Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in amyro's LiveJournal:

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Friday, June 8th, 2007
2:50 pm	A general pop-psychology question: What is the difference between a narcissist and a sociopath? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 8th, 2007
8:57 am	A non-traditional haiku If bagels were wild animals, the kind you hunt, I'd be out there every day with a spear gun. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 20th, 2007
11:04 am	Of course that thing I said about hating Europeans came back to bite me in the ass. . .in a good way. More Europeans in the conservation group than you could shake a stick at. . .Here, so I don't forget, I am just going to list the wildlife I have seen: 2 types of tree snakes, ten kinds of tree lizards, tokay geckos (they make a loud "tokay" call 7 times), endless bird species (including but not limited to hornbills, bee-eaters, black herons, numerous songbirds), gigantic black/orange/white butterflies the size of your face, a tribe of white-tailed macaques, giant neon red bees the size of your thumb, a beached dolphin, some jellies both large and small - three giant brown ones that were probably three feet across, and a bunch of small ones that looked like breast implants, sea cucumbers, tunicates (Yes!!! Did I just say yes? Because I meant YES!!!!!! =D ), large pufferfishes washed ashore, mudskippers and giant maneating clams, seaturtles swimming around some rocks looking for food (but no nests, not yet at least), mangroves and casuarina trees, coconut throwing monkeys, a city of cicadas that rang out in full stereo every AM and PM at 6:30 sharp, vines hanging everywhere, a little brown frog about the size of my palm that lived in the shower at the first house I stayed at. . .and those motherfrewing cornsucking mosquitos and those godless heathens the black flies, which by day three, what with their endless attacks on my skin, made me look and feel like a mangey dog. Also, the heat. Can't forget the stifling heat, and the sharp footcutting apparati (seashells) EVERYWHERE. . .also endless ghostcrabs and hermitcrabs. Large hermitcrabs. Juicy looking hermitcrabs. And crab tracks. And ghosts. And spirithouses. Ok, I guess the following stuff isn't wildlife, but still, things I want to remember: Marmite and the marmitians, lots of talk about ghosts from the tsunami, the whole beachside barely growing back from complete decimation, a savanna fire that nearly engulfed the whole island and burned literally meters from our little hut as we were sleeping, a pu-yai (like the town chief) from the village on the other side of the island who asked for money in order to send people to put it out, a beached dolphin that my chumly Pipap (a strange French Greek fellow who speaks like ten languages and whom I will miss sorely) has to do an autopsy on to see exactly why he beached, children's day with a bunch of adorable thai school children all with the exact same ball haircut (seems they have the same hairdresser I had when I was seven), learning about the NATR. . .I could go on but I have to catch my bus to Phuket. . .I miss the buddies I made on the island. But I have to say I miss my buddies at home incredibly to. I can't wait to see you guys!!!! (Comment on this)
Friday, January 5th, 2007
4:21 pm	I am appropriately drunk from nursing a beer all by my lonesome at one of those over-priced open air wood-and-rattan tourist joints on traveller's cove, so let me take this precious time to tell you about my days so far: Julie left this morning, and I am back to fending off the Bangkok chaos completely by my lonesome. . .Julie injured her foot a few days ago after our river cruise so she has been bedridden for most of our time here, which has left me a lot of time to wonder the city by myself anyways - still it is nice to come home to someone and tell them about your day, even if they are bedridden. But my travellin' buddy had to depart for the calmer waters of Guam this morning, so this post fulfills my largely unmet needs for wind-bagg-ery. First, the news: Yesterday, I had an appointment at Chulalongkorn University. Yes, to answer your question, I have even found a way to make my (please say the next phrase in your head with an appropriately sleazy voice) "wild times" in Bangkok EXCEEDINGLY square (though I tell you I still must fend off the urge to nip into the local pharmacy now and then for some you-know-whats - Bad Square Amy!). . .seems my advisor knows a professor of Marine Ecology at the old CU and thought it would be a good idea if I met her to talk Thailand tunicates. Now, this might seem like a mighty fantastic opportunity for me as I love both Thailand and tunicates, except that I really had no idea what I was going to say to her other than "I'm me. . .You're you. . .Yeah!" Fortunately, she was INCREDIBLY nice, and it seems that we (or at least, my lab and her lab) have a lot in common in terms of projects so we talked for a while about that and she even took me out to lunch at the faculty eatery (tofu fishball noodle soup and dragon fruit). She also gave me a tour of Chulalongkorn University, where the kids are adorably emo and they all look like they are about twelve years old. She also gave me some bottles to collect tunicates on the reefs down south at my teachers request: I am grateful for the opportunity, but I swear that what is essentially a volunteer position has sno-balled into becoming my entire life and is even following me to the ends of the earth, literally. In other news, I find the traveller's habits in Bangkok are as weird (eh-em: different, I mean) as the Bangkokians - they're all European (I've met about five Americans total), they smoke endlessly, have lots of dreadlocks, refuse to smile, and make it a point not to eat outside of traveller's cove, which, might I add, has the worst Thai streetfood in all of the city. At least in my humble opinion. Moving on. . .I have made it a point to try one of everything as I walk down the "good" street-food streets (so far I like the upper part of Thanon Phra Athit past the fort going towards the Democracy Monument, the non-tourist part of Thanon Rambutri by the 7-11, and a few other areas scattered around the city): endless variations of fried rice, noodles, pork, chicken, noodle soups etc. etc. Let me add to the notches on my culinary bedpost the following things: the most delicious rice porridge with pork-chicken sausage patties EVER, a strange purple banana liquid soup with condensed milk that was delicious but so sweet it made my stomach think twice about allowing me to eat it again, small round fried sweet coconut puddings with corn niblets and onion, and fried dough fingers which are meant to be eaten with above mentioned rice porridge. My local fried dough-finger vendor seems to get quite annoyed each time I approach him because I always request five dough fingers on the fly without buying any "joke" (rice porridge) from him. I do this because the better rice porridge vendor is down the street. DAMN YOU AMERICANS!!!Y#$%)(U&$# All in all, this time in Bangkok has confirmed my love of flavorful food, gardens, greenery, pastels (don't ask), and books; it has confirmed my dislike of smog, Europeans (well, as a large smoking French-speaking group, not individually. Alright, just kidding. I love Europeans ;D), and, well, mostly smog and Europeans. One thing that saddens me: there is still so much to eat! (er, do!) Well, off to the Andaman Sea for me (I'll be stationed at this place for the duration of my project: http://www.goldenbuddharesort.com/ - and yes, I'll be working, seriously) and then I'll post again in another two weeks. Cheers! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
5:23 pm	Alright, Bangkok post part deux: Yesterday, Julie and I went to get massages at Wat Pho. The tiny Thai lady had literally the force of the jaws of life in her hands! I came away feeling bruised but giddy and lightheaded with health and tension free muscles. Weird how that works. After, we walked around the market close to Wat Pho - there was something like a dried fish and shrimp and spice bazaar next to a key making bazaar - all in a rickety old warehouse sitting atop the floating docks next to the river. I remember seeing it last time but not being intrepid enough to explore it - this time I definitely did, maybe a little too much. At points, I felt like I was walking into peoples dock-side shanty town living rooms - worn-faced grannies lying atop wooden benches staring at the river, little kids running around splashing buckets of dirty water over each other, all in tiny little dark and wooden cavernous warehouse rooms that seemed like they could collapse into the river at any moment. We were definitely the only foreigners there, and it was definitely much more fascinating than anything I've seen in traveller's cove. . .we continued on along the river and came to other more open, more touristed bazaars - bought some old Thai 7" 45's from an old lady selling knick knacks (I wonder what's on them!), ate some delicious Shanghai-style breadsticks while Julie got some peanut rolls, had the most delicious fried shimp fish cake EVER, got suckered into buying a buck fifty of rambutans by some old fruit vendor lady (trust me, that's a lot of rambutans). Looked for the docklady restaurant - it seems her area of the dock has been demolished! I'm sure she is busy stewing and stirfrying somewhere else, but I have yet to find it. . . instead went to a small little riverside restaurant we hapenned upon in another riverside warehouse labyrinth (again, no tourists! I feel like I should get a traveller's metal everytime I explore someplace where there are no other tourists). We ate VERY VERY spicy green papaya salad with a view of tangled floating lotus and the river literally splashing six inches beneath the planks under our feet. Oh Jacks, in case you want the address of the corn fritter place, it is 10/2 (I think that's the number) Trok Mahathat (or Maharat -spelling depends on which map you have), near the amulet market, didn't stop there, but I'm sure it's still good. . .anyways, got some Buddhist books in English near Wat Mahathat, then decided to go crash some ritzy hotels pools for some R&R. Went to the Sukhothai - too much rich eurotrash (only so many times you can hear "I will have lots of sex zis new year" in a German accent), so wandered over to the lowkey Banyan tree, which I officially LOVE. Clientele was nice, took a dip in their lovely skypool, had some drinks in the bar. . .you have good taste in hotels, Lizzy. Of course got madly sick right after we left and made a mad dash from my cab through Bangkok traffic into what thankfully turned to be the nicest Bangkok restroom ever in a Japanese seafood restaurant chain right on Silom near Patpong. Always get sick on the second evening here for some reason. . .very embarassing. . .ah well! The food's definitely worth it! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, January 1st, 2007
4:15 pm	Hey Dudes! Ok, so the emotional spacekataz of flying has finally worn off, and I am really enjoying myself here! I finally coerced myself into going out for New Year's - though only for a short while. I stuck around traveller's cove (which is properly known as Soi Rambutri) and Khao San - it was packed with both Thai's and tourists and there were adorable Thai bands playing everywhere. I stopped to watch one set up right on the corner of Traveller's cove near the tattoo shop because it had gyrating Thai tranny hip hop dancers - the best kind in my opinion. There was a countdown on Khao San but I didn't stay for that - unfortunately, my fatigue got the best of me and I ended up sleeping through midnight. Ah well! Woke up the next morning and went to MBK because I heard their foodcourt was, how shall I say this, 'da bomb. 'Twas. Had a shrimp squid medley stirfried with chili paste over rice. It was sublime. I thought, this food is so good - I will come back to this mall everyday while I'm here. But that was until I tried the streetfood just outside of the mall. . .actually, it was a small vendor with the makeshift "kitchen" set up on one side of the lane and the tables set up on the other - pork with green leafy veg over rice was the plate du jour. Now that sounds really bland, but you'll have to trust me on this one - it was the most delicious pork god or whoever has ever seen fit to bestow on this green earth. Made the food at MBK seem like plastic. Slightly sweet, slightly savory, fragrant pork with tangy bitter greens - the skin was crispy, the meat disolved in my mouth, the bitter greens were a perfect complement to the tasty fat. Jackie, in case you need directions for Mr. Lee, the streetvendor was on Sukhumvit Soi 2, the same lane as the Atlanta Hotel (where I tried to get a room, but to no avail. Look up the lobby, it's so art deco and film noir and rooms are unbelievbly cheap, and in the heart of Bangkok!) Well, these few words do not do the food I had justice. Later on, after Julie got here and we were sampling other streetfood near the Soi Rambutri 7-11 (had a sublime pork broth with cabbage - dear god it was good, and Julie had spicey pumpkin with lotus over rice), it occured to me that trying Thai street food is like that old adage about rivers "You can never step into the same river twice." You can never try the same street food twice! Even if you were to find the same vendor (which in this confusing city is pretty hard to do), the cook probably changes it up each day with whatever is fresh from the market, and each time you will get a distinct flavor that is unlike anything you've had before, even if you order the exact same dish. Well, enough of this writing - it's about 6:30 AM, and I am going to go find some porridge or something to tide me over until Julie and I go to Wat Pho. Cheers, and Happy New Year! (Comment on this)
12:51 am	I love this city - absolutely love it! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 31st, 2006
1:39 am	I had to fight like a dog for this internet access, and all you get is this lousy post. . . I am here, dear God I am here, in Bangkok. How the hell did I forget that it was so god damn intense? It just washes away all your best laid plans and painstakingly created expectations. . .plans mean absolutely nothing to this city. It is utter chaos. It is fascinating but frightening. Took the bus from the airport, got lost in the maze of soi's with all my bags among throngs (literally throngs - hundreds of sweaty tourists just like me per each narrow city soi/sidewalk) of people and tuk tuks and touts and street dudes and street dogs and street stalls and just utter street; nearly got mowed over by about 5 motorbikes on Soi Rambutri next to Khao San, accidentally wondered into a sacred ceremony thinking that the entrance to a wat was actually entrance to my hotel (boy did I get a bunch of weird looks), had absolutely no idea where I was going for quite some time until lo and behold there's my hotel. . .everytime I think I've figured it out something weird appears just around the corner. . .Oh man, do I miss my travel buddies! A girl needs help tango-ing with all this chaos! Lizzy, I miss the order and energy you bring to things! Jackie, I miss how intuitive and soulful you are about the smallest little details! Tony, I miss how you absolutely embody all of this chaos, as delightful and utterly enfuriating as it can be! Ok, I'll stop waxing rhapsodic about Thailand 2004 and get with Thailand 2007. . .first things first, I think I need sleep to be in fighting trim. About 14 hours should do me. I wake up at 4 AM and start exploring then? So be it. It's New Years Eve, right? I think I'll just wait till everyhing calms down in the wee hours of the morning. . . (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 12th, 2006
8:49 pm	I would like to set a record: Most non-consecutive viewings of "Back to the Future" in one month EVER recorded. Someone else will have to conquer consecutive viewings. . . (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 22nd, 2006
10:36 pm	Shamisen versus tap? Well here's a video that damn near well combines all of my interests (almost): funky tight and cool (Comment on this)
Monday, September 18th, 2006
9:14 pm	Coolest shark ever Landshark, GO! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006
12:47 pm	List of Dream Occupations Girl from Flashdance Madonna's backup dancer Bollywood Musical Extra Dae Jang Geum (she fuckin' kicks ass and don't you say otherwise - I am so sad KMTP no longer airs this show) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
9:56 pm	close my eyes, I am rhythm So the fastest swimmers in the pool are still lapping me, but. . .they are not lapping me quite as harshly as before. Does that mean I'm getting faster? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 30th, 2006
11:50 pm	Last public thought of the day: Ego, you are driving me mad today. Mad I tell you. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
8:56 pm	One more question for the day: Does my mind keep my body alive? Left side of my brain says: Why yes! Quoth Descarte, "I think therefore I am." And he was right about everything. That takes care of that then, right? right? Right side of my brain says: Shut up! Amygdala says: I fear. Dopamine feedback loop says: Go eat some ritz bitz please. Now I think I'll sleep a bit. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006
12:32 am	Second watcher's high: Episode 21. The plot thickens! (Comment on this)
Friday, April 28th, 2006
8:05 am	Like your evolutionary synthesis with a side of behavioural reductionism? E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology - is a very very good book. Some parts are controversial, but in my opinion, the controversies incited are fascinating. A worthwhile read if you like thinking about human behaviour from an evolutionary standpoint, or animal social behaviour in general. Pilfer it from your local library, say I! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
1:34 am	In the last 48 hours, I have watched 22 out of 26 episodes of Samurai Champloo, in between work, sleep, school, schoolwork, worksleep, spitshining my linoleum floors, and various "beer hours" as I like to call them (cheers to Willie the gruff bartender!). I reached my watchers high around day 2, episode 14 - definitely one of the best episodes. I am now officially attracted to a cartoon character (Mugen, of course - Jin is gay gay gay gay). This hasn't happened since the Daria episodes of '98 (Trent, Janes older brother, I'm looking at you). Returning to real life, I am confused when social relations do not end in bloody swordfights, much like people who obsessively watch porn are confused when people don't start raucously bonking three minutes after meeting. Lately, I've noticed I go into modes where I must consume a certain media product at all costs - I think it use to be some sort of audio thing I was into - oh yeah, music, that's it - but now it's moved more into the filmic/Serial television millieu. This weekend the severity of the habit wedged good nutrition, exercise, and personal hygiene out the door, forty paces down the block, and into a dark, dank alley. Eh, well. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 21st, 2006
10:52 am	Double damnation on the head of AS Also obsessed with Saved By The Bell. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
11:21 pm	Haven't been a member of the fanime club since 9th grade but for some reason I am obsessed with Samurai Champloo. DAMN YOU ADULT SWIM! (Comment on this)