Funny but true… am on my way to Bangkok tonight.

Merry Christmas! It is very merry christmas.
Though, I have to pack and go to airport.

This time, it is from Haneda Airport and I will catch the red-eye flight to BKK.
Wow, tough and still rough schedule ahead. Hmm. Cannot complain enough!

Anyhow, I hope every one of you do have a great christmas with loved ones and families.

Don Perignon 2002!!! Famous vintage!
You know, I have never ever got any chance to drink this champagne… truly.

I saw a big discount in the online shopping mall early in this month and bought one for this Christmas.
Today, time to open this precious bottle.



It was purple label! My favorite color, right? Yes!



Too bad that we do not have any champagne glasses home. I know, it is on our (shopping) list.
Well, we have to compromise the atmosphere with cheap wine glasses. Hahaha.

So the taste? It was GOOD. I love this kind of champagne

To be frank… I still prefer Moet & Chandon to Don Perignon. I probably won't buy another DP myself.
Surely, I do not mind to taste it with you at the bar! Hahaha.

Anyhow, DP… sounds so good and luxury!

Have I ever said anything like

"I have done with Alain Mikli" ever before?

Here is my Alain Mikli Collection...



If done so… I MAY have to take it back…

Sounds like a girl doing such, right? Hahaha. OH I'd better take it back!!!

Final deliverable is just like this… soon to be submitted to our client.



Well done! So tired and exhausted. This is merely one project? Hahaha.

1. Less meat, More vegitable
2. Less salt, More vinegar
3. Small bite, chew many times
4. Less smoke, Less drink

5. Light dress, sleep well
6. Less drive, More walk
7. Less saying, More making actions
8. Less greed, More treats to others

Wait. Greed is not good?

Japan's proud... Bullet Train. Latest N700 series is my ride for Osaka today!



Long nose... cannot fit into the frame!
Better take a video instead, huh...





Bento or lunch box... my only fun during the day... but I chose very plain one.
Do better job next time.

Next time... another Osaka trip is already scheduled for next week.
Oh boy, getting busier!
Meaning $$$? Hope so.



Usual "Sawa" Noodle Shop after all.
September special. Spicy noodle on large flat plate.
Lots of garlic... I should've asked Master before order. Too late.

Though, it was GREAT! Recommended.

Stopped by a bar for a couple of drinks...
While talking to bartender over the counter, I displaced the arm of eye frame... then couldn't fix it back under dim light of the bar.

Came home with pieces of eye frame a part... and fixed it by the walkthrough of this:



Youtube rocks!

My briefcase is back!
So it must be repaired, right? Hahaha, quite not.
I was actually given new one today!

That's actually better, right? Surely.





This must be improved design. Same thing but I do not think that the same part won't be issue anymore because those leather seems glued. Hope that won't happen again.



Another thing I got for today is CD... the Single of pop group called "AKB48."
This group is surely the best known and most popular in the Japanese pop music.
"Flying Get" is the latest release.

I know, "Flying Get" doesn't really make sense and not even quite English. Hahaha.

This should be translated like:

"Jump the gun to grab your love.*



Another thing received... My god so many gifts?
In the middle, "Yu Ri Ka" along with her birthday July 19th, 2011.
Friend's baby girl... I received the gift in return.

This wrapping is quite cute! So I took a picture.

Also received a call from my boss with some news... BAD ONE.
That was not fixable like bag... Too late to do anything. Hmmm.
I am quite disappointed about some colleague is taking another course rather than one we all going together. I know, such Plan B is valid...

Better shake it off... be bygones.

I have a plan... going to Osaka on Friday for business.
Is that going to be rough? I think so.
Why?

Look at this:



Looks like another "Irene" coming to Japan. Tyhoon in this case, not hurricane.
Yeah, seems direct hit to main island of Japan.
Surely, Osaka and Tokyo would be facing strong wind and tons of rain.

Well, I do not think that there is any space to postpone the meeting... no choice then.
Hmm. Not quite exciting...

If I still can get Osaka for meeting, I may NOT be able to return... Who knows?

Lots of thoughts not helping me much... and I turned the PC off tonight thanks to MoonFlower's suggestion.
It was to have easy dinner with bottle of wine tonight. Perfect recommendation!







It was a GREAT gumbo dish with Italian sparkling wine (spumante). Perfect match!!!

Gumbo is American dish, isn't it??? MF made a great pick out of cooking book.

Sunday is almost over... meaning another week ahead! Oh boy...
Anyhow, I'd better tell you that I had a fantastic time with friends today!

Thanks to my friend "Morizo" (nickname, of course), we got free tickets to:

Melos Philharmonie - The 16th Concert at Kioi Hall

Conductor: Nobuaki Nakata
Program:
1. Carl Maria von Weber - "Oberon" Overture, J. 306
2. Joseph Haydn - Symphony No.103 in E-flat major, Hob. I-103 "The Dramroll"
3. Robert Schumann - Symphony No.3 in E-Flat major, Op.97 "Rhenish"

Man, it was so wonderful music that I listened today.
The orchestra members are semi-professional... They have job to work everyday and spend time practicing for this annual concert!

You know, this whole thing really made me think... why?
That's because those people on the stage do such fun thing that they dedicate their life to in addition to daily work. What about me? I have a job... but no more.

Seems like they're spending more profound way of living...

Maybe this is something missing in mine... Never think that kind of thing for yourself???
It was so timely and moving...



Thanks to my friends who went to the concert together! It was fun!



after-concert dessert... as just needed!

One more thing for today.
Just picked up my watch... with new battery in it and works just fine...



My Paul Smith watch. Look at this purple face! So cute!!!
The Cooler the weather gets to, the more often I put this on my wrist.
It's coming for sure and shortly... just around the corner.

What anniversary???
It is 1st year anniversary for our home...

Last year - August 26th to be precise, MoonFlower and I moved to this new home.
The other side of Koiwa area...
It already passed whole year and thank god - we didn't have any major problem to us and to home itself.

We certainly live in peace... and harmony? I think so.

Still not renewing many stuff in the house such as...

Fridge... still old and small. Almost 6 years old?
Washing machine... ditto. small, not enough capacity for laundry for two.

Maybe this year or early next year, we should plan to bring new home appliance to make our life a bit easier.

Hi folks!
Surely I drank quite... Good time really made me forget about how many glasses I was coming to. Hahaha.
Thus, slow morning. I didn't do anything much except sleeping in.



In the afternoon, some home repair took place for us.
To make full recovery from the recent incident... that wine glass flew over the kitchen!
Needless to mention, that glass contained some wine... you know what I mean.

So new still same design wall paper is put up and covered.
Nicely done!



For dinner, another bottle was opened.
Italian wine. I t was sparkling one...
It was very tasty!!! Sparkling was not that strong and decent.



Good ham was selected to the salad... I picked it up on the way home...
I went to shop for bringing my briefcase in... They said that it would take a month or so for completion.
Oh boy, taking much longer than I simply expected.

Will be free of charge? Donno yet.

For main of the supper, it was pizza...
Made by MoonFlower? Out of Freezer??

Nope. Came from Domino. It was pretty good!

My briefcase is yet fairly new... I think I bought this about 2 months ago or so...
Today I found something wrong with it.



This is my briefcase... only 2 months old...



I found that leather coverage is not enough and the inside can ben seen like this...
Oh boy...

Maybe I put too much heavy stuff in... and carry around.
But this can be from the bad design???

This is not European brand or anything. Purely, domestic... Japanese one.
Will see if this is to be fixed or not... free of charge for doing so or not.

I feel a bit shocked... I really liked that bag.

From tomorrow for a week, I will be off duty. Yes, summer vacation is here.
No (yet some?) plan, no money - nothing. But I will enjoy myself to be relaxed as much.

August
Wed, 10th - staying home
Thu, 11th - some gathering with friends
Fri, 12th - House of Mother-in-Law's I
Sat, 13th - House of Mother-in-Law's II
Sun, 14th - Dinner with MoonFlower?
Mon, 15th - open
Tue, 16th - Resuming some work

Today after work, some drinking spree was hold. Hahaha.
It was upon the project completion. Good and fun drinks.

Wait.
I have so many gathering over drinks nowadays...
I should be careful how much to drink.

Though, drinks are surely needed under this kind of crazy summer. Hahaha.

Already August... even though weather were like rainy season still.
Well, I bet that it would catch up soon... probably later this week. Big hot summary days are just coming up!

For me, I took day off for today and tomorrow. Better not to think anything related to work (however in fact, I still do.)

I finally got a chance to go to Ricoh’s service center for camera repair. Located in Ginza area.
Well, what I found out was that those scratches on the screen monitor of the camera... couldn’t be fixed unless whole new display replaced. Would cost me about 12,000 yen or 100 USD.

Too much... I cannot afford. Camera itself is worth 300 USD or so for now. Too much investment for old camera. So I instantly gave up.
I know, those are “scratches” and nothing matters to camera’s functions. I still can take pictures fine. Only bothering is that it is hard to see the monitor under the sun. Well, I’d better suck it up.

I should make a stop by at the big electronic store like Yodobashi Camera for watch repairs. I’ve got two. Paul Smith watch needs a new battery and Casio’s G-Shock needs new band.

I forgot those watches to take with me... hahaha. Maybe tomorrow.

Late night earthquake warning was very shocking, wasn’t it???
The center of quake was in Shizuoka... indicating Tokai Earthquake. It was actually not.

Still M6.5 was large enough... and scary. Hope this won’t lead to major one like one in March.
You know, 3.11 Earthquake had some warning... M6 level earthquake hit the same area two days before on March 9th. Hope this won’t be the case.



Late night view from my home... Very nice summer breeze... hope this peace continues...

Haven’t been to MoonFlower’s home for a while...
Maybe it was absolutely first time for me to go in this year??? Am not 100% sure.
Anyhow, I spent entire day with MoonFlower and Mother-in-Law.



During the shopping for house stuff, I bought two bags of lottery...
They are for Eastern Japan Disaster Recovery Lottery.

At least helping to the aid for reconstruction of those disaster area...
and hope I win some money! (to help my household somewhat)

At dinner, there were overwhelming amount of great foods on table...
Mother-in-Law made lots of my favorite dishes... They were so good!
I definitely ate... overeating!

July 20th... is my pay day!
Well, much more than that... 2 years ago... in 2009 - MoonFlower and I got married.
Already 700+ days spent together. Really time is flying. Unbelievable.

Same time last year, we were quite busy about buying new home (where we live for now). Didn’t have much spare time then...

Today, I wanted to go out to dine with her. Maybe a couple of cocktail drinks after dinner.
Didn’t come true. I couldn’t make any move about it due to work... unexpected overwhelming amount of work flown into my side. Too bad. I felt bad about it to MoonFlower.

So she came home and cooked. Ate together... as usual. Nothing really special.
Oh except one. She bought cakes for ourselves... so we had a nice sweets after supper. Great.

Well, let’s keep the hope that things would go in peace for a long time from now with MoonFlower and we (I?) continue making (all necessary) efforts to keep this household moving.
I am surely thankful to MoonFlower for all she does for me (us).

One last thing... her next birthday is in 2 days... I should start worrying about it now. Hahaha.

Right after my business trip, I had to make a short trip...
Trip to the rock band concert. Took place in Saitama.

It was of band called "Spitz." Of course, it is MoonFlower's favorite.
She even joins the fan club. Indeed!



So she got tickets for both of us, giving me no choice whatsoever.
Though, I kind like this band for now...

It is soft rock... not heavy at all. Fun music indeed.

Fun night we spent.

Who the heck...???

Today... things are calm around me...
MoonFlower was out for all day long and I am (enjoying) free (time).
Though, I have to work at home... for one of the projects that I am part of.

Research... is the main mission for today.
Most of time I am reading the thesis and other reports from think tanks.
Sounds like I were a student! Yeah, truly.



One of the dramas that I keep checking... “The Best Doctor”
My favorite actress is in that show - Manami Higa
Well, she plays one of the main charater within... though, she seems no longer part of it after 7th episode.

How come???
She is my favorite... should be part of the story!!! The drama should last for another 5 episodes or so.
Hmmm, I’d better stop watching this? Hmmm.

Wait... this is very irritating and I cannot work... Oh boy! Hehehe.

Got 1 before... and now 3... 4 Valentine’s gifts for me this year.
Thank you!!!



Well, notably, I received nothing from MoonFlower. How come?
Valentine’s Day is no longer part of event between us? Hahaha.

Another luck? I must have spent it all already? No more luck in 2011???



I won some gift... in the box...



Got a glass! With alcoholic drink.
I know, this is part of promotion... but FREE for me! Hehehe.

Got free night (stay in the hotel) the other day... and I won another prize like that... not high value... However, I have some luck these days...

Let’s hope that I didn’t use the all luck for 2011!!!

Japanese custom? On Saint Valentine’s Day, women give chocolate to men...
10 days before the Day, I received a bag... with chocolates and chocolate beer. Hahaha.







This is TOTALLY unexpected. Though, I am surely grateful. Thank you!

It was my firm’s all staff meeting tonight. At hotel in Daiba.
During the party after the conference, there were two door prizes.

Spa ticket and free night. Just 2 prizes... I won the free night!!!





The odd was about 2 out of more than 200... means 1% or less!!!
Oh my god!