DF

hehe I've officially started to help sub "konshu tsuma wa uwaki shimasu", last season drama whose last episode just ended last week. It's really addictive and I must say I really enjoy doing this job. Maybe it's a deprivation of japanese for the past few months.

Next season's dramas looking promising.

Alright, it's been a tiring day. Time to sleep~

the world is flat, indeed.

i'm still reading "the world is flat" by thomas friedman. I've been really busy nowadays with my JLOC course and coming home quite late everyday. Grr... depriving me of my free time. And then there was this part that was talking about how the fall of berlin wall connected the countries together, then the computer connected companies; worldwideweb connected people. Then, with the standardization of internet and computer protocols, there is a freer workflow. We no longer need to be sitting in the same office to produce something. We can be seated at any part of this world, producing different parts of say a programme, as long as we are armed with computers with broadband internet connection.

I joined the fansubs team of the d-addicts recently, and i met two of the moderators online- Kandi and Annick. I was especially surprised when I knew about where they come from. Annick lives in belgium and can speak three languages, and learning 2 now. Kandi is a mixture of Cambodian and Chinese, living in the America. So this is exactly what the book, what Thomas Friedman was talking about. We can have three people of three different backgrounds living in three different countries, working on the same project. I must admit this is getting exciting, getting know people from other countries, but it is quite difficult, because we live in 3 different timelines. GMT -4.00, GMT +2.00 and GMT +8.00.

And the most amazing fact is that, the three of us, Belgian, Singaporean (Chinese), American (Cambodian and Chinese) with totally no japanese background are subbing a japanese drama.

the world is flat, indeed.

yui

The cute yui

The young yui
人間は好きですか。
YUI:好きと嫌いなときがある。
どんなとき人間が好きになりますか。
YUI:愛があるとき。
どんなとき人間が嫌いになりますか。
YUI:何というか、愛がないとき。

タイヨウの歌
YUI:病気があるから弱々しいんではなくて、病気があるからこそ、生きるっていうことを知ってる、誰よりも。

Why so many videos of yui?
cuz it's her birthday tomorrow (26/3)!
Happy birthday!

涙そうそう

従兄弟のうちでザーと新聞をめくってたら、映画ページに涙そうそうの広告をパッと見て、急に見たくなった。その小説も読んだから、結構感動するストーリだし、泣けるし、見に行こうって決めた。一人で見に行ったんだけど、結構込んでて、日本人も何人かいた。

で、映画を見てる間、涙がつい、溢れそうになった。感動したよ。そして、主人公の妻夫木聡と長澤まさみの演技もすごくて、改めて感心した。最後、クレジットが流されるとき、普通人はだんだん映画館を出始めるけど、今度皆は席に座ったまま、幕に出てくる一枚一枚の写真を見つめてて、「涙そうそう」っていう曲を聴いていた。きっと涙を流してる人はいるけど、僕も見に着てよかったなあって思った。

それから、久々の日本人のポウザの集まりだぁ！
久しぶりに会ったのでしゃべることが多くて、楽しかった。昔の面白い出来事や思い出を振り返して語ったら、ずいぶん成長してきたなあって、そのとき楽しかったなあって思っちゃった。懐かしいけど、昔に絞られるままじゃ、前に進まないよね。二人はもうすぐ日本に行くけど、悲しいけど、皆はやっぱり自分の選んだ道に進まなくちゃね。しかも、僕も後１１ヶ月で日本に行くんだよ！

今日の集まりで、色々しゃべったけど、ひとつ確信しました。
僕が本当に楽しく過ごしてるときは、日本人と一緒にいるときしかないんだって・・
だから、日本に行くしかない。残りの十一ヶ月、頑張ろうね・・・
アデュ！

can't buy my love!

can't buy my love!!

yui!
040407!

<3

www.yui-net.com

SKW

Today was my second day at work, and this is when tasks and assignments start coming in to me. Being new to the job and not knowing anything, I've been tasked with the simplest and most mundane of jobs. Not that i'm complaining, everything has to start from the basic and slowly being built up, but even when tasked with the simplest of jobs, i've difficulty having them done, due to my inexperience.

The sad thing is, I'm doing DO duty on thursday, my fourth day of work here. I dont' expect it to be smooth-sailing, as this will be my first duty, and I'm quite sure there will be something that i'll miss out on. Oh well, quoting what guanwen said "DO duty is so different from CDO/CDS" haha. yes definitely.

And no one seems to want to pick up my calls. I was tasked to call this photographer to ask him for some information but after several attempts, when he finally picked up, he told me he was busy and asked me to call later. So after a few hours, when I called him again, he refused to pick up. Oh well, maybe this is what they call "professionalism".

haven't changed a bit

Reported to unit todayy. Nice environment with nice people, nice superiors and nice upperstudy. The rest of my 11 months seems promising. That's a great sign.

Anyway, I just received news that I might be going to South Africa and India this year. Cool! If I'm really going, I am really looking forward to it now.

Yesterday, as I was surfing around in Friendster, I stumbled upon this person, whose profile caught my attention because he attended the same pri sch (Ai Tong) as me, and was in the same Primary One to Primary Four class as me! So out of curiosity, I browsed through his photos and to my amazement, I have totally no impression of the face I was looking at.

Then this morning, this person probably viewed my profile (as he would have been notified of my visit to his profile) and left a message in my friendster, saying that he remembers me after looking through my profile and photos. Then he told me that he used to be thin when he was in the same class as me, but grew fat after that, which is probably why I can't recognize him anymore. Moreover, he had a common chinese name, which is shared by quiet a few of my friends.

Then, he commented that unlike him, I haven't changed a bit.
Haha, cool. I wonder if that's true.

From Boys to Men

From boys to men

friendsters

やっぱりちょっと寂しいんだよ。友達皆はNUS,NTUあるいはSMUに入るんだけど、僕だけは違う大学に入る。そして、また話題が違うんじゃないか。接点がないとしゃべれない。共通点がないと友達になっても長続きはしないだろう。

いつになったら本当の友達ができるのかな。
いつになったら控えずに友達を作れるのかな。
いつになったら偽りのない、本格的な自分が現れるのかな。

warm and fuzzy

Admist all the riots and mayhem in the middle east, the disagreement between Iran and the UN, that between North Korea and the six parties, there are signs showing that this world is still full of hope. Somewhere on this earth, there's still someone who gives a damn about what's going on in the world. There's still someone who makes an effort to make this world a better place.

"If Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China was an ice-breaking one, I hope my visit to Japan in April will be an ice-thawing one." Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao.
Do you feel the warmth? Incidentally, his surname's "wen" (warm). Haha.



And the founder of Japan's website livedoor, Mr Horie Takafumi, was arrested and charged for some security issues. Guess what the judge told him when his sentence was announced.
"Although you may have been found guilty, it doesn't mean that everything about you is condemned."
Yes, we need more judges like this, who give convicts a word of encouragement, a lifeline, a glimpse of hope.



Oh we feel the warmth in the world, so much so that we're experiencing the warmest winters in history, thanks to global warming. It seems like we have been slightly too oblivious about the severity of global warming a few years ago and the problem seemed to have shown its gravity this year. Guys, let's start taking care of our dear ozone layer before this world becomes too hot to handle.

flashbacks

Passed by little india and RELC todayy. Had flashbacks of the little memorable past events. Remember the little excitements we used to have when buying the little gifts for our hosts? Remember the anxiety as we trooped down to RELC to fetch our hosts, someone whom we've never met before?

Realized that it's the little things that make a big event so significant. An event is not complete without the pangs of excitement before it, and the aftertaste of it. Just like how I used to think that a school examination isn't complete without the mugging before the exam, the nervousness during the exam, and the uncertainty after the exam. All these come together to form the greatest fear of students- the exam.

The main event today was our commissioning ball. This basically marked the official end of cadet days, and the beginning of yet another journey, the journey of officership. I never felt sad about commissioning, till the end of comms ball today, when the realization that i might not be able to see some of my friends again, dawned upon me. It was probably a retarded reaction, but it still struck a chord in my heart. Fate brought us together for these nine long months. And this is just how long it's going to last, and this fate is going to end soon. Whether we've made good use of these period of time is another issue, but I'm glad we came together and commissioned together.

Knowing that I've hardly made any good friends whom I'll continue keeping in contact for the rest of my life, I'm just contented and reassured that this whole period has made its mark in my memory trail. One day when I track back this trail, I will find this camaraderie we used to have, this experience we used to share, and this common dream (of becoming officers) we used to strive toward.

I took quite a few photos todayy. But remembering wat iwakiri told me, photographs are merely images of ourselves on paper, illusions of what we perceive to be seeing. What really gives us the impact are the photos embedded in our memories, taken by the cameras in our eyes.

Photos really do make an impact. Although I mentioned that photographs are merely images of ourselves, they are the catalysts that cause these images to re-enact in front of us, coming to life. That is why Otsuka Ai's "friends" made such an impact on me.

It was this line that tickled my tear glands.
あの写真から聞こえる笑い声、どこまでも響いてたね。
Laughters of joy emanated from the photographs, echoing all around. (This probably isn't the best translation of the lyrics, but this line really describes how powerful photographs are.)

Flashbacks are the subconscious backtracking on our memory trail in search of one moment of jubilation, or of grief, when we see or hear something that opens the gates of our minds, letting this certain event re-enact in front of our eyes.

Quote of the day: We fight for our country; we die for our friends.

160307

Sometimes, it's not that we are not good. Things are getting better, but that's not enough, quoting what our school sergeant major says, we need to get better-er.

Tonight's comms ball! Let's hope everything will turn out fine.

the world is flat

the painful realization of the differences between my brother and i.

For every little good thing

So, three more gone. How many more to come?

Sigh. This sucks, only makes me feel I have no control over my life.

On a happier note, watch this.
cheers

For every little good thing in life.

辿り着いた場所

３８週間かけて、苦労して汗かいて涙して血流してきて、辿り着いた場所はなんだろう。これ全部を代わりに、一生の責任を交換したんじゃないか。

今週金曜日のコムスボールはやや近づいてきた。彼女を誘った人はもちろん、友人を誘った人もいる。そして、僕みたいに、まったく知らない人を誘った人だっている。これは一体何を意味してるんだろう。深くは考えたくないんだけど、何気なく気づいたことなんだ。この催しはすごく豪華だから、彼女を誘って忘れられない夜を過ごせる。好きな女性を誘って、盛り上がってよりいい感情を育てて、もしかしたら彼女になってくれるかもしれない。でも、まったく知らない女性を誘って何も意味もないような気がする。一夜一緒にご飯食べて、たとえたくさんしゃべっても、いい友達になるとはとても思えない。この絶好なチャンスを見逃すのは本当にもったいないと思うよ。まあ、女性の友達がいないってのは事実だからしょうがない。誰も誘ってないわけでもないし。断られたってしかたないじゃん。いちいち文句いっても解決しない。将来もっと仲間を作ってりゃいいんだ。

Anyway, while I was in the log store today, one of the storemen was listening to Crossroad by Yui! Cool, there's actually someone who listens to Yui besides me in the army. Haha.

I have been thinking about it for some time, I'm quite surprised by the number of officers (or officers-to-be) who are actually closely related to me.

From pri sch class: Me, Minzheng, Chongren, Jinfu, Irvin, JoshuaYee.
From Sec1,2 class: Me, WeiJun, PohShin, DarylChng, KeithTan.
From Sec3,4 class: Me, Qinxue, DanielPoon, AlsonYong, DarylChng.
From JC class: Me, Wenjuin, SeeHong, JoshuaYee, Anthony.

And out of all of them, there are TWO SOHs n 1SOM. Amazing.

Photo of the day

130307

Question: What is one similarity and one difference between these four girls and ME?


Yui


Eikura Nana


Ayaka


Nagasawa Masami

Ans: These four girls and I were all born in 1987.
The difference is that they are famous all over in Japan and I am not. Grr..

Great live performance of Winding Road by Ayaka and Kobukuro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzJgeYhbDLM&mode=related&search=

手紙

やあ、「手紙」を見終えたばかりだ。やっぱりその小説を読んでから見た映画はわかりやすくなるよね。内容も大体わかったし、交わした会話も読んだことあるから印象に残ってる。なかなかいい映画だったよ。最後は感動的だったよ。そして、人生のいろんな残酷な事実も教えてくれた。犯罪者の家族はその犯罪者に近い人間だから、差別されるのは当然なんだって。だから、犯罪者はその事実を覚悟せねばならない。そうでないと、その家族は逃げられずに差別されるという。仲のいい兄弟だって、この事件によって、裂かれてしまい、結局弟は強盗殺人の兄を捨てようとしてた。さぞ悲しいストリーだ。

もう久々に日本語で書いたんですけど、まだこんなに書けるなんて思わなかった。オフィサーになったばっかりの僕はもしかしたら、これからは暇になるだろうと思うけど、だったら日本語をもっと使おうと思ってるよ。できれば、金も稼ぎたい。このすべては、間違いなく、一年後日本に留学するためなんだ。


じゃ、明日からまたキャンプに戻るから、今日はここまでにする。また今度書きますよ。

2-day-old officer

"Never start on something that you cannot complete." that's what my echo wing comd told us just before we marched off to the parade square for our commissioning parade. True enough, since we had started off on this journey of officership, we shall carry this status throughout our lives, no matter where we eventually reach.

Indeed, we still weren't used to the lifestyle of an officer. Walking around (or in army terms- ba-long-long seemed too casual and slipshod. Anyway, the main highlight of the day was the salute by SSM. Our rank might be theoretically higher than that of his, but experience-wise, ii'll never be able to reach that level. The instant he raised his hand, i could feel my heart sink. He has definitely put in much effort in drilling us in preparation for the parade. Every round we double around parade square, every push up we did, was all for our own sake; he has nothing to gain from that. I really respect his professionalism. How will you feel if you were to train someone who's going to, eventually, rise up in ranks higher than you such that you have to salute him? Of course, i wouldn't dare say that I deserve that salute yet. It is all part and parcel of the culture and tradition. Therefore, this little hand gesture has sparked even more respect I have for him.

I'm still not used to being a "sir", after being called a "cadet" for the past 9 months. Even when writing our rank/name, there's always this urge to write OCT (officer cadet), instead of 2LT (2nd lieutenant). and i was kind of retarded when responding to someone who called me "sir".

Oh well, this is just the beginning. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but i'm too tired to carry on. grr, think i've caught flu!

too elle tee

and yes, after 38 weeks of hard work, all has been paid off. New rank, new pay, and more importantly, new lifestyle. Indeed, as what wenjuin and zheng told me, the commissioning parade is really an indescribable experience; we should savour every single moment while standing, marching out there, and especially the instant when we throw our peak caps. Strangely, the moment everything ended, a certain weird feeling swept past me, unexpectedly. I suddenly had the realization that half of my NS liability has been served. In other word, i only have less than one year left to serve, before i'm free again. But then again, i realized that there's still a long way to go. This is but the beginning. And quoting Commander OCS, we are now all on the same ship- officership. (HAHA)

I remember that one of my teachers (can't remember who) once told us that if we do not study hard enough, we will have to pray to every god just before the exams.

And yes, we have done just that. we've been blessed by the nine esteem religious leaders. May all the powers combine!

The whole parade seemed jsut like one of the manymanymany rehearsals we had, just that this time, the grandstand was filled with people, so it wasn't that boring as I could look at the people sitting at the grandstand, spotting people whom i know. Before we know it, we closed up as we prepared for the final stage of the parade. Not that I didn't want the parade to end, but it all happened so quickly.

Fixing of officer insignias. This is one of the moments i had been waiting for. That one bar never seemed so close to me before. I can't help but keep looking down on my shoulder after that.

Then, the moment came.

Happiness was overflowing from everyone as we tossed our caps high into the sky. 38 weeks of training just for this moment, incomparable to anything else.

Of course, the parade would have been rather meaningless if these people hadn't come to share the joy. It's like getting good results, and unable to share the good news with anyone. I'm really appreciative of your presense!



Lastly,

My JC classmates were there too. Four (only three went though) of my classmates have become officers! (And now FIVE) I'm really proud of them. I can say proudly that the Sword of honour (infantry), sword of merit (armour) came from my class!

commissioning

joint term hasn't been as easy as i thought. doing rehearsals everyday is more mentally and physically tiring than what everyone thought. but we're almost there. another three more days. i guess this is one of the significant moments of my life, and probably the only one in my army life. it's not just a promotion in rank, but also a gain in responsibility, and increase of demands in the future, even beyond army. i look forward to the challenges that i'll face after this saturday. Not physical challenges though, as i've had enough of them, but more mind-boggling tasks, so that when i finally ord, i'll at least have some experience in work-life and will not be disadvantaged when juxtaposed with someone else.

AND, still no comms ball date. after discussing some of my coursemates, i realized i'm not the only one who is stuck in this dilemma of deciding who to ask. It's not that i have no female acquaintances, but there are several factors i need to consider.
firstly the compatability of us. i figured it'll be quite weird if two people of totally different characters were to go out for such an event. awkward situations will arise too, as there will be a breakdown in communication. the relationship between the two ppl shouldn't be ambiguous too so as avoid awkwardness when asked the relationship.
As such, after asking the ppl i have in mind, and being rejected by them, i thought that it'll be better to ask someone i totally do not know, than to ask someone whom i'm not very familiar with. the reason is clear. going for a dinner with someone i completely do not know, there's no obligation to develop this friendship should any misunderstandings or mismatch in character take place. on the other hand, if i were to go for this dinner with someone i'm not familiar with, either our friendship deepens, or things turn sour or awkward. moreover, if misunderstandings were to arise, it will be difficult to escape as this friendship already exists. oh well, i look forward to my unknown blind date, and hopefully things will turn out fine and i won't waste my $300.

by the way, my relatives, including my family, think that i have many female friends. disappointingly, it's the direct opposite.