yatta!!!!

whew! now, i can relax for my written presentation class. i already submitted and did my final presentation this morning. it wasn't a good presentation. professor coulson and professor takahashi had many comments regarding the content of my presentation. but, i didn't feel bad at all. they were useful comments and i'm very thankful to them. for the remaining meetings for this class, i can just relax and enjoy listening to other people's presentations. maybe it would be even fine for me to take the 846am bus. hahaha! i also submitted my conference report. i just wrote what i did during the conference. now, i will just have to continue with the preparation for sensei's africa trip. and also i need to prepare a presentation for our zemi this friday. i'm still at not sure what i will be presenting.... but at least, i have one less class to worry about.

 

btw, i watched japan's game last night against croatia. very disappointing!!! waaaah!!! 0-0.. imagine! and kawaguchi was even given a yellow card. grrrr!!! well... there's nothing much to expect from their next game... it'll be against brazil... i'd still watch the game (i dunno the schedule yet!) just so i can see my new idols... kawaguchi and nakata. hahahaha!

report + report + .... +report = REPORTS

it's almost the end of the term... so many reports to make... whew!
i just finished 1 report. actually, it's just an easy report. coz it's about the conference i attended. i don't know why i didn't make it before. i kept on postponing it until the last minute. so, i just finished it. my accomplishment for the day. now, the tough part is the ppt presentation for my Written Presentation class. i hope it will be easy, since i'll be presentating about my poster. but, i don't know... it doesn't look easy right now. gotta make a head start on it. i only have about 6 hours to make it... (world cup starts at 10pm, japan vs croatia). :D

oishii!!!

i had a great lunch and dinner today. febri was so kind to give me some food! and, i still have some left for lunch tomorrow. and, they were delicious, too. why did she do that? actually, yesterday, i was very hungry, even if it was still 11AM. So, I asked her and Nga to eat lunch early. Nga had a late breakfast, so she just accompanied me and Febri. I could not finish my lunch! The tonkatsu I had didn't seem so appetizing. I had to go buy bread. I don't have meat anymore at home, and I can't buy groceries yet 'coz I don't have money, and was planning to wait until weekend. So, in the evening, she told me she will prepare food for me. I only have to bring rice. So, that's just what I did. She prepared 2 kinds of food, beef and chicken. yummmy! :D i'm really thankful to have her for a friend. Luckily, I received a refund for my visa fee and for the charge in changing my return flight in Edinburgh. So, I now have money to buy groceries. :D Really, thanks, Febri. Hontou ni oishikatta desu. :)

ohayou!

 

that's the first thing i send to jay in the morning. that is, if i don't receive any cmail from him yet, just like today. my class starts at 8.50am... that's about 8 minutes away. we haven't had any class for this subject in a month because mc gown-sensei went to australia. what have i done with my final paper for this subject? well..... just reading a few things. i hope she doesn't ask any progress report. coz i don't know what to say! but i guess i can do it. i think i still have a month to prepare a 20-page paper. hahaha!

 

well.... 6 minutes more... so, i better go!

 

things to do...

while listening to the nihongo explanation of my professor in machine learning class yesterday, i was also writing at the back of a receipt about the things i have to do. don't get me wrong. the class was interesting. but i could not understand japanese. so, i just look at the handout, with english translation. then, i try to listen to sensei, as he explains. coz sometimes, for illustrations, he explains them by pointing to some of the figures. but for some slides, there's only text and there's no use in listening to them coz the translation's also written. anyway, here's what i listed, with some comments i added just for this blog:

- check ATM (last week, my money there was only 5k-yen. i'm supposed to receive the refund for my conference registration expenses soon. i also wanted to check how much was automatically deducted for some of my payables. and, also to know if i can still buy groceries this weekend or not)

- pack PET bottles (my PET bottles are still in 1 or 2 plastic bags, with their labels and caps. i should segregate them and prepare them for disposal. here in nagaoka, there is garbage segregation. biodegradable and non-biodegradable are separated, as well as plastic bottles and cans.)

- read about hibernate (did this yesterday, after my classes. it's for the laboratory project, the language identification module.)

- read about tomcat, check contents of tomcat/shared (also did this yesterday. i have to prepare a simple installation and i forgot how to use tomcat already! stupid me!)

- finish conference report (i should submit this soon. but, i've never finished it yet)

- make written presentation ppt (our final paper for written presentation is the powerpoint handout. and, it must be presented in class, but the evaluation would be basically about the handout or the slides. hamed volunteered for next week, and somebody else. then professor coulson, knowing i just attended a conference asked if i didn't have any presentation there. i told him it was only a poster. then he asked how i made the poster... it was in ppt, right? i said, yes. and, ok, i'll present next week. actually, he asked if i'm really confident to present next week. stupid me, i said yes. i realized later that i still have many things to do for mikami-sensei's Africa trip in 10 days. well, i better hurry...)

- make TOC of post-war japanese employment system for mc gown-sensei class (we had no class for a month, coz sensei went back to australia. but we're supposed to start on our final paper for the class. but, i haven't started yet. so, i have to at least try to prepare something, even some rough outline)

- make outline paper of Africa [graph of outlinks] (i need to prepare some things for Africa trip, like the Africa survey report. i need to just select the interesting countries and plot the graph.

- find outland sandal (wearing it today! it's very warm already. feels nice to wear sandals. but the weather forecast for the next 3 days is rain. :()

- check bus for 6/24 - 7/2 (i'm planning to go to tokyo during this time)

- check weather in tokyo for 6/24 - 7/2 (of course, i have  to be prepared if i go there)

- re-print ML chapter  9, from page 16 (i just found out that time that my printout lacks one slide, maybe inserted by sensei this week, but i printed last week)

- update blog (hahaha! i'm doing it. :p)

 

that's it. my list of things to do.

 

oh..and here's what i plan to do today, aside from the things i listed above...

- read kodama-sensei's manual on installation of LIM on windows

- read again sample build.xml in tomcat documentation

- update build.xml to include creation of war file and deployment

- make installation procedure for database and web module

 

:D :D :D good luck to me!

 

 

night person

i stayed inside my apartment this weekend. saturday was spent cleaning my room and the toilet and bath. of course, my weekend won't be complete without watching some movie or some tv show. this weekend, i also logged in to my friendster account, added new friends, sent messages to friends, and just browsed my friends' updates. today, sunday, however, i felt suddenly depressed and bored. i wanted to feel some fresh air. so, sent a mesage to febri, asking is caca's already all right and if she needs anything from me. since she did not reply, i went to narus (narusu) to buy groceries. i've been eating processed food and eggs since friday. haha no wonder i was bored. i biked and lost my way to and from the supermarket. well, just missed some turns, so it took me longer to reach my destination. but it was good. at least i got to exercise for a bit. when i arrived, febri's message window in ym is already blinking. she's planning to buy groceries! i already changed my clothes, but i put them on again since i wanted to go with them. we went to nanjamura, a 100-yen shop, where i bought some kitchen stuff. we went to harashin, where i bought again some groceries. i almost forgot to buy some toilet paper. it would've been such a waste to use my facial tissue, had i run out of toilet papers (which would be soon!). good thing i remembered before we left. then, they wanted to eat outside. :D and, it was free! it was febri's treat for getting her scholarship and for... hmmm.. i can't remember the other reason. hahaha anyway, the food was delicious. we ate at banyan, an indian restaurant. it was a bit spicy, but it was delicious! actually, it was my 2nd time to eat those type of food, but at a different location, since they moved since last december. funny, their new location is just in front of narus. so somehow, i went back to narus. :) thanks, febri, bondy, and caca. i had a nice evening. thanks for the free food! (really, i only have about 600 yen in my wallet!)

now, why am i still awake? i'm still writing this blog! yeah, right.funny. yeah, right. actually, i played some yahoo games with jay after arriving home. i really wanted to do my homework, but i still felt lazy. i already have my references opened in my browser, but didn't want to read them just yet. so, had a conference with jay and mommy, while i played some yahoo games with jay. i knew i had to make my homework. so, i finally found the determination to stop playing. i started with my freedom of expression report, since it's only 1 page. in the middle of doing it, janos went online! i had some things to discuss with him regarding LIM. we discussed some things and he really did provide some tips on how i should proceed. it was enough for now. even when i wasn't finished talking to janos, zaw2x called. it was 1230 already! we got disconnected twice, maybe due some signal problems. so, i tried my best to sign-in to ym (got disconnected and couldn't signin). and we discussed about the machine learning assignment. we couldn't agree on the answer, but i think i gave him something to think about. hehehe so, we'll discuss it tomorrow. i already said goodnight to him, actually. told him i'd sleep by 2am. coz i need to wake up early so that i won't be too sleepy in our first period class tomorrow and so that i won't be late. but i just had to write this blog! ooops. almost 2am! gotta finish this now....

anyway, lastly, my conference report is not yet finished. i'll definitely continue it tomorrow. that is, after i transfer my machine learning assignment in electronic format so that i can print it. i don't have good handwriting. so, i can't draw the tree by hand, unlike what zaw2x said he would do. anyway, i did finish my talk with janos. i did finish my freedom of expression homework. so, i've accomplished much tonight. really. i don't know why i work better at night, when i'm at home. :D

ok.. really time to say goodnight! goodnight! goodnight! write here again another time... :)

before i forget... at about 145am, febri sent my an instant message. hahaha i was surprised. never thought she was still awake. anyway, just told her about zaw2x... zaw2x can't disturb her. coz she's invisible. :p

really. this is goodnight! until the next post! babush!

blah...blah...blah...

i woke up late today, simply because i slept late last night and i don't have any class in the morning. i have a zemi in the afternoon, so i had to go to the university. my day was fine. i've finally listed the things i need to do for next week. i also got some inputs from kodama-san on how to go about my research. my computer in the lab is faster than my laptop at home. i can do so many things there. the only limitation is the OS, it's japanese. i can't understand my messenger. but that's not so much of a problem, though. i get easily get hungry. so, i had to go home before 7pm. and today, it's raining with strong wind. too troublesome to walk. so, i asked hamed if he can bring me to my apartment. luckily, he's not busy and was willing to do just that. now, i'm at home, hungrily eating noodles. why not rice? i don't have meat anymore. i still have some instant microwaveable food, but it's the same one i had for lunch. i don't like living alone because the food that i buy is good for 2 meals. isn't it boring? that's why for a change, i'll just eat noodles. and, maybe some donuts i bought at baiten this afternoon. if i'm still hungry later, that's the time i'll eat rice and instant chicken.

i want to go to tokyo to visit jay. it's nicer in tokyo. i have so many NSP friends there. i don't need to speak english there. hahaha but, i still have some homeworks and reports to do. maybe 2 weeks from now, i can go there.

it's difficult being in a foreign country with foreign friends. we communicate in english. sometimes i run out of words. i sometimes can't think of the right word or phrase or sentence to say. there are filipinos here. i visited leah last night and talked excitedly about her pregnancy. but she's tagalog. so, i speak to her in tagalog and also sometimes can't find the right words to say. and it's difficult sometimes to express in tagalog. i talk slower in tagalog and english, compared to when i'm talking in cebuano. that's why i like talking to nazarene. we can talk easily talk about many things coz we have no difficulty in expressing ourselves.

so, why write in english in my blog? writing and speaking is different. when you talk, you have to have the words right then and there. when writing, you can still pause and try to figure out the right word to write. you can even re-read what you wrote and modify them. so, why write in english? since my closest friend here is indonesian and she likes to write blogs, she would appreciate it very much if i write in english. and besides, all of my friends can understand my english. yes, it's great to be a filipino! we can understand english. :D

a post from my email

now, i don't have to login to my blogspot account just to be able to create a post. i can do it using email. but, i can't use my yahoo account, coz yahoo also sends the yahoo signature. i'm doing it using my mailer in the university. i wonder if it's ok to use gmail... maybe i'll try later tonight. it's almost lunchtime, and i haven't studied anything this morning. no accomplishment whatsover (oh, i forgot about the blog!).

 

nsp ppl are now busy with the merit rating. it's a great feeling... not to participate in it anymore. it just gives me the headache. and a worse headache when the actual upgrade/promotion papers are given out. i wish all the supervisors and superiors the best of luck. i hope you'll have better results this year.

 

i'm back!

my last post was during my birthday. so much has happened since then. but, i don't have time to write. i'll try to write over the weekend. or maybe next weekend. or the weekend after. :lol i don't know when i'll be able to tell what has happened to me these past few months. but, i'll try.

i've been here in japan for 9 months now... and these are what happened to me, what i've done, blah...blah...blah.... so far.

- met new friends from different countries and from the philippines, too.
- learned to throw my own garbage (at, segregated pa!).
- made jay come here (he arrived mid-november).
- finally went to tokyo disneyland with lily ann, lloyd, and jay.
- visited odaiba, tokyo dome, tokyo tower (didn't go up, though)
- experienced my first snow.
- spent christmas in yokohama, with dindin and nanay. went there by car with my tutor, shota wada, just for the christmas weekend.
- spent new year in nagaoka, visiting niigata in the after of dec31 with febri's family and watching a 10-min fireworks display in nagaoka at the stroke of midnight.
- submitted all my reports and passed all my subjects for my first semester. i didn't get A for all subjects, but i'm already satisfied with my grade.
- got used to riding the bus from nagaoka to tokyo and vice-versa.
- went to Paris in feb20-25, 2006 to attend UNESCO's celebration of the Internation Mother Language Day and some meeting. visited eiffel tower (just looked at the tower from the ground), louvre museum (not allowed to take photos of the mona lisa) and bought mona lisa bookmarks. hehe
- submitted my paper (for poster session) for the WWW 2006 conference. the paper was accepted.
- started with the new semester (april to july). i have 4 subjects, 1 subject requires us to submit a report usually once a week.
- lived separately with jay since he has a job in tokyo.
- missed my sister, Rheggie's wedding. saw the pictures. both my sisters were beautiful. my parents, too!
- rode the shinkansen by myself for the first time.
- went to Edinburgh, Scotland for the WWW2006 conference and presented a poster. i attended some workshops, tutorials, refereed papers during our 1-week stay there. found out lots of interesting stuff.

now, i'm back again to being alone in nagaoka. but, i'm not really complaining. coz i'm really very busy with homeworks given by professors, my research, and some things i need to do for the laboratory project.

so... till next post! i'll really try to update my blog as often as possible. :D