TAG

1. Besides your lips , where is the favourite spot to get kissed ?
Cheek?
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2. How did you feel when you woke up this morning ?
Still a little sleepy, don't feel like waking up but I have to.
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3. Who was the last person / people you took a photo with ?
Hostelmates, with whom I can't remember.
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4. Would you consider yourself spoiled ?
No, eventhough I'm the youngest that doesn't mean I can get everything I want all the time.
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5. Will you ever donate blood ?
Tried to donate but due to certain complications I can't do it.
Refer here.
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6. Have you ever had a best friend who was of the opposite sex ?
Yeah I guess so, but not exactly that close 'til I can share anything with it.
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7. Do you want someone to be dead ?
Nope.... good or bad guys, everyone deserves to live~
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8. What does your last text message say ?
何でもしない (doing nothing)
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9. What are you thinking right now ?
Thinking which homework I should be doing tonight.
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10. Do you want someone to be with you right now ?
Yeah I think so, but I'd rather be realistic about it. 待っている。
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11. What was the time you went to bed last night ?
~12am.
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12. Where did you buy the tee you are wearing now ?
A black iPod t-shirt my sis gave me! She got it from an Apple shop in Beijing.
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13. Is someone on your mind right now ?
Yeah, someone is always in my mind right now, if not my brain wouldn't be working well. That someone is myself hahah!
(seriously, if you aren't thinking of yourself, then you're not really a person lol!)
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14. Who was the last person who text you ?
From hostelmate, asking "w'sup?" lol....
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NINE person you can think of.
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1. My fish
2. Rabbie
3. Ms Yeo
4. Michelle
5. Siew Hui
6. Mie Mie
7. Pandaria
8. Hans Zimmer
9. Jack Sparrow
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15. Who is no.2 having a relationship with ?
with Pandaria.
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16. Is no.3 a male or a female ?
A miss, so definitely an XX phenotyper.
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17. If no.7 and no.1 get together , would it be a good?
A panda and a fish? Not so good as I wonder if the panda will eat the fish. :P
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18. What is no.1 studying about ?
What can a fish study? LOL....?!
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19. When was the last time you chatted with them ?
Chat with some of them last night, but some I never chat with before.
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20.Is no.4 single ?
In a complicated relationship. Other people's relationship better don't ask too much, 38!
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21. Say something about no.2
The name derived from "rabbit", someone prefer to name things ending with ~ie.
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22. What do you think about no.3 & no.6 being together ?
Perfect match! Couldn't ask a for better pairing lol!
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23. Describe no.9
Wicked yet brilliant, damn smart and good at charming people!
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24. What will you do if no.6 and no.7 fight ?
Possible, but no.7 will somehow give way to no.6 I think.
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25. Do you like no.8 ?
Hell'ya! Without him many movies will be boring!!
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OK, anyone who's interested in this tag may do it if you like, ain't forcing!! :D

Picture Updates

Took lesser pics nowadays compared to the first few weeks when I get the camera.
Just to share a few here~

Finally started this book! Minna no Nihongo "Everyone's Japanese Language". Beginner's 2nd book.


Akimoto sensei in the class.


元気な先生ですね。


Looks charming isn't it? It's actually a fragrance and of course, it's non edible!


Mr Donut packing. "Thanks, you beautiful people"? Kinda awkward phrase that is....


My Sony Walkman VS Ipod Nano 3rd gen.


Strawberry cookie my Korean classmate brought for all of us while she went back to Seoul recently.


Today had to take X-ray pic of our chest. In recent weeks many companies in Japan are having such mobile medical checkup where the hospital dispatch a mobile unit to come over to the workplace. Convenient huh.


The police car "guarding" besides the mobile hospital unit.


Inside the X-ray room, rather narrow just like Japanese structures. The X-ray pic is taken very fast, within few seconds and you're done!


In the Maths class. Mr J found a new target, this time a taken Korean chick. :P


Last pic here. Someone is obviously not paying attention in the class. The sleeping posture looks rather funny yet embarrassing lol.


Might be going to somewhere over this weekend, but not sure yet.
'til then people.

Audio Technica Journey

It's been awhile since I last posted something regarding audio here, although occasionally I posted pics of headphones that I came across while doing window-shopping in the department stores.

This makes me happy. :)


Japan is really an audiophile's paradise, especially an Audio Technica fan like me.

My ATH-M30 and ATH-M50 aren't with me currently so I cannot enjoy superior audio listening as I'm using IEM (in-ear monitors) currently. A little IEM can never produce the brilliant sound like a full-size headphones, unless you're talking about those high-end IEMs.

My favourite pair-up back then, Audio Technica ATH-M50 + Sony Walkman S739F.


Now I've been considering getting another headphone, heh..... a lethal hobby that is, keeps venturing into different headphones. Mind you, it doesn't come cheap though.

From the Audio Technica choices available here, I'm down to 2 headphones which both cost the same at 14,800 Yen. Converted back to MYR, it's about RM 532. Scary price huh....

My choices are:

ATH-ANC7, noise-canceling headphone.


ATH-ES7, portable mid-size headphone.


From the feedbacks of fellow forumers, it's said that ES7 is a real player and surprisingly great for that price range. Sound quality is assured after the headphone has been burned in for hundreds of hours.

ANC7's main point is it's noise-canceling function (NC), something which I'm quite devoted into currently. My Sony Walkman comes with NC function and it works very well for me while in the plane and train. It's some sort of bonus for those who wants to enjoy good music and at the same time, enjoy a little peaceful moment with oneself.

I've tried both ES7 & ANC7 headphones in those department stores, but disappointingly the surrounding is too noisy to clearly listen to the quality of the sound produced. Besides, I prefer to use my own audio source to test headphones rather than those provided by the dept store.

I'm leaning towards ANC7 due to it's NC function. Both headphones are portable type which suits me well as I'm planning to bring it around while traveling.
Although ES7 might be a better sounding headphone, but I believe ANC7 will not be disappointing either. So given the same pricetag, I'd go for ANC7. :)

As if for now I can just think and consider it, as I have limited fund here. I might be getting it after I start to work part-time.
I've calculated, I'll need say, roughly a week's wages to afford this headphone if I were to work 4 hours per day, 900 Yen per hour pay.

So many headphones to choose....


There're some other headphones which I considered, but highly unlikely to get it due to the limited fund, and also limited gears as well.
These headphones need proper amplification to bring the best out of it, else it'll sounded rather plain, perhaps slightly better than other conventional headphones.
You'll never want to try those conventional headphones anymore when you've heard the far better sound those top-quality headphones produced.

ATH-ESW9 and ATH-ESW10 Japan. Both are considered premium wooden headphones with superior quality, but needs proper amp to let it shine.



Both ESW9 and ESW10 are actually improved, or perhaps should say, upgraded model of ES7? I can't tell the difference from the sounding now, but surely the price difference can easily kill me off.
You can get 2 ES7s with the price of ESW9.
ESW10 Japan cost ~50,000 Yen, more than my monthly room rental!! O_O

For now I'll just study hard and work hard.... and reward myself with a nice headphone before I going back to Malaysia next year. :D


P/S: Just noticed Amazon Japan is selling at cheaper price than I checked from BicCamera.com. If I were to get the headphone, am likely to pick it up from Amazon Jp. :)

Routine~

Pardon me for the lack of updates, been busy with homeworks and so on....

Basically here's my weekdays routine:

0745: Wake up by alarms (set 4 just in case), get myself ready and prepared going to school.

0805: Start cycling to school.

0830: Reached school. Ate my breakfast and revise some of the previous day's lessons.
Onigiri and coffee. Total cost 205 yen.


0910: Japanese class started. Usually the teacher would start the class just in time according to the bell ring.
We're having 3 periods, each took up 45 mins and 10 mins break in between the periods.


1145: Lunch break. Nowadays I usually went to the Bunkyo Green Court which located opposite the school for meal.
Samples of my lunch in Green Court.



1245: Japanese class resumes. Another 2 periods to go.

1425: Japanese class for the day ended.
Depending on which day, I might have extra subjects to take.

1440: Extra subjects class started.
I took General Subjects (mixture of Geography, History & Sociology) and Maths. Since I dropped English, so I'm free to go at 1425 during Tues & Fri.


1610: Extra subjects class ended. Preparing to ride home.

1635: Reached the hostel. Online checking blogs and emails, while doing homework. I'm a multi-tasker. :)

1815: Dinner prepared by fellow hostelmates. いただきます！


1930: Wash the dishes and had a nice hot shower. Continue with my computing, listening and reading.

0000: Off to bed. Don't really have a fixed time but usually around that time.


Google Maps:
Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, the area my school is located.

View Larger Map

Arakawa, where I'm staying currently.

View Larger Map

WOW Japan

This video is best viewed in High Quality (click on the HQ button).
Simply amazing animation!

Rainy Tokyo

Morning was greeted by gloomy sky, rains~
I disliked it rains when I was about to goto school, but I've got no choice. Complaining doesn't help either so I'd just ride to school with my jacket.

Well good thing is although it rains, it doesn't feel so cold unlike previous days. Heck, sometimes it's even colder even without rain!

The weather in Tokyo for now is either cloudy or rain. Once in awhile it is quite warm, around 24'C which I like it.

It is said to be in spring already, but besides the blooming sakuras when I first came, I see no sign of flowers. The leaves are turning green, and that's all I've observed so far.

Today my class ends at 2:30pm, no need to attend additional class as I've dropped English. Heard from friends that the teachers are actually teaching English using katakana.... BIG SWEAT! (-__-||)

I'm not trying to look down at the Japanese, but somehow their English command for the general public isn't as good as I thought, seems like they fear to speak it out.

The English we (Malaysians) usually used are based on British English, while the Japanese employs the American English, thus there may be conflict between both regional English.

OK enough of English' topics here.

For now my Japanese language course has been going pretty smoothly. Am able to catch up with the flow and score pretty good for the tests. Thanks to the great teacher Endou sensei, I enjoyed her class thus improving quite fast, in terms of speaking.

Mastering the language's grammars is just a part of the whole language itself. If you couldn't speak well in the language, you're basically wasting your time studying the language.

Working part-time here in Japan is common, especially for us foreign students. Working part-time not only help us to ease off the living expenses, but also provide a good training ground to practise the language in a real life situation.

Most of us here are clustered together within the same group of friends speaking a common language, our mother tongue, thus we don't really had the chance to speak real Japanese except in the school or buying things from the shop.

It takes time to master a language, but true enough, that slowly it'll improve bits by bits, if you put in effort to make full use of it.

Back to the rainy day, it's quite crucial that your stuffs are waterproof here. Heck, I guess it's essential to have waterproof gears if the place you're living rains.

Usually I would commute either in foot or bicycle. When it rains, I may still be able to use an umbrella while walking but definitely not when cycling. Good for me that the jackets I have with me are waterproof.
The bag my relative gave me as a gift is waterproof as well so the books remain relatively dry in the bag. Thanks again! :)

Cycling while raining does posses a risk as well, the slippery road. My friend fell down before, but thankfully just a few bruises and scratches.

Alright then that's pretty much what I wanna said for now..... No pics posted as I'm having trouble to upload pics to Flickr. :(