kinda tired, but not of books

Oh man, my energy levels are up and down recently. I feel like one day, I'm pretty energized; the very next day, I feel sapped. I'm not very sure what it is, since I'm getting a pretty consistent sleep. Maybe I need to sleep earlier?

Actually, I know what it is. I haven't been exercising, but it's been hard since my surgery to get up and just ... play some basketball (aside from the fact that no one plays anymore).

But I pump myself up artificially sometimes by listening to upbeat music in the car prior to my meeting. It helps, but I really have to try to pump myself up - which is, in it of itself, kind of depressing lol.

I'm sure I'm way behind on this, but Tahereh Mafi, an underclassman of mine at SUA, published her book a while ago (at the age of 23...) and is all the rave recently in the teen-fiction world. In fact, Fox bought the film rights to her book "Shatter Me." This is really inspiring. She apparently wrote the book for fun, which just baffles my mind. Check out the summary of her and the book here.

 

super saiyajin 3

Well, I've passed the bar! This news comes a little late considering I found last friday, but I felt it's never too late to memorialize this feat. I was so nervous on friday and I couldn't concentrate on my work. I was in the courtroom assisting my judge when I realized it turned 4:30. I was planning to go home to check it, but I couldn't help myself and ran upstairs to chambers to check. And lo and behold, I passed!

Enjoyed some with my dad on friday night.

The judge ended up stopping trial to announce to everyone that I passed, which was a little embarrassing, but I was too happy to care.

That morning, my district leader came and chanted with me. Bar prep started with daimoku with my previous district leader, and the bar ended with daimoku. 

I feel a huge weight has lifted off my shoulder. My swearing-in ceremony will be held in mid-December, and at that time, I will officially become a lawyer! It seems somewhat surreal, but no matter how many times I try and doubt myself, I made it! My last big push in this series of events is to find a permanent job starting next year.

While I'm happy, I'm more appreciative for all the support more than anything. In any case, I've finally made the transition from super saiyajin 2 to super saiyajin 3 (the gold and long hair). I don't know I have to do in order to become super saiyajin 4, but super monkey mode comes before super saiyajin 4 anyway.

Super Saiyajin 3

Golden 大猿 (the most powerful form under SS3)

In other news, SUA alumni in the DMV met up to record the first verse of SUA's 10th anniversary song, "Light of Hope."

summer 2011

Now that I have recovered from the bar exam, I finally feel like I've entered summer. Because I've entered the working world, I've been fortunate to have been able to purchase a car and spend time with friends. I was a little sad getting rid of my Queen Elizabeth (the name of my 94 Civic), but she should be happy to know that another Honda has taken her place.

Good bye, my queen.

She has served me well. I bought my Civic six years ago for $4,500, and while I've have had to spend too much money repairing her, she's never failed me. She made all sorts of sounds but she got me from Point A to Point B. 

I now have a 2011 Honda Accord LX sedan, which doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the EX, but suits my needs perfectly. I ended up with a 0.9% financing rate, which was my benefit. But to be honest, I thought I'd be more excited after buying a car, but after driving my new car after a few days, I've realized that a car... is just a car. I was going to go with the a coupe, but I had made a determination to use my car for kosen rufu. Now I just need to give her a name. What is more noble than a Queen?

Aside from the car, I've been hanging out, differentiating left from right at work, and relaxing. I tell you, my work now is a lot less stressful and less demanding than school is. While that's a benefit for me, I gotta keep myself in check so I don't get lazy.

Justin's leaving for SUA on Tuesday to begin work, so we had a few farewells. Actually, the first pictured below was from a combined farewell for my district leader and Justin. I called my District leader "father" because of how close I had gotten to him. He chanted with my from 6am during my bar prep days and shared with me his struggles and victories. I respect him so much, and I will miss him.

Goodbye, Vivek! I'll visit you in NJ soon.

As for Justin, we went to Honey Pig with some Youth Division and stuffed ourselves. 

slowly but surely

...getting better. I have a lot more energy than before, and I'm not sleeping so much that I suffer the same effect. While I'm getting better, I think I'm pushing it too fast, still. I've jumped into activities but I have this habit of doing things to their extreme for one moment to the next. Anyway, I just have to train myself to live a balanced day.

I've been taking Kimiko around places to get acclimated to Baltimore. Most of it involved moving and shopping. It was a good change of pace for me. I even got the chance to watch Captain America. It was okay, not as good as a former-comic-fanatic would have wanted it to be. Especially because Chris Evans played the Human Torch. How could someone possibly be two superheroes? That's simply not fair.

Met up with some SUA people after 3 months. To be frank, it was a bit awkward, but maybe not simply because of my hiatus. There were some fresh grads moving into DMV area and their presence changed the entire dynamic of our get-together. So much energy, I couldn't keep up.

Present from Eppon. It's a earphone splitter.

She told me to get a gf so I can actually make use of this.

Been finding that I've been getting a bit cynical. Need to have more fun, which doesn't necessarily mean partying, but just appreciating every moment. Need more daimoku. And.. I just want to play some basketball!

Start work tomorrow :)

bar food and sohokai

That is, bar prep food. I've been kinda bad with my eating habits this summer given my schedule, but I figured that, with my sudden degrading health condition, I should probably watch what I eat. Today, during that time of the day between lunch and dinner, I ate some チャーハン, しゃけ with 生たまご. Beautiful, isn't it?

I also had that urge to drink milk since the malicious attack by MILKIS, so I decided to drink some lactose free milk with honey after a friend recommended it. It helped me to go to sleep, which was good considering I couldn't fall asleep. Now all I need is some exercise. Will try to get on that tomorrow.

Went to our SUA alumni meeting (Sohokai). Great to see eternal friends during this dreadful experience.

Alright, still catching up, but feeling a bit more confident with my studies.

genkidama

It's nearly 2am, but I just couldn't restrain myself. I have to share this now. As we were awing Flo's "art stuff" album via skype, my younger brother, Justin, felt incumbent on himself to share his relative artistic depravity with me through a facebook post. The series of posts went like this:

**Justin: [bleep] Eric Kunimoto. I am not SSJ 4 yet as I promised you. (Note: SSJ = Super Saiyajin, as in the saintly beings from Dragon Ball Z. He's telling me he's not yet worthy; he hasn't met his full potential.)

**Eric: you better use the training pod thing, or something. I'm doing it naturally, like Goku. But alas, I am battling the Gohan disease, stuck at SSJ2

**Justin: right. [bleeping] gohan.. he could have been the shit. I think I'm goten. pre-fusion. right before buu. not good.... rather.. oblivious.

Then, Tommy Tomiyama, all the way from Africa, decided to interrupt the conversation by reminding us how stupid we were:

**Tommy: majide omaera honma ni ahodana...

We brought him into the loop and he played along. In fact, he decided he would be Kururin. Here's a photo to remind you all of who this kururin is.

It was funny enough that Kuruin doesn't have the ability to become a Super Saiyajin because, well, he's not a Saiyajin in the first place. But it was what Tommy said after that changed my life forever. Here it is, unadulterated and in its true and most genuine form:

**Tommy: ehehehe kuririn saiko- a, demo genkidama wa tukai taikara yappari saiyajin ga ii. At Soka Gakuen in Tokyo, the prime point of the whole Soka Education school systems, there was once this tournament of fine capable men, entitled "Kamehameha Tournament." the competition basically entails your kamehameha demonstration. first you have to claim your favorite kamehameha scene, against which enemy, thus setting the parameters of your battle, then gather your strength, or Ki, throughout your whole being, while narrating the scene, both yourself and your opponent toward the climax. once you are charged with your Ki, you finally release your weapon. your demonstration is evaluated on the bases of 1) accuracy of the narration, 2) the intensity and coolness of the battle scene itself, and 3) your facial expression at the moment of kamehameha. in 2001, when i was a senior there, the champion took everyone at shock, as he raised his both arms high into the sky, shouting, "minna!!!!!!!! orani!! orani genki wo kure!!!!!!!" right, it was not Kamehameha. everyone said to himself, "EE? Genkidama??" it was against the tournament regulation, but the audience raised their arms, sending their Genki to this contestant. soon after, they were united at the depth of their lives together with Goku. We could all see this imposing, yet beautiful Genkidama above him. time was ripe; he released the genkidama onto Freezer the Bastard. a moment of silence arrived, a moment of peace. everyone knew, that year's championship was his. maybe you guys should join the competition....."



I'll just leave it at that without any further commentary. I apologize if you're not familiar with Dragon Ball techniques and phrases. I suggest you watch the series. All the episodies. Now.

to the 4th class french belle

君を想う

携帯

My phone has completely died. I have decided that I will never buy a NOKIA again, along with Motorolas (dont' 'hello moto' me!). In any case, I went to Verizon and they're at least sending me a replacement of my old flip by tomorrow via overnight shipping.

But my 'new every two' (the policy that you can get a $100 discount on a new phone every 2 years) ends on December 4, so I am actually in the market for a new phone altogether. I don't have a data plan mostly because my family doesn't need it, but I am thinking of flipping the bill for the data.

Aside from the data plan, which I think I may go foward with, the real question is what phone? Now, I'm sure Julie will kill me for saying this, but maybe the iPhone 4, which is coming out on Verizon around Christmas/New Years....? I can't stand apple products in general, but as I've explained before, two of their product lines are undeniably the best in the market - the iPOD and the iPhone (I severely dislike iTunes, the iPad, and anything Mac related). I wasn't convinced  of their quality until recently. The new iPOD nanos have a clip... which is pretty damn simple but awesome nonetheless. And the iPhones HD video recording and video calling is just is pretty amazing (which is meaningless without a 4g wireless connection, which Verizon is rolling out right now with their 700Mhz LTE spectrum). The form factor is a lot more appealing on the 4. Finally, the touch screen on the iPhones are just amazing; I remember trying out the iPhone's touch screen on Cliff's in Japan and... wow. So in conclusion, I have to admit that the iPhone is too enticing not to consider (btw, I also changed to gmail recently from hotmail. I gave you a chance microsoft, but you failed me).

Anyway, now that I'm consideirng some iProducts, someone answer these questions for me!:
1. What the heck is the difference between a iPod Touch (which now has video calling and acts like a phone) and the iPhone??!
2. How many MBs should I have per month in a data plan? How much do people use usually?

By the way, i was researching some stuff on Verizon Wireless's website, and I found this picture on the GPS page:

If you can't tell, that's SUA.

soka 2, BK, takamaki, italy, and my dream

I was at Jiffy Lube waiting for my car to come out and a few things occurred. First, while flipping through NEWSWEEK in the waiting area, I saw an advertisement for SUA. I was aware that SUA was actively recruiting in the local SoCal area, but I didn't know they were recruiting so heavily nationally. They were in the ad column right below Hopkins, taking up half the page...

Then, while grabbing a meal #9 from Burger King during my wait, I was shocked at how big a medium size was. I know people will think what I am saying is hypocritical given my attack at Japanese Starbucks a few posts ago, but this is ridiculous to the other extreme. What kind of person orders a medium and receives, what I would assume to be, an extra-large cup? Baffling.

You can't tell in this pic, but this is ginormous

Ad in Newsweek

While poking through my phone to find the pics above, I found another random picture, this time of Takamaki. I will not comment on it.



I just heard today of this place called Cinque Terre Vernazza, some place in Italy. I have yet to visit Europe, but this place has convinced me that I must go. It reminds of some town in a Ghibli movie where young witches fly on broomsticks and cats talk. Maybe I can go sometime between taking the bar and starting work. Or, right before my bar classes start...

 



And finally. I was watching this dorama called "Tobo Bengoshi," or, Runaway Lawyer (which is based on a manga that, I believe, was called Runaway Doctor) and made me think about what I want to do with this law degree that I worked so hard to get. I realized I do not want to stuck in a big corporate-like firm, nor do I want to be limited to handling the same types of cases over and over. The point is, I don't want to have the main motiviation of the firm I'm working for to be primarily for financial gain, and I do not want to have be stuck to a specialization. Instead, I want to serve justice (whatever that may mean I am still figuring out) without having to worry about how much money this is making my boss and I want to litigate for clients in all sorts of circumstances. One final piece is that I want to continue learning - because I have realized that, without that, life is pretty dull. Don't you think?

All this has led me to believe that working in the public sector, with a department with broad jurisdiction, would be ideal. It would be nice to be able to work for the Department of Justice, perhaps in the civil litigation division. Perhaps in getting there, I can gain some experience at the state level with the AG's office. I think you have to be barred before you can apply to the AG office, but I guess we will see where these realizations will take me. My thoughts are still all over the place, but I found some direction.

ek

soka, subway, frutti tutti, couque D'asses and words

The first in a long series of achievements for Soka University of America, my precious alma mater-- As everyone I'm sure knows by now, it was ranked:

(1) Top 25 most desirable small schools (#24)
(2) Top 20 most desirable suburban schools (#20)
(3) Top 15 in diversity (#12)

It also ranked in the top 25 in other categories. Proud is all I can say! See http://education.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/the-25-most-desirable-small-schools.all.html for more details.



foot long BLT

 On a completely different note, I think I'm hooked to Subway. Five dollar footlongs are no joke. Recently I've been into the footlong BLTs, but I often go with the Spicy Italian. I'm not sure who founded Subway, but the business model is incredibly genius. Despite having to keep veggies fresh, it came at a time all there was was fast food. Of course it will catch on - especially if it's cheap!

Speaking of good business models, I forgot how much ellicott city (my hometown, where I reside now) has gone through an asian revolution. The city was already asian-a-fied before I left for college, but its even more so now. Unfortunatley, this is one of the wealthiest cities in the country, and because of that, it attracts people with ... money - how severely difficult that may be to understand I do not know. So, we have many rich and successful asians, but particularly koreans and chinese. The business model I was referring to is, a recent korean-american SoCal-like do-it-yourself yogurtland type place. It's called Tutti Frutti and its all the rage. Welcome to west coast asian-american culture Ellicott City - congratulations! Bring the west to the east - that business model seems to work. I must admit I tried the yogurt there (with mochi balls and gummy bears on top), and it was damn good.

While I was looking through my phone to look for pictures of Tutti Frutti (to no avail), I ended up finding this picture of ryosuke with this snack below. I don't know what coque D'asses are, but it doesn't sound very good.

Couque D'asses

Thesaurus?

Finally, while working today, I couldn't help but to notice this "Dictionary of Synonyms." Isn't that ... a Thesaurus? Speak of synonyms.