“Honesty. Without it, there can be no real connection.”- John C. Jay, W+K, answering the question “What is the most important element in connecting people to people?”

“Honesty is not truth”- from my bookmark

What goes on in Chinatown after the grocers and imitation LV vendors go home?

A lot of mahjong and television… There were lots of these “social clubs” for TV and mahjong around Broome and Delancey.  Some of them take place in these ground floor spaces with big glass windows. During the day, you just walk by without noticing. At night, the bright fluorescent lights inside and the big 72″ televisions are rather eye-catching.

Tomorrow is another day of slimy fish, cheap groceries and plastic Chanels.

I found these in my wallet today… We got these Asian glamour shots done in San Francisco.

My friend Edward was really excited.

Hiram sent me this link:

Chinaman Love »

I sent the same link to my friend Ian, an older gentleman, he sends this back to me:

Diagram »

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Monday, I purchased a new pair of boots on Sunday (far right in the picture above).

Now, the category of shopping isn’t really a normal thing here at things places etc, but this one is notable.

When I am not wearing boots, I am weeping about how I cannot find boots to fit my calves. I have, inherited from my mother, the typical Asian radish legs. This isn’t even a joke anymore. I own a total of 5 pairs of calf-covering/semi-calf-covering footwear. (The galoshes shown above in the far left doesn’t really even count, it is just there to give some contrast to the photograph.)

The next time you see me in my new boots, please don’t try to steal the thunder from me.

I try to take my lunch to work as much as possible, and Tuesday was no exception. For Tuesday, I had a hijiki and tofu stir fry, multi-grain rice and a small portion of burdock salad packed in my lunch box. My lunch box is pictured above, a pristine and almost new serving box with a divider (you can purchase at the Container Store). To carry my lunch box, I use a sturdy and reusable red tote bag.

At the office, we have 2 fridges in the kitchen. Like a normal person, I put my lunch in the fridge. On Tuesday, even though I brought my lunch, we got lunch at the office so I didn’t get to eat my homemade lunch. I left early on Wednesday so I didn’t get to eat my lunch then, either. Today, Thursday, I went to the fridge and saw the red tote bag in the same spot… but… the lunch box disappeared.

Where did it go? And who did it?? Here are just some questions that is making this mystery even more absurd…

1. The cleaning people throws things out every Friday, so it doesn’t make sense for them to do it on Thursday. And if they did throw things out, why leave the bag?
2. Why would anyone eat someone else’s lunch? Also, I don’t think hijiki looks very appetizing unless you know what it is…
3. Maybe it was from Tuesday and someone felt the need to throw it out, but why would anyone get into someone else’s lunch bag? Normal people would just leave it alone and let someone else deal with it. Or, why would you throw away my precious lunch box, too??

I just can’t figure it out… At this point… all I really want is the box back…

UPDATE: 

Just talked to the fridge and kitchen cleaning guy, it is the same guy every week/day and he said that he only throws stuff out on Fridays. He even offered to buy me a snack…

To you lunch stealers out there, don’t do it, man. It is creepy.

365 days things places etc is not really into retro-bloggin’ but I really have to blog about these Doraemon socks I got for Christmas from a dear friend in Japan.

Lately, I just found a site online which has the entire archive of the Doraemon comic books since volume 1. All I have to say is, reading Doraemon during down-time at work can be pretty sweet.

Going back in my memory, I remember this one incident when I was about 7-years old. I wanted to read the newest Doraemon yet my mom kept nagging me about cleaning my room or something. So I took the comic book and pretended that I was in the bathroom. She was pretty pissed when she found out that I was reading the comic book in the bathroom. I still remembering her tearing that precious book out of my hands into 4 pieces.

(Thanks again for the socks, Yukie!)

One of my new year resolutions is to game more. This weekend, I downloaded some new DS games including Brain Age. Before you start the game, you are being tested for your current brain age via some tests. Yesterday morning, after a night of drinking, the machine determined my brain age as 75. The best score you can get is having a brain age of 20, so I was pretty insulted… Then I tested again and received 24.

This morning, my brain turned 34.

I went to see Martin Puryear at the MOMA last night… it was really impressive. To see all of his work in one space (in the 6th floor gallery) was a real treat. His attention to detail and labor intensive methods can really only be appreciated in person. My favorites were the wall pieces.

Go see it now! Show is coming down on Monday!

Or view the online exhibition…

The only “west” I ever really cared about was the Upper Westside in Manhattan, until I was on the west coast about 2 weeks ago… Like I said, I am warming up to it…

View photos from the trip:

San Francisco | Bay Area | San Clemente | San Bernadino, Vegas