So, I finally finished the last push over of files last night to the new server.
Hopefully everything is functional, but as my site is quite complex, there may be some broken links here and there–if you find one, and want to help out, please let me know where it is. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll eventually find them.
I’ll have my Singapore, Japan pics up soon!
As I was walking down the street toward the train station, I felt a coin in my pocket. So I pulled it out, and there was a head with wings on it, yet silver and the same size as a US dime. At first glance I thought it was foreign money–this globetrotter finds foreign currency left in the strangest places–but alas, it was a 1916 US Dime. It was really quite interesting. My thoughts started to run thinking about people that could have very well used that same coin almost 100 years ago, wondering what it was used to buy, and what the environment was like back then. Just such a nice little curious surprise.
Tonight, Mike, Sarah, Mike, Julie and I went to the Bond Girls concert aptly being held at the Bimbos 365 club. This stringed quartet of British Spice Girls played amazing music, but had the personalities of 14 year old girls. Surprisingly, the crowd was mostly comprised of older people.
Anyhow, the music was really cool–they play the theme song for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Which, of course, I keep wanting to see the Opening Ceremonies of–anyone have it Tivo’ed?
Tonight, Mike and I went to go see the Corrs at the famous Warfield Theater in San Francisco. It was amazing! We arrived in the beautiful theater, and it was more of a very cosy type atmosphere that had tables set up for people to sit, and a main dance area. I couldn’t believe how intimate it was going to be, I mean, I could actually reach out and touch the singers! So, we made our way up front, and I can’t believe I didn’t bring my camera. Mainly because I thought that it would be so crowded, and holding the camera could be dangerous if they were strict about having them. So, I opted not to take one, but I sure did miss some great pictures. They sang so many songs, especially from their new album Borrowed Heaven. It was great! The lead singer Sharon was so cute and fun, and really worked the crowed. This is definitely the best concert I’ve been to, because the eye contact, the crowd, the atmosphere, everything was so nice that it made it a very safe setting. So Great! If you haven’t checked out their new album, it’s a must!
Too short! This trip, albeit was supposed to be just a quick stop over, I didn’t realize how much I loved being in Japan, but using my Japanese everywhere was such a treat. It’s such a waste that my company doesn’t use my Japanese more, I hope someday I’ll have an opportunity to use it with my job, but if not, I’ll just have to make more trips to Japan!
The whole family came to see me off to Narita, and now I’m sitting in my upstairs cabin lounging back typing away on what I did the past few days. San Francisco, I’m coming home!
Today, after breakfast I headed to Asakusa to take some pictures of the temple there. Turns out that there was a pretty big Fireworks festival that night, so everyone had donned their yukatas for the event. Got some great photos, and did some shopping, then headed for my beloved Shibuya to hang out. There I got a call on the cell from Kano and we decided to meet up in Roppongi to go to the Roppongi Hills Observation deck. Again, great photo ops, and we then headed to dinner on her favorite, Ometesando Dori. We ate a great place called Las Chicas, and had some risotto and ravioli. After a nice long dinner we walked back to Shibuya because the weather was nice, and then after some more pictures headed for the subway to go home. Yet another great day seeing Tokyo.
Today, after breakfast I headed to see ICU. I made my way there without really thinking much? So much has changed though, there are so many new buildings, the trains on the Yamanote Line have been upgraded with new monitors that give you detailed information about where you are etc. Anyhow, I made it back to my old university, and it was so nostalgic. I had such a weird feeling of being there, when so much in my life since then has changed, that I didn’t know anyone on the campus, that so many things are new and I didn’t know about it. It was very cool to see, and I can’t wait to tell my other ICU friends about what I saw.
After ICU, I went back to my old apartment complex to find that it’s now pink. It was a shade of gray before, but now it’s a pinkish color. That and the rip-off land lady has built herself quite a nice new castle on the property. I never liked that woman. After that, I went back towards the city and walked around Shinjuku, went shopping looking at electronics and went by Muji to pick up some stationary stuff. I then made my way to Shiodome where I was to meet Kano and her friend for dinner. We decided on a nice Italian place that was on one of the lower floors?we had gone to floor 46 and 47 to look out at the city and potentially eat there, but the lines were too long, and we wanted to eat without having to wait 2hrs +. The food was great and we had a nice time chatting, then Kano and I headed back home.
Waking up when it’s still dark has never been easy, but today I fly to Tokyo! After this hellacious training, it’s going to be nice to relax and see what’s been going on in Japan since I left. Again, I made it up to business class, and enjoyed the flight, arriving in Tokyo at about 3:30pm. Kano’s mom came to the airport to pick me up, and as soon as I exited customs, I looked for her, and sure enough, there she was standing with a sign that said in Japanese ?Ben? ? she thought she might not recognize me! We saw each other, and it was just like being back in Japan again, it was so familiar. I felt 100% comfortable and felt like I really hadn’t left. My Japanese really hasn’t seen too much degradation since I left Japan, despite my lack of opportunities of speaking it in San Francisco. Thankfully, it’s at a level now that I don’t really think about it that much until I try to say something a little more complex.
Mom and I sat for a while and had a snack before we got ready to take our bus back to Ikebukuro station, where Kano would be meeting us. After the bus ride, we met up with Kano and headed to Shiki to find Dad. We all went to a great place with the freshest sushi and had a huge set of sushi..soooo good! After dinner, we went home and I got settled into the room I always stay in. First day back was nice, and looking forward to seeing ICU and Tokyo in the next couple of days.
Today’s work was pretty fun–started a little late and I joined a meeting at Y&R, APL’s ad agency that’s working on a few projects for us. Their regional headquarters is located in the downtown part of Singapore, in a creative looking high rise building. The layout of the offices was really interesting, with lots of windows and high ceilings. After the meeting, I was free to go, which was nice, because I wanted to hang out with Rob more before he left for Holland. After seeing Rob off, I got my stuff ready for tomorrow’s flight to Tokyo. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I was living there, and more so than that, I can’t believe that I’m only getting to spend just a few days there. Sure enough though I’ll have a good time.
So today, I met with the Corporate Marketing Team that I work with from California. It was nice to finally put a face with all the names. We started out with some updates on the marketing initiatives that are going on right now. It’s so interesting to see it on the corporate front, because there’s a lot more strategy involved, and I really enjoyed the way it worked. We had a competitive review where the Y&R and a Media agent came in to present to us what the competitors were doing, and any trends that we see them moving towards. The funny thing about the shipping industry is just that the ads for our {industry} products/services is so un-glamorous, that it looks like there’s a lot of room for improvement. APL’s ads have always been quite classy, so it’s funny to see the home-grown type ads that our competition is doing. There will be some interesting work available, and I hope with my new position in APL Logistics, that I’ll have more interactivity with strategy and decision making, as it’ll be a corporate function.
After that I went back to the hotel, and Rob and I went to do some errands, then had dinner at the hotel by the pool. My eye has started to bother me, and I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn into an infection of some sort. It stings, and I can’t seem to clean it out enough. Yuck! I’ll try to cry :)
Tomorrow’s my last day in Singapore, and then I’m off to Japan to see Kano. It’ll have been 4 years since I saw her & her family last, and it’ll be great to catch up. I also have a laundry list of things I want to do in Tokyo–go back to my old school, see some friends, INDIAN FOOD, and a lot of good photo ops around the city. I’m sure the days will go by fast.