Moving Out

I had been slowly preparing to move out of the mansion and on the night of November 14, I finally did. On the same night we had a dinner meeting with our manager. I was relieved that he didn't refuse my request. The dinner and the after dinner drinking took a little while. It was already late when we got to my mansion to get my things. It's a good thing that my new place is only a few minutes away by bicycle. My friends came to help me out. Some who didn't make it sent messages for moral support. It should have been somewhat awkward but somehow I didn't feel as bad as I had expected. I feel blessed to have so many great friends. Kay, my new housemate, welcomed me with open arms! The next day Mars came to help me organize and unpack too. Even though I have nothing to give back to these people, they still lend a helping hand. I am truly blessed. My family and my friends are my real treasures in life. My room is more or less organized now. I owe it all to everyone. Thank you!

Jin's Birthday

September 20, 2008 I treated Jin to a dinner on his 26th birthday. It was a great day. I wore a skirt that day. (I can't remember the last time I wore a skirt, maybe around 5 years ago? hehehe :P) I met Jin at the central exit of JR station around 5:30 in the afternoon and gave him his birthday gift there. My reservation in Bali Lax was for 6PM but we got there a little earlier than 6, around 5:40 maybe.
Luckily they were still able to accommodate us. They placed us in a little room above a small flight of stairs. It had a great ambiance and a sense of privacy. The lights were great too.(It was dark enough to vanish all my blemishes! (hahahaha)
We were given a time limit of two hours for the place.(I've never experience time limits before, in my country there's no such thing unless it's an eat-all-you-can place.) We started off with a salad, then we ordered a few recommended dishes. One was marked with 3 bell peppers but wasn't so hot. Another one was marked with only 2 but it came out hotter than the one with 3 bell pepper mark. (Talk about inconsistency! Menus can lie!) But to be fair, most of the dishes tasted fantastic for me.(I was high, so maybe you shouldn't take that as a logical judgment. hehehehe) I loved the way Jin's face looked when the lights went out and happy birthday song was played. A female staff brought the dessert birthday set with candles. He looked like he was about to bolt and run but he was smiling as the staff was climbing the stairs.(What a sweet shy boy he is and what a BADASS I am for making this comment! hehehehe.) After dinner we strolled around the streets near the restaurant and then checked Softmap for a short while. After which we were disappointingly going to the station. He said he wanted to see what was inside the gift. The truth is I was a little disappointed that he was more interested in opening the gift than talking to me. In fact, of all the dates that I have been to, this one is the shortest. On the way home, we parted towards the platform. He didn't try to give me a kiss goodbye. I couldn't let it end that way, so I asked for it. It was the first time for me to ask a guy for a kiss. But I didn't tell him that. After I kissed his cheeks and said happy birthday I felt awkward and embarrassed so without glancing back I headed out to the platform.
I guess with him there'll be a lot of first times stuff that I will experience.(Maybe later, a first rejection too. :( ) That night I sent him an email asking if the gift was of the right size.(I bought him a soccer shirt) He replied (which rarely happens, mind you!) that he was very happy and that he will cherish the picture taken during the dinner and also the gift. He reasoned he wasn't a playboy so he hasn't been kissed for quite a long time. This made me feel a little better after asking him for the kiss.
And so the day ended like that.

Dinner with Addtech People

From left to right : Kawai-san, Sugawara-san, Nishino-san, Me, Jin, Mizugai-san, Morohashi-san
The night of September 10, 2008 we went out to dinner at a place called Watami.
It was located on the upper floor of the McDonald's near the office.The event was graced by 7 people including me. At the beginning of the event I didn't know the name of the guest of honor(the new Addtech employee), at the end of the dinner, I still didn't.(I'm such a badass, really!) It was only after I ask Jin when we were heading home that I learned his name(Kawai-san). I felt funny the first time I heard the name because I thought it was the same word that meant "cute" in english. It wasn't, thank God! (nyahahahaha) This guy made a weird comment or was it a joke? I'm not really sure, but he told me if it was possible not to include his face or cut him out when I post our group picture on the net because some agents are after him. At first I really thought it was a joke so I asked him if it was. He said it wasn't with a really serious face. So I got serious too and said OK. But my mind was saying stuff like "dude, are you for real?! C'mon! If you're so scared of these agents why are you even out to dinner with us?!". And then another half of my brain is thinking, maybe he's just a really good joker, poker faced joker. ahihihihihi. :)
That night during dinner I asked the guys a few stuff and they replied.
A few facts I learned that night:
Misugai-san is a very amiable guy, he is cheerful and very jolly. His hobbies are reading novels(Higashino Keigo) and playing the piano. He said he has been trying to learn since 2 years ago but he still can't play until now. (I think it's a joke, I think he's just being humble.)He was the liveliest guy there during the
entire dinner. His refreshing personality put the crowd in a merry mood. He recommended a few places for sightseeing which I asked Jin to remember for me(Japanese names are always hard to remember for me) but sadly, the next morning when I asked him he couldn't remember them too. His favorite actress is Winona Ryder from Alien 4.(She happens to be one of my favorite actress too. We have the same taste in women Misugai-san! hahahaha). He recommended me to watch Tegami[手紙] movie.
Morohashi-san said his hobby is playing soccer. He is Jin's teammate in soccer. He also loves rock and roll. He mentioned many bands that he liked but I only remembered 3 which are Sum41, L'Arc en ciel and Hoobastank. He was there last year during Hoobastank concert so I said I was there too! It would have been nice if this guy and I were close friends. I could have a concert buddy, someone I can go bang my head with during concerts. He said his favorite actress was the girl in Beverly Hills 90210, but he couldn't remember her name. At that time, I couldn't remember either. But now I do, she's Jennie Garth. I think I've seen her recently in "Dancing with the Stars". She's a contestant there but she got eliminated.(too bad!)
Kawai-san's hobby is playing PC network games. I forgot the title of the game that he mentioned he was playing. His favorite actress is the girl in Full House(the American TV series) This is pretty much all I remembered about him since he didn't talk much during the entire dinner.
Sugawara-san's hobby is reading novels. He likes science fiction type of books. He said he like Lord of the Rings!(Me too, COOL!) Every morning meeting that I make a speech, I think he is the only guy who understands me. When I was asking them about movies that they can recommend, I also shared that I have watched Hutaru no Haka[ホタルの墓] which was a really sad movie. I don't know what the Japanese title of that movie was, he was the only one who was able to properly translate it. This guy is probably an English genius. :)
Nishino-san is my Project Leader. He is a genius and a saint! His hobby is photography, I learned this from way before, during Tanaka-san's welcome party. Lately he didn't have much time to indulge in his hobbies though. He mentioned before that his favorite actress is Meg Ryan(I love Meg Ryan too!) He recommended the movie "Spider". I remembered he mentioned before that he likes suspense movies.
Jin's hobby is playing soccer and printing CD/DVD labels. He said he doesn't have a particular favorite actress but since he liked the movie Bio-Hazard, I assumed he likes Milla Jovovich(Sugiura-san and I like her too!) Although he didn't talk much during the dinner, I know more about him than the rest of the people there since we sit beside each other. If I were to write all the things I know, perhaps one blog won't be enough. hehehehe. :P One particular phrase that I couldn't forget among all the things that he told me is "hitori ga suki" which means I like being alone. (He has spoken this phrase so many times that it makes it hard to forget them!)
I hope he doesn't mind having me as a friend though even if he likes to be alone.
I also learned that night that Sakakibara-san's wife just gave birth to their first child. Congratulations, Sakakibara-san! I've known for a long time that Sakakibara-san is very caring and dedicated to his wife. I often see him softly talking to the phone during the end of the working day. I'm pretty sure that he was talking to his wife then. :)
All of us except Misugai-san headed out to the station. We parted before the ramp towards the station with Sugawara-san and Morohashi-san heading towards Hankyu and us(Jin, Kawai-san, Nishino-san and me) towards JR. Nishino-san lives only around the area so he didn't need to ride the train.

Photo Fun

I was bored out of my mind and decided to have fun with the picture editing website that Lu shared to us during the yakisoba party. I didn't upload my picture. I uploaded his instead.

Yakisoba Party

animageek.com - make animated picture
September 6 , 2008 - Just like the week before I started this Saturday by going to the hospital. This time Mars went with me instead of Kay. When the results came, it was all normal. Thank God! But the doctor advised me to continue drinking the medicine and not to hurry when I said I wanted to stop taking the medicine because I want to get pregnant. :P
Mars and I went to an Indian restaurant in Sannomiya for lunch and had curry lunch set which made us really sleepy after that it made me momentarily think that we were food poisoned! We then headed out to Kobe for a light gift shopping for him. (He who loves to be alone and doesn't know shit about how I feel! He has rejected me quite a number of times already with "hitori ga suki" and I haven't even made definitive move on him yet. Talking about rejection, this definitely tops the list in mine. :P)

We then bought a few groceries at tamade and went to Shiera's mansion for the yakisoba party. We enjoyed eating while watching "Seigi no Mikata"[正義の味方]. I feel asleep around the 4th episode though, I guess eating too much in a day can really take its toll on a frail body like mine.

The party ended around 2am. I'm glad the neighborhood streets of Shin Osaka and Minamikata are still relatively safe during these early morning hours so the walk home was ok. There were still many leftovers so we continued the party the next day at Jay's. This time it became a takoyaki party.

Busy Saturday

August 30, 2008 was quite a busy day. In the morning Kay and I went to Kobe Kaisei Hospital for a consultation and blood test. I was grateful for the fact that the hospital had an International Internal Medicine department. Moreso because the doctor speaks English!(He's a guy and he touched my throat during the examination, nyahahahahah!). By the time we finished at the hospital it was already past lunch time so we ate around the area near Rokkomichi station. It was a pasta place and there were a lot of manga on the sorrounding shelves in it for people to read while enjoying the great food.

After that we went to Umeda to look for the salon that was recommended by the ex-girlfriend of one osakapinoy who was very talented in looking for cheap but quality services. I won't say she was a miser because that'll be too rude. After all, I did benefit from her patience in looking for that place. I had my hair done and the results were absolutely fantastic! Kay had a hair cut too, but her hair didn't really look much different to me. I met up with Kay again in Yodobashi camera because she went ahead of me out of the salon. She introduced me to her close friend Joseph.
Then we had ramen for dinner at Umeda. We queued in the line for quite a while.(There are always a lot of people lining up for this particular ramen shop). It was a good thing that they were able to put us together in one table.(Actually it's half of a table, half of it was occupied by other people :P). We concluded the night playing archade games at the top of Hep Five and taking some shots at perikura.(Kim was really cool, she played Time Crisis the longest!)

Jinnouchi-san

He is my seatmate since August 18. Finally, I have someone to talk to in this awfully quiet place! He's turning 26 this coming September 20. He is very kind. I'm very grateful that he is willing to talk to me despite my very bad Japanese speaking and hearing ability.
We talk everyday and usually I am the one asking him questions. He answers them quite diligently and honestly so I'm pretty glad about that. Nowadays, I don't worry anymore when I get sleepy. He makes each conversation interesting and fun that I always end up laughing afterwards. During the first day that he sat beside me, he helped me with my Fedex package delivery problem. Fedex required some document to be faxed and he went with me to the manager's room and pleaded for me so that I can send them.
As I got to know him more and more each day, I realized how kind, hardworking and responsible he is.
Jinouchi-san, for all the help you have given me, THANK YOU.
May you have the best in life!
Stay cool, dude!

Summer Sonic 2008

I woke up early the morning of August 9, 2008, all for the glory of Summer Sonic Festival (I've never done this for work though :P).
I was pretty excited as I went to the Shin-Osaka station and lined up at McDonalds to buy my breakfast. I met Dio at the platform and we headed out to Maishima (Shin-Oska->Osaka, Osaka-Nishikujo, Nishikujo->Sakurajima). We arrived at around 9:00am at the registration area. I saw Shoku-chan at the beginning of the line. She was waiting for Tomo-chan
who was probably still parking their car.
We lined up for the shop because I wanted to buy an official T-shirt.(Last year I wasn't able to so I made it a point to get one this year). I was disappointed with the lack of giveaways this year.
We had lunch together with Tomo-chan, his wife came later. We didn't linger much in the Oasis area and started out to the Sonic Stage. (The alternative bands were placed in the Sonic Stage this year, last year they were in the Sky Stage).
We were able to get a small glimpse of MGMT band in their last performance and they sounded ok. The next performers was MUTEMATH. Technically the band was excellent. Also the song variety and sequence was good, they had fast-beat, heavy beat, and also slow ballad type songs. The vocalist was an epitome of energy as he sometimes stands on top of the piano rocking the crowd. He was also very tall, or maybe he looked tall because he was wearing a suit!

After MUTEMATH we tried to go to the Ocean Stage to catch 311. I didn't like 311 vocalist's body movement. He had a great bod I agree to that, but more than that, his movements are totally uncoordinated. Like what I said to Dio, he's like a body builder trying hard to ballroom dance!And his vocal range is not that great either. We only stuck around for 3 songs because it was suffocatingly hot. We then went back to the Sonic Stage(a closed coliseum type stage) to cool ourselves off. We got to see BIFFY CLYRO for a few seconds in their last song. They were only consist of 3 people but they sounded powerful. They were also very choreographed in their outfit of red leg fit pants with no top!

Next to perform were AGAINST ME! This band is probably the worst one I've heard for the whole day. They got sound balance right, but their performance and song sequence/selection suck! I don't call that music, I call it NOISE. Plain, annoying, no remarkable display of technical skills, no soul NOISE! We stayed a little longer in the Sonic Stage to cool ourselves from the
disappointment we got from the last performers. Next in line were the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS. Although we didn't stay for the whole performance, they were slightly better than the last band. But I think they had some technical problems because there was a lot of extra noise coming out. The songs did not come out clean.
We then got out of the Sonic Stage and went back to Ocean Stage to prepare for ALICIA KEYS. By this time RADWIMPS were still playing. RADWIMPS is a japanese band with a really skinny vocalist (I think he is also in love with Alicia Keys, hehehehe). They sounded really good their performance was remarkable and I think they are all technically excellent. But I think their adlibs are all scripted and not exactly spontaneous. ALICIA KEYS is an angel! She is an embodiment of perfect beauty and excellent physique, endowed with the vocal range of a diva!
For me, she is the best performer! I love her spanish version of Karma. Everytime her face is focused on that big TV near us playing the piano I could have swoon at how beautiful she is, how talented, how graceful! We ended the day with watching the first 3 songs of Fatboy Slim.
I've never seen his face before since it was never shown in any of his famous videos. He is a little older than I thought but he is a very cool old guy. It would probably feel nice to have a grandpa
like him. hehehhe.

Summer Sonic 2008 felt great, ALICIA KEYS made it all WORTH IT!
ALICIA KEYS, I LOVE YOU, my superwoman!
Note: Couldn't take any pictures of the performers because it wasn't allowed.

New Phone!

20080803 I just got an Nokia N95 from Softbank and I'm pretty excited. My minimum requirements for a phone were:1. At least 3MP camera - since I have no digital camera
the cellphone camera has to be powerful enough to take pictures for my blog. With the N95's 5MP I can do all that with autofocus and flash! And I can even take DVD resolution videos(MP4 baby!) with stereo sound.
2. Can view/edit office applications - I'm fond of using ms excel for financial plans and computations and I constantly update them. Although the basic software pack of
Nokia N95 cannot edit office application, I can always install updates from torrents so that it would be able to.
3. Has multimedia capability - Nokia N95 can store up to 2G of music and multimedia files in the expanded microSD slot.
4. Has an english-japanese dictionary - Again, although basic package does not contain a dictionary I can download one via torrent and install it to my phone.

These are my disappointments for this phone:
1. The OS is not Windows Mobile - more applications are available in WM than in Symbian.
2. The battery is inefficient - I tried to use the music player for the whole afternoon, the phone went dead at around 7PM.
3. No QWERTY keyboard - I've always liked layout keyboards and keypads. It makes typing faster! Even a virtual one is good enough.

For around a month I have been weighing options about what phone to switch and it all narrowed down to 4.

The candidates were:
1. iPhone (Softbank) - I love this phone. But the price plan was too high at a minimum of 7K++ per month (although now it's not that expensive anymore). Besides it only has a 2MP camera with no autofocus!
2. Nokia N95 (Softbank)
3. HTC S730 (Softbank) - This one has a really small screen. But it is equipped with a QWERTY Keyboard. WM OS but only 2MP camera.
4. HTC Touch Diamond (Docomo) - This could have been my dream phone except for the fact that it cost twice as much as my Nokia N95 and it is available only in Docomo not Softbank! It has 3MP camera, virtual keyboard, also touch screen like the iPhone although not as smooth, Windows Mobile(Japanese). The Windows Mobile phones here in japan are driving me insane because they are all in Japanese so even if I get one, I will still end up groping.

So all in all, I made the best choice with my N95, according to my needs and preferences.
Aside from buying a new cellphone, I also got myself a new cordless mouse for the office which did wonders to my cubicle.(No more messy wires!).

Kobe Hanabi 2008

20080802 The afternoon Dio and I went to Kobe to watch the Hanabi. We started walking from the Sannomiya station. It was a gruelling 45min walk and the air was saturated and hot.
I felt like all the grease were in my hair and all over my body by the time we arrived at Kobe Port. We met Idel and Kay there. It was a waste that Mars couldn't join us. The only thing that made the fireworks acceptable to me (I was never that enamored about fireworks!) was the presence of music that was choreographed together with the fireworks. It was funny and it made the event a little memorable. On this same day I got a new phone. I bought a Nokia N95 from Yodobashi Camera's Softbank. It cost me roughly 45K++ and although I'm poor right now, I'm happily poor. hehehe :)

I still have a lot of stuff to setup for my new phone like the address book as well as some applications. I'm pretty excited about it.

Lu's Birthday

Yesterday, I woke up early to send a gretting to Lu. It was her birthday so I typed in the birthday song in my cellphone and emailed her first thing that morning. I felt great after a shower and had plenty of time so I did my hair. It was the first time in many weeks that I let my hair down. The air has become quite hot because of summer so I mostly tie it up.
When I came to the office, Lu's ex-PL was the speech leader that day. As usual, I had no idea what he was saying the entire time. That afternoon during break I got into the elevator together with Mr. Genius, Mr. Immature and Mr. Cool. Mr. Cool was busy with his cellphone, perhaps sending an email to his girlfriend(hehehehe, don't be jealous Lu).When we got to the 1st floor I got out first since I was in a hurry. I had many errands to run. I planned to buy some stuff for Lu on her birthday. I decided on flowers and socks. I wanted to pick light green roses but the flower shop didn't have any so I had to settle for a more common variety. I had originally planned on buying a flower plant but when I checked it out, I was dumbfounded by how much it costs so I opted for flowers instead. Anyway it's not the cost that counts in a gift right, it's in the thought.
Late afternoon around 5:55, people started disappearing from the office so I took the opportunity to go out as early and as fast as I can to get to Umeda earlier. I wanted to get a new phone that night at Yodobashi Camera but I couldn't because they ask me for my passport and I didn't bring it with me. When my girlfriends(Lu, Jet, Sheira) arrived , we headed out to Hep Five's Top floor to eat "tabehodai".

It was nourishing but not all the dishes were tasty. But it was still worthwhile, more so because I didn't have to pay a single cent for it! (Thanks Lu, belated Happy Birthday!)

I was so full when we finished that I found it hard to breathe and walk.

Chinatown!

July 30, 2008, Sagami-san, Imoto-san and Lu came to Addtech office in Sannomiya to talk
about the new project with Minamino-san. I really couldn't contain my happiness knowing that Lu will come back to work here with me. I was slowly dying because I had no one to talk to. I didn't have any friends. I felt that if I were to die in this office nobody would know it until
days later when my body would start to stink.
That afternoon I went out of the office early. Sagami-san suggested we head out to Chinatown to celebrate Lu's birthday in advance. We eat at a simple Chinese restaurant since Sagami-san didn't bring a lot of money that day, we calculated our orders so that he will not fall short. (The restaurant doesn't allow credit card. Both Lu and I didn't have money either, OsakaPinoys are always poor a few days before salary day)

He even joked that we both will have to wash dishes if he can't pay. The dishes there were not remarkable in taste but it was for free so I didn't care and just ate as much as I could. Sagami-san didn't eat much that night. His excuse was that looking at us happily eating makes him full. Sagami-san is a very sweet otosan, don't you think so? :) On the way home, he also bought "butaman" for our housemates. We parted at the station. He went alone to visit his friend's place while both Lu and I headed home.

Takagishi-san

Mayuka Takagishi is the name of my new friend in the office. She graced us with her presence last week June 30, 2008. At first I wasn't able to talk to her much but on Thursday of that first week, I finally gathered my courage to talk to her and ask for her name. Since Lu left the main office, I have been feeling down and depressed. And so I was very happy and excited when she arrived because it means that there will be another woman in the same room and the same office that I can talk to. When we went out to lunch the first time, she told me that she will be assigned to Fujitsu Ten the next week. That moment made me want to cry and laugh at the same time. :P Oh, what irony! I was finally happy but the feeling was snatched away in just a split of a second. Oh well, that's life...
We didn't let that fact hinder us from knowing each other though. We decided to eat lunch together and talk as much as we could before she leaves the main office. She loves to eat cakes, which is convenient for me since I love to eat too(anything but fish!). She likes the color pink and she dreams of becoming rich. She also likes Pachinko and goes there almost everyday(she should meet Hotta-san because he is a pachinko addict too!).

For our first lunch together we went to Mother Moon Cafe near the office. It was a hidden restaurant in a sense because it was fronted by a home furnishing store that made it invisible from the outside. The food there was great but what I loved there was the lemonade. It tasted like the ones I drink back home. We shared a fruit tart there. It was the best-looking strawberry topped fruit tart I've ever seen! It tasted just as sweet as it looked.

We also had lunch at the Tooth Tooth Garden Restaurant at the 11th floor of Sogo Hotel. The garden was very pretty and the dessert was fantastic! I only wish these lunches and meals together could last forever but sadly once she goes to Fujitsu Ten in Kobe we will not be able to do these things anymore.

I hope someday she can come back and be my eating partner. Together we can explore the great world of delicious food and mouth watering desserts!:)

Rose' Bridal Shower

June 28, 2008 was one of the busiest days of Osaka life. I started the day early and went to Dio's and Mar's mansion but I was still late in getting there. Dio and I headed out to Daiso. We separated around the intersection since I had to print stuff for the party at Sheira's. Then I went to meet Idel at Hep to buy bridal gift for Rose which turned out to be a black underwear set for her honeymoon. Then I went back to Dio's to help pack the stuff to bring to Kaibigan.
When I got there everything was almost ready and it made me feel relieved that many people came to help. When we got to Kaibigan around 4PM to set up the place, I was already feeling a little anxious. My mind was about to explode from the many things we have to finish before the shower started. But little by little things were happening and tasks were being completed.
It really helps if people cooperate and help each other. If I were alone at that moment I would have already hang myself. hehehehe
We started the event at exactly 6PM eventhough Rose and Kay haven't arrived yet. All of the OsakaPinoys were there except Alvin. There were also a few Japanese guests which included Maru-Okasan and Takahara-san. We shared a toast for the bride-to-be and then started attacking the food.
A little while later Rose arrived in all her splendor and beauty. I really thought she sparkled like a star that night. After dinner we started the program proper. Yuri was the host of the event.
We started with an invocation led by Shin Kaisoku band(which included me!). Then we started out with a Name the song game followed by Game KNB(All about Rose). We then played the video that Lu prepared for Rose. Embedded in the video was a message from Rose' husband to be. Then we presented a song "When God made you" which was one of Rose' favorite song.
Although the song rendition was needed more practice it was heartfully rendered. We then gave Rose the underwear set we bought her which she showed to everybody. As a conclusion to the party Mrs. Sagami spoke a few words for afterwhich Mr. Sagami sang a song and then also delivered a speech. Then everyone gathered around for picture taking. As a final event people sang their hearts out in karaoke and danced in merriment. I guess the karaoke fever was the true highlight of the activity because it showcased Lu and I belting out Alone song(which I always sing in dedication to --------san), Maru-Okasan's dancing talent (She danced with all the guys in the party including Takahara-san whom I never saw danced before. Takahara-san also sang song duet with Rose.

Tanaka-san's Welcome Party

Yesterday, we held a welcome party for Tanaka-san.
The newest addition to the Addtech family. He now sits in the chair that used to be occupied by my previous groupmate Masuda-san. Masuda-san got transferred to Renesas. All of the 6th floor people came except for Lu. I ask a lot of questions that night which includes stuff like age, hobbies, favorite actress, civil status. Here are their answers as far as I can remember:
Nishino-san: He did not say his age but he said "I'm not young!". (Me too, we two were probably the two oldest people in that table.) His hobbies include watching plays. He's also interested in photography and sometimes he brings a camera along to take pictures. He does sports through console games(hehehehe). His favorite actress is Meg Ryan.
Sakakibara-san: 24(kotoshi 25) He used to like Pachinko but now he doesn't do it anymore because he has no time. His favorite actor is Nicholas Cage. I wasn't able to catch his favorite actress though, he went out ahead of us to go to the hospital.
Tanaka-san: 20. I couldn't quite catch who was his favorite actress but he said he liked the girl from american idol. I mentioned Carried Underwood first but he said no. When I mentioned Kelly Clarkson, he thinks that's probably her name. He likes anime specially Macross Zero New Frontier.
Sugihara-san:26. His hobby is playing volleyball. He plays in a tournament the whole day on Sundays and dates his girlfriend on Saturday. (This guy is good at speaking english and he is talkative too.) He likes the girl in winter sonata, Choi Ji Woo.
Sugiura-san: 24. He likes to play PC Games. He plays around 4 hours a day and claims that he doesn't need sleep. :P His favorite games include counterstrike. He also likes anime and his favorite actress is Milla Jovovich.
Hirai-san:20 He likes anime, bikes (though he doesn't do racing). He also likes Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter. He didn't mention that he like Emma Watson though. (This guy could be ***. Maybe he really is with the reply he gave!)
They said the most famous foreign actors in Japan are Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarznegger.
That night Sugihara-san shared about his Filipino friend Ryan who is a project leader in Fujitsu Ten.
He described Ryan as playboy. He recalled Ryan saying that he liked many women.

Yumi-chan

I met Yumiko Kubota-san in Addtech. She is a cute girl who is around my height (around 5 ft).
She is also of the same age as me. I was walking alone towards to office one morning and
she tapped me on the shoulder and greeted me. I was surprised but in a good way so I smiled and greeted her back. She was hesitant tap my shoulders at first because she wasn't 100% sure of who I was. But it turned out to be me so she was relieved. We got on the elevator together and that day marked the beginning of our friendship.
I think Yumi-chan has always been interested in learning English. I can see her eyes sparkle and her sincere smile everytime she learns something new like new phrases and new expressions. It makes me happy to be able to teach her stuff because I can see how much she appreciates them.
The only regret I had about talking to her was that it happened too late. The time we became friends, only 3 days were left before she had to leave the company.(Her contract period ended).
So we only spent a few days eating lunch together. But I was quite happy during those lunches.
One time she danced the moonwalk dance for me and I thought she looked really cute then
and I couldn't help from smiling. I had the chance to go to her house.(I forgot the name of the place but I still know the way to get there though, it's 4 stations via subway from Sannomiya).
I met her boyfriend who gave me a Linkin Park/Jay-Z CD. I think they broke up the day after I went to her house, it was a shock to me but then she already told me before that her relationship with him has been ON and OFF, ON and OFF for a long time.
On her last working day in Addtech(Friday), we decided to have dinner together. We had pasta and talked about a lot of stuff including the people in the office. We also ate at some places near Sannomiya when we had the chance to get together.
We also had a chance to go to Karaoke once just the two of us. There we practiced Japanese and English songs. It was a refreshing activity for me. From the few conversations I had with her I learned that she loves SNOOPY, she has a lot of snoopy stuff in her house. She likes to dance and go to karaoke which is good because I do too. And she likes ----------san. Hehehehe. Lucky guy! So many girls like him!
Although Yumi-chan is great with people(I think she is extremely friendly and it's contagious). Sometimes I worry about her because she often feels pressure from her family and I think sometimes it makes her feel alone.
Don't worry Yumi-chan, I believe in you. You can do anything! Anything you want, anything at all.

Addtech Welcome Party

April 18, 2008 Lu and I attended the Addtech Welcome Party for the new employees. It was held in the busy section of Sannomiya but I couldn't remember the name of the place.
I know how to get there though.
The place was not a "tabehodai" place but a "nomihodai" one. I guess almost everyone in the company loves drinking more than eating. That evening we sat in the table with the company seniors. They were a gay bunch of people, most specially Ueki-san. He along with Takeda-san were both very kind to Lu and me. White boy was also there to add to the merriment. I met
quite a few good people during that party. I also went with some of them to karaoke afterwards.
I even took pictures of some of them. Here are some of our pictures during the party:



Here are some of our pictures during the karaoke:

My First YouTube Video

Probably my last one too. hehehehe :P

White Day 2008

I want to write this segment as fast and as soon as possible while I
still feel good about Dogville. hehehehe.
Last Friday was "White Day" here in Japan. A month before, Lu and I gave chocolates to our officemates including the ones at the seventh floor.(Although I only wanted to give one big chocolate to one guy there but it would be pretty obvious and quite embarrassing for me to do that, wouldn't it? It's much safer to give one to everybody.)
I was already preparing myself for the disappointment that will come that day because I didn't think that they would give us something for white day. I was still hopeful though and maybe I was silently praying that they would. I mean they're all guys and I think it's bothersome for them to do stuff like that on white day.

But to my surprise, they gave Lu and I gifts. It was some kind of a pastry, though I can't really tell if it's a mini cake, cookie or both. The packaging was fantastic though. (I picked the blue rose since blue is my favorite color).

The truth is, I felt grateful and very happy about it. I know what a pain in the ass it is for guys to pick gifts for girls who are not even their girlfriends so I truly appreciate their effort. So again from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Major Snow in Osaka

The morning of February 9, 2008 (Saturday) was characterized with a really cold air. I spent the night in Dio and Mars' apartment since we went drinking that night and I didn't trust myself to ride my bike and go home under the influence of alcohol. :pThat day the snow started falling around 8am.The ironic thing was that my cellphone's battery ran out the night before so I couldn't take pictures with it.But I was still very excited to see the think flakes of snow falling so I begged Mars to go out with me so that he could take my picture in his cellphone. He was a little reluctant at first since there weren't plenty of snow yet but he did it anyway. ;P hehehehe

After breakfast/brunch the snow still hadn't stopped so I urged him for another picture session outside. This time he was excited also since there were now more than an inch thick of snow on the road side and the highway.

I actually don't know whose house this is but it looks so wintery with the front bushes and plants all covered with snow so we decided to take our designated poses here.

This is the third session of picture taking that day. Before I head home we had these pictures. Sho-sensei and Dio joined us in this one. (I headed home walking since I was too chicken to ride my bike with all that snow).

This was my first major snow in Osaka. I've been living here for almost 2 years but this was the only time I experienced a major snowfall. Well, better late than never, right?