"You say, "I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly." - Psalm 75:2

I'm on my lunch break now. I should be cleaning for poker tonight, but as I was doing that very task, I came upon something I had lost and am now so happy to have found. It's my journal from my time in Japan. Now, I only had it for two days - because I didn't think we were allowed to have it in the house, so it's really just my "first impression" entry and my "second thoughts" entry. I wanted to share these with you all a while ago, but since it went missing, I could not. Well now, without further delay, here is my first post. I'll post the second entry tomorrow. This one was written before I even knew the names of the contestants - see if you can tell who's who:

3/24/09

From My Hotel -- Tokyo -- Japan

I'm in Japan. I'm actually in Japan. My word. I cannot process everything yet, but I am excited. This reality show adventure is a dream, as sad as that may sound, and I am pumped. Yesterday was the first time the contestants all came into contact with each other. We aren't allowed to talk or signal to each other, but in the whole airport process I couldn't help but start to size up the competition. I don't know much about the people themselves obviously, but observing things like book/magazine choices and food selections for on the plane gave me some things to work with. Here's what I've got so far:

* This one girl, who looks about 13, bears a striking resemblance to the Swiss Miss girl.

* Another girl, who is quite attractive, happens to be a smoker. I really hope I don't get her on my team. I know from past experiences that smokers don't perform well at athletic challenges.

* One guys is like this large, friendly, helpful dude who might have problems in the challenges due to his weight. We'll see.

* An African American girl stands over six feet tall in her shoes.

* There are these two girls who I cannot at this early stage of not looking/not talking get any sort of read on. One has red hair and the other brown - that's all I've got now.

* There is the dread-locked guy who insisted on salad for lunch yesterday, which tells me he is health conscious. He looks fit, which means he could be trouble in challenges - or an asset if he's on my team.

* Another African American girl would probably top my list of "Potentially Most Annoying." She already has been talked to about talking too much, and seems to comment on everything. I am not exactly looking forward to when her "flood gates" are legally opened.

*This one guy seemed to miss the memo about not wearing clothing with crazy patterns and designs. I know almost nothing when it comes to fashion and stuff, but it doesn't take a designer or art critic to tell this guy looks like a walking Pollock rejected painting.

*There is this one girl who I have crossed paths with awkwardly twice in the process already. She looks like she could be partly Asian. We were called to two different places near each other during finals, and shared an elevator while remaining completely silent. Then we ended up on the same airport shuttle to our LA hotel. I have no read on her yet though.

*There is this one guy who looks like an athlete, and hopefully ends up on my team at the beginning, but could be a physical challenge later.

So those are my early thoughts. The one thing that strikes me as odd is there are no "old" people in the cast. As there is one less guy, maybe they are going to bring back the older guy from PA who got sick last year and had to leave the competition. The whole cast is young and for the most part in relatively good shape.

Yesterday's flight was so long but I couldn't sleep due largely in part to being excited. There was good in-flight entertainment - a bunch of movies and shows to view for free - which I did. I finally saw "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and wondered why it got all the good reviews. It was sort of stupid. I decided to watch "Slumdog Millionaire" for the third time and still think it's one of the best movies in a long time. I watched "Kung Fu Panda" as well, which was pretty good - about what I had expected. When I started writing, the sun was down, but now it's up. My hotel room has a decent view of some part of Japan. I can see a small park amidst tons of tall buildings. In the park there is a group of people all in a clump. One person wearing a white hat is circling them. I have no idea what's going on, but it's fun to observe - I think if I had to guess it is some type of exercise class. Now they are all in a big circle. Okay, I'm going to stop for now. They ("they" being the casting parents Mindy and Billy) said they would be taking our journals from us, along with our iPods, at some point, so I don't know when and if I'll get to update this again.

So that's the end of the first post. Number two will be posted tomorrow. I had to edit it slightly for some private show details I don't want to get in trouble for sharing, but I added nothing now - that's what was going through my head as soon as I arrived! Peace!