Folks playing some sort of Japanese drum. 

Summer, II

One full year has passed since I started my working life in Japan. Unlike all other Japanese who would associate Spring as the beginning of their career, I associate the hot and humid Summer as the beginning of my working life. It has been an eventful year, both at work and outside of work. I thought that when you are working at a place all by yourself, you are often forced to think about many big questions regarding your own life/future etc. Well, that's the case for me.

Enough of the boring stuffs. Watched mi:3 today (alone) and thought that it was pretty good except for some cheesy parts at the end of the movie. Did anyone notice the "malaysian airlines" sign in the movie when Ethan was in China getting into the limousine?

Then there was this tiny local summer festival going on here so there will be a series of images following this post.

Enjoy.

Olympus OM4

This is the old manual camera that I have been using lately to shoot. I was just playing with some mini homemade studio setup and made this image.

yuck!

walk

stranger

weird connection

Taken with an old manual film camera that I just bought. 

Here is another one. Too bad I only get to see this on the weekends as I would still be in the office on weekdays. 

I finally got a chance to capture sunset from my dorm last weekend. 

mountain range at 4:30am

I was lucky to get a room that has this view. On a good day, I could also get to see Mt. Fuji.

daybreak from my balcony

Life is colorful in NY 

一個人

 

got apple?

雨の日

goodbye gotanda

Put off by Bookoff

As I was packing my room to get ready to move to a new place tomorrow, I thought maybe I could sell some used novels away to lighten some load. So I brought five books, four of them paperbacks (some Tom Clancy's and Dan Brown's), and a hardcover Harry Porter, to a local bookstore called Bookoff. Bookoff is a chain in Japan where you can sell used books and CDs for cash. Happily thinking that I might earn some cash, I was way off, way way off.

Guess how much all those books worth? A FREAKIN' 50 yen!!! That's 10 yen for each book.

I quickly gave them the best "disbelief" look I could make, said no, and went home.

macbook in action

Macbook gets its first outdoor trip. I am now typing this at a local cafe, while munching away my Saturday brunch after a night of WC soccer. Looks like Tokyo has pretty good wireless coverage. Now I just need to be careful not to spill my latte on my new toy.

Macbook baby....

Woohoo...just got my new macbook yesterday! Because this is my first mac, I was, and still, really excited.
So far it has been a joy to use. Setting it up was a breeze. Oh, I have to say that the guy that helped me out with my purchase at the Shibuya apple store was super helpful. Thumbs up apple.
Finally, to those who have been wanting to switch over to mac, or who would like to have two computer systems, I strongly recommend these new intel based macs.

A pretty good Ramen place. I am going to miss this place after I move to Atsugi. 

More flowers. 

My Saturday afternoon spent at Garden Place, Ebisu of Tokyo. 

Here is one from Monterey Bay. Perfect California weather. 

Work is too busy lately so I am just going to post some old pics from my good old days in the States. Here is downtown Los Angeles. 

Moody Odaiba, looking out from a store 

Brunch @ "Freshness Burger", Gotanda 

Ratings: C-

Saw the long anticipated "The Da Vinci Code" yesterday and what a dissapointment!
I sort of thought that it might turn out this way even before I watched it, as the book was so well written and you just somehow knew that the screen version is never going to beat the humble paperback. For those who have not read the book, it's still worth a trip to the cinema though. Looks like Sony pictures will have a tough year, again. Looking forward to "X-men3" and "World Trade Center".

together 

An old manual lens I bought in Japan. 

Breakfast at Kuala Lumpur 

Quack!!

Crystal clear

Redang Island, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. 

Here is where I spent my golden week - Redang Island, Malaysia.

surprise surprise

I will never forget their reactions and the words they let out.

An ordinary Thursday noon turned out to be one that will be remembered and talked about a lot by my family and myself. It was a planned surprise return from Tokyo to my hometown Malacca, right till the very doorstep of my parents' house, the place where I grew up. As I got out from the cab that I took from the airport, and appeared right in front of my mom and dad, it went like this:

Dad : My son is back! How come my son is back?!
(my dad was on his cell talking to someone as he spoke these words)

Mom : Hey, you are back! How come you are back? Why are you here?
(mom's expression was a mixure of a little surprised, a little worried, and a little delighted)

Then, about a half a minute later.

Hao (my brother) : Hey, am I dreaming??
(he was still asleep when I walked in but heard my voice and my dad's words above so he schlepped his way out with his sleepy legs, eyes half opened)

After everyone took some time to sink in and realized that the entire picture was indeed real, confused faces turned into big smiles.

I will never forget those smiles.