Ode to my friends

In April, the academic year begins and so many students are leaving while others are arriving, in Nihon. It feels like loosing one's best friend each time. We say goodbyes, we exchange contacts and we hope to meet again though most often, we feel this might be the last time we ever meet again.. >__<. It feels like mourning...
To all these Great People I've known, I'd like to say: "You will be missed".
I also would like to dedicate this nice ode that I've found online, very insightful:

Ode to My Friends

by a JPL Mathematician, with fond remembrance.

Ten years ago,

--that is --

Three thousand, Six hundred,
Fifty-Two days and some change,
A math professor (me) decided to rearrange
his life, his goals, his mind and heart,

And from those ivory halls depart
to worlds unknown, yet new, and fair,
where his chalk-parched soul would not despair:

That his words, his thoughts, and all
that he has said,
would not to Naught come,
and die, left unread.

And so to the 'Lab he came
where Jet Propulsion was its fame
(though oxymoron it is, I fear:
I've not plume one seen, since I've been here)

Meet Nevin Bryant, the boss, Geographer extraordinaire
who could to the Eskimos sell Frigidaire

A raconteur, great heart and wit,
who at times has been known to slip

into the conversations around the lunch table,
when the topic clearly was only Clark Gable:

"Why that reminds me back of the time,
when I was in Malaysia, 1959...
or Philippines, China, Bombay, or Peru,
and wrestling tigers in Katmandu"

Mild mannered Cartographer by day
but just as well would he might,
floorboard his old Mustang, and be flying
through the darkness of Night.

The Lab, I soon found, was full of intrigues,
Frank Evans airbrushing the swimsuit
off Cheryl Tiegs.
(others will argue, but I can envisage,
this was the real reason Frank wrote EDIMAGE)

My new job (mathematician?)
Neural Nets I must train,
go to Caltech --and--
dissect Monkey Brain,
Pardon my pun, if you please, but 'Tis True, I swear:
That this was the first time I worked with "Software".

Not just Theory, but now Practice,
thoughts take shape and form,
Compile, Link and Run:
a new Program is Born,

And unlike my old Life,
so unsure of my Worth,
people now Needed me:
I had value, here, on Earth.

(Now, before I go on, may I say as an aside,
This alone made it worth it,
and thanks for the ride,
But let me continue, if you please, and finish this Tome,
Before you all get too edgy,
and want to go home.)

Hail Tom Logan, Office Mate,
A true-blue friend through it all,
At the drop of a hat he could tell you
Sudan's yearly rainfall.

Ask Rich Fretz and maybe
he will tell you the Tale
of how we forced Logan to watch
M Python's Holy Grail

So many friends I have made here
some today now I can see,
Rich, Tom, and of course Nevin,
and Barbara McGuffie,

Honchos Ray Wall and Bill Green,
Jean Lorre and Bidushi,
Raphael, Lamark Johnson,
and even Mike Tschudi

Other friends I have not named here
flood the years like a fountain
Would that name them I could,
But I can't even count 'em.

How the world has changed since
In '87 was The Bomb,
and we went out to Germany, to help US EUCOM,
watch for Soviet invasions,
from East Germany, back by Poles,
Now we call them all Russians, and sell them coca-coles.

With Neptune Encounter I came here
Now Mars Pathfinder finds me leaving,
But the Wheels of Life turn for Good,
So don't, on my passing, be Grieving

and so, too, I raise my glass to the Lab,
may it survive all budgetary attack,
my choice to leave is not
the choosing of the Beggar,
but let me close with a quote
of Arnold Schwarzenegger,

and allow me to say,
perhaps, someday,
I will be back.
---
Dr. Niles David Ritter,
Jet Propulsion Labs
28th day of May, 1997

email: ndr@alum.mit.edu

Motivation

Amazing how a kind word could propel a "dead" spirit and boost one's motivation, high, high as in "spread your wings and fly, high, very high to the sky".



Here is an online motivational poster that I appreciate very much :)

You will never know how high you can fly until you spread your wings

Anti-stress "Therapy"

^^ Hehehe, very funny.

Phobia List

I was reading somewhere about people having the fear of ..."feet", yes! feet, you read it right. Others having the fear of "hands". The former is called podophobia and the latter is chirophobia...
So I googled a list of "interesting" phobia. Have a look if you are bored and wanna play the curious game :).

Phobia List

Have fun unless you got the "Funophobia" :p:p

Bird Flu

There is this game we used to love playing my sister and I, Touché Coulé, well, now here is the Bird Flu version ^^.

Okinawa, there I went :)

Well, I am back. Actually I was back a day ago but I was too lazy to upload my pictures and get to the keyboard -^^-.
So briefly, the business trip was fine.
We had to visit some Tsunami areas and then last day was sight seeing meerly.
The things I recall are the following:

kokusai-dori: it is the International Street in Naha ( Naha is the Capital of Okinawa-city), its _heartbeat_ as some like to call it :)
Here some links I found while googling: link1, link2
Himeyuri Monument: dedicated to the students and the teachers of the Okinawa Women’s Normal School and the First Prefectural Girls High School who were killed during the Battle of Okinawa in War World II. 219 died ( highschool girls and teachers, all female). See this Link for me info.
We have also visited the Navy Underground Headquarters...Tought provoking!: Several hundred meters of underground corridors and rooms, which served as the Japanese navy's headqarters during the war. Many sailors committed suicide in these tunnels, after their situation had grown hopeless towards the end of the battle.












Here is a map about these war memorials, if you might want to visit someday :)













We have also been to the Shuri Castle (Shuri-Jo)


































and to the Ryukyu Glass village: (More info on Glass in Okinawa, here)















It was very nice watching the people working and making Glass :). This is the second time I witness glass making. It gives me the desire to learn to experience it myself too :). Why not!!















I have to mention Shi-Sa, the famous lions, they come in pairs. We see them everywhere...Here is their myth story and this is how they look like ( one is enough just making a different grimace.




















We have noticed that the main convenience stores were mostly the Family Mart(s), and some Lawson(s) or Hot Spar were despirately trying to share the business lol.










And of course, the tropical fruits!!!: Here, have a look:










Eventually, I am a fan of firemen. Wherever I go, I like to take pictures of them, here how it looks in Okinawa :
















Did you think I was to close without a sight over the beach :p. It was fine on our first day, then it got rainy and windy on the following days, though not cold. So I guess, FINE :).

I cannot either close without noting that Okinawa has very amazing flora. Very nice flowers: hibiscus, orchides etc etc. Look:












































































Things I will not forget, the "sea grapes" (umi budou):
see :
It's the first time I see and eat such a thing. not bad. However bare in mind that I got used to eating their seaweeds...my sister said she wouldn't trust my tast anymore >_<. I think you still can trust my taste ^^/. Also the "guro-kun" (Mr. Guru ) is very delicious :). It is a kind of fish, apperently very famous in Okinawa. Most of my main dishes were based on "Sir Guru". ^^/.














They also had lots of things made out of this vegetable: _Goya_ or bitter melon. It seems to be a very favored vegetable by Okinawan people. We even had an ice cream out of that.

Well don't ask me for the taste, I just had to eat it not to diappoint the kind waitress....>__<, but never again though lol. This is the vegetable in case you wonder how it looks like:











Voila, I hope I set down the main "points". If something new comes to my mind I will be updating my thread, hence.

I look Forward to flying you to somewhere else in our next trip ^^/.