the Benji Karmis website experience

              It’s funny, sitting down to write after being in Vietnam and not having anything I want to say. It’s like going into a full fridge and thinking there’s nothing to eat. What a wild paradox that is.               It’s also odd to say that it’s been more of the same, as if living in this quasi-lawless land has become something resembling a routine. It starts off like this: wake up late (I tell myself it’s to avoid the sun). Get a meal that’s exotic to me, but not terribly abnormal to someone who lives here (I had crocodile for breakfast yesterday, and bahn xao today, which was basically a giant seafood and meat taco served in a crepe). Mull about (like visit the roof of a tall building or an interactive art museum). Eat some more (yesterday blessed me with several different types of snails and grilled chicken feet). Walk some more. Do something at the absolute last minute, li...

              We used to do this thing growing up where, instead of calling each other just “bro,” we’d make up punny nicknames with “bro” in them. Brohan, Brosef Stalin, and Seth Brogan to name a few. But one of the most popular ones, so popular that we use it decades after, was Bro Chi Minh. So it’s funny to me, after all this time, that here I finally am in Ho Chi Minh city.               Now, I’ve done a fair bit of travelling lately, virtually exclusively in Japan. So I thought that I had a decent understanding on how a country in Asia operates. But Japan is only a fraction like Vietnam.               Take my arrival. I quickly noticed that there was hardly any English – probably even less so than in Japan. After navigating my way through the airport, I found my baggage sitting outside the baggage claim, all lobbed ...

               It’s crazy that in just a week’s time, I won’t be in Japan. I hate the term “time flew by” because it’s played out. You hear it all the time. Level 1 wording. But for me lately, it really is true. Especially considering how long the time felt just a few months ago when I was still in the Army, just trying to hold on while doing utter bullshit all day, my soul desperately yearning to leave - these past 3ish months really have just zoomed right past. I’ve fit in so much life in just this little bit of time since ridding myself of the Army’s shackles than I’ve had in years before. Maybe that’s why I can see crow’s feet next to my eyes nowadays. I’m getting older, and my body is starting to show it.               Now, I’ll just be gone for a little bit longer than the holidays, but still. I’ve got a few weeks planned in Vietnam, and then a couple days in Taiwan before I ...

              one quirky part about watching movies here in Japan is that everybody always waits until the credits are done before they start moving. I get it, right? sometimes, there is a secret scene after the movie. but after getting done with “One Battle After Another,” a movie I decided to see entirely on a whim because I happened to be doing some shopping near the theatre, I opted to be one of the few who dared to interrupt the odd homeostasis taking place by leaving during the credits. the movie just wasn’t all that good tbh, and I didn’t really care what might happen after the credits.               after throwing out my trash and popping in my earbuds to begin my trek home through the busy streets of Shinjuku’s most popular area, I noticed a guy ahead of me who had also gone against the grain by leaving the movie at the same time, perhaps a few years younger. he went to see a m...

              It’s funny how attached us humans get to things. People closest to us make sense. But what about people further away? Take strangers we never knew, animals even though we eat them, and the oddest to me, things. Why do we get so attached to our favourite cup, or a seat in class, or a building in the skyscape that you’ve grown fond of? It’s just stuff, right?               But for whatever reason, stuff makes us happy. Take my beloved Corvette – a black ’85 C4, automatic, targa top with louvres. It’s just some vehicle I bought for $8500 a few years ago. Yet, selling it today via a phone call with my dad back at home, it brought me into a sombre, yet sentimental mood.               It’s not that the car itself was the greatest. Sure, it was always pretty reliable for a 30+ year old car. Insurance at Hagerty ...

              As invigorating as my pilgrimage to Tsushima has been, alas, it is time for me to set sail for other seas. Rather, just one sea, as I am currently venturing back to Fukuoka via ferry. I wouldn't say a tear formed in my eye - that'd be far too dramatic. But a warm sincerity put its cloak around my shoulders, and a small part of me felt like I was leaving home. I stood on the deck as long as I could upon our departure, absorbing every last bit of Izuhara until its bright red lighthouse merged with the vast greenery behind it, until I could no longer see the northeast tip of the island where I stood on the rocks, facing the gods on the edge of where reality fades into a dream.               I've been meaning to write more about that last one, as my trip to Shinagi Island was one of the most ethereal places I've ever visited. On the surface, it could rather easily be mista...

              Instead of streaming this morning (which I, admittedly, don’t like), I opted to go for a bike ride right when I woke up today at around 8 AM, like some sort of insane person. But it’s my first day in Hitakatsu, which means it’s a day ripe for exploration. My hotel has free servo-assisted bikes for rental, so I picked one of those and headed out, too eager to even get breakfast or water bottles for my journey. I wouldn’t need them for the short trip I had in mind, anyway.               My original plan was simple - just go around this loop that’s at the northeastern most part of the island and head back. I’ll be in Hitakatsu for a few more days, so there’s no need to go too off the beaten path right away. The whole journey should take less than an hour on the bike, even going up and down the mountains.            ...