Subconcious Self

I've begun to start dreaming again. It's been quite a while since I had my last dream before now.

Feeling like I'm wasting my life sleeping, I cycled from home to downtown again. A total distance of roughly 20 miles there and back, and after staying off the bike for a few days, getting there was hard. The pain hurt excessively. I was dizzy and light-headed at times, but kept going and it was gone.

Poof, just like that.

In downtown, I bought a coffee frappuccino with whipped cream from Starbucks. Sat down, set my legs on the other chair, and stared at the sky and the skyscrapers nearby.

I also fixed my own bike today (trued the front and back wheels), and am proud of myself! I did a better job than the mechanic who repaired it.




Speaking of which, I'm going out again tomorrow, giving a friend from Illinois a tour of San Jose. Whether she has a bike or not has me scratching my head.

Doubts

To everyone: I've returned home to San Jose. Yay, joy.
(Japanese for host parents: サンノゼに帰りました～)

But 'home?' I don't know if I could call it that.
Sure enough, I love this city and country but calling 'America' home has always been an issue for me.

Since childhood, I was taught and believed that America is in fact the greatest country in the world. Up to now in the recent years, I've been starting to doubt that. It's a good country, a beautiful one, too. She has given me many opportunities in life other people in different countries don't have.

An example is studying abroad. Despite this, it all changed last year when I did so. In doing so, suddenly, this country isn't as great as it seems. Upon returning--I will be honest with you--I felt so distant and was reluctant to accept this place I was born as home. I had the hardest week adjusting my life back here; It's a tough emotional battle, even now.

I feel like a tourist ever since. Walking past random people on the sidewalk makes me feel uncomfortable. America's diversity is itself an advantage, but forces vagueness into etiquette and culture.

The high crime rate here is maybe a reason why I can't call it home. The rudeness of people on the streets is maybe something else I can't tolerate.

If any one of us should call America a 'home,' that is questionable due to our private way of living. Is it possible to love and hate your own country? If the country could apologize, it would have to take more than that to win me back.


My heart is somewhere else right now.

Three Degrees

Dear San Jose,

Tomorrow--or today, I should say since it's half past midnight--I will at last be returning to you! I can't wait. It's July 6th.

A 9-hour ride. That's like a flight across the Pacific Ocean. Ugh.

Well, I just returned from The Mirage's volcano show and Treasure Island's show of men and women on seperate boats fighting with each other. I liked T.I.'s show better, since it lasted 15 minutes with fireworks and live fireballs. Unfortunately, emergency vehicles passed every so often with their air horns and sirens blaring so that sort of ruined the nautical atmosphere. Nonetheless, it was great, and I wish I could upload the video of the whole thing here but it's 1.2 GB. Oh well, I'll try to find a way. (hopefully)




Earlier today, we took a shuttle to the Rio to eat a free buffet (4 people---total was a hundred and three bucks with tax, all for free!) but the line to wait was ridiculously long. It took us a whole hour to move just 20 feet! I was frustated at one point that I started pounding on the walls and began scratching "WTF" with my keychain. I didn't care. They (the staff) treated us like crap making us stand so I'll treat the place like crap. I take pride in doing that. Fortunately, we moved before I could finish the first stroke of the letter 'W' and I stopped.



The buffet was less appetizing than "Flavors" buffet in Hurrah's. More variety but not worth $25 for each individual.

After we finished eating, I started playing around with my camera with my little brother. I had an idea to start zooming up on people's faces and taking a picture because I thought the expression on their faces at any given point in time was hilarious.

Take this picture for example.

She looks hyper and eager to eat her soup! ;)

On our shuttle back to Hurrah's, our driver said tomorrow's forecast would be much more tolerable.
"Tomorrow's forecast calls for lots of clear, blue skies, and will be much cooler--103."

I had a puzzled look when he said that, so apprently I guess Las Vegas residents have experienced much more brutal weather than today's high of 106 degrees. "I'm sure you'll notice the three-degree difference," he ended.



Um, not really.

Love,
Jimmy

No Place Like Home

Dear San Jose,

Yesterday's buffet was yummy. I went 'om nom nom' on the crab and steak.



It's my second day in Las Vegas and it's July 5th. I think I've seen everything on the Strip yesterday. After all, I didn't go to bed until 1 AM so it was quite a day (and I think I broke the curfew law, but whatever). The Strip is a fabulous place, but now there's nothing else to see besides shows like the water fountain one in front of the Palace.

It's boring here. It's just a huge shopping mall slash casino area.
(I bought sunglasses today, coincidentally)

The Las Vegas Monorail is a rip-off, too. It's five dollars for a one way ticket--only a quarter mile. Sure you can beat the crowds and the traffic but it's way too overpriced. A BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) subway ticket can take me up to San Francisco at 70-80 mph, which is some 50 miles with that equivalent cost.



THERE IS NO FREE WIFI INTERNET-ACCESS HERE. No courtesy for their guests, geez. Makes me miss home and all my lovely friends even more!

I want to return back home now, to you!


Yours truly,
Jimmy

Oasis in the Desert

Dear San Jose,

I have arrived in Las Vegas on Independence Day, July 4th.
Interesting to say how from a minute, all you see is the vast desert and the next minute, a bustling city in sight. By the way, how do you read this sign I happened to pass?


Welcome to Nevada sign.

Las Vegas, Nevada (Japanese: ネバダ州ラスベガス市にも行った)



The Strip was very lively, pedestrians fill up the wide sidewalks, much, much more than San Francisco's Market Street. Their disreguard here for crosswalk signals reminds me of Vietnam, where traffic signals are simply decorations.

The weather, I have to say, is HOT HOT HOT (Oh really, James?). Yes. A city in the middle of the desert, I should've brought water on my walk alone on the Strip, because my nose felt like it was going to bleed many times. The sidewalks are hot like frying pans, and the metal stairwell bars are oven grills. In case you're wondering, San Jose, I enjoy walking alone in the Strip for the same reason I stroll your streets alone: the feeling of Independence.
An Independence High School student independently walking on Independence Day to show his independence! (LOL, lame isn't it?)



Sidewalks are littered with prostitution cards, so much that it's like seeing black, dried-up gum. Also on them are stands where vendors sell their souvenirs and where bright yellow Las Vegas metro police officers with their bicycles stand on patrol. With sirens frequently blaring on the streets, and with cars honking every so often, this place is pretty noisy (in a good way, if you know what I mean).

Porn on the ground. Literally.

At Hurrah's Hotel and Casino

At night is when almost everyone comes out. This place is more crowded than the Shibuya district in Tokyo, you can hardly walk and the crowd moves at about 2 miles an hour. In the pedestrian overhead crossing bridges, you move even less--about 0.5 mph! Hence the reason is obvious why. The city is colorful with its tall buildings and draped over with the 4th of July fireworks.






Las Vegas is a sexy city. That's all I have to tell you.
(You're still number one, though.)

Yours,
Jimmy

It's a Small World After All

Dear my San Jose,

On July 3rd, we went to Disneyland and only Disneyland. We decided that buying a hopper pass to California's Adventure Park was not worth the money since we were only going to the park for one day.




I was stuck while on the ride called "Space Mountain." The staff turned on all the lights inside the dark and starry void and it resembled a metal jungle mess! I have some pictures to show you.




The staff decided to allow us another free run because of this, so instead of stopping and deboarding, we continued sitting and they let us go another round. Two in one, baby!

A few hours later we went to "It's a Small World" and it really made me happy (and like everything else, yearning for Japan again).




We also were stuck on this ride as well. Boats were colliding with one another inside the attraction. We've seen terrible SoCal traffic and now here's traffic in the ride. Guess it is really a small world after all. ;)

BEEP BEEP. TRAFFIC JAM.




The fireworks at the end of the day were also spectacular! Enormous, luminescing flowers blooming with a 'boom' in the sky ended the day really well.




Despite all this fun, staying here made me realize that I missed cycling on the wide, open lanes of your streets and lying under the shady trees of your parks. From where I am typing on Interstate 15 to Las Vegas, I don't "know the way to San Jose."





(This last picture is so romantic!)

Yours,
Jimmy

Follow-up to San Jose

Dear San Jose,

I've arrived in Anaheim today; just now. I hate the SoCal traffic, it's ridiculous. They clearly need mass transit like you have! Well on the trip, there were nothing but fields and more fields, mountains and more hills... Quite boring if you ask me on Interstate 5.

I have an interesting story to tell you along the way.
Near afternoon around eleven o'clock, my family decided to dine in at a McDonalds restaurant in Buttonwillow, California. As the food arrived, my mom urges me to "eat your fries" first, or else they'll turn cold. I tell her I didn't want to, and continued by saying "Itsu--" (Itsumo) which means "always" in Japanese. I was trying to tell her she always tells me this, but I caught myself before I finished it.

It's been, about a year now since I left Japan? And still Japanese slips out. I thought the whole thing was hilarious, but the upside is that I haven't forgotten the language.

I'm currently waiting outside my hotel until 3:00 PM when they'll let us in our rooms. But I'm really delighted that there's free WiFi for me to keep in touch with you!

P.S. How's my house, by the way?

Love,
Jimmy Ly

A Letter to San Jose

Dear San Jose,

You've raised me from birth while I watched you change, you've shown me your beauty, you've bathed me in your bright sunshine, you've placed me right next to San Francisco and its gateway to the world. I thank you.

I have to say that for the next few days I will be leaving you and soon California as well. But worry not, I shall return and so will all my lovely friends internationally abroad. Please take care of yourself; don't burn yourself like last year and keep yourself clear of any smokey hazes while I'm away. Also, don't play with the Sun too much, okay? You'll dry yourself up!

On my journey, I will try to keep in touch wherever possible online, but I cannot guarantee that I have such access everyday. Just make sure to check back on this blog, for I will provide pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Sleep well tonight! I will quietly wake before dawn and will try not to wake you up.

P.S. Also, don't cry too much. You know it's summer and crying in this season makes you look extremely gloomy. No one would visit you if you start doing that now, right?


With lots of love,
Jimmy