okawim travels►

When I was little I watched a beautiful girl in a checkered dress float away in a house and land in a land far away. Her name was Dorothy and this place was...Munchkin Land. [Or was it Oz? I never really understood the story very well, I guess.] I always wished that I could be as beautiful as her and that my house could also land way up high--somewhere over the rainbow.

Sometimes I wonder about the concept of "other dimensions" or "alternate universes." I mean, what if there's somebody over there in some other space-time-continuum who looks and acts just like me...but their circumstances are different? Or maybe they live during a different time than I do?

I'm not an avid sci-fi reader, but I do know a thing or two about...alternative universes. So, I think it'd be highly likely that in some other place 5 kabillion light years away, there is another Miwako--with a different (possibly better) life than the Miwako here on this earth that is not 5 kabillion light years away.

Maybe someday I'll understand what's over the rainbow. Most likely, this will never happen. And this brings me to my next point. (Wait, I had a point?!?) Life is such a weird wacky thing--it's so important and fragile, yet at the same time: not at all. We think we're this hotshot big deal thing, because we're human, but really: we're not at all.

Life is so full of uncertainties, people are so complicated, everything is so ever changing--we're scared to do stuff because we're afraid of consequences. But, really, in the grand scheme of things: how much do we matter?

Probably not a lot.

If that's the case...why does it matter what we do?

If that's the case...why does everybody work so hard trying to make life complicated?

If that's the case...why did Dorothy ever want to come back home from over the rainbow?

Chopsticks and raw fish, rice and seaweed, sake and curry: The world of Asian cuisine is large and for the most part well known, but not well understood. Today I shall be talking about cuisine from East Asia: Korea, China, and Japan.

So, let's start with Korea, shall we? Koreans eat rice (well...duh) and use it to make flour and rice cakes called tteok as well. A famous Korean dish is kimchi--which is basically pickled vegetables, especially cabbage and raddish. To give you a mental image: it's all weird and red, it's spicy, and it has a very pugnent smell. It smells...not very pleasing to the nose. (Unless you're Korean and you practically sleep in kimchi.) Koreans also eat lots of noodles and seafood and various types of meat (including dog and beef and pork, etc.).

As for the Chinese, they'll eat almost anything it seems. Rice is, of course, very prevelent in this culture as well. Chinese people also drink tea, but then again: This is Asia, people. Chinese people eat a lot of noodles as well.

In Japan, raw fish is common. Noodles, like soba and udon and ramen are also common. Again, rice and tea are common. Sake is basically rice wine and is the common alcoholic beverage. (I've realized that I used the word "common" too many times in this paragraph.)

You should all go eat Asian food.

My sister needs to stop watching Desperate Housewives. It's as simple as that. She's been watching it every day for the past...week or so. And then of course, I make my way over to where she sits, staring at the computer screen and join with her...staring at the computer screen.

I'm almost embarrassed to say that it's true, but yes...I actually enjoy watching this really messed up show where all the characters lead really messed up lives. This is Wisteria Lane. Now, let me just say that I'd probably shoot myself if I had to live on this street. They're all crazy lunatics.

But, it makes for a good story. (I'm forgetting what my point was...I need to start having one of those. Also, this has nothing to do with travel...again! I really do kick myself for choosing that niche.)

I wonder what place is like Wisteria Lane, with no morals or values what so ever--where neighbors burn down other people's houses and neighbors kill their neighbors. Wow. When you put it that way, it sure is one jacked up show.

Is Wisteria Lane a correct summary of what America is like? Is there a place like it?

I don't know, but I guess I'll have to watch the next episode to find out.

So just now I was on the wonderful tool that we know as Facebook (a very addicting tool, but we'll get to that at a later date). Anyways, my friend posted a status thing that talked about Wonder Girls being on the radio station 104.3.

Now, in case you were wondering: Wonder Girls is a famous Korean pop girl band that has some songs I get tired of very easily. (Let me scan the area for crazy K-pop fans before I continue on.) Anyways, the point that I'm trying to make is that it's kind of strange for this Korean girl band to have a song playing on the radio in America. (A song that was originally in Korean and now sounds very, very Asian when sung in English.) Especially on a non-Asian pretty popular radio station like FM 104.3.

I guess this just shows how small the world really is. (Another thing Facebook is good at doing.)

I know that a few months back, a Japanese/Korean singer named BoA was playing on the FM radio station 98.9 or whatever it is.

Asian influences really surprises me. I mean, I'm Asian, but sometimes I feel the Asian take over, all the time. I mean, there are so many white people who listen to Asian music and watch Asian TV shows. (Just ask the anime-freaks.)

I'm not saying that this meshing is bad in any way. It's good to get to know and respect cultural aspects from other countries.

All I'm saying is that it's weird.

I rarely say that life stresses me out. But, I'll say it now: Life does stress me out sometimes (believe it or not) and there are times that I wish I had a happy place to go to. And by happy place, I don't mean "John, give me some dead plants to inhale so that we can talk about world peace and ways to stop war."

No. I mean a real place in this physical place that I can go to and just be happy about life while I'm there. I know this place probably doesn't exist, since problems will always fill this world and we might be able to run, but we can't hide from reality.

Where would it be, in this world, if such a place were to exist? Maybe in Paris, the city of lights and love, of champagne and sight seeing. Or maybe in Australia, where the kangaroos run around and the Great Barrier Reef is. Or maybe still, the place is right here in Las Vegas, where sin plays its games and people can get drunk 24 hours a day.

No, that last place definitely isn't an option. But then again, is Paris or Australia or Rome or even Disneyland (the happiest place on Earth) an option?

My point (wait...there was a point?!) is that no matter where you go, life is gonna kick you hard in the butt, giving you a reality check.

I guess you can't run, you just have to deal with stuff the right way.