magicdog vs tokyo

too lazy to type much

ted — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:28:17 +0000

kids — various pics from the last couple of months… haruki at garden place, hoikuen sports day, the last swim of the year in chiba, wrestling on the couch, hana helping to pull a mikoshi(sp?) around the neighbourhood, haruki spotting some unattended food, lowering the tone at kyoko-chan’s wedding…

how come i end up where i started?

ted — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:46:19 +0000

radiohead — some time back…

also there — some other people…

from memory — started with “airbag,” played most of in rainbows (”weird fishes,” “bodysnatchers,” “jigsaw falling into place,” “15 step,” “nude,” “all i need,” “reckoner,” possibly one or two others) plus bits & pieces from all over: “my iron lung,” “there there,” “everything in its right place,” “paranoid android,” “idioteque,” “let down,” “no surprises,” “just,” “fake plastic trees,” “pyramid song,” “go to sleep”… lots more than that, actually… i’m pretty sure they played for a bit over two hours… & no, that’s not even close to running order… apologies to any set list factcheckers who may have stumbled by…

pressure’s off — phew, i guess that’s me done for another couple of months then… in other news: still employed… kids are well… went to meiji jingu for hana’s hichigosan ceremony the other week… spent a long weekend unable to move & got diagnosed with arthritis in my left hip (but, more importantly, got prescribed some anti-inflammatories/painkillers which seem to have sorted it out…) evenings are getting colder… haven’t been to chiba for a while… i have no idea what i am talking about…

i for one welcome our new cashed-up overlords

ted — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:38:47 +0000

better news — still lots of stuff to be worked out, but the situation looks much less grim than it did at this time last week…

ow! my bank!

ted — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:03:54 +0000

hindenbank, day 4-ish — a day of shock & disbelief, followed by a day of denial seasoned with anger & a dash of despondency, followed by a day of potentially good news (assuming about a hundred different constellations all align precisely) & wham! today was suddenly insanely busy. still too early to be sure that the woods actually do border on less heavily forested terrain, let alone to think that we’re almost out of them, but we at least have stupid amounts of work to distract us from the tenuous state of the entity that still officially employs us & the godawful state of the job market here in tokyo at the moment…

was gonna link to something — but you probably saw it years ago, so i can’t be bothered…

well, that’s not so good…

ted — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:23:52 +0000

attention capricorns — it’s going to be critical that you stay on your toes today — you’ve got to be ready to move in any direction quickly, as situations might change with no notice. [editor’s note: no shit, sherlock]

chapter 11? i hated that chapter — working for a large american financial institution, you’re constantly reminded that your job security is directly tied to how well the company is managing to navigate the markets… not so well in recent months, as it turns out… what this means in the short to medium term for the asia-pacific offices is still unclear, but the photos that the financial news sites have been running of people leaving the head office in new york carrying boxes of personal belongings are certainly doing wonders for everyone’s peace of mind… the assumption is that it’s pretty much game over, with talk (admittedly unsubstantiated at the moment) that between one half to two thirds of the firm’s employees will be terminated, and that whatever remains of the firm’s businesses will be sold off in chunks to the highest bidders…

suck factor is high — in immediate, personal terms, we (in the strictly limited sense of my own family) are doing okay… chances are i’ll be looking for a new gig at some point, & there’s obviously some longer term financial implications (i guess those stock options ain’t ever gonna vest now), but we’re fortunate in so much as Sumie is currently working, & we don’t have anything much in the way of debt that we won’t be able to service (unlike, for instance, some investment banks i could name…) what really sucks is that a lot of my friends are in much more precarious positions in terms of having single incomes & tokyo-sized mortgages… &, you know, we built a bloody good team over the last four years, & it hurts to think that everything we’ve been busting our arses to accomplish is most likely going to get broken up & thrown away…

anyway — more news to come as soon as i have any… it’s all uncertainty & gloom at the moment, but maybe it won’t turn out to be as bad as everyone currently fears… & maybe, just maybe, pigs might also fly out of my arse…