silent night

Merry Christmas, it was snowing heavily in the northern Japan. My first white Christmas i guess.
did some winter sports 2 days continuously, as a result, knees pain. Especially for my right knee, damn, injured on the last 5km of my half marathon run. But it was fun, running together with thousands of people.
Every year i stayed in room during Christmas eve, switch on the radio, listening to Christmas songs, read some books, very peaceful.
I just love the feeling of staying home, reading some books about "what is Christmas".. relaxing..

i like "silent night" covered by Andrea Bocelli
i like "santa claus is coming to town"
freezing weather and the heater is on
look out to the balcony
it's not snowing, yet the feeling is nice
i close my eyes, nursering my knees
thinking about the to-do list of my coming new year holiday
by one week holiday,
it doesn't always mean travels
i'll make it as a kick-off week for me
korean language, french...
one year has passed, yet i'm still not learning that
the determination is not strong
i've failed to start learning
it will never fail again, as a part of my dream


running a marathon is not just because i like to run, is not because i'm healthy, but it trains my determination in life, it teaches and reminds me to not give up in whatever i do in life. I'm a very very positive thinking person, finishing a marathon reminds me to remain positive to the end of everything.

thick snowing was falling 新潟、日本

I spent my 24th December here, in this snow town

cold enough to snow

I miss autumn, but winter has arrived.

it's cold enough to snow, when i go skiing and snowboarding.

It's Christmas soon, and i wish i have a place called home.

I have it, not in Japan, but in Malaysia.

waiting for the arrival of spring, a gathering with my family in Hong Kong

waiting for the arrival of sakura, waiting for my best friend to visit me

waiting for the last sunset of 2011, as it's the time to think about past & future

waiting to learn Korean, as after Hong Kong, i wish to visit Korea

I've a "to-do list"

• Cycling to Kyoto, Osaka & Hiroshima. Once i have a plan, i'll buy a bicycle and go.
• Invite my family over to Japan, and take them to Kyoto and Hokkaido
• Gonna meet my family at Hong Kong on March next year, if have time, i wanna go visit Hong Kong university of science & technology.
• Wish i can meet with my Professor here, who will come to Kyoto University March next year
• Gonna find out and get to know some Professors in Tokyo U & Kyoto U to ask for advices.
• Mountain climbing to Minami Alps, center part of Japan. But couldn't go now coz need to find someone go with me, it's dangerous to climb alone there...
• Wanna climb a snow mountain during winter, but i need somebody to go with me too... very difficult to find one.
• Gonna finish reading all the books i bought.
• i'm an electrical hardware design engineer, i feel happy that i have had a few small accomplishments during the past few months. I love my job, i do overtime a lot and i enjoy what i'm doing. The spirit will continue! the objective is "learn everything"! ganbatte....

And my "to-do list" is still a long way to go. But i wish Santa will help me to fulfill some of the things in the list. The things i'm doing & the things i wish to do are very different from a normal 24 years old guy but i just like it and i'll just do it.

Autumn & dreams

it's Autumn

10th December 2011

I went again to the same place

to amaze the the color of yellow

to calm my mind and my body

the feeling was peaceful

a small break from a busy daily schedule

to flashback my past year

to reemphasize myself things in life

to re-acknowledge myself the things i wanna do in life

i have dreams

the dreams that won't come true if i play facebook every night

someone told me

dreams, depend on what you are doing every night

I wanted to learn Korean, and yet, I fail to turn some pages every night

I was satisfied with my first year in Japan

I've learned a lots in my job and my life here

i was scolded directly before by my boss 

i was down, but the determination never ends

there are dreams

the places i wanna go

the mountains i wanna climb

the adventures that i wanna explore

from Minami Alps to Aurora 

from a sensor that can predict earthquake

from languages around the world

 Everybody has different satisfactions in life

some eat the best foods available, and satisfied

some travel to the places they love, and satisfied

some stay together forever with the one they love, and satisfied

some accomplish their assignments in life, and satisfied

may i have all above? i'm greedy

I love this song!

三年了。。。

原来，已经三年了。。。
经历了人生中最难受的数个月
当年的12月5日，你就在我身边离开了
最后一次见到你，只有48个小时
那最后的48小时，都没怎么睡过，仿佛7天7月
那最后的48小时，你已经无法与我说话了
但我懂，你都听得见我所说的一切
当时的我，热中于电路设计，1个半月的假期都呆在大学
不停的研究，不停的努力，只希望你有一天可以见到我毕业
可以见到我在事业上的成就
真的好想，好想与你分享我在日本的一切
可是都没机会了
对了，想告诉你，经历了4个月又2天，我昨天终于完成了在東芝的第一分电路设计
不懂你听不听得见，但还是希望你听得见。。。
是你教会了我不干坏事，不乱花钱，要谦虚，时时刻刻牺牲小我，帮助他人
你还告诉了我要懂得满足，不过于追求名利，保持低调。。。
这些话，我都铭记在心，这3年，我都非常听话，多做善事
这生命中充满了挑战，特别是在异国异乡
没了你，好多时候都感到很寂寞，很空虚
但我会继续努力，妈，我爱你
希望今后一切都可以非常顺利
加油，頑張ります。

Suddenly miss my school life

Suddenly miss my school life and feel like wanna write this.
Recently contacted some secondary school friends, feel very warm....
i just know that i miss my room near my school, jit sin very much...
ah.. i just miss lot's of my friends there. hope everyone is fine now...

my room in form 5.... studied like hell for SPM... bad educational system in my country.. lol... 

the happiest moments are every friday evening when my mom came to fetch me home from this room! =D

and before going home, we will go carrefour and my mom will pay for the things i bought, so nice!!

my next school is called pahang matriculation college. ate vegetable meals everyday with my classmate. Went to Mr. Chew's house a lot when i have emotional problems... lol....

and this was during university malaya 3rd year bachelor degree life. A sad story. The only "cool" part of doing R&D is when u go present and showcase your products. and before you do it, it might be 1 or few years working nonstop in the lab.. what's a pity life there... lol...

Then it's now... Tokyo... Toshiba... Global Recruitment.... 

happy, because i love my job...

sad, because most of my friends not coming...

and write til here, i finally realized why i miss my school life.... =)

Things i learned in japan for the past 1 year

• Staying alive is not so easy in japan with various natural disasters.
• Japanese buildings are strong n almost immune to strong earthquakes. but tsunami is another thing
• Each city here has her own unique characteristics n cultures
• Japanese are NEVER on time... they always arrive earlier and leave late. 
• everywhere has cards... u have credit cards, member cards, point cards, restaurant cards, cinema cards, karaoke cards, pharmacy cards bla bla bla... we like cards! and i've LOTS of cards!
• the japanese bullet train, shinkansen is fucking awesome!... but expensive
• huge quantity of magazines, books, novels... available.. a very knowledgeable society.
• quoted a sentence from the comic book "crayon shin chan" saying by Sin Chan's neighbor's nephew, Robert-- "why japanese need to learn others' cultures like english when they already have a lot of awesome cultures in hand?" --- i couldn't agree more. 
• karaoke here is expensive, but if u check carefully, get a member card and choose a right time to go, it can be pretty cheap.
• No vegetarian shops here for me, sad.... and squash courts here is expensive, i'm still finding a cheap one. 
• The ability, way of thoughts that make them produce something from nothing.. 
• everything produced here has its own behind-the-scene touching story. Even the ticket sensing machines in the train stations were designed with a long period of hard works and determinations of the past few tens of years.
• to get into the points in a conversation here is extremely difficult. 
• watching the variety shows here... everybody laughing but not me... japanese jokes are difficult to understand. 
• u turn on the TV, every channel is variety show... 
• in winter, most people wear dark color jackets/coats
• Lots of japanese songs are very very nice and meaningful! 
• 2 single man and woman don't sit and have lunch together in factory. 3 above ok! 
• they walk faster then me!
• know how to speak english here sounds very high class
• know how to speak mandarin here is also "sugoi".
• in my country, suicide often means cut ur wrist, hang urself or jump of a building... here, suicide often means jump train or go mount fuji forest. lol
• the renowned suicide line, 中央快速線(rapid central line) delay frequently.
• "one piece" is more interesting when watching in Japanese language.
• oversea holidays sometimes are cheaper then travels inside japan. 
• Japanese Yen (currency) keep going stronger! people r sad but i'm very happy! lol
• The number of Jogging/running events here is like number of football matches.
• To get the chance to participate in Tokyo Marathon is more difficult then finding a job here.
• Engineering/Technology companies here often making losses in lots of infrastructure/technology business. -- reason: lots of things they build are simply so reliable that it just don't break. so no need to purchase a new one. lesson learned: build something easier to break, just like the nuclear power plant.
• it's very difficult to find a food court here.
• smartphone and iphone are different. mobile phone(携帯電話) and smartphone(スマートフォン） are also different. 
• lots of japanese songs are very meaningful. Below is one of them. I like it so much!

After almost 1 year in Japan

after 11 and a half months staying in Japan, lot's of things to share

• i bought my iphone4 here one week after i arrived. I didn't quite like the phone because it don't support a lot of technology i'm using, like Flash contents. But since everybody bought it so i bought it too.
• i bought my Sony NEX-5 Camera after i received my first salary payment 1 month later. Fortunately made it to the awesome yellow leaves autumn season in japan. 
• attended Japanese training classes for 3 months after i arrived here together with a bunch of great friends from lots of different countries.
• experienced the first earthquake in my life about 1 and a half month after i arrived. It was just a small one, one of my friends even joked about it, saying it was too weak, he was hoping for some stronger quakes and more fun. I don't think that was a good idea. 
• after 3 months, performed my first presentation in japanese. Acted in drama too with friends. 
• On job training, performed my 2nd presentation in japanese to my department. It was about my thesis in my university, University of Malaya. Prepared for a night or so, my title was "Audio Visual Recognition System". 
• Finally understand the sentence of "don't joke about bad things". 11th March, 9.0 Richter Scale Earthquake. Strong like hell. Ran out of the building. Tsunami and Nuclear explosion followed. Many people died. Feel sad.
• went to my first solo trip in japan for around 10 days. Destination was Osaka. Objective, to stay there, avoid and monitor the nuclear explosion situation. Of course i was carrying my credit card that time so if any deadly accident happened, i could fly home from Osaka. 
• Finally i didn't go home, i stayed in Japan. I went back Tokyo after 10 days. This was the time too i experienced my first shinkansen trip at 300km/h (japanese bullet train).
• attended 1 month of Corporate Entry Program of my company with other new japanese employees in April. Experienced the lowest point in my life here as i realised how weak was my japanese communication ability. 
• Attended some training programs in May and June. For example robotics, programming etc. 
• In july, went back malaysia for 2 weeks for the first time, met lots of friends and my family. Drove to Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Singapore to meet my friends. Spent lots of money.
• July, another lowest point in my life. Shot by my boss about my attitude of learning and adapting to the environment. I was not sure what they want from me. Was feeling very down.
• August, turning point in my life here. Starting the first design project of my own for our next generation products. Feel happy again, finally getting back again to real business. 
• With my experience in university, feeling confident about the progress of my project. However, things changed. With hundreds of previous designs in the server, realizing i need to get through a lot of them, calculate and understand everyone of them in order to start my part in the project. Feeling tension again as i'm in "self learning" mode from the beginning as nobody  was free to teach me anyway. Hair turning white again. 
• reached the top of mount fuji in August. From the 1st station until 10th station(top).
• keep on progressing with my first project. For designer, normally we need to plan for months before really start drawing something on the computer screen.
• Attended some R&D presentations of my company. Received lots of information about latest technology. Felt refresh and beginning to have some new ideas for my project.
• Went to CEATEC Japan in october, a mega technology exhibition. Felt that japanese are really great and clever in science and technology. Inspired by everything.
• Keep on progressing with my project. Realized that the expectation from people on me is higher. I need to perform. my first design project is exactly what the interviewers asked me in my interview session last year. The interview question sounded like this: I need you to do this, how long can u finish it?. My answer : 1 year.
• Can i really do it in 1 year? If i cannot, there is no point i'm here. I need to do it. 
• Attended the first seminar in japanese. Feel more comfortable with the language now. Watching lots of TV programs, news, listening to radios, musics to improve my japanese.
• Passed my JLPT N2 exam (Japanese Language Test Level2). Aiming for JLPT N1 end of this year. 
• Failed to get the entry into next year's Tokyo Marathon. feeling disappointed. Too many people apply for the marathon. I'll try to find another marathon event to participate during this coming winter.
• Bought my first CD in Japan. Angela Aki's "White".
• I finally know where is my favourite place in Japan. -- Maruzen bookstores.
• Still single, available, 24 years old. i've lot's of career planning for my future. But i need advices. I'm not clear enough about myself.
• met people from around the world, realized lot's of differences. 
• I feel japanese treating me better then people back in my country. Tell me i'm wrong.
• My target in 1st year here not yet been fulfilled. i was lazy. i'm lazy. but i'll not lazy.

The journey keeps on going. 

Convocation and memories

It's so so so fast!... one year & 2 months ago, it was my convocation. This week, again, convocation of my university, University of Malaya. It was deep imprinted into my mind, one of the sweetest moments. That's 1 year ago. I remembered clearly the hyperactive me in my first year, 2nd year... with series of mental challenges, my life was changed completely and i led a completely different life in 3rd year & final year. I told some friends, that i was continuing my final year projects until the last few days before i left the university, which was on the end of June, all of them thought that i nearly failed to graduate, and all of them advised me that i should finish my projects a few months earlier and wondering why i took so long in my projects =D...^^.. I like people asking me this question =).... I left for Japan a few months later on Toshiba Global Recruitment, began another completely new life.  this week, a lot of friends are graduating... I miss them so much. I've learned a lot from my friends, they were the main energy sources i had during university. some work together in a hot & toxic room, some sleep together during projects in faculty's car park. some staying in the same college, same family, same organizations in the college where i was staying in the same block, same floor, same side for 4 years. Some willing to come when i gave training, even though most of them not sure what i was rubbishing about. some are my buddies, we met once in half year but we talk until midnight everytime we met. Some doing projects in Power Lab, always open door and let me in as i wanna get some rest in that air-conditioned lab. Some willing to seat in my car as i don't want to drive alone back to penang. Some helped me to buy lunch and dinner... Some participated in schneider competition together, thinking green everyday... Some playing squash with me, although we were not strong, but somehow we worked hard and got a medal. etc etc etc etc..... there are still lots of memories in UM... i wish to be there this week.....! unfortunately....

If you ask me where i love the most, i would say it is university of malaya. If we ask ourselves, did we live our lives to the full during 4 university years? i would say yes. I feel that my university life was very very interesting with so many friends and i don't regret every single day i spent in UM... =D... i wish everybody the same! Last but not least, i have a nice Professor, Dr. Hew, who allowed me to sleep peacefully in the lab everytime i felt lazy to go home =D...

Happy convo to everyone!

来た！ The album of Angela Aki

来た！Angela Aki のアルバム.....

I'm often listening to her old songs, "手紙" and "Kiss me goodbye"

When i was watching the NHK TV special program "宇宙の渚"

literally means "the shore of the universe" 

Angela Aki's new song "One Family" was the theme song of the program

A camera, specially developed by NHK, was brought to the International Space Station

Carried around by Japanese Astronaut 古川聡さん

The beautiful live videos of our beloved planet were shared together with the world

It was a very touching moment where we feel for the place we are living

Plan Execution

Autumn is getting close. 

almost 11 months staying in Japan

if u ask me how i feel

my answer is "great"...

no place is better then here for gaining knowledge

i don't do many travels, i don't search for delicious local foods to eat

yet everyday i'm happy searching for knowledge here

in the bookstores, internet, 100yen shops

coz i've learned in university, that we can't stop learning

time is gold

u'll never know how valuable it is if u just let it be

i'm occupied here with the books i want, surrounded by the knowledge i need

all i need to do, all we need to do, is just open my eye, our eyes, and look at it

is just that simple, we have the decision to make

everything is depended on ourselves

whether we do it, or we don't

if we do, let's keep going!

And i'm keeping myself going too! 2 are not enough! i need more LOTTE chocolate! going to buy again tomorrow.... lol

目標。。。Target

First of all, congrats to my university, Universiti Malaya (UM) for listed at no. 167 at the latest world universities ranking published last week. although at 167, it's not a great achievement compare to other universities throughout the world, but i still like it. Having graduated last year, not able to continue making contributions to the university anymore. Hope it will continue to shine, i'll always support the university. Recently surrounded by controversy of the resignation of university staffs. From what i read in the newspaper, the reason was "chances of staffs promotion" became more difficult since the introduction of the new system. In my opinion, if a lecturer/professor have such an opinion in an educational world, he should not continue to be in UM, he should quit immediately, he has no more business here, he will only become a trouble to the university. I always support the policy of Vice chancellor, Prof Ghauth Jasmon. He is the one who can make sure the university becomes a force in the making of a developed country in years to come.

But not in a university doesn't mean i cannot continue to learn. I'm learning too, the difference is, in a different language! But oh i really really love this new language that i've learned. The language has what i couldn't find in the whole Malaysia, the bookstore here are full of wonders. A simple example such as below....

Here is a magazine for Camera building. It teaches you how to make a camera from nothing. The contents is simple, easy to read and useful for beginner. And there are much more other than this... I'm very glad that i've chances to access to a knowledgeable society like this. By learning this new language, it's wonderful.

Also for foreigner, these are the books that have become my night time supper.

And of course, this one too!

I'll feel sorry to myself if i do not read them. There are so much books here that i can buy. Normally i do not spend much of my salary on foods and travels, i spend on books and sports. Although i still cannot understand every words in them, but i will, that's target.

One more, a wonderful place, with hundreds of running events across the country every year, hundred of full marathon events, what a healthy lifestyle. I'm going to participate in a few.... I'll feel sorry to myself too if i come to Japan and do not participate in Marathon. =D

Mount Fuji Journey

A great weekend indeed... Here is my journey to the famous Mount Fuji... With original plan was to go with friends and climbing from 5th Station of mount fuji at altitude of 2300meter.. unfortunately, with raining and unstable weather forecast, the trip was cancelled. This allowed me to change my plan and started from 1st station at 1450m. With last minute plan, i decided to go on very early morning of saturday. My journey started from Tsurumi, the place i staying, to the town of fujiyoshida with some trains...

Here is the "tough“ fuji kyukou train that bring me to the town of fujiyoshida..

The entrance of the yoshida trail at the town of fujiyoshida, altitude of 850m

I've decided not to take the bus to the 5th station, instead, i took another "bus" to the 1st station at altitude of 1450m, 30 mins from fujiyoshida town. At first, i was expecting a BUS, you know, it's climbing season in August! oh my God, when i saw my "bus", it was not a bus! it was a van! i guess there was very very less people start climbing from 1st station. In the van, there were 4 human included me. 1 was the driver, 2nd was a granny who staying there... 3rd was a young guy who seems to stay there too.. the last one was me... the van took us to a place named "umagaeshi", the starting point of 1st station, i was the only climber in that van.. hooray, climbing alone...

the first station! it was raining heavily, without hesitation, i started my journey in the lonely forest without doing warm up because i lazy as it was raining heavily... after a while, i realized i've injured my left leg, shit.... so for the whole journey i was carrying the injury to the top.. after 1 hours and 50mins climb and nearly lost in the middle of nowhere in one place, i've reached 5th station! at 2300m. gonna rest for a few hours before continue and to dry my clothes.

So for the next few hours, i was resting and eating energy bar. In the whole journey, from bottom to top of the mountain, i've eaten 2 kitkat chocolate bars and 7 soyjoy fruits bars and 1.5liter of isotonic drinks... nothing else, so while waiting, i took some photos

After having enough rest, i started my journey again from 7.15pm, from 2300m til 3775m. Some parts were tough and some parts of the mountain were easy. There were lot's of people and traffic jam when i started to climb. But without much rests, i decided to climb as fast as possible to grab a good place to see sunrise at the top of the mountain. Hence, i tried my best and finally reached 8.5 station! here it was! the critical point! i've decided to climb continuously until the top without stopping at 9th station, this allowed me to pass lot's of people and finally, when i reached there, i was one of the first few and managed to grab the last available front row seat at the edge of the mountain! great! but i've to sit down and wait for 3 hours before sunrise at temperature of 5 degree celcius... very very cold...

It was cloudy sky so not able to see the sun but the whole journey was satisfying.. =D

My check point time at every station!

oh! I love you my beloved slipper from Malaysia! climb to the top by wearing this! a little bit cold at 5 celcius but it made a huge contribution in my journey =D

梦想

每个人，心里都存在着梦想。有谁的梦想是想在高空中飞翔呢？我也很想像小鸟般飞呀飞，无忧无虑，自由自在。但现实里，却不想因工作而飞，只想一个人，或两个人，为休息而飞，为知识而飞...心里一直都在徘徊，会不会遇见一位同样理想，同样梦想的朋友，知己或伴侣，一起飞翔呢？若有一天，真的给我遇上了，就会好好珍惜...加油吧！决定是自己的，路，怎么走，也是自己的抉择。。。梦想，在我心里，永不消失。。。

Fireworks, Malaysians, Harajuku

6 working days in a week, which day was the best? yeah, it was saturday... less-than-10-phone-calls-per-day day... very relaxing... can concentrate fully on my own design project... and it was a no-overtime day... finished sharp on 4.45pm... headed to Meijijingu gaien for fireworks show with my long-time-no-see fellow malaysian friends... the original plan was to watch the fireworks together for 1 hour, at the end of the day we watched it separately because couldn't find each other, the area was too crowded... So we headed to Harajuku for some coffee breaks (for yu xuan, it was lunch) after the show... talked a lot, until the last train of the day...

everybody's life becoming more and more interesting... talking to fellow malaysians is always the best thing to do... no need to worry about using which language, just campur and rojak every language available to us... i believe for malaysians, using only a single language to have a conversation is quite difficult, that's why we take times to adapt to a foreign culture.. lol...

wish everybody best of luck!

challenges i faced in my job

In everywhere, there are challenges... i like to listen to people's challenges and difficulties so that i can learn from them... whoever we are, whatever we do, we are all trying to help human live better... we may pray different God, but our DNA are the same... we maybe physically different from animals and plants, but our fundamental building matters are the same, atoms... in this world, what we see may be different from person to person, but we are all matters... and of course, there are anti-matters too.... for my working life, i believed that i've learned enough technical knowledge in my university that i could survive easily anywhere... but no, the things i experiencing now are completely different. Do you get frustrated when you don't know what all people are talking about in a meeting? yes, i do get frustrated, everytime... Do you get frustrated when u can't catch the caller's name properly when answering calls in the office? yes, i do get frustrated, everytime, everyday... i hope i can do better but that's all my ability, for now.... these are just the 2 examples out of many... my mood & emotion were lowest at some points in the past, thinking about what was wrong with me... how could i not able to understand the orders given to me... that's suck..

that are challenges... and to solve it, there is no other way, just keep on fighting... i'll answer the calls & target myself to be able to catch every single name mentioned in the phone calls, without asking for a repeat... i'll get familiar with every on going projects to catch a thing or two in meetings.... under my boss's so called "work-directly-without-training" scheme, i'll complete the first design project that i received.. before deadline!.. that are my targets and challenges, found myself more energetic after 2 weeks of holiday, thanks to my family and friends...

well, apart from challenges, workplace do offer a little bit more... just like this! souvenirs!!! =D =D =D.... u have no idea how much they like to travel.. and bring home cute souvenirs everytime! =D

Holiday Ended

I would love to extend my holiday... don't feel like wanna come back to japan.... as the saying goes, when u lost someone, only u know how important the person means to u... only when i leave my country, i know how much the country means to me... it was a happy journey... i know i've a home, family, friends (really nice friends)... hope to meet everybody again next time... arghhh! need to work again... i need to learn to enjoy my work.. so far not so enjoy coz language gaps... hopefully everything going well from now on... =D jiayou....

haha, i think i looked happier during holiday.... need to show this kind of happiness during work too! ganbatte to myself....

memories and friends in penang, KL, melaka & Singapore

back at this familiar land for holiday... i traveled to my hometown, Penang... and to Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Johor Bahru and Singapore... to meet my old friends... with limited times, i couldn't meet plenty of them... there are lot's of friends out there that i not yet meet, yet i only have 2 weeks staying here... i love listening to friends' stories... what they have done in the past few months... interesting events that they have encountered... so nice!!! anyway, this was my first visit to singapore... i "accidentally" drove my car into singapore... so this was also my first driving experience in an oversea country! haha... took some photos at Marina Bay... with fireworks!

friends

friends, a very important element in one's life... sometimes, i may not appear to have a lot of friends... especially in Japan, i'm just like a "passerby A"...lying low in my life, not many people know me here =D... plus i don't drink, so i don't make extra friends... but that's me, i've my own ways of living, with my dreams firmly placed deep in my heart, i know what to do... but for me, i'm glad that i do have a lot of precious and important friends in my life... i've friends who have become lawyers.... they fight for justice, they are great talkers and we can talk about anything from politics to sciences... next i've friends who surely will become politicians in the future.... they are leaders in their respective fields, they help others and they fight for our futures, without self-interest... i've friends who became doctors... they save people, working hard, even gave me free "medical consultation" at the time when i needed the most.... i've friends who became engineers... have learnt a lot from them while still in the university... i've friend in a lot of places living lives to the full... i've met professors who've become just as my friends... guided me and gave me opportunities in life... i've many other friends... they are friends i treasure the most... =D

2 things here i'm doing nowadays.... improving my technical skills, knowledge... especially in the area of signal processing... on the work times and off the work times... 2nd, foreign languages... after japanese, there are korean, french, german and spanish... =D... if there is anyone out there who share the same thoughts as me.... let's be friends!

a challenge in life! new language....

when i'm wearing yellow, i know i'm not alone =D

one month before my first holiday in Malaysia

Think back about the journey, it's already a few months, waiting...day dreaming...thinking about my home country... it's really being a while.. it doesn't make me less patriotic by staying here... i still have a dream and it will definitely come true... i've taken 2 weeks off in July to visit my home country...it will be the first time since i arrived here... already bought a lot of souvenirs for friends and family... hoping to see them... apart from my hometown, penang, i've already planned a trip to kuala lumpur, melaka, johor and singapore... will be driving my old car for 2 weeks... looking forward to drive a car for the first time in a few months... i have had enough of walking... well...for the working life here, people work a lot and drink a lot... came early and go home late, drink at expensive restaurants on friday night... that's typical life here... a lot of money came and a lot of money gone.. perhaps i need a getaway from here, a holiday in the moment like this is very welcome.... in fact, i never spend so much money in my life before... i never buy so many things in my life before... there will be lots of holiday in this coming summer, thanks to the fukushima nuclear accidents... i wish to have holiday in some other countries but just thinking about the flight ticket prices already made me dizzy... i'm looking forward for cheaper flight tickets in the future! wish the day will come... anyway, first mission of this year is malaysia... i miss my university and hometown.... wish to go there with my camera, capture down those unforgettable memories... i wish my holiday comes fast!!

working life

I almost forgot how was my university life after i came here... the memories of working in lab, slept in carpark with stenches of alcohol and hydrochloric acid, typing programs while eating, thinking about new ideas while driving, dreaming about new designs while sleeping... forcing myself to be innovative, creative.... that were the precious memories in my life... it was very comfortable, the environment... even if i work for 20 hours a day, i'd still happy, energetic & relax... it's all because, the environment was very comfortable, the people around me understand what i said, i understand my surrounding... i had no worry, concentrated in works...

back to reality, working life in japan...i'm yet to establish a comfortable environment for myself... the language barrier is still there... the cultures and daily life differences are still there... i'm not a drinking type.. i lost my ideas after drinking... that's it, the difference. thinking about lot's of things these few weeks... how to make myself comfortable.. how to find a friend who doesn't follow rules.... almost everyone following rules here, they doing what the seniors did... they doing everything they are supposed to do.. they r always not on time(always incredibly earlier)...they have same routines... same activities on friday night... except from their characteristics and appearances, i really don't know what differences they possess between them... i need a friend here who doesn't follow rules.. who will bring changes to the company and the society... as they already realized, south korea are ahead of them now... soon it will be china... the older generation seems to realize the dangers and are taking primitive measures, the younger generation seems to realize a bit too but still following the steps... it will a very good chance for south korea and china to take over the leadership in asia in the coming few years if the people here are still living as they were everyday... for myself, i hope i can establish a comfortable environment for me in the near future....

The first trip to Osaka

On the day of 11th March 2.46pm a mega earthquake occured in Japan... That was a life changing experience for everyone. Some have died and some still alive... I'm safe in Tokyo but with the explosion of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants, lot's of things have changed. For example, i went to Osaka for almost 2 weeks as the air in Tokyo was polluted with a little bit of Iodine-131 & Cesium-137. That was actually my first individual trip in my life(i went alone)...

Talking about the trip, sometimes to go alone to a trip as a backpacker is not easy... There are lots of safety issues. For example, the first thing that we need to do is to decide and book the transportation and accommodation. Transportation was ok for me as i've booked my first Shinkansen (bullet train) trip in my life. Then came the accommodation. staying alone in a foreign country is a bit... horror =D. First, i need a cheap hotel as i dont have money. A lot of hotel booking websites available on the internet. I need to get the cheapest, but some cheapest hotels do come with free extra adventures(old building, ghost stories, weird feeling...etc). So that was the enjoyable part of booking hotel => cheapest, free of ghost stories, good hotel.... if choose the wrong one, who knows what will happen during night time (-_-)|||... as i was caring passport, laptop, iphone, credit card and etc.. couldn't afford to get stolen...

but the trip was fun, i've learned how to survive, how to choose the cheapest and best options. ohya, i called my boss during my osaka trip to say hello to him and he actually advised me not to stay in those hotels with unbelievable low prices, but i was already staying...

But it was really a good experience. Bringing a backpack, caring a credit card, an iphone and a laptop and a few set of clothes, we can actually go anywhere, with the lowest price! I'll do it again next year! maybe wanna go to Europe. Actually before that i need a tablet PC... my laptop is way too heavy (2.0kg with battery)... I'm planning to buy a Toshiba dynabook with my employee points system(with points i no need pay for my laptop). 1.26kg with 11 inches screen and 11 hours battery life... i need one.

Until recently i do not know why people are obsessed with credit card... but since the trip, i'm too, love my credit card as it came in handy when i was in troubles... it was like "a card in hand, i can go anywhere"...

so that was the trip... with another shinkansen train back to tokyo (300km/h).

The day that changed everything 11st March 2011

Sometimes we don't know what our futures are. We do not have the abilities to control our futures. That was exactly what happened in this day. The most frightening day in my life. The Mega earthquake with magnitude 9.0 stroke Japan, shaking half of Japan's region. It was around 2.30pm... everything was normal... but suddenly, everything started to shake, we thought it was just a normal quake, but the longer it went, the stronger it became. We have 2 choices, either continued to stay under the table, or immediately run out of the building. Finally we made the 2nd choice. The staircases were shaking like hell. I was very afraid that something might happen. My mind was thinking about earthquake, collapse & dying.... after around 1 minute (that is very long!!) the strongest earthquake i have ever experienced ceased. Everybody was so afraid. It might happen again. I went out from the building, on the street, lot's of people. People are scared, cars are stopped. Everybody was thinking what the hell was going on. This day was not 2012, it was not the end of the world, but why on earth that such a strong quake happened!

We couldn't change the reality, it had happened. strong aftershocks followed immediately. We not dare went back into the building. i unlocked my iphone, check the earthquake info in Weathernews. Oh my God, roughly magnitude of 7 was felt in some parts of Japan. And the scariest thing was the epicenter of the quake : 9.0!! I thought everything was over. The quake was over and i'm still alive. i thought people in japan were like me, still alive. But i was wrong. We went to the canteen of the company, immediately switched on the TV, every channel was broadcasting live the info about earthquake. And shockingly, This was not only an earthquake, Tsunami was coming too!! when i saw the news "more then 10 meters high tsunami was coming!" i thought something was wrong with the tv broadcaster or data collected. I confirmed again & again on the TV screen, no! it was correct! in about 10 mins, Tsunami would arrive at Japan's east coast. I still thought the issue has been overblown by the broadcasters. After 10 mins, when i was watching LIVE a peacefully town destroyed by Tsunami in a matter of minutes! OMG!! what had happened?! it was not the end of the world! just a strong earthquake, what had happened?!!! it was too late for a lot people to run... it was a disaster, it was a very very sad day for japan, for the world. The frightening earthquake, the merciless tsunami! Everything was gone for tens of thousands of people. I'm still alive, but the heart was breaking... i've never seen such things in my life. i've never felt them before.... This was terrifying... I'll never forget this day in my life... It was a day of tragedy for the world.... May the victims rest in peace.

A Different Chinese New Year

On 31th January 2011, this is the last day i stayed in Toshiba Training Center for the first training program. This is just the first training program, i'm under training in my workplace now, Toshiba's Komukai factory in Kawasaki. Of course it is still a long way to go. After 2 weeks, i've to return to HRD training center for further language training, and in April, i've to go through a 1 month Orientation. Moreover, i heard from senior that in my workplace, Komukai Factory, i've to take another orientation where people will do some training like lego robot making. oh my God, i don't like this kind of training much. This week, i'm learning some basic programming and hardware designs in my workplace. oh i love my job here. Everybody is busy, include my mentor but it's ok coz i like to learn things myself. So my mentor is beginning to understand that he just need to give me some documents and i'll do the research and learn myself, haha... I like my job here and i don't wish to return to the training center for further training but i've no choice coz my japanese language is lousy =D.

I feel very comfortable while working. The feeling is just like my university's days. People told me that "oh, working is much more suffering then studying" but i don't think i agree with this as i feel at least in my case, working in my factory now is just same with doing research in UM ^^... Ya, i'm very happy with my job!! hopefully my boss will keep me for a very long time, don't send me to other department where i may need to travel around thousands of kilometers away often, which is very very tiring!!..

For the chinese new year this year, i need to work. there is no public holiday here. Just went to have a dinner with my fellow friends from Malaysia. And buy myself a little bit expensive bento to celebrate chinese new year, haha.... It's ok. I prefer to listen to chinese new year songs through internet and chat with my fellow family and friends through facebook and skype. i think it's wonderful. tomorrow i'll be going to yokohama chinatown to watch some celebration over there. will take some pictures and buy some souvenirs =D.

those are some of the equipments we prepared for the presentation =D... lol