Anyway, two Saturdays ago was one of the saddest day of my life here in Tokyo. My best friend here, Doohee-chan, had to go back to Korea as her school term here ends.
So Dzaid and I, being the good friends cum gentlemen that we are *ahem*, accompanied her to the airport and helped her with the luggage.
You see, no one speaks English in class, except Janette. With most other classmates, I had to speak formally in Japanese like “What did you do last weekend?”, “How much is your house rent?”, “How’s the food in your country?” etc. You know, the typical culture exchange talk.
Doohee-chan is very fun to talk with. We like to engage in what the Japanese call baka-banashi, or talk crap! Just like how my friends and I talk back in Malaysia, right ppl?! :D We don’t care if our Japanese sucks, we just talk about whatever we want to talk about.
To reflect on her down-to-earth personality, she likes to ask funny questions, doesn’t mind being in stupid pictures, laughs a lot and likes to jokingly praise herself, like “Well you still have the other classmates, just too bad that I’m the most interesting person to talk to, deshoouuu?!” XD
She wrote a letter for me before she left (awwwww) and reminded me of when we first met (double awwww). She was the first schoolmate who formally introduced herself to me, coz she sat beside me during the opening ceremony. It was a blessing that we landed in the same class.
Unfortunately, she was also the first schoolmate who I had to say goodbye to. Sayonara Doohee-chan, hope we can meet sometime again. When I visit Korea someday, you better keep your promise and take me around yea!
…
And here’s some bonus content!
We trained her to say a malay simpulan bahasa. As to why… errr, it’s a little of an inside joke among us cousins, but it’s still a proper saying. Could you hear it?
Was thinking of getting a haircut… what do you guys think?
Damn I look good.
Dzaid wants to get a haircut, so we did a little experiment. This is what happens when you have a list of cool guy pictures and (bad) Photoshop skills.
2008 is the year of new beginnings for me. New country, new life, new ventures and recently, new house! That’s two new houses in a year, how about that!
There are two reasons behind this move. Firstly, the contract for the previous house was only for 3 months, and we had to inform the landlord much earlier if we wanted to extend it. The reason we didn’t extend it is also the second one, which is that Dzaid wanted personal space (maybe I smell bad) and I kinda agreed with him too.
So yup, lemme show you around. I’ll make a YouTube video of the place when I have time.
So welcome to Hazmeria! The front design is almost the same, entrance hallway with kitchen and toilet on its sides. The kitchen is still damn small :P
Hey wait, who’s that taking my picture?
Why, it’s Senyo of coz! They came up with the idea to have this housewarming party. The deal is that I cook Malaysian food and they cook Korean food, then eat dinner together. Is it ok for me to be this happy? ^__________^
It’s interesting to talk to them, coz they can’t speak English, I can’t speak Korean either, so we had to rely on Japanese to communicate. I could imagine the neighbour laughing his ass off listening to our broken Japanese XD
Oh I was too busy cooking, so all pics of the house were taken by Senyo. (Thanks!)
Also super big thanks to Fabian for providing the Malaysian ingredients!
Senyo took two pictures of the room, so I combined them. The room is considerably more spacious and comfy than the previous one. Unfortunately, the room was initially unfurnished. Bought the furniture from Ikea, thought they’d match well with the nice wooden flooring.
Also, they’re quite cheap. The bed frame is cheaper than most second-hand bed frames out there. Amazing, isn’t it? It doesn’t have a backboard, just a bunch of flat wooden planks, but the colour and style suit the room perfectly.
That glowing thing in the middle is a heating stove I bought from Bic Camera. The cheapest of its range :P Also, last month’s electric bill was quite high, coz Dzaid and I switched on the aircond heater. So far I’m very happy with the “Hot style Far-infrared rays”, whatever that means :)
Ok back to the party! Thank god the tomyam, telur bungkus and sambal turned out good. Well tomyam is actually quite Thai isn’t it :P But it’s watered down, so it has been Malaysianized!
Oh if you have any korean friends, ask them to pronounce “telur bungkus”. Damn cute!
Doohee made this small little pizza thingie called Kimchi Puchimgae, using flour, cheese and kimchi (duh). The amazing thing is that it’s like our Roti Canai, but it can be eaten cold and raw :O But she said heating it up a little would bring out the taste more.
And it was delicious!!! I usually hate Kimchi, but the spiciness was toned down by the cheese. Now that I think about it, if it didn’t have that subtle Kimchi taste, it won’t be as nice.
It was interesting how Senyo and Doohee introduced the sauced mee: “It’s actually a Chinese dish, but you can’t find it anywhere in China, only Korea.” Um, what?! XD
At the end, I knew where it drew inspiration from: Hokkien Fried Mee, coz the sauce is black and the mee is thick. The taste is totally different though, but equally delicious! :9
Whoa, am I in a dream? Two girls in the kitchen? ^___^
While I was cooking the Tomyam, they decided to help me cut stuff and wash the pots and pans. Maybe I cooked too slow :P I can already imagine my mom nodding furiously. Oh c’mon, all males can’t multitask, right?!
And there you have it! Thankfully, everything turned out well, the winner being the telur bungkus. Chou Oishii, they said (very delicious).
They didn’t take much of the sambal ikan bilis though, but that’s the instant version so I don’t mind if they don’t like it, kakakakaka.
Too bad Senyo took this picture *before* she cooked the mee. We exchanged recipes, so I already know how to make it. A picure of it next time!
And that ends the housewarming party. Doohee and Senyo, please come again!
Next up is the countdown celebration with Dzaid and Daim.
Cool dudes go to clubs and discos for loud countdowns. We’re not them, so we went to a temple near Tokyo Tower for a more traditional new year celebration.
Can someone tell me what they’re burning there? Whoa, I see a spirit in the fire. Kewl.
Protip: Do not eat dinner before you come here. Alah, I wanna eat Takoyaki too!
Mmmm, fried squid. My sotong fanboy sense is tingling.
Here, anyone could come up and hit the mochi (rice cake) with a big hammer. After a few people hit it, they gave some to the audience to sample its texture.
Alright, now we’re in the temple square and suddenly the lights went off. 2009 is close!
Everyone counted down, then bam! Wow, just check out the quality of that photo! Actually, the audience was given a transparent balloon earlier, so they would release it when 2009 arrives. We were quite off from the center of the square, so the picture shows a bunch of balloons travelling in the distance…. yea =_=
Argh, might as well show you the video of the entire event, filmed by someone else :P
There you have it, new year in Tokyo. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed. There were no fireworks and the screaming wasn’t exciting enough. I guess Malaysians know how to par-tay!
But I LOVE the balloons flying though. Added a lot to the magic :)
2009 is also the beginning of Dzaid wearing contact lens! More handsome now, rite?
Alright then, I would cover more of my 2008 summary, 2009 wishlist and of course (you think I would forget?) ahbonk.net anime awards 2008! Happy new year, everyone! AkeOme!
Merry Christmas everyone! People keep asking, “Hey how did you spend your christmas? Heard Christmas is beautiful in Tokyo!”. Yup, sure it is, Danny Choo even went to Roppongi Hills and saw all the pretty lights.
Me? Busy moving my *heavy* bags to and fro via train, with some stations not even providing an elevator or escalator D: Had to make arrangements with the electric and gas companies to come to my house. Ikea furniture arrived on Christmas as well, took the entire day to assemble them.
Yup, that’s my Christmas in Tokyo :P
At least everything’s in order. And I *heart* my new house!!! I’ll show it to you guys sometime next week, via video of coz!
But now there are more important matters that require my full attention.
Such as the preparation for Comiket! Over 2,000 booths in a single day, not to mention that they change every day for 3 days! Using the laws of mathematics, that’s over 6,000 booths in all! Crazy! Gurugu mawaru… @_@
The catalogue itself is 2-inches thick D: I could buy the CD-ROM version, but I prefer everything in print. It includes 3 tear-out maps and a whole illustrated listing of all the doujin booths in a nicely gridded layout.
Of course, the Kanji dictionary is essential as well :P
Thank god they lump all similar parodies into one location. I’m targeting Aria, Hidamari Sketch, Toradora, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Miku, Klonoa soundtrack and Touhou. Oh, also Tony Taka and other *ahem* distinguished artists ^^;;
It took me a freaking 6 hours to really plan out the whole thing! Tiring, though won’t be as tiring as the convention itself. Ah, can’t wait to smell the sweaty armpits of thousands of otakus tomorrow.
Mind you, the pic only shows one out of 3 sides of the map, which is only for one of the 3 days! That’s right, 9 sides in all! Man, your math skills are awesome!
And yes, each of those small squares are booths D:
As if that wasn’t shocking enough, each booth has two doujin artists! How about that!
Packed the maps in my bag and I’m ready to go! Wish me luck! Think I’m gonna need it :S
Did you know that in football, there’s a super-finals match after the finals? Bet you didn’t. After Spain won, they had to take on the final contenders in a lava field planted with mines.
It was an epic match, and it ended brutally. When the final whistle blew on Tuesday night in Mount Stromboli, it did not just confirm the mysterious force as winners of Euro 2008, it was also a signal to down the Spanish team with lava spew.
They are the winners yet again…
…the MMTOA team! (Eat that UEFA! Our abbreviation is longer!)
Their secret lies in their superb exit strategy: be genuinely injured OFTEN, to send the good Spanish players off. Damn they’re good.
Just like any other good son (who wanna save money), I cooked dinner for my mom! Felt like cooking some Japanese food. The greatest challenge was that my mom couldn’t eat raw fish, so I couldn’t get away with just sushi and sashimi. Drat!
Had to go to Isetan KLCC to get one important thing: Dashi stock, a basic fish broth found in a whole lot of Japanese food. There, I also took the chance to buy some fresh Sanma, damn hard to find this fish in a typical supermarket.
Once I reached home, the cooking began! Being a guy, I couldn’t multi-task, so I cooked the dishes one at a time :P It took a whole one and a half hours!
This was my mom’s favourite dish! I’m sure you’ve eaten this in some Japanese restaurant before. It’s salt-grilled Sanma fish. Referred to a recipe online, and found out that it’s super easy to make! Just marinate the fish with salt, grill it, and makan!
Then I cooked some layered omelet. My sisters ate this before, but this time I added the Dashi stock to the whole mix, can’t really taste the difference though (maybe I didn’t add enough!).
And this was my favourite :D I’m particularly proud of this one, coz the beef was tender and the potatoes were really soft. Also added dashi stock to this one, and this time there’s a difference, a delicious one at that! :9
And how did the food fare…?
*drumroll*
Yay my 2nd seal of approval! She really loved the fish, too bad the fish are a bit on the expensive side. Overall, she’s one happy mother!
But mother’s day or not, my mom cleaned the mess :P I cannot lah, headache when I see the aftermath. X( Sorry Mama!
Happy mother’s day to mothers all around the world! Man, father’s day is coming. What should I cook next…
Here’s a little picture tribute to all those who have played and supported The Last Canopy:
My cousin Dzaid on the left was the illustrator and background designer for the game, also the character designer of the fairy. My cousin Aidi on the right was the enemy ship designer. Three of us would like to thank everyone for supporting The Last Canopy, and hope that you continue your support with the various versions of TLC in the future!
I also sent a thank you email to Jayisgames, and they were so touched that they published it on the site! A little deja vu, eh? :) Here’s the link:
My lucky cousin, Daim has finally gone off to Japan to work for a 6-month contract, possibly more if everything goes well. If he feels like BLOGGING (ehek) about it, check out his adventures at http://www.daimation.com.
While everyone celebrates Chinese New Year, my mom catches up with the live coverage of the U.S. elections the whole day today. So to ensure she stays glued to the TV, I’ve decided to cook a nice little lunch for my mom.
Damn, I’m such a good son.
I occasionally cook, and I mean it literally: only when there’s an occasion, I would cook! Since I like simple food (remember… Chicken Rice?), I cook simple food as well. Coz I’m a cooking noob :P Of course, I have graduated past Maggi Soup and Indomee Goreng haha.
Anyway, after some googling, I ended up cooking Steamed Fish with Thai Sauce. Since I don’t really care about the quantities, just the ingredients and steps, I just bantai put in whatever amount I want. You know, like Jamie Oliver!
Looks SUPER healthy doesn’t it? I have to say I did quite well ;)
And my mom gives the thumbs up. No complaints at all! And she’s the type who honestly says it’s bad if it’s bad, so I’m quite proud of myself, heh heh.
The worst thing about cooking is the cleaning up D:
And to make matters worse, I’m a messy guy! TT_TT
Maybe you wanna cook the same thing for your reunion dinner tonight? If so, here’s the recipe. As you would notice, the quantity for each ingredient is kinda ambiguous, just like how I do my cooking heh heh.
The Fish. I bought Dory Fillet, el cheapo. The most suitable one would be Cod, but that’s around 20 bucks a piece! Heat up oil in the pan (I used olive oil, my mom prefers the more healthy alternative), and campak the fish into the pan! Turn it over a few times, and wait till it becomes light brown.
The Sauce. Wah, I really used my gut feeling for this one. Anyway, get a mug, and fill around one eighth of it (i think?) with sweet thai chilli sauce. Then top it up with lime juice (use your finger muscle and squeeze those limes!), a little more than the chilli sauce.
Next, chop a lot of mint leaves, a dash of lemon grass and a few tablespoons of coriander (or as Jusco puts it, Chinese Parsley). The online recipe recommended grated ginger, but I forgot to buy :P Put the concoction into a bowl, and pour the chilli sauce+lime juice mix into it. Stir like mad, and you get some mouldy pungent thingy that looks like something really healthy.
The Salad. Aiyah, this one damn easy lah. Just buy those salads already box-ready in Jusco, break them apart and pour some olive oil on them. Then toss and toss. Voila, tossed salad!
The Final Product. Serve the fish on the plate, pour generous amounts of sauce on the fish and put the salad at the side. Place some slices of lemon if you wish. And there you have it! You might have screwed up your last-minute shopping, but you have saved your reunion dinner! Your family will love you even more!
To all my family and friends, happy chinese new year! May you have a great year ahead, and please drive safely. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
2007 was really a great year for me. True, there were some regrets, but many joyful moments overshadowed them. Here’s a gist of what happened last year: ahbonk.net was born!
As I threw away my previous blog Level UP!, I started life anew in Feb 2007. I opened a new blog, simply ahbonk.net. To live a simple life, the spirit of the blog continues on to 2008!
Thank you for your support, dear friends and readers! :) I left (if )
Probably the biggest surprise of my life, I let go of my life in (if ). Had a really fun-filled 4 years, but life had to go on. Thanks, (if ). Singapore Trip
A much-needed trip. Went there with my cousins, and met up with my best friends Hoshi-chan and Joanne. And we took a bunch of silly pictures! Had a really great time! Failed to get into Less Rain Tokyo
Wanted to try something new. So Jason, Adrian (both great guitarists) and I (a noob drummer with the sole experience of playing Drummania :P) played L’s theme song and Welcome to the Black Parade.
Posted the L one to YouTube, and now it’s almost reaching 10,000 hits, favourited 29 times and has 50 comments! Cool! And Jason STILL hasn’t given them the guitar tabs, haha. I’m a TOA Lecturer!
For the life of me, I can’t believe that I became a lecturer again, and in a design college to boot. But I’m having a great time, with fun colleagues and students alike! It really feels great to be in academia again. Easy Only! Games
I can’t imagine myself being in a 9-to-5 job anymore (actually, (if ) was more of a 9am-to-5am job!), so I created my own company. It was created to provide advergames for clients, but thanks to a certain win, the company has changed direction. Now EOG makes games for game’s sake! Screw clients! Woohoo! XD Ballistic Wars got Third Place!
I’m still in a state of disbelief. Ballistic Wars, a game that I worked with Daim and Ah mui nyin, has won third place in an international competition! It was even featured in the NST. Now another competition is up at JayisGames, so stay tuned for the next EOG creation!
Ok, from hereon are stuff that I should have posted earlier, but didn’t get to. I can already hear a few “FINALLY!” among my friends, but anyway here they are, my VERY belated BIRTHDAY RAYA post! Hari Raya
As usual, I spent this year’s Hari Raya with my mother’s side in my auntie’s Tropicana house. My father’s side all balik kampung, and I’m not that fond of going back to Besut. Everyone speaks Malay French there!
Here’s the OBLIGATORY picture of me and my mom. (I’m such a great son!)
As with any Hari Raya, my cousins and I are up to no good again. And that means posing like idiots in front of the camera!
Here’s our semi-tak-jadi take of the Phoenix Wright fanbook cover. Aidi, where the heck is your crystal ball?!
As if the previous poses weren’t sor hai enough! There’s a reason why Aidi and I had to be behind while Daim goes in front. Can you guess what game is this from?
We have rotated the camera, so you know it’s a 3D game. Dina dropped her sunglasses though. Birthday
I’m always proud of my birthdate, 10/10. Yea I know it’s already January, but that doesn’t stop me from showing my gratitude for the various gifts and happy moments that I shared with my family and friends!
First off, to avoid saying thanks under every single picture below (this is a journalistic decision, that’s all!), I would like to thank everyone below for giving me the great gifts and dinners and whatnot. Had a really great birthday last year.
Of course, being a good son, I start first with my dad’s and mom’s.
Seeing how much fatter I’m getting with every visit, Papa decided to get a towel that can fit me for the next 10 years!
I think Mama was sick of me wearing jeans and black pants my whole life, haha.
And now moving on to my friends…
Tiffany and Joyce, my two great friends from secondary school, gave me a surprise birthday dinner in Italliennes One Utama! I felt so bad for not seeing them on new year eve, so I’ll see both of you on CNY, I promise!
Heh, it’s like as if the Italliennes staff were my best buddies (I knew none of them!). So I’m really grateful for their sportiness.
And that free cake is actually bread layered with creamy pumpkin sauce, and it’s SUPER DELICIOUS! :9 Come to Italliennes on your birthday (and please for the love of God, don’t go to Friday’s… it can get REALLY noisy for the other patrons!)
Next day, my sisters and I went to Sushi Zanmai to celebrate my birthday. Yean has been so busy the past year, so this is a really treasured moment! And Nyin had a new haircut too. Kawaii~
And look what they got for me! A second controller for my Wii! There was a Hari Raya do in my house 3 days after that, so the party had a lot of multiplayer fun! This present came just in time! Sorry yean yean, I blocked your face…
And finally we had some nice chocolate birthday cake. Oh look, the cameraman finally joined us! That’s Alex, Yean’s boyfriend. 2007 was a really great year for them, am I right? ;)
I went to Singapore to talk to a potential sponsor, but I’ll never pass up the chance to meet my best friend in college, Joanne. She’s working in Johor now, so we rarely meet :( She belanja-ed me makan in this really nice down-to-earth Thai restaurant, and we had a really great talk, just like old times.
Anne anne, when are you coming back to KL? The position in EOG is always open :)
Another close sister of mine, hoshi-chan, went off to work in Singapore last year. Her birthday is 2 days after mine, so we always celebrate our birthday together, regardless of distance! Ain’t I a good onii-chan!
We had dinner in Genki Sushi, which is SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH BETTER than its Malaysian counterpart! For most of you who are disappointed by the quality of Genki Sushi here, please give them another chance… in Singapore!
Hoshi-chan got me Revoltech Yotsuba, with really convincing movable parts! She’s the main star in the Yotsubato manga, by the same guy that did Azumanga Daioh. Easily one of my favourites.
By the way, guess what I got for myself back in September…
Yup, ANOTHER Revoltech Yotsuba! Sorry hoshi-chan… at least my Yotsuba has found her twin sister :P
My cousin Dzaid (who’s only five days younger than me, so we celebrate our birthday together as well) got me Bunny Mikuru-chan! She has, uh soft boob parts, for some extra win :)
Man, she promoting beef seems so… appropriate >:D
She has exchangable parts, like her face and arms. The box even has 3 different signboards other than the one above, including the famous Yamatsuchi Model Shop, which would remind you of the following picture:
“Please don’t fire at people! Consider shooting cans or something like that!”
Another cousin of mine, Gongrea… I mean, Aidi got me volume 2 and 3 of Azumanga Daioh the manga! It wasn’t really a surprise, coz he bought for me volume 4 in 2006!
There are only 4 volumes, and I already bought volume 1. So how this year, Aidi?
Oh yea, to show my gratitude, I placed your name above in a nice location :3
Yay, now I have a matching back cover for my Osaka figurine!
Auntie Sam got me a CD full of nice celtic remixes of famous songs. When I drive in the morning, I would listen to them to get myself motivated for the day. I tried to listen to them at night, but that would prove fatal for me and the other drivers on the road :P
Oh crap! I forgot to fill the petrol… (picture taken just now)
Turn this over, and you can hear a bleating sound. A nifty and unique gift from Auntie Nyonya!
Btw, she went for a trip overseas before my birthday. Wonder where she went…
I heard that almost everyone must have at least one Hidamari figure sitting on the table once in their lifetime. Thanks to Lee Ling, I’m now part of that group! She told me that the above figure reminded her of me TT_TT, so she bought it immediately. I hope she saw the cute thin white guy…
Realising my sudden craze for anime psychological thrillers like Higurashi and Perfect Blue, Daim ordered two horrorific dvd movies for me: The Blair Witch Project, the super camera-shaking extravaganza, and Session Nine, a story of three men cleaning up an abandoned asylum (oooooohh *shiver*).
Daim and Dzaid, we’re gonna watch these next week! Aidi, you’re welcomed to join too… if you dare~ ohohohohohoho
Live from Japan, Sze got me the Lucky Star Okiraku Box, Konata version! Somehow Sze had sixth sense and knew I would select Konata to be my third fave character of 2007!
The box contains some cool stuff, such as the Konata guide book (contains her illustrations and what not), her school pocket book, a CD of lucky star windows goodies, and most important of all…
…a nice Konata figurine! This is exactly what I highlighted in my post about upcoming anime figures. This figure really captures Konata’s personality well, and don’t you just love that expression 0_<
Phew, what a year! With all the happy moments, achievements, gifts and wonderful animes we had in 2007, it would be great if 2008 had all of them, if not better! Cheers to all of you in 2008!
Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!~ (Please take care of me this year as well)
Unfortunately, she was also the first schoolmate who I had to say goodbye to. Sayonara Doohee-chan, hope we can meet sometime again. When I visit Korea someday, you better keep your promise and take me around yea!
