APPLETASTIC

It’s been quite long since our family put up a Christmas tree! This year we got one that’s medium size and some simple decos to go with the tree. I even made my bear sit on it =) The blue and white lights (caught in this pic) make it look surreal, rather than the normal red and green ones. Yeap, and also here are some of the gifts I prepared for this Christmas. Only 3 more days!

Huge pics entry =D On the 17th, we celebrated Qinghui’s 21st birthday at Seoul Garden Bugis. 4 of us – Grace, Daniel, Justin, Joshua and myself. Somehow I liked the steamboat from Tian Tian huo guo better, more tasty I guess? Anyway, Grace got her this huge Winne the Pooh singing balloon that plays a funny birthday song each time it gets hit (or even tap). So she probably got lotsa curious stares on the train back home (we all took NEL besides her, lol).

I got her the mini Jenga from Strapya, the Japanese mobile phone straps site. Spent quite a bomb from the order I made, and looks like most of the stuff ended up as Christmas gifts.

OH! Elementary 1 lessons at Bunka ended yesterday morning with an oral and written test. Whoosh, kinda scary but I passed! They told us we would be informed of our results via sms only in the afternoon today, but while Ade and I were at Kino (and while catching up with Jeanie whom we met there) we received our results! We both got the same marks lol, 109/110. Weird. So after this we’re signing up for Ele 2, probably for the lessons conducted on Sundays 2-5pm over 2 months, once per week (phew). For Ele1, there were 3 senseis who took our class, taking turns occasionally. They are all really nice and patient with us, and most of our classmates, on average, were of the same age (+- 2 years), though there were two really young ones. Class would begin at 9am daily and end at 12noon. Usually when I meet Adeline at Orchard stn, we would make it there at around 9.05am, which was later than almost everyone else :S Even like today when we endeavoured to reach there 10minutes earlier, we missed a train, and the one we took was delayed slightly so there was no difference in the timing at all =.=

I’m really glad I took lessons, and so far I like their teaching method and pace. It was way better than learning by myself with reference from only books and the stuff I watch online. Every day we recite sentences, phrases and words out loud; it’s like a primary school class (FUN! really!) but effective at the same time. Once sensei introduced the phrase ?????? (meaning ‘I know/ knowing’, all in hiragana of course) and used pictures of celebrities as examples. She flashed the pictures one by one and we would have to answer “shitteimasu” for those whom we know, and “shirimasen” otherwise. Of the many pictures, one of them was MatsuJun! I think there was a littttle commotion when she showed his pic (Kindaichi hairstyle? <3) and a lot of them went "ehhh! Hana Yori Dango.. Domyoji, that guy...". But sensei doesn't know him! She probably has only heard of Arashi but not the individual members. Yeap, so it was one of the enjoyable lessons.

Hence. One line struck off my to-do list for this holidays, that is, to learn more Japanese. Christmas is coming! Today evening we’re all going to Grace’s cellgroup dinner, then stayover at her house and on Sunday, crash my church’s morning service! Wheee!

when he plays a guitar.

Here’s Ninomiya for you =) From a black and white pic, this quick sketch was done with a 0.05 outline pen. I think I’m in a mood to do fanart today. Oh and I changed my display icon… it’s THE cutesy OHMIYA! SK love!!!

I certainly hope it doesn’t get further than this. Sake was good, anyhow, as was the short but sweet outing with Grace, Daniel and Joshua at Dhoby and Clark Quay afterwards.

My one and a half weeks of holidays were spent mostly at home, going out to meet up with friends only occasionally, with my eyes glued to the computer doing the freelance job while freeing my mind from webdesign when I watch stuff on crunchyroll or youtube. It wasn’t a job that I sought for, but since my uncle and aunt needed a website up in a short period of time, I felt obligated to help out. Just that the job scope went a step further by requiring knowledge of php and things that I don’t really know how to handle. I am currently wondering if I’d still be able to fulfill my to-do list for the holidays, as well as relax myself fully before the impending 2-module block that seeks to upset my slackerish way of life again.

As some of you might have known, I got Jap for CDS in the next block. True to my statements, or inferences of “I can’t wait for Jap CDS!” from the previous entries, I’m going to take up elementary Jap at Bunka Language sch; Adeline and I while surfing the class schedules decided on a whim (actually it was more on my part) to sign up, so we visited Orchard the next day to clarify the course schedule as well as to register. We were lucky because the administrator initially said that there were no more vacancies, until I told her only two of us were registering, hence we got in for the daily 3-hour class that begins on 11 Dec, running for 8 sessions from 9-12nn (sounds so much like block teaching?). Yes I do mean daily; it’s suppose to be from Mon-Fri but class begins on a Tues so it will end on a Thurs the following week. Now that the date is nearing, I’ve got this fear that I might not be able to catch up, considering the amount of things we have to learn in just 8 sessions. There’s also gonna be a test towards the end of the elementary class. Omg!

Sometime last week, while shopping for Claudyne’s prom stuff with her and her friend from China, Audrey, we saw this damn sexy grey mini-dress at Heeren, so tempting that Claudyne almost settled for it; 100+ bucks and all. Then at the last hour she tried a black and white tube dress with flowers for its pattern, and we told her to ditch the grey one because afterall it’s meant for a prom, not clubbing. Lol. Got her pretty shoes and handbag on the same day. Leng loi came over to my house and I lent her a truckload of vcd/dvds as usual. After seeing her prom photos, I’m certain the tube dress fitted her more than anything we saw that day; she must have been the hottest girl (even without the sexiest/revealing dress) among her OAC, and maybe her schoolmates, especially that guy. =D

Recently Cathleen created a new blog! I saw her prom pictures too and my jaws dropped =O Her style was way different from during our Sec 4 prom; now I think that she looks like Toda Erika!!!

Second image from www.yui-life.com

I recently saw DVD sets and bought LIAR GAME – Toda Erika and Shota – as well as Summer Snow (which includes the making-of and soundtrack — how rare!) Other than DVDs, I’ve caught onto Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo, like, seriously =) And the sequence in which I watch the series is from the latest to the oldest; I saw Kame’s movie version with Ueno Juri (I really don’t mind her to be Miyuki because it’s great to see her acting) first, followed by Jun’s movie version, then also his Kindaichi season 3, now I’m at episode 6 of Kindaichi season 2 by Domoto Tsuyoshi. I like both 2 and 3 so far, but I feel that Jun’s version was damn cool because of the awesome ending credits that features teenage Jun alone ccompanied by Arashi’s song Jidai. Both Jun and Tsuyo portray Kindaichi Hajime a little differently but it’s the themes and episodes that really incur the suspense and thrill which make Kindaichi’s solving of the mysteries feel so satisfying. Kindaichi hardly, if not never, fails himself or his granddad, who was a very famous detective. I wonder what luck has he to be always involved in such dire situations where murder always occurs and that he always come to the conclusion that “the murder is among us.” A classic line(!) alongside with his proclamation of determination in solving the cases “in the name of my grandfather”. Jun makes a dorky and cute but cool-headed Kindaichi ^^ The butterfly episode with Hiroki Narimiya was extremely memorable and yet so morbid because it involves the wing pattern of butterflies and relating them to the kimonos, as well as death itself. Another episode that I found thrilling was the murders at the dolls castle. Dolls are scary! I remember channel 8 showed the Kindaichi anime in the past, but I was too afraid to watch. They even showed Jun’s version! How could I miss it… haha.

4 new shirts from Threadless. On the way. So when they arrive, I’d have 5 new tees because I haven’t worn the Mourning Girl (Battle Royale related! yay!) tee yet. Yes, after so long. Guess I’ll put up some pics to show when the time comes. On the other hand, I’m thinking of selling a lot of things, although I’d say it’s gonna be mostly clothes. So, watch this space!

“ 30 November 2007
“ Acrylic(diluted) on semi watercolour paper, 25.5 x 18cm
*- 3 hours. At this time of the year, the weather is extremely cooling and it’s when I love to have my windows open. Blue curtains flying; they never fail to evoke a sense of nostalgia in me. This piece is, in a way, a self-portraiture (haha, no way I’d look that good from behind. But still..) I was inspired while listening to Taiyou no Uta‘s soundtrack, hence the field of sunflowers. A tribute to a favourite film, Taiyou no Uta (Midnight Sun), I saw almost exactly a year ago, and its wonderfully bittersweet music.

I’m beginning to doubt my future as a designer, because such a slacker wouldn’t even do for anything at all. There’s no drive for me to work at all, the lack of inspiration makes assignments really dull, and the many other frustrations like staying true to using my own images while others easily settle for stocks and brushes (it’s my philosophy, but I won’t care to explain), my lack of reference which has become a perpetual barrier preventing improvement of any sort from the current lousy standard I hold. I fearfully predict that this may last for the next one and a half years.

Grades no longer serve to encourage hard work from me, yet it’s what determines our “value” here. Does hard work really equate to good grades? I refuse to do anymore than what I feel like doing for there may be no end to that process, and I refuse to do what has been done before. So, my philosophies would probably kill me sooner than I expect. And by the end of it all, I would be left with nothing to move forward with; only everything to hold on to.

Something must be amiss. Life is not suppose to be like this?

In need of some thrill at this point of my life, I caught the horror flick Unrest on thursday. The gore was nothing, however, the very fact that they gave us an insight on Gross Anatomy and the real-looking cadavers (did I read somewhere they used real one(s)?) made me flinch in my seat, although it had been the most interesting thing to learn how they dealt with the donated corpses. Shipping them in wooden crates, dump them all in the liquid-filled tank, retrieving them like dump using only a metal hook to pull them out, etc. With regards to the realistic aspect, it had all been very gross but mind-blowing and good to watch. I simply CANNOT understand how in one particular scene the actor and actress had managed to bring themselves to jump into that murky tank, filled with gross looking corpses and body parts, in a bid to free their cursed cadaver. A very chilling thought huh. Besides the great acting and incredibly chilly atmosphere of the hospital corridors and lab, I dislike the story itself and the supernatural theme they decided to base this film on. And the terrible sound effects that were enough to disrupt what was going on in the scene. And I had expected Unrest to be a good movie =(

My right hand developed blisters while I was playing in a match during training last friday. One of them burst and made it impossible for me to grip the bat without a plaster. Till now it still looks terribly ugly. Over the weekend, I slept much, watched Yamada Taro Monogatari a second time, finished Bambino in two days and am now watching Romance (the Korean drama from quite long ago). No matter how much about Arashi I show to my mum, she can’t seem to deflect away from her favourite Kim Jae Won haha, although through YTM she’s come to like Sho-kun quite a bit for his prince-like image as Takuya Mimura (hmm, I wonder if it’s mean to be a pun on Takuya Kimura? Lol), Nino x Oh-chan (his cameo and the Ohmiya SK moment in the final episode) more (also because of that super super funny Mago2 Kodomo no Bangohan clip here), and through Bambino, MatsuJun a little more maybe. Where’s Aiba? In the zoo…. Not surprising I always associate him with the zoo. Oh yeah! We can’t stop discussing and laughing at the hilariously baka way Aiba introduced his name in Chinese during their 06 concert in Taipei. He sounded like a crow, or frog being slaughtered. ROFL.

Well if you’re wondering (at all?), I definitely feel better after this blog entry. Ciao! *Damn, this was suppose to be a solemn entry……*