Ogakijin Blog

Old friend... got back to Ogakijin's world tonight!
Yeah, it's Harahira-san (male).
He is the one ever told me of the management consultant.
He since then is my tutor...

I met him several years before Thunderbird... about 4 years ago. Spent 2 years together in the same large corporation... but we stood for different positions... However, we had lots of things in common to talk about.

"Improvement"
"Overall optimization"

Typical topics that we always talked about. So you can tell that we were really business partners even though we didn't have direct business involvement in the same business then.

Anyhow, he happened to be in town - Tokyo today and we both decided to meet.
Interesting conversation on business was definitely endless... along with full of drinks!

Good talk... lots of serious stuff!
Man, I should call him up more often for drinks! Great incentives.

New watch - to my collection... Wait. Did I have such collection? Hahaha.
I have been telling myself one thing over and over for a long time.
Yeah, I would like to buy a new watch.

My current watch Rolex Explorer II (white face) has been in use for a decade and half already.
I would like to have another serious watch... Make sense?

Wait. Where is the budget? Am I still currently suffering from a big debt? (true)
Meaning, I have to make a big loan to realize this plan. Really.
Big loan like 360 monthly payments (BANG!).



Panerai (Italian) 241 - 40mm size



Cartier (French?) Santo 100

How come I want new watch for now? (at least last year and half?)
Why these two models in particular?

Reason #1: leather belt preferred
Reason #2: supplemental to current Rolex in terms of shape and color
(i.e. different types from the Rolex is a must)
Reason #3: rarity - not many in the market rarely found.

Which one you think the best in my case?
Hehehe.

Already Plan B? Came to have an interview. Give? or Merely Given? Hehehe.
Came to socialize a guy from totally different industry - entertainment.
Very interesting...

Wait.
Am I looking for new career?
Already?

You'll never know! I don't even know. Hehehe.
I learned a lot from the gentleman whom I just met for the first time in my life.
What I need to think... do not waste such experience and look for a way to take advantage of such... You know what I mean?

After this interview session, went out to Ginza area...
Mostly checked many different watch shops.

Hmmm, tough to find what I want...
Oh I should talk about that in detail soon... maybe tomorrow?

Good thing? Bad thing? At least one week is over...
Not easy time for now... For time being, I should concentrate what I can do. No more than that... Let's make it simple!

Tonight, there was a fun event.
I hadn't seen them for a long time... Obviously, everyone is busy! (beside myself?)

Takeshi
Toshi

They are all T-birds!!! We spent time together while in business school.
All of us are in Tokyo... still rarely see each other.

See, they are busy... though, I am not quite so (BANG!).

Need this kind of break with good friends... time to time. Should make the interval period a big shorter...

Rainy season... in the middle of it... though no rain today.
No good news from the media... Neither from me... both personally and professionally.

Need some leverage to turn this flat day around!
Big event... fun event is needed. Simple is that.

Remember of the big promotion to my old boss? Yeah, mentioned that about a week ago or so.
Finally made the pick for the gift.



Yeah, moth orchid. THIS IS VERY EXPENSIVE in Japan. All flowers are so expensive... ESPECIALLY orchid.
Meaning, perfect gift.
This time, somehow I managed this under the budget which was REALLY TIGHT. I had a luck.

Hope his wife... not old boss himself would like to see them upon delivery. Will see. That would be on Friday anyway.

Do you agree that this is good choice? Hope so.

Wow, how come I got those? Hehehe.





Alain Mikli A0815-18 (brand new)

This is purple line in them... have another pair with yellow line. Cool huh!
How come I got those? Hmmm.

Wait. Anyone out there wants those? Please email me!!!
These frames are priced at 70,000 yen or so... USD695 or so. Darn expensive!!!

Yes, there is a big Ogakijin discount for sure... as far as you're loyal reader!

I've got 4 brand new Visconti fountain pens sitting my room as well. Anyone wants those, too? Man, I got too much inventory to turn!!! (BANG)

Rainy day... perfect for movie... You know, I am big movie goer... no hesitant going to movie on such day!



Movie called "21 (Twenty-One)" as my pick for the day.
Cool movie.

Lots of math required... which I hardly caught up with. (BANG)
Vegas is always fun place to go... I miss it.

I am just imagining of when would be next time in my life to get there. Hmmm. Tough to answer.

Did you see this movie? If not, don't miss out... Even DVD or Blu-Ray works for you... check it out.

Weekend is calling an end already. Too fast. Too bad.
Coming week ain't easy as last week. I have to be very careful... should stay calm as well.
Let me try.

Cloudy... and rainy time to time for the day. No plans today meant that it was perfect day for the Sabbath.
Don't you think? I definitely deserve something like that for a while... maybe a long time...

Only twice... went outside.
For dropping clothes at nearby dry cleaner and for picking them up.
Otherwise, I quietly spent time at home. Not praying or anything serious. No reading, either.

What did I do then?
Watched video... more than 10 hours of recorded programs up to yesterday for two weeks or possible longer.
I watched most of them... not necessarily see every minute... sometimes took advantage of fast forward.

Perfect rest for me. Had a NAP as well. Just as needed.
Somewhat lazy then, too... could have washed dirty clothes... Excuse was that I couldn't put them up to the sun after the laundry.

FYI - I don't have dryer at home.

FYI - it's absolutely legal and legitimate to put up the clothes to the sun for drying in Japan.

What shall I do tomorrow? Maybe movie going? Let me think about it.

Thank Goodness! Week is over... and weekend is just ahead!
No plans... but feel good about it. Yeah, sure thing.

Too many evening events for this week... and need some rest for sure.
Too much alcohol. I will slow down.

What to be in next week? I better check it out before Monday.
Better refill the ink to my fountain pens... some of them were running out for sure.

What else, what else...

Somewhat I have lots of regrets on job... and need to fix whatever necessary. Hmmm.
Tough time is really ahead. No more big boo-boo.

2nd thought is always good and helpful. Running thru all isn't always the way to go for me. Should have good take-aways... and learn from them. Better doing so.

Wish me luck.
I will keep fingers crossed and do whatever I can.

Wow, good food for tonight... What happened? Worked too hard and this was reward?
Let's say, yes, this is it!

We got team dinner for the first time... since three of us got together on assignment.
Wait. Where does the budget come from? Good question. Shhh.















Many dishes... good quantity... and great stuff.

Restaurant called "TEN" located in Roppongi.

Man, ate too much? Well, it was good... not overate for sure.

Hi folks.
I had to wrap up my work for the day quickly around 6:30pm.
Why? Well, I had a call that I need to see Foyer who came to Japan for a while.

My friend... good friend from Atlanta.

For him, two other friends also made show-up... Kirk (male) and yk110 (female).
Yeah, all friends from Atlanta era!

Went to eat and drink!!!
Much food and lots of drinks!
No wonder that I drank so much... even though it was still in the middle of week!!!
Forget it. It was all for my sincere friend. Good time is all needed!!!

Had fun... great fun tonight.

Foyer is leaving Japan over this coming weekend. Well, have a safe trip back!
Definitely, I will see you soon... either here or there.

Surprise, surprise!!! Well, turned out to be a good news... better than that... GREAT NEWS.
I just heard that very very first boss in my career is now appointed to be the Director at a big corporation. Yeah, he deserves that for sure.
Well, this gives me more pleasure and happiness than the time that I got promoted back in April.
Seriously.
I feel like this were for me...

Just gave him a call to congratulate... he sounded like he got surprise promotion. Hahaha, right!
Am sure that he'll do a great job!
Too bad that he has to leave Tokyo because the headquarter isn't in this area.

Well, better prepare some gift for him... sooner.

Michael is in town? When flew in from Atlanta? How long to stay? Better keep up with him for sure. Let's see when I have free time... tomorrow?
Oh need to inform Kirk about Michael's visit.



"How to be rich in 3 years"

Forget it! This book sucks. Easy to read... but don't remember anything afterward.
Somehow I picked this up for no particular reason. Hmmm. My bad.

New week new story? Seems all same routine again for this week.
Oh, at least I have something new... sales meeting at my firm. Learned a lot from potential clients or projects. Very interesting. My input is rather limited and, most of time, I was the listener.

Surely took some notes. Yeah, I was serious student always listens to teacher.
Sorry, I wasn't quite so while in Thunderbird! (BANG)

Happened to drink after that sales meeting. With managers and director over drinks... talk was rather interesting.
Wait. Still Monday, right? Hmmm. I better watch out. Have another 4 days to go!!!

Interesting Okinawa (Island) cuisine. Loved it.
It was near Hamamatsucho station.

Well, have 8am meeting tomorrow morning. Meaning, I better not stay late. Surely not.
Came home around 10:30pm. Yeah, under GOOD control.

One last thing today.



"Visualization - the process to make strong company"

This is written by famous management consultant. Good structure and easy to read and understand.
Very useful for sure. Recommended.

I will come back to read this again on future project for sure!

Finally... after defect iPod speaker... new audio system in my place!!!
It's by ONKYO (Japanese audio maker).



Price JPY39,800.- Somewhat pricey...

So far so good... I like it very much. All features that I want are included... from AM radio, alarm/snooze, etc.

How did I get up everyday without having alarm? Well, used cell phone's alarm. Hahaha. True, though.

For today's long lunch... went to the Four Seasons Marunouchi Tokyo Hotel...



JPY3,900.- per person. Pretty good stuff, though.

OK, fun weekend is now over!

This year's movie #13 for me...



Indiana Jones No. 4... Japan's opening is next week and I went to pre-open road show today. Lucky me?
Plus, it was a movie special day... discount price also. Hahaha. Perfect for someone poor... like me? (BANG!)

Didn't raise too much of my expectation about this movie.
Somehow, I read some critics' articles in US about this movie and, with no many exceptions, rating wasn't that high. That was because the story was sort CHEAP.

I agree.

The movie wasn't that bad... though, surely, I cannot rate this high. Hahaha.

Ogakijin's rate for this movie: C++

Saw good friend of mine, Tetsuji, for the 1st time in long long time today.
He's "Mr. Sales Man" in UPS. Yeah, my ex-coworker and he advanced himself in the same career for a long time. He has my respect in making such career.
Since selling so much, he's busy and we missed each other for three or four months. Used to see each other at least monthly.

He got lots of options in advancing his career even further.
Man, I envy of him so much. Don't have any option for myself.

Well, we had great (serous) conversation for an hour. We should have easy conversation on easy stuff (not job-related). Hahaha. We were too serious...

Needed MORE drinks!

Didn't know it was THAT bad... who decided? How did it happened?
Just heard that CEO of Wachovia Bank resigned.
He took the full responsibility for huge loss from the sub prime loan. Wait. Is Wachovia going down?

How come I am so serious about it?

That's because I have an account with it!!! My primary bank for all US dollars!!! (see, how serious I am!)

This may sound like I have quite bit of money? It only sounds... the truth is totally contrary!
Recently withdrew all money from a security company to pay off the debt.
Yeah, seriously.

I have to write off all debts first before ANYTHING.

So don't let Wachovia down... this is SERIOUS.