Prangster in Chicago

It all started with Hoegaarden

What a spectacular last day it was at DDG. First the weather was good, then it was bad, and then it was good again. We had an earthquake that was 6-something on the Richter scale that made the hanging lights swing back and forth. Some random visitors came by. Everett, Matt and I had a design/copywriting presentation later in the afternoon we had to rush and make design prototypes for. I got teased relentlessly. And Victoria, my newly appointed agent, booked me my first freelance job!

After we got back from the meeting in Neihu, the whole office headed to Alleycat's for pizza and beers. Big beers. Lots of big beers. Lots of big imported beers. Jenny gave me a teddy bear and I named it 'Brand'. Everyone ate too much. Ally burped a lot. After all the beers, we headed to Barcode for cocktails. After cocktails, we headed to Room 18 for whiskey and tequila shots. After the shots, there were only three of us left -- Victoria, Everett and I -- so we went to a 24 hour dim sum place on Zhong Xiao and snacked and chatted until daylight.

Here are photos of everyone with 'Brand' and one of the Kingwhale team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The homecoming

Now it's getting serious. I'm halfway through the final week at my first job. And although I've been taking personal things home in dribs and drabs -- magazines, random receipts, notebooks, miscellaneous junk from my drawer -- tonight I left with the big guns. I came home with my orange hardcover Chicago Manual of Style and the Santa Claus mug which I bought over Christmas last year. Sure, I've probably used the Manual of Style less than 10 times in the past 13 months, but having it on my desk makes me feel professional. The mug is just useful because I like drinking tea and making hot chocolate in the winter and having a cute one is important for morale.

So now these things will rest at home, as unemployed as I will be, until I start my next job.

In case you forgot

Team Branding!

We had a company dinner last Friday night to celebrate the completion of some big projects this last quarter. We ate at Sashi-Miya (Vivian came along too), then seven of us headed to the bowling alley afterwards. Here are some photos from the night:

Isn't Vivian cute.

Will the real Paris please stand up?

Ignore the 'Ginza' in the sign of the second photo and the swarm of Tokyo salarymen in the last photo and I swear, I seriously swear, walking around in Tokyo you'd think you were in Paris.

Okay, maybe if you squint and put on sunglasses. But it's nice, right? We'll have none of that in Taipei, thanks...

Remember this

"You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your friends' friends."

-- Helen Chen on July 9th, 2006

Tokyo bike!

What a great looking bike! It's stylish urban transportation for a Tokyo family of three. Plus two dogs in the basket.

A reachable goal

Every year I make new year resolutions that I break. For 2006, I set two goals for myself:
1) Wear more professional clothes to the office every second day, and
2) Go to the gym more. (Probably it should have read, "Go to the gym once more".)

And what of my new year resolutions? Didn't happen. Didn't happen. But from this July evening on, all this changes. Tonight I become serious. From tonight on, I am Michelle Kwan. Or even better, I am Roger Federer. (Or even better still, I am Roger's girlfriend.) I am setting a goal for myself which I will endeavour to reach no matter what obstacles I try to distract myself with. My mind will always be on this goal, no matter what they are showcasing on the home shopping networks. I won't give up the fight, no matter the stacks of Us Magazines Lillian throws my way. I am dead serious about this....

I will buy a white Macbook.

This just in: I remembered Lien's birthday at 11:50pm last night, just in the freaking nick of time! Happy 25th!

Pick and choose

Hypothetical:

You're driving along a deserted road in the middle of the night. There's a huge electrical storm. You pull up to a gas station where three people are waiting at a bus stop. There's an elderly man with a terrible heart condition. There's a doctor who had previously saved your life. Then there's the person you plan to marry one day. Who do you pick to ride with you in your two-seater car, and why?

(If you can be bothered, and I know few of you are, leave your answer in the comments section.)

This was supposedly a question Motorola asked 200 job applicants during a round of interviews. Only one person was asked back for round two. Do you know what their answer was?

Photo breakdown: Thanks to my coworker Everett who took this photo in a German bookshop. He's on annual vacation in Munich right now, the bastard.

Recap

I moseyed around my neighborhood tonight looking for some cos lettuce. The kind they sell here is brought over from Canada, so sometimes it's not very fresh looking. At the Sogo supermarket I saw wilted leaves in one pack, and in another, a weird algae consistency.

I needed the fresh, crunchy cos because I've got a half-pack of caesar salad kit left. I've also got an avacado that'll be ready to cut open tomorrow. Dad brought back all this stuff back from Sydney during his last trip. After I finish that monster salad though, there will be no more dressing left. Then it'll be onto the next food phase, I suppose. Maybe I'll get into macadamia nuts.

Oh, this is exciting. We got new Macbooks at the office. Mine is so pretty and white. Very "2001: A Space Odyssey". Thing is, I'm scared to type on it. So far I've only managed to float my fingers over the keys and make pretend-typing actions, but not actually make contact. It's charging up tonight in the office, so I'll get to use it tomorrow. It's so cute I wonder if I should get a black one for myself. What an upgrade that would be.

On the weekend it was Dad's birthday. He turned 58. We went to the father of all Japanese restaurants, Mitsui, to celebrate. It was so freaking delicious my stomach gave my dad a birthday card when we got home.

Then afterwards, it was Lien's birthday drinks. We had it at Barcode, this place around Warner Cinemas. At the end of the evening we all went to New York Bagel. Lillian and I are legends cause we got Lien a body treatment and facial at Aveda Spa.

That's the recap.