Bye Bye Waen...T_T

Here's a tale about a tiny girl from Thailand who came to Japan only for a mere 3 months, but manage to make an impact larger than I did...she manage to charm more people in 3 months than the people I scare in 5 years. Now, that's a damn great achievement.

Once upon a time, came a cute girl from Thailand named Waen...of course this is not her real name. Her real name is somewhat more hilarious...(sorry, Waen, just my personal opinion, no offense intended.) She was tiny, as most South East Asian girls are, but she had a smile as sweet as ice cream on a hot afternoon. And she was very friendly...In a school dominated by boys with high testosterone levels, her cute smile and cheerful nature quickly caught everyone's attention. As for me, I just enjoy teasing her....haha.

And so she got invited to many parties....and party she did. Oh boy, there was never a normal day in her life here!! And it was through these parties where she made many dear friends. She can't speak Japanese much but, dudes here strive hard to speak in English just to get to know her. I personally think she single-handedly inspired a quarter of the guys here to seriously learn and speak English.

Anyway, she had a lot of fun living here in Japan. But, as people say "good times flies by".

So, a dear friend(sister?) of hers organized a costume party to bid her farewell(she still have about 3 weeks here though)


Mexican wrestler and little Waen...


Two lovely girls and me...haha.


Kamehame vs. Baseball bat. Guess who won...


A whore(said so herself), baseball slugger and gossip girl...


Guy with sunglasses, and 2 of Waen's friend, Yoko and Eri...super cute.


Son Goku, the ghost and the Taiko drummer...


This guy with skirt...he actually lifted up his skirt when he made his entrance...
Gutter belt....
Oh, my eyes!!!


The poor guy, my little angel...and guy in white shorts...


Vampire, emo guy and a failed cat..


Good or Evil....tough choice!!


Terrotist, cheerleaders and Jack Bauer after10 years and too many beers.


The bunch of cheerleaders....the guy to the left...one had to admire his many "disgusting" poses...

At the party, she became emotional and droplets of pure emotion came rolling down her cheeks. I'm sure that many of us would like her to stay longer but, reality is often harsh and unforgiving. She have to go back in 3 months time.

Such an unfortunate news...my Uni could really use a bubbly girl around. We've got too many guys who have forgotten what girls are.

Anyway, just want to say here that I've enjoyed her company a lot and will miss her. Once again, many thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook, we can all still keep in touch.

Waen, when I do visit Bangkok, and I will, do show me around your hometown!!

Take care little one!! Remember to never lose that sweet innocent smile...

10 white pins and one angry charging ball...

Last weekend was once again a fun filled weekend.

Saturday was...well, I'll save Saturday's story for another time as that will definitely draw many surprises!!

Let's talk about Sunday instead.
Sunday was a fun-filled bowling competition!!

But first things first...a brief intro to it.

My university houses almost 200 foreign students, and we all know how much us foreign students hate to mix with other people when we're on foreign lands. Well, of course there are super friendly ones among us....but it's sad to say that if we are left alone, we will forever be among people of the same country.
I dare not say much about other country, but I've seen how Malaysians tend to stick among Malaysians. Well, not that it is a bad thing...you get to practice your mother tongue and not forget Bahasa Malaysia(like me, god help me but I can't speak proper Bahasa) But every single day for 3 years?? Why the hell did we choose to study abroad in the first place?!! Might as well stay in Malaysia...no offense here, just my opinion.

To counter this sort of thing, associations exist for foreign students where it acts as a platform for us to mingle and mix around both with locals(Japanese) and other foreign students....giving us a chance to widen our horizon and realize that the world is indeed a big place.
The same applies here in Nagaoka University of Technology...the association here is called NUTISA, which stands for Nagaoka University of Technology International Students Association.

And I'm proud to say that I'm the President of NUTISA for year 2010!!!


Some members are missing from the picture..

And as the president, I am given the responsibility of promoting communication among foreign students, and also with Japanese. Along with me are 14 core members from various countries such as Malaysia, Thai, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Rwanda, Columbia, China...etc.

So, last Sunday, we organized a bowling competition as a get-to-know-each-other event. More than 30 people joined and we had a lot of fun, and also got closer to each other as we secretly hate the person who scored more than we do. For example, of all the foreign students here, I will always remember Jimmy from Mexico. That guy beat my ass in bowling...and I will never forgive him for it!! haha...

But seriously, I saw many people exchanging pleasantries and self introductions so, I guess the bowling balls did more than just knock down pins...;)
Yeah, it was a great event and it ended with smiles on everyone's faces.

Would like to make a special mention here for Tony, Fiona and Aline who handled the presents and drinks. David who did a wonderful job as the MC of the event....he wore a bright red shirt that really caught everyone's attention, and also. Thuy and her boyfriend for helping with group management. Chuka and Sun Sun for helping with monetary issues. Everyone did their part generously.

The president?? The president gave orders, then got busy enjoying bowling and flirting with girls.




See? Mr. President is busy...hahaha.

But seriously, the event was a success because of the work of many. Couldn't have done it without them!!

The Master's life in Nagaoka...

To summarize the whole post today, I'm tired.

When I signed up for masters, I imagined it would be mostly research work, where I sit at my desk, analyze data for some time while listening to my iPod, come up with credible results which I will use for my presentation. I will then go back when the sun is down, cook myself a decent meal and then sit down to blog my day...

Well, I got part of it right....only a tiny bit part of it...

It's been two months now since I began my graduate life, but already I'm used to the lifestyle centered on my laboratory. Attending lab at 9 in the morning, then reaching home at 10 at night. While I imagined a smooth sailing life, reality insist that I be buried with class assignments. And the more time I spend on assignments, the less time I have for my research work, which I have to do anyway regardless of my reports.
"In graduate life, classes are just distractions. And don't you use assignments as your excuse for not producing results" says my professor.

Damn...

But the one thing that tires me out most is....parties!!
Hahaha...well, as tired and stressed as I get from research work and assignments, I have to try to have fun whenever I can, right?

So, this is to explain those pictures of me on facebook...

You see, there's quite a large number of foreign students in my University....about 200 "aliens". And somehow, foreign students here likes to party....well, not so much Malaysians(I am the only Malaysian attending these parties), but Mexicans, Venezuelans, Thais, Vietnamese, Germans...and oh, one lonely Rwandan.
And we have these parties for any reason at all!! Someone would make a shout out, and 50 of us would turn up for the party.

Parties here are different from normal Japanese parties which mostly centers on Karaoke or drinking at Izakaya(Japanese restaurant-pub). Parties here can be described in two words, beers and dance.
At each of these parties, liquor, mainly beer and others like tequila(courtesy of the Mexicans), Japanese sake, whisky, are plentiful. After a few of these "social lubricants", we will be dancing 'merengue', a kind of Latin America dance which involves a guy twirling a girl round and round to a music which has a distinctive beat. Yes, I can somewhat, more or less dance to the beat...although I'm nowhere nearly as good as the "professionals" here...haha.

Anyway, yeah...I have a lot of fun here. Through the parties I get to meet plenty of people, among them are some of my most memorable friends. Not just "beer buddies" or "dance partners" but friends with whom I can have intelligent conversations with. Friends I can share an innocent laugh with...
Pol, Omar, Joe, Karel, Yumiko, Megumi, Waen, Hiroko, Aline...the list goes on...

And there's another party next week...man...I am busy...haha.

At the end of my studies here, I think I'll be graduating with masters in "entertainment" instead of engineering.

But seriously...I'm doing serious work on normal days.
Ehem....not that I'm trying to sound like a hardworking graduate student here...heh heh.

Return from hiatus...

I haven't blogged for quite some time now...
For those who have been following my blog since year 1, you might notice that my blogs will be on hiatus every year from the January to May period. The reason is plainly laziness, procrastination, didn't have the mood, too busy...but still, it all comes to the same time of the year. So yeah...I was on hiatus again.

Anyway, the last time I blogged was about my trip to Tokyo, which happened in January.

Well, it's not that my life has been THAT boring since January...in fact, a lot of things have happened. Just didn't blog about it...
Boring, mundane, everyday stuff...just can't be bothered.

Well, there was one thing though. A bitter sweet memory.
As some of you may know, I found love...lost it. But found it again...
Nothing interesting here, right?? =p

Anyway, now that I am a graduate student, I've been mostly busy...staying in lab until 9.30 p.m everyday...I sometimes spend my Saturdays in lab!! Yeah...life as a masters student is really quite busy. I do enjoy research anyway so, busy, but not all that stressful...

But as busy as I am, I try to have fun whenever I can...

Been attending quite a lot of parties and more parties...
I think I may have increased my tolerance towards beer, and I've learned quite a few dances as well...^^

Well, I've attended parties before in the previous years, but this year is special as I got to meet quite a few interesting people who really made a big impression. People whom I will not forget forever...except guys maybe. I tend to forget guys...haha.

Well, will blog about more things from now on.

Peace out!!