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?

The Birth of Special Rapid Band

On the afternoon of January 20, 2008 after the mass ended the three of us, Jet, Dio and I went out to eat and stroll around Sannomiya to look for cool outfits for a gig. Later that afternoon, I don't know what got into our heads, we decided to go to Maibara to get a glimpse of the snow since there was a forecast of snow on that day. It was a long 2 or 3 hour trip but despite the long hours of travelling and no snow something actually good came out of it. We were able to choose a name for our band, which now consist only of Dio(guitar), Jet(keyboards) and me(Violin) and we were able to shoot our first band photos which is supposed to be included in our first album!...hahahahhaha. Talk about ambitious, oh well.... :P
Presenting, the Special Rapid Band!

Special Rapid Band candid pose.

Special Rapid Band platform pose 1

More! more! more! hahahahahaha

Takako's Concert in Namba

Another day in Paradise

Yesterday(December 16) I once again had the pleasure of visiting Tomo-chan and his wife Shoko-chan in their warm castle. While heading there we talked about a lot of stuff like the
current working places of some CMK members that I know and of course music. Tomo-chan then showed me his "Daft Punk" keychain. He told me he just went to their concert this month and now he's crazy about them. :) He also told me about this advertisement inside a train about a museum show which features "CSI" like stuff. I'm definitely interested in going with them. I just hope that when I go there, somehow there would be an english version of everything so that
I can understand it. :P
First, we all went to the supermarket to buy stuff for Okonomiyaki. Shoko-chan picked all the necessary ingredients while the only stuff that Tomo-chan picked out were 2 packs of kinakomochi candies. :) (It made me happy actually since he gave one pack to me hehehe :))
(Shoko-chan is so reliable and responsible! Tomo-chan is such a lucky guyto have Shoko-chan as his wife :) )

Another picture of the coolest couple on the planet!
When we got to their house Shoko-chan started preparing the ingredients for the Okonomiyaki. She was the one doing all slice stuff while Tomo-chan and I were just warming out butts in front of the TV. (Really, Tomo-chan is really a lucky guy, but then so am I! :)) Then a little while later we started the cooking session. Tomo-chan is undergoing a change of diet, I think he's switching to an almost vegetarian diet. That night he made me a vegetarian onigiri, and it tasted fantastic despite the fact that it was mostly consist of vegetables and sea food stuff! (no fish, mind you! :))
And so as the night went on I was able turn over two okonomiyakis, ate about 3 big slices of them along with a bowl of salad and many other stuff. (Of course the I took a picture!) At the end of the evening my stomach felt like bursting.

Here's the first okonomiyaki that I personally turned over!

Here's another one!
As usual we had the regular Nihongo "Tomo-chan" version lesson. (These nihongo lessons are not exactly for business deals but Tomo-chan's lessons are very handy in making people laugh.)
Alway a pleasure to be with the coolest couple on the planet!

Sorakoen

To make ourselves feel a little autumn we (Dio, Mars and I) decided to go to Sorakoen last November 24, 2007. We walked for about 20 minutes from the Sannomiya station to get there.