We left Toyko yesterday and got into Hong Kong yesterday afternoon.  It's good to be in a country that has a familiar feeling to us.  After several days of not understanding what everyone is saying, it's refreshing to finally hear a language that you can understand (i.e. lots of English here).  

So now I'm going to wrap up the first part of our trip with a section titled, "Things I learned about Japan": 

1.  Everybody in Tokyo seems to dress up rather than down.  I often felt like I was the only person wearing jeans (but I didn't really care, though).  Maybe it was because we were in town during the weekdays when everyone was working.  Still, even the taxi cab drivers wear suits!  All of them.  I couldn't believe it!  I'm not kidding.  But then I figured out why: on Thursday evening we stayed out too late and got stranded because our subway line shut down for the night.  We were forced to take a cab back to our hotel and it cost us $30!  The subway ride would have cost us about $2.50.  No joke.  I was really bummed out about that. 

More stuff for the travel journal:

1.  As soon as we arrived in Tokyo, I said to Jocelin, wouldn't it be cool if we ran into someone we knew?  She laughed and said it would be pretty unlikely.  After all, there are 12 million people in this city, and we're only here for 3.5 days.  What are the odds?  Well, as fate would have it, we ran into someone last night on the streets of Tokyo at 11:30pm!  And it wasn't just a casual acquaintance either, it was Martha Chow!  We were just walking down the street, minding our own business, when we heard someone say excitedly, MARCUS AND JOCELIN!!!  How neat is that?  Apparently, Martha is on a 5 week tour of the world with her friend and co-worker Dana.  They have literally been all over the world, from Egypt to Japan, and they are on their final week of their trip.  We just all happened to be in Japan last night, in the same city, same district, same street, at the exact same time!  How cool. 

I've never kept a travel journal before, but I'm willing to give it a try.  I think I'm simply going to list a few of the more interesting things that happen and hopefully you will also find it interesting and/or entertaining.  So let's begin: 

1.  Before we even landed in Toyko, I had already lost something - the case for my Bose headphones!  It contained all the special connectors for the headphones plus a bunch of extra batteries.  I'm pretty sure I left it at the airport in Austin.  That stinks.  But at least I still have the headphones.  I just have to carry them around my neck for the rest of the trip.

2.  After we checked into our room in Tokyo, I discovered that the hotel offered free high-speed internet to its patrons!  I was like, YES, SAWEET, CHA-CHING at all once.  I immediately set up a wireless network in our room using my little D-Link Pocket Router.  That way Jocelin and I could both check email and surf simultaneously on our laptops.  But for some reason she wasn't nearly as excited about this as I was.  Oh yeah, and one more observation about this hotel - even though you get free internet, they charge you for the fitness room.  But in the States, you get the free fitness room, but they charge you for the internet.  Any theories on how hotels make these decisions? 

Last week I had jury duty.  Not just the impaneling where the lawyers ask you a bunch of questions in order to select a jury - no, I actually got picked!  Which means I had to sit through a full blown trial.  Even though it was only three days, it was still three days of my life that I'll never get back.  But I suppose it could have been worse.  When I was a teenager, my dad got picked to be on a capital murder case.  It lasted over a month, and he got sequestered towards the end.  So yeah, it could have been ALOT worse...

I knew I was in trouble on the first day when we were assigned seats at the impaneling.  I was Seat #1.  If you're not familiar with impaneling, basically, there are maybe 20-30 people in the group from which a jury is selected.  The first 6 people (or 12, depending on the size of the jury they need) who are NOT kicked off by either side are picked.  So in order to avoid jury duty I was going to have to do something that would offend one of the lawyers.  But see, I wasn't exactly sure of this process until it was too late. 

On the cruise, our friends (and Jocelin) wanted to go to Karaoke-ing any time it was offered, so of course I had to go with them.  It was interesting because it was the same crowd night after night.  We met a guy there named Reggie, and ended up becoming friends with him.  He had a great falsetto voice and could sing Prince songs really, really well.  In fact, he ended up winning the cruise talent show!  It turns out that he came on the cruise all by himself, which I found totally fascinating.  I'm not sure if I would consider going on a cruise by myself to be a "vacation" or "punishment".  But that's a discussion for another blog... 

Deep thoughts from my most recent cruise experience...

1.  My favorite part of the cruise is reading the itinerary/schedule for the next day.  It's a four-page handout with all the information for the following day, including the dining schedule and restaurant hours, information about the ports of call (if we're stopping at one), and descriptions of the all the cruise ship activies and shows for the day.  I also really like the first day on the cruise when I get to explore the ship and figure out where everything is.  I think I know why I'm like this:  I take decision-making very seriously.  I always want to make the best decision possible.  And the only way to do that is to know all the options.  For example, let's say I'm at the Bellagio buffet.  Instead of picking up a plate and diving right into the salad like they want you to, I'll walk around the entire buffet area and scope out all the choices first.  Then I'll pick up a plate and get a little bit of each thing I want.  Next I eat it.  Then I go back and get lots of the stuff I liked.  You see, it's a multiple-step process.  All so I can achieve the highest possible return on my decisions.  It's the same on the cruise.  There are always so many things going on at the same time.  The only way to maximize my enjoyment is to make the best decisions possible by knowing all the options.  As you can see, I hate missing out on stuff... 

I don't normally post jokes or other random funny things that I get in my inbox, but my mom sent this to me and I thought this was too good NOT to share.  The title of the email was, "Who Needs A Truck?"  And since we live in the state with the most trucks per capita (I just made that up, but it sure sounds like it could be true, doesn't it?), I thought you might appreciate this... 

Many weeks ago at the Austin Stone, Matt Carter made a point about how our earthly fathers can have a huge impact on our view of God.  The way we view our biological fathers can affect the way we think about who God is and what He is like.  For example, if you grew up in an environment where you could never please your dad no matter how many A's you got or how many touchdowns you threw, you might think that God is someone who cannot be pleased.  In the same way, if your father never punished you for any of the bad stuff you did, you might think that God always forgives everyone and that God's wrath and judgment is simply old school theology.  In both of these examples, our view of God is distorted.  They create inaccurate pictures of who God really is. 

I was thinking about this, and I came up with a corollary:  In the same way that our view of our earthly fathers affect our view of God, I believe that our culture (and what I really mean is ethnicity) affects our view of God as well. 

Ok.  I know.  I have really, really, neglected my blog lately.  All three of my readers are probably feeling very unloved right now . But don't worry, I'M BACK...

I love going to a church where everyone loves to worship God.  It's such a blessing to worship alongside of people who really mean it and take it seriously.  Corporate worship rocks.  (BTW, back in the day, instead of calling it "worship", we called it "singspiration".  I love that word, cuz it's so cheesy.) 

But this blog isn't about the benefits of corporate worship.  It's about the drawbacks.  Specifically, one in particular.  Especially when you're worshipping in a crowded space and when you're packed in like sardines.  What is it, you ask?  

Yesterday I watched three movies.  IN THE THEATER.  No, I didn't buy one ticket and stay at the theater all day long (but that sounds mighty fun).  There was a special event going on at all the Regal Cinamas in Austin where if you brought in three canned goods, you got a ticket to any movie and a small popcorn.  All day long.  So I took advantage of it.  All day long. 

Well... actually, not all day long.  My original plan was to watch four movies: The Illusionist, Fearless, Invincible, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  But after studying the schedules for all three of the Regal Cinemas in North Austin, I determined that it would be physically impossible to squeeze in those four movies in one day.  So I only watched three.  Only.