I had so much planned last year. I hope this summer will be just as fun as last year's...

Recap of last year

USJ




Shibuya at 5am


Whale Shark! - Osaka on my own


Beautiful jellyfish


Seoul




Guam


Diving

My boyfriend makes the best breakfast ever. I love his simple weekend brunches. It's nice when someone makes you a meal for a change. Usually, I cook dinners during the weekdays, so I really appreciate it when he cooks me breakfasts during the weekends. :)



Ta da! The weekend brunch :)


Bitchy B: Why do you girls like taking pictures of your food? I don't see you taking pictures of your shit and putting it up.

Well, I just did! This is a picture of my shit, my shitty b~ <3

Studying is so difficult ... but I must persevere :(

Some of these questions are just plain trickery! Any answer goes. Why do exam centers structure their tests this way?? It's plain stupidity and doesn't determine your intelligence. This is stupid. Tests are stupid.

I never structure my tests in ways to trick my students. Argh, this is plain stupidity.

My very first time making this dish! It looks very authentic - just like how I remembered it growing up in Singapore. The rice, however, was a bit weak, much to my disappointment. I will have to add more garlic, ginger, msg and salt to the rice next time.

Sigh, how I wish I was back in Singapore, eating this dish for a mere $3. This dish is so troublesome to make at home while it's so cheap outside, no wonder this is such a big hit with the locals. So good. Sigh, so much good food back in Singapore. Will be gorging myself silly this December!

From my b:

"I don't even remember what life was like before we started living together. It feels like we've been living together for a long time now."

"Yeah, I know you're not really pissed. I can see that smile at the corner of your mouth just dying to come out. You're not fooling me." And 5 seconds later I start laughing :/

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Alright, just squandered a whole morning playing Diablo with Dion and running errands. It's time to study for the stupid exam now.

I have the sweetest boyfriend. :)

Today, he offered to carry my flats in his bag just in case my feet hurt.

<3

Went out to the Inca Empire Exhibition in Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science yesterday. Although the exhibitions were great, it was just too crowded inside the museum. Managed to see some pretty cool stuff though, such as these Incan mummies.





We were also able to watch a 3D short movie about Macchu Picchu. It was beautiful and breathtaking, despite not understanding a word of Japanese.

After the exhibition, we went to the National Art Museum where we saw a lot of Asian art and artifacts. Having been to the museum once, I've seen a lot of the stuff before, so this time the highlight of the trip was when Alice and I tried reading some classical Chinese poems, unsuccessfully. There were so many words we didn't understand, and even when we did, we didn't understand since neither of us studied classical Chinese...nor am I interested in studying classical Chinese, hah.


Didn't know if this was read in 4, 5, or 7. Gave up reading after the first three columns.


The only Japanese proverb we could understand.

After the museums, we were pretty tired and went to Kanda for some deep dish pizza at DevilCraft Pizza! Mmmmm yummy.





It was so filling! I gave the last slice and a half to my boyfriend. :) After the pizzas, we went back to Mishima and went bar-hopping with our friends. Fun times.

When I get a place of my own, I will hang up beautiful pictures from around the world. I really like Peter Lik's photographs and I think I wanna buy some to hang on the wall when I have the money! Check them out:

Well, today's the first day of Golden Week. There's nothing much to do since it's rainy, so I've decided to make wontons. I haven't had wontons since coming to Japan, and I thought it would be fun making them for once. They're time-consuming to make, but hey, I've got plenty of it!







Mmmmmmm delicious~

The much-anticipated quarterly reports of MasterCard and Visa came last night and made my day. They produced stellar reports, as anticipated. Both card companies' profits surged and beat analysts' estimates.

I read the reports yesterday and was surprised to read that both companies have authorized buyback programs. MasterCard had a buyback program that commenced last quarter and had bought their shares at $370 and $420/share. Wow that's pretty expensive. Visa has also authorized a buyback program that will start from Feb of 2012 to Feb of 2013.

The news of buybacks made me wonder - really? Do MasterCard and Visa really think they are cheap and undervalued? My guess is no. They just have a lot of money and they think it's a good way to boost up shareholder's value...which it does, across the board (because they will have more earnings per share if there are less shares to spread the earnings around).

Well, either way, MasterCard and Visa's strong first quarter and announcements of their buyback programs are good for shareholders. I will continue to keep my shares and only sell it when Berkshire does. I will not be adding more shares either because I think they are pricey, which is a pity because I would love to add more. :(

I am thinking of buying some more shares of Intel later this month. They are doing well and their valuations are still decent, albeit getting pricier with each day.

I am starting to understand what it means to own good companies and the benefits of keeping them long-term. Let the companies work for you.