Mogusaen park

Autumn is park visiting season. Here are pictures from Mogusaen, one park I visited with coworkers and friends. Thanks to its proximity, being just a few minutes away from where almost everyone lives, a pretty big group got to take part in this fun trip to the pretty park.

Almost everyone brought a camera, so more should be popping up!

Arlan's
Some of Justin's

a happy movie to end a happy day

After being at church the whole day playing percussions and meeting up with the Pinoys at the Filipino Christmas party, all I wanted was to crash into bed when I got home at around 7 PM last night. But last night also presented a rare opportunity for me and my roomies to do some in-house movie watching. (Roomie L actually still needed some convincing, but anyway...) so together, over potato chips and Boy Bawang, we watched Hairspray in my boom-box-connected laptop.

Loved loved Hairspray! Especially loved the music, the dancing, and the colors! Of course, can't help but compare it with the actual musical, which I watched here in Tokyo some months back. The movie was a few songs and scenes short, but it was still great.

princess mononoke

princess mononoke, originally uploaded by jemione.

I have been a fan of Ghibli movies ever since I chanced upon My Neighbor Totoro, which turned out to be my second Ghibli film, next to Graveyard of the Fireflies. Graveyard was too sad, and when I watched it I didn't know that it was from Studio Ghibli, so it didn't turn me into a fan. Anyway, thanks to my former roomie Tinats and her collector coworker, I was able to watch at least four more from the Ghibli camp. I loved all of them. So today, I decided to start my Ghibli film collection! My first purchase was Princess Mononoke. Bought it from Shinseido in Nagayama for around 4k yen. Got a 3-DVD set, with one DVD for the film and the other two as special add-ons!

seven from the eight floor

seven in the elevator, originally uploaded by jemione.

This elevator shot of me and six of my coworkers was taken at around 10PM earlier. My office had a hello-and-goodbye party for Berns and Reghz at Doma Doma resto in Seisekisakuragaoka. I think the party was not yet over when we left, but me and my project-mates Kelvs and M had to go because some work were still waiting at the office.

Latest J-Drama: Proposal Daisakusen

I enjoyed this series a lot. It's a love story and a tale of friendship among five childhood buddies. It sure is a tearjerker but heavy drama it definitely isn't as it had lots of funny moments as well. I loved how its sweet and touching story made me cry and made me kilig at almost every episode! Hahaha!

And the casting was perfect.The lead guy Yamapi, aptly displaying much more emotion than other dramas of him that I watched before, was handsome as usual, and yes, sexier too! Chemistry with the pretty Nagasawa Masami was great. Everyone in the cast acted well.

Only one thing I didn't like was the ending, which was waay too abrupt for me. But that shouldn't stop you from watching this winner!

weekend jamming

Last Friday night, my housemates and I were finally able to get together to play the musical instruments in the house. Then on Saturday night till morning, I was on another in house jamming session, this time with Tid and Alvin on the instruments and vocals, and Justin, Khen, and BJ as our patient audience members. Haha!

djembe

These were my "toys" last weekend. First time for the djembe to be on stage!

Last weekend was actually the second time in my whole life to play the djembe. (The first time was during choir rehearsal two weeks back.) I like its very deep bass sound.

In other news, tonight's Marimar was another fantastic episode (link to YouTube)! I actually cried out in disgust during a scene. The previews for the next episode looked exciting as well, but I have to wait until Monday.

blueberry jam toast

blueberry jam toast, originally uploaded by jemione.

My house mate Reghz had this for dessert tonight. When she went for seconds she also made one for me. We ate our treats while watching Marimar episode 23 on YouTube. The toast was heavenly (you're great, Reghz!). Marimar was pretty enjoyable too. Angelica's evilness went up by one notch (poor Inocencia!), and Marimar is pregnant!

*09/14/07 - updated image

Friday night

Just watched The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift. It was awesome! Makes me wanna go back to my Need for Speed. Loved the cars, the chases, and the place. Shibuya looked great! Shibuya really is a fascinating place, especially at night with all the lights.

Also watched Marimar episode 15 through YouTube. What an unbelievably stupid episode! Is Marimar that dumb that she can't open car doors from the inside? And how does a vehicle whose engine is not even running get to emit smoke?

omiyage

Earlier today my manager brought this leaf wrapped goody from his recent trip to the Japanese countryside. He said it came from a church on top of a mountain named Ontake-san. I don't know what it's called though. But it was tasty! Inside the white ball was a sweet filling probably made from beans. Itadakimasu!

where the heart is

It didn't dawn on me how much I missed the Philippines until I was actually there already. I missed home, but I guess I kinda enjoyed being in Japan also. Still, I'm happy to realize that nothing beats being where you truly belong. For my case, that's in messy, stormy, crazy, beautiful Pilipinas.

Every day of my very short nine day vacation was fun. I met with friends, went on a Boracay adventure (and what an adventure! Maybe I'll write something separate about this), caught up with some more friends, and bonded with my family.

I also had a nice enough haircut and hair pampering. The result (not as fabulous as expected! Hahaha!) surprised a lot of people but it was OK, right? Right. Thank you. Hehe.

I'm glad I went home.

Hairspray in my head

My song of the week is Without Love, from the Broadway musical, Hairspray. And it was stuck in my head because 1) I watched the musical last Sunday (starring the Broadway cast! Coolness!) and 2) After watching it, I searched for Hairspray videos in YouTube and the first videos that I chanced upon were performances for Without Love. I never had time anymore to watch any other number, and this was one fine number anyway, so I got stuck with it.

By the way, last Sunday's Hairspray was like wow! I really enjoyed it! The music was great and the dialogue was very funny! The performances were excellent too. Link was hunkalicious. I also found last Sunday's Seaweed better than the Seaweeds that I watched from YouTube (some of which featured the original one from Broadway).

It was also interesting how they got the audience involved for the last performance. During the intermission, they taught the audience some dance steps and so during the last performance, everyone was asked to stand up and join the cast in dancing. It was fun!

The movie is not yet here but I heard it's good, so I'll try not to miss it.

Without love
Life is like the seasons with
No summer
Without love
Life is rock 'n' roll without
A drummer

Darling, I'll be yours forever
'Cause I never wanna be
Without love
So darling, throw away the key...

--Hairspray

Harry Potter reading mode is currently paused at chapter 6 because...

My roommate Laiza and I went salsa dancing tonight! Headed to Roppongi right after work, and were able to catch the ending minutes of the dance lessons at the salsa club. When the lessons ended, the lights were dimmed and the music started. Laiza and I were almost immediately on the dance floor, as two guys offered to spin us to the pulsating Latin music.

It was a fun night of hip shakin' with different dance partners. It was also some three hours of trying not to step on other people's toes. I was such terrible salsa dancer! I don't think I really got the moves right. But at least, I think I kinda got the feel of it...

Anyway, I'd love to go dancing again. I'll master that twirl!

Taking advantage of clear weather after many rainy nights

Just got back from jogging around the nearby track oval. But was too absorbed listening to music that I can't remember if I jogged nine or ten rounds! (It was 630 m per round.) Anyway, that was a good 40 minute workout.

Gonna have dinner now!

under construction

Just upgraded to the new blogger template so now my old template is gone. While I think of what to do next with the looks of this blog, please bear with this boring template called Dots.

sushi happy at the tsukiji fish market

sushi happy at the tsukiji fish market, originally uploaded by jemione.

Had breakfast last Saturday at Daiwa inside the famous (world's largest) Tsukiji fish market. Nothing like the freshest sushi! Mmm-mmm-mmm! Ordered the sushi set and discovered my new favorite, the eel (anago) sushi. Waited in line for ten years but it was all worth it!

P.S. As usual, more pics to come later. ;D
Seems like Ramil has uploaded his Tsukiji set. Enjoy the pics! link

My six weird things

Tagged by former roommie Meema, I'm now listing six weird things about me.

1. I'm inflicted with what my coworkers call "spontaneous dancing syndrome". Sometimes, when some danceable music is drifting in the air, one minute I'm standing still and the next, I just find myself moving to the beat. Then come the stares from my friends. So I immediately stop.

2. I fidget even when I'm not nervous. When my nails have started to grow even a few millimeters longer than what you can call trimmed, my fingers can't help but fidget with them.

3. I download MP3's, then buy the CD. But I don't play the CD, or open the packaging, because I have the music already. So now I have this small, but growing collection of unopened CD's.

4. My hands are too small. They are. You'll agree when you see me.

5. Once, I wore an evening gown on top of a mountain. And this was not the civilized kind of mountain top. Oh no. It was mostly rocks and some dry grass and all sky. I was actually on a camping trip. At the peak I changed into this glittering gold cocktail dress with a slit at the side that went up to the middle of my left thigh. Pictures were taken, of course, so I could have evidence. They're currently being kept safe somewhere, heehee.

6. I dot my small i not with a dot, but with a tiny circle. I think this started in first year high school, if not in elementary. I wanted to make my dots bigger, because I can't see them. So I turned them into circles.

That's it. Now I'm tagging you, yes, all five of you my dear readers, if you haven't done this before. Ayt!

pics update

I have finished uploading the pictures that I took from my latest hiking trip.

Here they are. Enjoy!

Hopefully, I can go climbing again on July 28. It's going to be a medium-height one (around 2100 meters) in the Niigata region, which is much farther than any of my previous expeditions. I plan to bring my new lens (finally have the Nikkor 18-200 VR--yay!), so hopefully everything goes well (the weather, transportation reservations, the group to accept me, hehe) so I can finally shoot the mountain landscapes that have been eluding me all this time.

Why going down the stairs last Sunday was again making me squirm with the pain coming from my quads

Nekko peak from somewhere near Mt. Azumaya's summit, originally uploaded by jemione.

They always hit the quads the hardest! Anyway, it was because I climbed Mt. Azumaya (Azumayasan) and Mt. Nekko (Nekkotake) last Saturday with Souma-san and friends. The mountains were located at the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures, around three hours away by super fast (average 130kph) Toyota rental car from Tokyo. The climb was hard work, of course, taking us around six hours climbing and going down the two neighboring peaks, but it was very rewarding because of the spectacular scenery. Mt. Azumaya had a trail which was mostly open and grassy, so even from the base, looking at its big yellowish-green triangle shaped form sitting against a perfectly blue sky, the view was quite stunning already. And there were so many flowers! For Mt. Azumaya especially, it felt like climbing a huge garden.

Mt. Nekko was a little more difficult to climb because some parts were almost impassable with heavy mud, but the way down was different, so it was OK. Downwards was also very pretty. The vibrant greenery made the trail really interesting, adorning the path with different shades of green, and dotting the way with lots of orange, thanks to the flowers!

The peaks were mostly rock. And that's good because they offered unencumbered 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains and the clear sky. A famous active volcano, Mt. Aza-something, can be seen from Mt. Nekko's top.

After the climb, we had dinner at a Chinese resto and then after that was the unavoidable onsen trip. But I'm beginning to love the onsen now, so i stuck around. The place was a bit crowded, and I may have even seen a person I knew from church (weird!), but it was a huge facility, so it was fine. Aside from the hot baths, there were also different kinds of spas, the normal super hot one with the glowing rocks in the middle of the room type, and the mist spa. What was really cool was San-san was kind enough to show me around them, as I haven't tried any of them before. I went home refreshed. The pains will hit the quads the next day but I can't complain because this was one super enjoyable Saturday.

P.S. more pics to follow!

adventure in my new kitchen

the tofu added in, originally uploaded by jemione.

last saturday, i cooked tokyo-style adobo. i called it tokyo-style because all the ingredients were from here. i followed a recipe given to me by a filipino friend who loves to cook, kuya ian. i rarely cook and have never made adobo before, but decided to give it a try as some friends were staying over for dinner at my house. i think it turned out OK. But i want to try it again, adding my own tweaks next time. for now, here's version 1.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken lollipop (or desired chicken or pork part)
1 cup regular kikoman soy sauce (or other soy sauce if not avlbl)
1 cup mizukan vinegar (or other vinegar if not avlbl)
1 cup mirin (japanese sweet cooking wine; or replace with water with 2 Tablespoons sugar if not available)
1 large clove of garlic (skinned, not chopped)
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon whole pepper corns
5-7 pieces Laurel leaves.
5-7 small dried chili (optional)
1 block of Tofu (about 1/4 Kilo) (optional)

Directions:
Pour everything in a pan. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove chicken pieces from stew and fry. Pour back the stew on the chicken just before serving. Add garnish if desired. Serve with rice, salad, or vegetable dish.

Serves 5-6 people.

pictures here :)

how much of the philippines i have been to

not much!

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

finally got to do my laundry last night

actually, it wasn't like there was a big mountain of clothes waiting to be washed already, but i'm a bit relieved my laundry pile got flattened last night. i just don't want any clothes piling up on me. so yeah, i'm glad i finally had some free time to do my laundry, because these past few nights (and days) were just one activity after the next.

started last friday. my office had a welcome party for our new employees. it was actually just dinner, but was filled with enough drinks and food we got to go home a little past the last train's schedule already, which was around 12:30.


me with friends from church

then on saturday, i had to get up early to attend a church mate's wedding. it was a very nice wedding. it wasn't fancy and with only the couple's closest family and friends present, was really simple, but was a beautiful wedding nonetheless. All of the music, except the exit march because the musician was suddenly nowhere to be found, were played and sang live. At the reception, which was at the church hall downstairs, there wasn't any waiters so i helped a little with the drinks preparation. the food preparation was also through the efforts of some church friends. but the food was wonderful. there weren't many dishes to choose from, but everything served was great. there were the most intricate hors d'oeuvres and an actual sushi bar, where you can pick your sushi topping and the sushi man will scoop a fistful of rice and whip up your sushi for you.


a quick pose on the dance floor

then saturday night was dancing night, my first time to go clubbing in hip roppongi. my friends and i went to a hip-hop place, so i guess that's why there were many blacks. the place got packed by around 2AM, and even around 5AM when we finally called it quits, there were still a handful of people on the dance floor. dancing was lots of fun. my feet were sore for two days after that but i guess it comes with being on the dance floor for almost five hours straight.

then sunday, i just went to bed as soon as i got home. but actually i got home around 9PM already, because the whole day i was at church. in the afternoon, i attended the singles fellowship for the first time. met lots of new people. during the rest of the day, i tried to catch some sleep, but mostly failed. so i was dead tired when i got home.

then monday. the house was kinda busy with a guest. i guess i just forgot to do my laundry.

then tuesday, the house was very busy because we had peejay's farewell party.

so finally wednesday, everything was back to normal.

red hot chili peppered

Last night's RHCP concert in Tokyo Dome was my first (and hopefully, not last) concert here in Japan. I love RHCP, so i absolutely enjoyed it! I never thought I could hear Higher Ground live with so much energy. It was my first time in Tokyo dome, and it was surprisingly huge inside (probably at least 4 Araneta Coliseums could fit in there). And it was packed, so you could only imagine the energy with everyone jumping to Can't Stop and Around the World among other songs. There were some pleasant surprises too, when Chad Smith played jazz and Flea accompanied on the trumpet; and when Flea joined in at the drum set to soup up a drum solo during Hump de Bump. The video screens and the lights were also fantastic. Rockin' night!

ghibli goodness set in my hometown

That's the anime 耳をすませば (Mimi wo sumaseba/Whisper of the Heart). I loved it! It's a sweet love story. Great artwork too, with very detailed renderings of buildings and streets. The setting was also quite interesting for me, because it was set in Tama City, and that's where I live now. The town part of the city shown in the film was in Seiseki-Sakuragaoka, and that's my town! Although there were of course a lot of differences already, because the movie is more than ten years old, it was cool to be able to identify some of the places and say that they actually looked very familiar. I can even relate to the difficulty one character was having with biking up the hills around here. And I could totally identify with the ever-present Keio train in the movie, which actually hasn't changed much.

On to the next ghibli!

the pictures from the latest weekend that I had to blog about...

Yesterday, I uploaded the shots that I took from the mountain climbing trip. I'm still fixing the pictures from the jazz event. Earlier today, Ish-chan sent me a link with the pictures from JR's birthday dinner.

I'm thinking of buying a new lens for my D50. Because I'm only using a 50 mm, sometimes it's really frustrating to not be able to get the wide shot or the close-up shot that I want. So, I'm considering getting the 18-200 VR Nikkor. It's gonna leave a big dent in my wallet, though. That's why I'm still kinda hesitant. But I'm very tempted. Like last weekend, there were so many times I wished I had a more flexible lens!

a holiday by the riverside

around a month ago, i spent a holiday to picnic with some of the filipinos from church. we spent the whole day eating, cooking, chatting, taking pictures and playing games beside the tama river. thanks to this activity, i was able to get to know more the friendly folks from church. it was tons of fun. check out the pictures!
link 1
link 2

spirited away in my apartment

Two nights ago I got to watch Spirited Away, another amazing film from Studio Ghibli. I loved it! Watching it transported me again to another world with really interesting characters and the most stunning landscapes. Like in Howl's Moving Castle, the artwork was beautiful. Later I learned that this won an oscar for best animated film and is the highest grossing film in Japan. It just tells how fantastic this movie is. I'm glad i got to watch it! Thanks Tinats and Tinats' coworker for sharing all the Ghibli goodness!

one of those weekends i just had to write about

Yay, another blog post! I really missed blogging. Now, this time, what made me write was my busy but fun weekend. Here we go.

So my weekend activities started last Friday. My coworkers and I celebrated JR's birthday by having dinner at Gyu-kaku, a yakiniku (cook your own korean barbeque) restaurant. According to Kiyota-san, Gyu-kaku is not a real yakiniku restaurant because the meat is different (cheaper?). But the looks of the food and the place were kinda the same as the real yakiniku resto, so I dunno. Anyway, the food was OK--tasty if given the right sauces--so I didn't mind it being cheaper. And speaking of cheap, it was really cheap, relatively. We thought we'd be paying at least 3k yen each but in the end, the nine of us shelled out only a little more than 2k, all for ten people (following the japanese tradition of treating the birthday celebrant).

Right after dinner was karaoke. Not everybody joined though. Only the ones who were really into it participated. But it was also good that way because the ones that remained were the ones who were really willing to belt it out until the end, which was around 4 in the morning. So it was a very enjoyable karaoke. We tried the medley mode, and discovered that we know our carpenters (but not very much bon jovi!)

Then Sunday came and it was time for my second mountain climbing trip in Japan. Peejay and I joined Souma-san and his friends and together we climbed Mt. Arafune (Arafuneyama) in Genma prefecture. It was my first time to go outside Kanto to do non-business stuff. Jump off point to peak was around three hours long. Going down taking a different path took one hour. The climb was not very difficult, but of course was still tiring. The trail reminded me of Mt. Ugu, because of the pine trees and the cool air. The view was spectacular. Near the peak was a viewing deck, which was on top of a huge huge wall of stone. This was where we took our "view from the mountain" pictures, and of course, our jump shots.

After going down Arafuneyama, we headed to a farm which was famous for their cows and dairy products. It was a short but pretty enjoyable detour, as we got to eat their famous yummy soft cream (a.k.a ice cream) and take in the views of beautiful green pastures, colorful park-like sitting areas, and a road lined with pretty pink flowers. There was even a brook with goats grazing nearby. I enjoyed the view while standing on a wooden bridge which led to a deck going to the ice cream parlor. It was a lovely place and gave a very relaxing atmosphere.

But the real relaxation was to come after, because our next stop was the public onsen (hot springs). It was my first time so initially I was very hesitant to try it, getting naked with everyone in there! But my companions (except PJ) seemed fine with it. It seemed like such a normal post-climbing activity to Souma-san and friends. Also, I thought, there's no reason for me to be embarrassed because my female companions can still be considered strangers anyway. The idea of a hot bath wasn't such a bad one either. And so in the end, I convinced myself to go. And wow! I didn't regret it. It was very relaxing and refreshing. It was definitely weird at first--I was almost laughing at myself with embarrassment. But after seeing how normal everyone was acting--chatting and walking around in their birthday suits, I soon got over it, and I was able to enjoy the hot water, and the company of Meg-san and Ari-san, who have become less than strangers already.

After onsen and enduring heavy traffic in the super highway on the way back to the train station, PJ and I rushed over to Yokohama to watch some friends perform jazz music--my first time to go to a jazz club. We were late though. We missed the first set but good thing there was another set, and we were able to catch that one. It was a night of really good jazz and blues. It was also a sort of gathering of the band members from church, as a lot of the musicians and singers were there, partly to show support for Kozue's trumpet debut and partly to celebrate Sumiko's birthday. But another star of the night was Ozcar, Kozue's friend the sexy sax player. He was fantastic. Actually, everyone performing was great. But the sax just brought something else to the sound of the band. And he was cute. Wonderful night!

So I went home super tired, catching the second to the last train of the day. Then, I poured my remaining energy to the mostly uphill biking that I had to do from the station to my house. And then, the super fun weekend was over.

P.S. more pictures to follow. ^_^

found a friend!

Stumbled upon my college buddy Finley while filming the costumed people in Harajuku around two months ago. What a nice surprise! Last time I saw Fin was maybe around three years ago so it was really cool to meet him here! :-)

now i know how to put back the chains on a bike

This morning i was very late for work because my bike got dechained. I tried standing up while pedalling on an uphill road and just as the road was about to level off the pedals lost power. It was my first time to be dechained so i didn't really know what to do, but after a few minutes of tinkering with the chains i was back on my wheels again. I'm just glad i was wearing gloves (can't go biking these cold winter days without them!) so my hands stayed clean!