Archive for February, 2008
Wordless Wednesday #8: Inside Queen Victoria Bldg., Sydney
February 27th, 2008
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Shall We Dance?
February 26th, 2008
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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. 
Takoyaki Challenge
February 25th, 2008
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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.
After much struggle, here’s the almost cooked takoyaki:
And the ladies who took the takoyaki challenge:
I’m a Donkey
February 25th, 2008
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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.
Shiera means…
February 23rd, 2008
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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
Customers First
February 22nd, 2008
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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…..
*???? – onee-san/onee-chan – could mean “older sister” or “miss”
*wakai – young
*Hai, wakarimashita. – Yes, I understand.
*Arigatou gozaimashita. – Thank you very much.
Happy Birthday, Aiza
February 21st, 2008
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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!
Thursday Thirteen #13
February 21st, 2008
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I am an avid follower of HappySlip’s blog. Recently, she posted this vlog where she shared some “happy tips” and threw these questions:
- 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:
- When Shaynna’s in a good mood and voluntarily chats with me through Skype.
- When Shaynna’s in a good mood and plays with me through Yahoo Messenger.
- Daily chat with my family through Skype.
- Chat with my best friend.
- Daily chat with my flatmates and friends.
- My favorite songs
- Snail mails
- Comments in my blog!
- Messages left in my blog’s shout box.
- ice cream!
- Anime and movies
- Approved paid post
- 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?
Wordless Wednesday #7: Shaynna, the Giraffe-eater
February 20th, 2008
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Understanding “Bisdak”
February 19th, 2008
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At last, one of my blogger friends, Levian, asked me what “Bisdak“means.
Let’s start with these…
- Bisdak is the short term for “Bisayang Dako”.
- Bisayang – The root word for this is “Bisaya”
- What is a “Bisaya”?
- The Visayans, better know in Filipino language as “Bisaya”, are the largest ethnic group of Philippines. They primarily occupy the Visayas and northeastern Mindanao but others have migrated elsewhere in the Philippines, including Manila. Several linguistic groups in the Philippines comprise the Visayans; the largest of these groups are speakers of Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray. More than 40% of Filipinos have Visayan ancestry or identify as Visayan. (Mostly taken from: Wikipedia)
- the “ng” just sort of connects the noun “Bisaya” to the adjective “dako”
- dako - a Visayan adjective word that literally means “big”, “great”, “very”, “truly”.
So, the phrase “Bisayang dako” or “Bisdak“, means “truly Visayan”, “very Visayan”, or “purely Visayan”.
My parents are purely Visayans. My father is from Bohol and my mother is from Siquijor. I was raised in Northern Mindanao, and my family is still living there. I don’t really know what’s our dialect called but it’s almost identical to Cebuano.
Having passed all of these qualities, I’m proud to call myself “Bisayang Dako”… a Bisdak.
Domain Funds
February 19th, 2008
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I already mentioned a lot of times that I got the funds to pay for my web host from those get paid for blogging opportunities. I no longer want to let go of this domain, obviously I love maintaining this one, so I need to have an extra income to pay for it every six months. I wrote some reviews in my old blog and I have to sometimes write reviews, here too.
Transferring to another domain brought about a number of inconveniences. You have to get your hands dirty with little technical stuffs, have a headache deciding over which template to use from the hundreds of free themes, spend hours shuffling the widget locations, and last, but not the least, those paid post opportunities you signed up for.
In Smorty, if you have migrated to a new domain, you have to submit it for approval as a new blog. The same rules apply. In my case, I waited for a few days before they approved this new domain. Now, I could post reviews here, too!
I just hope more advertisers will revert to blog advertising. It is cheaper and really effective. Don’t you think so, too?
Maruho Duo – The Reunion
February 18th, 2008
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I was really surprised, but was of course, delighted when I heard Mayen was coming to Osaka. She arrived last month but I’m really busy nowadays that I only got to meet her yesterday! We went to Osaka’s electronic gadgets haven in Den Den Town. As always, I almost drooled over those really cool gadgets but for now, they’re for my eyes only. Mayen already made mental note on what to buy on her next visit. We concluded our reunion with a quick tour at Namba parks and of course… pictures! Here they are….
Why I call ourselves Maruho Duo? We worked on the same project before, code named “Maruho”. That project was really unforgettable. I experienced staying in the office for more than 24 hours and there were occasional “ghost” encounters…
I forgot to mention that I haven’t seen Mayen for almost 4 years!
