Wednesday, June 17, 2015

count thy petals

One of the things I love about Japan, or at least being in a four-season country is the variety of flowers. There's always something I've never seen before that surprises me. Some flowers only blossom during spring, like sakura. Summer is when hydrangea come out in their full bloom.


I'm glad to be living near 3 parks, though to be honest I wish I could spend more time in them. It was a carpe diem moment few months ago when I had a picnic with Dora to celebrate a belated birthday and to usher in the spring season.


I guess I don't really have to create my own garden in the little balcony that I have, since there are plentiful greenery and pockets of flora near where I live!

Sunday, June 07, 2015

sportify

One of the best things about working here is we get some employee perks when it comes to company products. And once in awhile, there are some internal sales or sample sales through which I've been able to get sporty goods at really worthwhile prices. I guess it's okay if you're not chasing after the latest styles.


The other good thing is that we have an atrium right in the middle of the company building. Different sports are played here at different days of the week; it's even used by outsiders for basketball (teenagers), ping pong (senior citizens) and gymnastics (local schools).


When I first joined I was too bogged down with calls and meetings that I started to feel the irony of it. I even started to wonder to myself how can this company claim to be sports-minded when some of us have too much overtime work and can't even enjoy some decent physical exercise.

Thank God it's been a bit better recently. I even bought myself a badminton racquet for the weekly games that are held on Fridays. There's no point getting all these sporty apparel if I have no chance to use them! (So let me know if anyone feels like helping me use my employee benefits ;p)