visions of clarity...do as infinity

Friday, July 31, 2009

夜想会 VIII ～月と闇～

First examine this video:

I mean, seeing as I speak English and read katakana and all... I don't believe I saw the word "SINGAPORE" wrongly.

Especially since I'm Singaporean.

And when there's a video on the official site with "Gackt" and "Singapore" mentioned in the same video, trust me when I say my jaw dropped, my heart stopped, and I was in a TOTAL AND COMPLETE STATE OF SHOCK.

First: Why am I not a DEARS member?

Second: Why am I subject to something called school during that time?

Third: Why am I still hyperventilating at the thought of Gackt being in Singapore?

Somehow the 2 concepts don't link. I mean he chose Singapore over Spain [the original location of the trip]. What. O__O

I am in too much shock to type rationally.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Oblivious～顔のない天使～ Gackt]
[mood : SHOCK]
[food : guotie!]

Labels: Gackt

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Swing

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Robert Louis Stevenson

I wish we could swing over to wherever we want whenever we want! ^_^ Then I could escape the heat and humidity of this island...

暑い日に
ライブを見てる
暑くない

It's almost too hot to bake. X__X Thankfully, I am going to try my hand at something special soon~ ^_^

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : GACKT TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY]
[mood : 嬉しい～]
[food : anything refreshing...]

And I think my sound system is not doing justice to Gackt's concert DVDs.. (T_T)

Labels: Gackt, poem, thoughts

Sunday, July 19, 2009

シンガポールへ

お帰り～家に帰った。

毎日、日本語をしゃべられない。毎日、日本語のサインを見えない。毎日、日本料理を食べられない。

残念だけど、日本でいなかった。

今回は初めにシンガポールに帰るのはあまり嬉しくない。ウン．．．嬉しいんだけど、すごく嬉しいじゃない。日本でもっと長い間住みたい！

でも、今日本語を練習のために、本をたくさん買った。＾＿＾”　文字がたくさんある！！！頑張ります．．．

Back in Singapore again.^_^ I will update again. Erm. Soon! I just lost all the steam I had for updating because I forgot the fabulously crafted blog entry I made up while staring blankly into space in the airport...

That's what happens when you're as scatter-brained as I am.X__X

Time to work on Experiences! And slowly update this blog about Japan.xD

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Angela Aki's ANSWER Album (alliteration!)]
[mood : tired]
[food : vegetables...]

Labels: Japan, thoughts

Sunday, July 12, 2009

試験の勉強へ

明日は期末試験。そろそろ、プログラムの終わりが来た．．．残念だけど、実はこの何週間の中に、すごく楽しいことがした。

でも、試験なんて．．．

勉強しなくちゃいけないのに．．．

本当に、勉強したくない．．．Ｏｏ｡｡(￣￢￣*)

でも、仕方が無いぞ～

さぁ～頑張ります！

┗(｀･∀･´●)ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞﾙｮ

でも．．．本当に勉強したくない．．．(；´Д｀) うぅっ。。

Stuffed ourselves at our favorite~ ラーメン屋さん! ^_^ We keep going there, and we're probably the only 2 girls who keep patronising the shop... so much so that I think the workers there all recognize us!!! =X But we can't help it... It's good... ^_^" The best~ part about the shop is their 唐揚げ [karaage; Japanese fried chicken] which is fabulous. With emphasis. Haha. And I really~ like the soup they use for their ramen!!! However, the noodles aren't much to write home about [in other words, it's yummy but not eye-poppingly fabulous]. But I don't think the noodles make the ラーメン shop... Rather it's many components that form a favorite shop for all of us.^_^ On top of it being yummy, this place is pretty affordable and, extremely nearby.=D

Exam tomorrow. I don't want to study anymore!!! But... I will do my best... ^_^"

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Suddenly Gackt]
[mood : ^_^"]
[food : ラーメンと唐揚げ！～]

Liu-yi: 煎餅？本当においしい？実は、新鮮な煎餅が食べたこと無いけど、今日もちと団子を食べました！おいしい！～かしこまりました！そのコンパクトを探してみます！

Labels: edibles, Japan, Japanese Food, Japanese Lessons, ramen

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

七夕に、和菓子

Hello!~

Happy 七夕！～ (Tanabata; the star festival which has the same story as the Cowherd and Weaving Maid in Chinese legends) I hope you've made your wish today~ [And tied it to bamboo, as is the traditional Japanese way~ =)] As for me, it somehow came true when I went for the 和菓子 (wagashi; Japanese traditional sweets) making workshop today with my classmates!!~

During the 課外活動 (activities outside of class, literally) period, we zoomed down to a traditional 和菓子 shop near 三十三間堂 (Sanjusangendou; a famous temple in Kyoto that has 1000~ carved images of Kannon) by train! Everyone was pretty excited... I mean, I guess food does that to people.xD Haha...

和菓子 has dozens of forms and loads of variety - there are different seasonal 和菓子, traditional festival-related 和菓子, and so on. What we learnt were pretty much the common type of 和菓子 - although they are presented in a seasonal format, those are pretty much the standard formula which is then presented in a seasonal way. [I could be wrong about this by the way, so don't take my word for it but it's what I imagined I'd learn in a basic 和菓子 class.]

So anyway, where was I. Ah yes. 和菓子 making.=D We stepped into the 本店 (honten; main shop) of this 和菓子 place and headed into a tatami-lined room in the upper regions of the building, where we were greeted by an enthusiastic older man, his assistant, and a couple who were attending the class too. ^_^" They seemed rather surprised actually, to see this huge bunch of obviously 外人　外人 (gaijin; the not-so-polite way of saying foreigner) hunker into this serene tatami environment. And the chef was very worried that we wouldn't understand Japanese but no worries my dear sir, we do. ^_^"

He started out by demonstrating the 3 different types of 和菓子 we'd be making: アサガオ (morning glory), a maple-leaf shaped one, and one that's supposed to resemble moss. Sorry, I err can't remember the proper names of the latter two. Ahem. [They have specific names by the way, not just general names for "moss" or "maple leaf".] We made two アサガオ ones, one to eat after the class, one to bring home as お土産！～ (omiyage; a souvenir)

和菓子 is very easy to eat, just use the bamboo stick to cut and eat! But to make it requires some skill... X__X Carefully, he walked us step-by-step through the process, though we did cheat by using pre-prepared ingredients that were already portioned out nicely for us. I think creating 和菓子 from scratch is far too time-consuming and is a lot of work. The basic things you need for the 和菓子 that we made are: 白餡 (shiroan; a white bean paste), 漉し餡 (koshian; smooth red adzuki bean paste), 潰し餡) (tsubushian; mashed red adzuki bean paste), 粒餡 (tsubuan; sweetened adzuki beans), and 寒天 (kanten; a kind of jelly). Then there are the tools! And specific they are too: a cloth that has a little knot on top [used to create a pretty impression in the 和菓子], a flat paddle like bamboo tool [used to create lines in the 和菓子], sharpened chopsticks [used to pick up and place stuff], a bamboo basket netting [used to create little bits of the 白餡], and your hands!

It was a really fun hands-on, interactive experience if you ask me - and conducted entirely in Japanese with the occasional katakana English word thrown in although I'd like to note that many people in Japan use katakana English which is used like any other Japanese vocabulary word. And it was really fun to try to shape the 和菓子 in as pretty a way as possible to imitate the 和菓子 master... X__X [Total fail on the maple leaf one for me - it cracked! (T_T) Sobs...]

The hardest one was the one to imitate moss because it was so random. O__o You had to stick these little bits of 白餡 onto a ball of 潰し餡 in as pretty a way you could without squishing the whole thing.X__X

At the end of it all though, it was really fun and all of us were laughing at each other's misshapen 和菓子, or exclaiming at the perfectly shaped ones. Then we made our own 抹茶 (matcha; bitter Japanese green tea) to savor the 和菓子 with~ =D Yummy!!! I can't say it's the most delicious 和菓子 I've ever eaten but because you made it yourself, it tasted just a tad more special... ;) And with the bitterness of the tea, the sweetness of the 和菓子 was reduced by a fair bit~

Because Jeldine doesn't eat 和菓子, I am now inclined to finish all 6 of our creations which are sitting prettily in the fridge! O__o I don't know if I should happy about this... But I do know that if I eat them all at once, I will go into a severe sugar high! Haha...

And due to us rushing to the 和菓子 class after lessons, we didn't get a proper lunch - all the better to savor 焼肉食べ放題 (all-you-can-eat yakiniku or Japanese/Korean Meat Barbecue!) for dinner!!! Haha.. I ate so much that I couldn't even stand still because it was so uncomfortable.. X__X But yes, it was good~ Beams.

Randomly, I have realized that I absolutely adore the B-sides to Gackt's 4 latest singles, but find that the main singles themselves are great however ... if I had to pick, I would definitely choose the B-sides as favorites this time. ^_^" And I really like the lyrics because I somehow can finally sort-of understand! X__X I think. I've realized that lyrics are a lot deeper than they look...

I want to try my hand at my own 和菓子!!! Look out for lots of failures...

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : In Flames + Suddenly + No Reason + My Father's Day + Oblivious ~顔のない天使~ Gackt]
[mood : sleepy and annoyed at the ultra long Japanese article..]
[food : 和菓子　と　焼肉！]

liu-yi: Is there a specific size I should be looking for?

Jiamin: Yup. I don't remember Keita's birthday. Sorry. And I was wrong! Jin and Gackt are born on the same day! Haha... Isn't it Takki & Tsubasa? Oops. =S You put on weight? YAY! Good job. Please continue to do so, because despite all my confidence, Japan has food that is wayyy too good and I've definitely definitely not lost weight. (T_T) Nino is from Arashi~ =P And we should add Gackt + Jin + Keita's birthdays to our list and celebrate them too! HAHA.

Labels: Japan, Japanese Food, Japanese Lessons

Saturday, July 04, 2009

New World In The Other Side of Heaven's Door

＼（○＾ω＾○）／
~*[~Ｇａｃｋｔさん、誕生日おめでとうございます!!!~]*~
y（^ヮ^）y

I know, his new "name" is GACKT not Gackt anymore but I'm used to typing Gackt [and it looks better anyway] so... ^_^"

I went to buy the new Fool's Mate I.S. today! ^_^ He looks very good but the backgrounds are SO computer generated you can die... -_-"

Anyway, this post was merely to wish Gackt a Happy Birthday because it's been a longgg day and I'm really tired..X__X! We went to 嵐山 (Arashiyama, in the Western part of Kyoto) and walked around the whole day [Monkey Park! Temples! Pretty streets!] before heading to 三条 (Sanjyou, another part of the shopping district) for dinner and walked around even more so... X__X

疲れちゃった．．．

But yay~ Even if I didn't eat cake today, I had... erm... birthday thoughts!~ ^_^ This reminds me of the 嵐の宿題くん episode I watched.. xD Haha... Basically one guest was telling them about how his girlfriend loves Nino and so every year, they have to celebrate 3 birthdays: his birthday, her birthday, and Nino's birthday! HAHA. So cute~

Before I go, may I please note how ridiculously intimidating Japanese novels look? X__X!!! And may I also please note how fabulous customer service is in Japan? Another thing I must say is how I love Japanese skincare and makeup products but am devastated that I can't get them outside of Japan for less than a pretty penny...

(*´-ω-｀)・・・ﾌｩ
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Oblivious 〜顔のない天使〜 Gackt]
[mood : tired~]
[food : パスタ～]

Labels: Gackt, Japan, Kyoto

Thursday, July 02, 2009

三条、アゲ女、嘘だと言ってよ、ジョー！

Hello~

Today while we were walking from Shijo to Kawaramachi to Sanjo to Pontocho to Gion, we ate well, people-watched, and are now very tired.X__X!

But in the evening, we saw several maiko and geisha, as well as their less illustrious counterparts, the agejo, all heading to work/working.^_^" Many an interesting sight you can see in the evening just by walking around Kyoto's main district~

I'm pretty sure most people won't get the title of this post [do people even really notice the title usually? Hmm. I wonder... I do put thought into what to title each entry in case anyone was wondering... ._.] but if you do know Japanese, Kyoto, and a bit of pop culture [it's referencing a dorama~] then you'll get it.^_^

Anyway, since we were walking around today, we found lots of hidden shops and restaurants that are affordable and serve pretty good food that we didn't know were there before! ^_^ While I'm pleased with that, I think my wallet is currently choking from shopping too much...X__X There are sales everywhere now though because it's summer sale season!~ Well, I guess I can't help it if shopping in Japan is great... ^_^" Hehe. But YES! We found lots of 食べ放題～！！！すごくうれしいよ～楽しい行き～ [I don't even know if changing 楽しみに to 楽しい行き is right but o well..] I am looking forward to pigging out in the last week!!! =D =D =D

I really need to post photos here as well but I'm just really lazy and it's easier to upload everything to facebook so refer to that instead. ;)

After listening to and looking at the lyrics of Gackt's new single [not that new, but it's relatively new] 小悪魔へヴン, I've become very interested in the アゲ女 culture of Japan~ [A super~ popular magazine targeted at アゲ女 is actually the source of inspiration for Gackt's song title...^_^"] It's actually quite cool to see how high they can pile their hair, and how big their hair can become~ =P It's amazing... Hahaha. But the magazine was kind of creepy because they digitally enhance the girls' eyes so they have disproportionately large eyes that pop out at you. It's nice [the makeup is perfect~] but err a little creepy. X__X

Speaking of Gackt.. I was reading the latest issue of Arena 37C Special [and I actually understood most of the interview!!! SCORE!!! xD] and I DIED!! at the Engrish used. It's so hilarious, I MUST share.xD

"If you want to be love by it, let’s think in feelings that you become the dog and a cat."

"For you to do travelling first is to opposite sex."

And I think that they actually believe it's all correct because these phrases are splashed over every page of the Gackt photospread. Omg. xD xD xD

When thinking about the fact that we only have about a week left here, I'm really sad.=(( But in a way it's good because contrary to my initial expectations, the portions here aren't that tiny and because the food is so good, we keep eating... X__X!!! Sadly though, there's a lot more I want to learn about this country [I think I should learn to focus those energies toward my own country.. Hmm..] and it's culture, it's food, etc. (T_T) Sad...

I'm looking forward to 食べ放題！～ I will starve for lunch for that...xD

*-[2 days to Gackt's Birthday!~]-*

And wasn't this a totally random post? Hmm.

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : モザイクカケラ SunSet Swish]
[mood : tired but ^_^]
[food : 釜揚げうどん、いちごシューパフェ、豆乳ドーナツ、午後の紅茶！]

Liu-yi: でも、日本料理が本当においし過ぎる～困っているよ！！

Sam: Haha I tried them before no worries.=P And Hokkaido is so far away from me!!!

Jiamin: I've been trying to find stuff for you but you're now so skinny I don't even know your size...-_-" But isn't it amazing that I can find clothes in Japan??? HAHA. I'm shocked.. =S And since when was Jin's birthday on the 4 of July?! -_-" I am devastated by you. Tsk. PS: It's just Keita's hair.. I saw their latest single advert and he looks ok except for his hair. Which I don't like. And that's the closest I've gotten to finding Keita..X__X! My friend went for a Takki concert though. Does that help? Hahaha.

Labels: Japan, Japanese Food, Kyoto

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