Three Gorges Dam anxiety

A couple of weeks since my last post and, for those of you keeping score at home, this is now officially my longest blog. As for life beyond the web, you're not missing much. A new camera on the way, all of the accessories waiting anxiously for its arrival. Work is getting to be more work everyday. Yet another reason I'm chomping at the bit to get out of here and into the East. I'm positive that I'm being naive, if not downright ignorant, but the only worry I have is being able to cook decent, inexpensive food. A plethora of problems are waiting for me at the Narita airport, but I'm not even sweating it at the moment. At this point, I'm more worried about getting upriver of the Three Gorges Dam before it floods everything in Central China. Essentially destroying thousands of years of river culture, both in villages lining the river banks and the ancient ruins they're racing to uncover. It's amazing how the displacement of somewhere over 2 million people and the destruction of unexplored historic treasures are being brushed aside in the name of technological advancement. Fair enough, an obscene amount of people will be getting electricity and, therefore, "modernity", but it's difficult to say whether the pros outweigh the cons. I would be happy to say that they do if these archeological digs were being allowed the time to make significant progress on their work; but with the impending flooding, only a fraction of the artifacts are going to be uncovered. The artifacts that are being recovered are pulling their own "dam effect", flooding the local museums to the point where they've had to shut down so as to convert to giant warehouses while bigger museums are built. There are priceless goods literally sitting in the rain outside of these converted museums, waiting for looters to take advantage of their exposure. And then there are the cemetaries. I won't get into that, but let's just say the Chinese people are making huge sacrifices, sacrifices that their government will never be able to pay back. Anyway, for those of you who won't be able to make it there before 2009, when almost all of this will be lost, I'll do my best to take a bunch of pictures while I'm (hopefully) there. But I'm getting way ahead of myself.

A little less than five months until I'm in Japan and I am itching to go. There's only so much preparation I can do before getting completely burnt out on everything. By the time the beginning of May rolls around, I'm not even going to want to look at a bowl of rice. But naturally, when the time comes, I'll be ready. The amount of time I am able to spend at home gets proportionately smaller the older I get. My parents seem to find new ways to push my limits whenever I return home from school, from foreign countries, from anywhere. But I think I'm going to have to cut this post a little short. My heart's just not into it tonight, so if there is anybody that's actually reading this steaming pile, my apologies. I'll be back in a little while.

Introduction

Before I put this post into full throttle, I'd like to point out that this blog will eventually have a topic, so please, be patient. In the mean time, I'd like to invite you to indulge in a few of my thoughts on a variety of subjects, but primarily the world of blogs. In the past, I've attempted to spark my creative flow in a number of ways. Journals, dream diaries, I even tried a blog once, but with little effect on my motivation to put my thoughts into a form visible for others to see. Since my last attempt at blogging, however, there have been momentous changes in my life. 2, soon to be 3, continents called home; a lengthy, intense international relationship; and the probable end of my career as a student. I feel I've a much better grasp on who I am and what my life is about than I did even a few months ago. But I've still been unable to feel comfortable with putting pen to paper. This is bound to be a bit of a barricade in my attempt to one day make a career out of my words.

Along came Blog. Such a bizarre medium, completely exposed to the world if only they'd look. An elongated trenchcoat flash going largely unnoticed. It reminds me a bit of a photographer, Henry Drouillard, who coordinates his flashbulbs with the drop of his models' drawers as they stand in very public places. For that brief instant before any of the bystanders realize just how much skin is standing next to them in line for the bus, there isn't a hint of surprise or shock on anyone's face. Just calm. As if it's something they see everyday on their way to the grocery store. In the case of either the photography or what you're reading right now, it isn't really the lack of a reaction that gets me. It's not even the ability to bare all in the most public of places. It's the illusions of privacy, the anonymity of our words that make this one of the most appealing and revolutionary ways of communicating. Not only will the millions of people surfing the web most likely never have a desire to read these words, nearly all of them wouldn't even be able to find them in the vast garbage heap of the net. Some of the world's darkest secrets are safest in plain sight.

If you're looking for any of those particular kinds of secrets, however, you won't find them here. For the next five months, it will likely largely be filled with random thoughts, things people in the real world would only listen to because it's the polite thing to do. I'll do my best not to make things too long-winded and heavy. Interjected here and there, you'll find explanations of how I'm preparing for my move to Japan, the second country on my tour of powerful but relatively small island nations that drive on the wrong side of the road. Hence the actual web address, 2down.blogblahblah. Once May rolls around and the creepily long-armed reach of the internet has laid hands upon my humble and very Japanese-sized apartment there, you'll hopefully be hearing all about how much I love it there. Either that or you'll be hearing about how much the food sucks. Whatever the case, I'm sure there will be pictures.

Getting Started

It's just past 3 am here in Hometown, USA. The harsh white sting of the computer moniter along with the ungodly hour have got me blinking at twice the normal rate. It's not so much that I can't sleep as I'm just not allowing myself to, for reasons unbeknownst even to me. I thought I'd get a head start on this whole blog thing before I make my way East into tomorrow (more on that to come). But to be perfectly honest, the only reason you're reading this now, if there is in fact anyone reading this, is that the website wouldn't allow me to post a comment on a friends blog unless I myself created one. Here is the masterpiece I've put forth. Bask in its glory.