Tokyo Wildlife

I wander and wonder around the concrete forests of Tokyo. It is magnificiently advanced yet it is just a transformed equivalent of a normal wildlife. Its rivers are paved and concrete, with fishes as vehicles that swim through and through around unending brooks and streams. Its eagles soar high above the clouds, featherless and roaring, as planes. Tokyo lights are far more brighter and neon because stars and moons were hanged over its lamp posts. Imprisoned for eternity, they form constillations over bridges and highways. Its inhabitants are of elvenkind; fair, white, and delicate, working from dawn till night. And in the hollows of their concrete, leafless, lifeless trees, they burrow for gold, tirelessly and senselessly. Then in the downfall of their strength, they head for home to rest only to be devoured in the belly of the subway serpentine train.

Reality Bites

I miss Philippines. Yup. And I'm dying to go home. I just arrived here in Japan last March and my four-month stay is like hell. The pressure, stress, and everything is not helping me to encourage myself to hold on to Japanese lifestyle and work attitude. Discrimination? hmmm, quite rampant and obvious. Some of my filipino friends agreed with me about it but I just can't agree with their idea to accept these things shoved right into your nose for the sake of money. Some people would dare to kiss butts for bucks. I maybe this poor but happiness and dignity still are my top priorities. Money is not everything (though money is really something huh). The only thought that keeps me hanging on here are the trusts my superiors gave me when they choose to send me here in Japan(was it really trust, or they just dont have a choice bwehehehe). It is worth all my struggle and determination. For those butts-for-bucks people? No wonder most filipinos are nothing but foreign workers rather than domestic businessmen. No offense here really, it is just that reality bites, and I still have respect for your individual opinion. I just could not care less.

Million-dollar Baby Back Ribs

Here I am, after two weeks of stay in ShinKawasaki. Well, what do I get? First a comfortable place; no more wholes-on-my-door door but a solid but seemingly unbreakable one,cozy bathroom and kitchen, and well-ventilated living room(did I mention, internet connection?). But of course, its not the best room in Japan, because only the best things are free. It costs me 8Kyen for its monthly commodity fee. And I just had with me a phone line for a 4Kyen per month, a 22Kyen bicycle, an Ipod, shoes, clothes, watches, sunglasses, and etc (I think I have been so extravagant for buying all of these things). Anyway, I wont be buying all of these things again in the coming months (promise). It is what I call "buying happiness to temporarily suppress homesickness" thing. I think I just had my million-dollar baby back ribs with special sauce, lemon, wine, and a little bit of peppermint tingling on it when I really crave for "humba tagalog" and "tinono-an" (Dont ask, they are filipino cuisines).

One-centavo Soup

May 13. The dreaded day of transfer from the "rotten" NishimachiHouse to my permanent bachelor type apartment in ShinKawasaki. Dreaded? Hell yeah. I hate things like packing things up, making up my mind for another routine, and adjustments to a new place. I know I am looking forward for this transfer but somehow the thought of packing, then talking to a Japanese taxi driver to go head for the transfer place (saying "hai hai" when you really do not know what he means), updating my ARC (Alien Registration Card), losing my Nishimachi house daily cash allowance, losing my free commodities in Nishimachi house (and actually paying for them with my own budget when living in ShinKawasaki).

You may wonder(if you are witty enough huh) that I used the word "rotten" with Nishimachi house. Well, it may be an overstatement, but guess what, having a door in my room with two wholes on it (one is covered with an F4 boyband poster), staying at the fifth floor on a no-elevator building (even hostels now have one), and a shower room in the basement(it would take years for me to get up and have a shower), could somehow justify my situation. To top all that, my air conditioner is just nothing but a thing sticking at the wall(If you know what I mean). Well, what would I expect on a one-centavo soup anyway?

The Sisters I Never Had

They are my closest friends; confidante, loyalist, financer, secret-taries, you name it. They are my perennial friends. We can't tell when our friendship had started but we can tell it would never end. Ray Lyn, I call her "sexy" because she has this supermodel swaying and movements of her hips and arms altogether to conspire her qualities of a fine lady. Lyn, I call her "miss lyn", has a cutee charm of a wholesome socialite woman. The kind of lady you'll mistake at a first glance for "Oh could be an haciendero's daughter" thing. But both of them are my "audience-impact" of my jokes, whines, and moods. They are the sisters I never had. :D