tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20500284910932974162012-01-24T19:14:14.657-05:00A JET Programme Journey in Shimane Prefecture, Japan!<br><br> 日本の島根県にあるジェット・プログラムの旅！Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-36987825424631175212012-01-23T06:25:00.000-05:002012-01-23T08:33:12.040-05:00

Often times the most intimidating part of a subject can become the most straightforward simply by changing the approach. If I had a 十円玉 for every time I heard someone say, "kanji is too hard" or "I've been studying Japanese for years but haven't started kanji" or "I've been studying kanji for years but only know about 500 (if that)," then I could, well... probably buy out a 百円ショップ.  For those

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-64802645806165002972012-01-16T09:09:00.002-05:002012-01-23T08:36:51.986-05:00

A happy "end-of-the-world 2012" new year to you all! I thought I'd make an post pointing out a few things.  First and foremost, I'm happy to announce that Google+ support in Blogger has gotten a lot stronger recently.  On the left, you'll notice that I figured out how to connect my profile.  In addition to showing my picture and intro, those links and the one at the bottom of this post will take

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-60310114953721930052011-05-06T19:45:00.013-04:002011-05-08T18:19:12.971-04:00

Imagine it for a second. Your beloved computer hard drive crashes, and there goes all your data. You didn't feel like doing backups because you never expected it to happen. You take your computer to the repair store and they say, "sorry, nothin' we can do. But in the future you should backup your data about twice a week." Goodbye, old emails! See you later pictures and videos from that trip

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-70724587890155022482011-04-28T07:36:00.004-04:002011-04-28T08:39:56.731-04:00

It's something that I would have preferred to have gotten out of the way before coming to Japan, perhaps studied during the last few months I was in America so that I could concentrate now on fun only-in-Japan things, but Jasmin and I have begun: we're studying for the GRE.As cool as that does sound, considering it's one letter away from GREg, unfortunately it stands for the really boring

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-59029438494561855542011-03-17T07:41:00.006-04:002011-03-17T08:58:02.851-04:00

Tomorrow will be exactly a week since we (Japan) got hit by a massive earthquake that registered a level 9. Maybe you heard about it where you live? Yeah, the one that caused a tsunami more than 10 meters high at its peak, flooding 20 km inland and completely wiping out entire villages. Uh huh, the one that in conjunction with the tsunami began a chain reaction in the nuclear reactors in

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-10789113071368581302011-01-09T02:08:00.016-05:002011-05-07T19:31:17.784-04:00

When going abroad for a long trip or to stay and chill for a while, you may be worried about how you can keep in contact with family and friends you're separating from, perhaps for the first time. I wrote up this guide as a way to share what I currently do since it seems to be working pretty well. It assumes that you have regular internet access, though, so when you first get to your

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-32173306231461850052010-11-20T11:28:00.003-05:002010-11-20T11:39:49.743-05:00

Hey all, Greg/Syk3 here. I'm still alive.It may appear as if I've failed once again to keep up with my blogs. Well, as usual, they're coming. :p On my list of things 2 do, as it were. But the list is going well so far! I've already organized my pictures and videos and uploaded them to Photobucket and YouTube, which brings me to my current project of uploading them for Facebook with captions

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-59035670188955129082010-09-26T09:23:00.006-04:002010-09-26T10:40:47.646-04:00

Alright! I finally have a chance to fill you guys in on some of the things I've been up to these past couple of months (omg, has it really been that long?). Hopefully this won't be too long; I'll stick to the important points. ^_~I first arrived in the land of the rising sun for Tokyo Orientation on August 1. All of the DC JETs flew in together, and I ended up spending most of my time hanging

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-444672015816975252010-07-31T03:57:00.005-04:002010-08-15T11:52:29.300-04:00

The weekend before I left Japan in 2008, I had my going away party with a few of my friends and my host parents. My host parents came up with the idea of inviting friends over for food and games, and though they originally said a total of 10 people would be okay, when I had found that many I was told me that 8 including myself would probably be all that could fit in the house. So I invited my

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-75547321647594598502010-07-31T03:41:00.004-04:002010-08-03T09:49:39.554-04:00

It's been a while since I've done this, but it's quick and easy, so let's have a video blog (with additional notes below)! Those of you who have been around me in the past few months will know that I've been getting really into American smart phones, and I'm itching to see whether Japan is still miles ahead in this area of technology. When I took this video in 2008 my Japanese phone was

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-55167548360903562492010-07-27T00:25:00.004-04:002010-08-03T09:36:04.825-04:00

Despite waiting so long to write this post, I can still vividly remember driving with my host parents into the nearby town of Inuyama, seeing its castle in the distance as we parked the car and began walking up the mountain. This event took place on the 19th of October, 2008.Our walk led us to a shrine, still decorated for the "Shichi-Go-San" festival, or "Seven-Five-Three," which celebrates

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-78144218829744646012010-07-26T22:55:00.001-04:002010-08-03T09:36:24.037-04:00

I still have about 8 Japan blogs I'd LIKE to finish writing about before going back to Japan. If I don't, I'll probably just scrap them and refer people to the Facebook pictures and captions. Luckily, this entry on hot springs was already written in my journal, so I'm going to touch it up a bit and send to print. Here we go.First, an introduction to hot springs in general. When foreigners

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-72943500369446572992010-07-21T21:19:00.006-04:002010-08-03T09:31:29.171-04:00

For those of you who were beginning to think that either me or this blog was dead: far from it, my friends. From today we have T-minus 10 days until departure. Pack your bags in the overhead compartments and fasten those seat belts, all trays locked in the upright position. I'm heading back to Japan.If you're reading this, GTFO. No no, that was mean. For those who are returning, thanks for

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-1123666140580480922010-04-11T11:01:00.009-04:002010-08-03T09:50:15.371-04:00

One of my favorite ways of comparing Japan to the U.S. is with movie theaters. I saw a movie on one of my last days in Japan, and that's when I realized that no trip to the land of the rising sun should be complete without this experience.It all began when my friend Van said that he had to stop by the theater in Nagoya city one day to pick up tickets to see Wall-E. The movie was just coming out

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-10961344367737119452010-04-06T20:39:00.006-04:002010-08-03T10:07:47.648-04:00

This past winter I went snowboarding for the eighth time (is it weird that I kept track?), and in two years it's quickly become one of my favorite activities of the season.Jasmin took me for the first time a week after we started dating, since she obviously couldn't stand being with a guy who didn't know how to shred the slopes. I learned the hard way that your first time is probably not going

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-65991494822809307042010-03-30T21:26:00.006-04:002010-04-07T20:34:28.479-04:00

This is more of a short update on my status than a real post, but it's important enough to get attention on its own. Actually, this status has technically been active for exactly two months, today: I'M ENGAGED! ...to the sweetest and most fun-loving girl in the world. :] So it's sappy, get over it!The lowdown: I proposed on the 30th of January when we went up to Pennsylvania with some friends

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-21960192035830070042010-03-25T21:23:00.008-04:002010-08-03T09:38:46.622-04:00

October 11th, 2008 was a big day for me. I arrived in Tokyo for the first time in my life and somehow navigated the maps to the Tokyo Game Show on a very small amount of sleep. After that it was constant excitement - playing games, taking pictures, and walking around to the booths. I took the bus back that night and got home around 7 am to pass out on an actual futon.I woke up on the 12th, the

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-49749518287173582612010-03-23T11:50:00.010-04:002010-08-03T09:39:01.724-04:00

One of my favorite awesomely random days in Japan was when I went with friends to an amusement park during finals week at the end of the semester. It was well planned, of course, but not by me - I caught wind of it at the last minute and pleaded to go along. And man, I'm so glad I did.I met up with my friends - Joo, Keito, Nell, John, and Josh - at Nagoya Station early, early in the morning to

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-57989978368723550302010-03-20T17:02:00.014-04:002010-03-21T02:23:27.435-04:00

Now that my new drive is fully operational, AND I got a freaking job (woot!), I'm going back and doing this second and final blog on Hawaii that I had wanted to have done Thursday. Jeez, is falling behind in blogs inevitable for me? hahaSunday, the 10th of January, my family and I had finished our tour for the day and were in search of the base that would become our home for the next six days.

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-5868322068170820152010-03-15T22:40:00.007-04:002010-03-23T11:49:12.939-04:00

Well, after being on hiatus for a LOOONG time, I think I'm going to jump right in by starting with the Hawaii trip I took in mid-January. My favorite blogs to write are of my travels (if you haven't noticed already!), so I can't miss this opportunity for documentation. Soon after I returned to the continental U.S. I uploaded my pictures and videos on Facebook, Photobucket, and YouTube, and as

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-79377922663481313382010-01-06T22:22:00.007-05:002010-08-03T10:05:53.762-04:00

*is almost dead from blog posts* Must.. keep.. blogging. Leaving for Hawaii tomorrow and have to start out fresh for those blogs, but I need to wake up at 3:45. ~_~ Oh man, I hope I can sleep on the plane.Jasmin's birthday was the 2nd of January. Yayy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! While she was away in Guam for a couple weeks, Erin and I decided that we'd surprise her with a party, but we realized that

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-85802769230281651052010-01-06T20:56:00.004-05:002010-04-07T21:04:31.513-04:00

Despite what I made it sound like in comparison to 2008 (@Jasmin), 2009 really was an awesome year when I look back on it. There was traveling, fun experiences that were new or traditional, and I learned a lot. Here are some particularly notable highlights:New Year's 2009 - I had just gotten back from my study abroad in Japan when 2009 hit, and I began the year in the same place that I ended it

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-25473170032495665152010-01-06T20:03:00.008-05:002010-08-03T10:03:45.775-04:00

Post-graduation has been a busy time so far, busy enough that I seem to be avoiding a lot of those inevitable grown-up tasks that are now expected of me. But let's not worry about them, I'll have plenty of time to stress out when I get back from Hawaii!The day after graduation I decided to take some drastic measures to highlight the changes not only of my freedom into the "real world," but also

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-77802086259387680292009-12-24T20:40:00.008-05:002010-04-07T20:35:14.305-04:00

I graduated from college yesterday.Yes, a w00t is most definitely in order. Four and a half years isn't that bad these days for getting through higher education, but I worked hard to get here and it included some of the most stressful periods of my life. People who have taken school seriously know what I'm talking about: skipping or leaving events with friends, sacrificing sleep for overnight

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-82205045088608932672009-10-31T23:42:00.010-04:002010-08-03T09:39:19.489-04:00

Another day in Japan, another holiday to celebrate. And what surprises me more than the sheer amount of holidays in Japan is that they never forget to include our American holidays as well, like Halloween. Perhaps to make those of us abroad feel welcome? I got the impression the Japanese were somewhat surprised about this as well, but despite not know much about its origins celebrated the

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-63280715200875769972009-10-24T22:03:00.006-04:002010-08-03T09:40:14.105-04:00

I think the time has come for another straight-from-Japan entry that takes a break from the steady flow of events, and covers my overall status at the time. This one was written in mid-October, and on this blog I've already completed all but one of my events before that point (the one being Owariasahi Matsuri, but it's coming), so if you've read those then you're pretty well caught up on where I

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-69758985094471956892009-10-13T17:58:00.009-04:002010-08-03T09:40:30.978-04:00

The morning after going to Nagoya Castle (I was on a roll!), my host mom dropped me off on the doorstep of my friend Joel's host parents' house. It was my first time there, and he showed me around a bit and introduced me to his cat, who appeared to be threatening to jump out the window. His host parents returned a short while later and we set out on the road. Our destination? A festival (

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-33537684956771034752009-10-12T17:03:00.009-04:002010-08-03T09:40:52.145-04:00

Yet another item on the long list of "Things Japan has but America Doesn't Let's Cry About It" is castles! Specifically actual, traditional castles dating back at least 3-4 hundred years would be nice for historical appreciation, but we wouldn't object to refurbished ones either. For better or worse, the local Nagoyajou (Nagoya Castle) was refurbished after being burned to the ground during

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-89916507892107768762009-09-28T20:45:00.008-04:002010-08-03T09:41:36.589-04:00

One of the biggest parts of the Japanese culture is their passion for festivals. Seasonal festivals, city & town festivals, holiday festivals, fertility festivals, you name it and there's a chance they celebrate it in a big way. One year ago today (that's how behind I am on blogs), I attended the Neko Matsuri - or Cat Festival - in Nagoya, Japan. Yes, they celebrate how awesomely cute cats are

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-82466064790757624492009-09-16T19:05:00.008-04:002010-08-03T09:42:13.015-04:00

The first time I went to Nanzan's manga club was sometime in mid-September. My friend Joel and I found it in the somewhat run-down club house, fitting a near-perfect picture of otaku clubs portrayed in various anime, like Genshiken or Haruhi. Nice and cramped, just like we otaku like it! The room was lined with large bookshelves packed with manga (which I was told was largely donated by former

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-49978096356414885062009-08-19T20:21:00.009-04:002010-08-03T09:51:59.544-04:00

Wow, I took a bit of a break from my last post, and right when I had a nice streak going too, huh? I've been rather busy these past couple weeks jumping head first back into my Japanese studies. I sort of re-discovered the site AllJapaneseAllTheTime.com, after reading this article a while back. For those familiar with the site, maybe it's self-explanatory what happened. I felt motivated to

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-36485635491750195392009-08-05T12:08:00.011-04:002010-08-03T09:43:07.537-04:00

Seeing as I turn 22 next month, I figure I'll go ahead and cover this event from Japan before I'm over a year late. hahaWhile the 21st birthday has special significance in the states, the golden age in Japan is 20, when people can drink sake, smoke, vote, buy a car, buy a phone, etc. All the same, my host parents went out of their way to make sure I had a great birthday, beginning with a candle

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-44177396194516156832009-08-03T00:16:00.033-04:002010-08-03T09:52:20.394-04:00

UPDATE 3/26/10: Turns out JapanesePod101 decided to do the same sort of blog post that I did in August. It covers a lot of what I mentioned below, but in greater detail for those really interested in getting to Japan. The blog post is called Valuable Information on Getting Starting Living in Japan and the second part is here. Part 3: click. This is really good stuff!Those going to any country

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-27364182519767155392009-08-01T17:21:00.011-04:002010-08-03T09:52:34.287-04:00

One thing that you (probably) won't find in America, but is quite common in Japan, is a maid cafe. Yes, the place often associated with smelly otaku and every type of fanboy. Where girls dress up as maids and work to serve you hand and foot, sometimes literally cutting up your food and putting it in your mouth. Many outsiders may look at this scene as fulfilling some sort of sick fetish. To

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-70591094202676007732009-07-29T16:06:00.003-04:002009-07-30T11:48:02.075-04:00

Sunday was the last day of Otakon, and we celebrated by packing our stuff and loading the car. I took a few pictures, but my main goal was getting to the Dealer's Room for the first time all weekend and actually buying something. There, I met up with my friend Nate who had cosplayed as someone from Bleach, which he had put a lot of time into; in fact, he didn't even get to the con until

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-47394977450856929692009-07-28T15:17:00.004-04:002009-07-28T15:33:13.263-04:00

Saturday was another early start that began with meeting at panel ops. The Funimation panel started at 10 and I was staffing that too, the first of many to come for the day. Due to their monopoly of anime licenses at the moment, they were announcing things right and left throughout the hour, naturally including all sorts of Dragon Ball as well as the Evangelion Rebuild movie. Too many versions

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-59839745195452131572009-07-27T22:21:00.007-04:002009-07-28T12:00:57.212-04:00

Otakon is the largest anime convention on the east coast, and the only con I go to / have been to. One convention of this magnitude over the course of a 3-day weekend is enough to satisfy me for about a year. Sure, I could go to a different con instead one year, but EVERYONE goes to Otakon - I go to school in Baltimore, so it's practically our back yard. So why change up the routine? And so

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-59788415512997829042009-07-15T21:21:00.012-04:002010-08-03T09:48:20.109-04:00

I should rename this segment Video Forcefeeds. The ones from Japan have been on Facebook and YouTube for months now, but since no one commented -- ok, some people commented, but -- there weren't very many, and I don't know if -- I'M GOING TO DO THIS, DARN IT!! >:O And I didn't hear what anyone thought of the Video Blog from the Philippines, but these are easy to write and hopefully fun to watch

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-13486911515392951542009-07-13T19:33:00.006-04:002010-08-03T09:47:56.299-04:00

Though I wasn't blogging much during my study abroad in Japan, I did keep a travel journal that I wrote in every so often. On my last night in the states, my parents had given me this journal that depicted an artistic picture of Mount Fuji on the cover, with the presumption that I would bring back many stories from Japan, Guam, and wherever else I chose to go. As I write many of these posts

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-57607187435675918802009-07-11T12:35:00.012-04:002009-07-28T12:20:35.942-04:00

Before I begin my upcoming project of, well, continuing my project of documenting adventures from Japan, I wanted to go on a short tangent about blogs. Specifically, my blogs. And yes, I know that sounds egocentric, but it's my blog so what do you expect? I realized that I've been using this page for a year now, and feel like this post will help to tie up where I've come from, continuing the

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-16602734097084716762009-06-30T17:36:00.011-04:002009-10-13T19:01:08.556-04:00

It was Friday, June 5th - my last full day in the Philippines. I was so busy that I didn't get the chance to finish taking pictures of the outside of the house, but when I woke up I took a quick video of the inside (see the video blog) because I knew my time would be limited. Being around sick kids for the last three days didn't do well to improve my initial sickness, and for the rest of the

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-24775570950834045582009-06-30T16:38:00.006-04:002009-07-28T12:04:39.772-04:00

Our trip with the kids to Palawan started on Monday, June 1st, after Jasmin's and my 2 hour "nap." We were in a rush and barely had time to buy doughnuts for breakfast before boarding our plane in Manila with Jasmin and her parents, Gyles, Coleen, and myself. Like Boracay, the flight only took an hour; unlike Boracay, the van to the hotel was only about 15 minutes, the hotel was much nicer and

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-75873674390391317602009-06-30T12:43:00.002-04:002009-07-28T12:05:06.232-04:00

The next couple days were without question the calmest of the entire vacation, the eye of the storm if you will, before a straight shot of activity that would eventually lead to Jasmin and I coming home to MD. We woke up late Saturday and took our time getting up until the kids arrived. I'd met Jasmin's young niece and nephew, Gyles and Coleen, on Guam, and every summer they come to stay with

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-12466378265266821892009-06-30T01:28:00.007-04:002009-07-28T12:05:25.011-04:00

Jasmin's parents were so nice that not only did they let me stay in their really nice home, but they brought me along on two truly amazing trips within our trip to the Philippines. The first was to Boracay (pronounced bore-ah-kuy), which can be summed up as the ideal getaway - a bright, warm place with white sand, clear water, palm trees, where everything is cheap. We had to wake up super early

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-22965081525814960112009-06-29T13:44:00.007-04:002009-07-28T12:05:42.930-04:00

I'm going to test something out here with a video I uploaded to YouTube. Let me know what you guys think of blogs like this. Here's the description I had of the house from part 1:Though all-in-all the house probably isn't much bigger than mine in MD, the layout and furnishings make it look like a manshion. Their neighborhood has a booth and guard when you come in, and their house is surrounded

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-8783825280919856052009-06-29T12:35:00.004-04:002009-07-28T12:06:04.730-04:00

I'm going to be on rapid fire in order to get up all the blogs from my trip to the Philippines before the end of June. Yes that's right, 6 parts are planned. But they're a lot shorter than from Japan (I hope). Alright, so the trip was two weeks long, from Saturday, May 23 - Saturday, June 6, 2009. Some of the blogs were written in the Philippines, and some were written afterward. Let's jump

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-53594831469662976102009-06-16T02:44:00.006-04:002009-07-28T12:21:03.907-04:00

I probably should have blogged about this when it actually happened in, like, late March, but that was the middle of the semester and I didn't even have time to post about Japan. So I recently found some old bookmarks about it and got the urge to write something now while I'm still organizing my Philippines posts. As far as you need to know, it's like it just happened. :pFor a while now I've

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-48938169012097523192009-06-09T15:25:00.005-04:002010-08-03T09:47:15.801-04:00

Jasmin's last full day in Japan began by waking up in the historical, but completely updated, city of Kyoto. We had breakfast that consisted of various kinds of delicious bread and then checked out of our hotel, but asked them to hold onto the bags until the afternoon. With our stuff for the day, we went to a nearby konbini (convenience store) to buy all-day bus passes so we could get around

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-87589471407236676912009-06-09T03:08:00.006-04:002010-08-03T09:46:53.326-04:00

As I write this, I'm on a plane following the same route that I took 9 months ago, the 13-hour flight from Detroit to Japan. There's a lot of time on planes to do things, so what better than to reminisce once again about my 4-month stay in Japan and to finish writing about mine and Jasmin's adventures? I'm actually not returning to Japan quite yet, but am on my way to stay in the Philippines

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-56054439940850564502009-04-07T20:02:00.013-04:002010-08-03T09:46:37.326-04:00

Over two months have passed since writing part 1, but I'm determined to finish this no matter what! Originally I wanted to get out the next three parts all at once so you guys could read them back-to-back, but since I've been busy uploading pictures and videos I decided to write this asap, then put the last two parts up simultaneously later. Also, I recently went over the topics that I plan to

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-67894400081509884152009-04-01T16:29:00.009-04:002009-07-28T12:21:24.215-04:00

So I was sitting in class today, mind wandering off as usual, when I realized something - 10 years ago this month, I was first getting into what would eventually lead me to the anime fandom I consider myself a part of today. I put it like that because it wasn't watching and enjoying anime that first caught my interest, it was the Dragon Ball Z trading cards my friends showed me back in 6th grade

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-352626133784689102009-03-30T23:21:00.009-04:002010-08-03T09:44:56.208-04:00

Today I finally finished uploading all of the pictures and videos from my study-abroad experience in Japan last semester. All 1500 photos and 60 videos from the 4 months I was there are online, organized to the extreme of course since it's me. The first hurdle of documenting my adventures has been taken care of, so now I can focus on those blog posts I've been promising. Some of them are

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-40348498258204314042009-02-03T23:28:00.009-05:002010-08-03T09:44:23.692-04:00

So I've been back at home for over a month, back in college taking classes and waiting for Jasmin to return in ONLY TWO DAYS! Though I'm once again on the other side of the planet from Japan, I feel like I left part of myself there, waiting to be reunited either through the friends I made or when I return next year for the Jet Program (more on that in a later post). I've been studying Japanese

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-89609096004810445622009-01-01T23:58:00.004-05:002010-08-03T09:44:00.391-04:00

Now that the Fall semester has come to a close, you may have (rightly) guessed that I've returned stateside. ;_; My semester abroad is now behind me, and while I was over there I managed to make only 1 blog post about it. XD But the stories are still ahead, friends! I've been logging various events in a paper journal, and using those in addition to referring to my some 1,500 pictures, I plan to

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-43037344248282925222008-11-29T01:21:00.007-05:002010-08-03T09:43:42.074-04:00

I'm going to ignore the pink elephant in the room right now, but I will point out the irony that after just a few adventures a lot of posts seem to accumulate on this blog, but when tons of adventures occur there are no posts at all. Just no time to write about them, you know?Back in September, a girl in my Japanese class asked me if I was going to the Tokyo Game Show on the weekend of October

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-30702344715487837662008-09-14T10:11:00.006-04:002009-07-28T12:11:32.949-04:00

Sunday in Guam began with a Filipino-inspired flea market, where Jasmin, her brother, and I ate breakfast but didn't have time to haggle for cool items or do much else unfortunately. We went home and changed clothes to go to church, as Jasmin's whole family is Catholic and attends mass. Though I no longer belong to an organized religion, I still dressed up rather nicely, but when we got there

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-78880170748599245632008-09-13T08:40:00.006-04:002009-07-28T12:11:51.336-04:00

So yes, it's been one of those periods of activity that are too busy to even find time to write about. It's already been almost 2 weeks since I arrived in Japan, and I have yet to blog about it. However! Prior to reaching the land of the rising sun, I had an amazing experience in the land of the beautiful woman -- Guam!! ..and yes, the beautiful woman is my girlfriend. :DThe first thing I

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-68802962901050469812008-08-23T14:06:00.005-04:002009-07-28T12:12:04.905-04:00

I actually had this post written up a while ago, but I've been too busy to put it up, so here ya go.I woke up on the final day and, though still tired, forced myself to pack so we could get checked out with plenty of time to spare on enjoying the last day at Otakon '08. Once again, I went down to the gym for some extensive stretches, and when I returned everyone was ready to leave as well. So

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-66846758322859504102008-08-14T07:54:00.006-04:002009-07-28T12:12:19.198-04:00

I woke up around 10:30 on the second day, having gone to bed late the night before. Miraculously, my legs felt great, and I decided to continue my stretching routine by going down to the health club for a half hour. When I got back and changed, I headed straight to brunch at the inner harbor for some pasta and salad, which was a little more expensive than yesterday's sub but added some needed

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-20378063320879218902008-08-12T00:15:00.005-04:002009-07-28T12:12:34.041-04:00

It's that time of year again! Otakon is the biggest anime convention on the east coast, and second only (maybe in the world) to Anime Expo in California. It goes from Friday to Sunday and falls anywhere from late July to late August, and luckily for me the city of Baltimore is only about an hour away from my house. I started going to Otakon in 2003 when I decided at the last minute to check it

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-46848598285673082008-07-29T00:01:00.007-04:002010-08-03T10:01:57.990-04:00

If you happened to notice my absence from the internet as of late, even though I'm not on AIM as much as I used to be anyway, that's because I was too busy not being very busy at all and chilling at the beach. (You'd have known this if you followed me on Twitter -- add me, someone!) My parents have a really nice beach house in Delaware that's about a mile walk from the ocean, which looks out

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-88797929719066795742008-07-15T07:08:00.004-04:002009-07-28T12:25:43.721-04:00

For this and other reviews of my own consumption, please visit my theOtaku World: Sykedelic Entertainment! This blog will otherwise continue to cover events of my life.To be honest, I wasn't really impressed when I saw the trailer for Wanted. Curving bullets, high-speed car chases, and Angelina Jolie can only mean another action-packed, mindless summer Blockbuster. Strange, though. The more of

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-44510740264647553292008-07-14T17:15:00.009-04:002010-04-07T21:06:27.677-04:00

Today marks the 5 month anniversary that my girlfriend and I have been together, and two days from now she will be leaving for the Philippines and Guam. Though we're going to do everything we can to see each other during the Fall semester while I'm in Japan, she doesn't plan to return to the states until at least 7 months from now. The best case scenario is that she'll be able to visit Japan

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-87738242547001533282008-07-09T00:44:00.011-04:002010-08-03T10:01:37.664-04:00

Last Wednesday I was driving home after spending some time at my girlfriend's place. It was getting late, and I had to be at work at 9 pm for the overnight shift. I didn't really get a lot of sleep the night before because I needed to be at the car place by around 8 am so they could check the light I fixed on my license plate. The day had been an eventful one and my body was tired, but I didn't

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-9013795039375880382008-07-08T16:29:00.004-04:002009-07-28T12:26:21.385-04:00

Not really sure why I've been putting off an introduction post, but this is what I wanted to start with before I get to the actual posts. And enough blogging content is coming to mind that I feel like I can't ignore it any longer!You've probably found your way to this page as one of my friends, either online or offline. If you don't know me, then you still may get some sort of sick

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2050028491093297416.post-2544114987722558362008-06-23T06:02:00.001-04:002008-06-24T12:33:00.683-04:00

Testing the waters of our temporal nature.

Greg Stevenshttps://profiles.google.com/110685953675251979943noreply@blogger.com0