A Rainy Wednesday Night

10:50pm.. An average time for me to be making these updates, which are part journal, part verbal diarrhea, part letter home, and part something else.. Listening to Barenaked Ladies, Stunt.. Just in case you were wondering what the completely normal part of my life at home is about. I just finished off some Qoo (prounounced Cue) apple drink, one of many strange addictions I'm developing here. Super-cans of Coke, Sapporo Ribbon Orange (it's like Tang in a can..), and Pocky. Pocky will eventually lead to the downfall of civilization, or the progression to the next level. People will use Pocky as currency, with the elusive Strawberry Pocky being worth the most... I only hope those evil Pretz bastards don't try to horn in on Pocky's place. Hopefully by now you're thinking "When the heck is Paulie gonna tell us what Pocky is?".. If not, ask me anyway. Pocky, for the uninitiated, is a long thin stick of biscuit, with a taste that is both familiar and foreign. If you made the cookie in a Twix bar the width of toothpick and the length of those plastic straws that you pulled out - hoping that marbles wouldn't drop with a clank - in a mighty Kerplunk showdown when you were eight... then, doing that, you sort of have the base part of a Pocky stick. Now, with the conception in your brain that the Pocky must end up looking a lot like a Pussy Willow (those tall things with fuzzy,puffy brown ends that grow down at the river bank where you drank beer at the age of 14) only on a much smaller scale, it's time to wrap the stick in something. The most popular option being something that comes close to, but not altogether, missing the attempt to be chocolate. The substance has all of the features that would make it chocolate without anyone being able to actually SAY that it is chocolate. Think about how that would taste. There you go.. Pocky..

Enough about that though. I just want to say a few things before I have to go to bed and get ready to attack the evil INN 2.4.1 configuration tommorow!! (Someone should have told me that in order to write documentation and instruct people, they sometimes expect you to know how to do something.. *laugh*).. Anyway, back to losing my train of thought... p.s. If anyone has any advice about setting up INN under RedHat 6.1, let me know!

Thank you for the e-mails!! Please keep them coming!! Update me on every minutiae in your lives!! What's the WEATHER like back home? (Here, it's constantly 23 degrees Celsius and raining) Any new buildings/stores/overpasses? I *LOVE* hearing from home (be that anywhere from Vancouver to Edmonton to Calgary to Saskatoon!). I was going to try to E-Mail everyone I know, but I still don't have a connection from home (NTT is coming sometime after Golden Week) and the Web Page lets me reach everyone and you don't have to delete it!! So, I apologize if you prefer E-Mail, but send and ye shall verily receieve!!

Oh, I met my first real-life person not affiliated with Work or Home!! Using the handy-dandy Tokyo Classified (a magazine for foreigners) I sent off emails to other people stranded here, and managed to head out to the Starbucks across from Hachiko exit (again!! I didn't pick it this time, it just must be a popular place to meet) where I met Tony. Tony's a Japanese American from L.A. who's come to Tokyo to seek his fortune in Network Marketing. He's faring better than I am, as he actually SPEAKS a little Japanese!! We went for dinner at Pronto, where I had a sorry excuse for a Japanese representation of a sausage pizza!! Great guy, stuck here just like me!! We may head out this weekend and try to locate a fun club to go hang at.. Shibuya looks hopeless, but we'll give it a go!! P.P.S: Thanks for picking up the tab, Tony!! Weren't the beers better than that crappy looking red drink you had first?

Well, I've written more than enough.. Here's one last thing to make you want for more... I've been working on another little Photo Journal entitled.... Kannon Ball!! Whoever can E-Mail me what that reference is all about (specifically) BEFORE the page goes online will be mentioned here as a funk daddy/mommy and a bookworm.. Look for that update about 24 hours from the time you're reading this now..