More Enkais

There is going to be a farewell party for one of my co-workers on Thursday. She has been with the company for a while now and decided that it was time to pursue a career change. Since I only started working at the office for a few months, I don't know her that well, but one interesting fact about her that I found out fairly recently is that she has a "secret" job on the weekends as a radio personality on one of the J-Pop stations in Kanagawa-ken. I thought that was really cool. I have to remember to ask her if she has Billy's "Boom Boom Wonderland" on heavy rotation...

Undokai like weekend

It was a sports filled weekend for me. Saturday was the monthly soccer tournament. This time was a bit different than the rest. Joining our team for the first time was a friend who is a linebacker for his American football club but rarely plays soccer and another was a coworker of mines. Both of them were actually very effective having scored a goal each. The funniest moment of the game happened when I was waiting at the sidelines and the referee said this about the linebacker turned soccer player "Man, I can't believe how big that guy is. Its crazy and he is running so fast!" Unfortunately with the Japanese Hulk on our side, we had similar results as the past tournaments coming in 3rd place... out of 4 teams =P The good news though though is that our team is getting better and I think its just a matter of time that we can get first place. For myself, my stamina is improving and I am starting to get a bit better. I think my skill level moved up from "Suck Badly" to "Somewhat sucks". Later that night, my friends and I ate at a Steak Cafe and ended the night playing Wii Sports at my place.

Sunday was my first time playing basketball competitively with another co-worker who invited me to play with his team in Saitama. This was also the first time I ever went to Saitama. Taking the train there from my place was not so bad, about 45 minutes via Sobu/Chuo line. He picked me up from the station and we went to the recreation center. The recreation center was huge. It had about 3 full court games going on in the main arena. I was used to playing in elementary schools where the court length is a bit smaller than the normal full court, so this was refreshing. After about 15 minutes of warming up, we started the game. I was a bit nervous because I was already sore from the day before, but I made a scoring impact early on in the game. The key word is early because even though my team was leading by 15 points in the first half of the game, we lost by 30 at the end. These guys were so fast and the game was 1.5 hours long. Whenever I had the chance, I tried to slow the tempo of the game, but usually it was a run and gun type of deal. Regardless, it was fun and I had a great workout. I hope I can play competitively again.

Today, I am sore as hell, but I love this feeling even though I can't move very well. I hope I can keep this level of activity up so I can lose the excess pounds and finally be in shape again.

I don't know Karate but I know CRRAAZZYY

Its official, it seems anyone can make a hit music CD in Japan.

Billy Blanks... yes..him again and his hit single.. yes I said it, hit single, its actually in the top 50 songs in Japan "Boom Boom Wonderland"



My personal favorite line of this well thought out song was "Lets stay strong like Tokyo tower"....

I'm inspired. Who cares about technology? Be on the lookout in 2008. I'm going to hit Japan with my debut single, "Hairy Back". Its like Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back, actually its going to be exactly like his song except I will replace the Sexy with Hairy. You guys better start lining in front of HMV now to get your copy! Yeah.. its gonna be off da chain.

Holla at your boy.

Double D

Sling Drama

So the biggest game of the NFL season which included my Boyz taking on the Pats came on today. There was a lot of hype the whole week from the fact that two unbeaten teams were going to duke it out this late in the season. Even though I have Tivo and already programmed to record this game, I wanted to watch it live. So I woke up early for the 16:15 EDT start time. Of course, being Mr. Unlucky, when I started my Mac and clicked on my slingmedia, it said that it could not locate my box. My initial reaction was "What the hell?". I've never seen this error before and out of the hundred of times that I use my slingbox, why does it have to muck up now. Fortunately for me, my little bro who is the keeper of the box was able to help me out and reset the boxes and re-configured the settings. The result was that I was finally able to watch the game, but I missed most of the first half. It was a forgettable first half as the Dallas offense only had the ball for a few minutes and did very little. The beginning of the second half of the game was exciting where I saw the Boys take the lead for the first time but at the end the Pats were too strong and blew out my beloved Dallas Cowboy team out of the water. I was really disappointed. I hope this bad start is not going to be the theme for me this week. So far, I've not been in the best health which I have already gone to the doctor today and I have a soccer tournament and the full court basketball later in the week. I have got to stay strong and stay positive... stay positive....

Time flies

Ever since I got to Japan, I have been disoriented with time. I found myself countless times asking myself which day of the week it is, especially during Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. They all get jumbled up and I usually mistaken each day with the other. I guess when I was living in the states, each day had its own identity. Monday was the first day of the week and everyone at work complained how they wish it was still Sunday. Also this was when Football discussions would be at its heaviest talking about the games the day before and the game coming up later in the evening. Tuesday was when traffic during rush hour would start getting heavier for the week and it was also known as American Idol night. Wednesday was hump day when everyone at work would start making plans for the weekend. Thursday would usually be the first night of the week that I would go out, like eat at a restaurant or meet a buddy for coffee. Friday, rush hour in the morning was light but it started earlier in the evening because everyone had the same idea in "starting the weekend early and avoiding the evening rush", this is also when I get to look forward for extracurricular activities with my family or friends. In Japan, everyday besides the weekend seems to be exact versions of each other. No day really stands out, except for Monday and Friday for the start and end of the weekend. At work, no one really talks about what they do outside of work, so conversations tend to be the same each and every day. Besides a really good drama season, there are no television programs that establishes the day of the week like in America. I'm not complaining about this, because it just makes the weekend come by a lot quicker but at the same time, I feel that time is flying by too quickly that I can't stop and slow down to enjoy where I'm at and reflect on various things.

In other news, I saw 1408 the other day. I am usually a wimp when it comes to horror movies, but U.S. horror flicks do not affect me as much as Japanese ones. Actually, besides the Exorcist, I can't really remember a movie that screwed me up. I was into the movie for about two-thirds of the way, but it got kind of predictable and lame towards the end. I thought the idea of the movie was good, almost like the 7th Guest (A horror game I used to play when the CD-ROM just came out for computers and I was the first of my friends to own a double-speed cd-rom drive on my 486.. ok.. I'm talking geek.. I'll stop) but the movie strayed away from the scary characteristics of the room and its past victims, to try develop John Cusack's character, which took away from the scariness. In Japanese horror flicks, they tend to focus more on the ghosts and why they exist rather than their living counterparts. That is why I boycott those movies in order to have nightmare-less nights =)

Pictures from this past weekend

Early October update

October is finally here. I can see the Halloween promos in the store windows. The weather has been noticeably cooler with the exception of yesterday and today which have felt more like summer. Along with the change of seasons, there have been changes with me as well. I have officially been fully transferred as a Japanese employee. Previously, I was getting paid and everything going to my US accounts, but now I look forward to using cash more than my CC. It is just in time also, because I am starting to go low on the flow and unfortunately, a lot of places especially the small establishments that I go to during lunch time do not accept CC. So this is very good timing. I have moved desk locations again, by recommendation of the HR manager to a more social location in the office. Now I am starting to get to know a lot of the employees and have established a few lunch buddies which is great, but also contributes for my dwindling cash resource. I am starting to get more friendly with the HR guy, which I would have never imagined after the whole debacle that occurred earlier this year. As far as my work load, things are smooth sailing. There have been a few occasions where I lost a weekend due to working, this may also include tomorrow, where I am scheduled for a conference bridge in the afternoon for a production implementation. I am hoping that the event will go smoothly so I will be able to finish before my friend arrives to Tokyo, but with this position, its always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Later this month I will look forward in being a sports maniac. There is another soccer tournament scheduled and I have also planned to play with one of my co-workers and his team in Saitama. This will be the first time I'll be playing basketball in an actual team environment. All my other basketball sessions at the local community center consisted of just playing 2 on 2 or 3 on 3. So I'm excited to play a real full court game.

Other than that, nothing else really going on. I was requested to put more pictures, but I looked through my cell phone and did not find anything interesting. I promise I'll be more camera happy and post some pictures in my next entry. So please stay tuned!