It is awesome, I feel like some sort of frog ninja in it.

I thought this video was funny, basically ran into some wild monkeys on a hike and they decided to leave the log and were moving towards me, during which the camera became second priority and not getting attacked by monkeys became priority 1. Luckily they were very nice and after I moved back a little all was good…

Fun times.

Descriptions and titles if you click the image. Basically my trip went North to Sappora, then to Abashari where I took an ice breaking boat out to sea, then back to Sappora, then down to Kyoto for temples and a palace, then to Hiroshima for the memorial, then to Kagoshima for a ferry to this awesome island called Yakushima. This island inspired the director of Princess Monokyo and the forest was amazing, trees as old as 3,000 years old. Ferry was a bit rough to get there though, 3 hours through dark stormy seas with huge huge waves (fun! especially when you were smart enough to remember Dramamine). Then back to Tokyo for 8 days and met up with Gina and Eunah for 3 days while they were visiting from Korea! They were a ton of fun, and hopefully I get to visit them in Korea at some point!!

Explanation of each picture and comments if you click through to the picture…. These are roughly in chronological order of the above trip outline too.

Comments on what each is if you click the image :)

Found this in a toy store, all driven by solar, seems happy and nice to have on my desk!

Very cool place and having a great time so far. All the time on trains seeing the country has given me a lot of time to read, I’ve read 9 books in the last 3 to 4 days, reviews here! Just fun reads which is nice, almost like I’m at the beach.

My favorite Japanesism yet:

Ben: Do you have sandwich package x? (to train trolly girl)
Train Girl: (in broken english) Sorry we are out, do you want rice with crab flakes on it?
Ben: YES!!! (and i was thinking why did she even ask!!! I love rice with crab flakes on it!!!!)

They were delicious.

I’ve decided to stay in Denver for another year, so I’ll be here through June 2011 it sounds like. We are going to find a new place to live in April/May, hopefully closer to a neighborhood we like a little better. Next week I’m heading to Vegas for a big ultimate frisbee tournament plus it is going to be Dmarsh, BBustin, and my brother’s birthday. Should be fun. And then when I get back from that Rose and Steve will be here and going to spend a lot of that week skiing with them! And hopefully I’ll be going skiing during the week a few times after that, and working on cross country skiing as I would like to be good at that.

Work is going well, and just got really busy as we took on some additional business which is quite fun!

Travel wise the year is looking awesome. In a few months I’m taking a few weeks vacation to explore Japan! Then in April I’m going to Italy for a short weekend trip as Iris got a bid to Paganello (massive ultimate beach tournament), and I’m going to play with her mixed team. Extra fun as it should be a lot of Arkansas people and hopefully Daniel and Joel go. And then me and a friend scored tickets to the World Cup in South Africa which I will be going too in early July. South Africa is being nuts on airfare pricing but its a once in a life time opportunity, so worth it.

Oh, and I’m trying to complete the 100 Book Challenge for 2010, which means I’m trying to read 100 books in 2010. So roughly 9 books a month, so far I’m almost done with my 4th and almost on track. I’m posting mini reviews as I go too.

Also, here is an interview we did a few months ago for Work, I’m pretty proud of it as we don’t sound like idiots. Although I did repeat a lot of words over and over and over, oh well, she was really nice and it was fun!