New Wallpaper

Finally we're done. 3 weekends' job.

Programming Sun Spots

1000 Songs In last.fm

Today I finally reached 1000 songs in my last.fm
account. It needs to be celebrated later. :-D

The 1000th song is Vienna Teng - Green Island Serenade.

Video clip:


Fan made video with the whole song:


The deal is this, I have read. It was originally a poetry
written by a prisoner in Taiwan on an island called Green
Island. The inmate fell in love with a female inmate who
was imprisoned in the female quarters. Obviously, the
ill-fated lovers couldn’t be together and could only
trade longing glances.

Here is the lyrics.

Traditional Chinese
這綠島像一隻船
在月夜裡搖呀搖

姑娘喲妳也在我的
心海裏飄呀飄

讓我的歌聲隨那微風
吹開了你的窗簾

讓我的衷情隨那流水
不斷地向妳傾訴

椰子樹的長影
掩不住我的情意

明媚的月光
更照亮了我的心

這綠島的夜已經
這樣沉靜

姑娘喲妳為什麼
還是默默無語

Simplified Chinese
这绿岛像一只船
在月夜里摇呀摇

姑娘哟妳也在我的
心海里飘呀飘

让我的歌声随那微风
吹开了妳的窗帘

让我的衷情随那流水
不断地向妳倾诉

椰子树的长影
掩不住我的情意

明媚的月光
更照亮了我的心

这绿岛的夜已经
这样沉静

姑娘哟妳为什么
还是默默无语

Pīnyīn
zhè lǜ dǎo xiàng yì zhī chuán
zài yuè yè lǐ yáo ya yáo

gū niang yo, nǐ yě zài wǒ de
xīn hǎi lǐ piāo ya piāo

ràng wǒ de gē shēng suí nà wēi fēng
chuī kāi le nǐ de chuāng lián

ràng wǒ de zhōng qíng suí nà liú shuǐ
bú duàn de xiàng nǐ qīng sù

yē zi shù de cháng yǐng
yǎn bú zhù wǒ de qíng yì

míng mèi de yuè guāng
gèng zhào liàng le wǒ de xīn

zhè lǜ dǎo de yè yǐ jīng
zhè yàng chén jìng

gū niáng yo, nǐ wèi shén me
hái shì mò mò wú yǔ

English Translation
This green island, is like a boat
meandering through the moonlight.

Darling, you are
floating in the ocean of my heart.

Let the melody of my song follow the breeze,
blowing through your curtains.

Let my love go with the flowing water,
serenading you.

The coconut tree's long shadow
cannot hide my gentle love.

The clear bright moonlight
brightens my heart.

This green island night
appears so peaceful.

Darling, why are you
still silent?

New Unreleased Jamie Scott & The Town Song

Japanese Melon Steamcake

Happy Chinese New Year

Some Japanese candy maybe?

New Tyler Hilton Album Soon

In February actually... In the meantime enjoy these clips:









The exam in Mandarin is tomorrow. After that, I hope to be able
to start composing something myself. :-D

Happy New Year!

There was some talking and catching up...



There was some singing...



There was some dancing...



There was some, hm.... I don't know what.
This is for your own interpretation.



This is the winner of the competition - 3 Kinder eggs in total.
Respect! ;) We hope to hear more from you in the near future.



"Girls say..."



"Boys say... Hey baby, hey baby, hey"

It's All About Changes

Inbetween all the studying and some little working during
this Christmas holiday, I have also spent time with the following:

* New floor...



* New wallpaper (but no pic on that).

* New hair.

Not Really Normal Yet

I've been home from my business trip for a week now,
but I'm still being f*cked up by jetlag. I wake up
several times at night and at 6 o'clock I'm totally
done with sleeping.

I have to study Mandarin! There is a strategy for that.
I think I can make it by spending 2 hours per day on it
until January 10 when the exam is held. That requires a lot
of discipline with all the people around me watching TV,
playing Wii and with the karaoke machines at home waiting
for me to push the ON button. :)

I have begun to stitch together all the panorama photos from
earlier vacations. Here are a few from Tokyo.

Vitamin Everyday

The Swedish version of Vitamin Water. It's called Vitamin Everyday.

Earthquake In Southern Sweden!

Half an hour ago the building I live in shaked
aggressively for a few seconds. Cool! It was an
earthquake. I wonder if I brought the phenomenon
with me back from Tokyo.

I got a text message from my brother in Helsingborg
immediately. He felt it too.

According to this it was:

Earthquake Details
Magnitude 4.2
Date-Time Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 05:20:00 UTC
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 06:20:00 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 55.583°N, 13.534°E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region SWEDEN
Distances 35 km (20 miles) E of Malmo, Sweden
60 km (40 miles) E of COPENHAGEN, Denmark
190 km (115 miles) NNE of Rostock, Germany
500 km (310 miles) SW of STOCKHOLM, Sweden

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.9 km (4.9 miles);
depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 36, Nph= 36, Dmin=116.3 km, Rmss=1.47 sec, Gp= 58°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=T
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID us2008araj

Some Photos

Shinagawa station. It was like this every morning.




More Shinjuku Gyoen National Park.






Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, where you
can get a good view of Tokyo and Mount Fuji from 45th floor.




I met Jeanette one evening and we had dinner in Ebisu.
It was a very nice restaurant.




Shopping in Shinjuku.




Thanks Emma for the photo. Nice picture, nice colors and all. :)




Hanging out at Zest with colleagues the last day.




Karaoke with the team. Mathias singing with all his
heart and all his voice. They were really good in
singing actually.

Good-bye Shinagawa! Good-bye Tokyo!

I'm back home in Sweden again. :(

I didn't want to leave, but I guess
all good things eventually come to an
end. And we are left with what is considered
every day life.

I fell in love with Tokyo, the people,
their politeness, their mind of service and
quality in food and clothes.

The last few days have mostly been work,
restaurants, and some shopping in the evenings.

I've spent some time in Akihabara, more visits
to Shinjuku and Harajuku...

Last night we went out for dinner in Ebisu -
Mathias, Emma, Hares, Kawasaki-san, Seth, David,
and I. We went to a karaoke bar afterwards for
a 30 minutes session. It was very fun. We parted
after that and I hope I will be able to see my
new friends soon again.

Photos are coming soon...

The Last Few Days

The last few days have been quite intense.
I’ll try to keep it short.

4/12 – Evisu Jeans
We went to an Evisu Jeans shop in Ebisu and
Daniel bought some clothes there. We were shown
to their fifth floor and the personell kept the
shop opened just for Daniel and I because it
took Daniel 2 hours to try out his clothes and
it was way after their working hours.

It's important to have enough snacks in the room. ;)




5/12 – ”Earth Shake”
The office swayed a few times this day. It is
still unknown whether it was because of the
strong wind and rain that caused the swaying or
if it actually was a tiny little earthquake. If
it was an earthquake, it should have been called
an earth shake because of its tinyness. ;)

More vending machines.




6/12 – Shopping in Harajuku and Shibuya
Today was our shopping day. We had brunch with
Mathias in Ebisu in the morning. After that he
showed us how to get to Harajuku and Shibuya
before he went to work. I couldn’t find anything
I liked in Harajuku and Shibuya. The Tokyo fashion
style is quite extreme with a lot of details and
a lot of extreme colors. Not my cup of tea. :(
The winter jackets are very beautiful though,
but I can’t use them at home in Sweden since their
winter jackets are more like our fall jackets.

Everything is quite expensive in Tokyo because
the yen is very expensive now. 100 yen is
approximately 10 sek.

The famous Shibuya crossing where people cross
the streets in all imaginable directions.



We had Ochazuke for lunch.






7/12 – Shinjuku and Mount Fuji
Mattias and I went to Shinjuku this morning. Our
original plan was to shop, but we ended up in
Shinjuku Gyoen National Park instead. It was a
very beautiful park in the middle of the city. The
trees sparkled in yellow and red and a lot of Japanese
people had their system cameras and tripods out photographing.
And these were often old people – both men and women and
over 60 – 70 years old. It is quite impressive.







After lunch we looked for the Hyatt hotel where parts
of the movie Lost In Translation were shot. We found
another Hyatt hotel instead, but this one had only 28
floors. The Lost In Translation one had more than 56
floors and one can go up there to have a look over Tokyo.
We went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for some
information but it appeared that they have an observation
deck at 45th floor as well, so we went up there. It was
free. :) The view over Tokyo was very impressive. There was
no end to the number of houses that was Tokyo! Since the
sky was clear blue today we could see Mount Fuji far away
in the distant.





We went to Harajuku to see the famous Harajuku girls
and rockabillies. We were late for their gathering so
there were only a few left.









We went to the Meiji Jingu shrine in Harajuku and
fortunately there was a wedding ceremony ongoing.

Ceremonial cleaning before entering the shrine.





How many branches are there of this famous restaurant?




Some food I have eaten the latest days:

Sushi


Yakiniku