bientôt diplômé

Never thought that I will be filing for graduation so soon already; it felt really strange clicking on the hyperlink and knowing that I will soon be certified as an engineer. Saw that same button for the past 5 semesters and finally, strangely, oddly, weirdly now I am qualified enough to be accepted by the CORS system.

Like WTH what happened to all the studying I was supposed to be doing, 66.6% more the fun I was supposed to be having, twice more of the girls I was supposed to be meeting, the many more friends I was supposed to be making, all the bad jokes I was supposed to be cracking, and the infinitely many more parties I was supposed to be going to; its like everything just flashed by without warning. Or rather, I was afflicted by the disease known as college coma, where I guess I just went into a deep sleep for the past 3.5 years, occasionally waking up now and then for examinations.

Well, at least I enjoyed the ride: the French classes, falling asleep in LT7, arts faculty (for the girls), yong tau foo at the deck, the free tennis courts, pulling all-nighters during mugging week, discounted subway subs, crapping with friends at the various study benches, filming sketches for MNO1001 and HRM2002 in school, and many many more indelible memories. =)

back to reality

How come nothing like this happened when I was in Hokkaido? Would have been interested to get snowed in at least once in my life. It would have been fun to just chill out at Jin's place with a full liquor bar and all. =P

And anyway no mood no time no energy to do a travelogue for the moment. Got reports orals tennis cycling friends family bidding planning to do to play to meet to plan. I might eventually get down to writing something, but the photos are here here and here if you wanna gawk at some Japanese girls first.

And speaking about parties, its been soirée overdose lately; I might need to go for dialysis soon with all that alcohol sloshing in my stomach and coursing through my veins. But its all good. And fun. A good way to end 2008. =)

japanese jottings 5

27. Knowledge of hiragana and katagana is useful and can be critically so when you just wake up in a train not knowing whether if you've missed your stop.

28. There must be no muslims in Japan as I have yet to see a halal restaurant here. Either that, or they all eat at home.

29. There is the sentoo, the onsen, and there is the gotenburo.

30. 7/11 is not open 24hours here; it is open ahem.. only from 7am to 11pm. The 24hour store here is Seiyu.

31. What is this inexplicable obsession with surgical face masks?

curious couplings

Created in '96 as a response to the apparent overconfidence and arrogance of gaijin English teachers in Japan, Charisma Man pokes fun at the superficiality of the Western male psyche in Asia. Similarly, this theme of ang moh vs local can increasingly be felt by many in asian societies today.

However I wonder if Western Woman would fancy Asian Takeout though.

japan jottings 4

20. Japanese women can stand the cold very well; I still see short skirts and exposed thighs in the Japanese winter hinterland known as Sapporo (highest temp. today: 0 degC)

21. It is impossible to spot a Japanese woman without make up on.

22. Japanese TV is absolutely boring.

23. You can buy almost anything from a vending machine.

24. Like in Singapore, people will patiently wait for a traffic light to turn green before crossing a deserted one lane street.

25. Roads are consistently F1-quality smooth.

26. The level of politeness here is astounding; Singapore and France can learn a bit from the Japanese service staff here.

japan jottings 3

16. Most men are uncircumcised here (observed at various onsens).

17. A warm toilet seat is better than sex on a cold winter morning (buildings in Japan rarely have central heating).

18. The louder you slurp your ramen, the tastier it'll be.

19. Pachinko parlours are deafening.

haiku royale

nihon vacation
from kyoto to sapporo
perhaps need more dough?

limited express,
local trains, and skinkansen
good use of JR pass

i eat sashimi,
nabe, and yakitori
forget to feed letch

i am damn sad lor
after midnight in beppu
writing nonsense haiku

japan jottings 2

9. Contrary to my belief, there are girls who look like AV stars, and there are girls who do not; not everyone is cut out for the job as I had thought from those "amateur" AV productions.

10. You board the bus from the rear and alight from the front here.

11. All train stations have their own unique bento boxes.

12. Shinkansen seats are all front facing (wrt to direction of movement); no rear facing seats here.

13. Starbucks sells matcha latte.

14. I finally saw a pregnant woman today after a week here.

15. Almost everybody sleeps on the metro here, but then again the same can be said for Singapore.

japan jottings

1. Tokyo is huge. Like reeeally huge. Like this massive urban sprawl where you can take the skinkansen for 45mins and still be in the city.

2. Those who say that the Paris metro is mad should come to Tokyo.

3. I wonder how the Japanese schoolgirls keep warm in those shorty short skirts.

4. Japanese society is very homogeneous. So far I have not seen many gaijin around, and even those who are here speak perfect Japanese!

5. Saw very few babies in Japan too. Or at least in Tokyo. Conversely I always see hordes of elderly folk pottering about. I worry for the future of Japan.

6. At a restaurant where both Japanese and Western dishes are available, the local dishes will always be more expensive. Gaijin food is apparently considered junk.

7. Eating and drinking on the move is considered rude here and will always not fail to attract some stares.

8. Japanese TV here has a dog hosting a cooking show on how to make popular Japanese dishes. Damn japs.

le retour de "casse toi pauvre con"

Haha.. Trop rigolo; comme d'hab je lisais des nouvelles en ligne et j'ai lu cet article qui a attiré mon attention.

Quels cons, ces françaises.. Quel imagination, quelles couilles!!! Haha.. Et en plus la justice a décidé que Sarko ne peut pas arrêter la sortie et la vente de sa poupée vaudou, en disant que "On est dans le cadre de la satire et de la caricature". Youpiii.. enfin des gens avec des bonne têtes et des belles logiques. =P

À l'autre côté, on vois aussi un cas similaire à Singapour, où le WSJ a été poursuivi pas les Leeders encore pour un attaque supposé sur les images des deux bonshommes-leaders de Singapour. J'étais tellement scandalisé par la justice Singapourienne quand il a passé sa jugement, et celui-ci a renforcé mon avis que les deux (le gouv et la justice) sont inévitablement très liés ici. Triste, non? =( On a encore des progrès à faire, malgré notre réputation comme "développé".

Fah.. j'aimerais avoir cet plush!!! Est-ce qu'il y a qqn qui a assez sympa à l'acheter un pour moi??? =D