Off for a Holiday~~

Welcoming Japan's golden week with eager arms.

Today will be the first day of my holiday till next weds!!

And I wil be jetting off to HK~~~

The Joy of the Lord is my strength.

"Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is my strength."

This was what my friend said to me.

On a perfectly normal Wednesday afternoon, I received an email from a friend telling me that her father has passed away suddenly.

In a complete shock state ( because she has never mentioned that her father was ill in anyway) we made arrangements to meet that night for dinner.

In reality, her situation mirrored a very real secret fear in me actually. And that is to be away from my family and not be able to be there for them immediately in an emergency situation. To make things worst, my parents is always hidding things from me and only telling me when it is over and settled. While I appreciate their effort in not wanting me to be worried, it is actually making me more worried at times! So people who know my parents, please look out for them.

Back to my friend... I was thinking hard.. How should I comfort her? God please put words into my mouth that will make her feel better and not pass off as just casual remarks.

Yet, contrary to my (not a complete surprise actually) expectation, I was greeted by a smilling friend who was half running to me and apologising for being late. We sat down at our seats in our usual hangout, ( the sushi bar) whenever we have chats. At that point in time, I wasn't sure if it was very KY ( a japanese abbreviation to mean if you are sensitive to what is happening) to ask her about her father. So I started with the, " how are things"? question.

And my friend said this to me. ""Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is my strength."

As she started speaking, my heart really leaped with joy with the amazing things God has done and shown her during the period of time.
I didn't have to comfort her at all because God has already done so and He was even showing her one miracle after another miracle in this difficult period of time. Her conversation with me was not about how sad and lost she is at the loss of her father, whom she is very close to, ( always speaking on the phone with him for hours) but How God has answered their prayers one after another.

I really thank God for this friend.. whom has always been a pillar of support for me all this while in Japan. Someone whom I can be open to 100%, whom I can share with just about anything.

Thanks for reminding me and encouraging me despite your own situation that when everything seems to go the wrong way, the joy of the Lord is OUR strength.

Great weekend!!

With the Yoshimuras~~their friends, family and Cuixian!

Thanks to Mr and Mrs Yoshimura ( heeee) who put me up at their house for a night. And baby Yoshimura who was my playmate most of the time!

From light, to clock to aeroplanes and flowers...

Oh yes... and tugging at my hair and hp strap.

In fact I played so much with him that I ended up dreaming of him the whole night!

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Yoshimura who showed so much hospitality and kindness to me! Really enjoyed spending morning outdoors with you all just picnicking under the sakura trees...

I don't have photos of the others yet but let me share Baby and grandma first!

The place we went for Sakura Festival and picnic.

Baby Yoshimura: Humph... taking photos of me without permission again...

More to come soon!!

Found it!

The 8th and last letter left behind by CGS.

In fact it is not a "found it". It is a "discovered it by chance"...

It is amazing how this last letter answers my question as to how many letters CGS left behind for me.

It was almost as if she had read my mind when she wrote this.

It was even more amazing how I actually come to discover this last as from the content of the letter, it seems like she wants me to read this last.

Amazingly...

But it also reminds me how we tend to ignore little things in our life and when we discover them by chance one day, it brings us great joy.

This very last postcard was placed in a place which I have access to almost everyday.....

Where? Let it be a secret kept between CGS and myself. heee

7 love letters....

From Carol. G.

Fooling around and trying to serenade me while your hubby is away on his round Japan tour????

Found the first letter on my table when I woke up in the morning...
The second in the toilet.
Third in the fridge??( hmmm that's original!)
...

ANd actually only discover the last one just 5 minutes ago!

In fact I am not too sure if I have already found all. But my intuition tells me somehow there are 7 letters all together left by Carol. Erm.. please leave a hint if there are more left undiscovered.

Must really say that 1.5 years flew past just like that.

In retrospect, I must say I really enjoyed these 1.5 years together with her very much!
There were times I was really dead beat after work, going home with a face blacker than coal.
But can't remember anytime Carol ever showed a black face to me.

Thank you for putting up and tolerating me. お疲れ様です！本当に感謝していますよ.
I think you have been putting up with me too much that you had to relieve that stress through grinding your teeth at night... haa

Thanks for sharing your life with me too.
It was a once in a life time experience to know you through staying together too.

So.. save a room for me in US and also in your future apartment!

I will be bringing with me, Kumo chan, xiao tou tou, sachi chan ( will ganbaru to take care of her!) , last but not least, oh-chan and his maguro and katsuo!!

Then we will together gobble a whole cake down together with just 2 forks.

Anato To

A song I have been listening to... must be more than a hundredth time this weekend.

It is not an new release but I wonder why I have nothing paid much attention to it.. and the first time I actually put my mind to listen to it, I teared at the female singer's part.
Not that it is reminding me of anything but just found the song and lyrics really touching.
Give it a try!


Lyrics:

さっきまで泣いてた君が　今隣で笑ってる
少し先に待ってたこの未来に　辿り着けてよかった
君を傷付けたくない　この言葉に逃げていた
本当は誰より自分が一番傷付くのが怖くて

今夜孤独と自由を羽にして　あなたに逢いに行く
壊れそうな心の隣には　あなたとかけた願い

出逢ったあの日の夢を見た　手も繋げないまま二人
笑い声がただ時を繋いだ　未来なんてまだ見えなかった
目が覚めて君想えば　手のひらに零れ落ちた
あの日のぬくもりそっと握り返して　溢れた涙に目を閉じた

どんな些細な痛みも分け合って　あなたと歩けたら
途切れそうな心を抱きしめて　あなたの側に居たい

どんな孤独も自由も羽にして　あなたに会いに行く
壊れそうな心の隣には　あなたと描く未来
どんな些細な痛みも分け合って　あなたと歩けたら
途切れそうな心を抱きしめて　あなたの側に居たい
明日も側に居たい

Meeting Rihito Sama tomorrow~~~

All thanks to my friend!

She has an extra ticket to the movie premiere " Drop", where Rihito sama ( Mizushima hiro) is the lead and she invited me along!

This same friend also brought me to an hand-shaking session before with Hiro!!

**excited**

P/s: Yilin, if you are reading this, thanks for inviting me to "that"event!! Looking forward to see you soon! ( Took leave le!)

Mei chan's Butler....

Just finished this drama adapted from a popular Japanese comic series.

As the title suggests, Mei is a absolutely normal, kind-hearted girl with loving parents, with a humble background. Her parents own a udon store and life was all peaceful and almost boring until the sudden death of parents in an accident which revealed her true background. The only heir to the biggest and most powerful family in Japan.

So, as Mei was enrolled into the most prestigious girls School in Japan. Fees is at 100million yen per month. And along with that, a butler to be attached to her, to cater to her EVERY need. The only condition?

They must not fall in Love.

And anyway, the butler, Rihito is an S rank butler, ( the highest of all, with A, B, C ranks) He is handsome, tall, smart, skilled in martial arts, culinary, languages, etc.. you get the point uh?

Ｔhe story goes on to how Mei was intially look down upon and bullied in school to how she eventually stood up for herself, goes on to become the successor of the empire.

Sounds boring??

Kinda....

But.. somehow as every other prince-charming-comes-saving-the-damsel-in distress-plot, this drama was highly popular in Japan, enjoying high viewerships every week.

I did a little calculations for dramas along the same story line, we have Hanayori Dango ( Japanese version of Meteor Garden), Hanakimi ( Japanese version of Hua yang shao nan shao nun). Seriously speaking, I can't really pinpoint so much of a difference between them.

Still.... somehow ( speaking from my point of view) it is still nice and enjoyable to induldge in such fantasy at times~~

[私以外の誰かを見ているのが、辛いので・・・

ですから・・・目をそらさないで下さい・・・]

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　柴田理人

"It is unbearable to me when your eyes are on someone else.

So.. Please don't ever let your sight leave me"

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Shibata Rihito

♥♥Faints♥♥

Every reason to eat and make merry~~

If eating is China's ( or the chinese community in general) national past-time,

then desserts will be Japan's...

It is nothing new but just felt like bringing this topic up all over again.

Besides all the fashion, high tech savvy gadgets Japan offers, do you know that it is a land of beautiful exquisite desserts??

It is also = a big contribution to the expanding waistline of dessert lovers ( unfortunately ladies in a huge proportion.)

In Japan we eat desserts for almost every occassion! Put side the usual birthday and Christmas cakes....

We have the .....s

Super chocolate puff, consisting of 4 different layers just to pass time..=)

There is the most outer layer of cocoa powder, a puff-like chocolate crust, sweet layer of cream and finally, chocolate blocks as its core.

Then... the cute dolly cake for Hina matsuri! ( The girls' festival)

Giant Parfait for birthdays.

Last but not least, chocolates for both Valentine's Day and White Day!! ( opps that's from 2 years ago..)
You should see the amount of chocolates I have at home now. It takes up a whole shelf on its own! And I bought none of it! Thank God for the people who love me enough to give me all the chocolates!

Last but not least, A Happy White Day to all ladies! You are all precious and highly regarded in His eyes!

My colleagues~~

My colleagues are really a bunch of good and kind people....

one day I got this email from the sales department manager.

It says, Karen san, Otsukaresama desu ( a normal greeting to colleagues)

Ohno desu ( the arashi guy I like), I am lying.. Shigihara desu ( colleague's name). Simple gesture but this manager is really nice and he tries to cheer me up at times talking about Arashi..

Then there is another colleague of mine, used to be in the same team as me who has now working in a client's place.

He is always asking me how I am doing and "behind my back" told my managers not to work me too hard....

There was a time when I came to work, there was a pack of chocolates on the table who he put on the day before when he came to the office after I left.

And then when I went to check the chocolates out, I found out that it came from a super famous shop which you need to queue up for just to buy their stuff =)

ahhh~~~~

Thank God for them.

Onsen trip to Fukuroda

The last post were on photos in the room... so it is time for the sights!
Before that.... I must really say I love the picture of Kung Fu Master Carol....

If there is any thing common between us... I can safely say 98% of our pictures together are like that. We are hardly contented to smile and show a peace sign. Somehow.. Carol and I will always end up making funny faces or just simply no image poses.... The uglier the better. haaaa

Anyway... Fukuroda is a place famous for its waterfall, ( Top 3 in Japan) and it was about 2 hours plus drive away from Tokyo. Thank God for no jams and erm... so kun's speeding all the way there that we reached much earlier than scheduled....

A little waterfall we went to first....

The mountain we tried to drive up too.... gave up only when the car nearly lost control on the icy ground.. Actually, it is really no laughing matter.... my heart nearly leaped out..

I really love going on trips in Japan.... The springs, the streams, the trees... even the paths are all so beautiful. Every big and little thing... even the little earthworm on the ground reminds me of the goodness of God and the beauty of his creation.

The waterfall.

Just something to distract you... don't you think they look like some couple who obviously have something going on but is trying not to know each other? Something you will see out of a gossip magazine. haa joke joke..

Our climb up the little hill~~

And... here we go again...

Lastly.... a peaceful, beautiful drive home!

I just love how crazy we are....

They are the bunch whom I can always pit my craziness with. And we are also the super nobiri type... ( relaxed.... easy-going.. carefree)

Of course other then making arrangements on where to go and stay...

We pretty much just rent a car, hop on it, get there then decide what to do.

No meetings, not much discussions.

But Lots of laughter, lots of jokes and Lots of FOOD!!! Yah... we munch our way there and back.

So in the midst of our bakaness, we took the photos below. So we have Carol the Kung fu master... It reminds me of how people use to sit under water falls to train perserverance.

Back in the room... dead beat after a day's travel... ( frankly speaking we only SAT in the car...)

Concussed Totally...

Refreshed again after our great 2 hours plus bath at the hot spring!!

Till the next posts for more pictures on scenery and less siao langS!

Back in blogspot

spinelessly... I crawled back here.....
Having moved so many times...

The food on someone else's plate is always more delicious...
but Home is always the best uh...

ok enuff of the rumblings... you will noticed I changed the blog name too..
Which actually explains the biggest reason I have moved.

Someone is stalking me unfortunately...

anyway... this new title describes me more I guess..

Baka= silly/idiotic.
niiki= Diary....

So welcome to karen's idiotic diary world!

Will get to doing all the layout soon!

Random thoughts~~

I was just reading back on the entries of one of my best friends' OLD blog.
yah it is old cus she doesn't update it anymore...
I wish she does though.. because I really want to know more about what is going on in her life.

This is just one of the struggles I faced ever since I came to Japan. While I am excited to be able to experience a whole new lifestyle and culture which is so unreachable to a lot of people, my heart aches everytime I can't be part of a wedding nor a shoulder a loved one can lean on.

The above-mentioned friend's blog is really... just so "daily". She writes about meeting friends after work, spending time with family in supermarkets... Something just so mundane and normal.

But... the fact is, I don't have the luxury to say, "Let's meet for coffee" this weekend etc...

For the 5 years I have been here... I have been absent in the lives of so many people I love. And... the sad thing is... some have just moved on without me as well...

Sometimes I curl up in bed and just want to have a good cry and wallow in self-pity.

Sometimes I just feel like demanding some quality attention from these friends.

But at the end of the day...I am comforted by the presence of God. By his assurances. By his timely messages somehow or rather..

By just phonecalls coming from friends at times.

I used to hate to talk on the phone because I can't quite concentrate on just "hearing" someone ( rather talk face to face)..

but now.... I can't tell you how much I feel thankful and happy just to hear familar voices...

And... this will explain why I am actually heading overseas to visit a friend soon.

Seriously, it is not the wisest decision in this economy and times + personal financial situation. ( haa.. but trusting God will provide)

But... I just felt so strongly, I need to do something for my friend too. Need to leave more footsteps in her life before I disappear completely.. totally.. I guess I won't be able to make up for the time I wasn't with her in her low periods. (Thank God for the other people He has brought into her life too).

So here I go~~ Off to HK in may!

And can't wait to meet Baby Kait too! ( and mummy candy)

The vicious cycle~~

or should I say Losing our goals and perspective??

Well... this topic came to my mind when I was thinking of how to overcome my dsilike for Nato.
As most of you should know, Nato is an extremely healthy food, not to mention almost dirt cheap ( compared to other food you can find in the supermarket) and yet can make one full and satisfied.

Such food finds favor with people like me who needs to watch their spending BUT, unfortunately not with my taste buds nor sense of smell.
I
n fact ever since I first came in contact with it 7 (?) years ago when I came to Japan for a homestay, it has joined the ranks of hated food alongside Honeydew, bean sprouts etc....
w
hile I do not have any motivation nor reason at all to overcome my dislike for the latter 2, Nato is always something I think will be beneficial if I ever grow to like it.

So anyway... I was searching online, trying to find ideas of how people do it and I came upon several ideas like...mixing it with mayonaise?

Doesn't that defeats the purpose of eating Nato in the first place?? I mean.. why do I want to eat something that is both unhealthy, smelly and tastes quite bad?

To further illustrate the case. It reminded me of a friend who used to have very bad skin and breakouts. We used to advice her to cut down on the amount of makeup she uses in which she replied,. " I have to make up to cover up for the blemishes".
I
t just dawned upon me how sometimes in life we tend to be so focus in tackling the problem right before our eyes that we failed to put our sights further or actually.. to even remember why we even started doing something anyway. And in worst cases, we ended up being drawn into a vicious cycle which you do not seems to know which is the beginning nor the end anymore.

So... actually... I have been having this same idea for a few years. Trying to put into practise too.
The idea of back to basics and being natural.

I stopped dyeing my hair ( haven't cut off the perming part yet though) because I just want to have my hair back in its original state instead of throwing my money into an endless pit of dyeing and then treatment and then dyeing again to cover up for the newly grown parts.

Same goes to my face. Whenever I go buy new products now, I tell the consultant, my goal is to eventually be able to have a flawless face that needs no makeup when I go out.

A flawless face is hard I know.. and as a women ages, ( sighs) no make-up is courage. But you got to work towards something...

At least I have a jet-black head of hair to boast about now.... ( whatever...)

Our conversation yesterday..

Of course with the intern. K= me , I= Intern. words in () are my unspoken thoughts.
Part 1.
She received an email on dress code from HR.
I: I received an email from HR regarding dress code ( Yes, I know because I was CCed). Oh no.... what should I do?
K: ( In bewilderment..) Erm... Do you know what is wrong about your dressing then?
I: What??
K: Ok... to be very truthful, your skirt is too short. ( Micro Mini length, halfway up the lap. Think Japanese high school girls.)
I: What?!! Oh really?? ( she looks truly shocked) I didn't know that! Oh dear... this is so embarassing... Oh what should I do? ( mumbles non-stop to herself)
K: Well... get something longer? something that is at least knee length or well a little shorter is fine though. And yes... please take the scrunchy off your wrist, it is not exactly very professional looking.
I: oh.... my skirt is too short?? oh dear.. ( still harping on that??!!)
K: It's ok! Just wear something more appropriate tomorrow.
I: I must go home quietly late..
K: *rolls my eyes*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2:
K: You look really tired, are you ok?
I: Is it?? I looked tired??
K: Oh well yes... you have been yawning and yawning for the whole day.
I: I was??? Oh no...
K: * a mixed of shock and amazement*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 3:
K: Erm... I think you better cut down on looking at sites not related to work. ( She was surfing every moment I wasn't looking or asking her ot do somethnig)
I: Opps? I am not supposed to??
K: well you can... personally I don't mind but it is against the company policy actually. So please be discreet and only do it when you have finish your work.
I: urgh.... ok
K: Well especially for you cus the managers are sitting at the back.
I: This is so scary!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is it only her or the japanese youngsters all like that? Lack of exposure is not the problem. she lacks common sense!
I am sure glad NUS did prepare us to a certain degree the basic rules of a working adult..
So you see... I was vomitting blood the whole day. If I was vomitting fats, I will gladly take her on.

Thumbs up email

saw it somewhere..
found it pretty hilarious.
here goes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dear World:
We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced on November 4, 2008. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect to be fully functional on January 20, 2009. We regret any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

And so... it got heavier..

The Newbie finally came.
After nearly half a year of juggling 2 person's job, ( I threw some away on the way)... The newbie finally came in last Wednesday.
In name, she is still an intern because she has to go for graduation ceremony, her graduation trip to Europe ( Young people... in this economy). She will officially be entering the company in April.
It should be a matter to rejoice about. But.... I am in dilema actually.
I do like her as a person. She is pleasant, she is sweet and she is a good girl.
But... you know when she makes me repeat and repeat myself for the hundredth time on the same topic, I just felt like slamming the notebook on her head. C'mon!! put your writing skills to work! I feel like telling her.
Of course I didn't. I didn't want to scare her away. After all, I am already so tire out by taking on 2 people's work with the pay of one. ( the latter being the point)
Yesterday.... I spent the whole day explaining certain concepts to her. Drew diagrams, spoke using the simplest terms I can. I made sure I stopped at every interval to make sure she understood what I said. And her answer was, she had NO questions. To top it all, she even said that it was all so easy to understand, easier than her expectations.
So i demonstrated how to do the job once and gave her 3 tries after that to do it.
To my dismay.... she failed utterly at EVERY attempt.. Not once, twice but thrice?????
Today she had the fourth chance.. and.. she made mistakes again!????
FYI, it was something really easy. I had the steps printed out for her to follow.. ( which she obviously ignored)
Please tell me how to deal with such people!!!
And so....
I have to juggle 2 people's job.
I have a sore throat actually from talking so much at work.
And I have to monitor her every action because she can't be left alone.
I just want to go home to sleep..........................

The only saving Grace if any....
I am going my beloved aiba chan's stage tomorrow.
It is a stage play adopted from a English movie i think. Green Fingers.Check it out!

Correct way of blowing your hair.

Dear ladies and vain men for the matter,

Got tis info from a TV variety the other day. I was really amazed at the effect after trying it myself!

According to the pro himself, it is not the kind of shampoo or treatment that are used in salon that gives your the shine in your hair. It is the way of blowing actually. So much for promoting all the expensive products.

The 4 Do NoTs:
1. Do not wipe your hair in a rough manner after shampoo.
2. Do not blow dry your hair using heat throughout
3. Do not comb right after wash with a brush
4. Do not start blowing from the ends

The DoS:
1. Instead of drying it in a rough up-down motion, wipe in in parts. Take some hair each at a time and PAT it dry.
2.Vary the temperature using hot and cold hair ( which I will elaborate further later)
3. Comb with a comb with bristles wide and far in between
4. Blow starting from the top of head.

The steps and explanation:
1. Wipe your hair with a towel in a patting motion. Goal is not to wipe it till it is dry but to get rid of the dripping water.
2. Comb you hair with a comb whose bristles are wide. This is to reduce breakage of hair which at this stage is very vulnerable and to spread the moisture evenly throughout the head.
3. Start blowing the top in a random manner with hot air. Starting with the top will eventually cause the ends to dry up by itself without causing excessive dryness. Move your hair-dryer throughout the head to avoid the over-drying of one area only.
4. After the top is done, dry the middle levels. Run your fingers through your hair and do the motion of sweeping your hair to the front.
5. When the middle level is also done. Switch to cold air and blow your hair. This causes the cuticles to contract and this is also the time in which the hair takes its shape.
6. Do the ends now. In the same sweeping manner with hot air.
7. Finally, finish it up with cold air. To make you hair curl inwards at the ends, cup the ends of your hand with your hands and apply cold air to it.

Viola! Do it and tell me if it works!!

The long-awaited book!!

After a month's jet coaster ride, worrying about whether I can lay my hands on my beloved Oh-chan's book, it is finally in my hands today! You cannot imagine how overwhelmed I am by just seeing the book with my own eyes. It is sold out everywhere in Japan now and it is only by such rare chance that I manage to get the first print.

Without further delay, let's put our hands together to welcome Oh-chan!

The cover

The figurines moulded from his hands

The drawings he sketched

The masterpiece he crafted.

His pictures which say a thousand words... or just one, simply irresistible.. awwww

Finally the man himself! Soaring... not on eagle's wings though... haa

Does that bring you a step closer to understanding why I have pledge allegiance to this person?