public nudity

after a big fiesta last sunday, a friend and i decided to go to the onsen. well, we actually planned this ahead but i was never sure if it would push through. but yeah it did. lucky! i never planned to invite male colleagues and i strived very hard to get them out of the plan. i am not in my perfect shape to be seen naked just yet. oops... i guess i should have mentioned first that people get naked once inside the onsen. it is not a rare practice: getting naked that is. japanese people get naked even in the dressing rooms, how much more inside a public huge hot bathroom. there goes my queue for what an onsen is (^o^)

after getting lost for about 3 minutes, we found the place. i wasn't expecting it to be on the 3rd and 4th floor of a mall though. who would have thought this is possible? my first onsen was near a waterfall, my second was on a spacious almost desserted part of the city. and now, on a mall? how convenient! and how varied these places are in.

1500 for the onsen and another 700 for the rock bed sauna, not bad for high priced tokyo living. men and women have separate rooms for the onsen. though there are others which have mixed bathing, people usually don't get naked in these cases. so that means that i'll be seeing lots of dangling objects for this one.

it was my first in this place so my friend and i decided to meet back outside (with full clothes on) after 15 minutes. deal! when i went in the men's, first thing that came to view was the dressing area with all the lockers for the clothes. along with the lockers were the naked men. i was expecting this much. it really has something to do with the custom i suppose, i was carefully slowly getting off my clothes while people around me are rushing to get them off. peeling off my clothes but my undies, i inspected the towels received from the front desk. one big, for drying self after getting wet. and another small, the only piece of cloth allowed inside the wet area. i can still remember the first time i went in in an all naked onsen; my japanese colleagues told me that the small towel is usually soaked in cold water and placed on top of your head to keep your head cool, at least. they even said that those who walk in covering themselves with the towel usually gets stared at. knowing this, i took off everything and walked in proud. in all naked glory... not before a little panic attack earlier when i couldn't lock my closet. ;)

IT reasons

never mind some of the spelling but i just have to share this to everyone. kudos to the original facebook sharer.

now if you too, are in the IT industry, how many of the reasons above fits you?

blue

no one bothered to mention anything at all. that is what hurts the most. i don't want to be left out, i don't want to feel ostracized. a simple heads up would have been okay. i could have just let it slip away.

what have i done wrong to deserve this? i just can't hide this frustration at all over a small thing.

but why do i feel a little agitated over such a small thing? i don't know... but their reason, though it must have been a joke, only made it worse. and it was never the small thing that mattered.

no one bothered to mention...

no one bothered to tell...

that is what hurts the most.

chapter 4 page 74

i usually read a book while riding on a train going to and from work. and like the usual, i was reading a book once on a drizzling day. though the train was a bit packed than the usual and i will be left standing until  my last stop probably, this did not stop me from my reading.

so there i was with legs getting a bit sore from trying hard not to fall flat on this fast moving train when i opened chapter 4. moving forward until around the end of the chapter, the scenes got into me. somehow i felt what the character felt. the character on a last note, unable to keep her mouth shut, uttered words of thanks in honor of a dead pal and the crowd respected her more for that. they even gave her the sign which was only used in her district to show their appreciation.

i was so engrossed with this scene that my eyes began to swell. what?!?!?! though this is a bit common when watching ultraemotional daily life movies, this is a first while reading a book. i immediately stopped and concentrated to keep those moist from welling (and eventually fall as tears). i'm sure the people around me would also find it weird, sobbing while reading a book surely isn't common. i wouldn't even acknowledge myself if a single tear would fall. water from eyes, please go away. suck them all back in, eyes... with all my might it eventually ceased. good grief! and now, it is nothing but a good laugh.

try reading the book and see for yourself. just let the emotions flow and wait for the dreaded chapter 4. hmmm... but you have to read the first book to have a full gist of the story i think. nonetheless, it is still a good read.

catching fire.

blinders

is it right to reflect your anger to others? is it right to burst out to people who haven't done you wrong?

i don't think so.

but i guess i have done this a couple of times myself, i admit.

when things don't go your way, i don't think it is right to blame them to others. i always think that things happen because of our own doings. that is why a coward like me do not go that far, for if i do i know i will fall off this flat disc of an earth. but you who have gone far should have known that it is painful once you fall back to the ground. for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction, even physics knows that. so how come it seems that people haven't learned this yet?

i always try to be centered on matters like this and i know that people have limits. but can you please look into yourself first before getting angry at the world? reexamine your deeds and discover the reasons of things. take off those blinders for once and see where people are coming from. it is really quite unfair to hear stuff even you yourself find hard to speak of. you are only seeing your path, be responsible okay. when people tell you words, you immediately clam up and start barking. come on. i get it that you don't want to be told so i stopped. stand up in what you believe in if you insist but do not put down others nor use your powers to bring them harm. what a mighty pen, or keyboard rather. but i know that somewhere down in that smoke filled body, there is still a human who knows right from wrong. be the better man.

words hurt.