Awaiting...

Ajisen Ramen was introduced to me by ronnie. He said he discovered this ramen joint in ShenZhen before and loved their Seafood Fried Rice. He found out that there were branches in HK as well and so far, it's one of those Japanese restos in HK that he favored (together with Yoshinoya and Ichiban, the last being his number 1 as of the moment).

l-r: feb 2007 @ ajisen causeway, july 2007 @ ajisen shenzhen (there's ronnie's seafood rice :p which isn't available in ajisen hk branches)

Just recently, while we, together with our officemates were checking out the newly built Midtown Wing of Robinsons Place Ermita, we were surprised to see an Ajisen Soon To Open banner somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd floor. This wouldn't be the first branch in the Philippines though as we learned September last year that there's a branch in Alabang Town Center already. Then again, going to ATC just to eat there would be inconvenient for us. At least this time, it'll just be a few minutes walk from our office. :)

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Another resto that ronnie introduced was Ruby Tuesday. He first talked about it when he and two bosses had dinner there. When I went on a trip to HK first quarter of last year, he then brought me there for the Chocolate Shortcake (super yummy!). In September last year, we went there with another friend/officemate for the same dessert. :D We only know of one branch and it's not that near to where we are staying that is why we get to visit the place only once in a while. Besides the fact that prices don't come in cheap.

our favorite

If our eyes weren't playing tricks on us, ronnie and I saw a Soon To Open banner as well in TriNoMa around December last year. I haven't checked if it's open already or if there will really be a Ruby Tuesday branch there, but hey, just like with Ajisen, it's a welcome surprise. :)

I'm actually psyched for these two to open just because those happen to hold pretty good memories for me. :)

Rekindled

I started learning the Japanese language around 2004. Since then, it was an on and off study. And for almost a year, I thought I'd stay away from it already. There's not much people to converse with as a practice, so I said why pursue it? Around November last year, me and sister found a flyer in UP offering Japanese language courses starting January the next year. And yes, it made me excited in an instant. Soon after, I asked my close buddy if she also wanted to study and she said yes!

We've been attending classes in UP Diliman thrice a week for almost a month now. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I leave the office at 4:30pm for my 6-8 class (she attends Mondays and Wednesdays on the other hand :/). Saturday classes are scheduled 9-11am for us both (but we're still not on the same class). So far, it makes me think that it was a good idea for us to sign up because 1. we get to spend more time with each other now, 2. i have someone to practice with now, 3. i get to meet new people, 4. i can appreciate jpop and jdramas better, and 5. makes me live that part where i want to be a student once again. lol.

music albums "bucho" lent me

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I collect DVDs (not originals, just to be honest). But because I am aware of many movies are coming out every month, I know I wouldn't be able to save any if I go buy everything. And so I decided to limit my collection to Asian movies only (Korean, Japanese and Chinese to be exact). I used to buy somewhere in Makati when I was still working in that area. When I moved to another company, I wasn't able to buy from there anymore. Sometimes I'd buy in HK instead when I'm there. There, sometimes I'd settle for VCDs especially if they don't have a DVD for a certain movie that I really like and which, I'm sure I won't find here.

And then lately, since my sister started working in Makati and has recently discovered the same place where I used to purchase, it would seem that our collection would continue to grow once again. :D

Recent buys are as follows (they're mostly romance comedy just because she's a sucker for that):
1. 200 Pounds Beauty (I've seen this one in HK with ronnie and billy already but we have to have a copy still).
2. Daisy
3. The All-Powerful Romance a.k.a. The Strongest Romance
4. Seducing Mr. Perfect
5. I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok
6. Too Beautiful To Lie

DS Mania

A year ago, i was still bent on purchasing a PSP. I remember chatting with a friend about this when he told me to get an NDS Light instead because it seemed like it matched my personality better than the other one. I had to research and check out the difference between those two as well as the games available for each one. I later found out that some people think that DS is for kids while the other is not. If that's what my friend meant when he suggested DS for me, I can only guess. :p

Eventually, I decided that I'm getting a DS. Why? Cause the unit had pastel colors that I liked and I thought the games were cuter and more fun than those for PSP. I was eyeing a pink one before just because it looked girly. And then an officemate, the first one who had a DS in the office, bought a white one and made me rethink of getting a light-colored DS. I ended up with the idea that black is better. When I was about to buy the unit, ronnie decided to surprise me by giving me one. :D Couldn't get any happier, I tell you.

I bought a case to protect the unit itself. Thinking that I wanted my DS to stand out, I asked ronnie to draw something for me so that I could put it on the cover. Fortunately, he indulged. :) It looked good with a green silicon cover before and since I changed the silicon cover to white at the start of the year, some of my friend officemates were joking ronnie to draw a new one to match the new cover, lol. let's see if he gets the hint.

Anyway, the first few games I played were Mario Kart, Cooking Mama and Trauma Center - all among the list of best DS games. I discovered Diner Dash for DS which became the first game I got to finish. Early on, there were only two of us playing against each other in Mario Kart (the game can have 8 players race against each other). Later on, one officemate after another bought their own units as well. Thus, around September last year, me and 7 other officemates were able to compete against each other. Imagine that.

mario kart session in watami, hk (addict talaga!)

For a time, the craze waned.

And then, during Christmas vacation, I tried my hands on playing Ouendan, a Japanese rhythm game. Ronnie and first DS-owner officemate were crazy with the game while I, cannot even finish 1/4 of a song. I wanted to challenge myself that I downloaded Ouendan 2 (because ronnie finished ouendan1 already) and found myself hooked! I downloaded Elite Beat Agents (English version of the above mentioned game) as well, just out of curiosity. And what can I say, Ouendan is still waaaaaay cooler than EBA.

Recently, we're now having Ouendan sessions instead of Mario Kart sessions (only downside is that Ouendan allows a maximum of 4 players only :s). These sessions have become bonding moments for us officemates plus it helps me not lose interest with my toy. I don't know how long this'll keep up, I guess I'll just enjoy this for now.

ouendan session in the office

Mall Rat

Aside from the fact that December was such a busy month, it also happens to be the month that I found myself inside the mall almost 50% of the time. I've just went through my planner and here's what I meant:

I'll probably need time away from any mall for January, methinks.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Rush

Schedule this whole December is so tight. I really wish I'd be able to rest.

Seriously. >.<