Lucy Gao

> Dear Friends,
>
> Thank you for all your replies and I am glad all of you can come this
> Friday to celebrate my 21st with me. Please read ALL the following to
> ensure your entry into the Ritz.
>
> Lucy's 21st Birthday Party
> at The Ritz Hotel London
>
> Friday, 18th of August
> 9pm Champagne Reception
> 10pm Photo Shoots
> 10:30pm Blowing Candles
>
> Mid-night Pangaea, Mayfair
>
>
> I have arranged the Ritz to host a Champagne Reception with a
> selection of Ritz Champagne for all my guests, this will be on me so
> please come and indulge.
>
> A specially made birthday cake has also been ordered and the Ritz
> waiters will kindly serve you each a generous slice with Ritz
> cutleries, etc...also on me.
>
> INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTRY:
> * When you arrive, take the Hotel entry on the opposite side of the
> Green Park tube station [Please refer to your arrival time at the end
> of this email]
> * When asked "how can I help you Sir/Madame?", you reply "I am here
> for Lucy's Birthday Party at the Rivoli Bar"
> * You will be escorted to the lounge area next to the Rivoli bar,
> where you will hopefully see a gorgeous group of ladies.
>
> If you experience any issues getting in or getting to the Ritz, please

> call my mobile on 07782 205 450 and my PA Ms Gill will kindly deal
> with your queries between 8:30pm to 10pm.
>
> STRICT DRESS CODE:
> Gentlemen: Jacket, shirt, and please also bring a tie (no jeans,
> trainers, flip-flops, polo-shirts)
> Ladies: skirt/top, cocktail dress (no denim, min-skirts, flip-flips,
> bad
> tastes)
> Advice 1: It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress,
> the less likely you shall be denied entry. Advice 2: Photos will be
> taken between 10pm to 10:30pm, and these will be distributed once
> processed, therefore you may want to be well-groomed! ;)
>
> Finally...
> I will be accepting cards and small gifts between 9pm to 11pm...> wink> hehehe
>
> I very much look forward to seeing you all at the Ritz this Friday.
>
> Lucy
>
> ARRIVAL TIMES: [Please stick to these as best as you can, thank you]
> 9:00pm: Lucy, Sophie Sandner, Kajai, Mandeep, Preet, Sanami, Su, Lisa,

> Kate.
> 9:15pm: Phoebe, Sophie Seugnet, Theo, Dmitry, Ed, Nikolay, Paul, Nick,

> Harry.
> 9:30pm: Marco, Andrea, Jess, Ovi, Yuki, Olga, Kim, Marcelo, Ulyana,
> Krystal, Dan.
> 9:45pm: Sunita, Alan, JingJing, Emma.
> 10:00pm: Anthony, Rachel, Roger, Uli, Yogi, Gharzi
>
>
> Lucy Gao
> Citigroup | Real Estate Equity Research 4th Floor, Citigroup Centre
> (CGC1)
> 25 Canada Square, London E14 5LB
> Direct Line: +44 207 986 4116
> Fax:           +44 207 986 4341
> Mobile:       +44 778 220 5450
> Email: lucy.gao@citigroup.com 

- posted by Daniel @ Saturday, August 26, 2006 1 comments

 
Elite
There's a Goldman guy I sometimes drink with, who causes me particular irritation from his overwhelming arrogance, and elitist mentality. I've bastardised a sentence I read the other day to create this quote:

The elite are people who have the ability to insulate themselves from any adverse consequences of their actions.

For the benefit of all, the King should live in the same size cave as his subjects. He needs to feel as vulnerable as a serf. And that's why Scandinavia rocks. Release the hot ones, and let freedom reign.

- posted by Daniel @ Wednesday, August 23, 2006 0 comments

 
Shimo Kitazawa
i'm yet to have a bad night at the place. i needed to go there, to look for my wall. so called up john and scooted there after work. went to an overpriced italian place and ate the most fantastic lamb chop i have eaten since Rocco cooked. Tapas style food left us $50 down each, and still hungry. Wandered around the corner to another bar, and opened up the champers. Ate a pizza each too. Decided we were having a bbq on Saturday. I'm not sure why. Moved onto another bar where I handed out cigars to myself, john and the barman, who reciprocated with free tequilas. 2am. caught a taxi home, and feel like a rock star with a sore throat. It's a tuesday. why did this happen? Time to black out, no doubt. Time to black out.

- posted by Daniel @ Wednesday, August 23, 2006 0 comments

 
Ask the questions later; raise your .45
Today was a fantastic day. Boss-man took me to the datacentre, and we stopped when getting back to the office at a supermarket. I saw some bacon. I wanted it. I salivated. I needed it. Eating dinner in costs far more than eating dinner out in Japan, if you're not a family. So, once in a way, I treat myself to eating in. And today was such a day. Left work late, following a short run, felt good. Spent about 15quid on the basics, and some more on the wine, went home, and starting cooking a Pig. Ate like a horse. Conversation with the girls. Haruka complaining about a guy she went on a date with, who talked about his rabbits, and how he loved them, and how he loved to play with them. Shortly afterwards, she left for bed, joking that she was off to play with her rabbits. I creased into laughter, and unfortunately she saw the humour. Damn those who are fluent in both language and culture.

Junko showed me some art books. Much pointing, much wrestling with the dictionary, much nodding, but i think I understand. Need to get motivated for stenciling.

I figured what makes me so useless in a job. I always knew that I lacked technical ability, but I also knew that this wasn't the only issue. I'm a joker. Not a smoker or a midnight toker (well, just sometimes) but I can't be serious. Boss man is interpreted by all as super smart. And ok, he is smart, but this isn't the only reason why he's leagues above me. He is leagues above me because he's serious. "Somebody's coming up. Somebody serious." (Leon, fools). Perhaps being permanent is not for me. Perhaps I'm a contractor-scum for life. Shogenai. I'll wait this one out, 1 year. But maybe, meanwhile, i'll try to be serious.

conversation with Ben, me complaining about the company:
bejn says:
bit of an oxymoron really - "corporate culture"

got an email from Onion, him complaining about something utterly inconsequential. you can take the hair off a goth, but the misdirected anger dont get trimmed.
>have just lost a small sum of money playing poker with friends, I think the larger sum of money I spent on lager may have something to with my loss. It certainly has something to do with my irrational anger. ahh the rage.


- posted by Daniel @ Wednesday, August 16, 2006 0 comments

 
The Rajani conversation
lasted a long time today... over 3hours. Quote: "The currency of life is time". Thank the lord for Skype.

I've managed to buy a keitai, so life is back on the agenda. Nokia N71. After 6 years and 5 Ericssons, it's time to move Finland. Mainly because there are no decent Ericsson's available out here.

Oh dear. I work for a company which will not let me change my desktop wallpaper. Attack of the clones.
- posted by Daniel @ Saturday, August 12, 2006 0 comments

 
Grin
And now i'm grinning from this ear.... all the way to this ear. And right now, my head feels large, so it's a pretty darn big grin. Just spoke to the infamous Ansell, who congratulated me on getting a permanent job. Coming from him, that's as good as a reference from the Pope himself. So feeling somewhat smug. A good thing, because i've been on and off-able about being back in Japan. Especially when i saw how sardine packed the train was this morning. Some guy whose most sincere efforts to scrum into the train failed going bananas as he ram-raided himself into the next carriage. Doors close, faces squashed up against window, me left on the platform wondering how many minutes of oxygen actually remained in the tin can that just passed by.

Also grinning because i got the computer working with the TV. So now can watch movies on the TV. And control them via my ssh session just to be geeky. Just gotta get samba working now...

Signed up to a japanese class starting September. So that's two days off the sauce, perhaps I need 3... kendo calling? or maybe try and buy that damned wall....
- posted by Daniel @ Tuesday, August 08, 2006 0 comments

 
The new Zappetti
The holiday is in the moleskine, and i very much doubt it will get typed up. so let's start with yesterday. quit work asap, got An nomi-kai, and walked across to Marunouchi. Finally got the feeling i'm in The City, as i walked past my workplace, then past Daiwa, Nomura, Mitsubish-UFJ, and got to the bar/cafe. Central and living it. That said, felt nauseous during the day when i got a internal post from HR which contained a welcome letter, welcome DVD, and a small note saying 'you are the key to our future'. Complete with a presentation boxed, company branded large keyfob. Ick. Perhaps one to post to mother. Being permanent is making my stomach turn, trying to hold back the cynicism for corporate culture.

Anyway, met Jez & Ricky down at some UNHCR benefit party, and imbibed at shockingly cheap 500. Ran into a guy whose name, I think, was Andy, and remembered that he's got a houseparty on the 12th, which i will doubtlessly invite myself to... Drunk some, drunk some more, bumped into Albert by chance - Tokyo is the smallest metropolis from which nobody can hide. With the evening over, we edged outside, with Jez managing to boil the nerves of the barstaff by smoking in the lobby. Damme. Damme! Exited, and wasted time waiting for Ricky who was otherwise engaged with some shady looking 1/2 german/japanese girl, by playing with the traffic cones. Between the cones there were black and yellow plastic rods spacing them out, which, in the mind of a 13 year old, were perfect for Light Sabres. Picked up a couple and dueled with Jez. Within a minute, a rod was broken, and within a second, a security guard for the building was barking at us. I chose to ignore him and walk off, but somehow Ricky and Jez became embroiled. Soon there were more gaurds. 7 to be exact. They thought this didn't quite cut it, so they called the cops. 5 cop cars show up, and 9 of Tokyo's finest were soon taking aim at us with their ball point pens and notebooks. For the Tokyo's greatest crime since the 1956 diamond heist. It all boiled over in the end, with me giving a fake contact details to the security guards. Jez had the initial genius of inventing a phantom gaijin named Stephen who was responsible for everything. Stephen the faked moon landings too. Bad, bad guy. But he later lost all credit, falling into the realms of idiocy, by accidentally giving his accountants telephone number to them telling them it was Stephen's number. Turns out Stephen works for KPMG.

- posted by Daniel @ Saturday, August 05, 2006 0 comments

 
king bee sez:
back by dope demand. after a good holiday, a ridiculous number of flights - far more than anticipated - i'm back in .jp with the post holiday blues. With a new job, a new apartment, and no keitai.

It's summer here, and not humid. I escaped rainy season. Sugoi.

Got a massive splinter in my foot and cant really reach to get it removed. Hoping it just evaporates or something.

emails to write. work to get to. the rush is on.

Had a skype chat with Rocco that ended: When you come back we will all have dinner together. God, I miss having dinner with Italians. There is something missing in the fabric of society today where people do not cook dinner and sit down together to eat often enough. Why dont people do it?

reading: jared diamond, collapse.
listening to: doddering bygones. diskspace to download needed.
have a crush on: last year's riveted cannondale.
scared about: rising interest rates
looking forward to: getting a meishi. Patrick Bateman would have killed for a double sided one.
dreaming about: a UN with teeth. super sharp shooter shooting super obese americans back to texas
wearing: unironed shirts
next delve into consumerland: will buy me a new phone
- posted by Daniel @ Friday, August 04, 2006 2 comments