spring 2005...

"no need to envy, one day u ll become just as beautiful..."

a trip to Xihu, HangZhou. Summer 2005.

the 3 sisters... Que bella~

this photo has been dedicated to a friend. hope she feels better now.

my regards to her,

"i m all alone, there's no one here besides me~~~ "...

no frog on it?

YueFei's pond in his temple

dragons over the rising sun

awaken to a long long journey.

having been away for a week at the pearl of the orient, i find myself landing back to reality. how heavenly 'twas the past week...

nothing comes close to zhejiang food, perhaps with the exception of the cantonese counterpart, and god bless the poet for his DongPo marinated pork and the WangPu river for the yummy shrimps. aside from good food, the service also gets a face lift... waitresses doning dinner gowns, personal dinning space with soft leather sofas and a toilet just for you... how good can it get.

getting to places was never easy in this hot, sticky summer day. but i didnt hav to sweat too much, taxis were everywhere and they were cheap, so cheap i use them just to get to the end of a block... :] life can be too good sometimes.

but all things good do have an end i suppose, this morning i find myself awaken by the searing morning sun through the window. the fan didnot help a bit i find myself longing sorely for the comfort i had left behind.

back in beppu much has to be done.
to break a little good news, my application for lodging at tokyo has been granted, a decent dorm for 30,000yen including 2 meals (roughly RM1,000 or USD300). it will be quite a big sum now that i m stripped off a scholarship. but alas, a place i can call my own in the busy metropolitan tokyo.

another news is that i shall attend the Southeast asia seminar in Kyoto university in 5-7th September, hooray for an opportunity to visit my favourite city in Japan. i ll b there for 3 days to listen to papers presented and hopefully discuss about my research in Japan.

because of this, i shall hav to double my effort in perfecting my paper for the seminar. still much to read and write. read i must for the 2 year ahead and write well i must if i should get funding in tokyo. ahh... such is uncertainty in life. but as they all say... ce la vie

coming soon, photos of shanghai and xihu of hangzhou.

cheers,

shanghai, there and back again

dear all,

just got back tis evening...

wut a trip,

full of excitement for visiting the city again,
anticipation at the prospect of meeting the people,
gratitude for the hospitality shown,
touching moments knowing how well received i was,
sense of completeness and satisfaction having gained a most respectable contract- human trust---- something i find most difficult to attain.

yet for now this short statement will but have to suffice, a full story will hav to wait till i replenish enough, being utterly spent in the gruelling week long trip...

until then,

sweet dreams,

PS: sorry for the unkept promise, HJ. just couldnt make time for a cuppa in shanghai after that brief meeting.
my deepest regards and gratitude to ur folks... & keep ur head up, PPPPPP... :]

wut a roller coaster ride 29th-31st May 2005

dear all,

on the very same day, i experienced both infinite joy and disappointment together.
on the very morning of 29th, t'was a journey from the Top of the world to the deepest pit in hopelessness.

rite after completing--- thats probably too mild a word, the synonym should be *ACE-ing*--- the crappy english (ones we did in CH highskool were prolly harder) & japanese proficiency test (the 1 kyu was not an 1 kyu proper), i went up to the person in charge to discuss my case, how i may be enrolled in Waseda in Fall but not pay until the scholarship money in next April comes by.

to my surprise and later dispair, i was told "aiyo, why u nlevertiell me earlier wan, ur case horr shouldnt be applying from the embassy in Malaysia" errr.... rite, now u tell me... "u should go to the skool directly larr"

the more i listen the more i fall, slip, "i need a sit, Now."

so for the next 2 days, i spent all the time pondering wut to do next, emailing for help and phone calls to the embassy for a follow up. and all that leads us to now, i finally got an answer. Mr Takahashi told me to come back for the interview, "if u make it that is *smirk*"... let me assure u this, among the first few notice-for-interview u will send in the next 2 weeks, my name will be among the very firsts.
but not all hope is lost, and not all coming from him is the end, "take it as a kind of insurance, a 50-50% chance of striking a jackpot, mind u the probability is much higher than any Jackpot on the market..."

after that, i left wif a heavy head full of questions... now fast developing into a migrain... !ouch! me duele mi cabesa~

in the meantime i m now trying to get a postponed admission by playing my Monkasho cards.... hope the skool and the professor will buy into it... or i m left wif a big debt and no way to survive in stone cold Tokyo for the next 700 days....

aaaaiiyhhh, ain't life fun?

cheers,
nic

heavenly ringtone @ 11am, 26th May 2005

dear all,

i finally made it. the announcement came through this morning & i m on the A-OK-Kawabunga list. yea~~haw!!!! ~Waseda here i come~

i ll be doing me MA prog in Tokyo starting this september once i pay up.... wonder how much a scholarship i ll get fr waseda.

well, that solved... up next would be the jap gov Monbusho scholarship. oh well.... keep on praying.... keep me head up now, never know when Luck's gonna strike again.

thank you all who have been supportive and may u all too achieve that dream of yours.

cheers,
nic

*praying* WASEDA WASEDA WASEDA

dear all,

i m now back home in KL... still pretty dazzed by the waseda interview.

come to think of it, the interview went on pretty smooth. a little too smooth perhaps. wonder if that is a positive sign.... keep my fingers crossed here.

if there is any fallout i could think of, it would be my failing to mention that i was invited to the Monbusho scholarship 2nd screening. i should ve at least boast a little bout that. then there is also two names that i forgot to mention..... arhh~!! i panicked at the interview~

oh well, thats all over now. i ll hav to start preparing for the monbusho one rite now. so wish me luck y'all, i ll keep ye posted. & if i dont, then u know why.

**PS** Wes, Koji, Rio, the waseda letter should arrive on the 26th noon or 27th morning. rip it open and inform me the result asap, please~

going home soon

i ll be leaving for Tokyo on the 21st of may and then leave for Kuala Lumpur on the 24th.

quite a tight schedule i have here... and to top all that off i have to finish my graduating thesis in 3 weeks. looks like more sleepless nite for mua.

absolutely not looking forward towards the next couple of weeks.

to a crappy life,

cheers,

GOT it... pass the first screening :]

dear all,

amidst a gloomy prospect and close to stagnant in churning up a thesis, there might finally be a glimmer of hope, a single ray of light shooting through the surrounding hopelessness as i was informed to have made it through the 1st screening for both institutions i m aiming for.

the japanese Monbusho dropped a letter at home and its a invitation for the English and Japanese proficiency exam....

the Waseda notice just arrived less than 30mins ago, was and still very dazzed at receiving a positive note. thought i heard the door bell when i was awaken groggy headead. as i dragged me heavy feet to the door, an envelope was stuck into me hand by me roommate *luv u dearly koji~!!* and it wasnt a big one too.

and boy was i glad when the letter inside turned out to be an invitation to a 2nd screening :] so far todo esta bien~ super bien :p

now, lets start working on the preparation :[

cheers,

Photos fr our little day trip on 7th May _Pt. 1_

My personal model... tot i d venture into shooting potraits as well ^_^


we ll b seeing more of her in the future on this blog. ^_^


the weather was just perfect~!!


wut u dont like the camera?? :o?? haha... luvly shot eh ^_^

i ll post more when i m done post processing them :] stay tuned for part2 ^^

母亲节快乐Happy Mother's Day

阿妈：

谢谢你！！
没有你的牺牲，没有今日的我。

不孝子，
玮松

happy birthday mom

dear mom,

sorry for not calling in person. actually i forgot bout ur birthday, too busy these days trying to handle both work and studies... but those are not excuse for forgetting ur birthday.

i m really sorry for that.

wish u ll hav a wonderful year ahead and enjoy life to the fullest.

there's a japanese saying i always wanted to say to u: "otsukaresama desu!!". explain it to u when i see u next time :] cheers and take care~

unfilial son,
Thung

earthquake alert~!!!

jeesshh~~

just had another slight shake here, barely seconds ago. didnt think it would register a R4 magnitude bad boy on the scale. :O :O :O

wonder wuts wrong wif the faultline near Fukuoka... hav had more quakes in the last 30 days than my total of 4 yrs stay in japan. very weird.... cos the Fukuoka faultline was never known to b active. hope we dont get a real big boy anytime soon.

at least let us graduate peacefully. please dear Almighty up there...

amen,
nic

wut a week. tiring 'GORUDEN Ui~KU translate literally as Golden week'

wohh...

its the 3rd day of the week... and many more days to go. i m still trying to work on my thesis.

the most tiring part of life currently would b my part time job. i ve been working at this French restaurant for some time now and a couple of days ago, one of the more experienced employee just quit. because of that, i was to replace her as the one to coordinate the flow of food.

and boy its one tough job alrite~ not only do i make sure my waiters serve guests on time but i hav to make sure the kitchen keep up wif the pace and produce enough for the mass of guests pouring in at dinner time.

whew~~!! gone r the days when i could turn my back and snip from the plates o delicacies. now i m suppose to make sure those who serve food dont steal. hahaha~~ such irony such life.

but i ll try to make more time for study. got to prepare for my grad skool interview and exam, then there s a big thesis to keep me occupied.

god, please do make sure i pull this off.

cheers to all,
nic

will the real residents of Shinsei plz stand up :]

the Shinesei trio.... & they're kind of shy people :p