9.22.2010


For the past few days, I have been hooked onto this online game call the Mystery PI. It is a game is which you are led to several locations, and in each location you have to find a list of items as instructed in order to receive pieces of clue to solve puzzles.
I first played with part 1 about 3 years ago and now is playing with part 2 with newer and more sophisticated graphics and rules.

The main thing I wanted to say is not just about how fun the game is but how it actually taught me something.

One interesting thing they added in the new series is that they do not just list the items as it is. For example, they will not put a dog as a dog, but might put something like a man’s best friend…
When I first started the game, I realized that I couldn’t find some of the items because I had misunderstood the hints, or to be more exact, assumed that the item to look for had to be “THIS”… the “THIS” meaning, something I had pre-concepted wrongly in my mind. In the end, I realized, I had let many items right before my eyes “pass by” because I was too inflexible to change my mind set. For example, I could be asked to find a lock, and while I was busily looking for a lock, it could have been not the physical lock but the words LOCK spelled out somewhere.

After learning this lesson, every time I start a new game now, the first thing I tell myself to stop doing is to set my mind on a fix answer and then look for the item. Instead, I have to keep lmy eyes wide open while my mind continues to generate possibilities of what the answer to the hint could be.

Somehow, I think it applies greatly to the way we live our lives too. Do we fix our gaze just on one side of the coin that we fail to realize there is the other side too? Or do we busy ourselves with trying to brainwash other people and getting them to agree with ourselves that we fail to recognize the value of their input and also to allow ourselves a fresher perspective?

I know of a few people who are like that. They make comments like “everyone” thinks this way; it happens all of the time… it must be like this. There is no some… no possibilities.. it must be like this 100% of the time. I used to feel the adrenalin to rebut those statements(just for the sake of it) but now… in the same way, I am training or at least making it my goal to first listen and then pick out the value of their comments. Probably they won’t change their minds about what they are saying, or maybe they will not listen more...

But well... once again it is up to individuals...

9.17.2010

How many things do we actually need to survive?

On the very day that I arrived in Tokyo, I always had the feeling that I will be leaving soon. It wasn't because I hated Tokyo or what... in fact I really love my lifestyle now. But somehow I find myself in the always-ready-to-move mode.

This is evident in a few strange habits I have:

1. I kept the big boxes I used when I moved from Okazaki to Tokyo and is still collecting them because I feel need them soon when I move back to Singapore.

2. I do spend on "decorations", i.e unwanted, unecessary but things that looks nice in your house at times but I think twice about it now.

3. I am constantly thinking of what I can get rid in the house to lessen my load when I need to move. eg, old clothes, unwanted comics, Cds.

4. I do not have the motivation to splurge on expensive things even if they last a long time (electric appliances, furniture etc..) because I definitely do not want to bring them back to Singapore with me.

So... in one of those "thinking-of-what-to get-rid-of last night, I looked around my fully-packed apartment and thought to myself, "This is ridiculous! Does 1 person need everything that is filling up the apartment to survive?"

Strangely yes! I couldn't find anything that I should get rid of straight-away....

9.16.2010

Forgiveness….

Last week, at a seminar in church, we were taught on the topic of forgiveness.
My pastor shared with us on that when he was still a young youth pastor, he met someone in church one day. That person appeared to be very “dark” and quiet so my pastor approached him and began to make friends with him. They got on very good terms and the guy will often visit him at his house and they will talk for hours.
Then the pastor’s wife got pregnant and he had to spend more time taking care of her especially nearing her delivery date. He started to spend a little lesser time with that guy, though still very concerned about him. However, he received a letter from that guy, a long 16-page letter. In the letter, the guy wrote about how he pitied the pastor’s wife and even his unborn child because he knows this pastor isn’t going to be neither a good husband nor father. He also pitied the rest of his friends and people around him…

To cut the long story short, the pastor avoided the guy until he was about to move to another state when the guy came up to him and they made up.

So his question was how do we response to such situations?

Often, we try to stand up for our own rights, say things in defense of ourselves or our situations. But what is our intention behind it? It could be for the benefit for the person (often not tho!), to show that we are right and the person is wrong, to feel a sense of superiority, to make sure we do not get stepped on…. And it goes on…

And then the pastor’s challenge was, will you say, “Ok, I forgive you.” And no more?

I had such a challenge today.

About some time ago, I lent about 1000USD to a friend, A touring in Japan because A did not change enough money then and also didn’t want to incur credit card nor exchange rate charges by withdrawing from a bank. The money was not meant for any emergency purposes but just for shopping. A assured me that I will get the money back in 3-4 months’ time because he/she over-shopped and needed some time to save up.

I was ok with it because I didn’t really needed the money urgently.
So 3-4 months crawled pass and there were no news from A….
So I decided to drop a casual message on FB to A to check if he/she still remembered the issue.

And the first reply I got was, “Oh I was thinking of getting B (another common friend of ours from the same country as A but also staying in Tokyo) to pass you the money when he comes back for a visit or pass you the money the next time we meet.

Hmm… But we have no plans to meet at all for the rest of the year nor even the next yet… and what was the talk about giving me the money back in 3-4 months’ time? I mean A could have the courtesy to drop me a msg…
But well I told A it is ok for the time-being just wanted to check what was going on and could be using some money because I will be travelling end of year.

So A said that he/she will send the money to me by the end of the year before my trip.

Then 2 days before this, he/she wrote another message to me saying that the rates now are very high and will thus wait till the rates drop or save up more and then return the money to me.

When I first heard that, I was actually pretty pissed. I have known A for a couple of years now, been through quite a lot of fun times together and I know A is not someone who doesn’t want to return the money. But because A comes from quite a well-to-do family and is working for the family, A does not really value each dollar and cent. If it was your intention to return the money to me by the time you promised, you would have save up a little by little every month, and not go for an Europe trip ( yes A did) and then come back crying to me saying you don’t have enough money? So do I have to wait till the rates drop? When will that be?

I wasn’t upset because I badly want my money back. I am just upset at A’s lack of sense of responsibility and accountability.

See? My anger is justified right??
Or so I thought…

On the way to work on the train today, I felt God whispering into my ear....
Despite all the “right justifications”, will you hold back all the anger and say to your friend, “It is ok. I understand. (and I forgive you like how God forgave me too. )

But I want to give A a piece of my mind!!

Yes… I know you do… but will you still released the same grace you received from me to your friend unconditionally? came God’s gentle whisper.

Sometimes we try to “comfort” ourselves and say, “It is ok, God will punish that person.” I don’t really agree with that. Because seriously speaking, not all villains do get a nasty ending.
But I think God is more concern about the condition of our heart rather that person. He wants our heart to be focused on the things ahead rather than but jailed by the thoughts of when the person will be punished, how the person should be punished etc… Forgiveness is not a condition of our heart. It is a decision (and may I add, an evidence to show we are appreciating grace and mercy)

Conclusion:I felt so mugh lighter after that. I was able to be thankful I wasn't in a situation I needed the money desperately. I wasn't burdened by A's lack of initiative. I was also able to catch a glimpse of Jesus's heart when he said to God. "Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.". Trust me, I am not any holier than before. I just felt I kinda understand better why God thinks forgiveness is for the "victim".
I msg A and said it was ok I will wait till he/she is ready.

One more day to the weekend!

9.15.2010

Bliss..


It is finally turning autumn....The temperature is finally dropping below 30 deg.

After 2.5 months of sweltering heat, we are finally seeing some signs of autumn approaching.
This is the hottest year in like 100 + years in Japan.

Many deaths due to heat-stroke, especially the elderly who are unable or have been mis-informed of the use of air-con.
Time to take out the autumn clothes!

Peace of Mind


I was introduced this lotion call the Peace of Mind ( by origins) by M-chan. It has a minty fragrance and gives you a tingling, cool feeling when rubbed onto the skin.
It helps to relieve fatigue, gives you a refreshing feel by a few ways, namely, breathing in the aroma and letting it clear your throat, nose etc.. applying directly on the temples, earlobes, necks etc...
So far it has been working pretty well for me. Won't say it work wonders because it didn't get rid of my terrible headache on Monday. ( Leaving the office and going home earlier is the faithful cure) But for people who work long hours deskbound and especially in front of the PC, I think this might just give you the little oasis you need.
I read the reviews and see that people use it on long flights, drives, trips to keep them afresh too. Do give it a shot if you experience tiredness at your work place!

9.13.2010

A weekend getaway

I spent my weekend at a chalet, near Mt Fuji, just right across Yamanaka-ko.
This is a retreat venue owned by a christian organisation, rented especially to christian groups. (Pastors and missionaries get a special discount).

It was just so nice and relaxing to spend some time away from the bustling city, to a quiet peaceful chalet.
Campfire reminds me of my camping days back in school!
We had a round of name-games and then worship and also short sharing of the message.

not to forget the marshmallows after the campfire tasted great as well!

I am thinking if i should just go away myself for the weekend... time alone with God?

9.08.2010

The power of words.

Something someone said has caused me to reflect on the way I speak and response to things.
When I did, I realised that I have a tendency to be harsher than I intended.
I don't know how many people out there I have hurt in the past or angered... but well, that is not the point now because it is already in the past.

I find myself editing my original email /sms replies now and replacing them with more postitive responses.
It could be something like someone says that he/she is sending food to me and my initial reaction will be, "Food? Are you sure it won't be spoilt when it reaches me?" to "Wow! Thanks! I am really looking forward to it!"
Because at the end of the day, even if the food really reaches me spolit, I should be focusing on the good intentions of the person more.

A simple time of reflection reveals many blindspots.

8.30.2010

A breakthrough finally….

I have been a little stressed out… more like I’m irritated by a certain company and especially her IT manager who has been pestering us and dumping loads of work on us that was out of our contract scope with them. The initial contact was a trial one, which was supposed to be reviewed and then amended. But that company was so sly that we literally worked for peanuts for them for the past 5 months. Besides not receiving what was due to us, we were getting a lot of complains and negative comments from the users.

I was really pissed because I have been negotiating with the Thailand-based Belgium manager for like eternity to increase the price of the contract. He doesn’t get straight to the point with us on what is stopping him from signing the new contract with us, even though he agrees himself that we need to expand the contract. My colleagues have also been telling me to hold back my comments and not be so straight-forward on my thoughts towards the issue.
There were times I was told to amend my email because it was too straight-forward... grrrr

Initially, we suggested the best and obviously most expensive plan of 2 full-time engineers onsite. This is actually 6 times the price of what the company is paying us now.
However, it was kinda rejected. (They couldn’t swallow their pride to say it was too expensive) and they requested we give their alternatives = cheaper but less efficient plans.
In anyway, even the cheapest plan is like 4 times the price of what they are paying now.
That is also how much they are over-taxing us.

So finally, the regional ( belgium guy )IT manager made time to come to Japan last Friday. Before that, I was really praying hard that this issue will be settled once and for all. That was no way we could continue this life of getting “told off” by customers and not being able to defend ourselves. We really needed a break and move on! In fact we were prepared to already tell the IT manager, if we cannot come to a compromise, we have to call off the deal totally because we are making a loss.

BUT!!!!!

Within half an hour into our meeting, he announced that he actually had a meeting with the management and they have decided to go with plan 1.

Wooh hoh!!! Really praise be to God… Indeed He answers prayers!!

We were all so taken back actually that now we have a slight problem of manpower… because my manager didn’t believe that the 2 person full-time plan will actually work.

The meeting went on for another 2.5 hours but after he left, everyone exchanged high-fives and even the president was beaming from ear to ear.

Despite all the excitement… I quietly creeped back to my seat because I had to catch up on my work in my 2.5 hours absence *sobz* but in my heart, there was really peace and comfort. There was also the motivation to continue my work for that night….
And when I came to my realization, I have been working in the office for the last 12 hours…

Time to go home!

A weekend to myself

Finally I had a lazy weekend in which I could wake up and just lie on the couch without having to rush to go out.
When was the last time I had the chance to do that?...
I'm definitely not complaining about the activities that I am involved in. But it just made me remember once again how it is such a luxury to be able to wake up at the time I want to.

So anyway, I'm going to take a half day leave this friday to join my friends for round 2 of Arashi's concert!!

Decisions were made over the weekend over.

I have decided to hold all my remaining leave till Decemeber and this is what I plan to do:

1. Fly in to Shanghai on the 8th to sight-see for 2 days with my cousin. Then together with her, join the rest of the family going for the wedding on the 10th.

2. Fly out from Kunming to Shanghai on the 12th and then back to Tokyo.

3. Work for a week and then take 2 days off when ML comes to go for a winter hotspring trip!

ML has been to Japan 3 times but never out of Tokyo! ( except like maybe disneyland in Chiba??) ML: we seriously need to plan something this time round. I'll show you what winter is really about ( hee hee....)

So now.... I have to "dong" 3 months of no leave... hmm not that it is that difficult because we have a few holidays here and there to look forward to anyway.
Now have to check out all the air tix plans~~

8.19.2010

Interesting phenomenon

Recently, there has been a rising concern which sparked from Japan and is said to be an increasingly glaring phenomenon in the other parts of Asia.

They call it the 干物女 in Japanese, Hi-mono-onna. It describes a lady in her twenties-thirties who has “dried up” and is like that of a dried-fish. Think 魚干.

What qualifies one to be a Himono-onna? Check off the list below. It is not exhaustive.

1. No bra or make-up on weekends
2. Wear jerseys at home ( or in Singapore context, big and baggy t-shirts with food stains, holes, pockets hanging out of shorts)
3. Not interested in romantic relationships
4. Rather then to socialize in her free time, stay at home and watch TV or read mangas
5. Reply to mails in short replies or simply too lazy to reply
6. Drink beer out from the can or juices out of the bottles (too lazy to pour in cups)
7. Eat instant noodles out of the pot itself or sometimes, stand at the sink to eat
8. “Troublesome lah” or “ ma-fan” is one of your favourite phrase.
9. You only remove your hair from unwanted areas in summer ( hmm not very applicable in Singapore)
10. When you forget something after you put on your shoes, you will crawl back into the house to take it on your knees
11. You talk to the TV when you are home alone
12. You wear your clothes straight from the clothes dryer or even before you can fold them
13. You have not had a conversation with a man ( other than your colleague or family-related people) for more than 10 minutes in the past 1 month
14. You think it is troublesome to read through this list.
15. You realized it yourself too that you find it troublesome to read this list.

And it goes on….

And… I think I see myself it in. opps…

Actually this term “came to live” after a drama called Hotaru no Hikari. It is really interesting…. It is about a young lady in her twenties who is well-dressed and capable at work but when she goes home, she is a total changed person because her house is untidy, she hangs and throws her things all over the place… and too lazy to fall in love…
The reason why they used the term dried up to describe such a person is because, the image of a young and vital lady is one who is full of “water”, moisturized from head to toe.

I was talking to a Japanese guy friend last week and when I asked him if he can accept his wife wearing jerseys at home, he was like no… then I asked him, what does he expect her to wear, he said jeans.
Jeans at home??! Was the reaction of most of the ladies…

What a gap… I have to say to Men in generally. Especially Men who are thinking of marrying Japanese girls. The pretty, sweet, all dolled-up even at home ones are non-exsistence anymore. Please wake up! Don’t expect us to be all made up and be at your beck and call! We need to relax and be at our most comfortable state at home!

And…. We don’t want to be perspiring in summer in our jeans too.




The time of the year

So....

the "time" of the year has come again. Not for fireworks, for just for sunflower fields nor bbqs at the river-side...

Arashi annual concert kick-starts this weekend!!

Only that I have a sore throat ( already much better) and a stuffy nose... Actually I am not having a blocked nose anymore.. But I still sound like my nose is stuffed so I sound more sick than I really am. It's good though, everyone thinks I am so working so hard despite not feeling week when I am actually furiously typing away on the keyboard for the blog.

Heck lah... we need a break at work at times.
And..
No one from work ever reads this too.
They didn't, will not, will never.

But...

Actually I think I'm only say 70% geared up for it.

I attribute it to my not tip-top health condition, the no-so-nice new songs they have on the album. I have listening and trying to get my ears used to the songs before the concert starts...
but then again, just go with a light-hearted manner is the best.
Especially when Arashi concerts usually involves complicated issues revolving different people over tickets.
I missed the good old days when the "four" of us went for the Time con together in 2007... Things are so different now...
Everyone is guessing what other people are thinking, lamenting their "poor" luck, making sure everyone's happy...

Ok but anyway, at least my friend gets to go this weekend together. A relief for me.

8.18.2010

The downs at work

A sales guy, a leader from another team and my boss (a little) really pissed me off today..

We were supposed to submit a proposal and some documents to accept the invitation to tender to a certain company by 1300 today. (8/18)

This invitation was sent to us like somewhere the last week of July so we had a good 3 weeks at least to complete it. Since this is not a new customer too, we didn't have to work from scratch and just had to brush up the current contract and to include some new ideas.

The contract was divided in 2 parts, the helpdesk part and the full-time onsite outsourcing part.

I did my part in checking all the helpdesk details, raising questions, holding meetings with my boss and then clarifying doubts with the procurement manager whenever needed.

Throughout the whole time of checking and raising possible questions, the leader of the other team and the sales guys kept complete silence. No contribution at all on their part.

Fine.

So anyway, since many of them were going away for holiday from last week, I specifially reminded my boss who is going on a holiday too and only coming back TODAY ( day of submission) to get to it done asap. But... he didn't even till the day he was due to leave.

Fine again.

He told me he was going to write up the proposal in Japanese over his 1 week holiday and I told him to send the complete parts even in bits and pieces whenever possible because I had to re-write everything in English!! I foresee it is impossible to finish everything if he is going to give them all to me in one shot.

But he didn't obviously...

He finally emailed me at like 11:30pm yesterday night and expected me to finish everything by 1pm today. Of course he didn't command me to do it... He said just do your best and if you cannot finish, just send in Japanese.

C'mon... the other party can't even read Japanese! If I really did that, then the contract is gone for sure.

But somehow, by God's grace.... really really by grace and favor with my other colleagues who knew I had to finish this up with no disturbance, I managed to finish writing everything in English somewhere before the due time.

Then to my horror, I realised there is a need to let my president sign all the documents, fill in all the prices which I have not received instructions for...
But guess what? None of them were to be found that moment. No one who had the power to make the decision was around.

So... I got really pissed... I dug up some past information and emailed to all of them that I am going to put this certain price, in which if nobody emails me back, that is going to be the final one.
They emailed me back of course.. each giving a different quote.
SEE! None of you sat down to discuss when you had so much time to!

Anyway... in the end, with the help of another director, we managed to get the President to sign the documents. ( he was really being very gracious... he signed not even having to read the contents. Very dangerous Mr President. )
Once again, with lots of sigh, a bit of anger but much grace and supernatural strength, we gathered and finally could submit all the necessary stuff on time.

Seriously speaking.... I don't think the Sales guy deserved a single cent of the commission. I wanted to write an email to "scold" them and warn them never again to give me such last-min work...
But somehow I withheld. I am not afraid of them thinking badly about me.... I just didn't want to add fuel to the fire. What's the point of making my boss feel worst...
Yup... I think I withheld because of him. He is a nice guy, he works hard... but well well... forgiveness and tolerance I guess.

My boss emailed me later to apologised though...

Running nose and a sore throat...

Been battling with these 2 symptoms for the past 2 days. I don't where the sore throat came but I think the runnning nose was due to the fact I have been blasting my air-con for the past 2 days.
I was really afraid of getting heat-stroke when it was reported on the news that some elderly died in his home because he was too poor to pay for electricity hence unable to on the aircon. Quite a sad story... because his son was out apparently at the point of time buying some ice for him.

I have been seeking comfort from the vicks inhaler my friend sent me ages ago!
Good thing I saved it till now...

Now with all the flu symptoms, I am really craving for a cup of sour plum soup suddenly! How to make?

8.11.2010

Boring week at work...

I think I have been really neglecting this blog so think I should put in more effort to update.

Since the beginning of last week, I have been working the "Morning shift" which starts from 8:00~17:00 ( Can leave earliest a 16:30) But then again, who leaves early at work in Japan offices....
Even when there is nothing much.. really nothing much to do, people still stay on because they are afraid of going against the norms.
I am somewhere in between I guess... I can't say it doesn't take me courage to stand up and announce I'm going home ( so far 5pm is the earliest I've tried) and every step till the door is still a little heavy and stressful.
But heck! I just have to get used to it. They also have to get used to me leaving early too.

Actually I do quite like the arrangement because the first hour in the morning is very quiet. It is just for standby but usually there are no calls from users nor disturbances from colleagues. I can sit around and do my own stuff peacefully or like what you see now, update my blog filled with cobwebs~~*cough* *cough*

The last week, except for Monday which I had a meeting after work that lasted till 10pm in the night,was pretty relax because most people (meaning clients) are off from work because of Obon.(something like Qing Ming) Which gives me time at time to clear up some mundane work that has been shelved away from the light for centuries. Also... gave me some time to think about how I should spend my remaining leave for the year because I kent bring them forward to the next anymore.

Right now I have a few plans:

1. Attend my cousin's wedding in Kunming in Dec.
2. Visit my cousin in Shanghai
3. Leave a couple of days off with ML who is coming end of year.
4. Take 1 or 2 days off to rest after the retreat for fellowship, and after the Life-change seminar retreat
5. Go to Seoul with my cousin
.......
They are in terms of priority... and it should have been the answer to how I plan my leave but.. here is the problem.

1. I checked various airlines and I realised it takes me like 12 hours ( fly to beijing, wait for transit) just to get to Kunming itself! which means, a 2-way trip takes me a good 24 hours, not yet accounting for the transit to airport, check-in time... with the very few days of leave I am planning to take, I am not sure if I will still have fun there.. despite really wanting to attend the wedding. But I never know.... I pretty work on impulse. I might just go ahead with it.

2. Shanghai. It looks so pretty from my cousin's photos! Maybe I can pop over to the expo as well... I am not excited about visiting the expo tho... more of my cousin's svc apt.

3. Since ML's coming for a week and she has never stepped out of Tokyo though this will be her 3rd trip here, I think I'll take a day or two to bring her to the outskirts for some real snow and hotspring.

4 &5... can wait!

Ok.... now I just need to check my colleagues leave schedule too!

6.03.2010

busy busy busy

with the increased staff and increasing contracts....

with the upcoming week-long business trip...

with big and small issues of team mangement...

ok back to work.

6.02.2010

My recent weekend

One of the happiest thing that happened to me recently is to be able to meet up with one of my best friends in Tokyo.

I have always like showing people around and it becomes more special when it is with someone so important to you because you would like them to know the kind of place you are staying in, the places you hang out in, the things you do in your free-time, just basically everything that sums up my life in Tokyo!

A pity though... I think I wasn't a good host good enough because I think I don't really know where are the "fun" places in Tokyo. Is it because I am too localised or have I been too cooped up in my own house?

Both I guess...

My idea of fun hardly involves walking around Tokyo and my ideal relaxation, if not treking in the suburbs or enjoying a hearty meal in a comfortable hotspring hotel will be to do spring-cleaning at home.

But still I am so thankful we had a great trip driving ( thanks michael!) to Fuji-Q-Highland where Mt Fuji is. Though we couldn't see Mt Fuji because of the black clouds, I am so thankful to God that he held the rain back while we were in the amusement park. You should be so amazed how God answers prayers! I was praying so hard on the way because it was starting to drizzle. But nor a single drop of rain fell on our heads throughtout our whole time in the park. It only started to pour the minute we got into the car. And for that, we managed to even eat the delicious hoto ( a big pot of specially made noodles with the creamiest vegetable soup ever) which was discovered by Ting, Yue and I on our trip 4 months back.

Love you Choonie!! And we need to do this more! I'm looking forward to our next trip. ( cross finger it will come true!) and please don't give me more frights by talking to me suddenly in the middle of the night.

Changed my blog layout and background

I just got tired of reading the small words and complicated background so I decided to change it to a simplier one.

I think this should encourage me to update the blog more and probably ( probably... post more photos)

I think I should just rely and post less on Facebook...

tune in!

5.04.2010

The truth about guys

Today my guy friend shared with me a little on what guys think about.

He said that guys like to think they are the best in the world. If he is a father, he would like to think that he is the best daddy, if he is a husband, he will to think that he is the most loving husband.. and it goes on.
Being the best father also means you are the most handsome guy in your kids' and wife's heart. Men like to think that they are ultraman and while they might forget "little things" like anniversaries or to put down the toilet seat after they are done, they will definitely be around to rescue their damsels in distress.

If you start to praise other guys in front of them ( only as a matter of fact) they will think begin to compare themselves unnecessarily to that guy.

His final word on this topic. Don't say Batmans are better in front of Ultramans.

5.02.2010

Happy Golden week!!

Happy Golden week to those who are working in Japan or following the Japanese calendar... It is finally the long-awaited long weekend ( which consists of a 4-day holiday!)although there is a working day stuck in between the first and second holiday, we still got a 5 straight day break anyway!

This year I am just going to be good and stay in Tokyo. ( oh yes... I was travelling for the past holidays)

So... april came and went past. Which means.... we are almost at the end of the first half of the year. I once saw this on the TV. It says that as we age, we also begin to feel time passes faster. So... I am just so going to stop saying that time flies but to enjoy every moment.

So what did I do since the last update?

My friends came.... and I had a roaring 2 weeks going out with them and partying...

I went for a V6 concert last week...

And...

I got an iphone! The best part of it is... it is my company phone so I am using it for free with my bills paid. I spent so much time the first few days looking at the applications!
And all thanks to C and H, I am using Whatsapp now!! For those who dunno, it is an application that allows you to chat for free with anyone who is using iphone anywhere in the world!
Yes!! free sms and mms and it is in a form of chat!!
So... I am chatting with C especially even till the wee hours into the night, sending pictures of our food, or anything that catches our attention....
Never felt so happy to be in touch with people....

Of course, not forgetting M, the person top on my list whom I chat with the most! We literally chat on anything that is available to chat, gmail, sms, msn....

The GW is really a much needed break. Apart from work, it also gives us a breather and time to put away the winter clothes and to air our summer clothes. Today, marks the day I finally put away my electric blanket!! I am wary of the weather changes tho... so it is still within my reach.
Other than that, I throw away a while bag of rubbish today!

Spent my night at S's place last night. Had a good time eating the feast he and his wife prepared, lazing around, watching Tv with them... Really thank God for this nice couple whom I always hang out with.

And.... there is a BBQ party at the park tomorrow for the church! They couldn't choose a better day with a better weather. 20Deg at the peak so I am so looking forward to bathe in the sun rays while feasting on the meat!!

** those using iphone, let me know!!

4.06.2010

Partying hard^^

I have been staying out late everyday since last thursday....
I guess this is really the season for visiting.

I had friends who were over in Tokyo since last week.

More friends from Japanese last time who came to visit.

On saturday we went for Hanami ( sakura viewing, picnic, drinking parties) at the Yoyogi Park and it was just awesome. You would have thought we were at some international summit..

Our friends include people from Singapore (me), Malaysia, Taiwanese, Hk, Czech Republic, US, Spain, France, China, Russia ( and not forgetting Japan obviously). It really amazes me how we, people from a myraid of backgrounds, growing up in different cultures, speaking in so many different languages can come under a common umbrella call Fun and Laughter.

For that record, we do get confused too. My HK friend who speaks to me in Chinese or English, breaks outs in fast Cantonese at times, Another American friend who usually speaks to me in Japanese started sprouted instructions in English...

But all in all, I am also glad for the opportunites to know these people and thankful for modern day technologies like Facebook...

but.... I can't help but feel tired....
My skin's suffering from the lack of sleep.
My body's in a drudgery state.
When I woke up this morning, I couldn't even walk in a straight-line...

You just can't stop time from moving forward.
If that is case, move faster till the weekend puleazzeeee...

3.29.2010

I'm back

From my seoul trip^^

Can't believe how much I enjoyed myself just in the short 5 days. ( make it 3 full days minusing off the plane rides)

While I can't much digest the idea of making a living there ( besides not speaking the language), I have been bumped head-on countless times in the streets by impatient koreans in a hurry. They don't apologise for that matter.


But despite the supposedly rude appearance, we were so touched by people who stopped to give us directions voluntarily ( that at one point, they just feel too strange to be kind), we had helpful taxi-drivers who called up other people for help in directions when we were lost... All in all, I was certainly impressed by the warmth of the Koreans.


And of course in Korea, I could do 2 things among others that I enjoyed most.

1. Eating cheap korean food ( I lurrvveeee korean food!)
2. shop and survey cheap skin care.


Oh yes.... I do like shopping for that matter. But shoes and clothes are often the bottom of my list because of the not-readily-available shops for my bigger than average body (er hem..) and the hassle of trying them on. Epecially in winter. Period.


Bags.. well... I won't say I don't like them but usually that 1 item ends the trip. I mean you can't possibly be shopping and buying like 10 bags a day can you?! Window shopping is no kick to me. If I set out to shop, I better be back home with my arms full of bags of things I really like.


But skin care is different! There are so many things to check out! You could start from the cleanser ( for different skin types), the lotion, moisturier, essence ( for different effects, brightening, tightening of pores, anti-ageing...) then you have the make-up base, fountation and the lip gloss is like another shop altogether!


But basically, skin care regime is something I will never get lazy in ( oh yah, I confess I don't bother to iron clothes at times) But I believe a good skin is the only way to save time for make-up and possibly saves you more money on anti-ageing products in the future too!


Last but not least, had the priviledge to travel with a great bunch of ladies^^ it is always not easy to travel in a group and especially when there were first-time meetings among us... but it was also amazing that we kinda hit if off easily and was so agreeable on where to go.


I am already looking foward to my next Seoul trip.. probably in a few months' time~~

3.20.2010

I found it!

I always have friends who tell me how excited they feel each time they are at the airport (ready to travel out) and how fun plane rides are.

I never understood that feeling.... because plane rides to me are boring, uncomfortable, drying, backaches etc....

I mean I love travelling to a new country or even home but the fun for me starts only after arrival.

Till today!

I am actually feeling perked up and excited about my flight 4 hours later.

Then I understood why!

I have been taking morning flights all these while and was too simply too sleepy and grouchy in the morning to feel any excitment!

Afternoon flights are best!

3.19.2010

I am heading for Seoul tomorrow evening!

I have been waiting for this day to come eagerly because I have always wanted to go to Seoul! People caution me that I will get sick of Kimchi and garlic but I don't care because they are on the list of my favourite food!

For the records, I can have kimchi soup everyday, 5 days a week! I love korean fried dumplings, pancakes, tofu soup, bbq meat etc.... this is really the first time I am so excited about going to a new country because of the food. I just wish Japan could offer more affordable korean food here...

Not to mention I am also excited about the spa we should be going to. It is an all-in-one thingie.. You get them to massage you, scrub your back, get yourself warmed in the sauna or hotspring, and cucumber facial apparently!

Lastly not to forget, there will be a mass gathering of people from various countires and different timing! A friend flying in from China, another from HK, 3 of us from Japan but on 2 separate days^^

It is amazing how things work.

My only regret: That carol can't join us!

p/s carol: shin said she is interested to go to seoul someday too! Let's go again ne!

3.08.2010

Quite tickled!

Quite tickled by my cousin who fwd the below to me. enjoy!

================================================

The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at5:00 AM " He left it where he knew she would find it.The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight.
Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up." Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

WIFE VS. HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.An earlier discussion had led to an argument andneither of them wanted to concede their position.As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs,the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
"Yep," the wife replied , "in-laws

WOMEN'S REVENGE

"Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase.As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse."So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.
"No," she replied, " but my husband refused to come shopping with me,and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.

"UNDERSTANDING WOMEN(A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)

I know I'm not going to understand women. I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax,pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root,and still be afraid of a spider.

W O R D S

A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day...30,000 to a man's 15,000.The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men..
.The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

CREATION

A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can beso stupid and so beautiful all at the same time."
The wife responded, "Allow me to explain.God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first,and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here andyou should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.
"Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Biblet hat the man should do the coffee.
"Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testamentand showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says........ .."HEBREWS"

God may have created man before woman,but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

3.07.2010

スリッパデビュー!






いつもお姫様の気分で^_^

ふふふふ♪♪

3.03.2010

The story goes on...

So now will be part 2 of my blog post on that USA counterpart.


Yes, the one who didn't turn up for the meeting.


I emailed her to confirm our re-schedule meeting and at the very last line, I sort of asked her why she didn't turn up.


As a true blue irritating white ( so I say irritating because there are non-irritating ones around) she said that while she got the timing wrong, she was connected to the PC for 15 mins waiting for us to come online and hence wasting that previous time with her family because it was a sunday. She added on that, the time for our next time meeting is actually out of her work hours and she is only doing it for US because she has lessons before that and she could be back at home just in time to do it.

Before I shot my mouth off again. I do and I really DO appreciate it when people does things out of their convenience for the sake of others. But hey, have some professionalism will you?! This is YOUR job! If you are going to do it, then do it joyfully and not complain and then write a whole load of family-related personal issues to a complete stranger. I really don't understand why they will mingle family issues into work-related emails.


If you think that is a waste of your previous time with your family, then don't agree to do it! It is your right to reject it in the first place. Then of course that will depend on how your company deals with such issues in the future.


In any case... I don't understand why my team, as a complete non-related party to this issue has to step in the middle of their office politics and let ourselves be the vessel for venting their anger.


And.... just as I was typing this ( half way during break in the office), another example of us being stuck in the middle as a innocent third party while the co. above involves themselves in more internal broil...

back to more headaches.

3.02.2010

Working in a Japanese company….

Or japan is really all about apologizing profusely…

I think I blogged about it sometime ago but it is still something that I cannot accept nor grow used to after working in Japan for 3 years.
(Oh yah it has been 3 years!! 3/1 marks the 3rd anniversary of working in Japan and in my current company!!)

I really hate it. (Hate to use the word hate) when something happens and my colleague tell me, “In any case, let’s apologized first”
I do not hate to apologize. I only detest it when 1. It is NOT my fault nor has ANYTHING to do with me. (I do apologize on behalf of my colleagues) 2. Saying sorry does not SOLVE the problem at all and is only providing the most convenient escape route out. (Some Japanese thinks that once they apologize, they can close the case and not think about remedies or prevention for future possible case.)

Actual case 1.

I wrote an email on behalf of a user to the IT team of HER co in US to request for them to do some setup on her PC. After all the arrangements have been done, the IT personnel just conveniently forgot about the meeting and the user waited in vain for her for 2 hours. But well, since the job is to be done via remote-desktop, it wasn’t really like she wasted her 2 hours anyway. But guess what, she came back to me and blamed me for the 2 hrs wasted.
Hey! I was like “huh??” I wasn’t the one who didn’t turn up. It was someone from YOUR own colleague! Why do I have to apologize on behalf of YOUR own colleague! And the best is that IT personnel didn’t even apologize to me nor explain why she didn’t turn up! She once again, conveniently asked for another meeting. Does my apology solve the current problem of her skipping the meeting? NO!! Will it prevent her from forgetting the meeting again?? Answer is NO!! again!
So I wrote an email again to politely tell her, that while I deeply regretted what happened, I am in no position to guarantee such things will not happen again if her colleague does not cooperate, adding on that we will think of remedies to prevent such things from happening again.
Guess what?
No reply from her.
Ungrateful brat.

OK.. sorry I sounded so bitter. But I think Japanese should just get out of their shell, stop thinking that the world revolves around them. (Hey they do think that they are in the centre of the world)
Stop categorizing people (white are not necessary the best) and start to treat humans as real humans.

And I really don’t see why my life should all be just about apologizing profusely for NOTHING. We need to jiang li.

3.01.2010

The hype over

Finally... all the hyper is over for winter olympics... I was literally glued to the TV in the past week especially on news of Asada Mao, one of the 3 ladies competing in the ladies Figure Skating component.


You can go google on her.. She was Japan's best bet for a gold medal but lost out to her long-time rival, Kim Yuna of Korea.


Well... though my heart ached really big time for Mao because she had waited a long 4 years for this. 4 yrs ago, though she won the world championship she couldn't qualify for olympics because she was underage ( at 15).


When interviewed about her emotions regarding getting a silver, she tried to give comments that she is happy blah blah blah... but she couldn't contain her tears and she started crying.
This is the first time since I started watching Mao 4 years along unable to control her emotions.
She is usually humble and positive, looking on how to improve herself for the next competition.


But.. what really impresses me.. or makes me a little shameful is when I see how these girls at 19 has such a clear goal in their minds, ( the Korean girl's 19 as well) and how they overcome each difficulty in their performances with unceasing practise.

There was the Tokyo marathon 2010 yesterday and a comment a runner made stayed in my heart.
He said " As long we we do not give up and don't stop running, we are slowly but defintely moving forward."

Indeed... must apply this to my life too.

2.25.2010

The appeal.

I sent a mail out to most of the people I keep in contact with through emails a few days ago regarding an appeal to help a boy.

Interestingly, I had a few friends who came back to me asking if it was really me or was it a Spam, or asking me to check if my account was hacked.

I am glad for such reminders though especially when hacking and spam are like as common as cucumbers with chicken rice. When I was drafting the email, I tried to think of how I should piece my words so that it will sound like me and not just like any other spam.
But it is not exactly working because people hardly read till the end, they will probably read the first few lines and either chuck the mail away or probably it was filtered into their spam mail right from the start.

This gets me really annoyed though. Not with my friends but with people who sends spam. YOU are the ones who made the emails such an annoying experience for people, especially those who do not check their mails frequently.

I don’t want to elaborate more on that but just for those who are reading this right now. That email was from ME. I wrote it and sent it out because I felt that was something I could do. I am not sure if misfortune will befall on me if I do not forward chain mails sent to me but I am sure with every forward button push for that letter, that is one more candle lit up for the boy’s future. It may not be in dollar and cents like I said. It could be a prayer, could be your awareness, and could even be your efforts to let someone else know.

For those who didn’t receive my email, I am calling out on behalf of a friend (who resides in Dhaka now) to raise funds for a boy of 8 years old. He was born deaf and through my friend’s efforts he was able to come to Singapore to receive treatment which will restore his hearing.
NUH has kindly agreed to do the operation at half the cost. But yes, he still has to cough up with that money of about 50K, which is virtually impossible to a single-income family in Bangladesh.
If you would like to make a difference in just this one life, please get back to me (either email or the comments beside) and I will get back to you with the details.
I think the deadline will be Mar 1st so that the money will be handed over to NUH and the family in time.

THANKS A LOT!!!

2.13.2010

The beauty of children

On the way home after a long long long, tired and busy day at work, I sat on the train drained and ready to pass out anytime.

Then came onto the train a cheerful couple and their daughter of about 2 in a pram. As I was sitting in seat with low side arms, the little girl was pushed right beside me.

As her parents was chatting away happily, she was somehow looking so intently at me and throwing me smiles in between.

Even in such a low-fuel mode, the strength to smile back came naturally so we began making faces at each other.

Then came my stop and as I got ready to stand up to alight, she raised her hands up to wave and mouthed a silent good bye to me.

I couldn't stop smilling ( like a fool) as I got off the train. I was just so touched by her gesture somehow.

Children are not precious just because they looked cute or behave cutely but because of their innocence and the beautiful and pure heart not yet tainted by the demands of the world.

2.09.2010

Post updates

About my wound....

I finally got round to my senses and decided I should go see a doctor in case of any possible infection.

It was quite funny how the men at my workplace reacted. They all trembled in fear when I looked like I was going to open up the bandage to show them my wound. My manager argued, men are naturally terrified of blood because they don't see it as much as women do. My colleague and I looked at each other and burst out laughing... that's true! To us, it is a monthly affair, what you call 家常便飯。

So anyway, when I got to the doctor, the blood has already clotted so there was just slight bleeding from removing the bandage. So the doctor told me he was going to first disinfect it and then apply some cream. He told me to get ready because it was going hurt in the process, to which I held my breath and got ready for the pain. But guess what?

It didn't hurt AT ALL!

In fact, I felt nothing at all and I was like "huh? what's that false alarm for?" Got me all nervous for nothing.

He also prescribed pain-killers, ( no need loh!!) and pills to ease the gastric as it is one of the possible side-effect for the pain-killers ( really extra!!) sighz... I should have told the administrator I do not need the above 2 at all.

So now... in order to regain my beautiful finger, I need to religiously clean and disinfect my wound daily till new skin appears...

2.08.2010

A bloody affair!!

I cut my finger on saturday while I was cutting vegetables...

Unfortunately, it wasn't a slight slit. I actually sliced off a piece of my own flesh! ( yes I saw it flew to a short distance in front of me).

Immediately blood oozed out like mad and I had to run to grab a towel to wrap it up. Actually I think I was really calm in the whole process. There wasn't much pain so things were pretty much under control.
Since blood didn't look like it was going to stop soon, I bundle it up with the same towel, wrap up my hand up with a glove and went to bed.

The next day, I took out the bandage to change for a fresh one before setting out for church. Just as I was leaving house, I happened to glance in the direction of the wall where I rested my hand while wearing my boots, I saw a trail of blood! Gave me a big shock!
So I hurried back into the room for more plasters only to find trails of blood on the floor, my laptop and more in the bathroom basin.
It looked just like any scene out of a drama series. Blood-soaked towels, bandages, plasters and tapes strewn over the table, trails of blood around....

But since I was in a hurry, I couldn't really unbandage myself. I just grabbed another towel hoping to suppress the blood flow.

Got to church safely.. but as I was worshipping, I felt blood dripping out of the bandage again... Had to refrain from raising my hands too high. In fact I kept both hands to myself cus I had to use the towel to stop the blood from oozing out!

The blood has stil not stopped as of last night before I slept... It starts to flow whenever I take off the bandage... So I think I should go to the hospital today!

But something I learned and confirmed.

The best thing to use to stop heavy bleeding in a emergency is the sanitary pad!!
Think an emergency say on the road. The few minutes just before the ambulance arrives and you have a case of heavy bleeding. It is probably hard to find sterile gauze immediately but if there are ladies around, there is a high chance someone will also be carrying sanitary pads with them! It is sterile, easy to the skin and absorbs blood too!

This is what I like about first aid. Improvisation!!

2.07.2010

A highly recommended(?) book??

I have been keeping myself occuppied, curling up with a book before sleep every night for the past week.

This book, Secrets to being a desirable women by Michelle Hammond, was given to me by my good fren TPL a few years and strangely enoughly, I have not really had the urge to pick it up till now. ( sorry peiz!)

Before everyone starts imagining things, it is not a book teaching you on how to be the "desirable women" in the worldly sense of how you should talk and behave nor approach guys. It is more on how a christian lady should behave and live her life so as to prepare the way as God brings that Man into her life.

I first started reading it with a tinge of contempt... especially on the point that ladies should always keep to where they are and let the guys come to approach them. Her theory being, Men are created to be the hunter....

But?! I am sure some of you can identify with me how some guys we meet are just so wishy-washy, indecisive or just plain shut up in their own world to notice the people around him and they need the help of us to awake them or to give them the push......

But before I could go on... I realised yah maybe she is right... I don't think I would really want to date such a person anyway. All of us probably if ideally, wants to be treated like a queen on the throne and not some richshaw puller who has to go out of the way to invite the guy on the rickshaw and then end up being the one pulling this relationship around. Just to add on, being the queen on the throne doesn't mean you sit around and shake your leg while ordering your subjects around. The role equivalent of someone "important" is to protect, love, support and care for the welfare of that someone who enthroned you.

She goes on to give examples of how we ladies like to help our men with excuses like he doesn't call because he is busy with work, or probably has misplaced our number... Doesn't give enough presents because he is not the type to...

Then think again of the unwanted suitors you have, how they continued to called and pester you even though you ignored them so many times..

How true... in a funny way really. I could really identify with both the examples she gave. I have been in both.

In the end, my greatest reward at the end of the day is to discover the antidote to cure that "longing for a partner". I think it is also the antidote to loneliness, insecurity, over-sensitivity and the list goes on...

The answer is to make yourself busy. I am not talking about drowning yourself in unmeaningful activities but things you enjoy doing, exercising your gifts or directing that love to people who need it. It may not be a man, but it maybe a orphan who needs some adult's guiding love or an elderly who needs a chating partner.
When you truly start to enjoy and live your life meaningful and positively, this translates into a form of invisible energy that drews people to you I guess.

1.20.2010

An interesting experience^^

And... guessed what?

I was....

scouted by a shop to model their clothes!

Of course, its target consumer group are not skinny, anaemic babes wanna-be but the so-called bigger girls. Plus size clothings!

The boss or person-in charge apparently saw my photos on facebook through one of our common friends and she and her staff liked how I look.
To keep the records straight, their clothes are supposed to be for the young and fashionable and not for the shapeless aunties.. ( ah -hem.. )
Haa.... dunno how and what was the yardstick used to judge that.
But too bad for us, I am not in Singapore so I couldn't take up the offer!

I actually have had thoughts of modelling for plus size clothings.. not that I think I am model material but just wanted to try how it feels like to be all made-up by professionals. SO think more of a photo-shoot thing.

Okies... so FB is also a potential place to be scouted. Hope more of such chances, in which I can actually try out will come my way in the future too!

1.09.2010

I'm back!

A very long flight to me....

Especially when I was stuck at the windowless wall side. I was too paiseh to ask the persom beside me to move so I only went to the toilet once in the 7 hrs on flight. =(

But I just love the weather in Singapore so much! so much better that the freezing cold that eats into your bones in Tokyo.

And the food is good and cheap!

On the flight, I entertained myself with watching one of my favourite variety shows first. But I couldn't stifle my laughter so I thought I better stop before I disturb the person beside me or make a fool of myself...

So I switched to watching movies. I managed to watch about 1 and 3/4 of the other. ( couldn't finish it in time for landing!) Coincidentally it was movies on letters. Both were Japanese. Both were touching that I couldn't stop tearing as well..

well well... back in my beloved singapore!

1.08.2010

Kamisake Mou sukoshi dake

Does this look familar to some of you out there? This is a super old show ( 12 yrs ago) used to be one of my favourite Japanese drama. I remembered going gaga with Candy ( my JC classmate) over Kaneshiro Takeshi ( Jin Cheng Wu) and also the cute sanrio stuff the female characters were using. I remembered strongly recommending ( practically forcing down their throat?!) my friends around to watch.

Somehow, dunno what came over me and I thought I will watch this drama again.

Wow.... 12 years passed just like this.

I remembered I was so crazy over their fashion.... but when I watched it again, I couldn't laughing at how "lao tu" they are now. It was also quite funny to see how the female lead ( Fukada Kyoto) was so young then. But in reality, she has the exact same birthday as me. ( Same day, month and year) so looking at her 12 years ago is similar to thinking about the me 12 years ago.

One thing that never changed. Kaneshiro Takeshi is still so handsome! I was squealing here and there while watching it.

If I am not wrong, the friend who introduced me to Fukuda Kyoto was chunz my good friend. ( chunz: surprised?!) Yah now I think back, it was her who first introduced me to watch Oni No sumika ( with kelly chen) cus, in her words, " got many mei-nus!" I did and then I became a Fukuda Kyoto fan thereafter... In fact I think my brother and his friend also went gaga together with us over the drama.

Anyway, just one thing I wanted share about what came up in the show that I thought was really wise.

The female lead ( who contracted AIDS) attempted suicide after she saw some other lady kissing Keigo ( Kaneshiro). She felt that no one cared about her ( including her mother who is having an extra-marital affair) and that no one will care even if she dies.
When Keigo heard that, he lashed it out at her saying, " You have been too pampered. Human are not as simple as you think they are. They do not only have 1 single thing that is important to them. Your pride is hurt just because you think you are not being treated as the MOST important one with TOP priority".

Opps... as usual without the gift of the pen, I think I am not doing enough justice to where he said. ( trust me, I had to pause the drama for like 10 seconds just to ponder on what he said and also to wipe my saliva away)

Not to point fingers at anyone nor any situation. Can you all identify with this? Like having a partner who seems to hang out more with some other friends, parents who seem to focus their attention more on another sibling or friends who would could never spare the time to meet up. Of course there are people who are plain lazy to socialise etc... I think this is a good reminder to us that as everyone of us are juggling more than a single important issue or people in our lives. In fact, everyone is important in their way, unique in their own value. No one is replacable by anyone else in the world! Or at least I think so. None of my friends will ever be replaced someone else.

Talking about.... a upcoming wedding reminded me of all the good friends I have and treasured. I was imagining.... fantasizing about the day I should get married. I feel so blessed that despite being really hopeless in most things ( no gifting in talking, drawing or performing...) God has placed so many talents around me. People whom I can arrow to coordinate the wedding, be Emcee, organise the guests, decorate, give ideas... I can also have a multi-national wedding with people flying in from all parts of the world... mixed children to be page boy or flower girl (kao ni le xiao bai!)
I can think of who will be my side helping me memorising my wedding vows or giving the best friend speech on stage.

problem is....

no candidate for the important role of the groom yet!

1.06.2010

Step and Go^^

My theme for the year is to STEP and GO. ( another adaption of arashi's songs)

There are many meanings to the word Go. It could literally mean Going to many places physically, stepping out of comfort zones into new frontiers mentally...

Somehow I just want to travel and move around a lot this year. I was reminded of real-life story I saw on TV about this Japanese lady who contracted a terminal illness. She was told that she only had about 6 months to live. Instead of using that time for treatment, she chose to travel around Japan to visit her friends for the last time.

This is something I want to do too... Not that I have any terminal disease. But somehow this year, I do want to visit friends overseas ( really missed some friends!) And when I thought of making a list, I realised I DO have many friends overseas all over the place.

*people, start to make space for me when I go over!*

I want to travel with my good friends too! I was planning to do so last year but it didn't really get to pass.

So first on my list, I have my oldest buddies ( known them for like 18-20 years) coming to Tokyo in about 2 weeks' time.

Then I have also gone ahead to book my trip to Seoul end Mar ( sorry Carol!! Take this trip as a recee, we'll definitely go again together! And Im als saving my US trip for you!)

And I so much want to show my good friends around in Japan, this country which I so love... those who have gotten my invitation please take it up! Free accomodate and guide, who else provides so good service!

1.04.2010

What Arashi taught me

AH hem---- So yes I want to talk about my favourite artiste group Arashi.

A few days, the 5 of them went on a quiz show which tests them things on Kanji ( Japanese chinese character, both reading and writing), current affairs, general knowledge and even English. They were pitting against 2 groups, the regulars ( who have a pretty high rate of winning) and a group of quiz show regular intellectuals.

Anyway, Johnny boys ( arashi's talent agency) ain't famous for producing pretty boys with brains. Most of them are just high grads, dropouts..

Seriously speaking, from just the looks of it, they were really against the odds with just one single University graduate whom they were all depending on. To top it off, they had 2 bakas (my dear ohno kun included) who literally didn't know the answer to most questions.

But... they proved us wrong. Half wrong actually because the 2 bakas indeed produced no correct answer but many comic relief though. The Uni grad, Sho was perfoming up to expectations. Who really surprised us all was Mr Domyouji ( or Dao Ming Si ) in Japan's Hana Yori Dango, Jun kun who actually correctly answered like 5-6 questions on his own ( it is like relay) to give the group a perfect score on one of the segments.

Of course Nino, the hollywood star who also gave the group a big booast by clearing half of the Kanji questions segment.

Their scores were very close to the intelletual team towards the end and my friend who was watching it sms me to tell me she is so nervous for them that she is actually tearing! To that, I replied, "No worries, they are not going to lose! Even if they did, they had done their best!"

I think the second sentence sounds really normal to most of you out there... but it just dawned upon me how pesismistic or lack of confidence at times I can be. This sentence to me is not so much of a recognition of the good fight put up but more of the " there is a possibility we will lose so we should just take a step back on our expectations".

But sometimes, or at least for myself, I think I must learn not to deal with the possibility of a failure ( ironically) but to firmly believe that there can only be success. After all we all fight to win don't we? Why bother to put up a fight and still let there be any room for failure.
Let failure be another issue ( and btw, everyone defines failure differently as well) to be dealt with when it comes.

So... in that spilt second, Arashi taught me to just trust and believe for nothing less than a win. I erased the second statement and sent out the message to my friend.

And of course, our baka boys miraculously won over the other 2 groups!

And yeah, a UNI degree is just a piece of paper lying around if the knowledge you attained isn't put into any use at all.

1.02.2010

it's 2010^^



Jin ~仁~, the title of the drama I spent my new year holidays watching. Oh yes by the way, for those I informed I was going back to Singapore end of year, there is a change of plans and at the current time of 1/2, 18:23(+GMT9) I am still in Tokyo.

This is a drama I highly recommend this season. Besides the fabulous cast they have, ( not so much for being famous or what but more for their acting skills and on-screen chemistry) I think the plot was really interesting and engaging. ( ML, watch it!)

The story is about a doctor, Minagata Jin who lives in the modern time 2009. He is a skillful doctor but refuses to do complicated operations because of a failed one 3 years back which caused his fiancee(Miki) to be in a coma.

In a stange occurance one day, he was transported back in time into the Edo period, where he began to use his modern-day knowledge to treat illnesses which was considered incurable back then. ( like cholera, doing operations to remove growth etc) However, everytime he does something, (which he only realised later) also means causing a change in something or someone's life in the future. This change is illustrated by a photo he took with Miki which he had on him all the time. The original photo was of both of them taken in the hospital bedroom before Miki went into the Op room. However with each action he took to change history, the photo was changed into other scenes, different poses or at times with Miki fading.

One thing I deeply felt from the drama was how a small or seemingly trivial action or decison is actually paving the path we are going to progress on.

I was reminded of a few good friends I had... If I hadn't gone into Nanyang Girls', would I still have met them? If I hadn't choose that subject combi, would we have been in the same class?

Then I thought of NUS... If I hadn't met the friend who jio me to learn Japanese with her, would I be in Japan now.... and If I hadn't choose to go to JJC, would I have known her? And if my parents didn't choose to stay in Jurong would I have gone to JJC?

So.... I being in Japan could be a result of a decision made by my parents even before I was even born?

It is a never-ending question to ask I guess. To question about why and how each person was brought into my life. To think about what if I took the "other" path instead. But there is also another thing that I have learnt. That is my every decision now might also affect the other lives to come in the future. (even if I do not get married or have children)

Recently, I felt a little upset by certain someone. The treatment I got from the person ( or so I feel) makes me feel that I am not what this person says I am to him/her. So I thought maybe I should take the initiative to contact this person instead to show my concern. But yah... I ended with some dirt on my nose kinda of thing.

But thinking back, maybe I had measured our relationship to what the world defines it. I looked at other people and thought, yah... this is the way I should be treated if you say I am " this" to you.

This doesn't mean I am not upset nor can completely let it go. I would just say, I take a backseat and just let him/her decisions pave the path for our relationship.

But still I am thankful for these people and many more I have met, got to known in my 20 over years alive. Thankful for the little decisions that created many wonderful relationships, decisions that paved the road I am on.

So... this is a period to make resolutions and decisons I guess? Happy 2010 and do challenge yourselves with a meaning this year!