Wow ch-ch-ch-changes...

Wow Bay Bridge collapses, and Randy Mossman is traded to the Pats! Whats going on.. gone one week and the world totally changes on me!

BTW i saw that movie, "The Good Shephard" o nthe plane. Oh my goD.. this was a movie that takes us thru the horrificly painful life of this dudes life, and makes us also experience every painful and boring moment of it. It sucks. I felt like the shephard who had a tattered life so they succeeded in that respect.

Dream On..

I had an intense dream last night about my old japanese ex-gf. I had dreamt that I somehow ran into her in Tokyo after moving back there. It was one of those powerful emotional dreams that make you wake up more mentally exhausted than before sleeping. Ever have those?

So in my dream she had gotten married since I last saw her but was supposedly seperated. I think in my dream we re-connected.

Thats my problem, I need to find someone I really connect with. Been alot of girls I found okay but didn't have a real connection with both physically and mentally/emotionally. Its not easy. Part of it is probably my current emotional state. Must let go before you can accept something new.

I'm in tokyo airport right now. On my way back finally. Man seems like I've been gone a long time. Will I be gone for the long haul? We'll see in a few!

Asia is HOT

I don't mean the women, I mean it is literally hot in Asia. Being that I grew up in Hawaii I should know hot, and I know it was hot in Hawaii, but it is hotter in Asia!! Insane eh?

Actually I suffered thru a bit of heat and I think now that I can deal with it ok.

One big annoyance I realized with Asia is how close people stand by you. I always find foreigners from asia like to stand right god damn next to you, or behind you in line. Happens all the time and I step back and give them a look, but they don't get it. Sometimes I turn and elbow them. Bastards. Not to be ethnically or country-biased, but the worst offenders of this are from India and China. Probably because its so crowded in these two countries that they are not used to any free space.

Anyways enough ranting.

I really enjoyed my time in Tokyo. I can't say HK excited me that much. I was also pissed that the admin at YooBS didn't give very good instructions and the taxi driver somewhat abusively drove around in circles. YooBS also didn't offer to pay the cab fare so I was stuck with a ridiculously high fare. That alone pisses me off enough to say screw YooBS those bastards. Actaully didn't like the feel of the team, seems like a sweat shop. Plus I don't know enough people in HK to move there, it would be horrible. I think I will continue interviewing w/ them the final 2 more yards just so I can reject them.

Ramen!

We went to the fabled ramen museum.

The concept of a museum in japan is much different than one in the US. A museum can just be a showroom.

We also saw a world luggage museum but it was closed. Did I mention that?

Back to the Ramen Museum.. the funniest part was getting there. We took the bullet train from Shinagawa. I never rode the bullet before so it was great. We sat down and noted it was just 1 stop away (..we will make a brief stop at Shin-Yokohama..) en-route to Nagoya. SO what happens? Well the train stops at ShinYoko and we are sitting there chattnig it up. About 30seconds pass and then I realize holy shit we have to get out so I jump up and run full speed to the doors and barely make it out, with Booby right behind me. We probably startled everyone around us.

We were laughing when we got out. Geez. You realize if we didnt get out we would have been on an hour and half journey to Nagoya w/ no stops. Haha. Probably would have to pay another $30 as well. Really escaped disaster there. Really funny.

We got a haircut in ShinYoko and it was great. I love haircuts in Asia they are so much better. Booby got a new hairstyle I think its way better. Hes already a chick magnet now hes going to be out of control with the new look.

Apparently stock value in the dating market for Korean men has been rising in Asia and esp Japan. Being black and white is still high value but its been decreasing it seems. Wow its like a perfect storm for me to move!

Tokyo Action

Man we were out till approximately 6am last night. Tokyo is mad.

Its a good trip so far, every insightful. I got to see how Vics life is and how the action really is in tokyo for him and his friends. Basic conclusion that Booby and I have come to is the following

Lifestyle
- everyone works insane hours.
- it is fricking crowded as hell
- comfort aint no SF -- its hotter, colder, muggier, more crowded, hot on trains, hot in elevators etc
- food is awesome, and you can eat cheap in tokyo
- on the flip side, social scene is expensive overall

Social
- wow lots of eye candy/girls.
- a bit too mob mentality -- all girls look and dress the same
- girls at age 28+ are on aggressive hunts for men. shortage of men in general here
- lots of avg/above avg girls to hang out with. kind of the opposite of SF. SF has tons of guys who hang out, with 1-2 girls maybe. In tokyo its 1-2 guys with a hoard of girls on a typical night out.
- really tiring to stay out so late all the time! its a young persons town for sure.

Overall I have seen the life here and its not bad. I could do it. Its more an equation of what I leave behind vs what I gain. Something taken, something left behind. Back to Locards Principal.

Key Annoyances
1) no trash cans anywhere
2) keyboards are jacked up here i cant type
3) no paper towels in bathrooms anywhere

I think UBS is going to fly me over to Hong Kong for an itnerview. Wooooo.. free trip.

Golf and Good Times

Today I shot my whole day by golfing at noon.

I have to try golfing at 7am or something because noon-1pm golf means your whole day is shot. Wake up late, hit some balls, play 18 then *poof* its like 7pm already. In this case its 9pm now.

Our usual 4-some (Tom, Booby, Gurt, and I) was broken by Gurt who flaked probably due to his wife's demands. It is tough having a demanding wife I imagine. So after searching far and wide, I found Mr. B.Boochay who is now a bigshot. Making big bucks I'm sure, with over $3m in revenues this past year and growing.

Fun day and weekend overall. It makes me realize the bay area has alot to offer. Golf and Tennis in the spring and summer. Skiing/snowboarding in the winter. Clubs and lounges all year around. Etc, etc, etc. List goes on.

Sonoma Film festival is lame though. Don't need to go there again!

Sat Bubble

So Booby and I go to Bubble Sat night. Why? Just cause we had nothing else to do. We didn't meet anyone new, but our friend Moolisa joined us so it was fun to hear her perspective on dating. We took away 2 things from her:

1) NY people often have sex on the 1st date.
2) If you pay for dinner, the girl may feel obligated to put out.

Really funny to hear that from a girl's perspective!

We were also talking about how some crazy girls will call you at 2am or 4am. I've had both happen and these were girls I didn't sleep with or anything so you wonder what the heck, its not a booty call or anything.

And sure enough.. a girl I haven't seen in months now calls me at 2am while we are eating chinese food out of the blue. I answer and chat and say, "wow its really late to be calling.." hehe. So whats up with that, is it okay to call someone you don't know all that well at 2am or 4am for no particular reason? Seems a bit inappropriate doesn't it?

100x odds in Wegas

Casino Royale has craps where you can put 20x odds for $3, and 100x odds for $5.

For those non-crappers it means you can bet a lot with near even-odds (ie, no statistical advantage for the house). I once put a $5 bet down while Boo was rolling and backed it with FULL ODDS (20x) for a whopping $105 bet. Boo hit the number so I won!! Next step is to max the 100x odds and put a $505 bet down. Hehe thats nuts man.

All in all, I won again. Amazing.. so lucky in gambling, so unlucky in love.

I went out with a girl from bokaycupid at the suggestion of my friend. Big girl, like 5'8" and a bit chunky. I made out w/ her a bit afterwards. I am thinking to myself.. what am I doing? This wasn't really really a girl I was into yet I kissed her. Hmm.. very weird eh. Now I have to suffer the consequences and figure out how to ditch her.. ugggggg....... dating sucks man.

Otherwise Vegas was fun. I got a ROYAL SHAVE (not at Casino Royale). Pretty cool stuff. My shaver was a woman. At first I thought.. how can a woman know how to shave a man? But then again, they shave their legs daily. Also, the shave is more like a facial than a shave. Shave is 15% of the event, the other 85% is lotions, hot towels, cold towels, massage, etc. So all in all, I would recommend a woman. The only downside was that I had to pay (unlike our two friends Kawaka and Tombo who live without honor) and that the lady didn't give me a shave consultation afterwards!!!

Vegas has hot girls no doubt. No action for me though. I'm a wimp.

Cousin

My cousin Kuna visited w/ her 3 friends. Interesting set of friends, more interesting than my cousin really.

girl #1 - 20 y/o taiwanese apparently very well off family. dad owns some pillow company with operations in 5 countries. Very happy girl, very outgoing -- almost sickening at times. I'd say her personality is really great, and if she were a bit hotter then she would be the score of a lifetime.

girl #2 - 27 y/o white girl, goth type, married to a navy dude. i found out she is very unhappily married and sounds like she is going to cheat on her husband fairly soon to get some affection that she is in need of. sounds alot like the double divorcee redhead i met. easy pickings for someone who can show them some affection.

girl #3 - 28 y/o japanese girl. this girl barely talked at all. goes to show, if you want to learn the language you need to fight being shy. girl#1 had amazing english and japanese skills. i wonder if its innate or just due to the personality type that wants to talk to everyone.

Anyways its interesting to hang out w/ different people. I'm glad I could host my cousin like this.


Had a good conversation w/ Booby about moving to asia. his insight was.. he doesn't want to do it just for the hot young girls because its hard to tell if that is a pipe dream or reality. when u are on vacation things always look great. you gotta go for the right reasons, and we both agree our home is pretty much here and we don't want to have to restart life at square-1 in like 3 years when we return.......

tough call, more on that later.

Booyah

My life is brilliant
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

I went out with this chinese girl for a drink at this art gallery. At the gallery I saw this other girl who was totally my type. Damn.. those moments in life. You have to act. You gotta just go for it!

Alas.. its over. I have to keep my eye out for her.

House, BattleStar

Great shows. House is good. Battlestar Galactatta is the best!!

Maybe being single means watching more TV? Is that possible? I don't know man.

Played golf today. My driving sucks bad. I tend to really slice alot of shots and have a nasty spin (l->r) on my balls. My irons aren't bad. I can actually hit the 3 even which is a shocker to me. Chipping game sucks. Short-mid game not too bad. Putting liveable. Maybe I should practice once in a while. Need to buy a sand wedge.... lots to do in life.

I need to figure out a direction. I'm all over the place right now with different ideas on what to do.