Blog Ends

This blog ends, the http://tokyoaction.blogspot.com begins.

My night in HNL was KK wedding. A few things that I thought about..

1) There was a girl there at my table that was drinking and really emotional. In fact she got totally trashed in the end and was crying really intensely. Really sobbing.. more than just a "friend" should be crying at a wedding. I looked at Kawak's wife Jofi and didn't see a tear in sight, know what I mean? It wasn't that sentimental. But this gal she was bawling like a baby. I suspect she had her chance but rejected KK thinking he was a playa and now regrets it because.. now Kendall is married, she is 32 and still single. Not sure, KK would not disclose.

2) KK's final statements to me were odd and still ring in my mind. Paraphrasing: "He was happy to finally be done with being married. Now he doesn't have to go look for someone anymore." Hmm.. kind of makes me think, from what he said that he was desperately looking to get married. Now KK shouldn't be desperate since he was a very eligible bachelor, but I can understand his mental state to some degree. After dating alot of random losers and getting dumped a few times.. your confidence really sags. Not sure if thats the case, but thats the vibe I got. Remind me not to get into that state.

3) It is an odd pairing but I believe they can make it all work. Perfect pairings are rarely that perfect anyways. I got to finally meet her and her family this week and they are nice people. The brother bought Kendall a Cartier watch too! Wow!!

4) Marrying someone who you can't speak fluently with is a real challenge. Oh boy. Its hard enough communicating with someone who speaks your language.

Anyways thats the end. I may close off this blog or leave it up but it won't be updated much if ever from this point on.

Farewell.

This is the end

I haven't categorized the various phases of my life but this one comes to an end. I'm not sure where this phase started and ended.

I think I'd say this ends the SF/Bay area phase of life although there were many subplots in them. Let me recap a decade with a few lines.

1996 - graduated, started in the working world, life is tough paying back debts
2002 - broke up with PL, almost moved to Tokyo backed out, then started dating GB
2003 - bought a condo, life shifts to building empire mode
2006 - I am finally granted a masters degree!
2006.8 - start the year of living dangerously (as a single dude). life shifts to money spending mode
2007.8 - tokyo bound

Interesting that I leave the US at the same time that KK gets married, a month after TBone (Tombo) has a baby, and a few weeks after Boo moves to Vietnam. Everyone is having major changes in life it seems. I wish everyone the best. No one knows the future so here isn't much sense second guessing.

Regarding KK's wedding, it was a nice event. The venue wasn't the best for the ceremony, but the reception was nice, and the overall feel was good. I talked to DLii alot, the chairman of the wireless empire in Hawaii. Personable fellow, pretty much what I remember of him from the HS days. He and his wife were looking good, I guess being successful does that !

My eyes are sore. I may have cataracts. Better live it up while I can. According to the prophet of fremont, I can only score with young 24yo's if they are from 3rd world countries and poor. Hehe.

Da Wedding...

So KK is getting married tomorrow.

I've said enough about it I suppose. I think the language barrier is going to make for an interesting time. Inability to share deep thoughts and have meaningful conversation outside of "whats for dinner" is something I could not deal with. Well, I suppose if the girl looked like Jessica [Simpson|Alba|Biel] then maybe it'd be okay (for a while).

My other friend Gimil married a J-national last year. They just had their 1yr anniversary apparently. Wow eh? She is apparently a 24yo estocian that he met thru some friends (supposedly) and fell in love with and chased down in Tokyo. I have to say though her english isn't too bad. But he doesn't speak any japanese so they have some challenges.. but at least one person is speaking natively.

The fact that he married a 24yo (23 when they married) somewhat disproves Tombo's theory that young girls wont date and marry older men in their 30's. Hmmmmmm... well I suppose if its a super hot party girl maybe not. This gal obviously wants a family more than anything because he told me that she is already pushing to start having kids! At 24?? wow... man.. why the rush.

Well I have 2 days left in the USA.

I was really tired today and I did absolutely nothing. I think my eyes are going bad. How the heck am I going to make it in the real world. Hehe.

Famed Quote

"Just because you have traveled the world, it does not mean you are Worldly"

-kt 8.13.2007.

Damn my last day in the bay area. Ended w/ a visit to Fremont Hooters where 2 21yo working gals said they wouldn't date a guy any older than 23 and 25 even if the guy had 100m dollars in the bank.

Career Planning

Sometimes I wish I had a career plan early on. Or a life plan. I think about this more nowadays.

Interesting article on this idea:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/07/30/cb.job.goals/index.html

2 more days in SF and then bust!

Can't wait for Fantasy Football!!

Visa-a-vie

I got my elusive Visa today. What is whacked is that they gave me a 'single' entry visa. what does that mean?

It means that I can only enter the country once with this visa. If I want to leave and come back in, I need to get a re-entry permit! What the hell man? Apparently there is a 'multiple' entry visa but they didn't give me this. I don't understand who would want a 3yr visa without the ability to exit and re-enter the country. I am not going to Tokyo to be in prison for 3yrs dude, I do plan to leave the country pretty often.. duh.....

Oh well. I have to figure this out when I get to tokyo.

Mortgage and housing market is crushing the stock market. I took a poorly timed position into financials and got burned. Goes to show, better to stay long and steady than to jump in and out. I was lucky to time my exit of 70% of my portfolio last month before this collapse, but then I jumped in on a speculative buy which pretty much negated any benefit and then some.

I think its wise to stay out at this point. My coworker said to short BSC. He said they are going to have to consolidate and get bought out. Hmmm... interesting. Of course everyone is a stock market guru so u never know.

Ironic.. I am going to be working in the MBS market. I wonder if the market will exist after this meltdown. Damn. Oh well my formal job is ABS/Structured Finance Analytics Developer. But we'll see what my title is when I join, probably just "Associate" or "Developer" so who cares.

One more week of slacking!! Then the new tokyoaction blog takes over!



see this wiki entry for details on the man 2nd from the left.

Gotta have those video memories

Munich

Munich and Frankfurt were fun to visit. I only stopped by in Nurnberg via train.

Traveling alone is kinda lame, but I have done it enough that I'm somewhat okay with it. Fortunately my high flying friend Booby was able to visit with me.

Things I noticed in Germany....

• Lots of beer drinking. Esp in Munich.
• Lots of bread. Good bread. I love the sandwiches at the train station.
• Everyone smokes. Everyone. Esp the hot girls. Hotter the girl the more smoke.
• Having a semi-socialist economy means people are done working at 4-5pm. When I walked by an office building at 5pm, it was pretty empty as I peered thru the windows.
• Way too many Koreans visiting or living in Frankfurt. What gives??
• Its really green. Lots of rolling hills, greenery as you take the trains it is esp noticeable. Kinda nice.
  
• Reminds me of Holland, probably since Holland is next door.

I could live in Germany. However, I hate not speaking the local language when I go somewhere.

Pic to the left is a typical sidewalk where people are sitting drinking beer, coffee, and of course smoking.

Oh btw, I happened upon a Bally store in Munich. It is really weird, I went to Bally in Ala Moana, then Waikiki, then Las Vegas Caesars, Las Vegas Fashion Mall, then South Coast Plaza, and finally in Munich! Thats 6 stores in 1 month. Thats weird eh? I'm not a big brand name snob but I find I like Bally shoes despite my reluctance to spend $200+ on shoes even at 50% off.

One last pic, this is surfing in Munich. Can you believe it? They surf under a bridge in a river where a fast flow of water is flowing into a lake.