Weekend...

The internet connection’s driving me nutz! It’s been unstable since Saturday evening ~ d/c on & off. I spent the afternoon yesterday writing my blog & it got d/c the moment I tried to post it…and there goes all I wrote!! And I’ve to re-write everything now…by memory!!

This week’s my last week of rest at home before I start working…sianz…wanted to go out with my sister but I had a bad attack of cramps that lasted almost the whole day, so stayed at home to rest instead. And wrote as & when I felt better / bored…

I attended my 1st Jap lesson on Sat. Wah, really low morale to study on Sat afternoons 4.30-7pm. Even tho it’s better than rotting at home, having to drag myself out of my home in the middle of the day to attend lessons was a little tough. And concentrating for 2.5 hrs was another challenge. But the teacher was very lively & chatty, cracked silly jokes occasionally to liven up the class, so it wasn’t really a torture to go thru the lesson. Half the class turned up (5 of us), so everyone had a chance to speak up. Most of those in my class had been studying Jap for 5 – 10 years. Amazing! They have the stamina to study for so long!!!

After lessons I went to check out Isetan. They have a pretty good collection of Japanese food ~ snacks, cooking ingredients, cooked food etc.. I had cravings for ume-shu (plum liq) so bought a bottle home. Talking about drinking, I thought I’d stop drinking ume-shu for good ever since the July’04 episode where I finished a whole bottle on my own. It was so sweet to drink it undiluted but I did it anyway & no longer wanted to drink it again…or so I thought! I stayed off ume-shu for about 4 months only… I had expected myself to quit drinking once I’m back in Spore coz my parents wouldn’t like it. BUT my brother likes red wine, and my parents drink it for health (it apparently helps prevent heart diseases), so I get to drink it too! And dad likes ume-shu tho he drinks it in small quantity. So I’ve a good excuse to buy it… haiz… guess will be difficult to quit!

Drinking’s the worst habit I picked up in Japan…Luckily I didn’t pick up smoking, else I think I’d have a tough time quitting. There was once when I was very tempted to try it at a party… My friends were smoking marijuana & offered it to me. Very tempted to try, but rejected it. Then they offered me a cigarette instead. I was quite drunk then…game to try anything, but Uncle Lee (my ex-classmate who’s like a big brother) was there…his presence sort of put a control on my behavior. We promptly left the party after I sober up a little.

Back to my Saturday stories…bro & Alice returned home in the evening with a bento each. They had craving for bento & bought it at Meida-ya. They were utterly disappointed with their dinner. They were still drooling over the taste of the bentos they ate in Japan. Too bad for them…with hardly any business competitors here in Spore, the quality would often be poor… And not many Sporeans would want to eat bento when they can buy yummy freshly cooked hawker food.

At night I spent some time reading the fortune telling book I bought from Japan. Half the time I was checking out the dictionary for meanings though. Hmm… seems like this is a good year for me…

I met up with my ex-colleague from GE on Sunday. We pigged out at Marche for 2 hours, talking about GE & Japan. She's no longer working there, but still has lots of updates on GE. I told her quite a lot about Japan & my adventures there as well. We went on to talk about MCP Korean guys & perverted Jap guys. And I admitted buying a porno mag in Jap, but that’s not for my own use, it’s for my brother’s birthday. Supposed to get my male friend to buy for me, but he was bz, so I got it myself. Had a hard time choosing coz most of the mag were sealed at the sides, so can’t browse through ~ I had to peep from the corners to see whether there’re more photos or manga. Apparently my bro liked it…tho his gf has prob confiscated it away now!

After lunch we shopped & continued with our stories. I went to check out the J-pop CD collection at Tower Records at Suntec. It was a great disappointment :( The albums were old. Singles were expensive. *sob sob*....maybe i should get whoever's coming back from Japan to buy some for me!At Suntec we saw many people walking around with a plastic bag with the words "Library book sale" printed on it. "Ahhh.....must be the annual library book sale!" i thought... So we went to check out the exhibition halls....

It really was the sale ~ last day though... I managed to find 3 interesting titles ~ (i) 3 cyclists' trip through South America, (ii) A Somalia gal's story, (iii) book about the pianist featured in the movie "Shine" (i didn't watch the movie tho..) and 2 travel books ~ Scotland & Alaska. Buying a book on Scotland is expected coz it's my dream to go there, but Alaska?? Even i'm surprised! I was curious about Alaska & thought of just browsing thru & leave it....until i came across pictures of the lovely scenery ~ Alaska's so beautiful!! But no plans to go there at the moment.... i want to cover Japan first, followed by New Zealand, Tasmania (Australia), Scotland... Alaska would have to wait...At 6pm, everyone in the exhibition observed a minute of silence for the victims of the tsunami disaster. Apparently it's done island-wide on Sunday... I left with my purchase of 5 books at total cost of $6!! Very satisfied shopper :)

Went in search of nice sandals for work....found a pair i liked at URS (at Citylink) but there were no price tag on it. I asked the salesgal about it, and she disappeared to check out the price... can't believe her answer when she returned "er, this costs 30+" My goodness!! Where's her brains?!! I shot her "30+? What if i want to buy it?" She gave me a lost look and went off to check the price again before giving me an exact price. Haiz.... And my friend had to wait about 5 mins for the shop's boss to return to make payment. This is so dumb! When we were done with that, I went to buy the Japanese milk tea home ~ highly recommended it to my friend as well. Tired after a day out, slept early on Sunday.

Last nite I checked out Glay’s official website. Their Expo’04 concert DVD’s out for sale already & it comes with a poster!! And also have new album though I actually have all the songs already. And they are going to hold a series of concerts in Feb-March. I’m so tempted to go attend it. Apparently the one held in Osaka will be special ~ all standing concert due to the venue, so will be more fun. But it’s in March…I can’t apply for leave then. Hmm…if the office would be closed on 11 Feb, maybe I can go attend the one in Nagoya. Haiz… all dream only…

I woke up with the usual runny nose this morning. The air at home is very bad. I’ve been having this problem ever since I returned to Spore. And I’ve been feeding mosquitoes almost every day. The construction site next to my home is driving me crazy…the noise & air pollution…I can’t stay at home in the day for long, the noise is so irritating!I was so bored just now that my sis & I started looking at the Yahoo!Japan Personals, searching for suitable guys for her friend. Most of the Jap guys cannot make it. Those under the Australia site were quite cute…then we went to the Spore site. Also cannot make it… think she better join me in throwing oranges in hope of finding Mr Right…