Having curry noodle for dinner coz had a heavy late lunch.

Had a busy weekend, sorting out stuff and going out with cousins and friends. Finally the weekend means something to me! I’ve edited a lot of my Malaysian trip pictures (about 100 of them!) and am trying to figure out how to put them in separate posts. Maybe Part 1 and 2? Or maybe based on category, i.e. friends, food? Oh the dilemma! Looks like I have to blog about them another day.

I promised Chito-san about a few times already so I feel really bad. He’s actually quite the Malaysian fan. Yea what do you know, a Japanese who loves Malaysian culture ;) Chito-san, gomen! So sorry!

Just a quick update: Life in Square Enix has been a blast! ^_^ I’ve never worked in a giant game corporation before so I got all naive and excited when I saw all the company benefits. Hooray for free coffee! <– See what I mean by naive?

I’ve read up (and even bought a book!) on Japanese business manners and all that, but it isn’t all that strict here in Squeenix. I get to wear casual clothes to work, bosses and colleagues all use the plain form (not even the -masu form) and they don’t refer to each other by position, just -san or -kun or none at all. Working hours are great too.

My boss (not sure if I can mention the name, I’ll ask for his permission tomorrow) has been real nice to me. He has been giving proper guidance on my job, work environment and even drops by my cubicle to talk about culture and what not. He even has given a whole bunch of anime and game freebies. Thank you so much, boss!

I’m surrounded by super experienced people. My boss worked on the scenario for Chrono Trigger and FFVI among many others, and there are also those who worked on Shinobi PS2, Skies of Arcadia, The Last Remnant, etc. We even have the programmer of Guitar Hero who entered the company at the same time as I. And I… created two Flash games. *Gasp* What am I doing here among all these outstanding people?! :O

These very same people are also VERY passionate about their interests. Needless to say, intense passion is key if you want to enter this company. In my team, there’s a dating sim + mech fan, a hardcore Vocaloid fan, a happily married Pokemon fan and a huge fan of western punk rock like Offspring and Smashing Pumpkins. In fact, I’m going to the Summer Sonic with him next month. And this passion is even carried into their work. A colleague of mine who specialized in 3D modeling learned VBScript by himself and programmed his own complex level editor to work with Square Enix’s! Surrounded by geniuses… the pressure!

As you can tell, it’s been a fun and interesting month, not to mention a busy one; I have a lot of work myself. The Malaysian pictures will have to wait :P Until then!

A crazy few weeks it has been: from work visas to moving house. What’s more important than all of this though is – When am I gonna get my Internets?!

The answer arrived last Monday as NTT came over to install the 100mbps network. Saved at last!

Oh yea, my mom’s research in Tokyo has ended and now she’s back in Malaysia. Since the previous room was meant for 2 people, I had to move out. Now I’m staying in West Shinjuku, around a 15-minute walk to my new workplace.

I haven’t sorted the place out yet lol. Tons of stuff to do (i.e. ps3 games to play *ahem*). My work/play area is complete though!

The same monitor for my computer, PS3 and Wii. World domination starts here!

Btw I have posted more game idea callouts in my game idea think tank blog, bonkify! Even created a bonkify! facebook page. Look at the sidebar on the right for details!

Been busy with job-hunting lately. It was my first time writing a CV/resume in Japanese! Unlike the western approach where you can write and format your CV as you please, the Japanese prefer everyone to fight on equal ground and have you purchase a ready-formatted CV from 7-Eleven and fill up from there. Still, had to write everything in Japanese, so imagine the stress…

I so do love stress don’t I? If it’s not the Japanese exam, then I just hop on to the next pillar of stressful existence. Maybe I’m made to be the M type :P

Have a bunch of edited pictures for a whole lot of events ready, just no time to write the posts. Will do so in due time. Meanwhile enjoy pictures of a ladybug wandering around in my room a few minutes ago.

This is it! The exam that I’ve been waiting for, JLPT Level 2. The exam that would increase the likelihood of me working in Tokyo if I pass.

I might have done well in the mock exams, in fact better than I expected, but you’ll never know how difficult the actual exam will be like. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, you know, that kind of crap.

Now that all my note-taking is complete, I only need to bring two books to study the whole time.

First, the grammar notes. I just need to polish a few corners by memorizing grammars that are hardly used in everyday conversation (or manga/anime :P). This and the listening section are my strengths, or so my Sensei says *blush*

Oh god, vocab. This is the killer for me. I’ve read a bunch of mangas and watched a lot of anime in my life, but I only have a 256 MB RAM brain. So I can only take in adverbs, adjectives and a bunch of verbs. _orz <– also my praying pose, God help me!

Sensei told us that you should divide the adjectives to positive and negative, so that you can already feel whether it’s wonderful or horrible at first glance. From there, try to remember its meaning.

Arrrrrggggggghhhh, kanji!!! Luckily, only 1 mark is awarded per question for the Kanji question, compared to 2 marks/question for vocab. Thanks to the school, all those Kanji drills throughout the year really paid off!

That’s not the torchlight or camera flash; it’s the moonlight seeping through my bedroom window. Good night everyone. See you next week!

And for those who are taking the JLPT exam this Sunday, no matter where you are, all the best! Ganbarou ze!

The Examination for Japanese University (EJU) exam is finished at last! Time to get some emblem of triumphs. more >>