Day 4: Boxing Day Madness continue

--oh, went shopping.
--malls VERY crowded...I mean, REALLY CROWDED
--can't really buy anything without fighting to get it
--oh well, ended up buying a new pair of jeans
--later went to visit Danny working at the Beguiling comic store
--wanted to go visit Silver's new store in Chinatown (AnimeXtreme the Store!) but I had to call first in order to "visit" him. Ended up not going.

Day 5: A Day with 2

--hanged out with an old University classmate "2" (yes, that's what we call him), someone I haven't seen in years, the whole day
--he drove me around all of Scarborough
--went to Pacific Mall, the ULTIMATE Asian SUPERMALL with everything from MD players to cell phones, to pirate video games and models and arcades
--bought a car charger for my cell phone and a "short" ear buds for my MD player
--later met up with Leila for some hot boba tea action
--headed towards where Dave and Busters for some hot arcade gaming action (really trying to kill time before a movie)
--ended up later watching a movie:

--Movie Review: Catch Me If You Can: 4.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About some snot nose kid con artist and his battle to make out with every girl he lies to. Okay, I hate Leonardo Di Caprio. No, I REALLY hate the guy. Every since he destroyed "Growin' Pains" (and the great potential careers of Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron), I can never stand seeing him on the big screen. Anyways, he an OK job in this movie. I guess I believe he was a 16 year old con artist. I like Tom Hanks when he started wearing those second pair of glasses.

Day 6: Hangin' with Buckets

--after having dim sum with my whole family, I traveled to see old Digipen classmate Buckets in Mississauga.

More on my adventures in T.O later...

Day 0: The Flight

--stayed up til 5am the nite before "ironing" and packing my clothes for a 11am flight to Vancouver and then to Toronto
--it wasn't busy at the Seattle airport. Everything went quickly and smoothly. Did get stopped at airport security because I had a "knife" in my bag, but no big hassle
--could have went from bad to worst, but luckily no security person could have heard/understood my Japanese companion when she said "Do they think you have a bomb?"
--hanged out in the First Class lounge area, thx to my Japanese companion (who was flying to Japan that day). Free snack foods, anyone?
--short flight to Vancouver, longer lines just to get thru Canadian customs to catch the next flight to Toronto
--almost missed flight to Toronto, because of customs. Even the baggage guy said you wont make it. But this other guy and i decided to run across the airport anyways in hopes to catch our flight.
--we barely made it, only after sweating to death from running
--so, we were the last one on the plane, ready to leave, when the plane decided to delay the flight a bit for some late passengers from Victoria...MUTHAFUCKA!
--inflight movie was Blue Crush, but couldn't watch it cuz of broken audio at our seats
--got into Toronto at 9 pm, picked up by Danny and friends, ate and then went home to sleep (not with Danny and friends)

Day 1: Last Minute Xmas Shopping in Toronto

--went for my traditional first day back in Toronto trek to Downtown Toronto. To some, its a really a death march...to me its a daily route.
--checked out Downtown Toronto and all things that has changed
--also did some last minute shopping
--actually, more like "see what's good to buy on boxing day" last minute shopping
--malls were packed like it was in the US, but it doesn't bother me, because I walked Downtown. Never had to deal with the bullshit that is traffic and parking
--met up with Danny for some last minute drive/shopping at Costco and Ikea (out in the boonies of Toronto)
--also went to the lone Krispy Kreme of T.O where I dazzled my friends with my Krispy Kreme "Buy one dozen, get second dozen for free" card
--there, I also got to see my friend Monica and her friend Corrine, who happened to my classmate back in KINDERGARDEN. I haven't seen her for technically 20 years.
--she works at a bookstore and is incredibly sarcastic about everything

Day 2: Lazy Xmas Eve

--done most of my shopping yesterday and things close early today, so what to do?
--watch movie
--finally went to see, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and I am so glad I waited till I saw it in Toronto
--got to see the damn movie on an IMAX screen! It was awesome! Even though we sat one row back from the front, there wasn't a bad seat in the house!
--here's the review:

--Movie Review: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: 4.5 Denstars (out of 5)
About a bunch of your geeky friends that play Dungeons and Dragons come to life and there battle to save "Middle-Earth". Wow. I really enjoyed this movie. Thought it was much better than the first one, but then again, I was half asleep watching that. The battle scenes were INCREDIBLELY epic. The Gollum was one of the best CG characters I have ever seen. Hard to believe it wasn't real. Did I mention I watched it on an IMAX screen? UNBELIEVABLE.

--later went for dinner with my sister and her husband at this Chinese restaurant that we always seem to go to whenever I come back. Hmmm
--it also has all these pictures of Stephen Chow on the walls. Could this restaurant be owned by Mr. Shaolin Soccer himself? Hmmmm

Day 3: A White Xmas

--woke up today and it was snowing! I haven't seen snow in ages. It was truely a white xmas!
--dinner with my sister's husband's rich family in Richmond Hill. Nuff said...

Day 4: Boxing Day Madness

--should be shopping but instead at this internet cafe filling out my blog! What the HELL am I doing?!!!!

Company Xmas Party

--Friday nite, got to attend my first real office Xmas party. I say "first" because all the parties I have attend at Angel dont count...they are NOT your typical office party. TRUST ME...
--I have been given fair warning how bad NST Xmas parties have been, with stories of how one past party was in jepardy from lack of attendance because of how BAD the last party was...
--the party was not bad. It was at the Seattle Space Needle and it was Casino Nite, where we could play and win "funny money" for some okay prizes.
--the casino part was fun...really fun. I played and gambled like there was no tomorrow. Sure, I lost all my chips, but I at least walked away with a slight understanding of how to play craps.
--the dinner was great too. Really good food.
--now the bad parts..
--for entertainment, we actually had a magician perform for us. A magician...doing parlor slight of hand tricks I saw when I was eight. Thought he was slightly funny, I couldn't tell you the number of time I rolled my eyes back in disgust. His show kept on dragging way too long too. This was one of the first time in my life I REALLY WANTED A DRINK!!
--I got to sit at the table with one of the "assholes" of the company. Now, he's really not THAT bad of a guy and I do like working with him, but there are times he pisses me off. Like tonite. Basically, he came late with his wife and joined our table, without even introducing his wife to the table (who none of us have met). Because of that, we had incredible awkward moments of silent. It was REALLY bad. I did what i can to help start a conversation, but it was very difficult. Finally, we all started talking and HE STILL NEVER INTRODUCED US TO HIS WIFE! Later that nite, I saw him introduce his wife to other ppl at the party. What an asshole!
--oh yeah. I also got to experience one of those cliche office Xmas party thingie, in which someone had just a little bit too much to drink and said something REALLY bad about a certain chairman's wife in which EVERYONE heard. MAN, it was REALLY bad. Someone can get fired for that.
--but a overall good nite. I got to dress up really nice, enjoy good food, gambled a bit and even walked away with a couple of gifts and prizes even though I lost all my "money" at the tables.
--after the party, headed to Fremont in Seattle, for some drinks at some really packed bar filled with "post college kids who just got out and working."
--oh yeah, pictures coming soon....

Stressin' and Goin' Home

I will be back home tomorrow. Back in Toronto. I cannot wait.

This year has been a very busy year. But these last couple of months have been very stressful for me. Just so much to do, not just at work, but in life in general.

It has also been a very stressful to some of my friends too, back in Toronto. A lot has happen to them too and when they were stressed and needed someone to talk to, I sometimes wasn't there for them, because of how busy and stress out I was here. I do what I can, but it can be really hard.

Anyways, I go home to relieve stress and I hope I can relieve the stress of my friends as well. It will be good to see them all..

First Off I Want To Say...

24 is the SHIT!!! Never has a TV show manage to grab my attention for a whole episode and then pull the rug RIGHT UNDER YOU, EVERY FUCKIN EPISODE!! My jaws literally drops after every episode and then I have to wait a whole week to find out what will happen next (and the cycle continues).

But now I have to wait 3 weeks for the next episode! Damn you FOX!

Den Den vs. Buckets: The Blog Wars

I think its funny to see these two go at each other to see who updates the most frequent on their respected chronicles/journals.

We should all join in the fun! Check out:

Bucket's Live Journal

and

Densetsu Chronicles

Though, Buckets is updating more than Mr. Den Den, Buckets is starting to fill his journal with uninteresting "filler" materials (slash dot rip off anyone?). We will have to see how this plays out in the next couple of weeks.

And Speaking of Den Den...

I forgot I saw a movie this weekend, The Hot Chick starring Rob Schneider. When I was watching this movie, I couldn't help but think of Denny and his NUMEROUS rants about how hot chicks have a double standard and can get away with a lot of things most of us can. This movie was ALL about that! Anyways, the review:

--Movie Review: The Hot Chick: 3.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About this hot chick and her battle to survive becoming Rob Schneider. I like stupid movies. No, I really do. I love those Adam Sadler, Rob Schnieder, SNL type of films. This one I thought was okay. It had its very funny moments. It even teaches you what it means a half Korean/half black person (?) I think it would have been even funnier to watch if the theatre was packed when I went (it barely was). Recommended for Denny to watch, proving his theory about hot girls.

Rainy Season

Its OFFICIAL! Its FINALLY the rainy season here in Seattle. Since I have been here, it has been ABNORMALLY dry here in Seattle. I mean, EVERYONE tells me this, followed by the fact I will hate it when it DOES start raining. Well, it has. It rained pretty much all this past week. And pretty hard too.

Now, you would think all this non rain would be good thing but in actual fact its not. The lack of rain has really been hurting the ski industry here. EVERYONES been waiting patiently for it to snow in the mountains so they can open up for some skiing and snowboarding action. This week it has happen and I guaranteed every ski resort around here will be packed this weekend. In fact, a good 5 ppl from work left to go snowboarding early Saturaday morning.

The only bad thing about all this rain, for me, is I have to learn to drive in it, since I had very experience in it (San Diego doesn't rain!)...

Meeting People and Running People Over

Speaking of driving in the rain...

This Friday I had to drive down to Downtown Seattle for a "social"/toy drive. My friend David and I take turns driving each other whenever we go downtown. Though, I insisted that he drive, it was my turn to drive the both of us down.

Now, I HATE driving downtown! Partly because I still dont know the downtown core as much. Partly because I still suck at driving. And it was raining too. David sez I have to learn to driving downtown and he was willing to help. Plus, he doesn't think I drive THAT bad.

I nearly hit a pedestrian crossing the street downtown. I REALLY almost hit a guy. I couldn't really see anything. David pretty much had a heart attack and I dont think I will be driving us down anytime soon (which was fine with me).

Oh yeah...the "social" was great. Met a lot of cool people and played probably the best game of pool I ever had (though I still lost because I "scratch" while going after the 8 ball...but it was probably a good idea to lose the game to a couple of girls). Met this one girl from Toronto, we just talked about all the different types of food we miss from Toronto...Street Hog Dogs, Roti's, Jerk Chicken, Panzerotti, Jamaican Beef Patties from Bathurst Street Station...oh my. Can't wait to go home :(

Stupid Drivers

Speaking of bad drivers...

So, I am in the Fred Meyers' parking lot on Saturday night (where I'm usually at) where I hear the honking of car. I look up and I see this car speeding down the parking lot past me. Scared the heck out of me, but it really scared this other couple who were right in the path of that car. Now the car didn't hit them, but you knew the car was in somekind of rush.

Now, it would be "kinda" understandable that they were trying to get out the lot as soon as they can, but the fact was, the car actually turned down another lane in the parking lot. It was speeding to get to a PARKING space! And remember, it was late at night, around 10 pm where there was plenty of spaces.

Anyways, I watched as the couple actually started running towards the car as it parked. Then I heard a screaming match (mostly from the couple) towards the 2 ladies inside the car. I thought it was the funniest thing I ever saw, but they deserved it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREA!

May you always find and afford the right BC BG Max Azria dress/bathing suit/underwear whenever you go shopping (and I can always be called upon to help ;) )

Speed Dating

I heard about Speed Dating recently on the news the other day. They said its from Canada, and though Danny confirmed that they do do speed dating in coffee shops in Toronto, my friend here in Seattle sez its been around for awhile here. Anyhoo...I had the opportunity to try it last nite (saturday).

Basically, they have a bunch of girls sit at different tables, at one side of the table arranged in a "circle" while the males sit on the other side. When you are sitting in front of someone, you have 4 minutes (actually, its supposed to be 7 minutes...they cut it shorter to allow more ppl to do it) to talk to that person and get to know them. After 4 minutes, a bell is rung and all the guys had to shift one table and move and talk to the next girl for the next 4 minutes...and so on. Its basically a way to get to know a lot of ppl in one night and to eliminate the ackwardness of talking to someone new for the first time.

There were also some basic rules you had to follow to, but no one knew what was the right rules or not. You were NOT supposed to asked where they work (though many girls didn't care). You had to ask the questions provided for you (which we didn't...they were lame..."What's your greatest fear?(!)" kinda questions). Some girls didn't even want to answer any of your questions (biatches!). And after all this is done, you are supposed to tell your host who "interested" you and if that "interested" person was also "interested" in you, they get you their contact information. That of course, didn't happen because of how disorganized it was...so you had to do your own "networking" afterwards (side note: it was this disorganized because this was a free promo version of speed dating. The real speed dating parties, you would have to pay to attend and its much more organized and meet more ppl as well).

I had an okay time with this. I got to talk to about 9 different girls, all who ranged from cool to stuck-up to BORING. I mean, the really boring/uninteresting one, well, we had moments of ackward silents...how can you have ackward silents in a 4 minute conversation?! Also, it did feel a lot like this was some kind of job interview and after your couple of "speed dates", you kinda get bored answering the same questions over and over again.

I also had a lot fun just watching it. I watched the next session and it was fun to see my other friends do it, as well as watching the "creepy" guys do their things. There was this one guy that all the girls told me about how much of an asshole he was. I knew immediately who he was.

And for the record, I did get one phone number out of this...so the night wasn't a total lost...

Fun fun fun...

Its OFFICIAL! I ma comin' home...

On Friday, late at night, I got the final approval to get 2 weeks off for the holidays (instead of the 1 and a bit week off). Because of that, I decided to go home (Toronto...not San Diego) for the holiday. I got my tickets (though kinda last minute and expensive) and will be flying back Sunday Dec 22 and staying til Sunday Jan 5th 2003. So, for all those in Toronto at that time, I WANT TO SEE YA ALL!

You know, I really NEED this break. I can't believe how much of a year this has been. So much has happen and really no real time off either. Sure, I went back to Toronto in April but that was for a funeral, and there was that time between jobs I had, but that's when I did my packing and driving and such. So, I am really looking forward to this. Plus, this is the first Xmas in like 3 years that i got to spend it back in Toronto (I was always stuck in the US then).

I can't wait...

Unique Anniversary

You know what? I just remembered something. This past Sunday was December 1st. December 1st is when I officially started working in the USA at Angel Studios 4 years ago. Wow...I have been here in the US for 4 years now. And what better way to celebrate my 4 years here than to spend it in Canada (I was in Vancouver last weekend)...Yeah!

Garage Sale

What a wonderful surprise this morning. Today, when I came in to work early, I forgot today was Nintendo's annual Garage Sale. Basically, its a huge house cleaning where they try to get rid of all these old, overstock games for insane prices (and all for the United Way charity). Since I started here, everyone would tell me about this huge Garage sale they have and where I can find tons of game and how much I would love it. Boy were they right.

It was MADNESS today. There was a line up in the morning, just to get in. When it all started, it was utter chaos. There was games everywhere, in huge piles in which you had to dig to find stuff. And you will never know what you will find. Sometimes, the most rarest of games.

I spent a lot of money today. I just couldn't stop. Even though games were like anywhere from 25 cent (NES games) to 15 bucks (Gamecube Games), I bought a lot and it really added up. All I really wanted were Gameboy games, in which I did get quite a few titles, but when you start going thru some of the NES and SNES pile and memories start to come back, then you just can't resist in picking up a few copies. And I dont even have my NES here either (still in Toronto). And not only did I pick up games, I also got a SNES and a Virtual Boy, both for like 5 bucks each!

Here's a run down of what I got:

33 Gameboy/Gameboy Color games (Mary Kate and Ashley!)
2 Sega Saturn (?) (Sega Touring Car!)
12 NES games (Super Mario Bros 3!)
10 N64 games (Goldeneye, UNOPENNED!)
4 Virtual Boy games (for my new VB system)
8 SNES games (Street Fighter 2!)
1 Gameboy Printer
1 Gameboy Pocket (2 bucks!)
1 N64 Cleaning Kit

Though I spent a lot (around $70), hey, it is for charity so I dont feel too bad. But I am glad its only once a year...

HAPPY BELATED BELATED BIRTHDAY LEILA!

I love you more than that "other" guy...

Thanksgivin' Dinner #2: Dinner with Digipen Teachers

er...scratch that...lets begin this entry with my traditional post Thanksgivin' Best Buy run and a surprise Thanksgivin' dinner (er...lunch?)...

Best Buy

--before going to work on Friday (yes, work...the day after Thanksgivin'...i had things to do), I decided to go to Best Buy here to take advantages of those wonderful after Thanksgivin' sales
--personally, I tried to avoid malls and shopping places after Thanksgivin' but I told myself, "what the heck, it can't be THAT busy!"
--boy was I wrong
--20 minutes to park, another 20 minutes to ring my purchases
--there were only OK sales. I picked up Monsters Inc. DVD and Beauty and the Beast DVD for 12 bucks each and the 2nd season of Transformers (geek! geek!) on DVD.
--then went to work

Thanksgivin' Dinner #1.5: Lunch at Cafe Mario

--because there are ppl forced to work on Friday (I wasn't forced...just thought I should come in to catch up), they offered a free meal at Mario Cafe (our cafeteria) to everyone there.
--it was a nice gesture, especially since I noticed how many cars were at our parking lots today. Mostly customer service ppl (the ones on the phone) but its good to know that if your systems are fucked up over the holiday, there's always SOMEONE at Nintendo ready to help!
---Mmmmm...free spagetti dinner *insert Homer Simpson gargle*

Thanksgivin' Dinner #2: Dinner with Digipen Teachers

--afterwork (around 6 ish), i went to my second Thanksgivin dinner, this one hosted by ol' Digipen teacher, Persanna!
--most of my close Digipen co workers/classmates were all there...and even Claude showed up!
--the turkey was great, made by Rory himself. We also had Ham and Tandori Chicken.
--we had SOOO MUCH food. Everyone brought desert and it was ALL good. We ate a lot.
--Claude told some great stories about past Digipen students that no one keeps touch with and memorized some other guest with his knowledge of the C language.
--though I did talk to other ppl, I ended up spending most of my time with the "kids". I seem to have this thing with kids as I am usually having the most fun with the kids. Kids love me, I guess.
--Highlight of the night...watching Persanna pass out in front of us and us taking turns piling toys on him and taking compromising pictures with him and he STILL didn't wake up.

Vancity

--as a spur of the moment thingy, I ended up going to Vancouver this weekend with my friend Vivek. He just bought a new car and wanted to drive to Vancouver and show it off to friends there. I tagged a long.
--I have been reluctant to go up to Vancouver mostly because I was really busy and I am also really afraid to cross the border with my work visa. It would have been easy to cross it...just a pain to come back if the US border guys were asshole that day.
--I went because I haven't been back in Vancover for over 4 years. And I had nothing better to do. And I needed a break.
--Vancouver takes about 2~3 hours to drive from Seattle.
--the moment I crossed the border and entered into the city of Vancouver, I was overwhelmed with emotions and memories. It all came back to me.
--got to walk around Downtown Vancouver on Robson and Granville. Hit a couple of shops, bought tons of magzines, bought something from Roots and ate "ghetto pie" (93 cent pizza slice) at the SAME place we ate everyday for lunch back during our Digipen dayz.
--also got to check out Metrotown Center. There's a lot more than I remember.
--really spent most of my weekend with drunk Mexican ppl playing cards and trying to teach me to speak Spanish. I learn nothing!
--I did learn a new card game. It was called "31"
--drove back Sunday nite around 7pm. Didn't get home til 12 midnite because the borders were completely jammed with holiday spending Americans. We were stuck at the border for a good hour and a half.
--I got NO hassle whatsoever at the border. This was a good and bad thing (good, cuz I didn't haven to deal with customs...bad cuz I was supposed to get a new stamp in my passport which would have made it easier the next time I come up...oh well).
--Vancouver is a new drug for me. I want to come back again. In fact, I want to go back every weekend...in fact, I want to go back NEXT weekend!
--oh how I miss Vancouver.

6000 Hitz

It just keepa comin', no? I write the crap that ppl keep coming to read...Wonder how many hits would I get if I actually HAD an interesting life...hmmmm...

Thanksgivin' Dinner #1: Dinner with Digipen Students

--one of Digipen interns working under me invite for Thankgivin' turkey at his place on Thanksgivin' since he knew I had no where else to go (no family or friends :( )
--dinner (lunch?) started at like 1 pm...I showed up at 4 pm because I slept in from working til 6:30am trying to send a build to Japan.
--dinner consist of 10 guys from Digipen and one girl. Yup, THIS MUST be Digipen.
--girl was there because one of the guys there was her boyfriend. And he made it known to everyone there that she was with him, by always affectionally holding her infront of everyone. Must be some kind of Digipen "I have a women and you dont" trophy mentality.
--okay, dont want to be mean but man, some of these guys were incredibly geeky. I mean, we weren't THAT geeky back in our Digipen dayz, were we? Most of them were even too shy to start a conversation with me. I actually talked a lot with the lone chick who was there (not from Digipen) who wasn't shy or geeky.
--day was mostly spent talking and playing video games. watching Anime and watching my copy of Shaolin Soccer. Yup, this IS Digipen.
--I still had fun, though. The turkey was very tasty and I brought some pineapple cake which was surprisingly good.
--tomorrow nite, another Thanksgivin' dinner...this time, with my old Digipen teacher.

HAPPY AMERICAN TURKEY DAY!!

Its like 1am on Thanksgivin' morning...and I am still at work...

joy...

New Cell Phone Number

Just to let some of you know, I changed my cell phone number to a local Redmond number (too many of my friends here complained about calling long distance to talk to me).

I have contacted most of you that is affected by this phone number change but if I missed you, please contact me to let me know and i will pass my new phone number to you.

That is all..."continue swimming naked..."

PLAY Time!

I am such cultured guy. I went to see a play on Friday instead of watching the newest Bond movie!

--Play Review: Sex in Seattle: Episode I and II: 4.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About a 4 Asian American women and their battle to have normal relationships in Seattle. This is not really a play but more of a "reading" in which they carry and read their scripts on stage AND do do some acting as well. A funny look at relationships in the 21 century, even funnier if you actually are from Seattle. Has a few great Asian references (Karaoke was a running theme). The wierd thing is this was an ENCORE showing of Episode 1 and 2...the next one is Episode 6 in March, so I will be missing 3, 4 and 5 when I go watch Episode 6. Oh well...

A Nice Gesture

The other day I went to ATT Wireless store to pick up a new SIM card so I can FINALLY change my cell phone no. to a local number (I still have my Carlsbad number which is pissing off my Seattle friends who want to call me...cheapskate!). A new SIM card cost like $25. Anyways, the ATT clerk just gave me one for FREE, because he had a extra one around that was not needed. Wow...nice ppl rule!

Its OFFICIAL: I am a Seattlite!

Finally got my Washington Driver's License and Washington License Plates and Tags. Took me awhile too. Just plain lazy really. But 2 main factors got me to finally do the deed:

1) Fellow co work Ed from Utah, who just got started here, got pulled over because he still has Utah plates. Cop sez they are really cracking down on out of state plates. I never got pulled over but I think its because California plates and Washington plates are hard to distinguish from a far.

2) My auto insurance decided to deny me until I send them a Washington License number.

So, now that I got that stuff done, you think all my problems are over, right?...

Just in Time, too!

Today, driving to work, I got my FIRST SPEEDING TICKET (ever)! I take this back road to work everyday which has a speed limit of 25 miles/hours. This speed limit is kinda retired because there is rarely any traffic, the street is very wide and its on a gentle hill. Its very hard to actually drive under 25 miles/hour, in fact, you go even faster if you just roll. Anyways, its also a well know speed trap and normally, I drive 25~30 but today I was just NOT paying attention.

Anyways, I was driving 40 here and I did argue with the officer to let me off because I just moved here, it was my first ticket ever AND I just got my license and plates and stuff. He wrote me the ticket anyways because I was 15 over the speed limit (if I was only 10, he sez he would have let me go). I am also SOOO glad I got my license and plates because he would have probably nailed me on that too. But he did tell me to contest it with the courts because it was my first. So right now, I am trying to figure out what's the best thing to do, contest it or pay? I will let you know...

BTW, the ticket is for $114 (US)! Mo' money, mo' problems...

Japanese People Week

To answer Akane's wonderful question, last week the Japanese came. We had guest from Japan, who came to review, critique and offer suggestions to my current project. This took the form of day long meetings, from 10 am to 10 pm, for 2 day straight. It was very intense but we definately learned a lot.

You know, the great thing about living here in Seattle, is that there are some great Japanese restaurants here. What's even better, there are many Japanese ppl who I work with who know what the GOOD Japanese restaurant are. And what's even better, lot of these Japanese ppl have big expense account and who love to take me out to lunch to enjoy all these wonderful restaurant. I am fed well...

To end Japanese People Week, I ended up chatting with my Japanese friend about her "boobs". I just nodded and pretty much said everything she wanted to hear. Because you never want to talk to a girl about if she's fat or if her boobs are too small. That's just crazy talk!

Movies, Movies, MOVIES!

Geez...for a guy who works like 10 to 10 everyday, I sure have time to watch movies.

--Movie Review: Warren Miller's Storm: 3.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About this Warren Miller film guy and his battle to make a skiing/snowboarding documentry every year! Yet another Warren Miller movie with its typical beautiful and breathtaking shots of snow. Though its called Storm and they hint throughout the movie that they are "chasing storms" to snowboard/ski thru, it was really a disappointment to see none of that (oops...I gave away the ending!) Good movie to get you in the mood to head up to Whisler.

--Movie Review: The Ring.: 4.5 Denstars (out of 5)
About some reporter chick and her battle to find out more about a tape that kills ppl after you watch it. This is a BRILLANT remake of that Japanese horror movie, Ringu. I was very skepitcal going in but I was just blown away how great this movie was. Its really not that scary but boy did it give me a great chill down my spine near the end of the movie. Even after the movie, I still think about this movie! Its that good! Watch it now! Hey, the movie takes place in Seattle! It was filmed in Seattle! I live in Seattle!

--Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.: 4.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About some kid in some wizard school and his battle to be that student that you all secretly hated. Funny thing (actually many funny things)...I hated this book but I think this movie was really good and entertaining and works in a movie form and I even thought this movie was better than the first Harry Potter movie. I just think all the characters were just wonderful to watch and follow. You know, I saw this movie late at nite...just like the last one. But I also came late to this movie so I was forced to site RIGHT in the front row, looking up to watch and really straining my back. Plus, I was sitting in front of a bunch of annoying kids who kept quoting lines from the book! Aggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Actually, my friends had it worst. They sat somewhere else in front of these 20 something guys who kept talking and saying "Would you fuck him?!" throughout the whole movie! Now, that's FUNNY!

Kona Kitchen

Checked out this new Hawaiian restaurant in Seattle. Actually, this restaurant is owned by that Yuji Okimoto, that BAD ASS that got beaten up by that white guy in Karate Kid part II and also the MC of that gala I went to last week (see post below). Anyways, he kept pluggin his restaurant at the gala so we decided to check it out.

The food was alright at "Yuji's Place" (in which we now affectionally call it) . It's actually less Hawaiian and more typical American. But anything with SPAM is good.

Yuji and his wife were there too running the place. They remembered us and were very nice with us as well. Yuji even took a picture with us. One day I will post that picture...one day.

Fred Meyers

There's a new Fred Meyer's that just openned up near my apartment and right across the street from Target. I never really cared too much for Fred Meyer's...I always considered it a bastard version of Walmart/Target. Boy was I wrong.

This new Fred Meyer's IS HUGE and HAS EVERYTHING in one place. Not only does it have everything Walmart or Target would have, but it even has a full Supermarket in it...and an Starbucks...and a Pharmacy...AND its openned from 7am to 11pm! I guess we all know where I will be spending my Saturday nites ;)

Other Reasons Why My Halloween Sucked...

Actually four reasons:

Halloween in SF <--with the SF crew...that Rock'em Sock'em getup was awesome (second album too)!

Halloween in Austin <--with the Austin boyz...Beastie Boys look was cool but the Ambious Gay Duo took the cake.

Angel's/Bert's Annual Halloween Party <--this year's theme, Lord of the Rings.

SDAFF Costume Party <--featuring those SevenOhFive guys (well, it is their album)

Oh yeah...

Saw a free movie last nite on Nintendo...basically it was to premier the new Metroid Prime and Zelda trailers before the movie.

Anyways, the movie review...

--Movie Review: I Spy.: 2.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About a...oh hell...it sucks. Nuff said.

My Big Bad Toe 10: The Final Operation

Today I had my final toe surgery which consist of lots of painful needles in my toe. It was very painful. Then toe was numb for operation. Operation consist of putting chemicals on the edges of my new narrower toe nail to prevent it from growing out any more.

Its now like 10:30pm at nite. I left work EARLY (9:30pm) cuz the painkillers on my toe was wearing off and its getting painful. Its painful now...need my Vicodin NOW!!!

Oh sweet sweet Vicodin...

23rd Annual NAAAP Seattle Scholarship Gala

So, last Saturday I was invited to attend this scholarship gala hosted by the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) of Seattle. Wow! They actually think that I am a business professional!!?! Actually, I was there as an volunteer to help them out and even though I was a volunteer, I still had to pay like 60 bucks for a seat at this gala! Oh well...it is a fundraiser and its for a good cause so I didn't mind.

Okay...rewind a couple of hours. So, I am in downtown Seattle. I had lunch with my current boss and my past boss (Fred from SD) who was in town. I was driven downtown for lunch and I had ride back after the gala, so I was carless in Seattle. So, I am walking around Seattle for a couple of hours carrying my suit in a heavy bag, killing some time before the gala and constantly thinking to myself, "Did I forget something?' Oh yeah...I did...my tie!

Now, I could have worn my suit outfit without a tie and I still look good. But because I was attending this gala with a lot of REAL professional who I really wanted to make a good impression on because of networking possiblities. So, I needed a tie. About 1 hour before I was supposed to show up, I scrambled for a solid black tie. Went to Norstrom first...they wanted to charge me 100 bucks for this one tie! Next, I found a Bon Marche and they ran out of solid black ties (thx to Halloween costume goers for needed them for their costumes!). Instead, they offered me this off black greyish metallic tie. It was better than nothing so I took it.

Okay...sad and embrassing point about me now. I DONT KNOW HOW TO TIE A TIE! Everytie I own its already "pre-tie". Its sad really. Anyways, before I bought it, I made the clerk tie it for me. She also gave me a hand out on how to tie a tie. Now, that's really sad...

The gala was held at the W Hotel in Downtown Seattle. The W is a very famous, hip and trendy hotel chain in which famous ppl like to hang out in. The bartender told us that Janet Jackson was here last. Anyways, very nice hotel and very happy to be there.

The gala was fantastic. My only volunteering duties was arranging name tags and working the coat check and then I was allowed to sit and eat and enjoy the gala with everyone else. The gala was hosted by Yuji Okamoto, who played the BAD ASS in Karate Kid part 2. Remember him? He was very funny and did a great job hosting the event.

The best time I had was actually after the gala, during the afterparty schmoozing. Here, I met tons of wonderful ppl and talked eat other's ears off. I got a lot of business cards to prove it too. Afterwards, a couple of us headed towards the International District for a late nite dinner at the Purple Dot Cafe, a trendy and popular Hong Kong style restaurant. Here, I got to embrass myself by having a near organism eating the noodles there and telling my tie story to everyone. I got know ppl even better there and met even more ppl, including the manager of the restaurant who even gave me a VIP card for a 10% discount on all food there! AWESOME!

It was a good time...

New Pictures From the Gala

Wanna see pictures from the gala? Check it out here on page 3~4:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/adventures_in_volun/

I didn't take too much pictures so I decided not to put it into a new album, instead be apart of my "Adventures in Volunteering" album (since this was a volunteer gig).

And since I did update that album, I also put in MEANINGFUL titles for some of the past pics in that album, including descriptions on my adventures during the 2002 San Diego Comic Con! Check them out!

Now, if only I had time to put witty MEANINGFUL TITLES for some of my other pics? *sigh* One day...

Shitty Halloween

Well...its started ok...Went to work early and brought some candy for all. I also dressed up in my Hawaiian Tourist getup, which turns out, I was like the ONLY person who really dressed up today at work. Oh well...

As the day passed by, it just got worst. More pressure was presence on finishing stuff for Friday and the more the stressed out I was getting. Then...I was told that what I was working on for the last three day was "not good enough" and higher ups decided to take over and start over. Boy, that made me feel very shitty.

Then we had a whole mess of problems getting a build on a machine workiing and I started yelling at a programmer trying to help...and I was there late just trying to make sure everything went okay and I just wanted to go home.

Just shitty...

Read Below...

Updated that Halloween Saturday entry...so go read it. If not, you can go BITE ME!

PS2 Games 3 for 2

Go to Toy R Us or shop online at Amazon and you can buy 2 BRAND NEW PS2 games and get a THIRD ONE FREE!! I went to Toys R Us and got GTA Vice City, Tony Hawk 4 and Kingdom Hearts. In reality, I only really wanted GTA VC...everything else on the PS2 I think is CRAP! I only gotten Tony Hawk and Kingdom Hearts cuz I think they have the highest re-trade value if I ever want to trade them in after I played with them (I still haven't open them but will).

So, go now to TRU or Amazon! If not, you can go BITE ME!!

Speaking of GTA VC...

GTA Vice City is AWESOME!!! Just went on a crazy chase in golf carts trying to kill this golfer guy on the golf course. And I used a chainsaw to do it! Nuff said...

Go get GTA VC. If not, you can go BITE ME!!!

No Updates

Sorry...internet is down at home for the last couple of days...but a few things to update including new photos...plus I am lazy...oh well...stay tuned.

Halloween Saturday

On Saturday, I went to a Hallowen costume party at some nite club in Seattle. It was hosted by a couple of Asian American young people business professionals of Seattle, including this one Korean American one , which I was told, consisted of really "hot korean girls." You didn't have to ask me twice.

Now, I already got my costume. I was an Hawaiian Tourist, with the cool shirt and hat and sunglasses and nose makeup and lei. Yeah yeah...it was one of those last minute kinda idea for a costume but I did look really good. In fact, remove my hat and I looked like Don Ho!

Actually, my costume was not as last minute as I thought. Because of the night before (read post "Muthafuckin Drunk People"), and the fact EVERYONE WAS DEAD the next day, we didn't to go costume shopping for them till like 9pm that nite!?! And at a Target too!

Anyways, thx to some desperate measures, Array went as some chick with hot red pants and mask; Scott wore pajamas (BTW...Scott (Muthafuckin drunk guy) DIDN'T REMEMBER A DAMN THING FROM THAT NITE!! Bitch remembered nothing I wrote! Muthafucker!)! and Andrew just taped a whole bunch of Mini M&Ms to his shirt.

So, we arrive fashionably late to this party (taping M&Ms to a shirt take time) only to find out, ALMOST NO ONE DRESSED UP!!! Seriously....there was about 1/4 of the ppl there actually wearing a costume and they weren't even really wearing GOOD costumes. I mean, as last minute as our costumes were, WE LOOKED GOOD compared to everyone else. We were kinda pissed but luckly we didn't have to pay to get in (becuz i knew someone who knew someone), though I kinda feel bad about that too since this WAS a fundraiser. Doh!

Actually...to tell you the truth, I was kinda annoyed. It made me feel that the Asian American professionals in Seattle were kinda apathetic here but it also showed me how much promotion (or lack thereof) these organizations did. I think a lot of ppl there were just there to club and they didn't know it was a costume party. This bothers me because I am really interested in volunteering for these organizations but this is NOT impressing me.

But...we did have fun. Andrew got a whole bunch of girls coming up to him for free M&Ms and conversation. I danced the night away and got some great compliments for my costume. Wow...imagine that!

Want more? Check out the photos here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/halloween_2k2/

What are you waiting for? Go now or you can go BITE ME!!!!

Muthafuckin' Drunk People

Okay...I just got home from at nite at Club Medusa in Seattle. Tonite I was the designated driver, which I dont mind, but there's a different between driving drunk ppl home and DRIVING MUTHAFUCKIN DRUNK PEOPLE home.

First off...never let a drunk person give you directions to a club. Getting to this club was one of most chaotic experiences in my life, especially driving in Downtown Seattle with all those damn one way streets ("oh shit, we missed a turn...turned right the next street...oh wait, you can't...find the next street where you can turn right...oh wait...that's a dead end...shit!!")

Fastforward to the after the club (I wont go into details about some of the idiotic things really drunk ppl can do inside a club...pretty standard stuff), I had to put TWO REALLY drunk ppl in my car. We came down in two cars but the rest of my party that came in my car was no where to be found. And Scott (one of the drunk person) was the only one with their cell phone number on his cell. It took about 20 minutes to convince him that we needed his cell phone. He kept telling us to hold on or that he lost it. He was hunched over and he wouldn't move so we can get it.

By that time, when I got the phone, no one picked up so I left some msg. We all really needed to go home so after another 15 minutes, we finally started to drive home (btw, minutes after I started driving, Scott's cell ring and the party that was with us called to say they just got home...)

Okay...2 drunk guys in my car...totally out...and a designated driver (me) who had NO CLUE how to get back home. I must have drove like for 30 minutes before I can find the freeway back home. Downtown Seattle is just horrible for finding anything...not just cuz of all their one way streets, but all their street signs are incredibly small and sometime there are NO SIGNS to tell you where anything is. I almost had to guess that this was the freeway I wanted when I found it. There was only one sign that sez "Freeway Entrance" with nothing telling you if its 5 North or 5 South (it was 5 North I wanted and that was 5 North I got...THERE IS NO SIGN TELLING YOU THIS!!)

Back at Scott's apartment. Homefree right? WRONG! Bitch would not get out of my car! I tried to pull him out, and he wouldn't bludge. I even asked the security at his building to help, but to avail. All he wanted to do was for me to shut my car door cuz he was cold. Muthafucker!!! About like 20 minutes later, he finally started moving, got up on his own will and literally ran into his building. One more guy to drive home.

Vivek (the other drunk guy)...he was more helpful. He got up on his own when asked, fell once and then walked up some stairs to his place. I swear he was also going to fall down his stairs but he didn't.

Thank goodness everyone got home safely. Thank goodness no one vomitted in my car.

Tomorrow nite I go to a Halloween costume party with "hot korean girls". Tomorrow, I am not driving but Scott is. Tomorrow, I am going to be a MUTHAFUCKIN DRUNK PERSON!! Yeah bitch! Deal with that!

*end rant*

5000 Hits!

Thx to the tag board, now I have physical proof to who reads this crap! Muhahahahahahaha...HA!

The History of My Bad Left Big Toe

As some of you may know, I had a really bad left big toe which often gave me a really bad limp when I walked. This was cause my a really nasty ingrown toe tail. Had cuz I finally did something this week about it. Had cuz I had it more than once in the past couple of years. Lets break it down:

Summer of 2000--in grown toe nail starts on right side of my left big toe. Gets worst as time passes, to a point it was hard to wear shoes and walking became a bitch and even became bloody.
Fall of 2000--went to see a doctor. Had surgery that removed half of my toe nail. Toe was in pain for a couple of days and very bloody too. But after that it seem to go away...or did it...
Summer of 2001--accidently kicked concrete with my left foot, wearing sandals. This reintroduced ingrown nail, but this time on BOTH side of the nail on the left foot. Pain, limp walking and bloodly socks came back.
Fall of 2001--went to see a doctor again. This time doctor thinks its really bad so refers me to a foot doctor. Because of our wonderful health system here in the US, I didn't get to see him until...
Winter of 2001--by this time it was REALLY NASTY. Foot doctor saw it and removed MY WHOLE TOE NAIL!! Worst pain then before because the bandages would stick to the open wound/toe everynite I tried to remove it. You can hear me scream in my bathroom everynite.
Spring of 2002--Toe healing fine. There's another procedured that needs to be done that would "narrow" the toe nail and make sure it would never happen again. Both doctor and I thought it would be unnecessary and just let it grow back "naturally". That was fine until...
Summer of 2002--Went to Seaworld and started chasing girls on a huge rope ladder in my sandals. Big mistake. Ingrown toe nail is back and getting worst by the day.
Fall of 2002--Present day. Just this week, I FINALLY went to see a doctor again to get my third toe surgery. It took this long because I couldn't see a doctor dued to the fact I was moving to Seattle and had NO HEALTH COVERAGE for a month! This time after the surgery, it wasn't too painful (maybe desensitize) and now we will definately continue with that second procedure so this will never happen again. Yeah!

The New PS2 Contra is FOOKIN HARD!!

...just wanted to say that. Special thx to Leila who introduced the word "fookin" to me.

Got To Meet "The Man"

You know, "the Man"
..."the legend"
..."the god"
..."mr. shigeru miyamoto"

Had a video conference call with him last nite. He was in Japan, our team was here. Of course, everyone else on the team have met him before, while this was the first time we ever "met". Because of that, everyone on the team was more fasinated by the technology we used to video confence across the ocean ("Wow, you can control THEIR camera too...zoom in to him").

I would be lying if I said this meeting was some "magical" moment in time, really...it was just a typical meeting. Kinda boring, to tell you the truth cuz mostly everyone spoke Japanese. It felt like there should have been subtitles on the video screens. I didn't even really get to say anything to him.

One bad thing about this meeting was it late at night at nite when we had it and I missed the opportunity to see "Spirited Away" that nite too. Hmmm...talk to the god of gaming? or see a movie from the god of anime? *insert Nelly's Dilema song*

Aristocrats (or How to Make a Grown Gay Man Cry)

This Saturday, I got to check out Aristocrats nite club here in Seattle. From everyone who has told me about this place, this is THE Asian nightclub. I was also told this place was incredibly GHETTO! I looked very forward to going out to this.

Before we went, I had to pick up my "crew" and also go visit someone first. Basically, we went to this drunk Japanese girl's place to watch her get more drunk. Supposively, none of my friends with me has ever really seen this girl not drunk. Drunk Japanese girl even had a hard time remembering if anyone has ever been to her place before. I never been to her place at all, but I kept telling her I have. That really confused her.

Anyways...Aristocrats...yeah...lemme list the ways:
--really high cover (like $15 cover)
--got frisked before coming in
--2 dance floors playing almost the EXACT type of music
--most ppl seem like college kids who all just turned 21 (or yet to be 21 but managed to get in) and didn't know what to do with that except drink and start fights
--all drinks were served in plastic cups

OMG! Its ol' school CASA NIte! (CASA==Casablanca==ghetto Asian nite club in Toronto back in tha day).

Did I mention tonite was School Girl nite? All girls dressed up like a school girl got in for free. And boy there were alot of them. And I must admit, some of these girls were incredibly HOT! Not only that...VERY FRISKY. The number of times I saw girls lifting each other skirts or stuffing their money down their bras (or no bras---NOT DISCRETLY). Our female friend with us told us when she went to the a bathroom, all the girls there were squeezing each other's asses to figure out who had the nicest ass. They even asked to squeeze hers.

Oh yeah...I am coming back.

After Aristocrats, we went out for some cream cheese hot dogs (its a Seattle thing...mines was okay...needed to be hotter and more cheese), which is the thing to do after clubbing. So we were waiting in line for them when we started a conversation with 2 gay men who were behind us. We started talking about what we did that nite. The conversation soon shifted to mostly with the girl ("cute bitch" as they called her) that was with us and then all of sudden, out of no where, one of the gay guy started crying and the other gay guy had to hold him and comfort him. THIS WAS REALLY FUCKED UP. What the hell did you say to him?

Turns out, she was talking about him about Aristocrats and how much he liked that place. She then asked him about the last time he went there and he just broke down and cried. Turns out his last boyfriend broke up with him then and there.

Crazy nite, I tell you

New Friend

Check out my good friend/"plugging whore" from Toronto, Mihoshi and her wonderful web journal (even though she was late telling me it exist..ahem)

http://www.xanga.com/mihoshi

New Tag Board!!

LOOKIE LOOKIE!! ----->

This is what you can do when you are really bored on the internet on a Friday nite at 3 am in the morning...

Please tag me to make me feel important...

First Annual NST Outdoor Challenge

Friday, instead of work, we had a company outting to one of those "company-wide, team building, confident building outdoor event." I know what you are all thinking...you are imagining imagery of a bunch of ppl catching each other falling down, or scenes of grown men crying and hugging each other becuz they finally realize its "not their fault." Yeah...I thought the same, but really, it was none of that. As cheesy as most of these types of events sound, it was actually kinda fun...

The company was split into two teams in which we compete (though that was down played) against each other in a series of events that the whole team must work together to do. They included getting the whole team over a tall wall, across a tight rope obstacle course (with no one falling off) and an event that involve the whole team to get across to a platform with only a rope to swing by. All these events involved lots of planning, lots of team work and fair amount of physical skills.

My team ROCKED! Not only were we able to complete all the events, we did them all in record time, faster than the other team. In fact, we had some of the BEST times ever there. Our team was very proud that we worked very well together.

One of our finally events involved a few volunteers from each team (including myself) to strap on some mountain climbing gear and traverse an "obstacle course" high in the trees. I felt like an Ewok in Jedi! Basically, this course mostly consist of tight rope across trees in which one had to balance and walk across, sometimes with NOTHING to hold on. It was kinda scary cuz we were really high up, but it was also kinda fun and exhilarating. I manage to run across a very unbalanced bridge and jump from one platform to another.

There were a lot of pictures taken of this event (not with my camera). I hope to post them soon.

Celtic Bayou

Celtic Bayou is a bar here in Redmond that we often goto on Friday nites. Urban legend has it that this place was started by 2 Microsoft employees who wanted to go to a place where they can have Cajun food while listen to some Celtic music. Such place didn't exist so they started one.

I always enjoyed going to this place. Not only cuz it gave me something to do on Friday nites or that the food was really good here too, but I got to just chill and hang out with my closest friends/co workers of NST. I only been working here for like a couple of months now, and it just feels good to AUTOMATICALLY be part of a cool bunch of ppl because I was classmates with all of them at Digipen. And all we do is just talk and bitch and drink a lot of beers.

And EVERYTIME we went out to the Celtic Bayou, we ALWAYS got into some philsophical debate about something with Persanna. I think tonite was about genetics and race or something like that. Though they may seem to get heated, it mostly about us trying to hit each other's button. Always a good time with Persanna and Sheldon and Tihee and Scott and Vivek and Rory and Alain.

it's shu qi, not qu shi

Densetsu would like to point that out to me...

But technically speaking, its really Hsu Chi

Damn, we know our Asian porn!

Late Canadian Thanksgivin' Dinner

Got invited to a this late Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner at this one guy's place. Turns out this guy is a former University of Toronto engineer, now working for Microsoft and he throw these kinda things for us Canadian living and working here. Cool, so I thought I check it out!

The guy cooked a huge turkey...like a good 20 pounder. Though we came late, there were still plenty of turkey to go around, but all the gravy was gone :( Forced to eat dry turkey sucks.

I got to meet a lot of ppl there. Believe it or not, everyone there was a graduate from University of Toronto (or Waterloo) and they ALL work for Microsoft. In fact, some of them even came from a couple of familar high schools that I know (Earl Haig, anyone?). Small world I tell you.

Anyways, I made a couple of goods friends who tells me that there's a lot of these U of T alumni get togethers in Seattle. It would be cool to hang with them...who knows, I may see someone I know (I did go to U of T for a year).

Oh btw, in case you are wondering, everyone I met there was playing Halo on the Xbox (surprise surprise) when I got there. Fuckin Microsoft!

SDAFF in a Nutshell

Okay Okay...as you can tell below, I said I was going to write my SDAFF weekend and even started but never complete it. Sorry... I have gotten really busy with work and I come home late now (10pm is the norm now) and the last thing I want to do is write really long winded (yet witty) blog entries. So, instead, I will stick to short entries, starting with my brief summary of how the SDAFF weekend was:

--SDAFF was fun.
--Got to go to a whole bunch of parties and got to dance with girls.
--Saw old friends and made tons of new ones.
--Met really cool filmmakers and actors and actresses.
--Got to do a lot at SDAFF including being a Bouncer, a Usher (where I help beautiful ladies down a red carpet), a Silent Auction organizer (in which I was in charge of a bunch of underage college sorority girls working under me) and even got interviewed for a documentary on the film fest.
--Got to see some awesome movies including Bang the Machine (a very funny documentary on Street Fighter video games), My Sassy Girl (Korea's No.1 box office hit), Lolo's Child (a great Canadian Filipino film about domestic violence) and the incredible Better Luck Tomorrow (watch the trailer and watch out for this film early next year...it will change EVERYTHING about Asian in American cinema).
--took tons of pictures. Please besure to check out my photo album for them as well as those other albums I mention below. They tell a better story of what I did.

I had a great time but it made me question why I even left SD when I have some great friends and great time still here in SD. *sigh*

Webcaming

This weekend I got a webcam. It's really cool that I can now broadcast exciting video of me typing on my computer to the world! I actually got to do some video conferencing with my friend in Taiwan. We talked and saw each other typing for hours!

Come chat with me with my webcam so you can check out my place here in Redmond.

What I Did This Weekend

Oh, in case you are wondering...I got home on from Friday nite at 7:30am Saturday morning! Pretty much went home and crashed. Then got up around 4pm to go catch a movie (damn! I haven't written a movie review in ages):

--Movie Review: The Transporter.: 2.0 Denstars (out of 5)
About a "transporter" and his battle to "transport" goods. Alright, I am not going to waste my time reviewing this movie. Its sucks big time! I really wanted to like this movie for its action but the nothing could save it. The story was just horrible. Nothing made sense. I think Jason Statham has a great presence onscreen but he was truely wasted here. And ex porn star Qu Shi is always a pleasure to see. This is a really bad European HK movie.

Afterwards, I had all you can eat sushi buffet with my adopted Hawaiian family. It was Mrs. Wong's last day in Seattle and she asked me to come out to dinner with her and the "kids". It was good times.

Sunday...mostly stayed home and cleaned my room. I did go out but I really didn't do much. I was STILL tired from this whole week. Did manage to catch (finally) a new episode of Alias. I love that show but it took me awhile to understand what was happening because I did miss so much of the season premiere.

And Now, What I did Last Weekend...

Yeah, yeah...its a week late...sue me...without further ado:

My SDAFF Weekend

Okay...it is a week late and my memory of it is slowly going away...damn...

Thursday

--flew into San Diego around 7:40 pm
--someone from SDAFF was supposed to pick me up but I had no idea who. Ended up calling James up and he picked me up.
--got my volunteer's tshirt and headed towards Club Max niteclub next door in Doubletree Hotel
--FIRST VOLUTEER JOB: Bouncer at the club checking IDs before they were allowed in.
--I was such a bad ass checking ppl's IDs with my mini flashlight. I was a even badder bad ass asking ppl to remove their ID from their wallets.
--there was free boba tea given out at this party. I had some while "bouncing."
--THINGS I LEARND AT SDAFF #1: No matter how tough you are, you dont can't look tough while sippin on boba tea!
--Bouncer: Excuse me. Could you please take you ID out of your wallet...*blop blop blop*
--its kinda hard to bounce. You really have to think about the exact date (day and year) in which you had to be born on to be over 21. Needed a pen and paper to figure that out.
--porn star Teanna Kai came to this party! And I got to check her ID! I know her real name now! (April Nguyen something, I think)
--about a hour of bouncing, I was allowed to go party inside! Beers for a buck only too! PARTEE!
--did a lot of photo taking with the Sony Cybershot U10 camera. I had a lot of ppl ask me about it and then I took their picture.
--THINGS I LEARNT AT SDAFF #2: Drunk celebrities dont like to have their pictures taken.
--WHAT A NICE SURPRISE...Tan and Gerry from SF was in town and showed up at this party. Completely unexpected for both of us. If only Jon and Denny were there too.
--danced the nite away with Junvi and met some cool ppl as well, including Joy Bisco (the chick from the Debut) and those 705 boyz. Those guys make great movies. I recommend you check out Three Card Stud and STD: Space Time Destroyers from them. Theyare as funny in real life as they are in their movies.
--
Friday

Saturday

Sunday

I am slowly going crazy...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, SWITCH!

Crazy going slowly am I

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 SWITCH!

Still at work...can you tell?

Still at Work on a Friday Nite

I left Angel for this?! FUCK!!!

Goin Home

Its 3:30am...time to go home...sleep for a couple of hours til I have to do it again...

welcome to Nintendo...

SDAFF Photo Album Update

Guess what?!! Its like 1:30am and I am still at work!!!

Yeah!

And guess what else? I updated my SDAFF Photo Album with meaningful titles! Double Yeah! Check it out here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/3rd_annual_san_dieg/

Back to work...

Still at Work!

Would you believe its like 11pm and I am still at work....and it doesn't look like I get to leave anytime soon...

*in best Jamaican accent* Lord have mercy!!

Lazy SDAFF Post

Okay...its late...still too tired to post about what I did last weekend but I will...

In the meanwhile, I did update my online photo album with my pics from the SDAFF. Check them out here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/3rd_annual_san_dieg/

To tell you the truth, a lot of the pictures I took was with that Sony Cybershot U10 camera and though it was cool and easy to carry around and I did get a lot of attention, the camera I think, only took OK shots, if it came out at all. There was a lot of pictures that didn't come out in which I did not post. And its very hard to know if a picture came out or not cuz the viewfinder screen on the camera is so small. Oh well...its stiil an awesome camera for clubbing and stuff but not for taking serious pictures.

Still interested in checking out other pictures from SDAFF? Check them out these other albums:

http://www.visualwow.com/pages/gallery.php?event=3934
http://www.sevenohfive.com/festivals_html/sdaff.html<----this album is from the 705 crew. Incredibly funny!

I promise to post my thoughts (and put meaningful titles on my photos) soon...

Back To Seattle

I am back in "Sea Town"...got off the plane a couple of hours ago...now at work...very tired...will write about my wonderful adventures soon...

Californication

Driving last nite afterwork (around 11pm), Californication from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was playing on the radio on my short ride home. I thought it was very fitting for this weekend.

In a couple of hours from now, I will boarding a plane back to San Diego for the weekend, to help out the San Diego Asian Film Festival that I worked as a volunteer during the times I was still there. Its going to be an exciting weekend, not cuz of all the cool films I may get to see or of the many cool ppl I will probably meet, but I get to come back to San Diego one last time and see a lot of ol' friends. I had a bittersweet relationship with SD but I do miss her.

Its going to be an awesome weekend. There's a party at E Street on Friday and there's a Gala I get to attend on Saturday where ppl who are attending pay like $200 a seat and everyone is going to be dressed up. You know I ma going to look good...

Dont worry...I plan to take alot of pictures. I will be borrowing Sheldon's tiny Sony Cybershot U10 camera to the event. That's going to attract a lot of attention!

Laser Ketchup

Did anyone see those new Heinz squeezable ketchup bottles in the stores, lately? The ones that stand upside down?

Well, be warned. If you ever try to squeeze ketchup out of it, the damn thing shoots out like a laser! Seriously, the ketchup comes out in a very thin, concentrated blast of tomato goodness. Its actually kinda cool. Check it out! It is cool! Have I ever been wrong?

Weekend Highlights

oh...this is what I did this weekend...fun fun fun!

Friday

--went and had sushi (I Love Sushi <--name of restaurant) in Downtown Seattle with friend who works at Microsoft
--went to club (The Last Supper Club <--name of nightclub) with him and met up with some of his friends
--at club, they were filming an episode of EliminDate. Watch 2 guys sandwich this one girl in order to show their affection, for her to choose. It was like a very typical episode of EliminDate (not like I watch...really...I dont), one guy was clean cut, the other one dressed all "wild". Tough decision for the girl, I guess.
--so, at last I am with a group of ppl who DONT WORK WITH ME!! I am actually hanging out with ppl outside of work! Not only that, but there's GIRLS TOO (hee hee). TAKE THAT MALE DOMINATED GAME INDUSTRY!!!
--actually those girls were really nice and friendly and were incredible dancers. I didn't have my best stuff cuz I really couldn't dance to the music :( but still a good time.
--just wait till they see my good stuff! Muhahahahahaha...

Saturday

--Ikea! Went back to Ikea
--bought 2 "Billy" bookshelves (the really big ones)
--there's nothing like a Saturday nite by yourself with Ikea furiture. woo eee!
--spent all nite putting the damn thing together
--now I can finally settle in and sort my shit out of my cardboard boxes and into my new bookshelves
--ETA on sorting my shit into my bookshelves: ~another month...

Sunday

--woke up with a really bad sore thoat
--please note, for the last 4 years, since I moved to San Diego, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SICK! Its the wierdest thing, but I have never gotten a cold or sore thoat or anything.
--but I was woken up by are really painfully and scratchy thoat
--force myself to the drug store, stocked up on many different variety of thoat mediation
--later that nite, went to dinner with my San Diegan friend, Pualani who was up in Seattle visitng relatives.
--got to hang out with her family that were up there.
--had an incredibly time with them. Met some really nice ppl who treated me like their family. Even paid for my expensive Sushi dinner.
--these past weekends, I think I had been adopted into 3 different families.
--I got some awesome Hawaiian cookies out of it too.
--thx Pooh_bers...you are the best and I hope you enjoy Animal Crossing

Got off work early today...

Tonite's meeting ended at 10 pm instead of the grueling 10:30 pm timeslot...WOOPEEE!! what to do with this extra time? time to go do some shopping and get me some frozen hash browns and ketchup...YEEE HAW!!

Its APPROVED! I am coming back to San Diego

Finally spoke to my superiors about that plane ticket I bought about a month ago to come back to SD during the San Diego Film Fest. And they let me go! YEAH! I will be coming back for a little bit over a weekend to help out the film fest. Don't know how much ppl I can actively go seek out and see becuz I will be mostly at the film fest, but I hope ppl will come out to film fest and see me then too. Should be fun.

This will be my last "vacation" until the game I am working on is done (sometime in the early new year). This even means, no Xmas trip back to Toronto for me :( Oh well...small price to pay to work here.

7pm Meeting

Tonite, I just got back home around 11pm....that's cuz I had a meeting at 7pm tonite that didn't END TIL 10:30pm! And I am expected to do the same tomorrow!!! Welcome to NST!

Here's that Animal Crossing post I promised...

IT'S GOOD! YOU PLAY NES GAMES! YOU TALK TO OTHER ANIMALS! YOU SELL PEARS! GET IT TODAY!!!

Two Completely Different Worlds...

On Saturday, I had to opportunity to visit 2 completely different areas of Seattle. But not just different in location. Let me explain...

Early in the day, I got to meet up with my friend Josh's mom, who lived in Seattle. She lived in a community known as Columbia City, which is an area in transition. It is known as a poor neighbourhood, but recent developments have made it an ideal place for places to live in Seattle. Now, I hate to use the word "ghetto" because, based on whatever stardard you have, this community maybe considered "ghetto" but it isn't because there are ppl who do live there. To me, this community was the MOST REAL neighbourhood I have seen in Seattle. This place has little shops everywhere and ppl walking the streets. Not only that, there were tons of diversity of many ethnic group in the ppl and in the shops. I truely felt at home here.

Anyways, I had lunch with Josh's mom and she was gratious to show me around her neighbourhood. She pointed all the great ethnic restaurants and markets the fill these streets. She also mentioned how this neighbour has truely changed in the last couple of years. Her place use to be an drug dealers house, she tells me. Anyways, we ended up eating at this great Shanghai restaurant where we stuffed ourselves silly with those Shanghai style steam pork buns. This was very fitting as I use to go with Josh many times for Shanghai dim sum in LA, now I was doing it with his mom.

For dinner, I got to hang out with "cousin-in-laws" that I never knew I had. They live in Seattle too, in fact, it turns out they only live 15 minutes away from me. They lived in a very fancy rich suburban neighbourhood near a lake in a beautiful house with like a 3 car garage. Completely different from where I was just arriving from.

We had a wonderful hotpot for dinner, where we talked about the family I never knew I had. There were no young adults like me there, mostly couples with kids. I felt kinda misplaced there at the beginning but they made me very comfortable. It was very interesting, my cousins work for Boeing and Microsoft, the 2 major industries in Seattle. We ate very well and talked till like 11pm. Wow...I now I have a great connection to Microsoft (can you say BIG discount!).

All and all, I ate very well that day.

My cool phone

Did I mention how cool my phone is, and how much I love it?

Though I am still figuring out what the heck my phone can do still, there is one thing that most ppl forget about when they look at phones. That is, the reception and clarity of the voices. I have had some great reception on this phone and the voices come out very clear, possibly the clearest I have ever heard. I was in Ikea today and I must have been on the phone for a half a hour talking to my friend in SD. I heard him loud and clear, which was probably why I was on the phone for so long.

BTW, I was looking at bookshelves today at Ikea. Was going to buy them but then I realized I couldn't fit them in my car. So, I ended up building a small side coffee table and a small folding table for my place. I will be back with a bigger vehicle to pick up those bookselves ("Billy" for those Ikea-minded ppl).

In case you are wondering...

I am keeping the phone. It works brilliantly in both my home and office. And I am so glad it does, cuz I would have such a hard time parting it. THIS PHONE IS SOOOOO COOOL!! I am only starting to discover its powers but what I have seen has that Keanu Reeves' "Whoa!" value.

Case in point...I knew switching phones would be a pain since i have sooo many phone numbers to retype back into the new phone. I had to do this last time, and it took me a couple of days and I had carry both my phones all the time to make sure I didn't miss a number. But with this phone, I am almost done with my phone numbers. This is because I did VERY LITTLE typing. I had all my contacts from my old phone electronically sent to my new phone thur its IR (Infra Red) port. It soo quick and easy and really cool. I just put the two phone together (not even that close either), put recieve on new phone, hit send on old phone and BLAM! phone number sent! Its truely amazing. My last phones had the IR thing too but it didn't really work so well...in fact...one number took like 30 seconds IF it even connected...very unreliable. This one was almost instanteous.

Now I am debating if I want to get the camera attachment for the phone, a camera in which I can take anywhere. Its kinda pricey ($120) and it only takes pictures in 640 x 480 and there's no flash on the camera too. Or I can spend a little more and get that Sony Cybershot U camera, that soo tiny, has flash, uses Memory Sticks (like my current camera) and takes pictures at the same resolution (1280 x 960) I use. Hmmmm...

T68i (or more reasons to why I am suck a geek)

Today, I got a new phone...the new Sony Ericsson T68i phone...that really nice phone with the small color screen in which you can download your own pictures into it as well as attach a camera to it and it has internet and Bluetooth etc. I have been putting off buying it for awhile because of the cost and the fact its a GSM phone (I had Cingular before...it was GSM and had horrible reception) but I finally caved in and got it today.

The phone is actually a $200 phone but I found out that, because I work for Nintendo, we get a special discount. The phone came out to be only $100. That covered the whole cost issue with me not getting the phone.

As for the GSM part, that still remains to be seen. Since this phone will be my ONLY phone line (I have no land line), I need to make sure my phone will work both at home and at work. My phone will activate sometime tomorrow morning and by then, I will check if I it truely does. If it does, the phone WILL be returned tomorrow and I will switch back to my old plan.

My fingers are crossed...

Lack of Sleep and Go Karting

Yesterday, around 7pm, I was DEAD tired. This was dued to all the late nites I was staying up for, for no real reason other than coming home late. So, I really wanted to go home and sleep last nite early.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! A few co workers here forced me to do some go karting afterwork. Damn those bitches! I was seriously thinking I may fall asleep at the wheel.

Go karting was fun. We did two races each. I actually did really well right at the beginning of my first race, up until near the end where I went REALLY hard, head on into a wall (I hit the gas when I should have hit the brakes). After that, my second race was really bad. I started driving really cautiously and almost came in last place.

Luckly, I got home around 9pm and was ready to go right to bed. Unfortunately, I had a lot things on my mind and a lot of little things to do at my place. And then I got hungery. And then I got a phone call. And then I went online and saw a bunch of emails I had to respond to. I didn't get to bed til like 12:30am but I couldn't fall asleep until 2am. I even got up and started playing some Monkey Ball 2 in hopes to put me to sleep.

I am tired today too...for how long, I dont know...

Major Updates!

Okay, I have been really slacking it in writing in this damn blog...sorry...so much on my mind...so much to do as well. Anyways, its like 1:30am right now and I am taking this time to update my blog instead of sleeping or studying for my written test for my Washington drivers license. You better appreciated what I am doing for you now...

Without further ado...what I did on:

Friday

--left work early cuz all my stuff from SD FINALLY ARRIVED TODAY
--this marks ONE MONTH since I have last seem my stuff
--despite the idiots who help do all the paperwork for my move, all my stuff came intact and all there (so far, from what I have seen)
--very happy to have furiture and my own tv/computer monitor back
--still can believe the amount of shit I do have
--later that nite, went to a loft party held by ppl we dont know
--this was a very happening party in a really nice place with more and more ppl filling up the party.
--good ratio of guys to girls too (not a sausage fest) and with cute girls too (my friends talk about this one girl who looked like the chick from Alias)
--the more ppl that showed up, the hotter the place got (temperature-wise), to a point it was almost too unbearable to stay
--there was even one girl who took her top off and danced topless. Guy watched (one guy filmed her...Girls Gone Wild Vol 9 anyone?)
--left around 12:30 am dued to heat and hunger. Ate pizza.
--still wanted to go to a bar afterwards so we decided to look for this mythical no line up, no cover, happening bar.
--we never found one but walked alot looking for one which made the walk back to the car even worst
--we did end up going to a very sleazy private booth sex shows place (aka Jizz Factory). We didn't stay long but it was funny to a roll of paper towels and a cleaning spray bottle at the entrance to the "booths"
--got home around 3am
--played Animal Crossing/Super Monkey Ball 2 till 4 am

Saturday

--stayed home most of the day unpacking
--set up my computer desk with computer along with my TV and video game systems
--realized that I still have a lot of unpacking still to do but can't until I buy a couple of new bookshelves
--wanted to go to Ikea but was too lazy to do so. Instead went to Asian food market to buy rice
--bought a lot of food for my place. Ended up actually forgetting to buy my rice. Doh!
--spent Saturday night at Target looking for a salt and pepper shaker and ironing all my clothes.
--what fun life I lead!
--couldn't finish ironing all my clothes :(
--sleep

Sunday

--went to lunch with a guy I recently met
--drove up to this place where I was going to park and meet him, when this beautiful red Porche drove infront of me
--thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny, it that was my friend's car."
--seconds later, my cell phone rang...it was him...he called to tell me he was in front of me!
--whoa...psychic!!
--ended up having lunch at Hooters. Mmmmm...chicken wings
--went back to Asian market to buy rice. Bought rice.
--got home when I got a call about going to one of the Japanese artist's at work home for dinner.
--I COMPLETELY forgot about this dinner, rush to get there
--Japanese artist makes his famous Octopus Balls...Mmmm...very good.
--went home...wanted to study for written driving test for Washington Driver's License, but too tired...went to bed

Monday

--goto work at 10 am
--work
--got mail from old place in SD to sort. Lotsa of bills to pay
--get free dugout seat tickets to Seattle Mariners game from work (Nintendo does own them, y'know)
--it was against Alex Rodriguez and his Texas Rangers
--leave work earlier to get to baseball field
--on the way, we almost get cut off by this rude driver who thought we were swearing at him. He really wanted to damage our car.
--got to game, had free $20 parking too (thx you Nintendo)
--THE SEATS WERE AWESOME!!!! We were ONE ROW away from the Mariners dugout! We were that close to the action.
--Dont believe me? Check out my photos in my new album here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/rangers_vs_mariners/

--you can't pictures like this without being that close!
--pretty much everything that should happen at a game happened to us (besides catching a foul ball)
--we got to watch the roof close in the stadium (dued to rain), got out picture taken by the local paper, got messed around with my the Moose, the team mascot, even tried to start a wave (unsuccessful)
--got to truely watch a "superstar" on the field. Ichiro is an incredible player who is truely loved by Seattle. It was amazing to watch the ovaltion he gets everytime he came up to the plate.
--Mariners won game 6-5 in 12 innings

Now you are updated. Oh wait...still need to write that Animal Crossing piece that should have been written earlier...oh well...next time...too tired...

Animal Crossing

I leave this blank so I am reminded to write something here...so stay tuned...

9/11

As you read this post, please take the time to remember all the victims and their familes of this terrible event. Think about all the firemen and police and ambulance workers and doctors who were there that day one year ago...those who lost their lives and those who saved them. And, take this opportunity to think about all the freedoms and joys we do have, that we sometimes take for granted. There's a lot to think about, eh?

4000 Hits!

Who reads this bullshit?!!!

Funny thing is, I AM THE 4000 Hit! I guess I am the one reading this crap! Hahahaha...

Ikaruga (or Reasons why I am such a Geek!)

Yesterday I went to Seattle's ONLY import video game store Kicks to pick up the JUST released copy of Ikaruga, a shooter from my most FAVORITE game company in the whole world, Treasure. This unofficial sequel to Radiant Silvergun, I have been waiting a long time and let me tell ya, it was worth the wait...such an incredible game.

Looking back at what I did for this game, I realize alot of things...let me explain:

--this game is for the Dreamcast, by all means a dead and discontinued system. Yet I still bought this game, even though it has been announced for the Gamecube this January.
--I paid a lot of money for this game. More than most games I buy...even more considering its on a dead system and the game price will be less for the Gamecube version (especially the American version)
--I left in the middle of work (7pm is MIDDLE of work, if you believe) and drove thru the horrible Seattle traffic just to go pick it up. And yes, I even went back to work.
--before I left the store, I engaged in some deep discussion with ppl in the store on the state of Transformers. It was very deep.
--because of that deep Transformer talk, I was inspired to head to the nearby Target and purchase a new Transformer for display on my desk at work. I got the new Armada Megatron.
--I bought this game even though I dont have my Dreamcast with me. Its still in "transit" from SD.
--because I dont have a Dreamcast yet, I had to wait till the next day to play it at work, when someone would have brought their modded Dreamcast (we needed one to play this Japanese title).

DAMN...I am such a geek! *sigh*

Labour Day Weekend Update

Before I tell ya what I did this weekend, let me tell you what I didn't do...

NO, I DIDN'T PUT MEANINGFUL COMMENTS/TITLES in some of my new photos and NO, I DIDN'T START WRITING about what I did they last 4 weeks like I promised...there...deal with it!!

So, now I will tell you want I did this Labour Day...

...NOTHING!!!

Really, I didn't do much. Why? Cause of the very few ppl I knew here, they were either busy doing other things or were out of town. I was really bored this weekend. Pretty much, I was left all alone here to fend for myself. It wasn't very fun.

OKAY...I lied...I did do something (but Sunday, I was truely alone by myself and did nothing). On Saturday, I went checking out Seattle by myself and found the ONLY IMPORT game store in town. It was a small but cool place and I ended up making friends with the manager of the store there. He's a very cool guy and I will probably be buying more shit from him. Later that day, I went to some bbq that I was invited of ppl I dont know. Of course, I am a social kind of guy, so I did try to meet ppl and I did meet a few cool ppl (including someone who works at Microsoft making games too, I think he wants to try to recuit me now), but they didn't seem like ppl I could hang out with. But I only met them then and I will be contacting them soon, so maybe after I get to know them, it will be cool...we shall see.

And on Labour Day itself, my ex-producer from San Diego was in town with his wife and we hanged out in downtown Seattle. Though, there wasn't much to do since everything was closed, we did have fun and we even caught a movie (we watched Signs, even though I saw it already, and yes I will write a review about it). It was good to hang around ppl on this otherwise miserable holiday weekend. Oh well...

G4 Rocks!

Got cable TV last nite. Spent most of the nite watching the MTV Video Music Awards but I was also checking out the G4TV channel. Basically, this is that 24hr all video game channel I heard about but never had. Now I do. All they show is shows on video games. Nothing but video games (with the odd "Girls Gone Wild" infomercial). They had this really bad show in which they did sports like commentary during really horrible Unreal Tournament games, hosted by Wil Weaton!! I spent a good part of the night watching a show in which all they showed was the FMV/CG sequences of video games!! I fuckin' love this channel. I knew there's a reason why I moved here!

So, between watching the VMAs and G4, I stayed up watching TV here til 3am (that's cuz I was at work til 11pm!). No wonder I am so tired.

Guess who's back online....

...at home, that is.

Yesterday, I got a cable modem installed at my new place. I am finally back on the online world! WOOOHOOO! So now I can finally get my online life back together. I can now be reached!

Last nite was great. I was like talking to 5 ppl at once and on the phone too!

Last nite I was able to finally update my photo album. Check them out. I have updated the following:
--My Goodbye album is updated with 2 last pictures from my final nites in SD
--My NEW Roadtrip album with all my wacky pics of the drive up (and with proper title comments)

I hopefully will add more pics to the roadtrip ablum from Andrea's camera and I will try to add meaningful titles/comments for all those other pictures I just uploaded before I left...and I will try to write up something that explains what the hell I did the last 4 weeks, but it seems kinda pointless now...oh well.

New Friend's Blog

So, my friend Warblade has a new blog. Check it out. Two words I have to say when I first read it: VERY ANGRY...I feel for you man...I really do.

A Message from Mario

So, I check my voice mail at work today and I get this msg from the big man himself, Mario (yes, as in Super Mario). He wanted to thx me for my support and that we are No. 1 because of me! WOW! All this from one week worth of work! ;)

Super Mario Sunshine

Though the game doesn't officially come out until next week in the US, as an employee of Nintendo, I got to purchase the game today! And at a discounted price! Life is good.

My Sign

Did anyone see the movie Signs? (I did, but have yet to put up my review...sorry)

Basically, yesterday, I was driving around looking for apartments in Redmond/Bellevue, when I blew out BOTH my right tires on my car (I was trying to avoid an idiotic girl trying to cross the street). Because of this, I had to call upon my friend Sheldon to drive me around and help me complete my apartment search.

Anyways, one of the places we went to was his apartment complex in which I really wasn't going to look there, but he convinced me to do so. To my surprise, I found an AWESOME one bedroom apartment there for an unbelievable price. Even Sheldon was blown away how cool and cheap this place was. It didn't take too much convincing for me to snatch this place up.

Afterwards, we were driving around when I mention to Sheldon that I was also looking for a bed for my new place. He took me to this Sleep Country USA place and just would luck would have it, there was this AWESOME deal on this Queen size mattress in which was perfect for me.

So, even though I blew out my tires on my car, if I haven't so, I would have never have called up Sheldon and I would have never have been to his apartment complex and I would have never found that mattress! Just like in that movies Signs!

As a side note, even though the rent of my new place is incredible low, to find that place, it still cost me around $160 to have my tires replaced. A small price to pay?...