Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in Gary / ToFu / pan!ies' LiveJournal:

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Saturday, November 21st, 2009
11:13 pm	I'm going to have fat children I was getting tired of packing apples and bags of junk food for my lunch (at 2 or 3AM during the graveyard), so things had to happen. It started with packaging some leftovers: and then I got some boxes: serious boxes: and it continues: Now I'm running out of ideas. Might need to buy some Japanese rice and more specific bento tools/items. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
4:11 am	easy entry writing "Hey Family, I should be ok with clothes. I've already packed most of what I need for winter. I'm not sure I left anything at home that I would really need here. If there is, I can grab it when I go home for Christmas/New Years. I'll try to get the Friday night off that you'll be visiting me. It should be OK, I need to take two vacation days off anyways. Christmas breaks starts after my shfit on the morning of the 24th and goes till the 4th of January. I'll grab some tickets for a flight back as soon as I have the chance. We can probably discuss more about that when you're up here. Work is busy, especially with the Graveyard shift and sleeping during the day. The organization and communication of the field engineering team could be a little better, I have had to work a lot of extra hours already. Hopefully we will get it sorted out once the special projects are taken care of. Am I allowed to take you around the site when you visit? I'm not sure what kind of clearance I or you have here. I haven't been able to get much done outside of work, but I am settling in a bit. I started cooking for myself again this week (see attachment), so I am at least eating well. Usually just fried rice or a side dish with rice. I may start running again once get more aquainted with my schedule and the area, same with Church. My weekends right now have been exploring the area with friends and taking my mind off work. Oh yea, dad - sorry to bother you about this but you still owe me about $450 for changing Benny's tires and getting a smog check. Could you transfer that into my Bank of America account? My last credit card statement should be arriving soon and want to keep some money in my American checking account without having to transfer (fees) from my Canadian account. I'll write again soon." (dad writes back the next day. He doesn't know how to open attachments.) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
3:12 pm	Free Christmas card time! Doin it again this year. Since Canada doesn't have a Thanksgiving to mark the beginning of the holiday season, I'm going get a head start this year: I'm doing the card things again. Last year: Only did 8 last year, it'd be nice to get at least 10 done this time around. So if you'd like to get a free card, contact me with your name, address, and what you'd like. Or leave me with those on the next friend's only post I'm making. Of course, no rules to the request and no need for return stuff or anything. International is cool as well. I'm hoping to get them out early December, so don't wait too long! (Comment on this)
Friday, November 6th, 2009
6:27 pm	worrrrkkkk Did I ever tell you that my parents are pretty hardcore Christians? Dad: "Did you read the Bible and Pray? Say thank to the Lord for opening the door for you so that you landed this job. Remember together we prayed everyday for this to happen. There will be a lot of challenges in front of you. some of them will be difficult to handle by yourself. You need help from the Lord. I am sure this is the job the Lord want you to have." Me: "Well, God continues to have a great sense of humor. I'm going to be working the graveyard shift starting next week. 10PM-7AM; probably until 8AM since I'll to try to attend the daily morning meetings as well. Starting at the bottom again. I'll be fine, though. I didn't expect this job to be easy. First paycheck will be next Friday, so I'm still living off the cash I exchanged when I crossed the border. If I start running low, I'll just use my US credit card. I'm going to call a friend this weekend and do some chores/shopping for supplies I need. Take care, -Gary" I'm hoping I'll get back into some sort of productive routine to manage my time off from work. Start drawing and running again. Well, maybe not running so soon.... the weather sucks here. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
7:21 pm	1500 miles After the slight detour in Sacramento (wanted to see my old jobsite and get lunch at a favorite spot) and some exploration in Seattle with a friend, the initial prediction of 1300 miles ended up being off by about 200 miles. Woke up at 6AM on Friday morning. Washed up and got to my friend's house at approximately 6:30. Another period of time later and we're on the road by 7AM. The plan was simple: drive until we're tired, stopping only for food and gas. I didn't expect it would take so long for me to get tired. 4AM Saturday morning and we're right outside of Seattle, with me driving the whole way. We've got a friend there we want to hang out with in the morning, so we search for a place to crash. Too late (or early) for a hotel room, so we fall back on our initial if-we-suddenly-decide-we're-tired plan, and park it at a rest stop. (The little car that kept chuggin') Woke at 10AM to wash up the best we could with cold tap water trickling out of water fountains. We meet up with our friend for lunch at some sort of college hipster spot outside of UW. Food wasn't bad. Wandered around downtown for a little while and then grabbed some food at Dick's (delicious generic hamburger and fries) before heading back on the road to Vancouver. Border is crossed at around 8PM. Checked into the North Vancouver Holiday Inn, and then took a long long shower. Deciding it would be a waste not to spend the night exploring the area, we decide to go arcade hunting in Richmond. Lots of people in costume walking around, I guess the streets are safer here than in LA. Ended up back at E-Spot after spotting many PC rooms but no cabinet arcades; same place ccsboard group took me last time. Noticed they had dodonpachi dai-ou-jou. I think I'm falling in love with that arcade. We played until 1:30 or so, and then decided that it was about time we got some sleep, and take a very massive shit. Sunday now. We woke up at 10 but fell back asleep and didn't get out of our beds till after 12. His flight back to LA isn't until after 5, so we head over to Richmond again, this time in search of food. Lots of wrong turns were made and maybe we should have yelped up a destination instead of wandering out blindly... but we get there eventually and settle on a random noodle place. I'm beginning to think that Richmond doesn't have non-delicious food. After a little bit more wandering by foot, I drop by the airport at 4:30 or so, and do some more wandering around Richmond. Tired out and now at a PC room. More on the one-shot road trip later, and other Vancouver things (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
8:23 pm	no plans, only things that need to be done So how it played out: 1. Salary is a couple thousand more than what I expected. Nice. 2. Providing me with an apartment until I find a more permanent place. Nice. 3. Reimbursement for most, if not all, of the relocation expenses. Nice. 4. Not providing a company vehicle. Very bad. So there's the glaring problem. I need to get my 16 year old corolla wagon 1300 miles north to the other side of the border. I can only think of driving it up myself, grabbing a friend to tag along with me. 20 hours of driving doesn't sound too bad, to be honest... just not all that fun either. If I had more time, I would have made it a road trip and make stops along the way. I had these plans to finish up all of my drawing requests prior to leaving for Vancouver (maybe even before this weekend), but then I picked this up: I've never played Gradius before. It didn't look like something I'd enjoy very much. Too far off the beaten path for me. But now, after playing this, I think I might have to try it. Cute mecha girls help as well. I'll end this post with a photo from Hong Kong: Some of the busier streets get close on Saturdays, for pedestrian use and advertisement stuff. They have boothgirls and everything at these things; handing out free mousepads and dumb shit like that: The more perceptive pervert isn't after the mousepad. It is common sense that with skirts that short, some riding up could occur. But WTF? Are those boxer briefs or something? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
5:43 pm	living like a Canadian So... short notice, but I'll be moving to Vancouver in two weeks for work. I didn't really think they were taking me seriously when I said I could be ready in two weeks, especially when we were just having a couple drinks at the pub. Never talk business while drinking alcohol. A life lesson now learned. The project is supposed to last until 2013, but I have no idea how much of that I will be around for. At least two years or so, until the amount construction drops off and they decide to move me to another project (hopefully not even farther north). Didn't even get to spend one year as an American in America. Back to using my Canadian passport. Seeing as how this would be my new place of residence, I spent Friday night and Saturday morning exploring the area with the ccsboard members (old old now-real-life internet friends). I like to try local things, like the local favorites in Singapore: Not that special. Vancouver is a lot like LA, just smaller and colder. Food is good here, and the arcade they took me to was bigger than the Japanese arcades in LA. And definitely not like many Hong Kong arcades, which are hidden in unmarked back alleys and away from easy recognition. Walking around Hong Kong, I got used to spotting doors like this. There usually aren't many indications of arcades in HK. Most of them are in basement levels with only a stairway to them. Sometimes you'll see game posters or neon lights and that'll be the best you can hope for: Once inside, you further have to hope that you haven't discovered a predominantly gambling arcade, full of slot machines and people betting on digital horses: Shmups are also disappointingly few, rarely more than one per arcade... if even that. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
9:02 pm	Chillin' at the Holiday Inn Wrote this on the flight to Vancouver: Can't sleep. Might still have some jet lag from Hong Kong trip. Or maybe I'm just hopped up on adrenaline from almost missing the flight. Los Angeles traffic still sucks. Took me two hours to make a trip that should take less than 45 minutes, with no actual accidents or reason for slow movement. Just a lot of cars on the freeway. But I made it, so all is well. Once landed, I'll have to find my own way to the jobsite (they have a meeting this morning or some sort of excuse for not being able to pick me up in person). The interview will probably commence as soon as I arrive. Not sure how much actual interrogation will happen since this is already the second interview with the company; possibly the final one since I've already spoken at their main office in Seattle. I'm assuming the other interview put me in good standing with the big bosses in the main office since they've directed my resume to a jobsite. If it goes well, I'll celebrate. I'm buying. You guys are invited. Tranporation not provided. So for people who haven't been to Hong Kong (maybe most of the people reading this)... the buildings there really are ridiculous as the internet would lead you to believe. I stayed at my grandma's place in North Point; 21st floor on a building with thirty-something: Pretty standard affair. Look out the window and this is what you see: Hong Kong might not be the place for people afraid of heights. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
2:58 pm	frequent flyer miles Arrived back in LA on Monday night. A long flight with little sleep, but I watched just about every Asian movie they offered on the flight. Most of them Korean. Immediately things have become hectic again. My brother, as per usual, has left a laundry list of things for me to do damage control on. Apparently he broke into our house while we were in Hong Kong (well, he kinda sorta lives here - not sure if it's really breaking in? But he snuck in and may have stolen some things that weren't his, so I guess it kind of counts). He also lost his cell phone (again) and needs help fixing his car (he treats it horribly). Parents have ordered me to help him out since both of those items are necessities in LA. I think it's against principle and would rather not help out really, but the parents have decided and it would be better me handling this than them. And all that has to happen today since I'm leaving again tomorrow. This time to Vancouver for a job interview. Will be there until Saturday since it seemed like a good excuse to meet up with some internet people (maybe not internet anymore... we've met a few times now) while I'm there. Not much about Hong Kong has been said in this entry. Maybe I'll just cover the trip sporadically in other posts. The primary purchases: Japanese 360, and a few games. I was looking for Death Smiles and Dodonpachi Black Label, but since neither of those could be found... I went for the shamelessness. 360 double stack looks kind of cool. Too bad the American Xbox (the one on the bottom) is currently in Red-ring mode... not sure why, it likes to fix itself if I wait a while. Most of the games are region free and work on the japanese 360 anyways. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 5th, 2009
7:16 am	reporting in, la After spending a little less than a week in Hong Kong, I have now headed over to Singapore... my birthplace. I haven't been here since I left at the ripe age of 1, so I don't remember a thing about it. There's still more exploring to do before I make a verdict about Singapore, but it could really do with some more air conditioning. The street shops here aren't as liberal with the artificial atmosphere as the ones in Hong Kong. Well, most of my energy since arriving has been spent entertaining my 4 year old cousin. Even my long runs (over 15 miles) take less stamina out of me than keeping up with her for just half a day. But a few things I was told I couldn't do without during my stay here: 1. Durian 2. Sugar Cane Juice 3. Pork Jerky One form of pork jerky in particular, was a pleasant discovery: More about Hong Kong on a later date. Doesn't feel like there's as much to write about since I actually know that area. (2 Comments |Comment on this)