Found in Tokyo

Initiative

2010-02-11T15:51:00.000+09:00

...is what many employers look out for. It is also no doubt, a quality that will bring you far, but this note will be discussing how it is severely lacking in Singapore, as the writer perceives.

Case Study ①
-------- Crossing The Streets --------
Have you ever noticed how irritating it is that you would like to cross the road but just the traffic light never seems to turn red, and the green man is forever on the break? Look around a bit more, and it could just be your naughty fellow resident in Singapore getting bitten by the sloth bug. The largest group the writer has observed recently reportedly includes 11 people from all walks, and all ages, all waiting for our green man to start running, but amazingly, after 3 minutes of standing and staring at countless vehicles whiz by, no one bothered to press a simple button to signal the start of a fruitful waiting process - one whereby the light will EVENTUALLY turn red. The ending for this? 9 of them jaywalked (that would have been 9 x 20 = $180 extra for our public funds arising from fines) while I pressed the button after Ms-I-Am-Oversized-But-I-Li

ke-To-Wear-Revealing-Clothes jaywalked and moved away from the traffic light (she was leaning on it). There you go, even I didn't have the initiative to ask her to move away so that I could have pursued some corrective action. Oh, there was a freeloader who enjoyed the benefits of legally crossing when the green man came on. Yay.

Case Study ②
-------- Alighting from a Bus --------
Funny. It's highly amusing how Singaporeans seem to have a fear of Bells and Buttons. First, it was the traffic light button, and now it's the bell to alert the bus driver of a passenger wanting to alight. You could say it's reminiscent of the "I-Dodged-Last-Game", which roughly goes along this concept:
"A huge truck is charging towards you. To show how gutsy and courageous you are, dodge it only at the very last moment. The person who dodges last to safety is the UBER-HERO and he/she wins."
So the passenger who presses the bell last but still doesn't miss his/her stop is the coolest passenger I guess...but I always spoil the game for the others :( No wonder I keep receiving all the "You Cowardly Kiasu Loser!" dirty stares~~but at least the driver and mechanics appreciate the less frequent occurrences of jam-brakes, and hence repairs :)
Seen some passengers press 2 stops ahead of their destinations though, don't agree with those.

Case Study ③
-------- During Q&A Sessions --------
Ever made a presentation in Singapore and during Q&A, hocus pocus, no one has any questions? Well, there sometimes are questions but they might be grudgingly asked, or just for the sake of 'participation points'? Welcome aboard, cos you're not alone! Even at information sessions, it is sometimes alarming to the writer why people never bother to clarify their doubts and when asked on why they do not intend to apply to the company at issue, the response is many-a-time related to issues that could have been easily clarified during the information session. Perhaps our brains weren't working on a fine morning whereby our favorite football team had a tough match the night before, or perhaps we simply did not put enough thought into the prospects of the job on offer.

With no more ranting tonight, the writer hopes that by showing how Singaporeans have lacked initiative in 3 scenarios, they have effectively short-changed themselves, having to resort to breaking the law (Low Crime Doesn't Mean No Crime - that includes jaywalking, no?); facing the totally unnecessary risk of missing your stop; and to possibly miss out on a career prospect, or on a more general scale, being unable to clarify your doubt. The writer would also like to take this opportunity to propose a cycle, which consists of 3 phases - Initiation, Experimentation, Innovation, whereby Initiation is both the start of something new, and the start of improvement, thereby leading to value-add. Now, with "Productivity" being the latest word in town, wouldn't it be just about time to take more initiative?
Good luck and Good Night (before I catch a cold again...just recovered from one)

Molesters

2010-01-07T18:07:00.003+09:00

Aeons since I've last posted. Yes, posting have transformed into Notes (on FB) and Nikki (on mixi). Anyway, here goes!

DISCLAIMER: In case some people think I have all the time in the world to write notes aside from doing FYP, I consider this article to be disturbing enough to take a break from work (yeah, more excuses: 8 points)

Recently, a friend alerted me to this piece of news...

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/caught_in_the_act/300696/4_men_harass_woman_at_countdown_party_but_no_one_helped.html

In short, a scantily clad woman was molested by 4 men (they look Indian, origin unspecified) at Singapore's annual countdown event @ Sentosa's Siloso Beach. Instead of offering any aid, the crowd merely flashed out their cameras and furiously snapped away (not sure if they had SLR), with some even taking a video of the incident and posting it online.

I'll like to think about and present my thoughts on a few points.
1) Did she deserve it?
2) Are the crowd's actions justified?
3) Inferences from this incident and a myopic glimpse into the future

Frankly, I don't think it's fair to judge if the woman deserved it. One of the first arguments to have surfaced was that her provocative wear invited the molesters, but that is seriously a huge farce. Note the name of this event "Countdown Party @ Sentosa's Siloso **BEACH**". In case you didn't get it right, it was conducted at a BEACH. In fact, if I were not mistaken, participants were encouraged to attend the event in BEACHWEAR, which would most certainly include "bikinis". Why should dressing up in accordance to the theme lead to molestations? So if the party theme was "Medical", one who dressed up as a patient would necessarily lead to an operation forced upon him/her? Therefore, in my view, it is not right to hurriedly (and conveniently) blame it on the woman. Nonetheless, having witnessed a woman being molested @ Zouk last year, I will not deny this possibility totally. That night, I saw a Chinese girl flirting (kissing, hugging, dirty dancing) with a group of guys, consisting of both Caucasians and Chinese. After going around the club looking for a spot for my friend and I, we unfortunately saw this group of people again. This time round, she seemed to have lost it, either due to excessive alcohol and/or drugs, and these men were groping her in an even more outrageous way than that you might have seen in the previously provided link, and they even started to unclothe her. I did not even attempt to help her, because in this case, I think she deserved it. Flirting with a group of guys and then indulging in excessive drinking/drugs is most definitely unwise, especially if they are strangers to you. Now, if they were your friends, I would consider it most sad that you have such sickening friends who would take advantage of you when you are drunk. Towering over all, it is your fault if you not only do not know how to take care of yourself, but even go on to invite trouble upon yourself. Let this be a warning to all silly girls out there who would go clubbing, like to drink, and to mix with a large group of guys - It is your fault if you do all the above and your modesty gets outraged.

As for the crowd, they are a disgusting bunch of creeps. The mentality is clear - there is a free show; I am not implicated; I do not want to invite trouble - so therefore, I sit back and enjoy this taboo action (molestations and crimes in general are somewhat regarded as taboo in Singapore) while being totally in the clear. What's better is that I can totally blame it on the atmosphere, booze and that I alone would be powerless since "everyone else is not doing anything" and that whatever action I take would be "overpowered". Allow me to summarize that into 3 adjectives: "Selfish", "Cowardly", and "Irresponsible". Note that "apathetic" is missing from there, because the above 3 adjectives make constitute the reasons behind the apparent apathy. Personally, I would regard even comments appealing to the crowd to help the woman since "you would not want that to happen to someone close to you e.g. your wife, daughter, girlfriend". It is probably an effective persuasion, but it is from a selfish perspective. Instead, isn't it human nature to help someone in trouble? You need a reason to hurt others, but helping others doesn't really require a logical, justified argument, does it?

If you go on to watch the various videos asking people for their comments, I suppose you will agree with me the general perspective is that...

For guys: She probably deserved it and I would not help. What is the big fuss anyway?
For girls: Eeewwww, sick. This is disgusting! People should really help her...oh but I can't help. You know, she might even have asked for all this.
Minority: This is outrageous. I would have gathered my friends and helped the poor girl out of the mess.

Myself? I would have helped, provided that she were not the cause of this. Like I mentioned, if she had already been flirting with these men - which reminds me, honestly, screw u assholes who even try to argue if the men are Singaporean or foreigners, cos this only tries to invoke discrimination and it doesn't change the fact that they're molesting the girl - and she had been a drink too much/drugs, I wouldn't bother. It takes two hands to clap, indeed. However, for those who've watched the video, she struggled and tried to squat down to escape from the clutches of these men. Based on that, I would have helped her. Not because I am a righteous hero, but just because it was some form of help that I could have offered to someone who needed it.

Now, what would you have done?

Walking down the wrong walk of lif

2009-09-13T20:55:00.003+09:00

A month and four days since I've set foot once again in my place of birth. Can I say that I have rediscovered myself in this land? I guess not. Quite the contrary, I am questioning myself more and more frequently. "Why did it take me so long to realize that I am a social misfit in this land?" is the focal question I would like to ask myself, and with good reasons.

Having spent some 20 years (nearing 21 years) in this place, true enough, I did have many fits of anger and displeasure amidst some momentary flashes of happiness, but was I merely trying to suffocate my thoughts and live on like everyone else did? Or was I oblivious to all happenings around me? Or perhaps I was enjoying it all the while here until I went on an overseas stint?

Looking back, friends and people I have met during my thorny path would most likely reflect that I harbored and even voiced my displeasure at various points in time (frequently?). That rules out the possibilities of me being oblivious or that I perhaps enjoyed it here. So it must mean that I have been suffocating my thoughts, or perhaps the overseas stint made me face my judgments more directly.

Alarmingly, I have not laughed from the bottom of my heart since my return home. This is quite severe for I am known more as a fun-loving joker rather than a personification of a gloomy day. Is it the weather? I guess not, since it was equally, if not hotter, in Japan before I left. Is it the food? Possibly, considering I follow a very different (non-oily) diet from the average local here. Is it the culture? Definitely, I will mostly effortlessly classify myself as a social misfit here. Is it the people? Perhaps, but I see this as very closely linked with the culture rather than the nature of the people. To be most fair, I have marvelous people around me who really care for me from the bottom of their hearts and shower me with much friendship. Rather than their attitude, it is more the way the people here behave that really puts me on the wrong channel. Of course, the occasional evil person who wouldn't so much flicker when the opportunity to harm others for his/her own benefit arises still exists, such as the shame of a human being I've encountered in college sufficiently represents. So is my conclusion: Food, People and Culture?

Pertaining to the first factor, I have solved it somewhat by slowly adjusting to the local food, but more by preparing my own meals. It has taken its toll on me, doubtlessly, and one will merely need to steal a glance at me in person to realize that. My ribs are showing :)
But if, as I said, the people are nice, why am I not happy when I am with my friends? This doesn't make sense. Looking first at those who are NOT my friends, my simple solution stems from a mighty invention called the iTouch, complete with voice-blocking earphones and a pair of shades. Call it escapism, but the wise saying of "See no evil, Hear no evil" works miracles for me. Now for my friends, I guess it is a difference in fundamental thinking.

Take a look at project work. While my main concern is whether we will have fun doing the project, it seems rather that our successful factory-like upbringing has taught us to think the right way - choose projects that will get you high scores, regardless of your interest. If you can, match it to the grader's liking. Obviously, dignity is worth nothing, and a simple cost-benefit analysis can show u that, with tangible efforts as the criterion, sacrificing your dignity and personal interests in return for good grades and what you may refer to as an impressive education is simply the best option. First clash in ideologies.

Next up, a most paradoxical claim some people make about treasuring their friends. This is true alright, but what is missing is the term "new friends" instead of "friends". Some, if not all, of you reading this will probably give me a bashing on how you treasure your old friends as well, if not more, than your new friends. Fine. For now, just hold your anger and let me present my point. Personally, I treasure my old friends more (sorry new friends) and to express that, I am more frank towards this group of friends. While I may put on a false smile to make the atmosphere seem more comfortable with new friends, I will put forth my thoughts in the most simple of words, e.g. "I think you are extremely rude for not having consulted us beforehand as it shows an utter lack of respect" or "I don't mind if you like to sing, but not for this song cos you're gonna spoil it and I love this song", when I am speaking to my old friends. Many people, however, take old friends for granted and assume that by having known one another for an extended period of time, old friends are supposed to be more tolerant towards you and understand your every action and the meanings behind it. The answer is NO. My brother's known me for over 20 years and I will admit I am as much a mystery to him as he is to me. That's not because we don't talk, we do very frequently. In fact, it's because people are ever-changing and there are so many other factors...physical, emotional, tacit...that affect you at every moment.
I believe sincerity is the most importance criterion in a friendship. Old or new? It doesn't matter. Compare between these people: Someone you've known for years, but who has the cheek to question you "Why are you angry that people are late? Is it even wrong to be late when meeting others?" and who subsequently does not keep in touch with you for months (including not notifying you for his/her birthday party); versus someone you've known for an equal amount of time who would spend half a day on a weekend just to whip up a simple meal and have a nice chat with you. My point lies not in the exact content (activities) in these statements, but the underlying attitude towards the friend. Obviously, the former shows little or no respect and is, in my opinion, unworthy of a friendship; while the latter is a nothing-out-of-the-ordinary event you can enjoy with bout just any other friend out there, but which shows an uncomplicated mentality - appreciating your friend. Sad to say, there is some sense that quite some people here do not show much sincerity, or perhaps, what varies is the way we define sincerity.

Lastly, culture. Recently, I've found out via a rather truthful confession by a foreign friend that she does not enjoy life here, nor does she like the locals. Rewind to a year back, and I would have been most sad to have heard that. But, now. Now that I have seen more of the world, I can feel her agony much stronger. Boasting a world-class standard for cleanliness and hygiene, I see wet and dirty toilets almost everywhere. The noise pollution is horrendous, as I have confirmed via the fact that my hearing has deteriorated since my return home. Why is the situation like this? Has it changed while I was gone? No! I was merely oblivious to it, as I was part of it before (minus the toilet part, I am toilet-trained). What has changed is that I have learned to embrace a more truthful me in that I refuse to conform to what apparently goes against my beliefs.
Thinking back on how I had trouble finding a clean grass patch in school to lie down upon and enjoy the sun with the cool breeze like how I could do so during my overseas stint, it does not sadden me as much as the cold and hostile stares by the basilisks that hurried past me in school while I chose to instead enjoy the breeze seated on a chair. I pity these factory-manufactured robots who are unable to enjoy the simple things in life and who scurry all their lives. Another interesting observation is "locals gleefully walk in a line", no, not in a queue. Let me illustrate this
Local:
| |
|oooo|
|O |
Overseas:
|oo |
|oo |
|O |
Let o represent people of a same group, and O, people of another group. As you can see via my poor illustration, the local doves walk in a way that obstructs the flow while in overseas, the path is clear for a different traffic flow. Moreover, in the first setting, Mr/Ms O would have been stuck behind the four o, whereas he/she would have been able to move on if he/she was in a hurry and was walking at a faster pace than the four o. My conclusion is that this boils down to an absurd focus on the 'self', leaving no space for the consideration for others.

Having reviewed all these today, I believe my unhappy existence here is somewhat inevitable, and to a certain extent, uncorrectable. At this point whereby not even karaoke is appealing to me anymore, nor can happy cheers from abroad heal me no more, I shudder to face tomorrow. Wouldn't you just love to have a fast forward or rewind button like, right now?

News Nowadays

2009-08-30T15:49:00.002+09:00

I like reading the newspapers. Be it electronic or in paper form, this is one way I stay connected to the world (or at least this is what I think it is ^^)

Reading the newspaper doesn't only let you know more about the world as in THE world, it also allows you to know more about YOUR world. Sounds confusing? In simpler terms, besides providing information from all continents, it brings you news about your surroundings, the very environment that concerns you. Perhaps you might be thinking that this isn't such a great deal, or even a point worthy of your attention and thoughts, but take a look at these.

Japanese Elections.
Yes yes, we suppose half the world knows about how the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) has been in power for some half a century with only a break of 11 months from 1993-1994 and how its biggest rival, led by Mr Hatoyama, is ironically formed by defectors from the LDP. Reading the AP (Associated Press) reports online will give you an idea of how other countries view and want you to view Japan's political situation. Read Japan's national papers to gain a better idea of how they view the situation instead. A simple search on Yahoo! News will return several articles quoting interviewees' viewpoint that "While the DPJ is inexperienced, we would like to give them a chance..." and that "people have lost confidence in the LDP". I couldn't agree more, as these echo the political views of most of my Japanese (student) friends, who jokingly refer to the current PM as Mr Aho-Tarou ("idiot" in Japanese), or even Mr As-o (pronounced as ass-oh), a clever pun on the pronunciation of "asshole". Interestingly though, these do not seem to reflect the view of quite some Japanese friends of mine of a different age group, who are swayed by the LDP's stand that they are "best equipped to bring Japan out of the recession". Or if you would like to have another point of view, that is, most of my "young" Japanese friends don't really know the situation and they are merely following the views of the magazines and newspapers. So hooray for the DPJ, it looks like something is coming along the way for you.
What I find more interesting is how the news reflected in newspapers can deviate so much from the actual situation. Most reports reflect a rather one-sided view in which a point is over-emphasized. While figures such as "expected to win 2/3s of the seats" propose a exciting picture, or that "27% of the voters are undecided", I would really much prefer to know about how these people came to their conclusions. Something I don't really suppose I'll find in abundance in news reported by foreign countries :)

Singapore
A couple of months back, I read an article about how Singapore is N.Korea's 2nd largest trading partner, and recently, about how Singapore is supporting the UN resolution imposed against N.Korea for their missile tests. What a conflicting stand Singapore seems to be taking, don't you think, if it's based just on these reports? On one hand, it seems to paint a picture of a ruthless mercenary which operates based on profit; while on the other hand, it appears that righteousness and cooperation for the sake of the regional security seems to be the belief to be fighting for. More interestingly, I asked around most Singaporean friends and NONE, that's right, ZERO of them, knew about the former report. The reason given for this was that "it was not printed on the daily newspapers, nor was it reported on the news." That is not to say that we should accept news as it comes, because if the source is from a country with less-than-warm ties with Singapore, chances are it might just be the partial truth. On the other hand, this could reflect Singapore's tight control on press releases. As to what the truth is, frankly, I don't know it myself. The only thing I am certain is that I propose for people who do follow the news to open themselves to more channels while scrutinizing the sources. Remember, news can be discovered, and so can it be created.

Malaysia
I seem to be talking quite a bit on Southeast Asia today. Pardon me, it's just because recent happenings seem to have been circling around the region, especially rather saddening ones. I will provide a very simple summary a particular incident in Malaysia recently that has caught my eye.

Malaysian Muslims protested against the construction of a Hindu temple in the neighborhood, because it is comprised of a Muslim majority.

A disclaimer before I continue:
I am not against Muslims, and I happen to have Muslim friends who are really nice. I am just interested as to the wavering stands undertaken by the concerned parties in the incidents mentioned above. In other words, I wish to understand the motivations behind taking such actions.

Personally, I believe in religious freedom. What I would condemn, as the Malaysian authorities have already done, is the act of bringing a severed cow's head along to the protest(The cow is considered a sacred animal in Hinduism). While the claims may be valid, that the construction of a Hindu temple may cause discomfort to the residents, that very action disregards all religious sensitivity and is in a way, provoking a confrontation. Even when we do get into conflicts with our Muslim friends, it would be downright despicable to bring along a severed pig's head (The pig is considered unclean in Islam) as this will be insulting the roots of their belief, in turn insulting them as a person.

My point for writing this entry is such that people will read the newspapers more carefully, and to call for religious tolerance. I know people who have lived through fatal racial riots, some provoked by religious friction, and I really do not wish for any recurrences. Respect your friends. Respect those around you. Also, stop believing what is told to you blindly. Find out more, know that it is credible, and then, believe.

Back and hating it

2009-08-25T01:40:00.004+09:00

Alright, haven't been blogging again. Don't blame me this time, cos I'm back home and I highly suspect I've developed depression (No, I'm not going to the Doc's cos all they want to do is leech and suck money from me, not quite to cure me).

Let's take a look from a chronological point of view.

9 Aug
Arrive home. The only plus point is erm, I got to see my family. -end-
Cons? Thankfully, I didn't step out of my house until dinner...and I am appalled at what I saw. Bunch of people lacking in manners - kids running around and/or screaming cos they're not getting what they want; young girls and guys speaking crude tongues and thinking that's cool; violent girls hitting away at their friends and spewing vulgarities...the list goes on.
And...and...the food didn't taste good. After starving myself for some 26 hours, I finally mustered enough courage to swallow a plate of rice for dinner. You'll probably shrug and think little of that, but I personally find it amazing, considering I had 4-5 meals a day in Japan, with dinner being something like 3 bowls of rice with meat, soup, vegetables and egg. Oh, and a huge serving of tea.
May I also add that the air is pathetic, chemicals lurk in our drinking water (and the bottled water sold commercially; I even heard that the water we produce locally can be carcinogenic) and the food is extremely oily. Do we lack taste buds, hence the need for excessive flavoring, or are we simply unskilled in culinary chores?

10 Aug
It's a holiday!!! But I'm not too thrilled by anything.

11 Aug
School starts. FYP lectures start too. Not that I'm particularly turned off by that. But I certainly am turned off by the public. I simply do not understand - WHY IS IT SO NOISY HERE? (I am typing in CAPS because I am noisy).
The MRT (think of this as the metro) was simply deafening. We enjoy a fantastic melting pot culture here, which explains the multilingual dialogues happening all at once in the trains - English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Humans, PSP, Earphones, Ipods, TVs...name it. Oh, and our highly competitive society is reflected here too, for everyone is competing to be the loudest (wait, you mean I'm mistaken bout this?) Interestingly, it also accurately reflects our society as to who the eventual winner is - I'm pretty certain the MRT announcements were blasted at 100000 decibels (Ok, I'm exaggerating). How else can you explain the migraine I experienced after that was blasted in my ear? I am inching towards deafness by the day. No, make that by the hour. Minute? Second? Bah. Don't even mention taking the bus, which hosts our favorite TVMobile - Introducing Noise into your lives.

Bah, I've run out of steam to sustain the chronological approach. Let me rant about one more thing - physical fitness tests.

Some may know, bout some don't, I've been experiencing acute pains in both my knees just from even prolonged sitting in the classroom. I'm talking bout 5-10 minutes here. Now consider this scenario - me running. No, it's no joke.
Moving on, I am also feeling pain in my left elbow, left wrist and right shoulder. Perhaps this is what you can call a pretty-f***ed up physical condition, and I think you are pretty darn right to say so, but the professionals don't seem to agree. Having consulted specialists for years and having consulted one more today, I've learned (again) that my bones and ligaments are probably all right. Thank you, I am relieved (honestly, I am). Now, I want to know the reason behind these pains I am getting daily, especially some unknown pains that have surfaced recently like that irritating 8/10 pain I get in my elbow and shoulder every morning; and how I can get around curing...oops, fixing them (since I've been told time and again that there is no medical evidence to show that it is a problem, thus I should not use the word 'cure').
"Your pains are probably due to your loose joints, which are probably genetic."
"OK...doesn't this mean it's gonna be a recurring problem? How can I fix this?"
"You can train up."
"I've tried doing so. In fact, for the 2 years or so that I was put on physiotherapy, it improved slightly at first and then the pain intensified and became even more unbearable. I also tried to train up, but I always end up in a lot of pain. What else should I do?"
"You can find a trainer, get a training regime and get fit."
*sighs in exasperation. shakes hand and exits room*

Perhaps modern science does have its limitations, cos it doesn't seem to be curing me. Perhaps there are administrative loopholes, cos there seem to be plenty of unfit personnel out there who are able to perform activities such as visiting the gym thrice a week to do weights and play basketball once a week. These people are unfit and are ineligible for physical fitness tests, but some others who are experiencing so much pain that they do not even run after the bus are fit enough to be thrown into the battlefront and ace the physical fitness tests.

Thanks to anyone who's willing to read through such a boring post full of rants.
I'm turning in, and while I won't be naive enough to hope for a better tomorrow (not over here, at least), but I'll hope for a faster tomorrow :)

how long has it been?

2009-08-04T00:10:00.002+09:00

yes, i suck. i know that. i should have updated this blog more often. not that i wouldn't like to, but i've been spending quite a bit of time working on my 8 reports to submit (boooooooooo).

its been almost 3 weeks since i last updated this site and i'm sorry to all my friends who bother to check it out. honestly!!

alright, let's move on to a short summary of what's been happening.

besides the usual PROJECTS, i've pretty much been preoccupied with KARAOKES. yes. u saw that. due to all those pressure i've stored up, i had no choice but to turn to karaokes for frequent stress-relieving sessions (cough cough, realli??). just in case u're wondering, i'm in a few karaoke circles, and i'm usually the youngest of them all o_O
now THAT's a huge contrast to the situation in sg whereby i'm usually the eldest...no intended implications though :p some examples of karaokes i've been to are...
1) normal solo karaoke
2) normal karaoke with normal people (5~6)
3) no-genre karaokes with erm, not-so-normal people (60~65 pax)
4) KOBUKURO-only karaoke with FANTASTIC people (~40 pax)
5) super high level karaoke with people who've been singing for years (~15 pax)
6) karaokes that offer vibrato sessions by pros (60~65 pax)

don't u think these sound awesome? especially for 4), whereby the focus aint so much on personal singing skills, but rather, harmonization. u just gotta try it to understand it. like a friend put it, "good harmonization by the other guy makes singing the song easier". i kinda agree with that, but i think it's beyond that. it's like when u sing alone, u are the lead and u paint the whole picture of the song. but when a good partner comes in...he more than makes up for what u lack and while u may be scoring 100 for the song usually, a good partner delicately helps u achieve a score of 120/100. i say delicately because a beautiful partnership will mean that there won't be any clashes while u sing together. for example, a good partnership can result in a realli strong and attractive voice to first make others stay mesmerized and want to listen on. following which, the hidden voice (harmonization) helps to make the singing more complete, in that one will not get tired of listening to you. my way of looking at it is like sushi. let's take for example, the ootoro (fatty tuna belly) sushi. by itself, ootoro is extremely sweet and melts in your mouth, leaving a lasting impression and its extremely high quality can make people save up to savor its heavenly taste. however, it will never taste so great without wasabi. the function of the wasabi is to clear away the oily feeling u get when u consume fatty foods, though as we all know, fish fats are good for us. pt is, the oily feeling makes u get sick of the food, so u can only consume a limited amount. thank goodness for the heavenly combination of wasasbi and ootoro though, because besides that functionality, wasabi also offers a refreshing fragrance that u simply cannot resist. its also really interesting to observe that wasabi alone is almost inedible for most people; while ootoro is fantastic by itself but no real gourmet will recommend for u to eat that ALONE. mmmmmmmmm

ok no more food talk. i don't even know how it got to food. perhaps it's cos Prof Ito of Kwansei Gakuin gave me a treat to really nice food tonight, and i'm getting kinda touched.

off to bed, i be. a fantastic new day awaits!

alive and kickin'

2009-07-09T01:52:00.010+09:00

I'm ALIVE!!!
It's been another 2 or so very fruitful weeks. Living life to its fullest (as usual)!

The not-so-new part is that I've been bucking up and doing research. CONCRETE WORK. Woooo. That's a new QL to many of my friends out there. Friends eh...*coughs*

Realizing that we only have something like a month left, Shing Lam and I decided to throw aside our stingy habits (instantaneously, that is) and taste Japan like all good food-loving humans should. And so we did.
MMMMM. Legendary Japanese KYOHO Grapes. Kyoho can mean GIGANTIC HUMPS and well, you can probably have a glimpse of why these grapes are "gigantic humps". Seedless, juicy, HUGE grapes. Oh, they taste like wine too :D
One good way to describe the feeling one derives from eating these can be as follows.
"I carelessly grab a grape and toss it into my mouth. As my teeth penetrates its first barrier of defence - the skin, I felt a strong resistance as it pushed back against my teeth. Excited like a pirate having found the treasure chest, I relentlessly exerted more force via my teeth and as the grape kingdom collapsed under the great pressure, a sweet spring of grape juice broke free from the walls that once stood and gushed into my mouth. Greedily, I drank the sweet juice as though I had not drank water in days, only to find myself yearning for more. My heavy pants become more frequent and harder as I uncontrollably crushed every inch of the grape that remained in my dark dungeon of a mouth. The luscious fragrance that first dragged me by the nose once again appeared mischievously, as though to bring out the ruthless streak in me. It was too great a temptation to resist, and before long, I have been brought into the world of the grape. Alas, temptation has gotten the better of me again."

Point is, try it some day, friends :)
This picture was taken with some of my fellow exchange students at Tokyo Institute of Technology :) We went on a visit to Asahi Breweries and of cos, we had plenty of (free) beer. Notice the white tee-shirt? It cost 500 yen and it was an impromptu decision for each of us to get one and make it THE YSEP t-shirt :)
Just to add on, I met up with Jerry and Grace and but of course, we went on a good food hunt. Check out the smiles on their faces (hehe, I was smart enough to not barge into the picture. ain't I a good friend indeed?? :P) Oh, and their hairstyle even looks similar!
This setting was in a Tonkatsu shop in Shibuya, where almost no one is under-dressed. Back to the object that we're all concerned about. Jerry ordered a CHEESE Tonkatsu, Grace got a ROSU Tonkatsu and I got a NIBUTA Tonkatsu. They all held the key to a different world, to be fair to each of them.
It's like, the ROSU Tonkatsu, when blended with the sauce and the cabbage salad, became a wonderfully orchestrated piece of work with you tasting the juiciness of the pork, the immense fragrance from deep frying it and the slick, sophisticated function of the salad.
However, the CHEESE Tonkatsu painted a picture of "East meets West", in summary. Deep fried to a golden crisp, its mouth-watering appearance was suffice to lure any person to sneakily steal a bite. It's aroma however, surpassed its appearance and was so lethally attractive a vegetarian could bang his head against the wall and curse his decision to shun meat!
The REAL deal (in my opinion) comes in the form of the NIBUTA Tonkatsu. Broiled first before getting a new layer of crumbs and then getting deep fried, this is indeed a work of the Devil. Ironically, it is so near perfection it strongly suggests a trace of divine intervention from above... Fighting through the pain brought about by 3 ulcers, I sunk my teeth into the juicy piece of meat... *CRASH* The dam has been released, and the senses have come flowing in!!! The first thing I MUST emphasize, is that it really MELTS in your mouth. YES. You've read that correctly alright. It MELTS in your mouth. BUT!!! That is not all! As it melts, it forms an ultra flavorful layer that envelopes the other food and it is as though a neverending stream of goodness and blessings has just come our way. While you are experiencing this tide of flavor, having been tossed as high up as the heavens and flunged as violently as would Zeus throw a thunderbolt, the taste lingers in your mouth, as if it were the epitome of eternity.
Oh, before I end this section. Jerry and Grace got me a present!!! And with my newly developed doggy-nose, I correctly identified it as Warabi Mochi (Adeline's gonna hate me if she reads this). Yes, MORE WARABI MOCHI!!!!!!
Yay~~~~QL loves Jerry and Grace for getting him what he likes.
Proceeding to the last section of this entry...it is PARK'S birthday today! (ok it's a few hours past his birthday actually). We surprised him with a "Rare Cheese Cake" (it is REALLY known as a rare cheese cake) and some snacks :D
Park is an exchange student from Korea who goes to karaoke with us sometimes. To be frank, we sometimes still have language barriers and we weren't sure if it would go well. Thankfully, the joy on his face and his constant proclaims of "Oishii" and "Arigatou" were more than enough to assure us that he had a great time. After all, it is his first bday celebrated away from home and while we thought the longing for home might overcome him, he instead found companionship in us and appreciated it. I think that's what friendship feels like. Appreciating one another.

Oh, and I've come up with a short chorus for a song again. Yay. Perhaps I should give up studying and concentrate on this eh? *smilez*
NOT

ql, ql, o wherefore art thou ql?

2009-06-27T01:42:00.002+09:00

oops. i haven't posted in a whole 12 days!

here's a wrap up on what i've been up to, the little imp.

since my last post...surprise surprise! i've had had about 8 or so presentations!! yeah, nothing to be excited about. first i must admit my shock at the naivety of some of the exchange students here. take for example, one of the presentations for a class to design a product for the elderly. one main point was raised by this guy, whom we shall call A. he claims that the elderly are resistant to learning new technology and use the keyboard, and his product is a high-tech tv like thingy that allows one to make phone calls, video calls, chat, twitter like features and other online social networking site features. my question here is: don't u think your product is contradicting your claim? if that is the case, how can you expect it to sell well, or before we even question that, how can you expect your targeted users to even want to use it? puzzles me.

we also had another presentation on Topics on Japan (TOJ). my group did on Mannerism in Japan, and as our motto dictates, we're out to have fun. so we did. we presented it in a gameshow style whereby random classmates (u are allowed to doubt the definition of RANDOM, considering that i came up with the idea *wink wink*) are selected to represent team A and B respectively, and to answer the questions that yours truly came up with. for those of u who know me, i am probably not known for coming up with simple questions but i decided to be nice this time and i actually came up with moderate questions. japan has made me a nicer guy. RANT WARNING: the previous group took too much freaking time (not to mention their horrendously dry content and some even had a really pathetic presentation style) so we ended up with about 2/3 of our allocated time. THANKS. not one to back away from challenges, i'm most glad to say that our group rose to the occasion (the AC way) and i believe it was a well received one :D

my next presentation (i tend to overlook minor presentations) would be the long anticipated industrial analysis competition held within my laboratory and conducted at Hakone. you could expect how fun it was. before the actual presentation, we had a terrible 2 weeks of working till way past midnight daily to collect information blablabla. if u don't understand the pain, try looking up for study journals, magazines, scholastic papers...etc. the catch is, do that in japanese. not exactly the easiest of tasks, even for someone who likes using the japanese language such as myself. when the dust settled, we produced (miraculously) a piece of work i would rate as 52/100. my job, besides researching on the articles, was to plan the project flow i.e. the logic of our project. my 2 teammates would be doing the bulk of the research and also the powerpoint presentation. on a side note, we had the least number of people (growl). the night before the presentation, we had a good kaiseki dinner (pics will not be provided here, check out my facebook albums!), followed by a nice onsen (hot spring) bath. my fren, ken, heard some girls' voices from the guys' bath and he tried to peek to no avail. awwww. try again next time, ken :D next up was karaoke (muaahahahaha) and u'll be surprised to learn that our professor joined us for all these activities. amazing. this was followed by a party till 3 am (we played plenty of games such as saboteur, cockroach poker) and everyone knocked out. some of those guys got really drunk, but thankfully, i controlled myself and i was sober. very sober. got up the next day to a nice buffet breakfast and *drumroll* here comes the real thing. i'll skip the details and go straight to the result, cos that's what u're waiting to hear (read) and that's what i'm dying to boast/brag about.

WE BAGGED THE TOP PRIZE AND BEAT THE OTHER GROUPS BY AROUND 20 POINTS EACH!!!

as a result, my group's getting a treat to high class sushi at GINZA soon :D

alright, time to end things on a high note. GOODNIGHT!
i'll continue another day hehehehe

am i having fun indeed...

2009-06-15T00:41:00.004+09:00

I am in a bad mood.
And while yes, it might be due to my mood swing tendency tonight, it is largely to do with my project group mates and a series of events recently.

Before we go into the bashin'n'thrashin (of me or anyone else), let's take a look at my duties in the project group. For simplicity's sake, let me just use ONE of my project groups as an example.

QL's Duties:
- Create project flow
- Oversee project flow
- Lead discussion
- Designate duties
- Research
- Edit report/presentation
- Present
- Teach anything the others do not understand
- Discipline project members
- Resolve conflicts/complaints
- Answer to any doubts/opinions by others
- Conduct survey
- Design survey

Others' duties (a consolidation)
- Follow deadline
- Design product (draw)
- Present by reading from the powerpoint slides
- Try to join in the discussion hopefully by doing something other than repeating what QL said
- Conduct survey
- Prepare a draft of a report that will have 80% corrected anyway due to poor language

Does it sound fair? To be fair to me, I allocated the tasks to others such as designing the survey (and credits to one of them who tried her best to give me a decent draft). Unfortunately, due to reasons whatsoever, they were not delivered. In fact, most of the time, I find myself doing extra to cover for the others. Now you might be wondering, why am I being so nice? The QL you know is probably a much more ruthless guy who will make sure something unpleasant happens to anyone in the project group who even dares to attempt such an act. But keep in mind that I am here on a short-term exchange, and hence, I do not see the point in losing my temper over this and becoming an asshole. Moreover, while I do not mind teaching on the pretext that I already understand the concept myself, I do not like it when there is no effort shown and mere requests of "please be specific and correct the mistakes" are made. That sounds rather to me to be "Please do my work. I am not needed in the group. Please kick me out." Angsty QL.

Updates include people submitting work at the last minute and when I provide feedback that it is wrong, they tend to want to blame me for it. because i did not give feedback earlier. because i did not comment earlier. Well, DUH. When the work is submitted to me 12 hours before the deadline, how am I supposed to have commented earlier? When explanation was provided a week ago, and a public "Any questions or doubts to clear up?" went unchallenged, I am supposed to be on my heels for one whole week to look out for any doubts and answer them immediately like a 24-hour hotline would? Frankly, it is a case of a nice guy turning into a convenient tool. And quite hilariously, I meet with people offering an argument of how they are really busy. Well yes indeed, people have their capacities. BUT, you-who-is-taking-5-classes is expecting me-who-is-taking-10-classes to father your part of the project, that is absurd. The only salvation is that after being corrected, my groupmates will take pains to correct their work, even if it means going late into the night (a trait I highly suspect I am guilty of too).

Perhaps you might say I am asking for too much. Perhaps the argument that "I am not QL, therefore I cannot" will be put forth. But please try to think about it and for goodness' sake, stop using me as a lousy excuse because QL was not born with all these abilities and ample help and time was given prior to task allocations.

The happier part of this entry is, unsurprisingly, on karaoke. On a totally random day at a totally random timing, I skipped part of my group work for one of the projects and will be making up for it by doing an individual fieldwork for that part to try to cheer a friend up (only to find out that while I have been keeping people in my mind, others have obviously not been doing the same). Oops, no more venturing into the dark ranting side. So anyway, karaoke!!

Sang a few songs, and I tried the ugakara system, whereby you pit your karaoke score for that particular song against everyone else who uses that system in Japan! I won't be holding back, but instead be proudly and arrogantly and snobbishly boast that I got into the top 4 for Kobukuro's [White Days]. Perhaps it might be that people have not been singing that song much, but I guess a score of nearly 89 is a score to be proud of :) Time to aim for higher heights!

Japan really has interesting (or in some ways, odd) functions. Besides the normal 高精度採点 (high quality scoring), they also had the グラビア採点 (gravure scoring). For the latter, what happens is that instead of the usual movie they use, it becomes a movie of a gravure model (in other words, a sexy but not necessarily pretty woman). If you sing well, you will be treated to a nice (?) video of her along the beach or some random place, depending on the theme. However, if you were to be musically challenged, you will find the video getting CENSORED (ROFL). We tried to hit a score of 100 just to see what it will get us but unfortunately, the highest I could go was nearly 90 (my score peaked at 99 at one point in time!!). Another interesting observation is that irregarding our vocal abilities, singing English songs seem to be able to yield a higher score. I wonder why *grinz*

Ok, time for project research. It's on DENTURES this time round. Cya folks

sen-chan!

2009-06-08T23:36:00.004+09:00

Cookie Crumb White Chocolate from Disney. Courtesy of Jiahui

Guess how much this cost?

Looking young(er)

So what's up with the title of this entry?
Sen-chan is what some of my Japanese friends are calling me.
Anything special about it? Not really.

You see, in the Japanese context, you would refer to others as (name)-san and that's about it, right? WRONG. In fact, (name)-san is a polite way of addressing someone, who is often a stranger or someone who commands some respect. Other ways include (name)-sama, (name)-dono, and of course, (name)-chan.

Now comes the next question, why "sen"-chan? Like, I'm QL, and there's no apparent connection to "sen", is there? Actually, QL = "senri" in Japanese (I refuse to provide any other pronunciations) and hence, "sen"-chan. Think of it like "oppa" in Korean, just that you're adding a name in front.

I've been going on and on bout this, so you're probably wondering, right....so what's up with "sen-chan"? I don't really know, but personally, I find it a lot friendlier to call someone by his/her nickname, or in short, just a personalized name. However, the effects are very different depending on who's calling me "sen-chan". Let's look at the following cases...

1) Cute Japanese girl around my age group
Effect: Feels good. Pretty damn good.

2) Nice Japanese guy around my age group
Effect: A warm fuzzy feeling gushes around, but if said with a sneaky smile, evokes a sense of uneasiness.

3) Foreign Friend (what people would refer to here as gaijin)
Effect: WEIRD. Perhaps it's the accent. Or maybe its the intonation. Or it could have been the look. In any case, I personally don't advise it unless you can do it the way it's being practised here by the cute Japanese girls

4) Others
Effect: I don't really care that much :p

Bah. I don't even know why I'm typing this in such an inquisitive tone today! Perhaps I'm just sick of doing MORE research hehe. BUT!!! If my research project goes well, I'm getting a treat to HIGH CLASS SUSHI AT GINZA from my prof! Now THAT's motivation :P

Let's see...I met up with Ayako on Sunday, which is an amazing feat by itself. This is simply because I first knew her in Singapore when she came over to work as a waitress at a restaurant that I frequented. From then on we became friends (we = XY, Ayako, Me) and went out for dinner on a couple'f occasions. After some time, she came back to pursue a career in Kyoto, Japan. Anyway, back to topic. We went to Yokohama, Shinagawa, Harajuku (people are going to start noticing that I've been frequenting Harajuku a lot...) and back to Yokohama in time for her to catch the Shinkansen. It was great meeting up and catching up :D Since what we talked bout is mostly personal stuff, I shan't write it here, but instead, let's recollect what we ate.

First, we had a light snack (it was her lunch) at Chowder's. As you can collect from the name, the place sells soup. I had Fire Tomato Bisque with tomato rice and water while she had the soup of the day (spinach, not with pork ribs though :P) Following which, it was a frantic wave of shopping at Harajuku (on a weekend). As usual, we saw the cosplayers outside Meiji Shrine. There're plenty of X-Japan cosplayers this weekend though...I wonder why...I think she had a great time cos she spent a bomb on the clothes (chuckle). I guess I can start bringing people around Harajuku soon :D For those of you who like shoes, they're selling at 2 pairs for 3000 yen, just for your information. *skips the shopping part and jumps straight to dinner cos i needa do research soon...poor time management*

Dinner was at yokohama - SUSHI! Ok, be prepared for a barrage of Japanese terms now, this was our dinner menu
1) Ichinichi-gentei-20-shoku Kinkai-nigiri (includes 10 sushi which I'm too lazy to list)
2) Kaisen (Seafood) Salad
3) Kani-jiru (Crab Miso Soup) - they used a whole crab for this
4) Waka...erm i forgot. Something tempura
5) Buta-abura-nigiri
6) Oshinko
7) Matcha Warabi Mochi

I'll love to upload the pics, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day!!! It's in my cellphone though :P

Ok with that, I'll end this entry (abruptly)
2 pics at the top to show that I'm doing well :D

work work work

2009-06-05T23:32:00.005+09:00

The REAL Melon Pan

Taken with VIP after performance

Woah so it seems that I've gone missing for a whole week!

Believe me, it's not so much a matter of MIA or it boiling down to sloth. Rather *gasp* I have been STUDYING. Wondering how many people who read this just puked or burst out laughing...

Let's recollect my week.
Monday - Meeting for project 1 (I have somehow assumed the role of leader), meeting for project 2 (Again, I am the leader of this group as well), meeting for project 3 (Thankfully I have ikemen tutor Eiji who is leading this group). The day ends after doing 2 reports for presentation and submission on Thursday. Might I mention, in Japanese o_O This tiring day was kind of brought to life with a great dinner though, whereby i paid 1030 yen (ouch) for something 3-4 cups of rice, GIGANTIC chicken cutlet, deep fried prawn, fish, oyster, 2 small side dishes and a small bowl of soup. AWESOME.

Tuesday - Presentation for Project 2 (2 presentations are expected). Well, Hacchan (girl), Yuuchan (guy) and Kim-chan (guy) did their part for the project so in that sense, it's a massive sigh of relief and I needn't die. Then again, I was tasked to do my part, translate for them, give them a summary of the whole project, design the flow, monitor their presentation material, prepare the presentation material and also handle the Q&A. Fair distribution of work eh? *chuckles* Went to meet Jiahui after that, and we had some nice shopping in Harajuku. Had some crepes (weren't they nice, jh?) and we fought off the temptations lingering in the air and around us all the way till we went to Hanjiro (2nd-hand shop) whereby we got some neat stuff for a pretty decent price. Shan't disclose what we bought but jh was nice enough to let me have the points to use for my next trip to Hanjiro :D Oh, and she got me something from Disneysea. WHEE! Dinner was at an Izakaya, where we probably scared some Japanese dudes by speaking in English. There was this Japanese couple who're badmouthing us (I bet they thought we couldn't speak Japanese) but oh well, I wasn't in a mood to do anything bout that.

Wednesday - Topics on Japan class, which was pretty much a breeze since Satou-sensei is REALLY nice. She's like the reincarnation of a Buddha who's always smiley and gentle and just somehow, she has this really positive air around her which is great. Had lunch with Mingfeng, my high school classmate who has since lost (a very limited amount of) his lameness. As another friend would probably testify, mf is LAME SHIT. But he's still my friend :D Lunch for me was Tatsu-Maguro, Deep Fried Tuna marinated in Soy sauce, Japanese wine and one more that I forgot. He had Maguro-butsu (thick-sliced tuna) with seaweed and NATTOU. Kudos for finishing everything (most of my friends can't stand nattou). We went on to walk a little around my school before finishing our little tour at the nearby garden (and small lake). Nice scenery. Nice weather. What more can you ask for? It was a pity he couldn't get a shot of the HUGE crows that will beat even a stray cat in Singapore hands down. After we parted ways, I rushed back to school for another project meeting with Eiji. Seems like our project is hitting the end of the road, and we needa dig ourselves out of it via another road. BAH. Shall not elaborate on it. This wonderful Wednesday continues with a performance during the TISA (Tokyo Tech international student association, if I'm not wrong) Welcome Party. (For those of you who know me on MSN and other sources) My host family from the Tochigi Homestay Program came all the way over to Tokyo (that's a whopping 2-3 hours by express train) to support us for the event!! This time round, yours truly has chosen Kobukuro's [Kazamidori] as the piece and quite thankfully, it was well received (and I got some tips plus a bottle of wine as my reward) :D Oh, and a rather unexciting piece of news...I was introduced to the VIP for the event and ended up getting invited to perform the same piece for the opening of a new building of the school *cough* Unfortunately, this great night ended off with more school work due to my commitments the next day...

Thursday - Presentation for project N (I've lost count!!), in Japanese. I so wanted to shoot myself in the foot cos to be perfectly honest, my Japanese ain't that perfect to make a good presentation. Daily conversations, chatting up strangers, making friends...blablabla. These, I can manage with great pleasure (and to a certain extent, ease). Presenting in Japanese presents (hurhurhur) another whole new challenge in itself. Comes in TEAMWORK. Unlike the other presentation group, we not only split the preparation work pretty well, we also split the presentation work relatively well too. As a result, I believe our presentation flow was probably smoother and it actually turned out to be rather good. Perhaps it is a great time to mention one thing good about groupwork in Japan. Unlike in Singapore, whereby inter-group cooperation is rare or even getting endangered, we actually help one another here in Japan. I'll talk more bout this in time to come. Thursday is also Seminar Day. This week's case study was prepared by Takashima-san and Yoshikoshi-san, and as would be expected, it was INSANELY thick and purely in Japanese. With them leading the discussion, it also ended up to be a breathtaking 3h30min no-break-in-between session but I will be frank and admit that it was most fruitful.

Friday - I couldn't take the lack of sleep and over-working anymore and actually fell asleep before 12am on Thursday *gasp* Anyway, I got up early today to finish my 35-page reading for today's class, before rushing over to realize that only 5 of us turned up for it. Apparently...people don't like to attend classes on rainy days *shrugs* Again, I found myself actually concentrating in class and participating actively, something I would humbly admit to be lacking in my Singapore days *sweats* After this class, I wearsomely dragged my feet to the next class on E-commerce. Special mention goes to Guy (a friend of mine is called Guy) who offered me a mini Snickers to refresh my tired mind (and body). MMMMM. YUMMIE. Point is, I survived this class and after another awesome trip to the supermarket (call me uncle/auntie QL!!), I made myself a nice dinner with lots of meat, vege, soup, noodles, juice but just falling short of taking pictures of it. Supper follows with the REAL Melon-Pan, with rockmelon paste, sugar, fresh whipped cream in it. NICE. Danish Cheese Bread is ready and waiting to be consumed, and I'm moving on to my 4th liter of fluid today.

That's all folks, Special Correspondent QL reporting from Japan. Time to sleep~~~zzz

THE TREBLE

2009-05-28T05:51:00.003+09:00

BARCA HAS DONE IT!!!

THE FIRST TREBLE TO BE WON BY A SPANISH TEAM!!!

VIVA LA BARCA

and I MUST take a dig at the man utd fans

do you know how many of your fellow loser "fans" logged off and pretended to go to bed when they saw barca leading with 20 minutes to go? SHAME ON YOU FOR DESERTING YOUR TEAM. for those who stayed on and rallied for your team, good on ya!

i thought man utd coulda done more, but i guess that first goal really shook them (and shook us up too). 57% predicted a man utd victory on soccernet? HA. that's football ;)

wheee time to prepare for project meetings in sch~~

today's gonna be sucha a great day~

SF continues

2009-05-27T22:37:00.004+09:00

QL in his newly acquired Japan National Football Team Jersey

What is SF? u might be asking, and it's definitely not Science Fiction or Street Fighter, for you old school gamer friends of mine out there :D

Yes, it's the H1N1 Swine Flu. News updates reveal that Singapore has its first case of swine flu (from SMU apparently). Hate to hear that, and I must admit I am pretty darn worried for the people over there. So, it's the usual thingy, take care of your personal hygiene, eat healthy food, drink lotsa water, take lotsa vitamin C, refrain from mouth contact...etc (refer to my previous post for a longer list hahaha)

Speaking of which, I think my methods worked in nursing myself back to health. My sore throat's almost gone (save for that little bit of uneasiness that prevents me from singing...the falsetto part just won't come out now...gRRR). That's 2 weeks (and still counting) of abstinence from karaoke. YES, praise me! Sigh. Might I add, I didn't get to meet Miho as planned cos I thought it'll be better to stay home and nurse myself back to good health, just in case I did catch swine flu (which thankfully wasn't the case).

I still managed to squeeze some time out to bring my juniors from JSS and a Hong Kong friend around Shibuya and Harajuku though. Al beit, in a mask (LOL). It was really tempting though, since Ikimonogakari was having a concert at the CC Lemon Hall and I wanted to go (again). They're a Japanese pop/rock band, and while their songs ain't that epic, the guys and girls ain't super-hot-outta-this-world material, they have a special charm. Should we say...they feel close? It was like partying and just making merry at their concert, which was a great feeling :D We sang along and danced along with Kiyoe-chan leading (including the dancing part). DAMN. That Pugi-Ugi song is stuck in my head now!!! ARGHHHHHH

It's Champs League tonight (VIVA LA BARCA) BUT I DON'T HAVE IT AVAILABLE IN MY DORM!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
And I have school tomorrow so I won't be going to a pub to catch it. GROWL. Someone gimme access now pleasssse T_T

Oh well, while waiting for the match to start (are you nuts!?), I will be doing up my presentation slides and reports and research for erm...4-5 classes. Amazingly, I am actually pretty studious since coming to Japan. My profs (but more likely my classmates) will probably be the most surprised people besides my mum (chuckles). BUT (a big one this time)!! I've been having a good rest to recover from my flu-like symptoms and as a result, I'm behind my own schedule so I gotta buck up from now on. Sigh. No procrastination though, cos some how or other, I've ended up as leader for 4 project groups, with 3 other personal essay projects to complete. BAH.

At least mapping's settled. Thankfully enough, I managed to negotiate with my prof back in NUS and he's also willing to settle for a double compromise so that things become fair(er) to both of us. Guess this is part and parcel of the world, and win-win situations are really possible after all :) Good luck to all my other SEP friends who're battling with it though. Juniors, DO YOUR MAPPING WELL BEFORE YOU EMBARK

Ok, back to some serious work. Engine zenkai!

Voiceless days

2009-05-25T23:55:00.004+09:00

As some of you may already know, I am having a *GASP* sore throat. Ok, still no swine flu (thankfully). I've missed...let me see...4 karaokes as a result of this (and 2 classes). Kinda amazing considering it's ME at issue, eh? Well, u gotta be a considerate citizen and do some precautionary measures cos after all, it ain't the first wave that we're afraid of, but rather the mutated second wave. I repeat, MUTATED second wave. Imagine a flu bug that's resistant to all current medicines and has an insanely high fatality rate (while retaining the easy-transmittance). Now, THAT's gonna hurt. And way more than the Spanish flu that many years ago.

BRRR, scary topics aside, it's time for QL's meal of the day! (hmmm when did this ever become a staple in my blog entries...). Ok, so we're gonna talk about dinner today! Today's menu consists of...

- 2 Cups of rice
- 1 large slab of chicken thigh
- teriyaki sauce
- cabbage
- egg
- japanese tea

and mixing em all...u get

- teriyaki chicken thigh don (XL) with cabbage
- egg soup with cabbage

Perhaps u might be thinking...QL you forgot to include the oil, silly u!!
BUT
I (proudly) say: "Besides the oil from the slab of chicken itself, I didn't use a single drop!"
hehe, pretty much been a health freak recently, in part also due to my bad throat T_T

I also got myself a football jersey (it IS football, stop calling it SOCCER) in preparation for the World Cup Asian Qualifiers match next month. MMM can't wait. AND a haircut cos the back was getting too thick AND I finally decided to shave off the goatie. GREAT. I now look like a kid. (hence the lack of narcissistic self-portraits in this entry).

Alright, time to turn in and recover my voice. GROWL. I happen to be the leader for erm...4 project groups this semester (some things don't really change...zzz) and without my voice now, I'm finding difficulty communicating with others (duh).

So there, GOODNIGHT!

Rainy Tokyo (AH CHOOOO)

2009-05-23T21:11:00.003+09:00

Coughing in the other direction. PUBLIC COURTESY!!
Bacon-Cheese-Potato Balls. They dont look pretty, but they taste good :D
Coughing is the "in" thing in Tokyo now. With masks getting sold out at an alarming rate (super proportionate to the infection rate of the swine flu in Japan), I'm starting to get the stares from the people around me because...

1) QL wears a mask
2) QL has a sore throat (and accordingly, a sexy deep voice -.-)
3) QL chokes on his phelgm and as a result, coughs from time to time

Hmmm, but considering the following...

- QL does NOT have a fever
- QL does NOT have a running nose
- QL received a vaccination jab before his departure to Japan, and it's supposed to work against flu (incl. swine flu!)
- the people around QL are coughing much more rigorously than he is...(that stupid jijii, a rude term to refer to uncles, who sneezed into the poor girl's face and then continued coughing. how inconsiderate is that??)

SO WHY DO PPL ACT AS THOUGH THEY THINK I HAVE SWINE FLU :@

But well, as a nice law-abiding member of the society, QL has decided to self-quarantine cos sore throat is, after all, one of the symptoms and some of his professors have been kind enough to give their consent. Some have decided to penalize me and take some marks off his record but I don't really care. Fact's simple. Tokyo has many contacts with Osaka and other parts of Japan (and the world). With increased exposure comes increased risk, so why is it even a surprise that swine flu has probably been around in Tokyo for some time? I personally think it might just be a case of unreported infections so I will still take my own measures to try to safeguard myself from it :) Oh, which I will summarize below...

a) Drink lots of fluids, including: 2L of water, 500ml of tea, 500ml of orange juice PER DAY
b) Bathe earlier and dry my hair before I sleep
c) Wrap a muffler around my neck when I go out
d) Prepare a cap when I go out
e) Wear a mask at all times (except bathing)
f) Walk and attempt some form of exercise (however light) to keep the body alert
g) Refrain from mouth contact with others
h) Bring a handkerchief along
i) Eat healthy food (steamed chicken with noodles in chicken broth, egg and vege)

Am I being paranoid? Maybe. But in spite of all these measures, why is it that I still have a sore throat?

Maybe. JUST maybe. I've been lacking just that teeny weeny bit of sleep :D

Ok, time to make some supper. I'm hungry again...so well folks, wherever u are, TAKE CARE!

rainy days~

2009-05-17T18:47:00.003+09:00

I got up really late today!!! Had a great sleep (7 hours) and by the time I got up, I realized...

I'VE RUN OUT OF BREAD. AND EGGS.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Thank goodness I had my potatoes, bacon and cheese so woooooooooooooooooooo! There you go (ref. to picture). I dunno what to call it, but let's just name it "QL's Bacon-Cheese-Potato-Pie" (QL BCPP). The abbreviation is just to emphasize my Singaporean streak, a knack for having short-forms for all things possible! :p Like imagine, TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More. Trust the people to think that up.

So anyway, I had wanted to go out today, since Shing Lam's Fukuoka friend, Ikuno, is in Tokyo for a visit. A study conference, he said. BUT. Today's weather turned me off immensely cos it's been raining and my legs hurt like #@@#%#@!$. Oops, I better watch my language or this blog will become an Adult-Content website. Censorship laws clamping down on us all...

BAH. Ends up I'm stuck at home doing reports. Not exactly what you wanna do on a Sunday but yeah, a man's gonna do what he's gotta do! Though it still sucks when ur entertainment comes in the form of reading the news >_< Speaking of which...

VIVA LA BARCA

19th La Liga Crown, and let's go for the unprecedented treble!! Football honestly rocks, and it can so make your day (even on rainy days) :)

On a more serious note though, KOBE has reported cases of the swine flu...sigh I wonder how they are. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I hope my friends are alright T_T

Alright, it's time for Qian Can Cook, so can you (Plagiarized idea courtesy of Fulin some time back since I told her I've started cooking in Japan). Today's dinner menu consists of...

NEW Teriyaki Chicken Chop (trying to do without the readily available sauce but instead be more adventurous and go with my own formula)
Boiled Lettuce (Cutting down on the oil...)
Loads of rice (Prepared without a rice cooker. hmmmm and a Japanese guy asked me if that's even possible. DUH. How did u think ppl used to prepare rice before the rice cooker was invented? LOL)
Orange Juice (1liter for 148 yen)

and after that, it's time to prepare kakuni for my bentou tomorrow. it's also to share with my neighbors and perhaps friends in my lab too.

wheeeeeeeeeeeee

Japan updates...

2009-05-16T23:39:00.006+09:00

ok so i've been here for erm...2months and still going strong.
in fact, i've put on 4 kg!! perhaps i should take this time to consolidate the stuff i've been cooking lately...oh but before that, lemme recap today

Met Yingxiang who came over to Tokyo after exams. GRRRR. Does this hint of a kickoff to the influx of visitors from NUS? Haha, but I gotta make a legal disclaimer before anything happens...

DISCLAIMER: Please arrange to meet me at least 7 days in advance. This is because I might not be in Tokyo, and even if I am, I might be busy (drinking, singing, traveling, cooking, drinking, singing...hey it's repeating)

Ok back to topic~ :D

Met her at Shibuya in front of the...*drumroll* Hachi-ko Statue. Well, there was this rally thingy and things didn't look quite friendly *sweats* Fortunately, I was able to locate her (after some effort) and just I did so, there was some strange oyaji who was talking to her. She didn't feel too easy with that (chuckles)

GROWLLL. That was our tummies. We all know that whatever you do, NEVER go against your tummy, or the hammer of retribution shalt striketh at thee. Today's menu was RAMEN and at 500 yen, with free KAEDAMA for the first 2 servings, I thought it was a pretty good deal. BUT erm, I found the taste to be quite normal. In fact, my tongue was kinda numb after that so u guys understand what that means..

I dunno how many of you've been trying to save $$ like us...but consider it justified since transport in Tokyo can be insanely expensive. Like, 3 SGD for neighboring stops. Ok fine, 2.5SGD. And so, we walked from Shibuya to Meiji Shrine to Harajuku. I think Yingxiang musta died from all the walking LOL. But I decided to be nice and helped her with her bag since she treated me to a nice mango ice cream :D Oh, and she totally fell for the souvenirs, which were nice ^^ We also managed to catch some matsuri thingy and a few wedding services @ Meiji Shrine today!! Erm, but I left my camera with my tutor for project work and I couldn't take many pics. Thanks to Shing Lam for lending me his camera (without SD card) though :D

Next up, TAKESHITA-DORI! Arguably the shopping haven located in Harajuku for youngsters, they have nice stuff and while it is expensive in Singapore terms...ARGH. Just try resisting it. TRY doing so. U'll probably fail terribly. But if u somehow did, u will probably end up like us -in Hanjiro, a second hand shop that suspisciously spells "Good Buy". That's cos we both got something that we like :) at rather affordable prices too!

Now we understand yet again why shopping is so addictive. Yingxiang was late for her appointment and I was too, in a way. But hey, it's not our fault! Who asked them to situate so many nice shops in the same area :D Bah, *sends yingxiang to station*

And so I returned home...only to fall prey to the Sleep Demon's clutches ZZZ. By the time I got up, it was too late for me to join the farewell party for a YSEP student (SORRY!) Sleepy QL got up hurriedly and made KAKUNI for dinner :)

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ok i jus decided i wanna catch more sleep. the pics are on facebook so i dun wanna upload em again. yawnz. and im too lazy to link emtoo (notice how my typing has been degraded to chat language...lol)

cya ard and take care folks!