masculinity and the color of ipad smart cover

I was looking at ipads (yes, I'm one of the few people that actually need it - more on this later) and my female co-worker, who happens to be my best friend at the school, peeked at my monitor and said, "you know, I don't really care about the ipad, but I want to buy every single one of those covers, all in different color."

I just laughed, but inside, I was thinking: 'Gosh girls can be so dumb.  Why the hell would you buy identical covers for 40 dollars just because they're in different color?  I guess the phrase 'overlapping functionality' doesn't mean much to you.'  

But it turns out that I was the one that was dumb, because I'm seriously thinking about getting an ipad and I want multiple covers in different colors.  But that is not the only problem.  The problem is that one of those colors happens to be pink.  Yes, I'd like to have a pink smart cover. 


I think pink matches so well with white, and that's really all there is to it.

But honestly, I'm afraid of what other people will think.  I'm almost ashamed to admit this, because I've NEVER been the self-conscious type. 

It would actually be nicer if people mocked, 'are you a girl?' or something along the lines because I could snap back and say, 'you think masculinity is defined by a color?  you're fucking dumb.' But it's the silent, judging stare that makes me uncomfortable.  And after a while, it just might wear me out.

I'll have to contemplate about this a bit longer.  I'm actually compelled to get an opinion of my co-worker (may be I AM turning into a girl), but for now, I'm actually thinking about getting a pink cover just because it would be a challenge.  You know, crushing my insecurities while being a called a... fag.


The other color that I really want.  I actually want green just as much.  I might just be anti climatic and buy green after all this. 

...

I'm more sensitive to color than most of my fellow male friends.  This might be due to photography, or may be I edit my pictures well because I'm color sensitive (correlation vs. casuality).  At any rate, all this is ironic because I still can't match colors when I dress. May be I'm not color sensitive at all.  Or may be I'm only sensitive when it comes to products.

...

Some people think there's no use for an ipad.  Well, I need one.  I mean, I won't die if I don't get it but I need it more than others.  Here are the reasons:

• I do about 6~8 'light' traveling a month.  That means I'm on a bus or a train for about 1~3 hours, 6~8 times a month.  For entertainment purposes, it would really be nice to have a portable device that is not heavy as a laptop.  Smart phone or an ipod touch would suffice, but I don't have one.
• I do 3~4 'heavy' traveling a year.  This is a no brainer. I already went to LA and Japan this year, and ipad would've been nice in both cases.
• Photography:  As most of you know, I'm a photographer.  It really would be nice to review & share my pictures immediately.  It's also nice to be able to share your pictures in a group setting after a photoshoot at Yosemite or something, when we have dinner afterward.  Yes, you can view your photos on the camera's lcd, but it's a different experience.
• Music:  In case you've forgot, I play multiple instruments.  It would be nice to hook up a guitar and record it on garage band once in a while just for fun. 
• Movie editing:  Once I get a better camera, I will be experimenting with movies.
• Presentation:  This is also where an ipad really shines.  I do a lot of presentations.

The only reason why I shouldn't get it is because I'm an internet addict and I need to spend more time away from the screen.  It's a convincing argument.

I rarely post other people's pictures here but...



omg so funny hahahah.

Japan, Day 2

So after sleeping at a dusty, smelly, low-budget capsule called a room, I headed for namba station for lunch.

This crab place is supposedly very famous, a landmark sort of.  I didn't eat there because it seemed too expensive, but I took a mandatory picture.



After that, I found Chibo. Okonomiyaki has been around for decades and decades, but Osaka-style okonomiyaki is the most popular, and Chibo is where it began. They must be doing something right for them to be in business since 1967.



Okonomiyaki is about 1,500 Yen, which is somewhat pricy (15bucks). But I had to try it.



It's basically a Japanese pancake, somewhat similar to Korean 부침개.



This stuff was delicious. It was a little bit of an overkill towards the end, but it was still pretty darn good.



If I had to describe Japanese cuisine in a phrase, it would be 'attention to detail.' They seem to care about the smallest little things, while Koreans just eat whatever, however they want.

After my wonderful meal, I hopped on a train to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan.




The place below is Kiyomizu temple






And because Kyoto is a big tourist city, there are lots of cultural attractions everywhere (i.e. Japanese women wearing their traditional clothing). When one of them took out their digital camera, I had to take a picture of it.













After that, I went to the Kyoto Tower and its vicinity. There's nothing to see there.



I saw couple other temples and stuff afterwards, but honestly, all the temples pretty much look the same after a few. So I decided to skip on temples and Kyoto in quest for good restaurants.  I originally went to Japan to take pictures, but this is when the purpose of my trip changed to eating good food instead.  I hopped on the train back to Osaka Station, and back to Namba.




Osaka Station

What I've always wanted to try was Japanese Ramen, and this place is supposedly the most famous (that's what the book said at least), so I went there.





It was pretty good, but it wasn't phenomenal. The bigger problem was that I was still hungry afterwards. So I decided to try a little sushi.





But to my dismay, this place was mediocre. I later learned that it's a pretty big sushi franchise in Japan. Boo. I walked around a little bit more before going back to the hotel.

Japan, Day 1

Normally, I try to post pictures on the blog first, but I couldn't this time because the site was down.  But unlike facebook, I will write a short narrative as I go through the pictures. 

Arrival at the Kansai Airport:

From Japan

It's always a little depressing to walk out of an airport by yourself.  It wasn't my first time completely alone in a country where they didn't speak English or Korean, but I was confident that everything would be alright.  I took the Nankai line to Shin-Imamiya Station as planned.


First picture in the train. While Koreans use the words 'subway' and 'railway,' interchangeably, Japanese strictly distinguish the two. 

After getting off at the Shin-Imamiya Station, I quickly ran into trouble.  I was supposed to get off at the east exit, but I didn't know which direction was east.  So I decided to go out and walk around the vicinity a little bit.

From Japan

hmmmm, may be I should ask for directions instead of walking around too much...



I was surprised at first, because the area was much dirtier and more ghetto than I had anticipated.  I expected Japan to be super clean and nice everywhere, but that obviously wasn't the case.

I stayed at a 'hotel/hostel' called Hotel Chou.  I've stayed in better places in Mongolia and Mexico before, BUT to their credit, it was 2,200 Yen a day (that's 22 bucks if the exchange rate is $1 = 100 Yen, though it isn't). 

After unpacking, I decided to venture out and go to the Osaka Castle.  I was a little worried because Japan's railways are somewhat complicated - public lines, JR, private lines, need to distinguish railways/subways, two different maps... in Korea, you have one map, one card that pays for everything, without distinction between railways/subways and public/private rails.  It's not that I mind getting lost, but it's just that public transportation in Japan is quite expensive and I didn't want to make extra expenditures.  But I was able to figure out everything in about a day.



Area around the Osaka Castle:





 



The Osaka Castle itself: 








After touring the Osaka Castle, I had a sudden impulse to check out J-House.  The only problem was that I didn't know its location.  But I vaguely remembered where Kevin had marked on the map, so I just decided to pick out a station that seemed familiar and go from there.





And guess what? After choosing a random exit and walking around, I miraculously ran into J-House. It was one of the crazier moments of my life.






And this is where I decided to have my first meal in Japan:





It was excellent.  The curry was good, but I was especially impressed with the freshness of the oil they used.

After dinner, I went to Dotunbori, near Namba station, where all the good restaurants are at (supposedly).





And I saw this place, which reminded me of Bryan:



...so I had to eat here.

my second meal in Japan:



It was good, but it wasn't great. It was actually quite similar to Yoshinoya back in Cali. For the rest of the day, I walked around Namba station and went back to the armpits of Osaka I mean er, the hotel.