Fourteen years ago, when I lived in Tokyo I had a really good friend with whom I spent a lot of time.  We were in the same class at my Japanese language school and at least five times a week we would go out to dinner, see movies, go to karaoke boxes, etc.  In addition, we would call each other and talk on the phone for hours literally everyday.  She was my best friend at the time, and of course, being the young, idiot male that I was, I ruined it one night by suggesting we get a hotel room instead of going home.  The reason I bring this up is that the other day I caught a little bit of  "When Harry Met Sally," which addresses the very question of whether men and women can really be friends.  My answer, based on my own experience and from seeing others' experiences, is No.

Men and women are naturally attracted to each other, the question is whether there are enough social and moral restrictions to prevent platonic relationships from becoming something more.  Thus, My view of things is that in the "Harry & Sally" scenario, where the necessary restrictions don't exist, eventually something will happen to push the friendship over into other territory. Maybe I should clarify my answer by saying that single, reasonably attractive, relatively young, men and women who spend a lot of time with each other, cannot be friends.  Sounds stupid, I know, but that was the situation in "Harry & Sally."   

Remember, there are always exceptions.  Also, by "friendship" I don't mean mere acquaintances, but the type of friendship where you spend a lot of time with each other, tell each other everything, and are honest to each other. In addition,  I think it's much easier for men and women to be friends when one or both are married.  I realize that I'm taking a pessimistic view of human nature.  Furthermore, maybe my logic is warped by my own past failures.  It could also be that I'm abnormally weak and the average male has much more self-discipline than I.  Somehow I get the feeling that I'm going to get bashed over this post, hahaha.  Let me know.

The first picture is of the traditional New Year's rice cakes and the chopsticks assigned to each family member.  My family adheres to a very traditonal way of celebrating New Year's and one of the things we do is we each have our own chopsticks we have to use to eat the New Year's food.  Our names are written on the paper chopstick holder things.  Once New Year's is over (normally after the 15th day in Japan, though modern people probably only celebrate the first three days) we have to take the chopsticks and other decorations and burn them at a local shrine.  We won't do that here in Hawaii, of course, but if we were in Japan that's what my family would do.  The second picture has nothing to do with New Year's but I never miss an opportunity to post pics of my dog.  hahaha.  

I'll be able to enjoy a few more house hours (no, I'm not drunk, yet) of 2007 than most of you because of the time difference.  Let me know how the first few hours of the New Year are! 

Peace.

It looks like I've caught my annual cold.  I always get sick around this time of year with the usual suspects - runny nose, cough, and fever.  A bunch of people from my firm are flying to New Orleans to see the Sugar Bowl because the University of Hawaii football team will be playing.  Hopefully it will be a quiet weekend.  I stayed late today so I don't have to go to the office over the weekend.  I'm going to rest, surf the net, and watch a few DVD's.  I can't believe it's already 2008.

I remember imagining what the year 2010 would be like in grade school.  We sat around and imagined space ships and laser guns.  We haven't progressed as much as we had fantasized about, but we have cool things we didn't imagine like the Internet, ipods, and Priuses.  2008 should be interesting with the presidential elections and the release of the new Star Trek movie.  Is there an Olympics in 2008?  I can't keep track anymore! 

Now's the time of year where you see tons of  "Year in Review" lists and features.  Here are my top 10 events that happened his past year.  As usual, it's a mixture of personal stuff and general events:

1. SammyStorm passes the Hawaii bar.
2. Virginia Tech shootings.
3. Mrs. SammyStorm becomes a citizen.
4. Michael Vick dog fighting case.
5. Wildfires in California.
6. SammyStorm gets a new job.
7. Minnesota bridge collapse.
8. Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize as environmental issues continue to make headlines.
9. Election season starts early as various U.S. presidential candidates argue about Iraq, immigration, and health care.
10. The fighting in Iraq continues.  Major unrest in Pakistan continues as Benazir Bhutto is assassinated.

This is an older picture from Illinois.  He certainly doesn't need his winter coat anymore here in the islands!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Different kinds of trees, side-by-side:

Guess what this means?

This is the State Supreme Court building with a statute of King Kamehameha guarding the front:

It wouldn't be Christmas in Hawaii without a giant ukulele:

This is how Mr & Mrs. Claus dress when they come down here:

Waving to the passing cars:

We'll all be busy over the next few days, so just in case I don't post for a few days, I'll say this while I have the chance... MELE KALIKIMAKA!!  (that's "Merry Christmas" in Hawaiian for those of you who are dense! hahaha. j/k).

So far, this film is the favorite to win the prestigous SammyStorm Award for best film of 2007.  Go see this now if you haven't already.  Some reviewers have said that the main character isn't likable.  Personally, I identified with the character because of similar issues I've had with my parents and my inability to forgive them.  There's a couple of lines towards the end of the movie that really hit home.  Great cinematography, great acting, great original soundtrack, and great directing by Sean Penn.  Unless I see an even better film within the next couple of weeks, this will be my number one movie of 2007. 

Today we had our office Christmas Party.  No one got drunk and started stripping and no one made out in the copy room, so I think it was on the tame side.  We played some games, ate some good food, and topped it off with gifts and bread pudding.  They let everyone go home after the party (it was in the afternoon) and I saw some people head straight to the mall to finish shopping.  The malls are going to be insane this weekend.  Thank goodness I believe in Amazon.com and out of the way bead stores to satisfy my shopping needs.  On Sunday we're going to a Hawaiian Christmas Concert (I'm not sure how it differs from a regular Christmas concert - maybe the use of ukuleles?) and I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow.  Maybe go to church to cancel out all the commercialism in my veins...the problem is, I don't belong to a church.  So I'll watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD instead.  What are you up to this holiday weekend?

I bought my wife's present and it comes in two parts.  The first part is a small bag, but it doesn't look all that impressive...on purpose.  Inside is a $100 gift certificate for her favorite beading store.  Do you know what "beading" is?  Basically, you make your own jewelry by threading beads and twisting small pieces of metal.  She'll be disappointed by the bag and be surprised, I hope, by the gift certificate. The problem is the store doesn't wrap so I have to do it myself -- this is scary, folks.  What I wrap will end up looking like an origami boulder...or feces.