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Happy Halloween, fellows!

By the way, is that female or male? Whose ass is that? Haha---

This one was sent by Kack... in Atlanta. Oh I miss you! So nice to have received emails from old friends... good old days in US.

Man, I missed Halloween! I am sure that some of friends over there had a GREAT DRINKING PARTY! I wish I could have been there.

Had 2 appointments and didn't come back to the office until about 4pm. Left office around 10am... Did meetings go well? At least, one of them wasn't that bad. How did I kill time between them? Oh well, I walked around and around. Well, I couldn't afford time to going back to office; I would be late if done that way. Hence, stopped by several stores... found interesting thing like this:

I was amazed with this figure. Store --- Honma Golf. The iron set... is priced at 1,280,000 yen. Would you like to know this in dollar? Wow here it is:

$12,850!!!

Didn't misspell or miscalculate... it is $12,850 (108 yen = 1 dollar). Just like buying a car! Seriously. Maybe you think that this set is only one in the store... Nope. Many of them were priced like those. I knew that golf is such expensive to play in Japan... no wonder lots of Japanese friends told me, before coming home, that I should get new set in Atlanta.

You can see how expensive like this... if you go any golf shop nearby and try to find the most expensive set of clubs... and compare!

Today's indication of pedometer: 18075 steps! Wow, that's a lot! (yesterday: 5684)

Tonight... watching one of the most favorite movies I have ever seen, "For Love of the Game." I can cry with this movie --- in fact, I did when seeing this movie for the first time.

The winner of 22,222 hit on Japanese version, Mr. Sato, informed me how he reached to my website. He was in progress searching sites by "fountain pen." Since my page has those words more than several times since I use two kinds all the times.

You never know what kind of people come to my site with what kind of interest. In other words, I SHOULD BE CAREFUL of what I write! Hehehe.

Wow, half of a week is done! Only Wednesday and Thursday to go! (since Friday is National Holiday)

Oh, for your information, I left office at 8pm again.

Better go for now. See you tomorrow. If you haven't see this movie, "For Love of the Game," I recommend it.

23:28

I don't have much to tell you today since I didn't go out for any appointments. Well, I didn't have any. Since it's end of month, not quite easy to get appointments.

On job... I sent a sales lead to Portland, OR --- then I found that the lead wasn't so important to the end... I talked to the customer and found that he wasn't quite happy with how we deal with him. Gee. I wasted my time? Hope not.

I hope I still secure this biz... Will see.

I called several different companies to see potential. Got one appointment on Thursday and another possible chance for a sales call later. Wasn't that bad today.

I left work around 8pm and came home straight. I am pretty home-work-home cycle. Called several friends to see how they were doing and I didn't get thru... Man.

I came home and did laundry... since I didn't do this weekend.

Oh this weekend, "Charlie's Angels" --- starting in US and Japan together. You know, the TV series were famous and popular here in Japan too. I even remember of it even though I was a little.

What other movies coming to theaters? "Space Cowboys," "Invisible Man," what else, what else. Oh, "Battlefield Earth." - Worst Travolta's movie.

Tonight, I found Nicolas Cage was on TV... TV commercial. And unlike other Hollywood stars, the commercial is not of canned coffee, food, cosmetics, or anything... but "PACHINKO" - Japanese gamble machine place! Surprisingly. - Didn't like it.

If I see that again, try to get a screen shot.

Today's pedometer: 5684 steps!

Anyway, too late tonight. Need to rest. See ya.

0:28+1

I STILL remain being broke. Again. Spent quite bit of money for a brief case... I mentioned of needs why the other day, didn't I? Yeah, this shopping was a must.

Went to Matsuya Department Store and got the brief case... here it is:

Leather brief case

I was thinking to buy nylon brief case because the price would be reasonable. Though, I decided to buy a leather one since it looked much better in work... especially for the appointments.

I spent almost $300 for this. EXPENSIVE, huh! I now have to count down how many days left until next pay day... as always.

Didn't buy umbrella, though. Couldn't afford anymore thereafter.

I hereby show the difference from the brief case I used and this new one... You can see a big difference... Though, new one is compatible to hold many things and still remain thin and light.

Green brief case = Old One

See, much thinner now!

Yet, can hold all necessary items!

I was a bit worried about the smallness. It is very important to carry my digital camera around for update on this website. Glad that it didn't have any problem about it. Then plus, Visor (handheld PC), pen case, wallet, etc.

Robyn emailed me, finally! Glad to know that she's so happy about her new life... after getting married! I was sure that she would be okay. Though, it's always so nice to hear from her who is now in Columbia.

Oh, I should reply her email now!

This week is shorter... up to Thursday. No appointments for tomorrow; I still have to prepare the sales report. So I may get busy somewhat.

Today's dinner? Carry Rice --- Was great! I am full.

Okay, let's move on!

23:11

How come does weekend remain rainy?! Gee... We are losing time for fun! Cannot believe this... According to the forecast, the following weekend, after this one, would be the same. Oh by the way, next weekend is longer one - 3 days off from Friday.

For what on Friday? November the 3rd = Culture Day.

At the end of day... the Japan Series came to an end:

Giants... came to the pennant of the series. Wow... they were way tougher than anyone else in the professional baseball AT LEAST for this season. The game #5 ... with 9-3 edged Daiei Hawks... and all baseball events for this year is ALMOST over. Almost? Yeah, because there is an another event, last one, left... US-Japan All Star Games. Don't know when it starts...

For Japanese version of Website Ogaki-jin, today it reached to anther milestone. The counter showed 22,222 hits. More than 22,000 visitors recorded for my website. Thank you!!! Here's the proof of it:

Above memorial hit was made to the history by a visitor, Mr. Sato --- first time ever recognized as Ogaki-jin's reader. He will be receiving a prize from me soon... Oh, I need to get his address from him first.

Rain... doesn't motivate me to do anything. Watched another movie, Yakuza movie, and anything else? Nope.

Oh, I still have to accomplish a good shopping record by or within tomorrow.

14:19+1

Thank God... finally. At least, I can shut up about it FOR A WHILE... Today, I received an email from someone in Pennsylvania. His name is Sam and emailed me as:"You wrote that not too many people read your English version. Just a note let you know some Americans do read it."

And he added that he read this many times... (maybe almost like everyday?). Wow! I am so glad to have found someone read this... Well, I know most English readers in America know me in person... I guess, they are only readers. Though, I hope more and more people come to this website and read about me... So I can be popular! (haha - just kidding)

Anyway, hope he finds some fun out of here!

Oh today's my English tutor... by Chris Tucker in "Rush Hour" --- I am sure that the way he talks like machine-gun would be of my great assistance to catch up!

Another thing that I reached to confidence... I finally made my Visor (handheld computer) Train Time Table... so I can know how much time left to very next train departing from the nearby station, Urayasu. It counts down how much time I got... in order to make that train and tell you what kind of train... Express, Rapid, Normal, etc.

This is going to be a great tool of mine... especially IN THE MORNING. I can get rid of damn crowd of rush hour! (Oops, I cuss too much... due to "Rush Hour.")

Hey, ya'll, it's WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEkend!

Had 2 appointments today and I was out of office from 1pm thru 5pm. Walked a lot!

Another new stuff, another thing to see me from different perspective from today.

I started wearing a pedometer with me from the time I leave the apartment and until when I come back to the same place after work. Therefore,

Today's figure (per pedometer): 3942 steps.

Here's my calculation... 1 step = 60 centimeters or approx. 2 feet. So 3942... (here's calculation process) 2.37 kilometers. Or 1.47 miles.

I am going to do the same thing on weekday-basis. So you can see how much exercise I can get (on foot).

This weekend's agenda... buying a brief case, looking for a good chicks, what else?

You too have a good weekend!

23:44

Hello, people! Are you having fun in reading this? Sure hope so. Since not many readers in English, compared to ones in Japanese, I wish I could have got many responses about this website.

Today... kind out of topics. Because I didn't go outside for any appointments... So I stayed in the office and worked on market research. Did I get good information? Well, sort of. I passed several leads to other stations; had a meeting with other salesperson for a big potential. Someday, this kind time I spent won't be a waste.

Yankees made a check mate in the World Series? Who cares? We all know that they are going to go all the way, anyway.

For Japan Series, Giants made another point and tied the Series... Hmmmm.

Tonight, I was about to leave the office, around 8:30pm, and then I was called for a help... then ended up working until 10pm.

Poor me...

Remember, I can spend up to $10 for supper if I stay working up to 8:30pm or later... So when I came back by train to the area I lived, I came to a thought:

Should I go to a Ramen noodle restaurant to eat or not?!?!

What did I do? Well... I didn't stop by a restaurant. Went to "ampm" (convenience store) to pick up some stuff to eat, instead.

What I got: tea, sport drink, bread, and rice with chicken (Oyako-Don).

What is the pro in getting something to eat at the store? There is an obvious difference. Restaurant, I can get good food. Convenience store has cheaper stuff --- so I can grab extra for next morning. Hence, I chose the store.

Maybe next time, I would go to restaurant.

It was $8.50.

yk110 (my ex-roommate in Atlanta) is now planning to come to see me in December! She comes to see her family (with her boyfriend?) while Christmas vacation of the school. Good news. I do miss her and would like to see her then.

Since I don't have many friends in Tokyo area yet and I have to work a lot --- not much personal time --- love to have reunion like that.

I ate now and am tired... let me go to bed...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

23:46

Pay day! Pay day! (Sounds like "May Day," huh?) Yes, I did get paid and now I am out of financial jeopardy. At least for now. Probably after this Saturday I will go back into same kind of status once again since I have to pay apartment rent, etc.

Some readers had a quite amusement time in reading yesterday's update since I was amazingly BROKE now.

You know, it's always fun to laugh at someone, especially not life-threating but comical life.

In fact, I laugh at myself too... That's actually only thing to do... cannot rob the bank or anything, right? Yup, finally pay day today. So I have SOME money, not whole a lot, though.

Today's only appointment... was 3pm and I had to take my boss for his introduction since he recently took that position. You know what? Meeting didn't go to the direction that I thought it would. Last meeting, the guy I faced was indicating that he would give me a chance to gain a new biz... today, he kind of stepped back and he said that he would wait to see how the current biz would go.

It's not totally negative or anything. Simply pending. Though, wasn't as exciting as before anymore. Still so anxious to get the 1st biz for myself.

Stopped by Starbucks for coffee break. My boss took me there and paid for me too.

I started "unofficial" sales campaign on my own... named as "Pity on this salesperson... please give him a hand!" Under that, I asked people in the office who working on different menu rather than Air Imports for a list of all existed or past clients who may have some biz for imports. Yes, I try to have some sales material in order to look for new prospects.

Got several lists already gathered and will start working on reviewing on them from tomorrow on.

Hope this would turn out to be something valuable. You know this is just stone; may turn out to be a diamond. Who knows?!

Wednesday is over... Thursday and Friday... 2 days to go. No appointment tomorrow... will do market research based upon the lists from the campaign... plus, 1 appointment on Friday.

Bye!

22:30

I had to start this morning with bad feeling... not because I was sick... but I had to pay extra buck for some fee!

I forgot some money, actually 10 bucks only, and found myself not carrying much money. So I decided to stop by "ampm" (convenience store) nearby office so that I could withdraw some money from ATM in there.

I felt that it would be no charge since I use ATM of the same back from where I make a withdrawal; I am damn wrong.

When getting money, only $10, from the ATM, the screen said, "Transfer Fee: 105 Yen --- Your balance is 895 Yen."

Shit! I've only got 8 dollars in my bank account? I knew, there were only 20 dollars... though, I didn't know there was a bank charge upon this transaction.

Why?

As soon as being seated at my desk thereafter, went to my bank's home page (www.sakura.co.jp) to find out more about the fee schedule. You know what I found then?

Only for the transactions made between 8:45am until 6pm, will be fee of charge!

Guess what time I made this withdrawal? Man, it was 8:32am! I lost more than a dollar because it was only 10 minutes or so earlier than the time Bank won't charge someone poor like me. Oh, dios mio (my God in Spanish).

Someone informed me that, unlike US, 24 hour banking on ATMs became available quite recently. Gee. Japan is probably 5 years behind...

I guess, at least I became smarter today.

Thanks! David Harlow emailed me for saying hey! Glad to hear from ya!

Today's appointment was one at 2:30pm. Went surprisingly well. Hope I made a good impression.

23:54

Hello, folks. It was rainy... and I learned two things:

1. Need a new carry brief case for work!

2. Should buy a regular umbrella

Why I learned those? Well, my brief case in use for longer than 3 years now needs to retire... Oh, let me rephrase it, my brief case in use for a long time isn't suitable for my commute environment. Too heavy and too big. Definitely need another one, which is light and thin!

Tokyo trains are ALWAYS, literally all the times, so crowded... so it doesn't give up much space for me to put down my brief case, either. Plus, I was trying to put up my brief case in the luggage rack above the seats... I couldn't hold it up by one hand due to its weight... then I supported it with the other hand which was holding portable umbrella... You know what? I almost hit some lady in front of myself... she was seated and I was standing in front of her... then moved my arm and my umbrella unintentionally moved so quickly toward her! Almost stub her! Gee, so dangerous. So glad that it didn't even though her with it.

Definitely, my brief case isn't suitable...

Plus, I am tired of carrying it around, too. Even under fine weather, just too much burden on my shoulder in doing so. I really don't need to carry it... just don't have a choice since it's only the brief case I have.

About time to go shopping!

Wednesday is likely pay day and I hereby have gotten official reason to go out for shopping, right? Hehe.

For the second thing... about umbrella:

I have been using a portable one since I don't have regular one. You know what? It's not big enough... however I am sure that it works for tentative-basis, not solid rainy day like today though!

Since wearing formal suits all the times, don't want to remain so soak after appointments. You don't want me to keep being sick, do you?!

Yankees won the 2nd game too? Gee, they are darn good, huh!

In Japan Series, Giants came back quite well for tonight, 9-3, 1st victory in the series.

Appointment of the day on job... visited "National Geographic, Japan's Edition" ... yeah, I went to publishing company... lots of imports? Nope. Really. Though, National Geographic imports some books written in English and they are certainly customers. I found that they didn't carry a lot of potential. Though, I liked see office like that. It was certainly fun!

That's about it for today. Oh, the time I left the office for the day was 8:15pm.

I will see you here tomorrow. Take care.

23:02

Weekend is over... now. Am watching the Japan Series game#2. Giants from the Central League and Hawks of Pacific League. In the 1st game, Hawks edged Giants. Now in the 2nd game, Hawks is, once again, ahead of Giants. Great!

Today... didn't do much since I walked quite bit yesterday. Plus, I seem getting a cold. I probably do have a light fever and some coughs. Do I have cold medicine here in my apartment? Nope. I don't have any.

My mother just called me that she received the 3rd and last box from US... my personal items. Mainly winter clothes in it, I think. Funny thing, she told me not to catch cold since it's getting colder and colder everyday.

Too late, right?! Already so.

Home run! For Hawks... now 8-3. I am sure that they are going to win tonight, also.

Since Japan Series takes place, I didn't rent any videos for this weekend. I don't even know what movies out there in theaters! Oh of course, I know of Charlie's Angeles on 11/3.

Got new picture from Yasunori, my high school mate. The picture is another friend from the high school... who just got married last weekend. Don't even remember of his wife's name. Though, I am sure that I will come to meet her when going home next time.

Mr. and Mrs. Nakai on their wedding

Yes, weekend stuff, laundry is done. Now I have to do my favorite thing... ironing. I am only good at this in terms of the category as chore. I may do much better job than any girl I have ever dated, I would say!

Being so broke. Really. Cannot wait for this Wednesday... pay day. In Japan, it's normal that companies pay their employees once a month.

How much do I have in my wallet? --- Man, I should NOT have mentioned and NOT checked inside the wallet. Too thin...

How do ya'll like "Subway Series?" Yanks won the game#1, huh! Well. I guess, most likely Yanks come to the same place for 3 years in a row.

I am sure that tkoich (Charlie) in NYC enjoys this moment over there. Gee, I wish I could have been in NYC, instead of him.

This week's plan for Tak... Have gotten an appointment on Monday and Tuesday each. Probably one on Thursday, which I need to confirm. Hopefully, one more or so.

In order to accomplish my quota which is given by the department, I try to motivate myself to have 1 visit somewhere everyday.

Will talk to you tomorrow.

21:06

As said yesterday... did go to PC Expo 2000 today. It was in Tokyo Big Sight, international exhibition center.

Gee, tons of people. Here's how that place looks:

"World PC Expo 2000" in Tokyo Big Sight

Was $15 for entrance. Though, I was happened to be given an invitation ticket while I was lining up for the ticket booth. What a luck! So I got FREE admission.

I wasn't interested much in other exhibition like new PC's etc. I was only interested in handheld devices and Palm Expo which Palm users made their own expo within the same place.

Palm Expo... I found so many Palm users. Really more than 200 people or so. Everyone had Palm, Visor, TRG, or Sony's Clie... For all Palm users... exchanging biz card over infrared was of course very common:

So busy to exchange biz cards over infrared.

Palm users... were so maniac. Very friendly too. I participated in one attraction... beaming my Visor to other Palm devices... Was fun.

Oh man! I finally saw her in reality... So famous lady in Japan... since she's Mac and Palm user who has such popular website at www.mobile-dog.com. Her handle name is Pochi. She will release first book she wrote and she was signing the books today in that session:

"Pochi"

After the Palm Expo, went to normal exhibition area and checked out Palm and HandSpring booth. Found lots of interesting add-on's.

Cases... huge variety.

Eve more...

Yes! I saw new Visors "Platinum" and "Prism" --- Cool.

Did enjoy walking and looking at all that in the exhibition. Certainly I worn out afterwards since tons of people and crowd made me tired.

Next exhibition I will come... gotta be Mac World Expo Tokyo which will be in February.

Still half way to go for this weekend. See ya.

23:29

Was rainy... wasn't great for me to make a trip to Yokohama... I wish that I had knew of this weather... so I NEVER scheduled this appointment on this day.

For single appointment, I had to take trains... several different trains. Took me almost 2 hours to get there!

Was meeting productive? Well... Gain some information... though not really connect to a new biz right away. Wasn't certainly wasting time because I still at least collected information for future.

I was given okay to go home straight without dropping by the office. So it was frankly easy today for me. GOOD for me.

Cannot wait for tomorrow since I plan to go to PC Expo 2000. I am sure that that is basically for PC users, not Mac users. Though, I am sure that I can find some interests in there, hopefully.

Am I tired? Certainly sure. Since I had to walk and got soaked throughout the rainy weather all day long.

22:40+1

Maybe --- Finally? At last? Eventually? Today I visited two companies upon appointment and I may have a good chance to sell 1st business?!?! Surely, hope so.

In the morning, I went to a company near the department store Mitsukoshi. Oh yeah, I certainly visited that company, rather than killing my time in looking around thru that prestigious department. Mitsukoshi... is like Saks 5th Avenue.

Then went back to office once... wasn't that necessary because I did have another appointment in the afternoon. I could remain somewhere around that area I went to. Though, I didn't want so too much since I don't have much money left before next pay day... You know, killing time certainly costs.

The other appointment was a big deal. Had a pretty good potential. Though, it will be tough to deal with. You know, good (wonderful) profit equals big risk. The thing is with a such pain-in-ass requirement coming along.

I wasn't sure if I should take that or not. So I told prospected client that I would take this as homework and would come back for further talk. --- I think I still would go for it with consent given by operation people. Hope I can do so.

Yanks with Mets? Hey, that is NOT fun. NY isn't the whole world! Don't leave us, like in Atlanta, out of it! I guess, it's NY Series... right? NOT World Series.

Japan Series will kick off this weekend too. Cannot wait. Tokyo Giants vs. Daiei Hawks. Hawks are defending champion... though I still want them to win since I HATE Giants... for entire my life!

Oh, after the second appointment, I took a train for wrong direction... I realized so when seeing Tokyo Dome (Giant's home stadium) through the window. Maybe next year, I will come to see a game at that dome, hopefully.

I was considering of that possibility on that biz and didn't think too much about which platform to go to for train.

Left the office quite early... in fact, earliest?! At 6:50pm. People were STILL working. Did I feel guilty about leaving? A bit.

Am resting pretty good home now. Cool! TGIF tomorrow. Have 1 appointment in Yokohama... a little nice trip tomorrow. Take me to get the destination about nearly 2 hours or so. I plan to leave the office around 11am and may be back around 4 or even 5-ish.

Hope I can have fun on that mini-trip... Haha.

23:10

Oops, sorry didn't have the opening page of this entire website... I've got several readers emailed me... "Where did your webpage go?" because those who bookmarked this site at "www.ogaki.net" couldn't read any but some "error 403" message.

Of course, it's fixed now and you can read thru. My apology for inconvenience.

Today... I had an appointment with client and was out of office from 2pm until 4:30pm. Thereafter, I had many emails to respond and get ready on quotations, etc. So it was pretty busy... left the office for home around 8:50pm. Not so bad.

Funny thing of the day... picture this.

After started walking toward my apartment from nearby station, I saw a young guy, probably around my age or so, walk ahead of myself. I kept up with the pace he was walking and he went thru crowd of young ladies who were giving away some papers of advertisement on the bars they were working for. Those ladies didn't give any to that guy. I don't know why. He looked pretty ordinary guy to me; so I don't see any problem for those ladies to give one of them to him.

Then, my turn.

Even though there were like 10 feet from those ladies, they started approaching to me in order to give me one! And notably, EVERY SINGLE lady in that crowd TRIED to give me some of those. WHY?

Did I take any? Nope. Never. I am NOT interested in going to that kind of place to spend my money which would come out of my tight budget. I now only have $50 to spend a week... which ain't enough at all in living in big city like Tokyo.

For your information- about my appearance at that moment:

-black suits, actually 3 pieces. A pair of trousers, jacket, and a vest

-Light brown color leather shoes

-Purple shirt

-Pink tie

-And navy socks

I am sure that I didn't look like ordinary salesperson... As I at least saw people around in the train from and to the office, I didn't see anyone wearing 3 pieces. Of course, never about pink tie.

My conclusion >>>>>

Those ladies really thought that I would be like spending most of my spending for fun at night... unless they considered me as gay. Haha.

Oh well, that was funny moment to me somewhat.

Hey, Kack is available for me? Gee, she didn't tell me so while I was in US! Man, people don't know when to tell yes or no! Now I am sure that lots of female friends in US would say, "Oh yeah Tak! I was waiting for you!"

Gee, women are very smart.

Those who don't know about her... Kack is my ex- coworker in Atlanta. Good friend of mine. She has a boyfriend named Andy (I thought so...) if not broken up yet (hehe).

All right, I better go. It's getting late. See ya!

23:22

Historic day of my life? Oh, that's exaggeration. Though, certainly it is the first time in my entire life that I play DVD movie.

Yeah, I know, it's just merely DVD movie to play.

What title of the movie? Guess! The best selling DVD movie in the world! "Matrix."

Cool, I can choose the language between English and Japanese. Of course, I prefer English, since it is the original language, to understand the movie itself.

Hey, PlayStation2 is pretty neat! Did this start being on sale in US yet?

Oh next thing I need to do about this... buying some interesting game.

Shooot, (movie) makes me hungry... There was a guy, actually bad one, eating a big chunk of steak! Looked so juicy and I do MISS American size steak!

I know, I am so Americanized and I prefer Outback's or even Palm Restaurant's (@Swiss Hotel in Buckhead) big steaks rather than Sushi! Oh, I am sure that one at Bone's is pretty darn good too.

I had an appointment with prospected client. The meeting wasn't that bad and the person I talked to seemed very interesting and we had lots in common, like studied in American institutes, etc. Did I get any biz yet? No so fast, folks.

My constant sickness... wanting every single gadget available in the market showed up to my mind once again while I was at work today. Since someone showed me a magazine called "MacPeople," I kept thinking about getting a new laptop again. I know, it's "AGAIN."

SAD thing... No one ever claimed for the 2000th hit on this English page. I was so excited about having reached to this point of milestone. Hmmmm, who did it?

Next prize on this counter? Well, gotta be 3000. For Japanese page? That should be at 22,222.

Color Visor hit a big shock... Japanese version will be available in December... announced so today.

Peach agreement over the West Bank? About time, fellows!

Gail Michael --- glad to hear from you! Keep up with good over in Dallas! I shall keep in touch too.

Who else recently contacted? Kazem, Gail, Kim, Mom (sorry, haven't responded you yet), and more. Thank you for your big supports to me and I, as you can see me here, am doing fairly okay.

Since I came home much earlier tonight than last night... I will get enough sleep. At least, I try. After finishing this movie, of course.

See you tomorrow then. Hasta luego!

22:55

Came home late... still came home damn straight! Left work around 10:20pm and still 20% of entire employees were working. Surprisingly, I was the first one in my department leaving for home!

My question is --- Where the heck do they have their OWN lives???

I am sure that you come to agree with the sense I have for that question. Don't you? People leaves for home around 7:30 or so in order to catch the trains or buses or whatever and it takes them about 30 minutes to even much longer than an hour to office... starts working at 9am or so and they work overtime for 3 or 4 hours everyday, huh? That's obviously too much.

Phrase, ya'll use so often... "Get a life" should apply here, very well.

Oops, I find news...

New Visor --- Prism with so many colors! $500.

Wow, cool! I knew, everything has to come to colors... laptops, cellular phones, and now handheld computers... This is NOT the first Palm OS device with colors... because that was Palm IIIc. Though, this one has much more numbers of colors. Actually, millions of colors (IIIc is only for 256 colors).

Do I want one? Nope. Thanks to Visor Deluxe, I am pretty much satisfied. I need a new laptop much more than new Palm device.

Of course, I like Visor more than Clie by Sony for sure!!!

Oh gee, I hate to say this... although I need to go. It's way past my bedtime... since I came home so late.

Will talk about more stuff tomorrow and on. Ok?

0:27+1

Last day of this weekend... spent entire afternoon in Akihabara - Japan's biggest electronics town. You can find anything... literally anything about your computer, etc. Weather wasn't that great to walk thru the town, though.

Looking for what? Of course, checking prices of PowerBook out... my next shopping stuff on the list.

Sony's Palm compatible --- Clie

"Clie" --- everywhere and too bad that you cannot use it with Macintosh yet. Did I like it? Sorry, tkoich (since he has one now) --- don't like it too much. I am sure that it is a little nice gadget... and useful too, though I cannot accept much about this design.

It's about $500.

Look at the left picture... That's wrist watch with music player... so you can listen the music you like from the watch! It's MP3 player in it and you just download any music from your computer to your watch! Cellular phones (on right) --- you can download the music so that you can use as ringing tones and you even download picture so that that picture will be on the screen all the times! Probably, this kind of tech stuff... is much advanced from how you are over there in US.

Since we have culture that we sit down directly onto the floor... computer desks are a bit different. It looks interesting, huh? I am thinking of buying one after PowerBook... It wasn't that expensive around $100-200.

Coloful CD Players...

I am sure that lots of readers find themselves interested in this kind of TV for their living rooms. Nice, right? It's very thin. Yes, you can hang that TV on the wall! Plus, screen is flat and very clear and sharp picture giving!

Plus, you want to know the price, right? It's $88,000.

Checked lots of shops selling DVD's. Cannot wait for my PowerBook (already, calling "mine???") so that I can watch DVD movies wherever I like to... like in bus or train when going home, Ogaki!

Lastly, I have to put up a picture of the dinner I had tonight. I've eaten Tempura.

Since some of you really concern about my eating habit... like Foyer. Yes, I do eat stuff like that in addition to instant noodles. I ALMOST went on like that even for today (i.e. Ramen noodle), though I did a good job not to choose that and had real meal. With beer, of course.

Got it?!

Hey, I really need to watch out how much I spend for meals... the figure in my wallet is certainly getting smaller and smaller... close to the bottom line... ZERO. When is my pay day? 25th? That's still 10 days away! Gee. I am messed up, right?

I may go in debt for this month. Promise, I will do better job next month.

Better go for now. Thanks for checking this web site.

21:00

How's it going for your weekend? Guy like me --- broke, I have to stay home in order NOT to spend any extra bucks. Spent a day, watching movies... rental ones.

"Story of Us" --- Tak's rating, B+

"Very Bad Things" --- Gee, what a movie! ... so C- or I give even a D!

"Rail Man" (Japanese one) --- Best Movie of the Year in 1999 in Japan. A-.

Man, watched three movies... all day long.

Very relaxing weekend so far and I needed it. "Very Bad Things," I rented it because of, simply, Cameron Diaz... silly movie and don't even think about renting the tape. Waste your time.

"Story of US," I wanted to see that for a long long time and kept missing it. Happy to see the end, though you still witness the complication of two individuals' lives. Not easy to work out a relationship even after marriage? Because after marriage having kids, etc.?!?! Who knows... though, it was indeed interesting.

What did I eat? Ramen noodle in nearby restaurant. I shouldn't have eaten... because I ate another type of Ramen noodle last night. In other words, I ate same menu for 2 meals in a row. I am sure that lots of people reading this would say, "What the heck did Tak think about his eating habit?" Oh I know, I will be careful.

Laundry is done. I need to do ironing my shirts. Lots of them. Do you want to come over to do these? To whom I am speaking to?)

While watching movies, had lots of coffee... I thought I would go caffeine free for weekend since I do have lots in weekdays. Too late.

Found information about PC Expo starting next week. Takes place in Tokyo Big Sight (www.bigsight.or.jp) and Palm (or Visor) users will held a conference as a part of PC Expo. I want to go! Cost me $15 to get in... I know, it is NOT MacExpo in Tokyo (that's usually in February).

Info on Palm Expo? Go here (http://www.somethingfine.com/puxpo2000/index.html). If you come, you may see me in there, haha!

What shall I do for tomorrow? Will let you know later. See ya!

11:05+1

"Show me the money!!!" - tonight I am watching movie, "Jerry McGwire" --- pretty cool movie. Of course, I own the tape brought back from US.

I realized... it was Friday, the Thirteenth, today!!! It was around 11am. Everyone else seems to be aware of that... of course, except Tak. <= He's a little SLOW, huh!

No visits to any client or prospects. So I stayed in all day.

Foyer claimed me of my eating habit... since I didn't SEEM to maintain good health since I relied on prefixed foods available in nearby convenience store called "AM/PM." Though, I tell you what --- he wasn't quite right. Because it was only about the word, SEEM.

In fact, I had a vegetable juice in that morning... Yes, I DO concern of my health and eager to control myself toward good nutrition. Foyer, I am not that bad!

So funny, huh --- this diary-based website is interactive. No only one way from my side... but I still can get feedback from frequent visitors of the page! I do thank those who do that. It makes me be more interested in doing this on and on. This is the energy resource to me who keep this for a long time even from now on.

Hey! WHO THE HELL got my 2000 hit this page?! I told you that whoever hit it needed to claim for prize! I know, I won't give you something fancy like diamond or car... though, you know... I want to have some fun too in order to know who gets it.

In the office, I found some Macintosh users... they make me want to buy another one! Really. Now I want a brand new PowerBook since I cannot find new battery for PowerBook 2400/G3. I still keep looking (for batteries), though. I know it has least chance of it since this particular model is sold in Japan only (pretty much) and this model has been out (of the market).

Plus, I am now interested in DVD-ROM... and batteries with latest technology so that duration of battery-operation is about 6 hours or so.

Target? Well, I would say iBook Special Edition... heavy, though.

How about PowerBook G3? Very stylish. Very. Though, very great in figures (=darn expensive).

Best scenario? Finding new batter for this laptop... so that I can spend only $250 or so. BUT still I want new one too. Oh gee... my sickness.

Weekend? Need to do laundry and cleaning... plus, I do have to ORGANIZE my apartment room a bit better.

Plus, maybe more movies. I am totally broke for this month and have to wait for next pay day. How much left? A little under $200 --- which is, of course, not enough at all.

See you tomorrow!

23:47

Sorry about last night... which I had to cut this so short... in order to go to bed right away after coming home. Well, not exactly "right away" since I was online for a while to update this page.

This morning... getting up was hard to do. Last night I eventually went bed at almost 2am... then, I had to get up at 6:40am.

Work was okay... though, had a trouble to take care later of the day and ended up staying at work until 9:40pm tonight.

You know what I was told? Company usually pays up to $10 for supper every time you stay late at work! So I went out to a convenience store to buy something to eat and plus dessert... under 10 bucks. Got a receipt, of course.

Wasn't that bad even though I had to work that much... since I didn't pay for my supper at least for today.

Big news for Japanese professional baseball today... The best player (outfielder) in Japanese baseball history, Ichiro Suzuki, made an announcement that he would play in MLB from next season!

He's been ranked No.1 on average for 7 consecutive season. Can you imagine that a play can keep hitting .350 or above for 7 years?! He's definitely No.1 in Japan.

And plus, he's the 1st player, fielder rather than pitcher, to come to MLB...

Damn it, I won't be in US to witness... maybe he comes to be a Brave?

See you tomorrow. TGIF!

23:18

Hi, fellows. I don't think I can last long tonight since I missed the station where I am to get off at... and had to take last train of the day to come back... came home 12:40am. Gee, I am damn tired.

Why I was so late? Because I was spending super time with two ladies who wanted to stay anonymous on this web.

This is the first time ever on this web with picture showing NO identification...

Good thing? Talk was great and, most importantly, they bought me that dinner! Since being on such tight budget... it was so helpful.

Thanks for everything, ladies!

Let me go for tonight. I still have 2 more days to go before weekend.

Have a nice day!

1:21+1

Starbucks --- sounds familiar, huh? Yes, that's where I went to for this afternoon. For what? Good question. The reason was... to grab THREE cups of coffee!

In fact, I went there for sales call.

Yeah, that's business... got it?

Meeting was set at 3pm and I left work around 1:30... just made sure that I got plenty of time to be there on time. Well, I was supposed to meet another gentleman around 2:30pm so that we would do joint sales.

I got there around 2:15pm. I took trains and walked for 15 minutes.

Not only McDonald's and Starbucks, still also SUBWAY in Japan!

Some accident happened in that cafe where I was waiting for another salesperson... I saw the receipt of that coffee I just bought. The receipt had address of that cafe and it wasn't the same as the one I was told from him.

Gee! I was in wrong place?

Lots of thinking... lots of it.

"Maybe, Starbucks are so popular for now and many stores nearby its headquarters!"

Was I moron? Should be! So I went out that cafe and started walking around to look for the place of that exact address. Took me 10, 15, and even 20 minutes. Man, it's 15 minutes 'til the appointment! I NEVER wanted to be late.

Then, I came back to the place I walked out of. You know what???

I was in DAMN right place. (Shit happens --- good phrase, huh?!)

Then, met that salesperson from the different office branch and meeting with guy from Starbucks started.

A girl at the reception of the company... very cute. I almost asked her out. I realized that I was doing business, rather than something else.

Meeting was okay... didn't sell anything right away --- which is impossible. While that meeting, Starbucks coffee was on the table (the 2nd one). Meeting lasted like 45 minutes. Then, we came out, saying good-bye to that little cute lady at the front door.

Then, went back into that cafe again for a small POST-meeting. Another coffee... the 3rd one. I must have been Mr. Starbucks then.

Within 2 and 1/2 hours, had three cups of coffee... I probably won't go sleep tonight or this may make me "caffeine-hungry" person from now on.

My lunch --- sandwiches with iced coffee <- another one ... cost $7.50

Starbucks coffee --- cost me $2.45

Supper --- 2 rice balls with Japanese tea bottle ... cost me $3.58

Man, coffee was too expensive. Though, you know I like coffee.

Have a nice day, fellows!

22:47

Am very full... my brother called me up to invite me for a dinner around 9:30... for me right after having some piece of bread... He came to pick me up and went on to Korean BBQ place.

Wow, I ate and ate. I am totally full now. Just like I said.

Happy BD, Andrea.... wow, she's 25 years old. Hmmm, still younger than me.

Just saw the movie... actually 2 movies since it was rainy outside and I didn't have any plan.

Japanese movie "Gokudo no Onnatachi..." or "Wives of Yakuza-"

You know, I love Yakuza movies!

and American movie, "Blue Streak" (Tak's rating: B+) which I kind missed to see while being in US. Yes, I do understand the English in the movie and NO, definitely not possible for me to keep up with subtitles. --- No necessary to do so for sure... though, makes me think how in the world other people can go by that.

While watching movies, I was also working on PowerBook to set up the ISDN connection. Though, I couldn't manage it, taking all day long. I guess, I really do need to REINSTALL FREAKING WHOLE THING unless upgrading system to latest. Man, that's hectic.

What should I do?

Braves... what happened? They didn't make it, huh. Shame... Mets made it and Braves didn't? Mmmm.

Gee, need to work tomorrow... Wanna stay home! Oh, I cannot miss tomorrow... got an appointment in the afternoon.

Better get a good sleep... sweet dream? Hope so.

Good night. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

0:17+1

Since the end of March... and Ogaki Expo is finally facing its final weekend. And today, Ogaki-jin is informed that this Expo welcomed its 700,000th visitor!!! Congratulations!

Long line toward main pavilion...

Finally, I've got a TV (25" one)and VCR! Plus I hooked PlayStation2 to them. Cool, huh?! Well, I am NOT big fan of Nintendo-like games... though, at least I can play DVD movies on it.

For almost 2 weeks, I spent time with only RADIO... it's time for me to catch up with rest of the world!

Thanks, Foyer... who emailed me with a kind message... told me that well done for a week and I could rest for over weekend.

Yeah, tomorrow --- "Health and Sport Day." Big Monday --- whatever. Anyway, no work for tomorrow.

Oh, I got back rest of peripherals for my PowerBook, like CD-ROM drive, USB ZIP drive, Floppy Drive, etc. Now I am ready to install new dial up connection software for ISDN connection to my ISP.

Heard that it would rain tomorrow... so it might be a perfect day for me to deal with some computing and watching some movies on PlayStations2!

Well... folks in Japan, keep having great time! And for those who in US... who don't have holiday like us... GET TO WORK! (haha)

Now am watching my favorite movie series... Double-O-Seven... 007 - World Is Not Enough. Good English practice. Right?

Bye, ya'll!

Long weekend is await... and a few minutes away. That's what I kept thinking and you know... the weekend would kick off from Saturday, rather than Friday night, I realized. Since department next to mine was moving to next building due to new office arrangement. And then, mine had to take that place after they moved out. Started moving around 6pm and some people had to continue working because customers kept calling. Moving didn't go quite smooth... except my stuff. I don't have clients yet and I don't have much stuff on my desk yet. Most importantly, my computer is laptop... easy to move around!

Though, my desk... new location. It's the end of building and am now isolated from rest of the people on the floor! We call this like "Madogiwa Zoku." Literally translated as --- "Window-side group people." Means, "those whom the Company wants to get rid of and whom located along with window side isolated." They don't get assigned anything important to do, except looking outside through windows... someday they decide to take off (=resign). In Japan, layoff is getting more and more common; not in the past. So companies took this way... and wisely waited.

So from today on, I became a member of Madogiwa-. Ha! Already after a month of employment? Hope not.

Well, this was just coincident. And I joke about it as you know how I do this!

Today's comment... on Tak's fashion... by my immediate boss, Shinsuke Ito:

"You looked like crazy fashion designer."

John Alford is promoted to VP Sales for Western Region? Congrats!

Went out of office for home around 10pm then. Mr. Inoue (in picture) left at the same time and we walked together and decided to have some drinks. He used to be a frequent reader of this web page... Talked about biz, Macintosh (since he's too), Internet, etc.

And of course, we talked about gals in the office where I could only meet girls as for my social life.

Today... finally I opened a new bank account in Tokyo. In order to get paid from the Company, I must have done so. You know personal checks are not existed out of normal lives here in Japan.

Went to Sakura Bank, one of biggest in Japan. I only deposited $20! since I am broke, as always.

Then, came back to office and emailed to Admin. Manager of my bank account. She responded, "Oh, when I feel like it, I would wire transfer (your salary)." So I joked back as, "OK. I will come to work after confirming you have done so!"

Haha.

My laptop was... not functioning already. Mouse (via USB) wasn't properly recognized. So system support Ms. Kawano showed up to my desk to fix it. I am sure that she's afraid of me since I called her up so many times to harass her.

While she was TRYING to fix (because she couldn't do so after all), I was informed that this web page is getting recognized by more and more people on 4th floor (We have space on 2nd and 4th floor in the building). Gee, I should be MORE careful what I write. Hmmmm.

Man, I must be drunk or what? This update isn't as organized as usual... or maybe I mess up this bad everyday?

Have a good weekend!

9:19+1

4 out of 5 weekdays were now complete! That's how people in my department count. Everyone gets disappointed when saying "It's only 1.5 now?" That means we are at Tuesday lunch. Well, tomorrow is Friday and then... this weekend is longer... 3 days.

Monday is national holiday... what for? Hmmm, let me check with my Visor --- which went out of battery today and lost all COMPLETE data in this afternoon. I was in the middle of doing quotes on Eudora - Email software and found out that I lost entire data... I was really rushed to put new batteries... was too late. Since "Eyemodule" consumes lots of power... it's rather quicker to let the power go out of it.

Anyway... Monday is "Health and Sport Day."

This afternoon... finally I got what I needed for a long time:

It's NEC laptop... don't know any further detail.

Good thing about this... very light and slim. Bad thing? CD-ROM drive is optional and I don't have it. Plus, the touch pad is sucked! Apple's is much better and functions better! Oh, company gave me an USB cable to hook with that cellular phone in the picture. So I can see mails and Internet from VIRTUALLY anywhere.

It's pretty fast.

Funny thing... from this laptop, I CANNOT get access to AIO (System called so as "All-In-One"); this means I don't see any shipping information. Darn.

Computer guy came over to my desk and tried to fix... then he gave up!

I called up several companies to see if I could come over to have talk about services... 1st one I called to... declined so severely. Man. 2nd one... couldn't give me any appointment right away... he asked me to send a fax so that he could remember of company's name as well as mine.

What I mainly do for now is marketing... like how I can sell services. Though, it has to be slow starting up since it's pretty new to me.

Some company whose name is familiar with me... told me over the phone that it was unable to connect anyone if I couldn't name anyone particular.

Did I get any appointment for future? Nope, unfortunately.

Question is... "Do I really possibly sell for gross profit $100,000?" Who knows!

Today's comment... none about my fashion. Though, I was called a liar by Mackey (again?) ... since I described myself as SHY. It's true. Very true about girls. I am NEVER good at talking girls into going out with me. Some of you may know... as it is.

Believe me, I am NOT good at female. I think, female is last thing that I would understand completely. You know what I mean.

Cannot wait to have long weekend. I finally get TV and VCR... so I can get more entertainment!

Tak has been that Americanized? Foyer made a comment like that since I picked lots of junk foods for suppers. Yeah, that must be true. I was thinking to grab food at McDonald's in the train coming home.

Bye, ya'll!

23:02

Forecast was indicating of rain in this afternoon on radio... wasn't turning to be so. I was really prepared for it. Took my umbrella with me to the office... was in vain.

I made the office at 8:15am... I often become 2nd or 3rd arrival in the office. What do I do thereafter? Not really anything. I guess, I am the person work least amount of job in the office since I am only new sales person. Other new guys to the company are involved in customer service, which are already tons of stuff to do.

Today's comment on Tak's fashion... by Mackey...

"Oh, you look like normal man today since you are wearing WHITE shirt on"

She's damn right! I often wear colored shirt with tie. So it's rare to see me wearing WHITE color on myself. Plus, I got a compliment from a guy... that I had a nice tie.

In the afternoon, another sales guy took me to meet another prospective client. The meeting was okay and we still made a chance to submit the quote. It's so interesting to see someone else's sales talk.

Guy next to me lasted his talk like 40 minutes. Great! I probably won't take the same way as he did today... though, I certainly learn the style. Now what I need is to develop my own.

Lunch was taken after this sales call with appointment at 1pm... so lunch was rather later than usual. Different location and different restaurant. Cool, I like it. I definitely call many for appointments so that I can go different locations not only in Tokyo but anywhere else!

Oh, I now begin to be broke again. My father called me for money and I need to pay him back immediately... amount? Pretty much all I have for now. I have to wait for next pay day... which is on 25th. Wow, I thought October just started off. Am I right?

How did ya'll like the 1st debate between Gore and Bush? Who you think won? I still do like Gore. Don't like much about Bush... from the beginning. It's just because of the image. I truly don't pay attention to what policies they have differently... or anything.

Hey, MLB is now in POST SEASON, huh! Didn't pay attention to any newspaper and didn't see any news, either... First time for very long time, I saw the CNN on the web and found out that Maddux lost the 1st post season game against St. Louis Cardinals. Come on, Braves!

Someone need to keep me posted about it.

Forgot to mention... English page is reaching another milestone... 2,000 hit! Please let me know if you hit it --- so I will send you a present in the memory of it.

Maybe next week? I know, English page isn't that popular as Japanese one.

See you tomorrow!

22:16

"You look like military personnel!" by my boss... Shunsuke Ito who had a new born baby this afternoon. Congrats!

Yeah, I am human chameleon... wearing different colors everyday. Tak's appearance of the day is like this...

-Moss green suits

-Green shirt

-Green and brown mixed tie by Missoni

-brown belts and shoes

and most importantly...

-Green socks! (hahaha)

Yup, I looked like from military... then. Another person, Kyoko, mentioned that I looked totally different from previous day... I am sure that she's so curious every morning about what I wear for the day!

Ms. Chiba, don't know her first name... from accounting dept... came downstairs to pass around the money for reimbursement. She said to me, "Oh, Tak --- didn't you supposed to go to US with Director this week?" She mixed up with another "Yamada" guy in the office... though, she continued like, "Everyone talked about you who spoke English better than Japanese."

Wow, there must be some gossip around... where I really don't hear from. I know, there will be always some kind of gossips once more than two female got together in any place.

Hope that gossip wouldn't be that bad like hurting my reputation... (what reputation?).

Looking like that, I went on the first visit to prospective client. I am sure that some of people in the office, like Macky? worry about how I mess things up. Because I seem damn different!

Meeting went well and now I need to prepare the quote. First biz to get? Hope so.

Oh at the same time, I had to plan how much I sell for the company in current fiscal year. You know what kind of number given? It's $100,000 as GROSS PROFIT to the company. In other words, I need to obtain many large accounts. I should get busy then!

Kazem Maiwand... having birthday today... turned to 53 years old! Happy birthday, buddy!

So sleepy around this time everyday... I guess, I have been so exhausted from being pretending serious in the office. Don't you think that I would be able to continue for that long like that? Guess not.

You know who serious other people are in the office? Let me give you an GOOOOOD example. Tonight, around 8pm, FIRE ALARM WENT OFF... only a few people including myself talked about evacuation. You know how other people reacted? Nothing. Really. They kept sitting down in chairs and kept working on their computers! Yow know, alarm was noisy and in hell... kept like that for 10 minutes or so... No many people reacted. In fact, almost all seemed didn't even notice about it. What a world...

Bye!

23:21

First time in my entire life to have perm on my hair... I so far like it. Then, came in the office this morning... two people gave me compliments.

1) "You look nice... I like it" by Kyoko (25, female)

2) "Wow, you looked so different... Nice, though" by Takashi (30, male)

They are in the same department to where I belong to, Other people? No reaction. You know, Japanese people don't talk much like giving compliments... compared to ya'll.

Fritz had another... let me emphasize... ANOTHER layoff? Sorry to hear that! Robin and Geo were now gone... so sad. How come don't they let temp people go (away) first? Don't see any point out there... at least to me.

This morning, I made the office as early as I wanted. Great! Trains weren't that crowded and I felt much better. Most importantly, I didn't have to run to the office from the nearby station like last Friday.

Tomorrow... I will go out of the office for the first time. Visiting prospective client... I studied about that company already and hope the talk will go smooth. Funny thing... I was checking that company's web page and found that the front page had some photos with ladies wearing bikinis... and then I printed it out. I kind thought that some people would think that I was doing something wrong in the office... the company is dealing with fashion design... that's why.

On the way to apartment, I took trains with my boss... Shunsuke Ito. He's 31 or 32 years old and he kept telling me that he would be even able to imagine that he would live in US for such long time like I did. He must be ordinary Japanese guy... even though he speaks some English. I am glad that he was nice guy.

No one wants to buy my stuff, "Hard-shell" backpack... are you sure?

Getting sleepy... need to rest.

For lunch, spaghetti.

For supper, sandwiches.

Went in the office at 8:21am and came home at 9:38pm <- damn early!

Had many cups of coffee during day time. Should limit amount of coffee for my health... don't you agree?

0:32+1

Weekend is over... darn it... now back in Tokyo and I now have local access phone number in Urayasu... to Internet. So I now star saving some money on phone bill.

How do I do this? Simple. I now subscribe an access from new ISP (Internet Service Provider) called "ODN." Has my email address changed? Nope. No change whatsoever as far as I maintain "www.ogaki.net" in this world!

What did I do except sleep? Well, look at this:

I got a haircut... new one? Well, actually I've got perm on my hair! How do you like this? (pictures are taken by Visor's Eyemodule) This is the 1st time ever had perm in my life! You know, it's pretty common for male to get perm, in addition to female. It's so easy to keep same hairstyle. I am sure that now you're curious how much it cost... 8,000 Yen or a bit more than $80! I know, it wasn't cheap for someone like me. Though, I just had an experiment... turned out that I like it. I really do.

I will let you know how other people react in the office tomorrow.

Thanks to going home and to my parents, I got more stuff for my new apartment. I've got 2 more pairs of suits (old ones), mini table, laundry basket, iron, iron table, and vacuum cleaner, etc. Cool, huh!

Moreover, I've got one more thing from my brother... you know what? It's PlayStation 2!!! The price is $400. My brother told me I could take it and could pay him back later... didn't matter how soon. So I decided to take it since it's DVD playable. In other words, I can now buy/rent DVD movies and can play the movie on it!

Oops, I STILL don't have a TV yet-

Anyway, I should be able to have fun with it --- I can stay in apartment over weekend and I don't have to spend any extra bucks!

Of course, I have to think how to pay him back and how soon. $400 ain't easy to pay off for me, at least now.

My brother and I left home around 7pm... got here (in my apartment) at 11:30pm. I really thought that it would take longer... traffic wasn't bad at all and we came through easily. That's why I can be updating this... if much later... wouldn't have been able to.

All right, let me take off. Need to do same in Japanese and to go sleep. Another week and another tough days... to come. Will try to get up early since I was almost late to the office on last Friday.

Hope you will continue having great weekend, fellows.

0:09+1