Work Related : Stop Whining

It's my third week of being in a new workplace with different environment, different people, different everything. I'm still forcing myself to adapt faster and I'm trying not to walk to my old office everyday to meet Ally and go out for lunch =.= *we are now 3 buildings away.

I do whine every morning before work because I want to illustrate things in my personal project list rather than putting myself up out of my own little shelter. But I want to be better, learn new things and these constant whines aren't helping much. AF listens, and I'm thanking God for giving me such a patient man to listen to my immature whines everyday. 

Plus, I'm not making friends and I'm avoiding lunch-outings with my new colleagues. 

Sometimes I go to the mamak, order an iced-cold Nescafé and read a book. Alone.

*

I learned several things in the last 2 weeks :

1- Finished HTML & CSS courses from Codecademy 

2- Finished 'Make a Website' coding course from Codeacademy 

3- Design and customize coding of my first e-mail blast using Mailchimp

I know it is nothing too 'big' but for me, I've been avoiding coding since my uni years. So, getting my whiny-self up for a new challenge and coded the first mail blast without any guidance is my first achievement at iM :D 

They are making me a designer that can code !

I hope in 2 years time, I'll be that designer who can design, illustrate and code. 

And not whine so much.

Tokiyo Trip 10.1 : Harajuku

Day 4 (Saturday) :

On our second day of exploration, we decided to explore Harajuku and Shibuya because both places were next to one another. As usual, we packed our favorite coffees and onigiri from the mart near our apartment before taking the train to the city. We took a local train from Tobu-toju line to Ikebukuro and from there we took the Subway Metro to Harajuku Station. 

I was surprised by the weekend crowd! Right in front of the station was Takeshita Dori, the famous alley packed with colourful little stores and people. We took pictures like all the foreigners :D But we didn't enter the alley right-away, it was supposed to be our next plan after lunch.

We headed to Yoyogi Park after asking this young Japanese girl that gave me a survey form on travelling plan. I happened to make 2 mistakes here :

1. We were supposed to stop at Meiji-Jingumae Station instead of Harajuku Station, it stopped right in front of Meiji-Jingu shrine entrance so we don't have to walk.

2. I thought Yoyogi Park was inside of the Meiji-Jingu area. So we walked straight to the shrine but couldn't find the entrance to the park.

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Meiji-Jingu :

Everything was huge here. We admired its 40-feet gigantic entrance, toyed with its little stones on the pathway that were scraped by an old uncle, took images of old lamp posts along the road, beautiful komorebi behind leaves and branches from big old tall tress, nice almost-autumn weather, and every one was walking.

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That tiny little human is me :

But, after quite a while, we reached another exit of the place. I was like "Eh? Mana Yoyogi Park?". By that time we already walked around 700 meter. We were both getting hungrier and to walk back means more extra time and energy. So I decided to check out Meiji-Jingu shrine first before searching for Yoyogi Park. When we reached the shrine, we saw several Japanese weddings. There were a lot of people around, so it wasn't a quiet and serene moments for both of us. We spent around 15 minutes and walked out of the place.  

We walked around 2.5 km inside of the Meiji-Jingu area.

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Yoyogi Park :

Next thing I found out, Yoyogi Park was located right next to the Meiji-Jingu area, outside of the place. You need to walk around 5 minute to the entrance =.= So take note : If you want to go to the Yoyogi Park, it is not inside of Meiji Jingu, eventhough the map shows all greenery like it's in the same place. 

We bought a bottle of water and juice, found a table and sat there to enjoy our lunch picnic. We ate like any hungry people would. Crows and birds were all around, waiting for us to give some rice from the onigiris that we were eating. The park was full with people, some having picnic, some chatting, there were group of teenagers practicing their dance moves, there were people running *in the afternoon - it was not so hot anyway, young parents brought their cute children to play, people rode their bicycle with their pets in the basket. It was everything I never saw in our local parks - we don't usually hang-out in our too-hot-too-sweaty parks, being outdoor is too exhausting. Kan?

We also found a lady with her meerkat pets running around, so cute ! :

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Takeshita Dori :

This is where you will find young Japanese crowds spending their weekend. People love to share pictures of cute Japanese waitress giving leaftlets of their restaurant, this was the place. There was a big Daiso as well, but we weren't searching for anything. The alley was more or less like upgraded version of Petaling Street, I guess. Wasn't looking for anything, so we just make one whole walk through the alley and headed straight to Shibuya.

It would be interesting to explore the place if we have enough time tho.

Book : Tsundoku, Expanding

More book story!

Last weekend we stopped by at Popular Book Fair at Viva Mall. All books were sold for RM 5. There were a huge collection of various English books. It was quite cheap and the best part is they had wider choices than Big Bad Wolf :D I had fun looking through almost all the books, I think we were there for about an hour or so. At first I rejected carry-on basket from Aja and Ma, saying that I wouldn't need a basket because I won't buy too many books this time. Later I slowly picked one up and they just smiled =.= I've been a bit picky lately but I managed to buy these :

• My Wish List by Gregoire Delacourt
• The Mistress Daughter by A.M. Homes
• Honor by Elif Shafak
• The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova *second time, now I got 2 of this =,= But not the Historian that I lost. 

I also managed to buy a set of Pilot stationary (*mechanical pencil, 2 ball pens, gel pen, highlighter and a case for RM 10). I still bring my writing set wherever I go, so having a pen in my bag is still valid. I'm happy to see several Instagrammers posted images from the events. There are still readers of the world, we are still exist.

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I also did an illustration for a friend of mine. He asked me to illustrate something for his company's Instagram ads. I feel a bit guilty to ask 'a friend' for a payment, so I asked him to buy me 2 of Orhan Pamuk's books *except for the Museum of Innocence. Today I received a Poslaju parcel from him. Those 2 books were :

• My Name is Red
• Snow

I was actually hoping for a non-fictions like The Naive and Sentimental Novelist or Other Colors, but it feels a bit too fussy for me to ask too much. My personal favorite of his writing is My Father's Suitcase.  Plus : Read my review on The Museum of Innocence here.

I should probably ask for books as payment again in the future.

:D

Image taken from this tumblr

Current book : Pinball, 1973 and My Wish List.

Excerpt 16 : Coincidence

Sometimes we call it coincidence, sometimes it is just something that is hard for us to brush it from our shoulder. Or rather, sometimes it is just something that we want so bad to see.

As I searched for a file, I mistakenly clicked on a random file. A linked file to be exact. 

The link linked me to here. It is an excerpt of a love letter from Stieg Larsson to his life-partner Eva. I wouldn't find it too exciting if I didn't write a post about him several days ago. Beyond 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' saga, there is a small story, read here if you want to know what happened to Eva after Stieg Larsson died. 

And here is a beautifully written goodbye :

Stockholm, February 9, 1977  

Eva, my love,  

It's over. One way or another, everything comes to an end. It's all over some day. That's perhaps one of the most fascinating truths we know about the entire universe. The stars die, the galaxies die, the planets die. And people die too. I've never been a believer, but the day I became interested in astronomy, I think I put aside all that was left of my fear of death. I'd realized that in comparison to the universe, a human being, a single human being, me...is infinitely small. Well, I'm not writing this letter to deliver a profound religious or philosophical lecture. I'm writing it to tell you "farewell." I was just talking to you on the phone. I can still hear the sound of your voice. I imagine you, before my eyes...a beautiful image, a lovely memory I will keep until the end. At this very moment, reading this letter, you know that I am dead. 

There are things I want you to know. As I leave for Africa, I'm aware of what's waiting for me. I even have the feeling that this trip could bring about my death, but it's something that I have to experience, in spite of everything. I wasn't born to sit in an armchair. I'm not like that. Correction: I wasn't like that...I'm not going to Africa just as a journalist, I'm going above all on a political mission, and that's why I think this trip might lead to my death. 

This is the first time I've written to you knowing exactly what to say: I love you, I love you, love you, love you. I want you to know that. I want you to know that I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. I want you to know I mean that seriously. I want you to remember me but not grieve for me. If I truly mean something to you, and I know that I do, you will probably suffer when you learn I am dead. But if I really mean something to you, don't suffer, I don't want that. Don't forget me, but go on living. Live your life. Pain will fade with time, even if that's hard to imagine right now. Live in peace, my dearest love; live, love, hate, and keep fighting... 

I had a lot of faults, I know, but some good qualities as well, I hope. But you, Eva, you inspired such love in me that I was never able to express it to you... 

Straighten up, square your shoulders, hold your head high. Okay? Take care of yourself, Eva. Go have a cup of coffee. It's over. Thank you for the beautiful times we had. You made me very happy. Adieu. 

I kiss you goodbye, Eva. 

From Stieg, with love.

*

Illustration : Minako Aino

Remember that I illustrated Hotaru Tomoe several months back? Being back in Japan gave me such an exciting rush to do more fan-arts. I never thought that the Sailormoon fever is still there after all these years! Should consider Cardcaptor Sakura and Oh! My Goddess for Wacom-tablet drawing practice as well.

In the process of illustrating the whole team member, here is Minako Aino or Sailor Venus illustration I made 2 nights ago. I also made Artemis next to her :

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I also found a nice paragraphs about fictional Venus in Wind, 1969 by Haruki Murakami while having nescafe kurang manis for breakfast in the mamak. It's a conversation between a man and a young Venusian *he claimed that he came from Venus :

The clouds that cover Venus turn its surface into a furnace. That and the humidity mean that most Venusians die young - reaching thirty brings one almost legendary status. It also means that everyone's heart is overflowing with love. Venusians all love each other; there are no exceptions. Nor is there any hatred, envy, or contempt. No one badmouths anyone else. There are no murders or fights. Love and caring reign.  

"Suppose someone were to die today - we wouldn't feel sad", the quiet young Venusian said. "We loved them with all our hearts while they are alive, so there's no need for regrets." 

"So you love in anticipation of death?". 

"Earthling words like that escape me," he said shaking his head. 

"Do things really worked out that way?", I asked.
"If they didn't", he replied, "Venus would be buried in sadness".

*

Little Things 208 : New Pair of Glasses

I've been using a dark thick-rim glasses since I was in Uniten, back 5-6 years ago. I remember taking complains from my classmates and family about how the glasses make me look like those people in the 60s. And because I always believe that I was born old, I didn't really mind. Ha!

I've been searching for a new glasses for months. The one I was wearing almost reached 3 years old since I bought it. Ideally for me, glasses should be used for 3-4 years with minimal scratches. Extra note : I started wearing one when I was 8, so I've tried thin silver-rimmed one, the dark blue one, the rim-less one, the half-rimmed one, the silver-rimmed again, thick dark blue with orange-rim and the latest one was brown horn-rimmed glasses :D I always play around with my choice of glasses just to see how my face evolves around it.

*

So the quest to find a new one started for the past several months.

My original idea is to find a thick clear-rimmed glasses. I've visited a lot of local shops but I couldn't find any. I tried searching for it online, but with the over-price tag and cost for postage fees, I think it's just waste of money. I usually invest around RM 150 - RM 200 for a glasses. I don't really need an over-rated brand to see the world clearer so the search went on :p

Something like this, but less rounded :

Image from Pinterest

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Back in the Tokiyo Trip, we went to Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku and saw a nice shop that sells modern glasses. Like always, we stopped by just to see whether they have what I was searching for. I saw a nice clear-matte thick rimmed glasses on the shelves with a discount tag and tried it on. It was be-oh-ti-ful ! But when we checked the price tag, even with a discount, it was stated : 13,000 yen *around RM450. Definitely over our budget T^T

So I had to forget it and left the place. 

Af said that we can always come back later if I changed my mind T^T *no-oh.

Later after several days of exploring Tokyo, we decided to take a day off and went for a window shopping at the Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. Again, we saw a glasses shop and decided to check it out. Owndays. I saw a clear-rimmed glasses again, this time, it is a clear-rimmed glasses like I originally planned and not the matte one like we found in Shinjuku. I showed it to Af and he approved it :D The price was 5,162 yen including tax *around RM 180. Way cheaper than the previous one.
Here it is ! :

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After asking the helper on how long will it take to add the glass *only 1/2 hour, Af paid and got the receipt *it was a nicest present, wee-hoo! We went back after 40 minutes and took the glasses, and since then, I've been wearing the new clear-rimmed glasses. I definitely look a bit different than wearing a dark thick-rimmed glasses, but I'm still in the process of accepting my new look and I can't wait for it to evolves around me in the future :D

*

The quest ended with a million thank yous to Owndays and Af !

PS : I'm still wondering, 

how on earth will I draw my face with a clear-rimmed glasses later?

Hmmmm.

*

If you are wearing glasses, don't be afraid to try some colours to play around with your look! Especially if you don't believe in make-ups and go for nude natural look :p Here are some inspiration :

Image taken from tumblr

Tokiyo Trip 9 : Shinjuku

Day 3 : Shinjuku

It was our first exploration day and we didn't know what to expect. We had a lot to learn in such a short time like how the train lines work, how to read their map and how to find places. So we started with Shinjuku.

We used the Tokyo Handy Guide to navigate. Our main destination was Daiso that we Googled the night before - to buy some things that we needed like : rain poncho, pouch and tote bag. *note : This was my first mistake - pointing out that the place was nearby because we thought that it would be easy to use the map. 

I was wrong because :

1. The road was confusing, the place was huge and we were lost. We couldn't find the buildings we were searching for and we kept on going and circling the place. Imagine being lost in a city =.=

2. It's not nearby anymore when you are lost. 

We finally found the Daiso after awhile and bought those things. 

It was already reaching afternoon, so we needed to eat our lunch because we were getting tired and hungry *we already bought several onigiris in the morning. We checked the map along the road and saw that the Shinjuku Central Park was 300 meters from where we were. 

It was our first park :D

I was excited to finally find one. There were birds and the sound of insects, creating a loud symphony of nature. It was beautiful. We found chairs and table to put out our onigiris. There was a girl, eating her lunch while studying. There was an office boy with 2 packs of bento. There were 2 men chatting while resting right behind us.

As we walked to explore the place after we had lunch, we found a nice shrine in a secluded area surrounded by trees :D It was our first shrine. The place was peaceful and silent. I saw several foreigners like us taking pictures, small family taking a formal family portraits in suits and kimono, people came and washed their hand, ring the big bell and clapped their hands twice to pray.
Later I researched and found out that it was the Kumano Shrine :

*

After that we planned our next stop. I wanted to go to the 5-floors Kinokuniya and Shinjuku Gyoen. Surprise, surprise, we were lost again. We started at the Shinjuku Station again, but we failed to figure out where we were heading because there were many buildings with same name like Lumine 1 and Lumine 2 across the road, Shinjuku Station for this and that side of the road - like whaaat. =.= We keep on going in a circle.

We finally found Tokyu Hands & Kinokuniya, but we didn't buy anything. It was getting late. We headed to Shinjuku Gyoen Central Park afterwards and got trapped in the maze again =.= Finally when we arrived at the park, it was already closing. Can you imagine my frustration during that time?  We got lost so many times and we didn't really reach our goals. T^T

Shinjuku Gyoen Park is located near the Shinjuku Station, but you need to walk for 10-15 minutes if you know where you are heading. You need to pay 200yen to enter and it only opens from 9.00am - 4.00pm. There are French style garden, British and Japanese landscape garden as well. Too bad we missed that :(

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Note : Later we found out that we missed the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building as well while we were exactly there to go to Daiso. The building got a free-to-go observation deck on the 45th floor :( How can we missed that!

Public transport spent : 648 yen

Tokiyo Trip 8 : The Food

Did we mentioned the groceries we bought before going ? We bought along :

• 3-in-1 Milo packets
• Ready-made fried rice's packets
• Tinned tuna
• Chocolate bar
• Cikedis
• Sambal ikan bilis
• Maggi

The apartment we rented was ready with a small kitchen and a place to cook so my early plan was to do simple cooking for some nights and breakfast. Most morning started with a glass of hot Milo and bread slices with sambal ikan bilis or tuna. We ate out during lunch time because we were never home.

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Daily lunch, tea-time & dinner :

We both understand that we were on a budget travel so we weren't that fussy on the minimal food intakes. Most lunch time were spent on 2-3 onigiri for each person (110 yen+) and a box of drink of choice (120 yen+).  So we spent around 100-300 yen for each person during lunch. The great thing is the places that we chose to have our lunch. Every morning we will head to the nearest park in the place that we will explore on that day, when we arrive the destination then we will find the nicest place we could find and eat our lunch. Tokyo got a long list of beautiful parks and gardens that worth a visit. And I love parks, so that was how we spent our lunch. With the sound of birds and cicadas *this, I'm not lying. I'm even convinced that they put a record player inside trees and bushes to make the garden sounds so nice.

We will also have a short tea-break, usually consisted with 1-2 onigiri and 1 choice of drink like juices and caffe latte. We both fell in love with their caffe latte (138 yen) since the first day. We decided to drink it every single day throughout our trip. One thing I noticed, there were A LOT of Starbucks around in Tokyo - I guess people in Tokyo would rather drink overpriced coffee as well :)

For dinner, we tried buying some ready-made cooked rice at Lawson and the mini market in packets. I cooked it with the ready-made perencah I brought along from home and added with a fried egg. We also found a joy in eating fish tempura (130 yen) from the market. It was decent and enough for the night.

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Unplanned big meals :

There were 4 unplanned big meals that we had. 

The first one was paid by Ishijima san on our first day when we met her in Marunouchi - we ate at an Indian Restaurant. Their specialty was naan. Each set of naan and the additional 'soups' as they call it was around 950 - 1050 yen. It was super huge for me, I can hardly finish it =.= *free meals*

The second one was in a Nepalese Restaurant in Kichijyoji. I was hungry without no reason and we accidentally walked by a huge signage that sold naan *again . We shared a meal set of naan cheese and mango lassi. The price was 1040 yen.

The third one was in Ueno. We spent our morning in the zoo and were super hungry by 3pm. We couldn't find any mini market or 7/11 to buy our onigiri. When we did, we can't find anywhere to sit and eat our late-lunch peacefully. So we walked toward the Ameyoko Street because we were near the place and then we saw a Kebab shop. *with halal signage!* Yes, yes, yes ! By that time, we haven't eat meat for a week. We both ordered a nice spicy chicken kebab and enjoyed it on the chair they put in front of the shop. They even put a box of tissue on each chair because no one managed to eat the kebab without getting all oily and greasy. The kebab was really-really great. Chicken kebab for 500 yen each, so the total was 1000 yen for both our meals :

The fourth one in Akihabara. We weren't that all excited in the electric town because we both weren't into toys and miniatures and expensive devices. I was having a back-pain and I can't walk much so we decided to find a halal restaurant to relax. After asking an Indonesian receptionist, we walked 5-mins to Siddique. I had a thick cheese naan while Af ordered chicken briyani. Both meals totaled 2040 yen.

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I did a calculation *because I took note on every-single-thing we spent on. 

We spent around 12,500 yen for food in 8 days, that's roughly around RM 440, 

and around RM 220 for each person. Not bad, kan? :D

Book : The Writer who Died

We went to the Nu Sentral's MPH while waiting for our movie to start. We were early, just finished work. Like always, we were walking by all the book section when I saw The Girl in the Spider's Web hard copy lined up in a special section. It is a continuation from the Stieg Larsson's famous trilogy; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo! :

If you read his books and already made a research about the man who wrote it, you should know about him : that he died in 2004 of a sudden heart attack. He was 50 and after his death, the books became famously famous and sold more than 80 million copies and were translated into more than 50 languages. o_o I don't think he expected such success from his stories.

Anyhow, I bought his first book years ago. The story was really heavy but surprising I became really attached to the complicated words and storyline - never did I expect such heavy entertainment. Later I bought and read all 3 of his trilogy. It was sad that the author died before finishing his 4th book, but oh-well, 3 books would do.

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So I didn't know about this. This David Lagercrantz, a Swedish writer was hired by Stieg Larsson's father and brother to finish the fourth book. There were some complication about continuing the book - because as any avid reader would know, stories shouldn't be rewritten by other storyteller. It won't be the same. It is like forcing a writer to be someone else to write just exactly like the original writer. =.=

BUT, I won't judge before I read the book. I will read David Lagercrantz version of the 4th The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when it comes in paperback and I will decide whether I like it or not.  

But if you can't wait, you can buy it for RM 69.90 for the hard cover version at MPH :D

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While in Japan, I didn't bring Hermann Hesse book : Narcissus & Goldmund. I brought along Delivering Happines : A path to profits, passion and purpose by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.  I found the book in the KL Sentral's level-2 book shop, for RM 20. I hardly buy non-fiction but I've been reading about Zappos's famous working style and even followed them in LinkedIn, so I knew about their different methods in working environment. I was curious about Tony Hsieh in person and I thought reading it will answer some of my questions. 

It was a good read. I knew successful people usually have some 'it' attitudes and different way of thinking to make them be successful in life. Tony wrote it using his words, his style, so you can expect to hearing him talking while reading it. Definitely a good read.

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Other than that, I'm finishing up Wind by Haruki Murakami.

And because it's the first novella written by him, it's official, 

I'm rereading all his books again in order this time :D 

Work Related : Hello Kitty Cafe 3

The soft launching for the cafe is this Saturday!
It's in Sunway Pyramid :D 

Finally, after 10 months work it is ready to be opened and see the world. T^T
I was in Japan during its trial openings, so I'm not quite sure what to expect from the restaurant yet.
My colleague shared some behind-the scene images :

Credit : HK Design Team

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Us in the design team (around 4 designers) were in charge of making moodboards and researches, designing all the advertisements, posters, menu, wall decals and any printed items in the cafe. We were not in charge of the interior designing because that was from the other design group *so everything about the interior like chairs, wall, lamps and such weren't exactly ours. Food designing is also made by the chef and our art director.

We are all proud parents.

And we will keep on improving, as it is still a newborn please give us some time to improve.  

Do come to the cafe to take a look, the grand opening will be due in October.

:)