Operation: LOH (day 1)

Destination: Chicago





















See elder brother Gabe with Plate of Oysters and Clams. Eat Gabe Eat.
Culinary Location: Bob Chin's Seafood House (a top 5 grossing restaurant in USA)

















Cousin Jonathan, Cousin Lester, Brother Ariel
















Me and my Grandma!
















Aunt Julie (xiao-niang-niang) & Cousin Rachel (she has some serious guns for a 15 year old)





















Father claims victory at the Check-grab race.





















Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

Sausilito

Sunday - July 17th

I went to Sausilito for a casual social mixer of sorts. I brought some of my left over cheese and wine from the previous night for some snacking. Halibut and Ono were served. Nothing too fancy. Just a lot of talking and meeting new people. No particular highlights but I had a great time. Found out where Sushi Ran (I've heard good things about it). Sausilito is a beautiful town. I'll definitely have to come back for a visit and stroll down the town. Eat some sushi ;-)





















Behold, the front door!





















(back) Henry, Rob, Ron, Me
(front) Miki, Manami





















Manami spicing up Miki.

sa-sa-saaaturday

Saturday - July 16th

The day started with some weekend work where I sat in on a focus test at Shaba. Informative. I hope the feedback will be put to use. Afterwards, unable to get an appointment for a haircut, I just headed down to Japantown where I met up with Genevieve and we booked it on over to Creations. I had a mango, iced coconut, sago drink. She had taro pudding with a sorts of red or sweet bean soup. 4:15 - AMC Kabuki we met up with Kev, Romy, Dan, and Dan's friend Oz and saw the new Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I went in only with expectations to see some decent character acting from Johnny Depp. It did turn out to be an odd movie but I found myself laughing a lot and enjoying the movie. After the movie, I dropped Genevieve off at Oliver's house (see below) in the West Portal and went back to J-town for dinner. Jeremy had made his way over. Dinner was at Izumiya. I thought I was ordering Yaki-soba-okonomiyaki but it turned out to just be yaki-soba. Alright but I was ultimately disappointed. The night would really begin arriving at Oliver's house where my friend Deda lives. It was Oliver's birthday. Would you believe me if I said the guy on the right is under 30?
















Tomoko, Tatsuya, Oliver





















Deda, Woofy (the landlord)

Oliver was quite the host. I only wish I hadn't voluteered to drive otherwise I would've drunk myself happy. I thought we'd do a more casual cocktail and wine time but my first time over, who knew he'd be such a hard-time host. He made damned sure your glass wasn't empty and mixed all sorts of a wonderful drinks for all the guests. What a night. We stayed till 2:30am (had to rush Romy to get his car out of the J-town garage). Even the normally non-drinkers Kevin and Genevieve got drunk that night so fun was had by all.

















So the crib was really nice. That's all I'll say. REALLY nice. You can't quite see the furniture there but I was calling it "Space Couch" because of it's futuristic curves. One of the cushions was dubbed "Tofu Cushion" by Kevin. Oliver has a good sense of style.
















(clockwise from upper left) Deda, Jeremy, Dan, Romy, Kevin, Oliver (distorted glass version), Genevieve.





















Some of the interesting art Oliver has in his house.





















Kevin says "Paint me Jeremy!"
















Jeremy, Tomoko, Tatsuya

*TFB, it's dynamite*

So today I took the day off from Shaba and went up to TFB, my regular place of employment. I quite enjoyed the ride up the 101 this morning. There was a presentation on 401k's and various benefits which I didn't fully understand. Once I get that sorted out though, it'll be one less thing to worry about. Additionally, I managed to set up my new desk. It's a high set desk so I can either stand on it or sit on a stool. I'm eventually gonna get a nice office chair that can go up that high but my $30 cushioned target stool not only looks nice but will suffice for now. Or next month when I officially return. To the rear is a white board for jotting down ideas and an empty corner for a yet to be purchased bookshelf where I will store all my art and game books. I've also got my poster of kung fu hustle up. It's the boring USA version though. Something to spruce it up for now. Later additions will be my Lupin III toys, Abominable Snow, and Dragon Quest slime from E3. Any other ideas?





















Ended the day with some good ole SNES Bomberman. In the first game, I was afraid I wasn't going to get a single kill. All the other designers kept gunning for me with a "kill Nat" mentaility to humble me. They even went so far as to say "kill Nat" before each round started. It was a lot of fun. I could feel the unused Bomberman neurons reactivating in my brain. It started to hurt. I think I said something dorky like "My Bomberman neurons are reactivating!" which was dubbed most sampleable line of the day. I seem to get the honor a lot. In the end, I managed 2 wins. In game two, I came out with an early 4 game lead but couldn't bring home the bacon to humiliate my co-workers (having not played for so long and them playing 5 days a week). Really ended the day by getting spaghetti and other pasta ingredients at the Novato Safeway. My friends say it's the nicest Safeway they've ever seen. Then I went to Scotty's Market in San Rafael, picked up some cheese and wine and a Turkey Cranberry Salad sandwich for dinner. Seasame mocchi ice cream! Now some Bleach - episode 40. Tommorrow is a focus test at work from 12-2, hopefully a hair cut at 3, Willy Wonka at 4:15, dinner, and then cocktails at deda's. *does a weird gesture* ----> *vanishes!*

weekend recap

My weekend started by taking Friday off from work and driving down to San Jose thursday night. Arriving quite late, I satiated myself with some left overs, watched some random cable TV (haven't done that in ages!), and hit the hay. All of my mom's sisters showed up. Friday morning greeted us with a leisurely drive down to Monterey Bay where we took in the sites and visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Lunch was entirely unspectacular as I had a Chicken Pasta Primavera from the mess kitchen. I had already put in my order when I was informed "we're going to the nice sit down restaurant in the back." Oh well. Partake in fishy visuals.
















Monterey Bay & Aquarium






































































































































































Returning to San Jose early, we decided to go pick fruits in my aunts back yard.
Mom picks fresh fruits in 2yi's back yard orchard = Fresh Squeezed Valencia Orange Juice!





















Younger brother Duo Duo with Oranges. He's like 6'2" now.
We went out for Chinese food for dinner. Good eats but nothing too memorable. On Saturday, my two nieces came to visit their grandparents (my aunt and uncle in SJ). So they aren't REALLY my nieces but what else do I call them? Their mom Nancy is Japanese (issei?) so I can say suuuuugoku kawaii! Mite mite.
















my niece (by cousin) Ami





















other niece Mia

Saturday night was a big in house dinner event. I mostly ate, watched poker and iron chef with my brother and cousin Sabrina. Nancy brought this excellent wine. It was a Pezzi King special blend of Zinfandel (~65%?) and Syrah (~35%?) her Uncle picked up by special reservation at the Sonoma winery. "Excellent" really doesn't sum it up. Each sip reminded you you were drinking wine but without reminding you you were drinking alcohol. Sunday was Dim Sum for lunch at Loon Wah (1146 S. DeAnza Blvd., San Jose), home, laundry. Excitement.
















Mom, Duo, Me, 3yi. Camera shy, 2yi & da-yi

Familia

Parents were in town. I went to dinner with them and my dad's aunt/uncle at some japanese place on Taraval and 27ish. Very marginal. I think this means I've become a sushi snob. I sample wasabi raw for it's overall flavor, kick, texture, and consistency and I observe when the nigiri is put together sloppily. Or more like just slapped on top of the rice. Temperature of the sushi upon service. Yup. Snobomicon. When discussing my career, my dad's aunt/uncle were like "oh, you don't make VIOLENT video games do you? And while I had my Madagascar game box, with zoo animals and what not, all I could think was "gee, sorry. Even if I didn't make a violent video game, it's going to happen." So then I become a bit reserved as I was not about to, nor able to in broken Chinese, explain the social double standard games are subjected to. Movies, TV, and bad parenting always get a blank check but games are always the problem. Tommorrow and this weekend should be with a younger and more English speaking crowd. I think I'll be in better shape. Bloggity Blog Blob!

4th of July

Dungess Crab & Shrimp Parmesean at Joe's Crab Shack at the Fisherman's Wharf. For what we got, waaaay overpriced.





















My friend Mark pretending to use his phone





















The waiter almost ruined this picture. God, the service there was horrid.