Woo's Random Musings

So I'm browsing the web with the tv on in the background when I hear FUCKING DJ DOC on the TV! I look at the screen and see...a Japanese cover of DJ DOC's Run to You! Wow...things have truly come full circle in Japan-Korean relations.

The Original "Run to you":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4UkADqHCEc&search=Run%20to%20you%20DJ%20DOC

DJ OZMA's "Age Age Every Knight" ("Raise it up every knight")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urk0zVOcwnk&search=DJ%20OZMA

...but you know, this is a pure 100% cover and not an "update" like many are...so if this becomes a hit in Japan (I have no clue) does that say something about the state of Hip-hop in Japan...?

Probably.

Shiki Futon Matress = $60
Shiki Futon = $70
Futon Blanket = $190
Thin Futon Blanket (for Summer!) = $100
Pine Table for 4 = $180
Pint Table Chairs x 2 = $125
Futon Covers = $45
Pillow Covers = $7
Pillow = $30
Ricer Cooker/Fridge/Waster/Microwave Set = $600

Complaining on an international call to my credit card co. for flagging my purchase while shop clerk watching= Priceless.

O-Use O's to denote checks instead of checks.
O-Opening a box of tissues to find another box waiting me to open.
X-Buying used panties from a vending machine
O-Seeing old man in subway slouching down to stare up the skirt of a girl in mini-skirt sitting across from us.
O-Train to see friend being delayed by a "Human Body Accident".
O-Being warned of "Slight Shaking of Train on tracks" due to said "Human Body Accident".
O-Gone Karaoking in Japan
O-Saw said Karaoke place empty and relied on a webcam + honor system for those who used it.
X-Robbed Store.
O-Paid anyway.
O-Met foreigner who is probably a bit too old to be studying abroad
X-Gone to a Love Hotel
O-Got a cell phone....with GPS features +FM Radio+ Barcode reader!
X-Went to a "Health" Parlor.
O-Used a fancy smhamcy toilet.
O-Saw 7 year old kid walking down Japan's financial district at 7pm alone
O-Got a Japanese Bank Account
O-Met an old friend for the first time in 5 years
O-Fended off said friend from a guy trying to pick her up.
O-Eat nothing but meals from convenience stores
X-Eat sushi off a nude model
O-Had a medical exam in a Japanese clinic
O-Saw a laughably small section of store devoted to the X-Box 360
O-Got lost and stood up a cute Japanese girl by accident. Crap.

Also...exactly how spicy of a curry do you have to eat to smell it in your urine?...or is that a bit too much info?

This is fucking amazing. Wow...just wow.

Oh, and I've arrived in Japan. Food in business class is so much better than coach...damn, I wish I could afford to fly Business every time :|

I had lost touch with many of my high school friends but there was one friend that I really wished that I had kept more in touch with: Annie.

Back then, it was probably fair to state that I had two groups of friends. One group made up whom I referred to as my commute buddies. We were all from Staten Island and had similar schedules...so we all did the TWO HOUR commute to school together...during which time we would do our homework, play cards, the crosswords, and all that good stuff...but because we were each other for FOUR HOURS every single school day, we didn't really feel the compulsion to hang out at school.

It was really through Annie that I managed to meet a lot of people at school and sort of formed another circle of friends within Stuy...yet after college came around we all went to different schools and while we tried to get together from time to time it was hard to get a time that worked for everyone so the last time I actually saw her was sometime in 2001 or 2002. So here I was kicking myself for losing her contact info for the past three years when she IMs me today out of the blue (She had heard that I was going to Japan from a mutual friend).

...and then I realize that SHE WAS IN MY BUDDY LIST THE ENTIRE TIME!!! Her screenname was one of the three dozen or so that I have on my list that I have long since forgotten who it was but I don't dare remove because it might be someone I want to talk to...man, I haven't felt this stupid in a long, long time.

I just got a call from Merrill Lynch Japan. Tokyo, here I come!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I was told of this face recognition software @ http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/face_recognition.php?s=1&lang=EN so I decided to take my usual pic (you know, on top?) to see what I would get and got...

And the results ranked in order (63% to 45% similar)...

1)Bashar Al-Assad (OUCH!)
2)Kim Basinger(WTF!?)
3)Zhang Ziyi (I'm beautiful!)
4)Quincy Jones (Hmmm)
5)Ernst Lubitsch (Who?)
6)Ian Thorpe (Oooh...)
7)Elvis Presley (Elvis? ELVIS!?)
8)John Irving (Whoa...)
9)Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Holy shit)
10)John Cusack (Hey, I think I watched a simpsons episode with him on it...)

So next time, please refer me as male , chubbier version of Zhang Ziyi. Thank you :P

I can't believe how nervous I feel right now...all this time I thought the worst feeling was to get told "Sorry, I don't think you're the right material for our company" (fucking asshole...) during a job interview. But I'm wrong. The worst feeling is to feel that you aced the interview and spending a week in a state of limbo while the managers and HR peer over everything you've ever done.

Did I imagine the whole 'acing' thing?
Should I not have cracked that joke?
How could I forget that little useless tidbit that I never used in 2 years!?

I hate feeling this nervous late at night because that's when the work day is over there...grrr I hope I can go to sleep soon so I can get ready for 'work' tomorrow.

Well...I arrived in LA yesterday night. God, what a wonderful change from fucking Minneapolis and its horrible weather. Going from 4 inches of snow to the mild 60's feels great.

Of course, the fact that I'm here on business is a bummer. Especially since I've been brought here for completely trivial work. In fact, I was supposed to do this work remotely in Minneapolis but this didn't go through not because it was going to take me a long time to set me up, but simply because the higher ups weren't willing to bump me up on the queue to get it arroved. So what do they do? They pay a roundtrip ticket to LA and pay for my hotel stay while I'm here.

...and what is the work that I'm supposed to do here, you ask? PRESSING THE START AND STOP BUTTONS WHEN ASKED. I shit you not. Normally I would welcome coming to a place like this, but the fact that

a) This is more money out of my pocket until I get reimbursed
b) The work being so trivial

really ticks me off.

Ah well, I guess I can think of it as a last hurrah before I jump ship :)

http://www.pandora.com is an amazing site. I've been using it in lieu of bringing my iPod to work for the past few weeks and I've been very pleased with the results.

Pandora's basically part of the 'Music Genome Project' and all you do is put in a Song/Artist you like and it'll look up songs that are similar in style to the one you put in. I enjoyed about 70% of the songs that it did come up with so if any of you guys are looking for some new artists, give it a whirl :) The fact that you don't need to sign up for the first 10 hours of use is a huge plus.

Some the artists that I got into through Pandora are:

Common
Nappy Roots
N.E.R.D
Clipse

(the fact that I like Hip-Hop probably becomes evident right around here...)

Give it a shot!