After several months of torturous waiting, I finally found out today that I passed my JLPT 3 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3) test! YEY!!! 
Now, I am licensed to converse with a Japanese third grader without wetting my pants out of embarrassment! Hurray me!
Thanks to Dru for scanning my results because I couldn’t be in the office to claim it personally.
We got out of the office at about 2:45am. The sky was clear and the moon shined enchantingly. Our Japanese boss turned to face us and asked, “Do you have moon in the Philippines?”
Sure, the Philippines is a third world country and there are a lot of things that we do not have, but I am pretty sure that the MOON IS NOT ONE OF THEM. Rather than be offended by the question though, I found myself in stitches at the sheer absurdity of the question. Hahaha. I don’t know if that question should be dignified with an answer 
)
Bernice and I decided to add a spin to our Valentine’s and celebrate it like how a Japanese girl would. Instead of waiting for guys to give us chocolates and flowers during this day of hearts, we were the ones giving out some sweet tokens to the guys.
The month of hearts has finally come, where there may be more than just cupid’s arrows falling from the heavens.
After a week of hard work and coming home in the break of morning, I slept and woke up at 10AM today. I peeked through the window, without my glasses, and thought it was raining. I let out a dejected sigh because I don’t like it when it rains, especially on a weekend when I am free to walk around and enjoy Osaka. I rubbed my eyes and reached for my glasses. Still slightly suffering for the morning daze, I focused my eyes. To my amazement, it wasn’t rain pouring–it was SNOW!!! Lots of it!!!
I grabbed a jacket and went up to Bernice’s room to tell her tha, “OMGZZZZZZZZZZ IT’S SNOWING!!!!! OMGZZZZZZZZ!!!”
I am still at the office, it is 1AM JST. No signs of going home anytime soon. Times like these I wish I could spend with my family. I now remember why I was able to quit this job last December. However, because of the business trip opportunity, I decided to hang on for a little while.
Still… This is just no way to spend the new year 
Anyhow, I wish everyone a happy new year! 2008 is the year of the rat. It’s my time to shine 
I am planning to buy a new camera. I’ve done a bit of research and I am learning towards Sony DSC-H3, one of their compact long zoom variant, boasting a 10x zoom and 8.01 megapixels. I’ve read both site reviews and user reviews, they all seem to like it a lot. Of course, every camera has flaws and I am well aware of the H3’s.
What I like about the H3 though, aside from its small size for a long zoom and its price is the “enthusiast” feel of it. It can pass up as a point and shoot, but also provides some manual controls. It has a pop-up flash and a beautiful lens. I am just a casual photographer, but I would like to pursue it as an more serious hobby. I am not up for the SLRs, they are too expensive. Also, I already have several Sony devices, thus I am not turned off by the use of Sony’s proprietary memory sticks.
I am planning to buy it at Yodobashi camera or Bic Camera. They have a nice system where you can get a discount on your next purchase. The H3 is priced at ¥33,100, that’s about P13,000~P14,000. With their discount system, I get a discount of ¥3,310 on my next purchase. So, let’s say I buy the extra battery which costs ¥5,280, but since I have a discount, I’ll get the battery for just ¥1970!
If you guys have any better models in mind, please do share If not, then help me decide between the black or silver H3. Thanks in advance.
I went to Kyoto International Manga Musuem today and they had this booth where you can ask artists to draw you for ¥1000. This was drawn by Azusa Chiba.
I really love how it turned out
Moved to the new mansion yesterday.
My arms are sore right now from lugging around my big bag. Although, it has wheels to make it easier, it is not those vertical types with the high trolley handles. It tilts very low so I have to exert some effort to drag it. Anyway, I made it through somehow.
I posted some pics of the my new room over at my multiply site, if you’d like to see. The only major difference from the old to the new room is that it HAS INTERNET!!! \o/
I finally saw the bishie again. He came to the office a few hours ago and sat behind me. I can’t bring myself to take a picture of him (at least not upfront), especially not here in the office.
Gomen ne, stalker-sensei (I am sorry, stalker master). This was the best I could do.
1/19
We were scheduled to go to Umeda for some shopping and sale hunting! We went to HEP Five, a building with a big red ferris wheel on top. We tried to find UNIQLO, the Japanese version of Giordano, or so they say. UNIQLO was a bit elusive at first, but after seeking help from some of the locals and a cute-looking guy, we were able to arrive at our destination. Unfortunately, we were a bit early at 10AM. Most of the shops were scheduled to open at 11AM.
I stopped to observe the passerbys. Contrary to common belief, a lot of families go out during the weekends. I saw a lot of ultra kawaii (cute) kids with their parents merrily walking and spending some quality time together. The Japanese are not as workaholic as they appear to be. The kids looked adorable donning their winter wear, with their teeny tiny bubble jackets and all. All of them seem to have a healthy blush on them, which only magnified their cuteness and moe factor >__< I would have liked to take a picture with them, but I’m afraid that the parents might call the police on me shouting “PEDO!!! PEDO!!!”
