Exquisite Squid {Ghost}

507: Bugger This For a Lark

2009-11-28T14:01:02Z

Damnit, examinations always reduce me to an ADD 5-year-old.

And I know that I'm just screwing myself for the paper later because whatever it is Can.Wait.

Need. To. Fucking. Focus.

ARGH.

506: Dis-Integration

2009-11-22T07:11:09Z

I used to pride myself (just a teensy bit) on Understanding Calculus. Not memorising, but comprehending, utilising, implementing. It's been a good year since that was necessary and I've just been slaughtered by a couple of integration questions of the Brother's test paper.

Not because they were uber complicated but because I'd forgotten all the rules, the subtleties and WHAT THE FARKING ZARDWARKS I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THE C.

It's not quite wangst-worthy but it is very demoralising.

This only proves that my brain is rotting away in university.

505: Losing Battle

2009-11-21T16:57:02Z

I fear that soon no other kind of phone can be my phone other than the HTC Dream. All my future phones are slowly morphing into sleeker, smoother, very similar smartphones with flip out keyboards, touchscreens and APPS APPS APPS galore. All this marvelous syncing with all things Google is only making this worse.

Dependency is a very bad thing.

I also fear that I am losing that battle against the urge to Spend Money Online again. Just received 4 new Threadless tees and I've already spent most of yesterday eyeballing a variety of handphone cases and spent about 7 hours of today having my mind (and potentially wallet) blown by Gmarket, a Korean ebay that SHIPS TO SINGAPORE AFFORDABLY and IS IN ENGLISH.

Oh Yusof, you come and go so fast.

But seriously. Gmarket is beyond awesome. It's like having widespread access to the mega-hyper-Godzilla-of-online-shopping Rakuten. Except everything's Korean and usually cheaper. Hubba hubba. Mucho Overload.

And then there's money I need to set aside for Big Night Out 2010, maybe The Killers and definitely Lion King & Chicago. And Taiwan trip money which I need to start ferreting away into sekrit places beyond my own grabby fingers.

The moolah is never enough. Alas.

504: Monolith

2009-11-20T07:29:48Z

Techie problems, they take up time and are very frustrating.

On the up side, I am the proud (and somewhat smug) new owner of a HTC Dream. No Sony or Nokia for me, laggeriffic Samsung and LG begone. I am Android-empowered biatches.

My Dream is also the first new phone I've used since that retarded and depressing episode where I jumped in the sea with my Sony in my pocket. Bugger that. Anyway, that is all past. And Bugdroid is just so much cuter than anything Sony's done in SEA. Y'know, for a semi-Japanese company, SE has yet to manifest any form of Kawaii in its products. Most disappointing. (Although the bizarre little clamshell Jalou is comes pretty close)

On the downside, I'm running on Android 1.1 instead of the updated 1.5, Cupcake. 2.0 Eclair is just out though so I'll just twiddle me thumbs and hope they make upgrading easy.

On the down side, it absolutely refuses to connect to hidden SSID networks (...which is what my Internet is at home. Damn.) and has no lanyard/danglable bits.

On the further down side, I can't seem to install a XP Theme patch. Frustrationisms.

On the upper up side unrelated to techie things, there are several good bands coming next year and two great musicals to look forward. 2010 is looking very nice so far yes. Just need to get these pesky Finals out of the way.

Also, I cannot find the disc for T.Rex's 'Electric Warrior'. Which is bizarre because nobody else listens to them and I don't have a CD player anymore. WTH.

503: Terminal

2009-11-13T05:02:43Z

It's my last week of classes and it's over. Finally.
Monday was trying, Tuesday was fabulous, Wednesday was exhausting, Thursday was tiring and Friday is for freaking out a bit and enjoying life before revision begins.

Aside from great group-mates for my projects (which reduces the grief involved), I'm incredibly thankful for whatever it was that made me choose Prof Chong's G1 for COMM101. His course and methods, gave me something More to look forward to week after gruelling, mind-numbing week. And the people in G1, so much more than the regular zombie clones without interest, brains or personality.

I relished the opportunities we got to do speeches and do them our way instead of the commercialised, business-centric crap the other sections were doing. Even if you weren't speaking, it was great fun to watch. And when you finally did get up there to do your thing, there are few things which feel as great as that.

Grades are good but the challenge was better.

It is an amazing thing to be special, utterly capable and in control for even a second, what more 5 whole minutes. It's a great way to feel and think of yourself but honestly, it's not something most people believe in on a regular basis. I sure as hell don't. Which is why it is a very humbling thing to be told so by someone else, someone who means a great deal. Humbling because you feel pressured to live up to the hype now, hype that you don't quite understand really. And inspiring because apparently someone believes in you.

So, I started out this term thinking that I'll trudge through based on abstract goals and personal desires. I'm ending it thinking about people. The crazy people I want to go travel with, the people I've met this term, the people at home who're cheering subtly when they aren't thwacking me to study and all those nutcases I don't get to see often enough who will also be suffering in the next two/three weeks.

The fabulously rainy weather lately makes all the difference in the world too.

502: Pet Him Please

2009-11-07T06:46:09Z

So Mr Gaiman posted in one of his recent blog entries:

Correspondent Serena Altschul visits author Neil Gaiman -- the tender-hearted master of the macabre -- whose books, including Coraline and The Graveyard Book have topped best-seller lists for 25 years.

.. which left me wanting to go "I am NOT a tender-hearted master of the macabre, I am in fact VERY SCARY INDEED," but I suspect I would convince nobody.

Someone please pet the man. He's just so endearing sometimes.

501: Concerning Lots of Sand

2009-11-06T04:34:18Z

So the Neil Gaiman, Dream King or creator of the Dream King if you like, has been. This time it was not a case of last minute scrambling. I queued early in the morning for tickets. I came for every talk early. I was beyond prepared yo and It Was Good. He's one of the very few authors whom I adore and is still Living. And to top it all off, he's really nice, very rumpled, always witty and also pretty strange, Just the Way I Love Them.

The Man of My Dreams, Gackt, has also been, believe it or not. Sometime during my Week of Insanity end of Oct, he popped up with small army of Dears to hang out (and sometimes perform) and then leave. I will not dwell on this. I will not go berserk. I will not go into shock. I will not freak out. No, not at all. Inhaling. Exhaling. Repeating.

My dreams have taken a turn for the Bizarre also. Apparently my subconscious ships Harry/Draco. GASP.

It opens with me visiting a studio park type thing in South Korea. I have no idea why or where exactly. So, it's a large group of tourists, doing the guided tour, watching how television studios work etc. Then, the tour guide starts a little Quiz thing, giving out goodies for the courageous volunteers. Some girl gets a giant wrapped box of....something. Then for some unfathomable reason, I'm up next and do whatever it is they wanted but my prize is to film a music video with Big Bang. (Good Grief, my subconscious is still stuck at age 10 with raging hormones.)

So I'm thrilled to the moon. Because as most K-Pop fans know, whenever there's a music video with one girl, one or more of the Kpoppers end up with her/fighting over her/getting beaten up because of her etc. (AND OHOHOHO, I GET TO GROPE MY DARLING TOP A BIT. NOT MINDING THAT AT ALL NO >8D)

So while I'm riding the high of being with Big Bang (That name just invites terrible jokes) somewhere in the corner of the room, Msrs. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are being led to a hidden elevator by some poker-faced Korean man in a smart suit. At this point, they don't like each other but happen to be in close proximity for the sake of the Great War (not yet over). It's unclear if they're on opposite sides at the same post or on the same side.

The elevator takes them down 11 floors into the ground, opening up the an underground town with lots of quirky restaurants. The poker-faced Korean man leads them to a Turkish joint where they take adjacent seats and call for the menu, while waiting for their contact. Mr Malfoy bitches about their contact being late while Mr Potter cracks open the menu to see the note "Turn to Page 24 you fools". On page 24, a small white square on the green page swivels out into a real, much larger square note, exactly the thing they had come for from their contact.

The rest of my dream glosses over the nitty gritty details of the war. What is covered is that, surprise surprise, Potter and Malfoy have grown a lot closer, a mix of respect and some measure of fondness. So the dream cuts to a day or so after the Great Battle and the War's Official End. Harry and Draco are going out for a nice meal to celebrate. It's a nice restaurant, with a party of little girls inside doing what squealing little girls do at parties. Harry rushes over to a two-seater by the glass windows.

Suddenly, the whole sequence goes in really slow motion. Draco smiles at Harry and turns to look out the window, he's still standing a table or two away. He sees a crazy person with a sniper in the neighbouring building aiming straight for Harry. Horrified, he sees the shot being made, stumbling far too slowly to reach Harry, watches the bullet come closer, closer and finally shattering Harry's skull.

Still in slow motion, the little girls go running, giggling and squealing all over the place, as if nothing had happened. Several of them have blood in their hair, one or two have pieces of what was Harry on their faces. Nobody in the restaurant seems to have noticed the murder. Except Draco, who stands alone in the frame, stunned, wretched and falling to pieces. It had all been too sudden for him to cry, to quick for him to scream.

And the dream ends with the sense that he had absolutely nothing worth living for now.

I don't know what was in that porridge I had for supper but it must be pretty close to magic mushrooms.

500: This Is It

2009-10-29T16:06:46Z

This is it, here I stand
I'm the light of the world, I feel grand
Got this love I can feel
And I know yes for sure it is real

Good God, how I miss you Michael.

499B: Party's Over

2009-10-13T09:19:04Z

So I'm 19 now.
I have my own shinai.
And a new hairdryer.
I've eaten lots of cake (mostly from Glace).
And had several good meals with great people
Whom I miss terribly.
And they don't even live in a different country.

That's sort of sad
Which is what school mostly is these days
That might explain why I'm re-reading A Clockwork Orange.
And downing lots of pearl milk tea.
Then again it might not.

My head has gone from streaks of aged straw to purpleish.
According to the box of dye, I'm aubergine.
I go great with sambal
And will become nice and marshmellowish
When heat is applied.

This is supposed to be the 500th entry
But I thought it quite a waste for a landmark number
To be heralded with a siansational update.

This isn't an attempt at poetry
I just like looking at smaller columns of text

I have half a speech to finish by 6.30pm
After which I will spend 2 hours
Thrusting, screaming, making my feet parallel
And attempting to lunge impressively.

The tragic highlights of my day are
The Mentalist @ 10pm
And a scoop of Orange Choc Bitters
from UDDERS.

I'm probably updating a lot less
Because I don't care for much of anything these days
And there's only so much you can say
About an unfulfilling day
anyway.

499: Still Standing

2009-10-04T12:44:38Z

Thursday was Hariz Day and it worked out real nice.

Quiet place, calm neighbourhood. Who'd have thought that somewhere in Tiong Bahru was a lovely cake-lover's find? A late afternoon of tea-sipping (Earl Grey, and surprisingly nice it was too), having some very nice cake and yakking about anything and everything. It was perfect since the shop had all of 1 high table and two bar stools. Nobody came in and only time seemed to pass by.

It's been way too long what with him stuck in camp and myself caught up with course things, projects and Kendo.

Soul food is what it is.

(Although the hours after that was spent on a my Frantic Quest for Mooncakes at the Last Minute. (ーー;) That boy deserves to be sainted for putting up with my nutty scrambling from Takashimaya to Bugis to City Hall and BACK to Taka. Also, he has all the nice pictures since my camera died after taking this One Photo.)

Friday was Rox & the Loony Bunch.

As usual, we were both late and met exactly half an hour after the planned time. XD Typical. It was mostly stonerdom and mooching around Ion basement (and some very fab ramen and soft serve) Miss Kang suspiciously ciaoed to Tanjong Pagar and prohibited me from turning up before 2.20ish pm.

Turns out she had gathered the Income Gang aka.Nessa, Sabna, Sha (and later also Mr T. aka Terrance aka Retard Boy seeing as he's with Retard Girl.) Small wonder that supreme stupidity, strangeness, hilarity and all sorts of good bizarre stuff ensued. A great prescription from Dr. Kang since the lack Literature and OSM humans in my (Uni) life was getting me rather depressed. Wo Ai Ni Hen Da the Ai! In all it's gloriously bad grammer and word choice.

As,

You,

You,

See. Although there is photographic evidence of me being a nice, normalish person.

8D As if.
(All stolen from Nessa's blogpost HUR HUR HUR. Until she uploads more which I can dump in my photobucket.) We basically bummed around everywhere until they closed. 2.30 to 6 in Sakae, 6-8 lounging around Icon Village, 8ish to 10.30pm at UDDERS, 10.30pm to 12 plus at S11. Everything from cuttlefish raping rituals to The Condor Heroes was covered XD

Saturday was Kendo and Wani's place for the Annual Raya-ing. 8D

Kendo was. Well I'm still feeling it in several places today so. Bad, in a good way. (I SHOULD BE GETTING MY GEAR NEXT TUESDAY WOOTZILLA)

It's been ages since I met up with Wani and Pei Ting properly man. Only seen them thrice? twice? this year. Tsk tsk. There's about a 100 pictures up on Facebook already. Crazy people. Also got to see Xin Ning and Min Shan, it's been even longer since I last saw them. Lazy, silly, comfortable sort of day.

Bit of an overdose from seeing nobody to almost everybody. (The DSSH thingy hasn't happened yet.) But I'm not complaining, not a bit. ♥

498: I Can't Afford Hyenas

2009-09-29T08:53:43Z

Two and A Half Men = The Dope

Thank goodness for my Management Comm Prof. Aside from the fact that class ended so early today that I can go home and unlax before training later, it's the only class I actually Care about doing good in. And yes, it Is Fun. Routine message writing assignments not really but the fact that we're getting to do speeches makes my term. He's surprisingly easy on the ears, a bit unconventional and fairly interesting (and I suspect he's also a Grammer Nazi deep down. All that meticulousness in his speech and attire must mean something after all.) I SWEAR. TO. GOD. I would've killed myself if it wasn't for COMM101. (ーー;)
I am listening to Elton John's stuff seriously for the first time.
Finally finished sanding Bae down. Tedious as hell (and I ingeniously managed to sand away some of the skin on my fingers) and not a perfect job but good enough for now. His seams are all smooth now, all the better to creep people out in photos. Ohohoho.
NEIL GAIMAN. I've got tickets for all three events. （￣ー￣） So need to spend the next month completing my Sandman/Gaiman collection and re-reading.
NEW MUSE AND GREEN DAY ALBUMS. Although the Green Day one isn't..er..that new. Both are fairly good but still under 5 listens so far so it's too early to say. I do hear some funky influences in the Muse album though and both bands seem to be trying new or unusual things.
I have a break for all of next week. WOOHOO. Some time to catch up with people and projects (my own & hobbies-related mostly. I don't think school projects merit such enthusiasm or time.)
You can spend forever watching videos of speeches from TED.
This entry is terribly mundane.

497: The Social Contract

2009-09-26T04:55:01Z

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get back on the House wagon and catching up with the second half of Season 5.

There's a mountain of Stats, Economics, Accounts and whatnot ahead for today but doing that nonsense after S5E17 makes all the difference in the world. After five seasons, they've still got it. These flawed characters who are easy to dislike when simplified or mentioned in passing but the essence of them and their complexities still draw you in, still keep you hooked.

House is a snarky, self-destructive bastard who is ruthless with the truth.
Wilson is always so busy pleasing people and being the nice guy that we wonder if there's anything more to him.
Cuddy is the Authority, the Person That House pisses off, there to provide conflict.
And the list goes on.

But no matter how many episodes you've watched, no matter how much you've seen them do, you still can't predict them, can't grasp the entirety of them. Especially the dynamics of the House-Wilson relationship. Fodder for much slashing good fun, definitely. (And brilliant fics have been written for those two.) But also fascinating because they dance all around the concept, providing no hard definition, no solid idea or foundation. Separately interesting but together, an incredible contrast with surprising chemistry.

Also, my wonderful Friends in China have blessed me with HQ Torchwood Season 1 so Happiness all Around man. I am no longer at the mercy of BBC Entertainment for my fix.

496: Kisekae

2009-09-18T07:56:29Z

EDIT: Also, the weather today is magnificent. I am happy.

So I've found a new distraction and re-discovered an old one. (Because a life ruled by unending revision and project work is not one at all. Although I probably don't study enough.)

Oddly enough, they center around the same things. Paper dolls and dress-up. Frivolous fun. See?

by poupeegirl

Here is where I'll probably be spending quite a bit of time. It's a community format similar to Neopets with the buying, selling, special items and so on. However, Poupee-girl focuses only on clothes and related wearable accessories. Sounds like a great place for the vain yes? Thankfully, not really. Items from your real-world closet/stash/boxes lying around the room cannot be posted if there's a human face in the photograph. Which leaves the wanderer free to admire awesome (or not so awesome) things without being blinded by layers and layers of make-up or 6000000000 versions of cutesy poses.

It's a Japanese thingumbob but the accessibility for English users is actually pretty good. Which is why I'm on it in the first place. Post up real world items/comment on stuff and you get points to buy virtual items. You can also just pay $$$ too. But poor people like me can't do that.

Also, rediscovered the joys of Kisekae dolls. Kisekae or KiSS (which has nothing to do with the KISS principle) dolls are basically virtual paper dolls. Most of my favourites/most worshipped artists/creators tend to take it far beyond that though. Incredible concepts/characters, set design, amazing outfits and seriously cool features. Anything from the backdrop to make-up, eye shape and even gender can be changed.

There's also a lot of ugly pointless ones out there but I don't play with those. I've also found the scraps of my first and second attempts at creating a KiSS doll. Quite surprised that it wasn't half bad but I never stuck around long enough to do fabulous wardrobes and so on. Rick Cramer's Jamie and Zero are tres nice.

What started me on KiSS again is a marvelous Freddie Mercury set off DA.com. There's only one I think so it's easy to find. Large wardrobe and a very wide range of effects (hair styles, make-up, expressions, facial hair etc.). Totally made my day when I found it (by complete accident).

495: Slates are Pretty Hard

2009-09-11T03:51:13Z

I will never get back the hour of my life just wasted watching the pilot of 'Dollhouse', some ridiculous Whedon creation.

If I have to sit through 5 more bland-ass episodes for it to get good, I'd rather hop off to watch House, Life on Mars, Two and a Half Men, Torchwood, Blackpool, Doctor Who, Glee, Rome, Merlin, Robin Hood, even the Mentalist's occasionally less-than-amazing episodes. Shit this list can go on forever.

Good Grief, Dushku's acting was painful from the first 30 seconds of the episode for crying out loud. The whole thing felt like some crappy mesh of typical Whedon characters and old-as-dirt stereotypes.

494: Snakes on a Cane

2009-09-10T11:39:35Z

Gorgeous.

I can't wait.
Actually, I can.
Still haven't completed Season 5.

Can you tell I live for my fandoms right now?

493: Great Cheer

2009-09-03T03:44:59Z

FOR IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR <3:

2009 SNARRY GAMES - Fortune Favours the Bold!

492: Space Cowboy

2009-08-29T13:55:18Z

Actually, screw the wangst.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR IT WHEN YOU'VE GOT TORCHWOOD, HETALIA, KUROSHITSUJI, TWO & A HALF MEN, HOUSE, HAGAREN, HALF A BILLION SCANLATED DOUJINS, SEVERAL TOTALLY RIDICULOUS KOREAN DRAMAS AND BUMP OF CHICKEN CHICKEN CHICKEN CHICKEN..

JOHN BARROWMAN, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO LOVE AN AMERICAN LIKE THIS. THIS IS WRONG.

YONEZOU NEKOTA, MATSUMOTO TEMARI, MIYAMOTO AKI, KAZUKI YONE: MAKING MY HEART BEAT INDECENTLY FAST AND SALIVA POOL BY THE BUCKETS.

IDEA FACTORY, YOU MAKE NON-GAMER ME WANT TO PLAY GAMES IN A LANGUAGE I CAN'T READ. EVEN THOUGH THE GAMES MAY WELL BE CRAP, YOU'RE DOING FABULOUS IN THE ART DEPT.

SWEET POOL, DEAR GOD, SWEET POOL, NEVER HAS GORE BEEN SO GORGEOUS AND LUSH. NITRO+CHIRAL WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME.

LIBERATION AND BISHIES I HAS THEM.

491: Roaring Tide

2009-08-26T13:49:03Z

Morose. LJ and my friends page makes me morose.

I realise that I am quite obssessed with my room lately. Shelves on shelves in cupboards with boxes and drawers and dividers and labels and everything with a secure place. Everything neat, perfect, calm.

I went to the Singapore Art Museum today as part of Creative Thinking class and couldn't help feeling a sad sort of zen. (Which is probably contradictory but never mind.) I've been to the Louvre and the National Palace Museum, gargantuan treasure chests to marvel at, shock and inspire. SAM felt so small, insignificant in comparison. The pieces and their creators seem so caught up in their conceited ideas of art. Most of them anyway. Perhaps it was trying too hard or not trying enough. Most of the time I would look at it, read the description and go 'So What'. No magnificence, no impact, zilch. Although it might just have been that particular series on display. The little photography niche was different. Nicer. Less pretentious. It felt like more substance without the blaring, blinding parade of advertisements.

I was hoping to find interesting people in University. Smart people, quirky people. I'm sure they're there but when the brain-dead horde from CT gathered to listen and respond to the museum pieces, it felt exactly like being in primary school again. Some stupid comments, same ignorant people giggling at things they couldn't understand and so ridiculed to feel better about themselves. Perhaps it's worse than primary school since they're all old-ass farts now who should have learnt something since then. No more excuses.

Where are all the crazy people? Where are all the freaks and clowns? Good God won't you come out and play some day before I go quite mad. I'd almost rather take a miserable day of AC doubt and baggage than anymore bland, blank faces.

490: Wakatte Itahazu

2009-08-22T09:55:53Z

~ I Should Have Known

...That I'd get completely suckered in and see my day disappear faster than...something really fast. I can't even really remember how I got from Checking Emails this morning to Frantically Clicking Through Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden several hours later. Sigh.

It's almost as great a guilty pleasure as the original Fushigi Yuugi anime was (I haven't read the manga. At 100+ chapters, I'd better not start now either.) I find the darkness of Ayashi No Ceres, and its greater complexity in themes as well as characters, a lot more interesting. (and certainly classic enough for me to re-watch or re-read unlike Fushigi Yuugi which is sometimes just too agonising to go through all over again)

But Yuu Watase's style has matured somewhat and her characters are no longer as gratingly shallow as they used to be. It's nice to re-visit the Universe of the Four Gods without having to live through the painful Miaka-Yui-Tamahome Hormonefest Saga (where everyone seemed to be raping someone/been raped/intended to rape/unhealthily obssessed with virginity, always hung up about unrequited love/lust ). Genbu Kaiden has a lot less of that soap-opera dynamic and spends more time on the actual quest/plot/character development instead of perpetual fights/wangst abut who loves who and why and when, stupid, stupid miunderstandings and loads of crap in between.

It's not finished yet and apparently on hiatus until next year. Whch blows a bit. But not really. Since that means there won't be any distraction from that quarter for some months. Just have to resist re-watching Ayashi no Ceres in the meantime. GAH.

EDIT: And I realise I blogged about Absolute Boyfriend some time back also. Damn, the hours this mangaka steals from me. Mutter grumble. I've probably read more of her works than any other mangaka. Is disturbing. Especially since I adore Kazuya Minekura and CLAMP's art much, much more. BL mangaka don't count since they don't do Epic manga serials/anime/ova Empires >8D

489: Arrival

2009-08-21T01:57:00Z

I was going to just copy pasta the link to Bae's Arrival/Box Opening over at the DOA forums BUT I forgot that they require registration for viewing. SO being a Lazy Ass, I'm copy pasta-ing the post here instead:

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY. After agonising weeks of waiting, my first BJD is here. He's tentatively named Shin Bae Ryu (he is Korean after all XD) but we'll see how that works out. I was up at indecent hours just to refresh the tracking page and BEHOLD, he arrived at my doorstep at 10ish am last Friday.

(The opening only happened on Sunday morning though since I promised my friend we'd do it together. ^^)

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I PRESENT MY BOY (or rather the BIG BIG box he came in first):

I bet the postman hated me a bit. XD Bae wasn't like 5kg so it was just bulky.

The DREAM OF DALL. 0_0

I have never gotten anything so well-wrapped. Bubble-wrap... Cushions...

...AND MORE BUBBLE-WRAP.

He was so securely...secured that he looked like he had been in some horrific accident, broken a whole bunch of bones AND lost all his clothes. The tragedy of it all!

My beauty, out at last. His face-up is simple but gorgeous. (And also exactly what I asked for ^^) I kept staring and staring after he was out of wrapping. MESMERISING.

8D I'm so incredibly happy with the eyes they gave.I did try asking them for grey/green eyes and they said it would be random but these are exactly what I wanted! (I think it's their random colour of the week or something because other people have been getting them too.) <3

Before Bae I'd never touched another BJD so it's a new experience, learning where to hold him and how. (And that if you hold the wrong bits he'll swing forward and attempt suicide o.0)

Several hours later when I'd done up some simple clothes:

That would be thigh-high stockings and a sleeveless Japanese-ish robe. (I wanted to make it as quick and simple as possible since Uni was starting the next Morn. -_________- Thanks to Bae and my obssession with clothing him I got 3 hours of sleep and really wanted to collapse in class.)

And now photo-spammage:

He's got an amazing feminine elegance that comes out in some shots. It surprised me since I didn't expect that kind of softness in a boy. (No matter how pretty.)

A bad attempt at getting him to kneel. I ended up needing a cushion and it still didn't really work:

Is it even possible for DOIs to kneel? X( His legs are of different tensions too so that didn't really help. One's just nice, easy to bend and put back but the other is on the tight side and bending it is always a bit scary.

I gave up on kneeling (also introducing the WIG OF DOOM which is reddish/purple streaks in black and really nice BUT SO STIFF AND UNCOOPERATIVE AND JUST NOT VERY NICE OR EASY TO STYLE RAR)

AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS. I'm so in love with this boy and happy I've finally got him (DOD is my 'dream company', their sculpts are just so beautiful and those darned gorgeous promo pics don't help my obssession any).

I've got better pictures but that's on my film SLR so I need to finish the roll and develop them first. (Yes, FILM in this day and age XD)

A big thank you to my friend Rox, who isn't on this forum but was instrumental in my taking the leap and getting Bae. 8D Yes, you roxxors, my soxxors. <3

And also much love to the wonderful people in the DOD waiting room. I wasn't the most active but the passion and anxieties (and sometimes complete nonsense, lol) of everyone else made the waiting bearable.

FIN (since I have to rush out the door or risk being late for class...AGAIN)

So that's him, all here, now and mine. I'm floating on the happy 8D There's some maintenance I'd like to do on him like sanding down the seams on his thighs and hands and removing that gloss spot on his cheek (thankfully not a huge obvious one). I've been reading up on sueding since I hear that makes him much more poseable. But that'll take a full free day or more, as well as supplies so I'll just concentrate on sewing like hell and doing things like wig stands or a bed.

Gah, so many new crafty things to do and so little time. I like. ( ^___^)

488: Pride and Purpose

2009-08-16T12:05:15Z

My room has an insane amount of IKEA products in all corners and I plan to have even more. Looking into the perfectly organised cupboard makes me incredibly happy.Sense of Accomplishment and all.

After weeks of waiting, Bae Ryu is finally here. It's his name for time being until I'm really satisified with one. I'm none to fond of calling him his model name Luke all the time.

He is beautiful. Obviously. I could nitpick about the imperfections here and there (I think DOD might have been rushing a bit to clear orders again) but none of them are major enough for me to make much noise about.

It's not the best of pictures (and that damned wig from DOD is SUCH A PAIN TO GET ON RAAAR) but it'll do until I've done up a proper set of clothes for him. I had box opening with Papa Rox earlier today.

Bae isn't very heavy but he feels nice and solid, about a kilo to 2 kilos. I was doubting my decision to do this until I opened up the box and started fiddling with him. Damned expensive? Hell yes. Worth it? Completely. I am utterly in love all over again.The first BJD I ever saw was DOD's Homme Ducan and I've adored their dolls ever since. Although I've seen ones from many other companies (in all shapes, sizes and colours) over the Net and in store, I've always liked DOD best.

It's nice to finally get a doll from my 'dream company' instead of just hopelessly oogling over the Internuts. There's so much to do for him! Clothing, housing, the works. I've rarely meddled in the DIY side of handicraft so new materials and skills to look forward to. And endless research/reading and instruc I do so love being on a crafty-creative rush ^^

'UP' was even better than I expected it to be. I went all leaky bucket after the opening. Pixar is so good at making the audience feel, be it happy or sad. I'm so glad I caught it with Auntie Harizah.

It may or may not be the cause of my melancholy for the rest of the day. The folks are away with the brother in Redang. School is starting tomorrow and I know absolutely nothing and nobody.

487: The Waiting Game

2009-08-13T02:22:03Z

EDIT: MY BOY IS FINALLY SHOWING ON SINGPOST'S TRACKING. ATTHE SORTING CENTRE AS OF 12.18AM TODAY. COME HOME QUICK PRECIOUS. 8D

I've been in limbo for the past week or so. Waiting for this, that and the other. Makes me feel stagnant.

Waiting for my bank account to sort itself out so I won't be negative.
Waiting for Uni to start also, with mixed feelings.
Waiting for Pop's highly belated birthday watch to ship out from the US.
Waiting for my boy to ship out from Korea.

Yesterday, my money went positive, I got notice from the watch guys AND AND AND DREAM OF DOLL SENT ME SHIPPING NOTICE. LUKE IS COMING HOME AFTER WAITING 48 WORKING DAYS.

So, yeah. Yesterday rocked. I made another little owl. And all these things add up to take my mind off how depressing the world is lately and, good God, all the death.

486: Dirges and Elegies

2009-08-11T04:27:26Z

It's been a sad, strange National Day weekend.

Whilst the nation turned 44 and set off fireworks, there was mourning for an ex-classmate whose passing seemed to have no sense or reason. This morning, I received news that Versailles' bassist, Jasmine You, had also inexplicably passed on, mere days after taking leave for health reasons.

It's a very, very mad world.

485: TAIPEI 2009

2009-08-05T17:28:59Z

~~ENTRY-IN-PROGRESS (It's just way too massive to do properly in one or even two seatings)~~
I have finally finished talking about food. XD Next-up, Places!

I didn't expect to like Taipei. I didn't think I'd enjoy the trip very much, thought it'd be overwhelmingly Chinese so would be hard to appreciate because of that as well as the language barriers. I didn't expect the hints of Japan, the little ingenious things they came up with, the bizarre yet adorable mascot critters and the supreme love and talent for all things starchy/chewy.

It was a great trip. It different going with the Folks instead of friends but not necessarily bad since they're generally alot more fun on holiday than at home. (And sometimes even more WTFBBQ retarded than even teenagers XD) Taiwan officially has a special place in my heart and while it won't rival Japan (I think nowhere ever will), it's a country I definitely see myself going to more often than Hong Kong or Bangkok. Although it was damned killer weather we had. It felt like it was always blisteringly hot and even more humid than Singapore. So, note to self: Go In The Cooler Months or EXPIRE IN A HEAP OF STICKY SUN-BURNT SOMETHING.

Also, I must say this, with Google, Googlemaps and Babelfish, you can find anything and go anywhere so long as you aren't lazy or stupid.

THE HOTEL
We stayed at the Ambience Hotel which has only got about 10 floors so it feels cosier than big brand-name hotels with their several hundred rooms and massive reception. The people working at reception were marvelous, helpful and very nice. They often had to help out as translators so we could tell the cab where to go since none of us can speak, much less read, any kind of Chinese fluently. It's all white and hooked up with Bose speakers to match. The rooms were generally bigger than the ones in Japan and HK. Anyway, their website has loads of pictures and further details. It was a lovely place to stay in and while it's a 10min walk to the nearest MRT station, it isn't a big deal if you're a) not a lazy ass
and b) visiting Taipei when it's cooler.

TRANSPORTATION
At the moment, the train system in Taipei isn't hooked up to Tao Yuan International Airport so one can either take a taxi or hop on a bus. Buses are cheaper and there are several which go to the main city. Ambience wasn't a stop on any of the bus routes but one of the bigger hotels nearby was so we walked from there, about 5-10 mins maybe.

As for public transport, don't buy the 250NTD Tourist 1-Day pass thing unless you've got endless energy, hop off buses and trains more than 7 times a day or travel really long distances (like terminal to terminal). The average person will probably take public transport about 5 times a day to go to most main attractions and things which are only a few stations apart. (The trains are like here even though the seating was a little different and people actively avoided priority seats even at really packed peak hour.)

So you're unlikely to spend more than 100NTD in a day. I'd say the pricing is similar to our local cost of travel. Cabs might be a little cheaper. Except that any kind of Chinese is a lot more necessary there than here. -_________- We got interesting cabbies though. One guy was Vietnamese. He'd married a local and visits the his relatives in Vietnam every now and then. He'd been in Taiwan for over a decade and so had picked up the language. He was quite surprised to hear we were a Malaysian bunch. (Mind you this conversation was mostly in halting/CMI Mandarin/Hokkien from my mum and what bits of his we could understand.)

FOOD: Meals
I just printed 55 out of 200+ pictures from a trip and noticed that most of the shots featured food or were related to it somehow. Truly Asian we are, hearts in our stomachs. We ate a good mix of food and saw even more at slightly creepy night market stalls. We had fabulous, fabulous steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It's a well-known American steakhouse and the only branch in Taiwan I think. Pops knew about it since an American colleague had taken him there on a business trip donkeys of years ago. (The dude ended up eating dinner there TWICE and I do not wonder why) The place was decorated with lots of wood and softly lit with candles and warm lights.

Service was American-style also, quite an unusual experience and worlds away from the average here even in restaurants.The set meal was about SGD80 including a sparkly drink, huge salad/the best, richest, cheesiest Onion Soup I have everhad, your choice of 4 different cuts, a side vegetable (perfectly crunchy but not fiberous giant asparagus and baked mushrooms were what we chose) and dessert (ice-cream/sorbet/slice of cake). You could also do a several dollar upgrade and the whole table can share one of 4 ravishing cakes that could feed 5.

Pops suggested taking the 8oz Petit and I'm glad I listened. Most Asians aren't used to having a hunk of meat as the main meal since we usually take it as a side dish or on top of something like a noodle/rice. I struggled towards to the end of my piece (while oddly enough my er...petite mother wolfed down a whole 12oz steak. Scary. Even scarier is the 16oz one on the menu. MONSTROUS I TELL YOU.) I had mine medium (it was so perfect I could cry) and well, photos are better at this point:

Good God, just looking at these make me hungry. And I had steak for lunch today too, although alas, nothing that can much up in quality. It was an outstanding dinner.

We had Dim Sum at Parent's Restaurant, close to MRT Zhongxiao Dunhua. While it wasn't a bad lunch in any way, it didn't watch up to the silky smoothness of the Dim Sum I've had in Hong Kong. The skins were distinctly thicker for the Har Gow and Chee Cheong Fun although the flavour and filling was good. I er...didn't get any pictures of the latter because we'd finished eating before I remembered to snap a shot. (@__@) Although you do get to see the really good Fish Congee. 8D

AND HERE BEHOLD, the softest, tastiest Beef Balls I have ever had. These were really very yummy and so tender you'd find it hard to believe it was beef. According to the Folks, beef balls like these used to be one of the regular Dim Sum dishes although they've disappeared off the menus (probably due to the Mad Cow problems way back and the fact that Singaporean's aren't terribly into beef.)

The dessert dishes, steamed layer cake and tiny little egg tarts. The layer cake was sweet and slightly custardy in flavour and texture but not something I'd die to have. The pastry on the egg tarts, however, was light and flaky, just perfect.

And since I was greedy I also ordered some steamed custard paus. Nice but again, not something to go nuts for unlike the GOLDEN TAU SAR PAU IN HK. HOMG. THAT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF COOKING MASTER BOY.

So the conclusion for the Dim Sum was: Alright and Excelling in the non-regular Dishes. We still walked out of there stuffed and smiling though. 8D Cost us all of SGD40 for 3 people.

Now enough of the foreign stuff for a moment and on to the real Taiwanese Specialities! First up, Beef Noodle at Lao Zhang. Lao Zhang = established beef noodle people, been around for decades and the like. They have a gazillion different bits of the cow on one kind of noodle and three different soup types. (Tomato, Spicy and Clear Broth) AND, two sizes for bowls, Large and Bucket. (Not a literal bucket but it was a helluva lot of noodles man. The Large is hard enough to handle. HOW DO ALL THESE TINY ASIAN PEOPLE EAT SO MUCH.)

See happy faces? That's because they've only just started eating. Those expressions gradually devolve into that of Very Very Well Fed Critters. And not forgetting, the side dishes of eggplant, beansprouts and stuffed intestines.

That was lunch on the first full day in Taipei. I also found a lovely patisserie over the Internet which happened to be close to this outlet of Lao Dong. So after lunch, we wanderd forth in search of Dessert. At least, I did. The parents didn't have space.

Very chocolatey. Very Good. Grunt grunt. Hmm, yes, devoured this in Daan park (which was along the way to the train station). Yes, just like the Japanese, they have parked up and prettified random bits of land in the city.

Another fabulous meal was at Din Tai Fung. And just like when DTF first opened in Singapore, the queue there was insane. We waited about an hour for a table which isn't as bad as it sounds since we could wander in the mall and they had an organised system for queue numbers. It was tres worthed it. (And also a third cheaper than in SG.) The service was very good though and they are amazingly efficient. (HOW JAPANESE OF THEM)

The goofy mascot is such a Japanese Thing to have. XD They also had a guide to Eating Xiao Long Bao. In English and Japanese, with diagrams.

AND THE FOODLES:

I am indecently in love with their Beef Noodles.

Ditto for the Xiao Long Bao. Although strangely, I didn't like them the first time I had them at the Paragon branch. It was love from the second time onwards at Jurong Point of all places. Although Sun Lok's stronger ginger flavour in their Xiao Long Bao juice (and equally tender filling if slightly thicker skin) is quite as wonderful for me.

Very goofy-looking Siew Mai. Although they're good, I'm more of a Har Gow person so I can't say I loved these as much. OH AND I FORGOT TO GET A PICTURE OF THE INCREDIBLE PORK CHOP IT WAS DELICIOUS AND MORE ME HEARTIES.

Shiny white plates. As proof of the meal's greatness, nothing was left behind. I convinced the Folks to go to JP for Din Tai Fung again and the crockery was even cleaner than in Taipei. XD For not a drop of Beef Broth should go to waste. (I think you've noticed by now that I love Beef yes?)

Another lovely lunch was at Dosan Kanroku. Yes, Japanese food but not just any Japanese food but one of my ruling passions: UDON. From my extensive (and slightly obssessive research), I found out that the restaurant was started by a marvelous man from Japan, Kagawa specifically, a place that used to be known as 'Sanuki' and consumes/produces obscene amounts of udon. So he trained up and set-up shop in Taipei, much to the delight of Udon-loving me.

The menu was similar to Hanamaru's. Three sizes and choose your toppings. Although Dosan Kanroku had a much wider range of fancy stuff like meat and seafood. Hanamaru tended to have just the basics like tofu, seaweed, egg etc. and a bunch of Self-Service Tempura/fried stuff.

The problem is that once a person has had fabulous Udon, anything that's just generally good registers as a 'ho hum' on the food-o-meter. It's not that the noodles were bad, they weren't. If they were terrible I would know right away. But it was firmer than I expected, not that squisher bounce I'd expected. He also has a different soup from the one used at Hanamaru (no one seems to do it quite like them. Alas. Although Waraku in Singapore does a really good job of the noodles. Really. HOYES HOYES.) So it was a good meal. The noodles the good, the side dishes were good but not really something I'd hunt down again. Which is sad because I'd expected them to be fabulous and beyond. ( TAT ) BUT ENOUGH OF MY JABBERING! I'M SURE YOU'LL BE CONVINCED OTHERWISE BY THE PICTURES ANYWAY.

Some perfectly fried Karaage. Moist, juicy and crisp on the outside. And sashimi, fresh as can be. Can't go far wrong with that. Now the noodles! All basic toppings since we wanted to experience the noodles unbiased by meat and things.

It was pretty affordable too, cheap even. The two smaller ones cost 80NTD each (about SGD4) and the medium (mine of course) was 110NTD, about SGD4-5. Believe it or not it was a teensy bit cheaper in Tokyo since we did a set meal most of the time, with a small costing 249 Yen (SGD3.70). There's even a 105 Yen bowl of udon on offer (though I didn't know that until after coming back)

The last major meal was really our last in Taipei. It was dinner on Friday night since the flight was at 8ish AM and we had to be at the airport at an indecent hour inthe morning. My mother, being partially Hakka (it's also the dialect she speaks most fluently although her accent probably makes other Hakka people go (O___o)? ) and Hakka food being less common in Singapore, we decided to Eat Some in Taipei before leaving. There's supposed to be a larger population of them..er..us? there. We consulted the front desk people who came up with the perfect place. FAMILY RESTAURANT (that's the translation the Net gave me anyway).

Which wasn't actually perfect in location since even the cabbie took awhile to find it in the mess of little alleys/lanes. NEVERTHELESS. It was a sparse family-run outfit which befits the style of food since it really isn't a grand cuisine but great comfort-food, homely sort of dishes. The food, as we had hoped, was delicious and so satisfying.

As you can see, I forgot to take the photos before stuffing my face. I'm a terrible food photographer. There's the cucumber-ish vegetable and egg-drop soup, braised beancurd, fried bee hoon and THE GREATNESS THAT IS BRAISED/SAUCE PORK BELLY.

A sort of spongy/slippery/slightly crunchy relative of a cucumber. Simple broth and simply delish. Followed by the beancurd was...I don't honestly remember since the parents liked it a lot more than I did.

Next are the highlights of the meal (for me). The bee hoon was so tasty and nicely done. Moist and flavourful. Yum. People should come here and take notes. Also, the best pork belly I've had in a long time with Mui Choy, a kind of salted/preserved vegetable. I think this was of the partially sweet variety but the balance of the salty and sweet in the sauce and vegetable was Just Perfect. (I know so because I cleaned the plate of every last leaf despite not liking it normally.) The texture of the pork was also very good. Soft but not mushy and not tough/chewy.The balance of fat and meat was good too, without any nasty rubbery skin. Now the sad part is trying to find it this good locally. I weep.

And that concludes my Major Meal re-cap for the trip. Although I don't have any pictures to back this up, we ate dinner thrice at 100NTD food places. They are night places and open till midnight or beyond. Usually loaded with lights, beer and people unwinding after work. Another defining feature is the shorter-than-regular table and chairs. I have no idea why though. One we ate at looks this:

It was tricky ordering since they speak...Chinese and little else. Ordering dinner that first night in Taipei was between my mother and I's failed Mandarin and her JUST-HANTAM Hokkien XD. I got to say the girl who took our order could speak very little English but was incredibly nice, patient and tried real hard. Fortunately on another night there was a Filipino lady working there (probably one of the cooks since she didn't appear much other than to help us order) and she spoke fluent English and recommended stuff since the menu's all Chinese.

The ordering format is simple. All the dishes on the tickable list are 100NTD (little under SGD4). Steamed rice, pickles and sauces/chilli is free flow and self-service. Drinks are in big fridges so help yourself though they'll take the beer for you. There's always a whole bunch of tanks up front where you can pick up your seafood dish. THOSE aren't 100NTD per helping but by weight/price of the day. Much like the cze char places here only larger and somewhat different flavours/dishes. The helpings are naturally small for that price but not tiny, a bit generous for 1 person to eat with rice, better for two. So most people come a big group, drink a lot of beer, order a whole bunch of dishes and munch/chat for a couple of hours. It's a hell lot tastier/cheaper than bars/pubs that's for sure. The snackery will be covered in the NEXT food section XD

FOOD: Munchies
I Love Taipei. My stomach loves it for a few reasons.

Their Chinese food is tasty, like here. HK noodle places were a bit bland for me. NOT SO FOR BEEF-LOVING TAIPEI. 8D
They love starchy things. I love that they love starchy things. It's so Japanese. And squishy.
They understand that drinks and munchies are IMPORTANT. Especially in godforsakenly humid and hot weather.

They have a gazillion ice+starch dessert places everywhere. Some are major chains like Meetfresh (my Dad's official favourite hang-out) and some are smaller one-offs. Meetfresh outlets look like this:

YES THEY EVEN DO DELIVERY. SO CLEVER. Ice in Taipei is finer (something ingenious they did to the machines) and THEY KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT DESSERT COMBOS. See, I like sweet things and I like ice. I like ice more than icecream because icecream just has too much other nonsense going on flavour-wise for it to be as refreshing as ice. BUT I don't really like ice-kachang in Singapore. Because I'm not a big fan of red beans, attap-chi and the other random bits of things floating under the multi-colored syrup-drenched iceberg. I do like the simplicty of ice jelly though. And it's this simplicity that makes Taiwanese desserts so wonderful. It's tasty and a delight in texture and flavour but not to the point of overpowering the purpose of a cold dessert: To Bring Cool, Sweet Hydrating Comfort. Example:

Here we have ice, sweet potato and tau huay. The silky smooth beancurd delights the tongue while the firmer sweetness of the sweet potato provides variety in texture and makes up for the beancurd's blandness. All this in a light, sweet soup/gravy/syrup (probably brown sugar or something like that) and a civilised helping of ice to chill the dish but not paralyse your palate. See the control, the balance, the little harmony going on here.

Here's all we ordered in that first seating in Meetfresh. I've covered the sweet potato while the drink is milk tea with pearls (and I must say that pearls in Taipei are always perfectly chewy, not mushy or over-soaked starchy), now the other bowl. Tau Huay and sweet potato & yam chewies in the same syrup. Both the solid ingredients are soft but in different ways. The tau huay naturally is more delicate and slippery while the chewies (they look like stubby cylinders) provide bounce. Since they're both relatively tasteless, the syrup goes nicely with them. Unlike ice kachang, their desserts aren't a matter of DUMP WHATEVER YOU CAN ON A HUGE ASS HUNK OF ICE but a few nice things which go well together.

There's also their famous ice mango dessert which Pops had while I was busy shopping in Wu Fen Pu (wholesale clothing area, oh heaven of affordability and niceness). I've had that at the Ice Monster here (and it was yummy) so I didn't rush to try it in Taipei. Pops' favourite was ice tauhuay with red bean, like so:

I favoured the starchier side of life:

My 45NTD mountain which is oh, 2SGD. Corn, red bean, jelly and CHEWIES. I have no idea what they're called but I loves them anyway. I only picked red bean because it was familiar and there was The Language Barrier thing. Else I would have loaded up on chewy things and jelly only. From this stall at Raohe (behold Cutestis Mascoticus Syndrome):

You can infer from the little critters in the signs that they sell alot of tau huay too. This was at Raohe Night Market which I recommend WAY ABOVE Shilin.

Raohe has loads of food (even for the more bizarre tastes or people into mutton bone soup).

The ice was eaten with my Gigantic Meat Fried Bun. Juicy, pepperish filling but it's hella messy to eat The stall has a rep and the queue was about 10 people long when I bought it earlier in the night. Later on it was double or more of that.

Also bubble-tea shops (and tea shops with a similar format) are everywhere! Which SHOULD be the case in a country where everyone sweats and it's always hot. You can always get a cold drink and a pearl tea fix without worrying if their pearls will taste/feel like decomposed peas (^__^).

Another munchie I had was a yam pancake. Purple starchy chewey goodness at a Farmer's market near our hotel. IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS IN CHINESE AND WHERE I CAN GET ONE I WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL. I can't find ANY mention of it on the Net.=(

Apparently it's held every Fri and Sat there in a large empty lot where people sell their produce, sometimes fruits/veg, sometimes highly specialised or specially cultivated things. Big emphasis on organic and the environmentally-friendly ways to do things. They also have little presentations on a particular cooking style/ingredient/what have you or demonstrations. It's called the 248 Market and they have a blog where you can check out their previous markets and upcoming things. Sadly not in English I can just look at pictures. Still interesting though. I'll definitely go again and spend more time checking things out.

And lastly, a cool dual fruit popsicle:

Taiwan is also Mosburger land (400 outlets or something like that 8D) And it's the only Japanese fastfood we get out here, therefore my favourite chain of fast food. Yes, even above Yoshinoya on some days. They have 24/7 outlets there like we have McD's here. On one map of the hotel surroundings, there were 3 Mosburgers and 1 McD. I saw maybe 2/3 McD's in all my wandering and more than 10 Mosburgers. They pop up everywhere LIKE DELIGHTFUL TERIYAKI-CHICKEN-BURGER-BEARING DAISIES.

They've also got nice cake places, more often than in Singapore. French-style slices of carefully assembled Goodness. La Douceur is just one of the reviewed ones I got off the net. I had some good cake over the counter at random outlets in malls too (but always downed it before remembering the camera. Alas.At least it's a testament to how good it was.)

Their malls (or rather Huge Department stores) tend to be Japanese. Sogo, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi and the like. Japanese brands, restaurants and such are also fairly common. So one of their basements is usually a smaller but equally delightful cake/dessert paradise like the depāto in Tokyo and a majority of those cake counters are Japan-based. With maybe a third or less dealing in more Chinese things like the flaky pastries and tarts.

I haven't covered nearly enough snacks and things so I'm determined to EAT EVEN MORE NEXT TIME. So many delightful things, so little time. AND I WILL EAT AT A MOSBURGER THERE. Oh and the Lotteria too. 8D

SIGHTSEEING
Etc Etc

SHOPPING
Etc Etc

484: Ouchies

2009-07-18T04:28:03Z

I are sick and have not the proper emoticon to convey the shittiness.

I can't go to Shirley's birthday lunch thing.
I haven't finished research on Taipei.
I haven't packed.
My room=Mess again.
My Rolling Stone is STILL NOT HERE YET.
I am utterly impoverished.
Flight's at 1ish tomorrow.

And to top it all off, my throat feels like a slimy creature with claws just ravaged it.

OFFICIALLY AWAY TO TAIPEI: See you humans on the 26th.