A short list of reasons why my nineteenth birthday was one of the best that I can remember:

We shall go about it in chronological order, yes?

1. Receiving one birthday text in particular that made me wonder what I ever did to deserve such love - and whether I'm so predictable that the sender could guess what the right thing to say was.

2. Balancing the first question on the accounts paper on the first try - something I'd NEVER done until now. (I'll ignore the epic failness of the rest of the paper though.)

3. A very short maths lesson.

4. Seeing pink in the library.

5. Going on a shopping spree... at the most awesome stationery shop this nation has ever seen.

6. Overtime over dessert, ridiculous photos and absurd conversation.

7. Mexican kilts and Nigerian waterfalls.

8. Coming home and finding out that Kame had been on Shonen Club, with a brilliant performance. Would it be too OOC for me to say I find the performance just a tad more special because it was aired on my birthday?

9. Checking my mail - and sure enough, the recording of Kame's Friday night radio show was up on YouTube!

10. Experimenting with the glitter powder bought from said stationer's... and getting rather pleasing results. See how it catches the light?

11. Finally placing my order for White!

On the whole, I think the ratio of ups to downs was very good. :) Thank you, to those of you who recognise yourselves in this!

oh, no.

Okay, crap. It seems that nutnut was right about tumblr.

I didn't really bother at first, but now that I've gone cruising around and found some awesome tumblr blogs to follow, suddenly it's the most fun thing I could spend my time doing. Going on a reblogging spree is fine and all, but surely going on a reblogging rampage is not healthy. And now I've decided my theme is hideous, so I'm making myself a new background... NOOOO!!

I'll be up all night, at this rate! I'm actually opening up Photoshop now, ready to spend the next four hours making a good enough background. Oh, no, crap, no!

*sigh*

Well. You might as well make my work worth it. Come see the result of my toil! ;) brb!

w/o notice??

If anyone even bothered to suffer through the KAT-TUN meme I did earlier this week, they would've noticed the abnormal number of times I cited w/o notice?? as one of my admittedly many personal favourites. I myself didn't really realise I was doing it until I found myself typing the title for the third time. Heh.



I don't know why exactly this song appeals to me so much; but it's just so hard to not include such a happifying song in your favourites! And I swear it's not because of this hilariously cute performance. It works miracles, this song does. You'd think going on a massive downloading spree, watching a cute, fluffy movie and listening to some pretty hardcore rock music would be my ultimate cure for moody moments, but nope. Somehow this light, playful song worked better.

Though to be honest, my real cure-all is a shower. Lol.

my first KAT-TUN meme! :O

Stolen and adapted shamelessly from the KAT-TUN Worldwide website. Kill me :P

long post!

Forgive me if this post comes out not so well finished; I've only just finished watching the footage of the big live tour, the DVD I put aside because of the exams, and I wanted to hurry and get it written down here while this feeling is still at its peak.

Seriously?

佳

I know I said I wouldn't blog, but just a quickie!

A couple of days ago, I realised that I still didn't know what my name would be like in Japanese - which came as a surprise; knowing myself, it's a wonder I hadn't tried to find out sooner. I indulged in a bit of smug superiority while I searched for a pinyin converter, because my "Japanese name" would be my real name, not just some typical internet-generated one like some others have to use. All I had to do was input my name in Chinese and it would be read as kanji, how brilliant! Of course, it's considerably less than brilliant that the only thing I can read in Chinese is my own name - and my parents sometimes forget that I can. How disturbing.

So I found a pinyin converter, and typed in my name: 佳彤

Unfortunately, my smug bubble was burst when I realised the second character isn't one of the many imported by the Japanese back when they first adopted traditional Chinese as their written language. *mope

But I was also quite delighted to find out that the first half is read as kei in Japanese, which would have been the same pronunciation used for Kaye. Isn't that most amazing? I'm getting to love my name more as time passes - and I'm not talking about "Kaye". Because at the end of the day, nothing fits me better than the one I've spent nearly two decades growing into.

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P.s.: Another three papers and I'll be free for CNY! This year, those fifteen days will mean:

• a reunion even more appreciated than before, because of
• the departure of an old, very close friend to somewhere new,
• a change or two (I won't say what just yet, heh),
• a time to contemplate the near future, and of course
• a boost in finances (as always).

I haven't had a single mandarin orange yet this year. Hmm.

happiness in the mail

My first order arrived on Monday! Change Ur World and No More Pain, both limited edition releases. They're in good condition, thank goodness! So YesAsia gets a few brownie points from me now; I'll wait until the CDJapan parcel arrives before I deliver my verdict.

Also: my order came with a free toy! It's just one of those cheap gacha capsules, but it's still the most adorable thing a free toy can be! I haven't thought of a name yet, but when I do I'll tell you. Haha.

By the way, my DVD player appears to be region-free. FIST PUMP YEAH!!

fly high

Hellz yeah it's Friday. Which means the big ol' accounting mock exam is today. Be very afraid!

I'm not as sleepy as I thought I'd be (rather the opposite, in fact); I think it's the excitement. Not from the prospect of the test, obviously, but from watching too much drama. The website isn't called DramaCrazy for nothing. :/ Anyway, I'll just wing the test the way I usually wing the revisions. Should be alright. I hope. Hee, dramas.

There's always a microscopic, remote chance that someone might be curious so these are the shows I'm following:

1. SungKyunKwan Scandal

[on KBS World (it's on Astro - top-notch subbing!)]

2. Mary Stayed Out All Night a.k.a. Marry Me, Mary

(the male leads are brilliant)

3. Secret Garden

(odd, very different, but interesting so far)

4. **** *****

(I'm keeping this nugget under wraps because it's so clever that I want to go around quoting it, haha. It's the only Japanese one on this list though...)

Happy happy me! :D

*gets bricked by Ms. Anu for failing test*

p.s.: I realised today that I'm still as much in love with Kame as ever, that my recent lack of extreme fangirlism was just me finishing with the insane freshie phase. Yay!

for the lulz

The more I watch him, the more I love the character Hwang Tae Kyung in You're Beautiful. Smooth character development aside, he has such funny quirks and such weird habits! Shellfish and sesame and pollen allergies, leporiphobia, an obsession with cleanliness and order, perfectionism, night-blindness, the weird thing he does with his mouth when he's thinking... O_O So many weaknesses in one character, but somehow he pulls it off quite well and it doesn't seem overdone.

[link] <-- super LOL moment.

I really like this K-drama, because of how visually pleasing everything is. And I'm not even talking about the people - though the main four are indeed a pleasure to watch, if only because they're all fantastic actors. The set itself is gorgeous, from the office/studio to their dorm.

A dorm? Really? I'd never have believed a 'dorm' so sumptuous and well-designed. The band members each have such spacious and amazing rooms (cleverly designed with the character's personality in mind, with brilliant uses of the huge space and of textures... Oh, now I'm waxing estate agent), and the common spaces are so well done! Good lighting, the right colours, excellent props... I could go on for hours. If I ever had a plot of land to build a house on, I'd model my house after this so-called dorm.

The clothes! I've always had a thing for the boat neck thing and the oversized neck thing, no idea what they're called but they're cho cool - and this drama ships both like no-one's business. Tae Kyung is almost always in either (follow link above)! Plus they have the other guys wearing other awesome gear, like the plethora of jackets they all seem to own, everyone's shades and the extremely cute beanie from Episode 8. (No-one beats the Japs at rocking hats, though, it's a fact.)

Ah, and the music. As expected of a story about a band, it's almost always playing just the right kind of song in the background. I guess it helps that the main actors are all also singers to a certain degree?

So, yes, in case it isn't bleedingly obvious by now, I am obsessed with this drama. The plot isn't much, but it's everything else - cast, costume, music, setting - that keeps me drawn to it. Nice, short, manageable dramas are bombs! On to the next episode!

mixed

Today was so... eventful that I don't quite know how to feel about it. Good and bad, fantastic and horrible. I think, on a whole, I am more happy than not (the scales tip in whichever direction I will them to), though I am also extremely tired. But let's be systematic about this.

Reasons to be happy:

1 The KAT-TUN concert DVD sitting on my shelf.

2 The Le Premier Verre (starring 亀, naturally) DVD sitting on my shelf.

3 The final volume of Those With Wings sitting on my shelf.

4 The three pieces of completely OOC clothing mummy bought for me.

5 The big fat Teach Yourself kit daddy bought for me.

6 The new packet of McVities in the kitchen.

Reasons to be less-than-happy:

1 The fact that I couldn't bring myself to buy my expensive Emo Gamer Guy cosplay ensemble.

2 My lack of a personal statement (and the inspiration for one).

3 The feeling of hideousness that always comes with shopping.

4 My near-bankruptcy.

5 The infuriating, rage-inducing slowness of my internet connection today.

There. Data to support my stubborn intent to be happy with what I have and not to bemoan what I don't. Really, it would be foolish to allow this happiness to be marred by such immoderate greed, dissatisfaction and impatience. Contentment. That's what I need to learn.