Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Okubo 1-1-43. I'm a 2 minute walk from the cavernous Toei-Oedo line, maybe 15 minutes to Shinjuku station, and about 10 to Shinokubo station. Maybe a 10 minute walk to one of the wildest areas in Tokyo, Kabukicho, and I also live within those same limits from 3 of my favorite venues.
Schools started, and man is it different. Not in a bad way, but in a "this is Tokyo and there is money in Tokyo, and where there are responsible people with money, there are really nice schools" kind of way. My Junior High School has a population of about 300 students, and my elementary is maybe over 400. The JHS was built in the late 80's and has sculptures and gardens and rooms that approximate what little kids think of when they think of NASA. The teachers all seem pretty alright, the students can actually speak the language, and the lunch lady is a super babe. The elementary school is older, but still nice with a pretty decent playground. That's right, I play with kids at recess now. Dodgeball seems to be their game of choice, but I may end up trying to get them into kickball or, even better, wall/buttball.
I'm also now getting into voice acting, and come the 29th I'll have submitted my first/test article as a music reporter to a culture magazine, for a Noise A-Go-Gos/Die You Bastard!/Terror Squad show at Shinokubo Earthdom. Whether or not I'll make the cut is yet to be determined, but I'm hopeful that they'll keep me on. Finally, I'm also working on getting a band together with my friend Ian. Basically we need a drummer, but even without we've been arranging some things and talking about the general direction we want to go in. Sounds like he found some french drummer this weekend, so I'm not really concerned that thisll take a while. I havent even put fliers up yet. Christ, I've only been here for a little over a week and all this shit is happening.
SO… Once you've stopped being scared of radiation, potential high-magnitude aftershocks, and possible impending second-wave tsunamis, save some money and come visit me in fucking Tokyo!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Life Update Episode VII: Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport!
I don't know if I've ever made a post about my jarb, which is French for job. I don't know when I last made a post, either, but you don't either so I guess it will remain a mystery for many a fortnight to come. Fortnight is French for "a couple of minutes." What I'm trying to say is that I work in marketing.
Which sounds slimy right from the start. Feels sort of flimsy and slightly damp. But so ok, I work in IT marketing, which is so decidedly unsexy that it attracts a markedly petite percentage of douchebags, relative to your average corporate rate (of douchebag concentration). The truth is I really like the people I work with, and the things I do. M@4K5T1NG R00|z! For me, anyway.
I like to get up real early. At around 3:32ish every morning I get up jaggedly and face the bed to stare at Melanie's sleeping body for circa 60 minutes. Then I go back to bed. Then I try to get up forreal around 6:00 or 6:30. Normally I use this time to pet my extremely awake cat and stare blank-faced at NBA results from the previous night until its time to get beautiful, but I'm lately trying to get to the gym in the morning before work. Gym in the morning before work. Marvel at my domesticity, and also my totally juiced pecs.
Work technically starts at 9, but we're like just so modern, so most people saunter in between 9:30 and 10:00. Since this is New York, it's very easy to get delayed on the train because of all the movie stars, and the sex in the city. You see why people are late. Fugghetaboutit! Haha...we say that ALL THE TIME. All of us.
I manage an inside sales team, which consists of 3 people in New York (besides myself) and 6 people in Bogota. Its strange to manage people. If you know me, you know I rule all around me with an iron fist. And a feather foot. My kicks are not very effective. I rarely deploy them though, since my team is mad effective and extremely easy to work with. The cool thing about being at an agency, is that there's no room for obnoxious people at a small company. This also helps mitigate the douchebag concentration at my work. Crappy people wash out naturally.
My company, and my role inside it, has grown considerably since I joined two years ago. We've grown by over 100% for two years in a row, and I get to take regular trips to Bogota and join in secret Satantic rituals and all sorts of fun stuff. Then I come home to my babe girlfriend and awesome cat and get to drink beers and listen to The Weeknd. Life is DOPE.
I'm so pumped for the summer. On nice afternooons we take real long lunches, and it's extremely rad to eat outside and watch everyone mozy along with their day. Lunch options are seemingly endless in my work neighborhood, two years and I'm still finding new things. Last Friday I popped out for a few hours in the middle of the day to watch a few innings of the Sox game, and in the process ate a killer burger and consumed a few beers. They actually won. True story.
I hope you guys make some life posts as well. I really dig it when Matt updates us on his Pacific Rim goings-on, and I would love to hear what's going on in everyone else's neck of the world. But not the ribcage of your world. Please I do not want to hear about the ribcage of your world. Do not make me repeat myself.
Which sounds slimy right from the start. Feels sort of flimsy and slightly damp. But so ok, I work in IT marketing, which is so decidedly unsexy that it attracts a markedly petite percentage of douchebags, relative to your average corporate rate (of douchebag concentration). The truth is I really like the people I work with, and the things I do. M@4K5T1NG R00|z! For me, anyway.
I like to get up real early. At around 3:32ish every morning I get up jaggedly and face the bed to stare at Melanie's sleeping body for circa 60 minutes. Then I go back to bed. Then I try to get up forreal around 6:00 or 6:30. Normally I use this time to pet my extremely awake cat and stare blank-faced at NBA results from the previous night until its time to get beautiful, but I'm lately trying to get to the gym in the morning before work. Gym in the morning before work. Marvel at my domesticity, and also my totally juiced pecs.
Work technically starts at 9, but we're like just so modern, so most people saunter in between 9:30 and 10:00. Since this is New York, it's very easy to get delayed on the train because of all the movie stars, and the sex in the city. You see why people are late. Fugghetaboutit! Haha...we say that ALL THE TIME. All of us.
I manage an inside sales team, which consists of 3 people in New York (besides myself) and 6 people in Bogota. Its strange to manage people. If you know me, you know I rule all around me with an iron fist. And a feather foot. My kicks are not very effective. I rarely deploy them though, since my team is mad effective and extremely easy to work with. The cool thing about being at an agency, is that there's no room for obnoxious people at a small company. This also helps mitigate the douchebag concentration at my work. Crappy people wash out naturally.
My company, and my role inside it, has grown considerably since I joined two years ago. We've grown by over 100% for two years in a row, and I get to take regular trips to Bogota and join in secret Satantic rituals and all sorts of fun stuff. Then I come home to my babe girlfriend and awesome cat and get to drink beers and listen to The Weeknd. Life is DOPE.
I'm so pumped for the summer. On nice afternooons we take real long lunches, and it's extremely rad to eat outside and watch everyone mozy along with their day. Lunch options are seemingly endless in my work neighborhood, two years and I'm still finding new things. Last Friday I popped out for a few hours in the middle of the day to watch a few innings of the Sox game, and in the process ate a killer burger and consumed a few beers. They actually won. True story.
I hope you guys make some life posts as well. I really dig it when Matt updates us on his Pacific Rim goings-on, and I would love to hear what's going on in everyone else's neck of the world. But not the ribcage of your world. Please I do not want to hear about the ribcage of your world. Do not make me repeat myself.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Developments
So, I've been transferred out of the disaster area that is still Miyako down to Tokyo. I've been assigned to 2 Junior High Schools in TakadanoBaba and Mejiro, both of which are on the main Yamanote train line. They are also both directly north of the bangin'est district of Tokyo, Shinjuku, where a number of my friends live and a lot of really great clubs and venues are, and is also where I am currently looking for an apartment.
Tokyo's expensive, you all know, but lemme relate what I'm looking at, and what I was paying in Miyako. My apartment in Miyako cost me 30k yen every month, which is the equivalent of about $330. Every month, if I paid that, I not only could live in my 3 room + bath apartment, but got a bike, a storage closet, and a free awesome meal every thursday out of it.
The apartments that are within my budget range that I am considering are hovering around 77k yen. That's probably around $900. However, on top of that, there's this very annoying real estate phenomenon in Japan referred to as Shikin and Reikin. Shikin is basically a deposit, and it amounts, in many cases, to double the monthly rent. Reikin is totally Japanese as it basically translates to present money, as in a present to the landlords for letting you live there. This also typically amounts to double rent. So there's rent, theres 1 double rent, and another double rent. this 5X rent needs to be paid before you are allowed to move in. Of course, it varies, and thankfully due to the crisis, many apartments are only asking for 1 months extra rent for Reikin and Shikin, amounting to only a requisite 3X rent in order to move in. So, to sum up, for me to move in to any one of the places I'm looking at (haven't decided yet), I need to drop about 231K Yen, or somewhere in the vicinity of $2600. BAM.
I am also looking for apartments in another area, Musashikoyama, southeast of Meguro, which itself is a southeastern stop on the Yamanote line, where the prices are about the same. Its much farther from my schools, which means I'll be paying more to take trains there instead of feasibly walking or biking if I choose Shinjuku, but friends of my friends in Miyako live here and when youre in with people like I'm in with my friends in Miyako, that basically means you've got an older brother type figure watching your back. Or, in my case, 2. And while if I lived in Shinjuku I'd still totally see these guys a lot, but if I lived this close to them it'd come to approximate the family-like situation I had going on up in Miyako a lot quicker than if I was in Shinjuku.
MOOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEEYYYYY
Tokyo's expensive, you all know, but lemme relate what I'm looking at, and what I was paying in Miyako. My apartment in Miyako cost me 30k yen every month, which is the equivalent of about $330. Every month, if I paid that, I not only could live in my 3 room + bath apartment, but got a bike, a storage closet, and a free awesome meal every thursday out of it.
The apartments that are within my budget range that I am considering are hovering around 77k yen. That's probably around $900. However, on top of that, there's this very annoying real estate phenomenon in Japan referred to as Shikin and Reikin. Shikin is basically a deposit, and it amounts, in many cases, to double the monthly rent. Reikin is totally Japanese as it basically translates to present money, as in a present to the landlords for letting you live there. This also typically amounts to double rent. So there's rent, theres 1 double rent, and another double rent. this 5X rent needs to be paid before you are allowed to move in. Of course, it varies, and thankfully due to the crisis, many apartments are only asking for 1 months extra rent for Reikin and Shikin, amounting to only a requisite 3X rent in order to move in. So, to sum up, for me to move in to any one of the places I'm looking at (haven't decided yet), I need to drop about 231K Yen, or somewhere in the vicinity of $2600. BAM.
I am also looking for apartments in another area, Musashikoyama, southeast of Meguro, which itself is a southeastern stop on the Yamanote line, where the prices are about the same. Its much farther from my schools, which means I'll be paying more to take trains there instead of feasibly walking or biking if I choose Shinjuku, but friends of my friends in Miyako live here and when youre in with people like I'm in with my friends in Miyako, that basically means you've got an older brother type figure watching your back. Or, in my case, 2. And while if I lived in Shinjuku I'd still totally see these guys a lot, but if I lived this close to them it'd come to approximate the family-like situation I had going on up in Miyako a lot quicker than if I was in Shinjuku.
MOOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEEEYYYYY
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