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!

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!

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!)

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。

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.
に 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.
ね ne-looks like an n and a little e on the end of the n. Do you see it?
ひ hi- a smiley face (minus the eyes) laughing/smiling (pronounced hee not, so hes saying hehehe)
ふ fu- a nose surrounded by smells, saying "fuuu, what a horrid smell"
む mu-this is a cow, can you see it? a head with that nose ring thing? saying "muuuu"
シ shi (pronounced she)- this is a smiley face-obviously- sating "sheesh, aren't i happy today?"
ソ 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!

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!

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 2^nd 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!

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

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)

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..

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

My progress in my Japanese studies

So far i haven't been following anything in particular when studying Japanese. I chose whatever i wanted to study, and my unofficial-sensei chose anything she liked. Mostly what i learnt was informal speech as my sensei is not really a Japanese language sensei & so informal seemed better. But now I've been learning more formal stuff that I'll probably need more than the informal. So far I've had no guidelines but i've decided im going to study whats required for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) for level 4 which is the lowest level.
The requirements are basically:
-a list of vocabulary which has about 728 words.
-about 103 kanji.
-basic listening abilities.
-about 150 hours of study.

I'm not going to dive into the kanji just yet. The listening i think i'm OK on and can understand quite a bit. So for now I'm concentrating on the vocab, I've found lists of the words i should know which are divided into different categories, I'm tackling the i-adjectives the first because it looks like i already know most of it.

I will try to report on my progress here about how far I'm getting on with my vocab & stuff. So heres the list I'm studying this week which will be the i-adjectives (60) & the na-adjectives(34).

Also, i just thought I'd share this link with you. Its an invaluable resource page with over 1000 study materials, flash, cards, quizes & exams, vocab lists, grammer lists...etc. If your studying Japanese, then this website should be your best friend.

Thats it for now. I'm off to study some more Japanese.
cheers

In memory of Adam Doha

I, in no way, shape or form, claim to be a poet. This is just the result of my feelings of empathy with a family friend. I am just giving myself an outlet to all that’s inside. I’m not calling it a poem, but it might loosely resemble one. (this is very crappy but i couldn't bring myself to go back and edit it without getting all emotional, so you have it as it is)

"Ever so slowly"

To Adam's mummy,

In memory of Adam Doha, a little loved boy who brought joy to his family in the less than 3 years he was with them.

Behind everyone’s ruthless gazes and stares,
Questions that need answering, orders that need fulfilling, favours that need returning.
Behind our closed doors and once empty place,
People fill the hallways, sit on every chair, crowd the kitchen filling it with homemade cooking.
The little ones are frozen in frame, time and space,
Awaiting his return.

They go on with daily actions, never failing to mention how he is absent from these normal settings.
How he isn’t brushing his tiny teeth, putting on his jamies or eating his dinner.
They miss him but think he’s coming back, so they mention him ever so casually,
never noticing the silence between their parents, the one tear that escapes the adults’ eyes and ever so slowly rolls down their cheeks..

Then the people stop coming after the shock wears off,
People stop consoling and comforting, they stop helping with the little ones..
And the privacy and the absence of people you wished for just a few days ago becomes unbearable,
The mere silence drives you insane,
and little things like weetabix make your remember your loved one’s short runs..
And that he is there no more..

You sit there thinking your all alone,
The kids are playing quietly, your husband mourning in his own manly way..
And a thousand miles away, tears are being shed over a little boy that was only heard of, and never seen..
They thought they’d see him next year when you came back to visit, but alas, he was ever so suddenly whisked away.

When it all sinks in, and you vow to move on..
Your faith, your strength, and your belief in your family and friends keeps you going.
You make a silent promise, to always remember him and tell others about him,
But deep down inside, you know you’ll never talk to others about him because it hurts too much, you’ll let him cease to exist..
but his memory in everyone’s hearts will never start fading.. in people’s heart he will always be living..

Short explanation:

• In the first 2 lines i'm talking about people wanting to know how little Adam died.
  
• The second section is about Adam's little brothers not understanding. (Jamies are pajamas)
  
• In the third part i mention weetabix and short runs, that is a personal story his mother told my mum about how he used to be able to run faster if he ate all his weetabix for breakfast.
• In the fourth part, im talking about all the Doha's family friends here (they are in another country) and how no one met Adam.
• The fifth is kind of my personal view of people passing away and how they're remembered. Interpret it whichever way you like.
  

PS, Adam, who was not yet 3 years old, passed away almost a week & a half ago. He drowned and was then in a short coma before he passed away. We hope that he is now an angel in heaven.

あー、ねむい! (Aah, nemui!)

I'm feeling so sleepy, and my room is so cold, so i'm going to write this as fast as i can so i can get under my soft comfy duvet and sleep like a baby..

One of my mum's oldest friends had this get-together today, and although we've seen her when she'd come over to see mum and stuff, we hadn't seen her daughters for like 6 years. We used to be really close when we were kids since we were born to like when i was 16 or something, then for some reason we drifted apart..
Anyways so we saw them today and it was as if we'd just seen the yesterday, we were chatting away & just having a blast.. It was really fun! tanoshikatta!

I also had a broccoli & feta cheese pie which was soooooooo good. I'm weird i told you, no one else at home stands broccoli but i really love veggies..

I just have to say that i do know more Japanese than just "tanoshikatta".. LOL but it just seems that lately i've been having quite a lot of fun..

So, like i said, today was tanoshikatta & the pie was totemo oishii ^^
night night.. don't let the bed bugs bite!

PS i've been watching some Catherine Tate videos, God shes so funny!

アイスクリム すき じゃない(Aisu kurimu suki janai)

I don't like ice-cream! I guess im weird, i'm not really into sweet things, i prefer sorbets..

Yesterday my friend BASH came over for dinner, we tried cooking something, bad idea! LOL i guess it was mostly me, i messed it up, it was supposed to be a bread-like thing but turned into a pie thingy that wouldn't turn brown on the outside no matter how long we cooked it for, and it was like a rock when it came out.. we couldn't even cut it.. i was knocking on it and it was practically as hard as my bedroom door LOL.. Anyways, after dinner we went to the mall with my mum coz i wanted to get something and on the way out Bash was like "i feel like having something sweet? ice cream or something?" So we went to Marble Slab Creamery for some ice cream, and then raced to the car before it melted, actually it was a disaster, it melted on the way to the car & was dripping all over us and stuff.. and i was thinking "i don't even like ice cream".. anyways, one whole tissue box later we were ok.. It was fun i guess.. LOL..
Just when i thought i'd seen the last of ice cream, my dad got us all some on his way home today from Baskin Robbins, it was better this time coz i had the rainbow sorbet but i think I've had enough of ice cream for at least 6 months.. So I'm saying out loud, don't give me any ice cream, aisukurimu suki janai! わかた？wakatta? (got it?)

Thats it for now, nothing new.. actually there is but i don't feel like blogging right now.. thats enough for now..

Ja ne! Oyasumi!

Hanazakari Kimitachi wa ichiban!

花ざかりの君たちへ 'イケメン♂パラダイス'

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e: Ikemen Paradise

It is the best dorama i've seen since the beginning of the summer! I just watched the final episode & i want MORE!
Oyasumi!

Tarako Sensation

I can't wait for Season 4 of LOST! and Season 2 of Eureka (I've only seen the first 3 eps, looking forward to the rest), i need to catch up on Heroes & Prison Break too, i haven't had too much time lately to watch what I've missed.. Oh, and lets us not forget, the one & only forty-four-hundred " the 4400", its soo good, cant wait to see all of Season 4.. i love the beginning song, & Eureka's too.. they're so addicting..

I still haven't watched the final episode of Hana Kimi.. i want to watch it so badly but can't find it anywhere with Eng subs.. :(

On to the main topic here, I can't beleieve i haven't blogged about the "tarako" sensation that swept all of Japan a while back. Whats it all about? let me explain a bit and then leave you to watch it for youself..

A company called QP had an ad on the tele in Japan about a "tarako" sauce (which is cod roe? eggs? i think) for pasta, and how better to advertise it than have 2 little 10 year old girls wearing tarako -shaped hat thingys on their heads signing and dancing to an addicting song about tarako? Sounds weird right? but it has been such a hit that the girls now have a CD out with the full song. Watch this video & see for yourself if the song doesn't stick in your head for days..and days.. and days.. LOL

Thats it for now.. cheers mates!

EDIT: here are the lyrics in romaji & english.. give it a go =)

kinou to kyou wa tonshikatta!

Yesterday was fun! We had 3 of our cousins who we hadn't seen in a while over.. They're all younger than me but its fun to hang out with them.. we played *pictionary* LOL, i should be past the pictionary stage but everyone seems to enjoy it so we played it.. it was a lot of fun =)

Also, my second mum came over today. Shes not really my second mum, shes my mum's best friend since before i was born so shes practically my mum.. we had fun talking about when all her kids where younger -all of them are at uni in England or working there- and we were laughing our heads off.. tanoshikatta! All her kids are now older and practically living in England so her & her husband & her youngest son are going to move to Manchester permanently in about a year.. :( i don't want them to leave.. but i guess we'll visit sometimes..

I have so many happy memories of growing up with her kids, here & in England (Alton Towers is the BEST!).. it was always fun being with her kids.. some of the things are so stupid and not at all significant but i have really fond memories of them.. im thankful for these memories, i hope i remember them when I'm older..

What else? Well, i've been working on my independent study course's project which is an analysis of the Japanese education system.. thats fun because i learn new things every time i search for something.. i actually chose the subject to have to do with Japan so i wouldn't get bored.. its going good so far.. i want to visit a Japanese school.. if i go to japan, i have to arrange to visit one (on the pretense of doing research for uni or something ^^)
Its almost 9 months till i graduate from uni but i've already told my dad what i want as a graduation present.. a trip to Japan! He said yes and i can't wait, hopefully he wont go back on what he promised.. you never know with my dad, he unintentionally plans something else or somehting & then all my hopes are gone with the wind.. but not in this case, i won't let him forget *naughty grin* =) So FeFe & MeMe, you better ask for the same gift, coz im not going alone, you two have to go too.. :)

Ja, thats it for now.. i'll study one japanese lesson then im going to bed.. oyasumi!!

Free Burma!

International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words “Free Burma!".

www.free-burma.org

If you don't know about whats happening in Burma, go to the link above or find out about it online!