Japan Earthquake Pictures

Japan seems like a pretty amazing country. I’ve always heard it’s a great place to visit, but it looks like the people are strong and resilient, too.

Our first Hong Kong vacation is next month and everybody says it’s really cheap and easy to fly to other countries from here. Japan was always on our short list, but now we’ll have to save it for later. My heart goes out to the people and I hope I can visit them soon.

from AP

from BBC

from BBC

from BBC

from National Geographic

from National Geographic

from Reuters

I haven’t been this amazed by nature since Hurricane Katrina.

Frolicking in Nature

Ryan used to have this fantasy of having sex on stage in front of an audience. I was never interested, but once we had sex on stage at a club where he used to work when no one was there. I told him to just imagine there was an audience. He said it just wasn’t the same. I think that was pretty bold of us regardless.

His new crazy thing is that he wants to get into public flashing. He wants to take pictures of me flashing in public and me to take pictures of him flashing. I told him that we could do that in our apartment, but he said it just wasn’t the same. I don’t want to shoot down another fantasy, but Hong Kong is a very crowded place. There’s no such thing as privacy anywhere except in your own apartment. We went for a walk down Nathan Road and I pointed out that there were people everywhere. It’s a very large & busy road, but the whole city is crowded. I know there are some nature areas on the outskirts, but we haven’t gone there yet.

He suggested we do it at Disneyland, but there’s no way I’m doing anything like that there. That’s where we work. Forget about getting kicked out of the park, we could lose our jobs. That would mean going home very early with our tails between our legs and having to explain to everyone that we had to leave the country because Ryan wanted to see my tits.

I’m all for fantasies. I think they can be good & healthy in any relationship, but I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt us. I’m not sure if he fully realizes this, but we live in China. Breaking the law here might not be the smartest move.

Disneyland Pictures

Promenade entrance

Parade fans at Main Street USA

Parade fans at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Victoria Harbour Pictures

Victoria Harbour from Avenue of the Stars

Japan Earthquake

There was a huge earthquake in Japan today. I haven’t been able to find out much about it. The Chinese news has plenty of pictures, but it’s all in Chinese, so I don’t know what they’re saying. The American news is just talking about Hawaii and barely mentioning Japan. I guess there is the slight risk of a tsunami hitting Hawaii. That could be bad, but the real news is in Japan. I don’t know why they don’t focus on that.

We didn’t feel the earthquake here. It would have to be the biggest earthquake in the world for us to feel it. I didn’t even know about it until several hours after it happened and people were talking about it.

Hong Kong Internet

I can go online anytime I want now. The internet guy came to our apartment today to hook up the internet. He had to turn something on outside the apartment and then make sure our computers were hooked up inside. It definitely wasn’t the way we do it at home.

I didn’t really like that some stranger was in the apartment while Ryan was at work – and I really didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t speak any English. He kept asking me all kinds of questions in Chinese, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. Even after it should have been obvious that I don’t know Chinese, he just kept asking me questions.

He played with both of our computers for a while and put in a CD that he brought. That made me uncomfortable since I didn’t know what he was doing. He could have easily given us a virus and I would never know. Then he went to some Chinese website and put in some passwords. I didn’t know what any of it was about, but I was happy when I saw that he got online.

While he was playing with my computer, he leaned his butt against the wall – and left a greasy stain. It was so gross. It washed off pretty easily, but still. His pants – the outside of his pants – were greasy enough to leave a stain on the wall just because he touched it.

Despite all that, I’m now online. No more internet cafes for me. Yay. I was getting tired of them. Most people just play video games and read comic books and don’t even use the internet. Now I can do my e-mail and figure out what’s going on at home. I can also post pictures on this blog. Maybe I’ll do that next time.

Ching Ming Festival

I just found out that I have my first vacation coming up – after only two months on the job. April 5th is the Ching Ming Festival, a day when people in Hong Kong honor their ancestors. I don’t know what it’s all about, but I know Ryan & I have the day off. Since it’s on a Tuesday, they decided to give us Monday off as well. We both have Sundays off and I requested that Saturday off, so we would have four days.

Once we’ve been at Disneyland longer, we’ll be expected to work more holidays, but right now we’re both new and we don’t get all the best spots anyway. This is one job where working on holidays is considered better than working any ordinary Wednesday.

We’re thinking about going somewhere since we can explore Hong Kong on regular days off. Apparently it’s really easy to fly to places from Hong Kong without spending too much money. We’ll have to take advantage of that if it’s true.

Oscar 2011

The 83rd annual Academy Awards were on February 27th, but I just saw the ceremony today. One of the Hong Kong channels showed it live, but I guess we don’t have that channel. I already heard about who won everything, but I watched it anyway. It’s fun to see everyone all dressed up in their Sunday best.

I thought The Social Network was good, but I think The King’s Speech was the right choice for best picture. Colin Firth was also the right choice for best actor. James Franco was pretty good in 127 Hours – the best performance of his I’ve ever seen – but there was no way Colin Firth was going to lose. The same with Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Nobody else stood a chance.

I didn’t see all the movies nominated for best supporting actor/actress, but I was disappointed that Geoffrey Rush didn’t win for The King’s Speech. I really like Helena Bonham Carter – she plays some great characters – and Amy Adams. I don’t even know who Melissa Leo is.

I haven’t watched every Oscar show, but I’ve seen a lot of them. This was easily the worst one ever. James Franco was good in 127 Hours, but a terrible Oscar host. I don’t know if he was on any medications, but it sure seemed like it. Anne Hathaway was there, but James Franco really held her down. I’m sure it’s a tough gig. I doubt I could do it, but once you accept the job, you better come prepared. Millions of people around the world and everyone in your industry is watching. Maybe lay off the happy pipe until it’s over.

Symphony of Lights

Every night at 8pm the city of Hong Kong puts on a light show – and it’s absolutely free. The buildings around Victoria Harbour light up in all kinds of colors and search lights shoot out into the sky. They even have laser beams. It’s all done to music and looks like some kind of special Christmas or New Year celebration, but they do it every day.

The “Symphony of Lights” is supposed to look really great from a harbour cruise, but I haven’t done that yet. I have seen it from Avenue of the Stars at that observation platform. It gets pretty crowded, though. I’d like to see it from the Peak, too. The Peak is the top of a mountain with the best views of Victoria Harbour. There’s a tram that goes to the top, which is really old and awesome – and very steep.

Offline

We still don’t have internet in our apartment. At first I thought there might be a problem with hook-ups in the area, but it turns out all of Hong Kong is wired for service. I guess that makes sense. It’s a pretty techno savvy city. There is a ton of old history & culture, but at the same time, everyone seems to be very comfortable with modern technology. The city itself looks like a combination of very old & very new. The harbor is full of old junk boats and brand new luxury liners. The skyscrapers around the harbor are all shiny & new – and they’re constantly building more. Walk around the bustling business districts and before you know it you’re on some tiny street with nothing but old buildings & small shops. I think it’s great the way they’ve embraced the modern without destroying their past.