Technically, the blog is still alive. And I’m still alive.

But I suppose you’d say it’s on life support these days. I’m not doing much with it, I barely even use my patchmonkey (AT) patchmonkey (DOT) net email address anymore. I have three (3) subscribers to my newsfeed.

It’s actually pretty sad. A lot of things are these days. Back when I was in college (and it feels so old to say that) I could post constantly on here, and it would always be something new. But it’s not – life gets a lot less interesting and a lot more…well, not dismal, but not constantly exciting once you’re out of there.

Are there reasons? Of course. My current job – I’m a law clerk – keeps me from publishing or writing on nearly anything that could be considered related to the law. I can’t write anything that could be political or legal or business related…so I don’t write at all, outside of necessary things for work.

Very sad. But there’s other things in the way: my pictures are on flickr. Facebook is available now, and it’s a much easier way to keep in touch with my friends than this, which often served as an online diary in college. I’m not working in academia (and there are the restrictions I have because of my job as well).

You know what I hope, though? I hope things pick up again soon. I know I’ve posted a lot about this in the past few years, every time I think I’m going to get started again. And it’s probably going to be a false-start again. But I really don’t want this to die. It was a major part of my life for several years, and plenty of people keep blogging for years and years. So maybe I’ll just have to give it the old college try sometime soon.

Maybe.

Not sure if that’s happy.

P.S.: PICTURES!

Amazing.

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Still, I’m amazed by how much people can put out and how lively it is every day on places like DailyKos and BlueJersey. How do those folks get it all done, all the time? And even on the legal blogs, it seems amazing – I didn’t really have a lot of classes this year and I still didn’t have time.

It looks AMAZING. Borders Books has an excerpt here.

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have….

Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them—or at least some of us did. But I’ll tell you what we didn’t do. We didn’t agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn’t agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy….

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It’s all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn’t safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush’s moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he’d regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn’t listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, I don’t know what will….

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had enough.

I just purchased a copy, so you should too!

Audrey Kawasaki’s art is definitely Japanese-inspired, but it’s also hauntingly beautiful. I’m thinking of buying a piece to hang on my walls, if I had any more space, in a few months.

I especially like this one:

She has a blog, too – http://i-seldom-do.livejournal.com/

Another good site with random Japanese news.

And funny.

When we got there, we dropped off our stuff and headed to Osaka to meet Risa, Mariko’s good friend and explore for a bit. Osaka was EXTREMELY HOT. But it was still nice. I picked up a takoyaki maker and Mariko got to have some “Bikkuri Donkey,” which is a restaurant in her hometown but not in Tokyo. They mainly serve “Hamburg” dishes, but it was a pretty cool atmosphere.

I also was interviewed for a Japanese Podcast. It was pretty funny – they asked what my favorite foods are and if I had ever been involved with the Japanese healthcare system. The answers: any kind of “-yaki-” food and “yes, I have, and it’s pretty hard for a foreigner to get good treatment from japanese doctors when they don’t speak any English, at all.” It was pretty good, though, a fun experience.

Mariko and I then went to wander around for a bit more before stopping at Starbucks to rest and nap before meeting Risa, who was very happy to see us. We got okonomiyaki at Botejyu, which is a famous and very tasty okonomiyaki place. VERY TASTY. Then we did some Purikura and made some pictures, which was fun, and headed back to Kyoto.

The next day, we went to Arashiyama, which I probably spelled wrong, and it was beautiful (well, it did rain later). Arashiyama is a part of Kyoto, but a little off to the side. Still, there’s a bunch of temples and shrines, and I had never been there before, so it was exciting.

The rest of the time was really shopping and buying presents. Y’know, the usual activity for Japan.

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THE FINAL DAYS

Monja going away party, dinner with Justin…and then a very happy/sad partying…