To A Skylark (雲雀へ)

Why it is hard for me to forget...

2008-06-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

I often associate events with people. I always preserve memories of events, places and among those, the people I was with. For me, being with someone-family, friends and loved ones gives me the feeling that I am not alone... and that doing things or going places are more enjoyable.

I always take pictures, sing songs and always reminisce these happy moments. But problems arise when my connections to these people get severed.

It may be easy for me to forgive... but never easy to forget. I always feel bitter reminiscing even the happiest of the moments that I used to spend with them. Sad songs double or even triple their intensity when I listen to them. Maybe it is not good to associate people with memories. Once you become indifferent to that person, all the memories associated to him or her get spoiled as well. That what makes me feel depressed-more depressed than ending the association itself.

From now on I will try to be alone. Give myself time to appreciate myself and to create new memories to replace the old ones.

Letting go

2008-05-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

I found a nice piece of writing which is very relevant to what I currently feel.

Let Go and Let God

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring,
it just means you can't do it for someone else.

To let go is not to cut yourself off from those you love,
it's the realization that you don't control them.

To let go is to admit being powerless,
which means the outcome is not in your hands.

To let go is not to try and change or blame another,
You can only change yourself.

To let go is not to judge,
but to allow another to be a human being.

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes,
but to allow the other to make their own outcomes.

To let go is not to deny,
but to accept.

To let go is not to nag or argue,
but to search out your own shortcomings and correct them.

To let go is not to criticize and boss anyone around,
but to try to become what you dream you can be.

To let go is not to regret the past,
but to grow and live for the future.

To let go is to fear less and love more.

To let go… is to let God.

Car Wash

2008-03-08T02:50:00.000-08:00

Kanina, first time ko magpa-carwash. Dalawang linggo na ang sasakyan ko at ngayon ko lang naipalinis. Ang plano ko sana ako mismo ang maglilinis. Bumili na nga ako kanina ng car shampoo at ng brush. Pero nang lumabas ako para linisin ang sasakyan, ikinabit ko ang hose ng tubig sa tubo pero ayaw lumabas ng tubig. Siguro may kailangan pang pihitin na gripo para lumabas ang tubig pero hindi ko naman alam kung nasaan. Bale dinala ko na lang ang sasakyan sa gasoline station.

Nakapila kami doon at napansin ko na may machine para hulugan ng pera. Nabasa ko rin sa mga nakapaskil na iba iba pala ang options sa pagpapalinis ng sasakyan. May car shampoo, may car wax, at kung anu-ano pa. Puwede pa nga ipalinis ang ilalim. Ang kinuha ko ay yung kasunod ng car wax. Nakalimutan ko kung ano ang tawag pero mas upgraded yun kaysa sa car wax. 700 yen. Ipapalinis ko rin sana ang ilalim kaso wala na akong additional 300 yen na coins. May 5,000 yen bill ako pero 1,000 yen bill lang ang tinatanggap ng machine. Pinanood ko kung ano ang ginagawa ng kotse sa unahan ko at gagayahin ko na lang.

Nung sasakyan ko na ang lilinisin, may voice instructions naman pala kaya madali lang. Ipapasok mo lang ang sasakyan sa machine na pang-car wash at papatayin ang engine. Wala pang 5 minutes, malinis at makintab na ulit ang Nissan Moco ko.

Pagkatapos, pinalagyan ko na rin ng gasolina ang sasakyan. 3 bars pa naman pero mas gusto ko na laging may gas para hindi ako maubusan habang nasa daan. First time ko rin magpa-gas ngayon sa self service. Noong isang linggo kasi may staff na naglagay ng gas. Madali lang naman din ang instructions. Una, hahawak ka dun sa isang parang rubber sheet para mawala ang static electricity sa kamay mo. Tapos, ilalagay mo ang pera sa machine. Papipiliin ka kung Hi-Oct (octane?) o regular ang ipalalagay mo at kung full tank ba o ikaw ang magsasabi ng amount. Pinili ko na regular at full tank. Tapos, bubuksan mo na ang tank at ilalagay ang nozzle. Pipisain mo ang nozzle at lalagyan na ng gasoline. Pag full tank na, parang tatadyak yung nozzle na ang ibig sabihn ay ihinto mo na ang pagpisa. Ayan, full tank na ulit. Sana konti lang mabawas this week.

最高のプレゼント

2007-10-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

プレゼントをあげるとき多くの人が困っている。プレゼントを上げる相手はどんなものが好きかわからない場合が普通だ。特に、異性の相手にプレゼントを決めるのは大変だと思う。
　とても親しいな相手なら、どんなプレゼントでもいいじゃないか？きっと喜んでもらってくれると思う。私はプレゼントについて聞かれたら、全く違うのことを答える。
　僕が考えているのは人に教えることだ。服とか、食べ物とか、他のものも時間が経つと、なくなってしまうけれど、相手に教えたことはたぶん人生に忘れられないだろう？相手がその教えたことをするとき、教えてくれた人の事をきっと思い出すと信じている。
　例えば、僕の小2のとき、アンディさんが祈り方を教えてくれた。大学生のとき、親友がひらがなを教えてくれた。山形にいるとき、友達のなっちゃんがピアノを教えてくれた。最近、友達のキヨ君がケーキの作り方を教えてくれた。
　人生の中にいろいろな経験があると思うけど、一番印象が残るのは誰かと一緒にやってみたことだと強く信じている。

Free Counselling

2007-10-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

May kaibigan ako na lumapit sa akin at humingi ng payo tungkol sa pinoproblema niya ngayon. At malamang sa hindi, alam nating lahat kung ano ang problema niya-LOVE (pag-ibig). Itago na lang natin siya sa pangalang Emerald (promise, hindi ko itatago sa pangalang Terrence ang BF niya). Meron na ring ilang taon na magkarelasyon sila ng BF niya. Through thick and thin 'ika ga. OK naman ang pagsasamahan nila pero nito raw mga nakaraang buwan at naging puro di pagkakaunawaan ang nangyayari sa kanila. Madalas na nauuwi sa sigawan at wala nang magawa si Emerald kundi ang tumahimik at huwag na lang tapatan ang inis ng BF niya.

Sabi ko, lahat naman siguro ng magkarelasyon nagkakaroon ng di pagkakaunawaan. Pasasaan ba't magkakabati na rin kayo. Pero iba raw ngayon kasi napapadalas na. Lagi na lang katuwiran ng BF niya ay pagod ito sa trabaho kaya madaling mainis.

These frequent quarrels began to take its (their?) toll. Nagiging burden na raw sa kanilang pareho. Di ko lang sure kung burden ang pag-aaway o ang relationship mismo. Nahihiya akong magtanong dahil ayokong marinig ang ikinatatakot kong sagot.

Well, ang counselling na ito ay nakapagpaalala sa akin sa mga nangyari mismo sa akin noon. Meron din taong malapit sa akin na sobra kaming close-so close to the point na noong di na rin kami nagkakasundo, naging burden na hanggang sa di na kinaya ng friendship, ayun nauwi sa hostility. Matagal na panahon ko rin dinala sa dibdib ko iyon. Lagi kong itinatanong sa sarili ko kung anong kasalanan ang nagawa ko para mabalewala ang good times na pinagsamahan namin. Ilang panahon ding pinag-isipan ko ang sagot-o baka ilang panahon ding iniwasan kong tanggapin ang sagot na alam ko na pala sa umpisa pa lang. Medyo matalinhaga pero ganun talaga. Hanggang sa paglipas na nga ng panahon, natanggap ko na na wala nang pag-asa for a reconciliation. Di biro-biro ang pinagdaanan kong ganun.

Naging OK din naman na para sa akin ang lahat. Mukhang OK na rin naman sa estranged friend ko. Mukhang OK na to the point na kahit huwag nang magkaayos eh tutuloy pa rin ang buhay.

Yan din sana ang gusto kong ipayo sa friend kong namomroblema ngayon.-Na kung burden na para sa kanilang dalawa ay dapat i-give up na, i-let go na. Sabi nga nila, kung mahal mo ang isang tao, set him or set her free. Kung bumalik eh di masaya. Kung hindi eh, at least hindi na hahaba ang kalbaryo ninyong dalawa. Pero hindi ko rin naman masabi na ganun ang gawin niya kasi ako mismo napagdaanan ang pain ng ganun. Kaibigan ko pa nga lang , ganun na kahirap. Paano pa kaya kung karelasyon mo na talaga?

Sasamahan ko na rin ng payong magdasal at hilingin sa Itaas na gabayan Niya ang friend ko. Kaya naman niya yun, kasi ako nga nakaya ko eh.

I'm back!

2007-07-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

After three months of silence, I am back to the net. I moved from Yamagata Prefecture to Mie Prefecture last April and started my first official work in Japan. I am a company employee in a car wiring manufacturing firm. Working in Japan gives me both the challenges of fitting in with the Japanese workplace and at the same time the excitement of working abroad.

In the company, we are not allowed to use the internet for personal perposes. So I waited until I got internet connection in my new place. I am now living in a company dormitory. Actually, it looks so similar to my old apartment in Yamagata except that it is bigger and the toilet is now separated from the bathroom. I am thinking of touring you around in my later posts.

Working for three months made me think of a couple of things. Working in Japan turned my former student life upside down. What I mean is that before, I used to have lots of time lazying around but have little to no money at all. Now, it is the opposite. I have some money but I have no time to travel or have fun somewhere. Good thing that I have internet now so I can simply sit down and relax at home while watching local (Filipino) TV programs through streaming video.

Another thing in my mind is that I work double everyday. I need to accomplish all my daily tasks and at the same time, I need to cope up with the language. I've been in Japan for three years already but I still find Japanese difficult for me to understand. I can speak, read and write in Japanese for a certain degree but I am frustrated that my Japanese skills are not yet enough.

Living and working in Japan is so comfortable. Commuting is simple as the railway system is quite efficient and always on time. The company provides almost everything that I need-a place to stay, utility fees, transportation expenses, food and family allowances that not even the "prestigeous" companies in Manila is willing to provide.

Living in country like Japan makes you adjust not only to the locals but to the other foreigners as well. In my three-month stay in Mie Prefecture, I felt that some people from C are quite not pleasant. I know a batchmate who always pester me for favors to the point that he's now annoying me every time he rings my phone. In times that I can't comply to his [obviously selfish and "magulang na"] requests, he makes some "parinig" and petty threats. Oh, what a bum!

Anyway, I'll just continue filling my list on my next post. I am now a bit sleepy and I need to go to bed soon. Japan is a place where tardiness is being frowned upon so a bit of advice to my fellow "kababayans" out there who are aspiring to work and live in Japan, get rid of the so-called "Filipino time". Till then!

Sana Maulit Muli

2007-03-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

(I Wish It Could Happen Again, 繰り返したらいいな)

I won't write about ABS-CBN's soap but let me borrow its title for today's entry. Looking back to the days that passed, I can always say to myself, "I wish it could happen again." Not because I want to relive the moments, but to correct something in the past so that the present and the future will take a different course. Yeah, I refer to the things in the past that I consider my mistakes. Who would want to change happy moments in their lives? Do I sound pathetic? Yeah, may be in a way.

I've been slacking for three years ever since I came to Japan. I came here to study but circumstances led me not to exert my fullest efforts to finish my program. I've been a carefree student and I feel so much ashamed for that. Knowing that I will be graduating next week assured me that somehow I have completed all my requirements but deep inside, I feel discontentment as I wasn't able to put up a good fight. I just let myself go with the flow and just finish things just for the sake of merely completing them as they were required. This is one of the things that I always wish na sana maulit muli.

Another thing was my interpersonal relationships. Being away from my family led me to seek friends in Japan. I felt blessed having many friends, most of them were my Filipino acquiantances in the church. However, as friendships get deeper, my involvement with them had gone deeper as well... and involvement meant not only getting caught into good stuffs but with the not-so-good experiences as well. I won't elaborate more but one sad incident concerning me, and a Filipina friend spoiled everything. We had an argument in which news about what happened reached other people as well. I saw several reactions and I tell you, not all of those reactions were sympathy on my side. I came to the point of severing my ties with other friends as well. I started to see disadvantages of having them as friends. I started complaining that they do ask more and greater favors from me as compared to what favors I received from them. It was not my nature to count favors against favors but I really turned out to be that superficial. Good thing was, it didn't last long. I came to my senses and felt that not all of my friends are like that other friend who treated me bad. Suddenly I came to realize that more people are concerned about me. I felt so touched and I appreciated all the concerns so much.

Another thing was with my lovelife. I was loved and loved in Japan and even in the Philippines before coming to Japan. I really want to go back to the past and do something. Supress love towards the wrong person and wait to love until the right time. It may be so vague but somehow, these are also things that I regret doing in the past.

Anyway, tomorrow is always a new day and a fresh new start. Maybe instead of sulking and wishfully thinking that the past may be changed, I should focus more on the present to make way for a better future. 決まった！

Work! Work! Work!

2007-02-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

In the next few weeks, I will be saying goodbye to my student life. Also, in the next few weeks I need to face the consequence of bidding goodbye to that academic chapter of my biography--I need to work.
This past few days I've been thinking what kind of work I should do this time. Three years ago, I quitted my jobs as a software engineer--a computer programmer in layman's terms. I worked by developing softwares for our clients who happen to be big international companies. Well, for two years, I shed time, sweat, blood and tears just to accomplish every task that was laid before me. Those two years were so full of experiences--both enriching and hurting intertwined. Enriching because I developed my interpersonal skills and my skills in programming. Hurting because all of my efforst seemed to be unappreciated. That was my brief stint in the information technology world.
A few weeks ago, I had a number of chat sessions with a former officemate. Of course, old stories like the perenial overtime work and the infamous team leads were not spared during the trip to memory lane. My friends sighed his sentiments as to what lead him to quit his job--despite the fact that he has been promoted to team lead status. Well, I also had my own share of sourgraping but what made me ponder more was when I replied to him that I still love my work and I enjoyed the time I had been in the firm. I know I said that with vindiction but we all know how painful my last year in the company had been. To make the long story short, due to some incompetent people labeled as our superiors, my performance was under assessed which lead to my annual income increase to be put on hold that same year which hurted me so much. As a protest to that, and to other wrongdoings of our so-called superiors, our senior team members left the team one by one, with me leaving the firm itself as the third member. News from teammates left behind kept me posted as to who left the team or the company afterwards. Right now, the team seems to have become stable again but still when talks between us former colleagues start, we still recall how happy we were eventhough we were experiencing physical and emotional stress during and beyond our working hours.
Having that not that sweet two years in the IT field made me think again... and again whether I should engage myself again in an IT-related work. Looking at the simple reasons, I still want to work in Makati. I still want to hit the computer keyboard. I still want to code and debug computer programs. I still want to do testing and maintenance. I still love my work. But, ooops! There are also some other things to consider like the pay and the career path. These things never crossed my mind the first time I signed my contract with them. But it seems that these are the more important things to consider when signing in again for a job. Anyway, right now I haven't decided yet what work I'll be doing in about a month's time but definitely, IT is still on the list.

お母さん、日本へようこそ! (Mama, Welcome to Japan!)

2007-02-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

　２月２０日。僕は東京に行ってきた。主な目的は母を成田空港で迎えに行くことだが、途中で、旅券を返信しに六本木にある在日本フィリピン大使館へ行った。そちらに一度も行ったことがなかったので、行き方がわからなかった。大使館の公開ホームページを参考にしたのに、アクセス情報がわかりにくかったため、自信がなかった。友だちに行き方を聞いたが、友だちも詳しい情報を教えてくれなかった。まあ、周りの人に聞こうと思いながら、旅立った。

　東京駅からの路線情報をインターネットで検索して、ノートにメモした。やはり、東京の複雑な鉄道はすごかった。電車の中はひどく込んでいて、本当に都会にいるという感じがした。自分のこの先の働く姿をイメージしながら、電車から電車まで乗り換えて、麻布十番駅に到着した。

　ここからはどうするのと自分に聞いた。駅を出てから、すぐ前に麻布十番周辺地図が見つけた。地図を従って、１０分ほど歩いた。大使館から少し歩きすぎたが、やっと見つけた。用事がすぐ済んでしまった。用事がもう住んだので、今はそちらへ向かっているよと友だちの阿部さんに電話した。麻布十番駅に戻るとき、雨が降ってきた。近くのコンビニーで、５００円のビニール傘を買った。

　今回は大使館へ行くときのルートと違うルートをした。やはり、今朝のルートは高くて簡単じゃなかった。今朝のルートは：東京ー（東京メトロ丸ノ内線）ー＞赤坂見附ー（東京メトロ銀座線）ー＞青山一丁目ー（都営大江戸線）ー＞麻布十番。今回は：麻布十番ー（東京メトロ南北線）ー＞四ッ谷ー（東京メトロ丸ノ内線）ー＞東京。時々、インターネット検索にも信頼しないほうがいいときもあるんだようね。

　東京駅から、さいたまの吉川駅までの行き方を阿部さんから聞いたんだけど、そのとき、電車の事故があったので、違う行き方になってしまった。ドキドキしながら、周りを見て、電車に乗った。電車が止まってる毎回のときが緊張していた。ここで降りるかなという悩んでいる気持ちだった。でも、いよいよ、阿部さんと会った。

　阿部さんのお宅に、阿部さんのお母さんもいた。２時間、吉川図書館でスタジオジブリの「耳をすませば」といアニメーション映画を見た。その映画は昔から見たかったので、嬉しかった。最初は眠くなってしまったが、映画の後半のときは真剣に見た。映画は面白くて、僕は感動して。

　阿部さんのお宅に戻り、晩御飯をご馳走になった。阿部さんが吉川駅から成田空港までの行き方を教えてくれた。成田駅で成田空港行きの電車に乗るのが遅刻してしまったので、２０時３０分の電車に乗ることになった。母の飛行機の到着予定時刻は２０時１０分だった。

　すべてのお客さんが成田空港第一ターミナルから出ると思ったので、そこのターミナルに母を待っていた。１５分が経つと、母の飛行機の便名がまだディスプレーに出てこないので、案内デスクに問う合わせした。母の飛行機は２０時ちょうど到着して、第二ビルにいるとわかった。

　第一ターミナルから第二ターミナルまでの連絡バスがあって、本当によかった。バスに乗って、急いで第二ターミナルに行った。もう一時間が経ったので、母を待たせたので、自分が悪かった。第二ターミナルに入り、周りの人の顔を見て、母を捜した。母は何処にもいなかった。泣いてしまうほど心配していた。警察に行ったのかな?もう一回到着口に戻ると、母が立っていた。僕が走って、母を抱きしめた。母は到着口を出たばかりということがわかって、安心した。母が無事に日本に来て、本当によかった。しかし、もう遅いので、成田エクスプレスの切符の販売はもう終了だった。リムジンバスで東京へ行った。

　たっぷり時間があって、山形行きの夜行バスに待っていた。一緒に山形に帰った。母の日本での一日目だった。

Mama in Japan pictures/ママの来日ギャラリー

2007-02-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

Mama in Japan picture gallery! I'll keep on uploading more pictures so visit it often.
ママの日本での冬休み！これからも新しい写真をアップロードするので、また来てくださいね。

http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com/photos/44

Seasons in the Sun

2007-02-22T07:25:00.001-08:00

Seasons in the Sun
by the Westlife

Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We've known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we've climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and ABC's
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees

Goodbye my friend it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that spring is in the air
Pretty girls are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there

We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time

Goodbye Papa, please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family
You tried to teach me right from wrong
Too much wine and too much song
Wonder how I got along

Goodbye Papa, it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Little children everywhere
When you see them I'll be there

We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons have all gone
We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons have all gone

Goodbye Michelle, my little one
You gave me love and helped me find the sun
And every time that I was down
You would always come around
And get my feet back on the ground

愛しミシェル、さよなら
君が愛をくれて、太陽を見つけるために助けてくれた
いつも僕が落ち込んでいるとき、
君がやってきて
僕が落ち着けるまで付き合ってくれた

Goodbye Michelle, it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
With the flowers everywhere
I wish that we could both be there

愛しミシェル、鳥たちが空に歌っているときに
死ぬことが大変だよ
花が何処でも咲いていて
春の香りがもうやってきたので、
二人で、そこに一緒いることを望んでいる

We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time
We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons have all gone
We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time
We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons have all gone

*The name "Michelle" used in this article is just fictional. Actually, it is used in the original lyrics.
*ミシェルという名前ははフィクションです。

How Can I Thank You?

2006-12-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

I've heard this song many times before I didn't notice it that much until a Japanese friend told me that likes it so much. She heard the song and came to like the melody even without undestanding the Tagalog lyrics. For her to appreciate the song better, I provided a draft Tagalog to Japanese translation and in turn, I also came to like the song.
The song has very simple lyrics yet ironically, it is very meaningful. For someone learning our language this may be an easy and at the same time, a very inspiring song.
I am posting here the lyrics. I will update the Japanese translation once I get from her the necessary corrections.

Paano Kita Mapasasalamatan?

どうしたら感謝することができるか？
Doshitara Kansyasuru Koto ga Dekiru Ka?

作曲：George Canseco

Original by Kuh Ledesma

Revived by Sarah Geronimo

Paano kita mapasasalamatan?

Sa puso mong sa ‘kin ibinigay
パアノ　キタ　マパササラマタン
サ　プス　モン　サ　キン　イビニガイ

私に与えたあなたの心のために

どうしたら感謝することができるか？
Doushitara kansyasuru koto ga dekiru ka?

Watashi ni ataeta anata no kokoro no tame ni

Ngayon lamang ako nagmahal nang tunay

Sa tanang aking buhay
ンガヨン　ラマン　アコ　ナッグマハル　ナン　トゥナイ
サ　タナン　アキン　ブハイ

今、私の人生で

本気に愛するのは初めてです。
Ima, watashi no jinsei de
Honki de aisuru no wa hajimete desu.

Sapat na ba ang ako’y mangakong

Mananatili ka dito sa aking puso?
サパット　ナ　バ　アン　アコイ　マンガコン
マナナティリ　カ　ディト　サ　アキン　プソ

ずっと私の心にあなたを保つという

約束をするさえ十分なの?
Zutto watashi no kokoro ni anata wo tamotsu to iu
Yakusoku wo suru sae juubun na no?

Paano kita mapasasalamatan?

Sapat na bang mahalin lang kita

Magpakailan pa man?
パアノ　キタ　マパササラマタン
サパット　ナ　バン　マハリン　ラン　キタ
マッグパカイラン　パ　マン

どうしたら感謝することができるか？

永遠にあなたを愛するだけで十分なの?
Doushitara kansyasuru koto ga dekiru ka
Eien ni anata wo aisuru dake de juubun na no

Ngayon lamang ako nagmahal nang tunaySa tanang aking buhay
ンガヨン　ラマン　アコ　ナッグマハル　ナン　トゥナイ
サ　タナン　アキン　ブハイ

今、私の人生で

本気で愛するのは初めてです。
Ima, watashi no jinsei de
Honki de aisuru no wa hajimete desu.

Sapat na ba ang ako’y mangakong

Mananatili ka dito sa aking puso?
サパット　ナ　バ　アン　アコイ　マンガコン
マナナティリ　カ　ディト　サ　アキン　プソ

ずっと私の心にあなたを保つという約束をするさえ十分なの?
Zutto watashi no kokoro ni anata wo tamotsu to iu
Yakusoku wo suru sae juubun na no?

Paano kita mapasasalamatan?

Sapat na bang mahalin lang kita?

Magpakailan pa man
パアノ　キタ　マパササラマタン
サパット　ナ　バン　マハリン　ラン　キタ
サパット　ナ　バン　マハリン　ラン　キタ
サパット　ナ　バン　マハリン　ラン　キタ
サパット　ナ　バン　マハリン　ラン　キタ
マッグパカイラン　パ　マン

どうしたら感謝することができるか？

永遠にあなたを愛するだけで十分なの?

永遠にあなたを愛するだけで十分なの?
永遠にあなたを愛するだけで十分なの?
Doushitara kansya suru koto ga dekiru ka?

Eien ni anata wo aisuru dake de juubun na no?

Magpakailan pa man
マッグパカイラン　パ　マン

永遠に
Eien ni

The Mid-Autumn Festival

2006-10-07T07:35:00.002-07:00

The sudden coldness of my daily autumn life rendered me as a hibernating squirrel staying in my room all day long every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays when I need to be in school. I just spend each day surfing the net, listening to online Philippine radio or watching streaming videos of Philippine TV programs, aside from my perpetual task of preparing for my seminar and reading literatures for my thesis.

Yet today was different. My Japanese friend, Abe-san, called me and asked me if I want to go with him in Sendai to see the full moon. In traditional Japan, people used to celebrate full moon viewing (cf. cherry blossom viewing). They have on the calendar, one year for each year, when the moon is on its fullest, brightest and biggest possible view for the whole year. Having just slacking around for a number of days already, I agreed to go.

It was so cold in Sendaitoo. I made the most stupid mistake of wearing just a thin polo shirt under a windbreaker. I felt so cold especially during the times that cold wind blew towards us.

Abe-san had this idea of going near the sea to catch the moon during its moonrise. According to him, the nearer the moon from the horizon, the bigger we can see it. We took a train from Sendai and dropped of at Tagajo Station, which is one of the many stations of the Senseki line overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

It seemed that Abe-san didn’t know the way to the sea as well. I told him not to leave me as I wouldn’t be able to go back. After around half an hour walking, we reached an area where all we could see were warehouses and we realized that we were nearing the port.

While walking he asked me if we also celebrate full moon viewing in the Philippines. I said not really but I recalled my childhood memories with my siblings whenever the moon was full, we go outside and do some singing and dancing. We even had a name for our unique event-“Night Moon”. (Justified as we can sometimes see the moon during daytime.. especially in the morning.)

We reached Sendai port just in time as the moon was rising and showing its face after being covered by thick clouds. I felt this sudden closeness to nature upon seeing the vast ocean. Should I be alone at that time, I would not hesitate spending a few more moments by the sea. Anyway, the moon was so beautiful and it was so bright. I could even see its dark spots which are the moon’s crater. Unfortunately, I don’t have a telescope to look at it closely. But I am sure many amateur astronomers out there would indulge in viewing the lunar surface.

It was then time to go back but it was already dark and Abe-san seemed to forget the way that we took to reach the port. We just relied on both of our instincts and finally, were able to reach the station after several times of feeling that we’ve lost our way.

I realized another mistake that I did for today. I shouldn’t have worn leather shoes. Should I’ve been informed that we’re about to walk that far, I would have had my rubber shoes instead. My feet felt blistered already on our way home.

On the bus, Abe-san called my attention many times to look through the window for the moon. At one instance, the moon was just there on top of us, without any obstructing cloud. The view was enchanting. I caught myself just staring at it, without thinking about any other things. Indeed, one of the best things in life is enjoying it like you don’t have anything else in mind. Both the experiences of enjoying the full moon and walking by the sea made me felt so right.

To ask or no to ask

2006-10-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

I want to share this very informative article. It's about food terms commonly seen in restaurant menus. I recall that before I had breakfast with a cono friend in a hotel and my friend asked the waiter, "What do you mean by 'a la carte'?"

How I wish I'm just like Elsie... she got the best of both worlds!

Learning the language of food
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=51596

HIGH ON E(TIQUETTE)
By PATTY BETITA

Picture this: A guy, looking dapper in a black suit, and his date, a gorgeous woman in a sophisticated red dress, step into a fancy restaurant for a dinner date. They are ushered to the best table in the house complete with the most exquisite table appointments, and with a string quartet ready to serenade them.

Sounds like the perfect dinner date. But wait. What if you’re the man or the lady in this situation and the waiter gives you a menu of unfamiliar French or Italian-termed dishes?

Some restaurants have menus that carry English translations to foreign terms, but what do you do when there’s none?

Three things: Do not pretend to know what you don’t in the attempt to look smart and impress your date, because there is a greater chance of failing. Second, if there are terms on the menu that are not familiar to you, it is always wise to ask the waiter or Maitre d’ to guide you in making the right choice. Last, start getting acquainted with some of the common foreign culinary terms and their pronunciations. The Internet, as well as cookbooks, will provide you with enough reference.

Below are some commonly used French and Italian terms that you may encounter when going to a fancy restaurant.

French

Agneau—Lamb
Aubergine—Eggplant
Au Gratin—with cheese usually covered with crumbs and browned
Au jus—with natural (meat juice) gravy
Bearnaise—a sauce of butter and eggyolks flavored with tarragon, shallots, vinegar and chervil, used as sauce for steaks or salmon.
Bechamel—a well seasoned white sauce (ex. Lasagna, mousakka)
Bisque—a thick soup (ex. Lobster or tomato bisque)
Beouf—beef
Bouillabaisse—a thick soup made from various seafoods
Filet mignon—small steak usually circled with a slice of bacon
Flambe—in flames (food is cooked in flames and done in front of the guests table)
Foie Gras—finely chopped goose liver, used often as spread with appetizers
Fromage—cheese
Hors’ d’ oeuvres—appetizers
Canard—Duck
Champignons—mushroom
Consomme—clear soup
Crevettes—shrimps
Entrecote—rib steak
Escargot —snail
Moules—mussels
Poisson—fish and other fish dishes
Poulet—chicken
Potage—soup
Salade—salad
Patisserie—pastry
Ragout—stew
Potage d’ jour—soup of the day
Soufflé—a light airy dessert made of beaten egg white and mixed with a liquor.
Vischyssoise—a cream of potato and chives soup usually served cold

Italian

Agnello—Lamb
Melanzane—eggplant
Sugo di carne—with natural (meat juice) drippings
Con vino blanco—with white wine
Con vino rosso—with red wine
Manzo—beef
Caramella—candy
Gratinati—with cheese covered with crumbs and browned
Salsa bernese—a variation of hollandaise used for meat (steaks or prime rib)
Zouppa di pesce—thick seafood soup
Caffe latte—coffee with cream
Anitra—Duck
Funghi—mushroom
Bistecca di manzo—beef steak
Gamberi—shrimps
Costata di manzo—prime rib of beef
Entrecot di manzo—rib steak
Lumaca—snail
Formaggio—cheese
Gelato—ice cream
Jambon—ham
Torta—cake
Dolci—pastry
Pesce—fish
Pollo—chicken
Crema di zuppa—cream soup
Brasato—stew
Vellutata—a white sauce with cream and chicken stock

* * *

Source: The Compleat Filipino: by Conchitina Sevilla—Bernardo

* * *

For office and school lectures e-mail paching_betita@yahoo.com

I hate lemon scent

2006-10-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

As compensation to my weak (yet many people say that they are beautiful) eyes, I feel like I had this over sensitive sense of smell. I still recall how I often complain having our office's air conditioner shutting off around six o'clock in the afternoon despite the fact that we still need to stay longer. It was just I always smell the odor of the wood furniture. I also refrained myself from entering our university's microfilm section as I easily get pissed off by the sour smell of the microfilms being preserved. Give more space and I can tell you more incidents of this nose that seemed to inherited Superman's krypton Ian powers but for the time being, let me give you another instance as I narrate what happened to me just recently.

Last Saturday, as I promised myself, I prepared pancit bihon to celebrate my youngest sister's birthday. Be it due to getting homesick or just being that thoughtful, ever since I came to Japan, I always celebrate mine and my family member's birthdays by cooking and sharing something to my friends here. This time, as I had no friend visiting me, I felt a bit lazy on cooking but not breaking my so called birthday tradition, I started cooking around 11:30 in the evening.

I enjoyed cooking this time and found myself eating my hearty meal around 2 o'clock in the morning. With tomorrow's church bazaar, I went to bed with the scent of the lemon that I used as a substitute for calamansi in the pancit still lingering inside my room.

As I woke up the following morning, I felt too much cold. Is my room thermometer fooling me by showing a reading of 24 degrees Celsius yet my body was shivering? I quickly pulled up my thickest blanket to cover me yet I felt another sick feeling after another.

My bowels seemed to be moving around my tummy. Had I too strong peristalsis to feel my insides slipping past themselves as I toss and turn on my bed? These said movements were accompanied by pain in my tummy that made me gain consciousness immediately as I open my eyes. I also felt dizzy and at the same time, nauseous. After a few minutes, I found myself in the restroom throwing up. I thought to myself, "Is this how morning sickness feel?" (Eventually, I crossed out the idea of me getting food poisoned as I felt better without taking any medicine or seeking any medical help.)

Returning to my bed, I adjusted the alarm to sound again after half an hour, giving me less time to prepare for the bazaar yet still enough time to do my morning rituals. I turned the room heater for the first time (this year) to combat my shivers (though it is still officially autumn!) I immediately fell asleep again and was woken up again by the alarm clock.

Today, I had the similar symptom of my almost revolving insides. Yet I felt so irritated by one particular entity that I found to be existing again-the scent of lemon. Now I pretty much understand that I got this what they call mental conditioning-for my case I associated my nausea to that same lemon scent. Whoa! Got to get rid of this lemon on the top of my table before I feel like I want to puke again. (-_-;)

My gosh, I already put the poor lemon out of my room yet I still smell traces of it in the air. Now I really feel like my insides will eject what's inside of them anytime soon. Now I feel something like a not-so-warm-anymore porridge (lugaw) and a calamansi on the side.

Yayks! I noticed another culprit-my already washed clothes in the laundry basket. Forgot that I put them in the basket right after getting them out of the washing machine. It has this distinctive scent from the laundry soap that claimed to be eliminating the need for fabric conditioners. On ordinary days, I love that same scent but now it's bringing the worst in me. Oh, well, got to hang these clothes outside now... May be I got a super sensitive nose though my mind sometimes delegates its discerning task to the good performers. It can't be helped so I think that's all for today. Till then.

To be ot natto be

2006-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

I came across this web log thesneeze.com on taboo foods. I found it so hilarious yet very detailed in describing each featured food per article.

You may see the web log by clicking this link:
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php

I don't know who wrote the articles but I admire his being so witty. I think he is the handle "sneezesteve".

Here is the article about natto (Japanese fermented beans): (Sorry not to credit you properly but I am pasting one of your articles here. m(-_-)m )

Natto

I recently came across a container of fermented soybeans in the supermarket. I don't mean an old container of soybeans some stockboy forgot to toss. These are fermented-on-purpose soybeans from Japan. That's what Natto is.

I remembered hearing about this stuff on Iron Chef one time when it was the secret ingredient. The judges in the show were commenting on what a great job the chefs had done to "supress the smell" of the natto. I'm no Iron Chef, but I've got a clever way to supress the smell. Don't put it in your fucking food. I might not win "Battle Natto," but I promise you my dinner won't smell like stank-ass soybeans.

I found it slightly unsettling that the sealed styrofoam container had creepy little airholes in it. As if what was inside needed to breathe. I dared to lift the lid, which made me regret that I needed to breathe. The natto was coated in some kind of sick slime and had the complex yet playful aroma of a dumpster in July.

Actually, the little pile inside looked kinda like baked beans. It also smelled kinda like baked beans. If they were baked in the filthy heat of Satan's asshole.

This particular batch was made by a company in Japan called Shirakiku. I haven't been able to determine if Shirakiku is a food manufacturer, or just a store that sells gag gifts and practical jokes. It might be both.

Not unlike Michael Jackson, these harmless soybeans had undergone some kind of hideous transformation. They were now a freakish version of their former selves. (Which, coincidentally, should also be kept away from your children.)

The most disturbing aspect of this stuff is it seems to get "activated" when you stir it. What I mean by this is, (and I may actually weep, but...) the slimy coating on the beans develops into stringy, stretchy, marshmallow-like strands that will forever haunt my dreams.

Basically, if you move it back and forth enough, you're left with a gross, sticky mess. (Hey, natto and I have at least one thing in common!) And now that I think about it, that's exactly what it looks like the pranksters back at Shirakiku did into my beans. You guuuys!

I force-fed myself a big ol' spoonful, and found it to be slightly rancid and extremely bitter. Unfortunately, swallowing didn't help dissipate the flavor because the strings of bean jizz melted, coating my mouth and lips with a glistening sheen of sadness.

The entire experience is difficult to describe, but if you can remember back to the very first time you made out with a hobo's ass, it's a lot like that.

What I find most hilarious is that there is an expiration date on the package. What could they possibly expect to happen to the product on this date THAT HAS NOT ALREADY OCCURRED?!!!

Also, nestled in this mound of compost was a li'l packet of mustard. In its place, I would strongly suggest a written apology.

I do have one last theory about the date on the package. It may be an expiration date, but not for the beans. If you finish the container, that's the day you die.

Crocodile Jaws

2006-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

I happened to watch tonight's edition of TV Patrol World and I was shocked at the last news that they had. A certain zoo in Negros is feeding live animals to their crocodiles. Preying on live animals can be an inevitable scene in the wild but having it in a zoo is another thing.

The culprit is the so-called Zoo Paradise World in Zambuanganita, Negros Oriental. (Oh, I never though there is a little Zamboanga in the Visayas.) The zoo was started years ago by the Spaceship Foundation which calls themselves as the "Barefoot Apostles". In 1993, the group's founder died and the administration of the zoo was transferred to the remaining members.

The news was brought about by a group concerned on animal welfare which had a video of actual feeding of the crocodiles with live goats and cats. TV Patrol crews disguised as a group of tourist and after making donation of P500.00, another live goat was dropped inside the crocodiles' lair. One crocodile immediately seized the defenseless prey.

The zoo staff denied the allegations but the video footage is such a loud cry. The administrator, in turn, blamed some policemen shooting stray dogs and forwarding the dogs to them as food ration.

I couldn't bear watching the crocodile devour the still crying goat. The reptile, the goat still between its teeth, brought the wailing animal into the water. The poor goat was still crying in pain in the water.

Oftentimes, goats were contrasted to sheep and were portrayed as the bad animals yet this particular video was so disgusting that I didn't finish watching the show. This incident is a clear violation of Republic Act 8584 or the Animal Welfare Act stating that no live animal should be subject any torture and pain. I hope the poor animals get the justice they deserve soon.

Lackluster Star (Grand Showdown)

2006-09-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Seemed like the "Grand Showdown" in our favorite soap has brushed on me and my friend as we had our own stints involving Dorina Pineda.

Thursday, and as per Roselle's web log, Jo won two tickets for the "Bee2win sa Bituin" Grand Showdown to be held in Araneta Coliseum on September 19. How I wish I am still in Manila to watch it with Jo. She even made a joke that I should go back just for the showdown. Oh, if only I had the means. I have the time though I don't have the resources to fly back. Anyway, I wish to express my congratulations to my friend and may you fully enjoy your free ticket and the showdown itself. I watched ASAP two days ago and I realized that there would be so many guests gracing the event so I am sure that watching its taped version in BWN would never quench my desire to be physically present in Araneta on Tuesday.

On the other side (naks! actually I really intended to say "On the other hand"), I immediately phoned home last Sunday to check whether my little sisters really went to SM North to attend Ms. Geronimo's mall tour. My mom answered the call and happily informed me that they went to SM and my album was signed by no other that Dorina herself! Wow! I was elated and so eager to have my album sent to Japan. It's really a nice timing since one of my friend in Japan who happened to live nearby our place in Bulacan is about to go back here in Japan at the end of the month so I asked her if she could bring my album here. She agreed so that completed my part of the "grand showdown". My little brother also sent me pictures taken during the mall tour. Sobra po akong masaya!

Lackluster Star

2006-09-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

My vacation to the Philippines last year got me hooked again to Philippine television. After depriving myself indirectly of watching tv since I started staying in the dormitory around five years ago, then working till the very late hours of the night, I certainly lost track of what's happening in showbiz and what shows had been shown on TV already.

So what I did once I came back to Japan was to get a subscription from ABS-CBN Now to view streaming videos of their selected shows online. I was able to see soap operas like Kampanerang Kuba, Gulong ng Palad, Sa Piling Mo and my latest favorite, Bituing Walang Ningning.

It was through the latter that I grew fond of its lead star, Ms. Sarah Geronimo. I knew even before I left Japan that she was getting famous in the Philippines as a very talented singer but I never knew anything beyond that. The way she portrays her character in the soap was a clear reflection of herself that made me know her better (not personally though...)

It was just a few days that I was back in Manila that we passed by a National Bookstore branch when I saw Bituing Walang Ningning's sound track on sale. I immediate urged my mom to get me one copy. She hesitated as it cost P250.00 yet I still convinced her that I had been that homesicked that I really wanted a copy. Shooking her head, my mom granted my wish.

Having the album in my hand, I thought of having it autographed by Ms. Geronimo herself. Perhaps I could go and watch ASAP on a Sunday then ask her to sign my album. A pretty tough undertaking but not that impossible. So I collaborated with one of my friends who is another Dorina fan and we planned how to get the coveted autograph.

Just a few days after acquiring the album, the same friend told me that the recording company repackaged Bituin's sound track, now including two additional tracks. I felt sorry for myself for having low E. Q. but who would have thought that the album would be repackaged? I even asked my friends if I could still go to the store where I purchased the album and have it replaced with the repackaged one. Well, that's business here in the Philippines so I must know it by heart that my request would be futile. I just resorted to hoping that I could download the additional tracks online whether legally or through P2P. (Guess how I managed to get the two tracks then...)

My friend inquired to ABS-CBN but sadly got the information that those who are planning to watch ASAP should reserve three months in advance. I thought it was so ridiculous as I only have less than two weeks before I return to Japan. Well, maybe I am a different case as I am a balikbayan but still...

I visited another friend who had worked with ABS-CBN before to get some more info and he told me that I could try my luck by falling in line before the audience gate, bring my passport and claim that I am indeed a balikbayan. Having a new light of hope on the way, I told my co-fan friend of the plan. Yet, I forgot to ask for directions how to go to the studio which was my fault, so my friend was still hesitant in going. Feeling that the only hope that I had just the day before slowly fading infront of me, I never mentioned ASAP again until me and my friend parted ways.

The following morning, the morning that I should wake up too early to line up the queue for the audience, I found myself waking up around 9 o'clock. I just accepted to myself that I should give up then. Luckily, we had too much fun the night before watching "You Are The One"'s last full show enough to make me reach home around one in the morning. So feeling less regrets, I just waited on TV for ASAP.

ASAP on that day would be such happiness for me should I be there in the live audience. Ms. Geronimo had at least three song numbers which was unlikely of the past episodes where in she was out of the country and just had taped song numbers-once for every week that she was away. Yet, I might be really blessed as there would be a mall tour, one quite near our place though after my departure for Japan. My mom and siblings suggested that they can have my album autographed and then send to me in Japan afterwards. I said that I am fervently requesting for that and requested that they take a picture of Dorina during the mall tour. That should do at least.

My Longest Birthday

2006-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2006. The night before I leave Japan for the Philippines. My friends held a despedida for me and at the same time, a birthday celebration for me as one of them would not see me until December. We had Japanese-style spaghetti then.

August 26, 2006. Roughly two weeks before my birthday. We went to Taliptip, Bulacan for swimming. My family and college friends were there. It was supposed to be held on my sister's birthday 10 days ago but it was decided to be a double birthday celebration to include mine. We had hamonado (yum yum), pancit bihon with canton, fried chicken and a black forrest cake from Ate Hanie.

September 4, 2006. The night before I go back to Japan. My family and college friends had a despedida-cum-birthday party for me. We had bird's nest soup, pork asado, pancit canton and lumpiang shanghai, plus a another black forrest cake, this time from Pamela. I left Manila with a full stomach enough to make me not eat anymore except the meals from the plane.

September 10, 2006. My birthday. As I woke up, I merely said to myself, "Happy birthday!" I was to prepare pancit bihon for today but for some unknown reason, I didn't have the will to do it. I just though that there might be some food in the church and so then there had been food. Two babies were baptized today and there was food after the mass. (The baptismal rite was incorporated in the mass.) There was yakisoba (stir fried noodles), fried chicken, bola-bola, lumpiang shanghai, donuts, ice cream and cake. I ate a lot and ended up with a full stomach again.

Festivities for my birthday wasn't over yet as we went to a yakiniku (grilled meat) house in Sagae City. This time I was with my friends Elmer, Abe-san, Ate Kaye and her husband. We had tonzoku (steamed pork feet), yakiniku (grilled meat) and beer. I went home almost incapable of walking due to my heavy tummy.

I called home tonight and I heard that mom prepared pancit bihon to celebrate my birthday. Another good news was that my sisters won the Marian contests in Obando, for birthday card and poster making contests. I am very proud of them, partly because I was the one who composed the message in the birthday card which was just an impromptu poem.

This year I had the longest celebration of my birthday. Food was not the basis for it but the people greeting me and celebrating my birthday with me. The well wishers and the birthday songs that I heard. Not the birthday candles that I blew, but the wishes that I made and the wishes that I made last year that came true. Of course it rained today, as every year. But I was showered too with a loving family and caring friends. God showered and will continue to shower me with His blessings, as I received a special birthday blessing today in the church. It is the longest and perhaps the happiest. Thank you very much to everyone!

Isolated from "the world"

2006-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

I was so happy and excited to be back. I could see my family and could meet my friends. I prepared a detailed itinerary weeks before my departure but I was about to scrap it off as I had been locked up at home as our landline phone became unusable for three weeks. As a sad consequence, I could surf the internet at home. I, being an internet addict, suffered withdrawal symptoms the day I arrived.

I had no choice but to stay at home. I don't know all of my friends' mobile numbers but one who didn't reply a single SMS. To top it all, all of my planned errands were plagued by the intermittent rain in Metro Manila. The rain caused floods to emerge again in our little town of Obando, its neighboring cities of Kalookan, Malabon and Valenzuela, causing the agony of travelling to Monumento in Kalookan.

I resorted to use the broadband of my cousin, but unfortunately, a few minutes after he left, the connection was cut off and I could bring it back anymore. Feeling sorry for what happened, I rented internet in a computer shop at about 11:30 pm after wading all the way to the shop from our home via a road less travelled-for it was flooded by rainwater and mixed soy sauce and vinegar factory wastes. I was reminded by my mom of the lethal leptos pyrosis only to realize that I had a small cut in my toe from my last nail cutting event. Apparently, I didn't catch the disease and I was even able to write about it here.

But one thing I realized in my almost two-week isolation to "the world" was I spent time with my family alone. And it was so touching. I missed them so much so I was too happy being with them again.

I sent e-mails to my pals inviting them to our family excursion to a swimming resort. Some e-mails bounced back to me due to already non-existing users or mailboxes that already reached their quota. Hopefully, one would read my e-mail and contact me thru the mobile number that I included in the e-mail. I would just wait and see then...

Homecoming 2006

2006-09-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

What I hate most during trips is packing my things up. I know how to maximize space as I experience every time I send a balikbayan box to the Philippines but I still freak myself out every time I need to fill up those luggages before hopping in the bus or plane that will bring me to my destination. This time was no exception.

It was Sunday, August 6 and it had been arranged that my friend from Hong Kong will come to my place early in the morning, say 9 am. I was supposed to do the packing the night before but due to some things that I had been pondering through the night... and ... oh, yeah, due to my internet addiction, I wasn't able to get any sleep. So as I was still copying and pasting files from my external hard drive to my laptop which I would be bringing with me to Manila, Ate Rachel rang my bell. Around 24 hours later, I would realize that I didn't finish copying files to my laptop, thereby missing the chance to show to my family and friends my life in pictures for the past 11 months that I've been away from them. But, luckily, a few days after, (of course, still in Manila), I would discover that I had almost every picture file in the recycle bin. Blessing in disguise!)

I asked Ate Rachel to go with me to the supermarket to buy last minute pasalubongs. Good thing was, I was invited by some primary school teachers as an informal guest speaker in their cultural exchange program a few days ago and they handed me 5,000 yen (approx. 2,500 pesos) as royalty. So I bought a few famously branded Japanese chocolates and looked for my siblings' request-what they call as the "tatak barko". It was actually Bourbon's chocolate-filled cookies with ship imprints as the design.

Having no time to eat lunch, we proceeded to the church after unloading the stuffs that we bought from the supermarket. Afterwards, we dropped by the souvenir shop in the train station to buy another set of last minute pasalubongs. My night was spent with Ate Rachel, Ate Hanie and (Kuya) Elmer eating spaghetti as my despedida and a month-in-advance birthday celebration. Ate Rachel helped me packed my things and we went to the bus station together with Elmer.

I reached Narita International Airport around 6:30 am with the check-in counters still closed. Having nothing to do, I checked in as the counters opened. I forgot to charge my mobile phone's battery last night so I sneaked and charged it by plugging my charger to the boarding gates electric jacket which supposedly for cleaning purposes only. Luckily, no one noticed me.

We had a stop over at Hong Kong and curious whether my phone will roam in HK, I turned it on. A few seconds later, I received a call. It was from my school, asking me to sign the scholarship form for the month. Gosh! I completely forgot it. I was about to accept my not that so lucky fate of not receiving my August allowance as a result of not signing the form when I recalled that I have my name stamp at home. I immediately called Elmer and asked him the favor of signing my form using my name stamp. Good thing was, Ate Hanie, suggested to me to leave my room keys so that if ever emergencies (like this) happens, we could still do something.

With my mind already relieved regarding that allowance, I reached Manila at around 4:30 pm. My mother and brother Patrick were waiting for me at the airport. We went to the Baclaran church which was near to the airport and it was such a good timing since a mass was said at 6 pm. Then, we went to SM Manila, where my sister Pamela works, and my sister Carmina was staying for the day to wait for me.

After Pamela's day at work was called off, we took the LRT to Monumento. We had dinner at Chow King in Monumento. (Thanks Pamela for that one!) We went home around 10 pm and that concluded my first day in Manila buy sharing stories with my family.

Sleepless in Yamagata

2006-07-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

Kung kailan ko pa kailangang matulog nang maaga, saka naman ako dinatnan ng sari-saring pag-aalala na naging dahil ng hindi ko pagkakatulog hanggang ngayon. 7:06 na nang umaga at hindi pa talaga ako nakakatulog. Patutunugin ko sana ang relo ko nang ika-9 ng umaga subalit nang mapagtanto kong ika-7 na ng umaga ay minabuti ko nang idire-diretso ang aking paggising at matulog na lang mamayang hapon.

Bakit ko nga ba kailangang makatulog sana nang maaga? May pasok kasi ako ngayong umaga nang ganap na ika-10:30 ng umaga. Pero bago iyon, kailangan ko munang plantsahin ang aking puting long sleeves, ang aking amerikana at ang katerno nitong pantalon. Final interview ko kasi mamayang hapon sa isa sa aking ina-apply-ang trabaho dito sa Japan. Sa dinami-rami ng mga in-apply-an kong trabaho, at sa dinalas-dalas ng pagluwas ko sa Tokyo, kasama pa doon ang ilang lapad kong ginastos sa kaluluwas nang halos linggu-linggo sa loob ng dalawang buwan, ay mantakin mo bang dito pa ako sa lungsod na isang oras lang ang layo sa amin ako makakapasa sa exams at interviews? Sabagay, may final interview pa nga mamaya kaya hindi pa ako nakakasiguro, pero kahit paano, may pag-asa na sa isang ito.

Nahihirapan kasi ako sa exams ng mga Japanese companies kasi nga naka-Japanese ang lahat ng mga tanong at kahit nakakaintindi ako ng Hapon to a certain degree, hindi pa sapat iyon para masagutan ko nang mabilis at maayos ang mga tanong sa exam.

Ang pinakadahilan kung bakit hindi ako nakatulog kagabi ay ang aking mga bayarin na patung-patong na at akala ko ay hindi ko mababayaran sa oras. Kabilang diyan ang bayad sa gas, sa telepono, sa internet, sa kuryente, sa upa sa bahay, sa credit card at maging sa TV. Oo, isa ako sa mga tapat na mamamayan ng Japan na nagbabayad ng bi-monthly NHK reception fee. Kahit hindi ako nanonood ng Japanese TV dahil nga sa may subscription ako sa ABS-CBN, dahil may TV ako sa bahay ay required akong magbayad ng NHK reception fee. Wala na akong nagawa noong puntahan ako sa bahay ng collector. Alangan namang huwag ko agad siya pagbuksan ng pinto para maitago ko kung saan ang TV ko. Eh, ang bulky kaya nun kahit 14 inches lang.

Anyway, bumalik tayo sa mga bayarin ko. Dahil nga sa magastos kong jobhunting na nagsimula pa noong May, at dahil sa naantala ang aking monthly stipend noong April, no choice ako kundi gamitin ang aking credit card. Muntik-muntikan nang ma-max ko ang aking credit limit sa loob ng isang buwan. Kung dating dala-dalawang lapad (approx. P 10,000) ang binabayaran ko sa credit card company, this time, magkasunod na tumataginting na 5 lapad ang bill ko! Grabe! Hindi ko akalaing aabot sa ganun. Ilang beses ko chineck ang statement ko kung mayroon bang fraudulent transactions pero wala talaga. Tinawagan pa ako ng customer rep kahapon para sabihing baka bawalan akong bumili ng ibang bagay thru my credit card, tulad ng plane ticket. Eh iyun nga ang susunod kong balak bilhin at gagamitin ko ang aking credit card dahil kakapusin ako sa cash na maiuuwi ko sana sa Pilipinas.

I did some computations bago sana matulog and the figures revealed na mas mataas ang liabilities ko kaysa sa aking assets. Pinilit kong tulugan pero hindi talaga ako mapakali. Bumangon ako ulit bandang 5 am at nag-compute ulit. Buti na lang this time, na-realize ko na may mga balances pa pala yung mga bank accounts ko na pandagdag din sa pambayad. Now, huhusto na ang pera ko para sa mga bayarin ko at para na rin makauwi ako sa Pilipinas. Siguro, kailangan ko lang manghiram ng konti para may konting leeway.

Ilan pa sa mga inaalala ko ay ang report ko sa school na deadline sa katapusan ng July, at ang thesis ko na kailangan kong matapos sa February 2007 pero hindi ko pa nauumpisahan hanggang ngayon. Napag-isip-isip ko na kung hindi naman ako makakapag-bakasyon sa Pilipinas ngayong summer vacation, baka mas lalo akong ma-burnout at tuluyang hindi makatapos ng thesis. Eh, di ang saklap naman nun.

O siya, medyo may idea na siguro kayo kung bakit hindi ako nakatulog. Mamamalantsa muna ako. God bless me mamaya sa final interview.

正夢？(僕は自分の心に裏切られた)

2006-04-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

僕はいつも友だちに「親友のことをこれから忘れるようにするよ」と言って、一所懸命、毎日の生活に親友のことを考えないようにしてがんばっている。今回はがんばっていることは成功する気がしているが、きのう見た夢で、心は自分を裏切られた。あの人のことをまだ気にしているがきっとわかった。

きのうはちょっと変な夢を見た。僕は日本にいたが、場所は僕のハイスクールのような学校だった。驚いたのは、僕は親友と一緒にいた。真実と全然違って、僕たちはすごく仲良くしていた。しかし、前にあの人と仲良くしていたようにいつも一緒で、いろいろお世話になっていた。しかし、夢の中で、いたのはあの人だけじゃなくて、他の知り合いもいた。山形大学に在学している留学生たちもいた。覚えているのは3人で、一人はアフリカ人、もう一人は中国人で、3人目は韓国人だ。

好きな友だちとちょっとはなれて、アフリカ人の友だちにどこかに行こうかって言われて学校内のある場所に誘われた。僕たちは学校の2，3階に行った。しかし、アフリカ人は僕をいじめられて、屋根まで行かせた。そして、屋根をサポートしている部分から何か外して、僕は屋根から戻れなくなってしまった。そのかわいそうな状態で、あの3人の山形大学の留学生たちは僕に笑われた。僕は泣いた。そして、自分の携帯電話を出して、スピードダイヤルして、すぐ出たのは親友の電話番号だった。あの人と電話で話して、今の条件を説明して、すぐ僕がいるところに来た。屋根から戻られるように助かってくれた。まだ泣いている僕を抱きしめて、もう大丈夫よって言われた。やはり、あの人がいなければ、僕はどうなるのかな？

こんな甘い夢を見たままで、気がついて、起きた。僕は自分の一日を嬉しく始めた。今夜は寝ると、またその夢の続きが見られるのか？できたら、いいなぁ。

今回はこの甘い夢をしばらく僕に勝手に味わわせてもらうけど、友だちに約束していたことを忘れずにがんばるよ。おやすみなさい。

Canto Alla Vita

2006-04-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a child I'd loved singing. It was on my fourth grade in primary school that auditions for the school choir was held. The qualifying members would be singing in the school's monthly First Friday masses and to other church services that our school would be participating. Most of us in the fourth grade tried out in the auditions but unfortunately, on my first attempt, I wasn't still aware of the proper breathing while singing and adding to that, my perennial stage fright, known since time immemorial, hindered from from being chosen. My audition piece at that time was "Alleluia, Wikain Mo".

I never gave up, come Christmas season and Ms. Joy had me in a special audition. I recall there were only two of us who tried out. This time I sang Jose Mari Chan's "Christmas in our Hearts" which gloriously made me grab home the bacon.

Being a member of the choir gave me access to the church's loft at the back, a place where I really longed to be ever since. Aside from the regular vocalization before the choir practice, we had fun playing around with my classmates. Though I wasn't able to perform the most coveted role of singing the solo of "Papuri Sa Diyos". That part was always given to boys (never to girls, which made me wonder that time). Now it makes me recall the castratis of the early church. Hence at present I don't regret not being chosden to sing that part. Really!

After a few months, Father Von announced that he would be having another audition. This time within the choir members ourselves. We were afraid that Father Von would trim down the list and personally, that I might be laid off. During the audition, he asked us to sing in the loft and with a microphone. My piece for this audition was "Awit ng Paglaya".

Luckily, I was still in... and Father Von disclosed the reason for the urgent audition. The church would be having a fund raising concert. We performed for two days with matching sailor collared costumes and stuffs. Out of the three pieces that we performed I can barely recall two of them: Lea Salonga's "Tagumpay Nating Lahat" and "A Whole New World". Now it makes me think that the one who chose the songs (whoever he or she was) was a big Lea Salonga fan. Anyway, so it was my debut as a group singer/performer.

I really wanted to pursue singing when I entered high school but for some reason I got intimidated with my new school's glee club. Be it with the instructor or the glee club itself I couldn't think of anymore but unfortunately, the highest step I was able to climb at that time was just as a page turner.

Our school then had a homecoming concert. I was part of the production but on a the back of the stage. I was in charge of preparing the introductions for each guests and I was also able to interview celebrities like Ms. Amy Perez and the like. If I am not mistaken, she was the first celebrity that I have ever met face-to-face. Yet, at the backstage, I felt a bit envious of my schoolmates that made it to the stage, especially those who had solo performances.

My singing career-college edition was too umimpressing for my part though there were two instances, as I recall that I was able to sing. One was during theh freshman orientation, where I sang Westlife cuts with some friends. We had "Flying Without Wings" and "Uptown Girl". Perhaps that performance gave us some credit to back us up as we had Christmas carolling the following season. We "serenaded" some of our professors' homes for two nights ("Pasko Na Sinta Ko", is worthwhile mentioning) and of course, we received some fat(?) amount.

I never realized that my corporate life would give me more exposure to singing than those days that I was still in school. One of my batchmates, Michelle, volunteered me to our project's Christmas party. I was paired up with Mr. Arnel Agbay and we interpreted Rachel Alejandro's "Paalam Na"" for our outgoing manager, Ms. Jennie Chug. This I consider, my formal debut as a solo performer.

The following year I was also lined up for the project's Christmas party. This time I performed a duet with Ms. Hannah Pineda. We sang "Cruisin'". During the performance, Hannah had a bit of a sore throat while I forgot most of the line of the song. Yay!

My MS CS gimmicks just made me sing in front of the videoke with my classmates. No special performances worth mentioning though, they were amazed that I could (could really I?) sing Mandarin songs. Now don't ask me what Mandarin songs, OK?

Landing on the land of the rising sun even gave mo more chances to refine my craft (naks!). It was December 2004, and I was part of our church's choir who performed in the annual Christmas Charity Concert. I was also asked to sing in front of the Yamagata City Lion's Club members where I belted Ken Hirai's "Life Is...". I realized Ken Hirai's genre suits my voice quite well so I chose another Ken Hirai song, "思いがかさなるその前に" (Omoi ga Kasanaru Sono Mae ni - Before the Memories Pile Up), as my entry piece in the first singing contest that I participated in. (See picture above.) For the record, the first singing contest I ever joined was in the Japanese language. Unfortunately for me, I didn't bag any major prize but I won many of the audiences encouraging comments. Most of them even approached me to tell me that they knew how difficult to sing my piece but they were surprized that I was able to sing the piece well.

Oh, I almost forgot (actually I'd rather not mention these but anyway) to mention that I have two unreleased albums. The first one was with Joanne recorded during my vacation in Manila last September and the second one was with Janice when we attended the mathematics conference in Sendai City.

Last December 2005, I sang "If We Hold On Together" with Ate Ligaya at the Fil-Jap Association Christmas Party. This Easter Sunday, I am also part of the group that will sing Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" during the Easter Sunday mass.

Let's sing to life then!

Forever Friends Award

2006-03-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

*Sorry for not posting Naga-kun and Ai-chan's story until now. I kind of lost my motivation to push it through. May be I'll post it next time. (I hope so.) In exchange of that, I've dug this piece of poetry from an old chest, I mean, old winzip file residing in my hard drive.

Oh, speaking of which, I have a question. How can I remove an old web page's entry in the Google listing? Any tip will be so much appreciated.

FOREVER FRIENDS AWARD

The kind of friends we'll always be...
We'll go where we want and we'll do what we like.
We'll say what we mean and, and mean what we say.
We'll question authority. We'll push the limits.
We'll go out of our ways.
We may fall, but we'll pick ourselves up and try again.
We'll become the best of ourselves. We'll unravel.
We'll roll up our sleeves and roll with the punches.
We'll hurt. We'll heal.
We'll weep and feel.
But we'll be there for each other and we'll survive,
And we'll grow stronger--because we are a "WE",
Because we are FRIENDS, and we will be FOREVER!

The Spirit Is Willing But The Flesh Is Weak

2006-03-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went back after seeing some friends that I missed seeing for a few months already. I felt so happy meeting them again. We talked over some snacks and drinks. Yes, we talked in Japanese. There again I realized how unexposed I am to the language especially now that I have no classes in school. But then again, with the hope of seeing each other again, we bade good bye to everyone.

I was about to sleep early tonight after a few weeks of suffering insomnia when I saw my friend Joanne online. It was so seldom that she goes online so I chatted with her. After her, I laso had a chat with a high school friend, Jerico. This time the chat took so long. We ended around 5 in the morning. I surfed a little more afterwards then I had this flush of idea gushing from my mind. I have on mind the story of my two friends, Naga-kun and Ai-chan. I really wanted to put them into writing now but I feel so sleepy already. My back also hurts. I started drafting it but I know very well that it would be long enough for me not to finish it in one sitting. I will just continue writing it after I wake up. The spirit (and the mind) is willing (and you got it, ) but the flesh is weak. Good night, ehr, morning!

Eric's "Sending Off" Playlist

2006-03-05T07:11:00.000-08:00

Eric's 전송 [Jeonsong/Sending Off/見送り - Miokuri] Playlist

1. 선[Seon] - 보낼 수 없는 사랑[Bonael Seu Eosnun Sarang/The Love I Can Not Send] (겨울연가 [Gyeomul Yeonga/Winter Sonata] Soundtrack), この曲集のテーマ題歌
2. Gary Valenciano - Warrior Is A Child (Revive), パンガシナン州に行く時に親友といっしょに聴いていた曲その1
3. Gary Valenciano - I Will Be Here (Revive), パンガシナン州に行く時に親友といっしょに聴いていた曲その2
4. Westlife - Flying Without Wings (Westlife), 入学生歓迎会(Freshman Orientation)の時にSUMSの会員が発表した曲その1、最も深い友情(deepest friendship)が親友との友情に指す
5. Alisson Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All (Now That I've Found You), フィリピン大学で数学授業(特に、Math 110.1)が始まる前にいつも親友と聴いていた曲
6. Guns 'N Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine (Appetite for Destruction), 親友がギターで弾いていた曲
7. Kenny Loggins - For The First Time (The Greatest Hits Of Kenny Loggins), 親友と電話で話していた時に流れた曲
8. Savage Garden - Truly, Madly, Deeply (Savage Garden), エリックがカラオケで歌った曲(2000年10月24日-Rose DJの誕生日の祝い、AMC2000)
9. The Calling - Wherever You Will Go (Camino Palmero), 親友が日本に行く前に親友に歌いたかった曲
10. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris (City Of Angels Soundtrack), 親友がカラオケで歌った曲(2000年10月24日-Rose DJの誕生日の祝い、AMC2000)
11. Sarah McLachlan - Angel (City Of Angels Soundtrack), 卒業式の日にヴィンゾン館で親友といっしょに歌った曲その1(2002年4月21日)
12. Westlife - My Love (Coast To Coast), 友人のLannieさんの家に行く途中でjeepneyに乗っていたときに友だちのみんなといっしょに歌った曲(クリスマス会)
13. Westlife - World Of Our Own (World Of Our Own), 卒業式の日にヴィンゾン館で親友といっしょに歌った曲その2(2002年4月21日)
14. Dan Seals - One Friend (In A Quiet Room), 親友とケンカしたときに歌っていた曲
15. Switchfoot - Only Hope (A Walk To Remember Soundtrack), 親友の家に泊まった時にいっしょに歌った曲その1
16. Mandy Moore - Cry (A Walk To Remember Soundtrack), 親友の家に泊まった時にいっしょに歌った曲その2
17. Paul Anka - Put Your Head On My Shoulder (Live In Vegas), パンガシナン州からマニラ行きのバスに乗るとき流れた曲(2002年4月29日)

Mental Exercise #1

2006-03-01T04:46:00.000-08:00

Ever since, I have this mental exercise of associating people I know with celebrities. Be it just a product of my rich imagination, or an undeniable similarity, I am presenting a partial list, in no particular order: (Physical similarities are not my only basis.)

1. Raymond G. - Christian Bautista
2. Rey R. - Carlo Aquino/TJ Trinidad/Tom Welling (winner huh!)
3. Lin G. - Tetsuji Tamayama (玉山鉄二), Japanese actor
4. Christine S. - Judy Ann Santos/Sheryn Regis/M. R., OPM singer (ジャニスさん、「M. R.」はだれか知らせることができないだろうね。)
5. Rosario DJ. - Pia Guanio, Miho Takeda (武田美保), Japanese synchronized swimmer
6. Honeylyn M. - Judy Ann Santos
7. Marlon F. - Mark Bautista
8. Mary Rose S. - Tata Villaruel
9. Guillermo S. - William Thio
10. Carmina DG. - Shaina Magdayao
11. Rommel R. - Rico Yan, R. I. P. (Yes, Memel, I always associate Rico to you, even during our HS days.)
12. Melissa DG. - Ronalissa Cheng
13. Joanne N. - Sarah Geronimo
14. Fidel N. - Edu Manzano
15. Marc Anthony G. - Bong Revilla
16. Pamela Vergel C. - Assunta de Rossi
17. Judilyn E. - Michelle Madrigal
18. my mom - Rio Locsin (especially after watching "Gulong ng Palad")/Keiko Matsusaka (松阪慶子), Japanese actress
19. Cristy S. - Teresa Teng (鄧麗君), Taiwanese singer
20. Rona Jean F. - Donna Cruz
21. Anne Therese C. - Christine Floirendo/Kristine Hermosa
22. Ms. Edna DC. - Cory Aquino
23. Jobert DC. - Rainier Castillo
24. Pamela DG. - Angelica Panganiban
25. Marie Grace P. - Claudine Barretto
26. Liza K. - Janice de Belen
27. Lei J. - Maui Taylor
28. Benedicto DGV. - Hubert Webb
29. Abby B. - Cheryl Cosim
30. Elliene U. - Joyce Jimenez
31. Mark EA. - Takeshi Kashima (鹿島丈博), Japanese gymnast
32. Oscar D. - Kousuke Kitajima (北島康介), Japanese swimmer
33. Warren L. - Lee Brennan (of 911), Joross Gamboa
34. Mary Jane L. - Julie Vega, R. I. P.
35. Arian T. - Tin Arnaldo
36. Melanie B. - Gladys Reyes
37. Daiki K. - Jericho Rosales
38. Jun A. - Rainier Castillo
39. Roald S. - Red Sternberg
40. George O. - Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)
41. Leslie Y. - Carol Banawa
42. Chris M. - Jericho Rosales
43. Haruki S. - Jiro Manio
44. Haiyan L. - (the young) Aiza Seguerra
45. Angelica DG. - Lady Lee
46. Sheryl E. - Kathleen Go Quieng
47. Bernadette M. - Lani Mercado
48. Rosalinda P. - Vilma Santos
49. Benedict B. - Luis Manzano
50. Al (my PE 2 Social Dance classmate) - Lance Onate
51. Michael DL. - Bong Revilla
52. Bonilou A. - Christian Bautista
53. Jordan A. - Brian Villoria
54. John M. - Kazuhiro Watanabe (渡辺和洋), Japanese newscaster
55. Margielyn C. - Bernadette Sembrano
56. Socorro P. - Claudine Barretto
57. Marilyn F. - Angelika dela Cruz/Lucero, Mexican actress

Some people in the list are really popularly associated to their counterparts (i. e., not only by me). I hope I can recall more names for the next issue... Just send me your thoughts and/or reactions. I'll be waiting. (^。^)v

Short-lived Sunday

2006-02-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Short-lived Sunday
Sunday, February 19, 2006

Today began with me getting up from the bed exactly 12 o'clock noon. I still felt sleepy but I really needed to wake up as I would be hearing mass at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I checked my e-mail, played Neopets a bit and read my Complex Analysis book when I noticed that it was already past 1 o'clock. I let water boil so that I could eat soba (そば, soba-Japanese buckwheat noodle) for lunch but as I was still waiting for the water to boil, I watched a Japanese drama (ブラザー☆ビ－ト, "Brother Beat"). I enjoyed watching it so I didn't notice the time. I immediately took a shower and gave up the option of eating noodles before going to the church. Hearing mass with a still empty stomach is a form of sacrifice anyway.

I reached the church just in time for the entrance song. The mass ended and I stayed a couple of minutes more to join the choir practice. We sang "Our Father" and "If We Hold on Together". I suggested that "Lead Me Lord" would be a nice communion song. So I will look for its sheet music and guitar chords so that we can practice it next time. After the practice, my friend Elmer (my junior or 後輩, "kouhai"), invited me to have some food in his dorm. Then, we took the free Jusco bus to Jusco department store having in mind that I would be doing some shopping for food.

We first checked out the second hand book and DVD shop near Jusco but found no quite interesting movies there. Next, we passed by Uniqlo (ユニクロ, pronounced "Yu-ni-klo") to check some winter clearance sale items. I found a pretty nice coat but told myself that I'd just come back to buy it. After leaving Uniqlo, I checked my phone (phone's clock as I had no watch today) and realized that I have no more time to shop for food. Instead, upon reaching the station (on our way back from Jusco), we just checked out the nearby Jujiya (十字屋) for some food stuffs. Luckily, some items there were cheap so I got some vegetables and decided to cook "sinigang na hipon" for dinner. I invited Elmer for dinner and he agreed. While watching "TV Patrol" web cast, I prepared our dinner. TV Patrol only lasted for about an hour so I ｌet him watch Brother Beat's first episode. He told me that he was interested in the drama. I liked it personally too as it is a family-oriented comedy/light drama featuring an unconventional Japanese family. It somehow reminds me of our local family-oriented sitcoms.

Now it is already 1:52 in the morning yet I still don't feel sleepy at all. These past few days, my sleeping time had reversed to around 4:00 am to 12:00 noon. But since I will be having my seminar next Tuesday, I have no choice but to force myself to sleep anytime soon so that I can return my sleeping time back to normal and to eventually prepare for my upcoming seminar.

Review: Tengoku no Honya~Koibi - Heaven's Bookstore~The Light of Love

2006-02-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

天国の本屋~恋火 (Tengoku no Honya~Koibi - Heaven's Bookstore~The Light of Love)

Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romance

Japanese movie
Original Japanese title: 天国の本屋~恋火 (Tengoku no Honya~Koibi)
English title: Heaven's Bookstore (The Light of Love)

Cast:

Yuko Takeuchi (竹内結子) in a dual role as Shoko Hiyama (桧山翔子) and Kanako Nagase (長瀬香夏子)
Tetsuji Tamayama (玉山鉄二) as Kenta Machiyama (町山健太)

Synopsis: (I will make the synopsis in chronological order of events, unlike the order they were presented in the movie.)

Kenta Machiyama, as a child, was brought by his mother on a piano concert by the celebrated pianist Shoko Hiyama. At the end of the performance, the young Kenta went to the backstage to personally meet her. But as Shoko saw the boy in the backstage, she thought that he was just a missing child so she brought him over the piano and played a piece to him over and over again until his mother found him. This inspired Kenta to become a pianist himself.

At that time, Shoko has promised to marry her fiance, Mr. Takimoto (瀧本). Mr. Takimoto, on his on right has been famous over their town as a brilliant pyrotechnician. He is the only known maker of the "恋する花火 (koisuru hanabi)" or the "loving fireworks", a special Japanese-style firework that were traditionally the grand finale of the town's annual summer firework display. The firework has been legendary known to bring lovers together hence the name. Shoko had been inspired of Mr. Takimoto's work so she decided to compose piano pieces-one for each of the ten firework display to be launched by Mr. Takimoto. She had already composed the first nine pieces and she was on her way to start the last.

Soon Mr. Takimoto was overjoyed and brought his fiancee, Shoko to the place where he was preparing his fireworks. Unfortunately, his fireworks got fire accidentally and caused a terrible explosion. As a result, Shoko had one of her ears damaged, thus, lost its hearing which meant that she would not be able to play piano as gracefully as before. Mr. Takimoto got sad and then decided to stop making fireworks. Days passed and Shoko got hospitalized due to a certain sickness. Every time, she watched by the hospital window hoping to see her love's "loving fireworks", but to no avail. Poor Shoko died without seeing the fireworks and the sole maker.

Now, Kenta works as a pianist. Unfortunately, it seemed that he has no enough motivation making him not to perform at his best. As a consequence, he got fired. So much depressed by his termination, he went to a pub and drank all his way until he woke up the following morning.

To his surprise, he found himself in a bookstore. To surprise him more, he found himself on his first day of part-time work in Heaven's bookstore. Although he wasn't able to believe at first, the bookstore manager explained to him everything. Kenta is not yet dead. He was just hired to do part-time work in the bookstore. Thus, he will still be able to come back to earth. Also, in reality, people have 100 years to live. Suppose a person lives 80 years on earth. After death, the person will live his remaining 20 years in heaven. After which, all of his memories of his previous life on earth and in heaven will be erased in preparation of his or her rebirth on earth as another person. An apparent problem is when a person outlives the 100-year limit. A simple explanation will be bypassing heaven and be reborn directly on earth. A still confused Kenta roamed around heaven and to his amazement, found heaven so different from the common concept of heaven. In heaven, there are towns, shops and homes. People look the same age as of their death and never get old. Obviously, it is very difficult (though not impossible) to meet people who were close to you in your previous life.

On earth, Shoko has one niece who looks exactly like her. Kanako Nagase, the daughter of Shoko's sister, is one of the organizers of this year's summer festival. As a finale for the fireworks display, she wanted to bring back the ever famous "loving fireworks". But she came into trouble as there was only one person who knows how to make it-Mr. Takimoto. And as much as Kanako pleaded to Mr. Takimoto to make the fireworks, Mr. Takimoto declined.

So Kenta eventually got used to his new environment and started his job. He was first asked to read a book to a woman. While reading the book, Kenta noticed some musical notes written on one of the pages. As he was returning the book to the woman, he recognized her as the pianist Shoko. He told her how she inspired him to become a pianist. Shoko requested him to play her piano at home and Kenta also requested Shoko in return to play. But to his regret, Shoko told him about the firework accident and how she became unable to play the piano again.

On their next meeting, Shoko disclosed to Kenta that she used to compose piano pieces in correspondence to Mr. Takimoto's firework displays. Kenta revealed to Shoko that he is not yet dead and his part-time work is about to end, which will mean that he will go back soon. He requested to Shoko that they work on completing the last piano piece. As they completed the last piece, entitled "永遠 (Eien)" (Eternity), Shoko showed to Kenta all of her nine other works.

It was then revealed that Mr. Takimoto was blaming himself for the sadness and death of Shoko, so he stopped making fireworks. Kanako told Mr. Takimoto that her aunt never blamed him and instead, never gave up hoping that she would see him launch his fireworks again. Having said this, Kanako left everything for Mr. Takimoto to ponder about.

The day came for Kenta to go back to earth. Kenta was brought to the same spot where the fireworks display are being held, plus a piano on the grass. The last fireworks were launched without any trace of Mr. Takimoto, which made Kanako so sad. But as the people were about to go home after watching the fireworks, the trademark red lights flared up in the pitch black sky which were quickly recognized by everyone as the comeback of the "loving fireworks". Kenta remembered Shoko and played "Eternity" on the piano. Kanako ran to the location of the "loving fireworks". She saw there Mr. Takimoto and Kenta, playing the piano. Kanako recognized the melody of "Eternity", being it a work of her aunt and asked Kenta how come he knew the piece. Kenta, surprised to see a girl looking exactly as Shoko, responded "We had been together before. Would you believe?" Kanako answered a very sweet smile.

Review:

The first thing to be noticed here is the depiction of heaven, for Christian like me, the movie's concept of heaven made a very obvious deviation. In relation to this, I raised a question as to why Shoko still experiences ear pains while she is already in heaven. Again, this is in contradiction to the traditional heaven that we know.

Next to this is the way they put back the part-timers back to earth. To my understanding, several days had already passed after Kenta getting fired from work until the day of the fireworks display. Or perhaps, this time difference between heaven and earth is another glitch not explained in detail in the movie. Other than those that I mentioned, the story sounded well to me.

With regards to acting, I laud Yuko Takeuchi's portrayal of two roles. Most people may mistake the two roles as being played by two different actresses as they had too different personalities. Shoko was also made to look more mature than Kenta and Kanako. I also liked Tetsuji Tamayama's acting especially during the times that he was still puzzled about him being in heaven. Another plus is that both Takeuchi and Tamayama can both play the piano.

The locations used are so nice the heaven was presented as a very peaceful place. In the story, there are many shifts between heaven and earth, and between the past and the present but these shifts are very easy to recognize. The soundtrack also provided the appropriate atmosphere especially for depicting heaven.

A knowledge of Japanese culture may be necessary to fully understand the story and the movie. Several aspects of Japanese life and culture are depicted in the film. Examples of which are the summer fireworks display, working part-time, playing musical instruments (as in almost every Japanese knows how to play a particular musical instrument), parents having a say to what their children do, and the like.

I, as still a beginner in learning how to play the piano, was able to fully appreciate the story and the movie. The movie will also touch people who were feeling so burdened with the life they are living now. It will give them an inspiration to keep persevering.

(This is the first Japanese movie that I watched and reviewed, aside from the horror film "The Ring" which I watched about two years ago.)

お誕生日おめでたいなぁ

2006-02-05T09:36:00.000-08:00

Soup and spaghetti

　*For personal reasons, an English translation is preferred not to be provided for this entry.
都合により、このエントリに対しての英訳は用意されていないことにしました。

　今日は僕にとって、特別な人の誕生日だ。あの人は僕と一緒にいないが、こんな大事な日を祝いたかった。あの人と別れてから、毎年誕生日を祝うことにしていた。ある年は、親しい同僚の人をおごった。今年はどうしようかなと思って、今日という日は近づいたら、わくわくして待っていた。
　今朝、12時ごろ起きて、今日はこの日だとすぐわかった。けれど、頭の中に、もういいよと何度も聞いたことがあった。もういいということはこんな無駄な何もないためのことだ。あの人とも別れて、祝う訳はないということだ。しかし、心は頭が行ったことを守りたくなかった。何故か自分がわからないけど、こんな迷っている状態に今日を過ぎた。
　だから、前もって今日の午後のミサに参列しようと思ったのに、そのミサの最後の3分の1しか聞かなかった。胸が重く感じて、今日のミサの遅刻したことを誤解した。けれど、寂しくなりたくないため、ミサが終わったら、何か楽しいことがやれば、嬉しいなぁと思いながら、長くなった髪を切ってもらうことにした。
　床屋さんのところははっきりわからないが、この間ウェルサンピアから家に帰るときタクシーで行って、床屋さんはどの辺にあるか少しわかっていた。教会から約15分かかって、とこやさんに着いた。今日は僕より3人が並んでいたが、やっと髪を切ってもらった。
　帰るときはちょっと道を変えて、古本屋さんに行ってみた。集まっている漫画の「ふしぎ遊戯」の最後にまだ手に入っていないvolumeが見つけた。その本とビデオ2枚を買って、本屋さんを出た。
　もう一度違う道をとって、スーパーへ行った。ref cakeとスパゲッティの材料を買った。「しまった」と自分に言われた。材料を買ったから、誕生日祝いは必ずやるという意味だ。後輩を呼んで誘って、家に料理した。楽しさはいっぱくて、スパゲッティとref cake作りを全部ビデオで撮った。今夜のスパゲッティはちょっと変だ。気が付かなくて、豚のひき肉を買い忘れてしまった。もう7時過ぎだったから、店やスーパーはもう休みだ。家にあるのはtuna flakesしかなかった。スパゲッティはこれと作ってうまいかどうか分からないけど、仕方がないから、tuna flakesを豚のひき肉の代わりに使った。料理が失敗すると思ったのに、うまくできた。スープも用意した。後輩と一緒に食べた。あとは、アイスクリームを出した。後輩は今日は何があるかと聞いた。僕が答えたのは「誕生日だ。けれど、僕のではない。」
　あの人の特別な日も僕の今日の同様に素敵な日になるように願っている。

Gift wrapped in a different package

2005-11-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

This is the first time a persocom would write on this blog. Yuzuki is currently doing some DVD burning stuffs so I she was temporarily disconnected from the network. For this reason Chii will be transcribing everything that Master says... *

After the 2:00 PM mass I got too little time to get on a Jusco bus on my way to Jusco. Jusco buses offer free rides to the Jusco department store. It was already afternoon and I only had one hour to roam around and buy what I needed.

I saw what I wanted and it was on sale. But before I surrendered my hard-earned or should I say hardly kept money to the cashier, I decided to check the nearby shop for the price of that same merchandise. Good thing that they are selling the item on the same price. Now my advantage in getting the one from Jusco is that it won't be that a shame to the bus driver on the way home that since I won't be carrying an item not bought from the store. So I quickly went back to Jusco and bought the thing over.

Unfortunately, it was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon. In this between autumn-and-winter season in Yamagata, the sun sets way so much earlier as compared to summer that even made my head think that I was having my biological clock disorientated. In other words, it has been so dark already as compared to the still sun shiny afternoon setting of Yamagata during the spring and summer.

Back to my story, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon and the last Jusco bus will leave in fifteen minutes time. It would be difficult for me if I get left by bus since I would be carrying this big box on my way home which I estimated to be around 30-45 minutes on foot against the searing chill of the Yamagata evening. Not to mention the around 10 kilogram package that I need to burden. The staff told me to wait for just ten minutes and that had been a relief for me as I thought I could still catch the bus.

As I was still looking at the other merchandises there, from time to time I peeped at the counter looking how was my package had been doing but for the next five minutes they were still not yet done with wrapping it. With so much pain in my heart, I accepted the fact that I would surely miss the train. Immediately, my mind ran simulations as to which method should I take upon going home. There were two algorithms that played in my mind. First was to hail a taxi and have myself delivered right in front of our buildings entrance steps. Having no experience of taking a taxi from Jusco to my home, I just made a slight approximation that it might cost me around 2,000 to 3,000 yen. The logic switch gates quickly indicated that the discount won't be of no use as it would just go to the taxi fare. The second, and definitely the cost cutting method was to carry this big and bulky stuff home by foot. It would take me so much a time but will be able to spare two or three paper bills in my wallet. But the map data base warned me that it would really be a long way home.

The optimization systems suggested that I should look for the taxi stand, just in case. Which was what I did. But there was no taxi there. I just saw three phone numbers of different taxi companies servicing Yamagata. I hesitated to call as I thought of how much money would be spent just for the taxi ride. I tried to carry the box and I guessed I could managed to carry it and walk home.

Just a few steps until I reached the first crossroad away from Jusco and I felt the heaviness of the thing. It was not that the thing itself was too heavy for me to carry, but it was the length of time that I have to carry it. My arms felt strained and I felt that urge to put down my load and take a few moments of rest. I saw a taxi coming towards me but it was too late. I was still carrying the box as it passed by me and it was too far enough to see me calling him. So I just did the cycle of carrying the box until a considerable crossroad, take a rest and resume carrying but the longer I move far from the store, the heavier the load seemed to be. At this rate, I thought I would not be able to bring it home.

If only I had brought my bicycle and semi-rubber strap, there should be no difficulty in bring this thing home. But there was no regrets to be made with regards to the bicycle as it could be of no help anymore. I was contemplating of spending around 1,500 pesos for a worry free trip home and save my energy for another task or to continue my agony and penitence of carrying it despite of the severe coldness of the night. I made a slow decision and prayed to God and to the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo for a taxi. I waited in the spot where I was resting, hopefully thinking that a cab would appear and save me from my self-created misery. But to no avail. I desperately resumed my cycle of carrying my load and still hoped that my fervent petition for a taxi would be granted.

I was already exhausted and my arms were so weak but I was still a straight road away from Jusco. It wasn't still safe to claim that I've already made a third of my journey. I was thinking of calling my friend who owns a car and ask a favor to fetch me here and bring me home. But that would be too much trouble on my friend's part. I also thought of calling a friend who owns a bicycle to bring a semi-rubber strap so I can mount the box on the bicycle and have my friend accompany me on my way home. But the again it would be too much for my friend. I also imagined myself leaving the box right there, go home for my bike and strap and go back to fetch it. But my fear that someone might take it home trashed this current idea in my mind. I was about to call the National Directory Assistance Hotline (104 for Japan) for a taxi customer service number but I again hesitated. I was about to give up and eat my pride to call 104 again when I saw the light of hope flashing before me.

I found myself standing beside a bus stop sign. In it posted was the schedule for two buses-both of them would stop at Yamagata Station. Yamagata Station would be a little too far pass my home that that would be better as compared to walking the entire route home. But wait, what if the buses' last trips were already over? I looked at the timetable and saw that the last trips would be 6:17 and 6:57 PM. I checked my watch-6:14! Luckily I made it quite just on time for one of the buses. After a few moments of waiting, the bus grandiosely made its dramatic entrance and I got on.

There were only two passengers in the bus aside from me. Thanks to the Yamako company that they didn't stop this bus service despite the obviously very low patronage of their buses. I checked the bus fare to Yamagata Station and was surprised to see that the bus would also make a stop at Yamagata City Hall, the bus stop nearest to my place! I was able to sit comfortably (just figuratively as the box had been so huge that we can not squeeze each other on the seat and sit together harmoniously. But still I wouldn't move myself away from my precious box. We've been through a lot already!) and breathe smoothly as I enjoyed the luxury of being on top of a velvet bus seat. Thanks heavens! I asked for a taxi and They've sent me a bus. They certainly knew that it would be hard for me to shell out such a big amount for the taxi fare. This incident really happened this way so that I would once again remember how much They love me. Thank You, Lord. Thank you, Mahal na Birhen ng Antipolo.

* Yuzuki is my high-spec laptop while Chii is my oh-yeah-it's-also-a-pretty-good-spec desktop.

Here Is Gone

2005-11-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

HERE IS GONE
木之本桃矢(Toya Kinomoto)＆月城雪兎(Yukito Tsukishiro)

You and I got somethin’
But it's all and then it's nuthin’ to me, yeah
And I got my defenses
When it comes through your intentions for me, yeah

And we wake up in the breakdown
With the things we never thought we could be, yeah

I'm not the one who broke you
I'm not the one you should fear
We got to move you darlin’
I thought I lost you somewhere
But you were never really ever there at all

And I want to get free
Talk to me
I can feel you falling
And I wanted to be
All you need
Somehow here is gone

I am no solution
To the sound of this pollution in me, yeah
And I was not the answer
So forget you ever thought it was me, yeah

I'm not the one who broke you
I'm not the one you should fear
We got to move you darlin’
I thought I lost you somewhere
But you were never really ever there at all

And I want to get free
Talk to me
I can feel you falling
And I wanted to be
All you need
Somehow here is gone

And I don’t need the fallout
Of all the past that's in between us
And I'm not holding on
And all your lies weren't enough to keep me here

And I want to get free
Talk to me
I can feel you falling
And I wanted to be
All you need
Somehow here is gone

And I want to get free
Talk to me
I can feel you falling

I know it's out there
I know it's out there
And I can feel you falling

I know it's out there
I know it's out there
Somehow here is gone, yeah

I know it's out there
I know it's out there
Somehow here is gone, yeah

你好 (Ni hao)

2005-11-06T22:30:00.001-08:00

Watching "The Last Samurai" made me realize that I have a penchant for languages. This is a bit relevant for today's theme. I will talk a little about our exchange program yesterday at Ookura village in Yamagata Prefecture.

I was chosen to present a 10-minute slideshow presentation to the children of Ookura village. I had been notified about a month ago but my cramming instinct didn't fail me again to make me work on my slideshow overnight on the night before the actual day of the exchange program. I had been worrying about using the school's computer installed with Microsoft Powerpoint but as I still had no enought data and picture files until last Friday, I just settled myself in thinking that I would just use my computer at home with Open Office installed on my Linux platform.

I tried the slideshow editing software but found it too difficult to use. I regreted that I didn't prepared early enough to make it on Friday but luckily, I checked out Open Office's website and found out that they'd just released a new version. I downloaded it and installed in in my Windows platform hoping that this last choice would be able to buy me some time for me to sleep. To my astonishment, Open Office Impress (OO's version of Powerpoint) was so easy to use and almost made me forget that it was not Powerpoint that I was using.

I was able to work on my slideshow smoothly and that enabled me to add more topics and enhance the layout of my presentation. To cut the long story short, I finished at around 5:45 am, leaving me with barely 45 minutes to close my eyes and feel the warmth of my think blanket against the almost freezing autumn dawn of Yamagata.

Ookura village is quite far from Yamagata City. I thought it would be around 60 minutes by car but in reality it had been one and a half hour. Along the way I was so worried of getting car sick besides the known fact that I had no enough sleep. Luckily, I neither felt dizzy nor sleepy during the long journey.

My presentation went well though I wasn't really fulfilled as the time limit was so short and I had put so much information on my presentation. Anyway, after everyone had their presentation, a Taiwanese professor had a game where he taught everyone simple greetings and expressions in Chinese. Here are what I learned:

謝謝 (谢谢 in Simple Chinese) - This is "Thank You" in Chinese, "Arigato" in Japanese. It is pronounced as "Sheshe". The character itself means "thanks".
不氣起 (不气起 in Simple Chinese) - This is "You're welcome." in Chinese, "Doitashimashite" in Japanese. It is pronounced slightly like "Bukechi". As I understand, the three characters literaly mean, "not minding what happened", exactly "Walang anuman" in Tagalog.
早安 - This is "Good morning." in Chinese, "Ohayo" in Japanese. It is pronounced as "Sao an". The first character means "early". The next one means "safety".
晩安 - This is "Good evening." in Chinese, "Kombanwa" in Japanese. It is pronounced as "Wan an". Some of you may recall that one of my favorite Mandarin songs is Vic Zhou's "Wen Rou De Wan An" (A Gentle Good Night). The two characters mean "night" and "safety", respectively.
你好 - This is the well-known "Hello." in Chinese, the counterpart of "O genki desu ka?" in Japanese. It is pronounced as "Ni haw". Literally means "you, well?"

I also showed off to one of my Korean schoolmates but letting her hear some of the Korean words that I learned from "Stairways to Heaven". Yesterday was a day full of fun and words from different countries.

Dirty Politics

2005-06-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am not well-rounded when it comes to politics but through writing I will try it once.

A friend from the Philippines informed me about Arroyo’s admission of calling a particular Comelec (Commission on Elections) official regarding the turnout of last year’s presidential elections. Before that, my mother told me about the accusations being blamed to Arroyo’s husband, which were the same accusations that led to the ouster of former president Erap Estrada.

I am not turning partisan to either sides but please let me express what I am thinking right now.

It is quite shameful for the country to have these kinds of exposes. Having the highest official of the land conversing with a Comelec official during the canvassing of votes leads the common tao (Tagalog for “people”) none other than to think that there is a cheating underway. The power of the chief executive need not be expressed in horsepower or whatsoever physical unit. It is clearly understood by everyone as influence-her influence to make the election turnout yield to her side. Yes, yes, the accused is innocent unless proven guilty. But in the first place, just only for the sake of a clear conscience, she should not engage herself in these kinds of conversation. I believe that even though an election is an obvious manifestation of democracy-power of the people to voice out their opinion. It is in my solemn belief that God’s intervention, especially in this Catholic nation in Southeast Asia, is not just a small thing to take for granted. What I mean is, whoever is governing the Philippines in the Malacañang Palace at any given time has been selected or should I say, allowed by the Almighty to lead His Filipino people. Most of you will react, how about the not so good presidents? I would just say that they were also included in God’s plan to shape our little country. Remember that in the book of Job, God let the Devil send pestilence and misfortunes to Job-so that Job’s loyalty and faith to God be put on a test.

On wire-tapping

I am not sure if we should thank the wire-tapping technology for exposing these tapped conversations of Arroyo and Garci. Yes, may be for this instance, wire-tapping or in a more general term, spying, on someone else’s conversation helped the Filipino people know their president more. But on a general viewpoint, it is still an invasion of an individual’s privacy. It now gives me an idea how unsafe it is in this modern age of wireless technology. This leads me to think that this is not just the first time that Arroyo has been eavesdropped of her calls. Not even Arroyo was the first “victim” of this form of treachery. See how the Devil works by using what Man calls technology.

The Husband

I also feel shame (once again) for Arroyo, especially with what her husband is allegedly doing. I am not a member of any prosecution or defense panels but given that all allegations to Mike Arroyo were true, how shameful of him to repeat history that once overthrew Erap? They know that their critics are all eyes on them, and why still they have the guts to engage themselves in the collections from illegal gambling?

The Widow

I had never been a fan of Susan Roces but this is not the reason for me writing this portion of today’s article.

I was never impressed that someone who has no experience with politics will be righteous enough to take over millions of Filipinos under him or her. As I always heard from people before last year’s presidential election, “Yeah, he might be innocent with corruption and dirty politics. But it would be the advisers and people who would treat themselves as wise that would sweep FPJ away from having a clean administration.” I don’t know what made FPJ change his previous statement saying that never he would run for elections. And now, even after his death, his widow is trying her best to act the best role of her life.

Oh, well. May be it is the same reason that made Arroyo crap her nationwide announcement before that she herself won’t run for the seat anymore.

* I know many people might react positively or negatively with what I’ve written. Well, there are many ways to reach me.

遅刻！遅刻！(Chikoku! Chikoku!)* **

2005-06-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Whew! I slept early last night but I ended up almost running to school for my 10 o'clock seminar. My fault was I forgot to set the clock to wake me up before ten. Thursdays are usually my school-free day but as we are having this special lecture series for the week, my ever-loved Thursday has not been spared. My mobile phone has a wake up function set at 10 am and its sound was the one that woke me up.

My goodness! It's exactly 10 o'clock. I was wondering why the clock didn't rang but I immediately remembered that I was not able to set it. This would be my latest late in the whole lecture series. It was so shameful to the lecturer. I immediately got dressed up and brushed my teeth without eating anything and run to the street to wait for a cab. I'd rather shell out about a thousand yen just to buy a few minutes off instead of riding a bike. But heavens, no taxi had been passing for the five minutes that I'd been staying in the street. I decided to just go to school by bicycle then as I had no other choice.

The lecturer seemed to be anticipating my delayed arrival. He didn't erase the lecture notes on the board and he kept on writing stuffs in the remaining small spaces on the board. May be he knew that I could not understand much Japanese from his explanations and that I was only relying on any lecture notes that I could copy. My assumption got stronger as he started to erase what were written on the board as I begun to copy them a few minutes ago. Too bad, there was a professor attending the lecture for the day and he knows me. He might tell my professor that I arrived half-an-hour late in today's lecture.

I was not able to escape the temptation of feeling sleepy during the lecture. But I managed to keep myself awake as soon as I detected my drowsiness.

It was already lunchtime and I decided to have lunch in the university cafeteria instead of going home to save time and to make sure that I won't be late again as the lecture resumes in the afternoon. But as I finished my meal, my tummy felt awkward so I had no choice but to rush home.

I really like rushing so to keep the long story short, I arrived one minute late to the lecture venue. Not that bad as the lecture was just about to start the second leg of the lecture.

He dismissed us half-an-hour ahead of schedule. It was so nice, as I could go home earlier. As I was on my way home, I was thinking of downloading and installing Vine Linux in my computer so I can use Japanese Latex at home. Aside from that, I felt inspired to resume doing my composition writing homework in Japanese. Although I already have almost half-a-dozen of unsubmitted compositions for correction, I particularly finished my article about my family as I am planning to upload it in my home page. I was really inspired as I surprisingly ended up with at least three pages! Upon going back my Thai friend asked me how to cook "turon saging" which he began to like when I served it during our cherry blossom viewing last spring. As he was not still having his dinner by that time, and me craving for another dinner as I had mine at about five in the afternoon, went to the nearby noodle shop and sipped some hot soup and hearty noodle bowl.

After going back from the noodle shop, I revised my personal homepage by uploading my article about the family with its English translation. I am planning to upload most of my Japanese compositions and translate them to English (and eventually to Tagalog and Spanish) little by little so that I will have a bilingual personal home page when I finish it.

Got to take a look at my old blog site here in Angelfire and I noticed that I had better articles here than those in my blogspot account. Now I am confused as I have three blog accounts: this, the one in blogspot, and the one in multiply (not to mention the one in Friendster that I have no plans of developing.) Oh well, as you can see, I added another entry in my web log in Angelfire.

Hope to keep it active again. OK, gotta go... I really need to work on the report that I need to submit to the lecturer later today.

* "I'm late! I'm late!" in Japanese. From Rei Ayanami's line in Ep. 26 of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
** Originally posted in my Angelfire web blog on the same date.

My passion for missionary work under scrutiny

2005-06-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

I slept a bit too late for the night or should I say too early for the day... approximately past 4 am to give you an idea. I am not really helping myself overcome my developing insomnia but I really need someone to talk to. A good friend kept me company by chatting with me through YM. It was not healthy physically to stay that late but it keeps me emotionally healthy and sane.

As an obvious result, I woke up late. About past 12 noon just only to attend the four-hour Japanese language teaching training course. Yeah, you got it right! I am attending a course on how to teach Japanese as a part of my volunteer work. In spite the fact that it is against my will to expose myself to extreme boredom for four straight hours in the middle of an all-Japanese audience, except me of course, I still convinced myself that I should go.

Everything was so perfect as I came just right in time in Kajo Central for the event. I proceeded to the fifth floor hoping that it would given a bit of a nice feeling making it on time this time-even though I know that the next two hundred and forty hours will be hard for me. But as I tried to enter the door, I saw that the sign at the door of the only room in the fifth level is different-not the name of the venue for the event.

Ok, the people left in the ＹＩＦＡ (山形市国際交流協会 Yamagata City International Friendship Association) told me that the meeting is being held at another building. They gave me a map and instructed me to go there. As not having been to the venue even just once, I don't know where it is actually. With a map and some courage, I asked two Japanese elderly people for directions. They whole-heartedly gave me the instructions and hoped that I would find my destination easily.

It was already a quarter before two when I was walking according to the directions that they had given me-according to the directions as I assume. Then after some minutes of not finding the venue, I started to worry. Am I still on the way? Or am I already lost? I've been walking quite far already and the sun was so hot that I feel more exhausted. I decided to get my bicycle from where I left it so that I can move around the place looking for the venue.

I got my bike but in my mind I was tempted not to go anymore. It was already 2:15 at that time-too late for arriving supposedly by 1:00 pm. I thought of meeting my friends instead and just tell the people in the YIFA that I wasn't able to find the way. Anyway, the session will be in Japanese and perhaps I would barely understand not even a bit of it. I was about to go back then when my heart spoke to me, "How could you do missionary work if your can not find places even though you've been already provided with directions?" Hearing these words, I made a firm decision of attending no matter how late I am.

I took the way that I walked a few minutes earlier. I went straight ahead for a few hundred meters. Then I found out that I can not see any building that fits the description of the venue. I prayed to God to please help me as I am already lost. My instinct told me to turn to the right of a simple road and to my very eyes I saw the building I was looking for.

The session already finished its first half and the people are having a break when I came. The Japanese people who know me greeted me. I asked for apologies for being so late. I just told them that I got lost find the venue. They smiled at me and told me that it was nothing to worry about as almost all of them also had a hard time looking for the venue and came about an hour late.

The second half of the seminar started and I was surprised that the speaker was very good. He is also Japanese-teaching Japanese people how to teach Japanese to foreigners (like me) in a communicative way. To my delight, I never found any difficulty understanding his talk. May be it was just because of his usage of words that are already in my Japanese vocabulary. But it was a very reason for me to enjoy the session and to find it too interesting and informative.

We had another 10 minute break before the last part and during that free time, two of my previous volunteer Japanese instructors saw me. They were surprised seeing me there attending the session as I was just a mere foreign Japanese language learning a year ago-and now I am with them attending the seminar as a Japanese language instructor myself. They expressed their joy that in a short span of time I became fluent in the language. (Although I myself think that I still have lots to learn.)

The seminar ended a few minutes past five. I saw another Japanese language instructor of mine as I left the conference room. I don't regret not seeing my friends in exchange of attending today's seminar. To treat myself, I bought some Japanese dishes in the nearby Viking shop (food are charged by the weight). おいしかったよ！（Oishikatta yo! It was delicious!)

Prega per noi*

2005-05-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

A thought to ponder came into my mind today. How to pray? Many people pray to God. But there could have been different ways on how people do it. Most people recite traditional prayers. Some do their novenas. Some offer gifts and sacrifices. Some pray to saints. Some pray directly to God. Some pray using their own free thoughts and words.

I met Father Pearse this afternoon to talk about the church schedule for next month. It was about five minutes before six thirty. And by seven, he would be having the Holy Hour. So after our talk, I told him that I might as well join the Holy Hour. He told me that I can just leave whenever I want. Many people do that. Some people stay only for five to ten minutes. Some arrive in the middle and some arrive within the last few minutes of the Holy Hour.

I stayed. As Father told me that during the Holy Hour, there are no pre-determined prayers, I can pray freely. So I started with praying the common prayers. But I still wanted to stay after I finished my prayers so I just talked to God directly. I talked to Him just like a friend. I know that He knows what are inside my heart and mind even without saying a word but still I talked to Him heart-to-heart and mind-to-mind. This way I really feel comfortable. I can freely express to him everything I want to tell him.

I remembered my Religion teacher in second grade. He taught us how to pray. First, we gave thanks to the Lord for all the graces that we are receiving. Then, acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness. Last would be the things that we would like God to give us. Since then, my personal prayers have been in that pattern. Everyone has his or her own ways of praying but for me it is my personal routine.

I remembered my prayer book also in the Philippines. I have my "Gabay" (Guide) prayer book at home but I was not able to bring it here in Japan. It is very handy as I have the Rosary prayers, Order of the Mass, Stations of the Cross and other prayers written there.

As minutes passed during the Holy Hour I felt so light that I am talking to God. I remembered that this is the same feeling I feel every time I pray in the Adoration Chapel. Anyway, the setting is almost the same as Father exposed the Holy Eucharist in the altar. An hour has already passed and the Holy Hour will be held again next week.

At home, thoughts about prayers remained in my mind. I recited the Holy Rosary before going to bed. To tell you frankly now I have the habit of praying the five decades of Hail Mary the Holy Rosary in five different languages-English, Tagalog, Latin, Japanese and Italian-to keep me away from feeling sleepy and to learn how to pray in different languages. Before I also tried praying the entire rosary in Italian but I can not still memorize the Lord's Prayer and Glory Be. However, I do feel that I still have lots of time to learn them anyway. Pray for me.

* "Pray for us" in Italian.

Golden Week 2005

2005-05-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

2005年度ゴールデンウィーク

４月２８日(木)－東京に到着

　　　　　　　－東京ディズニーランドの遠足(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

４月２９日(金)－東京ディズニーシー(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

４月３０日(土)－昼間休憩

　　　　　　　－祖師谷留学生会館に住んでいるフィリピン人の留学生とのバドミントンと運動(参加者:アビ,ロメオ,ジャニス,ディディス,アレックス,ブリックス,ラーリ,ダヤン,エディーお兄さん,マリテス)

５月０１日(日)－新宿にあるインド料理のレストランでの昼食(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

－東京都庁の撮影(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

　　　　　　　－四ツ谷の聖イグナチオ教会でのフォークミサ(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

　　　　　　　－港区の東京タワー遠足(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

５月０２日(月)－祖師谷留学生会館に住んでいるフィリピン人の留学生たちの料理会（エリックは「豚肉とブロッコリーとオイスターソース」を作った）(参加者: (アビ,ロメオ,ジャニス,ディディス,チー,アレックス,ギング, ダヤン,エディーお兄さん, レヤ)

　　　　　　　－アビ家での飲み会、モノポリーのゲーム(参加者:アビ,ロメオ, ジャニス,ディディス,チー,アレックス)

５月０３日(火)－昼間休憩

　　　　　　　－お台場の遠足、大観覧車乗車(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

　　　　　　　－祖師谷留学生会館に住んでいるフィリピン人の留学生たちとのカラオケ(参加者:

５月０４日(水)－阿部家の訪問、高山社長の出会い、うなぎレストランでの夕食

　　　　　　　－浅草の浅草寺(せんそうじ)の訪問(一人で)

　　　　　　　－六本木でのバーホッピング(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

５月０５日(木)－多摩市のドーミー永山の訪問(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

　　　　　　　－Toho Cinemaでの「ハイド・アンド・シーク」(Hide and Seek)の映画(ジャニスさんと一緒に)

　　　　　　　－山形に戻る

５月０６日(金)－山形にと到着

写真集：http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com/photos/album/22

Golden Week 2005
Thu Apr 28 - Arrival at Tokyo

- Tokyo Disneyland with Janice

Fri Apr 29 - Tokyo Disney Sea with Janice

Sat Apr 30 - rest during the daytime

- Badminton and gym with international student of Filipino who lives in Soshigaya International Student Hall (Abby, Romeo, Janice, Didith, Alex, Brix, Larry, Dianne, Kuya Eddie, Maritess)

Sun May 01 - Lunch at an Indian restaurant in Shinjuku with Janice

- Picture taking at Tokyo Metropolitan Government area

- Folk Mass in Saint Ignatius Church in Yotsuya

- Excursion to Tokyo Tower in Minato Ward

Mon May 02 - Dinner/Cooking session with Filipino students living in Soshigaya International Student Hall (Eric cooked “Pork and Broccoli in Oyster Sauce”.) (Abby, Romeo, Janice, Didith, Chie, Alex, Ging, Dianne, Kuya Eddie, Lea)

- Drinking in Abby’s place and Monopoly game (Abby, Romeo, Janice, Didith, Chie, Alex)

Tue May 03 - rest during the daytime

- Excursion to Odaiba and getting on the large Ferris wheel

- Karaoke with Filipino students living in Soshigaya International Student Hall (Dianne, Dennis, Lea, Janice)

Wed May 04 - Afternoon meeting/visit to Abe Family and Mr. Takayama in Saitama

- Dinner with Mr. Takayama and Mr. Abe in an eel restaurant

- Visit to Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa

- Bar hopping with Janice in Roppongi Hills

Thu May 05 - Visit to Dormy Nagayama in Tama City with Janice

- Viewing of the movie “Hide and Seek” in Toho Cinema.

- Return to Yamagata.

Fri May 06 - Arrival to Yamagata

Ｐｈｏｔｏｓ：http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com/photos/album/22

Article in Japanese: New Year in the Philippines

2005-04-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Please allow me to publish online some of the articles I have written in Japanese. Most of the time, I will be providing translations in English.

　フィリピンでは、1月1日はお正月です。お正月はフィリピンで最もカラフルな祝賀の1つです。家族と友人は、大晦日の真夜中に夕食を集めて、共有しています。彼らは食物と果物を準備しています。最も顕著であるのは、長寿を象徴するように、ヌードルの料理を作っています。そして、お金を象徴するように果物は大切です。お正月の間、多くのフィリピン人が、次の年を繁栄しているものにするように習慣と伝統を観測しています。例えば、人々は、12種類の丸い果物を集めて、食卓の周りに置いています。果物は家庭にお金が来るためのものです。そして、長寿を達成するのにスパゲッティやビフンなどのヌードルを食べています。子供たちの身長が高くなるように、時計が12時を打つとき、跳んでいます。そして、悪霊を追い払うために音を立てています。人々は、一年中お金を持つために自分達のポケットにコインを入れています。そして、不運を追い払うために花火と爆竹を明るくしています。お金を招待するために、丸いデザインで衣服を着ています。幸運を歓迎するためにドアに果物、（例えば、ぶどう）を掛けています。ドアや窓や引き出しなどは、運が入るように開かれています。ほかの習慣もやっています。

　フィリピンでは、お正月はクリスマスと一緒に祝われています。そういうわけで、人々は教会へミサを参列に行って、挨拶を送るために親類の家を訪問しています。そして、その代わりに、子供は親類から贈り物を受け取っています。最も一般的な贈り物がお金です。大勢の家族と友人は、故郷に帰って、集めて、再会をして、祝っています。ところで、中国のお正月も祝っています。

New Year in the Philippines

January 1 is New Year in the Philippines. New Year is one of the most colorful celebrations in the Philippines. Families and friends gather together and share the dinner at the midnight of the New Year's Eve. They prepare food and fruits. Most remarkable are the noodles that symbolize long life; and the fruits, which symbolize money. During New Year, many Filipinos observe customs and traditions to make the coming New Year a prosperous one. For example, people collect 12 kinds of round fruits and put them around the dining table. These fruits are for money to come in the household. People eat noodles such as spaghetti and bihon to achieve long life. Children jump as the clock strikes twelve for them to grow tall. People put coins in their pockets to have money all-year round. Children make noise to drive evil spirits away. People light up fireworks and firecrackers to drive away bad luck. People wear clothes with round designs to invite money. People hang fruits in the door to welcome good luck. Doors, windows and drawers are opened to let the luck come in, and so on.

New Year is celebrated in the Philippines along with Christmas. As such, people visit relatives to send greetings and in return, the children receive gifts from the relatives. Most common gift is in the form of money. Many families and friends gather together and celebrate reunions and homecomings. Also, Chinese New Year is also celebrated.

Two Dreams

2005-04-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Note for the readers: I am not claiming to be a visionary of any sort. I am just an ordinary person. I just had these dreams and I do not want to keep them alone as they might have meanings. These two articles were written March 27, 2005.

A Dream About Hell

Account of a dream sometime in January or February of 2005

In a dream, I was once like St. John in the book if the Revelation, guided by an angel, to the deep area of Hell. I was toured around just like an observer. It seemed like everyone in there did not notice me, as they continue what they were doing.

Inside was dark, although fires everywhere give off light all over the place. I was guided to the main area, should I say a hall, as everyone were there and it seemed like they are having some kind of ritual or activity. I moved around and saw that the area was surrounded by somewhat like a wall made of wood-deep rusty brown in color as lighted by the burning flames. The wall has many arched-shaped wholes that serve as passages. There were people beyond the wall and there were so many people inside the main area. The front part was like theater's stage. It was well lighted as compared to the main area. The Beast was there but I did not look at it. There were many creatures accompanying the Beast in the front area. People were screaming, though I was not sure if due to pain or due to enjoyment of what were going on.

I was then guided to pass through on of the arches. Ironic to my assumption that that particular arch was the same as the other arches in the wall, it led to a small chamber. Inside, there were demons making noises, just like people chatting with each other in a party. I noticed that in the middle of the chamber, there was a table with white cloth and on top of it I saw a horrible creature. It was a human but in an abnormal form-like a person born with physical abnormalities. The person was lying there naked, his limbs were very long. I was not able to look at him so closely but it seemed that he had his limbs connected and he lacked some of his limbs. He had a very dark-colored skin and he was mute. He was in Hell as he was very lustful during his life on earth. He was gay and had many sexual affairs with the same sex. But I will never forget his eyes and face as he looked exactly like one of my friends. Should I name him? Perhaps, I will give a hint instead. He is fond of using his nickname instead of his real name. His nickname starts with the letter M.

The demons loudly asked him to perform some tricks-tricks like twisting his body parts. He did the tricks very well. His body was very flexible so that he could make any form of twisting. The demons laughed and told him that he would perform for the Beast-not body twisting but sex positions. So from performing body tricks, he shifted to assimilating sex positions alone. He just then smiled-like feeling so flattered as he would perform in front of the Beast. I felt like I wanted to cry as I was thinking he was indeed my friend. I felt sorry that because of his immoral life while on earth, now he was in Hell. But it was still a mystery to me, why he looked like he was born with physical abnormalities.

A Dream About the Second Coming

Account of another dream sometime in January or February of 2005

In another dream, I had a vision of the Second Coming. It was not as long as my previous vision of Hell but it had been very detailed.

I was in a city, an urban place with modern technologies, tall buildings, business establishments and many other signs of development. I was particularly in a busy street. It was night then. I knew that I was not alone although I was not sure whether I was with my family or with my friend or friends during that night.

Suddenly, we heard a very loud sound. I could not describe the sound that well but I found it similar to the sound of rumbling rocks as I heard during the July 16, 1990 earthquake in the Philippines. It was so scary so that many people panicked and run away. For my case and whoever family or friend that was or were with me at that time, I or we was/were not able to move out of our place.

I felt very afraid when the land where we were standing broke open. I though we were going to die as we fell down the crack but we were able to stand on top of somewhere down there. As such, we were still able to witness what happened next.

We all looked up the heavens and saw that a very bright light came out in the middle of the dark skies. It was very bright red-orange light. I was not able to see what was behind the very bright light as my eyes could not stand looking at it. I then felt this unexplainable fear but I was sure that this is the end of the world as described in the scriptures and that the Son of God has finally come!

I do not know the real reason why I had these two visions but perhaps they appeared to me as means to let me aware of these things and that they exist and will soon occur. Let us pray to God that we would be ready when these things happen.

Welcome to Japan

2005-04-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

The lobby the New Tokyo International Airport (Narita)

The long wait was finally over. The plane was descending and the voice-over announced "Welcome to Japan!" At about 14:15 JST, we got off from the plane and all of us-Monbusho scholars from the Philippines seemed to be all excited in setting our feet of the Land of the Rising Sun.

From the terminal, we took a small train to go to the lobby area. We passed by the immigration and looked for our luggage. Outside, at the lobby, the AIEJ (Association for International Education Japan) staffs were all waiting for us. They were so organized in accommodating us. They put us in groups, gave us instructions and made us wait for the airport shuttle bus.

After getting our free time, I looked for a money changer and had my dollar pocket money changed to Japanese yen. I immediately phone home. I told them that I was already in Japan. They informed me in return that my computer at home broke down. At that instant I felt like I want to go back to Manila to fix my computer.

Narita Airport Rest House Hotel Tokyo

The AIEJ staff led us to airport shuttle bus station. It was very cold outside the airport. A few minutes, the shuttle bus came and took us to the Narita Airport Rest House. Along the way, I looked around and I was impressed to see that it was very clean all around. We checked-in the hotel upon arriving. I was assigned in a room with other two Filipino guys. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon then. After settling in, we talked with each other and watched TV. We also dropped by the girls' room. At about 7 o'clock in the evening, we went back to the airport to have our dinner.

We roamed around the stores looking for affordable dinner. But we all had the same impression that things in Japan are about ten times as expensive in the Philippines. And if we keep on converting the Yen prices to Philippine peso, we would all end up hungry. If I can still remember, I just had chicken curry then.

Inside the Narita Airport Rest House

After getting full, we went back to our rooms. Before going to sleep, we took turns in the bathroom. I tried the bathtub but as I wasn't used to it yet at that time, I felt dizzy. After putting on a yukata, and before I went to bed, I first made an impression of the night view around the airport. A few minutes later, I fell asleep. That has been my first night in Japan.

Leaving on a Jetplane

2005-04-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

It's April 1. Many people know it as April Fool's Day but for me, it was the start of a new chapter of my life. I am now staying here in Japan for a year! As such, I will relive the moments that happened exactly a year ago.

March 31, my last day in the office was quite a jam-packed day for me. I was too busy preparing my things to be brought beck home and at the same time, trying to stop the clock from ticking as I need to finish my tasks before I say my final goodbye to my second home-my office for the past two years.

We had a send-off party at home with my college friends the night before so I took an off during the morning. I just came to the office after lunch to have my last day. About 6 pm, my officemate and friend, Flint, told me that the team prepared a send-off dinner for me. So we went to a Japanese restaurant. They treated me for the dinner and they gave me a gift. It was a bundle of F4 collectible magazines. Flint personally gave me another collectible magazine. I was so touched by their kindness.

After the dinner I went back to the office to continue my work. My academic adviser, Dr. Joey Balmaceda, asked me if I can drop by his office in Diliman as Prof. Ozeki sent some maps and guides for me to use as I come to Japan. Due to my very hectic schedule, I just asked Sir Joey to leave the stuffs to the guard in the Quezon Hall as I was anticipating that I could only drop by there at about 11 o'clock in the evening.

It was about 11 o'clock and I haven't completed all of my work. But as my flight the following morning would be early, I decided to go home. Hanna and Glen, my officemates and friends, went out with me from the office. We took a taxi that would bring me to Diliman. My friends from college, Rose and Mary Ann, also wanted to say their well wishes to me so they also went to Makati to meet me. Unfortunately, due to my tasks, I wasn't able to meet them until I had them picked up at EDSA and let them ride the taxi with me to Diliman.

We dropped off Hanna and Glen along Crossing(?) and me, Rose and Mary Ann straight to Diliman. We got Sir Joey's stuffs from the guard and we sat down for a while behind the UP Oblation to rest.

Rose and Mary Ann gave me a poster and they wrote their messages for me at the back. They also had me write my messages for them in their own posters. After that, we separated ways and I went home. I reached our house at about 2 o'clock in the morning.

I wasn't able to sleep at home. It was because of both excitement and the worries of my tasks that will be left at the office. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, I got online and finished all of my reports, worksheets and hand-off notices for my team. I also sent out "thank you" notes to those who wished me well-my Repo team and the Disputes, Fraud and Letter Writing teams.

Having not that much time, I left our house at about 6 o'clock in the morning. I went to the airport with my family except my younger brother, Patrick, who looked after the house.

Arriving at the airport, I was immediately asked to enter for checking in. I was not able to even hug my parents and siblings for the last time. I was so sad as I would be missing them for a long time but I tried not to shed tears.

Forty-five minutes before the departure, I was still lining up for checking in. My things are so heavy and I know that I would incur overweight baggage charges. A lady in front of me in the line has only one small luggage so I asked her if we can have our luggage checked-in together so we can enjoy the allowable baggage capacity for two people. She agreed so I felt relieved. Unfortunately, the staffed employed to do the checking-in procedures were so inefficient so after the girl had her small luggage weighed, the staff took so much time to weigh my things. As a result, the girl got irritated and told me she was going to come inside for immigration procedures. I was left and they charged me a whooping 3,000 pesos for the excess.

About thirty minutes before the departure, I was able to board the plane. My seatmate's nickname was AJ. He was also a Monbusho scholar like me but he would stay in Tokyo. The flight took four hours non-stop. We had a Japanese lunch set and AJ and I had sake or Japanese rice wine. So as a trivia, I entered the Japanese territory under the influence of alcohol. :-)

My Own Review of 천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan) - Stairway to Heaven

2005-03-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan) - Stairway to Heaven

Korean TV Drama

Original Korean title: 천국의계단 (Cheonguk ui Gyedan)

English title: Stairway to Heaven/Paradise

Japanese title: 天国の階段 (Tengoku no Kaidan)

Chinese title: 天国的阶段 (Tianguo de Jieduan)

Starring: Kwon Sangwoo, Choi Jiwoo, Shin Hyunjoon, Kim Taehee

Cross-references to Character names used in the Philippines (Korea):
Kwon Sangwoo as Cholo (Cha Songjoo)
Choi Jiwoo as Jodi/Jenna (Han Jungseo/Kim Jisoo)
Shin Hyunjoon as Tristan/Charlie (Han Taehwa/Han Chulsoo)
Kim Taehee as Eunice (Han Yoori)

Remarks:
20 episodes
I watched the Korean version with English subtitles, and a few episodes (eps. 4, 18 & 19) dubbed in Japanese.

Summary:
Long time childhood friends Cha Songjoo (Kwon Sangwoo) and Han Jungseo (Choi Jiwoo) got separated first when Songjoo flew to the US for his studies. Jungseo was left with her evil stepmother, actress Tae Mira and stepsister, Han Yoori (Kim Taehee). In addition to that, she felt uncomfortable due to her stepbrother, Han Taehwa (Shin Hyunjoon) showing affection to her.

After three years, Songjoo came back to Korea and was about to meet Jungseo. Having only a glimpse of his love's face, he was not able to meet her as she was hit by the car the drunken Yoori was driving. Yoori made it known that Jungseo died due to a car accident, allegedly not her own fault. She kept Jungseo under her biological father's (Han Pilsoo) care.

Poor Jungseo lost her memory as result of the accident. Taehwa took this as an opportunity to keep Jungseo as he gave her a new identity as Kim Jisoo as his girlfriend. They stayed with Pilsoo under one roof for five years.

Wicked Tae Mira and Yoori planned well so that Yoori will marry Songjoo, who will inherit the whole Global Group afterwards.

Songjoo, who hasn't gotten over Jungseo's "death", saw Kim Jisoo in the amusement park. As he was thinking she was Jungseo, he did everything to get near her and tried everything to make her admit she is Jungseo. Tae Mira, Yoori and Taehwa would try their best to make sure that the star-crossed lovers will never be together.

Eventually, Jungseo regained her memory and remembered her love for Songjoo. Taehwa then conceded in his pursuits for Jungseo as he committed himself in looking after her as an older brother. She was about to fight all her way against Yoori for Songjoo until she found out that she will become blind, eventually will die of eye cancer, as her mother. She tried to give up Songjoo so as not to make him feel sad.

Songjoo later on realized Jungseo's real condition but never had his feelings changed for her. Shortly, Jungseo lost her vision. Songjoo never gave up as he had Jungseo undergo eye surgery as treatment for her eye cancer. On a supposed to be a pre-wedding gathering for him and Yoori, the truth regarding Tae Mira and Yoori's evil doings were revealed by Taehwa and Pilsoo. Songjoo got his mother's blessings and married Jungseo at last.

Everything seemed to be going well until Jungseo showed again signs which lead to the diagnosis that her cancer metastasized to her brain. Songjoo wished to donate one of his eyes to Jungseo, but doctors do not allow eye transplants from a living donor. Inspired by Jungseo's wish to be able to see her beloved Songjoo again even just for only one time, Taehwa engaged himself in a car accident to donate his eyes to Joungseo; in exchange of the happiness she had brought to his life.

Eventually, Jungseo will die in Songjoo's arms. In the end, Songjoo will be seen playing a piano piece for Jungseo by the sea.

Review:

The drama progressed with a very nice story. From their childhood, the plot made its premises. Why the characters acted that way as the story progressed could be easily understood in the childhood days of the characters. As they grew up to be adults, the story fast forwarded ten years later.

Although it had a nice storyline, the themes of wicked stepmother and stepsister, amnesia and terminal illness seemed to be stereotypes in soap operas. Tae Mira’s character was strictly evil. She had been the mastermind of all plots against Jungseo, except the car accident one. To her Yoori seeks refuge as to how she (Yoori) will react to the dynamic turn of events.

Yoori, as a child was a wicked girl in herself. But as she grew up, she became dependent on her mom with regards to the evil tactics. An exception to this was when she made to appear that Jungseo died. This is an attempt to conceal her involvement in the real incident. But as the story goes, she seemed to be helpless on her own. Songjoo had been aloof to her despite the fact that they will be engaged, especially since Songjoo saw Kim Jisoo. Personally, I felt that Yoori turned out to be somewhat like a martyr in the name of love. In addition to that, everyone will notice that Kim Taehee possesses such a very lovely face. She was able to conceal it under a very fierce and wicked image during the entire drama.

Taehwa's full 180 degree turn from a pursuing guy to an almost "guardian angel" to Jungseo was so remarkable. As he competed for Jungseo, everyone would hate him, but he will soon win everyone's sympathy especially for his act of love... giving Jungseo the chance to see the world again.

With regards to Jungseo, I came to the point that I got sick of her tendency to keep everything within herself. No matter how persevering Songjoo has been to win her, there had been not a few attempts that she turned him down, despite the fact that she loves him as well.

I have my hat off for Songjoo. I have never seen or heard such a very dedicated lover to follow Jungseo wherever she goes, literally and emotionally, in real life.

I have to admit got bored in the middle of the series, especially when Songjoo's mother began to hate Kim Jisoo and Jungseo. She got brainwashed by Tae Mira and Yoori obviously. Also, for me, by that time I had enough of Jungseo denying herself her right to be happy.

But it seems like the Koreans dramas are following the same trend-tragic endings. As we are just taking a peek at their own little world, cultural differences may affect out personal enjoyment of the series.

I am just wondering until now. Why is Jungseo still calling Songjoo "Oppa (Brother)" after they got married? It was quite uncomfortable.

The sountrack was also superb. Try to feel the suspense and excitement being conveyed by Rebecca Luker's Ave Maria.

But all of these not so good points that I've mentioned above didn't restrain me from falling in love with the series-the Korean drama I have ever watched.

Launching of "OBANDO: LEGEND OF A DANCE" website

2005-02-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

Obando: Legend of a Dance

Hello everyone,

Every year during the middle part of May,
while the bamboo musicians of Obando are
energetically blowing air into their wind
instruments, the old men and women wearing antique
Pilipino clothes are continuously dancing and
teasing along the street, which is followed by the
carriages of Saint Paschal, Saint Claire and the
Our Lady of Salambao. The hymn of "Santa Clarang
Pinung-pino (Very Fine St. Claire)" seems to be
filling the air all over the place...

I would like to announce the re-launching of
my website-Obando Fertility Dance. It has been
launched last September 29, 2001 in Filipino
version but today I added an English version as well.

The URL is http://www.geocities.com/obando81.

Please do not forget to sign the guestbook.

Thanks,
Eric
Obando: Legend of a Dance webmaster

Poisoning the Well

2005-02-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

I am staying here in Japan as a research student. I go to school to study. But on my free time, I have other things aside from studying. For example, some time in April of last year, I was invited by a student to join their salsa practice every week. This student was asked before by the International Student Section to tour us around the campus. As a sign of good will, I joined. Some time in June one of the International Student Center's tutors asked me if I could join a sports club for health purposes. Having been overweight for the past few months by that time, and again, as a sign of good will, I joined. Sometimes I used the training exercises but most of the time I did swimming. Then I was glad about the results. I lost - not just a few pounds - but a few kilograms! Then came August, during my preparations for taking the entrance exam, one of the Japanese language instructors from the International Student Center asked me if I can spare some time to do volunteer work. There are some Filipino kids here in Yamagata that needs help in their schooling. Again, as a sign of good will, I joined. To these Filipino kids, I taught Mathematics, English and Japanese.

As I have written in my previous article "The Japanese Smear Campaign", my supervisor once confronted me about going to the sports club. I told him that I go there for health reasons. He also checked if my financial situation was alright. I said that it was alright. For the record, I had been into this financial trouble when the International Student Center wanted me to move out of the dormitory as I am receiving scholarship from the Japanese government. But (even until now) our stipend is (until now) one month delayed, I thought that I might be in trouble as moving to a new apartments requires a big amount of money. I asked the International Student Center if I could file for an extension in the dormitory but they did not allowed me. Instead, they claimed that the stipend would be enough to cover the expenses of moving out. NOt only that, they interrogated me about my monthly expenses. Although, for me, asking my monthly expenses is quite a personal thing, they kept on asking me. So what happened was, I did belt-tightening measures just to bridge the gap in my finances. I just moved in an apartment that is quite cheaper but far from the university.

Knowing that perhaps my tutor has been squealing things about me to my supervisor, I feel that it has created a bad impression of me. Aside from that, it appeared that I had been keeping secrets to my supervisor... as he heard things about me from another person and not directly from me. But the things for me is, there are some things that need not to be told to my supervisor. In other words, some things are private. But eventually were disclosed to him.

Some time in Octiber or November, the International Student Center asked me to come to their office. Again they asked me about my expenses. I told them that my financial situation was already ok as I already moved in to a new apartment. Then they mentioned about me attending the sports club. I told the clerk that I already quitted going to the sports club. Then they told me that heard I was taking piano lessons under a music instructor. I denied it as it was really not true. Once, in a Japanese language class we wrote messages in a postcard assuming that we were to sent the postcards to our friends. For my postcard, I assumed writing to my Japanese friend who plays the piano very well to each me how to play. So I thought they got the idea about the piano lessons from the postcard. But for me, as the postcard activity was just a "simulation", what I wrote on it was not necessarily true.

From that time onwards, I felt that the Japanese were looking closely at me and my activities. At first, I had this suspiscion that all of these bad publicities going around my academic supervisor were from my tutor. I know that as my tutor, he is receiving money from the Japanese government. But instead of teaching me Japanese or help me make my life here in Japan better, here he comes telling my supervisor everything he (tutor) knows about me, most of the time things that he just heard from other Japanese people as well. And he is doing this beyond my knowledge. As a result, my supervisor will have a bad impression of me. These past few days, I felt my supervisor had already changed in the way that he has been treating me. It is a sign that he has already been affected by the rumors. I had long been silent about this matter but I decided that one day I will stand up and talk to him. Sunday night I asked my tutor not to tell to my supervisor things that are not related to my studies. But he denied it as he told me that the clerk in the International Student Center was the one telling all of these things to my supervisor. My tutor enumerated to me all the things that the clerk disclosed to my supervisor. And I was surprised to know that the clerk knows everything about me-the sports club, the salsa and the volunteer work. Not only the extra-curricular activities that I do, she also knows what things I bought. For example, the keyboard that I got from a second hand shop. She told my supervisor that she was thinking that I was still attending the sports club thus, spending lots and lots of money. She claimed that she was just worried about my financial situation.

I told my tutor that I was surprised upon knowing these things. I had this comment that "This clerk is so terrible. Why just don't do her job properly and not mingle with things regarding me?" But my tutor replied that "It is her duty." Huh? Duty? It is only now that I heard this kind of duty in the school? What duty is this? Look after the private lives of the scholars? I felt that my privacy had been compromised. I felt that I was betrayed. She can not claim that she is just helping me because she has been doing all these things behind my back. In reality, she is not helping me at all. In fact, she has long been destroying my credibility to my supervisor-all behind my back!

My tutor came to talk to the clerk to tell her that I already quitted the sports club. I don't know what happened and what would be the effect to me. It seems that my tutor doesn't fully understand the situation. All he believes is that the clerk is just doing her job and it is me who needs to take care as the clerk has been watching me.

Knowing all of these conspiracies, I lost my drive for studying. I lost my interest in attending the salsa practice and in doing volunteer work. Just as the same effect when they mingled with my sports club activities, I feel like I want to quit everything. I feel that the clerk had been too much in invading my privacy. It is me who knows which things should I disclose to my supervisor. But instead, now my supervisor is thinking that I had been keeping everything to him. I am now in total disaster. Thanks to that stupid clerk.

I feel that I do not deserve this kind of treatment. To tell the truth, my lifestyle here is one of the simplest as compared to other scholars. Other scholars go on trips abroad. Some of them always indulge themselves on shopping for new clothes, eating in fine dining restaurants. Some of them always buy the newest electronic gadgets. But I am not like them. Does this good-for-nothing clerk disclose these things to the other scholars' supervisors? Or does she know about these things in the first place?

Unfortunately, to make things worst, my academic situation now is not that good. My mathematical background is not enough to catch up with my lessons here. So I have this problem on top of my list. Then I would discover these evil doings by that narrow-minded clerk. My point is, no matter how good I keep on persevering, as my supervisor already have this bad impression of me, life will be severely difficult for me. Oh, well! She had long been poisoning the well and she had succeeded in doing it. How I wish one day, she will drink water from that well.

February 8, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Poetry: Your Number One Fan

2005-02-01T02:48:00.000-08:00

Emotional poem.

**************************************

Your Number One Fan

I was there waiting
For the show to start
Just as many people waiting there
Hoping to see you come out from the backstage.

And then the moment has come
You came out to the limelight
Those in the front row
Got the best view of you.

I envy them, as they can see you well
I am just here in a corner
Eating my heart out
But seeing you then is more than just enough.

Then all of a sudden
I was starstrucked
Can not believe that you are right there
Talking to me, looking at me.

Days passed by and we became friends
I no longer feel starstrucked
As I begin to know the real you
And you start to open yourself to me.

People then started asking you
About the person who has been always with you
That time we started thinking
As to who we are to each other.

At this time you are no longer
Just a movie star staying in my dreams
Now I can touch you and I can feel you
Seems like this can not be so true.

My dream of seeing my favorite star
Surpassed reality as you are now here with me
Holding me like as you say "I'll never
Never let you away from me."

As we share this wonderful feeling
Our lives flourished as well
I got the strength to stand stiff
And you shone more brilliant as before.

Then the director called upon you
You should never let this chance pass
He booked you in many engagements
And made you appear in a big opus.

Then I slowly feel you moving away from me
Noticing it you assured me that you will never be gone
I uphold to your promise day after day
As I see you mingling with people of all walks of life.

You seemed to be so absorbed
You can not say no to every opportunity
Until I found myself alone
Here in our secret rendezvous.

Now I envy those nameless fans
Who get to meet you every now and then
Unlike me who has been eternally waiting
For you to be back in my arms.

But as time goes by, I realized
I won't envy them as I had been and always be,
Until the day that you reach your dream of fame,
Your number one fan.

**************************************

February 1, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

My TV Interview

2005-01-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

I had been interviewed for a TV program on the local cable TV...

Interviewer: So you have mentioned before that you were the valedictorian during your first year to third year high school, isn't it? But can I ask you what happened when you were in fourth year high school?

Eric : Oh well, I graduated salutatorian by that time.

Interviewer: Salutatorian? That's strange. You were the consistent valedictorian for three years and then you suddenly graduated as salutatorian? How did that happened?

Eric : How can I say this? Uh-oh, I was just informed by our class adviser a few days before the graduation that I didn't make it to the valedictory position. That's it.

Interviewer: How did that happened? Was it with the grades?

Eric : Yes, actually our class adviser told me that all of them (ed.: the teachers) really regretted that I didn't make it. She told me that it had just been a matter of a very small difference in the general averages.

Interviewer: How did that happen?

Eric : Simply that when they computed the general averages, mine was a few decimals lower than that of the class valedictorian.

Interviewer: And who was the class valedictorian? Was he or she a real contender for the valedictory position?

Eric : I opt not to mention the name. Yes, he was a contender for the post. He always ranked next to me in the last two years prior to graduation.

Interviewer: Two years only? What about during the first year?

Eric : Oh, he was a transferee. He just came to the school during our second year.

Interviewer: That was really strange. You were ousted by a transferee.

Eric : Strange as it was but it was true. It happened.

Interviewer: So you mean it was just because of the grades. You mean that you didn't do well during the last year?

Eric : Of course I did well all the time. The problem at that time was I think the teachers themselves.

Interviewer: What do you mean by that?

Eric : I knew that they were playing with the grades ever since.

Interviewer: Playing with the grades? You mean altering the records, like that?

Eric : Not really altering the records. By they already did the magic even before entering the grades in the records.

Interviewer: How were you sure about that?

Eric : During that time that our class adviser informed me about it, she showed to me my grades and the grades of the class valedictorian.

Interviewer: And what did you find out?

Eric : That the class valedictorian really had the advantage over me. There was a great difference in the grades. His grades were higher than mine in almost all of the subjects.

Interviewer: But you mentioned earlier that the difference was just small...

Eric : What they did was that they combined the grades during our third year and fourth year high school, and divided the sum by two.

Interviewer: Eh? Is that so? Is that really how it was computed?

Eric : I was also surprised upon knowing that. All I know was that all that would matter would be those only during the fourth year.

(I haven't finished transcribing the interview from the video tape.)

At last, Touhoku University!

2005-01-29T08:55:00.003-08:00

Graduate School of Information Sciences, Touhoku University
Sendai City, Japan

*Blog for January 24-25, 2005

I was not able to sleep well last Sunday night because of my excitement in going to Touhoku University. I was to attend a 2-day seminar on number theory and combinatorics. I was excited not only to the fact that I would be going to a top university in Japan, not only because I will be meeting Prof. Munemasa (according to my academic supervisor, he will transition me to Prof. Munemasa for my Ph. D. program) but also because I would be going there on my own. My supervisor just gave me a map and told me what bus to ride to go there. Feeling that I still do not have enough information to reach the place, I search in the web how to go there. Luckily, I found a very detailed one. It was saying that I should take either of the four bus routes going to the university campus and get off at the "Graduate School of Information Science" stop. The bus will be picking up the passengers from bus stop No. 9 which is located in front of the Metropolitan Hotel Sendai which is at the west exit of the station.

I forced myself to sleep even just for two hours. I fell asleep at about 4:30 am, two hours later; I got up and prepared to leave. I got to take the 7:56 am bus from Yamagata. The bus was scheduled to reach Sendai in an hour so I was still able to sleep, I thought. Yes, I slept while on the bus but the bus came a bit late. It was already 9:10 when it reached the Sendai station. I quickly headed to the Sendai station and looked for the west exit. I saw a sign pointing to the west exit and I followed it. I was able to see some bus stops but those were Nos. 39-41. I just walked following the direction of the arrow. After walking for about 5 minutes still not finding the bus stop No. 9, I turned back and walked back the station. I thought I was already lost so I asked a Japanese woman who was sweeping the street. She was not sure where it was but told me to wake further and turn right. I followed her instructions but apparently, it was still not the bus stop I was looking for. I was already worried as it was already 10 minutes before the seminar starts and I was still looking for the bus stop. All of a sudden, I saw the big building to the left of the station with the sign "Metropolitan Hotel Sendai". I was a bit stupid as I forgot to look for it. I found the station and it was good that the bus arrived the moment I reached the bus stop.

Inside the bus I found no seats available except for two orange seats. Most of the seats were green. I was a bit wondering why the two seats were orange but I still took my seat there. Then I noticed a sign over the seat where I was seated and it was saying "for the elderly and the disabled" (of course, written in Japanese). I though of standing up and to move to another seat but as there were no empty seats anymore, I just kept on sitting there. I am a foreigner so they might think that I could not read Japanese. Anyway, I gave up my seat when an old man got on the bus.

The Touhoku University campus reminded me again of my former university, the University of the Philippines (UP). Buildings are located distantly from one another so students are taking buses to come in. We seldom had buses in UP but we always relied on the jeepneys for transport. The campus itself is in a mountain area so there are many trees.

I came in the seminar 10 minutes late. It was of course; quite embarrassing but it was a good thing that my supervisor was not yet there. He arrived ten minutes later. The lecturers were all Japanese except for a Korean professor. Their talks were in Japanese but their transparencies are in English so it had been quite convenient for me.

At about 12:40 pm, we had the lunch break. They gave away maps of the campus with information as to where we can find cafeterias. In the building where we were having the seminar, there was no cafeteria and the next cafeteria could be reached by taking a bus. I didn't want to bother myself in getting on a bus again. Besides, I am bad with maps so I did not dare using it to look for food. All I could remember in the map was there was a booth where I could buy boxed lunch ("bentou").I thought that I had put a bread in my bag before going that morning so I think that would be enough. But as I was walking outside looking for a place where I could eat my bread, I noticed that I forgot to bring it. Ouch! My stomach feels very hungry. I just walked to the nearby Faculty of Science hoping that they have a cafeteria. I checked the building directory looking for a canteen or cafeteria ("shokudo") but I was not able to find one. I thought I would just give up the idea of eating lunch and that I would just endure my hunger until the seminar ends. I just walked to the next building, Department of Earth Sciences to kill the time. As I entered the building, I immediately saw a sign, "Place for selling bentou". Bingo! That was the place where I could buy boxed lunch. A few minutes then I was found walking along the road looking for a place where I could eat my lunch. I could not find a place so I just decided to eat in the waiting shed in the bus stop. Some students saw me eating in the waiting shed but I didn't give them a damn. I was hungry and they could nothing to help. Instead, I am a foreigner so that I could just pretend that would think that I didn't know that I was not supposed to eat there.

The seminar ended for the day and I went back to Yamagata. I was very busy that night as I was to submit my speech script the following day, and a Korean friend was also asking me to translate a Physics article in English to Japanese. I barely had 3 hours of sleep then. To cut the long story short, I came late again at the seminar, 15 minutes late to be exact. My supervisor was already there.

My supervisor was the last one to present and the seminar ended at about 5:10 pm. My supervisor left without asking if I would like to go with him back to Yamagata so I assumed we had to go home separately. But before going back I thought of walking around the Sendai station to look for electronic shops. I would like to buy a memory stick for my camera. I entered a building and climbed up to the seventh floor. I didn't find any electronic store but instead, I saw a bookstore. I decided that I would just check out the books there.

Incidentally, I met my supervisor there. He asked me how I knew the place. I just told him that I was just walking around. Then he just told me that it was the biggest bookstore in Sendai.

I was very exhausted and very sleepy these past two days because of the seminar. But for the following day, I still needed to prepare for my seminar with my supervisor.

January 30, 2005
Yamagata, Japan

Whatta Sunday!

2005-01-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

I was to attend the 9:30 am Japanese mass but I woke up at exactly 9:48 am. Father will also have the afternoon mass but in another place one-and-a-half hour from our place. So I just felt weak missing the Sunday mass.

Over lunch, the idea of buying a dig cam popped into my mind. Incidentally, I will be attending a math seminar in another university tomorrow so I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity of documenting my presence there through pictures. And besides, I want to take some snow pictures also outside while the roads and fields are still white with snow.

Good thing that I was really to withdraw money from my bank account as I was already running out of cash for tomorrow's trip so I also put out some for the cam. I went to Super Denkodo and checked out their cameras there. I liked two models... one from Sony and another one from Fujifilm. I took note of the model numbers and the corresponding prices and headed to another electrical appliance shop, Yamada Denki.

I didn't think that going to Yamada Denki was one bit of a hell. Using the bicycle, I can go there from Super Denkodo in about 15 minutes. But as it is winter, I was not able to bring my bicycle. So I had no choice but to walk. And dangers of all dangers, the road was very slippery. These past few days the temperature had gone up a bit so that some of the snow melted. But today the temperature dropped to negative again so the melted snow turned to ice… yeah, hard slippery ice on the road. Can you imagine doing ice skating using your own shoes? I almost slipped a number of times so I just stepped over the snow for a good grip. It took me about 20 minutes to reach my destination.

Luckily, I saw lower prices in Yamada Denki-not only lower prices but more models in their line up. I was just expecting to buy the one like model I saw in Super Denkodo but I ended up bringing home a more expensive one. Just a bit... about 3,000 yen more. But the features are almost the same though the shape and feel is better, except for a few more enhancements. The main reason that drove me to finally give in to buying was the price. They lowered the price by about 11,000 yen! What a nice bargain. Then I used up all of my points (like the one in the Reward Plus program) so I got another 6,000 yen price down. So in the end, the register displayed 35,000 yen and some amount. Not bad, as compared to the original price of 52,000 yen.

I hurried back to Super Denkodo's area so I could catch the last bus at 5:15 pm. It seemed that I wouldn't make it to the bus but I just walked that fast so I was still able to manage to buy some pastries before getting into the bus. But I was really exhausted. Anyway, I am happy as I already have a cam and I did exercise for about 40 minutes.

I will just call it a day by refreshing myself in the bathtub. See you!

January 24, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Getting Cyber geeky... once again!

2005-01-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

I almost did nothing for today. My day started by going to my volunteer work. I biked all my way amidst the strong snowfall. I forgot to bring my bonnet; neither could I use my umbrella while riding the bike as it would be very dangerous to drive it with only one hand as the road was very slippery. But thanks heavens that I was able to come to the place safely. I taught Japanese today to a Filipina child. We had a simple lesson for today, but it seemed that she was ahving a hard time answering the exercises. The child looks smart. But according to her, as there are lots of lessons being pushed into her head, she can barely remember everything. While we were discussing the lesson, a group of media people came and interviewed me and the child for their documentary program. We were both shy and nervous as the interview was in Japanese.

By 12 o'clock, we finished our lesson and I just had lunch in an affordable fast food stop. After going back to my place, I checked my mails and chatted with some friends. By 3:30 pm, I hurried to catch the free shuttle bus to the supermarket and I did my grocery for the week.

Going back to my room, I immediately tried my new webcam and microphone. To my surprise, the microphone was working but the camera was not. It seemed like it was not compatible to Yahoo! Messenger. But I could use it with MSN Messenger.

Late at night I remembered my Obando website. I created a website about my hometown a long time ago and I thought of putting English, Spanish and Japanese versions on the web. At least those are the languages that I pretty understand aside from my mother tongue. While I was searching for my webpage (I already forgot the URL.), I saw another webpage containing the exact material as mine. I want to mention it here that a person copied my web pages and claimed that he redesigned it. Poor boy, by just changing the background picture, he was taking part of the credit. He mentioned that the original design was mine but he never informed me that he would be using my webpages for his own homepage. Oh well, here is the URL of the perpetrator: http://www.geocities.com/albinoski/obando.html.

Mine is http://www.geocities.com/obando81.

Now launching my English to Japanese/Japanese to English translator software, and AltaVista’s Babel fish translator as my aids, I am painstakingly translating the Tagalog material about Obando to English, then to Spanish and lastly to Japanese. Let us see if the cyber thief will still rob my work.

I am getting serious into making my Obando web pages a nice one. I am also thinking of going back to the Philippines to take more pictures of the Obando church. I also want to make more research about the Obando fertility dance. I am also hoping that I can find video clips featuring the dance. Aside from this, I am also planning to include church information regarding our church here in Yamagata. I hope to upload the developments soon. My a-few-years old HTML genes are now getting in action again. I first learned HTML in the UP Math Department when we were supposed to build the department's website but due to unexpected circumstances, the project did not pushed through. Anyway, the little training I had led to the creation of my own webpage.

January 23, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Erikku

2005-01-22T01:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

This is my very first The Wonderful World of Erikku entry. Erikku is the Japanese pronunciation of my name, Eric. When I was born, my grandma Precy, found my name in a book and Eric means ever king. Yes, if you may want to ask... I am a king. Actually, everyone is a king or a queen in his own or her own right. So, what a nice way to have my welcome remarks as I open this new web log!

Well, as I have entered in this blog's description, I will try to chronicle every event in my everyday life. Today (I mean, yesterday, January 21), is just another ordinary day for me. It is a Friday so I was excited for the coming weekend. Ever since I got to work, I fell in love with Saturday and Sunday as they are the least stressful days for me. But I should admit that I fear Sunday nights as they signify that the following day is the beginning of another week.

Maybe this is just an idea of a stressed person. Yes, I should admit that I am stressed. I had been stressed since I started to feel awkward against my work. But I will put it aside for another article. I will not overload the minds of people reading this article who do not know me. (Who am I to assume that there are people reading my article except me?) Oh, well. It must have been one of my expectations in signing up for a web log account, right?

So going back to what happened to my day today... I set my alarm last night to wake me up by 7:30 am. Then when it woke me up, I begged for another half an hour and adjusted it to 8:00 am. Ever since this winter had started, I am having a hard time getting myself up. I always crave for longer sleeping hours. Anyway, I deserve it since I always sleep late. My earliest bedtime is about 2:00 am. Whether it is still an aftermath of my stressful office life way back in the Philippines, or if it is an occurring personal imbalance while I am here in Japan, it is inevitably giving me problems. Most especially in making it to class on time. Japanese are known to be punctual. And Filipinos are known to be the opposite. As expected, I came late to my Japanese language class. As I got up merely ten minutes before my class starts, even though I used my bike on my way to school (knowing that it is dangerous to bike over snow), it is a known fact that I will still not make it on time. Shameful as it may be, but I am always coming to my Japanese class late. And it is mainly attributable to my uncomfortable sleeping habit.

After the Japanese language class, I proceeded to attend my Topology sit-in class (sit-in class: a class that I attend without getting credits, merely for listening only). The professor mentioned that he will continue from where he finished last week. Oh no, they had class last week? Last week, the clerk in the International Student Section told us that there would be no classes on Friday (of last week) as there would be preparations for the upcoming Center Examination on the weekend (of last week). Instead of going to class, she asked me and my fellow international students to join a Kouryuukai (Exchange Assembly) with Japanese junior high school students. So it appeared to me that she only made lie to us. I will set aside my comments about her on a separate article.

After about thirty minutes (1/3 of the class period), I started to feel sleepy. The topic was interesting. The only thing was it was in Japanese. I have been taking Japanese lessons for about 7 months already but those 7 months of study are still not yet enough to make me understand everything inside a lecture. It is a good thing that Topology has many illustrations incorporated in it so those illustrations helped me a lot not to fall asleep while in class.

After my Topology class, I proceeded to the canteen where I had another share of their daily buffet. Daily as in they serve the same dishes everyday. It can be considered luck already that they occasionally change some of the dishes, but the main courses are always the same over and over again. After having my lunch, I felt satiated and I went to the International Students' Exchange Room to surf the internet. My Thai friend told me that the clerk of the International Student Section informed him that starting next fiscal year, our monthly stipend will be given to us via a post office account so we need to open a new one. Hearing this, I thought of it as another messy thing. We already have our bank accounts in the leading city bank here and already made auto-debit arrangements for our electricity, phone, gas and other bills. Now here comes the clerk informing us to have another bank account-this time, the one in the post office. Oh well, another procedure to be undertaken. Another thing that we have no choice but to follow.

After that I went to see the coordinator of the Japanese language class to ask her permission to absent myself from the Japanese class during Monday and Tuesday of next week. I will be attending a math seminar in a nearby university so that I will not be able to attend my Japanese language classes for two days.

I was about to go back home when I remembered to borrow books on Complex Analysis in preparation for my weekly seminar on Wednesday.

That ended my day outside my room. Now I am spending about five hours in front of the computer. And I finished my first article for my new blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

I am planning to incorporate bits of information about myself in my future articles, for the sake of readers who still don't know me. I am looking forward to that.

January 22, 2005
Yamagata City, Japan

Christmas Charity Concert and Year-End Party

2004-12-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

Dec. 19, 2004 - Christmas Charity Concert, Yamagata Catholic Church

2004年12月19日（日）

　僕は午前8時に起きて、おそばを朝御飯として食べて、2時のミサに参列するつもりだった。でも、途中で衛くんからメールが来た。午後の忘年会の事を聞いた。僕の返事にクリスマスチャリティ―コンサートのことも書いた。衛くんは教会に行きたいといって、教会までの行く道を聞いた。そして、スーツとズボンをよく見たら、アイロンをしなければならないと思った。だから、僕はミサに遅れた残念だったけど、午後は忘年会だから、英語のミサに参列ができない。

　ミサの後、エミリーさんとクリスティーさんを見た。二人はコンサートを見に行った。コンサートの数分前、衛くんが来た。信じられないけど、僕はうれしい。衛くんは遠い所からコンサートを見に行ってくれた。コンサートはよかった。

　コンサートのあと、僕は山形市国際交流協会の忘年会へ行った。子供たちとスタッフと学生ボランティアーと一緒にゲームをしたり食べたりした。春雨という料理は一番おいしかった。

　家に帰ってから、4時間寝た。夜は母に電話した。明日は学校へ行く。おやすみ。

English Translation:

December 19, 2004 (Sunday)

I got up at 8 o’clock, ate soba for breakfast, and intended to attend the mass at 2:00. However, an e-mail came from Mamoru. He asked me about the year end party in the afternoon. The Christmas Charity Concert has also been in my response. Mamoru said he wanted to go to the church, and asked the directions going to it. And then, I thought that I had to iron the suit and the pair of trousers as I looked at them carefully. Thus, I even though I would be late for the Japanese mass, I decided to attend to it as I could not attend the English mass for the reason that I was going to the year end party in the afternoon instead.

I saw Emily and Ate Cristy after the mass. They went to see the concert. Mamoru had come a few minutes before the concert. I could not believe that he could make it to the church but I am glad that he did. It is because he came from a faraway place just to see the concert. The concert went well.

After the concert I went to year end party of the Yamagata City International Friendship Association. We played games with children, staff, and the student volunteers and we had food. The dish called “harusame” or spring rain was the most delicious for me.

I slept for four hours after I had returned to the house. I called my mother at night. I will go to school tomorrow. Good night.

Street Dancing

2004-08-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2004 - Hanagasa Festival (Ken, Jay-R, Eric, Arlene)

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com.

Yesterday was so fun, though a bit tough. We had the annual Hanagasa Flower Hat Dance Festival. It is actually held for hree days every year but the international students (like me) danced only on the first day. Some groups were devotingly practising since last year as they will be dancing for three days. Anyway, my experience yesterday was quite enough for me to give it a try again next year.

I came to the city hall at about 3 pm. It was the assembly place for all that will dance under the Yamagata City International Friendship Association umbrella. Being under the International Student Center of Yamagata University, we were also under the association. In the assembly hall there were so many foreigners. Most noticeable are the Chinese and the Koreans, who comprised the greatest number. There were also some Malaysians, Brazilian, Indonesians, Americans and Canadians.

I though I was the lone Filipino there since I am the only one wearing the Firipin sash. But eventually, I met two more and we instantly became friends.

The Hanagasa Dance reminded me of the Obando Fertility Dance, same street dancing type and both are so much fun.

*To know more about the Obando Fertility Dance, please go to http://www.geocities.com/obando81.
Picture taken at Nanoka-machi, Yamagata City, Japan.

Entrance Exam Blues - I passed it!

2004-08-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com.

Now is summer vacation here in Japan but I will still be busy in preparing for my entrance exam on the 23rd. Actually, I will be meeting my tutor as I will familiarize myself with my research proposal which he will be translating for me in Japanese.

The exam will be an interview by the Math department faculty panel and it will be in Japanese. I don't really know if I can reply to them in Japanses but at least I need to familiarize myself again with my undergraduate thesis which was written almost three years ago. I have forgotten what it was about already.

I am worrying about the entrance exam in two ways. One is the content itself of the interview. Next is how to have it in Japanese. Well, I will just leave it to God, to my tutor, to my academic supervisor, to the math faculty panel, and to myself.

Gambarimasu!

Teaching Math for Kids is Fun!

2004-08-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

* Originally posted in my Multiply account, http://ebdeguzman.multiply.com

Lately I have started teaching mathematics to some Filipino children here in Japan. I actually have two students. The one is in high school already and the other one is in elementary. The high school student still knows how to communicate in Tagalog, which was a great convenience for me. However, the other one speaks no other than Japanese, so every time we have the session, I am quite nervous with my Japanese. It is obvious that the little girl is more fluent than me in Japanese but it is ok. The girl at first seemed to be very shy but as the sessions went on, we are having fun.

It is very fulfilling for me to see them learning their math with me as their tutor. Someone told me that why did h choose teaching math for kids as a volunteer work instead of having it as a part time job. I really don't know why also. But for me, it is experience and fulfillment that matter most to me. May be some other time, I can teach math or English as a part-time job, but for now, I will just let myself experience the fun being with children of the same country as where I came from.