Bollywood New Year..

Yes, have been listening to Bollywood songs since 11:30pm..
Nope, this is not due to the sudden change in my music taste..

The reason: my floor is having a Bollywood-themed New Year Party.. sort-of.. because I am unfortunate enough to stay near the tv room on my floor, I have to endure the blasting of loud music and the high-pitch screaming, especially one lady from Australia... :x :x :x :x But this being the New Year's Day, I will just endure it..

Maybe you might think, "since I can't beat them, why not join them??" Well, I'm never a party person, especially with people I am not familiar with.. p/s: you can ask my friends whom I had partied with, how difficult it is to get me warmed up.. :p

But well, anyway, Happy New Year everyone..

Looking back..

In just a few hours, the year 2008 will be upon us.. Don't plan to go anywhere.. No countdown parties or whatever.. I've always liked to stay in and reflect upon the year that is going to pass.. :)

What a year it was for me in 2007.. When I applied for the Monbusho scholarship in Feb 2006, I never thought that I would get it.. Even after I had cleared all the stages and submitted my choice universities, I didn't really think that I would be shortlisted as, in my opinion, I was not the ideal candidate.. The dream of studying full-time again was more like my secret escapism, from the everyday mundane work life that I had been living for the past 8+ years, that I allowed myself to indulge in.. But what do you know, Life seems to have some plans for me.. So once again, I had to leave the environment that I have grown accustomed & attached to and start afresh in an 'alien' world.. Alien to me in a way that I am handicapped by its language and culture.. As someone who needs to be in control, no matter what, and being in a place where I can't express myself effectively (even when I speak more than 3 languages), living in Japan is one of the biggest challenges in my life so far..

Even though I am still having doubts about my decision to take up this scholarship and quit my interesting job (especially right after a big fat increment), I aim to stick to this and try to gain as much knowledge/growth/whatever as possible from this experience. In the year 2009, I would need to start looking for a job, since I would be graduating in July that year.. so I will treat the year 2008 as the year where I will try and maximize this experience - study harder (especially Japanese) and play harder. Where else can I have more than 18 weeks of holidays per year to indulge in my interests/hobbies if not while in school? :)

Although people say that new year resolutions are made to be unkept, I would still make them.. Thus in the year 2008, I would hope to:

• Stay healthy and lose more weight.
  
• Master Japanese and clear JLPT 2 (at least).
  
• Explore Japan more.
  
• Travel to (at least 2) other neighboring countries/cities (China/HK/Macau/Taiwan/Korea)
  
• Keep/Update/Refresh my professional and technical knowledge
  
• Be open and stay truthful to my believes, feelings and myself..
  
• Continue growing - spiritually and mentally
  

Don't think I will put "Make more friends" as one of my resolutions.. Never the social butterfly and always the loner, I would prefer to use my time for more productive (in my opinion) activities..Don't see the point of knowing everyone but trusting no one.. I always believe the phrase, "True friends last forever", and I hope to believe that I am being considered as a true friend by some of my friends..

In 2007, many of my friends too have embarked on a new journey in their lives.. Some had gotten married, some had a baby, some relocated overseas because of their jobs, some progressed on in their professionals.. Each and every events is a milestone in their lives and had helped them grow, whether they knew it or not.. People change every day, every week, every month and every year.. Every one of us can only hope that those changes are for the better, even if in hindsight..

So to all my family, relatives and friends, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!! And may it be a fruitful year for everyone!! :)

小茉莉

作曲：黃建勳
作詞：周美玲、林書宇
主唱：楊丞琳

清晨下了一場雨，露水沾濕了小茉莉
白色花瓣純潔又清晰地、聞著妳的呼吸
晚風吹拂青草地，夕陽染紅了小茉莉
微笑綻放不言、也不語，看不透妳的秘密

月光靜靜、薄暮籠罩小茉莉
凝視著妳、捨不得離開妳
月光靜靜、薄暮壟罩小茉莉
等候著妳、走進我的夢裡

小茉莉，是否妳會把我忘記
小茉莉，請記得我 還在這裡
小茉莉，在枝頭上自然美麗
小茉莉，請記得我 不要把我忘記

Last few days..

Didn't leave my room at all between 23 Dec to 25 Dec.. :p

Been watching lots of movies, Taiwan variety shows and surfing the net.. Just didnt have the mood to study or do research.. Maybe I'll just allow myself to indulge in this laziness for a while.. since I have "only" 1.5 years more to enjoy such luxury before going back into the harsh corporate world.. :p :p

Yesterday, met up with Bro to have lunch.. He wanted to run some errands too before his trip to China with his gf. He wanted to go donate blood, get a SLR camera and get the plane tix for CNY. He would be going back for a week during that period. We met up at Shinbashi and went to the BBQ restaurant. However, the restaurant was packed with tourists and we decided to have ramen instead. The ramen shop was supposed to be one of the famous ramen shops in that area. But the soup was a bit too oily for my liking.

After failing to get his plane tix (the price he was quoted over the phone and the one he was going to be charged was totally different, so he didnt get them), we went to Akihabara, the famous electrical and anime (related goods) shopping area. He got himself a Olympus and we went around looking for portable HDD. We found one 500G external 3.5" HDD for 14,700yen, which is about SGD190. Then we met his gf at Ueno for dinner. We had yaki-niku (BBQ meat), something that I've craved for a while..

Reached home around 10:30pm smelling like a BBQ myself.. :p

My Day

Turned a year older yesterday... :)

The major program of the day was a visit to the Imperial Palace to greet the Emperor of Japan whom I am honored to be sharing the same birthday with. However, it had started raining since 1am and didn't stop until around 10am.. so I decided not to go out at all.. the line of sight of the Imperial family (on the balcony) would most probably be blocked... no point going there and not being able to see anything, since everyone will be carrying an umbrella..

I slept around 2am.. As a tradition, I will open all the presents that I've received slightly after midnight.. this year, I received only 1.. from Kim-chan.. this year no birthday parties, no birthday lunch/dinner.. only me and myself.. sounded kinda melancholy, but I am ok with it.. I rather spend it alone if I can't spend it with the people I like/can click.. I don't want to put on masks.. this was my day, I don't want to have to "entertain" people by being nice/considerate/whatever..

Usually, when I was in Singapore, this day will be the day I go shopping.. :p Cos I will just get myself any new clothes that catches my fancy without worrying much about the price, although I will never over-spend... It was one of the few occasions that I do shop.. :p But being in Japan, where all the usual clothes will not fit me, I had given up shopping for "nice-nice" clothes, only necessary ones.. I would have considered going to a karaoke and sing my heart out, but the karaoke in Japan are not really that Chinese-language friendly.. their Chinese songs' MV are all not originals.. so one can't really enjoy the songs as one would be able to as in Singapore.. :(

I woke up around 7am as I wanted to go out, but when I saw the rain, I decided to just stay in.. not wanting to go back to sleep (and waste my BD), I decided to watch a movie on my laptop.. I had saved the movie, 生日快乐 by 刘若英 and 古天乐 to be watched today. It was a sad movie, and yes, I cried.. then I watched a lot of the Taiwanese variety show called, 开运万事通 to know more about astrology.. :p :p I am always curious about what the future lies ahead for me, especially during my BD when the new year will arrive in less than 9 days..

For lunch I had rice and stew. Cooked rice and heated up the prepacked stew. For dinner I had rice and curry instead.. :) One of my classmates from Taiwan had given me some 肉干, 萨其玛 and 贡糖 from Taiwan.. :) :) So I ate them too.. Had 2 cans of beer too.. hahaha.. compared to what I usually drink, those cans of beer were nothing.. :p :p

At night, I watched 2 HK movies: PTU and 危险人物. Not too bad.. Then I had the usual family conference call with Bro and Dad. Sis was not able to join as her roommate was asleep and Sis didnt want to wake her up.. Didnt really talk much too, as Bro was with his gf (who coincidently share the same BD as me).. After that I had a mini karaoke session in my room.. as I have lots of original MVs, I just played them one by one and sang along with them.. :p

So that's about it.. that's how I spent my BD this year.. :p :)

倔强

詞曲：阿信 主唱:五月天

当我和世界不一样 那就让我不一样
坚持对我来说 就是以刚克刚
我 如果对自己不行 如果对自己说谎
即使你不原谅 我也不能原谅
最美的愿望 一定最疯狂
我就是我自己的神 在我活的地方
我和我最后的倔强 握紧双手绝对不放
下一站是不是天堂 就算失望不能绝望
我和我骄傲的倔强 我在风中大声的唱
这一次为自己疯狂 就这一次我和我的倔强

对爱我的人别紧张 我的固执很善良
我的手越肮脏眼神 越是发光
你不在乎我的过往 看到了我的翅膀
你说被火烧过 才能出现凤凰
逆风的方向 更适合飞翔
我不怕千万人阻挡 只怕自己投降
我和我最后的倔强 握紧双手绝对不放
下一站是不是天堂 就算失望不能绝望
我和我骄傲的倔强 我在风中大声的唱
这一次为自己疯狂 就这一次我和我的倔强
就这一次 让我大声唱
lalalala...
就算失望 不能绝望...
lalalalala...
就这一次 我和我的倔强

献给过生日的自己。。

YEAH!! Winter Holidays!!!

From today onwards, I will have 15 days of winter holidays!! :) :) :) There won't be any classes until 8th Jan 2008.. and then I will be going home for Chinese New Year on 3rd Feb 2008.. so it should be a short and exciting time in between.. :p :p Also, tomorrow I plan to visit the Imperial Palace to catch a glimpse of Japan's Imperial Family.. Will try to catch up and write on some interesting issues on my observation of Japan.. stay tuned! :p

Home for CNY

Just got my plane tickets for Chinese New Year.. :) :)

Went online to several websites, including airlines and tour agencies, to look for cheap air tickets.. After comparing prices, I realised that it would be better to book the tickets through a tour agencies as they would have access to all airlines.. So in the end, I went to a H.I.S. branch in Shibuya on my way home from class today..

Before going to the branch, I've found out that the cheapest air tickets to Malaysia is not, ironically, from MAS, but ANA (All Nippon Airways). Call me unpatriotic, but I don't really care which airline it is as long as it is the cheapest... I need to save as much money as possible, as I am now a poor student.. :p :p :p So armed with the information about a few possible flights, I went looking for the tour agency..

I got out of the South Exit at Shibuya Station and was kinda lost. This is not the part of the Station that I am familiar with.. so after walking up and down, and in circles in the station building several times looking for the agency, I realised that it is located at the building opposite the road!! what a sotong.. :p Once I got the right building, I found the tour agency easily..

Once I got into the agency, I was immediately approached by an employee of the agency. He asked me where do I wanna go, and I told him Penang and also added that I am not fluent in Japanese.. He quickly showed me to one of the empty seats at the counters, and asked a lady colleague to attend to me. I told her in simple English that I wanna go to Penang, the dates I wanna go and also the cheapest airlines I've checked on their website is by ANA. She quickly went back to her seat and started searching.. In about 10 min, she came back and told me that there are seats available on ANA and I would need to transit in KL for both trips. The ticket price would be 74,350yen. As it was really the cheapest I've heard (from my fellow Malaysians that I've met) and found out so far (from the Internet), I told her those dates and flights are okay, and do proceed to book me those flights..

Then it was a long long long wait.. At first, I thought that it was just the way things are done in Japan, where everything has to be double-checked, triple-checked by more than 2 person, etc.. I saw this lady, Ms Kittaka, kept asking her colleagues for help, and I thought (again) to myself that she must have been a new employee since she is still unsure about things.. But I am okay with her taking a long time, as I wanna make sure there is no problem with my tickets.. She kept apologizing for making me wait, but I told her don't worry about it.. I asked her what seems to be the problem, she said that she is having problem booking those tickets, especially the one transiting from KL to Penang.

I waited almost an hour when she finally got back to me. Seems like she is not able to book the transit flights (between KL and Penang) from MAS. The only flights possible is on ANA, even for the transit flights. Looking at the time between the transits, I was speechless.. For the transit from KL to Penang, I had to wait at KLIA for more than 5 hours, while the transit from Penang to KL on my way back to Tokyo would be more than 12 hours!! Then I told her to try searching for other transiting cities, maybe Singapore or Bangkok. Maybe the transiting hours would not be so long.. After a while, she came back with another option of transiting in Bangkok, and the transit hours are not much shorter. :( :(

Then I told her to look for the cheapest flight from Tokyo to KL instead. That might be cheaper. But in the end, my guess was incorrect. The cheapest flight is still the same ANA flight and with the same fare!! After much thought, I decided to take the ANA flight with the 5+ hour transit in KL (for the to-trip) and board the flight at KL (for the back-trip). So my flight would be on 3rd Feb (Sunday) at 10:30hrs, reaching KL at 17:05hrs with the transit flight to Penang at 22:10hrs and reach Penang at 23:00hrs... And my return flight would be from KL at 11:00hrs and reach Narita around 18:40hrs. As I will be boarding from KL, there is a small savings in the fuel charges, so in the end, I'm paying 72,100yen for the tickets. Since these are e-Tickets, Ms.Kittaka will be sending me the details/instructions and the e-Tickets via email. That was the main reason why the tickets were that cheap.. :) :) Compared to buying the tickets through the website myself, I would prefer to go through the tour agency as I do not want to bear the full responsibility of any error/problem that might arise during booking, especially when it involves quite a huge amount of money.. :p :p It is not that I do not advocate e-Commerce, but sometimes it is better to have a person to do it instead.. Maybe next time I will just book it over the Net myself. Previously, I've booked several plane tickets through SIA website to go back Malaysia from Singapore. Maybe that's because I have more confidence in SIA and its website reliability, than ANA or H.I.S.'s.

Anyway, I am set to go back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year!! :) :) :) Can't wait to eat all the local food... :p :p not to mention the warm weather...

Big Foot in Japan..

Been a while since my last blog.. been busy..

Today's entry is kinda late too, should have written this earlier.. :p

As someone with big feet, it has always been a struggle for me to get shoes and it is worse for a girl.. I can still remember, when I was growing up, the hassle and pain of searching for a pair of suitable shoes for Chinese New Year.. :( :( The average shoe size for ladies is size 5 or 6, while for me, I need a size 9 (at least)! So can you imagine the looks I get when I ask for size 9 and what they must be thinking..

Things got better when I went to Singapore. Over there, the shoe sizes of up to 10 are available.. Although they are slightly more expensive and only limited to a couple of brands, but hey, at least I can get something other than sports shoes..

Before I came to Japan, I am already half expecting the same issue of not able to find shoes that fit to occur. And yes, indeed it happened. :( :( Before, I had already made up my mind to wear 1 pair of sport shoes and 1 pair of flat heels for this entire year. However, the sport shoes that I brought over is neither water-proof nor is it wind-proof. So I had to get a new pair of shoes in Japan.. :x

One of first thing I noticed is that the shoe sizes here are all in centimeters... I was lost.. After searching and checking the web, I realised that my shoe size would have to be around 28cm.. And the thing is, the largest shoe size for ladies here is 25cm... so I can never wear those high heel boots or those fancy shoes that we used to see on TV, worn by those Jap girls, not that I would want to wear them in the first place.. :p

Thus the next option is to look for shoes that are unisex. With those, the shoe sizes will be from size 22cm (who the heck would have such small feet!!!) till size 32cm.. So I went online to check out the shoes sold in some of the big shoe outlets.. and found out that the average shoe prices would be between 5,500yen to 9,000yen..

Thus in the end, I bought these shoes... the main reason for getting this pair is that the sole is flexible enough and there are sufficient traction. I hate those shoes that is so stiff that it's like wearing a wood clog or so smooth its sole that one can fall flat on one's face anytime!! This pair of Puma cost 6,300yen, which is equivalent to SGD82.

I don't think I will be buying anymore shoes, except high heels maybe.. Almost everyone is wearing high heels, even some of the guys (not very obvious).. :x :x It is really amazing to see the kinds of high heels these Japanese ladies are wearing and the fact they could actually cycle (on a bicycle) with those, on top of the short shirts they are wearing.. :o :x :o Will talk about that some other time...

忘年会

Went to the Year End Party organized by my Karate-dojo. It was an interesting experience..

The party started at 6:30pm, but I only arrived at the place around 6:40pm.. It was held at Komae (狛江), in a small hall on the 3rd floor of a building next to where the HQ of my Karate-dojo is located. For ladies it was 3,500yen per person and 4,500yen each for men. I think maybe this is due to the fact that guys do drink more than the ladies.. which was aptly proven later..

When I got there, the place was already packed with people.. no one I knew, except for Narikawa Sensei and his wife, and Wakiya Sensei and his wife.. No one from my dorm went.. I decided to go because I am curious about how a typical Japanese Year End party is like. There were a couple of 'gai-jin' (foreigners who are either Caucasians or Africans) present too.. They seems to be 'attracting' lots of attention from the Japanese.. well, I must say that the Japanese always seems to have an 'obsession' with White Caucasians and Black Africans.. *eyes rolling*

Anyway, I don't really care if no one talks to me and I don't really feel like talking to anyone too.. with my (still) poor command of Japanese, I don't want to spend the night struggling to find words to have a decent chat with people whom I most probably won't be seeing again.. So there I was, eating and quietly observing the crowd.. :p The food was not too bad, there is tempura, sushi, pasta, meatballs, salad, beef slices, etc., but comparatively it seriously lacked the 'excitement' and variety of Malaysian/Singaporean food.. But one thing for sure, the Japanese sure like to drink!! :o :o To me, it seemed that all the men can't wait to get themselves drunk.. Maybe it's a culture thing.. As the alcohol flowed, faces got redder and voices became louder.. Some of the mums of the kids who took karate started to talk rather loudly and big gesturing, so unbecoming of the impression that I have of Japanese housewives..

Anyway, Narikawa Sensei seemed to be rather high as he was just sitting at the front, face redden by alcohol.. while Mrs Narikawa was busy walking around, being the competent hostess.. and their daughter, Ms Narikawa was busy organizing and making sure the programs went on smoothly.. The programs was ok, nothing fantastic.. the usual piano performance, a short sketch (that was supposed to be a comedy, but it was kinda of a stretch than a sketch to me), a solo dance performance by a guy (named Asrof) from Tunisia and song performances by a group of 3 guys (rapping, singing and dancing away)..

Around 8pm, the event that everyone was waiting for finally got started. It was a game of Bingo.. :) Everyone was given a bingo card when they arrived. Then the numbers were being called out one by one.. A lots of those numbers on my card matched, but they just don't seemed to form a straight line.. When more than 15 numbers had been called out, my card had around 11 of them and yet I can't bingo as they just refused to form a line of 5 (horizontally, vertically or diagonally).. :( :( When I finally was able to bingo, out of 25 numbers on my card, about 18 of them had been called out!!! Just the kind of luck I usually have.. "so near yet so far", "so close yet not enough"..
Well, I've gotten prize No. 19, which turned out to be a box of rice crackers... :x :x From the Net, I found out that the box of rice crackers cost about 1,000yen.. :p

Throughout the party, I only talked to a handful of people, especially the 2 guys (one French and the other Tunisian) and the coach from Russia who come to the dorm for the weekly karate practice .. From the French guy, I found out that the previous Sensei, Mr Oogawa was no longer with this Karate-dojo. Seemed like he was forced to resigned!! :o :o I was shocked!! I had thought that Oogawa Sensei was absent for the past 3 trainings was because he had something to attend to.. and the reasons I heard from him (which he had heard from another person) were very lame to say the least.. Although I am tempted to clarify my doubts with one of the older lady who come to the weekly trainings in my dorm, I am worried that I might not catch the whole story with my (still) poor Japanese listening skills.. :(

The whole party ended 10 minutes before 9pm.. It ended with a usual custom of year end parties in Japan, where everyone was to clap in sync 3 sets of beats together.. Then before leaving, everyone helped to clean up the place.. Uneaten food were packed for take-away or thrown into the organic recycling bags, while burnable items (like chopsticks, paper plates, etc) and plastic items (plastic cups, plastic wraps, etc) were collected and sorted in separate bags too.. The guys then kept the tables and chairs.. I left the place after saying goodbye to Mrs Narikawa and Mrs Wakiya.. Reached my room around 9:40pm..

Which way??

Anyone know where to get cheap air tickets back to Malaysia? maybe to Penang via Singapore??

Been trying to find cheap air tickets to go back Malaysia for Chinese New Year next year.. and I need to decide if I want to stop at Singapore and then take a flight to Penang, instead of flying directly to Penang from Tokyo.. I wanna visit my friends in Singapore during CNY, but I need to find a place to stay too since I no longer have a place to go 'back' to in Singapore.. also I need to decide how many days I will be in Malaysia and how many days in Singapore, if I do drop by Singapore..

The average price for flying directly to KL is around 90,000yen, while flying directly to Singapore is about 65,000yen and the most expensive of them all is to fly directly to Penang, which will cost more than 100,000yen.. :( And if I want to visit friends in Singapore, then I would need to spend additional transportation fare to get from Taiping to Singapore and back again, if I flew straight from Tokyo to Penang.. The air ticket between Singapore and Penang is about SGD485, which will come up to about 37,000yen.. so in a way, it makes more sense flying directly to Singapore and then take a flight from Singapore to Penang for the 'to' trip. And then when I wanna go back Japan, I can fly to Singapore a few days earlier to visit my friends before flying back to Tokyo from Singapore...

The main 'negative' point for the above idea is that the possibility of losing my luggage in any of the flights and the hassle of repacking my luggage on my trip back to Japan while in Singapore..

Which is the best way?? Mmm.. so hard to decide..

哭笑不得。。

现在的心情的确是如此。。为什么呢？让我好好解释解释吧。。

今天的seminar是轮到我发表。由于这个学期我必须发表两次，所以我就打算把我这个学期必须提交的研究成果留到第二次的发表，而这一次所发表的只是我这两年的研究计划方向及大纲。

老实说我不相信研究室里有超过3个人以上晓得我所要研究的主题，包括教授在内。但是在我发表我那两年的研究计划方向及大纲后，竟遭受前辈及教授的质问！章前辈给的意见很有建设性，让我了解到我要研究的东西太广了，应该更专注一些集中一些，毕竟我不需要写论文所以不需要什么假想或重大研究成果。而教授他竟问我的研究主题及方针是什么！！ :o 那个当下真的弄得我哭笑不得。。也许我野心太大了，想研究的课题也太广泛了，但是如果我有机会和教授仔细聊一聊，课题的选择就不会发生问题了！！ :@ 不知道是我有先见之明还是我变得蛮轻视这研究课程了，至今我仍未投注太多的时间和精神在这个学术研究上。。也许这是不幸中的大幸吧。。 如果他有时间给与我们指导，密切督促大家的研究进度，那么今天的事情就不会发生了。。

难怪从前辈们那儿常听到有关教授及我们这个研究室的一些非常负面的消息和情报。。

“最近这几个学期被保留的修士生们都是我们研究室的。。”
“教授常常会叫学生做一些无关课业但是关于他私人的事物。。”
“其他教授们都常常督促并经常会见他们的学生们，哪像我们教授，见个面还必须先预约！！”
“只有我们教授把他应该教的课变成了学生们的发表会！！”
“其他教授们的seminar都是在做相关的学术讨论，并且会买书让学生们当参考。。”
“其他研究室都有很多很多相关的参考书让学生们借阅，我们的研究室连本书都没有！！”。。。

老实说自从四月份进入这个研究室，单独一对一和教授交谈讨论的次数没超过三次！！而这几次仅有的交谈时限从没多过15分！！！！ 所以可想而知大伙都是自己在摸索探讨。。除非是研究电子政府或是相关的课题，不然教授本身也是门外汉。。但是最令我吃不消的是他那种爱理不理的教学态度。。 :@

但是话又说回来，我认为我们（教授和我）都是在互相利用罢了。。像我这样（瞎）的学生自动找上门来，又带着国费生（国家奖学金学生）的“光环”，私立大学的教授没有理由拒绝，毕竟他们要的是钱和声誉。。而我在不想再搞太过于技术性的研究的情况下，选择了一位我认为很有学术权威的大学和教授，谁知。。唉。。真的有点那种误上贼船的感觉。。 :x :x

所以现在唯一能做的事就是这两年里无论如何都按照教授的意愿，写/研究/做他要我写/研究/做的东西，顺顺利利地毕业。之后谁还会“鸟”他！！

Addicted to Facebook

Ya ya ya.. i know.. I'm kinda slow to catch on to the social networking craze.. more than 1 year slower.. :p Been resisting the urgings from friends and ex-colleagues.. finally I 'succumbed' to the craze..

Never one who really like to be in the 'in' crowd just for the sake of it, I didn't see much value in having such a social networking when my friends or ex-colleagues are just a phone call or email away.. but now being away from my circle of friends (including ex-colleagues turned friends) and alone in Tokyo, the urge to keep in contact and know how everyone is doing is the major push factor in my joining Facebook..

So here I am.. addicted to Facebook and all its quirky applications.. seriously, how can one concentrate on doing other 'more' important tasks when there are so much fun (read interactivity) built into it.. one can really spent hours fiddling and surfing around within Facebook.. :p :p

Test Week

It's going to be a 'Testing' week next week...

I will have tests almost everyday this coming week..

Monday (10 Dec): Listening Test
The 2nd of the 3 scheduled tests for the Listening Class. One of my weakest Japanese skills. Did not do too badly in the first test, getting 91 out of 100.. :p But still I remain fearful every time I listen to the test conversations or news that my brain will freeze and stop processing the information, which it does occasionally.. :x :x
[Stress Level: 3.5 out of 5]

Tuesday (11 Dec): Reading Test
This is a weekly test and the most un-stressful test of them all. Reading and comprehending essays and writing the hiragana for the Kanji is one of my strength..
As long as I study (a bit) I will be okay, although I have yet to score full marks so far.. there is always some small minor mistakes here and there.. :x
[Stress Level: 1.5 out of 5]

Wednesday (12 Dec): Karate Promotion Test
My 2nd promotion test for this year.. It's for promoting from 9-kyu to 8-kyu... but I will still be in purple belt when I pass this.. I think the probability of me passing this should be quite high as I am more confident now than I was my first time.. yet, it is kinda stressful to 'perform' in front of all the seniors.. :x
[Stress Level: 3 out of 5]

Thursday (13 Dec): NO TEST!!
A day of resting.. :p :p

Friday (14 Dec): Grammar Test
Another of my weakness in Japanese.. And one of the most stressful subjects this semester.. This is a weekly test that contributes about 30% of the marks and then on 18 Jan a final exam that has a weight of 50%!! The weekly test requires us to make new sentences or completed some partially formed sentences with the grammar we learned the week before. So far my lowest score was 1.5 out of 8 in one of the tests... :x :x Thus me damn stressful as there are students in the class who consistently score 80% or more in every tests, when I barely pass most of the time.. :x :x Think I just have to buck up and study more.. :(
[Stress Level: 4.5 out of 5]

In addition, I will have to make a presentation on my researches this Friday evening in the weekly seminar. I've already prepared the presentation slides last week. Since this presentation is just an introduction of what I planned to do during these 2 years and not my actual research results for this semester, I'm not that stress over it.. :p

Multifarious Confection

In the past few months, I've seen several interesting flavors of Kit-Kat in Tokyo.. Here are some of them.. :)

This one was on sale during summer, although I can still see them on the shelves of some shops.. Strong melon smell.. a bit overwhelming.. [3 out of 5]

Class vanilla taste.. since I'm no fan of vanilla, this flavor is so-so to me... :p [2.5 out of 5]

One of my favorites.. The slightly bitter taste goes quite well with the layered biscuits.. [4.5 out of 5]

This one is way too sweet for my liking.. imagine the sugar-filled caramel on top of the sweetness of chocolate.. [1.5 out of 5]

On sale during the last 2 months.. for autumn I think.. the taste is okay.. [3 out of 5]

This Kit-Kat tastes similar to cookies and cream in ice-creams.. quite good.. [3.5 out of 5]

The taste of orange was not that strong but it is quite sweet.. not so good.. [2.5 out of 5]

As with most white chocolate, (to me) it has a kind of smell to it.. don't quite like it.. also a bit too sweet for me.. [2 out of 5]

Of course, also on sale are the usual Kit-kit flavors, chocolate and green tea..which I think are still the best flavors around.. :) :)

Total Annihilation..

...but what the heck! :p

Yes, just got back from my JLPT.. and there is no chance for me to pass it at all.. unless my luck really turned with a monumental degree.. :D



Paper 1 is a 35-min test on vocabulary and phrases. Among the three papers, I think I have the best chance of passing this paper.. Out of 100 points, I think 60 or more shouldn't be a problem.. Paper 2 was a total disaster.. I couldn't catch what the conversations were about.. That 40-min listening test was a real torture.. Maybe 20 out of 100.. :p My Paper 3 was not as good as I thought it would be.. I did the grammar portion first instead of the comprehension part, not because I'm confident about it but quite the contrary, I gave up on it.. :x So I just read the questions and the 4 choices given, and then just chose whichever that sounded/looked familiar to me.. I had just enough time to finish all 56 questions in this paper within the 70 minute allocated..

Although all the papers were quite difficult, but I am confident that by next year I should be able to clear this level 2.. Now that I know my weakness, and with most of my Masters subjects taken in this semester ('only' 5 more subjects to take in the next 3 semesters) I should be able to pay more attention to my Japanese next year..

Level 2..

Tomorrow will be the day for the JLPT examination.. And I registered to take level 2, instead of level 3.. I had wanted a higher target to make myself study hard, but it didn't really work.. :p And add to the fact that only level 1 and 2 is of any value in the real corporate world, I don't see the point of taking level 3..

However, I must admit (which I did more than 1 month ago) there is no chance of me passing level 2 at all at this stage.. Maybe the comprehension, listening and vocabulary portion of the examination is still doable (maybe with around 50-60% chance of passing), the grammar portion is totally out of question.. Seriously, compared to English grammar, the Japanese grammar is way too complicated and confusing for me.. well, at least for me at this moment.. so for 2008, I will definitely work my way through this Japanese grammatical labyrinth (in my opinion) and attempt level 2 again..

Thus I am not at all nervous or worried about tomorrow's examination.. I will just treat it as a try-out to gain experience for the 'real thing' next year. Like I said before, as long as I have accepted the worst case scenario of any given situation/problem/issue, I do not see the need to worry or stress and will just do my best.. :) Just pray hard that I don't score zero in any of the 3 papers.. :p :p :p

Diverse Interests...

Depending on my mood, I like to find out more about almost everything under the sun.. I like to read books and watch documentaries, in addition to my other hobbies (like MMORPGS, watching drama/anime/movie, etc). And the topics of these books and documentaries ranges from religion, science, history, politics to autobiographies.. however within these broad topics, I am very selective.. :p

Here are some of the documentaries that I've watched in the past few months... (in no particular sequence)

• *The Question of God (by PBS - 4 episodes)


• *The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of Politics of Fear (by BBC - 3 episodes)


• *The Century of Self (by BBC - 4 episodes)


• Einstein's Equation of Life and Death


• *Ancient Rome - The rise and fall of An Empire (6 episodes)


• *Planet in Peril (on global warming by CNN - 2 episodes)


• The Truth and Lies of 9-11


• Secrets of the Matrix (on the 'secrets' of the Illuminati)


• The Bible Code


• Stalin - Inside the Terror


• String Theory and M Theory


• Code of the Maya Kings


• Secrets of the Titanic


• *Trinity and Beyond (on the development of the atomic bomb)


• Is Wal-Mart good for America?


• Emperor Hirohito (on His role in WW II)


• The Spanish Inquisition (on the prosecution of Jews in Spain between 1476 to 1834)


• If the Oil runs out - Docu-movie


• Cold Fusion


• The Man Behind Hitler - Joseph Goebbels


• A State of Mind (on North Korea)


• *The Ghost in Your Genes (on the discovery of the inheritance traits of DNA)


• Secrets of Archimedes


• Time travel (on the possibility of time traveling)


• *The History of Singapore - Accidental Nation


• *The World At War (on WW II - 26 episodes, watched 11 so far)


• Genghis Khan - Docu-movie


• One Third of the Holocaust (on speculation that the Holocaust was a hoax)


• The Dark Side (on Dick Cheney's role in the war against terror)


• Lost Cities of Inca


• *Who wrote the Bible?


• The Bermuda Triangle


• Nostradamus - Prophecy and Prediction


• *The Da-Vinci Code Decoded


• Mystery of the Sphinx


• Ancient Warriors - Spartans, Assyrians, Romans, Mongols, Celts, Goths, Ninja


• Hackers - Outlaws and Angels


• Supermassive Black Holes


• Glories of Angkor Wat


• Hannibal - Docu-movie

The above are the ones that I could remember... and I have more documentaries waiting to be watched.. :) Maybe watching these documentaries might lead to a biased first impression of the given topics, but I think they represents a faster way to gain some basic understanding (however biased, as long as one maintain an open mind it should be okay) . Of course more in-depth knowledge would have to come from books, that I strongly believe..

I would recommend anyone who is interested to watch those documentaries that I've put a * next to them.. Most of them are from BBC, Discovery Channel and PBS. I don't necessary agree with the views expressed by the experts interviewed in the documentaries, but it is very interesting to see their point of views or listen to their side of the argument.. :)

So who has time for other things?? ;) ;) :p :p

Things you never knew...

Been watching lots of documentaries lately and gotten a couple of trivia that I think not many knew.. I think.. :p

1. The 'SI' of MALAYSIA came from Singapore
Yes, that's true.. when Singapore joined us (briefly), together with Sabah and Sarawak, in 1963, the Federation of Malaya changed its name from MALAYA to MALAYSIA.. can't seems to find much reference to this fact in the Internet.. got this tiny bit of important trivia (kinda oxymoron) from a documentary about Singapore's 'sudden' independence... [What if they had placed 'SI' in other locations? Will we have 'Masilaya', 'Malasiya' or 'Malayasi' instead?? :x :x]

2. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt in 1939 urging America to establish the nuclear capability before the Germans. The US never stopped its effort to create a nuclear bomb even after the Nazi had surrendered. And Einstein had regretted his actions when 2 atomic bombs were used on the Japanese.. [What if he never wrote the letter, then the atomic bombs might not have been made and dropped. Will the geopolitical scenes now be the same??]

3. Increasing number of polar bears are drowning.
Although polar bears are strong swimmers, with receding shore lines in the Arctic and lesser ice floes, they have to swim up to 60 miles to look for food. Often they can't find ice floes to climb up and drown due to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves. :( [What if all the ice caps melt? Think this is just the tip of the iceberg of the things to come...]

4. There are multiple parallel universes out there..
that is, according to the String Theory.. which is the so-far the best candidate theory to unite quantum mechanics and the theory of general relativity.. However, there is (still) no way to test or validate the String Theory except mathematically...
[What if the theory can be proven?? Does that mean there is more than one 'ME' out there?? Would be interesting to meet one of 'ME'.. :p]

5. The Books in the Bible was chosen by men
that is, according to several documentary on the Bible.. Which books got into being the 'official' version of the Bible were determined by several powerful men, including Constantine and the church leaders in the 4th Century. Of course, to the believers, these books were chosen by God through these men; to the non-believers, it's "huh?"... [What if.. just think about the what-ifs of both cases...]

Out of Service..

Yep, was "KO-ed" for the past few days.. Down with fever and running nose on Thursday and Friday.. so the last few days were spent recovering and recuperating...

Think the main reason for my getting sick was the karate training session last Wednesday night.. Due to the unavailability of the Multi-purpose hall (due to people using it for practice and rehearsal of the Komaba Festival), we had to use a smaller room in another building. We had to walk about 50m to that place. As I didnt know that we need to walk outside to get to that smaller room, I only wore one T'shirt under my karate gi and a sandal.. imagine the coldness as the wind was howling and the temperature outside was around 10 degree or less.. Also that small room had no mats, so we had to practice on cold cement floor for more than an hour.. :x By the time we ended the practice, soaking in sweat, we had to walk back to our rooms in that same howling wind and coldness!!

Was supposed to go to school on Thursday afternoon to help out in one important conference for my Professor.. however, woke up feeling feverish and nose was running... took my temperature, it was around 38.5 degree!! Thus I was down and "out of service" for the past few days..

Lucky that I had always stocked up my cupboard, so I had food to tie me through the last few days.. would need to stock up soon..

Think the weather had gotten to me.. :( hopefully my body will adapt to the weather soon.. else there will be more "down time" for me... :(

大大的大风吹。。 (Big big big wind blow..)

Today was by far the coldest day I've ever encountered in Japan..

The sun was out and I could feel its warms.. however, the wind was really howling away.. After my 1.7km walk from Takadanobaba Station to Building 22 (where all my Japanese classes are held), my cheeks felt cold and numb as if they had been placed in fridge.. my fingers felt the same, even though I had 'stick' them inside the pockets of my jacket... but luckily I don't have 'Mickey-Mouse' ears so they are quite warm, being close to my head.. :p

Today was forecast to be around 15 degree during the day and 8 degree at night.. while tomorrow will not be any better, with 17 degree being the highest and 7 degree being the lowest.. With winter coming soon, these temperatures will only get lower each day.. hopefully my body will be able to adapt to such low temperatures soon... although I must say I can feel that I'm going to get sick soon.. :( hope I'm wrong..

10 vs 1

On my way to school this morning, while walking to the JR Line in Shibuya, along the unopened shop lots, I saw something that left me with mixed feelings..

There were 3 policemen holding on to those yellow-tapes that the police used to mark crime scenes, cordoning off part of the area.. and on the floor behind these 3 policemen, were even more policemen squatting down, as if they were holding onto some dangerous criminals..

As I walked past the commotion, I was made speechless by what I saw.. There it was, no less than 10 policemen holding down a man!! Some of the policemen were actually sitting on the guy! That guy, who seems to be in his mid forties, was either drunk or mad, as he was mumbling non coherently.. WOW.. Imagine, 10 policemen had to be here to restraint ONE man! Either that guy was super strong, or super mad!!

This is not the first time I've seen such 'over-reacting' from the police.. Tasks that could be done by just 2 or 3 policemen, had to be undertaken by car load of them.. Maybe they don't get to see much "action" as Japan is a pretty safe place.. thus whenever there is any crime, be it big, small or petty, they want a piece of it.. :p But again, doesn't this speak volume of the efficiency of the police team?? Again, maybe I am wrong.. maybe what I had seen might not be the real deal..

For You in Full Blossom

This is a famous manga written by Nakajo Hisaya, widely known as 花ざかりの君たちへ, in Japan. It has been dramatized in Taiwan late last year, with the title, 花樣少年少女, with the main leads played by Ella of SHE and Wu Chun of boyband Fahrenheit.

Yesterday I finished watching the Japanese drama, which had been broadcast on TV in this summer.. It was a very funny, quirky and warm-hearted drama.. The leads (Oguri Shun, Ikuta Toma and Horikita Maki) are, as usual, great eye-candies, especially the male leads.. :p These dramas frequently induce a feel-good factor and always portray those 3-year of high-school as the best days of ones school life..

Being in Japan now, I could see that the guys portrayed in these teenage-themed dramas really do exist in the real world.. except that they might not be as good looking as those in the television.. but the behaviors and dressings can be found on many Japanese guys.. sometimes it is difficult to draw the line between being well-groomed or being gay(-ish). Some of the guys could carry off the metrosexual-kind of looks, but many are just out-right 'vomit-inducing'.. And some of the girls here (especially teenagers and those in their early twenties) are really over the top.. with their brown/blond hair, high-heels and dresses.. and yes, they really do like to squeal! in high-pitch no less.. :x :x

All in all, Japanese dramas are a great source of entertainment and learning for me, although I must say that I am not short of entertainment.. :) There are so many books/e-books/manga to read, so many dramas/anime/documentaries/variety shows to watch, and so many online games to play that the only complaint I have is that I have NO TIME!!! :) :p Knowing 2 major languages (English and Chinese, not to mention Cantonese) enables me to watch and read from so many sources (from US, UK, Australia, China, HK, Taiwan, Singapore, etc).. and frankly, I can't wait for the time when I can finally read/listen and understand Japanese! Cos I really do believe that in order to understand any culture/nation, books are the greatest source of information..

Crazy weather..

The weather is getting wackier by the day...

Imagine the temperature difference between 2 consecutive days can fluctuate between 21 and 14 degrees! Yesterday can be all bright and sunny, at 21 degree.. and suddenly the next day, the mercury could drop to around 14 degree today!! And nowadays, the difference within the same day averages around 8-10 degrees!! From 20 degree in the day to 10-11 degree at night! Seriously, how do one get used to such fluctuation...without getting sick along the way???

For the past 3 weeks, many were down with flu and cold.. lots of people were either sick for a few days or sick for weeks.. coughs, running nose and fever were the norm.. fortunately or unfortunately, I had 'only' running nose here and there.. but considering the amount of time I stay indoor, in my room and not out shopping or exploring, that is the best case scenario..

Another dilemma is how many layers of clothings to wear... If I wear too little, the wind/coldness would freeze my ass off; if I wear too much, I would sweat like a pig indoors.. The wind here are freaking and mercilessly cold...

Some nights I could sleep without turning on the heater, while most nights I had to.. some morning I woke up shivering (as I didnt use the heater the night before) while some morning I woke up sweating... (due to the heater).. So I do foresee myself getting sick or feeling discomfort/unwell more often until the weather sort of 'make up its mind' to stay cold or hot for the rest of the season...

Karate session today

As usual, today being a Wednesday is my weekly karate day.. and I was suprised to see the founder of this branch of karate present and not my Sensei.. seems like my Sensei and his wife has taken a leave of absence today and Mr Narikawa (the founder) is here to cover 'duty' so-to-speak.. So today we had our 师公 (meaning Sensei of my Sensei in Chinese) as our instructor today.. :)

His lesson was slightly more relax but no less rigorous.. He didn't go through a lot of steps or stances, but he wanted us to do more repetitions which really tested our stamina.. My thighs are aching right now, and I think they might become worse tomorrow.. but all these were very good exercises which I had been lacking for a while as I don't jog anymore since I arrived in Japan.. And frankly speaking, I do feel that my body is in a better shape than it has ever been for the last couple of years.. My body is slightly more flexible now.. :p

Found out today that there will be another promotion exam on 12 Dec. I will definitely take it! I wanna go as far as I can, within my capability.. the kata that is going to be tested for 9-kyu is called Heian-Shodan (平安初段) which I think I had memorized quite well as compared to Taisabaki-no-kata (体捌の形) during my first exam last Sep.. so I think I'm pretty confident that I would be able to pass this next exam.. :)

Think I better rest early today.. body start to ache.. It was a good foresight to have arranged my classes in such a way that Thursdays are no-lesson days for me, so I can recuperate from Wednesday nights karate sessions.. :p :p

Still busy.. or more busy..

Managed to clear No.3 and No.5 yesterday..

Done building the new survey web page and managed to get the data imported properly into Excel after much "processing" using more than 2 programs.. And the last of the 2 big translations was completed this evening..

So 2 down, 3 to go.. however, more things seems to have been cropped up.... :(

And so the list goes on...

No.1 JLPT preparation.
Dateline: 02 Dec

No.2 Presentation on my research during a seminar..
Dateline: 07 Dec

No.3 Research on WSIS
Dateline: mid Dec (for research topic evaluation)

N0.4 Homework for my Japanese pronunciation class...
Dateline: next Monday

No.5 Homework for one of my Masters subjects
Dateline: this Friday

No.6 Planning a survey of my own as part of the assignments of my Masters subjects..
Dateline: end of Nov

No.7 Presentation for my Japanese Oral Expression class..
Dateline: next Tuesday

And there are 3 other Masters subjects, that requires at least one report to be submitted, that the Professors have yet to give out the report topics.. There is definitely going to be a mad rush during the end of this semester (end Jan 08), with at least 3 reports to rush (foresee-able ones), 2 Japanese class presentation and 2 final examinations... :( :( :x :x

忙忙忙。。Busy, busy, busy..

Argh... There are so many things on my mind now...

No.1 - The JLPT exam in Dec.. Very sure that I will not pass that exam.. as I didn't have the time to study intensively.. Way too many 'extra-curriculum' activities happening.. Yet I dont want to get zero points for it, so I would still need to study as much as possible.. Just so I won't get the least points.. :p

No.2 - Presentation for the seminar also in Dec.. Need to prepare for this.. although I doubt that many of those in my lab will understand what I'm researching, but I still need to 'wayang' a bit.. Will try to do this maybe next week...

No.3 - Yet another web survey to build... I am really becoming the survey builder of my Sensei (and his assistant).. :( It is so convenient for them to just pass me a word document and want it to be up in the web.. I need to do all the layout design, data input checking and user testing.. Aiy.. Dateline: next Monday...

No.4 - Need to think of a research topic pertaining WSIS.. all courtesy of my Sensei and Mr. "ITU"... :x Dateline: Dec

No.5 - 2 big translation jobs to complete.. Dateline: next Monday..

:( :x :( :x

So many things to do, how do I find time for anything else?? Like reading books, watching movies/dramas/anime, playing online games?? :( :(

NEXT

.. which is the name of the book that I've finished reading about 1 week ago.. it was the latest book written by Michael Crichton in 2006. Again, I borrowed it from the Central Library.. :)

Similar with his previous books, Michael Crichton plays with the latest and hottest development in technology now, which is also very controversial - the genetic research..

There are multiple story lines in the novel in which they explore the 'what-if' scenarios.. In my opinion, none are too far-fetched.. all possibilities that are just waiting to happen..

This is a very interesting book to read, especially if you like his previous books..

潑妇骂街

今早上学途中，在高田马场站前看到了一名女生对着一位男生破口大骂。

哗！难得在这一个讲究自律安分的国家里还会看到“泼妇骂街”的事件。。 :p

那对男女都作上班族的打扮，女的打扮得端庄优雅，男也西装笔挺，但是那女生却对男生大声叫喊，连带着一些推扯。男生一脸无奈，一方面任由女生推打另一方面想劝女生停手。。场面很是尴尬。。 :x

每个经过的路人都只朝女生愤怒的谩骂声看了一眼，大约看出个所以然后就马上把眼神移开了。。相信不会有人去劝架吧。。所谓“清官难断家务事”，这个时候大家都是“看门的神仙”-- 管不了庙里事，各走各的，以免“老鼠爬香炉”-- 碰了一鼻灰。。

Gained some "Noh"-ledge

Went to watch the Japanese performance of Kyogen (狂言) and Noh (能) at the National Noh Theater near Setagaya Station last Monday.


Think about a month ago, read from the email sent by Waseda CIE (Center for International Education) that the Association of Japanese Noh Plays was giving out free tickets to foreign students to attend the performance. Had totally forgotten that I had expressed my interest in watching the performance in an email to the Association, until I received the ticket in the mail 2 weeks ago. The ticket was priced at 4,000yen and I got it for free.. :)

Read up a bit about Noh last night, but could really imagine it in my mind as I have never watch it before, neither live or through tv/video/etc. So didn't really know what to expect.. In the end, it was really an eye-opener for me, to say the least..

Reached the Theater around 5:15pm, thinking that I would have been too early as the gates will open at 5:30pm while the performance will only start at 6:30pm. I was very wrong.. There was already a long line formed in front of the entrance.. Well, I must say that the Japanese queue up nicely and politely in all these kinds of situations. And no jumping queue was allowed as the older folks will not hesitate to tell that person(s) off if he/she 'happens' to queue wrongly.. So I have found a worthy competitor to Singaporean's love-to-queue characteristic.. :p

The gate did not open until almost 5:45pm.. by that time, I would estimate more than 100 people have queued in the line that had snaked through the compound of the Theater. In the queue, there are quite a number of foreigners, either from their looks (aka 'Ang-mo' - Caucasians) or from their conversations (I could hear Chinese and Korean being spoken). Of course there were also lots of Japanese people in the crowd, many of them were the elderly ladies wearing their kimono (simplified version, I think).

Once inside the Theater, I was spellbound by the stage.. It was a simple yet intricate setting.


The brochure stated that no photography allowed, so I left the camera in my room. But almost everyone around me is taking photos.. I was being too law-biding, thus in the end I had to use my mobile phone to take 5 photos.. the resolution was not as good as I like nor was the photo size to my liking, but some poor quality photos were better than nothing..

The stage had 2 entrances. One on the left side, where the actors would appear walking through a short corridor, or in Japanese they called it a bridgeway ('hashi-gakari'). Another entrances at the side of the main stage, through a small sliding door called the 'Kirido-guchi'. This sliding door is where most of the non-acting performers enters, meaning all the choir and 'props'-men. On the back of every seat there is a small monitor to display (Japanese and English) subtitles for the benefit of the person sitting behind.

Before the performances began, a guy came onto the stage. He went on to introduce and explain briefly the history, evolution, settings, stage of Noh. He spoke in Japanese. I could catch maybe 30% of what he was saying as he was using lots of Keigo and was explaining something that I had no idea of.. He talked for about 20 minutes..

First performance was 'Boushibari', a Kyougen performance. The first impression that came to my mind was that this was a comedy skit. From the guidebook written by The Nohgaku Performers' Association, it states that "With time, Kyougen went further to evolve from simple mimicry to become a scripted play that made satirical fun of various aspects of society." The way the actors said their lines were also quite interesting. They pronounced every single syllable in a very awkward way, with intonations that goes up and come down. Maybe that's why there was also Japanese subtitles shown on top of the English ones.

The actors for Kyougen were all guys with grey hairs. They would be at least 60 years to me.. Maybe it was the story that required the actors to be much older.. :p However, the 3 of them were really good and very funny too.

There was a 15 min interval after the Kyougen performance.

Then it was the main performance, the Noh play - Kantan (邯鄲)!! This is actually a story taken from China. From Tang Dynasty, it was called 《枕中记》which gave us the proverb 黄粱一梦 which means simply, life is but a dream..

First 4 musicians walked slowly through the bridgeway. They will be seated at the back of the main stage. From the right would be the flute ('fue'), the shoulder-drum ('Ko-tsuzumi'), the 'Ou-tsuzumi' (another type of drum) and the 'daiko' (big drum). These music instruments are the core of the Noh performance. The Noh actors moves and reacts to the beat of these instruments.. Although personally I don't mind the instruments, I just couldn't quite stand the chantings, mumblings and shouting that the musicians make while playing those instruments.

The main lead was wearing a mask, while the others didn't. Don't quite know why yet.. However the costumes worn by the actors were all equally colorful and elaborate, and of course the lead actor would wear the most colorful one. Also there seems to be no woman actress in the play, as the role of the lady owner of the inn was being played by a guy..

After watching, here are some of my observations and thoughts:

1. The movements of the actors were all very slow. Compared to the fast movements usually seen in Chinese operas, the actors especially the main lead moves painfully slow, at least to me..


2. With reference to No.1, the legs of these actors should be very strong as they need to get up, move around, sit down very very slowly.. :p almost like in slow motion..


3. Noh is not for those who are impatient.. There aren't much actions or fanciful foot work and the story development was kinda slow too... All I've seen was some flipping of their long sleeves, a couple of choreography of fan and walking up and down the stage...


4. As the main character was wearing a mask, there was no way for the audience to see his facial expressions. Even those actors who were not wearing any masks, not much obvious facial expressions from them too.. So all the acting was in their actions and gestures..


5. Very little props were used and no elaborate backdrops were displayed but yet the grandiose of it can be easily felt. I couldn't help but be absorbed by it..


6. It wasn't very beginner friendly as one would need to be familiar with some sort of opera to know that the actors do certain actions to symbolize certain things or the stage was set-up in that particular with a particular in-build meaning..


7. The subtitles really helped a lot.. without it I wouldn't say that I would be lost in translation, but I would missed out certain significance of certain actions/props/layout/etc.. Also it pays to know the story that was going to be played first, then you can concentrate on seeing how the Noh interprets the story using it's techniques...


8. Unlike Chinese operas, there was a group of choir singers (all were men) seated along the right hand side of the stage. Also it was kinda weird to me to see that the musicians (flute, and 3 types of drums) sat at the center back of the stage, as I thought the main focal point should be on the Noh actors.. To me, these musicians were quite distracting when they make all those chanting and grunts on top of the music they made..


9. The entire experience was very pleasant. It was held in a nicely built theater with impressively simplistic stage, and the audience was well-mannered. No interruptions from mobile phones or people talking loudly.

I hope to watch a few more types of traditional Japanese performing act, like the Kabuki and Bunraku during my time in Japan.. :)


For a few more pictures of the Noh Stage..

超级浪费！！

浪费什么呢？时间和精力。。 :@

昨天，教授在东京汽车展里有一个讲座，所有研究室里英文组的学生早上必须到现场帮忙。。如果真的帮上忙的话，我还没那么气，但最终大家只是到场充充场面而已，因为会场已经有专人负责一切了。。如果只是充场面，那何必叫大伙七早八早地到那地方集合呢？？所必须做的事情其实两三个人就能解决了。。

大伙被令必须在10点半前到会场。到了之后，从波比的口中得知教授想要我们陪伴教授的数位贵宾到汽车展里逛一逛。。但是教授自己却已经先带贵宾们下去逛了！ 结果大伙被要求到会场外发传单，希望能吸引一些听众出席讲座。。刚开始大伙都不知如何下手。其中一位日本籍学生却如鱼得水。为了把传单发完，不管男女老少，大伙都硬着头皮乱发一通。

讲座到场的都是一些路人甲乙丙丁。。老实说这一次的“活动”一点建设性都没有！！完全是在浪费时间！！讲座的主提是“亚洲环境专家研讨会”，请来了不下十位的“专家”出席。除了两三位真正在做有关环境研究的教授们，其他的在我眼里都是在 B.S. (bull shit)！他们所说的都是场面话，不是常识就是一些能从网路上找到的资料。。难道这就是所谓的学术交流吗？？ :o

这次的贵宾有来自中国、台湾、菲律宾、印尼和泰国的教授们，但到了最后大伙却连与这些教授们交谈的机会都没有，更别说交流啦！！空忙了一天，教授跟大家聊的话还不到十句！！那区区2000yen的伙食交通津贴真的有点太瞧不起人了。不然我付你2000yen，你来浪费你的一天好不好？？ :@ :@

虽然未来日本之前，已经作好心理准备必须“卑恭屈膝”事事都要顺着教授的意思，但是我并不是来日本当免费劳工或是钟点佣人的！！对我而言，念Masters的目的是想从教授们及同学间获取并增强知识、建立人脉、交流经验及探讨新观念。可是到今天为止，与教授单独讨论的次数还不够写一个“正”字！！不止如此，这里的教授们好像都不怎么慎选他们的学生，好像只要付得起学费，就算没有工作经验，成绩一般般也就能进大学院念Masters或是PhD了。。而且我所接触到的博士生们的素质也令人深感怀疑，有一些竟然可以到了第二年仍然没决定论文的题材！！！ :o :o :o 太惊人了。。在研究室里，好几人是前公务人员，有半数则是从未工作过的“职业学生”，所以他们所讲的所研究的，对我而言，都太理论化太不切实际了，尽谈一些不太可能被实行的，一些纸上谈兵的大道理。。无论如何我都无法接受一个从未到过私营企业工作但满口经营理论管理策略的博士或教授。。

由以上观查到的观点来评论，我还是把重心放在掌握好我的日文比较实际些，不然就真的枉费我放弃那份高薪的工作跑来日本的牺牲了。。

Civilization's Discontent

"Civilization and Its Discontent", written almost 80 years ago (in 1929) by Sigmund Freud.

This is the first book by Freud that I've read. The basic idea in this book is the understanding of culture as a tool to neutralize aggression. But seriously, I can't really grasp his arguments... yet... so maybe I should start reading his first books and go down chronologically, and maybe then I would get a better idea of what he was advocating..

I got interested in Freud's theories after watching a 2002 BBS documentary, "The Century of the Self" where according to the director of this documentary, Adam Curtis, ".. is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy."

There are several quotes that I found to be quite interesting and thought-provoking in this book..


"One feels inclined to say that the intention that man should be 'happy' is not included in the plan of 'Creation'."

"The question of the purpose of human life has been raised countless times; it has never received a satisfactory answer and perhaps does not admit of one."

"Civilization, therefore, obtains mastery over the individual's dangerous desire for aggression by weakening and disarming it and by setting up an agency within him to watch over it, like a garrison in a conquered city."

“It regards reality as the sole enemy and as the source of all suffering, with which it is impossible to live, so that one must break off all relations with it if one is to be in any way happy. The hermit turns his back on the world and will have no truck with it. But one can do more than that; one can try to re-create the world, to build up in its stead another world in which its most unbearable features are eliminated and replaced by others that are in conformity with one‘s own wishes. But whoever, in desperate defiance, sets out upon this path to happi­ness will as a rule attain nothing. Reality is too strong for him. He becomes a madman, who for the most part finds no one to help him in carrying through his delusion. It is asserted, how­ever, that each one of us behaves in some respect like a paranoiac, corrects some aspect of the world which is unbear­able to him by the construction of a wish and introduces this delusion into reality. A special importance attaches to the case in which this attempt to procure a certainty of happiness and a protection against suffering through a delusional remolding of reality is made by a considerable number of people in common. The religions of mankind must be classed among the mass­-delusions of this kind. No one, needless to say, who shares a delusion ever recognizes it as such.”

There are frequent mentioning of 'ego', 'super-ego', 'death drive', 'death instinct', 'sublimation' and many more terms in the book.. which I have problem grasping.. I think I shall re-read this book when I have read and understood Freud's earlier works.. Hopefully the Central Library has all his books..

痴人说梦话。。

上个星期，浦野教授叫大家想象20年后的世界资讯进展，交上一篇报告。今天在班上有三位同学做了presentation。其中一名是来自马国政府的巫族女同学。她所写的20年期望是以未来的马国为出发点，在报告中提出了许多期待及看法。但是听了她的presentation之后，我觉得自己是不是太刁难务实，还是她太天真了。。 :x 为什么呢？让我一一解说吧！

首先，我认为她所提出来的期待并不需要等20年，因为这些都是现在立刻就可以实现的。。比方说，她希望马国不再因为连日的大雨而水灾连连；她希望国家拥有完善的公共交通系统；她希望人们无需在toll station停下缴交通行费；她希望能更全面地利用现有的电子身份证等等。。这一切都能在一两年内变成现实，只要当今政府有心思地认真地去实行。

接下来，她说希望马国能乘胜追击，利用不久前成功把国人送上太空的事实，进一步地研发及探讨太空的奥秘并且向月球进攻！太天真了。。我们花了2千5百万美金搭了俄罗斯的顺风太空船罢了！！ 老实说花钱上太空有什么好骄傲的？？世界上已经有好几位太空旅客了。。那笔巨款如果拿来帮助没钱上学，没钱买书的学生不是更有意义吗？？为什么我们老是爱打肿脸充胖子呢？？

也许我太尖酸刻薄了，也许我太鄙视自己的国家了，但是如果国人和政府还不赶快睁大眼睛看清楚这个世界，然后再回头反省督促改善自己，那么数年后，马国很有可能会被许多（现在的）发展中国家远远地抛在后头。。越南、柬埔寨、印尼、好几个南美州国家的经济都已经开始大步起跑了。曾几何时人们把马国与台湾、香港、韩国相提并论，并放在同一个高峰，但是现在呢？我们连连失去了大笔的外资，处处受到中国和印度的竞争压力，三不五时地遭受层出不穷的贪污和滥用职权的丑闻困扰。。 听了看了，除了心痛还是只有心痛。。

也许我很自私，我不会牺牲小我来成全大我。我会很现实地往“钱”和“机会”看齐。哪里有机会让我发挥让我超越自我，或是哪里给的钱多，我就去哪里。我不会为了其他“伟大”的理由而委屈自己。。 我不想当个伟人。当然我有我的想法，也希望他人能认同我的想法，但我不会为了要他人认同而做些自己不认同的事物。。所以对于马国的情况，我只会从远处关心而不会拿自己来当赌注，因为没有人能赔偿得了我的损失。。

H.P. and the Deadly Hallows

Finished the last installation of Harry Porter last Thursday..

As I have said in my earlier post, found JK Rowling's latest book in Basement 2 of the Central Library.. Didn't expect the University to have many English books, much less the latest fiction books..

Book No.7 was a well-written conclusion of the Harry Porter saga.. She kinda tied all the loose ends and gave a solid finale to the series.. As this is a make-believe world, she gave very credible explanations and logical reasonings for the things that she wrote into her books.. She really edged the world of magic, wizardry and chivalrous into the hearts and minds of her readers..

I truly enjoyed the book... just like all her previous 6 books.. This is definitely one book collection that I would want to have in my personal library.. :)

Spoiler: Harry didn't die.. neither did Ron nor Hermione... ;)

The Question of God

This was a 4-hour documentary produced by PBS, chaired by Dr Armand Nicholi discussing the existence of God based on the lives and thoughts of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud..

It was a thought provoking documentary to say the least.. Personally, I tend to side with Freud.. Although I do believe there is someONE up there, I don't think we have to keep mentioning HIS/HER name every time we wanna do anything, nor should we attribute EVERYTHING (good or bad) that has happened to us, to our family and to this world to HIM/HER. We are given choices to make in our lives and we have to live with the consequences that come with them.. I would not run to HIM/HER for every little thing/obstacle/question nor would I use prayers as a substitute for hard work or logical thinking.. Maybe all this have to do with my upbringing and my character.

The main 'dilemma' for me is this: Let's say I don't believe or I believed in the 'wrong' God, and in the end (judgment day or whatever), I am on the 'wrong' or 'losing' side, will I still be banished to Hell or not being able to go to Heaven, even though I had been a good person all my life?? To me this is not fair.. that's what is preventing me from believing in Christianity or Catholicism.. not that I had believed in them in the first place.. According to what little I understand, as long as one receive Jesus or God into their hearts, they are saved, even though they might be a bad person their whole lives.. To me that is VERY UNFAIR.. Like what was discussed in the documentary, this is like placing a bet.. betting on the right side (aka believe the right God) will give one salvation and eternal life after death.. If you bet on the wrong side, then you will be damned...

I really despise those who invoke their God's name in every single thing they do or behave as if they are much superior beings just because they believed in their God(s).. they like to pay lip-service to their God(s).. To me, action speaks louder.. What is the point of quoting HIS/HER name and yet do horrible things to fellow human beings?? you think HE/HER up there is so gullible to be taken by all these praises and good words?? If one do horrible things and yet is able to 'sweet-talk' one's way to HIS/HER good books, then I don't want to believe in that God..

So for me, Buddhism seems to be fairer.. One reaps what one sow and what goes around comes around, and you don't even have to believe in Buddha.. Your good deeds will be weight against your bad ones.. One will still get punished for the bad deeds, but after that one is rewarded for the good ones done.. To me, this is like having a point system that records all the good and bad things done, regardless of who is checking at the end of the day..

I really admired how Freud faces death during his last days.. he didn't turn to any religion, he didn't seek solace in any religion and he kept living to the fullest even when his cancer was causing him tremendous pain.. He was an atheist thorough and thorough even though he was brought up in very religious family (Judaism).. His courage speaks volumes! In my opinion, he was a brave man to the end.. I hope I would be half as courageous as he was when my time comes..

More information on this documentary.

Faxai

That is the name of the typhoon that is hitting Japan right now.. It has not stopped raining since yesterday afternoon.. The weather outside is between 17 to 14 degrees, with the wind and rain.. :o

Completed two translation jobs today.. was listening to classical music while doing it.. The strong wind was howling and gusting into my room through the tiny winy little gap I left between the windows and the rain was beating against them too.. And in this kind of atmosphere, listening to classical music is quite an experience.. :) Listening to Beethoven's 5th Symphony 1st Movement, Tchaikovsky's Concerto No.1 in B-Flat or Bach's Cello Suite 1 with the wind and rain beating away outside my window is quite something.. It adds to the whole majestic kinda of feeling.. :p

The day is getting shorter.. The sun is out for only about 5-6 hours a day.. Darkness creeps in from 5:30pm onwards..by 6pm, it is as dark as it can possibly can be.. The day stays in the range of 20 degrees or lower.. Personally, between the rain and the wind, I would take the wind.. being cold is bad enough, I don't need the wetness to add onto the misery.. And it is no fun carrying an (wet) umbrella in a packed train during rush hour..

Anyway, according to the weather station, the rain should stop by tomorrow morning.. well, let's see how accurate is its forecast.. ;)

Survivor China

I am a fan of the show since it started in 2000.. although I did missed a couple of the seasons in between.. This is the 15th season of this reality show and it doesn't fail to amaze me.. Up to today, 6 episodes of this season have been shown and I've watched all of them.. :)


This time it is being held in JiangXi, China.. except for the 'exotic'-ness of the location, the game is still the same.. survive 39 days in the outdoors with 15 strangers and try to outwit, outlast and outplay them.. and people just don't seem to learn from all the past seasons.. :x

There are always those who are just being themselves (ie, being difficult, being obnoxious, being rude, being lazy, etc) and those who came into the game saying that they 'had no idea that it is so tough'??!! Helloo!! This is Survivor! Not some summer camp at outward bound school or some picnic in the country side.. It never fails to amaze me that the contestants never bothered to learn some basic things that are crucial to the game.. Things like starting a fire, fishing, swimming, using a machete, etc.. And people would even wear a dress!! wow.. they think this is a beauty pageant or a cocktail party??? As always there will be people who over-strategize, those who just lie low under the radar, those who rides the coat-tail of others, and of course those who annoys everyone in the tribe.

And also there bound to be people in the game who love to say things like: "I am not going to play the game ", "I'm not going to go against my principles/religion/whatever to get ahead" and "I am not going to lie/scheme/back-stab/play both sides in this game".. Then the question I wanna ask them is "Why the hell they sign up Survivor for??!!" This is THE game that requires you to do all the backroom maneuvering, strategizing, back-stabbing, lying to one's face and/or lying behind one's back you can to get your hands on that USD 1 million dollars!!

Maybe that's why it is still interesting to watch the show.. cos people just never learn..

Found!!

After so many trips to the Central Library at the Nishi-Waseda campus, only today have I 'found' the English and Chinese fiction section!! :p

All the fiction books are 'hidden' at the Basement 1 and Basement 2.. To go there, you have to go through a counter that will check your student ID and then give your a name tag to identify you as a undergrad, postgrad, researcher or teaching stuff of Waseda.. And one can't bring along one's bag.. only notebooks are allowed in..

Although there are rows and rows of really old and precious looking books which must be preserved well, some of them are actually fictions. That is something I do not quite understand.. I thought fictions should be placed at areas where there are high human traffics??!! :x

But anyway, I am not complaining.. cos I found "Harry Porter and the Deadly Hallows" there!! :D So I borrowed it.. :) It has been a loonngg time since I've read any books after arriving in Japan.. It was sooo difficult to find English or Chinese books here for leisure reading... Better late than never.. I shall scour those 2 floors for more interesting books.. Okay, I shall get back to my book.. I can't wait to finish reading the concluding chapter of this boy wizard.. It's getting really interesting.. :)

Happy 125th Birthday Waseda!

Today is Waseda University's 125th Anniversary..

There were lots of activities scheduled in the campus today.. Yet I didn't attend. Why you might asked. Well, I don't know.. maybe it's laziness, maybe it's indifference, maybe..... Most probably it's due to the fact that I've yet to develop a strong attachment to the Uni.. I will not do something if I don't feel that I could gain anything from it.. call me selfish, but that's the main concern for me.. I rather spend my time doing things that will gratify me (especially in terms of knowledge or spiritual growth) than use that time on something that others think I 'should/supposed to' do...

So far, I began to have some sense of attachment to my research lab and my graduate school.. maybe it will take a few more months to really feel the connection to Waseda, what it meant to be a part of it... This is similar to the 'evolution of feelings' when I first went to NUS.. First I identified myself more closely to Eusoff Hall then my own faculty, cos I spent almost 80% of my time in my hostel.. Then slowly, the sense of attachment grew to include NUS..

I always need time to feel "included" or being a part of some organisation.. I'm those whom people called 慢热 (can be translated as "slow to warm up"). Unlike those who could talked/behaved as if they are your best friends from the very beginning, I need time to warm up and open up..

Anyway, "Happy Birthday, Waseda Uni!!". May there be more 125years ahead for you! :)

Come on... let's swear more at work!!

According to researchers at the University of East Anglia in the eastern English city of Norwich, "regular use of profanity can express and reinforce solidarity among staff, enabling them to express feelings such as frustration, and develop social relationships."

WOW! There are people out there who actually do such research??!! Good for them I would say... Why? Cos I am quite a believer of swearing.. ;)

Oh no, don't get me wrong... I don't mean mindless swearing nor do I approve of one beginning/ending each sentence spoken with a vulgarity.. What I meant is that if you are pissed off, swear it out (loud or just audible to yourself).. Suppressing frustration or anger by pretending nothing had happened is bad to your own health. Of course, you can delay the swearing if you are in an unsuitable situation to swear out loudly immediately..

But I think everyone who has worked before would agree that whenever a couple of us (colleagues) sit down together/meet up, either for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner or supper, whenever we talk about our bosses and/or our jobs, we all have our complaints and frustrations to curse and swear about. It really does "enhanced" the sense of camaraderies between us because we know that we are not alone in feeling that particular way.. It also shows that the other person(s) shares the same view/fate/frustration/etc with us.. it is this sharing of common 'experience' that builds solidarity among colleagues.. it is like the mentality of 'us' against 'them'..

And I must admit I missed those days in my last company where Handy would have his 'parliament sessions'.. :) We used to just crowd around at the back of Command Center and talk nonsense for a while (sometimes for 2 hours straight :p ).. All of us, from the Server Team to the Application Team would just 'condemn/criticize/crucify' our bosses and/or bosses' boss/etc.. No one in the management was spared from the 'debates' of our 'parliament sessions'.. Then just as how it had started, it would 'dissolved' almost unanimously. Everyone would go back to their work station, maybe not happily but at least satisfied, knowing that they are not alone in feeling frustrated/pissed. Everyone was on the same boat and everyone was more than happy to share the workload so that everyone can go home on time.. There was no back-stabbing, no jocking for positions and definitely no free-riding within the team. Everyone pulled their weight, did their part and helped the others. That was the sense of camaraderie that I liked.. That was the kind of bond that I would like to be a part of.. where 'One for All and All for One' really rang true...

Thus I would say that the last 3 years in that M.N.C. was one of the highlights of my professional life so far.. Thanks Edmund, Daniel, Henny and Fitri... It was really my pleasure and good fortune to have had the chance to work with you guys/gals in the OSPS team.. And same to Jeff, Handy, Allan, Bernard and Johnson, our team won't be able to do much without the server team.. we were all in the same boat and we all made very sure that we don't sink with it.... :)

Officially Purple belt..

:) :) :)

Got the certificate stating that I've passed the karate promotion exam last month..



However, the purple belt has yet to be given out, thus I'm still wearing the white one for the past few weeks..

With the promotion exam happening only 2 to 3 times a year, I do not foresee myself reaching even brown belt... There are 3 sub-levels within a colored belt. Purple belt (9-kyu -> 8-kyu -> 7-kyu) -> Green belt (6-kyu -> 5-kyu -> 4-kyu) -> Brown belt (3-kyu -> 2-kyu -> 1-kyu) -> Black belt... I'm currently in 9-kyu and to change from purple to green, I have to pass 2 more exams.. :(

So with 'only' 2 more years in Japan (at least that's what I think, for now), I could only take 4-5 more exams, making the brown belt unreachable.. :8

But it's okay.. I had been having a good workout every week and (I think) my weight has been slowly dropping.. The stretches that we do every week is very good.. think I'm more flexible and slightly toned than before.. :p :p So not too bad for a beginner in her early thirties.. hahahahaha...

Autumn is here..

and how could I not know it...

Last month was still hot and stuffy, with the mercury rising to 28-26 degrees Celsius.. yet this month onwards, the temperature is hovering between 22-18 degrees, and sometimes with the wind and rain, it might dropped till 15 degree!!

Those who knew me well would know that I dislike cold weather.. :x I even complained about the office temperature when it went under 23 degree!! Now I can't do anything about the weather here.. :( :( except to wear longer and more layers of clothes.. My nose has been acting up quite frequently and I have not yet figure out how to keep it from "running"..

Looks like I would need to fork out a small fortune to equip myself with long-sleeves, jackets, sweaters and coats.. Here the people wear more than 1 layer of clothings, instead of 1 thick clothes.. Why? cos while indoors, with the heater on, it would be too hot with the jacket/sweater/coat on.. For someone who don't really care much about dressing up, it poses a big headache.. especially the matching of colors and whatever.. For me, comfortability is the main concern and in the tropics a nicely designed shirt/blouse will do, but in the temperate countries, one has to make sure that the blouse, outer-wear, jacket/coat matches with one's pants and shoes!!! :x

In the end, I decided... To the heck with what other thinks! As long as I'm neat, tidy and comfortable, I don't give a damn if what I'm wearing clashes or whatever.. It is all about the issue of perspectives and social norm.. Since I'm not Japanese, I will not conform to what the Japanese society expects. As long as I don't go against it too much and give it due respect, I think I can get away with it.. since I am a foreigner!! :p :p

Sometimes I wonder how big one's wardrobe has to be in temperate countries with 4 seasons.. Imagine wearing at least 3 different sets of clothes during hot (summer), cool (spring and early autumn) and cold (end autumn to winter) weathers.. No wonder shopping become the national past-time for ladies!! Especially in Japan, when one's appearance takes precedence (aka the main consideration) in almost every aspect of life here.. People are 'obsessed' with what their friends or colleagues wear and it most probably will becomes a topic of gossip or judgment! This is one more reason that I am reluctant to consider working here.. I want to spend my time and energy thinking of ways to improve (myself, my team, my dept, etc) and contribute to the company, and not to worry about what I should wear and in the end, being pre-judged and discriminated against due to my lack of 'fashionable dress sense'.. So what if I wear the same sets of clothes whole year round? I am NOT defined by what I wear, what's inside is more important as a differentiator than what is outside! Maybe it's because there is nothing much inside that one has to try to compensate by wearing something that would make them stand out!!

I'm not against people who wants to dress up, but please do it to show your good features and hide/camouflage the bad ones.... Sometimes it's an eye-sore looking at 'dumplings' (aka ladies who like to wear tight shirt/blouse/jeans/pants that would just 'showcase' their fats! Sometimes one just can't pity that piece of clothing that is trying it's best to hold everything together), 'fake blonds' (aka people who used at least half a gallon of bleach to take out their natural hair color, which is black, and turned themselves into blonds! But Asians with blond hair are just plain weird-looking..), 'Marge Simpson' (aka ladies with hair that are either the leaning tower of Pisa, a bee hive or just one big mess!) and 'Metrosexual-gone-astray' (aka guys who cant decide if they want to remain as guys or become girls. With the amount of make-up, grooming or whatever they are doing, they definitely put me to shame. And the way they carry themselves is soooooo gay!)...

But again, I strongly believed that everyone has their rights to dress as they like, so I think I would just close my eyes whenever I see any of them or look at them as one of the 'quaint exhibit' on display.... :p :p

Memorable quotes..

these quotes might not originate from these shows, documentaries, drama, anime, etc but I heard them while watching it.. so I thought I share them here..

From Karas (anime)
"It's lonely not being remembered.."



From The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of Politics of Fear (documentary)
"... Whilst the 20th century was dominated between a conflict between a free-market Right and a socialist Left, even though both of those outlooks had their limitations and their problems, at least they believed in something, whereas what we are seeing now is a society that believes in nothing. And a society that believes in nothing is particularly frightened by people who believe in anything, and, therefore, we label those people as fundamentalists or fanatics... "
by Bill Durodie, Director , International Centre For Security Analysis , Kings College

"But for the neo-conservatives, religion was a myth, like the myth of America as a unique nation that they had promoted in the Cold War. Strauss had taught that these myths were necessary to give ordinary people meaning and purpose, and so ensure a stable society..."



From Sicko by Michael Moore
".. a society is judged by the way it treats its weakest and underprivileged.."

Masak Masak II

Made a soup today.. The weather was cool and windy so I thought I made some soup to warm myself up.. :)


A very simple soup.. just some carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and some beef balls.. Each type of the ingredients costs 105yen as I got them from the 99yen shop this morning.. For 105yen each, I get 2 carrots, 5 small potatoes, a small bunch of mushrooms and 9 beef balls.. so this soup cost me 420yen.. I put all of these ingredients into the soup as I do not want to keep any uncooked food in my room..

The soup is kinda bland so I put 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to it.. The soup would be sweeter if I'd put some onions into it. I didnt get any onions as it would have been too much and all wont fit into the rice cooker.. yes, I used the rice cooker to cook my soup.. :p And I shall look around for more exciting things to try with the rice cooker.. will be cooking pasta with it soon.. :)

Psychologies and Conspiracies..

Watched several interesting documentaries today..

One of them is a 4-part series called 'The Century of Self'. This was a documentary by Adam Curtis released on BBC in 2002. It tells of Sigmund Freud's theory of psycho-analysis and his nephew, Edward Bernays' role in applying Freud's theory and created the profession now commonly known as 'public relations'.

To quote the BBC site:
To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

This series really opened up my eyes and my mind as to the possible extend of manipulation of the masses by the few.. Psycho-analysts, with the help of the media is capable of influencing the public and even the country by telling them constantly how they should feel, behave and desire. By manipulating the underlying irrational behaviors, according to Freud, corporations are able to sell the public anything and everything.


Another 'documentary' is "Secrets of the Matrix", a 3-parter by David Icke on the conspiracies of the Illuminati and the 'truth' about 9-11. I was intrigued by the kind of detailed works done to denounce the official story of 9-11.. Although he raised lots of questions that the authorities can't seem to answer convincingly, but to totally believe in him is still a far stretch..

Then I watched 'Sicko' by Michael Moore.. This was actually a film mentioned by one of my professors during his class. Michael Moore's films are always controversial. From Bowling for Columbine to Fahrenheit 9-11, it always exposes the other side of the US, the side that was seldom portrayed by the media (TV or movies).

In the movie, he went to Canada, UK and France to look at the healthcare situation at those countries. And he asked the questions why isn't the US taking care of its sick citizens as well as those countries. Even Cuba, the boogey-man that US government had been telling its citizens to be aware of for the past 45years, is offering much better health care to its citizens at no cost!! A medication that would cost US$120 in the US can be bought there at less than US$0.10!! According to the movie, most of the health insurance companies would find all kinds of possible ways to deny their customers their claims for health care, as any claims that were denied are profits to the companies..

So today was a day filled with psychology theories and conspiracies.. I will not accept everything and anything that was said in those shows.. All these information will have to be digested and analyzed. And in the end, I will decide what to believe and apply as any choice made or not made will have an influence in me, the society and the world in general.. I am a strong believer of one reap what one sow..