Hurricane NYC 2011 Will

I wrote a will few years ago when I flew to Japan or something... this will voids the previous will. (how can I make this legal? Ju? Jeff? Wook? any idea?)

In case I die in the Hurricane:

Edwin W. - xbox 360 since he sold his with all games. (+ useless HD player) And watches.

Yuki - My clothes, nano, TV, Sony PSP with all games, toys that are more for guys

Yuka - iPad, toy collection that are more girly

Bonny L. - Any food left at my place, blu-ray player and movies

Ed K. - Nike Gyuakusou Jacket, iPhone 4, Camera lens

Paul K. - My bicycle (even though he thinks it's girly)

Parents - All my money, macbook pro, apple time machine, roomba

Timmy C. - My Apple monitor and Magic track pad (not sure why you'd need it) Sketch Book

Judy C. - Canon 40d and my Lumix camera

Whoever can fit into 8.5 - my Shoe Collection

Benny M. - Eames red chair not sure why

Dan S. - Prints/posters - Bottle of yamazaki and blue label

Josh C. - Knoll life chair. very comfortable and the Herman miller desk

Sister - Any Kiehls products and toiletries, couch

Ju - Bookshelf with any book all my books

Grace C. - Bottle of jameson

Kevin P. - My BAC stocks

Jeff W. - My GOOG stocks

My top 10 atheletes

Watched the HBO Jeter documentary this sunday. Really enjoyed it. Which got me thinking, who are my top 10 athletes of all time? Here is my list:

Honorable mentions: ronnie lott (best tackles), kim yuna (cute), eddie jones (too bad he never won with the lakers), andre agassi (fun to watch), Carl Lewis (fast)

10. Mariano Rivera - You knew the game was over when he came in the ball game. (too bad he's in a rare funk currently)

9. SHAQ - not the current shaq, but the shaq of when he came to the Lakers.

8. Barry Sanders. Love watching him. He actually looked like a nimble lion on the field.

7. Deion Sanders - Didn't really care for his baseball skillz, but Deion as cornerback... crazy.

6. Magic Johnson. Mr. SHOWTIME. Reason I'm a Lakers/NBA fan. I still remember the time when I was at my high school cross country match, and one of my classmate came and was telling everyone that he has AIDS. (later found out he was HIV+) We all thought he was going go die in a week or so. No one felt like running that day.

5. Bo Jackson - This was probably because of Nike and the "bo knows" campaign. I really thought he could do everything except play hockey. Watching him on the Rrrrraiders.

4. Derek Jeter - Consummate professional. Still remember going to a yankees game 4-5 years ago, and there's this little jewish kid who sat in front of me. Every time Jeter came up to bat, he would say "Jeter..." in admiration.

3. Jerry Rice. The reason I got into football. Touchdown king. I had one poster where he just scored a touchdown, and a San Diego Chargers player was on the ground and you know he couldn't catch up. The poster just says "Just Did It"

2. Kobe Bryant - 2nd best nba player ever. Was at the game where he dropped 61 on the knicks at the garden. The best game I've ever went to in my life.

1. Michael Jordan - I think at my peak I had 27 posters up, 11 Wheaties boxes featuring Jordan, was in the "jordan fan club". My favorite jordans: jordan #5. Greatest athlete ever. I watched him play around 4 times in my life. One time I was at a clippers and... don't remember the other team... at the sports arena, and Jordan walks in during the 2nd quarter with his entourage and sits in the stands (not even in the nice section but in the same floor as I was. Of course everyone stopped watching the game and all eyes were on jordan just sitting there (and few other Bulls with them)

Dreams

So I have pretty vivid dreams... I try to write them down immediately.
Here are some:

7.31.11
Was in a western themed casino and i noticed the dice were all burned in or carved, so you couldn't really see the numbers clearly. One of the rolls, he hit a glass cup that was on the table, and even though it was a 7, the pit bosses were looking so everyone yelled out 6! and i grabbed the dice and threw it back. Then friend next to me through out 3 dollars and grabbed for the chips, to get his change, but the dealer got angry cuz you're not suppose to touch the chips so he had him escorted out of the casino. i exchanged 50 bucks but noticed the table limit was 15.. (thought it was 5) I was trying to teach my friends so I kinda felt bad that the limit was so high. My other bigger friend (looked like felipe, but not sure) changed 100 dollars and just started placing on the number at the top. The point was somehow 3 and i wanted to put my odds on, but the table didn't have pass line.. more like complicated set of random instructions so i just put the money behind. But my pass line bet was for the 4 instead of the 3 which was quite bizarre. When the shooter after 6 or 7 rolls hit the "3" point, I said my money is on the pass line, but the dealer refused to pay me, saying I was asian and all my kind of people cheat. So I called security and I started running around looking for them, and the old western dealer was chasing me around the casino. Eventually caught both of us and they said something like they had complains about him before. They were checking my bag also to see if I was telling the truth, and I was a little nervous because I was suppose to go to Bahamas or something, and i had a lot of cash in the bag with me and was fearful that they were gonna think it was drug money. But all they saw were my jackets at the top and closed the bag back up.

2.1.11

I was rooming with dwight howard, but we both kind of wanted to move out. He was telling me that he can probably make more somewhere else like 20 million dollar a year. He pointed across the room and he was saying how it's amazing to have the top atheletes in one room. He said the woman is annoying, but ranked #1 in women's soccer. She wasn't there at the time. In the dream, dwight wasn't that tall, but still pretty buff. And then I had to go outside to see how I can move out all this stuff to my car, and then turned out my "mom" was there but she happened to be this black muscular woman and was taller than dwight howard. So we were saying no wonder I was such a good athlete, cuz I'm half black. In the dream, i believed it.

1.18.11

Driving yellow mini around wrecklessly in the woods. House with a lady inside who I picked up? But somehow I wasn't suppose to be there. Went to bike shop to get my handle pads replaced, Asian guy said my bike is outdated cuz it was acrylic. But said nice handles. Some kid in line asked how much was my bike. I said 4000, and him and his mom doubted it. Told him I bought with my own money and that I have a house. Sorta bossing him around. Felt bad, asked what school he went to. I heard him say San Marino, and I said I went there. But the kids looked puzzled, the bike check out guy indicated I heard wrong. And kid repeated san eagle or something. An elementary school. That made sense cuz they were young.

04.02.10

First was in a line to watch a lame fake water polo match but in thrnpast second, they were bringing in kobe bryant so we got closer to the pool and qll these thugs rushed the pool and they kicked them out, so had to try again then, it became a long line. Was in a long line In a mansion that went all over a victorian house. At the end, sam was there an d complaining they couldn't so their act. But another group was doing their act. Then there was dancing with fire outside and it was part of work, but they told me I wasn't needed. End of a dance, there was a girl that turned a mess into a nicely folded tatame mats. Then there was try outs and found out they were making zombies head with face recognition software for the haunted mansion ride. Tony said it's top secret and sent me pics of what Edison did. And since I submitted a pic of myself in a jack o lattern head, they couldn't convert me.

2010 State of the Stephen

Department of Family: Parents still live in LA. Sister moved into their new homes. I think for the most part everyone is happy and healthy so it's good! Nephew Niece probably still studying from 7am to 10pm... don't think I've ever worked so much in my life. Too bad we all live so far apart.

Grade: (A-)

Department of Friends: Great friends. In LA and NY. Perhaps need to branch out more and find some new blood. Going to the NBA All Star game this weekend with bunch of my friends from LA. Should be fun!

Grade: (B+)

Department of Labor: I've been fortunate to work on bunch of fun projects this year. Rolex, Home Depot, Betty Crocker, Adobe stuff. Zero complaints from me! And great hours. But stupid Wieden never called me back after having an interview with them last year for freelance.

Grade: (A)

Department of Health: Still haven't been sick for the past 2.5 years or so. Good sign. But when I do get sick, it's pneumonia or appendicitis. Could exercise more, but it's just too dang cold to go running or biking

Grade: (B)

Department of Technology:

I will upgrade my macbookPro/iPhone soon... hopefully in June? Will not buy the iPad, but want to test it out. Bought StarTrek® the movie for 16.99 from Amazon.com which I must say is a good deal.

Grade (C)

Department of Gaming:

Xbox: I was playing NBA 2k10, but had to go to war... so now playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2® Probably the best game ever created.

iPhone: Bejweled & Words with Friends (nobu23 in case anyone wants to play me.) I've only lost twice I believe in Words with Friends... Bejeweled is fun, but fricken Lani wins everytime so there's no point in playing it.

Computer Game: NONE. Waiting for Diablo 3.. but probably will come out in 2050 when I am about to die.

Grade (A)

Department of Apartment:

So it's around my 4th year or so living on St. Marks. And still love the location. But I get sunlight from the window MAYBE 5 min. a day which is really sad. The crazy/evil child has now grown up and doesn't cry and shout anymore. BUT the crazy rabid dog next door is still big and still very annoying. (one night howled the entire night...) The chicken place next door has closed down... but now they are doing daily constructions which wakes me up earlier than I want to be woken up. Tried looking for an apartment, but perhaps too many risks in the one place I was looking at.

Grade (B-)

Calculation: 3.75+3.25+4+3+2+4+2.75 = 22.75/7

Life: 3.25. A solid B+

NYC...

So I just finished taking my clothes out of the dryer, and I hear an old ladies voice:

Old woman: Is the dyer still hot?

Nobu: Yea... I guess I just took my clothes out of the dryer

Old woman: That's not what I asked. Is the dryer still hot?

Nobu: I guess... since I just used it.

Crazy Lady: Don't you speak ENGLISH?

Nobu (not wanting to deal with her anymore): NOPE!

Crazy Lady: What's the matter with you?! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY. CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH?? GET OUT OF HERE.

Nobu: Okay!

Crazy Lady keeps muttering to herself in disgust

Scene.

bike ride vs. subway/walk to work

Biking to work

Pros:

• Some exercise

• Get to work faster (work at 11th and

• Save about 5 bucks a day (rt subway if without monthly pass)

• Enjoy the scenery

Cons:

• Biking in the dark, hard to see

• Sweaty coming to work.

• Can't wear "nicer stuff" because of reason above

• Get weird helmet pattern on my head

• Dodge cars/taxis in the dark

• Cobblestone streets - impossible to ride

• Getting colder. Especially by the water

• Rain sucks

Verdict:

Inconclusive.

Gundam!

One of the highlight of our trip. We got to japan on September 1, and I've been following the Odaibah Gundam prior to going to Japan. They said they were going to take the robot down on 8/31. So We were REALLY happy when we saw Gundam still standing there. (They were taking the foot off when we got there) We thought it'd be bigger, but still was totally cool. There is no point or moral to this story.

Too bad though Gundam couldn't help bm, ry, jc, tc, ss, jw... They all got pretty sick. But at least it was towards the end of the trip. 

Virgin Wifi

My first blog ever from high up in the skies! I'm trying to use the internet/wifi as much as possible since I paid 12 bucks for it... but it lasts for the entire flight which isn't too shabby. (It's the frugal asian in me... sorta like when we go to sushi buffets and you try to eat little rice as possible). Quick 10 day trip. My plan so far:

Thurs:

Eat dinner with Jue and Steph

Visit Jake at his Marina del rey phat pad

Fri:

Still no plans in the afternoon. Maybe hang with parents.

Party it up with rosa/jeff and rosa's friends

Kogi Truck?!

Sat:

Attend ben/eunice wedding

Sun:

Art Center classic Car show?

See Brayden and family?

Off to Vegas

Mon

vegas

Tues:

Come back form Vegas

Try to see rahul?... my good friend from high school!

Wed:

Meet with Paul/Josh and visit his work place

Thurs-Sun:

Napa/SF

Try to see Josh and family

Mon:

Back to NYC. work?

The end.

Limbo

I haven't written more than a 140 characters in a while, so this will feel awkward. But here it goes:

State of Nobu 2009. (Can't believe it's May already)

Work: Been hopping around everywhere since Razorfish --> JWT, MRM... hmm.. I guess that's about it. It's been good, although I sometimes wonder if I am not "progressing" in my work life. I'm just comfortable, going through the flow of things. I sometimes wonder if I would have stayed in one place, if I'd be an ACD or CD.... but very few creative directors freelance around. Don't even think about starting my own shop anymore.... thinking it's just too much effort. But should I be? (B+)

Apartment: Same place on St Marks. Love it... although rents been going up every year. Gonna try to tell them not to raise the rent for next year's lease because of the recession... not sure if they'll bite. Thought about moving to asia and even thought about LA... but what would I do in LA? (A-)

Games: haha. Played a lot of rockband, some naruto, 2k9 is always fun... but haven't touched my xbox in a while. I guess wait for call of duty modern warfare 2 and diablo 3. Such time wasters... but still enjoy it. (C)

Recent Purchases: Hmm... not much! No new bluray movies or anything! Recession! Although I bought A.P.C. shoes couple months ago. Oh... and bedsheets: mircofiber cotton ones from Macy's. VERY soft. easy to zzzzzzz..... (B)

Family: My parents just visited NY last week and it was fun taking them around. It's always good to see them, and I am truly blessed to have such kind hearted people as my parents. Brooklyn bridge, cloisters, grimaldi's, winter garden, the MET, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Botanical, Carrol St. to visit cousin, visited the UN, went to see broadway show. Next time I'll see them is probably summer when I come back for couple weddings. Congrats Ben/Eunice Henry/Naomi! (A)

Friends: yea, I have good friends. (B+)

Church: Still at redeemer. It was fun volunteering at the benefit for HFNY. Good reminder to give back to the city and help bring hope for people. (B)

Health: Fine. My right heel hurts a little bit.... Signed up for Japan Day race which is coming up. Gonna do an easy 4 miler. (A-)

Movie: Last movie I saw in the theaters was.... Watchmen. It was ok.... Want to watch Startrek though. (C)

TV: 24 & Lost (maybe i'll watch the season finale tonight) (B+)

Ok... enough blabbering. Sorry for the boring post....... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Facebook = yuck

With the ugly new facebook layout w/ rounded corners mixed with sharp corners and weird beveled drop shadow, and not being able to find certain things... I think I'll with do most of my blogging "status" stuff on: twitter.com/nobudesign (unless a blog post is longer than 170 characters, I'll post it here) Now I have: facebook, twitter, blogger, flickr, xanga (that i check once a year), gmail, yahoo account (only for flickr purposes). I think it's ime to kill one off...

My typical week

mon: work. forget to watch 24. browse youtube videos

tues: work. watch the lakers till 1:00am

wed: work. try to figure out what to eat. watch lost.

thurs: work. gama/boka - bonchon chicken. gama. rockband 2

fri: work. gama? or something comes up. end up in ktown, st. marks or volstead.

sat: get up late. laundry. eat. run.

sun: church (if i get up) watch tv. run. *church (if i don't get up)

repeat.

If I don't have a gig... replace (work) with (look for work or xbox/rb2)

Another random dream

So I dreamt I was wonder woman, superman, or flash. And I could only be one of those characters at a time. So this evil lady hid some secret in this library we were at. So first, I became wonder woman and used the "truth" lasso and found out that she hid the information in a green book or folder. So I had to become superman and restrained the lady so she wouldn't get away. And rest of the dream I was flash running around the library and flipping through anything/everything green. And never found the secret whatever I was looking for.

In hindsight, when I was wonder woman, I should have just told her to lead me to the secret... 

The End.

Back in NYC

It was good to be back in LA, though I still can't see myself living there... maybe in 2 years? Who knows... But meeting up with life-long friends and just chillin in the city was great. Finally met Brayden (godson) for the first time. He's adorable! Hopefully he'll be the first asian-american NBA player and make millions of dollars. haha. Spent a lot of time playing Wits & Wagers... great game! Need to have a game night and play it in NY. Spending time with parents is always great, eating my mom's cooking, and eating fish that my dad caught.

Coming home was almost a nightmare. My flight was suppose to be 10:30... but was stuck at burbank airport for 3 hours and additonal 30 min. on the airport tarmac. My SF-->NY transfer flight was scheduled for 12:40, and I already missed that. The next flight was at 3:50pm, and so I rushed to the gate and I was the last one on board! Soon after I got in, they closed the door behind me and we started moving. If I had missed that flight, the next flight would have been at 10:20pm!!! Direct flights from now on, no matter how much more.

First "big" purchase of 2009:

15 bucks for same day shipping! nice nice.

Vegas 2008

End of the year vegas trip. Fun fun. But 4 days and 3 nights is a just a little much. We stayed at Bally's "free" but with our combined losses, we could have stayed somewhere MUCH MUCH better. Oh well... you only live once! We saw Hefner's girls, Pete Rose signing autographs (but all alone which was sad), watched Lakers lose two days in a row (lucky I didn't bet money on them), watched crazy great ending to the Giants game, and ate really well as usual. No buffet this time... I think buffets are overrated.

Waiting for others to arrive in Vegas betting and watching sports. Cavs were 2 point underdog against Denver... so I bet on the Cavs... Cavs wins 105-88. Should have bet more...

Prettiest Dealer in Vegas! At Pussycat lounge At Caesar's Palace.

Fountain covered with berries

The guys. (not sure what timmy is doing)

Judy with goldfish.

The rich couple

The gang

Yummy! Delmonico's Bone-in Rib Eye!

Figuring out how much to gamble away... Naa... just paying for food.

Cathouse at Luxor. Burlesque themed club.

Jeff found money! 1¢...

Facebook Girls

Was discussing with rosa how shallow guys are.... and yes I do agree guys are shallow. Currently I only have 274 friends on facebook. Out of 274, 146 are female (53%). (So I counted up all my friends on Facebook that are girls (married or unmarried, has boyfriend doesn't have girl friend didn't matter... but didn't count relatives (3) since that would have been weird) Total: 143. And then counted which ones I think are cute/pretty = 77 

77/143 = 53%! What do the numbers mean? Not sure... But it goes to show I still have too much time on my hands...

Knoll Life Chair!

Finally! After 8 weeks of waiting, I finally got my Knoll Life Chair. Using my moyashimon as a model...

Dark olive seat and avocado mesh in the back... now I need a nice table... sigh. The magnetic lumbar support comes on and off which is a little cheezy. I prefer to sit without it.

Crowded!

Times Square, couple weekends before Christmas at Toys R US. - zero sign of recession. Never been in a more crowded place in my life! It was just a mob of people shuffling in a clockwise manner. Everyone shouting "excuse me!" even though there was no place to get out of he way. Zero spirit of giving and joy. Ok, maybe it wasn't the most crowded... couple years ago, we went to see Kobayashi on Fourth of July. Almost died. People were panicking and it was like 95˚ with NY humidity. Shopping is so much more tiring than running. It's all the standing around in one place, fighting the people, and all the brain work that goes into deciding what you should get/don't get. My friends and family actually don't give gifts to each other... birthday, hoidays, etc... been  pretty much like that for the past 10 years or so? How strange...

Stimulating the economy... or nike

Nike ear warmer thingy and jacket resistant to snow and rain! I've never joined a gym in my life... I wonder if nike makes a device where your throat doesn't hurt from breathing in 32˚ below air.

Airline mess

So I booked my flight with United Airlines from Burbank to LA on the 12/21... 1 stop at SF which is fine to save an additional 150 bucks. (total $400.. pretty cheap for christmas time) Then I get an email back in early october saying my flight's been cancelled. So I called and changed it to 12/20 (saturday)

But this week we finally started planning on vegas trip. And since some people were going to be there on friday (12/19), I called United to see if I can fly into vegas and how much the change would be. They said an additional $750 dollars! (I can hear the united airlines lady sorta laughing to herself cuz she knew it was ridiculous). So i decided just to drive to vegas from LA.

But this morning, bmao said there are cheap flights to vegas from LA. (like 59 bucks... but after taxes more like 90) So not thinking enough, I booked a flight from Burbank to Vegas.  Not bad right? Well, then I thought to myself... NY---> SF---> LA----> Vegas on 12/20 night... seems dumb. So I checked Virgin for a flight from JFK to vegas on the 12/19 and it was only $159! I called United to cancel my flight to LA... and said "sure, we'll refund you 200 bucks... but there's a $150 change fee... so you get $50 bucks voucher." I asked why the change to cancel a flight was so expensive. They said it's because I got an internet deal so it affects the other ticket price. So I said "then, what if I cancel the roundtrip ticket?" They said I would still get charged $150. SO DUMB. So I just cancelled the flight to LA.

And then I had to cancel my Southwest flight to vegas, and at least that was a non refundable, but  transferrable flight. As long as I use it within a year. I asked "what if I don't use it within the year?" Then the black lady said "Then you lose it". Booked flight on Virgin... JFK--->Vegas. The end.

Moral of the story: Get transferrable tickets or have a clear plan in advance. And don't fly with United.

2k9

So I'm playing my Lakers against the hated Celtics (physical therapy paul). 2 days ago, I beat him by 20 points, and this time it was a much closer game. (6).  And then I was replaying the end of the game, and looked over to my bench. Fricken Josh Powell isn't paying attention to the game. Took a screenshot:

A closer look