David Sasaki

It never ceases to amaze me what you find when you google old friends' names ...

This is the guy I bought my bike from ... now I'm thinking about selling it before I move. :(

I’ve been having insane, intense, vivid, and long-lasting dreams every night for the past week or two. And it’s not like I’m the guy who remembers his dreams. Hardly ever. I can go months without remembering a single scene from that surreal space of sleepiness. But not this week. It’s got me all fucked up.

You know how if you go to sleep while listening to a certain album or right after reading a particular book or talking to a friend on the phone, then those things, those people, they work their way into your dreams? Well, the last thing that I do right before I go to sleep is write a newsletter summarizing all the day’s content on Global Voices. (you can subscribe to it here). That worked out just fine before I started remembering my dreams, but not anymore.

It has me realizing something: this world is no bueno. A few nights ago I was in Haifa and there were missiles raining down everywhere. Nobody wanted me to leave the house (it was more like an ugly condo) because of the missiles, but I was feeling seriously claustrophobic. I kept telling them that I needed to get out and take a walk, but they said I was an idiot for even thinking about risking my life. It was their condescending tone that really pissed me off. I don’t remember if I went out to take a walk or not though.

Before Haifa I was in Baghdad. It was my fault we were there - me and the girl I’m dating in the dream - because I said I thought it would be good for our relationship … a change of scenery. Anyway, it turns out that she’s not such a fan of Baghdad because, you know, there’s a war going on. So I tell her I’ll go down to the market, buy fresh ingredients, and cook an amazing meal. I’d even find a bottle of wine somehow. There I am in the market (which, tangentially, is identical to the markets in Cuba where you buy rice and beans with your government-issued ration card). And, once again, I’m getting seriously annoyed because nobody has the chile pepper I’m looking for and I’m sure they’re just keeping it from me because I’m white. Then a bomb goes off and everything goes up in flames and everyone everywhere is running around and I feel so bad about yelling at the lady who told me she didn’t have any chile peppers.

Last night’s dream was just as vivid even though there weren’t any missiles or bombs. Sparsh (happy birthday) and Abogado (happy birthday) and I are swimming at La Jolla Cove … the same place where in non-dream-life Sparsh and I go swimming every weekday. I don’t know who invited Abo to this dream though because he’s not such a fan of swimming. But I digress … so there we are about a mile off the coast and this big set of waves starts rocking our world. I look up and Sparsh and Abo are still swimming, about 20 feet in front of me. There’s no way I’m gonna let my frenemies win so I put my head down and start swimming as fast as I can. But then the waves get really big and slam me into a rocky reef in the middle of the ocean. I try to gain my footing, but the swell keeps knocking me over. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, but the water is dark and storm-like. Outta nowhere there’s Sparsh on my same little rocky reef and I give him a high five because we’re both still alive. (sorry Abo) The waves die down completely and we see a little fishing village on the coast that we could easily swim to. The fishing village is completely deserted except for one woman in a touristy Indonesian hotel about 500 feet up a dirt road who cooks us Nasi Goreng. It takes Sparsh and I a long time to understand what she’s telling us: a big wave came and killed everyone in the village. We don’t accept the woman’s assertion, we explain to her that we were out swimming in the ocean and that even though we lost our homie (RIP), there’s no way those waves could have possibly wiped out an entire village. No way.

Can I tell you what else has got me all fucked up? Dr. Bronners. That stuff is nuts. And speaking of nuts, did you know that genitalia is hyper-sensitive to peppermint? True story, discovered thanks to Dr. Bronners.

Here’s something from the New Yorker about an 11-year-old New Yorker:

An eleven-year-old New Yorker, a passionate supporter of Les Bleus, had been playing each of the French World Cup games over and over on his Nintendo Gamecube FIFA game and - with spooky accuracy - had been using the aggregate scores to predict the outcomes of games not yet played. But nothing in the video game could have led one pixel-constructed figure to turn around, succumb to an irrational animal urge, and bash another pixel-constructed figure in the chest. “It just never happened in the Gamecube,” he said afterward, bewildered. An inexplicable human act was the one thing you couldn’t program. That reminder may have been, in its way, the saving grace of this curious fall.

I’m seriously thinking about turning in my Progressive badge. It would be the only honorable thing to do. No, HP hasn’t influenced my political thinking … it’s this heat. You see, we (San Diego? California? The West? The US? The World?) are in the middle of an energy crisis. Presumably the problem is that it’s 150 degrees with 5000% humidity and so everyone has their A/C on.

As such, energy conservation propaganda is everywhere in the media. Yesterday I was driving down the freeway, on my way to the only place where I find comfort: submerged in the cool nectar of the ocean. And overhead, on one of those signs that usually mention this and that abducted child, it reads, “Flex your muscle, conserve energy.”

“Flex your muscle, conserve energy”? What sorta idiot thought that one up? They should hire me in the state propaganda office. I’d be better than Hitler. What about: “Sweat your ass off, lose weight, stop whining”? Anyway, point being, the air conditioning in my SUV (temporary purchase, long story) was cranked up full blast as I passed it. Did I turn it off and roll down the window and start singing Grateful Dead classics like any good liberal should? Nope, I just made sure all the vents were pointed at me (you know, conservation) and kept on listening to my NPR, glass of red wine in one hand and latte in the other.

This morning I was working at the house. Giant drops of sweat kerplunked into my cereal bowl every 15 seconds. ‘Fuck this, I’m finding some air conditioning.’ First I go to Whole Foods, but of course those communist bastards are conserving energy (even their lights are dimmed - Stalinists!). Next stop: Peet’s Coffee. Mmmm, it’ll be so deliciously cold in their that I’ll order a hot coffee and my favorite fruit and nut scone (more stories about my fruit and nuttiness at Peet’s forthcoming).

Instead, I walk in and it’s like a furnace, a fiery one (but without the annoying grandma singing background vocals). Every single customer in front of me is asking why they don’t have their A/C on. “We’re trying to conserve because of the state energy crisis,” says the manager with the cute dimples. She always has a Nalgene bottle by the cash register. I want to rip her head off. Eventually enough people complain that they turn it on and as soon as that first rush of cool comes through the vents … seriously … everyone looks like they’re climaxing at once.

Try a Mexican coke while they’re still around.

Anyone with an interest in development economics was left with a familiar sense of disappointment by last week’s Doha talks. Sure, there are some pachouli-smelling hippies still out there protesting all forms of free trade. But the rest of us have come to understand that removing tariffs and subsidies in agricultural trade is the most sure-fire way of integrating developing nations into the global economy. So it is beyond bizarre that even as rich countries, like the US, are promising to spend more money on development and aid, they refuse to axe, for example, a $25 billion welfare program for US farmers.

Thanks to Hurricane Katrina, however, there is a glimmer of hope. The hurricane destroyed thousands of acres of sugar cane fields in the South, leaving US trade negotiators more willing to accept additional imports from Mexico. And so, according to Marla Dickerson:

The U.S. and Mexico have ended a bitter dispute over sweeteners and will begin dismantling trade barriers in preparation for a complete opening of trade in sugar and corn syrup by 2008. The deal will allow the U.S. to export as much as 500,000 metric tons of high-fructose corn syrup to Mexico free of tariffs from Oct. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2007. Mexican sugar growers in turn will be able to ship an identical amount of tariff-free cane sugar to the U.S. over the same time period.

Underemphasized in the article, one of the biggest obstacles had been a 20% federal tax in Mexico on all soft drinks made with corn syrup. Which is why all of the Mexican immigrants that patronize my local taco shop here in San Diego are willing to fork out $2 on a scratched bottle of imported coke instead of $1.20 on a free-refills fountain drink: because it tastes better.

For real. Try it yourself. Any Mexican specialty shop will have imported Coke - buy a bottle and compare it to its yanqui brother … sugar simply tastes better than corn syrup. But you better do it quick because the market for better (at least in soft drinks) isn’t enough to keep FEMSA from saving millions of dollars by using Kansas corn syrup instead of Vera Cruz sugar.

I find the entire thing fascinating. Behind the macro-policy trade agreement are everyday families on both sides of the border that are going to have to re-negotiate all of their contracts. How will it all level out? Will cheap labor in Vera Cruz make their sugar cane more competitively priced than that which is produced on huge, mechanized farms in the American South? Will rising gas prices act as a deterrent to Mexican food and drink companies that would otherwise have tons of corn syrup trucked down from the Midwest?

No one knows how it will pan out, but I have a hunch that the days are numbered for fans of sugar-cane coca-cola.

Anyone wanna do this with me?

"The exhaustive entry also includes links to video clips of the First Thanksgiving, hosted by YouTube." [via Ethan]

"the Human Resources Development ministry engaged in some intellectual sloppiness in declaring that “any sustained use of computers may lead to a disembodied brain and bring about isolationist tendencies in social behaviour.”"

"the Human Resources Development ministry engaged in some intellectual sloppiness in declaring that “any sustained use of computers may lead to a disembodied brain and bring about isolationist tendencies in social behaviour.”"

like such an unheard of stroke of luck that I would get *paid* to just, you know, basically say almost anything I wanted, and just spout off about the news of the day. And seemed so easy that the very pitiful amount that he paid me didn’t seem that bad.

Chavez, you so crazy.

Gustavo and I have been feeling nostalgic lately. HP’s got a case of the yesterday blues so bad he checked out Biz Markie (”oh baby, you … you got what I nee-eed. But you say he’s just a friend, you say he’s just a friend”) at a downtown club the size of my living room. Point being, as the lryic goes, “oh yeah life goes on, long after the thrill of livin’ is gone.”

As promised, here is a tribute to … well, us. It’s not supposed to be either inclusive or exclusive. A computer script could have written this post. All it does is look back over a random sampling of some of the earliest commenters on this blog (btw, if 8 people comment on this post, we’ll have reached 5,000 total comments, an achievement worth at least a cartwheel in tidy-whities if not a pitcher of margaritas) and see what they’re up to these days.

The key: 1.) name and blog link 2.) first comment on this blog 3.) most listened artists 4.) first sentence of latest post 5.) random thought.

Xoloitzquintle

Thanks for the visit and comment. Indeed the postdoc was at CCIS. While freelancing as an anthropologist seems appealing while sitting here facing the academic rat race, there is probably more paperwork and running around involved doing that. That and no job security either. What were you doing at CCIS? Your blog is pretty cool too. Hope you don’t mind that I have linked it. Comment Posted By Xoloitzquintle On March 17th 2004 @ 06:16

More Culture Shock As we prepare our move to the metropolis that is New York City, I am faced with some new cultural rules that I need to learn and adapt to.

Xolo and I have been able to meet up two times so far, both in San Diego. He’s almost a better bear hugger than I am. Next spot to clink bottles of Bohemia: NYC.

Elenamary

you ain’t got nuffn to synchronize to, mofo. For approx. one week of nausea, diarrhea, abdominal, and physical exhaustion, we don’t have the patience to put up with your BS that we can handle the rest of the time. That doesn’t mean you are allowed to be an extra ass. now, go take laura some chamomile tea, a warm pad, and a comedy. Fukn A. Comment Posted By elenamary On 12.05.2004 @ 07:06

El Oso complained that the blogs have been quiting down. At least our little clique of blogs.

Elenamary came to San Diego and never said hi to me. For that reason I no longer talk to her. Not really … but supernatural forces do seem to keep us from meeting each other.

Joe Crawford

Oso, you’re all like a writer and everything. Welcome aboard San Diego Blog! Comment Posted By Joe Crawford On July 13th 2004 @ 17:07

I’m busy, and I’m hot. This is my lunch hour. I’m in Ojai.

Joe is also a superb bear hugger … come to think of it, this might be how I choose my blog buddies. He has done amazing things with San Diego Blog and has an exceedingly lovely wife and family.

Thivai Abhor

Oso–great post… I have been confused and angered by California’s willful ignorance of its heritage and dismissal of the Mexican sweat that continues to prop it up. I look forward to reading more from you and Laura. This issue has caused quite a few arguments between me and some of my relatives… I just can’t get them to look beyond appearances or I’m not able to combat the simple media stereotypes or soudbite political statements… I don’t know… one thing for sure that state is changing. Here in Lexington, Kentucky there is a big Mexican immigrant population because of the horse and farming industry, but they are invisible to the population-at-large having no power in city politics. Comment Posted By Thivai On March 8th 2004 @ 19:59

Another Shot of the River and Cliffs Near Bend, Oregon

Thivai and I have pretty much lost touch. That happens with people you know … and even more with people you’ve never met. But still, I drop by his blog from time to time and try to catch up on some of what he’s reading. And occasionally I’m able to catch him when he’s willing to share some of his own personal reflections. Maybe we’ll never meet, but I’ll keep on relating to him so long as he keeps writing.

Myke

bush is delusional … it’s just horrid how he can not admit to one single mistake his administration has made Comment Posted By myke On October 9th 2004 @ 17:14

My Current Mood

Myke needs some serious taco education. Otherwise the man is a genius. I’m still waiting for HP to buy him a ticket out here so the three of us can cause trouble again.

Gustavo Rojo

what’s the purpose of U.S. influence or intervention or whatever? I am too ignorant on most middle eastern countries to know of any motivation on the part of the U.S. for an intervention other than say oil…like abogado stated…”who benefits?” yes, I know that stating “oil” as the only purpose for U.S. involvement in the middle east is oversimplification of U.S. motives but profit always plays a role in whatever military or covert action that takes place. Comment Posted By Gustavo On March 8th 2005 @ 19:26

There are plenty of games left in the season, against the AL East and of course with the hated ChiSox and Twinkies. It should be a good run to the finish

I’ve been reading Gustavo’s blog since his amazing series “The Cycle of Abuse” in January 2005. Since then he’s gotten his teacher’s certificate, already taught his first year of school, and now (of course) everyone’s fighting over him. It’s pretty amazing to see what everyone is doing with their talents.

César Diaz

My girlfriend asked me last night, “Why is he ‘El Oso.’”? And I thought, gringo dude (I mean it in a nice way ) and that name–”I got it, sweetheart, he pegs himself this because he likes Soul Coughing.” “M.Doughty?” She asks. “Yep, yep, fer sure,” I said. Pero pues no. Now I know y como dice el G.I. Jose “knowing is half el battle.” I dig the site. Keep it real. Comment Posted By El Mas Chingón On 21.04.2005 @ 15:04

If you were me as a child, you’d spent your time sitting at a pew reading Revelations, the only book in the bible that I knew well.

César and Rachelle will be a married couple in a matter of weeks!!!!!!!

Cindylu

sorry i’m not a rock star from so far off exotic place, but i did want to comment. i’m going to michoacán on my trip to méxico, got any suggestions on what to see or do there? thanks. Comment Posted By cindylu On 03.08.2004 @ 22:32

Last night, I tried to tell _____ that we need to spend more time together.

Cindylu mumbles. One day I’m going to hug her grandpa.

Chris Nelson

I don’t like Bush in power because almost everything he does (anti-environment, high deficit, pre-emptive war, wealth divide, etc) goes against what I believe. Are my views my new religion? I think that argument could be made. But my most spiritual moments have been little things in life, completely unrelated to my views. Listening to an old man hum on the trolley - it was a beautiful moment. That for me is spiritual. Arguing about fuel efficiency or some crap is just draining work that I sometimes wish I didn’t feel strongly about. Comment Posted By ChrisN On 28.09.2004 @ 10:51

Unsatisfied with a dearth of town & area maps for the Bahia de los Angeles, I’ve made my own.

Chris - and his lovely wife Anna - are great people to eat fish tacos with. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re great people to do anything with.

Jennifer Woodward Maderazo

Damn you always make that face. WTF? Comment Posted By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo On 28.10.2005 @ 16:18

In Arizona, a state that’s home to more than one million Latinos, a firestorm is brewing over the placement of a billboard off of Tucson’s Interstate 10 which proclaims: “Stop the Invasion, Secure Our Borders”.

Jennifer thinks she knows her way around Barcelona. Don’t be fooled. Especially when it’s 8 degrees out.

Rolandog

I think you’re breaking the urinal etiquette. Comment Posted By rolandog On 04.03.2005 @ 22:45

It took me a while to finally conclude my previous project (Dynamic Element Creation), or at least… have another go at it..

Both times I met Rolando were at Monterrey blogger meetups. I don’t know why this is. I don’t know why we didn’t hang out more together south of the border. Luckily, we’re young, life’s long, and paths cross.

OK, I’m bored. Plus it’s like a billion and two fucking degrees right now. For real. Midnight and a billion and two fucking degrees!

It seems like this could go on forever … and that’s the really interesting reflection. I had no idea that so many of the people I call my friends today, I met through this blog. Sorta strange really.

If you want to look back over the comments you’ve left on this blog, go here and click on your name.

Well … enough nostalgia, it’s time to move on, grow up, suck it up, throw it up, etc. I hope everyone’s staying cool. West side.