Electric Ladyland

next up: bar RPC over HTTP

i am a dork.  i was walking around the village today in search of a good cup of joe (i found one) when i happened to notice this cafe called MAPI across the street.  the first thing i thought?  "hey... that's a mail protocol!  why would they name a cafe after that?"  i mentally smacked myself on the head a few seconds later.  oy.

thought and no-thought

this was my view from a chaise lounge yesterday afternoon on cable beach.  i got in about three hours of journal writing while alternately sipping on an iced mocha, flipping over to sigh and stretch, and nibbling at a chicken almond wrap sandwich.  i'd started out by trying to read a little more from embracing defeat, the john dower book i'd been thoroughly engrossed in on my way down from new york, but that was just not happening.  my brain has shut off and has been off for most of the week with a couple of exceptions. 

i've been experiencing that same blank mind condition that fell over me when i was in japan last fall and also in paris the year before.  maybe it's a function of being out of the country on vacation, maybe it's just my natural state of being when there's nothing else i have to do.   it's nice for a change.  i did so much thinking during the past five months that i really was surprised not to see smoke coming out of my ears.  nothing fried but i did have to spend a lot of time just sleeping and lounging around to get even partially back to my normal energy levels.

i really don't have much to say -- or at least i don't think i do -- unless i sit down and start writing in my journal.  apparently in that forum i have plenty on my mind and feel comfortable sorting everything out.  with a journal you have time and space.  i have gotten a lot of good writing done and, as i always notice when there is adequate time and space, the handwriting itself has been lovely.  as any calligrapher will tell you, handwriting is a strong indicator of your state of mind.  oftentimes with my calligraphy or my journal writing penmanship i can tell right away what kind of day i'd had or the mood i was in when i was writing.  right now my handwriting reveals a very calm, untroubled state of mind.

the air is soft and there's a light breeze in nassau tonight.  i can see the lights of the downtown area from my hotel room and there's light chatter from other vacationers outside on the balcony area where i spent much of this afternoon writing again in my journal as the sun set.  apart from that i've done precious little, which is i suppose what i came here to do. 

with one exception:  i did watch a lot of japanese dramas (they're like pringles i tell you) and took detailed notes on all the new language bits i've been picking up.  i constructed a timeline of my language acquisition by thinking back on certain memories of when i misused a word and made someone laugh.  now i know what those words are and what they mean.  tracing those memories gives me a sense of how far i've come in the past year.

i've also got a list of new terms i'm picking up.  it's funny -- i'm sure they were all around me being batted about by the japanese people i worked and socialized with when i lived in japan but they were not on my radar.  i couldn't pick them up because i was still building the foundations of my language ability.  it's like a wireless signal i couldn't detect.  now that these words and expressions are on my radar i'm picking them up all the time and logging their usage in my memory banks.  the kanji class i've been taking since the summer, combined with this gluttonous viewing marathon of japanese dramas, is not half-bad prep for the test i'm taking a week from today:  level one of the japanese language proficiency test.  even though i'm not spending my vacation in japan this year i think i'll still end up rolling into the test having the language very much present and swimming in my head.  hopefully it'll result in a good test score. 

although i haven't been thinking much at all this week i did take note of the fact that, when left to my own devices, i ended up studying japanese and really enjoying that.  i think i'm going to enroll in another japanese class after my kanji class ends in early december.  sometimes i think i'm just treading water but apparently that's not the case.  i want to keep going.

bohemian, bahamian...

now this is pretty nice.  i'm sitting on the balcony of my room overlooking cable beach at night while a soft wind blows.  i saw the sun set from here while writing in my journal.  the moment i figured out i could bring my laptop out here and still use the wireless connection i couldn't help myself.  now this is a little piece of heaven!

i've been slow to get out there and do much, i'll admit.  more than anything this trip was intended to be a real live getaway.  it's been a long time since i've slept as much as i have since arriving here on monday.  didn't know i had it in me -- or rather, i didn't know that much had been taken out of me.  good lord.  but this is good.  i'm quiet and not doing much per se but i can sense that a beneficial kind of regeneration is taking place.

the other night i met a couple from california while at dinner.  they're both 30, like me, and the wife is bahamian-american.  we hit it off, especially when the subject of food came up, and arranged to meet up and hit the fish fry yesterday -- "at a reasonable hour," we said, since we are not early risers.  took the jitney (a $1 bus) into downtown nassau.  i had a conch salad (very much like a ceviche), and fried grouper.  yummmmm.  those were good vittles indeed.  i missed the sheep's tongue she had been talking about for breakfast but maybe i'll be able to get my hands on some before leaving.  i'm feeling a little tony bourdain-ish.  why the heck not? 

after lunch we took a cab to atlantis, this mega-gigantor resort/casino/metropolis/coroporate leviathan on nearby paradise island that has to be seen to be believed.  my guidebook had said the aquarium was worth a look so i was kind of interested in seeing that, but otherwise these sorts of things are really not my style.  my companions are casino fans, though, and so they wanted to go.  i came along for the ride and it was interesting in a cultural train wreck sort of way.  here are the photos with some commentary -- you'll see what i mean.

this is the downstairs area of the central lobby with an exclusive restaurant overlooking the aquarium.  my companion said that when atlantis was initially built you could walk through the premises for free but most places are now off-limits for people not staying at the hotel. 

this is one example of the prevailing aesthetic at atlantis:  an oversized black granite "pearl" rotating above a gigantic oyster shell.  this didn't hold a candle to some of the other style disasters i saw during my walkthrough yesterday, though.

we were able to go down to this area overlooking one section of the aquarium where we noticed a couple of towels lying on the floor by the glass and got a little concerned that the aquarium might somehow be leaking.

we saw someone in the aquarium.  at first we thought it might be feeding time but then it became apparent that he was trying to repair the leaks coming from the glass windows.  he had a caulking gun and was caulking the upper perimeter of the window.  the caulk just seemed to be dripping to the bottom of the aquarium.  we had disaster-movie visions of the aquarium bursting open and dragging us across the restaurant and lobby in a torrential flow.

the aquarium repair man had company -- this majestic stingray was floating by like an apparition while we looked on.

... and here's another view of the stingray.

oh yes, and i'd be remiss without sharing this next photo -- apparently there's a nobu here at atlantis.  their entrance is a vulgar, threatening neon green and the surrounding decor reminded me disturbingly of the movie alien somehow.  the set of alien is really somewhere i would rather not be.  this restaurant was in the casino which is itself in a large, circular setting.  my friend sagely advised me that this was not a place i would ever want to get drunk.  not that i had been planning on getting drunk in a casino anyway, but she said she ended up going around in circles feeling ill for a long time before finally finding the way out.  yeesh.

"nobu:  the franchise" strikes...

after leaving atlantis we took a water taxi back to nassau and walked around the downtown area a little bit before coming home.  grabbed a drink at the hotel bar before calling it an evening.  i figured i would ask for the bartender's recommendation and ended up with a fruity chick drink which was admittedly refreshing but not my style.  note to self:  sometimes it's all right to stick with the stuff you like if you're not sure.  would have been better off with a scotch or a whiskey from the beginning.

overall, having a great time here.  had a thanksgiving meal with all the usual trimmings including stuffing that had a little spicy twist to it.  that was nice.  that was also the first thanksgiving meal i'd had which included fried grouper.  today's just thursday to me but i'm thinking back fondly on overseas thanksgivings past, specifically my all-time favorite one at the hot springs resort in shuzenji (japan) and also the great pot luck thanksgiving dinner at my friend christy's house in kawane where we danced in the kitchen and later tucked into an unbelievable spread of holiday dishes.   yum.

of course i'm aware tonight of just how much i have to be thankful for, but every day is a day to be thankful for the wonderful things in life.

touchdown in nassau

i woke up before dawn in queens and now here i am watching the sun set in the bahamas. 

on the flight over i ended up sitting next to a bahamian IT manager who was returning from his vacation to the states, trying to get away from it all.  we laughed at the irony and talked some shop.

driving to the hotel i noticed that the air was soft.  the water really is that color. 

tonight i'm going to curl up and watch some movies, then get a good night's sleep. 

harumph

not in a great mood although there's nothing terribly wrong.  i feel like i've been stuck in a giant jar of jam, unable to move much or make significant progress in the way that i would like these past few weeks.  things are beginning to quiet down a little, though, and very soon i will be on vacation (woo woo!).  mmm-hm.  me, the beach and an adult beverage.  i can see it now.

grumpy me was most pleased to get this encouragement from someone today.  she sent me this photo (a joke from last night's geek night) with the text "rock on!!" to congratulate me on a small victory.  nice.