Pre-Corporate Vagabond Days

Humph, I can't post more than five pictures at a time apparently.

Sooo, more pictures of Roosevelt Island. These are more pensive. Think gloomy storm clouds and killing puppies. Japanese horror and red corn syrup.

Reality: Sunny spring day, thistles in my pants, awesome building in the background (sadly full of construction guys, so I couldn't take pictures in it)

Do you know why I make such a kick-ass babysitter, not only do I pillow fight, I also make awesome Batman & Co. masks out of construction paper. Now there's a quality babysitter if there ever was one. (Yes my head is really that big)

Bane and Harley Quin

Pre-Corporate Vagabond Days

Ever wonder what this vagabond does during her spare time when she is neither vagabonding nor corporating herself?

Jumping of course!!

Central Park Summer Olympics

Balance Beam

Long Jump

Amazing Left Handed Lay Up


Roosevelt Island

I just rediscovered this pictures from the spring/summer. I mean I had to fill my days with something productive riiiiight??

The two bottom pictures are from Roosevelt Island, a little slice of land between Manhattan and Queens. Take the gondola across the East River to the island with a swipe of your metro card! It's that easy. Also explored on that fateful April day: Woodside for corn fungus tacos, Coney Island, and the corporate world (I got my job offer that day, grabbed Mai, jumped up and down twice and verbally accepted it on the spot).

All American USA Americana Waves of Golden Grain Sunshine and Butterflies

These past few weeks, four to be exact, I faced the unknown: The Midwest of the United States of America.

I have to say; although I didn't get much of a chance to explore Chicago, the minute part of the city I did see was great. The immense expanse of lake along the east coast of the city. The mini beach, the jerk chicken wings at Calypso Cafe. Awesomely spicy green papaya and chicken salads at the BYOB Thai restaurant in Wicker Park, amazing sunrises over the lake, the Art Institute. Ahh the Art Institute. Take my heart. Siiigh.

Most of the time, however, I was in a conference room. Ah, thus is corporate life. But you know what...I was learning something, about which I'm happy. I was forced to recall economic facts, to dig deep in my econometric memories, did I really do fixed effects regressions or was I dreaming about that ridiculous 36 hours in the library trying to finish that project. UGH. My old, graying gray cells really took a beating, but a loving beating. Beat me back into decent shape.

And you know what pictorial evidence I've taken away from all this, the structured and chaotic patterns of Chicago's man-made and naturally created limitations or limitlessness, boundaries, er hm...











The Countrified Countrrific Midwestland:

You know what Sunbury, Ohio has, lots of sunshine and open skies, bbqs and ribs, community activities, firepits and vegetable gardens, magical white rabbits, wildflowers, sunsets and sunrises (that I didn't once see. It was vacation, what can I say). Not a bad introduction to the country. A nice respite from the corporate-y corporate world. Although, I do have to say that my semi-corporately clothes were worn there too. In fact, most of my clothes probably got thought up in Ohio, Columbus being the second biggest city for retail corporate headquarters.

My vacation was more fries with horseradish sauce and blue cheese than laptops and cubicals.

Dos and Don'ts

Do buy wrinkle resistant clothes.

Don't buy the cheapest iron in Kmart that inevitably will live you rumpled.

Do keep an extra tie in the office (guys) which is versatile to wear with any colored suit/shirt. You will eventually drop something on your tie (if lucky).

Don't wear ugly ties. It's like painting a large ugly, colorful arrow to your groin. Unpleasentness...

Do have at least six work outfits. Drycleaning/laundry will be forgotten.

Don't wait until you have thirty pounds of laudry stuffed in your closet. It gets terrifying.

Do have a talented fashion student roommate that can hem pants and even better make suits.

Don't try to cut your bangs at home right before an important engagement (like I've ever done that)

Do buy clothes that are comfortable. You may be wearing them for 18+ hours.

Don't keep eating the free snacks. Your comfortable clothes will soon become uncomfortable

The Dos and Don'ts of Corporate Dress

So I decided to repost my do's and don't's of dressing for success in a corporate setting here, since, let's be honest, I will in no way keep up two blogs. I hardly do one (which I hope to remedy in the near future and beyond)

See below if you need to dress for success!

Do dress for success.

Don't leave clothes shopping until AFTER taking a 45 day vacation.

Do carry Band-Aids at all time for the inevitable uncomfy shoes and random ridiculous popped blood blisters.

Don't get mosquito bites on parts of your body that you will have to show in the office during summer.

Do wear stylish, low heeled shoes that can be used for walking to the snack room seven times a day.


Don't wear shoes that 'fart'.

Do buy blazers and pant/skirt suits of various non-descript colors/styles so they can be potentially worn more than one time a week.

Don't wear yourself ragged shopping in the middle of the summer to the point of heat exhaustion.

Do bring a dainty hankerchief (is that really how you spell that?) to wipe the persperation from your brow before going into the office.

Don't try to see if you stepped on the back of your pant's leg while balancing on one heel in the elevator.

Do hang up wrinkle-able clothes.

Don't leave them in a heap until your room looks like my room.

Mind you. These are basic essentials. More to come later.

In the air and on the ground

One last thing. So my airport/plane experience Friday was ridiculous in so many ways.

First, security was 'tight' because it was September 11th. I say this will just the tiniest amount of annoyance, since I don't quite believe that 'we're' so much safer because airport security actually follows every single regulation to the 't' for one full day and fussily say that 'you can't do that, it's regulation' when passengers do something they're able to do the 364 other days of the year. Really though? Wow, I feel a lot safer.

I suppose there is a reason why articles cannot go on laptops through security. It's not like one can see through shoes to inspect a laptop in anyway as it goes through the xray machine. But hey, the make airport security approved laptop bags. TSA approved laptop bags for the low price of $249 I bet. Bringing on a structured, rolling garment bag as a carry on isn't approved by the TSA so cannot be brought aboard on September 11th, even though it's be okayed the previous 10 times and is smaller in dimensions than what is posted online, AA. And Miss Ticket Taker, even if you have a stressful day because flights in NY have been canceled or delayed, no need to be snippy with my, because I'll cut you down if need be (and that goes for you Mr. Taxi Driver. Don't try to rip me off. You will lose).

But hey, I love flying, even if there are no more honey roasted peanuts. I got a full can of seltzer water on the flight and had a two hour conversation witha neuro-surgeon who works a block away from my Chicago home (The W) at North Western and whose Australian wife (we talked about Australian, standards of living, and traveling, so yes, that qualifier is relevant) is something something at Memorial Sloan-Kettering (where my brother's gf works. We'll she's on the corporate side in a non corporate-y job. Yay for her). Our conversation spanned from annoying airline personnel to reward programs to politics to health reform to wars to my family history to traveling to commuting to everything under the sun.

Oh and if one of you needs to have elective surgery, opt for a robot...that is, if you ever need a hysterectomy (which I just googled and girls, you don't want one if it can be avoided), just pay the extra dough and have them use the robot arm. It will hurt less and allow you to heal faster. That was my medical fun fact for that day. All the while my friend, Brenna, glimpsed back from time to time, amazed that I was still talking to the stranger doctor man besides me, thanking all things yoga that she wasn't sitting next to her (actually, I put that yoga bit in just for you Brenna if you ever read this. Yes, I sure did).

The tail end of my trip was magical in that 'did that really happen or did I fall down a rabbit hole' moment. Brenna's and my baggage was some of the first to pop out on the baggage claim conveyor belt, and the huge line for taxis were avoided because our other colleague Yuqiao had arrived on a flight 15 minutes earlier and was fifth in line. While sorting out a ride back to our respective homes, I hear an 'oh my gosh' and who could it be but one of the guys who interviewed the same day as me in Chicago that nippy April day. He had just come back from his training in India and Texas.

Randomly, ridiculously amazing. Flying is.

The Vagabond's Roots

Okay to my real post:

I have roots! Or at least I've just learned a little more about my family history. I actually now know the names of my great grandparents on my dad's mom's side: the REAL Japanese in my family.

Introducing g-grandpa Suyekichi (or Sayekichi but there are more Suyekichis on my google search) and g-grandma Tone Narita, b. 1878, 1888 and d. 1931, 1936.

What's cool about my grandma's family is that the husband of her older sister actually took on the family name Narita since there were no boys to carry on the name into the next generation. Ironically, my great Auntie Nei-san (I believe 94 or 95 years old now) bore all girls so the name never made it to my generation.

Also now known in my grandma's work history from 1956-1967 and beyond. After retiring, she continued to work as a dental assistant until 1971 is appears. She herself told me that she never got a degree in it, just on the job training. And she went back to work after retiring, because she was bored not working. I don't know if I've ever met a person with more energy and a better work ethic than my grandma.

And for all of you who complain about taxes: in Nov. 1967 $280 got taxed $117. Ouch. Or perhaps it's the other way...after taxes $280 became $117, but I can't quite believe that.

Okay my brain hurts from fatigue. Gotta wake up semi early to repack (err I didn't really unpack but you know...) and clean and see some friends!!

First Last Day of Turkey

Here's a video of the last day in Turkey with Mai. I qualify this statement because I had a second last day between Egypt and Bulgaria, during which I ate my sis tavuk and Mado bal ice cream. YUMMMM

More videos to be uploaded shortly =D

The Real World

It's strange that in the Real World, one never has time to do all the little mundane things that makes life real. Like laundry. Cleaning, doing the dishes, cutting nails (although that one is the fault of TSA and airport rules)...sigh, I can now understand the allure of one day dry cleaning and laundry services.

I shall resist however and lug my laundry the 2 1/2 block to my 24 hour laundromat. Actually there is one 1 1/2 blocks. Now that I'm in the real world, I may need that extra 60 seconds of my life.

Another thing: I would never have guessed that Internet would fall to the sidelines, but The Job has taken its place in my heart. No more frivolous webs earches. Err I suppose I'm still on gmail as much as I can though. Although *GASP* I don't actually respond to emails in a timely manner. That means that I don't instantly respond to emails anymore. And then things pile up and get lost in the bottomless inbox of doom. So don't be offended. You're not special, meaning that you're not especially being ignored. I'm ignoring everyone at the same level.

Hmm I just realized that I'm using my work computer to write this, and thus, my work IT department is probably reading my every word, most likely before I even write it down. Creepily brilliant those IT people. They can rebuild your computer in a jiffy if ever coffee is spilled on the keyboard (I'm not talking about myself, since I don't really drink coffee now do I). But what can one do but use the business computer for personal use, when one is traveling and traveling and traveling. Answer: eeePC. SIGH. I will get one, some day. Actually I just learned that some have hard drives now and are still about 2.5 pounds. I wonder how hot they get. I heard that they still remain relatively cool, since it's a different kind of hard drive blah blah blah. Who knows though.

Gotta say, I'm happy to have a computer that still has juice after an hour. A computer that doesn't go crazy when I try to use the touch pad. A computer with a video camera (so let's video chat one day, even though it's super awkward). However, you'd think that a Data Analyst would at least get a top refurbished computer that doesn't have crazy quirks to it. Imagine lossing a project worth of data or worse! I guess that's why I'm supposed to back up everything!

Speaking of work, why is work so great? Even with the long hours, the people are great, and the work is proving to be interesting, even though perhaps training is going way to quick to soak up everything. And the amount of PowerPoint presentations. WOW. One up/down is all the going out to eat. If nothing else, at least I have the opportunity to eat at a few Chicago restaurants (near The Loop) in not actually seeing Chicago (especially in the daylight).

At least the whole bedbug scare was apparently a false alarm (mosquitos on the windowsill of a room on the 10th floor). And I would have thought that if anything that would have occurred in some sketchy hostel this summer.

Anyway, I am tiiiirreeedddd and sometime tomorrow I need to practice for a presentation that my group and I are doing in front of management. These people must be impressed, so we're going to do our best to give them what they want, seeing as they are investing a lot of time and money training us newbies for this job!

I'll be in new your on the 11th, and then one more week in Chicago after that weekend...then it's the Unknown. I wish I knew where I'm going to be placed. Send me overseas I say!!

Oh so on the homefront, I have a new roommate. She's Japanese. So perhaps in another year I'll have all Japanese roommates again!! HAHAHAHA

Anyway, time for bed. Tomorrow I'm back to Chicago

Oh, I'm in Sunbury, Ohio with Brandie at the moment!