Busy nights

The past hours of the week has been purely a thing of the mind. Was in the zone of utter oblivion, I cannot think of anything less ordinary. Still a lot of things to decipher from the graphs, behavior of conjugate displacements I haven't found, I wish I can clearly articulate all these moments in technical innuendos.

Listening to Kissing the Lipless by The Shins for a thousand times I can carve the song in my skin.

House

This is how busy I was. For about 7 weeks, my life was a circle of seclusion. I wake up at 3 in the afternoon, grab a late lunch, and stay inside coffee shops till they close. At around midnight, I'd find an open ramen shop, and eat a late dinner, bike home, and drop by a convenient store for a watermelon Popsicle. At 8 in the morning, I'd prepare myself some cereal, and eat breakfast before going to bed.

During those times, my only form of distraction were episodes of House M.D. Otherwise, I'm pounding on my computer, cracking my head open for the last ounce of words to fill my thesis.

A shot from exactly where I sit some 6 am in one of those days. Dreamy is Blur's Good Song.

Summers

I remember in vivid detail the first time my shaky hands held an SLR camera.

It was a few summers ago when I printed my first roll of films. I was shooting recklessly, like as if it was my first time, too, to see the world.



I remember it now because I'm dying to take photos again. It has been awhile since I last took my camera for a walk (just like a dog), or even aim it at everything or anything at all. I've been immensely busy finishing the manuscript for my master's degree. If there's only something that I can do.



Anyway, this summer, when all this uni stuff is done and delivered, I'd go back to taking photos, singing with my guitar, drinking beer on sidewalks, biking around the neighborhood, or scavenging Tokyo for Haruki Murakami's house. I can't wait to do all of these!

In the mean time, I'm dozing off, and maintaining this geeky mode until further notice.

PS. Photos from my first roll of films, some summers back.

The object of fantasy meant more to me than logic

Yesterday, I got some results from my experiments. I've waited a looong time for this.
Now, a paper has to be written. Let the universe make a beautiful conspiracy.




I like it when I'm alone and doing experiments, and it's raining lightly outside.
I feel so alive.

Long weekend for me. You have a nice one. ^^

Rock my world

The last days were spent inside a dimly lit hall listening to lectures coming from different parts of the world about this topic that recently hogged world headline after what happened to Haiti and Chile. My university hosted the joint conferences on 7th Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering and 5th International Conference on Earthquake Engineering. The title of these conferences would say it all. What else can be more relevant these days?

I didn't have the luxury of free time to wander around and take photos other than the hall I was assigned to man. So here they are, poorly.







Ever since I came to Tokyo, I've had my share of earthquakes from time to time. As a matter of fact, on the day I arrived, I was jolted by a big one at 2 in the morning, a very moving way of welcoming me. The following week, I was at the fifth floor of my building and another big but abrupt one struck again.

For the fainthearted, perceivably experiencing an earthquake can be quite maddening. I do think that there's really no way of getting used to it even if it happens often like in Tokyo. Or maybe there's really no use in getting used to it. It's always shocking everytime, like falling in love or something. Haha...

Have you had your share of jolts?

A prisoner's sunset

I never went out of my house for three straight days, doing a little program for my last homework in Civil Engineering Analysis. My eyes were like this x-x infront of mounting excel files, and I fed myself with all possible variations of fried rice that I can cook. I sat and lurked in the dark, too, which can be joyfully maddening when you're thinking of numbers. I also learned that my brain works consistently if I'm listening to jazz radio. (I'm geek like that).




Fortunately, during those times, there was really nothing outside to look forward to. Weather in Tokyo has been pretty grey and rainy, and even to buy bento next block was the hardest thing.





Yesterday, I finished my program. It was the first time I went out, and it felt like it was my first time to see sunshine, too, like my rebirth or something.

Before I handed-out my results to my professor, I had to bask myself with the first sunset that I saw after what felt like a looooong time. Happy weekend everyone! This weekend feels like a real weekend for me.

Soils and experiments

Today, I helped Gunji do his experiments. This day also happens to be his birthday! Omedetou gozaimasu! ♪♪♪

Since I got pictures of the experiments today, I'd take this time to introduce my lab. Let there be a geek! haha...

This is the experiment room. Dirty, cold, stinky.

But--- I love this place! Everything comes to life here first (before those numbers and words). I like clutching bolts and wrestling with wrenches, maneuvering the crane in four directions, hammering loosely fitted plates, dipping my fingers to sand, popping the bubbles of our clay mix, etcetera, being dirty, etcetera. Burgeoning muscles are bound to happen.

The centrifuge, the most important instrument in our lab. His name is Mark III, and I'm serious.

I can't wait to use this next year!

This is what a typical experiment in our lab would look like. The research area involves soil foundation and geotechnics. The photo shows the test set up for Gunji's experiment, *insert some technical explanation here blah blah blah*.

That's me at the end of the I-bar, doing my share of chores.

I'd be doing some research on shallow foundations, *insert some technical explanation here blah blah blah*. My only hope is that I don't fuck up.

Doing experiments in the lab is both physical and neurotic. But what gets into my nerves the most are the wires and electricity. I'm scared of them. haha. Bad history of electric shock when I was a kid (xox)

I'm tired now. I think we still have one set up for tomorrow. おやすみなさい!

Study walk

Today, I went for a study stroll in one neighborhood near the university. This was part of the class I'm taking this semester. We have to pick one community and make an assessment of its earthquake and fire hazards.

I spent the whole morning with my group rummaging Ebaramachi. Our assigned community is still part of Tokyo. But looking at the pictures however, they look like as if they are not part of the city anymore.

However, I realize that these images are what make Tokyo real. These old parts, tattered yet rich of stories from the old people living in the neighborhood, constitute the actual places where people live, do their market, greet friends on the street, or walk their dogs. I think that it's not Shibuya, nor Ginza that makes you a real Tokyo denizen but these types of neighborhood.

The whole time we were looking around, I can't help but feel this feeling that I'm home, I'm at home among these streets or that these streets feel like home. Funny, you might think of me. And weird. Haha... But I really don't know why. It just feels right.

TGIF

The best reward for a very long week is a Friday night.

A Friday night with a long-necked, ice cold beer sitting like a flirt on a table surrounded by communicative smoke, and friends whose level of exhaustion is as crispy as Pringles.

Everyone was morose as I predicted. Each one has a dart board with faces of professors on target. No one has better plans than getting drunk.

Sigh. That was a tough week, and another one is coming. Fed-ex me luck.

The table

This is my table. Everything happens here. Over the next few days, this will be an absolute mess, not that it is not yet a mess right now. But the finals week is looming. Sleepless nights are coming, and I can feel zits popping up.
There are too many things I have to do in the coming days. Five fucking exams, every holy fucking day. Four papers all due Monday next week. A program that I still have to learn. And my research which I haven't fixed a bit. Everything feels like Melchor Hall all over again.

I swear to god I will get fucking drunk like a morose after I finish all of these. I can't fucking wait for heart's day, which also happens to be the last day of the sem, and which happens to be the birthday of my very good friend, Felipe.

(I cuss a lot, sorry. It's the nerves.)

Site visit in Shibuya

Today, I went inside the stomach of Shibuya.
We went in an underground construction of a tunnel. That was one of the coolest things here so far.
The ones in the photo are Thais.

Classes

The classes for winter semester start this week. I'm almost done with registration, and all I gotta do now is to show up (this can be a bit hard since each day is colder than the last) . I'm taking most classes in Midorigaoka, which is literally a village, around 15 minutes walk from the main gate.

Some of my subjects need lots of neurotic concentration, so probably I'll be busy.

I hate this feeling, you know, having notebooks and complete set of pencils and erasers. It's like I'm back to school. But who am I kidding, I AM REALLY BACK TO SCHOOL.