the rest of those back dated entries.
15 September
Today I finished on this show call ‘Shawshank Redemption’. And immediately it ranks on the top of my all time favourites. Probably side by side with forest Gump haa. I guess it’s the same style of that narrative kind of illustration of the whole story, on top of that the well heard Morgan Freeman’s voice in the whole show that really captivates me to listen to every single dialogue to this.
So many sentences worth quoting in there. Watch it for yourself.
Personal reflection: the good stories are those that have a certain mundane to it, but with 1 single captivating theme. Countless times its been proved this way, on the movies, the books that we read etc. it always this certain bitter sweet feeling that lingers in me about the story that unfolds before me that makes me decide that it was a great experience just having the chance to know such a wonderful story. And that’s one of the beauties of living isn’t it, to not only experience your own experiences, but to enjoy in a way a collective sort of experiences and to feel truly happy for someone in that way.
And I guess since my life really is about having great stories to tell, me trying to build many little climaxes in between my life isn’t going to make my life a great story isn’t it? I should just work towards one central theme in my life and go for it isn’t it? And that’s always been the bane of me, that I wana attempt to inject ‘excellence’ everywhere I end up inputting none. Stubborn as I am in thinking that the generalist way sometimes work as well, I guess I have certain new insights now.
The show talks about this thing called ‘institutionalized’. That when prison inmates been in there for most of their lives serving life sentences or something, when they come out, they can’t get used to life outside. Some of them resort to commiting crimes again just to get back in where they feel that things made sense and that they were at least relevant. Int that prison community, they can at least have a chance of being resourceful to other friends in there and so on.
In the same way, I guess its all about conditioning. Even my 1 week here in Japan, in a way has conditioned me to very limited access to the outside world and friends via handphone and internet. Seems like there is some sort of rationing of these luxury items, eg 1 hour of internet a day, and of course phone is due to the cost. In that sense this artificially created isolated environment in my first week here has opened up a whole new world of self studying and reflections, something I found I was never able to do in SG. In that sense, it has defined and given me the first great thing in Japan. I’m being institutionalized. To the point where I already bought my Japanese phone already but am leaving it just lying around, not really interested in exploring it and connecting with the outside world. I’d rather watch my movies, read my books and study my jap. Odd as it seems, haha, even though I know this period of hyper solitude will end very soon with the start of class tomorrow, I am still trying to enjoy it now, knowing that this is going to be rare. Haha. Institutionalized. I think I will need my time for books and movies every now and then. And great shows like Shawshank are really hard to come by. Let me dig up more.
16th September
Today was the first day of orientation. It was nothing much more than just information offloading. Totally iced my looking forward to it. Haa.
Don’t even feel like going to sch tmr coz nothing impt. There’s like this ice breaker game that I bet would be lame since its in Japan and its to foreign students. I wana experience the REAL Japanese ice breaker. But ahha.
Instead, I turned to my jap drama, and have finally found a way to start watching OVERTIME again. Wow. Its 10 yrs ago man. I rem those little dreams of staying together with friends in an apartment, and making like steamboat like in that show etc. what a change its been in the last 10 yrs. Those frens, some are already married etc. And here I am, in Japan, watching this jap drama of 10 yrs heritage. Haha. Brings me back to that 1999 days.
17 September
I stayed home the whole day and realized that there is impt stuff to do today in sch. I will go tmr and probably get a scolding or something. I guess I will come up with something. I guess someone like me who likes to use the loopholes of rules being made at different places to get more comfort or conveniences than others, would not survive well in a country like Japan. I was just talking to Joanna yesterday over dinner, that there is really little novelty about being in Japan. She’s probably having a worse time than me since its like her place sounds more ulu than mine. And making meals are rather hard for her, coz she doesn’t have a canteen to buy cheap cooked food from.
Travelling in itself, a big aspect of life that I’ve always overlooked/ taken for granted in Singapore, is a war that I have to fight every morning. Just by making preparations to forget the long journeys, for example uploading movies into my ipod in itself is a chore. And its not the long journeys that frustrate me. I guess I’m resigned to the long journeys, it’s the walkings in between, from house to station and in between changing lines etc that really pisses you off, coz its like I cant even watch my movie. I can only walk thru the seas of people who seem like they are taking it like a daily life kind of thing. Everyday I see jaded pple dragging their feet, but then again, not that people in Singapore don’t dread and drag their feet, just so that I am here haa.
Today I went for quick groceries shopping. There really isn’t much incentives here to do groceries, coz I don’t cook at all. But well, since my Royal Milk tea and Pocari sweat is running out, I figured I might as well. In the end bought a lot of bo liao stuff. For example, I thought since my groceries routine is like once every 2 weeks, i’d better buy everything I need. And I decided I’d give myself a treat. I bought a pint of Haagen Daaz rum and raisin ice cream which cost me like 777 yen, which works out to be a little cheaper than Singapore. I figured this is rare.. haha. So I bought that. Its lying comfortably in my freezer now. Haha. Those little high morale items in life. Not that I am as deprived here as in CPH haha. Those days really require groceries. On top of I’m alone here, unlike there when I had Yock Song. Ok. That sounds gay.
Yesterday I was at Softbank, which is the mobile provider here, to help Joanna get her phone. And I met this Softbank manager whom I spoke to for a while, while waiting for Joanna. In the end I told him that I will go distribute his namecard and he laughed which according to Joanna was a gayish laugh. I din have those vibes about him. Haha.
Oh. Coming back to my treats, I also bought salmon sashimi at the supermarket today to give myself a treat over dinner. The sashimi here is cheap! It was like a normal piece of fish uncut yet. U choose it and they cut for u kind. The supermarket kind. And I chose a piece which was 315 yen but 30% off. Probably coz I went in the evening. So it was like sashimi at S$3.50. cheap! And good. shiok.
I also bought bo liao stuff like a bath sponge. I like to go to the 100 yen shop to browse around and buy stuff that would make life that little easier to me.
I also asked about buying a 2nd hand bicyle. Apparently it would cost only 5500 yen. Which is like 80 bucks?
Skipped the chapter on USA to go straight to Japan in LKY’s book, which I guess was more relevant. You know what I’m afraid? I’m afraid tt my view would become LKY’s view. I’ve never felt this way before, but this man is just so so so logical and learned. Most of the time when I read someone, I’d always think he’s good in some ways, but not enough in others. But as I am reading more and more, his life is like a narrative of people whom he met. Similar to those narrative movies like Forest Gump and Shawshank and maybe Benjamin Button. Its all about talking about this person and that person he met here and there. Except that the pple that he met were all prime ministers, presidents and other ministers. Haha. It always goes like, who who who died when. Or like who who who was a remarkable chap, but before he could implement something noble, he was assassinated etc. haha.
Seems like all good stories have a tree with something buried beside it.
18 September
Seems like I am going to be overcome by the soap opera kind of love stories I am about to be watching… watching overtime again has led me to rethink about those times when we were young, at how we viewed this kind of love story and now…
20 September 2009
Its in the morning hours of 20th sept. I just watched another episode of overtime, read a few chapters of the bible on the book of Job. I must have been reading more than I have ever read in my life these days. Also watched ‘fracture’ which was kinda a crappy show, although it stars Anthony Hopkins in his usual old creepy bringing out the new young intellect protégé kind of show, vis-à-vis silence of the lamb…
And I found a shorter route to sch. Much faster, so much faster that I reached something like 20 mins early in sch today. That I had time to walk around and take photos in sch. But the photos were so crappy I think its time I brush up my reading on photography. Kinda good also since I am taking a course in photos this term. Just for fun.
Today, I met Aya in the afternoon to walk around Shibuya, and she had to leave before dinner, in the end I walked around to Omotesando and went back to many familiar places. Amonst them were places we visited 2 yrs ago with JJ and CS, and it brought back the many memories. I was even at the same exact spot at starbucks enjoying a mango passion frap and taking the same photo of the infamous 6 way crossing outside shibuya station. Following which I went back to the cluster of love hotels in Shibuya and tried to find the saloon where I cut my hair the other time, it wasn’t there anymore. But well, harajuku had most of the same shops still around. And I am starting to think that that place doesn’t really change that much does it? Haha. The shops were all still there and all felt so familiar. Some of the shops were even there when I visited more than 10 yrs ago. And I guess 10 yrs qualifies to be described as nostalgic yeah?
Tmr’s Sunday and I guess its going to be laundry day for me. Maybe keep fit day and studying day. Final burst of extensive readings before sch starts and I will get all flustered with all the shit. Haha. Esp when my internet comes. I have grown to like the days of losing all these tools to connect me to the outside world.
Today I finished on this show call ‘Shawshank Redemption’. And immediately it ranks on the top of my all time favourites. Probably side by side with forest Gump haa. I guess it’s the same style of that narrative kind of illustration of the whole story, on top of that the well heard Morgan Freeman’s voice in the whole show that really captivates me to listen to every single dialogue to this.
So many sentences worth quoting in there. Watch it for yourself.
Personal reflection: the good stories are those that have a certain mundane to it, but with 1 single captivating theme. Countless times its been proved this way, on the movies, the books that we read etc. it always this certain bitter sweet feeling that lingers in me about the story that unfolds before me that makes me decide that it was a great experience just having the chance to know such a wonderful story. And that’s one of the beauties of living isn’t it, to not only experience your own experiences, but to enjoy in a way a collective sort of experiences and to feel truly happy for someone in that way.
And I guess since my life really is about having great stories to tell, me trying to build many little climaxes in between my life isn’t going to make my life a great story isn’t it? I should just work towards one central theme in my life and go for it isn’t it? And that’s always been the bane of me, that I wana attempt to inject ‘excellence’ everywhere I end up inputting none. Stubborn as I am in thinking that the generalist way sometimes work as well, I guess I have certain new insights now.
The show talks about this thing called ‘institutionalized’. That when prison inmates been in there for most of their lives serving life sentences or something, when they come out, they can’t get used to life outside. Some of them resort to commiting crimes again just to get back in where they feel that things made sense and that they were at least relevant. Int that prison community, they can at least have a chance of being resourceful to other friends in there and so on.
In the same way, I guess its all about conditioning. Even my 1 week here in Japan, in a way has conditioned me to very limited access to the outside world and friends via handphone and internet. Seems like there is some sort of rationing of these luxury items, eg 1 hour of internet a day, and of course phone is due to the cost. In that sense this artificially created isolated environment in my first week here has opened up a whole new world of self studying and reflections, something I found I was never able to do in SG. In that sense, it has defined and given me the first great thing in Japan. I’m being institutionalized. To the point where I already bought my Japanese phone already but am leaving it just lying around, not really interested in exploring it and connecting with the outside world. I’d rather watch my movies, read my books and study my jap. Odd as it seems, haha, even though I know this period of hyper solitude will end very soon with the start of class tomorrow, I am still trying to enjoy it now, knowing that this is going to be rare. Haha. Institutionalized. I think I will need my time for books and movies every now and then. And great shows like Shawshank are really hard to come by. Let me dig up more.
16th September
Today was the first day of orientation. It was nothing much more than just information offloading. Totally iced my looking forward to it. Haa.
Don’t even feel like going to sch tmr coz nothing impt. There’s like this ice breaker game that I bet would be lame since its in Japan and its to foreign students. I wana experience the REAL Japanese ice breaker. But ahha.
Instead, I turned to my jap drama, and have finally found a way to start watching OVERTIME again. Wow. Its 10 yrs ago man. I rem those little dreams of staying together with friends in an apartment, and making like steamboat like in that show etc. what a change its been in the last 10 yrs. Those frens, some are already married etc. And here I am, in Japan, watching this jap drama of 10 yrs heritage. Haha. Brings me back to that 1999 days.
17 September
I stayed home the whole day and realized that there is impt stuff to do today in sch. I will go tmr and probably get a scolding or something. I guess I will come up with something. I guess someone like me who likes to use the loopholes of rules being made at different places to get more comfort or conveniences than others, would not survive well in a country like Japan. I was just talking to Joanna yesterday over dinner, that there is really little novelty about being in Japan. She’s probably having a worse time than me since its like her place sounds more ulu than mine. And making meals are rather hard for her, coz she doesn’t have a canteen to buy cheap cooked food from.
Travelling in itself, a big aspect of life that I’ve always overlooked/ taken for granted in Singapore, is a war that I have to fight every morning. Just by making preparations to forget the long journeys, for example uploading movies into my ipod in itself is a chore. And its not the long journeys that frustrate me. I guess I’m resigned to the long journeys, it’s the walkings in between, from house to station and in between changing lines etc that really pisses you off, coz its like I cant even watch my movie. I can only walk thru the seas of people who seem like they are taking it like a daily life kind of thing. Everyday I see jaded pple dragging their feet, but then again, not that people in Singapore don’t dread and drag their feet, just so that I am here haa.
Today I went for quick groceries shopping. There really isn’t much incentives here to do groceries, coz I don’t cook at all. But well, since my Royal Milk tea and Pocari sweat is running out, I figured I might as well. In the end bought a lot of bo liao stuff. For example, I thought since my groceries routine is like once every 2 weeks, i’d better buy everything I need. And I decided I’d give myself a treat. I bought a pint of Haagen Daaz rum and raisin ice cream which cost me like 777 yen, which works out to be a little cheaper than Singapore. I figured this is rare.. haha. So I bought that. Its lying comfortably in my freezer now. Haha. Those little high morale items in life. Not that I am as deprived here as in CPH haha. Those days really require groceries. On top of I’m alone here, unlike there when I had Yock Song. Ok. That sounds gay.
Yesterday I was at Softbank, which is the mobile provider here, to help Joanna get her phone. And I met this Softbank manager whom I spoke to for a while, while waiting for Joanna. In the end I told him that I will go distribute his namecard and he laughed which according to Joanna was a gayish laugh. I din have those vibes about him. Haha.
Oh. Coming back to my treats, I also bought salmon sashimi at the supermarket today to give myself a treat over dinner. The sashimi here is cheap! It was like a normal piece of fish uncut yet. U choose it and they cut for u kind. The supermarket kind. And I chose a piece which was 315 yen but 30% off. Probably coz I went in the evening. So it was like sashimi at S$3.50. cheap! And good. shiok.
I also bought bo liao stuff like a bath sponge. I like to go to the 100 yen shop to browse around and buy stuff that would make life that little easier to me.
I also asked about buying a 2nd hand bicyle. Apparently it would cost only 5500 yen. Which is like 80 bucks?
Skipped the chapter on USA to go straight to Japan in LKY’s book, which I guess was more relevant. You know what I’m afraid? I’m afraid tt my view would become LKY’s view. I’ve never felt this way before, but this man is just so so so logical and learned. Most of the time when I read someone, I’d always think he’s good in some ways, but not enough in others. But as I am reading more and more, his life is like a narrative of people whom he met. Similar to those narrative movies like Forest Gump and Shawshank and maybe Benjamin Button. Its all about talking about this person and that person he met here and there. Except that the pple that he met were all prime ministers, presidents and other ministers. Haha. It always goes like, who who who died when. Or like who who who was a remarkable chap, but before he could implement something noble, he was assassinated etc. haha.
Seems like all good stories have a tree with something buried beside it.
18 September
Seems like I am going to be overcome by the soap opera kind of love stories I am about to be watching… watching overtime again has led me to rethink about those times when we were young, at how we viewed this kind of love story and now…
20 September 2009
Its in the morning hours of 20th sept. I just watched another episode of overtime, read a few chapters of the bible on the book of Job. I must have been reading more than I have ever read in my life these days. Also watched ‘fracture’ which was kinda a crappy show, although it stars Anthony Hopkins in his usual old creepy bringing out the new young intellect protégé kind of show, vis-à-vis silence of the lamb…
And I found a shorter route to sch. Much faster, so much faster that I reached something like 20 mins early in sch today. That I had time to walk around and take photos in sch. But the photos were so crappy I think its time I brush up my reading on photography. Kinda good also since I am taking a course in photos this term. Just for fun.
Today, I met Aya in the afternoon to walk around Shibuya, and she had to leave before dinner, in the end I walked around to Omotesando and went back to many familiar places. Amonst them were places we visited 2 yrs ago with JJ and CS, and it brought back the many memories. I was even at the same exact spot at starbucks enjoying a mango passion frap and taking the same photo of the infamous 6 way crossing outside shibuya station. Following which I went back to the cluster of love hotels in Shibuya and tried to find the saloon where I cut my hair the other time, it wasn’t there anymore. But well, harajuku had most of the same shops still around. And I am starting to think that that place doesn’t really change that much does it? Haha. The shops were all still there and all felt so familiar. Some of the shops were even there when I visited more than 10 yrs ago. And I guess 10 yrs qualifies to be described as nostalgic yeah?
Tmr’s Sunday and I guess its going to be laundry day for me. Maybe keep fit day and studying day. Final burst of extensive readings before sch starts and I will get all flustered with all the shit. Haha. Esp when my internet comes. I have grown to like the days of losing all these tools to connect me to the outside world.
posted by penicilin at 11:14 AM
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