The 1st Anniversary...一週年...一周年...

Kinkakuji 金 閣 寺 in snow in Kyoto....taken by my friend who went to Japan this Jan...it was so beautiful with the snow and everything( i went in Spring) i decided to post it here...my blog did start in Japan so its appropriate too i guess....
UPDATE 16/5/06: Some readers have been asking for updates...but i am currently VERY BUSY as EXAMS are coming...so it will have to wait till after my exams in June....coming posts will include the Chinese century, my thoughts on homosexuality, a stranger coming out to me (*GASP*i know!),and getting to know this really nice guy (who's Tongzhi by the way) whom i actually met 2 yrs ago and recently re-intro in quite special circumstances (by another nice guy WK) ....hope u guys will wait for my posts and not like stop visiting my blog (I HOPE NOT!!) and special thanks for the support shown by the Tongzhi blogging community, thank you so much guys:)
I started this blog of mine exactly one year and a day ago in Tokyo, Japan...i had started it cos at the time, i was in exchange at Japan and so obviously when u are in a foreign land on language exchange, there is just more interesting things to experience and alot of things to blog about....and after i came back to Melbourne, i decided to continue my blog as i thought it was a nice personal space for me to just write topics of my interest and share it with the millions around the world....i initially wrote more about issues of my interest instead of my daily life but gradually i wrote more and more about my life and recently i have also changed the style to include just abit more personal stuff...as i felt it was somewhat ironic for me to call this blog 'a personal blog' if i did not reveal anything personal...i have gradually included more personal things like love, etc...post about gay issues have also increased although i initially did not want to post too much about it in deference to my other readers who may not feel comfortable with it..overall, i hope my readers like the more personal approach now....however i will not include personal stuff in general as i am simply not the kind of person to reveal all to a world of strangers...really personal stuff, for me at least, are to share with friends and not with bloggers or strangers...so i hope people will not get the misconception that i lead such a great and fantastic life from my blog as i can tell my readers now that i censor alot of things i write and ALL negative things about my life do not make it into my blog...so only the positive side of my life is emphasized ...i hope readers will understand...
Milestones of my Blog:
I started out not knowing much about blogging and not a person who visited blogs. But after having my own blog i started visiting other blogs too...there have been a number of milestones in my blogging life in this one year...
I had no links when i first started and did not know how to get linked so i emailed ppl asking them to link me, some were extremely rude and didn't bother a reply and some replied saying they would but didn't...however i now realise it was the wrong approach as ppl should link u only if they feel like it and i personally now also dislike bloggers who advertise on my blog or use my links to advertise on other ppl's blogs....gradually other bloggers started to link to me without me asking and to date i have been linked by Korea-related blogs, Malaysian gay blogs, Chinese-related blogs and even a Portugese blog i think! I credit this to the fact that my blog cannot be defined as within any category and the breadth of my post on a range of issues widens the scope of my readers....for instance i get alot of readers who are interested in korean stuff, gay stuff (an academic quoted by the Japan Times left a comment!), women's rights, chinese studies, the qi pao chinese dress (actually an author of a book on the chinese dress once left a comment!),etc...

Some of my posts have also been publicised on other blogs and forums such as a review of a Japan Times article on Global Voices online, two posts on qi pao and WW2 on Frog Under the Well Blogs' Asian History Carnival and a post on Taiwanese TV shows on East Cathay.

I would like to extend special credit and thanks to the Plunge who was the first and only blogger who actually wrote a post especially recommending his readers to read my blog and he also wrote another post again directing readers to a post i had about gays in korea..his post and links brought alot of readers over as i could tell by the counter i have...i got alot of korea-bashers actually but they seem to have given up posting ridiculous comments which at one point reached 40 over comments making my blog somewhat of a 'celebrity blog'...there were alot of nice ones too, if u still read my blog korea-interest readers, do leave a comment!!

Another special mention goes to Ooby whose link has also brought in alot of readers from the malaysian chinese-speaking blogging sphere, as alot of people visit his blog, i also noticed in my counter that all of a sudden my click rate increased and comments from the chinese-speaking world also increased...and also thank you Ooby for saying that my Chinese name was a nice
name as you have been the first person to say that which touched me(especially the part u wrote about us exchanging names reminded me of this Korean love story!). However i know Ooby probably said that as he mistook me for another blogger and he was prob touched by the other blogger's emotional post about love,etc...and NOT mine But i am touched nonetheless
note that i DO NOT use my Chinese name at all in real life and only my family and taiwanese side of the family would know my Chinese name which is why i have included it on my blog!

I would also like to mention about this one reader who was like THE most loyal reader i had...sadly he is no longer visiting i presume....we had much in common, being malaysians, law students, same law faculty in the same university, and other crucial aspects too and i was overjoyed to find that a fellow law student had come across my blog...i wanted to know him better as i wanted a Tongzhi law friend (i am sooo jealous of alexander and his roommate!) in law school, someone to check out the nice cute boys in the law library whilst we were studying together,u know it would have been nice, however, he did not feel the same and avoided me big time when i asked simply stuff like email or even just which part of malaysia he was from? (i mean isn't that like a normal question?) He refused to give any details as if i was gonna go hunt him down or something....but although i was angry at why a person whom i shared so much in common with whom did not even know how i looked like would go to such length to avoid me, i guess i was more sad and hurt than anything else cos it reflected upon me as a person. That i was such an unworthy person for him to avoid me like this. I guess maybe he felt I had other intentions eg; wanted him as my prospective boyfriend or something (ok to be frank, i had imagined what would happen if he turned out to be this unbelievably good looking, kind, smart, perfect guy...even then i would NEVER have asked for anything more if i felt the feeling was not mutual, i would have kept the friendship and suppressed my feelings) i only wanted a Tongzhi friend in law school...was it too much to ask? ...sigh....oh yeah, forgot to say why i still think he was my no 1 loyal reader cos till now, only he checked my blog almost daily DESPITE me not updating like for weeks and weeks, when i updated, within 24hrs, he would leave a comment ...he checked so often that i was surprised...but then he didn't want to meet me...
可 是 我 已 經 盡 了 我 能 力 了 ﹐ 人 與 人 真 的 是 需 要 把 握 機 會 ﹐ 珍 惜 緣 份 ﹐ 單 靠 緣 是 不 夠 的 。 我 一 方 面 的 把 握 也 是 不 夠 的 ﹐ 他 把我 們 的 緣 分 切 斷 ﹐ 我 除 了 感 到 傷 痛 ﹐ 遺 憾 ﹐ 真 的 什 麼 也 做 不 了 。 如 果 你 還 有 來 我 這 而 看 得 懂 中 文 ﹐ 我 只 想 說 : 如 果 你 改 變 主 意 ﹐ 我 依 然 在 這 等 著 你 。
I have met alot of friends here as well not least CK and my GHB amongst others...thanks for ur friendship and i hope u will understand that i have been busy recently and cannot spend as much time talking to u guys as i would like to...well my GHB is surrounded by so many cute hunky guys, not least his recent cute work colleague!!,i am sure he is keeping himself busy,hehehe...
Also a BIG THANK YOU to all those who have left comments on my blog, i really appreciate it...it is a wonderful feeling to know that someone reads ur blog and likes it enough to comment...(frequent past+present commenters whom i would like to thank are: prinzJ, joshua, mr nasty, goku, lawboycool, executorlouis, xavier, ooby, plunge, alex, the searcher, 滑翔翼,daniel, kimcafe, DMNK, paul, ca va, harvey and many others... apologies if i forgot to mention u!!) another milestone is that the no of ppl viewing my blog profile passed the 1000 visits mark by May 1st, which is a great celebration for my 1st blog anniversary...so if you visit but do not leave comments, leave a comment, it will make me happy and introduces me to ur blog too!

Finally, in celebration of my 1st Blog Anniversary, i will from today onwards for 2 weeks or so, put out an open invitation for my readers to get to know me more...you can leave your email,MSN,etc OR your blog in my comment section and just state you would like to contact me. This is the best opportunity to get to know me better (not that i am important or anything)given that i do not write much personal stuff in my blog...of cos, normally i would still be happy to get to know u but during this period i will basically reply ALL requests, emails,etc....

And thanks once again to all those who've taken the time to visit my blog and entered into one person's story amongst the billions of stories out there in this world...i hope that this blog will continue to its 2nd anniversary....who knows?....thank you...

My Girl and Other Stuff...韓劇 ﹕我的女孩和其他... マイガールと色々

'MY GIRL' KOREAN DRAMA (THE PEOPLE IN WHITE ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERS)
I put up an ad a few weeks ago with the intention of advertising myself as a Chinese tutor cos i thought it would be easy money...however, i did not expect people to misunderstand that i wanted to find a Chinese tutor....well, within a day of the ad going up the webpage, i received like 9 or so replies with CVs attached!!! I even got phone calls within just that one day...apparently there are many Chinese students in Melbourne and many whom are very keen to teach chinese as it is easy money...i had to remove the notice immediately and make up excuses to reject all their applications...HOWEVER, one good thing that came out of this was that it was the first time that i got to see thru other ppl's resumes and letters of self-recommendation...i mean i have never and may never get to be in a position where i can look at ppl's CVs and it was indeed interesting to look thru all their qualifications,etc...hehehe...

On another note, i am currently watching the Korean drama 'My Girl' and i am so addicted. In the beginning i didn't think it would be good but after the first few episodes, it became better and better and now its absolutely addictive!! This is definitely one of the better made korean dramas....i watched another one but didn't finish it cos it lacked appeal after a few episodes called 'Prague Lover' but this one is SUPER GOOD!! Highly recommended...as good as my other all-time korean favourites 'Paris Lover' and 'My Name is Kim Sam Soon' which are also fantastic....the girl is just soooo cute and lovable and the guy is the kind i like, fair skin, nice looks,etc...its the typical cinderella story with the girl being poor and having to run from loansharks which her father had borrowed money from...she meets the rich guy somehow and since she is good at lying, the guy asks her to pretend to be his long lost cousin whom his dying grandfather wishes to see as his last wish...since the girl has no money,etc she agrees and lives in his mansion,etc...the original plan was that she meet the grandfather once and she would leave but mishaps occur and she is forced to stay and continue pretending being the rich guy's cousin and living in his house with his aunt....there are MANY funny parts...especially involving the aunt and how she loves this guy who lives in the house...whenever their part comes on, there will be the dramatic european music repeating itself....and the story is also becoming more romantic now as it progresses as the girl falls for the guy and he also falls for her in episode 9 onwards...my heart broke in one scene of her crying and how, despite her skills in lying, love is something u simply cannot lie about and how she couldn't convince herself not to love him and how her heart aches whenever she sees him....and then there is that evil gf of the rich man...she tries to destroy them....sooo addictive...stopping temporarily cos have too much work now....finished episode 10...go watch it!!

So busy...i have TONS of work...so sorry GHB if i can't talk to u esp this week and also others whom i cannot chat recently, i hope u understand the stress i am under and all the work i have after enjoying myself too much last week and not doing much studies...regret,regret....

Also on another note, i dun know if i look super kind or whatever but remember i said that i was stopped in Chinatown twice by strangers asking for directions...well i was stopped by these two elderly couple in a car as they drove passed and asked me for directions to the Royal Melb Hosp just recently.. i mean i was taken abk, isn't it weird to stop someone whilst in the car when that person is crossing the road? and i am an asian student, do i look like the kind whom would know melbourne that well? I dun know....

Also finally, please note that readers are most welcome to read my archives and comment....you can simply comment under the latest post and refer in ur comment to what u r commenting on: eg' ur feb 2006 post about....' and i will reply ur comment asap!

Busy+Social Weekend...歡樂週末...楽しかったの週末

Had a busy and social weekend starting from Friday last week....actually i had not had such a busy day for a looong time now...this post is my best food post so far as it has simply delicious pics of both Asian (Japanese) and Western cuisine so be prepared for hunger inducing pics!!...
met up with a Japanese friend and we went to Chinatown and had David and Camy's Dumpling House dumplings for lunch...i ordered the fried type and she ordered the steamed type...and we had seafood springrolls as well....then went to City Baths to meet another friend and her boyfriend and we went to this nice place on Smith St called Cocoro for a late lunch (they hadn't had lunch yet)...i took them to Cocoro which is like this nice place owned by an Australian with her japanese husband...it sells japanese izakaya-style dishes, cocktails, japanese sake, shochu,wines,japanese desserts, etc and also pottery..so a unique and nice place...quite popular with Melbourne Uni students as we get discount there!! Go try if u haven't Melb uni students!
Cocoro Japanese Restaurant and Pottery on Smith St:

THE BUTTER SQUID+FRIED OYSTER+CHICKEN DISH THE RICE BALLS ON THE LEFT ARE THE FAMOUS GRILLED ONIGIRI WITH SHOYU+BUTTER SQUID IN MIDDLE+FRIED OYSTER ON RIGHT
MY JAPANESE FRUIT COCKTAIL

COCORO, THE SHELF AT THE SIDE SITS JAPANESE POTTERY WHICH IS FOR SALE
i actually also had the popular japanese green tea parfait( a dessert consisting of green tea ice-cream, red bean, mochi,vanilla ice cream, green tea mousse, green tea cake) but i forgot to take a pic and just ate everything...hehe..too delicious....My friend suddenly said she needed to catch the train in 10 mins as she lives quite far and if she doesn't catch that train and catch the connecting bus, she won't be able to get home...so we rushed to the train station and we knew she wouldn't be able to make it as it was already 5 mins past...but she decided to try her luck anyway and ran in...if she missed it, her parents would have to come fetch her...but she sms me later and told me that the train had come 7 mins late and the bus 10 mins late so she made it!! I am writing this just to point out the inefficiency of many of melbourne's public transportation and how, ironically, melbourne's unpunctual public transportation system actually worked to my friend's advantage this time!

Hardware Lane:

Came home+ did some studying and rushed to meet some friends at Asia Centre and we all went for dinner at Hardware Lane...i've always wanted to have dinner at Hardware Lane as i've passed it at night many times and this time we went there for dinner. What can i say? The dinner was FANTASTIC!!!! The atmosphere was great as the whole lane consisted of western fine dining with tables outside, candlelights on each table and a band playing. Instead of ordering a meal each, we ordered different dishes and shared ala Chinese style....this was a good idea as it allowed us to try everything...below are the food pics!!

Dinner at one of the nice restaurants the name of which i can't remember: SEAFOOD MIX SPAGHETTI

A DISH SOMEONE ORDERED

GOURMET PIZZA

CHICKEN BREAST WITH POTATO FILLING

We then headed for the Golden Monkey Bar also on Hardware Lane for more drinks (apparently this place is very popular with the Asian crowd and i loved its Chinese style decor and seats..me being the oriental cheongsam lover, no surprise) ....one waitress asked what we were talking about, by then, the topic had gone on to how oral sex and anal sex is banned in singapore..well the singaporean friend told the waitress we were talking about law, she must have thought we were a bunch of boring ppl talking about law in a bar....of cos he left out the part about oral sex...hehehe....couldn't very well tell her that!

Well, as it turned out, my japanese friends were shocked that in malaysia and singapore, oral sex and gay sex was illegal...they thought it ridiculous and one was appalled that gay sex was illegal as in Japan, anything consensual done in private is legal so she simply could not comprehend how the act could be illegal and punishable by jail which i had to explain to her...she was like ' what about gay human rights?' I never knew she was so liberal and positive towards gay people...funny how some ppl live in countries with such freedoms and liberties that they could be so shocked to hear about conditions in other countries...

Golden Monkey Bar and Asian Tapas:

MY LYCHEE BANG MARTINI

Anyways, nice bar, would like to go again, so melburnians, do give it a try!

I was so full that day.....u can imagine with chinese and japanese and western all in the same day!

Hope u enjoyed the visual food tour!!!