Snowing Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures that I've took from my room last week when it snowed..
:)





And a short video clip..



Will write more soon.. after I clear all my reports.. :)

First SNOW!!

Woke up before my alarm clock as usual.. as I looked out of my (almost full wall) window I was surprised with a scene of snowing!! Have not seen snow before.. and really the scenery outside my window is very beautiful.. I like the way the snow sits on the leaves of trees.. :) the way it slowly drops down from the sky.. floating and swirling..

It's like a belated birthday present from the ONE above... :) Will write more later.. need to get ready for school.. :)

Masak Masak III

As the weather gets colder, I tend to cook more as the food sold in the convenient stores could no longer be as piping hot.. Even though the walk from the convenient stores to my dorm room takes no longer than 7 minutes, the food that was microwaved in the convenient store could not remain as hot as I liked as the wind kept howling away.. :( Add to that, I am getting sick of the food offered in those places...

This is the Japanese version of "yong tao fu".. :) I bought the ingredients from the supermarket for around 350yen (i think) and just throw them into the rice cooker when the water was boiling.. the taste wasn't not too bad.. but I do miss the yong tau fu's sweet sauce.. :p

After eating so much soupy instant noodles, I had some craving for fried noodles... so I bought packets of 焼きそば-kind of noodles, some fish cakes and cooked this pot of fried noodles, again, using my multi-purpose rice cooker!! :p 3 small packets of uncooked noodles around 500g, with some sauces cost between 150 to 200yen..

Other than that, I like to cook a pot of rice and just eat with some of the instant dishes that are readily sold in the supermarkets which only requires some heating up.. There are a lot of different kinds of dishes available, like Japanese curry, Indian curry, Thai curry, Chinese mixed vegetables, Beef-don, Oyako-don (Egg and chicken), mixed vegetables, Mo-bo toufu (麻婆豆腐) etc.. All of them are one meal portion for 1 person.. So what I normally do would to just place the packet inside the rice cooker to warm it up and then just pour it onto a bowl of rice.. Fast and easy.. If there is extra rice, I would freeze them up and then have fried rice some other day.... :)

Usually I would get packets of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, peas and corns) and just add them into my instant noodles while I cooked.. Sometimes, if there is meat balls on sale, I would get them too.. with an egg, some meat balls and some mixed vegetables, a simple bowl of instant noodles could also become quite nutritious.. :) It is remarkable how much one could improvise using just a rice cooker!! :) :)

老师要结婚了

我上个学期的日语老师之一，佐藤先生，大概将在今年九月份结婚了。。这是从金那儿得知的消息。老实说听了之后我有点大吃一惊。进度好像太快了。。 :o

佐藤老师只比我大一岁，现在正在早大（早稻田大学的简称）念博士班，也负责教导初级日语班。她人很好很开朗，很照顾我们这些外国学生。:) 在我印象中是个典型的日本女生。也正因为如此，就如日本传统观念，佐藤老师非常响往结婚。上个学期，她经常在班上说她很想交个男朋友，还叫我们帮忙介绍。。:x :x 也许结婚是她的人生目标吧？！

对我个人而言，宁缺勿滥，绝不会为了结婚而结婚。。就算是身边的家人如何催婚，就算周遭的朋友个个都成双成对了，如果找不到对眼的，适合的，我宁愿独身。。就连那些成天嘻嘻哈哈的不能深交的朋友，多一个我也不稀罕。。也许有人会说我成天呆在房间里不出门，生活圈子那么小，怎么能交到朋友呢？？那是因为我觉得我现在的生活方式还不错啊，想干什么就干什么，不需要交待不需要解释更不需要为他人（的感觉或立场）着想。喜欢安静时就一个人看看书看看电影，可以连一句话都不说，若想要有人陪时就叫两三个好友吃吃饭聊聊天唱唱卡拉OK，日子还是一样过得不错啊。。:) 也许我已经非常习惯一个人的生活方式，毕竟我从18岁就一个人下新加坡，这些年来都是独自一个人面对生活中所遇到的喜怒哀乐，当然身边的朋友间中也给了我不少的精神支持。。也许我太独立了，都能够自己把一切大小事情解决包办 （包括换灯泡、通水管、修电脑等）。。也许我不想改变我的生活方式，我的个人理念来迁就另外一个人吧？ 也许我太自私自我了。。也许我不适合结婚吧？！？！ :x

无论如何，很高兴佐藤老师找到了她的如意郎君，在这里我衷心祝福她，祝她婚姻美满，白头偕老。。:)

Besiegement!!

Up to date, I have a total of 6 reports to write.. a survey project to conduct, gather data and do analysis.. and this Friday I have a final exam on Japanese grammar.. :x :x

For Prof Kano, 2 individual reports and 1 team report by 31 Jan....
For Prof Mochida, 2 reports by 4 Feb...
For Prof Utsumi, 1 report by 23 Jan...
For A.Prof Suganuma, survey and data analysis by 15 Feb...

And on top of these, there are still 2 other classes that the Profs in-charge have yet to give out any assignments.. :( More besiegement to come... :o :o :o

So tomorrow, I planned to study for my Jap grammar exam and do some research on Prof Kano's team report... Then hopefully I can finish at least 2 - 3 reports this weekend.. aiy... sooooo looking forward to going home.. to Malaysia n to Singapore...

Under 5 today..

Well, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the weather in Tokyo area today was hovering between 3 to 7 during the day... :x :x


Those who had worked with me know that I am very very very adversed to cold temperature/weather.. during the time I worked in Visa, I would give whomever that lowered the office thermostat to under 21 degree a piece of my mind! And now here I am... living in a place where the daily temperature is slowly reaching freezing point.. :x :( :x I think I shall give ski-ing or whatever snow-related activities a miss for this year.. maybe next year, my body is more acceptable to the coldeness.. and until I get used to the bloody weather I shall always keep myself out of cold's way.. :p

Arh... how I missed the bright warm sun of the tropics!! I want the SUN!!!

Out of Service II

Yep, was down with running nose again this weekend.. this time it came with a sore throat too.. :( luckily (?), after much rest, keeping warm and drinking lots of water, I am feeling much better now..

Although these 3 days there is no school for me, I have lots to do.. I have 3 individual and 1 group reports to write, 2 speeches to prepare, 1 speech's slides to get ready, 1 grammar exam this coming Friday to study, 1 survey website to create for my data analysis class and some errands my Prof wants me to do.. :( :( :x :x

I managed to finish 1 individual report, both speeches and the survey website. I shall be doing the slides and try to study for the grammar exam.. However, I must confess that my heart is still wandering out there.. it has not really came back since the winter holidays.. :p

TGIF no more

Well, when I was working I really looked forward to Fridays.. since Fridays are just a prelude to weekends.. the term "TGIF" was really expressed that joy, that sense of looking forward to 2 days of MY OWN TIME!! Yet in this semester, Fridays are my nightmare..

I have 5 classes spreading from 9am to 9:10pm!! :x :(

9am - 10:30am: Japanese grammar
This is one of my weakest area.. there is a test every week.. usually we are required to complete the sentences given. My normal scores are always 50-65% only.. and next week, there will be an examination that will make up 60% of the final score.. so I am trying to study for it.. trying is the word..

10:40am - 12:10pm: Ubiquitous Health and Welfare IS
These classes were very informative and Professor Kano was very passionated about this topic. I learned a lot about Health Information System. However, in today's class, we were told I need to write 2 individual term papers and 1 team paper and the dateline is 31 Jan.. :x :x

12:10pm - 4:20pm: Lunch and break
I would usually go to one of the research lab and do some of my stuff, like finishing up on my reports, surfing the web for information for my research, or just simply watching documentaries/shows/movies/etc. I will get a bento from the Uni Co-op, some juice-drink and some other tit-bits, and eat them in the room. Usually there will be another Senpai in the room, working on her thesis. But today she wasn't around. And I was so 'fortunate' to be in the room when my Prof went around looking for 'office boy/girl'.. I was asked to go to the student lounge at the next building and print out a 400-page document!! :x There were 4 (or maybe more) printers in my research lab but seemed like none of them is in working condition!! That did say a lot about the conditions of my research lab... :x :x :x
Then at 4pm, I had to meet the 'assistant' for my Prof, also my Senpai to discuss about one of the previous survey that I've created for her.. She wanted me to draft out an email to send to some students to ask them to help get more students to fill in the survey.. :x :x Seemed like I am not only the web survey developer/maintainer, I am not also their (formal) letter drafter!! But well, what can I say?? Just (have to) do it!!

4:10pm - 5:50pm: ICT Practice
This is also another interesting class. It is about how to collect and analyze data for research purposes. We are to conduct a simple survey, gather data, and then analyze those data to prove or disapprove our hypothesis.. Luckily for this, the dateline for the final analysis report is due mid Feb.. Although that means I will have to work on this during CNY, but I rather have that than to do a rush job.

6pm - 7:30pm: Lab Discussion
Frankly, this is the time where we are to do the tasks that my Prof has delegated down to us. Sometimes we need to write reports, to do preparations for some seminars or to have discussions..

7:40pm - 9:10pm: Intro to CIO/Seminar
This was supposed to be a class conducted by my Prof, however, it has turned into my research lab's seminar where everyone takes turn to present their research for the semester.. :x :x

Anyway, by the time I finished the last class, I was both mentally and physically tired. I went to a very late dinner with some of the lab mates. By the time I reached home, it would have been 11:30pm..

Nine to Eight

Just got promoted to 8-kyu for my karate.. :) although the color of my belt shall remain as purple until I pass 2 more promotion exams to get to 6-kyu..

Yesterday's practice was the first for the year... as the weather gets colder, muscle cramps or/and stiffness is one major problem.. and after 2 weeks without such rigorous exercise, my legs are shaking after several rounds of moves.. but all in all, it was a very good exercise..

Hopefully I will be able to get to brown belt (at least 3-kyu) during this 2.5 years in Japan..

After the long winter..

Managed to wake up (after 3 different alarm settings of my mobile phone :p) and got to school early, just like I always do.. I never like to rush and would prefer to do things on MY timing. So I would usually leave my room around 7:50am and would arrive at Takadanobaba Station about 8:10am.. the 1.7km walk from the station to my class would take an average 20 minutes, so I would be in class around 8:30am and classes start at 9am. Today was no different.. :)

Luckily today is Tuesday, so no Monday-Blues problem.. and the first class was Reading class, which happens to be my favourite class for this semester.. Hamada-Sensei is very nice and she makes the lesson fun.. thus no stress at all during her class.. and I realised that I speak up more during her class than any other Japanese classes.. :p

As I have been sleeping late (around 3am) and waking up late (around 11am) during the winter holidays, I was having a hard time trying to stay awake during the 1.5 hour break before my Pronunciation class at 1pm.. but I survived.. :p

Then it was another 1.5 hour wait before my next class, which is one of my Masters class.. I went to our graduate school's student lounge hoping to check my emails and surf some Net, when I received an email from my research lab's Senpai.. He wanted me to 'help' another (lady) Senpai with an important report.. well, since he asked me to help and also I had volunteered my service in the morning when I heard that the report has yet to be written, I had no choice but to do it.. 但是我有点气 :@ 为什么呢？ 第一，那位女前辈是做相关的博士研究，所以理应比我这个门外汉更懂得如何写一份3页不到的报告。。加上如果她遇到了什么困难，比如说资料不足或是观点不全面，大可在冬假时叫我们（我还有另一位修士班的女同学）帮忙啊！ 唉。。研究室的前辈之中竟然有这种咖？真让我大跌眼镜。。可是仔细回想一下，到目前为止，研究室中“有料”的前辈或是同辈没几个。。很多在我眼里都是在浑水摸鱼或是无法在社会立足才念修士/博士的。但我想自己很快也会变成他们的一份子了。。因为我意识到我无需放我十成的功力，六七成就绰绰有余了。。所以我会把重心放在掌握日语及充实自己这两方面上。。

I roughly drafted the content of the report during that 1.5 hours and then went back after my last class to write it down properly. I sent the report to the team, including the Senpai in-charged. Hopefully, what I wrote would be acceptable and usable..

At the end of the day, I had to write a speech for my Pronunciation class and another report to write for the last class... :( Think most probably I would be writing lots of reports (for my Masters classes) and speeches (for my Japanese classes) these few weeks before I can go home for CNY.. :( :( Given a choice, I would rather have the datelines of those (Masters) reports extended to mid February (and 'affect' my CNY celebration in Malaysia) so I could do more research and produce a good report, than to rush for a nearer dateline that I would most probably write lots of B.S...

Anyway, this was what transcribed on my first day of school in 2008... :x

School starts (again) tomorrow...

Ah... my first winter holidays has come to an end.. :( :( time really flies especially when it was such an enjoyment..

Tomorrow will be my first day of school.. and in less than 1 month, this semester will over and I will be going back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year and Singapore to visit my friends... :) :)

So what have I done these last 14 days?? Well, I read 5 books, I watched about 3 months' worth of Taiwanese variety shows (康熙来了, 国光帮帮忙, 开运万事通, 大小爱吃, 麻辣天后宮 etc..), some US reality shows (Amazing Race and Survivor China), a lot of documentaries (from WWII to Roman Empire to Intelligence Design) and plenty of movies (English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese).. Of course, on top of these, I had to do some research for my Masters.. so the matter of fact is that I barely left my room.. :p and seriously there was no reason or attraction for me to go out at all..

Like I said in one of my earlier blog, I am an information junkie.. When I am interested in a topic, I would read/watch/surf (the net) for anything and everything concerning it.. after that I would move on to another new topic.. but my interest on some of the topics will always remain.. topics like psychology/human behavior, astrology/fortune-telling and world history are my favorites.. thus the fact that I am currently a student gives me the time to explore more on my interests, in addition to my (professional) knowledge seeking.. although I will go out more this year as part of my new year resolution.. :)

Not Full

Since the weather turned colder, I haven't had the sense of fullness whenever I eat.. no satisfaction.. A few hours after I had eaten, I feel hungry again.. Add to the fact that I am trying to lose weight, so I had to control what I eat.. in the end, I dare not eat too much... :( :(

Ahh... how I missed my Hokkien Mee.. Cha Kuey Teow.. Chicken Rice.. Prawn Mee.. Satay.. ah..... can't wait to go back and indulge...

Speed Bump

One of my strength, i think, is the ability to speed read.. I can finish 1 paperback of about 700 pages within 6 hours, on average.. However, since coming over to Japan, I've not been reading as much as I want to, as there are way too many distractions.. :p

For this winter holidays, I have borrowed a couple of books from Waseda's Central Library on diverse topics, from religion (Holy Blood, Holy Grail), to autobiography (Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History) to contemporary (The Lexus and the Olive Tree) to culture (The misunderstood Japanese) and many more, and yet, I am not able to finish reading them in the time frame that I've set. Maybe it's because of the complicated topics and heavy contents that are more difficult to digest than fiction.. Regardless, I need to regain my speed in reading.. For the past few years, while working in Singapore, I've been reading an average of 60-70 books a year (both English and Chinese, in total), not counting those weekly magazines, like TIMES.. So for 2008, I would hope to read 80 books.. that will be an average of 3 books every 2 weeks..

So.. Ready.. Get Set... READ!! :p

Tokyo Motor Show 2007

Sorry, this is a very very very late entry.. I was too lazy to arrange, name and upload the photos and video that I've taken during the exhibition.. which was held in November..

Tokyo Motor Show is held every 2 years, so the attendance for the show was very good.. All the guys there were having this euphoric smile on their faces.. Cos they get to indulge in their 2 main fantasies in public: fast cars/bikes and pretty ladies.. :p

I took about 100 photos and some videos.. You can see the photos through the link at the right hand panel of this blog.. I only took pictures of the bikes and cars that I think are nice.. so this is definitely NOT a comprehensive record of the Motor Show..

Here are the videos that I took..
Peugeot 207W


Mercedes C300


Landrover


Jaguar


You can see from the videos that there are always pretty girls standing near the cars.. They are obliged to stand and pose for the viewers to take photos.. So many of the guys came with SLRs that are able to zoom and take close-ups.. Some of the girls are skimpily dressed and posed with provocative poses.. Wherever you see a huge crowd, you know there must be one or more models posing for pictures.. :p

I've also taken some brochures, knowing fully that I wouldn't be looking at them at all.. but it was too tempting not to take them.. :p :p Even though I haven't drove for almost 13 years nor rode a motorbike for more than 10 years, I still like to entertain the notion of owning those slick/stylish machines.. :) So most probably I will bring them back to Malaysia with me in Feb and add to the clutter at home.. :p

CH3CH2OH

That is the formula for Ethanol, the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks. And today, I bought 2 bottles of liqueur from the supermarket.. :p

One is my favourite liqueur, Kahlua.. :)

According to Wikipedia: "Kahlúa is a well known Mexican coffee flavored liqueur. It is heavy and sweet, with a distinct taste of coffee."

I have an incurable sweet tooth and I just love the taste of Kahlua with milk.. or the matter of fact, any sweet creamy liqueur.. :p :p

Since it was on sale, I had to get it.. At 1160yen for 700ml, I'm not too sure if it is really cheaper than in Singapore or DFS..

The other one is, Ume-shu or Plum wine...

This is the only Japanese wine/alcohol that I liked so far.. I tried Souju and Sake, but don't quite appreciate their taste.. Also, the bottle looked kinda cute, don't you think so??!! :p

So the next thing on my agenda is to find a reason (or excuse) to drink them.. :p :p :p

Long and short...

Haven't had a hair cut since February last year.. :p My hair is slightly over my shoulder right now.. and it hasn't been this long since my 3rd year in the NUS.. I've always had short hair because (1) it is easier to take care and much cooler in the tropical heat; and (2) my scalp is not healthy enough to support long hair - I tend to have more than average hair drop when I have longer hair. Add to the fact that getting a hair cut in Japan is not cheap and I might not be able to understand fully what the stylist wanna do to my hair with my still-lousy Japanese..

More importantly, I am very particular about who touches my hair..

Just a small trivia: my mum has been cutting my hair since I was a kid, up till the year I went to Singapore to study.. In the 12+ years in Singapore, I had only 3 stylists.. I might have shifted houses more than 5 times during the same period, but I had only allowed 3 person to cut my hair.. So it is not so much of the expensiveness of hair cut in Japan (as I can definitely afford a 4,000yen hair cut every 2-3 months), but more of the trust I need to have towards the hair stylist..

Think one of the things I wanna get done when I drop by Singapore, other than visiting friends, would be to get a hair cut from my regular stylist.. :p :p

Olive Tree and History..

Finished reading 2 books..

The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman and Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton.. one on globalisation while the other is an autobiography.. both aren't light readings.. but I enjoyed them immensely..

Although the book on globalisation was written almost 9 years ago, what the author wrote is still very relevant in today's world.. His view on the need to have a broad background knowledge to be able to analyze and understand the world, in my opinion, is one of the many nuggets of wisdom found in this book.. For example, a financial analyst should also know about the geopolitics, history, culture and human psychology of the world/area he/she is analyzing.. It is no longer possible to be an expect in one field without sufficient knowledge in others.. We need to see things from multiple perspectives to better understand the why, how and what of this world.. To a information junkie like me, I concur whole-heartedly..

The 42nd First Lady of the United States is one of the many women that I admired in the world.. I had always wanted to read her autobiography when it came out in 2003 but didn't want to buy it.. so when I 'found' the enormous book section in the basement of the Central Library, this book was one of the first few I went looking for.. She was one of the few spouses of VIP who actually has the brain to match her better half, and not the 'trophy wife' whose job was to smile and wave at crowds during parades or photo-shoots.. She is currently a Senator for New York and is running for the US Presidency herself!! Imagine the 42nd First Lady being the 44th President of the United States.. :)