Far East Cynic

Still have a cough of sorts. Went to bed early last night so I could be rested today. Off to Korea for a few days for some meetings and to freeze my a** off. Morning Calm blogging will be attempted……..

Ja ne!

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I went to see the movie Munich tonight. I know that a lot has been written about it and some folks think that Spielberg is peddling some sort of anti-war agenda in making the film. I don’t think so. I thought the movie was well done and had a powerful message. I also think, as has been pointed out elsewhere, you have to go into the movie knowing that it is NOT a documentary, but a story that is played out on screen. See here for some more explanation of that.

The real history is different.

As Spielberg’s assassination squad begins work in Europe, they come to rely
on a kind of freelance intelligence merchant who works for a shadowy organization, “Le Group,” that trades the names and locations of targets for big money. Whether or not such an organization existed, or might have, the Mossad never relied on such an entity. Security apparatuses don’t function that way. The Mossad gathered its own intelligence, relying mainly on human intelligence from Palestinian informants living in Europe and the Middle East. Operatives recruited and directed these sources all over Europe, while analysts in Israel sifted through mountains of data looking for concrete terror plans and potential perpetrators. Unfortunately, much of the storyline of Munich concerns this fanciful “Le Group” subplot.

The Munich Massacre triggered a fundamental change in Israel’s approach to terrorismÂ?a “Munich Revolution” (the phrase was used by the Mossad) that endures as a mindset and an operational protocol today. Finding and killing the perpetrators of the Munich Massacre was a part of that campaign only insofar as the men involved were deemed likely to act again. Revenge was the atmosphereÂ?but preventing future attacks by networks that Israel saw as threatening its citizens was the goal. Mistakes were made, innocents were killed, and Israel’s government and intelligence agencies never publicly questioned their right to carry out assassinations on foreign soil. Indeed, the true story of Israel’s response to Munich is if anything more ambiguous than Spielberg’s narrative.

But Spielberg has bought into one of the myths of the Mossad that after Munich they staged a revenge operation to hunt down and assassinate everyone responsible. Israelis, too, bought into this myth (myself included, at one time) which a shocked public demanded but that doesn’t make it true. Spielberg, in inventing a story
about violence begetting violence “inspired by real events” is raising questions worth asking. Even so, Israel’s response to Munich was not a simple revenge operation carried out by angst-ridden Israelis. Both the larger context, and the facts on the ground, rarely get in Spielberg’s way. A rigorous factual accounting may not be the point of Munich, which Spielberg has characterized as a “prayer for peace.” But as result, Munich has less to do with history and the grim aftermath of the Munich Massacre than some might wish.

Its worth seeing though and it definitely made you think. And last I checked a good movie should do that. So I give it 2 thumbs up. I’d rather see this than a movie about gay cowboys, that’s for sure…………

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Richard has great posts over at his blog about Google’s craven cowardice choosing profits over principle.

From now on I’m getting my porn pictures someplace else……….

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The world is just plain crazy sometimes…………

The Phibian has been reporting on the latest Soap Opera inside the US Military: “As the Severn Flows”. For those unfamiliar this is the case where a simple case of shooting ones mouth off in the wrong place leads to a full fledge court martial. This is being done simply to appease the whims of a c**t who thinks that the good LT under investigation was not “sincere” enough in his apology. So an incident that could have been handled quite quickly and simply with one of these:

Will instead be dealt with by one of these:

Moving on.

The 50th anniversary of the Naval Aviation safety magazine Approach has come and gone. Among their list of notable safety achievements is every, and I do mean EVERY, milestone by women in Naval Aviation. Even when they did nothing to promote safety; in fact in a couple of cases it did just the opposite.

That’s a rant for another time……… I was there and watched the lunacy.

Does prove one of the dirty little secrets of Navy public relations magazines though. They have been promoting a feminist agenda for years and years. Some day when I have the courage I’ll give you all my thoughts on that subject. Till then just go back and review this

And then there is American politics these days. John Kerry has announced he will lead a filibuster of Judge Alito. Exactly what does he hope to accomplish? This will simply seal the deal for the judge in the end, and make Bush look like the good guy……Who gives these morons advice? You want to influence Bush? Win some elections! And to do that you will have to get rid of the two “F’s”: Fags and Feminists…….till then consign yourself to being steamrolled. Chalk this up as another vain liberal gesture that hurts the Democratic party. At a time when the US needs a serious opposition, but has yet to find one……….

SANCTUARY!

Give one of these:

Then lets go looking for these:

Nice sweater eh ?

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I love it when I am right. (which from my point of view is 90% of the time). Recent events have seemed to vindicate my old adage : “Be careful what you wish for, for you just may get it……”.

In Israel ( that’s not a misprint…..despite what the Palestinians may say), the inmates are now running the asylum. It really should surprise no one. Yassir Arafat’s cronies were all corrupt, the paletinians are no better off they were a few years ago, and they have not done item one to stop violence in their midst.

Plus its part of a greater pattern in the Middle East. Democracy may be taking hold there, but for the most part the voters in the respective countries are not making smart choices. Look at the laundry list of recent elections and their results:

Egypt- Islamic parties scored gains in parliamentary elections.

In Iraq voters rejected moderate candidates to give the Shite religious factions a majority. Much to the chagrin of the Sunni minority which is still, despite agreeing to honor the election result, screaming “ripoff”.

Iran- elects an idiot, a dangrerous one at that, who is deliberately escalating tensions in the region.

Then there is Saudi Arabia:

In Saudi Arabia, where political parties are banned, Islamist candidates running as independents won the largest share of the vote in elections to half the seats in municipal elections last year, the first democratic experiment in the kingdom. Even in Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had already been ousted from power, an Islamist Shia coalition has emerged with a near majority in parliament

One of the prerequisites of a good democracy is an informed electorate. Its a lot to presume that in the Middle Eastern countries such a thing really exists. Add to that the albatross of an apostate religion that serves no useful purpose in promoting the advancement of human rights…..and you get what you get. Its why some folks are encouraging the administration to re-think it’s ideas about forcible mid-wifery of democratic process, but rather to let them come from within. Hopefully the Iraq experience is convincing people that forcible birthing is not the way to go.

Be careful what you wish for…………….

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Oh great, this is what I don’t need. Big brother finding out what I Google search.

Suspect I will jump to the top of the hit parade when they look for the guys who have searched “women+big+breasts”……

On Thursday, The Mercury News reported that the Justice Department has subpoenaed search-engine records in its defense of the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA. Google, whose corporate credo famously includes the admonishment “Don’t Be Evil,” is fighting the request for a week’s worth of search engine queries. Other search engines have already complied. The government isn’t asking for search engine users’ identifying data — at least not yet. But for those worried about what companies or federal investigators might do with such records in the future, here’s a primer on how search logs work, and how to avoid being writ large within them

Over at Wired they have an pretty interesting article on how to defeat the snoopers and other ways to preserve one’s privacy while not limiting the ability to surf where you want. Its good stuff.

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Every nation needs its scandals. Japan, where scandal is a way of life, has decided that it needs a bigger and better version of an American Enron scandal. Enter Livedoor.com.

Livedoor started as an internet e-mail company. I remember meeting an Indian guy working for them, one day on the Narita Express coming back from one of my mis-adventures in Hong Kong. They rapidly became the darling of the Japanese media expanding like Google into other internet enterprises, including web sites and providing a blog host service. ( That probably does not bode well for Google–where the hell did I put that back up disk?).

Japanese prosecutors have said Livedoor is suspected of violating securities laws by spreading false information about stocks, and Japanese media reports say Livedoor is also suspected of covering up losses.

Sound familiar?

A detailed history of the company can be found here.

Today their CEO was arrested on securities fraud charges:

Takafumi Horie

TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Prosecutors sought arrest warrants on Monday for Takafumi Horie, CEO of Internet firm Livedoor Co. (4753.T: Quote, Profile, Research) who shook up corporate Japan with his bareknuckles business tactics, and three others, Kyodo news agency reported. A prosecutors’ raid on Livedoor a week ago caused chaos on the Tokyo stock market and sent prices plunging across the board. Media reports have said Livedoor spread false information to investors, issued new shares to “acquire” firms already under its control and then sold them for a profit and padded its books. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano, Reuters Messaging: masayuki.kitano.reuters.com@reuters.net;)

They have had news stories all night long including a special news broadcast explaining how Livedoor manipulated a buyout of another company by inflating the value of stocks of a third company. The S.O. has been riveted to the TV, and for some reason she is really taking particular pleasure in this guy’s demise. 100 people killed in Iraq? Does not phase her. Avalanche in Nigata? Barely a passing glance. A pudgy 33 year old Japanese guy getting arrested while stealing his way to fame and fortune? Now THAT gets her really excited. Wish I felt better. Then I could get her to put some of that righteour indignation to some good use. Instead I get to just watch her laugh, again and again. You would think it was her money he took…….

Since the scandal broke about 5 days ago, she has been waiting for what she calls “X-day”; or as she says, “The day that Horie-san would be arrested…”.

Me, I just smile and go looking for some real news.

Now that’s something worth reading about!

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I find it oddly macabre to be watching the news magazines lately. All 3 of the “biggies” had the same cover headline. “After he is gone….” . I think that’s a little morbid if you ask me.

However actions of Ariel Sharon had impact on literally millions of people, for both good and ill, and I was one of those who was affected by the actions that were set forth by Israel; actions he either planned, or directed to be planned and executed. There is nothing of major historical significance here, it just shows how events in one corner of the globe affect folks thousands of miles away…………

First the history. On June 6, 1982, a massive invasion of Lebanon (“Operation Peace for Galilee”) was undertaken by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Israel announced its intention to oust the PLO from Lebanon, and to create a 25 mile “sanitary cordon” to protect its northern settlements. By mid July, more than 100,000 IDF troops were in Lebanon and Beirut was under siege. In the south, the Israelis dug in. On August 21, as a result of the diplomatic mediation of US envoy, Philip Habib, the PLO began the evacuation of its troops from Beirut and headed for Tunis. On September 1, as the last PLO guerrillas were shipping out of Beirut, President Reagan announced his “Reagan Plan” for solving the Arab-Israeli conflict. On September 14, 1982, Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayal was killed in a bomb explosion just one week before he was due to be sworn in. His brother, Amin, was elected president in his place. The Israeli Defense Forces under the command of Ariel Sharon moved into Beirut and occupied the city. On Thursday, September 16, 1982, Lebanese Christian Phalangist troops, with the IDF looking on from surrounding rooftops, entered the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla in Beirut and, bent on avenging Bashir Gemayel’s killing, began massacring the residents. The killing continued until Saturday morning. At least 700 – 800 were killed, with some estimates ranging up to 2,000. Years later (in 2001), there was pressure to charge Ariel Sharon as a war criminal for doing nothing to try to stop the massacres .

IDF Soldiers on the move.

That last event had particular significance for yours truly in his, to that point, rather short naval career.

Cut now to the silhouette of USS America (CV-66) anchored in the Harbor , Portsmouth England. The ship and air wing were just beginning the second of two long port visits to Edinburgh and Portsmouth, with only a 40 hour transit in between. Young Skippy-san having spent copious sums of money on beer and golf in the Scottish capital and having an ex wife who was already beginning to show her wastrel spending habits, had arranged to take duty the first 2 days in port so that payday could arrive after ac ouple of days liberty and he could re-arm his “pound” machine gun, for further ripple fire action in the pubs in London and Manchester. The beauty of the 2 day in a row arrangement of standing duty ( which involved staying on the ship doing mundane and useless jobs such as standing boat officer, intergrity watch officer and pretending I was doing work in both the ready room and my stateroom) was that it meant I had four days off straight afterwards. Nothing to be sneezed at in a projected 10 day port visit.

CV-66 also known to us as CV-666, aka, Satan’s Flagship!

Duty over, a hearty breakfast eaten- always eat before you leave the ship, one never knows when you will eat again-and I and my mates were off the ship and riding a liberty boat to Portsmouth Naval Base, then to catch the train to London and the adventures that waited there.

HMS Victory

Ashore we proceeded to the train station. Figured I would be able to see Portsmouth in mid rage since I would have to come back to cash a check. This of course being back in the stone age before ATM’s and the internet……..I knew I would need more money to go see Wales which was one of my goals. London of course had to be my main first day trip. All of which was made available to me by the wonders of British Rail. I was in a country with reliable train service. Is this a great country or what?

We arrived at Victoria Station just before mid day. Guess we needed to go to a pub for lunch. At least I think that is what we did. Then the circuit of all the sites we could see in a day, Big Ben; Tower of London, sights along the Thames, Winchester cathedral. Then to Piccadilly Circus as it got dark on into a pub crawl going to various tourist pubs listed in our guide book. Pound consumption was high as was our beer consumption. It was probably a good thing they closed at 11 PM. We had arranged a hotel earlier. Next day off to see more sites, having decided to forgo Manchester since London was a lot bigger than we thought. Besides there were still pubs on our list!

Looking at my cash vs credit card situation, I knew I was going to have to go back to the ship to bounce cash another check. So I decided the next morning I would head back to Portsmouth, get on the ship, get done, get back off, and explore Portsmouth. My buddies not being burdened with marital baggage, they were going to go on to see Wales. Quite proud of my self for being able to skillfully manage the underground so early in the morning and nursing a “creeper”-a hangover that feels fine when you wake up but overtakes you as the day goes on- and got on train out of Portsmouth about 7:30 or so.

Back in Portsmouth, the something seemed very out of place. As I walked the streets back the way I thought was to the Naval Station this feeling of unease grew on me. I knew it had nothing to do with the beer I had consumed the night before. Something was out of place. All the people I saw looked too normal…and way too British. If there is one thing about American Sailors, despite all the adages to “blend in”, they stick out like a sore thumb. Even more so in 1982 before having short hair became fashionable again. “Liberty boats must not be running”, I thought, ” Must be really rough out on the harbor”.

Got onto the base, walked past HMS Victory and around to where the USS Mt Whitney was berthed. She was still there! That meant the USS America beach detachment and the boat lines were soon to be seen. Another left, then another right and……….nothing but a stone pier and the water lapping up against it.

Uh Oh…. .

Turning back toward the Mt Whitney I saw a line of Sailors with America shoulder tabs on their whites. They soon set me straight.

“Sir you need to get on the Mt Whitney ASAP. The ship got underway this morning, port visit’ s cancelled. They will be shuttling helos in here as soon as they can.”

OOOPS! This is not going to be a good day!

Contemplating the end of my life and my career, cut short after only a few years, and walked on up the brow thinking about how I was going to explain to the missus that I was going to soon become a new addition to the wardroom of NAF Adak, Alaska. If I was lucky to survive the ass chewing and letter of reprimand that was sure to come. After all , missing the ship’s movement was a court martial offense. Once aboard I discovered of course, that I was not alone. Misery loves company!

Well you can probably guess the rest. I, regrettably, was one of the guys who made it onto a helo and was flown out to the ship with probably 100 other folks. The rest were rounded up and taken to an airfield where they came out by the Carrier On board delivery aircraft the next day. The final stragglers, one of my buddies included, had to be moved down to Rota Spain to catch the ship before it went through the straits of Gibraltar. Now those guys took some abuse! In the end with the need to make the flight schedule and the fact that some 450+ total got left behind at first all was forgiven….this time.

Gradually the facts about the massacre came out and so did the reason for our pre-mature depature. The USS Independence was surged from the Western Mediterranean to take up station off Lebanon. To do exactly what, they and we were never quite sure of. However it was decided we would enter the “Med” behind them proceed South of Sicily and wait to see what happened. We steamed east , flying when we could not sure what we would be doing when we got there. After all who were we going to bomb? The Israelis? Nobody thought that was a possibility. Nonetheless we planned various targets, steamed a couple of days in circles waiting for tasking.

Finally it was decided. Independence would stay off of Lebanon. We thought for sure they would send us home because we were supposed to go on cruise in December and as it was we were going to be 3 weeks late getting home……No wait, there was this NATO exercise in the Aegean Sea. Could we, would we, just go up there and fly it? Which we did. ( Flying from a carrier in the Aegean is a story unto itself…).

Exercise complete we turned west. Our reward for a job well done? No port visit in Palma as we had hoped. We got sent to Puerto Rico so we could drop all the live ordnance we were supposed to have expended earlier. That kept us at sea for an additional 21 days. So, some 3 and a half months after we left on what was only supposed to have been a 5 week work up we arrived in Norfolk in the second week of November. 30 days later we were on our way back to the Mediterranean and eventually a trip through the Suez and on to the Indian Ocean. In all 11 months gone out of 13 when it was all said and done.

No moral here really except that perhaps the world is very interconnected and events in one corner produce ripple effects that touch the lives of insignificant people such as myself. I happen to think Sharon did a lot for Israel and of course I am a big fan of Israel. Always will be.

It took me 10 more years to get back to London though………..

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WARNING notice! This post may be uninteresting if you have not had naval experience…….

I was having a conversation in my frustration (and between hacking up a lung) with a friend who is an experienced LDO with 25 years experience in the Navy. He came up the hard way, through the ranks, had been a chief, made LDO and had served in all the “hard” LDO jobs. I asked him why did he think that we have so many leaders these days that are afraid to take responsibility and do the right thing for their troops?

He said,” We have dumbed down the mid grade leadership. Micromanagement and technology which enables micromanagement; coupled with a “zero defect” climate have made intitative a bad thing. We talk about empowerment, but real empowerment comes from senior leaders learning when to sit on their hands.”

I thought about that and I have to agree with him. Technology has made it far too easy for seniors to become involved in the “weeds” of an issue. Senior leadership would be better off if it would learn to stay focused on the higher level vision things, learn how to clearly enunciate a goal, then learn to turn off the cell phone ,blackberry, or computer for a while and go out an play some golf, drink a beer or 4, or hit the rack and let juniors do what they are tasked to do. Thanks to technology and the fear of getting hammered, it’s too easy to jump in where you are neither wanted nor belong.

Or as I heard once, “Not everything is worth doing to perfection. Some things are worth doing only just good enough, and some things are not worth doing at all. The trick was to know which was which.”

It’s been a bad week for the US Navy here in Japan. As result of yet more boneheads getting drunk and deciding “what the hell, I should just embarrass my country”. Another rape, another breaking and entering, another guy deciding that it’s better to steal an item than pay for it. The result, as Eddie documents is the beginning of Korea style liberty here in Japan. Curfews ( that are not called a curfew); issuance of general orders which , because of the SOFA catch all are placed on dependents and civilians (thus affecting everyone) and general hand wringing in general. Examination of the root causes of such behavior seems to be in the background, or so it seems to me.

My friend believes that part of what he calls this dumbing down process is the lack of respect for traditions of the United States Navy. He in particular derides the “all the animals are equal mentality” instead of real class and privilege distinctions between Officers, Chiefs, and Petty Officers, lack of empowerment of said CPO’s and kinder and gentler detailing which inadvertently does not equally distribute the best talent among commands. He also has a dim view of the current Chief’s initiation process. I’m not qualified to comment on that since I was never a chief. However his view is the old and supposedly silly rituals were a way to teach you that regardless of involvement, if you were the division chief then you were responsible for your division. He felt the old way taught that. I’ll leave it for others to comment if he is right or wrong.

However I would like to expand on some his other tenants.

1) I think that if you treat people like children then they behave like children. Treat them like adults with adult responsibilities, rewards and consequences and most will rise to the occasion. Those that don’t, well Donald Trump has a word for that. Those that do, leave them alone!

2) Because of all the fears about sexual harassment and fraternization these days, people are tending to stay away from each other except in the line of work. Add to that the increasing amount of married folks in the force and the old days where the old hands kind of brought you along and showed you where the boundaries were, as well as getting you back to the ship before things went south are not there anymore. Now it’s the blind leading the blind…..in many cases straight down hill.

3) There is too much of a tendency among senior personnel to think they have a right to regulate every aspect of a Sailor’s private life. Trying to turn every Sailor into a good, monogamous, God fearing, pious , non smoking, teetotaler Casper Milquetoast is simply ludicrous. Does the Sailor show up for work on time, sober and ready to go to work? Those that do great. Those that don’t, well they can be dealt with. Violate civilian laws , well those folks can be dealt with too. That’s why its called the law.

4) We still do not understand how structurally, “corporate Navy” sets some folks up for failure by the hidden messages that are sent in our policies. I’ll say one thing for the Air Force, they do know how to build quality facilities for people and know what reasonable working hours are. The Navy despite a lot of progress is still about doing whatever it takes for however long it takes. Given a choice between ships or facilities, ships win every time. The point is we need to have enough money to buy both.

5) We still are not grasping the fact that the folks entering today in our young enlisted ranks are not coming from the same value systems that folks from previous generations were. There is some merit to the argument that proper upbringing , as well as a tough , adversarial based, rite of entry that helps weed out the unsuitable quickly is of better value for the armed services.

6) Gangs and gang mentality including all of the gang paraphernalia that is present in society today needs to be attacked and driven out ruthlessly. When guys think its ok to steal and rob someone, there is a real problem there. I’ll bet if you pull the string on the worst offenders there is gang involvement. Which is reinforced by today’s music and media and other items. Its not racist to demand that Sailors dress like real men, not sacks of cloth.

I still maintain that the military is not getting a good cross section of society and that the emphasis on youth and money has made those of privilege more inclined to simply avoid the obligation of national service as I discussed earlier here. Also they are way off track about sex. The process of teaching Sailors about boundaries is not about keeping them from having sex, its about keeping them from f**king other Sailors. And learning that no, means no. This is about the who, not about the what………. Phrased another way, does the relationship get in the way? Sailors dating Sailors tends to do that IMHO.

The law 0f predictable consequences is at play here.

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Still not feeling great, lots of issues at work needing my attention and its cold here!. But still there is no place like home!

This has been with out a doubt, one of the worst business trips I’ve ever been on. Wish I had the strength to curl up with these:

These are the Kano sisters also known to many of us as “the Oppai Twins” (Oppai means breast in Japanese…..). They have made a fortune by being eye candy on Japanese panel shows and other places where they can wear tight clothes that show of their ample, and probably enhanced, cleavage. They even have their own “action figures”:

Doctor advises against using one of these:

At this point, he’s probably right…..Sigh

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Looking at my picture on the blog, I was shocked to see that my aggressive, sleek Atomu picture had morphed into something hideous. Being on the road, its not in my laptop. So I hope you enjoy the new me for a few days.

Actually it was probably an appropriate view of me the past couple of days. Feeling better today. Getting work done and trying my best to get out of here as soon as I can….like tomorrow. Given my deprived ability to sustain long term partying, I will probably go straight back to Tokyo (with of course the usual packed aircraft full of Indonesians……..).

There are times I think I am not cut out to work in the new corporate Navy. I’m an old school kind of guy. Wheel, deal, and get the job done, preferably as quickly as possible so we can all still make happy hour.

Unfortunately, the “new breed” does not look to that. Instead they tend to just speak in platitudes and focus only on the negative. In particular there are too many senior leaders who think the “Chainsaw approach” dealing with problems that come up is the way to go. Just keep firing people till you get the desired result. I believe it is a function of the recent trend to view people as just another commodity, to be budgeted for and shoved aside when the cost (financial and emotional) gets too hard.

In dealing with our particular bunch of knuckleheads, the powers that be miss the point that their inability to detail and hire quality people for a location that people do not want to go to, as well as the dynamics of living here.
( unaccompanied, many out in town and no guilt about working people long hours…….The only way I would want to be out here is as a civilian so I have the option to quit if I need to.) makes it a not a good way to bring out the best. You’ll get some guys to volunteer, but in some cases its motivated by the “greed factor”, especially with military facing the choice of going to a ship, or going here where they can at least drink beer.

Plus there are just too many people here. I still think that many of the headquarters functions can be out sourced to other more hospitable and family friendly locations ( such as our headquarters is……). There is a side benefit, because having every one co-located with the big boss in theater means everyone is walking around worrying how not get beat up instead of doing long range planning.

It would seem to me that would be obvious, but one of the things I keep running into is a very territorial mindset. That makes it hard to convince people to do the right thing.

I could be wrong, but I think I’m not.

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Still sick. Nothing useful to post as my energy is split pretty evenly between going and getting my work done then crawling back into a fetal position on the bed. If not better tomorrow I am going back to the doctor……

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Caved in and went to the doctor today. I have bronchitis. So I take the drugs and hope I will get better soon. Caved in and went to a doctor………..Now I just go to work then come back and huddle in my room when the day is over.

Man I hate this,,,,,,,

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It’s a good thing I had to come straight here. I am now officially sick with some sort of a coughing, sore throat, shiver in the bed kind of cold. Staying in, huddled under the covers and conserving strength as I have to go do work tomorrow. This trip is just starting off great!

You know you are sick when you don’t feel like you want one of these:

And wishing you were being waited on hand a foot by one of these:

Back to bed!

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Oh, somewhere adjacent to the fragrant harbor the neon lights are shining bright. The bands are playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing,and perky little women in tight pants shout,
but there is no joy in Mudville
- mighty Skippy has struck out.

Probably for the best as I can use tomorrow to prepare, do work, get time adjusted and not be hungover tired and think hard how to approach this evolution in positive manner. Flight from HKG was packed with Indonesians and Filipinos.

But oh to have been so close and yet so far, looking out the windows of the HKG airport this afternoon……Sigh!

Must get sleep…………

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