Are you a fan of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers line? Particularly the fragrances? Or are you just a big fan of Gwen and/or No Doubt in general?

Awesomeness.net is teaming up with Matchstick Marketing to give away a Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize package to one lucky visitor!

Here’s how to win:

Below are the descriptions of the 5 different fragrances. Each bottle is designed to represent Gwen’s four real-life Harajuku Girls and the fifth one, G, the leader, is (you guessed it) Gwen.

G
The Leader of the Pack
Never one to get lost in the crowd, G leads her crew in a white, corseted top and blue miniskirt—a modern day Alice in Wonderland. Quirky, unique, and undeniably cool, G leaves a mark with delicious notes of fresh coconut, jasmine, and cotton woods.

Love
Sweet Stuff
Caring and free-spirited, Love is always off in her own little world. Stepping out in a striped mini-dress and street-chic red kicks, Love wears her heart on her sleeve. Her scent is an unforgettable bouquet of pink pomelo, rose, and creamy vanilla orchid.

Lil’ Angel
Sassy, Sexy, Cool
Lil’ Angel always has your back. In-keeping with her angelic, protective nature, this gorgeous guardian sports a classy yet sexy schoolgirl outfit, and leaves her mark with a spicy, sweet citrus floral with notes of pineapple, candied violet, and lollipop accord.

Music
Tough Cookie
Charismatic Music has no qualms telling it like it is. Stylin’ in a smocked sailor outfit and black lace-up boxing boots, Music grooves to the soundtrack of her life. She makes her entrance with the sparkling, yummy scents of pear, sweat pea, and sleek wood.

Baby
Girlie and Sweet
One bat of her lashes and Baby has all the boys in the palm of her hand. Pretty in pink, she steps out in a short baby doll dress and Mary Janes, alluring everyone with powdery floral notes of white rose, orange flower, and white musk.

To enter the contest, please leave a comment below and tell us which of the five scents best represents you and why. Are you a blunt and to-the-point kind of person like Music? Or are you a free-spirited, happy-go-lucky type like Love? Or are you a trendsetter/leader like G? Let us know below! Don’t forget to leave a VALID email so I can contact you for your mailing address!

Only one entry per person via this method.

I will choose one random comment using the Random.org integer generator, so the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win these great products! Only relevant comments will be accepted. Your Giveaway prize is always free, there is no entry fee, no shipping & handling fee.

Get extra entries:

You can get EXTRA entries daily by blogging or posting on a forum (1 extra entry) or tweeting about this giveaway on Twitter (1 extra entry). Leave a link to your post or tweet in the comments, one comment per day per post/tweet.

Example text: Win a Harajuku Lovers Fragrance prize pack! http://bit.ly/4xWbFv Enter by Sept 20

Here’s how it works:

Share This

I figured, it’s been a year and a bit and I should probably write an update about that situation. Otherwise, people stumbling upon this site may come across those links and assume I’m still looking for a job. Which, I suppose, wouldn’t be a complete surprise considering the economic climate nowadays.

So after I wrote Job Hunting Woes Part II in August 2007, it would be a few months after that that I actually got my first job. My new tactic was to think about my strongest assets and my interests/passions and go full-force on attaining a job around that. Hmm, I liked writing. I liked anything related to the web, from social media to web development and pretty much everything in-between. I also thought, advertising seems cool too and I like anything related to the media industry. From that, I started looking up a list of all the advertising agencies in Toronto and looking for any position in the Interactive field. It took awhile, and by awhile, I mean I went to at least 3 job interviews at some big name agencies. Even one for a position I knew absolutely nothing about (something related to broadcast trafficking, if I recall correctly).

Then in November 2007, I finally landed a job at a decent sized ad agency as an Interactive Project Coordinator. I learned a great deal from my colleagues and the experience was definitely beneficial for my career goals. I got a chance to put my knowledge of social media and blogging to use, being able to strategize and brainstorm ideas on ways to create a two-way conversation and enhance interactivity with the online audience. I even got a chance to copy edit, even though I am by no means qualified to be a copywriter, and was actually praised by a Creative Director for some writing I did and had showcased on my résumé website. It made me feel good. It made me actually forget all those months of feeling like my skills just weren’t adequate as I was constantly being turned down for jobs I felt qualified for. The only “tiff” was that I was bright-eyed and naive about some things, certainly about playing office politics, which is never good — especially in this industry. And if there’s one important thing I’ve learned is that knowing how to play office politics is about as important as being a stellar employee.

I was there almost a year and then shit hit the fan. Let me just tell you: if you are ever led into a meeting room and you see an HR person in that room, get ready to put on your brave face. It’s not going to be good news.

Long story short, I was let go. (Strangely enough, my initial reaction to everything happening was to say C’est La Vie, which then caused that B*Witched song to start playing in my head.) Apparently, or as was told to me, they needed to hire an experienced project manager (and I was a mere coordinator with experience equating to the total amount of time I had been working there) for some large projects coming down the line and they needed to merge salaries of sorts. However, I did not know the latter of the reason until later on, when I had to get references for my new job, but I can tell you that at the time, I was racked with the thought that it was because they thought I was incompetent, plain and simple. And that notion really depressed me because I had always tried to do my best with any challenge I’ve been presented so to have all this happen, it was a punch to the ego. Rick McGinnis’ (a former writer for the free daily Toronto newspaper, Metro, who was recently laid off) blog posts about losing his job — particularly Laid Off and Fear — does a good job of summing up what I had felt at the time. Except, this being my first “real” job, throw in an existentialist crisis of sorts that questioned everything I had thought of myself as a employee and that’s basically how it felt for me.

Luckily for me, though, I guess, I never really considered staying at that particular job long-term as I had made the mistake of accepting the first salary offer given to me, which was just above poverty level. Needless to say, had I stayed around, even if I received a 10% raise, which is a significant raise, I would still be hovering over that same figure. After going through the stages of grieving, and I can’t lie, I was stuck on anger for a good amount of time, I finally reached acceptance. And with that, I saw this as a great opportunity. Sure, it was embarrassing having to say I was currently unemployed and I only shared this information with a select few, I just knew that being depressed about the situation wouldn’t help. So I started the job hunt yet again… while giving me a chance to get reacquainted with my BFF Oprah again.

This time around, because I had some related experience, the job hunting process was a lot more successful. I received numerous calls for interviews for jobs actually related to my field (Interactive). Things didn’t seem so bleak anymore.

Soon after, I landed a new job at Canada’s largest media conglomerate. I make a lot better pay and things are good, albeit the company has been in the news lately about financial issues that have been accentuated by the economic downturn. Regardless, losing a job is something a lot of people are going to have to experience in their lifetime and now that I’ve gone through it, I can’t say it was a GREAT experience (obviously) but I suppose it’s a good way of giving you a helpful kick in the butt, letting you reassess your career ambitions/employment situation. Or maybe I’m just trying to look for some feel-good lesson about a bad situation. Whatever.

Well, this is the culmination of all those rants about job hunting and you shall take from it what you wish.

Cartoon courtesy of Toothpaste for Dinner
First image courtesy of Nichole

Share This

I shall quote for you the summary from the book version of The Secret:

• It’s the Law of Attraction. Like attracts like — so when you think a thought, you are also attracting like thoughts to you.
• Thoughts have a frequency. When you think thoughts, they are sent out to the universe and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency.
• Everything sent out, returns to the source – YOU.
• If you want to change anything in your life, you need to change the frequency by changing your thoughts.
• Your current thoughts are creating your future life.
• What you think about the most or focus on the most will appear as your life.
• Your thoughts become things.

- Rhonda Byrne, The Secret

For some time now, I’ve been curious about this much touted Law of Attraction, which is really what The Secret is all about but without the marketable “zing factor” to it. I first heard about it from an Oprah episode where she was raving on about how great this was, how it was revolutionary and so on. I’m all about The Oprah and everything, but I had my reservations about all this hoopla over what appeared to be nothing more than a brilliant marketing ploy. I was just never really convinced about just how useful all this was and if there was even any direct correlation between one’s positive thoughts about attaining so and so goals and the actual act of attaining said goals. The most ridiculous assumption of all was the idea that The Secret can and will work in every aspect of your life: not just your career goals and personal relationships, but also can be used for “wealth enhancement”, weight loss and even as a cure for severe illness (see Wikipedia article for all other criticisms). You can’t help but be sceptical about something like this.

However, now that I am actually reading the book, while I am not ready to completely believe in all of this, I am willing to give it a shot. Reason being, there may be some truth, if not in the visualizing/thinking positive thoughts = positive things manifesting in your life, but in the opposite effect. Not too long ago, I was constantly bombarded with negative thoughts and as the Secret folks would say, these negative thoughts attracted negative things. And it did. If there is even an ounce of legitimacy to all this Law of Attraction hoopla, then I have nothing to lose (and maybe something to gain). I realize, perhaps unlike some followers of principle, that it is not the be-all, solve-all solution to making my life everything I could ever hope for it to be. What this principle sorely lacks is the importance of volition and the virtue of hard work and perseverance. But assuming I throw in positive thinking to the mix, I am willing to try out the principle behind The Secret/Law of Attraction for three months and I’ll use this blog to document the experiment.

This whole “your thoughts become things” notion reminds me of positive affirmations — except The Secret attempts to bring these affirmations into every aspect of your life and claims that the affirmations can eventually lead to actual things. And… positive affirmations don’t seem as hokey and preposterous as some of the claims about The Secret. I mean, it’s a bit out there, but it’s not sheer lunacy, right?

So alrighty then. From this day forward, I’m going to take a few moments in my day to affirm positive things about myself, think about positive things I want to happen/manifest in reality, and while I’m at it, think non-stop about ridiculous amounts of wealth. Take that Bill Gates, you have nothing on me. I HAVE POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!

photo credit: Reenie-Just Reenie

Share This

Act I came out July 15, 2008.
Act II came out July 17, 2008.
Act II comes out July 19, 2008.
All acts will stay up free for viewing until midnight Sunday July 20th. After that, it will VANISH off the website but will be released on DVD at a later date (along with some extras).

Seriously, go and watch it, go now. Or buy the episodes on iTunes.

He has a PhD in Horribleness!

Related article and more photos

Teaser

Addendum: I happened to have stumbled upon a Dr. Horrible fansite, when I came across Felicia Day’s website and blog. After skimming through the content and her blog entries, I’ve come to the conclusion that she is kind of awesome… in that, she likes the same things I do and therefore, in my mind, that makes her awesome as well. According to her blog, she is a writer in addition to being an actress, she enjoys video games (including Nintendo DS, which I am a huge nerd for), she is a fan of web 2.0, and she likes to blog and review things in her blog.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really a huge fan of hers, per se, when she played one of the Potential Slayers on Buffy (although I do recall she was one of the least annoying girls of the group). But that’s probably because I thought the Potential Slayers sucked up too much screentime from my beloved Scooby Gang in season 7, the very last season of the series. Since then, I hadn’t followed her career, which is a shame because The Guild (a web series she created) is actually pretty entertaining. Now, I am a fan. I think I’ll even go rewatch my season 7 Buffy DVDs just to refresh my memory of her role on Buffy. This time, I won’t be fast-forwarding so much of the “Potential Slayer scenes”.

Share This

Comedy Central’s Motherload is like the “interweb mecca” for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report fans. It offers a fairly large archive of clips for both shows, streamed for free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whenever you wanted a Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert (or *insert your favourite correspondent’s name here*) fix, you knew where to go. Because we all know with the recent Viacom (Comedy Central’s parent company) versus YouTube lawsuit, it’s pretty much the only source for video clips for these shows.

Then there was news of a better, more spectacular and centralized new site set to be revealed in October for fans of The Daily Show. The new TheDailyShow.com was trumpeted as “the ultimate online destination for ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ fans”. No longer would The Daily Show have to piggyback off the main Comedy Central website and, most exciting of all, the new site would feature video clips from every episode dating back to 1999, the year Jon Stewart took over the reins of The Daily Show, and would be expanded to include the show’s entire video history, totaling well over 13,000 high-quality clips [ source ]. It was a TDS fan’s dream! (The Colbert Report currently does not have plans to have a similar video archive centric website of its own Updated Sept 2008: Colbert Nation has received a facelift and now has a video archive available)

Unfortunately, and quite sadly so, us TDS fans up north are being left out. We’re just on the outside, looking in, whimpering and greatly irritated by the fact that when we now click to either ComedyCentral.com or TheDailyShow.com, we are greeted by this lovely page seen on your right… before being redirected to thecomedynetwork.ca. Thanks a lot CTVglobemedia.

Doing some research on the topic, after being outraged for a good while and ranting on Colboard, I now understand it has to do with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (better known as the CRTC) regulations. Thanks to my numerous communication studies courses and discussing the CRTC in relation to media content, I can give you a brief synopsis of what they do. They are the ones that are responsible for enforcing strict rules in terms of Canadian content and autonomy, including making sure there are those simultaneous substitutions for US network broadcasts. Essentially, they ensure that Canadian content and the Canadian people are being upheld, and that Canadian companies are given a fair shot in their home market.

Well that’s good and great, I’m all for more Canadian content and supporting the Canadian companies, but why can’t I, along with my fellow Canadians, watch online content (i.e. full episodes) streamed for free by networks like CBS, NBC, FOX and now, Comedy Central?

This is why:

In a major May 1999 decision on “New Media”, the CRTC held that under the Broadcasting Act the CRTC had jurisdiction certain content communicated over the internet including audio and video, but excluding content that is primarily alphanumeric such as emails and most webpages. It also issued an exemption order committing to a policy of non-interference. [ source ]

CRTC is preventing Comedy Central from trying to take that autonomy and use it to subvert the Canadian network (the simulcasting partner) who owns the rights to it, the Canadian network in this case being CTV. The fact that we could watch content on Motherload for so long somewhat surprised me, considering CTV has had the rights to both shows for quite awhile now. Ultimately, I guess that means CTV can do with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report content as it sees fit. Which, right now, seems to be offering a version of TheDailyShow.com that pales in comparison to the Comedy Central version. Its video archive is decent, all streamed through CTV Broadband. But after viewing the original TheDailyShow.com site via a web proxy, it seems to not be as expansive in coverage over eight years of Jon Stewart hosted episodes and lacks the ability for commenting, an important interactive feature of web 2.0 media and community building. It also doesn’t allow for video embedding so you can’t share the video clips on a blog or other website, unlike the original. Overall, I like the video player on ComedyCentral/TheDailyShow much, much more than the one on CTV Broadband. But luckily, although unable to stream video on TheDailyShow.com via a web proxy, you can grab the embedding code for videos in order to watch them on another site. It’s tedious, but hey, there you go. Ack, it looks like they have disabled streaming of videos embedded elsewhere, as well!

You’ll otherwise miss out on gems like this (which I tried to locate on the CTV/Comedy Network version of The Daily Show site, to no avail. Maybe it’s there and I just couldn’t find it. The search feature is not so intuitive as I had noticed while searching up Even Stepven clips).

While it has been said by TPTB at CTV that this new site is still being worked on and they are working out the kinks currently (we just a day or two ago got the ticket request page unblocked!), it supposedly will not merely be a mirror of the TheDailyShow.com website. I just hope that when they say they are “working out the kinks”, it means they are planning to expand their video archive to make it on par with their US counterpart. One suggestion is to send emails to the Comedy Network as mentioned on this Colboard thread, particularly Scott Henderson, the Senior Director of Communications.

Update: Download Hotspot Shield and these videos should then work. This solution has worked great for me, at least.

Share This

Before I begin, I should admit that I live for celebrity train wreck stories. Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Tara Reid, LOVES IT ALL! On one level, it’s simply a case of schadenfreude — there’s nothing more entertaining than watching these starlets, who seem to have it all and with so many opportunities in life that us regular folks will never have, just throw their lives away over poor lifestyle choices. On another level, I just feel immense pity for these “train wrecks” because, at the end of the day, they are just people. People who probably don’t have a good support system who will tell them they are screwing up their lives and intervene, but nonetheless, they are just like you and I (err, minus the fame, the power, the wealth).

In the case of Britney, I feel particularly bad because many moons ago, when she first released “Hit Me Baby One More Time”, I met her. And through my own irrational way of thinking, I feel a link to her, if not for the mere reason that she seems more “real” to me (as opposed to Lindsay Lohan who I see as just a character in Mean Girls and gossip magazine regular). My encounter with Ms. Spears began at The Dini Petty Show, as my friends and I managed to get tickets to the show in which she was a guest on. Right afterward, we headed to the local mall that was literally right down the road from our high school, where Britney was doing the standard mall appearance with a performance and autograph session. Since we had gotten wristbands much earlier in the day, we were one of the lucky few who were able to get an autograph. Who would’ve known that this singer we were meeting, albeit having a number one single at the time, would become a household name and remain in the limelight almost a decade later? Having met numerous pop acts in my teenybopper days, it’s as if almost every single one of them has faded into the oblivion. Aqua? All Saints? M2M? No Authority? Take 5? Poof. Back to the story. When I went up to her, she was friendly and gracious. After signing my CD cover, I asked her for a photo and she put on a huge smile. I don’t remember the exact details of the encounter, as I was in my early teens around that time, but it was a decent enough of an experience for me to reminisce about it after all these years and say, “she was nice”.

My autographed CD cover!

Which is why this whole VMAs debacle is that much more conflicting for me. I had originally tuned into to this much-anticipated performance in order to watch this hot mess known as Britney Spears continue down the road to monstrosity. Or at least a stint on The Surreal Life. After she had that head shaving episode, the numerous panty-less paparazzi shots, the irresponsible parenting claims/facts, and the general erratic behaviour she’s become known for nowadays, I knew that I expected nothing less than a show that would go down in history. And boy, a notorious show we got.

The performance in question

The dancing.

Let’s not forget that this is the same girl who made this memorable 2000 VMA performance or this 2001 VMA performance. To say there were high expectations would be putting it mildly. But her lacklustre 2007 performance didn’t compare, even somewhat, to what she could do had she brought it. What was with the almost sloth-like movement, accompanied with some arm movements every so often? She looked lethargic or perhaps just had a few extra doses of Vicodin. It was as if I was watching a tranny Britney Spears impersonator at a low budget stage show. Even the production value seemed lacking, and maybe that’s the fault of MTV or The Palms, but it just seemed so pedestrian. The first few seconds, you could already tell that it was revving up to be one epic failure. On the other hand, the Chris Brown performance, now that was hot.

The lip-syncing.

It was arguably more cringeworthy than the Ashlee Simpson SNL Lip-syncing Snafu. It was like Britney completely forgot the words to her own song and just decided to “screw it”, nevermind even try to make it look passable as “real singing”. Maybe she should’ve just gone with the Ashlee Simpson method of coping with public embarrassment: do a hoedown.

The “look”.

I don’t want to be crass and use the F-word, like some journalists and publications have been liberally throwing around, but let’s face it, that was not a flattering choice of attire. Maybe it would be appropriate for Britney circa 2000, but not now. Sources say that she insisted on wearing that outfit, even though MTV had other choices in mind (a corset is rumoured to be the MTV choice of costume for her). And then there was the hair, I mean, the weave. It just looked awkward and strange, like someone chopped off all the hair on their Malibu Barbies and glued it onto her head. Just… no.

As I have said, many publications have harshly criticized Britney’s body, not even simply insinuating but flat out proclaiming. Yes, it was not flattering and she was not in her top form. However, must we resort to driving home the message that even a little bulge isn’t acceptable, particularly regarding Britney whose fanbase is predominantly young, ED susceptible girls? It just seems like it’s in poor taste.

After all this hoopla, I hope Britney is able to see pass the disillusion and turn her life around. This may be the end of her career, though admittedly I hope not because her new songs are kind of catchy, but she should realize that she’s become a huge joke. Girlfriend needs help, pronto.

Now for some HILARIOUS spoofs!

Share This

Part 2 of 3

We stayed at a ryokan nearby Mount Fuji called Fujinoboukaen Hotel.

From Japan-Guide.com: Ryokan are Japanese style inns. They come in all sizes and are found across Japan. A stay at a ryokan is highly recommended to all foreign visitors of Japan, as it offers the opportunity to experience a traditional Japanese atmosphere.

Inside the room, there were complimentary kimonos that were for use inside the hotel. Most people, tourists and locals alike, would wear them around, to the dining area, the hot springs area and just all over.

Inside our room.

Related video: Inside our room at Fujinoboukaen Hotel

Our beds… on the floor. To be quite honest, sleeping so close to the ground was kind of funky. This is due to the fact that everyone who steps foot on the tatami mats is supposed to take off their shoes and you know, some people have severe foot odour. That odour can be apparent when you’re sleeping with your nose just a few inches away from the ground. And speaking of foot odour, it’s custom to take off your shoes inside the change room in stores. Again, many people have bad foot odour so the change rooms would reek and I had to change without breathing through my nose. Not all stores have this custom though, a Gap I went to didn’t require taking off my shoes (yes, I actually went all the way to Japan just to shop at a Gap).

At this ryokan, I got to experience a hot spring bath for the very first time. I was eager and apprehensive to try it. Eager because they are supposedly very good for your skin and/or health. And apprehensive because, well, one of the requirements for partaking in these hot spring baths is NO CLOTHES ALLOWED. No bathing suits, just your birthday suit (after a shower, of course, it’s just common courtesy). Luckily, this one was gender separated.

It looked like a shallow pool inside a dimmed room. I didn’t notice anything particularly unique about the bath, as it seemed just like a hot tub but without the jets but then again, what do I know?

Mount Fuji (Fujisan)

Mount Fuji is Japan’s highest mountain. When we were there, up by the mountain, it was really, really cold. I only packed a hoodie and a vest, so I was a popsicle. Thus, like others, I huddled inside the gift shop for warmth.

There is a shrine there as well.

Yamanashi

Grapes are one of the things the area’s famous for so many of the souveneir shops sell grape related products.

Trying some of the local food. It had some meat and some noodles underneath. It was quite good but not much to really fill me up.

Harajuku

From Japan-Guide.com: Harajuku refers to the area around Tokyo’s Harajuku Station, one station north of Shibuya on the Yamanote Line. It is the center of Japan’s most extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles, but also offers shopping for grown-ups and some historic sights.

The focal point of Harajuku’s teenage culture is Takeshita Dori (Takeshita Street) and its side streets, which are lined by many trendy shops, fashion boutiques, used clothes stores, crepe stands and fast food outlets geared towards the fashion and trend conscious teens.

Meiji Jingu Shrine.

Snoopy Town! Yes, like Hello Kitty Land, there’s an entire store dedicated to a character.

Oh, Daiso the 100 yen store, how I love thee. These are equivalent to our dollar stores except their stores are far superior. There’s everything and anything, so many nifty items that you could never find at a typical Dollarama. I had a field day. Then when I came back to Canada, I found one in Vancouver, which made me so happy… except, the Daiso there has prices slightly more than what’s equal to 100 yen (due to importing fees). I wish they would open one up in Toronto, though.

Takeshita Street is where there are many trendy stores, many stores that catered to the ever popular “Lolita” style of clothing including the “Gothic Lolita” subcategory. Most of the stores that sold these kinds of fashions had signs that explicitely stated no pictures allowed.

That’s also where I got to see, for the first time, people dressed up in that Lolita look. It was sort of surreal. And neat! Yes, I kind of stalked them a wee bit just like all the other tourists around me who were trying to quickly snap a picture of them.

Somewhere around here is a “red light district”. Unfortunately, I was not able to check that out even though I was quite curious, to be quite honest.

Part I

Part III

With notes from Japan-Guide.com

Share This

Part 1 of 3

We boarded a flight on Japan Airlines (JAL) for Tokyo. Huzzah!

The airplane we were on had these nifty personal LCD screens on the back of every chair, which was quite a thrill for me considering both the Air Canada and US Airways flights I took did not have such a feature (though I do know that the newer Air Canada fleets for long haul flights do have these personal entertainment systems). There were various movies to watch, games to play, music to listen to or you could just watch a map to see how far you’ve travelled and what exactly you were flying over.

Arriving at Narita International Airport, we were greeted with a bustling crowd of travellers and scarce English text on signs. It was a surefire realization that we were in a whole different part of the world.

Palette Town

We went to Palette Town. It’s an outdoor shopping centre and entertainment complex. The shopping area is called Venus Fort and amongst its many stores was one called Pet City. Needless to say, I went and bought my pet budgie a few “souveneirs” in the form of toys.

Venus Fort.

Mega Web is another part of Palette Town. Mega Web is a Toyota showroom, where you can view and touch Toyota’s newest models and car accessories, test drive a real car (“Ride One”) or ride an automatic, electric vehicle (“E-com Ride”). There was also a ride that was a simulation of a car race, which was fun and reminicient of Wonderland’s Days of Thunder ride, back in the day.

There, at Mega Web, I got to first experience a typical toilet in Tokyo. The toilet had all these buttons on the side. One for a bidet feature, one to make flushing sounds (I assume this is for people who cannot “go” in quiet. See video below for a demonstration), and some other features. Well, as person who had never seen a toilet like this back in Canada, I was amazed and giddy… probably a bit too much so considering it was just a toilet.

Related video: Toilet in Japan with button to make flushing *sounds*

Odaiba

Overlooking the Rainbow Bridge from Odaiba at nighttime.

At a mall nearby, I saw an umbrella drying machine. I kind of wished I had a wet umbrella to try it out with.

I had heard about how Tokyo hotel rooms are typically tiny, tiny, TINY! But the hotel we stayed at was pretty spacious. This hotel was near Hello Kitty Land. Yes, a “land” dedicated to Hello Kitty. They sure love their Hello Kitty over there.

YAY! It’s another one of those toilets I’m so fascinated with (apparently, I’m quite easily amused).

I was watching some television in the hotel room (not sure why though, because everything was in Japanese) when I flipped by something familiar…

You remember late 90s British pop sensation S Club 7! Sure you do (who can forget those cheesy shows they had playing non-stop on MuchMusic?). I was just flipping through the channels and came across an episode of S Club 7 in Miami. I had to tune in for nostalgic reasons… then I realized they were using the show to teach English. (The audio seems out of sync when uploaded to youtube for some reason)

Related video:
S Club 7 in Miami used to teach English in Japan part 1
S Club 7 in Miami used to teach English in Japan part 2

Fuji-Q High Land

At an amusement park called Fuji-Q High Land, near Fuji Mountain. Since I didn’t opt for the pass, with the alternative being buying tickets for each ride, I had to figure out how to buy the tickets. The machines were located near or in the vicinity of the rides but sometimes, they were hard to find. Why? Because each machine corresponded with a few different rides (4 or more) and the buttons to press to pick the ride you want a ticket for was in Japanese. Not being able to read Japanese, I resorted to identifying symbols that looked like the one on the ride’s sign, hoping to get a ticket for the right ride. A ride ticket ranged in price, with the more kiddy rides at 300 yen (about $3 CAD) and going upwards to, I think, 750 yen (about $7.50 CAD).

Different areas had different characters featured, like Hamtaro.

(This ride below, which looks kind of like an easy-peasy ride for those who aren’t big on scary rides –like me– is actually a lot scarier than it looks).

And Thomas Land, dedicated to none other than everyone’s favourite Tank Engine and all his friends.

Shrines and Mausoleum

Apparently, with this bell, you’re supposed to make a wish or hope for good luck and then ram the log into it to have your wish come true.

The water of these fountains is used for purification. You are supposed to clean your hands and mouth with the water.

There were these vending machines, much like the pop and snack machines we’re used, except these machines had cold drinks and hot drinks. One of those drinks was this cream of corn drink that comes hot! It was kind of neat.

Part II

Part III

With notes from Japan-Guide.com

Share This

After a temporary stint working at my alma mater, performing duties that I did not find entirely challenging nor aligned with my career goals, I’m again back in the job market and attempting to land my first “real job”. My career goal is not necessarily set in stone because, frankly, it’s kind of hard to know whether something truly is your calling if you’ve had zero experience in that industry. Nonetheless, I’ve trudged on with optimism and learned some things here and there.

• Education is everything and nothing — Everyone in my life has touted the value of education. Oh, a four year degree will give you so many more opportunities in life and you can get a great, high-paying job! Blah blah blah. Well, great. But why does it feel like all this wonderful, theoretical knowledge I have gained through my very expensive liberal arts undergraduate education is obsolete in the workforce and simply not getting me anywhere in terms of employment? Don’t get me wrong, I love expanding my horizons and everything from concepts of social stratification and media democracy to critical analysis of the status quo and the works of Karl Marx has enriched my life in some form or another. At least making me all kinds of awesome at dinner parties and pseudo-intellectual discussions. Back to my point, it just seems like with a Bachelor of Arts, I actually may have been better off at a community college or working at a job straight out of high school and getting promoted through the ranks. After reaching a plateau, I could advance my technical skills through a program at the local community college. As I stated in that previous post, unless that education streamlined into a career, new graduates with no relevant job experience seem to be grouped in a pool of “undesirables”. That’s just my observation.

• Data entry is the bane of my existence — Like I said earlier, I had a temporary job at my alma mater. The people were great! The work environment, I can’t complain! It was all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows everywhere! Except, it was a data entry focused position. Doing some data entry here and there, I don’t mind and especially wouldn’t mind if it’s a stepping stone to something more aligned with my skills and interests. This job made my eyes all red and tired, my wrist ache and crack, and the pure tediousness of the job made me want to fling myself out a window. It was just not for me. Unfortunately, due to my apparently strong skills in data entry type activities and this job experience, the job agencies I’ve applied to have been sending me non-stop data entry positions! In my previous job, analytical skills were required as it wasn’t straight-forward entering of data since it was working with curriculum information. Generally speaking though, in the majority of data entry jobs, you don’t need a university degree to type out or click through data. In fact, I propose that highly trained monkeys could probably do the job just as well. While I can appreciate the knowledge I gained in that data entry job, particularly in Excel and Access, I really cannot see it as a job I could do long-term nor a job that seems to really have any career growth prospect.

• Less with the senior levels, more with the junior levels please — Meticulously scouring job search sites like Workopolis and Monster, it just seems like the ratio of entry level to senior level positions available is 1:15. From my understanding, companies will always prefer to hire internally than externally, particularly for the senior level with the management and supervisory positions. Yet, the type of job that most commonly pops up in my job searches in the marketing/communications/new media industries are these senior positions that I have no chance in hell of getting. Entry-level or internship positions in these industries? Very few if any. So again with the catch 22: if you want a job in said industries, but you have no related experience in that industry, and nowhere (without network ties) can you find low-level “in’s” for that industry, THEN HOW CAN YOU GET THAT JOB YOU WANT???? *facepalm*

• Entry-level still means you gotta have related experience — In my job searching experience, the term “entry-level position” still doesn’t mean that it’s meant for recent grads. It STILL means there is some form of related experience required. Below is an excerpt from an unpaid internship position I came across:

  Requirements:
  * Experience writing copy for banners, websites, email, and marketing campaigns
  * Experience writing detailed project proposals
  * Experience writing articles, press releases, etc.

  How is a person who obviously NEEDS an internship to gain related/work experience going to have all these experiences in things like writing copy for marketing campaigns, writing proposals and press releases? Unless, you know, you started working well before graduating school in a position that allowed young, inexperienced people to take care of all these important tasks.

• HarperCollins Canada, I do not like you too (I’m joking, please hire me!) — Please turn your attention to Exhibit A. Exhibit A is the HarperCollins Careers website that lists only U.S. based job opportunities. Notice how wonderful it is? It has all this great information about their different career paths and even TWO different kinds of programs for students and new grads (an internship and a “rotational associate program”)! Wow, you would think that the HarperCollins Canadian equivalent of the careers section would be just as informative and thorough. You would think, huh?

  Well it isn’t, not even close. Examine Exhibit B, the careers section at HarperCollins Canada. There are three links and each link leads you to a contact form that requests you to type in your full name, email and comments. That’s it. No place to upload your resume, no list of job opportunities available, no information about the HarperCollins work environment, nothing. The kicker? No one ever responds back to these contact form inquiries! I’ve sent in questions about the internship program and inquiries about new graduate opportunities, I’ve sent in my resume at least 3 different times and each time, no response whatsoever. I am not even sure if you’re supposed to copy and paste your resume in the comments section and if these inquiries/resumes even go anywhere. One time, I was so fed up about the seemingly lack of interest in applicants that I contacted someone working in the First Look program I am a member of. I emailed the person my original questions and asked how I could apply to an internship or anything I could be qualified for. I received a response about how the internship is basically it, that there is no rotational associate program as described on the U.S. site, but that pretty much ended my quest for a job at HarperCollins.

• Staffing agencies really just want you in their system – Through my two separate experiences with staffing agencies, I have learned that I am better off applying directly to companies for jobs I am interested in. The problem with these agencies is that while they have listings for all these jobs, those jobs may have already been filled by the time you’ve sent in your application because they always try to fill positions sooner than later for their clients (at least that’s what one agency representative told me). Imagine seeing a listing for job XYZ and hey, it’s the perfect job for you! So you quickly send in an application thinking you’re applying for that job. The next day or so later, you get a call from that recruitment agency telling you that they want you to come in for an interview (and they may possibly mention some tests you’ll have take to assess your skills, which is part of every agency’s initial screening process). Sounds great, doesn’t it? Sounds like you’re being considered for job XYZ, that job that’s so perfect for you. Then, when you get to the agency for the “interview”, all they are doing is entering your answers to “interview type questions” into a computer and then hustling you off to do those skill tests. That job you wanted so much, it may be legit but being such an “undesirable applicant” who lacks years of professional experience, it’s simply the pork chop being waved in front of a hungry dog. After you’re done with the interview and the tests, you’re sent on your way and you may later on hear back from them with “jobs that match your profile” (those jobs NOT being the one you originally applied for, and thus interested in) or you may not for a long, long time. The irritating thing about dealing with agencies is the false hope. At least if you’re not being seriously considered for that job you applied for, a company whose listing you responded to will not still bring you in to waste two to three hours of your time. I’m not saying that this is the case with every agency and that they aren’t useful, after all, one of my friends was able to get a sweet government job through one. If you have your mind set on a certain type of job that is, say, a career builder, then it may not be the best route for success. If you want a job for the sake of having a job, then an agency can be your answer. Just from my personal experience, it has produced zero results, besides the incessant offers of those darn data entry jobs.

Share This

Original Chipmunks > this new, bastardized version

Well, the first trailer for the movie has come out. From what I’ve seen, it reminds me of what they did to Garfield, which is to say, it just seems… off. Whenever they decide to make a cartoon into a live-action movie, with digitalized characters but actual actors and background, it just doesn’t feel right. Or I may even go as far as to say it simply ruins the original and ruins childhood memories in the process. As much as I am unimpressed by how they seem to have digitally rendered the Chipmunks, I have to admit that the movie version of Theodore is pretty darn cute. I might watch the movie when it’s released at the end of the year if the reviews are decent though, mostly for the sake of curiousity. I really hope they do it justice.

They’ve already ruined Inspector Gadget. I say, they better stay away from my Babar, Muppet Babies and Duck Tales. And anyone else remember the short-lived Denver the Last Dinosaur and My Pet Monster? Those were awesome shows with even more awesome theme songs. They had some good cartoons back in my day.

And just for old times’ sake…

Share This