Monday, December 28, 2009

Winter Holiday

It`s been a long time since I posted and I appologize for that. Life in Japan has been a lot busier than I expected. School is very hard, I must study 8 hours a day at least if not more. Learning and remember Kanji is very difficult. I have been able to get in a little fun though.

Now it is winter break and I have about 2 1/2 weeks off from school. I am really enjoying the break, it`s just what I needed. I am in Osaka at the moment and will then travel down to Kyusyu for a New Years party and going to the onsen (Hot Springs).

I return to Tokyo on the 4th and will enjoy about 1 week of holiday in Tokyo before I have to return to school and hit the books hard again. I hope I haven`t forgotten everything in the meantime.

I hope you all are enjoying your winter holidays as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Mostly Study with a Little Fun

I have been mostly studying here in Tokyo but have managed to throw in a tiny bit of fun. About 2 days actually. :)

Most of my days consist of 8-10 hours of study both at home and at school. Wow! I haven't studied like this since... maybe ever?

Anyway, enough about the boring stuff. Last Sunday I was able to break away from homework to attend the Kawagoe Matsuri or Festival. It was pretty traditional and lots of fun.

I went with a friend from school and so all the pictures are on her camera. You can see some of them on my facebook page now but I hope to get them on here soon.









I also went on a walking tour with my class last weekend and visited some government buildings in Tokyo, the Imperial Palace, Ginza shopping district and a traditional Kabuki theater.



Monday, October 12, 2009

Living In Tokyo!

I have been living in Tokyo just over a week and a half now and I am finally getting my first post up. Sorry for the delay. It's been pretty crazy and has taken a while to get settled. I am probably not even really settled yet but good enough for now.

My journey started off pretty great with an unexpected upgrade to Business Class at the airport in San Francisco. Wow! That is the way to travel. So comfortable and relaxing with almost a full reclining bed, my own T.V. and plenty of space between me and the people around me. The food is way better also. Here are a couple pics of what I ate.



Then I met my new friend Seiko who helped me get my prepaid Softbank cellphone. We had a great day and I don't know what I would have done without her. Thank you Kumiko for introducing me to Seiko, she is a sweetie.



Then on Friday night I met another new friend, Takehiro who invited me to his International Friends party on Saturday in Shinjuku. There were so many people from different countries there it was really cool. I had a great time. Too bad I had to return to my hostel I was staying at before the curfew at 11 pm. :(



Lili, a nice girl from France who was staying at the same hostel and I hung out for a bit and went to Meiji jingu shrine in Yoyogi Park and walked around a bit. She will be living in Tokyo for a while and looking for work.



Yoyogi Park is located in or near Harajuku which is a great place to see all sorts of fun and interesting things on the weekends such as street performers and crazy fashion.




Then I met my friend Jun for dinner at a delicious yakiniku restaurant. Made friends with an older Japanese guy staying in my room at the Hostel who then paid for my taxi when I moved to my guest house. Amazing how nice people can be sometimes. :)

I made some friends with my new roommates and finally met Kayoko from Osaka. We went to Odaiba and walked around the Fuji TV station and the Toyota showroom. We also played some games at the Sega game building called Joypolis.




This week I need to focus on my schoolwork as I was told it will be 4 hours of classroom work a day and 6 hours of homework a day. So 10 hours everyday of Japanese study. I hope after 9 months of this I will be pretty fluent. :)

がんばります!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

1 Month to Go

I am back in CA from Idaho and had a wonderful time with my sister Laura and her family. It was very relaxing and I was able to let some of my stress go. We did a little work and had a lot of fun. Went swimming in the river, sat out and looked at the sunset, watered the goats, fed the chickens, sold a horse, had BBQ, watched movies, read books and learned a lot.













Now I am back in CA and I have one more month to go before I am in Tokyo starting a whole new adventure. I will be leaving SF on 9/29 arriving in Tokyo on 9/30 and starting school on 10/6. Full time Japanese Language Study! I hope I can squeeze in some fun. Needless to say I am extremely excited about this new adventure but before I go I hope to continue my summer of fun with my Sister Lisa in Yuba City and my friends in Sacramento and San Francisco. Cheers.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

The art of relationships and love

I am reading one of the most incredible articles on love and relationships. Absolutely amazing!

http://tinyurl.com/6qllzf

I am learning so much about how people interact with each other and how so many people expect others to be responsible for their happiness. What many often don't realize is that we are truly the ones responsible for our own happiness and we can't expect anyone else to make us happy.

So many people live in fear which most negative feelings are born from. Feelings of worthlessness, selfishness, jealousy, anger, and many more. If you truly live a life of love then you will accept full responsibility for your own happiness and realize that we are all unique individuals with different dreams and we must all be responsible for our own happiness. Once we have mastered that, then we can share that love with others and be truly happy.

I couldn't think of a more worthy quest than mastering the art of love.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Idaho Camping

What a different life it is here in the Idaho rurals. Slow paced life. Dusty and dirty. Meltingly hot in the summer and with no air conditioning the only way to survive is to swim in the river every day. Even then you are only cool as long as you stay in the water.

However, talk about getting rid of stress and slowing things down! Thoughts about work have vanished completely. We cook every meal at home and make good natural food. We sit out and enjoy the scenery, the cool breeze, and the chickens and goats roaming around.

I think it's good to get such a different perspective to help you appreciate the variety of life, to help you really enjoy and cherish the good times and the abundance that you have everyday of your life. In less than two months I will be living in the incessant hustle and bustle of Tokyo life with no dirt or dust, no swarms of bugs buzzing my head, and no peace or quiet of the cool evening breeze that you get in the mountains.

But I can't wait! ;)

Friday, July 17, 2009

The Next Chapter

It's been a pretty amazing 2-3 years. Engine Yard has grown incredibly and I am so privileged to have been a big part of it. I am excited to see what the awesome team we have put together is going to do next.

It's a new chapter for me though, off to explore new worlds. Well I consider Japan to be a new world. :)
As of 5pm today I am officially on a really long vacation. I am looking forward to spending some time with my family before heading off to the other side of the planet. It will be a nice time for reflection and relaxation. Also a time for preparation for my new life in Tokyo.

I feel a little anxious but also very excited. I need to enjoy my time even though it feels I am just playing a waiting game right now.

More to come...

Thursday, July 9, 2009

It's Alive! Am I?

I need to bring my blog back to life. I hope to do a lot more writing especially while I am in Japan.

Oh, by the way, I am moving to Japan! Yay! I start school at KCP Japanese Language School in Shinjuku Tokyo Japan the beginning of October 2009. I am really excited but also a little nervous. It will be a huge change. Compared to the states, Japan almost feels like another planet. But that is also what I love about it.

So I have 1 more week of work, 3 more weeks to sell all my belongings and move out of my apartment and about 12 more weeks before I start school. Wow!

I go back and forth a bit on this new path I have started to tread. Is it the right thing to do? Will I just be getting myself into and even more lonely and secluded situation than the present? Learning Japanese is no easy feat. Maintaining motivation is a challenge, especially when you start to question your goals. Hmmmm.

Recently I have been feeling pretty lonely and raising lots of questions for myself. Do relationships become more difficult as we get older? Is it because we have been burnt a few times and are less risky now? I know this post is wondering pretty far from topic, if there is one.

I have met some amazing people in my life but somehow building that passion is just not as easy as it used to be. Where did this hesitation come from? Did my taste just become refined over time or am I just too damn picky? That is a fine line in itself. A little picky is good as it will hopefully help you to pick someone that will last, that will fit nicely. If you take it just a hair to far and you may pass the right one(s) by always looking for something more (infinity).

This blog is still going to be about falling in love with life and all the magic that happens along the way. It's just that sometimes we fall a little too far and then we get to see the magic that is our friends love pull us back.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since my last post. Well, I guess I just got back to San Francisco and right back into the same ol' same. It's easy to do in this city and this industry. One of my friends reminded me that I should continue blogging and that she really enjoyed my words. On a side note... I think some of the best friends and people I know are those that live all over this beautiful planet and many I have never met in person.

I love how I can connect with people on the other side of this earth with very different backgrounds, cultures and languages and realize how much we still have in common because we are all just people who feel love, sadness, loneliness and joy. I love how I can reach out and share my smile with friends all over and how they can remind me of the good things and keep me on the right path.

It's amazing to me how the little things in life always seem to teach you the biggest lessons. How powerful a smile is. How giving can be the greatest gift.

:)

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Stress, Health, New Directions

Wow! I now realize just how much my stress level is tied to my health. Yes, I have been sick a lot of this trip through Asia but it was due to a bad cold. As for my constant stomach ache and digestive issues, they have been almost non-existent this trip. Over the last couple of days though, I have noticed my stomach issues slowly coming back and I think it is very much related to the fact that I know I will return to the states tomorrow and I am thinking about it and starting to stress out again.

I have always known the mind is powerful and can control your state of being but controlling the mind is another story. I have even more to think about now after this trip, the future of my life and my goals. Where I want to go in life and what I want to do. How I want to live my life.

I know I need to see more of the world and live globally. America and San Francisco is not big enough for me. I need more culture, more adventure, more languages, different foods, different love, more friends, less stress, more challenges. It's my life and time doesn't wait for anyone.

I have witnessed some amazing acts of kindness from perfect strangers who can barely communicate with me. I have been blessed to feel the same sun but in parts of the world where it feels so much more comforting and displays it's beauty in a way that melts your heart and inspires your mind.

I wish everyone could spend more time feeling the love of this beautiful planet shine down on them while they sail on the big blue rather than the glow of their computer screen in a prison called a cubicle. When you finally stop to breathe and look up, you realize you are old and life has been flying by without concern. You realize you missed a thousands beautiful sunsets, dinners with strangers who are your best friends, tasting exotic foods you never knew existed or only read about on Google.

The hardest part is not knowing what is right or what should be done. It is taking action and doing it. Perhaps, knowing if I should go to the right or to the left. I know it should be one of those directions rather than straight. We all know where this path goes, it is the same as where we have been. If we want to go somewhere new, we must change direction, change our present to improve our future.

I have a long flight ahead of me, plenty of time to think about the right direction to go.

I love you all.

Loren

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Thailand Update

I finally had a chance to upload a few pictures so I wanted to post a quick update.

I first arrived in Bangkok and it was pretty overwhelming to start.



We had lunch with Pui's friends in Bangkok, they were all very nice and fun.



Then, Pui and I were off to her hometown in the countryside of Thailand. Her family was very nice and hospitable to me.




It was onward to Koh Samui Island for New Years and relaxing. It was incredible and beautiful. Most of these pictures were taken from our room or hotel restaurant.





After a couple of days at Koh Samui it was time to head to Koh Tao Island. An even more amazing and beautiful island. I have more pictures but they are on Pui's camera as my battery charger got stolen for my camera. I will get them uploaded as soon as I can. Here are a couple pics though. Koh Tao was relaxing and then it was scuba diving time.





I have a video of my scuba diving and will try to get that online when I return home. I am now back in Bangkok for a couple of days before returning home to SF. I can't believe my vacation is almost over. So sad. It will be tough to get back into the swing of things.

Cheers.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Are you for Scuba?

Still in Koh Tao and taking scuba lessons. Today was my first lesson and it was a lot of fun. I think I might have found a new profession. :)

Everyone is so laid back here it is unbelievable. We have some studying to do but then we get to have fun in the pool and soon I will get to dive in the sea. And it is amazingly beautiful here. I can't wait until I can post some pictures. Maybe in a couple of days. I some incredible pics to share.

Anyway, I feel like I am getting better again so I hope it's for real this time.
I hope this post finds you all well.

Love and Sunshine.

Loren

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Koh Tao Island - Amazing!

Wow! It will be hard to find words to describe Koh Tao Island. It is so beautiful and amazing I don't want to leave. I have been able to take some pictures but don't have time yet to upload them so I will try to find some time soon.

I will also start scuba diving lessons tomorrow night so I am very excited. This place is so peaceful and amazing. It makes you think of life in a whole new way and time changes as if you were in a time machine or if the clock could stop.

This is how life should be lived! It makes everything else worth it and also makes the value of everything seem like something foreign.

Love to all.

Loren

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Koh Samui

I am in Koh Samui and had a wonderful new year night! Pui has been a great host and I think I would have been lost without her. Thailand is so different, like nothing I was prepared for. Some good and beatiful and some bad.

I was able to see the real Thailand when I visited Pui's home town in the country. The living conditions were something we don't get to experience in America. I am greatful for that experience. Unfortunately, some things were stolen from my bag during the flight there and my camera charger was one of them. So now I am looking for another one but it's not looking good and my battery is dead so no pictures. :(

Also, I am sick again. Or I should say still sick but got worse again. I think I have a fever tonight. I hope I can get well for scuba diving but I am worried it's not looking good for me. I will try to take it easy. Seems like everything has been going wrong here in Thailand. I hope things turn around as it's not a good start to the year.

Anyway, I am happy to experience this new and exciting country even if it comes with the bad.

Happy New Year to all of you.

Blessings.

Loren