HOOOOMYGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD

Okay my camera is officially my number one prized possession. Ok my SD card is my number one, camera second. Point is MAY PICTURE NA NAMAN AKO NI ANJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH :((

So today was the nomikai (inuman) deshou, and I arrived a little early at the place with a couple of other people. And who was the first one to greet me? HOMYGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!! Nabagsak ko yung bag ko sa kabiglaan. "Long time no see" lang ang nasabi ko sa kanya. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ANJO NAMISS KITA HAYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP :((

Haaaaaaaaaaayz. I am so drunk. I was so hell bent on proving to all the Japanese boys that I could handle my liquor so I MAY have drunk a little too much. Demo daijoubu, I was able to go home (not pregnant) and with a very very VERY stupid smile on my face. Datte! Tuwing naaalala ko si Anjo nasa-psycho smile ako, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah :(( Naalala ko na soooobrang sarap pala mabuhay. Kahit ganung setting lang, kasama lahat, tas nasa kabilang table sya... at least nananakawan ko sya ng sulyap, nakikita ko yung ngiti nya, naririnig ko yung tawa nyang pang-asar... shiawase desu. Nan darou ne. Happy.

Actually pinipilit nga ako ni Teddy Bear saka ni Poko-chan, kausapin ko raw nang husto si Anjo since magkasama kami dati sa Itami... sobrang hirap magtago ng blush, maji de. Kung alam nila kung gaano ang pagpipigil ko. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. In fairness to me kinausap ko sya. Tinanong ko sya about comparison ng caf ng Itami at Hachiouji ("Bimyou da na"), about sa pag-akala ko na sya si Tanabe-san ("Yoku iwareru yo ne"), about sa pagiging magkamukha ni Kobayashi-san at ni Little Brother ("Chigaimasu") at iba pang random stuff. Sabi ko lately mukhang kawaisou (kawawa) si Kawai-san. Saka si Boyfriend din, laging mag-isang nagyoyosi.
Gusto kong idagdag, "Ako di ako makakain simula nung lumipat ka." Harharhar.

ANYWAY. Upload ko na lang yung pikachurs pag-uwi ko. Pero DEM talaga. I was with Anjo, you guuuuuys!!! :)

Live from Hachiouji

"Day One: Fail." Ayon kay Dulce. Dahil hindi ko nakita si Anjo today sa Hachiouji, waaaaaaah :'( Pinagtataguan ata ako ng hayup.

Anyway so yeah I arrived in Hachiouji last night shortly before 12 and spent my first working day learning all sorts of things I have ZERO interest in. VPN, CC, bat files, multisite setups, streams, vob... wtf. Let's get this straight ok: the reason I agreed to go to Hachiouji is so I can see Anjo again, just before I go. And maybe Teddy Bear. Period. Si Teddy Bear lang nakita ko.

So after all the server training nonsense Teddy Bear picked me up at my work area (incidentally on the same building, same floor as Anjo's, with a common smoking room - that HAS to mean something, there are literally dozens of buildings on this site and I could have been assigned to work in any of them for this week's training) and together we went to theirs. He introduced me to some of the people I used to work with, and this one guy goes, "Do you remember Anjo? He sits next to me now," pointing to the empty seat beside him. Pota it was barely past 6 and Anjo was already gone, gone! For the first time in more than a year our names are in the same IP Messenger list, and he didn't even drop by my work area to say hi! Si Teddy Bear at least three times akong pinuntahan within the day! People I only know by name talked to me in the smoking place! "Jamie-san desu ne," ("Ikaw si Jamie di ba") this one guy went. Sabi ko, "Um, opo, hi. Sino po sila?" Tas it turned out sya yung isa sa mga ka-mail ko dati. "Sabi ni Teddy Bear bukas may inuman daw para sa 'yo a." Wahahaha daldal nun. During lunch I met my old Panel Leader Poko-chan and he went, "Oi, Jamie-chan. Bukas nomikai (inuman) a."

So yeah incidentally Teddy Bear secretly mailed the whole group I used to work with and invited them to a party in my honor. Even though I haven't worked with them in more than half a year. And even if I did use to work with them our interaction was limited to occasional mails (since I work in Osaka and they work in Tokyo.) Nagulat tuloy yung ka-work kong hapon ngayon dito nung nalaman nya. "May nomikai para sa 'yo? Waw." Di nya alam big time pala ako sa Hachiouji. Haha I know, I mustn't noru on this choushi too much, malamang naman di sasama si Anjo bukas e, but at least he knows how lovable I really am naman, in fairness to me. (I checked, kasama sya sa mga minail ni Teddy Bear.)

So after work me and Teddy Bear went to have dinner, and while eating I noticed I lost my wallet, so he called the office, the wallet was there, so he biked all the way back to the office to get it (around 20 minutes), and we continued eating. Tas nilibre pa nya 'ko. Lakas 'no. We talked about work, home, friends, Arashi, about Poko-chan being originally Chinese, and he invited me to all sorts of places to go to on the weekend. Apparently he already told the whole team that I was going with them to go yachting on Saturday. Kanina ko lang nalaman nung sinabi nya na may yachting sa Sabado a! Gulo gulo. Nan darou ne. Well, I've always wanted to ride on a yacht, in fairness. Parang si San Tsai, hahahaha XD

So eto pa pala. Even though we've been mailing back and forth these past few months, hindi ko sinasabi kay Teddy Bear na uuwi na 'ko ng Pinas. Balak ko kasi sabihin ko na lang sa kanya... sa Friday siguro. Ang hirap kasi sabihin, hindi ko kaya. Saka ayoko talagang sabihin, parang pa-importante, wala namang pakialam mga tao sa 'kin dito no. So anyway kanina he went, "Balita ko uuwi ka na raw?" and I was like, "Huwaaaaaaaat? O.o" Apparently Kuya sent a notification to the project mailing list admin, naka-CC si Teddy Bear, saying na since uuwi na raw ako ng Pinas, kailangan tanggalin na 'ko sa mailing list receipients or something and add this other guy (si Sir Alvin). I have NO idea why he had to CC Teddy Bear. WTF. It's like he's going out of his way to tell everyone I hold dear that I will be leaving them soon. Nakakahiya tuloy kay Teddy Bear, parang antagal na naming magkausap di ko man lang na-mention sa kanya... ugh. And then Teddy Bear goes and announces it to the Hachiouji team, changing the original nomikai invitation into a soubetsukai (farewell party) invitation. "A ayaw mo bang sabihin? Naku nasabi ko na sa lahat ng tao," sabi ni Teddy Bear kanina. UGGGHHH. On the up side: sabi raw ni Anjo kilala raw nya 'ko since naging magkatrabaho kami dati. Yikkeeeeee. Tas eto pa: after nya ikwento yun sabi ni Teddy Bear, "Sino nga ba si Anjo?" Hindi nya kilala si Anjooooooooooo, wahahahahaha XD Gusto kong sabihin, "Yung gwapo ano be kuya" pero sinabi ko na lang, "Yung pinalitan ko ng trabaho sa Itami. Sobrang galing nun, pramis." "A sa Itami ba sya dati. Pero shempre mas magaling ka pa rin di ba." One point! Wahahaha ano be, as much as I would looooove that to be true, mas magaling pa rin si Anjo. (English lang kami nagkatalo.)

So. Wala lang. Wish ko lang may nagbasa ng lahat nang yan. Sorry this is more like a note to self just so I don't forget how awesome today was. Woohooo, I love Hachiouji!!!

:'(

So nakita ko 'tong link na 'to sa Facebook kanina, pinost ni Tin: eto.

Tungkol sya sa "the culture shock of coming home."

"... And when travelers talk about adjusting to coming home, we most always are talking about this - for this is the hardest part. When I came home last year, I didn’t really want to see anyone. I was finding it difficult to adjust from such an 'on the move' lifestyle to such a sedentary one. Yes, I wanted to see my friends and family but here I had just gotten used to the travel lifestyle, and even though it wasn’t always perfect, it was amazing and then all of sudden with one plane ride, it suddenly stopped. The brakes had been suddenly slammed and that was not easy to deal with. To quote Benjamin Button about coming home: 'It’s a funny thing about comin’ home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You’ll realize what’s changed is you.'"

Ang... swak.

Siguro less than a month na lang ang itatagal ko dito. Antagal ko nang hinihiling nitong pag-uwi na 'to men.

Matapos kong maranasan sa Japan ang lahaaaaat ng klaseng kahihiyan, lahat ng pagod, hirap, hinanakit, pag-iyak, ito pa pala ang piiinakamalupet sa lahat: ang pamamaalam.

Kanina binuking ako ni Kuya kina Mr. Nonki na uuwi na 'ko in a month (kahit na ilang beses kong pinagpilitang wag na wag nyang sasabihin.) Hindi ko sinasadya, pero sumakto sa 'kin ang mga katagang "burst out crying."

Parang ngayon lang nangyari yun sa buong buhay ko.

Parang at that instant lang kasi nag-sink in... uuwi na 'ko. Wala nang Mr. Nonki na kahit kelan namin puntahan, welcome na welcome ang pambubulabog namin (at laging may libreng inumin at pagkain bukod pa sa inorder namin.) Wala nang laging magpapaalala na mag-ingat sa sipon, wala na yung soooooobrang loving na neighborhood couple na walang ibang ipinakita sa amin kung hindi kabaitan, wala na yung kung tutuusin naging mga magulang ko dito sa Japan.

Wala na yun. Kasi uuwi na 'ko. :'(

Hindi ko ata kakayanin 'to. :'(

One year

Since this. Parang kelan lang. At ngayon, ako naman.

I feel like a million bucks.

I hope I never forget today.
Stuff:

1. Teddy bear mailing me about a present.
2. Anjo copying our fix (which he was dissing last year.)
3. Berating someone for copying and pasting IBM King English (automatic Japanese to English translation software) and then finding out he wasn't using IBM King. (It was his own writing.)

Sorry, this post is more a note to myself more than anything else. Just so I don't forget how happy I was today. :)