Just when I thought you were weird...

Having been tagged by The Remarkable Amy (by the way, check out her newly "refurbished" site Re:make!).

I am now obligated to lay bare a list of Six Weird Things about myself for all to see and criticize. I don't know how many people I would have scared off with this post....

1) I used to love killing rabbits in the name of science, but what I was interested in was not the study of the animal itself, but to marvel at my talent of carving little white socks out of their paws without damaging or staining it with blood...

Disclaimer: I have since ceased to do the above, not even thinking of doing it, ever again!

2) When I eat raisins, I would first chew off the top of the raisin itself, then pop it in my mouth, eat its flesh, and in the end, the skin. Feels good.

3) I smell my cat's forehead before lightly brushing my lips against its fur and kissing it.

Again a disclaimer: My cats take regular baths.

4) I am lazy when it comes to washing my socks. I usually wear them for a while, deliberately "purge" them and then I will buy new ones!

5) I wear my favourite fancy shoes around the apartment after waking up to make me happy for the rest of the day!!

6) I wear a pointy hat everywhere I go and tell people that I have an antenna on my head and I that am telekinetic and psychic and that i can establish contact with human beings and animals and aliens alike anytime, everywhere.




p.s. Ok feel free to tag yourselves and write away!! Tell me your weirdest secrets!

Loving Indie

How should I start this entry?

I have had the honour to have my old friend Indeterminacy publish one of my own photos on his site (for New Year, no less! Thank you!!) as inspiration for original one-minute short stories by Indie, the king himself and fellow bloggers who are as always, brilliant at it!

Here's the picture!



Ok that's a bottle of Limoncello (zesty lemon liquor from Sicily) or what I call Liquid Gold that I am absolutely crazy about. At first sip, you'll first be greeted by the amazing fragrance of thousands of lemons that you could easily lose yourself in. The liquor itself tastes sweet and tangy but surprises you with a jolt of real warmth as the liquid makes its way through the esophagus, soothing the nerves and leaving you in bliss. And then you will know in your heart that you would kill for another sip or two. Limoncello is the essense of Life itself.

Word of caution: It should only be drunk straight and chilled. No ice cubes!! No mixing!!

Anyway, my version would never match yours, Indie but here you go!

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Greg was tired of life. After 2 divorces and a string of failed relationships behind him after the latest divorce from his vicious, mean ex-wife Martha, Greg was beginning to lose hope. Not one woman seemed to want to call him after the first date! He felt rejected and betrayed. What went wrong, Greg kept asking himself, as his self-esteem startes to dip lower and lower... Well, indeed he was having the custody of his two young sons, as Martha was determined not to take this burden with her. They are very charming and polite little boys, and no one would have rejected him because of that.

So Greg went home defeated to seek comfort with a glass of wine, one that he has kept for special occasions. And at that, a glass of scotch too. Well, he wasn't supposed to be drinking so much, as he had a little of a breath problem and drinking and eating strong-smelling food would leave him with a bad breath for the next few days. And no one likes an alcoholic. No one wanted him, so what the heck, so Greg thinks. As Greg tumbled through his front door, the children's nanny, a plain, bespectacled and shy but clumsy girl named Brenda, who at the age of 29 still doesn't have a boyfriend. She's a nice girl and Greg knew it, but he had never taken notice of her... as men, as shallow as it may seem, are still very much prioritizing a girl's looks rather than her personality.

As Greg entered through the door in a daze, he stepped on a pail of water that Brenda has left there unintentionally and Brenda went running towards him, to try to save him from falling, but both of them fell flat on the floor in an embrace. Everything seems to be moving so slowly and then when their lips touched, though it wasn't intended to be that way, magic happened! The whole room bursted into lemons!! This kiss with Brenda was the most amazing he had ever had! It was fresh and tangy, but at the same time, sweet... and Brenda's lips were warm and inviting. Greg was suddenly transported to the beautiful island of Sicily and as hard as Greg tried to rub his eyes and wake up from this beautiful dream, he could only see Brenda and notice how she was now bathed in golden light, just like a good bottle of limoncello should be.

They fell in love right away and began spending time with each other everyday, never to tire of each other. Greg felt younger and happier than ever as he has finally found his elizir of life. And he lived spellbound by the limoncello goddess until the very last day of his life.

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Please go to Indeterminacy to read his and fellow's bloggers take on this pic! Brilliant posts.....

Another amazing story that Monsieur Indeterminacy had written from another photo donated by me: The Melon Story. Enjoy!!

p.s. The name Greg was inspired by my previous boss, though I do not know why I used it.

p.p.s. The homemade limoncello that I have been making turned out great! Very proud of myself :o)


(Homemade goodness)

Temporarily lost

A very happy New Year to all of you!

I am starting my 1st blog entry of the year with a few pics of snow in Kyoto. I have never seen snow before in my life, so if snow isn't that exciting to you, please humour me for once :o)






I have never been in full realization of the fact that I am now living in a foreign country until very much recently. Being in Japan for the past 9 months had always give me a false illusion that I am back home and that things had never changed at all (except for the freaking language barrier, and weird japanese men talking to himself in the train or the random lewd old men that you have the pleasure to meet every now and then). Almost everyone I see around here is yellow-skinned, I still see the odd headscarf wearing women (mostly Indonesian students) just like I do back home. Everyone talks to me as if I am a local despite the fact that I struggle to find ways of expressing myself in japanese language. And also despite the fact that I am always with gaijins (foreign people in japanese) who speaks better than me, most of whom have been learning this language for years, I am still the one being spoken to! Discrimination at its best but good practice opportunity, I know, but don't you think I should feel very much at home?

That was what I felt like UNTIL............

.... last week, I went to get new prescriptions for my glasses as my eyesight was failing. I handled myself very well, trying my very best to construct decent sentences, polite enough but also friendly as not to alienate the opthalmologist (the japanese language has too much protocol associated to it, and I am supposed to be careful of certain grammar usage). I was doing okay, until when my eyecare professional moved me to this machine (I don't know the name..) which shows rows of alphabets which I was supposed to read outloud as the opthalmologist adjusted the lens to get my prescription perfect. After some small talk, we began the test... and instead of the usual roman alphabets, I had to read hiragana. I burst out laughing, not much about the test, but at myself for finally realizing about where I am after so long, for real.

And at a count down party at our favourite Sam & Daves (new Kyoto branch!) yesterday night (this morning??) what more of a better way to start the year but to countdown in japanese... jyu, kyuu, hachi, nana, roku, go, yon, san, ni.... ichi!

Happy New Year to you fine folks! 明けましておめでとう！