporation day. A day spent pretending we were in a city with viable public transportation systems. We got up early and I cooked a quick breakfast for our train-ride. The meal consisted of some eggs and vegetarian sausage in a disposable whole-foods container, a container of soy-milk, and some fresh fruit. Toss it in a bag with some chop-sticks and your ready to rock. We realized that we were running late, so we sprinted down the street to the cityplace station where we could get on the light rail. To my surprise, the train was actually far underground. For a second, I felt flashbacks to a major city like Chicago or any city in Japan, but that was fleeting as one stop later we were back up at street level.

One transfer, one bus ride, and 3 beggars later, we arrived in Fort Worth at the Dallas Museum of Modern Art. It was a pretty impressive collection. I think I like modern art more than I do some of the “classics” because it tends to go for emotion more than other types of art. I tend to like movies more if they evoke emotion, so it’s only natural for that feeling to cary over to art. The works that stood out in my head were a few Warhol pieces, and a very realistic sculpture of a fawn being carried away by a wind-filled velvet blanket wrapped around it’s leg. The fawn was gnashing its teeth and struggling in a way that depicted it’s struggle for life. Quite impressive.

Lunch at the dallas modern consisted of calamari, and curry-coconut soup, a pair of cappuccinos, and a selection of bread next to the gigantic reflecting pond that surrounds a large portion of the museum grounds. The food was excellent and reasonably priced for the location.

Another bus ride took us to downtown Fort-Worth where we sipped on a Mango Smoothy and perused the shops. I pondered buying a “I’m a real cowboy” t-shirt to amuse those who know me, but decided against it. We headed home and watched a movie, discussed it for a good hour afterwards, and then used a trip to the grocery store as an excuse to take a long walk at 2 am on a Saturday night.

Sunday was a feast of Dim Sum of which I probably at twice as much as everyone else at the table… and then nothing for the rest of the day. Then I took B to work (one more week of this night shift work for her, yay!) and fell asleep early.

Another sucessful weekend here in the big D. I still don’t really know anyone here, but it doesn’t matter. I’m loving every minute of my job, my relationship, and really my life. More so now than I ever have before. It will take time, but I’m sure some friends will surface at some point.. and if not, I’ll just have to rely on visits from k, r, and Dan, who’s flying back from Japan sometime soon. Can’t wait to see you, Dan!

First off, many thanks go to Amanda for pointing me to the website/blog Austinist, a website/blog that covers the local Austin scene. I came across an article today that once again demonstrated why I like Austin.

This link pretty much says it all, but here are the highlights:

Beginning April 24th, Quentin and crew will be in town at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown for “QT 7 - The Best Of”. Screenings will be held nightly through 4/30 except for 4/25, when the event moves to The Glenn for an outdoor evening of wackiness and gore. If you’re never been to these festivals before, Tarantino brings prints of obscure B-movies and programs each night around a theme: kung fu, good old boys, overlooked westerns, and crime in the city are some nights from older fests. The titles are never revealed until right before the screening, so one never knows what B-movie extravaganza awaits. Tarantino personally introduces each of the films, and usually sits with the crowd drinking beer and laughing along with his selections.

Barbara and I thank you all for your thoughts. The ceremony was beautiful, I’m sure she would have been proud.

In other news, the next song recorded in my series is a well known pirate tune called “Blow the Man Down”. Find it on my music page [here](http://www.baudburn.com/music).

Barbara’s grandmother, a fiercely independent, amazing woman who overcame enormous odds for her family during the World War II Communist Revolution in China passed away yesterday.

Barbara has allowed me to record the final moments here for posterity. It is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever heard.

Barbara was at her grandmothers bedside, holding her hand when she woke up.

Barbara: Grandmother, do you know who I am?
Grandmother: Yes, Barbara.
Barbara: Are you tired?
Grandmother: Yes.
Barbara: Then you should sleep.

… and she closed her eyes to rest.

Those of you who know Barbara, probably know that her grandmother was one of her best friends. She will be greatly missed.

I’m asking you all to send your thoughts and energy towards Barbara and all of the Chen family as they mourn. Our time here is fleeting, grab on to the ones you love and never let go.

Went out to see [DJ Rap](http://www.propertalent.co.uk/default.asp) last night at the [lizard lounge](http://www.lizardlounge.com) in Dallas. The night was great, but the music was unfortunately, just so so.

The night started with dinner followed by coffee at [The Nodding Dog](http://www.noddingdogcoffee.com/), a very cool little coffee shop in Oak Cliff. I ordered the “red eye”, a huge cup of coffee and espresso (unfortunately referred to by the staff and labeled on the board as “expresso” (cringe)) mixed together. I started to feel high from the serious caffeine rush as B and I talked, laughed, shared stories of the week, and just enjoyed our time together.

Around 11, we headed out to the club. Parking was easy and the club was very cool. A converted theater, it had just the gothic feeling they were going for (the part was sponsored by sony for the new Underworld Evolution movie). The crowed was a healthy mix of everything from candy kids (complete with orange hair, and gas masks), to goths (with collars, black over coats, and nose-rings a plenty), to dancer girls with the panties with “all you can eat” printed on them, to the one thug in a white-T and white-sox cap trying to push up on a dancing girl who was having nothing to do with him.

The music was fun to dance to, for about an hour or so, but the problem with D&B is that there’s rarely anything memorable about it (It all sounds just like the title of this post), and I find it difficult to dance to. The problem: By the time DJ Rap came out, my attention span for D&B had already been exhausted. The only memorable song of the night was the D&B remix of a slayer song (from the Reign in Blood album) that she spun. For an instant, the dance club turned into a metal show.. which was pretty damn cool if you ask me..

So we took off a little early (around 2 am) and returned home feeling content and happy with life. We would have closed the place if she had spun a breaks set (check out her breaks album “learning curve”) instead of the D&B stuff. Glad I could come out for your show, DJ Rap, but let’s make a deal. I’ll definitely come see you next time you’re in town, but promise me you’ll spin breaks next time, OK? Sounds great! See you then.

I’m writing this blog entry from the first car of the dallas light-rail system. DART. I don’t have much to say right now, other than:
1) I love mass transit.
2) Technology is cool

** Note: ** I wrote this on my trip home to NY for Christmas this year. It’s late because I didn’t have a place to post it. It is trimmed from its original form because I’m not a good enough writer.

**Begin Post:**
It’s 5:30 am and I’m writing this in the dark from seat A, row 20 of this Boing 737 aircraft bound for Atlanta, GA. It’s luck that I am writing this from an airplane seat instead of a terminal bench. Back-story GO!

I woke up this morning around 3:45 am and headed for the airport. I get there, park, and walk up to the shuttle which thankfully was waiting right by my car for me. Upon entering the bus, Bob (the driver) informs me that Airtran does not fly out of Houston Intercontinental, they fly out of Hobby. He senses my shock and horror and gives me directions to Hobby. Great, it’s on the other side of Houston, it’s now 4:15 am, and my flight leaves at 5:35.

Back in the car, go! 100 MPH down I-45, fingers crossed that there are no cops out at this ridiculous time of the morning, Vroom. A few corners taken at speeds that were admittedly unsafe, tires squealing. 55-60 down a 35 mph road, hang on. Into parking ramp with spiral ramp, more tires squealing. Park, grab bags, run into airport. Get through the security checkpoint with no delay. Jump onto the plane with very little time to spare, *ahhhh*.

So that brings the story up to now. It’s dark in here, we’re sitting on the ground and we haven’t yet pulled back. The power has completely gone off in the plane and not even the emergency lights seem to be on. Oh.. there they are. Ok, we’re taking off.

Now at 33,000 feet I’m finally able to relax. I’m looking out the window at the sunrise coming over the horizon. It’s beautiful. The horizon starts as a deep red color and transitions to dark orange, light orange, yellow, light blue and finally to dark blue. The clouds above are curious purple color because of the blue and orange/yellow colors mixing together. The saying goes, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning, Red sky at night, sailors delight.” WIth any luck the race to make it on time was the warning part and the delight is coming up next.

— Story continued after plane lands in Atlanta —

It’s now 3:30 pm and I’m still not home ( I was supposed to land in Buffalo at 11 am), but it wasn’t in the cards for me this time around. I landed right on time, walked, rode the train, and walked some more to my gate. I walked up and noticed a large number of people standing around and the guy on the intercom saying something about volunteers. After a little public polling I discovered that the plane was over booked and that despite having a confirmed seat on the flight I was not going to get on the plane. Meanwhile, a girl came walking back up the ramp in tears because her she was not allowed on the plane, despite the fact that she was bumped in a similar fashion from a flight the night before *AND* the fact that other people who were already seated said they didn’t mind waiting till 5:30 if she could get on. Needless to say, I’m not very impressed with Airtran for pulling that move. We all got rescheduled for the next flight which was 8 hours later.

As soon as all that was settled I called Kerry up and arranged a liaison. Fortunately he was able to take an extra long lunch and pick me up at the subway station up north. We went by his swank new pad and hung out for a few minutes before going over to thai-coon for thai and talk.. Good times indeed. Back to the station and back to the airport I breezed right through security, no problem. Great! I thought all the crap was done, but it wasn’t. In the bathroom I reached into my backpack only to find out that my hair gel had exploded during the flight and sprayed the inside of my bag. The bright side was that it for some reason I put it in a pouch that only had my deodorant and my power source for my laptop (I’m not very big on spending time to pack efficiently or effectively). So I spent 5-10 minutes cleaning my bag out and my stuff off. Now I’m here waiting to get on the 5:30 plane (it’s now 4:30).

I guess I could be upset, but I’m not. Sure I would have liked to get there on time, but instead I got to have lunch and spend a few moments with one of my greatest friends, and I’ll still make it there quicker than I could have in a car.

I’m going to say that it is all typed in a stream of consciousness form so I can cleverly hide the fact that I don’t feel like articulating right now.

1 - Job) The job is great, everyone is really cool and relaxed. People seem really active here. There is quite a few people who bike or run to work/on lunch break. There is a shower here so that this is a reasonable proposition. That gets two big thumbs up from me. My officemate, Tom is an avid road and mountain biker.

2 - Apartment) I found one. It’s a pretty sweet loft. I have my own garage. This will work out well if I can ever get some furniture into it.

3 - Capoeira) Went to Capoeira practice last night for the first time. In a word, outstanding. Having a real mestre around sure does rule. My legs are sore, my feet have no skin left on them, and I feel like a million bucks (except when I have to walk, then my feet bring be down to earth some). Practice lasted 3.5 hours and was intense as hell. Met a bunch of cool guys and gals there. I’m looking forward to removing the skin from my feet once again on Tuesday.

4 - Weekend) “Ahhh, It’s time to relax, and you know what that means…” and no its not a glass of wine and your favorite easy chair. Instead, its driving to Houston tonight to meet up with the Hou crew. Tony’s bday is on Saturday night, so party time. Sunday morning I’ll go to visit B and back to Austin Sunday night. This may seem convoluted, but I’m doing it to keep the spirit of Dan and I’s constant roadtrips alive!

Over and out.