Rakuten

Wow Rakuten is amazing!

They say they started doing every meeting in English and stuffs...

I passed the first selection, which was "group discussion". They made me discuss with a lot of mostly Chinese exchange students which were so forcedly trying to smile they were starting to creep me out^^.

The thing is, apparently that selection was more for trade/operations directed, rather than for the development/software engineering job I was looking for. And the guy realized that!!

So when the selection was over, they called me over the phone and told me to have a "little" interview right away. And I met the engineering recruiting guy, who was a very nice guy, and we had a talk.

He asked me stuffs I'm usually well prepared for, but as I wasn't expecting to have an interview that day, I really wasn't^^.

That really sucked, but he ended up even giving me some advice in case I passed (which I did^^).

Apparently Matz (the guy who created ruby) works there too! I was so surprised.

Anyway, I have to bring something nice to show, and think of a very good reason why I want to be hired there for next time. I'm really going for this one with all I've got!! This has to be the best change I've got so far, and the best I'll maybe ever have.

One guy in the station even told me the way to the company's tower when I was looking at the map! He just asked me in English "Are you looking for Rakuten?" with a bit of an awkward intonation but a really good pronunciation. The guy was Japanese, and an employee there! Outstanding...

ginza's company2

And I thought I was doing fine...
I thought this company was finally gonna hire me!
silly me...

I went to the last interview, they took me directly to the president's office, where he personally gave me an interview.
It didn't go that well...
It was going very well while talking about the last interview, and how I like free software/GNU software/Linux, and how I'd work in the company if I get hired.
But he suddenly made a serious face, and said: "The thing is, we like you very much, and you are obviously well fitted for the company, the only thing that stops me from hiring you right now, is your score in the 'fitting test'"...
Damn, just as I suspected.

Now, I have a big problem. Obviously, those damn tests!! Apparently, I'm too slow in the math section. And of course I don't always know the answer in the Japanese Language ones (the tests are all made for Japanese people, so it's kinda hard for foreigners...) .

I read somewhere, and usually hear, that western people aren't as good in math as Asians are. I didn't think it was true till today...

Well, I have to read the problem in Japanese, which probably takes more time than for the rest of the people taking it. But The main problem is the math itself. They problems are very hard to put in a formula already, but the numbers they give you to add/multiply,etc are even more annoying...

Before coming to Japan, I had a 100% score in math from like junior high, till high school. So everyone thought like I was a genius or something. It was just the level difference...

Apparently (or so I hear), in Europe/America math is focused not as much as calculation, as it is in expressing formulas, etc. But in Asia (I guess China too, but especially Japan, India) math is focused in calculation a lot too. So Asian students usually do very well in math classes abroad^^.

The guy even asked me once "is that because you don't like Microsoft?", omg... lol I was like "No sir, I didn't mean it like that. It's not like I don't like Microsoft or anything...", and he said "because, we really don't like them so much either^^".

I really don't know how I did. But I know I really thought I was gonna get hired by these guys, and now I really think that's not so probably. Damn.

Tomorrow I'll go to a company which has a special criteria for abroad students. They don't even make us take a written tests! We have to make group discussion. The rest of the students are mostly Chinese, so it'll be so easy ^^ (most Chinese speak Japanese like crap).

the super mario song

Just amazing... the Super Mario song, in a whole new way.

Super Mario Beatbox @ Yahoo! Video

this guy's blog

Independence day

Happy Independence day!

I'm in the mood for some fireworks^^.

What can I say, I have to thanks the states (USA) for so many things.

1. So many wonderful TV series and movies, that educated me a lot more than my own parents. Seinfeld, the daily show, the x-files, south park, Predator, Alien, Carl Sagan's Cosmos (I know, kind of out of place though^^), stargate, and of course Rambo! Too many to mention.
2. So many great music, especially METALLICA! I'd probably had killed myself back in high school if I didn't have such wonderful music to kill all my stress for the sad life I had.
3. Of course, for one of the best sources for knowledge in the world! Not only on physics having Richard Feynman, James Watson, and some other great scientists, but also for the invention of the internet, UNIX, GNU software and many more.
4. For the strongest army in the world; the US army! Who keep protecting the world's freedom by fighting terrorists everyday.
   

Most of all, the best thing America's got, is obviously GNU software^^...

Yeah, I wish I could say that for real:D

GNU/Linux is one the things I like the most. However, there's something even better in the states... Yes, I mean... beautiful blonde chicks^^. There's no guy on earth who could resist one of them:D Please, please god, if you don't give me a Japanese woman let me have an American blonde one><

See for yourself^^.

cadences!

No better way to run/jog than while listening to a cadence!

Cadences are apparently good for your breathing (some people, including me, have a pain near the stomach ---I had no idea what's that part called...--- when doing an aerobic exercise, probably because of incorrect breathing). But I don't really care that much about that. I just find them very motivational^^. Don't get me started with the US Army's commercials, which just really make you wanna join;D.

Here's one of my favorites (vid above):

From this page

"Marines for me"

--------------

(AFTER EVERY LINE UNIT SHOUTS "MARINE CORPS")

A 1, 2, 3, 4

A 1, 2, 3, 4

A ARMY, NAVY WAS NOT FOR ME

AIR FORCE WAS JUST A TOO EASY

WHAT I NEED WAS A LITTLE BIT MORE

I NEED A LIFE THAT IS HARDCORE

PARRIS ISLAND IS WHERE IT BEGAN

A LITTLE ROCK WITH LOTS A SAND

I CAN'T FORGET ABOUT HOLLYWOOD

SAN DIEGO AND IT'S ALL GOOD

PT DRILL ALL DAY LONG

KEEP ME RUNNING FROM DUSK TO DAWN

A 1, 2, 3, 4

TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR

A 1, 2, 3, 4

MOMMA NOW I'M GONNA SING YOU SOME MORE

FIRST PHASE IT BROKE ME DOWN

SECOND PHASE I STARTED COMIN ROUND

THIRD PHASE I WAS LEAN AND MEAN

GRADUATION STANDING TALL IN MY GREEN

TO ANYBODY WHO ASKED ME WHY

HERE'S THE DEAL I GAVE MY REPLY

I'LL BE A MARINE TIL THE DAY I DIE

MOTIVATED AND SEMPER FI

A 1, 2, 3, 4

TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR

A 1, 2, 3, 4

LISTEN UP I'M GONNA SING YOU SOME MORE

---(wtf is he saying here...)----

MAKIN HISTORY SO IT'S UNDERSTOOD

IWO JIMA TO THE GUADAL CANAL

KICKIN BUTT JUST EVERYWHERE

FROZEN CHOSEN TO THE HO CHI MINH

I THINK ITS TIME THAT WE DO IT AGAIN

BEIRUT LEBANON

I THINK ITS TIME THAT WE GET IT DONE

A 1, 2, 3, 4

TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR

ginza's company

Today I went to a company in Ginza. Coming from Gunma, you could clearly see the Tokyo Sky tree tower while passing through Asakusa.

It was very nice to see, and the company was not bad at all. Very few people came over the guidance though. So it was a lot easier to ask questions and to talk, besides the guy that was leading the guidance was very friendly. They offered an interview, and even paid me the train fare.

The interview went pretty well too. In fact, it was the best interview I've had so far. They really liked I have experience in Linux and open software stuff (like mysql, and php), and the fact that I speak some English as well as Japanese. Well, it was very good, but if they don't hire me I'm so gonna kick their asses for giving me so much needed hope><.

(enjoy traditional music^^)

And yesterday, I had a weird dream.

I was at juku, but to go to the classroom I had to kinda climb a very thin way, which I was holding with my hands. And it was very high, so if you looked down, it was very scary.

The thing is, my students had no problem climbing it. But I was scared as hell. So I ask some student to help me. And kinda laughed at me and "cut" the way I was climbing, so I fell down... And I think that's when I woke up^^ when I dyed... lol damn...

Anyone with a psychology degree here?? ^^

so long...

Today I went to a company's guidance in Tachikawa(立川ね,Tokyo).

The test was SO damn long!

The guidance itself was about 2 hours, they are a company called "interface".

Apparently some of their people have the hacker gene, so I was interested in going. It wasn't that much fun though; they showed us around, and although they kind of have a nice atmosphere, their computer environment wasn't that good... they all were using some crappy Windows machines. No REAL hacker uses a windows machine.

Some of them were due to the job (of embedding programs in small devices, like cellphones, etc). But some other were by choice, which I really didn't like.

They said they use SCHEME (a programming language kinda LISP), in which I was very interested (I really like emacs' lisp). But apparently the use C, and C++ a lot more... in fact, they didn't even mention SCHEME or any other programming language.

Anyway, after the guidance, they made us take a test about five hours long!!!

FIVE hours man!!!! Some of those typical IQ like tests, and some other flow-chart (like algorithms) test.

There was one especially hard, in which they asked like how to convert a hexadecimal number into a byte to a decimal number WITHOUT multiplying or dividing anything, and take each cipher and put it individually in another variable... I just couldn't figure it out so I made kinda my own multiplying and dividing chart-functions, and used an algorithm anybody can think about.

I should have shifted the bits inside or something...

Another thing that was long, was my hair. I'm shaving my head everyday... Still, however after a few hours it grows back again. Not only my head, my beard too. It sucks not being able to have a decent haircut, nor being able to just have a skinhead!

Maybe it's a hormonal thing. Because I kinda think my sexual drive is not normal^^. It's really annoying having to shave twice a day guys...