First and foremost, it has been Chinese/Lunar New Year, so Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year, kung hei fat choi and all that crap, if you care. Which I personally don't, the only thing I ever cared about Chinese New Year are the "lai see", aka red pocket/packet/envelope, which are these package of money that are given to from your elders for good luck according to customs. which I haven't open btw because I didn't want to know the amount of money I got and wanna save whatever it is for the future when i wanna use it. but apart from that, Chinese New Year has never been really much of a big thing for me. one thing I haven't been liking much about CNY is that everyone's off and over here there are 3 days of public holidays for CNY. everything closes and there's nothing much to do anyways. it's just "quality" family time, and I guess that's a good thing. but the reason why this sorta bugs me is that it means that I have to be with my family and look after things and be with them the whole time, leaving very very little personal time and privacy to do whatever I want. like I just sorta wanna stop and take a breath for myself. i just hate it when holidays clash and everyone has off. I mean I'm on my Chinese New Year break right now....so are the kids....and my parents were suppose to only have the first three days of Chinese New Year off (since the first three days are suppose to be public holidays), as well as the day before as an extra, but then my parent's company decided to go on an extra week of holidays for some reason and heck...even their holidays are longer than mine now! CNY is what we like to call the "Chinese Christmas" because it's like that time where everyone gathers together and suppose to be all jolly and happy. well Christmas is still okay because I still find passion in it for some reasons. but for CNY, 3 days and more is a little bit too much. but oh well, no biggie

 

Anyways, the main reason I wanted to post this entry was because of something else. This something else happened about 4 days ago and yes, I know, it's late. but lately, I've been busy and haven't had much personal time and privacy to do much, but now I finally can, so here goes. About 5 days ago, I finally got a new computer/laptop! Yeah, that's right. You see, my parents promised me that before I go back to Canada, they would get me a new laptop since my old has been around for like nearly two years and a half and it has been getting crappy. So last month, we started looking for new laptops and I had my eye on one. Originally I was gonna get this Compaq laptop (which is the same brand as my old one) that costs $8000 HKD/$1000 USD/CAD. But since it only has Windows Vista Basic and not Vista Home Premium i had to get my alternative choice one which is an HP one and cost about $10000 HKD/$1250 USD/CAD (which the price was still accepted by my parents) and had all the same specifications as the Compaq one except this one has Home Premium. Compaq belongs to HP anyways, so i didn't care if it's Compaq or HP because I know both should be good. The only difference with the HP one and also the reason why it cost more was because it has Vista Home Premium, a fingerprint scanner which means I could use that for log on of things instead of typing passwords, and the HP one uses a better video card than the Compaq one...which also means it uses more power and the power life is half an hour shorter than the Compaq one. something that both had was that they had a webcam and mic already install within the computer. I guess that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. good that it's incoinvenient to make video calls now. bad that now people can see so damn clearly of ugly ol' me and plus I'm kinda afraid if hackers can somehow load my webcam without me knowing it...i mean is that possible? anyways, so it's being paid by 24-month installment through credit card. it's a HP Pavillion, model dv2725TX of the dv2000 series, and here are the specifications:

- Processor : Intel Core2 Duo T7250 (2.0 GHz; though the sticker on it the computer says it's Centrino Duo, what does that mean?)
- Operations System : Vista Home Premium
- Chipset : PM965 express
- Hard Disk : 160G
- Hard Disk Drive Speed : 5400rpm
- L2 CACHE Memory : 2MB
- Memory : 2G (2x1G)
- Optical Drive : Super Multi-Drive DVD+/-RW DL LS
- Display Screen Size : 14.1" (widescreen)
- Display Screen Resolution (dpi ) : 1280x800
- Display Card : NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
- Network Interface : WLAN/NIC/BT
- Expansion Card Slots : Memory Card Reader/Express Card
- External Ports : 2 X USB 2.0/ IEEE 1394/HDMI
- Dimension (WxDxH, mm) : 33.4 x 23.7 x 2.6 cm ( L x W x H)
- Warranty : 1-year carry-in

 

the only problem, well sort of a problem, is that Vista's quite different from XP in certain ways, but nonetheless, still Windows. but I think I'll need some time to get used to it, afterall i've never used or seen Vista in actual action before, so yeah. also my parents originally wanted me to surrender my old laptop and give it to them as a new laptop for them once I'm done transferring everything from the old to the new. problem is, one, it's hard to transfer because I dont just wanna transfer files, i wanna move EVERYTHING, including files, settings, just everything. two, i still wanna keep my old one because...I mean i know it's crap but after using it for so long, I love it in its own little way and plus, an extra computer would be good and plus, I could still have a computer that have XP, so yeah. I'm gonna try to see if I can negoiate with my parents and work out a deal or something, such as me buying another laptop for them (like something that's XP and also second hand but offer better features and specs than mine but still cheap). *shrugs* we'll see. but nonetheless, I'm good and happy. I mean, not too long ago, trip to Japan, MCR concert, iPod and now new laptop. awesome sweet! hope all is well and merry for you guys. :)

 

EDIT: this entry took me a total time of hours to make. from typing my own thoughts, to typing up descriptions for pictures. from uploading hundreds of pictures, to posting them up. so appreicate and perhaps leave a comment/prop/kudo if you can, b*tches!

okay, so I'm back from Japan for a few days now and I'm sorry it took me this long to finally post something about what has been happening. I've been so busy and so caught up with things and catching up with them and it really does take me this long just to post something. anyways, brace yourselves cause this is gonna be one heck of a long entry, especially with all the pics I'm about post. but in brief, this would be quite a happy entry because everything that has been happening were generally quite uplifting.

first of all, I just wanna mention that... I've got an iPod now! about 6 days ago, I finally bought myself an iPod now that I've got a part-time job, got a lot of money from certain special ocassions that have been happening recently, and used a bit of my savings. trust me, everytime I make a big expenditure like this, i make sure I have a budget plan and know that I would still have a bunch of money left after buying it. it costed $1980 HKD/$250 USD/CAD and it's a black 6th generation 80 GB iPod Classic! awesome eh? so that's another one off my list of wanted things.

and then about 5 days ago, I went to the first concert in my lifetime! you see, bands don't usually come to HK for concerts yet it just so happens that one of my most favourite bands, My Chemical Romance, was going to perform here in HK and they're gonna be my first concert ever! I know some of us might be rolling your eyes upon seeing the name "My Chemical Romance". they're one of those bands where you either love them or hate them. and for those that hate them...well I love them, what can I say? I know some of you might also say that they're too depressing or perhaps even emo (which I don't think they are) but I enjoy listening to their music, it makes me high and jumpy and it helps reflect off some of the negative and bad feelings I have. like instead of shouting or screaming it out, i could just sing it out and plus the jumpy and high effect, i feel slightly better afterwards. so yeah, but still bear with me for just this bit okay?
anyways, i bought tickets to the front standing zone which was actually quite expensive but still worth it. but still, I wasn't early enough so I couldn't stand at the very front since there was already a crowd there when I got there. nonetheless, i was still close enough to enjoy it. the only two things that sorta bummed me out was that one, I went to the concert alone because my friends were all either broke, or unable to come out late at night or whatever (mind you, most of my friends can be quite boring and can't come out and hang out a lot). two, while I was jumping about and throwing my hands in the air, i accidentally hit these two girls standing in front of me and they gave me this stare. even though I didn't say it in front of their face, but the first thought in my head was that "hello? you're in a concert, what do you expect?". and that's when I realize that i was standing amongst the crowd of mostly local people, who probably have never been to a rock concert before and they did nothing but stoof there and watch it like it was a movie, while all the wild jumpy people were in the middle front, which I couldn't get to. talk about discouraging and boring...but I didn't care, I just carried on and enjoyed my show. nobody was gonna ruin it for me. the funny thing was that after the concert, i had this ringing in my ears that went on for two days, hehe. what a blast. here are some pics, even though they're not clear (my camera's rather crappy)

and now finally, for the moment we've all been waiting for, my tour in Japan. well i'm just gonna give my brief summary about what I thought about all of it and then I'll let the pictures do the rest in telling you where I went and what it was like and such. basically, we stayed mostly around the area around Tokyo. And maybe it's because of that, Japan didn't seem as amazing wow as I was looking forward to. Like it seem like another big city, a more advanced and futuristic verison of HK. Maybe if I visited somewhere else, like Osaka or Kyoto, I would have thought differently. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed my time in Japan and I'm still really glad that I got to go to Japan at last. I mean I got to go to Japan, got to fly for the first time in years and got to go in almost all the places I wanted to go in Tokyo, so yeah, it's all good, what more can a kid ask for.
Overview of Japan, people are mostly very civilized and polite (then again, it seems Japanese culture has a lot of honour, dignity and respect involved), everything is clean and neatly made, packaged, served and done...hence why everything there seems to be so much more expensive, i mean the quality of everything, it's pretty impressive. One thing that sorta bugged me was that almost nobody there spoke the slightest bit of English. It reminds me of the movie "Lost in Translation". I mean, for us, the first four days were fun and all, but I can't imagine what it would be like for me if I were to live there and not be able to speak their language. And why would they all have to speak English? They're one of the world's strongest nation, they even got people who are learning and wants to learn their language (including myself, lol), why would they care if they're good in English or not? but still I would have stayed longer and I believe our time would be a lot more enjoyable if we could have understood their language. But like I said, I still had a great time and I am thrilled to have been to Japan at last. Now moving on to the pics of the places I've been to, i won't be able to post them all cause there's too much, but I'll just post the main ones. btw, i'm posting most of these in chronological order.

the whole set is in the "Japan" album of the picture section (which is above) of this blog

 
 a map of the the entire train network of Tokyo that I copied right off a guide booklet from the Tokyo tourist board...trust me, transportation was a bitch there

 
 map of only one of the train networks in Tokyo, the Metro Subway

 
 

the follow three are of the hotel we stayed at, "Vintage Hotel Shinjuku" in the "Shinjuku" district:

 
 

By the way, i forgot to mention, Amanda had a friend from university called John who was currently staying in Tokyo, Japan for some exchange program thing. been there for a year already and going to go home in a couple of months. so while we were there, we visited him and he was our tour guide throughout most of our trip. 
the first day, he took us outside Tokyo. like outside the city, outside the suburbs, outside the greater/metro tokyo area. to this place called "Kamakura". so it's mostly cultural things that we got to see over there, like Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, pictures are shown in the following until i tell where it ends

 
 The Great Buddha of Kamakura

 
 sorry for the blurriness. it was cold that day and I was shaking a bit, lol. anyways, I got a bookmark with a pic of that statue and the description of it which is what it says on this sign: "This bronze statue of Amita Buddha Daibutsu or Great Buddha was cast in 1252 AD by the sculptors Ono-Goroemon and Tanji-Hisatomo at the request of Miss Inadano-Tsubone and Priest Joko, who not only originated the idea to build the big statue and the temple covering it, but also collected donations for it. In 1498, a tidal wave swept away the great temple of the Buddha, leaving only the foundation stones. In the 500 years since then, the holy statue has been exposed to sunshine, storms, and snow. The latest repair was done in 1960-1961, to strengthen the Buddha's neck and to make it possible for the Buddha's body to move freely on the base to prevent a damaging shock to the statue in case of an earthquake. The statue is 13.35 metres tall, and weighs 121 tons."

some Buddhist temple we went:

 
translations anyone? lol

the following pics are of the "Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine", we're still in Kamakura:

elsewhere in Kamakura...
first, this avenue with this path of cherry trees in the middle, it was beautiful. i think it would be even more beautiful if we were there during springtime and cherry blossoms were out

 
ah, and here you have a glimse of John

 
a shop in Kamakura...remind me what "Naruto" means again, cause it's gotta be something more than just the anime, lol

the train station of Kamakura

 
Kamakura on the train map...i'll guide you through, see that stop in the big red box with the red arrow pointing at it, that's where we were. the ring in the middle is basically the centre of Tokyo, and the boundries of Tokyo basically ends at that straught line underneath

and that concludes our series of Kamakura pics.
moving on to our series of pics taken in Sensoji, a site in the Asakusa district which consist of...more Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, lol, once we got back to Tokyo that evening:

 
Kaminari-mon Gate,
the gate between the main road and Nakamise, a street that's filled with interesting shops and leads to Hozomon Gate, the entrance to Sensoji Temple

 
Hozomon Gate, the entrance to the Sensoji Temple

 
and finally, we have the Sensoji Temple

 
this pangoda beside the temple

end of Sensoji series
okay, from now on, I don't think there's any more long series...I think

 
 the torii to the Meiji Jingu (shrine)

 
Meiji Jingu (Shrine)

and for the fashion and shopping fanatics...may I represent to you, Harajuku...NOTE: didn't take any pics of the shops or most of the streets there, so HA! i mean I'm not big on clothes...though some of their stuff was so good that even I was a bit tempted to buy something, lol

 
this place where sumo wrestling matches were held

the following 3 pics are of Tokyo Station...took a lot because I wasn't satistify with the pics since it was hard to take them when construction was held just right in front of the station main entrance and it blocked my view, grrr...

 
Tokyo Central Post Office

okay, i was wrong, there is another small series of pics i took...the area around the Imperial Palace!

 
there's the Nijubashi Bridge that goes from the main entrance to the palace. this was the closest I could get to the Imperial Palace because...

 
...there were security guards and barriers

 
looking back, you get a good view of a portion of Tokyo, not to mention this big ass open field that I had to walk to get to the palace, lol...

 
the best possible view I could get of what I could see of the palace

end of that series
next series (ha), Tokyo Tower!

 
might not be clear, but that's me standing right there in the middle, lol

 
don't ask me who those two were...they just so happen to accidentally be there when I took that pic, lol

end of Tokyo Tower series

 
and this is the place where the exhibition which my stepdad's company was amongst the many, was in. "Tokyo Big Sight"

a series of pics I took of "Rainbow Bridge"

 
lol, Amanda was shivering cold then

 
and it kinda amuses me how they put a replica of the Statue of Liberty (right) there. i mean why would they try to make it look like New York, lol

and that's the end of that
and moving on, to a series of pics taken in the "Ginza" district

first two pics are of the Kabukiza Theatre

and that's Ginza with all its beautiful lights and shops
then we went to "Shibuya". didn't really go around much, just stayed around the area near the train station and Hachiko Square, which some say is the world's largest pedestrian crossing or something like that. it was named about this nearby statue of a dog named Hachiko.

 

if you can somehow put the next 8 pics together into a GIF image with all 8 pics playing, that'll be neat

Once upon a name, a guy had a dog named "Hachiko". the guy used to get off at Shibuya station every day and he would have his dog with him. one day, the guy died right outside the station due to a heart attack. but poor little Hachiko couldn't accept the fact that its master was dead, so from that day on, dear Hachiko would come to the station every day, waiting and hoping that some day its master would return. and so that's what Hachiko did for many years...until it died..........and they lived happily ever after in the afterworld?

now there were two buildings in Tokyo that really caught my eye even though they were already landmarks and famous buildings of Tokyo and are in lots of pictures and such. that's the FUJI TV Headquarters Building and the Tokyo Metropolitican Government Building. because apart from Tokyo Tower, those two buildings were the only buildings I know of Tokyo...because they appeared on Digimon before...lol, I know, really silly eh? but hey, i'm still a kid, so it's alright right?

btw, this building was also amazing by the fact that the headquarters of the tourist board, which means there was a lot of souvenir shops here and this was where most of my money went. oh, and there was also an observatory floor on the top where you could look at most of the city since this building is one of the tallest in Tokyo

the next 3 pics are of the express train we took to the airport, "The Narita Express" (the airport was called Narita International Airport)

and now for some other pics that don't fit in the other categories or series

 
a souvenir shirt I got for myself

 
whale meat...I know, i know, some of you might be frowning at me by now. and I'm not much of a big environmentalist, but normally I wouldn't order a whale dinner if I feel like I'm hungry. but everyone else wanted to have it, so I just went with the crowd and shrugged and what the heck...I mean it is a once in a lifetime sorta experience now that we were in Japan...

the following two are pics of the Statue of Kusunoki Masashige, it was in that big field outside the Imperial Palace

 
a restaurant that we ate, which i quite like with their layout and all. there's John and Amanda, and in the middle is another one of their exchange student from their university who has been staying in Japan, Clarissa.

 
 

Now Playing:
"My Way Home Is Through You" by My Chemical Romance