Shutter life of Jazz

Just a few days ago, I had the most memorable experience in my life. I was given the opportunity to travel to the "Land of the Rising Sun" for a total of 6 days. This trip was fully funded by the company where I work at (CNE1 International Language School) and our partner school located in the said prefecture (Hachinohe Gakuin University). Variety of Bentos sold in Tokyo Central train station Our first stop was in Aomori, Japan located in the northern part of the main island of the country. The place is roughly 3 and a half hours away from metro Tokyo by Shinkansen. Every minute counts! Hayabusa My meal on our way to Aomori During our first day, we were asked to participate in the school's Culture festival. This made me super excited because I have never really imagined myself joining such activities abroad although I have seen a lot of these scenes in Japanese animations and being there physically and mentally made it more overwhelming. I met former s...

A month or so has passed since I tried the lifehack avocado germinating experiment and here are some photos of how well they're doing now. (Yes, the lifehack is TRUE so I recommend ya'll to try it yourself). Two weeks after poking and submerging some seeds into a cup, one seed germinated fast. It developed roots while the others are just slowly developing their own roots. This seed was originally closed. You can see that a root is about to sprout. This was the first seed that germinated and grew roots.  I transferred the first seed to a pot but I did not expose it under direct sunlight just yet. I have to wait for it to sprout leaves before doing so.  Ginger In our original experiment, I and my friends tried to grow our own ginger mostly because we know it's quite easy to do it. After 8 months of waiting, here is the ginger we managed to harvest from our container. It's not much because we did not try to grow a lot. Seeing these made me fe...

A few months back, I started gardening again as a diversion from boredom. I tried germinating different kinds of fruits from seeds. Some were successful but most were not. Also, the surviving ones now don’t really look great since it has been raining heavily in our area for a very long time. However, I still want to continue this hobby since it helps me learn a lot of things like the proper way of handling plants, understanding different kinds of soil and of course, it helps me develop my patience as it does not show results fast. Last Saturday while cleaning and clearing out our refrigerator, I saw the avocados given to us by my mother-in-law last time. Unfortunately, due to some time restrictions, we weren’t able to consume it. We were actually planning to make avocado shake with it. So, instead of throwing it away, I harvested the seeds and tried the lifehack I saw online wherein they half-soaked the seeds in water. I’m not entirely sure if I did this correctly but all I have to d...

Working in a Japanese-dominated company has given me the chance to learn and understand the beautiful culture of Japan without actually going there. For a few years now, we have celebrated this festival in our workplace. Today marks a special day in Japan. If Europe has its star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, Japan and China (where the Tanabata Festival originated) have Orihime and Hikoboshi. Legend says that Orihime, the daughter of a god, had a job to weave elegant and beautiful clothes for the gods beside a river (Milky Way). And since this job requires a lot of time and effort, Orihime grew lonely. Seeing that his daughter is sad, her father arranged for her to meet a cow herder named Hikoboshi, who lived on the other side of the Milky Way. And just like any other love story we know, both fell in love at first sight and immediately got married. Orihime and Hikoboshi, after getting married, neglected their responsibilities. She stopped weaving clothes and he stopped herdin...

Your questions sound more like accuses My answers ring more like excuses I'd like to keep you in the dark So when everything's fine  I may be able to smile with you again

We drown in our own fantasies    

I sleep with worries Shrouding my brain And wake up with nightmares They sting and drain Distractors are welcome Please spare me some time I can't beat this anxiety It's starting to eat me This poem was written to promote Mental health for everybody. Mental Health issues are becoming more prevalent and we should all be aware of the signs to avoid tragedies. Don't get me wrong, I don't have it (I'm sure) and I don't know anyone suffering from mental health conditions but still, prevention is always better than cure.