こどなの階段

少女、ふたたび / 南波志帆

2012-02-05T18:10:00.000+08:00

耳コピ歌詞です。間違ってたらごめんなさい(・Д・;;)

ルーフトップ見上げた空には　今日も天井がないから
ずっと　どこまでも行けそうな気がした
行かなくちゃ

昨日の未来　明日の過去　私はどこにいるの
鏡の前　鏡の向こう　難しく考えちゃうよ
桜の風が踊るように　私の気持ち渦巻く
ドアノブに　手を伸ばしたら

ふたたび

ルーフトップ見上げた空には　今日も天井がないから
ずっと　どこまでも行けそうな気がした
「待って」だなんて言えない　季節は待ってくれない
きっと　追いかけ続けなきゃいけない
行かなくちゃ

一人がいい　一人は嫌だ　私はどっちでいたい
心読みたい　読みたくない　心は読んだことない
桜を吐いて捨てるように　私の気持ちも変わる
正解は　背中合わせの

まぼろし

ルーフトップ見上げた空には　今日も天井がないから
ずっと　終わらない青さが怖くなった
ちょっと　悲しくなっても　泣きながら笑ってみます
両方とも　本当の私だよね

光と影の　暖かく冷たい　真ん中　そこで私は生きている　

ルーフトップ見上げた空には　今日も天井がないから
ずっと　どこまでも行けそうな気がした
can't stop 見上げた夜空に　星が待ってたくみたいに
もっと輝く　私でいたいから

「待って」だなんて言えない　季節は待ってくれない
きっと　追いかけ続けなきゃいけない
行かなくちゃ
行かなくちゃ

ふたたび　私は書けるよ
ふたたび　私は書けるの

double standards

2012-02-04T20:21:00.000+08:00

it's really mean that they can always make stupid jokes when i say stuff but when i do the same to them they start scolding me.

i was so upset i started crying, but i know that was more of the last straw before i couldn't hold it any longer, rather than the real reason behind the tears. i was usually able to handle how mean they are, but this time i was already at the edge after a crazy, stressful, sleepless week at school.

it actually caused me to fully realise what the other group is always saying about this one and why they split.

still, i've always known that they just have different opinions about things and they can't get along because of that. it's not because one side is more right than the other. i wanted peace and understanding between both groups to no avail, and in doing so it kind of left me in the middle, because I wasn't choosing a side to hang out with and trying to maintain a balance.

one side is always so mean but they actually talk about interesting stuff and listen to my grieviances.

the other side is nice and is more comfortable to be with, but they sort of have a one-track mind and only talk about the same things all the time.

times like these, it feels like there isn't a place for me.

no matter where i go, i'll be forever alone :(

i don't really have any friends from school or anywhere that i can truly talk about anything with, either.

and you could say that that's why there's family, but i'm not close to my family at all.
i avoid talking to them as much as possible because almost every conversation in this household ends up in a fight. mostly, nobody wins and everybody goes back to their rooms and sulks angrily. better to keep my earphones plugged in and block out all voices.

it really sucks not having a true friend. there are close ones, but i would hesitate to call any one of them a true friend.

maybe it's all my fault in the first place.

"all humans are alone, we just use each other to alleviate that loneliness"

2011 lookback on music

2012-01-08T20:40:00.000+08:00

Top 5 Favourite Albums Released in 2011

5. relight - androp

A mostly laidback, relaxing album but with some punch in it. The music variates enough to keep the interest. The best song off this was definitely ShowWindow. It's terribly addictive even from the first play. I also recommend Yurariri and Relight, which are easy to listen to and just really nice.

Also worth a mention are the music videos for the two promo songs in this - Bell has an interactive game music video, and Bright Siren has a creative music video which uses 250 DSLRs from Canon. They're on YouTube.

4. World of Fantasy - capsule

Far surpassing previous effort PLAYER, World of Fantasy has an overall sound so consistent that I can't help but be amazed at the effort that went into it. The entire album flows really darn well and sounds like a one-hour mix people play in clubs. My favourite tracks are WORLD OF FANTASY, WHAT iS LOVE, PRIME TIME, and STRIKER (extended-mix).

This is perhaps Nakata Yasutaka's best work of 2011. Everything he did with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu felt like it lacked effort even though they were catchy. Meanwhile, Perfume's album JPN majorly failed to impress me at all, save for one track. /sighs/

3. Kerguelen Vortex (ケルゲレンボルテックス) - Aural Vampire

I'm not into the darkwave genre at all, but Aural Vampire never fails to get me with their addictive, cool tracks. This generally went largely ignored since it was underpromoted as usual and I almost missed it had it not been for a review website I regularly read. Anyway, it surprised me how good this was as I liked all the tracks on it and that's pretty rare.

2. Shinkokyuu (新呼吸) - Base Ball Bear

I didn't take much note of Base Ball Bear even though I've heard of them for a long time, but my interest was sparked through being a fan of Sakanaction (Ichiro has worked with him a couple times, and they are buddies despite a 4-year age gap). Anyway, long story short, I began listening to them not long ago but I've been impressed with every album I listened to, including this one.

Those previously released in singles are among my favourites, but my strongest favourite has to be album track kodoku no synthesizer. Just a really really great album overall.

1. DocumentaLy - Sakanaction (サカナクション)

Let's be honest here - what else did you expect? Even if overused, the best word to describe this album to me is 'flawless'. I'm 100% serious that this is their best album to date and an absolutely spectacular work.

Okay, I may be completely biased as I'm such a huge fan of them, but hey, I have iTunes Japan (Rewind 2011 - Best Album) and The Japan Times review backing me up about the quality of this album. It even says that Rookie is "potentially the best Japanese song of 2011".

Yes, my favourite track is still Rookie, but if we're talking album tracks, Monochrome Tokyo, Endless, and Document are amazing.

Top 10 Favourite Singles Released in 2011

10. Zassou no Uta (雑草のうた) - Buono!

Not so much that title track was amazing or anything, but all 3 songs included were good. In particular, JUICY HE@RT stood out and should have been the A-side. It is still a solid single otherwise for the rock idol trio, whose music seemed to go downhill after this.

9. Flying Get (フライングゲット) - AKB48

In my opinion, 2011 was a weak year for AKB48 musically as most were kind of mediocre. It succeeded in reducing my interest in AKB48 like never before. To be honest, it's not really going great being a fan of an idol group because the typical cheery idol songs put me off. However, the one single that I was happy with was Flying Get. The title track itself gets increasingly addictive over time and it helped that I liked the drama the song was tied to.

8. Silent Scream - girl next door

I waited for this single to drop because of the title track. The official previews on YouTube piqued my interest because the arrangement of the song was beautiful. But in the end, I fell in love with the b-side fallin' angel. It's a powerful track with synths and beats that work really well. They've not been selling very well this year for some reason. I wonder if it's because every song they used to make sounded the same and now they've finally moved on from that, people don't like it.

7. Spice (スパイス) - Perfume

I was very disappointed with Spice at first and wondering why the hell they didn't just make GLITTER the A-side because it's so obviously superior. It still bothers me now but not as much since I've gotten used to Spice and it doesn't sound half-bad now. It used to make my head hurt. But in any case, GLITTER is what makes this #7 on my list.

6. Kodona no Kaidan (こどなの階段) - Nanba Shiho (南波志帆)

I shall begin by declaring that Kodona no Kaidan is darn cute and addictive. The song is actually a collaborative effort from Koide Yusuke of Base Ball Bear, and Yamaguchi Ichiro of Sakanaction, which is part of why I love the song.

But really, I think these three have something special going on, if only they'd work together more often. Shiho's vocals are unique and lend an indescribable X factor to an already good composition. I can't imagine anyone else singing this song as it would positively mar it. The song was made for her.

The b-sides are remastered from her indies days if I remember right, and they are kind of generic-cute. Not awesome but it completes the single in a nice way.

5. Liar - TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE (東京女子流)

I am so happy TGS continued with the sound from Limited addiction. They've had a pretty good streak of songs from debut till now, but Liar brings up the level. I've nothing to say about the b-side because it doesn't appeal to me.

I wish they would sell more. They're super under-appreciated but I guess they're kind of struggling to get out of the traditional idol mould. They want to be seen as real artists, but because they're so young, their main fanbase are still idol wotas. Yet, there exists many wotas who don't like them because they're not making typical idol songs. :/

4. yoakemae - Base Ball Bear

yoakemae yoakemae yoakemae yoakemae... ♪ Ugh. It's addictive and has great guitar playing going on. Helped along by the repetitive lyrics, it's currently my favourite BBB song. I liked the music video for the song too since it was kind of like about procrastination but so artistically directed.

3. Sonic Fireworks - avengers in sci-fi

Still a favourite song of mine because of the outer-spacey feeling it gives while being so darn addictive. It's the band's signature sound to make music with a sort of other-universe feeling, but this seems to be their most "mainstream" song to date, with the typical lyric structure. It's amazing anyway and I hope they continue along this direction. Oh and before I forget, the b-side Odd Moon Shining is also well done, putting this near the top of my list.

2. Sit! Stay! Wait! Down!/Love Story - Amuro Namie (安室奈美恵)

Ironically, even though this is a double A-side single, neither of the A-sides are the reason for this single being this high. It's the b-side, Higher, which steals all the attention. Of course I'm not saying that the other 3 songs on the single were terrible. They're very good, but by Namie's standards, not fantastic. Higher is what pulls this single all the way here. Powerful, light and fun all at the same time, it's a masterpiece.

1. Rookie (ルーキー) - Sakanaction (サカナクション)

There's just no other position for this single! I don't know how a song could ever be so perfect in so many ways, but Sakanaction did it and passed with flying colours. I've talked about Rookie so many times, there's really nothing else to say. So moving on to the b-sides, since the A-side doesn't make the single alone.

Slow Motion has grown on me very well and is my favourite b-side of the DocumentaLy era. I don't know why the band seems to skip over it a lot, whether in selecting songs for the album or performing live. I only know they performed it once (in a festival that will never be shown) which is sad. I'm gonna guess that Ichiro prefers not to sing the chorus live as it's pretty high pitched for a guy.

montage is an instrumental track that somehow sounds very oriental (more Chinese than anything) to me. It took quite a long time to warm up to it but I think it's good now. It combines a lot of instrument sounds well, though it won't beat the other amazing instrumental tracks that Sakanaction have made.

Favourite Song 2011

Rookie

Favourite PV 2011

Sonic Fireworks

And that concludes this long post! \o/

Androidから投稿

2011-12-31T03:34:00.001+08:00

おはよー！(⌒0⌒)／~~
はじめてスマホから更新です。

I bought my new phone lastweek. It's Sony Ericsson again since I like them haha. Now typing this from my phone :)

Aaand it's time to turn in...

Turn the lights off, turn the lights on

sonic fireworks

2011-12-13T00:02:00.001+08:00

千光年スパイラルして　ティーンエイジへカムバックして　恒星のオービットでまた会えたら
a thousand lightyears spiral, coming back to teen-age. with the orbit of a star, will we meet again?

-----

Took some time off the rush to go karaoke on Sunday night.

Songs I chose:
Namie Amuro - Break It
Namie Amuro - Baby Don't Cry
Namie Amuro - What a Feeling
Sakanaction - Rookie
Sakanaction - Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu
Perfume - One Room Disco
Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Kimi to Iu Hana
Namie Amuro - Come

Haha. Wanted to sing more Namie songs but didn't wanna bore the rest. And for Sakanaction to have Bach is more than I can ask for already, it's pretty recent and didnt expect the machine to have it. The older songs still have not been added though ;_;

I realise I do a lot better on the male-vocal songs. I positively mauled all the Namie songs when it went to the chorus, because her songs are always lower-key verses + high-key choruses. Gahh. My voice sucks.

Oh and singing the Sakanaction songs made me so happy. Second time karaoke-ing Rookie. \o/ aaaahhhh I want to karaoke every single Sakanaction song out there!

みんな壊したい

2011-12-10T21:33:00.000+08:00

毎日毎日宿題を急いてた
睡眠を放り出した
結局くだらない！！！

あの奴
マジで私のことが嫌い

日本も上海も行けない
そこまで必要なのかよ！？

この後、未来があるか？

これがやだ
やだぁあああああああ
聞こえるか？？

マジで怒ってる

インスピレーションが消えたんだかも

2011-11-27T00:16:00.000+08:00

お久しぶりです。
新学期始まったから、これは初に更新ですね。

学校でいろいろあっただから
めっちゃ忙しい。

実は月曜日も期限があるけど
なんとかなにも書いてできません。

あぁ、大変。

ストレスを解ける方法！？
ブログポストを書ける！笑

東京女子流の8枚目シングル曲を聴いてみて〜
Liarです　\(≧∇≦)ノ

すごいですよね〜
シングルが買いました。

そう言えば、ランキングをします！

☆大好きなアーティスト☆
01.サカナクション
02.MEG
03.Perfume
04.東京女子流
05.安室奈美恵
06.SDN48
07.OneRepublic
08.AKB48
09.Buono!
10.Marie Digby

じゃあ、日本語ここまで。

Been really crazy since school started...sigh.

Last week especially. It was "hell week".

Making things worse, I had applied for overseas internship in Shanghai (for advertising), and the due date for a creative CV as well as a face-to-face internal interview in school was during that week. I ended up spending a whole night not sleeping, which produced what I will admit is a substandard creative design of a CV. But then I drank some superb coffee about 20 minutes before the interview and it went pretty well. Except the Chinese part. They tested my Chinese because it's Shanghai. I think I failed pretty spectacularly even though I speak Chinese at home frequently...

Anyway, a surprising thing happened after. Apparently the teacher i/c sent an email regarding apprenticeship with a REALLY HUGE advertising company on Tuesday. But I neglected my email until Thursday afternoon, when I checked so that I would know what art materials were needed for Friday's class... And then I saw it.

This company put up some of the possible roles available, as well as the country options....and there I saw, smack in the middle of it all - Japan.

And you know what happened after. I got all frantic and started cursing myself for not checking my email earlier. Called up the teacher to ask questions. Spent another night not sleeping at all, preparing another better CV, plus portfolio. They're looking to retain the talent they groom, which means ...oh you know, potential entire rest of my life working in Japan. D:

The thing about this was that you couldn't pick which you wanted, you just submit all your qualifications and if they like you, they assign you to some place they think you're suitable for.

I sincerely hope the company takes the hint that I want to work in their Japan office (and I hope they think my Japanese is good enough). >_>

Oh, and yeah. That makes two days in two weeks that I completely gave up sleep for (and I didn't sleep much for the rest of the days either).

-finale-

2011-10-17T00:32:00.000+08:00

Had a sleepover at Perrine's house on Thursday. When I arrived in the afternoon, I was surprised to see her boyfriend there lol. Turns out he goes over almost every single day to buy her lunch and hang out. I swear that's like uber sweet. We played badminton, and chatted...then around evening he had to head home and all of us went to Bt Panjang Plaza to eat something I had been craving for a pretty long while - Bishamon~! Haha. After that we sent him off, and on the way back we witnessed an stray orange cat attacking a kitten with a tag and communicating to each other for like half an hour, until the kitten's owner found it and saved it.
Finally got to watch Paranormal Activity 2 Tokyo Night with her later in the night. It resulted in her being sleepy and me being paranoid about sounds and taking hours to fall asleep. So it turned out I woke up quite late in the morning. Packed up my stuff and we went to eat KFC together with her boyfriend who came over again, walked around Bt Panjang Plaza for a bit, then they sent me off at the bus stop this time.
Witnessing Perrine bullying him and stuff was entertaining but they are so cute together lol. ~Hoping~ they'd get married in future because they seem perfect together. xD Overall it was pretty fun. Haha. To me, anyway. I don't know whether she thought the same, since i'm such a hopelessly boring person. xD

---

Recently picked up playing this online MMO called Glitch. It's pretty hipster at the moment since it launched end-September. It features bright, cute graphics so a fair amount of girls play it, but quite surprisingly everyone I know who plays it are guys. I guess the leveling and questing aspect attracts the males as well, so quite a promising game. I'm quite addicted at the moment but I hope I don't get too distracted with it since the new sem starts tomorrow!

---

I've tried my best to squeeze all of these into my schedule in the last week before the new semester starts. You know the usual.

Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: Toda Erika, Miura Haruma, Takei Emi, Shinoda Mariko

The blurb for the drama was pretty misleading tbh. I expected a drama whereby it would be a plotting, scheming student(Saeki, played by Takei) trying to break up a couple(Shuji and Natsumi, played by Miura and Toda).

However, less than 3 episodes in, Saeki gave up in order to make Shuji happy, and started becoming likeable even though I hated her at the start. During the 5th episode, the focus of the drama took a change. Because it was revealed that Shuji did not betray Natsumi, it wasn't Natsumi trying to deal with betrayal anymore.

Instead, it became that Shuji became too involved in trying to help Saeki deal with her inferiority complex and family problems, and Natsumi feeling she wasn't loved and both broke up. So the later part of the drama chronicled how all 3 characters grew as people and came to understand themselves and others.

Though it did not turn out exactly the way I thought, I was glad at the end that the show changed its focus, because honestly, you don't actually learn much from people scheming, and many dramas already have that kind of storyline. It was nice to see how all of these characters grew because all of them were rather immature at the start of the show. At times I really felt like I needed a Miura punching bag because his character Shuji was just so ridiculously honest, he couldn't lie to protect Natsumi from getting hurt, and he neglected the person most important to him while trying to fulfil his duty as a teacher to Saeki. Shuji really developed and learned important lessons while still staying true to his own beliefs towards the end, so he did redeem himself.

There was really quite a lot of crying in the show by the two main female characters as well. I thought the best performance came from Takei, who won herself Best Supporting Actress for her acting in this show. Toda is great as usual, whereas I didn't feel Miura did particularly well. He still has a lack of experience but has been casted as prominent characters many times due to his popularity. He's alright, sometimes not very convincing, but he did make me want to strangle him, so that's a plus?

The ending was very satisfactory, it was sweet but not cheesy. What I really liked about the drama was that it featured realistic decisions and mistakes that people would make in real life. It also taught values about love and life. Watching this show really made me learn things, and I was glad to have finished this drama. It gets frustrating but you have to finish it.

There was this good quote in the drama which I want to remember.

When you see something beautiful, you want to see it with someone, and be able to say things like "It's beautiful, isn't it?" It's happier when you can appreciate something with someone.

My rating: 4/5

Keizoku 2: SPEC

(Drama, 2010)

Starring: Toda Erika, Kase Ryo

I'll make this short: Best drama I watched during this holidays. Really really fantastic work, by both the cast and scriptwriter. I usually like detective dramas but this took it up a notch, involving people with special abilities (SPEC holders), and increasing the complexity of cases and the difficulty of solving it.

It's definitely a drama that I would recommend to everyone. I can't really describe it well but it had a really good mix of everything a drama should have. And this drama was what won Toda Erika a Best Actress prize.

There's a bit of an open ending but I thought it was good enough to close the drama. The open ending is for the movie slated to air next year in Japan. That's actually more than a 1 year gap from when the drama finished airing, so luckily I didn't actually watch it when it came out. I really look forward to the complete ending.

My rating: 4.5/5

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night
(Movie, 2010)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Aoyama Noriko

After summoning much courage in the form of a friend to watch with, I finally got started on it. Freaky parts were plenty, but truly scary parts were few, so it made for relatively bearable viewing for a weakling like me.

I actually don't quite know how to comment on the show because i'm too scared to write it lol. I must say though, I was quite impressed by the acting in the film. Aoyama Noriko did a fantastic job from start to finish. There wasn't as much acting chops required on Aoi's part but he did well being the protective younger brother and the main guy that was filming everything.

The friend who I watched it with said that it was the best out of the Paranormal Activity franchise, although the ending sucked for her. The movie is kind of short but I think the freaky parts were adequate to keep the intrigue and the twists were done well.

Overall, it's definitely nowhere as scary as say, Dark Water (Japanese version. I remember losing lots of sleep over it), but it's still pretty good, especially if you're a Paranormal Activity fan. Well, I of course particularly enjoyed it because Aoi was the main character and I got to see for the first time how he does in the horror genre, and his face (xD).

My rating: 3/5

Norageki!
(Anime OVA, 2011)
Voiced by: Irino Miyu, Honda Takako, Mori Kazuma, MEG, Kato Seizou

It felt kind of inadequate because it was so short. It was about 25 minutes? I thought the story had enough for it to go at least 45 minutes. I saw reviews that complained how the characters and storyline could've been expanded so much and they didn't explain a lot of things, but I also saw reviews that said it was short and sweet and done very well. I guess it's kind of a personal preference.

To me, it was something nice to watch though, because you don't really invest much feelings in the characters in a short time and there isn't anything terribly brainwrecking. It's just for fun, and I enjoyed it.

My rating: 3/5

Kimi to Boku
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Sakamoto Maaya (voice)

Really wanted to watch this before my new sem started, so I grabbed the show as soon as I found it. Too bad no English subs would be up within 12 days of the DVD release, so I watched it without subs. There wasn't a whole lot of talking anyway, so I could deal with my current level of Japanese.

Kimi to Boku is a tale of an aspiring manga artist who finds a 3-month-old American shorthair kitten in a playground one night. Let me just point out the kitten is ridiculously cute so it was easy to win me over. Couple that with my favourite actor acting cute towards the kitten, and it was a total win.

It's a pretty short film at 45 minutes but it's enjoyable, especially if you love cats. I think the director did well with the DOF, shot sizes and camera effects which gave the right feeling for each scene.

My rating: 3.5/5

----- Probably watching next sem break -----

Shakugan no Shana III -FINAL-
(Anime, 2011)
Voiced by: Kugimiya Rie, others

Bloody Monday (Season 1 and 2)
(Drama, 2008/2010)
Starring: Miura Haruma, Kawashima Umika, Sato Takeru

Hoshi no Furumachi
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Yamashita Rio
DVD release 26th October

Ike! Danshi Koukou Engekibu
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Ikematsu Sosuke
No DVD release date set

Octopus...i mean, October.

2011-10-07T03:39:00.001+08:00

:/
one week of holidays left. What have I been doing? Improving wiki articles on Sakanaction. Haha.

----

Apparently my favourite japanese curry store from when I went Tokyo, opened a branch in Singapore. Learnt of this mid last month. Didn't know they had a promotion of giving away vouchers on the official opening day on October 1. Saw on Twitter that my fellow AKB fans were actually queuing overnight for the vouchers, so I ran over early morning.

Queue number

Curry rice with cheese! It doesn't look amazing but it TASTES amazing.

Logo imprint on utensils.

They made a big hoo-ha over the opening of course and the photog with a huge DSLR was trying to take photos of our huge group the entire time. I had to hide behind the friend with a guitar because I didn't want my face anywhere.

Oh, I got $300 in vouchers but they have to be used by the end of the year. Curry every week?

--

Today I got my free Macbook bottom case replacement kit from Apple. At first I thought to leave my dad to do it, then I was like, I'm so free anyway and I used to do DNT, using a screwdriver isn't even that hard. For the first time I saw the inside of my Macbook.

Cool sial.

Apparently there were burn marks on the inside of the old base. Oops.

----

And tomorrow(today later?) I'm going prawn fishing. :3

----

Continuing with my thoughts and feelings thing....I'll make this shorter lol

Sekai no Owari ni Saku Hana
(Mobile Drama, 2010)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Kawashima Umika

Pre-thoughts: Think i'm gonna cry at the end. It's a sob story.

After watching:
NAWWWWWW. It was bad. The whole show was pretty darn draggy. It felt like there wasn't that much of a plot and they had to drag everything as much as possible. Oh to make things worse, since I wasn't watching it as a mobile drama but a whole movie pieced together (it is actually a movie broken into parts for mobile television), it was even draggier.

Main character Saki, played by Kawashima Umika, was really annoying. She's just another spoilt brat despite being in the hospital for so long. And because of her wilfulness she dragged Taiyo (Nakamura Aoi) all the way to some stupid mountain of sunflowers, forgoing her kidney transplant operation which her family had waited forever for a donor for, and causing both sides' parents much grief (and making naggy worried comments interspersed throughout the movie). Both kids had kidney problems and none of them were wise =_=

Being so out of breath Taiyo collapsed in the end on the sunflower field and died. Granted he was going to die anyway but what the hell really. Oh, and he had the strength to kiss her before he really died for good. Ridiculous. I initially thought the girl would be the one dying at the end but this sucks.

There were some nice parts of course but that's because I'm an Aoi fan. Overall, it's something I'd rather not have watched.

My rating: 2/5

Gakko ja Oshierarenai!
(Drama, 2008)
Starring: Fukada Kyoko, Nakamura Aoi, Maeda Goki, Naka Riisa, ...etc

School comedies are awesome and this is no exception! A friend recommended me to watch this upon hearing I was looking to watch more Aoi stuff, and I have to say I'm glad I watched it. This was just a really enjoyable and fun drama on the whole. At times it was slightly boring because they were going on the "monster of the week" format for the earlier part of the show, but it was still really well done.

I particularly loved the first couple a lot because I really liked Asakura Aki in the role of Hitomi, it sucked that there was no proper resolution and everything's left to imagination, but in the end it's not really the main point of the show. Every couple was really cute, although it's probably so not realistic that dance partners always become lovers.

I thought Mai-chan's relationship with the principal was really awkward though. I cringed everytime there was a Mai/Principal moment. Not nearly as bad as Kazu liking Tomu though, I had to literally pause and cringe. Well it's just my own preference anyway since I like Aoi :( It doesn't kill the awesomeness of the show.

Good stuff. I think everyone who watched this show would agree, and those who haven't should just go watch it :)

My rating: 4/5

Ikemen desu ne
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: Takimoto Miori, Tamamori Yuta, Fujigaya Taisuke, Kojima Haruna

Words cannot express my frustration with this drama. I think it has to be said that the main character, Mio/Miko is so bloody annoying and stupid. Ren-san is a total jerk. While Shu-san is the nicest guy on earth. Yet, stupid Mio/Miko ignores the guy who's the nicest to her and cares for her so much, and only has eyes for the insensitive, moody jerk. I don't even know why. Tamamori Yuta(Ren) looks really bad in the drama no thanks to his awfully styled black hair too. He looks tons better when he's not in the drama.

Anyway that's the main reason for my frustration. It was really hard to watch a drama not supporting the couple that's obviously going to end up together. I was so annoyed =___= I kept skipping through the last episode as well because the focus became on them only.

That said, the show is still good. The storyline had enough to keep it going, and it was actually quite well done. Harunyan's acting is a little dubious at times but she pulled off being evil well. I couldn't hate her though because ...she's Harunyan! xD Oh and there were many special guests in the drama, including Koda Kumi in the first episode, so I guess it helps attract people to watch it.

Well-executed show, just hated the main characters. Pity I couldn't find it in myself to support Ren and Mio/Miko.

My rating: 3/5

----- Watching soon -----

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night
(Movie, 2010)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Aoyama Noriko

Why I haven't started: I have the movie and subs in my com but I'm too damn scared to watch alone and there's no one to watch with ;_;

Bloody Monday (Season 1 & 2)
(Drama, 2008/2010)
Starring: Miura Haruma, Kawashima Umika, Sato Takeru

Why I haven't started: Waiting to borrow DVD from relative. lol

Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: Toda Erika, Miura Haruma, Takei Emi, Shinoda Mariko

Why I haven't started: I was gonna start on this and went to watch Ikemen desu ne instead.

basically DocumentaLy is the best album yet

2011-09-30T04:36:00.000+08:00

So I was playing around and suddenly wondered, DocumentaLy is sooooo good, but is it the best album to me? A gut feeling told me this was going to be my most preferred album. But at the same time I thought "eh, but I still really love kikUUiki. wait, GO TO THE FUTURE is also amazing. and so is Shinshiro and NIGHT FISHING!".

And so it resulted in me deciding to use a simple algorithm I devised(probably not perfect since I suck at maths and science) to calculate my own love for each Sakanaction album.

I was gonna post the results on Twitter, then I was like, who's gonna read this? I need to stop bothering my followers with such stuff they won't even understand. But I wanted to write it somewhere for record, and where better than Blogger.

DocumentaLy 0.576
GO TO THE FUTURE 0.563
Shinshiro 0.545
kikUUiki 0.538
NIGHT FISHING 0.5

There's the confirmation that DocumentaLy is my favourite album. And the weird thing is that kikUUiki was what I thought to be my favourite album for the longest time, and the only album that made me love it on the first few listens. Every other album required time to warm up to. But oh well, I love every album regardless. Yet I feel kind of guilty that Ichiro's favourite album is my least favourite. >_>

I've been reading up on the interviews Ichiro has given lately but it's so much. (There's 5 pages for one of them, and another boasts 14000 words!) I try my best to read it all but I'm very slow and also not understanding completely. Times like these I do wish my Japanese was better.

In other news, school starts in two weeks so I'm rushing every show I want to watch possible. Almost certainly, some will have to be dropped and be on the waiting list for next sem's break, because there's not enough time. I keep updating and adding more shows to the list that's been posted like, what, three days ago. .__.

DocumentaLy

2011-09-28T22:23:00.002+08:00

Today is the release of DocumentaLy!
;_________; ♥

#2 on Oricon Charts

Its ranking is smack in the middle of two Kpop groups which makes me kind of dissatisfied seeing how I really dislike Hallyu but the sales are good so yay.

Thoughts and feelings (I can never call it a review since I'm totally not objective as a big fan of the band) on each song:

1. RL
Simple but effective intro. I like how the title has extra meaning. If you've read Sakanaction's comment on the album, they talked about merging imagination with real life. And RL is a common abbreviation for real life. But in this intro track they spell out the letters of "Documentary" one by one....when it comes to "r", there's both voices saying "r" and "l". Clashing the correct spelling of the word, and the album name which incorporates the word "mental". So that's another way you could see the track title. It's quite clever. Though it has a relaxing build-up, it leads into Identity perfectly.

2. Identity アイデンティティ
The first single track in the album. One of my favoured tracks because the chorus is just so addictive. I actually didn't like the verses very much when I first listened to this song, maybe because I hadn't really accustomed myself to J-rock yet(?). But eventually I loved the entire song, lol. I really enjoy Identity wherever, whenever, because it gets me energetic. It's bad when I start to tap my foot so hard when commuting on public transport though.

3. Monochrome Tokyo モノクロトウキョー
On first listen, I felt like the song was so druggy lol. Coupled with the art-gallery-esque imagery that was broadcasted in the album listening party on Ustream on the 24th, I wasn't too sure of the song until the chorus. It was like...wham! Instant drug! I'm serious, the chorus caught me by surprise, and I really love the song change. I also enjoy Ichiro's vocals here very much together with the muffled stereo effect. It works so well. So yeah, a win song for me.

4. Rookie ルーキー
Well, I have spoken about this song probably many many times, since it's one of my most favourite Sakanaction songs in their entire discography. The second single track in here, I've obviously listened to it...*checks iTunes* more than 150 times (and that's not counting plays in my walkman phone). I don't really know how to describe the song, but one of the things Ichiro said is that he composed this song while imagining falling through the sky (something also shown in the PV). It explains why the song makes me feel like i'm floating. I really like the hidden lyrics during the later half of the song that I always lipsync to no matter what. It becomes a fan chant during live performances which makes it even better. 「見えない夜の月の代わりに引っ張ってきた青い君」 ...up til now I'm not even sure what it means. It's either gibberish that's included for it's word rhythm, or something really deep... I'm leaning towards the latter knowing what Ichiro is like. Anyway, there's simply no song to compare to when it comes to Rookie.

5. Antares to Hari アンタレスと針
It feels druggy again. Hahaha. On first listen during the Ustream, I didn't really feel the song, but after several relistens it got to me. I particularly like the part after the first time of chorus, the music and the guitar strumming (good work Mocchi!)...it's so relaxing. Love the song. Another win. I just wonder what inspired Ichiro to write a song about...constellations. In particular, Scorpius. The words "Scorpio" and "Shaula" appear in the lyrics, not to mention "Antares" in the title.

6. Kamen no Gai 仮面の街
The first new song to not come off as druggy. It's a change and feels happier (tune-wise. the lyrics are kind of depressing like always). I'd say this is closer to some of the songs they already have. Rather catchy, but it's not really one of my favourites here. Probably not my taste since I do see people on 2ch commenting how they like this song. I think the Ustream visuals killed part of the song for me as well because there was this scary looking face in the moon.

7. Ryuusen 流線
Much lighter than everything so far, Ryuusen is slow and relaxing. I think it's pretty brilliant because it does indeed feel like water is flowing. Someone said it gave off a Radiohead feel. I don't know that how affects anything since I don't really listen to British music, but maybe Ichiro has started to lean back to the sound he originally wanted to create during the time of his old band Dutchman. Dutchman was apparently very British-influenced, but the band didn't survive long because not many caught onto the sound. (From what I understand of interviews, some years later he started to appreciate club music and wanted more people to listen to it via fusing rock with techno, thus creating Sakanaction. And Victor Entertainment had him signed the entire time so that's quite amazing of a record label to have such foresight haha.) Maybe, now that with Sakanaction's popularity, he thought to experiment with it again? I'm fine with anything Ichiro composes really because I end up liking them all. It's a nice and minimalistic song but expressive.

8. Endless エンドレス
And here, the much talked about lead song. The band apparently worked on, arranged, re-arranged, recorded and re-recorded the song for 8 months. Thus, the DVD of this album was a documentary on the creation of this song. I would say Ichiro's very demanding of his own music which leaves us listeners in delight. From the footage, the four conditions they wanted to fulfill when arranging the song were "sadness", "techno feeling", "single feeling", "a hook that raises the feeling (this doesn't translate well)". I'll definitely say this is a masterpiece.

9. DocumentaRy
An instrumental track finally, since all albums since NIGHT FISHING had one at the midway point of the album, this one's placed slightly late. But it does well because something is needed for transition from Endless to Bach, since the two songs differ much in tempo and emotion. DocumentaRy starts out slowly with some speech and then the synths come in gradually to bring the tune into an upbeat, electronic sound.

10. Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu.『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』
Undoubtedly, this is the happiest song of the album. I like the song because of its weirdness and disjointedness that comes together so nicely. And it makes me feel like dancing and bobbing my head. Of course, since the single's been out for about two months, I've had plenty of time to fall in love with the song over and over. Nothing much else to say about the song since I've spazzed about it for some time and on this blog too.

11. years
This is a track I wasn't really happy to see included in the album. For one, it's a b-side off Bach so its inclusion just means we have one less new song; and two, it's not like I really like the song very much. The "yeeeeeaaaars" is kind of catchy, but Ichiro doesn't sound that nice singing such songs lol. I think it's just his personal preference since during the time of Bach's release, he tweeted that it doesn't matter if a song is an a-side or b-side and we should listen to them with the same importance.

12. Document ドキュメント
Document is a song that's a lot more mainstream than the rest of this album and it's a track to chill to. Smooth-sounding and easy to listen to, but it may take more listens to love. I saw a comment in 2ch saying "thank goodness for this song, it saved the album". I guess it's because it sounds more like regular Sakanaction. Hmmm...it sounds like it would fit right into kikUUiki, either before Under or after Coelacanth.

13. Holy Dance Like a live Mix ホーリーダンス Like a live Mix
I don't really know what to say about this track because to me, it doesn't sound like much difference from the original (b-side off Identity). I guess the reason why it's "like a live mix" is because it sounds more like it's in a concert for this one. Well the song is interesting of course, the change from the verse to chorus being quite a big one. The verses are something to lightly bounce your head to, while the chorus feels like you're wading in the water(which I like. and many Sakanaction songs do make you feel like you're in a body of water. Pretty ingenious when you consider the band's name is "fish action".)....Only when it starts the "holy dance, holy dance" part, you feel like bouncing your head again. It's quite a weird song, but as a b-side this was better than years in my opinion. I wonder why Slow Motion was the only b-side left out because I thought that was the best of all the b-sides.

Quite a "druggy" album overall, and I mean that in a good way. I suck at describing music so don't just listen to me blab about the album. Go listen to it! The band can only go to greater heights.
Hopefully even as more mainstream listeners pick them up and they gain more popularity, they'll keep experimenting and not lose the steam. I'm fairly confident they won't crumble to mainstream pressure because of Ichiro's firm belief in creating "intelligent" music. Every album has been so different from the previous, they're just so unexpected but I always end up loving the songs. I'm speechless at Ichiro's talent in composing and writing all these songs.

Album rating: 4.5/5

sidenote: probably overdue for a blogskin change

bunch of stuff i've watched since holidays began

2011-09-27T05:54:00.001+08:00

in order of completion. Here is the longest post you'll ever see on here. I wrote all these in 2~3 days.

Thoughts and feelings on each, plus my rating of it. Well, I don't know who's going to read this, but bear in mind i'm not a professional reviewer of any kind. I'm just writing what I think. These are reviews you should read AFTER YOU HAVE WATCHED THE SHOW.

The actors/actresses which were the reason why I watched it are bolded. yes i watch shows because certain people act in it.

Moshimo Koukou Yakyu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no Management wo Yondara
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Maeda Atsuko, Seto Koji, Minegishi Minami, Ikematsu Sosuke

I learnt of the movie thanks to Acchan starring in it, since I'm an AKB48 fan. I didn't read the book so I didn't know the story other than the basic movie synopsis. From the title I actually thought she would read the book "Management" and actually use management tactics in the book to plan out the baseball team's tactics. It turns out she just uses values and stuff, which was a little disappointing, but it's probably just me.

The movie was good because of the storyline and it dealt with friendships, misunderstandings, crushed ambition, death, hope, teamwork...it was just real life. And there's pretty amusing parts as well, like when Ayano sees Minami walking off with Drucker for a second but the statue remains lifeless, or just any of the parts in the bookstore. I would say some parts were a little too dramatic and felt it was put there for show, like the part where Minami gets slapped while all the baseball team members are listening to her impassioned speech about hating baseball.

It's nothing too serious that you have to think until your head hurts, but everyone learns something. Nicely done.

My rating: 3.5/5

Kimi ni Todoke
(Movie, 2010)
Starring: Tabe Mikako, Miura Haruma, Renbutsu Misako, Natsuna

I first heard of this title when everyone was crazy over the anime version. I went to read the plot and was highly unimpressed because it sounded like such a lame story and passed it over. The movie also came out but I did not bother. Sometime this year I chanced upon the fact that it starred Renbutsu Misako (I got to like her from the drama Q10), and I got interested. I started reading the manga sometime during the previous semester instead of watching the movie straight because of time constraints (you can read a manga chapter by chapter in between lectures, but a movie needs to be watched in one go!). And then I was sold. The manga is pretty good and I wish the chapters would come out faster.

But yeah, enough background story. Basically, I watched the movie as someone who's expecting quite a bit since I read the manga. Haruma did quite a good job as Kazehaya. I never really got the hype over Haruma but after watching I became a fan of his smile. Anyway, Mikako also did a good job, but I felt kind of weird because she wasn't like my impression of Sawako. Furthermore, the onscreen chemistry of Kazehaya and Sawako was lacking, which was unfortunate since their relationship is the main focus of the story. Kiritani Mirei gave off a different feeling as Kurumi, as she didn't exactly fit the "doll" image. But it seems for those who never read the manga, she was good. The rest of the supporting actors were brilliant, but since the movie covers up only to a certain point in the manga, there was not much character development for them.

My main problem with the movie is how everything felt so plain, even the frustration that we're supposed to feel from the two main characters having difficulty getting their feelings across, was very much reduced. The movie cut out quite a lot of the misunderstandings probably due to time constraints. And without the chemistry, the movie ended up feeling a little flat. People who say it's a great movie are either Miura Haruma fangirls or are easily satisfied. Yes, it's nice, but nothing amazing.

My rating: 3/5

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e ~Ikemen Paradise~ 2011
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: Maeda Atsuko, Nakamura Aoi, Miura Shohei

I watched this because of Acchan. Again. Hahahaa. Well, truthfully, I went into this quite unsure what I was getting myself into. Apart from Acchan I really didn't know any of the actors and from the promo photos, I didn't think they were "ikemen". Also, since this was a remake of a drama of the same name just 4 years ago, I thought they were doing themselves in. After all, everyone else loved the original so much. For me, I never really liked the 2007 version that much, mostly because I disliked Oguri Shun's portrayal of Sano (waaaay too serious and mean to Mizuki) and I felt nothing for Horikita Maki's portrayal. I did really like Ikuta Toma in it though.

As the drama went on, one of my predictions came true, that many people hated the fact it was a remake of a drama they love, so much that the ratings were one of the worst you would ever see of a primetime drama. Well, haters gonna hate. I enjoyed it because I was starting to love the characters and the actors. I loved the Sano that Nakamura Aoi portrayed as he came across as a lot more sensitive. Miura Shohei also did a great job as comic relief. Yanagishita Tomo was really adorable as Kayashima. Yes, basically I much preferred this cast to the 2007 version. According to people who read the manga, this version was more faithful to the manga as it included the almost-rape scene that was taken out from the 2007 version, presumably since it was kind of a serious theme to put in a lighthearted drama. But it really made for some heartwarming Sano and Mizuki scenes and made me fall in love with the pairing. And that's when it started.

My fangirling for Sano and Mizuki happened like every single time they did something cute. Especially the scene where Sano plugged his earphones into Mizuki's ears and they started dancing in their dorm. They're just so sweet and the chemistry is totally there. And the last episode's confession scene. I just can't. *Cue more fangirling* The show of course ended and I got depressed I won't get to see them together anymore, but I started hoping that Aoi and Acchan will get together in future. They're just so matching.

Overall, I really liked the drama, no matter how bad people say it is. I'd like to think they're too biased from the 2007 drama because of the well-known cast. Of course, it's not awesome since there wasn't really much that we've not seen before, but it was a really enjoyable drama for me. I became a fan of Nakamura Aoi from this and it made me start to look for other shows that he acted in. Which brings me to the next show.

My rating: 3.5/5

Koizora
(Movie, 2007)
Starring: Aragaki Yui, Miura Haruma, Nakamura Aoi

Yep, I watched this because of Aoi. It was his first ever movie, so I wanted to watch it, even if it was quite a small role. The fact that the main actors are quite popular helped. I've actually known about this movie for a couple of years now but I never watched it because being the skeptic I am about sappy romance stories like these, I avoided it until now.

My expectations, being really low, were exceeded. The actors did a pretty brilliant job and the two main characters had enough chemistry to keep the show going well. I did end up crying since I cry at anything that's remotely sad anyway (LIAR GAME movie, for instance). There's just one very big problem I have with the movie, and that's the story... I don't even know where to begin.

Hiro seems to be a jerk but not a jerk at the same time. He's portrayed as someone with a gangster look but sensitive and kind, but points in the story just don't gel. Let's see. Hiro starts PHONE STALKING Mika after they knocked into each other in the school hallway. So Hiro fell in love with her already just from that one knock where Mika apologized so meekly and cutely. That's really superficial. And even better, Hiro probably breaks up with his then-girlfriend Saki after his love-at-first-sight encounter with Mika. That's being a jerk. No wonder Saki gets pissed. Mika falls in love with Hiro over phone stalking. Why is Hiro so good at this anyway? He obviously has way too much experience, pointing to him being a playboy. Anyway, they skip classes and go to his house. I don't know why alarm bells don't ring in her head after seeing what his sister looks like. His sister looks like a yankee that would rip your head off if you offended her the slightest bit. And being the gullible girl Mika is, she lets him take advantage of her so damn easily. It's hard to hate Hiro because he seems so kind and treats her so nicely, but if he takes advantage of her so early it feels like something's wrong and he has an ulterior motive from the start.

Anyway, ex-girlfriend Saki calls gangsters to go rape Mika. Which made me feel really upset for Mika but I can't hate Saki because it's basically Hiro's fault. Mika gets scared off from physical contact for a while, but she recovers at amazing speed! Seriously, who gets raped and then feels better in a few days? That's kind of unrealistic, but let's say the movie didn't have that much time to show too many days of her being sad. Anyway, somebody scrawls her phone number all over the school's blackboards with the message of "always ready to do it anytime". Hiro gets really mad and storms into classes to erase those messages. Okay, I did like that because it was cute that he was so protective. But then everything good I thought about him then went out the window when Mika says she's alright and ready to have sex again. It's only been a short time since she got raped so I was kind of pissed that Hiro didn't just like say "no, give yourself time" or something like that. Stupid Mika as well. She had to go and get herself pregnant.

I thought the part where Hiro learns about the baby was pretty sweet though. I enjoyed when they went to buy cheap rings for each other, and they went to each other's houses to ask for parental approval. It was especially nice to see Hiro dyed his hair black for the occasion so he'd look less like a gangster. (Sidenote: Haruma needs to have his hair black forever because it was SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT). I really really hated that Mika had to lose the baby after Saki kicked her down the steps. They would have had such a cute family. But I liked that Hiro ran all the way to the temple to pray that the baby would be safe. And the part where they cried together was so sad I cried as well.

Anyway it went downhill from there again. Hiro disappears for awhile, reappears with his lame white hair, and breaks up with Mika for unknown reasons. Then another super super kind guy, Yuu, appears in Mika's life. I thought Yuu was kind of...old and not really appealing at first. But he was so damn kind and caring that I started hoping Mika would stay with Yuu in the end even though I know that's not going to happen.

For a while I had forgotten I was watching the movie for Nakamura Aoi. It was such a small role acting as Hiro's buddy Nozomu, but luckily he had something toward the end when he had to reveal the reason behind Hiro avoiding Mika. Thought it was pretty neat. And then I got kind of pissed off with that Mika was forced to choose between Hiro and Yuu. Obviously she's gonna pick Hiro anyway since she always loved him despite having just accepted Yuu's proposal. But ...jeez, Yuu got a ring and everything, been with her for a couple of years...and she abandoned all that. Yuu was so kind that he let her go because he wanted the girl he loved to be happy. Although seriously, such a guy does not exists in real life, I swear. Poor Yuu was left behind crying in the snow while Mika ran off to reconcile with Hiro. Where is the justice in this, I ask you.

To cut this naggy writeup short, I'll go ahead to the ending. I was really sad that Hiro had to die after all and it was all Hiro's own fault he wasted those years without Mika. Instead of the years they could have spent happily together before his demise, it was reduced to mere months thanks to his stupid decision to leave her. It felt like those years should have been crossed out of Mika, Hiro and Yuu's lives. Ugh. What did it do except hurt everybody in the process? And then, Mika, understandably depressed, wants to commit suicide. I thought it would've been PERFECT if she had successfully commited suicide. At least she and Hiro would be "together". I hate it that they had to make her move on. I was certainly not ready to move on because I felt so sad they could have been a happy family for those years, or at least Mika could have had the kid and have some kind of remnant of "Hiro" in her life even after he passed on. But the story had to ruin everything she had. It just feels upsetting to make Mika move on all by herself. You could argue there's her family but it doesn't feel adequate.

The story ended up giving me cognitive dissonance. I'm quite at a loss whether to say if the movie was good or bad but since it's an adaptation and the story's not the movie's fault, I'll cut it some slack. The actors were great in it after all.

My rating: 3/5

Majisuka Gakuen 2
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: AKB48

It's AKB48, what can I say. I won't go into too much detail since I don't really feel strongly about the show.

Stuff in the story I didn't like:
- Acchan completely abandoning her "Maji" for Takamina, her hospital job and her wish to become a nurse in season 1, and changing her "focus" to Yuko. What is this I don't even. It feels like an alternate universe of Majisuka Gakuen rather than a sequel.
- WHERE'S ACCHAN'S FAMILY AND HER AWESOME DAD. I GUESS THEY BECAME IRRELEVANT EH.
- Bloody irrelevant Kanon/Miso coming into the story just to stab Gekikara. Granted, many characters are irrelevant but...I felt so annoyed they threw in a new character just for this purpose.
- Shaku wailing and talking a lot of crap with Gekikara after she's stabbed. What the hell. Please have the decency to call for a doctor when somebody is gravely injured. The best part is that this happened in a hospital.
- The lengthy Nezumi x Center scenes. It gets too naggy after a while.
- Acchan going around whacking gangsters. What's the point? I don't even get the relation of that with Yuko's question. In the end it only served to put Acchan in prison.
- Reusing Takamina to be a policewoman and pretending she was a whole new different character. I'm disappointed! She's dead, come on. Use another girl instead of resurrecting the dead just because she's popular.
- The ending. Seriously what the hell. I know everyone has to learn something at the end and stuff because that's how shows like to be, but what, we went through an entire season waiting for the big fight and there was none. Felt so trolled by it that my rating for the entire show went down.

My rating: 2.5/5

BECK
(Movie, 2010)
Starring: Sato Takeru, Mizushima Hiro, Nakamura Aoi, Kiritani Kenta, Mukai Osamu, Kutsuna Shiori

I was excited to see Takerun because he became one of my favourite actors after Q10. I learnt of the movie only after seeing advertisements at the Cathay Cineleisure a few months back, but I completely missed it being shown because of school commitments. I had it in my computer for the longest time but finally made myself quickly watch it after realising Nakamura Aoi was also in this movie!

It was only when he appeared in the movie that I realised Mukai Osamu was in this as well. Pretty amazing to have so many actors I like in the same movie. I knew I was going to like this movie no matter what.

It made me so annoyed after learning that Koyuki should have been the most main character of the story. They probably turned the focus more to Ryusuke because they didn't think Sato Takeru would be enough to bring in big bucks at the box office. Mizushima Hiro is a safer bet, but they couldn't make him play Koyuki since Koyuki is supposed to be 14 years old at the beginning of the story (Mizuhiro is 25 while Takerun is 20 at the time of the movie). I'm not a Mizuhiro fan as you can see, whereas Takerun is a huge bias for me, so yeah I was annoyed.

But anyway on to the actual movie.

Usually Japanese shows throwing English into mix make me laugh because of really weird accents, but there's none of that in BECK. Perfect English was spoken by the characters and I was so surprised. Apparently, Kutsuna Shiori had lived in Australia and Mizuhiro had studied abroad. Well, of course it was slightly over American-accented in some parts but it was still really well done. Just a minor thing I thought though, too many expletives thrown around kind of show what kind of image the Japanese have of Americans.

I liked the muted voice effect they did whenever Koyuki had to sing. It was done really well with the surreal scenery images mixed in. It was at first comedic and I couldn't take the supposedly-godly voice of Koyuki seriously. But eventually it got to me and the surreal images made me feel like Koyuki really had a voice like no other. It contributed to the imagination and I think it was a good call by the director to not have Takerun's voice be heard. Takerun's singing, while nice, isn't godly. And I doubt any actor has a "godly" voice either. Audiences would end up disappointed for sure, so with the muted effect, it makes us imagine his voice to be awesome beyond any level we've ever heard. Very well done to show the power of his voice. Also, I enjoyed seeing the surreal festival-performing image in the band members' heads.

I was also impressed by the BECK actors playing the instruments. Apparently, all underwent intensive training to learn the instruments for the sake of the movie. That shows how much hard work went into this movie. It wasn't stand-ins playing the instruments and it made the movie so awesome. (It also made me feel like these 5 really should put an album in real life together. Why haven't their agencies done this? It's a surefire money maker!) A big contributor to the enjoyment of the movie was the amazing music, both background and those played by BECK. I'm really obsessed with "Looking back".

Well, I didn't really like the overdramatic Leon Sykes-almost-killing-Ryusuke scene. It felt a little out of place when everything else in the story was so real-life-ish but probably it's just me again. I guess it was necessary to conclude the entire Lucille fiasco. It's pretty cool reading that an actual Lucille guitar (go Wiki it) was actually stolen. I liked the story behind it in BECK too.

And here are some of my favourite scenes I just have to mention:
- Saku fighting the Hyodo gang. He's so cool and it makes me fangirl so much because it's 18-year-old Aoi.
- Chiba beating up the Hyodo gang after they try to beat Koyuki up again, and Taira clapping silently and nodding his head in the background. Chiba doing the victory sign at the end of his enjoyable bashing up was cute too.
- When Saku and Koyuki react to the news in school that Dying Breed would be coming to Japan. They're so comical. Seriously, I love these two together.
- When Saku and Koyuki find out they have a fan in school and Yuji's so creepy, knowing everything about the fan. *hint hint romance*
- The final festival scene, of course. It's so awesome there's no words for it.

Bottom line: PERFECT CAST. I couldn't have asked for more.

I could definitely rewatch this a few more times. It's not LOTR-epic or anything but it ranks really high on the enjoyability scale (or at least, on mine).

My rating: 4.5/5

----- Watched/Watching -----

Sekai no Owari ni Saku Hana
(Mobile Drama, 2010)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Kawashima Umika

Pre-thoughts: Think i'm gonna cry at the end. It's a sob story.

Gakko ja Oshierarenai!
(Drama, 2008)
Starring: Fukada Kyoko, Nakamura Aoi, Maeda Goki, Naka Riisa, ...etc

----- Watching soon -----

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night
(Movie, 2010)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Aoyama Noriko

Pre-thoughts: I'm actually really afraid to watch this but I want to see Aoi in a horror movie... I'll have to grab friends to watch this with or I'll be too freaked out to sleep.

Bloody Monday (Season 1 & 2)
(Drama, 2008/2010)
Starring: Miura Haruma, Kawashima Umika, Sato Takeru

Pre-thoughts: It sounds really interesting since I haven't really seen a drama with a story like this and HT's in it so i've got to watch it.

Taisetsu na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta
(Drama, 2011)
Starring: Toda Erika, Miura Haruma, Takei Emi, Shinoda Mariko

----- To watch when available (they will probably be watched the next semester break because it's too close to school reopening ;____;) -----

Kimi to Boku
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Sakamoto Maaya (voice)
DVD release 5th October

Shakugan no Shana III -FINAL-
(Anime, 2011)
Airing to begin 7th October

Hoshi no Furumachi
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Yamashita Rio
DVD release 26th October

Ike! Danshi Koukou Engekibu
(Movie, 2011)
Starring: Nakamura Aoi, Ikematsu Sosuke
No DVD release date set

Aoi seems to be on the rise - 6 movies in 2011 alone. That's really an achievement. Meanwhile I'm not sure how Takerun's doing but he has that Rurouni Kenshin movie next year so there's something to look forward to.

continuation of the ranking

2011-09-09T02:26:00.001+08:00

Uhh so let's try that again, expanded.

Sakanaction Top 25 Song Ranking!
rank. song title (title in japanese / album or single name)

1. Omotesando 26ji (表参道26時 / kikUUiki)
2. Rookie (ルーキー /ルーキー)
3. Adventure (アドベンチャー /シンシロ)
4. Fukurou (フクロウ /GO TO THE FUTURE)
5. Kiiroi Kuruma (黄色い車 /シンシロ)
6. Mikazuki Sunset (三日月サンセット /GO TO THE FUTURE)
7. Aruku Around (アルクアラウンド /kikUUiki)
8. Sample (サンプル /NIGHT FISHING)
9. Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu. (『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』 /『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』 )
10. Shiranami Topwater (白波トップウォーター /GO TO THE FUTURE)
11. Identity (アイデンティティ /アイデンティティ)
12. Klee (Klee /kikUUiki)
13. Yoru no Higashigawa (夜の東側 /GO TO THE FUTURE)
14. Me ga Aku Aiiro (目が明く藍色 /kikUUiki)
15. Namida Delight (涙ディライト /シンシロ)
16. YES NO (YES NO /kikUUiki)
17. Zattou (雑踏 /シンシロ)
18. Native Dancer (ネイティブダンサー /シンシロ)
19. Slow Motion (スローモーション /ルキー)
20. Sentorei (セントレイ /シンシロ)
21. Ame wa Kimagure (雨は気まぐれ /NIGHT FISHING)
22. minnanouta (minnanouta /シンシロ)
23. Malaysia32 (マレーシア32 /NIGHT FISHING)
24. Ashita Kara (明日から /kikUUiki)

25. Teenage (ティーンエイジ /NIGHT FISHING)

Happy birthday Ichiro~ ♥ 110908

"endless" is definitely gonna make it into the ranking once the new album's released. I heard a preview and I like it a lot.

ただいま

2011-09-03T23:51:00.000+08:00

I'm back....with post-trip depression ._.

lol.

anyway I'm lazy to type out my experience but you can see my entire journey in photos, with the occasional description.

http://photobucket.com/HKD1
http://photobucket.com/HKD2

ranking all my sakanaction songs

2011-08-26T04:52:00.000+08:00

Going to Hokkaido later! :DDD Yeah, it's like 3 years after I went to Tokyo. :) Never expected that I'd be in the Land of the Rising Sun so soon, but certain circumstances came into play, so I was lucky.

---

Well, my exams were horribly done :( And these happened to be the subjects that were actually going well and getting As as compared to the others. I wish they weren't examinable subjects because exams are my absolute weak point. I can never study properly, and I always chiong like the day before my exams because that's when I actually get the sense of urgency. Yes, I did that for O Levels and that's why I got terrible grades there too.

my expectations of results are something like this:
News Writing: B+
Public Relations: B
Communication Issues: B
Web Design App: C+
Radio Production 2: C (complete disaster)
Basic Japanese: AD (but this only has 1 credit i think)
Idea Jumpstart: Pass (is not graded)

Dear God, save me. I'm going to get a worse GPA than I did for my awful first semester. T___T

---

WELL WHATEVER IT'S ALREADY DONE.
I'm just gonna waste more time while waiting for 5am since that's when I need to start getting ready to go to the airport.

So since Sakanaction's fifth album is coming out soon...

--
Sakanaction Top 20 Song Ranking!
rank. song title (title in japanese / album or single name)

1. Omotesando 26ji (表参道26時 / kikUUiki)
2. Rookie (ルーキー /ルーキー)
3. Adventure (アドベンチャー /シンシロ)
4. Mikazuki Sunset (三日月サンセット /GO TO THE FUTURE)
5. Fukurou (フクロウ /GO TO THE FUTURE)

6. Aruku Around (アルクアラウンド /kikUUiki)

7. Kiiroi Kuruma (黄色い車 /シンシロ)

8. Sample (サンプル /NIGHT FISHING)

9. Bach no Senritsu wo Yoru ni Kiita Sei desu. (『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』 /『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』 )

10. YES NO (YES NO /kikUUiki)

11. Shiranami Top Water (白波トップウォーター /GO TO THE FUTURE)

12. Klee (Klee /kikUUiki)

13. Yoru no Higashigawa (夜の東側 /GO TO THE FUTURE)

14. Native Dancer (ネイティブダンサー /シンシロ)

15. Zattou (雑踏 /シンシロ)

16. Me ga Aku Aiiro (目が明く藍色 /kikUUiki)

17. Ame wa Kimagure (雨は気まぐれ /NIGHT FISHING)

18. Identity (アイデンティティ /アイデンティティ)

...

Aaaaah, I cannot finish the ranking lol, it's time to get ready for the airport. See you in a week, all social media.

japanese forums are so cute, look

2011-07-31T23:10:00.002+08:00

＼　　　　　バッハー♪　　の旋律を～♪　　　　　／

＼ (^o^)／　＼ (^o^)／＼ (^o^)／＼ (^o^)／＼ (^o^)／
（　）　　　（　）　　　（　）　　（　）　　　（　）
／＼　　　　／＼　　　／＼　　／＼　　　／＼

＼　　　　　　夜に聴いたせいです～♪　　　　　　／

＼　　　　　＼　　　　　　＼　　　　　＼　　　　　＼
(／o^)　　　(／o^)　　　(／o^)　　　 (／o^)　　　 (／o^)
( ／　　　　( ／　　　　 ( ／　　　　 ( ／　　　　　( ／
／く　　　／く　　　／く　　／く　　　　／く

DOOOOOUSHITEEEEEEEE~~~~

2011-07-30T22:45:00.000+08:00

WAAAAAAAAAAA~~~~
SAKANACTION NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCED

【発表】9/28（水）5thアルバム発売決定！（7/30up）
オリコン3位を記録した4枚目のアルバム“kikUUiki”（2010年3月発売）以来、約1年半ぶりの通算5枚目オリジナルアルバムを遂にリリース。2010年10月に行われた初の日本武道館単独公演は即日SOLD OUT、大型野外フェスティバルではヘッドライナーを務めるなど大飛躍を果たしたサカナクション。今作3枚のヒットシングル“アイデンティティ“、“ルーキー”、“『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』”を含む最新のアルバムとなる！
5th Album
「タイトル未定」
2011年9月28日発売
①初回限定盤A（CD+DVD+豪華ブックレット）VIZL-437／￥3,500(税抜￥3,333）
②初回限定盤B（CD+豪華ブックレット）VICL-63785／￥3,000(税抜￥2,857）
③通常盤（CD＋通常ブックレット）VICL-63790／￥2,800（税抜￥2,667）
【CD】
・アイデンティティ（2010年8月発売）
・ルーキー（2011年3月発売）
・『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』（2011年7月）
を含む11曲収録予定。
【DVD】
レコーディング密着ドキュメント予定
http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B004TD53J2/

from: Victor Music Entertainment web

Definitely gonna buy this now...:')

as a celebration tune:
to the tune of ponyo theme song chorus~

一郎と基晴と愛美　
青い海からやって来た　
英美と啓一　サカナクション　
軽快と素早い　魚たち

ichirou to motoharu to ami
aoi umi kara yattekita
emi to keiichi sakanakushon
keikai to subayai sakanatachi

Ichirou and Motoharu and Ami
Came from the blue sea
Emi and Keiichi, Sakanaction
Light and fast, school of fishes

HAHAHAHA I DONT EVEN.

I don't know if Ichirou will recover by then though...having his biggest influence and reason for starting a band, Rei Harakami, pass away, is pretty big. I hope he'll be okay cause' i keep seeing him tweeting that he can't write any lyrics out lately...

Anyway I am happy for Sakanaction because they had their first ever appearance on a TV music program last week, on Music Station, for their new single. There's some pretty priceless moments in there by Ichirou. <3 Wish I could make .gifs but converting a 6GB .ts file is taking way too long and overclocking my Mac. zzzz

yamaguchi ichiro

2011-07-26T22:00:00.003+08:00

最近『バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。』がハマってる。
やっぱり、山口一郎の歌詞が一番だよ。

I really like this song ♥

Although it isn't as good as Rookie in my opinion, but it's so great ;__;
Sakanaction's songs are all amazing. Yamaguchi Ichiro is amazing.

I can't remember how long ago I heard Rookie for the first time. I just suddenly shuffled to a Sakanaction song one day in my iTunes and went to search for new stuff on Youtube. Rookie blew me away.

I started listening to them with Aruku Around and I absolutely loved all their releases in 2010. I also listen to their older albums which are pretty good too but I tend to like their songs from 2010 onwards more.

I recently found this live video of Rookie (in poor quality, but still)

;________; ffffffffk
I want to attend a Sakanaction live!
That part with the fans all chanting along was really fantastic.

見えない夜の月の代わりに引っ張ってきた青い君
mienai yoru no tsuki no kawari ni hippatte kita aoi kimi

Here are Rookie's lyrics translated. Yamaguchi really writes lyrics that identify with the youth; I think that went a long way in helping them get recognition and success.

Turned off, forgotten, turned off, forgotten light.
How much longer is it until morning comes?

Sadness, I was dreaming
I walked to a pace just like sadness.

Typical, I am doing things like counting the nicks
In the wall of a typical bedroom.

Sleepless, I was chewing my fingernails,
Wearing away a sleepless night

Don't go. Take in the view. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.
Don't speak. Remember. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.

Turned off, forgotten, turned off, forgotten light.
In the city, the flower petal waves goodbye on the breeze.

Sadness, in spite of wanting
To walk at my own pace, it is just like sadness.

Don't go. Take in the view. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.
Don't speak. Remember. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.

Don't go. Take in the view. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.
Don't speak. Remember. Spread your wings. Hum a melody. In due time.

Don't go. Don't go.
Don't speak. Please, remember.

(translations from JPA)

Next month I'll go to Hokkaido, Japan. Interestingly, that's where Sakanaction is based.

2011-07-09T23:51:00.003+08:00

♪
♪　　 __
/ ～ヽﾌﾟﾙﾙﾝ
((（｡・-・）))　ﾌﾟﾙﾙﾝ
ﾟし- Jﾟ　　ﾌﾟﾙﾙﾝﾙﾝ

the stress is over for the time being. whew \(//Δ//)\

Apologize for the emo posts. Apparently, as the saying goes...船到桥头自然直 :)

Could it get worse from here on? Probably.

Oh and it's Acchan and Renacchi's birthdays today. Happy birthday~~

goals are not necessary for scoring well

2011-07-06T22:02:00.000+08:00

　　　　　　　┌―┐
　　　　　　　 _ﾄ-----|_
　　　　　　 ,.≧＝＝≦､　　おはよウナギ
　　　　　　 /::::::(･):o:(･)}
　　　　　　{:::::::「ｒｰ-‐‐'
　　　　　　 l:::::::::::LE≧っ ,.-.､
　　　　　　ヾ:::::::::::::::/　 //^U
　　　　　 ∈＞ｌ::::::: r‐ｌ ∋//
　　　　　　ｌ:::::::ｌ.ｌ .//
　　 r.T.ヽｌ::::::ｌ. l...//
　　 {_木 / ｌ:::::ｌ. l../
　　　｀X =≡'´::: ノノ

--

It must be nice not knowing what you want to do in future. Apparently when I started aiming for a specific industry, everything got worse.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have my friend, who thinks it's perfectly fine if she doesn't go to university, doesn't really have a goal for where she wants to work, and she's scoring grades way better than mine and topping the cohort last sem.

Well, I guess that's not the only factor, she IS smart and consistent in her work, whereas I am sort of floating along because I realise whatever I am doing now...is not what I want to do in future.

And it's not ok for me to forgo university. A Mass Comm diploma can only get you so far, and most end up in press. A Mass Comm diploma cannot get you into creatives for advertising, or design companies.

There's only 3 related modules in Mass Comm, and that's Graphic Comm (year 1.1, aka my only AD so far), Advertising (year 2.1), and Advertising Creatives (year 3 elective). I don't know how good these will go towards trying for the advertising industry, but it certainly doesn't look like enough. Not to mention if I don't do well in Advertising next sem, there is no way I can take the Ad Creatives elective.

Yesterday, a classmate mentioned that if I really wanted to do design related stuff, I had to go apply for scholarships and try to get into a certain university (which I can't remember the name now). I'm not good at venturing into these things...and i've never applied for scholarships....and my grades are so bad.

I mentioned that I didn't think my grades were good enough, but he told me, "don't care, just go straight for it, apply until you get it", which is good advice coming from someone who strongly knows what he wants in life.

I feel so weak in comparison to all my peers.

最悪

2011-07-02T20:39:00.000+08:00

I feel awfully discouraged.

I don't like the feeling of being left hanging, I don't know what to do either.
but that stuff i've been able to deal with.

it's really school that makes everything worse to deal with.

It's very stressful for me now after what happened on thursday. Experienced a mix of anger, frustration, depression, irritation...and i'm not sure how to go on after having this kind of setback. Such a sudden onslaught of bad news. First that...that...grade which i've never seen before in my poly life... and then this current assignment in ruins. how am i supposed to fix this in a week, it's almost.....unfixable. God, please tell me what am I supposed to do. every time i start thinking about this assignment...

It's already july and next month is exams. I havent revised anything with the never-ending slew of assignments.

I don't want to brood about this, but I can't, I can't seem to move on, it's coming back every hour, every minute in my head. All my grades....I'm going to see....I might just kill myself if I get anything below my first sem's grade, and it's looking very possible at the moment.

I'm not good anything so I have to make up for it with my studies. If I can't even do school right, what's the point in living?

I'm forcing myself to push on, but can I really do this? I feel like I'm alone on this and no one understands....and even if anyone did, it's my assignments, my grades, my life. No one can help.

The reality is that I am all alone.

だけど現実は誰のテリトリー？

uber cute sensei

2011-07-01T23:13:00.000+08:00

It's been a looong time since I heard this song. I just happened to remember how much I loved this song when I was in sec 2 and went to find it..... One of the songs that I still remember from the time I was crazy over C-Pop.

----

Anyway today I had my first Basic Japanese class! It's just an elective module in Ngee Ann that I fought to get in since the places were so limited and everybody had to take one elective module. Might as well take one that would be enjoyable and not stress me more than my core modules. So yeah, it isn't an actual Japanese class where you'd take the JLPT at the end or anything xD

During break time sensei opened up her Jpop video folder and played PVs for us...Ikimonogakari, RADWIMPS, and the likes...I was just chilling till...
I SAW MEG'S PRECIOUS PV IN THE FOLDER.

My mouth literally gaped open and for a second I felt tears swelling in my eyes! D: Seriously, no kidding. I was so stunned because it's so hard to find people who know MEG in real life...Luckily I didn't cry or i'd have looked like a total idiot. After I had time to compose myself, I went and asked her... but she was like "oh....I only know one song! do you have song to recommend?" then I told her I owned MEG CDs and I could lend her . Sensei said "she is very beautiful!" quite a lot of times and I felt uber happy lol ;__;

-----

sigh, back to schoolwork. my newswriting and webdesign are REALLY screwed.

SDN~

2011-06-12T22:29:00.000+08:00

KATO MAMI FTWWWWWWW <3

SDN48's stage was seriously the best I've seen *__*

The energy was THROUGH THE ROOF. Their dance and vocal ability is like 10x more amazing than AKB's.

I love all of their stage songs!

And I got to tell Mamitan during the handshake that she's my SDN oshi <3

After everything, we went out to the bus bay to wait for them. When they appeared all of us shouted "Otsukaresama" and they were so surprised, it was cute...Mamitan gave me a look of recognition too.

And when they were on the bus I was outside the window next to Mamitan's seat. We did heart signs with our hands!! Took out my handphone and she posed for me in that picture above. Too bad my phone camera isn't the best.

Hope they come back soon because i'm suffering from serious concert withdrawal that never happened with AKB.

ルーキー

2011-06-09T00:19:00.000+08:00

I'm irritated.

I really dislike stressing NOW about some assignment due 2 months later. Especially when it's an assignment as rojak as this, nobody even cares if the eventual product doesn't have a focus. So I just really wanna get my current assignment done, heck cares if it doesn't "fit with the rest of the stories". If I can have a good story, I dont even care if it fits. I'm not being sloppy about my work here, I just don't see the point of trying for a focus now when the teacher is approving every single story we've written to go into our final project, and those stories are totally rojak together, alright?

"CDC newsletter is ridiculously useless newswriting practice."

Wish i could tell that to my teacher, but he's so nice, and i don't think it's his fault either. >_>

---

Yeah, so anyway I really wish to screw everything for the remaining days of the week since i've finished all my assignments due before the holidays. I just want to take a good mental break, but that's impossible lol cause the teacher wants a story idea by this week and i have to come up with something.

And then even before we go off into the holidays, we're informed of 5 deadlines. ;_____; And another test when we come back to school.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I feel like strangling those people who say that polytechnic life is relaxed. Okay, I won't disagree that it's fun IF you are doing the modules you like, and you have amazing friends. So for me, it is fun to some extent. (This sem doesn't really have any module I like.) But relaxed? I resent that opinion. I'm not really aiming anyone here, just saying in general because I get that feeling that people think i'm having a nice life because I'm in poly.

Anyway, gonna actually start some preliminary work for 3 of those 5 deadlines tomorrow. .__.

Can't wait til Friday's SDN concert. My mental break, yessss.

Kay, I feel better writing everything out. I really don't want to be irritated because the groupmate perpetuating the stress is a close friend I really like. And she's actually done nothing but affect me positively, since I'm working faster to keep up with her.
Still, I'm afraid i'll eventually break.

rookie - sakanaction

thinking.

2011-06-07T01:57:00.000+08:00

I was doing quite a lot of thinking on the bus ride home just now, i guess the fact that the bus was empty and that it was night time made it conducive for reflecting? Got a lot of things on my mind that made me uneasy and sad...sigh. So many regrets -__-

Anyway I've been thinking, not only today, that i'm still really socially awkward, lol. Makes me wonder why I'm in Mass Comm sometimes, i'm probably the most antisocial Mass Comm student ever. Whoever knew me in secondary school would have some grasp on why. It's so much better now because I started on a clean slate when I got to poly. Still, my awkwardness gets obvious from time to time. I still can't maintain eye contact for long periods of time when talking to people, I don't dare to say hi to people I've barely/never talked to, my waving is awkward as hell, I can't carry conversations with my classmates unless they're really close to me. :| I'm just scared of people ignoring/not responding to me.

So like, if I know you but I never ever say hi to you, sorry .___.
It might help if you say hi first.

bastards...

2011-05-28T21:12:00.006+08:00

everywhere.

I really do want to go for the show tomorrow, okay? I even casually asked if anyone could help me get tickets, so that if I made the last minute decision to, I could just get that person to help me buy first. Thinking about this rationally, the obvious solution would be not to go. But then nobody wants to let me make a rational decision. They're all acting as if I'm just making up excuses, being a hater, being a casual fan, etc. Really, I shouldn't have to answer to these people. But they make me so annoyed with their elitist self-righteousness.

I already explained to them that I'm low on cash due to overspending on CD orders and photos, and they act like they don't believe it. Fuck you, I'm not rich. I was honestly intending to just starve myself and heck it, but my parents got unhappy with my spending (they still dont know what I spend on) and temporarily took my ATM card away. Which leaves me with whatever I have in my wallet, and that's less than half of one ticket's price.

So what do you want me to do? Take out loans? Borrow money? I really hate borrowing money from others, and especially when it's for self-entertainment like a concert. Other people can borrow money from me all they want as long as I have the cash (sometimes I forget to ask them to return it or even how much they borrowed), but I would rarely ask from others. I rarely even ask for extra cash from my parents, outside of my allowance. It's not like they make that much, and they provide for my meals and a lot more. I'm not my sister, who constantly bugs my parents for more money and shouts at them when they don't give. Really, my family isn't well-off. I'd probably be less stressed about school if my mum isn't telling me "don't waste our money and go to uni". They don't think that I'll do well in uni and if I don't do well enough to make it to a local U, I won't be going to uni at all.

But that's digressing from the point. I also want to go for the SDN show more than AKB because it's something different. And if i were to go for both, I don't have long enough a "recovery period" for my wallet. So logically, I'd save up and go for the SDN one. But noooo, no one sees this point. They're like "just go for the AKB one, later then talk about the SDN one". wtf, seriously? You want me to starve five days a week in school?

It's not that I don't want to support AKB you know. But how many times are they coming now? I can't keep up to go every single time. Ultimately I think this is also going to cause problems for this entire AKB venture in Singapore. They need to come less often, otherwise people can't keep up, or worse, tire themselves of the group.

My other reason for not going would be my schoolwork. I hate "blocking out" long periods of time for "fun" when I have assignments to do. It already worries me that I won't complete my work in time due to my un-productivity rate. So I don't like to block time out in advance unless I know for sure I have enough time to complete it. And currently I'm just stuck on this web design assignment. I sure can do the fireworks wireframe, but write a 1200 word proposal on how to improve the existing site design? wtf. You ask me write news, sure. But all this crap is hard to explain without pictures.

A less strong reason for not going, is that Rie won't be there. Call me casual or whatever you want. I know AKB is still AKB and I like all of them. But when neither your favourite girl or any of the girls from your top 5 is coming, that nagging thought is going to be there no matter what. Watching them perform is really a lot of fun, but you don't have anyone to look out for and you don't really know which girl to look at. This was particularly apparent when Ayarin injured her leg and only ended up performing two songs. Those two songs were the ones I was screaming like mad, and the others, I didn't know where to look. In fact at the very start, one of the songs was supposed to be a double center song but only one girl was singing and standing in the center and there was an obvious hole in the dance formation. Upon realising Ayarin was meant to be there, I literally dropped my lightsticks. It made me really disappointed for a moment, but I picked up the lightsticks and continued waving them....for nobody.

Lastly, this isn't actually a reason for not going, it's more like a complaint since it's always going to be this way, but I can never get anywhere close to the stage because I have church until afternoon on sundays, and the 7pm people start queuing as early as 12pm. Luckily the SDN show will be on a Friday. Which is something I really look forward to.

I can't imagine anyone in my position would honestly say they would still go.

Don't be ridiculous! Why would you guilt-trip me with things like "you're a casual/hater" and tell me that i'll regret it? I know I'll regret it. I'll definitely regret missing AKB. But I'll regret more making a rash decision to go.

---

I got really agitated just now when my mum told me that there's some family dinner thing tomorrow. I mean, part of the reason I'm not going to AKB is because I want the time for schoolwork, and now you're telling me that free time is going to be taken up by some bloody dinner? No. Never. If I had that time free, I'd go for AKB. And I'm not. So don't expect me to go for that. I told them I won't go, and then they started getting all mad about it and commanded me to go. I was on the brink of tears when she stopped bothering to argue and declared I'd go no matter what. Thankfully, my dad said he won't be free and rescheduled the dinner to another day. So I'm calm(er) now.

Too much for one day.

I felt the need to write it out somewhere (and no one will probably read this so that's great). Now I really need to do my schoolwork.

微かなカオリ

2011-05-18T02:19:00.003+08:00

i must have gone crazy ._.
or maybe i'm getting a fever.

lol.

super distracted now
supposed to do work raaawrrhhh

ps. gantz is awesome prease watch it. nino is so cute ;_;
pps. 私の持論は人には必ず役目があるという事です。人それぞれに力や才能がありそれを最大限に発揮できる場所があると思います。XD

wp rally!

2011-04-30T16:27:00.004+08:00

I attended the WP Rally for Aljunied GRC last night at Serangoon Stadium! 8D The amount of people there were astonishing, I could've sworn it seemed like at least 100,000 people (although the news later reported 15,000). Haha.

You see the crowd? I wasn't even standing at the back or anything, I was squashed in the middle on the crowd, and you can already see how many people are in front.

My favourite speaker of the night had to be Png Eng Huat because he was really funny and entertaining.

"DO YOU FEEL SPECIAL!?"
lmao.
"When Mas Selamat escaped, the minister also escaped....from accountability!"

(Although one of my classmates did bring up that even if responsibility was taken for Mas Selamat and punishment was given, the details about who were involved and what was the punishment were probably not revealed on purpose. Once it gets out, all these people will "die". The govt may feel it does the right decision, but they need to explain to the people the rationale of keeping the info to themselves, otherwise the opp will keep harping on this. In short, I do agree the ruling party needs a lot more PR, they might feel something is good for the people, but the people don't understand why.)

The most inspirational speech would have been Pritam Singh's. He brought up important people like Goh Keng Swee, to audience cheers. He also used football analogies like "If Wayne Rooney does not play for Manchester United, does Manchester United collapse?" Crowd: "NO!!!!" and stuff like how Liverpool was recovering (a crowd member shouted "But still suck!" and my friend who's a Liverpool supporter had a pissed-off look XD)

It was kind of sad the WP "prize catch" Chen Show Mao didn't speak more. Me and my friend had heard from one of our lecturers of how great an orator he was and he could speak English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil and even Teochew. Low Thia Khiang had amazing support from the crowd and he made good points about the GRC system, as did Sylvia Lim ("Why don't we ask the voters in Kaki Bukit who have not moved house for 25 years but have been kicked around from Eunos GRC to Marine Parade and now Aljunied?").

Some of the interesting things among the crowd were people setting down plastic sheets on the ground so they could sit and many people had food and drinks in plastic bags. It was also nice that the people let others share the plastic sheets to sit on. One old woman who couldn't stand for long was offered a place on the mat.

Crowd response was amazing, there were chants of "WORKERS' PARTY! WORKERS' PARTY!" between every speaker. One particular passionate guy shouted "We want change!". There was also response to the PAP policies brought up and the crowd chanted "Kelong!" Oh yeah and there were these two humorous posters, one "Mahboro" poster with a poison symbol on it, and one "Sedap!" poster with Milo logo replaced with "MyLOW"(Thia Khiang). Everyone laughed upon seeing the Mahboro poster when it was raised the first time.

Opposition rally is really eye-opening. You get to hear how they fight against current policies and attacking the PAP's words. The ruling party rallies will just be about more policies they are going to implement, which is probably why much less people turn up for a PAP rally. It's not because they have significantly less support; it's because it's not very interesting.

Anyway the crowd was really huge. Me and my friend came from Serangoon MRT, planning to hop onto a bus to the stadium, but then saw all the buses to the stadium were full and there was a long line of people walking to the stadium so we joined the line. We didnt even know where the stadium was, but the amazing long line helped. When we reached the traffic junction, there was more people waiting to cross the road than the space available at the junction. The time that the traffic light turned green for us was also too short, too many people at one go caused half the crowd to be still crossing when the cars were going to start moving. You can imagine how bad traffic was.

When we were on our way home, the situation was even worse, but this time there was like 8 traffic police controlling the traffic. You know what was fun? At one point too many people were at the junction and the police shouted "直接 cut across!" and we dashed across diagonally the junction! Like freaking Shibuya crossing! IT WAS ALL LEGAL TOO, LOL. (The road to the MRT was on the diagonal opposite side of where we came from.)

Okay anyway this is a really long post and i'll cut off here. I have to start on my web site critique assignment due next week >_>

i feel the need to kill someone

2011-04-12T18:46:00.002+08:00

Today;

[5.50pm] fucking got home from the dentist in time before the rain started pouring

[6:00pm] Msg from sister: "Come down to busstop with umbrella in 15min to fetch me"

[6:03pm] Me: "I just got home and my mouth is pain like hell. Go wait for the rain to stop."

[6:04pm] Msg: "Impossible. Come down and deliver the umbrella."

[6:06pm] groans in fucking pain, grabs two umbrellas and gets out.

[6:08pm] wtf is this bloody rain omg my shorts are completely soaked even though i'm holding an umbrella. mouth in excruciating pain.

[6:15pm] finally fucking reaches busstop like an idiot, dont see anyone

[6:16pm] Msg: "I got umbrella alr"

I wasted half an hour going to the bus stop and back, in HEAVY RAIN, and fucking pain in my mouth.
My mouth is still numb, my gums are in pain. And i've no idea how to take my antiviral drugs and painkillers because I can't swallow tablets for my life.

uhm, hi.

2011-03-28T19:54:00.002+08:00

Uhm..hi. So i've not been here for the longest time even though it's my holidays. Idk i'm getting less and less to blog about because I WRITE EVERYTHING ON TWITTER NAU. Truth. XD

I'm thinking what else I could possibly blog about.

urhhh...soo.....this is awkward.

Ok, I'll probably come back to blog when i have something really lengthy to say.

earthquake.

2011-03-14T01:57:00.002+08:00

Today I finally felt turning 18 was a good thing. Because only those 18 or older can donate.

Donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society through Google is now possible with debit/credit card. I didn't hesitate when I saw the link.

Albeit what I've donated was a small sum, a mere 2000 yen. But i'm sure at this point, every cent counts.

I'm not going to stop there either. I've canceled some CD orders since who the fk needs CDs at this point of time? I am also planning to bank in my Chinese New Year money so that I can use the money for donation, an idea inspired by a friend. (as a sidenote, I am touched how my friends didnt hesitate to donate when I told them about the Google-RedCross link.) I originally never banked the CNY money in so that I'd have a lot of loose cash to spend. But now I know where it will go. I'm going to cut all spending from now on.

I really want to help Japan as much as I can. It's not only because Japan feels close to me and for many people who love the country and culture. Reading all the stories have really touched me. The devastation is wide. And there's several disasters going on. Yet the Japanese people remain strong. My respect for them is huge.

#prayforjapan

(ps. I am just writing down my thoughts. I'm not intending to show off that i'm a kind soul or other things. anyway, it's not like my blog is popular. if anything, I hope someone would be inspired to donate through reading my thoughts.)

hello

2011-02-26T00:14:00.001+08:00

I realised I last posted in January. oops.

oh well.

happy birthday to me.

gotta go study .__. there be no celebrating til my exam is over

update

2011-01-29T23:19:00.005+08:00

yeah okay I failed to deliver the post I should have made on the 27th -__-

I got too busy ._. I kinda suspected i'd forget to write that post and I did. I'm so stressed I don't even know what I'm writing. I have a ton of stuff to design and it's filming day plus reunion dinner tomorrow it's been kind of screwy. Scrambled today to get actors last minute because our actors keep backing out and everyone got kind of annoyed. I begged pretty hard for actors but whatever we managed to get who we needed for tomorrow so we can take a breather for now.
Tomorrow's a full filming day which is kind of annoying me because everyone else doesnt have church but I do and I'm the only one having reunion dinner this early and not on wednesday so Im going to end up missing out on the filming which is like arghhhh I want to be filming too. fml
I'm so close to another breakdown zzzz

So anyway the celebratory post for my phone's first anniversary will be delayed -_-;

And I present to you a screenshot of my deadlines instead.

I kind of dread the days coming but I also dread ending my first year ;_;
I really love my mass comm class :( I dont know how to put it but there's like those typical MCM hiao ppl in other classes but my class is so awesome and is the right balance imo. I really wish we could stay in the same class ._.

But at least I'm going for the school Melaka trip with my friendsss in march!! so amazing ;_;

okay end post. (spent 6min typing here, back to design work)

PANIC MODE: ON.

kyouka suigetsu

2011-01-25T20:28:00.005+08:00

omg Buono! is back \o/

Zassou no Uta is like damn awesome ;-; One of the rarer songs that I like on the first listen. Gosh, I missed Buono!....it's been a year since their last release. I am going to order the single right now, throwing it in together with my order for all 3 limited edition types of Not Yet's (AKB subunit with Rie) single.

This song is weed. Literally.

(see what I did there? no? go check out the title of the song)

I'm actually eating dinner as I'm posting this. Time is so precious nowadays ;-; I just finished a AKB48 drama post for MNM which needs to be vetted, and I've got marcom gracom and webgra stuff to finish by tomorrow. I'm killing myself over for being more proficient at design than the rest, since design takes up a huge chunk of the work, but at least I get to do the fun designing stuff rather than boring powerpoints and typing. :/

And also, locvid is taking up the biggest chunk of time nowadays. It's just kind of ughhhh. It's hard to find actors(let alone really good ones) and good locations for filming. Today the lecturer showed us a final project from last sem which discouraged me loads because I loved their script and actors plus their awesome filming locations (I have no idea how the hell they got a cake shop, a bungalow and AN ACTUAL WAREHOUSE). Gosh. Makes you kind of hate your life for not having team mates with huge houses? (myself included).

I end with another music video. This song is also terribly awesome XD The lyrics are so uhm, cheem and the music is just really nice. The singer has a pretty unique voice which didn't appeal to me on first listen, but the more I listened to it, the more I loved it and I realised her voice quality suits the song perfectly.

Kyouka Suigetsu.

miCKun is actually the solo artist name of miyake from mihimaru GT. Maika is a relatively new singer.
Kyouka Suigetsu is actually a Japanese idiom so there's no quick and easy translation. I had to google it because I didn't know what it meant other than the literal meaning (mirror flower water moon). The idiom is all kinds of cheem. It means something fleeting, you can see it but there's no substance and you can't feel it. No words can describe it. The idiom has been used in many poetry books and literature. It was originally likened to a flower reflected in the mirror and a moon reflected on water. Thus "kyouka suigetsu". This might be like my new favourite word of the year or something.

Okay that's all for now, see you in 2 days. (there's gonna be a small post to commemorate my mobile phone's 1st birthday lololol)

new URL!

2011-01-17T23:20:00.002+08:00

This site now haz a new URL! :3

http://sayonarano.kanashibari.jp

AWESOME URL IS AWESOME :3

hehs.

Okay that's my *cheat* update for the week. luls.

(the old standard blogspot url will still link here. the new domain is just configured to redirect here, but from now on i be linking to here by the new url)

tigermame

2011-01-12T01:32:00.003+08:00

Short random post for the sake of updating >_> feel too guilty letting this place die.

Seems like I'm always taking photos of stuff I find interesting so it's pretty good for posting.

TIGERMAME :D
omgg <3 *huggles*

my friend gave it to me. so awesum.

--------

You'd probably be thinking "Eh, what's this?"

..

Yeah well, it's that MRT power box thingy by the side of cabins. I don't know why I've never noticed it before but I happened to be standing at a nice spot to look at that one time. And I noticed the square buttons would light up according to the words underneath (stuff like "Train volt", "Power current", "Brake").....after sometime I could see how the train worked. It was pretty fascinating. Like when the "power current" is lit, you'll feel the train speed up. :3

Okay, i'm retarded or whatever. I was throroughly entertained staring at that power box throughout that trip. Now every time I take the train I try to get a spot good for looking at it. XD

---------

^ I saw this at a clothes shop, it somehow looked awfully familiar so I snapped a shot of it so I could check. Much later, I realised why:

It looked like Tokyo Girls' Style member Arai Hitomi's outfit for Kirari.

-------------

Now working on a layout, AKB Beginner-inspired. :3 It's looking pretty good so far but there's a lot of code to work through. Don't actually know if i'll use it because I like background-repeat layouts like this current one that allow all the info to be displayed at one shot. The one i'm working on is a scrolling-box kind that have buttons to navigate. The thing about this kind of layout is that putting all my widgets within one of the "pages" becomes terribly irritating and there's no actual place to put it :(
Maybe outside the background image? But that's kind of ...awkward-looking. oh well. Maybe i'll just submit it to blogskins and leave it there. I haven't submitted a skin in a year.

------

I'm suddenly free enough to do this, it scares me. I want to do all my work early and relax later, not the other way around ._. But with everything being group projects you can't really do everything since you need to coordinate with the group, so...i'm free-er for now.

----

JAPANESE KARAOKE ON SATURDAY. :3
BEGINNAAAAAAAAAAR

omg so looking forward. I've not done karaoke since 4-5 months ago.

----

Back to checking stage48 mafia game D: yes I play forum mafia games nau. it's too addictive.

yoyaku shita christmas

2010-12-27T00:32:00.005+08:00

FINAAAAAAAAALLY

GOTTEN RID OF AP. ZOMG

yessssssh. (AP isn't the initials of someone I hate. AP = Adapted Project, aka the filming/editing project I was going back to school for to do during holidays ._.)

Now only left WEBGRAAAAAAA \o\

The sky through the small glass part of the roof in NP, next to the library.

Yeah I took it while we were filming the last scene in that area.

Wally Olins - On Brand.

I like wanted to borrow this home cuz it was really interesting but it's a reference book and not for loan :(

-Christmas-

the turkey during Christmas dinner, among other great food.

I'm not posting the rest of the pictures I got cuz I don't want to reveal too much D: I'm still scared of some people somehow finding my blog.

After the dinner I was bored so I went downstairs alone(so antisocial right? but I don't really have anything to say to them) and I grabbed my cousin's Togepi .__.

...and started singing in an act-cute voice: "Togepi no koto shirimasu ka?"

~"shirimasen!"~

"Togepi wa kawaii, chiisai, fushigi na tamago desu."
And then I'd repeat the process and come up with another fairly retarded reply like: "Togepi wa gurando piano ga suki!"(thus the resulting picture)

I'll leave it to you to find out what imbecilic things I was saying. Yeah I never grow up when it comes to soft toys(or anything else, for that matter).

-----

きたりえ三角チョコパイが大好き。あたしも食べたい！
Rie loves the triangular chocopie at McDonalds' and she hopes it to be on the regular menu. She's blogged about it twice! I want to eat it too, except Singapore's McDonalds' doesn't have this ._.
Further investigation reveals....IT'S ONLY 100 YEN. wtf. I want it.

Japan's McDonalds' are so nice. They had like limited burgers a while back, which all looked tasty but right now I only remember there was a Carbonara Burger. So much win. :(

----
パフパフ。Q10 is a great drama. I like Renbutsu Misako ;_;

threesixzero

2010-12-22T15:54:00.002+08:00

This is super cool!!
360 degree video, so amazing.

Also, that video's of the Mysteryland music festival in Holland. I kind of want to attend that. It's like all techno music. ♥

★

Lagging behind really badly for MEG's blog translations...

------

I have to finish up my locvid project stuff to hand up tomorrow, and then there's web design due when school reopens.
Although I do really actually enjoy web design. Photoshop is fun and like I'm so accustomed to it already so this module is easy for me.

Locvid is like. omg. >_> SO MUCH WORK. For a bloody 3 minute short film(after edits), we took like 14 hours over 2 days to film. Continuity is a bastard. But we had fun filming.

The not-so-fun part was going back to school on Monday at 8am on a holiday to return the equipment, do a first edit draft, and show it to the teacher for consultation. Sounds pretty breezy, but the consultation part? We waited outside the room before 1pm, the stipulated consultation starting time. And then the teacher came late, passed a piece of paper for filling up group slots, and for some fricking reason we ended up 5th to consult on the list even though we were the second group there.
So my group went up to Attic to waste time because we had to wait for 1 and a half hours til our turn at 2:30pm. I was terribly tired and sleep deprived so I switched on all the aircons, dragged 2 huge beanbags to a corner, plugged in my earphones, and plopped myself on the beanbags and threw my jacket over myself. It was awesomely comfortable, lol.
After that my group mates called me up because it was our turn, so we headed downstairs again, only to find....the second group on the list was STILL inside the room consulting. And then my group mates all got frustrated and angry because we had been waiting so long (also I think partially because they didnt have enough sleep either, and I was kind of nonchalant about the whole thing because I had got to sleep. :P)
So the thing like delayed and delayed and everybody was swearing like mad. I was just sitting there revising in my head the dance steps for Aitakatta. I'm serious. I was practically itching to dance it right there. Finally after pestering the teacher a few times we got our turn....at 3:30pm iirc. *shakes head*
And then we learnt of our mistakes of filming ;__; Awwwww dammit. All that effort and we get marked down for crossing the 180 degree conversation line!! None of us realised it at all :(

Oh well.
And back to school tomorrow, on a holiday, to pass up our project.

forbidden post

2010-12-13T18:40:00.002+08:00

I shouldn't actually be posting right now because tomorrow is Marcomm test.

But as I figure, posting is infinitely more productive than falling asleep while reading my notes. I have been trying to study for the past 6 hours but been doing nothing but falling asleep. I swear.

I am so frustrated by everything. Yes, everything. I don't even want to talk about what happened over the weekend.

I'm such a failure at life. I'm probably going to fail Marcomm tomorrow. (Not webgra though. That one's too easy.)

And after that, there's Medsoc which I've hardly started to study, but I think i'm more familiarized with that so it's okay.....

Arghhh Marcomm.

Happy stuff anyone?

I finally have my fantastic Perfume Tokyo Dome parka, Nee, Chance no Junban, AKB48 wafers with photo cards, Rie Beginner BLT and my Rie calendar. Yes, I paid for ALL OF THAT in the last week. I swear, my parents will kill me when they see my bank account.

MY RIE CALENDAR IS BEAUTIFUL IDASGFSLKFV. Rie, why didn't you come to Singapore? Your biggest fan here is cutting wrists and banging heads...of other people. :3

The calendar is frickin big. It just explodes in your face. It's size B2(50cm x 70.7cm). I don't even have anything else in that paper size. Sharing a few shots of it~

Cover

May & June

Nov & Dec

Back to failstudying.

失敗者にゃ。

And I'm lagging behind on translating MEG's blog. Dammit. I failed again.

akb48 stage48 voting

2010-11-28T22:59:00.002+08:00

STAGE48 ANNUAL POLLS UP! xD

my votes:

Subject: S48 Best Setlist 2010 (Voting Period: 11/26~12/10)

01. Locker Room Boy (+10)
02. Sayonara no Kanashibari (+9)
03. Choose me! (+8)
04. Sakura no Shiori (+7)
05. Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou (+6)
06. RIVER (+5)
07. Beginner (+5)
08. Heart gata Virus (+4)
09. Tsundere! (+4)
10. Tobenai Agehachou (+4)
11. Endroll (+3)
12. Hikoukigumo (+3)
13. Tegami no Koto (+3)
14. 10nen Zakura
15. Nageki no Figure
16. Kimi to Niji to Taiyou to
17. Only today
18. Switch
19. Saishuu Beru ga Naru
20. Tadaima Renaichuu (+3)
21. Arashi no Yoru ni wa (+2)
22. Seishun no Inazuma (+2)
23. Jibun Rashisa
24. Inseki no Kakuritsu
25. Chime wa Love Song
26. Renai Kinshi Jourei
27. Oogoe Diamond
28. Nusumareta Kuchibiru
29. Junjou Shugi
30. Jealousy no Alibi (+2)
31. Kurumi to Dialogue (+1)
32. Rakuen no Kaidan (+1)
33. Iiwake Maybe
34. CANDY
35. Yoyaku Shita Christmas
36. BINGO!
37. Pioneer
38. Boku dake no value
39. Tane
40. Inochi no Tsukaimichi
41. Pajama Drive
42. Shinkirou
43. 100meter Conbini
44. Suki Suki Suki
45. Bird
46. Faint
47. Kimi ni Tsuite
48. Kimishika (+1)

--------
It was damn hard to choose 48 songs out of the 410 songs by AKB and related D:
--------

Subject: AKB48 Member of the Year 2010 - Nov 23 to Dec 7

01. Kitahara Rie (+15)
02. Sato Natsuki (+10)
03. Kojima Haruna (+8)
04. Oba Mina (+7)
05. Takahashi Minami (+6)
06. Takayanagi Akane (+5)
07. Sato Sumire (+4)
08. Kikuchi Ayaka (+3)
09. Matsubara Natsumi (+2)
10. Umeda Ayaka (+1)

----
This was much easier as I had some clear favourites, and also voted for some deserving(imo) girls.
----

....back to work.

;_;

2010-11-27T00:53:00.004+08:00

29 Nov: IS S/W Presentation
29 Nov: IS JS graded in-class assignment
2 Dec: LOCVID submit edited video
3 Dec: PRMACO interim presentation powerpoint slides
3 Dec: WEBGRA practice assignment due
5 Dec: PRMACO Test (5%)
10 Dec: GRACOM deadlines (25% + 25%)
14 Dec: PRMACO Common Test (30%)
15 Dec; WEBGRA Dreamweaver Test (5%)
16 Dec: MEDSOC Debate (15%)
17 Dec: PRMACO interim presentation (5%)

if you can kill me now. please do.

---
Addicted to this song

I'm hanging in there, don't you see
In this process of elimination

nee shitteru?

2010-11-21T22:02:00.003+08:00

Amidst all the work I've been getting, I had time on Friday to watch Harry Potter, because webgra had a test in the morning instead of tutorial in the afternoon. (The test was pretty relaxing too, since it's like on Photoshop lol.)

I met one of my friends earlier before the movie, wandered around CityHall/Suntec area for a bit, and then went to find the bubble tea shop Nacchi and Mariyannu bought from when they were here for AFA X. *__*

Nacchi with the bubble tea

Mine (lol i didnt rmb to take a photo until I nearly finished)

Then we went into the arcades and found mameshibas.
My friend managed to catch that from those UFO catcher machines in arcades on his first try. ;__;

Mameshiba~

He stuffed it in his bag initially then I was like, why you hide it, carry it lah. Then he really carried it around lololol. So epic I couldn't stop laughing.

And Harry Potter was pretty great. :D
Can't wait for the last part .__.

So anyway I've been really busy. No wonder they say this is the "no life" semester.
Ughh, depressing...how will I be able to stalk AKB for the upcoming STGCC if I'm buried in work?
No, that isn't a really pressing concern actually...the serious concern is with my assignments, I feel like so unprepared and not ready for all this. We havent even learnt all that much or had the time to familiarize ourselves with the new modules, yet we have been given all these things to do and are expected to be able to do them well. I don't know if it's just me who feels like that; maybe i'm just stupid.
And there's 2 deadlines on 10 december(which happens to be the day AKB comes). One for logo design and another for 3 postcard designs with a container. There's less than 20 days left. It's not even just the design either. But we have to print those out besides burning them to discs, and then spray mount them and pack them nicely. And right now, I'm still struggling with the logo design. I haven't started on the postcards. Kill me nau pl0x.

ichi tasu ni wa n nacchi

2010-11-13T20:06:00.004+08:00

my entire body is like aching now because i went full out cheering and jumping and waving lightsticks during the concert. especially my right arm, omg (/_-)

i apologize for any spelling mistakes and the lack of capital letters because i am too lazy to press the shift button. even this post looks annoying to myself because i dislike reading all small letters.

this is quite bad. i have like several assignments to do.
and if i want to continue stalking activities in the akb december event, i will have to do these assignments early.

without further ado i present you the shortest summary i can do of the events and happenings in the past 4 days.

AKB48 in Singapore

9th nov night
through the girls' blogs, we found out they would be flying off the next day to sg. got additional info via japanese fans as well and we narrowed down the list of flights we had from narita to singapore. since we couldn't totally narrow down, groups of people split for camping at the airport the next day, starting from late morning. it was very last minute but people were willing to sacrifice their time and any other plans they had.

10th nov
as I had class in the day, i was not able to join the airport camping early. i was even contemplating whether to go to the airport altogether, because after school i would be tired, and changi airport is crazy far. plus we don't know for sure that we'll catch them.
however, during the lecture, i went checking on the girls' blogs again, and this time they had posted at various times of 8am to 10am sg time about being at narita airport and flying off. so by this time i figured they would be arriving in the evening(there were only 3 flights coming in the evening, which were at 5.30pm onwards) , and i should go to the airport to catch them.
since school ended at 1pm, i had time to leisurely grab lunch and then leave for the airport. got there at 3.30pm to find sgp48 ppl sitting around at mcdonald's making signs and banners or touching them up. i was still pretty pessimistic about whether we would be able to catch them.
eventually around 4.30pm or so, we sent people to scout the terminals for barriers since whenever important ppl come, barriers would be put up around that gate. true enough, we found barriers at terminal 2 gate 32. we packed up our signs and stuff and booked our places at the barriers around 5pm.
the waiting got even more exciting when i started spotting AFA staff with cameras in black at the back and staring at us fans who were mostly decked out in the pink akb48 x singapore fanmade tee.
at 5.35pm the flight had landed, but the girls had yet to appear. after a wait of around 15 minutes, screams were heard. across the glass, the girls were seen walking towards the luggage claim area! they looked pretty shocked to see so many fans. some of the girls were wearing masks. they spent some time getting their luggages. some of the girls came closer to the glass that separated us and we started screaming even louder. some fans got photographed by their oshimen because of the signs they were holding.
I was holding a Nacchi sign on one hand and Ayarin sign on the other. Both of them saw my signs and waved to me, unfortunately having no hand free mean i had trouble waving back. Nacchi looked very excited when she saw my sign and waved hard, and then blew a kiss xD

photo wasnt taken by me, this was nacchi's reaction to my sign. oh ayarin is in the background coincidentally

Finally they got out of the luggage area and walked to the barricaded area and the fans went even wilder screaming and trying to pass letters. My friend managed to pass one directly to Mayuyu and she said thank you. Nacchi passed by and reached out and SHE TOUCHED MY HAND OMG OMG OMG *faint*
Then the fans moved outside the airport entrance where the bus was waiting because the girls had gone into the bus. The bus stayed there for about 10 minutes before moving off so we had plenty of interaction. It was an amazing experience....AND I DID THE 1+2=N NACCHI THING TO NACCHI AND SHE DID IT BACK TO ME OMGGGGG.
ohyeah, i have like this video taken by my friend of me posing in front of ayarin in the bus, and also with nacchi. ;___;
After they moved off, we sgp48 people had dinner together and were quite high as we talked about what we "achieved". There were others who cabbed and followed the bus, and so we found out the hotel they stayed at.

11th nov
I had class from 9am to 6pm while the other sgp48 people stalked the girls the entire day, starting in the morning following their coach bus out of their hotel to the merlion to marina bay sands and to suntec for rehearsal. They lost them at dinner time, which was the time i was finally done and heading to meet the stalking team :/
Instead of finding AKB, I saw SCANDAL and angela and etc in a chinese restaurant near the hotel where all AFA guests were putting up at. SCANDAL totally looked different with like caps and spectacles, lol.
Kasai blogged about having dinner at a japanese restaurant, and so we went on a mad hunt for akb in nearby areas, but the search came up empty. I had to leave at around 10pm so wasnt able to wait back at the hotel for them, but the other fans did, and got to interact a bit with them :(

12th nov
CONCERT DAY.
Extremely excruciating wait I had to endure in school. I couldnt go to the press conference because of school, and I didnt get to listen in on the COOL JAPAN forum either because I only got out of class at 5:15pm(actually class was to end at 6pm and i would have to cab, but i had requested for the teacher to end on time, and he was really nice and ended early omg).

When I reached the venue, there were tons of fans waiting outside preparing lightsticks and stuff! it was amazing. Since I had a seated ticked at like 3rd row, i didnt bother queuing to get in, just waited for everyone to get in.

After getting in, we started getting out stuff and all. I noticed my green lightstick started leaking and i had to put it away, leaving me with one lightstick, kind of sad. Also, some random chants and shouts were going on in the background.

We waited about 15 min before overture started playing. Yes, I did the wotagei chants and stuff. What's the point going to an AKB concert if you're just gonna stand there silently?

Set List

00. overture

This was epic. Everybody started getting high. And we managed to do the entire overture MIX without hiccups.

01. RIVER

O.M.G. MY FAVOURITE AKB SONG EVER TO START IT OFF. SO AWESOME. They did the full RIVER!!!!! Usually they perform the short version, but omg! \o/ MY DREAM OF SHOUTING "RIVER!!!" WITH THEM CAME TRUE!

02. Oogoe Diamond

Unexpected because it was so sudden, lol. But ohmahgawd awesome still. I love shouting the "SUKI!" part. <3

03. Aitakatta

Classic song, must be included. I waved desperately during the waving parts but none of the girls waved back to me. My other friends managed to get eye contact from the girls.....(apparently the side seats are better than center block seats, as I find out, because the girls in the center dont look to the audience, but those at the side try to make eye contact with the audience). :/ I was already sweating hard by this point as I was going all out.

MC

This was very cute. The girls trying to introduce themselves in english was LOL. Japanese really like to use the word "enjoy"; "I am very enjoy, are you enjoy?" (during the actual AFA, ALL 3 SIDE B ANISON SINGERS said "enjoy" too! lmao) However, some of them struggled a bit too much and reverted to japanese xD

04. Pajama Drive (Nakagawa, Watanabe, Katayama) [short ver]

Units! Omg. They came in with the pajama outfits, along with the hard starting beats of Pajama Drive, it was so overwhelming. Seeing units being performed is the absolute bomb.

05. CANDY (Komori, Kasai, Sato A) [short ver]

Whoa, I love this song even more now... The alternative CANDY outfits are so cute...

06. Kimi wa Pegasus (Akimoto, Sato N, Miyazawa, Iwasa) [short ver]

NACCHI!!!!!! AAHHHHHH!!! SO AWESOME THIS UNIT. Pegasus ftw.

MC

Short MC....and we figured there were no more units. Pity....not all of them managed to do a unit ;__;

07. 10nen Zakura [short ver]

ahhhhhhhh~ <3 Yay for this being performed. I still love it so much.

08. Iiwake Maybe

Iiwake is always performed nowadays so no surprise. It was awesome to shout to, though. I kept switching hands for the glowsticks by this point as my arms got really tired being up all the time and waving.

09. Hikoukigumo

When the music for Hikouki started, I was alarmed, because AKB usually uses Hikouki as their last song. It was a sign that the concert was ending. ;__; Nevertheless, I gave this song my all, I jumped throughout the entire song and waved my glowsticks hard(I didnt have the hikouki cloth like the indonesians had). This ended up being the most enjoyable song of the night for me.

10. Heavy Rotation

We saw the girls bring mic stands in. Sayaka then announced this would be the last song. Everyone went "noooooooooooooo"....it was really too short and not enough songs :( However, it was also a fun song as we shouted "I WANT YOUUUUUUUUUU I NEED YOUUUUUUUUU I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU" along with them.

ENCORE

Encore call started as soon as the last girl disappeared from the stage. Way too early., as we had to keep it up for quite long. Also, people were shouting "encore" in different ways... "ANKOORU" was what I shouted, the Japanese way...then other people were shouting "ANKOOOR", "ONCOOOR" "ONCOORU" and "ENCOOOR". :/ This was the part that strained my voice so much that I got a sore throat.

11. Beginner [short ver]

OMGWTFBQQAWESOMEASHELL. I was so looking forward to this. Beginner!!!! YAAAAAAAH

12. Ponytail to Shushu

I got cheated, nearly thought they might be singing Sakura no Shiori, but lol, shouldve expected Ponyshu since the stalking group heard this song being rehearsed the day before. Still, really great. They popped the confetti too. I stole one of the paper strands xD.

...
...

After the concert, we ran to the coach bay at the back of Suntec.

We saw the bus going off from Suntec carpark about 15-20min after the concert. At first it looked like a tourist bus, but someone spotted Sayaka in there lul. Then we broke off into groups for taxi to the airport. By a stroke of luck, on the way we passed by their bus. We took a chance by going to T2 (it was the later of 2 possible ANA flights, the earlier one would have meant T3). And then we got so excited when we saw the bus turning into T2 as well. We got off the taxi and waited for awhile and they finally got off the bus and we stood from a short distance to wave. They spent only a couple minutes walking through the hall and waving back at us, went straightaway to the check-in! I think they wanted to avoid too many fans crowding so check in like 3 hours before their flight time...

And Nacchi recognised me during the airport sendoff! I'm so happy~

Spent 1hr 30min getting from airport to Bukit Panjang omg. Yeah, i didnt go home. I stayed over at Perrine's house instead because it was already past midnight. My parents wouldve killed me.

13th nov
suffering from AKB withdrawal ;___;

fan recordings from youtube (videoing wasnt actually allowed :/)

---
anime festival asia ~~tomorrow~~ later with tabitha.

10 more days

2010-11-02T23:07:00.003+08:00

warning: AKB overload post.

music:

10 days left to AKB48 live~! omg so excited. Counting down makes my heart pump faster xD
I cannot wait, this is going to be so awesome ;__;

*hyperventilates*

So apparently they still haven't confirmed who will be coming, but it's okay, i'm pretty much fine with any member except one yeah. Imagine if Rie came. Actually the chances of her coming are pretty high. She's the only AKB girl to have gone overseas every single time AKB has an overseas event. I hope it continues ;_; Can't be so shuai until it so happens Singapore will be the one time she doesn't follow overseas. *facepalm*

I made sure to comment on Rie's posts very often and every of those comments would have something like "please come to Singapore" in addition to regular comments. I even wrote it in English once, in hope that it would stand out. I know that Rie probably isn't reading these comments, but if staff see it it's good enough and I hope the message gets through ;__;

There's 2 chances for her to come. There's the STGCC in December. Omg yes prease. Meet-the-fans session, do want handshake and AUTOGRAPH. Dammit, I even commented on today's post that I bought her solo calendar and wanted her to sign it.

-----

Been hooked on Beginner all week. I've watched every performance they've done on Japanese music shows: Music Fair, MUSIC JAPAN, Music Station, Domoto Kyoudai(RIE WAS ABSENT IN DOMOTO KYOUDAI GAHH) etc. The hoodies are just freaking awesome.
And in every performance I was looking for Rie. It's becoming increasingly obvious they're not pushing Rie as much anymore. ;__;
I attribute this to the elections. She had been very pushed in Sakura no Shiori, with probably the most screentime in the PV after Acchan. In Ponytail no Shushu, she was on the FRONT cover for Type B(she had been in back covers for RIVER and SakuShio). Then came the elections, her position had slid to 16th, and then in Heavy Rotation PV you couldn't see a frickin non-media senbatsu and her position was too low to make it to any covers, back or front. And now we have Beginner. Thank goodness she's still popular enough to make it into Beginner. It's a 16-member senbatsu too, so everyone's on the covers, everyone appears on music programs(unless they have something else on). I fear the day where Rie doesnt make senbatsu anymore. She's not even in the Official AKB48 Calendar for 2011. Sasshi had ranked at 19th but got into the calendar, because now they're pushing Sasshi in realisation that her popularity has been growing fast. Well, I don't hate Sasshi, in fact she's my 4th favourite girl in AKB and she's Rie's best friend, but still, seeing people pushed over your oshimen hurts.

Anyway, back to Beginner.

This particular part at the back is my favourite part of the song.

雨は止んだ　風は止んだ　見た事のない　光が差すよ　今が時だ　君は生まれた変わったBeginner!

---------

And then there's this nagging issue about the concert coming up. I have tutorial til 6pm on that day, and the concert is 7pm onwards(doors open 6.30). Initially, before the sem started I was very set on skipping that class. Now I really don't want to skip the class. There's a project for that module coming up, and the groups will probably be formed on THAT day. It's going to be a major disadvantage not turning up.
However, if I turn up for class, there's very little chance I can leave the tutorial early because NP is so strict now. Then I would have to take a taxi down to Suntec at a friggin expensive price(Peak Hour surcharge + Central Business District surcharge). Money is one thing, the other is the unpredictability of traffic jams. If I am late, I will start to strangle people or something. Frickin once in a lifetime. I just can't be late.

So screwed. So screwed. What the hell should I do.

EDIT: It's past 12am!
TODAY'S THE DAY. PERFUME AT TOKYO DOME. ;___;
Heard the concert is 4 hours long, lucky people going are lucky.

SCHOOL ga hajimaru yo!

2010-10-24T21:59:00.002+08:00

And so, school starts tomorrow. Oh gosh.

Anyway I got my AKB48 ticket. Category A - $88. aka the most expensive category. There was a long queue on Saturday morning outside 313, because the ticket sales start at 10am at HMV in 313.
Apparently, a few people actually camped overnight. I wasn't expecting so many people and was shocked lol. I got there at 8.15am, the queue had already about 60 people. It's actually quite a lot because really, in Singapore, you would think hardly anybody knows AKB! By the time it was 930am, there's like 110 people. Yeah. Lucky for my friend who was in the queue by 6am, otherwise I would never have gotten such a good seat.

C18.

:D

For the uninitiated, that's 3rd row from the stage, middle block. Which is very good. :3

Oh well, for the time being I will stop fangirling, because of school. It's time to turn my focus to something else!

nee, nee, asu wa doko ni ikou kana?

2010-10-22T01:01:00.012+08:00

WARNING: LONG POST IS LONG.

music: Nee (Radio Rip) - Perfume

ねえ　ねえ　ねえ　ねえ　明日はどこに行こうかな？
Hey hey hey hey, where are you going tomorrow?

That's actually a line from "Nee" which had the full played on radio as a pre-release preview for the first time 4 hours ago. In the song, they're singing about love. But I am going to take it out of context here, and use it as a start for this post about camp.

Because "where are you going tomorrow" can really just mean "where are you aiming to go in the future? what are you trying to achieve in life?" And I think that was really an important point of the camp for me. I still have no answers to that, but this camp has spurred me to find out what I really want to do, instead of "wondering wandering"(camp joke).

I really loved this camp, everything was frickin fantastic. Amazing right? The day where I finally can truly say I loved a camp. In fact, so much so, I already miss it and ~~kind of~~ really want to go back. But well, it's time to "go back to real life", as the camp director said.

So anyway, on the first day I already felt quite screwed for sleeping a mere 1 hour before the camp started. I was dreading entering the camp at all. I bumped into Chelsea right outside the camp meeting area so we went in together. Once in Our Space@72, there's a complete atmosphere change. There was a girl who greeted us with the most enthusiasm ever saying "WELCOME TO TCP!". After doing a few funny things at the entrance, we proceeded in, got our "passports"(the camp notebook with itinerary +note-writing) and "boarding passes"(camp tags with our names, team and room printed on it like a real flight boarding pass). At once, a guy came forward to carry our luggage into the "Baggage Claim" area! We were like both shocked lmao.

Passport and boarding pass! I got PASSPORT by MEG playing in my head everytime I looked at the book.

Got out pens and headed to the "Main Terminal" where we separated into our respective teams(I was in Team UK, Chelsea was in Team Vietnam). I also saw Michelle in Team USA, and later noticed Cory in Team New Zealand. (These people are from my Mass Comm class.) At first, it was a bit unnerving, I was also kind of slow to interact with people because I was so sleepy. It became apparent our team weren't the rahrah kind but the reserved, quiet kind.
We were then shown the animated introduction video ("If the world were a village of 100 people"). It was enjoyable but a bit long after awhile. After that the camp director introduced himself and the advisor and mentors. They were all pretty interesting and accomplished people(camp advisor is a Harvard fellow with 2 Masters degrees and works with United Nations), and the camp director is just freaking hilarious and spontaneous.

After that, we started the first session which was doing our DISC profile assessment. It was a bit long to do and we had to draw graphs XD I found out that I'm a high "C" and low "D". Then we learnt about what the letters really meant for us. The second session involved us writing on mahjong paper about how to use our strengths as found by the profiling and how overuse can also be a weakness.
We then proceeded for a quick break and get-to-know-mentors-and-teammates session, and I saw the snack "pantry" which had like hot water stations, paper cups, milo and coffee packets, and then boxes filled with miscellaneous snacks like Oreo, Twisties, Corntos, Chicken Ring, Mamee and etc.! And we were free to get anything from there throughout the camp. omg. Like so cool right. Anyway, we had a short chat among our teams.
Then we came back and they had this funny tribal thing going on, girls had to remove their shoes and sit on the floor, while guys kept shoes on and sat on chairs. At first I thought this was to teach us about gender discrimination against females or something. It turns out we were experiencing the culture of the Albatross tribe, which values women more than men. The reason we remove our footwear was because only women were allowed to touch the earth! And this taught us that we had preconceived notions about society and we should never just look at the surface.

And then, we went to have lunch. I've always thought camp food is crappy and all, but the high-class packed-lunch was awesome, thus leading me to tweet about it, lulz. By this time, our group was starting to warm up, and making small talk.
After lunch we had the third session which was "The Trip". We had to carry our luggage and everything from Our Space across campus until the Sports Complex(which we would have done eventually because we are staying at The Loft). That was very tiring. And then at the Sports Complex we had actual activities: picking up 80 ice cream sticks while having team members' legs tied together and blindfolded; feeding the blindfolded members biscuits; carrying members from one side to the other; navigating a very complicated maze of tape and rolling it back in and out through obstacles; and then finally finding the numerical code to unlock the team bags. It was very tedious to roll back the tape but it was very fun because of how our team worked together to do it.

So finally after another serious talking session with our team mentors, we were finally allowed to go to our living quarters at The Loft to rest for a bit and shower. I didn't actually shower because we had to go back to Our Space for dinner and another session. Seeing how far the walk is, we'd all probably sweat again, so most of us figured to bathe at night when we come back. I spent the time slacking around with Michelle in the bedroom, lol. (Yeah, she happened to be in the same apartment, and I bunked in the same room as her.)

Loft and views.

So we went for dinner...was rather surprised. We got a buffet. Seriously. Of all the camps I've been to, none gave a buffet, let alone it being this sumptuous. After dinner, we did the 4th session "where have you been?" which was on Transactional Analysis. New term learnt! And it was actually very insightful, just that I was getting extremely tired and my mentor totally saw my eyes closing and opening and I was nodding off. >__>
After that we had Mentor and Mentee sessions where we were talking late into the night. Actually the itinerary stated 11pm lights out, but in actual fact it was delayed so much we had started M&M session at 1130. So we were chatting, and the camp advisor comes round with a trolley full of donut factory boxes. Every team got a box of donuts. I took a really nice chocolate top-coated one, and inside there was an actual chocolate omg, so heavenly ;__;
Okay and then end of first day. Went back to Loft to shower and then head to bed at like 2AM. The girls in the next room were screaming about and playing so it was kind of hard to sleep. >__>

Second day!
I was so lazy to get out of bed, it was so damn comfortable ;__; But of course I did, albeit slowly. Headed for breakfast with Team UK, then went off for our 5th session: "Paperbag". It was about how the poor people in Kolkata made paperbags for a living, and in our teams we were to borrow "money" from the moneylender and then buy materials and then make paperbags to sell. Making things worse are corrupted police catching people to jail for any random reason, as well as rent and interest collectors. This was the moneylender's song which was damn catchy:
EVERYBODY OWE MONEY PAY MONEY
EVERYBODY OWE MONEY PAY MONEY
IF NOT SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY
EVERYBODY OWE MONEY PAY MONEY
Hahaha, nuff' said. The session was pretty epic with people getting hauled to jail for "pornography" and "being too tall". At the end, we realised every single team was in debt. It was obvious none of us would be making any money. The point of the game was really to point out how hard life is for the poor.

Next, we had lunch. Lunch itself was a session called "Lunch Unlimited". A basket of small pieces of folded paper was passed around and each of us drew one. Then we opened them to find the letters "A", "B" or "C". We didnt really know what they meant, and slowly the C people got up first to go have lunch. C people were the least, so something was obviously going on. I had "A" on my paper, and we were called next. Guess what? We walked round and saw the C people tucking in to fish and chips on proper cutlery and orange juice in wine glasses and even pudding. High-class for a camp! We were ooh-ing and aah-ing until we reached the place we were eating at, and we got bento sets. Surprise! By this time I sort of figured the "B" people were gonna have it worse....they also came round and saw the C people and us A people....and they had to sit on the floor...guess what. They had to eat bread for lunch. BREAD. D: And the point of this was that how much food the A and C people wasted, and how the B people didnt have enough to eat, yet very few of us went to share what we had...woah, felt kind of guilty after that. :/

And then the most damningly tiring and fun 7th session! CROSSING THE MOAT. lmao. You will just kill yourself trying to play this game.

The treacherous moat.

This was what the moat looked like. We could only step on the paper, following the numbered sequence to reach the other side. Each paper had to have a minimum of one foot on it at a time and a maximum of 2. So it's a rather strategic game, and the complicated route meant having to balance a lot of the time. The worst part: There are 10 teams with each team having about 10 people, and every time anyone makes an error, ALL OF US go back to the starting line. This was about the time we realised why the longest record for crossing this was 3 hours and 20 mins. After struggling and pushing for a reaaaaally long time, we finally finished the game and cheered like mad. Time elapsed? 4 hours, 32 min and 3 seconds. Crazy right?? We broke the record xD

Headed for dinner finally. The bread people were starving. We had another buffet :3
After dinner, went for eight session, which was Servant Leadership. We had the mentors and director and advisor talking to us all the way til midnight. >__> But it was very enjoyable and funny to listen to stories. By this time I was really sleepy again lol.
Then we had supper during the talk, which was instant noodles *yippee*. After the session we had Mentor and Mentee session again. And then we headed back to the loft which was about 1am by then. School is freaking scary at night, thank goodness for teams. Fell asleep at 3AM.

Day 3!
We had alarm set at like 7.15 but I didn't wake until 8, so I had to rush because it was the last day and we had to pack up our stuff already. Thankfully I did most of that the previous night. Anyway, I changed into my Triangle tour tee, cuz we were supposed to wear something that represents what we like or something like that. I rushed down and was at the lift lobby by 8.20am...apparently, only one team member was there! So much for the team planning to group by 8.15 and leaving for breakfast together lol. So we waited until 8.32 and still only 3 people and so decided to move off first...and halfway across the super-high overhead bridge, it started pouring. Swell. My precious Triangle tee was getting wet, so I sacrificed my Uniqlo jacket :/
When the 3 of us got to Our Space, we saw that like, wow, still so empty. So everyone must still be packing lol. And then I burnt my tongue on hot soya milk :/
So anyway we moved off to our final session of the camp after breakfast...it was a personal portfolio workshop, aka how to do your CV. Regretfully quite a lot of us were still exhausted and a few people fell asleep on the tables. I was initially resisting the urge to do so as well, but gave in after 20 min...what happened next, I don't even know >__> I woke up when they were doing the last page of the worksheet already. So essentially I didn't learn anything because I didn't make the effort to stay awake. Oh well.
So after the session I was feeling slightly more awake because I was sleeping. We had a short chat with our team mentors again about what we wrote for our reflection speech. And then it was the "TCP Initiation Ceremony". Oh gosh, that was unnerving. People crying and all, you know. But it was very moving to hear people's reflections. Actually at this time I was kinda busy on my phone because the AKB news was coming; the AFA news update conference that I couldn't attend was held around that time. But I was listening alright.
And then after the ceremony finished, the camp director announced our celebration lunch would have....FREE FLOW ICE CREAM, POPCORN AND CANDY FLOSS!!!! The place just about exploded into cheers. Lol.
Yeah, I grabbed everything. Man, it was an awesome meal. After that we broke off into our teams again just to chat as long as we wanted(the camp was already officially over). So among ourselves we exchanged emails and everything :3 I'm really happy to have known these people, they're all so great. Our team mentor said that she would plan a gathering after she returns to Singapore like 4 weeks later, so yay.

Guess why I took this? 1234567891011! Perfume @ Tokyo Dome!

Here's a summary through what I have been tweeting while in camp!

And if you were reading all the way til now, congratulations xD

Note: Read from bottom to top, cuz it's how tweets go~

Are you ready!? (ignore AKB pun)

omg my life is complete

2010-10-16T03:27:00.005+08:00

Like seriously. OMGG.
I love her sfm.

SHE SAID MY VOICE IS CUTE.
MAMI KAWADA SAID MY VOICE IS CUTE.

*faints*

倒れます。(-___\)

-----

Rie fangirling tiem. Yeah. Actually this was already drafted for sometime but I hadn't posted it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh RIE SOLO CAMERA FOCUS @ 2:03-2:12 she's dancing. ;___;
She's so awesum.

-----

Okay, serious nau.

CAMP TOMORROW OMGG I AM NERVOUS LIKE HELL.
I'm just so freaking paranoid that things could go wrong in a million ways. Like me forgetting to bring something really important. Or my handphone drops into water or something.
FML.

Should I even have signed up? I guess we'll find out.

Am so upset that I'll have to give the 2nd AFA press update conference a miss because of camp. What a waste, it's like at Dentsu's office as well. And it's like 90% sure have AKB news. Kinda sucks when you're "invited press" but can't make it.

Camp checklist: I am completely cheating on the "bring an outfit that represents you" and the "bring an item that represents what you like to do". I'm bringing my Triangle Tour tee and AKB's Kamikyoku tachi album. XD I seriously dont know what else I could've brought for the first item. The second one I was contemplating sketch book but I'm kind of paiseh to show my drawings >__> Now i'm just bringing a CD to represent that I love music and Japanese idols lol.

Oh gosh. How to survive 3 days without internet!? ;__;

MY EXISTENCE IS ACKNOWLEDGED OMGG

2010-10-15T02:41:00.003+08:00

OMGG

My existence is acknowledged.\o/
I can die happy.

;______________;

Seriously, when I saw it, my eyes started watering and all.

My 3 years of Mami fandom......;___;

SHE IS SO CUTE OMG

aaaahahhhhhhhhhhhhhh can't breathe

here we go again

2010-10-12T00:27:00.004+08:00

Music: Breathing Underwater - Marié Digby
-----

Break is ending :(
I can't believe it. What have I been doing for the past 9 weeks?
Time passes so fast when you're not in school, it's not fair. Nothing ever is.

And talking about school....my GPA is so disappointing. Well, like I expected it to be crappy and all, but actually seeing it was a different story. Especially when you have people in your class scoring a perfect 4.0...fairly demoralizing, right? Even though I want to feel happy for those people scoring well, I'm too selfish and wallowing in my own depression.

まあ...酷な世界です。

Next week is TCP camp. :/
Really don't know what to expect because they're all secretive about the camp! I hope it'll be fun...I'm really not a camp kind of person, I can't recall any camp I had great fun at, but can recall camps at which I suffered.

Actually, since this is a poly camp, I don't think I'll do too badly because they'll likely let us keep our handphones. In secondary school they generally keep your handphones away ~~to torture you~~ so you won't be distracted. It didn't go down well.

------------

In other news, AKB is coming to Singapore through AFA after all. Unbelievably it was announced with less than a month to go, causing mass unhappiness among us fans. I was very annoyed at the start, but i'm more cooled down now. AFA still hasn't announced any details about it though, which kind of sucks.

However, the group of us Singapore fans won't let this dampen our wota spirits. We're having concert planning and stuff, having people design a tshirt for us, and enquiring at shops about glowsticks. Also, we'll be training wotagei a week before the concert. Hopefully we'll be well prepared when they come.

The worst part about all this is that I can't be 100% certain I can go. The cash is not the problem, I'm pretty sure I can cough up the money(I'll cough up even blood if it's what it takes) and I'm aiming for VIP seating if possible.

The problem is that when most of our planning gets underway, school would've started. Even worse, the concert will be on a FRIDAY. I haven't gotten my timetable yet(I would skip lessons if it clashed though), and I'm scared I'll be busy because that's the 3rd week of poly and usually projects would've come up by then. I'm so scared I've been having nightmares about missing AKB in Singapore. I seriously have a problem.

I might knock my head against the wall or something if things don't work out.

----------

...and never come up, breathing breathing underwater

skylines

2010-09-28T00:34:00.006+08:00

Went out for Rachel's birthday celebration on Sunday.

Originally arranged(the plan, in reality, changed a total of 9 times) to bowl at Mt Faber, but the bowling lanes were fully booked for some event, so we decided to go Clarke Quay.

Had a nice accidental discovery at Central.

Don't think the rooftop was actually for public access(considering no one else was there and we got through to the metal rooftop-access staircase through a heavy emergency smoke-blocking door).

Amazing views. (do click for bigger!)

Ate at Pasta de Waraku.

~~(yes I took a photo of the food, so what?)~~

HZ9PRV84H4D3

FFFFFFUUUU YESH!!!!

2010-09-22T02:47:00.006+08:00

This will be epic. It will be the best song since RIVER hit.

EDIT:higher quality recording

AKB48 18th Single "BEGINNER" LQ fan audio recording

Frickin hell I don't even know what the lyrics are but I'm already singing along, and it's stuck in my head.

I seriously cannot wait for the HQ version and the PV to surface. By accounts of those who have already seen the PV, it's a gory PV with the girls stabbing each other. HELL YEAH YES PLEASE.

CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE THE WORLD!

迷っている

2010-09-19T17:36:00.003+08:00

”ハートどこか欠けてて
何も自信がないから
風に吹かれてしまうと
不安になるの”

なんか...すごく不安です。
これは単なる冗談でしょ？
私が間違っていますよね？

しらない、しらない！
面倒くさいいいいいいいいい

-----

Sorry I am writing in Japanese yet again :/
I am just irritated, and it's something I don't want to tell people about, so I vent here in some other language. Even if you understand Japanese, you'll realise I was writing in a riddle anyway.

-----

EDIT:

When it rains, it pours.
I am going to be online A LOT less thanks to ...some bloody annoying circumstances.
FML

Rie picture on TV, epic fail on channel 5's part

2010-09-13T17:09:00.002+08:00

I was so tempted to post this on Channel 5's Facebook wall, but here goes.

Dear Channel 5,

I would just like to inform you that in Episode 21 of Films and Stars Asia, you flashed an image of AKB48 member Kitahara Rie when Odagiri Joe's name was being mentioned, during the news about Watanabe Ken. You turned him into a girl. Nice. And not much later, you threw her picture in again as a completely unrelated background image for Kitagawa Keiko's promotion of Paradise Kiss. I'm appalled that you chose to reduce Rie's picture to such a state. But I'm more interested to know how you got hold of the picture, which comes from the AKB48 collaboration with Verbatim. Did you randomly get that from Google Images or something? I love your epic fail. Thanks.

-A very avid Rie fan.

>>>And no, I don't watch that show, but people alerted me to it(me being a Rie fan and all) and I caught it on xinmsn, thinking they had talked about AKB48.

I'm completely appalled by the standards of Mediacorp right now.

APPALLING is the word.

--------------
Am going to sleep now, after raging at Channel 5.
I am tired from the AFA Press Conference and all. I probably won't blog much about it here since a post is in the works for Bonkurasu already, but yeah, it was fun and a good experience. KANAME is so cute :3

Sayonara no Kanashibari

2010-09-11T19:36:00.005+08:00

"When you fall in love the world changes"
one day someone bragged about that
A rose's dream is beautiful but
it's a life that is too fleeting
nobody meant any harm
on time according to the schedule
I ran with my memories
and the tears falling on my cheeks

If I could
I want to stop
one more time
I want to hug you
I want to kiss you
I want to be spoiled by you

A paralysis of goodbye
I'm so sad
I can't move
on the station's platform at twilight
the train door closes
A paralysis of goodbye
It's so painful
I can't move
Only you have gone
alone in this forgotten bench
I see you off blankly now

When love ends it's a white out
everything vanishes, even the scenery
the rose left its thorns
but the flower can't be found anywhere
even if I screamed in a really loud voice
even my freedom is taken away from me
what binds my whole body is
still the rope of love

I overlooked your kindness
and now I won't
be able to
Hug you
kiss you
or be spoiled by you
ever again

A paralysis of cowardice
you're so beloved
I can't move
on the illuminated straight railway
is the past, present and future
A paralysis of cowardice
it hurts so much
I can't move
I don't have strength to follow you
After the wind passed
I can't see the answer either

A paralysis of goodbye
I'm so sad
I can't move
on the station's platform at twilight
the train door closes
A paralysis of goodbye
It's so painful
I can't move
Only you have gone
alone in this forgotten bench
I see you off blankly now

--- sayonara no kanashibari "サヨナラのカナシバリ"
akb48
lyrics - akimoto yasushi
translation - garnetjester@stage48

----------

This song is so touching and beautiful, when I saw the translation my eyes started turning watery(I did roughly understand the song but my Japanese is limited). This was already my favourite song in B5 because the music is simply amazing; I think it's now fast becoming one of my favourite songs in AKB altogether.
I feel inspired to do a new layout, let's see if I can get HQ screenshots of the stage. ;__;

press conference

2010-09-09T01:01:00.004+08:00

mood: happy
music: Freeeeze!! / Aural Vampire

Yeah, I have really gotten into Aural Vampire lately. I already knew them for quite long, but it was out of randomness lately that I went to check for updates on several artists, found out that AV released an album in May....and I got into listening to them more. xD

----------------

On Monday, yours truly shall attend her first real press conference, which will be beneficial academically, because I am a Mass Comm student. :D

No, it's not part of school. It's for Anime Festival Asia.

信じられない!
I didn't even join Bonkurasu for that long and I have such benefits. Awesome. ^~^

----------------

Okay, you'll have to excuse me for lack of updates for now. I need to write several AKB update posts for Melos no Michi.

Memories, Macs, Cakes, Karaoke and Fangirling

2010-09-02T02:59:00.005+08:00

mood: meh.
music: Travels - Estuera

This will be a long post, be warned.

So all of a sudden, today(or yesterday actually, since it's 3am now), I had a craving for Granado Espada music. Remembering that I had the Limited Edition boxset that came with the OST, I dug it out of my constantly-growing-and-getting-me-bankrupt CD collection, and slotted it into my Mac. And it all came rushing back. The memories.
I'm sure regular gamers would know how attached you can get to a game sentimentally, especially if you had a online team/faction/raid gang.
The game itself. It's just bloody amazing. The 3-character concept, the eargasmic trance music, the beautiful landscapes, and who could forget - the auto-attack function. *wry smile* Pressing Ctrl+E is something i'd never forget. The faction missions, colony wars, PvPs, raids, quests and RNPCs...I miss them all so much.

-----------

So, if I miss it so much, why the heck don't I just go back to it and play? The problem is, my old desktop computer was pretty much dying from overheating and overclocking(it had quite average specs). Coupled with faction disbandment after loads of inactivity, I quit in mid-late 2008. And my desktop is still dead up til now, only being able to handle like normal internet usage, and still having a host of problems.
I annoyed my parents a lot bugging them to get me a new computer, but they refused because I only had a year to go before I could buy a laptop in polytechnic. So I waited it out, but as things go, my course of choice forced me to get a MacBook, and thus I am stuck, having a perfectly-workable laptop but not being able to play most games. Yes, I could get Windows and dual-boot, but I had people telling me that it'll screw my Mac's life even faster.

And this is mostly why I am not an Apple fan.

--------------

Thinking back, I also realise that when I'm passionate about something, somehow everyone gets to know about it. xD
I rave about them to people I know, and then it spreads (no, not like wild fire, but still).

And then I realise something else. For this whole holidays so far, I've been waking up really late, like 3-5pm everyday. It's a stark contrast to when I was playing GE. During holidays, I set alarms as early as 8am, rushing to the computer first thing in the morning and launch the game and start training my characters. And it goes on sometimes as long as until 9pm. Yeah, it was crazy, I only broke for meals, and even while eating I had my characters on auto-attack and watching the computer monitor from a distance to make sure no area bosses appear and kill all my characters.

Now, all my activities are basically surfing the net for AKB news, Perfume news, forum-ing, IRC-ing and MSN-ing. It's all very people-based(more so than gaming), so instead of getting up early, I sleep really late because most people are online at night. :S

-----------------

Note to self: CAKES. ARE. SINFUL.

Ate Bakerzin on Tuesday at Jurong Point with friends, one of them ended up getting a sore throat. >__>
It was 30% off and was the last day. I was initially REALLY lazy to even get out of the house, but the friend who asked us out managed to persuade me over SMS. And guess what, he was late. *facepalm* Ended up waiting for him like almost 50 minutes, got really annoyed. The sun LITERALLY set while I was waiting.....but as usual, when I plan to be angry with people for being this late, I end up breaking into a smile as soon as I see them. Not the first time, so I hope i'm not giving off impressions that you can be as late as you want when you're meeting me. -_____-

-----------------

Oh yeah, the SGP48 meetup on Saturday. It went well, I guess. Other than the usual teasing =.=
Karaoke can only get so bad, you know, because I enjoy it (only applies to Japanese karaoke though). It was pretty amazing having 20 people in a room, all with a common passion for the same thing - AKB48!
So yesh, went through nearly all the AKB songs available in the machine, including no3b and Watarirouka Hashiritai. Made nice friends as well.
We didnt actually train much wotagei, so we have a second official meetup coming on the 25th of September, for training our shouts and actions, lol.

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE AKB48 IN SINGAPORE!!!
RAWR!

I seriously think I might faint when I see Rie in the flesh. Although that's a if. Because AKB doesn't send all 48 girls overseas, so I am really hoping Rie would come. ;___;

--------------
Some Rie links for the uninitiated-

Kitahara Rie's blog (I stalk it EVERYDAY):
北原里英オフィシャルブログ「さんじのおやつ」by Ameba

Kitahara Rie Facebook Group (I created it not long ago):
Facebook | Kitahara Rie

And an obligatory cute Rie picture.

AND NO, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I AM OUT OF THE KASHIYUKA CAMP. I STILL LOVE PERFUME ABOVE ALL ELSE. Stop making me feel guilty, man.

PARIS

2010-08-26T23:19:00.002+08:00

music: PARIS T12X-mix / MEG (on repeat)
mood: sad

I HAAAAAAAVE TERRIBLE EYEBAGS!!!!!!! D:

I didn't notice it's so bad until a friend kept pointing it out :(
Bleh. To think I sleep so much more than him, turns out it's not only because of sleep, it's my diet as well. And now every time I take junk food or soft drinks I feel damn guilty.

And anyway ever since the holidays started, my body clock is more ruined than ever. I woke up at 7pm on Monday. I didnt sleep that late man, it was 5am. That equals to 14 hours of sleep. It must have been the eventful weekend, but anyhow, I turned up sheepishly late for work with an excuse no one would ever believe, so I lied.

---------------------

Speaking about the eventful weekend, there was the Natsu Matsuri of 21st and I also went to watch a YOG event on 22nd. You can read more about the Natsu Matsuri here. Basically everything there is whatever that happened, since I was with them. I'm even drawn into it. =="

YOG was actually pretty enjoyable~ I went to watch the boxing semifinals for men, because my classmate was the sports presenter. It was damn cool, and I was so sad about this particular boxer, Dawid Michelus from Poland, losing that I really nearly cried. He was crying pretty badly and trying to stop himself from crying as well, it was heartbreaking. T__T

And more exciting weekends to come, this Saturday is finally the long-ago-planned SGP48 gathering. ftw. I just hope that it'll actually be fun... I'm always apprehensive about meeting new people, yknow. What if they all hate me!? D:

Yeah, I'm being paranoid....

PARANOID PARROT. OMGG. LOL.

A friend introduced the site to me, I nearly died laughing, I had to bite my hand to stop waking up the whole house (was reading at night).

---------------------

Lately the Internet is really freaking me out. I should stop putting so much information about me on the web, eh. How ironic, because i'm writing about this ON the web itself =.="

---------------------

I love PARIS T12X-mix
:(

It's like so relaxing, so danceable....but so sad. omgg.
The lyrics are all places in France because MEG is going there. :(

Evian / Cap / Caen / Joinville le Pont / Dijon / Divonne / Dieppe
Boulogne-Billancourt /
Perigueux / Belfort / Bergerac / Bordeaux / Troyes
Douai / Roissy / Cholet / Dinard
Nancy / Niort / Trouville / Deauville
Brive-la-Gaillarde / Chalon-sur-Saone

Laon / Quimper / Thionville / Toulon
Nice / Cherbourg / Carcassonne
La Roche-sur-Yon / Vichy / Besancon / Pau / Poitiers
Frejus / Boulogne-sur-Mer
Fontainebleau / Rouen / Le Havre / Lille / Le Mans
Metz / Montlucon

Rodez / Rochefort / Juan-les-Pins / Loire
Sens / Cabour / Saint-Remy-de-Provence / Roanne
Montelimar / Gennevilliers / Saumur
Grenoble / Creil
La Roche / Angouleme / Paris / Sevran

We can start again from the beginning. Let's go!

♥

Predictions

2010-08-12T15:30:00.002+08:00

Predictions for GPA!

So I figured I should do this to mentally prepare myself for disappointment. This isn't for showing off, I know how badly I did.

[Module Code: Module Name] Highest expected grade to lowest expected grade

[2ISSUES: Exploring Contemporary Issues] A to B+
[WRITCOM: Written Communication] A+ to B
[1SPECOM: Speech Communication] B to C+
[RADIO1: Radio Production 1] A to B
[SCPSYCH: Social Psychology and Communication] B to C

Overall GPA: 3.6 to 2.8
Average expected GPA: 3.2

Wonderful. What happened to my >3.5 target? Yep, that's what you call choosing the right course. I don't even know why. Actually I'm even starting to think these predictions are too lenient.

All I'm looking forward to in this course now is just Graphic Communication and Web Design, because I've been doing those for 4 years by myself.

----------------------------

I'm a sucker for goods endorsed by my idols really.

Perfume endorsed Pino. Pino became my favourite ice cream and I keep buying it even though it's frickin expensive.

Perfume endorsed Pepsi. I threw away 17 years of devotion to Coca Cola and hate towards Pepsi, and started buying Pepsi whenever there was an option.

AKB48 endorsed Puccho candy. I went out the day I found out about that, and bought Puccho. But then I already was a Puccho fan before lol.

AKB48 endorsed Kagome Koreichi. For someone like me who hates vegetables to the core, started being interested in this vegetable drink. I haven't gone to Isetan supermarket yet, but when I'm there, don't be surprised if I buy it.

So what's next?

The only things that are really out of reach, endorsed by Perfume:

- iida Light Pool phone (dammit that phone is PRETTYYYYYY omgomg but only sold and works in Japan)
- Natural Beauty Basic clothes (dammit I love those clothes Kashi wore!! but only sold in Japan)
- Nissan Serena, Note, Cube cars (urhhh....for obvious reasons I can't buy them)

If these products listed weren't endorsed by my idols, my opinion about them would become vastly different(with the exception of Puccho).

This is seriously, what you call "effective advertising". All these damn ads are targeting me, I swear it's a conspiracy. The more they endorse, the more my money flies away. It's sad.

I've yet to save for MEG's compilation album with her limited edition designed t-shirt. omg.

omg blackout majisuka

2010-08-06T11:18:00.004+08:00

mood; sian
music; SEARCHLIGHT - MEG

There was a partial blackout in school last night. >__>

I was in the DAW studios finishing Radio Prod project with my partner, up until about 9pm, then a group of us classmates who were doing the project all ended work and we were leaving the rooms when we noticed the outside corridor had gone pitch dark.

At first we all thought like, eh they're closing already, hurry up. Then when we got outside to the lift area, it was still blackness. Then we heard a male voice screaming coming from inside the lift, plus the emergency lift ring. All the lifts had stopped working!

I was like seriously damn shocked already. Then I noticed that the studios we came from, the technical officers' office, and the Attic were still lighted. So it seemed to be a partial blackout, maybe a part of the circuit burned out somewhere(that's where DNT/physics knowledge come into the picture).
The funny thing is, all the people in the Attic were still doing stuff like normal because they hadn't noticed a thing. It was still bright inside there.

But anyway, one of my friends said we should go back to the technical officer's office to inform him about the guy trapped in the lift. The officer was like, nothing like this had ever happened before. I was like really freaked out by the darkness already and we went back in. T___T The officer called the admin desk and everything and security guards eventually made their way to the scene. We didn't stay behind to see what happened. It was late and really scary.

So, yeah, we were on the 8th floor, and there were no lifts. ZZZ. Walking down the stairs took a long time, but was surprisingly quick, maybe because I was scared and moving quickly. The stairs only had one tiny light at the door of each level, so it was dark, but not that dark.

I really hope whoever was stuck in the lift is alright. If it were me, and I was ALONE, i'd be seriously crying there. Blackout, stuck in the lift, and it's at night! OMG.
And I already proved I was chicken because I was completely freaked out OUTSIDE the lifts in the darkness. I had to tug onto my friends for reassurance.

So much for the last official day of lessons! What an experience.

---------

Barring that incident though, I'm fine and happy because I HAVE FINISHED ALL MY PROJECTS! WOOOOOO!

...

Actually, I feel relieved but not exactly that happy. I'm going to miss my classmates ): It's the end of the semester now...

meg is leaving.

2010-07-30T22:21:00.004+08:00

MEG is leaving.read.

T___________________________________T

f%#!ing depressed.

why.
why?

But I'll wish her all the best.
I can understand her reasons for leaving and I don't blame her.

---------------

きょうがこたえをさがす
けっきょくあいかわらずこたえはない
もうすこし４ねんだね
なんであたしはこんなにばか
しらない
けど
つずきます

moving?

2010-07-28T19:29:00.003+08:00

mood; stressed
food; black chocolate
music; JERASHII no ARIBAI / SKE48

It's freaking cold now. And I thought showering in the evening would be less freezing than at 11pm. The weather is crazy. Isn't it only July? A year or so ago, this kind of temperature would only be reached in November.

--------------------

I'm such a sotong, argh.
Poly makes you a sotong. Or maybe it's just me and lack of sleep.

I. Poly has so far caused:
A. Stress
1. Endless projects
-writcom due monday, speech due tuesday, radio due next friday, socpsy due next friday.
2. Fear of bad grades
- Getting mediocre grades like C+ today. I haven't actually got back anything with a B. It's either As or Cs. Haven't failed anything yet, but I shouldn't be anyway.
B. Blurness - being a total sotong/tako
1. Walking out of lifts on the wrong floors - like today, twice
2. Going to school for nonexistent lectures - like last tuesday
3. Using trackpad while looking at desktop Mac, expecting the cursor to move
4. Using optical mouse while looking at my MacBook, expecting the cursor to move
C. Lack of sleep
1. Dark eyebags
2. Looking like zombie in school
3. Causing the teacher to come over and ask if i'm alright
4. Causing some classmates to comment on my pale face

....why the hell am I writing this in Writcom outline format!?

But one good thing came of it - I met another sotong (:

------------------------

Projects are hard. I feel bad for expressing my opinions about stuff all the time, because I work with friends I actually like. I'm afraid every time I say something, I might offend them.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If we sold it, would I follow him? I don't know what to make of it, but I don't even want think about it.

GOOD MOOD!

2010-07-20T21:42:00.002+08:00

I TAKE BACK ALL MY EMO-NESS!!!!

I HAVE BEEN INSTANTLY CHEERED!

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTkxMjExNTcy.html

BAD MOOD

2010-07-20T20:00:00.002+08:00

Positively terrible day. As if yesterday wasn't bad enough.

Came to school for non-existent writcom lecture, at bloody frickin 9am. Everybody else slept in and came to school at 12pm.

Resigned to wasting time, I went up to Attic, only to see they closed it off. I had to walk all the way to the library instead. Forgot to ask for no pearls again at each-a-cup. Dropped bits of tuna on my bag while eating the sandwich.

Banged my laptop twice walking back to lecture theatre. Final assignment for Radio was given.

After lecture walked all the way back to library to do project with friend. The frickin stupid little hanging acryllic magazine stand FELL OFF onto my laptop while I was using it. Created a tiny but obvious dent on my 6-month-old Mac.

Started pouring while in socpsy lecture. Received yet another final assignment.

Walking to bus stop, managed to see my bus go off and I had to wait again. Then when transferring buses, I managed to see my other bus go off again.

While on the bus, my workplace called with bad news, saying they couldnt find a replacement for my shift tomorrow and therefore I still have to work tomorrow - meaning I have no time to study for socpsy test and less time for radio, writcomm assignments.

Finally I was tired, frustrated and depressed, and the cold of the bus' aircon made me feel sleepy. So I leaned backwards a little and decided to rest my eyes, even as my mind was going "I'm screwed". And then, the bus jerked forward and my phone flew to the floor. $&^*$%@!#$.

I should try to be optimistic.

I mean, at least I found another classmate as blur as me who came to school at 9am to spend time with at the library.
The dent wasn't that bad and my Mac hardware didn't spoil or anything. The stand managed to narrowly avoid me as well.
And my phone is still working fine.
So yes, there is still stuff to be grateful for.

Except it doesn't make me feel any better.
I can't be optimistic.

Who am I to say that my friends emo too much.
-------------

Yesterday was a disaster, my project. I'm not even going to talk about it anymore, it's only going to make me further depressed. Move along.

-------------

So with every single module's Final Assignment (except IS) due on the last week of this semester, namely 2nd August - 6th August, there is no more Founder's Day dinner for me.

I handed in the form for the thanksgiving service, but now I'm not even sure I can go anymore.

All the better anyway. I save $70. I don't have to think of what is "A Touch of Blue". I don't have to see the many people I don't want to see. And I don't want to wear my old uniform anymore.

---------

There is work tomorrow, for a measly $24 a shift that I couldn't care less for, seeing all the hard work I do for it.

And there is tons of school work.

I just want to sleep right now.

blog update

2010-07-16T23:28:00.003+08:00

Layout update! Yay!

And in this latest skin, the featured people are (left to right) Sashihara Rino, Watanabe Mayu and Kitahara Rie from AKB48!

ohoho.

For the text by the side, I wasn't really sure what to write, but text always makes the design cooler and unique, so I wrote "Haato Gata Uirusu"(Heart Gata Virus)...

"zettai arienai!" sou omotte dakedo
nandaka atashi wa
anata no koto ga suki mitai!

Okay sorry. Basically Heart Gata Virus is one of my favourite AKB songs and the three girls featured are my oshis. And also, I changed the title to another of my favourite quotes which comes from Dream Fighter, a Perfume song.

And if you're asking why I'm doing this even though I'm busy, it's because it's a Friday night and I feel I have to do something not related to school if not i'll go insane.

Well, okay, partly it was because I saw the photoshoot where this came from (Weekly Young Jump 2010 no.33), and it just felt like I had to. The photoshoot was pretty awesome and I also made a new forum signature from it.

I would hunt down this magazine in Kinokuniya right now, but I don't really have the time to go out and shop.

-------------

*WHEW*

Just now, I narrowly escaped from the danger of my parents finding out what I've been doing with my debit card. I received a statement from DBS, luckily they used a really discreet looking envelope and when my parents asked what was inside, I fobbed them off with another letter I got(FMSS founder's day invitation).

-------------

Speaking of which, I have to use the card to pay for some @#$%^$! library fine by Tuesday. Fifty dollars. For borrowing out for five days, and actually exceeding the due date five days. Yes you read that right.

I seriously had NO idea that DVDs could only be borrowed for 4 hours. I mean seriously, what library lets you borrow stuff and ask to return on the same day??

Arghhhh I really want to write like complain letters about how they should make the borrowing period notice more prominent and how it's not ethical to charge such extorbitant fines on students, but I don't want to be sued for like defamation and slander etc. It's only my first year, and especially considering I just signed up for the Christieara Programme, the last thing I want is to get expelled.

I guess the only way to take revenge would be to make more use of the facilities around during my time here. :/

-------------

Weekend -
Confirm IS documentary video finished.
Complete MyWritingLab assignments or DIE!
Start working on 40% final assignment writcom outline. Gosh, I don't even know what the heck I've to outline. I'm completely lost, so I'm going to have to ask around.

40%!!!! If I don't do this right, it'll have a very strong adverse effect on my grade.

Postbox!

2010-07-08T18:04:00.006+08:00

MAIL PACKAGE!

Ooh, look, A JAPAN POST PACKAGE!

Let's see what's in it! (okay I lie, I know what's inside even before I opened it)

Hmm? Do I see...the THEATER VERSION AKB48 CDs I BOUGHT!?

D: Oh yes it is! I never knew Rie-chan was in the exact same position as Acchan on the back cover for RIVER!! (the back of the CD was facing up, and the first girl I saw in the package was Rie. What a lovely coincidence ♥)

Let's see what's next!

Kamikyoku Tachi! The one with 12 interchangeable covers - I am going to change mine to show Rie.

Tsugi wa...

Ponytail to Shushu! Yeah I know I've already bought a normal version of it, which is the one with the DVD, but heck, two is better than one.

OMG!

Sakura no Shiori! I DIDN'T KNOW RIE WAS ON THE BACK COVER EITHER! omg she's so cute there ♥

Let's take a "singles" shot!

In chronological order too.

And here admiring the obi(the CD spine paper).

Looks awesome right.

thanks for selling them to me, koba!

--End fangirlism.--

I have some people asking me to post pictures of my whole CD collection- I don't mind doing that, but maybe when holidays start. You know I'm a lazy person, and I have projects piling up, so yeah. Next month I'll share some photos.

------

On a side note, I'm now playing with Adobe After Effects. Since the school provides us the whole CS4 package, I might as well be using everything. Right?
I'm trying out doing kinetic typography of RIVER, but I think I picked a pretty hard song for a beginner like me. RIVER is very fast, and not to mention, in Japanese, so means like every kanji or hira/kata I have to adjust.
But, it'll get easier, like Photoshop did. I use Photoshop like everyday because I keep making icons, avatars and signatures for the forums I hang out in.

-----

Self-reminder- List of things to get maaaarvin to buy when he goes Jp.

~For myself: megMAVERICK*le, megPASSPORT/PARIS le, mizcaUFUFU*le, no3bKIMISHIKA*le, ske48TSUYOKIMONOYO, akb48SURPRISEWAARIMASENgoods*

~For mentos: watariroukahashiritaiSEISHUNNOFLAG, ske48GOMENNESUMMERtypeA

(* means unconfirmed.)

CHOKOREITO DISUKO!

2010-07-02T21:03:00.002+08:00

FIVE MORE WEEKS TO HOLIDAY!!

I want to start counting down, but at the same time I can't do it because there's still a lot of assignments and deadlines. If I start counting down, yes I am reminding myself of the holiday coming, but I am also going to constantly worry about the deadlines coming.

Assignments ongoing aka A List for Myself to Keep Track Because I Procrastinate Too Much.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY:
1) 20% weightage Test, next Tuesday(!!!!!!!!!!!)

RADIO PRODUCTION:
1) Stereo Capsule idea presentation, due next Wed.
2) Stereo Capsule pair project, due next next Wed.
3) Final Assignment

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES:
1) The Documentary group project, due 19 July.

SPEECH COMMUNICATION:
1) Radio Tour pair project
2) Final Assignment- 10min Speech pair project

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION:
Omg, I haven't heard of anything to do for this module yet! But there should be a final assignment. Somewhere coming.

----

In other words. FML. All these in FIVE WEEKS. Can I do it?
No, I know what you're going to say, don't do the cheesy RIVER reference. Only I can do that to other people. LOL.
-----

On the bright side(and it takes some effort to look the other side), the holidays start 9 August. All the way until 24 October. Frickin long <3

But this long 11-week break will only happen once in my poly life. Apparently, the extra four weeks are because of YOG, and to study for exams in the fifth week of holiday, but then my course DOESN'T HAVE EXAM for semester 1. Thanks to all the damn projects happening now. So yay, 11-week break.

The stupid thing about this though is that if the break could just be pushed back one more week, it would cover Perfume's concert at Tokyo Dome. Dammit.

There be no way I be going, arr!

My Japanese Music Collection

2010-06-22T14:43:00.002+08:00

music: Takkun ga Suki Nano / Mizca ft. Allanhillz
mood: neutral

My Japanese Music Collection

SINGLES
AKB48 - Ponytail to Shushu [Type A; First Press]
Buono! - Gachinko de Ikou!
Buono! - MY BOY
C-ute - FOREVER LOVE
Kawada Mami - masterpiece [LE]
MEG - PRECIOUS [LE]
Perfume - Baby cruising Love/Macaroni
Perfume - Dream Fighter
Perfume - Electro World
Perfume - Fushizen na Girl/Natural ni Koishite [LE]
Perfume - love the world [LE]
Perfume - ONE ROOM DISCO
Perfume - Polyrhythm
Toradora! Character Single - Orange

ALBUMS
BoA - MADE IN TWENTY [Non-Japan Ver.]
capsule - FLASH BEST
Hamasaki Ayumi - GUILTY [Non-Japan Ver.]
Hamasaki Ayumi - Secret [Non-Japan Ver.]
MEG - BEAUTIFUL [LE]
MEG - Journey [LE]
Morning Musume - 3rd -Love Paradise-
Perfume - ~Complete Best~
Perfume - GAME
Perfume - Triangle [LE]
Suzuki Ami - Supreme Show [LE]

LIVE CONCERT DVD
Perfume - BUDOUKaaaaaaaaaaN!!!!!
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour [First Press]

MERCHANDISE
BoA - MADE IN TWENTY poster
Hamasaki Ayumi - GUILTY poster
Hamasaki Ayumi - Secret poster
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour wristband
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour booklet
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour tote bag

PHOTOBOOKS/MOOKS
AKB48 - 2010 Senbatsu Sousenkyo Guide Book (+ Type B poster)
AKB48 - UP TO BOY No.197
Perfume - Perfume Livefolio

JAPANESE MUSIC MAGAZINES
CD Data [July 09]
What's In? [July 09]
ROCKIN' JAPAN [July 09]
ORISUTA [Aug 09]
ORISUTA [Mar 10]

WAITING TO BE SHIPPED
SINGLES
AKB48 - Ponytail to Shushu [Theater Version]
AKB48 - RIVER [Theater Version]
AKB48 - Sakura no Shiori [Theater Version]
Perfume - TITLE TBA [LE]

ALBUMS
AKB48 - Kamikyoku Tachi[Theater Version]

MERCHANDISE
Perfume - Chokkaku Nitouhen Sankakkei Tour T-shirt [x2]

PHOTOBOOKS
MEG Files

TRYING TO ACQUIRE/CONSIDERING
ALBUMS
MEG - MAVERICK
Mizca - UFUFU

--------

I'm damn sure I've spent around 700SGD in total on all these.

Now how many of you actually buy stuff from your favourite artists?

Nowadays so many people claim to be music-obsessed, music lovers...but to me, all that fan dedication is fake if you don't even own one release from them.
I'm not asking them to go all out and buy every single release they like, but the least they can do is to support their favourite artists. If you can't even fork out 99 cents for one song on iTunes, what kind of fan are you really? How does the artist survive without support?
Too many young people don't care to spend their money on real releases when they can download illegally for free. While I don't condemn illegal downloads(I myself am guilty for sure), if you really like the song you would buy it. The music industry is no longer booming like in the past. It's such a waste.
The only exceptions to this rule are people in difficult financial situations, or people who live in countries where it is hard to get CDs.

-------

Oh gosh, I love "Takkun ga Suki Nano" so much. Mizca is really starting to stick, and pal@pop is making great techno music for her. I hope the awesomeness doesn't stop.

Also, the new promo pics for Mizca's album are amazing.

HOLIDAYS

2010-06-15T21:56:00.003+08:00

mood; both happy and frustrated, if that's possible.
music; 手をつなぎながら / SKE48

It's the holidays!

bwauhaha.
oh well. not like it's such a happy thing, I do have alot of stuff on, but for now I'm slacking off a bit, and tomorrow I'm going Tabby's house, omg. I haven't been there like forever. It's so nice and like they have air-con on all the damn time.....
oh, wait. I forgot something. The DOG. *facepalm* Time to brush up on my ninja skills again. QK

-------

In other news, I have joined two sites as a contributing writer.

-1st: MELOS no Michi.
AKB48/SKE48/SDN48 news fanblog.

-2nd: Bonkurasu Brigade.
Perfume /Anime /Other Japan-related news and fandom blog

Also, I applied to be moderator at Perfume City forums, I don't know how good a decision that is, but I hope it goes well.
-------

Ugh, I hate work.
Everybody comes and finds me the moment something goes wrong. Not for one moment do they stop to consider, I'M NOT THE ONE DOING IT WRONG. GO FIND SOME OTHER SCAPEGOAT.

Just fire me if you're so unhappy with me. I'd be really grateful so I don't have to figure out how to quit. :C

sigh.....

2010-06-04T18:15:00.004+08:00

ありゃああああ〜

What do I write?

What should I be writing?

I don't know.

I'm so disinterested in everything because of school.

I'm really tired of dealing with people.

やめちゃう、いいですか？

Poly is screwing my life.

So is work.

やめてください

ohmaigwaah

2010-05-21T00:41:00.002+08:00

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm at a loss for words.

MEG x Evangelion = win.
And this isn't fan art either. It's an official collaboration.

I'm so happy I don't know what I can say, except OMGWTFBBQ I NEED WHATEVER STUFF THAT IS IN THIS COLLAB.

ENDROLL

2010-05-20T18:00:00.003+08:00

mood: too tired to feel happy or sad
food: Chipsters and a coca cola
screwed: yes

I'm too exhausted to write, so this is what you get- a song recommendation! hahahah.

the song is seriously awesome, and so is the choreo.

Okay okay I decided not to be so cheapskate. Let me write a little before I fall asleep.

THANK YOU PERRINE :D
THANKS FOR LETTING ME USE YOUR ADDRESS. o(^.^)o

I finally have a solution to the whole ordering-from-CDjapan thing. Happy liek siao. But I still can't decide what to buy other than the AKB48 Sosenkyo 2010 Guide Book. Maybe Ponytail to Shushu, but I'm not about to buy something that my parents may incriminate me for. I don't know, but I need to lump something together with the guide book or it's going to be a waste of shipping fees.

Argh. I want the adidas x AKB48 World Cup 2010 jersey so bad. But the damn thing only ships within Japan, and if I'm really desperate for it I would have to use Tenso, which is this warehouse in Japan that will help you ship them to you. But Tenso doesn't accept debit card. Gaarh. Roadblock one after another.
I'm willing to fork out that S$220 for the jersey, but adidas will never bring it here. Poor me. I want my jersey. *sniffs*

The amazing jersey: click to see

omg ;__; I need that jersey so much more than whatever I can order at CDJapan.

akbranking update

2010-05-15T23:34:00.003+08:00

Sigh. Im doing an extremely boring assignment now. Or at least I should be. I have the document open but I'm not really doing it. >.>

---------
Time for update of my AKB48 member ranking...
Since now I actually know all the members better, this ranking is a lot more accurate than the last time. :D

*Updated with AKB Ranker 2.0

AKB48 Ranking
1	2	3	4

5	6	7	8

9	10	11	12

13	14	15	16

17	18	19	20

21	22	23	24

25	26	27	28

29	30	31	32

33	34	35	36

37	38	39	40

41	42	43	44

45	46	47	48

News & Reviews

2010-05-13T18:31:00.002+08:00

mood: okay
music: Temodemo no Namida / AKB48 (Team B 3rd stage)
food: Pocky (chocolate)

---------------
>Skip to the next part if you heck care Japanese music. :/

gawwwwrrrh. I cannot find Onegai Dakara by Mano Erina anywhere! :<
Even the PV is nowhere on video sites, it's only on Oricon.tv, and I'm guessing UpFront is taking down those uploaded, that's why.
I am still trying to buy the Limited B from CDjapan but I'm not sure what address to put, I don't want it sent to my house where everyone will find out.
If I cant find a solution soon, there's no chance of getting the Limited. The single was released yesterday.

Also still considering ordering MEG's coming album Maverick, Limited Edition. Because the limited edition is going to pwn. It comes with photobook and postcards. omg. Finally one of Nakata's producees get some extras. Except, unlike AKB's releases, you can tell Maverick's limited edition is priced a lot higher because of the extras. AKB doesn't charge extra for the goodies. They're freebies.
MEG's ridiculous pricing is why i'm still thinking about it. Frickin Universal Japan. Screwing every artist. MEG, switch to King Records or something! AND NOT TOKUMA THX. Tokuma doesnt even give anything, they only like give exclusive posters during lucky draws, and thats just plain terrible cuz it's so hard to own Perfume merch.

---------

ANYWAY. Back to life. OMG. I am exhausted from poly == Today was the only day this week I got to go home before 6pm, how pathetic. And like, I have multiple tests almost every week. I have an average of three assignments every week. I have to give away my free saturday to meet my group to do the IS project. I have some measly-paying job I can't seem to quit, twice a week, 6-10pm. I have CCA on friday night(although it's pretty slackish, my timetable for that day ends at 11am, leaving me with a huge 7 hour gap before CCA). I don't even have time to read the newspapers anymore. I used to read TWO different newspapers a day.

I better be writing my will. I feel so weak from the daily rush. :<

...what will? I don't have time to write a will!! I have to write a sales pitch for Speech Comm tomorrow, and I suck at speech.

Screw that, what am I going to do during the 7 hour break tomorrow?? WHY IS MY LIFE TIMETABLE SO FRICKIN SCREWED.

I seek solace in a box of chocolate Pocky. 230 calories of goodness, mhhmmmm. I miss junk food so much ;__;
I used to buy junk food 3 days a week during secondary school. Now I can only manage once a week, but i'm thankful. I feel so happy when I get to eat junk food. What should I get next week? Maybe Twisties or Ruffles. Or both.

SUMMARY OF TOMORROW
Sucky side: Sales pitch. Bloody SEVEN HOUR BREAK.

Bright side: Making nikujaga tomorrow for Japanese club! It's a meat-potato dish. I admit I didnt know about this dish until they said we were gonna cook it. But anything that's potato gotta be good(sweet potato is exception).

12/04

2010-05-08T15:14:00.003+08:00

Mano Erina / Onegai Dakara

hellyes.
12th May please come soon because I want the whole song and PV! o(^.^)o
I'm really starting to like Manoeri ever since Haru no Arashi. She should sing more upbeat songs.

Oh yeah and this too:
PONYTAIL TO SHUSHU PV! hahaha
The full is finally out, try not to watch this with your parents around.

AKB48 / Ponytail to Shushu (ponytail and scrunchie)

radio

2010-05-07T01:34:00.002+08:00

Frickin pissed off at my grade for the Radio Prod. Report.

It wasn't easy to do that while I was losing my voice. But well, NO ONE REALLY CARES RIGHT?

I was so freaking angry with myself for having the damn sore throat. The lecturer commented that "YOU SOUNDED LIKE YOU WERE PANTING. GRADE C".
I had to leave my friends in a hurry before I started crying. Because if I started crying in front of them, I knew I would not be able to control myself. So the whole way home I was just trying to stop the tears from falling.

My first real grade of my poly life is a C. Thanks.

dango

2010-05-01T22:50:00.002+08:00

I made dango for Japanese Club meeting on friday.
It was fun. It was so simple to make. And it actually tasted good(I've eaten the authentic dango in Japan).
If it weren't for CLANNAD though, I'd probably be more "bah" about the whole thing. But CLANNAD makes everyone love dango because it's so freaking cute in the show.

So, the very simple dango recipe:
1. Pour rice flour and water into mixing bowl, and mix it well with your hands. (ratio of flour and water depends on how you like it, but it should look slightly watery yet still hold firm)
2. Take about a 1/4 palm-size worth of the dough and roll it around in a rotating motion in your hand.
3. Once in a perfect circular shape, leave it on a plate first.
4. Keep repeating step 2 and 3 until you finish using all the dough.
5. Boil water in a pot.
6. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down a little, and slowly put in the balls one by one(don't throw it or you may scald yourself)
7. Let it cook for a bit. Once they float near the surface of the water, use a ladle and scoop them out without the water(careful not to ruin the shape), into a bowl of room temperature water.
8. After soaking for a while, it is ready to eat. Take them out of the water and push about 3 or 4 onto each satay stick.
9. Serve. It can be eaten plain or with Teriyaki sauce, sweet sauce, sesame paste etc or even rolled in Milo powder! They are versatile as they are just rice flour balls.

---------
So I heard the Japanese club will make us cook/make Japanese food/desserts every two weeks. I guess it's alright, it's interesting and i learn stuff. I hope the other weeks will be left to anime, movies, that kinda thing. Haha.

What's next? Melonpan? Yes please! I like Melonpan too, I ate it in Japan as well because of Shakugan no Shana.

----------

I'm starting to get frustrated with Mac. I have a bunch of games i'd like to play, like Touhou or Osu!. Sighh. This sucks.

update

2010-04-26T10:57:00.002+08:00

Ah, okay, due to a complaint that I update my blog "oh so slowly", I shall update it. :/

School started....It's hell boring, and the aircon makes me wanna fall asleep. Let's go through the past week.

IS class on Monday, t'was fine, I really like the lecturer cuz she's cool and funny, but straight on the first day we got two projects. It's not fun. And groups were formed for one of the projects, but at least I can see my group is pretty hardworking? Not the slacker type that I am, so I'm just hoping that I'm not the one to drag our group down.
Lecture on Tuesday is the ultimate kill, 9am - 6pm of 4 different modules' lectures, and you just sit there in the LT half-dead. Oh man. Just kill me. It is especially difficult to pay attention in lecture because there are so many people. If you just disengage yourself, nobody really notices, and it's game over. I start doing nonsense like scrawling on my notebook(not the laptop, the NOTEBOOK notebook, like, paper, yknow) instead of really paying attention.
Wednesday is the best day of the week(shame about having to go to work), at least for now. It's only 3 hours, starting from 11am. The lecturer is really really cool, he's hilarious as well. Radio Production tutorial class is especially cold because it's on the 8th floor of the FMS building, where people say that the 8th and 9th floor is like the arctic. Personally, it's kinda exaggerating, but yeah it's cold. And the 8th floor is so cool, because of all the expensive radio equipment, the entrance is secured, and you need to give your thumbprint to the biometric thingy(only students and teachers at FMS get access) in order to get in. Cool right?
Thursday is normal, like usual school, 9-4pm. There's two tutorial classes, which are kinda okay.
Friday......zombie day. It starts at 8am so I'm a walking zombie. Yeah I know secondary school started at 7am, but then, my body clock was different, and i had adjusted to being a zombie everyday. :/ But luckily there's only one class and we end at 11am, which is good enough for me to rush home to sleep. Which is what I did last Friday.

Well, that's pretty much it.

Oh yeah, I heard Natural ni Koishite and Akkanbe Bashi on radio yesterday! :D Hyperventilated for a few minutes. :D
But then the last song came on to ruin it, it was a Tohoshinki song. Like the moment it came on I knew it's them, not because I heard the song before, but cuz IT'S SO DAMN OBVIOUS WHEN KOREAN PEOPLE TRY TO SING JAPANESE. It's like, not "crisp" enough. In this respect, I excuse BoA from the rest of the Korean people trying to infiltrate the Japan market. Because BoA doesn't sing like that, and she's been doing it for quite long so yeah. Pity that she disastrously cut her hair and tried to catch the US market, which IMO is ruining her, please go back thanks.

AKB48 ranking. Finally.

2010-04-15T23:51:00.008+08:00

AKB48 COMPLETE RANKING

Sorry, please scroll down further to see. Cuz I can't fix the table html and somehow there's one huge space.

1	1	3	4	4	6

7	8	9	10	10	12

13	14	15	16	17	17

19	20	21	21	23	24

25	25	25	25	29	30

30	30	30	34	35	35

37	37	37	37	41	41

41	41	45	45	45	48

This is damn intense.
It starts to get blur around the 100th battle.
AKB RANKER

It's very accurate.

The images kinda overflow but i'm lazy...

Choose me translation

2010-04-12T12:16:00.002+08:00

AKB48 (Team YJ)
Choose me!

Lyrics Translation by me.
Special thanks to taka02.

-----------

The color of spring, a street corner,
Although the sky has changed,
It hasn't noticed the scent of flowers and love yet.

Somewhere my heart is lacking
because I don't have any self-confidence
The wind blows and
I'm becoming uneasy

A gap in the trees of feelings of love
A shadow forms from loneliness

Please choose your love
from among your classmates
Only one person
Yes, your lover

Please choose your love
Everyone is cute
Everyone also has a good personality
For sure, I am out of range

Just one thing that I can win in
I like you more than anyone

It starts to drizzle, I don't have an umbrella
I keep looking for a large shelter
My body gets wet
because my heart is shivering
I want to be covered by the warmth of a strong arm

If I murmur, talking to myself
Can it get across to you?

Please notice my love
in the corner of the same classroom
You don't look at me eye to eye on purpose
It makes my chest feel hard to breathe

Please notice my love
I am wandering about in the rain that is hitting me
unable to say "Let me in the umbrella"
Because I am timid

Because I am unable to confess
I just wait for you forever

----------
Kanji Lyrics:
作詞：秋元康作曲：山本祐介

春色街角
空は着替えてても
花と恋の香りには
まだ気づいてない

ハート　どこか欠けてて
何も自信がないから
風に吹かれてしまうと
不安になるの
愛しさの木々の隙間
寂しさが
影を作るよ

愛を選んでください
クラスメイトのその中から
たった一人だけの誰かが
そう　あなたの恋人
愛を選んでください
みんな可愛い子ばかりだし
みんな性格もいい子だし
きっと　私　圏外

たったひとつ
勝てることは
誰よりも
あなたが好きです

降り出す小雨に
傘を持ってなくて
私
大きな庇を
ずっと　探してた

体　濡れてしまって
心　震えているから
強い腕のぬくもりで
包んで欲しい
独り言　つぶやいたら
あなたまで
届くかしら

愛に気づいてください
同じ教室の片隅
わざと目と目合わさないのは
胸が苦しくなるの
愛に気づいてください
雨に打たれて彷徨ってる
傘に入れてと言えないまま
だって　私　臆病

告る(こくる)なんて
できないから
いつまでも
あなたを待つだけ

愛を選んでください
クラスメイトのその中から
たった一人だけの誰かが
そう　あなたの恋人
愛を選んでください
みんな可愛い子ばかりだし
みんな性格もいい子だし
きっと　私　圏外

たったひとつ
勝てることは
誰よりも
あなたが好きです

Hello!blog vote

2010-04-04T00:09:00.002+08:00

Hello!Blog UK's Hello!Project 2010 Poll.
My vote:

Groups/Units:

Technically I like all the groups here, even if they're not the top, so don't kill me for putting S/mileage last.

Members:

<3 miyabi!

haha. goodness, I really don't like the last 3.
Momo is just so freaking act cute and you know she can sing really well in live, but she chooses to use that squeaky voice in recordings. Ugghh.
Maimai, okay I used to like her more, but the more I hear her sing the more irritated I get. Her voice has that...sound. Worse than Momo's squeaking.
Reina, fine I concede her voice is good, but I just can't stand her arrogant face even though she might not be arrogant in real life. Sorry girl. And also, I don't like her aggressive-looking hairstyle.

-end-

Statistics....

2010-03-28T22:52:00.003+08:00

Ever since I put that FeedJit on here, I've gotten some interesting insights about the visitors to this page.
I'm quite amazed by the visitorship, which averages at like 5 per day, which truthfully is not very much, but I'm surprised because I always thought no one comes here. After all I consider this a personal life blog, even if nearly everything I write about is about Japanese music.

About 3/4 the traffic i'm seeing so far comes from Google/Google Images, which I'm not so sure why my blog is listed in some results THAT high.
And people who get directed here search for stuff like Perfume lyrics, MEG lyrics, Mami Kawada lyrics(most being something related to PSI-missing)...
I feel a little guilty for that, since I actually don't provide any lyrics! Hahaha

Oh, and the traffic is rather international. I get people from Singapore(duh), USA, Mexico, France, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan(wow).

As I was typing this post, I got another 2 visitors, one which I think is my friend, and another misled from USA searching for MEG lyrics translations.

*pause*

OH MAHHH GAAAAH!!!!

PERFUME NEW SINGLE INFO ANNOUNCED!!!

｢不自然なガール/ナチュラルに恋して｣

Fushizen na Girl/Natural ni Koishite

SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AMAZING COVERS!

wtf. *kicks self* the regular cover looks better than the limited.
Source: http://www.perfume-web.jp/information/

postarificious

2010-03-12T13:11:00.003+08:00

mood: o(≧∀≦)o
music: Natural ni Koi Shite (preview)/ Perfume

PLAYER is awesome! I can't stop listening to Can I Have A Word, Stay with you, Love or Lies and The Music! <3

And I'm gradually liking Natural ni Koi Shite. At first the chorus was really disappointing as I wanted something more edgy. But when I heard the 95sec preview, I liked it more, the whole thing sounded really "together" and the verse is just plain love. I even transcribed it on Perfume City. (^∀^；)ノ

Oh yeah, I'm buying my laptop today...finally I get a laptop, but it was not what I was waiting for. Times like these, I wish i'd chosen IT instead of MCM so I wouldn't be forced to get a Mac.
It isn't so much the OSX that I can't get over, after all it's Snow Leopard, which is not bad, and also I can buy Windows 7 to dual boot to play games...if i have the time.
The thing that really hits hard is the specs. Really. Core 2 Duo is really outdated, and the 250GB is mediocre. The other laptops offered are tempting me so much because they have superior specs. But I guess I'm just doomed yeah. I'll be fatalistic. (・ー・*)

★………★………★………★

I'm working tomorrow with Pris! Yay me. whatever. I just want the money, hand it over baby.

sakura no shiori

2010-03-05T12:39:00.002+08:00

mood: better than yesterday
music: Are U Ready / mini

OMG I just watched AKB48's Sakura no Shiori PV, and in the PV they were visiting different areas of japan, it was awesome.
But there was this part they were on a bridge over a river and I was like. OMG. This place looks familiar! It's Osaka's Dotonburi, isn't it? And in the next second after this realisation, I saw an even more familiar billboard poster at the back. It's alan's My Life poster. Oh my gawd! Doesn't this mean that AKB would've been filming this PV around the same time I was in Japan??
I wonder how many days I passed them by. It could even be on the same day but different time :( Although it might have been useless if I saw them filming, since I wasn't listening to AKB then I wouldn't have recognised them either.
Oh yeah, I liked the part they went to Yoyogi! The Yoyogi stadium in the background is so majestic. I wish I visited there, because Perfume ever performed there.
<3
----------

Don't really wanna talk about ytd. HDB is made of fail, fail and more fail. Suckers.

Apple is also pissing me off. It's a SCAMMER company. Form over function, my foot. Other laptops look good too! Apple's specs are so fail and they want us to pay more. Seriously. Core 2 Duo?? Screw you. Hello, where's Core i7? It's not even i5 or Core 2 Quad! And the hard drive. Omg. So fail. Offering 160GB and 250GB when other brands like the more popular choice, Fujitsu, are doing 350, 500GB.
SCREW YOU, APPLE!!!

*looks for something to wreck*

----------
Okay enough rant.

Are U Ready is kinda addictive (:

are u ready?
hajimari nante
dare ni mo kimerarenai
don't think just felling
kanjiru mama ni
ima sugu hashiridasou
startin
iro no nai sora
hikari wo terashite miseru
kotae ga mienai
nante iu nara
kotae mo tsukureba ii
I believe in myself

our songs

2010-03-03T16:19:00.002+08:00

Like seriously. Best PV and PV making ever. I love how they fool around on set.
----------

Poly is gonna start soon T___T
Time passes so fast.
And i'm gonna die in about an hour. You can bet i'll be scolded today again. I really wanna die in this job already. :(

----------
Oh yeah, capsule's new album releases today! Yay! <3
Yui Makino's new single releases today too! But I can't find the song at all. :(

And today is Toshiko's birthday!

perfume gathering 3

2010-02-23T15:11:00.001+08:00

Well, had another Perfume gathering. Fun, of course.

Karaoke:
Perfume - Chocolate Disco
MEG - KITTENISH
Namie Amuro - WILD (whoosh)
Berryz Koubou - Munasawagi Scarlet
C-ute - Namida no Iro
FLOW - Colors (which everyone sang; it's like their "anthem")
Nami Tamaki - GIVE ME UP
Buono! - Minna Daisuki (there weren't any recent songs and i wanted to sing buono so i settled for this)
Mami Kawada - Beehive (yay)
MEG - Amai Zeitaku
Masami Mitsuoka - last cross (<3)
Perfume - Computer City
Perfume - Electro World

The reason why we hardly sang Perfume was because a whole bunch of perfume songs weren't working. Sigh.
And songs like RIVER by AKB48? Not yet updated into the system. Damn, i wanted to sing it so much. As a desperate attempt I selected songs that i wasn't confident of pulling off. I mean, I can read Japanese, but I can't read it that fast and the songs are fast.
Still, I had fun.

Dinner:
Ume went off :(
But marvin joined us. (:
Anyway we went McDonalds' since we didn't know where to eat. Crowded round a small table to watch PTA DVD vol.2 on senti's netbook while munching on our fries.
The McDonalds' was kinda crowded and we were sitting at the entrance, so people who came in to look for seats and stood at the entrance, got curious and looked at us...probably wondering why this bunch of people were so interested watching a llama girl (Nocchi, lol).

Overall, t'was enjoyable. :D
-----

Ohnoes, i'm getting jitterish already. I GTG to work soon. Sigh...This job gives me backaches. And I keep making mistakes :X I only hope that I don't break ANYTHING because things there costs a few hundred bucks.

birthdays

2010-02-07T15:44:00.004+08:00

Well, all four of us are in NP! (:

Ahahaha last night went Bugis Street with Perrine and Pris. Walk until damn tired cos we covered like everything. Perrine bought so many clothes cos I think she's overworked and need to destress. Anyway she has a lot of money due to "screwed up schedule" at her workplace. Then Pris bought two pieces of clothes. I wasn't supposed to buy anything on account of how bankrupt I am right now, but caved in to buying one piece. I mean, it would be kinda wasted to go home empty-handed. xDDD I only reached home slightly past 12.

OH YEAH. I finally got a job. I wonder if i'll be able to hold onto it though. $6/hr, hmmmm. If I do a rough estimation:

Training $40
+
(6hr/day $36
x
8 days/mth
=
$288)
--------
subtotal - $328

328
-
debt to Perrine $45
-
debt to parents $50
-
debt to aunt $30
-----------
subtotal $203

and then,
$203
-
church pledges 10% $20
----
final $183

OMG. I'd still be poor -___-\\
I'd buy Perfume livefolio and there'll be like so little left.

HAPPY BELATED 16th BIRTHDAY
SAKI NAKAJIMA!!!

HAPPY BELATED 30th BIRTHDAY
YASUTAKA NAKATA!!!!!!!!

RIVER!

2010-02-03T18:10:00.001+08:00

completely addicted to this song, so catchy. and i like the meaning of the song too.

AKB48 - RIVER
English translation from kiwi-musume.com

AKB–!
48!

Move forward! (Got it!)
Don’t stop! (Got it!)
Walk the road of hope
To the place where the sun rises!

A river! River! River! Blocking your way
A river in your way!
A river! River! River! Of fate
A river that tests you!

Cast aside your doubts!
Show some guts!
Don’t hesitate!
Take a step
Right now! Believe yourself!

Forward, forward!
Go straight forward!
Cross the river!! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Dreams always
Seem far away
They feel out of your reach
Pick up
One of the stones at your feet
And throw it
With all your might!

There’s a river
Running before your eyes
A big, wide river
Even if it’s deep and dark
Even if the current is fast
You don’t need to be afraid
It may be far away
But, yes, there’s a bank on the other side
Have more faith in yourself

Swim with all your might
Through the dark
Don’t look back! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!

When you stretch out your hand
You’ll find your future there
Don’t give up, thinking you can’t reach it
The stone you threw
Will make your dream come true
You won’t even hear it land

There’s a river
Running in your heart too
The river of hard times
Even if things don’t go well
Even if you drown sometimes
Just try again
Don’t give up
There’ll be a bank
You’re sure to get there someday

Get over it!
River!

Ah-ah-ah-ah-
Don’t make excuses to yourself!
Ah-ah-ah-ah-
You won’t know until you try!
Ah-ah-ah-ah-
Nothing for it but to go straight forward!

Keep on walking
Forever, forever, forever
Down the road you’ve chosen!

There’s a river
Running before your eyes
A big, wide river
Even if it’s deep and dark
Even if the current is fast
You don’t need to be afraid
It may be far away
But, yes, there’s a bank on the other side
Have more faith in yourself

There’s a river
Running in your heart too
A river of sweat and tears!
Even if you fail
Even if you’re swept away
Just start over
Never say die
Hang onto your dreams
Until the day your wishes come true

Cross the river!
You can do it!

new phone+jae

2010-01-27T17:08:00.002+08:00

mood: relieved and happy
♪music: WILD/Namie Amuro

FINALLY GOT MY NEW PHONE
w995. metro rose( aka pink)

I'm not so crazy about the colour, i really wanted red but bloody singtel took it as an exclusive. My parents refused to change plans so I had to settle for second best. While I have to say the colour's a bit "ah lian" for me, it's still better than silver or black. I don't like my phone to be monotonous colours.

Oh well, what's important is that I actually have WiFi now, so I don't need to risk data charges. Which means I shall SMS more. lol.

Also looking forward to better video quality(Perfume PVs! yay) and the 8.1MP camera.

-----------
In other slightly more important news, JAE application results.

Well...I'm now officially an NP Mass Comm-er! Cheers!

I was so scared that i'd actually get into IT, my 2nd choice. I did want to go into IT at first(my dream company: Google. yeah yeah, dream on.) but after putting in my choices I got scared by all the bad stuff i'd heard about the course. If i failed to meet the cut for Mass Comm and got into IT, my reaction would be "my life is screwed".

I was flooded with relief upon checking the results, I started bouncing up and down in my chair. Hahaha.

Thank God. At least I know He thinks this is the right way for me. I said, whether i get into Mass Comm or IT, it's the path God believes is better for me. In reality I started to get scared that I would end up in IT. So I'm really relieved now. (:

♫ It's a great day to praise the Lord~

jae

2010-01-15T14:23:00.003+08:00

Okay yeah I submitted my JAE. ~~I guess i'm taking IT~~ I put Mass Comm first. It's almost impossible that i won't get into my ~~first~~second choice, but i just filled up 10 choices for fun.

where to go

2010-01-12T17:22:00.003+08:00

WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

;_;

その結果は私の期待を裏切った。

Can't say I'm happy with my results
but everyone in my class thinks I should be happy.

I was crying when i saw the single C5 appearing on my favourite subject, and people think I should be happy.

When I got over the disappointment and went home, people at home thought I should be crying. My parents asked me to retake, and my sis kept picking on my every comment and kept saying i'm stupid.

私の成績は、みんなの期待にそわなかった。

Anyway it's over. The getting-results part, i mean.

まだまだ。

Now the problem is, WHERE DO I GO?

Seriously.
I qualified for every poly course.

どうしよう? 情報技術か逓信か...

次はどこへ行きたいですか?

決断の日は近い。

it's over

2010-01-10T17:20:00.002+08:00

Well, it's finally over.

Should I say I'm happy?
I don't know.

I was pretty distracted looking for somebody throughout the night.
It was towards the end I finally caught a glimpse of that person.
But I don't think the person saw me.

...
...
...

Tomorrow's the release of the O-level results. I don't know what to think so I'm not thinking anymore. I just start feeling nauseous whenever I think of it.

I pray to God that I don't cry when I see it.

Not like 4 years ago.

Please no.

rant

2010-01-02T16:33:00.003+08:00

AGHHHHH
Why can't I control my upper eyelid!??

If I can't get them in by friday, I'm going to go in blind.

------
(got myself into more debt by buying shoes from Charles & Keith)
(makeup and hair somewhat settled)
(still need to settle accessories)

perfume gathering + seoulgarden

2009-12-29T19:27:00.003+08:00

Well, I went to Singaporean Perfume Fans Gathering on sunday. T'was pretty enjoyable, owing to the fact that the karaoke had many Japanese songs I knew. I am so never going back to K-box again, since I know there's this awesome place.

I sang plenty (can't remember all, but whatever):
Perfume
One Room Disco
Dream Fighter
Polyrhythm
Electro World
Baby cruising Love
Computer City
Chocolate Disco
Macaroni

Others
ChaNge the WoRLd - MiChi
Tokaikko Junjou - C-ute
FOREVER LOVE - C-ute
again - YUI
Yume o Mikata ni - ayaka
PRECIOUS - MEG
MAGIC - MEG
Get Wild -Nami Tamaki
Daitan ni Ikimashou - Nami Tamaki
Reason - Nami Tamaki
Hishoku no Sora - Mami Kawada
PSI-missing - Mami Kawada
Infinity - GIRL NEXT DOOR
Dango Daikazoku - Chata

yeah, and actually I knew a lot more like JOINT, KITTENISH and Amai Zeitaku, but I was already grabbing the mic most of the time. The others sang Perfume as well as stuff from SURFACE, Orange Range, and lots of denpa.
There was actually many songs in the Japanese database that wasn't available in the system :( I wanted Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, GAME, edge, MY BOY...too bad they were missing!But I still enjoyed myself.

------------

Today I went out with the gang to eat lunch at seoul garden. I still smell of burning meat right now cause' we were in there so long.
And after lunch we went to the arcade where i played this SUPER FUN GAME called Jubeat Ripples. There is 4X4 set of square buttons that you have to touch according to the rhythm of the song. It's a little hard to explain but it's easy to play. And I was so freaking happy when I saw songs I knew! I got ESPECIALLY EXCITED when i saw MORE MORE MORE and FREE FREE!!

So I played
more more more - capsule
Kibun Joujou - mihimaru GT
FREE FREE - Suzuki Ami
PROMiSE - MiChi

oh gosh i love this game man.

O(≧∇≦)o

kashiyuka.

2009-12-21T19:16:00.002+08:00

I might as well wish this early.

HAPPY 21ST early BIRTHDAY KASHI!!! (23/12 is her birthday)

open letter to biased writer

2009-12-11T13:42:00.002+08:00

Open Letter to Christopher Toh, TODAY writer:

I would like to comment on your somewhat-recent article on May'n. Maybe you haven't noticed, but you're being incredibly biased in the article.

"Already, fans of May'n are hailing her to be the next Ayumi Hamasaki - a claim that may not be as far-fetched as some might think."
Yeah, right. I'll believe that. This claim is as far-fetched as a recent reader's letter about Google Street View being a terrorist weapon.
Putting in this sentence into the article is very highly misleading to readers that May'n is awfully popular right now. Yes, she is popular, but mostly only with a small anime fanbase. Compare this to Ayumi, who has possibly millions of fans worldwide and is Asia's biggest earner. Only deluded fans would think she could be the next Ayumi. Especially in this digital age, record sales are only going to get harder to beat. And May'n is not even close. Let me remind you, she hasn't gone #1 on the Oricon even once.

"She's slated for her first big gig next year at Tokyo's prestigious Nippon Bukodan arena - the same venue where some of rock's biggest names have performed, including The Beatles, Kiss, Queen, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin. "
Yes, I'll agree Budoukan(learn to spell, my friend, or don't try at all) is a fairly prestigious venue. However, when Japanese singers are involved, it is comparatively easy to get a gig there. After all, it is in their own country. You don't need to be as big as Ayumi to perform there. (By the way, Ayumi has not performed there before anyway.) You just need a nicely-sized fanbase and you can hold a gig there. Examples include Nana Mizuki, also one who got her start in anime. I'd like to see May'n try Tokyo Dome, if she is as great as you claim.

"But May'n, who describes herself as a positive and active person who likes performing live, will be the first to tell you not to believe all the hype. "At this moment, I don't think I'm the next Ayumi," she said, laughing"
Well, duh. Obviously she would know that she's nowhere near Ayumi's status. But the way you put it, you made her out to be a extremely modest person.

I'm not a May'n hater, nor an Ayumi fan or anything. I just cannot take such subjective and biased writing lying down. I'm amazed people allowed you to get away with it. And fine, she did come to Singapore and thus justifies some press coverage. However, you lack objectivity in your writing and that's a pity. This article sounded a lot like propaganda, to say the least. You may be a fan of May'n but stop showing it so obviously.
Also, your decision to review her album was also not justified. To my knowledge, no Japanese album has ever been reviewed in TODAY before this. If you just throw in one like that, it's unfair advertising. Why don't you review Japanese albums on a regular basis?

I am just saying, Mr Toh, take off those rose-coloured glasses and see the world more clearly. End of story.

disclaimer: I cannot be responsible for anything I said here. :/

blogskin, holidays update

2009-12-08T15:47:00.003+08:00

mood: ennui-ish
music: SAWA - Swimming Dancing

Yay, a layout update! Finally got myself to do it. It's CAPSULE, PERFUME & MEG!!! Yeeaaaaashh. J-technopop/Shibuya-kei fever~ xD

So yes, I am missing Japan, but what's gone is gone, so I'm gonna look forward to the next time i'll go there. Even if no one brings me. I've made a promise to myself that I'll go back in the next five years. I'm still wondering whether I'll really migrate to Japan in the future. Chances are, I'll never be that rich, so there's another method that I was thinking about, but I would really have to be lucky for it to happen.

Now that the holidays have started, what have I been doing? Truth is, I don't know myself. I seem to be heading nowhere. I said I wanted a job, but now i'm thinking twice about it. So I've applied for some unlikely jobs, and see whether they call me. Probably not since it's been days.
And then this Friday I'm supposed to pick up Perfume Triangle Tour stuff. Well, actually just two items. I'm a little short on cash, and I have to resort to pilfering everything I can claim from my parents. This is where my Perfume craze has led me. Although I can't say I regret it.
It's safe to estimate I've already spent around $700 on CDs, DVDs and artist paraphernalia. And this started only last year. Obviously, I'm not working, so the funds have been going out and never coming back. Coupled with my previous obsession with Granado Espada, I'm pretty sure I've spent over $1000. Which means...yes, I'm near bankrupt at this point. I can't help it. When I buy, the price doesn't look like much. But when you add it all up...well...it's disaster.

深い　深い　深い　深い海へもぐってゆく
fukai fukai fukai fukai umi e mogutte yuku
I'm diving deep, deep, deep, deep into the sea

And because of Perrine I am going further into debt. I don't know why, but it's extremely easy for her to persuade me into doing anything. I officially owe her money for prom tickets and I'm probably gonna have to spend more for whatever outfit I'm gonna wear. At this point I feel like winging it and going to the prom in a tshirt and shorts. MLIA.

SAWA - Swimming Dancing

I'm waiting for my favorite songs.
水を得たサカナのように
So Mr. DJ play that song.
飛び出したいくらい踊りたい
今夜は誰もつかまらなくて
それでも何かを欲しがっていく
欲しがっていて

ここにくれば１人でも
そこは深海への入り口みたい
深い　深い　深い　深い
海へもぐってゆく！

☆
弾け飛んで泡になって踊るわ
帰ってこれないとしても go deeper
むき出しのキモチが踊りだす
吐き出した想いが sweet sweet...

I wonder what you playing now?
陸を見たサカナのように
You show me new field in your time.
新しくて驚いていて

人の波にのまれても
流れつくのは夢見た
広い　広い　広い　広い
海につながるはず！

はちきれるまで輪になって泳ぎたい
君の前ではベールさえも脱ぎたい
誰も知らない顔が生まれだす
打ち上げられた水魚 sweet sweet...

still shining　朝までの深海は
引き潮までに満ちておかなきゃ
忘れたくない情熱は
高く　高く　高く
打ち上げられていく

☆ 繰り返し

Japan trip gone

2009-12-03T14:33:00.002+08:00

Well, i'm back. There's a lot to talk about the trip, but I'm really too lazy to write it all out. If you wanna know, just talk to me or something.

I'll just write a few excerpts here...

While in a Kyoto artist merchandise shop, near Kiyomizu Temple:

Me:(casually browsing-- not really. I was looking for Perfume)
Salesgirl: May I help you?
M: Uh...(stunned, cause' all the shops i've been to, no one speaks english)
S: Who do you like? (circles finger around the printed cards i was looking at)
M: ...Perfume.
S: Pafyuumu? (in a high-pitched surprised voice)
M: (nods head dumbly)
S: Wait...
(she goes to her colleague and together they gather all the perfume stuff. a minute later she dumps everything in front of me)
S: This is all Pafyuumu.
M: Oh, okay...(browses, while she looks on curiously)
S: Where do you come from?
M: Singapore.
S: Oh, Singapore! (in surprised voice again, probably cause' no one knew Perfume has fans outside Japan)
S: Who do you like? (pointing to Perfume poster)
M: Kashiyuka...
S: Ah.
M: I'll take these...
S: (grabs calculator) one thousand five hundred yen.
...

Ok, that was the interesting part. LOL. I got a laminated A3 poster(which i had so much problems ensuring it didn't get bent in my luggage!), a A4 poster, a car sticker, a badge and a keychain, all Perfume. (:

One other thing i should mention is that whichever CD shop I bought from, they all looked at me surprised, cause' I bought so many Japanese CDs. HAHAHA

I have acquired a neat amount of CDs! Sadly I had to put back some on the shelves cause' I was buying too many and worried they wouldn't fit in my luggage. Also I didn't wanna spend too much. In the end I blew around 20,000 yen on CDs alone.

AGH I REALLY WANT MEG PREMIUM LIVE PARTY!!! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO EXPENSIVE!?

Oh well. I'm kinda sad. I miss Japan so much already. It's so beautiful, especially since I went during Koyo(red leaves) season.

PS. Photos on fb.

H!P update, nakky and miya

2009-11-23T14:37:00.004+08:00

Well, I'm kinda happy now. I'm flying to Japan is tomorrow night.

But that's not all, I'm feeling happy for Nakajima Saki(Nakky), cause' she's my favourite H!P member and great things are happening for her, after years of being overshadowed by Suzuki Airi in C-ute.

First of all, Nakky FINALLY gets to release a solo photobook! Nearly every member of the main groups have a solo photobook already, and she was one of the few left behind. I'm so happy she got her own photobook. It's a sign she's getting more and more popular with the fans.

Secondly, previously she only had C-ute, but in more recent years, she got to be in shuffle groups like Athena & Robikerottsu, and Guardians 4(check out Party Time!, latest song which is pretty catchy). The shuffle groups exposed her to more H!P girls, and she got to mix with Mitsui Aika from Morning Musume and Risako Sugaya, the most popular girl in Berryz Koubou.
But most recently, she has been shuffled into Petitmoni. It has had a few generations of popular members (like Maki Goto) already, but the group became on hiatus. Now, Petitmoni is revived with Petitmoni V, and Nakky is grouped with fellow C-ute member Hagiwara Mai, as well as rising H!P soloist Mano Erina. Seeing how Mano Erina is in the group, I predict Tsunku has got big plans for Petitmoni V.

Recently during the H!P Summer Chanpuru concert, Petitmoni V performed their debut song, which was written by Tsunku himself, which must be a sign that Tsunku is actually giving somewhat priority to Petitmoni. Maimai was sick, so only Nakky and Erina sang.

Take a look:

Frickin' awesome. This must be the catchiest and most addictive H!P song in years. I'm starting to have high hopes for Petitmoni V already. It's really not an easy song to sing with the bountiful alliteration present. If you're addicted to this song too, it will be released 2nd Dec in a H!P compilation called Pucchi Best 10.

I'm so happy for Nakky. She's the best dancer in C-ute, and she deserves some payoff. Being in C-ute did help her get some fame, but she didn't get many lines at the start and Airi was obviously overshadowing every other member(just look at all the C-ute performances! The audience shouts "Airi" ALL THE TIME).
And now that Kanna and Erika are gone(not that i'm happy about that, but it's already done), it just gives Nakky more space to shine.

Oh yeah, Miyabi Natsuyaki has good news too. Aa! has been revived from hiatus, and leader Tanaka Reina graduated from the group(probably cause' she's hell busy with Morning Musume, c'mon). So, Miya took over as leader!! I'm happy for her! Another of my favourite H!P members gets to shine. Well, Miya has always been rather popular, but this is the first time she gets to be leader, after all my false hopes were dashed in Buono!. Buono! eventually never got a leader.

One thing though...it's not only Miya that overlaps in Buono! and Aa!. Airi is also in both groups...I think it's kinda weird? Okay, both were in Aa! from the start, and Buono! was later formed, but I never thought Aa! would be revived, so it was ok. Now that it is, the only diff between Buono! and Aa! is Tsugunaga Momoko and Saho Akari. Both groups have 3 members each, so for people who didn't familiarize themselves with Buono!, they're gonna get confused by the 2 groups. And what's with the exclamation mark with each group name??

I just think it's a weird decision, but anyway I guess Miya and Airi in a group is a surefire way to ensure its popularity. I'm just saying. Oh well, I do like this group too. I hope Miya will rock as leader (:

music post

2009-11-18T16:08:00.003+08:00

My Top 10 Songs of November

1. MEG - Kouro (光露)
2. MEG - PRISM BOY
3. Kawada Mami - Prophecy (Shakugan no Shana S OP)
4. MEG - KITTENISH
5. Kawada Mami - Triangle (Shakugan no Shana II ED)
6. Suzuki Ami - KISS KISS KISS
7. MEG - Dreamscape
8. MEG - MAGIC
9. Tamaki Nami - Get Wild
10. GIRL NEXT DOOR - Infinity (Atashinchi no Danshi OP [drama])

Perfume didn't release anything new, so other artists have taken over my list easily. MEG has a more extensive discography, so I was able to discover more songs.

Gosh, Kouro is AWESOME. MEG's voice is totally angelic and I never knew cause' her voice is now vocoded all the time by Nakata... I'm gonna have to hear more of her older songs.

I love MEG.

And great news. Nakatami is back(: Suzuki Ami and Nakata Yasutaka will be working together again on her new single. YEAAAAH.

+Updated Japan shopping list.

rate my life

2009-11-10T13:51:00.001+08:00

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	5.6
Mind:	5.7
Body:	7.5
Spirit:	5.4
Friends/Family:	5
Love:	1.5
Finance:	4.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Awesome, ain't it.
I'm not sure it improved from when i took it years ago.

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