ノルウェーの森

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...
She showed me her room, isn't it good Norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine,
We talked until two and then she said: "It's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't, and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good Norwegian wood.

I love my country and my embassy

there is so much I have to write today. in the mood for writing because i had a fair dose of novels these couple of days. am holding on to one of those that you know, you could like read a quarter of it at one shot kind of book. before i go on and on, and before i forget, this book is by a famous japanese author called Haruki Murakami. I have nv heard of him before I came here, but since pple tell me he's famous, he's famous. and it happens to be about this university boy who is kinda like a loner. and since the story was based in 1980s tokyo, i could kinda relate to it, because pretty much the places he mentioned are the places I pass by everyday on the trains etc. and so its really about how despite him being a loner with few frens, having the little little interesting happenings in his life. be it from his equally weird rm mate to knowing this guy and together going to Shinjuku and hook up girls etc. makes me wonder why this thing became a best seller sometimes. its kinda a warped story, but then again, I am in for the idea that japanese pple have their style of best sellers and block busters being those that belong to kinda like this genre. think battle royale (which i watched recently as well), think the ring, think Death note.

alright, so in my little queer way, in a way imitating the style that Murakami has written, i'd like to give an account of my otherwise kinda eventful day, which started with a typical 11 am waking up routine which i have developed recently owing to the late night Kanji practices. I feel like a pri sch boy all of a sudden practicing my writing sometimes. following which I caught an NBA game which the lakers routed the hornets. i didnt even bother to watch the last quarter. oh and i heard how Man U lost to Chelsea in a game that they should've won. and blah blah the usual lunch downstairs, and by then I realised I had not much time so I quickly put on something I could find and went out in slippers with a number of thiings to do in mind. in japan i always had a 'number' of things to do in mind. I wished I had a more accessible 'to do list' ard me. ok. i'm obviously a lot worse, coz he had this uncanny ability to put in all the descriptive words to describe every small little detail in such perfection I could almost have the picture in my head. for example, 'with a stump of her cigarette, she scratched the corner of her eye with her little finger, as if trying to lessen the intensity of what she just said.' ok. i made that up. but something liek tt.

and where was i? oh. i was out getting a few things done. kinda like had a mission. including buying groceries, mailing a letter etc. i kinda like these kind of compact going out sessions at least u dont just go out to do one thing, but many and it makes me feel slightly more accomplished than say to go out all the way just to do one thing.

and after which I came back, all rushed for time for my next event of the day. i dressed up, kinda need to coz I was sorta meeting impt pple tonight because there was an event at the embassy. and in the end when i reached, indeed, the average tonight must have been 55 or something. and thats considering the major pull down by myself and joanna. haha. and high class society stuff lah. like jazz concert, networking event. i was even told specifically to prepare namecards for myself. which i waza waza went to make at 1300 yen for 50 pieces. every card that i give out seems to be like some blood trickling down from me.

but obviously the highlight of the night would be the Singapore fare once again!!! which is why i love my embassy and my country. tho this is not really an event for singaporeans per se. but i was invited anyway. the guests were like 80 % japanese pple who are working for singapore companies or like they've worked in singapore before i suppose. I guess if i continue to have such events pouring in at such rates, i wont be missing out on singapore food that much after all. i really just wana see who can bring in bak chor mee in japan for me. hahaaha. coz whenever singapore food is mentioned here, its always between chilli crab, laksa, chicken rice etc.. thats abt it. what happened to bak chor mee!!!! wasnt it made famous by Mr Brown?

ok. i totally lost it. haha. no more mood to write anymore. i rem i had so much to write just moments ago.

I have to blog this I have to blog this

ever got the feeling of like after a long day, you actually read home with a number of things in mind to do? like adding a newly known friend on facebook, or like finding a long lost friend on facebook or just simply like an idea like I have to check out something on the internet kind of thing? right now i am feeling that way.

and ever had the feeling of like, if I kinda like generate such ideas randomly, like finding a long lost fren or something, how can i make it not such a random process since the earlier we generate such ideas, the better it is isnt it? ... Everyday I am just thinking of new things. some perhaps inspired by something that happened in the day, but some really just random things that came to mind.

Today I had a good day going out with 3 japanese people. perhaps the first of such experiences in Japan. I met this friend in class in fact, and within like 2 or 3 classes sitting together and talking extensively in class (since the teacher was really boring), since i openly invited her to one of the dinners I was going to have with weifeng and Chunping, I guess she returned the favour by inviting me to this gathering of hers with her kindergarten friend (15 yrs ago. yes.) and this 32 yr old chef with whom she was parttiming with. wat a combination. even they remarked. and altho I barely understood 30 to 40% of what they were saying to each other, I really had a gd time. right from the bottom of my heart, probably the first bunch of people who dont really speak english but is sort of like really open about having this idiotic singaporean join in their 'fun'. we spoke widely from Singaporean food (obviously to break the ice with the chef, and also probably coz we were having Thai food!), to things in school to like showing even like her kindergarten photos, since that friend was really in many of those photos! haha. in fact, I think her life is like a dream. how rare is it to even keep in touch with your kindergarten friends? she's in fact keeping in touch with like 10 of them, whom she claims is a blessing from Mixi (japan's version of like facebook), and on top of that, her present boyfriend was from her kindergarten! and she has like pictures of them in those times hahaha. amazing.

Vienna

Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
Are you still so afraid?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you

Slow down you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight (tonight)
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right(you're right)

You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize...
Vienna waits for you.

And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
Why don't you realize...Vienna waits for you
When will you realize...Vienna waits for you