must love rainbows

メリークリスマス〜！

02 Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Corrinne May

Merry Christmas & belated Happy Aibamas~!

to my vox neighbours, friends and family (:

Recently, well, this year I got more attached to this Christmas song sung by Corrinne May. Her arrangement and vocals are soothing. I remember reading somewhere once that Aiba-chan used to listen to Corrinne May. I'm not sure about now but I was really happy to find out anyway (:

*incoherent babble* <3

I'm Yours(ukulele)

TOTALLY. MADE. MY. DAY. :D

He also did a cover of Obladi Oblada. Haha he's just too cute! He looks so happy performing, especially in the video of his original tune Ma-i-na-ku-ma-na

ukulele ma-i-na-ku-ma-na

ukulele the beatles - obladi oblada

A・RA・SHI

You are my SOUL! SOUL!　いつもすぐそばにある

ゆずれないよ　誰もじゃまできない

体中に風を集めて　巻きおこせ

A・RA・SHI

A・RA・SHI for dream

嵐、十周年おめでとう。

「今がある、胸を張れる。。。これからもありがとう。」

On Love, In Sadness

On Love, In Sadness

Jason Mraz

Sing about that oh love it's brittle madness, I sing about it in all my sadness

Not falsified to say that I've found God so

Inevitably well it still exists

Pale and fine I can't dismiss

And I won't resist and if I die, well, at least I tried

The latest song I'm hooked onto. A little gem hidden behind 8 tracks in Waiting For My Rocket To Come. Strangely the slightly sad lyrics paired with the upbeat tune reminds me of (500) Days of Summer. In the same way, the movie is funny but sad too. The song would be nice in the soundtrack if it wasn't so indie. Then again, a song in Mraz's first major record label album isn't very mainstream either, haha.

I watched Paper Heart yesterday - another movie about love XD I didn't like it as much as I thought I would because when I first knew about it I loved the concept of it. But while watching I realized I liked the documentary part of the show better than the fictionalized bits and in my opinion they could have shown more docu than fiction.

Still the documentary part is touching and real with a bit of humour because they used puppets to illustrate the true stories told by people they've interviewed.

Sydney / Adelaide Part IV

Day 4

Started the day late (: Went to the city and did some shopping before meeting my tour guide - Destination: Adelaide Central Market!

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GQ

JAP & QLD Pumpkin

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Lana Lang Shoes

I love fresh produce markets as well! Just the food, the vibrant colours...everything looked so yummy!

From left: GQ reminds me of GQ Men of the Year which in turn reminds me of Jun ^^; Jap & Queensland pumpkins but at first I thought the sign read Jap and Old XD; besides fresh fruits and veggies; and Lana Lang Shoes!

Carrots <3

Red-tipped Bananas?

I'm a carrot lover and gosh do those carrots look sweet and juicy! I was actually sad that I won't get to taste such fat, juicy carrots.

And I'm really curious about the red-tipped bananas. I mean, it's not actually naturally red but why would they paint the tips red? :s

They also sold books and whole pies that were pretty cheap. I would love to go to markets like this everyday! :D

it has little blue bits!

Blue Mountain tea which was very pretty! I bought some because I was curious about what it would taste like. It's a mild tea but sweet-smelling. I've got a pretty good idea what to do with it now (besides drinking it, I mean).

The Yoghurt Shop's

Cannoli

Hot Chocolate Shot Glass

We couldn't leave the Market without eating so we had some yoghurt. It was seriously yummy <3 They had original classic, low fat and I think one with reduced sugar and we could choose any toppings to go with it like mango puree, crumble, nuts, etc...

The surprising thing for me really was no matter how many toppings you picked, the price stayed the same. It's different from Yami Yoghurt here. If yoghurt snacks were more affordable, I'd have them all day over ice-cream <3 Anyway, I had mine with strawberry puree because the strawberry puree looked so awesome! We tried a Cannoli as well.

Ooh and Crys brought me to this shop that sold hot chocolate shots. I didn't get any but Crys did, except she took the cup version and it smelt really rich and heavenly.

Next stop, Antique Market!

Antique Market

They sold and bought antiques and the store is HUGE. It may look like some ordinary-sized shop outside, but it's really huge inside.

Antique Market's tiny store front

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And they had an entire floor for vintage clothing, bags, shoes and other accessories. Plus some vintage-y luggage bags at decent prices, considering their age.

They even had lots of wedding dresses or evening dresses and we joked about getting De one for Halloween so she could dress up as a runaway bride because she would suit the part XD

I tried on a pair of Sass & Bide jeans which fit me perfectly. But I chose to get a bag for De instead because I didn't want to spend so much money in one place.

HMV

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Star Wars Game

Really old and cool - His Master's Voice!

And OMG STAR WARS BOARD GAME!! It was in French I think and it's got something to do with Death Star.

Why would you not want your Star Wars game?!

We went to Henley Beach after that because Crys wanted to bring me to a beach with nicer waters than Glenelg. But Henley Beach was so beautiful, it deserves another post all by itself <3

 

Sydney / Adelaide Part III

Watching My Girl as I write this - ahhhh I like it very much! Have to see how it goes but I love the chemistry between Masamune-kun and Koharu-chan!

Day 3

Woke up later than we wanted to, so we walked 5 bus stops down to a cafe called Jenny's Lunch & Gourmet and had breakfast! I can't remember the two pastries we had but I know one had pumpkin in it and it was really delicious. I also had their ice coffee which is another "pride of Adelaide" I was told XD

I spent most of this day by myself. It was quite a lazy day shopping at Harbour Town, something like a shopping mall made up of brand outlets. I didn't get much but I did walk around a lot. There was a guy there who totally made my day because he just talked to me and wished me a great stay in Adelaide. So nice :)

Went back and checked into my motel.

Welcome Inn

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I took some photos of the area I live in because it was really pretty! I had some time to spare before dinner and the sun was setting - gorgeous light!

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I found it quite amusing and interesting, that this was how they sold cars!

Vacancy?

The night before, Crystal was scaring me with all the scary stories and movies regarding motels XD About how unsafe it would be and when we walked past this one on the way to my motel, she said this one really reminded her of Vacancy, the movie with Kate Beckinsale, which of course is about killers at motels =.=

Dinner was at Cha-Chi's, a Mexican restaurant in the area. They had all-you-can-eat buffet on Mondays. We went for that, but realized it was just a booth where a chef will prepare either nachos, tacos or burritos. Our choice is between chicken and beef, I think, and whether we'd like it nachos, tacos or burritos. Oh we can go back and ask for more helpings. But everything has the same ingredients, like the guacamole and bean sauce XD

Oh I had internet connection that night! It surprised my dad,that my 3-and-a-half star motel is a wireless hotspot whereas Holiday Inn charged for internet. Glorious Internet! The night was super cold and my motel doesn't provide a heater but the internet made up for it :D

 

Sydney/Adelaide Part I

Since I got up early today, I decided not to procrastinate anymore (aka watching Rent stuff) and start blogging about my Sydney/Adelaide trip!

Pre-Day 1

The flight was pretty memorable; it was my first time on the airbus A380 and my dad chose seats from the upper deck. Our seats were at the last row and I was disturbed throughout the flight because people were using the toilets and it was noisy :s

It was okay, though. Because I watched two movies: The Proposal, followed by State of Play. And during The Proposal I totally fell for Ryan Reynolds :D It's the first movie of him I've watched with him in a lead role (I have no recollection of him in Harold & Kumar). The mistake I made was to watch State of Play after it - my eyes were already bursting from being so tired, but I pressed on because I've been wanting to watch this movie.. In front of my eyes it was Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, but in my mind it was Ryan Reynolds, lol.

Day 1

Arrived in Sydney at close to 6am with no sleep because I couldn't fall asleep with an already whacked-out biological clock. We met up with my dad's colleague from Philippines and then were driven to the hotel their company had arranged for them to stay in at North Ryde.

Travelodge

I was actually staying a night for free and I felt bad about it.

Anyway, when we dropped off our bags, all I wanted to do was get some sleep. But because I was pestering my dad to go explore Sydney (my only full Saturday), we travelled to the CBD area. I should have thought about how I'd feel after missing a night's sleep =.=

We took some time trying to figure the train system. Whoa I found it confusing, but my dad said it was easier than Tokyo's. I disagree, though. I find Tokyo's far easier to grasp but I'm not sure if it's because of learning the language.

First thing bought in Sydney: latte..yum

First market on my list of markets: Balmain Market! We took a train to Circular Quay and then a ferry from there to East Balmain.

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East Balmain is beautiful! That's when I start to use my camera more frequently and properly. I love the look of the streets and this is probably my favourite of the places we went to in Sydney. The hills slope up and remind me of Kagurazaka.

East Balmain

Balmain Market

I didn't buy much at Balmain Market or touch much, actually. I just walked around and looked. It's quite a small and quiet market.

I was so shy I didn't even dare to pull out my camera in the market.

I was feeling very odd throughout the first day, actually. It had been about 5 or 6 years since I visited an English-speaking country and being in Sydney for the first time just threw my mind into a boggle. I felt very conscious of myself and particularly conscious of my dad's Singlish. He tends to get himself into situations where people misunderstand him because of the way he speaks (he did this in Tokyo once and messed up the dinner bill).

One of the cutest things I saw on the way to the market was at a bus stop: 

Lost Your Ipod?

I love these little things <3  I'd never be able to see such things over here. When I went over to Adelaide, Crystal told me that I should have gone to Adriano Zumbo's cafe at Balmain. I didn't know of Adriano Zumbo until she told me, oh well. Though I felt tempted to go back there when I returned to Sydney because I really liked the area.

We headed back to Circular Quay via ferry and had lunch at one of the cafes. I had fish & chips o.O.. Okay I forgot I had fish & chips until I wrote that XDD and I was very full because the portions are really huge! After lunch my dad said he was too tired and needed to go back to the hotel and rest. I didn't mind until his colleague Olive decided to follow me to wherever I wanted to go.

It's not that I don't like her, it's just that I don't know her very well...but it wasn't that awkward because she was very friendly :) But I did feel even more whacked-out than I already was.

Next market: Glebe Market!

Outside Glebe Market

Glebe Market is huge... and I think we spent some time there just walking around. I did buy some hand-made accessories there.

at Glebe Market

Glebe Market

It was like heaven for me, really XD I noticed there were people sitting around drinking chai, and there was live music. I really like Glebe Market and I'd love to go back there someday and explore it all over again. I kept thinking and wishing my sister was with me because we'd have so much fun there.

By the time we left Glebe Market, it was about 3pm. I wanted to walk around Glebe more but I felt bad to make Olive walk with me. She must have been tired from so much travelling (she flew to Sydney via transit at Singapore), so we went back to the hotel

Wicked!

I like to try taking buses when I'm visiting a place, maybe I like it a bit more than trains ^^ And I spotted Wicked! I didn't know it was in Sydney.. I would have gone for it if I knew they were playing.

Leaving it at this point because I think it's such a long post and I'm exhausted too (:

 

Nailed It!

From the stash from Adelaide:

Nail It!

I was absolutely pleased to find such wonderful colours at Sportsgirl. I can't seem to find a nice green over here that doesn't have a pearly sheen or glitter specks or just looks too yellow (besides OPI but I can't spend 20 bucks a bottle because my money is clearly needed elsewhere XP). The same goes for the shades of blue; I thought I'd have to make do with dark blue but I've found Blue Lagoon and Oasis Green!

I took a long time deciding which colours to get because there were too many awesome matte colours! So anyway now with blue, green and Grape I've completed my search for Arashi nail colours :D Will paint my nails in those colours soon, whee~

Grape does remind me of Ooze - you know, Ivan Ooze's purple goo from the first Power Rangers' movie?

On the edge of perpetual disaster, but

I'm back :D and I've been sorting and resizing photos... came across one I took at Sydney Writers Walk which reminded me of the movie I've just watched recently (Definitely, Maybe):

James A. Michener

The "half-assed way" of surviving reminds me of the main character Will Hayes in Definitely, Maybe. He was a mess in the past and his love life was such a mess too.

One of my favourite quotes from the movie (which I'd put in twitter immediately so that I wouldn't forget) was one from his daughter played by Abigail Breslin. It goes:

"Dad I can't believe you smoked, and drank, and was such a slut. But I still love you."

The (very) Long Way Down

I've just finished reading Long Way Down and I am exhausted from all that reading. I certainly took my time with it, though. On one side it was great reading about their journey through and experiences in all the different countries, especially the UNICEF, Riders for Health trips for raising awareness. On the other, it was an exhausting read, country after country, border after border.

Maybe it's because I couldn't see the gorgeous scenery for myself. But I think they're really amazing to have done this, and Long Way Round too. I haven't had the chance to get my hands on Long Way Round but that's definitely on the reading list.

Although it was a book as long as it's journey, it was entertaining because sometimes those two write funnily and threw mock insults at each other. Early on in the book, especially, I loved it when Charley keeps calling Ewan Star Wars-related names. They even got to visit the Star Wars set! I am a mild Star Wars fan. I don't follow the whole thing a lot, especially after Anakin Skywalker came into the picture; I'm more like a Obi-Wan & Qui-Gon fan because I read the Jedi Apprentice series in primary school.

Apparently there's going to be another journey called Long Way To Go which Ewan has said on Facebook will take place next year in May or June...so I'm hoping to follow that as best as I can! :D

Speaking of travelling, 2 more days till I leave for Sydney / Adelaide!! It turns out I'll be having quite little time in Sydney, actually. I'm rather sad about that, but I'll try to squeeze in as much as I can. Feeling very fortunate that I'm able to get away for awhile, just like I secretly wished for when the exams were approaching.