Sunday 30 December 2007

knackered!

I’m knackered! I went to uni early today.. I was there at 7:20 in the library finishing up a project.. then had classes till 12.. went to the travel agent’s after uni only to find out that the guy hadn’t prepared what I asked for(argh!).. went home.. got in around 1, had lunch.. around 1:30 my sisters decided they wanted to go out! So I said I’d go too.. didn’t fancy being home alone,, we went and watched a movie.. then visited my mum’s friend A whose baby I’ve unofficially adopted, she was sick so we didn’t stay long, my baby I mean.. then went to TGIF for dinner.. and just got back home to find the internet working! YAY! But I’m definitely knackered! And just plain sick! I was ok when I woke up but I started coughing at 8 or so, and now I have a cough, an earache, and a sore throat! I DON’T WANT TO BE SICK! Not when I have finals this week..

Soooo.. im just going to crash now.. then get up early tomorrow and study as we’re going out later tomorrow..

Thanks fefe-chan for the mag, I’ll take a look at it tomorrow since I didn’t get a chance today.*I hope you go to japan!!*

Reemy-chan: Whats up with you? You don’t seem as excited as you should be? *hint* *hint*

Bash, it was nice having you and your sis over but I’ll kill you if you show up 3 hours later than your expected again! I am English you know!

Good luck everyone in your exams once again! Ganbatte!

Cheers.. (trying to sound cheerful..)

PS i learnt a new word this week "niggled". My mum says its not used that often, its more of a slang word, but her friend A uses it a lot and it just stuck! its means to be angry or grumpy or annoyed..

Monday 24 December 2007

Disappointed but excited..

I'm so disappointed, our Japanese classes have been canceled for at least 3 week coz our sensei is sick. I'm disappointed coz i enjoy the class, but also coz its the only time i see fefe-chan..

Marie-sensei came over this weekend, along with a lot of my mother's friends, which was fun! The whole time i had her little baby girl, who is so adorably cute and such a good (quite) baby :) I also go to interview marie for my "Japanese education system" project.. and she gave me more advice about japan! I'm really so grateful!

After months of studying Japanese, it is so rewarding to listen to a song and understand half of it, if not most.. Although i know the lyrics to all my favorite songs, i'm finally understanding them..

Finally got the internet working, so i spent the whole day working on my independent study course's project and my finance project..

Going to go get our train passes for Japan tomorrow, and drop the visa papers at the Japanese embassy..

Finals start next week.. :( thankfully i only have 3 courses where we have a final exam.. so it shouldn't be that bad after all.. my sisters are starting back at school on the 6th (i think) and i finish on the 7th! yay, i can enjoy the first few days of my hols without everyone hanging around..

Its getting cold, when we sit in the garden at night we have to wear cardigans.. my mum saw me in a jacket the other day and she was like "i think you better cancel the tickets" and i'm like "why?" (panicking lol).. and shes like, if you cant take this cold what are you going to do inJjapan where its just above zero.. honestly, i don't know.. god help me!

Thats it for now.. miss you all.. i skipped uni on sunday but i better go tomorrow, ive gotten used to not having uni..lol. that i dont want to go anymore.. but im forcing myself to go tomorrow..

cheers mates!

Thursday 20 December 2007

20 more days!

Leaving for Japan in 20 days! Can't wait! Everyday-things have become so bothersome, except if they have to do with Japan ;)

I've bought all the things i need, just a few things left. I LOVE shopping, but shopping for winter clothes is the best coz its all new. Coats, jackets,boots,gloves, hats..etc. I'm enjoying buying all that ;)

Can't wait for the 11th! I've changed our plans, were not only going to Tokyo, but Hiroshima & Takayama too.. should be fun!

Marie-sensei has given me so much valuable info so im feeling more confident about going now.. Going with my bro is fun, but he expects me to know where to go and what to do.. so much pressure, but im feeling in control now..

I'll try to update when im in Japan, hopefully with pix too..

I don't have internet at the moment, i'll update when i do.. i might have something interesting to say by then.. or maybe not..! lol

Miss you all :)
Ja ne

Friday 14 December 2007

Update

So overwhelmed with uni,, when will this hell end?!

Right now im so panicked trying to finish all my projects, but i really don't care what grades i get this semester, i really don't.. even if i get Cs i'll be fine with that.. I don't know why i don't care anymore, LOL, but i don't.. but As would be nice.. ;)

My mum wants me to go shopping for stuff for Japan tomorrow, i'd rather stay home and work but i guess i have to go.. a couple of hours won't hurt, hopefully..

My nana's enjoying the sun LOL although its quite cloudy and overcast these days..

Everyone's done with exams.. off for spring break.. they'll start the 2nd semester on the 6th of Jan i think, and i'll finish the 1st semester on the 7th of Jan. LOL. Not fair, but hell thats life yeah?

What else? oh yeah one thing i forgot to mention, FINANCE SUCKS! ACCOUNTING ROCKS! I'm hating the finance course, and I've never felt this strong about another course, i think its a combination of the professor, my classmates, and the subject.. We had an exam the other day, which was easy enough, and all the girls were cheating.. not a first but it was funny.. half way through the exam i saw my friend Reemy-chan look over to the side and stare for a few mins so i turned around.. since were all sitting next to each other in a U shape.. the girls on one side had a girl sitting at the front show them her answers and each one would copy the answer and then the one next to her would copy from her and so on.. lol reminded me of the "wave" that they do in football matches and stuff.. lol.. and the professor was busy checking his email.. oh well..

Our Special Needs course professor has been gone MIA for the last 5 days.. haven't seen or heard of him, and believe me, I've been looking out for him.. i wonder where he is..

Well, everyone.. hope your enjoying yourself, if you dont go to the same uni as me then you probably are, if your at my uni then i really feel sorry for you.. ;)

Ganbatte minna! only 4 weeks.. we can, hopefully, pull through this hell..

bai bai ^_^

Saturday 8 December 2007

Strawberries+chocolate=Yummy (wrong answer)

Konbanwa minna! Genki?

I haven’t updated in such a long time.. wow.. its been a while..

My grandma arrived yesterday :) which is nice. I spent the whole day with her today since my mum was busy and everyone else was studying for their exams. She hasn’t changed ;) LOL its only 9 months since she left anyways although it seems so much longer. She got us a chocolate fountain! I’m not a really big fan of chocolate, im more of a crisps person, so im not as excited as everyone else.. Another thing im not really into is mixing fruit with chocolate! For god’s sake, their two separate food groups-NOT-! Having strawberries dipped in chocolate is SO WRONG! LOL everyone thinks im crazy but I wont ever try it.. they just don’t go together-in my mind at least..

Bash, my friend, and Washy, my sis, both got kittens this last week.. and both are having kitten problems already lol.. one wont eat and one wont stop throwing up! LOL poor things..

I’ve just realized how close we’re getting to spring break.. well mine anyways.. all my sisters & my bro (and EVERYONE else in the bloody country) are starting their breaks in a week.. except our stupid uni which has the longest semester ever-20 weeks-! We still have about 4 left, and then 1 week for finals I think! Anyways, apart from me getting my holiday after everyone else has already began their second semester, my trip is getting closer and closer! And im not ready yet..lol.. I still need to work on my Japanese, buy warm clothes & stuff for Japan, and plan what we’ll do there..

I can’t wait to get my projects out of the way so I can devote myself to everything Japanese.. but it seems like they’re endless.. im working extra hard this weekend.. hope to get a huge amount done by the beginning of the week.

What else is new? Not much really.. oh, I found out an interesting fact about my uncle John today.. let me tell you, my uncle is a very successful businessman , can write and speak 7 languages fluently, and is a very clever person in general. He is actually a member of MENSA (if you don’t know what that is, its for people with high IQs). So you can imagine my surprise today when Nana (that’s what we call my grandma) told me that he never finished high school. Dropped out when he was 16 or 17 because he was bullied so bad and just hated school.. It got me thinking, my dad never went to uni either but hes such a clever person and a successfully businessman.. its amazing.. but it’s a shame they both didn’t continue their education ‘cause they have potential..

OK I need to go to bed now, im so sleepy.. nemui.. I’ll try to update in a day or two..

Oyasumi!

PS im into this song at the mo, SUGA SHIKAO’s manatsu no yoru no yume. Don’t know about your taste, but I like it!

Tuesday 27 November 2007

waku waku = excitement (Japanese Sound Effects)

One of the things I love about the Japanese language is how they have a lot of sound words or onomatopoeia. In English we have only a few of these, such as bang or pop and such. In Japanese there are hundreds, some that mimic real sounds and some that even represent bodily/psychological feelings. If you’ve ever read manga, you will have noticed these. However, for us non-japanese these sound words tend to be quite hard because the sounds often don’t exist in our language. A very simple example is the cat’s sound which is “meow” in English, “nyan” in Japanese.

Some examples from manga are:

Pin pon= doorbell sound

puchi puchi = pop pop, crackle crackle (as in eating cereal or something)

biri biri = tearing, as in ripping cloth, opening a potato chip bag (see also bari, piri)

hyuuuuu = cold wind, lonely wind

shiku shiku = sobbing, whimpering

Anyways, the entry today is actually about pieces of art that Japanese artist Atsushi Fukunaga made which are sculptures of these manga-based sound effects. Ech sculpture shows the katakana for the sounds, just like it is in manga. I though it was quite interesting, have a look. (Go to his website for more)

"ビリビリリリ / BIRIBIRIBIRIRIRI" The sound of electric current runs

The sound of pencils breaking
"ドロドロー/ DORODOROOO" The sound of flowing drainage
Ame no oto-the sound of rain "チュウー / CHUUU" The squeaks of the mice from below the floor

That’s the kind of art I like, something creative not a painting of a bowl with fruit in it! LOL no offense to all those great artists who draw bowls of fruit..

Cheers everyone.

Friday 23 November 2007

YATTA!

YATTA! I did it!

At last, done with ICDL! I got 97 this time *i passed one question coz i couldn’t be bothered to answer it LOL*. So, you see, it wasn't our fault! my friend G got 97 too..So thats over now.. thank goodness.

What can I write about? I’ll just write some random things. Hope you guys don’t mind.

-Whenever you ask a Japanese for an example with a Japanese word or something, you’ll always notice they give you examples about exams, homework, school.. its funny LOL

-Friends are the best thing in the world, and the best thing about friendship is the exchanges you have, you give, you receive, its two-sided. don’t forget that!

-Dreams are a good thing to have. They drive you and motivate you to work harder and try to achieve them. Unfortunately, some dreams are never meant to be realized, nevertheless that should not stop you from trying.. trying is better than sitting and doing nothing while the time goes by..

-the iPhone is so cool. Lots of cool features.

-I just love how most Japanese speak English, its so cute. Like theres this song called cherish, they pronounce it chelish, and theres a part in a song where they say “put your hands up in ZEE air” LOL and many other examples.

Can’t think of anything to write.. New layout coming soon, when? Mada wakarimasen. Tabun nichiyoubi desu. *Don’t know yet, maybe Sunday* (LOL @ fefechan, just wanted to use your sentence)

Where did HE come from? LOL, no idea!
Bai Bai

Wednesday 21 November 2007

nihongo wa muzukashisugiru! Japanese is too hard!

Studying japanese is so frustrating! And I blame my parents for it! LOL not really, but in a way I do.

Since being bilingual meant I’ve never had to learn a second language, studying Japanese is my first experience with a foreign language. I wish my parents had made me & my siblings learn a foreign language when we were kids, I feel that we missed out on an important thing especially in terms of learning and realizing ones limits. *I now realize my true limits, not so far unfortunately!*

At school, when I saw my classmates and friends struggling with English, I used to think “why? Its so easy?” LOL I didn’t realize how foreign it was to them. And the fact that they hardly used it outside of school never occurred to me. I didn’t realize that I had an edge over them, I took it for granted.

Now with Japanese, I’m having my first frustrating experiences with learning a new language. For once in my life, I feel helpless! I feel like a baby. Having to learn such easy and stupid things. And the easiest things seem so hard.

In other subjects like maths or science, even if I didn’t know something, I always knew the book was there and I could learn it easily if I wanted. But with Japanese, I feel helpless coz no matter how much I study I still don’t know if what I’m learning is right. Like, in maths you can answer a question and even if you don’t know whether its right or wrong, you can go back to the book and see.. coz theres only one right answer. You know what I mean? But in languages, you never know.. oh this is so frustrating! ARGHHHH!

One of the most difficult things I’m facing right now is putting the grammar and vocab I’m learning together into practice. I know the vocab and the grammar and if you give me a piece of paper and pen I could write a lot after thinking for a few mins, but having to think and translate instantaneously while having a conversation.. that’s just not happening for me. LOL I just go blank, but if I did it on paper I would know exactly how to respond. Sore wa muzukashisugiru! Its too hard!

Now I commend all of my friends out there who speak English so good when its not their native language. How come your so good at it? I know you’ve been studying it for over 12 years, but I believe that even if I study Japanese for that long I don’t think I’ll ever be half as good as you guys :/

Now I wonder, do you guys translate what you hear in English into your native language and then your able to answer? Or does it just happen instantaneously? Or WHAT THE HECK happens? I need to know if I’ll ever be able to speak Japanese half as good as you guys speak English!

I personally think integration is the key. But you guys haven’t been integrated into a English speaking community until university so how is it then that your so good at English?

I need some tips! I need to do my best! Ganbarimasu yo!

Bai Bai

How did this pic get in here?

Monday 19 November 2007

Falling down, and getting up again!

There are some people that I just don’t know how to deal with. They drive me up the wall! The hardest thing in life so far *not that I have much experience in it yet* is dealing with people who can be 2 different people at 2 different times. When they’re nice, they’re the nicest there is! But sometimes they are so insensitive and hurtful *in a way that’s normal for them*. They know they’re being hurtful but they’re so used to it that they don’t even realize it, I think. Some people should just wait for a few seconds and think before they talk, or not talk to others when they’re in a bad mood!

I try not to hold grudges, when someone hurts me if I cant do anything about it *can’t solve the problem, or something* I try to put it behind me. Of course this happens after being depressed about it and crying my eyes out. I try to forgive and forget, as they say, and sometimes it works, but people who constantly keep being insensitive to my feelings just let all those hurtful memories come back, and then its even harder to deal with the current situation.

I’m a stubborn person, I won’t let someone walk all over me! If they’re not nice to me, then I wont be nice to them. But when 2 stubborn people clash, I prefer to pull away instead of hurting someone and going beyond a point where I just can’t come back from.

The last couple of months have been great, having many friends by my side, it’s the happiest I’ve been this year. And I want to continue keeping my promise that I promised myself months ago that I will being strong against all odds, but people like the ones I mentioned before just keep putting me down. One insensitive remark and everything comes crashing down. I’m trying to be strong, I’m trying my best!

After rewriting this post for about the 4th time just so I wouldn’t make references that might be understood, and after many spilt tears, I’m ready to put this behind me and move on. But soon I’m sure I will be faced with this situation again, and that keeps me on edge..

I just want to say that people need to understand how fragile others are, and how easy it is to hurt them. Its very easy to hurt a person, but its extremely hard to pull them up from the ground when they’ve fallen down. Being nice to a person, and being respectful even when you might not feel like it is a hard thing to do, and if you can be nice to someone no matter what, you’re a hero!

あたしの ヒイロ は どこ に います か?

Sunday 18 November 2007

Feelings

Shock:

After memorizing tons of Japanese songs without knowing what they even mean, I’ve come to regret it! Many of the songs that I like are so inappropriate and I would never be caught singing them if people could understand a word of what I was saying! However, I still like the songs and I’ll just have to hope I never mention anything related to them in front of a nihonjin ;)

Amusement:

My dad bought a blackberry, a new phone, a Mac Book, a bluetooth headset, a stylus/drawing thingy for the Mac, and now he says he wants an iPhone.. all of this in one week! 7 bloody days! Do you think my dad’s going through mid-life crisis, he definitely is! For god’s sake, he even wants to sell his 1 week old blackberry and get the newer version that he didn’t know about!

Happiness:

On Saturday, me, my little sis, fefechan & her sis S, and bash went to the Japanese restaurant. It was fun.. I enjoyed myself! And I had raw fish (was it tuna in the sushi?) for the first time, not bad, I didn’t even know it was raw until halfway through.. when I couldn’t chew it all that easily..

Embarrassment: (LOL)

We were kicked out of the Japanese restaurant! LOL I guess we stayed too long so the waitress brought the bill without us asking for it, so we paid but stayed sitting there and talking, so she came in and took the plates, and then 10 mins later when she saw we weren’t going to make a move she came in again and said “I’m sorry but we’re closing”! LOL and we had to leave and my mum wasn’t even there to pick us up, but thankfully she came a minute later or so.. LOL first time I've been kicked out of a restaurant..

Tiredness:

I’ve been so tired lately, I need a day where I can just sleep for 10 hours straight and get up and not worry about doing anything, going out or uni work or anything! The iron tablets that my doc prescribed are making me tired, nauseous, and dizzy.. Can’t wait to get off of them.. not happening anytime soon I know..

Excitement:

I’m starting Japanese lessons with fefechan & her sisters! Should be fun, except, I’m bound to embarrass myself in front of them LOL with my awful Japanese.

My grandma’s coming the week after next! YAY! Can’t wait!

Uneasiness:

Also, my mum’s friend is coming from the UK on Saturday and will be staying with us for a week. She’s the one whose little son died a month or so ago, and she’s taking a break coming here for some pampering.. but its just going to be so awkward when we see her, we don’t know what to say and what to do.

Love:

LOL no, not what your thinking! ;)

Everyday I get more and more in love with Japanese than the day before..

That’s enough for now. Wish I had some new pix to post but I haven’t had time to take any..

PS someone told me I could adjust the camera so that the images are not sooo large, if you know how please tell me coz the bloody pix are taking up so much memory, plus resizing and uploading is a pain in the ***, and they look like shit after all that trouble. (gomen, forgive my French)

PS PS if you know what forgive my French means, I commend you ;) you should all know that! If you don’t, ask!

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Buta-suika and other useless things ^_^

Thought i'd update since i have a few spare minutes, and i feel like ranting.. LOL.. just kidding, don't run away..

Today i failed my first test EVER (?) -i think-! But it doesn't feel so bad..LOL.. maybe because i know i have another chance.. its an ICDL test in Access.. it was really easy and i thought i was going to get 100.. LOL so imagine my shock when i saw that i didn't pass.. No one i know passed either, everyone says somethings wrong with the computers, that they didn't save our work.. im not sure about that but i did get to one part where i couldn't save my work and i kept getting the same window over and over again until i skipped that question out of frustration.. but i wont blame it on technology, maybe it just us.. ^^

What else is happening? I went to my sensei's house today as she was having a coffee morning with all her friends.. and i met another Japanese lady, yoriko, and we got on well..

What else? oh yeah, i went to daiso the other day *the hyaku en store* and bought loads of things i will never need or use.. LOL.. all cute stuff.. heres a couple of things out of all the stuff i bought..

My buta-suika post-its, some kawaii stickers, a notebook to practice hiragana & katakana *it has little squares*..

Other news; i gave my older bro power of attorney today. So now he can do whatever he wants with all my assets *if i had any, that is* ^^

Thats all for now! Miss you all..

*for all you illiterate people...jk.. buta-suika means pig-watermelon (as if that makes sense)*
PS Fefe-chan, i haven't watched NewS no DVD yet since my laptop can't play it & i have to watch it on the PC or something. Will watch it over the weekend..arigatou!

Monday 12 November 2007

totemo isogashii! sooo busy!

Konnichiwa minna, hisashiburi da ne!

Hello everyone, long time no see!

I’m sorry I haven’t updated in such a long time but I’ve been very busy with uni work. It seems like all our professor have been conspiring together to give us presentations, assignment, projects, and exam all at the same time. I haven’t been able to finish them all! But just because I have so much work to do doesn’t mean I’ve been spending all my time actually working on them, LOL, I’ve been working on them as much as I can *tolerate* but I’ve also been busy with visitors coming over, and us going out, and me planning for my trip, and all that.

Updates on the Japan Trip:

  • My dad said hes coming with me & my bro.. then yesterday he said he won’t. I think the final decision is that its only me & my bro going.
  • I’ve staying at a ryokan! *Japanese Inn* I’m so excited, its going to be such an experience! ^_^
  • I’ve been narrowing down my list of where I want to go and what I want to do while I’m there. Its just too long, no amount of narrowing down seems to work. LOL.
  • I’ve been seeing about practical things like a JR pass for us*train tickets*. Still not sure how we’ll get hold of it..
  • Gotta see about visas, or we should we use our other passports..himmmm..
  • Worrying about getting sick when we’re there coz we’re not used to the cold! I’m not even sure what we need to wear, will consult my travel guide AKA marie-sensei ^^

Not much to write about really, and no new pix. I’ll leave you with the cutest gift ever, Fefe-chan gave me some hiragana stickers ^^ kawaii! And I also bought some hiragana playing cards ^^

Cheers!

Monday 5 November 2007

Back from the sea!

I’ve been back for a couple of days but been too busy to update.

Our weekend on the island was fantastic! Our whole family went with our extended family, and my cousin S who is one of my closest cousins to me went too so we had a blast! No one wanted to come back..

The first evening when we got there we just walked around, chatted, played cards, and stuff. At night, the girls (we were 5) made a fire and roasted potatoes and made tea on the fire. It really was fun!

The next day we went fishing with fishing rope and bait not fishing lines. No one caught anything but it was great weather and we had a great time! My cuz S and I went with our cameras around the island taking photos and stuff. That night it rained so much! But it was after all the adults (im not counting myself as one LOL) went to sleep, so they didn’t see it but we played out in the rain and went crazy.

On the third day we went out fishing again and one of my cousins caught 2 fishes! But no one else did. It was really sunny and just beautiful weather all day long! On the way back we were all sad to leave. We’ve decided to go back as soon as we have another long weekend!

Oh, fefe-chan gave me a prezzie! Its all Japanese stuff.. just the right thing to put a smile on my face =) Arigatou fefe-chan!

I’m busy studying so this is for now. I’ll leave you with photos :) (click to enlarge)

Me fishing..
Part of the island

Thursday 1 November 2007

Gone to the sea!

Will be gone for 2 days. Back by late night Sat. Going to the sea! will be back with loads of cool pix, hopefully!

Take care everyone.. Later!

Tuesday 30 October 2007

The low down on blogging & more good news

mou ichido, omedeto marie-sensei! Your baby is so cute and tiny!

I went shopping for baby clothes today, that was fun! Everything was so cute.. and then i visited marie-sensei at the hospital.. we had a pleasant visit, and i enjoyed holding the tiny baby =) Then a Japanese friend of marie's dropped by and i got to practice my Japanese on her ;)

I got more good news from reemy-chan today! That made my day! Thanks for sharing, its nice to see everyone so happy for a change! LOL. Another great piece of news i got is that fefe-chan and her sister(s) will be going to the Japanese restaurant with me on Sat! Bash, you still didn't answer! please do!

Overall, this has been a great week. So much good news! I wish it would stay this way, or i wish i could give others good news too and make them happy! When your happy, you just feel its not fair for others not to be, and you just want to share some of your happiness, trade it in and give others some!

Today when me and my mum were leaving to go shopping, i got in the car with a bottle of green tea (thanks reemy-chan!) and some sembei and my mum was like, wow you're really turning Japanese! LOL

I'm dreading Thursday because i have an appointment with my doc and i feel like i wont be happy to hear what she has to say.. hopefully not! So i get to miss a class on Thursday, but its going to be a long day. I have the appointment, then i need to go to uni and practice for the ICDL which begins on Sunday, and then a class at 11, and then a club meeting at 12, and then i need to go to the mall to get some bits & pieces.. I'm going to be busy!

I was just talking to my sis about blogging. I was telling her how reemy-chan and I have become closer since i started blogging, not sure why but i guess because some kind of barrier has disappeared! and i was telling her that it would be a great idea if she read my blog, i know our relationship would improve dramatically if she read my posts because she'll just understand me better.. Her, more than anyone, we have never been that close and just never understood each other. and a few months ago she started blogging, and i used to read her blogs (she didn't know it then) and i just understood her more, and knew what she likes/didn't like and when she was upset and when she was happy so our relationship was so much better coz like when i knew she was feeling down, i wouldn't confront her but i would in a way try to comfort her. She stopped a while ago and i miss knowing how shes doing even thought we live together, there are things we just don't come right out and say but in a blog its easier to say. So i was telling her about that today, and she was like, yeah.. but i don't think she'll read my blog.. too grown up and boring for her.. she wants some entertainment! LOL

No photos today so im putting stills from one of my favorite songs at the moment: Sayaendou by NEWS
Missing both my other sisters, hope to see both soon! I miss my older bro too, haven't seen him for at least 5 days!
Oyasumi!

Monday 29 October 2007

Gosh, what a day!

Fefe-chan sent me cool song called fields of hope, i loved this part:

umarete kita hi ni dakishimete kureta, yasashii ano te wo sagashiteru.. On the day we were born, we were embraced, And now we search for those gentle hands again..
On to another thing, Omedeto marie-sensei! My Japanese teacher/friend gave birth today to a healthy little girl! Can't wait to see you, little baby!

You know how life has its many ups & downs? Today i got up having a cold and feeling depressed as ever. A few hours practicing for the ICDL were the beginning of the many good things that happneded today. The practice showed me that theres nothing to fear, the ICDL seems quite easy! Thank god!

Then, my sensei had her baby! Then, something else i've been doing has been going smoothly! Then, my sister M called, and i havnt talked to her in a while so that was nice!

Then, i was on MSN and my dad came home and he wanted me to help him cook something (neither one of us knows anyting about cooking, but my dad somethimes likes to pretend to be a chef) so i went to help him but before i went i wrote something like "i love my dad" as my nickname. We cooked some Chinese noodle thingy, which turned out really good!

Then the whole family was sitting and my uncle John called and hes like "Nana (my grandma's nickname) might be coming over to you guys earlier than ususal". She usually comes in Jan but shes just moving house and stuff so she'll come earlier and stay for a bit longer, till the end of March maybe. So that was another good thing. I LOVE YOU NANA!! can't wait for her to come, she is the CUTEST BESTEST grandma in the whole wide world! (i never actaully knew my other grandma).

Then just when i thought it couldn't get any better, i was casually talking to my dad about how hot it would be in Japan in the summer, and he turned around and said, if you dont mind the cold weather then you could go in the spring break! He said it ever so casually, and i was like "YESS"! So hopefully i will defintiely be going in Jan! I need to study more Japanese, i have to get more serious about it!

Fefe-chan might also go! That would be the best thing ever! I really hope her parents agree.. Fefechan, now i can use the sentence you taught me "Nihon a ikumae ni, nihhongo o benkyoo shinakereba narimasen" = I must study Japanese before I go to Japan.

I'm so excited! Oh and i want to share a little story with you about my littlest sister =)
When she was little, like 3 1/2, my mum's friend once asked her at a picnic "Whose plates are these?" and she was like "its weez" (intead of its ours) LOL.. so cute! That was the first time she said it and then after that we noticed that she always said it that way, "meez" (mine) and "weez" (ours). Isn't that just so cute? LOL i was teasing her about it today. She used to be so cute, too bad shes not anymore.. LOL just kidding, shes still a cutie pie!

Heres a secret I'm going to share with you, ever since i was a baby my mum used to call me, Toomikins.. she only stopped about 2 years ago when i was 18 or something. She says its cute..LOL.. she still calls me that somethimes when she wants to be funny.. or extremely nice! LOL (if you know my real name, you'll see how that relates)

Some photos of my littlest sis in England when she was 5 (i think & the pix are not clear for a reason!) I want to go back to those good ol' days! LOL i spy missing teeth ;P (click to enlarge)
Feeding the duckies!
Who said im angry?! LOL
Can you see my missing tooth?

Thats it for now. Golly gosh, what a long post this has been!

Tara!

Sunday 28 October 2007

resutoran ni ikitai kibun desu!

(Baby-script aka hiragana & katakana)

レストラン に いきたい きぶn です。みんな、こんしゅう の しゅうまつ なに を する よてい です か。いっしょ に にほん の レストラン へ いきません か。きて ください!

Resutoran ni ikitai kibun desu. Minna, konshuu no shuumatsu nani o suru yotei desu ka? Issho ni nihon no resutoran e ikimasen ka? Kite kudasai!

I feel like going to a restaurant. Everyone, what are your plans for this weekend? Would you like to go together to a Japanese restaurant? You should come/please come!

Just thought I’d write something in Japanese for once. This is a real offer, so how about it? I already know BASH-chan won’t say no. Meme-chan, you said you’ll ask your parents, please do! I want you to come! Fefe-chan, is there any way you could come too? I’m not sure about your family, would they let you? Please come and brings your sisters too.

The place I go to is great. It has great food (not all seafood, bash!) and they have little rooms so its really private! Meme-chan, tell your mum that my mum is going too. I’ll make her go with her friend and sit in the room next to us. LOL, we don’t want any old ladies with us..

Please come guys, it would be so much fun!

Since this post is so boring, I'm going to include a photo.

Waiting
(click to enlarge)


later mates!

PS arigatou fefechan for the songs! I’m in love with NEWS. The Gundam song is really good too. (correct my Japanese please if theres anything wrong!)

Saturday 27 October 2007

What i've been up to..

What have I been up to?

Ja, kinou wa eigakan ni ikimashita. Tanoshikatta desu yo!

(Well, yesterday I went to the cinema , it was fun!)

I watched keira knightly’s movie Atonement. It was good, but not great. However, I enjoyed myself!

And today we had visitors, my mum’s friend A and her kids. They came at 10 AM and just left a while go, at about 6:30. I had fun coz I turned one of her kids, a 3 ½ year old girl, into my model. I was snapping away, making her do a hundred poses just to get 5 or 6 good photos in the end. But I really enjoyed it! I’m putting some of the photos on DeviantArt. Please check them out!

Oh and my sis got a cinnamon rolls recipe from her friend that is supposed to taste exactly like Cinnabon’s. So she tried it, it was a success! Exactly like the original, we all loved it!

What else? Not much. Recently I’ve been feeling a bit down so I’ve been finding all these phrases & stuff to stay positive. Here’s a new one I found in a song I like, its loosely translated as “my friends are beside me, so there’s nothing to fear”. I hope that’s true, that as long as my friends are by my side, I shall be strong! Fefe-chan, remember this one!

Nakama ga soba ni iru nanimo kowakunai.. (click to download (its a tiny file))

なかま が そば に いる なにも こわくない。

Thursday 25 October 2007

Random Post-Random Stuff

Due to popular demand, I've made a tutorial movie about how to make the origami bookmarks. I couldn't upload it on Youtube for some reason, so if you want it you have to download it (takes about 3 minutes), but its pretty small so that shouldn't stop you! Here it is.

Oh by the way, I opened a DeviatArt account a week or so ago. I'm no artist! but i will be posting some everyday photos that i like. So i thought I'd put the link up here in case anyone wants to check it out (Ima-chan on DeviartArt)

These are some photos from this past week:

Eating oishii Cinnabon Stix!
A visit to the 2nd hand book shop!
A visit to Sanrio "The one-stop smile shop" as they claim!
Getting some Japanese studying in whenever i can!
Shout outs:

BASH: Sorry your week was so bad with all the PURPLENESS in the world sticking to you! LOL and I'm sorry i keep laughing about it! :P In a week's time you will be laughing too!

Reemy-chan: Thanks with the help on the last post =) you have a really good memory!

Fefe-chan: Thanks for being my muse! =) and encouraging me to write!

Washy: Miss you loads, and you still didn't send me the pix!

Thats all for now. Thanks for reading & commenting!

PS sorry the pix look so bad, blogger makes them that way, click on them to see a better higher quality pic.

Mnemonic Musings

Cute books & charts make studying fun!

Most of us will have used these when we learnt something new, wether at school or outside. According to Wikipedia, Mnemonics are "memory aids that generally serve an educational purpose". They can be verbal such as using the first letter of a list of words to form a sentence that you can remember in order to remember the list. For example, in biology to remember the order of evolutionary relationships which are:
  • Kingdom
  • Phylum
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus
  • Species
A verbal mnemonic would be "Kings Play Chess On Funny Green Squares". Mnemonics work best if they are weird or funny because you remmeber them easier. Theres also visual mnemonics which is what im mainly going to rant about ;)

When learning a new alphabet, all the shapes look weird and foreign. So, to remember them most people use mnemonics. When learning hiragana and katakana, i used mnemonics extensively! Almost every letter out of the 94 or so that I've learnt, i have learnt using mnemonics! And i havn't forgotten any of the mnemonics (even thought i've forgotten some of the letters LOL), the trick is having them be funny or stupid, that way you WILL remember them! Some of the ones i made up were obvious but others you just couldn't see even after i told you what it was. My little sis used to help me study them and she sometimes just couldn't make out what i saw in the letters' shape! you probably didn't understand half of what i said, so let me give you examples:
ん N- this is an obvious one coz it actually looks like a lowercase "n"
と  to-this is a toe with a needle sticking in it.
ni (pronounced like knee)-this is a knee with one line missing, can you see it? the creases like a knee and the incomplete leg? My sis could never see what i was talking about here but to me it looks exactly like a knee.
ne-looks like an n and a little e on the end of the n. Do you see it?
hi- a smiley face (minus the eyes) laughing/smiling (pronounced hee not, so hes saying hehehe)
fu- a nose surrounded by smells, saying "fuuu, what a horrid smell"
mu-this is a cow, can you see it? a head with that nose ring thing? saying "muuuu"
shi (pronounced she)- this is a smiley face-obviously- sating "sheesh, aren't i happy today?"
so- this one is related to shi, its the same guy from shi except hes saying "SOrry but i think i lost an eye"

LOL you see what i mean? some are so stupid that i just can't forget them =) but some of the letters' shapes are so meaningless that you can't find anything to relate them to!

Don't know about you but I'm more of a visual learner so this helps. Do you use mnemonics (even thought you might not know what they're called)? Do you use verbal or visual mnemonics? I'm interesting in knowing so please leave a comment.

Thats it for now. Will post later, hopefully!

Monday 22 October 2007

A day online with Ima-chan!

I couldn't be bothered to write anything to do, so i made a random video (which i made in 5 minutes and didn't even edit, so it basically crap). If you want to watch it, please do! If not, i don't blame you.



Other than going online today, me, my mum, & sis had to go to my uncle's house coz they had English people who are on holiday here, going over and my aunt doesn't speak English so we had to go and sit with these people. There were two young girls, we had a blast!

Cheers people! n'night!

Saturday 20 October 2007

Reader's Haven & an offer & freebies

I’m a frequent reader, I love reading. Ever since I could read, I read everything I could get my hands on. I think I must’ve got it from my mum who loves reading, and it has always been something we both shared that no one else in the family did. That’s why, when my mum goes to the bookstore she doesn’t even bother asking anyone other than me if they want to go. And that’s why, when we found the second-hand bookshop (where we could buy loads of books for half the price), we were both so delighted.

When I was younger, my mum chose my books for me to match the things she approved of- so what I read was kind of censored. Not that I mind that, I don’t. It’s a very good thing to do for a child who could be so easily influenced by what they read. As I got older, my mum let me choose my own books but before buying them she would check my choices and decide whether or not she approved of them. And I never once got a book that she asked me to take back, I knew what kinds of things she approved of, and I got those. Now as a young adult, I get to choose my own books without my mum’s approval, and sometimes I make mistakes by choosing books too quickly without reading the synopsis too thoroughly and end up throwing away the book because it has something I’m against or mature content or something like that.

Reading has always been a safe haven for me where I escaped this world and entered another one where my imagination could run wild. It has always been something I cherished. And therefore, I am a big advocate of reading! Whenever I find a chance, I try to introduce people to reading. So, today I’m offering you two things related to reading.

The first is this: I’m putting up my little collection of books (I always take mine back to the 2nd hand book store, so I don’t have many) up for grabs! You can choose a book from my collection and I’ll either lend it to you (if I haven’t finished reading it yet) or give it to you. All my books are in great condition. I hope some of you will take me up on this offer and choose something to read, you can browse through it, if you don’t like it, give it back! So it’s a win-win situation, you won’t lose anything!

This is the collection: I have classics, fantasy, mysteries…etc (some of the books I’ve had since I was 14 or so, but they are so good that I still go back and read them now!)

The second thing is: I’ve made a collection of origami bookmarks. I’m giving them away. Look at the photo and choose whichever one you like and I’ll give it to you! Please humor me and request one even if you don’t like them ;P

Theres like a little pouch/slit where you insert the corner of the page and its stays on!

That’s it for now. Waiting for book and bookmark requests! Please take me up on the offer!

Cheers

PS went to watch "the kingdom" with bash and my sis today, it was fun!

Against all odds!

To FeFe-chan:


The first time we met was coincidence, my sister's friend (my cousin) set you up with me. Do you remember? When they said to stick together because we were both new at uni? Well, we ended up being friends and sticking together for a while-we were so close- and then we chose different paths and somehow our friendship got lost in the midst of all the chaos. We met, we talked, but weren't close. Then we found a common denominator, something that strengthened our ties and pulled us together, our love of Japan & the Japanese language. Are we close now? I would say yes we are.. were we close a while ago? i can't even remember.. you know when something happens and its so good, or so bad, that you forget what your life was like before it happened? like me trying to remember my life before my sister moved away, for example. I just cant remember it, it seems forever since shes been gone. Thats what its like with you now, i feel like you've been close to me forever and that we never lost that connection. But in truth we did, and theres a lot we need to make up for, but i really do hope you can count me as one of your close friends.

I learnt a lot about you today, from a simple game of Yes/No questions. A lot of things surprised me, some made me laugh, smile, some even made me want to cry. All in all, i learnt so much more about you and the thing is, i realized that i already knew you because you & I are so alike. We found lots of opposites in out likes, tastes, but on the important things we never once disagreed. I hope that realization just strengthens our bond and draws us closer. I just want you to know that no matter how far apart we may be, at any point in time, i want you to know that there is someone out there who cares for you dearly and wants to see you happy. I want to always be there for you, but if im not, then you should know that im probably there for you in my own way-the only way i can. Let's stick together and keep our friendship alive-against all odds!

Peace out!

Friday 19 October 2007

WARNING: LONG POST

Kinou wa honto ni tanoshikatta desu! ( you should already know what this means since I say it so much! If you don’t already know, it means yesterday was really fun!)

Message from bash to ima-chan at 11:30AM “What are your plans for today?”

Message from ima-chan to bash at 11:31AM “Nothing, why don’t u come over?”

Message from bash to ima-chan at 11:30AM “Ok I’ll come over after work. C U then”

04:45 Ima-chan driving her sisters to the ice skating rink at 150 km/hr so she can be back home before bash gets there (at 5:30)

05:15 Im-chan is back home awaiting bash’s arrival.

Bash doesn’t arrive. Ima-chan calls continuously from 5:30 to 7:00. No answer. Ima-chan gets worried. Calls bash’s sister “Is bash at home?”

Bash’s sister “No, I thought she was at your house”

“no she isn’t”

“well if she comes over let me know”

“ok bye”

Ima-chan calls bash at 7:00. At long last, bash answers “ im at the mall picking something up for my mum?”

“What? AT THE MALL? I’ve been so worried? Ok why didn’t u answer the phone?”

“Well, it was on silent..”

“WTH? Ok come quickly. We made ur favorite dinner”

“fajitas? Im coming as fast as I can” (LOL always love it)

…Bash arrived with a big unknown object (couldn’t see what it was coz it was dark) in hand.

Ima-chan: “Hi!”

Bash: “I got u a gift (coz she got her first salary)”

“WHAT?!! A GIFT? FOR ME?” (LOL--àfirst time she receives a gift)

Ima-chan tears into the wrapping never stopping to even thank Bash..

Just kidding..LOL..

Anwyas, bash came with a gift for her BESTEST BESTEST FRIEND ima-chan. We had dinner first which was yummy LOL, then we went to open the gift.. however, the gift was wrapped so professionally we thought we had to have a whole “gift opening” ceremony. Bash, armed with her camera started snapping away under the direction of bossy ima-chan. “no, not that angle, this one. See bash, theres more light here” (always so bossy with bash) and bash patiently did what she was told and NEVER hit ima-chan. LOL

Anyways, the gift was the best EVER. Bash knew exactly what would make me happy and got it for me, I couldn’t have chosen a better present. It just seemed like she knew everything I liked.. LOL.. maybe peered into my soul ;)

The gift was a CAMERA (she said so I could take better photos for my blog instead of my crappy photos ;) ) with a memory, a book about friendship, and loads of Japanese books & software & a kawaii teddy bear.

Here are some photos.

and last, the frogs we made, i made kaeru-kun, bash made kaeru-chan!
They're in love, don't tell anyone!

Later, we ate Baskin Robbins, chatted on MSN, Bash drew (I couldn’t draw if my life depended on it LOL), made origami frogs,.. (anything else I left out?)

After that, Bash left to go home taking her pink calendar (pink overdose) and her little froggies that I forced her to take ;P

That was all. Such a busy day filled with all kinds of emotions, worry, surprise, happiness,…etc. Thanks bash for the gift and for being such a great friend. I’m proud to call you my friend. (and im sure everyone is silently thanking you for saving them from looking at my crappy photos ;) )

Oyasumi!

shout-outs

Today was so much fun! i'll tell you about it but i want to show you the photos too, and i don't have them, my friend bash will.. so i'll update tomorrow with the photo and let you know what we crazy pair were up to today..

Shout-out to:
fefe-chan: i miss you loads.
meme-chan (not fefe's sis, the other one): hope all's well with ur baby (laptop), missed you on MSN too for the last couple of days.

Cheers.. g'night

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Karendaa to kaeru-chan

I made myself a calendar today after reading my friend FeFe's latest blog post and realizing that a canlendar is excalty what i need! I need to see exactly what i have to have done and by when, that way i can work in advance and not at the last minute..

kawaii ne?
want one, beg! LOL just kidding, i'll give you one if you want.


PS i wrote the month and week days in hiragana ;P hey im just a begginner, what do you expect?!

Oh and bash, i did make you the origami froggy i promised ^^ but i made it at about 2 AM so i didn't have any green-coloured paper thats why its white. I'll make you a green one now, and one that actually jumps. No kidding! You have to come get it though, OK?

Meet kaeru-chan!
かえるーちゃん!

Does it even look like a frog? what a funky frog ^^ i'm making another less funky one for you..

Thats it for now, im working on my EDUCATION project.. trying to be a bit creative, its about teaching mathematics to students who are visually impaired (weird? why? isn't that what all accounting majors do? take an education course..LOL) and i want to do a display thing that i can show the class + an activity they can do. I'll do a post about that when its finished, with photos hopefully ( i need a camera instead of my lame excuse of a phone camera ;) i know)

Minna, GENKI DE! (stay genki! if you don't know what genki means then maybe you shouldn't be reading my blog.. jk..no im serious)

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Japanese Studies Progress: i-adjectives

So far I've learnt 43 of the i-adjectives from the JLPT kyuu 4 list. I've also studied the grammar for conjugating i-adjectives (which i already knew before but just revised). i-adjectives or keiyooshi are probably the easiest thing, everything's uphill from now. Thejapanesepage has the easiest explanation so i'm putting a link up here in case someone wants it.

Other than that, theres nothing else to say so i'm putting an example of what the conjugation for i-adjectives looks like. This is really really basic stuff that i learnt a long time ago.

atsui=hot

kono ocha wa atsui (desu). この おちゃ わ あつい です。 This tea is hot!
kono ocha wa atsukatta. この おちゃ わ あつかった。 This tea was hot!
kono ocha wa atsukunai. この おちゃ わ あつくない。 This tea is not hot!
kono ocha wa atsukunakatta. この おちゃ わ あつくなかった。 This tea was not hot!

Theres also a more formal way but i dont want to get into that. I'm going to attempt to make an origami swan now, let's see how it turns out.

PS i need to practice my japanese, i need to talk to someone. Fefe from now on, if you know how to say it in Japanese then your not allowed to say it in any other langauge.wakatta? nihongo de!!

Origami Lily & the hyaku-en store

I've got loads of origami paper that i bought at what i now call hyaku-en store. I'm not in Japan so its obviousely not 100 yen but its equivelant in the local currency. However, the place i go to is a very popular Japanese 100-yen store called Daiso. Thats why i call it the hyaku-en store. plus its just sounds more exotic ^^

Anyways, so i've got lots of origami paper lying around so i decided to make something again, espcially since all the origami papers i've got have really pretty designs on them and i just couldn't resist. So i made an origami lily today and then gave it to my mum ^^ not that she appreciates my fine art ;)
PS i went to donate blood with my friend FeFe :) but they didn't take my blood but took hers.. :(

Theres more to come, i need to make a little update on my Japanese studies..

Monday 15 October 2007

My Japanese goodies!

My afternoon snacks, calpis & senbei

I passed by the Japanese section at the supermarket today and got some essentials ^^ like my all-time-favourite snack: senbei (rice crackers). I'm so lucky every time i go to buy some senbei it seems to be on sale & they have 2 for the price of 1 so i stock up.

I also got some Calpis, or Calpicoas they renamed it now after noticing that it sounded to English speaking people like cow piss and finally understood why it wasn't selling ;) I really like it, more than Pocari Sweat.. i give it ***** (not cursing, 5 stars ^^) I got the carbonated soft drink type which is called calpico water (its a drink not water), and although it looks like watered-down milk, its really good.. However, i would've liked to try the calpis soda, im sure its good.

Seasoned senbei + mayo senbei (i believe, i hope!)
Pocari Sweat + lemon & peach tea+ lemon drink A look in one of my "japanese edibles only" shelf

Oh, and heres a little origami crane i did. my first orgami creation ever so don't judge too harshly ^^
Till the next time i go & get more Japanese goodies.. take care