Oh joyous day

I'd just like to share the fact that I am officially the lightest I've been in about 5-6 years. While I'm not the skinniest, as last January my waist was definitely smaller than it is now, I am definitely the lightest. It's the first time since about 2001 or so that I got on the scale and the first number was a "1" and not a "2." Yes, ladies and gentlemen: I broke the 200 lbs barrier! Granted, it was by 0.2 lbs, but still! This morning I weighed in at 199.8, despite having pigged out on beef, pork, chicken, rice, and beer on Saturday.

That's 11.5 lbs for me. Still 8.5 more to go!

No point, really.

Looks like I'm off to Japan again in just over a week's time. I had realized that my upgrade coupons were going to expire in March, so I decided to try and use them. Unfortunately, it appears that they are only valid on full-priced fares (which would just about double the cost of my ticket, which I likely wouldn't get approved). And the only other use I have for them is to access ANA's Lounge at SFO and Narita, but unfortunately (fortunately?), I just received my Platinum Mileage card, which gives me free, unfettered access to the lounges, anyway. So in other words, I just wasted a good, free upgrade to business class (one way only, though). Well, at least with my Platinum card, I get priority for free upgrades to Premium Economy, anyway. Still, nowhere nearly the same thing.

I've been keeping up the diet fairly well. Haven't managed to exercise nearly as much as Seppo, but considering I've been sick twice and traveled to Japan since the start of the bet, I don't think I'm doing too bad. Need to be doing better (3 lbs better, to be exact), but I'm sitting at a fairly comfortable 9.9 lbs lost since January 1. Not too shabby. All I've done so far is cut out all sodas, and nearly all juices from my diet (I have a glass of orange juice on occasion). I've cut down my coffee intake to 1 cup (sometimes 2, but only lightly sweetened) a day. And I stop eating whenever I start to feel full (instead of stuffing myself stupid). As a result, I've still been able to enjoy foods that I love, and my stomach has certainly calmed down a lot. I'm at the same weight I was at this point last year, but with noticeably more fat (and a lot less muscle). Still, I'm headed in a good direction now. Maybe it'll be the first time in about 5 years where I dip below the 200 lbs mark?

Random video: I probably would have peed my pants.

And because karaoke twice in one week isn't quite enough, heading out again this weekend with eingy, Seppo, and potentially a few other friends. Should be quite interesting as this is my first "official" time going to karaoke with a lot of them. And this will be the first time going with eingy and Seppo since they "discovered" the fun of karaoke. Should I bombard them with my Rick Astley impersonation? Or should I just throw the manly throttle into full gear (*cough*) and bust out some George Michael? Oh the choices.

$50 for iTunes

So, as part of a very, very late Xmas present from the SO, I got a $50 gift certificate for iTunes. No idea what I want to buy, though. Usually on iTunes, I end up buying a bunch of old tunes that I used to have on tape or whatnot, but even though it's only $1 per song, I never seem to be brave enough to try anything new (other than Devotchkas and Matisyahu). I'm still pissed about the version of "Forever Young" that I grabbed off iTunes... I listened to the preview and it sounded fine, and it turned out to be a live version that isn't quite as good as the recording (the audience sings parts of the song). Ah well.

Maybe with this free money, I'll try a few things. Maybe a couple more Zero 7 songs? Or maybe I'll just load up Pandora.com for a bit and just take some notes... Problem is that I have no idea what sort of music I'm in the mood for nowadays. One day, I'm listening to upbeat, poppy music like "Such Great Heights" and "Destiny," and the next, I'm listening to Japanese jazz/hip hop.

Train Man

Not sure if I talked about this movie before, but I have to pimp it:

Densha Otoko (aka Train Man)

It's not the deepest movie in the world, and I'm sure a fair share of people out there would find it fairly cheesy. But, I can almost guarantee that this will be the next movie imported/localized from Japan to the US market. It's almost like "You've Got Mail," but not as sucky and actually based on a true story.

So, the story is as such: an otaku almost accidentally meets a beautiful, upper-class woman on a train. He does something (almost unintentionally) to get her attention and she offers to send him a gift, so he gives her his address. He is instantly smitten by her and runs home to post about the incident on 2chan, Japan's biggest message board. He is egged on by various posters about what to do and not do, and the story follows this shy otaku as he does everything he can to win her over.

The best part about it is that a lot of the dialog, though voiced over, takes place via chat logs. These chat logs have supposedly been taken directly from the original 2chan logs, with typos and everything. The scenes other than the scenes where Train Man is meeting with the girl all take place in his room and the camera shifts back and forth between him and the other posters as they have conversations across the intarwebs, showing that people from all walks of life can learn from each other... and that in many cases, we are connected to each other in more ways than we think.

It's a warmhearted story that, though cheesy at times, is less about the larger picture of what love means and all that, and more about simply how one man's world changes because of this girl, and the people he talks to on the internet.

If you've spent any time on message boards (*ehem*), then chances are you can at least relate to this story in some degree.

Back Home

I just got back from my 10th trip to Japan in the last 12 months. Given my bet with Seppo, I was worried that the land of fried foods and beer would put a significant dent in my progress, but lo! I weighed myself after I got back and it turns out I had lost about a pound and a half while in Japan, *despite* drinking beer and shochu just about every night. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have discovered a new diet!

In all seriousness, I think it was the fact that in Japan, you just do so much walking all the time. Probably average about 1-2 miles of walking every day, most of which is done carrying about 10-12 lbs of stuff slung over my shoulder. While I didn't have much choice in the kinds of food I ate, I did try to control the amount, which seems to have made all the difference. Thank god.

Was an interesting trip, though nothing spectacularly odd happened this time 'round (see previous entries for reference). Spent some time with a coworker that I had only really chatted with on occasion around the office... turns out we had a lot more in common than we realized. Since it was her first time at headquarters in Japan (though she had been to Tokyo several times before), she was a bit out of her element. I took her around and introduced her to various people at the company and we had dinner with a few groups of people that I'm relatively close to. Again, nothing absurd, but just good, all around fun. I think in total, however, we did about 9 hours of karaoke for the week. And by "week" I mean "over a period of 2 days."

Grandma is doing well, though she is starting to slow down. Given that she's 83, it's more than understandable. She has a hard time carrying heavy groceries and whatnot, but well, what can you expect? She still cleans her house (2 stories!) by herself, cooks every day, and goes to church every weekend. She even goes out to have dinner with friends regularly and attends concerts and whatnot. Considering that I see a lot of 80-somethings that have trouble even walking, I'm more than happy to see how she's doing. I'm glad I get a chance to check up on her just about every month, but I feel bad that it also means that I have to all but ignore my other grandma. Truth of the matter is that I am closer with my Japanese grandma than my American one, simply because I used to spend my childhood summers in Japan. My father wasn't close with his parents, and they lived on the East Coast (which we visited once when I was a child), so I suppose it's sort of understandable. Doesn't make me feel any better about it, though.

Here's a random question: why do some women feel the need to talk about their breasts to complete strangers? I mean, it's not like a man will just start talking about his wang to every woman he comes across (no pun intended). So, I sat next to this attractive girl on the plane on the way to Japan, and we started talking. Halfway through the conversation, *she* switches the conversation to her rather... um... ample "assets." Being half-Chinese (but looking nearly full) and having spent a year in Shanghai, she just started talking about how everyone would stare at her chest as they talked. Or how one time in London, some 10 year old kid just ran up to her and grabbed a full two handfuls before taking off down the street. What is the proper response to that sort of subject? Do I look and say, "Yeah, I can see why"? Or do I just nod thoughtfully and stare off into space, pretending that I'm pondering man's existence? Either way, it was entertaining company on an otherwise dull trip (god, I hate United international), but it simply made me think.

Meme

It's been so long since I last posted that posting something new was becoming almost daunting. So, I'm going to take the cheesy way out and post a meme stolen from Seppo and eingy!

Your senior year in High School is supposed to be "the best year of your life." Let's see how much you remember. I know for some it might be hard for you to go back that far!

Year :: 1995

1. Who was your best friend?
Hmm... Probably Noel and/or Ho

2. What sports did you play?
Karate, though not at the high school.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
A crappy old 1983 BMW 320i. Everyone always says, "But it was a Beemer!" Yeah, but the thing sucked and cost us several times more in repairs over the 3-4 years that I had it than it was actually worth.

4. It's Friday night, where were you?
Usually either at karate, working at Disneyland, hanging out at Disneyland, or hanging out at home with friends.

5. Were you a party animal?
Not really. We threw a couple of parties when my parents were out of town, but they were always fairly tame, and I never drank or smoked.

6. Were you in the "In Crowd"?
Not really, but I was "accepted" by the in crowd. We had our own little thing going on...

7. Ever skip school?
No, but I've been late and forged permission slips from my parents :P

8. Ever smoke?
Never.

9. Were you a nerd?
Yeah, but I was a cool nerd! :P

10. Did you get suspened/expelled?
No, but plenty of detentions.

11. Can you sing the Alma Mater?
Oh dear god no.

12. Who was your favorite teacher?
Hm... My English teacher Mr. Holmes, maybe? Had a lot of cool teachers throughout high school, but I think he may have been the coolest that year.

13. Favorite class?
A tie between English AP and Cooking :D

14. What was your school's full name?
Walnut High School

15. School mascot?
Naeemah... but that was the person inside the suit. No idea what the mascot's name was (it was a horse).

16. Did you go to Prom?
Yep.

17. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Nope. It was a much better year than junior year, but I like where I am now much better.

18. What do you remember most about graduation?
Not much, really. It was a pretty standard graduation. The closest thing to being a good memory that stands out was actually the love fest during lunch of the last day of school. All the seniors closed in on the patio area and everyone was crying, hugging, and whatnot. I ended up carrying one female friend in my arms, while giving another a piggyback ride and ran around :D

19. Favorite memory of your Senior Year?
Getting my second degree black belt?

20. Were you ever posted up on the senior wall?
Is this like the hall of fame or something? If so, then yeah, for theater.

21. Did you have a job your senior year?
Taught martial arts and worked at Disneyland.

22. Who did you date?
Char on-and-off. Also casually dated Monique, then right after graduation, Katie and then Christina.

23. Where did you go most often for lunch?
We had a closed campus, so... the tree by Mr. Root's room. :P

24. Have you gained weight since then?
Oh dear god yes. I weighed about 165-170 back then. So... about 40lbs?

25. What did you do after graduation?
Continued to work at Disneyland, then moved to Oakland!