Decisions, Decisions...

I read an article last night about the poor standard of living in the first world country called Japan. The article was geared mostly towards the brutal winter most people in Japan suffer through. It made me think of my everyday decisions since the end of autumn 2011. Take for example, I am sitting in my lab, reading and I want to urinate. Normally, this is a no-brainer, I'd simply go to the bathroom. But, in Japan, I create a game tree in my mind to decide my next move.

Need to urinate

                  ---->Go to bathroom ---->walk in freezing cold hallway---take off pants in freezing cold bathroom----->After urinating, wash hand in freezing cold water---> Fingers go numb temporarily--->walk in freezing hallway, shivering to the bone to get back to warm room

               ----->After urinating, don't wash hand, water is too cold-->end up getting stomach bug later from bathroom germs--->Die alone in cold Japan


                         ---->Stay in warm room--->develop urinary tract infection--->visit Japanese doctor, who doesn't understand much english--->Get wrong medication because of language barrier--->Get even more ill--->eventually die sick and cold in Japan.

Oh Japan, why are you so cold? Why don't you have central heating like a proper first world country? Don't you care about the Gaijin from the Caribbean?

Fleeting thoughts on a cold winter night

In the midst of this circus I like to call life, I have developed a smashing desire towards someone outside my normal sphere of probabilities. It's like having a fantasy about one of my professors. It's uncomfortable but thrilling at the same time. No matter where we fall on the food chain, something is always ready to eat us. Therefore, it seems this chain is interlinked. Which puts us all on a similar level - the level of being eaten by a predator!

I have started to think more seriously about what I would like to research in more specific terms. Now I need to delve into the details. And it seems like they were all correct, 'the devil is in the details'. I hope to meet him though, so we can move along progressively with this business of research.

Economics Majors and the Real World

How is it possible to be an Economics Major and not be interested in what's happening in the Euro zone now? I read about it in the newspapers sometimes, but I don't form economic opinions about what I read. I simply read because I don't want to be totally clueless about this big economic problem. I know that the Euro is in trouble and that the effects of the recession are far from being over. But the specifics are not committed to my memory.

I would love to honestly be able to say that I'm more interested in Development Economics than Financial Economics, and that's the reason I lack interest in Europe's issues. But if that were the case, I would be up to date on all the Development issues in the world. I didn't even know that the world population hit the 7billion mark on November 31, 2011 (at least, I think that's the date).

I keep thinking that it's embarrassing to be pursuing higher education in economics without any real interest in what is happening in America or Europe. Generally,  I don't engage in economic discussions because I don't feel passionate about the topics or I don't want others to know that I am not as smart in Economics as they are.  Is there something wrong with me? I prefer the economics practised by Levitt (in Freakanomics).

 Life in Kobe, Japan.

I haven't been taking many pictures of nature. So, I went on a nature splurge on my campus recently. I go to school on two different campuses almost everyday. One to learn Japanese and one to facilitate my research. All the beautiful pictures in this post were taken at the Rokkodai 1st Campus. That's the campus for Social Sciences (I think) - My campus.

 I just love the colourful leaves here :). This picture was taken while I was at the half-way mark on the steps to the campus. The one thing I don't like about this university - it's located on a hill!

 Beautiful trees.

 Cute.

 Whatever that says.

 Old Auditorium

 My Grad School

 I can read the two lines at the bottom :)

View from a window at GSICS

 Spiders have the coolest habitats!