pancakes

quiz: which pancake ingredient should be increased in order to obtain harder (less crumbly) pancakes? (flour; baking powder; egg; milk)

to tell the truth i hv no idea myself. anyway, as u can guess frm the title, ive been trying my hand at making pancakes lately. specifically BANANA pancakes. now i noe this is a stupid reason but every week i buy a bunch of bananas n end up not being able to finish them before the last 2 or 3 become soft n pulpy. so i was looking for a way to cook them n avoid wastage n i tried han yee's banana kuih recipe but it requires too much oil, imho. so i searched online n voila! i found this.

so how did they turn out? well today saw my 2nd attempt at pancake-making n they were quite a bit better than the 1st one. 1st batch was too salty due to me misreading '1/4 teaspoon of salt' as '1/4 tablespoon of salt' (ppl who laugh will get their heads chopped off). anyway here r pics of my er...rather amateur 2nd attempt:






the 1st attempt produced similar-looking results, albeit wif a rather horrible salty taste :P

well that concludes my post for now. done my duty....again. heh....

3 reasons y i hate osaka

hey hey, im BACK in the blogosphere after several long months of absence! in response to numerous pleas frm my faithful fans, ive decided to return to blogging once again.....cross ur fingers n pray/hope that this attempt will last a bit longer than the previous ones heheh

well anyway as u can see frm the title, ive been feeling a bit tulan about osaka (which is, incidentally, the city i live in at the moment, since im sure some - or most - of u out there r bound to hv no clue as to my whereabouts after losing contact for so long...hehe paiseh)....

1st reason: its damn HOT n HUMID. osaka must b one of the hottest n most humid cities in japan...at least the hottest (according to my japanese sensei, n i totally dont disagree) among the bigger cities in japan. as for humidity, u can literally get DRENCHED by juz standing in an enclosed space, as happened to me juz today when i went to the gym n got covered wif sweat juz talking 2 my frens....

2nd reason: it rains. a LOT. sumtimes....well most of the time....its juz light drizzling but the overcast skies n increase in the already ridiculously high humidity can hv sum real bad effects on my mental-emotional state. yea thats right, i get depressed after facing 2 or 3 days of continuous semi-darkness n sticky humidity. n well, sumtimes the sky decides to POUR an extra bucketful juz when u decide 2 brave the rain n cycle back home.

3rd reason: the weather forecast here is totally crap. i mean totally crap. u check it the night b4 n it says clear weather today followed by cloudiness at night, then wake up in the morning to find the sky already overcast n the forecast predicts light rain in the evening. then u go 2 sch n it starts raining halfway thru the afternoon.....by the time u finish classes n try 2 cycle home the rain has become a roaring downpour. so much for japanese technology....it only applies to DEVELOPED areas like tokyo, yokohama, nagoya, kyoto, kobe, probably hokkaido n okinawa but NOT osaka. sigh.......


(4th reason: ok this was uncalled for, but it suddenly popped into my mind...today on the way 2 sch, i was stopped by a police officer frm the koban (police box) across the street for the FIFTH time since i came 2 osaka. juz a routine bicycle check, they say. wtf, do i look like a bicycle thief so much...? n cant they stop posting different ppl to that police box so that at least those who hv checked me b4 will noe dat im not the sociopathic bicycle-swiping psycho they seem 2 think i am....)


well thats it, done my duty to my fans, now 2 turn in for a good night's sleep, the 1st i will b having in this entire week thanks 2 the two midterms i had.....

side notes n brief report

2 recent discoveries:

1) adding ginger to my cooking helps relieve blocked nose....cuz of d spiciness i think

2) going one day without coffee is impossible

elaboration on number 2. i sumhow 4got 2 drink coffee b4 going out 2day, somehow sat thru 2 classes without sleeping......but the effects of coffee withdrawal were far more subtle. it was only when i tried speaking to sum of my classmates dat i found dat the 'wires in my head were crisscrossed'. well...duno the exact term for it, IF there is one....but i ended up inserting the wrong words into my speech n only being aware of it a few secs after speaking out....which resulted in sum rather embarassing moments. n stuff like forgetting wat i was gonna say rite b4 i open my mouth to speak, walking by an ex classmate without noticing him until i was called....

bottomline: no coffee, no social ability

anyways, for those interested in wat ive been up 2 during the spring hols, i 1st went to taiwan around the end of feb.....met up wif dan (BOY, u shud see his spare tyre....hehehehhehe) n went places like the taipei night market n 101 building - tallest in the world at the moment - plus the hualian district in the eastern region which had sum pretty nice scenery. lots of nice food in taiwan too. then coming back i had about a week of rest b4 mom, together wif han yee's mom, visited japan n we went out everyday showing them around kansai. pretty much covered osaka, kyoto, kobe - at least, those places most worth visiting - but didnt go to nara cuz we were all too tired at the end of 4 days of continuous sightseeing. anyway, right after they went back, there was ANOTHER trip, this time all the way to sendai in the northeast (touhoku) region of japan, followed by a stop for 4 days in tokyo on the way back. n no, we didnt get to rest after that, for the kohai frm tokyo came over to kansai n we had 2 take them out again. then the NEW batch of kohai arrived frm malaysia n we had to take THEM out around. phew.

so anyway today was the 1st day of sch. had 2 lectures but basically juz revision of stuff we already knew. so we'r having our classes in suita frm this year on which is a good thing cuz toyonaka feels like a prison compound. but i forgot to drink coffee this morning, plus it was raining the whole day so im feeling a bit under the weather atm. anyway, more on my holiday travels in the next post (wif sum pics if i get down to it :P)

snow n other stuff

ok so about 2 weeks back there was snow here in osaka :D on.....9th of feb to be exact. to cut a long story short, han yee woke me up at 11am (i slept at 5am the night before) n i looked out... n holla, Its A Winter Wonderland! snow was flying all over, coming down in great big flakes (at least, compared to the tiny specks of 'kona yuki' dat fell a few times before). so of course i cudnt sleep anymore....went 2 sch 2 meet up wif a few frens (taking much longer than expecting cuz the bus stopped running due to the snow n i had 2 take a monorail which was damn expensive >.< )

so here r the pictures to prove that Raptor Has Experienced Snow:










enuf wif the mundane, on to snowmen-making! we begin by rolling some snow:


it looks a little dirty but i assure u the technique is all correct :P see the final product:




i modified the 1st snowman to become SnowGuy n made a SnowGirl for him:


miscellaneous pics of sum of my adoring fans:


its not my fault that they hv a fetish for my gloves:


well thats it for my snow pics, got many more but uploading to blogger is a major PIA. u can check them out at my facebook photo album :P

last note: going to taiwan on feb 21-26; seriously doubt any1 will miss me (heck, prob no 1 will hv even read my blog in that time period) but anyway, hasta la vista! will take pics of hot taiwanese chicks n post them here!

SNOWED!!!!

IT SNOWED IN OSAKA YESTERDAY WOOHOOOO!!!

more on this later. lotsa pics 2 show hehehe.

cool song

dont watch this at night all alone tho hehehe

dreary days....

so in the end, i din get to go himeji after all.
wats all the deal about himeji anyway. i hate traveling alone. wazawaza going all the way to himeji, almost 2hr each way, juz 2 use up a stupid one-day unlimited train pass to see an old castle in the cold winter weather AND it being cloudy n rainy to top things off.....not my idea of spending a weekend day.

still, each 'use' of the 18kippu (the name of the one-day train pass) is 2600 yen, so in essence ive wasted 2600 yen, almost RM80....

the stupid weather forecast predicted snow frm tonight (monday night) till wee hours of tuesday. but today forecast changed to sleet followed by 'wet snow' (wtf is that anyway); a few minutes ago upon checking again, its changed again to sleet throughout the night. now as we know, sleet is a mixture of rain n snow....IF there were any slightest hint of snow in the drizzle outside, i wud b happy 2 accept all the shitty rain.....but NO ITS ALL WATER AND NO ICE zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

so im stuck indoors, outside its dark n gloomy n affecting my mood, n i hv 2 cram like crazy for the calculus test this wed. its such a contradiction dat i actually find calculus interesting but its my worst subject. n i HATE the weekly tests. being given 10 mins to write 2 whole pages of proofs means that u hv 2 memorize everything beforehand......anyway lets leave it at that.

so yeah, another year has rolled by......a few weeks ago ppl were all going 'MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!' but wat the heck. i never had a reason 2 feel happy during this 'festive season'. all those stories ive read about celebrations, festivities, gatherings n fellowship during christmas time.....i never experienced them b4 anyway. n here in japan christmas is synonymous with 'couples' day', which makes things even worse....THIS christmas wei liang dragged me to universal studios japan so u can imagine the feeling of being stuck wif a guy when there r couples all around u. if we didnt look gay i duno wat else we cud hv looked like....lol

damn, winter is such a melancholy period.....its like when cold envelopes u physically it seeps into ur heart as well....winter is a time for feeling both the pain of heartbreak n the forlornness of having been alone all ur life...........a contradiction in itself cuz ive never had a gf before so i shudnt be feeling any 'heartbreak'....but i guess i DID experience sumting of the sort b4 so im able to relate to the nostalgia n longing that ppl sing about in songs.............or mebbe ive juz listend to too many sad songs n watched too many stupid romantic movies....hehh

neways, enuf time wasted.....time 2 prepare for calculus! may god smile upon me....wait, i dun hv a god......may the fates or watever smile upon me then, n duncare if they dun anyway.....life is about believing in n depending on urself, not sum omnipresent, omnipotent deity who may or may not save u on a whim.....

3 unsuccessful attempts to travel alone

thu night: tells everyone i wud b going 2 himeji alone to use up my seishun 18 kippu, then plays dota until 4am
fri morning: wakes at 2pm, too late for trip

fri night: tells han yee im going to himeji the next day, then plays dota until 3.30am, followed by sum messing around wif facebook applications until 4am
sat morning: wakes up at 11, hits the snooze button about 5 times each time spaced 5 mins apart, then continues sleep until 1pm; decides to go to gym instead

sat night: tells han yee who juz returned frm a trip to wakayama that i'll b going on sun cuz cudnt wake up; plays dota until 3.30am n messes around wif sum stuff till 4am again
sun morning: (copy n paste frm sat morning)


anyone see a pattern of bad habits plus no self-discipline here?

oh n i havent touched the piano in suita campus for more than 2 weeks now. damnit i need a piano......

Recommended Songs of the Day 1

Exile - Michi
Funky Monkey Babys - Mou Kimi ga Inai
Kobukuro - Kimi to Iu Na no Tsubasa

key differences between tokyo and osaka

1. uncovered drains in osaka are common; almost unheard-of (unseen?) in tokyo
2. cats rule in osaka; no wild cats in tokyo - ive only seen less than 5 in my entire time in tokyo!
3. bread is available in 8-slice loaves in tokyo; loaves in osaka r 6 or less thick slices.....ughh, all that carbohydrate...
4. air is clean in tokyo; air in osaka approaches penang-level (read: polluted)
5. things in tokyo r uniformly expensive; prices in osaka fluctuate like crazy
6. good orange juice can b gotten for 105 yen in toyko; juice in osaka tastes like shit n is generally more expensive (for the same brand)
7. more hot gals on trains in tokyo; more giggly gals on trains in osaka
8. tokyo schgals hv nice short skirts; osaka schgals hv long ugly skirts....hehehehe
9. u can stay out until 11 or so in tokyo n still make ur way home thanks to its transportation system; u can start to go back at 9.30 in osaka n find u juz missed the last bus...
10. lots of cheap (~1500yen) tabehoudai in tokyo; tabehoudai in osaka usually costs 2000 over
11. ppl r unfriendly in tokyo, or so ive heard; ppl r weird in osaka
12. tokyo gaidai is the best uni in japan; osaka gaidai is....well.....
13. i like tokyo; i dont like osaka so much
14. tokyo uni is for stuck-up achievers; osaka uni is for stuck-up underachievers
15. u can save on transportation costs in tokyo by cycling everywhere, n get sum exercise while u'r at it; in osaka, cycling is impossible becuz of the slopes and bad air
16. total cost for transportation to shinjuku frm place of residence in tokyo: 190 yen. total cost for transportation to umeda frm place of residence in osaka: 490 yen (- -"")
17. kare-raisu (curry rice) in tokyo is sweet; in osaka its tasteless
18. otsuka ai was born in osaka; otsuka ai left for tokyo to pursue her singing career (wise move)
19. crowds in tokyo r impressive and annoying; crowds in osaka r annoying without the impressiveness
20. garbage in tokyo is sorted into combustible, non-combustible (plastic), glass, PET, etc; in osaka there's a 'combustible' tag but no 'non-combustible', so u chuck the plastic n all into combustible garbage....hmm....burning plastic, never a good idea
21. in tokyo u pay when u get on the bus; in osaka u pay when u get off
22. there is one cheap fruit in tokyo: bananas; in osaka theres no such thing as cheap fruits n the bananas rot pretty quick
23. public toilets in tokyo r as clean as science fiction; public toilets in osaka generally match penang's in terms of 'delicious' odours
24. beef chunks for making curry r cheaper than many other kinds of beef in tokyo; no such thing as cheap beef in osaka supermarkets
25. ppl dun (rarely?) smoke while walking on the streets in tokyo, which probably contributes to its clean air; in osaka i sumtimes wish for a gas mask when walking around more populated areas, even the open spaces
26. (in response to a comment) house rent in tokyo is expensive; house rent in osaka is slightly cheaper so the landlords make up for that by charging an exorbitant amount of shiki-kin, rei-kin etc ("key money" n all that stuff)...hence, living in osaka is actually MORE expensive for the first 1 or 2 years
27. ppl in tokyo wait for the traffic lights even tho there r no cars in sight; ppl in osaka cross roads malaysia-style 70% of the time

well thats it for now, wud dearly like to make it 20 but ran out of time n brainpower to think...neways, will b updating if i think of anyting 2 add later on heheh.

disclaimer: this is a completely biased, subjective view of the differences between 2 cities as observed by an extremely biased and prejudiced foreign student, hence they do not necessarily reflect actual conditions. ppl deciding to visit either city shud not use this as a guide or let it influence their preconceptions of either city, n obviously the municipal council of either city shud not sue me for inaccurate descriptions

(updated 3x)

argh......

man, there sure r times when u feel like u've been living a life thats completely different frm wat u've been wanting..... when everything u did recently that comes to mind seem like mistakes and/or failures......

guess this is juz another phase. of adjustment, growing up, i dunno....

relly hv 2 start picking up the pieces of my life b4 they get buried too deeply in the mess im making for myself.....

i want to.....no, im meant to be here to make a difference....better start working towards that end instead of...getting sidetracked.....

im still here

ok, so i havent blogged for a long time. will update u guys on my er....recent escapades shortly.....mebbe in a month or two haha.

meanwhile, a bunch of international students here in osaka uni (me included of course) went on a trip to Shiga prefecture, sponsored by the sch as part of the effort 2 promote understanding n appreciation of japan's historically n culturally significant tourism spots....bllablabla....so here r the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/handairyugakusei/

p.s. the site was set up by a fren. pics taken by me r posted on the 'shao thing' album.....obviously im too lazy 2 hv set up a site like this by myself hahaha

wtf....serious dota addicts out there......

now this is wat i call creativity in advertisement hehehe....

too bad those dat dun play dota will neva understand......

mai kuraki

man.......会いたいぜ！！！！

juz a little note

他に気づいてならなかったことは、ビデオの内容はほとんどアメリカにおけるものであることです。例えばTV　Newsでのニュースもアメリカで放送されたものです。しかもビデオで出る話はほとんどアメリカ英語のアクセントを使っているようです。確かに日本で教えられているのはアメリカ英語で、そのアクセントなどに早めになれたほうがいいのですが、ほかの「風」の英語も少し入れて聞かせておいたほうが全面的だと思います。全面的というのは、英語のいろいろな発音のしかたに馴染んで、聞き取れるようになることです。世界の国ごとに英語の発音には訛りが異なっているので、もっぱら正統アメリカのアクセントしか聞き取れないとほとんどの場合はその英語が使えなくて、聞き取れないのです。例としてヨーロッパの外国人に出会ったとき、ヨーロッパの英語の訛りはアメリカのとかなりの違いがあるから、困るかもしれません。

a temporary note juz in case the mail i sent to myself fucks up the encoding again...hehehe

so i cant sleep again....big deal

damnit, ever since the 1 week of hols last week, ive been having trouble sleeping on time. 'on time' as in, before 3am (i do hv classes in da morning so hv 2 get up at 9.30 latest n catch d damned bus ya noe...!)

n 2 top it off da stupid weather's been nothing but rain these days.....n u guys out there, trust me when i say u wun wan 2 b in osaka during rainy summer days....its so fxxking humid dat even if d temp drops 1 or 2 degrees, u get all sweaty n sticky da moment u step out of d protective 'cone' of a fan......argh.....not 2 mention wet slippery ground n dat drowsy, lazy semi-nostalgic feeling dat pops up at d most inopportune times n takes away ur will 2 study.....

n 2 top things off, yesterday i committed a serious error in karate. punched my senior whack in the face. 4 those who duno karate sparring rules, face-punching is a no-no; tho it does detract from d 'realism' of sparring, thus raising a few questions about d effectiveness of sparring as training 4 real combat.... anyway i juz shot out my arm in a purely reflex action n apparently hit da senior hard enuf 2 give him a nose-bleed serious enuf 2 warrant a trip 2 da sch clinic. argh, i feel so foolish now.... hopefully its not gonna affect my future in da club.....


anyway. lately been wasting a lot of time. watching anime, watching movies, playing starcraft. getting a little sick of pushing myself so hard i guess. yeah, no 1 ever sed attending uni in japan after only 1 year of jap language edu is gonna b easy, esp when theres already such a big difference in standard between msia n japan, at least in d maths field. but when i came here i was determined 2 fight. now, sumting feels drained out of me....dun feel so motivated anymore sumhow......even tho i keep telling myself theres only 1 month left 2 go so i MUST push on....

blame it on d weather i guess. n according 2 forecast, still 1 whole week of fxxking rainy weather ahead. duno y i'd always been so sensitive 2 d weather anyway. n yeah, i wasnt affected by rain during spring, autumn or winter. guess its becuz only rain in summer gives d same kind of gloomy oppressive feeling dat rain used 2 give me back in msia.


neways. nothing of particular interest but....1 of d movies i watched recently was 'love actually'. its actually quite old n ive had quite a few recommendations 2 watch it b4, tho i only recently acquired it (thru d 'usual' malaysian way of course :P). u guys noe how i hate romantic movies after all. anyway it was my 1st time watching it (i neva watch movies twice 4 dat matter) n yet it was oddly tinged wif...hazy nostalgia. made me think of stuff dat happened long ago. n i cant help but marvel at d way time passes n ppl change, yet d past remains so firmly anchored in memories......

damn, anyway, note 2 self: avoid romantic stories like the plague. at best they're a waste of time n at worse they're demoralizing n sets u thinking bout stuff dat dun hv relevance anymore. n u cant hv dat when u'r trying so hard 2 live in d present.

two farmers

lately i've been worried by a certain change. after living in an environment where u'r surrounded by japanese-speaking ppl all day, having to speak, write, LIVE in japanese, i've found that my ability in other languages hv degraded to the point of being physical. yesh, im actually losing the ability to speak clearly in english n chinese...!

not saying dat i was ever a bestowed wif crsytal clear speech, but im sure no 1 ever had trouble understanding me unless i was spouting gaming jargon. nowadays, my speech is so seriously slurred n full of mangled syllables dat sumtimes i pause n repeat myself juz 2 assure myself dat i can actually pronounce those syllables right. n sumtimes indeed i cant!

its all the fault of the pronounciation structure of the japanese language. they hv so few syllables dat if u speak almost exclusively japanese for days on end, muscles used in pronounciation of other sounds will eventually deteriorate. at least, thats my hypothesis (Shao Thing's Rule)

well anyway, gotta sleep soon. so, the mean topic of the post as follows:

2 farmers, Ah Seng n Ah Beng. Ah Seng is hardworking, Ah Beng is seen by some as a slacker. Ah Seng works hard on his plot of land, consistently watering the crops, weeding, taking care of his crops from morning till night. however, the crops seem sickly n do not flourish as expected, despite Ah Seng's best efforts. meanwhile Ah Beng doesnt do anything wif his plot of land. then one day, Ah Seng gets fed up wif all the hard work and abandons his crops. Ah Beng, seeing an opportunity, comes in n takes over the plot of land. within a few weeks, the crops matured n Ah Beng had a good harvest, despite only taking care of the crops for a few weeks compared to Ah Seng's months of sweat n toil.

now, a smart aleck wans 2 noe, does Ah Seng or Ah Beng deserve the harvest? Ah Seng DID put in tons of hard work, but gave up the crops in the end (understandably he wudnt b too happy if he found out dat Ah Beng took his harvest tho). Ah Beng was lazy n slacked off on his own crops but it was his intervention that prevented the crops from dying after Ah Seng abandoned them. n perhaps he had better agricultural talent as he managed 2 achieve good harvest in a short period.

oh, one last thing: apparently the crops kenot b 'split equally' or indeed, split in any way. they must b ALL harvested by one person only.


now, its a lame metaphor for sum stuff (read: drama) dats been going on here in japan, but im not d one who came up wif this story/riddle, n im not endorsing it or anything. juz feel like hearing d opinions of d masses....heheh. opinions, comments, questions etc welcome (adds sum life 2 my blog too :P )

customer service in japan

is extremely good. as some of u might hv heard, i was quite pissed off at my camera a few months back becuz of sum dirt that has sumhow made its way into the lens (no amount of blowing wud remove it). so for a while (quite a long while in relation to the period of time since i bought it) i had speckles showing up on the screen whenever i zoomed in wif my cam.

to cut a long story short i finally decided i had enuf of it. i mean com'on, i paid 38000 yen for this camera (it was top of the line when i got it), n i was taking inferior pictures....no, not juz inferior, totally SPOILT pictures....cuz of the disgusting black splotches that faithfully popped up whenever i used optical magnification. so i took it to the Canon Service Center in umeda (thats the osaka equivalent of shinjuku btw) a few weeks back (i was in umeda attending a dinner at which our prime minister...yeah, the big Pak Lah! was present...hehe...actually he held that function for all of us malaysian students in the kansai region of japan).

(desire to blog fades off....)

so i left it at the service center....din dare 2 ask how much it wud cost, although it was still within the 1-year warranty period.....n today went there again 2 pick up the camera, n hey presto! good as new. most importantly, the repairs din cost me A SINGLE YEN! well, considering i had to travel to n fro by train, it cost me about 500 yen....way less than the repair shud! according to the repair description, they actually replaced the entire optical unit, which wud explain y the scratches on the outer lens i made when attempting to fix the problem myself were absent. btw, it turned out that there was nothing wrong wif the lenses, but rather the dirt got itself stuck to the CCD unit inside the camera.

funny thing was, such repairs were explicitly stated as NOT being covered by warranty as they involve (usually) carelessness on the customer's part.

duno if this is related or not, but i remember dat even shortly after i got the cam, it was already showing odd splotches whenever i took pictures of distant objects at night wif flash. as in, the flash doesnt quite reach the object so its not illuminated, but instead the dirt on the lens/ccd shows up bright as day. juz a random thought, move on.

anyway, kudos to canon customer service, n in fact customer service in japan in general. malaysia has lots to catch up in this regard....

another random sketch

tada......computer art at its finest

created wif: mspaint, logitech g5 gaming mouse n lots of talent ;-)
suggest a title, any1?