Sayonara Auld Lang Syne

Almost everyone knows the lyrics to this song, yet when and why exactly should we “forget old acquaintance”? In my case, many of my old “acquaintance” and “friends” don't need a reason or a timeline to do that.

I am and will always be a traveler. 

People always say absence makes the hearts grow fonder, but they forgot to mention that there’s a limit to how long that absence can be before amnesia sets in and the hearts find new person(s) to be fond with. If this is what’s happening to (some, if not most) marriages and relationships, what chance does friendship has? Especially for “friends” who meet up once a week, once a month, or once a year. In this era of social media where a single click to "accept" can get you as many friends as you want, the definition of "friend" has been reused, misused and overused.

Every time I move to a new city/country, I make some new friends but lost most of my old ones. I did try to keep those old ones, through emails and FB, but people change and priorities shift. The tacit understanding that once connected us no longer exists and all that’s left is awkwardness and pleasantries. And I don’t do pleasantries. Not all (friends) is lost, but it really does take 2 to tango. Thus when the drifted is finally apart, I just re-categorize them in my life (and my FB) and move on with Life.. Life is too short to be wasted looking back, especially at people who doesn't matter.. 

Maybe it’s just me. I’m always the unorthodox outsider who doesn't belong to any “in-group”. I’m forever the foreigner. I’ll always be an afterthought. We all played a part in each other's life during that specific time and space when the cosmic alignment made us friends. Our paths crossed, merged and diverged.. Memory stays and fades.. Such is Life..  

To all my friends and "friends", Happy New Year!

Experiment

I decided to do a little experiment.. and the result is very disheartening but no less surprising..

FB has a BD reminder function. It will tell you whose BD it is today by listing the BD girl's/boy's name(s) on the top right panel. Unless you specify "Don't show my birthday on my timeline", FB will automatically broadcast your BD to all your friends when your big day comes. I had turned that function off two weeks prior. I wanted to see how many of these FB "friends" of mine will actually remember my BD and the result confirmed my suspicions.

I have 270+ "friends" on FB, but almost 97% of them are old classmates, ex-colleagues and acquaintances whom I have not met much less talked to for months or years, some may have been more than 20 years ago! However, I do keep in touch, in FB sense, with at least a dozen of these friends, usually commenting on photos/statues, share links and other stuffs. Thus I was expecting maybe a handful of BD wishes from them, but alas, I was very much disappointed.. I received just 2.

Am I sad that I received only 2 BD wishes? Kind of, because it showed how fragile interpersonal relationships are and distance does not make the heart grows 'fonder' nor 'closer'. But all is not lost as I also felt relieved. Why? Because now I know who really care enough to actually make the effort to remember my BD, even if there's only 2 of them.

Life is too short to be wasted on those who doesn't matter. I think my BD is easier enough to remember - 2 days before Christmas and usually a day before the Winter Solstice. And if they don't even make the time to remember the most important day of my life, they are not worth more of my time nor effort. Like I said in my previous blog, I can be mean if I want to, but recently I've come to the conclusion that even being a b***h is a waste of my precious time and energy, so I will choose to just ignore or be 'courteous'.

We will always be 'friends' in FB, just not in RL.

Movies

I like watching movies, but only certain genre. And I only watch some in the cinemas over on the big screen, while some I reserved watching on TV or my laptop.

Those that I watch on the big screens are usually those with awesome special effects, as smaller screens will not do justice to the “jaw-dropping” reaction that these blockbusters are trying to induce. Other than that, the other occasion when I will actually go to the cinema is when I have company. Went to watch quite a few movies with my sister when I was at home in MY. Her taste in movie is quite different from mine. She like to watch movies just for entertainment (aka no thinking involved), while I prefer those that makes me think, during or after the credits have rolled. Anyway, I did watched a few comedies and a couple of animations with her.

Then there are the types of movies that I’ll save for small screens. I prefer to watch those that have lots of conversations or lots of plot twists on my laptop. I want to listen to the conversations and have the option to rewind to the parts that I didn’t get it the first time. Another thing is that I tend to be touched fairly easily, thus I prefer the privacy of my room to shed a tear or two when emotions are raw.

So in a way, I am not much of a movie buff.

went visiting

Just came back from Singapore yesterday.. visited some friends and ex-colleagues-turned friends.. been a while since I've meet some of them.. the last time I saw them was 2009, which was more than 3 years ago..

Stayed in a backpackers' hostel, for SG$40 a night in a single dorm room.. it was located between Boon Keng MRT and Farrer Park MRT with access to lots of buses too.. I didn't want to spend $$ on fancy hotel rooms as I just needed a place to sleep.. also I didn't want to trouble any of my friends..

Lots have changed since I last visited.. more buildings.. more shopping malls.. more condominiums.. more cars.. more MRT stations.. more on-going constructions.. a lot of 'hardware' has been and is going to be build, yet the 'software' is still very much lacking.. the service quality still sucks (compared to TW and JP).. the level of civic-mindedness still left much to be desired.. the 'kiasu-ness' is still the norm.. the rat-race still leaves most stressed-out and burnt-out.. Infrastructurally, SG is still a good place to live, but unless one belongs to the wealthy or well-to-do, there is no way one can slow-down and enjoy all the new amenities this island city has to offer.. Personally, SG has become way too 'crowded' for my liking..

Met up with friends from different stages of my life in SG - from my NUS days, from my first job and from my last job (I've only worked in 2 companies during my 8+ years of employment in SG). I met one of them when I first came to SG almost 18 years ago!! Friends come and goes, drifted apart due to differences in life philosophy and/or life focuses.. So I am grateful and thankful to still have these friends..

Shall write more about my trip to SG.. and post some photos too..

teaching English

Although I am earning my living and paying my way through a PhD as a freelance translator, I am no English teacher.. Yet, in a country where English is seen as foreign and as difficult as Russian or other genuinely hard-to-master western language, I must say that my English is way better than most 'highly-educated' people here. The level of English proficiency in the universities are generally quite appalling too, or at least most of the students and faculty members that I've met.

About two months ago, I was approached by one of my seniors(let's called her E) to be her sons' English reading teacher. All she wants me to do is to read to/with her sons and let them be at ease with English. She realizes the importance of English and is willing to do her utmost to make sure her sons are not handicapped by the lack of its proficiency. And so begin my once a week 2-hour English lessons with an 8- and 10-year-old at E's house, about 40 minutes journey from my little room.

Having heard about my classes with E's sons, a classmate of mine (lets called her A) approached me to do the same for her daughter. After much consideration, I turned A down. Different from E, A came to me with her daughter's English test paper and started to 'bemoan' her daughter's bad results. She kept lamenting  for more than 20 minutes, repeating her same concerns over and over again!! Frankly, I didn't like her approach. From what she said, it was clear that she wanted me to do one very specific task - to improve her daughter's English test results.

The main reason for my two contradicting decisions is that E is understanding and reasonable, while A isn't. E recognizes that I am not a miracle worker nor am I a qualified English teacher, so she doesn't expect me to turn her sons into native English speakers. She just want me to help her sons read more English books and be comfortable using English. She gave me full control as to what materials to use and how I wanna conduct my 'classes'. Conversely, A wanted me to help her daughter get high marks in her English tests. She wanted me to do revisions and explain grammar to her daughter. It may sounded straightforward and simple enough, but it isn't. The last thing I want is to confuse this poor little girl with my 'unorthodox' way of learning English with the proper method her school teacher is teaching her.

As both are upper (middle) class, E and A wants to send their kids to overseas universities, with E looking at Australia and A Singapore. My views are in sync with E (and her husband)'s philosophy towards her sons' education and we are in agreement that academic results shouldn't be the only benchmark for excellence. As long as the kids have done their best, they needn't have to get As all the time.

After being in Taiwan for less than a year, I am happy that I am given a chance to shape (a very small part of) the future of E's two wonderful, though very mischievous, boys. :) :)

having your cake and eating it...

In 2 more weeks, I would have "survived" my 1st year as a PhD student.. and let me tell you, I've got a couple of insights to share...

First and foremost, the level of dedication shown by some of the PhD students here...  many of those pursuing PhD here are doing it on a part-time basis.. If their day-jobs are teaching or educational related, I can understand their reason for getting a doctorate as having a PhD will definitely help them in their career advancement... but about half of them aren't... and among this half, 50% of them wanted to get into a university to teach, like me..

Seeing that they need to graduate with a degree as soon as possible, you would expect them to sacrifice their personal/family/work time in order to fulfill all the necessary requirements. Yet, from what I've gathered so far, everyone (my seniors and classmates) seems to have one gripe or another about how the classes are scheduled, why the graduation requirement(s) is so strict, why this, why that.. blah blah blah.. Which in my mind, are just petty and unreasonable!! Simply put, it is a selfish case of having your cake and eating it too..

The simple fact is - No one pointed a gun at you to do PhD.  If you want to study, you follow the University rules and policies.. You don't argue with the administrative staffs or talk bad about the department head or (some) professors because you can't have things your way.. You don't try to force the department to change the class timetable just because you need to work or whatever..

Everyone has their difficulties.. Everyone is juggling work, family and study, some more than others.. Since you've signed up for it, you need to put in the time and effort to get your PhD. You can't expect the university/department to bend their rules just because you have your own problems/difficulties!!! It is certainly not the department's problem that you NEED to work.. If you can't make the time to take the required classes, then QUIT either your job or the PhD program!!

Personally, I think that is one of the reasons for the poor quality of PhD graduates here.. Don't be mistaken, there are definitely some really good PhD graduates/students, but I believe those are the minority.. But with more than half of them doing or did their PhD on a part-time basis, it makes you wonder how dedicated can they be or how much time can they really pour into doing their researches.

Most people should be encouraged to get a basic degree.. Masters and/or MBAs are for those who wanted to learn more.. but only those who are willing to put in the time/effort should do PhD, else the value of a PhD will plummet if it hasn't already.. Just a quick note, there's lots of jobless PhD grads in Taiwan right now..

Second, the "territorial behavior" of those academicians is stagnating academic progress here.. If the paper is baloney it is baloney, it doesn't matter who wrote or who is the teacher of the writer.. Crap means crap. Period. Yet, in the feudalistic world of academia over here, and maybe the same everywhere else, where it is more important to have some "big-shot" professor as your mentor than the work you produced.. Honest criticism can't be given when it is due as we need to ensure we do not "embarrass" a student whose mentor is a "famous"/"influential"/"big shot" professor...

Lastly, the lack of awareness among these PhD students that English proficiency is a MUST. I've heard a lot of complains from people around me, seniors and classmates, about how ridiculous it is for the university to expect them to publish their research papers in English. To me, the need for English proficiency is a no-brainer. Yet, many here still do not seem to grasp its importance.

Here, most of the PhD students would write in Chinese and then pay tons of money to get the paper translated to English. And trust me some of them really do need that translation service as the level of their English is really appalling!! Thus there is no wonder that a huge market for academic translations and proofreading is flourishing here.. in less than 10 months since I got here, I have been approached by more than 3 person to translate their papers.. and all wanted "special" (aka cheaper) prices as they are my seniors...

The average translation fee for a paper (8,000 words or less) would cost them more than NT$15,000 with an average rate of NT$2.5 per words. Proofreading rate would be about half of that.. There are 160+ universities here with each university accepting an average of 50 PhD students per academic year. Each of these students have to submit at least 3 - 6 papers just to get 2 to be published as part of their graduation requirements. Do the maths and you can see how big this market is. And these are just for PhD students. Many professors, associate professors and assistant associate professors also make use of these services, so just imagine the amount of money that is to be made.. and I do plan to take a piece of this translation/proofreading pie.. :)

This year I've had a small taste of the "new" world of academia.. It will be another 3 - 4 more years before I can graduate.. Anyway, I need to make sure I get all my "basics" right, especially my statistical analysis knowledge/skills.. so, one thing for sure, I will be taking (more) statistics classes come next semester..

3rd day of CNY

Unbelievably, I'm in my 4th "hibernation" day.. and this is the 3rd day of CNY.. :x

It has been cold and wet the past few days as rain never stop pouring since Saturday!! thus thwarting my plans to go out and get food so far.. my stockpile could last me a couple more days, but I just wanna have some warm food that I don't have to cook myself.. all the shops in my alley are closed for the holidays, even the 7-11 around the corner started renovation just before CNY.. :(

Weather forecast says that it "should" stop raining either tomorrow or Friday..  thus I shall will myself to get out in the cold/wet weather then.. so it looks like I'll have to 'tahan'* for a day or two before I can get fresh supplies..

Did some readings (mostly fiction) and translations, watched some dramas/movies over the Net or on TV, and surfed the Net the past few days.. slept quite a bit too.. :)

Anyway, I have two more weeks before school starts, so I plan to do more reading up on my researches and finish some of the books I borrowed from the library...


*tahan - means tolerate or bear with in Malay.

a dear old friend..

Finally got the time and chance to meet up with my senior, Joe, last Saturday.. :)

Although I stayed at his house when I first came to Taiwan in late Aug, he was in Japan then.. He got back more than a month ago, but we were both too busy to meet up.... until now.. We went for dinner at the famous Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) at Xinyi Road, which is the main branch..

The restaurant was packed.. or should I say the crowd queuing to get in was crazy.. we were given a menu list and were told to order while waiting.. heard lots of Japanese being spoken.. and saw lots of Japanese tourists, old and young.. we waited for about 30 min to be ushered in.. the place is small and narrow, similar to restaurants in Japan.. we were seated on the 4th floor..

Din Tai Fung's famous xiao long bao

Since we've given them our orders before we were seated, the dishes were served really quickly.. frankly, I wasn't very impressed by the food.. yes, it was delicious, but not THAT fantastic as I've had tastier dishes... Was it worth half an hour of my life to queue for it? don't think so.. but anyway, it was the company that's most important..

Both of us had been through a lot since we last seen each other.. Many things had happened.. we cheered and supported each other on from afar... He is one of the few good friends that I'm glad to have made in Japan..  :)

Anyway, it's good to have a "big brother" like him in a foreign country.. :p

selamat pengantin baru..

Went to KL to attend the wedding of my ex-housemate, Aishah, last Saturday.. :) :) :) :)

I've not attended a friend's wedding for a very very long time.. I am no fan of weddings, but I had to attend this one as Aishah is one of my dearest friends I've made while in Japan.. :)  And it was such a nice coincidence that my parents have their own dinner gathering on the same day in KL, so I don't have to trouble any friend(s) to drive me to the wedding..

We drove for almost 4 hours, directly from Taiping, before reaching Dewan De'Seri Endon in Putrajaya.. Some guests have arrived.. Majority wore baju kurung and baju melayu with the kids dressed in their cutesy (mini) versions.. the hall has been nicely decorated with many ushers and helpers putting in the final touches.. It was gonna be a very beautiful wedding.. :) :) :)

After a while, I met Nadia, Maow and two other friends of Aishah.. Nadia was one of the 5 bridesmaids.. and Maow flew all the way from Thailand the night before just for the wedding.. :)  They were on their way to see the bride to finalize some details about the ceremony later.. I joined them and met Aishah, all dressed up in a very beautiful (and sexy) traditional gown.. :) Didn't get the chance to chat much as she still has many other things to attend to.

Maow and I went back down to the banquet hall.. Met and congratulated Aishah's parents in the main hall too.. :)  We then went to take some food and sat down at a table near to the stage.. we continued with our catching up..  A while later, I saw Hoon among the crowd.. Then Chua, Erick, Jac Cis and Sarah arrived too.. in the end, we had a table of 8 friends, all "made in Japan"! :) :)  

We sat at Table 23.. next to the buffet tables.. :p

It was good to see friends... some more than others.. :p it was like a gathering of sort.. all of us who had came back from Japan, after spending between 6years to 6 months there.. some of them are now lecturers in local universities, with the rest working in the corporate world.. I've not seen most of them for almost 2 years, some even longer.. My last "outing" with Aishah and Maow was a trip to the Ueno Zoo in Sept 2009 which felt like eons ago....

dearest Aishah in her wedding 'gown'.. being the "Queen" of the day.. :)

Photos were taken.. lots of them.. lots of cameras around.. professionals, semi-professionals and amateurs alike.. somehow, I don't feel like taking photos.. maybe I am being self-conscious about my weight-gain, my am-not-happy-with-it hair cut or the operation has made me lazy.. :p Anyway, I am sure there will be plenty to share and seen in FB later.. but I did record a segment of the ceremony where the newly weds marched into the hall and was seated on their throne-of-the-day.. :)

It was a buffet-styled lunch..  guests were able to move and mingle around to chat with friends as and when they want, unlike typical Chinese wedding dinners where seating arrangement are fixed.. there were constantly human traffic in and out of the hall.. Although people seemed to be eating and chatting, their eyes did not stray far away from the newly weds and the ceremony happening on stage.. at least, I know I was paying attention.. :)

We managed to get some group photos taken with lots of 'line-up' variation in between.. I didn't really eat much as the food was, frankly, quite disappointing.. except for one or two dishes, the rest was so-so only.. I did, on the other hand, drink lots of the bandung, one of my favorite local drinks.. :p

It was a good occasion to catch up with friends.. talk about things that had happened in our lives..  although the time seemed too fleeting to chat to our hearts content, I did manage to sorta re-connect with them, especially with Maow... In general, everyone seems to be doing very well.. everyone seems to have move on with their lives after Japan...

Anyway, I need to go KL to get my visa done early August, so I will try my best to see if I could meet up with some of them, especially Aishah, and have a proper catch-up before flying off..

Once again, I would like to wish both Aishah and Jaouad  great fortune and life full of joy! Congratulations on your wedding day! :) :) :) :) :)

Addressing relatives 亲属辈分

Chinese New Year is the time when everybody is back for reunion dinner.. thus it is also the time when I get to meet all my relatives, from both sides of my parents..

Unlike Westerners, Chinese are very particular about family hierarchy and each family member has to be addressed accordingly. Not everyone is an "uncle", an "aunt" or a "cousin". Also age is not a determinant as one could be young and still "rank" highly in the family hierarchy.. Thus one could be addressed as "uncle" by someone who is much older than he is.

With 10 paternal uncles and 11 maternal uncles/aunties, I was utterly confused as to who should be called what when I was young.. I could still remember the time when I need to ask my mum for the correct "rank name" every time I meet a relative.. :x

Here is a short guide..
The Elders
Paternal grandparents - 祖父、祖母（in Hokkien, 阿公、阿嬷)
Paternal uncle (Father's elder brothers) & his wife - 伯伯、伯母
Paternal uncle (Father's younger brothers) & his wife - 叔叔、婶婶
Paternal aunt (Father's elder/younger sisters) & her husband - 姑姑、姑丈

Maternal grandparents - 外公、外婆（in Hokkien, 外公、外嬷)
Maternal uncle (Mother's elder/younger brothers) & his wife - 舅舅、舅母
Maternal aunt (Mother's elder/younger sisters) & her husband - 阿姨、姨丈

Peers
Paternal cousin brother (elder) & his wife - 堂兄、堂嫂
Paternal cousin brother (younger) & his wife - 堂弟、堂弟媳
Paternal cousin sister (elder) & her husband - 堂姐、堂姐夫
Paternal cousin sister (younger) & her husband - 堂妹、堂妹夫

Maternal cousin brother (elder) & his wife - 表兄、表嫂
Maternal cousin brother (younger) & his wife - 表弟、表弟媳
Maternal cousin sister (elder) & her husband - 表姐、表姐夫
Maternal cousin sister (younger) & her husband - 表妹、表妹夫

The Children
Children of one's brothers - 侄儿、侄女
Children of one's sisters - 外甥、外甥女
Children of paternal cousin brothers - 堂侄儿、堂侄女
Children of paternal cousin sisters - 堂外甥、堂外甥女
Children of maternal cousins brothers - 表侄儿、表侄女
Children of maternal cousins sisters - 表外甥、表外甥女

The above are just the generic Chinese family hierarchy namings in Malaysia, which is slightly different from those of Mainland China. Also the list above is not exhaustive as I have left out paternal/maternal grand-uncles/aunts and paternal/maternal cousin uncles/aunts..

Furthermore, these family ranks are pronounced differently according to the dialect groups that one belongs to. Also, each family/clan has their own forms of greetings/addressing. Sometimes first names are combined with their ranks, while other times their rank among the family is used. For example, the 3rd paternal uncle could be addressed as 三叔 (meaning 3rd uncle）by the children of his older brothers，三伯 by the children of his younger brothers，国明堂伯 (meaning cousin uncle Kok Ming, with Kok Ming being his name) by the children of his younger paternal cousin brothers and 国明表叔 by the children of his older maternal cousin brothers. ( Confused yet?? :p :p :p :p :p :p )

As I get older, the number of elders in the family dwindles while the children of my peers increase.. So I have been "promoted" to 堂姑、表姑 and 表姨.. :) thus being an elder now, I can address these younger generations by their names which make things much easier.. :)

Rest in Peace

I had wanted to start off the new year with a cheerful entry, but in the end I had to post this piece of bad news..

The Founder and Grandmaster of my karate school (Seidokai 成道会), Mr Norikawa (成川哲夫) has passed away peacefully on 01 January at 8:03am at the age of 65.

I had the privilege to be taught by him during my 2.5yr stay in Japan. The late grandmaster was a jovial and approachable man, defying the stereotypical stern and cold images one would have of a "grandmaster". He loved his art and was eager to share his love of Genseiryu style karate with anyone who is interested. He would explained and demonstrate to us the rationale of some of the karate moves to help us remember and understand them better. His presence made the karate practice sessions more fun and enjoyable.

One entry in my bucket list was to get a black belt for karate. I had learned to appreciate karate as an art rather than just a self-defense technique. And I must admit that Grandmaster Norikawa was one of the main catalyst for it.

His sudden demise has greatly sadden all who knew him and he will be most missed by his students.

Rest in peace, Grandmaster Norikawa.

Last Saturday..

Today I went to the Ueno Zoo with Aishah and Maow..

Wanted to get there around 9am so that we could have breakfast.. took a bus near my house.. but since both of us had never taken that Bus No.69 before, we didn't really know where to get off.. in the end, we took a joyride and came back to Edogawabashi.. in the end we took the train.. yet that one hour on the train was not wasted as we managed to catch up.. :)

Met Maow around 11am.. and we went to the Ueno Zoo.. even though all of us had been in Japan for more than 2.5 years, none of us visited the Zoo.. thus all the three of us were very excited.. :)

However, the condition at the Zoo is very very very very VERY appalling!! Almost all the animals at the zoo are subjected to the same living condition as the average Japanese!!! Most of the cages are so freaking small that I really wanted to cry when I saw it.. Especially those for the big birds of prey like the hawks, falcon, vultures and eagles.. they could barely spread their wings, much less fly!!!!!!!!! These animals are NOT given adequate space to live!!!! I love to visit the Singapore Zoo because the animals are allowed to roam just as they were in the wild.. but in this zoo, these animals are subjected to house-arrest!!!! We even saw an eagle falling off the fake tree branches!!!!!! How sad can that be????!!!!! If the people from Green Peace or WWF wanna protest about Japanese's "treatment" of whales and dolphins, they should come and take a look at this Zoo.. Never a person who writes feedback form, yet this time I did.. I had to tell them how sad, frustrated and pissed I am at how they are treating these beautiful creatures of nature.. If they can't afford to give these animals the proper space and living conditions that they deserve, then don't keep them.. I don't think these animals deserved to be repressed and oppressed, just like the Japanese themselves!!!!

We came out of the Zoo around 3pm.. because personally, I didn't have the mood to really see all the animals.. everywhere I go I pity the animals.. I didn't enjoy the Zoo at all.. We went to Ameyoko to have lunch.. after going around the shops buying stuff (not me, Aishah and Maow), we went back around 4:30pm..

Did some final packing and tidying up of my room.. gave away all the stuff that I could bring back to Aishah and the two new housemates.. and now writing this blog... shall write a bit more later.. in the next entry..

Last Friday..

And it is T - 2 days to leaving Japan...

Today, I went to Ghibli Museum for the 10am session.. bought the ticket last Sunday, on my way back from my graduation.. There are 4 sessions, 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm.. Took the train to Kichijoji instead of Mitaka as I wanna do some deposit at Shinsei Bank.. Bought some sandwiches and had wanted to walk to the Museum.. yet, with just a rough idea of where the Museum is, I backtracked a couple of time, uncertain as to how I should proceed.. should I go back to the station and take the train one stop to Mitaka and follow the instructions printed on the ticket stub, or should I follow my instinct and head towards the direction that I think the Museum should be? I then decided to just follow my instinct and take a chance, something that was unthinkable a few years back.. In the end, I managed to find my way to the Museum in time.. :)

Frankly speaking, the Museum is not worth the entrance fee(¥1,000) that they are charging.. There are lots of things to look at - very nice drawings, rough sketches and all the things that the animators need to draw and produce those classic anime.. yet, as the visitors are not allowed to take photos, one could walk through all the exhibition rooms in less than 1 hour, as there weren't many descriptive or narrative explanation notes near the exhibits for the visitors to read..

In the end, I spent about 2 hours there, viewing the exhibition rooms twice and at a very slow pace.. The drawings and sketches in the Animators' room were really very very nice.. I would have bought quite a few of them if they were made into postcards or paintings... Shall post the photos of my visit later.. Bought a 2010 planner (whose leather cover can be reused) and a postcard, both from the "My neighbour Totoro" movie, which is still my favorite even though I can't really remember the story line.. I just love that fluffy cuddly and grinning Totoro.. :)

Then I met up with Chrissy for lunch near Waseda.. Before that I went to AU shop, as I wanna terminate my mobile phone line.. but it seemed that they can NOT do "scheduled" termination, only "immediate" termination.. which is very puzzling, considering Japan has the MOST advanced mobile and mobile-related technology.. well, what can I do about it, right?? so I would have to make another trip over there tomorrow evening to get my phone terminated.. :x :x

After lunch, I went to the Post Office and closed my POSBank account.. luckily, that went on without a hitch, since I am taking MY money out from the bank.. :P Came back to my room and did some packing.. and some final scanning.. My 2 luggage bags will DEFINITELY be MORE than 20kg combined.. If they really wanna charged me for the extra baggage, I had no choice but to pay them.. hope they don't.. pray hard hard.. :p

Went for dinner around 7.30pm with the landlord, the 2 new housemates, Aishah, Sasaki-san and Stephanie.. to a Italian/French restaurant.. where the food was pretty good.. it was a course dinner and escargot was on the menu.. so the meal should be quite expensive, but again, it was a treat by Watanabe-san.. Seriously, I can't find any other landlord as kind and generous as him.. Am really blessed..

There is so many thoughts and emotions going through my mind right now, it is difficult to pen them down.. maybe I could just write what I feel/think, but it won't be coherent.. I shall try to write something down tomorrow night.. my final night in Japan... :( :(

Last Thursday..

Had wanted to go to Tsukiji Fish Market.. but decided that I had better run all my errands first..

Then around 10am, chatted with my Senpai, Joe over msn.. and we just decided to have lunch around 12:30pm at Azabu-juban, where his office is.. Talk about last minute.. :)

Before that I had to finish packing the 3 boxes that I had wanted to send home.. managed to stuff the boxes with most of the things that I do not need immediately.. going to send 1 via EMS, and the other 2 via normal sea mail.. Watanabe-san was kind enough to fetch me to the post office to send the boxes... paid ¥17,500 for them.. :x

Then I went to meet Joe for lunch.. But not before calling my brother to confirm with him the dinner tonight.. Wanna cook him and his wife dinner.. Just don't feel right that I cook for all my friends and not my own brother.. :)

We went to a small western restaurant called Yoshi.. The food was not too bad.. We chatted.. He is one of the many friends that I am glad to have met and made.. We "clicked"... During our lab seminars, I was often his "spokesperson-cum-clarifier".. Whenever he has difficulties explaining or clarifying his opinions/thoughts, I would jumped in and helped him.. Frankly, his Chinese is far more superior than his English and he has problems expressing himself fully in English.. Sometimes when he gets excited or too eager, he tends to stammer or tongue-tied.. I always gets what he wanted to express and then expressed them for him in English.. :) Capricorn and Virgo are good working partners.. :) :)

Other than talking about the times in our seminars, we talked about other things too.. About life, our plans for the future, etc.. We shared some of our thoughts and feelings too.. It was good to have someone who understands and doesn't judge to talk to.. And thus there are three.. :) :) 老大，真的很高興認識你！謝謝你的了解及接受。。

After coming back, I went to the post office again to run some errands.. then I started my preparation for the dinner tonight.. going to cook prawn fritters (again, cos I bought extra prawns), lotus root soup with spare-ribs and stir-fry mixed vegetables with oyster sauce..

They came around 6:50pm.. had a simple and good dinner... talked about their recent trip to China.. The landlord joined us too.. Since they had to work the next day, they left around 8:30pm.. Then had a good chatting "session" with the two new housemates..

So another good day today.. :) :) :) :)

Last Wednesday.

What a good day today.. :)

Woke up pretty early, around 8am.. Checked on the marinated meat.. all turning out nicely.. :) Went grocery shopping again.. bought drinks and some ingredient for tomorrow.. Didn't do much packing today.. Had some toasted baguette for breakfast..

Stayed in the kitchen the whole day and made some good progress today.. Started preparing for dinner around 12pm.. as I worried that I might be overwhelmed later.. but on hindsight, I was too "Kiasu".. I had everything under control, actually.. Just need to be more confident about my own estimation next time..

First, the prawn fritters... Cut some carrots in thin strips and diced some onions, then I made the batter for the fritters using just flour, water and an egg.. Of course, some prawns too.. and here is the end product..
After finish frying the prawn fritters, I started cooking my stew pork too.. Had it on the burner for more than 4 hours..

Then around 2pm, Christy moved in.. with all her stuff.. helped her carried some of the stuff up her room and showed her all my empty cupboards around the house.. then it was back to my scanning.. and Face-booking.. :p

Chua and Jeff was on time.. was here 6:30pm sharp.. :) then Seow Hui arrived.. then Erick.. Nadia was held up.. but everyone just chat and joke while waiting for her.. at the same time I did my last dish, Mixed vegetables with Hoisin sauce.. had to cook rice twice, since I no longer have that big rice cooker.. and with the other two dishes (stew pork and steamed egg with minced meat) prepared earlier, not including my prawn fritters.. When Nadia arrived around 15min after 7pm, everyone just digged in.. luckily no one complained about the meal.... :) They ate up almost everything!

After the meal, I brought out the last quarter bottle of Ume-shu and Watanabe-san took out his home-made Ume-shu.. Then Watanabe-san gave us some expensive grapes for dessert.. They were sooo sweet... Then Christy came back and brought out some mooncakes.. again, everyone ate them all up, almost all... :p For once, no one actually want to eat the cake that Erick bought.. :p :p :p

Seow Hui had to leave around 9pm as she leaves about 2 hours away.. but the rest stayed back and chatted till almost 10:30pm.. As usual, we talked, joked and laughed.. Gonna miss these kind of sessions in future.. :(

Frankly, towards the end, I just kept quiet and try to savor this last gathering.. I did feel the sadness.. although I can't really put a finger as to the exact reason why I was sad.. I think the human factor out-weights the environment change factor.. Although I didn't hang out with them very often in the first 2 years, but ever since I came and stayed in this house, I hang-out more with them because of Aishah and Sarah.. I realised that I am not THAT old.. :p I can still "click" or "connect" with them, when they are between 4 to 10 years younger than me...

Thanks guys and gals for the wonderful memories.. Stay in touch via FB, ok?!?!

Not the same anymore.. (Update)

First and foremost, I need to say this.. I was very wrong to have directed all my negativity at my landlord.. I had misunderstood him and I would like to offer my sincere apologies... 本当に御免なさい！

Last evening around 7pm, I went down to the kitchen to get water.. Saw the landlord coming back on his bicycle.. just when I wanted to slip upstairs to my room silently, he called me and said that he wanted to talk to me for a while.. Then the new housemate came down, wanting to pay her rent and stuff.. so he said that he will talk to me once he is done with Stephanie..

About 20mins later, he knocked on my door and we went down to the kitchen for a talk.. and here was the summary of what he told me..

In the past week, he has had several disagreements with the "good friend", the fella who has been acting as the contact person, the pompous ass who made himself the landlord's spokesperson.. He was so angry and agitated that he fainted.. the quarrel had caused his blood vessels in his brain to burst, resulted in him losing almost all sight in his right eye.. He is going for a MRI scan tomorrow in a bigger hospital in Otsuka... but the doctors said that nothing can be done to save the eye, not even surgery as the cells around/in the eye were dead due to the blood being cut off..

He was angry at him as he was too "aggressive" and overstepping his role.. He said that he has been unhappy with him for some number of things for quite a while, and one of them is that he behaved as if he was the landlord instead of him, pushing him for things that he didn't wanna do..

He say he needs to watch his diet now as the chances of him having another such episode is more than 50%.. if that happens, he might not just lose his other eye, his life might be in danger too..

After hearing all these, I felt like such an assh**e.. The sense of guilt was enormous.. All these while, he too was annoyed at him.. he too had some issues with the things he did.. I had misunderstood him!!!

So from now on, I shall make amends for my "bad" attitude and be NICER to my landlord.. as he was but a "victim" of that bloody assh*** too..... Hopefully he has been declared as persona non grata in his house and I won't have to see his face ever again!!

Not the same anymore..

Aiy.. came back to an empty house.. or so I thought... :x

While I was walking back from the station with my luggage and all, I did what I usually do.. Looking up at the windows to see if my housemates are in.. It was just a habit that I had for the past 6 months.. So imagine my surprise when I saw a light at Aishah's old room! (she has taken over Sarah's room before she went back to Malaysia for holiday..) Mmm.. maybe the landlord left it on unintentionally, I thought.. I didn't really care.. as I was still overwhelmed by sadness, almost right from the moment the plane touch down at Narita Airport..

Then when I was unlocking my room, I heard some voices from the room.. Again, I didn't bother to find out as I was still immersed in my own little world of emotions.. I am not that kay-poh... :p After I bathed and was going downstairs to wash my mug, I bumped into my new housemate... she was on her way to take her shower...

"Hi" "Hi"
"I am Stephanie" "I am Imm, i double m.."
"When did you move in?"
"Oh, yesterday.."
"How long will you be staying?"
"Oh, depends on whether my boyfriend gets a job or not.."
"....."

Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm.. and the absence of a warm welcome.. to say that I am annoyed is a grave understatement...

Although I do know that the landlord has all the rights in the world to rent out HIS empty room, but to do so without even informing us (aka Aishah and me, his existing tenants) is not right, in my opinion.. Maybe I am being judgmental.. Maybe I am "mourning".. Maybe I am overacting... And she didn't give a good impression at all... Her last answer was so.. how to put it in words.. pathetic?!? sad?!? laughable?!? To think that most Asians I met here are here either on their own abilities (working and earning money) or on scholarship.. and this young lady is basing her staying or leaving Japan on her boyfriend getting a job!!! unbelievable!! But hey, what do I care, right? I am leaving in about a month's time too.. He can rent the place to any Tom, Dick or Harry that he fancies..

Thus for the next 30+ days, I think I will retreat into being the "anti-social Imm" that I once was and STAY IN my room all the time.. or maybe GO OUT all the time... Let him interact more with this Ang Mo lady for his fix of English sounds... Let's see how friendly she is.. Let's see if she talks to him "more" than we did... Let's see if she "takes care of his feelings" as much as we did.. Let's just wait and see... At the same time, he shall have a taste of the REALLY NOT friendly side of me..

ARGHHHHH.... Why did I come back??!!??

Europe 2009: Day 02

Itinerary: Vatican City (Piazza San Pietro, Basilica di San Pietro), outside of Castel Sant'Angelo, Ponte Sant'Angelo
Food: Pizza and Malaysian curry
Transport: The Metro and walking
Total hours out: 10am - 8pm (10 hours)
Highlights of the day:

• Posted some postcards from the Vatican Post Office..
• Wasted almost 2 hours waiting to see President Obama, but in the end, only saw the First Lady and the kids..
• Cooked Malaysian curry for our host, Francesco.
• Provided the dialogue for our host in a sketch.. The video clip here..

Piazza San Pietro

The Swiss Guards

Basilica di San Pietro

The Post Office in the Vatican

Castel Sant'Angelo and Ponte Sant'Angelo

More photos here...

Europe 2009: Day 01

Itinerary: Colosseum, Palatine Hills, Roman Forum, Il Vittoriano (Victor Emmanuel Monument), Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Trilussa
Food: Panini (Sandwich), Gelato (Ice-cream), Spaghetti and calde calde (donut with warm Nutella sauce)
Transport: The Metro and walking
Total hours out: 10am - 2am (16 hours)
Highlights of the day:

• Kena 'conned' by a fake "Caesar" of 5 euro for photos outside the Colosseum.. :x
• Had gelato at one of the recommended shops, Della Palma.. :)
• Learned to cross the roads, the Roman way.. :P
• Had a good pasta dinner at Rossopomodoro (means Tomato Red in Italian) with Sarah's Italian friend, Gianluca. :)
• Walked from Colosseum to Piazza Trilussa after 10pm. :x
• Rested at a small park in the middle of the night..one of us took a nap while the one checked emails using some hotel's wireless network.. :x :x

The famous Colosseum of Rome

Palatine Hills

Roman Forum

Il Vittoriano (Victor Emmanuel Monument)

Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone

Fontana di Trevi


More photos here

Europe 2009: Day 00

Itinerary: Flight from Tokyo -> Seoul -> Milan -> Rome
Flight hours: 20 hours+ (including transit time)
Food: On-flight meals (3x) and pizza
Transportation: Air plane, train and car
Activities: Chill-out at Piazza Trilussa with couch surfers in Rome after arriving in Rome..
Slept: Around 4am+ at our Rome host's kitchen on an inflatable double bed

Boarding Air Korea in Narita

Rome Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport

Train Station at Rome Airport

Views along the way to Piazza Trilussa