hello! yoshi

Well by the time you read this, I’ll be in Seattle’s Swedish hospital getting a same day surgery done. Don’t worry, it’s nothing life threatening or big, but it’s more a preventive measure that needs to be done eventually. You don’t wanna know what the surgery is about, trust me, you’ll thank me later for not telling you. I know a few people already know, but I’m sure they really wish they didn’t know about it.

You might think though that my posts will be lessened, but it’s quite the reverse I think, I’ll have plenty more time to post since I’ll be sitting/laying around for most of it. I might of course be drugged up and semi-conscious, but hey, I’ll blog something. So feel free to send me some good vibes and hope for a speedy recovery. The surgeon said I need to take about a week of recovery and bed rest, so I’m listening to the doctor on that one. Just hope he gives me some good pain meds. I know I’ll be needing it for sure.

Ok, so I mentioned this in a comment to Colin, and so I thought I’m going to do it. In the past, I made a post about what if my life had it’s own soundtrack. The first volume (because there has to be many right?) was posted on 10/29/02. Oh you want to see it? You can find it on hello! Blogger, since that’s picked up a lot of my old archives. It doesn’t matter because I will be recapping here and then adding commentary to my original commentary. Behold! (note: in the future, I’ll be more prepared for this and allow you download or listen to the song just in case you never heard of it.)

01: Running to Stand Still - U2
(2002) I’ve always liked this song. It’s a song I love to play on the guitar. Reminds me of the days I lived in Chicago.

(2008) Yeah, I still love this song. But I don’t play it on the guitar since I haven’t picked it up in ages. Meesh bought me one for christmas. I really need to play it.

02: Frozen - Madonna
(2002) When I first heard this song, I thought, Wow, she really gets it. This song alone summarizes a lot.

(2008) I still love this song. I’m sure back when in 2002, I really got it. But now, I just like it cuz it sounds good. I think though I might have moved on from this song.

03: Don’t Speak - No Doubt
(2002) Don’t ever fall in love with your best friend. Of course, in the end it turned out ok for me. We’re not as close as we used to be, but when I have exciting news, I always call her first. :)

(2008) I don’t always call her first, but she’s still one of my best friends.

04: Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi
(2002) Sometimes when you have a long distance love affair, you think it will last forever. But it almost never does. This song reminds me of that.

(2008) Wow, I had to think of what ex-girlfriend this song reminded me most of lol. Yeah, bed of roses indeed. Long distance love affairs do work out. Meesh and I are proof of that.

05: Silent Lucidity - Queensryche
(2002) This song reminds me of Chicago. It’s where I first learned to play this song. I remember playing this song on the guitar while my friend Jared sang. OMG it was great. Those were the days. “…The dream is over…Or has it just begun?”

(2008) I still long for those days and I still love this song. I wonder whatever happend to Jared…

06: Tiny Dancer - Elton John
(2002) To tell the truth, I was not so much into this song until I saw the movie Almost Famous. Any regular visitor will know that Cameron Crowe is one of my favourite directors, and Almost Famous is definitely one of the top films I love by him. I’m just reminded of the scene where the band is travelling in the bus listening to this song and getting their spirits lifted. This song always puts a smile on my face.

(2008) Cameron Crowe is still one of my most favourite director/writers. This song also reminds me of Friends, whene Phoebe sings it as “Hold me closer, Tony Danza!”

07: Linger - The Cranberries
(2002) I don’t even remember the first time I heard this song. I just know that I love this song!

(2008) I still don’t remember the first time I heard this song, but wow, it does bring back some memories. For some reason, concerts, philly, and just hanging out at diners comes to my thoughts, but not sure why. That’s definitely what I think of first when I hear this song.

08: The Child In Us - Enigma
(2002) I remember hearing this song, and looking for it for a long time. I thought that it was Enigma, but I couldn’t figure out the title of the song. Finally after listening to many Enigma CD’s, I found it! I simply love this song because it makes me feel…well it’s hard to explain. Maybe if you heard the song, then you can feel it too.

(2008) Of course, I remember cybr telling me that if he had heard the song, he could have told me exactly what it was. But hey, I already found the song, so that’s cool. I love this song because it makes me feel mystical. That’s probably the best way I can say it.

09: Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution
(2002) I still love this song. Even after all these years, this song will bring back memories of my childhoood, long lost loves, and friends of old. This song makes me reflect.

(2008) Holy crap, who cannot love this song? This song still rocks! It came out in 1984! How crazy!

10: What’s this life for - Creed
(2002) Creed always makes me think of the days I spent in Japan, for some odd reason or another. I remember wasting the days and nights hanging out with my buddies there. Many nights of “So, what are we going to do now?” Gotta love those days spending a lot of time doing nothing and complaining about it. Then realizing that those were the best days we had.

(2008) This is totally a navy buddy song. It reminds me of sitting in barracks and doing exactly that. “So, what are we gonna do now?” We’d sit around and bullshit, talk about stupid things, and most of all, just bond and have fun. This song totally makes me think of that.

11: Rain - Madonna
(2002) Rain always makes me reminisce. I love to do that. It’s not that I’m disappointed now, or I think I used to have more or less fun back then. I just like to remember all the good times and the bad times. I don’t ever want to forget all the friends I’ve made or all the experiences I had, good or bad, with them.

(2008) This song, I think I’ve moved on from this song too, just like Frozen. But I still love this song. It does make me reminisce still, and it does make me feel nostalgic. Sometimes you want to just relive some of the old memories and have it like the way it used to be, but those times are gone now, you’ve gotta make new memories and new experiences. But you can combine them with the old, there’s nothing wrong with that.

12: Chances Are - Johnny Mathis

(2002) When I was in Japan, one of my friends, Charlie, called me “Johnny” because I just loved to sing this song. Many a night, when we had duty, which meant we would work all day and night, and I’d put this song on the PA system in the clinic and sing. Of course, this made many people cringe and laugh. But you know, I enjoyed it. I always smile when I think of those precious moments.

(2008) Haha, I loved this song because of a movie and sang it all the time. I don’t remember the movie now, but yeah, this song totally brings me back and makes me think great things of MCAS Iwakuni. It’s another Navy Buddy song.

13: Suteki Da Ne - Rikki
(2002) Ok, you probably won’t recognize this song unless you played Final Fantasy X on Playstation 2. This was the “love song” of the game. The story was incredible (or so I thought), and I thought this song was pretty damn good. Yes it’s in Japanese, but I think they may have translated it in the game. Suteki Da Ne basically means “Isn’t it great?”

(2008) I still love this song. I loved all the Final Fantasy games. If there was anything big in my life, it was Final Fantasy. I love it!

14: Poison (Piano Version) - Sorimachi Takashi
(2002) Yes, it’s another japanese song. This one is only an instrumental though. This song is from the Japanese Drama Great Teacher Onizuka. I loved this drama! It was about this teacher who did his best to be greatest teacher and helped out his students where he could. If you’ve never seen or heard of this drama, I’d recommend checking it out if you can. It’s well worth it. It taught me a few things I thought I already knew, but didn’t; and it reminded me of things I’d already forgotten about.

(2008) GTO is still a great dorama. I still love it after all these years. I think it’s one of those things that all new teacher dorama is compared to. That and Kinpachi sensei. Although Kinpachi sensei is so popular it still has shows.

15: Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
(2002) Ever since I saw Cruel Intentions, I’ve loved this song. It makes me reflect a bit on myself, and makes me want to improve the things I am not satisifed with. I’ve always thought of this song as a song about me. “…but I’m a million different people from one day to the next…I can change…”

(2008) Because I always associate the ending of a movie as an ending theme, I always thought of this song as a closing song for an album. I think it because it just ends this album well. Wow. I still love this song. It still impacts me.

So tell me, if you had a soundtrack for your life, how would it go?

I’m the type of person who seems to associate music with a lot of memories. I know, I know, what does it have to do with old cars?

But listen, just for a moment. So I associate a lot of songs with certain types of memories. For instance, when I hear just about any Beatles tune, the first thing I think of is my old beat up Mercury Bobcat. (Yes, if you’re wondering, that’s the Mercury equivalent of a Ford Pinto - Gimme a break it was my first car, ok?)

Anyways, it reminds of one night when me and my buddies were driving…somewhere in Jersey, down route 70, listening to Beatles tunes. That one particular night was pretty magical, because we somehow knew the lyrics of every single song that played. It was really amazing. You know, usually you sing along with a song and you don’t know all the words, right? Well, we somehow did. It was pretty odd. It was definitely a night I’ll never forget.

One particular Beatles tune reminds me of a totally different car though. Here Comes the Sun for some reason reminds me of my friend Kate and one time driving my 1974 Plymouth Valiant (read: Dodge Dart) down I-295, and I was complaining about this guy who’s lights were really bright behind me and was tailing me. And a little later on, I was doing pretty much the same thing to someone else, and Kate pointed that out. I felt guilty and laughed and pulled back a little.

Wow. That was like a long time ago. I don’t even remember where we were going or what we were doing. But for some reason, that song reminds me of that moment. I bet that song wasn’t even playing, but that’s what it reminds me of for some reason. Kate, do you remember that? What was that, like wow, 19 years ago? We’re getting old my dear, dear friend. Well I am at least.

Dana started Memory Monday last year to honor her Grandfather, who suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. This is cool. Feel free to participate. This is my way of not forgetting some of the life changing (and not so life changing) events in my life.

Ok, so the other night I had the scariest nightmare. I was somehow in some type of race, going somewhere, probably something like Cannonball Run or whatever, and we were all stopped in this one city. There was a top secret military base there, who knows what branch, but it looked like Air Force. I’m starting to forget this nightmare, so the details are kinda hazy at this point.

I remember having to navigate a series of rooms, kinda like a video game. (I obviously play too many videogames) I then realized, I had discovered a deep secret of which I cannot remember, and I had to get out as soon as possible. As soon as I tried to rush out of the building, I was being chased by a tall bald man, very calm and very collected insisting that I come with him. He sprayed something into my eyes, and while it seemed like I was blinded, I wasn’t, and I kept running. I started to feel weak, probably an effect of whatever was sprayed into my eyes. I swung a long stick at the man, but he laughed and easily avoided me. I was obviously drugged and weak. My vision became blurrier and blurrier, until finally I blacked out.

Then I woke up.

Pretty crazy eh? I should use this in a story. I’ve probably been reading too much Dean Koontz.

Got any scary or crazy dreams you wanna share?

When you read this, I should be in Seattle, at USCIS, taking my vows to become a US Citizen. Finally! I will officially be an Naturalized American. Not sure why they call it Naturalized, but who cares, it just means that I will be able to vote and be eligible to take a federal job. Oh, consequently, I can also become a police officer. Not that I wish to become one, it’s a bit too much for me. I could see myself stressing out on that job. seriously.

But now that I will be an American, I will be going to register to vote, as well as getting a new passport. You know, just in case I decide to travel out of the country, like going to Japan or something. Also, I just realized, I can now stand jury duty. Wow, I’m so not enthused about that.

Big day today, the plan for dinner is chili cheese dogs, tater tots, and apple pie. How much more American can you get than that?

The other day, Diz mentioned that I dissed New Jersey. Yeah, OK, I admit it, I dissed the state of NJ. But you know what, of all the horrible experiences I had growing up and living there, there was quite a bit of great times. A lot of my friends still live there. Although I’ve lost touch with a lot of them. But I keep in touch with enough to keep somewhat up to date.

But I thought that I’d point out the good times about New Jersey.

The Shore. If nothing else, I will never forget the shore. Of course, when I say the shore, it could mean any of the beach points. It could be the Boardwalk, it could be Long Beach Island (LBI), it could be Asbury Park, it could be Sleazide (Seaside - Meet me at Lucky Leos! is that sign still there?), and it could mean Wildwood. It could mean any of those places. But to most Jersey-ites (well at least the ones I know), it’s collectively known as “The Shore”.

Memories of the shore come with things like Salt Water Taffy, Funnel cakes, Gyros, (notice all the food?) as well as the rides and most importantly, the Tram Car (”Watch the Tram car please!”). Wow. You can’t replace those memories with anything else. If you’ve ever heard the song “Under the Boardwalk”, then yeah, that’s exactly right.

Cheese-steaks and Hoagies. While people will immediately think of Philly when it comes to cheese-steaks and hoagies, it’s not only in Philly that you can buy these things you know. I totally love Pizzasteaks in particular. It’s basically a Cheese-steak with pizza sauce on it. Pretty simple. I totally love Hoagies. While I always get Roast Beef Hoagies, I sometimes decide to get an Italian Hoagie just to feel nostalgic of “home”.

There are more things that I really loved about NJ, I just can’t think of them right now. Although I have to admit a lot of good things about NJ was the food. I’m just a food fanatic though. I’m sure Diz might like to point out a few things.

Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a lover of t-shirts. Especially Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. If I travel somewhere, I have to find out if there’s a Hard Rock there, and I have to buy a city specific tee. I don’t know why I do it, but I just have to. Believe me, it’s probably an OCD thing.

Anyways, I’ve managed to collect quite a few t-shirts from there. It’s a wonder that I’m not in the frequent buyer club. But honestly, it’s not like I travel that often. It’s usually every other year or so. So it doesn’t really pay to be part of that club.

I’ve collected shirts from a few places, but I’m missing a lot. It just means that I have to travel to all the cities that have Hard Rocks and just keep buying more. After talking about this to cybr, however, I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be kinda cool to do a t-shirt exchange. You buy me a HRC t-shirt from your local HRC, and I would buy you a t-shirt that is local to my area, namely, Seattle. How does this sound? What is everyone’s opinion on this?

Also if you have not entered for the Raffle for Lisa, then you need to! There are some really kick ass prizes! You see that banner in the upper right corner? That’s right kids, click on it to get information to donate to enter the raffle. Lisa is a two time ovarian cancer survivor, and we really need to support her right now so she becomes a three time survivor. Every penny counts! If you want more details, head on over to Miss Ann’s right now!

I need to take more pictures. Every year, I tell myself I need to take more pictures. It’s not like I have a lack of cameras. That’s certainly not the case, since I possess around 8 cameras or so, all for different kinds of reasons. I just need to use them more. Anywhere from LOMO to pinhole cameras, I’ve got them. Actually, I need to finish making my pinhole camera, so I can check it out. I’ve got a box of film just for this purpose. My “junk” film as I like to call it. 100 rolls of expired film, just for experimental reasons.

I decided to attach a few pictures to this post (gallery after the bump) to remind me of some of the pictures I’ve taken, and to show you that I do take pictures, just not enough of them (in my opinion). I really really need to take more pictures.

This summer, I plan on doing as much photography as I can, by taking as many photo trips as I possibly can. If you’re in the Portland/Seattle area, why not look me up, we can go out and do some photo essays or just plain have some fun taking pictures.

Do you take pictures?

Read the rest of this post »

Ok so the other day, Allie posted some pics of her desk and the girlfriend’s desk area. LOL yeah, so now here I am posting mine. And yes, it is much worse than hers. seriously.

What’s your desk area look like? (click on the image to go to flickr and see the 2nd picture too!)

So tonight, we’re lucky enough to be going to see the Mariners play some baseball. They’re playing the Texas Rangers tonight. I’ll of course be rooting for the Mariners and hoping to take some good photos. We’ll see how it goes.

In other news, I’ll be meeting up with Melanie as well. Should be a bunch of fun. We’ll probably hang out and do dinner at the restaurant across the street from Safeco field. Well, that’s the plan anyways.

I also wanted to share one of my favourite Mariners commercials as well. It’s an oldie, but definitely a goodie. (and for those of you not in the know, Seattle and Spokane are on opposite sides of the Washington state) video is after the bump.

Read the rest of this post »