It’s the end of the world (tour) as we know it…

I woke up at 4AM this morning to go to the Tokyo Fish Market and boy am I glad I did! That place was amazing! After the market I had Sushi at a sushi bar at the market and it was so good and so fresh. As you ordered certain pieces they would catch the fish out of an aquarium behind them (see the pics below). I also had horse meat. It had a mild sweetness to it….it wasn’t very good. I also had raw shrimp sushi. WORST.TEXTURE.EVER.

Then I went to the Tokyo Tower and a temple. Good times. Later, I met up with the co-workers and we went to the Imperial Palace. It was cool but we couldn’t get close and the gardens are closed on Mondays.

I pack up and go home in the morning. It has been an amazing trip, one I will never forget. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of it.

I had some wind down time in the hotel tonight so I decided to post all the pics from the trip. I will organize them better and add captions later. For now I am using Picasa to create the page and its pretty bad…oh well.

Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Click here for London Photos

Click here for Germany Photos

Click here for Tokyo Photos

Big in Japan

I was ready for the day to suck…I only got 2 hour of sleep on Thursday night…I think I was nervous about the work event on Friday…

But, my second day in Japan was awesome! I jokingly wrote to my friend Lindsey that I am awesome all over the world…well, it’s true!

My two co-workers and I did interviews with three different Japanese magazines and that was pretty cool. They all play and love our game and all the reporters knew who I was and were very cool.

Then it was time for the event. I was getting so nervous and I had terrible butterflies in my stomach. I drank 6 or 7 bottles of water and tea to try and calm down. It didn’t help.

Then, out of nowhere I got the damn Mario Brothers song stuck in my head and couldn’t stop singing it. At least I was entertaining people and it kept my mind off of the event.

Then, about 45 minutes before the event was to start, I decided to walk into the office lobby and I was a group of people, mostly girls, standing there talking when all of a sudden one guy pointed at me and said in thick Japanese accent “It’s Binky! It’s Binky!” Everyone else in the group stopped talking and looked at me and kinda looked scared.

At this point I decided I probably should wander off without my assigned translator so I waved and headed back to the meeting area. As I walked away I heard screaming and laughing….and so it began.

I was standing at the registration desk learning Japanese words when the first group of people walked up. The one guy was giggling excitedly and walked up to me and held out his hand and bowed to me and said “Binky?” *uncontrollable nervous giggling* “Can see tattoo?” I said “Oh, the UO tattoo?” I thought he was going to die as he said “Yes yes yes!”. So I pulled up my sleeve and he squealed and the four girls standing there all started shaking and their eyes teared up. He said “I touch?” and he rubbed the tattoo and started jumping and hugging the crying girls who were hysterical at this point. I gave him a high five and ushered them into the room.

Now I am really nervous…is this what all the people are going to be like? What if the rest of them hate me? What if I’m not as cool as they think I am? All of this was running through my head.

As more and more people started entering the room, most acting shy and looking at the floor as they walked in, I began to freak out and forget my lines. I began pacing back and forth when the VP of the Asian office walked up and told me she was looking forward to the event. Now I was really freaking…oh man.

It was finally my time to shine. Al 120 or so people were in the room and I heard my queue and the door opened and I did my thing. Then event went off without a hitch. I remembered all my lines and hammed it up as usual. It was a little different with a translator interpreting everything and having to stop every few sentences, but it was cool.

After the event I had to make a toast and I noticed several people start crying…weird. Then this one girl (very cute!) walks up and in her best English said “thanking you to meet us for UO.” It was so sweet! She then asked my translator if she could take a picture with me and I said “Heck yeah!” and put my arm around her and she threw her arm around me and started crying and squealing! Took the picture and I gave her a hug and she squeezed the breath out of me!

This went on for an hour. Girl after girl came up and cried and took pictures and gave me hugs. I was awesome! It was awesome! I talked to several of the people about the game and other random things which was really cool. We took group photos and I felt famous! Flash after flash after flash went off for well over 10 minutes and different photographers were yelling “over here!” It was an amazing experience.

As the event ended, the boss told me just to nod my head as the people left and not to worry about shaking hands cause it would take to o long but I thought I couldn’t just do that, so I sat myself to be the last person the players said goodbye to and I gave each of them a big hug as the left and said what little Japanese I could to them as the guys were giddy and the girls were crying. It was great!

That night as I left the office the boss gave me a hug and said it was amazing the way I interacted with the fans and couldn’t believe that they hugged me. Apparently, it is not common, normal, or even very accepted for young Japanese women to hug guys. He said he was shocked and amazed.

Of course all of this went straight to my head and all nig t long I was on cloud nine.

Today…I was big in Japan.

P.S. I’m sorry I’m such a bad writer and I ramble forever.

Lost in Translation…

So my last day in Germany was pretty good. Sunday we went and saw the Dom Cathedral…man was that place amazing! The architecture and sculpture was an incredible sight to behold.

It was still that youth day stuff with the pope so there were hundreds of thousands of people there singing, dancing, crying, praying and being faithful. I must say, this was the most awkward of situations. While everyone was there to be spiritual I was there to take pics of the church with my Space Monkey. People did seem to enjoy Cornelius so that made it a little less awkward.

After Dom we drove home that was pretty uneventful whish is good. We dropped off the troubled couple and went to an internet café where Kristina and I proceeded to get into another “discussion”. Once again it turned out to be good.

The hotel we found that night was radical! No reception, just a vending machine that spits out keys. AWESOME! The room was so tiny but I slept well.

My last day we spent doing some shopping, shipping and just hanging out. It was a really nice day. We also spent a few hors with her family and had some cool discussions about English and the American way. At 12, we picked up Silvia and headed to Stuttgart to the airport. We stopped of at a club to have a drink or two before the flight.

They dropped me off at the airport at 3 and we said our goodbyes and I waited. Arounf 7:00AM I got on the first flight, a two hour hop to London Heathrow where I waited and waited and waited. I waited for what seemed like forever. It was only 4 hours but it seemed like..FFFFOOORRRREEEVVVVEEERRRRR.

Then onto the plane in Premium Economy seating. This would be cool except I am too damn fat to fit comfortably in any airplane seat, so the ensuing 13 hour flight sucked.

First, I spilled my OJ all over the seat next to me, the guy was none too happy. Then the guy in from of me changed seat with a lady so she could look out the window and she leaned all the way back…oh yeah, I was in the last row on PE so I couldn’t lean back. So I slept most of the flight.

Once I landed I had to do the customs and passport checks which too about an hour then I bought a ticket on the bus to EA. The bus ride was nice and uneventful.

Once I was at the hotel more waiting began. The hotel did not allow check in until 1:00PM but it was only 11:05AM so I had to wait. The hotel is amazingly nice! I sat on the rail and watched people. Little, short, Asian people...good looking and hip people. Some happy, some focused, some mad, some too wealthy for their own good. All speaking a language I don’t know. All the sings in Kanji and unreadable. All of a sudden the piano started playing and a very attractive woman sat next to me and said “Waiting? I’m so tired of waiting.” And all of a sudden I felt like I was in Lost in translation. It was a very cool moment. Then as quickly as she sat down she got up, aid “good luck” and walked away.

My Japanese counterpart finally arrived to pick me up and took me to the EA Japan office. What a cool office! The entire building is glass! The elevator is a trip too! It almost made me dizzy.

After work the Japanese boss took us roundeyes to dinner at this amazing restaurant in the Shibuya district where they cook the foot there in front of you like Benihana. It was possibly the best meal I have ever had! We had salmon sashimi which was so fresh and tender and then we had Foie Gras…OH MY GAWD! So good. Then, it got even better. This beef that is more expensive and more rare than Kobe beef. It melted in your mouth it was so good. There were 8 or 9 dishes in all, each better than the next.

That was such a great meal I can’t even really begin to tell you how good it was. I will go back.

Finally we had a nice 30 minute walk back to the hotel and I am exhausted…I feel the jet lag kicking in so I’m going to hit the hay.


I may stop adding pics until I get home and can add then in an organized way. Maybe…

Bare feet, lots of beer, and christians in Cologne!

Yesterday we loaded up the auto and picked up a couple of Kristina’s friends and headed to Cologne Germany. The drive up was nice. Driving through the German countryside seeing all the churches and cathedrals and castles is amazing!! Something you never see in the states.

We arrived at the hotel and while I’m taking a shower I hear a banging on the door. And loud fast German screaming.

Apparently the friends who came with us had a fight because the boyfriend is a psycho asshole. I don’t know all the details because I don’t speak German but she was not happy.

We waited for three hours for them to settle down and during this time Kristina and I got into a very heated debate about religion, crime, culture, and spousal abuse. Oh joy the drama! We were able to talk it ut and calm down a bit so it turned out to be a very good conversation.

Finally at 9:30 we left the hotel and left the jackass at the hotel while we went to get food and “make party”.

We parked and we were headed to this Kabop place and I got this weird feeling over me and said to Kristina “Whoa, all of a sudden I felt like I was in San Francisco. I am getting a good vibe from this place.” Well, just then this group of girls and one guy start coming towards me speaking German and I’m all like “um….English” and to my relief they all spoke very good English. And told me it was a bachelorette party and they did their thing and we talked and all the ladies were so lovely. One girl looked so much like Gwyneth Paltrow but more attractive I think, it was tripping me out. Another girl, Faa, was also lots of fun and very lovely and a little punk rock. She was teaching me all the bad German words and phrases. They found out I was from California and kept calling me “Mr. America” and “California Dreamboy” HAHAHAA it was funny. They invited us to go with them on a pub crawl while pusscat (the bride to be) had to do special tasks to get rewards so we went along.

The guy, Bartie, was cool and we had some good conversations and talk quite a bit. We hopped on the underground and went across town and drunken revelry ensued.

While we were standing on the streets watching pussycat play music and some guys paint faces on peoples bellies (I let them paint a face on my bald head) Bartie looks across at the church as a bus pulls up and loads of people start getting off and he yells “OH FUCK! CHRISTANS!” It was very funny, I laughed so hard. Oh man.

Speaking of that. The Pope was in Cologne this weekend for some youth day speaking. This is probably the closest I will ever get to seeing the pope, and um…well….it’s close enough not being catholic and all.

We hung out with the crowd until the other girls feet started hurting and against my wishes we left. I did exchange email addresses so hopefully I will be able to keep in tough with some of them.

Pics soon.

Guided bus tour of München

I bought new shoes. they are cool...I think.

We are about to hop on one of those guided bus tours on Munich. Hopefully it will be cool and I can get some good shots with the Captain.

München - More internet cafe's

You know what's funny? I have been in Germany for 5 days now and tonight was my first "German meal". And it wasn't sauerkraut and Wursts. I had Weinerschnitzel in München or Munich as we call it. It was pretty good.

Directly after dinner we headed to ANOTHER internet cafe'. Kristina is addicted to Myspace and I am to blame.

She is starting to "like" some guys she is now calling "friends" and I just hope she doesnt get hurt...but she's a big girl.

Oh yeah, two stories I forgot. The first 5 meals in Germany consisted of McDonalds, Burger King twice!, an American Sports bar which did have the second best spare ribs I have ever eaten...and all you can eat for €8, and another american bar called Palm Beach. They have lots of Statue of Liberty replicas everywhere here. Kinda funny.

the other thing...this morning in the hotel I was laying on by bed nekked because it was HOT AS HELL and no one has AC and all of a sudden this tank of a German lady bursts into my room and just looks at me. I was in shock, like a deer in headlights, frozen...and naked. I finally pulled the covers over me and she doesnt eave. She asks me something in German like 5 times and I'm all '......' and she finally leaves and the front desk called and told me I needed to be out by 11:15 and not noon like we thought.

Today on the way to München we stopped off at Legoland Deuschland and I got some great shots of Cornelius. That little guy is awesome!

Tomorrow we tour München and I hope to meet up with my friend Marcie from Austin. We shall see.

Pfortzheim, Germany...the same, but different

Well I am sitting in a small internet cafe typing on a German keyboard so if my typing sucks...

I have been here in Pfortzheim for 2 days and it is a small little town. Nothing unusual really except everything is in German. The town is really modern but still has a bit of that German ols school charm. I took a couple of cool pictures.

My hotel was so small...it was funny how small the shower was. Once I got in I could barely turn...HAHA. I'm too fat.

Yesterday I met Silvia Kristina's friend. She is very nice and like all the girls here in this town, beautiful. There has to be something in the water...

We went dancing at this club called "The Pricipal" which was pretty dead because it was Wednesday, but it was a lot of fun. I met several more of Kristina's friends and it was awesome talking to them. None of them spoke English much before but they all tried so hard and did very good. I felt very welcomed.

It was funny to talk to the people about the war. Many of them like ol' W and think he is doing the right thing. I was very surprised by this. I understand the rational behind this because it was a good discussion but I'm not going to get into it here. Ask me about it in person sometime if you want to know.

It was funny, most of the younger people had seen the Team America movie and when Kristina introduced me several of them said "AMERICA - FUCK YEAH!" HAHAHA

Dancing was great. I was a wise man and imparted my knowledge about not being an asshole to one of the guys in the club. He said "you are right...I must relax. You are wise, I like you."

Pedro told me I was A-OKAY and invited me back and for me and Kristina to go with him to Portugal next December for Holiday where his parents have a house..awesome!

I also enlightened the German kids with my awesome dancing skills. Man i'm bad!

Oh well...Kristina is bugging me to leave. We are headed to Munich now and then maybe to Vinice tomorrow...who knows...life's a journey...

London Day 2 - "Can my Monkey sit in your Ferrari?"

Day two was the Town Hall meeting and after staying at the super ritzy hotel bar until well past 2AM drinking absinthe and discussing games and music with the bartender, waiving off my friend who was trying to pick up two hot ladies and all in all being hammered, I didn’t have the wherewithal to wake up early to go tour London any further. So we headed straight to the Audley House Pub. Nice place. I had the coriander chicken and it was pretty fantastic.

The ladies working at the pub were also fantastic. I have decided that British girls are all in all lovely and fantastic.

Any who, the meeting went really well and Cornelius got kidnapped by some of the players and was in the safe guard of one of the girls all night long.

After the meeting we went for a stroll down Oxford street and I got some souvenirs and more fish and chips. Then we came across the American Embassy...needless to say there is a little but of tension there and the police guarding it were armed with fully automatic weapons and didn’t take to kindly to me putting Cornelius on the statue of Dwight D. and walking back to take the pic....

BUT I GOT IT!

Day 3 in Berlin was good. Getting there with the British Airways strike sucked and we were so exhausted...but the people were amazing and the meet went very well.

I finally got the FTP to work. So here are some more London pics.

London Day 1 - "if you must."

So I took off from SFO at 4:30pm YESTERDAY AND LANDED IN London just moments before the strike started to close down the entire airport at what would equate to 2:30AM.

We flew Virgin Atlantic in Premium Economy…oh man that’s the way to go! The seats and free booze were great and the flight attendants were all very attractive and lovely with their British accents. They reminded me of the Fanta girls…and they all loved Cornelius.

After passing through customs and getting out of the airport we headed to the hotel…WOW its nice! The hotel restaurant is Paris Hiltons restaurant when she is in town…ill get the name tomorrow.

After checking in and dropping the bags off we went and saw the palace, Big Ben, Hyde Pace, the Palace Gardens and Hard Rock London. Cornelius is awesome! Such a great ice breaker with the ladies!

After all that I came back and took a nap then Rob (a coworker\friend) called and woke me up and we headed to the bar. I drank quite a few rounds of Absinthe….good stuff the green faire is! I got a little blasted tonight and am now sitting in my room tipsy posting this. It is 1:27AM here.

Tomorrow I want to see the London Bridge and go to the Virgin Mage Store here.

Here is the first installment of Cornelius’ trip around the world.

And off I go!

(click for a really, really large image)

So tomorrow at 4:30PM I will be leaving SFO to start my journey around the world. This is a business trip so luckily I didn’t have to pay for the airfare and most of the lodging. And the really cool part, aside from the fact that I a going around the world, is that I will be gone for 21 days and only 5 of those days are occupied with actual work! The image above shows the major cites I am flying to and the smaller cities I plan on visiting.

Here is my agenda for the next 21 days:

August 11th: Leave for London
August 12th: Kicking it in London
August 13th: UO Event in London
August 14th: Fly to Berlin, Germany
August 15th: Kick it in Berlin
August 16th- 22nd: Traveling around Germany and other parts of Europe with Kristina (Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich; Venice, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Zurich, Switzerland; Innsbruck, Austria)
August 23rd: Fly from Berlin to London to Tokyo
August 24th: Tour of EA Japan, meeting prep
August 25th: UO Meeting with Japanese press
August 26 – 29th: Free time to tour Japan
August 30th: Fly back to San Francisco completing a full circle around the world

Pretty crazy huh?! Another cool thing is that my friend Kristina lives in Germany but was visiting San Fran for the summer just happens to be going back the same day I am so we are going to kick it around Europe together! Yay for travel buddies!

I am really excited and of course I haven’t started packing…

But I will be taking Cornelious the Space Monkey with me for amazing photo ops. I will post updates and images as I go.

Wish me luck and hope I got get terroristed.