Kanji of the Year
Kanji for the year 2008 : 『変』
For further informaton, check the Wikipedia.
In Japan, they started using a 漢字, 【Kanji】 (which means Chinese character)
to represent the whole year from 1995.
For this year, the keyword is “change” as in the frequent changing of the Japanese Prime Ministers (Abe to Fukuda to Aso), Mr. Obama winning the American Presidency elections spreading the word ‘change’ globally and also the obvious and serious economical and ecological changes around the world. The word “変” is read as “hen” (for the Chinese reading 音読み) and “kawari” (for the Japanese reading 訓読み). It mainly means change but it also means weird. There were many changes in this year and of course, a very weird year indeed as well. Anyway, we all are hoping for better changes in the world, no matter where we are. What will year 2009 have in store for us ? Let’s get surprised. Hopefully, surprised in a good way.
Winter shopping 2008
Shopping galore !
The online magazine that is delivered to my Gmail informed me that Uniqlo is having a sale till Nov 24th and that’s when I knew I had to grab the items above that I’ve been wanting to have. Feeling all content right now & I promised myself, “That’s it for this year !”. Have you done your winter shopping yet ?
Barack Obama for the 44th President of the U.S.A.
Historic win, indeed !
Obama proved that “change” can happen.
It’s official that the 44th President of the United States of America will be Barack Obama, backed up by his vice, Joe Biden. Obama is no more longer a Senator Barack Obama, he’s now the Mr. President Barack Obama. It’s amazing to witness the win of what once regarded impossible, of course, but also to see how much attention the world is giving to this long lingering election which had finally come to an end. Nothing will change overnight but it is definitely a start of a new world. Obama has the voice, the resilient voice to utter out the messages that were growing in him. Now, I guess the eyes of the world are going to be diverged to see how he’s going to lead the weakening country and also on how he’s going to face all of the many unsolved major problems in the world. At least, I think I can believe that he would be a President who won’t simply start a war for any reasons (18 out of 43 past presidents were not involved in any wars, just see who the rest were and they make the majority). Congratulations, USA, I do believe you’ve made the right choice. May peace really be with us.
Happy November !
A quick update !
Had a wonderful time being a clown and danced all night at the Ageha Halloween Party 2008 !
It was Ben’s birthday as well, Happy Birthday Ben ! 
***
A Birthday Wish to Shu Li !
Here’s your card dear ! Have a blast today and have a great year ahead !
Yachting experience. A taste of the rich man’s world.
Captain Endoru experiencing his first cruising
It’s definitely a rich man’s world to own such a beautiful yacht
Yachting. When you hear about yachting, what do you imagine? To me, a person who owns a yacht must be real rich as the first condition and indeed not something for me to experience at this age but my dear friend Mya and I were really privileged that a mutual rich acquaintance of ours (our captain wants to keep a low profile so sorry, no pictures of him *hehe*) who was kind enough to invite us onto his yacht beautifully named “Scheherazade”, after the name of the queen in the story of the Arabian nights. It was definitely an enjoyable experience to go cruising around the Tokyo bay and let the wind guide the sails throughout the whole expedition. Definitely looking forward to the next invitation ! Thanks, Captain !
Here are some albums of pictures of the trip for you to see. Enjoy !
Album 1 : http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29340&l=47ec9&id=695687901
Album 2 : http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29345&l=72e89&id=695687901
Album 3 : http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29348&l=893e1&id=695687901
Utada Hikaru: Prisoner of Love
Prisoner of Love
A snippet shot from her promotion video for this song
The promotion video from her latest released single
I’m a prisoner of love
Prisoner of love
Just a prisoner of love
I’m just a prisoner of love
A prisoner of love
平気な顔で嘘をついて
笑って 嫌気がさして
楽ばかりしようとしていた
ないものねだりブルース
皆安らぎを求めている
満ち足りてるのに奪い合う
愛の影を追っている
退屈な毎日が急に輝きだした
あなたが現れたあの日から
孤独でも辛くても平気だと思えた
I’m just a prisoner of love
Just a prisoner of love
病める時も健やかなる時も
嵐の日も晴れの日も共に歩もう
I’m gonna tell you the truth
人知れず辛い道を選ぶ
私を応援してくれる
あなただけを友と呼ぶ
強がりや欲張りが無意味になりました
あなたに愛されたあの日から
自由でもヨユウでも一人じゃ虚しいわ
I’m just a prisoner of love
Just a prisoner of love
Oh もう少しだよ
Don’t you give up
Oh 見捨てない 絶対に
残酷な現実が二人を引き裂けば
より一層強く惹かれ合う
いくらでもいくらでも頑張れる気がした
I’m just a prisoner of love
Just a prisoner of love
ありふれた日常が急に輝きだした
心を奪われたあの日から
孤独でも辛くても平気だと思えた
I’m just a prisoner of love
Just a prisoner of love
Stay with me, stay with me
My baby, say you love me
Stay with me, stay with me
一人にさせない
Drama “Last Friends”, on heavy topics like DV and GID
The song “Prisoner of Love” is currently the theme song for a new drama entitled “Last Friends” as you can see from the video above. Saw Hikki’s performance on SMAP x SMAP on TV today and she was singing this song and totally loved it. Will definitely get my hands on the single CD which is going to come along with a DVD (out in May). You can see the preview of the promotion video at her homepage right now. Love your song, Hikki ! Check the song out on my Music Box ! Anyway, I’ve just watched the 1st episode of “Last Friends” and it was definitely a good drama. A drama with heavy social topics like domestic violence (DV) and gender identity disorder (GID). Looking forward to the next episode very much and the song truly suited the drama very, very much. For those of you in Japan, be sure to check it out on Fuji Television, every Thursday 10 pm.
A meet up with Tse Wen in Tokyo
Sushi lunch treat at Ebisu and
shopping stroll at Akihabara
Hafiz, my DJ friend
Hafiz Hatim, a growing Malaysian icon
Always been a music lover since young. Even had his own band.
His own personal posters. Not bad. *hehe*
A celebrity, that’s what he is now.
Another pleasant surprise headed my way when I got to know that my friend, Hafiz Hatim, better known as “Abe”, from secondary school as well, is currently a DJ at a rather raising popular Malaysian local radio station, namely Fly FM, (before this, introduced my talented friend, Li San, who drew fabulous sketches on guys that make her drool *hehe*). He has his own show called “Rush Hour” where he co-host with Shel, his partner. For fellow Malaysians reading this, be sure to check his show out which is on air every weekdays, 4 to 8 pm. Support him by listening in, people !
Here’s the frequency for your area and you can even listen to Fly FM online (Firefox & Internet Explorer). Abe, if you are reading this, yeah, you are featured on my blog today and yes, promoting your show as well. *hehe* My sister, who is in UM now, says that she enjoys Fly FM better than Hitz FM when I told her that you were hosting a show. Good job done, dude. Alright, I wonder which wonderful friend of mine will be featured here next ? Anyway, stay tuned.
P.S. Girls, according to my friend Li San, Hafiz is also one of CLEO’s 50 most eligible bachelors this year in the latest issue. So, vote for him okay ! Argh, he’s definitely becoming a celeb. Thumbs up, dude !
Utada Hikaru’s Latest Album : “Heart Station”
Presenting “Heart Station”
It’s officially out ! Hikki’s latest album. I love the new design of her official website. Visit here to see it for yourself. The title of her newest album is the same title for one of her newest single, “Heart Station”. For this album, it is filled with many of her pretty new sensational music and pretty pop-ish, something different when compared to her past albums. I’ve always enjoyed the changes, all fresh and you really need to “digest” by listening a lot, to love her songs. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. Thanks Hikki and keep up the good work ! Love your music very much. Peace !
Heart Station Promotion Video
Some people say that the video clip is boring, but I would say it fits the song very well since basically the song is like a thought in the mind while you are singing in your head and listening to some music, thinking of someone while you are traveling like for instance in a train. The word “heart station” and the train scene which links to the real physical station, kind of blends in significantly showing a scene that you would understand if you do take trains in Japan. I personally do what she does in this particular video when I do get on a train. Headphones buzzing my favorite music while my mind bewilders thinking about things that were mingling around in my head. It is artistic in someway and I love the first part where it starts off with her eyes. It is very unlike her in the sense for the past few videos which she had done with her ex-husband Kiriya, she was very exquisite and all indifferent with the sophisticated style. The difference shown in this particular video, I personally love this new style very much as much as I love the past ones as well so enjoy watching. Peace.
Welcoming February
A snowy day …
Ahem, one week is going to pass since February has started off a few days ago. So, you may ask, how are things lately ? Well, my answer is not too bad at all except for the fact that it has been real cold lately and it actually snowed pretty heavily here in the Kanto area two days ago, making job hunting activities a little bit difficult for 2 reasons. The first is that the road to the train station is all covered with snow making the trip there from home a bit tougher than usual because you would not want to slip and get your working suit wet and dirty. The second thing is the coldness. Waiting for a train on the platform with the cold wind blowing directly at you … it just makes me go “Brrr!” just thinking about it.
Anyway, job hunting is going on well, I believe. The schedule for this month is unbelievably packed and I plan to share with everyone the details once everything is settled down. Currently attacking a few banks and financial institutions, going for a couple of internships at the end of this month and early of next month. Along with it are some exams, company briefings and interviews. Along with all that, I have a mid-term research presentation to do at the end of this month and preparation is needed to be done together with the job hunting itself.
The question is whether I will survive through such a busy schedule. Well, this chance to be busy is only once in a lifetime. All I need to do is to make sure I do survive because I seriously do not want to regret anything especially when it concerns about something to do with my future. The Chinese New Year is coming soon and I am not supposed to celebrate it according to Chinese customs due to respect my grandmother’s pass away but I do hope everyone has a special and happy one. Till my next post, peace. (P.S. The following are two shots of my room outside when it snowed lately)
