Random End of Year Pics

All hail my new jacket and pants. In Tokyo this stuff aint cheap, 5-bills right there. Poor planning once again!


Crepe world in Harajuku.


In Harajuku there are weirdos who decorate their fanboy cars to give tribute to some J-Pop star (Ayumi something).


Yet another random museum in Shibuya.


Random girls cooking at my apartment.


The boyz! Gatricks cute kid in the middle, cute and well mannered boy. Makes you want to have kids.

Farewell Tears [Abayo Namida] 2007

2007 I bid thee farewell. Stealing some ideas from VJ, I am writing my farewell to 2007 note.

My friend ABong says when comes to "sampling sushi" its about quantity over quality. I tend to argue for quality. I rather have one top quality than 10 mediocre. But everyone got their different ideas when it comes to sushi. And people who are married tend to think more towards quantity maybe?

I have a few goals in mind for 2008.

1. Wake up earlier and get to work earlier. Requires change of lifestyle.
2. Get to the gym regularly and lose the extra 5-7lbs of fat. I got a few good years left, I should maximize them.
3. Finish what I start. I have a habit of bailing on things instead of finishing them. Finish strong in 2008.
4. Focus at work. Really focus. I am in a prime position, I can make it big if I focus.
5. Find some hotties. Need to work on my gaming tactics for this.

What I did well in 2007.

1. Reconnected w/ some old buddies and explore SF alot more. Also exploring Tokyo alot now.
2. Found a great job in Tokyo and really interviewed the hell out of the city and wound up w/ pretty much the best I could ask for at this point in time.
3. Was able to keep finances cashflow stable in the black during in these dire times.
4. Investments were quite good, despite a serious scare in August.
5. Been more active, lots of snowboarding, tennis, etc. Traveled alot too.
6. Determined to live life so I made a big move to Tokyo which has paid off well for me.

What I did not do well in 2007.

1. Got out of shape. I think I gained 3-4lbs. I started the year in better shape, was going to the gym at a ridiculous membership cost of $125/month [which for tokyo is not that high].
2. Wasted a ton of money. My outflow was probably an extra $30k compared to the year before.
3. Focus at work. I pretty much accomplished nothing at work the whole year across 2 jobs.
4. Improve myself. I can't say I really improved my knowledge of anything or my skills.

Wow that sounds like a downer. Oh well live and learn!

Mad Game

I went out w/ this girl tonight that I'm not really into, but likes me a little.. she's a nice gal. Had a nice time. I didn't do anything other than get cozy w/ her, because I don't want any bad feelings and don't want a bad rep. At times I wonder why I don't just go for it. But I don't know its just how I am maybe. I think taking her out may be giving the wrong impression though, that is kinda bad.

Anyways Fri night I went out w/ a few hardcore playas who I met thru a friend. This one dude has some major major game so I was watching very closely as he displayed his club skillz and showed me how to operate. I am a noob so I sucked at trying to emulate him but it was interesting. I saw the game as it was meant to be played. All others who go to clubs and pick up chicks are lucky or esp good looking or something because this dude Ari was just all game.

So breakdown of Ari's game:
- he says its all about spiking their emotions and moving in with physical contact on the spikes.
- spiking is done w/ random bullshit like a weird intro/opener, fake palm reading, dissing, kinda pushing the girls around (lightly), and really just blowing them away w/ random crap
- he kind of has a routine of stuff he goes thru to generate the spiking/buzz. as i said, palm reading, guessing their job or where they live, etc that is all somewhat bizzare but I suppose exciting and interesting to the girls so they are like "wow this dude is interesting"
- combined w/ all this jazz he puts on alot of touching. during the spikes he moves in w/ hand holding, arm around them, he pulls them in, etc. he said u gotta get physical because touch is another big emotional spike for them if you know how to touch the right way.

Anyways it was interesting.. what I learned is that to be a club playa you gotta really focus on the game. Kinda realize that I am not into that bullshit, but I also realize that if you focus on it you can definitely be good at it. This dude scored that nice w/ a pretty cute gal. The dude is a weird lookin guy, nothing special, not rich, not tall, skinny, etc. He's all game. Interesting eh?

On the other hand, maybe some guys got it, some don't!!???

We are screwed

Wow u see the news w/ the banks. We are getting smashed. Other than GS the allmighty and us, the other banks are downright getting destroyed. I am lucky I didn't join those other losers but the future is still questionable. Interestingly the MS and BSC chiefs did not take a bonus. That basically means all the staff people are also getting jacked on bonus. But its good to see they are setting the precedence at the top. At our company the CEO got a phat bonus and I think for the most part bonuses were flat.

Anyways.. so the RMBS market is collapsed. Its imploded. I work in this market... ugg... not good. I came to realize this today after talking to the hater next to me. He said its dead for 2 years and even though the J-RMBS market is not affected entirely its questionable whether, in this market crunch, the new business head is going to want to invest in this market and keep it going. You see, when I joined the RMBS market was roaring and Japan was a new frontier in RMBS. Now.. its questionable. It may be worth investing a small team now so that when the market returns we are ready to strike big.

Oh well if not I'll try to get into rates or another derivatives team. Lots of hiring.. but it'd be nice to stay in the Analytics (Research) P&L....

Man I have so many pics of me w/ random girls on facebook.. its a bit scary. So many single girls in this town. Its sickening.

Inside J-girls part 2

Oddly enough I had an encounter w/ a different pair of j-girls tonight named K&A. K&A I met thru Vig as well, as he is the source of many j-girls. I am doing some rekon now and finding out about their motivations.

What they told me is.. they like guys who are assertive and control the situation a bit. Ie, they don't like dudes who have no opinion on where to go eat, what to do this weekend, etc. They like to follow the lead it seems. Assertive dudes rule women which is well documented (in general).

Note, they also pointed out the same observation that M&M pointed out to me not 18hrs earlier, which is that they don't like guys who are so obviously looking for girls. Shockingly, they also pointed out Vig again as the example of a dude looking hard, and me as the counter example of the guy not looking. Maybe Vig and I need to split and merge to find the right blend.

Again the paradox of the situation which I pointed out to them is that they want an assertive guy, but not too assertive to be obvious in what he wants, but assertive enough. So its a fine line. Too much assertion and u are a desperate loser, too little and they wouldn't know you exist! Whats a simple man like me to do? Hah just find younger girls is one solution.

I must seem like a trustworthy dude 'cause usually this shit comes up w/married guys like Pagrig who they trust. Apparently I am falling out of the potential mate category w/ these girls and moving into trusted friend mode? Hmmm.. not sure but who cares these girls are cool as friends.

Also noted girls aint digging touchy-feely in public. Girls watch each other.. thus at past parties when anyone got a little close the other girls all noticed. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Into the mind of a J-girl

So I go to this gal MA's party, this is a gal who was hot for our old friend Booby when she met him 6 months ago. Some other expat gals I know where there.

Well that part was not too exciting. But I go and run into 3 girls from the past.

First up, the rack. She is a gal Vig met at a party and apparently she is friends w/ the VB gals so good thing Vig didn't try to hit that. Funny thing is she was wearing the same shirt I saw her last time in! Damn that is like the 3rd girl we've known that is always wearing the same damn clothes all the time. One gal Gay wore virtually the same outfit like 4 times in a row and we are talking different days of the week, venues, etc but always same outfit. I think 5th time we caught her offguard and she had a different top on, but same jeans. Whats up, tokyo girls u need more clothes.

Next I see our old secretary duo M&M as we cross paths going in/out of the elevator and they both scream when we all realize its me. Funny I was laughing getting into the elevator thinking shit, these girls again.. I seem to see them all the time and Tokyo is a big town.

Anyways there is big-M and little-m. M I notice reminds me of J-Kado from HS. I was smitten w/JK back in the day. Big-M is not quite as cute as JK but has the same nice body. I danced w/ her a little and she got the dance moves too w/ that smokin body.

Little-m is really cute (note I have a pic of her in my blog somewhere), and the history of the situation is that she kinda dissed us. I recall I asked for her and her friends cards and she claimed to not have one, which I feel is ridiculous but whatever. Then a while later Vig e-mails her to say hi and invite her to lunch since they work at the same company and he gets no response. She was a bit drunk tonight so I interrogate her Tombo-style to find out whats up w/ that.

So she says something along the lines of, why is he e-mailing me, whats his intention? I say, what do you mean, what do you think it is? He maybe is interested yep. So we banter about how Vig seems like a playboy maybe and I think ok maybe thats the problem? Then later M&m tell me how Vig was too forward, like he was too obviously looking for a GF (or to hit it) and they didn't like the neediness and obviousness they felt.

She also talked about how she likes guys who she really connects with mentally which she said is hard to find. I said yeah, thats true esp if you don't answer dudes e-mails and give them a chance so you can get to know them.

Interesting eh? Seems its so true, the paradox of dating... these girls want to be hit on, want to find a boyfriend/husband, and the guys want to meet and ask them out, but you can't be too direct or they think you're desperate, and while the girls are desperate they don't want to seem too desperate either. Amazing how it ever works out there in the game.

Thats why there are books written on "the game" -- because people are programmed by society to react in odd ways during courtship. They ignore a nice guy who is probably a great catch because they were too direct and showed they really liked them. Instead they want a guy to be a little interested but not that interested, but enough to spark their interest.. so on so on. weird let me tell ya.

Anyways it was fun conversing w/ these two M&m gals. Big-M was grinding it up w/ some white dude earlier. Litttle-m was talking to some fat 20yo punkass who I pushed out of my way to talk to her. Haha, too bad for that loser. I totally cock-blocked his ass.

Note I didn't drink tonight. If I go to clubs again I am going to avoid drinking, it makes it easier to a) remember girls, b) remember what happened, c) stay focused.

Another year lived, another less year left of life

"The Package" and VIG.


We all got a clock thats ticking.. when it runs out nobody knows.

I love Dr. House.. that is one badass show. I saw the episode where he exposes his history of his leg.. man what a great episode. I live for better House.

So I had thoughts on my dating progression this past year. Basically it has been pretty lame. I think I've gone on many dates w/ girls and have gone thru the motions of dinner, wine-ing and dining, and then at the end, after all that, the doors are wide open for me at times, but I usually say "naaaaah" and move on. Its not that I just like the challenge and am bored, its that I'm not into any of these girls.

Now part of me thinks.. hey I'm single I should hit everything in sight. That side of me motivates me to date everything in site. But then my deeper side prevents me from enjoying myself entirely. Never quite "all-in" in either direction, know what I mean?

Well for 2008, I have a new gameplan. I haven't formulated it entirely but it will be finished and documented by the new years start I think.

Snow

Hardcore activities.. Fri night had dinner w/ Vig.

Sat 530am woke, showered, got to the @7am bullet train, @830 was at the base camp in Niigata (Kagura mountain). Due to a hellish line didn't get to the slopes till 10am. Left slopes at 3pm, back at Tokyo at 520pm home at 6pm. 715pm met w/ friends to go to a mixer, got home at 130am.

700am woke up to play tennis. Had brunch after, walked around... now i'm home.. doing laundry. Need to power nap. I'm fading out soon.

Snow was quite good by Tahoe standards because Tahoe is mostly packed powder/machine groomed (ie, very icey, not much powder). Plus very convenient to get there via bullet train (optimally 2hrs door to door).

Cost is about $110 to take the bullet train round trip. Taxi to slopes is about $25 (+ $25 return). Lift tickets only $36. So a full day trip is about $200. (+$22 if you want to ship your board instead of carry).

Last of 2007 parties

The party circuit is tiring. I think I'm ready to retire for a few months. No more parties. Yep its time to close shop for the cold cruel winter and start 2008 with a bang!

At work.. I am feeling the need to focus. Bonuses are announced next Tuesday. Our boss has already told us many times to lower expectations due to the horrible year in banking.. I wonder how people will react. Those who have been here have been riding a great 3-4 year run by the banks. So I dunno...

I forget if I mentioned we met some JAL stewardess at a coffee shop. Vig and I were hanging out and this girl was kind of listening in so I waved to her and we all started talking. Interesting isn't it? Too bad she's not super hot. But she is super young like 22 or 23. Thats like hitting 2 birds with one stone know what I mean ? Goes to show the sickeness of men, they are infatuated w/ the idea of dating certain profiles of women like a stewardess, a student, really young girls, older girls (and MILFs), etc etc.

What can I say.. humanity is doomed? Nah, I'm trying to be positive. It is all good!

Christ I can't believe it.. Ravens almost took down Pats. What chokers!!!! They had the game!

Taxes

After finally getting a standard paycheck, I found my effective tax rate (without housing adjustments) right now is about 25%. After I start paying state/local taxes it will be 35%. Not too bad, could be worse. I should stop spending so much cash, I been spending for a year nonstop now.

It poses the question.. why do we desire "things" ? Some of us don't, but many of us do. I admit I look at shit like watches and clothes and feel like yeah I want some of that phat shit. Its shameful though to desire brand name goods. What is up w/ that. Is it media brainwashing?

In HK I compared prices of a few known articles to measure just how expensive things were compared to the USA and Japan. I noted.. Things are about 15-20% more in HK than the US. Tokyo is about 20-30% more than HK. So roughly, Tokyo is about 40-50% higher than the US for most goods.

I also learned that the duties are really high in Tokyo for inbound goods.. this roughly explains the 40-50% hike. Yep its almost all duty. I ordered some goods online and the duty was a whopping 39% of the "stated" cost of the product! Are you fricking kidding??? Yep, don't order online international shipment to tokyo. You will get raped.

Gambling Luck

Forgot to mention. I sat down on a table at Wynn, $40min ($300hkd)

I tend to play bigger stakes short in/out rounds now, so put a big $78 ($600hkd) bet.

I got pair 8-8. I though damn... ugg.. dealer showing 4 so I said okay split.

...another 8, split...., and another 8... !?! so i say screw it keep splitting.
...1 more 8 shows, so here I am getting nervous, I have 5 hands now @ $78 each.

To make a long story short dealer busts so I won all 5 hands, started w/ a big $390 win, way to start!!!

The other side of Macau

I visited HK this weekend w/ mom.

I try to do a few things w/ mom because her health isn't that great nowadays so I should make sure I get some quality time before she dies and leaves me feeling guilty for not doing more. Don't look back and say you shoulda done this or that. Look back and say you did it the right way, or your way.

Interesting thing in most of SE asia is that # of prostitutes (or girls who appear to be) in every club, casino, avenue, etc. This topic came up w/ my 2 HK friends on Sat night... prostitution in the USA (and alot of high end modern countries/cities) often happens because the girls know how to make a quick buck. Its a pretty conscious choice, they are 'hos because they rather not work a regular job and get paid an honest days work. Contrast to SE Asia, many girls turn to being 'hos because seriously, there are very few options for girls in these countries so they feel they have no choice but to use their fortunes (looks) when times get tough.

You gotta realize that in SE Asia, labor is so cheap that an unskilled person is pretty much worthless. Macau Wynn for example -- every single table has 2 dealers, one dealing and one watching. double the staff. In the US they'd say screw that, in fact they are continuously trying to reduce staff w/ machines. In Macau people are a dime a dozen, so they double them up wherever needed. In Vietnam we witnessed how this coffee shop would hire girls to just stand in the corners, top of the stairs, etc. People were so cheap that you could hire them by the dozen, probably the uniform costs were the bigger line item.

Anyways Macau has a few things keeping it from super glory.
1. Need an airport big enough to land 747's
2. Must improve ferry service
3. Immigration lines are horrible. Coming from HK it seems silly that its a diff country!
4. Who the hell decided to put Venetian on the other side of the island away from the other casinos?

Otherwise Wynn Macau was great. Totally Vegas feel. Even had craps and roulette! When MGM opens its going to be awesome too. Odd when I was at Wynn w/ Tombo last time it didn't strike me the same way.

Lovers and Haters

Man this dude I sit next is a mega-hater. All day bitching about random dudes in the company. The economists regularly announce stuff or sales managers announce a big sale, and the dude next to me often mutters "shut yer trap". He has a few hater friends. It is bad to hang w/ haters no doubt. I identify because I used to be that guy. Fun to hang w/ and amusing to listen to the banter, but in the end it doesn't get you anywhere. It got me nowhere in the end thus I strive to change my cynical ways.

I've been here exactly 3 months now. Wow time flies. I can say I've been having alot of fun. Career-wise I think its a great move for me. Seeing mom more often, seeing some cousins, reconnected w/ Vig. Thus I have few complaints. As a hater I should not focus on the hates anyways, however just in case you want to know and so you know life isn't perfect...

1) I dread the summer. Oh man it was hot when I arrived.
2) Living conditions could be better, I wish I could afford a phat pad. I saw ads for large 1-2br condos, its SF prices or worse. We're talking $1mm-2mm for a nice location.
3) Could be dating hotter chicks.

But so far its pretty good. However I can understand why many hate it.. because I am in an unusual situation compared to many, even some of my peers.

1) I don't work till 10pm often, actually never. I like my job here unlike most people!
2) I actually make decent money (which helps w/ #3)
3) I have a pretty big apt relative to most (~650ft^2). Even Vig has a j-typical 400ft^2 pad.
4) I speak japanese.

You combine these 4 elements.. and you have a non-suffering lifestyle. I kind knew this, thus you understand why it took me so long to decide to move. I had to make sure at least #1-3 were mostly in-line.

I can understand esp for girls.. its a bad town to be a girl. Bad career prospects, lots of goofy j-guys, etc.

I love Rocky the Final... just keep moving forward baby!!! Man I can't believe how good Moss is doing. That punkass.

Fulfillment (Touch)

I was up late tonight (till 440am now) and was watching the last 3 episodes of Touch (Japanese anime about HS baseball). It dawned on me, after seeing the finales where the guy has struggled for 2 years (3 really) trying to get his team into the HS national championships, that true happiness and satisfaction often requires struggle.

Standard formulation:
Dream
Struggle and fight
Failure or mishaps
Success

If you can do those things I think you can truly understand what it means to be happy in something and feel like you've really accomplished something.

I believe in my life.. I've had a relatively easy road. I think I've often (career-wise for sure) jumped ship too much to really be able to say I've been an integral part of a success. While I was in successful companies, I was never really the one who made it successful. I usually saw the going getting bad and said screw this, and went to greener pastures. Terrible but as I am older and slightly wiser, I realize you have to often stick with things thru the bad (relationships, jobs, etc).

I strive to be able to build something or be part of something I can be proud of.

You all should watch Touch oneday. Fabulous story. It is a whopping 101 episodes and all in Japanese though. You could always rent the 3 part movies (which I personally translated for the anime community back in 94-95 or so). However the movie doesn't quite do justice to the struggle.

I'm all about struggle.

Traders and Bankers

Interesting thing.. the trader vs the investment banker.

We are talking about two of the highest paid professions in the world for being non-entrepeneurs. And yet their personality traits couldn't be more different.

Investment Banker profile:
Undergrad top 20 school like Princeton or Stanford
Worked a pretty boy life as an analyst or schmuck for a few years before MBA from Wharton, Harvard, Sloan, etc
Book smart bastard, one of those dudes who sit in the front of class that we all hate.
Dresses well, rich family, all the cards in-line, etc, a pretty boy who you kind of admire.
Other than being an elitist, you kind of like the guy because he represents perfection.

Trader profile
Undergrad from a top school, or occasionally some insider who knows someone
First job out of school is the bank!
Not as book smart, but sharp as a whip, can wheel and deal his way out of anything.
Good with numbers, probably aced SAT math, often a slacker in school.
Bad personal habits like smelly, picks nose, wears same shirt alot, bad personality traits.
Kind of a guy you really hate, but at the same time his down to earth style is something you admire since he works in the trenches.

Not quite spelled out to perfection, I need to rewrite this oneday.. but its interesting. Both parties can pull in millions$$ a year and each thinks they are the real moneymakers in the company. Who is the top dog really? I don't know myself. I think IB is where its at, but in reality traders directly make a hell of a lot of $ for the firm. IB is more of a team effort and a sales/deal making job in the end.

I just know I sit next to an ex-trader and he is cool and down to earth, but also annoying as hell at the same time. If I sat next to a banker he'd probably annoy me with this high and mightly bullshit attitude as well.

Can't win. Go UH.

Lesson to the Youth

At times in my career I have jumped ship...esp when the ship was sinking. But usually it was because I just wanted a change or better opportunity. Move for the right reasons.

Probably 1/2 the time, in retrospect, I think I'd have been better off career path and financially had I stayed thru the "tough" times. Let that be a lesson.. times look tough for any company and every company at some point. Those who stay thru them can often be in a great position simply by the war of attrition / ie whose left to manage -- why you are!

Of course I say only 1/2 the time because for every happy ending there is a story of someone who stayed too long when the writing was on the wall....


Imagine those suckers who stayed at AAPL during the slow years! Or HPQ (ahem) -- sitting pretty on a fortune no doubt!

Work and Money

A lot of life revolves around these two evil things.

I had many older coworkers whisper to me in my past.. psst, marry someone rich. I had many coworkers bitch about money all the time and raises, bonuses, etc. I personally get caught up in the work satisfaction thing too much as well. Nowadays I work to live, and in Tokyo for expats thats somewhat the norm (ie, no one really comes to Tokyo to work).

I once had a goal to make a $1mm.. or get to NAV of $1mm asap. Many are there or almost there like our shrewd friends who invest in BRK, while many claim not to care. I guess I'll get there eventually but for now I think I can make enough money in my life to live a humble but satisfying existence so I don't worry about it as much anymore.

Today I was hacking some C++ and god dammit.. writing a few lines of C++ is a fricking painful hell for me. The compile errors are difficult to understand, the runtime errors harder. Just converting int to string is a hassle. What the hell man. At least my team lead who is a C++ guy recognizes the difficulty and tries to avoid doing things in it unless required.

Time is flying by.. already 14th of the month. Geez. I'm in a good groove I think. Need to get less sleepy at work, thats my main goal right now.

Been a slow week. I was exhausted last weekend when BOOOBY was in town. Good to have a down week.

Game Part 2

Below is a fellow who got some game. Must study the methodology.

Some guys have game, some guys just don't. Got it use it, if you don't... then do something like buy a wife from asia!

Don't be a hater if someone you know goes that route, some people got no game so what do you want them to do? just sit at home and play Wii by themselves? We don't all got skillz!

My big problems in life

1) finding a hot chick
2) figuring out what my mom is going to do
3) deciding what to wear the next day.
4) ...

as you can see, after the top2, the rest is pretty easy. so for all your lucky kids who got #1 and #2 figured out, damn consider yourselves lucky.

My stated 4yr plan

Here I state my plan for 2 & 4yrs.

2yrs

• enjoy life and have fun, build new friendships, retain old ones, build new love life, move past the old one(s).
• get my act together at work, become a go-to-guy, learn the MBS market much better than I have so far, focus at work, stop falling asleep everyday
• get healthier, lose 3lbs, feel a bit better about my healthy/body/physique
• help my family reconnect, esp my brother, and help my mom enjoy life a little more.

4yrs

• figure out my strategy for long term career plans, consider opportunities abroad in HK and other emerging markets. Consider exit plan back to US.
• decide whether i'm going to get married and have kids or just be a swinging bachelor for life and have random gf's and travel a heck of a lot

No idea why this came up. I think the 2yr mark is more pertinent, I really would like to focus on work and health a bit more. Been partying way too much of late.

Next weekend yet another non-stop party!!! Man I need to rest, busy week.

• Mon - jap class till 9pm
• Tues - going out w/ tennis girl 8pm- 11pm or so
• Weds - work dinner w/ coworkers 7pm-~9/10pm
  
• Thurs - dinner/drinks w/ my neighbors
• Fri - Booby in town, party somewhere
• Sat - same as Friday
• Sun - sleep / rest / recover

As my hater friend likes to bash, its an endless cycle and whats the point? Dunno but having fun for now, so who cares. :P

Man I think I'd put a big bet on New England vs Pats for tomorrow. Pats -6. I think Pats are going to blow them out.

Note, I admit I said in 2003 that Brady is an avg QB who was part of a great team (like many SuperBowl QB's, ala Warner, Dilfer, etc etc). However note in 2005 I stated that Brady is pretty good. In 2006 I said he is awesome because he is a 1-man team. In 2007 I stated he is the best ever. Thus I want to clarify.. due to poor reporting by others it is necessary. We all have the right to change our views!

Sex Toys

I enjoy spending money on random high priced toys at times.

Recent purchase was a Roomba. I had my mom pony it over from the US since its about 2/5 of the price compared to Tokyo where they enjoy gouging the public for random goods. So far its comical to watch this cutting edge device try to manuever around the furniture etc. It would be interesting to learn the algorithm employed to learn the room dimensions and ensure it has covered every single inch of the room.

Other toys.. hmm.. I did buy a Bose wave-radio 4 months ago. I gotta say that is some seriously good shit. I bought it w/ Citi-reward pts ($500 worth) so it didn't feel like such a ripoff, but after using it daily I must say it is really nice. Really rich bass. My cheapo clock radio I bought recently has a dramatically worse sound (also 1/10 the price).

I think I may buy another pair of Cordovan shoes but the verdict on the high priced shoe experiment is not yet in. The dude at the shoe repair shop was saying these Alden will last 30yrs. I said damn thats going to be one smelly shoe.

Sex toys? Come on now are you kidding? I'm a very tame guy. But maybe its not a bad idea. I suspect girls use them way more than guys. Except gay guys. I'm apparently a bit gay.

HS reunions

Fri night got together w/ the old MHS gang!

Me, Vig, Gris, Bam, this new face Barin who just moved to TKY from Hawaii (hba'91 grad, our friends friend). Also heard that an ex-gf of Vig's from HS got divorced recently. Also Gris's coworker was there. Married man Gadrick joined us too since he is UH MBA.

Its good to see old friends for sure. Bam is settled down has twins.. he was one of the super geniuses at MHS. He's had an interesting career, from some weird Risk Management job (non-banking), to law school/mba, to trading desk at BoldmanGachs, to Lawyer at Skabben, to now M&A Investment Banker at BitiGroup. What is his goal in life? I don't get it really...

There was a table of 4-girls next to us in an otherwise empty floor. The boyz were egging each other on to talk to them, so I was nearest so I made the tough break-in approach and chatted w/ them for like 5min. But u know whats fucked up, no one came to support me. I have very limited material so after a while I just said thanks talk to u later, and that was it! After I said, wtf??? no wing support?? And Vig was just laughing. Sheesh man. So it was for nothing but I should say its good practice because there is always a table w/ 4 lonely girls in tokyo. Not easy to break into that. Keep working it!!

Follies

I went out with this girl I met a few weeks back for dinner and dessert.

This time around, I asked her if she wanted to go for dessert and made it sound less like a date but of course who just has dessert, always have dinner first right. I'm mixing things up a bit. I think sometimes it may be good to not be obvious its a date so there is a little mystery. I'm trying to be more sneaky or play more games maybe which is perhaps a mistake.

So anyways I don't know if she knew it was a date, although I didn't really know either. It poses the question if a single guy asks out a single girl to dinner isn't that typically a date if there is no 3rd wheel or others involved? Hmmmmm..

In the end I think she is cute, but not a real keeper. I attempted to get a little cozier and put a move on but was rejected! Damn, I don't think I've been rejected in a while. Mainly because I tend to take hints so my batting avg tends to be very high. But this time I said what the hell. Hah.

Hmmm not going too well lately!

Teeth

Last night I had the dream of my teeth falling out. Dammit what the hell. I have this dream every so often. Modern interpretations are meaningless but obviously it means something.

I feel my love handles now. Getting phat on j-food.

Went to some halloween parties tonight, the club 911 had some hot girls. Hard to work it at clubs, you gotta have game. Even the white-men I was observing failed for the most part.

Finance 201

So today I learned that my employer has a Japanese-401k plan. This is interesting and quite nice.

So here's the deal, the company puts in an amount equal to 10% of your gross (up to a limit of 1.65mm yen or about $14k). But unlike 401k, the company pays the whole thing, it doesn't come out of your gross! Wow, its like a 10% virtual raise just like that. Life is looking good.

I do have to stay 3yrs to get the enchilada, but right now I have no intention of quitting, although I could get laid off, fired, or times could turn ugly for me, who knows. The other bad part is that 75% of the funds wind up in a cash-money market account. You can only invest part of it into funds/equities. So its a non-high growth cash contribution for the most part, whatever its free safe money.

What is retarded is that this is a big deal for me anyways, as I am very retirement/cash conscious and if I knew this when they gave me a job offer it would have solidified my desire to move. I had bad feelings of not being able to contribute to 401k when I left the USA, etc.. How lame that recruiting doesn't promote their benefits very well. I wonder if the other banks had the same program ? I think so....

Don't worry about money kids. Long as you can keep making some the rest is easy.

Halloween Tokyo 2007

Halloween weekend was jam packed.

Events-wise...

• Saturday 7AM, went to Tsukiji market to buy fish for dinner
• 2pm-5pm naptime.
• 630pm: Dinner at Oldman's before hitting the costume parties
• 830pm: Azabu party, where Oldman dressed as Caesar takes 1st prize!!
• 1100pm: Roppongi party with Vig's vball crew, lotta expats but cool people. This one taiwanese gal I thought was cute last time didn't look quite as cute, but kinda cute I guess. I have issues with the 2nd/3rd time I see girls and flip/flop between they are hot, and not.
• Sunday 100am: Ebisu party where Vig was dancing w/ this smoking hot girl who had a short skirt and tat on the lower back. Lower tat on back means sex freaks.
• 300am: detox on ramen
• 900am: woke up for tennis tournament in Shinjuku w/ tennis girl.
• 1000am-2pm, doubles tourney. Played well but didn't place.
• 2pm-7pm singles tourney, played terrible 1st match, played OK 2nd, but lost both. Ack.. it was terrible.
• 830pm-1030pm, dinner w/ oldman and vig, watched bull riding machine at Zest!

Yeah busy. I played frickin tennis all day today! I realize I suck. Damn I need coaching.

Anyways thats the life out here as a single bachelor in his 30's. Its quite different from my aloha peers who are married w/ child(ren). I often will say I wish I was moving forward sooner, but alas you can't rush it if the right person ain't there. What are you gonna do right? And at other times I really love the personal freedom I have to do whatever the hell I want anytime I want. Not sure if I'm ready to give it up at this point. Key is to be ready for the next phase because you can't go back and its a long ass road ahead when you have kids/etc.

My friend Girtha was commenting on this once.. how great it must be to pick up and go to Tokyo without having to think about anyone else. But alas, its good and bad. I'm sure he would never trade his family in for my life, even though he admits he has a tough life managing 2 kids. But with the toughness comes the pleasure and joy. Its all balance man.. without the tough parts you can't enjoy the good parts. Same w/ our friend the married man. But alas we are talking about happily married people. There is a whole slew out there who have bad marriages.

Well let me tell ya, I am having fun, but life is also tough in other ways so its not all a party here! Haha.

Tribute to the old crew

Despite the adoption of a new crew, I can't forget the old crew. Yep life moves on. These 3 (ignore the kid) have all gone their own ways and this reunion last year was a once in a decade type event to be able to get 3 married people (2 w/ kids, now all 3 w/ kids) together for a boys getaway. Note that fat man in the middle beat me in a 100yd dash on this very beach. God dammit.

Finance 101

Rule #1: Spend less than you make.

Wow really? What you mean if I don't have money, then don't buy shit?

Yeah its that simple man. But a soul in the USA can't figure it out as we have the worst avg debt on the planet, horrible for a country with as much opportunity as the US.

Its interesting because in Japan you can't get around w/o a lot of cash. Come to Tokyo if you want to be a mugger than clears $20k in a day. I'm not kidding, on any given day I'm gonna have $500-$1000 on me. When I get down to $200 cash I get nervous and get another $500 or so. Its kind of insane.. but alas its a cash based economy. I haven't used a CC in a month. In lieu of CC points, every god damn store has its own POINT CARDS which I detest due to wallet expansion fears.

Anyways this cash based thing works. If you don't got cash you just can't go out. Even in this day and age, alot of places don't take CCs. When I bought my WD, TV, etc I paid cash! They give you a discount or more POINTS with cash, thus its an all cash incentive town.

My paycheck was really odd. I don't get it, the #'s don't look how they should. With the weird games they play with pre-taxed housing expense maybe its normal.. or I will have to wait a month to see what it looks like next time. In the end I think financially I'll be OK. However I should start up MSMoney and measure how much money I am spending on the train, food, and beer. Probably something insane. What is good news financially is that after pre-tax rent, my net take home is about what my net was in SF. Kind of surprised, but thats good news.


Rule #2: Its not how much you make, its how much you spend.

Well... you gotta live life but refer to rule #1, and #3 below. Balance in all aspects of life is key.


Rule #3: Don't live poor, don't die rich.

Saving is great, but if you die a rich man then what. I've said to many a friend before that I think I will die young. I estimate mid-50's as a good life for myself. I can't remember at times if I've blogged this before.. if only I had a search tool like smoogle.

Queue Update

Seems I am meeting girls regularly, but not necessarily keepers. Anyways the current queue is as such, in semi-order:

1) the real estate girl, who disappeared for a week claiming illness, but is now back on the radar.
2) tennis gal, who is a bit older, but really tight body
3) friends coworker, who is kinda plain but young (28), cute, nice, and tall (5'6"). maybe a bit boring.
4) this gal from the h2 party, who is really cute, but kind of overly petitie, but good personality
5) this fashion girl from the vb party who isn't that hot, but has an huge topside. yes yes i'm a guy what can i say.
6) this exec-secretary from this other gals party. she looks like a prostitute but i kinda like that!

Anyways its likely i will go 0/6 but we'll see what happens! the key is to keep the queue filled with potential!!

Gay-Dar

This is my friend Baki's hot belt. She has quite a tight body, amazing how girls can stay so fit in their 30's. I only noticed how nice her beeehind is this past weekend during the 5k run I partook in. Note, I ran 5k in 31min!! I haven't run in like a year!!!



So anyways man thats jacked up, I got gay'darded twice this week. At my party this dude's gf thought Vig and I were gay. WTF?

Then today I went out w/ my pal Gomi and his gf said (well after my story from the party) that yeah it occurred to her maybe during the first 5min when she met me. What in the world.. the gaydar is different in this country obviously.

Very odd. Very odd. However at the party one girl said I looked like I could be K1. I should take that as more of a complement.

Warped?

Yeah I'm living like a fratboy of late. My fridge has 0 food, just beer, wine, etc.

I suspect my last post may make it sound like I am coming to have a warped sense of what the heck I'm doing here. I think so, I'm definately getting a bit warped, but maybe thats okay.

I think I need to give a post-analysis of why I am becoming a shallow bastard and attempting to chase hot girls and etc. Yeah I'm really not that kind of guy, but I think in lieu of meeting any wife type of material, you gotta just play the field. Getting tied down with a random GF at my age is a questionable act unless the GF is really long term worthy. This does create a conondrum because it causes me to be overly picky about relationships and overly scrutinizing too early on. I suspect this is the same trap that many of these 30's tokyo gals fall into when looking for their breadwinner -- they start on a rule like me of waste time cause the clock is ticking so they are waiting for really good.. but the reality is many go on for years w/o dating anyone at all due to the new rules of engagement!

Thus.. whats a guy like me to do? I ponder it. There are several girls in the queue who are fairly cute, nice, etc but not really what I'd mark as a true LT keeper... thus it troubles me to wonder if I should give it a go, or if I should wait it out for better material. Tough balance really. I think its like being unemployed.. the longer you are unemployed the worse it gets -- you start to rot like old garbage.

Anyways Saturday I threw a housewarming party. It was pretty fun. I had about 15 people total, quite a few "randoms" that I met just last week and invited to fill the space gaps. Its amazing how much people can drink and eat... I think we went thru:
3 bottles of wine
1 bottle of champaign
20 coronos,
6 sam adams
6 large asahi's
8 random beers
almost entire bottle of Grey Goose
1/4 bottle of rum
1/3 bottle of gin

Crazy thing is I still have like 40 beers left and now have like 4 more bottles of wine, etc. People bring alot of shit, so sometimes you wind up w/ more than you started with! Save it for next party, but its an endless cycle.

The Game Part 1

So I have been here like 6 weeks and am now starting ponder the dating game here. As stated before its different..... but in the end its probably the same everywhere. I've been talking to my buddies about this, but they feel our game is fine and that we just need better venues. I disagree. I think we are not working it properly. The game needs refinement!!!

I'm a fairly nice guy (although I may not show it), so my game is really just being a cool nice guy. Vig is a super personable and fun guy who can chat it up with anyone, so his game is to entertain. For hooking up, both our games suck. If I think about how I got my last girlfriends it was not by being mr. super nice. Being a nice guy doesn't really work for most cases mainly because girls are really weird. Alot like how guys are just into hot girls no matter how mean they are, being nice doesn't turn girls on at all. You can wave a nice, successful, good looking beau in their face and their mind will say yeah good catch, but their loins will be looking for adventure!.

Yep its so true the weirdos, the intriguing, the mysterious, and the bad-boy types seem to be the real scorers. Adventureous, outdoorsey, sportsman, etc all fit into the same genre of girl magnets. The scientist, banker, doctor, etc can score w/ their phat paychecks but it isn't real passion the girls are after in those cases.

I think my last ex-gf found me intriguing or something because I was the bad-boy at our office. I was the big troublemaker and #1 antagonist and really bullied the management around. That kind of alpha-male attitude really turns the chicks on I can see.

Anyways this is an interesting theory.. evidence in Tokyo is that the weirdest looking weirdos have some hot ass looking chicks. See what I mean, the nice guys finish last.

Its really sad though, because in the end, the nice guy is what these girls should really be after because they ain't gonna be hot forever, and the badboys will always have enough game to find fresh meat. I wonder what in their biology drives them towards the unsafe, weird, dangerous, and obviously bad-news types.

As tombo discussed before in Eskiel 15:7 of his blog, hot nympho girls are always unstable emotionally. Its like yin-yang, or matter-antimatter, it is just not possible to have a sane girl who is also a hot nymph! Haha, thats life man, love it, live it.

Boo attests to this as well. He knows having an edge is critical. He was telling me today how he was mean and ignored this one gal he met and she was all over him, slapping his ass.

Booby.. well I don't know what the hell that guys game is. He likes going over to hot young girls houses and just talking for days on end....... or asking for #'s of girls who have no business dating him.

Anyways I have to think about this more.. I will refine the game over the next 6 months.

Focus

I really need to focus on a few things.

What I'd like to focus on is..
1) Living life (as a non-hater)
2) Being efficient, effective, and moving up at work
3) Being more healthy both diet and exercise/activity
4) Saving some $$ for my world domination and expansion

What I find myself focusing on however is..
1) Having fun and going out all the time
2) Spending tons of cash on everything
3) Being lazy at work and not focusing. In fact been falling asleep.
4) Chasing girls

Chasing girls should be a focus item, but I am in between on the idea. Chasing takes alot of time and energy. Often nice to just wait for a girl to fall into your lap. But for that to happen I have to improve my game. I need game improvement.

Its interesting if you are in the game like me you wonder.. do some people just have it (and I don't mean fabulously good looking people, because they are just lucky), or are they taught it, or what? Seems everyone can learn a little more game to improve their current level a bit.

Anyways Its like 3am, I should sleep. I gots alot of work to do tomorrow. And I gotta wake up thats the hardest part!

J-Action from the white man's perspective

So theres this dude I met 10 years ago at Bodacle that is visiting tokyo. He's actually quite an annoying guy and most people hate due to some personality disorders or something but I feel compelled to meet w/ him one day because he helped me get an internship long ago when it would have otherwise been almost impossible.

So anyways it turns out he's visiting to meet a japanese wife! Apparently he has like 10 girls lined up that he wants to visit and meet all with the thought of potential marriage -- all in a 2 week span. So bizzare... hey, don't get me wrong, I'm here and may meet a wife here too, but geez i am here living life and i speak japanese. For a total foreigner to think they can fly out here, meet for a day or two, e-mail, and get married.. that is soooo whacko to me. But alas it can happen just not sure if they are prepared for the reality of the situation. But he was a loser in the US so I'm not surprised. Heck even guys didn't like him, no way a girl would! Haha.

At tennis I met a white dude who came to Tokyo but for work. He hooked up quick and has had a J-girl so we were talking about how the dating scene is for foreigners. He said at the bars you see ugly old goofy weird guys hitting on the hottest chicks. In NY they would be so embarrassed and would never even try, but here.. it happens.

Also if I didn't mention it before the phone # game is so different. In Tokyo the girls are so polite that if you are talking to them for more than 4min or know them thru friends they will give out their digits if you ask, however it is meaningless. They just don't know a polite way to refuse so they give it, email as well, and just never respond when you call. Yep thats the word on the street! I typically only ask for digits if it is feeling really good so my hit rate is higher. I should just roll the dice more though.

The tennis guy also noted the truth of any non-3rd world country which is that any hot girl is a tough catch no matter where you are. SF, London, Tokyo, etc. They know they are hot and they ain't giving it up to just any schmo. Its an interesting thing to be a hot girl, some people should do their PhD in sociology on how different life is for a hot vs non-hot girl. People have done some analysis/experiments on it, but it is quite obvious that a hot girl has a bizzarely different life all because they are hot! Alas life isn't fair, just play the cards you got!

Man I drink so much beer nowadays.... its horrible.

Bababooooooo

Last night we met up w/ the big boooobie girl from the party. Vig was all over that at the party but hasn't been pursuing. She was looking much cuter tonight. I would be all over that too I think, pretty hip gal. Nah I'm all talk.

So in the financial markets it seems MooganBoonley stated their quant trading team lost $390mm last month when their models didn't react properly to the sudden collapse of the subprime markets. The 390mm was covered by gains in other trading teams, but still.. same story at BoldmanHacks, so man thats jacked, these algo-trading/automated systems are like AI of the 80's -- all talk, but fricking sucky in the end. Kind of like the AI on my upcoming roomba.

It has slight reprecussions for me, since I often ponder if the Quant and Algo-trading is the key to the future. I interviewed in he Algo team at BoldmanHacks, other than the fact that boldman is the ultimate bank, I'm glad I'm in an analytics domain, less tech, more business. Some say traders will be extinct due to the quant and automated trading systems but alas.. but right now these autosystems are posting occasional freak $390mm losses, while real traders can generate $90mm in profits in a 9 days.

Alas.. work it.

Prime Beef

I am sitting here at home.. working.

I went to IKEA this past weekend with Vig's friend Boki. Boki is a really cool girl, not someone I would really date because I'm not into really petite girls, but personality wise really cool. She was saying she was 22 once when her boyfriend said lets get married and she said, okay i guess so. Her parents said WTF, and basically no dice.

At 22, a girl is really not ready to marry.. so much to do in life, so much to experience before getting tied down. Like beef needing some aging. Good for her.

But turn the clock 10 years forward, now she isn't married still, and now one could say she is a bit past her time.. like slowly rotting beef.. cruel yes.. but so true. For all of us, us guys included -- its just our prime period is different.

Where did those prime years for all these girls? Vig knows dozens upon dozens of these girls who are all looking for a mate and I always wonder what happened... whats the story? Was it like me, who got into overly long relationships that ate away my soul? I can't imagine they've been single for that long.

At any rate, morale of the story is that its tough out there! I ate horse sashimi on Sunday night along with more chicken sashimi. Lots of beer. I am becoming a real beer man w/ belly to prove it.

I played tennis at a club and met this girl with the finest beehind. Ooola.. her face was only avg, but the beehind was fantastic. I invited her to play in a doubles tournament w/ me next week and she said okay. Hmmmmmmmmm........ see, in Tokyo girls don't have BFs. None of the do. I love it.

End of Spend ??

This is a pic of Cafe 8's altar... its a peking duck restaurant. With moldings of boobies, butts, and in hidden shrine lies this...


So last year, during my year of trauma I spent a shit load of money on going out, traveling, buying clothes, etc. The trend continues as moving costs $$ -- moving international costs $$$$$$.

Let me think about what I spent on...
$950 - washer/dryer
$450 - fridge
$400 - AC/Heater
$1000 - 32" lcd tv (26" was $900, so wtf, might as well go big)
$550 - new bed frame (old platform bed was waaaay too big and wasted space)
$500 - random junk at Ikea (small dining table, chairs, patio table, chairs, etc)

The most bizzare expense...
$700 - curtains!! geezus I know.. I have an astounding 6 windows and 3 sliding doors...

Yep thats life. Weirdest thing is that I paid CASH for all of it. So no CC bill to worry about... am I broke yet? Well the market bounced back so I guess I'm still way better than 2 months back. @_@

BTW I saw an $850 4-cup rice-cooker at the electronics store. That really makes the cost/grain really high over its life. Will post pics later.

3-day weekend!

Yet another 3-day weekend.

Friday went to the infamous BARTland which is a big ex-pat hangout. Place is horrible. The ratio of men:women is like 10:1, all expats too. Whats jacked up is that this is a bar that owns a microbrew named BARTland, but yet at their own frickin bar they only serve BARTland in bottles. They serve it on tap at other bars... whats up with that shit? No tap of your own house brand beer??

After we hit a party of an expat leaving for HK for a few months. His apt is yet another $8-10k / month type of getup. Damn these guys have a sweet deal, I obviously am not living it up enough. I suppose its not that huge... imagine you get a big package that gives you a pimp daddy $8k/month apt. Depending how its structured u may or may not have to pay taxes on it. And u may or may not be making more net $ in the end -- cause you are basically saving $2k/month net money that you otherwise would have spent on rent, but are living it up in a place 4x more costly.

Party was great. Lots of girls. There was this one that VIG was into (on the left) only because of her big booooobies. Haha, otherwise she was not the hottest at all. The cutest gal left early right when we arrived, next cutest was maybe this taiwanese gal who left a bit early, and maybe this was the next cutest. I wasn't into her much 'cause I don't like cutesy super-petite type that much:



Today went to tennis then a BBQ. Tennis was cool, played on this weird synthetic grass surface that had sand poured over it. Supposedly very low impact kind of like a clay effect. What pissed me off is it reduces mobility cause I wind up slipping my first step all the time. I'm used to being able to cover the whole court but can't do it on that slippery crap. But I'm old, I have to learn to slow down so I don't have a hernia.

BBQ was real J-style BBQ, totally different than US style. I will post pics later, I am god damn tired.

In the pursuit of happiness

I think you need to pursue happiness in order to truly get it. You can't just be happy or be placed into a happy life and be happy. You have to fight and earn it. Like making money.. if you were born rich, where is the challenge and fulfillment? (True I'd have been okay with some bourne riches). Same w/ a hot chick, if really fight to get one, you wind up really happy due to the inherent struggle. So for me, struggle is key to well rounded true happiness. Just can't be struggling too much is all!

So I went out with this chick Zuniko from the real estate agency last night. Man she is quite cute, I admit I'm quite smitten w/ her. We'll have to see if it goes anywhere. I will attempt to get a photo for the demanding customers I have but I am fairly sure it will not be a nude pic or anything close.

Anyways I need to keep some more girls in the pipeline since according to VIG the dropoff/flaker rate is very high in Tokyo. Lucky thing is it seems I am meeting girls every weekend.

This is a 3-day weekend coming up (yes bizzare, 3/4 weeks in a row will have been 3-day weekends)... so the crew, Vig, myself, oldman, and married man will crash a BBQ. Will go to IKEA. Movie night. Lots of fun! Will focus on completing my apt setup!! What another couple of $$$$ ???? ahhaaaa

Roach Motel Barber

So I had to run errands today so I left work at 3pm. On the way home (thru the hell known as Shibuya and the infamous hachiko (8-corners) crosswalk) I stopped by this random barber shop. Haircuts are an issue because I like to get my hair cut every 2-3 weeks, and cheap haircuts are hard to find. So I alternate between the rare cheap ones and regular ones. Note, the regular ones are really nice. Top notch service.

This cheap one I went to was $18 but included a cut, shampoo, and straight razor shave! Wow, it was great. Makes the "Art of Shave" experience feel like a sham. The one ultra big caveat that makes me think I may not go back... is that it is an unclean operation (esp for hygienic japan). They don't seem to clean the equipment between users. They wipe the comb w/ their towel, but don't dip it in antiseptic, etc. Same w/ hairbrushes... thus I had a filthy feeling of sharing combs w/ old greasy japanese businessmen.... ewwww.

I had some sushi on the way home. Sushi is remarkably cheap if you don't go high end. I had 4 pieces of toro, 2 maguro, 2 aji, 2 sanma, 2 salmon, 2 uni, miso soup and it was only $25! No Tip!! Wow... see kids Tokyo ain't that bad. Vic and I ate mexican at an Ebisu grill Sunday and it was only $15 / person. Just like SF, you can easily spend $200/person, but u can also eat reasonably.

At home I started the laundry w/ my new all-in-one W/D. You put the clothes in and a painstaking 3.5hrs later it is washed and dried. Jesus christ.. it takes sooooo long. I don't know how I can ever do laundry given how long it takes! I guess I will have to learn how to set the timer so it finishes when I get home. Still not sure how the AC/Heater works.

I have a date tomorrow night w/ this girl who worked for the housing agency I used. I think she was pretty cute, we'll see. I have this problem of meeting a girl for the 1st time and not remember what she really looked like. Haha, makes for an interesting time when I see them again.

Getting into my own apt is great (paying rent not so great). It finally gives me the feeling of being at home. For some reason the luxury apt I was in didn't feel like home (despite the outrageous going rate of $4k/month). Maybe its the presence of my old furniture in my new apt etc? Or is it simply that I am now at "home" or is it that this place feels more like a home? I am liking the layout more and more. It is a bit narrow but the overall feel is cool. I have to say though I made a big computational error in moving all my junk. After living out of a suitcase for 1.5 months I realize that I was fine w/o all my junk (although I needed shoes badly).

Damn already midnight....... time is flying by.

Footime party

Very busy weekend.. very tired right now.

Fri night, went out w/ the boys. Oldman, me and Vig. Oldman set up an outing w/ some Ritz girls he met. It was OK, nothing to write home about, but one gal was really bashing on Vig because he had this supertan from his weekend in Okinawa. Afterwards we met w/ marriedman, then later with Vig's coworker crew. Out till 4am.. really horrible. Tired.. geez man... its tough in tokyo.

So I got home after 4am.. had to wake at 830am to get to meet the movers at 9am. I was late, but apparently in Tokyo they don't mess around 'cause they were waiting for me. Move went smooth, I found I have a ton of kitchen crap because my ex-gf loved cooking, so we have the martha stewart like collection of random accessories like an egg slicer, 2 juicers, frying splash screen, etc etc. I'm like wtf... is all this crap that I shipped. Otherwise I am slowing putting shit away. Not sure if I have enough storage/cabinet space yet or not. After I figure it out I will hit IKEA!

All in all my apt is looking and feeling good. I like the unusual L-shape layout.

Last night (Sat) we went to Big-D's wedding reception, followed by a ramen snackaroo, then this somewhat hot gals party. The hot gal is a tough one to nail down. She has like 100 guy friends, and Vig has been working her for a long time, but I think she is into him... just there are 10 others working that too, and Vig isn't trying that hard. Good catch though. She also has cute friends (mixed in with the 5:1 guy ratio). Perhaps thats life, hot girls have lots of dudes around them. I exited the party w/ 1 number. In retrospect maybe I should have gotten 1 or 2 more from the subprime market.. need to get out of the mode of only going for prime and diversifying a bit. Also I tend to figure I can connect thru the shared contacts so I don't bother going direct all the time. Maybe not a good plan... ??

Today.. waiting for appliance delivery.. and just resting. .....

Big Brother / Work / Wii

I coded up this piece of crap that took me 3 weeks to do.. dammit it isn't that great. My design didn't quite fruitate into a masterpiece as has been in the past -- I think its because I didn't really know what the heck the problem space was. I had attempted to sit for 3 days understanding the moving parts, but alas.. it was too complex, so I just went forward.

Whenever you just move forward hack-step-style, you are gonna build a piece of crap. Well its not crap but its not a polished and clean design. Oh well.

So today I learned that there is a website where you can see what time you came in (entry to exterior door) and left (exit exterior), along with every access in/out of the inner doors. Holy shit, I better start coming in by 845am 'cause that is the official start time. I came in like 905am on Tues.. man I am slipping. Not sure if they use that as a measure but it doesn't help to know its all readily available.

Nintendo is #2 market cap in Japan. (Ie, 2nd biggest company). Holy shit. That Wii totally doubled their net in just a year. They can't make enough fast enough.. its like printing money. Despite the dearth of any games.. it dominates. Truly brilliant invention. Went against the grain of the two towers and are raking profits as a result. Halo3 comes out soon which will propel XBox. So will PS3 have any life left? Given the dying BlueRay consortium I say they are done. As is my ex-gf who is part of that mess. Hehe I don't wanna be a hater, so I will leave it at that.

Did I mention my old boss at GGI got fired last week. Yep just like that!!

Haters

My new home. Its narrow. Its about 650m^2. Thus long and narrow. I have a deck thru that window that connects to my bedroom. Straight ahead is the small kitchen, bathroom, and laundry closet. Straight to the right is the entry. Behind me is a den. Whats this cost? 285,000Y, or a stunning $2478 a month at todays USD/JPY rates. I hope my neighbors don't mind my throwing a party 3 saturdays in a row.



Lotta haters in this world. People who try to keep you down. Married man was telling me how this one gal doesn't share any female friends (intro, etc) 'cause she wants to find a man for herself. She's a hater -- bitter thus not helping the world! Lotta asians here hate the whiteman because they pick up alot of action in the clubs even when they are actually losers and dorks. Life is unfair but don't be a hater.

I recall months ago talking to this guy about moving to Tokyo and he thought it was a "must do" move -- gotta do it! Opportunity of a lifetime, etc etc. I told him many of my concerns about it, esp regarding the types of shallow women there, but he was like do it, do it.. gogogogog... Then I move, and I start hearing him rant about how the women in Japan are one dimensional losers, can't meet any good women there, that girl be ugly, they have hairy bushes, tokyo is full of weirdos, etc etc blah blah blah, negative negative. WTF right, I was the one telling him that before. So you know what that is? Its a hater! Hey kids don't be haters, its not so good.

Anyways I gotta lose some weight. Peeps are really skinny here, kinda makes me feel like I'm a phatttman.... went on a lunch date w/ a gal. Cute but not really my type. A bit too homely, but damn my buds have been egging me to go out with her for weeks.. so I am trying. Dunno what they see in her, other than the big boooooooobies..

One more note..

its amazing that pretty much any girl you meet in tokyo is going to be single.

why i don't know, but it seems the opposite of SF, where almost all girls you meet have a BF. To get a GF in SF you have to be very lucky w/ timing as I was in the past. In tokyo the numbers are way in your favor!

doesn't mean i have any action, just stating the facts.

Fridays are Tough

Its tough to stay out late Fridays.. after a grueling week of work, 830am-730pm on avg.. its tough man. I went out weds, thurs, and now fri. So let me tell ya it aint easy.

So today went for an inspection of my apt, and low and behold.. they sent some girl to represent my company and she was a cutie. I was chatting her up and I think we hit it off. So I proceeded to collect the digits, email, etc and I think its good shit. We'll see how it goes, apparently in tokyo girls give up the #'s quickly but often fail to respond to you.

Last night I should have gotten digits of this chinagirl but she was not really GF material but definitely hittable.. next time I should go tokyo style and get the digits and just not call if I change my mind. Right? I have issues w/ hitting on B- gals though.. just doesn't seem worth it, since I'm not a dog (despite the inclination to be one, its hard for me to be).

Anyways mellow night. Tonight we discussed the top girls in our radar system between Vig and I (married man was w/ us -- that guy has got the great married deal.. goes out 3 times a week). Oh we also discussed how the less good looking gal from last night (on the right in the pic w/ short hair) was digging me. Hmm.. not so good. Oh well.

Random Night Out

You axed for photos here you are.


First up is post bar action, these are two girls who apparently work at Vig's bank. Nice gals, really down to earth, but are B players at best. In the end, B players are more stable so maybe okay I suppose.



This girl is a secretary and was a B+, but she wasn't having my game it seems. (Next to her is the married man w/ 2 kids who goes out more most people I know -- note to Tombo, it can happen!!!). I noted Vig was hitting on some B- game and he was spending ALOT of time there.. I went to wing w/ him for a bit, but geez they were so B- that I could barely stand to hang w/ them.. hah, so I bagged that action. I don't know why he persists w/ the B- game. Note, there was nothing better than B+ at this venue, but still.. if they are B- u gotta hit and run man.

Anyways.. he's sharpening his skills I guess. I don't know. Last night met another gal who was B+ level. Lots of B+'s. I think I was at an A- level before, so its tough to move down. My plan is to shop around for a good 6 months. Hehe.

Yep damn girls. Oh Vig told me a story how this one gal wanted him to buy her stuff all the time. Tip of the iceberg in asia man... girls want the good shit, at least the young hot ones do. How lame. I am too poor for that nonsense.

Tagging / BBall in Tokyo? / Life

I been tagging w/ Vig alot. Its great, but at the same time I gotta focus on finding my own thing a little too. Too easy to just tag along. Maybe its not the best but as a backup plan its great!

So I played Basketball w/ my 22yo cousin Shooog and Vig in some gym out past Meguro. Team was me, Vig, Shooog, 2 korean dudes, 1 jap from seattle. (so we had 1 alt). The other 2 teams were imposing w/ full company uniforms, etc. We romped their asses like little kids. Game1: 20-0. Game2: 10-0. Game3: 15-15 (okay hey was getting frickin tired). Then the next games were like 16-12, 18-10, etc. The game in Tokyo aint quite the same. I got whacked in the chin really hard. Frickers. I need to get a mouthpiece/guard. My BBall game sucks btw as many readers know, so u can imagine how bad they are here!

Hows life? Life is good, could always be better but could be so much worse! I wish I could get more vegetables into my diet. Its tough in Tokyo, its all about rice, noodle, and meat. No veggies. U know I need my greens. Guess I gotta start cooking one of these days. So whats the life like really? For me I can remember the talks I had w/ Boo and Booby in Jan/Feb. It was about doing shit while you can and so I decided to go for it. I could have lived an easy life in SF but I chose to try something different so I guess my point is.. its been fun so far, but even if it turns out to be a lame time in Tokyo, it doesn't really matter. Point is that I'm living it, doing it, and in the end, I'll have done it.

Is Tokyo that expensive?

I think the common word is that Tokyo is damn expensive. I am here to debunk the myth. True the big-city lifestyle anywhere is expensive but.. lets compare. I believe the top expensive cities are:

1) London
2) NY
3) Tokyo
4) SF

Most of this stems from rent, in which case Hong Kong and Singapore would maybe fall in line, since a decent apt in HK costs $3k-$4k I hear. In London a god damn beer costs like $10.

Anyways why is Tokyo not that bad?

Let me list out a few things I have noticed in my expeditures...
1) Typical cheaper haircut at a salon $34
2) Lunch bento $5-8, out: $9-12
3) Train each way to work: $1.40
4) Tall Soy Chai Latte at starbucks: $4
5) Taxi home after missing last train: $23
6) 1/2 L of guiness draft: $7
7) Dinner at sushi bar, no alcohol: $32
8) Typical night at a bar or izakaya: $40
9) M&M peanut candy: $1
10) Bottle of H20: $1 (at work $.60)

So far.. as you can see, nothing on my weekly grind list is that crazy on this list. . there are plenty of places you can eat for $100/head, but thats the same w/ SF or any big city. I guess in Tokyo people tend to go out more, so it just puts a frequency multiplier on the spending.

I have this one critic who is dogging me about not hitting the hot j-girls and posting naked pics of them etc. Uh hello.. life is gotta be more than about just hot chicks. Of course in the end maybe there is nothing more. Haha. Okay I am working on it, geez I just moved here.

Mirror Mirror..

Funny, I think of myself as a goofoff for the most part. Not really that serious, pretty laid back, but someone said to me during happy hour that I look so formal/serious even during drinks. Hmm interesting. Made me think, do I look uptight? Like not a fun guy? Wtf man. Maybe I dont smile enough? Or is it my red eye syndrome I've been having.

Hmm.. weird. I guess I appear to be either really serious, really studious, really grumpy, or who knows. But in the end, everyone will perceive you in some way. I think I am perceived as semi-serious/studious, which accounts for why I am able to land jobs easily. People think I'm a good worker or smart worker. So sad.. for those fools who hire me.

Anyways one of Vig's friends at work is this dude is is a nice guy, but people perceive him to be a gayball/feminine type dude. The chicks totally don't dig him. They said he has no sex appeal. So life could always be worse! I could be that dude!!

In other news.. I gotta pray that my career moves forward. I don't have many years left of this shit to move up. If I were smart I'd have waited more year and moved into a role like this as an AVP or VP (or taken the Assoc Director job at YooBS). I really can't be dicking around as an associate at my age. People 3 years younger than me are AVP or VP level. Yep.. lets hope I can get some exposure and move up here. I think my studious/serious/uptight look might help in this regard. :p

Zany Japs

I have a few things on my mind but I'm going to split them into sep posts. Next post (prior) is about work and career.

1) Check these two articles.
http://www.wordpress.tokyotimes.org/?p=1760
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/beauty/article605552.ece

So what do you think? Yes the Japs are zany weirdos aren't they? The gal next to me was telling me she drinks this collagen drink after working out at the gym, a "girls protein" type drink. I said what? U drink collagen?? what the hell? So I had to look it up. Geez man, japs are nuts. Esp the females.

2) I am evaluating the females at work on my floor. Here is the tally.

a) Super hot gal in the SF room who looks 30's but is hot hot hot. slender bod, maybe part chinese. Has a bit of Lucy Lu in her look.
b) Super hot gal's neighbor has a big juicy backside but is really cute and dresses really nice. Always has cutesy outfits and shakes her ass as she walks. Damn I'd love to get in on that. Also 30's-ish.
c) Girl next to me, not that hot, slim body, nice gal. bad teeth.
d) Girl 2 seats next to me, kind of boring looking but okay bod. A bit unhappy looking.
e) Girl behind/diagonal to me, wow really nice backside.
f) Some admin with flowing light brown hair a few isles over, always catches my eye.
g) Some young intern/new hire who is really young but cute, not sure if she is jap or chinese.
h) Our admin who probably has a fake rack but is pretty cute.
i) Couple of girls I met on the charity event all okay no one particularly hot. One gal in research, one in FX were okay.
j) Spotted a new gal today in elevator who is in Equities, nice bod.
k) reception desk girl on 1st floor, really cute. no chance to really talk to her.
l) a new hire from China/Stanford I met today is cute, but like 24. Way out of my generation!
m) some girl who is really cute and maybe is one of the managers of the MBS sales team. Always wears a nice lady suit w/ skirt. Really cute.
n) this ugly gal one row behind me freaks me out, she reminds me of my ex P*m!! uggggg....

*sidenote, most of the gals are in their mid-30's. lots of 30's office gals apparently in tokyo -- my coworker said that there are 2 types of gals. Young 20's who get married off really quick and mid-30's who are overworked career-ish office gals who never get married and stay at the company for a while getting overworked.

Nibbles

Ever think about how much it costs to borrow money for a few days.. like those payday loans that charge you 5% to get a 1 wk forward on your money. Its really sad. Imagine you need $1k 1wk early and they charge you $50. You may think wow cool 5% comis.. but alas, here's the real math behind it.

FV = Pe^(rt)

where FV = future amount ($1050). P = Principal ($1000). e is e (natural log), r= interest rate, t = time in years.

so to solve we have:

1050 = (1000)e^(r* 1/52)

or .. 1050/1000 = e^(r/52)

a little log magic gives us:

.. ln(1050/1000) = r/52

.. 52 * ln(1050/1000) = r

solve for r, you have: 2.53 or 253% APR!!! are you kidding me? Yeah baby thats how much interest you are really paying per annum.

Not much new in Tokyo today. I am pissed I just missed getting a haircut twice this week (shop had just closed). Frick. Little things like that are a god damn pisser. Otherwise work is cool, been busy. Met a hot sales rep from Gloomgerg today.

Drunken Weekends....

Too many drunken weekends have passed my way.

We went to a few local hotspots on Saturday night. It was the guys night out, me, Vig, Pot, and Oldman. Pot is a dude from Vig's office that is married, 2 kids, but his wife lets him go out alot! Oldman is an exec at a bank that has a $8k/month apartment thats dope (1+den 1200ft^2) and is Vig's buddy from a prior job. It was alot of fun, not as drunk as I am making it seem but still cool.

We hit on several girls that night, but I must say, they were all B-class girls at best. Why not hit on A-class? Uh they were not at the bars we hit, obviously we need better venues... result, no action. I must say I like Vig's game as I was able to observe in the open terrain last night. He's a good wingman, once he gets an intro he is pretty good. I am surprised he isn't getting more A & B class hits, I think there must be some fine tuning needed to his game to make it work better -- need to think about this.

Anyways I did find an apartment this week. I realize I sent way too much crap to Tokyo and it is stressing me out a little to think about:

1. How to dump this shit I may not want (from small electronics like an air purifier/filter to possibly my bed frame) because dumping anything bigger than a cereal box is really tough.
2. What to do w/ my big 32" TV given it may not fit that well either in my small place.
3. Have to buy a WD, Fridge, and extra A/C unit. WTF??
4. Not enough storage space for golf clubs, snowboard, etc etc. Maybe bad choice of APTS ?
5. No elevator on 4th floor so it is a huge deal to move a 32" 165lb tv. Gotta think if I should dump this or what. Those poor movers...
   

Otherwise my apartment is cool here's the details:

• Located in Ebisu which is a posh 30's crowd town of really hot chicks and yuppies
• 9min from the train station which puts my total commute at 9min + 6 train ride + 5 walk from train to office/desk== 20min!
• It is a 1+den, mere 59.48m^2 which is 640ft^2. But let me tell you its fricking hard to find anything big unless its ultra old or ultra expensive (see note above about the Oldman's place).
• It is on the top floor of a small building that has only 7 units. Top floor has just my unit, so no neighbors! I have a small deck as well that can seat 2-3 w/ a table.
• Living + den is really narrow its like 20'x10' and the den extends another 10x10 (so 30'x10' if I leave the sliding door open).
  
• Not enough storage space, so I may have to go to Ikea and get a wardrobe/closet to put in the Den.
• My huge queen platform bed is barely going to fit. I may have to scrap the frame in favor of a smaller one. Those extra 5-6" may be key.
• Not sure if TV works in this narrow place. Nor if my big couch works. Oh well.
  

Final note, my japanese fricking sucks. I really need to start studying. Vig has easily surpassed me. Can't just get by w/ my crappy skills no more.

Work Update I

Only been at work my 3rd week now, but so far... my thoughts:

1) I like it
2) I need to get out of IT/Software Dev / Technology
3) I am sleepy at work at times
4) I have a challenging project to work on.. to kill my sleepyness

Anyways, #1, I like it so far. I like the guy I work for, really cool chap. My coworkers I could do better with, in the sense that they aren't folks I can hang out with or even have regular lunches with.

#2, as noted before.. as I see people in the elevator who are obviously IT folk.. it really makes me realize I need to get out or at least get on top of it. I could manage a team of IT folk, but being one of the mass of smelly annoying immigrants is not what I envision in life. This role may be a good way to sidestep things since although I am a technologist I belong to the research org -- my hope is to be more removed from IT and more aligned to research/business. (Analytics is aa hybrid of Research/Quant work and IT).

My business card is cool, has no mention of IT:
John Doe
Fixed Income Analytics
Fixed Income Research Asia

#3, I guess it doesn't matter if I am working on the trading floor or if I have alot of work to do. No matter what, I am going to be sleepy at 3-4pm everyday.. man I almost dozed off a few days ago. Scary. WTF maybe I need to use the gym or something more often.

#4, I have a nasty bit of rewriting to do of this fairly complicated process in our analytics code. Damn its a bit nasty. Oh well gives me a 2-3 week project to prove myself. I gotta focus, I spent a day and a half now pondering what the heck to do. It usually hits me after a few days of pondering as to how to approach and design a solution. Right now I'm still just pondering.....

So overall the work life is good. I've pretty much been leaving at 7-8pm (closer to 7pm).

Just gotta nail down an apt next!! BTW I benched today, I did sets of 12x90,10x135,4x165,6x135. Damn that is sad. Max 165 is sad, hehe gotta start somewhere. I'll prob be sore for 6 days just from that.

Moto

I am thinking I may live in a town called Shirokane. It is not the most convenient place in terms of trains to work, but it is a nice town and a bit peaceful. Now, I don't know if the peaceful thing is good or bad, but maybe after hanging in the hell of Tokyo all weekend I can see the benefit of unwinding in a quiet home.

The other idea is to live in the heart of the hell/fun, which would be Ebisu or Azabu. Kinda cool to just wake up and hit it. But that has a price as well (smaller, more expensive, noisier, etc).

So due to train issues I am thinking.. scooter. Or motorcycle. Granted, I don't know how to ride a real bike. And this is tokyo, I would probably die on a real bike. I should practice w/ a 50cc scoot and see how I feel about this idea of a bike. But bikes are cool. Bitch to get a license though. And at my age, I don't know if I can really still learn how to ride those damn things. I got on my mountain bike before shipping it off, and damn I felt odd. I rode a bike from age 5-23 so I was typically one with a bike... but alas, age wears u down.

Tokyo is a tough town

Vig the Pimp with his 'hos. The first one on the right of him is pretty hot.



Anyways Tokyo is a tough town for many reasons. Tougher as an old man like me.
1) Expensive. Paying $3k for an apt doesn't get u much. Its only phat when u get to the $5k+ mark.
2) Work. Everyone frickin works late (not me yet). Vig's token white friend worked till midnight a Friday night. Vig had a meeting till 830pm on Fri night. wtf? Its not like Cali where we say oh its Friday, screw it don't do anything serious cause we know no one is focused and everyone wants to leave by 4pm. Come to think in the US, Monday is a bust cause people are tired and getting started, Friday is a bust cause of people dreaming of the weekend. So u only have 3 days midweek to get shit done.
3) Social bustle. Man its a big city which means lots of drinking. Lots of going. Seems 3-4 times a week. I was out Thurs till 1am, Fri till 4ami, Sat till 6am. Can't maintain that pace. I'm old.

But the 3 work in concert to create an action packed lifestyle. What can I say, it is good shit so far.