Realizing That Living Alone is Not Easy!

Many times I tell myself that I'm better off alone. That I don't need to be judged by the people around me. That I'd do great if I have my own place to mess up on my own and no one to tell me I did not do it right.

It's my life and I should determine what makes me happy, right?

Well, I always hear that cheesy old phrase "no man's an island" every time I want to be alone. Sure, we need people to communicate with, to enrich our lives, blah blah blah. But! More importantly, it's because we just can't do everything by ourselves. We're just not that capable.

For example, I speak okay-ish Japanese. People understand me most of the time and I understand them half the time. It's enough to get me through the day. But when it comes to telling the dentist I've got a cavity that needs a better filling that that white stuff you keep shoving into it and it drops out right after having porridge for dinner (4 hours after you've had it fixed) is just not doing me a favour. Every visit to your clinic is costing me money a student with loans cannot spend.

And I can't convey myself well enough to tell the dentist that! What's worse, I can't understand if the dentist is telling me what I need to know. They're always in a hurry and I always feel rushed but when I want to ask them something they answer me so fast I don't understand and they keep sending me on my way more confused than before I asked my question. It's like they want me to keep coming back over and over until I've paid them sufficiently for a holiday they had planned next month. (Fine, that sounds unfair. But I'm still paying too much for what seems like nothing.)

Okay, I digressed. A lot. (These thoughts have been brewing for a long while I didn't realize I had all these pent up feelings.)

The point of mentioning the dentist was actually because there are things that we are just not capable of doing. Like, speaking fluently enough to communicate your thoughts and having your teeth fixed the way you want them to be. (Properly.)

That said, I need a new dentist in Japan! Any recommendations welcome!

Mendeley Desktop

I've been a loyal user of EndNote in my uni years and it was a program that was easy enough to manipulate. However, the biggest problem I had with it was portability. I could not transfer libraries easily between machines or share my documents such that the references will not change in a different PC.

I've long since graduated and no longer have access to a free source of EndNote so I started looking for alternatives.

Mendeley Desktop solved all my problems. Not only could I work on my paper from the office and my home, I did not have to worry about transferring the references, annotations or changes to the citation style that I have made. I can work on any PC and my citations would still be safe.

Pros
+ I don't have to download citations from webpages, it grabs it from the PDF or loads it from the web importer.
+ It manages my PDF database.

+ I can choose to export only PDFs with notations thus making writing a lot easier.
+ It allows tagging and sort by folder.
+ I don't have to manually enter citation terms. Just edit when necessary (which isn't frequent).
+ Formatting editions made in Word stays in Word. I don't have to change it from the citation manager.

Cons
+ Editing the citation style can be difficult to learn initially but once you know how, the program is perfect.
+ It is unable to recognise uncommon document types like news articles or webpages.
+ It cannot list entries with no tags automatically. I have to go through the whole list which isn't practical.

CopiPe

The best app ever!

Finally! I can just copy and paste timestamps into my notes or journal.

Phone Issues

It has been awhile since I considered buying a phone. Even when it cracked late last year I simply taped over it and tried not to cry when I see it. Now, I've done it again. Dropped it on concrete for no good reason and cracked the entire top portion of the phone. There are long lines of cracks right down the middle of the screen. I have to be very careful with how I slide my fingers over the screen or I'd get slightly cut. Yes, my screen, my phone, still works. It's cracked and everything but it still functions normally.

The question is, should I buy a phone now or not?

I'm going to Japan next month. Maybe I should buy a phone there instead. Will my phone last till then? I have cash for like... a really cheap phone right now. Or I could get someone over at Aussie to help me purchase one.

Oh well... I'll leave the thinking to another day when I'm not so emotionally impaired.

On another note, I'm seated at a corner in the Coffee Club at Kinokuniya, KLCC. Can't say much about the coffee or microwaved waffles with blueberry jam but sitting here, I realized how comfortable I am just being here. Being vaguely aware of the turning of fan blades somewhere above my head, the not-too-bright but well-lit area, comfortable seats, and quiet; they're all good. While I thought about how bad my phone is, I can't help but feel calm and at peace.

I may have just found another favourite place.

Back and Going Again

I didn't think about it then but perhaps I should have posted about my last trip to Japan. :D I thought it would be my first and last trip there since I don't print money but that trip taught me one thing... I can afford a trip to Japan!

It lasted 9 days. Costed me RM4500. That included my airfare, JR pass, hostel, phone rental, food, etc. Everything. I kept hearing from friends that I'd need at least RM8k to be there so I saved about that much and found out, I only needed half of it! It was a pretty good deal. All because Air Asia exists!

So, I went to Osaka, visited Kyoto, Tokyo and came back. Now, I'm ready to visit again :D