Kudos to Xiaxue

After blogging full-time for two days I am beginning to wonder how professional bloggers like Xiaxue cope with having to come up with topics and soundbites witty and eye-catching enough for the fickle internet community.

thought i might find the internship a breeze because all i had to do was to create blog entries by translating material from existing staff blogs and adding in stuff of my own, but this is a lot tougher than i imagined. then there this imminent fear of not generating enough reads or hits. my younger-than-me senior at work politely suggested that i search for some singapore-based blog rankings, which promptly sent me scuttling to heed his instructions.

tried ping.com and it actually helps to pull in the readers, although i didnt register this blog on the ranking site. serious bloggers might want to give it a shot though.

another thing i realised was how allergic i've become of working in an office (read: DESKBOUND JOB). initially i actually thought half a year of battling the books might start to make office work appear attractive again, but after my first day i was ready to reconsider my options for the future. more grad school perhaps? or maybe i should get married and have kids? or why not be adventurous and start a business?

on the bright side, at least they arent strict about surfing the internet (because everything can be explained in the name of work, even this). and i'm thankful that i dont have to bow all the time or pick up phonecalls and take messages in high-pitched business japanese.

maybe after a few more days i might start feeling like xiaxue does?

One More Thing

I forgot to add an open invitation for everyone to leave comments on my Ti-Da blog.

in fact, let's make the comments COMPULSORY shall we?

readership should be about 5,000 hits by now...

Up My Readership Please!

Am writing this while on my internship. Today marks the first day and I'll be here for the next two weeks.

No, I am not skiving by taking time to blog. and yes, i do need your help.

the company i'm serving at operates the perfecture's largest internet portal and blogging website called Ti-Da Net ("ti-da" means "sun" in Okinawa dialect), and they've arranged for me to blog about my life here on the island in english.

it's going to be a bit difficult finding readers in japan since i'm not blogging in japanese, so i'm counting on you folks to up my readership! pass my blog address to anyone and everyone who matters. the more readers the better! (incidentally this might affect my employment prospects with this place next year so i'm sure you get the drift now.)

right, will twirl my thumbs while waiting for my blog access to hit 10,000 in the next hour...

A Reason to Celebrate

I'm not supposed to reveal any details here but I hope the dear girl is reading.

pardon my initial panic but please know that you have my deepest and most genuine blessings. it isnt easy opening up your heart to love, but i am proud that you took the leap of faith.

enjoy every moment there is to be had and remember to leave tomorrow to tomorrow okay?

i love you so much my dear!

to celebrate, i am dedicating this song to you and your new beau. no need to reconsider my feelings towards him already..i like him because you just helped him accumulate 10,000 brownie points!

One Lime Green Car

Last Sunday I found myself in the crossfire of an exceptionally explosive tiff between Ken and his mom. there we were, waiting for a table at a restaurant when his mom suddenly demanded the keys to the car and drove away without us. ken had been going on and on about how the new car isnt as cheap as the car dealer had made it out to be and his mom probably decided she heard enough.

in the end we took an hour to walk home after dinner. i had all but lost my appetite from being caught between the mother and son one time too often, and i was upset with ken for spoiling an otherwise lovely sunday outing. i was thinking that i'd probably have to call his mom out for dinner the day after and properly apologise and hear her side of the story.

but the bad evening came to an unexpectedly good end eventually.

while we all have our fair share of family problems and heartaches, ken comes a household that bears a lot of scars. he makes it a point never to talk freely about it, and the first time i heard it from him it was obvious that he was having a particularly difficult time recounting the story.

then last sunday he asked me again if he was good enough for me. coming from a family like his, he said he didnt know if he could ever become a deserving husband or a responsible father. i was surprised because i never knew that the shadows of his past were cast so far ahead upon his present and future.

it isnt often that ken bares his heart like he did last weekend, and despite spending the past five years with him i could never quite shake off the feeling that he had made a part of himself unavailable to me. sunday's incident, however, seemed to trigger the floodgates. ken was open, vulnerable and honest, and i felt as if i was looking at him for the first time all over again.

as i listened, i was reminded of the reasons why i chose to be with ken in the first place. this man, with all his imperfections, would be the one i would spend my days protecting.

A Lot Like Love

One thing I realised about moving into a new place. Gender niceties aside, having a man around actually makes things a lot simpler. as usual i was trying to play superwoman. cart my own boxes, clean the house alone, shop for necessities without him.

but the ceilings remained dusty because my arms werent long enough to get to them. and the lights kept flickering because i had no idea i needed to change the starter. so when ken reached above my head and fiddled with the fluorescent tube until it worked, it finally dawned on me that i have to stop running a two-man show on my own and start learning about teamwork.

we just had our first dinner last night and i served up my grandmother's recipe to gain extra brownie points. it is actually quite a relief to know that i can still remember how to cook when the occasion calls for it. in the meantime, we've been trawling furniture stores, home centres and recycle shops together and i'm liking the way we fit.

we both like cheap, old junk and lime green cutting boards. i like the fact that we dont have to fight over what colour to paint our walls cos we invariably pick the same shade. i never knew this about us until we moved in together.

so yes, let me gush over the man because i am liking him a lot right now.