I'm finally back after a week long hiatus, in order to upload those little things called photos. Indeed, I have been bugged by a total of 7 people, all eagerly anticipating something interesting, unique, amazing, funny, raunchy... Well. I don't want to disappoint, but I shall only upload 'safe' and BORING photos. Yup. Nothing too... special, or I'll most probably be yelled at left, right and centre. In case anyone out there STILL feel that its too provocative, please contact me via Kaen at her tagboard at either her Seigaku Blog or Hyotei blog, whichever you prefer. Of course the photos are not all completely yours, so it would be good manners to ASK before you RIP them all wouldn't it? I would love it if you left a comment with your contact details, especially if I do not have your handphone number. Thank you.
And these are the non- Prince Of Tennis related photos:
My bag view...
As the photos clearly show, I met my doubles partner, Gakuto, at Cosfest. Stunning personality. Then there was Kurei from Rekka No Honoo, *faints*, as well as several other characters, such as Tamaki from Ouran High. Loads of people, had loads of fun. Jacq jie jie was taking photos to help her friend as the booths, and our Prince Of Tennis team took a whole multitude, there is even the possibility of us appearing on a magazine! Wow. Not bad for my first Cosfest. Anyway, I found out that Inui is also in NJ, although in IP so we don't have a single class together. In a bid to spice up College life, the way Mrs Cheng would say it, I'll most probably be cosplaying on NJ's Open Day in August. I'll update the actual date soon, although meanwhile, I need to get some costume. There is no way that anyone could make me do Oshitari in NJ, because the weatehr is too hot to wear three layers of clothing while hiking up and down stairs. No bloody way. My group of friends want to do Gothic Lolita, so maybe thats what I'll do, although I doubt it would be any less cooling. Will see about it, as I have to dance on open Day...
My CT results has proved to be extremely extreme. There are subjects where I'm in the top 2 percent of my cohort, and those that I'm in the bottom 10 percent. Wowie. Homework is piling to the moon, and yet, here I am blogging instead of completing, say, my 100 plus Math Integration questions. The opportunity cost is rather high. This coupled with dance first thing tomorrow morning, and then there is Math tuition in the afternoon. I'll most probably head home after that to rush even more work... My life now revolves around my assignments and when my body collapses onto my bed. Serious. I really want all the exams to be over soon. Need a DDSS if I want to continue J2 life they way I want to. unfortunately, I have yet to obtain this target for CT. Sighx. Will work both smarter and harder.
We have fallen in the dreams of the ever-living/ Breathe on the tarnished mirror of the world,/ And then smooth out with ivory hands and sigh. ~ W.B. Yeats
There is cause for celebration. Truly. I'm not putting this down to sound prissy or anything, but its been a pretty good week for me. I know, I know. I was complaining previously, and then with this week being 'withdrawal' week and results week, how can it possibly be any good? Ahhh. It all relies on the delicate art of making myself happy. Indeed, I agree its an artform oft neglected in this day and age, but it does bring pleasure, no matter how temporal it is. The art of being happy... is to study hard. Serious. So that when everyone else feels the pain from wounds caused by the mulititudes of zeros slashed by the red pen in the hands of your teachers, you are able to bask in the glory of red laurels... Okay. That was a seriously perculiar kind of imagery. What I want to say is that I did pretty well for my first Common Test. Well, at this point of time anyway. I scored a B for General Paper, and Mr W actually commended my essay and writing style in front of the class. How rare is that? He's usually mocking and taunting, so this compliment would have made most people blushed vermillion, except that I can't blush. At all. Really. Than there was the 41 marks S grade for Mathematics, after the 2 mark moderation, which is way better than the U grade of 25 marks that I thought I would obtain. Of course there are about 4 more papers to collect, but what matters most is that I have yet to let myself down.
Huifang is thinking of dropping H2 Maths. I am totally against the idea. I believe in perservering right to the very end. Of course, you ought to be aware of you own limits, but you should never give up without a really good reason. I think that she can do way better as long as she tries harder AND smarter. I can tell that she's very hardworking, but there's no point if she's going about it in the wrong manner. Well, I sincerely hope that she would reconsider.
My bruises are more or less gone. Yay! Realised that I can distribute my weight evenly over a larger surface area of my knee to reduce the severity of the injury. Need to take care of my body. After all, I'm going to be stuck with it for a good half a century more. The dance seems to be getting more perform-able. I guess its all the practices. Its only two practices away though. Wendy is really amazing. I have to hand it to her, to choreograph the entire thing. Tomorrow is the interview. Not that nervous. Guess I sort of have the premonition that I won't get too far. Well, never mind. Zhiying wants to quit. She feels that she's not good enough to dance, although I disagree. I mean, I sacrificed my dance opportunities at the expectations of others, so when I meet people who do not treasure what they have... Its so disappointing. worse than anger, than hatred. Disappointment.
Jacq jie jie says that she would be going for Cosfest! Shoot! Now I feel self-concious! Argh! Kaen! What on earth is Oshitari like?!
With hands held high into the sky so bloody...
Yippie! Haha. The only reason that this post is possible is because I'm such a computer genius! The stupid computer refused to sense the connection to the Internet, so after about 20 minutes of fruitless tinkering, I managed to connect to the Internet... Manually with cables. Yup. When wireless fails, we should always go back to relying on our good ol' cables. Sighx. Those who say wireless is amazing are right... Its an amazing lot of trouble.
OMG! I went to the Bugis branch of California Fitness for the Enrichment Week BodyBalance class. In a way, it was similar to the course we had in Secondary 4, albeit a little easier. The class yesterday was a one-shot thing, and the instructor was pretty friendly. I'm not going to blog about the class, there was nothing impressive, but about the facilities of California Fitness. There were loads of treadmills, weight machines, step machines... you name it, they had it, and it was like some thirty or forty in one area. The amount of capital they have to inject into the place! Almost everyone there had their own personal trainer, which isn't such a surprise as normal working class people would not be in a gym from about 2pm to 5pm, they would be in an office working. The toilets! One word. Wow. Really. There were the lockers, placed a comfortable distance from each other, the shower had both hot and cold water, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion were provided... they even had two rows of vanity tables with a total of eight hair dryers with a tray of haircare products each. Mirrors were everywhere, as if to motivate you into losing that extra half centimetre of perceived fat by coming to the gym more often. Talk about soft selling. However, the fees have nothing soft about them. In fact, I might go so far to say that the fees are about worth about half a year of my pocket money. Freaky. So if anyone has a free California Fitness or Amore visit coupon, I would love to go with you. Really.
Today's the last day of Enrichment Week, and I have the Great Expectationa and Duchess of Malfi screening in my school to attend. Sighx. Tomorrow, life would resume its course of mugging and dancing, and the results of the awful Common Test would be revealed. Urgh. I wish this moment in time would persist for all eternity. Its like letting me out of the cage to stretch my legs, and just when I'm beginning to enjoy myself, they start shooing me back in. Spoilsport. Sighx. Why do me ensnare ourselves in the various roles appointed to us by others? Is it love? A sense of duty? The desire to conform is great, for it gives a sense of security, of belonging. Sometimes I wish humans were not such social creatures. Yet, if that was not the case, many things I enjoy in life would be completely impossible. After all, a forest is more than a cluster of trees. Promotional exams are soon. Dance exco elections are on Saturday. Cosfest on Sunday. All the various performances over the course of two months. The wheel of time turns...
In chains and darkness, wherfore should I stay, And mourn in prison, while I keep the key?
My right kneecap is in a state of ruin. Okay. Yes, I am exaggerating. Still, there is this enormous purple bruise covering half the area of my entire kneecap. I guess its repeated trauma from the new dance we are to perform for Community Service Day, iPerform, Open Day and National Day Dinner in the following few weeks. As I mentioned earlier, the song is Song of Storm and Fire from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, although due to time constraints, we are doing a shorter version for Community Service Day, which is on the 18th. The shorter version has Break the Sword of Justice, also from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, as music. Hmm. Realised that the titles of the songs from Tsubasaz are kind of strange. Downloaded a few, Siren Song, Swordbreaker, Storm Coming along with my dance songs. They seem to circulate along this theme, and the quality of the song is similar. Anyway, the damage on my knee is due to the need to drop onto the floor on my knees at great speed due to the swift tempo of the song. I hope that it would be the only point in the dance that my poor kneecap would sustain injury, although its not definite, as we have yet to finish choreograghing the entire dance. Its a fan dance, and I'm proud to say that I'm getting better, althhough I'm still not as good as some of the others. Gambatte! If its any consolation, the song is really very fast.
Went ice-skating at Fuji Ice Palace in Jurong for Enrichment Week. It was great fun! At first, its pretty scary, because the ice seems pretty slippery and the thin skates don't help. However after the lesson, when you are able to traverse the diameter of the rink, a mark of your ability to skate without assisstance in the form of clinging for dear life to the rinkside, it becomes very enjoyable. Its a good escape from the heat outside, and as you're concentrating on moving, all worries fly out of your frame of mind to be replaced by the very basuc task of maintaing balance. The entry is expensive, but its a good experience. Very tiring, for the feet and ankle especially, as your entire weight is on two narrow metal blades, with the rest of the body compromising. Ankle area still aching from the exertion. The only problem is that you only enjoy it AFTER learning how to skate, and by then, standing is beginning to be a problem as your legs are cramping from the lactic acid build up in the calves and inner thigh. So ironic. When you can enjoy it, your body is too tired to appreciate it. There were a few skaters practising in the rink, none of them looked local, with a few children in hockey gear. They seemed to be FLYING across the ice at the speeds they were skating at, doing all the stunts as easily as breathing. I felt like a drowning pig next to swans. Ech. Like a baby next to a Formula One racer. There I was, trying my hardest to just stand, tottering away at the rinkside, and they were spinning and gliding past you, doing all the fancy moves, dancing on ice... Urgh. Never mind. I'll become depressed and have low self-estem (gasp!) at the rate I'm comparing myself to them. Where is the Atobe-like confidence when I need it?
Cosfest at Ngee Ann City was rather disappointing. I didn't see anyone worth squealing over, although some of them had rather nice costumes. I went with Tng, who was all dressed as Eiji, with me as her assisstant. She refuses to allow me to post her pictures in Seigaku gear online, so I'll respect her wishes. For now anyway. Haha. Some of the public said that she looked similar to Eiji, and that she was one of the the better cosplayers present. I'm not really surprised as there did not seem to be many cosplayers around. Maybe the security measures, due to the arranged arrival of Minister Mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew as the gueat of honour, made the purely fun event seem heavy and bureaucratic. The fact is, the event was pretty boring, with few noteworthy cosplayers. Some even looked like they were actively trying to use Cosfest as an opportunity to cross dress instead. Like the guy doing Lacus Clyne ( I think). Urgh. Its not that guys can't do female roles, but when its so obvious that something looks really wrong, I think you should know when to reconsider. Thats why I'm afraid of going as Oshitari. I don't want to be one of them. Met two other girls from Singapore Polytechnic who went as Hyotei's Shishido, in school uniform, and in sports gear. Yup. So the entire place had only three Prince of Tennis characters. Disappointing. I may be going as Oshitari Yuushi, although my hair is nothing like his. Don't know what I'm going to do. 14th July is a busy busy day. I have dance exco interview in the morning, followed by a compulsory PW workshop until 4pm... so that means if I'm going, I'll have to bring my dance attire, full grey AND Hyotei set. Of course, I would also have to bath in school, or my hair would NEVER be able to pass of as Oshitari's. So lets see. I need to bring a shirt, tights, full grey shirt and skirt, FBT, Hyotei set ( shirt, shorts, trackpants and jacket), tennis racket, soap and shampoo, PW stuff... How on earth am I supposed to lug all these from my house, to school, to Downtown East and back home? I guess I'll leave home at about 7.30am and only reach home at 10.30pm. sheesh. With ALL these in tow. I am so trying to torture myself with all these. Unless I go home before heading to Downtown East, which means I'll only reach there at about 6pm. Less trouble, yet more hurried I suppose. Why does everyone like 14th July so much? Can't they spread it over a few more days. I guess if I go on the 14th, then I definitely will not be attending on the 15th. I do not have a death wish, no matter what people say. Its exhausting to walk around in the hot sun in some three layers of clothing and a 10kg bag. Hmm. Shoulod I go home first or go straight? Tell me what you think 'k? I'm pretty wishy-washy.
My insides all turned to ash... So slow... And blew away as I collasped... So cold... A black wind took them away... From sight... And held the darkness over day... That night
Argh. I'm suffering from heat rash. You know, the result of the awful weather, uniforms wet from perspiration and sensitive skin? Yup. Heat rash. So icky. Its like rashes, but worse as it persists for it can't be removed with an injection from the doctor. Instead, it thrives on consistent effort to keep the skin dry, which is difficult in the sweltering heat. The trip to OCS / SAFTI MI aka the Officer Cadet School / Singapore Armed Forces Training Institution - Military Institution didn't help. I mean, we walked around in the sun to learn more about the place where the cream of the NS aka National Service crop serves their term. Did it occur to them how rather irrelevant the trip was to me? I learnt what went into their full pack, not that I can't guess its contents from my own camping experiences. They taught us about the various weapons they used in warfare, not that I am going to be able to use any such weapon, with Singapore being anti-gun and since I have no intention of being a soldier on the frontlines of any operation. There were lessons on application of camouflage paint, induction to the type of rations the soldiers are provided with... Hello? Wrong audience! Even if I were to sign on in the future, unlikely as it seems considering my distaste for blindly following orders, with my level of fitness and principles, the likelihood of me joining OCS is well... negligible, in mathematical terms. This coupled with my tendency to fall ill and all the other ailments which seem to trouble me once a month... It was almost a complete waste of time. The only good thing was that I realized the sheer scale of expenditure on the army by the government, along with the opportunity to take a peek at excellent landscaping and air-conditioned washrooms.
Taking pert in this iPerform thing. The current trend is to add a small ' i' in front of every thing which aims to be vogue. Ther's the iPod, iPhone, iGallop... now iPerform. Wowie. So totally original. Fans are the props, and they are in a state of dilapidation. Its as if the clothe would tear at any moment, and that the next time you opened the fan, the bolt would give way. Its that bad. My school is seriously lacking in funding. Performance is in about 3 weeks, and the music is from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Song of Storm and Fire. The background music whenever the super slow episodes approaches the climax. Yup. Its that piece of music. If ther's only one good thing about Tsubasa, its the music. Anyway, I'm pretty lousy at the fan, despite using one three times larger during National Day Parade some 4 years ago. Guess its the difference in th feel and structure of the fan.
Cut my hair! Its now shorter, obviously, and layered. Fringe is still quite long as I hate fringes which hang about my eyes and obstruct everything in sight. It slopes more now. Looks nothing like Oshitari, so I guess cosplaying him is deefinitely out. Cosfest is a three day thing. 7th at Ngee Ann City, while 14th and 15th is at Downtown East. Irritating. I have some compulsory Project Work course on the 14th from 1pm to 4pm. So if I rush down immediately after... And I have tuition on the 7th. Seems like only the 15th is truly available, but I had originally intended to do work on that day. Irritating. Maybe I should not go. Enrichment Week in progress. Have 2 talks and one performance tomorrow, followed by the German crash course I signed up for. Shall I do my tuition Math after that? Consider tomorrow. Sighx. Tired.
What passing bells for those who die as cattle?
I am now absolutely certain that I am mentally unsound. Only someone lost in La La Land would spend about a month's worth of cash on the Hyotei Tennis Set. With the jacket, polo tee, white shorts and black trackpants part of the set. I am mad. I went and bought it. Can't reveal the price as it would be too vulgar. Sort of regretting it now, so if anyone wants it, I guess I would willingly sell it to you. The set should fit anyone of height greater than 160cm, no I am NOT that short as it fits me just FINE, to about 175cm? Depends on which character you want to cosplay as.
Common Test are now more or less over, to me at least, as I do not consider H1 Chinese to be something to mug about. I mean, its just a few comprehension, close and summary passages, along with composition. Not that difficult yeah? Okay, I take that back. It isn't difficult for someone who had spent much of her youth reading manga in Chinese, speaks only Mandarin to all my relatives with the exception of my father and brother, tries to pay attention in class and completes her various assignments. From such involvement with the language, which is more than what I can say for some people that I know, Chinese is the subject I ought to get an A grade for, even when the rest of my are drowning in the ocean of U and S grades. So the paper is on Tianruo's birthday. It would be followed by Enrichment Week, where the first thing I would be doing is to go to the compulsory propoganda field trip to OCS, aka the Officer Cadet School. After that would be the whole slew of activities I chose in the compulsory scheme. Such an oxymoron. Its compulsory to choose voluntary schemes. well, I chose those which I HOPE would be of academic value and those that wouldn't be too painful to go through. The lesser evil I suppose.
Should I cosplay as Oshitari Yuushi? So that I could make use of the Hyotei set? Although I do not particularly like the character, Atobe is my idol, but its the character that I wouldn't have to cut too much of my hair. Yes, I do need a haircut, so instead of snipping half of it off to do some character which I have to wear contacts for, why not pick one which my spectacles remain, and I cut less of my hair? Yup. Thats my reasoning. It looks so practical thet its awfully un-fangirl-ish. Which means its not a good idea as I'll most probably do a sloopy job of it. Okay. Forget it. Lets not insult the wonderful boys of Hyotei. So now I'm back to wanting to sell the set. Sighx.
Tng lent me Atobe's Gift. O_o. I was drooling and laughing throughout. It was so funny! The scene where Atobe was grimacing when he realised that hew mixed up Kabaji's birthday, the super weird scene where Inui was running up and up and up..., the scene that Echizen was trying to pass the sash to Tezuka and they were all "Bucchou!" and "Echizen!" and there was the white light... Haha. Atobe looks so yummy when he was lounging around in his uniform. Oh! Oh! The best part was the interview with JunJun! Jun was saying how Atobe was a character that you couldn't hate, that he was imperfect, being arrogant to hide some inadequecy he no doubt felt, but his charisma more than made up for it! There! From the mouth of the person who knows him ( second? ) best! Atobe would reject you now, but help you out later, and he's so sweet! OMG! The words on the town, all for Kabaji! Oh. Also learnt something new. Did you know that the screaming fans of Atobe, and Hyotei, are the other seiyuus in the recording studio in real life? So imagine in the match against Tezuka, for instance. After cheering for Atobe like he belonged to Atobe's fanclub, Okiayu would automatically revert to being Tezzie and go "Are you done yet?". Cool huh? And Minagawa Junko, the voice behind attitude problem Echizen, Kaida Yuki, the so-nice-yet-not-so-nice Fuji Syuusuke and more... Imagine all of them squealing away. The mental picture is seriously funny! I mean, Ryoma doing the high-pitched and enthusiatic Atobe cheer? Haha. OOC.
Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi wa...
