Entries this day: Bleeding_Sun Work big_willie_style dinner_and_donki_with_Tomomi from-suzy-xx-in-palestine

Bleeding Sun

7:47am JST Friday 7 March 2008 (day 13862)

I guess _Bleeding_Sun_ could be considered volume 5 of the tetralogy _Atlantean_Secrets_. It's at least as good as any of those.

The scene is in the future earth, where everything has gone to hell (somewhat literally), and all humans are immersed in a constant virtual reality, created by satan to disconnect humans from any spiritual connection.

This is a snippet of a quote by the protagonist's mom:

"[your report card] says you have a pathological tendency to avoid violent situations. Is it true that in the last year you haven't stolen anything, and you only killed six people, three of whom by accident?"

A minute later:

"And what about sex? The report says that for a thirteen year old young man, you're completely inhibited."

Dang.

Work

1:39pm JST Friday 7 March 2008 (day 13862)

This morning I finally got PHP recompiled with mysql (took a long time to figure out which dir to use for the --with-mysql parameter. Ended up using this:

./configure --with-apxs2=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs --with-mysql=/usr/local/mysql

And, for the record, the /usr/local/mysql directory is the one used in the --prefix parameter for mysql's config.

We used http://blog.livedoor.jp/k1LoW/archives/53521855.html to install mysql

Okay, so now I'm flockin' around with trying to get the virtual servers set up on this machine. We're using Apache 2.0 now, whereas the old machine was on 1.4 or something, so I can't just copy the conf files over; their filenames don't even match.

Now, though, I'm going to lunch.

big willie style

4:16pm JST Friday 7 March 2008 (day 13862)

As I've been focused on unsuccessfully doing this installation, I've had Big Willie Style in my headphones, with lines like, "life is beautiful," in all sorts of variants like he's made it big, and I'm thinkin', "I bet he wouldn't have to worry about stuff about which he doesn't want to worry," which is me now: tryin' to fix this crap about which I care very little.

So, how did he get to where he is? (Where do I think he is?)

There are lots of people who I admire, and I'd say the basic similarity: they are doing that which they want to do.

So now I'm like, "aight; what do I want to do?"

paint, write (without using a keyboard; egad), travel, take pictures, travel via TJ Bike.

AND, I want a companion at times. Can I maintain relationship with Ami and ride TJ Bike for a week at a time and then come back to her happily waiting at home? Would she want to come with me?

Just today, she suggested we go to some awesome looking places in Saitama, which counts as exactly the kind of thing I want to do. Maybe I can review it and submit to Lonely Planet or something that would pay for the ability to distribute the information.

dinner and donki with Tomomi

10:30pm JST Friday 7 March 2008 (day 13862)

Met Tomomi for the first time in a long time; I had tried starting an email volley with her, but I dropped the ball during my US trip, and didn't pick it up again until I excavated it from my inbox.

We ate shabu shabu at a B1 restaurant acoss from a kaiten sushi restaurant on the path I take to Shakey's from work. Restaurnt was noisy and fibbing in that outside it said 1700 yen and inside they said 1900 yen (I think the outside said 1700), and then I asked if the OJ was 100% OJ and he was like yes, and he must have had a different idea of what OJ meant. He was like 100% extra tang flavor to make it up.

Nice chatting with Tomomi; she has recently quit her job, which cam as an afterthought when she took a paid break and realized she was on to a good idea. her husband is supportive of her not working before she is ready.

She hasn't found another teacher at EV that she likes as much as me, but she's apparently still attending regularly.. And she's taking yoga classes which she's enjoying.

After being stuffed at shabushabu, we continued our journey toward shakes's, but turned let toward Donki Hoti to gawk at the various sundry hilarious and crzy items. I bought some boxer shorts with a dog's tail and ears and tongue in the front. Ami should get a lauh out o those. I'll put them on as a surprise one day soon. (gotta be before she sees this entry!)

We marveled at the costumes andpillows and cutsey things and cool things like a ball that reverses color by performing some sort of involution flip thing. It's from the US; I may be abe to find some pics or vids. Took a picture of me in a black hat and tight curled hair after watching some hip hoppin' Japanese break dancers fli floppin' on tv. They were doing amazing crazy cool stuff.

Tomomi got somechocolate, something else, and some lederhosen for warmth during the continuing winter weahter we've had here.

I got the dog boxers and and some clothes hangers (6 for 500 yen) they're heavy duty black ones.

Headed back to Shibuya talking about eating raw horse or dog or camel. Nice.

Hopefully chat again soon.

from suzy xx in palestine

##18:08 Friday 07 March 2008

This was actually sent to me a long time ago, but I'm just now getting it posted

Hi All, it's been a while I know! Partly my lack of emails is because i'm not very good at keeping in touch (as pointed out very clearly by my sister last week!) and partly because I didn't think I had that much to report. I'm settled here now and my life has it's routine just like it did in the UK. That's what I thought until I had an instant-messenger conversation with a friend a couple of nights ago:

Me: “Everything's good here, very quiet really, except for the birds, spring is definitely here!” Neil: “I read things were bad in Hebron, have you been back recently?” Me “Oh yes, i was there last week and couldn't leave cos the army invaded and sealed off the checkpoint. The settlers had driven a JCB into the Old city- they want to expand their colony and were trying to knock down some Palestinian owned shops. Oh, and Beit Jala was raided early yesterday morning- I slept through it! And another raid into Bethlehem, I swear I'm bad luck, everytime I go to do my shopping the army seem to follow me! Not so quiet then I guess...”

After only 5 months this has all become a bit normal for me. If I don't see it happening with my own eyes i hear of it on the radio or TV- everyday- Hebron, Tubas, Nablus, Jenin, a village, a refugee camp raided, one teenager dead, one child shot but still alive, several with rubber bullet injuries, an elderly woman collapsed from tear gas inhalation. A couple of days ago Al Walajah was raided just as my friend Ahamd was leaving his home. They had come to arrest a 17 year old boy. The only reason Ahmad told me was because it was part of a funny story about the bad day he'd had- it started with the army raiding his village and making him late for school, then at school he got into trouble for being late from the headmaster, he was kept back after school but couldn't call to tell his brother as his phone had no credit....etc etc. An army helicopter and harrassment from fully armed soldiers was just an incinental part of his story. This isn't accidental, this normalisation of daily violence and injustice, it's a survival strategy. When I'd been here for about three months I went through a period when i couldn't sleep. Whenever i tried my mind would begin to wander and i'd strart thinking and getting upset about things I'd seen and heard that day: my friend Wael worrying about money, playing with the four lovely children that he's so worried about finding the money to feed, remembering going through the Bethlehem checkpoint and having to explain in bad arabic how it all worked to a bewildered woman visiting her family for the first time if 5 years or remebering that i'd noticed that the construction of the aparthied wall was creeping ever closer to Walajeh or thinking about a report on Al Jazeera that quoted Condaliza Rice saying that sanctions on Palestine wouldn't lifted until Hamas recognised Israels right to exist and another report that said that the number of illegal Israeli colonies had increased again during 2006 and....... It was driving me crazy, and this isn't even my country... I told a friend about this and asked how he coped with it day in day out. He said that he'd stopped himself thinking about it. If he saw a soldier beating a friend at a checkpoint he'd cry about it there and then, and then push all feelings and memories of it aside and lock them away. If he didn't, he'd go mad. He advised me to stop watching Al Jazeera just before I go to bed. So this is what i've done. Most nights I manage to fall asleep, if i feel my mind wandering i gather up those memories and put them aside. I have wild and crazy dreams and wonder what this is doing to my mental health, but at least i am sleeping.

And all of this after just 5 months. Just imagine what it must be like if this was your country, your entire life, past present and foreseeable future....

Two weeks in Bethlehem (a city smaller than Leeds): Bethlehem city raided three times. Aida Camp raided twice Al Walajah village raided one Al Khader village raided once Al Souwara village raided once Beit Jala raided twice 16 taken to unknown locations by the Israeli army.

www.palestinecampaign.org www.bigcampaign.org.uk www.enoughoccupation.org

Sx P.S. It was 23ºC here yesterday, spring in Palestine is beautiful!