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I've been playing around on my PC trying to figure out a way to make the most of the limited space I have in my new apartment in Tokyo and thought I would post one of my ideas here so feel free to comment if you have any opinions! This is the overall plan:
An overview:
...and finally a shot from inside:
Who is this...?
Well, I'm at a hotel in Ayutthaya north of Bangkok where the conference is being held and cursing the fact that I didn't bring my SD-card reader so I could upload some pictures from here. The hotel is literally located in the middle of nowhere, and although I tried taking a walk around the area yesterday I soon stumbled into a very dirty and suspicious-looking area, got scared and quickly escaped back to the safety of the hotel. My presentation is later today and tomorrow I am leaving early in the morning to meet a couple of friends from Thailand and after that go on my secret mission to Koh Samet!
Just as the sticky rainy season in Japan ends, I'm on my way to Thailand where I apparently can look forward to thunderstorms and 35+ degree temperatures! This time I will visit Bangkok, Ayuthaya and Koh Samet although it won't be all fun and games since I'm going there to make a presentation at a conference. Will be back Sunday, bye!
...either that or there's an error in the matrix. This is what the screen looks like in video-recording mode these days!
Backtracking through the stuff that was never posted I came across these pictures taken during a trip to Kyoto last year. I was invited to Export-Japan's end-of-the year party in Osaka and used that as an oppurtunity to spend New Year's Eve in the nearby "cultural capital" of Japan.
Welcome to my new home! I got tired of the limited options for modifying my site at Typepad and eventually decided to purchase the domain "balvig.com" and start my own site here. I'm in the process of transferring my photo albums from the previous blog and will probably be making adjustments to the site in the coming weeks, but all the blog-entries and comments should already be present. Hope you enjoy the change, feel free to write if you have any comments/questions.
Saw this map on a t-shirt in a local clothing store. Is it just me or is something missing?
At long last! Only about 8 months late, but finally I have managed to upload and add comments to the over 100 pictures I took in Australia. Just follow this link. Btw, some of the pictures are rather large, so you may need to scroll down to view the comments. Enjoy!
I guess I have quite a bit of catching up to do news-wise so where to start....Well, I suppose one of the most important bits of news is that I managed to find a job for when I graduate (thanks in no small part to my friend Alisa who introduced me to the company in the first place). The company is called "Export-Japan", helps Japanese companies in establishing contacts with foreign markets (by making English webpages etc) and has a tiny office in Hiro-o in Tokyo where I have already started working part-time, and am planning to work full-time after graduation from Tokai. Last year I was invited to their end-of-year party in Osaka and thus had an oppurtunity to spend New Year's Eve in Kansai (will be posting the pictures from that trip later). The picture shows my business card, it says my job-title is "System Engineer", which, although I would have preferred "Kung Fu Master" or something like that, sounds pretty cool I guess.
Edit: New address in Shibuya means a new business card! ;)
I guess my own birthday would be a good time for this website to "return from the dead". I'm a bit to exhausted after a long day at work right now, but I just wanted to thank everyone who sent me presents, I'm already feasting myself upon the vast amounts of Danish candy I've acquired! ;) Also thanks to everyone who mailed me! Oh, and to the people of the Osaka branch of my job, who sang "Happy Birthday" for me over the internet during our morning meeting (that was a first!). Anyway, hopefully I can get back to posting some more soon, although March also looks set to be quite a busy month. Bye!
09 Dec 2005 Tokyo, Japan @ Air - Official 'George is On' tour date.
10 Dec 2005 Tokyo, Japan @ Ageha - Official 'George is On' tour date.
Hopefully I will be able to catch them on the 10th, after meeting with some friends in Yokohama that day.
Here is a video clip I took in Yokohama a couple of weeks ago. Although I think this sort of clip is already widely available elsewhere on the Internet, it was the first time for me to actually see one of these people in real life.The guy in the video is playing a so-called "beatmania"-game where the goal is to push the right buttons at the right time in sync with music. Some people (like this one) go really overboard and develop their own dance moves as well. Makes me wonder what they could achieve if they actually practiced on a real instrument instead of spending hours at the arcade every day.
If you buy a bag of English muffins, a litre of low fat milk and a box of Kellogs Special K on sale at Daiei Supermarket, the total comes to 666 yen. So there.
Last Friday marked the end of Tokai's "university festival", a full week of concerts, food and activities on campus (and no classes!) culminating in a fireworks display Friday night. Tomorrow it's back to school but with less than two months till Christmas and winter holiday! My new excuse for not having been active on this page recently is that I have among other things been working on a different site which you will know about all about once it's done. Till then, I still have those Australia pics that I need to put up, there is just so many of them!
Halloween is almost here, which doesn't really mean much to me except for the antics I have to go through at work to please the kids. Lots of people have been asking me about the origin of Halloween (since I'm "foreign" it's assumed I know) and realizing I have no clue I have done some research. It seems that Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of "Samhain". The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred and as part of the celebration they would wear costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins. Later as Christianity spread into Celtic lands, November 1 was designated "All Saints' Day", a time to honor saints and martyrs. The celebration was also called "All-hallows" or "All-hallowmas" and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called "All-hallows Eve" and, eventually, "Halloween". So there you have it.
The pictures I took in Denmark and Sweden are now up. Once again you can access them from the the toolbar on the left or use this link. Next up are the pictures from Australia, which is probably the biggest batch of them all so, have patience while I sort through the huge amount of files from my short trip "down under".
It took a while but finally the pictures from my short trip to Thailand in August are up (in high resolution this time along with comments). Access them from the the toolbar on the left or simply click this link.
