It’s really early for the Lunar New Year, but frankly, it’s a very welcome break after 3 weeks of hectic school life. I had such fun with the family so far since sis is back for a short break before heading back to NZ.
A couple of snaps to show some productivity this week. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s date with Matt’s mum (!!) and Shimizu-san. Making some connections! God is good!
And it’s Term 1 yet again. The cycle repeats itself like clockwork each year and this year is no different.
Except I’m with the 6-7 year olds again after a year.
Thankfully, they’re a good little lot, some a little chatty but nothing too extreme. God is good. It’s a welcome reprieve after last year’s grueling fiasco which was, according to certain folk, due to lack of firm discipline. I do wish to reiterate that it’s not due to the lack of trying!
What’s past is past and I’m nonetheless thankful for the experiences I had last year. I’m ready for new things, extraordinary things that God had in store for me!
Day 1 has been rather eventful I’d say. I didn’t realise how long I’d been on my feet until I sat down and got up again! Madness! Loving the little fellas.
Here they are in the hall, reading quietly.
Tried and tested. Turns my short lashes into 1.5 times the length and volume. Magic from Japan!
This mid-November, Liz and I had a rare day out at Anime Fest Asia 2011. It’s the third year AFA is on and I’ve missed the previous two on account of work or other church-related events. This particular Saturday, however, I managed to set the day aside to do something I wanted to for a long time.
Not that I’m an anime fangirl by any means. I don’t really collect a whole bunch of merchandise. I enjoy reading Japanese manga and watching anime whenever I have the time (which is rare indeed). I’m just a fan of cute-anything. You know? Anything kawaii? (Kawaii is now officially in the Oxford Dictionary by the way.)
I do enjoy Japanese culture, though, as many of you would probably know. And this is just a part of it. When I head to Japan next month, I hope to have some experience with wabisabi. How I wish I could head to Edo Wonderland. Yeah, Liz, do it without me. (p_q､)ｼｸｼｸ
We began at Suntec… at Swensen’s for breakfast. Three words… I’ve had better. But it’s not that bad.
A happy shot of me, while waiting for breakfast to arrive. I’ve always liked those Swensen’s lamps. They remind me of the old days when Dad used to bring us to the one at Thomson Plaza for ice cream on weekends when we were kids.
We got our cheapo $8 tickets at the convention centre lobby. There were other tickets for sale, such as the Anisong concert tickets. Quite a lot of notable folks in the anime scene were around for this. But, I wasn’t terribly interested in spending $100+ bucks on it. ケチ！
Not particularly fond of the mascot, but then again, I’m not fond of Astroboy either.
Once we entered the hall, it was already filled with tons of people. It got worse as the day wore on. There were loads of stalls to browse through, many from famous companies. There was a stall selling all sorts of Gundam models. It was very popular with the guys. Gundam’s like the Japanese faction of Transformers. Except better. I can’t imagine spending time fixing up those plamos though.
The AFA merchandise stall had its share of customers.
I’m stingy so I didn’t bother.
Along the way, I spotted some cute little figures.
Kaname Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Can you believe the detail and quality of this?
And the chibi version:
Even cuter! ARGHHHH!
Around the corner was a stall selling katana. There were primarily two types you could get – a katana or an umbrella disguised as a katana. Nifty! They had Bleach katanas and Liz, the everlasting Kuchiki Byakuya fan, bought a replica of his Senbonzakura. Except it was Senbonzakura-kasa. It was a brolly.
The whole place was decked out with large posters. Like this one of Kuroshitsuji 2.
I was hoping to meet Danny Choo at AFA, since I had a few brief exchanges with him online about this and that (I notice it’s mostly about gadgetry – Apple fan club?). Imagine my delight when I chanced upon Mirai Inc’s booth!
With a Suenaga Mirai itasha! It’s a BMW to boot! I wonder whether anyone will really drive around in Singapore in it. I have no idea what that guy’s tee means. Does he like Pluto that much? Is he a sci-fi geek? I don’t know.
And guess what? I met Danny and his musume! (Musume means daughter.)
His bunshin that is. Apparently there’s a company in Japan that makes dolls or figures based on oneself. It costs a pretty penny though.
There were plenty of Suenaga Mirai figures.
And I’ve always wanted to see these first hand! The Volks Dollfie dream dolls. They’re really quite large and so lovely. You can swap the parts to create different looks. These also cost a whopping US tanker. ^^;
La Tendo, the shop that I went to for L had a lot on sale too.
But, I didn’t see anything I really liked.
Except this Hatsune Miku itasha!
After rounding the corner, I spotted a whole bunch of musume on display. In the spur of the moment, I searched Yahoo Japan Auctions for the Morikawa Yuki Dollfie Dream. She’ll cost me ¥200,000. That works out to be over SGD$3000. I could get another souped up MBP with that! ARGH! Morikawa Yuki is limited edition since production has already stopped. But she has the most heartbreakingly sweet countenance you could ever imagine. The standard Dollfie Dreams from Volks are about a fifth of the price.
But I’d rather spend the money souping up my GF2 with lenses (which I will shortly – a good zoom).
Oh well. I think I’ll be resigned to the fact that it’ll just be me and L. And a whole bunch of mini Nendoroid figures from K-On!.
I wouldn’t mind purchasing this figure on the poster if they made it though. A Hatsune Miku merlion! Haha.
There were plenty of other stalls to look at, set up by some other folks in the business. It’s like a doujinshi type thing, except there weren’t many to speak of. It was mostly self-created merchandise based off characters from other manga and anime. It’s not as elaborate as Comiket in Japan by any means. Not that I’ve been to one yet.
I wasn’t surprised to see a long line of guys standing in wait (or should I say “lying in wait”? – haha) when I stopped by the Moe Moe Kyun maid cafe. What is it about guys and maid cafes?
Maybe I shouldn’t ask.
I did take a peek into the cafe through the exit which was heavily guarded to prevent rear entry. Just cuteness overload. Mostly guys in there and one or two girls, tolerant enough to participate in it with their boyfriends. It would be interesting to visit. I wonder if the food’s any good.
Not to be beaten, the girls were lining up next door for entry into Atelier Royale Wonderland, a glorified host club cafe. I’d already taken a look at the guys who would be there, thanks to Danny, who posted it all on his blog of which I’m a crazy avid reader. Emo sure is popular nowadays.
My next stop was to scout around for some merchandise in the reasonably large Muse store. It was so popular there was a huge line outside. It’s like the line at Louis Vuitton boutiques on weekends. Except longer and a whole lot less atas.
Now prior to this, I stopped by a stall selling all sorts of cosplay items. And I purchased a pair of black lace neko-mimi (cat’s ears). To justify my purchase, I’m just going to say that anytime I need something for a costume party, I’m going to pull these out.
Here I am, outside Muse, in my neko-mimi. (〃∇〃) てれっ☆
Me and my neko-mimi met some characters along the way! There were a whole ton of cosplayers everywhere.
Kurosaki Ichigo looking a little messy. Just got out of bed much?
Hatake Kakashi looked alright though. But I like him better on his blog.
I didn’t realise card games (e.g. the ones by Bushiroad) were that popular until I saw a whole bunch of guys playing them.
Cosplayers outside on the way out.
My loot for the day!
Neko-mimi, a Kuroshitsuji card sticker (what???) and a Gintama Sougo sleeping eye mask (always wanted one!). Knocked me back less than $50. Not bad, considering how much potential that place had for spending.
Overall, AFA was a great experience. I wish there were more stalls. Perhaps in the future, with the anime culture gaining in popularity over here, we’ll see more retailers setting up shop.
Flickr Set AFA 2011
I remember the collective whoop when the location for our year-end staff retreat was announced. After countless months of begging, wheedling and whining, we finally got our way! Haha.
At $72 bucks per adult ticket, it’s no surprise that management was a little hesitant initially. Frankly though, quite a lot of us made it worth the money. (And maybe regretted it afterwards.)
Right at the entrance you’ll see this gigantic globe.
Finally seeing it as a 3D object rather than an animation in a movie’s opening. (Not that I watch movies often.)
One of my colleagues taking a photo of me with her Nikon. It might blow my GF2 out of the water. But it sure is a whole lot heavier.
We spent some time walking around outside before USS opened at 10am.
And just to prove that I went to the casino, a gratuitous shot.
Not that I went in. Locals have to pay a $100 entrance fee. I don’t know what it entitles you to. A very expensive drink? ^^;
Having said that, the organisation of the queue lines was fantastic. I saw a lady brandishing her foreign passport for free entry.
Many lovely architectural elements here and there.
The most atas area in the entire place, with the branded boutiques lining up back to back. It’s MADNESS. All the bling blinded me.
The walk hardly took 15 minutes. I think all of us were only interested in making it past the gates of USS and into the gigantic playground. First stop, some (time wasting) treasure hunt. I guess a staff retreat necessitates some kind of group activity.
We were asked to clamber on this:
It was… interesting. Sorry, but kiddie rides are just not terribly exciting.
I wanted to ride these:
I’ll elaborate further a little later.
Ling, Vas, Avneet and I were pretty gung-ho for some kind of ride, despite the long queues at certain (easy) ones. So we decided on one of those treetop rides at Jurassic Park. We thought it was fairly leisurely and safe.
We thought wrong. The moment we started to go up the incline, Ling and I (who were seated next to each other) started to get nervous. And it was way faster than we expected. Like wimps, we screamed. Well, Ling screamed and I yelled.
There were kids in this ride. It was stupidly embarrassing.
And the proof that it wasn’t that slow:
Obviously, it wasn’t enough for me. I went on The Mummy Returns. It was dark, but I felt fairly comfortable. The lead up in the labyrinth of a queue was ridiculous (no wonder the queue was short) and creepy, with dim flickering lights. I didn’t find the ride frightening though. Maybe I’m used to seeing dead bodies? (Thank you CSI, Bones, NCIS!) And since I’m a visual person, the darkness worked to my advantage. I couldn’t anticipate anything at all and just enjoyed the thrill of the ride.
But ultimately, I had to take the freakiest rides in USS. Battlestar Galactica. Two rides intertwined together, as high as Mount Kinnabalu. It felt that way anyway.
For the record, I have a fear of heights. It’s not a phobia, but I’m not terribly comfortable being at a hight vantage point out in the open (i.e. without walls). My hands get clammy just thinking about it. Does trying these out make me a daredevil then?
And one more thing: I don’t like my feet dangling on rides.
The first I tried, was the red one entitled Human. It was inhuman to say the least. Good grief. While the seat was like a cup for the butt (which was its saving grace, I assure you), the security bar just clamped your thighs down into the seat.
Your torso is left unsecured.
I have great trust in the engineers of our day, but I only realised the implication of that during the first plunge which was (as usual) the most death-defying plunge ever created. It was almost vertical. And my torso went the way of the ride.
Experienced roller coaster aficionados would tell you that you’ve got to press your head back against the headrest to stop yourself from dangling around. Michelle had to tell me that after we got off. She was insanely enthusiastic. Only a handful of us dared to try the ride in the end.
We wanted to try the second one, the blue Cylon immediately after, but it was too much for us to handle. Human had already rendered us slightly queasy, dizzy and weak-kneed so we had a Ben & Jerry’s break at Goldilocks.
They had some nice tapestry hanging around.
After the sugar break, which gave us enough energy for round two, Liza and a few others left for the VS concept store, which they hoped would garner them some loot for government service. Unfortunately, according to Liza, there wasn’t much there to speak of.
Michelle, Hui Hsien, Jane and I headed for Cylon right off the bat.
Like I mentioned previously, I don’t like dangling rides. Human was all about steep descents at breakneck speed, but Cylon was slightly different with a whole bunch of loops and twists. I thought it was going to be far worse.
But I was completely mistaken. It was a whole lot better. Because I could grab the shoulder harness, tuck my head in and yell. Shoulder harness banzai!
All of us were weak-kneed and off kilter when we got off this one. All the loops and moments upside down really screwed with our inner ear and sense of balance.
Given a chance, I’d take those rides again. Like Jane said, ride them while you can before you get old and develop heart problems.
A couple of highlights from the visit:
Shrek 4D in Far Far Away was extremely entertaining.
And so was the Waterworld show. Tons of pyrotechnics, stunts and machines! I love machines. At the NE show this year, I was excited about the artillery. Guess you should know what made this show terribly entertaining for me. The boats.
Lights, Camera, Action! – the sound stage dedicated to special effects demonstrated a category 5 hurricane. And soaked me to my skin with a huge boat falling right in front of me. Thankfully, the GF2 was safely in bag!
We had tons of coupons, so we spent them at Mel’s. The food wasn’t too bad and not as exorbitant as I expected. Merchandise was surprisingly affordable too!
That’s about all we did, although we wandered around quite a bit. The amount of milk in Ben & Jerry’s did a number on my stomach though, which I regretted.
Didn’t manage to hop on the Transformers ride either, although some of my colleagues did. Next time and soon! (Addicted.) ^^;
Flickr Set staff retreat @ Universal Studios Singapore
日本語でブログポストを書けます！練習練習！ .:ﾟ+((Pq´∀`*)) .:ﾟ+ﾜｯｸﾜｸｩ.:ﾟ.
顔文字もいっぱい使って。（笑）
最近仕事を続けたくない。もつまらないの。毎日何の為にこんなに忙しいんだ？バカよね。 (; ¬＿¬)
でも１２月すぐに来る。考えれば１２月はとても楽しい季節ですね！クリスマスとか、自分の誕生日とか。はは〜〜 すみませんね。誕生日のこと自分で発表しました！ (〃∇〃) てれっ☆
ラブ・ジャパンのプロジェクト今も続きます。教会の友達たくさん日本へ行きました。１２月はわたしの出番よ！楽しみ楽しみ！カップのデザインも完全しました。
今カウントダウンします。学期末だ！
Got all excited and worked on the cap design during my downtime for the love Japan teams. We’re getting caps!
Both black and white versions! Don’t know which we’ll settle for yet though. I think we should also do tees!
I can’t remember the last time I seriously went knocking on doors in order to share the Good News. It’s been ages since I last did handbill saturation, where I would slip flyers for church events under the doors of HDB homes… secretly. And run away. ^^;
(This reminds me of the Gintama episode, with the Rastafarian con-artist.)
It’s different from sharing with friends and people who I already know, which I do quite often.
So this time, after a whole lot of procrastinating, I finally headed out with Sis Ros and left my inhibitions at home. Truthfully, I was still rather nervous. What would I say, what can I say, how should I say it?
Putting my hand to the plough in this case, was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It will probably remain one of the hardest things I will do this season.
It really began with the right block. We managed to speak at length with three different households, two of which took up 30-45mins! I was surprised because I was expecting a lot of hostility and door-slamming.
We did meet someone who was rather upset and grouchy, who told us off from within the living room. However, apart from that everyone was generally quite polite. How lovely!
I secretly think it was God pampering me.
I also met one of my friends from the recent elections and she quite happily told me which floor she was on. That was such a miracle, to catch her while she was making her way home. Fantastic!
So three contacts. And definitely a Christmas party in the works!
If you know me well enough (or if you’re taller than me, for that matter), you’d probably discover that I’ve got grey hair. It’s hereditary unfortunately and I’ve had them since secondary school. I think it was triggered by stress?
Anyway, since I discovered hair colouring eons ago, I’ve alternated between going to the hair salon, home hair colouring kits and home salons. I’ve tried a whole range of services and yet failed to find the most cost-efficient and effective way of getting rid of my greys.
Salon wise, I’ve got to say that Shunji Matsuo at Heeren does a fantastic job. Except, the toll on my wallet ends up in hundreds! ^^;
I don’t do well with most hair colouring kits because it doesn’t seem to get everywhere and I’d inadvertently miss a patch (thankfully, not at the top of my head). Until I tried this product. Behold, the miraculous Japanese innovation: Liese Bubble Hair Colour.
L looks mighty pleased to meet Sweet Pink. ^^;
I bought two colours, Classic Chocolat and Sweet Pink. The former, as the box clearly prints at the bottom, for covering grey and the latter for a funkier hair colour. How did I know I could successfully do this? Well, my stylist at Shunji Matsuo said that if I wanted a light hair colour, I’d have to cover grey first. So I realized doing two rounds of hair colouring was possible.
Back of the box with clear instructions.
What’s in the box. I do apologise for the wrinkly bed sheet backdrop. >_<
Each box comes with the hair colour concentrate, developer, nozzle, gloves and a leave-in conditioner. And tons of instructions.
Putting on the gloves. Don’t want to get my hands stained brown!
Pour colour concentrate into the developer bottle.
Follow the instructions. Just tilt left and right to mix. You don’t have to shake it vigorously at all.
Mixes just fine. This is probably due to the colour concentrate being in a smooth liquid form, unlike the others in the market which come in viscous creams.
Attach the nozzle. Stupid me tried to pump the nozzle. ^^;
Just squeeze the bottle to dispense the foam. It doesn’t look like it’s coloured right now, but give it some time. As you apply it, the foam begins to change colour. Eventually, it’ll look like what you expect it to.
At this stage, I went to the loo and slopped it on. I tried to be as haphazard as possible (and I usually am when doing this). It’s just so difficult to get it wrong. That small bottle dispensed enough for my whole head of hair and I have very thick hair too. After I got it on as evenly as could and covered as much ground as possible, I massaged the foam into my hair. That made the foam thicker. After I was done, I twirled my hair and left it on my head.
No drips at all! And hair stayed up without clips! It’s magic foam!
After that, just wash it off, shampoo and condition as usual. Towel dry your hair and then add the leave-in conditioner. It works wonders on your hair, so don’t omit this step!
I was supposed to wait two weeks until the next colour (as I was told by others). But…
I just had to do it.
I don’t particularly enjoy having chocolate hair. The sweet pink turned out more brown than pink, although under sunlight there were pinkish undertones. Overall, a nice colour.
I might go even lighter next! And soon! Because now, I can afford it. The total cost was less than S$40. That’s like an eighth of what it would cost in a salon. And it was so easy!
Try it yourself and see.
Had an awesome time with some P1 kids yesterday at Hort Park. Decided to tag along to decrease my stress levels which have been soaring since the beginning of term. My fellow little photographers were asking about the upload, so I thought I should do it asap. They’re impatient like that. Thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Liza too! Took about 180 photos but only 82 made the cut. I’m good with self censorship. Haha.
Here are the kids making their way in, led by Liza. I had a certain level of expectation since I was there almost 3 years ago with the present P5s when they were in P2. I’ll let you know my verdict at the end of the post. Continue reading