An hour at a cafe

When it's raining and cold outside, it's time to chill at a cafe.
Chillin with my cell.
My boyfriend's salad looks yummy
My clubhouse sandwich! Boy do I love Clubhouse Sandwiches!
Gee, when the hell is it going to stop raining?

A very long day

I got up at 9am this morning because I had to rush off to buy some things I needed for work in Shinjuku. I am normally in bed during this time, but today, I really needed to prepare for the busy day ahead. It was a lovely day and it was nice to be able to get out of the apartment to enjoy the clean and crisp winter air.

On the way back home, I stopped by McDonald's to try the Mega Mac that's been advertised. Frankly speaking, it was kind of horrible and not to my liking at all. It's basically a Big Mac with 2 extra patties for a total of 4 beef patties. However the burger was extremely salty and I had a difficult time finishing it. I will stick with my regular Big Mac thank you. It was the worst burger I've ever had in my life...yes that's how bad it was!

I worked for most of the day and I actually felt as though I was going to faint at one point during the day. However work and life has to go on with no interruptions so I took a chill pill, walked off the faintness and got back to work.

Today my boyfriend told me that I'm the type of person who works really hard and doesn't realize how hard he's working until he just drops dead. He said that he read about it in a book and that's the type of person I am. I guess that sort of makes sense to me because I have made myself sick from extreme exhaustion in the past. It's funny though, because I don't realize it until it's too late. I really have to be careful and monitor my workload. However it's easier said than done because I seem to be a workaholic and a perfectionist when it comes to work.

Hmmm......just admitting it is making me realize I may have a slight problem here. Where is the doctor when you need one?

A long walk

The other day I was really upset and decided to walk off my anger. I was at Yotsuya Station and saw the Mori Building in Roppongi in the far distance. It didn't look too far so I figure I would walk to Roppongi. Besides, I really needed to vent my anger and I thought walking would be a great way to let off some steam.

As I walked, it dawned on me that it was the first time I ever attempted to walk along this route. It never dawned on me that I would get lost. I finally got to my destination after a 2-hour walk. I put on my iPod, blasted it to near full volume, started walking to the beat and just started thinking that everyone could just go fuck themselves! I was definitely in a foul mood.

An hour into my walk, I found myself walking along an empty road with almost no one else around. I started thinking about all sorts of stuff...you know things that one thinks about when you have nothing else to think about. My iPod was playing a really depressing sad at this time so this may have something to do with it. I guess I was in a depressed state for about 20 minutes.

The weather was wonderful despite the freezing temperature. However there was not a cloud in the sky. The walk was invigorating and I got to see a log of neat things I wouldn've never gotten to unless I did this walk.

After arriving in Roppongi, I killed some time browsing through books at Tsutaya Book Store and after awhile I started to feel the first signs of fatigue and drowsiness so I decided to take a break and have a cup of coffee. The caffeine kicked in and I decided to browse some more until it was time to meet my friend who was 30 minutes late. I forgave him for his unnecessary tardiness as he treated me to a wonderful dinner. How easy can I be for fuck's sake!

Afterwards, we went for some herb tea since I had my daily quota of caffeine already. Then we went to see a movie, a film that I already saw but I felt obligated to treat my friend to something as I did feel bad that he paid for dinner.

I caught the midnight train home and finally arrived at my apartment around 1am. The walk from the station to my apartment was a very chilly 8 minute walk. I made myself a steaming bath, gingerly dipped my toes into the scalding hot water finally getting my entire body into the tub. I got out in less than 10 minutes because I started to feel faint and my body felt like it was in a half-boiled situation. Wiped myself dry, got myself a glass of water and went to bed feeling all warm and comfortable.

All in all, it was a lovely day!

Year End Party Pictures

Last year I attended at least three separate parties during the month of December. One of my friends just bought a luxury condo smack in the middle of Tokyo. It was a fabulous place and one heck of a party! Met a lot of interesting people and I had a great time.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but there were 100 people in attendance. This party palace is two stories high and after this picture, I was too drunk to care about pictures.

The walkway looking towards the condominium. It was a very cold day.

What a view!

Beautiful Saturday

Today I got up quite early because my partner and I wanted to head on down to Tokyo Disney Sea for the new event called "Season of the Heart". It was a sweet and romantic event although quite subtle compared to major events. It was sort of like a filler to connect the Christmas event and the main Spring event coming soon. The park was quite empty for a Saturday and although it was cold, we had a great time!

The park was filled with flowers especially tulips. Tulips are one of my favorite spring time flowers and although it's still the middle of winter, the park was filled with tulips in full bloom! I think we spent at least a couple of hours just taking pictures of the tulips and it was therapeutic to say the least. We will be going back again one more time during the tulip season since we just couldn't get enough of them.

*To see more pictures of the flowers at TDS, please visit my Disney Resort Blog.

We only got to go on one attraction and we was one show. We got there late and we were hungry so we getting something to eat was first on the agenda. We visited the Portofino Cafe, which is one of our favorites. One of my favorite food is found here. It's a simple soup really, but oh sooooooo good! It's a cream of vegetable soup and it's fantabulous! I swear I had it three times in a row and I never seem to get tired of it.

After lunch and taking all those pictures, my body was shivering to the core and although we had fastpasses to the one attraction we went on, I had to wait for about 20 minutes to warm myself up. I started to feel bad and nervous about riding. I warmed myself by entering a warm building and jumped up and down while squeezing my hands together in a rapid motion. Yep, I'm weird and that's what I do, but it works for me. I was much better after that. We then got some dessert at an Italian restaurant and then took more pictures before heading on down to Korakuen for dinner. My partner asked me if I wanted to go to Bubba Gump for dinner and I obviously said yes and started jumping up and down out of sheer joy since it is one of my favorite places to eat shrimp! But seriously, I go there for the ooey gooey desserts at the end of the meal. We had a huge meal and I didn't eat any of my fries or any other starch for that matter because I wanted to save room for dessert. But still in the end, I could not finish the dessert I ordered and my partner said that he'd pay for dinner only if I finish off the whole plate of dessert. So I tried my best to eat it all and in the end I could only finish half. My partner forgave me for ordering such a huge dessert and paid for the meal anyway. In return, I invited him to go sing at a karaoke place since he loves to. All in all, we had a wonderful Saturday.

I start a very busy week starting tomorrow...yes a Sunday! A very busy week awaits me and therefore I really needed this break from my computer to recuperate. Yes, I am once again a well-balanced person.

Christmas Dinner at Home

Good French Brie to start with

Garden fresh greens with tomatoes

Pot Roast Pork with Grilled Onions and Tomatoes and Haricort Verts

Chirashi Sushi

A specially ordered Buche de Noel from Pierre Herme

The roast pork turned out perfectly and the cake was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever tasted in my entire life!

Christmas Time in Tokyo

Christmas in Japan is not at all festive like in Western countries. In fact everyone works on Christmas Day as it is not really a holiday here. However the city does get dressed up for the holiday season and they do it better every year.

Japanese style lanterns for the holiday season.


The green lighting on the top of the buildings are just some of the subtle holiday touches.

The fountains with the holiday lanterns in the background.

The Marunouchi district is bright red this year.

Autumn in Kyoto

My partner and I took short trip to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan. The autumn leaves were beautiful and Kyoto is packed with people during this season. However I had no idea it was going to be this crowded!!! In fact, it was so mobbed with people, I'm not sure if I'd go again during this time of the year unless we were driving our own car.

As I was walking down a narrow street in Kyoto, I noticed these fallen leaves in a puddle of water, which I found to be rather beautiful. As soon as I pointed this out to my partner, other people started gathering around this puddle of water with leaves and more than a few people started snapping away with their cameras. It was pretty funny!

This garden is one of the most beautiful gardens found in Japan. It's a beautiful place to visit throughout the year but especially so during autumn as you can see in these pictures.

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's already January and I have to admit, the end of 2006 was just a blur. It's mind-boggling how many parties I attended and with everything else that happened, it's hard to remember what I did last month. I will say that the parties I went to were some of the best parties ever in my entire life! I am definitely getting older but life is definitely getting more interesting!

2006 was not the easiest year for me. However it has been one of the best years of my life. It's ironic though because it's been tough and challenging...in fact so tough I sometimes felt like just giving up. I'm not just talking about work...I mean in every aspect of my life! My relationship, my friendships, my health and everythin else you can think of. When things went well, things got worse. Then things improved only after things got really bad. So many things happened in my life that made me change my view of life. My health was sometimes so bad, I felt so tired at times. My relationship felt stagnant and seemed to have absolutely no passion.
I cried because it hurt too much. I cursed God for putting me through so much shit. I yelled at my body for not being able to do more. I prayed to God to help me become a better person. Yet how can I say, with all the ups and downs, that my year has been one of the best? It's precisely because of these numerous challenges that made my life in 2006 worthwhile.

I've made progress in all parts of my life. Although it seems at times, life is beating you to a pulp, you find that you are stronger than you think. In the end, I thanked God from the bottom of my heart...for giving me life and for letting me live another year on this earth.

I will live each day as it's my last and do the best in everything I do.