|
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Cry me an onion
Yesterday was the first time that I actually cried, no, teared involuntarily while I was peeling onions. Never understood why shows or books always says that onion will induce tears, well, until yesterday. Wah... the eyes really super hot man!!
posted by winz at 4:06 PM
~|=|~
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Scarlet Tide
Well I recall his parting words
Must I accept his fate
Or take myself far from this place
I thought I heard a black bell toll
A little bird did sing
Man has no choice
When he wants every thing
We'll rise above the scarlet tide
That trickles down through the mountain
And separates the widow from the bride
Man goes beyond his own decision
Gets caught up in the mechanism
Of swindlers who act like kings
And brokers who break everything
The dark of night was swiftly fading
Close to the dawn of day
Why would I want him just to lose him again
We'll rise above the scarlet tide
That trickles down through the mountain
And separates the widow from the bride
posted by winz at 5:45 PM
~|=|~
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Oboe...
I finally bought my oboe, PS3 sold or not.
Bought a relatively cheap one (but still expensive for me!) over the internet... 2nd hand of course.
Saw from a forum that this lady wanted to sell her instrument.
Although it's pretty scary dealing over the internet, by faith I proceeded with the deal, and was happy that the instrument came last Sunday.
Throughout the couple of weeks, I have been corresponding with this lady. Not really making small talk, but just talking about the oboe, band, love of music, and things in general.
I wouldn't say that we had became friends (because we hadn't), but there's still this certain amount of trust you have to give to someone especially when you have to transfer 1350 SGD to her without the instrument in sight.
I was supposed to mail her once I received the instrument, but it slipped my mind on Sunday, probably due to the excitement of receiving the parcel. Her mail came on Monday, which was yesterday, asking if I had received it already. I promptly replied saying I did, and conveyed my thanks.
She replied again, saying that she was relieved that the instrument has been delivered safely. And of course, she said her thanks.
Final thanks.
I replied her today, saying that I should be the one thanking her for letting me have the instrument at such a good price (debatable, but..). Immediately, I got a reply from yahoo, saying that the email is not in use.
I was pretty stunned.
Ok, it was evident that the email account was created for this sale only. She had followed through the deal, and closed the yahoo mail account once she received confirmation of receipt of the instrument.
But still I feel perturbed.
Not that I know her at all, I don't - except for her name, her bank account, which prefecture she is at, her current band life - and not that I enjoyed corresponding with her (just business talk most times). But somehow, I still feel a kind of relationship through the oboe that I got. Weird, but you get what I am saying?
This instrument was being used by her for the past 3 years. If I were her, I would have cared very much for the oboe, and it would like be an extension of me.... so if I were to sell it to someone else, I would firstly feel sad to see the instrument go, and secondly, I would want to know how it is being treated by the new owner. Whether the owner is pleased with it. Whether the oboe is being mistreated. etc. And for me now, I feel obliged to tell the previous owner how I feel about the instrument. updates on its well being, etc.
So in a way, somehow I feel connected to the previous owner through the instrument.
But with the cancellation of the mail account, the connection was severed for good.
It's also not that I want to carry on corresponding with her. But I do want to tell her, say for eg if I play the oboe in a concert next time, I want to tell her that the oboe was great! stuff like that.
I felt pretty lost.
I still feel lost and stunned. Silly I know...
That's why I wrote this post.
Not sure if any of you understand how I am feeling. But for those who do, thank you for sharing my feelings....
And to a certain Hagiwara Mitsuki san, since my last mail did not get to you,
Thank you once again for the oboe. I will take care of it from now on....
posted by winz at 7:23 PM
~|=|~
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Nayuta!
I visited Yasu and his family 2 weekends back. Yasu's doing good, he has a new job, a new house, and most importantly, a new baby!!!
Isn't he cuuuuuute???
Yasu, although with his unkempt hair looking quite haggard, has a glow about him. I can see that he is a truly happy man... Congrats!
By the way, this photo very cute hor? As if young Nayuta is waving to the camera.. heh.
Mika looks genki too! She looks like (she IS) a very proud mother!
Family portrait (plus 1 visitor.. heh):
posted by winz at 10:10 PM
~|=|~
Monday, November 13, 2006
PS3 Playstation 3 for sale!!!
I managed to buy a PS3!!!
So anyway, if you read my previous post, and want to support me in my quest of buying myself an oboe, please visit my auction page at http://auctions.yahoo.com/sg/auction/15079992 and bid on my item...
Please forward this around to help me!!!
My oboe dream can become a reality - you can fulfill my dream!!
Thanks!!
posted by winz at 12:19 AM
~|=|~
Saturday, November 11, 2006
My 500th post... and it's about PS3!
Today is a big day for gamers in Japan. As some may know, the long-awaited Playstasion 3 (that's how they spelt it in Bic Camera just now.. hehe) is finally launched. The first batch, that is. All 80,000 of them, for about 18 million Japanese.
That's hardly enough.
Because of that, many people, expectedly, rushed to queue overnight at places like Yodobashi Camera, where the sale of PS3's are on a first-come-first-served basis.
I nearly got my hands on 1 myself. I went to Kawasaki last nite to meet my Japanese teacher, Tanabe sensei for dinner. I was early, reached at 7, so I decided to check out the situation there. There wasn't any queue at all. All was peaceful and quiet. Not what I expected since in America, people started queuing 9 days before the launch date!
Anyway I proceeded to dinner with my sensei. Afterwhich, which was about 9+, I went back to Yodobashi. It was a crazy mess. The line was still pretty short when I reached, probably about 80 people in line already. I could have joined the queue then, but I hesitated. I went to ask a staff how many sets do they have for sale. He gave me a pissed off look and said it had not been decided yet. And then he ignored me.
WTF. never what I expected from a Japanese sales staff. some ppl just can't work under pressure.
The couple of minutes I took to hesitate, the line doubled already. I did some maths, figured that no matter how big Kawasaki Yodobashi is, I don't think they will have more than 100 sets available. And I think it is rather unfair that they don't tell the ppl waiting in line overnight how many sets are available, since most of them will probably go home empty handed. Ah well, whatever. I returned despondently.
But all was not lost. yet.
I decided to try my luck, and try for those "lottery" type sales. Meaning you go and get a number or ticket at the store between a certain timing, and a lucky draw (or lottery, if you prefer) will be conducted. The winners will then win the rights to buy the PS3's.
This system, fair or not I don't know, but at least it won't encourage ppl to queue overnight, is adopted by many major shops, such as Tsutaya, Sakuraya, Bic Camera.
Thinking that Shin Yokohama is very ulu (it is, trust me. it's a birds-dun-lay-eggs place), I may stand a chance to win myself one err.. rights.
So I industriously dragged myself out of bed this morning, and went to queue for the draw.
The reception started at 9, and my turn was at 930. Not too bad. For the draw at Bic Camera, membership card was needed, so I got my hands on one myself this morning.
I returned at 11 am, which was when the results were announced.
I didn't get it.
Darn.
I initially wanted one so that I can resell for a profit (yeah, shoot me), to earn enough money to buy my oboe. But well, it's not meant to be. I guess God must have given the sets to those with purer motives than mine. But then again, some say games are the works of the Devil.
Ok, I'm straying off here... just trying to justify my bad luck.
So anyway, it is not that I really wanted 1 so that I can play it earlier. Being the first 80,000 people out of a population of 8 billion in the world (about 0.001%) sounds cool, but I'll rather get it when it is more stabilized, and tried-and-tested.
So in a certain sense, I should not be dejected. But still, seeing those lucky bast**ds carrying brand new PS3's out of the store, I can't help but to feel a tinge of envy, and a pang of jealousy.
Ok, that's an understatement.
Sigh~~~ At least I tried.
At least I finally got a Bic Camera membership card. Which may not be a good thing though. I used to not have one, so I refused to buy anything from there, knowing that the same items in Yodobashi will get me rebates. Thus saving money.
Now the seal is broken. I finally have the license to buy things at Bic Camera.
Darn.
posted by winz at 11:57 AM
~|=|~
Friday, November 10, 2006
Updates
Hi all, Sorry about the inactivity around this blog. Have been busy lately (never expected myself to say this one day), but not like I dun have few minutes to spare to blog, but you know the tired feeling you get after work? yeah.. compound that to laziness.. and you get the moulds in the blog. Anyways, just a short update here to tell you of my new web album at this URL: www.picasaweb.google.com/winzwong . The old one at kodakgallery should still be surviving for at least another year, since I made a purchase recently. And because of this purchase, I have changed the password to that album, causing it to be "closed" to all you out there. A bit of a irony actually, make purchase to sustain the web albums, but in doing so, have to close it myself. doh. The reason why i am closing it is because my account may have sensitive information of my credit card and address... info which may be dangerous if left open to all. So until I manage to get rid of such sensitive information cleanly, I'm sorry to say that access by the login method is currently off. Of course if any of you are interested to view the photos (which I highly doubt, considering the poor traffic recently), you can drop me a mail, and I can send you invites so that you can view via the usual visitor method. Uploaded photos on the new picasa site in preparation for blogging... but seem to not have the 'feel' to do so yet. hehe. soon lah. Take care you guys, love you all. Winston
posted by winz at 10:25 PM
~|=|~
|
