Smiley's Tropical Escape

Vox Hunt: Let's Go!

nobody@vox.com(Smiley) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:38:05 +0900

Show us a photo of somewhere you want to go.

The Manned Cloud is a hotel that will float above Paris, France:

Living in the sky, watching the Earth from above. Rediscovering the marvel of traveling, experiencing contemplation. Exploring the world without trace

Manned Cloud is an alternative project around leisure and travelling in all its form, economic and experimental, still with the idea of lightness, human experience and life scenarios as the guiding principles. The spiral of Archimedes is the driving force of this airship in the form of a whale that glides through the air.

Image and info taken from DeZeen.com.

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Vox Hunt: Word Up

nobody@vox.com(Smiley) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:03:58 +0900

Show us your favorite word, sentence or quote.

"I begged you to stab me, as I tore my shirt open, and I'm down on my knees tonight."

Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues (Live)

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Rock Star

nobody@vox.com(Smiley) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 21:24:06 +0900

Florescent light gleamed off the card case I was holding against one of my flashcards, wondering if the one would fit into the other with a minimum of fuss and / or bending. A little girl, maybe about six, walked by, wide-eyed and curious. Her eyes stayed focused on me, even as she continued on into the next aisle. I smiled at her and went back to my contemplations.

After a moment or two the girl came back by, this time pausing and then changing course to meet me. She looked up at me and I saw that her chin still had a smudge of chocolate from some treat or another, giving her an almost cliche appearance. She spoke in a soft but clear voice. She said, "Konnichi wa."

I looked back at her, smiled and said, "Konnichi wa."

She backed up a step, speaking even softer, and to herself, in Japanese, "Wow, he spoke Japanese." She pondered this for a moment, then stepped back up to me. Her flipped her head to one side, looking at me from an angle. "Can you really speak Japanese?"

"Yes," I said, "although not as well as you can."

She flipped her head to the other side, still looking thoughtful. "Can you speak English too?"

I nodded.

She smiled, puffed out her chest and said, still speaking in Japanese, "I speak English."

"Really?" I said, "Do you study it in school?"

She nodded. Her hands moved in a series of gestures that I recognized from teaching school children; she mouthed the words of the song to herself and, after a moment, said, in bright, clear English, "Hello! How are you?"

I laughed and said, "Hello. I'm fine, thank you, and you?"

"I'm fine!" She giggled and ran off. A moment later, she popped her head around the end of the aisle and said "Bye bye!" and giggled again. As she left the store, I could hear her telling her mother, "Guess what? I saw a foreigner and I spoke English to him! It was so cool!"

I laughed out loud at hearing this and, smiling, went back to my cards and my boxes.

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