cherry blossom season review

shouldn't be doing this right now

but I still am. Writing in this blog.

Now why am I prohibiting myself from updating this update-hungry blog? It's because I should be doing more important things. Like preparing the percussions that I'm gonna do this weekend at church. Or at least moving my butt and burning some calories outside jogging.

But no. I'm here stuck in front of my laptop, doing my website rounds going through gmail, twitter, facebook, friendster, multiply, yahoo mail, and just now -- just to add to things that could distract me -- plurk. Then there's one more. Because I still can't pull myself away from my computer, I decide to revisit this blog.

Hopefully, this will be the last of them websites -- at least for the next hour! I really need to get moving. At least eat dinner.

Good luck to me.

Snowboarding Sunday

Went snowboarding last Sunday with Just, Jocky, and Edsel at Hakuba Goryu in Nagano. The snow was fantastic--best snow ever! It snowed nonstop making even the bottomest slopes fluffy with fresh powder.

Justin and I tried out the different courses and in our adventure ended up at the other side of the mountain, in the neighboring Hakuba 47 resort. To return, we had to go through three slow lift rides and cross over from the very peak. And then from the top, we then had to go down using the grand prix course, which meant we had to literally step off a cliff and slide in near vertical terrain to reach the kinder slopes below. Talk about intimidating! Thankfully the steepness didn't continue for very long and soon I was back on gentle slopes again. Weee!

There's one bad thing about gentle slopes, though. The big crowd. The place was like an obstacle course of people. I had three collisions with other boarders (the first was my fault!)

Alas, all the snow also made the ride home so terribly slow. Even though the bus left the resort on schedule at 4:05PM, we were almost three hours delayed at 11:40PM when we stepped off at Shinjuku.

Good thing I can look back at this little trip and easily recall not the bad bus ride, but all the powdery snow! It made all the negative things worth the trip. It was a dream come true.

Awesome day.

Photos here.

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!