OMG! An on time post!

Yes, I am actually going to give keeping this sordid affair updated a try.

So this week was interesting. Mainly, want to talk about Tuesday.

I have started going to a bar. New School. It's a neat, trendy little bar around the corner from my dorm. One night, coming back from dinner, we passed the bar, and the bartender ran outside to give us free drink coupons, and so what the hell, we decided to drink there. I went back a few times, and got to know the owner, Takao, and the bartender, Mattchan. Takao speaks English, and I can understand enough of Mattchan's Japanese to get by. Now Mattchan was once a Waseda studnet, but dropped out to pursue his dream; music. He plays alto sax, and really well. His normal band is a funk band, Funky Headlights, but Tuesday night, he was playing a gig at a jazz bar in Akasaka called B Flat. It was a pick up band of Waseda students doing improvisational big band jazz. Knowing a few Europeans and Asian who are really into jazz, I got a little entourage together and went to see the show. Wow. Pretty freaking amazing.

Now I am not a huge jazz fan. I dig some Miles Davis and some Charlie Parker, but recorded jazz leaves me flat most of the time. Rather, I prefer live jazz, especially when it is just a few guys jamming out. This concert was pretty fucking amazing though.

So my New Year's resolution is to get out more and into the Tokyo music scene. I wanna find smokefilled, seedy little bars where great underground acts play. I am pretty lucky now, as one of my friends DJs in NYC and has made some connections at clubs here, and the other has met some prominent DJs in the Tokyo scene, and I ca usually get on the list if I want to go to dance clubs, so I am trying to do that more. Something about the big city makes me at the same time depressed and elated lol.

Here at least, I am letting go abit of my straight laced inhabitions and trying to "act a fool" a bit more, i.e. loosening up about drinking, and clubbing. Growing as a person has been easy here, and I intended to , as K-os put it, "Get back into the man I used to be."

Enough of that now, for now.

Next week みんなさん。

Keep reading!

It's been awhile

It's been awhile. I have been neglecting this blog like one neglects say, an unwanted cat. I specifically say cat as I have neglected cats on the brain, having just finished reading Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is an amazing story and truly puts the movie to shame.
Quite a bit has happened in the past few weeks, so I shall start with the most recent and work my way backwards.

Tanjoubi

This week, it was not one, not two, but THREE of my friends birthdays, so it was quite a week. First, on Tuesday, we had a nomikai for Martin the Swede. I like Martin, interesting guy. Heavy drinker, heavy smoker, but few urbane man with an interesting history and intelligent demeanor. So a number of us got pissed for his birthday with great aplomb. We have a group of Swedes here notorious for partying, thus Hessu the Fin named them the "Swedish Mafia." Hysterical guys, those three. They were there, along with Gaddy the French-Canadian, myself, Leena the Fin, Toby the Canadian/Hong Kongese, Noah the Jewpanaese Californian, Phil from Oxford, Takumi my good Japanese friend, Noellia from Spain and many many more. It was a great time until the party ended.
On the street, afterwords, some crazy girl from SoCal decided it would be fun to steal a pack of cigarettes in a foreighn country, not realize that the store employed a guard. After snatching said pack, the guard kicked at her, and our friend Hiro, drunk off his ass, went to defend her and ended up getting punched int he face. Phil and Hesus, being LARGE men, pulled the guard off of Hiro, and to prevent him from demolishing the guard, Hiro's friend spirited him away. I come 'roudn the corner with Takumi, see Phil and no less then four police, and send Takumi in to take care of it. An hour later everyone was free to go, much shaken and pissed.

Fun

Immedietly following, now stressed to the max, I had an all-night karaoke-a-thon for my friends Seojon and Mindy. Alot of tiring fun, and a good way to destress from a night negotiating the release of our friends from the local policia.

The next day was another party lol. I had organized a Nabe and Sukiyaki tabehodai for Seojon's Birthday, which was great fun. We stuffed ourselves silly, then went back to the dorm for a bit of Wii and beer. Not a bad week.

On Tuesday day time, my Japanese classs went on a field trip to a Japanese traditional confectionary factory in Akasaka, whcih was really very interesting. We were able to observing the candy being made, and sampled some Autumn candies. Traditional Japanese candy is seasonal; as with most japanese food, taste, colour and look are tailored to express the season. As many Japanese will proclaim, Japan and Japan alone has four season (which is quite a shock to we Northeasterners, because like myself, we could swear we have four, but are apparently wrong lol).

Kamogawa

This passed weekend, I went with some crazy Japanese guys to the Waseda Seminar House in beautiful Kamogawa, about two hours from Tokyo propper on the other side of Chiba. The House is set on a hill, with a comanding view of the local area and the Pacific. It was a week of drinking, Onsen, more drinking, and Baseball. Everyone had fun except me, as Saturday night I was bed ridden by an aweful migraine the likes of which I haven't experienced in years. Enter Matti with his wonderful Brittish Paracetamol, which cured my up enough to sleep. Despite the pain, it was an amazing weeked; the view was amazing, the onsen right on the beach, and the weather lovely. The food was provided with the cost of staying at the House, and was also amazing. For dinner we had a lovely sashimi arrangment, and an amazing meal of grilled chicken, salad topped with ray, miso, and all the rice we could eat.

Nikko

The weekend before that, I travel with a few friends to Nikko. My god. We stayed at a quaint but downtrodden old ryokan, which had a nice little onsen so wasn't too terrible, and spent our first day wandering the Toshugu shrine. Toshugu is a sight to behold. A sprawling complex that takes hours to get through, it is ancient and considered (for those who don't know) a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was amazed and astounded by the sheer beauty of this hilly shrine, cut into the Japanese mountains, surrounded by pines.
The second day, we travel up the mountains to see a touristy yet pictauresque waterfall, and the beautiful Lake Chuzenji. The lake is almost at the top of the mountains, and it's crystal clear water shoun in the sun and cold mountain air. We saw Japanese monkeys parading around town, and spent the afternoon in a nice little sulfur onsen, watching the lake and the ticking clock. Truly a nice and relaxing trip.

The larger events are truly amazing, but most of my time is taken by the grind of daily life. Wake, class, lunch, coffee with friends, dinner, sleep. Perhaps take a walk, perhaps hit a bar, but usually boring, boring everyday sort of living.

I have a number of things to comment on, but will save that for the next post, hopefully not in a month but perhaps a week lol.

Untill then, keep reading!

Obama and Korean Soju

Obama won. Fan-fing-tastic I say. I have been a huge Obama supporter from the begining, and for the first time in my twenty six years, I am proud to be an American. That being said, most of the students here went crazy over the Obama win. Europeans, Japanese, Asian; everyone came together to celebrate this momentous day not just for America, but for the world. I was deeply impressed to see, first hand, the impact our fearless leader-elect has had on the world. Everyone here is so expectant that positive change will occur!

In other news, I went to a small nomikai for short time, then proceeded to drink in the local koen as always, but this time with a twist; Soju. Soju is awefull, and awesome. It's burns as it goes down, it perks you up fast (which is hysterical because the alcohol content is low) and drops you even faster. I have never been sicker in my entire life, and never woken up with a worse hangover. Be yee warned: Soju is dangerous stuff. Try some, it's fantastic :)

I went to Kamakura last weekend, with a friend, and while I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked, it was still a beautiful and serene town, quite different from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. I saw the main Hachiman temple, which was stunning, and the Daibutsu, which was actually a let down. The highlight of the trip was sitting on the beach at night, staring off into the Pacific until it got too cold. I love the ocean, and seeing the Pacific for the first time was amazing.

Thats it for now, I will post something else when I have something to tell lol.

This is one of my favorite Japanese songs, by a singer/songwriter named YUI



and this is the beautiful and amazing Utada Hikaru.



something to tide you all over until the next post :D

Sorry kids, been awhile

I owe all my faithful readers an apology. I have been busy, and alternetly stressed, so I have neglected this blog like a red headed stepchild for too long. This won't be a long post, but I hope to snap back into this once a week, starting　今.

Not much going on right now. Classes, classes everywhere, and no way not to fall asleep lol. Even my really interesting (in theory) Murakami class is dry as hell. So I get bored, do work, take a walk, and try to get out on the weekends.

On the flip side, the weather broke, and it's steadily getting colder, which is awesome. I love the cold, and am looking forward to freezing my gonads off this winter. Nice change from Arizona for a bit.

The other night, I was in the park contiguous to my dorm, and saw some young Japanese folks playing with those high quality lightsabers you can actually duel with. I asked them what they were doing, and it turns out they are a Star Wars fanclub who are making a fan film. So after telling them about my own fan film experiences back in Connecticut, they let me join in their practice. Hella fun.

So while I am bored and class-y most of the time, there are moments of pure, unadultered awesome.

I will post again soon, but right now, I need to work on a project.

Peace out.

Flavour of Life

I went to Shinjuku today. My first trip alone in Tokyo, it was an interesting experience.

My major goal was to find the Kinokuniya with the intent of purchasing books I need for my Murakami class, but it turned out to be so much more. I needed to see if I could handle this alone; being in a strange city, having a poor comand of the spoke of language, getting around confusing train stations, not being harrassed by the cops. I did alright.

For the past few weeks, I have been afraid to be alone. Perhaps it was the stress, the feeling of being an outsider, but I just couldn't bare to be by myself, as if I was afraid of my own voice in my own head. Today I got out, alone, and quieted my demons. I found where I need to be, got what I needed, even stopped to make a completley random purchase. It was nice, just me and my inner monolouge (and of course, my Ipod).

There have been setbacks. My visa status is still up in the air. My Japanese is non-functioning. It's incredibly difficult to meet people (more so then even I, the eternal realist, throught it would be), it's nearly impossible to meet women. But today, walking through the glass and steel towers of Shinjuku, and strolling past students and residents on their way home in Takadanobaba, I felt at peace despite it all.

My friend Ken gave me a compliment last night, possibly the best thing anyone has said to me in a long time. We were discussing why we came here, why various people come here, and Ken (who is half Japanese, half Chinese from Thailand) told me he doesn't feel like he belongs in Thailand. Then he said to me, "Anson, you belong here. I really think that you, out of all of us, belong here."

I like to think he is on to something.

This is Chiba from the Narita Express train



This is Taka, my guide
Dan and Jack, friends from my dorm
These are the last photos I will post here, because the system for picture posting is way to complicated. I'm going to start a Flikr photostream and just link to it.

Second week in Japan

So I am really trying to update the blog regularly, but I'm leaning towards once a week, as I like both going out and sleeping too much to sacrifice either. Since my last major post, I have had quite a bit of fun here.

So once I arrived, the orientation began. Orientation here is a long and boring process, but was made a bit more interesting by an interpreter with a very snarky disposition, who constantly made fun of the monotony of the forms and repetitive discourse. She really rubbed some people the wrong way, but I liked her. Also on the first day, the WIC kids came to lunch with us and we played the most interesting ice breaking games.

The orientation days consisted of learn, break, eat, learn, dinner, walk.

On Friday, we were taken by volunteers to the Shinjuku Ward offices to regester for our Alien Regestration cards and NHS. The volunteers consisted of the Niji (rainbow) Club and WIC. Despite the horor stories I have heard about the Japanese bureacray, the office was suprisingly quick and efficient. ALong the way I got to know Naoya, who is a big Guns'n'Roses fan, and we talked music for a bit. After acquiring our cards, we decided to get Japanese cell phones (finally) and grabbed Dan and Jenny to translate (Jenny, whom I may not have mentioned before, is Nikkei Japanese from Hawaii.) After getting the phones, Dan took us to an Izakaya, and we proceeded to eat and drink! I tried Shochu for the first time, and I think I may prefer it to sake.

On saturday, we were taken on tours by the WIC kids. My friends and I chose Odaiba, if for nothing else then Ikkun, one of the WIC kids we like, was giving the tour and no one was going there. So we decided to keep him company. Odaiba is interesting; a man made island reclamed from Tokyo Bay, Odaiba is pretty much a commercial district with some neat archetecture (Fuji TV building). After a trip to the Seaside Mall in Odaiba and the Fuji TV building, we went back to Takadanobaba and had a Nomihodai (all you can drink) drinking party. I will say this about Waseda students; they know how to drink. The way Nomihodai works, you pay a fee (it was 2500 yen for us) and get some basic, limited food, and all the booze you can drink for two hours. There was beer, sake, sake mixed drinks, whiskey, schnapps, etc. We played drinking games, got loud and crazy, and completely blitzed beyond words by 9 p.m. After stumbling around for a bit, we followed Takumi to an after party, but quickly departed after watching a young Japanese guy retching his guts out on the urinals (not a fun place; apparently it is famous in Waseda for being vomited in).

Sunday was lazy, and on Monday we had our course registration. I signed up for some really interesting advanced cultural and media studies classes, and like the nerd I am, am very excited about them. Monday night, Andrew, Toby and I joined Takumi for some outdoor drinking after he got off work (Takumi has an arubaito, or part-time job, at a bookstore near the school). For those who don't know, drinking in public is legal in Japan, and if a police officer comes by, it's usually to tell you to keep it down. So we got good and drunk in the park, and stumbled home.

Yesterday, we had Nomihodai again with the WIC kids, this time on a boat! For another 2500 yen, we took a boat from Shinagawa out into Tokyo Bay past Odaiba, then back in (over the course of two hours) again all you can drink. The boat was packed with people, as Tuesday was the Autumnal Equinox and a national holiday in Japan. We drank, chatted, and eventually ended up carrying Jenny home as she got too drunk to walk.

Today we went back to Shinagawa to begin the arduous process of changing my visa status at the Immigration Bureau. It went by quickly, and hopefully it will all resovle quickly, or else I will need to take an impromptu vacation in Decemeber to Korea, then re-enter the country.

The weather had been disgusting last week, but after a brief typhun, the humidty seems to have broken, and a slight autumnal chill can be felt in the air. Today was balmy and lovely, and I hope it continues to be so.

Thats all for now.

Yuuppara iru

Japanese daigakusei know how to drink.

That is all.

More later, after I have slept it off...

This is the view of Shinjuku from my dorm balcony. It's a pretty sweet view.

First day

I had originally intended to make multiple posts, each detailing an aspect of my trip over; a description of the time I spent in LA, a description of the phenomenal service I received from ANA and the hotel I stayed in, and a play by play of my trip from Narita intl. Airport to Waseda Daigaku. Alas, my plans have been derailed. Still reeling from the time difference, I have been unable to think straight at night, let alone write, while my das are filled with orientation goodness and makeing friends. So a condensed version will follow:

L.A.- L.A. is gross. Still four hours outside of the city, you can see the smog, and it only seems to break once you hit the coast. Ick. Venice Beach is amazing though, and I could live there and love it. It was amazing to see the ocean again (despite it not being my ocean).

ANA- What a service! I am so glad I chose this airline to make my twelve hour trip. The food, for one, was amazing. Everything had great flavour. They gave us two meals, and left a snack tray in the galley so we could help ourselves. Each seat in coach had a tv moniter in the seat back in front of it, with about twenty movies to choose from, some tv programs, and inflight and airport information. The Flight Attendants were also incredibly nice. At one point, one spilled coffee on my pants, and proceeded t bring me towel after towel to clean it, and even went so far as to try cleaning it herslef, which made me a bit uncomfrotable but hey, thats service, right?

Hotel- The ANA Crown Plaza Hotel was nice. Not amazing, but nice. Ordered a club sandwhich from room service, which was at once bost the oddest and tastiest club I have ever had.

Narit- Narita is freaking green. It's beautiful there; despite being so close to Tokyo, it's slightly rural. Trees and bamboo every!

Tokyo- I met my pick-up group at the airport with no problem. They put us on the Narita Express train to Shinjuku station, and the few of use gaijin bonded on our hour-long ride. But alas, none of us were int he same dorm. Such is life I suppose.

Upon arriving at Shinjuku station, we were greated by Takumi who ran at us, hooting and jumping and screaming "YEAH WASEDA WOOOO YEAH" which was indeed quoite a welcome. It turns out the pick-up students are all part of the Waseda International Club, and very happy to see us. My personal guide, Taka, is a Red Sox fan, so we had a bit to talk about (in broken Japanese and halting English) on the subway ride from Shinjuku station to Tadakanobaba station, the closest to the school.

I was taken to my dorm, Waseda Hoshien Internationl, which is I am told, the nicest of the dorms. It's very clean and well maintained. After about twenty minutes, I made my first aquaintance, Dan. Dan is a grad student who lives on my floor, and togethr with his friends Eric and Jack, we went exploring the town, picked up essentials at the hyaku-en (100-yen) store, and had some fats food beef bowl, which was in a word, amazing. On my floor also resides Ward, the geeky tall Dutch kid who keeps to himself, Steean the Norwegian who is odd, and Toby, the tall, partying Asian kid from Canada, who is a hoot but waaay too over eager.

At about six, we had a welcoming party with we foreighn residents and the International Club, and mingled a bit. The dorm is one giant United Nations, with students from all over the world. My little crew has expanded to include Andrew from Virginia, Anna, Sabrina and Lucille from Paris, Kathy from Korea, and Katie from Toronto.

Post-party, we wandered around the town, finding the building I need to be at in three hours (the location of which is now a blur, thank you jet lag).

I have a few pics which will hopefully go up tonight, but no promises (sorry folks).

Signing off for now.

BTW my room is on the tenth floor, and the view is nothing short of amazing.

The past week

Well apparently the hotel has adapters to loan out, and macs can take 100-240 v of current, so I can charge the laptop and blog blog blog!

My last week has been defined by stress. To open, I am a moron. Now granted, I'm a moron with a 3.6 and a mind like a steel trap and a computer disk for a memory and the ability to type and pat myself on the back and I'm modest to boot. But that aside, I did a moronic thing. I lost my passport.

You heard (read) me. I lost. My passport. I discovered this on Monday. That's less then a week until I was supposed to leave, for those of you keeping score. Needless to say, I tore apart my house looking for the thing, and when it did not turn up, I immediately called my adviser to be advised on what to do next. After speaking to Waseda, I was told to get a new passport. Now in order to acquire a last minute passport, on needs to appear, in person, at a passport issuing agency, with the nearest two to Arizona being Denver and Los Angeles. After weighing the options, I decided Denver it was, best to avoid the LA smog and traffic, and alos, a good friend of mine happens to live in Denver, so it was nice to catch up while running all over the city trying to get my affairs in order.

So new passport achieved but alas, there was the problem of the Visa. I had my student Visa, all taken care of and screen printed in my passport. But of course, it's gone baby gone. So I had to heap a load more stress on and enter the country on a 90 day tourist Visa with the promise that Waseda will assist in changing my immigration status.

So far, everything has gone off without a hitch, save for my inability to communicate with the locals, as my Japanese, though conversational, is quite rudamentary. Lets hope I catch a tailwind soon!

I am waaay to tired to be typing, so I will pick this up manana!

Chao

Arrived!

I have arrived! GOOD EVENING NIHON! Yes indeed, I have arrived in Japan. But alas, I am not yet posting the details of my last week, wonderful trip over, and brain-damaging headlong run into the brick wall that is the language barrier, as I have left my voltage converter in my suitcases that have been shipped from the airport to the dorm, and as I am currently (tired) and at the airport hotel where I must spend my first night, I have only the battery charge on my mac and want to conserve it.

So more to come as soon as I get my voltage converter. Maybe even pictures:D!

Not in Japan yet, but sticking to an update scheduale

Time, I suppose, for an update. I'm actually surprised I am managing to do this in a timely fashion. I once, long ago and far away (read: fours years and Connecticut) had a web comic, and though it garnered a degree of popularity in some small circles of New England geekdom, I never did manage to write my scripts on time. So indeed this proves that one can change, given enough time, boredom, and ambition.

So I'm not actually IN Japan yet. Granted, in some ways, my mind has already left me, taking a direct flight from Tucson to Tokyo and is already enjoying takoyaki under the brilliant leaves of Autumn, but physically in the desert I remain. I leave in approximately nine days. It chills a bit, saying it out loud (or typing it as the case may be); as stated many times in my previous posts, I never imagined this day would come. I have gone years with a burning desire to go to Japan, and it's fast approaching (fast as say, a shinkansen). It's an unreal feeling, knowing that in nine days I will board a plane for the other side of the world, leaving all I know behind for a year. At once both frightening and exhilirating. So to beat that dead horse once more, I am freaked out about my trip (lol).

On a pleasent note, I am greatly looking forward to finally having seasons again. Arizona has it's moments, but being a New Englander born, raised, and forever at heart, I will simply never get used to the omnipresent desert sun and opressive heat. I long for snow, rain that last for three or more chilly days, changing leaves, frigid winter wind off of the ocean, fog, and the kind of damp that sinks into your bones. I love cold, and Japan, being about the same longitudal and latitudal placement as the Eastern seaboard, has cold. It's a temperate climate, with Tokyo being comparable to Baltimore. So I look forward to rain, cold, fog, and real weather. Not to mention my obsession with layered dressing, especially sweaters.

The purpose of this thing, now that I have gotten a rant out of my system...

This is a blog. It being on blogger should have been a tip off, granted, but I am a sucker for stating the obvious, as those of you reading this who know me personally will undoubtedly be aware of. The purpose of this blog is three-fold. Firstly I seek to chronicle my adventures, secondly to have a way to keep my friends and family up to date (read: Jealous) of my experiences and the random musings that escape my brain and out my lips at random time prompted or otherwise, and thirdly to fulfill the requirements of the magical free money fairies that have made this trip possible.

I shall explicate. I am currently a student at the University of Arizona, wrapping up a BA in Japanese Studies. I have been interested (read: Fascinated to the point of almost unhealthy) in all things Asian (that's what she said) since I was three or so. It is the opinion of all my familial relations that there has never been a time in memory or on record when I have not been obsessed with Asia. One possible explanation for the catalyst is a trip to Disneyworld's Epcot Centre with my grandparents in the spring of 88, where upon viewing the Japan Pavilion my eyes glazed over at the sight of (though nothing more then hollow simulacra) torii arches and geisha. Another is the introduction to me of one Kuramoto-san, a Japanese friend of a Middle School Social Studies teacher who taught the class about modern Japan and allowed me to partake in the ancient art of sado. What is known is that both have contributed to my omnipresent desire to learn all I can of Asian culture, and visit Japan especially. (Not to say that I am only interested in Asian cultures and visiting Asia; I am also an Anglophile among others, but the purpose of this blog is inexorably linked to Japan, thus...)

Upon arriving at the U of A (as we students so lovingly refer to it) I applied and was accepted to an exchange program with Waseda University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in all of Japan. Starting September 15th, I will be spending an Academic Year in Tokyo, attending one of Japan's best schools and hopefully having the time of my life (I say hopefully because as a realist, it's bloody silly to assume the best will always happen; rather it's nice to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and annoy others by always being a constant neigh-saying downer :D). But as a poor, non-traditional (read: older then you 18 year old whippersnappers) student, I lack the funding. Thus enter the fairies.

The magical free money fairies, Freeman-ASIA (Freeman Awards for Study in Asia), have awarded me a substantial amount to help finance this trip. Freeman-ASIA stipulates that a "Service Project"must be undertaken, educating my community about East Asian Studies. Being a narcissistic individual, I immediately decided the best way to achieve this was to cite myself as an example and chronicle my experiences during my stay in Japan.

Thus this blog exists. It will update periodically, weekly I hope, with pictures, videos, wonderful experiences and scathing rants (if necessary) about my experiences. Do please check back for the next installment of sheer tomfoolery and pretension.

(NOTE: Much of this is an attempt at humour. No harm is meant, and one is grateful to Freeman-ASIA for the financial assistance given. Let no one be offended by the words of this one man as, contrary to John Donne, this man is an island in these opinions. A sad little island surrounded by reefs, infested with mosquitoes and lacking in potable water.)

Avoidance, excitment, and bone-chilling fear

I have been avoiding this...

That's all there is to it. I suppose on some level, by not beginning this blog, I am therefor not leaving in three weeks. I am not traveling halfway around the world, not leaving all I know for a year, not doing something I have wanted for my entire life and yet am crippled to begin doing.

This blog is important. It gets me money. Wonderful, free money I don't have to pay back (refer to "free" 24 characters ago :D), in fact money for a trip I couldn't otherwise afford. I suppose the coup is that I am actually writing now, albeit less about my experienced as is dictated by the free money fairies and more about my crippling fear of actually going to Japan. Thank god for rationalization, or I would be dead in the water, no wind in sight (not that, to be a nitpicker, you can see the damn wind, but in the spirit of nice little pre-packaged literary cliches, it works).

Dreams are funny things. You desire so badly for them to come true, and when they do you have this moment (note; "moment" in the grand scheme of universal existence, so for these purposes, anywhere from an hour to two months) of sheer exhileration. Once that passes though, it's like slamming on the brakes; "whoa, wait a sec. I've got WHAT? I'm going WHERE?." Enter crippling fear and crushing, irrational worries. Or maybe it's just me :D

Testing, testing, one two...

Just a sample posting...