Golden Week Hiatus

Will be taking a week-long break starting tomorrow for the Golden Week holidays. It's more of a forced hiatus than anything else, because a break here would mean total boredom unless I spend the money to go somewhere. Unfortunately, I have nothing planned for the break, and it's going to be a huge test on me to try to survive without Internet access for a week.

I'll try to get to an Internet cafe during the week (if it's not closed, that is *fingers-crossed*). If you wish to reach me, do drop an email to my phone.

Weary

UPDATE:

I've deleted this entry. It was far too personal.

To my commenters, thanks for the kind words.

Of Okonomiyaki and A So-So Movie

Lookit what my friend made me for lunch last Saturday.

Homemade okonomiyaki! How sweet. Totally unexpected; I went to her apartment to give her her share of the white radish we bought together, and she told me to hang around a bit, cos she'd make me okonomiyaki for lunch. And it tasted just like the real thing! Fantastic cook, bless her.

The Producers was not as good as I expected. For the love of me, Matthew Borderick CANNOT sing. Neither can Uma Thurman, although she wasn't really singing, more like speaking the words to the song. The songs were repetitive (can't even remember how many times the song "I Wanna Be A Producer" came up), and the set was just bland. The only saving grace was Nathan Lane; the songs were a little repressing, but he managed it well. I came out of the cinema with a slight headache and disappointment, my Jappy friend came out singing praises (literally) about the movie. Eh.

The Weekend's Here Once Again

Ahh ... the weekend's a-coming once again. Looking forward to 2 days of relaxation. Work's been absolutely crazy for the past week. Starting to panic that we cannot finish the design in time to go home. It'll be a cold day in hell if I'm to stay past end of May.

Anyhoos, going to watch The Producers with my Jappy girlfriend tomorrow. Guaranteed lots of shopping too. What can I say, the love of shopping is back. Then a Sunday of cleaning the house, laundry, all that jazz.

Yep, it's going to be just another ordinary weekend.

Home

30 more days to go ...

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
That this is not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

- Michael Buble, It's Time


Click here to listen.

Tine's in Dire Need of a Holiday

Gosh, I can't remember the last time I went on a holiday. A proper out-of-the-country-away-from-the-family-shop-till-you-drop holiday. Japan's not a "holiday" place for me, cos it'll always be work first over here, but yeah, I do have many very memorable and fantabulous moments here *wink*.

Methinks it's time for me to go for a long, well-deserved break. After I return from Japan, that is. I need a break away from EVERYTHING. Leaving all sorts of baggage behind for at least a week. Ahh ... the thought of it is so sweet.

So anyways, I may have mentioned it before, but the US of A was my first choice many months ago. But after considering what a pain in the ass applying for a US visa is, I'm wondering if I still want to go there. I'm weighing my options, on how much I'd spend if I go someplace else. My next choice would be Australia, which I'm quite keen on. Hoping to *ahem* parasite off my friend in Melbourne if I'm there. I haven't told her yet, but I'm sure she'll read it here, and will welcome me with open arms (Edit - bestest, bestest friend, May. Remember? *grin*). There's always the UK, but, sad to say, it's my last choice, because I remember how freaking expensive it is over there.

Coming back to earth, I have to consider the most important factor of all - money. Sigh. The destination depends on my budget, which is sadly lacking, after I bought my car. Let's weigh my options one more time.
1. US - I stay with my aunt and her family, i.e free lodging, free food, and pretty much free anything (of course I'd pay for a meal or two. I'm not a cheapskate. I wonder if the McDonalds in the US is still as good as I remembered ...), but hanging out with ... err ... an older generation of folks. It won't be dull, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get wasted when they're around (hey, I'm on holiday. Getting wasted is a must).
2. Australia - HOPEFULLY free lodging, pay for own food, pay for own sight-seeing action, pay for own anything, but will be guaranteed a blast of a time as the friend will bring me out for a good time. Oh, and she'll introduce me to her gay friends too.

So there ya go. Money vs. amount of fun. What to do, what to do.

Password-Protection

I'm thinking of password-protecting some of my more personal posts which I may have in the future. Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't like having password-protected posts as much as you do, but I figured, I do want to write whatever I want on my blog, but there are certain posts which may strike a nerve somewhere in possibly certain people, which I feel isn't suitable for public viewing (I stand by my views that whatever's been released to the Internet is PUBLIC, and that we have to be accountable for what we write. Period). I certainly don't want to have to have a separate blog for private posts, cos I'm already lazy enough to maintain this blog, what more another.

But yeah, I'd like to keep certain posts for private viewing, so I guess password-protecting it would be the next best option to having another blog. Since my HTML skills is somewhat lacking, I'd appreciate some help. Does anybody know if Blogger allows a password-protection option? Or can it be simply manipulated by simple HTML on individual posts? I'm quite happy with Blogger, and for now, am not willing to move to Wordpress, or whatever blogging tools they have on the Internet.

Help, people!

Extra

With you always

Hanami Weekend

Last weekend was hanami all the way with friends, and also my section colleagues. Last Saturday, my Jappy boss organised a hanami BBQ party for our section members at Kannonyama Family Park. The weather was rather lousy; it was raining the first hour, sunny the next, rain again ... you get the picture. Our food was burnt, wet, burnt again ... ish. Still, we had a great time.

There was this HUGE trampoline thingy at the nearby playground which I simply had to try out, and that was so much fun. Yeah yeah I know, being one of the very few adults on the trampoline, I probably looked like an idiot snatching jumping space with 'em dang kids, but what the hell, it was bloody enjoyable. Fell down many times, as I couldn't seem to keep up with my balance. Still, good stuff.

Sunday was pretty much walking about town to check out the remaining sakura trees still with their blossoms. There was also a sakura festival going on, but we were a little too late; most of the food was already sold. I managed to snag myself some yaki manju to share with a friend.

Believe it or not, that's a longkang (drain)

'Tis a pity that most of the lovely blossoms have now fallen, leaving nothing but just plain cherry trees. Oh well, till next year then.

T.G.I.F

I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a rough week. A lot of battles were fought, but in the end, defeat was met. Still, for the first time, all is not lost. The heart did not take that strong and harsh of a beating this time. Hopes were not entirely dashed. Maybe it's just not the same anymore. Or maybe it's time to move on to something better, something promising. They say that when God closes all doors, He opens a window. For the first time in a long while, I believe it.

There's light at the end of the tunnel after all. Tears were shed, but a hint of smile still surfaces.

Friends are the family we choose. I choose you.

New DVD (and a Player)

After a long day at the office, you walk home (yeah, we walk here, no luxury of a car), and guess what's in the mailbox? A lovely brown package from Amazon! There's nothing better than having a tight lil' package waiting at home for ya, just waiting for the covers to be ripped off *wink*.

Anyways, my long-awaited My Family Season 4 DVD arrived, and I spent a good hour watching the show. Plus, my DVD player arrived today too (my dad requested a colleague to pass the DVD player to me, cos the one I brought with me konked-out after a week!). Yay!

Ahh, I foresee many an hour of movies. Blockbuster (or equivalent), here I come!

Oh Email, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

There are some things which we cannot live without. Essentially, these would be food, water, a roof over our head. Of course, being a woman, I can say that there are probably plenty of which that I cannot live without, but this is not one of 'em "I-need-more-bags" posts. If posed with the over-asked "if you were stuck on a deserted island, what would you wish you had with you?" question, I'd be totally impractical and say my mobile phone. And email. I know, I know, like there'd be Internet access on a deserted island blah blah blah, but stay with me, won't ya?

My gripe is, I've been without email access for over a week now. It's bad enough that I cannot access my personal Yahoo email account at the office, but with the work email down for over a week, I'm close to going out of my mind. My source of communication to the outside world has been limited to just the ONE, and believe me, it's not easy keeping in touch with that person either, what with the busy schedule at work and all. And it's as frustrating as hell. I need to talk to other people! (Edit - to my only channel of communication, you know who you are. No offence, ya? The brain rope's pretty thin now *grin*)

They say that with every cloud, there's a silver lining. That wee shining bit comes in the form of my phone. Thank God my phone comes with an email address, or else I don't think I can write all this just now. Still, there are limits on using my phone's email address, as it doesn't look good for me to be texting on my phone all the time.

Anyways, just in case y'all been wondering where the hell I've been, well, there ya go. Email's been dead for over a week.

Help!

PS: By the way, I've enabled comments once again (didn't know what I was thinking about when I disabled them anyway. Yes, I'm fickle. Live with it). So write!

Of Sushi, Shopping, and a Spooky Movie

Ever tried breaking a record? Nope, not vinyl, although I think we should totally get rid of those. I mean, who the heck plays them these days? And please, they do NOT sound better, despite what all you "retro" people think (retro's just another word for old-fashioned. And no, do NOT get me started on that).

Ah, but I digress. I was talking about breaking some sort of record, you know, Guiness BOR, Malaysian BOR, etc. That's what we tried doing on Saturday. The company had some sort of mini fund-raising festival, and one of the main attractions was "making the longest sushi". Apparently, the Japan BOR's record for the longest sushi was 110m in length.

The gym was crowded that day, with company employees and their children joining in for the fun. We managed 120m that day. Still, I didn't think it was that big a deal, as I didn't see anybody from the media that day. Which is weird, cos these people have the media at their feet for almost anything out of the ordinary, or conventional even. Oh well, there goes my chance on being on Japanese national TV.

After the festival, my friends and I went shopping, at this place called Shimamura. It sells really cheap clothes. I bought my springwear there, which was like, 700yen for a light pullover, and 2300yen for a jacket. What a steal (unfortunately, on Sunday, I bought a Morgan purse from Takashimaya which was on sale, but cost more than my shopping combined on Saturday. Guilt trip!).

We went back to our respective homes for a bit, before meeting up again for dinner, and a movie. Watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I was totally against the idea; one, I do not watch movies like this at the cinema, and two, I do not watch movies like this. Period. Majority won (well, one of them wouldn't watch Brokeback Mountain as I suggested, cos surprise, surprise, homophobe!!), and I couldn't talk them out of it. Anyways, that movie scared the shit out of me; I couldn't even leave my bed to pee that night. Geez.

On a lighter, and totally different note, I just got promoted. Ahh, it's been a good week after all.