finally have made a proper break.

we've drifted apart. thats all. why try to hold back things that dun feel for you anymore? even b4 i left, we've drifted apart. he just didn't notice. being so busy with work and all. I was leading a life of a single girl despite having a bf. yes, all your free time was spent with me. but thats only how many hours a week?

yes, there is people after me. i only allowed them near when u suggested the break up. you have your friends and family there. pls dont tell me u miss me and need me around when that is an impossible thing. I have only the few pple here. yet u call me to tell me you are depressed. am i supposed to have the mental strength to cheer u up when i am alone by myself and you tell me these things?

Please recover ur ambitions and confidence which was wat attracted me to you in the first place. they are what's missing in you now and w/o these, i just get irritated by you whining and pleading each day. real men don't do that right?

I'm sleepy, and the machine dispensed me tea instead of my fanta orange. after the first mouthfull, immediately i began to feel nauseous. seriously. argh.

Happy Birthday Henry Ang! you are 23 years old le.. dun look at too much porrn hor.. or ur eyes(eye) will look like his :


at work now.. finally end of the workday.. have another tokyo trip upcoming at 24-June for a seminar at the Australian Embassy. :) yay! prolly this time will stay on the weekend to go disneyland bah.. wahahahah.. i can't wait.

okie.. tonite should be going gym.. will blog bout it later.

symptoms of my worst nightmare are showing. i hope it isn't true, but if it comes true, I don't know wat I'm going to do this time. please don't let it be true...

on a lighter note..
i finally watched aliens vs predators. it was so-so. i cant stand shows that mutilate/eat humans and i tot it was great when they finally fought each other instead of us. (human race) a little funny actually, but its weird to know that the aliens were just a slave for the predators to hunt down. but their acid tails are really powerful tools. i would want something liddat too. oh there was a short movie on the dvd too, entitled "tru calling". the girl's name is Tru and she can hear voices from the dead. she works at the city morgue and she was supposed to save this girl by reliving the same day again and again until she's saved from being killed. the story's quite good actually, its like one of the episodes on x-files where gillian andersen relives her day again and again until she prevents a bank robbery. yikes. but Tru manages to save her bro from losing a game of cards and getting beaten up as well becos she has been through the day liaoz. so it wasn't just the dead (who isnt dead now) girl..

was out of ideas so i cooked hawx's tom yam soup for lunch. surprisingly, it was quite good. :) 美味しかった！thanks hawx.. can send me some more.. can mail in envelops... normal post will do.. :p

i can't believe i only woke up at 2pm today. it just fell so drowsy with the aircon on and just the blanket and my skin.. oops.. did i say skin? i dun have clothes on when i sleep here.. cos its too warm.. just shorts.. or underwear.. :p I'm wondering for those girls with big boobs, when they sleep, do they feel crushed when they sleep on their fronts or their sides? hmm...

didn't do much today. just kept redoing stuff. never mind its the weekend le. and i got an IPOD PHOTO! woohoO!

finally the end of a work day. and tomorrow is friday! the days are flying by. almost 6 months here le. 1/3 of the training is over!! ARGH!

have mailed my acceptance of the UOL degree, borrowed a credit card to pay for the fees since its easier to pay directly here the amount incurred than going to the bank to buy a bank draft. I'm fed up with sonicstage. decided to just return the player for another brand. stupid s0ny. STUPID S0NY. and to think I'm such a loyal supporter. using a Vaio and yet the dumb program keeps coming up with error msgs. forget it, i'm getting back ipod or creative. just plug and play... confirm works.

have to finish up and go exchange the player le. paid off all my bills for the month le. yay.. and my legs dun hurt anymore, time to go tone up at the sports club again.. maybe i'll go swimming or suana later. hahahaa.. shiok...

today was not 暇　(hima) , means i wan't slacking around today so i didn't have time to blog until now. finally a chance to go out for dinner, after weeks of cooking my own food with not much variety its a relief. I think I'm too much of a perfectionist when it comes to little things. like the colour of the bars in the schedule, the size of the font etc. waste time, i know, but I just want things to be perfect! ..

some Capcom fans actually showed up today and asked for a tour of the building. they were from italy, and they were actually living in Tokyo but came for a day trip on the shinkanSen just to see osaka and Capcom. WOW. but then, they didn't like ask for authorised permission b4hand so they were only showed around the 2nd flr, where it was public area. they seemed happy about it though. and becos i could speak english better, they left me to entertain them while they went back to work. (the jap colleagues). yikes. but then, i haven't been to the 2nd flr too so i guess it's an eye opener. :)

just one more month to the next pay, i hope things don't get screwed up again.

does anyone use sonicstage? i'm having some problems with it, would appreciate if anyone who had any problems with it b4 shared it with me (problem and solution. ) I'll reveal the problem and why i use this lousy program when someone can actually help me solve the problem first. :S

just a short little unflirtatious chat about work in the hallway made me deliriously happy. i wonder why.

will i always be a cute little girl at heart? am I even a cute little girl at heart? people who know me find me cute.. i dun act cute and those who know me will definitely agree. in fact, i am quite clumsy, sometimes chor lor, abit tom boy, dun realli have much poise or elegance. so how (why?) am i cute?

have been wondering about that for years. even now, last week actually, was at lunch with a colleague from another dept in Tokyo.. they saw how i saved my favourite food for last and they were so amused they kept saying i was "kawaii!!".. when i was a little clumsy and turned left instead of right and almost bumped into someone, they said I was "kawaii!!" again. why is that kawaii? is that endearing? i hope so.. though i just think of myself as being somewhat clumsy.

I think I don't post up enough photos. but there's just so much stuff to upload and stupid Hello can only post up 1 pic as a post each time. does anyone noe how to avert that problem other than manual editing?

I'm actually able to take my UOL grad degree in osaka. I think I'll take it up.. :)

today is a much busier day. thank god. time goes by so slowly when you're doing nothing.

weather turning very warm. but the office has a dumb rule of not allowing sleeveless clothing. :X

wah... so sleepy today..

the weather was horrendour last night. super warm. and there were mosquitoes! ;(
woke up to on the aircon instead, and to slap mosquitoes and to pee.

result:
1. oversleeping until 7.45am
2. catching the 8.16am train instead of 8.01am
3. walking briskly in heels in a speed only appropriate when wearing sneakers
4. arriving at work all breathless and perspiring
5. falling asleep after lunch while working
6. falling asleep in the loo
7. dry eyes and groggy head.

i must sleep earlier tonight. :(

Your Birthdate: September 28

Your birth on the 28th day of the month (1 energy) adds a tone of independence and extra energy to your Life Path. The number 1 energy suggest more executive ability and leadership qualities than you path may have indicated. A birthday on the 28th of any month gives greater will power and self-confidence, and very often a rather original approach. Unlike much of the other 1 energy, this birthday is one that endow with the ability to start a job and continue on until it is finished. You may prefer to use the broad brush, but you can handle details as well. You are sensitive, but your feeling stay somewhat repressed. You have a compelling manner that can be dominating in many situations.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

have worn out my brain juices for the night.

clothes from yesterday's laundry have yet to be folded.

went to the street dance class and the aerobics class at the sports club today. fun, but my coordination sux. will do better next time.

dead beat, good nite.

ok this was supposed to be posted at 10.33pm of 21-May but i got sidetracked by laundry and all sorts of things and anyway..

I'm Back!

in osaka that is...

hiakz. abit corny or cheesy hor? but i never felt so relieved to be home . yupz. this place i actually call home now.

went to shibuya yesterday with kana-san and kamiya-san (pple who are bout 25 years old?) to do some proper shopping. Mango (MNG) is in Shibuya! was like "hey!! THere it is!" wanted to actually buy something from there but nothing really suited my taste. must find a bigger shop. went to the famed 109 building where it was supposed to be the Annex (in the heeren) all hip youth clothing and stuff. (is it the annex at the topmost of the heeren?? i can't remember!! ARGH!) it was 9 levels of it. with loud rap music and sales assistants with fake tans and bikini tops within their clothing.. and really thick mascara.. etc. totally typical of those tokyo fake angmoh wannabes in their 4 inch platform plastic heels. yuch. but all very polite. it was amusing to see kana-san askin one of them bout t-shirt sizes. like asking an an-beng to help u choose clothes in a store. one white one black. very weird.

the shinkansen ride back went fast. time went by super quick without me knowing why. my bag was like twice as heavy when i came back. but i didn't buy much in tokyo only 2 pieces of clothing and a Ps2 game. seriously still wandering where the weight is from. ...

home sweet home. :)

The Tokyo branch office has very kind people and they make the effort to go out to lunch together. one thing is cos the office has very few people, so the bonds are more close-knit. they are quite funny, always making silly jokes and trying to include me in the conversation. strangely, it is in tokyo that i got to know some of the colleagues from osaka, cos they are here for one-day business trips and they come along to lunch with us too while in osaka, normally it would be totally different cliques and we would never have spoken to each other.

one fav conversation topic they like to tok to me about is they can speak mandarin. cos they're supposed to learn another language in Uni, so some of them took Mandarin. and they try to say Ni hao, and their names. luckily, i'm tactful enuff to try my bestest in understanding them.

but life is very expensive here. there's no canteen, and only restaurants (its Shinjuku) and everyday have to spend nearly $20 on lunch. !! luckily i dun have to pay for the hotel as well. but its quite a killer just to be here on a week's trip. have already spent more than $150. on my own money (food and stuff)

even though the office is right next to the tokyo met building, i havent had the chance to run over and take a look at the view from the 45th flr. maybe today.. everyone will be out for lunch meetings. hehe..

prolly will buy my optical mouse and ipod (mini or photo??? help me choose!) today.. i have yet to find a place that sells it for less than 27,800 yen / 38,800 Yen (respectively for mini 6GB and photo 30GB) and the best is already yodobashi for offering 5% pointback. so in actual fact, its 26,410Yen/ 36,869Yen. which one which one? scouted the whole of Akihabara yesterday but its different le. no adult video store anymore. all taken over by a big chain store. irritating.

ooh and we witnessed a fight. it was quite scary. i dunno why no one was helping the store assistant. a fren was helping the drunk guy though. we were going to cross then we realise they seemed to be edging towards us in their arms locked position. yikes. it was really dangerous. rolling about on the ground and all. help! we waited awhile, before scurrying over. in fear. man.....

had chicken rice for dinner last nite! and bak kut teh! WAHAHAHAHA...

in heaven last night after sourcing for a singapore food little restaurant in Roppongi hills area last night (tokyo). went with Maya and Kanako, both of them has been taking care of me in the office so i treated them to dinner (singapore food, how apt).. :) :) :)

it was not bad.. everything quite authentic.. price was a rip off compared to singapore, 900Yen per plate. but since its in japan and i do miss the food so much, i shouldn't complain. in case any other singaporean in Japan wants to know where it is: hainanese Chicken rice Canteen..

its always full house.. reservations are a must.. :)

osaka sells curry fish head too apparently.. in Shinsaibashi..

then had tiger beer to drink so after that was a little tipsy.. hehe..
and during dinner they managed to guess my secret.. so apparently, we were not as sneaky as we had thought. argh. hopefully they keep quiet...

went to see the toKyo Tower after dinner... it was beautiful. cos we were on the top a hilly area.. it was really beautiful with its hues of orange and red.

going to Akihabara 秋葉原　today.. the electronics city.. and maybe Shibuya　渋谷.. depends on wat time we end work bah.. but anbyway.. will only upload the pics after i get back..

in tokyo.

hehe..

the view here is great on the 26th level. its right next to the tokyo metropolitan building in shinjuku. and we had dinner at a thai restaurant last night. have found the singaporean chicken rice restaurant and will be going there tonight. roppongi its at. :) life is good!

forgot to bring my specs though. had a nightmare at the hotel room. woke up at 4am and then kept waking up intermittently. jialat. i think I'm totally not a hotel person. scared of sleeping alone. its actually quite a comfy place. maybe I'll stay on to sightsee on sat. woohoo!

i had tot that xbox 360 looked cool but PS3 wins hands down.. take a look.


"PS3 combines state-of-the-art technologies featuring Cell, a processor jointly developed by IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba Corporation, graphics processor (RSX) co-developed by NVIDIA Corporation and SCEI, and XDR memory developed by Rambus Inc. It also adopts BD-ROM (Blu-ray Disc ROM) with maximum storage capacity of 54 GB (dual layer) , enabling delivery of entertainment content in full high-definition (HD) quality, under a secure environment made possible through the most advanced copyright protection technology. To match the accelerating convergence of digital consumer electronics and computer technology, PS3 supports high quality display in resolution of 1080p(*) as standard, which is far superior to 720p/1080i.


With an overwhelming computing power of 2 teraflops, entirely new graphical expressions that have never been seen before will become possible. In games, not only will movement of characters and objects be far more refined and realistic, but landscapes and virtual worlds can also be rendered in real-time, thereby elevating the freedom of graphics expression to levels not experienced in the past. Gamers will literally be able to dive into the realistic world seen in large screen movies and experience the excitement in real-time." -- from E3Insider


of cos its backward compatible. need it be said?

will be away on business trip to tokyo from tomorrow til maybe saturday? tokyo's capcom branch office. taking the shinkansen. yay! so excited. but aniway.. i have to pay for the hotel and stuff first. irritating. quite excited.. apparently the office is in shinjuku.. hopefully there will be a nite of havoc.

lunch just over. everytime i go to the canteen i regret not bringing my own lunch. the food is horrible. today is hectic. but at least had the freedom of someone not breathing down my neck. :p

the power of wireless and a powerful laptop. very light and i'm blogging in the loo. while doing some business. :p

sure beats having nothing to do here. have joined konami sports club today.. and have decided to properly tone my legs and abs up. also.. join the yoga classes, and oso to swim at least once a week. :p finally bought some new shoes for work as well. not too cheap but ok looking.. at least quite pro. no need to grow warts on my toes le.. yay!

thanks you guys for ur concern over my lonely post.. i guess its just sometimes u feel realli down in a country where everything is just so unfamiliar and foreign. dun worry, i'm fine now.. still sick but fine generally. maybe its just communication problems. soon everything will be fine i hope?

have decided to join a sports club 5 min frm my place to have a place to swim n work out. dun care if i lonely or wat, i must have a hot body and be able to wear 4 inch heels at the end of this stint. (besides being fluent in jap) :p

have tied up some clothes lines in my balcony to hang my towel and all. should have thought of it earlier, its really convenient. haven had a fresh smelling towel for months (except when its straight from the laundry).

my sundays no one wants to go out with me. these days. they keep telling me to ask my bf to go out with me instead. and i shouldn't treat them as substitutes. they feel better if i oredi have a date with my bf but broke it off to meet them rather than meet them only when my bf is not free. wat kind of mentality is that?

if i can survive on 20,000yen on food for the rest of the month on food, i can spend alot of money on clothes and travelling (after savings) yay!

time to cook lunch. should it be radish soup, radish fried with mushrooms? or radish with fish? haiz. tough decisions. (when ur cooking ability is limited.)

slight fever, mostly cramps today. am actually entertaining thoughts of going back to office to finish work tomorrow.. am i becoming a workaholic!? but then.. was thinking of going office, then down to zara for some work attire.. :p am hooked. need a few more skirts.. i need new shoes too! feet hurting in that only pair of shoes i have.. court shoes some more.. haiz.. my left most toes became deformed after these 4 months.. ugly feet!! not working today did i mention that? did my laundry early morning then luckily i did, cos they cut off the water supply after 9. ..... it was supposed to only affect the other levels (3/6) why me!!

I'm hooked on the Apprentice. finalli down to the last 2 candidates. both female! haha..!! been downloading every week. of cos the hated ones go first. their laziness, being uncooperative with the rest, quarrelsome, too domineering. today'S episode was merely an interview. with 4 of america's CEOs. and they decided who to go. i guess trump is smart to let others decide for him. hold for him job interviews. u can't hide in a job interview. :) veri cool. i hope kendra wins. her ideas always work out.

have never felt so lonely before.

at lunch, no one spoke to me. i had nothing to say also, for fear of offending anyone. I just sat there and forced myself to swallow the disgusting food. its still stuck in my chest. I think later I'll probably be puking it all out. I7m not anorexic. i jsut need someone to talk to. i always sink into depression after being alone for too long. i scalded my hand last nite, got splashed by hot oil when cooking, i fell down and cut my leg and it bled, i need a hug, i wan to go out hve a meal does anione know all this? when i sink into depression, there's thoughts of hurting myself, suicide etc. i think i suffer from bipolar disorder.

i need help.

i downloaded firefox to use at work... cos i couldn't access web msn with IE. was just trying to find ways to circumvent that and it really worked! :p the tab thing is quite cool for surfing at work since u can tab to a enpty page when someone comes.. except there's some probs with java apps like i can't access my intranet and bank sites. still have to use IE for those. maybe it's just cos I dun have admin rights on the comp..

have been cooking my own dinners since i bought a fridge. i can buy like 1000 yen worth of meat and vege and seafood and that lasts me for at least 4 dinners. cool huh. and i can cook a soup and a vege each meal too. veri economical. :) veri happy about that.. think I'm going to cook my own lunch and bring it too.. today's work was damn boring and tedious. the stupid woman keep asking me whether i got compare le data or not i was like no la, still looking for the stupid year all the games were released. damn off. wasting my time away in the office basicalli. i wished they would let me learn how to analyse b4 asking me to analyse. wats the point of wasting time? even ryo thinks the work I'm doing now is meaningless. i need to know how to b4 they keep throwing me work and asking me to think of ways to do it. and then after that keep saying thats not wat they want. these people are damn inefficient.

ate a homecooked lunch at my desk alone. the day i choose to stay in the office to eat, everyone else leaves. very lonely here to tell the truth. the other singaporeans are not appreciative of me handling their stupid admin probs and question me on this and that, think i steal their money or wat. use ur brains can>? i steal ur money for wat?! veri pissed off with them. should have cooked more, now I'm feeling even more hungry than b4. although i enjoyed my own food alot. i actually managed to fry vegetables all by myself! haha.. was thinking of how mom did it at home and i jsut anihow pour this pour that add abit of salt and sesame oil and chilli all and it turned out great ! but.. yah i need to cook more of the rice. the rice here is a dilemma, diff to make it dryer or else the proportion too little. never mind.. more training for me bah.. :p

An interesting I found on the ROM website.. this highly increases the possibility of marrying a Japanese haha.. since there is not as much hassle as I tot, to ROM on both sides etc.hee hee...

Q What are the common things I need to know, as a Singaporean/PR who have married overseas?

A 1) The law does not require couples who contracted marriages overseas to re-register (includes "converting" or "endorsing" a foreign marriage certificate) with the Singapore ROM. The marriage certificate issued by the competent authority of the foreign country may be accepted as prima facie evidence of a marriage between the parties named in the certificate.
2) You may update agencies which you have dealings with, about your new marital status. For example, you may wish to update your marital status with CPF Board (Central Provident Fund) to change nomination of CPF beneficiary.
3) If you wish to insert your husband's name into your identification documents, you may contact the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.
4) If your spouse is a foreigner and you like to obtain permanent residence or citizenship for him/her, you may seek the advice of the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.

argh. apparently my jap de-proved in the holidays.

stupid small typo mistakes, and expression problems? but then the mistakes were things i hadn't used before, so how can blame me? trying to use new vocab then kena shot, might as well dun use. I'm supposed to do a daily report every day.. in jap, and yesterday i tried to take initiative and use more new words and turned out to be a disaster. grammatically, no mistakes but just expression wrong. sianz...... never mind.. i must try to get a jap bf to improve my jap.. :p

Now I’m deemed a very useful employee because of my language abilities. Translating Chinese documents, calling China, speaking to PRCs etc, (over the phone) these are things they totally can’t do. Heh.. the legal dept especially are appreciative of my help, cos contracts are such important documents and it’s a change from translating things into English. And when speaking Chinese, they don’t know whether I’m right or wrong, so it’s a relief from being scrutinized. Rather, its one of the few times they are amazed. Haha….

Have subscribed to the straits Times online cos I miss having Singapore news to read. This morning, I was being squashed in a crowded train and the song “where I belong” by Tanya Chua suddenly came on.. its on my ipod but I rarely hear it. The words all suddenly meant so much and it was a poignant moment where I wanted to sing out loudly the song and shove all the japs around me aside. I MISS SINGAPORE!!!! L the moment was lost when the train jerked and I almost fell down. But I swear, tears came to my eyes and the homesickness was just so overwhelming all of a sudden. This place is just too crowded and too many natural disasters and man－made disasters as well. Typhoons, derailments, earthquakes (too many of them, there was a show on tv last nite about animal behavior in earthquakes and it freaked me out. I walk around fearing I would die in an earthquake everyday. And now derailments too.)

Did I mention I bought a fridge? Its shiok being able to drink milk at night and milk tea in the morning b4 I leave. J bought a ton of groceries yesterday and its freaking expensive. $20 worth of groceries is like \5000 here. S$80! Its only at most 2 days worth of food lor. Very jialat. But also received the rice cooker yesterday. Woohoo! Cooked myself a rice with vege and soup dinner and had leftover soup and rice for breakfast today. YummY! haven’t had a real breakfast for so long. But I was still hungry at 10am. ….A waste of resources to feed me it is. (says the yoda) hehe..

My hair is split-ended again. I still dun understand how the top of my head’s hair can be so smooth and silky but the ends are like YUCK. Should I dye it again? Or just treatment? I am actually contemplating jet black. Getting bored of colours. And highlights make me look lian. (all the girls here look lian. I’m afraid of secondary sch girls cos they look so lian I’m actually scared that I might get beaten up for staring.) so perhaps, black is the way to go? Hmm..

had dinner with a colleague and his frens last nite. they are all japanese. its quite interesting to see how frens gather in Japan. (or how japanese pple have gatherings?)

his frens were married and had kids already and the kids are quite spoilt. in the sense with toys and stuff, and they have no respect for adults (or guests) but when the parents are fierce, they are pretty obedient. maybe its just cos they are really familiar with one another but i couldn't help thinking its a little rude that they play grabbing the crotch games (with the own adults thankfully while i sat there and tried not to look shocked) and handle their toys so roughly. i even got hit by a toy in the face and the dad apologised and the kid started crying after being chided. his dad didn't even raise his voice at him. ... i felt bad but hey, who told u to throw a toy in my face?

but anyway, all in all, the hostess was busy preparing food the whole evening, i felt guilty that we just sat there and ate. the japanese wife being homebodies really showed there. and i kept asking if she wanted to eat and join us, but she just stayed in the kitchen cooking and cooking until all the food was nearly gone. poor thing. and when we left, it was almost midnite and the house was in a big mess with toys all over the place and dirty dishes stacked sky high. argh, i dunno how she can stand it.

but it was fun overall. the food was good, we had tea in cups and saucers and conversation was interesting and funny. enjoyed myself immensely. :)

read this funny conversation

girl toking to bf

girl: you're crazy!
boy: really? you think so? then why do u like me?
girl: because I'm stupid.. :p


wahahahaha!

now.. some really backdated photos.. of Aichi world expo.. finally managed to get it from fren's handphone.

in the ferris wheel at the Aichi World Expo on 24-April. this was taken using a 2MP camera phone!


chicken rice !!


laksa!! i'm sure its clear how happy i was.. :p


outside the singapore booth after all the food (feeling very patriotic)


right at home with the orchids


wahaha.. I'm sure u're going "wtf, why show me all the singapore picts!?"
.. i miss home can? its really true that only when you are living overseas then u realise how we have it good as singaporeans.

low living prices, high living standards, everything govt do for u, no fear of natural disasters, great transportation system and of cos the best part is the food. more picts when i feel like uploading next time! :)

last but not least, the 2 mascots of the World Expo this year.. Morrizo and Kicorro (in their respective orders and they're atually green btw.)

wah piang... I'm so bored today. i actually managed to finish Onimusha 3 on PS2. easy mode of cos. after that got past another stage in katamari damashi　塊魂. think only japan has this game. braindead game, abit stupid.. but fun. very suitable for me. heh.. then got stuck in burnout. haiz. then went to read my jap text out of boredom. haha.. a really super boring day.
could have watched my dvds but didnt feel like watching yet. sianz.

finally watched kill bill 2 . it was BORING. no action. except for one part where uma thurman gorged out someone'S eyeball. yuch. and watched 8femmes the french movie too. the ending was so unexpected. but its really good. rented another few videos to last the next day. :) a ghibli studios cartoon, taxi 3 and some chinese movie. hmm. zoboing these few days.

new picts of my room uploaded.. check it out when u free .. and kyoto
www.bbgphotos.blogspot.com

updates..

finally found a thai restaurant! near my 寮(ryo)dorm somemore.. not spicy at all. but the taste was there. so happy!

yesterday stoned the day away, played pro baseball oN PS2, quite interesting. :) but it was a little draggy, cos there are like 10 games with 3 players out b4 changeover etc. u get the point.. anyway it was fun.. :)

and i got my pay today finallY!!

immediately withdrew money to pay debts. the bank was super crowded today. guess cos tomorrow is a non-working day again. did alot of chores today.. sent my parcel and letters off, bank book update and money withdrawal.. and sent my coat and jackets for drycleaning.. cleaned up my room? i think? oh.. bought another extension cord..had a steak dinner.. which was not bad but very ex, cos beef is rare in japan i guess.. rented some dvds to watch.. only to realise there were regional restrictions. darn! shall find someway around it..

tomorrow plan less.. should be stone in the room. proper clear up, and watch dvd. woohoo!

had decided to go kyoto on my own. after some pple last min told me they were not free. last ditch attempt in the morning to find companions but all sorts of excuses. ok.. wat the heck. cant be bothered to ask again.

it was quite ok.. there was a unlimited　乗り放題ticket for sightseers. at ￥2100. so i bought that and went about exploring the place. my main aim of going to kyoto was to see ZARA actually.. heh.. they have a store there. but how nuch time do i need for zara rite.. so went to see the famous temples, and shrines there.

went to some gold covered shrine at first. a big letdown. 金閣寺。paid ￥400 to enter and that gold covered building was it. ... worst thing was i had forgotten to draw money, and couldnt buy souvenirs etc or food. had to go out to the main road to find some convenience store to get an ATM.

speaking of ATMs. japanese banks are disgusting. they charge transaction fees and dun give you interest for your money. so basically, it cost me S$5 to withdraw money yesterday. kAOZ.

walked around trying to find a place for lunch and everywhere was like closed. it wasnt in the main city area of kyoto and everyone apparently follows the 5 day work week or something. finally stumbled upon this small pasta cafe(?) that was opened by this young cook. 2man outfit, just the waitress and the cook. and it was fabulous. very delicious and creamy tomato sauce. dun think it was just becos i am hungry bah.. but it was so tucked away in the sleepy part of kyoto i dunno how it survives.

after that.. not much idea where to go, so just took a bus that came along and tried to figure out where it was going. saw the paper carps that were hung on the pole in preparation for boY's days in the houses. checked my guide book for free places to see, saw a Heian shrine so changed a bus there.平安神宮。very large, very serene feel. there was a hundred year old cherry blossom tree there and it really looked old. apparently, half of the tree had already been chopped off. and wrapped in wooden material and supported with poles tied to it. (like an old man on crutches). poor tree.

sat there for a while to enjoy the peace and headed towards this giant red gate. its known as Torii i think? it was the shrine'S main gate and it was a park away. heh.. there was ball park there and kids were playing baseball and old men doing taiji , families cycling etc.. that kind of thing. and a park which was sort of overgrown but still has beautiful flowers. i　am still experimenting with flower pics, took some dandelion photos.. finally saw a real one yesterday. in jap, its name is weird. tanpopo.タンポポ yup, a dandelion is called tanpopo. like a chinese name gone wrong. heh..

there was a museum and a library after the Torii and i guess i only have time for that next time. got lost trying to find the subway, had decided to use the bus instead so i headed towards the next bus stop and found the subway by accident. heh.. my direction instincts are good. of cos, finally, time to head for ZARA..

went to 四条 Shijio (this shopping street in kyoto) and was packed with saturday nite crowd. was heaven in zara. finally some clothes that looked ok.. and that i had money (in the form of my dad's CC) to buy some new office wear. heaven. of cos horrendously exp mostly, managed to find some bargains in a pencil skirt, a shirt, a tanktop and a see thru spag top. woohoO! .spent an hour trying on clothes. (oh dun worry, I'll pay dad back)

took a train back to JR Kyoto and had a seafood rice ちらし　chirashi for dinner. reasonable price of ￥1000 cos it was all seafood, sashimi and stuff. headed back
at bout 9.30pm? the train tix from kyoto to osaka was ex.. ￥540.. but headed back happy. cos i have new clothes!