Tsuji No Uchi

Value

2009-11-14T05:41:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile.
My plan was to use Tsuji No Uchi as my day to day journal.
As you can see I haven't been writing shit.

YODC is where I act out, Tsuji at his most vulgar, cynical, perverted & mean self. Tsuji's evil twin brother writes at YODC.

Reality Strikes is my safe haven. It's a cold world full of cold people. At Reality Strikes I feel safe surrounded by warm caring people who share the same interests as me.

1up is where I write about my video game obsession, pretty straight forward there.

I have neglected all the blogs I contribute too.

Feeling uninspired, weary, depressed, stressed lately. Not to be a whiny bitch..but it's true.
All of that has contributed to my lack of writing.

I hate for my latest post here to be on a down note but shit, it inspired me to write something & so I write, maybe this is therapy for me? I don't know...whatever.
*****************
I got passed up for a promotion. In my career at the bank this promotion was the one where I honestly considered myself to be in serious contention for a spot on level 2.

I have a good relationship with my immediate supervisor.
My peers on level 2 & level 3 appreciate the quality of work I do.
I'm given extra duties & was chosen to be the back up person to open the help desk.

The level 2 supervisor has had casual conversations with me outside of work basically telling me that she would like to have me a part of her team & she even gave me tips as to what I should be doing in order to put myself in cont ention for a level 2 spot.

In all of my reviews I have never been told to change my work habits & was always told to "keep doing what you're doing" I don't know about anyone else but to me that means KEEP DOING WHAT I'M DOING, EVERYTHING IS OK, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG.

Now in this game of deciding futures in my bank micro universe there are 3 players that are gods.

The level 1 supervisor, the level 2 supervisor & their boss.

I can only conclude that I have done something to upset the boss. But if I have, then bring it to my attention, write me up, tell me what it is that I am doing so that I can be given the opportunity to correct the problem.

Instead I was passed up for a promotion.

The promotion was given to a much younger person, someone who some of my peers at level 2 & 3 think his work can use some improvement, someone who has been slacking off as of late.

Now when I heard through the grapevine of the plan to promote someone from level 1, I thought to myself "it would be a slap in the face if they passed me up this time".

Now keep in mind that they never officially posted the opening so nobody had the opportunity to apply for the position, I came in one day & there was a departmental email advsing this guy was now going to be a level 2 analyst.

My heart sunk, this has bothered me more than I ever thought something like this could ever bother me. I am no young buck & I seriously think about my future.

To me, it sends a message that at least 1 of the I.T. gods does not think I have what it takes to excel or succeed at level 2. This notion OFFENDS ME to no end.

I have not asked for any hand-outs. I am willing to pay my dues.
I have stepped up game.

Sometimes life is not fair.

I am determined to not take out my anger or frustration out on my friends or family or MYSELF for that matter.

I am down, I feel broken, but I can be rebuilt, that much I know.

Monday I will be born again HARDCORE.

If I don't like the game, I will find a new one to play. A game that I can excel at. A game that I can be a BEAST at.

If the gods do not favor me I will find a new religion. I will worship gods that reward hard work, & loyalty. Gods that favor a devotee that cuts out the bullshit & gets down to what is important.

My twisted weight loss adventure & Fightsticks...

2009-08-18T18:28:00.001-07:00

So about a month ago I got on a scale at a friend's house & I weighed in at 227lbs.
I decided to "bring sexy back" & drop some pounds. My goal is to weigh 170lbs. We'll see how it goes...

I have dropped weight, last weigh in on Friday evening was 201lbs.
The only thing I have done is count calories, I always try to make sure I consume less calories than my body burns in a day & do cardio 6 days a week.

I wake up in the morning & drink approx. 8oz of orange juice = 110 calories

my morning break at work 8:30am I drink a slim fast shake = 190 calories
or I eat a serving of oatmeal = 110 calories (low sugar variety)

my lunch 11:00am is a serving of oatmeal = 110 calories

when I get home I immediately do 30 minutes on my stationary bike on the "hill" setting, the meter says I burned 320 calories BUT I know it's more because it's on the "hill" setting

afterwards I have dinner which can be anything as long as it sticks around 1000-1500 calories

in fact I might eat an entire frozen pizza which = 960 calories

I stopped drinking soda & only drink either water or diet soft drinks = 0 calories

based on my activity level my body burns approx 2200 calories per day plus the 320 calories burned during my cardio

oj = 110 cals
slim fast = 190 cals
oatmeal = 110 cals
frozen pizza = 960 cals

caloric intake = 1370 cals

minus 2200 calories for normal body functions = -830 cals
minus 320 calories ( I know it's probably more) for my cardio workout = -1150 calories

so on a typical day I am 1150 calories in the hole

I don't know if I'm doing this right or if it's even healthy but the shit works
I plan on modifying my diet to be much more healthy once I make it to my target weight...

here's a little vid of me totally stoked from my Street Fighter IV Tournament edition fightsticks, sorry about all the um...um...ums

Random

2009-04-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

The city was beautiful last week

The streets of San Francisco were sunny & chill

quiet Tuesday afternoon in the city

I raided my mom's fridge for some left over ham & a couple of eggs
fried it all up last Saturday asa gohan desu
wheat toast with butter & obachan's home made strawberry preserves
fried ham & a cheese omellette

My homie Ollie in front of the spot Manila Garden Cuisine

Sisig was the kill

Filipino fiesta food man, learn about it new kid -the shit was bomb

a clean plate means Tsuji likey

0 motivation

2009-04-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

I must be depressed because I literally have no desire to do anything that normally makes me happy. I've just been laying around. I have been doing some surfing on the web. Beyond that I haven't been doing anything this week.

Kreva at it again

2009-02-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Kreva "Success"
goddamn this is a banger, I could roll around Nihon Machi in the xterra with the bass bumping scoping the fly honeys all day playing this song

Daaaaaayam! BJ!

2009-02-07T05:07:00.000-08:00

So last weekend I watched the GSP/BJ Penn rematch. I really don't have anything against GSP, he's impressed me pretty much every time I've watched him. He seems to be a class act as well & he always conducts himself in a sportsman like manner. I picked BJ Penn to win the fight though. BJ impressed the HELL out of me in previous fights & I felt he had extra motiviation to win this fight because he wanted so much to avenge his loss.

I'm a casual fan of MMA so I didn't catch alot of the pre fight shit talking. Apparently BJ was talking mad shit before the fight & even went so far as to say that GSP was a bitch.
I guess that shit talk lit a fire under GSP because he came into the octagon & handled BJ.

GSP looked to be in better shape than BJ overall, & from what I could see he was just stronger physically. If GSP wanted to switch positions, he did, he simply moved BJ's body around almost at will which is a testament to his strength. Before the vaseline controversy came to light I did take notice at how ineffective BJs ground game seemed to be. I knew BJ had stand up skills but being a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert I know he has sick ground game. It just seemed really wierd that he couldn't get his ground game going & put handles on GSP.

Then the whole controversy about GSP being greased up with vaseline on his neck, shoulders, & back was brought up. I will say this, if GSP was greased up BJ's ability to lay the ground game down would have been jeopardized, plain & simple. I will also say that GSP appeared to be stronger in the fight. I'm not an MMA expert but does GSP's strength cancel out BJ's Jiu Jitsu? If not then the grease would have made a difference, if GSP's strength cancels out BJ's Jiu Jitsu then the outcome of the fight would have been the same.

The greasing subject has come up many times & you can even catch Dana White talking about it IMMEDIATELY after the fight while he is ringside, do a search for Dana White's video blog on youtube, I'm too lazy to post a link.

You be the judge. I'd love to hear opinions & serious MMA fan observations & insights.

The Clone Wars HD X My Japanese Coach

2009-01-24T13:45:00.000-08:00

I happened upon a copy of The Clone Wars in HD. I heard alot of people bashing this film. Alot of people whose opinions I respect...
Since it did not cost me a dime I decided to pop it in my PS3 & give it a whirl.
I heard this was meant to introduce the new animated series. Let the record show I have not watched any of the animated series.

One of the first things that hit me was the art style of the character designs. I did not like it.
I remember thinking how cool it would have been to have a more realistic edge to the characters as opposed to a cartoony look.

I remember when Count Dooku was introduced & I was like yo this is the best they can come up with? An old guy for a villian? When Darth Maul was introduced I was like "DAAAAAMN!"

The story I guess at it's core was not all bad but I was really irritated at Asohka Tano, Anakin's new padawan. I cringed every time she referred to Anakin as "Sky Guy" or r2d2 as "R tooey" or as the baby hutt as "stinky". I was equally irritated when Anakin referred to Asohka as "snips".
Also some of the the dialogue that the battle droids had was just plain dumb.

I guess this stuff was all added to appeal to kids, the new animated tv series was meant for the kiddies right? Hardcore fanboys can bite it, it's all about squeezing as much money out of this franchise as possible. I'm not naive & it is what it is. I wont be spending any money on buying a copy of this film, I'm sure Warner Bros. & Lucasfilm can give a rat's ass about my dollars anyways. I wish them the best & hope this all works out for them...I guess.

What I would spend my hard earned money on would have been a more serious story within the Star Wars universe, with edgier more realistic characters. Using CG would have allowed the story tellers to create a truly awesome experience. But uh, yeah.

My opinion is that this flick is not worth a rental or a purchase. If you can view it for free go for it.
**********

I picked up a copy of My Japanese Coach over at Game Stop, I ran through the placement test & the game has me starting with lesson 6. I was killing it until it got to the Kana portion. I have no skills in Kana or Kanji. I do have a decent vocabulary going for me though.
I look forward to having this study tool around, maybe this is just what I needed to give me the edge on my written shit.

The Saturday afternoon adventure

2009-01-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

I had an action packed day yesterday. Headed out to Nihon Machi so Langdon could pick up the latest Mummy Boy release in the Skulletor colorway at Super 7. Langdon tried to convince me to pick one up which was tempting but I just couldn't bring myself to open up a new can of worms & add new things to collect. That figure is awesome! FYI this pic is not of the Skulletor colorway, click the link to see him if you're curious.

Next it was on to Kinokuniya where I picked up the latest Ollie magazine.
Browsing the book store I found a selection of cool radio controlled trucks done up to look like the crazy customized trucks in Japan called decotora. They were super cool & I wanted one but they were $25 bucks each & not in the budget!

Next it was across the bridge to Berkeley where Samuel Weinstein, Langdon Alger, Son of Gigan & I met up with YODC's founder Freefall Jones for lunch at Angeline's Kitchen for some down home Louisiana cooking.

I had swamp water to drink, which is a fancy way of saying an "Arnold Palmer". For starters we had hushpuppies served with honey butter. I ordered up some fried oysters & Langdon ordered the grilled Boudin sausage. It was all delicious. For my entree I went with the safe pick of the Jambalaya which was great. To round things off we ordered up to servings of begnets to share.

I highly recommend the place, the food was great although it seemed like our order took a bit longer than everyone else's...

After lunch Langdon & I went to Kimono My House. Since this historic Bay Area landmark would be closing it's doors soon we figured we'd make one last pilgrimage there before it was gone. Oddly Yuki was either pre-occupied or just felt like being a dick that day because I said hello & asked if it would bother him if I took a little vid footage inside the store & he seemed annoyed. Or maybe that's just what happens when you get old...sometimes you're just a dick. Oh well. Sorry I didn't buy the Japanese release of Wingblade but I have an og release of it AND the TRU exclusive re-release of it which was $40 cheaper than what you were selling yours for! Geez!
I do buy things there on occasion, they do have some nice things in stock but they do price their items on the higher end of the spectrum. I can't remember the first time I went there but it just seems like we've always been going there. Too bad it's going to close but they will still be around at cons & they have their online store & from what I hear they will be selling stuff out of their storage space too.

After Kimono My House we started the drive home, with short detours to Target for the toy aisle where I picked up the Transformers Universe 2.0 Dinobot figure (don't mind the pic of smokescreen) & on to Best Buy to pick up a copy of Tokyo Gore Police on dvd

Music for the afternoon was a mix cd of classic Hip Hop from the Native Tongues.

Crush, Kill, Destroy...STRESS!

2009-01-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

Man I have been stressed the fuck out! Work is kicking my ass. I swear to god if I don't learn how to channel this energy correctly I'm going to drop dead of a heart attack by age 35 or younger!
I can already feel it, a pressure in my solar plexus...or was that the Nation's cheeseburger & order of chili cheese fries I ate for dinner?

*********************
I have been training on the opening procedures in my department. I have been going in to work at 4:00 am & getting off at 12:30 pm. Getting off early is fucking rad, I have time to cruise the stores for toy releases before most of the toy speculators strip the shelves clean of the short packs & rarities. Oddly enough my quest has not yielded any great results.

I was hoping to find the Transformers Mighty Muggs but nothing...I did find a Transformers Universe Cheetor figure. I never owned an original Cheetor & I wanted this figure if only to complete my Transformers Universe collection. I got it home & transformed it, I was not terribly impressed by it, the beast mode by far is it's best looking mode. I do like the fact that it's tail detaches to become a club weapon. I also like the fact that the ninja star looking weapons have blades that retract & you can store them in Cheetor's leg. I can't count how many of my action figure's weapons & accessories got lost because they were small & there was no place to store them. The cons to me were the fact that the figure's limbs were disproportionate.

I don't envy the designers & engineers that have to make these things work & go. It must be difficult for them to come up with a toy that looks clean & transforms without stressing mutherfuckers out like a rubik's cube puzzle.

I also picked up a Spider Man Mighty Mugg, it looked too cool to pass up. I was trying not to buy anything that didn't fit in to my Japanese/Transformers/Mecha collection. But Some of these Muggs were just too awesome for words.

I'm not going to pick up all of them, just a select few. So far I have Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Boba Fett, Jango Fett & Spider Man. They look great sitting next to my Munny & Dunny figures.
*******************
On the upside Monday is a holiday. I just may be able to finish Heavenly Sword on the PS3. I'm on chapter 5 & oh so close to the end.
*******************
I love Zombies! I saw Planet Terror on tv last year & thought it was well done. I wondered why it got a bad rap in all the reviews, I got Death Proof recently the second half or whatever to the Grindhouse Double feature. While I liked Planet Terror better Death Proof was pretty cool. It kept my attention the entire time. That's more than I can say for the latest Mummy adventure or Superman Returns...
******************
I was making some headway in Heavenly Sword last night when it hit 9:00 pm. I have to get up at 3:30 am for work so I took a quick shower & hit the sack. I like to let the tv play in the background while I fall asleep. I put the channel on PBS last night & there was a great show on about how the London underground is haunted. I wanted to sleep but I couldn't because I was so into this show. Hey Craig, next time you're riding the subway around London keep your eye out for some ghostly spectres.

Sleeping pattern

2009-01-11T01:48:00.000-08:00

it's about 1:50 on Sunday and I just woke up from what was supposed to be a quick nap at 13:00 Saturday afternoon
this fucking sucks, I'm going to have to force my self to stay up until at least 22:00 so I don't feel weird at work

ok Rip Slyme's Fun Fair album, I dug a few songs on there but I didn't put it in my heavy rotation schedule
I recently got a copy of the final performance of the Fun Fair tour in 2007 at Budokan

I was in Tokyo when that happened & I kick myself for not doing better planning & research because that would have been kick ass to go to
ANYWAYS after watching the dvd I liked the album a whole lot more, I can't explain it
I have always like Rip Slyme though so it's wierd
the dvd really showed the "knock" potential of those tracks that I really wasn't feeling

yeah I just made up "knock" potential
it's when you hear a song at home or in your car & it sounds ok but you're pretty sure that it knocks at the club or if a DJ threw it on at a party

sooo....I failed to see the knock potential on alot of those tracks, I'm going to have a lot of fun revisting that album

***************

I just realized I only ate once on Saturday
My mom has been calling me up on Saturday mornings to meet up for breakfast
I was holding out until 9:00 before eating something because I didn't want to miss out but she didn't call
I was still finishing up the Rip Slyme dvd so when I was finished it was 9:30
I got cleaned up & by that time it was 10:00
all of a sudden I wanted Chinese food
the only place that would be open soon would be Panda Express a fast food shitty place but it's enough to satisfy the craving
they didn't open until 11:00 so I decided to go out & walk around Target & Wal Mart for an hour
I was hoping that I'd find the Transformers Mighty Muggs figures but pretty much all of the store shelves were empty
around 11:00 I picked up some grinds at Panda Express; Beijing beef, Orange chicken, fried rice, chow mein, rangoons
I killed that & watched a bit of tv, talked to Langdon about possible going to an Anime Con later then decided to go take a nap for a bit but ended up sleeping for 12 hours what the shit man!

***********************

Armageddon week on the History channel is getting fucking depressing shit enough already!
Every time a turn on my tv I hear about how the earth is going to be destroyed by an asteroid colliding with the planet or something
it's kinda depressing

My first kick in the nuts of 2009

2009-01-07T13:07:00.000-08:00

I am going to try my best to make sure that it's THE LAST time I get jabbed in my mommy & daddy button this year too!

So I'm writing this with porn playing in the background, streaming to my tv from the 360. Exploited Baby Sitters; Bree part 2. I'm not even really attracted to white chicks but Bree does a good job of playing..well a stupid blonde while taking it in every hole. Good girl, she takes it like a champ. Her episode is kinda funny so there it is...Bree's pussy is HUGE on my tv. Thank you Wonton (for the tv AND the pron). God I'm a pig!

So after working my ass off in the office all day yesterday while the other jackals at level 1 support sat around with their thumbs up their butts I hightailed it over to the Carl's Jr. drive through. The plan was to grab a Mint Oreo milkshake to serve as my dessert after my dinner. No sooner do I order up my milkshake when a fucking tribe of young afro-americans ascend onto the drive through lane walking through the lane blocking my path. They could clearly see my big ass truck there but they were oblivious to my existence. I inched my way as far as I could while they completely ignored me until it got fucking ridiculous.

Me: "C'mon now, y'all see me right here!"

Them: "Fuck you!" they yelled back "Asian motherfucker!"

True story.
Go Obama!

I get home to see a cryptic status message on Freefall Jones' facebook profile.
Something to the effect of "it's been an honor working with some of the best people in the gaming industry". This peeked my curiosity since FJ worked at Electronic Gaming Monthly I see he's online so I shoot him a message via the ever handy chat feature.

me: "what up you get laid off?"
FJ: "nah but 2/3 of the staff did, we just got bought out by Hearst Corp., they run ugo.com"

ugo.com I thought to myself "who the fuck are they?"

me: "so you're good though"
FJ: "yeah but the entire video staff got let go, no more 1up show..no more EGM"

Sonofabitch, I loved the 1up show & many things about the 1up network. I love the game night live features & the news. Mostly I liked the 1up show.
Now I have otaku tendencies, that's a given. I'm into video games, anime, toys etc etc. But I'm not one of those otakus that knows everything there is to know about games.
I could give a flying fuck about thing like: when games were released, development timelines, producers, who did the character designs etc etc.
I'm curious at best about some of that stuff, but for the most part if a game is cool looking & I have fun playing it then I'm there. If I needed some other info I knew the 1up network was there to provide for any of my gaming needs with a staff of interesting, funny & knowledgable people. Their banter didn't sound forced, they had great chemistry. I felt like I was watching the equivalent of an afternoon hanging out at Son of Gigan's apartment with the rest of the nerds at YODC. Except the 1up peeps were focused on the video games.

I checked ugo.com, joystiq, kotaku & it made me feel good to see the backlash ugo was getting from the gaming community about firing the majority of the peeps that made 1up what it was. I think it's safe to say 1up will never be the same. I was really sad to hear that news yesterday, one less thing for me to look forward to. Sayonara 1up show & EGM, I really don't think there's any reason for me to maintain my flailing account at 1up anymore seeing as my first impression of ugo.com was horrendous. They had a fucking "hottest Jewish chick" section, on a gaming site? Gross.

***************************************

Lastly, I knew I had over extended my budget over the Christmas holiday. ie buying more gifts than I could afford hoping that reeling in my spending over the following paycheck along with the monetary gift bestowed upon me by good old mom I would come out of this holiday season unscathed financially. Hell, I even did some minor calculations & budgeting & I thought everything was ok.

How about NO!
I checked my account last night to find out I fucked up in my calculations somehwre because I was $6.45 overdrawn. The last transaction was still in pending status though. This was disastrous seeing as there are 3 more workdays left before payday & my gas tank was on empty!
There was no way for me to make it to work in the morning without getting gas, I was overdrawn & I had $3 left in my pocket. Geez! I was always poor at math.
I had no choice but to call in sick to work so I could secure a loan & take care of this bullshit in the morning before the last transaction on my account was finalized & I got charged the ridiculous overdraft fees by my bank. If I got charged those overdraft fees it would screw up my budget for the entire month.

This morning I high tailed it to the local check cashing place to request a payday advance for $100. Hell I get paid on Friday & it was more than enough to tide me over until then.
I went to the bank & deposited $40, put $20 worth of petrol in my gas tank.
But...with all this bullshit & bad news I was still depressed. I decided to cheer myself up a bit so I bought the most unhealthy lunch imaginable...comfort food does wonders folks.

2 in n out cheeseburgers with everything on em'
an order of fries "animal style"
a strawberry milkshake
good lord.

The comfort food did help to make me feel better for a bit...I didn't want to go back home yet since I would just be brooding alone in my room so I went to Target to walk around.
There I found the newly released Mighty Muggs GI Joe figures on sale at $8.99 each. They had the coveted Storm Shadow & Snake Eyes. I said to hell with it & bought the two figures...

junk food & cool toys...just what the doctor ordered to cure this blue flu

For Craig

2009-01-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

I was exposed to many aspects of Japanese music & entertainment growing up.
As a kid there were many anime, tokusatsu & doramas available to watch on television. This was mostly made possible by the local channel 26 KTSF in San Francisco.

I also spent many summers on the island of Guam. Guam is approximately a three hour flight from Narita airport & it is a popular vacation spot for Japanese tourists. I was spending summer holidays there during Japan's economic boom & there was a significant Japanese presence on the island. Many Japanese companies were building resorts & developing golf courses on the island & to cater to the clientele there was a lot of Japanese music & entertainment on tv & radio, also at the resorts & hotels.

The thing that really opened up the world of Japanese pop culture & entertainment to me was the internet. Once I had internet access I cross referenced anything & everything Jpop music & entertainment related.

example:
Inuyasha was an anime on television, the ending theme was sung by BoA. BoA was signed to Avex Trax.

BoA had a collaboration with M-Flo.
M-Flo opens door to more Jrap
You count how many popular artists are signed to Avex Trax

it goes on & on...

Tsuji's Jpop flashback

2009-01-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

J-Walk "Nani mo Ienakute ....Natsu"

Anzen Chitai "Kanashimi ni Sayonara"

Lindberg "Ima Sugu Kiss Me "

Sometimes I get in these moods & I play old tunes , these songs came out when I was between 10 - 14 but I still dig them

Yume

2008-12-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

I had the following dream last night...

There was a murder, I was on the scene as a detective.
I went to the morgue with my colleague to examine the body.
The medical examiner advised us that we may be able to find out the name of the killer by hearing the victim's vocal chord impression.
The medical examiner advised that vocal impression was a phenomenon where an "impression" is made in an individual's vocal chords during a time of duress. In short, if an audible tone combined with air is pushed over the victim's vocal chords you would actually be able to hear what the victim was saying at the time the vocal chord impression was made.

We then used some type of equipment to create a tone at a very low frequency that was barely audible to the naked ear. It was created by some type of scope device attached to a custom made cylindrical microphone that also was attached to what appeared to be a bicycle hand pump.

The medical examiner shoved the microphone up the victim's anus, commenced to pump air with the bicycle tire pump into the victim then the corpse's mouth opened & we heard the name of the killer.

Holy shit. Cased solved. A warrant was secured for Langdon Alger's arrest.

Meri Kuri

2008-12-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

So I decided to get a burger for lunch a couple days ago at Wendy's. I find Wendy's to be consistent in quality.

When I got in line I noticed the girl in front of me was wearing a uniform from Carl's Jr. the rival burger chain.

Guts.

I was watching the Honey & Clover feature film.
The exchange between Yu Aoi & Iseya Yusuke gave me a hard on for real.
The way Hagu ran away from Morita at first. Then the way they both snuck in to watch each other work on their art projects. Then them both letting loose tag teaming a blank canvas .
It was like they were having sex. Not the drunk kind or the disrespectful kind (wtf? I don't know how to explain it) but the sweet loving kind. WTF?
Even the people passing by took notice of them & their chemistry & everyone stopped in their tracks to watch them both bust an art nut.
I felt like I came too just watching them.

Today is Christmas. It's not like it used to be. Today everyone is spread out. The family is divided. The food isn't as good. I have to work tomorrow.

I wish it could be like it used to be before religious views tore the family apart. Before new additions to the family added new obligations to people. Before the fighting.

It used to be awesome. Now it's like a bare bones much more dull version of the holidays.

Let me now do a 180 degree turn & choose my experience.
I'm glad I have family to speak of still even if they are all spread out. I'm glad that I even have the opportunity to have a holiday dinner. I'm glad I have to work tomorrow when so many people have lost their jobs.

See! My mom would be glad that I even took the time to watch that "Secret" dvd she bought me. Apparently I'm a pessimisstic negative prick & my mom took notice. Hold up, I'm doing it wrong again. My mom loved me enough to share great information on how to improve my quality of life & my relationships with others!

LOL.

Meri Kuri whoever reads this blog.

This next year my goal is not to die.
Seriously though...beat more video games, put more effort into my Nihongo studies, lose weight & excersize to get myself off of these damn blood pressure meds, get a promotion at work, save a little money, go out a bit more & get to Tokyo on time & on budget.

the archives

2008-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

I was chilling at the crib all day.
Decided to dig through my archives.
I have so much music that I often lose track of what I have.
I have even bought the same album twice.
Sometimes I have purchased the same whack album twice (D51 "Oneness"" goddammit).
I need to organize my shit but it will never happen.
I'd like to make a few mega Jmusic mp3 compilations...
Jrap, pop/idoru, mellow, rock, reggae.
but that takes EFFORT so it will never happen

The perfect scenario.

2008-12-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

dipped in my nesta brand hoodie, evisu jeans, nike air ones, g shock, a few hundred dollars in the porter wallet

just got the x terra cleaned with a full tank of gas with the beat in my trunk tuned

reggae night at pier 23 in the city

this is the soundtrack for the evening:

Katchafire "Wrap it Up"

Pang featuring MegaRyu "Kizuna"

Fire Ball "A Place in Your Heart"

The office.

2008-12-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

I work in an office.
There are people making moves & forming alliances all in an attempt to get ahead.

I can't say I blame anyone for doing so. It's a dog eat dog world out there & you have to put your best interests first.

I would say the consensus with the people I work with is that I am someone that cares for the team & tries his best everyday. I admit I am not the most technically savvy analyst that works in my department but I seem to make my way through the workday by being resourceful.

I would say that my superiors like me well enough...

There was a level 2 analyst position open, I emailed the supervisor & explained that I would like to be considered for the position.

I knew that there was another level 1 analyst that would be considered as well just based on his merit named Mikio.
Mikio & I are friendly. He makes comments every now & again referring to me as big bro because I have been working there about six months longer than him. Also I am older than him.
The level 2 analysts seemed to think that both Mikio & I would be the next analysts to be promoted from level 1 based on our skills. Most considered that it would be me because I had more seniority than Mikio. I on the other hand knew that Mikio has a strong understanding of the bank's systems & the support groups that service them. I knew that he was the stronger candidate out of the two of us.

Today Mikio got called into our supervisor's office & he was told that he was going to be promoted. They have not announced it yet but as I was driving out of the parking lot Mikio flagged me down & motioned for me to pull over. I rolled down my window & asked him what was up & he could barely look at me in the eyes. I could tell that his emotions were high, his eyes were slightly glossed over...
He told me that he was promoted & that he was starting at his new position tomorrow.
He then went on to say that he knew that I was a strong candidate for the future & that it was only a matter of time before my promotion came as well.
My spidey senses could read Mikio & I sensed that he felt a little bad about his good fortune.
I looked him in the eye & told him that I thought he deserved the promotion, which is the truth. I also congratulated him, & I meant it. In my heart I knew he was the stronger out of us two.

Am I disappointed? Yeah, I am. But not because Mikio got it, I'm just disappointed that I will be stuck at my position for a little while longer while my heart is ready to move on.

Do I know you?

2008-12-13T06:02:00.000-08:00

So I created a facebook account awhile ago to keep up with some of my friends in Japan. It was a whole lot easier to keep up on things, have a quick chat online etc etc.
Very quickly other people I knew reached out to me & my friends list grew.
I know all the people personally that I'm friends with with the exception of Danny Choo.
Today I got a friends request from some guy named Patrick. He had two mutual friends that were on opposite ends of my friends spectrum which I thought to be odd. I have a hard time remembering people from back in the day if they had no significant event or memory to serve as glue to permanently affix them to my brain. I figured I did know this guy so I accepted his friend request.
Afterward I browsed his page & looked at his pictures. It appears he grew up in the same city as me, went to the same high school as me & has two mutual friends although my two friends did not hang in the same crowds with each other.
Now he lives in Denver Colorado. Yep I don't know anyone in Denver.

Oh well...

Pac Man & The Golden Boy

2008-12-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

I just got done watching the De La Hoya/Pacquiao fight. It has been quite awhile since I've watched a good boxing match. Back in the day I used to always pick up the pay per view fights. I have a bunch of the high profile fights on VHS. De La Hoya Trinidad Vargas Lewis Mosely Mayweather Holyfield.

These days I've been into MMA. I dig the variety of it all. Big up UFC Pride Dream K1 etc etc.

I highly enjoyed this match though.

The sweet science to me is all about movement & finding the angles. Pac Man was amazing to watch. His speed was awesome. Pac Man had such incredible speed that he could exploit even the smallest opening in De La Hoya's guard. Pac Man's fist was making contact then retracting back into it's guard while he quickly switched his position again in the ring's space to find the next angle to work.

The snap to Pac Man's punches was like a bullwhip, causing the dangerously handsome face of De La Hoya to swell.

Wow what an enjoyable display of martial arts!

Flame On!

2008-12-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

So after work today I decided to go to the recycling center & sell my beer cans.
While I was waiting in line the chick that was working was leaning against the propane heater next to the service desk & her fucking hoodie caught on fire!
I was just looking at her in shock, she didn't even notice because it was so goddamn cold then somebody yelled out "HEY!" "YOUR CLOTHES ARE ON FIRE!"
Then she started doing the electric boogaloo flailing her arms all around. It was fucking hilarious.
Finally her sleeve got put out.

I got a cool 27 bucks for 3 bags full of beer cans.

I'm gonna hit up the grocery store tomorrow after work. Pick up some grinds.
I've been trying to cook dinner at home. It's really a chore. I hate cooking & cleaning up after.
Tonight I threw some marinated chicken breast on the George Foreman grill, it took about 7 minutes to grill them up.
Then I cut up a yellow squash & a zuchini & stir fried it up. Last it was rice-a-roni because it's the San Francisco treat bitch! Chicken flavor, low sodium, but I bet that shit is still hella sodium.

Then I had to wash all those dishes...ugh.

During the dinner prep, meal & clean up I dug out an old Yellow Man cd.

Me luv dem tune ya know!

He's one ugly sumbatch but he kills it on the mic.

Finally!

2008-12-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Fuck you Kagekiyo!

Genji: Dawn of the Samurai intro

I just beat Genji Dawn of the Samurai. The ending theme is so kick ass. It took me probably about 20 tries this evening to beat the final boss Kagekiyo.

Aside from the fact I played over half of the game wrong not using kamui correctly I had a great time playing this. The sequel on the PS3 got horrible reviews, the original which I played on the PS2 got pretty decent reviews.

I thought the art style was awesome & the addition of the kamui along with the ability to level up your character's abilities & upgrade the armor & accessories was cool & added some depth to the gameplay. Do I think it helped? The answer is yes. I actually finished the game playing as Benkei who is much slower than Yoshitsune but because I went all out leveling Benkei up he was the only character that could last long enough in a fight with Kagekiyo to finally finish him.

I tried to beat Kagekiyo with both Yoshitsune & Benkei but as I said Benkei was beefed up & could withstand Kagekiyo's attacks better than Yoshitsune. It just seemed like even though I was blocking while playing as Yoshitsune, it didn't matter at all. Every single time Kagekiyo attacked it took a huge chunk of health off of the meter.

Frustration level was high on this final boss battle like I said I probably played through at least 20 times & yesterday I played 20 times without any luck.

Wow that was an intense gaming session & I am so glad to have that game off of my plate. I want to beat my games at least once through before adding to the collection again.

anger management

2008-12-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

I just went the fuck off last night.
blew up in a rage, though I was provoked.
the holiday season just might be ruined.

I'm sick

2008-12-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday with a little cold.
It's not too bad but it is annoying.

Yakuza

2008-12-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

I think Freefall got this free copy of Yakuza for PS2 at his job (EGM). He then passed it down to Langdon who didn't bother with it at all. I can't remember exactly how it came to be in my possession but I'm glad it is mine now. I think Langdon traded the game to me for an action figure or something???

The in-game world was based on Kabuki-Cho in Tokyo. While I played I marveled at how close they got the Tokyo streets to look like real-life in the game.
My feelings were echoed by the 1up/egm staff that reviewed Yakuza 2 on the 1up show.

I played for awhile then moved on to other games in my library, I seriously want to revisit it now, just to switch shit up...and finish the sumbatch.
I want to get the most out of my game library before adding to it ya know?
I have got a serious backlog of crap to play through too...