Where did my weekend go?

Long break off from blogging. Maybe because I pretty much tired of this sanctuary. Darn.. my trainer seems to have nothing better to do, keeps walking up and down behind me for no apparent reason.

Anyway, felt damn tired... Where the hell did my weekend go? Hardly slept enough, in fact, I think I slept less during the previous weekend than during the working days.

Last week, 31st March, was the end of the financial year for most companies, including Toshiba. As usual, there are the department changes, administrative papers, etc, etc, but what strikes off as most interesting had to be the retirement ceremony celebrating the retirement of one old employee in my department.

Man, its like a 金盆洗手 ceremony which we saw in old chinese gongfu dramas, or more closer to heart, exactly like what we see in modern day Japanese dramas. People retire on a High Note and they are treated like Kings on their last day. The whole department had to put off their work and stood while listening to the final speech of the soon-to-be retiree... Heart-wrenching speech or motivational speech? Can't tell as my Japanese is as bad as ever. Many of my fellow colleagues are clutching gifts, bouquets, and at the end of the speech, they strode up to hand the gifts over to him, followed by a special money envelope which I suspect is the retirement pension. Cool... way cool.

Expected it to end right there and then, cos its lunchtime.. However, my trainer prompted us that there are more to the ceremony, and invited us to take a look. We went down to the lobby, and boy, everyone had gathered at the front gate lining up on both sides of the door. A limousine was sitting right in front of the gate.. Okie, it had the word 'TAXI' printed on the door, but nevertheless it was a Limousine Taxi i guess. ;P Then comes the retiree.. many cat calls and whistles (okie i'm exaggerating... only claps...) cheered the man on his way out. He took the 'limousine' which the company had intended and booked, back to his house, waving to all as he made his departure....SUPERSTAR style. Winston was joking about taking the retiree to Kawasaki Eki only, but after confirmation from our trainer, we're told that ya, Toshiba is not that stingy and can afford the trip back to his house.. haha..

Don't think will have any chance of this ceremony when we retire in Singapore. What a pity, it sure will feel good to be attracting that much attention during my retirement.. but alas.. bet everyone will be too damn busy to even bother then. But anyway, everyone's cheering on and clapping for him when he retired, are they realy glad that he is out of Toshiba now? just a crappy thought, but of course, it would likely to be cheers of thanks and encouragement..

Saturday woke up super early (3.45am) to meet up with the guys at the lobby. We went to Tsukiji Fish Market, catching the first train. It wasn't that good as I expected, the market I mean (Cos we probably weren't there early enough still), but I had one of my best sushi meals ever, freshest catch straight from the ocean! ;) Okay, I had my most EXPENSIVE BREAKFAST as well, costed an incredible 3150 yen for the sushi breakfast, but heck.. it was well worth it still for the experience and taste. One fellow Japanese diner even commented that the restaurant that we went to makes the BEST SUSHI in JAPAN & the WORLD. Coming from the words of a Japanese, I had to believe him (unless he is the boss). ;)

Went to anime expo 2005 at Odaiba after that too. Spent quite an amount on souvenirs and gifts, esp on Naruto Anime series..Man..I had been spending money too freely these days.. must save save save.. But I picked up a bargain still, Got a T-shirt much cheaper than the advertised 3050 yen... keke.. lucky me. Luck is returning to me again ;)

Sunday, had to wake up early again. We decided to play basketball as the sports hall is opened for basketball every first Sunday of the month and we had to get there early to book the courts. Had a fun time playing basketball (we played double sessions even), interacting with 2 little Japanese kids, soccer, etc etc.. Arm still not as nimble and flexible as I preferred though... sigh.. more time.. a bit sore and still doesn't have enough strength to shoot with my right hand.. But its getting better by the day I suppose, hopefully can recover my full range of movement soon.. though reports from internet says that full movement can take up to a year.. Nevermind, more physiotherapy should help strengthen the stability of my shoulder.. patience ;)

haha. another long blog again.. yawnz.. lack of sleep .. i need to be more hardworking. Slack too much from work and japanese studies already. argh.. oh ya.. photos still on the way, too lazy to upload at the moment ;P