It's the season

Nag-uumpisa na po dito ang pag-litaw ng "Station Pizza" sa iba't-ibang parte ng Tokyo. This is a phenomenon brought on by endless merry-making by battalions of office workers. It is the time to let it all out, forgive and forget, release the stress, and perhaps finally get laid by the office hearthrob!

Everything happens in a well-scheduled, and much anticipated end-of-the-year party, called "Bonenkai". The office will usually book a venue, everyone is invited and there will be performances by office staff and perhaps if totally inebrieated, the boss. There will be scandalous moments, prize-giving, lots of alcohol, so-so food, sexual harassment and perhaps photos as evidence, even YouTube clips! There will be more merry-making after the main event, at the after-party party called the "Nijikai" where chances of getting laid gets more probable, no one is left behind!

The aftermath would be a frantic dash for the last train, with alcohol levels in the bloodstream shooting up the roof, one would reach the station, still pumped-up with adrenalin and coupled with nausea. The next best thing to do is to puke one's innards out, next to a steel beam, for support, at the train platform. This is should be done quickly before the last train comes. Voila, Station Pizza!

Then again, after the after-party-party would be another party, the after-the-last-train party, and why shoud you miss THAT one?

Flying high

Balita sa akin ng kaibigan ko na yung Learning English website na kanyang isinulat at akin namang ginawan ng mga characters ay isa sa mga nominees sa Elton Awards sa UK! HIYEHEY! Manalo sana kami!

Nanahi na rin ako kanina sa opisina, lahat ng butones ng jacket ko naka-kabit na. Makulimlim ang panahon ngayon at malamig dito. 6 na oras pa bago mag-uwian, maghahanap ako ng iba pang mapag-lilibangan.

drama! sa tanghaling tapat

dahil sa wala akong magawa sa opis - nagdala ako ng sewing kit pero inisip ko na medyo masisira street cred ko kapang nagsimula akong manahi dito sa opisina namin, instead endless web surfing na lang ako.
ayon sa balita, nasa manila pen si Trillanes at nagtatawag ng ka mahjong... este ng supporta ng mamamayan para patalsikin si Arroyo. inaantok na ako di ko pa na tatapos itong walang kabuluhang blog na itis.

bagong balita - ipopost ko sana ito sa mulitply - ayun down ang site - malamang dahil sa copyright infringement.

I feel da love

Once every 2 months, kabochan and I usually drop by several Pinoy restaurants in our place and distribute a Pinoy magazine. I would say that all our kababayan working in these places speak Nihongo fluently. This just adds to my frustration, kasi hanggang ngayon, after nearly 10 years living here, my speaking level is of a 5 yr. old. Call me lazy. (bow)

Sabi nga ni kabochan, "it must be the nature of your work, it allows you to speak English, you'd better work as an entertainer." Kasi nga naman yung mga Pinay entertainers dito, kahit bagong salang pa lamang eh they learn to speak the language in no time! Bilib ako sa advice ng pardner ko, oo nga, total immersion ang kelangan! Parang yung mga foreign sumo wrestlers who train in Japan, they speak fluent Nihongo in 3 months! Hmmm, should I train in Sumo instead?

Sabi ko naman sa kanya, siya na lang ang mag-turo tutal Hapon naman siya. Sagot ng lola, "no way, you'll give me a headache, go to a school, you need the competiton so you will strive to learn". Competition=Motivation, tumpak! Sigh, I feel da love.

For the church that should believe

Cause = Time

(Broken Social Scene)

You come in, check my time
You got fornication crimes
I've seen your hope on television
Where you've been, wore my word
They've got tricycles in skirts
This is a mouth that needs religion

And they all want to love the cause
'Cause they all need to be the cause
They all want to fuck the cause

So take me down, down through this
Kill the common law that missed
This is the blood I love to share

Little pistols and companion halls
Desperation tentacles
I've been alone since '89

We've got a menstruating disguise
Then know three completes the five
This is a church that should believe

And they all want to free the cause
'Cause they all need to dream a cause
They all need to be a cause

You've got all and it's
Pretty good but I
Seem to be in disbelief

You come in, check my time
You've got fornication crimes
I've seen your death on television
Cue immortal child like times
Separation is divine
Here is a strike beneath your knees

And they all want to love the cause
'Cause they all need to be the cause
They all want to fuck the cause

Take me down, down through this
Kill the white within the bliss
Here is a waiting room
That wants to save your life

And they all want to love the cause
They all need to be the cause
They all want to dream a cause
They all need to fuck the cause

butones

Do buttons have a sort of "shelf life"? Like at a certain point in time the threads would just unravel leaving the buttons dangling on, waiting to be wrenched free or snipped off?
I think they do. It started last Saturday, after visiting a dear friend, while saying our goodbyes at the door, a coat button just suddenly seemed hanging on to a thread. I had to step back in my friend's place to snip off the poor button, then another one, on my left breast pocket, if it had a teeny voice, it would have been yelling... "here, here, me too!" so , snip! We were already laughing at the situation, and again, a button on the right cuff sort of dangled on, which made me think to leave it as is. My friend insisted that I snip that one off, and that I might lose it later and regret not doing so. Snip!

So I have 3 brown buttons at home, waiting to be sewn on. Until today, in a very slow day at the office, another button on the same coat was doing a Tarzan of the jungle, this time the right lower pocket! Snip! It's sitting on my table between me and my keyboard, and sends me some vibe which got me blogging about these buttons!

So far my winter coat still looks ok, I might just save this activity for the weekend. Hmm I have this nagging urge to go check the remaining ones.

Um, on second thought, someone must've been slacking off at a factory, somewhere in China.

...

I just looove all these children by Nara Yoshitomo. There's a card I have that has a girl wielding a knife but I might have sent it to someone. Cute sucks.

muni muni muli

One time at the dining table, kabochan and I came to talking about infidelity. I forgot why we arrived at this topic, it definitely was not the kaki nabe that triggered it. We looked at so many possibilites we might be facing, from the one night stands to the stalker-mode ala "fatal attraction" and whether to tell all or just keep mum, and asked the question, "would I ever forgive you?".

We also looked at our level of tolerance, and though I can say we're pretty much liberal and would perhaps view an incident objectively first -- I am saying this because of myself, I do get emotional and sometimes, irrational - we also could not figure out where to draw the line we dare not cross.

Some of the people we know have lived through these experiences and the answer to the question above shows who they are with now at present. We both don't know if we can make a decision similar to theirs if ever the moment strikes, our relationship is strong right now, but who knows?!

We watched a football game afterwards.

Patak ng patak

Last week, my partner and I were stuck in traffic one rainy night, and I thought this view of Tokyo Tower (without Godzilla this time) was quite a nice one. Kulang na lang ang bgm, take your pick, hindi kasali si Kenny G.

Anyway, we rarely take a cab since it's too damn expensive, but that night we just had to. Ganda sana ng view, until my eyes veered towards the meter. HOMYGASS!

Kaki Nabe

I hate winter, but I loove all the food in season! Our nabe pot is out of storage and ready for a hearty combo of seafood, like fugu, cod, salmon, hairy crab, oyster, then mixed with veggies, mushrooms, tofu and when there's some soup left, we add udon and break an egg and eat again!

Soba aaad!

Hmm, interesting, buckwheat pancakes for breakfast. Masubukan nga para maiba naman. That's what I said when I saw this on the shelves at Dean and Deluca.

Well, I guess our tastebuds have already been hardwired to associate buckwheat with noodles - as in SOBA! We had an uneventful breakfast courtesy of D&D, hikbi...hikbi... pass the wasabi please.

Back at my "hometown"

A business trip last week to Bangkok sent me to nostalgia overdrive.
Taxis still smelled of pandan or jasmine or that minty nose inhaler which is surprisingly still around 10 years after I have left!

Get a whiff of the countryside with fresh pandan car freshener!

I am forever hooked on "Cha Yenh" - this is really sweet strong tea and nothing compares to the one sold on the sidewalk, since the tea is brewed by hand and hawkers do not use the powdered ready mix stuff that one can also buy at supermarkets.

Here's a jumble of photos I took from work...
Really, there was nothing of interest to post here except for these warning signs I took from the machines that were on exhibit. I thought I might get myself into trouble from standing too close to these signs, like getting zapped or clobbered by some machine part. Shows how bored I was, huh?!

Almusal

Kape sa umaga! I had to try this, one of several pasalubongs I got from a friend in Manila, hand carried by her über-cool daughter who is visiting Tokyo. This was my first time to taste Kalinga Coffee, so I was a bit careful about the brewing. Turned out to be a tad weak, but at least I did not come into office bouncing like a spring bunny.

Pananghalian

I had lunch at my desk last Thursday, it was my turn to stay at the office at lunchtime - to answer phonecalls, etc. - dakilang receptionist. Maliit lang kasi opisina namin kaya kami-kami na rin ang janitor, gofer, atbp.

Of course in season ang salmon so I got this really good combo of salmon "toro" (fatty salmon meat scraped off the bony parts) , okra, pickled kabu, and freshly grated sticky potato as in raw "gabi", topping with fresh steamed rice of course! Hindi pa tapos, there's a poached egg (on the left) that you have to mix as well and then drizzle with toyo - wasabi !
KAINAN NAAAA!




If you look closely in the middle, there's some precious "ikura" (salmon roe).

Hapunan

Last summer, unagi was the fish in season. It's supposed to ward off "natsubate" - that lethargic feeling that one feels in the hot months, here in Japan. Hmmm, wala naman akong naramdamang "lethargy", (bakit kaya? hehehe...) pero kain pa rin ako ng unagi after a long day. Of course may kasamang chilled beer lagi! (walang yelo ha!)


This autumn, "sama" (Pacific saury) is in season. Sarap nito, freshly grilled, drizzled with freshly squeezed lemon juice, tapos sawsaw mo sa toyo, sabay habol ng mainit na subo ng bagong saing na "koshi hikari"!

Salmon is also fatter this time of the year, and I saw "harasu" salmon belly w/ skin at the supermarket tonight! My fave pulutan! Yun nga lang, grilled over charcoal tastes so much better than my dinner tonight, which I grilled in our range. No fun... buti na lang may nihonshu.
Ps. the "new" Nissin Miso Noodles also suck.

fresh "harasu"


my uneventful hapunan, save for the
super-sarap na nihonshu (hakkai-san)
served in a "bizen" cup which I crafted myself

function follows form

Floppy CD?! That's what the designers told me their product is. The designmart area at Tokyo Designers' Week is one of the most interesting to visit, you get to chit-chat with the designers themselves and buy their products too!

this is a floppy alright

but it goes into the CD tray!

function follows form

His dying wish

I usually read the morning paper on my way to work and get a pick-me-up from Dilbert and other interesting articles. But last Tuesday morning, one particlular article tugged gently at my heartstrings, touched and lola nyo, so to speak.

This was about the survivors of a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll and that they recently marked the 50th year of that incident. There was this guy, a radio operator of the doomed Japanese trawler whose entire crew were irradiated by the bomb test, who died at age 40 and whose dying wish was...

"Please make sure that I am the last victim of a nuclear bomb."

I guess my visit to Hiroshima and the A-bomb museum 2 summers ago made me more sensitive to this person's dying wish. What happened at Nagasaki and Hiroshima should never be repeated but the threat is just getting more real than ever.

One moment you are enjoying listening to your fave music at iTunes, then time stops at 8:15, your seated body disintegrates into charred dust and leaves a "shadow" on the last remaining piece of concrete that stands among the ruins. Just like the shadow I saw in the museum, of a woman seated on the steps of bank waiting for it to open, at ground zero in Hiroshima.

Grass

I am not talking about the XTC song, this is more about the smell of freshly-cut grass.

Just in time for Araw ng mga Patay, and in case you are in front of a salad bowl and are about to munch on some healthy leafy greens...read on!

From the yahoo Q&A, "Why does grass smell only when it is cut?" comes a very interesting answer from "glutamate" :

According to botanists (plant scientists), the smell of cut grass is caused by gases emitted from each injured blade. Chopped grass releases a long list of volatile organic compounds, including methane (swamp gas), acetone (as in nail-polish remover), ethanol (grain alcohol) and acetaldehyde, a chemical similar to the toxic preservative formaldehyde.

Plants produce the volatile compounds within seconds of being cut. Some also produce the chemicals when they are damaged by frost.

Botanists are still studying why wounded plants give off a burst of volatile organic compounds. One reason, they suspect, is that the chemicals have an anti-microbial action, protecting the cut part from invasion by microbes already teeming on the leaf surface.

Some scientists suggest thinking of cut grass as a kind of chemical polluter. Volatile organic compounds from wounded grass react with nitrogen oxides in the air, helping to form more ozone near the ground (where we don't want it). And grass sheared off and left drying on the lawn releases even more volatile organic compounds -- up to 10 times as much as the cut grass still rooted in the ground. So mowing the nation's lawns may be a significant source of air pollution, scientists say -- even trumping the pollution belched out by gas-powered mowers.

Still, most scientists say there's no reason not to enjoy the cut- grass smell on a summer day. When we bite and chew raw vegetables, they point out, the veggies release their own small burst of compounds -- just as grass, clover and other plants do when a hungry horse tears off a tasty mouthful.