Intrepid Underground

Loring Park Overrun by Weird Humans

2007-12-20T12:38:00.000+07:00

"It's just hard to enjoy an afternoon in the park sometimes," said a local resident, a grey squirrel with a big bushy tail. "I feel like I always have to keep an eye on who's behind me and who's going to aim an empty beer bottle at my head."
The park on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, across Hennepin Avenue from the Walker Sculpture Garden, is a well-known hang out for local squirrels, where families gather to feast on the plentiful acorns that fall from the tall oak trees and the hip, bushy-tailed youth of the city cruise for the possible elligible date.
However, a different sort of park-goer has been noticed in recent years, one that is not altogether welcomed with open paws. "The humans bring a bad element" said a local that has been living in one of the tall trees near the lake for decades. "I don't like the smell of stale beer and urine in the morning, and it's difficult to climb up on the park benches when there are people passing out on them..."

Impulse to post another pointless to be read by Anonymous

2007-12-12T23:13:00.000+07:00

So I was in Dinkytown last night, at the invitation of a friend to check out her Gamelan ensemble's practice. That was awesome, of course, though in perhaps a bit overshadowed by the awesome meal that I had before hand. I was just biking around a bit, intending to go back to my old haunt for dinner, Hong Kong Noodle. Then I saw the little Korea Restaurant, tucked there behind Stub and Herb's, easy to miss under the big "Kareoke" sign. Inspired by memories of kimchi soup in Kunming, I ventured into the little place that I'd always wondered about. Awesome.

Bike Samurai

2007-11-20T22:06:00.000+07:00

Saturday night surrender

2007-11-18T12:27:00.000+07:00

Not everyone need appreciate the intricacies of cutting boards and baking pans, but coming off of a far too long shift at the kitchen store, it took a strong drink at Williams, across the street, to get the image of brightly colored ceramic Le Creuset stockpots out of my mind. An entry of depth, perhaps a bit of content, might be in order, especially in this especially lucid state of mind, but I'm afraid I'm a bit more interested in not really having to think at all. That is all.

This side of town

2007-11-14T22:21:00.000+07:00

People come here to Nina's Coffee Cafe, on St. Paul's Cathedral Hill, to write their short stories, or their poetry, or just to be good old St. Paul folks that find themselves blissfully unaware of the affluent-struggling artists that have inundated the place in search of inspiration. And perhaps there is inspiration to be picked out of the air here, maybe behind the stack of local newspapers, through the mist rising from the preparation of someone's latte. Downstairs is Garison Keillor's new bookstore, which is, to no one's surprise, I suppose, a gem and far too well suited for all those writers that might be writers but would rather just buy someone else's book that tells them how to be great writers.
I'm not all that cynical, really. But this is better than actually getting my work done.

I don't need your dumb job

2007-10-03T21:41:00.000+07:00

Who wants to work downtown anyway? It's so... geriatric. And those outfits one is forced into, an instituted comformation to the soul-sucking black and grey, shiny shoes of those overpaid drones. They're all screaming on the inside.

Where is he now?

2007-10-01T23:05:00.000+07:00

Hai-Ho!
You ought to check out www.tedmeinhover.com. It seems that I have been putting much more effort into that site. No offense to blogger, of course...

Kunming Damage Report

2007-06-30T22:48:00.000+07:00

The anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule is upon us, and believe me the Chinese government is not going to let the day slip by unnoticed. On the other side of the globe, America prepares for a day of bbq and fireworks, sunburns and hangovers, all supposedly in celebration of its own independence.

Catching up... or starting to...

2007-05-17T11:38:00.000+07:00

We find our hero, after a long absence, in the SouthWestern Chinese city of Kunming. Perhaps self-indulgent silence is a better way to put it. Or just plain lazy.

Indonesian Christmas

2006-12-25T18:53:00.000+07:00

Flash! President Bush Says He Reads Papers

From the New York Times, Xmas day.

Currently reading: The Great Shark Hunt, by Hunter S. Thompson

Merry Christmas, from Depok, Indonesia. The day has been marked with stark contrasts, with moments of complete solitude and moments of feeling very close to those that I love. There is also the fact that I will be leaving this place tomorrow, walking away from a life that I have worked pretty hard to build over the past months. I wish I could say that I would be back to Java soon, but the truth is I do not know when I will next have the chance to breathe the hot smoggy air of Jakarta.

I try to take comfort in the idea that we are all faced with an all powerful, ultimately chaotic universe that doesn't really give a damn about us. Sometimes I get the feeling that there is indeed some organized Axis of Evil working to create and perpetuate all things bad in the world. That is not as comforting.

The writing on the wall

2006-12-15T23:47:00.000+07:00

Art is everywhere. The seething chaos, suffering, and patches of light that shine through the grimy air of Jakarta city breeds art, art that means a little more because it births from such conditions.

The graffiti and paintings in public places, like the public music of the pengamen that roam the buses, trains, and restaurants is simply a fact of life in Jakarta - it's everywhere. In this case, the government was very wise to legalize it in certain places, giving it at least a little control over it. That's not to say that there isn't plenty of pirate painting going on around the city, revolutionary art, writing on the wall, not condoned by the government.
Either way, it's pretty cool.

Rain and Rodents

2006-12-13T23:10:00.000+07:00

It's amazing the burst of life here in Indonesia following the onset of the rainy season. Not only are there flowers falling like rain off the blossoming trees, spawning the awesome tropical fruits that are suddenly everywhere, but I have seen more wildlife than two months ago.
Take this little devil, for instance. Apparently, their entire life lasts about 2 hours, which is long enough to grab something to eat, have some sex with the most attractive bug of the opposite sex it can find in a hurry (I imagine they're not too picky), give birth to a whole crapload of offspring, then fly around a light bulb like an idiot until they crash into it hard enough that their wings fall off, making a nasty mess that I have to pick up in the morning.
The rat population is most definitely on the move, as well. First of all, probably because their home in the gutters has been suddenly filled with terrential floods, and also probably because the flowing water has brought out all sorts of rotten things to the street for them to munch on.

Feet of Fortune

2006-12-09T23:44:00.000+07:00

The feet of Jakarta have one hell of a job as they carry people through some of the most intense chaos and moments of humanity that can be found anywhere in the world.

Jakarta Damage Report: Why ya gotta be like that?

2006-08-29T19:11:00.000+07:00

At times, humanity seems to be begging for some higher being to do us all a favor and vaporize the whole planet with a mighty deathray hidden behind the moon. At other times, we work pretty damn hard to do the job ourselves.
A tall white boy in Jakarta, Indonesia, I am priveledged to be surrounded by some of the most amazing and kind people that I have ever met. However, it's impossible to have a personal discussion with every person on the street of this insane metropolis, and, as many books and undergraduate Global Studies theses have illustrated, confronted by a threat from some outside force, there seems to be a natural tendancy for humans to suspect the unknown and rally together with a group you identify with. In this case, I am sometimes an unknown, and this basic need for survival can drive people to suspect me and my intentions, simply because they identify me as a part of the huge, unknown threat. I cannot say how much I resent this.

Pulang, mosquitos and mom and papa

2006-06-30T06:35:00.000+07:00

Not an hour ago I parked my mom's car in the parking lot of Grass Roots, my family's little tourist and flower/nursery shop here in rural Ottertail, MN. If Kuala Lumpur to Uptown, Minneapolis was a bit of a culture shock, downtown Chicago to Ottertail is comparable, and practically the same commute, time-wise. The sun is beating down this late afternoon, and the locals have no problem sitting for some conversation in the dusty shade.
I am home once again, though I just left home in Dinkytown this morning, for the last time as a real resident there, I am pretty sure. A couple weeks of blissful rural-ness, then it's off to Jakarta and the 5th largest metropolitan center in the world.

Always Moving

2005-07-23T17:56:00.000+07:00

Corn prices are setting record highs in rural Minnesota, people are getting bombed in London, the military and the government are working towards peace in Aceh, there are lots of motorbikes and bicycles screaming and crawling and swerving chaotically down the street here in the city of Hue, Vietnam. With only about two weeks to go, I am feeling so close to my home and at the same time so far away. I have crossed a threshold, and believe that I am lonely now for the first time. But the world seems to continue to spin, and people seem to continue loving and killing each other. Friends will remain friends, or will be memories, or will be just other people. My brain will continue to string words together, these phrases and exclamations and questions may or may not contribute to the greater good, to enhancing understanding. For now Vietnamese coffee will continue to give me pleasure and my faith in humanity will continue to be tweaked and tested. Love all around...

bang bang bangkok, and the global community

2005-04-13T22:11:00.000+07:00

Once again, i call myself a resident of a different place, a different city, a different coutry. I have, for the time being, shifted my physical life to the moving streets of Bangkok, Thailand. I feel, though, like it has been a move, for me, deeper into the whole world, not just deeper into the asian continent. I am gaining membership, perhaps, into a community that surpasses that of a specific place, one that rewrites the rules of one's community.

"Ada apa dengan cinta?"

2005-03-20T18:51:00.000+07:00

Ya, i know it's the title of a movie, but it's a damn good question. What IS up with love? An emotion, or a bio chemical reaction in place to ensure the survival of the human species, it has none the less reared its head in unlikely places. The plague and the breadwinner of poets, attempts to articulate, to understand, to purge oneself of or embrace love is one theme that is so persistent. not to distance myself from it, by offering flowery phrases... just a bit hard to wrap around the concept myself.

WOW

2005-02-21T08:34:00.000+07:00

I cannot wait to get home. Yeah, that home. I can't wait to read through the journal that i have kept the past year. I don't really understand what's happening today. I wonder how today will look from tomorrow?

My friend and the three dots (...)

2005-02-18T15:58:00.000+07:00

One thing about my friend, (X), is that i can feel totally conflicted when around them. my relationship with this friend is definitely punctuated by the three dots, a literary tool so very vital to my understanding of the world. they are just my friend... i'm so happy that they are happy in their relationship, back there on the other side of the world, with someone that i don't know...

The challenge of being... yourself

2005-02-16T18:58:00.000+07:00

In an age of such supposed acceptance, the mantra of embracing that which is unique about an individual, celebrating your differences, being 'yourself,' i can't help but feel an air of heavy, unspoken oppression hanging over the populace of penang.
A practitioner of people-watching might notice the infrequent solo walker climbing the sidewalk to the top of the hill on the ever sloping campus of USM or sitting alone in the cafeteria during lunch. More often than not, those few that are by themselves are, indeed, themselves. Groups, swarms, move collectively everywhere you look, clogging the arteries of the walking plane like huge globs of ever bubbling and morphing fatty blobs. And, like those molecular trouble makers, these entities seem to be composed of molecularly identical components. One hates to generalize, but the initial impression is all too often upheld by experience. You are a blob of Chinese girls, all wearing the same misguidedly "hip" clothes, or a small sea of bobbing tudungs shading eyes that seem to be constantly scanning, searching, criticizing, all of them giggling in unison at who knows what (anything different). Or you're a batallion of puffed out chests, motorbike helmets swinging at side, moving with conviction, daring anything approaching to challenge their straightforward motion. Let us not forget the gangs of shiny slicked back hairdo's, wandering eyes preceeding suggestive whistles.
And those whose molecular makeup does not seem to place them conveniently into one of these blobs? Well, they walk alone. Or, sometimes with another, however equally unmatchable, molecular unit. And they are kept there, alone. You may be walking to the beat of your own drummer, but don't expect to win a grammy.

Bunga Api crazy

2005-02-09T14:07:00.000+07:00

a letter sent out on my "travelling abroad" mailing list:

Sawatdee khrap, da jia, kawan-kawanku dan orang yang tak bodoh!

Main main saja. Everyone, how are you?!? Long time, so many faces that float through my mind on a regular basis- so much that I miss about my home, the place that I come from. But then, the literature of the foreigner, the ex-pat, in a land far far away, in a culture different from the origin, is so archetypal. There is so much of it, this kind of writing and this kind of story, it is a topic that evokes such strong emotions, inspiration and poetry, and yet it all shares something.

I just wanted to send out a quick hello, and to wish you all a fantastic year of the Rooster. “Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!” the Chinese radio and television stations and the speakers in the grocery stores have been blaring, non-stop, for the past couple of weeks.There is a huge ethnic Chinese population living in Penang, and they certainly made their presence felt last night. At one level, walking through the streets of town, you can see all the lights, the lanterns, the colorful banners, and so many huge, smoking joss sticks. It was really quiet last night, when I was walking back to the central bus station (after dinner with Diana at an Indian shop, ‘cause all the chinese shops are closed…), because last night was the traditional dinner when the whole family gathers together, to feast and catch up. That was before midnight, before the ringing in of the actual new year.
At a different level, later at night, from the 20th floor of the N-Park apartment complex, Diana and Veena and Fiza’s place, the entire island became a war zone of explosions and blasts of brilliant lights. I have never seen so many fireworks in one place, not even the fourth of July back home. I swear, it was constant bunga api, “flowers of fire”, for five hours straight, the cloud of smoke above the city getting thicker, the sonic booms echoing off the mountain. Any police officer zealous enough to attempt to enforce the no fireworks law last night certainly had his hands full… people were even tossing rockets and poppers and sparklers from the high floors of the apartment buildings. Any other time, this might have seemed a bit dangerous, and I might not have appreciated it, but I didn’t even bother attempting to sleep until 3ish, and the holiday spirit prompts one to forgive such foolish behavior. ;)
The facts that many of the shops are owned by Chinese businesspeople that som many people in town are celebrating, and that it is a public holiday, means that practically everything is closed. Good thing I stocked up on instant noodles and coffee the other day! The only reason I can get to a computer right now is because these phd students (well, the non-chinese ones…) are so dedicated that they open up the lab on campus even during the holiday.
Many of the international students have left town for the week, taking advantage of the time off to travel a bit. I thought that it would be nice just to hang out with friends and to see the activity in penang, however. I must admit, this campus is sooooo lovely when there are no people in it. J Also, I will get my share of traveling in after the end of the semester, so I’m not worried. Plus, I want to take advantage of the time that I have to be with the friends that I have made here; really some awesome, amazing people.

Other stuff: going to be performing for another cultural dance thingy next week, this time with some students from a variety of the aboriginal tribes in Sarawak and Sabah, the Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Apparently, this function for the University is important enough that the king of Malaysia himself is going to be there, so it’s kind of a big deal. Plus, it’s held at a fancy hotel, so they’re going to feed us really nice food J…
Oh, something I’m really excited about: I have arranged an internship with a human rights organization that works with the united nations, up in Bangkok, Thailand! (www.forumasia.org) This could be really cool, not only the fact that I will be living in one of the most notorious cities in the world, but the experience I could have at the job.

And other stuff, but I have written too much already. I should be more strategic with these emails; I know that if they’re tooooo long, no one will bother reading. ;)

I hope you are all happy and safe and healthy. I miss Minnesota, I miss my friends and family. Lots of love.

Penang, Malaysia

I dub Thee...

2005-02-08T04:00:00.000+07:00

Hello. Hola. Ni Hao. Sawadee khrap. Selemat datang. Yo.

And so, the christening of "Intrepid Underground," a silly name for the silly thoughs of Ted.
Thought a blog would be a good idea, a chance to spread whatever it is that i have to offer around the universe. Also, a little self indulgence, i suppose. I get to write whatever i want...
I should have started one long ago, maybe when i first arrived here in Asia. I think this will be a good way to document some of my thoughts and experiences.

Anyway, as the Brits say, Cheers.

tedericco

wheels...

2005-02-07T14:20:00.000+07:00

Yes, the wheels keep on spinning 'round.
The campus of universiti sains malaysia is absolutely dead; abandoned, the hot, humid breeze blowing across the opaque heat radiating from the concrete.
This is a marvelous place when there is no one here. i remember the days of xmas vacation at the university of minnesota; it's my favourite time to be there.
Not sure about my plans for next couple of days, the Chinese New Year holiday. Apparently, everything will be shut down for a couple of days. Most of my favourite restaurants and shops are run by chinese... what will i do?!? apa boleh buat...

Excitement runs high, in anticipation on whatever it is that is coming next for me. my stint at usm will end in march sometime. my sister will visit me, returning to her own chicago at the end of the same month. April 1 marks a moment of decision, of destiny you could say. absolute freedom. don't have to be in the united states until september, technically.
the way it looks, will be working at a human rights ngo in bangkok, thailand, for at least a month and a half (www.forumasia.org). could be absolutely amazing. hell, simply being in the city of bangkok could be amazing, not to mention the experience that i could have at this internship. i've always had the ambition to be in the world of international organizations, ngo's, working with the un... the things that happen the next couple of months could have a major impact on the rest of my life. i could make the contacts that launch me into an amazing career, working around the world, saving it... or, i could discover that that's not what i want to do at all.
either way, it's gonna be awesome.