Not to die

Why do we try so hard not to die?

One moment, you are alive.
Next, you are dead.

What does this shift in the state really mean.
Everything that we are, we have been, and we would've been ceases in a single moment.
A simple malfunction inside our body could cause it.
If it is so important not to die, why are we not built more robust.
Or do we think it's important not to die because our life is so vulnerable?

At times, it is inevitable.
Many cases, it is predictable.
Some are said to be excusable.
We all wish the possibility of it to be forgettable.
But when it does happen, we want it to be memorable.

However you arrive at it, death separates you from the life you once belonged to.
You can never go back to it.
Many times it's abrupt and indeliberate.
But the change still is permanent.

Maybe we are all dead by default and being alive is a temporary change in our status for a limited length of time.
Maybe that's why we put so much meaning in "being alive" and "staying alive"...

My Accent

I've sorta come to realize that what I speak is not really "English", it's more American than anything else... my current company is quite diverse and you hear all these accents around the office: British, Indian, Australian, Spanish, Portuguese and of course Japanese and American.. and many more.. You'll be amazed how different that one language can sound. Some accents are harder for me to comprehend than others. Guess it's something that I've got to get used to..

Ever since I came to Japan, I've had people telling me that I have an American accent. Never really thought of it that way but I guess that makes sense... All those years I spent in ESL thinking I was learning English, ah well :)

The Group

Went to a Canadian friend of mine's wedding party. They had the actual wedding in Vancouver, Canada (I actually attended the post-party) but had this party in Japan to share this special event in their life together with their friends here as well.

The Canadian friend of mine, I've known from the days when I first moved over here in Japan and was out partying with the group of random foreign people every weekend. It really was an interesting mix of people from North/South America, Europe, Oceania along w/ some locals. We simply called this gathering "The Group". The sole reason of the Group's existence was so we, most of who were fairly new to the country, could stick together and enjoy the weekends by drinking and partying. The beauty of this Group was we didn't know much about each other aside from some really basic info like where everyone was from, how long they had been in Japan and maybe how old they were.. A lot of times, we only knew each other by the nick names they went by inside the Group and never found out what their real full names were... We didn't really care what everyone else did in the day time or what their real names were. All that mattered was that we had good times whenever we got together.

It'd be a lie if we said we didn't have any problems inside the Group. Being a bunch consisted of people of various origins from all over the world, it was never easy to get a consensus within the group. And a gathering like this was probably not meant to last forever anyway. As we all aged, many of the Group members found significant others and started "retiring" from the Group. Also because the majority of the Group were foreigners who somehow winded up in Tokyo temporarily, one by one (or sometimes by couples) people left the country. Getting back to the reality, basically, seeking a real career, etc.

So the Group has practically died. Most of people are long gone from the country. And even the ones that are still around, we rarely see each other except for special occasions like this. However, when we do see each other, we still have good times. We may not know that much about each other's lives but we certainly know how to have good times together from countless night outs in Tokyo. And it really doesn't matter where we are, it seems. I've met up w/ some of the European former Group members that used to live here in June in Germany and Spain. We really had good times despite a drastic change in geographic location. And this past September in the US and Canada, I met up with some of other former members again. Whenever we meet up, it almost feels like we are back in those good ol' days when we were meeting up every Fri/Sat night in Roppongi around 11PM, anxious to hit the clubs, just a little older, maybe :)

True, it does kinda blow that many of them are no longer around to hang out on weekends but this is life, I guess... and instead, I am now able to say that I have friends in all these different countries that I could go visit and have good times together, which really is something. By far, the friends from the Group are the most important assets that I have gained ever since I've come to Japan. I do miss my friends from Seattle at the same time though.. they are friends of different.. qualities, I guess.

Tokyo is Tiring?

Quite a few of my Japanese friends that have lived overseas and come back to Japan (or foreigners who somehow winded up here) tell me Tokyo is a tiring place. I don't know if it is the number of people, the fast pitch at which things seem to be moving.. But I must agree that the city does wear me out sometimes. You really don't need to be doing anything special, something as simple as just getting to work or going out to meet up with your friends can be pretty tiring. There's too much of everything: too many people, too many buildings, too many stores, too much noise... and anywhere you go, it seems so congested and everything is moving about at this amazing speed... it just wears your mind out.

If you spent all your life here in Tokyo, it's something you would grow up with and not be really conscious about. But once you move away from the noise for a while and come back, things would appear to you way too hectic and almost insane. And a good number of the returnees say they just wanna get away from this chaos again. I sometimes feel the same way. Get away from this place all together and live a more quiet and peaceful life somewhere that's not so busy... but at the same time, I realize that if I were to pursue my career, this probably is the place to be for me. My market value is much higher here than the rest of the world, being Japanese/English bilingual and all. Mmm. Such dilemma. I only got a few years left though if I were to do working holiday.. so gotta make up my mind soon, I guess.

NUKE ME NOT

So looks like they are ready to nuke us.. Now they've officially got nuclear weapons, successfully-tested-out, what can you really do. They won't just give up their precious big guns just because someone told them to..

Well, no one really wants a war. Not even the North Koreans. They are the ones that'll lose the most should a war breaks out for they'll probably get bombed to ashes. Someone's gonna have to talk some sense into them. The question is who will do that... I mean, we obviously can't expect much from Bush as far as talking sense..

Every Vote Counts

We have a 3 day weekend here in Japan. Mon (today) is the Health Sports Day (Taiiku-no-Hi), a day when we are all encouraged to exercise apparently. But more importantly, we have the day off. That's what's really important :)

We had a mayor election for the city of Shinagawa, where I live, yesterday (Sun). You know when elections are coming up in Japan. The candidates go around in their vans w/ speakers making sure you remember their names by repeatedly yelling out their names on the microphone. They do talk about their policies and stuff a little but every other sentence is "My name is so-and-so. Remember my name! Please put down my name on your ballot!". I guess it's a pretty effective strategy since unless you really care about the local politics, you are likely to pick a name that sound familiar... which was what I ended up doing.

For the past a few weeks, the candidates went from a station to station in their district each morning greeting "their voters" on their way to work. It's bad enough you have to go to work and they were just making it worse by blasting their names out on the speakers early in the morning. So many times, I was tempted to just snatch their precious mic from them and just toss'em away. I'm sure if it wasn't illegal, many people would've done that.. seriously, I don't know how they can get away w/ doing that w/o getting noise complaints. They all looked like typical politicians too, w/ fakey smiles and everything...

So I fulfilled my responsibility as a registered voter by going to the booth and casting my vote once again. I really don't know much about politics and I must admit that I really don't follow it too much. Yea, I may have voted for someone whose policies I hardly knew. But I believe the action of going to vote is almost as important as who you actually vote for... a vote is a vote no matter how you cast it, who you choose or how you choose the person. And every vote does count, believe it or not. It's easy to say "my vote won't make a difference anyway so I'm not gonna even bother". But then you really can't expect the government to be responsible for you when you are not being a responsible citizen yourself. Well, that's how I see it anyways.

Gray Sky

Gray Sky
Originally uploaded by stonetako920.

Fri the 8th was my last day at my previous company. So I had approx. 2 weeks off until I started my new job yesterday.

Over the past 2 weeks, 2 of my friends, whom I actually met in Japan, had their weddings in Seattle and Vancouver. The timing couldn't have been any better for me and I decided to fly to Seattle on Wed the 13th primarily to attend the weddings but also to catch up w/ old-time buddies in town.

The picture was taken at the Sea-Tac airport when I had just arrived in Seattle. The sky, as you can see, was gray, typical of Seattle all year around except for its very limited summer. Some things never change, I guess.

African Fair

Went to the Africa Fair that's going on now in Odaiba There were booths representing countries of Africa where you could basically walk up to and talk to the natives and also a food court with various African dishes.

One thing I really enjoyed was a performance by this band called "Tabureka" which featured an African sax player/lead singer and drummer w/ the rest of the band being Japanese. It was a really intriguing performance. As the performance reached it climax, these African MC and dancer invited themselves onto the stage to joined the band then started pulling random people onto the stage who then were practically forced to dance along to the music. It was a pretty memorable and funny moment that you couldn't help but to smile at. There was a strong sense of having a good time together which everyone in the audience could feel and I really enjoyed the performance.

Massage Therapy

Went to this massage therapy place nearby my place. It said "First time examination fee: Free" so I thought to give it a try. What I didn't realize was this didn't include the actual therapy session fee. What they were advertising to be free was just the initial checkup of your bodily condition. So after the really brief initial checkup, the therapist started giving me massage. The therapy session lasted well over 90 min, which basically was a non-stop torture. So many times, I wanted to just kicked the guy off and run away.

After the therapy, the guy was telling me in his bad Japanese (he apparently was Chinese) that my body is not exactly in its best condition and I have to come back in 2 days. I was thinking "in 2 days!? That soon?" Then he went on to say that "I'll give you a discount since this is your first session. I normally charge 5,200 yen for 60 min but I'll round it down to 5,000 yen." And I was like "What, I thought it was supposed to be free since it's my first time." And the guy was like "No no, it's just the check up fee that we are waiving, not the actual therapy fee." I was trying and tell him that the ad was misleading and I only came because I thought they were giving away free trial sessions. But his Japanese suddenly got noticeably worse and at that point, I just decided to give up and pay and leave.

I'm probably not going back there any time soon (not in 2 days for sure) but when I think about it, it really wasn't that bad of a deal that I got.. The guy only charged me 5,000 yen for a 90 min session. Ah well. The ad was misleading though.. or maybe it was just my lack of common sense that caused the misunderstanding..

Summer Sonic 2006

I somehow got lucky and got myself on the guestlist for 1st day. My friend that got me on the list told me that we are going in as editors. I was like "Editors? Editors for what?" But my friend was just instructed to do so from her friend that got us on the list and didn't really have any more info. So we went to the guest sign-in table and told them that we are editors and our names should be on the list. Naturally, they were like "You are editors? With which company?" And I was like "um..." And they suggested "Did you mean you are on the guestlist for the band Editors"? I was like "ah, maybe.." and sure enough our names were listed under the guests for the band. It was a rather embarrassing moment, I could see receptionist the girl was trying hard to hold herself from laughing aloud. But in any case, we were able to get in for a hugely discounted price so it was all good.

I didn't really get to see all the bands I wanted to see because of schedule reasons. But this time, there was no single band I really wanted to check out so I decided to catch as many band performances as possible by going from one band performance to another. That's what's really cool about going to these rock festivals, seeing all these different bands performing, including ones you would not necessarily go see live if was not for the festival. Out of the ones I got to see, Zebrahead was pretty fun to watch. Editors, our band, was pretty good too.

Coldplay

Went to the Coldplay concert this past Tue. My second time at Budohkan in like 5 days which my friend that went to the concert with obviously found to be funny. "Who does that?" was what she had to say.

Anyways, my expectation for the concert wasn't exactly high. It was my first time going to their concert and the only time I had watched them performing live on TV was when they were performing a slow song at some award show. I was somehow under this wrongly impression that they were a kind of band that would do better in the studio since Coldplay songs all have this very distinct feel and sound to them but was a bit skeptical how well that could be re-produced live.

So I went to the concert thinking I would probably get dissapointed. I was plesantly surprised to learn how fantastic they can be live. Their setlist for the night wasn't exactly creative; they basically performed a major song after another but the performance was nothing but excellent. My concern about them not being able to re-produce the unique feel and sound on the CD was gone after a couple of songs into the concert. The songs virtually sounded better live because there's more energy yet still sounded very much Coldplay if you know what I mean. I had this image of them performing slow songs w/ the lead singer Chris Martin on the piano but at the concert, he was jumping around all over the stage and hardly in front the piano. I think a lot of us were surprised to see how athletic he was...

Songs that I found to be memorable:
- Yellow: They had huge yellow balloons roaming around Budohkan, which was interesting...
- Scientist: This was one song that Chris Martin actually stayed in front of the piano the entire song. Beautifully performed.
- Clocks: Sounded much more energetic live. Chris was literally jamming on the piano.
- In My Place: Everyone was singing the chorus together.
- Fix you: Was rather predictable that they were gonna play this song last but still a good song.

I guess my only complaint was that it was a bit too short... they started at like 8:20PM and finished 10 min before 9PM... they could've played a few more songs, I would say.

Yokohama Fireworks

DSC00227
Originally uploaded by stonetako920.

Went to check out the annual Yokohama fireworks festival with Kirk, Hiroko and Mario. As usual, the area was packed. In order to save ourselves decent seats, we had to go down there way before the fireworks started (Fireworks started at 7:30PM, we met up around 2:30PM). We first went check out the Yamashita Park but it was way too crowded there already so ended up watching the fireworks from this park up on the hill called Minato-no-Mieru-Oka-Koen (Harbor View Park). The seats we got ourselves were nice in the way that we were able to lie down on the grass but there were trees that sort of got in the way for those fireworks that didn't go very high up... was still fun though and the weather remained relatively cool for this time of the year in Japan contrary to our concerns.

Afterwards, we decided to go to this bar in Ishikawacho called Stagecoach. Back when my friends Jun and Maura used to live in the area, I used to go there every once in a while mainly because they were going there practically every night. But it had been quite a while since I last went there. Was nice to see the familiar faces of the bartenders Yondo and Yuki. If only the place was a bit closer, I would go there more often.

Black Eyed Peas

Went to see Black Eyed Peas live at Budoh-kan last Thu. I guess a lot of people consider them to be shameless sellouts that decided to give up their style and spirit in exchange for the stardom they have achieved. Well, I guess I can kinda see that esp in the songs like Don't Lie and My Humps. These songs are hardly Hip-Hop. But if you look at the members of group and their diverse backgrounds, you can kinda see why how their sound may differ from ordinary Hip-Hop groups that typically solely consist of African American rappers. Each member of BEP comes from a very different ethnic background (most of them are of mixed ethnic origins). Consequently, their musical backgrounds significantly differ. The unique chemistry and style that the group now has achieved, I believe, owes a lot to this diversity. Their music is not bound to a single genre just as their ethnic backgrounds.

The concert lasted approximately 2 hours, maybe a little less. I had seen them live once at this Rock festival called Rock Odyssey a couple of years ago and I had been wanting to check them out again. The songs they played were mostly from their most recent full album Monkey Business with some popular tracks from their previous album Elephunk mixed in. The show was nothing short of entertaining and they really got the crowd going with their solid musical performance as well as breakdancing. I missed the first 5-10 min of it but was able to catch most of their popular songs such as: "Don't Phunk with My Heart", "Don't Lie", "Where is the Love?" , "Shut up", "Pump It", "My Humps", "Let's Get Retarded", etc.

During the show, they had a segment where each of them performed a song that demonstrated their background: Fergie doing a Guns N'Roses cover, apl.de.ap singing in Tagalog, Will.i.am playing guitar and drums, etc... It was really interesting to watch.

Yeah, BEP may have changed, they are no longer doing underground Hip-Hop which to some may seem like they've gone "soft". But I personally actually really like how their music is not bound to a single genre of music. And like or not, not many can deny the fact what they are producing is unique. I definitely would be interested in what they'll come up with next and checking them out live again when they decide to come here next time.

Rak Thai

I used to go to Thai restaurants a lot back when I was in the States but haven't really been able to find a good Thai restaurant here in Japan. Most of the places I've been to, they were ok but it just wasn't the same. Like they made phad thai taste too much like yakisoba, etc... But finally I was able to find a decent Thai restaurant and I'm quite happy about it. The place is called Rak Thai, located in Gotanda nearby the hotel Yu-port. I went there with a friend that's been to Thailand before and another friend of mine who is from South East Asia (well, Indonesia but I would think he'd be more familiar with Thai food than most Japanese people) and they both thought the food was good. So I'm convinced the food there is pretty authentic :)

Was just watching the Germany vs Portugal game. Germany actually played Oliver Kahn this time, wow. I was kinda hoping that Portugal would win, I personally think they are more exciting to watch than any other teams that made it in the top 4 this world cup. Germany had the home court advantage and the momentum throughout the 2nd half though. Ah well. Now, that only leaves the final. France and Italy, not many had expected these 2 would be facing each other... Will be interesting to see what happens.

Microsoft's iPod killer to provide free versions of all your iTunes tracks

To attract current iPod users Microsoft is going to let you download for free any songs you've already bought from the iTunes Music Store. They'll scan iTunes for purchased tracks and then automatically add those to your account. Microsoft will still have to pay the rights-holders for the songs, but they believe it'll be worth it to converts.

Hum. MS breaking into the market, will see how well they will do... I like what I've read about it so far though.

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Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast on Yahoo! Messenger

I know I'm really slow on catching on this but the recent version of Yahoo! Messenger now comes with Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast player built-in. I never thought much of it until today but I think I'm gonna start using it more... for someone like me that has Yahoo! Messenger running almost at all times when working on computer, it saves running anoher application for playing music. It also allows you to rate the song being played (and the artist and the album) on the spot, the result of which gets reflected on the music you can listen to via your "My Station". In case you are you are too lazy to keep your preferences up-to-date, they provide numerous stations with a broad range of genres of music that you can listen to. But the best part of this, again, is that you can pretty much do everything you need to do on the messenger interface without having to open up a browser or some other application interface. Everything you need is right there on your Yahoo! Messenger.

If you are like me and didn't even bother giving it a shot when you first saw it, I highly recommend you at least try it out.

Real DJs Code Live - Amazing

Some DJs spin vinyl or twiddle fader knobs. Others write subroutines in C++.
Wasn't sure whether to put this in the Programming Topic or Music Topic!!

Yea, let's code the night away...

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New Musashikoyama Station

New Musashikoyama Station 2
Originally uploaded by stonetako920.

They just replaced the old onground station with the newly finished underground station.

Under the red hot moon...

I took the subway downtown to the graveyard shift tonight.

It's maintenance time, woo hoo!

Outsmarted by a Chatterbot

"...So, I figured a conversation with a chatterbot would be a good idea. First I tried infocombot, but it was down. So, I gave the Encarta bot a whirl, and I asked it something that would give a few readers a chuckle. I was very surprised by its response!"

Wow.. those bots are getting smarter..

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My German Interpreter

My German Interpreter
Originally uploaded by stonetako920.

Taken w/ my brandnew Docomo phone camera.. The max resolution is somewhere around 3M pixels.

Went to watch the movie "Da Vinci Code" with friends but was sold out. So we decided to settle for "V for Vendetta" which apparently has been in the theater for a while even here (this was the last weekend that the film was shown at the theater we went to). I didn't expect much from the film since it wasn't the film we wanted to watch in the first place but I actually enjoyed it.

The film is about the totalitalian government that somehow took over the country of the UK and the battle against it started by this masked "terrorist" calls himself V. The similariy found between the UK government in the movie and the paranoid and controlling state of the current US government I'm sure is not a coincidence. The movie reminds us of the mistakes made by many governments around the world by going militant and where we might be headed. Who is it really that's creating the terror?

It's one of those movies that'll get you thinking about something that won't produce no definite answers. In the movie, the answer was to blow up the parliament which I'm sure has upset lots of people... over all, not a bad movie though, there are lots of things you may find either cheesy or not believable but it does get you started on questioning some of the things that have going on around the world.

We'll try and give another shot at "Da Vinci Code" next week... hopefully we'll be able to catch it this time.

World Cup Tickets

P1000030
Originally uploaded by stonetako920.

I finally received the tickets!

.XXX rejected by ICANN Board

The controversial .XXX domain has been rejected by ICANN - the organisation that decides what domains can be for sale. This comes after intensive lobbying by certain countries that it is an inappropriate domain. The supporters of .XXX argued that it would help separate porn from the rest of the net.

Hmm.. inappropriate domain... isn't it more inappropriate that these pornographic contents are currently being served on .com and .net domains and thus hard to be distinguished from others?

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FedEx flights dodging thunderstorms (radar time-lapse)

Radar view of FedEx flights dodging thunderstorms that are moving towards Memphis Int'l airport.

I guess the black dots moving around are the the FedEx carriers... pretty neat.

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I'm switching from LiveJournal to Blogger. I probably won't be actually writing much on here though. Will mainly be using this to post from Digg and Flickr...