Ban Ki-moon: Front Runner for next UN Secretary General

I am really excited about this. I still have to figure out what this guy's position is on a lot of things, but I am very happy to see someone from Korea, an amazing but often underrecognized country (I feel), take on such an important role on the global stage.

Of course it also helps that he comes from Harvard - getting an MPA at the Kennedy School of Government in 1985!! (For better or worse, I have a bit of a bias for graduates from this school - especially since my best friends when I was at Harvard were students there.... (They DID, after all, have THE best parties!!))

Anyways, Ban Ki-Moon, who is currently the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea, is the top runner among about a half dozen candidates under consideration for the position. Kofi Annan will step down after a ten-year tour as Secretary General at the end of the year.

A Visit to the Honeybee

Yesterday I got to Tacoma Washington to visit my "good friend," the professor. This is where I am at his house right now:
Actually, I found a much more amazing view of his location (I don't know why I never used this web site before - it's positively extraordinary!!), but I can't download the image to post here. To have a look, check out google map's satellite view.
So, I'm going to be here at Dan's place until Friday, when we will drive up to Anacortes to go to my Aunt's 60th birthday party. (Dan is being a very good sport by allowing me to introduce him to the entire family... Fortunately he is very outgoing... and I know personally that he makes very good first impressions. So he is the perfect date to bring to this family shindig).

The weather is positively mahvelous (smile)- I think I am really lucky to be visiting right now. On the way from the airport we had an awesome view of Mt. Rainier. As Dan pointed out, the volcanoe has a "Fuji-esque" type of presence, jutting up majestically in a practically perfect conical shape.

I am really impressed so far with Tacoma as a quaint little town close to the major urban hub of Seattle. I'm looking forward to having more of a look around. I especially want to go visit the Tacoma Museum of Glass. I happened to fly out on a leg from Nashville to Tacoma on Southwest sitting next to a really cool and interesting man who claims to have a piece of his own artwork on display there. According to his own description, the work is a glass structure about 300-400 feet long with pyramids shaped liked stacked cards.

Woa - in fact, I ust looked on line to see if I could find out anything more about this man's art and found a whole description of it with pictures. How amazing! I can't believe I was sitting next to this guy - apparently called Buster Simpson - on the plane! His piece is called "Incidence" (now i remember, he did tell me that) and there is a great blurb about it on the MOG website. I wish I had asked him more about his work... like what was the inspiration for this? And, how long did it take to make it?

Ah well. So far, I have had the opportunity to take in a local restaurant. Last night we went to an India place which is in walking distance of Dan's.

My friend Angel Oakley

Yes, my best friend is a sharp shooter. Despite her namby pamby left wing views, she was raised by 2 hicks to be a proper red neck bell. She shot the pants off her carpool neocon buddies.
No, but seriously, she is a pretty good shot huh? I was largely impressed!
By the way, today is her birthday. Happy birthday Angel. I love you.

"22" Originally uploaded by Tanker00ch.

cows in my routine

yesterday i noticed that i've been starting to ease into a bit of routine here at my folks lately. yesterday morning i made the second 2-hour bike ride to a nearby town called altavista with my dad. I woke up at 5:30 this time - because the first time, when Dad woke me up at 6:15 and i decided to take a shower before leaving, i unwittingly ended up being late for his unannounced 6:45 start time.

both times we rode from lynchburg to altavista, which is separated from my home by endless pastures, cows, cows and more cows, lots of hay stacks, a couple of train tracks, some ma 'n pa stores, and some woody stretches. the second trip struck me as even more beautiful than the first - and much more enjoyable too. i wasn't feeling as akward on my dad's bike anymore (i think my body must be getting used to sitting that way). however, the temperature was 40 degrees this time - brrr. my feet were pretty much frozen throughout the whole ride. but the low temperatures made for some pretty scenic pockets of fog that blended beautifully with the crisp blue skies, sunshine and green meadows!

each time, our final destination has been the Altavista YMCA, which my parents belong to. (they would rather drive - or in my dad's case, ride - the extra distance rather than pay the more exhorbitant fees at the local Y which is less than a five minute drive away!). when we get there, Dad works out (lifting weights) and i just hang out reading and chatting with all the elderly southern country folks who gather there to sip coffee, check their blood pressure, exchange news and read the papers in the mornings.

when we're done at the Y, dad and i pack our bikes into mom's truck and drive home. (mom has gotten to the Y in the meantime in order to enjoy her water aerobics and lift weights) after i get home, i eat, take a nap, and then amble out to starbucks/panera to read the new york times cover to cover and then do a chapter or two of reading that i've been meaning to catch up on all year. on the days that we don't ride the bike, i start my trip to starbucks earlier (they open at 5:30 am!)... then i've been making it my habit to yoga to this very awesome, local yoga studio...

shew, i could get used to this little lifestyle that i've begun to cultivate here.

****

but then...
....on the other hand, it just occurred to me TODAY that i am tired of living out of my suitcase. in fact, i have been on the rode for so long now that my clothing is no longer in season.

Hoorah for the Republicans!

Yup. Better take a picture of this one. Perhaps just once in my lifetime, these words are to be uttered from my very own (socialist-leaning) left-wing lips.

Why would someone who despises everything Bush stands for utter such blasphemous words? Because. I am so proud of Republicans John McCain (AZ), John Warner (VA), Robert Byrd (WV) and former Secretary of State Colin Powell for standing up to that big, nasty tyrant G-W.

And McCain did it so gracefully as well. Facing a blistering editorial in the hyper-conservative Manchester Union-Leader, the Senator responded with an elegant defense, invoking his experience as a POW during Vietnam:

According to the New York Times, he responded: "The issue is not them - this issue is about us...The United States has always been better than our enemies. I'll tell you right now: one of the things in prison, in North Vietnam, that kept us strong was that we knew we were not like our enemies. That we came from a [place] with better values, with better standards."

More importantly, Senator McCain pointed out, disregarding the Geneva Conventions would certainly expose future Amereican POWs to mistreatment.

I don't suppose McCain will start opposing the war itself, but standing up for human rights is a step in the right direction... or should I say, in the ever-so-slightly left (?) direction for a change. Good for you Senator McCain and others. For once, I'm proud of you.

I'm a Communist

Actually, no I'm not. At least not entirely. I think I'm more of a socialist - but I will have to work on defining that aspect of my political identity better in the next couple of days.

In any event, the reason I bring this political affiliation up now - used here as an epithet, by the way - is that this is what I have been accused of being (TWICE ) during the past 48 hours. Among other things, it seems that my being a self-naturalized doctoral candidate at UCLA makes me a "communist" - or worse yet, an "off-the-charts liberal" - according to some people whom I have met recently in West Virginia.

Another reason why I bring this "epithet" up now is because it allows me to segue into a short little discussion about my preliminary reactions of the U.S. after having been away from this country for an extended period of time. Just this past Thursday morning (Sept. 14), I touched down in Washington Dulles airport after a 13.5-hour direct flight from Japan and a long, two-year sojourn in Hayama Town of Kanagawa Prefecture.

Actually, whenever I come back to the States I like to take note of what instantly strikes me as unexpected or different about my country - I try to keep vigilant, storing a mental record of unexpected aspects or situations encountered during my first few hours back that I might not normally notice were I never to leave this country. On these ocassions, I suddenly find certain circumstances noteworthy, striking, and sometimes, I must admit, even strange. So I a mental record of these things because perhaps they might help me figure out what it really means to be "American" in the first place...

So... when I got off the airplane two days ago at Dulles Airport in Washington DC, here are some of the first few things that struck me about my country:

1) My country is much more ethnically diverse than I tend to give it credit for, even while living abroad. Suffice to say that the first Americans I saw when I got off the plain were not anglo-American - which, I must emphasize, was a true pleasure. Furthermore, as I was waiting in line at customs, I realized that despite my (own biased) expectations, I could see no visible differences between those people lined up in my line, the "U.S. Citizens" line, and those hanging out in the "other" line, that of the "foreigner passport holders." Both lines had a wide array of ethnicities of all categories. This, I found, was quite refreshing - although manifested to a degree that was heretofore unexpected!!

2) I don't mean to be judgemental here, but people look pretty course and rough in this country. I couldn't help but notice as soon as I got off the plane that most people (I won't label them "American", because clearly I can't tell anymore) seemed dressed for the beach, for a college dorm party, or for a taking care of kids in a nursery. In contrast to many of the smartly dressed people I see boarding planes in Tokyo (who, by the way, always make me feel entirely and inappropriately under-dressed), most people in the U.S. airport were wearing flip-flops (thongs), shorts, and T-shirts. Moreover, the were slouched back in their seats, had their arms flung across several chairs, and appeared completely and utterly cool and relaxed as they sat and waited for their flights. To my surprise, I even saw another man (presumably a construction worker based on his hard hat, work boots and bright, neon, orange bib) who, although clearly on the job, was slouched over a railing. After having gotten so habituated to encountering so many mannerly, uniformed, white-gloved and bowing construction workers in Japan, I couldn't believe how unprofessional this worker seemed by contrast; leaning against a guard rail as he communicated over his walkie-talkie, he seemed about to fall over to the other side. He was half-shaven, wearing a fuzzy midnight blue hooded sweatshirt .... and based on his position against the rail... I could see his .... butt crack!

3) If noticing such differences makes me a communist, I can't really say. But in any event, the third difference I have noticed on this go around has been that many people seem especially eager to broadcast their political views even when noone wants to hear them. Now recognizing this fact took a little more time than the first two did. I didn't even have a chance to talk to anyone other than my mother until my second day here. But then when that chance came, it greeted me as loudly as the bigger-than-life poster of Bush's image and the letter "W" that peered over my mother's friend's shoulder. I was in his office because, to his credit, he very generously allowed me to use his computer and thus his workspace to take care of some business I might not have accomplished otherwise.

Neverhtheless, when this W-fanatic looked over my shoulder and saw my title ("UCLA PhD Candidate") on the document I was working on, he was immediately off to the tracks. He claimed my school was for commies, and proceeded to lecture me that the only place worse in this country was Berkeley. Next he pontificated on the state of the union, especially those parts of it which are blue. For example, proudly he asked me, "what do all the blue states have in common?" When I shrugged, he retorted "They all have Republican governors because they know that Democrats can't work a budget."

So what's my point? That all Democrats DO know how to run the country - or their respective states - better than Republicans? Of course not. I simply want to note here, in my mental notebook, that this guy - and a string of others just like him whom I've had the wonderful opportunity to "hear out" later on this visit to West Virginia this week-end - doesn't feel any shame whatsoever in boasting about his political affiliations. Furthermore in his jovial and bold "American" (?) manner, he enjoyed making no haste to trudge all over the quiet reserve of a practical stranger by lecturing endlessly to her on the history and merits of his own way of thinking...

Ai yai yai. I've already had enough of this country. I guess I'm looking forward to moving back into my world of the so-called ivory tower, so at least there, I can pretend I, too, am in the Right... while yet preferring to lean to the Left.

Five Years Later: Remembering How I Spent "Nine-Eleven"

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was asleep in Ventura California, a small beach town about an hour north of LA. I had just driven across the country with my father from Boston to enroll in the doctoral program on Japanese History at UCLA. We had gotten into Ventura the night before and were sleeping at my brother's apartment. I had slept on the couch in the living room.

A childhood friend of mine living in Kentucky called me up completely worried. She knew that I had just made the trip from Boston to LA, and she thought I might be on one of those planes that were so tragically used as torpedoes against the World Trade Center. It was from her that I found out about both hits on the two towers. I believe it was only roughly around 6:30 am Pacific Time when she called to wake me up with the news. It sounded like a crazy story, and I couldn't fathom what she was describing. It was some sort of off-kilt conspiracy fantasy: two planes had flown into the WTC, another one had hit the pentagon, another plane down in Pennsylvania, and one of the towers had already come down in a pile of dust!

My father and I turned on the television to watch the living nightmare. I remember that it felt like watching some fake footage from some really bad action movie. It just didn't seem like a reality. The TV stations kept replaying the two scenes - airplanes crashing into buildings and a mammoth tower falling down upon itself - over and over again. Then within - it seemed - only 15 minutes of turning the TV on, the second tower came tumbling down in horrifyingly slow motion. It was truly horrific.

Dad and I decided to go out that day, although a lot of people were worried that more strikes might hit, so it was potentially dangerous. But we felt completely restless, like there was nothing else we could do - and we wanted a reason to pull ourselves away from those awful yet mesmerizing images on TV. We weren't going to be able to do much by just sitting at home. And we wanted to act out against the terrorist sub-plot to have average Americans fear going about their daily lives. So we decided to make a run into LA, check out the UCLA campus, open my bank account, make a stop by the housing office, and have a look at Santa Monica and Brentwood. I remember that the campus was completely empty that day. Soft winds were blowing, dried leaves and bits of discarded trash were rustling by, but no people were there. I imagined everyone was at home anxiously soaking in the details of such unbelievable events.

This was the one time in the last eight years that I have felt any kernel of sympathy toward George W. Bush. I remember thinking that I could never wish such a disaster on even my worst enemy. Unfortunately, as we have seen, Bush has duplicitously turned this nightmare into an interminable hell for hundreds of thousands of other innocents across the world.

Later that evening Dad and I drove back to Ventura on Highway 101 along the Pacific Ocean. It had been a beautiful day, and we hit the stretch passing Malibu right when the sun was setting in magnificent oranges and purples on the horizon. I remember thinking that that beautiful sun was just then setting on the most tragic day in US history.

Pictures above taken from The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune

My future baby!

Panasonic DMC-FZ50S 10.1MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

I want this camera. Isn't it gorrrrrrgeous? I'm gonna ask for it for my birthday.

Many reasons to shake your finger at ABE Shinzo,future Prime Minister of Japan

- He wants to redraft the Japanese constitution, getting rid of the 50-year old peace clause, so that Japan can have a strong army.
- He embraces male succession to the Japanese imperial throne. (Thus opposing attempts to amend Japanese law to permit a woman to ascend as empress).
- He is more conservative than that Yasukuni-visiting Koizumi.
- He has stated that he is thinking about continuing Koizumi's Yasukuni shrine visits as Prime Minister.
- He has taken confrontational stances toward other countries in East Asia, including North Korea, South Korea, and China.
- Is quoted saying "Experience... has shown us that you cannot solve the North Korea problem with good will".
- He's ba-fugly.

(Picture taken from BBC News webpage)

Dead Husband Not Father of Child Conceived with His Own Frozen Sperm

This following contains excerpts from an article that I cut and pasted from The Japan Times, Sept 5, 2006 web page. I found the topic really interesting and want to keep the information for future reference.

The Supreme Court on Monday quashed a lower court ruling that a deceased man was the father of a child conceived after his death using frozen sperm. Justice Ryoji Nakagawa, who presided over the case at the second petty bench of the court. "No parent-child relation in a legal sense can be recognized, given the father died before she got pregnant and there is no possibility (of the baby) being dependent or of receiving inheritance," he said.

According to the ruling, the child's mother, now in her 40s, became pregnant using cryogenically preserved sperm from her husband, who died of an illness in 1999, and gave birth to a baby boy in 2001. The woman filed for registration of the baby as the couple's son, but municipal authorities rejected it. The application was rejected under the Civil Code, which does not recognize a baby born more than 300 days after the end of a marital relationship as a child born in wedlock. The woman then filed a lawsuit seeking such recognition.

In a November 2003 ruling, the Matsuyama District Court rejected the lawsuit, saying there is little social awareness acknowledging a deceased sperm donor as a father. It also noted that it cannot be said there was consent on the part of the husband for fertilization. In July 2004, however, the Takamatsu High Court ruled that such recognition is possible if there was a blood relationship and consent given by the father. The court then concluded that there was such consent, citing testimony by the husband's mother and other evidence. The prosecution then appealed.

My Folks are So Cool

close up of the folks
Originally uploaded by annmerry.

Here is a picture of my mom and dad when they were in Korea back in July. This outfit really makes my dad look tall...

my future niece or nephew

my future niece or nephew
Originally uploaded by annmerry.

this is an embryo. according to my brother, this embryo is potentially my future niece or nephew at 8 hours of age - that is 8 hours after conception. in reality, the embryo is smaller than a pinhead - invisible to the naked eye. Three eggs just like this one were implanted in my sister-in-law about a week ago. The implant was successful, so she is expecting to have a little tyke by mid-may now - may 14th i think it is... My bro's wife, K, is 40, so the chances of her having triplets is slim to none. Her doctor has never delivered triplets for women over 40. The chances of her having twins is 20%. I would like twins. That would be a lot of fun. Especially if a boy and a girl at the same time.

Boy o boy. I'm so disappointed.

Princess Kiko, the wife of the current emperor of Japan's second son, Prince Akishino, just gave birth to a baby boy, the first male born into the imperial family in four decades. I am terribly disappointed as this precludes the possibility of amending Japanese law to allow women the right to reign as "female emperor" (as opposed to the more commonly observed "wife of emperor" or "empress") in this antiquated country. Many leaders in Japanese government were "relieved" and overjoyed that this recent birth shelved the issue of - what is in my opinion long awaited, LONG overdue - progress in women's rights.

monkeys in my bed

this morning i got a small, miniscule taste of the joys of having kids around the house. when my alarm clock went off, i hit the snooze button, dead to the world. i did NOT want to get up (still have some jet lag and couldn't fall asleep last night). but before i could grab some more shut-eye, there is pounding on my door, and little voices crying "open up", "open up".

I opened the door - I was excited to see the little ruggers too. And the kids come piling in and decide to start bouncing on my bed. i have the sheets wrapped around me modestly, and the kids start poking at me - poking my belling and my shoulders laughing that its time to get dressed and asking me if i'm in my underwear (i was not, i just didn't have any "undergarments" on).

one of the kids starts jumping up and down beside me chanting "get up, get up, get up," which makes me more sleepy. so i fell back over on to my pillow, at which point she stands up and then takes a big jump and dives on top of me. thank god my stomach was empty, or i would have lost my dinner. fortunately, i love the little rugger, and her way of diving was really cute. she made me laugh so hard.

then later when i was using the bathroom in a room where the bathroom door doesn't lock, the younger rugger, m, knocks and then just comes right in. i say "no, no" "dame!" (no, that's bad, don't do that), but she just giggles and starts rooting around the room for her toothbrush. five minutes later, she has found it and is starting to brush her teeth as i'm finishing up taking care of my own business. unfortunately, i cannot run after her and chase her out of the room, because, as suggested, i am a little preoccupied.

oh what a life. it's kind of fun - if not hectic - to do a homestay with cute, little ruggers.

letter to my bro about korea

oy, glad that you got a chance to see my blog. it's good - that thing does work - well i mean, it's good that someone reads it.

yeah, i'm in the airport now in incheon, korea. they have a very cool computer lounge here - $3 for an hour. the seats are spacious, desks are modern, and they have a fridge selling all kinds of sodas and waters over by the check-in counter. once you pay, you can use the computers for internet or other stations set up so kids/whoever can play Playstation. across the way they also have this amazing and spacious lounge with beautiful red and white leather reclining chairs set up to iriver headsets so people can sit back and listen to tunes while waiting.

in some ways korea is really awesome. as i was walking down the street today near binh's office, i passed a whole wall of "E-newspapers." passersby can stop and have a look at the news on their way to work. also, when i was riding the elevator up from the parking lot in binh's building this morning, the elevator had a plasma tv screen, and people were watching the news in there. i also saw people watching little portable television sets on their cell phones on the subway. i know they have these things available in other countries, but this is the first place where i saw lots of average, apparently middle-class people using such devices. the other amazing thing about the cell-phone-tvs on the subway was that there was reception underground. when i'm in japan, you have to wait until the train rolls into a station in order to have reception just long enough to send a text message before the train pulls away again and you get cutt off again.

anyways.... i think i'll have to cut and paste this little report on my blog now and expand a little. i enjoyed looking at your photos of your test tube baby. i'm looking forward to getting back to japan so i'll have the time finally to look into how invitro really works.

well, i'm signing off now. i'll be in the states from sept 14. til then i'll be doing a homestay with karen, her sister, and her mom, fumiko (suzuki) see you soon, AM

Quoting Eric D <xxxx@yahoo.com>:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericandkim/sets>> Eric D <xxxx@yahoo.com> wrote:> Hey Sister!>> Saw your entries about your trip to Soeul. You've lived an amazing > life. You'll have a lot of great stories to tell when you're 90.>> Hey, check out our Photo Log... http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericandkim>> Thought you might enjoy some of the new photos there.>> - Eric>> ---------------------------------> Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and > 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.>>> ---------------------------------> Want to be your own boss? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.>>> ---------------------------------> Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com. Check it out.

pictures of some of my favorite people

Snoozing in Seoul Starbucks

Today I went to Gwanghwamun 광화문 (my friend typed this -if you can't read it, try 'unicode' encoding) Gate in downtown Seoul for lunch with my friend Binh. His office - which has a view of Seoul from the nineteenth floor - is there. I was so completely exhausted from my two flights yesterday that I could barely stay awake in the subway. I was so tired, it even almost seemed to hurt to walk at first - I'm serious - that's how whacked out and out of sorts my body was.

Had a "Chinese" lunch with Binh. It was yum. I say "Chinese" with quote marks, because it was not real Chinese food, but a Korean version of it. Unbelievably the two dishes of noodles cost roughly $3.00 total. The price was proof to me that however much I think Korea has been booming in the past 10-20 years, it is still not as hard-core expensive as Japan is yet.

After lunch, I went to have a coffee at Starbucks. Started reading the newspaper... but in 5 minutes, I crashed. I fell asleep in the middle of Starbucks for 2 1/2 hours. What a productive day (not). After I woke up finally, I took a walk around and found found the Kyobo book store, the largest book store in Seoul, which has tons and tons of books- not only in Korean but also in English, French, etc.

I left the bookstore finally - didn't want to get too interested in any book because I was liable to spend all my money and end up with too much luggage as usual. So, went back to Starbucks to wait for a ride home from Binh. He was late, which made me pretty happy, because while waiting, I started reading the book he recommended to me, The End of Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs.

Thoan's wedding album

A friend of Binh's, Thoan, who is my friend too -but i never get to see him anymore, just got married. His photo album is here.

London Heathrow Airport SUX

i will never go back to London Heathrow airport ever again - unless the United States happens to win the war on terror and we return to the good ole safe days of the 1950s. Yeah, that's like saying, "when pigs fly". that's how I feel anyway. i'll never go back there until pigs fly. that airport SUX.

the picture here shows how they have totally downsized the carry-on restrictions simply by throwing in some wooden boards into the old model. "carry-on" suitcases are no longer allowed on flights from heathrow. passengers are only allowed one bag the size of a small brief-case. the staff was extremely strict. when i checked in, the ticketing agent made me show him all of my bags and instructed me to get rid of most of my things. he would not process my ticket until i had met the regulations.

then when i got to the security line, they had all these receptacles lined up for people to throw out any liquids, toilettries, etc. the people there made me throw away my chapstick, which made me really upset. now, i had to live through a 14-hour flight with dry, cracked lips - how excruciating!!! damn terrorists! people had such a small amount of carry-on luggage that when i finally boarded the plane (last, i might add, which is an entirely other sad and frustrating story) all of the overhead bins were EMPTY. then, on the other side of the flight, after arriving and when waiting to collect checked-in luggage, all of these little, tiny children's sized bags came pouring onto the conveyor belt. it was clear that people had been forced to check in all of their minute carryon items before boarding. this made the whole process of collecting the luggage at customs even more time consuming...

i'm in korea now... oh my god, i am so tired. i kind of have jet lag too. wow. i have no energy to enjoy korea for the day. oh well. i don't care. the main reason i'm here is to see my friend and his family. and i've already done that, so...

my friend's baby is so cute. she is 2.5 and speaking vietnamese and french already. she was shy when i first got here, but after about 3 hours she started smiling and hanging out with me... she still refuses to give me a little kiss on the cheek though. i gave her a present from switzerland - a stuffed cow which she can wear on her back and use as a backpack.

her parents are really worried because she spent all last week in the hospital with pneumonia. they fight with her to make her take her medicine now that she is back at home. they're worried because she's still coughing. they are concerned about what they should do if the antibiotics fail to make the little girl better.