Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Japan Diaries- Godzilla's Tokyo
It slipped my mind that the Japan Diaries was stopped for 2 months, oops. And er, it's been about 7 months since I was in Tokyo. That's really long, and my mind may not remember the details well enough, but I still feel that I should write about the final leg of my Japan adventures, Tokyo, because it is a thoroughly modernly mystifying place.
Weirdest place ever, in other words.
But I won't cover the whole Tokyo in this post, firstly because I can't. We spent a good 8 days in that place out of the 16 days in Japan. And our first day in town wasn't exactly a walk in the park. It was in fact, the first time we met with a hostile situation in our hostel.
I want to, but I can't seem to make a good pun with hostile and hostel.
The hostel was named "Ace Inn Shinjuku". Sounds like a trump card right? Barely. When we got to the hostel, located near some forgotten street and below a flyover, it had "dodgy" written all over the entrance (metaphorically). Then, when we entered the place, it was filled with men. Caucasian men. And when we went to our hostel beds, it wasn't beds. It was coffins. No, it was capsules. Which looked so much like coffins. And the room stank.
Felily and Cathy were quite horrified. There was a room on the tenth floor which offered normal beds, but the old man who showed us around explained that that room was fully booked. And when he showed us the shower facilities, we were dumbfounded. You need to put coins in for every ten minutes of shower time.
That was the last straw for us.
Imagine, being trapped in the shower, naked with soap all over, stuck, awkward.
And that'll explain why Japanese people have so much material for porn. Merely a reflection of their real life dilemmas.
We really couldn't see ourselves living there for 7 nights.
So, we tried to find another hostel by logging onto the internet through Colleen's iPhone and also their computers (the ONLY FREE thing you can find there). We also tried to cancel our bookings, which was costly, because they could charge us 100% for the first few days. We prayed really hard, and finally found another hostel not far away. Colleen called the hostel to book our beds, and Felily pleaded with the kindly old man to pay less.
He called his manager, who allowed us to go and pay only for today's stay. Colleen managed to book a hostel and that was it. We were saved from having to take 10 minute showers.
Thank God.
The funny thing was, the hostel we managed to book was rated by others as a "prison", and the matron of the place was indeed, a "prison warden".
But we were still grateful. And that "prison" stay would be my next post.
Weirdest place ever, in other words.
But I won't cover the whole Tokyo in this post, firstly because I can't. We spent a good 8 days in that place out of the 16 days in Japan. And our first day in town wasn't exactly a walk in the park. It was in fact, the first time we met with a hostile situation in our hostel.
I want to, but I can't seem to make a good pun with hostile and hostel.
The hostel was named "Ace Inn Shinjuku". Sounds like a trump card right? Barely. When we got to the hostel, located near some forgotten street and below a flyover, it had "dodgy" written all over the entrance (metaphorically). Then, when we entered the place, it was filled with men. Caucasian men. And when we went to our hostel beds, it wasn't beds. It was coffins. No, it was capsules. Which looked so much like coffins. And the room stank.
Felily and Cathy were quite horrified. There was a room on the tenth floor which offered normal beds, but the old man who showed us around explained that that room was fully booked. And when he showed us the shower facilities, we were dumbfounded. You need to put coins in for every ten minutes of shower time.
That was the last straw for us.
Imagine, being trapped in the shower, naked with soap all over, stuck, awkward.
And that'll explain why Japanese people have so much material for porn. Merely a reflection of their real life dilemmas.
We really couldn't see ourselves living there for 7 nights.
So, we tried to find another hostel by logging onto the internet through Colleen's iPhone and also their computers (the ONLY FREE thing you can find there). We also tried to cancel our bookings, which was costly, because they could charge us 100% for the first few days. We prayed really hard, and finally found another hostel not far away. Colleen called the hostel to book our beds, and Felily pleaded with the kindly old man to pay less.
He called his manager, who allowed us to go and pay only for today's stay. Colleen managed to book a hostel and that was it. We were saved from having to take 10 minute showers.
Thank God.
The funny thing was, the hostel we managed to book was rated by others as a "prison", and the matron of the place was indeed, a "prison warden".
But we were still grateful. And that "prison" stay would be my next post.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Car and Debbie Gibson
4 years ago, I drove the red Rush from the showroom home. That was my first time driving the car.
Subsequently, it went through the whole island of Singapore with me.
I managed to send a lot, a lot, a lot of people home, from Boon Lay to Tampines, and to many other places where I wouldn't have known about if not for my friends who were everywhere.
It was a good companion, and recently, it was affectionately called "Xiaohong".
Yesterday, I drove the car to the dealer's house, handed over the car, the keys and bade goodbye to this nice shiny red car.
I'll never be able to say I'm in a "Rush" with a double meaning anymore.
Or drive to any little corner I want and spend the night just chatting in the car with my friend.
It did leave me with a nice souvenir though. I bumped my head on the car door accidentally and my forehead has a little bump now.
Anyway, I discovered a nice little song while driving the car the past few weeks. It just kept playing on Class 95 and I thought it was something new.
Turns out, it was Debbie Gibson.
If you say jump I say how high
If you say run, I'll run and fly
Just for a chance
Just for the moment
Should the moment pass us by
If you ask once I'll tell you twice
I'll ignore the world's advice
If we could be together
For a while
It's a really nice and catchy song.
Oldies are indeed goodies.
Thanks Xiaohong, for being with me for a while.
Subsequently, it went through the whole island of Singapore with me.
I managed to send a lot, a lot, a lot of people home, from Boon Lay to Tampines, and to many other places where I wouldn't have known about if not for my friends who were everywhere.
It was a good companion, and recently, it was affectionately called "Xiaohong".
Yesterday, I drove the car to the dealer's house, handed over the car, the keys and bade goodbye to this nice shiny red car.
I'll never be able to say I'm in a "Rush" with a double meaning anymore.
Or drive to any little corner I want and spend the night just chatting in the car with my friend.
It did leave me with a nice souvenir though. I bumped my head on the car door accidentally and my forehead has a little bump now.
Anyway, I discovered a nice little song while driving the car the past few weeks. It just kept playing on Class 95 and I thought it was something new.
Turns out, it was Debbie Gibson.
If you say jump I say how high
If you say run, I'll run and fly
Just for a chance
Just for the moment
Should the moment pass us by
If you ask once I'll tell you twice
I'll ignore the world's advice
If we could be together
For a while
It's a really nice and catchy song.
Oldies are indeed goodies.
Thanks Xiaohong, for being with me for a while.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Ah...Capella.
After 5 days of work, it was time for a nice getaway.
The bosses had forewarned, "Go have a nice weekend while you still can!"
And so I did. Charlene had a discounted stay at Capella in Sentosa, as her company had some meetings/function on Friday and Saturday, and so, Amanda and I came over on Friday evening after work, and boy, the place was nothing short of luxurious.
I finally went swimming after 2 years. Swimming is something I really don't do very often. We had competitions to see who could swim faster, and I found that I really don't swim fast. At all. And they also said I swim funny. Hmm...
We also played the luge, which was not that exciting after learning how to roller blade, because the luge was quite simple to control. That didn't stop us for going for another round. Going up via the skyride was much scarier that playing the luge.
It was a nice dinner after that at Chili's in Resorts World Sentosa, which I have never been to, and I felt that I was in Genting.
Overall, it was a nice getaway, even though you can still see the Singapore skyline from the hotel room.
I guess for the three of us, we all needed this getaway.
I know I do.
Now, to wait for the Chinese New Year 4 day weekend.
The bosses had forewarned, "Go have a nice weekend while you still can!"
And so I did. Charlene had a discounted stay at Capella in Sentosa, as her company had some meetings/function on Friday and Saturday, and so, Amanda and I came over on Friday evening after work, and boy, the place was nothing short of luxurious.
I finally went swimming after 2 years. Swimming is something I really don't do very often. We had competitions to see who could swim faster, and I found that I really don't swim fast. At all. And they also said I swim funny. Hmm...
We also played the luge, which was not that exciting after learning how to roller blade, because the luge was quite simple to control. That didn't stop us for going for another round. Going up via the skyride was much scarier that playing the luge.
It was a nice dinner after that at Chili's in Resorts World Sentosa, which I have never been to, and I felt that I was in Genting.
Overall, it was a nice getaway, even though you can still see the Singapore skyline from the hotel room.
I guess for the three of us, we all needed this getaway.
I know I do.
Now, to wait for the Chinese New Year 4 day weekend.
Monday, January 17, 2011
华语
自从开工以后就很少听到和说中文。
今天的我在上班之前，开了iPod ，听了一些华语歌曲。
又听了一些以前很喜欢的歌曲。
回忆也随着旋律慢慢飘回来。
同样的歌，在不一样的时间，有了不同的感觉。
在实初，林俊杰的《简简单单》是一个好听，可以在KTV唱的歌。
六年后，老了一些。
那首歌的意义，我终于明白了。
只是简简单单地爱过
我还是我
简简单单地想过
就不算白活
简简单单地疯过
被梦带走
当故事结束之后
心也喜欢
一个人寂寞
今天的我在上班之前，开了iPod ，听了一些华语歌曲。
又听了一些以前很喜欢的歌曲。
回忆也随着旋律慢慢飘回来。
同样的歌，在不一样的时间，有了不同的感觉。
在实初，林俊杰的《简简单单》是一个好听，可以在KTV唱的歌。
六年后，老了一些。
那首歌的意义，我终于明白了。
只是简简单单地爱过
我还是我
简简单单地想过
就不算白活
简简单单地疯过
被梦带走
当故事结束之后
心也喜欢
一个人寂寞
Friday, January 14, 2011
It's Saturday. A nice, fantastic Saturday.
I am going to officially declare that I love Saturdays.
The past one week was my first week of work. And well, it was definitely work. It was a good thing that I was kept busy of course, but a part of me enjoyed that 3 months of break from everything.
Well, instead of looking at it as a job, a way to earn money, a livelihood, I'm going to downplay the fact that I'm chained for life (because I might not be chained for life at all. There is a fleeting sense of freedom from the fact that the company "hires and fires very fast".) and instead, look upon it as a priceless learning experience.
"They pay you to learn." That's the way my mummy puts it.
Yup, they pay me to learn.
(And people ah, if you read my blog hor, can you just say Hi ah. My tagboard very sad leh.)
The past one week was my first week of work. And well, it was definitely work. It was a good thing that I was kept busy of course, but a part of me enjoyed that 3 months of break from everything.
Well, instead of looking at it as a job, a way to earn money, a livelihood, I'm going to downplay the fact that I'm chained for life (because I might not be chained for life at all. There is a fleeting sense of freedom from the fact that the company "hires and fires very fast".) and instead, look upon it as a priceless learning experience.
"They pay you to learn." That's the way my mummy puts it.
Yup, they pay me to learn.
(And people ah, if you read my blog hor, can you just say Hi ah. My tagboard very sad leh.)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Why the Mac is cool.
Press (Control)+(Option)+(Command)+8.
What just happened?
Go to "terminal" through spotlight.
Type "emacs". You'll see some text loading. Press Esc+X. Then type "tetris", "pong" or "snake" and you can play these classic games on your very cool Mac OS.
What just happened?
Go to "terminal" through spotlight.
Type "emacs". You'll see some text loading. Press Esc+X. Then type "tetris", "pong" or "snake" and you can play these classic games on your very cool Mac OS.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
I Miss..
Basketball.
Basketball.
Basketball.
Basketball.
Basketball.
School.
Exchange programmes.
Basketball.
Basketball.
FYP.
School.
Traveling.
YOG.
Basketball.
School.
Kelly.
Basketball.
Here's to a new chapter in my book!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Unemployed people...
try to build websites.
I am still trying to figure out so so so so so so so so many things. And of course, I can't do much fancy stuff, but it's been fun. Let's see how to make it less boring. And workable.
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