leaving behind bits n pieces

hey guys, i am so sorry that i did not update my blog for so long. I have been busy with all the midterms. Am glad it is over now, although not in a real sense. More to come in the weeks and so. I did a rather crazy thing today that I think I am regretting now. I have bought tickets and booked hostels for my trip during the winter break. The trip is a huge huge huge thing. My friend whom I am going to the trip with, did a little calculation on the total prices that we have spent so far. I almost fainted with a big O. OMG!!! I spent a total of about US$1300. During the winter break, I wil be going to NYC, Washington D.C, Orlando and Miami. The whole trip starts from 11 Dec and ends on the 4th Jan. I will be skipping a day class because the tickets are so much cheaper, by a hundred bucks, just to return a day later. Crazy.
I will be spending 8 days in NYC, 4 days in D.C, 8 days in Orlando and another 8 days in Miami. Total 25 days of fun! Sounds exciting. Well, it ws at the beginning but I was kinda sad becos I am spending so much for a winter break. :( the excitement of booking and planning literally dies down.
Besides I also did another crazy thing. Arggghhh..... I bought a DSLR, Canon EOS 450D/Rebel XSi. But this is something that I have yearn for a thousand times. Bought it at 599.69. Think it is reasonable so did it in a click and viola, i receive the package the very next day with my bank account dipping close to zero dollars. Due to so many things that I need to do, I havent had any chance to play with my camera. And dont forget to mention the crazy weather. The past two days were so chilly and windy that I need multiple layers. About 40 plus, and yesterday it rained the whole day. Feels like in singapore in a freezer. But today weather was great, sunny and warm at 58 to 62 degrees. So i read a book and had my lunch at the seat outside the cafeteria. What a relaxing day. Like I said, the weather is crazy, therefore as I am writing the blog here, it was raining outside. Time is 2.40am. Come sunday at 2am, the daylight savings time will end. So I could sleep an extra hour! Haha....

 
shots taken by my new camera.

Finally i entered the first week of school last week. i dropped a class that i initially signed up for even before the academic starts. I just couldnt imagine myself sitting in and listen attentively in that class. It is impossible. The class is intro to chemistry principles. It is an enormous class with capacity of 500! Luckily, I made a wise choice and switched to intro to japanese literature. I like it, furthermore the exam would seems to be easy enough with only multiple choice questions, no short essay qns. Love it! Other classes I have taken are history of western art 1, history of japanese art and french first year. So far so good for me. The downside is there are plenty of readings. The instructors seems to think we are just taking their class. Dont they know we have to clock 12 credits to be a full time student. For my next jap lit class, I have 45 pages to read and understand. Will I be able to do it by the coming tues morning.

Before the start of school, a couple of my frenz (mainly those i met during iso) and I went to an asian grocery store. I am pretty amazed by how we managed to find the location. First we went there without the address and map and of course the bus schedule book (this is impt, if you dont follow the time table closely and missed the bus, you have to wait for an hour for the next, which happens to me once). To make matter worst, everyone relied on me as usual cos I am the one with the best sense of direction in the group. The only thing I remember clearly is the bus number and vaguely recall which bus stop to alight. Pretty funny we managed to alight at a station pretty close to the one we are supposed to alight at. Phew. The asian grocery store is run by a Korean family, so definitely you will find kimchi. yum yum, my favorite. you also find all kinds of asian food, beverage, candies, products and even korean and japanese series in the store. But it is not a huge one. Surprisingly, I found local products - pokka green tea, yeo's beverage (i managed to steal a pic in the store) and khong guan cream crackers, milo and not to forget maggie mee. haha. I was elated and almost bought it. What put me off is the price.


Talking about food. who says school food is yucky. At least the one in U of O are awesome. I love the sandwiches at Dux, though eating them almost will make you puke. Lol. Love the clam chowder too. The salad are great too. The place that I love best is fire and grill at the Hamilton. It is something like a buffet but not quite there yet. It is where you get to pick the ingredients such as rice, noodles, vegetables, meat and the type of sauce you want. You can have as many as you want as long it can fit in the bowl. Once done you can gave the cook to grill/cook it. and viola your food is done and it is delicious. I absolutely love the food there but the queue can be a killer when you are too hungry. There is also mexican food called big mouth at Hamilton too. Tried the burritos but didnt really like it that much. There is also buffet dining in two places, one in Carson (in campus), the other is at Barnhart, where students with lotsa of extra money stay. So far only tried the one in Carson where they have italian cuisine that day and I end up with too many food. The lasagna is delicious, would love to have one again.

The weekend before school starts, we went to the Saturday market around Eugene downtown. There are lots of stores, food and entertainment. I enjoyed myself. I also realised most of the items sold there are made by the store owner themselves. Pretty amazing. On tthe otherside of the street is the grocery and flower area. The fruits all looked very fresh especially the berries.

Just yesterday, saturday, I went hiking at the Silver Fall, then head down to Oregon Coast. Actually I signed up this outdoor program where there is an initiator who will post a trip (can be anything, from sea kayaking, rafting to backpacking), if you are inerested, you sign up. So thanks to my frenz Kyoko and Cindy for attending the previous pre-trip despite being on the waiting list and signed up for oct 3 trip. If not for them I wont have known there is another one, cos I forgot about the previous pre-trip. So I managed to joined them together with the others for this trip which is much cheaper than the previous. I only paid $5.50 for 2 places. Oregon coast was a spontaneous thing. Despite the cold, I still managed to enjoy myself very much. For lunch, we went up to the viewpoint (i think so) where the waterfall is. It is so nature. Lol.

The Oregon coast is also fantastic. I have never seen such a beautiful beach before. I have finally get to see where the sky and sea meet. The feeling is impossible to describe with words. Lovely Pacific Ocean, lovely sands, lovely waves, lovely sky and lovely everything. I was told we were very fortunate to see the coast on such a lovely day. Usually it will be either raining or cloudy grey sky. I start to love the place more and more. I am so going to sign up for more such outdoor trips.

For pictures, kindly go to my facebook to view them,  so far I have only uploaded the Oregon coast but will do the Silver Fall too. Well, uploading pictures in lj is a pain to me. =)

my dorm

         
not too bad  terms of space though feel litle cramp. but 'm cool with it. the only prob i had now is the height of my bed, i want to lower it. ok my comp is a little crazy now. so i shall continue tomorrow.

I am frustrated by the slow speed of my computer processor. I blog a whole chuck yesterday and as i was trying to upload the photos, it hang. damn it. all information was deleted. so i will need to rewrite them again. Now i really wanted to get a macbook. saw one at the duck store selling at US$947, normal macbook 13' white. still considering abt it.

i seriously not sure what to blog now. omg! i feel like running!
ok, i am gg running with my roommate.  i will continue to blog later.

Finally after close to 22 hours of flight that causes my butt to hurt like hell, I have reached Eugene, Oregon! I am wondering how can those people sleep in the plane for so long. I only managed to catch a nap or few in between. I just couldnt sleep well and soundly when stretching and lying on flat surface is impossible. However still am glad that I managed to endure the super-killer-long flight.
Honestly speaking, I am nervous and afraid of travelling to a stranger country and expect to live there for 2 to 2 half years away from my family. Especially when my mom sent me off at the airport, I cant help but about to shed tears (not yet, at least not in front of my mom). It have to thanks to my mom too that causes it to start. Luckily it is not earlier but near the custom gate. Emotion ran high could be a factor from another family and friends who were sending off their friend. Thankfully, mom and me did not have a teary farewell. Otherwise it will be damn awful. haha... Due to this, I had no appetite during my flight to Narita. In the end, I was so hungry on the 2nd flight. However, food on UA from Narita tastes a lot better and looks superb appetitzing. And yes, UA air stewardesses and stewards are old and not good-looking. Worst, flight from SG to Narita, the air stewardess was not friendly at all. A passenger request some help with the moving of baggage from the closed cabin, she display a look, which to me look like you owe her a lot. In comparison, air stewardess from Narita to SFC was more friendly and helpful.
I checked in two baggage of combined weight of 42kg. =) and my one handcarry is 10kg. Still when I unpacked and repacked just now, I realised I forgot to bring quite a lot of stuffs. That could be serve myself right for packing at a very last minute.
During transit at Narita, I did a little shopping and uses internet access. Unlike SG, internet access at Narita is not free. You have to pay 100 yen per 10 minutes. But if you use wi-fi, most prob is free. In the end, I bought myself 2 jap magazines, 1 ipod adapter, 1 lip balm, 1 cute reusable bag and1 sushi keychain, adding up a total of 4180 yen. omg, I did not realised I spent that much. Nevertheless, I dont regret getting all of them Especially the magazines, I never bought it such a normal rate before. Haha... Cos kinokuniya will jack up the price due to shipment and stuffs.
   

Afterwhich, I bought the plane to San Francisco. Thank goodness, I got the front row seat though in the center, at least I could stretch my leg real high. Lol. Connecting flight to Eugene was tight unlike the one in Narita where I had close to 3 hours of free time. Furthermore, custom at state is strict, you practically have to take out everything for checking under the x-ray before gaining access to the dosmetic flight. Another weird thing, when I pass through the custom after alighting my 2nd flight, a lady officer escorted me to a room, some security thing, but I have no idea what is going on. She just took my passport and ask me to wait a minute or two before asking me to leave the place and claim my baggage. Before that she told the officer who did the screening saying "SG, just let it pass." Weird.
     
After another an hour plus flight, I finally get to arrive at Eugene. In the same flight, a dog was onboard. It was leading its owner who is blind. I mean what a rare sight to see a dog in plane and the dog was still and quiet throughout the whole journey unlike a kid who was so noisy keep repeating "playground, playground" when the plane was preparing for landing. Eugene airport is small, no custom check and stuffs. Just proceed directly to baggage claim. Afterwhich, I got myself an airport shuttle that has a flat rate of US$21.50 or zone 2  to the inn that I have booked. At that time it was 2.30pm which has the same time frame as when I board flight at Narita. Its as though I am freezing in time. Lol.

When reached the inn, I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. Maybe because the inn is run by an Indian family. Lol. Intended to stay at level 2, but on 2nd thought chose first floor though may not have that much of a privacy. Blame it on my baggage =( Since checking-in, I have not went out. Only to the next door 7-eleven to get water and sandwich. I felt tired and sleepy, so have no intention of following my intial plan of going to the university which is nearby - 20 minutes walk according to google map.
Guess that's all for today. Think this is the first time, I wrote so much. =D
Tomorrow is the start of ISO (International Student Orientation). And at the Eugene airport I saw a lot of other students mainly from China.

          

"what do you miss most at work?" or "how do you feel knowing today is your last day?"

no particular feelings. just a little mixed. wont miss working at kino, cos i prefer to shop there as a customer. the fact is i do feel a little lost knowing that it is my last day of work. the one and only factor that affect me badly are the friends that i am going to miss working with. they are wonderful working pals as well as friends. this is mainly due to that i have been working on weekdays after i'm done with the school here in july. with so many working days (trying to max it so that i could get more $$, hehe), the bond between each other (esp. ppl who i am close with at work, such as fong yee n cindy - they too, work more than expected in the contract) has become closer, i think. i even feel rather bump out that I did not have the same shift with either of them on weekend esp on my last day. it just feels not right. haha... anyway, i have a wonderful time with many of my click-click there. it is also especially hard to believe that despite the obvious differences in the age gap, well some are as young as 18, we managed to create a kind of friendship. they made my working hours a truly pleasant one.
ever since i have started working after my o level and including internship and kino, a total of about 6 different places. kino is the place where i will miss most spending time with friends i have made there. the other working places, i was just too excited and eager to know it was my last day of work. i will definitely want to keep in touch with them - my click-click :P

I have bought my air tix and will be leaving on the 15 Sep. Sadly, I wasn't so hyped up as expected. Maybe due to my nervousness, afterall this is my first long trip. Time is so short with so many things to settle. omg! I wish I was given more time. However, I am pretty excited about transfering at Narita airport. haha.. That will mean I will be stepping on Japan's soil again (hurray!!!) after more than a year. I wish I could just get out of the custom and visit Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ueno and etc.... I miss all those places especially animate, I want to stock up on some Bleach n Soul Eater stuffs!

Here is my flight details:
FROM                                       : SINGAPORE
DEPARTURE TERMINAL     : TERMINAL 3
TO                                             : TOKYO NARITA
ARRIVAL TERMINAL             :
DEPT DATE                            : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
ARRV DATE                            : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
CLASS                                     : M
CARRIER                                : UNITED AIR LINES
DEPT TIME                             : 0710
ARRV TIME                             : 1510

FROM                                      : TOKYO NARITA
DEPARTURE TERMINAL    : TERMINAL 1
TO                                            : SAN FRANCISCO CA
ARRIVAL TERMINAL            :
DEPT DATE                           : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
ARRV DATE                           : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
CLASS                                    : M
CARRIER                               : UNITED AIR LINES
DEPT TIME                            : 1800
ARRV TIME                            : 1120

FROM                                      : SAN FRANCISCO CA
DEPARTURE TERMINAL    : TERMINAL 3
TO                                            : EUGENE
ARRIVAL TERMINAL            :
DEPT DATE                           : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
ARRV DATE                           : 15-Sep-2009 Tuesday
CLASS                                    : M
CARRIER                               : UNITED AIR LINES
DEPT TIME                            : 1245
ARRV TIME                            : 1417

Thank goodness my bro did mention to me that only Boeing 777 plane has personal entertainment system. Otherwise I could be stuck in a plane for a super long time with nothing to do. Next up, I will need to book a motel or inn for 2 nights stay before I can move in officially to my dorm. *sign.... 

Yesterday, I went to get a new spectacle done! Its has transparent frame. Can't wait to wear it. :D

it is the 3rd week into the new semester and i am still in my own holiday mode. no idea why, bt i just could not get my study mode started. partially could be due to that the subjects that i took this time, most are  ..... (cant really find a suitable word) so "hands-on". another reason could be i have too much free time - i only took 3 subjects; college algebra, biology and western civilization II. most people has like 4 to 5 subjects. cant really blame myself, other subjects are just too business, i simply lacked the interest in it. worst, my french II was cancelled in the last min and so is the course, children literature. on the bright side, maybe that gives me more time to do the hands-on subjects. i never hated mathematics that much before, to be exact 9 years ago. used to love it in secondary sch and breeze through all papers. but now, i could hardly remember what i had studied and most stuffs are foreign to me. this is more difficult that writing research paper. hopefully my tactics of doing maths an hour each day could help me get back on track. nevertheless, i am still aiming for As... hahaha...
have been buying manga ever since i received vouchers for my bday. to make sure i have enough space for the newly bought manga, i did a little arrangement of my shelves. and here are the manga titles that i own as of now. feel rather proud of my own little collection. =)

Chinese Version
01.	NANA	NANA	Vol.1-19	[ongoing...]
02.	四叶妹妹	Yotsuba	Vol.1-4	[ongoing...]
03.	死神	Bleach	Vol.1-3 + Soul	[ongoing...]
04.	噬魂者	Soul Eater	Vol.1-3	[ongoing...]
05.	隠王	Nabari no Ou	Vol.1-3	[ongoing...]
06.	棋魂	Hikaru no Go	Vol.1-23 +1	[short of #22]
07.	聖石小子	Rave	Vol.1-35	[short of #22]
08.	神剑闯江湖	Rurouni Kenshin	Vol.1-28	[complete]
09.	Death Note	Death Note	Vol.1-13	[complete]
10.	梦幻游戏	Fushigi Yuugi	Vol.1-18	[complete]
11.	好球旋风儿	Yeah! It's Our Baseball	Vol.1-16	[complete]
12.	漂亮脸蛋	Pretty Face	Vol.1-6	[complete]
13.	小甜甜	Xiao Tian Tian	Vol.1-8	[given to me by a frenz]
14.	X	X	Vol.1-18	[unfinished]
15.	犬夜叉	Innuyasha	Vol.1-9
16.	原子小金刚	Astro Boy	Vol.1-16
17.	蜡笔小新	Crayon Shin-chan	Vol.1-32
18.	金田一: 吸血鬼傳说杀人事件		Vol.1	[complete]
19.	金田一:剧场馆-第三次杀人事件		Vol.1-2	[complete]
20.	金田一:黑魔术杀人事件		Vol.1	[complete]
21.	金田一:血溜之间杀人事件/不动高中学園祭杀人事件		Vol.1	[complete]
22.	跳躍吧!时空少女	Tokikake	Vol.1	[complete]
23.	鐮谷悠希短篇集	Liberamente	Vol.1	[complete]
24.	鬼眼狂刀	Samurai Deeper Kyo	Vol.1-5
25.	东京地底奇兵	Tokyo Underground	Vol.1-11
26.	Luno	Luno	Vol.1
27.	最游记	Saiyuki Part 1	Vol.1
28.	翼	Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles	Vol.1	Hardcover ed
29.	天使禁猎区	Angel Sanctuary	Vol.1-2
Japanese Version
30.	Bleach : The Sealed Sword Frenzy			[complete]
31.	Bleach: Official Animation Book - Vibes			[complete]
32.	ソウルイーター	Soul Eater	Vol.1-2
33.	隠の王	Nabari no Ou	Vol.1
34.	千と千尋の神隠し	Spirited Away	Vol.1-5	[complete]
Bilingual Version (English + Japanese)
35.	金田一少年の事件簿	The New Kindaichi Files	Vol.1-4

7 hours and 15 mins more to go and i will be on a plane heading to xiamen, china. fantastic. n i am still pondering what not to pack in the luggage. if i am bringing a suitcase, it will be a lot easier. too bad, i am not. this time i am traveling in "amazing race" style - in huge backpack. so space is limited and i am going for 8 days. hmmm.. in fact my clothing on took up a third of the space but why does it still look so fully packed? it must be that jacket, the one meant for winter. the compressor bag doesnt seem to help much. i really wish to cut down the size of the backpack and make it a little lighter, so that i wont feel so heavy carrying it. especially when go to uphill rural area.i had better get back to my packing. and of course bedtime.

hurray!! everything has ended. no more late nights.
it was absolutely no fun in having 3 exams in a row starting from 830am. i almost made a huge mistake by miscalculating the time. thank goodness, that doesnt happen. well let me start off with my JLPT 4 day, which was on sun 7 dec.
wondering who is the person who set the place. it was so wulu that cause me to miss my bus stop and was late by a minute!! the venue is at nanyang girls high, which is far frm my home although i have a direct bus to there. i went out half an hour early in case i miss a bus stop or anything that might happen. who knows it still wasnt enough. to be exact i missed 2 bus stops. and bcos i wasnt familiar with the place - btw the map looks closer and easier to navigate, they should have informed me of the mini forest separating the roads - i was lost. fortunately, i asked someone who pointed me the correct direction. and there seemed to have quite a number of japs staying ard the area. cos the kind soul told me "you had better be quick or you will be late" in a jap accent. haha.. so no choice, i ran all the way to the sch, of course with a few stops. man, it was so tiring, my legs almost gave way. its like many ages since i last ran. fortunately i was allowed in. as for the test, i just hope i am able to pass, wasnt that confident. can only myself should i fail, cos i did not really study for the test. i was paying too much attention on my school work. but then again, i didnt did very fantastic for my sch exams, bcos i was already looking forward to my holiday. haha. Bs are not a problem, but for As. hmm, a little difficult. maybe french is still possible. i dont think i screw up. the french exam was pretty easier than i thought.
2 more days to go, before flying out of here.

yesterday i bought 2 pairs of pants from fox. they are having a clearance sale at compass point atrium just at about the right time. after reading and flipping through those jap fashion magazine mainly cutie (bought by fangling) couple of times, i had the urge to change my wardrobe again! so happy that i managed to do so yesterday after i spot a pair of checkered pants while walking past. the best is i got them at a real cheap deal. i only spend 26 bucks for both. yeah!



right now, i hope i can achieve some of these style that i picked from both cutie and mini magazine. not to forget, there is my fave actress, Maki Horikita on the cover page of cutie!


However, some are difficult to achieve. all thanks to the bloody hot weather in singapore. *sign.

Note: for my japan trip photo, i know it is a long delay, but i have upload them to my facebook. so anyone who wants to take a look, just go to my profile -> photos.

the phrase "customer is always right" is been used too frequently n over e top. i can never argue that such a phrase is wrong! not that i dont want to but bcos i, myself, is a customer too most time. yet i couldnt support it 100%, or else i would be sorry to myself who is currently working in retail service line, kinokuniya. been torn apart, i had decided not to argue which side is right, customer or staff, as there will never be a definite answer. most time, it still depends on circumstances, while some time, both are right or both are wrong. instead after today, i do hope that everyone can be more respectful to others when you go shopping or need service (in the context of business) from others. pls put yourself in other person's perspective! (in fact i do hope that e incident today could happen earlier so that my second would have scored better, damn it!)
today is not the first time i have met customers who make sarcastic remarks such as "oh, you are a trainee, are you sure you really know?" and "have you been to a pre school before?" and even "you are a trainee, i dont want to talk to you, i want to talk to your manager!" of course there are a hundred more worst remarks encountered by others. as far as i remembered, i have never make any such ridiculous and yes, brainless remarks before to any frontline staff! why would a person comment something so extreme, especially since i did not offended him/her and of course i am only following the rules set by the company. ease up guys! imagine you are the person being commented on, how would you feel? most importantly, do you think it is fair to the other party? i am just wondering did they ever think at the back of their head before making such a remark? i think it is an obvious no. i believed they are imbalanced, probably being scolded by the boss in office or the wife at home therefore is looking for someone to vent the frustration. if that is really the case, they should go and do some anger management course or something like that. obviously, that whoever-the-person seems like a pretty nasty person at work, or else they would not cause trouble. and often, in a day, they could be the only troublesome customer. base on statistic, they are of a minimal percentage and that means it is not very much the fault of the service provider. else how do u explain the high percentage of people who are satisfied?
those insensitive-brainless-troublesome-nasty customers should look at themselves in the mirror and reflect on their action. firstly, have they ever think why would a staff - with full independency and gone through interview - serve you? doesnt that tell you, the staff is capable of doing simple things such as when there is or there isnt discount, what can be done and not and is equipped with knowledge - basic education. and if the staff is not capable, he/she would not have stand here and serve you and many others.
secondly, staffs are human too. everyone deserves respect as much as you, a customer, want. so dont put down people when you dont want others to put you down.
lastly (that is as much as i could think of right now), look at the bigger picture. behind the frontline staff, there is managers > team > management and finally the company. what constitutes a company?? rules and regulations play a role. so staffs are adhere by rules and regulations which in turn are impose on the customers. so dont complain when you, a customer, cannot abide to.

well, that is about it. i think most of my steam has been let off. feeling good now. damn, still wish that today incident could happen earlier. am really bummed by my 2nd essay score (my topic is on "customer is not always right"), so i have to get at least a B+ for my research paper - the last paper - in order to get an overall B. that is so sucky. 

am thinking of japan!! 日本を行ってが欲しい。cant help it when urs jus came back from the land of the rising sun.

my western civilization professor sure has a sense of humor. today, we are going through the topic on medieval. spot on, as usual some students fell asleep during class - most people cant help it esp when it is a history class covered in lecture after lecture. today was so timely, a student suddenly woke up and my professor showed us this picture in our text book.



she commented university students of the past and today do not have much differences. there are some who sleep, some who chat at the back of the class while some who are serious listening.

well, the whole class laughed.

hurray!! finally my western civilization has ended. no more late night studying! now i understand why some people hate history lesson, mainly is due to the super-overloading-confusing-similar dates required to memorize. but that does not deter me from the subject. i am even considering continuing with the course and take up western civilization II in spring term. in fact, it is pretty interesting to know things/events that happen in the past. i am rather fascinated by the people who lived in the past, even way back to 3000 BCE. they have similarities of what it is today, or rather i should said our way of life and things we do now reflect the past. well, enough of those. at least from this exam paper, it helps me understand what the teacher wants. the mcq questions are straight forward and easy unlike the test i took from my environmental science course in summer term. the mcq qns were so tricky and some u could not get it directly from the text book! fortunately, though i may did badly for the last test, i still managed to get an overall grade, A. phew..
another thing that i am going to change is my study plan. no more last minutes studying! last minute kill a person and make you panic for nothing. it really is studying = student + dying. so for my final exam, which i will have 3 courses on the last week of fall term calendar, i would not repeat the same mistake. from now on, after every lessons, i will do a review of the chapter provided it is done. so when come exam, i will not scrambled frantically trying to note down all important informations. but of course, i will still dedicated my weekend for play time, since most of my weekday is so free. weekday shall be studying time, no more play and rest until i finished what i am suppose to do.
last weekend during work was fun. i even contemplating drawing a manga style of that particular "library" event. i had some ideas and probably the ideas sketch out in outline. just need to fine tune it and make it look more like manga style and it will be good. not sure, will i ever finished the thing. and if i do, i shall post it. so for now, let me get back to my research for my coming research paper.

lots of unforseen events happened recently especially at work. there is this "new" person, well, she is not exactly that new. somehow everyone at work apart from those who she is close to, kinda either hate her or treat her as non-existence.  blackout (that's my name for her, cos in the locker she is the only one with the black ikea box and everyone treats her as an outcast, so combining those 2 words, "black" + "out" = blackout. voila!) had a blog, which i do not know abt it, till Fang Ling, told me abt it and of course with her usual hyper energy recommended me to go and read it. like always, i dragged on for a few days, and finally read it today. the blog was dated on 1st oct, all chinese (except one) weekend part time cashiers went back to work on hari raya, blackout was assigned to counter D, thankfully someone save me from being with her so that i can be with FL at counter C. haha. oops sorry bee koon, didnt mean to rub salt on ur wound. =P anyway, she wrote a poem out of boredom. not bad for being "creative" though.  u can really tell blackout was really damn bored, cos she noted the timing "... , ALONE, for 1hr 28minutes." wow, in other words, she was looking forward to her partner's arrival. but her poem wrote,
"Stuck not on my own, still at a lonely corner
Even with a partner, i feel alone as ever"
hey, what happened to ur partner?? ok, first she was yearning for her partner's arrival, now her partner was here, she still feel lonely? was there a problem with blackout? maybe blackout blackout the place subconsciously, treating the surroundings transparent, that was why blackout was lonely. what happened? maybe that was the reason why she had to sat on the floor, yes, i repeat, she sat on the floor behind the counter while working last sunday. one of the senior thought she had fainted!! and gave a call immediately to ensure she was ok. unfortunately, for blackout, she received a great scolding from the senior. haha.. how daring blackout was, she actually sat on the floor! ws her brain working right or was it left somewhere in the blackhole. i mean knowing that she is working at the frontline in a retail environment, she should know the rules, especially the need to stand for long hours. the most a person would do is just leaning by the counter. who in the right mind will sit on the floor with the cctv camera on you. what a joke. 
i guess i will end here. gotta get back to do my compo. i do not want to be a friend with panda again. i know they are cute and such, but it is still best not to be like one of them. i believe these few days at work there will be more jokes and fun stuff happening around. and definitely the cold war will still be ongoing, without a doubt.

PS: i am kinda glad the movie thing was called off on 1st oct. blackout mentions this in her blog, "Oh and another information, the movie thing with the morning shift people didn't happen." i dont think i can handle having her around. not that i hate her, just that i have nothing to talk to her.

contd...

so i start to be mean or maybe jus bad. since i will apologise for my insufficient and stuffs. i start to not listen to her calls and reply to her messages very late and telling white lies - like i'm working when i'm not. but i am really tired to be going out for her supposedly fun gathering (which i know will not be a success). at least i did what i'm supposed to do, i finished with 3 different designs for the posters. more than enough, and do regret for sending the third one. cos tonight -pic- called again and said she would like to have the 3rd one amended although she was pretty set on using the 1st one. hello!! the school is not big. furthermore having more that one design for a recruitment ad is not being consistent. at least i'm being a gd girl today. i picked up her. i couldnt believe it! she did not receive my amended 1st design which she asked to do so urgently!! it turned out she did not check her email everyday. why would anyone not be doing that when you are expecting something urgent.

what irritates me further is. she called me again using her house phone ( i know she will since she mentioned it). and haha.. guess what. "... erm.. ok, i'm still waiting for the files to open"

i was stunned, "you mean you have not open the files?"

"no, erm.. i opening the files right now" she argued. i could hear her talking to her brother in the background "how to make the files open quickly"

i rolled my eyes (i wish she could see it). "why dont you wait till you have opened the 2 files and take a look on them and think about it then give me a call. ok? bye." i hurried to end the call, half frustated.

she did it again, wasting my mobile bill. (i do not have free incoming calls and had mentioned to her at our very 2nd call when she uses her house phone) and that is pretty much the reason why i avoided her call if i could.

so i am not sure will i still continue with the floorball game or not. but that all depends on how it advances.

its the first day of school. not exactly mine first first - a first for the fall term. i was pretty impressed by myself for surviving the summer term (2 months of "crash" courses), after i had like ..... stopped school for about 3 yrs? whao.. that makes me sounds so old. anyway, first day of class is not too bad especially when i had only an hour half of a class for the day. haha.. pretty much i am still relaxed.

as for my one month vacation that ended yesterday *sob sob.. (i wish it can be longer) i dont seem to be doing much fun. most time spending workin at kino, catching on the olympic fever and watching jap dramas (i hv nt watch gokusen 3 although i keep saying that i wanna watch it, instead i end up watching puzzle, nobuta wo produce, kurosagi and etc.) however i still had my fair share of fun at kino, if i can exclude the days where i start feeling a drag going to work and had couple of lateness and some near miss of been late. and how can i forget that the need to pay the shortages. damn. i was praying not to make any mistakes cos i do not wish to be like my colleague who works on weekdays too during vacations and ended up paying back close to 3 figures sum of shortages. too bad i was cursed too. fortunately, (still crossing my fingers - think will continue to cross it till the day i hand in the white envelope - that i should probably take a leaf from the whimpy kid's diary and tape my fingers together) my wasnt that bad, only one red note. that was what i thought that day when i signed the acknowledgement form. i will definitely not forget that day where i argue about paying the 2 cents. its not that i cant afford it, it is a matter of principles. 

despite all the slight unfairness system, i managed to go about it and remain happy. and yes, in any case anyone asking me will i quit anytime soon. no! i will not and i do not regret the day when i reject my sis's kind offer of working as a temp admin at the company she was working for that time. it was a great offer with an extra dollar per hr compared to mine current job. plus i will have the weekend off without making sacrifices my relaxing weekdays. plus working at a bookstore has it advantages too. the discount aside, i get to know what are the bestseller and take a peek or more into it as well. if anyone is looking for a light hearted good read, should try the whimpy kid's diary (the first book - red). it is fantastic!

back to school. during summer i decided to join the floorball team. guess what during the first open house, it was a failure. pathetic sight. only 3 new members (including me) came for the try-outs. 2 other members are the person-in-charge (-pic-) and the ex-member. but i still keep my hopes high. on that day i kind of talk too much and said yes i know how to use photoshop and i can help with the recruitment poster. didnt knew i will regret a little after that. (i dont like many attention, u know =P) yes, i really do enjoy being able to do what i'm pretty good at and that i do hv high expectation that almost everyone will be impressed by the poster i designed. however, as soon as the holiday started and my horrible work schedule starts. and not to mention the -pic-. i know some of my actions is like escaping from responsibility but i just couldnt stand some the action she did. it bothers me. maybe i am also a person who dont like to be push around. 

to be contd...

i calculated my expenditure and found that i had spent too much. too much for someone who was no longer working full time and doesnt boost a salary of more that 1k half per month. my part time job at kinokuniya, couldnt get me covered up especially when you had lots of bills to pay. curse those installment that i had signed up a year ago. and double curse myself for foolishly ticked the 24 months plan. it was a drag to pay those monthly bills. i swear that i would never ever signed up for an installment plan again unless it was an emergency. my last trip to kinokuniya bursted my pocket, even if i had discounts. in total i bought 5 books for about 139 bucks after discount. among the 5 books, 4 are decently priced, the one book was an extortion. you would feel like getting yourself killed after hearing that your classmate only got it for 3 US dollars. it does not matter that it could be of an older version. i got mine for 80 plus sing dollar. never underestimate the power of "little brown handbook". damn it. the "little" brown handbook does not looked innocent at all with the price attached. looking on the bright side, it was well worth the money, the information found inside could easily get you blown away, and at least i could be spending the least among those others who bought it at local major bookstores.

writing has never interest me since young. at most writing assignment, i would do it with fear for i know my grammar was not perfect. i had never attempted to understood them at all. my vast improvement in o level result for my english, only put me into complacency. i jumped from an E8 during prelims to a B4 in O level. the english composition 1 class that i am takingfor my summer term now, had my attention. i may only attended 3 three hours classes, nevertheless i seemed to enjoy writing more now compared to before i attended the class. the dean, autocratic american who has a weird sense of humor, was right in saying, "writing is an art." i couldnt agree with him more. i do not regret in taking this class for the first term. instead i was glad that the other class was cancelled that lead me into choosing the english compo. i am excited in building a firm language foundation.

its a week now since i came back from Tokyo and I am still feeling the down syndrome. Wishing that i am still there. After spending 9 days there, i have been rather unforgiving to our train system here. i cant stand the long waiting time, 5 or 6 mins. neither can i stand people so inconsiderate by talking loudly on phone, standing and refusing to move on the right side of the escalator. i also blame the narrowness of the stairway in the train station. i also find the lcd screen in the nel to be a waste of money to taxpayer, it serves no purpose. hmmm.. seems like been to a more high-tech and efficient city makes one unbearable of things not going your way.

of course, i still miss the cold weather. singapore has become incredibily hot recently. i miss the serene park and sakura!! hahaha.. and of course i will never forget hakone. i swear that i will go back there again!!!

recently i have been planning my way for a next trip to Japan. hopefully can do so next year. considering what i am going to do. it does not sound feasible at all. but i still am pinning my hope. so dont blame me for not uploading the photos. i just wont want to face the fact that my holiday is over. (uploading and saving photos means i am back from holiday and back to reality.) well, think will do so over this weekend or so. and yes, i have just finished calculating my accounts for my Tokyo trip. whaoooo!!! i have spend a whopping $4200 including air tix, accomodation, food, transport and everything. there goes the $$$$.. hahaha. its worth it lah.

TAF and Animate has really made my interest in manga and anime, esp anime, to grow!!! think if i will to make my trip there again, i will spend more $$ on anime stuffs than now. am excited that i have gotten hold of nabari no ou and soul eater manga. so am looking forward to seeing the anime too. now i am hoping that my jap can b real good so i wont hv to read them in chinese. cos somehow reading in chinese still feels weird esp when it comes to the name. when you are so used to the chinese name, you will not be able to remember the japanese name. hahaha..

now am super looking forward to the next trip!!!! there are still so many places that i have yet been to. 9 days is just too short a time. can you believe it that i have not been to Ginza at all!!! oh man... so is nakano broadway! so is the toy wholesaler at ueno! have yet finished exploring shibuya and so on..... when can i go back again??

sign** why is time running at super slow speed now. how i wish i can end my day in the office soon. it is becoming unbearable to stay on though practically everyday has nothing to do. well, its boring me out. yawn**** 

Verdict: Singapore weather is darn hot and warm. the moment i reached singapore land, i was immediately swarm by the warm humid weather. it was midnight then. i really missed the weather in Tokyo now. esp the welcoming weather on my last day there.

clear blue sky. sunny. windy. i love the combo. why must it only happen now. *sob how i wish i can extend my stay. the weather on 1st apr was prefect for scaling the heights and see the fuji san.

after the hours and hours of putting all my buys in the 2 huge luggages. this morning i woke up early to repack them again. to make sure i put all the stuffs in the correct place. wont want to get in trouble with the customs. =P 

check-out at 930am.
ok, i still have about 4 hrs to go before i catch my skyliner to narita at 240pm.

since i have not really walked around the neighbourhood of my staying place. i decided to go to the nearby shrine and do a walk about. the shrine was awesome and composed. unlike the frenzy at asakusa. it was world apart. it also has a bonsai tree garden and a pond with turtles. it also has the row of torii that stretch to about a few metres. never knew such a place existed, well at least it was not mentioned in the guide books.

next up i went around the neighbourhood and saw a house was in he midst of construction. woow. had never seen a house built made of wood. first time.

watch check. still have some hours to go. hmmm.. ok, to Tokyo Tower. hoping to see the fuji-san from a far.

i am going to be dissapointed again. never knew so many people was there. the queue up the tower and to buy ticket was horrendous. dont think i can make it in time if i were to queue. so no choice but to give up and only went up to the roof area, before going to the souvenir shop and try to spend all my single available cash. however it was not a fruitless trip. still managed to get some real good shot of the tower against the sakura backdrop. to top of it, it was a clear blue sky. picture perfect!!

alright, time to head back. took the jr to ueno and walk the park for one last time. had my lunch, yaki soba, overlooking the pond before heading back to my ryokan to pick up my luggages. had better hurry back cos i only left with an hour.

cool, reach the ryokan at 2pm meaning i have time to push my luggage to kesei ueno station. 

after the last goodbye to the family. i head up to the street trying to push the heavy luggages.whew. what seems to be a quick 2 mins out to the main street, is taking a toll on me. it took me double the time. i was panting and sweating never knew they are that heavy. at last i gave up and hail a cab to the station. thus spending another 710yen again.

stairs again. *faint. 

finally reached within the station with few mintues to spare. luckily i took the cab, or else i will missed my plane out. haha...

oh mine!! i have max out the weight limit. my check-in lugguges are officially at 35.7kg. was told to took out 5kg or else have to pay 300 dollars. yes, dollars not yen. knowing what causes the heaviness, very quickly i took 5.2kg worth of books. finally checking in with 30.5kg of baggage.

so it is finally goodbye to Tokyo. to the weather, to ueno, to the trains, to the ryokan, to the family, etc... and begun my long journey back home.

wait.. its not the end yet. Japan, I will be back again! hahaha...