Japan: What a Trip
There comes a time towards the end of most vacations where you've had a good time, but you're ready to head back home and sleep in your own bed and see your friends. No offense to any of my friends, but that time never came for me in Japan. I completely fell in love with Tokyo, and didn't want to come home.
I spent the vast majority of my time in Tokyo itself, but there was so much to do that there was never a dull moment. Whether it was being completely and utterly lost in the red light district of Shinjuku, playing pachinko in Ueno, or people watching in Shibuya, I was always up to something. Staying in hostels was probably the best choice that I could have made, because I met so many interesting and fun people! Who else would I have done karaoke with, had it not been for the people I met at the hostel?
Spending a night in a capsule hotel was really interesting, too. There's way more space in there than you would think! You can sit up, or just watch crazy people pretending to time travel on Japanese TV (the best parts are the advertisements, though). And Japanese people are stylish! Some of the styles are very over-the-top, and some are very conservative (never before have I seen so many suits and ties), but almost everyone is trying their hardest to go for style.
Good thing the German guys that I met had met Kazuya, or how would I have gotten in to that crazy hole-in-the-wall bar with only Japanese people and no tourists?
I could really go on endlessly about the trip, but needless to say, I'll have the memories that will last forever. If anyone is thinking of going to Japan, then stop thinking, just do it!
San Francisco
As of the 4th of July, I'm a resident of the state of California. I've got an awesome apartment on Bush street between Powell and Stockton--near Union Square where there are a lot of tourists. It's interesting because whenever I walk outside, I hear a whole variety of different languages and accents. It's really neat, although I suspect after a year its novelty will have worn off and then some.
It's also the first time that I've lived without any roommates. To me, this is refreshing and fun. It's nice to get together with friends whenever I want, but also to be able to relax and avoid all possible forms of human interaction when I feel so inclined. This is helped by the fact that I'm connected to the fastest internet connection that I've ever owned.
Also starting work at Mochi Media has been really good. There's a lot of new stuff to learn, though, so I'm not able to crank out as much code yet as I would like. Their primary web development environment is Pylons, which has a decidedly different worldview than Django. I definitely think that there are good things and bad things from both sides, and hopefully the good things can eventually be shared. I'll definitely revisit this once I've got more experience on the Pylons side.
Cheers to travelling around the globe, living independently, and learning new things! Because in a nutshell, that's what I've been doing.
Up next: A series of screencasts.
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