The Constorium of Greater Minds

I’ve been meaning to post about his for over a month. Last February, I was invited to attend Dilla Day at XM studios, the headquarters of XM Satellite Radio, here in DC. It was a retrospective of J-Dilla’s life and music featuring a panel discussion with hip hop icons Pete Rock and Talib Kweli and special guest Ma Yancey. Attendance was strictly limited to 60 people; mostly people in the music game. I worked my producer/WMUC DJ/music-blogger credentials to scoop up one of the limited tickets for myself. Needless to say, the entrance policy kept things pretty intimate.

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As most people about to graduate do, I started up the dreaded job search. I knew this day would come again, as I had already experienced this when I got my undergrad. This is the great time when you look through hundreds of online job descriptions that don’t make any sense, but you apply anyways.

Sample:

Job: Operations Research Analyst, U.S. Airforce
Major Duties: Apply rigorous methods of logic and scientific disciplines to develop and evaluate alternative approaches and courses of action for a wide spectrum of problems.

wide range of problems, hey why not….

Operations Research Analyst, U.S. Army
Major Duties: This position is developmental. You will utilize professional knowledge of mathematical, statistical, econometric, and other scientific methods and techniques to perform a variety of Cost Analysis duties in support of HQDA.

Do I know what HQDA is? Hell no…but lets apply anyways…

Its also the time when you put your resume for those on campus interviews and talk to some jackass about how much you would love to inslave yourself to his company if given the chance while he talks about how much he loves his job in designing bombs that inflict maximum damage to the target, while i sit and wonder if his work has killed any innocent lives…

And the best part was when I get a missed fone with no voice mail, which i google the number to find out who had called me. Its the patent office, which I wouldn’t mind working for. After calling back to the number 3 times a day for a week, I finally get through to someone who looks up my file and asks if I will finish by may, when it clearly says on my resume that I will graduate in aug. Then he tells me if i change my mind (ie drop out of grad school with 4 months remaining) that i should give him a call back soon, since I can take a lower position with a b.s., if not call back in the summer. Why the hell would I drop out of grad school???

I’m sure the frustrations will continue, and Ill keep you guys posted on who I sign my soul away to…

i’ve added a few items to the apartment since i first posted the apartment look. still a work in process but at least i’ve upgraded from the floor to a futon couch

the set up. who needs a tv with so much music in the world…plus books

the only seat in the house

julia from the uw days dropped in. she was at a w.h.o. conference in kobe and hopped on the shinkansen (bullet train) down to tokyo for the last two days of her japan journey…rockin’ on the world health organization’s dime…i smell an audit!

writing down her wish…what did she wish for? the entire beenie baby collection for christmas

preparing for the procession in harajuku

@ the tokyo met

ueno park afternoons

arcade gaming on another level, son

ten dollar peaches in ueno. only in tokyo

this is why tyo is the mecca…ueno kicks store (there are about 20 in a square mile)

shibuya

shibuya roll-call!

the busiest cross walk in the world, kid. just pick a point on the opposite side and aim for it

zoom, zoom

another procession…this one in the back streets of shibuya – tell me that isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever seen

just thought i’d drop this little story for all yall in the know.

i was down in the g-town the other night on the way to dins with m’julie, going to hit up some indian food. i saw a new sneaker/streetwear store that had opened up (which is all the rage these days. i thought of opening a shop here years ago and now the market is saturated). this new shop was in the same space once occupied by a dc record/punk/also sold some limited nikes shop of note.

so the next day i walk in to check it out and feel out the scene. i start talking with some of the dudes working there and the guy behind the counter, who i later found out is a part owner, asked me if i did my nike id’s in the studio and then asked me who i had as my design consultant. as im responding i blank on exactly who i had but i remember that we were chilling out with jolie during our first round although i couldnt remember her name. so i said to the guy i can remember her name but it was this really fine-ass girl. both of the dudes just bust out laughing and the non-owner guy is like damn. jolie was the owner’s ex-girl. not meaning to put this dude on blast or anything i’m like she was mad cool though and knew her shit. so we start talking for a minute about how they met (he was working at sean john where jolie now works) and how he has stupid amounts of vip id’s and how the whole id thing gets lame after a while.
the whole thing was mildly comical and just goes to show how small the whole street wear community is even as it’s reaching critical commercial mass.

also copped these on sale + discount for 140.

biggup kickballers. check the interweb: www.kickballersdc.com.

pusan, south korea

so much for OPSEC

street market alley

squid on the street

more deliciousness on the street

put that sucker on a stick and call it dinner

south korean coke

hiking the concrete jungle

pusan the hard way

the pusan sky line

first day in pyongtaek went on a little mwr tour to the dmz…i don’t think those crazy bastards in texas would want to build a fence along their border if they saw this ish for themselves…wild style on the 38th parallel

a tour guide talks in the joint security area (JSA) – the only place in the dmz where north and south connect. north korea in the background

a couple of nk soldiers march by

south korean soldiers standing watch on north korea

south korean soldier in the modified judo stance. all sk watch standers in view of nk stand this way, wearing rayban aviators as a means of intimidation.

standing watch on the military demarcation line (dml)

the axe murder incident in august 1976 involved the attempted trimming of a poplar tree which resulted in the death of two american soldiers and operation paul bunyan. the poplar tree obstructed the view of north korea from one of the south korean observation towers. operation paul bunyan – the chopping down completely of the tree – involved air, sea and land support. before this time, the soldiers of both sides were permitted to go back and forth across the MDL inside of the JSA, a privilege since revoked as a result of this incident. This is the site of the poplar tree – now a memorial to the american soldiers killed in the axe murder incident. war is madness

the north korean’s kept an eye on us the entire time. there are probably photos of my face sitting in some manilla envelope on a north korean officer’s desk. this particular guy was watching with binoculars the entire time we were in this part of the JSA

another view in the JSA

south korean soldier on watch

looking out over communist north. from here you could see the massive flags each side flies (the north korean flag poll is the tallest in the world), freedom village nad propganda village – the only two residential areas residing in the MDL and “freedom bridge,” given its name following the signing of the armistice when north and south korean prisoners were allowed to return home.

liberty boat ride back to the good ship blue ridge following the DMZ tour

a few final shots of the land down under just surfaced

dinner on darling harbor

document the sea food extravaganza

the j.o. jungle breaking bread in darling harbor

luke, bud and kyle eating on circular quay

shot of the opera house from the ferry

another view

adam looking as suave as it gets with a plastic beer cup

cairns australia with a new friend

the australians play some strange games at the club…

adam, bud and yours truly out in cairns

i’m savage in the sack, baby

is schoolgirls down or is it just me? im feenin.

word life.

Maxin with the office peeps at a Nats game.

Word to economics without the triple beam.