VON: 花見(Hanami)

日语中的花见，字面上的意思就是看花。。看什么花呢？当然是樱花啦!!!

3月末，4月初就是樱花盛开的季节。花见这个活动又是怎么回事呢？

直到上个星期以前，我一直以为花见就是跟朋友们到樱花盛开的地方去赏花而已，就好像去看风景一样。其实是不只这样的。。。除了赏花，还有野餐呢!!而且，除了白天，现在还有夜樱呢!!

上个星期，我跟朋友都体验过花见了。。一个星期就去了3次，而每次的体验都不一样。。



花见1之 3月26日白天（吉祥寺 - 井の頭公園）:


据周游说，很多部日剧都有到这个公园里取景。一到公园的时候，看见的不是满开的樱花，有一点点失望。公园里有一个很大的湖，我们好不容易才在对岸看见一棵看起来像满开的樱花树。。一路上，看见的都不是一大群的人，而是以小群一小群，有些是妈妈们带着孩子们，有些是三五成群的乐龄人士，就是很少看到情侣的（后来听说这个公园很少情侣去的，因为传说很多情侣去过这个公园以后都是分手下场。。。）



花见2之3月27日晚上（半蔵門）:


出门的时候看过天气预报：预报说可能会下雨，结果，真的下雨了。。。虽然只是毛毛雨。。但是。。。。。。由于下雨的关系，照在樱花树的灯都没开灯。。。。。我们就绕着皇居，有伞的撑伞，没伞的就以野餐的那块席来遮雨咯（看图）。。途中也看到很多人冒着雨在慢跑中。。。奇怪，风吹得那么强，他们还可以穿着短袖T衫和短裤慢跑。。不冷吗？？我都已经冷到又是围巾又是手套的。。。

虽然下着雨，还是有不少日本人依然风雨不改的赏花。。而且，还有一群日本人还带着爱犬一起去呢。。映淳等人还拿着相机拼命在偷拍那几只小狗，结果不止没偷拍成功，还被那狗吠了呢！！哈哈。。到最后，其中一位日本人还拿了一瓶日本酒请我们喝呢。。。




花见3之3月29日白天（王子 - 飛鳥山公園）:

托吴姐的福，终于这一次是真的好像日本人那样去赏花了。吴姐organise了这一次的花见，在王子的飞鸟山公园。我们一群外国人（中国、台湾为多）和日本人一起在公园里大野餐！！其实当天不止我们一大群（35、6人）还有很多很多群的人都在那里赏花。。大家一边吃一边聊天、交流，一边赏花。。感觉挺好的。。因为气氛真的很好。。虽然美中不足的就是当天樱花才刚开花，所以还没有谢。。当然看不到樱花雨了。。。据说风吹来的时候，樱花的花瓣被吹得一直飘落下来，那时候的樱花雨是最漂亮的！！话说回来，当天可以说整个公园都是在野餐赏花的人群呐。。人潮多的是，就连政治人物也到那里去亲民亲民一下（图下）

公园里的空地都坐满了人。。

VON: 散在各地的家人

是福不是祸，是祸挡不过。。最担心的事情究竟发生了。。。

这么多年来，都是一家四口一起生活着。。除了我念中学以前，父亲因工作的关系，一礼拜在工作，一礼拜在家休息。。母亲则是这20多年以来都和孩子们（我和弟弟）在一起。。就在去年六月，我如愿地参加了一项exchange program，在日本的大阪度过了6星期。。母亲身边突然少了一个孩子。。大概2-3星期后，连弟弟也因为升学的关系到了东马的沙捞越大学去。。两个孩子都不在身边，也还好，至少丈夫还在身边嘛。。。又过了3-4个星期，我回家了。。。可是也没回去多久。。那次从日本回到大马，大概只呆了6-7个星期吧。。而且很多时候也没在家好好陪母亲。。都一直往外跑。。其实我知道母亲一直希望我能多留在家里，可是我却很任性地有事没事都到大学去跑一趟。。尤其是晚上，因为有宿舍的合唱团，常常都把这个当借口，很晚才回家。。也不是很记得那几个礼拜母亲是否还像以前一样坚持要等到我回家。。当然，母亲有明示过要我不要再继续参加合唱团了。。但我就是喜欢。。明明知道这样做母亲会有一点点不开心。。我并没有忽略父母对我的期望，只是。。我选择无视。。。。我选择了忠于自己。。。好啦，就这样。。。直到去年的9月，我再度到日本，这一去，是一年之久。。。两个孩子又不在身边。。母亲应该会寂寞吧。。。可是。。至少我父亲还在。。。

现在呢？？我人仍在日本，弟弟仍在古晋。。父亲呢？？因为工作的关系，去了菲律宾。。。这一去，也不知道要去多久。。。母亲。。。究竟一个人了。。。对母亲来说，3个最亲的家人，在这几个月当中，一个一个离家而去。。。统统都在overseas了。。。虽然这样的离别是短暂的，可是母亲该怎么适应呢？

担心母亲无法适应，我常常都会跟她电联。。父亲刚离家的那几天，母亲似乎都过得还不错。。。很会找节目。。日子过得挺充实的。。。只是，这几天呢？不妙。。母亲病了。。虽然不是什么大病，可是一个人在家没人照顾，很煎熬吧？？知道她生病了，更是要跟她联络。。只是母亲的态度冷淡。。当然嘛。。人不舒服，语气也不会好到哪儿去。。将心比心，我可以理解母亲又多渴望家人的关心。。可是当母亲用极度冷淡的态度与我说话的时候。。我突然不知道要跟她说什么好。。听得出她心情不好。。我却连一句哄她的话也不会说。。。

一直都在替母亲担心的我，却从来不敢问她：“妈，这几天过得好吗？”这样简单的一句话，我说不出来。尤其是电脑的另一端传出冷淡的语气，我真得无言以对。。因为，我怕我说错什么话，让母亲原本就不好的心情变得更糟。。。跟家人相处是这样的吗？？一家人，不是应该更坦然吗？

VON: congratz to 9th coll choir (UM FESENI 2009)

congratz to 9th coll choir in getting 1st placing again in UM Arts Festival (feseni).... well done everyone!!! proud of u ^_^

25 March 2009 - UM feseni choir category. i wonder y, but i was really nervous for the team. it's weird that i wasn't this nervous during feseni 2007 and 2008, but when it comes to feseni 2009, while i'm so far away, not one of the participant to sing on stage, i got nervous for nothing. mayb what Shiao Tan said is right: i wasn't there with the team throughout the whole journey, i'm not sure with what's going on there and hence i'll get nervous.

before the competition: one night b4 it, we had arranged a video conference/ voice call for me to talk abit n show support for the team but due to the network error, it didn't work. so i estimated the time to call them again b4 they depart to DTC... "all the best" was the ONLY message i can pass to the team.. my brain went blank all of a sudden when ES pick up my call.

during the competition: through ES's handphone, i got to listen to the 'live broadcast' of the team singing during the competition. the quality wasn't good, i could only get the melody line, but not the nice chords. i couldn't comment anything about their performance, but i believe that they'd put their best performance. the gan cheong-ness went off bit by bit during that 8 minutes. weird... my hands were shiverring at the beginning.. was it because i was nervous?? or was it the weather?? it's cold here......

2 hours later......... received a sms frm ES: 1st placing
oh dear!! 1st again??!!! yes!!! they did it!! i was so excited jumping up and down in my room as if i'm one of them on stage. i would say that my excitement level was like the past 2 years. the result wasn't unbelievable..9th coll team did it for the past 4 consequent years, it's not easy to get the 1st again, but it's not impossible. i was confident with them actually.. (y am i nervous then?? -> i don't know)

i called them again, listening to them shouting happily, excitingly, sharing their sweet moment with me. it's one of my regret that i couldn't be there this year... some of the members asked me if i'll be there for next year's competition.. i answered without hesitate: YES! even though i wont be staying in coll during my final year, but i'll be in the team (unless they fire me la)..but this made me calm down after a few minutes.. the next thing appeared in my mind was: oh.. the pressure from the past archivement: ppl will look at the 6th year... will it be 6 in a row?? i know that placing is something extra and it's not the most important thing, but.............. easier said than done right?? well, that's something far away from now.. i still have one whole semester in Tokyo ok?? anyway, i'm looking foward to join the team again in july/ aug....... guys, I'LL BE BACK!!!

YUN: all you need is 1 AA battery!

Take cam-loving to a whole new level with this Lomo camera. Based on the original Diana Flash Camera, this new DianaF+ features a retrp-styled electronic flash. That means, even if you 're out for a night with your gals, you dun have to settle for a dark & blurry shots. Another cool features is the plastic coloured gel features that throw a burst of coloured light at your subject for that xtra effect!

All you need is one AA battery~

YUN: thanks you, Mr Lee..

Having a suitable thesis supervisor is better than having a good one.

Like my case, our supervisor is suitable for 4 of us, in the sense that he is the types of ppl dat willing to take initiative to guide us, monitor us, and we are the types of ppl dat wont be stepped foward unless have some1 push us from the back..

I still rmb a feedback that get from a Ms. HML (our passionate lecturer) which stated that, "You guys are lucky, being assigned to become supervisee of Mr. LTC."

Ya, i now quite agree with that given statement by Ms. HML. Our supervisor really make me appreciate the way he treates us throughout the guidance on the thesis foe the past few months, espcially on the submission day of the thesis. That was an incident that we thought we left out a signature of the supervisor, and it was a serious matter that we might not qualified to submit the thesis without the completed signature of the supervisor. Unlike others thesis group, their superviors are physically present at sg long campus, and for ours, is at kampar campus, so far away.. So how could we get the signature from him in such a short period of time (left abt 3-4 hrs dat the submission time of thesis closed)?

Guess wat happen at the end? We called up our supervisor n ask for help. He's so patient listening to us and calm down our nervous feeling, while giving out the instruction on how to handle this unexpected incident (and now im thinking back, will it be different if we deal with another supervisor? I cant imagine.)

Not only that, until today, i still very appreciate and feel thankful to have such "suitable" supervisor to guide us all the way, even for the coming thesis presentation-- viva. Only today i find out that other thesis groups' supervisors din request them to send or hand in a viva ppt draft for improvement purpose, but our supervisor did take initiative to request a copy from us dis week. Worse and to worse, there's a thesis group which is the hardworking type, asking their supervisor to check the particular viva slides. U noe wat's the feedback?

-- dunid. (speechless..)

Thanks you, Mr Lee-- our lovely supervisor who "suit" us well..

YUN: thanks to facebook^^

Singapore.. Been there once, with family n relatives. The impression is-- clean environemnt, have fun at sentosa island, food not nice, etc

Been there for few days only, sure cant have depth comment on it. unlike those friends studying or working there, they muz have plenty of experiences that can be shared with^^

Curious to noe y suddenly writing abt singapore (though is in short paragraph)? Hee, juz bcoz a frenz who had been long time din contact since primary sch studying, had just contacted back thru facebook, and he's now studying in singapore, still have a year to graduate..

thanks to facebook..

VON: Internet TV (网络电视)

just wanna share a software: 九品网络电视

thx to the IT developement nowadays, we're able to watch TV not only on the TV but on our PC, as long as u're connected to the internet. i just found out that there're some softwares which serve the function of TV, yet more than an ordinary TV. there's no more need to d/l movies, the above-mentioned software could get u live broadcast (like a TV) and also recorded TV programs (like what we d/l). u might think: so wat?? i have a TV at home and y do i need to watch the programs on the small laptop screen?? haha.. another reason for me to share about Internet TV is: u can watch overseas TV channel live regardless where u are, as long as u're connected to the internet!! interesting??

look for more info at the following website:
http://www.9ptv.com/

YUN: a man with shoulders..

Reli think that guys nowadays afraid to take responsibility on the matters that have been done by them. Of coz, cannot deny that not all guys are like that, but the guys besides me make me have this perception.

Takin excuse.. dun wan to admit.. pass the responsibility on others.. afraid to take charge or voice out coz scared to be the one to blame on once the ideas cant be worked out...

Reli cant stand for these kind of guys surrouding me. This make me think of the title track 'Real Man 大丈夫' in Jolin's new album, part of the lyrics contain this verse: 'I don't need a boyfriend, I just need a man with shoulders 我不要找男朋友，只要有肩膀的男人'..

A man with shoulders.. wat a good phase!

VON: Karaoke and dinner at Shinjuku

When I was half way cooking my brunch (breakfast + lunch) around 11 something, my friend mailed me: "is it ok to gather at 1.10pm today?" receiving such mail in all of the sudden, i didn't know that we're going anywhere today.. I can only remember that there's a trip to Tokyo Disney Sea which i didn't want to go yet... but isn't it on the 16th?? today's 17th... well, after clarifying, it's a hangout for karaoke with some other friends.. and it cost only around 500yen (around RM19 @ 100yen = RM3.8) for 5-6 hours. how cheap is it in Tokyo!!!! my previous karaoke experience was 1000yen per hour in the night and 1000yen from 3pm-8pm on weekdays. Of course, i joined them.. i hadn't been to karaoke for quite some time...

There were supposed to be 5 of us from the same mansion (Skycourt Shimotakaido) but only 3 of us (me, Winnie n 咏臻) turn up at the mentioned time. The other 2 (Carven and Annie) over slept. Yes, we don't wake up so early during holiday. So the 3 of us went all the way to Shinjuku (新宿) to meet the rest of the gang. We went to a convinient store to get some drinks before heading to the karaoke. reason? the drink in karaoke will usually cost around 400-500yen each.. At the counter (oh, Annie had arrived, so 9 of us there), we were told that the rate was 120yen each per hour but we need to add another 100yen each per hour to get a big room, unless we break into 2 rooms. We decided to pay extra to get a big room. We didn't want to be apart. We came in a group! And the minimum is 3 hours. well, 220yen x3 = 660yen (around RM25)

In the karaoke room, i found an interesting menu:

Yes, a menu for anti pollen allergy. There are fish (880yen), salad(780yen), tea (450yen) and a yogurt drink (480yen). Below, u can find some more picture with the explaination (in japanese) on what is good for anti-pollen allergy.

DHA and EPA will ease up the symptom of pollen allergy.

vegetables containing food fibre will normalized the immunity system.

sweet tea or vitamin C can stop running nose.

yogurt / vitamin C prevent pollen allergy

Pollen allergy seems serious in Japan (or at least in Tokyo). Even the weather forecast that i receive from my handphone include the report for pollen. But i never expect to see such menu in karaoke...


Later, we went for dinner in concurrent celebrating a friend's birthday at an Izakaya (居酒屋) named 千年の宴.

We took an 8 item's course which cost 2100yen each plus 950yen (ladies), 1250yen (men) for 飲み放題, which means all you can drink (mostly alcoholic drink) or 480yen for softdrinks only. 3 of us (me, Carven and Adam) chose softdrinks only while the rest of them chose the full menu. All of us were shocked when Carven chose softdrinks only. She used to drink alot since she came to Japan.. and most of the time when we have steamboat / dinner gathering at someone's room, she'll always be the one who demanded for alcoholic drink. But somewhere in the middle, Annie treated her a glass of cocktail, later, Sun Jack gave her a glass of "umeshu rock" (梅酒) and on and on, she drank a few glasses of alcoholic drink i think. What happen after that??? she's drunk!! but she denied. Anyway she's not drunk terribly...

When Carven's getting drunk, what's on my mind was: should I stop her or should I let her be?? because deep inside my heart I remembered what Kah Choon (one of my favourite senior in UM) told me: take care of her. But well, she's already an adult, it's her right to drink as long as she's not taking drugs, and I'm nobody to control her, neither her parents nor her bf. But, it's an unexplainable complicated feeling seeing her letting herself getting drunk.

VON: Fantasy Dreamer

What's all about Fantasy Dreamer??? it's actually the English version of group name for both of us - 梦幻双人组 when we're back to the old days during lower secondary school.
Time flies... this was about 8 or 9 years ago.. and what make us to have a such name?? i couldn't remember who was the one who started it of, but this really mean alot to me. it's a proof of our friendship since then.

We were schoolmates since primary school ,classmates for primary 3 n 6. We just knew each other as classmates but seldom talk to each other as both of us had our own circle of friends. However, when we came to secondary school, it happened that we're in the same class again and thanks to the form teacher, whom i'd forgotten her name (only remembered that she was our art teacher) she arranged the position that we should sit and from then on Yun sat in front of me and that's the time we started to befriend.

One of the game that we used to play was spinning a pen n answer some questions if the pen pointed at u. From then on, we get to know each other better and finally became best friend till now. Even though we're apart since form 4, it doesn't matter that we're in different environment, having different circles of friends, studying in different uni, studying different courses, our friendship stil remains and it will go on and on and on...