udon lunch
Originally uploaded by renfield
yonnies
yonnies
Originally uploaded by renfield
Had an offsite for work all day, then a dinner at Tableaux. Hadn't been there in years. Food looked excellent, but I didn't eat anything. Haven't eaten in a couple of days; think I got a stomach virus again. Or maybe I'm just in bad shape from not getting any sleep the past couple days.
crimson room
Went to the publishing party for Takagi-san's first novel, Crimson Room.
I got the book on Monday and stayed up all night every night through Wednesday to finish it. It was most excellent; reminded of my favorite author Haruki Murakami.
At the party I saw some of the old creatives crew I used to hang with over 10 years ago; Oshige, Saburin, Hiro, Ota, and of course Kuro-chan, who is now a director at Rakuten.
I got the book on Monday and stayed up all night every night through Wednesday to finish it. It was most excellent; reminded of my favorite author Haruki Murakami.
At the party I saw some of the old creatives crew I used to hang with over 10 years ago; Oshige, Saburin, Hiro, Ota, and of course Kuro-chan, who is now a director at Rakuten.
free range kids
Let kids be kids. Let overly protective hyper-active paranoid parents chill the hell out.
taiko for child cancer
taiko for child cancer
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Tonchan feeling better and the weather was awesome so we took a walk up to Roppongi Hills. Doing some Gold Ribbon (walk against child cancer) thing and had some taiko drummers on display. We had Indian curry buffet for lunch and headed home for afternoon nappage.
fever again
Tonchan's been out of school past couple of days with a nice 39°C fever. I have been slogging through piles of work and not getting home particularly early anyway, so most I see of her is a snoring pile of meat in the futon next to mom or a grumpy morning meanie.
slicey noodles
slicey noodles
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Spent the day at INSEAD for various trainings and brain-washings, and then on Nohoho's recommendation went upstairs in one of the many malls on Orchard Road and got some toshomen, aka slicey noodles. Dude has a big lump of noodle dough and he stands over a boiling cauldron, puts the dough on his shoulder kind of like he's holding a violin, and shaves off thin slices of noodle that go launching into the water.
The food court is awesome; Indian curry, Thai noodles, Korean BBQ, Japanese sushi, a place that specializes in toast, Malaysian fish foods, and awesome fruit and juice stalls. Tried to order a shake but the were out of soy milk so I ordered what the girl in front of me got since she looked like she new what she was doing: lemon juice with syrup and sugar over ice. SO. GOOD.
singapore bay
As seen from raffles quay office. Really nice digs DB has in Singapore; brand new office building down by the bay in what is the rapidly expanding business district.
Had lunch with the team and met various folks in the afternoon.
CHATTERBOX
CHATTERBOX
Originally uploaded by renfield.
After work met Nohoho and we got the world famous Singapore Chicken Rice at Chatterbox on the 38th floor of the Mandarin Oriental. Damn fine eats and a nice view. Finished the evening with some icecream on the street after nasty rain.
newton hawker stalls
newton hawker stalls
Originally uploaded by renfield.
enough food?
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Walked up from the downtown Orchard area to the Newton Circle Food Court; a bunch of hawker stalls. Kind of annoying touts in front of every stall trying to get me to come to them, but then again maybe that's just normal and Japan, where I am generally left quietly to my own to eat, is the abberation.
Regardless, went for the Chinese option - lemon chicken, sweet & sour pork, roast duck, shrimp fried rice. Way too much food, way too cheap, way way way good. Waddled back to the hotel. It's the humidity making me sweat, honest.
mia and me
R1010624.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Met Uncle Larry and Mia at the Hyatt and spent the day checking out coolness in Akiba, then headed to Ginza for the killer sushi at Sawada. A good time was had by all.
fever!
In Japanese English "fever!" means an excited state, generally in the context of something like pachinko gambling where you are on a winning streak.
However here it simply means higher-than-normal body temperature.
Tonchan had to come home early yesterday because she had a fever. Still does this morning.
Man, she is grumpy when she's sick.
The joke is she had chicken pox last week and was fine. Now, she's just got a cold or something and is pretty miserable.
However here it simply means higher-than-normal body temperature.
Tonchan had to come home early yesterday because she had a fever. Still does this morning.
Man, she is grumpy when she's sick.
The joke is she had chicken pox last week and was fine. Now, she's just got a cold or something and is pretty miserable.
speaking the lingo
One of the cool things about an industry (any industry) is the specialized lingo that is utilized by those in the know.
In IT we had certain words and phrases and in-jokes (all of which by now are probably so out-dated as to be useless): "Reboot it, you must", "Ping him and see if he's coming", "We tried to get lunch at that great Thai place but 404'd", etc.
I am happy to report that now in my 10th year in finance, the last several of which have been spent on the trading floor (I literally sit in the middle of the trading floor between trading, sales, and structuring), I have picked up a fair bit of the lingo into my regular English, to the confusion and consternation of my non-finance acquaintances.
Most of the lingo is because we're basically a lazy bunch and don't want to waste time saying long words and sentences. So for example if a bond is trading at 102.75, 102.50, 102.25, etc. everyone (or at least anyone who cares about the bond) knows that the handle is 102 so you can just say "50" for the price.
For quantity, bonds are generally quoted in yards. A yard is USD 10 million or JPY 1 billion (1o-oku in the mother tongue).
You are willing to buy at your bid and sell at your offer. Easy to remember because you offer something to sell like you offer tea and biscuits to a guest, and you bid to buy something like at an auction.
The market is the street.
If a trade is agreed, it is "DONE".
If you buy at the quoted offer, you lift the offer.
If you sell where there is a willing buyer (a bid), you hit the bid.
When there is much buying in the market, offers are getting lifted in the street. This makes sense because more buyers tends to push or lift the price up; as offers get lifted, offers go higher because with much demand to buy, sellers sell at higher prices until buyers stop buying, i.e. bids are pulled.
If you are told "half at fifty done" then you just bought half a yard at a price of [handle] + 50 (or .50, depends what you bought).
If you are told "fifty at half done" then you just sold same.
(I always get that mixed up, so there is a 50/50 chance that's backwards!)
A market-maker (someone who provides liquidity, i.e. is willing to buy and sell) quotes (tells) to the market his bid/offer; and generally you are willing to sell (offer) higher than you are willing to buy (bid) so a quote of "100/120" means willing to buy at 100 and sell at 120. So I guess technically it's an offer/bid but everyone says bid/offer.
If bid/offer is higher than previous, then it is widening. Lower than previous, it is tightening. Generally (though depends on your position) wide = worse market, tight = better market, similar to stocks where an up market (higher prices) is generally good and down (lower prices) is generally bad.
Then again, if you are short (sold more than you bought) in a down market, that's good; it means you can buy back cheaper what you've already sold for higher.
If you are long (you own it) and the market is up that's good; you can sell for more than you bought.
This gets confusing when talking about credit derivatives, particularly credit default swaps (CDS), which are basically insurance for bonds.
Easiest way to think about it is you are buying or selling credit protection. The protection buyer is buying CDS, paying some fixed amount (generally a couple of times a year for 5 years). If there is a credit event (for example the company goes bankrupt and can't pay the coupon on the bonds) then the CDS (protection) seller has to pay the buyer the full value of the bond.
If spreads are widening, that means insurance is getting more expensive, which means sellers are more convinced that the odds of a credit event are higher and therefore are only willing to sell protection at a higher price.
This is the same as a life insurance company charging more for a policy for someone who smokes, or car insurance being more expensive for teen-age boys; higher risk of death/accident so the protection (insurance) costs more.
And now a wee bit on accounting, while we're here. (The below is basically the sum total of my trading accounting knowledge. Shockingly little, eh.)
Where it gets tricky is in mark-to-market. The price out on the street is the market, and when you mark your book you set the value of the longs and shorts in your trading book to what the going price is in the market.
So for example if the CDS market is widening, that means people think there is a higher chance of credit events (problems) -- sentiment is that things are getting worse -- so protection (insurance against credit events) gets more expensive.
If you have been actively selling CDS (selling protection, which means taking risk) then you are short protection and long risk.
This means the protection you sold for 10 now costs 15 to cover; if you want to buy the protection you already sold, and be flat (no risk) you have to pay fifteen, for something you sold at 10. You lose 5.
Another way to think about it is: you sold something for 10 yesterday, but if you did NOT sell it yesterday and waited to sell it today, you could have sold it for 15. Then again, selling protection into a widening market is risky; you are taking on risk just when the sentiment is that things are getting worse.
Best usage I heard of mark-to-market was one of the traders talking about how his girlfriend (a former model) went to the Tokyo Motor Show (more famous for the scantily clad women who adorn the cars on display) so that she could mark-to-market, i.e. see how well she compares to the current crop of beauties.
In IT we had certain words and phrases and in-jokes (all of which by now are probably so out-dated as to be useless): "Reboot it, you must", "Ping him and see if he's coming", "We tried to get lunch at that great Thai place but 404'd", etc.
I am happy to report that now in my 10th year in finance, the last several of which have been spent on the trading floor (I literally sit in the middle of the trading floor between trading, sales, and structuring), I have picked up a fair bit of the lingo into my regular English, to the confusion and consternation of my non-finance acquaintances.
Most of the lingo is because we're basically a lazy bunch and don't want to waste time saying long words and sentences. So for example if a bond is trading at 102.75, 102.50, 102.25, etc. everyone (or at least anyone who cares about the bond) knows that the handle is 102 so you can just say "50" for the price.
For quantity, bonds are generally quoted in yards. A yard is USD 10 million or JPY 1 billion (1o-oku in the mother tongue).
You are willing to buy at your bid and sell at your offer. Easy to remember because you offer something to sell like you offer tea and biscuits to a guest, and you bid to buy something like at an auction.
The market is the street.
If a trade is agreed, it is "DONE".
If you buy at the quoted offer, you lift the offer.
If you sell where there is a willing buyer (a bid), you hit the bid.
When there is much buying in the market, offers are getting lifted in the street. This makes sense because more buyers tends to push or lift the price up; as offers get lifted, offers go higher because with much demand to buy, sellers sell at higher prices until buyers stop buying, i.e. bids are pulled.
If you are told "half at fifty done" then you just bought half a yard at a price of [handle] + 50 (or .50, depends what you bought).
If you are told "fifty at half done" then you just sold same.
(I always get that mixed up, so there is a 50/50 chance that's backwards!)
A market-maker (someone who provides liquidity, i.e. is willing to buy and sell) quotes (tells) to the market his bid/offer; and generally you are willing to sell (offer) higher than you are willing to buy (bid) so a quote of "100/120" means willing to buy at 100 and sell at 120. So I guess technically it's an offer/bid but everyone says bid/offer.
If bid/offer is higher than previous, then it is widening. Lower than previous, it is tightening. Generally (though depends on your position) wide = worse market, tight = better market, similar to stocks where an up market (higher prices) is generally good and down (lower prices) is generally bad.
Then again, if you are short (sold more than you bought) in a down market, that's good; it means you can buy back cheaper what you've already sold for higher.
If you are long (you own it) and the market is up that's good; you can sell for more than you bought.
This gets confusing when talking about credit derivatives, particularly credit default swaps (CDS), which are basically insurance for bonds.
Easiest way to think about it is you are buying or selling credit protection. The protection buyer is buying CDS, paying some fixed amount (generally a couple of times a year for 5 years). If there is a credit event (for example the company goes bankrupt and can't pay the coupon on the bonds) then the CDS (protection) seller has to pay the buyer the full value of the bond.
If spreads are widening, that means insurance is getting more expensive, which means sellers are more convinced that the odds of a credit event are higher and therefore are only willing to sell protection at a higher price.
This is the same as a life insurance company charging more for a policy for someone who smokes, or car insurance being more expensive for teen-age boys; higher risk of death/accident so the protection (insurance) costs more.
And now a wee bit on accounting, while we're here. (The below is basically the sum total of my trading accounting knowledge. Shockingly little, eh.)
Where it gets tricky is in mark-to-market. The price out on the street is the market, and when you mark your book you set the value of the longs and shorts in your trading book to what the going price is in the market.
So for example if the CDS market is widening, that means people think there is a higher chance of credit events (problems) -- sentiment is that things are getting worse -- so protection (insurance against credit events) gets more expensive.
If you have been actively selling CDS (selling protection, which means taking risk) then you are short protection and long risk.
This means the protection you sold for 10 now costs 15 to cover; if you want to buy the protection you already sold, and be flat (no risk) you have to pay fifteen, for something you sold at 10. You lose 5.
Another way to think about it is: you sold something for 10 yesterday, but if you did NOT sell it yesterday and waited to sell it today, you could have sold it for 15. Then again, selling protection into a widening market is risky; you are taking on risk just when the sentiment is that things are getting worse.
Best usage I heard of mark-to-market was one of the traders talking about how his girlfriend (a former model) went to the Tokyo Motor Show (more famous for the scantily clad women who adorn the cars on display) so that she could mark-to-market, i.e. see how well she compares to the current crop of beauties.
oops
UPDATE: Fixed, I think.
OK I've royally frakked up the blog. In an attempt to straighten out the giveyourmeat.com domain, I have royally and seriously screwed everything up. To the point that I doubt many of you will even be reading this...
At this point I will simply blame blogger's overly-simple custom domain mechanism and Network Solution's impenetrable web-forwarding slash custom CNAME settings for causing me far, far more trouble than it's worth.
Some take-aways:
1) Web forwarding is just stupid
2) NetSol needs to properly support CNAMEs, including top-level domains
So for now, use www.giveyourmeat.com, not giveyourmeat.com. Then again, by definition if you are reading this you already know that...
OK I've royally frakked up the blog. In an attempt to straighten out the giveyourmeat.com domain, I have royally and seriously screwed everything up. To the point that I doubt many of you will even be reading this...
At this point I will simply blame blogger's overly-simple custom domain mechanism and Network Solution's impenetrable web-forwarding slash custom CNAME settings for causing me far, far more trouble than it's worth.
Some take-aways:
1) Web forwarding is just stupid
2) NetSol needs to properly support CNAMEs, including top-level domains
So for now, use www.giveyourmeat.com, not giveyourmeat.com. Then again, by definition if you are reading this you already know that...
100
Been a while since I've actually, really trained. Tonight only one person showed up for class, so I figured it was high time to use the floor space. We ran through all 20 kata, 5 times each. Took a good 1.5 hours, with short breaks every 5 kata. 100 kata. Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I guess the last time I actually did that was several years ago. I felt relaxed and fairly smooth, and even managed to get a decent kata once or twice; not a bad ration out of 100.
I've also started noticing more and more how similar all the kata are to each other. I reckon this is a good thing, since the basic point of all the kata is to teach the fundamental essence of the style. If there were 20 different things the style would be a mess, or at worst a big amalgam. As it is, it appears more and more to be a coherent, single...I dunno know the word. Strategy maybe. Essence is good too. Maybe theory is better?
Anyway ran through all the kata, and even though I threw out my back a few days ago (total dad moment: tweaked my back lifting Tonchan and her stroller up a short stair case. Doh!) I actually felt pretty good, not tense at all. Maybe because I was being careful not to try too hard and stress out my back. So my hurt back actually made my practice better!
In English every cloud has a silver lining. In Japanese, all things are like Saio's horse: "Ningen banji saio-ga uma"
I've also started noticing more and more how similar all the kata are to each other. I reckon this is a good thing, since the basic point of all the kata is to teach the fundamental essence of the style. If there were 20 different things the style would be a mess, or at worst a big amalgam. As it is, it appears more and more to be a coherent, single...I dunno know the word. Strategy maybe. Essence is good too. Maybe theory is better?
Anyway ran through all the kata, and even though I threw out my back a few days ago (total dad moment: tweaked my back lifting Tonchan and her stroller up a short stair case. Doh!) I actually felt pretty good, not tense at all. Maybe because I was being careful not to try too hard and stress out my back. So my hurt back actually made my practice better!
In English every cloud has a silver lining. In Japanese, all things are like Saio's horse: "Ningen banji saio-ga uma"
gyokufukai
Went over to Shinjuku to teach an instructors' class for Gyokufukai. Got to train with Elvis and the guys which I hadn't done in a while. After class we hit the local Jonathan's to enjoy some of Japan's finest "family restaurant" (think Denny's, only not as upscale) food and giggle with the local contingent of Japanese high school girls.
tonchan and grandma
Ji and Ba Kuroda came over this evening for dinner, and Masa stopped by too (to take a shower; hot water in her apartments isn't working).
Tonchan's still recovering from chicken pox but she's in fine spirits and is walking much better on her own, especially when she gets all kinds of special attention.
Today being a national holiday I watched her in the morning so that P could stop by the office and catch up on work. But the Tonchabeast was having none of it and kept bringing her socks and jacket to me and pointing at the stroller. Finally loaded her up about 10:45 and set out to meet P for lunch. By 11 the Ton was in full hibernation mode and I battled the wind and rain to meet P. After eating too much fried rice and pad thai we taxi'd home and then a couple hours later the family arrived.
spoonerisms and break-dancing
I do love me a good spoonerism. The best of course is "keys and parrots".
But I just came up with a good one: "batch my scrawls".
And of course who can forget the timeless "hoot to the bed".
I have of course always wondered if there should be separate words for spoonerisms that do and do not maintain spelling. For example "shot in the dark" maintains its spelling when becoming "dot in the shark" but "peas and carrots" does not...
And now for something completely different:
last night I had a dream that Okamura (the smaller half of the comedy duo 99) was teaching me how to break dance.
Which actually isn't so strange, because he is in fact quite good.
But I just came up with a good one: "batch my scrawls".
And of course who can forget the timeless "hoot to the bed".
I have of course always wondered if there should be separate words for spoonerisms that do and do not maintain spelling. For example "shot in the dark" maintains its spelling when becoming "dot in the shark" but "peas and carrots" does not...
And now for something completely different:
last night I had a dream that Okamura (the smaller half of the comedy duo 99) was teaching me how to break dance.
Which actually isn't so strange, because he is in fact quite good.
saturday afternoon
R1010595.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Awesome spring weather so we went out! Walked down to Hiroo to have a healthy lunch at J's, then walked up through Nishiazabu to Midtown and played around. Tonchan was loving the slide and wandering all over the grass. We recharged with some eats and then walked home, the Tonchasaurus finally falling asleep in the stroller just as we were getting home.
And apparently she has inherited my hay fever because her nose has been running all day; hay fever is supposed to be REALLY bad this spring!
grandparentals
IMG_0367.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Ji and Ba came over for dinner, and Masa stopped by to use the shower (water heater in her place is broken) so we had a nice family dinner and Tonchan loved being the center of attention!
chickenpox!
It's official: Tonchan is afflicted with the pox!
No fever though, and seems to be in a fine mood. She's just got red bumps all over her. So she gets a week or so off.
No fever though, and seems to be in a fine mood. She's just got red bumps all over her. So she gets a week or so off.
new suit
new suit
Originally uploaded by renfield.
So I ordered a custom tailored suit from Takashimyaya department store in Shinjuku. First I chose Carlo Barbera wool because it's light and soft and looks wikked. Suit was hand made by Guild Hall; a couple of styling old Japanese guys who mainly make British and French style suits (the way the Japanese tend to like suits.)
I picked the gaudiest lining I could find, and of course opted for the real horn buttons because why the hell not.
Came out rather nice, actually.
and now ramen
and now ramen
Originally uploaded by renfield.
After Bar Joe we headed to Nami (73) in Nishi Azabu and finally ended up hungry so stopped for the traditional early morning ramen and gyoza before calling it a day.
post carnage drinks
post carnage drinks
Originally uploaded by renfield.
@ bar joe in Akasaka. This week was hellatious to say the least. So The Boss decided that if we survive, he's buying. And buy he did.
night fighting
Madness in the markets this week. Dollar yen breaks through 100, credit spreads hit record wides, equities plummet across the board, and the Bank of Japan is rudderless as the opposition party blocks all attempts to appoint a governor.
So needless to say it has been interesting times on the trading desk. Not surprisingly I was unable to get off the floor during lunch to hit the dojo, so I went to the night class for the first time in forever.
Wow am I outta shape! 20 minutes of aerobic warm-up and then 40 minutes working the pads with Yamamoto. She hits hard and has endless stamina, but I was slamming the pad with fully pent-up market-stress-and-hip-driven left straights. Fun to work with someone who can keep the level up at required punishing levels. Also unlike a heavy bag, she hits back, thus keeping me literally on my toes and moving out of the way.
So needless to say it has been interesting times on the trading desk. Not surprisingly I was unable to get off the floor during lunch to hit the dojo, so I went to the night class for the first time in forever.
Wow am I outta shape! 20 minutes of aerobic warm-up and then 40 minutes working the pads with Yamamoto. She hits hard and has endless stamina, but I was slamming the pad with fully pent-up market-stress-and-hip-driven left straights. Fun to work with someone who can keep the level up at required punishing levels. Also unlike a heavy bag, she hits back, thus keeping me literally on my toes and moving out of the way.
Loituma - Levan Polka (the official video)
Finnish. Polka. There is, quite simply, nothing stronger.
food 'n conversation
Helped out at the cutting practice this afternoon (cut terribly, thanks for asking) and then met the ladies at Mitsukoshi. We bought up piles of food from various shops in the depachika and cabbed home for dinner. The Newman came over bearing desserts and a fine feast was had, along with stimulating conversation lacking all correlation and heavily skewered by my total lack of faith in modern politics and the ignorance of the fly-over states that compromise The Real America.
sleeping beauty
sleeping beauty
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Jenn and P went out for dinner so the Tonchabeast and I watched some TV. Actually I watched some TV and she screamed at me for 15 minutes, then passed out. I unceremoniously dumped her on the sofa next to me and she proceeded to sleep for a couple hours, waking up well after mom came home.
hiroo
08-03-08_12-57
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Jenn's in town again so we did some shopping in Hiroo and then Azabu Jyuban. I also upgraded my phone to the cool new N705i Amadana.
teach and learn
Finally made it to Honbu for this first time forever. Managed to get through teaching for two hours without stabbing myself in the foot or dropping my sword, so there is yet hope.
masa cooking done!
masa cooking done!
Originally uploaded by renfield.
she made chirashi sushi, grilled salmon, tempura and clam soup.
masa cooking
masa cooking
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Masa came over to show off her favorite pans and cook a bunch of supposedly complicated dishes, like tempura and grilled fish, qute easily.
chocolate oliver biscuits!
chocolate oliver biscuits!
Originally uploaded by renfield.
As I have blogged before, when I was a wee thing, if the timing was right my dad would go to the UK around the holiday season and and was therefore able to swing by Harrods and pick up some Chocolate Oliver Biscuits. These delightful childhood treats of mine have been out of production for a couple of decades, but now! Huntley & Palmers has revived this cookie.
Getting them shipped to Japan turned out to be non-trivial however. H&P, being a right and proper British operation had no way to process yen payments, let alone take orders from over teh internets.
Thus I was saved by the Angel Phillippa. I sent her a USD check, she wave'd her magic wand, and FedEx delivered two cases of tins to my Tokyo apartment. Thank you Phillippa!
The tins are now brown not red, and the cookies are a bit smaller, however the chocolate to biscuit ratio has increased significantly so net net it's a win.
Tonchan of course loved them.
I brought the first open tin to zazen practice and shared with everyone. One tin down, and now sadly only nineteen left...
tetsuya
Another great Japanese word. Written with the characters "to pierce, penetrate" and "night", it means to pull an all-nighter.
We had a new CB issue and made dinner reserves for 9:30. Pushed them back to 10. Then 10:30. Switched restaurants since the Oak Door closes the kitchen at 10:30, so made reserves at 11:30 at Cicada. Then pushed it back to 12. Then 12:30.
In the mean time everyone was starving so I went down to the Am/Pm and loaded up on Pringles, bagwiches, and onigiri just to keep us alive for the next few hours.
Finally left the office and got over to Cicada before 1, cracked open some wine and ordered a bunch of appetizers.
Got home at 3am and was useless in the morning which didn't really help P and Tonchan, since Tonchan's been launching bodily fluids out both ends all week. She's got her baby wisdom teeth coming in, which is not so pleasant, and she's picking up all the lovely virii at school, so she's been throwing up at night and having lovely diarrhea. Understandably not eating much and kinda grumpy, but no fever and loves walking around holding P's hand.
We had a new CB issue and made dinner reserves for 9:30. Pushed them back to 10. Then 10:30. Switched restaurants since the Oak Door closes the kitchen at 10:30, so made reserves at 11:30 at Cicada. Then pushed it back to 12. Then 12:30.
In the mean time everyone was starving so I went down to the Am/Pm and loaded up on Pringles, bagwiches, and onigiri just to keep us alive for the next few hours.
Finally left the office and got over to Cicada before 1, cracked open some wine and ordered a bunch of appetizers.
Got home at 3am and was useless in the morning which didn't really help P and Tonchan, since Tonchan's been launching bodily fluids out both ends all week. She's got her baby wisdom teeth coming in, which is not so pleasant, and she's picking up all the lovely virii at school, so she's been throwing up at night and having lovely diarrhea. Understandably not eating much and kinda grumpy, but no fever and loves walking around holding P's hand.
back atcha
Afternoon sessions at the dojo are getting more and more crowded! There were seven of us today (me still the only guy, besides Inoue-sensei), some of regulars and a couple of newbies. Actually with three people on each bag, doing two minute rounds, it's a good pace: two minutes on, 4 minutes off to get water, shadow with the mirror, etc.
Last ten minutes Sensei got inspired and decided it was time for some back work. We did slow lifts -- lying on your stomach lift your left leg and your right arm, turning your head and upper body to the right as much as you can, slowly lifting, holding, and lowering -- for a full five minutes. Then immediately did 250 superman bounces (still lying on your stomach lift both legs and arms and "bounce" rapidly 250 times.)
I suspect next time we'll be doing some similar torture for abs...
Last ten minutes Sensei got inspired and decided it was time for some back work. We did slow lifts -- lying on your stomach lift your left leg and your right arm, turning your head and upper body to the right as much as you can, slowly lifting, holding, and lowering -- for a full five minutes. Then immediately did 250 superman bounces (still lying on your stomach lift both legs and arms and "bounce" rapidly 250 times.)
I suspect next time we'll be doing some similar torture for abs...
instructing instructors
First things first: what the hell's up with these gale force winds? Think about how strong wind has to blow in order for it to screw up bullet train and commuter train schedules. Totally sucks. Plenty sunny and warm if it weren't for the wind.
So anyway I battled the wind and headed to Akiba to teach the instructors' seminar. Good turnout; over 30 instructors. We spent 3 hours going over all kinds of bits and bobs, what to look out for when teaching, basics, cause and effect, core muscle movements, distance and timing, etc. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, look where to cut, cut where you look, yadda yadda yadda.
Was absolutely famished when done so headed home quick.
Tonchan had thrown up a bit; reckon either she's still sick and/or she had too much pork and sausage yesterday. But she was in a great mood and wanted to walk everywhere holding my hand. I took her into the spare room and put the freshly washed comforter cover on the comforter, spread it on the bed...and she puked on it. Ah, moments like this I just love being a dad!
So I took the freshly washed-and-puked-on cover off the comforter and threw it in the wash with the rest of her vomit victims.
Kids are good for building patience.
So anyway I battled the wind and headed to Akiba to teach the instructors' seminar. Good turnout; over 30 instructors. We spent 3 hours going over all kinds of bits and bobs, what to look out for when teaching, basics, cause and effect, core muscle movements, distance and timing, etc. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, look where to cut, cut where you look, yadda yadda yadda.
Was absolutely famished when done so headed home quick.
Tonchan had thrown up a bit; reckon either she's still sick and/or she had too much pork and sausage yesterday. But she was in a great mood and wanted to walk everywhere holding my hand. I took her into the spare room and put the freshly washed comforter cover on the comforter, spread it on the bed...and she puked on it. Ah, moments like this I just love being a dad!
So I took the freshly washed-and-puked-on cover off the comforter and threw it in the wash with the rest of her vomit victims.
Kids are good for building patience.
USA vs. Japan
Having lived in Japan for 14 years straight now, I am often asked what the difference is between Japan and the USA.
Here's one simple example:
Young female anime fan dressing up like a cat
In America:
And in Japan:
Here's one simple example:
Young female anime fan dressing up like a cat
In America:
And in Japan:
chikage walks!
It walks freely! Now the beast will roam to all ends of the earth, causing mayhem, leaving a trail of carnage! All are DOOMED!
new suit
Went to Shinjuku to do the initial fitting for my new suit. Methinks it shan't suck. I was a little worried about the young salesman (I am used to an old Italian guy in Barney's who's been tailoring suits since before the war) but he is totally on the ball and even removed the right sleeve so that he could specify some seriously particular adjustments since he just did not like the way the right shoulder was aligned and pulling at the lapel. Suit will be all ready in another couple weeks.
P took a photo whilst Tonchan had a snack, totally uninterested in the finest of Italian 120's wool.
P took a photo whilst Tonchan had a snack, totally uninterested in the finest of Italian 120's wool.
happy birthday!
happy birthday!
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Big G + Maneaterz = Hawaii 5-0 Birthday Celebration. Much debauchery was had.
red red wine
I had forgotten how good la Bisboccia is. After work we headed across the street for a pre-dinner pint and I remembered again how much I dislike beer.
Then we headed out for dinner. The private room was half occupied by a bunch of MS bankers and Simon soon discovered that they lifted a whole case of the wrongly priced (aka cheap) 2004 wine. We had to settle for bottles of the 2003, and then made up for it by lifting several more bottles including some dessert wine and a bottle of jet fuel grappa.
Red wine makes me sleepy, yup. Managed to stumble home midnight-ish though.
Then we headed out for dinner. The private room was half occupied by a bunch of MS bankers and Simon soon discovered that they lifted a whole case of the wrongly priced (aka cheap) 2004 wine. We had to settle for bottles of the 2003, and then made up for it by lifting several more bottles including some dessert wine and a bottle of jet fuel grappa.
Red wine makes me sleepy, yup. Managed to stumble home midnight-ish though.
baba's new cut
baba's new cut
Originally uploaded by renfield.
P stayed home to rest so Tonchan and I took mama to UR in Harajuku to do something decent with her crazy hair. Mama get the quadruple wash, shoulder massage, multiple colorings, cut, and blowdry treatment whilst Ton and I wandered to backstreets of Urahara and checked out all the cool people.
chie has dessert
chie has dessert
Originally uploaded by renfield.
After zazen I got home just in time to help mama make a mountain of potato pancakes and cook a spiral ham. Chie came by and started cooking up a storm, too so again Newman ate well. Mama wasn't feeling great either and neither was P (this stomach virus is going around!) and Newman was sniffling all night, but we still ate well!
rei & tonchan
rei & tonchan
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Went to Suji's for brunch and dragged Rei and Newman along. I left early to get to zazen and P took Tonchan home early because she was grumping (still a bit sick) but mama and Newman and Rei hung out and had some eats.
the police @ tokyo dome
the police @ tokyo dome
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Just got back from Tokyo Dome. I love seeing concerts in Japan. Tickets say the show starts at 7:30, the show starts at 7:30. Encore, second encore, bow, 9:30 -- lights come up. Then they announce section by section and everyone leaves in an orderly fashion.
Oh yeah and The Police ABSOLUTELY. ROCKED. God damn that was a fine concert. And double oh yeah, we were arena floor, center, 7th row.
Also, we had The World's Most Awesome Babysitter. We left and Tonchan was crying for mom. We come home and Tonchan's asleep on the sofa, babysitter watching TV. I ask: "How was she?" Her reply: "After the bath she fell asleep, about 7:30."
Huh?! No fits of screaming? No tantrums and clothing tossing and crawling away and pillow kicking? She just FELL ASLEEP?! I need this woman to come babysit some night when I'm here so that I can see what she's doing and take notes!
fever
Tonchan had a gnarly fever yesterday; coughing, sniffling, body fluids coming out from all over the place. She was not very happy. P stayed home with her and mostly slept.
This morning the ladies woke up and were in much better spirits. Fever is basically gone, Tonchan ate some breakfast and was her generally bubbly, giggly, goofy self.
She's not 100% but she's much, much better.
This morning the ladies woke up and were in much better spirits. Fever is basically gone, Tonchan ate some breakfast and was her generally bubbly, giggly, goofy self.
She's not 100% but she's much, much better.
sayonara spike
Our little boy is all grown up! Seems just yesterday he was a new graddie with too much hair gel. Now his girl is almost 3 and he's off to Hong Kong. I was supposed to be in HK today but at the last minute my trip got cancelled so we headed out to Odaiba to say farewell. Amy and Maya and various others from the old gang were there so Tonchan had some fun with the older kids. I love taking the Yurikamome monorail at night across Rainbow Bridge; very slick view of the Tokyo skyline!
clap clap
R1010520.JPG
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Mama came back from Shanghai (best comment: "Chinese new year is...loud. All they do is light firecrackers 'til 3am!") and needed some eats. P and Tonchan and I were out in Shinjuku (Takashima Times Square) the day before checking out all the fools lined up for 3 hours in the cold rain for Krispy Kremes.
I ended up ordering a suit; nice Italian wool and it will be hand sewn by some old Japanese dude, so we'll see what happens.
Today we took a long walk and ended up at Mitsukoshi in Yebisu Garden Place. Finally (FINALLY!) found some decent shoes at Ecco; plain black seamless round-toes, nothing funky or pointy or capped or stitched. Just plain. black. shoes. Then we bought some munchies in the basement and headed home.
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