They Came and Went Back.... Just Like That...

This year's Chinese New Year (CNY) is different compared to my usual CNY celebrations. Everyone don live in Muar no more. All moved up to KL and so started this new tradition. Frankly speaking, I rather spending this wonderful festive occasion in my mom's hometown. My dad suggested to others we should go back "home". I hope everyone agrees to it.

This year, my Ah Ma (Dad's mom) is exceptionally irritating. We usually spends CNY's eve with her. But she insisted we stayed till 2nd day. It's not that we don wan to but it is so boring over at my dad's side. No one to talk to, nothing to do. All I could do was eat and sleep. Like an oink oink. Dammit... all my effort for losing weight is wasted in this hell hole.

So just yesterday I came up to KL to visit my mom's side and my family were the last to arrive. Usually, we were always the first! No thanks to Ah Ma. I couldn't get to spend enough time with my relatives from Singapore. I haven't seen them for 2 years. But it's real fun meeting with my cousins. Our family is a base for internationals I think... Here are some nationalities have joint into family. One cousin married a Taiwanese, another a Filipino, a Japanese, one dating a French/Russian and someone used to date an African. Oh yeah... it's a handful but I love it.

My Japanese relative... (I can say I'm related to one now.. haha) was shocked when I conversed Jap with her. And so did her husband, his parents, bro and sis, uncles and aunties and dear ol' Grannie. HAha..... Tomoko is her name and her cute lil' baby girl's name is Nanako. Which I love calling her Nana Chan.

Another year has come and gone.... hopefully by next year, I hope my Ah Ma wont interfere anymore....

Disney Fan Freak - Part II

There some things I wanna share with you ppl who don really know much about Disney or it's animation. I think I shall start this "Disney Fan Freak" posts and write some stuff from time to time. But right now.... I'd leave you newbies with this...

You're a Disney Fan Freak if... you have the urge to present your newborn baby high upon a rock.

Trivia Time!!! Did you know that in The Little Mermaid, Sebastian's full name is Horatio Thelonious Ignatius Crustaceous Sebastian???

As Walt once said:
"We can be sure of only one thing: every grown-up once was a child. Now when we make a new picture, we don't think of grown-ups, and we don't think of children, but of that fine, unspoiled spot deep down in everyone of us, that maybe the world has made us forget, and that maybe our pictures may help recall." From the Making of Snow White.

Disney Fan Freak

It's 4:30 a.m. now and I'm still not sleeping. Wasn't in the mood to sleep yet so was surfing the net while listening to my Disney Classic CD. Then I realised I can just get them all from the net and I guess I got carried away... downloaded like 40 ol' Disney classics. And I am such a happy girl. I am such a Disney fan. Ask me anything about their animation and I'd probably can give you the answer right there and then. Music.... beautiful music to my sweet, sweet ears... aaahhh.....

*I'm slowly going insane....

So Many Things, So Little Time

I know I should be sleeping now. My hair's dry and I have to get up early tomorrow. But there are some things in my mind and I just don wanna go to bed. Not yet that is... Chinese New Year is just around the corner and I've so much to do. Unfortunately, I have no force strong enough to help me start. These are some stuff I wanna get it done before my new semester starts. For instance:

- complete my story for my comic for the Railway Art;
- find more references for the fighting scenes;
- FINISH MY COMIC!;
- complete the book Bryan lent me;
- revise my Jap all over again (I'm getting rusty);
- finish up my collection of フルーツバスケット(Fruit Basket);
- draw like I've never drawn before and
- my movie marathon of the 3 trilogies of LOTR (yes, I'm crazy)!

But there are other things that keep popping into my mind as well. Like:

- how to be a better person;
- treating my family members better;
- not being sarcastic;
- take my passion seriously;
- respond to situations better;
- be stronger on the outside and within as well;
- etc, etc, etc....

I wouldn't know when I can achieve all that... but I do know this... right now... I'm not that bad a person and that will keep me going to be that better person each day...

Familiar Faces... Lately

It's kinda weird. I've been bumping into ppl from Lim Kok Wing lately. Like yesterday I went to Subang Parade and I bumped into Zul (George's fren). His hair still as messy but somewat hidden under his cap. Then today I went to One Utama with Judy and Se Wei and I bumped into the guy who worked in the photo lab, Slinky and the "Christina Aguilera" wannabe or lookalike chick. You guys from LUCT know exactly WHO I'm talking about. Yeah, it's da chick who had piercings and tattoos every where and let's not forget her infamous blonde wig (I dunno if it's a wig. I'm just fibbin here).

Today has been a good day. Bought some cool tops and this awesome pants. Bought mommy a nice birthday present too! Can't wait to show'em off. But I gotta wait till CNY... Noooooooooo........

*I only have RM4.10 in my wallet now... till this Sunday. Shit. How am I gonna go back to Melaka now? Dammit...

Judy Did Warned Me Not To Watch It

Yup, it's 5:19 a.m. and still not sleeping. Just got off watching this weird ass movie on astro with Bernard and Judy sleeping while we watched. Judy warned us not to watch it cos it's real stoopid. I was intrigued and so was Bern. We wanted to know how dumb it was. Boy were we NOT proven wrong. Wanna know the story? I'll try cut it to the chase... but for the impatient ones... skip this post.

The story started with 5 kids (duh) wanted to spend their vacation in some cabin in some outskirts but stopped by this store to get booze and food. Here's a convo which I think I'd like to share with you ppl.

Kid #1: Wat's this for?

Owner: It's for the fox. Be careful with it.

Kid #2: Wat bout that thing there. (pointing to the rifle)

Owner: Oh that? It's for the niggers.

Ok, back to the story. They reached the cabin, some had sex , some went swimming and the other one shot some poor dude with his BB gun. Oh this dude, he looked real sick and all he wanted was some water but got shot instead. Then the 5 partied on and met another guy who had weed so they got high. Then the weed guy left with his dog. Then the sick dude came knocking on their door asking for help. They freaked out with how sick the poor dude looked and locked him out. The poor dude tried to hot-wired their ride and they got pissed and started to beat the crap outta him first and set him on fire and poor dude ran off... blazing.

Then, get this, the poor dude did died. But he fell into the reservoir which links to the cabin and this girl kept drinking the water. Then she got tired and asked this other guy to sleep next to her. After the nap, the guy woke up horny and started groping her and when his hands went down he felt blood. He (perve) started screaming, she was awaken by the scream, saw the blood and scream. They locked her up in some wood shack. There's this deputy who came patrolling and said he'll send a tow-truck for their car. So everyone started to freak out becos the disease (flesh-eating virus) starting to spread and this one selfish jerk took lotsa booze and left. Leaving only 3 kids now. The BB gun kid drove to town to look for help but scared off the ppl there and they decided to kill him. Back in the cabin, this girl was taking a bathe and kept screaming she was bleeding like crazy. Too much blood, confused, walked out of the cabin but got attacked by the weed guy's dog and died. The dog managed to get into the wood shack and started to chew on the poor girl in there. The perve shot the dog and found the girl was still fucking alive! He then put her out of her misery.

Then BB guy showed up, perve dragged him into the cabin. There were 3 town ppl were looking to kill him. One had a rifle and the others were unarmed. The rifle guy opened the door there sat BB guy shot rifle guy first but he accidentaly shot one of his buddy. Then the perve came out and jabbed a screwdriver into the other guy's ear. Then the perve ran off trying to find the selfish guy. Stumbled upon a cave and found the weed guy died of the disease as well. Ran some more and found the deputy partying with some other kids. Deputy got a call from the sheriff telling him to shot the perve. Then everyone panicked and started to beat the perve. But the perve was quick and started throwing up blood on everyone. He was later thrown off some where into the woods. Then the selfish guy went back to the cabin to check things out and realised he was alive and started crying for joy. But he was shot by the sheriff and his men for thinking he may be infected as well.

Remember the perve got thrown off some where into the woods? Well, he was left by this river bank and some kids from the town came and took the water along with the perve's blood with it to make lemonade. The sheriff bought it and so did his men. Then a big truck drove by with "Down Town Spring Water" on it.

Then 3 black ppl came to the shop. Remember the owner who said the rifle was for the niggers? Here's wat happened. The owner saw the blacks and hurried into the store. The blacks walked in and the owner picked up the rifle and said..

Owner: Here's your rifle, man. Just as I promised.

Black#1: Thanks man. Damn you sure did a fine job.

Owner: Why thank you, mah niiggah!

Then they both hugged.

It's Just One Of Those "Eff-ing" Days

Today is not a very good day... I am very annoyed. So annoyed till I can just rip someone's head off!!! Fuck...

A Minor Setback... NOT!

You know wat's the problem with layered hair, especially hair such as mine? I need to wash it the night before and stay up just to get it dried fully. Can't use a hair dryer cos it'll frizz it. sigh... No more washing my hair in the mornings, unless I wanna look like a walking mushroom head. How about looking like a bla bla bla.... (bitching mode... switched "on").

The Fine Line Between Desperation and Vanity

Chinese New Year is next Sunday and I've decided to chop off my long locks. *Daryl screaming at the back.... Nooooooooo!!!!!!!... Haha... no more Ju-on or Sadako jokes no more... hehe... I've been hearing that joke or remark since I met him. Well Daryl, now you can give it a break. A long, loooooooooooooong break if I may add. My usual hairstylist here in KL does an excellent job in trimming my ends real straight but when it comes to giving me the layers I truly wanted, well... he sucked real bad... So I couldn't afford to try out stylists at this time of the year so I decided to head back to my hometown where my old stylist gives me promising hair cut... where? Melaka! haha..

Ya, I drove all the way back to Melaka today just to get a hair cut. Don forget the wash and the blow dry too. My hair was long, k? I think it was 2 inches exceeding my waist line and it was all straight. I've had this hairstyle for like 2 whlole years now and I'm bored of it. Layers it is...after the haircut, I was shocked with the amount of my hair was on the floor. Dayum... I must've look like Cousin It's sister from the back! Incase I look bad... hey, it's just hair, it'll grow back. Hah! Yeah right... I've had bad hair cuts before. I believe some of my frens have pics to prove it. Shit! How short is my hair now? Well... let's just say.....

I can't do this no more... (^.^;)

After my hair do, picked up mom and brought her shopping, dropped her off at Grandma's and off I go... back to KL. Yup, a one day trip. I din even visit Daryl or Aunty Kana. I wanted to go home plus I was getting a headache. Looks like my astigmatism is getting worse... Fuck. Which reminds me.. better go get my eyes checked soon.

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Final Day

We got up real today cos our flight was at 11:10 a.m. Din wanna go home yet cos there's so much I wanted to see and do before I really pack up and go home. Things like skiing, snow boarding, bathing in an onsen (still have no guts to do it), going to a manga cafe, trying some deadly fugu (they're not deadly as ppl perceived them to be... there are loads of certified good chefs now) and live and work in Japan. Sigh... no time and money to do all that so I have to go home. DAMMIT! Here're some of the reasons why I love this place so much....

I could take quiet walks in parks such as this in Kyoto

Cute kids to pinch and pinch and pinch!!!

Be crazy and eat ice-cream... in WINTER!!!

Be amazed with the Jap's creativity for easy Fast Food...

and veggies as well.... ^-^;

My purpose? To work real hard studying animation so I can work and save up and come back here again!!!

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 10

Time to leave beautiful Kyoto and head on to Osaka cos our flight's the next day... booo hooo hoooo... Bid my farewell to Granny. I was gonna miss her alot. She's real fun to be with plus she's a real interesting character. How many Grandmas you know smokes and drinks and offer their late husbands beer and a lit cigarette on their shrine? Not many right? Baachan ni aitai nano...

In Osaka, Junko brought me manga shopping! Second-hand that is. I was shocked to see the amount of mangas available in that store. I had a limited time so I only bought 3 books for only ¥168 each. The original price per each book was ¥390. The books' condition was almost as good as new.

She then brought me to visit her good fren, U-rin chan's brand new place. Her house was nice. Her apartment has a high ceiling and guess what? She has a ceiling-fan! Apparently when she came over to M'sia, she was intrigued with it and decided to get by all means. haha... kawaii~

Later in the evening, while Junko and her hubby went to return the rental car and the other lovebirds fell asleep on the couch, I had a wonderful conversation with Junko's mom. It was hard for us to strike up a conversation first so all we had was their cable book programme and from there... we jumped from topic to topic bout actors, comedians, travelling, my stay in Japan, Junko and Seiko's (Jun's baby sis) childhood, kanji and its strokes, me and her.

Then mom dropped us (Weng Yan, Jesse and I) off at the hotel we're gonna stay for the night. I really liked the place. It was real clean and roomy not to mention the marvellous ofuro as well. It is a necessity in Japan. It has become my necessity as well...

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 9

Reached Kyoto around 6:30 a.m. and I went to bed straight without taking off any piece of clothing. Becos we were away for a few days, the heater wasn't switch on and the room was freezin! It's so bad, my make up cream became solid! Yeah, that cold. I slept with my thermal wear, jeans, 2 layers of tops and my jacket and on top of me were 4 futons. By the time I woke up, it was kinda late. Had a ni~~~ce long bath in the ofuro. I'm really diggin the Jap culture. Their ofuro got a jacuzzi in it. Ahhh..... sheer bliss..

We din go out cos we were exhausted, plus it was raining then. Was watching the news and I found out that it was snowing back in Tokyo today. NOT FAIR!!! After dinner, Junko's aunt and cousin, Haru chan came for a visit. Haru chan is currently studying music and had asked for Junko's help to translate this article of a French composer and his sonata from English to Jap. Junko asked for my help to translate it to Jap and she'll rewrite it properly back in Jap. Wah lau!!! Wat a test, man! Shit! The whole achin process took 2 hours. Haru's mom felt bad and kept serving me beer...

I went to bed late that day. Spent the whole night talking to Junko and her lovely mom and it was real fun. Me trying to speak in Jap and simple English words and her mom trying to put it as simple as she could and I had a dictionary with me, just in case. We chatted until about 3:30 a.m. Then I went to bed.

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 8

Today, the boys had to work. They opened a franchise back home but the main branch is here in Osaka, the shops name is called "Trial Tunning Spirit". Apparently it's famous for it's parts. Hey, wat do I know bout cars? Neways, the HQ is really huge... I think it takes up about like 3 warehouses. But I din get to enter though, it was too late then. Oh well, we were going for this motor show and not everyone gets to go in and take a peek, k? I got this special pass for "employees" only. Muahahahaa.... There's this major show every year in Tokyo. This time is in Chiba.

Behold.... this's wat seperates me from the commoners

The exhibition was freakin huge! It took up 4 exhibition halls just to organize this thing! Oh yeah, I got lost. The cars were seriously cun and so were the girls in them skimpy outfits. Everyone else had Jap chicks to model their cars but our were the only one (I think) had a blonde...Ooohhh... and she's kinda hot. Tall, slim and blonde. Ok guys, wipe off that silly grin, owedi. I din take pics of them girls though... not my type. I'm more into curvaceous type. The ones there were just too straight looking. So sorry, no chicks here. Ah, stop your whining, you bunch of babies!

I really like these four. They're from the same shop but in 4 diff colour and styles.

Then I had enuff of cars and we girls took the train and head on to the streets to a place called Takeshita. You wanna see beautiful ppl, weird ppl, black pimps, ppl dressing up Harajuku style, afordable trendy clothes, anime stuff toys, good food, good dessert, cheap souvenirs, gorgeous lingerie (bought a black with white polka-dots) then you've come to the right place! The boys later on met up with us there and had ice-cream. Waffle ice-cream to be exact. I may love ice-cream but I'm not that crazy. It was really cold then. I din wanna get sick.

Enough of Tokyo! Let's go home. Back to Granny's house and some good home cook meal. On the way back, at some pit stop, I couldn't help but buy an ice-cream myself. I ate in the car where there's heater so not so cold. Have you ever eaten an ice-cream in winter? It's so hard, you have to bite it to finish it. You can't lick it much cos it won melt as easily ~Yummy~

Exacly One Year Ago Today - Day 7

Ahh... I love this very day. Wanna know why? Cos today is the day for the first time in my entire life, I'm finally going to.. DISNEYLAND!!!

My dream ticket

Actually it's Tokyo Disneyland. One fine day... gonna go visit everyone there is out there.. sigh... anyway, I was incharge waking everyone up by 6 a.m. but I forgot to reset my HP and we were like 1 whole hr LATE! We're going to Disneyland that day... NOOOOO!!!!! We rushed and tah pau our breakfast from the convenient store and head on towards "my home". We were lucky, they haven't open the gates yet...phew. I had some time to kill so I decided to give Judy a call. It wasn't my idea to rub it in her face, as a matter of fact, it's with her I really wanted to come here with. She's my Disneyland soulmate. The convo went like this... I think:

Judy : Hello... (sleepy voice)

Me: Judy! Guess where I am?

Judy: Oh hi, Jie... where? (Jie = in Hokkien - big sis)

Me: I'm at Disneyland!

Judy: Really?!? Yooo.... so nice!

(Music from some Disney cartoon playing in da background)

Me: Judy!!! They're playing the music from (for the life of me... i don remember)!

Judy: Oh izzit??? So nice.

Me:Yeah, yeah! I wish you were here though....

Judy: But I'm not!

Me: Don worry... maybe next time la

Judy:When la? You were suppose to bring me to JAPAN!!!

Me:You last minute can't go! You got your church thing, REMEMBER?!?

Judy:Oh, yeah.. hehe

Me:Ok... I gtg now... Ppl are lining up at the gate.

Judy: Ok, Jie. Have fun!

Me: Sure la.. haha... Buhbye...

Judy: Bye.... (and went back to sleep... I think)

While I was lining up, behind me where a whole bunch of cute kindergarten kids on their field trip. They were so cute with their lil' orange hats with their names written on a paper flower... I JUST had to talk to them. Junko asked me to go ahead... helps me practise..hehe... I spoke to one kid. His name was Shunji. I asked him how old he was. He said "Shichi desu!". Eeh? He lied!!! All preschoolers are at the age of FIVE! Ano usoutsuki chicchai yatsu... but nonetheless... he was adorable.

While lining up... I spotted DONALD DUCK!!! The moment they openned, I rushed to meet him but I was too late... Donald was busy with other kiddies. I had to push my way through to take pic with him. It's now or never... don mind the kids... if they cry... buy them sweets! Sweets there are kinda expensive though... Oh kids... pls don cry. So, in the end, I took pictures not only with Donald... but along with Pluto, Goofy and Roger Rabbit! Although I rather be with Jessica Rabbit. Have you ever seen her??? Wat a babe! Rrrrr.....

The rides were real good. But too bad the main attractions which were the "Big Thunder Mountain" and "Haunted Mansion" was being renovated!!! WTF?!?!?!?!......... I was disappointed but there were loads of rides neways... might as well have fun! I loved the "Spalsh Mountain", "Pooh's Hunny Hunt" and "Space Mountain" especially! Loads of fun.. Judy's nuts over Winnie the Pooh.. So I got her a nice cookie jar with choclate and butter filling. Mmmmm... cookie. Got me a Pooh keychain. Wanted a Tshirt at first but I couldn't find the ones I like. I sacrificed my Jap food so I could buy souvenirs. Judy had better like it.

Saw the "Electrical Parade: Dream Lights". It was absolutely gorgeous! Their lights' colour cordination was superb. Took many many pics and unfortunately, I bought 400 ISO negatives so I couldn't capture the lights real good. Need to pay more attention in Photography class, dammit! My bad... but the pics turned out alright. Lucky!!! You're probably wondering why I'm NOT posting any Disney pics, huh? Well.... I already arranged them real nicely in my album so I'm damn lazy to take them out and put'em back. You wanna see, you come over la! LOL...

But Disney is truly a place where dreams come true.... *swooning*.....

今の感じ…

Noticed the difference? I edited the second one with Photoshop! Thanks you guys for helping me out with this damn software! ^v^

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 5 & 6

Went to Junko's house in Osaka, Suita before we start our journey to Tokyo. Her house was a real shocker to me. To think that majority all Jap ppl grew up in a house so confined is just dumbstruck. This is due to their land being taken up mostly by loads of hills and they can't really flat them all to make space because their earth is extremely sensitive to earthquakes. Seriously, its that scary. Their ceiling is so low, to them, there's no such thing as a ceiling fan. The main room of their houses is divided into 3 sections. The living room, dining room and the kitchen. Talk about being thrifty. But it's their lifestyle and their so used to it.

The journey to Tokyo from Osaka takes about 6 hrs, I think. Chong kun drives around Japan like it's no big-a-deal cos he goes there like every year. Married to a Jap, mah. But he was unfamiliar with Tokyo, so we got a rental car with a GPS device. I think it's a bit screwy. It's like 5 secs slow. We kept making wrong turns becos the device wasn't quick enough to deliver. Anyway, everyone was tired so off they went to la la land. I din wan to sleep cos I think Chong kun needs the company. So I was up throughout the road trip and I was shocked to see the trailers there were so fucking huge but running quietly on da road. They were moving real damn fast as well. Chong kun told me without a doubt, they got their trailers modified. I wouldn't know how many horse power engines they have in them things but they sure are powerful.

I think it was like around 5 a.m. when we reached this pit stop where you can get a magnificent view of the infamous Mount Fuji. I watched and waited for the sunrise to view it and I remember standing facing it, thinking "I cannot believe I'm actually seeing this". The sunrise was a perfect opening for it's introduction. When the sun beams hit the tip..... "How I wish the guys could see this! It's gorgeous!". But I had no camera of my own then, so I borrowed Daryl's. His camera can't zoom in. So this is the best I could do. Sorry...

See the tip? White means it snowed yesterday.

While Chong kun is still dead asleep in the car, I decided to go freshen up. Reaching Tokyo real soon and wouldn't wan to look like a zombie. Then I met this guy who's walking his dogs and I love dogs and this was my first time seeing this kinda breed so I spoke to the guy, yes in Jap. Really proper if memory serves me right. The guy replied as clearly as he could and I actually UNDERSTOOD him!!! Most of it, neways. his dogs' ears were covered and he told me cos it's winter, dogs' ears are real sensitive. Ooohhh.... I asked to take him and the dogs' pic. The cutie (the dog!) was so obedient cos he or she din move when told so.

There's another dog behind this one. Yeah, that obedient.

Caught a smaaaaaaaall glimpse of the Tokyo Tower but we went to the Big Latern place a.k.a. Kaminarimon. Later went to Akihabara. Oh yes, a manga paradise for me. Bought a Yotsuba comic there. Happy....... Then head off to our quaters (heh heh), well... usually their backpackers inn don seem too impressive for the money you pay but surprisingly this one was real clean and comfy looking. The name is called Ebisuya (some God known by the Chinese and Japs). That room has 5 double-deckers and the toilet is so brilliant. You look and there's the sink and a shower head above it. That's it. Err.... how are we gonna go in here? Do we have to go outside? Nope. You just slide the sink aside in 90゜angle and VOILA, the toilet! Smart, eh?

But the sad thing is the men's public bathroom is just next to us. The thought of a bunch of adult Jap men bathing together is just sickening. Nothing to drool about cos their package aint that much to ogle at. But there were free *AV on the TV though. Haha....

*AV - Adult Video = PORN!

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 4

Osaka

Today is a girls' day out. We took the train from Kyoto to Osaka. The train there is so unlike the ones I have back home. Their train is much much longer and they are extremely punctual. Junko brought Jesse and I at first to the north part of Osaka, Umeda a.k.a. Kita. Kita in Jap means north.

I wanted to buy a new coat for myself. Apparently it's cheaper to buy it there. Came across this shop and I kinda liked the coat. It's black but you can wear it in many diff styles. The sales assistant was a good looking Jap dude but short though... like around 5ft 7. And the way he try explaining to me the fancy-ness of the coat was so "spellbounding" I din had the heart to tell him I wasn't local. Junko and Jesse was just giggling away. But he was so cute.... err... I mean... his sales pitch was damn kau good ah. The coat costs me like around RM 200 to RM300? I can't remember.

There were loads of shops such as Disney and Hello Kitty and oh yes, lingerie shops. Muahahaha... bought meself another one. This time, it's denim. Today was a special day. It's the day when the 20 yr olds become an adult. They had to go to city hall and register, or something like that. Hmm... I don think I have wat it takes to be a documentor, huh? I'd prob suck at it. Neways, there were loads of Jap chicks walking around town wearing their gorgeous Kimonos. I was too shy to asked them so Junko (being such a sweetheart, as usual) asked for me. The girls was shy but honoured I asked them. It costs them a fortune to be in that get-up that day so might as well they have a Gaijin to take their pics.

Totemo kireina kimono wo kiteru Onna no hitotachi... Urayamashii na....

Later went to a infamous place in Osaka called Doutonbori. There's this big ass crab display on top of a shop. Cool. Met the boys later for dinner. Chong kun brought us to this restaurant and here's what we ate:

Appetizer - raw chicken

Buta Miso - rice with pork and soup

Kimuchi - quite spicy soup

Fried BBQ black pepper chicken

Kara age - satay chicken

Green Tea - bottomless
￥1000 (TOTAL)

And that's like around RM30, k? That's a freakin reasonably priced good food. Oishi..katta. >v<

めんどくさい なぁ。。。

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 3

Woke up early today and drove to East Kyoto to the Kiyomizu temple. There was this hill we had to climb to get to the top, there's where the temple was. The whole pathway was filled shops that sells adorable trinkets and other stuff you wanna bring home. I was lucky to find a shop there that sold Daryl's Japanese Geisha doll he wanted. Usually it's damn freakin expensive but I was real lucky (or was it Daryl's luck? He wanted a freakin katana at first. To you all who dunno wat's that, it's a Jap sword. I think he was trying to get me arrested in the airport. Tough luck, Takeru kun). There were shops selling food and drinks and to attract customers, they were handling out free samples. Oh yeah... free food and hot drinks. I'm freezin my butt off here.

When we got to the temple, it was beautiful. I loved the view and I loved building structure. It was such a beautiful day. In the temple, lies a "Love" temple. No.... not that kind of karma sutra temples like in India, you perves. This temple helps those who needed to find their soul mate. I was single then but I din really bothered much bout it. Err... hmmm.... din I rub that love stone? Anyway, it started to snow. Eeeee!!!!! Snow!!! My first snow!!! うれしい!

Kiyomizu Temple

I really loved the garden. If only it was autumn then, I'd bet the colours would've been even more breathtaking... but this is still good....

These represents luck, prosperity and longevity. You can't drink'em all or it won come true. So no Singaporeans allowed here. Kidding. Kiddin... NOT!!!

This is my sensei.

I was really taken by the whole view. I was walking down this pathway and I realised how gorgeous it looked. Everyone was walking ahead of me so I asked them to turn around for this pic. Only my lovely sensei heard me. She really liked this pic too. Looks like all them photography classes din go to waste.

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 2

It was my first time spending the night in an old-style Japanese house. Granny's house originally has no upper floor. She had a renovation a while back. The room was really cold. I shared my room with Junko and Chong kun. I had FOUR futons on me and I was still cold. Woke up exactly at noon. Guess them beers and sake really did help me to sleep at ease. The stairs was really narrow. I hoped Granny din suddenly appear before me and get a freakin heart attack. Why? Cos I have a very long waist-line purple (then) hair. I could really pass off as the creature from Ju-On... really. Part 1 or 2 watever.

We were supposedly to tour around Kyoto the whole day but we could only visit the infamous Kinkakuji a.k.a. "The Golden Pavillion". It was truly astounding. If I'm not mistaken, the highest floor is made of gold. The floor below it is mixed with gold and wooden material. The base is made mainly out of wood. It used to be a summer palace to some dude but as the time passed on, it is respected as a temple. Or so I think... I think Chong kun got balls of steel some times. It was really cold but this dude was standing out there happily eating an ice-cream!

Kinkakuji

Then we went window shopping at Kawaramachi and I was in heaven. Every where I looked, there it was... a lingerie shop. Yes, I have another obsession. The designs in Japan were very trendy and adorable yet somewat sexy. Think anime. The price was reasonable too. More affordable than some crazy ass ones back home. Their size was different and I was rather skeptical on my delivery of the Jap language. When the sales assistants realised I'm not local. They literally avioded me. Until I managed to work up wholotta courage and nervously spoke in my broken Jap. They were glad I tried to make an effort and FINALLY assisted me. Bought a pink and white checkered set. Ooohh....

Exactly One Year Ago Today - Day 1

This is what I did excatly one full year ago. I stepped into Japan for the first time! I decided to blog it because I did keep a small diary when I was there. Din have a blog then, so, now I'm blogging it. It's somewat like an anniversary for visting there. So, for the next 11 days, you'll read nothing else but my trip to Japan! おっほほほほほ．．．

Weather : 9ºC

Reached Osaka Kansai Airport at 7:49 a.m. (which is 1 hr ahead M'sia). Weng Yan, Jesse and I took the train to Rynku station to meet Junko and Chong kun. The station was really impressive but extremely complicated. There was a slight mixed up though. Weng Yan was told to be at the Rynku station but Junko went to greet us at the airport instead. We were feeling rather nervous when we saw no one at the station and we waited.... for like over an hr. I was scared obviously. Weng Yan wrote down Junko's hp wrongly. SHIT!!! I din even know how to work their public phone! I had to ask a stranger to teach me how to use. I was freakin nervous, my jap was such a mess. Luckily the guy understood what in the hell I was blabbing. Yup, the number was a hoax. Now, I'm really scared. Suddenly I remembered I had Miyazaki sensei's number and I called her. I managed to get thru to her...Thank you, GOD!!! 1 hour later, Junko and Chong kun came. 助けて　くれねぇ、ありがとう!!!

Grab a bite to eat at Rynku shopping mall and head on towards Kobe. We did pass the Universal Studio but we were dead tired and slept right through it. Went to Harbourland, saw many seagulls and could only drove past Nankin Machi (China Town) cos couldn't find parking. Drove up to Rokko San and I was really cold up there. We were standing at this clift and couldn't see the city below us becos it was too foggy.

We stopped at Junko's Grandma's house in Kyoto cos we were crashing at her place. He he he... we had nabe for dinner and it was really delicious. Pic below are the people I'll be mixing with up close and personal for the next 11 days. Clock wise starting from Granny, Chong kun, Jesse, Weng Yan, Junko sensei, Junko's mom and her dad. ようろしく...

Oh, Good Lord... Why The Smurfs???

I bumped into this pic from some where. Apparently UNITEL is trying to send the "Stop the WAR" message to kids by destroying the poor Smurf Village... Something to learn on, eh Bush?

"Don worry Baby Smurf. Papa Smurf will make it all ri...." said poor Smurfett.

I Just Felt Like Drawing Today

It's A Brand New Year

2005 was not a bad year for me. Like every other year, ther're ups and downs. I hope this year wont be so hard on me. Din do much celebrating for 2006, then again, I hardly celebrate it since... like wat? 2001 or 2002? I don remember. I usually stay at home and watch something good on tv and wait for everyone to shout. That's my cue to go to my balcony and watch a gorgeous display of fireworks from both KLCC and the Bukit Jalil Stadium. I know... my view was really something. But last year, I got no fireworks because of the tsunami incident. So, that's that.

This year, same thing. Spent it at home but over at Bryan's. I couldn't be bothered really to go out partying for the countdown. You'll definately get stuck in the massive jam, spend at least 2 hrs just looking for a parking space, stuck in a confined room filled with people with B.O and get stuck in the jam again for trying to get home just like the rest of the millions. Nah.... at home is fine by me. I can party some other time.

Just came back from Junko's. She had a New Year's party and house-warming party in a go. Food was great. But wished I built up my damn courage to talk to her Jap friends. I even practised earlier on. Dammit!!! Why must I be such a chicken shit! I used to be able to handle one or two the most but this is like a group of EIGHT Japanese. Excluding their kids. Boy, japanese kids are real cute. Especially when they speak. If you ever watched a Japanese anime with kids init... yup, they do sound exactly like it. Hmm.... I miss Japan so much. In 6 days time, it'll be exactly 1 yr since I've been to Japan. I think I'll rewrite the journey starting from Day 1 just for the fun of it. Heck, I'll even post in the pictures for your viewing pleasure. Until then...

Oh yeah... on 31st Dec was my cute lil' Granny's BDay. Happy 85th one, Granny... or should I say Guama. It's a Chinese thing, k? And it's not Guava or Guano... shaddap or you're gonna get it. This is my Grandma you're talking bout, man. Wanna get your asses whooped or something?