Job Hunting

NOVA's doing poorly enough that I'm hunting for other gigs, while still maintaining some hope they can pull through. This strip perfectly captures my hybrid identity at a crisis in landing work:

Credit to Tak Toyoshima for being brilliant.

Subways: Commute Fresh

I really love subways. I take the Midosuji Red Line to work, from Shinkanaoka to Namba. It's a really nice twenty-minute ride becuse I don't have to transfer lines, so I can just enjoy my time with my iPod, a solid reading session, people watch, and practice my Hiragana on advertisements and the names of stops.




Why doesn't Los Angeles have a better subway system that expands further East than the freaking Gold Line to Pasadena. LA's just too big. I'd really like to live in the city instead of out in the 'burbs. Everything is too spread out, everyone's too rich, you never see people. But shit, LA being big should be no excuse. I mean the Bay Area is physically as widespread as LA is to the San Gabriel Valley and beyond, but you can still jump BART from Oakland to Downtown SF. I remember having a conversation with Jake Bowdoin, an old soul from Art Center College of Design, telling me that LA used to have an extensive trolley system but was halted due to the automotive, gas, and rubber lobbyists. And LA is the one city that needs it the most. Imagine the cut-down on smog in the valley, congestion on the freeways. Not to mention the safety and convenience externalities of having drunk people ride instead of drive. Wasted at 5 AM after partying all night? Have no fear, you can get home just fine.

You know when you ride subways and you can see down the whole train into other cabins too? I love that. That visual helps me realize the scope of it all and reminds of how much less of a negative environmental impact we make through mass transit rather than millions of one-person-one-car deals sitting on highways.

Public transportation builds community. It allows us to at the very least see the people with whom we share our city, our pride, our home. And at it's very best it's a channel to open random conversations, forums, and meet new people. Not to mention the exposure potentials for public art, grassroots politics, and underground musicians. One of my favorite stops is on my walk from Namba Station to the office building is seeing b-boys and b-girls dance on the streets, especially when big speakers are brought in on Saturdays. Hip Hop is alive in Osaka, people.

Knowing how to navigate a subway system is like being in a close relationship with your town. I'd be lying if I didn't say my heart beats twice in gratification every time I bust out my monthly pass entering and exiting the subway. Somehow I'm just more legit than people buying single tickets. I ride this madness daily, I flow through the veins and arteries of the city and we're getting to know each other better every day.

A Rainy Day in Osaka

There's something really rewarding about waking up, having your flatmate give you the newest Astonishing X-Men comic to look forward to later, hanging your washed clothes outside to dry in lieu of a drying machine that uses up too much energy, biking down to the grocery store, putting that little bag of delights in the wire basket affixed to the front of the bicycle, getting caught in the rain on the way back, winding left and right on the little small-town feel streets of my new neighborhood, and cooking a delicious and nutritious meal for yourself.

In other news, I've decided to update this blog with some shorter, random entries instead of big updates on life. I'm writing too many letters that I have a list of people I need to get back to as one of my stickies on my wallpaper. I write that like it's this tedious task I have to perform but I'm enjoying it very, very much. Thanks for all the correspondence, everyone. And I think I prefer the personalized tales of romance, danger, and secret agent adventures, instead of verbose blog entries. I'll still update though, just expect different stuff that will make our friend brevity smile.

But now, to the food. Perhaps the novelty of everything will wear off soon and these wet, rainy days will become a nuisance, but right now I'm quite happy.