Checking in - Part 2

Annnnd I'm back. Told you I will be checking in quite often these days.

So yeah to continue the story yesterday. Nothing is perfect in this world, and that includes our relationship. We quarreled over petty things like communication issues, our insecurities towards each other and the way we approach things. And the scariest part of quarreling is not the process itself, instead it's the point leading towards and after the quarrel. Sure, we talked about a lot of things before we started the relationship, including how to communicate with each other about our problems and how to better deal with an argument if one happens. Well, first few fights that we had, we did all that but I guess it wasn't effective, as we quarrel often and one more serious than the last. Not going to lie, and also to serve as a reminder for my future self, it was to the point where both of us were on the brink of giving up.

Fast forward to this day, we are still together, of course. With her being at USA at the time of writing this blog, I realized something that I couldn't in the past. I realized that my insecurities towards her are all for naught! Here is where I lead back to the point of me saying that, from time to time, I will tend to slide back to my old self. Yeah, sometimes the experience of my past relationship (or whatever that was) still haunts me. And times after times I wanted her to do something to prove that she loves me, when she already have. I was pathetic, I know...

So I guess it's good that I realized that, because it's time to man up and do the right thing. You have a beautiful, intelligent, and caring girlfriend, dude. She put up with all your crap for the past few months, and yet she still loves you with all her heart. Get a grip, a'ight mate? Hahaha.. And to those who are struggling with relationship out there, do recall why you started your relationship, do see past all the crap that you are having now and revisit the time where things are simpler. Sometimes, negativity from arguments or life itself will get in the way of your rationality and worst case scenario, letting go of a relationship when both sides still love one another.

If you manage to go past the quarrels and fights, with all the dusts settled, What's left is you, your partner, and a truly beautiful and magical force that ties you both together, called love.

Time for snippet of the day. (That nobody asked for..)

LJ: I have the urge to hug you so badly now. Alright ba, go to sleep.
JE: Haha when I go back we can hug each other. Hugging contest. That I will probably lose... Alright then, nighty night. Good evening to you though. 😘

And hey, I got a new job. I quit my crappy job in a crappy company back in October 2017, and was immediately being accepted by Keysight Technologies to be a quality engineer! So far so good, at the very least, humans in Keysight act like human beings, and balance lifestyle is very much preferred here. Whereas in the previous company that I worked in, working until 2am in the morning is the norm and is never appreciated. Not to mention, doing all the redundant tasks and having the boss calling the workers cheap labors, yeah....no thanks.

Next stop, my visit to one of the prettiest places that I've seen. Hida, Takayama. It was back in December 2017, so memory, you know what to do. Please behave.

Checking in - Part 1

It's been a while! Again. I know, I am lazy at jotting down stuffs in my life. Well, now that I have time and nothing better to do, here I am~

My last post was about wiping the slate clean and starting anew, well, glad to inform you that it has been going very well. Though I do admit once in while, I will tend to slide right back to my old self, probably out of habit, or insecurities due to past experiences.. More on this later.

So, the good thing that I was talking about in my last post is, I have started a new relationship! #love #couple #hastags

To those who are wondering how it came to be, here you go, for you and for the future me, in case you lose sight of how beautiful of a relationship you are having. After spending a few months of walking out from my previous toxic relationship, I found myself sitting at the condominium's garden one night, thinking to myself, I have quite a lot of girl-friends whom I manage to talk to and have a laugh or two with. However, there is this one girl whom I have always try to not think about (to be complete honest, no point lying to my own blog I guess), which is weird because she's the first girl that I have met in university and the only girl who will spend time with me doing what I like the most, playing video games. Her name, let's retain her anonymity for now, and call her JE. (Hi JE, if you are reading this!)

So I decided that, of all the stupid decisions that I made, it can't go that badly. Plus, I want to give this, give her and give us a chance to work it out. So I asked her out and it went something like this. (Not like this, exactly like this...)

July 12, 2017, 11.57pm
LJ (Me): Ask you something. But wait, I'm driving.
JE: Alright. What why are you driving?

LJ: Filling petrol.
JE: Owh

LJ: Hmm. Don't know how to phrase it.

July 13, 2017, 12.01am
LJ: Alright here goes. You still there?
JE: Oh yeah I'm here. Ok phrase it.

LJ: Ok.. Is it weird if I ask you out?
JE: Like ask me out for what? O.o

LJ: That's the weird part I guess.. For a date.
JE: Like the uh, date kind of date? Like your definition of date?

LJ: Haha.. Yeah. I don't know, hanging out with you lately stirs a lot of emotion within me and I can't be sure what they are.
JE: Sorry I have to be sure. I kinda have been afraid it had been something like this when you said you didn't know how to phrase it out...

LJ: Ohh. It's ok if you mind it. Then we can just pretend that this conversation never happens.. Haha, no need to answer me immediately de.. Take your time and think it through. I'll do the same, except I've already been thinking about it for a few days now.
JE: Um, actually I don't really mind it... But yeah, it's something to think it through.

So on and so forth. Then we drifted off talking about killing mosquitoes, and job's stuffs. And she sure did take some time to think about it. We had discussion about it, and about our expectation of the date and how to deal with it if it goes well or bad. For me, I like the feeling that the whole thing is giving me, to be able to openly discuss it with her about these things whereas in drama, we usually see the couples leaving everything up to fate and magically everything happens. I mean, sure, we took out the romantic portion of it and threw it in the bin, but hey, we are still together and as happily as we can be, so it's working fine I guess?

And around 1 month later, after discussions and talks that we had, she said yes.





In the nerdiest way you can imagine.. But main point is she said yes.

I'll end part one here for now. But rest assured that I will be checking in more often now, at least for the rest of the month. Part 2 should be our progression and obstacles that we faced since we started, so let's hope my memory doesn't fail me again.

Wiping the slate clean and start anew.

Warning, TL;DR post.

It's been a while, I know. I was actually in the midst of editing my next post, Japan, here I go part 5 when all shit came raining down on me. So my apologies for not checking in for the past year, and it's simply because I was depressed.

Well, when I checked the post that I did not manage to post, there are more than just Japan part 5.

My last post was about me graduating back in 2016 and that I started my engineering career in one of the most well known electronic companies, Intel. So I guess I'll continue from there. I was doing very well, or so I thought at the time, my manager looked up on me and decided that I am ready to be converted from a graduate trainee to a permanent staff within 2 months of probation. That's saying a lot because there are people who struggle to do so even after one year being in the company. I had a girlfriend, she was my first and thought-to-be the only girl that I fell in love with.  It was like a dream come true to be honest, securing one of the highest paying job and being with a girl whom I will be striving my future with. Well, see, there's a saying that love is blind and although I am aware of that, I can never truly be not-blinded by love.

2 months from the start of our career when she decided to burst the bubble, my bubble. We were having a small argument regarding her indecisive behavior, and in retaliation, she told me and I quote, "if you hadn't appear in my life, I could have lived so much better than I am now." Now, to give a little bit of back story here, our relationship was never in the stable side of things. From time to time, she would just talk about breaking up and not seeing each other only to wake up the second day, well, seeing each other. At one point she even came clean and told me that I was simply her emotion dumpster, and that I was nothing but a tool for her to get past her exes. Exs? Her past "boyfriends". As blind as I was back then, those things didn't stop me from pursuing her, assisting her with her studies, her careers and more.

Well, it's been almost a year since we officially broke up, so no point mentioning about the ugly past anymore, ehh? I was depressed for some time but I'm fine now, which is all thanks to my closest friends, KF, JE, WL and more. Without them listening to me all the time and giving me supports, I cannot imagine where I'll be by now. So quick update, my career is still shaky, with lots of ups and downs, mostly downs, but I think I got it under control, so wish me luck. As for relationship, getting over such toxic one requires only humongous initial effort and it's all smooth sailing after that. I guess the only feelings that I have within me now whenever I recall our memories are, disgust and I guess slight hatred? Pretty negative, but not enough to affect my daily life so...mehh. Those feelings act as a reminder for myself to never ever EVER lose myself again in a relationship.

So anyway, coming up in December, I'll be going to Japan again, this time, alone. But before that, good things have been happening in my life as well so, yayy~

Graduated! Let's embrace working life...

Graduation
** Personal recommendation, listen to the third song in my playlist while reading this post. Song name is Dear.

This comment is written on 3rd of August and may not apply to future readers.**

23rd of July 2016 is one the most memorable dates for me, because my graduation ceremony, the official seal of adulthood was being held on that day. A few days before, my best girl-friend told me that she's coming to the ceremony and honestly, that news brighten up my day by at least 1239301230 times, plus or minus 1000.. Haha.. She's coming at 10am, or so she said, so I grabbed the rented graduation robe, took some receipts and my out-of-juice camera and made my way to Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).

Driving there, my feeling was really a mixed bag. I wasn't 100% happy about the ceremony and part of the reasons is because I know, despite all the promises that we are going to make about we will see each other soon or never forget about us, it's not going to be the same. Dinner or supper is not going to just be one call away, outings need months of advance planning and the worst of all, waking up each day not being able to just stroll into a classroom and you guys are just there. This happened to me as well for my A-level graduation, I guess I'm not too good at saying goodbyes huh?

Anyway, emo things aside, the only reason, I repeat, ONLY reason I go to PICC so early is because of you, Cecilia Voon! Appreciate it! And guess what, she came late! But she came, and brought me my first ever graduation flower and balloon. Haha.. A little bit about this brat, we met at Taylor College Subang Jaya during our pre-University course, Cambridge A Level. We never took any initiative to know each other, we just somehow became friends, eventually good friends and now crazy friends. So we took a few pictures together, and a few moments later, she had to take off.

Cecilia, the crazy.. Thanks for coming ya..
Photo by: Cecilia voon

Her eyes are crooked.. I'm telling ya, she's cray cray..

After she left, I realised that I have an outstanding fine with the university's library. So, I calmly initiate my panic protocol and went crazy with phone calls, only to realise that they set up a booth within the PICC in case cases like this happen. I have no idea when and how I got fined, but oh well, I'm not about to let RM10 ruins my day. Then, it's basically just waiting and waiting until the official ceremony starts, which is at 3pm. So, I walked around PICC, took a few pictures with friends that I met.

From left to right, Kristine, yours truly and Jasmine. Candid laugh....?
Photo by: Kristine

Crystal~ A sweet sweet girl..
Photo by: Crystal Chua

From left to right, yours truly, Vincent and Jye Er! *Whisper* She's the smartest one in our class, I bet she can smell this from far away..
Photo by: Jye Er

And that's Kaifen.. She should not be unfamiliar as she appeared quite a lot in the Japan posts. And yes, that's my reaction every time I talk to her..
Photo by: Kaifen

Victor Chua!
Photo by: Victor Chua

My parent arrived much later and my dad bought flowers for me and Kristine, which was totally out of my expectation since my dad never buy things for anyone before. Ceremony happened, we all took our scroll and certificate and had to sit through speeches after speeches. Nothing too interesting happened, except we kept taking selfies. Featuring, Crystal and Victor.

After the ceremony, my parent and I took some family photo, by both unprofessional and professional photographers. Here you go~

Mum and dad with flowers!

Hang around for a while after the ceremony ended, took some pictures and that's it.. A final goodbye being said and that time, I wasn't feeling as sad anymore, because I had a plan to go to my first ever Japanese festival in Malaysia, the Bon Odori 2016! After leaving the centre, Kristine found a nice spot to take pictures, so here you go~

I'm just going to credit myself for this awesome shot, don't even care.. :P

Met up with Hui Qi before departing to Bon Odori and she wasn't too happy with me for being late. Sorry Hui Qi... Off to Bon Odori.. It took longer than expected and by the time we were there, it was ending. To make matter worse, it was raining. But we still get to get our hands on some cheap Pockys and ice cream.

Bon Odori, featuring Hui Qi and Kristine~

And that's about all that happened that day.. Already did this on facebook, but once again, thanks to all my friends and family to accompany me throughout my 4 years of engineering life, it wasn't easy but alongside you guys, I have made it! Arigato minna-san~ Here are some post ceremony photos, enjoy~

Trying to fit a normal sized hat onto my super huge head? Not impressed..

So we went to Morib beach...

To take some graduation photos...

Yeap, we brought our robe to a mall just to take photo. It's not weird, I promise!

Because at this point, why not? Hahaha..

Japan, here I go~ Part 4

Day 4

It's a brand new day, brand new beginning. This day, we planned to go to Studio Ghibli and I've pre-booked the entrance ticket as they can be limited at times. I booked 8 tickets, 4 for Studio Ghibli and 4 for Fujiko museum for all of us through a site, Bridge.jpn. The people there is so nice and so responsive! I remember placing the order in the late afternoon and within 20 minutes, they replied me asking whether I can make the payment within 2 hours so that they can rush to buy my tickets for me. And surely afterwards, they replied me again saying that they already have my tickets and ready for posting. That smells like dedication to me! Impression for Japanese people, checked..

The tickets came in such packaging. Inside contains 2 folders separating Ghibli's tickets from Fujiko's.

Anyway, on our forth day, before we went to Studio Ghibli at Mitaka, we decided to walk around our Ryokan, which is located at Asakusa. It was raining on that day, but despite that, there were a lot of people at the shrine that we visited. Walking to Senso-Ji is only around 5 to 10 minutes from where we stayed, along the way there are people selling foods and souvenirs, so we went ahead and bought something for ourselves. 

It's basically red bean-ish sweet paste..

The famous lantern that every tourist will take photo of in Senso-Ji.

In Malaysia, we try to avoid the smoke.. But in Japan, they let the smoke on themselves. #culturaldifference

It was raining, but somehow it makes a pretty scenery to look at.

Saw this outside Senso-Ji Shrine, their vending machine provides free WiFi!

And then this, such a cute mini van and its eyes even blinked at us.

After that, off we go to the long awaited Ghibli Museum. To make things even better, Bridge.jpn emailed me on the previous day reminding me that my visit to the museum is today and that the weather is not too hot to do some sightseeing. Dedication at its best. There was no direct train access to the museum, so we had to take buses on top of subway to get there. We got lost a few times, even missed our stop near the museum. After asking a few traffic polices, running around in the rain, we finally reached its entrance.

The entrance itself impressed me so much, the receptionist is so friendly and gave us our tickets together with different languages of map. Every ticket is unique as it has 3 consecutive frames of a random anime from Studio Ghibli.

Portion of the map for Studio Ghibli.

The ticket for Studio Ghibli, it's like a film negative and everyone has different ones.

A giant stands alone in the rain, so was I.. The feels~

A secret path near the giant robot that not a lot of people know about.. Let's see where it leads to..

Fans of Castle in the sky, recall this? It's the core of Laputa!

We weren't allowed to take photo in the museum, so it's no surprise that I don't have a lot of pictures to upload here. But honestly, the museum itself did not disappoint. The museum is very well decorated with subtle callbacks to their famous art, and there's even a short tour showing the process of making an anime from scratch. Despite it being called a museum, it gives the vibe of a home, a home of the great artist known as Hayao Miyazaki, certainly a very heart warming feel.

We ended our visit to Studio Ghibli with a short film which every guest is entitled to watch once per visit. It was in Japanese so no one in the group can understand a thing except taking in the scenes and recall the techniques used in creating each frames.

Night view of the museum. I don't have a great camera back then, but you can see the giant at the rooftop. 

After we left Studio Ghibli, I wanted to visit Shibuya for its famous crossing. Once we reached Shibuya, we decided to have our dinner first. So we walked around and met 2 Chinese ladies in one of the pharmacies. they were so friendly and nice to give us a few ideas for dinner in Shibuya. The one that we went with, is takoyaki. We went to a random takoyaki restaurant as we were quite hungry at the time, luckily it turned out to be nice. 

Smokes, a lot of smokes.

After the dinner, we walked around and this time, to find a place to enjoy the crossing. Starbucks caught our eyes and it is at second floor, perfect! Also, we took some pictures with the Hachiko statue and it was hard moving around, let alone taking a decent group-fie with the statue.

Starbucks at Shibuya, overseeing the crossing.

The famous Hachiko statue in the middle of a large crowd.

Our visit to Shibuya is a short one, we didn't even get to shop much as the malls were closing and the crowd was dispersing. So we decided to call it a day and head back to our Ryokan.. Up next, Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, Tokyo tower, Harajuku and more..

Japan, here I go~ Part 3

Day 3

Things didn't turn up well on this day. All but myself were drunk from drinking beer in the previous night. I was getting really fed up as I see the time ticking away because this was suppose to be the day we visit the happiest place on earth, Disneyland! At around 10am to 11am-ish, they were awake and we hurried to Disneyland. I wasn't pleased at all.

Around 12pm, we reached Disneyland.. All the angers turned to happiness, honestly, how can anyone be angry in Disneyland. But it didn't last very long though, as they took their time taking selfies and group-fie all along the walkway towards Disneyland. I was restless and decided to leave the group to go on ahead. Here's some of the pictures that they took, and of course, I'm no longer angry with them lar...

The late comers... Hahaha...
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Featuring Disney resort in the background.
Photo by: Kaifen

The ticket cost around 6900yen per pax. At first glance, Disneyland is really underwhelming, sure there are a lot of decorations and it was nice for them to change the deco according to the theme of the nearest festival, but aside from that, there was really nothing else. Perhaps it was due to the low number of people in the area, or I was simply mistaken to judge before entering the main area of Disneyland, you know, the castle area.

The open area near the entrance of Disneyland.

We queued up to take picture with the most iconic character of Disney, the Mickey Mouse. Here you go~ (Thanks Kaifen, now I look like I'm not wearing pants on that day)

Why Kaifen why? 

Before entering the castle area, there was a band performance and it was very nice and nostalgic when they started playing all the Disney classic songs. One of the performers saw me taking video using a GoPro and he actually stepped forward and played the rest of the song towards me. Aww~ Too bad I didn't capture the footage of that happening, pics or it didn't happen eh?

Band performance.

The actual theme park is very very huge, and most of the rides are catered towards kids, but we had fun anyway. Imagine ever since you were a small little kid, you wanted to go the a particular place, and you finally have the chance to do so.. *Insert fan girl screaming*

The castle area of Disneyland.

We got separated somehow, me and Kaifen, Tzer Maan and Jia Wee.. So instead of waiting around, we decided the explore the rest Disneyland in that combination. Myself and Kaifen were lucky enough to witness a guy proposing to his girlfriend in front of the castle! It was so romantic and everyone was cheering for them! Here's the picture proof..

Nawww~ My future girlfriend, you can expect something like this.. :P

Oh ya, remember how I was impressed by the politeness of Japanese people? Here's another point that makes me want to live there now... Knowing that being parent is tiresome, there's an empty spot for them to park the prams. And the best thing about it is, no lock or chain is needed because stealing is not in their nature.

Parking for baby strollers.

I don't think I need to write in details of the rides that we went to, but most of the rides are well decorated and immersing. I'll let the pictures do all the talking, so be warned, picture heavy for mobile users!

Just a random attraction in Disneyland. Goofy's house?

Each of these cost around 100 yen. Insert the coin, and watch the machine shapes the copper plate into one of these tokens.
Photo by: Tzer Maan

A closer look of the token.
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Lots of people wearing BFF outfits in Disneyland.
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Photo and videographer of the year right there!
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Liking how their Halloween deco just blend into their existing deco.

Oh yeah, there is one system that I really don't like, namely their way of selecting people to watch the fireworks. It goes something like this, after you bought your ticket, you are entitled to play a "mini game" to see whether you are able to see the firework show up close or not. Why don't they make it a first come first serve basis is beyond me but it is because of that, I missed my firework show. Bummer.. On top of that, it was raining! So even if you want to watch the show from afar, have fun standing in the middle of the rain which is exactly what I did.

Disney castle lights up at night, too bad it was raining.

After the show, I was separated from the group....again.. After waiting for them around 20 minutes at the entrance, in the rain, and at night, I decided the best decision that I can make is to go back to the ryokan to wait for them. It wasn't fun riding the train alone when I was soaked and wearing a Mickey Mouse cap. But that's about all that happened in the third day, after around 1 hour, they were back and we were all like, "I was waiting for you at place X!"...

Got myself some onigiri for dinner that night. They are from 7-11 and they look delicious.

Hahaha.. Next, Studio Ghibli and Shibuya. Oyasumiiii~

Japan, here I go~ Part 2

Day 2

It was a chilly day, so we decided to go Odaiba for our first stop in Japan. We took the trains from Asakusa all the way to Odaiba, and a few things that I noticed about their train system is that it is fast, on-time and efficient. Same as the bus, the train ride is quiet and passengers are not allowed to pick up call in the train or even use their phones if they are near the priorities seats. Oh yeah, their train tickets can be purchased using a vending machine or if you are like me, you can buy a Suica or Passmo card through the vending machine and use it to pay for your tickets. Not just tickets, the card can be used in convenient stores, vending machines, taxi and buses as well. Convenient!

ICOCA and Suica card, a better implementation than Touch N Go.

"Mamonaku, Tokyo teleport". That means, next station, Tokyo teleport. And with that, we have reached Odaiba.

First thing we saw in Odaiba, the fuji TV station! 

First, we went to the Diver city. Shopping around, not buying anything because we have no idea what to buy and were under budget constraint. Had our first meal (proper meal that is) in one of the malls.

Curry Gyu Don if I remember correctly.
Photo by: Ang Kaifen

Aside from having very polite waiters and waitresses, I have also realized something. Customers in Japan are so cooperative and polite as well! They will clean up the mess and return the used bowl and cutlery to the counter before leaving, thus ensuring the tables are always clean and ready for the next customer.

Something about this picture just look so satisfying.. 

More shopping later, we came across a Burger King. They offered a Kuro burger, means black burger in their menu and we decided to try it out.. Luckily, it did not disappoint.

Kuro Burger. It doesn't taste as bad as it looks.

Last but not least, the most famous attraction by Diver city, the ginormous Gundam statue! It is said to be 18m tall and its model is called RG 1/1 RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. GFT. I;m not a Gundam fan myself, picture taking like a tourist~

A giant robot stands right outside the mall.

Walking around in Odaiba, it was sunny and I'm not sure about others, but I was sweating and getting really uncomfortable.. But the quest of finding miniature statue of liberty must go on! More walking later, we found it!

Hah! There it is..
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Group-fie! From left to right, yours truly, Tzer Maan, Jia Wee and Kaifen on the bridge leading to the statue of liberty.
Photo by: Tzer Maan

It was getting dark and we were tired from all the walking. Thus, we decided to try out the famous onsen (hot spring in Japanese) in Odaiba.. It is called Oedo Onsen Monogatari.. Stepping into the onsen, I was stunned by how its interior. Sure, I've seen videos and vlogs about the onsen, but experience it myself, it was stunning.. For some reason, it was quiet that day, so we didn't need to queue up to enter the onsen. First we paid the entrance fee, and off we go to choose our yukata~ 

Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba. I missed their Digimon theme decoration. *Sad panda*

Row of vending machine is not a rare sight in Japan. And they will change the item displayed on the vending machine depending on the season too! How cool is that?

Ladies and men will then being separated into different changing room where guests are required to strip down to their underwear before changing into the provided yukata. Being a Malaysian, that was definitely very awkward, but I wasn't going to waste time on that! Off we go to the main area of the onsen where there are food stalls, carnivals, drinks, chilling area and much more.

The main area of the onsen. Please excuse the image quality.
Photo by :Kaifen

Yours truly in my choice of yukata~

Us, in our yukata, having a foot bath!
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Time to get into the wet zone. You know, public bath that is. Despite the awkwardness that we were about to see each other naked (reminder, men and women have separate bath), we wanted to experience things that we can't find in Malaysia. All but one girl, Ang Kaifen! She refused to go into the bath no matter what! And I actually spent half an hour persuading her that it is a nice experience and it's a big bath, so the chance of bumping into Jia Wee is next to nothing. Much saliva was drained and finally, FINALLY she decided to try it out. And guess what? She took the longest time to come out from the bath! Hahaha.. While waiting, of course we take some pictures together..

And here is the picture.
Photo by: Tzer Maan

Spent our time there until around 9pm before we decided to walk to the train station. The onsen is quite far from the train station, Tokyo teleport, but the weather was nice to us. It was breezing ever so slightly making the walking experience very enjoyable, plus there was no vehicle on the street and only a few pedestrians. We talked and sang loudly on the street, enjoyed the night view of Venus fort before heading back to our ryokan.

Tried the shaved ice there, it tasted normal but the portion is huge.

Venus fort, a complex with everything from wax museum to Toyota car showroom.

And once again, oyasumi, minna..