Why does my favourite character has to die on me all the time?!

I decided to continue game.. where I let left it was in December 2015.

That was Final Fantasy Type-O HD.

I was using a guide to play as I progress through the game and I quite like this character - Kurasame. Although he was just a supporting character who will appear during lesson time but I'm just 'attracted' to him. I decided to do some digging and found out that the seiyuu for Kurasame does for Cloud too! Coincidence?! Did further checks and .. I must say, he's one of the best looking voice actor. Haha. I'm kind of glad that he's the voice actor for Cloud and Kurasame. Hehe.

Anyway, back to Kurasame.. The moment I found out that he's going to die, my heart was reminded of the time when Aerith from Final Fantasy VII died and my heart just died along with it. Now, I had really lost the mood to continue playing because I know that he's going to die no matter what. He's just too cool. Was it the fight he had with Class Zero when they 'challenged' him or was it the mask he was wearing to cover his disfigured face or was it his voice or his looks? Maybe it's all in.

I'm hoping that with the FFVII remake, there'll be an alternate ending where Aerith can be saved.

Enjoy this alternate ending where the Zero class are normal students, Kurasame is still there and popular among the female students..

Chanced upon this video while searching for FF Type O, love it and bought the song in iTune (thankfully it's available there).

The secret ending.. supposedly.

Then.... I saw this video and listened to it out of curiosity. The song just touched me so much that I teared.. I missed playing FFXI and FFXIV.

Just watching anime and keeping to my goals for 2016

Nothing much to update recently... Trying to keep up with my Japanese.

Been watching anime from Netflix recently.

I'd recommend these two if you watch anime/cartoon. Hopefully Netflix will bring Futurama back so that I can watch them.

I was kinda bored at home and browsed through Netflix and saw this anime which I thought I'd try watching. The start was a bit slow and I nearly wanted to stop watching it.. which luckily I did not. It was slow but the contents were sweet.

Here's the trailer for "5 Centimetres Per Second"

And I love the theme song - One more Time, One more Chance

I think, some who may have missed out on that chance at that time, would wish for one more time, one more chance to make things right.

Apparently this song has english and korean version. You can find it on youtube.

Here's the original version, in Japanese.

So searching under the same director for "5 centimetres per second", Makoto Shinkai, will get you to more of his anime. I'd watched one recently, "The Garden of Words". You need to have an open mind to watch that... Like much older woman with a very young man kind. Haha.

I love their OST as well. I think it sound very refreshing, something to listen to when you're on the way to work/school, on a sunny day, on a rainy day.. It'll lift your spirits up. :)

Well, it did for me. I'd listen while I'm feeling stress at work and it'll make me feel better after that. I hope it does the same for you!

Anyway, side track. My goal for this year is to lose weight and hopefully back to my original weight by year end!! I don't wanna waste more money buying clothes because I cannot fit into my old clothes. I'm trying to work towards it by running at least twice a week and to go swimming, play badminton. So far, I've managed to do so for running, as for swimming, I'll be going to swim with my friends after the ghost month is over and badminton.... until I find someone to play with me. Hah.

How about you? Whats ya goal from now till end year? Are you working towards it?

Just listen and shut up?

Sometimes when I wanted to share something, which usually is bad, I just wanted you to listen only. I don't need any input from you because I know what I am going to share is not good and I know that you're going to repeat the same things I felt. I don't need you to tell me that. Again.

So, just shut up and listen and acknowledge it that's all. 

Clearing the dust away... Slowly

Wow! It has been quite a while since I last posted anything decent here. I think... The last few posts were just some updates published out of obligation to my blog and as compared to my posts before 2010, they were pretty un-creative. 

Not that I have any readers to start off with but with the lack of updates... It seemed like I had just disappeared into the thin air. Now is already August.... The old and young me would most prolly be updating consistently every month feeding this old blog with at least 3 posts a month I guess. 

So, what have I been up to since Jan 2016?

I've been busy running. Getting back to my feet and run since I have more free time now that I'm working this 8-5 kind of job. Sometimes I do missed my old job because of the environment. The people I'm surrounded with.. They are all great and fun to work with, there's always energy bouncing off each other. 

Haven't posts much of my running routes here as I've been posting them in my Instagram. You can find me there if you want at ohimenana. ;)

Participated in the JP Morgan run. That was my first run of 2016 and second time participating in JP Morgan run. The last time I ran was in 2009. It was a great run and I actually told myself to keep moving no matter what and don't stop. I did stop awhile there and then for my usual running route was 3km and max 4 however at the last 1km, I told myself to keep moving. Super slow jog is fine, just don't stop. That actually came from an ex colleague of mine when I went running with them. One of them said don't walk, just slower my pace but continue jogging. 

After that, I decided to go for the moon run - the Pocari Sweat Run. The route was so so as there were some traffic jam here and there. Human traffic jam so there were stops and kind of affected the timing in some ways while waiting for people to clear the road. I bought a pen that shines an image of the moon on the surface which I thought was pretty neat. 

I was quite happy with my results and I want to do better in my next run... Which unfortunately I haven't been running this week. Tsk. 

So these keep fit thing has got me off smoking as well. Yeah.. I'd picked up smoking a few years back due to some problems.... And now I had stopped because I had picked up running and I don't want it to affect me. 

Apart from my running experiences, I had returned to learning Japanese and I am putting in more effort this time as I don't want to waste anymore time and money on learning something that doesn't yield results. There will be an exam in November and I had made acquaintance with some of my classmates. :)

I had also bought my first pebble watch which I loved it very much. Note the past tense used because I realised that the pebble watch unfortunately did not have built in GPS.. And also because it was my first purchase hence I didn't know what to expect or to lookout for. I found one watch that has what I want - a built in GPS watch that doesn't require me to bring my phone out to run just to track my distance, timing, etc. Yes, the super watch - the Fitbit Surge. I got it in Australia which is a lot cheaper than buying it here, partly was because of the exchange rate.

Below is an example of my mapped route with Fitbit Surge - I used it for my Pocari Run. :)

Visited Australia in July and a friend and her two cute little boys. I missed them both so much! It was winter in Australia and it was cold! Not very cold but to the extend where you'll need to keep your leg and arms covered and warm. The weather kind of reminded me of Hokkaido.

I didn't take much photos in Australia this round as I was more of going over to chill, rest and relax instead of doing tourist stuffs like sigh seeing. I know... Some may feel that it is a waste of money to do that but I just wanna sit back and relax. 

Landed in Australia with the beautiful sun rise in the background.

It was pretty cold on my first day there and I had to borrow a pair of boots from her because the floors were so frikking cold!! It was my first winter holiday minus the snow and my first time using a heater. Hahahah. 

Helped out at the Tenrikyo church there as they are having a sleepover night and two days of activities. I helped out on the first day and it was really fun! I felt like a kid again playing with them!

It was also my first time making takoyaki. Heh

It was also my first time making a Kokedama. I've never well, handled soil and plants before and I was really proud of myself for being able to make 3 of them in different sizes! I've never have a knack for doing this by the way and these just turns out fine! It's a pity that I can't bring them back to Singapore unless I apply for some permit or something due to the plant being related to soil. Oh well. It was fun!

Next was also my first time attending a handicraft workshop. I've never attend one in Singapore before and I went to check out for such courses in Singapre, they are pretty expensive. 

We drove up to Gold Coast and it was really nice. The sea was different in the day and night, the sand were so fine, it was definitely a place to go to if you want to chill or to just wind down and relax in Australia. 

And sadly... All good things will come to an end. On my last night in Australia, it felt just like my first night there. I wasn't ready to return home yet. 

I was shopping in the NTUC here and saw this thin Oreo biscuits. It was really thin and easy to eat. Yummy!

Ok, I'm trying my best to keep my eyes open. Good night and have a good weekends!!

Christmas 2015

Maybe I've been too stressed at work or maybe it's because I've started wearing formal work dress.. I don't know.. I had and have been buying tons of heels! These pairs were just the start. Now I have 4 pairs of black colour heels, 2 pairs of red, 1 pair of blue (it's really beautiful as the colour fades from black to blue), 1 pair of beige. I'd stopped buying since then although I have never stop looking at the new designs when I have the chance.

My first pair of heels, it's not very high. Maybe 2.5"?

I love glossy heels as they look really nice.

And I love how the gold sits there, striking out.

And the other colour. I did not regret buying them but I regretted buying them at a bigger size. I'm 34 and these two pairs are 35.. So it's a bit big for me but I bought some paddings so they work out just fine.

I kind of regretted passing this pair to a friend's wife because I thought it was too small at first without trying to expand it. Perhaps I wasn't feeling confident to wear it at that point in time... And it was a colour that's difficult to match since most of my dresses are black or blue and red.

It looks really beautiful right?

This pair was an impulsive purchase because I couldn't find the pair of heels I want in Charles & Keith so I just bought this just for the charity dinner. It's too pointy and I guess that would be the last time I'll be wearing them. Now I have 4 pairs of black heels from Charles & Keith.

My first time to a ballroom in Ritz Carlton. The place looks old but to me, it looks really classic. It kind of brought me back in time and it had a really nice feel. I love it! Plus I was reminded of the good time I had - my first staycation in this hotel to celebrate my birthday. No regrets! Only regret is the time passed too soon that I didn't get to fully enjoy the whole package.

Just trying to be artistic here. Haha

Get to meet up with my boys after a long while.. It was good seeing them and best part was having a chef to cook the meat the way you want it. Haha.

Christmas theme for my nails. Loved it!

It was the annual Christmas event with my family from paternal side. I prepared the games and it was really fun playing them. Just need to fine tune the games and the rules over the years. 2015 theme was bingo, what about 2016? Everyone had a good time and a good laugh over the drawing.

Eli love the bingo chart and he requested to have it. Haha. Not long after having it for less than a day, Mark tore the chart into pieces. My handwork... lol

Joined the MBLM team for the last Christmas even though I was no longer working with them. It was really nice of them to invite me and the girls to prepare my gift when they don't have to. :)

And also to Mr Ken Lee for giving me some credits on the work I'd contributed during my time together with them.

We decided to start an annual steamboat dinner at the end of the year so keep cousins close together. There were so much food that we really stuffed ourselves. Lol. 2015 was at Cedric's new house. 2016 shall be at either ours or Carol's place. Let's take turns to host!

This could be my first and last Christmas dinner with a dear friend/colleague.. I really enjoy the food and the company of friends and colleagues. Now that I'm with the company for nearly a year, I've familiarised myself with most of them - faces, names and codes.

Love this desserts a lot!!!!!

Xiaobai was really nice to make these boxes for me without charging me the material fees. He put in so much effort and was so meticulous to a fault that I really can't find any defects. To top it off, he tied the ribbons on the box with the gifts inside. It was so beautiful that my sisters really can't bear to remove the ribbons.

So to summarise, 2015 has been a milestone for me. Changing job after more than 8 years with the company. I've met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, saw a lot of friends leaving and left. There were ups and downs but I remembered the ups, those good o' times with them people. Only regret is not learning tagalog while I was still surrounded by the good pinoys. At least I learnt to mutter 2 words and recognised one of them when I overheard some stranger talking. Hee.

Attended a charity dinner at a really elegant place, Christmas dinner at my bigger boss' place, visited Hokkaido and Australia, fed the kangaroos... ended 2015 with a blast! I'd say!

Off to the circus we go~!

Oh my!! This post was under draft since February 2016 till now! I've been putting off and time flies man.. It's already mid year and next week is my birthday again! Haha

Anyway, we had our first family bbq when it's already smoking outside with the haze. It was fun and lucky us, it wasn't that hazy on that day!

It happened after my trip to Japan/Aust.

Everyone split up the work. We prepared the meat, ah pang bro brought drinks and uncle david and family prepared soup (yummy!) and the pit!

Everyone is helping out with the food. I'm eating all the way!

It was fun and I can't wait to do it again. XD

It's a pity we are missing some members of the family as they are either abroad or busy.

Never missing the famous soup from Aunt Teresa!

Mr Tan was nice enough to buy this lazy potato toy for me. Hehe.

Brought it to work and it was really good looking at Mr Lazy Potato at times when I need a break from work.

Finally the day we were waiting for... after X number of years.

The famous circus with the yellow and blue tents.

Collecting the tickets was enough to make me feel 'high', seeing the tents made me excited and the day itself was... I wished time would just stop there and I'll watch the performance. Never-ending! As alway, they have never failed to amaze me and the best part of the performance - to me was the couple on this small area of space, spinning very fast on their roller skates. I was holding my breath all the way and was telling myself that they had practiced and are pros, nothing will happen to them. It didn't work and I couldn't keep my eyes off them.

Had my brunch at Level33. It was a buffet style brunch and it was a nice experience.

Oh, I'd chopped off my long hair this year. So it's half the length I used to have.

Zaham was nice enough to invite me to her birthday party even though I had left the company. She was the birthday girl and yet she put in so much effort for her friends. Waking up super early to do marketing, preparing and cooking them all. I really misses her cooking.

After calling almost all the game shops in Singapore even to the extend of travelling all the way to the west, paying extra money just to get my hands on these babies. Plus I'd troubled a few close friends to help me check around with the stores they frequent.

I'd say, it's worth it. I was feeling quite anxious when all the shops were out of stock, especially on the bigger box. I was very lucky because I'd forgotten that I'd actually pre-ordered them online through the shop I always frequent. They called me, telling me that the goods have arrived and ready to be picked up. Actually I kind of missed the time when I joined the super long queue (that was my first and only time doing that) with my mom just to get my hands on the limited edition console and figurine. I would hug them to sleep with me if I could! haha

It was more special playing Halo this time because I played online with a friend. It was more fun playing with a friend than playing solo. The only disappointment was there's no local co-op but online co-op. So I can't play with a friend when they are with me.

Yet another random post

The time when you're feeling tired and want some 'me' time and find peace by taking the train ride home eventhough you can take the cab and claim the fare.

That's what I'm feeling right now. I guess it's a form of stress relief or just need some time before I reach home instead of reaching home quickly or maybe it's both. 

When I smile or look cheerful no matter how tired I get, it's just keeping my spirit and energy up. Keeps me going. 

My first visit to Hokkaido, Japan and Brisbane, Australia

This is a very overdue post for my holiday trip in October 2015.

Somehow when things get really busy at work where I'm constantly creating new tasks and checking those that I'd completed, I just want to sleep in and not listing things to do in my mind for the weekends. I'm supposed to call the credit card company and I'm feeling lazy; I'm supposed to bring in the laundry and I'm thinking later.

So after mopping around for awhile.. it's 9.42pm now, I think this is the only accomplishment I've done for the day. I'm just tired and want to rest. I'd just prepared a few posts, titled them and most prolly will publish them slowly.

Anyway, it's no more SIA and Hello ANA. There's no direct flight to Hokkaido and there's no bullet train there as well. Weather is colder as compared to Tokyo but the air is a lot cleaner (that it made my skin better as I'm suffering from eczema and the haze) and the pace there is slower, more relax. You'll really feel like you're there on a holiday holiday.

Got a red-eyed flight from SG to Narita, switch to domestic and landed in Hokkaido about 3 hours from Narita. Time was tight but still manageable.

Truth be told, I can't remember which airport is this taken from. Most prolly Narita because it'll be dark in SG. As I am quite a picky person when it comes to food, planes, hotels, etc. Food wise is alright, I'd prefer SIA's but seat wise, ANA wins hands down. Although it's an economy class, but the seats were design in a way that it'll move your bottom seat while your backrest is still intact. I prefer that because I won't be affected by whoever is sitting in front of me to suddenly move their seat backwards and causing my food to drop - that can be really troublesome cleaning up. That nearly happen to me during my trip to Australia. I was practically surrounded by oversize people - I'm mean and I'm not that skinny but to feel small when the seats are quite ... tight is really no joke! Especially when they can shift their seat backwards violently (not gentle) and I was glad to be holding onto my food and there was no drinks on my tray yet.




First stop from Chitose Airport - Noboribetsu

It is famous for it's Hell Valley where there're smokes coming out of it, you'll smell sulphur and if my memory didn't fails me, it's an active volcano.

Climbed up all the way to the top and back, found this scenery and it looked really beautiful, like it was taken out of a picture. All photos are taken with my mobile phone by the way as I was lazy to bring a better camera along.

I can't capture the fumes here.





A lot of caution signs not go over the fence; not to put your hands in; the heat; etc.






As it's nearing winter, it's really colder in Hokkaido because it's further up north as compared to Tokyo in October. Tokyo was like 16 degrees low and 20 high while Hokkaido was like 11 degrees with strong wind throughout the day (I kept checking the weather condition). Day is shorter in Hokkaido as well. Sky was dark by 5.30pm (like the skies at 7.30pm in SG), you'll need to wake up earlier than 8am - if I didn't remember wrongly too, shops there open very early as compared to Tokyo. So to make full use of your days there exploring and visiting museums, shops, you gotta be up early and prepare entertainment such as your iPad or laptop to accompany you at night.

Here is the streets of Noboribetsu. Love the "7-11" there as they provide tissues and chopsticks when you bought food there - where you can just use your hands to eat.

Despite the cold weather, I would buy ice cream to eat - it's really nice and tempting... Only to be shivering inside from the cold. Cold wind + cold temperature + cold body = Super cold!

Room book was a traditional style ryokan. :)
It's very spacious and could fit 4 people, there's a balcony overlooking the back garden.
This is how it look like during the daytime and the air con didn't need to be on at all because the room itself it already cold from the air outside. One night stay is definitely not enough but two nights is quite costly as it's about 400+ per night.

You could choose to eat in the room or downstairs in their restaurant. If you're staying in this kind of hotel for at least two nights, I'll recommend dining in the room for 1 night and downstairs for the 2nd night just to have the feel of it. It's different. In the evening around 5~6plus, there'll be someone coming over to move the table and lay the futon for you. It's very comfortable and cosy.





This is the back garden and the left building looks like it's more traditional than mine - I think it's the new wing. It was raining heavily by evening time all the way to morning.

Dinner and breakfast are provided. If you do not eat certain food like seafood or beef, you'll need to indicate it in the remarks column when you're booking the room. So S$400+ per night is totally worth it. There's meals, there's onsen and the room is quite big. The feel is totally different as compared to the modern hotel.

Below is the list of food they are serving us. They'll bring them in one by one and although the portion isn't big but you'll be full by the time you're reaching the last 4 dishes of your meal. They'll prepare a "room" for you to dine in and I was quite amazed when they actually asked who's the one having NO Seafood and I sit according to where the menu is. It's quite cold in the dining area and I was glad to wear my jacket out (and glad to have invested in a really good jacket for all seasons) but I was shivering on my legs.

Lake Toya was the next destination - Don't have much photos taken there because most of the tourist places are closed due to the strong wind running at 50km. Most of the diners were closed after lunch and open in the evening from 6pm onwards. So I sat outside in the cold for close to 30 mins to wait for the owner to arrive, prepare and finally open the door. The hot soup and ramen really warms my body while watching the news on tv - talking about the strong wind and a typhoon may hit our area with a probability of 2%. It's quite worrying for me because I've never encounter such natural disaster overseas - SG is really too safe and back in the hotel room, I kept looking at the newsflash (the type when the guys are being called back for reservist) and checking out the areas listed. The news kept reporting about the strong wind in other areas; water waves were too strong 'cause of the wind and it went over to land, 3~4 people were dead, etc.

By the next morning, the weather was calm and well like nothing happen the night before. Hah.

Oh yah, due to the strong wind, the train service from Noboribetsu to Lake Toya were cancelled and we have to find another way over - the longer way.

From Lake Toya, we shift down to Hakodate (saw a status of Date!!!!!!! when my train passed by an area). It was hotter there with 12 degree and 25km of wind. The place reminded me of Hiroshima / Nagasaki where you can complete the area with a map and there are trams! Did a lot of walking there and ended the day with a beautiful view of Hakodate.

Took a cable car up to the highest point but there were too many people. A mixture of locals and tourists, I realised there are a lot of Chinese tourist too - seems like Japan is one of the popular destination for them aside from Thailand and Hong Kong.

Look at the looooooooooooong queue! It moved quite fast though.

but it was worth it. :)

Waited for awhile to get a window seat (not very long) to enjoy my dinner with the view.

Next was Otaru - Went to the Rail Museum and took a video of the steam train for Eli and he loves it very  much when I played it for him back in SG. Chanced upon a shop that sells ALL TOTORO stuffs!!! Nearly went crazy inside and bought a lot of stuffs which I brought back fortunately. There was another back which we left at the ramen place only to remember about it on the last day of stay in Hokkaido.

After Otaru was 2 nights stay in Sapporo - visited the Sapporo beer museum. :)

So the way back to SG, our flight from Hokkaido was to Haneda then we have to catch a limousine bus to Narita (it was a very smooth ride despite the heavy traffic on the highway. I really wonder how did they do that.) then catch the plane back to SG. That explains the 3 hour window period between the flights from Hokkaido to Tokyo and Tokyo to SG. Thought I'll have time to do a little shopping even though my luggage is threatening to burst. I was quite worried that it'll be overweight since I've never experience that before and have never exceed the weight.

Came back to SG after a week, suck in a few breath of the hazy air, unpack and repack for summer as we are heading to Brisbane, Australia the next day. It was a huge gamble but it all went well and it was really fun to do that. I was glad that my travel partner went along with my plan.

I was a bit worried throughout my whole trip in Australia about meeting racist locals or experiencing them since my friends have quite a bit of experiences with that. Luckily for me, it all went well, the salespersons in the malls are quite friendly.

And yes, it's a must for me to try out McDonalds in every countries / cities I'd visited. :)

Stayed at a friend's place and I really saved a lot on accommodation plus the weak Aussie dollar against SGD. It was my last night in Brisbane and I took the chance to hug and take a picture with Koguma, the dog who doesn't like to be close to human.

We visited the very huge gardening mart and I couldn't resist but to buy some seeds to plant here in SG. These are suitable for our weather and hopefully I can grow them successfully, harvest them and cook it!

Ohh.. it doesn't hurt to give my beginner's luck a test. :)
I didn't win in the end. Tsk.

A summary of my trip in the land of OZ.
It was quite a pleasant journey so far and I must say, it was tough trying to get myself adjusted to the different level of service in Japan and Australia then back to SG. I don't think things are really expensive there for now because of the constant sales they have - I could buy a decent pair of shoes for Mark with A$10, buy clothes of good material cheaply as well. Food servings are quite big and I definitely cannot finish them by myself. It's good if I can share with my friend then yeah, eating is cheap there. McDonalds is waaaaay more expensive there then again, their burgers are bigger so it's quite worth paying for it.

Would I still go visit Australia again? I might if the exchange rates stays the same as now but I'll want to visit Korea, Taiwan and Hokkaido for now.