New fashion~

I notice a new "trend" recently...

I realised there is a substantial increase of ladies who are wearing sneakers to wear. ( Including myself).

Imagine a crisp white blouse, A-line black skirt,
then with sneakers..
sounds weird?

Probably.. but nothing is ever so weird in Japan anyway when it comes to Fashion.

I do that anyway because I try to walk a bit to exercise after work these days. ( these TWO days...LOL)

But I wonder why the other ladies do that, could it be because they think it is easier to run or if a need to walk home when an earthquake strikes again?

Made in Love

My cousins made this for me and they surprised me by turning up the airport!

TouchEd!!! *tears*

Home is not a location but where the Family is .

Kiss cam?

I chanced upon this in yahoo and I really like it somehow!
The couples looked so cute and comfy with each other!
I wonder how people will react in Asia...

Reminded me of a conversation I had with my cousin last week.. hee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PokysnUOo4&feature=player_embedded

Back in Tokyo

For those who didn't know I was back in Singapore the last 2 weeks ( officially for work), really sorry that I didn't contact most people because I really wanted to just spend time with my family and closer friends. For those whom we managed to meet up, I am really thankful and happier than usual! Really grateful for those who took leave to meet up, schedule their time around to accomodate me and especially my uncles, aunties and cousins who planned a trip to batam! Probably because this wasn't a planned trip and after that disaster, I just really wanted to be back in the arms of people at home! So I'm back in Tokyo now... sitting in my usual seat back at the office. But I guess my heart is still lingering about in the tropical island or somewhere around the korean drama my friend introduced me to... The plane was really empty anyway... The economy has 2 sections ( took ANA) and I think the second section should have about 140 seats. But only 7 were taken! * I counted while I was waiting for the toilet... This is really the first time I ever saw such an empty plane. My luggage came out real fast too. My theory of checking-in later + very little passengers probably explained why it did. So anyway... I spent the rest of the day unpacking, cleaning and then just staring into the thin air while tolerating my hunger because I was too tired to go out to get food. Haaa.. if you are shocked, just ask around, I'm sure people who are staying on their own do this once in a while. I am still sleepy now anyway.. for a person who works on a pretty strict and efficient body clock like me, I usually take a while to recover whenever my sleeping patterns are upsetted. But well, I will just have to "dong" till Wednesday cus on Thurs I am jetting off to Seoul again! Till then~~

That fateful 3/11 friday..

The last time I updated was nearly half a year ago?

Many people have been dropping me messages, emails and desperately trying to call me since the disaster striked.
I am really thankful beyond words... really... I got so many encouragement notes even from people who barely knew me...
The power of technology to reach people just blows my mind.... I am going to recycle part of the email I sent to my family ( plus cousins)below...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Live report from Tokyo.

I guess you all must have been really worried about me because of the distressing news that is over the TV everyday.
Well for one thing… TV normally only show the bad news so please believe say only 80% of what is going on.

Today I am at home writing this now because in order to supply electricity to the affected areas, all the trains at my place has been ordered to stop running today.
Which is a good news to me because I was watching some drama till 12md last night… :p

Ok jokes aside, maybe you all would like to know what actually happened from eye-witness Karen’s point of view.

It started around 2 plus in the afternoon on Friday. It begin with a few slight tremors which is not common but nothing to be surprised about too. So, most of us didn’t even utter a single word and continued with our work.
But within a few minutes, the tremors escalated and our tables begin rocking and things hanging on the wall began to drop. Even so ( probably in shock) people were still sitting on their chairs and looking around until the cabinets were also threatening to collapse with things already falling off the shelves.
My colleagues begin to panic with action and some went under the table, some grabbed their coat ready to run while the GA pple were running around asking us to calm down.
I was still sitting on my chair mainly because I was having motion sickness from all the rocking and finding it too troublesome to hide under the small table.

This is probably the closest I have came to death… I mean roller-coasters and cockroaches are scary to me too. But I have never felt once in my life that maybe I will be dead next.. But strangely, I didn’t feel that much fear. Maybe it is because I do not know the full extent of how devastating earthquakes can be. In fact, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Thank God none of my family members are here”.
I looked around and saw how nervous my colleagues were, in fact on the brink of tears when they couldn’t contact their family members. It then occurred to me, most people here are really not that concerned about their own safety but their loved ones. You should have seen how relieved they were ( still in the middle of the crisis) when they received news that their family was safe.
One of my colleagues’ family stay right in the area which was the worst affected. In the 4 years we worked together, I have never ever saw this side of her… She is probably one of the most positive and funniest person around. But her face was white and she couldn’t even say a word when the earthquake hit.

The few hours after that was a blur as most of the people were hurrying around trying to get the latest news or to still try to contact their familes. None of the gadgets worked except Iphone’s whatsapp. Yes.. let’s all get iphone and have a cool thunderous network. I was whatsapping non-stop thru the crisis to people in and outside japan. A few wrong words spelled because of the shaking..

Trains stopped moving completely and so it was up to us how we want to get home. I decided to walk home. Before this, I used to walk half the way then take a train home or take a train halfway then walked home in my feeble attempts to try to excercise. I never knew this knowledge will actually come into use at this point of time. God prepares us even in times when we do not realized. But most of my colleagues lived really far away so they had to stay overnight in the office.
So… I worked till the last minute, helping my colleague finished up a document and embark on my journey home.
Having said that, I walked a total of 2.5 hours… I walked pass bicycle shops and saw long queues… who will ever expect bicycle shops to be earning big bucks at this hour of the day?
I think I nearly cried when I saw the final overhead bridge I had to cross in the last stretch. My legs were really going to give way anytime.. But my friend was rooting for me all the way…. She stays near me and was home early that day. She kept telling me I had done a good and is going to be home soon.
It could also be the day my hair is the messiest from all the cold wind blowed into my face. But, despite being cold and tired, I felt a sense of peace… I plugged my ipod into my ears and was listening to worship songs all the way home. Every step I took, I know I was a step closer to home.
I really never know I could have that much strength even being physically ( not mentally alone). Or actually, I testify that I know God was holding my hand throughout. I felt that for once I had a glimpse of how supernatural courage from God overcomes all physical weakness.

The very night tremors didn’t stopped. But I guess I was already too tired to think further so I “rocked” myself to bed. Very good sleep till 5am in the morning for toilet break and though I better post something on FB..

The rest of sat and sun were very much the same.. tremors going on… food from super-market almost gone. ( check FB for photos again) But thank God I can ( and love to) survive on ice-cream and potato chips. Nah… no worries, I have food stocked up at home and I don’t expect myself to starve to death anytime soon. In fact I just had a good BF at mos burger this morning after discovering the train station was shut. ( first time I ever saw the shutters closed!)

So… right now.. I am living my life by the minute. When it is time to eat, I will. When it is time to bathe I will. As long as I am breathing this minute, I will do the things I can and not wait till the next to regret.
( I say this because we never know when gas and electricity will be cut). Many people say come back to Singapore quick!! But is Singapore really free from all dangers?? No I guess… the point is not to focus on avoiding deaths but to really cherish every min till the moment comes. Our life and death is already written by God even before we are borned. So if the time is already fixed, God help me to make full use of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today.. at 3/15 we are just simply waiting for the instructions for tomorrow. Can we go to the office? Can we go outdoors? Is the train moving.... Many questions fills my otherwise empty mind in the morning now...

Welll, still, tomorrow comes! and Happy Birthday to my dearest Brother!

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...

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....

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!

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!

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?

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.

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~~

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.

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?

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!

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.