Bisdak Babbles

More than 8 hours of facing computer at work, then another 3-5 hours after work - the usual lifestyle of someone who’s into I.T. (or should I say, internet addicts?). For someone who lives away from home, I’ve jumped into a monotonous lifestyle. So predictable. On rare occasions, boring.

Then an invitation to get involved in something beyond my usual stuff came along. I was hesitant at first but curiosity, and perhaps, a hidden passion urged me to step forward. Akane-san and I joined a Samba lesson! This is a bit embarrassing on my part but I have to admit, I like ballroom dances than the modern ones. Oh, alright I don’t know how to do modern ones. We had some mandatory ballroom classes way back in highschool and in college. I learned swing, waltz, and chacha, and tremendously enjoyed those classes. I also love watching any movie that has ballroom dancing in it.

How was the Samba lesson? It was great! Yes, the instructor was amazing, but those Samba dancers wannabes amazed me most. There were only about a dozen of us, most were Japanese and some Brazilians. They danced without a care in the world! There was this middle-aged Korean guy, he’s also a programmer but he loves Samba so much. He was even wearing dance shoes! I’ve finally seen with my not-so naked eyes how Brazilians dance, and true indeed, they dance so beautifully. That inspired me to remove my “serious” mask and just moved my arms and legs danced my heart out. I may have looked like a puppet, or worse a robot, but all I remember is that I had fun. It was such a stress-reliever and the first physical exercise I had in months!

I don’t aim to follow what the character of Richard Gere in Shall We Dance did, but I definitely want to try dancing Samba again and learn that fast step.

Days ago, Akane-san and I we went to a takoyaki (literally fried or baked octopus) restaurant here in Osaka. I love takoyaki but cooking it is entirely a different story. In that restaurant, a stuff just pour the ingredients onto those takoyaki pans. The rest is up to the diners. Forming a decent takoyaki was an impossible feat and we ended up eating deformed and burnt takoyaki. But it was fun and the food was still delicious.

Basically, the staff just dumped these into the takoyaki pan:

After much struggle, here’s the almost cooked takoyaki:

And the ladies who took the takoyaki challenge:

Got tagged by Beth of Rebokon.
Based on my birthday, a donkey represents me….
I’m supposed to be A very loyal and sweet person. Your loyalty can never be doubted. You are quite honest and sincere when it comes to your attitude towards working. You are a very simple person, indeed. Absolutely hassle free, humble, and down-to-earth! That explains the reason why your friends cling on to you. You have a good taste for clothes. If your wardrobe is not updated with what is trendy, you sure are depressed. Popular and easy-going. You have a little group of dignified friends, all of them being quality-personified.

If you want to know which animal represents you, click here.

Rhon of Redhead Speaks tagged me with this one… my name’s meaning!

What does S-H-I-E-R-A mean?

S - Lives life for fun (I doubt it)
H - Freakin’beautiful eyes (I wish!)
I - Loves to laugh (absolutely! Well… who doesn’t?)
E - Deeply inlove with his/her GF/BF (mmm….)
R - Good BF/GF (errr…)
A - Gorgeous (another wish!)

I have a two-word first name. I usually don’t include the second one but I love the meaning!
L - Best smile
Y - Loved by everyone (I hope so…)
N - Sexy (define sexy, please)

I’m tagging no one in particular. So if you want to have fun, please feel free to grab this

For other letters’ meanings, click here

The quality of customer service here in Japan never fails to amaze me. The shop attendants are really polite, they (almost) never lie nor shower the customers with half-meant praises just to make the customers buy something.

There’s this stall of cheap bags and wallets at the station and there’s a wallet in there that I wanted to buy. One day, I was bent on buying that wallet, but while I was closely scrutinizing that wallet, the old lady attendant approached me.

Old lady: Onee-chan ne, wakai kara … blah blah blah…

I forgot the actual Japanese words she said but based on my limited Japanese and linguistic instinct, she was trying to tell me that what she’s selling are for middle-aged to old women and men. The store was located in the 3rd floor and she advised me to go to the second floor where I could find wallets that are “fit” for my age… the younger ones.

I didn’t know what to say in Japanese so I just blurted out my overused “Hai, wakarimashita. Arigatou gozaimashita“, then marched down to the second floor.

That, among the countless instances when I wasn’t able to buy something I’ve always wanted because of those honest comments, convinced me that Japan’s customer service is superb! I wish I won’t face a bad customer service experience in the future. I don’t like taking my words back.

Her comment also left me a bit bothered… do I have the tendency to prefer things made for older women? mmmm…..

*お姉さん - onee-san/onee-chan - could mean “older sister” or “miss”
*wakai - young
*Hai, wakarimashita. - Yes, I understand.
*Arigatou gozaimashita. - Thank you very much.

I just translated this…

Me: Happy Birthday, Ai. Are you in the city already?
Aiza: Thank you, Ate. Not yet. As usual, Mama’s not yet ready.

It’s my sister’s birthday today. And the birthday treat she asked: just a lunch date with my family at the country’s famous fastfood restaurant: Jollibee. She’s already in her early 20’s but she’s still very dependent on my parents, on us.

It puzzled us why at the age of two, she still wasn’t walking, and at the age of five, why she was still talking like a 2-year old. Then it took her 2 years to complete first grade. Helping her with her assignments was a torture. We all thought she’s just not working hard enough. We had no idea…

She was 13 years old when my parents took her to a psychiatrist. Her brain is healthy but her mental capacity isn’t catching up with her age. She was 13 but her mental capacity was that of a 5-year old. Yes, my sister is a special one. She may be different but many times her innocence humbled us. Often, we lost our patience dealing with her but she easily forgives and forgets. Many times I’ve been touched by the trust she’s been showing us. She may not be bright but she dreams of getting into college. I hope I could send her to a special school someday.

She may not able to read this but I just would like to let her know that I’ll take care of her with all that I’ve got.

Happy Birthday Aiza, we love you so much!

• What makes you happy?
• What do you do to make others happy?

I wanted to make a vlog in response to HappySlip’s vlog, but I chickened out. So I’ll just list down my answers:
In no particular order, these things make me happy:

1. When Shaynna’s in a good mood and voluntarily chats with me through Skype.
2. When Shaynna’s in a good mood and plays with me through Yahoo Messenger.
3. Daily chat with my family through Skype.
4. Chat with my best friend.
5. Daily chat with my flatmates and friends.
6. My favorite songs
7. Snail mails
8. Comments in my blog!
9. Messages left in my blog’s shout box.
10. ice cream!
11. Anime and movies
12. Approved paid post
13. Rare calls from friends who don’t have internet connection.

If I get over my timidity, I will post my answers to the second question next time.
But then, I really try to make many (if not all) people happy in every thing that I do…

How about you? Who and/or what makes you happy?