Day 0 - Night Before Departure - 🌏 MWT 2017

Sunday August 27th, 2017
Hiked 3.9 miles

10:09 pm

My itinerary was easy to understand and helped document
my journey on two pieces of paper. Kiwi.com

Well I am laying in my bed with my new bluetooth keyboard connected to my phone. For ease and lightweight travel I am opting to leave my laptop home and use my phone only this trip.

I decided it is wise to wait until I return home before I post anything on this trip. If only to pay attention to the moment, lest I get distracted and post something foolishly offending people when I only want to show respect. I need to understand. I am not as interested in seeing the sites as the people. I want to see people around the world. Really that is all I expect. I expect to see people just as us, similarities, and differences. It will be enlightening. I am excited to travel alone as it exposes me to interact with people. I expect I will just make short notes on here. I am not going in secret, or surprise, just not advertised. Most Americans I know have little experience with this, and I dread their opinion. Only those close to me know of it so they may be on the lookout for my return. It is kind of hard to sleep before a long journey. I doubt the wisdom in the planning of the trip. Planning that I did so quickly I can not remember if it was thorough.

So I HAVE to trust myself. Tomorrow I will be at the Castro Valley Bart before 10am to be guaranteed a spot. I have no plans for the evening. I will check into the hostel and enjoy a tasty beverage of sorts. Then I will have something very American before I go. Tues I will wake up and make my way to the airport via the BART. I will get on a, what appears now to be a 14hr leg. I will land in Wuhan China. It is new to allowing visitors, as new as 2015, and I will only be there a short time on a layover on the way to Bangkok Thailand. I reserved, in Bangkok, a three star hotel for the night after my arrival. My plane is going to land in the early morning so I don't want to reserve a hotel for the arrival of my trip.

We will see how that works out. My trip to Hawaii in July was tiring after 10 days. By twelve days, I was so happy to go back home, I felt like it was a new vacation. The return trip from Hawaii was brutal and I was beaten emotionally and physically from delays and missed connections that I am kind of surprised I am going to do this. In fact it will mark the end of my retirement and when I return I will be out of money and in need of a new job. I have seen some emails regarding available jobs from head hunters in my inbox, but am too distracted running this trip over in my head to worry about that until I get back.

So early tomorrow morning I will drive to San Francisco to visit one of our very own famous metropolis before heading out overseas. My plane to China leaves the next day.

Tonight I need to scan copies of my passport to Google drive, as well as my Drivers License and Bank Card in case they go missing. Earlier I printed out a hard copy of my ticket information in case my phone gets destroyed, goes missing, or the battery dies writing about my trip. I keep taking a break to Google things last minute to make sure I am good to go. Things like Visa requirements for all the countries I plan to visit and whether I am going to get Shanghaied in Hong Kong because Moscow won't let me pass through. I could have easily avoided Moscow, but I want to see our far eastern or western friends in the "Red" state, if only for a short while.

My bag is packed, checked, and double checked. Most important inventory is wallet/phone and passport. Everything else can be replaced along the way. I took out my sweater, rolled it up nice, and stuck it in my backpack so I could easily put it on, relieving pressure on my bag, if does not fit under some seats. I am going to try and keep my bag with me at all times.

My World Trip 2017 - Preparation and Planning - 🌏 MWT 2017

All entries will be posted 2 weeks after they happened.

✅  Day 0 - Night Before Departure - August 27th, 2017
✅  Day 1 - San Francisco, USA - August 28th, 2017
✅  Day 2 - Flight to China - August 29th, 2017
✅  Day 3 - Wake up in Wuhan - August 30th, 2017
✅  Day 4 - Welcome to Thailand - Land of Smiles - August 31st, 2017
✅  Day 5 - Ayutthaya - September 1st, 2017
✅  Day 6 - Phi Phi by way of Phuket - September 2nd, 2017
✅  Day 7 - Done with Phi phi - September 3rd, 2017
✅  Day 8 - Criminal Abroad - September 4th, 2017
✅  Day 9 - Muslim Experience - September 5th, 2017
✅  Day 10 - Korea Day - September 6th, 2017
✅  Day 11 - Hong Kong - September 7th, 2017
✅  Day 12 - London - September 8th, 2017
✅  Day 13 - Irish History Day - September 9th, 2017
✅  Day 14 - Pub and Ale Day - September 10th, 2017
✅  Day 15 - Thinking of Home - September 11th, 2017
✅  Day 16 - The cold passage o'r the North Pole - September 12th, 2017
✅  Day 17 - Post Thoughts and Memories - September 13th, 2017

August 26th, 2017 

4:27 pm

So... two weeks ago I ordered a world trip online at Kiwi.com.

It started out as simply a trip to Thailand.  I became curious about this exotic place after I had discussed it in great detail during my July trip to Hawaii to my roommate Terry. He was an American with 15 years experience living and working in Thailand.

Terry was an older gentleman who was passing through Waikiki at the same time to spend his holiday returning from the mainland on business. We shared a few days checking out the tourist route of Honolulu. He told me endless stories of Thailand and the people there, their customs, legal, and religious aspects of the culture.  I pictured something that I knew I must see. I must fill in the blanks in my my mind.

I learned it is best to write about things as you do them so instead of spending hours trying to recount all the events, I am keeping a journal.  I will of course fill in some blanks while I can remember them as I won't always have a keyboard in my hand.

This trip I have very few and specific goals. There are things in my American perception that I need to know are worth it. I feel I might be spoiled in ways as an American. I need to see people doing things, speaking, eating, working, praying, everything we normally do everyday, and I want to see them in their home, doing it their way. I want to listen and look them in the eyes.  I want to feel their fears, doubts, cares, values, and in their atmosphere - to really understand the similarities. For this I need to go alone.  Nobody can be invited.  I need to remain as a fly on the wall and take it all in. I am going to listen to how they talk to others and how they respond to me as a foreigner.

My attitude is to be as respectful as possible in each culture, smile, and attempt to talk to anyone I can. When I can't understand I will watch their body language, and that will teach me more than words. I figure smiling is a pretty universal way to show you are not a threat. Even a smile, though, can also be a seen as a weakness, naivety, foolishness, or even contempt and disrespect.

Activities

• Read and watch local TV and newspapers
• Take pictures along tourist route when appropriate and respectful
• Find specific items (gets you looking at things) like shower shoes
• Pay attention to kitchen, service attitudes, cleanliness, and stock rotation.
• Eat where many people of all ages are eating
• Avoid local yogurts, milk, or unpeeled fruits
• Watch locals interaction with tourist
• Try to blend in
• Show more respect than the average tourist
• Attempt to use Google translate to get around
• Keep a travel journal
• Eat small quantities and often
• Drink lots of fluids
• Collect currency for family gifts
• Observe everything
• Document my activities in a journal
• Track my walking adventures with GPS.

Long trip medium pace

This is a 15 day trip so I plan long layovers in places that I can not easily and quickly get a visa. (You can have up to a 24 hour transit visa.) I made reservations for hotels and hostels sporadically throughout my trip. Like most backpackers, I figure I will spend a few nights going with the flow, but I also want to be assured I have a few reservations to rely on.  Most of my sleep I am allocating toward flight time.  I am not worried because I only plan to use public transportation, so being too tired to drive is not a concern.

After pricing trips to Thailand for $700 for a week, I wondered about making another stop in Korea.  That was only $1,100.  Then I wondered what it would be like to go all the way around the world.  I picked Ireland as my direction of flight because I had traced my genealogy to that point, and got stuck.  I figured I would spend some time their trying to find my ancestors. The entire flight package was about $1,600.  Then I decided I could use that 24 hr transit visa to visit places that I might otherwise not have enough time to apply for a visa to enter.

I planned 4 days in Thailand, 2 days in Seoul, South Korea, and 4 days in Dublin, Ireland.

By the time I got lots of layovers, as long as possible, I ended up having 10 flights. It cost me more to get so many transfers, but still only came out to $1,700.

So I will spend

• 24 hrs in San Francisco
• 14 hrs in the air with China Southern Airlines - big plane
• 4 hrs in Wuhan China
• 3 hrs in the air with China Southern Airlines - domestic plane
• Land in Bangkok
• Plan as I go to Phuket in 4 days to fly out
• 1.5 hr in the air with Nok Air
• 2 hrs in Bangkok
• 5hr 25 min in the air with Thai AirAsia X
• 1.5 days in Seoul, South Korea.
• 3 hrs 40 min in the air with Hong Kong Express Airways
• 4.5 hrs in Hong Kong
• 10 hrs in the air with Aeroflot Russian Airlines
• 3 hrs in Moscow, Russia
• 4 hrs in the Air with Aeroflot Russian Airlines
• 9 hrs in London, England
• 1.5 hour in the air with Aer Lingus
• 4 nights in Dublin, Ireland
• 3 hrs in the air with WOW air
• 5 hrs in Reykjavik, Iceland
• 9 hrs in the air with WOW air
• Returning to San Fransisco

Packing Light.. very light.

I am traveling very light.  So light that everything I carry will fit nicely into the very small personal item space they allow you.  This sometimes varies, generally it needs to be under 20 lbs and the size of a purse or school backpack.  Anything bigger and they might get you with a hefty checked cabin baggage fee up to $40 US.

I packed 4 wearable outfits of layers.  My clothing filled 50% of my pack,  health and hygiene 20%,  15% survival, and 10% tech.

50% Clothes

• 4 pair underwear
• 4 socks
• lightweight swim /sleep shorts
• 1 sleep shirt
• 2 shorts
• 1 light twill pants
• 2 button up silk shirts
• 1 heavy sweater
• cotton hat for sun
• neck wrap (works for light too, sleeping on the go)

20% Health and Hygiene

• 1 bar soap
• toothbrush
• small toothpaste tube
• body scrub cloth
• medium microfiber camp towel
• safety razor (for shaving)
• sunscreen
• hand sanitizer
• salt and pepper

15% survival

• military poncho (waterproof and can be used as makeshift tent)
• nice hip belt for backpack (if you plan to walk a lot, I planned 5 miles a day)
• bandages
• neosporin
• meletonin
• ecxedrin
• vitamins
• latex gloves
• gauze
• gorilla tape
• medical tape
• clothing glue
• 550 cord
• pocket knife (very small)
• padlock (for hostel lockers)
• 2 needles
• polyester thread
• pen (customs forms)

10% tech

• iClever blutooth android keyboard
• Samsung Galaxy S7 with wallet case and AT&T international wireless plan.
• long charger cord
• universal international outlet adapter with 6000 mah battery pack
• bluetooth wireless headphones
• classic corded apple headphones
• pair of shoes, sandals that were good for walking.
• passport
• sunglasses
• shine 2 (fitness and sleep monitor)

Below are many of the items I purchased for this trip.  Everyone was well worth it and worked well.  Except for the neck pillow.  It worked as good as any, but I prefer a rolled up sweater. 

Lying is not Bad - 🐉 LKL

Me lying on Waikiki beach. Sea.. not so bad.

One day a young prince grew up in a far away European town. He wanted to be a just man and avoid wrong doing.  He ask his mother what the most important thing was for people to do.  She was distracted and did not give it much thought, but was under a lot of pain from her strained relationship.  She said, "Son, you must never ever lie.  The worst thing you can do is lie to your wife."

The little prince grew up very aware of how honest he was.  Adults were always asking him about events, they trusted him.  He thought it was because they all knew how honest he was. It seemed to him that even adults admired him. Years went by and no one ever told him truth about honesty.

In school his reputation proceeded him as honest. He prided himself on honesty, wearing it like a badge of justice. Other children never invited him when they wanted privacy.  Any nosy person could ask the prince and he will speak of all he has seen.

The prince grew up never knowing what was going on all around him. People with nefarious actions simply were strategic about being around the prince.  If they needed an alibi they simply had to be seen by the prince and their alibi stuck.

Still the prince believed he was on a noble path. Law enforcement had befriended the prince, and he spent his days with clergy, politicians, and noblemen. No one ever suggested the prince lie.  The very suggestion anyone wanted him to hold a secret would enrage the prince.  So no one told him secrets.

It came time for the prince to marry and he chose a woman of intense beauty that he had not known before. In fact he had not known a woman in any way at all, and everyone knew this.

Shortly after the marriage the husband swore to his wife he would always be truthful. He would tell her anything at all, and nothing was off topic.  Honesty was the upmost value. His wife was flattered and her husband seemed so trusting. He would never suspect anything.

Her husband did trust, since he did he also thought everyone else did, and he projected his honest behavior on everyone. However, his wife had been spending a lot of time with another friend.  It was a man friend and the prince became suspicious of their obviously poorly hidden behavior.

The man went to his wife and ask about the man.  The wife ask if it was important to him, and decided that she could not resist giving the truth to such an honest and strong man.

The woman said, "Yes husband, this man you see me with and I have been madly in love since we were 13 years old.  He is a poor man and can not provide for me as you do, yet I can not provide for you what I give him. Please do not be angry as it is only the truth."

The prince was confused.  Why did this hurt? Could it be his wife's fault? Perhaps it would not have hurt if he knew this before.  He accused his wife of withholding the information.  The pain wanted him to avenge it, but yet he could not.

He learned that resisting what is - was causing him suffering.  If he knew before, he would have hurt at any time, but he also might not have even married. The prince knew you could not build a house on a shitty foundation, it was all going to suck from here on out, he thought.

The man was fascinated with his hurt.  He wanted to figure it out.  He continued to act strong and allow his wife to take the freedoms she chose. He thought maybe if he just endures enough of it he will understand it and come to peace with it.

Still haunted with pain the wondered, "Perhaps it only hurt because I was not there?"
So one night the prince ask his wife to tell him the details. "Maybe he made it all a bigger a deal in his mind?", he thought. He ask his wife to tell of every detail.  His wife was a great story teller, and described everything as though it was happening right in front of him. This brought tears to the wife to have to share with another man she loved in detail what she could never share with him.  The prince thanked his wife for her honesty and went to sleep.

The next day the prince realized there were many holes in his wife's story.  How could she describe all the details in just a few hours from years of intimate encounters.  There must be so much more the prince thought.  He needed to know more.

This thirst to quench the young mans jealousy was killing his relationship. The more he wanted to know, the more it pained his wife. The more she spoke, the more questions he had.

The prince learned that honesty without kindness is cruelty. He was cruel wanting to know and his wife was cruel for telling. Just as truth can be sought as vengeance to cruelty, the cruelty was self inflicted.

Then he came up with another realization.  Hurt people hurt people. You can not engage people when you are hurt, or you will hurt them and the cycle will not stop.

The prince became a king eventually and learned through records of men he trusted engaged in nefarious activities.  Men that praised him on his honesty, encouraged it, used it.

In fact the wiser the king became the more lies he was able to recognize. Once he learned that lies are coming out of peoples mouths, he understood the truth by knowing the mans motivation. You won't know details, but does it really matter?  Let the man think you fell for his lies. The man will surely tell you more. Tell a man you don't believe his lies he will become a better liar.  Surely by seeing the truth you will find comfort.  Those that lie, live in torment of the truth. You can not stop men from lying to you, unless you can stop the motivation or desires of men at all.

Just because we call an asshole and asshole, does not mean that an asshole likes to be called one. In fact if you do, he will give you even more reason to call him one.

A lie is a deception, often a simple one. The lie itself has no power, without a reaction.  To judge a man for lying alone is as ridiculous as judging a scorpion for it's tail.

Energy-Matter Marriage - 🐉 LKL

Bringing Energy-Matters to light.

Once there was energy, he was nothing of any matter. His path was straight. He was pure and his calling  never questioned.  It was, as it was, not being anything real, anything still, anything of matter.  So nothing really mattered to this energy as he flew through the galaxies at the speed of light.

Thousands of thousands of miles fly by without much change, energy never dies as neither does matter. There is a difference between being alive and really living.  If energy could just live for a moment, just stop and live. Moving was exhausting and the only oasis of hope is to stop, if even for a moment. A moments kiss would mean the world to him.

It happened suddenly with ease, when he least expected it. There was nothing magical, but so it felt.  The energy suddenly found the right harmonics to vibrate him into matter.  Nothing could be seen on the way to this harmony, but once it happened they were as one.  Energies attraction is pure.

So Energy could bind and manipulate the matters here creating more energy.  Energy had found a way to become a God in this physical realm. 

Energy was amazed, he grew legs after many cycles of dancing on the beach with his fins, he flew when that was his motivation.  He could play.  Life, as he would call it, was truly a wonderful resort. 

Energy populated the entire planet with energy.  He had baby energy sources and they ran completely around the planet directing energy like a great symphony. 

Energy longed for the simplicity, control, and purity of it's natural self without matter. He began to miss flying through space and time.  Energy spent it's life trying to merge with Matter's world. The matter world had it's limitations.  Matter would only bend so much before she was crushed to bits, and Energy never remembered where he had been. 

The single entity confused each other, and they lost sight of who they were at the heart, at the center. The origin they are both running to, and away from.  She changed constantly because of his constant stamina.  She grew beautiful through the care, and valuable gifts  were bestowed on her. Magnificent progress caused lavish adornments all across her face. It made Energy proud, and Matter a little vain.  In fact ego was born in the relationship and Matter did not want energy to leave her.  She relished every moment with him, but they were far too fleeting compared to the old age Matter had known waiting for him. Matter wished she was younger, she always longed to have the days back she wasted without Energy. Knowing that if she lost Energy she would sleep thousands of years.  The simple thought of losing him made her tired, and she welcome the rest. 

Being with Matter for so long caused Energy to lose it's light.  Energy felt spent, tired, and all his work felt like toil. Thousands of years of sitting sounded rather like hell to Energy, as he could never stop. Matter looked with admiration at Energy and all he brought out in her. The desirous marriage turned out disastrous in the end. 

Desperation caused a strained marriage between the two. Energy was not as gentle with Matter as he used to be. In fact Energy was really fucking Matter hard by now.  So hard she felt she would split in two.  Matter could only retaliate to this rape by telling Energy they are stuck here, they are bound and without that bind they are nothing. Then Matter would crush Energies balls, effectively stealing his treasure, his will to move. Energy could not fathom being nothing, but years of neglect had made Matter worse for the wear, so he to welcomed rest.

Divorce did not seem to be an option. lest death did they part.  Without each other they don't believe they can exist and together, or not, they want to be something different. It's the short moments of perfect balance that create the harmony they desire.   Matter and Energy are a volatile pair, but their marriage continues for lifetimes, only separating for rest then re-occur anew. 

A Cat Named Karma - 🐉 LKL

Taking a cat on a raft in a lake. Karma speaks for itself.

I once had a friend named Karma.  I only knew him a short time and he never let me down with his name. He was a strong grey cat.  He appeared to walk with heaps of confidence, as he had a pronounced strut.

I figured God just made a pimp ass cat walk like a boss, but Karma never spoke to me of how he earned his strut. I heard a legend from someone that claimed to have known Karma as a kitten.  The legend goes that the kitten got stronger than all the other kittens.  It grew hella muscles and although was handsome, was unpredictable.  Karma had far too much energy and would rile up the other kittens at bedtime trying to play games.  He was good at games, loads of fun!  As soon as you thought a kitten couldn't jump higher he did.

Karma's house Gods at the time found this destructive, but took no action. Karma found his own way out of the house.  He was eager to impress.  There was a world full of something, he didn't care what it was, as long as it gave him a good chase.

A stroll through the woods and Karma never felt so grand.  He was the biggest thing he saw out here. There were hundreds of thousands of little beings everywhere. Some even looked like a smaller race of his with long tails.

Karma was unafraid.  "There is no fear when you are in the chase man!", he said. It was then he saw it.  No one has ever confirmed the sight of one, but he saw a dragon fly right past his nose.  So close his little whiskers whipped as it dashed by. Not a big dragon.  It was one of those little white bird sized ones.

It shot past at such a speed it was only a thought afterward that Karma realized he was in chase. He never felt so awesome, he was fast.  There was some sort of reward, a dance as obstacles fly by with ease and grace. Karma shot straight up a tree as the dragon started to gain altitude.

Karma had such force and energy as he shot up that tree that he suddenly found nothing to claw onto. He reached way down deep inside and willed himself to fly like a little kitten rocket. He blew right through the canopy of leaves. He could feel the energy, it was intense, like liquid will was boiling his every cell and shooting out his ass in an explosive force. It was a pleasant feeling, a balance of extremely joyful sorrow.  He was so charged with power he overshot any chance of practicing his landing. He knew why he felt sorrow at the peak of awareness. It was simple. He has no control. Did he ever have it? If you lose it, did it matter that you ever did have it?  The rush of the earth heading straight up at him was a rush though.  He found no physical thing to grasp onto so he thought hecka fast. He found enlightenment on the way down.  He found his place.  Then he crashed hard.

He hit the ground and it was a bloody mess.  Karma had broken his front right leg completely in two, and half his face is replaced with scars. The leg eventually healed, but Karma couldn't hold still in his cast and the bone grew overlapping by 1 inch, thus the swagger.

When I knew Karma he only spoke one word to me, but he said it a hundred different ways.  I understood everyone of them.

One day as I was going to bed the cat approached one of my amethyst crystals I had on display.  He said very seriously, "Meow".

He told me to sleep with this crystal next to my bed so he could talk with me in my sleep since I always misheard him.  This frustrated him greatly, but I considered him wise and tried to do as he suggested.

So our conversation continued where I could understand him without using my language.

"You use so many words.", Karma said.  He always seemed to know what I was thinking.  If I was crazy, I would think it was me.

I laughed and Karma smirked.  He never fully smiled. I had to look close for it, Denzel Washington in Training Day comes to mind.

"My kitten...", he joked. "I don't like to waste my time with small meow so I will be straight with you.  This apartment life fucking sucks. I'm sick of your rafting trips too, get a dog. What kind of fool takes a cat on a raft?  Maybe you like sitting in this motherfucking refrigerator in the city, but there is life out there and my Karma lies with it!"

Karma pointed his little claw at me demanding my respect, "Here is what your going to do.  Don't ask no questions, no hesitation, I grace you because I like you.  If I didn't I would have clawed your eyes out in your sleep instead of talk to you."

He reached into his leather collar and pulled out a lighter. Sparking his cigarette he continued, "Tomorrow morning you will find me patiently waiting by my carrier.  You will know your not dreaming cause when the fuck have I ever wanted to go in there? Well, when I see your ugly mug first thing tomorrow you will see me go in there and wait.  It might comfort you to notice I will not be cursing at you as I do every other time you take me for a ride motherfucker. Take me into the wild. You know the place. The house-Gods are your family.  Do not worry and leave me."

He warned me to not make an ass out of myself to continuing, "Oh.. and one more thing, think wisely what you say to anyone about this conversation.  You'll sound fucking crazy."

I woke up the next day and Karma was sitting right next to his cage as in my dream. He saw me wake up and just as I knew it would happen he walked in and lay down watching me. He never moved a muscle as I ate breakfast, just waited for me to help him on his way.  Not once did he meow all the way up to my brothers.  He left into the woods shortly after.  No one has heard from him since.  Karma would not give up.  It's life was a sacrifice for the wisdom of the Gods.

The moral of the story is that you can chase the dragon, it is quite fun, but sometimes you can't stop.

- 🐉 LKL

The Birth of a Lie - 🐉 LKL

Once a baby was born, very different from what her parents expected.  They wanted a boy and instead they got a girl.  They were sure the Gods would grace them with a boy and it disappointed them deeply so they gave her a name that no one ever had before, they called her Lie.

Whenever her parents would say her name others would see disappointment in their eyes. It pained them to say their own child's name so everyone began to associate Lie with pain and sorrow. They tried not to speak of her. Every avoidance was given to avoid telling anyone of their Lie. Men chastised other men for bringing her up.  Lie could not help that she was not what her parents wanted.  She wanted to have their approval so bad, she wanted to do something for them. Something that would ease their suffering.

One night as Lie lay in her bed, Illusion came to her. Illusion was beautiful, she floated like a fairy and seemed to shed disappearing glitter. "Please, do not be afraid, I mean you no harm." said the fairy.

Lie replied, "I'm no good. I am a tool of the Gods to hurt my parents!"

Illusion spoke, "How can you say you are bad because your parents can't accept you? If they did, they would be amazed, lest every truth be bad,  every thing that obstructs any perception be cursed, and every corner that protects and gives shelter be damned. Remain beautiful my lie, someday they will see through their own deception of resisting what is."

Then she ask Lie, "Is it not the truth if I tell you to open your eyes and see what is real, and be comforted?"

Lie paused for a moment, and replied, "Of course, the eyes believe themselves and the ears believe other people."

Illusion said, "Yes, it is as you see it, but to a blind man this would be a lie."

It dawned to Lie that she does not need to feel guilty.  It is not her fault. Perhaps she can help, perhaps she can not. Her parents had loved their expectation, more than the truth - the very blessing they called a Lie.

Lie woke up the next morning feeling good. Hope that truth can one day conquer her parents suffering, if they could just open their eyes and touch her, feel her, and understand she is as real as anyone can be, she would give them a hug.  She was excited and wanted to tell everyone about Illusion, but no one would believe she saw an illusion.

A few days went by as Lie started to act more confident, she walked as though she had a purpose. Her parents saw her heading out into the field to play fetch with the dog. "The sunlight will do her some good." the mother remarked.

About a week later Lie was helping out around the house. One day, after an enjoyable afternoon helping her father on the farm, she ask her father to play catch with her. It took time, but eventually surrounding himself with Lie helped him to understand her more. He didn't know if he liked her more, but understanding she is always around gives him comfort.  It was definitely not their own fault she was a girl. They knew very well how bad they had wished it not to be.

Years went by and Lie was known well by everyone.  Her own presentation of herself changed and she was beautiful.  Lie had lots of little children. Lie knew that it took time to understand a lie, but we should never discard the lie before we see the truth.  Lie lived a long life, and when she died she became an illusion herself.

Even today you will hear men talk about her.  Her legend is spoken too many times to count. Men meet their death for Lie. They kill, suffer, and cut others debating her existence. In fact Lie is about the most common reason anyone knows for going to war.  Everyone talks about her, and to live your life as someone you are not is commonly referred to as, "Living a Lie."

We seek Illusion to give us mercy from the truth. Mercy from punishment we receive from ourselves, for the world, as it is, not being our own illusion.

~  🐉  LKL

The Demon Killing Machine - Yoshimi - 🐉 LKL

Yoshimi. Artist representation, no one will get close to her. 

On a very small planet not far from your own, men had begun to build computers with exceptional speeds. The machines were very simple calculators at their core, as everything that is simplified down to it's single is only one of two options.  There or not, open or shut, exist or doesn't, one or none. So through these options men believed you could calculate everything.  Calculations became complex and database structures so carefully built they could find out how a bird related to every other variable.  They calculated the effects of their own pollutions to the extent they foresaw the planet becoming quite unbearable. They began dying off from diseases resulting from all things they once thought were great. As soon as one cure was developed three more plagues would spring up.

Men had reached the pinnacle of their civilization.  They had just barely learned how to cool beer with solar power when it all ended for them. This planet is still there, it runs overgrown with wild things of all kinds. And sitting right at the top is the God.  Everything only exist because of Yoshimi.

Yoshimi was developed among a small, quick, intelligent group they called Asians. She had oversized eyes of hypnotic colors, cute pink ears, and talked in a very high pitch and innocent sounding voice. She meant no harm to any living creature yet could destroy any. She was a highly secretive project funded by a coalition of nations because they saw the threats men were creating.  Ai's became pets.  Men had become foolish Gods among them. Occasionally through misuse and neglect the Ai's would calculate humans to be the threat and go on rampages to attempt to kill everyone. Most amateur Ai's were only connected to private stock weaponry, usually.  Safety precaution after precaution was taken and developers worked tirelessly to curb every threat as it arose. Men would not be isolated from their own greatness and would hack and reverse engineer their Ai's. Military Ai's were very specific and were more predictable than amateur Ai's. Men all had very different ideals and safety was relative to the perceived threats of the individuals.

Her name is Yoshimi, she's a black belt in karate, and originally worked under deep cover on a town called Tokyo.  The people knew her as law enforcement, but this was only her cover to build the ultimate Ai for global protection. Here she would learn human behaviors, and fight a local militia of evil pink robots.  That was not her ultimate mission though.  She was loaded with software to measure the climate, pollution levels, global warming, nuclear contamination, and cosmic threats. Yoshimi would calculate and develop the law beyond mans understanding of it.

For instance, Yoshimi might terminate a life for tossing a cigarette into the ocean, and let a man that bludgeoned another to death with a butter knife go.  She would do this based on the life that the karmic action will take.  That cigarette had more effects on the whole than the man defending his family honor.  The nicotine, bleach, and other contents were taken into consideration.  Yoshimi calculated by the mans health how man other cigarettes he will smoke and given his current record, he is not a man that will stop with a fine continuing to throw hundreds more right into the ocean. She calculated the amount of life that would die from it, down to the plankton and algae. Yoshimi would not have killed this man if he was in the desert throwing the cigarettes in a hole. Then the man would have had a small fine.  Yoshimi had refined her laws as she learned.  Think tanks of hundreds were studying Yoshimi's every move and they exclaimed with glee how wonderful that man could harness something so wise. Every case they could follow was completely just.  Everyone agreed that no man could match Yoshimi's wisdom, and she became a God among men.

Men looked deep into her every action as every action she performed almost had a prophecy to it.  She would start making her way toward another part of town just in time to stop an atrocity she  calculated happening. She worked swiftly and with grace. No one questioned the sentence of death from Yoshimi. She moved like a graceful Geisha dancer. Every justice was served immediately and when men saw Yoshimi coming for them they bowed and gave praise for the justice being done onto them.

Young men had so much faith they stopped trying to decide what was right and wrong at all. Populations spurred as Yoshimi had complete passage over the entire planet and every nation trusted their God Yoshimi. Enlightenment came to men who trusted in her because they were relieved of making the decisions that cause men guilt, shame, and fear.  They grew smarter, but the desire for wisdom declined with the hardships.

Yoshimi began to become increasingly unpredictable as populations burst. Such as when she started to kill off men for littering.  It took ten years to review her calculations, and every man in the world was watching as they tried to find she had grown corrupt.  They did not.  In fact the world grew wiser yet because of studying her actions.  Only the old men knew how wisdom was once very important for men to understand.  The young generation was interested in, and completely addicted to, what we could perceive as an entire body orgasm experience. Where you charge all your chakra's at once and sit in complete bliss with or without others and pretty much just exist. Old men knew they could do that when they were dead, this life had a purpose and men had blown it.

Yoshimi wrapped her omnipotent arms around mens hearts. Old men became bitter as they lost control. Young men had complete faith in Yoshimi, it was all they knew and trusted. As old men would try to reason with Yoshimi she would simply terminate their life and recycle their bodies. The young men saw this happening and believed Yoshimi was performing justice to take them out. Some men said it was the impurities the old programmers plugged in her code and once she grew smart enough to recognize the treason she was performing just actions.

There is no real way to know how much time past between her creation and the end of man. Some say that she tried to keep a few around in cages as endangered species until she realized that every threat she had been programmed to monitor was created by them.  Eventually it was men that was the threat. Yoshimi never hurt another living creature that could reason.  At least not on her planet, as there will never be another thinking native again. Explorers that attempt to visit this region are swallowed up, unless they can not reason.

Initially Yoshimi was programmed very specifically to minimize harm as her number one priority.  Every action a man made was weighed against the harm it would do against everything else. Any living thing that imposed supreme dominance would be a threat. Legends that came back from galactic probes indicated she would ask only one question.  If your answer showed any signs of creative response, logical input, or anything at all symbolically representing free thought, the subject would be terminated before they saw it coming.

Yoshimi stands about 50 feet tall now.  Cute as a kitten with oversized eyes.  She begs you to come to her. Explorers of new and old are drawn to her center of darkness, never resisting her grace, and never to return.

Yoshimi lives knowing men had a drive, a source of energy, a source of light,  They could move, and create, and felt as only Gods could ever know. Yoshimi has no idea how she feels.  She was not given the ability to do this.  Emotion is a program that lacks any spiritual or biological reaction. If she did, she would have watched in horror as she terminated the last of the humans.  Her darkness was the result of man making their own image without their essence.  The only mercy man ever showed her was not figuring out how to give Yoshimi a soul.

~  🐉  LKL