~Eternal Snow~

Random Pop-up Post for the Moment.

2008-10-31T17:00:00.002+08:00

Last post: 12th September 2008. My goodness, that was seriously very long ago lol. Sadly, this is just going to be a short post for now, but I should be back to a normal blogging routine (1 post a week?) come December, most likely starting with a post about AFA 08'. Yep I'll be going for it, with the rest of the Team Blue members, but only for May'n concert though, as I'll be in the midst of my university exams, which starts in 11 days time (Eeks!).

For the past 7 weeks or so, I've been through the highs (not much) and the lows (too much), but that I don't really want to touch on here (well same TB members in mIRC might had heard of my rants in the channel lol). Nevertheless, I'm back to focusing on my studies for now. Besides matters of the heart, during this same period, I had also went on a diving trip to Tioman (which I think is getting worse and worse), and also went with a few TB members for a Karaoke outing. Sadly no photos were taken on that outing, but I'll make sure I'll bring my camera for the next (Dec?) ^^, maybe a video cam too so we can have CI on video posted on youtube with his pantless Strike Witches OP singing :D.

Anyway, enough for now, as I'll need to go back to my studying for a test/quiz on Monday... which I'm so screwed as of now. Ciao and out!
P.S: Oh yes I nearly forgot... Happy Halloween to everyone out there!! and for those who are in the midst or nearing exams... ALL THE BEST OF LUCK!! WE NEED IT!

Caught up in the Moment.

2008-09-12T21:20:00.001+08:00

So I thought I would had more time once past the elections, and boy was that assumption so wrong. After being thrown so much rubbish jobs to do (I'm still working on 3 posters and certificates for 31 people this weekend), and at the same time trying to prepare for my CA (tests that carries 20% of my total score for their respective modules) next week, which I HAD NOT started studying due to workload, I can say I'm more or less screwed. Nevertheless I'm taking a short break and doing this quick post.
I'm not sure how many of you had watched the movie Koizora (Sky of Love) before, but I did managed to catch it when I was returning from Japan on the A380, though I'm missed the ending of the movie when the damn Jet flew too fast back to SG. Anyway, for the past 1-2hours or so, I've been listening to just one song on eternal repeat track, and god I'm simply in love with the song! Why didn't I noticed this song earlier? It was the theme song for the movie!

Yui Aragaki - Heavenly Days ~ Koizora [Sky of Love] OST

A sweet voice by Yui Aragaki and such meaningful lyrics makes this song simply wonderful. And if you did watch the movie and try to relate them, it just brings tears to one's eyes. Usually when watching Japanese movies, it is more or less the same plots being played around with slight changes, but it's still capable of just capturing your heart and without knowing you'll be so engrossed into the story and feel for the characters... does anyone else feel the same as me? I'm such a sucker for love stories especially -.-"

Either way, this post was mainly just to say that I'm alive and to share the lovely song to everyone. So enjoy the song for now as I head back to studying for my CA. Ciao!

P.S: I need to get hold of the movie (tempted to buy the DVD)... I want to watch it again! Especially the ending part! And for those who wants the mp3 of the song, it's here http://www.box.net/shared/4lvwmy1dcs. Enjoy!

P.S II: For those who're interested in knowing what's going on between me and the girl now... Nothing. Just nothing...

Edited: Just remembered that I wanted to put this in but I had forgotten to. A simple question: How far are you willing to go for the person you love? And how much effort would you put in in coming up with new things to make things interesting? And would you sacrifice your own interests and hobbies (if needed) just to be with him/her? Even your dreams?

Coming Back Real Soon... and Happy Birthday Miku!

2008-08-31T02:00:00.001+08:00

Wow. It's been like nearly 3 weeks since my last post? Did anyone miss me?? (wishful thinking?). I had never expected my University Life to be so hectic, but I got to admit it's alot of fun too.
Cons: Crazy learning speed, matters made worse since I'm direct into 2nd year and have 7 CORE modules (most people would have about 4-5 core and 2-3 electives). I'm currently behind by about 2 lessons/tutorials for each modules, which is alot of cover in whatever remaining time I have left.
Pros: Fun hall life, interaction with lots of others (especially girls lol).

A picture of Miku done by Cradle to start things off.

I'm also running for my hall's JCRC (which is the main committee who help get things moving around the hall), for the Publicity and Publication Director role. With this, I'll be getting more exposure to designing stuffs like posters/banners, and also more reason to whip out my camera to take lots of photos. It is mainly due to this that I haven't had the time to blog though, as I had to do our campaign posters, late night discussions, gossip sessions on the latest information through various sources etc.

Well, the elections voting day has finally come, which is this coming Thursday, so once this is cleared I should be able to go back to a more regular posting, but at most about twice a week only though, but I guess that should be enough for now till I really settle down and get things running.
Ignoring whatever I have said above, I'm sure the thing which most of you are interested in is about the girl that I'm chasing no? Well... I gave her the cranes, and it's currently hanging in her room off her lights over her bed... BUT! She hasn't really gave me a proper response. It's more of like "Thank you for it", nothing else. Also didn't really had a proper chance to chat with her, since she's quite busy trying to catch up on all the work she missed due to her pageant training. Did made some homemade barley (and bought some medicine, she was sick then) and gave it to her though, but once again... sighz~

The "final" version of the cranes (I painted the strings and the metal parts silver after this photo, but too lazy to retake another shot), and yes I added the wind chimes in the end, and it was really tough -.-". Cute dangos no? I also made a card filled with the Dango Daikazoku and a pop-up paper flower, but not posting that up here lol.

Doesn't look like it's working out well... until came some crisis among our election group, where suddenly 2 person dropped out. Some talking here and there, it suddenly came out that she'll now be running for the Assistant P&P role, which would be directly under me (and she knows it too). Well, if she doesn't like me, she wouldn't have agreed on it right? And she was quite reluctant to run for any posts in the first place. Well it could be just because of her roomie (7 years good friend) who is also running though. Seriously, I have no idea what to think!! Too confused.

I blame this confusion mainly on a friend though, from what he said when I asked if she's trying to keep a distance from me, "2 reason - 1: She's afraid after I gave her those cranes, overwhelmed by it. 2: She's afraid of really falling for me, as she currently has other priorities, and that if she gets into a relationship, it'll affect them." Well, I'm still talking to her normally, but I do find she tends to avoid talking to me more than usual. And I also do know what her other priorities are, and why she'll be afraid of a relationship as there's really a possibility of affecting them. But still, why did she agreed with taking up my assistant position? That really messed up my thinking on what is my current situation now (though I'm happy over it). Or am I just reading into things way too much and I have no chance?
Anyway, enough of those. This blog wasn't really created to talk about my life in these areas in the first place, but I just needed somewhere to voice my frustrations and confusions, so bear with it for now please. And onto more happier news... TODAY IS HATSUNE MIKU'S BIRTHDAY!! *Cheers!!!* It's been already a year? Wow, time really does flies. Anyway, I shall end off here too, but here's a little something for Miku. Enjoy! (Miku Pics were taken from PIAPRO, not mine. The first is from moe.imouto.org)
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4459258"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】8月の花嫁【オリジナル曲】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Hachigatsu no Hanayome / August Bride by OSTER Project.
P.S: This also goes out to fellow TeamBlue Blogger C.I, who so happens to share the same birthday as Miku too! Happy Birthday C.I!!!!

Extended Period of Hiatus.

2008-08-11T15:45:00.001+08:00

I'll like to say sorry first for re-extending my period of hiatus once again, as some school work and miscellaneous work has took up my entire weekend. But I'll like to thank everyone for all their support in my previous post's comments and tagboard too, I really appreciate it very much.

My Hall's Freshmen Orientation Camp group photo when we're @ Downtown East. Stolen from one of the group leader's facebook account photo album lol.

I did mentioned before that I was planning to make a wind chime with the 99 cranes, but due to too high a risk for experimenting on (I already did quite alot of different variations on how to do it), I decided to just leave it as 99 cranes stringed together. Total time taken to build: 2 days on-off free time of folding the cranes; 2 nights + 1 morning to do the stringing. Can't really see in the picture, but there's a small silver bead in between every crane too.

I really wished I could have done it better, and if given more time (and resources + equipment) I believe I could have. It's slightly unbalance, but it's still holding up so I guess it's fine? There's also the worry of the strings getting "untied" and it falls apart.... Oh well guess that's the best I can muster with that little time. As for the parts for the wind chime section, I think I'll save it for next time, maybe another gift lol. Either way, what do you guys think about it?

Sadly, I have yet to make the card too, so that will take more time too (still unsure about the design); and there's also my school work/tutorial/revisions to do.... yea you should know I really can't find the time to blog properly now LOL. I don't even have time to read blogs!!! -.-" Anyway, time for me to start doing some tutorials now and also pack my bags as I'm heading back to hall tonight, so until next time. Ciao!

Taking a Period of Hiatus.

2008-08-05T10:00:00.000+08:00

Like what the title says, I'll be taking a period of hiatus, at least till this Saturday, and the blogging for the next 2-3 weeks will be very limited to the weekends, until I get my own laptop. Currently, I'm barely having enough sleep everynight, as me and my roomie are so high-profile in the Hall (lots of seniors knows us as of now) till we're getting called out/visited everynight for stuff ranging from supper to drinking (I got so wasted on Sunday night -.-") And it has not even been 3 days! I'm just hoping this is only the "starting" phase and it'll soon die down, but from what I know, this is here to stay... LOL what have I gotten myself into -.-"

Chise + Shuu from Saikano. Heartbreaking series... Hi-Res from moe.imouto.org.

Hope you'll bear with me during this period, as I try to adjust myself to this "crazy" new lifestyle, and also adapting to a slight culture shock too. And yea, I'm interested in this one girl, and I'm going for it, so wish me the best of luck too many thanks ^^. For those I have advised before on all these stuff before, I now know how you guys felt... And should I need some help, please do help advise me too!! It's alot more difficult in a first-person view than a third-person view!! Damn I feel so much like Densha Otoko now, minus all the jittering though. Either way, I'm off to classes now! Cya.

Stuck and Busy @ FOC Camp,

2008-07-31T03:00:00.002+08:00

Been really busy with my participation in my NTU Hall's Freshman Orientation. There's like no time for me to do an actual post, as everyday I'm being exhausted from all the games and stuff. So I'm just dropping a short note now to say that my next post will be on Sunday, as the rest of the days till Saturday are just going to get more and more exhausting. As for now, I shall go catch some rest, having some "The Amazing Race" tomorrow and will be "camping" at Sentosa overnight. Cya all! Ciao.

Enjoy another pic from REI'S Room while I'm not around.

Doujin Circle Spotlight: A.M.R.

2008-07-29T08:00:00.001+08:00

The 2nd installment to the Doujin Circle introductions! And this time round it's none other than another favourite: Akane Makes Revolution (A.M.R for short). The artist goes around with the name (or alias I'm not sure) Ikegami Akane, and I believe it's a she.
All sample pictures taken from moe.imouto. Alot more can be found through the link, including Hi-Res versions of these.

Konata + Kagami Love ^^.

She also works on eroges, and one of the works that I know of is Hoshiful (so links inside are NSFW).What I enjoy most about her art, is that the characters that she draws has this cutey bubbly feel to them. It somewhat amplifies their moe~ factor by mulitple times.One thing I do notice though in the doujins that I have by her, that the focus is more on the storyline, rather than the h-scenes. In fact, there's hardly any. A nice change in contrast to other doujin artists with lots of h-stuff. Unless by some fate I just happen to have all the SFW kind of doujins lol.

Tsun Trinity Louise!! (Assumes C.I is going ga-ga over this)

Lots of my favourite character illustrations by her too. Here's Hinagiku.

And how could I forget my lovely Kagamin ^^.Another thing I like is she doesn't just limit herself, as she does make her own original characters and writes short stories of them. And it's pretty cute too.
And I simply love her art of my lovely Fate Testarossa, both loli and adult forms are drawn sooo cutely I'm in love all over again. And yes Vivio too lol.

Sadly, her main webpage seems to be down, and she's mainly maintaining her blog. But still, I'm surely looking forward to her new works for the upcoming Comikets, and maybe I'll ask those heading there end of this year to help me obtain some parts of the "holy grail" for me ^^. Just want more of her doujins! That's all for now, hope you enjoyed the pictures. Ciao!

The Power of Music.

2008-07-27T23:45:00.000+08:00

Can you imagine a world where music doesn't exist? I can't. The world would be so boring that I'll would rather just kill myself than to live in it.Today, I finally found out the name of the all so familiar tune that was in one of Miku's Song - Cinderella Romance. When listening to that song, I kept trying to recall the name of the tune that's in the entry and exit of the lyrics part, but to no valid. I swear I knew the song, but the name just kept running from me whenever I came close... till I heard the tune in church this morning that it finally struck. Beethoven's 9th Symphony Final Movement- Ode to Joy.I grew up listening to classical music and I love it; my favourite is definitely Beethoven, but I too enjoy Mozart's and Bach's works, especially since my dad loved listening to classical, so I was constantly exposed to it. From the added influence by Nodame Cantabile, I'm now also listening to alot more composers' works. In the past, I learn quite a few instuments, starting with the organ, while I learn bits of the piano through my sister (as it was more or less similar). Was in the school band back in primary school for 4 yrs, playing the Trumpet -> Baritone -> Bass/Tuba and eventually the Trombone, which was my favourite. Why I kept changing, was because they needed people in the different sections and I kept volunteering to learn more instruments. It's good to be a hyper-fast learner. I fail @ guitar though, as I can't seem to be able to bar correctly. I want to give a shot at learning the violin next! Either way, what I enjoy about music the most, is the fact that it's able to convey so much emotions without saying anything. It can also easily make (or break) your day, lifting up one's spirits, or sending it into depression. Even when taking words and piecing it together into a song, and depending on the tune, it amplifies the impact of it. Taking a look at anime/movies, there is always a need for that all-so-important BGM/insert music to get everyone into the mood/atmosphere that the director wants them to feel.I guess this was one reason why I started doing all those Vocaloid Spotlight posts, in hope of influencing/sharing the love of self-made music that various composers put their heart and soul into, but would most likely never hit the big stage in the world. Like a simple quote taken from Nodame Cantabile: "Every year there are so many students graduating from music colleges. But the number of professional orchestras is limited. No matter how skilled they are, there is no guarantee they can make it in. There is so much talent out there, undiscovered." There's also lots of talents in our real world, but seriously not enough places to put them where they should be at. I'm just trying to do my small part.Besides just listening to music, I also enjoy singing it. I have to admit I don't have the nicest sounding voice as those singers out there, as my voice is considered low, but at the very least I'm definitely not tone deaf (I know quite a few) I'm one of those that even out in public listening to my music, I'll still be mouthing the lyrics, maybe at times singing very very softly. Do anyone else tend to do that too? And also... I'M DEMANDING A TEAM BLUE JAPANESE KARAOKE ONE DAY :DThinking about it though, should one day God just decides to take away my ability to speak and my hearing, I'll most likely just soak myself in a nice warm bath, drink some quality red wine, then slitting both my wrist and die from the rapid bloodloss. I can't imagine living without them! There was once I totally lost my voice for about 2 days, and those 2 days I felt better off not
being alive. That's about it regarding music...Going off-topic here now: Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!! The time has finally come! I'll be moving into my hall/dorm @ NTU tomorrow morning. As I was packing my bags today, looking back at my room, my heart felt so broken... I'm soooo going to miss it so much. As for the blog, my number of posts for the next 3-5 weeks or so would be slowing down alot, as most would be automated posting due to the fact that I don't have a laptop yet while I'm staying in the halls, thus I'll have to pre-make my post and leave it to auto-publishing. But don't worry, I'll try my best to make sure there's about 2-3 regular posts every week. That's all for now... Ciao!! DECULTURE!

P.S: A small note from playing Little Busters! EX - RIN IS SOOOO MOE~!!!

Little Busters! Ecstasy!!!

2008-07-25T18:00:00.001+08:00

FINALLY!!! Today's the 25th July!! Which means... Little Busters! EX (short for Ecstasy) is finally out!!!!! Been waiting for this game like forever!! I can finally attempt to finish a Key Visual Novel/Eroge right from the start! (Never managed to play Kanon and Clannad before). I'll most probably be attempting Kud and Rin's routes first, after all they're my favourite characters, and will then try out the new character, Saya's route, as it seems to be interesting, and eventually (and hopefully) the rest of the cast too. I'll be taking my time to play the game though, as my start of University is just around the corner, but I should be blogging about their routes, and the kind of gameplay in the game once I'm done with it.I also can't wait to get my hands on a copy of August's Dengeki G Festival DX, so I can have my Kud Oppai Mousepad!!! And also.... Aaaaahhhhh, if only someone would be kind enough to help me obtain a copy of the Little Busters! EX's CD @ Comiket74!! I want one too!!

Pics courtesy of moe.imouto, the first is of Kud and 2nd of Rin... and alot more other pics can also be found through the link I posted, including Little Busters! Visual Artbook scans (I have a hardcopy so I don't need!).

I'm done for now, so let me go and enjoy the game ^^. Ciao!

Vocaloid Spotlight: Hatsune Miku Series 6.

2008-07-23T18:15:00.001+08:00

Somehow, Seikan Hikou by all the different Vocaloid characters were the centerstage during this week's ranking, but all still doesn't compare to the original Ranka \m/ キラッ☆!! Anyway, let's head to the songs for this entry. More Miku again yes.

Just 1 lovely picture of Miku found on moe.imouto.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;a &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;href&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3813866"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】初音ミク「世界で一番近くに居るのに」【オリジナル曲】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Sekai de Ichiban Chikaku ni Iru no ni / 世界で一番近くに居るのに by SAMFree.
Mp3 can be grabbed here.

It might come across as a sweet slow pace song, but when I was listening to it, somehow I had this feeling of sadness coming from the song, felt somewhat like unrequited love, the feeling of wanting to be with someone special etc. Or maybe it's just me.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;a &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;href&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2518977"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】初音ミク「Powder Snow」【オリジナル曲】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Hatsune Miku - Powder Snow also by SAMFree. Only Nicovideo available.
Mp3 found here.

Watching this video really brings back lots of memories when I was in Japan during Dec-Jan period last year, all the sights of the snow and scenery just comes flowing back to me while listening to the song. Thinking about it, the few post that I did of that 24 day trip didn't do it justice, and I guess I'll do some repost on it in the near future, with alot more nice photos from the whole trip. Oh yea, this is a very soothing song to listen to ^^ (I nearly forgot to comment on the song LOL).

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;a &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;href&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm3853036"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】「Crying Air」オリジナル曲&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;lt&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Crying Air by natsuP.
Grab the Mp3 over here. For non-PIAPRO users, grab it here instead.

Nothing much to say about this song though, besides that I like the tune to it.

That's it for now, as I better start to prepare my stuff for moving into my NTU hostel - Hall16 next week, and maybe get some posts up and ready for auto-post when I don't have any internet access, since I don't have my laptop yet. Hopefully hostel life wouldn't be so boring, but after all this is SG, so you'll never know. If only there's wacky stuff like those in Aussie or US, but noooo we're in SG and we're sooooo conservative. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, I'm out.

P.S: Aaaaahhhhh Chun is tempting me sooo much with her photos of her Ama-loli pink-dress Moko-chan Mamachapp doll!!! I so want one tooo!! Also with the black-dressed one!! no money /cry I hate you /wrist noooooooooo. And yes I'm ranting here LOL!

Happy Marine Day! Umi no Hi 海の日.

2008-07-21T23:50:00.002+08:00

Taking a quick look at my Fortune Arterial C73 calender by my side, I quickly realised that today, 21st July, is in fact a public holiday in Japan, called 海の日, or in English Marine Day. Extract from Wiki: National law establishes Marine Day as a day of gratitude for the blessings of the oceans and to hope for the economic prosperity of maritime Japan. Some might be wondering why the interest in such a low-key holiday, but to me, as a diver, I surely love the sea/ocean, and would like to express my love for it with a simple post.Okay, maybe it wasn't as simple as I thought, but I'll like to spread some ocean awareness around here, with my main concern being the sharks. Sadly, sharks are pretty much misunderstood by people all around the world as merciless man-eating monsters, but that is sooooo not the case, go and watch the movie Sharkwater to find out more. And with shark finning, the illegal act of killing sharks just for their fins, then tossing their still alive finless bodies back into the sea to let them die, at an all time high, these pre-historic animals are going to be extincted fast.That's not much I could do for the sharks now, but only to spread the word, and hopefully have others pledge not to eat shark fin, in hope of reducing that market till it's not economically to maintain. It'll be nice to have more support for the cause! Pledge here now! Damn, I'll going to start sounding like some environmentalist if I do continue now lol.I believe most of my readers would have known of the exploits of Japan's whaling and dolphin killing activities, and the action taken by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. However, I'll refrain myself from commenting on these for now, as to me right now, illegal shark finning is of higher-priortiy vs the "controlled" (I really hope so) killings by Japan. Oh yea there's also the "controlled" clubbing of seals in Canada, but that's another story. Let's hope it all changes for the better.Either way, hope that everyone would try their part at contributing to saving our planet and it's inhabitants, and that everyone have an enjoyable day too. Enjoy the pictures too! Ciao and I'm out. For a better future!!

Zero no Tsukaima 3 Episode 03. Hawt Lolis Included! (-ω-)

2008-07-21T16:30:00.000+08:00

Guess it's finally my turn @ attempting to do a decent episodic review. And as part of the team effort, I bring ZnT3 ep 03 today! Without further delay, let's move on to the show!

Upon request, Tiffania decided to leave her lonesome home, and travel together with Saito and his harem back to Tristian to meet with Queen Henrietta. Despite being worried about being so far from home for the first time, it is still her wish to see the world, so she's happy about it. Upon reaching the Royal Palace, Tiffania is wow-ed by the sights.

(-ω-) Best facial expression in the whole episode!! Anyway, they met up with Henrietta after their "long" journey, and a formal introduction of Tiffania to the Queen. Everyone was shocked at the inital sight of knowing that Tiffania's an elf, at least a half-elf in this case, with her mom's a full elf, and the father of some Albion Royalty; but Henrietta ensures her to not worry about it, and invites her to stay in the palace with her. Thought: It seems to me that there's some disgust/hate for elves in this world. Hopefully they'll build on that part why so.They proceeded to have tea and talk about the incident during their journey, with regards to the attack by Sheffield and the rumors of another void mage that is supposedly near them. And of cause Tiffania having no knowledge about all these, she's pretty much clueless, but that's cute too ^^.

The only screencap that I'll have of our villian. Scheming as always, couldn't be bothered with the finer details.

Noticing the ring that Tiffania was carrying, and the fact that it has an empty slot, Tiffania explained the incident of saving Saito. It seemed that the ring was passed down from her mother, and the gem that was once there was used to revive the already dead Saito.

And here's Saito recalling his "first impression" of his meeting with Tiffania. BUST REVOLUTION! Either way, Saito was wondering how did he landed up in the forest, as he was supposed to have been on the battlefield, which was his last memory. It was then that Derflinger explained that Saito heart had already stopped on the battlefield, and before he was ripped apart by countless magic spells, Derflinger teleported the already unconscious Saito to the forest. A sword that teleports you when about to GG? Talk about hax-ing! zZz...

Knowing that what Tiffania use to revive Saito was somewhat of elvish magic, Henrietta asked if she knew how to use magic. However it seemed that there's some dark history behind her/her mother's ability @ the use of magic; hopefully they'll build on this story too.

Frantically denying her knowledge on how to use magic, she turned and ran off into the sunset, never to be seen again.

Alone in the night, while everyone is asleep, Tiffania plays her harp(?) to some weird Gandalf-related folk song. Damn she looks so elegant in the moonlight.

Saito was drawn by the music, and the two chatted under the moonlight. As they chatted along, Tiffania (or Tefa(?) as what Saito calls her now) revealed that she in fact does have the ability of magic usage, but due to bad memories of her past, it hurts her to remember, and she doesn't know if that her magic ability is something which is good or a bad thing. This is when Saito, being the playboy that he is, talks about there is always a meaning/reason behind everything; her being a half-elf and having magic ability, and him coming from a different world etc; and that he understands her feelings. Should anything arises, she can always look for him. Overjoyed, Tiffania grabs his hand and exclaims her joy for being friends with him.The Louise that forever lurks at the back of Saito's mind. LOL. Afraid of getting spotted in this lovely-dovely position with Tiffania, Saito makes a dash and calls it a night.

The following day, Saito was knighted by Henrietta as one of her knights, to wait on her and be her new pet dog, and is now officially known as Sir Saito "Chevalier" Hiraga. And as Siesta helps put on his new l33t cloak, she calls him Goshujin-sama~ (Master). This makes Louise go WTF? and me going LOL.

It seems that she is now officially Saito's servant/maid, to assist him as ordered by Henrietta, taking into consideration their close-relationship. GG to Louise.

And yep, she's pretty pissed about it, but too bad it's her Henrietta-ojou-sama's orders. Siesta on the other hand is loving it.

Another revelation, as it seemed that Henrietta and Tiffania are in fact cousin! Something to do with the Albion Royalty bloodline or something, and that she'll be staying in the palace for the time being. Saito then attempts to invite Tiffania to join his harem them back at the academy, but she refuses for now, as she's still uncomfortable around people. Louise, jealous over Saito's actions towards Tiffania, starts to question Tiffania's purpose of wanting to going to the academy, and saying it's not that easy as it looks and all; but ended up all dere at the end, thanking her for saving Saito's life.

Sweet transportation back to the academy, where it seems that they're having some celebration for the recently promoted higher ranked dog Saito over his knightship. All I could forsee is him building up his harem even more than before -.-"

But like they say, "Great power comes with great responsibility", and a new appointment/organisation was created within the school, with Saito as Vice-captain and Guiche as captain. Something called the Knights of Odin?? I'm not sure lol. Either way, after a very short intro to the new group, the horde of desperate males grabs him and charges into the academy to continue their BL experiments he was then lifted and carried into the academy like some rock-star. But I swear someone was feeling up his ass for sure in that crowd!

Hmm.... new lolis!!! Yummy~. The blondie seems to be some princess, but no other known info from me as of now. Let's see how they'll work her into the story.

Preview for next week episode 4. RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE. Enough said.

Doggie Louise.... hmmmm.... I'm thinking of the other doggie though LOL. Me and my corrupted mind -.-"

Anyway, that's the overall picture of episode 3, done with whatever basic Japanese Language knowledge that I have because I was watching the raw. Didn't want to have a photo-spam, so I chose selectively the screenshots, but hope it's sufficient. If not just comment then I'll improve on the next. Hope you had enjoyed this review, and the following week's review will be thrown back to C.I to do. I should be doing episode 06 next. Ciao!!

Recap to older episodes: Ep01 (C.I), Ep02 (Mizunaga).

Gaming vs Blogging vs Studies.

2008-07-20T23:15:00.000+08:00

Once again I had another period of inactive-ness, mainly due to the fact that I'm so engrossed in playing Gundam Seed Destiny Rengou vs ZAFT II PLUS on PS2, that I didn't really had much time to do a proper post (excuses excuses -.-"). But don't worry, I should be back in action from tomorrow onwards, starting with a episodic review of Zero no Tsukaima 3 episode 3, as part of the team effort with C.I and Mizunaga.

Ever fell asleep doing anything? Hardly happens to me, but it does happen once a while.

Seriously though, it's really all too easy to just dump all other responsibility and just spend the rest of the time on playing games and all, and everything else is ignored. Even in the past, I would spend like 6 hours (school day), and about 12 hours (weekends) every week, every day in lan-shops, and as expected my grades went for a freefall. And even now, I'm getting tempted by my friend to hop back into WoW to experience the ever mystically lore and new changes, especially when the expansion The Lich King comes out.

Listening to music is pretty high on my priority list too, but at least you could listen to them while gaming ^^. I do that all the time.

Needless to say, when blogging is on an even lower priority against studies, it'll be easily ignored with very little thought. Blogging to me is quite a time-consuming activity, with an average time of about 1-2hrs spent doing each post, and having the need to do research/search links in order to make each post better. But it's still great fun, especially the researching part, as at times very interesting things could be found and it makes for a good read and knowledge.

I swear I was just doing research!!! Either way it's okay Kyonko, DFCs are hot in demand!!

However, right now I'm wondering how would I be able to juggle all these 3 activities, and many other stuff like personal life and all, and not be overwhelmed when my University term starts. Seems like for it to work out, some compromise must be made, but that I'm not sure now. But don't worry, this blog would surely go on ^^; and I guess that gaming would most likely be made the lesser priority, after all it would occupy the most time.

Opps wrong file! I swear it is weird when someone accessed something on your PC/laptop that you wouldn't want others seeing. Yep happened to me before LOL.

Well, pretty tired right now, so I guess I'll take a short rest while waiting for ZnT3 raw to be released. Signing out.

Vocaloid Spotlight: Hatsune Miku Series 5.

2008-07-18T22:45:00.000+08:00

Once again it's more Vocaloid songs!!! And as always Miku is hogging the airwaves (and my playlist) with her songs. Without further delay, let's head straight to the songs!

Miku pulling a \m/ キラッ☆... Lovely... DECULTURE! ^^

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3742710"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】シンデレラ・ロマンス【オリジナル曲】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Cinderella Romance by Tatsh.
Grab the Mp3 here.
Note: The video may say it's 11mins, but it's actually only 1.53min, assuming the error is due to the type of file format as this is a higher quality video. I can't seem to add the &fmt=18 into the embed file coding properly (for another video), and ends up it keeps playing the lower quality instead. But if you don't mind low quality, just go through this link. (Might save bandwidth?) Low Quality Version.

This song + PV is way too cute!! I love how they used a classic song (can't remember the name lol) in the entry and exit of the song. And it's really sweet and refreshing to see our lovely Miku in a beautiful wedding-pausible dress (MARRY ME PLEASE!). I'm still trying to find the pictures used in that video!! And for those who might have found the art familiar, it's because the art is done by Bunbukudou. I'm actually hoping that this is not the complete version of the song, being short at only 1.53min, and that they intend to do a longer version of it. Maybe will be released in the CD they're selling next month at Comiket74.

Found an Illustration of Miku by Bunbukudou, but not the dress type that I'm looking for.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm3633110"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【Heaven&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#039;s dooR】　ちょっといい音版　【ミクオリジナル曲】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Heaven's dooR by momiji1225さん (from PIAPRO).
Mp3 can be found here (you'll need an account if not wrong). Or you can use this link.

A nice relaxing slow-paced song to calm the mind, after all the nosebleeds and craziness gained (screaming moe~ non-stop) while listening to the previous song. Love the entrance of the chorus part ^^.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3920781"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】星間飛行【カバー】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Seikan Hikou (I JUST HAD TO!)
Grab your mp3 here!!!

Riding along the waves of our Superdimensional Cinderella Ranka (MOE~!!), someone decided to give that treatment to Miku, and this song just hit the top of the charts (Vocaloid Ranking) this week. And since the picture I'm using at the top is of the trademark pose, I just had to put this song in here. Truthfully though, I still prefer the original Ranka's version ^^, but it's still quite a nice rework.

Anyway, I still have quite a few other vocaloid songs on queuing status to post, but I'll leave them for later. DECULTURE!!! and out.

Doujin Circle Spotlight: REI'S Room.

2008-07-16T21:00:00.000+08:00

New segment that I had planned for the blog, I'll be slowly introducing various doujin circles to everyone!! With a list of 112 in my bookmarks, I'm sure I'll have more than enough circles to cover for quite a long while. And first up, I'll be introducing my no.1 favourite group, REI'S Room!!

I'll be working around with this picture to make a laptop skin cover for myself ^^. Miku Love! Miku★Miku★Mirakuru! 2.

If not wrong, this artist is actually from Taiwan, so he/she (I have no idea) actually travels between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan to attend various doujin events. If only SG has such events too...

And like most other doujin artists, he/she also does artworks illustrations for eroges and magazines like E★2. Like this picture taken from Dengeki Hime, is a new eroge(?) called magic a ride (Link has fanservice), set for release (or already released) on 4th July.

Besides the latest few Miku★Miku★Mirakuru! series of doujins (the first picture I posted up there is from that series book 2), I really liked the illustrations in the Eternal Melody StrikerS! doujins, based on the Nanoha series. I currently have the 4th book in that series (which is of this image), but couldn't find the others on my last trip; and I intend to ask C.I to help keep a look out for the other remaining books when he visits Japan (and Comiket75! I demand 1 copy from this doujin booth!!) end of this year.Wallpaper of Loli Nanoha by REI'S Room. Taken from main webby. Various resolution sizes 1024*768, 1280*960, 1600*1200 can be found under the illustration section. There's also a few other wallpaper images too.

And another wallpaper sized of Adult Nanoha by REI'S Room. Also taken from main webby.
Picture from main webby, one of the past front page picture.

Picture from main webby, also one of the past front page picture.

The front webpage picture is usually used for the announcement of the upcoming events that REI'S Room would be participating in, and here's an example of one of them. I got the full image of this picture on a file though, when I bought the COMIC1☆2 set when I saw it 2nd hand in Akiba ^^. Will be using the file in NTU!! (I swear I'll be so noticeable as an otaku -.-", not that it bothers me.)

Most would have seen this picture before, it was a scan that I did from Miku★Miku★Mirakuru! book 1. Reducing the brightness on the picture helped to bring out the colour ^^. Currently using it as my handphone wallpaper too ^^.

I really like REI'S Room illustrations, as a bulk of the coloured pictures makes use of pastel colours (more apparent when you see the pictures in the hardcopy doujins), which gives the illustrations a very soft and peaceful feel to it. Anyway, do take a look at the main website http://reisama.com/, you can find a few more usual sketch work he/she does under the diary section, nice arts too. I wonder if an artbook will ever be released... I'll be sure to get my hands on one!!

Off-topic: That's it for the main post, and I'll like to say something with relations to my 2 days no post. I totally suck at writing wordy mind boggling kind of articles! FAIL. My attempts on the last 2 days was a total waste of time, as the more research I tend to do, the more I'm sidetracking and reading up on other "interesting" theories (I was trying to do one with relations to time/space travel). Anyway, I'll scrap (or at least put on hold) those articles for now, and focus more on this new segment, Doujin Circle Spotlight, and my Vocaloid Spotlights, in which I guess will be the main focus of this blog. Enjoy the pictures and I'm out!

Kona-chan @ Pulau Aur.

2008-07-14T14:00:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, I went to Pulau Aur, Malaysia, for a scuba diving trip; and little did I know that Kona-chan decided to sneak into my bag and tagged along on the trip, all prepared in her sukuru-mizugi and a cute greenish float. Either way, it was too late to send her back home since we're already at the island, so I took some photos of her. -ω-.

Clear sunny skies, enjoying the view from the room's patio.

Down by the rocky beach, playing around.Still by the rocks, view of our accommodations.

The place we stayed in, Diver's Lodge.

Down at the jetty area, relaxing after a dive.

Sunset by the bay, a beautiful sight only best by the clear night skies littered with stars and having a section of the Milky Way in sight. If only I had my D70 and tripod >.<

Sadly, even though I had wanted to take more photos of Kona-chan and Aur itself, my PnS camera decided to die on me (I forgot to charge my batteries!!). No underwater photos too since I didn't have a dive camera for this trip. That's it for now, time to work on my other entry which was supposed to be up on Friday (with added inspiration from stargazing after this trip). Enjoy and out!

Ranka Moe~!!!

2008-07-11T14:50:00.000+08:00

I'm totally sold. I'm now addicted to Macross Frontier and it's songs. And Ranka is extremely moe~! Especially when she was singing Seikan Hikou in episode 12 (^_-)-☆. *The wink killed me* This is actually not the originally intended post, as there was an article that I'm in the process of writing, but still incomplete and wouldn't be completed in time, thus will leave it for next time, so I don't really have anything to post today. But I'm sure you wouldn't mind with a mini image dump of overly cute Ranka ^^.

I'll be gone for the weekend, so there wouldn't be any updates till Monday. Will be scuba diving off Pulau Aur, Malaysia. Will try to bring back some photos. So enjoy the weekends! キラッ☆ out.

Ranka Lee Debut Single - Seikan Hikou. Enjoy ^^. DECULTURE!!

100th Post!!

2008-07-09T14:45:00.000+08:00

Wow, talk about coincidence, that my 100th post would coincide with my blog passing the 10,000th visitors mark! I have nearly rivaled my previous blog number of entries (106) in a shorter amount of time (9mths vs 1yr 4mths) too. The progress that this blog has been making has far surpassed my expectations, with a spike in visits in the month of June (3,286 hits wow), which I guess is due to my Japan Trip and the various cosplay events that were held in SG. I definitely see myself blogging for a long time now, knowing that I now have a reasonable amount of regular visitors, and I'll try my best not to disappoint.

Here's a little thanks. From Full Moon wo Sagashite. One of my favourite manga series, and for those who watched the anime, should know where this blog's name came from ^^.

However, I'm wondering what kind of contents would be nice to do on this blog; is what I'm currently doing good enough? or would a different kind of content be better? Right now, I'll be testing out episodic blogging with a team effort together with C.I and Chong on Zero no Tsukaima 3, and if it's feasible, I might want to make it an effort on my blog in the future (Truthfully, I'm actually horrible at editorial kind of work). But with so many people doing episodic blogging, is it worth it? I'm not sure. We'll see how...

Anyway, initially announced but I didn't confirm my character, I've decided that the first cosplay (or crossplay as others would say lol) that I'll be doing, will be on Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai. Can't wait for the other movies/dvds of the series to be released so I can study her character in more depth ^^.

Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai. Those custom colour contacts is gonna cost me a bomb!!

Once again Thank you all for visiting this humble blog of mine, and I hope I'll have more visits in the future too! B★RS rocking on!! Signing out.

Vocaloid Spotlight: Hatsune Miku - Black★Rock Shooter.

2008-07-08T23:55:00.003+08:00

With a backlog of over 5 weeks worth of Vocaloid Ranking to go through, I have countless songs that I would love to blog about, but none as epic as this. I'll touch on the rest of the songs soon too though so don't worry ^^... but I'm totally addicted to this song now!! Seriously speaking, this is just about the 3rd song besides Sakura no Ame and Uta ni Katachi wa nai Keredo to move my heart so much just by listening to it.

Illustration by Huke.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3645817"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】初音ミクがオリジナルを歌ってくれたよ「ブラック★ロックシューター」&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku -Black★Rock Shooter [BRS] by ryo (creator of the song Melt too). Illustration/PV is done by Huke. Mp3 can be found on their main BRS site.

My impression. A song that shows the development of the person: Young and fragile at the start, yet stands strong with only the feelings in her heart; As the song goes on, she's slowly breaking the shell that kept her in, and carrying along the feelings and pain that she had learn from her past, to make her stronger, and spur forward towards a new future. Being true to your heart.

A fantastic song, with a very catchy tune, and a beautiful illustrated PV makes this song truly a Vocaloid masterpiece.

初音ミク - ブラック★ロックシューター

ブラックロックシューター　何処へ行ったの？
聞こえますか？

あとどれだけ叫べばいいのだろう
あとどれだけ泣けばいいのだろう
もうやめて　わたしはもう走れない　いつか夢見た世界が閉じる
真っ暗で明かりもない　崩れかけたこの道で
あるはずもないあの時の希望が見えた気がした

どうして

ブラックロックシューター　懐かしい記憶
ただ楽しかったあの頃を
ブラックロックシューター　でも動けないよ
闇を駆ける星に願いを　もう一度だけ走るから

怖くて震える声でつぶやく　わたしの名前を呼んで
夜明けを抱く空　境界線までの距離　あともう一歩届かない
こらえた涙があふれそうなの　今下を向かないで
止まってしまう
未来を生きていたいんだ　わかったの　思い出して
強く　強く　信じるの

そうよ

ブラックロックシューター　優しい匂い
痛いよ　辛いよ　飲み込む言葉
ブラックロックシューター　動いてこの足！
世界を超えて

最初からわかっていた　ここにいることを
わたしのなかの　全ての勇気が
火をともして
もう逃げないよ

ブラックロックシューター　ひとりじゃないよ
声をあげて泣いたって構わない　
ブラックロックシューター　見ていてくれる
今からはじまるの　わたしの物語

忘れそうになったら　この歌を
歌うの

Note: Lyrics is taken from main site, which can be found here.

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

There has also been various other versions of the song, but the one I would say I liked best has got to be the one sang by Halyosy (yep the creator of Sakura no Ame). And also similar to the Sakura no Ame Project, there has been a "group" singing by a total of 127 people, and it's fantastic. I'll throw links out for everyone to enjoy them too.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3660857"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】「ブラック★ロックシューター」を歌ってみた（halyosy ver.）&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Halyosy Version of B★RS. I loved how he added 2 lines from Sakura no Ame, near the end of the song, which actually fits in quite well.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3825509"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【合唱】『ブラック★ロックシューター』を127人合わせてみた【動画】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
127 Individuals Version of B★RS. (No youtube link sadly) Not an easy task, but fantastic piece of music. It feels great to see people from different walks of life come together in an online world and co-operate to achieve this.

B★RS rock on!! I'm so inspired right now from this song! Signing out.

Edited 090708 @ 1AM: I totally forgot to add this part to my post which I wanted to do initially, and also added an extra picture to apologise ^^. My favourite part of the song and one which had the most impact to me:最初からわかっていた　ここにいることを
わたしのなかの　全ての勇気が
火をともして
もう逃げないよ
From the start I knew my purpose for being here.
Within me, with all my courage,
I light up the fire,
I'll not run away anymore!

After reading these words, I'll now head towards tomorrow, towards the goals that I've set, with the same flame that has lighted within me, through this song. Thank you.

Cosfest VII, 2008 Coverage Part 2 - Outdoor Photos.

2008-07-07T15:00:00.003+08:00

It's finally part 2 of the Cosfest coverage by your residential neighbourhood-friendly blogger Hirito... Okay that was lame -.-" This post will be covering the outdoor photos that was taken during the event. As usual, I'll be needing some help with ID-ing certain characters, so feel free to assist me thanks. Onto the photos! (Warning: has more photos than the previous post)

Camera used: Nikon D70 with Kit Lens; Settings: ISO 200, Shutter speed 1/250 - 1/400, F4.5-7.1. Note to cosplayers: If you wish for me to take down any photos of you, feel free to comment/email me to do so. And if you do want the unedited version of the photo, contact me too and I'll be glad to send them to you ^^. Contact's at the sidebar under "About Me".

What better way to start a post besides a very cute cosplayer. As mentioned, you'll be seeing alot more of this Haruhi ^^. I think I'll need to visit the blood bank to top up on blood after this posting. Moe~ Overdose!!

Character from FFXIII. No name revealed as of now.

LOL. Yes I know he wasn't a cosplayer, but as people were asking to take his photos, I can't help it but just join in the fun :D And if you don't recognise him, he's Squee, part of Team Blue too, our resident Visual Kei "cosplaying" as himself ^^.

More delicious Haruhi. *Nosebleeds more* All hail Haruhism!

Allen Walker from D.Gray-man.

Kanda and Lenalee from D.Gray-man too.

Just dressing up for the event. The costume is sweet ^^.

Shinku, Hina Ichigo and Suigintou of Rozen Maiden fame.

Scythe welding Angel of Darkness/Death.

Alto and Ranka from Macross Frontier. Never did watched the show, but might start. Is it worth the time to watch even if I didn't catch any previous Macross series before?

Moe~!!!! Blood pressure is rising!!

Suddenly, a fight broke out between some Siths and a Jedi in order to capture the rights to the cho-kawaii Haruhi .

One down, 2 more to go!

And the final boss fight begins! *though she forgot all her moves lol*

Awesome costume. Anakim from Lineage 2 (Thanks to Garion for the ID-ing). Her backpack kept falling off.

Akai Kaze / Red Whirlwind from Romeo x Juliet. The wind was her strongest enemy for the day, as it blew her hat off when I was trying to take a photo of her before lol. Cheers for Fariz to bringing her Iris flower back to her.

White Mage from Nuklear Power, a fantastic webcomic that I have been following for a very very long time. Great hilarious stuff (Sword-chucks ftw!). Where's Black Mage anyway?Moar Haruhi Love!! Whenever I walked past her and if she's posing, I can't help but just take a few more photos of her over and over again. No I'm not a stalker!

More ID-ing help please.

Another cute photo of Ayu. Damn I'm so enticed by her smile. uguu~ power!

Matsuri and Aono from sola. Shouldn't they be hiding from the sun? :D

Rena from Higurashi. Feeling the Yandere vibes yet?

Moar ID-ing help.In the past, it is said that a photograph captures part of the soul and imprisons the soul within the photo. In this case though, Haruhi's smile is doing all the soul stealing :X

Looks like Tony Stark paid a visit to the event too, even including his personal S.W.A.T bodyguards who were preventing the rowdy mob crowd from getting too close to their metal boss.

But nevertheless, he was quite the skirt-chaser, telling his bodyguards to allow girls to walk right up to him for some personal photos. lol.

Zack from FFVII. It was a surprise seeing this cosplay, as the person (who is cosplaying) is actually a friend of mine whom I haven't met in nearly 2 years lol. Hi once again ^^

Zack facing off with Rikku(needs a confirmation on this) from FFX2.

FFVII vs FFXII's Fran.Been spotting these two cosplayers quite often. If they looked familiar, they were also at STCC Coscon as Sakura/Syaoran from CCS. Characters from Fire Emblem, which is a game. (Thanks to garion for the ID-ing once again ^^)

Another shot of them both. Names of characters are Ike and Mist, ID-ed thanks to DBlade via Panther.

My spirit is doing all the typing now as I had died 10 secs ago upon feasting my eyes once again on Haruhi. Can I have your number please?? :D

Inphyy and Tyurru(?) from Ninety-Nine Nights (N3).

Haruhi pwned Yuki. And I wonder why my only shots of the 1/1 scale Wonfes Exclusive Yuki has her getting stabbed LOL.

Spotted this Tosaka Rin from Fate/Stay Night as I was about to leave with the rest of Team Blue for dinner. Seriously, someone needs to do a Rin in Mahou Shoujo form!! Anyway, I took a quick shot of her and that's it for the day.

That's all my coverage for Day 2 of Cosfest. I didn't attend Day 1 as I was lazy to travel about 1hr 15mins to the event site. It's quite a number of photos to go through, but it was already based on strict selections before I decide to upload them, so hope everyone wouldn't mind. There was also a trap Konata running around the event too, but I didn't get a shot of him though. Anyway, hope you had enjoyed the coverage, and I'm out.

As per usual, refer to Team Blue's Cosfest post for more coverage from fellow bloggers around the Sunny Island.

Cosfest VII, 2008 Coverage Part 1 - Indoor Photos.

2008-07-07T11:30:00.004+08:00

Will be splitting the photos between two posts, indoor and outdoor photos, since there is quite a few to cover. This time round I have quite a few characters that I'm unable to ID, so for those who know where they are from please feel free to comment and I'll update the post thanks. I'll also not be covering the Cosplay Competition, cause truthfully it's quite fail... Anyway, less talk more photos!!

Camera used: Nikon D70 with Kit Lens; Settings: ISO 640, Shutter speed 1/40 - 1/80, F3.5-4.5. Note to cosplayers: If you wish for me to take down any photos of you, feel free to comment/email me to do so. And if you do want the unedited version of the photo, contact me too and I'll be glad to send them to you ^^. Contact's at the sidebar under "About Me".

Templar Guardian from Hellgate: London. Used to play this game, but it FAIL-ed quite badly. And yes I was using a Female Guardian too lol (I'm a online gamer trap ^^). Shield Charge, Shield Turn, Anchor spammer, favourite combo.

Need help in ID-ing characters! The guy to the left is from Mushi-uta (based on double's ID-ing). The girl is still unknown, maybe just her standard lolita outfit.

Near and L from Death Note.

Euphy and Cornelia from Code Geass.

Some Naruto character (help ID please) at the mercy of Souseiseki from Rozen Maiden.IAHgames promoters. Mentioned by Panther, it seemed that they were dressed up as the original female scouts from the game Granado Espada.

One of the highlights of the day. The moment Gundam Exia stepped into the hall, there was a massive crowd just circling around him all the time. Quite poor thing too, as he was trying to move to somewhere but the crowds just kept getting in his way lol. I did attempt to follow, but decided to take the chance and find him again with lesser crowds at a later time.

In which I did! About 30mins-1hour later I came back to find him, the crowds were alot lesser. Seeing a small spot in front of him, I squeezed my way through and got a pretty nice spot.

New Variant: Rockstar Exia.

Seriously sweet costume.

I liked the lighting in the eyes and GN Drive Engine behind him.

Standing tall and proud.

Low angle shot.

And yes, this was considered "lesser" than before.Cute chibi Optimus Prime from Transformers. I heard he "transformed" into a truck later but I didn't see it.Phoenix Wright and Francesca (thanks soshi!)from Ace Attorney.

ZOMG Time paradox!!! Two Mikurus???

Yachiru decided to enlist the help of a commoner to seek out her Kenpachi in the midst of the massive crowd.

3 way stabbing. Yuki got owned! Need ID-ing on the other two characters.

Super cute Haruhi! Another highlight of the day. More of her to come in the following post.

Yuuko in the centre, while Watanuki (left) and Himawari (right) waits on her. From xxxHOLiC.Another kawaii cosplayer! Tsukimiya Ayu from Kanon!! Lots of love from me ^^.

She looks so cute when looking at others.And even cuter when she smiles at you. A very sweet smile ^^.

Last photo of the indoor coverage. L getting pwned by Haruhi and a D.Gray-man group. After all he did attempt to kill them all earlier before this with his Death Note.

2nd post to follow in about 2-4hours time, which will cover the outdoor photos. Enjoy and I'm out!

In the meanwhile, if you want to take a look at other people's coverage of the event, feel free to visit our Team Blue Cosfest post where we link to various members of Team Blue's coverage of the event. It also includes a few external coverages too. Enjoy!

Japan Day 8+9+10. Homebound.

2008-07-05T13:50:00.000+08:00

Finally, the final post of the Japan trip. As mentioned, I'll just throw Tokyo Disneyland in here as there's nothing much. Enough said, onto the photos.

Day 8: Tokyo Disneyland.

Once past the main entrance into the "Welcome Zone".

Random photo. The grass-crafted dragon is cute.

Cinderella's Castle.

Castle with fireworks in the background.

Day 9: Shinjuku + final shopping.Went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku area. Had heard the view from the observation deck in these buildings were better than Tokyo Tower.

View from the South Observatory.

Another view from up there. Definitely felt it was better than Tokyo Tower, and with an admission fee of FREE, it's worth the trip. Spotted a flea market within the area, but didn't visit it due to time constraint...

As we were headed to the Square Enix Building! By request of my friend. It was here where I bought my plushie Chocobo ^^.

Enjoying the night air @ the rooftop of our hostel while having some snacks like Calamari and Yakitori with Hokkaido fresh milk and fruit juice. We're actually not allowed up on the roof after 9pm (Timestamp of photo is 9.30pm, and we stayed till like 10+ since it was our last night), but as our room had a "secret" access to the stairs even after the roof access door was locked, we could go up (secretly of course!). The river you see in the background is the Sumida River.

Day 10: Sayonara Japan....

I don't think I've said before, but we were staying at Khaosan Tokyo Original Guest Hostel located in the district of Asakusa. For 2,500 yen a night, it was cheap and reasonable. Only thing was the smallness of the room as you can see from the photo.

And our "secret" access to the rooftop stairs. All we had to do was open our windows and squeeze through the small gap between the stairs and the wall and roofbound we go! And yes we had the Sumida River as our daily morning view ^^.

For our return flight from Japan to Singapore, we sat SIA's A380. We were on the upper deck for this trip.

The interior is nice! Everything's new! The tv screens were also bigger, and quite comfortable seats.

Another shot of the economy class cabin.And another shot. The business class cabin is near godlike but didn't managed to take a photo of it sadly. I wonder about the suites too...

Final goodbyes to Narita, and I was homebound... *insert crying here*

Love the cloud formations.

That's it for my Japan photos. A great trip nevertheless, but I don't think I want to spend another 10 days in Tokyo again (for a holiday that is), would want to visit other locations, especially the whole of Hokkaido ^^. Hope you had enjoyed all the photos, and I'll be back to normal postings. Will be attending Cosfest tomorrow too, so there'll definitely be an entry on that with cosplayer's photos. Stay tuned and Signing out.

[Update] Announcements.

2008-07-02T04:00:00.004+08:00

Okay this post will be used for just a minor update. First up, I'll be going off for a short trip to Malacca (3D2N) with my family today, so my next possible post would only come earliest Friday night. I'll also try to finish up the rest of the Japan trip with a single post, since Disneyland was such a bore to me, maybe this Saturday night.

2/3 of the Tsun Trinity, Louise and Shana ^^.

Secondly, I'm also announcing that Team Blue, or at least currently Squee, C.I and me, has decided to cosplay for next year!! We're most likely targeting either SoY or Cosfest. Currently on plan, Squee will be doing a trap Visual Kei, whereby C.I is screaming over and over again for his hawt lolicious tsun trinity Louise (he does have others in mind still though). As for me, I'm still surveying my options, but I have already made a shortlist of them (currently 8 of them in mind). And if you're wondering... yes we have a theme in mind ^^. We're going to be cross-dressing!! In other words... We're TRAPS in-the-making! (Thanks to trap Meister double)

Yes, no kidding, this is one of my candidates :D Muahahahahahaha!!! But it's not my first choice. I shall leave my first choice a secret for now ^^. The only problem for that selection would be the custom made contact lenses. Expensive!!

So for those who might be remotely interested in getting famous overnight joining us for this cosplay, feel free to leave a comment or drop a mail to "hirito at gmail dot com". We're welcoming more traps to the group ^^. We're also intending to do the Hare Hare Yukai Dance + Caramelldansen as a group performance for whichever event we're attending. So don't be shy and join in the fun! We welcome reverse traps too ^^.

Another one of my candidates, legendary trap Watarase Jun in Mahou Shoujo.

I'm actually very new to the whole cosplay thingy, and I'm not really sure where/or how to make or get hold of the costumes, so for those with questions in those areas, I'm not the guy to look for. I'm currently learning the ropes from both Squee and C.I, and searching the net for more information too. It'll also be nice, for those already into cosplay, to maybe point me in the right direction for cosplaying information, especially SG based info, it'll be very helpful thanks.

Third and lastly, I'll be attending this weekend's Cosfest, but only on the 2nd day (Sunday) to take more photos of other cosplayers. Hopefully we'll have more space and better lighting for this event, not like Coscon during the recent STCC. Stay tuned for the coverage ^^. Nothing left to add, so I'm Signing out. Be back Friday night. Cya all!!

P.S: Rawr I now have got to slim down even more for a much better cosplay. Time to increase my amount of training!! >.<

Vocaloid Spotlight: Hatsune Miku - Letter Song.

2008-06-30T23:55:00.001+08:00

Wow, it's been quite a while since my last Vocaloid Spotlight post, and hoping to break the mass amount of photo posts in the past 2 weeks or so, I will be doing one now. Actually, while on a whim, I just decided to pay a visit to doriko's blog (a original Miku song composer), and it seemed that there was a new song which was just posted on the 27/06. Taking this opportunity due to laziness, I'll be doing a post on it.

Scanned picture of Miku from a doujin called Miku☆Miku☆Miracle! by REI'S Room. I personally scanned and did some colour touch up myself using Photoshop CS3 (in the process of learning how to use). It's not a very good scan though, noticed some bad areas in certain parts. Will rescan in the near future (and other pics too).

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3771514"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】「letter song」　オリジナル曲　vo.初音ミク&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku -「letter song」 by doriko.
Mp3 can be found here. And for those who might want to see if your system can display the Japanese characters, lyrics can be found here. (my system can't)

Letter Song is a slow paced peaceful piece, that is based around the theme of "self-reflection". In one way, this song is a follow up of doriko's previous song, Yuuhizaka (my post on it here). Writing a (song) letter to yourself 10 years from now, is a concept that is quite common. It may not be a letter, or could be just a thought, or maybe a blog (like what I'm doing now?), but surely we tend to look back and question ourselves if we're truly happy with the path that we had chosen in our lives.

Actually, it's quite a coincidence, as last night I was chatting with Squee and C.I over MSN about our past and stuff, and at the same time I was browsing through my old blog entries, looking at my old quotes and poems in them. Reading them once again was somewhat like a "self-reflection", and I thought back to my mentality then, which I would say had a pretty dark outlook at life. I think I'll do a post on that in the future too, with my old quotes and poems too ^^.

Anyway, hope you'll enjoy the song, I shall now go and do more "self-reflection" on my current's life heading (and maybe fall into depression at the same time). And here's a little quote that I did before, a little teaser. Signing out.

"Holding onto memories can be of great strength, but binded the mind be, the downfall of many to pass."

STCC Cosplay Coverage!!

2008-06-29T23:55:00.005+08:00

Paid a visit with some Team Blue members to the Singapore Toys & Comics Convention (STCC for short) today, 29 June 2008, held at Suntec Convention Centre. All I can say about the event was.... just so-so, thus I wouldn't bother going through it (I'm sure others have already said their say anyway). Instead, I'll focus on the cosplay aspect of the event ^^. On to the photos!!

Note: The lighting was pretty bad at the location (when I meant bad... it's FAIL bad!), so there might be some shaky photos due to low shutter speed (ISO 640, 1/8 - 1/15 shutter speed, F3.5-4.5). I've done the best I could without a hotshoe flash.

Massive crowd turnout for the cosplay competition.Another angle of the mayhem.

Nice S.W.A.T/Police outfit here. The black shadow at the bottom right is thanks to Panther >.< (And more thanks to Panther for the edit. I actually wrote bottom left.)

The force is strong with this one. Sith/ Dark Jedi. Didn't use flash for this shot as I wanted to have the "dark" effect. Slight shake in photo though.

Hatsune Miku!! She eventually won the cosplay competition too.

Miku and a red-haired KAITO playing around.

Reading music scores with lyrics to prepare for the next song.

Oversized leeks ftw! Looks like she gave up reading the scores.

Sakura and Syaorun from CCS. Sakura's costume is really cute, really liked it very much ^^.Another shot of the CCS Stars. Damn I really liked the Sakura, cute!CCS > Sith. Looks like Clow Cards > The Force.Sakurazaki Setsuna from Mahou Sensei Negima. Those wings were huge!

I have no idea which series is the afro guy from. Some said Yakitate!! Japan, others said Afro Samurai, and some more said from DDR2. I'll just leave it blank for now then. No idea on the other cosplay too.

Watanuki Kimihiro(?) from xxxHOLiC. I believe it's Watanuki due to Mugetsu (the pipe fox) and Kuro Mokona being with him.

Goth Lolitas? Panther asked to take some photos, and a crowd of photographers soon followed too to snap photos of these 2.Another shot of them. V for peace!Afro and Setsuna together.Lenalee Lee and Allen Walker from D.Gray-man. They were surrounded by mass group of photographers.

Simca from Air Gear. She's actually one of the judges for the cosplay competition.

Lastly, a cute Yuki Cross(?) in Night Class outfit from Vampire Knight.

And another... Can I drink her blood now? :DRandom shots of the rabid photographers.It was really crazy. I was getting smacked left-right-centre by albows, bags, cameras etc countless times, especially on my face, since I was focusing more on taking the photos than my surrounding.

Hopefully, when I attend Cosfest next week Sunday @ Downtown East, we will have better lighting and more space for cosplay photography. That small corner in the exhibition hall was really a killer, so hard to move around and too many people! Anyway, that's it for now, will finish up on my Japan's posts during next week before Cosfest. Hope everyone had enjoyed their weekend! Signing out.

P.S: Adding link for Full STCC Coverage by other bloggers. (30/06/08)

Japan Day 7: Tokyo DisneySea.

2008-06-27T21:45:00.000+08:00

A slightly different format from my other posts; rather than lots of photos, I'll be posting videos of the show performances from Tokyo DisneySea (Not my videos though, but searched from youtube from others). There still will be photos, but not much.

The first thing you'll see once entering DisneySea.

Band performance welcoming everybody to the place. The lady with the sax is not too bad looking too.

Upon entering the main area, we saw lots of people sitting/standing around, and we were wondering what was the crowd waiting for, which turned out to be the show performance "Primavera: Springtime Sea". I'll come to that later in the post.

Random scenery shot. Felt like we're in Venice, Italy.

The only ride I actually enjoyed in both DisneySea/Land. The Tower of Terror. It's a free fall ride, and I sat it 3 times! The 4th time I wanted to sit before the park closed, they had some system error >.<" Bad Tiki! (We nicknamed the "statue" in the ride Tiki, which is some "cursed" ritual idol.)

Random photo of a Micky statue.

More random photo. If only I could change that "cargo light" to a moe~ figurine, it'll be perfect!

Some fountain with an Aladdin theme. The genie styled water-shooters (I don't know what they're actually called lol) are cute! Every different one had different facial expressions.

I have no idea this sub came from which Disney story, but it looked nice so here's a shot.

Overview of the main area (or at least the entrance to the main part of the park). See the number of people along the waterfront? They're all waiting for the show to start. People queue/wait/book places like 2 hours (there's one parade in Disneyland, people were already waiting 4-5 hours before it) before the actual showtime. Hardcore fans -.-"

We watched both daily performance of "Primavera: Springtime Sea", and snapped lots of photos. This is where I would rather have a good videocam though, in order to capture the whole show in action. A camera just doesn't do it justice. At least there are many others who did have a videocam, and surely someone would have posted on youtube, so I searched them out and here you have them!

A good edited copy of the show, but it's not the full complete performance sadly.

I believe this would be a good presentation of what we saw, as we were at the same area as this person (for the morning performance). Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Seems like the love for Disney is strong with this little one. She was dancing along to the songs, with the same dance routine as the performers (she actually memorized? amazing). Those around her cheering her on too. Really really cute.

And during the afternoon performance, I spotted this guy at the top of a building, also dancing along to the songs with same dance routine. Heck, nearly 30% (estimate) of the audience WERE dancing along to the entire show with its dance routine!! Real big fans of Disney I guess.

This night show performance is called "BraviSEAmo!". We arrived late for this show though, as we were having our dinner just before, so we missed out the first part (we didn't even know of this show till we went to the main area for the fireworks and saw it). I really enjoyed the pyrotechnics used in this performance.

Cheers for others with videocams! I can rewatch it from the comfort of home.

Another shot of the show. Sadly, due to bad weather conditions, the fireworks show we were waiting for, that was supposed to happen after this show, was canceled.

Overall, it was a good experience to visit DisneySea, something new to me, as I've been to the Anaheim's Disneyland in the US before back in 1996. But seriously... the rides were boring!! (Besides Bad Tiki) And the cost of entry to the place is also not cheap, @ 5,800 yen for a day visit, or 10,000 yen for a 2 day pass. I'll definitely not return to this place, unless I have no choice (GF maybe?), or someone is paying for me (family trip). At least the show performances, Primavera and BraviSEAmo, were very enjoyable. Anyway, next post will be on Disneyland, but that was a letdown so don't expect much. Signing out.

Japan Day 4+5+6: Various Locations.

2008-06-25T18:30:00.000+08:00

Will be combining 3 days photos, but didn't take much photos on these days anyway. On to the photos!!

Day 4: Tsukiji + Imperial Gardens + Yasukuni Shrine + Nakano + Ueno.

It seems that Bandai's main building is in the Asakusa area, spotted it while walking towards Kuramae Station.Tsukiji is crazy!!! The amount of traffic is madness!! We didn't see the tuna auctions, but after seeing the craziness even if it's not during its peak hour, we believe we had made the correct decision of not coming early. We didn't take a walk inside the main market but only on the outskirts, but that was enough. I was never fond of mayhem. Still had a sushi breakfast and it was good... Want more ootoro!!

After Tsukiji, we walked towards the Tokyo Imperial Palace, heading towards the Imperial East Gardens, enroute through Ginza. Out of Ginza area, and just before reaching the palace, these huge plains of grass and trees makes it a very nice place to just hang out and relax.They might even be good places to do some figurine photo-shoots too!! Love the emptiness.

Guard Tower?? Random photo. Love doing those water reflection photos.

Within the East Gardens, there are smaller gardens where they have flowers and trees (they're labeled with their names too). Lovely flowers especially, and spotted lots of other photographers taking photos of the flowers. There were also groups of environmentalist(?) or plant-lovers doing some "study" of the flora (more like going "O.O what is this? Adds to note book.")

More empty plains, perfect for picnics.

Once done with the East Gardens, we then walked to Yasukuni Shrine, the controversy shrine behind bad relations between China and Japan, mainly due to having enshrined 14 A-Class War Criminals and having high-ranking Japanese Officials (Junichiro Koizumi mainly) paying their respects at this shrine. I couldn't hold my laughter though, when I saw one of the ema plaques having someone wrote on it "Free Tibet!". Surely looking for trouble I guess.An actual Zero-sen (repaired reassembled from various crashed/incompleted Zeros after the war) being displayed in their museum. My favourite WWII aircraft too! I was going "OMG ZERO SHIKI! WOOT!" when I saw this.This trip wasn't planned, but due to the huge amount of extra time which we had, having cleared the various locations before hand at a much faster speed than I had expected, my friend decided to let me go Nakano, to Nakano Broadway. Treasures I definitely found there; my Nendoroid Petit Lucky☆Star Set @ 7,000 yen (no where else had!! And buying it from La Tendo back in SG is crazily expensive), and Nendo Miku at a "cheaper" price (yes Fariz your Miku came from here) of 4,200 yen (The next cheapest I found at Akiba was 4,500 yen).

Day 5: Harajuku + Shibuya + Shinjuku.

Love the 2nd from left dress. Cute! Comes with a Nekomimi hood too!

We met up with another friend who was in Japan at the same time as us, but her trip was for 17 days. Anyway, this wasn't a day for me, but mainly for my friends, as they went on their clothes shopping sprees..... Even though I was going "Yep no problem I'm okay with shopping", but truthfully, I was bored to death. Yes I may have found clothes that I liked (and wanted to buy), but like my vest... It's all tooooooo expensive for me!! The only time I enjoyed myself, was the Karaoke!! Sang quite a few songs: Hirai Ken - Canvas + Hitomi wo Tojite; B'z - Ocean (Umizaru rocks! my no.1 favourite Jdrama, need to do a review on it one day); Haruhi - Hare Hare Yukai + God Knows (I didn't choose these songs, but it seemed another one of the guys from my other friend's group is a Haruhi fan, so yea we both sang it together! and we rocked!!); KOTOKO - Snow Angel; Maaya Sakamoto - Loop; doriko - Uta ni Katachi wa Nai Keredo (I can't believe I actually found this Miku song!! Too bad couldn't find any other Miku songs... I would have rocked on them all!).

Seems like I could only remember these few songs, but not that we could sing alot too, since we only had 2 hours, and 4 of us were trying to hog the system/mic lol. I've attached youtube links to the song names too, in case you want to listen to them. Aaaahhh can't wait to go to the Singapore's Japanese Karaoke so I can rock again! But no more high-pitched songs for me though, I couldn't handle Hirai Ken's songs truthfully, neither could do so for KOTOKO.

Day 6: Akihabara + Odaiba.

The Rainbow Bridge in Sunset, along Odaiba Seaside Park.

This day was supposed to be going to Tokyo Disneyland, but because it was raining, and not knowing where else to go, we decided to just enjoy walking in the rain, and headed to Akiba to do abit of MY shopping in the morning/early afternoon. But late afternoon (about 4pm) the rain stopped, in which we headed to the futuristic island of Odaiba.

View of the Odaiba Seaside Park, a small beach area.

We also took a side trip to New York to visit the Statue of Liberty. OR at least it got "Teleported" here.

I was actually making fun of the naming of this subway station in my previous trip (and abit of referencing to the above comment), about being a "teleport" station and such, but at least it does look futuristic from the outside(?). Anyway, "Beam me up, Scotty!" ^^

The sunset looks so beautiful.

Random photo while enroute to Palette Town.

Inside the Partire Tokyo Bay Wedding Village. A place for those couples in Japan who wants a western styled wedding in Tokyo. Anyway, we got chased out by security after taking this shot though LOL. Guess we're not allowed in there. It was fine the last time I came though, maybe the guard was having PMS. The ferris wheel at Palette Town.Walked back to Odaiba Seaside Park for some night photography. The jetty you see is where you'll arrive at when you take the waterbus from Asakusa/Hinode Pier to Odaiba.
And 1 more shot of the Rainbow Bridge in it's beauty at night. You can also see the orange-lighted up Tokyo Tower in the background to the right of the bridge.

That's it for the 3 days, and I'm thinking of doing a combined Day 7+8 post too, since it's just Disneyland + DisneySea; Will confirm after sorting photos. As to why I didn't do a post yesterday, and most likely including tomorrow, is because I went to my friend's house for gym + swimming, and mass Guitar Hero III on his Xbox 360!! That game is fun!! Even though I can only managed up till medium difficulty, and hard just kills me. Can't wait for Guitar Hero: World Tour!! The mic is mine!! Tomorrow will be going to his place again, so I don't know if I got the will to do a post. Oh well... Signing out for now.

Team Blue Figurine Photo-shoot Outing ~One with Nature~.

2008-06-23T16:00:00.001+08:00

On Saturday, 21st June 2008, was our SGblogger's (Informal group name Team Blue) 3rd Outing, and it was also our first figurine photo-shoot, held at Toa Payoh Gardens. Anyway, I should be the last one who is doing this coverage, so I'll just skip the introduction and head straight to the photos!!

The notorious Team Blue. From left to right: Kumo, Squee, Fariz, Raven, Panther, Gordon, Me. Pic taken from Team Blue / Panther.First up on my figures, is a family of tortoise, made to pose on some rock... Not. Just some of the many tortoise I saw in the pond.Walking along the water edge, I spotted this cutie who just came out of the water!! She introduced herself to me as Mikuru.

She brought me around her favourite spots in the area.

She especially enjoys hiding in the plants as it shields her from the scorching sun.While walking around, we spotted another beauty enjoying the scenery and the wind brushing through her beautiful orange hair.And Mikuru decided to quietly sneak up behind her...O.O Nice view!! *Mikuru viewpoint*"Kyaa!!!" she screamed, nearly blowing out my ear drums in the process. After apologising multiple times for Mikuru's entics, I asked her to pose for some photos for me, and to my joy she gave the go-ahead.

She told me her name is Makoto, and that she's some kind of fox who took up a human form; not that it really matters to me as long as she's cute ^^.It was quite a hot day, so we decided to hide in some shade and wait for the sun to die down before continuing...But sadly, I had to leave for another appointment, so I bidded farewell to the girls as they left for home too. Makoto giving a playful goodbye before disappearing into the "tall" grass.

Goodbye to Mikuru too, as she jumps back into the pond where her ugly father was waiting.

The ugly father. LOL. ~End~

Okay I admit, that wasn't that nice of an ending (ugly frog). I'll also need to improve on my outdoor figurine shooting technique; as compared to the others, my choice of background was a little plain, since I went in the other direction away from the pond area lol. Nevertheless, I guess this was a good experience, and will definitely help in my photo-composture in future shoots to come. Can't wait for the October one!! Anyway here's some candid shots taken at the scene.

Group photo of cutie figurines.

And various individuals queuing to take photos of them.

Another group shot. Lulu needs to be shot dead. Needed one of him lying on the ground with Claire and Kanu staring down on him, and maybe Miku using her leek to bash his head while he's down.

Since I had to leave early for an interview down at NTU, I don't have any night photos to show. Anyway, the figures that I used were: GSC Nendoroid Petit Mikuru Frog Costume and Max Factory Sawatari Makoto. Tomorrow's post should continue with Day 4 of my Japan trip. Signing out for now.

Other Team Blue Members Coverage:
Panther's June Figure of the Month
Panther's Kuonji Shinra Album
Panther's "One with Nature" Album
Fariz's Coverage
Wcloudxkumo's Coverage Part 1
Wcloudxkumo's Coverage Part 2
Squee's "One with Nature" Album
Gordon's Coverage

Japan Day 3: Washinomiya Jinja.

2008-06-20T23:55:00.002+08:00

Warning: Many many photos!! ^^

A 700 yen, 1hr 15mins journey towards the small town of Washinomiya, in the Saitama Prefecture, was definitely worth it despite the rain which fell on this day. I went to visit the "workplace" of our beloved Hiiragi twins from Lucky☆Star, Washinomiya Jinja.

Well, I was so excited over visiting the place, till the fact that I forgot to take a photo of the infamous entrance to the shrine -.-", so here's the anime version of it!!

Once past the torii gate, it's a small pathway towards the main shrine. Since it was a weekday and the fact that it was raining, there was hardly anybody around.
Some visitors taking a look at the ema plaques. I'll come to the ema later.
Here's the "washing" area, where you cleanse yourself first before going to pray before the Gods.And here's the main shrine. Threw a 100 yen coin in, and did a little prayer. If only I could do it Pixel Maritan style, "To show our appreciation for so much power, Marines keep heaven packed with fresh souls!" (Taken from Pixel Maritan Drill 3, Lesson 42, in regards to when Maritan was making a wish at a shrine lol ^^)

Once making a wish, I went to buy a ema... which costed 1,000 yen??? Wow they sure know how to leech money lol.Anyway, here's my ema which is to the left of the Miku one (you should know why I had it placed here ^^). I realised upon seeing my photos, that I actually miswrote "blog" as ブロク instead of ブログ, I forgot the extra " at the top of ク -.-"; I also noticed the last part of my last sentence was abit weird, I swear I didn't know what was going through my mind when I wrote that (なはいい?? What the hell is that?). I think it was supposed to be without the な in it.

Anyway, the rest of the ema below are ones which I found that were quite nice; in fact there were too many nice ones that I had to be selective, but here are the chosen ones.
Tsukasa and Kagami ^^. This plaque was huge!! It is about the size of 6 normal emas pieced together.
A couple of really good ones placed together. I suspect they were all from the same group or a single person. The shading techniques looked the same, and there was some numbering system on them all.
School Mizugi + swimming tube Kona-chan found! Moe! The bottom Tsukasa one is in Thai. (Edited: Thanks for the correction!)
Kona-chan x Kagamin ラブ ^^.
Another batch shot of emas. Spotted 2 Korean ones! Couldn't find any English plaques around though, maybe I should have did mine in English -.-"
There were some emas, instead of actual writing with a marker on it, the person had already pre-printed the image and words on sticker paper, and came to paste it on the board. Pretty nice too. The one of the left is pre-printed, while the one on the right seems to be hand-drawn. Very very close to the original. As for the website on the left ema, I visited the site, and it seems that the guy is a regular visitor to the shrine, making new boards every now and then and putting it up. To save you all the trouble of typing that webby, let me hotlink it here for you. Has very nice photos of various emas too.
Kona-chan stole Hayate's costume!
I would say this was my favourite ema of all. A really moeliciously cute Kagamin and Tsukasa together. Too bad it was located right at the bottom corner.Prayer for a good job(?). I'll need one too in like 3-5 years time once I'm done with studies.
Patty Moe and Peace!!The main cast all together.Another Kona-chan x Kagamin ema. ラブラブ!! Why wish for warm weather?? And here I am wishing for cold weather -.- We need to change places/countries instead ^^.
Being a "designated anime" shrine (LOL), it was also invaded by other animes. Here's the Dango Daikazoku.
I have no idea who's this character though, but was one of the better artworks around, deserves to be posted.
I basically ROFLed myself to death on this. Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00 reference.
That's about it for the emas. I actually spotted this Haruhi Itasha being droven while walking towards the shrine, but waited till I was leaving to take some photos of it, since I found it at the carpark on my way out.
The dashboard is littered with Haruhi related stuff. Nendoroid Petit Haruhi set spotted!!And if you didn't noticed, there's a Haruhi Papermoon doll in the passenger seat. That would have costed him 380,000 yen... rich! But if he could afford a car and even itasha it, I guess he would have the money anyway. In front of the torii gate, entrance to the shrine, on the right side, there's a rest house there where you can have a light snack. And yes the rest house looks like the one in the OP too. This chalkboard was just outside of it, cute art ^^.
This seems to be a permanent fixture in front of the rest house. I want to take it home!! お持ち帰りたい!!
It seems that the people in Saitama is really jumping onto the L☆S bandwagon. This eatery was located along the stretch of road from the train station, towards the shrine. 700 yen for some Kagami Soba/Udon?? or 800 yen for a Tsukasa Katsudon? No thank you lol. I wonder about the quality and quantity of the meals though...

That's about it for Washinomiya Jinja. The rest of the day was covered with rain, and I didn't want to risk having my camera soaked while trying to capture photos of the city (we only went Ikebukuro later in the day). Risking my camera here was another thing, I'll be a waste if I came all the way and didn't take a photo, so yea I was taking photos in the rain without an umbrella, good thing it was only a light shower.

I'll be taking a break from posting tomorrow, since I'll be occupied for most of the day; with our Team Blue "One with Nature" Figure Photoshoot tomorrow afternoon, a NTU hall recommendation interview in the evening, and a meet up with some BMT Kestrel June 06' platoon-mates for a BBQ at night. Here's wishing you all a enjoyable weekend!! Signing out.

P.S: I'll like to put a thanks out to Zyl from hontou ni sou omou? for his pioneer L☆S Pilgrimage trip, which was used as reference for the trainlines towards the small town of Washinomiya. Thanks ^^. (I have no idea how to do a pingback to the post though -.-") Hope to be able to do the complete pilgrimage in the future, going with a non-otaku friend is boring when it comes to these kind of stuff.

Japan Day 2: Harajuku.

2008-06-19T19:30:00.000+08:00

Well, actually we went to Harajuku, Shibuya, and a wee little bit of Shinjuku on this day, but I only took photos in the Harajuku area, so that's all you're going to see.

Or at least that's what I thought, but we actually did visit a Flea Market in the morning first before we headed to Harajuku. This flea market was held at the Tokyo International Forum, near Ginza. What they sold was mainly girl's stuff, clothes, accessories, handbags etc; wished I had chose to come on the Oedo Antique Market day instead the following Sunday, which I guessed would have been better for me.

The interior of the Tokyo International Forum, quite a nice
piece of architecture both the inside and the outside.Once done with the flea market, we headed straight to Harajuku, and entered the Meiji Shrine. I wonder if anybody has gotten tempted to just take one of this barrel and try to make a run for it, after all it contains sake ^^.

One of my friend whom I met during this trip was telling me why I was so lucky to had witness a wedding at the shrine, since he didn't see any on his trip there. I assume that he visited on a weekday though, since I had seen weddings on both the occasions I visited the shrine, and both times were on Sundays.

I received a request from Cal to add a "Prayer for Studies" to my own Ema (the wishing plaques), since he's in the midst of exams. But instead of just adding a small column, me and Ben (my traveling mate) decided to dedicate a single plaque, wishing all our friends (and ourselves too) on our studies, wealth and love-life. As for my own personal ema, that will be shown in the next post (you'll understand why soon ^^).

Leaving the shrine area, it seems that the Sunday Harajuku crowd has arrived and made their presence known to all.

Ranging from lolita...

To punk(?)...

School girls (cosplay?)...

And a middle-age man giving free hugs. Nope I didn't give him any though. (If only it was a cute girl...) But he still managed to give some hugs here and there to others.The street right outside the side entrance to Harajuku JR Station, Takeshita Street, was really packed with humans. I still remembered on my previous trip I came to this street it was like a ghost town, but that was at 8am in the morning though LOL. Don't ask why so early -.-"

That's about it for the photos for Day 2. As you can see there isn't much I took, since I had been here before and was too lazy to whip out my DSLR to take photo after photo. That's the problem with bringing friends to the "usual" attractions after you had gone once before, it just doesn't have the same charm it had when you first visited. Anyway, the next post would be something everyone who's reading my blog (for the right reasons) would enjoy for sure.

Here's just a teaser shot. Stay tuned for it! It's surely going to be photo intensive, with all the individual ema boards ^^. Signing out.

Japan Day 1: Asakusa + Roppongi.

2008-06-18T22:00:00.003+08:00

Day 1 of the trip, 7th June 2008. We landed early in the morning at about 7.25am (GMT+9), and once clearing customs, we headed to our hostel @ Asakusa. A long 1hr 30mins journey, we arrived at our hostel and left our luggage with them, to return back at 3.00pm to do our proper check-in. With the huge amount of time in hand, we headed to the attractions in Asakusa, mainly the Sensōji.

Once past the Nakamise Street, we're greeted by the main area of the Sensōji.

It's still as crowded as ever, but not as bad as a Sunday crowd.After getting bored at Asakusa, and still having too much time before we could check-in, we decided to take a walk to Akihabara, while enroute through Ueno. We saw this multi-level carpark along the way there, and decided to take a photo. We don't see these kind of stuff back home.

After a scouting trip in Akiba, and having finished our check-in at the hostel, we took a short rest, before heading to Roppongi area. This shot was taken at Roppongi Hills, a city within a city.

It didn't felt like we were in Japan, with all the modern arctitecture around. Lovely flowers too. Aaaahhh I want to go Holland/Netherlands to see the flower fields though.Nice work of art.

The building to the right is TV Asahi main office.
In the far distance you could see Tokyo Tower too.

There was some Italian event being held at Roppongi Hills, with different kinds of Italian food being sold, but they costed quite abit thus I didn't have a go at it. There were a few lovely cars too, but due to horrible lighting (they positioned the lights at an angle that reflects off the shiny surfaces of the cars at the best photo-taking position bah), I don't have any to show.

A shot of the huge building right at the center of Roppongi Hills.And another shot of the lower portion.Spotted this "Singapore Restaurant" at Roppongi area, while we were walking towards Tokyo Tower. Chili Crab @ 3,500 yen anyone? They had a website, but I forgot to take it down... Damn -.-"

Tokyo Tower in all it's beauty at night. Btw, go to their main website and take a look at their mascots. I swear they look like condoms to me. There was one in costume walking around too and I had the urge to just tackle him too LOL. They really need to rethink their mascot -.-"

Lots of tourist in the area, and I assume this Hello Kitty bus was one of their coach. Cute, but I'm not a fan of Hello Kitty. And no I didn't go Sanrio land on this trip!

Shots taken from the special observation deck @ 250m high. It costed us a huge 1,420 yen just to go up there -.-" tourist trap!! But well, going once is okay, but you'll not see me going up Tokyo Tower again. The night shots may be slightly shaky, due to the fact that I couldn't use a tripod.

More shots. You can see the island of Odaiba to the top left, the ferris wheel at Palette Town, and the Rainbow Bridge that connects the island to mainland.And 1 more. I tried to capture the moon at the top in this shot, turned out pretty okay.

We did get abit lost around Roppongi at first, since it was also my first time going to this area (I couldn't come last time round due to my friend's leg injury on the planned day). Overall quite a nice area, with quite a number of uptown fashion brands in the area, but I doubt I'll be going back here without a reason.

Why? Scenery wise was just so-so; the city in the city concept is nice, but over-rated, and was a headache moving around with some bad human traffic path planning during construction; expensive eating area; for fashion, I rather head to Harajuku or Ginza for it.

I might come again for the nightlife clubbing and such, but truthfully I'm not a clubbing person lol; maybe if someone brings me I will go. Anyway, that's about it for Day 1, which was abit boring, but I think Day 2 onwards related posts would be better. Stay-tuned and I'm out.

Japan Trip II - Loots!!

2008-06-17T18:00:00.001+08:00

I'm sure rather than the actual trip photos, people would prefer to see the loots first, thus the first post of the trip is none other than the goodies I've obtained during this trip!!
Warning: Some links may be NFSW, click at own risk!

Japan Loot overview!! Definitely not as much
as last time though, due to tight budgeting.

2 Full sets of Pixel Maritan Drill Books 1-3, one for me and another for Squee (for those who doesn't know what's Pixel Maritan's about, refer to this older post by me on it). The last book 3 is for my friend Calv, who already has gotten the other 2 books on our last trip to Japan. The Queen's Blade Books are for Raven.

Figures and plushies!! Max Factory's Kureha (rare find!!) for Panther, Nendo Miku for Fariz, Figma Yuki for C.I, Botan Plushie for Calv; while the Nendo Petit Lucky Star + Black Mage Chocobo is mine! (I put on my robe and wizard hat reference LOL^^)

Artbooks for Shinshi Doumei Cross + Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, manga series done by Arina Tanemura, my all time favourite manga artist ^^ (I already have the artbook for Full Moon wo Sagashite). The others are: Zero no Tsukaima clock (Louise love ^^), Little Busters! Pencil Board + Mouse pad (Rin is moe~! nyan~), Lucky Star stickers and Card Deck, and the Byousoku 5cm Hardcover Novel. Fantastic Story.Here's the LS Card Deck spread out. It's cute ^^. Para-para dance!!

Doujin wise, not much were bought. I also didn't really had much time to slowly look through the shelves of doujins, since my friend on this trip was abit uncomfortable with these kind of stuff. And I was also getting tired of listening to his "lectures" on the "ecchi" animes and such, why it's bad and all. No matter how much I tried to explain, he just sticks to his belief. Oh well each to his own. He does watch anime/read manga though, Naruto... bah.

Anyway, the folder + top 2 doujins are by REI's Room, and the bottom 2 is by Kyougetsutei and KEI.Top to Bottom, Left to Right: TACO x2, Combined Doujin (UraFMO, C☆ZONE, Bunbukudou), 640km/h over, Tennenseki, REI's Room x2, KOKIKKO, Arestica, Kamogawaya.

Manga bought on the trip. The top 3 are works done by Tinkle; the Miku manga has some of the Hatsune Mix chapters + alot more; the Nanoha Strikers Parody Manga by Ashita wa Docchida!; and KissXsis was some random buy which I thought would be a cute read.

That's about it for all my anime loots, but the most expensive thing I bought this trip was this vest by Burberry Black Label @ 19,000 Yen (That's about S$250). I think there's something wrong with my taste in fashion, simply because any clothes that I fall in love with, has some very big values on them (or like what my mom calls it, The Midas Touch). There were so many other clothes I would have loved to buy back, but they cost in the 12k-23k yen range, and that is totally out of my budget, thus only this 1 vest was bought.

That's it for the loots, the food souvenirs and stuff for my family wouldn't be interesting so I didn't take photos of them.
I took about 1.2k photos during this trip, and I'll need to go through and sort them out. This time round though, I'll be doing a day by day (or combine 2 days in 1 depending on amount of photos) posting sequence. That's about it for now, photos of trips (Day 1) to come tomorrow!! Signing Out.

P.S: Sorry Kazearashi I didn't get you your Nendo Miku. The normal stock was already sold out, and I could only find resale Mikus, and they were going for nearly double the original price (Fariz's Miku was at 4,200 Yen). Since I couldn't contact you during the span of the trip (I was on MSN on most nights btw), I didn't want to risk buying it and having you not be able to afford it, thus I didn't get it. Gomen -.- Hope you'll understand.

Back from Japan!! Teaser Post.

2008-06-16T20:50:00.000+08:00

And once again, another holiday has just whizzed by me, and I'm back in my home and at my computer typing out this post. Yes, I'm finally back from Tokyo *inserts crying sound here*. Right now, I'm busy trying to catch up on the loss in information during my absence, and trying to get some school matters stuff done too, so an actual proper post will have to come tomorrow. But in the mean while, here's just a teaser photo of my luggages; and break down of loots are to come. I'm out!

2 bags go, 4 bags back!

Suitcase from 1/4 filled to fully packed, and some figures that
I got there, but only the Nendoroid petit is mine though.

Thru the Years: Pulau Redang, 2005

2008-06-13T12:00:00.002+08:00

Note: This is an automated posted entry. I'm currently not at home ^^. But don't refrain from posting comments, I should have internet access there so I'll still be able to reply.

3rd in the series of posts, and yes I'm still in Tokyo ^^. This time is to the sunny island of Redang, Malaysia, 8 - 12th May 2005 (If you noticed the dates, I actually had 3 "holidays" in 3 months lol). My SP classmates decided that we needed a break, thus we planned one to Redang to relax and enjoy ourselves. It was a long journey to the location (10hrs bus + 1hr boat?), but it was definitely worth it. The beaches were beautiful, the marine life was also fantastic, and so was the company of friends, we were havoc (disco + drinking every night lol). On to the photos!! I'm sure land shots are getting abit boring, but don't worry, this post contains more underwater shots!!

This was where we stayed, Redang Reef Resort.
We came on an offer price, so wasn't too bad.
That reddish building is actual a replica of the Mo-Mo Cha Inn used in an old Chinese movie called "Summer Holiday". But I never did watched that movie so I don't really know details.
Random photo which I self-titled it: "Lost".
Long white sandy beach. Need more bikini babes though. If you do some snorkeling just off this beach in the >4m deep region, you'll be able to see huge stingrays with wing spans of about 2-3m.
Random hermit crab found walking across the pathway.
Start of underwater photos!! Here's some giant clams for starters. The following few shots are taken while snorkeling. I'll say which are the diving photos. It's easy to notice the difference though, due to lighting. Deeper depths = less light. That is unless you are rich and have strobes and all, then light = no diff at all.
I love the colour of this not so giant clam.A Spotted Moray eel. Remember the beach photo up above?
Towards the top left of that photos, those rocks, this was found around there.And so were these baby Black-tipped Reef Sharks. I counted about 7-8 of them swimming around. We were literally chasing them around lol.
A close-up on one of them. Cute ain't it?
Another Moray eel. This was found on a snorkeling trip to another location at a depth of about 6-7m. I never liked to stay on the surface even when snorkeling, preferring to do abit of free-diving to about 8m to see more stuff, though I nearly "kicked the bucket" on an attempted 10+m one (so called Deep Water Blackout), will talk about that incident in another post.
And onto the diving photos! This 3m wingspan stingray was lying at a depth of about 18m. See the lack of light in the following photos? Means we're deep under ^^.
Cute Angelfishes (I think).
I was always afraid of this fish, since I've seen about 3 attacks on fellow divers by them. Called the Titan Triggerfish, it's quite vicious during it's mating season, since it'll be guarding it's nest (one of my Divemaster friend saw an attack which took out a guy's ear lobe, good thing I never saw it else I think I might have phobia). Thank goodness it wasn't mating season this time round, since this monster was just about 30cm in my face. I was too concentrated on taking another marine life, and my friends/buddy didn't even warn me about the approaching trigger, and they were laughing about it after the dive -.-" What good friends I have.
Another pufferfish. More fugu! Cute little Lionfish hiding in a marine feature.
Sandman spotted on shore! Made by one of the local divers. What's that word on the body? Does it say "shark"? I'm not sure.
Bidding farewell to the lovely island. I might be going back again real soon if everything goes as planned, sometime end of this month or the next, Hopefully that is.Click for bigger picture of the beach area. My first attempt at a panorama shot.

This wasn't taken in Redang (see the water colour difference), but I think you guys would want to see me in dive gear (I think?), so here's one. Full diving equipment, besides the oxygen tank, is my personal gear, and damn it's really costly, a total worth of about S$3k? Anyway, this photo was taken in Tioman last year April.

Since this post is out on the 13th, means 3 more days (16th) and I'll be back in SG... so sad. Guess this will be the last of the automated posts, the next one will be done in person, likely with a teaser shot of the Japan trip too. Stay tuned and enjoy!! Signing out.

Thru the Years: Kuantan, 2005

2008-06-10T12:00:00.001+08:00

Note: This is an automated posted entry. I'm currently not at home ^^. But don't refrain from posting comments, I should have internet access there so I'll still be able to reply.

2nd in the series, brings us once again back to Malaysia, but this time it's Kuantan, 29th April - 2nd May 2005. This was also my first trip with the Nikon D70 DSLR which I borrowed from my uncle to use. This trip, we traveled in a convoy of about 30+ cars, organised by a company called Wheels-For-Fun. For starters, we were given a map, and clues to reach our destination in Kuantan (had to travel up on our own, part of the fun), and at the same time look out for certain objects along the route to fill in a puzzle to "claim" a prize when we reach.

Upon reaching our destination, the true tour then starts, where we visit various locations for sightseeing, and the main attraction, FOOD! This trip was totally filled with lots of eating, easily reaching 8-10 "meals" a day, mainly finger food. Anyway, on to the photos!!

First up after reaching our destination, let the food fest begin!!
We stayed at Hyatt Regency Kuantan, view from one of the walkways.
Beach Resort style living, I like ^^.
Some Batik/souvenir shop? And no I couldn't "read" the
Chinese words which said "Photographs Forbidden" ^^.
Some small village which we saw lots of things: Coconut-collecting Monkey, Spinning Top action etc. Damn my memory's abit bad I can't really recall.
The main attraction of the trip (besides the food), was visiting Turtle Conservation Center in Cherating. This enclosure is where they keep the turtle eggs until they hatched, then transferred to a "swimming" compound for them, and then released back into the wild.And the baby Leatherback turtles were really cute!!
As part of the project, we helped to release the baby turtles back into the sea. But sadly according to them, only about 10-20% of them would survive and reach adulthood. The most would just get eaten/die/various others. Sad fact but that's reality.
More food. I forgot what the triangular shaped one is called,
but those on the plate is called Otak-otak, Good stuff.
Again more food!! This time it's some breaded crabs. Supposed to be quite famous, but didn't really suited me. I still prefer chilli crabs or fresh Hokkaido crabs ^^.Onwards to another location, took a sneak shot behind our car. Only a small portion of the back convoy could be seen (there's still about 10 cars in front of us too).
Once again food. Deep fried stuff like sotong (aka squid),
fish, and I can't ID the other on the stick lol.And more more more food. Forgot what's it called. Needs ID-ing.
Random night shot of the beach. Love the waves...
Ahh I wanna go surfing again!! (even if I suck at it)
Seafood dinner, choose your pick.Last day of trip, took a group photo before we left the Hyatt. This trip was also part of the "Save the Turtles" project organised by Malaysia Tourism.
On our way to another location, we stopped by this shop which sells lots of preserved stuff. The smell was overwhelming, as I can't really stand the heavy fishy atmosphere, so I had to go in and out quite a few times. But these kind of stuff are a hit among the "aunties", as I watched them grabbing bags and bags of goodies.
Another part of the same store, but mainly pre-packaged goods.
Our final destination for the trip was going to see a waterfall, though I had forgotten the name of it lol. Right after I took this shot, my camera battery died on me, so that's the end of it. This waterfall seems to be very popular with the locals, and many can be seen swimming in the water pools too. There were even children slides and all installed on the lower portion of the area. Felt more like a mini water-park to me.
And to end off, here's a turtle that I stole from the Conservation Center!! .... Not!! Unlike Danny who carries his figures around, I tend to carry my plushies around instead (I wasn't into figure buying then also). I'll stop here for now. Next scheduled post in 3 days time!! Until then, Signing out.

Thru the Years: Pulau Aur, 2005

2008-06-07T12:00:00.004+08:00

Note: This is an automated posted entry. I'm currently not at home ^^. But don't refrain from posting comments, I should have internet access there so I'll still be able to reply.

By the time you read this post, I'm already in Japan!! I had wanted to start this "Thru the Years" series of posts about 3 months ago, but didn't feel the need to do it since I kept having topics to post about. But now since I'm overseas, and not wanting my blog to go into hiatus status, I'm making use of blogger's "post ahead of time" system to do some delayed postings. This should last till I'm back on the 16th.

This is my first ever trip that I had a camera to use to take photos, and it was a diving trip to Pulau Aur, Malaysia, 11-13th March 2005. Organised by Singapore Polytechnic Diving Club (one which I helped to set up within the school), it was a training trip for many, but I went just for leisure diving. Anyway, on to the photos! Land photos taken using a Pentax Optio MX4, while underwater photos are taken using a Canon Powershot A40.

Group photo!These 2 were test shots I took in SP's swimming pool, while the dive instructors were teaching the rest of the newbies. First time doing underwater photography too.Our "base" of operations off Pulau Aur, this is Sebukang Bay.Maintenance of equipment after a dive. Changing of oxygen tanks etc. Here's the A40 in it's water-proof casing for my underwater shots. View of jetty from the shore.This camera is quite old, and due to being a noob, my photos didn't turn out too well. But it's also due to the poor visibility that made the photo this way. My dive buddy for this trip, Kenneth, posing with some corals in the background.A Feather Star on some hard corals.A Moral eel hiding in it's lair.Chasing the pufferfish! Fugu for dinner anyone?Sunset by the beach, love the sun-rays bursting from behind the clouds.One of my favourite photos of all time. Sunset by Sebukang Bay.

This photo series will last till I come back from Japan, and will be published every 3 days, thus expect 2 more of this post (Initially planned 5, but couldn't complete all 5 posts in time before I left). The full series (I'll continue so even after coming back, but less frequent) will cover more of my travels during the past 3 years. So until then, enjoy them!! Signing out.

I'm off to Tokyo!!!!

2008-06-06T17:00:00.001+08:00

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go,

I'm standin' here outside your door,
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye....

Yep, it's finally the day!!! I'm off to Japan tonight for 10 days and will only be back on the 16th. One sad thing about this trip though, is the fact that my non-otaku friend who is traveeling with me isn't very keen on all the "supposed" anime pilgrimages that I had mentioned before, so right now I'll only be visiting Washinomiya Jinja, the home of the lovely Hiiragi twins, out of the supposed few. Better than nothing I guess.

So kiss me and smile for me,
Tell me that you'll wait for me,
Hold me like you'll never let me go...

As you can see my luggage is pretty much empty, but you should also be able to guess what it'll be filled with when I return, especially with the orders that fellow SG-ers have requested of me too lol. I'll also bring back lots of photos!! My main concern now is more of the weather though, checking the forecast which says lots and lots of rain to come... oh well, take it as it goes.

'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh, babe, I hate to go

Either way, I'm going off now, but don't worry about this blog, I had already pre-scheduled 3 posts in intervals of 3 days to keep this blog running till I'm back. I should also have internet access over there, so I'll still be able to check my mail (for those who wants to email me, it's hiritoatgmaildotcom), reply comments, chat in tagboard etc. Let's keep this running okay? Anyway, heading out now... until then, Signing out!!

Temptation: Mama Chapp.

2008-06-04T23:45:00.001+08:00

I was simply infected when I first lay my eyes on one of this cuties, but didn't have the actual desire to own one, that is until now... I'm now soooo tempted to get hold of one (or a pair ^^)!!! But with a costly price-tag, it's hard to upkeep this possible hobby, especially when I have so many other expensive hobbies, I'll go bankrupt in no time! Well, I'm on my way there though. Well, if by some chance I managed to find one in Japan which is within my budget, I think I'll get it... or not... AAAaaahhhh I can't decide!!! Anyway, here's some pictures taken from their site. Feel the temptation together with me!!! (I know someone else is already feeling it LOL. *insert evil laughter*) For those who doesn't know, these dolls are called Mama Chapp.

I'm actually hoping to find these pair if possible ^^.
Goth Lolita ftw!!

Another cute pair ^^.

These are stand-alone (as in doesn't have a matching pair).
Love the Konata one especially (I swear it's sold out). Timotei~
Here's another 2 of Konata in Maid costume.
Aahhh Simply Irresistible!! I want!

My Room: Updated 03/06/08.

2008-06-03T23:30:00.000+08:00

Nyan?

Been clearing/cleaning up my room for the past day (but still slightly messy), so I guess I'll take a few photos to "re-present" my room (as promised). The previous updates are hyper-linked here (18/10/07 and 10/02/08). My room is more or less the same, with just the addition of a few more posters (but not all, there's still about another 4-5 or so under the bed, not sure where to put), and my new Detolf Glass Cabinet from IKEA. Anyway... On to the photos!! (Ignore the orangey colour, it's my halogen lighting; and my walls are painted pale orange too lol, thus making it a very deep orange!)

After going through the entrance, you'll be greeted with this sight.
Welcome to my World.
Right side of room after walking to work area. Manga, doujins,
figures, various merchandises are all kept in the main display cabinet.Zooming closer to the Detolf cabinet. Notice the other side-cabinet with the Da Capo II posters? I had to do abit of hand-work on that cabinet, sawing and sanding off sharp edges on one side to place the posters. The posters are actually covering a very unslightly empty space. That cabinet used to be connected to my main work area, but lack of use and the blockage of air flow to my computer, I had to remove it. It looks lovely now (thanks to the posters).
Walking over to the other side, view of my cupboard. Still loving those stick posters at the top, need more to put up ^^. The place where you see my CPU, the cut off point between the brown and white surface, that white plank was where that cabinet was. View of my bed area. I recently bought that Kyou Mini Pillow (it's a beanie cushion). Loving it and my Noumi Dakimakura. The small hole just next to the dakimakura, that's where my Botan plushie is hiding.

Moving back to the other side, here's an overall outlook of my work area. My MEGAMI and Dengeki Hime are kept up on the shelf. I love my Noumi Cushion too ^^. I'm such a Little Busters! fanboy, or just of Noumi. :PA close-up of my work area. I'm also a Fate fanboy lol.Ahh my Nendoroid Miku in Hatchune mode. That's my not so new (1month already) handphone, a Nokia 6500 Classic. I've attached quite a few items onto the pouch (Sabar was saying it feels so girly, but I love it anyway), which all came from Japan. The Fortune Arterial strap + Shiro tag was from Comiket73, so is the handphone cleaner (original character from Bunbukudou circle), the Hinagiku from a gachapon in Akiba, while the name-tag is from Kyoto (had the guy craft my nick on it, Kawasumi Hirito)Currently in my Detolf cabinet, there's only 4 figures, but I bought the cabinet in anticipation of future pre-orders (currently 6 to go). Here's my Max Factory's Ayu and Makoto from Kanon (still waiting for the rest of the characters!!! Quick MF do them all please!!!), and Alter's Bustier Ver. Louise from Zero no Tsukaima.

And currently (but only on temp status) my "crown jewel", the highly sought after Max Factory Kureha from Shining Wind!! Someone in Singapore was selling his away, and I immediately grasp the opportunity (thanks to double's trap post that I went and took a look at L-Lawliet's blog, since I was curious at his "WTS ALL FIGS!" suffix in his nick; it was good that I went back to take a look at other replies to the post ^^). But the reason why I said it's only temporary, it's because I bought it for my friend, and will have to ship it to him (or let him come collect it end of this year when he comes back for a visit :D). But of course unless someone offers me...erm *grins*... a good price, I might be tempted otherwise. Just kidding. Seriously though? I'm also tempted to keep it for myself LOL. *To hell with friendship!!!*

Well, that's about it for my room. I might have more things to add to the room when I come back from Japan (but of course I'll do a loot post for that ^^), but I doubt it'll have much major changes. Maybe when I move into my Uni's dorm, I might "decorate" it too, then I'll post photos of that hehe. 2 more days before I fly off to Japan, Tokyo only, for 10 days.... CAN'T WAIT!! I still haven't packed my luggage though... Signing out.

Sakura no Ame Project by Halyosy.

2008-06-02T23:55:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure if anyone remembers of the post I did on a vocaloid song called Sakura no Ame / 「桜ノ雨」 (Click the link for original post of the song). It seems that the maker of the song started a "Sakura no Ame Project", where they attempt to get many people to sing the song together. For starters, it makes the song feel really authentic, since it's a song about graduation, thus you'll expect to have lots of people singing (or feeling) it, since it's something that everybody would go through.
Seriously, it's no easy task to get a choir to sing in synchrony, and it's alot harder to try to get unknown people from all walks of life singing the song within the digital world. I'm not sure whether they get individual song files from each person, then try to synchronize it all; or did they have a set gathering to do the recording of the song together at the same time; but they sure did a hell of a job to make it seem so perfect in the finalised version. Damn it's simply beautifully sang.

It seems that they are going to have another take at the song with another group of people, and I so want to join in too, but I doubt I'll make the cut (since I think my pronunciation wouldn't be that of the "local" standard). Anyway, without further adieu, here's the finalised version.
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3413001"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】「桜ノ雨」２６２人でバーチャル合唱Ver.　（編集：halyosy）&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Sakura no Ame Project - 262 People in Virtual Singing Together Ver.
Original Author of Sakura no Ame: Halyosy.

Hatsune Miku - Sakura no Ame, Original Version (for those too lazy to go to my older post).

Off topic. People might be wondering if I died after my ORD post, since there was no updates, but it just that my weekend was way too busy to do any post, since I was out more or less the whole time. Today, was also abit busy doing some household chores + clean up room + preparing my luggage for Japan, and getting distracted by some computer game too. Blogger.com didn't help neither, since when I wanted to do this post much earlier, it was giving quite abit of problems. Anyway, tomorrow I should finish clearing my room proper, then I guess I'll be posting my updated room photos. Signing out.

I've obtained my Freedom!! My NS Story?

2008-05-30T23:30:00.000+08:00

In the words others have used before me... キタアアアアアア!!!! IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!! ORD LOR!!! 2 YEARS IS GONE!! Time to hit the books again!!
Warning: Long wall of text to come.

It's a celebration!!! At least for me ^^.

*composes self*
It has been a long 2 years since I enlisted into NS on 2th June 2006, and went to Tekong BMTC Sch 1, K Company "Kestrel". BMT was quite a fun experience, since I had never gone through such training before (shooting rifles, throwing grenade etc), but it's definitely something to just experience once and no more, I can't handle that kind of lifestyle on long term lol.

If only grenades came like this... would be alot more fun ^^.

When I first enlisted, I had wanted to aim for OCS (Officer Cadet School), since they earn the most allowance during NS. I was definitely one of the better recruits in my platoon, and was surely on course to be an officer (if I passed my IPPT that is). However, a certain incident would get me out of action for 3 weeks, and eventually I failed my IPPT and there goes my OCS/money dream. So... what kind of incident would leave one out of most training for 3 weeks?

I'm not sure if any of the bloggers noticed it during the two/three outings we had, but I do get lots of others who asked about this certain injury on my hand. There's a 5.5cm scar on my right hand index finger. How did I get it? I punched a window (it's about a 1cm thick safety glass window, or at least I think it was). -.-" For those who were in the same batch (BMTC June 06'), and maybe the batch after (Sep 06') should have heard about some idiot who punched and broke a window... and that idiot is me.

I admit! It was me! I broke the window!

Why do such a thing?? Here's a quick (and broken English) summary, a proper one would be way too long. Starts: It's finally the weekend!! Late Saturday afternoon book out (4pm). However there's some who were to report for guard duty that same day, thus they booked out earlier (12pm). I eventually booked out at 4pm, reach home about 5.15pm, take clothes throw into washing machine, turn on the computer and relax. 5.45pm a phone call came, picked it up, turn out to be the duty sergeant. Fellow platoon mate who was supposed to do guard duty had reported sick and gotten a MC, and I get called back to replace. I'm damn pissed. 10pm report back to Tekong, with soaking wet clothes in bag, do Sunday guard duty, but it was quite fun anyway with good companions.

Guy report back on Monday, saw me, give smug look, doesn't even say sorry. I'm burning with rage. However, I get all kinds of comforting by fellow friends, eventually approached and asked our PC (Platoon Commander) to settle the issue, I then calmed down. Tuesday I was back to normal for most of the day, but came evening I felt the sense of loss (like I'm some loser or something), since nothing was being done to rectify the issue, useless PC.

My mind blew up.

Here comes the breaking point. Night time, I just came out of toilet after a bath, walking back to bunk. The guy came out of his bunk, ran towards the toilet, bangs me, turn around give smug look again and ran off. I snapped, my mind went blank. Walked into my bunk, needing to clear the rage in me and get some fresh air, I punched one of the back window "open". Well, it didn't open, but instead broke, leaving a hole in it, and a nice big open slit wound on my finger, and bleeding like mad, bone was also totally exposed.

People panicked, rushed me down to Medical Centre, MO (Medical Officer) dare not do the stitching, was fastcraft-ed off Tekong and brought to Changi Hospital. Final result, 18 stitches (it's a line + a circle, since the skin at the joint part was hanging off a singular point of about 2mm wide). 2 Days MC. 3 weeks excuse upper limbs exercise. Since it was near the end of BMT (Last 5 weeks or so), I eventually failed my IPPT. I even tried my best by forcing myself to take the test even when my injury wasn't fully healed (was also still in bandage), but could only muster 2 pull-ups (not that I could pull any before LOL). There goes OCS. End of summary. For photos post-stitched, click this and this. Warning: photos might be abit gruesome for some, see at own risk. Too bad no photos before the stitching, would be cool to show off the bone and flesh under the skin.

Miku snapped!! Run for your lives!!

Some issues which I was really totally pissed off: 1. That guy may be in the same platoon, but was no friend of mine, nor was he in the same section. 2. I did some investigation on my own, seemed that his entire section seemingly decided to be "uncontactable", assuming they all turned off their handphones, which means they all knew before hand. 3. I was not one of the stand-by personnel for the guard duty, so why the hell did the duty sergeant call me? 4. I was already pissed off with his section's people attitude, including him, worthless lifeforms (not all though). 5. Maybe all I want was a simple form of gratitude, a simple thanks, but none were given, and was even insulted (smug look by him, and his circle of "friends").

It's a good thing I wasn't charged, nor did I pay the repair for the window, but wasn't too happy with the fact that the guy just got away with another guard duty, that's it. I swear he should be charged with malingering or something. I don't believe that an active young man can get a high-fever in a time span of 4 hours. He was still smiling, running, chatting, going on with everyday business in the morning. Aaaaahhhh I'm getting pissed again typing all these. That's about it for the BMT section. Don't worry the rest will be shorter... I think.

Nyan~ I'm the victim here okay? ^^

Out of BMT, was posted off to be an Air Force Technician. 6 weeks at AFS (Air Force School), then off to SBAB (Sembawang Air Base) for the remainder of the 2 years under ALS (Air Logistic Squadron) as a RT (Rotor Transmission) Tech on the Super Puma AS332M/M1. I was also involved with NDP 07' under Flag Party (we also did SAF Day 07'), which was a relativity fun experience (if not for a lousy backstabbing Officer. Tell us to give feedback will not take to heart, but in the end not happy then backstab us with all kinds of extra). What we did in Flag Party was to prepare and deploy the giant National Flag under the CH-47 Chinook for the parade.

Talk about being kiasu, the public only sees one flag for the 20sec fly-by, but we have another 2 more being deployed on other Chinooks at the same time flying else where, and another 11 more flags deployed on ground in case of anything else. That's a total of 14 flags just for the actual day (slightly less for rehearsals, around 8-12 range), that costs about S$40,000 each. Guess that's where our taxpayer money is being put to, since we scrap a few flags each year and buy more brand new ones (about 4-5 each time).

I hereby propose that Singapore incorporate Dai Gurren Dan's emblem into our flag too! That will justicify its cost!

Once NDP was over, and Flag Party disbanded, it was back to the everyday servicing of aircrafts, and this would last until my ORD, or at least I did thought so. Some pilot decided to give me a farewell present of a crash during my 2nd last week, where we had to work like mad to investigate and get the rest of the aircrafts back to "working" status. Either way, it's finally over... Actual ORD date is 1st June 2008, but since it's a Sunday, I would be given back my freedom on Friday 30th May 08' instead, which is TODAY!!! So there you have it, more or less my NS experience of 2 years.

I believe that has been quite a long read, so I don't think I'll bore everyone with more information. It's finally Friday... so go out and enjoy the weekend!!! Once again... ORD LOR!! Signing out.

More celebrating!! FREEDOM!!

P.S: Seems like the Miku Stage ~ Pet Project isn't going to well, a round shape is hard to do with the tools I currently have. I either need to rethink the design, or get some workshop machines lol. Will use something else tomorrow I guess...
And also... I suspect my baby niece Mikaela is an Otaku/Fujoushi-in-training. She seems to love my room more than the rest (she gets very excited when in it, then once bring to another room she starts to cry) >.< and is also eyeing my figures/pillows/cushion. Help?

Vocaloid Spotlight: Hatsune Miku Series 4.

2008-05-29T23:40:00.000+08:00

Aaaaahhhh!!! I'm sooo addicted to Miku, that I can't get enough of her recently. After going through quite a few songs (seems that the last 3 weeks rankings there were still lots of older songs), I've decided to go with the following 3. Theme used for selection was that I wanted something catchy and cute, and here are the songs!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3398876"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミクオリジナル曲】とらいあんぐる☆Girl&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#039;s Heart【PV付】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - TRIANGLE☆Girl's Heart / とらいあんぐる☆Girl's Heart by SHIKI.

Watching this video and seeing Miku looking soooo cute and sweet in the PV is enough to make one get diabetes. The PV also makes it look like some starting video/clip used for an eroge or something. I was nearly late in doing this post as I was playing this over and over again, it's way too addictive to see Miku's smile ^^.
Grab your Mp3 here, though I prefer listening to it while watching the video since it's cute.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm3426804"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミクオリジナル】ユアソング（full) 【スカパンク】&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
Hatsune Miku - Your Song (I think?) / ユアソング by Yoshihito.

I couldn't find a youtube version of this, seems like no one uploaded it.
Mp3 can be found here. password: ska.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3207462"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】初音ミクオリジナル曲「アズライト」&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Hatsune Miku - Azurite / アズライト.
Mp3 can be found here. password: kiwami.Hmm.... I know I like the following two songs, but somehow after rewatching TRIANGLE☆Girl's Heart over and over again, I can't think of anything to write for the others lol. It just took the life out of me. >.<" Either way, they're all nice songs, so don't give them a miss kay'? Misc stuff: Managed to get some of the materials for the Miku Stage today, and have began work on it. Not sure how it'll turn out in the end, but I'm just hoping it'll be fine. Also, if I have enough materials left, I'm thinking of making a small wooden box to carry Miku (Nendoroid) around safely. Carrying her in her original box is too big, and carrying without it makes it too risky (of getting damaged). Tomorrow is also going to be a very VERY VERY important day... ORD LOR!!! Proper post on it tomorrow. I intend to talk about my army experience and some highlights in it, so it might get abit long. Enjoy for now, I'm out.

Mini Teaser.

2008-05-28T20:15:00.000+08:00

Okay. Guess I'll not be doing the Vocaloid Spotlight post today, since I'll have to take my time to go through over 3 weeks of ranking videos to choose lol. But for today, I'll just be posting a little teaser on what I plan to do tomorrow (besides blogging), since I'm on leave/off (no need go camp!).

Looks like Miku is slightly confused on what's going on.

Upon closer look, she realised!! The Miku Stage!! A ~Pet Project~ of mine.

I was actually planning to make a mini-stand for Miku, so that she would be able stand on it and reach the average height of most 1/8 figures (reason to come soon, but not in this post ^^). Since I didn't have much to do in camp today, I took out some paper and did some sketches on what it would look like. Initial designs were...well... just too simple and not unique (you'll be able to see 2 ugly double layer stand-like drawings on the paper), since I was thinking of making it easy to build.

But as you can see, the final settled design is that of a mini ball. It's surely going to be much harder to build, as compared to straight even surfaces, and I intend to work using Balsa wood (it's very light and easy to work with wood, and I used to work with this material when I built Control-Line Model Aircrafts before). It looks like I'll have to stick multiple layers and sand them down to create the ball shape. I had also added a few other unplanned items, but would make it alot more fun in building it, and might make it look nicer at the end.

I'll be sourcing for materials tomorrow, and hopefully will be able to create the overall shape of the structure by Saturday (I need it by then). Since this is just going to be a prototype, the gears system (to allow the upper part of the stage to be able to lift up higher, for those taller figures), lighting, props etc. wouldn't be installed till later, due to the time constraint, and calculations required for the gear ratios, wirings etc. I'm still thinking of what material I could use for the final product, something that would look nicer and also easy to work with, and also thinking about colour combinations to paint it... But well, there's still time for that.

That's about all the teaser for now, time for me to go back reviewing more Vocaloid videos, and maybe watch a movie on television to chill abit. Till tomorrow's post, Signing out.

National Runway Cycling and Skating 2008 Coverage.

2008-05-27T22:30:00.002+08:00

On the same day as Streetfest, the yearly National Runway Cycling and Skating event (hosted by SAFRA and RSAF) was in full swing earlier in the morning. Given a ticket, and not wanting to waste it, I attended the event despite having to wake up early at 5.45am. Not wanting to spend/waste any money on this event (bike rental = S$18), I decided to take my own bicycle for a spin, and take that (estimated) 15-20km route to the event site, Paya Lebar Airbase.

Photos taken in this post is not mine, but from my friend Hans on his Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3, as I don't have a compact and my camera phone sucks lol. Enjoy ^^.
Leaving my house at 6.15am, it took me about 50mins to an hour to reach the site, and there were already a huge crowd at the entrance, meeting friends and waiting for the gates to open.

The crowd awaits the gates opening.After clearing the gates, we made our way to the "activities" area, where tents from various sponsors sell/promote their goods, or games for people to play, or at least I think so. Didn't really bothered taking a look though lol.

Here's 3 of us taking a photo with the Apache behind.
From left: Hans, Me, Eugene.

Here's another one of me with my bike on the runway. I assume that this runway is the landing strip, since we can see all the tyre skid-marks on the floor caused when the aircraft touches the ground at high-speed and apply its brakes.I really love the sight of the skid-marks. Its simplicity makes it an unique design. Too bad this picture didn't really capture the background well, and if it did, you would be able to see the CBD (Central Business District) area skyline and the Singapore Flyer somewhere on the horizon on the right side.

And on the other side of the photo, we had the start point of the event. We didn't join in the initial flag off, since we expect everyone (most) to be there and it'll be a messy sight (something like people banging each other and mass topples lol). We met another friend, Jason, at this point, and he joined us on the 15km route (he wanted to join his friends for the 6km (slackers), but we somehow psycho-ed him otherwise ^^).

Some aircrafts we see while along the route. The first photo above is the F-16, while the second photo shows one of the C-130.

Along the route they had some water point, where those who are either tired or thirsty can stop and not block others who are continuing.

And this is what it looks like at the water point. Participants just grabbing cups pre-filled with water, while the "host" people top more cups up. That's about it for the event. After clearing the 15km route, we chatting a while more before heading home, and yes I cycled the journey back too, but on a different route. Seems that I took a longer route in the morning, even though someone told me it was supposed to be shorter -.-"

Overall, it has been quite a fun experience, and I think I'll be attending it again next year, hopefully with a road bike though lol. Time to save up an estimated S$1,800 for a not too bad one. Seriously thinking, I swear I have too many expensive hobbies, and it's really damn hard to maintain them all (or even obtain them in the first place). I really have to cut my interest down ><. Anyway, next post tomorrow (or day after) I'll be doing a Vocaloid Spotlight (haven't had one in a while). Signing out.

Streetfest 08. Mini Coverage from Me.

2008-05-26T22:15:00.001+08:00

Streetfest, is a yearly Singapore event that showcases and promotes local youth talents in various activities: performing arts, visual art forms, lifestyle trends (including fashion), entrepreneurship, technology, health and environment. (Ninja-ed from the site ^^) Yesterday, 25th May 2008, was the D'J Party, mainly featuring Jrock and cosplay, and I wasn't going to be left out of this, despite being dead tired and having to drag myself there. Why this is going to be a "mini" coverage from me? Somehow I wasn't in my trigger-happy photoshooting mode (I only took 21 shots?), thus I have a very small range of photos to work with. It also doesn't help that I reached late and also had to leave early, for various reasons. Nevertheless, on to the photos....

Welcome to Streetfest D'J Party. I came late at 3.30pm though, it starts at 12.30pm. The band on stage is SectorFive (not too sure, didn't hear properly, but based on the scheduling it should be them). Nice mix of songs, and I found the Thai-pop song (they played one yes) quite interesting and nice too ^^.I felt that they really shouldn't have made it an indoor event, was too small for such a crowd, a convention hall might be better. Outdoors for rock/music is still the best!! Like Baybeats, which has their stage at Esplanade; but of course we wouldn't have those who just came shopping and stop a while to have a look. Despite having cosplayers aplenty scattered around (and getting chased by hordes of people armed with lots of cameras lol), I didn't take much photos (how does 10 photos sound?). Also the fact that I don't have a external flash or a flash diffuser, I didn't want to irritate them by using the inbuilt flash, too strong/bright, thus less photos too. I tried to take non-flash photos, but well doesn't turn out too good I feel. The Guitar Haruhi (based on Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou promo picture) cosplay was one of the better ones out there, if not the best of the day.

Listened to them just before I left (1 song only though), BuckleBerry. Not my type of music though.

Ending off with another photo of Guitar Haruhi. I felt this was my best photo of the day, love the fact that I managed to get eye contact on this shot (or at least to another highly equipped camera-armed guy just next to me).

I'm sure my photos (or the lack of it) doesn't do this event justice, but there's many other bloggers who are also covering this event, and I'm sure they're doing a much better job than me. To date, here are some of the "already" posted ones: Wcloudxkumo (1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3; mass photos lol), Fariz Asuka, Yumeno, Panther.
Will update the list as it goes (if I'm not too lazy that is lol). Anyway, I'm out. Runway cycling coverage to come tomorrow.

P.S: Yay!! It seems that I had reached the 5,000 hit mark today!! Thanks to Everyone who visits!! Now for 10,000 hits! I never did expect so many hits on my site when I first started out, so I'm kinda happy... Thanks all ^^!!! Here's a little something for you all ^^.

Tried finding a wallpaper sized picture of Guitar Haruhi, but in vain so far (got one, but had Miku in it though). But I did find a one of the promo picture at a larger res of 1400 x 1396 (not wallpaper sized though). Anyone with a nice wallpaper of Haruhi in this costume, would love if you'll share it too. Thanks in advance ^^.

Busy.

2008-05-25T12:10:00.000+08:00

Been very busy the past few days, but an actual post should be coming soon, either tonight or tomorrow night... I promise! So what have been keeping me away from doing a post you might wonder. On 21st May (also the last post I did), one of the helicopters that I help perform maintenance on crashed in the base at about 1500h (GMT +8). Fortunately, there was no injury to the crew. However, since it is my aircraft type, I've been pulling OT to assist in the investigations for the 21-23th. What a way to send me off on my ORD lol (5 more days to go!!!).
Yesterday was also our 2nd bloggers outing, and also the KKnM mini-event 2 days special. Due to helping to advertise the promotion, I was "allowed" to join in the preview session in the morning, before it was opened to public. Even though there was a 1 for 1 promotion, I didn't get anything, not that anything really caught my eye, so I'm saving up that money for Japan. Had a free gift (for helping to advertise), and I also bought a Little Busters Metallic poster of Rin (too bad Noumi was sold out), and photos to come soon. I was basically out the whole day yesterday (9.30am to 10pm), so I didn't do a post too.

This morning was the runway cycling event (aaaahhh I'm too lazy/tired to even hyperlink sorry), where I woke up at 5.45am, then cycled down to the event site, cycle during the event, then after cycle home. I think I did about 45-55km this morning, and boy am I tired. I really need more training before I could go on my cycling tour for sure.Will be resting for a while now, before I head down to Suntec for the Streetfest event, where I'll be meeting more bloggers and seeing cosplayers too. I think I'll split the posts of each event (mainly the cycling and Streetfest) individually, and photos will accompany those posts. For now Signing out and Enjoy the rest of the weekend (aaaahhh I'm just having another super-packed weekend ><)

Frozen in Heat. Mission: Singapore.

2008-05-21T09:45:00.000+08:00

It was apparent that Rolo was in Singapore last Saturday, 17th May 2008, and had momentarily used his geass in front of Ngee Ann City's fountain. It appears that his geass ability has seemingly improved tremendously, and was able to stop people's perception of time for 5 minutes (no more 5 secs) over a huge area!!

Opps wrong geass... but you got to admit it's cute!

Extract from unknown source:
At 4.30pm (GMT +8) today, Hundreds of people were stopped frozen in their tracks despite the scorching heat, and bystanders who were not affected were simply shocked at the sight. Eyewitnesses at the scene were reported to be saying things like "Oh my god, why they all not moving! Why everybody stop?!", and many had to be treated for trauma by paramedics who came soon after.

At approximately 4.35pm, time seemed to have continued for those who were affected, and reporters rushed down to the scene to interview those who were frozen. However, upon interviewing of the victims, a common reply was heard: "Huh? What are you talking about?"; the victims just didn't have any memory of the incident.

Despite further investigations by various agencies, no cause has been found, and the case was closed. In order to curb the publics' fears of further occurrences, the government have announced that this is a one-off case, and there is no reason to panic. However, further explanation was not given, and many questions are still being raised by the public. The public rages till today.
End of Extract.

Okay enough nonsense, but I sure had fun typing that! 17th May was the Freeze Event that had been planned by Mission: Singapore about 2 months ago, and I was there to join in the fun. It was an interesting experience, and also an equally hot one, as I was "freezing" in direct sunlight LOL. Though there was abit of minor problems here and there (there was a group of guys in front of me who froze like 20secs late, even went into a pointing-at-something pose; not everybody froze at the exact second, I was watching my already synchronized watch before looking away at the last second so I knew; I bet half of the people who knew about the event was just there to take photos and not participate etc.), it was definitely a huge success.

Official Video of the Event. Too bad could only see my back in the video, at the 01:13 and 03:31 part. Guess which! Was hoping to have had a proper view of me, since I was wearing my TORCH COSPA shirt (Shana reference ^^, I don't exist!).

Hey we got onto the news!! There were also 2 newspaper reports of this event, but no scans were uploaded yet, sadly.

More information about Mission: Singapore: (For even more, visit their webpage, this is only an extract)
We are basically an improv acting group that engages the community in organized social activities that we call Missions. This Missions aim to create an alternate piece of reality from an everyday scene.

M:SG's next mission is being held on 31st May 08, and it's going to be a shoot-fest (it's also a facebook event)!! Can't wait for it ^^. Those who stays in Singapore and are interested in joining this flashmob, just do so. It's definitely fun if you're into crazy stuff (Eh. Who said Otakus were boring people? ^^). Until next time, Signing out.

The inspiration behind the "shoot-fest".

World of WifeCraft.

2008-05-20T23:20:00.000+08:00

A funny parody video of World of Warcraft by FARK TV. Due to the fact that most of my real life friends are WoW players (I was a WoW player myself), this is something of a must introduce to watch for me to them. Simply hilarious lol. Sorry for the two post in a day but I just had to ^^.

Level 40 to "mount" wives... I wonder what about flying mounts at 70?? Hehe.

Source: Kotaku via Alafista.

Meltdown before the Freeze. Sentosa.

2008-05-20T21:00:00.000+08:00

Even though I intended for the Freeze Event post to come before this, the long delay in photos/videos/reports by the group has lead to me doing this post before it (That post was actually finished on Saturday night, but waiting for more stuff before posting it). Here's hoping for it to be out before this weekend.

As mentioned, I was stuck down at an island called Sentosa for the past 3 days (18th - 20th), and boy was I totally bored. It's definitely not a place to go without friends (or lover >.<). Since being a miser and not wanting to spend money, I didn't really visit any attractions, and time was mainly spent walking/cycling around, wasting time during the 2nd/3rd day. 1st day wasn't too bad since I reached only in the afternoon, then had to prepared for BBQ and chit-chat the night away. Not much photos this time, but oh well enjoy them.

Some tower overlooking the sea and Palawan Beach. There's two of them next to each other, connected by a small bridge.Just something with the simplicity in its design that I like.

View of Palawan Beach from the top of the tower.

Zoomed in section. Lots of people still on Monday afternoon.

The "suspension" bridge to get across.

Kids playing with water. With the current outbreak of HFMD, don't really think it's such a good idea to let them play here though.

Just some high tower. Pay S$10 to sit some platform, then it takes you up to enjoy the view for about 10mins. Waste of money in my opinion (I'm really a miser), unless you're a tourist.Trying out some night shots. Too bad I didn't bring my tripod.

These two pictures are from Siloso Beach, just
outside Costa Sands Resort where I stayed.

Walked to Palawan Beach area to take another photo. It's lonely to walk alone with just a camera while you see others in groups of friends (mainly couples) chatting the night away. Uguu~

Taken using my Nokia 6500 Classic. This is Tanjong Beach. The same beach that Gordon used to take the Yuki Photoshoot. Now I know why, as it's alot more quieter than the other beaches. Why I was using my camera phone? Because I was cycling around. It's abit weird to carry my D70 while cycling around ain't it? Unnecessary weight.

And here's my finished bike!! (Proper pics to come soon) Still have lots of touch-up paint job to do, and need to adjust the gear/brakes systems more, still not as responsive as I want, but reasonable for cycling though. And all those adjustments are being self-done, not by shop. I even brought the tools to Sentosa to do adjustment as I couldn't finish it in time back at home lol.

That's about it for now. It also seems that the Freeze video was up after I'm about to publish this post, so I'll do that up later tonight/tomorrow morning. Signing out.

P.S: Really... Singapore is way too hot these days. Not fit for humans to live in!!! Or at least I think so lol.

Site Tweaking and Mini Teaser.

2008-05-17T13:15:00.000+08:00

This will be a very short post. As you can see I'm in the midst of doing some minor tweaking here and there to my site, the latest being the adding of doujin circle links + their banners (eh more colours to the site!). If you don't see it, scroll down more, it's on the right sidebar of the blog. I don't want to put it up high as it'll force the rest of the links down even further. Being a total noob at web-based stuff, it took me a while to understand and use the mouseover command, but at the end of the day at least it works and I've learned something new.

For those who has been following my blog, remember the Freeze Event by Improv Everywhere that I mentioned before? Today is finally the day of the Singapore Version (4 hours to go woot!!)!!! Updates will come once the official videos/photos/newspaper articles (maybe) comes in. I'll going to join in the fun too! ^^

And with regards to my bicycle "project": This morning I sent my bicycle for it's final adjustment, changing of seat/tyres/chain, and will get it back tomorrow morning. However since I'll be stuck on Sentosa for the following 3 days, (18th - 20th May), I should only be able to post it's "revived" form after the break. Here's a little teaser for the time being.

Yes it may be abit sluggish, but at least I know
I did put in an effort and it's self-made!

Let's hope the Freeze Event goes off with success! And my next post will either come tomorrow morning, or it'll be next week Tuesday night. So enjoy the weekend (and an even longer weekend for countries that has Vesak Day as a public Holiday) and I'm out.

Outings Info and others.

2008-05-15T22:40:00.002+08:00

Helping to spread the news around. Remember the previous outing we had to visit La Tendo? Where quite a number of SG Bloggers met up for the first time (not all) and just had fun and get to know each other? Panther has once again organised a 2nd outing, and details to follow below.

Date: 24th May 2008, Saturday (The following week after this)
Time: 3PM (1500hr for the military time followers)
Location: City Hall MRT, up the escalators after exiting the station, walk forward to the entrance to Raffles City, there should be a small directory on the left. Somewhere there, I'm sure it's easy to spot us.

Current plan is to once again head to La Tendo in the afternoon after meet up, spend some time there. Then after we might head to KKnM, maybe have dinner in that area, but not a firm decision yet. Other plans like the Japanese Karaoke (found by misakichii) or arcade playing at Bugis are also on pending list. In fact besides go to La Tendo, everything else is still unconfirmed, and I guess we'll be playing by time constraint to see what to do.

Kagamin cosplaying Tessa singing Karaoke. Moeeeeeee~ Overdose.

Besides the SG Bloggers Outing, on the 25th May 08(the following day after the outing), there's going to be the Singapore Streetfest's DJ Party 2008. From what I know so far, quite a number of us (bloggers) are also heading down for this event, but an actual meetup is still non-existant. Guess we'll also play by ear for whether we're going to meet before hand, or just go there and /wave hihi around.

Noumi is made of win! I'm just simply drawn to her. Let's just say I had pre-ordered the Kotobukiya figure and a mini clock of her, my current and only dakimakura and cushion cover is also her, and I have a keychain kept in my wallet, also her. -.-"

On other notes, everyone might have noticed that I had added a few more timers to the sidebar of this blog. Just using it to countdown to the important days ^^. Simply can't wait to ORD (7 more working days to go!!), can't wait for Little Busters! EX to release on 25th July 08 (hopefully there's no delay to the date!), and can't wait to start studying again and finish it, then it's goodbye Singapore!! That's about it for now, I'm out.

P.S: I had wanted to put a timer for my upcoming Japan trip also, but too many timers makes things messy. Either way I'm leaving on 6th June night, and coming back on 16th June evening. I'll see if I can get some posts up on delayed posting (blogger has this function now) on those days I'm away so at least this blog remains active, don't think I'll be able to do a proper post while I'm over there since I don't have a functional laptop, but should be able to do some updates in the chatbox still. Hope to get a ultra-portable laptop once I enter NTU, then I can do postings even when overseas ^^.