Quake alert

Might be able to give 30 seconds of warning before and earthquake hits! At least that's something but not sure it will do much good. Still freaked out about the thought of the big one coming...

Friday- TGIF. Felt like a pretty short week. Kenn's been in NY for 2 weeks now. Starting to get a little bored without him around. I might go out with the girls to Feria or something tonight.

Been a little stressed about progress at work and my new role when I move back to NY.
I can't wait to visit in 2 weeks.

Here are some Great Wall pics my colleague sent me:




And my "living in Tokyo" insight of the day: I can buy a sandwich for $1.35 for lunch here. Who says Tokyo is expensive??

Sausages and Skype

So my cooking class today was homemade sausages, jambalaya rice pilaf, and cobb salad with homemade thousand island dressing. The sausages came out a bit dry but tasted really good. Was really cool to learn how to make sausages in a way that did not require casing. It's a cool trick that I'm not telling you ;) (involves parchment paper and foil). Anyway the salad dressing from scratch was really delicious too. I will be using that one.

Skpye is awesome. I mean talking and video conferencing for free around the world? Good stuff. Tonight my dad had a cool idea to take his laptop to my grandma's so I could video conference with her. I thought she would freak out or something or not understand what it was but she seemed to get it actually. I didn't really have much to say though (the English/Chinese thing doesn't translate well over video), but it was cool. We asked her if she understood what it was, that it was a computer and she said yea, but that she's never used it before. Ha.

Poor girl

I had no idea that South Carolina video spread so fast. I just saw on CNN that she was on NBC today. Poor girl gets posted to YouTube and looks like an idiot. When asked about it she said she was shocked and misunderstood the question. Uh huh. Right... well if she misunderstood then why not ask for them to repeat it instead of babbling like a moron?? Poor girl, she'll never live it down.

I literally have a mosquito bite the size of a tennis ball on my arm. It takes up about the full width of my arm. Not the bite itself, but the basically the swollen area. I'm allergic but this is ridiculous. It was a seriously big mosquito though because I later killed it. It itches and hurts. Poor me.

Apartment? Boyfriend? Job?

Wanna watch another video? It's a cool little trick football play.

I'm up to Season Five of my Sex and the City dvd watching. In an episode I just watched Carrie says in NY it seems like you're always looking for a new apartment, a new job, or a new boyfriend. I think if you're a young single woman in NYC, that's pretty true a lot of the time. What do you think?

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

Sorry, just had to post this video...

Check out my other post below.

The internet is eating me alive

My friend Johanna sent me a link to HappySlip.com. This woman, Christine, creates short videos and posts them to YouTube and her website. She's a Filipina-American and creates parodies of her immigrant family. They're pretty funny and for any Asian American, you can relate to some of the topics. So I got addicted to watching her videos and subsequently related and random other videos on YouTube. I was never much of a YouTube watcher but have recently been getting into it. Just another thing to suck more time out of my life...

Oh weird - I just realized I watched this video before months ago. It was so viral it got forwarded around: Mac Beautiful.

It made me consider the idea of a video blog but that just seems too much for even me. I'm ok with sharing my thoughts, life, pictures, some personal info about myself online, but video seems odd to me. I don't think I could stand looking at myself or hearing my own voice. Haha. But I am impressed by other people's ability to create content online. It's truly amazing what this internet age has become and how it has empowered people.

So the cooking lesson today was a Japanese spin on Indian. It was curry beef/pork, naan bread, pickled veggies, and fruit and yogurt dessert. It was really yummy and cool to know how to make a quick version of naan.

Ok, the pick kinda looks like dog food but it was good, I swear :)

Back to school

After a 2 month hiatus, I'm signed up for 2 cooking classes. These don't really look all that interesting or appetizing but will let you know!




Tonight I'm going to have drinks with Lauren and her friends in her Azabu Juban (neighborhood next to mine). There's a big festival there this weekend - details:

The Azabu Juban Festival is not sponsored by a temple, but visitors will surely be taken aback by the sight of more than 700 booths and curio and flea markets engulfing the residential districts of Azabu Juban. The festival requires some gusto in getting through the hordes of people, but you will be rewarded handsomely with games and foods that range from the familiar (shaved ice) to the exotic (barbecued squid on a stick). And don't forget to follow the beat of the taiko drums and join in the Bon festival dance at 5pm

Tomorrow I am going to see Ocean's 13.

My old company went under

RIP: Bolt.com

My old company went bankrupt after a copyright infringement case with Universal Music. An end of an era. They were the beginnings of social networking before anyone knew what it was...

In other but similar news, I'm still ridiculously obsessed with Facebook. I've gotten back in touch with a lot of old HS and college friends, people I haven't spoken to in years. I realize I am one of those non-private people who doesn't mind sharing my personal live with others. I mean, just look at this blog. Haha.

Kenn is in Long Island and I've been working out and relaxing all week. I'm also in the middle of watching the entire Sex and the City DVD collection straight through again. Did I already mention this? I think I'm starting to get boring.

I wonder how many hours a day I actually do work. j/k

Kids say the Funniest Things

This is the cutest and funniest thing I've ever seen :)

INSANE wave pool in Tokyo. Where's the water?

I just had to post this video Kenn sent me. It's absolutely crazy and hilarious. But a true testament to Tokyo....

Pics from China

This past week there have been 2 earthquakes in the next prefecture over that were big enough to feel in Tokyo. They were not major but they happened during the night/early morning and strong enough to wake me up. The first one during the week, both Kenn and I both woke up. Then we actually heard a picture frame in the living room fall. First one strong enough to actually knock something over. The bed shook and we could here the walls/windows creak. Friday night's tremor was similar and woke me up again. These earthquakes and the one in Peru are starting to freak me out. I really hope to not be here when a big one occurs.

Wanted to share some pics on the blog from China:

The famous Nanjing Road in Shanghai:


River view from the Bund in Shanghai:


Outside the Forbidden City:



Lots of buildings and marble inside the Forbidden City:



Imperial Garden in the Forbidden City had cool jagged rocks which were brought from the bottom of some lake or river:


The Great Wall. Since my colleague took us to a high part of the wall on the mountain, you could see other sections of it that snaked below in the distance.





The full album of China pics here.

My first movie

I haven't been to a movie theater since before I moved to Japan. Today I went to see Transformers with Serena. First of all, Transformers was awesome! I really enjoyed it. Now, my brother just 2 years younger than me used to watch Transformers and have the toys so naturally I watched and played with them as well and am very familiar. This movie was super cool and made me wish it existed when we were kids, it would've been really exciting to watch back then. I have to say I really enjoyed it and despite some silly dialog and what some reviews say as a "shallow" story, it was entertaining. I mean what kind of depth are people looking for? I thought it was funny and action packed and the graphics were amazing. I don't know how they made it look so great.

The cool thing about movie theaters here is that it's all stadium seating and reserved. Either when you are buying tickets online or at the theater, you select your seats. At the theater, they show you a map and ask you to pick from what's available. Pretty cool, no worrying about getting there early to save good seats. Tickets are 1800 yen which is about $16. I guess not super expensive in comparison to Manhattan but locally that's pretty pricey. I enjoyed the experience so much that I think I'll start going to the movies more often now.

I was surprised it's out so early in Japan but I guess they are starting to release some things a bit earlier here now. Ocean's 13 and Harry Potter were playing as well. Some American movies are dubbed but the one we went to, like many of them, was subtitled. I cannot imagine having to watch Transformers with subtitles, it must be annoying. The other really interesting experience about going to the movies here was that there were so many jokes and pop culture references that the Japanese audience didn't get. Serena and I would crack up at some parts and no one else was laughing. Like when the main character Sam kicks his friend out of the car to give a girl a ride and his friend says something like, you're breaking the rules "bro's over ho's"...haha.

There was one part though where Sam sees his car as a robot and he says something like "it's a robot...a really advanced one.. must be Japanese..." and the audience did laugh at that. ha

Anyway I thought it was a great movie and fun time.

Pics from Thailand

The hotel we stayed at in Bangkok had the below note in the hotel info book. No Durian! It's so nasty smelling it's banned:



The Grand Palace in Bangkok was so ornately decorated:


The reclining Buddha was huge!



Our hotel beach in Phuket. *sigh* What a nice place. The local woman sold ice cold beer which they put in buckets for us. That was great...




Our tour of Phi Phi islands was just unforgetable:



The full (and large) album again can be found HERE. Enjoy!

ONE YEAR

Just passed my one year anniversary in Japan. I arrived last August 11th. I know I say it all the time but time has really flown by...

It's official I will be visiting NY Sept 14-21! A quick visit, I know, but I need to take care of some things since I haven't been back since New Year's. I'm also not really taking a vacation but going to the office for meetings / trainings. Even though it's a short trip it will be nice to be home and see familiar faces I've missed.

Lately at work it's been rather slow with no currently new projects though some may be on the horizon. We have a few client meetings in Japan coming up also which will be a mix of both English and Japanese meetings. The merger here and on top of Steven leaving has made things a bit frustrating for me lately. I'm feeling a bit lost in the shuffle and therefore it's hard to stay motivated.

Then on top of that I have my new addiction to Facebook. Check out this article. I told you it was hot and getting hotter. I predict something big with this company. Should I move to CA to get a job there? Haha - j/k (though the thought did cross my mind)

Finally have pics posted from Hong Kong, Thailand, China, and the Fuji Rock Festival.

In order of visitation, I will give you a taste first from HK:

Facebook

I reluctantly finally signed up on Facebook. I had been part of Friendster for years but lost interest in it. I eventually created a profile on MySpace just so I could view other people's profiles but never go on it now. I use LinkedIn since so many colleagues are networking on it. But no one ever invited me to Facebook and though I heard of it, I thought of it as just another social networking site.

But it's been in the industry news so much lately that I finally caved. After all, if I consider myself such an internet marketing expert, I should see what all the hype is about. So I created a profile yesterday and started adding friends and applications and groups and trying things out... boy oh boy is it addictive! Now I get why it's getting so much attention and growing so rapidly. It really has a sticky nature because of all these cool applications and tools you can add and use. It has strong networking capability and allows you to see friends' actions.

It feels a little weird to mix social networking with business networking though. There is a lot of information I'm putting up about me (although I don't have to of course) like photos and job/education history. And it's just as interesting to study other people's profiles.

I am not sure if I will lose interest in this also but it sure is addictive at the moment. I've spent almost 2 full days at work on the site. It really is related to my job though so I don't feel guilty. I even joined some industry groups and am networking with clients I met in HK and China!

Find me on Facebook if you're on it :)

Things I love about Japan

I'm going to miss this place...

- You can pay for a bottle of water with a 10,000 Yen bill (~$85) and the cashier won't give you dirty looks.

- You can sit at a restaurant for as long as you want after your meal or even order only drinks and no meal - the manager/wait staff won't give you dirty looks or rush you out.

- Whenever you are thirsty, there is always a vending machine.

- Whenever you have to use the bathroom, there's almost always a clean one nearby.

- You usually never have to wait for the subway/train for more than 6 minutes.

- The draft beer is pretty much always good.

- You don't have to ever think about tipping.

Yanasen

After a fun night out back in Tokyo at our local Milwaukee Bar where Kenn dj'd on Friday night, Saturday was spent on the couch watching very many movies on our local English movie channels. We watched Independence Day, Saving Private Ryan, Da Vinci Code among others we have already seen. We decided to force ourselves out and about on Sunday despite the excruciating 90 degree heat + humidity. Kenn saw this article about a cool little Tokyo neighborhood area called Yanesen in the Metropolis (local English weekly magazine).

The name “Yanesen” is an abbreviation that refers to the neighborhoods of Yanaka (Ya), Nezu (Ne)
and Sendagi (Sen). This area is one of few in Tokyo that managed to escape the firebombing of World War II, which means that it has kept its Edo charm, wooden architecture, quaint streets and winding pedestrian paths.

It was a pretty cool area with a more traditional Japanese feel. A bit too hot to be walking around though. We went to the Asakura Choso Museum there, which is housed in the three-story former home and studio of Fumio Asakura, who is known as the founder of Japanese modern sculpture.

Here is a pic of a rooftop sculpture from my camera phone:



I think I might have to hibernate for the rest of the summer. It's too darn hot out.

Long time no post

Might be a record for longest time between blog posts! Apologies to my loyal readers. It has really been a busy month of traveling. It's so nice to be back in Tokyo.

There's so much going on. First off is getting back into the swing of things in Japan. Tokyo is really a great place to live and I realize that more now that I've been to more places. Kenn and I had an awesome time at the Fuji Rock Festival last weekend. I've got to get pics up of everything sometime. We saw Muse, The Cure, Beastie Boys, DJ Kentaro, Chemical Brothers, Peter Bjorn and John, among many others. We splurged for a 3 day pass but stayed at a hotel instead of camping on site. It was all quite an experience. There were crowds and lines and lots of walking between stages because it's on a ski mountain, and waiting for shuttle busses. But it was all so worth it with great views, fun people, good bands, food, and fun. My favorite was Beastie Boys, I've been to their concert before and they are just awesome. They are old now but still great. Their newer stuff is more rock than rap but I love em. Although I wouldn't quite call them clean, the portable bathrooms in Japan are way cleaner than in the US. They have squatting ones instead of toilet seats and you can flush them (pump water) so they remain kinda clean. Not bad. Anyway, it was great fun and we may never get the opportunity to go to a festival like that again so glad we went.

Back at work I am trying to dig out of my emails and follow-ups and trying to keep the momentum from my meetings going. I can't remember what I wrote in past posts now so forgive me if I repeat. China's online advertising market is not quite mature so we may have limited traction there. HK might be good over the next year. Back in Japan, with the merger here, I am not sure what the future holds. Things are a bit messy here after the merger and now with my colleague leaving, the one who's been working with me on projects since I arrived, things might be hard. Guess I'll do what I can and see.

The big news is that I spoke to the bosses this morning and looks like it's confirmed I'll be staying here until December. Because of all that's happening it was even suggested that I move to Hong Kong and stay in Asia longer but I turned that down. I think Kenn and I are ready to move on with our lives in NY. We have enjoyed the ride and we're ready to return to the US.

I've had some annoying visa renewal things to take care of. A bit annoyed because I've been asking for months about it and now that it's come down to the wire I find out the application process takes 5-6 weeks and I have to stay in the country. This means my plan to visit NY has to change. I'm still trying to see if I can visit mid-September. It terms of exact return date for good, I'm trying to figure that one out also. My brother gets married first week in December so trying to figure out we should return end of November or go back and forth for 1 month which seems like a waste.

More details to come..