Winter hols

Happy holiday to me **
Happy holiday to meeee...........

Yup I'm finally on holiday - my last class was on the 25th too. I haven't been on holiday long and already I'm sinking back into -my- rhythm of staying indoors, playing games etc etc etc....

I finally got M3 Sakura which is this DS adaptor of a kind that lets one play dled games. And I've fallen hook, line and sinker for my all-time favorite genre... *don't laugh!!* - A slightly rugged version of Harvest Moon, Rune Factory!! You farm AND you kill monsters. LoL. I'm sooo going to waste away the last of my grey matter. In the mean time. I'm going off to take care of that dungeon now.

The video; Part 2!!

Yay!! I finished this faster than I thought.

Then again. The video itself is really really fast-paced so it might not suit many people. But hey - I like it!



Now on to the last part!!

Slow Sunday

In the light of my sudden freedom. I decided to just drop everything for today and watch TV dramas.


In a word?





Yay!!!!!

Although,
No. I did not watch Gossip Girl.
No. I did not watch The OC.
Nor did I watch Dexter.
Not even Heroes.
Or Bones.


I decided to melt my brain matter against Criminal Minds.
I think it might have been a good choice.
Considering I've completed the first season in 3 days.

Criminal Minds is another FBI drama. (Why are there so many dramas about... crime and different ways to solve it??) In CSI you have your forensics. In Bones, you have your anthropologist. Well. You can probably guess what Criminal Minds is about - you got your profilers.

It's pretty cool actually, since I'm always very interested in the psychological aspect of human behaviour. Not criminal behaviour as it is really, but it's a start.

It was a very nice way to pass the day.




No wait. It was THE way to pass a lazy day. Ha.

No more!!!!

I'm freeeeeeeeeeee.

I only have 1 week of classes left and I'm doooooooonnnneeeee for this year!!!!

Last 2 presentations for this year...

I cannot even begin to mention how happy I am that after today, I'm basically freeee! No more reports to hand in. No more presentations. Just. Classes. ...yay!

It has been a tough semester. A tough year really.

I rather do believe this crazy string of busy-ness and un-busy-ness began this February! And now it's almost time to put it to close.

I kicked this year right in the a$$ hahha...


*bursts into song*
I made it~~~
I made it~~~
I made it~~~

I'm so happy~~~ I'm so happy~~~
I'm so happy and delirious and (gay?) hahahaha~~~

The long-awaited video!!

I might have mentioned a while back that I was obsessed with making photoalbum-videos and ever since the semester came to full swing I never really got a chance to finish making my video, but a few days ago I decided to cut the thing into 3 parts and finally finished Part 1 ... Here you are!!!

March 2008 - When Mom and Azzi came over to Japan!

Pictures from Nagoya!

Ice cream!!


Me and Wakki!


Yahagi, Ginga, Chihi and Shino!


Chihi and Shino totally KO'd after our night at karaoke!


Yahagi patting the bear's stomach... hahaha


Girls' pose!


Haha..


Them too tired too LoL


Shino!


Post-shopping for Sakai-sensei's birthday present.


Comparing Yahagi....


and Shino! LoL

Sunny on Sunday

My exam is in 2 hours. Then I'll be heading straight for Nagoya for a nice little sight-seeing trip (seeing as I'll be arriving only for the after-party of the joint seminar my class and I had been working on.)

At the computer lab.

We're in for the Round 2 of the all-nighter!!

We're all still hanging in so far.


I wonder what time I'll get to be able to get home this time around.

Sleepless in Kobe.

I think I'd like to look into and read more about the International Criminal Court.




Alright. That was kind of sudden right?

Thing is, I've been watching The Devil Came on Horseback again. And I kinda understand why, why this guy that tried to do something to stop the genocide in Darfur and it didn't work. At least, not as well as he thought.

There's so much in between what happens at local level and at policy level that it's like they're two different worlds occupying half the space required for each. I'm asking myself 'why?' and yet I think I may actually know the answer. Of course knowing it is far from being able to justify anything.


Things like International Organizations - the UN and Regional Organizations, they're new. When they started out it was okay but there's just a big difference now between policy making and actual policy execution. Maybe there just always was. Which makes me feel very amazed at how 'governments' still manage to exist. Are we addicted to systemization? Or is it just that we can't live sans the current as yet. This thing with the EU, NATO etc. It's like a way we made, systemized, to help filter or ease this vertical traffic jam between the paperwork and the actual tanks.



Okay. I have no idea what I'm going on about anymore because I just read the above paragraph a dozen times and my eyes can't seem to focus. Which means! I should be able to sleep now. Hahaha.... (not that funny really.)

On University life.

I just had to reinsert this amazingly lagging consciousness of mine into the fact that I am in my 20s.
I'm not even 20, I'm 21!!

It's weird not being a teenager anymore.

It's weird not being able to last as well in an all-nighter. We, and by we I mean at least a dozen of my classmates from my seminar, pulled another all-nighter in order to finish this presentation of ours. Well. To be realistic, I could only help them with the powerpoint and animations - at which point, my work was done around 5am today. So I left early.

Yes. I left the Uni at 5am, and my friends were all still working in the computer lab.

Some of my friends say, that what we're living through right now is the University life. People stay over at the University all the time. (Our 24hr convenience store near the Engineering Faculty proves that - the Engineering student thrive on it. Some of the lights in their Faculty barely ever go off!)

And now I'm off. I need to wake up. Like really.

It's December!!

My marathon of meetings and late-night library study session start today.
Good-bye world! Hello, musty old books.


Haha. Kidding. The library closes at 9.30pm anyway and I never sleep before midnight.

I'll be back home early, for some quality R&R to de-stress myself for the next day.

I have been studying like I never have before.

The JLPT exam is in one week!

*screeeeeeech*





The joint seminar is in one week!


*waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiil*





I have 3 presentations to do the week after the exam&seminar!!!!



* ... ... ... ... *





(lost her voice due to stress)


But seriously. What is going on here? What is it with December? Why are there so many things to do within the first 2 weeks of December? Why within the same two weeks??!!

Alright. Before I go out of my mind, I'll stop right there.

And now I'll mention again how much I adore Nickelback's new album!!!!! (^^)

Of coats and horses

I bought a new coat! Hehehe... highlight of my week. I suppose. Of the month.

Oh no. Actually, My highlight of the month must be Nickelback's Dark Horse album! Heee... Thou must check it out!

I do not want to know what the temperature is outside.

I. am. FREEZING!

The heater's on in my room and everything, but I just went out to wash my cup! Don't get me wrong, we have hot water, but then that cools down/freezes too. So. My fingers are stiff. ....



I know there's that project lately, the one for the Joint Seminar, but I also have the JLPT exam coming. (The same day as the Joint Seminar!) -In case I've never mentioned it, JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, whose certificate is sometimes used as a valid qualification to enter the Master's Program here. That is, usually, if you get the 1-kyuu. AKA. The highest level. Ha-ha.



So I'm trying to insert studying into the recent flurry of researching we've been doing. It's not that I don't have time anymore. I do. Or, at least, I think I do. And I'm making good use of my time. I think. But. I'm starting to think that there isn't just any physically possible way for me to tear myself into two, which I would so like to do, and have one mind-track for the group presentation, and the other mind-track solely for the exam.







In anycase. I will make it through this. How many times have I ranted, particularly on this blog about how inhumanely possible it is for me to get as busy as this, and yet somehow I think I always manage to hang on to that cliff.



Go ME!!

Nice try Zi!

This is me right after I saw Azzi's tag >lol<


And I just took this picture last night!
We were working on our project at the Uni computer lab.
Me. Yuki-chi and Ginga. (^^)

Purikura as ever

This was last weekend when Anni came over!

And, obviously I changed the layout of the blog again - The last one was getting a wee bit dull.

Woe is me

They forecasted a low of 5 degrees tomorrow!!!!!!




... need I say more (>.<)?

Fall-Winter Semester

I never managed to post up my schedule! Well, here it is, quirky and funny as the lecture names always are!

Remember that nano-technology class I said I was taking this semester?
"Science and Technology for the Creation of the World" ..heeeeee (^^)

My weekend off...

Heya.. so I disappeared there a little while. Blogging and Facebook-ing apparently seems to be taking up too much of my time that I can't functionally juggle both of them at the same time.

It was really hectic, well it still is really hectic for Uni since we're all preparing for this joint seminar in Nagoya which I might have mentioned. Well.

But Anni came last weekend and we had some fun~~ We went to Kyoto, had nabe, did our hair, karaoke'd and purikura'd. LoL. Typical's girls' weekend? haha..

Anyway, here are some pictures from Kyoto- Kinkakuji. I went there early-early Spring this year. This is what it looks like around Autumn:

We went there pretty late in the day - around 4pm-ish so the sun was reflecting off the pavillion extremely brightly. It was a really great sight though. (^^)

I have officially. caught. a cold.

Welcome to Winter.

Well, it's not Winter yet, technically. But my nose is all runny, my eyes itch, my ears hurt, my skin is dry from the wind. Definitely all contributed to by Winter.

I need a holiday.

Some free time before crunching on those books...

I've been wondering why I don't write so much about -me- me here, and it kinda made me realise, there is no -me- me. I get so many questions about my love life (which doesn't technically exist, fyi) or what I do in the weekends and I realise that I'm The Loner.

I can't organise my relationships well. I don't keep in touch. I bank out on people. (What does that mean? - the second things start getting weird, like not knowing what to say in their presence, I leave.) That's just... me.

Then again I loooove being part of a group - I can't stand myself if I don't understand what they're saying. I can't stand it when there's an inside joke (which I would flaunt if it were me who were on the inside, which is just sooo hypocritical), and... well. Stuff!

I'm going to need some time to regain my verbal/writing skills I think.

Anyway... so I'm just going to go and start reading up those passages I have to make up a commentary for on Tuesday... ...

Fin

Where did my warm afternoons go?

November already??!

Where did October goooooo??

One minute it's all normal-busy and now I can't even catch a break!

I've got a commentary-presentation to do next Tuesday and for that same seminar, we've all got this huuuuge project - the big joint seminar between several Unis on Dec 7th. Which is the biggest reason why I'm busy. It's just wrong. It's just so wrong. And yet I make time to go online and play around with Facebook.. (how un-busy does that make me seem?)

Anyway. Before my English turns its back on me, I'm just going to go.

I've got work in an hour. Haha.

I've been really busy. Seriously - I didn't think it was possible to go back to the same rhythm after leaving the country for a whole month. Though, I'm still sorting out some of my classes. And also sorting some of my stuff in the apartment - since I'll have to change my wardrobe soon, that means one whole new cleaning session is in order.

I found some more pictures of when I was in Brunei.


My parents.


Me and my sibling in front of our house.


Us in front of the boys' car.


The Boys. LoL

I haven't done much of anything except go to class and work - I went out to Osaka once for my Koto lesson but other than that, I haven't even been to Sannomiya. I've only been back about 2 weeks, and already it seems my entire life is limited to the University and the place I work at. Whatever.

I haven't been able to sleep well either - probably will have to find a new pillow. I get these awful cricks in the neck and my shoulders now in class that my friends are starting to think that I'm made of breakable plastic.

Oh, one thing I have done lately is going back to knitting. There's a scarf that I didn't finish knitting last winter and I'm going back to it now. I'm really almost done... I can't wait ^^ hee

Back in Japan...

... and shuffling through pictures.

This is what I have so far.

Sungkai at Empire- Sept 27th.


My parents


Me and my siblings


Us again at the table


Hehe...

That's it for now.

I just arrived yesterday and had to go to class straight after a shower. It wasn't particularly hectic, and the weather was so cool that it wasn't hard to walk up to Uni either. After all that coffee from home and the babies on the airplane and non-sleeping all the way from Brunei to Singapore to Kansai, I was pretty wired and awake for my seminar too.

Of course, after that, I went back to the apartment, waited for my suitcase (which I sent here from the airport), unpacked, took out my computer and started on that picture-video I was so obsessed about making on my last day in Brunei (mostly due to the fact that I hadn't realised that it was so easy to make videos using Windows Movie Maker).

Then I slept. (Sorry Zi!) My computer was hanging because of the WMM so I just left it on the desk for a second and curled up on my futon with my warmest blanket (it's as cold as Aira's room!)... I checked my alarm clock and the time was almost 10pm... and then the world was lost to me. I woke up next at 6.30am today.

Now, here I am, shuffling through pictures and re-obsessing with making videos haha...

2 hours till my next class... maybe I should take a nap again. Hmm...

Cellphone blues...

I just realised, after some painful ransacking of my already empty suitcase(s), that I brought the wrong cable for my phone. I was supposed to bring the usb-extension, but it seems that I brought one usb-extension for some other contraption. That just goes to show how inattentive I can be when it comes to stuff like... cables. Anyway. How ironic, considering I just found out yesterday that I was registered for a class on nano-technology and robots for my kyogen (compulsory, general-knowledge lectures).

We'd been having internet trouble lately, so I haven't managed to fully update myself as yet - except for the urgent stuff of course. Like registering for classes. Like I mentioned above I'd already put in my preferences for kyogen (I was hoping for 3 instead of the 2 classes that I got, but I guess that that's alright). One class on... science-y stuff and the other on Middle Eastern Politics. I know the professor who teaches that class and he's good friends with my current Seminar-professor. I heard that they'll be going somewhere in the Middle East next February. I wonder for what kind of research.

They haven't put up the deadline for round 2 of subject-registrations yet so I'm kind of teetering on my toes, nervous about when I can and until when it's possible because I really really don't want to miss registrations.


Otherwise I've been having a really nice time at home. I'm gaming like there's no tomorrow, which is great. And not so great at the same time, but I enjoy torturing my brain cells on the occasion. When there was finally the right time, Mum took me out shopping for clothes ...! (yay!) I even found these nice, cute-classy white slippers which I probably won't bring with me to Japan since they're not for long-distance walking, plus I don't want to ruin them. So I'm just going to enjoy them here, while I still can. And then there were the jeans we found in Jaya Hypermart - about $20 a piece! I could -almost- never buy another pair in Japan ever again! These jeans are stretchy too - very comfy.

And then there was the twins' birthday. We went to have sungkai at the Empire the next day, so the night before I called the Atrium Cafe to ask about their birthday specials - and what do you know? They give cakes to the birthday -ahem- babies. Hehe. We were a group of 25 (you can just imagine the looooong table we were sitting at, and where Dad occupied the only corner seat, haha) - and there were 5 people, 4 people who's birthdays are in September and one li'l cousin of mine who's birthday was the 1st of October - so I thought, what the heck, and asked them to prepare for him too. It turned out really really nice - they beat this drum while singing 'Happy Birthday' and the look on my brothers' faces! (One of them looked a little disappointed, and then turned crazy happy when the cake headed his way, hahaaa!) Not bad, if I may say so. Need to work on my timing though.

Which brings me to the unbelievable picture-taking sessions we had at the Atrium and then all the way gradually out of the Empire. I took pictures on my cell phone. Which also brings me back to the top of my post - about my cell phone's cable, which I'd forgotten to bring. Oh well. That just means the pictures will be for another time.


Before all that though, I went out for sungkai once with Yani and Fae - which was really great; I hadn't seen them in so long, and just talking to them got be reminiscing. Though I also felt really bad because I realised my memory wasn't really good and I'd forgotten the names and faces of quite a number of people. (... Yes, I'm crawling into my hole now.)

After that I went out with Hasanah and Marlyn - which was another really nice evening too.


I stayed at home for most of the two weeks I was here and then only managed to go out with my school-friends once within a week and Raya is tomorrow so I guess this probably means that I probably won't have much time to go out again.

I'm leaving on Monday next week - which is something really, since my classes officially start tomorrow.

It's already dawn...

I bumped into Shahrul (friend from SYHU) at the pasar malam sometime last week. Bumped into Kashful (friend from MD) at Serusop sometime last week too. Bumped into Herry (friend/sempai from Japan) 2 days ago. Yani messaged yesterday. Haha. I think it's time that I start going out of the house.

Today I'm going off to renew my passport. Which has kinda made me reflect on the fact that I didn't bring that many clothes here. Hmm.

Oh well. The point wasn't to bring that many anyway. What can I do with my wardrobe in Japan? They're all shortsleeved and... stuff. Not that it matters that much anymore. I think. Point is. I chose not to bring it. For some reason which eludes me now. I'm going to have to find some more stuff here. ASAP.

Which reminds me. I have to sort out my old baju kurong... I seem to have a closet full of them but no idea whether I can still wear them or not.

Brunei oh Brunei

It's hot. A different kinda hot from Japan - it's dryer. I've been staying mostly indoors all this while - only going out to shop and do groceries etc. I haven't managed to call my friends (sorry!) and my sleeping schedule is whacked out. I've been playing FF12 since I got back - since I want to finish the game ASAP. I clocked 46 hours in my game (which I left) in Japan and had to restart because I'm playing the English version now. Otherwise I'd be studying. It's a very... unsatisfying routine of gaming and studying, sleeping, eating and shopping. But - hey, these are what holidays are meant for! [I actually can't wait to go back into the rhythm at Uni (-gasp- I can't believe I just said that!..)]

I'm off to restart my project. -The books I brought back. I really should be reading them. I'm going to start with Kathy Reichs' book first.

Changi again

Right, so, after a half-hour delay due to the aircraft arriving late in Osaka, we actually arrived on time (weird? well, the pilot seemed in a hurry so he got us in in good time). There was trouble on the plane, actually. I never thought that I would actually hear -live- an announcement made calling for people with medical experience on the plane. There was someone about 4 seats over on the other side of the plane from me that was having trouble breathing. I saw something white around his mouth (I sure hope that it wasn't foam!), but I suppose that they found someone since they managed to move the person to the nearest exit to be moved immediately after docking.

Whereas I, fell asleep again. I only woke up at the bump when the plane landed. I used to hate landing - because of the stuffy ears and all, but, well, I guess I'm okay now. The bump's not the best way to wake up though.

We arrived at 10.30pm (I actually thought that it was 11.30... because I forgot to reset my watch haha) and went straight to the Transit Hotel after buying Kathy Reichs' book - Bones to Ashes. It looks promising.

Now, as promised, I've gone and bought those burgers -good thing I remembered to bring an extra bag. Well. Not 'bag' really, it's just a paper bag that'll save me the trouble of carrying it.

In any case. I also fulfilled the promise to myself to travel light - and I have, and it feels good. I should do it more often.

Well, I'm off to the gate now. It's 2 more hours till the next flight but I'll cope - bought the book after all for this. (Had forgotten to bring any reading material when I was in Osaka.) Cheers, I guess. If you're in Brunei - then I'll see you soon! (^^)

I'm flying back to Brunei tomorrow!

Erk. Technically? Today. I'm waiting for sahur. Well. I could probably just eat while typing right now but... oh well. I'm half-asleep already.

The plan is to leave the apartment by 1pm (so i can arrive at the airport by 2.30pm, at least- I really hope that it doesn't rain). And, well, the flight is at 4.55pm so I have time to lounge around and do nothing... ...

I arrive at Singapore by 10.30 and my connecting flight is at 9am the next day.

I haven't been on an airplane in so long. I don't remember protocol anymore.

Anyway. My baggage is packed and I'm pretty sure that I'm over the 20kg limit again. I really don't know why.


First thing I'm going to do tomorrow though is try to run down to Rokko-michi to get a haircut. *Please don't rain.*



I'm writing absurdly short. Something must be wrong with my circuits today. ... ...

Reality check.

I'm a-panicking because I need to straighten out my room before going back to Brunei. I just thought of this... because when I come back to Japan the next Uni semester will be in full swing! (*piiiinch*) And I don't have that many free days leftttttt. (*gasp* and I need to remember to bring my syllabus booklet because I have to register for subjects in late September...)

I have a dinner party on the 30th night - right after my part-time job... (for those who's only heard of this for the first time, I teach English part-time at a place near Hanshin Nishinomiya) and then I'm going shopping on the 31st! I'll probably do most of my last-minute shopping that (actually, this) Sunday. Then I have a lunch date with the girls on Sept 1st and a study session with my extremely reliable study partner, Wakki, the same night. Then I opened up the 2nd for some last minute Spring-ahem-Summer cleaning. I'll be working on the 3rd. Then I have the 4th for some extremely last-minute shopping. Working again on the 5th... and then departuring in the afternoon the next day. Whew.

Which means I have the 31st, 2nd and 4th free. Which is weird. See a pattern? It's every other day. ...Nice!

Oh. And I forgot. There's today too. Well. I'm going to try and straighten out this mess. All my plans for doing some laundry have gone down the drain - it's raining today and probably will stay that way till tomorrow. But. I still need to swing by UniQlo (my faaaavorite store) to see if they have any new selections (I peeked by a branch in Sannomiya and saw that the early Autumn selections are out! So... today I'll be swinging by the Harbourland branch.) It seriously is getting too cool, almost cold for Summer and who know what'll happen once October comes. In anycase. I need new clothes. All my clothes from last Autumn are getting weird stored-in-closet-for-too-long smells. I was hoping to wash those today so see if they're all salvagable, but like I said, the rain put a damper on that.

And I need a haircut too. I haven't had a haircut since May and my hair's grown sooooo long. It's probably 2.5 times the length of what it was Summer 2 years ago (which is normal, of course) but I didn't think it could grow this long... since it was still relatively short in January. Oh. And that awful fringe I had cut in January is gone too. (Thank goodness!) I straightened it, so now all I have to worry about are the roots that are totally curling up on me.

Hair trouble. Clothes. Dinner parties. Lunch dates. What am I? A girl? ^^

On antibodies, FF12 and thunderstorms.

It's been a while since I've posted and I thought to just drop a line on what I've been up to.

First of all, I got my test results - the antibody test, I mean - and I scored a 15.5 (note that the required score was an 8.0 to make sure one is unlikely to catch the measles), so I'm perfectly safe. Good thing I didn't go straight for the vaccination, right? Anyway.

Secondly, 2 weeks ago I started playing FF12 and I've been hooked ever since. I know the game came out in 2006 and I think I had a chance to play it the last time I was back in Brunei... which was, March last year? But I'm only playing it now because I have the Japanese version gathering dust on top of the TV. I didn't work at all between the 10th and 17th (though, I had lunch appointments, study sessions with a friend as also koto lessons) - so the game was basically all that I did. Then I started this 4-days straight work-thing (because one of the other teachers got sick and I had to sub in). It was alright, I thought, but then I felt like I was being set free after that last lesson on Saturday - I even slept till 12 hours straight till noon on Sunday. It felt good, actually. I mean, it is Summer Hols, I would think that sleeping till noon would be my prerogative, as a student... on holiday. Unfortunately that was the first time I've slept till noon all August. And probably the first within the past 2 or 3 months.

Right. Basically, I've been hanging low and just trying not to do too much physical labour these past two weeks. Typical, right? But between all the games I've been playing I've been reading too, so that's like, mental labour right? LoL. Anyways. I'm having an unexpectedly typical holiday of playing games and lazing about not doing anything. (And I kinda feel good about that. ^^)

Oh, and before I leave - the weather has been really really odd lately. Not that I'm happy for the changes, but it is practically cold at night. I went to to take out the trash this morning and the breeze was just absolutely perfectly cool - like it was Autumn already. But, technically, it's not supposed to cool down like this yet. Not yet for at least another month. Last year's Summer was a complete heat wave when compared to this year's. Also, there's been a lot of thunderstorms lately. I remember writing down in the blog at one point 2 years ago when I mentioned that this area only has thunderstorms practically only 2 or 3 times every Summer. That's a big change compared to this year.

Purikura with Ayaka

Ayaka'll be leaving for Maryland University on the 22nd this month and I went off to see her for lunch (the last time for at least a year) today. We went to Kita-senri for lunch and just dawdled for a few hours before she had to go off for her part-time job at this pasta restaurant (^^). We even had time for purikura!

I'm going to miss her! (>.<) We were kinda close last year when she was still in Sakai-sensei's seminar with me. She focused on a different seminar this year so we didn't have that many opportunities to meet - but she was always there and always helpful. She's probably one of the most... 'normal' out of all my wacky friends LoL. The level-headed one.

Jinx?

I might have jinxed something. LoL. I just mentioned that that point in Summer where the heatwave just peaks for a while hadn't come yet, and now it has. At least, the beginning of the heatwave.

It's come very late this year. I wonder if that means that Summer'll be longer (just like how Winter was just constantly cold but not freezing-freezing cold and a little longer this year). I wonder how that'll affect the food-production cycles. I'm going to be very depressed if there aren't any persimmons this year.


That said and done. I want to bring you to a newspaper article that has attracted much attention lately. Click here.

It's an article from the brudirect, and the same kind of article may be found in Brunei Times' web page too. What I wanted to comment on was the fact that they stated 204 countries. Countries. Both newspapers said it! I mean. Okay. This is beyond any skilful words that I can express.

Before I started to become all -indignant- or whatever, I checked the NOC lists. And of course, there were names there that I hadn't actually realised were countries and there were names there that aren't countries. The contingent from Israel and Palestine are different. There was a contingent from Hong Kong. A contingent from Aruba. I mean. -What?- All of a sudden Aruba is a country?

Okay, so apparently even BBC sports thought it fit to label things as countries. What does that mean now?

Just a thought

Wow. This is probably my third post today. But anyway.

I was just reading my old posts from early 2007 and I realised that I nearly screwed up my health check for that year because of high blood pressure. I remember thinking this year that my blood pressure sunk below that of last year and even that of the year before... which is great! (really).

And then I realised how unbelievably stressed I must have been then and it's probably nothing than when compared to me now (especially since language-wise I am better off).

I was also reading up my post from my last visit to Brunei and it made me realise how much I miss... a lot of stuff.

My nasi pulut.

And my cheesy wedges.

Nice juicy pineapples.

Soy milk.

Mom's tandoori!!!!!

Mama's ikan rebus!!!!

Ikan tengiri.....

Roti john(sp?)....

Kelupis.... the plain one you cacah with susu manis........

CAM mee goreng mamak

famous amos cookies

maggi kari

indo mee

pau

sardines

roti khawin

cucur pisang

belimbing

kuih batik

manga......







Waaahhhhhhhh

.....


.....


.....


Somebody take me to where all these food live when I get back!!!!! I'll get you all the Buger King burgers you want LoL. ^^

abingdon boys school

I know I definitely must have mentioned this group before because they're like, my favorite among favorites!

Abingdon Boys School.

I acquired their DVD last month - the Japan Tour 2008... and it's just really really really fantabulous! I'm re-obsessing over their songs again.



That's just one of their videos - Nephilim. I guess not that many people around me really know who they are - but to those who at least know D.Gray-man - they sang Innocent Sorrow. Or whoever has watched Darker Than Black - They sang Howling. Or maybe Blade Chord might sound familiar to anyone who might've played Sengoku Basara (2? I think).

My life is strange?

I have a bruise on my foot and I have no idea how it got there. About 2 nights ago a piece of skin was coming off and it kinda hurt so I snipped it off and now I see a scab and a bruise surrounding it like it was the X spot on the map of a blueish-purple treasure island. My life is strange.

And last night my professor just invited our entire class to go out and have dinner. It was kinda sudden so I wonder what he's thinking. ^_^ He probably just missed us heee.

It turns out I'm not working on Thursdays (whopeee) so I basically just lazed about playing games, reading, I even went to the gym (which has resulted in my somewhat sore ankles - since I'm not used to running for too long). Anyway. I even managed to put a little studying in. I wonder if I've mentioned this or not before but I'm planning on taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) this December for the 1st-class level. It's necessary if I want to move on to the Master's Program (apparently). So. I have about August, September, October, November and since The Test is early December, 4 months in total to revise what I've already studied and add some more to it... apparently my already acquired 400 hours worth of classes plus let's estimate 200 hours worth of actual practice and learning on-site (the past 2 and a half years in Uni) and since the usual number of required class hours is 900... I need about 300 hours left. Which means. 3 hours a day everyday for the next 4 months if I want to grab this. Haha. Well it's not too bad I suppose. I have some texts for studying already and I have been at it. Reading it was kind of fun anyway.


I'd never thought that one day I would actually think that studying is fun.

Not just another Monday.

Okay, so it's been a very productive day.

Take note that:
1/ Summer Hols officially start mid-this week.
2/ I started my hols almost 2 weeks ago. ^_^
3/ I have one report left to hand in.

1. I went to get my re-entry permit at the Immigration branch in Kobe which didn't even take an hour because I got smart this time and paid for it in advance instead of getting asked to do it afterwards. (Yay!)

2. I went to UniQlo and got myself a new pair of pants... finally! I was so happy I found a nice beige pair plus I even found very nice comfy shorts that I've just changed into and it's so much better than my now-sweaty tights... not that anybody really needs to know.

3. I went up to the Uni clinic to get my blood checked for antibodies (the Uni requires proof of immunity against measles now... considering that they had to shut down parts of the Uni almost twice).

4. I went to my Faculty to sign in for August (if I don't do that every month I won't be able to get my grant, so, yay!)

And I've just finished one-third of a chapter of the 2nd book I need for my study group session later tonight (which means... I'm actually studying... woohay...?)



I'm not human. I'm a robot that just doesn't know when to take a break.

Come to think of it, the antibody levels that can show your immunity against measles is 8.0 or above... (any less and we'd need a vaccine.. or at least according to the standards the Uni Clinic gives), and Aurelie just got her results (after having her blood checked about 2 weeks ago) and she got more than 25.0!!! She's not human either. She's got like... super-antibodies. >.< .... ....

Questionnaire...

I got tagged... LoL - not that I usually actually copy&paste these weird questionnaires but since I have some time to spend....

1. Do you think people will judge you by the answers to this questionnaire?
- Does that matter? If you own the right to judge me then I'd try to appeal myself more, but as it is... If you do judge me after reading just this, then you're just not the kind of person I might want to hang out with.

2. What is your favourite brand for bags?
- No particular brand, but I've been into shoulder bags recently...

3. What’s your favourite thing to do?
- Watching reruns while reading a book. Yes. It's true.

4. What are your phobia(s)?
- Heights, open water, losing my phone...

5. How do you vent anger or stress?
- Go out for karaoke, work out at the gym and take a long warm bath afterwards... or visiting the zoo?

6. Do you believe you can survive without money?
- Probably not. I don't think I'd survive without electricity either.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?
- The place that I can return too... as in, the place I can call 'home'.

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
- Buy land! Build a house with solar panels and.. and... do something ecological...?

9. If you are asked to do one house chore, which would you choose to do?
- Sweeping? Outside? Does that count as a house chore?

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you?
- Sweet!

11. What skill do you wish you have?
- Bug-swapping. I hate cockroaches and centipedes.

12. What type of person do you hate the most?
- People who actually "stab you in the back" in your face!

13. What is your ambition?
- I want to work on something that'll one day give my life some meaning. Heck I'm in my 20s and I'm talking like someone more than twice my age.

14. What did you regret doing?
- Not being more focused when it mattered the most... on a number of occasions.

15. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
- My phone... I felt so lost without it when I left it at home the other day, I couldn't contact anyone!!

16. If you were a car/bike what would it be?
- I would definitely be a bike. Like the BMW '92 versions...

17. If you have a chance which part of your character would you like to change?
- I would want to be less concerned of other people's behaviour and focus a little bit more on myself.

18. What music have you been listening to recently?
- I found a cd a friend burnt for me of some music by Arash, I don't know if he's Indian or Persian but it's really great danceable stuff.

19. What is your least favourite animal?
- Centipedes. I seriously -hate- centipedes.

20. What is your ultimate addiction?
- Manga. Seriously, more than anime I like the manga.

Well. To those that want to spend the last 15 minutes the same way I just did, consider yourself tagged!! ^^

Shirahama@Wakayama

I was supposed to leave at 8.20 by bus (which was all payed for) yesterday morning but I was 5 minutes late and didn't make the bus at all! Great start to the day, huh? I missed the bus because I was at the wrong terminal. Why are there 3 bus terminals in Kobe anyway?? If I had known I would've... ... ... gah. It was my mistake anyway ... which made the fact that I missed the bus even worse.

The trip to Wakayama was supposed to take about 3 and a half hours so imagine my shock when I heard that the next bus from Kobe was at 11.20am! Add in the 3 and a half hours and the fact that my return ticket was for 5.48pm the same day? Not enough hours! The ticket-lady was so kind as to tell me that I could try and run for the next bus in Osaka which would be at 9.50am. Okay, so what the heck right? I paid for the ticket and practically -flew- to Umeda. The 30min train ride felt agonizingly longer than usual. When I arrived at about 9am in Umeda and practically ran for it! It turned out that the Umeda bus terminal was closer and, yes!, I found the right terminal and I was 30 mins early! Since I left the apartment without breakfast, I started hunting for the nearest convenience store, got a sandwich, yoghurt and juice.

So I finally -actually- got on the 9.50am bus and was on my way. Then! Just an hour before the ETA, there was a sudden announcement about bad traffic. I ended up only actually arriving around 2pm. *sigh* Just my luck right? Well, I called up my friends when I arrived and ducked in nearest convenience store to buy lunch... which was just 2 onigiris. After all the mishaps, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry too.

Anyway!All that disappeared when I saw the beach! I don't have a particularly good picture of it but here are some from my phone!

We helped Wakki get comfy with the sand! ^^




The one sleeping on the left is a senior and the 2nd from the right is our professor. Apparently they just came back from a 4 hour hike and were just totally exhausted!





On our way back from the onsen:

That's pretty much it. My friends are supposed to upload their pictures soon, so I might post some more if there are any good ones!

It's hothothot

My exams have finished and I only have 2 reports left to do! Woopee~~

Everything was going crazy until this Wednesday (when I had an exam for the first period and no more classes after that... which means that I went up to Uni that early in the morning just for one exam that finished at 10am and for nothing else........) After that exam I realised that, I have no more classes!! Two more reports and I am -done- for this semester.

Can't believe how time just flies so fast. This semester has been so crazy... I was basically busy and all laid out with plans from Autumn last year and now! Well, I'm not exactly without plans but it's -really- time to kick back and relax ^^ I'll be at home for most of next week doing reports and, really, just whatever, enjoying not needing to go up to Uni and then I start work... a lot of work at that English tuition place from the week after next!

I put in Koto practise in for all the Tuesdays next month too! Which doesn't really give me that much time between work and leisure (work -might- be from Wednesdays thru Saturdays but I'm not entirely sure? I think I must have misheard it... anyway I think I might need the extra money for Brunei T_T) I can't wait to go back! heeee


Oh... and I also decided last minute to go to that trip with my classmates! They left today (probably already) to Shirahama, in Wakayama for a one-night stay by the beach. It's the last time I'll be seeing some of them so I really wanted to go. I decided to leave tomorrow morning... and I'll only be there about 5 or so hours but I haven't seen the beach there yet. .... .... ... ... beach. volleyball. sand castles. yikes.

On strange dreams again

I slept 10 hours last night... and am very grateful for that but I woke up at 8am when I was supposed to at 7.30, since I was supposed to leave for classes at 8.30, I was in a complete rush - I thought I would be about 15 mins late for class. But then I realised as I entered the class - that there was no class! Haha ... the joke was on me. Class today was cancelled so we could prepare for the exam that's on Thursday... in 2 days. Well. Not that there was anything bad about being up at Uni so early, I still have to prepare for this last-minute presentation I volunteered for yesterday on ethnic conflict in Nigeria. It's not going to be polished up at all, but it's better than nothing. We were looking into the successes and failures of ethnic conflict management and we only had success examples so I just took up Nigeria as a quick example of a not-so-successful example.

Anyway! I was going to continue on strange dreams again today. There was something nagging me at the back of my head yesterday because I couldn't fully remember my dreams when it hit me late last night that there was something else I had forgotten. I dreamt that I was just completing my exams here in July one day, I slept one night and the next thing that happened was that I was waking up in Brunei - completely disoriented and it was already September. All these weird things started happening until everybody finally realised that I had amnesia and I completely lost all my memory of August. I didn't even know whether or not I sat for my exams - which amazingly enough was my prime fear in that dream. I think this was probably the first time I ever dreamt of having amnesia.

Well, I probably have to get started on that presentation again - I still have to convert it to Japanese and I have class in another hour... 2 more weeks... and then it's holidays!!

On strange dreams

I had the weirdest dream last night. So weird that I incorporated my alarm song into it several times and couldn't really 'wake up' for some time. I can barely remember what it was about though. All I can think about is the Zelda Phantom Hourglass game that I just jammed last night and the Ethnic Conflict book I was flipping just before I slept. Insert Buffy tVS that I've been watching recently... and you have my really, really weird dream.

I think there was civil war... or just war in 'my country'. I was following around a group of... military-like people. The whole dream was dark. I think we were near a port, because I vaguely remember seeing a ship.(That's Zelda for you) But we were in an alternate dimension where something that was supposed to exist was missing. (That's probably from Buffy). We were looking around for something really really special and there was fighting... there were theme songs LoL (I'm pretty sure that those songs came from my alarm clock). I basically had a whole movie/game in my head. It was really really weird. Right towards the end, I felt as if I was suffocating when I realised my nose was blocked (in reality) and that's how I woke up. Not really a nice way to wake up but I did. I'm kinda glad I did. Who knows what else I might have seen in that dream.

Friday to Monday

The Joint Seminar has ended! ...Hahaha I was and am still dead tired.

Friday

Everything basically started on Friday. I woke up around 10 so I could go up to Uni for lunch just to pop in the computer room where everybody was working on their presentations (there were 2 groups working on it). After a while I went off to the Foreign Students Centre to see if I could bump into Hasanah. And I did! It was so nice seeing her again. I couldn't stay for so long because I had to run off to work around 2.30pm.

Work finished around 8pm, so I just grabbed a quick dinner and took the bus back up to Uni. It was 9pm by the time I arrived and what I saw at the computer room was amazing! There were more than 20 people there hustling and bustling over the computers practising their speeches, working on their notes and powerpoint and stuff. Around midnight our professor, Sakai-sensei, just popped his head in to lend us his photocopy cards (since we had to make about 170 copies for the actual thing), and he was kind enough to comment on our work here and there. He was really surprised to see all of us camping in the computer room and couldn't stop laughing about it. He left shortly after. Our numbers started dwindling at that point.

Saturday

The other group finished their work, went off to make copies, came back and actually left around 2.30am. Our group was practically half asleep tweaking little semantic problems on the powerpoint and speeches but we managed to somehow finish the handouts we made and off we went to photocopy. After that they all (5 of us) just sat down to start working on the speech. I was all thumbs. Hahahaha. I couldn't help them with the speech because it was in Japanese and I couldn't really understand the subtle nuances, so I told them I was taking half the handouts with me and would deal with them at home. So I left at 3.30am.

Arrived home at 4am. Took a shower and then started stapling the handouts, finished that in an hour, had an early breakfast and then after preparing everything to make sure I could leave immediately, I slept at 6am. The alarm rang a little after 7am and after a dizzy start, I left for Uni. We were to begin preparations from 7.50am.

The actual Joint Seminar began around 9am and until then we were all running around here and there stapling the rest of the handouts, some other handouts and then just making ourselves comfortable inside the hall. I suppose that there were at least 150 people who came. The Seminar was really fun! We had topics like Prostitution and Outer Space, Guns and Hunger and etc etc. I mentioned before that my group's presentation was on World Heritage Sites.

We finished the actual seminar a little after 6pm and after that was another huge rush since we had to clean up. The after party started at 7.15pm and we all just barely made it. The after-after party was from 9.30pm to 12 and some of us made that too. We were still high and excited about the whole thing so Asami, Wakki and I went to Wakki's place to just talk about... stuff. Hahaha. I fell into this really rough sleep (kept waking up every 10 or so minutes) around 3.30am.

Sunday

Then we had to leave Wakki's place around 5am so Asami could take the first train back. I arrived back here around 6am and just slept straight through to 12 noon.

I went off shopping with a friend to this outlet out at Tarumi from 3pm, shopped for clothes, had a Korean dinner and came back (around 9pm). I could barely keep my eyes open at this point so I just gave up doing anything and slept at 10pm.

Monday

And here I am, I woke up at 9am and I think that that was only because it was too hot in my room to do anything else, so I escaped to the living room and turned on the AC. I'm so glad I did because shortly after my nose started bleeding again. It's stopped already.

past midnight.

It's 12.30am. As in past midnight and I'm still at Uni!!!


There's a big presentation that my seminar'll be doing tomorrow (for the 6-Uni IR Joint Seminar). And we're still working on it! We don't seem to be doing as bad off as this other group which is still researching - we're just tweaking our powerpoint and technical word-usage. I had no idea that we were so... picky about details. But then looking back at how our seminars have been held... at one point or another we always end up arguing about how to use certain words from inside the texts.

It doesn't look like we'll be moving from this spot anytime soon. We started with about 25 people around 9pm and .... we're still about 20 people strong at this point. Only 6 of us are from my seminar... a pretty small group considering there are 22 of us originally. In any case. It feels like a camp.

I worked till 11pm at Uni last night. My head's still spinning from the powerpoint slides.

There's this Kansai Joint Seminar for International Relations going on this Saturday and my seminar-class has been working on our presentation (which'll be on World Heritage Sites). I haven't been able to help so much lately because of my weekly presentations and reports. But, since my next presentation (scheduled for today) was postponed, I had time to spend with them instead. I only had classes from 9-12noon yesterday. But we all felt so pressured to finish the presentation (since we only have 2 days left!) - we started from lunch with 11 people (out of the 22 total from our seminar) and slowly dwindled to 5 around 6pm. We were pretty solid until about 10pm when 3 of them had to go back and it was just Koyuki and me working on the powerpoint. We finally quit at 11pm because Koyuki had to take the last train back. Which means? I actually worked hard for 11 hours straight yesterday! hahaha... I feel like I've paid back for at least half of my absences from the weekly meetings up to this point. In any case! I hope everything goes well on Saturday.

I found some more pictures from DisneyLand!






above: the sleeping beauty castle


above: wall from the castle


cute kid wearing a pirate costume. we saw her just before the teacup ride. she was soooo cute!!