Fall is here and so is the rain

One big thing I was looking forward for the past couple of months was the Vietnamese Festival that occurred last week. I've missed good Vietnamese food ever since I moved to Japan, and unfortunately, I still am. Basically the whole week leading up to the Vietnamese festival weekend was sunny and pleasant, and then the typhoon strategically came and rained out the day I planned to go to the festival. You would think that it would affect the crowds going to the festival, but it didn't. Long lines and people fighting for tables under tents from the heavy rain are not what I consider a fun time. It was just about an hour before my party and I decided to bail out and escape to the Harajuku Comme Ca cafe.



Other than that, nothing much going on. I am doing pretty good at the gym. I haven't seen any significant physical results however I am seeing my energy and stamina getting better. I've been more competitive in my weekly basketball games against the local teenagers. I've also been pretty good on watching what I eat, even though I sorta took a break yesterday as I ate a 5 course meal which included a very rich dessert at a pretty fancy Italian restaurant. My weakness is and will always be good food. I definitely have to burn it all and them some when I head over to the gym after work today.

Finally, I just finished watching the Dallas cowboys lose to the Redskins. It was really hard for me to watch Dallas just blow the game like that. I can't believe they just abandoned their running game like that after it helped them win their first 3 games. After the game, I even turned off my phone just in case any of my heckling Redskin friends decided to call me and start talking trash to me. Good thing I don't see any Redskin fans in Tokyo...

Sometimes...

the grass isn't greener on the other side. I've been trying to find a new job for the longest time since my company started showing signs of instability. Most of the recruiters I have been in contact with pointed me to roles in the finance industry, which would have been a nice change for me as the majority of my professional career has been spent in telecommunications. The majority of the positions presented never materialized even though I had one opportunity literally in my grasp, but at the end the conditions were not favorable so I turned it down. Having said all that, I became really frustrated with myself and the job market here in Tokyo. Now with the recent mayhem going on in the finance industry, my failures in trying to secure a new job seem like a blessing in disguise. I mean, my company's stock has taken a major hit since I've been with them and I've survived what I am told have been the last of the "restructuring efforts", but compared to what the big finance firms are going through, things here doesn't seem so unstable anymore. In addition, my project has been going better than expected. Things are a bit delayed, but if my team can work out the kinks, I should experience job stability and a decent paycheck for at least the next couple of years. I really hope the job market/economy will pick up and stabilize by that time.

Lebron loses

I read an article about Lebron losing in a game of "HORSE" to a contest winner recently. The competition was held right after the Beijing Olympics. I finally found the youtube video for it. The contest winner is a sick dude.

Good start

The NFL season kicked off this weekend and I'm really happy that Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys started off their season with a win. Even with the time difference, I was able to watch the majority of the game live. It was actually by accident because for the past couple of weeks I've been struggling to sleep for a long period of time. I would toss and turn repeatedly and wake up (many times) in the middle of night unable to go back to sleep. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I started going to the gym last week, so my body should be more exhausted than usual, but nope.. I'm wide awake. Anyways, I am going to finish up on some documentation at work and then head over to the gym. Go Cowboys!

I took the plunge...

and got myself a membership at the local gym. My body was getting blown out even though I consistently watched what I ate and have been pretty diligent with my "poor man's" home workouts. I have more rolls on my my stomach than a French bakery shop. Usually joining a gym is not a big deal, but when I'm now obligated to pay 200 bucks a month (no that is not a typo... 2 Franklins or the JPY equivalent every 30 days) for this membership... I literally can't afford to slack off with my body anymore. Anyways, I can now say that I am a member of W.O.W which does not stand for "World of Warcraft", but "Work Out World".