i am so employed — first day at work… interesting environment, nice people… had a fantastic day… (i’m working in the mori tower at roppongi hills…)

more random character names from my inbox — among the “people” whose generous, unsolicited offers i will not be taking up today: Popularization H. Bridesmaid; Behring B. Diseases; Unfriendliness P. Shoemaker; Actionable E. Duration; Hacksawing B. Remunerating, and; Resplendent K. Fairest…

metacruft: here = tokyo
30/08/2004 @ 22:05 | 4 comments

ﾌﾞﾀミントン…

i was wrong — i seem to have briefly laboured under the misapprehension that baseball was the greatest game in the world… but then i saw butaminton (literally, pigminton)… it’s badminton, but with squeezepigs! they blow air out of their noses! i can’t believe this isn’t an olympic sport…

metacruft: fone fotos | here = tokyo
26/08/2004 @ 20:28 | 2 comments

metro bear…

one in a series — this little bear features in a series of posters for the tokyo metro… seen here caught in the door after rushing for a train, the bear has also appeared with a walkman (please consider others & don’t play your music too loud) &, in the very best one, which appeared during the rainy season, wearing gumboots, a rainhat, carrying an umbrella & standing in the middle of a puddle… i didn’t think to try to translate that one, but assume it was either a warning that the floors could be slippery, or a request to try not to drip water everywhere… i didn’t have my keitai to take a snap of the gumbooted bear, but maybe it will reappear next rainy season…

metacruft: fone fotos | here = tokyo
26/08/2004 @ 20:18 | 1 comment

hmmm — windows 98 has started eating fonts… this is not usually a good sign…

update — seems to be getting worse. swell.

metacruft: here = tokyo
26/08/2004 @ 11:52 | comments disabled

Maybe it was simply hangover-related, but for some reason Doorways P. Breadbaskets couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the world was a little out of kilter this morning. The grocery store ojisan had given his usual smile and wave, and Yamate Dori had been reassuringly full of traffic, but it was all just a little weird. Packed into a carriage on the Hibiya Line between two dozen sleepy salarymen, Doorways stared out the window through a thicket of arms and wondered why he was so on edge.

metacruft: here = tokyo
26/08/2004 @ 11:49 | comments disabled

character design – pictoplasma conference (berlin, anyone?)

critterbox

metacruft: weblicious
26/08/2004 @ 11:49 | comments disabled

certified — as part of my ongoing efforts to find work, i sat & passed a microsoft certification exam for win XP last month, & i’m now a microsoft certified professional… (which just goes to show i must’ve learnt something over the last few years…) anyway, once you pass one of the exams to become a mcp, microsoft sends you a welcome kit, which includes a little mcp card for your wallet, & a mcp badge you can wear on your lapel when you go to work (or, if you wanna get beaten up, to the apple store, or a linux users group meeting)… & of, course, you get your mcp certificate…

card, check. badge, check. OMG!!! well, after a bit of a wait, my welcome kit arrived yesterday. the plastic card is good to have in my wallet, & the lapel badge is pretty cool, but the best part is the certificate, which has Certificate of Excellence written across the top of it in huge letters, & — this is the absolutely, totally, brilliantly best part — is signed by Bill Gates! how cool is that?!? i’m reminded so strongly of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets an official letter that says he’s not insane, but i don’t care! Bill Gates says i’m excellent, & i have the certificate to prove it!

metacruft: here = tokyo
25/08/2004 @ 19:46 | comments disabled

this just in…

woohoo! details still to be finalised, but just got off the phone from talking to my new employer… i’ll see a contract tomorrow… hello actual, paying work! hello, hello, hello! now if you’ll excuse me, i must do the Happy Dance for a while…

metacruft: here = tokyo
24/08/2004 @ 21:24 | 7 comments

things that — take up a surprisingly inconvenient amount of space in the kitchen & are sometimes dirty:

1. mountain bikes

things that — take up a surprisingly inconvenient amount of space in the kitchen & are sometimes dirty but have recently been cleaned, had the bar ends removed, lizard skins fitted, & the handlebar grips replaced:

1. my mountain bike

metacruft: here = tokyo
24/08/2004 @ 13:43 | comments disabled

hey, el davebot — here are some possible character names for that romantic comedy you’ve been talking about… (more names arriving every day…)

dramatis personae:

• Frozen I. Millipedes
• Auditions M. Resulting
• Commas F. Dorian
• Weeping Morris
• Low-Brow D. Monastery

okay, so i made the last one up… but i did like frozen i. millipedes & weeping morris…

metacruft: here = tokyo
24/08/2004 @ 12:15 | comments disabled

hanging on the telephone — another day waiting for the phone to ring… (i thought) my interview on friday went really well, & given that the company are looking for someone to start in the very near future, i was hoping i might hear something today, but so far, no news… still, things are looking up, & i’m feeling pretty confident…

update: this is not the phone call you’re looking for — got all excited late this afternoon when my keitai rang with a tokyo number i didn’t recognise — could this be it?!? it must be it!!! no. as it turns out, it was someone calling me about another job i’d applied for… would i be available for an interview on thursday at 2.00pm? <plays hard to get>well, let me check my schedule…</plays hard to get> yes, i’d be delighted…

metacruft: here = tokyo
23/08/2004 @ 21:41 | 2 comments

happy birthday, mum! hope you have/had a great day…

metacruft: here = tokyo
22/08/2004 @ 22:11 | comments disabled


if (head != screwedOn) {
   forget(head);
}


metacruft: grafx | here = tokyo
19/08/2004 @ 17:07 | comments disabled

flash! (ca-hards!) — they’ll save every one of us! (flash cards, i love you, but you’ve only fourteen hours to save the earth!)

284 new things to turn my mystified gaze upon — met rob in shibuya yesterday, & after he headed to work i wandered into Book 1st & found a set of white rabbit press kanji flash cards… i’ve read some good reviews of these, & have been vaguely looking out for them for a while, so i figured they might be fun &/or useful… they certainly look nice… (of course, they’re still severely lacking in the Upload Kanji Directly to Memory department, but you know…)

metacruft: here = tokyo | learning japanese
19/08/2004 @ 17:00 | 1 comment