Indian Erotica

Yeah, that title should bring in folks from the search engines.

Now we come to the portion of my travels that the prurient among us have been waiting for. The R-rated section of historical India. No, I didn't visit Khajuraho which is famed for the erotic carvings on its temples. But I did take some photos of carvings in other places, mostly Hampi, that prove that in the past, India certainly was not as prim and proper as it may seem to be today. After all, this is the culture that gave us the Kama Sutra.

Those easily offended can pass on by, but for the rest of you, cover the children's eyes or close the bedroom door and click to your heart's content. OK, honestly I doubt anyone will be titillated by these photos of carvings, but I thought I should give fair warning. You never know who may surf to your web page.



Some of these carvings are a bit worn, so if you are having trouble making out what you see, (ladies only) send me your name, age, and measurements and maybe we can arrange for a private viewing of my etchings ... uh, photos. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean.)

I Oughtta Be In Pictures

Maybe I missed my true calling in life. Perhaps I should have become an International Movie Background Actor. Then again maybe not, but life sometimes conspires to send things your way that make you wonder.

About twelve years ago, on my last around-the-world trip I was in Singapore and acted as an extra in a movie. It was three days, (nights actually, since that was when they were shooting) of a lot of sitting around and a little acting. It was an interesting experience, and I got paid for my time which made it even more worth while. The name of the movie was "Bugis Street" or something like that. I never saw it, so if you happen to track it down, let me know what you think of my acting. I was the one in the sailor suit. Well, one of the ones in a sailor suit.

Yesterday in Chennai, India, I did it again. They needed westerners to fill up a club scene they were shooting. We, several others from the guest houses, were taxied up to Chennai from Mamallapuram and spent about twelve hours doing a lot of sitting around, standing for the cameras, and very little reacting for shots. We also got a free lunch and 600 rupees ($15 US).

India's movie industry pumps out hundreds of movies a year, but I have to say, after sitting around and watching how things work, I wonder about the quality of those movies. Today, they certainly weren't to concerned about continuity in this movie, especially considering many scenes were shot previously before today's group of westerners even showed up. In one scene I was running out one door, and in a different angle shot of the same scene I was told to run out a different door. Extras, props, and actors were moved around willy-nilly without much concern for what had gone previously.

What we shot that day was a fight scene inside some kind of space/computer themed nightclub. I didn't plan it at all, but I am pretty sure I appeared in about 75% of the scenes shot. The camera happened to be looking right where I was standing each time. That doesn't necessarily mean I would be recognizable in the film, or that the takes I was in would even be used (though there were so few actual takes shot, they will almost have to use each one). But keep an eye out for a goofy-looking guy in a gray t-shirt and light green pants. That will be me.

The movie is called "Kurubi" which means The Sparrow. It is an Indian (Tamil) movie about drug runners. It stars a very popular Indian movie star named Vijay.
So on January 15th, run to your nearest cinema (If you
are in India anyway. The rest of you will have to wait.) and see "Kurubi" staring... me!

The (4th) Happiest Place on Earth

I lived for many years in Korea just across a small sea from Japan and Tokyo Disneyland, and I never went. Maybe some day in the future.

I was recently in Hong Kong, and I decided I had better visit Disneyland Hong Kong now, so I don't have to come back later.

I wasn't first in line, and I didn't run to get this picture.

It was a really nice day. I got there early, to beat the crowds, only to find out that the park opened one hour later than I thought it did and that there was no crowd. It was a Wednesday so maybe that is why.

Disneyland HK is very nearly a copy of the early original Disneyland. But I did notice that everything is smaller. And I don't just mean smaller in land area. The buildings on MainStreet are smaller in scale. Sleeping Beauty's castle is much smaller than the original. And some other things just struck me as being not quite right. Maybe everything is smaller in scale because Asians are generally smaller. Ha ha, that's a joke ma' boy.


Actually, a combination of the park being smaller and me arriving on a week day meant that I really only would have needed the afternoon and evening hours to see everything. As it was, I did see everything, including all the shows, and rode several of the rides twice. The whole day was rather leisurely paced, which was nice for a change.


Everything was very familiar, but it was a bit disconcerting hearing Mickey and the other characters speak in Cantonese. In Hong Kong, Mickey's name is pronounced "my-ee-kay". And not that I can understand Cantonese, but Donald Duck was completely unintelligible.

Even the western characters spoke Chinese during the parade.

The whole park was decorated for the Halloween holiday and two of the rides had a slightly Halloween theme. Also at night, they had a special Halloween parade.

Yes, that is a "white" pumpkin for Donald and I don't know what his bill is supposed to be made of.

Wooo, Spooky!

One highlight of the visit had to be the firework show. Disneyland sure knows how to amaze.

Enjoy the rest of the photos.

Mmmmm ... Yak!

I broke down the other day and had an actual restaurant meal rather than just eating from food shops/stalls. It was a nice place with different cuisines from the area- India, Nepal, Tibet, etc. The menu was in English, but just to make it easier on myself I chose the Nepali Set, with yak. I had the option to choose chicken, mutton, and a couple of others, but I thought, when in Tibet ...

What is the Nepali set you may ask? Well, you get a large plate with some loose rice, not the sticky east Asian kind. Next to the rice is a dollop of some kind of red pepper sauce. Similar to Korean kochujang, but actually a bit tastier. Maybe it was fermented or something. Also on the plate were some mixed vegetables, potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, small broccoli, and some kind of mushroom, in a light curry sauce. Finally, on the plate was what I assume was an homage to the western palate- a single slice each of tomato, carrot, and turnip, on a lettuce leaf.

The final items were a dish of a light curry soup with some kind of leafy vegetable, and a dish of yak pieces in a stronger curry. Maybe it should have been called the Nepali-curry set.

Everything was pretty darn good. Turns out, yak is good eatin'! What does it taste like? No, not chicken. It is pretty much just like beef. The meat was particularly tender. I don't know if that is a quality of yak in general, or just this particular preparation.

Maybe it is because the meat sets out in the open in the street markets. The butchers tend to leave a bit of yak skin/hair on the bone down around the hoof. I assume so you can be sure you are buying genuine yak. In the meat section of the street market, you see one stall after another with big hunks of meat on their tables and a big cleaver for easy portioning. I actually saw one guy using an axe, not a hatchet, to chop up a particularly large piece of meat (beef?). I think it had been frozen.

Anyway, it was a pretty good meal. They were decent sized portions, so I was full after eating. And the whole thing came to 31 Yuan (about $4.13), 25 for the food and 6 for the Coke. (I should have know better than to buy a drink in the restaurant. You can get a coke for 3 at the shop.)

Since then I have bought yak jerky which is also pretty good.

So, when you come to Tibet, try the yak.

Leaving On a Jet Plane ...

And I really don't know when I will be back again.

Hey, did I mention I will be traveling soon? Yep, I have decided to take a break from work for a while and see more of the world.

I will start in China, see some parts of South-east Asia that I have missed, and then into India. After that, where I go is anyone's guess. This trip may be a long one, possibly six months.

I will try to post some entries or pictures here from time to time, but I can't guarantee how often.

Before I go, let me leave you with a little bit more of Korea. Below are some of the pictures I have taken here over the years.There are more on my public Picasa site. Go have a look.

More photos!

Wish me luck on my journey. Oh, and if, somehow, I happen to get abducted along the way. I don't negotiate with kidnappers. And you shouldn't bother to either.

Remember ... Jama rek.

Well Ain't I special?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 10 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

"Robert" is the third most popular name, though. There are 4,751,484 people in the U.S. with the first name of Robert. So basically, without my last name, I am just one of nearly five million. Sometimes it feels that way.

Interestingly there is currently only one person in the USA named "Elvis Presley" and two people named "Bob Marley." But there are six people named "Jesus Christ."

Personalities

I am not much one for psychology, but I suppose it does have its uses now and then. That being said, on a whim I took a Jung Typology test on the Internet the other day. Turns out I am a ...

INTJ

Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging

Strength of the preferences %

78 38 75 33

According to the test I am:

• very expressed introvert
• moderately expressed intuitive personality
• distinctively expressed thinking personality
• moderately expressed judging personality

I vaguely understand what this means, but what I find more interesting are other people rated as INTJ. It seems I am in the company of such individuals as:

• Dan Aykroyd
• William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Chevy Chase
• Peter Jennings
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• General Colin Powell
• John F. Kennedy

As for INTJ fictional characters, there are:

• Cassius (Julius Caesar)
• Gandalf the Grey (J. R. R. Tolkein's Middle Earth books)
• Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
• Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis

Quite an interesting group of people.

If you want to read more about us INTJ's, have a look here.

INTJ type description by D.Keirsey

INTJ type description by J. Butt and M.M. Heiss

If you want to take the test for yourself, just visit this site.

"Personality has the power to open many doors, but character must keep them open."
~ Unattributed

"We have lost the art of living, and in the most important science of all, the science of daily life, the science of behavior, we are complete ignoramuses. We have psychology instead."
~ D.H. Lawrence

"I honor my personality flaws, for without them I would have no personality at all."
~ Unattributed

Arrrrgh!

My pirate name is:

Red Roger Rackham

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Engrish

No that is not a typo in the headline. One thing ESL/EFL teachers have to deal with is that countries that do not natively speak English often develop their own particular form of what they think English is. A common slang for this non-native version of English is "Engrish". You can read all about it on Wikipedia, but basically "Engrish" is the mistranslation of the native language into what is thought to be correct English, or, incorrect words based on the mispronunciation of English. Koreans have their own particular problem with English often referred to as "Konglish", the misuse of English words in the Korean language- "apart" for apartment, "handle" when they mean steering wheel, and many others. But for now, let's focus on Engrish.

The other day I was out riding and saw this ...

I enjoy learning about about foreign cultures just as much as the next person. But I have to say, I was a bit disappointed when I got to the village and didn't see one fork. In fact, there was no tableware to be seen at all. No forks, knives, spoons, gravy boats, not even a single chopsticks.

If you haven't figured it out yet, that should read "folk" village. Yes, the constant R/L problem for Asians rears its ugly head again. OK, so they made a mistake. But you would think that something like that would be easily spotted, even by a non-English speaker.

Here in Korea, other than on informational signs, English seems to be used to give a product an important air, as if having English text on a product makes it better, more important than any other product. That actually is a bit odd from a non-Korean's perspective since probably 95% of the products that use some form of English are actually being advertised for Koreans who would not necessarily understand or care about the English writing anyway.

There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of examples, but let me give you one rather prominent example. A while back when new credit cards were coming out left and right, one big name company brought out a credit card and called it the "She's card." Now I don't know this for a fact, and I can think of no other logical explanation, so I have to assume that what they were actually thinking of was "Her card." Why would they call their credit card the "She is card?"

The Korean language has a character that functions very similar to the apostrophe s ('s) in English, and in Korean, they can stick it on everything. Unfortunately, whoever dreamed up this product apparently wasn't aware that the 's does not go with personal pronouns.

What is even more amazing to me is that, apparently, from this product's inception through production, not once did anyone bother to actually check to see if the language was correct. This is a big name company, surely they could have stopped a foreign employee in the hallway, spent five minutes explaining the concept to them and found out that the name was incorrect. Heck, even an above average Korean speaker of English could have seen the mistake. Yet the product went through the design, approval, and production process without one person bothering to question the correctness, let alone the actual necessity of the English.

This happens all the time here. Surely if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on a product and advertising campaign, you can spend ten more minutes, call up a native speaking English teacher at a university or even a "hagwon" (private 'cram' school), ask them about the English and, heck, give them $25 for their time. It would save your company a lot of embarrassment later on. Needless to say, promotion of the "She's" credit card didn't last too long, though it still exists.

"Always blame it on the guy who doesn't speak English."
~ Homer Simpson

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."
~ Nelson Mandela

"I speak two languages, Body and English."
~ Mae West

Me? Really?

Just playing with some of the interesting things on the Internet.



They didn't really have any that would look like a guy in his 40's. I guess I could have chosen gray hair, but my hair is not all gray yet.

Places I Have Lived

Since I am on the subject of Google Earth, I thought I would share with you a video I made using Google Earth and some other tools. Be gentle on me; this is the first time I have done something like this.

I have traveled a lot of places, but this is just a tour of the three places I have lived. The first is Las Vegas, NV, where I grew up. The second is N'Dungu Kebbeh in The Gambia where I served in the Peace Corps. And the last one is Andong, South Korea where I teach English. I have actually lived several places in Korea, but we'll save that tour for another time. You can actually see the houses in Las Vegas and N'Dungu Kebbeh, but the resolution is not that good in Andong.

Have a look and let me know what you think. Yeah, I know the video is a bit long. Sorry.

My homes around the world.



If you want to see the tour in a much larger version, just click on the following link, and let the file load into Google Earth. Once it is loaded, find it in your "Temporary Places" folder, expand HomeTour.kmz, highlight "Home tour" then press F10. There will be no music, but the view will be much larger, and you can control the movement. Have fun.
Home Tour

To Your Health

We all know that kissing can be fun, but now scientists have found that kissing can also help people suffering from allergies. Scientists in Japan have determined that a 30 minute session of kissing may help to suppress your body's allergic reaction to pollen.The scientists found that kissing works by relaxing the body and reducing the production of histamine which is what causes the sneezing, watery eyes, and runny nose when you are exposed to pollen. The experiments also showed that hugging and cuddling were not enough, it had to be kissing to reduce the levels of histamine. I have always wondered what purpose my allergies serve. I would much rather spend 30 minutes kissing each morning than take a pill. Now all I have to do is find someone to help me out. Any volunteers? Read more here. "Her kisses left something to be desired - the rest of her." ~ Unknown "To me, there is no greater act of courage than being the one who kisses first." ~ Janeane Garofalo "For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." ~ Judy Garland quotes

Of Policies and Politics

I originally took this test a while ago, but only recently rediscovered the captured images when I had to migrate my documents to a new Windows XP system.

I have often wondered where I fit in the political spectrum. I am registered as a Republican, but I always vote policy above party. That has meant that I have voted across party lines several times. Personally, I don't know why anyone would vote a party line if their inklings lean in another direction. If you go to PoliticalCompass.org you can take a test that will categorize your way of thinking and plot you on a graph of Left vs. Right and Authoritarian vs. Libertarian.

As you can see from my score, I am pretty close to middle of the road. I know I definitely don't have any strong leanings on way or another, but there are some things that concern me, and I think they show up in the graph.

While I don't necessarily believe in communism, I do believe that the class structure of haves and have-nots has gone a bit too far. While not an anarchist, I do think that individual liberties do sometimes outweigh the need for state control.

Thankfully I am not in George Bush's or Sadddam Hussein's regions. And I think being in the same quadrant as Nelson Mandela and The Dalai Lama puts me in some pretty good company.

What about you, where do you fit in the political spectrum? Take the test and see. Let me know if you are in my neighborhood.

Just a quick side note. I retook the test when posting this entry, and it seems I have moved a little more to the left, but am the same on the anarchy scale.

Right On Target

My body may betray me at times and occasionally make me feel older than I am, but apparently my brain is right on target. I took the Brain Speed test at Positscience and it turns out I am in the top ten percentile for my age group. I guess my brain is better than I thought it was. Here is my score.
As you can see by the chart below (I am 42 years old), I am doing pretty darn well for my age. A lower score is better- faster brain speed. Thirty-two is the top ten percent for people in their 40's and I got a 31. :-)

I have to say I think it would be pretty hard to get a much lower score. You would have to have pretty darn good ears and a really fast brain. Apparently as we get older our brains slow down, as one might expect. But several sources say regular exercise of the brain can keep it young.

Whether the software these folks are selling works to exercise the brain or not, I really don't know. But I must say the person who wrote up the Brain Speed test needs to work on speeding up their own brain. If you look at that first image, you can see where they wrote "... find our how ..." instead of "find out how"

What is your Brain Speed score? Take the test and find out. If anyone buys the program, please let me know what it is like.

Much too long ...

Yes, once again it has been a while since I have posted. And once again it is mostly do to laziness. The new semester has started, but it shouldn't have kept me away this much.

Let's just start by posting a meme. This particular meme has made its way around the blogs already, but as per usual I am a bit slow to jump on the band wagon. Let's call this one ...

The Meme of Threes

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Robert
2. Rob
3. Bob

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. alimamo
2. ?
3. ?

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. I've generally taken the road less traveled.
2. I am very patient.
3. I may not have many friends, but the ones I have are important to me.

THREE THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. I am easily distracted.
2. Jack of many trades, master of none.
3. I am not always very outgoing.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. American.
2. German?
3. Native American. (OK, maybe only a very small percent.)

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Death in general. (Unfortunately, it doesn't keep me from being occasionally foolhardy.)
2. Dying slowly.
3. Massive debt.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS (aside from food/drink/air/etc):
1. A computer.
2. The occasional sunny day.
3. A word from friends now and then.

THREE FAVORITE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING:
1. My jeans.
2. An old flannel shirt.
3. Low top hiking boots.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS/ARTISTS AT THE MOMENT:
1. Eurythmics.
2. U2.
3. Robert Palmer (Yes, I know he is dead.)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT: (Just off a recent playlist.)
1. "Wonderful" - Annie Lennox
2. "All Star" - Smashmouth
3. "Maureen" - Sade

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. Maybe meet someone for some fun.
2. Travel somewhere, anywhere.
3. Do something new.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (love is a given):
1. Friendship
2. Sex
3. Romance

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
1. I don't drink very much.
2. I am very happy now.
3. I always want to be someplace different.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE (OR SAME) SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Nice legs.
2. A nice butt.
3. A pretty face.

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. Forget about a certain someone.
2. Regularly and consistently do any activity/hobby.
3. Forgive inconsiderate drivers.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Surfing the Internet
2. Entering sweepstakes.
3. Riding my bike.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Do anything consistently so I get really good at it.
2. Make it through the semester without getting too bored/upset.
3. Find out where I may be headed.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Teacher.
2. Photographer. (Not likely.)
3. Traveler. (But that doesn't really pay that well. )

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. China.
2. South America.
3. Europe.

THREE KID'S NAMES:
1. Michael.
2. Female name here.
3. Female name here. (After consultation with the mother.)

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Take a few more long trips.
2. Fall in love again.
3. Maybe spend my remaining years with the person from number 2.