305: 天下无不散之宴席

Last Friday–my last Friday here in a year. 

Pictures behind the cut.

304: OMG OMG OMG

SINGAPORE MEDALS!!!! XD

303: japan: dancing in tokyo

So - here is the last part. We spent three nights in Tokyo, but it was effectively two and half days left because we flew off in the morning. Less words before the cut now because there is just so much more to see in pictures.

302: ten thousand years

Remember what you have is right in front of you, is the thing they always tell you when they want you to be content with everything you’ve got, even the things you don’t have. Everybody is after all only given so much, and we make the best use of it as we can. Over the past week things haven’t been turbulent as much as they have been eerily quiet; brief spurts of aborted activity in the day slowly give way to the plodding routine of the night. This week things have been different and yet the same.

301: I DON’T LIKE

I am annoyed because:

1) My accomodation in Holland has been reassigned.

2) I now have to walk 45 mins to school instead of 15.

3) The rent has increased by 120 euros to 450 euros. PER MONTH.

4) My internet has gone from ‘broadband’ and ‘fastest on campus’ to just ‘internet’ with no other details.

I want to complain. And go back to the old room where I can pay less and walk less and have faster internet. I AM SO ANNOYED. ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

300: fly away

There is a difference, and everybody knows,

between getting a phone call and seeing a body being carried away.

And the cold, cold surface of a forehead.

299: shopping

My J brand jeans came! I like them a lot and they fit pretty well. Unfortunately I bought the one with the leg opening slightly too wide… so I will have to alter them to narrow it down. 

RZ is on her way to Copenhagen now! So excited. Soon it will be my turn.

298: i don’t know where we are going now

This is how it is; young people are wistful. Young people like to lean on a tree and pretend they are old, as if being 21 is a great weight on their shoulders, and we suffer in order to be able to carry it, and carry on. We tremble with the weight of our youth as we look up into the sky. 

We make friends; we drift apart. We think we run in the same circles when maybe we don’t, not anymore. There are things that pass us by, including time, that nobody realises, not until it’s too late. When we meet again, we’ll talk about life since then (maybe talk about why, and did it ever end?), we’ll bump into each other at our usual coffee place, with different people now, the same conversation, and the same painful itch at the heart. 

Sometimes we mourn our losses. Other times we don’t know that they’ve gone. When we do realise, maybe we feel sad, or maybe we feel nothing at all. There is a downcast look (or three), but we pick ourselves up and go back to the person in front of us. This is here. This is now. We keep saying this to ourselves. We look across the vast field of our youth and convince ourselves there is a long way more to go; yes we can afford to lose some, because we can’t win everything. Perhaps as we think we grow older our perspectives change. We become used to things; we may not welcome them always, but we can always find a way to explain everything away. Reason. They always say that if you are thinking too much, it is a sign you are getting old.

Maybe the young think about different things. Maybe they don’t. How much of us has changed is open to doubt. Some things are immutable, and everyone, or maybe no one, has been this concerned about love. Life, friendship, staying in touch. Keeping people with you. 

How much remains the same; that is the scariest question.

297: ajdhfkjhgjkhg dying

 

The product you’ve been waiting for. 

296: japan: kyoto contradictions

Some think Kyoto is all quaint shops and beauty. It is, but there’s so much more than that. Maybe it’s because it’s the old capital. Nowhere else do you feel the contradictions more strongly: time-honored tradition living next to modern amenities; something as mundane as seeing two geisha clad in kimono walking next to a taxi. The men who frequent Gion have changed their clothes as the times pass, yet till now it is the wealthy businessmen who look to entertain and be entertained, in their dapper, dreary business suits, that sing and laugh with geisha in the comfort of the teahouses overlooking the river. Not everything Arthur Golden says is true, but it’s not all false either. As tourists throng to the temples frantically snapping away with their cameras, there remains the crowd of people that stays the same, going back to the temple year after year, month after month, praying for this or that. The wooden plaques always say the same things; human nature changes very little. Many things have changed, but there is still hope. 

Here, young girls still guide their hopeful friends, hands clasped and eyes closed, towards the sunshine and in search of love.

295: so we come up on different streets

Honestly, when all else fails, you know there’s always Dire Straits.

This is one of the best and most magic performances I have ever, ever seen. JUST LISTEN TO THE SAXOPHONE jdhkgjdhrgvhregjerkgkdgkjgg it makes me so fucking sad but it is so so so good.

294: youth’s like diamonds in the sun

 

So many adventures couldn’t happen today

So many songs we forgot to play

So many dreams swinging out of the blue

We’ll let them come true

293: japan: osaka city riots

18- 21 May.

So, finally, here is Osaka. Most of what they say about Osaka is totally true. It’s a merchant town, and it’s filled with people who love food, love being happy, love being loud and funny and living life. It’s kind of like being Hokkien on crack. Being Japanese, they’re naturally polite, and really really willing to help. They’re the sort of people that, when you are standing alone on the train platform surrounded by your luggage, an elderly lady will totter over to you asking, 大丈夫か？ (Are you all right?). At this point most of what you can say merely consists of ああ、はい (Ah, yes) which is really rude now that I think about it. Yet the same elderly lady, when getting onto the train, will fight you tooth and nail to get in and give you a not-so-friendly push if you dawdle too long at the entrance. Osaka people are always hurrying everywhere; not in the same way as Tokyo or the big cities, where everyone needs to look like they have something very important to do. Here it is pure unadulterated rush. 

We spent four days in Osaka, and they were a good four days. We visited temples and parks, castles, got lost, did lots of shopping, checked out Kennedy’s wildly expensive t-shirts, gawked at more wildly expensive merchandise, ate and walked, and ate, and ate non-stop. 

292: go out and get her

I’ve been sick for the past few days… guess the heat has finally gotten to me. I went to Ikea on Sunday with J and felt like shit after eating my meatballs (hmmm, I don’t think it had anything to do with the meatballs, though), so I went home, and I’ve just been sleeping my days away because the medicine knocks me right down again every time I wake up to take it. My mum is now worried sick (ha, ha) that I’m going to fall ill and die by myself over there, but I suppose everyone who goes overseas goes through that. 

In any case, I managed to get a flight to Amsterdam on SQ! Hooray for the nice person who decided to free up his reservation :D 

Also, we are going to Munich for Oktoberfest! I checked the train tickets and it seems pretty reasonable… if I buy a pass. Even though it takes 7-9 hours to get to Munich from Amsterdam. Still, it’s an overnight train, so I can take it at night and arrive in the morning. We are currently looking for one more person to share accommodation with, though. That is, if you don’t mind staying in a caravan (and it’s only 99 euros per night! That works out to… less than 25 euros per person per night.) Current parties involved include me, J and Kenneth. If anyone’s interested (preferably someone all three of us know… but if not, we can work something out), you can leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you! Accommodation is in very very very short supply (as I have found out, the hard way).

I’ve been watching Nodame Cantabile; it’s pretty good! The girl annoys me less than she should, she is very pretty, and her dress sense is kind of cute. I want her boots, but her Japanese accent is very irritating. I guess Tamaki Hiroshi makes up for it…

291: it’s a bright, bright, bright, sunshiney day

I must say; it’s so hot it’s not even funny. I can just sit here and start sweating for no reason. I hate hot weather. And summer. And whatever arghhh.

I haven’t done anything these few days. I met Nurul to do our nails yesterday so now my nails are grey. It looks cooler than it sounds. I think. Other than that, I’ve only been meeting J for dinner and making full use of my Internet’s temporary connection to Megaupload (I have never been able to download anything from there before. Ever. J says it’s where all the porn is stored and MU has probably cleared all its servers so that horny Singaporeans don’t get to access it anymore…) to download 34689475968 episodes of everything. 

I now have on-going series (what is the plural?!) of Osen, Zettai Kareshi, Last Friends, and Nodame Cantabile. Also I found the subtitled version of the Hana Kimi special. GO ME! I now have a drama collection to rival Isaac’s. Who is obsessed with Nakama Yukie. Watching Gokusen for all the wrong reasons. Tsk.

Pictures of the super wonderful bento/don I ate the other day:

290: yummy yummy yummy

I don’t understand why I’m hungry all the time these days. I’m not eating as much as I was when I was in Japan, but that’s normal, isn’t it? Who eats four meals a day? So why am I still so hungry? I do not understand.

I think my house may be running out of food. Hunger pangs are shitty. 

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I have discovered I have nothing to buy for Holland because I already have about 356456 winter coats in varying lengths. Except that they are all black but I can live with that. But I need socks. And tights which are not footless. And preferably not black or brown or some boring colour. WHERE DO I FIND THESE? TELL ME!

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In other news I just watched the first part of the CTKTIIYOU DVD. Oh my god. I want to be there right now. The 2008 tour has started and the reports are coming in, and I am feeling rather sad. 

The atmosphere during a live show is really different, huh? I felt like that at the 伍佰 concert. After The Eagles I couldn’t stop smiling. And even Eric Clapton, which was woefully short, left me high. 

GLASTONBURY AWAITS! Next summer baby.

 

289: japan: yokohama city lights

It’s early in the morning now, and as usual, I can’t sleep. The sky is red and you know what they say about red skies in the morning and red skies at night. Tonight the moon is full, as it was last night, but tonight the moon hung low behind the tree outside my house and I had to look harder to find it. It’s just like most things, which disappear without you noticing in the hope you’ll look ever harder for them. 

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This post is about Yokohama, with which I think I might have a special love affair. This is not to say that I didn’t love all the other cities I went to, but that they mean different things to me. Tokyo is the place of childhood and dreams, mainly because I went there so many times when I was younger, though as you grow older you discover its ever-increasing adult attractions. Osaka was all about food and relaxation and just generally having fun doing everything and nothing. Kyoto was full of history, but Yokohama…

Yokohama is full of lights and romance. Yokohama is the place you bring girls to when you want to impress them. It doesn’t seem like much because it’s so near Tokyo and it’s so easy to overlook, but it retains that particular, off-centre, sort of feeling. It’s near but not too near. It has its own voice, its own attractions, its own history. Some people say Chinatown wasn’t too interesting; sometimes you just need to know where to look. Stepping into Minato Mirai is fascinating precisely because we’re at an age where we can appreciate it, still: the free theme parks, ferris wheels, lights across the sea, the red brick warehouses and the smoke curling up from beneath the windows. It seriously is the number one place to bring a girl on a date. It is so romantic you can choke. 

288: japan: tokyo story

Erm. I’m sorry this took so long, but there were really a lot of pictures. 

287: and she takes me away to that special place

Right now I feel giggly and happy.

 

286: just a case of… history repeating

I like these. A lot. I feel like they could make me 5 inches taller without the pain. Some people probably think they are ugly. Anybody still in the UK willing to bring them home for me please tell me XD

Times like these I’m very happy that J is like 6 feet tall so I can wear all the heels I want.

285: this, my friends, is the soundtrack of our youth

Written one May Sunday after exams sitting at Starbucks and watching people. My mind… goes in weird directions. Also, I didn’t forget about the Japan pictures. Except I’m still editing them (only got Kyoto left though!) and they will be all up soon. Yay!

284: photo blues

Randomly, I am getting annoyed with the lack of good, free photo hosting sites. Does anyone have any suggestions? I need:

1) Nice layout

2) Slideshow feature

3) Unlimited photo storage

4) Preferably easily uploadable

5) Can be shared publicly without people having to sign up/be emailed, i.e. the URL can just be given

6) FREE

I uploaded 225 photos onto snapfish only to realise that I have to email people to share my pictures. Which is not what I want because it is so troublesome. ROAR. Someone please help me

283: the magical mystery tour

It was, you know. It was magical. 

I will probably post the photos by city, in parts, because there are too many and I love all the pictures. Of which I have 1377. Excluding the ones I had to take on my phone because my camera battery died (e.g. the entire night parade in Disneyland, which I am very annoyed about). After two weeks it was not that I didn’t mind going home, but it was also because I knew I wouldn’t be back for at least another few years. That was a depressing thought, but it was, and is always, such a magical country. There are so many thoughts I cannot articulate it all. It will be done, though, slowly but eventually.

282: 写真を撮って、いいですか？

Just a quick post: in Yokohama now, heading to Osaka tomorrow morning.

Everybody loves Japan, yes? I am no exception. I wish I could stay here forever, but we all know that’s not possible. However I thoroughly indulged my fangirl self ogling cute boys everywhere (and the girls are so pretty) including random Kanjani8 Nissin Cup Noodle advertisements in the subway, caved in and bought two KAT-TUN DVDs (haha did you know Johnny’s Entertainment has their own separate section in HMV?) and a magazine (the one where the photo below appears) while my boyfriend dragged me all across Harajuku and Shibuya shopping and looking for his weird obscure underground shops. Oh, and he bought about half of Uniqlo as well. Also, I have overheard more conversations about the merits of Akanishi vs Kamenashi vs random Japanese celebrity from girls with their boyfriends than I can count. Starbucks is freaking everywhere.

Today was good: Yokohama is a pretty place. Pictures when I come back; the night lights are beautiful. I’ve also sat more rollercoasters than I can count, including the ones in Disneyland (the parade was magical omg, but I got sunburnt haha) and some random super drop rollercoaster in Yokohama today, in a free theme park no less!

Lots of food. Ate orgasmic sushi at Tsukiji it’s like food porn. Really can die.　And my Japanese is super bad it’s so embarrassing.

More when I get internet again.

281: 日本行こう！

Pretty boys await. Back on the 27th.

じゃ、またね！