Reminiscing those days...
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Layout: Everything I ask for This is my corner... If you're looking for trouble, please leave me alone... |
Wasabi, age and a bunch of thoughts.
:( <-- after="" auto-saved="" current="" elaborate="" emotion="" i="" is="" my="" not="" out="" post="" realising="" that="" the="" this="" typed="" was="">omg, what's with ^??? what i meant to write was "my current emotion after realising how the elaborate post I typed yesterday evening was not auto-saved through my phone". It prolly is some cheem IT thing that I ended up activating cause I have no idea how to use my <, >, - etc. Alright, so around 5pm yesterday evening, I was on a bus to Yishun and I suddenly felt like sharing some of my random thoughts again since there wasn't much to do on the bus. I can't replicate completely what I typed out, but I'm going to try my best. It all started out from thinking about the wasabi in the sushi that I was going to eat or had for dinner. Most Japanese have a long lifespan probably due to their diet and lifestyle. I have heard of how some Japanese are capable of living to an age of 100years old! Deep down in my heart, I really admire people who live a good old number of years on Earth. I don't think it is as easy as it seems to survive and maintain a healthy body and mindset when we grow old. In the many years that elderly people have spent on earth, they must have witnessed countless deaths. The deceased can be their relatives, family, close friends or even neighbours! I feel that these elderly people must have either a crazy mental power to stay strong or too used to losing loved ones that they have become numb. Do they feel lonely? Some of them might still have children and grandchildren to support them but what about those who don't? This is also why many a times, we end up seeing news of elderly dying alone in their small apartments or even some of them having to end up on the streets cause they are too poor to afford a home. But, this is not the point. I feel that when every person we cherish dearly passes away, it causes a large amount of damage to our mental and emotional stability. This great deal of stress to our minds and hearts take aload of time to be dispelled and the time may depend on how close we were to the deceased. The people who live for a long period of time naturally witness more deaths than others and they are amazing people, in my opinion, who can withstand the continual turmoil throughout life when people around them enter eternal sleep one after another. In addition, as a human being living on this Earth, we have to learn to accept and adapt to everything around us regardless of the nature. Along the way, we would have already been exposed to several incidents which have made us stop to think something along the line of "wow, life is so beautiful" but life is also capable of throwing at us the ugly side of humanity hidden as obstacles we have to overcome. Growing old means being able to see both the good and the bad scenes because we simply cannot choose. When the environment around you becomes so pessimistic, it is natural to want to escape from it. For example, a person who has lived through World War II would probably have experienced being tortured, seeing for himself how other comrades were killed and the seemingly endless days of such miserable life. All around you many innocent lives were lost, so much violence and bloodshed would have frightened and traumatised a person so greatly. However, the elderly who live on till old age are still holding on and they are definitely vastly different in terms of mental strength from those who hastily commit suicide. This makes me feel even more inspired by these elderly people. I also feel that being an elderly is great because you get to observe how science and technology advance throughout your life. You would get to laugh at how probably 70 years ago people of your time were struggling with communicating with people from overseas and at the same time, reminisce about the technology you used in the past which youngsters these days would not appreciate. This is really how I feel when in my time, we used to play with gameboys and now children in this age are playing with iPads and they have no idea gameboys existed. I watched this Youtube video about the reactions of kids to gameboy and I was like "HEY, that's from my time and it was really fun!" Maybe as an elderly you would exclaim happily "Yeah! They have finally created ___ after so many bloody years!" I wonder if I could be like them. Will I be optimistic and strong enough to live to a super old age? Will I get the chance to proudly tell my grandchildren / great grandchildren / young kids in the future about the experiences I've had when I was younger (like now) ? I wonder what fate has in store for me. _____ Anyway, dinner was good though I really thought we were going to eat loads of sushi.. :) I'm craving for sushi all of a sudden... again. I'M HUNGRY! :O Will I ever be strong enough? Labels: Smilez and frowns everyday.. On Saturday, July 19, 2014 at 11:59 AM Randomly wanting to share a part of what goes through my brain sometimes
Woke up pretty early today around 7:30am feeling refreshed and awake unlike the past few days. Waking up in the morning and waking up in the afternoon has a different effect to the rest of the day.I've come to realise how the hands on the clock spin faster when one is asleep. When a person claims that he likes to sleep and does in fact, spends most of his time sleeping, does that person will for time to past more quickly or simply needs more rest? Most people associate sleep to recharging the body just like how charging a phone refills its energy to function. We sleep to get rid of our tiredness. So when a person claims that he spends most of his time sleeping, the person is revealing that he gets tired easily due to several factors such as a weak physical body or the fact that he has many things tiring him at the moment. This can be a sign of stress and inability to cope with the current situation that he's facing. In another case, when a person enjoys sleeping for the fact that sleep takes away our consciousness of time, it can show signs of escapism and shirking of responsibility or otherwise, refusal of taking up responsibility. This can be due to a stressful environment coupled with the incapability of meeting expectations. What about when a person claims that sleeping is his hobby during an introduction with people at first meetings? (This is something that happens quite often in my opinion) Personally, I feel that it creates a negative first impression of laziness and having a dull life. Among the wide variety of hobbies that one can possibly choose from, if "sleep" is the first word that appears in that person's mind, he most probably does not give a damn to anything much apart from things that affect him directly. This can also reveal selfishness. But these are just my opinions based on certain experiences. Sleep also gives the impression of isolation. A person who sleeps away his time is most likely to be quite anti-social considering the limited amount of time he choose to spend interacting with others. Careless comments such as "I'd rather be sleeping than ___" can mean more than they seem. Yet at the same time, sleeping can be a form of vulnerability. When we close our eyes, step away from the world we live in and be engulfed by the darkness that entails, we throw ourselves into an abyss of mystery and the unknown. We have no idea what really happens and let our minds drift before waking up in what feels like a shorter period of time than the actual. The vulnerability we exchange in return for the peace and comfort that sleep guarantees is ironically reassured by the fact that after sleep comes the wake. Do I make any sense? Somehow when I think of this, I think I understand a little more about why people choose eternal sleep. The overwhelming feelings of circumstances induces them to never want to wake after they bodies sleep. They think that when their bodies sleep, they would slip into the unconscious mode whereby they do not even know if they have or have not fallen asleep yet because that's what happens when we sleep. We have no idea when exactly we fall asleep. They are willing to risk going into that mode without knowing whether their sleep would be dreamless / nightmares / good dreams. Or perhaps all they care about is not waking. I wonder if people who commit suicide actually regret after their eternal sleep? _____ But anyways, I was just being curious and typing down some of the thoughts that ran through my mind. These are scientifically unsupported opinions of mine that I concluded from personal experiences. Or maybe they are just common sense.. Idk? Heh. I'm feeling hungry after thinking so much... Labels: Smilez and frowns everyday.. On Friday, July 18, 2014 at 11:28 AM The bear goes to Japan!
Alright, so where should I begin? I went on a "short" vacation trip to Japan with my good buddy, Xinyue from July 1st to 14th. The decision was made rather quickly but the whole book-the-tickets-and-pack-our-luggages process took quite some time due to my renewal of passport. Xinyue brought along her newly bought camera and took many amazing photographs which have not been uploaded yet hence, I'm unable to share them with you. (I'm saying this as if I ever upload any pictures onto my blog~) I am not really what's the best way to share with you our adventures so I'm going to just briefly talk about them in the journal/diary entry method. :) Here goes~ 01 July 2014 United Airlines flight from SIN to NRT (pleasant ride except that my bladder was screaming for the wash room every 2 hours) Experience at the airport was pretty overwhelming because we were surrounded by the foreign language. Xy's cousin came to pick us up and we bought our first drinks from the vending machine! Naturally, I went for the milk tea. ROYAL MILK TEA to be precise. Trend #01: It is common for Japanese to purchase from their convenient markets (KOMBINI, eg: 7Eleven) because it ain't expensive) It was a long drive to Chiba and we picked up the two lil brats before having lunch/teabreak/dinner at a sushi restaurant. Afterthat, we made a trip to the supermarket and went home. The first night ended with Xy and me completing our university registration. 02 July 2014 Woke up to a delicious breakfast prepared by Xy's cousin (pizza + bread with jam + milk) We set off on a 3 hours car ride to Izu for the Panorama Park that was popular in the area. Had tickets for a two way cable car ride. Ate our very first soft serve ice cream (strawberry flavoured) on top The Panorama Park's main attraction would be the clear view of Mount Fuji (on a clear day). There were other interesting things like the temple, the nice greenery and the swing on top of the hill. Lunch was served at the buffet provided at the base of the hill. Xy's cousin booked a traditional Japanese hotel for us. It was the first time I wore a yukata, bathed in a traditional public bath and soaked in the hot spring. I don't think I would ever forget this experience at the hotel. We had a traditional Japanese dinner provided by the hotel restaurant as well. I have my own set of opinions about the dinner but I should highlight that it was indeed, really traditional. 03 July 2014 Had a traditional breakfast prepared by the hotel restaurant again. We took some time to explore the place and take some commemorative photographs before checking out. Another long car ride to the Izu Teddy bear museum. Lunch at a Japanese lady's house + restaurant. Ate delicious hot soba noodles with tempura. Took our 3 hour car ride back to Chiba. Car rides with the two lil brats can be very tiring. The only thing that could keep them quiet was repeatedly playing the Princess Hours mv on Xy's iPad for them. (weird, but yes) We ate Chinese food for dinner that night. 04 July 2014 The first day that Xy and I throw ourselves into the Jap sea without her cousin's help. We woke up early to travel to Shibuya and Shinjuku. We had our fair share of the Japanese railway madness. Trend #02: Many Japanese carry long umbrellas instead of the foldable kind. While travelling, I thought I saw 2AM's Jokwon at the station. :O Started our shopping at Shibuya 109! (8 floors in total) My very first shopping item was a cap >:) Trend #03: After making a purchase, some shop keepers like to walk you out of the shop before handing you your purchases. Trend #04: It is a norm for Japanese shop keepers to be shouting and promoting outside and inside the shop. (Though it can be very very very noisy) Trend #05: Shops that sell clothes usually have shop keepers who are tall, pretty and put on loads of make up Trend #06: Japanese girls like to wear socks when they wear heels/ platforms. (which I find quite disturbing) Afterthat, we went to Shinjuku for dinner of omelette rice~ (We skipped lunch cause there was no time) There was great communication breakdown when ordering food btw, so it's always recommended that you bring some form of dictionary or have somebody who can speak Jap with you. Trend #07: Somehow, the exits from train stations can lead you to various places such as a branded goods shop, a random street etc. That night, when we took the train back home, it was really crowded and noisy. Whoever said that train rides were quiet/ you can't talk/ you can't use your phone is totally wrong. 05 July 2014 Packed and left Xy's cousin's house for the student hostel at Asakusa (on Ginza line). There was clear instructions on how to get to Khaosan Tokyo SamuraI! We spot an interesting structure and I named it Sun Wu Kong's cloud though it's supposed to be representing Asahi (a beer). We did some laundry before leaving the hostel for a free imperial palace tour at the Tokyo station. Had lunch at a restaurant called "Tsubame Kitchen". (If I had to choose my favourite meal, it would be this one - Seafood gratin, tomato salad and bread. The tomato salad was literally a tomato btw and yes, Winnie ate a whole tomato.) Nearly missed the free tour because we mistook the meeting place: station entrance as the station exit. Travelled to Ginza station which was apparently something like Orchard road in Singapore. We shopped at a whole Uniqlo building there which had many items on sale. Xy suggested that we ate Macs for dinner that night and while we were on our way there, we got held up at this makeup/health store called Matsumoto Kiyoshi. Attention: you'll see this store everywhere you go!! If you go to Japan, your friends will probably ask you to help them buy stuff there! Anyway, so Xy's friends asked her to help them buy stuff from there so we kinda got held up before we finally reached Macs for our dinner. Japan macs was really disappointing for me. 1. No chilli sauce 2. Healthy fries 3. Healthy burgers We travelled back to our hostel later on. Funny how we nearly got lost. The hostel toilets and shower rooms were awesome. (I literally look forward to showering and sleeping every morning after we set off from the hostel to our various destinations) 06 July 2014 We had our breakfast at Tomtom's bakery which was close to the building with SWK's cloud. It prolly was a disappointing meal for Xy cause she is quite picky with her food. We took a train to Odaiba which was an island newly designed for entertainment purposes. According to my notes, I wrote : we shopped like crazy! Maybe not luh.. Just that we bought aload of things here and there and even visited Daiso! Yes, I'm sure it was Daiso that added the weight to all the shopping. I got this weird tasting lemon drink from Daiso which was overly gassy. Avoid that, friends. I can't even remember clearly what the name of the building was but it was amazing cause it had a bowling alley, a gundam museum, a floor for arcade, a skate park and a rooftop for bbq + sports. I ate yoshinoya for lunch that day. It's really different from the one in Singapore. I ate Jap curry with cheese and rice~ We made our way to palette town for the Ferris wheel ride. (skipped the shopping cause we were super tired from all the walking) Next, we went to a place called the decks (beside the beach) for the Madame Tussauds Wax figurine museum and the Trick Art museum. Had dinner at one of the restaurants in the building next to it. The place had loads of feel~ Yummy dinner with a yummy chocolatey cake. I realised that food in Japan is not that expensive compared to Singapore. Especially when the restaurants have such beautiful decoration and the staff are so polite. 07 July 2014 1st week's over... A good start to a good morning with breakfast at Cafe De Crie. We travelled to Shimo-kitazawa station to meet up with Xy's friend. I saw this really pretty school girl waiting at the station. :) Trend #08: Japanese girls start putting on make up at a really young age and they are allowed to wear make up to school. Their skirt length also changes as they grow up. Trend #09: No matter where you go, the toilets in Japan will always have toilet paper! Trend #10: Japan's toilet paper is really thin unfortunately. (Part of their eco-friendly plan, I guess) We shopped along the cool shopping streets near that station which reminded me of Singapore's Haji lane but with much affordable prices definitely. We ate at the Nan station for lunch. They sold Indian cuisine and curry~ Shopped a little more here and there and had ramen for dinner. 08 July 2014 We ate our first Macs breakfast on our way to the Tokyo skytree in order to take a shuttle bus to DIsneyland. Tokyo skytree is really complicated so I suggest for anyone going there to get a map. There are also season themed performances that have a really celebratory mood which are worth catching though it can be quite difficult to get good seats Oh and lastly, for Japan's Disneyland, you can use your tickets to get "Fast Pass" tickets for certain rides. They will let you "cut queues" but at a certain time. It is really useful when you want to cover more rides! Rides we took: 1. Wet and splashy ride that was similar to Singapore Escape theme park's Wet and wild. (I was convinced by Xy to take this ride.. The waiting time was really scary and dark. But overall, I am proud to say that I made it through!) 2. Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Carousel 4. 3D Mickey orchestra (Xy's favourite) 5. Tea cups 6. Cinderella's museum 7. Car ride (Pretty restrictive though) 8. Big Thunder Mountain (My favourite ride from land) 9. 3D Mickey Orchestra (again) 10. Pinocchio ride... Er.... 11. Winnie the pooh ride :) I can't remember what we had for dinner that night... Wait, I can't remember if we even ate anything for dinner. 09 July 2014 Dabao-ed mac breakfast for the shuttle bus cause we woke up late. Trend #11: Japanese buses and trains are super punctual and leave on time. Travelled to Disneysea this time and it was unfortunately drizzling when we got there but the rides still went on in the slight rain. Rides we took: 1. Storm rider (4D) 2. Indianna Jones adventure ride (which was pretty enjoyable except for the fact that the kids sitting behind us were shouting like they've got their limbs amputated without anaesthesia) 3. 20,000 leagues under the sea 4. Journey to the center of the Earth (Xy only cause I chickened out) 5. Big Band Beat (a wonderful musical) 6. Tower of Terror (I have much to explain for this ride) 7. Jumping Jelly Fish 8. Teacups 9. Pufferfish flying candy ride 10. Short "Kiddy" roller coaster 11. Raging spirits (Roller coaster ride with a 360 degree turn) Alright, at the beginning of the trip, Xy made me promise to take 1 out of the 4 rides with her cause she knew I would chicken out : 3,4,6,11. After taking 3, she was pretty disappointed cause according to a review we found, the reviewer rated 10/10 for ride 3. But it wasn't scary at all because there weren't even seatbelts. So she really wanted me to choose out of the remaining three rides. I was quite adamant about not going for any other scary rides because I was so scared but while we were on our way to get the fast past ticket for ride 6, I have no idea what kind of possession I had, I agreed on taking ride 6 with her. I was damn freaked out even before the ride. My chest felt tight and my fingers went numb. I thought that it would be some kind of roller coaster ride but NO, they went straight to the free-fall. We were strapped into chairs inside the elevator. The very first time it went all the way up, they opened the windows to let us see the scenery outside before our drop. At the third drop which went all the way down, I could feel my body reaching terminal velocity... Although taking this ride has been mentally torturing for me, I kinda enjoyed it at the end... I guess. Are you proud of me? HAHA. Others may find this one mild but holy crap, it was so scary for me! And in the end, I willingly took ride 11 cause it looked fun! :) So, 3 out of 4! :) We ended early and rushed to Shibuya 109 to get the pair of sandals I saw and couldn't forget. Can you remember which was the day I went to Shibuya? HAHA Dinner at KFC because we were so hungry and tired! 10 July 2014 Earliest and fastest morning ever! We left the hostel at 845. It was reported that a typhoon was hitting an area nearby and we were only safe to wonder outside till 3pm. We visited the anime street that Xy researched and it was quite disappointing to me. There were aload of the M18 places and products at the area. We went to harajuku thereafter. My favourite Jap shop : Monki HAHAHAHA It was as fashionable as I thought it would be. I saw aload of crazy fashion from an Instagram page but turns out that prolly only 1 out of 100 would dress that way on that street. Travelled to Oshiage station (Tokyo skytree) because we wanted to eat the fresh fish restaurant along the way back to the hostel. Unfortunately, we didn't find it and ate at this steak + curry restaurant which was run by a father and son. The wind was really strong that night and we rushed to get some bread, snacks and drinks before heading back to the hostel. Xy made me pack all my shopping into the luggage to clear some walking area. We watched an episode of the anime Haikyu! before turning in for the night. 11 July 2014 We were so prepared to stay in the hostel till the evening but apparently, the typhoon came while we were sleeping soundly and left by the morning so it was safe to go out again! I woke up around 9:15am, had breakfast in the kitchen with xinyue and watched one episode of Free! before setting off. We met some Singaporean guys in the kitchen. Xy and I finished up 1.5 of the harajuku shopping lane. I ate creamy udon with shrimp and avocado for lunch and ate at some sushi shop for dinner. It was amazing how the sushi chefs would be preparing sushi professionally right infront of you. Xy didn't enjoy the sushi as much as I did cause she didn't like to eat fresh fish. We bought cake for breakfast along the way back. That night was quite shiok because we ate yoghurt and chips while watching another episode of Free! and some running man! 12 July 2014 This morning, we ventured to the Asakusa temple which was near our hostel. We spent some time at the "shopping street" to get some snacks to bring back to Singapore and prayed at the temple. Then, we visited the Ghibli museum. (In case you have no idea, Ghibli studio produces the Japanese animation films such as Ponyo, Spirited Away and Howl's moving castle) Afterthat, we went to eat some Japanese yakitori from a famous shop. They cook so much yakitori that there was loads of smoke coming out from that two storey building. The uncle there was quite rude though. It was one of the rare times I got quite pissed off in Japan. I shall not mention it. But anyways, it was probably because of the crowd and our inability to speak Jap. Later in the evening, we met up with Xy's friend again with the intention to go for a drink but according to the recommendation by the staff at our hostel, we ended up at a normal curry restaurant that played Jazz. HAHAHAHAHA! Dinner was delicious though. I ate omelette rice. The best one I've ever had so far because the egg was so so so buttery and the chicken soup was so yummy. Tea was served in elegant English tea cups. Lemon ice cream was sour and tasty and the orange cake was splendid as well. The only turn off was the ultra bitter coffee pudding :O The great thing about that evening was buying a new pair of shoes at around 16 bucks and my black bag / clutch thing. We even tried to play with sparkles that night but it was kinda fail. HAHAHA. Did aload of packing after going back to the hostel because we were checking out the next day! 13 July 2014 Checked out after 9am. Headed to Shimo-kitazawa to source for Xy's iPhone sticker which she couldn't forget. I had my second crepe of the trip. :) Lunch was at the nan station again and this time, I ordered a cocktail.. Cassis Orange, I believe. We travelled to the Tokyo skytree to do some light shopping. I bought a new wallet from there and somemore snacks. Had a little bit of KFC for "dinner". We went back to the hostel and saw the same staff who checked us in. Had a small chat with him till 7 plus and left. Trend #12: Many Japanese men prefer to be slim and fashionable instead of macho. :O wow, shocking indeed. Wanted to flag a cab but it would cost a hundred bucks and 2 hours. SO MANY things to carry but we made it in the end. Trend #13: Japan's train stations are less crowded on weekends! (Totally opposite to that of Singapore's) Reached Xy's cousin's house and packed again. Her cousin cooked us some chicken and huge ass prawns. SHIOK. 14 July 2014 Woke up at 4am to watch FIFA World Cup 2014 finals - Germany vs Argentina. Slept again and woke around 9 or 10 to pack up. Her cousin brought us to eat ramen and ice cream (DAMN GOOD) before sending us to the airport. We bade farewell there to her cousin. Did some last minute shopping at the airport duty free shops. Ate ice cream from the vending machine while waiting for boarding time. (The vending machines sell Haagen Daz at 290 yen!!!) On the trip back to Singapore, I watched 2 full movies - Man in Love (SOOOO SAD) and The alien Abduction. I watched part of The Pretty One. Slept away the rest of the time on the plane. Landed in Singapore, retrieved my baggage and gave Xy her surprise gift. :) _____ The next time I get the chance to go Japan again, I would definitely concentrate more on the food and scenery hunt! Would like to thank Xinyue so much for the itinerary and research she did and of course, the opportunity to travel with her! After coming back, I watched this anime which made aload of reference to some of the popular streets and stations in Tokyo. Do check it out if you're interested. Durarara! :) Alright, I practically spent almost the entire afternoon typing this blog post out. Great job, Winnie! Waiting for my dinner now and prolly will head downstairs to get a cup of bubble tea. Felt that I was rather healthy in Japan except for the meals which I kept craving for cheese. Japan is really into recycling and healthy lifestyle o_o Trend #14 The Macs in Japan requires patrons to separate their waste after their meal and pour away their trash. (It really gets on my nerves every time I eat Macs/KFC with Xy) Okay, so that's about all. Thanks for your kind attention! Until next time~ I really look forward to experiencing the beauty of our lives with the people whom I love~ Labels: Smilez everyday... On Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 5:17 PM |
About me
![]() Just a random, average short girl who believes that life is a disaster in disguise as a blessing... Worrying has become a habit but anime will always remain engraved in my mind. =] Currently addicted to spacing out... And... Sleep is prioritised as number 1! People know me as Winnie. And I have roamed the Earth for 15 years. It all began on 14th September 1995... |
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