Woman admits having sex parties for teen boys ... man, talk about having low self esteem!

Kristin's response: haha...if i were a mom, i'd want to be a "cool mom" but not THAT kind of mom

I'll second that!

Typhoon season commences

Just when I thought it was safe to stow away my cheapass 400 yen rain pants & my much-more-than-400-yen North Face rain jacket, a typhoon rolls through. I'm such a slave to weather in Japan, mostly due to my non-car-owning status. Bikes freakin' rule, except when less than perfect weather hits.

On a side note, I never realized just how many "forces of nature" affect Japan (typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.)... makes your head spin!

I leave in exactly 1 week for my 3 week trip to Vietnam & Cambodia with Kristin - yesssss! I've been busy busy online looking up places to stay so we can just relax and enjoy being there.

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Here's our itinerary:

8/2 - Fly Tokyo --> Taipei, Taiwan

8/3 - Fly Taipei --> Hanoi, Vietnam

8/7 - Fly Hanoi --> Nha Trang, Vietnam

8/10 - Overnight train to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

8/15 - Fly Ho Chi Minh City --> Siem Reap, Cambodia

8/19 - Boat to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

8/21 - Fly Phnom Penh --> Taipei, Taiwan

8/23 - Fly Taipei --> Tokyo

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As you can see, it'll be pretty crazy as we're squeezing in heaps... but we'll see all the highlights, which is cool. If anyone out there has any advice, comment away!

TPS Reports

My friend Mike's AIM profile: I actually look at TPS reports nearly every day... what has my life become? What is a TPS Report? Find out here.

TPS Reports are taking over the world. "Did you get that memo?"

"Where's your head at?"

"Please be aware that when you just hit reply to respond to an email from someone in travelingJET it is sent to the entire listserve. It would be better to copy and paste the email of the person you wish to contact rather than just hitting reply. Thank you, (name withheld)."

Don't you just love when you get emails like this on a listserve? Granted, the e-mail being referenced was rather irritating and its author should be told how to better utilize the listserve... but in responding to everyone as this person has (above) he (I arbitrarily chose 'he') has commited the very sin he warns people against. Wouldn't it be better to just email that person individually rather than subject hundreds of peoples' inboxes to more of the same?

I know someone who really loves crap use of listserves... Whiteley, are you reading this?

Oh man I'm even writing my smiley faces Japanese-style (see the comments for yesterday's post). I think that's a sure sign of having been in Japan too long...

Coming soon: How I conquered Mt. Fuji. (dun dun dun!)

Or more appropriately: Why Fuji-san let me live.

This week's 'WTF?' moment, sponsored by Japan's uber-rich tobacco companies:

I guess I've never noticed it before, mostly because I just wouldn't expect something of the sort to be there in the first place, but after nearly 2 years of visits to the public gym near my apartment I saw a cigarette machine just inside the door today. That's right -- a cigarette machine. Just when I think Japan can't possibly surprise me anymore, that's exactly what it does.

Apparently dark chocolate is good for you. Score six for the home team! Especially considering I actually prefer dark chocolate... mmm... oops, there goes a splash of drool...

Go Pink for proposing! It's about time women take the initiative. Why wait for the guy to do everything? Al, are you reading this?

Wow, it took me forever to figure out how to post a pic for my profile pic. I finally had to resort to the 'Help' section... I hate doing that.

Upon hearing that I have indeed started up a new blog, Mark informed me:
"I'm looking forward to reading about supermarket special offers again"

On behalf of all my non-existent readers, aren't we all?

The Big Move (not to be confused with "The Big Dig")

As most of you know, my old site, Adventures of an American Ronin, has been slowly dying for quite some time now. Alas, I have finally scheduled it for termination in September. Do not mourn, however, for my site will continue here. My reasons for the move are twofold: 1) I no longer wished to pay for my site (freeloaders of the world, unite!) and 2) I desired a "proper" blog where readers could post comments under each of my posts rather than using the semi-archaic guestbook (yay web-interaction!).

Thus Adventures of an American Ronin continues...