Sneak-Peek Week

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

- a quick look -

Read more on - http://community.livejournal.com/pearlswine/?skip=80&tag=crocs

being extra 'chanto'..

Im just sooooooooo mad right now.

First of all, this ex-boss of mine pesters to provide a pick-up everyday to Yon and me, saying that its too bad we don’t get transportation fee cuz we live within 2 kms of our office.
Now, he’s supposed to come between 8~8:10 every morning to pick us up, and today he royally forgets to not only come but doesn’t even call to inform us!!!!!

I mean, there is a perfectly secure and an on-time bus service that runs from my place to the office, but noooo Yon says, “Shrezza~, we should not spend 170yen when we he is being so generous“… for WHAT !!

So today morning, when he reached our house at 8:20 (BTW, first bell for work goes off at 8.25am), he called Yon to tell her that he already punched our time-cards at the office since he was there earlier, so we can be late.
Now Yon, for some reason skipped ‘him’ punching our cards, and tells me to call Bunpo – who works with us – to ask him to put our cards. So I message Bunpo, who puts in the cards too.

On reaching work, Yon and I go to see if Bunpo did as instructed and we find that both our cards are signed in at 8:01(ex-boss’s punched in time) and then signed out at 8.29 (Bunpo’s punched in time).
Since I am usually unaware of the dates and days, I think that 15th was yesterday, conclude that NOONE punched our cards, and slide my card into the machine before Yon gives out a faint ‘nooo Shreza’ when the machine prints a bright red 8.35am… i.e. I messed up!!!!!

So now MY card has 3 different times on it Yon has 2 but moreover, I have one that is bright RED in color… perfectO
You know, this is the reason I always do my work on my own. I do not trust people - especially those who laugh like jackasses saying ‘you never listen to me and always raise your voice when I am saying something’. Well mister, you’re crazy and too old to get stuff into your head, who wants to hear it from you, you tried to act smart and it backfired BIGTIME putting our creditability at stake!!

I come late and even take extra holidays (for which the company cuts my salary as it is against the soul of a Japanese to do so) and I’ll prolly go to jail in the Japanese hell for these bad conducts- all said and done, I take do as I please, suffer the consequences, I even pay for it and I don’t look back.

But I do not lie or ask ppl to put cards in to ‘show’ that I am always on-time and chanto (i.e. extra cautious and proper in Japanese) sumi-freaking-masen!!!
Im just soo mad right now… aarrggh…

To top it all, when I told him that it was his mistake and we should have just let our cards be as they were - cuz we were late by mere 5mins - he has the balls to laugh hysterically and say that he is the highest ranking person in the office, and so I should not disagree with him. Uh, earth to dumbass, you messed up and me look like a stupid person...
Do hell with it!
If the HR says anything to me, I will tell them it was his fault.
Moreover, I am commuting to and from work on my own starting today evening after work, I don’t care a rat’s ass what he or Yon or anyone else thinks.

I am done listening and having this crazy-old-japanese-man snigger at me all the time.

home again

Happy New Years Everyone!!

Im back in Japan and still NOT in the back-to-work mode.

My new year's trip was a blast esp. becuz I met up with friends after 5yrs of high school graduation. The years we haven't seen each other for didnt matter. We have all started working and a lot has happened in each of our lives ever since we left school, but none of it mattered or showed in the manner we behaved with each other - We were 18 again (and it happened quite naturally!!!) hahaha

I realized that friends are there just to remind us of who we are, what we dream of, and to believe and become what we want.

Have been feeling grateful for all those I have shared my life with.

Thank you all for being there :)
Tons of Love and Hugs

* Twinnie *

Being in Japan without Isha makes me feel like a single kid for the first time in my life.

Whenever someone asked me - how does it feel to be a twin, I just said "its normal" because I never had an answer. But I think its the biggest support and strength I have been given.

We occasionally met up after starting work in April in different cities, but the constant status updates by either messages or calls every-30mins after work kept us informed abt whats happening/happened in our daily lives.

Now I feel like being left alone in open sea, I dont know what to swim towards, and more than anything else, I dont have her with me.

*Note to Self: Im not as depressed as this post sounds, just overwhelmed that there is no more of Ish-n-Shre together in Japan anymore.

brim full of changes as the year gets over..

My last day at work for 2008 today!! I’m leaving for the US tomorrow afternoon.
It was a crazy decision to make, and its going to be a WILD trip with a reunion of school friends after almost 6yrs~ I am excited, yet a lil tipsy abt how the next year will be when I come back in Jan 09!!

Thinking over all that happened this year brings tons of mixed feelings.
A lot of crazy occurances took place, and (hopefully) theyve made me as strong as the change they brought with them. Working in a Japanese company, I spoke enough about it so I wouldn’t go over the topic in this entry again :P Having said that, out of the three major changes this year (including the former), my twin’s engagement stood second on the list, smth I am still trying to make peace with.

I am the most excited - after her - and extremely happy she is going to spend her life with such an amazing person. I have no doubt they will have an incredible life together. But having been with her continuously for 24yrs is inbuilt into my system since before I was born. Marriage brings one of the greatest changes in a person’s character, and relationships esp. between siblings become quite delicate. (I remember everyday I would change the topic or simply run away whenever we were alone at home, because I didn’t want her to tell me that she had made up her mind to get married, and thus, was ready to leave home.)

Smts I think one of the silliest reasons we live our life is to get really good at letting go and realizing the impermanent nature of everything around us. It brings a huge strength or it brings great fear - either of them lead to the same point - Life Changes. The bad moments go with a blink, and the good ones fly away even faster. Nothing lasts, yet we all remain.
So,
Live and Love in 2009 with greater intensity than before. May the year bring amazing experiences, and may you work towards making all your dreams come true.

With all my love,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
xx

To scare or not to scare, that is the question

About 2 weeks ago, my next door neighbor, Yon had a weird occurrence in her apartment. On reaching home returned home after work she found her laundry basket displaced about 2-3 feet from its original position of being next to the washing machine. She was certain that she hadn’t moved the object for the simple reason that Japanese apartments are space constraint and doing so would leave just about 10cms between the washbasin and the bathroom – impossible for her to stand in the middle.

Caution was the need of the hour, and we checked her house to make sure no one was in her closet, toilet, hiding under the mattress or in the bed. With all the windows and doors closed we found no evidence of someone had broken in, so we concluded that Yon must have forgotten to put the basket back in its place in the morning. As a matter of fact, most of us do our early morning chorus in a haze of sleepiness – routines like brushing ones teeth or going through laundry baskets to find a pair of semi-clean socks, isn’t something anyone pays attention to if you’re sleepy and cold.

Having said this and being certain that she was indeed too sleepy to remember the details we carried on with our dinner in our respective homes.
The next day we went to work and later that evening when we returned home, Yon gave a loud scream on entering her house. She had let the door ajar, so I ran into her room to find her standing in the center of the room pointing at the basket which had been displaced again!
For a second I thought that she might be playing a practical joke on me and had put the basket in the same position as the previous day. But the expression on her face was of anxiety and shock, and matched with mine.

We checked the inner tatami room (this time I had a pan in my hand and she had a huge roller) - whacked the quilt to see if anyone came out, checked the cupboards and bathroom again.
I realized my house was left open, so we went and locked it and quickly came back to Yon’s place. We sat and stared at the basket and called up our company’s HR department. In a jiff our supervisor came over.

We explained the happenings to her to which she gave us some very peculiar but believable explanations and told us what to do next.

(To be Continued…)

still searching

Life has changed much since the last time I posted an entry.
I am now living in a small town called Isehara in Kanagawa (a bit far away from Tokyo), working in a Japanese manufacturing company that makes huge machines for famous manufacturing companies in the country.

Knowing about machines, like rolls, mills, their motors and working pipes and wires or even working in a factory sounds just about manageable on a temporary basis. It’s weird that unlike most others who finished university with me, I am yet to find something that I REALLY want to continue as a career. And the work I do now is definitely ‘not’ something I was expecting to do after APU, let alone it being the job I am going to do for the rest of my life.

So the question is – how is it that I find MY ultimate & perfect work (if there is smth such as that)?
Should I look into a Graduate school, or find myself an art course/job - which is one of the things I ‘think’ I can do well. But mostly I want to know how long is it going to take me to get out of my current workplace to find that something I'd love doing?

rust, rain and refrain

Working in a Japanese factory can be more life altering than working in a Japanese firm.

While most of my friends in Japan sit in front of computers, mixing and matching documents or conduct surveys for the next business deal, I sit in a factory with bunch of workers who are trying hard to teach me about heat, pressure and atoms in Japanese. It only brought back memories of studying Physics, and made me realize that Im still good at making perplexed expressions when I dont comprehend what the other person is saying.

Anyhow, with the rainy season coming to an end the smell of wet leaves refreshes my days in the factory, but some of those who joined with me seem to be going insane. The smell chemicals and weird liquids is becoming an integral part of our lives. What gave us headaches and nausea earlier has now started giving us the same if not inhaled once a day. Bruises and cuts tattoo our exteriors and some of my friends have altered so much that they are able to identify whether the water they’re drinking comes from a boring-line or tank – depending on the odor of rust or pipes!!

Nevertheless, out of 4 of us who joined Inoue in 3 months back, one is quitting the company 2 months prior to his decided date. Another is going back to her country to discuss her future with parents. While the 2 of us remain here till the time we’re looking for a better option, we don’t know what is to become of us in a few months time.

This also makes me want to share an amusing event that I experienced a couple of nights ago.
After having dinner with my seniors we started playing a Japanese triumph card game. The rules were simple - players had to finish their cards ASAP, the last one to finish would get punished. Being a new player I was exempted from getting punished. But it was unfair to let a round go without any punishment so the boy who came 2nd last was the victim.

Now here’s the twist. The punishment was that every other player was to put a strip of brown tape (the thick scotch-tape used for packing in the factory) to pull out a strip of hair from the loser boys legs! I had to excuse myself from pulling strips and decided on squinting and getting goose bumps.

By the end of the 3 hrs that we played, they were pulling hair merely by tweezers cuz the tape had gotten over!! Somehow people were highly enthusiastic, laughed and cheered each time the game got over to see the next victim.

Even though it was unbelievably stupid, gross and a painful sight for me, it was hilarious ‘cuz in the end all the guys had a side of calf absolutely clean. Whether I join the next game or not I am sure the guys will be ready to show off their ‘sekushi’ legs in summer.

Random Killings

I don’t know how many of you heard about the random killings that took place this weekend in Japan. There was a 25yr old man who posted a note on a Japanese ‘website’ on Sunday morning that he would go to Akihabara to kill. He even mentioned that he would crash people with his car and then stab them. After his arrest, he said it as a matter-of-fact that he was ‘tired of the world’ and ‘anyone was OK’ to kill. 7 people were killed, and 10 were injured as this man tried to find something worthwhile to do with his life.

I know Japan is a safe country and all, but if a small city like Beppu can have police cars patrolling around the city every 30mins, I fail to understand why there were only 2 police officers at Akihabara, which is a highly crowded place esp. over the weekends.

So, a psycho Japanese guy can go around write crazy posts on websites saying that he is going to kill people cuz he is frustrated with life, and it goes unnoticed. Had it been a foreigner, he would have been put behind bars and sent back to his country for disturbing this peaceful country.

My main motive is NOT to start with how foreigners are discriminated in Japan, but to bring out the few issues that have been
bothering me.
1. For some grave reason there are too many stressed out and frustrated-with-life souls living in Japan. Recently I read that there are websites/blogs and even clubs where people can let out their frustrations by writing about how they would kill someone or commit suicide. Luckily these are all there in Japanese, so if you don’t understand or know the language that well, your mind is saved.

2. An amusing hobby of the police in Tokyo has been to ask foreigners for their ID cards and proof that they are ‘legal’ to stay in the country. I’ve been asked to do so at least 3times in my 2months in Tokyo !!! However I would consider myself luck in comparison to "a few chosen one" who went through a much worse situation, cuz he had accidently walked 10 steps from home leaving his card in the wallet. ike hullo.. will I kill someone? Do we look like terrorists?

3. Plus, there was a heated discussion at work today whether this man could have been caught by the officer before causing all the chaos had the officer choked up and taken out his gun a few minutes instead of playing macho with his poking-rod. Or was it ‘fate’ that no matter what the measures had been taken, one could not save the victims.
I think its easier to accept the situation by saying its fate, but yea, those people could have been saved if there was more security and awareness.

Im tired, and I need to sleep.
God bless those who gave up their lives, and God help those who got out to take the lives of others.
Be safe and keep it real.
LOve and big hugs to everyone!

Spiders, not as good as Mr.Spidey

The itsy bitsy spider, crawled up the water spout,
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider, crawled up the spout again.

theres smth about spiders that freaks the living begeeses out of me.
i have a common dislike for all creatures crawly, slithering, slimy, posessing-tenticles like snakes, lizards, roaches, grasshoppers, crickets, octopus, crabs and the kin. no matter what you call them or how sweet the name may sound (like cockroaches are called gokiburi-chan in japanese!) i mean, WHATS IN A NAME!!! it still crawls and makes you climb up that chair/bed/ or the highest place from ground where its crawling!!
but spiders - shiverrrrsss & my teeth clatter.. brrrrrrr ($%^#*^) there is NO OTHER insect or slithery thing that can make me 'feel' yucky for as long as i can if, like today, i came in contact with a spider!
i know i know.. there are much terrifying things oon earth, but who cares.. even though i killed by spraying insect-repellant on it from a 3feet distance, picked it up by a looooong stick and threw it down my balcony, i can still feel all scratchy and i keep dusting/ brushing/ scratching myself as if i am surrounded by thousands of them in a locked room (T-T)
i mean, arachnophobia is all fine. but im going nuts here!
WHAT IF it crawls its way back up like the Itsy-Bitsy spider and comes for revenge. WHAT IF it attacks me when im getting out of the building. WHAT IF it informed all the spiders in the surrounding area of its death right before it died - in a wavelenght deaf to humans, and told them of being sprayed and thrown off a balcony.. AND WHAT IF they're coming to avenge him.. buhuhuhuhhuhuhuhu.. im DOOOOOOMED!!

Summer Solstice 夏至

The event of Candle Night began on June 22, 2003 as a volnteer event organized by many Japanese environmental NGOs. With its lil-too-cheezy-slogan of "Turn off your lights, and take it slow," calls for a two hours of complete 'lights out' and spent in the serene atmosphere of candlelights.

Many groups such as the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, businesses, governments & public facilities as well as artists in a variety of fields across Japan have shown their support for this event.

The website www.candle-night.org even gives you "quidelines" on how to enjoy two hours in a candle lit environment. From DVDs and CDs sets to play on the event, to the kind of music you should listen (punk rock, jazz, electronic), the sort of activities you can do: read a book, have a quiet dinner, games you can play such as hide-n-seek, even take a bath, have a party, or sleep!!
The event is organized in almost all over Japan, with CandleNight special talkshows over the radio in Tokyo, and candle-lit temple visits in Kyoto.

This year's 'Candle Night Summer Solstice' will be held from June 22 to 24, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
No matter where you are and how busy your work might be, take out 2hrs on either of these 3days and be relaxed.

EARTHQUAKE shakes Beppu, Oita

so basically we came home after watchng "pirates: AT WORLDS END" and we had the biggest earthquake (in my experience).

the building shook with small tremors at first and we thought it was the wind, cuz the apartments are made from wood and it usually shakes from slightest winds.

but then it came again, and this time for a good 40seconds!
i remember rajat screaming at the top of his lungs to get out of home. i tried to unlock the main door with trembling hands and him screaming, and managed to twist my right foot. i was shaking badly the whole way as we ran down from the 6th freaking floor.

there were more students that met us on the street. with the japanese families who live in our building driving off with packed bags and calm expressions.. i couldnt understnd what made them remain soo bloody pacified in life. after about 15mins of waiting, we walked all the way back up the 6floors, and came home. i packed a bag with some chocolate bars, our wallets, Id cards and some medicines. we could hear cars moving around the neighbourhood, and bikes zooming across as well with ppl looking fr open spaces. while i admired the shampoo, soap, conditioner bottles fallen in the bathtub wondering 'that quake shook us, eh" and filled a bottle of water to be kept in my emergency bagpack, it came again!

i looked at my face in the mirror and it was swaying. this time as we ran down again i felt a lil better cuz we were ready for whatever happened next (and mostly cuz we were wearing shoes unlike the first time). we sat on the roads for another 20mins, and whenever we got ready to go back in, we felt another tremor and decided on the contrary. and THIS happened atleast 7times. by the end of it ppl had collected in a huge games feild near our home, and everyone was out of out our building.

when we came home finally, we kept 'feeling' tremors in our heads. shibi, prashmu and megu came over. petrified as we all were, we stayd up till late feeling the quakes in our heads. finally at 2am, we called it a day and crashed at our place. 6ppl in 2rooms.. and we already felt safe knwing tht all those who matter the most were right there with us, leaving no scope of uncertainity of the whereabouts of the others.

throught the night the tremors kept coming and ish n me were up everytime the earth trembled. we kept 'refreshing' the japanese website to check out the magnitude of the EQs that cme. the probabilities showed 80% to the predictions for the EQ that we kept tonight. they ranged only from 3 ~ 4.8 and we were shitting in our pants. now comes the scary bit...
there are predictions for the NEXT one - with my city, Oita, as the epicentre again!! - for 28th June, with a 100% probability is a 5.8 !!

wonder how we re going to survive that eh!

the K-O

friday night fever was on. we had a yummy dinner after which shibi and i went to our fav 'speak easy' & then infront of tokiwa where we shared a few 'chu-hi's. after being in our 'happy' state for sometime, we walked towards pastel & world sports bar where we met ankur strolling outside, and then followed him inside to the white-chambers of pastel.

shibika being the smart one didnt have any other drink/shot, while i got extremely enthusiatic about having a KO - a true 'knock-out' - with 96%alcohol rasberry vodka, gin, and cranberry juice. when i got the glass, the only thing i could notice was the smooth googley glass infront of me. with every sip, something snapped in my head, and even though i was aware of the fact that i would be going crazy VERY soon, i kept on having the devil's drink. no kidding, it was one of the yummmmiest drink ive had so far!

then smth struck, the strings went loose and i was on a highway to dumptown. as im still in no position to recall the events of that night, i was told the next day that i had gone insane! i was having a very majimena conversation with the professor who took my interview for a TA - and in no time, i was screaming at him abt women-rights and empowerment (i can just remember his scorn expression at me like he could kill me - trust me he COULD) which followed with the screams being transfered at Masa, who was behind the bar that evening, about india being more culturally diverse & rich in comparison to any part of the world, esp. china! after which my waterballoon burst and i was howling like an irritating kid like the world was going to end tomorrow. and before being dragged out of the place, i insisted on paying for isha's drinks as well and threw a 5000bill on the counter (umm... isha wasn't even there that night!)
if it wasnt for rajat & shibika, i would have been left lying on the street smwhere. they put me in a cab, heard me screaming "stupid boys" like a zillion times followed by my skrieks to pay for isha & myself !again! for the cab-ride, somehow got me home where they saw me throw up and passout in the toilet.

i was my WORST-est behavior and if it wasnt for them, i dont knw what i would have done.. i can get very pissing off and irritating - something i HATE abt getting drunk.. but they stood by me and were there. it means a LOT that they went through this trouble of bearing with my nuisance again, and so i want to promise myself and you all, of never getting unconsciously drunk EVER in my life again, and esp decline any offers of having a 96%
thank you for always being there for me.
love you all.

wednesday

my favorite mid-week day when i have nothing to do.
i sat in bed the entire morning slurping chinese ramen, reading blogs of artists, trying to learn this chinese song i heard a couple of days back, and watching re-runs of 300(have fallen HARD for the graphics of this film) and Curse of the Golden Flower (hmm.. beautiful sets & clothes that can be seen from 2continents away).
as for my fellowsufferes, they are busier than me with more worthwhile tasks like giving bloodtests on the hilltop (aka. APU), feeling relieved/relaxed after cleaning their kitchens, teaching English to a group Japanese kids.. which reminds me i better be getting ready for my english conversations lesson with a student in 30mins.
until we meet again!

kai wo toru

we left midday for the banks of the waterfront in Hiji city. the goal was to get a bucket full of shell-fish.

after a brief lunch of ham-sandos (sandwiches) we strenuosly scanned the rocks on the banks of the incoming-sea to accompanish our goal. every now and then we had little crabs running out from under the stones that we moved to see if we found more shells for my japanese parents, and their friends, to eat! to our surprise, Otousan found 2 octopuses - surely a BIG treat, cuz we werent expecting to find anything more than shells.

later, we left for the Jumonji-hilltop (close to the four towers behind APU). while some of us went to pluck take (bamboos) from the forest, two-others sat and basked in the sun besides a japanese graveyard.

on returning to our base-camp, Okaasan and us kids went to an old-old onsen.. you know, one of those 'tokubestsu na tokoro'. neways, after trying for 20mins to hike ourslves into the water, we figured that it was JUST TOO HOT - like 40degs £@^*!$% - so we extended one of the cold water pipes to make the ofuro a lil lukewarm so that we could sit in it atleast. just as we had started to enjoy ourselves 2 obaasans (grandmoms) scolded us for spoiling the kimochi (feeling) of the ofuro by making the water cold, cuz they had cme there yesterday, and it was much hotter and better then!!

heneways, so we got home feeling dizzy with ecstacy, and were welcomed with onsen-tamago (steamed eggs) - which were yummm - being from the chickens that were kept at the entrance of the farmhouse!!

and now i sit on my dining table, making this blog entry and i think to myself.. this is the "wierdest" post i have ever made!!!

Peugeot

花見（桜）Cherry Blossom Seeing

毎年のように今年も４月１日に花見をした。今回はバルベキューではなく、色々な国の１５人学生と私たちのホストファミリーと一緒に山鹿市（熊本県）に行った。曇っても、雨が降っても、私たちはスライダーで遊んでパデルボートを乗って、すごい楽しみにた。


ノート：

２００７年の桜祭りは、米国のワシングタンディーシーで「ジェフレソンメモリアル」にある３０００本の桜木の９５周年です。１９１２年に東京の人たちから差し上げたこの桜の木は、ピンクと白色の波で、人生とお祝いの象徴です。

Like every April, we went for the 'hanami' on the 1st of the month.. only this time there wasnt a bbq, instead a big bunch of kids with my Jap mum dad!!

We left for Yamaga, a lil town in the midst of nowhere between Hiji and Beppu. Even though the day wasn't as sunny and bright, we had the greatest time riding sliders and going for paddle-boat rides in the rain.

Did You Know:
The 2007 National Cherry Blossom Festival marks the 95th celebration of the original gift of the 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the people of Washington, DC in 1912. The trees signal the coming of Spring with an explosion of life and color surrounding the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in a sea of pink and white.

yon sama

from the mindboggling session about verbs/adverbs/adjectives/nouns/articles blah blah blah.. my english conversations lesson moved to a better (and more intense topic) of whether "Yon sama" of fuyu no sonata was hot or not!

the mom said yes and sighed over the calmness in the brown eyes that were hidden behind the specs, while the daughter (like me) agreed on how we cudnt even find one thing that was "sigh-able" - if that beest a word - in that guy!

aahh pleeeze.. you be the judge!!!

Aint he the cutest lil monkey !?!








p.s. from "Shelly Scraps: Musings of a British illustrator in Japan"

Love Story = Sob Story

Can a movie be so good that it makes you sob/cry/weep/sigh- call it whatever name you wish - for more then 30 mins!!!
Erich Segal's Love Story clearly has this effect on its audience. I read the book when in high-school. But today, after seeing the movie, all the long-gone feelings came flying into my heart and head making me very very very heavy!!

sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob