Archive for the ‘remembrance’ Category
Last Night at Kuala Lumpur: Steamboat at 1U
This chain restaurant is originally started by Taiwanese, apparently, healthy and hygienic. We have our own steamboat to each of us. The broth we can choose from a few varieties; I had shark fin’s broth. Good. As for the dipping sources, it was sinfully lots of them. Everyone was like having 4 at least.
My friend Andy was 5 years my senior in secondary. We have not met for like 5 years or so. So, I asked about what happened to those that I knew before in order to catch up, for old time sake. Lots of stories, a few good news, but it was the sad news that stayed in my mind.
Nyonya Food
One of the cuisines you should try out when you are in Malaysia. This one is at the 2nd floor of Central Market, Kuala Lumpur. Don’t ask me about the vege’s name. I was told but forgot. The gravy one is Assam fish with bronjol and lady’s finger (you call okura I am sure.).
Rice Cake Festive
The apartment that I live in, there is a pet-club and I am one of the working members now. We had Rice Cake Festive today. Many kids came with their own chopsticks and plates, and we let them tried to pound. It went well, some came after 2 hours, but it finished before that. Quite a fun time. Later I went to buy some sweet potatoes and wrapped it up in alumi foil, dumped into the fire, the kids liked it very much. I think we are going to have Rice Cake and Sweet Potatoes next year.
Skating
Took the kids for skating. Erin and Karin enjoyed it, but not Shion. He seems to have no interests in the world beyond his imagination. Have to get him to involve something else that keeps him more sociable.
Youth is So Young
I used to take an English writing classes at the university (ages ago!), and the professor, who was one great British ironist all the time, but I enjoyed his sarcasms always. He introduced Woody Allen to me, and I had a good laugh with one of the movies he mentioned, I can’t recall the title. It was about a lady who lives between reality and fantasy. What shocked me was how a movie could bring the thought of fantasy into real action, and then let the heroin gets back to reality with just another scene. There was no mention of which is real and which is her fantasy, but I could tell, I mean I just knew it. That’s one great presentation. I was naive, okay. But, that’s what I found literature interesting. I thought Woody Allen was good director though my professor told me he was only graded second in hollywood. I think he is really mean (the way he presents man and woman in the movie) and sarcastic (the conversation). Not sure, but I seemed enjoy sarcasms very much at that time—even now—, could it be the age, youth is so young! At that time, I didn’t realise it was about reality and unreal world. I didn’t even have a clear definition or understanding of its meaning, but I have the intention of likes towards sarcasms. I told my professor about my impression, and he was kind of surprised of my liking, and then he introduced me more of his recommendation of Allen selections. My professor was a great teacher, I can’t recall his name, but somehow I couldn’t keep in touch with him, he was an adjunct professor at my university. I have other episode about him, but will keep it for the future.
Later I started to work in Malaysia for a couple of years before I came back to Japan the second time, equatorially sandwiched between my dream and my reality after 4 years as a stray sheep of what I really wanted to do. Youth is so young! My heart was still with Japan. I don’t know, I don’t feel like I belong to Malaysia, a place where I was born, and lived till 19, but it wasn’t the place that could fulfill what I wanted. I wanted to live in Japanese world, not the Japanese community that was so small and with a bunch of podsnaps in the pocket-handkerchief-sized society. Excuse me if you think you are one of them, but that’s true. So, I told the whole world I wanted to go back to Japan. And I got a job in 2000, went for the interview, and I was back to Japan with a job, interviewed by this guy.
My complex towards English brought me to another night class of English writing course in Shinjuku, in 2001. This Canadian teacher was good also. He picked up essays from TIME magazine, and we read and did an impromptu summary every week. Later we would write an essay about what we thought.
When Jack Lemmon died, there was an article about him that we did in the class. The first actor who got two academy awards. I watched The Apartment, and Tuesdays with Morrie, etc. That’s when I started to enjoy his movie. Somehow I couldn’t recall what I have seen in the latter movie. I got the book of Tuesdays with Morrie last Monday, and I finished it yesterday. There wasn’t any part of the books that recall my memories of the movie Jack Lemmon was in. Did I understand the movie before? I want to watch it again. The book was easy to read, and I enjoyed the short sentences of writing as well. It urged me to write about my own story very much when I started reading it. Somehow, by the end of the book, I seem to have forgotten the passion to write. I feel like I am one cold-hearted person. I don’t have strong passion and I don’t get moved nowadays easily. Something wrong with me.
Is it because of the age, I wonder.
My To-Do List of 2009
Happy New Year!
Here are my to-do list for this year.
Stephanie, Thanks!
- Travel
- Personal Projects
Pick up some courses; financial business, journalism, or something that keep me motivated.
- Reorganize all the recipe books that I bought. Index them and do a review on each of them. There must be something that makes me buy them.
- Learn about colour of combination, coordination, and psychological point as well, if I have the time
- Learn about interior design. Collect samples, data of good design, heart-touching one
- Keep my wife’s cooking and photoshoot them, make compliments to remind her she is a good cook. She thinks I am the only one who says nice words to her cooking, which it’s not.
- I can’t run business, so I will do my way from the idea contribution, from food to taste, and interests of targets.
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Financial
That’s all, I think it is enough to keep me busy for the whole year, if I can keep it.
Happy 11th-Diamond-Years of Wedding Anniversary!
1st of January, 2009 brings my wife and I into 10 years of marriage. How time flies! We started to buy mugs for celebration since a couple of years back. This year, I have starbucks mugs for remembrance. I have encountered this mug for quite some time ago, but I didn’t buy it straight away, and later I regretted for not doing so. I tried to look for it whenever I saw starbucks, luck didn’t come easily.
I was lucky to find it yesterday at one mall nearby when we went for shopping. There they were, as if waiting for me to come and brought them back. I ordered one soy latte altogether. I see how many mugs we have now. Quite a many.
Snowboard First Time Experience
We went to Sendai, it snowed quite heavily on the 28th, Sunday. The next day, we went for snowboard with my colleague, who is quite an expert in snowboarding. He taught my two girls how to snowboard, and me of course. It was great, I like snowboard more than ski. I should have tried it out long time before.
The reason why I asked my colleague to go together was, I wanted him to teach my kids how to play snowboard. Secondly, I think it would be much easier for them to learn when they are still small. Found out that Karin learned fast, and gave up fast as well. Whereas Erin wasn’t that adventurous to try. There, we were talking about characterism; how the first kid and the second one differ.
Talk from experience, as I myself don’t have any siblings that I can talk about it directly, my brother is 19 years older than me, my youngest sister is 6 years older than me. It’s my niece who is 3 years younger than me that I grew up together with. I am doing my observation with my kids. I am sure they learn along the way. Me as well.
Heading to Snow Country
From Omiya, we are heading north to Sendai, my wife’s hometown. It takes about one and a half hours non-stop Hayate Tsubasa shinkasen, the fastest, to get there. Half way one sees snow white scene already. Looks like going to be cold (can’t be hot I know!).
Let’s enjoy ski then!!!
Three
This was taken last spring at Ueno Park, one of the largest parks in Tokyo, and lots of foreigners strolling around for leisure or for business, depends on time and areas, of course. It used to be a park for “underground” prepaid card trading, now it’s history.
Eating on his own with chopsticks, Shion was learning how to survive among siblings. He observes, learns, does his own way. Seeing him learning is really a great joy and it makes me feel proud of him. What kind of person he is going to be, I really wonder.
Still far to go. He just turned 3 last February.
His latest photo taken at a studio in Malaysia.
