Happy

Happy Birthday!!! Yesterday was my 25th birthday, and I had a wonderful time. Even though I am a year older, it feels nice to be remembered. The messages and well-wishes from friends, both old and new, the little gifts, the birthday cards, etc all helped brighten up my day. And I received a very special present too, a comic strip by someone who was too shy to read it out. hahaI really appreciate it. (^-^) I am very blessed that every year, even though I am not able to spend my birthday with my family and friends in Singapore, the people who care about me here in the land of the rising sun will make the effort to celebrate with me. Muchas gracias!

Unstoppable

11consecutive victories, the last 4 being matches in which we scored 4 goals in each game. We are on fire, it seems, and somehow, unlikely though it may seem, the match between Arsenal and us next week will probably determine who will be this season's champions. I still think it is a 2-horse race, despite Liverpool's resilience and Chelsea's resurgence. Arsenal is currently unbeaten in 12; we are not lagging far behind. The next match will be determine the new table-topper (hopefully we will get to perch on top).

As I said, while the injury list is long, it is our title to lose, and from what I see so far, we have the depth, talent, hunger and the drive to succeed. When you have the required skill, all else that you need is a pinch of luck, and I am sure Lady Luck is smiling on us.

Only Human...A Contradiction Conflux...Pride...

あともう少しで、25歳になる。ある人からすると、まだまだ若い。もうある人からすると、おっさんやないかって。まあ、年はどうでもええやないか。歳月のことはそんなに関係ないのではないかと思う。

どうしてそう思うかと聞かれたら、中国語で『開心就好』という言葉が答えだと思う。

時間は誰のためにも止まることなく、川のごとき、流れ続ける。俺のためにも、君のためにも、神のためすらにも。なので、今という瞬間を思いっきり生きていかなきゃ、もはや意味がないと思う。

むしろ一瞬一瞬をつなげば、永遠となる。そういう風に俺は信じる。"Ephemeral Eternity"という概念。

矛盾しているように見えるかもしれない。実際矛盾しているかもしれない。でも、人間って大抵矛盾だらけなんだから、ええやないか。

人は矛盾だらけってどういうこと？大勢の人ごみの中にいるのに、寂しく感じる人がいる。一人でいるときなのに、全然寂しくなんかないときもある。顔に素敵な笑顔を描いているのに、心には深く刻まれている傷で赤い涙が滴っている。悲しくて切ないのに、表裏の習慣病で、喜んでいる振りを、満足している振りをする人だっている。好きなのに言えない人だっている。逆にもう"さようなら"を言わなくいけないのに、"また会いましょう"をしか言えない愚かな人もいる。

矛盾だらけという人間性をどうか失わないでください。
Please do not lose this part that makes us human.

余計なプライドは要らない。
Throw away the excess pride.

我々は高々人間なんだから、君も、俺も、神様すらも...
We are only human, you are, I am, maybe even God is...

もういい加減なプライドを捨てましょう、今しかない今を生きろ、今しかない自分と向き合おう。なんだか自分に言い聞かせているような言葉なんだね。まあ、ええやないか。

Happiness...

Hard to believe, but sometimes Happiness is like the wind, blowing through the open windows into the crimson rooms that we call our hearts. This year, during this usually melancholic season of Autumn, a strong yet gentle breeze has enveloped me, wrapping me in its warm cuddly embrace. Joy is in the very air I breathe.

Soon it will be my 25th birthday. Happy happy happy birthday to me!!!
I am happy, and even though someone may say I look silly when I smile, I am still happy!

(^-^)

寒空を（さむぞらを）
初心な温もりで（うぶなぬくもりで）
いつまでも（いつまでも）
強く優しく（つよくやさしく）
包み込む風（つつみこむかぜ）

A Japanese haiku for a sweet princess somewhere out there, you know who you are.

Is the sun setting?

憧れてた日本で、太陽が沈まぬ日本という国で、もしかして太陽が沈んでいく運命になっているのでしょうか？

なんで上に立つ人はこんなにも醜いのかな？NOVAのトップも、日本の財務省のエリート連中も。

最初から誰も天に立ってなどいない。なのに、なんで人間はこんなにパワーを手に入れた瞬間に謙虚の心を忘れ、自分の人間性すら見捨てられるのでしょうか？同じ人間として、怒りを感じる。もちろん自分の無力さにも厭きれるけれど、具体的に何が出来るかははっきり見えない。

でも、祈りをすれば、何かが変わるかもしれない。それだけじゃ物足りないけれど、それでも祈り続けよう。

Power corrupts, so they say. It is quite true, as all these cases demonstrate. Those at the top seem to forget that they were not always there before, and some of them abuse their authority. The bribery cases, the non-payment of insurance, the various cover-up scandals, sexual harassment, all these are usually not associated with the so-called elite that are perched on top of the social hierachy, indeed, they should not even exist in an ideal world.

Alas, our world is a flawed one. The social divide, the economic disparity, the income gap is widening daily, and somehow we all seem powerless. Yet is it really so, or are we just too entrenched in our comfort zones that we cannot bother to endeavor to effect changes?

Maybe I am guilty of this inertia too. Still, hope still remains, and hopefully I will come up with an answer regarding the role of an individual, how someone like me can help to make things better.

In the middle of nowhere

I find this little (ok, maybe not so little) cat taking an afternoon nap. So oblivious to its surroundings, the aura of nonchalance it exudes is so apparent, as though there is a "Do not disturb" sign somewhere near it. Reminds me of someone who would prefer to disturb rather than be disturbed, someone somewhere out there. :p

In the middle of nowhere, we sometimes find the answer to our prayers, we sometimes find what we are looking for. We just know, even if we cannot fathom the exact reason, even if we need confirmation/affirmation.

It is like this:

I know. You know.

I know you know. You know I know.

I know you know I know. You know I know you know.

Since we know, why do we need to say it out? We know it already, yet somehow we still seek affirmation, a sign or something.

But last night, I sort of felt enlightened. We do what we do because we care, because we care enough to ask, and care enough to share.

In the middle of nowhere, I have found something special, and I will do my best to nurture it.

Promesa.


"Do not disturb - Dream in Progress"

The Facebook Bandwagon...

Microsoft has done it. Microsoft has invested in Facebook, the raidly-growing online social network. After losing out to Google for several times, in terms to bids for tie-ups with Youtube and a stake in AOL, this is quite a remarkable feat for big bad Microsoft. Personally, I think it is good for competition because Google is currently dominating the online search market, and it may not be good to have a psuedo-monopoly in this instance. Still, Facebook represents only the online social network aspect, while Microsoft still lags behind Google and Yahoo in the online search arena

Things are heating up, even in the online market, and life is getting more and interesting. I look forward to seeing how Microsoft money will influence Facebook.

Theory and Practice...

In theory, everything should go like clockwork, nothing will go wrong. Everything should be a seamless process.

In practice, everything does go like clockwork, ...tick..tock...tick...tock... and the river of Time keeps flowing but results are not coming. At least, this is quite a familiar scene for me and my lab mates when we are doing research. It is as though we are up against an invisible wall that is so hard to breach. Still, sometimes we get lucky, and make the breakthrough that marks our day.

Today, though, is not such a day. That is why I am here writing this instead of compiling my experiment results, because the results are not that outstanding compared to the results last week, which were not bad at all. One good thing is that recently my professor has somehow transformed from a seemingly aloof entity into a slightly more approachable person. He is much more helpful nowadays compared to maybe half a year ago, and even my senior says the same thing.

Well, I am glad to be under his tutelage, and hopefully I can get the results that I should obtain according to the theory. Keep plugging away at the holes, and sooner or later (hopefully sooner) I can come up with the desired results! Good luck to me! Animo!

10!9!4!3!

10 consecutive victories in all competitions, excluding the farce against Coventry.

9 points in the Champions League.

4 goals scored in

3 consecutive matches.

Soccer is a number game, but it does not always mean that the larger the number, the better the result. Having 2 men sent off does not mean that you will definitely lose, although it takes quite a lot of luck, effort and skill to be able to overcome adversity and triumph against overwhelming odds. It helps if the opponent who has a numerical advantage is not playing well.

So far, only Arsenal is better, with 12 consecutive wins, and a far superior attack in terms of goals scored. The match of the season on Nov 3rd will be a tantalizing one. May the better team (hopefully Man U) win!!!

10... my favorite number

Do it for me, will you? No, just do it for yourselves. 9 wins on the trot, and we are not even warmed up yet. Let's make it double digits for consecutive victories, and claim our place in the Champions League.

Soccer is the art of the beautiful game, and the most beautiful thing about it is the passion, so we must demonstrate our hunger to win. Manchester United, the Red Devils, your calibre is undoubted. Now is the time to show that you have the heart that can sustain our momentum, even without Saha, Neville and Hargreaves, each a key player in his section of the pitch (Forward, Defender and Midfielder respectively)

Good luck to us all, and may the best team (Man U, of course) win!!! haha

Guided Tour of Universities in Tokyo

Went on a guided tour of two of the more famous universities in Tokyo, Japan, one public - Todai, and one private - Waseda. Turns out that they are both very old, 130 and 125 years old respectively.

Don't feel like writing so much now, so I will show you with pictures instead. By the way, I was the tour guide for both places, even though there was a Waseda student present. :p

Yesterday happened to be the 125th anniversary of Waseda, so it was quite happening over there. Our tour group was more of the tree-hugging type, so we spent a lot of time strolling n stoning in the Okuma Garden, which was actually quite rustic and serene, with pretty places here and there, including a small one step bridge that was stronger than it looked. haha


Waseda Hotel? - Posh n pricey

My grandma's house in Waseda - U wish :p

Waseda is all set for Halloween

Kind of too early for trick or treat though, Mr Okuma

Todai Fountain outside library - like a Buddhist monk's staff?

Reflection of Todai Fountain outside library - like a spider web

Todai Akamon (Red Gate)

Waseda Clocktower

Waseda Campus - Nishiwaseda?Toyama? hmm...

Todai Clock Tower - Fine day for suntanning

Todai Sanshiro Pond - Sky in the water

Todai Jungle? - Dare u enter? We did!

Little isle in the middle of the Todai pond - Pretty yellow flowers sold separately

Todai Library - Western look

So sweet...

Was dreaming of durians last night. haha Oh... the yellowish, creamy, succulent and oh-so-SWEET flesh was like ice cream melting in my mouth. Did not get to savor it for long, though, as I woke up at that moment. *grimaces in mock grumpiness.

Still, the sweetness of the durian of my dreams cannot compare to that of the apple of my eye. Sometimes it is not so much what people say, it is the things that they do not say or the simple things they do that touch our hearts. That shy smile, the twinkle in those expressive eyes, the tenderness of those cold hands that warms my heart, all of these and so much more.

Somehow it feels so natural, to do things together, to take a stroll for digestion after a oh-so-full dinner to alleviate the bloated balloon that we call a stomach, and to talk till the cows come home. haha

Huddling outside in the cold dark night, sometimes talking, sometimes gazing at the not-so-black night sky, sometimes just busking in the tranquil silence that does not need to be filled, but which we feel, these precious moments of eternity I will treasure.

Simple things in Life

The pace of life in Tokyo is rather hectic, like a race against Time which is an uphill battle from the very beginning. Sometimes we forget to enjoy the simple things in Life.

Simple things such as looking up at the blue sky, gazing at the white clouds above. Of course, when the sun is starting to set, the sky turns a pinkish tinge, as though it were blushing like a demure maiden.


Rustic Suburban area

Raucous City area

Of course, eating/drinking is another simple pleasure in life that we often take for granted. And somehow, for some unknown reason, guys in Japan are always game for a bowl of ramen. Met my Malaysian friends yesterday, and we engaged in some relaxing guy talk. Had coffee (I had cocoa though) in an open-air cafe in Shinjuku, and then we decided to have ramen. The place we went to was an outlet of a famous Kyushu branch, and the tonkotsu (pork bone) soup was wonderful, not too thick, not too bland. My charsiew ramen was full of meat too, haha. It was so delicious that I drank finished the soup too, something that happens not too often.

Before: Bowl of Ramen arrives

After: Emptied bowl of ramen

I did what many people forget to do, caught up as they are in the entangled strands of this web of Time, and enjoyed the simple things in my life that seem so mundane yet reinvigorate me.

Growing up...

A serious conversation last night made me think quite a bit. Most of my peers are already working, or in Japanese, shakaijin. Me, I am still a poor student in the city of eternal light, capital of the land of the rising sun, although nowadays it gets dark right after 5pm. haha

Like a bud that grows into a flower, human beings evolve too. We grow in the 9 months or so that we are in our mums' wombs, and then we see the light when we are welcomed into this world, albeit without much understanding.

We learn that as kids, our every expression is a source of joy and inspiration for our parents, and crying (real or jus for fun) will usually cause parents, and the parents of these parents to jostle to pacify us, with sweets, toys and all that stuff.

We learn as we grow older how to rebel, throwing tantrums and acting deaf. We learn, either from TV or from our f(r)iends that disobedience is the norm for adolescence, and our parents tend to think its a phase, just a phase.

The teenage years are full of many things; the 1st Golden Age I like to call it, where we meet a lot of our friends for life, esp in secondary school and JC. Personally, I am very blessed and lucky that my friends from my sec sch, Gong Jiao, and my JC, NJ, have stood the test of time. My main clique has always been together through thick and thin, and even though I have not been around so much since I came here (Missed so many gatherings >_<), they always welcome me like the brothers that we are. Brotherhood we call it, and though its not the same as your own flesh n blood bro, its very close.

Our Brotherhood, as we call it, has seen many changes. We used to play soccer or basketball for fun, and play CS and all that stuff. Even now we still do the bai nian stuff, and gatherings and stuff are a must. Now that we have crossed the 20 mark, and all of us are 25 this year (I still got 2weeks, yeah!), we are supposedly grown-ups. lol Still, whenever we talk online or when we meet up back home, its like an indescribable cosy feeling of being in a bubble thats called home.

Growing up is part and parcel of Life; how we do it is up to us. We can go with the flow, or we can try to grow up as fast as we can. Me, I used to wanna stay in Neverland .lol Then I realized its more natural to grow up, though I still have my inner child in me. A cherubic child, haha

Growing up...
Sometimes there will be pain, sometimes tears. Mostly though, its just silly laughter and stupid jokes, and all of us will be smiling when we gaze back at the neoprints/purikura or photos decades on.

And another 25 times 2 = 50 years later, we will all be ah pehs squinting at the same photos, hopefully with our lao tai pos by our sides.hahaha

In the meantime, let's enjoy growing up. (^-^)

The best things happen when you least expect them to...

So true. Was not expecting things to go so smoothly when I went lab today. In the first place, i never expected myself to go to lab yesterday. But I did, and by doing so, I managed to get most of the results I wanted. Lucky!

Then went for a meeting at Okubo, and enjoyed it a lot. 6 people, 6 nationalities, all part of the ASEAN family. Very interesting to hear about various perspectives.

Decided to ask someone out for dinner, even though we just met recently, and it turned out to be a very memorable evening/night. :p

This is where it all happened.(^-^)

Sometimes the best things happen when you least expect them to, and though I must have felt 25years worth of shyness last night, I feel on top of the world.

Happy.Delighted.Kai xin. Kuai le. Shiawase. Ureshii.

Felt all the above emotions.

Sometimes words fail me. (^-^) So let's express it using imagery.

Hola princesa, contigo...

Ebisu Evening, mostly

Wondering why I classified this entry under Travel as well? Cos Ebisu has an ambience slightly different from ordinary Tokyo. It is kind of European, and not really Oriental.

Played tour guide to a princess (:p) today. Dinner was at Beer Station, which will definitely look out of place in a typical Japanese street setting. But in Ebisu, it seemed like it was born to be there.lol

It was crowded, being a wkend, but I had made a reservation, so we got a nice table.

A picture paints a thousand words, so without further ado, I will let the photos do the talking. I will do the typing (of the captions).

A sample of what they had on offer - our first dish.

Logo of the restaurant

The beer was nice, the food was delicious, the company was great, what else could I ask for?Okawari, maybe?haha...

In the end, enjoyed dinner even tho I was accused of being old n slow.lol

After dinner, went to see the nightview. Somehow my nightshot was not very good today, but still, the view was mesmerizing.

My digital camera which came back from repairs recently was put to good use later when I took various random shots.

What time is it?Depends on where you are; in the middle in Tokyo, on the left is Hong Kong and London?, on the right Paris and New York? Can't remember.

Entrance to somewhere traditional yet hip;maybe next time

6 photos that tell a story:starts from

top all the way down to -->bottom left-->bottom right;

On a starless night at Ebisu Garden Place;

Stars blossomed on a slender tree;

The fountain of light sparkled like someone's eyes;

At Ebisu's Beer Station;

Near the abode of the princess;

Kaori ga iine (:p)

Convo with a taxi driver

Missed the last train, so took a cab home. Kind of interesting since I mostly travel on foot, on bicycle or by train/subway. The driver seemed friendly, and I was also in a good mood, so we somehow started talking, about general stuff.
Talked about the price increase from Nov 2007, and how it would affect everyone, especially the elderly and those using wheelchairs. Actually, is there really a need to raise the price so much, even though there has been a rise in the price of fuel. The driver agreed with me that this price hike would really have a profound influence on the needy people.

Then again, sometimes top-down approaches, policies made by the bureaucrats from their ivory tower seem to have good intentions, and end up doing more harm than good. Ain't it so so often, we start out with the best of intentions, yet somehow along the way we get sidetracked, or we lose our sense of purpose, our direction, our vision, even our inspiration, our motivation, that we end up harming those we are trying to help.

Think i sidetracked and rambled on a bit, and back to the convo with the cab driver. We talked about how Japan seemed to have taken a turn for the worse, and he was surprised to learn that I was not Japanese (rather delighted when he praised my Japanese *grinz radiantly ) when I told him that Japan was a much easier place to live in when I first came 5 yrs ago. It turns out he knows about Singapore, because he had a Singaporean colleague in his previous job. Small world! He liked the Phillipines more though, and he told me a bit about the miserable living conditions there. Our conversation sort of got more sober after that, and we talked about the problems of international students here with regards to arubaito and the language, and the complex system that sometimes seems so unfriendly to foreigners.

He asked me my uni, and when I said Todai, he was surprised, as he tot I was from Waseda (prob cos I hailed the cab in the vicinity of Waseda; then again, a lot of pple tend to jump to conclusions, yours truly included). Even though Todai in recent years seems to be not as great as in the past, he said that Todai is Todai, Todai is number 1, even if the level is not so high.
Some things (like people's mindsets) never change.

Too fast, the ride came to an end, and I had to alight. It was probably my lucky day?night?, cos he gave me a discount too.haha I bade him farewell, and made my way home, in a good mood.

Sweetie Kitty

Prob u'd think I am so hima(free) to write about cats, but I jus had to take a photo of this oh-so-cuddly kitten that I saw on my way home from lab yesterday. Who goes to lab on a Sat? Me, and my labmate, apparently. I went earlier and left early, while he came later and was still there when I left. Haiz.

Abt the kitty, it looked like it was searching for its mummy. I managed to take 2 photos of it, although it was rather tao like some girls and turned away the first time. lol

Kawaii kitty, u r pretty cute, I think (^-^)

Land of the Rising Sun

日本で日本語を勉強した、いや、勉強している。5年経った今でも、毎日新しい単語などに出会って楽しい。関西に行ったとき、関西弁を少し習った。

今日は『ええやないか』について。

ええやないか？は関西弁でいいんじゃないか？って意味。
活用として、いくつかの文章を作ってみた。

悔やまなければ、ええやないか。今を生きろ。それだけや。
誰でもええやないか。そうかな？いや、ちゃうやろう。そんなことありえへん。きっと、特別な誰かと出会うために生まれてきたんや。そうやで。それはあなたなのか？知らんけど、今はええ感じやで。会話が弾むし、楽しいし。不思議な気持ち。

というわけで、ええやないかの使い方はこういう感じ。よろしい？

最近はいろいろ忙しくて、なかなか本を読む時間もなければ、運動する時間もない。でも、それなりに充実していると思う。むしろ楽しい毎日を過ごしている感じ。

Sometimes

We think too much, feel too little, or vice-versa. We care about what people think about us, we care about other people's feelings, we care about the world around us. Of course, I am not saying we should be totally bo chap and ignore all the things going on around us, but sometimes we conveniently forget that the most important person is no one else but us. Yes!Me!Or you, for that matter.

And because we think too much/feel too much, at the wrong time, about the wrong person, we end up feeling miserable. Sighz. Life would be much simpler without the BGRs. Yet it would not be the same, wouldn't it? Shall we flirt, chase or be wooed? Life is a game, and so is Love.

We choose people, but people also choose us, as my mum says, so its kind of complicated, like an entangled web with myriad strands linking each person.

I am not sure about the rules, but I will just follow my heart, which is led by my head, since I am an idealistic realist.

Wait and see, and maybe someday, you will know the whole story.

20 fave poems of mine...literally

So far, these are my favorite poems among those that I have written. I like to read poetry too, but on the whole I prefer to write poetry. Why? Maybe because I think I suck at writing prose?lol

Then again, I have not really tried writing a short story, not yet anyway. I know of at least 2 people who have written short stories, and I think they are both very good. Maybe I will find time and be inspired to write one too, soon.

In the meantime, I need to sort out my thoughts. Had quite a few interesting conversations today, with my friend, my cousin, my lab mate, and my senior in my lab. Everyone has his/her own unique perspectives, yet we can get along. Nice.

Still, I was kind of tired too due to the TA stuff. Supposed to be only Tue and Thurs afternoon, 3hrs each time, yet today my lab mate and I, aided by our Divine senior, were toiling the entire evening, tinkering with the experiment setup for the TA experiment, and testing and taking measurements. In the end, I was too drained to do my own experiment.

But strangely, I was not tired when I got home. On the other hand, I felt refreshed after a warm shower. A friend of mine was grumbling about the cold though. lol


You
Ephemeral Eternity
Seafarer
Seraph by the Sea
Someday you will know
Maybe
Fresh charcoal, you gleam with a shining darkness
Contradiction Conflux
Pride
A little angel...called Love
Of Love and other demons
Man in the Mirror
The Rose
Somewhere out there, in the middle of Nowhere
This World of Ours
On the Blessed Edge of Chaos
Fool's Poem
The City
お嬢様
君の涙

La Poesia - Ephemeral Eternity

It is spring time,
The birds are chirping
A carefree song
Nobody is listening
Their ears have been closed all along
Everybody has lost their senses
Their eyes are colored lenses
The cherry blossoms turn everything pink
The world is a ruby river of Love
Like a staircase ascending into the Heavens
Round and round in a spiral
The pretty petals swirl
My heart is in sixes and sevens
As I climb up into the kingdom of the clouds above
Yet the higher you go the deeper you sink
Down into this quagmire of love
An ephemeral ocean
Of eternal affection

It is summer outside,
The clouds white as pearl
In a sky so azure,
The wild wind blows,
Its cool passion
A chilly touch that melts the frozen crimson crystal
So cleverly concealed
In the left breast pocket
Of the starched white polo T-shirt
A reddish tinge appears
The gem’s outline is revealed
Taut with tranquil tension
Dark maroon against snowy white
The streams in a bloodshot eye
Spreading like a unleashed tempest
A plague for which there is no cure
An ephemeral heart-shaped wound
An eternal serrated scar

It is autumn again,
That time of year when leaves fall
A melancholy yet beautiful season
When the trees and all their kin
Have adorned themselves in their flamboyant finery
But soon all will be ripped and torn
When the merciless wind from the North
Strips them bare, as though a newborn baby
Naked save for their shattered pride
Their blushing faces have nowhere to hide
A red tide parting the green sea
Sweeping in like a river gushing forth
Their gaudily gorgeous garments will be gone
Leaves them with no trace of modesty
Like snakes who will shed their skin
For no rhyme or reason
An ephemeral routine
An eternal ritual

It is winter inside
Both the door and windows are closed
Yet inside it is so bright
So bright the darkness blinds
Its shine overshadows the sparkling stars
Though one cannot see what is outside
Beyond that closed door
Those shuttered windows
Is a little girl wanting to be free?
Yet not daring to test her wings
Only when the sun has set
Then she enters another world
In Neverland she flies
Dancing in the sky all night long
At dawn when she opens her eyes
The walls greet her with a silent sigh
Was it all an ephemeral dream?
Or just her eternal longing

Written by:
Charles Toh Wei Heng

La Poesia - Walled Bridges

The bricklayer
deftly he lays
brick after brick
in no time at all
his creation is complete
Standing back in satisfaction
He looks up and smiles
impressed with his wall of crimson

The stonemason
slowly he builds
slab after slab
painstakingly
he manages to complete
Half-dead from exhaustion
He gazes at his bridge
white symbol of his inspiration

Walls and bridges
Both crafted by artisans
Yet with conflicting purposes
One to connect
One to obstruct
One to protect
One for attack
Yet like the edges of a sword
Double-edged, cuts both ways
Like the sides of a coin
Heads or tails
Both part of the same body

Quoteworthy Quotes

"Get the girl you love, or love the girl you get!" ~By a friend's friend.

"落ちても、沈んでも、溺れるな" ~By Charles Toh Wei Heng

"我不介意你的傻"

"Sometimes the best things happen when you least expect them to"

Seeing is believing...really?

Our eyes convey over 60 percent of what we receive as signals in our daily lives. This means that compared to the other 4 of the 5 senses, our sight has a greater influence on how we process information and make judgement. While this mean vary from person to person, it is reasonable to assume that regardless of country, what one sees weighs more compared to what one hears or smells, for example.

This can be seen in the proverbs with similar meanings regarding this in both Western and Eastern cultures. In English, we say "Seeing is believing", while in Japan, there is this saying called 『百聞は一見に如かず』 and also in Chinese, 『百聞不如一見』. Therefore, as receptors of information, our eyes play a significant role.

Yet are we really seeing things as they are, or just the way we want to perceive, i.e. "you only see what you want to see"?

Are these people really there?

Fine Autumn Day (晴天)

Went to Shinjuku and Roppongi on Sunday. I am glad I did, because this week has been kind of hectic. School started on Children's Day, and other than attending classes, I am doing this TA (Teaching Assistant) thing for my professor. Teaching year 3s about fiber-optic communication systems through experiments. It is more tiring than my own research experiment!?!?

So, I had lunch with my Singaporean and Taiwanese friend, and there was this Filipino lady at the adjacent table who overheard our conversation which was obviously not in Japanese. She introduced herself to us, and in no time at all, my Singaporean friend was chatting with her like old friends. Apparently they belonged to the same church or something.

How small this world is.

After saying goodbye to my friends, I got back my precious camera from Bic Camera ( they just finished repairing it), and immediately put it to good use, taking random shots. Don't know if there was an aviation show in Shinjuku on Sunday, but the sky was full of birds (probably the big big crows with their dark dark eyes and sharp sharp beaks).

Still, it was too fine a day to be disturbed by cackling crows, so I turned a blind eye (and a deaf ear) and left for Roppongi. I realized that you can see Tokyo Tower clearly from near Roppongi Hills, although the view is probably better at night.

Too bad it is raining today, so here I am blogging.

Is this the beginning?

4 goals without Saha, and with injuries to key personnel in every department from keeper to forward. Can it herald the opening of the floodgates?

After 6,7 1-0 victories, we have finally come up with the perfect response, and achieved this without our natural goalscorer to boot. Glory glory Man United!!!

On a more sober note, the injury list is lengthening like a dropped roll of toilet paper. The test of a true championship team is strength in depth. Do we have it? Let's see
Keeper - We have Kuszczak, who is quite reliable.
Defence - Putting Danny Simpson and Gerald Pique into the deep end suddenly might prove too demanding, but if they can survive this baptism of fire, it will bode well for the future.
Midfield - Giggs. Ronaldo. Nani. Scholes. Anderson. Need I say more?
Offence - Tevez. Rooney. Would have preferred Saha or someone like Torres, but guess you can't complain about having 2 prodigies like Tevez and Rooney. Only thing is their lack of aerial strength.

Overall, I say we are good for 3 trophies this year, unless we self-destruct. Then again, this can be said for many other teams, such as Arsenal, Milan, Barcelona, etc.

SUPER LOVE SONG

やっぱりMATSUMOTOさんとINABAさんって素晴らしいですね。もうすぐ20周年。今回のシングルは3曲の中、やっぱり全部好き。



『SUPER LOVE SONG』はロックだけど、最後のこの部分はすごい気に入った。 ～愛なら衝突することはないし 　増えも減りもしない 　静かにそこにあって　動かない 　人はただそれを見つければいい～



『FRICTION』は『ぎりぎりChop』と『Real Thing Shake』のfusionみたいな感じで『juice』に負けないくらいエネルギー溢れる曲だね。



『ここから』は聞けば聞くほど心に響く歌。

Lost and Found...

Sometimes I wonder, what am I searching for? Someone, or just a sign of something? Was it something I lost, or something waiting to be found?

Am I walking with my eyes closed, or am I looking in all the wrong places? Should I wait and see? Or just be bo chap? Everything is a matter of perspectives, though it would be good if someone would share my perspective.

I get this sense of deja vu, which I thought I had lost. They are obviously so different, yet so similar that it is disconcerting sometimes. Like the shadow that is always be your side, this uncanny resemblance. Am I the only one who sees it this way?

~A veces pienso en ti.
Porque?
Porque no?~
Pero, quien eres?Quien sabe...


Nobody knows... sometimes, I just want to be nobody.

La Poesia - Seraph by the Sea

Wrote this in autumn last year. Hard to believe it's almost a year since then. Not sure why I love the sea, but I just do. Maybe it's something to do with the sense of freedom that the sea seems to bring, or the many treasures which it harbors.

Seraph by the Sea

A solitary figure by the silent sea
Gentle waves lapping
Gazing at that horizon
Seeking that invisible Eternity
Salty breeze blowing
The twisted path to Heaven
That starry night of tranquil thunder
Etched in my crystal heart forever

The Archer with his final arrow
Aiming to save that distressed damsel's soul
Little angel on the mountaintop
Glistening on your frostbitten face
A single drop of saline ice
I know how you wish for Time to stop
The day you entered that timeless maze
Victim of your virtuous vice

Come to me, come seek solace
In my endless depths
Maybe you will discover
Something to thaw your tears
A heart-shaped sliver
To brush away your fears

La Poesia - Contradiction Conflux

Started the migration of some of my poems to my new blog here, but guess it takes time.

Contradiction Conflux

Why are human beings
Always full of contradictions?
We say one thing and do another,
We love and hate one another

Laughing out loud while our eyes glisten
We see yet not perceive
We hear yet not listen
Lusting after results we seek to achieve
We label our conscience as treason
Yet we flatter to deceive
Procrastinate past the harvest season
We do not sow yet hope to reap and receive

Our lives ephemeral
Yet we long for love eternal
What price your flawed convictions
That clash with your feelings.

PCK? No, it's PCF

Will PCF be the next big thing? PCF stands for Photonic Crystal Fiber, and is a relatively new type of optical fiber that has confinement characteristics which differ from (and are often considered superior to) conventional optical fibers such as SMF (Single Mode Fiber).

The jury is still out at the moment, but the potential is apparently immense, with possible (and some currently being applied) uses in fiber-optic communication, fiber lasers, nonlinear devices (e.g supercontinuum generation (SCG)), and high-power transmission, to name a few. Another area of application is in OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography).

It is quite interesting as there are several types of PCFs, such as Photonic Bandgap Crystal Fiber and Holey Fiber. No, the latter is not a relative of holey cheese.

Who knows, maybe I will even make use of PCFs in my research. Before that though, I have to do some more research into the feasibility of it, and explore the various possibilities.

Facebook恐るべし

Recently, a friend sent me an invitation to Facebook. I had heard of it before, but dismissed it at that time as just another Friendster or Mixi. When I finally got my Facebook account, I must say it exceeded my expectations wildly.

I was quite impressed. There has been a spate (not of robberies) of websites that support online communities, ranging from Friendster to Bebo, Hi5, Mixi, and the big 2 of MySpace and Facebook. I have experimented with most of them, but I think Facebook is the best of the lot that I have tried so far.

There has been a rumor that Microsoft is going to buy out Facebook, but I hope this will be resolved soon.
-->http://gigaom.com/2007/09/24/facebook-microsoft/

Bloodstained Buddha

The recent and ongoing violence in Myanmar or Burma as it used to be called is escalating, and it is tugging at my heartstrings. Will no one step in?

What use is military might if one cannot bring it to bear?It is like a sharp sword that cannot be unsheathed.

What kind of political pressure is it if non-interference is the chain around our necks; we are shouting but no sound comes out.

International intervention in the form of military might or political pressure are possible tools that might be of use in helping the civilians, protesters and monks in Burma. However, it is unlikely that they will be saved without further bloodshed, unless the international community puts aside the diverse interests and bands together to do something drastic soon.

Nearly 20 years ago, in 1988, a similar thing happened, yet human beings seem never to learn from the past. Hopefully the UN can effect a miracle through the Security Council. Actually, by being able to meet with Miss Aung San Suu Kyi, I think that there has been some progress. Hopefully this issue can be resolved soon without further bloodshed.