my last orientation session with rotary club tokyo

just got back from my last orientation session for the rotary club scholarship recipeints.
not only was i surprised by the presence of a couple of fellow waseda mates, but on my way home from ikebukuro i ran into an old friend from APU... seems like he is back to japan for his research on youth policy, will stay for 1 yr before returning to oxford.

seeing people fr the yesteryears was in a way a tour down memory lane... for during the whole chika tetsu trip back home, i kept recalling the days we spent together at good ol Beppu. crawling uphill in our 50cc scooters at turtle pace, the delicious ethnic food served at the only cafeteria on our hill top campus, basketball games that last the whole day, secret LAN parties in the two school dorms, my part time job at the fancy french restaurant (they served some of the best fish dishes & dont ask how i know :p)... ahhh... those were the days :]

i m glad that i had fun back then when i could cos here in tokyo its a whole different kinda life. more city life elements.... wine and dine, meet people at different "functions", they tend to be more acquaintance than anything else... altho ever so occationally one would meet a like minded being. then there is the usual expectation and responsibility of being in grad skool, one must be productive and creative at a break neck pace, lets just say a lot is at stake for a foreign grad student here in tokyo.

my session at the rotary club orientation was also quite interesting as i literally saw many versions of "me", there are again 40 new recipients, some more care free, some anxious about their future after school, some very ambitious, still some looked quite uncertain as a scholarship recipeint, while all are there to help the venerable $$$ donors feel that they have contributed to world peace and development. personally i m glad that my name will be on the payroll the next 6 months at rotary... while at the same time enjoying the company of "me" in various stages, reminding myself how much more i have to accomplish in the future as i share a sumptous meal with my fellow scholarship mates.

now why do i feel i have to write this down? i guess perhaps i need to put down in words, as a reminder, the scenes that i saw just now at the dinner session... reminding myself i need to get things done and really start producing, contribute to whatever field i commit myself to. for now its my dissertation & academic papers after that its "B!@@mb@rg here i come"

wish me luck.

cheers,
N