Random Thoughts: The Return

[flowersofnight]

I wonder if the Illuminati extras put that video on their resumes.

Probably not, there are plenty of other ways you can brag about getting naked for Gackt

 

[sanctum]

Or a Where Are They now feature with the kids from Le Ceil and Beast of Blood

Heaven, Bathtub.

 

[faith]

Oh so...actually....any chance that you'll scan some of those never before seen clippings?
I'd translate some to return the kindness if you did, as soon as work slows down.

Although Google seems to think that they have a good enough machine translator that human translation will soon no longer be necessary.
I'm looking forward to using it to translate Kozi's blog. I'm sure it'll do a great job.

I know that feel hahaha, congrats!

I don't...
But suffice to say that if I ever got restricted access to anything, it would be used for hunting pokemon.

Speaking of, I know no one plays, but they changed the algorithms yesterday and there were TOO MANY pokemons.
I was so overwhelmed that I went home and didn't catch 'em all.
♪pokemon....♪

 

[sanctum]

Oh so...actually....any chance that you'll scan some of those never before seen clippings?
I'd translate some to return the kindness if you did, as soon as work slows down.

I do indeed plan on scanning all of them! I just need to sit down and look at them all first!

Speaking of, I know no one plays, but they changed the algorithms yesterday and there were TOO MANY pokemons.
I was so overwhelmed that I went home and didn't catch 'em all.
♪pokemon....♪

I feel like I'm the only person not playing it... If only it was out on Windows Phone!

Today I went into the city and while catching the bus from one part to another, there was this very little girl sitting behind me with her father, he was taking her out and about for the day to catch Pokémon, she was so hype when she found there was a Vulpix nearby and they got off the bus very quickly!

It was too cute, I could not handle.

 

[PureElegance]

In the long run, we all are.
- J. M. Keynes

#deep #inspiration #quotes #blessed

You know he was a good friend of Leonard and Virginia Woolf? WOOLF CONNECTIONS.

I want to go to the Zhujiajiao Watertown this upcoming vacation week, but I feel like everyone's SLOWING ME DOWN XD I planned to go with Simona, but now she's saying "maybe" we can go next Monday instead of this weekend. I mentioned to two other people, Laura and Reshab, I wouldn't mind going to Suzhou this week and they said they want to go too, that I should wait because they want to go "some other weekend" with ME. Same for Disney. Simona and I wanted to go to Disney like two weeks ago, but Anezka said maybe, she'll think about it. Now I know I want to go, but Simona said it might be too crowded this weekend so maybe we can go another weekend.

Then I wonder why the hell I’m even thinking about waiting after this week XD WHAT AM I DOING.

I don't care if I go to any of these places on my own (even multiple times) because I know I'll have a wonderful time XD I wouldn't even mind getting my own tour guide for the watertown tour or other places. I just really miss the Watertown! I guess I feel like I was trying to be nice and "make friends," but it seems like people keep putting things off for one reason or another. Possibility of crowds, tiredness, getting up in the late afternoon because of partying the night before (which they still do every night), "maybe another Monday," etc. I think a little group is going to Huangshan and I might join them, but that's only for a couple of days and I want to make the most of the rest of my time. Or maybe I'm the weirdo here. Either way I don't like waiting for people like this when I want to just go for it. Sooooo I'm thinking of just going for it.

Anyway, I’m going to get ready for the “Night of Shorts” film festival soon (GOD I’M A NERD), but yesterday at the special needs home I had a really great time. I arrived late because I got lost, as my internet was going spotty and I didn't know the area, but I ended up playing games with a woman who was mute and she kept beating me at the sticks game. She's so skilled at it, eep. They let them have free haircuts and showers too.

Some of them actually do the cooking and they made 40 plates to serve everyone who came. It looked absolutely delicious and I can't wait to help cook next time! ^__^ I served the plates and chopsticks and I was so excited doing that! I was all, “Can I serve the plates?!”

Gerie, (I think people call him Patrick), is from Belgium and he's the executive director of the organization now. He was very nice! He’s been in China for 19 years and I said he must have seen a lot. He originally came to study Chinese and ended up staying forever.

Then they actually invited me to have lunch with them, and they cooked that lunch too! @__@ As they were cooking, I noticed they had a little thrift shop and I started looking through the clothing. Shelly, the only other female helper, had some sort of birth defect, but I can’t place it. Anyway, she somehow knew so much English and she helped me try on dresses by zipping up the back.

I bought two gorgeous dresses, one black lacy dress with a collar and a cream one reminiscent of the 1960s, and a lovely black frilly cape that went down to my elbows. My dad said those dresses and the cape were totally my style, and I know! So I went to pay and the other head, whose name I don’t know, kept giving me back some of my money. I didn’t understand why so I kept giving it back to him, just to have it returned to me. So another helper came out and said they were giving me a discount, and that was so nice!

Lunch was ready and I sat down next to Patrick and told him about my purchases. He said I’ve tripled their sales, aw! The food was delicious, they made vegetables and meat and fish, and we sat around the table talking. They were all very nice to me and I have to say I really enjoyed my time there. Patrick and one helper needed to go to the subway and so they walked me over there, showing me what the way was. It seems so easy now.

God the “Origins of Chinese Literature” comic book is so good…

 

[sanctum]

Slowly going through and putting all these clippings into some clear files that I bought from Daiso the other day, there is some cool stuff in here! Some of you may have seen them already but some are new to me! A lot of it seems like pretty standard stuff so far, but I just came across one called 'Gallery of Malice Mizer', where they show off some artwork each member did.

I'm looking forward to scanning these in soon!

By the way, speaking of organising clippings, how do you guys do yours? My western brain just instinctively started putting them in left-to-right, but I realised that Japanese magazines do the right-to-left thing, so some of the two-page spreads are backwards (not a huge deal I guess, but I'm thinking of starting over, scanning the articles and then putting them into the folder (rather than sorting everything, then scanning it later).

Actually that said, a lot of this is all over the place date-wise, I can't be bothered working out what came when at the moment though.

 

[faith]

I...throw mine in a box...

 

[shazzer]

Long time no see guys. I was quite busy... I still am.
I had to work overtime a lot. ... I am really, really tired.

Recent news, I kicked out some morons from my fb... inclusive this visual kei guy who went on my nerves... (the one that was friends with the korean girl... (later more about her...)

Well we went to a restaurant... he behaved ... like a child... We played games, he cheated, we went somewhere, he complained.... he decided to bring me back to the station, went into the train with me, sat away from me, and shortly before the train was leaving the station he jumped off his seat, run outside and said that he does not want to ride the train with me. WTF?

Then the Korean girl.... I asked her to give me my "Bringing up Baby" DVD back... since it is my fav movie.
She then replied that she thought that it was a present. I wrote back, that I only give presents to my friends, she isn't one of them.
She then offered me, to give it to the child guy.
I told her that I don't want that and that she can give it to me at work. She then said that she quit her job.... (maybe because of .... moi? oO )
Then I asked her to send me the DVD, already kicking her out of my friends list, since I don't want sb. to be there who does not talk to me.
Then she wrote me a message, stating that I should from now on stop contacting her. I told her that this is ok, since I have a lot of great friends, and I don't give a fuck about her anyway. Then she wrote again, that I should not contact her again... , therefore i ereased the conversation and blocked her, so that she cannot write over and over again that i should not contact her... which makes sense ... to write it over and over and over again.... wacko.) Stop touching people! But seriously, I want that DVD, it is my fav. movie!



Seriously.... get some help, both of you! (Never hang out with computer game PhD students.... at least those in Kyoto seem to be nuts.

 

[flowersofnight]

I just want to say, using the train system to insult someone must be the highest possible level of trolling in Japan XD

 

[PureElegance]

omg I bought my Disney ticket for tomorrow omg omg omg MY LIFE ISDOFIDIFJDOIFJDSOIFJDS IM GOING TO SHANGHAI DISNEY AHH!!!!!!!! OISDJFODISJFDISFJ

THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR WAS LIKE, HAVE A MAGICAL DAY, AND I SAID YOU TOO!!! XD ODFMDFOJ

Yesterday I went to Qibao, which is a small town you can get to by subway, so it isn't far and it's become part of the Shanghai suburbs as the city has grown. I had a lovely time and my favorite part was being able to see a shadow puppet performance in person for the first time. The performance was a scene from Journey to the West so I could actually understand what was happening, which was amazing! They even had a puppet for the horse and I loved the details.

After the performance I hung around and looked through the rest of the shadow puppet museum. Qibao was the place where this type of puppeteering was first introduced to Shanghai. Then I heard another performance happening and I went down the stairs to the backstage, I stood at the door peeking in, and the guy playing the lute (he had seen me hanging around before), as he was playing, pointed with his pinky to the stool next to him. You didn't have to tell me twice! I sat with the musicians and puppeteers and took pictures and videos, and honestly I was just really happy at that point. It was amazing to see how they played and how they were smiling too. The master puppeteer was teaching someone how to move the puppets to show they were fighting. I can't believe I saw it from behind the scenes! It was their last performance of the day so I made it just in the nick of time.

I really hope shadow puppeteering doesn't go away, and I noticed all the puppeteers and musicians were old! It's an old art itself and I can't believe it's still around. I had mango juice afterwards and I wondered what's going on. Painting my nails, buying a romper dress, buying lavender fragrance sticks for my room, drinking mango juice, haha.

I hung out at the main bridge and I asked a guy if he could take a picture of me. He took several and I managed to understand him asking where I'm from, how long I'm staying in China, things like that. I had a conversation, yay!

Then I wandered around the little streets and there was an archery place where you can try it out. It was 7 arrows for $1 so I thought why not. It was the first time I had ever held a bow in my hand and the guy taught me how to shoot. A little crowd formed behind me and people tried out their English, it was very kind. If I hit the target at all they would go, "Very good!" and "Good job!" Archery was pretty exhilarating.

Then I looked through the shops and found a wooden set of Three Kingdoms characters, so I had to buy it. You don't usually see them all in a set like that. The set even had Cao Cao and people from the other Kingdoms. I also got a Monkey King luggage tag for my suitcase.

Oh, and I popped into my local Family Mart the other day (I don't like Alldays...) and they had ZHUGE LIANG FAN SHAPED FOOD PACKAGES! *dies and goes to heaven* I haven't tried the snacks yet because they look odd, but I will this week, haha. They know me at that Family Mart now because I go in and ask for a bun or get usual groceries, and I look sad if they've sold out of my favorite bun.

The weather is nice today so I'm thinking of getting lunch and heading over to East Nanjing Road perhaps. I've been just hanging out today and going over Mandarin grammar rules. Classes are going great and I already have Company Law homework, haha. The textbook is cool and I can't wait to learn more. I also spoke to my Chinese Legal System professor and he's really nice, and he'd like to get to know my professor in my US law school so I sent him an email with info. He said my law school is famous and he's been to New York for his honeymoon, aw! It was super nice talking to him and my professors are very nice.
The short film festival was also fun and I enjoyed most of the films there. They invited me to go to film workshops and I think I might go! ^^

omg Disney tomorrow omg omg omg omg OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sanctum]

I really hope shadow puppeteering doesn't go away, and I noticed all the puppeteers and musicians were old! It's an old art itself and I can't believe it's still around.

How is it viewed over there? Do the younger generations care much for their heritage and things like that?

---

How do you guys play your music? I have all my CDs ripped to MP3 and play them through my computer (or stream), but lately I've been considering getting a stereo or something similar.

 

[flowersofnight]

How do you guys play your music?

Got an AV receiver with Bluetooth, which I have hooked up to an actual pair of speakers. Then I can just play the ripped MP3s through the computer to that.

 

[PureElegance]

How is it viewed over there? Do the younger generations care much for their heritage and things like that?

I don't really know when it comes to shadow puppets. I'm mostly knowledgeable on the classical literature, which they grow up knowing from really young and things like Three Kingdoms are just everywhere. They're really big on their literature, that I know for sure! TV shows, movies, games, card games, food, festivals, temples, etc etc etc. It's just part of growing up and I think the same applies to other old stories they have and historic events. I saw a little boy a couple of weeks ago though playing with a little paper shadow puppet though so maybe they do appreciate this. Something I've noticed is that generally Chinese people do a lot of "tourist" things in their own city and in China in general and they'll be the ones going to Peking/Kunqu/other operas and shadow puppet shows.

I think what's harder to find is someone willing to be a puppet master and that's what I was getting at before. There are still many young people who train to become Peking/othercity opera singers, so that's not disappearing anytime soon, but I don't know much about shadow puppetry or how big it is.

just me and my bro:

View attachment 24 View attachment 25

They told me to pose like that.

I don't even know what to say. Before I entered I was at the front gates and I called Shannen and we talked to each other from that point on to up to when I was in front of the Castle. She said she wished she were with me and the she's living vicariously through me XD I'm so happy I was able to share that with her!!! The show in front of the castle was beautiful, and I had tears coming out the entire time. I just feel so fortunate to be able to go and to go so easily. The Australians next to me asked if I liked the show and I said, "Yes!" They performed so many of my favorite songs and it was lovely. I went to Tomorrowland and the Tron light cycle ride was really fun and thrilling. I ate at Barbossa's Bounty and went on the Rapids water ride, and I saw, in person, DAVY JONES PLAYING HIS ORGAN on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The PotC ride was really awesome and I was so excited I feel as though I want to do it again and again to really get all the details.

The place is just massive. I don't even know what to say. There is just so much to do and see. You need DAYS to go over this so I'm definitely coming back next week. I didn't even go inside the castle yet!

I also did some "essential" shopping and got a cute pair of earrings, an eyepatch, two cute plush Belle and Beast keychain (SO CUTE OMG), and a Dumbo cup that had every character on it, even the matriarch elephant, that I had to get it. I even said, "This is the one" out loud, haha.

Then the fireworks show at night was beautiful. Agh. I have no words.

After the Rapids ride two little girls asked if I could take a picture with them and I said yes. Afterwards they said, "So beautiful! So beautiful!" Aw, haha. I'm so grateful I was able to go. I can't believe I'm actually here! I feel as though I'm not very eloquent, but Disney Shanghai was wonderful!

I have a cold and it's been rainy and grey all day with thunderstorms so I'm not sure if I'll do my next trips. *sniff* I did have an interesting adventure today where I got on the wrong bus and ended up in the middle of nowhere outside of Shanghai, and the bus drivers were very nice to me. I managed to make it back after getting on the right bus. It was an experience!

 

[flowersofnight]

Matilda and her parents have been down in Florida at Disney World this past week, and apparently they're terrifying her with all kids of scary rides They even took her on the Tower of Terror... come on, she's only 4 and a half years old XD
The hurricane didn't cause them any major problems, but they had to stay inside at their hotel yesterday because all the parks and stuff were closed.

 

[faith]

I think we're going to disneyland Paris for halloween. Think being the key there.
No one really wants to go again since the one here is so mediocre.
But you know? It's something to do at least once for Halloween, and this time there'll be Jack stuff...


Yesterday I think my colleague tried to accuse me of being my boss's chouchou by saying I would definitely be sitting right next to him in our next office reorg.
So I retaliated by saying, "NON BLEAH! Il serait plus interessant pour lui d'etre avec ses potes, comme toi. Et je veux pas etre dans le meme bureau que vous - c'est NUL ca. Je serai dans le bureau de SAMIR!"
Samir's my friend...he's in a different building. I don't care. The nerve.
Besides, how can someone be a suckup if their main response to anything is, "If you wanted me to do that, you should have given me a better raise. I'm going to the pool/home/on vacation now"?

 

[flowersofnight]

Yesterday I think my colleague tried to accuse me of being my boss's chouchou by saying I would definitely be sitting right next to him in our next office reorg.

I think they're saying your boss is going to keep an eye on you and make sure you're not playing PKMN

 

[faith]

That was indeed my first thought. But the way he said it didn't jive.
Either way, I don't like sitting near my boss ever, in any capacity.

 

[PureElegance]

Matilda and her parents have been down in Florida at Disney World this past week, and apparently they're terrifying her with all kids of scary rides They even took her on the Tower of Terror... come on, she's only 4 and a half years old XD

That ride is amazing XD Geez, way to go during a hurricane XD I hope they had fun there. I can't wait to go to the Fantasyland area because of the Beauty and the Beast castle there. I think I’d die and go to heaven again.

I'm going again in the next couple of weeks XD It's only $50 for non-peak days and I get Monday's off so... you know where I'll be. But I'll check all other days too because some weekends are non-peak. When my mom visits she's going to stay at the Toy Story Hotel so we will do DISNEY ALL DAY ERRRY DAY.

They performed songs like "Prince Ali" and "Heigh Ho" and I really appreciated that. There's just so much to say about the Disney here! And MICKEY PORK BUNS! And the speakers play instrumental versions of Disney songs and I was so happy to hear songs like the Up theme song and "Something There" and "Little Town." Sigh~ The fireworks show had scenes from movies (even "Friend Like Me"!) and other visuals projected onto the castle with fireworks and songs in the back, and it was really cool. Ah, Disney~

I'm so glad I didn't go with my classmates or waited to travel with them. I was totally right about them. I went to the Zhujiajiao Watertown with them, I was going anyway and I was optimistic it would be fun with them, and *I* had a lovely time.

It was a beautiful day and it's finally stopped raining every day. We arrived and I asked the tour office when the boat rides would close. It was 3:30PM and she said it would close at 4PM so we walked over to the boat docks quickly. I didn't want to miss this! But Simona and Anezka had walked off somewhere, they were also smoking, and so we stood waiting.

Ondra was complaining about the price of the boat ride. For 6 people it would've been $4 USD each. Yeah, SO EXPENSIVE I CAN'T HANDLE IT. Two Chinese girls were standing by and I asked if they wanted to go too and they did, they also wanted to do the long one that I wanted to do.

Reshab, who is slightly more enlightened, said he wants to go on the boat ride too. He didn’t see how we couldn’t go considering this was the Venice of China. He said, “Cmon guys, it’s just one less beer.” Simona and Anezka arrived and said they didn’t want to do the boat ride either. Wow. (Later we had dinner and it was the same old, them talking about going drinking later, the light drugs they do, how drunk they were the other day, and smoking all over the place, and I finally felt liberated now that my opinions were totally confirmed.)

Reshab and I hopped on with the two Chinese girls, who were taking pictures of me as I was waiting by the dock. Reshab told me that when they went to Nanjing together the group didn’t want to go to the Massacre Memorial at all and he had to convince them. They went reluctantly with him. He didn’t understand how they could go to Nanjing and NOT do the Memorial. I know, what the heck?

We stopped talking about that once we settled in and enjoyed the boat ride, which was so amazing! If anyone goes to Shanghai please go to this watertown. It was lovely and peaceful the way we went under bridges and took in the sights. It just never gets old and it really brought me back to when I first did it three years ago with my friends. We were right on the river and had a great view too of the sun coming down on it and the water was glistening. Reshab said he was having a lot of fun and that it was peaceful and I thought so too! I rested my head against the side of the boat and said, “This is the life!”

I took a picture with the two girls, who actually knew quite a bit of English. They were not from Shanghai and were from the Jiangsu province. They were very nice!

We landed on shore again and I said to Reshab I loved it so much that I feel as though I don’t remember what just happened! I just remember being happy and taking it all in. I asked the boat guy for my ticket so I can keep it, and I’m glad I did! Now I have a souvenir!

Reshab and I walked around, did a little shopping, and I even went inside a Haunted House. It was funny, but kind of scary. I bought a little plastic flower that said, “I am happy,” a fake Chinese passport, and two ponytails. We also got nice watercolor postcards of the town! There are so many restaurants and shops to go to too.

We met up with the rest of the group on the main bridge and they hadn’t done anything except walk around. So we walked around some more and I loved it. We went back to the bridge and the sun was setting, and it was just beautiful to see. I’m so happy I went and that it’s so easy for me to go there. Next time I’d like to see the Kezhi Gardens again.

On the bus I told Reshab, “Whenever I go there I get a permanent smile on my face,” haha! He said he’d definitely like to go back to see the gardens too.

Anyway, today I went to Longhua Temple! FINALLY! It was first built during the Three Kingdoms period and then was rebuilt later on. So this was a real Three Kingdoms area! It was then used by the KMT as an execution area and executed suspected communists there. Then the Japanese used it as an internment camp for POWs. Poor Temple.

It was beautiful though and another blue-sky day. Not many people were there as I went during the middle of a work day so I got to wander around.

As I was nearing the end of my visit a white cat started walking towards me. I’m not a cat fan so I was feeling odd. I thought if I walked away it would leave so I walked away. It actually ended up by my feet and I froze. It purred and rubbed itself against my legs and I felt rigid! I didn’t know what to do, haha. I walked more and it walked by me again. It sat by my feet and closed its eyes and I overcame my thousands of years of prejudice and pet it.

It followed me around for a while and would sit by my feet if I stood somewhere. Then I sat on a ledge and it sat next to me, playing with one of the strings from my jacket. I thought hey, this cat is kind of cute. There are so many cats around temples and university campuses and parks. People feed them and leave them food and water in containers for them. Well the white cat meowed at me and it was intriguing.

It was time for it to eat so it left. I thought this was a positive step for Cat relations. They aren’t so bad.

 

[faith]

So Gackt started out his tweet "Hey bros n sisters"...

Please tell me I'm not the only one who wishes he'd said "Hey bros n hoes" instead....

 

[faith]

On the same thread, and a double post, good old England has come out with "figgy pickle" flavored crisps.
I saw it today in the store, I did.

This lead me to wonder a very important thing that I must ask our resident Australian.
Would anyone over there ostensibly ever say, "Oh no! That bikie's got a knifie!"?

I can't ask my friend Joel cause I know he'll just look at me and go, "Youuu muppet." lol