Mega Updates

Sorry my dear faithful readers. Was busy with many stuff recently. Work, games and dramas. =| Recently there are a lot of new game releases you see. Plus with a new harddisk, I starting to resume my Japanese drama watching again. Will try to come up with some reviews of some of them if possible.

Since usually my morning period is very unproductive, and I don't really feel like starting on the task I have in hand now, so I thought it might be a good time I update here a bit.

Let's see... my last post was November, and now already pass mid-Dec. What have I did in during this period. Nothing really special. But I definitely overspent for this month. Let me list down what I've bought this month and their agar agar damages.

Oven - $83
Mixer - $37
Mp3 player - $130
1TB Harddisk - $186
2x 1GB RAM - $34
GTA4 - $45

Ouch! =\

And yes.. I finally bought my oven. Then I started to play around with cupcakes. The mixer I got it during my 2nd trial.

Mixer at work

Baking in the oven

First trial

Second trial

Filling the inside

If you notice why all no icing or cream on top. Well.... I couldn't get it right yet, so ya.. They were all bald. Will try again whipping cream perhaps tonight. Hahaha.. And that was the reason I bought the mixer. But seriously, mixing is really easier if you have a mixer. =D)


Now, let's talk about my new MP3 player. I bought this MP3 player from a Mass Order in a forum. This guy ordered from China and brought them in. It was like a plunge and see how this unknown brand and product will fare. Not bad, it's pretty decent enough.

The main selling point of this player is that it can play RMVB videos! But then... I always lazy to convert my videos. Then all those videos that I had resolution was kinda high, so it's really taxing on the processing power of the player. I really ought to reduce them before loading to the player.

It has a camera but seriously, it sucks like hell (as you can see from above). It's more like webcam quality, or worse. =\

But this thing has pretty good battery life. Playing MP3s, full to flat, maybe can last around 8hrs? Or more? No idea. Never really tested that. And this thing is really light. Very light, in fact.

Next month maybe should be getting a nice earphone for it. I hate those plug into ears one. My ear holes very small, plug those stuff in hurt my ear a lot. Need to get either those noise cancelling buds kind or those clip-on kind. Will look into it next month.


Next thing to talk about, MY GEEKY STUFF! I LOVE BEING OTAKU! Harddisk and RAM. Basically I upgraded my GFX card last month liao. All these were just for 1 game, GTA4. But bloody hell, this game really kan xiong on the requirement. Now the chokepoint is my processor. I have no plan of upgrading just yet. So forget it, I'll endure the jerkings in the game. =\

And now with 1TB HDD, I'm back to Japanese dramas again. Since then, I've watched 3 sets of drama liao. Woot~ I still got another 4-5 sets more to finish watch. OTAKU MAX~

Even though I spent quite a considerable amount of time at home doing all my otaku and girly stuff, I still got spend time with friends one okay! I still got go out with friends every now and then for dinner and stuff. It's just recently lah. Ever since I started playing GTA4, I tend to stay at home more. =D)


From now till the end of my finance month, I still got a few more stuff that I need to spend money on. Got 3x gift exchange coming up. Dinner here and there. =| Might be entering deficit this month liao. Never mind lah ah. Next year I'll start to save up more!! Next year.. next year... ... ... ... ...

Maybe I should really get a decent camera too. =X

Grow up please...

Heard these words from the angel side of me just now. Here's the story. Self-pwned story to say how spoilt brat am I.

I woke up around 140pm just now. Usual routine for weekend will be go wash up, toileting, then search for breakfast. My weekend's breakfast is prepared/bought by my mum one, most of the time...

Open up and see, wah! Lor mee! Nice! Even pour into bowl for me liao. Took a fork and took the bowl up and about to eat. WAIT! My eyes still a bit blurry because I juse woke up, but I saw stuff moving around at the edge of the bowl. Ah... Great.... ANTS INVASION!

Went out to the living room and showed my mum. Maybe I was a bit in the short fuse recently, then I started to blame her. Say why she act smart go pour into bowl first, if still in plastic bag then I can have it already. Don't act smart thinking I will always wake up by 11am or so. She then went to kitchen to see what's wrong with the "anti-ant mechanism" and fixed it a bit, and chased the ants outta of the bowl and told me can eat liao.

=\ My first thought here was.. What? It's sharing food with ants. Not I had leftover for ants wor, it's the ants who had it first before I do! Never mind, I took the bowl again, and look look. Some dead ants dead by the side of the lor mee. You know... Lor mee is sticky sticky one. They got stuck to the lor and dead. *salute* Then I complained again (yesh, like a brat). So she offered to cook instant mee for me instead.

Yesh, at this point of time, suddenly.. really suddenly... The angel side of me had awaken! Think he overslept. The devil woke up earlier. I managed to think through properly lah. She already put in effort, then I shouldn't complain anymore right? Even if I don't want to eat that ant-infested bowl of lor mee, I should go settle my breakfast myself right? So basically now it's my own problem, and I should settle it myself. Stop bothering her.

Alright, so I told her never mind. Forget it. It's okay. 算了.

I ate that bowl of lor mee....... hahahahaha.. Sorry, I was too lazy to cook instant noodle myself. So I just use a spoon to scoop the side of the lor and dump onto the sink. I think I still see some ants (around 2-3) dead in the pool of sticky fluid. Ah! F**k it lah. Ants only, scare wat?

Ate. Pwned. And grew up....

p/s: ah yesh.. i'm 25 already, and i'm still a spoilt brat. FLAME ME!!!

Break time...

After all the OTs for the week, this afternoon at around 5pm I've finally completed the project unofficially. Now left the tidying of the codes, synchronization with another part from my colleague, full functional test and I'm officially done! YATTA!

Great... Finally can take my mind off the work. Seriously, for the past few mornings, everytime I woke up, the first thing that came my mind was some component of the project. It was really haunting me man. Think tonight I can have a good rest. YESH! Don't need to go back tomorrow! WOooooOoOHoooOOO!!

Anyway, today after my work, I went down to SLS to meet up with zw, zm and siao. Zw's upgrading his comp. Siao was called along bcos I think zm realised it was siao's bday today, so we decided to celebrate with him. And so... After the SLS trip, we went down to Marina Sq for dinner. Chose Azabu Sabo - jap food~

Well.. the food there was pretty decent. The fried ramen thingy was nice, you can try order it and share around. Attempting to eat it alone you might get quite sick of it though. However, Azabu Sabo actually excels in their desserts. Wahahahahahahaa! I'm a dessert sucker. Its dessert is really good. I had the ice cream with fried balls and sweet potato. Nice nice nice!

Here comes the interesting part. We asked for the bill, and we split it among the 3 of us to treat siao. Siao was puzzled by it and so we explained we wanna treat him for his bday and stuff. And guess what? He's got even puzzled after that. After some verification, we then realised it wasn't his bday today. It's next month, and no a matter juz 1-2 weeks.... -_-" Zm is some kind of cousin eh? Wanted to celebrate his bday, but couldn't get his birthday right. Bo pian, so it was a way advance bday treat then. So malu lor! Hai.... Sorry Siao! It's ur cousin fault.

So, end of "celebration", back to random walking and window shopping. Went over to Suntec (DAMN! I missed my Anime Fest because I was still working in the office. Maybe I should go over and see tomorrow.), wanted to go to Carrefour to buy some rechargeable battery recommended by zm.

Nothing else special after that, so the end~

Bought a new Gillette Fusion Power razor! And restock on my Gatsby deodorant. The razor having promo now. Usual price is 19.30, now going for 14.30.
Total Damage: $22.80


And here's the rechargeable battery! They recommended me to get a decent charger.
Total damage: $29.90

OTs with no OLs...

Don't mind the title, I just thought OT and OL rhymes.. =\

Anyway, have been working on OTs recently. 745pm on Tuesday, 945 on Wednesday and 1040pm yesterday. Sucks... First assignment 1x jialat jialat.

This is what happen when you are at the bottom of the chain. Client wanna roll out the project fast because they wanna include it in their FY. People up there will say "Can! No problem" - at our expense.

First time, the specifications were already passed to us late. So no special time allowance for me, even though it's my first virgin project. Normally, a 2-weeks schedule is for the people who have experience. Well, it was the same for me. Now with the client rushing us, the 2 weeks schedule is cut short to 1 week (with weekends included). Surprise! Yeah, how I love this surprise. =\ =/

Okay.. enough complaints. Big boss came in early today, and he saw me in the office too. Yeah! Up points!

Promising bus timing.

Great! This earlier bus timing that I changed to since yesterday is really less crowded. And today I TRIED my very best to stay awake more. *grin* Promising views... XD I'll stick to this!!!

Green Light for Oven

Alright man! I've got the approval from the mistress of the place I'm staying. Approval to get an oven to replace that microwave oven. Microwave oven troublesome lah.. I can't put metal stuff inside. My pan and stuff all metal one, plus that microwave oven is maybe getting old and faulty. The interior lights are gone. Dark dark inside, cannot see things cook liao or not.

Yesterday went courts and scout for an oven and showed my mum the size I wanted. She said okay if it's my own money. Of course, I'm going to pay it for myself lah! Then it will be MY oven. Previously on last Saturday, I also got go CK Tang downstair to check on the oven. Comparing which one to get. CK Tang one seems better. But..... CK Tang very far, hard to bring home. =\ Maybe I should check out IMM too.

Anyway, this time I'm planning to do cupcakes! IT'S CUPCAKES THIS YEAR!!!

I changed bus timing today!

Rejoice! I'm not going to see that irritating bus unc driver captain anymore!

Today I went out 5min earlier than usual to catch the earlier double decker bus. Woot~ End up I reached office 15min earlier than the usual timing. A 10min gain! 10min might not be a lot, but when u compare it to a timing of around 35min, it's
28.57%!

But of course, by doing that I have to let go of other "benefits". No more usual mm/ol that I see on the later bus. But this bus is definitely less packed than the later one. Actually, I didn't really see if this bus timing got good mm/ol or not. Because I was knocked out from the 2nd stops onwards. *Hyperdrive mode initated*

Anyway, I think because yesterday that bus uncl captin really hit my limit. He really like to stop at every stop even though the bus is really packed like siao. He will stop completely at the stop. Wait for a while (don't know for what), then move off. Maybe like what Zm said, he's a sadist. Enjoying seeing the disappointed faces below then move off.

Yesterday... at one stop, the bus was already packed. He stopped and opened the door allowing the people down there to board. Down there, I guess there were around 6-7 pax, only 2-3 managed to get up. Then at next stop, I thought he would do the usual stop and go. NOOO! He stopped, waited a while, opened the door again. I was like going "WTF?!". No one alighting, and previous stop already got people already cannot board, you still open the door for WHAT? I think his sadism has taken another step up. He enjoys seeing people struggling meaninglessly.

Oh well.. fine. 1 fortunate guy managed to get on. Took a damn long time for him to close the door properly and move on. He made 1 person happier today, and x people frustrated down there. I'm not too sure about others, but personally, I would rather see the bus going past me. I think it's worse to see the bus stopping in front of me, opening the door, and I cant get on. =\

Okay, maybe I'm just too subjective. And paranoid. And irritating. And frustrated. Never mind! It's all over! I'M SO GOING TO TAKE THAT EARLIER BUS!!!

Er... That means I have even more free time in the office (before official working hours)...

Making GIF using GIMP

Alright. Here's a short tutorial on how to create GIF using GIMP.

Basically, the reason why I using GIMP instead of Photoshop is because GIMP is open-source! Meaning it's free! Go down to http://www.gimp.org/ to grab it if you wanna give it a try. Personally, I still think Photoshop is better, but GIMP is free and I'm using it in my office. Pirate-free... Anyway, I believe Photoshop is able to do the same too. The general steps should be the same.

Begin by running GIMP.


Upon opening GIMP, you will have 2 windows appear. One is the toolbar window, another is the layout window. Take a look at the toolbar window first.


This toolbar is more or less similar to Photoshop. You got the normal cutting tools, brushes, colour palette, etc etc available on this window. Alright? Click File -> New to create a new file to work on.


Choose a size that you are work with comfortably. My favourite is either 450x450 or 500x500. I like working with a square frame.


Another option to take note is the "Fill with:". I usually choose Transparency, so that my GIF will work with any background colour.

Now, take a look at the layer window.


Click on the new layer button(circled in red) to create a new layer.


For the options for the new layer, just leave it as it is will do. Again, take note of the Fill Type.

Basically for each animation frame of your GIF, you will need to create a layer for it. 1 layer = 1 frame. The ordering of the frames is bottom to top, meaning bottom-most is frame 1, the next up is frame 2, all the way to the top is frame n. Get it? For my tutorial, I created a 3 frames animation. So here, I will need to create 2 new layers, on top of my Background layer.

After creating the new layers, it's time to put in what you want for the frame. My GIF here is a simple animation showing a counting from 1 to 3. So let me begin with my frame 1. Do that by selecting the corresponding layer first in the layer window.


Then click on the picture window and draw a "1" on it.


Now, select frame 2.


Note that you can click on the "eye" icon(circled in red) to hide the layer. It's useless if the other layers are obstructing your current selected frame. Okay, draw a "2" now.


Lastly, select frame 3.


And draw a "3"!!!


Look at my layer window shown below. As I've explained earlier on, the frame sequence is from bottom to top. Naming of the layers are not important, that's why I never bothered with it.


Okay, go back to the picture window.


Click File -> Save As to create your GIF.


Expand the "Select File Type" and select "GIF image". Location and filename are up to you. Once done, click Save and another window will pop out.


The option you must choose here is "Save as Animation". This is the key point hor! I mean, you are trying to do an animation GIF right? Right... Okay, next click Export, and yet another window appears.


This is the last window I promise you. Under the "Animated GIF Options", check all the options available there. Then for the "Frame disposal where unspecified", choose "One frame per layer (replace)". As for the delay per frame, up to you. For my tutorial, I put 1000 milliseconds, which is equivalent to 1 second. DONE! Click Save!!!

And..................



TADA~ There you have it! A animated GIF!


Okay, I'm quite a noob in animated GIF creation actually. This is just one of the simpler (maybe noober) way I found out. Maybe GIMP itself got an even cleverer and easier function or tool just that I don't know. But I'm pretty cool with this method, and I've done all my emoticons using this. XD)

Enjoy making your own GIF!

p/s: on how to resize and the other stuff, figure it out yourself lah ah. it's almost like photoshop...

My Hoot of the Day [Yesterday]

Yeah! Finally bought the controller, after searching around since starting of this week. All thanks to zw and zm, poisoned me to buy the controller...

Damage: 70 bucks

Last night tried using the controller to play Bully. Woot! My movement smooth like my ass now. No more 8 directional movement only, with easy to tap rapidly on the buttons, analog buttons, yeah man! Nothing to complete.

Shopping list 1 down!

Teaching you how to draw

For me, I prefer to draw from left to right. And my initial model for drawing this was my left hand. So ya, it's a left hand middle finger.

Of course, there's many way to point a middle finger. This is my preferred way - last 2 fingers down, middle finger up, index finger half flag, thumb slightly hidden behind.

So to start off, draw the fingers out as I've stated above.

one small lump -> another lump slightly higher -> middle finger tall tall -> index finger half of middle finger -> thumb with top hidden behind

Next, switch to a smaller brush and add in some details. Grains like the knuckles, and the joints area of the fingers.

And oh! Don't forget about adding in the fingernail for your middle finger. There you have it! Simple isn't it? That drawing above was done in just 1 minute, including creation of the GIF. *show off*

Enjoy!


p/s: maybe i should do a post every morning if i'm free in office...

"drawing middle finger" revisited...

I realised the post on "drawing middle finger" on March 2008 draw in 74 visits of my blog's overall visits. The highest among all the posts. Maybe someone is linking it to my blog. Maybe I did really draw very well for it. XD)

So... to further enhance that post. I decided to post some GIFs I did recently.

Version 1


Version 2


I had to do version 2 because the thickness of the brush used in Version 1 is too thin that it's hardly visible on msn as emoticon. So I had to improve on that. And thus, Version 2!


Since I'm showing off my GIF creations. I might as well show some that I've done for WMW blog, on the recent post one.

Carrot head


Carrot head tio dok!

Okay, that's all I have available on my photobucket. Stay tuned! Next time I'll show step by step on "How to draw middle finger - for dummy!" (no promise)

Sardines...

Seriously... I think I'm easily annoyed by crowds, especially packed like a sardine in bus/train. Unavoidable, but still, don't have to stick so close to me and let me feel your breath on my arm right? Basically, I'm very protective of my personal space bubble. Even if it's cute girls(regardless friends or not friends) who are invading it, I will try to shun away from it. Shy, maybe. But, unless I'm chionging and eating tofu. XD

So, ya... Even how much I hate it, there's almost no way to avoid it when taking our Singapore's World Class Public Transport during peak hours. Every morning I just have to go through it lah ah. Bo pian, be green, save money, hate to drive, so take Mercedes lor.

Despite being so protective of my personal space bubble, I don't really mind if it's a cute girl's bum that's poking me, or a double head missiles having near-collision contact with my face (collide will be better). But if it comes to some auntie whose bag is rubbing my shoulder constantly, flying elbows coming past just a few centimetres away from my eyes. Wowowo! Save me please!

Never mind, I still can tahan all these. I mean, need to be considerate right? They bo pian also, even I myself did them sometimes unintentionally. But try to be wary of the surrounding, ya? I'm trying to do that myself too. So everyone, let's walk together towards a more considerate and caring society!

Wait! That's not my point either. I'm taking damn long trying to convey my message. =\ Hello, uncle bus driver captain? Can you see it's like a pack sardines behind already? Keep asking people to move in is like squeezing sardine juice, instead of packing them already! You waste time asking people to move in, just to take in more people (I know you trying to help those who are trying to board the bus), but that's just time wasting! You take more time to let people board, and you take more time to let people alight. People need to squeeze like hell just to alight the bus, all thanks to your "Hello! Please move to the rear!". And I've seen people unable to alight in time and the bus moves off. End up, the next bus is empty and catches up with the current bus. World Class Public Transport System, good things always come in pairs.

What about the safety regulation? Are you sure the number of standing passengers is within the limit or not? Okay, maybe I'm just nitpicking for this point. =D Maybe I should try to go for the earlier double decker bus. I just need to leave house 5min earlier. Hmmmmm...

Nevertheless, I do have good experience for taking the packed sardines bus before too lah ah *grinning like a tiko peh*. But you must know, good and bad are always bundled together. You just can't have the best of 2 worlds.

updatez again..

Recently kinda lazy to update my blog..

But!!! I just did a long post over in wmw blog. Do visit there to take a look. A post on the monthly gathering and a carrot head incident.

Also, I've updated the shopping list. Cham... Not earning a lot but I still wanna buy so many stuff.

Oh ya, added a stalker list on the right side too. Join the list ah, so at least I'll still know I have some followers of my blog. =~) Thank you for your support.

Funny, why am I blogging @ work, and not @ home instead... Maybe I should install the Stumbleupon toolbar here...

Maybe if I'm free, I'll do a review on 20th Century Boys (both movie and manga).

I'm dying...

Dear friends,

This might be the last post in my entire life. =~(

The news from AVA (Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore) told me of my death.

As of 24 September 2008, the AVA has detected melamine in an additional 5 products imported from China. Two are flavoured milk and three are confectioneries containing milk powder as an ingredient. They are :
i) Dutch Lady Banana Flavoured Milk;
ii) Dutch Lady Honeydew Flavoured Milk;
iii) Silang - House of Steamed Potato - Potato Cracker;
iv) 徐 福 记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Butter Corn Flavour; and
v) 徐 福 记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Cheese Flavour



This brings the total number of affected products to 8. The other products that were earlier found to be contaminated with melamine are:
i) Yi Li Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt Flavoured Ice Confection;
ii) Dutch Lady Strawberry Flavoured Milk; and
iii) White Rabbit Creamy Candy

-Extracted from AVA


Cham! See the bold text from the extract. I was juz eating that 2 nights ago! And I do consume that shit regularly! In all different flavours some more! My fav was the tomato... wait.. it doesn't matter anyway. I'm dying!!!

Silang - House of Steamed Potato - Potato Crackers



So, dear friends. Dump those stuff mentioned above right away. Treasure your life. Don't die like me. =~~~~~~(

My peh kim dun need give too much hor. I got insurance covered. So my parents are okay le. Just give 意思意思 can liao. Oh! Can ask me for 4D too. I'll help you with that. Take care my friends.

Think I go drink more water and pee more often. *Pee* *Tink tink* (stones dropping out)

An update! + My birthday

Heya! Update of my working life!

I'm 2 weeks into my working phase of my life. So far still okay. Doing read ups almost everyday. Fighting zzz monster. MSNing. Facebooking. Well, the last 2 activities only came in during the 2nd week. 1st week, I kept them to the minimum.

The company has around 20 people in the workforce. If asking about number of females, there's only 2. 2 aunties, both are admin staff. The people here around multinational, from Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia mostly. Lunching with them every afternoon, but apparently they don't hang out together at night one. So ya, lunch is the only interaction time.

Although the reading is pretty dry and often made fight with zzz monster, once in while some of the stuff I've read did really interest me. Plus, a bit of hands on here and there is cool! After all, this is a field that I love so much. =) Passion Max! If you see me msning a lot, it just means the reading is getting dull. If the msning rate is less frequent, it means either I'm inside training, or I'm intrigued by the hands on. =)) Max Passion Max!!

1st week of working was pretty shagged out though. Not used to the timing yet. It's a 9-6 job, but I always reach early and leave late. Wayanging is part of the job scope for now. And I was totally addicted to the game, Spore. Playing till 2-3am every night, and gotta wake up @ 7am the next morning. Basically I had less than 6 hours of sleep everyday. Can only blame myself lah ah. =\

Here's something I'm pretty proud of! 1st week I only spent around 40bucks on transport and food! 40 bucks nia!!!! =)) Because I only exist 2 places during the first week, workplace and home. Even for weekend I stayed at home too. Hahaha... Too shagged to go out anyway. And there's this Spore too. =D But for 2nd week, I'm spending like no tomorrow like that. Cham... Never mind! 4 more days to wallet revival!!!!

Yup. Guess there's all to my working life for long. I'm still surviving, still maintaining my game addicts.


And ya, regarding my birthday topic now. Wanna take chance and thank people here.

Thanks to those who sent me birthday wishes! Thanks!
Thanks to the Swiss gang who celebrated with me on Tuesday. Thanks!
Thanks to the present from the Swiss gang. Thanks!
Thanks to the card Laiyi sent. Thanks!
Thanks to my parents who bought a cake and celebrated with me during last few hours of my birthday. Thanks!
Thanks to the WMW who celebrated with me on Saturday, Thanks!
Thanks to the sisters who treated me to boardgaming today. Thanks!

This year birthday was good. Thanks to the people around me. Made me feel I'm so alive. At least, in for a short term period now, people will still remember me. =~) (reference back to one of my old post) Thanks you peeps! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

I don't wanna start working!

Pai seh... Let me fast forward my life a bit, though i wanted to post the happenings in chronological orders. By right the next post should be on my butt's ROM. =D Sorry ah.

Here's the latest update. I should be starting to work next Monday, tentatively, most probably, unwillingly. =(

This is how it happened.
25 Aug - Applied for the job posting on Jobsdb.
26 Aug - Called me up to go for interview.
27 Aug - Interview.
29 Aug - Offering me the job.
1 Sept - Acceptance of job verbally.

A bit fast eh? Some more that was only my 5th resume that was sent out, my 1st interview. Eh... Maybe I should wait on and go on finding other jobs. I might not know what other job opportunity I'm missing out. But, this job scope is really what I was interested in - smart cards. So, ya, going for my passion! GO GO PASSION! (Not the People's Association membership PAssion)

Alright, so for now, I shall enjoy my last week of baijia-ing. Time to put my post trip syndrome away. ENTER THE WORKING FORCE! May the force be with me.

Japan Trip '08 - Paranomic Photos

Playing with a program which auto help u stitch up panoramic photos. Pretty cool. Good stuff.

Day 1: Beppu


Day 12: Kamikochi









Day 13: Shirakawa


Day 15: Mt Fuji

My deepest feeling for you...

Ever since then, I've been missing you so much. I love all the good points of you. You may have some bad points but I accept all of them, for they made you who you are. This feeling of mine, this love of mine, they have been deep down in my heart for so long. Will my feeling ever reach you?

I really miss you a lot...

I miss you, Japan!!

SEND ME BACK THERE!!!!


Darn... I have yet to start on my epilogue of Japan Trip '08.

Akan Datang.


P/S: 08/08/08 Toto 8 Million. My chance to get back to Japan. Although very small chance, it's still a chance! If fail, then I would really have to go the long way. =~~~( *Slacker Mentality*

Japan Trip '08 - Part 6

Let's go for the finale! I shall squeeze Day 17-21 in this last part! Tokyo nothing special to talk about, I think... Let's try!


Day 17


Officially beginning our Tokyo tour on this day. Started off the day with Asakusa 浅草! I think it's a usual thing for a big shrine/temple to have a shopping street before reaching it. The same was for Kiyomizu Dera and Tenmangu Shrine. The starting point of the shopping street and the Sensōji 浅草寺 was well signified a huge red lantern with the word <雷門> Kaminarimon which literally means "Thunder Gate". The shopping street is a good place to buy souvenirs too.

Inside the temple, Daji, Zm and Zw offered incense. And we also tried drawing a divination lot. All of them tio bad luck ones, only Zy and me got the good luck ones. Actually within the compound, there are mulitple other temples and shrines too. If you have the time, do walk around a bit more to explore them.

The day's itinerary was rather free and easy. Beside Asakusa, there wasn't really anything else planned. Zy and Cui were going to Yokohama to meet their friends. The guys, or maybe just me, didn't wanna go Yokohama and would rather explore more of Tokyo. Zy left us after Asakusa. Cui left us at Tokyo Station as she's not feeling well, so she wanted to go back rest for a moment first. So it's down to just guys for Day 17.


We went to check out on the Imperial Palace. Found out that entry to the palace is impossible, but with pre-booking/reservation. Shucks, I didn't know that. We could only admire it from outside. And ya, mind you. The sun was damn hot and along the way there wasn't much cover too. Ah.... The heat was killing all of us. Every now and then we had to water parade to make sure we won't concuss.


After that we went further up to Tokyo Dome to explore. Tokyo Dome looked like a Melon Bread to me. Round round with grids on top. I LOVE MELON PAN! SEND ME BACK THERE!!! There was this Tokyo Dome City shopping complex with its own theme city nearby. Zm and Zw went for it. Daji and me stayed behind lingering around. Not a bad place to shop around, btw. Finally saw 1 Uniqlo store. Explore and see what we could
get from Uniqlo. Shortlisting first.

Next stop, we decided to visit Tokyo University. We all knew Tokyo University from its red wooden gate. Often saw it on dramas and animes, so we gotta take a look at the actual stuff. Walking to it from Tokyo Dome was doable. A bit long nia.


Majority of the buildings inside the university were pretty old. High ranking universities usually have old compound because of its long history, as said by Zw. Went to check out their soccer field too. Saw this kawaii manager tending to her injured players. =~) Oh! The main campus had a pond in the middle of it too. But warning. Lots of mosquitoes lurking around the area, even when you are within the proximity of it. The pond was stagnant dirty water! Man, should have just skipped it.

Time to explore Ikebukuro too, our staying place. Went to the east side of the Ikebukuro (we stayed at the west side). Went through Sunshine City, that's where I stayed during my previous visit. Went to that stretch of buildings where they sell manga/anime stuff. There's this building, Animate, which has 8 levels selling manga and anime stuff. I was really impressed by it last time, so I gotta bring them to see it.


After that, we walked back to the train station and back to Kimi Ryokan. Along the streets, there were many game arcade centers and pachinko. We went in to the game arcade centers to check on their UFO catchers. The prizes didn't really entice us at all. So we didn't give it a try. Osaka's ones were better.

Nothing much after this, reached back @ Kimi Ryokan and the girls returned shortly after us too. Told them to meet at the common area @ 4am next morning and we went do our own stuff and sleep. Tsukiji 築地 Fish Market, you are next!

Day 18

It was only morning 4am and we were already starting our day. The tuna auctioning was opened to public from 5am to 7am. And we wanna to catch a glimpse of this big hooha that everyone was saying must see.

I tried to act smart, trying to navigate from Shinbashi Station to the fish market. Actually, if you take the subway, you will end up very near to the fish market and walk straight in you will reach it. But walking from Shinbashi will be slightly different. Never mind, somehow we made it. We actually went past the fresh vege/fruits section, then finally to the seafood section. The tuna auctioning was behind the seafood section.


The auctioning first began with potential bidders went up to inspect the tuna first. Then one guy would start to ring the bell and start chanting, almost like doing those chinese rituals, as said by Zw too. Those who managed to get their tuna will send their tuna for sawing up. Heads off, bodies split up. Sad tunas.


After viewing the auctioning, we went for fresh fish sushi! Got 1 particular sushi restaurant had a super long queue outside. In fact, when we first walked past, there was already a short queue. And it was only 5+am that time. Power! The queue was too long, so we had to choose the next best restaurant.

We had around 5-6 pieces of sushi and cost us 2750 yen. But within those sushi, 1 special sushi was the TORO SUSHI!!!! Toro is the tuna belly, the fatty meat of the tuna. Super nice!! But that single piece of sushi alone cost 800yen, around 10 SGD. Not cheap. The rest cost around 300-500 yen a piece. But all tasted excellent! FRESH FISH! The girls on the other side, as we expected, ordered the breakfast set which cost eh.. 3500 yen? Can't really remember.

Anyway, after that, we went back to Kimi Ryokan, washed up and rest for a while. Shagged can? Then we moved on to Disneyland. Had a short discussion when we were over there. We were choosing between either Disneyland or Disneysea. After checking out a bit on both places at the information counter and discussing, we chose Disneyland in the end.

As for Disneyland portion, I won't really go into details. Disneyland quite standard lah. Theme rides and parades. Everyone knows it. But the place was pretty beautiful lah. Btw, everything was in Japanese, the rides and shows. A picture speaks a thousand words. Enjoy looking at the photo slides! 96 thousands words waiting for you.

After Disneyland, we went back and slept early. The morning really shagged us out. Another day gone. 2 and half days left.


Day 19

Shopping day because we were going Shibuya 渋谷! Hot weather again. Everyday in Tokyo was hot. =\ Summer. When we managed to get to the main shopping district, we split up. Girls went shopping @ the Shibuya 109 - the whole building was selling girls' stuff. And we guys went walking around to look for our stuff. After much searching around, with some visiting of atas shops, we found Gap and Uniqlo! Gap was slightly cheaper than Singapore's one, but we already got our stuff @ Gotemba Premium Outlet.


So next shop, Uniqlo! YESH! I got myself 2 polo tees and 2 boxers there. Their jeans were cheap too. Around 20 odd SGD you can get yourself a pair of jeans already. Way better than our Giordano. After a short frenzy shopping @ Uniqlo, it was time to gather with the girls. And guess what? We saw Shibuya 109 for Men. =.=" We walked so much to find shops for guys when Shibuya 109 Men was actually just nearby.

Lunch @ a korean restaurant. And after lunch, our next stop was Roppongi. The girls were going for the Blue Man Group show. So we guys would be acting atas and walk Roppongi Hills. TV Asahi was nearby, we went to check it out to see if we could pay a visit or what. Lucky! 19/7/2008 happened to be the start of TV Asahi's open house for their 50th Anniversary!

They had this van with all the monitors inside. You can control the operations and what appears on the screen from there, like switching camera, slowmo, etc. Then outside there, they put their actual camera for visitor to have a hands-on experience. Zm went to try it out. The zoom was super powerful! Daji, you can throw your camera away liao.


Then we went inside to check on the exhibitions they had displayed. Posters of upcoming shows, mini game shows, etc. And I didn't know Doraemon belong to TV Asahi! So is Kamen Rider!


Okay, atas area now. Roppongi Hills. It's a cluster of atas shopping centers. Inside are atas boutiques like AX, and many other brands which I have never heard of. Found a starbuck, and we hid there until it was time to find the girls again. Next up, Tokyo Tower!


After coming out of the subway station, walked a bit and we immediately spotted Tokyo Tower. It was impossible to miss it. So bright and tall! No way you will get lost either. Just follow it. Don't know because it was a Saturday or what. There was a super long queue at the ticket booth, and another super long queue waiting to get into the elevator.

The waiting was worth it. We could really have a good view from the Tokyo Tower. Note that Tokyo Tower was situated kinda in the middle of Tokyo too. We were able to view Tokyo in all directions. We wanted to go up to the Special Observatory Level too. But the queue for it was insane too. So we had to give it a miss. Sadded. They sell exquisite souvenir over here too.

And, yup, that ended our Day 19. Day 20's coming. Also kinda marked the end of our trip. *Sob* SEND ME BACK THERE!!!

Day 20

Meeting my IA ex-colleague, Weilin, @ Akihabara 秋葉原 on this day. Akihabara is famous for 3 things now - electronics, anime/manga stuff and the mass killing. =D


AH! DOH! I forgot to bring her souvenir out. I was trying to act Japanese, you see. Japanese when they visit their friends, they will bring omiyage from their area and give them to the friends, as a friendly gesture. I brought omiyage from Takayama to visit her.

Met up with her, introduce her to my friends and vice versa, and told her I forgot to bring her omiyage along. But anyway, we would be going back to Ikebukuro for dinner, so I told her I'll pass to her when we were over there.

While everyone was looking at a manga/anime shop, I saw this vending machine selling canned hot soba. =\ Gave it a try. Not bad! Daji took a few photos of me eating it. Heard this canned soba thingy was only available in Akihabara. Interesting. Was actually intending to visit the maid cafes one, but I was kinda sian diao when I saw those maids giving out pamphlets. =

Oh ya, the cameras in Japan are really cheap! For the same model, you pay almost only half of what is selling in Singapore! It's that cheap. Only downside is that warranty issue. Spoil, then come back Japan to fix it lor! Simple! =)


Harajuku 原宿 next! Harajuku is another well-known shopping district. Weilin brought us around, and even introduced us the Johnny's shop. We managed to find out when she knows so much about that shop. She's a frequent patron of that shop. =.=" Or at least she said "used to be". We don't really believe her though. LOL.


Somehow we ended up in the atas area as Zm started his search on his Babari Blue Label. Btw, Babari = Burberry in Japanese. He was ordered to bring some Blue Label's bags back to SG. Oh! I finally found the Uniqlo I was searching for @ Harajuku! It was a shop featured in 都市大发现. This Uniqlo specialized in selling its UT, unique local designers' tees. But I didn't buy any. XD If I buy some more, my mum will sure nag at me for filling up the wardrobe so much.


After all the shoppings, we headed back to Ikebukuro and had dinner @ Momo Paradise, a shabu-shabu/sukiyaki buffet restaurant! We had shabu-shabu buffet there. =)) Free flow of meat and vege! And it's only 1500 yen for 90min! HOOT AH!!!!! Okay, shabu-shabu is very subjective. Some finds it too plain/boring while some, like me, simply loves it.

After dinner, Zw accompanied me to go back Kimi Ryokan to pick up the souvenirs. The rest went walk walk around, in particular the Uniqlo store. Zy wanna get some stuff from there. Back to Kimi Ryokan, pick up stuff, back to them, passed Weilin the stuff. Alright! Mission accomplished!

Then shortly after that, it was time that Weilin gotta go back home. It wasn't early anymore, 9+pm. Being gentleman, i offered to send her home. Zw and Daji joined in the gentleman ranks. Her area looks very much like Singapore with the apartments looking like HDBs. Pay her apartment a visit. Although only 18 square metres, it was kinda perfect for 1-2 person to stay in. But... but... it was really hot, steaming hot in fact! =\

Okay, we bid farewell and part our ways. Farewell, Weilin! Take care. Crap. Am I saying these here? She's on my MSN and I'm talking to her well every now and then. =.="

Sadded. That kinda sums up my whole Japan trip. Everything's coming to an end the next day. Sleep...

Day 21

天下无不散之宴席。Everything has its end. Haiz.... I'm so missing Japan now. SEND ME BACK THERE!!!

Anyway, we didn't really have much time left on Day 21. Only enough time to visit 1 place and we gotta make our way to Narita 成田 Airport. We decided to go Shinjuku　新宿, partly because Zm wished to find Babari or else his head might roll when he return home.

But quite suay lah. We wanted to deposite our barang barang in the coin lockers at the train station, but all the big lockers were all in used! Crap. So we had to bring our barang barang along to Shinjuku too. With those barang barang, we didn't really feel like walking around either. So we ended up sitting in a restaurant, Ducky Duck, and let time passed. While we were inside the restaurant, Zm and Zw were walking around looking for the Babari.


Hey! Although we kinda anyhow find a place to rest and eat, this Ducky Duck actually served good food! Nice pasta and Doria! And parfait! =) I've been wanting to eat a parfait since Day 1! Now with extra cash in hand, I decided to go for it! Time's up. Off to the airport. =~~~( The train to Narita Airport was pretty cool wor! Quite class sia.




Checked in our luggages. Had some extra time on hand, so it was last minute shopping time. Luckily for me, there was an Uniqlo store there too. Bought a dry fit tee and a dry fit berms. They would be good for sports, if I ever do so. And some hankies too. Can choose to give my mum or I can use them myself too.

Went through the immigration checkpoint, inside shopping now. Bought a few makans back. A few boxes of Shiroi Koibito (White Lover), roasted barley tea, and some other makan which looks good. Grabbed an Ebi Burger from Mac. Man! It was really good!!!! Okay, into the plane now. =~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(

*Fast forward* When the plane touched down at Singapore, the moment the wheel touched the ground, I was feeling really sad. Because that really marked the end of the trip. I miss Japan....... SEND ME BACK THERE!!!

I'll do the conclusion in a separate post, for a reason.

Stay tuned!