Delay

          Sorry for the delay, 

                          My original plan was to write a blog about the sushi on Kauai. Well, a lot of really...not so good things happened there. So, we will continue with the blogging and such tomorrow. Sushi from Oahu, a place called Chiba-ken. No endorsements, no bullshit, just my take on the place and my recommendation on what to get from a sushi chef. But, in lue of a blog, today i humbly offer a picture of me looking confused, and one of the only pictures of my tattoo that you'll see till its finished.

Quack

A new begining....again....

First and foremost...

Thank you...

If you were'nt reading this, well, id probably be off doing something far

less productive. Ive been needing a good creative outlet here, and i think ive found it.  

As a forewarning... 

Im bad about capitalization, punctuation and all other tion's related to the English language. 

You've been warned..... 

Bad idea in a bottle

 Ill explain my mission first. People have long had a great fear and misunderstanding about the mysterious world of sushi. And with the recent interest in the cuisine over the past 20 years, the fear has passed, but the misunderstanding remains. There are many keys to picking excellent fish to devour or finding that perfect roll to destroy while you drink sake and get as loud as you possibly can. Either way, its good to know the ins and outs of a "decent" sushi establishment, as to not offend the possible (but highly unlikely) Japanese sushi chef.

-First, above all else, you need to feel comfortable with what youre eating. Countless nights i have seen some dude come in, trying to impress his date, and order some of the most obscure (and most expensive) fish, only to take a few bites and leave the rest to sit out, staring me in the face. Dont worry, you'll get laid tonight, just dont ruin what i consider an art.

If youre most comfortable with eating a california or a cowboy roll, the do it man! Just do it like a Boss and she'll be more than impressed. 

^ Merican Sushi Chef
Does not understand
Japanese...

-Second, Dont order in Japanese unless you're in Japan. Yes, sometimes its cool to speak another language in an attempt to really feel like youre fitting in to your surroundings, but, as i said earlier, most sushi chefs in America arent Japanese. (Vice like, California or Hawaii.) Now, that being said, if you know your chef is from Japan and you're mildly fluent in Japanese then it could be alright. I know my boss, Yoshie, used to love speaking Japanese to customers. She tried teaching me but i have lazy ears and plus, im still working on mastering the English language myself ('Merica!)

-Finally, you live in America (or one of its many territories..), not Japan. The same rules in etiquette dont apply here. If you want to drown your one piece of a Destin roll (tuna, avocado, green onions and spicy mayo for those of us in NW FL...) then by all means, do so. Im not eating it, you are. We all take pride in what we do, so we try and send out the best product possible. But after it leave my bar top and heads to your mouth, well its all you baby. Do what you want. Just do you....

Now to the brass tacks of this whole thing. Im going to take you on a little spin around my world and share my sushi experiences. If you agree or disagree with anything im saying, by all means let me know. Ill probably disregard it anyways, but everyone is entitled to an opinion here. 

And now, ill leave you with something nice to look at....

Just myself.

"Delay does not react well with reactivity."


    First of all. Sorry for my absence. The path ive chosen leaves me little time to write to you, so ill make the most of it. For the last few months, ive been out doing things ive never thought id do, Going places id only imagined and learning thing that will flood my heart with a better understanding of the world itself. I wont preach of american globalization or anything of that nature. Its not my place, nor shall it ever be. Those conversations are best left for a good bottle of wine and even better company. What i will say is that we, as a nation, have a fantastic lifestyle. We spent a lot of time in Bahrain in my travels to the middle east. For those of you that dont know, its a small island nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia and a stones throw from Iraq and Iran. The people tolerate us out of necessity, and for that ill be forever grateful. Its a very interesting change of pace there. Things are slower, time is taken, so for us it would seem as if they are lazy or something like that. One thing i found particularly interesting is they're protection of religion. Taking pictures of almost everything is forbidden, especially the mosques. Personally, i wanted to see an actual mosque in the middle east, but never had the opportunity. (hopefully next time.) Seeing as how a majority of my work is in the Middle East, i was more than overjoyed to be head to Asia next. The beautiful city of Hong Kong had much more to offer than i expected. To be honest, id almost put it up there as one of my favorite places to visit....almost. I indulged my little fat asian kid inside and ate as much Ramen as possible. Plus a number of other things that im sure id never eaten before. Aside from food, the one thing i really took from HK was my visit to a small buddhist temple inside the city. I popped a squat on a bench in front of it and watched people stop by, breaking from their daily routines to pray to buddha. In a way, i was almost jealous. i barely find the time to shave in the morning. The next stop i willfully omit from this post. Guam is its own beast in itself and we will just leave it at that. Back to Hawaii....
Words cant accurately describe the feeling you get the first time you pull into homeport, weary from months at sea, to see hundreds of people cheering your return. Those last few minutes, everyone pushes out as much work as they can to make liberty call come faster. You feel an overwhelming sense of happiness, just from pulling into port. You'd figure one would feel a sense of relief from getting back. Ive found it more of a distraction from my troubled mind. As usual, ive got someone on my mind, and as usual its the same person. Caught playing a cat and mouse game with myself, paralyzed by the same old antics, its a small relief to be able to concentrate on something else than her. distance is a real bitch sometimes. Ill turn my head and cover my eyes as fire engulfs the sky, but ill be fine. Im always fine.