LaLaLa Ai No Uta
30 September 2008
Despite Royal Mail's best efforts to misplace my parcel from the face of the Earth, I finally managed to get my hands on it last Saturday. When I handed my card to the guy behind the counter, he disappeared for ages into the back room where they store all the mail. He took so long I was half expecting him to come back and say, "Sorry, it's still not back yet, come back next year" or something, but I was relieved when he came back holding a box with my name on it. I was tempted to leap for joy but the office was quite small and there were a couple of people there waiting, so I didn't.
I've spent a few days listening to the album and I'm liking it a lot. The booklets have some very nice pictures of Horie Yui taken in Guam, and the special casing feels nice and sturdy. As for the songs, they're very different in feel to her previous albums. I think it's to be expected as it was a gap of three years between her 5th album and this one. There are four singles included in this album, including 'Koisuru Tenkizu' which I bought. Out of the non-single songs, my favourite is probably 'Love Me Do' which has a nice upbeat feel to it and reminds me of something Morning Musume would sing.
Posted byHocchan at 6:25 pm 0 comments
Yan Nara Yanzo Kora!
27 September 2008
I've been quite busy lately playing Yakuza 2, which I bought on Wednesday from HMV for £19.99. I had been looking forward to playing this game for awhile so when I saw it for such a low price, brand new I decided to treat myself. I really enjoyed the first game, despite having to get used to the iffy controls at the beginning. It seems like they've fixed that problem for the sequel as it feels a lot more fluid. The fights are still as satisfying as they were before. It's just so much fun to hit people with random objects found on the street /laugh. The other aspects of the game are pretty much the same, even down to the layout of the first city. This time though, there's a whole new area to explore. Interestingly, the whole game is left with its original Japanese dubbing and is subtitled in English. This situation is exactly the same as Shenmue II on the Dreamcast. Personally, I'm quite glad it's turned out this way. Even though the English dub in the first game wasn't that bad, it's just so much better to hear Japanese voices.
Apart from that I haven't really done much else this week except feeling ill. It seems that as soon as I recover from one bout of flu I get another one. I even had to miss my first International Business lecture/seminar on Friday because I was feeling so nauseous in the morning. It's such a pain being unwell. I might have to resort to wearing a biohazard suit if I don't recover properly soon. Thankfully, I felt a lot better in the evening so I went to go watch Tropic Thunder with a few friends. It had been a long time since I'd gone to the cinema to watch anything and it was nice to hear thumping audio system they had there. I like it when you can actually feel the explosions as they happen on the screen. As for the film, it was very enjoyable. Lots of very funny exchanges between the cast as well as some great action sequences. I particularly liked the performances from Robert Downey, Jr. and Tom Cruise. Downey's portrayal of an Australian actor playing an African American was nothing short of genius. It's a film that's well worth seeing.
Posted byHocchan at 5:58 pm 1 comments
Where's My Frigging Parcel?!
22 September 2008
Urgh...today hasn't been the best of days. I've been struck down with the dreaded 'Freshers' Flu'. Thankfully, it's not too bad; just as long as I take some Paracetamol regularly throughout the day. The period between doses does feel pretty rough though, especially the dizzy spells, headaches, runny nose and sinus pain. It's a good job that I don't have too many lectures to attend during the day. It gives me an opportunity to recover. With some decent rest it should be gone by the end of the week at the latest.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only reason why my day hasn't been ideal. I went home during the weekend and whilst I was there the postman tried to deliver a parcel to me. This was at 8:20AM on a Saturday morning though so I wasn't awake to receive it. They left me a card and told me that I could go pick it up on Monday (48 hours later). So this morning I trek into town (with a headache) to collect my parcel. When I got there I was reliably informed that 'it was not back yet' and that it might be back later that afternoon but most likely tomorrow... Let me get this right, they want me to come back on the train tomorrow, just to pick up the parcel that they told me would be ready to collect today?! You must be having a jocular moment with me... For God's sake! Just where the hell have they taken it over the weekend exactly? Did the postman take it back home with him at the end of the day for safe-keeping or something? Why was it not returned back to the depot?! More importantly - where's my frigging parcel?!
I wouldn't normally be so angry (maybe that's a lie) but I know for a fact that it's my Horie Yui CD from Japan. I was looking forward to being able to finally listen to her latest album today. But, no, Mr Royal Mail decides to play hide-and-seek with my parcel! I'm going to have to take the train back tomorrow after my morning lecture to collect it now. I'm not made of goddamn money, you know! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Posted byHocchan at 9:07 pm 0 comments
Otanjoubi Omedetou!
20 September 2008
Happy Birthday Hocchan! I know it's not the 20th September in Japan any more but at least I didn't forget this time (unlike last year). To think, it could have very easily been a different story. I've been so caught up with induction at university that I didn't even realise her birthday was coming up until I happened to check the diary entries on her homepage. In one of the posts dated the 14th September she mentions that her friend bought her some French pastries for her birthday. It was only then that it dawned on me. I wrote her a short message via her homepage but I don't know if it got through or not. I really should have sent her a proper birthday card in the post but I didn't think of the idea soon enough. I'll definitely do that next year. For now all I can do is hope she had a brilliant day and wish her all the best!
(I know that Townberry also has this image on her blog but you can never have too much Hocchan so I decided to post it too!)
PS. I've just realised that when I changed my layout in August I forgot to re-install the StatCounter code. That means I've missed out on over a month's worth of visitor counts. Oh well...it's back now.
Posted byHocchan at 5:54 pm 0 comments
Slightly Less Anxious Times
17 September 2008
Today hasn't been anywhere near as nerve-racking as the previous three days. In fact it was rather enjoyable. It could have something to do with the fact that I didn't have any meetings or inductions to attend today but nevertheless, it was stress free.
I had a lie-in and woke up around midday. I decided to take a walk into town and buy some clothes. I was trying to find a black short-sleeved shirt that had shoulder loops. I looked in quite a few shops but didn't really find what I was looking for. The last shop I went in (Primark) had some cheap items of clothing for sale so I picked up T-shirt and shirt. I also found a black long-sleeved shirt that had shoulder loops but they only had it in large size. I decided to take a chance and purchase it since I could always return it if it was unwearable. When I got back to the flat I tried it on and it didn't look too bad. I plan on wearing it over a t-shirt anyway and it can double up as a very light jacket during those days where it's too hot to wear a coat.
In the evening a friend and I walked down to the oriental supermarket I talked about yesterday. We found some nice stuff for sale; including some boxes of Pocky! I also bought some bottled green tea, Nong Shim pot noodles and soya milk. Afterwards, I headed back into town to find the Tesco Express store. It's quite a long walk to get to it but it's not too tiring. I passed the city museum on the way and noticed that it was free entry. I might take a look inside when I get some free time. Once I got to the store I bought some juice and some vegetables. Surprisingly they had some self-service checkouts in there. They usually only have those in the larger Extra stores. After that I headed back to the flat and had some cheung fan for tea and watched episode 10 of Code Blue.
All in all a very nice day!
Posted byHocchan at 7:54 pm 0 comments
Anxious Times
16 September 2008
It's only two days into Freshers' Week but it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. Perhaps it's because I haven't been getting much sleep (due to the noise from people during the night) but it's been a tough couple of days. At least my flatmates are pretty good. They like to go out partying and talking loudly but they're decent people. One of them was nice enough to let me use her crockery when I didn't have any at the start of the week. Another very kindly gave me a bag of White Rabbit Creamy Candies today. I love those sweets so much. I can't believe she managed to find them reduced and in a Tesco!
Speaking of Tesco, I haven't managed to find any in the city yet. I know there is a small Express store less than a mile from the flat but I haven't had chance to look for it. My friend told me about a small Asian food shop a couple of blocks and that has been an absolute Godsend. There's nothing like familiar foodstuffs to help you settle in to a new city. I also found out that there's another shop a little further away so I might pop down to that one sometime.
I haven't been settling in too well to university life. I'm not a person who adjusts easily to change. I don't like it. I like my regular routine that has predictable, regular occurrences. It's still early days and I should start to feel more comfortable after a few weeks once my lectures start in earnest. That is if I don't continue to panic and feel sick when attending them. The first few meetings have been nerve-racking and not very fun at all. When encountering a new, unknown situation I start to panic. This panicking leads to a very distressing nauseous feeling. And because I'm feeling nauseous I start to worry about people seeing me feel sick and that panics me even more. It's a vicious circle and it's very tough to concentrate on anything whilst it's happening. I just pray that I can relax more and stop myself from panicking so much or my first year is going to be rough.
Posted byHocchan at 8:29 pm 4 comments
It's Alive!
15 September 2008
I've created a new blog that focuses on my time at university. I took the opportunity to try out WordPress and so far it's going quite well. It's very similar in layout and function to Blogger so everything feels very familiar. This allows me to concentrate on the writing side of it as opposed to having to learn a whole new editing format. Anyway, if you fancy checking it out the link is along the top.
PS. The name comes from Horie Yui's band.
Posted byHocchan at 8:30 pm 0 comments
It's That Time Again
08 September 2008
Yes, it's that time again when I go scouring the internet for a new desktop wallpaper to use on my laptop. I thought it was about time I went back to having Horie Yui as my cover girl. In the past it's been quite hard to find good quality wallpapers of her but fortunately I stumbled across a website called Girlish-Beauty. There were five Horie Yui wallpapers in total and I picked out what I thought was the best one. I had to edit/crop it a bit using Photoshop (since the original was 1280x1024) but I left it pretty much as I found it.
I've recently started playing Magna Carta - Tears of Blood on the PlayStation 2. I bought the game months and months ago but only really played a tiny bit of it. I hated the diabolical voice acting and found the battle system to be rather clumsy and unwieldy. It's been sat on my shelf gathering dust ever since. But I decided to give it another chance since I may have judged it a bit harshly the first time through. Rather surprisingly it's not quite as bad as I remember it being. Sure, the voice acting is still atrocious and the battle system isn't the best but the cutscenes are fairly short and you get used to the controls after awhile, and you find yourself starting to enjoy it. It's growing on me so much I might even be able to complete it before the end of the week, if I'm lucky.
Posted byHocchan at 8:17 pm 0 comments
It Goes A Little Something Like This
04 September 2008
In reference to my previous post about Kurosaki's outfit in Kurosagi. I finally found a decent picture of it so I thought I'd upload it. I don't think I can manage the hairstyle (my hair always looks really messy when it gets to that length) but the outfit should be replicable.
Posted byHocchan at 5:38 pm 0 comments
Kanashimi Mo Kuratte, Ikiro
03 September 2008
I successfully enrolled for my course a couple of days ago via the university's online enrolment service. I'm now officially a student, hurrah! At the moment I haven't registered for any modules yet but I'm told that the tutors or course leaders will update my profile when the time comes. If there are any problems then I can always use the Module Change Form to rectify it. There's nothing else left to do now except pack up my belongings and move down to my new flat.
Unfortunately I don't know whether I'm going to get my student loan on the 15th September (when my course starts) or have to wait until the 18th. It all depends on the way the student loans company operates. If I don't get my loan on the 15th then I'm going to be struggling with money during Freshers' Week. That might be a massive headache as I'll have to buy lots of new things like bedding, stationery, books, etc. on a very meagre budget. I've asked various sources but it's still unknown as to how soon the money will arrive. I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope.
Speaking of buying things, I do need some new clothes when I start university. I'm tired of dressing like a tramp. I want to wear clothes that fit properly and are fashionable. I don't want to go too overboard but I've planned a new outfit that I can wear from day to day. It's based on Kurosaki's outfit from Kurosagi which consists of a black trench coat, black shirt, dark jeans and dark brown shoes. I might throw in a red tie for some extra colour if I'm feeling adventurous. Hopefully the whole thing won't cost me too much money. I've got a lot of other stuff to buy as well!
Posted byHocchan at 8:29 pm 0 comments
