my 6-day long summer holiday

ahh~~~

feel lighter now. but dont expect to be able to relax too long.

i ve settle down in tokyo.

now officially a citizen of the tokyo metropolitan area. that being said, where i live now is just 10mins away fr disneyland... pretty much @ the outskirt of the tokyo city border.

my room is as usual, small, or teenyweeny, XXS sized, a rabbit cage, pigeon hole, anyway u get the picture. but life here isnt that bad, i get 2 meals everyday except on sundays & holidays courtesy of the obasans here. not exactly the best food in the world but at least i dont have to worry bout wuts cheap today in the market, or where's the best place to shop for grocery.

just had me orientation on the 21st sep 2005. already lots to be done, as i was told. my supervisor wants to start our seminar early, so 26th would b the 1st day of skool for me... a week earlier than the Waseda calendar. oh well... at least i dont hav to rot in my Kancil of a room.

the month of september has been a very very busy but fruitful month.

first, i moved to tokyo 1st. that means no more waiting for weeks for ordered study materials to arrive, public transport after 8pm (including Sundays+holidays, hahaha hooray!!), better prospect of finding a good job, & above all a big change fr the last 4 yrs.

b4 i could settle down, i was at kyoto university 3rd~7th, attending a seminar on overseas chinese & made the biggest fool out of myself. it was quite the scene... sitting there not fully prepared, not to mention being so nervous i couldnt focus properly when commenting on the lectures. hence more comments were thrown at me & i was there helpless being cut alive.note to myself: improve japanese & english proficiency. be well prepared & try not to chat too much with the leng lui associate professor sitting next to me the day b4. additional comment: i must agree wif DA-- jap women speaking kyoto accent are the sexiest being on earth.

the day i got back fr kyoto was lulu's Bday 8th. due to insufficient fund, we spent the day at home, simple meal, a small bouquet of roses, & more lament on being 2#yrs old.

coming back fr kyoto, all dishearted & worth less than cow dung, Aunty & lulu dragged me to the Aichi Expo at Nagoya 12th. there i was able to regain bits of my old self... i was able to roam around the hood wif a partial VIP pass (Aunty's friend's husband's subordinate...aka Connection within) and free to snap about wif my trusty canon. visited the mitsubishi pavilion (skipped the 4hr queue :p), both japanese pavilions, the China pavilion, all with personal guide & the accompaniment of their Directors. it really feels great to b a VIP... think i could like it :] then there was the Malaysia pavilion, African pavilions, Spain & France, a few other asian pavilions as well. all in all, it was a fun day and refreshing one too. a BIG BIG thank you to Aunty :]

right after Nagoya, there was our graduation ceremony 15~16th. we went back a day earlier to get all the paperwork done, made sure we could get our certs rite after the long & crowded event & off we went to Yufuin a famous hotspring town rite next to our humble Beppu. the graduation ceremony was a blurrrrr. one moment we were collecting our gowns, taking photos, next thing i know square hats were thrown & some stuck on the ceiling happens every time haha. minutes after the ceremony, we rushed to airport & by dinner, we were back at lulu's in tokyo. talk about a tight schedule.

although summer holiday started months ago, i felt like it started the moment i was handed my cert of graduation by ol'man Fellizar. *finally it feels like holiday* i remember telling this to Aunty later.

so here it is, a summary of the last moments of my summer holiday. next up, life in Waseda...

cheers,

raped... a fool's lament

my frantic heart pounding,
the desperate need to convey to the face,
the burning throat, the aching throat, the
swelled throat didnt help the matter.

watered to the brimmed, i turned them
to look at the face as speech failed me.
alas he understood
with my notion he brought writing tools.

*couldnt speak, no sound* coarsely
written in their language,
to which he replied
*i understand, but this is work
& we must all adhere to the work ethic*
little did he know that
the wages for the last few days
would be delivered to the hospital,
pharmacy that provided my treatment.

was the work ethic worth more than the employees?
coming to that, where do i stand as a part timer?
but that was soon answered
as he again spoke, *take tomorrow off,
i shall call u tomorrow for the shift the day after*
& that plastic japanese grin i m all so familiar with.

with that i sped off to retrieve my ride home.
all the way, feeling used & raped
off my last thread of pride as i replayed that scene,
so desperate to appeal my case but couldnt,
so crystal clear of my practical worth,
& a growing detest for this establishment
with all the being in it.

but all this is bygone
i hope.
&
i shall not return.

so farewell Beppu Wan Royal Hotel,
goodbye. &
may we never have to cross paths ever again.

down & out... & raped good

dear all,

life is a bed of roses, they have thorns... never fully understood this saying till last few days, when i was forced to work nite shifts despite my ailing body.

all me colleagues knew that i was *not feeling well*... gezz how bold can i put it any further (Jap is my 5 or 6 language, so spare me the lecture if u think i should ve done better)... so as it was, i laboured at work wif the most sour face i could contort, the best smile i could put up was barely a smirk.

& this is not the end, because my body had been giving me trouble since the 1st day of august, with a series of headaches, fever, i had been a very grumpy & spiteful person. last nite though my body decided this wasnt enough misery and capped it off with an additional dose of mumps and the OHHH so painful sore throat.

with all these, i brought myself to work, & miraculously lasted 4 hrs till i was completely robbed of speech, literally whatever came forth sounded worse than a bleating goat, robbed of my last thread of pride, for what was i worth more to them than a disposable part timer that *had to* earn that meek 750yen/hr (1 USD=109.6yen) & an undeserving critter who d asked for sick leaves when there's the slightest bodily discomfort.

while i intended to see to end of my shift & then get home for some rest, my body just wouldnt have that kind of talk. so it reacted. the darned sore throat felt so hot that i couldnt speak, as mentioned, when i went to the P in-charge all i could make was uhhhh- uhh-, unintelligible even to a wookie.

in a wify, i left the establishment. im sure i got a few shocked faces seeing me leave like that, but i couldnt care less, all i wanted was to go home. that sole thought kept me going, flying through traffic & evading traps & stops...

till i reach home and tumbled...

dog tired...

weehh~~

wut a rush. final exam right after the trip to shanghai, then there is the kyoto seminar to worry about, plus there is more than necessary part time job in the already packed schedule.

just got of 2 five-hour-shifts... been awake for more than 20hrs... hell, wish i wasnt hypertension during my rest time or i d have gotten some rest. :[

so here it is... i m getting ready for tokyo. all is fine except that i m debating whether i should attend my own convocation... which will cost more than 1 month's rent just to travel between where i am now & tokyo. mmm.... to be or not to be... i need booze.

speaking about booze... i recently got smashed in a party, so bad that i was rushed into ER. hahahahaha.... too much whiskey + Oita's famous shochu. :] the graduation party was absolutely cr@p!! but we had soooo much booze & smoking going on none of us could leave walking straight. though i must say i enjoyed being smashed hard that nite. guess its a once in a lifetime opportunity to try sth crazy. might as well do it in your own graduation party. hehe~~~

after that, it was part time job all day long, most of the time it runs late into the nite too... wut can i say, cant be begging for more monay fr me folks can i...:p i m on me own now.

but life aint that bad though, waseda seem to offer a good prospect for research and i hope i can go somewhere through waseda :]

enuf of me, why dont u tell me wuts happening lately??

cheers,

to a friend in need

like the flower, u r elegant and beautiful the solitude pink amongst the common leafy green.
towering tall above the rest, such nonchalant yet possesive quality.
delicate and exposed to the elements' will.
alas! of late such beauty succumb to a tempest's wrath,
stormy nights sleepless nights a bucketfull of tears,
pray leave o'devil this soul wounded by cupid's bow,
brace yourself oh elegance, oh beauty, fall not to this weakness within,
for soon this nightmarish storm be no more but fair sunny weather awaits.

stand fast, steadfast for u r elegance and beauty.
bow not, not at this jester's trick, for real love invites not sorrow.


if u r reading this Durian,
to luv,
cheers,

XinTianDi, Shanghai

xin tian di... yep, thats rite, the new downtown in Shanghai.

a picture of the new Shanghai

'the big red lantern hanging high'-- watch it if u havent, its a good movie.

always run into one of these joints, shanghai, tokyo, KL... they're everywhere... the terrorist is taking over~~

sealed window

the road to a free market

wouldnt want the view fr that window

the urban calvary

watch them charge through the city during rush hour, wut a sight to behold!!

a trip to Xihu, HangZhou. Summer 2005. pt. 2

more lotus fr Xihu

so green

lotus leaf

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~~~ "...