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Monday, January 31, 2005
report sick, self-declared Attend C..
yesterday i woke up with a sore throat and a bad cough.. the kind that if it goes untreated, it may lead to a fever and stuff. so it was pretty uncomfortable the whole day. last nite, went to kawasaki for my fren's birthday dinner... btw, happy birthday ivan!!... so after the dinner, i was feeling real bad, maybe cos of some deep fried chicken i ate.
so today when i woke up, i decided to call for a day off =)
the good thing about working in japan is that you don't need an mc to ask for sick leave. u can just call the manager and tell him u are not feeling well, and u can dun go to work for the day. i've heard from some singaporean friends who are working in some banks here for many years, they have colleagues who disappear for half a year and up, just telling the boss that they are stressed at work and cannot perform!! yes, no mc, no nothing. and the best thing is that, the company cannot fire them because it will be discrimination against ppl who fall ill or not feeling well frequently. so they can just decide to pop back up at work after a year or 2 and start working again... weird huh?
so back to the topic on whether i am sick today or not... of course i am not feeling well. told my boss i have a bad cough (true) and a fever (impending actually =p). but the rest today was good. because i felt much better after resting today. who know's if i went to work this morning, my condition would have worsened? hehe...
anyway the bottomline is that i am now at dorm, just woke up, and writing this blog =) probably my "jan 24th" came a week late =)
posted by winz at 3:26 PM
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Friday, January 28, 2005
wasting....
my time away in the office yet again.
well at least i got down to categorising my mp3 collection =p
was listening to this old song, find the lyrics very meaningful:
茫茫人海中每个人都有梦 你忙碌的追求为的是什么
在走过风雨后有喜也有痛 但多少事物你还有最初的感动
珍惜你所有这道理谁都懂 只可惜想不透要的是什么
看时间匆匆过日出又日落 你难道不会为自己感到难过
一生的追逐 总是有得有付出 回首来时路 你可曾心满意足
多少的快乐 在手里变成苦 何时才懂真正的幸福
一生的追逐 总是有得有付出 回首来时路 你可曾心满意足
多少的快乐 在手里变成苦 到最后究竟是赢还是输
happiness is not too difficult a thing to achieve, is it? amidst all your work and chores, dun lose focus, be happy with the simple things in life....
hehe... test you, anyone knows the title and singer of this song?? no prizes but just fer fun =) if no one guess correctly, i will reveal the answer next monday... haha... no cheating, no internet search pls. give u a hint, its by my fav singer during sec school days.. hehe
posted by winz at 4:25 PM
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jap vs eng... 0-0
today as i was queuing to pay for my lunch in the staff canteen, and turned ard and saw that one of my trainers, 福岡さん was in line behind me....
"昨日は面白かったですか。" he asked.
"ええ。" i said, wasn't sure if i catched the statement correctly, as he said it in the japanese cut-time speed.
"昨日は楽しかったですか。" he repeated. he changed the adjective i think in case i didn't understand the previous one.
"はい。楽しい。。。楽しかったです。" as usual, forgot to use past tense, then corrected myself when i realised.
"でも全然日本語で。難しかったです。” i continued.
"英語で説明したか。" he asked. i think it was something like that lah.. couldn't really catch.. too fast.
at this stage, i was totally lost... i gave him the stupified look, indicating that i dun understand what he just said.
"explain." he explained.
finally understanding what he said, i wanted to reply him some ppl explained in english, but dunno how to say "some ppl" in japanese. so after awhile, i just said, "some..."
"some.." he repeated, and laughed, presumably at my japanese skills, or rather the lack of.
wanting to know how to say "some people" in japanese, i then asked him, "how do you say that in japanese?"
he laughed.
thinking maybe he didn't know what i meant, i repeated again, "how do you say 'some people' in japanese?"
he laughed again, nodding his head, saying, "yes, yes..."
i repeated another time, "'some people explained in english' - how do you say that in japanese?"
again he nodded his head, smiling, saying, "yes, yes..."
at this point, i begin laughing too, and saying "ok, yes... haha" finally realising that i couldn't get the question across to him in english, and so gave up....
haha... another classic case of japanese inproficiency vs english inproficiency... score is tied at 0-0... everyone lose.. =p
posted by winz at 1:01 PM
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reportsss
today came to office. so sian. then gotta do so many reports some more. got my weekly report, monthly report, and the eds fair report. arghh!!! somebody kill me!!
side note: how do i write a report when i haven't done anything constructive yet? =p
posted by winz at 9:31 AM
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Thursday, January 27, 2005
feels just like home...
today went to office on time (ie at 830). one of the rare times.. okok.. i admit, i was 5 mins late.. =p as i was saying.. today was supposed to go yokohama some expo for the eds fair.. but we went to the office first because me manager said he will "pick us up at the office" at 9 to go there, since we dun really know the exact location of the expo.
anyway notice that the phrase is in inverted commas. i think our common understanding in singapore is that when u say u wanna pick someone up, u mean u drive and give the person a lift rite? well, not in this case. we thot it was so, and so happily we agreed to go to office in the morning for him to "pick us". (anyway that's why i was early today) when we left the building, expecting him to lead us to some carpark, we were of course surprised (or stunned?!? either lah). then he talked about which train line we wanna take, then it finally dawned upon us that we are all going to take train together!!@(#*!)@!
well for that, 1) i woke up early, 2) i spend 200 yen on bus to office and 260 yen for train ride (when i could have taken a straight train from my dorm for only 160 yen)
#(*&^@(^#(*&@*@*#(*&##(
$)($#&$(@*&#@($#)#(#@&#
anyway, besides the morning surprise, the day went ok. well anything is better than staying in office rite? so we reached there, walked in, first person to greet us was a gal dressed up in race queen suit! wow! some legs she got there! and i thot this showgals only appear in game fairs and motor shows.... guess its a japan thing (read: cater to all the japanese lao tikohs). sad to say, i dun have a photo of her, neither do i have much of the others... this is because, unlike the motor shows and games fairs, seems that no one else took any pics of them, so i guess we better not start. =p (lp-less singaporeans here).
well, guess what? about 95% of the fair is in japanese (and 5% english, we dun have interest in the products). so there we are, supposed to gather info, ask questions abt the ic design flow and tools, we ended up not able to understand anything at all... haha, gals-wise, work-wise, i guess it was a wasted trip. however....
since we are sengkahpor-lang, you should expect us not to grab hold of all free gifts and lucky draws rite? hurhurhurhurhurhur... so off we went, penning all the questionnaires that were offered to us, to gain one free gift after another. there are some lucky dips and lucky draws as well, with top prizes of nintendo ds as well as ipod mini! too bad, not my lucky day. chee keong managed to win a digital pace counter, and siownan a small travel bag. nope... me never win anything at all.. but guess have to be satisfied with the large amt of free goodies =p
anyway the fair wasn't that big, so we finished walking at ard 1 pm (since we can't understand jap, no point staying further). obviously, we went back dorm instead of going to office muahahah... happy happy =)
but now got to worry abt the report =(
anyway, i bought an ebi chilli bento for lunch on the way back dorm. closest thing to chinese food i think, so i like it quite a bit. for dinner, lazy to go out and buy, so decided to just cook 2 eggs and eat it with rice. however my fren, tsutsen was so kind that he gave me a can of his imported-from-singapore stewed pork chop. cool! feels just like home... back home, when there isn't many ppl eating at home, my mum will just open a can of stewed pork chop and cook 2 eggs for me. thus tonite, the dinner reminded me of home... mum, i miss u =) (okok... i miss u, sis and dad too!)
as usual, photos later..
posted by winz at 9:44 PM
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Wednesday, January 26, 2005
EdS fAiR
just now meeting discussed about some qns we dunno how to answer from the previous tests... haha realised a couple of them its because we translated them wrongly.. hurhurhur
then tomorrow we going for an eds fair (e-design and solution). very shiok. 1 reason is that, finally got something better to do rather than to be couped up at my own table trying to act busy... the other reason is that i heard from my trainer there will be "companion gals" wearing mini-skirts!!! =p~~~~ hehe... if got pics i will post for all of ya to see =D
hurhurhur
looking forward to tomorrow =)
btw, i am now pretending to be reading some books... again...
today pay rent.. so poor liao =( when will my pay come???
posted by winz at 1:50 PM
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frenzzz blogzzzz
hey babes,
good morning to ya all! its me again, back in the company doing absolutely nothing now.. hehe... anyway was reading my fren's blog just now, and he included a link to my blog, so thought i should do the same and return the favour.
his blog can be found here - an excellent read for a day to day life in japan (well, not everyone is so into swimming like him though.. hehe..).
another good read is tsutsen's blog, which can be found here - aptly named for the diaries of almost all the travelling that we have done here in japan.
another newbie's is here - hehe... nothing much to it yet... hope he will maintain it =)
this blog here is by jac, the pianist in my band (see previous photo). very cool and interesting site, a real old hand at blogs.. got lotsa things to learn from her... definitely an entertaining read.
ok... dunno whether i will have meeting soon or not...
later
posted by winz at 9:50 AM
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005
无聊透顶
想了想，发觉既然我都有用到日语来写blog，为何不用中文写呢？呵呵。。。
现在我在公司里，一面写blog，一面听歌。现在正在播的歌是梁静茹的分手快乐。我真的在工作吗？我也很想知道。。。呵呵。。。
介绍给你们一手很旧很好听且很有意义的歌——优客李林的That's about us =)
如果風箏能形容朋友
我願化作雲飄泊在天空
捲起吹向理想之地的清風
陪伴他眺望美麗的夢
如果朋友是一盞燈火
無知的恐懼將一掃而空
讓我放心走不必擔心踏錯
憂愁化烏有勇敢向前衝
你就是我的朋友總在我左右
我想飛的理由你每一次都懂
只要勇敢伸出真誠的手
年輕的節奏就屬於你和我
That's about us
人生路上我願做你朋友
歡喜憂傷都以你為榮
雖然不曾想過怎樣才能成功
但卻已經擁有相同的夢
现在就到此搁笔吧。稍后再聊。=)
posted by winz at 2:05 PM
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just another day...
tuesday... 4 more days to weekend... sigh..
b4 i started on this blog thingy, i was wondering whats the whole appeal in writing about your daily life in the web? well now that i am doing it myself, i can understand a wee little bit.. for one, if you are bored and have nothing to do, can just crap for the whole world to see... and thus, here i am writing absolutely rubbish for all of you who are now reading this...
today whatever i am supposed to do in the office, i seriously dunno... just like yesterday and maybe tomorrow... (hope my supervisors dun read this man) i am just waiting for the day where i have something hands-on to do, some codes to write... sigh.. but the day never seems to be approaching..
read jac's blog just now.. a pretty cool site. seriously i can never imagine myself writing things like "going to do my eyebrows now" or something.. if you see me one day posting something like "going to cut my toenails now", that's when you will know that i am totally blogged already. it just seems such an alien thing to do... jac, you alien!!!
oh yea, sharapova won today at the australian open... hehe cool =) dun you think she's just the babe? she will be coming to tokyo in early february for the toray open, but too bad the tickets are all sold out... went to check if there were any still available last nite... can't get to see her real life liao... was looking forward to it actually.
talking about the ticketing system in japan, its pretty backward.... granted you can purchase tickets at some convenience stores and some sam-like machines here, besides the usual sistic-like counters, there isnt much online avenues to purchase tickets online... or should i say there isnt any?? pretty shitty i would say, and so have to go to the counters and try to converse japanese with them in order to get tickets. and boy.. do the tickets sell out fast or what. previous times wanted to buy tickets for some classical concert, but they were all sold out when we tried to get them like 2 weeks before. pop concerts like glay, ayumi are much worse. they are usually sold out on the first day or so. quite gross... if this were to happen in singapore, you would have seen hello-kitty-queues queueing for concert tickets instead (since cannot buy online). somebody's gotta do something!!
well... maybe later i will post something else if anything comes to mind.. till then.
posted by winz at 1:29 PM
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お早うございます!
みんなさん、どうですか。
今日はとても閑だで、毎日と同じだ。昨日仕事してから、川崎市へ行きました。川崎で晩ご飯を食べたり買物したりアーケードをしたリしました。それから、九時半ごろ帰ります。別のちんけな日。
haha.. looks cool right? =p but i'm sure there are still many mistakes... hehe.. well at least i tried =p
posted by winz at 9:53 AM
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Monday, January 24, 2005
last perf in ntu...
my jazz band in singapore... ppl are (from left) tianbin, felix, derek, me, jac. i miss hanging out and playing with these guys as well... they are a real great bunch... anyway now that i am away, they are still playing together... i think they have a wedding gig this week or something... all the best!! guys, if any of you looking for a wedding band or jazz band, do look for us! you can contact tianbin at 94788679. prices are reasonable and dun worry, we won't be dressed as casual as that =)
With My Jazz Band.... Last Perf in NTU
posted by winz at 11:18 PM
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convo with western buddies
my convocation... ppl from left are enci, me, huiting, wee teck. johnnie is missing from this picture.. can't find him that day... these are the ppl that i had great fun with during my exchange to canada... thanks to enci and huiting too, who came to send me off when i was leaving for japan... sob sob.. so touched... =)
Graduation with My Western Buddies... Where's Johnnie??
posted by winz at 11:12 PM
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NTU Double Reeds
photo taken at my last performance in NTU band. it was during "music from the hearts", held in the esplanade. i am holding an english horn =)
how i miss playing in the band now that i am in japan...
anyway ntu band is going to wmc this year again... wish them all the best! pity i can't be there again....
Me and My Section =)
front row from left is me, honwai, meifeng (who is 6 years younger than me!!!!!!!!)
back row is... sorry guest players.. forgot their names =p (getting old, memory is failing)
posted by winz at 11:08 PM
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photos @ ofoto
anyway for those of you who dunno... i have some online photo albums @ ofoto.
go to www.ofoto.com and log in as follows:
login: winzwong@gmail.com
password: ilovewinston
enjoy~~~ =)
posted by winz at 1:57 PM
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rice pounding on 23/1
rice pounding, or making mochi as it is known here, is something they do around new year time... haha dun ask me what for... i just tagged along with my frens. hehe
so anyway, we headed out to some ooloo station somewhere near shinjuku, to a temple called hachiman temple or something like that (as you can see.. i am really only just tagging.. hehe). when we reached the temple, there were some children playing the japanese drums. one cute little fat guy very cute... but too bad no photos to show you... yet =) so turn out the rice, they beat, then they add something that looks like red bean paste to me. its given out FOC, but the queue is so long that we decided to skip it.
afterwhich we went to the 花園神社 in shinjuku. its famous to us because it appeared in some crappy japanese language learning video tape we saw when we were learning jap in bunka language school. however, it turned out super disappointing as the hanazono jinja in real life is nothing like that in the video... sigh... another tiopian trip... looks like japan really has lots of overhyped and overpriced "attractions" and amenities... =p
afterwhich walked around shinjuku without buying anything (kinda sad...), played pool, and in the process kenna played a prank on by my dear family in collaboration with my dear fren and insurance agent, jeanette. yeah yeah.. u got me.. laugh all you want =p
posted by winz at 1:17 PM
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photos??!?!
now my blog looks rather plain... will start adding photos here soon... gotta figure out how first.. hehe.. anyway now mostly i am posting my blogs in the office, so can't add photos from here too.. =p akan datang lah... hehe
look out for it in the near future..
posted by winz at 1:15 PM
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Sunday, January 23, 2005
yay! pool lost! woohoo!
Liverpool lost to soton! hahahahaha... muahahahahaha =p
today's a good day... tomorrow will be even better if toon wins ARSE hehe *fingers crossed*
posted by winz at 1:20 AM
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Saturday, January 22, 2005
fridge!!!
just came back dorm... tired...
today went to collect my "free" fridge. got the lobang from the classifieds at japantoday... heng i was the fastest haha so i got it. the first thing the japanese lady said to my fren and i was "are you from singapore?" haha.. singaporean english really different eh?
today was also my first time driving in japan. rented a car to transport the fridge, and costed me 7000 yen, heng i split cost with my fren... =) driving here is not too much different, though i was pulled over by a police for a traffic violation. begin acting the dumb gaijin look and speaking in english... he looked at my driving licenses and i thought siao liao, first time drive kenna summon damn suay... but after awhile, he handed them back to me and just muttered these words: "yellow, no go!" haha turn out not allowed to change lanes when there are yellow lane markings... heng our gaijin look paid off, and so we escaped a fine! =)
now... there's only a bottle of water in my fridge... gotta stock up soon!
posted by winz at 6:33 PM
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Friday, January 21, 2005
初めまして ウィンストンです どうぞよろしくお願いします!
いっらしゃいませ!
welcome to my tiny little space in the web =)
hopefully i will get down to updating this blog often... hehe.. but knowing the lazy me ... =p
anyway, happy birthday james! nice choc cake! haha... me birthday coming soon too, in exactly a month's time... no choc cakes for me pls... tiramisu will be best.. thanks =D
catch you guys later!
posted by winz at 3:45 PM
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my first post...
私は初めてブロッグする...
posted by winz at 3:41 PM
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my life in japan
about my blog ...
this blog was started on Jan 21st 2005. although blogging has already been popular for quite sometime, i didn't catch the fad of keeping a blog, as, well, i have better things to do such as meeting frens, hanging out, playing games (lol) etc.
i must say i was first inspired by tsutsen and fangyi, both like me are in japan now, and both like me (but for a longer time) are keeping blogs. initially i started this blog mainly to keep a log of all things interesting (and uninteresting) that i have done in japan, so that i can look back few years down the road and laugh. also of course, as i may have mentioned, it is also an avenue to tell my family and friends how i have been doing, what i am busy with etc. no need to mention the same things over and over again to friends who may ask ;p
now, i am using my blog as my bulletin as well... whenever i come across anything interesting, i will try to post in up in my blog. hopefully, my readers, who are mainly my family and friends, will find them interesting as well. if not, just humour me will you?
as such, i dun think, in any time soon, my blog will grow to become like xiaxue's or kenny sia's, since they usually write for their audience (in xiaxue's case, against her audience ;p), neither will it be like mr brown's, since he writes mostly about singapore stuff... my blog is pretty narrow, for friends, i hope you find it interesting to know about my life here, and for visitors, i hope the content here interests you in one way or another.
about the blogger ...
i am a singaporean who is now in japan for OJT. in japan for a duration of 18 months, and i will finish my OJT here in end april 2006. afterwhich i will have a bond period of 2 years working locally in Singapore, so i dun think i will be staying in japan, or any other countries for that matter... therefore, before my jailterm starts, i better make the best out of my time here!
here are some of my other details...
name: Winston Wong
nicks: winzwong, or simply winz
where am i: kawasaki, japan (near tokyo)
where i was/ will be: serangoon area, singapore
age: 26 (born in 1979, year of goat), pisces
schools attended: henry park primary school (1986), beng wan primary school (1987-91), saint andrew's school (1992-5), hwa chong junior college (1996-7), nanyang technological university (2000-4). exchange student at university of western ontario, london, canada (fall semester 2002).
classes: (for long lost frens) Henry Park: 1CC; Beng Wan: 2C, 3C, 4A, 5A, 6A; SAS: 1C, 2B, 3SB, 4SB; HJC: 96S32; NTU: EEE major, specialise in Electronics.
army camps: bmtc nee soon, ocs, 1st commando battalion (as clerk).
hall experience: hall 6!!
ecas: mainly band. in ntu, hall as well... but music is my life...
icq no: 77174486
msn msgr: winz32@hotmail.com
yahoo msgr: wah_winz@yahoo.com.sg
contact details: winzwong@gmail.com or winzwong@inbox.com (email me if you want my phone number and/or snail mail address)
feel free to add me to chat... and if there's anything you wanna know about me, my life, or even japan, feel free to contact me as well...
again, thanks for dropping by ;)
posted by winz at 2:21 PM
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