hmm okay I just thought it was quite funny.

* and yes names were changed to protect the innocent (cough)
** and yes i'm lazy to type in Proper English.. on msn :D

Labels: msn conversations

trains and sewing machines! :)
one year on and I might be gone from here/
what a thought/
rainy, rainy sunday//

and nylarehs! I saw the fireworks too, at the marina bay golf course :) was pretty spectacular albeit short.
and I saw someone pretty unexpected, what a pleasant surprise :)

yay///




http://www.beowulfmovie.com/

Beowulf has gone live. I wonder how I'd cope without the likes of Gaiman, Pratchett, McKean..in fact I was contemplating Stardust esp since c'mon I admit it the paperback is cheap.

Potter books going for 20k pounds, anyone? Tea, and scones included? Wow that's some hard buying man, don't think my potter paperbacks from '97 are going to fetch such a swanky price. :) Still, I'm glad that I found the book (or should I say the Mother found it for me!) before it hit mainstream. And I still can remember thinking it's bloody brilliant the first time I read it, little knowing how big the series would become.

Well, too many choices can be quite a headache. Uncertainty isn't always so fab at times hehe. :) Still, what's life without a little flutter from time to time innit!

Labels: beowulf, flutter, gaiman, harry potter, stardust, terry pratchett, the 20k pound hardback

This made me think of Green Tea. And also the dodgy advertisment for Heaven & Earth. Which is funny, in a weird Godzilla way.

But now, I'm swearing off (or more like ever since the Trip) anything packaged as Green Tea/Jasmine Green Tea etc etc because it's too sweet and too much sugar is bad for you. I'll learn how to drink it the original, unadulterated way every time.

Tea ceremonies still seem to be a closed door to me.

I won't be quite losing my sense of self as of now so let's see.

*~*
//HanaKimi Episode 4, soon.
//Second-hand browsing books was good. Got very good buys, especially for poor students like myself. First buys are so extravagantly priced it's such a rip-off. :(
//Iroha has two discarded characters.
//Travelling by bus is infinitely more comfortable than train.
//Sheep is 'da bez. :) Our crazy spontaneous sessions are awesome.
//Nakatsu.
//20 years, oh dear.
//Wasn't that Savage Garden song 8 years old already?
//I'm running out of library card space, I'm running out of time.
//OCL is closing, sadly. 9>.<6

Labels: japan, recountings, tea ceremonies, お茶 ocha

Pangrams are fun, and they're especially useful when trying to memorise the Hiragana characters. The most common english one would be: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" Recall the Mother making us learn that for five-finger typing, one skill I never regretted learning.

Italian: "Ma la volpe col suo balzo ha raggiunto il quieto Fido"
*But the fox with his leap has reached the quiet Fido (without foreign letters)

And now for hiragana, we have Iroha (いろは)


-attributed to the priest Kukai, but now perhaps to the later Heian period.

-kanji and kana version

An English translation by Professor Ryuichi Abe reads as:


-wikipedia

It's amazing how learning a foreign language can expand your horizons huh.

Labels: english, iroha, italian, jap stuff, pangrams

No wonder, I was wondering why ヒカル was in katakana. Yay I think learning a new language is beautiful~* and it really enriches you, because you get to understand a new culture on a deeper level.
And I finished Bambino, that show that I got hooked on while I was in Japan :) It's actually very motivating, and Italian food was phwoar :) plus Jun's character had a great never-say-die attitude that I found very inspiring!

On a random note, I was totally blown away by Tommy Emmanuel's concert on Saturday. He was amazing, and his fingerstyle...I now understand what Erwin means when he gushes about how G3 goes back in time. Because Tommy Emmanuel is totally worth the whole worshipfulness and drool on the floor stuff. Serious, he's such a great guitarist. And he gave a wonderful show-- I was so blown away by his innovative technique involving the use of the guitar body to mimic the sound of scraping ie sand, esp for his Masai Tribe and the Aborigine pieces. That was a stroke of genius.

The Aborigine piece was so mind-blowing. I was really caught by how it felt like he was mimicking the whole jungle---that was some innovative use of the amplifiers. :) I respect him so much, and he's so humble, I gush, oh yes I gush.

Plus I got his autograph and a photo. He was so nice and warm, and he had the kindest eyes ever. Honestly, I felt so humbled in front of him. AMAZING! I really feel that this concert was worth every cent, and it was SOLD-OUT. Whoo! I love it!

Labels: bambino, etc, guitar, humbling, japanese dramas, matsumoto jun, music, tommy emmanuel, utada hikaru

Classes absolutely rock. I'm utterly drained after 2.5 hours of
これはだれのてちょうですか？
それは。。。。？、あのひと　は。。。。。？etc etc
Although inputting in 平仮名　is rather tiring especially since not everything follows phonetics if you know what I mean.

But it's been amazing especially when you actually understand a wee little now. Especially when me and エウゲネ-　さん　understood the first page (well some parts) of　our textbook! Hehe! PERSEVERE!~*　And finally、 we're done with　平仮名! :) Onto 片仮名！

じや、また　あした～＊

Labels: japanese class, 平仮名

Ack sometimes I wonder if I'm chinese. :|
Smacks self.

Anyway I'm doing the DVD Reload thang again.

Jun's got new hair again! Still love his Gokusen 'do the best though :) And KimuTaku was doing his Gatsby moves on tv again. That just cracks me up, period.
And why is Taiwan loads more funnnnn boo! MTV Taiwan is the closest I can get to J/K overdose. When are they shipping the albums to Singapore!!!! Boo.
Clazziquai's getting heavy promo airplay.

Osca is weird, period. It even gives me creeps at the thought of Shiina Ringo doing a Hollaback Girl. Seriously ever since I saw the Himitsu rap pv, I lost faith in TJ. NOOOOOO! *I am not against japanese rap (look at m~flo) but NOT TJ. TJ is not about that. You do not like TJ because of OSCA. I don't want them jumping on the bandwagon thinking that TJ is OSCA. If you do, arghhhh no man that is not the TJ sound. Where are the Kao, Sounan, Kuramaya-san and even Shuruba sounds! The new crew is not to my liking!!!!!!!! :|:|:|:|

Anyway Cosmicolor by M~flo is glad-stuff. I'm so glad they've gone back to the old skool. Reminds me of the times when they were with and Lisa. There's really quite a few gems off this album:
- Stuck In Your Love with Melody
- Summer Time Love with Emi, Ryohei
- Picture Perfect Love with Monkey Majik
- Love Me After 12am - feat Alex from Clazziquai fame

etc. Namie Amuro's and Bonnie Pink's numbers are pretty good. I like Summer Time Love and Love me after 12am because they really grow on you. I've been plugging this album since Japan May June 07 and it's gotten better :) Meet me there at Akihibara City where the laptops' cheap and the lights are pretty! I love Alex's voice! Smooth :)

Labels: clazziquai, japan stuff, kimu taku, korean stuff, m~flo, matsumoto jun, mtv, tokyo jihen

The Mother is whatchamacallit an ORACLE. Okay so if she's right about it all then it's going to be bloomin' good!

Hurray it's winding up, but it's been one awesome experience~*

And it's been amazing re-living Gaiman, I can't wait for STARDUST! :):):)

And YOU have finally passed your driving, so let's ELOPE!!! whee-hee! Paprika! Paprika!! And funnily enough, my kung-fu friend wrote me an email to tell me he's having a bit part in a movie that'll come out next year! (hahahahaha!~*)

ALL HAIL NEIL GAIMAN! WORSHIP HIM!
STARDUST STARDUST STARDUST!!!

Labels: funny incidents, gaiman, oracles, paprika, stardust

Eeeeeyur I'm really addicted to this thing called beading :):) But am pretty satisfied with the nifty stuff a little wire can do, and it's officially BAD because I'm going to kill my eyesight at this rate. :) (hurhur!)

Beading is highly therapeutic though, and it makes one 'appi :)

Am highly inspired to do more wirework tho' the current standards are somewhat questionable hahah, and I shall be creating funky wunky highly original stuff so yayness and shall give them to the Mommy and the Brother's Girlfriend who are the few guinea pigs that I am testing them out on :)

Yay hobbies really, really rule this planet :) My Planet :D

I think I could have been a dentist :)

And I think it's time to be more serious. I have been slacking ever since er, a long long time ago. So must not slack so much. Or else I will truly lose it :)





this particular edition was pretty good! The good-natured jibes, the craziness of Hossan Leong (who pretty much stole the show from the dollies) and of course, the fantastic sets~* There must've been a lot of effort in this years sets because they weren't some simple thang, gosh imagine the work behind that! Kudos to Elaine Chan who did a great job with the music, wah got bossa nova-ish jazzy bits sommore.

And Selena Tan + Glen Goei truly outdid themselves this time. This years craziness trebled!

And we agreed that Pam Oei has got powerful lungs (I will never forget her ROCKER persona) and Emma Yong we felt, has got a pretty polished voice :)

So that I won't forget, they punned everything from:

IR (NTUC Comfort Ladies hurhur)
POTC (Capt'n Jack Shallow and DVD, Dirty Very Dirty Pirates)
Mao Zedong, Ghandi, Zheng He, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceaser-->classic with Hossan Leong playing all the roles cept one
En-Blocs (in Kampung Style sommore)
Kamikaze soldiers (token classic)
Sarong Party Girls (19th Century Style~)
Ms Singapore (HL was amazing I tell you, his legs put all females' legs to shame!)
Sang Nila Utama (Mat Rocker persona, another HL moment)

etc. etc

it was good. this year was even better than the previous one! :) Kudos to our quintessentially LOCAL productions. This one got class, ohkay!




Aiyoh, and that was one of the Starbucks outlets I really liked. And it's not a real eyesore, but sigh, touche.

Actually, if you want to see things in a cetain way, and to interpret it that way you want to, you will. The human mind is amazingly flexible.

Gaki no Tsukai is a cultural phenomenon in some ways, to be listed in a pop encyclopedia; to be two of the top money earners in jap (dubiously honoured with paying the highest taxes, and Hamada's comment is classic!); to have a show that's been running since 1989...etc. Something must be right afterall.

Kabuki is very intriguing. I deffo would like to see a Kabuki play one day.

Labels: beijing, gaki no tsukai, jap stuff, kabuki, starbucks

花ざかりの君たちへ!~*

It's finally out in Japan and Mizuki is sooooo much better (well I adored Horokita Maki since Nobuta wa Produce, and she's younger than meeeeeeee, Inuoe Mao too OHNOOOOOO!). :) Thanks June for adding to the addiction~*

Whoo-ee j-doramas are the addiction man! Yipppppeeeee!

Although I wonder why the jap versh's always come out after the taiwanese ones (hyd and now hanakimi) Hmm. And Thank Goodness the jap versions are so much better!!!

Although Nanba is disappointing cuz he's supposed to be a mega playboy! :( Nevermind, watch on, there's bound to be surprises! BANZAI!!!! *throws confetti*

Labels: hanakimi, japanese dramas

Ah how would I survive without you :)

Labels: lifesaver, spasmopriv, yay

Yayness to Arashi and the HYD cast! :):) Numero Uno and breaking records~*
Next batch I'll be looking out for will be:
[Album] MONKEY MAJIK - Sora wa Marude ->July 25th
[Single] L'Arc～en～Ciel - MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM -> Aug 29th

:):):)

And let's go Dubai!~* Dubai could be a potential stopover now that Uncle ___ is going to teach there!

Labels: arashi-嵐, dramas, hana yori dango, l'arc, monkey majik, music, oricon charts

Reverse reverse.

Eeeps trying to clear my brother's room is like entering a swamp. I think I might never come out alive sometimes. :( Siblings (grumbles) He's coming back today, so he's going to have a pleasant surprise, and I'm going to charge him for clearing up all his books. He didn't even clear his textbooks from last century! Good thing is that we're donating them all to Salvation Army so I hope that someone will benefit because many of the books are still in extremely decent condition.

And I finally threw away my jc mechanics notes. Out. Out. Out. And lots of others, and I'm only keeping the literature essays because they were once-upon-a-time my source of pride. :) I really liked Lit. And it's amazing that ALL of us studied Animal Farm, which is a killer text for basic level. I love that book.

*~*
I read Ibsen's A Doll House Play (finally!) last night and it was really mind-blowing. The last parts were stunning, and to add to the atmosphere, right after I read the last line the lights went out (blackout). Talk about dramatic effect!
------
NORA. [Looking at her watch.] It's not so late yet. Sit down, Torvald; you and I have much to say to each other.
[She sits at one side of the table.

HELMER. Nora- what does this mean? Your cold, set face-

NORA. Sit down. It will take some time. I have much to talk over with you.

[HELMER sits at the other side of the table.

HELMER. You alarm me, Nora. I don't understand you.

NORA. No, that is just it. You don't understand me; and I have never understood you- till to-night. No, don't interrupt. Only listen to what I say.- We must come to a final settlement, Torvald.
HELMER. How do you mean?

NORA. [After a short silence.] Does not one thing strike you as we sit here?

HELMER. What should strike me?

NORA. We have been married eight years. Does it not strike you that this is the first time we two, you and I, man and wife, have talked together seriously?

HELMER. Seriously! What do you call seriously?

NORA. During eight whole years, and more- ever since the day we first met- we have never exchanged one serious word about serious things.

HELMER. Was I always to trouble you with the cares you could not help me to bear?

NORA. I am not talking of cares. I say that we have never yet set ourselves seriously to get to the bottom of anything.

HELMER. Why, my dearest Nora, what have you to do with serious things?

NORA. There we have it! You have never understood me.- I have had great injustice done me, Torvald; first by father, and then by you.

HELMER. What! By your father and me?- By us, who have loved you more than all the world?

NORA. [Shaking her head.] You have never loved me. You only thought it amusing to be in love with me.

HELMER. Why, Nora, what a thing to say!

NORA. Yes, it is so, Torvald. While I was at home with father, he used to tell me all his opinions, and I held the same opinions. If I had others I said nothing about them, because he wouldn't have liked it. He used to call me his doll-child, and played with me as I played with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house-

HELMER. What an expression to use about our marriage!

NORA. [Undisturbed.] I mean I passed from father's hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your taste; and I got the same tastes as you; or I pretended to- I don't know which- both ways, perhaps; sometimes one and sometimes the other. When I look back on it now, I seem to have been living here like a beggar, from hand to mouth. I lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and father have done me a great wrong. It is your fault that my life has come to nothing.

HELMER. Why, Nora, how unreasonable and ungrateful you are! Have you not been happy here?

NORA. No, never. I thought I was; but I never was.

HELMER. Not- not happy!

NORA. No; only merry. And you have always been so kind to me. But our house has been nothing but a play-room. Here I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I used to be papa's doll-child. And the children, in their turn, have been my dolls. I thought it fun when you played with me, just as the children did when I played with them.

That has been our marriage, Torvald.
-----
*~*
Nora slowly crumbles the doll-wife persona before revealing the tragic heroine she truly is. It was quite a masterful stroke. The build-up was fantastic, and how true-how true-! Nora-the doll, the unformed being- to the true human being she seeks to become.

It was classic, although Ibsen wrote this with no obvious intent to champion women's rights, or feminism, or any of those themes along those lines. Rather, he was hoping for 'a revolution in the spirit of man...'.

Labels: a doll's house, ibsen, tidying

before my camera's batteries glamourously died. The next camera is going to use AA batteries. I hate recharging. :(




Eh, don't use my name, anyhow, leh.

Labels: jenny joseph, permission (or the lack of), poems, terry pratchett

Nightwatch is really up there, like Sandman, The Dark Knight Returns...etc. Unfortunately I'm not like the bros, and I only read the big names. (I'm lousy I know!) I think it's really the internet. If I count the amount of time I wasted (yes wasted) on the 'net, I probably could have time to finish all the Sandman Companion books (yes the official and unofficial ones), the whole X Men Series from its inception to the current ___ edition, and everything from Marvel & DC.

It's pretty interesting observing (albeit superficially,) the characters from DC and Marvel. I gotta admit that Gaiman's getting me into the whole comics fest. Though, I spent a fair amount of time on manga, rather than comics. Jeez, I rather ruefully recall the first comic I read...I'm not going to say what it is because it's shoujo ACK! Then I got addicted to the shonen ones and my world CHANGED. るろうに剣心 is still one of my all time favourites! I mean, it's gotta to be darn good for me to still want to read it 7 years on....! Even the bro liked it! Ha and well at the very least, manga helped me learn my 繁体字! :D

LOL those were the good ol' days, but reading the Sandman Companion serves to affirm that I won't grow out of comics or manga, for sure.

I have chucked one of my notebooks somewhere. My room has its own weirdness probably from me.

I think that's such a useful skill to know!

And mah family rocks I tell you! I have the bestest family! Although a dog would make it complete~*

How man I just have so much to do I don't ever want to stop being in _now_.

Now is just about right. Couldn't time stop just for a while? I think it's the effect of Summer.　夏!!!! :) hahahaha I'm thinking of L'arc's 夏の憂鬱 song although I'm feelin' far from it! Still, it's such a song to bring back memories of L'arc. I love L'arc and what their name represents! Glad that they're cleaner nowadays, I'm rather far from the Visual Kei days of yore.

Argh I can't believe I'm actually liking We Can Make it!. AH well. HAPPY SUMMER MUSIC CHU~*!

Ha, I realise I do so appreciate the Redemption storylines.

Oh and Veni, Vedi, Vetinari never fails to crack me up.

Labels: arashi-嵐, comics, etc, family, gaiman, l'arc, terry pratchett, time, 夏夏夏

The thing is that a leopard doesn't change its spots, or maybe a leopard is one big spot. That meaning if you use a spot remover, the whole leopard will disappear since the leopard is more like a mass of spots than anything else. Which also means that I'm getting too much pratchett again. When you have tons of books and the ability to borrow 16 library books at a shot...
What gives?

*~*
Mhhhmmmmm Kame actually reminds me of Keita Tachibana from some angles. I love the andro look :):):) So if you look like Kame, Yamapi or *Matsujun* (draws stars) you can be my friend, or Hannah's, or June's for that matter. Although I am still hopelessly devoted to TakuKimu and Hyde. :) Don't worry, I just collect, but I pay my dues to those who were there at the very beginning! Whee-ness for such celebrities! They are motivation!- Surprisingly, but it's true.

*~*
And now the Brother (the elder) has started texting me in Japanese. You hold me in great esteem when I'm completely befuddled at times.
Classes are going amazingly well, the classmates have been swell, especially the three teenage girls, ah youth! And interestingly enough, three young fellas taking it are my age, waiting to ord from army I think! Lucky lucky!
And my pretty teacher is so young! Ah what will I be doing at her age..?

And now I'm wondering whether I should take a different path! :) This new path, if I keep at it for at least another 5 more years, may open up new opportunities!

Thing is, I really don't wanna move, but I've got a feeling that I'll be evicted (ok that's being melodramatic) in less than a year. Dearme.

Oh and wonderful thing is that, it's all MINE MINE MINE for one week.

Now to ferret for the green tea pocky, unless the Ghost of the Breakfast Solvers has decided to pay an unprecedented visit across the seas.

Labels: books, breakfast is solved, freedom, jap stuff, japanese class, leopard, library, spots, terry pratchett

After our photo (digi+lomo) jaunt at Chinatown was somewhat spoiled by the rain, we headed off to Orchard on a whim to watch 時をかける少女 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). And it was jolly good, the storyline had some pretty unexpected twists (especially so at that moment you're watching it!), plus I thought that the animation was quite amazing. Reminds me The Cat Returns because of the very good use of technology. Especially the differential focusing effect. I was totally entranced!

The best bits were the parts when she was travelling down the hill!
The by-the-lake/river-bit
And the STOP TIME bit.

Can't say too much without spoiling it!

And of course, the storyline was nice and lighthearted, which is such a welcome change!!! :)

I'll see you in the future~*

And we had lovely Hokkien Mee, was fun observing kids with identical outfits (what a capital idea, saves the hassle of trying to think for three kids.)

Couple tees are a no, unless you can pull it off (ie koreans)
I am HG, you are CCF <3!

Finally, I love spontaneity! Isn't it the spice o' life! :)

And Neil GAIMAN IS AMAZING! I just re-read 1602, and the Sandman Companion, and gosh, his genius is legendary!!!

Labels: food, happy, HG and CCF, jap stuff, movies, photoday

Ha I have found another love of my life! :) Hannah you rock cause we are both Blood Traitors wheeeee!

Okay somewhat kidding but next sem is going to be AWESOME I think I am going to be HAPPY! WHOOT! :) Can I say that I am so happy with ice cube divination~~

Plus I had a nuclear meltdown watching Arashi! AH~~~~~~

Labels: arashi-嵐, fangirling, happy, ice cube divination, meltdowns, melting, school

Thank goodness for pretty trees and SAKURA BLOSSOMS SG STYLE! :)
I am happy since I can see it everyday from the balcony! :)

Labels: flowers, home, sakura blossoms

- A pretty high turnout, yes I will upload them on fb :D
- Cherry trees (kinda) at my home, quite a rare sight, but it's now in full bloom so yay!
- The Other Toy Shop at Taka is so funky and chock-full of accessories
- Met an Israeli gentleman at TakaSquare in a rather surreal and unusual encounter
- Plus on friday I did two good deeds so we will pay it forward, as they say!