May 2005 Archives

Here are pics of the Goa Gil party taken by Dav. It's the last party at this particular place since the land was just sold. We have quite a few fantastic memories there and will miss it. Looking forward to finding out where the new party location will be.

I got bitten by extreme-mosquitos that left quarter-size welts. On top of that, for some reason, they all aimed at my butt, biting me through the pants I was wearing. I have a pretty scary looking butt now :(

If you go through all the pics, you'll see Dav left a very special marking for us, complete with a geotagged picture. Now that's romantic in my book!

Looking forward to music and camping. Stopping for a vege burger at Blondie's Frosty in Angel's Camp on our way...Check out the frog on the sign! And while we were there, a way cool truck showed up.

Click to see video.

A cool one. Look closely. Dude.

I couldn't resist and borrowed her flash and used it with my phone. It makes such a difference not to have to use night-mode which makes for blurry pictures, although I'll certainly have to learn how to use it so it's not so washed out (Jen and I look like we have no noses!). I'm definitely going to get one!

At the Hemlock. With visiting Ms. Jen (Black Phoebe) who has a Nokia like mine (see the pic of its tiny glow?) and promptly moblogged! Great to hang out personally! And she has a flash! I WANT!

	Click to see video.

Izumi (my sister-in-law), Tyler, and Julia leave for Tokyo tomorrow for 1-2 months so the kids can be immersed in Japanese. Last year, Tyler got to spend time in a Japanese kindergarten which improved his Japanese amazingly. In addition, he came back really liking Japan (he was born there, but had become more or less Americanized). Ian will miss them dearly, but this will be good for the kids. I plan to have some good 'ol catch up time with my bro ;)

To see them off, Dav and I visited for dinner. It's so much fun to be around kid energy. The kids were all over Dav - pillow fights, being carried around, and jumping competitions. As Dav said, "I couldn't believe how excited they were. Julia is usually shy, but she was hyperventilating..."

It was entirely C-U-T-E to watch!

Ever since I started at Six Apart, international conference calls have been a part of my job. The craziest was when the company was still small and there weren't a zillion projects, so we'd do "global" calls to cover all offices at once. This would include the U.S., Japan, and Europe. The only decent time for everyone ended up being 10pm 'til midnight for us here. I much preferred that to our poor European colleagues who had to call in at 7am. The calls have always been essential for communication. But now we have a magnificent video system so we can see each other. Sound is great, and talks are more productive. Now only if these got cheap enough so I could do this with my parents...

Remember that working cat at the Market Street furniture store? Found another at a shop on Haight Street. And this cat is a cute relative of Kats and Waka.

p.s. notice how I've been using "cute" a lot? I'm still "ew"-ed out about the dead bodies post.

IM conversation with Dav as we discuss him picking me up from work.

Context: Waka and Kats get fed a spoonful of their favorite wetfood around evening everyday, which is usually after 6pm or so. Before that, they are most likely napping in my closet.

[16:49] dav: gotta get ready

[16:50] Kokochi: just feed the cats

[16:54] dav: ha, they were both comatose

[16:55] Kokochi: ?

[16:55] dav: i had to wake them up. they're like "uuuhhhh huh, wha? foo food? oh food!"

[16:55] Kokochi: oh, maybe cuz it's a bit earlier today than normal

[16:56] dav: had to wave the food bowls under their noses in your closet

Click to see video.

Some movie action scene filmed in Potrero Hill. A block away from our house. Scene is a stupid looking hummer jumping over the hill. Anyone driving a hummer is a twirp in my opinion. I imagine this scene is for a not-needed movie.

I've been feeling rather squeamish having the previous post's pics up...so I grabbed Ginevra's popular sign book from her desk to get something cute and fuzzy on Kokochi. The bunny is rather twisted itself, but hey, at least it's a bunny!

A bit gory, but absolutely amazing. The Universe Within exhibit. Couldn't take many pics since I had to be very very discreet...Sorry if this grosses you out.

[UPDATE]

Ugh. Not only is my site showing up when people google this exhibition - ew ew ew - but check this out. I am disgusted. Ugh.

Go Hunt for a blog!

via my creative brother, Ian.

OK. I know this is silly, but to me this is new and thus neat: the underbelly of a car. At a garage so JavaFu can get fixed.

Click to see video.	Click to see video.

Flash hugging everyone. An ode to the Odeon. And Chicken John's closing speech.

	Click to see video.
Click to see video.
Click to see video.

I took pictures galore and long-ass videos of this historical moment. I even shed tears, touched by the strong sense of community the Odeon Bar has nurtured. People packed the place to see last acts, and cheered at the craziness that we will all miss. One of a kind place, indeed.

One of the things I missed most when Dav was away was not being able to shop for new outfits together and then going out wearing them as a couple. I'm pleased to say we had some fun finding these new additions (click to enlarge and see Dav's top that literally locks up), and had a super fun night out with them!

Elida sweetly gave me Japanese lollipops the other day. These characters are famous, and we all grew up with eating Peko-chan milk candy (right picture). Very nostalgic. The lollipops Elida gave me are chocolate versions of Peko-chan and her friend Poko-chan.

I should mention that when I was growing up, I was called Peko-chan a lot. I think it was meant to be a compliment, but Peko-chan always just looked goofily weird to me. Of course I too looked goofily weird, but...

Peko-chan is a veritable icon now.

I'm quite pleased to have a bed sorta named after me. A day bed! How luxurious...although totally not my style with the cold, austere black and metal.

Via Elida. Thanks!!

	Click to see video.
Click to see video.

Pre-public sneak peek. Quite red/pink indeed. VERY fun! Know a few involved and told them that Tokyo should be the next location. Gettin' cooler by the moment.

My favorite. Know where this is?

Dinner on a boat with work colleagues and visitors from Tokyo. A lot colder than expected but still neat. Nice views of Golden Gate!

Click to see video.

Showing Brazil pics to Dav's family at Azul, a Mexican restaurant with the loudest band ever! Marcus, with all his tatoos joined too. Dav gave special crystals from Alto Paraiso, a place he visited near Brasilia that has a UFO landing strip and alleged powers. Marcus and I did a goofy pic then a redeeming one.

Walking on Mission...

Dav and I stopped by our regular coffee shop with his .motorcycle. As we parked and took off our helmets, a cute group of toddlers came up with their grandma asking to see the bike. Then they asked to try on our helmets which was so adorable. They seemed completely mesmorized.

Strange pics. I'll let your imagine run with these. That's the Odeon!

Some neat 50's thing going on. I was just passing by and HAD to stop! My favorite is the pink car. And I dedicate that pink car to Raven.

Took Wakame and Katsuo for their annual check-up and shots. It's quite a terrifying experience for them. I have to shove them into their shared carrier box, drive them to the vet's, and wait in the reception area with meowing cats and big dogs sniffing around.

Waka and Kats ususally keep their own space from each other, but under such circumstances, they bundle up and hug each other. Wakame curls up in the corner of the carrier, hides her head under Kats, and Kats pretty much lies right on top of her with a paw around her neck. I know they are scrared, but it's sorta cute.

Inspite the nice vet, they were very eager to get away from him.

Click to see video.

In Oakland. My first one. Dav and I got to be judges! I would have taken more videos, but I ran out of battery juice...

Click to see video.

Couldn't resist posting: Adam from Technorati choosing wine ... Cute like a kid in a toy store. Then my gigantic pork chop dish (seriously, a scary lump of a thing but very delicious), and finally, Gen showing off his spanking new AU phone (which made me green with jealousy).

[Warning: this is most definitely about my cats and my love for them.]

As you know, I let the cats out. Last night, Kats stayed out for a good 5 hours...until 2am! I lay in bed awake, waiting for him, trusting he was fine and would be home soon, but battling horrible fears that he tripped and cut himself or was stuck in some dark lonely alleyway. I faithfully kept the door open for him (mind you, it's not the front door; it's in the garage so it's not like people can walk in).

Wakame wasn't interested in going out. By the time I decided to lie in bed to wait for Kats, she was already snuggled in Dav's underwear drawer that was left half opened. When Kats finally waltzed in, I ran downstairs to close the door so I could finally get some shut-eye.

But in the morning, I noticed in horror that Wakame wasn't around. And I didn't remember her ever joining us on the bed as she usually does. She's done this before: be all asleep, and then when I totally don't notice, sneak outside in secret if the door is open. So I essentially locked her out all night! How awful! I kept imagining her tiny self meowing at the door. She gave up and left because when I ran down this morning and called for her, she wasn't around.

I had to go to work, so I am triple glad Dav is back because I could give him instructions to keep the door open, and IM me as soon as she came back. And, I got the IM I eagerly waited for at

[10:30] dav: i went on the fire escape and called her, she came in the door about 4 minutes later.

I'm so relieved.

This reminds me of when I was in junior high and just started going out about town in Tokyo. I never had a curfew, but I had to be responsible enough to make sure I caught the last train to get myself home. I remember distinctly the first few times I went out, I'd be riding my bicycle home from the train station, and as I got close to our house, I'd see my mom waiting outside our gate. She just couldn't help it. She wanted to let me go out, but couldn't go to sleep until I was home. Thank you, mom, for worrying about me. And now I do it to my cats...

Dav is finally home! And with his new surfboard.

With all my moving about between countries, I've left favorite CDs here and there. Every once in a while, I'll remember a song that I love...but the title or artist fails me. And without the CD, I have to google. But this is stumping me and I'm not finding results: I know the artist was Lenny Kravitz's sister. That's it. I don't think her album became famous or anything but there is one cool song. It might be her only album for all I know.

Please, anyone know her name??