What if I tell you that when you're bored, you can actually be productive? Whether it's watching a movie or reading a book or playing a video game or taking a walk, if you feel that there's something to do when you're bored, then it's best to do it before it get's to you.

So, when I'm bored, what do I do? Write songs! Yup. Sometimes, I have images floating in my head and they would want them to have me write songs so that I would be able to interpret them easily without forgetting them. These images would also want me to share them with others, so with that in mind, here are some songs that I wrote which I would like to share with all of you.

The first song I'll post up is a song titled Arigato. This song was actually a request from my mom when she asked me to write a song about Papa-san, so using him as an inspiration, I decided then to write a song about him. As he is now terribly ill and bed-ridden, I decided to think of all the happier times when I was young and he was healthy and it did bring me lotsa fond memories and it is due to that I had to write a song about this. Unfortunately, I didn't get to show him the lyrics, but perhaps if I go back to Japan again, I might be able to do so.

Arigato

Sitting by the window,
Snow falls down the clear blue sky,
As I sit and reminisce about the tender memories,
That we shared between you and me.

The good times that we’ve had together,
Whenever you took me around,
The wonderful places we visited,
Still etched in my mind.

Chorus:
Tomodachi-san wa arigato,
For everything that you have done for me,
For all the wonderful times we’ve had together,
For all the energy you spent in me,
Tomodachi-san wa daijoubu,
You know I am grateful to you,
There’s nothing left in this world that can replace you,
Which is what makes you special to me. 

Taking the bus and munching on chocolates,
I could still remember those feelings,
The time when I ran around everywhere,
And you chased me all around.

Whether it’s feeding the lovely deer,
Or taking a cruise on a ship,
Visiting temples and rolling in the snow,
And watching the hot sun set.

Repeat chorus 

Repeat chorus

And now as I stood in my room,
And take a long walk out of this house,
I begin my new journey but never forget,
These great memories that we shared together.

Arigato

The next song that I will post up is a song titled Destiny. As we all should know, the world we live in these days is not as peaceful as we have hoped for, neither is it as beautiful as it was before. From terrorist attacks to the many cases of starvation to the poor, homeless and disabled being treated cruelly by many people, I felt that we, as human beings and as members of this wonderful family that is created by the almighty Allah S.W.T. himself, should help our fellow family members and achieve the success that we can be proud of, the success of making our world a beautiful and peaceful home to live in. Influences from this song I wrote was taken from Heal The World and We Are The World by Michael Jackson and ROOTS by B'z.

Destiny

Listen to me my brothers and sisters,
This is my story so listen closely,
The world today is forever in danger,
As the cries of sorrow echo out very freely.

Standing on the hill and overlooking the land,
The cold and dark atmosphere looming all over,
The suffering seeking for help as they crawl on the sand,
Tears running down their faces all over.

As millions of lives are taken every year,
We must do our part and save humanity from dying,
The faint call for help can you all hear,
This is our chance so let us follow that ring. 

Chorus:
Come one and come all,
May we give the world a shoulder to lean on,
For our family are in despair,
And we must give them guidance to follow through,
This is our destiny,
The path to the light of hope,
Let us journey through this saving grace,
And make way for a new peaceful world,
For all of us to live in.

Listen to me my brothers and sisters,
My tale does not end here,
Our roles as peacekeepers stay on forever,
So let us rid all of our fears.

Explosions and bodies flying everywhere,
Such a painful sight to behold,
We must not let this go on no matter where,
For we possess strong hearts of gold. 

Repeat chorus

The fallen shall rise once again,
And may we give our family a chance to survive,
As we struggle and bear all pain,
And force to sacrifice our lives.

Listen to me my brothers and sisters,
For we are ready to give it our all,
As we cross these raging rivers,
And swear on our family to never fall.

Repeat chorus 2x

Finally, here is a love song I wrote. Frankly speaking, I'm a sucker when it comes to love songs and at times, I do find it very hard to write them, but like I said, when I found an idea and would wanna interpret them, I'd write them into a song. This particular song also doubles as a motivational song as well and if there's one thing I love to do, it's cheering up those whom I love dearly cause it would never hurt to see a smile on their face and also motivating them to lift up their spirits. So, without further ado, here is the last song I will post up for now titled It's Okay.

It’s Okay

If you’ve gone through times that you can’t escape,
Such as the last goodbye that you shared between you,
And him,
There is absolutely nothing to worry about.
And if you’re feeling sad and lonely,
And you’ve got nobody to pour your heart out to,
It’s okay,
I am here,
Right here for you.

Chorus:
So don’t worry,
It’s okay,
I will be your shoulder to cry on,
If you need me,
I will be there for you,
And I’ll be there to light up your life,
So don’t worry,
It’s okay,
It won’t be hard for you to let it all out to me,
I will listen,
To everything that you have to say.

If you’re feeling left out in the crowd,
Don’t ever think that you are an outcast in society,
Why you asked,
Cause you are not the only one,
And if you’re feeling cold and you need some warmth,
Do not fret cause at least there is someone who cares for you,
And that person,
Will keep you warm throughout this time.

Repeat chorus

Don’t cry lonely one,
I am here by your side,
For now there’s nothing that will make you scared,
Don’t utter a word,
For now it’s all okay,
All the shadows have all gone away.

Repeat chorus

So, I guess that is all for this update. Till then, have a good week everybody!

Roughly two-three months ago, Masta K and Awe introduced me to a very famous comedian who goes by the name of Dave Chappelle. Chappelle hosts his very own comedy show, The Chappelle Show on Comedy Central and while he usually relies on video skits in order to get himself over, they all turned out very well and of course, very hillarious.

One of Chappelle's strongest traits is how he's able to portray parodies of some of the most well-known black celebrities around, including the late Rick James, Samuel L. Jackson, Lil' Jon and Prince. While I've not watched the Prince episode yet, the other three parodies truly got me laughing out loud, as I witnessed humor like I've never seen before. In fact, his jokes don't get stale at all as up till today, we still churn out famous quotes and quips from the man himself (although he personally doesn't like the idea of fans saying out his famous quotes every now and then, telling them to "Shut the fuck up!" if they were to shout it out during the show) and we would always watch his skits every now and then to simply get a good laugh or two.

If I had to pick a personal favourite episode of mine, it would have to be the episode with the racial draft, slow-motion stuff and also Chappelle parodying Samuel L. Jackson. I feel that the episode itself has everything including the kitchen sink, as it's got the skits that we all love checking out. I can't remember which episode number it exactly is, but if you do find it, better check it out. It's worth the watch.

At this moment, I really don't have anything else to write about, so adios for now.

"Luck is for losers."

- CM Punk

"I don't need luck, when I have opportunities come to me I take them!"

- Jimmy Rave

Those were the words that Rave, wrote in one of his recent LJ entries and to be really honest, when I read that, I have to admit, what both Rave and Punk said are very very true indeed.

Sometimes, I can say that I am a very lucky guy. Other times, I realized that I always fight my hardest in getting what I've been trying to achieve in life. However, I realized that if I'm gonna rely on luck to succeed in life, then there's no way I'm ever gonna push myself forward in life.

Rave took those words right outta my mouth. One thing that I am is that I am an opportunist. Almost everytime I see an opportunity that arises for me, I take it. If I feel that it's not worth it, I back off.

Let's see, I've done many big shows before in my life, thanks to my mom asking me to be a part of it. Would that be considered luck? Well, considering that my mom was at one point a very famous dancer and has connections with several famous personalities, then in a way, it could be considered a luck. However, as I started thinking to myself, I didn't work these shows cause my mom forced me to work in them. I worked these shows cause of my passion for performing arts and my love for performing on stage in front of a live audience, be it a small or big role.

So in a way, that is considered seizing an opportunity that comes to me. I have a lotta friends telling me how lucky I am to have a mother like Farah Sulaiman, who at one point, was one of the many faces that would always be seen dancing on many HMI shows on RTM or other televised events. Yes, I can say that I am indeed lucky to have her as my mom cause thanks to her, I'm able to seize these opportunities of being able to perform on many big events in the past. From the huge TV3 Merdeka show five years ago to the 16th Malaysian Film Festival three years ago to of course, Jalan Impian: The Musical (which also landed me a radio interview session with several other cast members on ERA FM), almost everytime my mom asks me whether I would like to take part in a show, I won't hesitate to say yes. These are opportunities that not many people are able to partake in life and I'm very glad that I'm able to seize hold of these opportunities and partake in them wholeheartedly.

There was also Malaysian Idol, which I failed to get my ass into due to not being able to make it through the pre-auditions. Now, when I knew that Malaysia would be having their own Idol show, I jumped at the opportunity to join it and while I didn't get through, it didn't matter to me cause my talents could be saved for something else, although I'm not ruling out of re-joining it again before I turn 25. (Which always make me wonder as to why some of these fools complain about not being able to get into the show cause the real main judges didn't accept them. They should think about those who didn't get through the pre-auditions and consider it a privilege that they could be able to audition in front of them instead of random workers from 8TV.) Of course the question remains, why 25? Well, according to the producer whom I worked with during the RTM Christmas show last December, once you hit 25, it's much better to just send a demo tape to a recording studio and try your luck to see if you're able to cut a single or album rather than join any of these singing competitions.

Pretty good advice if you ask me and definitely an opportunity I'd seize when the time is right, although for now, I should concentrate on my dayjob as a university student, who's in the midst of trying to score a Degree and hopefully, a Masters in the near future.

As for luck, well, if I have to be fussy and all, I'd rather all of you wish me all the best rather than wish me luck. I think it's much better that way.

First of all, Gong Xi Fa Choi to all my Chinese friends and Selamat Menyambut Maulidur Rasul to my Muslim friends.

I'm back from what I believe was a forgettable trip to Kuantan. To be honest, this was one of the most boring vacations I've ever been on and it lacked the excitement of the 2002 Penang trip and the hillarity of the 2003 Kuantan trip.

Maybe it's cause my best buddies weren't around with us this time around.

Nevertheless, the food there is great, especially the Thai food at this restaurant called Phuket, which is always a place that we have to go to whenever we're in Kuantan, but aside from that, nothing really much.

So yeah, if you're expecting me to go into details about the trip, don't. I have nothing much to say about it.

Tomorrow is Mel Ng's CNY open house which she invited me and of course a couple of us over. I'm really looking forward to it cause ever since I came back from Perth after my second semester, I have never gotten the chance to meet up with her, so tomorrow would be the best time to meet up with her. Aside from that, Dai decided to invite me for some yam cha session, so I might be meeting up with him tomorrow as well. Then on Thursday, I'll be meeting up with an old fried of mine, Jolene, whom some of you might remember, was the girl I met when I joined Malaysian Idol two years ago and we haven't met for a very long time ever since last January if memory serves.

I'm gonna watch the WWE Royal Rumble tonight mainly cause I've nothing else to do and I'm expecting the winner to be a favourite of mine. (If he doesn't win, I think I'd waste my money by subscribing to it.)

God it's so boring today. Maybe I should get myself some sleep or something.

Ever since I got back from that memorable trip to Japan, things were still the same way as it is here in K.L., but nonetheless, it's still the wonderful city that I grew up in and it's still the wonderful city that I love.

I have been going out a lot these days, but hey, since I'll be leaving for Perth on the 17th next month, I might as well make the use of whatever days I have left in K.L. and going out and hanging out with friends is something I enjoy doing when I'm bored. Of course I've been seeing my best friend, Masta K, almost everyday and hanging out with him is such a joy. Aside from that, I've also hung out with Katrina, Serene, Delaine, Irene, Andrea, Marcia, Awe, Naveen, V Co, Vic and tomorrow, Masta K and I will be hanging out with Mel Tan at One Utama, which has become our hotspot these days, thus replacing Times Square as it is pretty far away and as of now, we've got everything we need over in One Utama.

Sometime last week, I suffered one of the worst gastric attacks in recent years. Then again, the only one that could come close to it would probably be the time I suffered it when I was about eleven years old when, during the month of Ramadan, I was in such a bad mood that I didn't wake up for sahur and in the end, I was paid the ultimate price by being attacked badly by this gastric. While that only lasted for a day, this one lasted for about three-four days and I was stuck with eating only porridge and toast, not that it's a bad thing, but since I'm the kinda guy who likes to eat a lot (it's a Malaysian thing I would say), in the end, I had several mood swings that sometimes made me go mad. I'm still not at a 100%, as I do get it sometimes, but it's not as bad as before. See? Sometimes, it pays to be the epitome of greatness!

One night, Masta K, Awe, my bro and I decided to head over to Alesia's house for her birthday party. Alesia stays conveniently near KLPAC, where Jalan Impian: The Musical was held, so it must've been very easy for her to come for the full dress rehearsals on time. However, the neighbourhood that she stays in boasts some of the weirdest names for all the different roads in that area and I believe the one that truly stands out was this particular road.



Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. This road really is known as Jalan Berkok! Whoever came up with the name for that road must be pretty darn creative and here are myself, Masta K and Awe having absolutely nothing else better to do, but to pose beside the road sign.







Today, I received my paycheque from Educational Trend Sdn. Bhd., the company behind the shoots that I had before I left for Japan. Pretty reasonable pay, which I'm pretty satisfied with. Am hoping to bank it in tomorrow before I meet up with Mel Tan at One Utama, although I would have to head to the gym first tomorrow morning as well.

This coming Friday, I've got another holiday trip as well, this time to Kuantan. It's been a year since I went on a holiday outstation, the last time being that trip to Penang in 2004. I think the last time I went to Kuantan was in early 2003, although if I were to name one trip outstation that I will truly never forget, it would be that trip where the Yusofs, Hatims and Rahims would go to Penang at the end of 2002 and have a holiday that none of us will ever forget. Still, I am looking forward to the trip and I hope it would be a blast.

Last week, I completed two Castlevania games, Castlevania: Curse Of Darkness for the PS2 and Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow for the DS. Am satisfied with the endings and gameplay and I totally did not regret playing them cause I believe both games are awesome to play and while Dawn Of Sorrow was pretty short, the gameplay alone brought me memories of Symphony Of The Night for the PS, quite possibly the greatest Castlevania game ever made and one of my all-time beloved favourites. (Please let there be a remake of this game!) I've also been playing some classic games as well, thanks to my sudden love for arcade classics and so far, I've got Taito Legends and Capcom Classics Collection, where there are many games from those collections which brought me so much memories of playing them on my Micro Genius console years ago. The Capcom one had some remixed music as well and the remixed soundtrack for the Street Fighter II series sound awesome! Was very dissapointed they didn't do any for Final Fight, as I thought the arranged soundtrack for the Final Fight CD game for the Sega CD was really awesome.

Much as I got hooked onto Namie Amuro, Masta K seems to have gotten hooked onto Mika Nakashima! It all started when we were browsing through some j-pop CDs and Mika Nakashima's album caught the eyes of Masta K, who told me that she looks very beautiful. Well, she definitely is a looker alright, plus she can sing really really well as I've heard some of her songs and they do sound fantastic. I also promised him that I would buy her album for him before I go back and I'm sure he'll have a good time listening to it.

Well, I think that is all for today. Till then, so long and have a good night!

First of all, a very Happy New Year 2006 and a warm welcome to my latest blog. I hope ya'll have a pleasant time reading through all the stuff that I will update in here.

Of course the first thing that has to be asked is why the sudden change to the new blog? Well, I guess it had to do something with the word "new" and that seemed to be the case for me as that word seems to be synonymous with everything in my life. Here's a rough list if you need to get the idea:

- New house.
- New car.
- New year.
- New puroresu t-shirts.
- New DVDs.
- New major in university.
- New game console. (I'll get to that much later.)
- New food addiction. (All thanks to Hiroshi Tanahashi.)

And of course many other things that can be considered new in my life.

So, where should I begin? For starters, how about if I continue where I left off from my old blog and talk about my recent trip to Japan several weeks ago?

My family went off to Japan on the 19th, not the 18th of December. What happened was that my dad was too busy with the new house and all that he forgot to check our plane tickets for our trip. While he thought the flight to Japan was at 11pm at night, the ticket read 11am in the morning! So in the end, we managed to get new tickets and then, we all headed back to the house before we departed for KLIA the next morning.

We arrived at about six something in the evening Tokyo time and since we went during winter, it was so freaking cold. Think the temperature was about less than 10 degrees or so. We then headed off to the Hilton Tokyo Bay Hotel, which was near Tokyo Disneyland amd Tokyo Disneysea, where we spent most of the time at during our stay there. While I was there, I spent some time shopping in Ikspiari, which is kinda like a shopping district in Tokyo Disney Resort and I managed to buy B'z's The Best Pleasure II compilation album and Namie Amuro's collection of PVs from 2001-2005, which also includes one of my all time favourite Christmas songs, White Light. After spending three days or so in Tokyo Disney Resort, we headed off to the Shinjuku district and stayed at the Hilton Hotel in that area. After that, my parents, bro and myself went to MY heaven on earth, Tokyo Dome City and as usual, bought some puroresu and K-1 t-shirts, then later had a good dinner at the Japanese restuarant in the hotel.

The next day, I woke up pretty early in the morning and headed off to the Tokyo Dome City, where on that day, a joshi puroresu (literally translated to ladies pro-wrestling) event was held at the mecca of puroresu events, Korakuen Hall. Thankfully for me, I managed to get a ticket for myself and got myself a pretty good ringside seat. I was about two rows from the ring, so it was a pretty good view. Sadly, my row didn't have the streamers that could be thrown in the ring during ring introductions of the wrestlers. Oh. And before I forget, the event was an M's Style event which featured the retirement of female wrestler, Baby-M, who's one of their top stars in the fed. Baby-M is still in her twenties, which in the last few years seem to be the retirement age for many female wrestlers (most of the big names would retire when the hit their thirties, but there are those who are above thirty that are still actively competing in the ring) and since she is retiring, it is in a way a pretty huge deal for all of us. So, right after her mixed tag team match, she was then given a formal retirement ceremony, which consisted of her peers handing her flowers and gifts, video speeches from VIPs in the joshi puroresu world, a rundown of some of her most memorable moments throughout her career and of course her own ten-bell salute, before leaving the ring to a huge applause from the fans after what was an emotional moment.

Dangnabit. I forgot to make mention. Before the event started, I had the chance to meet AToZ wrestler, Hikaru, who was participating in the event as well. I managed to get a personally autographed picture of her, then also took a pic with her as well, before wishing her luck for her match against AKINO in the main event.



Now comes the somewhat scary moment. During her match, AKINO delivered a very stiff P.K. kick right at Hikaru's face, which drew a huge reaction from the crowd. Hikaru couldn't get up after that and was in a way legitamately knocked out. Everyone was definitely very concerned for her, myself especially since just hours ago, I met her and she was in high spirits for her match, so to see her being stretchered outta the arena, I dunno. It was very surreal for me.

After the show, I managed to grab an autographed picture of Michiko Omukai, plus her Egoist t-shirt as well. I then headed back to the hotel to relax and unwind in my room, then checked the newspaper and realized that the huge Music Station Superlive 2005 concert was on TV Asahi already! I then went online for a brief while to check out the setlist and to my horror, I seemed to have missed Namie Amuro's White Light performance! I was so frustrated and dissapointed, but then told myself, "Oh well. At least Dreams Come True and B'z are performing. That shouldn't be too bad, I guess."

So, what did they perform? Well, DCT performed their latest single, JET!!! and Nando Demo, which went very very well. Later on in the show, to my utter surprise and delight, Namie Amuro was shown as well! Looks to me the setlist they provided on the official Music Station website was not in order after all! So, being the happy Namie Amuro fan I was, I watched her performance with a huge smile on my face and yes, I slpet very well that night too. B'z were the last performers on the concert and they performed Itsuka No Merry Christmas, a far better performance than the previous performance of that song many years ago when Koshi Inaba was pretty ill and wasn't in the best condition to sing. Then, they performed a beautiful rendition of OCEAN and from that moment, I started thinking about my best buddy, Masta K since we're both huge B'z fans. It was just simply breathtaking and I savoured every bit of it. Guess the saying "Saving The Best For Last" really worked in this concert.

But yeah, Music Station has truly become my favourite music program compared to other programs, such as Hey! Hey! Hey! and CDTV and this huge concert truly justified it so. The concert has all sorts of famous Japanese artistes performing on this four-hour special. Aside from B'z, Namie Amuro and Dreams Come True, you've also got Orange Range, Ayumi Hamasaki, Mika Nakashima, EXILE, AI, aiko, Crystal K, Kumi Koda, SMAP, L'Arc~en~Ciel, V6, KAT-TUN, TOKIO and many more! Hell, even that darned German boy band, O-Zone, made their presence felt during the show as well, performing that irritating Mai-A-Hi song or whatever you call it!

Well, after a good sleep, our family headed over to Kumagaya to meet up with Mama-san andstay over for the night. We then had what I believe was a seven-course dinner with her daughter, Satoko, before heading home and relaxing in the house. Earlier that day, Satoko was pretty busy surfing out at sea, waking up as early as three am to hit the beach! After a much needed rest, my family headed off to the snowy region of Nagano, where we stayed at Karuizawa Prince Hotel. There are hotel rooms inside the building, but we chose to stay in the cottage-style house out in the valley and there were lotsa them for hotel guests to stay in. Aside from that, Karuizawa boasts a huge shopping district, which was filled with many branded fashion stores and tasty restaurants and cafes as well! The only downside I realized was that the shopping district was heavily lacking in the electronics department. There were no video game stores, neither were there stores selling CDs and DVDs. There was however a Sega amusement arcade and a bowling alley upstairs of it.

Our three-day stay at the hotel was pretty good. We also befriended a Malaysian family while we were there as well and also joined them for sledding. We were suppose to enrol in a short ski course, but unfortunately, the English-speaking instructor was fully booked throughout the whole time we were there. To add salt to an already injured wound, I was forced to sacrifice my trip to Korakuen Hall to catch the Christmas NJPW event, but nonetheless, for what it was worth, it was an enjoyable stay.

Our hotel-staying marathon ended from there, as we headed back to Kumagaya and from that day on, stayed in Mama-san's house. Bought some DVDs as well while shopping around the city, including two Dreams Come True concerts and a Ken Hirai concert as well.

Then came New Year's Eve, one of the most anticipated days during my stay in Japan. New Year's Eve for me is synonymous for three events:

- NHK's annual Kouhaku Red And White musical competition
- PRIDE FC's Otoko Matsuri - ITADAKI event
- K-1's Premium Dynamite!! event

Having checked out the list of performing artistes for this year's Kouhaku event, it didn't look all too appealing for me, so I decided to skip that. K-1's Dynamite!! event doesn't start until nine pm, so before that, I spent two hours watching PRIDE FC's Otoko Matsuri event and what I realized for both MMA events, their production quality, including the entrance sets and lightings surpass any of the WWE's WrestleMania production qualities! PRIDE FC had some pretty okay fights, but maybe I was just too hype up for K-1's event after watching all the build-ups and previews for the event.

So at nine pm, the event started and sadly for me (and for all the viewers watching at home), TBS's broadcast was recorded earlier, with many fights being scrambled around here and there (only the main event was on-spot) and several fights missing. (Gaaaaaaah! No Remy Bonjasky Vs The Predator and Semmy Schilt Vs Ernesto Hoost!) What caught my attention was the very first fight of the telecast, Musashi Vs Bob Sapp, the one fight I was looking forward to during the event! This was one of the rare fights where I was seen jumping outta the couch and cringing in suspense, hoping that my K-1 hero would pick up the huge win. Alas, my dreams came true when Musashi won the hard-fought fight by decision, as I started celebrating like mad in the house! The rest of the fights were all pretty good, save for the Akebono Vs Bobby Ologun fight which was horrible and as much as I hate to say it, blame the former Yokozuna for totally screwing the whole fight up.

Two days later, my family went back to K.L., leaving me in Japan, as I set off to the Tokyo Dome City alone once again. This time, I was gonna check out the AJPW double header shows at Korakuen Hall. Here's what went down, as I would copy and paste all of the stuff that took place during the two shows from the AOPW Forums:

I managed to make it just in time before gong time on 1/2 and several minutes after I got in, the event started with Keiji Muto and the All Japan roster (minus Satoshi Kojima) in the ring. After that, RO&D had their in-ring moment before the Voodoo Murders confronted them. After that, the first match began and considering the fact that Kikutaro was in it, a lotta hillarious mayhem ensued which drew laughter from all of us who watched the event! Second match was a chaotic hardcore affair, but the finish when MAZADA DQed himself by placing a trash can over the ref's head and smacking him with, if I'm not mistakened, a baseball bat (Ouch!), was pretty dissapointing and all of us hated the outcome of that match, but was kinda funny when NOSAWA and MAZADA thanked the fans politely for supporting them in the match. Palumbo Vs Hijikata was a squash, although Hijikata did manage to get some offense in the match, but Palumbo's power was just too much for Hijikata to overcome.

The next two tag matches were kinda fun and like Stu mentioned, all of us popped big when Hokuto announced the main event for Sasaki's event. As for why Kea and D-Lo argued, it's actually cause Kea tried to go for his TKO on Suwama, but accidently hit D-Lo and there was also another slip-up by the two men towards the end, which of course triggered the huge argument between the two with TAKA Michinoku trying to calm both men down. Before the six-men tag, TARU attacked one of the commentators by dragging him up the stairs and whipping him. Poor dude. The match was pretty okay, nothing really interesting to take note of. The battle royal was simply hillarious, with Kikutaro taking part in it and directing traffic to all of the participants. Hell, the guy actually made it to the Final Three against Suwama and Arashi! Interesting to note that when TARU and Kojima were brawling at the backstage area, all the media were swamping their brawl, which made it look like they didn't realize that there's a match going on in the ring. Laughing Laughing Laughing After the event ended, I managed to take a photo with TAKA Michinoku. Poor guy did look kinda tired after the show, but then again, can't blame him after that wicked lariat he took from Sasaki in his match.



Much like 1/2, I managed to get in time for the second show before it started. Before I went in, I bought myself an RO&D t-shirt and asked Taiyo Kea to sign it for me and of course, take a pic with him as well. After that, I wished him luck for his match, then took my seat.



The event started out with RO&D in the ring and TAKA explaining yesterday's events between Kea and D-Lo, then got the two of them to shake hands. First match was similiar to the day before, but a lot more funnier, with Kikutaro doing more crazy stuff and Fuchi also getting involved in the comedy too! Then again, actually all of them were doing funny stuff, the ref included when he was accidently rolled up by Kikutaro. Second match was similiar to the day before also, but had a more decisive finish and was a helluva lotta fun too. The jr. tag match was awesome and I think the true MVP of the match was definitely Nakajima. He kicked out of a lotta Hayashi's big moves, but ended up falling to the Final Cut. The jr. heavyweight battle royal was next and since we had Kikutaro in the heavyweight battle royal the day before, Nobutaka Araya decided to join in for this match, with Kikutaro actually complaining about it! When most of the big names were eliminated, I kinda predicted that it would be YASSHI and Nakajima as the Final Two with YASSHI getting the huge win and I predicted correctly. After the match, TARU appealed for Nakajima to join the Voodoo Murders, with Nakajima responding by throwing the Voodoo Murders t-shirt at TARU and walking off. During intermission, I saw NOSAWA, MAZADA and Shioro Asahi promoting their stuff. I wanted to meet them, but during intermission, the whole lobby was packed with a lotta fans, so I decided to just go to the loo, then went back to my seat.

Brute Issei was huge! However, when going up against Suwama, Issei was only a few inches taller than him. The big guy received massive heat though for his debut and surprisingly, the guy's got good matwork as well. Was pretty surprised at that. Issei was actually busted open at the nose, but managed to fight it off and continue on with the match. Despite losing, he did put on a pretty good impression to all of us and I do believe that one day, he would be the future Triple Crown Champion. Mark my words.

Eight men tag match was also fun as well and at one point, TARU came over to my row and started attacking a fan on the opposite side! Funny part was that the fan was telling TARU that he was just cheering for him. Finish saw TARU mocking Kojima by throwing his elbow pad in the air, then lariating D-Lo for the win. To be honest, I think the main event was the best match of the day cause all four men gave it their all and the crowd was totally heated from start to finish. The finish, with Kojima using the lariat on Arashi, was a perfect way to end the show and both KenKoji received the biggest pop of the day. After the event, I managed to take pics with both Kikutaro and Taiji Ishimori and also got my RO&D t-shirt signed by TAKA himself.





Then came the next day, 1/4/2006, a day I will never forget for as long as I lived. Once again, I'll copy and paste what I wrote about in the AOPW Forums regarding that memorable trip to the Big Egg:

I arrived at Tokyo Dome City at about three something and when I got there, I saw a huge crowd gathering around this one spot near the Dome. As I got closer, I could see why the huge crowd.

HIROSHI TANAHASHI WAS AT THAT SPOT, POSING FOR PHOTOS!

Quickly, I rushed over to see where the line was, then quickly lined up, but not before buying both Tanahashi's and Nakamura's theme songs which were on sale en route to meeting Tanahashi. As I got up to Tanahashi, I shook hands with him, posed for a photo, then wished him luck for his match against Shibata. Trust me, I've met many celebrities in my life, but I think meeting Tanahashi, even for a short while, was just, I dunno how to describe it, a wonderful feeling.



Before the event started, this hot j-soul singer name Akashi performed two songs and she sounded as great as she looks. As for the event itself, I haven't kept myself updated with the recent card additions, so I popped big when I found out that Akebono was on the card! Even the souvenir program book wasn't updated about the recent changes! First match was pretty good and I'm really impressed with how much Yamamoto has grown in recent months. The six-men wasn't really good, but the inclusion of several hardcore weapons did add variety to the match. Oh. Seeing Masato Tanaka doing the Team No Respect dance was swank.

Third match was nice and the more I watch Minoru wrestle, the more I really think that he should be the ace of the jr. division. The aftermath of the match was cool too. Minoru shook hands with Tiger Mask, then delivered a backdrop to him to a massive pop! Yup. Looks like the fans really dig this guy. Twelve-men tag was chaotic also, but at least everyone in the match got to show off what they could do. Yoshie/Akebono Vs Hiro/BSM was more of a comedy match, with BSM and Hiro trying to figure out how to take Akebono down. I did wish that right after the match, Yoshie could do the dance with Akebono, but only danced a bit. They do seem like a formidable tag team if you ask me.

Nagata Vs Murakami was awesome! It was very heated as expected and even though it was in a way predictible (Murakami beats up Nagata, Nagata turns Saikyo, Nagata bloody's up Murakami, Nagata wins), it was still a great match from start to finish. Tanahashi Vs Shibata was kinda dissapointing cause it seemed so one-sided with Shibata dominating and Tanahashi only getting in a little bit of offense into the match, which would then lead to him losing after a stiff kick to the head. As Stu mentioned, Nakanishi Vs Bernard was very sloppy, probably the only highlight of the match being when Nakanishi lifted Bernard into an Argentina Backbreaker.

IWGP Tag Title Match was the second best match of the night and you've gotta give Tenzan a lotta credit for taking a lotta bumps from all of Omori's and Koshinaka's trademark finishers, including hip attacks, Axe Bombers and powerbombs, but all in all, it was an awesome match. Main event was like a cup of espresso, short, smooth and intensifying. Even if Nakamura couldn't get much offense into the match, even with his kick-ass submission holds, it was still a great and heated match. To be honest, I actually thought that Nakamura would counter outta The Verdict since he's good at countering holds, but looks like my guess was wrong. Overall, it maybe short, but it was a good match nonetheless.

So yeah, that just about wraps up the events I went for while in Japan and I'm hoping to attend more in the future when I get the chance. Truly was an experience I'll never forget for as long as I live.

The day before, Mama-san and I had a visitor who came over to the house to see us, or more specifically, to see me. It was none other than Hiroshi Yoshimoto, one of my grandpa's old friends who's very fluent in his BM, so most of the time, we were conversing in BM and in a way, it did make me feel right at home. He told me he knew me when I was young, but in a way, I could not put my finger on when I have met him before, but as it turns out, he remembered watching me, my sis and our two cousins put on a short dance act during his visit to K.L. at my grandparent's house and that was when I kinda remembered him. It was good to catch up with him after almost, what, two decades? He said he'll be coming down to K.L. next month, so hopefully, we could meet up before I depart back for Perth on the 17th of February.

The day before I left was yet another milestone in my life, my very first trip to an authentic onzen (Japanese traditional hot spring bath for those who dunno), so Ishikawa, a friend of mine whom I made two years ago when he came down to K.L. with Papa-san and Mama-san, decided to take me up to Minakami, which was also around the Nagano prefecture. There were more snow in comparison to Karuizawa and after we had our lunch (which funnily enough, consisted of cold zaru soba cause the hot dishes weren't prepared yet), it started snowing! Beautiful feeling indeed. We were suppose to go to this onzen which is favoured by the Ogawa family, but unfortunately for us, it was fully booked. So in the end, we went a little bit further to another onzen and, well, let's just say the scenery was simply gorgeous.



It was a pretty long journey till we reached the main onzen area and as per tradition, we we forced to bathe in the nude, to which Ishikawa asked me if I mind having to bathe nude, which I said no cause after all, you wanna bathe in an onzen, you've gotta do it authenticly, by hook or by crook. It was actually a mixed onzen, which from my session, consisted of five guys (including moi) and one gal and before you asked, no. I didn't bother to check her out cause her boyfriend was there and I wouldn't want this memorable moment to be destroyed by being pummelled by him in the onzen itself. It was really relaxing when bathing outside, but when we went indoors, it was very foggy and very heated and I didn't like it at all. So, right after the onzen sessions, we headed back down to Kumagaya and did some last minute shopping by buying chocolates and also a brand new X-BOX 360!

Now before you all start bashing me and calling me a spoilt brat and such, I didn't actually like the idea of getting the console at such an early stage and would prefer to wait when there are new mods and stuff, however, in a move which truly got me to "ambil kesempatan", my dad called me up the night before and told me to buy it in Japan, the reason being the Japanese X-BOX 360 is a 1300 ringgit cheaper than the one that is currently sold in K.L.! So in the end, I decided to buy the console, but to my horror, the Wrestle Kingdom game which I wanted to play badly has been taken off the shelves due to what I believe is a problem with the online play mode, which didn't really surprise me as the last wrestling game to be released on the original X-BOX, WWE WrestleMania 21, suffered the same problem as well. As of yesterday, the game has been re-released, but whether or not I'll be able to get the game in time here in K.L. is a mystery.

The next day, I flew back home to K.L. and the whole plane trip was simply boring. How bad was it? The in-flight entertainment system around my area KOed throughout the whole trip! So here I was, trying to kill time, by sleeping or reading either the in-flight magazines or the Weekly Gong and Weekly-Pro-Wrestling magazines I bought at the airport. The moment I reached K.L., I had an even bigger problem. The air steward told me that one of my plastic bags is closed to being torn, so in the end, I had to lug that huge X-BOX 360 from the plane all the way to the luggage collection department. All in all, I was jet lagged like no other, but in all honesty, I do miss Japan a lot and I'd love to visit the country again.

So, that of course wraps up my trip to Japan and once again, welcome to my new blog!