20 posts tagged “me”
* On the train I'm reading: "The Appeal" by John Grisham
* At home I'm reading: "Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia" by Ahmed Rashid
* I'm watching: Cold Case season 3, NCIS season 4, Boston Legal season 4
* I'm listening to : "21st Century Breakdown" by Green Day
* I'm playing: Halo 3 ODST, Biohazard / Resident Evil 5
* Good film I saw recently: "Frost x Nixon"
Okay, I have been meaning to blog one thing that's 'fit to print' here during the 5-day weekend in September but I haven't- mainly because I have many other stuff going down IRL yo (yeah, although I have time to write complete nonsense in Japanese a while ago, I know:-).
I have been wanting to get me a new perfume/ eau de toilette/ whatever (is there a correct term for perfume for men??). I used to wear Givenchy's Ultramarine, but I have come to believe it no longer suits me; its fragrance is like, "Look! I'm all clean, young and bouncing around for no good reason! Yay!" It no longer represents where I'm at in my life. I need something more, you know, grown-up, sexier and more intelligent (I'm not saying that's what I am; I'm only saying I want to pretend I am:-).
The problem is, me finding the right perfume in a department store is as tough a mission as those fashionistas and Gwen Stefani fangirls hanging out in Harajuku going over to Akihabara to buy enough parts to build up a brand-new Core i-7 PC from scratch. It's not impossible, but it will take huge amount of effort.
So I got in touch with a Japanese female friend of mine who's been buying her own perfume since she was 14, and asked if she'd help me out. She said buy me a dinner. I said no problem.
We went to Shinjuku and made a tour in Isetan and Takashimaya. Since this was not really my familiar territory, I watched and learned how you were supposed to behave. She told me many interesting things about perfume in general. We picked three, nailed down to two, and I ended up wearing each on my wrist and walking around (scent is designed to change over time as it evaporates from your skin temperature). We talked this and that, checked how they smelled, and eventually decided the best pick was- Chanel.
I was secretly suppressing my grin as I went back to their booth and made my purchase; a complete geek like me admiring their Keira Knightley poster (she looks so much better there, but I guess it's easier to look better when not wearing some pirate clothes and wielding swords:-) and nonchalantly making small conversations with their shop attendant like I belonged there.
Or maybe I should change how I see myself. Maybe I do belong there, as well as still being a complete nerd. I am an anomaly, embodiment of contradiction. Hmm. Something I need to chew on, I guess.
Anyway, from now on my official perfume/ eau de toilette/ whatever will be : Chanel Allure Homme: Edition Blanche (I failed to ask why it's called 'white edition':-). I really like it.
As promised we went to eat in an Italian place. Somehow the conversation turned to Gossip Girl because we came across a poster for DVD during our shopping (I have watched the drama but never read the books; she's read all the books but haven't watched the drama). She asked who I think was the hottest among the cast. I said Blair. She laughed and said, Oh Kimura, your brunette again. I was like WTF? Then she pointed out every female actor/ model/ whatever I say is hot is always brunette, never blond. (I have known her since my university days)
Really. Then I started to think of my personal pick of three hottest ladies on screen;
No. 1: Juliette Binoche in "Damage" (Many people would think Juliette Binoche as the muse of Leos Carax, but for me this Luis Malle film captures her at her absolute moment of hotness)
No. 2: Irene Jacob in "La double vie de Veronique" (I'm almost convinced Kieslowski shot this movie just to record her beauty:-)
No.3: Eva Green in "007: Casino Royale": (which by the way was the only James Bond film that I thought was good)
... Looks like she's right:-) Although in real life, I don't really care about the color of someone's hair...
And by the way, everything in this post is seriously not helping me boost my nerd cred:-( I need to geek myself up! (^o^)
Just checking in and seeing what's happening in my 'hood...
Been away from my computer this week as my RL was kind of hectic. Be back soon.
BTW, am I the only one who's been thinking that those fecking burgers are getting smaller and smaller in Japan !?!?
Current stuff:
Book I'm reading on train; "The Witcher: The Last Wish" by Andrzej Sapkowski
Book I'm reading at home: "Foucault" by Gilles Deleuze
Game I'm playing: Prototype (on Xbox 360)
Music I'm listening to right this moment: The Phantom of the Opera (It's on tv)
Thing on my mind: Kieslowski retrospective film festival in Tokyo
There's something funny happening in my right ear. It doesn't always happen, but there's this low-frequency, ah, not exactly sound but what feels like sound.
I've read about this kinda urban legend that people working/living in tall buildings sometimes get symptoms like this one, what with the difference of air-pressure from the ground level and all.
I have been listening to my music via headphone since forever, so I don't see how it can affect my ear now (I would expect my ears would have gotten used to it:-). If this persists, I may have to visit a doctor and make sure anything serious isn't happening. Meh.
It came to my attention that, in this blog, all I post about are games, movies, anime, tv dramas, hot ladies on tv shows, random quotes, and penis observations- people out there may be thinking that Yours Truly is an idiot:-P
And given the fact that I'm more obsessed with books than games (seriously- I grew up in a family that banned comics, anime, and games), it's not right that I only write about the games I have played and don't write about the books I've read.
So, I will start posting about books. Some stuff I've just read, and also the ones I've read in the past and still feel pretty enthusiastic about. Not that I will stop writing about games and stuff, though. That's a part of me as well. (^o^)v
My Windows PC has been acting pretty strange. I hit the power switch, the whole rig starts up, Windows logo comes up on screen, but at the end only the mouse pointer and wallpaper show up (no Start button, no icon to click, not even this Windows bar at the bottom). Right clicking on the empty space won't show me the usual menu.
However, when I hit Ctrl+Alt+Del the task manager does come up (though after a long pause), so it's not like the entire OS is not booted up. On the other hand, there's nothing I can do with just wallpaper and nothing to click on:-(
This sometimes happens now, but it always happens when something other than the mouse is plugged into any USB port when it fires up at first. Even if I put in the wireless LAN unit after the Windows comes up all normal, it won't be recognized. Also hard line Internet connection isn't working, even when the OS is running just fine.
... I guess it's the motherboard. Time to call tech support, I guess. This is a problem as my Windows machine stores my writing stuff. Meh.
The first week of May is known as "Golden Week" in Japan. There are several national holidays scattered around on the last week of April and the first week of May. Although exactly how many days off you'd get depends on the calendar of that year, you'd get at least several extra days off. Which is always nice.
So I'm in the middle of a 'weekend' that lasts until Wednesday this week. This week I'll be going to the office on Thursday and Friday only. They might as well make them holidays too if you ask me, especially this year- there aren't much stuff going on anyway, and with the calendar like this people aren't particularly motivated to take care of what's still happening:-P (some companies are making it mandatory for their employees to take extra days off- they'd rather keep their factories off so there will be less inventory)
I would say I'm taking full advantage of this long weekend. I have finished reading a book (rather crappy book on global economy), may finish another one (a thriller by this guy named Barry Eisler), and may finally start reading that biography of Truman Capote. I have watched the movie The Mist (didn't really like it- especially the ending. Also, I hate movies with religious fanatics in them. Unless they are devoured alive by zombies), and will watch a zombie movie 28 Weeks Later in case the actual zombie apocalypse is upon us.
Also I have spent this morning setting up my new AirMac Extreme. Ditched AirMac Express, something's definitely not working right with that one. Took me about 45 minutes to hook it up and figure out how to configure it- now the network's up and running, the whole network's in 'stealth' mode and all my devices' MAC address memorised so no war driving will take place here. Tried Xbox 360 and Xbox Live is running well.
I like Apple, but they really should do something about their crap documentation; you may have noticed this if you own an iPod, but their manual/guide/whatever is always poorly documented. I mean, if you attach an manual, you might as well make it something actually useful, don't you think??
And I have found out my cousin is getting married. The girl's from Okinawa I believe, at least they met in Okinawa. (It's an island at southern end of Japan, famous for relaxed atmosphere, musicians like Namie Amuro, and a big U.S. military base) They are handling the matters in kind of a 'modern' way, no big wedding ceremony, just a small party at a hotel buffet with family and close friends. Cool.
I'm mildly aware that this turn of event may result in some family members start looking at Yours Truly, thinking "he should be doing the same soon" or something. Whatever. I'm too busy concerned about the zombie apocalypse. And this chick I met in a certain Roppongi hideout. And the new shop attendant at my local Tsutaya (Japanese version of Blockbuster) who is the cutest I've seen there ever. Oh, and I just picked up the game Mirror's Edge in a bargain bin (more on this later).
I guess this is the side effect of the economy slowing down. You know, people have more free time on their hands? Someone in the building (whoever's just above me from the sound of it) has taken up the acoustic guitar last week. From how s/he plays it must be the first time the person touches the instrument. And for some reason, if my ear serves me fine this person is trying to play "Don't cry for me Argentina" from Evita. Madonna fan maybe? But then, there has to be easier songs to learn...
I'm not that annoyed by it, but it sure hasn't happened before.
I can watch cherry blossoms right outside my window. Literally. Cherry trees are just in front of balcony. I tried taking a few pictures for this blog, but they just come out wrong and don't catch the beauty that I'm seeing. I guess Keitai camera is not up for the job. Good thing about cell-phone cam is I can just put it up on Vox without doing any editing or anything... :-P
Anyway. I have been feeling strange. See, my life always moved with phases. This is probably why I have never had so-called "life long friend". each phase would last about four years, give or take, and then something happens and my life take a new turn. Things change. I change. My behavior/ way of thinking change either a bit or once quite radically.
I'm kind of feeling that the end of this current phase in my life is getting closer. It's been fifth year in my current phase, so to speak, so it's not really a surprise. This phase has been kind of a "status-quo", kind of peaceful and okay, though may not be too dramatic or exciting.
Which has been just fine, since the phase before that was quite rocky, depressing and hard. I call it my "What's eating Gilbert Grape" phase when I try to explain it to somebody who didn't know me back then (I was like Johnny Depp in that movie, but without that married lady to hook up with). Long story. I might write about it in here someday.
So maybe something rocky, depressing and hard is coming my way. Or maybe this time, the change is more psychological and it just takes place inside of me. Who knows? I would have to just wait and see.
