Life up to July

Laziness apart from being actually busy with university exams and assignments are my reasons for not updating on my life (not that anyone would be particularly interested). Just most of my assignment due dates, presentations, final submissions, and final exams were more or less stuffed into one ridiculously tiny time-frame. Not that I'm alone on this. =P

One could probably roughly track my life if they follow me on Instagram (*hint hint*). ANYWAYS, start of July was pretty much not sleeping for days in a row and surviving on coffee and tea. And yeah, basically a post of random stuff thrown together *confetti!!!*

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I worked at a parenting fair at Mid Valley (parents, parents-to-be, people who know the previous two might know of this event) for Pureen, and despite the flattened foot soles and aching muscles from standing all day, I had great reason to act like a cooing pedophile at kids with cheeks that make you wanna just melt.

MOCHI!!! Tried edamame (actually wanted black sesame), double chocolate, strawberry love, jungle banana, and green tea~

Speaking of cheeks, ever seen/heard of Akachan no Hoppe? If you follow Jinnyboy's Instagram, you might have seen him indulging in one. Akachan no Hoppe means "baby's cheeks" in Japanese, and is a mochi store (similar to Mochi Sweets) that just opened at Mid Valley (opposite Muji and World of Feng Shui) not too long ago.

I splurged (MYR19) on 5 pieces of mochi from there, and they were delicious to say the least. However, I do have a biased preference for Japanese food, so you might disagree with me. Whatever floats your boat, mate!

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Some time later, I went out on a (somewhat) last-minute movie date with friends from university to watch Pacific Rim. I would describe the movie as a cross between Real Steel and Battleship, and some friends also described it as a more stylish CG-fied version of Ultraman, Pokemon, and Digimon. I loved that Ron Perlman was in the movie, though.

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Baking turned out to be fun =D

It's been quite a while since I've done actual baking, and I forgot about the vanilla essence AGAIN. The final product was good though, given that it had ice cream sandwiched in it. It was 4 cupcakes (with ice cream) for dinner that day. =P

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I Love You (a mixture of Sprite, juice, and something else), and a heavenly garlic cheese naan.

Friends took me out for my first time at Murni for a midnight snack. I haven't been to a lot of places, so don't judge. =P Had a delicious garlic cheese naan and I Love You~

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From left: all our BBQ ingredients; chicken wings, chicken cheese franks, and white mushrooms; potatoes, otak-otak from Muar, and BACON!

On a certain Monday, friends took me out for a biking trip at the Botanical Garden in Putrajaya, before a planned BBQ night. Yeah, my "amazing fall" LOL. We continued with the BBQ anyway, with me bandaged everywhere. My favorites of the night were the mushrooms (mushroom freak LOL) and the last-minute-marinaded chicken wings~

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Note the small pile of sambal clams at the bottom right corner of the styrofoam box.

My younger sister was sweet enough to get me some delicious rice from her school the next day. It was supposed to be clam rice, but due to the accident... she was worried of infections, so she got me fried chicken rice instead of clams, BUT included 5 tiny clams so that I got a taste. *touched*

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Fast forward to Sunday (before my sister and mum went to Bangkok), I finally met up with my best girls. You don't often stay best friends with people you've known for over 10 years. We went for vegetarian food, and then pretzels, and it really amazed me how much we've changed and not changed.

SRSLY?!

Before going for lunch, we browsed around in Popular Bookstore. I got myself the entire Slam Dunk series with the movie included, but the thing that really grinds me gears is that I found the Saiyuki box set - all three i.e. Gensomaden Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload, and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock - for MYR29.90. And this was just after I got Gensomaden Saiyuki at MYR39.90. Rawr.

These are Malaysians. Note the metallic sign right in the middle of the picture.

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Will update about my Bangkok haul in a separate post~ =D

Music favorites + new discoveries

To say that music defines my life is kind of an understatement. I'll listen to anything that sounds good - from classical, opera, to techno, and hard metal (usually my foremost preference). But then again, if you look around, "music defines my life" would be more applicable to those who really live with music, for the music. I am merely another person on earth who listens to music. =)

So, here are a few of my favorites, especially in the past month or so.



RELENT You Still Love
I've been listening to this since I started volunteering for CYW. I could safely say RELENT is the only local band that I actually like. This would be a song that I might have performed at my wedding (if it ever happens), and the band members are really friendly, especially vocalist Neil, and percussionist Cuzario. =D

曲婉婷 我的歌声里 (Qu Wan Ting You Exist in My Song)
I think in the later part of 2012, this was the hit song in Malaysian. Performed by Malaysian Wanting, the song has been voted for over and over again on various music stations (I listen to OneFM). It's a song Jasmine and I like to sing along to.

Rie Tanaka Ningyo Hime (Mermaid Princess) [Chobits ED2]
This used to voice my feelings so much - of clinging to every strand left, never letting go. Although those thoughts are pretty much behind me, it's a song I like to sing along to. Romanji lyrics and translation here.

the GazettE PLEDGE

Emotional, intense, and the lyrics are just beautiful. The guitars, the bass, the drums, Ruki's voice - every emotion screamed from this song... Romanji lyrics everywhere, and the translation here.

Roxette Listen to Your Heart
I have a soft spot for love songs with a touch of rock, like this song here. My sister and I used to put it on replay while playing MapleSEA.

Tainaka Sachi Saikou no Kataomoi [Saiunkoku Monogatari ED]
Another anime song. It's impossible to be addicted to anime while not getting addicted to their songs. Modern Japanese songs have almost always stood out from the crowd for me, and this is just one of the songs that I used to hate ('cause I couldn't reach the high notes), but came to love slowly.

Utada Hikaru First Love
According to my friends, this was THE hit song when we were in primary school. The thing is, my first Hikki song was Flavor of Life, and I didn't hear of First Love until only recently. In primary school, I was following the trend, listening to Britney, Avril, and some Taiwanese pop groups. Now it's a song I sing to annoy my sister. =D

Jade from SWEETBOX 1000 Words [Final Fantasy X-2 soundtrack]
No person can be qualified as an FF fan if they don't know this song. This was THE song when I was in my early years of secondary school, just when I started discovering Gackt, hyde (and subsequently L'Arc~en~Ciel), Miyavi, and the GazettE, followed by many other visual bands.

The lyrics of this song are just beautiful:

Oh, a thousand words
Called out through the ages
They'll fly to you
Even though I can't see
I know they're reaching you
Suspended on silver wings

If you listened to the song while actually playing the video game, I can guarantee that you'll need tissues to try your tears.


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Now for some new discoveries. Lately I haven't really been musically adventurous, playing the few songs above again and again and again, without really getting tired of them. Just a few days ago, though, I decided to try out some new music.

Guns N' Roses November Rain
I have a guy on my Facebook friends list called November Rain, and I have a few friends who are rock enthusiasts. I was listening to songs like Hotel California and Every Breath You Take, and found this on the suggestions box. I told myself, why not? I am now officially completely awed by Slash's badass-ness.

Davide Sonar Natural
I'll be honest. I've never really liked techno until I started listening to J-rock. I'm not a party person (even if I wanted to), but I like songs with a beat. In a way, I came across this by accident, and it just totally blew my mind. My first dose of Italian hardstyle, and I'm lovin' it!




Davide Sonar Dedication
You can rest assured that this will be only music in my room for the next week or so. I'll have it on replay until my ears burst from an overload of auditory orgasms.


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I know. The video has been under editing for more than two weeks already. I'm trying really hard not to rip my hair out, because the software I'm using to edit the video now stalls a few seconds every time I do something.

Studying woes

I tend to do last-minute studies, because I'm the kind of person who forgets easily. And I always get a mild case of bipolar syndrome when I study - I either become temporarily anorexic, or I become a binge eater.


My studies usually commence at night, sometimes leaving me with only a couple hours to sleep, sometimes none at all. Surprising, I manage to stay awake during the entire course of the exam the next day.


About the bipolar syndrome. I either alternate my time I use to study between one or half a chapter (depending on how long that chapter is) and a couple of games. Usually Temple Run, and recently TripleTown and Fruit Ninja HD. During this time, I don't eat, and don't usually feel hungry at all.


Other than that, it's the complete opposite - my stomach growls even if I had just eaten a half hour ago. Unfortunately, these few exams I've become the binge eater. The amount of carbohydrates, sodium, caffeine, sugar, and dairy I've consumed today would have been enough to fuel me for an entire month when I was in high school.


Festivities always mean good food, and I've gotten less motivated to go all the way to campus for an hour's session in the gym. And since my music player refuses to cooperate with me, I'm left listening to the rather shitty music in the gym, which isn't motivational at all. Men singing in deep voices in a language I do not understand completely, backed by powerful electric guitar, bass, and drum sounds are much more motivating to me than "she sounds like sex on the radio".




I mean, which is more awesome: feeling like an action star on a treadmill with epic rock/metal music, or "I wanna make you sweat"? I, personally, would choose the former. Even Saiyuki Reload Gunlock's Wild Rock by buzzlip is now a very normal song for me, since most of the music I listen to are along those lines.


Anyhow, I told myself I'd start studying yesterday. And I did - one miserable, boring chapter. I'm sorry, but business and management just isn't my thing. I have 7 more chapters to go, and less than 12 hours. This means more iced coffee in a purple bottle.

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I plan to film my next video this coming Saturday, while I'm outstation. Trips to Singapore usually means going out to shop in the day, then going out for dinner at night - perfect for the day-to-night concept. And the place I'm staying in has bright, white light in the rooms, so it'll be more ideal for filming. =P


Here's a song I've been particularly favoring today~ The single version has cello and violin backgrounds~



Angela Aki has always been one of my favorite J-pop musicians, noticed for her piano playing. Her voice is very soothing for me. I'm sure you're quite familiar with Final Fantasy XII's Kiss Me Goodbye - that was my first Angela Aki song. Sakurairo (color of cherry blossom) is one of the songs I love, especially when I'm in a mellow mood~

First for 2013!

Oh, what bollocks is this? A sudden, random exam in the middle of my beautiful holiday? It's an outrage! This is so preposterous that I can't even.

But then again it is 2013. I never really contemplated the fact that the world would have ended on 21.12.2012, despite watching the movies, and scaring myself with theories about Mother Nature turning cruel just before the world ends. I guess the Mayans just decided to stop carving that calendar. =D

And just BECAUSE it's 2013, I should stay positive. One of my resolutions this year is to live by Timone and Pumba's principle to life - hakuna matata, it means no worries. I'm not a worry bug by nature, but sometimes the past just decides to show up for no bloody reason and beats the crap out of your good mood. Positiveness breeds more positiveness, so I'll try to keep that in mind as well, in hopes that those bad memories will be blotted out for good, leaving the nice ones behind~

I initially planned to make the first blog post of 2013 an epic one, since everyone is posting "first *insert name here* of 2013" stuff all over the place, but my urge to rant on my blog overwhelmed me, once again.

Up until now, this awesome purple blog has 16 followers. I've been blogging for about 5 years, so we'll roughly estimate that I gained about 3-4 followers in a year. The weird thing is, there are other blogs out there which are younger than Chronicles of Chean, but has many more views and followers.

I've done a teeny bit of observation, and I noticed that other blogs like Little Miss Smexy and Sugar Coated Muffin (both whom I know personally) get more views because they do reviews, and get sponsored, and are more active on Nuffnang (I think). Also, my ratio of text to images/videos are like 9:1. I'm studying mass communications, for God's sake! I should know about audience psychology!

Another resolution - blog less about feelings and such (I've been blogging A LOT of negative stuff in 2012), and more on *ahem* more commercialized stuff without losing the Chean touch~ Because in order to attract audiences, you must make the content appealing to them, no? =D

And hopefully, get a camera of my own! I used to rely on my Nokia C6-00's camera, which took pretty decent photos, despite only being 5 megapixels. But now the touchscreen is unfunctional (thank you for my QWERTY keyboard), at even the slightest low light situations, it'll flash.

I've been relying on friends' and families' mobile phones to take pictures for quite some time, if I don't have the Lumia camera with me. Which reminds me that I have to find out what the hell is going on with my MP4 player - I CAN'T WORK AN HOUR AT THE GYM WITHOUT J-ROCK THUMPING IN MY EARS!

Anyways, my "new year rant" is done. I shall now share with you one of my current favorite songs~ It's the ending theme for Saiunkoku Monogatari (Colorcloud Palace)~ Lyrics can be found here.

Comic Fiesta 2012 (Day 2)

23rd DECEMBER 2012

Since last year's Comic Fiesta ended, I've been planning to attend this year's CF. This time, equipped with a proper camera, and theme-appropriate attire~

At the end of the day, after having a super satisfying dinner at MAIU~ The fabric florette clip was from Bangkok.

I got a yukata a while back, before Bon Odori, when Jusco was having a sale for them. I gave it a test run the previous night, and wore it to CF2012! I pulled my hair into a high bun, accessorized it with a beige flower; used eyelid tape on both eyes, with regular winged liner, red lips, and demi lashes; but I neither had geta (Japanese clogs), nor those cute pouches that anime girls carry when wearing yukata, so I just made do with my huge-ass magenta bag, and grey flats.


I shall skip the mundane drone of telling you how I got there and just cut to the chase! The ticket queue was LONG - it went winding around the hall, but the line was constantly moving, so the wait wasn't too long. Before we knew it, we had our tickets, and had a fun time observing and identifying the cosplayers and their characters!


We put on our wristband tickets and headed into the next hall, where all the fun was, and that was where our fun officially started! Oh, yes, the people who went with me - Ken Min and Kah Yeng. Both whom I've known since primary school!

Culture Japan booth. Danny Choo appeared a little later during the day~ The photo of him is with Ken Min.

The corridor to the main hall was filled with prepping cosplayers, so we took our time strolling through. The first part of the main event hall that you enter is the exhibitors' booths, the first two being super dominant - Danny Choo's Culture Japan, and Good Smile Company (reminds me of PSCompany).

Lots of Miku merchandise and cosplayers throughout the whole event (even one of my juniors cosplayed as Miku). There were also giant leek plushies for sale - SO TEMPTING!!!

We just spent the day browsing, gawking at cosplayers, discussing among ourselves, looking at the merchandises sold at both the exhibitors' booths, as well as the creative market, where creative people sell their wares. There was a lot of on-the-spot sketching and drawing, which made me so jelly that I'm not blessed with beautiful art skills!


Describing the entire day would be futile, because it would turn out to be a very long blog post, so I'll let the photos and their captions do the talking~ =D

The first cosplayer who made our jaws drop - the awesomeness of her entire outfit, plus the props!

Favorite cosplayer of the day: Soushi Miketsukami from Inu x Boku SS. His make-up was beautiful, and kept his composure so well~

Quite a number of people cosplayed Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, but more people cosplayed Kirito from Sword Art Online. There were about 15 Kirito cosplayers.

American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns.

Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians.

Xinyi cosplaying as Grand Archer (Rena) from Elsword.

Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children & Dirge of Cerberus.

The only thing I know is that he's a character from Naruto. Ken Min says he's Kakashi Hatake, though.

More photos here~

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Ken Min, Kah Yeng, and I. We weren't really close in primary school, but we had a lot of fun gawking at cosplayers!

In between, we had lunch at Killiney Kopitiam, which wasn't a really good choice, given the quality of the service and food (portions equal to price, though, somewhat). I remembered that Xinyi sent me a link of a planned GazettE cosplay collab forum, so for the entire day, I was looking out for any sign of Reita or Ruki, because they have the most prominent cosmetic features in the group.


There were like, so many memories which surged through my mind, but it was promptly pushed out by constantly incoming new and interesting information. Last year, I found some J-rock artists' illustrations for sale at the creative market, but this year, I didn't see a speck of J-rock or visual kei anywhere.


The thing that really made my day was the thing that I didn't expect the most (that's usually the case for most people, though). I went there with a fully charged camera (it died on me 2/3 of the way through the event, then I used Ken Min's phone for photos after that) with the objective of getting as many pictures as possible.


Instead, a few times, some people stopped me halfway through my browsing to ask for a picture. If that wasn't good enough for me, a group of very professional-looking guys called me over for a super-mini-shoot after they had finished photographing another cosplayer. There were like 4-5 giant DSLRs, and a short stream of digital and mobile cameras in front of me.


It was awkward, yet, in a way, satisfying. No, I wasn't cosplaying, which was what my mum told my dad. I just wore a yukata to an awesome ACG event. The photography guys even asked me to pose, all the while talking to each other. At one point I caught (in Cantonese): "her eyes are so beautiful". BLUSH MAX WEI!


There was also a Chobits Freya cosplayer who asked me to take a photo with him. I wonder if I will ever see those photos... I'd appreciate it if anyone could give me a link to any galleries with any photos from Comic Fiesta 2012~ Arigatou!


UPDATE:

Forgot to post up photos of the stuff I got~

All these came in the goodie bag given to us when we bought the tickets~ A Vanguard leaflet, a postcard from Hotlink promoting Super Star Live, as well as a booklet, and the Comic Fiesta Event Survival Guide!

Ever since I got my car, I've been searching high and low for various windshield stickers, and I got this one from one of the Creative Art Market booths for RM8~

Light brown furry hat with ears~ RM30 from Nozomi Enterprise~ I bloody love this hat! I shall wear this to the first day of semester 3!!!