Kuroneko Doumei

I've Migrated to WordPress

2011-11-20T10:19:00.002Z

Thought it was time for a fresh start after many failed attempts at refreshing the theme for this blog. The new address for anyone who still reads (probably no one) the blog is: http://kuronekodoumei.wordpress.com/

Mata Kimi Ni Koishiteru

2010-12-27T08:41:00.003Z

Well, Christmas is over for another year. I would like to say 'good riddance' but, rather surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it this year. Normally I would spend Christmas Day all alone and wishing I could hibernate until Spring. However, this year the gods must have been feeling quite generous. I was invited to a Christmas party by some Korean friends. I don't usually like going to parties as they're rather loud and obnoxious affairs at the best of times, but this was more like a gathering of friends than a party so I decided to go along. We all made some food and had a Christmas meal together. Was quite possibly the strangest Christmas dinner I have ever had but it was also quite possibly the most enjoyable as well.

After dinner we spent the rest of the night messing around with fruit and talking about various philosophical topics in broken Japanese. I'm glad I've managed to find some kind and generous friends in the short time I have been in Japan. I can quite safely say that this country has the most friendly people I have ever met. It's taken awhile, but I think I can say I'm beginning feel glad that I'm in Japan. Thinking about it, it's already been three months since I left the UK. I'm already about 25% of the way through my year abroad, yet it feels like it has only just started in earnest. I'm looking forward to being able to really make the most of my time here when 2011 arrives.

Merry Christmas, Deshou?

2010-12-24T15:00:00.002Z

Here's to a very lonely Christmas! Hope everyone is going to have a very merry Christmas! Please celebrate for me as well, as I won't be able to enjoy it very much this year.

Out-of-Date

2010-12-23T13:45:00.002Z

The information in the sidebars is so hopelessly out-of-date that it's rather embarrassing to look at. I'll have to update them as soon as possible. Tomorrow... can't be arsed right now ^^

Ame Futte Ji Katamaru

2010-12-23T12:49:00.006Z

As Jill Valentine once said in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, 'I'm still alive'. Although, there were a few times during these past couple of months when I wished I wasn't. I'm not going to lie; life has been challenging, nay, gruelling since my break up in November. I was seriously contemplating jacking it all in and returning to the UK back then. I owe everything to my amazing friends who kept me going through that tough period with their words of comfort and encouragement. If it wasn't for them, I can say with certainty that I would be back in miserable, dreary England right now with no future prospects. But instead, thanks to them, I'm still here in Japan, fighting and slowly remembering what I'd been working for all these years. I'm not fully recovered yet, though, that's going to take a bit longer. I've made mistakes that I wish I hadn't, and I'm regretting ever having been so weak-willed and cowardly to allow them to happen. I'm really going to have to work really hard next year to atone for all the bad things I've done to people this year. Rest assured, I will become a better person.

With only two days until Christmas and nine days until 2011, I'm beginning to look back on 2010 and review the last twelve months. Like those proverbial football matches, this year really has been a 'game of two halves'. For the first half, life really couldn't have been much better. I was in a happy relationship, I was on my way to Japan, and I was enjoying each day that came. However, things really turned to shit during the second half of the year. My relationship was in trouble, I was miserable, and I was wishing I was somewhere else a lot of the time. To be perfectly honest, I can't wait for midnight on the 31st December to tick around so I can resign this year into the annals of history. I'm looking forward to being able to make a fresh start in 2011 and being able to recover even a small piece of that happiness that was so cruelly torn from me. Not long to go now, just got to hold on for a little longer. Wish me luck!

Day 47 - Losing The Battle

2010-10-31T06:15:00.002Z

Things are not good at the moment. I'm feeling the worst I've been since I arrived in Japan. This last week has been pretty shitty to say the least. It had all been looking quite good up until last Monday. I'd gone to visit my girlfriend for her birthday and we had a really enjoyable time together. But as soon as I left and returned back to Yamaguchi university my mood suddenly plummeted and I found myself getting really depressed again. I don't know what it is exactly that's making me so unhappy. I believe it might have something to do with the sudden separation from my girlfriend again. Having had such a good time over the weekend it must have hit me that I'm not going to see her again for at least another month. It's kind of like the trough after the massive peak. I hope I'm going to be able to recover from this current spell of depression. My fighting spirit has well and truly been extinguished and I'm finding myself floating around in the doldrums of despair.

I should be happy, I know that. I'm in Japan; the place I've wanted to be in for years. But things haven't turned out as I expected. Yamaguchi is not the image I had of Japan, and the fact that I'm now in a relationship but separated from her by hundreds of miles is killing me inside. Had I been single I don't think I would be having so many problems right now. But that's not to say that I wish we weren't together. I love my girlfriend (perhaps too much sometimes) and I wouldn't want to be without her. It's just that, at the moment, I can't help but look forward to next August when I'll be able to go back home. I'm constantly looking forward to the near future and wishing the days and weeks would pass quicker. It's only been just over a month since I've arrived so there's time for my feelings to change. But at the moment the future isn't looking too bright...

I Hate That Bastard!

2010-10-25T06:09:00.000+01:00

I really, really do!

Day 24 - The Trenches

2010-10-08T22:14:00.000+01:00

The situation has become like the long, drawn-out trench warfare of World War I. Every day there seems to be a new enemy to fight. And every day is an uphill struggle to avoid falling into the pits of despair again. I don’t know why it’s become like this again. It was all going so well only a week or so ago. But recently it seems to be getting a lot tougher to keep my spirits up. While I still have enjoyable moments throughout each day, whenever there’s a lull in proceedings I tend to feel a sense of uneasiness wash over me. And no matter how much I keep trying to tell myself that it’s only a temporary spell, I can’t help but worry that it’s becoming more frequent and more tangible with each occurrence. I fear that I may be turning back into the person I swore I would not become ever again. If that happened then I would lose everything I’ve worked so hard for, and that’s probably the biggest demon I face right now – the fear of returning to a state of depressive paranoia.

The war is by no means lost, however, I still have plenty of fighting spirit left in me. I have the determination and the willpower to overcome this obstacle. I’m not going to let all that’s precious to me slip out of my grasp again. I refuse to be beaten. I will succeed. I will be happy.

Day 19 - The Tide Is Turning

2010-10-04T20:53:00.001+01:00

It's been awhile since I've written a status report. It's partly due to the lack of internet in my room and partly due to the fact that there have been a lot of things to do since arriving in Japan. Unfortunately, it seems as though it’s going to take a little bit longer until I get internet in my room. There seems to be some sort of problem with my application but I’m not entirely sure what that problem is. They’ve told me to call them but I’m not very confident about being able to understand what they’ll say if it’s something technical. I might have to get someone to help make the call for me. Why can’t anything ever be simple? *sigh*

That last sigh brings me onto the current status of my psyche. While it’s been fairly good for the last week or so, I’ve noticed that the negative thoughts are slowly, but surely, creeping back into my head again. It feels like the tides of war are turning, and not in my favour. It’s not that I’m letting them control my actions again. It’s just that it seems to take a lot more effort to remain positive and dispel the negative thoughts from my head. It gets very tiring after a while if you constantly have to cheer yourself up. I’m feeling despondent at times, even though I shouldn’t be. I’m fighting it, I really am. But it’s a war of attrition at the moment…

I Really Don't Like Ube/Yamaguchi

2010-09-27T21:48:00.000+01:00

I don’t have an internet connection at the moment but I’m going to write this now so I can see if my opinion has changed by the time I publish it. I arrived at my university in Yamaguchi a few hours ago. Although it was a really nice, sunny day when I set off from Nagoya, by the time I reached Okayama it had begun to go cloudy. And by the time I arrived in Yamaguchi it was pissing it down. The rain seemed to get heavier as I rode on the local train to my destination too. It wasn’t exactly the most reassuring of welcomes… The countryside was really mountainous and full of rice fields. Dotted throughout the landscape were small, traditional Japanese houses, which I assume would have looked very picturesque had it not been pissing it down all over the place. Every now and again there would be a few more built-up areas that seemed to have some large stores. But it was nothing like Nagoya.

I think I may have inadvertently created a culture shock for myself by visiting a big city like Nagoya as soon as I arrived in Japan. The place where I am at now is nothing like that. It’s most definitely more on the rural side of Japan, and even though it’s classified as a city, it doesn’t really feel like one in most places. I haven’t had any time to explore the area yet (what with the rain and the lack of daylight) but there doesn’t seem to be very much around. There does appear to be a few large supermarkets near the campus, though, so that’s not too bad. And there’s even a Uniqlo here, if this map is to be believed. Any place that has a Uniqlo can’t be too bad; although I can’t imagine the shop being very big…

I think the biggest disappointment has to be my room. While I got my wish and ended up on the second floor (third if you use Japanese/American system), the quality of the accommodation is really poor. I know the rent is really cheap (not that cheap once you add all the utility bills onto it, though) but it should be a bit better than it is. The furniture that they’ve given me is really old and dirty, and the bathroom is tiny and doesn’t even have a proper shower basin. And the worst part is there are tons of little cockroaches and beetles crawling out of every little crevice. I’ve already vacuumed up about 30 of the bastards since arriving, but I think there are loads more hiding somewhere. I’m going to have to see if I can get some traps or something for them.

I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get an internet connection in my room, but it seems like it will take the best part of this week at least to set everything up. I’m told that there are computers to use in the library that’s on the campus but I can’t go in until I’ve made my library card. I’m supposed to be heading into the city tomorrow to register for my alien card, open a bank account, and register for the health insurance. I’ve also been given a bike to use (I say given, I had to pay for it) but if it’s raining again tomorrow I doubt I’ll be able to use it yet. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get a prepaid mobile phone in the next couple of days so I can at least e-mail my girlfriend without needing an internet connection. I’ll see how it goes. Right now I’m tired from today’s travelling and the shock, so I’m going to bed.

Day 3 - Onwards And Upwards

2010-09-19T23:39:00.004+01:00

Things have been going quite well. I'm still feeling very upbeat and confident about my life. I've been putting a lot of effort into making the most of each day. I'm slowly getting towards where I want to be. The will to fight for what I wish for is still burning in my heart, and I'm going to keep that flame alive forever. Meanwhile, the excitement about going to Japan is beginning to creep up on me, slowly but surely. I don't think it will reach full power until I'm actually on my way to the airport, though. At which point, I'll know that the moment has arrived and that there's no turning back; the moment that I've been waiting for for two years. I'm slightly nervous about leaving the country for a whole year, but I'm also equally excited about the new possibilities that may present themselves in Japan. The thing I'm most looking forward to, though, is the chance to see my girlfriend in Nagoya ^^. I'm really looking forward to the moment when I'll be able to hold her in my arms again. I can't wait until that day!

Day 1 - A New Hope

2010-09-17T23:53:00.002+01:00

Today has been the most enjoyable and relaxing day for a long time. While there are still some worries and fears in my mind, they're not popping up in my thoughts anywhere as often as they did before. And more importantly, I'm now refusing to let them control my life. I refuse to be a slave to my negativity and irrational thoughts and behaviours anymore. I'm going to show them that I'm a strong person and I can beat this. I will succeed, there's no other outcome in my eyes. I know it's going to take time to fully recover from this debilitating unhappiness that has plagued me for so long, but I'm taking each day as it comes. And I know, if I put 100% of my effort into moving on everyday, then I'll eventually become a better person for it. And I'll be happy. I'm doing this for myself, and also for the person I love. I want them to see the real me, the person who they fell in love with originally. I will succeed! Zettai katsu! Rooooooooar!

Making A Wish Come True

2010-09-17T17:14:00.003+01:00

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning while I was sleeping. When I woke up I suddenly realised what was important. That it's all well and good wishing for things to turn out alright. But in order to give the wish the best chance of coming true, you have to actually get up off your backside and put 100% of your effort and energy into making it happen. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to fight til my last breath from now on. That's a promise to myself.

Making A Wish

2010-09-16T20:54:00.004+01:00

Wishing with all my soul that things are going to be alright. Please be OK.

Le Sigh... Part 4

2010-09-12T17:12:00.003+01:00

And so it continues. I really thought I was finally getting somewhere last night but today it's gone downhill again. It's such a shame because I was hoping that I was going to be able to have a much better day today. I had high hopes for today when I went to bed last night but it seems like they were premature. Is it really all my fault? I really can't tell anymore. I've been in the same state of mind for so long now I don't know what's normal anymore. All I know is that I'm continuing to feel depressed for whatever reason. There are times when I do cheer up but these tend to be for a short period of time and are few and far between. I've tried my best, I really have. But it feels as though all my efforts have been rather futile at the moment since I'm not receiving the support I need. I can't do this on my own...

Self-Inflicted Injuries

2010-09-11T21:33:00.005+01:00

Gah! Why do I keep doing this to myself? I know it's going to make me upset but I can't stop myself from looking at Facebook photos. I've gone and made myself unhappy now by doing that... I'm such an idiot. It's such a horrible catch-22 situation though. If I do look at them then I make myself depressed. If I don't look at them then I just imagine the worst possible things that my mind can make up, no matter how unlikely they are. I think my mind just loves to torment me with upsetting scenarios. Plus I have an insatiable need to know what's going on all the time. Otherwise I'll feel like I'm left out of the loop. But then when I do know what's going on, it turns out that I actually am left out of the loop anyway. So either way, I end up feeling like shit. Fuck my shitty little life...

Le Sigh... Part 3

2010-09-11T17:53:00.003+01:00

Apart from a few brief moments before bed last night and again earlier this afternoon, I've yet to get over the debilitating depression that has gripped hold of me recently. It seems like I spend 90% of the day feeling like crap, and the other 10% is spent trying to take my mind off the depression (usually unsuccessfully). What's worse is that the person who I most wish would take notice of my pain seems oblivious to my suffering. This in itself makes my depression worse when I think about it. And I'm always thinking about it. I can't seem to stop myself from constantly having depressing or negative thoughts. It's even gotten to the stage where I feel the depression physically in my chest. It feels like there's a huge weight pressing down on me. And my sleep pattern has been totally messed up. I spend most of the day feeling exhausted and sleepy, but when I try to sleep I end up waking up every few hours. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. I don't think that is helping the situation.

I still don't know what is causing this horrible feeling of unhappiness. At least not exactly. I have a general idea of what it is but I can't tell whether my judgement is being clouded by the depression. I really wish there was some way to solve this problem but I just can't see it. It would help if the most important person in my life would lend me some assistance. But it just doesn't seem to be happening at the moment. So I end up feeling all alone, completely forgotten about. I don't think I've been this unhappy for many years.

Captain's Log: Stardate Something Something

2010-09-09T16:16:00.005+01:00

Things haven't really gotten much better. In fact they might have even gotten a little worse. I've now resorted to hiding any news that involves seeing photos on my Facebook News Feed reel. It might be a little extreme but I really can't cope with seeing any more photos. It kills me inside everytime I do. I really don't know what to do anymore. I can't see it getting any better in the near future. At least not until I go to Japan in just under two weeks. What's even worse is that I haven't even spoken to my girlfriend in quite a while. Fuck my life...

Psychoanalytical

2010-09-08T17:48:00.002+01:00

It's time for another self-diagnosis psychiatry session. I tend to do these a lot when I want to find out exactly what's troubling me. I don't know if they actually help or not but it seems to be a helpful way of relieving the depression for a little while. I tend to think about things in my head constantly. I find it very hard to actually switch off and not think about anything. I'm always trying to go through itineraries for future events, or go over past events trying to find reasons for things or wondering what I could have done differently. Often it can lead to some rather frustrating thoughts. Plus it really doesn't help me get to sleep at night when my mind is constantly whirring away.

Anyway, time for the self-diagnosis. I've been trying to figure out why I get so unhappy when I see photos of my girlfriend in Japan on Facebook. From what I can figure out, it seems to be because by seeing these photos it reminds me everytime of the fact that, for a whole year or more, I'm not going to be able to share these moments with her. Mainly due to the distance between us and our schedules, but also because the stupid place that she's staying at has such dickish rules. When I see any pictures of her looking happy it dawns on me that I'm not there to see that or experience it with her. And that really kills me inside. It makes me jealous of all the people who are there to see all these moments, and it makes me depressed because I feel left out. I would say those are the reasons that I get so unhappy.

Unfortunately, I don't really see how I can solve this problem. I can't really change anything the situation. The only thing I can do is try to stop myself from having these negative thoughts and feelings. But that is no easy task. And my attempt at staying away from Facebook didn't last very long at all. I simply cannot stay away from there because, even though it makes me unhappy, I still want to see what's going on in her life. It's a horrible lose/lose predicament I find myself in. I just hope that I'll be able to resolve it soon and finally be at peace for the first time in weeks.

Le Sigh... Part 2

2010-09-07T15:30:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm not angry anymore. But that doesn't mean I've very happy. The anger has been replaced with depression and general feelings of melancholy. I don't know why things always seem to descend into the pits of despair so quickly for me. It must be a psychological thing. As a result, I've decided to attempt to stop looking at Facebook for the next few days. I don't know how long this endeavour will actually last but it's something I think I need to do. Because, you see, some of the problems actually stem from Facebook itself. The reason being that I'm one of the last people from my course to actually go to Japan. 90% of the class have already been in Japan for about a week and they're having lots of fun (obviously). This includes my girlfriend. The problem arises when they post their photos of Japan on Facebook. It's stupid to hear myself say this, but when I keep getting bombarded with pictures of everyone having fun, while I'm stuck here in rainy UK doing not very much it kind of makes me angry/depressed. I think I'm jealous of them for having fun while I'm not able to join in.

I know that it's a stupid thing to feel, but it's not exactly like I can help what I feel. The worst part is being apart from my girlfriend while she's thousands of miles away, having a lot of fun without me. It makes me feel so left out. I often wonder what I've done to deserve all this unhappiness. All I can attempt to do is to forget about everything for awhile and concentrate of something else for a change. Maybe in time I'll be able to come to terms with everything that's making me unhappy. I really, really wish I was in Japan right now though...but alas I don't leave for another 15 days.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

2010-09-06T20:43:00.001+01:00

Yeah, still angry...

Fuuuuuuuu-House

2010-09-06T15:59:00.004+01:00

I think this image illustrates my feelings towards the International SHIT House at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies right about now...

Neuroticism

2010-09-06T00:07:00.003+01:00

I had never fully understood the definition of 'neuroticism' until today when I decided to look it up. I had a sneaky suspicion that I would have some aspects of it in my personality but I never expected it to be a completely accurate depiction of what I'm like. It was as though they'd based their definition of the word on me. Everything trait of neuroticism was something I could identify with. From the constant feelings of depression and anxiety, to the borderline obsessive-complusive behaviour, they were all to be found in my personality. So I guess that makes me a neurotic? I don't know if that's the term. But it's not exactly a pleasing discovery (even though I had kind of expected it - which in itself is sort of neurotic).

I have no idea why I'm such a classic case of neuroticism. I don't know where it stems from. Could be why I always focus on the crap stuff that has happened in my life, rather than the good things. Though I swear, in my head, the number of majorly bad things far outnumber the number of good things that have happened. But maybe that's just my neuroticism clouding my judgement and making me biased. I don't know if there's any way to fix this personality problem. It's not quite as easy as saying 'don't worry, be happy' and expecting life to be sunshine and rainbows. I do wish I had the ability to stop worrying about things so much and to stop expecting the worst in everything. But it's difficult (there comes that negativity again). Sigh...

99.9% Of Bacteria

2010-09-04T21:30:00.003+01:00

I've noticed an annoying trend recently with television adverts. There seems to be an obsession with getting rid of "99.9% of bacteria" in almost every product. And from the way they present it you'd think that you'd die a horrible, crippling death from these 'dangerous' bacteria if you didn't buy their products. There's one advert for some washing powder that has bacteria-killing action in it (99.9% of them). Seriously, what the fuck? Unless you're trying to launder the contents of a sterile room in a hospital, why the hell would you need to kill bacteria on your clothes (not that there's much to begin with). How have people survived until now with just normal washing powder if this product is so important? The answer: it's not required at all. It's a completely bullshit product.

There's another one for anti-bacterial wipes that's used to clean surfaces. Now I'm all for keeping surfaces clean, especially if they're used for food preparation. But seriously, in the advert they have someone eating food from the surface. Who would do that? Use a fucking plate! That way you won't give yourself food poisoning, and you won't need to use that product as much, if at all. And why is it that everything can only kill 99.9% of bacteria? You might as well say 100% of bacteria. Is it really 99.9%? Has anyone actually checked? Such bullcrap.

Calm Down, Dear!

2010-09-04T18:33:00.011+01:00

Phew! Now that that small (massive) irritation is out of the way for the time being, I'll try and write a more constructive post. Not that anything's been solved by venting my frustrations on the blog, but at least it's taken my mind of the matter for a short period of time. That should give me a brief respite to calm down (dear) and think of a solution to the uber-crap situation I now find myself in. In the meantime though, I suppose it would be a good idea to update the current situation regarding the year abroad in Japan. I've finally heard from Yamaguchi University and they sent me my Certificate of Eligibility, as well as some other information regarding accommodation and stuff, in the post. I can't tell you how good it was to actually receive this stuff in the post. After months of anguish and torment, my nightmare was finally over. I could, at last, book my flights and begin preparations. Having gotten my Certificate of Eligibility, I recently went down to London to get my student visa from the Japanese Embassy.

The train tickets down to London were a rip-off. Cost me just under £100 altogether. And for that money, I got a seat on a train that was cramped and 45 mins late there, and 10 minutes late back. Shitty trains are so shitty in the UK. Thanks to the train being so late I wasn't able to spend as long as I would have liked in London. I spent about 30 mins in the Underground trying to buy tickets, then I went straight to the Japanese embassy and got my visa application sorted. Then I decided to go through Green Park and take a look at Buckingham Palace since it was so close. After that I had just over an hour to head down to the Japan Centre and buy some lunch, then head over to Uniqlo and buy a t-shirt. I didn't have time for anything else after that so I just headed back to the train station via the Underground. I don't know if people who have to use the Underground everyday during rush hour share the same opinion, but I found the experience to be very enjoyable. The speed and convenience of the system is very nice, and I liked the feeling of navigating the tunnels as I went from station to station. It was kind of warm down there though, that was the only thing. They could do with some air conditioning in there or something.

After waiting a few days my visa arrived in the post this morning, as they had said it would. I don't know why the photo they've used for the visa turned out so dark though. The photo that I gave them was fine. Maybe they have a shitty scanner or something? In any case, I'm all sorted now for Japan. I have my visa, my accommodation, my plane ticket, and very soon I'll be packing my stuff. There's still some crap to sort out thanks to SHIT-house, but one step at a time.

Fuck You, Nagoya!

2010-09-04T16:29:00.002+01:00

WARNING!! Extreme profanities are in the following post. Reader discretion is advised. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Not all of Nagoya, mind, but rather just a small part of it. Namely the fucking shitty piece of shitty-shit that is the International House at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies. Thanks to their tossing whorebag cocking ridiculous rules about visitors, my plans to visit Nagoya are now completely fucked up the backside with a rusty mace. My original plan had been to set off for Japan on the 22nd September, arriving on the 23rd, to spend a few days with my girlfriend in Nagoya before heading down to Ube in Yamaguchi. However, it now turns out that the stupid fucking piece of wank I-House will not even allow visitors to even step into people's rooms, nevermind actually stay there for the night. What kind of fucked up shit is that exactly? What do they expect me to do, completely destroy the place? Spread an infectious disease that wipes out the population of Nagoya? Just what the fucking-fuck is the point of that dicking rule? If you couldn't already tell, I'm pretty angry about this. Not only does it mean that I'll no longer be able to spend as long with my girlfriend as I would have liked, it also means that I'm going to have to spend more money renting a hotel room for the 4 nights that I'm going to be there.

But that's not the end of the bullshit, oh no! There's further steaming piles of putrid horse crap about to splatter at 100mph into my face. As a result of an utterly piss-poor wifi connection at the SHIT-House (might as well be called that), it means that my girlfriend has to go downstairs, into the public area just to be able to connect to the internet. Yeah, it'll be really nice to have a nice private conversation with her when there are a hundred faggots running around the place, looking at our conversation. And that's even if she does bother to come all the way downstairs to spend maybe 10-15 minutes talking to me. There goes the chance to actually have some meaningful communication with her whilst we're hundreds (thousands at the moment) of miles away from each other. Thanks, SHIT-House, thanks for trying to fuck up my relationship with your cock-shit rules. Bastards. Twats. Mother-fucking wankers. Go fuck yourselves, you utter wank-baskets.

It Was Your Bloody Fault!

2010-07-14T22:17:00.002+01:00

Success! I can now buy things online again! My replacement debit card arrived in the post today and it was accepted by Amazon. It turns out that the problem of not being able to use my Visa Electron card online was isolated to my old card. I don't think I'll ever be able to find out why it suddenly decided it wouldn't work, but I don't really care anymore. At least I now know that Halifax were the ones at fault after all. My new card is practically the same as the old one and yet it was accepted with no problems at all. So screw you, Halifax, you lying bunch of halfwits, it was clearly your fault. Try listening to your customers next time instead of trying to fob me off with a shitty excuse!

It's Not Our Fault, Honest!

2010-07-13T18:49:00.004+01:00

I called the bank again today about my Visa Electron card problem but the matter still hasn't been resolved. This time, because I'd ordered a new card yesterday, they were trying to blame it on that. I had to repeatedly tell them that this problem existed way before I ordered a new card. However, they also told me that because I'd ordered a new card, the expiry date on my current card had changed. They told me to try it again with the new expiry date and see if that worked. It didn't, no surprise there. I asked them once again to make sure there wasn't a problem with my account or a block on the card. They said there was absolutely nothing wrong. I would have argued further but it seems like they've already sent my new card out by First Class post so it should arrive in the next couple of days. I decided to wait for that to arrive and see if the problem continues.

Meanwhile, just in case I am stuck with a Visa Electron card that won't work online, I've decided to apply for a Lloyds TSB account. Unlike Halifax's basic account, they offer a proper Visa Debit card rather than a Visa Electron card. The only drawback is that I'm only allowed to withdraw cash from a Lloyds TSB cash machine, but on the plus side I am allowed to use the branch counters to pay in money (unlike Halifax if it's less than £300). If my application is successful, I may turn the Lloyds TSB account into my main one, and just have the Halifax account as a back up. I haven't heard from them yet so I'll have to wait and see.

Work, Damn You!

2010-07-13T01:45:00.006+01:00

Just a quick update about my Visa Electron card. It's still not working for online purchases (which is a major pain in the arse as I do a lot of online shopping) but it works when I use chip-and-pin in shops. I went into the bank today but they tried to fob me off with the usual "Oh, it's because Electron isn't that widely accepted, blah blah blah..." bullshit. If it's not that widely accepted then why the hell have I had no problems buying stuff online for the past two years?! It's only been in the last week or so that the card has been getting declined. I need to be able to use the card to buy things from the internet. It's just crippling not being able to use my card. It's right when I need to buy some stuff too. It's so irritating, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?

Ahem! Anyway... I asked them to provide me with a new card. Unfortunately, it's got to be another Electron card but hopefully it'll sort out whatever dickery has befallen my current one. If not, then I don't know what I'm going to do. The internet is just a much better place for buying things that aren't groceries or everyday stuff. I don't know how I'll manage if I'm not able to buy anything online. I hope it won't come to that.

PS. Royal Bank of Scotland is to blame for all this bullshit!

It's Not Hip-Hop, It's Electro(n), Prick!

2010-07-11T16:28:00.003+01:00

I feel much better after writing that last update. It seems like writing all my worries and anxieties down has helped me to deal with them. Previously I had been bottling it all up inside and that had made me feel awful. It really does seem as though this blog's only purpose at the moment is a place for me to vent my frustrations. With that in mind, I'm going to write about another thing that has been annoying the hell out of me lately - my Visa Electron card.

A few days ago I tried to buy a Dell Studio laptop for someone using my Electron card. The site said that they didn't take Electron but I thought I'd give it a go anyway (from past experience it usually works). But for some reason it got declined. I spoke to a representative from Dell who tried to use the card again but got declined once more. It was definitely not because I didn't have enough money in the account, I had the online banking webpage right in front on me. Eventually I managed to pay Dell by arranging a bank transfer instead. I thought nothing more of the incident until a few days later my card was declined by another online retailer. I tried several times but each time the card kept getting declined. Once again it wasn't because I had insufficient funds. And the retailer did accept Electron cards. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the retailer's fault so I tried to order something from Amazon. I'd used the same card to pay for many items from Amazon in the past. There was even a purchase a couple of weeks ago that went through fine. But this time the card was declined.

I didn't know what the hell was going on so I phoned the bank asking them if there was some sort of problem with my card. I was informed that there was nothing wrong with the card and that it must be the online retailer's system. But surely it can't be getting declined at several different retailers for the same system error? I decided to test my card in the shops at a chip and pin device and, lo and behold, it worked no problem at all. It seems as though there's a problem with the internet purchases only. I'm going to have to go down to the bank on Monday and get it sorted out, once and for all. I don't see what the problem could be. If there's nothing wrong with the card, why is it getting repeatedly declined at an online retailer that has accepted it many times before? It just doesn't make any sense!

Ichiban no Takaramono

2010-07-11T01:05:00.005+01:00

It's been awhile since I've written anything on this blog. I suppose if you look at it positively, it was due to the fact that I was enjoying university life so much that I didn't have time to update. However, I think it was more likely to be down to my laziness... but that's not to say that I wasn't enjoying myself these last six months. In fact there have been a lot of developments since my last update. I've managed to attain three out of the five items that were in my wish list (I'd better update that) for a start. I've also managed to complete my second year at university with some fairly decent grades (although I would have liked them to have been slightly better). I'm even in a relationship with an amazingly beautiful and wonderful person. Life should be absolutely fantastic... shouldn't it? Unfortunately, things aren't quite as satisfactory as they should be.

Over the last couple of months there have been some rather unwanted developments that have put a dampener on things. It was only one at first but then another thing came up, then another, and it all kind of snowballed into one big lump of arse-turd from there. I don't even know where to start. I guess from the chronological beginning is the best place. The first unhappy event was probably one of the things that had the biggest effect on the enjoyment of my life. This was finding out that I had been selected to go to Yamaguchi University for my year abroad in Japan. At the time, this was the worst possible thing that could have happened. That university was my last choice out of six. If there had only been five choices I would not have picked Yamaguchi University. I would have been happy with ANY of the other five universities on my list. It seems that fate has a particular fondness for fucking up my life just when it starts to get good.

It took a little while but I finally managed to look on the positive side of things and be able to look forward to going on my year abroad again. However, just as things were about to get back on track I ran into another problem. It seemed that my panic attack problem (at least I think that's what it is) came back with a vengeance. I've always had some sort of health problem since I was about twelve years old whereby I would feel sick in stressful situations. It wasn't a normal type of nausea though, it only affected my the back of my throat. It would typically appear if I began to panic, though it could also happen suddenly and without warning. The fear of it happening (and the possible embarrassment of people seeing me feeling sick or panicking) would also trigger it and make it worse. It became a vicious circle. It completely ruined my life. I became afraid of going anywhere or being in 'inescapable' situations. But every few years it would disappear and I could begin to rebuild my life. From about the age of about nineteen it had almost completely disappeared. I even managed to make it into university and enjoy a couple of worry-free years there.

However, in the last few months I've found that it's come back. And it's already interfering with my life in a big way. I've reverted back to the person I was in my early teens, where I would be anxious about travelling long distances for fear of my panic attack coming back. This has begun to put pressure on my relationship as it means I'm reluctant to travel anywhere to meet my girlfriend. It's not like I don't want to, but the fear and anxiety stops me. I don't know how I'm going to survive the flight to Japan (if I get to go, but more on that bit later) or even the journey down to London to get my visa. I'm praying that it'll go away soon and I can get back to normal. But if it doesn't I'm going to have to try and find a way to cope with this old menace.

The next problem that came up kind of triggered a load of smaller worries that have stressed me out and generally made me miserable. It goes back to Yamaguchi University and their disorganisation and lack of communication. I completed my application forms and sent all the documents they required a couple of weeks before the deadline. I didn't expect there to be any problems. However, after a few weeks of waiting I received word that they required an additional document to prove my ability to fund myself when I'm in Japan. I had already included a letter from the Student Loans Company that stated how much I would receive next year. But for whatever reason they kept telling me that I needed to send them a bank statement, completely ignoring everything I told them. It wasn't until only a couple of weeks ago that they realised what the Student Loans Company letter was for. They've only just begun to apply for my Certificate of Eligibility (the document from the Japanese government that allows me to apply for a visa). But from the way they've worded their correspondence, there's a chance that it may be rejected.

To makes matters worse, I won't be getting a scholarship at Yamaguchi University when almost all of my classmates will be. The delay in processing my application has also meant that I don't even know if I'm able to go to Japan yet, so I can't book flights or get my visa. I can't sort anything out until I know if I'm going, and when I have to be there by. It's been really stressful and irritating. Meanwhile, everyone around me has pretty much finished their preparations. This includes my girlfriend, who is going to a university about 400 miles away (which doesn't help). I'm very ashamed to say this, but I'm beginning to feel jealous of her. I really wish that I wasn't in this situation. I wish that I was going to a different university, one that would have told me everything by now. I could have booked my flights, got my visa, and sorted everything out by now. If only it wasn't Yamaguchi University that I was selected for!

Long story short, I've basically been completely and utterly screwed over just because I've been chosen to go to Yamaguchi University. I've been caused undue stress and worry just because they couldn't be bothered to keep me informed (despite my constant e-mails). I hate them. I've built up a great resentment to Yamaguchi University for ruining my life. Ruining my dream of going abroad to Japan. I hate them.

Only My Christmas Railgun

2009-12-25T15:52:00.001Z

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not dead ^^; I've just been taking a very long break from the blog. However, I wanted to pop back to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!

Hopefully, I'll see you again soon!

Lucky Number Seven

2009-09-06T03:55:00.000+01:00

I can't tell you how much of a pleasure it is to be using a new computer after suffering at the hands of my laptop for the past year. It's just so quick and painless compared to how it used to be. Now I don't have to waste hours of my life waiting for Windows to starts or for a program to load. I can even have several things running at once without slow-down, imagine that! Best of all, I can finally upgrade to a new version of Windows. As good as Windows XP is, it does feel very dated now compared to Windows 7. I'm currently using the Release Candidate as my main operating system until it officially gets released on 22nd October. So far it's been fantastic. It's like having the stability of XP combined with the aesthetics of Vista. It's pretty much everything Vista should have been plus a little bit extra. I'm particularly fond of the feature that lets you minimize everything but the selected window by shaking it from side-to-side. It's perhaps a little gimmicky but it sure is a lot of fun!

I think I'm pretty sorted as far as computers go for a good few years now. The best thing about getting a desktop is that I can upgrade the components as I go along. That way I can keep up with the advancing technology and not have to replace it in a few years. I'm currently planning on buying a decent graphics card in the new few months. I couldn't afford to get a dedicated graphics card on my budget so I'm having to use the integrated graphics found on the motherboard. It's fine for watching DVDs but it does struggle when you try to run a game that's been made in the last couple of years. All I need is a card that will be able to run Final Fantasy XIV when it comes out. Although, I've not decided if I want to play that on the PlayStation 3 or on the PC yet.

I would also like to get a proper monitor some time in the next year. My LCD TV is currently doubling up as a monitor at the moment. While it is an upgrade compared to my laptop screen, it's still lacking a bit in terms of resolution. What I'd really like is a monitor capable of outputting at least 1440x900, though 1680x1050 would be better. Considering how much that would cost, however, it's likely that I won't be able to afford it until May 2010. At least my RAM is sorted for a long time. I decided to spend a little bit more money and get 4 GB of RAM instead of 2 GB. That's the maximum my motherboard will take and should be more than adequate for at least two or three years. All in all, I'm a pretty happy bunny!

The Arch-Nemesis Returns

2009-09-03T22:24:00.003+01:00

It's funny; I was hoping to mark my return to this blog with some better news but it appears that a certain organisation is out to ruin my plan. And they've done a pretty good job of it by all accounts. So, rather than resurrecting Kuroneko Doumei with a cheerful story about elves and pixies dancing on a big cake of happiness, I'm going to launch into a scathing attack on one of the companies that's become the bane of my existence in the last few years - Royal-Fucking-Mail.

You may recall that I've been pissed off by Royal Mail's shitty service a few times in the past. This is a company that seemingly prides itself on its ability to make me angry. Time and time again they manage to do something which completely enrages me to the point where I feel like going out into the street, ripping up the paving slabs, and hurling them at the nearest moving object. What is it about this company that attracts the biggest bunch of tossers to come work for them? I swear to God, it's like they were trained to be incompetent.

This latest incident is the most annoying one by far. Here's what happened. I had recently ordered a new computer (which I'll probably write about in a separate post) and I needed a monitor cable to go with it so that I could use it with my LCD TV. I bought a Belkin monitor cable from a seller on eBay last Wednesday and waited for it to arrive. Days passed and there was no word from the seller. Then on Saturday evening I received an e-mail from the seller saying that they'd been on holiday, but they'd posted the item that morning and were sorry for the delay. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem. However, it just happened to be a Bank Holiday weekend which meant that it probably wouldn't arrive until Tuesday. No problem, I thought, my computer was due to arrive on Tuesday anyway so it wouldn't matter much.

Tuesday came and my computer arrived as expected, along with the keyboard and mouse which I had ordered from Play.com. However, there was no sign of the monitor cable. I was slightly annoyed since I wouldn't be able to use my new computer until it arrived. I knew it would probably turn up the next day so I decided to wake up early and wait for the postman so I would definitely hear him knocking. It gets to Wednesday morning and I wake up at 8:00 AM to wait. It gets to 10:30 AM and I hear the letterbox lid slam. Odd, I didn't hear anyone knocking (I was listening intently), I thought. I went downstairs and there's a 'Sorry, you were out' card by the door. The postman was already long gone by the time I got there. He didn't fucking knock! What a bastard! He just left his shitty little card and pretended that I wasn't in. Cheeky son of a bitch!

As a result of this shit-faced tosser, I've had to wait until this morning until I could go COLLECT my monitor cable from the depot. What's the point of me paying postage if I have to bloody go collect it? And the worst bit is, the parcel would have easily fit through the letter box which means that the postman didn't even have the fucking thing with him in the first place. He had intentionally not taken it with him on his rounds that morning and instead, forced me to travel into town to pick it up. What a cock! What the fuck is he being paid for? He's a fucking POSTman, so fucking post my shit, you whore! FUCKING ROYAL MAIL IS SHITE!

Infinity

2009-06-22T00:15:00.006+01:00

Why do university text books have to be so expensive? I've been thinking of buying a couple of them for next year but I'd forgotten how expensive they were. It's going to cost me over £50 just to buy the two books that I should have bought last September. The high price was the main reason why I decided to just borrow them from the library for the whole year instead. I never intended to do that but it just sort of happened. I had expected to borrow them for a couple of months and then buy my own copies but I quickly ran out of money that semester. As long as no one reserved them (which no one did) I could theoretically keep them for the whole year, renewing them every four weeks. And that's exactly what happened. I'm not sure if that tactic will work next year, though. There will be new students starting on the course and I might have to compete for 'ownership' of the book. So it might just be easier to finally give in and buy my own. But as I said earlier, it's so bloody expensive! Plus, I'll probably have to buy the next volumes of the text books soon as we've almost covered all of the material in the current ones. I have two choices really: fork out over £100 for new text books; or fight the first years for them!

Among the books for my course, there's one that's not actually required but will probably be quite useful. It's the 2008 edition of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test exam paper. I'm planning to take the exam this December and get my first formal Japanese qualification. It's not required by the university but I've been planning on taking it for awhile now. The only thing is, I'm not entirely sure of which level I should take. I'm fairly confident that, with minimal revision, I could pass Level 3 (Level 1 being the hardest, Level 4 being the easiest). However, I wonder if I should try for Level 2 and just work a bit harder during the lead up to the exam? The only problem with that is that the jump from Level 3 to Level 2 is supposed to be massive (hence why they're changing the system in 2010). As the exam is only available once a year (and costs £60), should I risk it? I'll have to consider my options carefully before the application period opens in July.

Don't Say Lazy

2009-06-19T20:21:00.004+01:00

I'm currently enjoying my summer holiday at the moment by catching up on all the computer games that I've neglected during the year. I finally completed Lost Odyssey a few weeks ago. I think my play time at the end was just over sixty-hours, which wasn't bad considering that I spent a lot of time levelling up and doing side quests. I have to say that the game was a lot better than I had expected it to be. I was kind of put off by the artwork when I first saw it. However, as I played through the story, the characters really grew on me. Well, all except that twat called Mack anyway...

One thing that I'm very pleased about is that they included the original Japanese audio track. It made the experience a million times better. I'm slightly disappointed that they didn't sync the lips to the Japanese vocals, though, that would have made it even better. But at least the option to listen to the Japanese voices is there. It really pisses me off when publishers don't keep the Japanese audio track as an option. Unfortunately, it seems like Lost Odyssey was a one-off as the latest JRPGs to be released in the UK (Star Ocean: The Last Hope and Tales of Vesperia) both don't include a Japanese voice option. Bastards! One thing is for sure, when Final Fantasy XIII gets released, I'm importing a Japanese copy instead of buying the domestic release. English dubbing can go screw itself!

After I completed Lost Odyssey I moved onto Oblivion for awhile. I bought it together with The Last Remnant and had only intended to give it a quick go. However, it quickly got me hooked and I found myself playing it full time. Unfortunately, several things started pissing me off big time, and it wasn't long until I gave up on the game and moved on to The Last Remnant. It's a pretty good game so far, despite the horrendous frame rate problems that it suffers from. The battle system is very interesting and I like the way you recruit leaders and soldiers to fight for you. I'm disappointed that there isn't a Japanese voice option, the English dubbing is truly dire. But at least you can turn them off during the battles, that's one saving grace.

But alas, it's not all fun and games for me at the moment. I seem to be suffering from some pretty severe toothaches lately. I think the reason why it's so painful is due to the fact that it's coming from two different sources. The first being the massive cavity that I've developed on my third molar on the right-hand side, and the second being the emergence of my Wisdom teeth. As a result, they've both combined to give me an excruciatingly painful time. I think that if it continues to be so unbearably painful then I might have to give in and finally pay the dentist a visit. I'm sure the pain of root canal surgery can't be as bad as what I've already experienced.

Just Wild Beat Communication

2009-05-31T20:24:00.008+01:00

It's been over a week since my friends and I went over to Germany to play in the German Reach Mahjong tournament. It was an enjoyable trip overall, but it did have a couple of rather annoying moments. One of those being the half-hour delay to our train back to Bremen from Hanover, and the other the extreme lack of sleep from staying overnight in the airport. Of those two, the train delay was definitely the most irritating. I was extremely tired after staying awake for thirty-six hours straight and it was something I really didn't need. Plus the fact that the German announcer didn't tell us what was happening in English, when it's an international station, really got on my nerves. I think the reason for the delay was down to the football fans (of which there were hundreds) that were crowding the train station, both in Hanover and Bremen. In any case, it was severely irritating. I hope that I'll never have to experience that ever again!

Apart from those two niggles, the rest of the trip was good. We did run into a massive rain shower during the afternoon in Bremen but it cleared up not long after it started. We spent a few hours looking around the city and got lots of free rides on the trams. Speaking of the trams, it appears that you don't actually need to buy a ticket for it, even though there are ticket machines on-board. You see, no one actually comes around and checks for tickets. And the locals don't ever buy them either. So I'm guessing the machines are only there to fool naive little tourists like us. Another interesting thing about the trams and trains in Germany is that they use a very strange bell tone when they announce each stop. It's a single, very dull 'dong' sound - very similar to that of a death toll. Extremely eerie, especially at night.

The tournament itself was fantastic. We only just about managed to get there on time, thanks to some ingenious navigation by the sun. The first round was extremely nerve-racking but I soon settled into a rhythm and played three decent rounds. By the start of the fourth round I was in 25th place. Unfortunately, I began to chase the win in the last round and lost about 20,000 points. If that hadn't happened then I would have finished in the top half of the table. Unfortunately, it did and I finished in 35th place in the end, which I was slightly unhappy about. My friends, rather disappointingly, finished in 42nd and 45th place. But it is our first tournament and I'm sure we'll be able to do a lot better next time, when we've actually had a decent night's sleep!

I've finally got around to taking a picture of my figure collection. The Ignis figure that I ordered arrived last Tuesday and it quickly became my new favourite. The detailing on the figure is fantastic and Ignis' pose is extremely fluid and dynamic. The cast-off features are an interesting bonus but doesn't really add that much to what is already a superb figure. My only concern is that the whole figure is supported on only one pin in Ignis' left foot. This means that there's a risk of the figure leaning over after awhile. I don't think it shouldn't be too much of a problem, though, as the tentacle also provides some extra support to the weight of the figure. I'll just need to make sure I check it regularly for any signs of it leaning.

Mou Isshuukan

2009-05-14T21:09:00.006+01:00

I'm pleased to say that all of my PVC figures have now arrived; a whole week sooner than I expected. The last item to arrive was the Clalaclan Noir Ver. figure on Monday. The figures from Hong Kong didn't take nearly as long as I thought they would, and the delivery from Japan via SAL took only eight days to get here. I'm glad to see that they're all genuine products and not bootlegs (especially since a few were from eBay). My favourite has to be the 1/6 scale Kos-Mos figure. The sheer size of it gives it a tremendous presence, and the detail on Kos-Mos's outfit is fantastic. I particularly like the way they've rendered her hair in a translucent plastic. My second favourite is the Clalaclan figure. I really like the black and purple colour scheme of her dress, and the slight see-through effect on the stockings gives it a nice touch.

Although I said that I wouldn't be buying any more figures until the end of June, I've made an exception and bought another one from Hobby Link Japan. The store is having a massive one-year anniversary sale and I couldn't resist. The prices are just too good to miss. This is the one I bought:

Creators' Labo #016 Jingai Makyo Ignis 1/7 scale (Yamato)

It's a nice looking figure with an energetic-looking pose. It also comes with cast-off features which will be interesting to play with /laugh. It's not been sent yet so I expect it'll arrive towards the end of May.

It's now only a week until I head off to Hanover, Germany to compete in the Mahjong tournament. I'm getting slightly nervous about the trip but I don't expect there to be any problems. I still have to type out a rough itinerary for the trip so that we know what we're supposed to be doing at any given time. I also still need to buy a small German phrasebook from Amazon so that we can communicate with the locals if we need to. In the meantime, we've been playing lots of games of Mahjong to get us ready. I don't want to jinx myself but it appears that my luck is finally picking up after a small slump. I hope that it continues to get better over the next week and that it holds up during the tournament. After all, I don't want to embarrass myself in Hanover.

Shuuryou Shimashita!

2009-05-09T01:26:00.008+01:00

Hurrah! I've completed my first year! I took my final two exams of the year today (Japanese Language: Aural and Oral) so I'm officially finished for the year. It was such a huge relief to finally get these two exams over with. The listening exam was a lot tougher than I expected it to be. Not only was the speed at which the people on the tape spoke faster than what we're usually used to, the sheer amount of information we had to get down as well was immense. It was all I could do to scribble down some really rough notes and hope that the examiner would be able to read them. I don't think I missed too many bits of vital information but my handwriting could turn out to be a problem. I know it has been in the past. There's nothing I can do about it now, though, apart from hope that they don't penalise me for the messy presentation.

The speaking exam was probably the most nerve-racking of all the exams. I didn't find the role-play section too difficult, but I may have got my intonation wrong in a few places. The general conversation section about a memorable summer holiday was a lot tougher. Before I went in, I had a whole soliloquy worked out in my head and I was ready to go through it from start to finish without stopping. Unfortunately, I suffered the same problem as I always do and left too big a pause after my sentences; thus giving chance for the examiner to ask me a new question. After that I was merely reacting and my original plans went out of the window. I felt that I could have added some more complex grammar constructs into my speech but I was too busy trying to make sure that I didn't have any periods of long silences. Overall, I think I did fairly well. I'd be disappointed to come out with less than 70% for both of the exams.

Now that all my exams are over I can look forward to a couple weeks worth of intensive Mahjong training! I have to make sure that I'm ready to face the opposition in Hanover on the 23rd. The only problem I can envisage is that there are only three people going to the tournament and that might pose a problem when trying to find a fourth player for our training matches. We'll be wanting to play at least once per day, everyday and I'm not sure how willing the casual players will be to play so often during those two weeks. There's always the option of playing three-player Mahjong, but that's so different to four-player Mahjong I don't think there's any point. I'm sure we'll be able to work something out though.

A Votre Sante!

2009-05-05T18:09:00.002+01:00

It seems like the title for Horie Yui's 7th solo album has been decided! According to her official website it's entitled, 'Honey Jet!!' and is due for release on the 15th July. I've already pre-ordered the limited edition version from CD Japan and I'm eagerly anticipating its release. The best thing about this album is that I actually have plenty of money to buy it! Usually, I'd be struggling to find the money to purchase Horie Yui's albums since they're so expensive to ship over. I always use EMS delivery since it's the quickest and safest method, but it's also the most expensive. But I don't mind paying for it though; it is my beloved Horie Yui after all. I want July to get here as quickly as possible so I can hear this latest album. The style of music changes with each release and I'm wondering what this one will be like. It's got the Toradora! songs on it so it's looking like it's going to be pretty good already. We shall have to wait and see.

In other news, one of my figures arrived today. Fate attempted to screw me over again though. I woke up this afternoon (I went to bed late >.>) and checked the tracking sections of both Royal Mail and Hong Kong Post for my parcels. My parcel from Hong Kong was still waiting for a flight, but it appeared that they had tried to deliver my Royal Mail parcel this morning. For some reason, however, the postman didn't leave a calling card in my letterbox. I had to head down to the depot to see if they were holding it for me and, luckily, they were. The item was well packaged, with plenty of polystyrene bits protecting the contents. The figure itself is better than I was expecting. As far as I can tell, it's 100% authentic (as was my first figure) so I'm pleased about that. I bought it from a company called Eye on Asia based here in the United Kingdom. I didn't know how legitimate their figures were but it appears that they're authentic enough. I'll be more willing to order from them again in the future. I don't have any pictures of the figure since I don't have a digital camera any more. If I can get hold of one I'll upload some photos next time.

Plastic Fantastic

2009-05-04T17:45:00.014+01:00

My wallet isn't very happy about it, but I seem to have found a new obsession. I've become addicted to buying PVC figures of anime/game characters. I've bought a total of five in just the past two weeks. I think I've spent almost £200 on the whole lot. So far, only the first figure that I bought has arrived. The rest are still on their way from various places around the world. I expect that they'll be here in the next couple of weeks. These are the figures that I'll be expecting in the post soon:

Clalaclan Noir Ver. 1/8 Scale (Kotobukiya)
KOS-MOS Swimsuit Ver. 1/6 Scale (Alter)
Himekuri Image Girl Moda Bianca Ver. 1/7 Scale (Kaiyodo)
Nagato Yuki Swimsuit Ver. 1/8 Scale (Alter)

And this is the figure that has arrived already:

Onodera Karen Swimsuit Ver. 1/8 Scale (Good Smile)

I've decided to put my foot down firmly and forbid myself from buying any more figures until at least the end of July. Otherwise, I might find myself completely out of money by the end of May at this rate.

One thing that I have learnt during this whole experience is that the British postal system is infinitesimally better than the rest of the world's - especially the USA's. You wouldn't believe how much it costs to have stuff sent overseas from America. It's bloody arsehole-ish! Over thirty-stinking-turd-Dollars to post a small parcel to the United Kingdom?! If you were sending it from the United Kingdom to America, it would only cost $15 at most. What the bloody hell!? Not only is it slower, it costs a hell of a lot more. I really don't understand why they charge so much for an inferior service. It makes it financially impossible for anyone to buy stuff from America. In any case, sort it out!

Easter Can Go Die

2009-05-02T17:19:00.006+01:00

There's something about the Easter period that makes it completely mess up my life. This year's Easter holiday was one of the worst ever. No sooner had I broken up for Easter than I was struck down with a nasty case of Mumps. I had heard that it was going around the university but I wasn't too worried about catching it. In hindsight, considering I had a flatmate who had caught it a couple of weeks before, I should have gone and got myself vaccinated. But I didn't. So I ended up with cripplingly painful, swollen saliva glands. It was agony to eat anything. I also ended up with a massive fever and couldn't do anything. Although the fever only lasted a few days, the swelling stayed for over two weeks. The worst thing was that I ended up with a second fever towards the end of the illness, like it was giving me a farewell present.

As a result, I didn't manage to get any of my essays done during the Easter holidays. This meant that I had to cram all the work into a single week - not a fun experience, let me tell you. Thankfully, I somehow managed to get everything done by working day and night. I even managed to get some revision time in. I'm glad to say that I've now completed a majority of my exams and handed all my assignments in. Just a couple more exams on Friday and I'll be finished for the semester, and indeed the first year. I can't really believe that it's gone so quickly. It's kind of flown by without me realising. I've enjoyed it immensely, though. I consider 2001 to be one of the best years of my life, and the last eight months to be just as good. I've made some very good friends during that time and had a lot of fun. I just hope that my second year will be just as enjoyable.

As a sort of reward for finishing the first year, a couple of friends and I are heading over to Hanover, Germany to compete in a Mahjong tournament. We'll be flying out on the 22nd May and staying for the weekend. Due to our limited budgets, we've decided not to book any accommodation whilst we are there. Instead we'll be sleeping in the airport. I'm not entirely sure how well this is going to work out but I'm optimistic that it'll all be fine. As for the tournament, since it's our first time playing against other people I'm not sure if we'll be up to scratch. However, I'll be happy as long as I don't end up last. In any case, it'll be a nice trip over to Germany. We'll have a bit of time to do some sight-seeing before the tournament so that should be interesting. I can't wait to go!

Updates Coming Soon!

2009-05-01T02:39:00.002+01:00

Just a small note to say that I haven't forgotten about this blog. I've had a lot other stuff to worry about recently, but I'll have more free time to update now. I'll explain the reasons for my absence in my next post. Expect one in the next day or so. Until then, mata na!

Pari Pipo

2009-04-03T06:35:00.011+01:00

It's become surprisingly difficult for me to think of stuff to write about on here since starting university. It seems like a bit of a paradox but it's like there's less less to write about when there's more happening. It might be because there are so many events occurring that I can't remember them all without taking notes. However, that's hardly very practical. I'm not some detective who carries a notepad around with him everywhere he goes. I think the only solution would be to make smaller posts on here and only include small pieces of information each time. I'll have to evolve my style of writing once again; from the massive behemoths of 2007, to a more compact prose for 2009. Hopefully that will motivate me to update more often. After all, I did say that I was aiming to write over 150 posts this year. I'm already quite far behind my quota for the the first three months so I have to pick up the pace to compensate. I think the summer months will help, though. I'll be so bored that I'll have nothing else to do but update this blog continuously!

I thought that I'd found a solution to my bike storage problem a few days ago. I figured that it might be viable to rent a small room in one of those short-term storage facilities over the summer. That would enable me to store my new bike (along with a few other bits and pieces) until I move into my new flat in September. Unfortunately, after looking at the costs, it doesn't look like I'll be able to afford such an expensive option. The best price I could find was £11.00 per week. Considering that I'd have to rent a space for about eight weeks, that's quite a lot of money to be spending. So, it looks like I won't be getting a new bike in May after all. Not unless another solution appears.

Next week will be the final few lessons of the semester for me and it feels kind of sad. I can't believe that I've almost completed my first year of university already. Granted, there are still a few weeks remaining after we get back from our Easter holidays but they'll mainly be for revision and exams. Most of the teaching will have finished by next week. I've enjoyed most of modules this semester, and I think that's down to the fact that we've had some very good lecturers. There are a couple that I won't be seeing again next year which is unfortunate. Having a good lecturer in your class just makes it so much more enjoyable than if you have a bad lecturer. I really hope that the second year of teaching will be just as good. However, the first year isn't over yet, though, so I still have to keep working hard until May. Kakatte koi!

Boyonka Boyoyonka

2009-03-28T23:02:00.004Z

After a friend showed me the special offers on a mountain bike shop's website I've been tempted to buy a new bike. There's a 2008 GT Avalanche 3.0 Disc available for only £269.99 and it looks to be a very good deal. Although the specification of the bike is fairly low (compared to my 2000 GT Arrowhead which I spent a lot of money upgrading), the frame decals are very nice. It wouldn't be such a bad idea to buy the bike and ride it 'as is' until I get an opportunity to upgrade the parts. The only problem I can foresee is where I would store the bike. I really don't have enough room at home to house two bikes and I won't be moving into my new flat until September. That leaves me with about three months where I won't have anywhere to put it. If I can sort that little problem out then I'll probably end up buying it in May.

March really is the time where everything seems to end in Japan. All the drama series are pretty much finished and all the anime series are coming to an end. This includes the two series that I was watching - Toradora! and The Tower of Druaga: Sword of Uruk. The ending to Toradora! was slightly unexpected but it did finish off the story quite nicely. The show overall has been thoroughly enjoyable with a good story and some likeable characters. The only flaw I can pick out is that the artwork seems a bit inconsistent in places. As for The Tower of Druaga: Sword of Uruk, the second series wasn't quite as good as the first. The story felt a little rushed and disjointed towards the end. It's still worth watching though, even if only for the opening and closing theme songs.

It's getting to the end of the term at university now and the work is starting to pile up a bit. If I'm too complacent then there's the possibility that I won't pass the first year. That's only if I completely screw up and don't hand in pieces of work though. I just need to make sure that I don't procrastinate too long and get the essays finished. Of course, I still need to make sure that they're well-written and not rushed. I should also make a start on my portfolio work soon too. I really don't want to have to work through the night to get that done like last time...

Hello!Blog's Hello!Project Poll 2009

2009-03-27T22:16:00.001Z

Peace And Rock And Roll

2009-03-26T15:48:00.008Z

It seems I failed quite badly today. After demanding to know our marks for almost the whole semester, we finally received them this morning. Unfortunately, for me at least, I kind of wish that I'd never found out now. The reason being that my marks are a lot worse than I had been expecting. Perhaps I was hoping for too much but 55% is just very demoralising. I had written quite a lot during the exam and I thought that I knew what I was writing about but I guess not. I feel very disappointed in myself for achieving such a low mark. The only positive thing I can take from this is the fact that the exam was only worth 10% of the overall module mark. It's still kind of soul destroying though. I'll have to pick myself up from this disappointment and try harder next time.

At least I have Yakitate!! Japan to cheer me up. I had a serious urge to re-watch it again for some unknown reason. I'm very glad I did though because I'd forgotten how good the anime was. It's so hilariously funny all of the time and it's very addictive to watch. It also makes me want to start baking bread again. I haven't made any bread for a couple of years now but I think I'm going to get back into it again soon. I'd like to try making some melon-pan again, as well as maybe croissants and loaves. Perhaps I could make it a regular thing this time. The only bad thing about watching Yakitate!! Japan again is that it takes up so much hard drive space. The whole series is about 10GB and I was already quite low on hard drive space before I started downloading it. I've had to save it to my internal drive for the time being. It looks like I'll have to buy a new external hard drive soon. Something with a big capacity would be nice - 1TB or so is ideal. They are a little bit costly though so I'll have to wait until summer before I buy one.

Dakishimete, Dakishimete!

2009-03-21T17:59:00.003Z

I decided to sign into my Final Fantasy XI account yesterday, just to see who was on. I didn't sign into my character - I'd have to renew my content ID to do that - just into PlayOnline. I happened to see one of my old friends online so I sent them a quick message to see how things were going. They informed me that the linkshell I was part of was no longer around. It came as a bit of a shock but, I suppose, it wasn't unexpected. When you spend six months away from the game things change. And the linkshell itself had been going for many years already. Many core members had slowly gone their separate ways during that time so an eventual split was perhaps inevitable. It does make me quite sad but I still plan on returning to the game over the Easter holidays, and perhaps more permanently over the summer and into the second year of university.

Did I ever mention how bad the British Rail service is? Well, I'm going to mention it now in any case. Yesterday, I came back home via train, as usual. Only this time I'd arrived at the train station earlier than usual, which put me right in the middle of rush hour. There were quite a few people standing on the platform, waiting for the same train as I was. You'd think that during the peak hours they would have trains with plenty of carriages to accommodate the passengers, right? But not according to British Rail. They sent a train with a piddly two carriages; carriages which were so old they required a conductor to open the bloody doors for you! Half the people (including me) had to stand in the luggage bay in order to fit on the train. It wasn't until near the end of the journey that I managed to get a seat. It's safe to say that I won't be catching a train at rush hour ever again.

There's another British institution that I have problems with, and that's Royal Mail. I'm sure I've written about their sub-par service before. It's finally gone and done it this time though. About three weeks ago I received a letter from Student Finance asking me to sign a form and return it. This form is the last step of my application for a loan next year, and without it, I won't receive any money. I hastily signed the form and sent it via recorded delivery. Two weeks later, I check to see if the letter had been delivered. It hadn't. I keep checking everyday but nothing changes. The bastards have gone and lost the single most important letter that I'll be sending this year! Are they intentionally trying to screw me out of my student loan or what? Goddamn whores! You'll be certain that I'm going to claim every penny of compensation out of them for losing my letter.

Ohrinalda

2009-03-19T05:08:00.009Z

A strange thing happened to me this weekend - I lost my voice. Not completely, but I had to put a lot of effort into making myself heard and understood by the people I was talking to. I don't think I've ever lost my voice like that before. It was quite an odd experience - kind of like having your larynx anaesthetised. It's recovered now, somewhat, so I can speak properly once again, albeit between the coughing and croaking. I'm grateful that whatever I've managed to catch hasn't turned out to be something more debilitating.

I've been having a bit of a drama-watching spree recently. I finished watching Ryuusei no Kizuna last week. I really enjoyed that series. It was funny, it was sad, and it had some very good characters. I'm still watching Mei-chan no Shitsuji but there's only one more episode to go now. I've got it downloaded to my hard drive so I'm just waiting for the subtitles to get released. In the meantime, I've started watching Voice. It's about a group of students in the forensic medicine department of a university. They come across various cases in which they try and find the 'voice' of the deceased person, in order to bring to peace to the families left behind. It's an enjoyable series to watch but it does seem to get a bit formulaic after awhile. If you can overlook that little downside then it's well worth watching.

There was a written assessment in Japanese Language on Monday. We were given a list of our imaginary family members - each with several traits and facts about them - and we had to write about them using our knowledge of grammatical constructs. It was quite a long list and we were only given one hour so I only just about managed to finish on time. Overall, it wasn't too difficult. There were really only two or three different conjugations that we had to use. Perhaps I could have made it a bit more complex but I would have run out of time if I spent too long thinking about it. It's only worth 10% of the module mark in any case - nothing too serious.

Finally, since Taurinensis wrote about this in his recent blog post, I'm going to finish this entry off by talking about Resident Evil 5. Admittedly, I've only played a little bit of it so far but I do intend to buy it at some point in the next couple of weeks. From what I've seen, it's not a rapid departure from Resident Evil 4. The graphics look similar, its control system (although slightly modified) is pretty much the same, and it's still very action-based. In some ways, it leaves me kind of disappointed. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic here, but I had hoped that they would return to a more classical style of Resident Evil. That is a game less action-based and more puzzle-based, with the same camera style as 0, 1, 2 and 3. That's what I believe the 'real' Resident Evil is. Not that the new style is bad, far from it. I enjoyed playing 4 as much as the next person. But it just wasn't Resident Evil. It's more like a closely related spin-off in my eyes. I read that 6 was going to be another massive change in style so maybe there's hope for us traditionalists yet. Maybe...not...?

Urs!!

2009-03-06T20:33:00.002Z

Somehow, despite promising myself that I wouldn't let myself get short of money again this semester, I've found myself...well, short of money. It probably has something to do with the fact that I bought myself a new TV during the start of the term, as well as some new clothes and shoes a few weeks later. The damage deposit on next year's accommodation has also taken up a fair chunk of my remaining money. At least this time I've left myself a small amount of reserve cash in a savings account so I have that to fall back on. I don't think I'll have to use that though, as long as I don't buy unnecessary things and save all my money for essentials. There's only about three weeks until the next scholarship payment arrives so it shouldn't be too hard to survive until then.

In the meantime, I have quite a lot of work to keep me occupied. I have a couple of essays to finish before the end of next week, and a timed essay on Monday. The essay will be interesting, seeing as how it's all going to be Japanese. I'd better revise some of the key vocabulary and kanji before the test, just in case. As for the essays, I don't foresee any problems with them. I'm about halfway through the first (I really should have finished it by now) with about 700 words to go. I haven't even started researching for the second essay yet but I can delay that until Easter if I really have to. That would give me time to concentrate on my Japanese portfolio which I've been neglecting. I'd like to make some sort of role-play video with a few of my friends and include that as a speaking task. I'd also like to include some sort of kanji exercise this time. I'll get started on it next week, I think.

My luck in Mahjong has been pretty dire recently. I don't know if it's the tail-end of the immense winning streak that I was on before or not, but it's been downhill for quite a few games now. I don't think I'm doing anything differently from before but I just can't seem to complete hands any more. I'd hate to think that my previous wins were purely down to luck but it's looking like that may be the case. On the other hand, though, if it was pure luck then surely I'd have won something by now. It's just a matter of probability after all. I guess I'll just have to ride out this rough patch and keep playing until my luck returns. Perhaps it's retribution for that Ryuu Iisou...?

Ikinakutemo Ii Desu Yo

2009-02-24T16:34:00.006Z

It's been one of those days where you wish you hadn't bothered getting out of bed. What makes it worse is that it's not even 5 o'clock yet...plenty of time left for more irritatingly annoying things to happen. When I woke up this morning things didn't seem so bad. I got up, had some toast and soya milk, and went for a shower. Got changed, packed some clothes into a suitcase and headed out of the door. I was going back home for a few hours so I could get a couple of documents for my accommodation application. All the crappiness started when I got to the train station. The train I was waiting for was first delayed by 13 minutes, and then 3 more minutes on top of that. To top it off, towards the end of the journey the train inexplicably stopped at a level crossing and waited for the cars to pass. What the hell?! The cars are supposed to make way for the trains to pass, not the other way round. Why is the British rail service so turd?

When I got back home I just so happened to be there when an annoying debt collection agency called. For some reason they had a totally wrong address for me but I stupidly told them the correct one anyway. I should have just hung up at the beginning. They can sod off though for all I care. They aren't getting a single penny from me, not if I can help it. Scum-sucking whorebags! Eventually, I got pissed off with the person on the other end of the line and hung up on them. I put my clothes into the washing machine and set off for the library to photocopy those documents.

When I got back the washing machine still hadn't finished its cycle yet so I had to wait. A short while later I heard the drum stop spinning so I went to get my clothes. Stupidly, I turned the machine off and tried to open the door but it was locked. I turned it back on and it was still locked. There was no other way of getting the bloody door open so I had to put it into a spin cycle again. It was already 2:40PM by this point and I had to be back at university for 3:30PM at the latest, as the office will only take payments until 4PM. The damn cycle took 15-20 minutes to finish. By the time I got to the train station it was 3:05PM and the next train wasn't until 3:20PM. I was well and truly screwed. I have no choice now but to wait until tomorrow to hand in my application form. I hope this one day hasn't jeopardised my chances of a room.

Mahou Tsukai Desukedo

2009-02-21T14:58:00.008Z

It's already getting to that time of the semester when all the deadline start piling up thick and fast. I've got a total of four essays, one presentation, a portfolio, and two exams to do before the end of the academic year. Thankfully, most of the stuff is due in after the Easter break. That leaves me with only one essay, one exam, and the presentation to do this term. I've already made a start on the essay but I haven't really made that much progress on it yet. I really need to get my head down and complete it as soon as possible, otherwise it's just going to add to the workload come April.

I'm not too worried about the presentation just yet. It's right at the end of the term and I've done enough of them now to have a pretty clear idea of what's required of me. The exam, however, might be a cause for alarm. It's going to be very similar to the exam I had for Background to Japan last semester, only this time it'll be worth a lot more. This means that I'll have to revise a lot more than I did last time if I want to do well on it. That's not looking very easy at the moment though, as the lectures we've had thus far haven't followed guidelines. Looks like I'll have to do quite a lot of self-research in my spare time.

Just a shame then that the game industry isn't making it very easy for me to do that. As luck would have it, all the games that I want to play are getting released in the next couple of months; as if to try and make me fail the year. We've just had Street Fighter IV released over here and that's going to take up a lot of time. Then next week we have the release of Oneechanbara and Silent Hill: Homecoming. Although the Silent Hill game isn't meant to be very good, I wouldn't mind playing it through myself just to see how bad it really is. The week after those two games comes the release of Battle Fantasia, and the week after that comes Resident Evil 5. Finally, to top off the gaming-cake-mountain, Star Ocean 4 will be making an appearance towards the last week of Easter break. That's a smorgasbord of games if ever I saw one.

Reppuu

2009-02-12T04:42:00.005Z

After thinking about my finances a little bit more carefully, I've come to the conclusion that it won't quite be as bad as I initially thought. All I have to do is make sure that I save at least £1,000 from my loan payment that's due at the end of April. Of course, this would mean that I won't have very much to spend during the summer, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem since I'll be staying at home during those few months. If I do that, then I can use the extra money to ease the financial burden during the next academic year. I might also consider getting a small part-time job during the summer for some extra money too. Now that that's all sorted in my head I can stop worrying about it so much and concentrate on applying for a room at Trinity. I'm still missing a document from home so I'll go back and pick it up this weekend. If everything goes well I should be able to hand in my application next Monday.

Recently, the Japanese lessons have begun to start getting quite tough. We're finally covering material that I'm not all that familiar with and it's becoming a challenge. This is a good thing of course. I didn't come to university just to revise everything I already knew. I'm looking forward to having to get my head down and actually do some hard work. Of course, I still have the second half of my portfolio to complete and that's pretty tough already. I've still not really thought about what I'm going to do for it. One possibility is that I include a collection of lessons from the Basic Kanji Book as a Kanji task. Another thing that I've been toying with is the idea of making a short role-playing video. I would have to enlist the help of a few friends to pull it off but it should be doable. There's still plenty of time until the deadline so I shouldn't be too unduly worried about it yet.

Trinity Mahjong Village

2009-02-10T02:50:00.003Z

You know how I said that there appeared to be a light at the end of the tunnel in regards to next year's accommodation problem? Well, it seems that it wasn't the end of the tunnel at all. Rather, it was an axe-wielding maniac who happened to be holding a torch. And right now he's chopping my head off...

A few friends and I had decided to stay in some private halls next year so we went to get an application pack today. Upon receiving it I noticed that the rent was a lot more expensive than I had originally thought. I'm currently paying £70 a week for my university-owned room. The rent for the new place will be £86 a week - a whole 18.6% more expensive! The new place would come with an en-suite bathroom but does that really justify such a large increase in price? I know that an extra £16 a week doesn't sound all that much but over the long run it adds up. The total rent for the first semester would take up 75% of my loan and grant. That doesn't leave me with very much money to survive on.

Although the whole situation has made me a little more apprehensive about applying for a place, I don't really have that much choice. A lot of the places have been fully booked already and the ones that remain aren't too appealing. I think the only solution I have is to save up some money from my final term's loan and use that to boost my funds for the second year. I plan to have about £1,000 left by the end of this academic year, so if I save about 50% of that it should leave me with a comfortable amount of money to live on. I will have to be a lot more frugal about my money and not spend it as freely as I have done this semester. That's no bad thing I guess.

Natsu Doki Lipstick

2009-02-06T20:43:00.001Z

Despite all of my worrying, it seems that this week hasn't been as bad I thought it would be. First of all, the presentation was finished with plenty of time to spare and the delivery went off without a hitch. I managed to say my lines without sounding too nervous. I did trip over a few words but overall it went very well. The lecturer was also kind enough to e-mail us our marks in the evening. My partner and I were awarded 64% for the presentation, something I'm very satisfied with. Considering that presentations aren't really my strong point, I think that being able to get such a high mark is fantastic. And with only the two essay assignments remaining (my strong point) I'm pretty confident that I'm going to pass this module with at least 70%. Or at least that's how I hope it's going to be.

As for the other concerns that were on my mind, they seemed to have faded into insignificance for the time being. They'll probably resurface again sometime in the future but at least, for now, my mind will be at ease. With regard to the accommodation woes, it appears that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. There are still a few places at a couple of the private halls available. I've contacted the owners of one of the halls but they haven't replied yet. I'm sure that one of the halls will have spaces. If worst comes to worst, at least there'll be rooms left at Brunel Court. I suppose I could just about manage to endure living there for a year. I hope it doesn't come to that though...

I've managed to progress with Lost Odyssey in between sessions of Mahjong. The game is actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I was slightly put off by the character design when I first saw it but it's grown on me somewhat since then. The storyline, however, is very good. You can definitely tell that it's a Sakaguchi Hironobu game. The music is also very reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII. The game itself is a bit tougher than your typical RPG. The first boss, for example, can very easily kill you if you're not careful. Once you've gotten over the initial learning curve it's actually a very enjoyable game.

Le Sigh...

2009-02-03T19:08:00.004Z

I've been sat here for the past ten minutes trying to write an opening sentence but none of them have really been good enough yet. I'm hoping that this attempt to start the post will be more successful. The difficulty I'm having with trying to construct a decent opening is probably linked to the current state of mind I'm in. I don't know why but I've been feeling out of sorts for the last couple of days. I'm feeling a mixture of frustration, stress and depression. There just seems to be a lot of unresolved stuff floating around in my head at the moment. And some of it is stuff that I can't really talk to anyone about. It's probably easier just to write some of it down on here and let it dissipate into a string of binary numbers. I have no idea if it'll be of any use but it's better than bottling them up inside.

The first object of contention is the presentation that I have to do on Thursday. I wasn't that worried about it last weekend but as it gets closer I'm starting to feel apprehensive. It's another joint presentation and once again, I feel like I'm not contributing enough. I don't really have that much confidence in myself. I just need to persevere for another couple of days and then I won't have to worry about it any more. It's just a shame that it won't be the last presentation that I'll have to do this year. There's another one coming up in March for the Background to China module that I'm taking. At least I have quite a bit of time to prepare for that one.

The whole ordeal of trying to find a place to live next year is also causing me some grief. It turns out that the place a group of friends and I had planned on applying for has been taken over by the university for next year's first years. So now we're all going to have to change our plans and find somewhere new. I really don't want the hassle of find a house to share. I'd much rather just get a room in private halls. There's one place that looks quite decent but I'm still waiting on the owners to e-mail me back. Whichever place I choose, I'd better do it quick because places will probably fill up quite fast. I'll also have to spend quite a large amount of money just to secure my booking too - which means added stress about finances.

There are a couple of other matters that I don't really want to talk about publicly. Those are things that I'll have to resolve on my own and in my own time. They're pretty trivial things to worry about but I'm the sort of person who stresses over little things. I just hope that I'll have some peace soon.

Silky Heart

2009-01-24T18:13:00.004Z

I've been spending far too much money these last two weeks. First came the television, then came the games, Xbox 360 controller, a couple of pairs of jean and a new coat. That's on top of all the expensive take-away dinners I've been having too. I've really got to reel in my spending for the rest of the term. Starting from next week I'm going to go back to cooking my own dinner again. I do still need a couple more items of clothing but those can wait until February I think. It's only a new pair of boots and some new shirts. After that, I don't have anything planned money-wise.

The new semester is pretty much in full swing now and the deadlines are already coming in thick and fast. Lots of essays and exams coming up after Easter and a couple of presentations before then. I've also received most of my semester one results, with the exception of Asia Pacific Studies and Background to Japan. I'm fairly happy with the marks that I received. My portfolio wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting it to be, but I was slightly disappointed with the mark that I received for the Background to Japan presentation. My partner and I had put a lot of work into that presentation and I expected a higher mark. It's still pretty decent though so I shouldn't really complain.

Master Chief!

2009-01-17T23:11:00.003Z

I've just had my first week back at university and it's been a productive one. It turned out that I didn't need to worry about my student loan at all. It arrived in my bank account in the early hours of Monday morning. And as it turned out, accommodation didn't take out my rent until yesterday. I bought myself a new Sharp 19" LCD TV for £179.99. At first I wasn't very impressed with the quality of the display when playing my Xbox 360 on it but as soon as I changed to a HDMI connection I was blown away by how good it looked. Now I can play all my games in glorious 1080i resolution. The TV also has a built-in Freeview decoder so I can receive quite a few digital TV channels. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase - even if the customer service at the shop was crap!

I've also bought myself quite a few games during this last week. The first being Halo 3. After playing through it I regret not having bought it sooner. This instalment in the series is so much better than the second game. There's none of this playing as the Arbiter rubbish, and the story is a vast improvement. It feels a lot closer to the original game, which in my opinion, was the best game of the series. I also bought Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey for £4.99 and £9.99 respectively. I haven't played either of them properly yet but they look pretty good. Finally, I ordered a refurbished 20GB HDD from Microsoft for £12.99. The twats at Microsoft managed to get my delivery address wrong but I managed to sort it all out eventually. It's a good job there are people at UPS who know what they're doing.

Ponyo Ponyo Ponyo Sakana No Ko

2009-01-11T01:52:00.002Z

Aah, the joys of a half decent internet connection! I'm back at home for the weekend so my internet speed has been pretty good compared to one I was getting on the university's network. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to sort out the problem yet. I've e-mailed IT support but they tell me that there hasn't been any other reports of slow internet speeds from my halls. They've told me to check my computer on someone else's connection and check their computers on mine. This means that I've got to enlist the help of one of my friends before I can determine the cause of the problem. Most likely I won't be able to get anyone until at least Monday which means I'm stuck with a crap connection tomorrow. I can feel my blood pressure rising already...

It also doesn't help that my student loan seems to be taking its time this semester. Last time it was already in 'paid' status the weekend before the first day of term. This time it's still in 'submitted' status, and it's been like that for the last week. What the hell does this mean? Does it mean that it's been submitted to the bank for payment on Monday? Or does it simply mean submitted to the system for payment? If it doesn't arrive on Monday then I'm going to have to see accommodation and ask them to give me a few more days to pay my rent - it's due on the first day. I could be stressing out over nothing but it's got me concerned.

High Speed, My Arse!

2009-01-07T23:23:00.003Z

It is the year 2009, right? Well, you wouldn't think so from the speed of my internet connection today. Jesus Christ, even loading a web page is like trying to force your face through a cheese grater - extremely slow and excruciatingly painful. I really don't understand what the problem is. I got back to my university halls yesterday and the internet has been complete shit since then. I did change my LAN settings slightly when I was back at home (to get online with the 360) but, as far as I can tell, everything is back to normal now. But still it proceeds to piss me off. It's worse than when people had to use 56k dial-up modems to connect to the internet. I've tried the computers at the library and the internet is fine on there (but the computer itself is slow as shit). It's got to be a problem with the network in the halls. They'd better get it fixed soon or I'm going to have to start smashing stuff...

Holy Jesus Christ! So, This Shipment...

2009-01-06T22:53:00.010Z

I know that this is six days too late, but Happy New Year! I can't believe it's taken me nearly a week to write the New Year post. I've been very lazy during the last quarter of 2008 and that seems to have carried over into 2009. My procrastination in updating this blog is clearly evident when you take a look at the post count for 2008 and compare it to 2007. One-hundred and twenty-six posts in 2007 compared to just eighty-five posts in 2008. I only just managed to beat 2006's post count by four. I'm very disappointed in myself. So I'm going to make myself a New Year's Resolution - to write at least one-hundred and fifty posts in 2009. It shouldn't be too difficult, as long as I don't start procrastinating again. Gambarou!

So what do I have planned for this year? Well, next Monday I go back to university (I'm actually here on campus already but teaching doesn't resume until next week) so that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to the new semester and the challenges it should bring. I'm also eager to see the results of my first semester assessments. I've also got my student loan arriving on the first day back so I'm going to have a lot of fun spending it! I've already planned on spending about 25% of it in the first week. Most of it will go on buying a new LCD TV for use with my Xbox 360. I can't wait to see the games through a HDMI connection. That's something I'm excited about. The rest of the money will go on getting a HDD for the 360 (so I can download some Live Arcade games) and new clothes (that trench coat I've been meaning to buy since September). That should still leave me with plenty of money for the rest of the term. More than last time anyway, when I ran dangerously low towards the end of November. Let's hope that doesn't happen again...it's not fun being poor!

Moruze, Moruze!

2008-12-27T15:54:00.003Z

Merii Kurisumasu! I know it's actually been two days since Christmas but it's never too late to wish people a Merry Christmas (unless you're saying it in June). I'm currently at home for the Christmas holidays. It was a hectic last few days at university before I left. I spent so many hours trying to get an essay and portfolio finished before the end of term. I successfully managed to complete the 2,500 word essay and hand it in a whole day before the deadline! Unfortunately, my portfolio wasn't quite so easy to finish. I don't think I'm going to get a very good mark for it but I'm hoping it'll be above 50%. The reason for the tardiness was due to the fact that I'd left it a little bit too late to start recording my speaking task. As a result it turned out a bit crap. Oh well, there's still the second half of the portfolio to come in semester two. Hopefully I'll be able to rescue it by then.

As well as the portfolio, there was an exam in the Background to Japan module. It was only meant to be 30-minutes long but for some reason it ended up being 60-minutes. It was a good job too because I spent the whole hour writing non-stop and only just about managed to get everything down. It was the first time in almost six years that I'd taken an exam but it seemed to go quite well. I spent the previous day revising and luckily, everything that I'd revised came up on the exam. I was very relieved! Therefore, I'm expecting a decent mark when the results come back.

As a reward for my hard work, and to celebrate my twenty-fourth birthday, I bought an Xbox 360 console. It was only £129.99 so it was hard to pass up. I do plan on getting a Playstation 3 too eventually but I'm waiting for the next price drop. It's still too expensive to buy one at the moment. I'm really enjoying the 'next generation' games. I bought Eternal Sonata and Grand Theft Auto IV. The graphics looks amazing, even on my rubbish portable TV. I'm planning on getting a decent 19" LCD TV in the new year when my student loan arrives. I bet it's going to look fantastic when connected via HDMI. I can't wait!

Tsukareta...

2008-12-04T02:11:00.004Z

This last week has been really hectic. Since last Thursday I've been spending almost every night in the library. And by night I mean from about 9:00pm until at least 4:00am. The reason for this was because I had to complete a presentation that was due in on Tuesday, 2nd December. Normally it wouldn't have taken so long to complete such a short presentation, but this one had to be based on a 2,500 word essay that's due in on the 16th December. Therefore, I had to get a basic outline of the essay first before I could decide what to include in the presentation. I managed to write about 1,500 words in three days before I switched. I was working on it right up until 7:00am on the morning of the presentation. Thankfully, it wasn't until the evening so I still had plenty of time to get some sleep beforehand.

In the end I think I did OK. It was only in front of about eight people but for some reason I felt a little bit nervous. As a result I probably spoke too fast and stumbled over some of my words. But the main thing is that it's all over now and I can relax somewhat. I've got two weeks to write the last 1000 words on the essay, as well as complete my Japanese portfolio. Finally, I'll have to revise for a short thirty-minutes time essay at the end of the semester. It shouldn't be a problem though. I can always grind out some more late-nighters in the library! Those are really fun since there's always three or four of us there and we mess around quite a bit. I haven't had so much fun in a long time.

Shiroi Chou No Samba

2008-11-26T18:04:00.003Z

This week has been (and will continue to be) an extremely busy week at university. I have to complete a presentation for my Asia Pacific class by next Tuesday. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that it needs to be based on a 2,500 word essay that I haven't started yet. As it is, I'm having to do some speedy research in order to have enough material to talk about for ten minutes. It would make a lot more sense to have the presentation after you've written your essay. I think I'm going to have to get started on the essay and have a rough outline to base the presentation on. It's a real challenge to try and maintain my high mark from the first essay. I'm determined not to give up my crown just yet!

With it being just over three weeks until the end of term, it means that I've also got to get a move on with my Japanese portfolio. I've already completed one of the four tasks that are required but I haven't really made a start on the other three. I'm hoping to complete a listening comprehension task by the end of this week, then perhaps a speaking task the week after. I'm a bit undecided about what I want to do for my last task though. I feel that I should work on my grammar since it's so weak but I'm not sure how. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

Iku Wa Yo!

2008-11-20T19:44:00.002Z

My laptop's hard disk drive finally decided to crap out on me a few days ago. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I've had it for about six years now; so it was probably overdue for a massive disk failure. What was strange was that it happened quite suddenly, without warning. I turned it on one day and a weird, Windows 95 style log in screen appeared. I tried to log into my account as normal but it wouldn't let me, no matter what I did. I tried to use the Windows CD to repair the thing but it didn't work. After several hours of frustration I decided to give up and format the hard drive and start again.

I wasn't too concerned about having to lose all my files since I'd copied all the important ones over to my external disk months ago (thank God I did!). There was also the added attraction of being able to finally get rid of the damned FAT32 file system that my hard disk was formatted in. It was a massive pain trying to re-install all my old programs from before the crash. At the moment, I think I've managed to get all the settings back to how it was before. Unfortunately, the laptop doesn't seem to be running quite as smooth as it did. It takes ages to do simple things like starting a new program or initiating a download from Firefox. At least that annoying sound-distortion problem is gone. However, it does look like I'll be needing a new computer sooner that I thought...

Things have been better in my studies. I got my first essay back from marking and was astounded to find out that I'd scored 74%! That's the equivalent of a 'first' (or an 'A'). And here I was worrying that I'd not even get above the 40% minimum pass mark. I hope that my next essay will get a similarly high mark. It's certainly spurred me on to try my best for it.

Watashi No Ichi Nichi

2008-11-15T15:14:00.002Z

Guergh...somehow I've managed to catch a cold these last couple of days. I think it might have something to do with the freezing weather we've been having lately. It's not too bad though - all I've had is a sore throat, which developed into a chesty cough after a couple of days. It's been more of an annoyance than anything else. I hope it'll be gone by the start of next week.

I've been playing Rogue Galaxy this week. It's enjoyable for the most part, but it doesn't half piss you off sometimes. The main gripe I have is with the battle system. I was expecting it to be a turn-based RPG when in fact it's definitely an action RPG. That wouldn't normally be so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that the AI that controls your party characters is retarded beyond belief. They'll just stand around getting hit when they should be defending. Not that defending does anything, mind you. Seems like 90% of the enemies' attacks cannot be blocked. And that's a major problem when there's not much in the way of armour in the game. You can easily die within a few hits if you're not careful, and that's the thing that annoys the hell out of me. As for the story, it's certainly very entertaining so far. The English voice acting is surprisingly decent (except for one extremely irritating American teenage girl). I'll just keep grinding my way through it and hopefully the niggles will disappear eventually.

I Want Nobody, Nobody But You

2008-11-13T02:05:00.003Z

This is becoming a bit of a bad habit. I've been seriously neglecting my blogging duties of late and I need to rectify this problem. So what better way to kick-start my blogging revival than with a brand-spanking new post?! I'm still not entirely sure what I'll write about yet but I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go along.

I guess I can start by talking about the past few weeks of university. I've been quite busy with a 1,500-word essay in Asia Pacific and a 15-minute paired presentation in Background to Japan. The essay took about two weeks in total to get completed. It was quite a struggle to write as I've not written anything academic for almost five years now. I was quite worried about getting the whole referencing thing right. I think I've done it correctly but I can't be sure until the results come back. I'm hoping that I'll get at least 40% on it (since that's the minimum pass mark). Anything about 50% and I'll be extremely happy.

The paired presentation was also quite daunting. I'm not exactly the most confident person in the world, so the thought of standing up on stage in front of fifty-odd people and delivering a presentation was nerve-racking. My partner and I were up until 3:00AM on the night before the presentation trying to get it finished. We had to get up four hours later at 7:00AM to put the final touches to it. Thankfully, all our hard work paid off and we managed to do quite well. It was such a good feeling at the end once it was over with. Now I can relax for the rest of the semester and watch everyone else's presentations.

One problem I seem to be having at the moment is the lack of money /laugh. I know that the stereotypical student is always short of money but I didn't expect myself to be in that position. I've got to survive on £100 for the next few weeks until my scholarship payment arrives. This means lots of instant ramen and cheap meals. I can't wait for January when my next loan instalment arrives...

Well, I think that'll do for the time being. I don't want to exhaust all my material in one post /laugh. I'm going to do my best to update this blog again within 2-3 days. I promise to throw my Horie Yui CD out of the window if I don't!

She Cannae Take It, Captain!

2008-10-21T22:23:00.008+01:00

It's been awhile since I last updated this blog. The reason for this is because I was feeling a little bit burnt out after having to update my WordPress almost daily. I've decided to give up on that for the time being since I really don't have the energy to do it justice. I'm going to turn my attention back to Kuroneko Doumei for the time being. This is my main blog after all.

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks at university. I attended the International Film Festival at the university and saw a couple of interesting films. One was a Chinese film called Blind Shaft, which painted a bleak picture of China's mining industry. The other film was a Japanese one called After Life. That one was a lot more optimistic about things /laugh! It was a very thought-provoking film that made you reflect on your own life so far. It was directed in such a way that it was almost like the people in the film were narrating their own lives. I later found out that some of the cast did actually recount their own lives for the film, hence why they seemed so genuine.

On the academic front, I've got a 1,500 word essay due in on the 31st October, and a 10-15 minute presentation to prepare with my partner. At first I was really worried about the essay. Having been over four years since I last wrote an essay, I was sure that I would screw it up completely. And I did for the first two drafts. Thankfully, I borrowed a book on essay writing from the library and it's helped me enormously. I now have confidence in what I write and my third draft is coming along nicely. For the presentation, my partner and I have managed to get the introduction done, as well as start research on the main content. We don't have such a strict deadline on this, so it allows us to work in a bit more of a leisurely pace than the essay.

The Japanese Language lessons are going fine. I'm really enjoying them, even though I've covered all the material before. The tutors are fantastic and so much fun to learn from. On my Asia Pacific module, though, I'm not having such a good time. I always knew that this would be my weakest module but I didn't know it would be so difficult to understand. It seems like I come out of the lecture without having learnt anything about the subject we just covered. I'm hope that it's just me being too pessimistic but I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to pass this module. Guess I'll just have to study harder.

Guuzen No Kakuritsu

2008-10-07T21:13:00.002+01:00

Man, I've given myself quite a lot of work by starting a new blog on WordPress. I've been trying to keep that updated after every lesson but I'm already falling behind because there are so many of them. That's on top of updating this blog as often as I can and trying to keep up with my reading list. Still, I can't complain, it's nice to be busy for a change. I feel that I finally have something to work hard for. The initial anxiety about university life has gone and I'm beginning to really enjoy myself. That might change once I get my first assignment (/laugh) but for now everyday has been enjoyable. Well...apart from the noisy parties the flatmates have sometimes but that's not completely unbearable. I just need to get myself a good pair of earplugs!

There was a presentation today by Daito Bunka University to promote their international exchange students program. It was mainly for the second year students but a few of us first years went along anyway. The talk turned out to be really interesting. I was really keen on going to a university that wasn't too far away from Tokyo and I think I've found that in Daito Bunka University. It has campuses in Tokyo and Saitama, and offers a wide variety of undergraduate courses. The accommodation fees are really cheap (they're cheaper than what I'm paying currently in fact) which is amazing considering that it's in a big city. The teacher who coordinates the exchange program (the one giving the talk) was really pretty too, so I think that sealed the deal for me! /laugh It's Daito Bunka University for me in 2010!

LaLaLa Ai No Uta

2008-09-30T18:25:00.005+01:00

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.

Yan Nara Yanzo Kora!

2008-09-27T17:58:00.003+01:00

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.

Where's My Frigging Parcel?!

2008-09-22T21:07:00.009+01:00

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...

Otanjoubi Omedetou!

2008-09-20T17:54:00.013+01:00

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.

Slightly Less Anxious Times

2008-09-17T19:54:00.008+01:00

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!

Anxious Times

2008-09-16T20:29:00.008+01:00

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.

It's Alive!

2008-09-15T20:30:00.004+01:00

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.

It's That Time Again

2008-09-08T20:17:00.004+01:00

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.

It Goes A Little Something Like This

2008-09-04T17:38:00.007+01:00

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.

Kanashimi Mo Kuratte, Ikiro

2008-09-03T20:29:00.010+01:00

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!

Sakusen Time!

2008-08-31T16:35:00.013+01:00

Right! I'm not going to do anything else until I've written a new post. No more procrastination! I've wasted enough time these last few days, sitting here, staring at the never ending blink-blink-blink of the cursor. It's really frustrating not being able to construct basic sentences because your brain feels like it's in a coma all the time. I've already had to delete several lines of text because they didn't sound right. I can see it's going to be an uphill struggle all the way. The anger and frustrating is beginning to well up inside me. I'm not going to give up this time though. No matter what, I will finish this post!

It will be two weeks until the start of university tomorrow and I'm starting to get quite nervous about the whole thing. It's a little different from the excitement of a few weeks ago. Back then I couldn't wait for the start of term. Now the reality of it is kicking in and it's making me a little worried. But it's all right, I know what will keep my mind focused - the thought of finally having enough money to buy Horie Yui's latest album and concert DVD!

The CD won't cost me too much but the DVD might make a big dent in my bank account. Not only is the basic cost of the item quite high, I've also got to get it specially ordered (which means paying a handling fee), get it delivered from Japan, and pay any customs and excise charges that might be levied on it (highly likely due to the value). In preparation, I've worked out a rough estimate of the costs involved for each item:

Horie Yui - Darling (Limited Edition)

Price (incl. tax): 3,000 yen (£15.20)
Shipping (Express Mail Service): 1,800 yen (£9.10)
Foreign Currency Conversion Charge: £0.70 + £1.50

Total Cost: £26.50

Horie Yui - Christmas Live (First Pressing)

Price (incl. tax): 6,615 yen (£33.50)
Handling Fee: 2,000 yen (£10.10)
Shipping (Express Mail Service): 2,000 yen (£10.10)
PayPal Fee: 414 yen (£2.10)
Foreign Currency Conversion Charge: £1.60 + £1.50
Import VAT: £9.80

Total Cost: £68.70

The price of shipping for both items is based on the most expensive option (EMS) so I can save some money if I choose a cheaper alternative. Also, the price of the DVD could be more or less expensive depending on how easy it is to find the first pressing edition. But if things work out like I've planned then I'll be spending close to £100 on those two items! Ouch...

Kawaranai Mono

2008-08-22T23:36:00.003+01:00

The piece of news that I hoped would never materialise has finally arrived. Due to poor viewership ratings, the Haromoni@ show will be cancelled. The last episode will air on 28th September. To be honest this is something I thought might happen sooner or later. It's still a bit of a disappointment to see it in black and white. In spite of all the criticism about its content I was a staunch supporter of the show. For all of its weaknesses and apparent lack of substance it was still something to look forward to every Sunday morning. To imagine it not being there after September is quite a depressing thought. There's no news as to whether there will be a replacement programme involving Morning Musume but it's not looking hopeful. What will it mean for the future of the group if their final bastion of their once mighty television kingdom has finally come crashing down? Only time will tell.

On a happier note, I watched Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo after a recommendation from Michael. I remember seeing the promotional poster for it when it was released in 2006 and thought it looked quite interesting. It's known as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in English and was based on a popular novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka published in mid-sixties. It centres around a high school girl called Konno Makoto who discovers one day that she can travel through time. It's a bit of a novelty at first as she uses her powers on things like 8-hour karaoke sessions. As the film progresses, however, her actions begin to have undesired consequences on the people around her.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this film but I was pleased with how it turned out. The artwork is on the simple side but still pleasing to the eye. The voice acting was decent, although I did find the sound of Makoto crying to be rather irritating. I don't know what the voice director was thinking but I'm sure high school girls don't cry like 2-year-old babies (do they?). Apart from that little aspect the rest of the film was perfect. Especially the amazing soundtrack and insert songs sung by Oku Hanako. Kawaranai Mono has been on repeat for three days now and I haven't grown tired of it. Fantastic song.

Asobimashou

2008-08-14T01:32:00.005+01:00

I bought Asobi Seksu's second album 'Citrus' from eBay a couple of days ago. I managed to get it for only £0.99 + £1.50 postage and packaging, which I thought was pretty good. It arrived this morning and for the most part it was still brand new. The only minor problem that it had was a massive (and I mean massive) sticker on the back of the cardboard sleeve. If there's a sticker on a CD/DVD case I usually leave it alone but only if it's an original sticker. This one looked like it'd been stuck on by some third party advertising their website. I managed to peel most of it off before it decided to screw me over and rip part of the lamination off. You can't really see it unless you angle it into the light so it's not too bad. I freaking hate stickers that don't peel off easily!

The reason for buying this CD is quite an odd one. I'd never even heard of the band prior to a couple of weeks ago. I saw their name being quoted on a forum and noticed it was Japanese (incidentally the name translates as 'playful sex'). I didn't think much of it but about a week later I saw 'Citrus' in HMV. I became intrigued and decided to listen to a few of their songs on Imeem. Thought they were pretty good and found their album at a great price on eBay so I bought it.

I can't really describe their style of music. A lot of the tracks have an ethereal sound to them. My favourite tracks are 'Goodbye' and 'Mizu Asobi'. They are different to the rest of the album in that they're more lively and have more of a J-Pop sound to them. I would have preferred it if they'd made the lead vocalist's voice a bit louder on some of the songs. It felt like she was being drowned out by the music. It's a decent album but nothing that makes you go "wow". I have no regrets in buying it though. Not when it only cost me £2.49!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Party! Party!

2008-08-12T13:08:00.021+01:00

Although I'm very excited about heading off to university, I'm also slightly worried; even more so now that it's only thirty-three days until the start of term. My biggest concern is probably to do with how I'm going to 'fit in' with the people in my flat and on my course. More than likely I'll be a few years older than the vast majority of university students and I don't feel like I'll have much in common with them. Too be honest, I don't have much in common with people my age either.

I'm certainly not one for going out clubbing or drinking myself silly (I don't drink at all). I'd much prefer staying in and watching a film or playing a computer game. I really don't see the appeal of spending hours getting drunk in a place that plays shit music far too loud. I've tried it before and really didn't enjoy it. It might be awkward turning down invitations for things like that. People will probably reel back in horror at the thought of someone not enjoying the taste of alcohol!

I really hope that the people in my flat aren't going to be massively noisy and untidy. I don't want to be kept awake at 3'o'clock in the morning by bloody parties. People are entitled to have their fun, just as long as they don't go overboard. It's not all about partying in university you know (despite what the vast majority think). I also don't want to have to clean up the bathroom/kitchen every time I need to use it. I'm praying that I'll end up with considerate flatmates.

I won't actually know how it's going to be until I get started. I could be worrying about nothing but at the same time, I could be right to be concerned. I'll try my best to be open to new experiences and not shut myself in my room 24/7, but I will not compromise my own ideals for the sake of being 'popular'. I'd rather be know as the boring loner than the 'life of the party' (whatever that is).

Kuroneko Doumei Ver. 5.05 Alpha!

2008-08-11T13:06:00.011+01:00

I've done away with the ancient HTML template and joined the XML revolution! As a result my blog now looks 37.8% cooler than it did before (scientific fact). I wouldn't call it a completely new design (hence the ver. 5.05) but it has been made more streamlined and efficient. The main reason for the change was to improve the archive list. The old one listed every single month as a separate link and wouldn't allow you to view individual posts within it. The new template, however, does let you see individual posts and also has the advantage of being collapsible which saves a lot of room on the sidebar.

There are other changes too. The link list has been simplified and moved to the top, underneath the header. It gives me a handy 'home' button that takes me to the front page straight away. The old template didn't have that feature. The new font is a lot smaller which allows for more text in the same amount of space. Plus I think it looks a lot tidier than the last one. Amazingly, I've written a short paragraph for the profile section; something I didn't do for the last 3 years! There are also a couple of lists for me to mess around with below the blog archive. Nothing massively important but they fill the space in the sidebar quite nicely.

There we have it, the new Kuroneko Doumei is up and running. It was quite a struggle trying to get the code to do what I wanted it to but I managed it in the end. Not bad for someone with zero XML knowledge! There's still a slight issue with the spacing on pictures but it's a minor problem. I'll sort it out later if possible. For now, I'm going to marvel at the sheer magnificence of my creation (OK, someone else's creation, but I perfected it).

Natsu Love Romance

2008-08-04T19:59:00.007+01:00

I recently purchased Petit Best 4 and Petit Best 5 from dora ts17 on eBay. There are usually a few copies of Petit Best on this seller's store and no one bids for them. Most of the time I'm the only bidder and end up winning them for their starting price. Since they're so cheap I've decided to try and collect all the Petit Best compilation albums. They give me the opportunity to listen to some songs from Hello!Project that I wouldn't normally bother with. As a result I've discovered some very good songs that have become favourites of mine.

I'll start with Petit Best 4. The only song on the tracklist which really stood out for me was 'Uwakina Honey Pie' from Country Musume ni Konno to Fujimoto. I've become addicted to that song recently so I kind of bought it just to listen to that. However, the other songs on the album are pretty good too. In particular, 'Haha to Musume no Duet Song' has become my favourite track from the album. It's just so jolly and easy to sing along to. 'Natsu Love Romance' is also another great song that really suits the summer season. Overall, I think I prefer this album to Petit Best 5, just because it has a more consistent feel to it.

Petit Best 5 starts off good but dips in quality during the second half. There are just too many remixes on this album. I didn't mind 'Robo Kissu' or 'Roman ~My Dear Boy~' but I hated what they did to 'Piriri to Yukou!'. My favourite song on here was probably 'Good Bye Hello' sung by Abe Natsumi and Ishikawa Rika. It was the ending theme for a short TV drama they starred in a few years ago. That and 'All For One & One For All!' were the only great songs on Petit Best 5. A bit of a disappointing album in general.

Kakeba Naruhodo Pairotto, Pairotto

2008-08-01T16:37:00.008+01:00

Further to my last post, I have come up with an initial checklist of stationery that I'll be getting for university. The items in bold are what I consider the bare essentials for the first few weeks. Anything else is just shameless frivolity on my part. I'll probably split the list into two shipments so that customs and excise don't levy a tax on me for shipping so many pens into the UK.

1 x Pilot Petit 1 fountain pen - Black
1 x Pilot Petit 1 fountain pen - Apple Green
1 x Pilot Petit 1 fountain pen - Apricot Orange
1 x Pilot Dr. Grip G-Spec White mechanical pencil - Green
1 x Pilot Dr. Grip G-Spec White mechanical pencil - White
1 x Pilot Dr. Grip G-Spec Flash Colour ballpoint pen - White
1 x Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.25mm gel ink pen - Black
1 x Pilot Hi-Tec-C Slim Knock 0.3mm gel ink pen - Orange
1 x Pilot G-3 0.38mm gel ink pen - Black
1 x Pilot Spotliter VW 2 colour highlighter - Yellow/Orange
1 x Pilot Petit 1 refill capsule - Black
1 x Tombow Mono eraser - Medium
1 x Tombow Mono Zero eraser - 2.3mm (round)
1 x Sura Kura pencil case - Blue/Black

As you can see, most of them are Pilot pens for a couple of reasons. Not only are they colourful and a pleasure to write with, but more importantly they use Aibu Saki in their television advertisements. In my book, anything that Aibu Saki endorses must be worth using!

This Is A Pen

2008-08-01T02:42:00.006+01:00

As I will be heading off to university in just over 45 days time I've started to think about what I'll need when I get there. One thing every student needs is stationery. But I don't want any old crap stationery. I want the best. And who makes the best stationery in the world? Japan of course! I was a little worried about where I would procure them from but then I found this website. It has everything I could possibly want. I can't wait to put in a massive order come the start of term. And the great thing is I won't be spending too much since; A. pens don't cost much; and B. the exchange rate is so good.

It sounds really stupid but you wouldn't believe how excited I got when I saw all the awesome pens they had for sale. I have a massive fondness for bright coloured things from Japan. Is it a little bit weird to get so excited about pens? Probably, but I'm going to have the best stationery collection in my class, so there!

PS. Sorry about the mass amounts of expletives in my last post!

Scooter Bastard Must Die!

2008-07-26T21:06:00.006+01:00

Which scooter B@ST@RD am I referring to? The TW@T (or maybe TW@TS as I'm sure there's more than one of them) that keeps riding his P!ECE OF SH!T scooter back and forth along the road behind my house, that's who. The KN*BHEAD makes the biggest B@ST@RDING noise ever and it P!SSES ME OFF no end. At random times during the day/night the W@NKER will ride past several times on his S*DDING T*SS-machine. Dear God, how I'd love to run the D!CKHE@D down with a lorry, that G*DDAMN @RSEH*LE. Shut the HELL up and give me some peace and quiet, you GIT.

Natsu Matsuri!

2008-07-25T18:25:00.003+01:00

It's here! At long last it's here! The long awaited (by me at least) Sunbreeze Festival 2008 has finally been announced. It's due to start next Friday 1st August. It's a week late this year but better late than never. I'm so happy it's finally here!

The main reason for the excitement is the appearance of a new swimsuit! From the illustration above it looks absolutely fantastic. I've been waiting for a new one for years. But there's also a new event to enjoy, as well as the usual goldfish scooping and fireworks. There's also return of the superb festival music that's always played at this time of year. I love it. So I don't want anyone, not a single person, complaining about how it's 'obnoxious', or I'll slap your goddamn face so hard you'll be eating through your ears for years.

Watashi Ga Iru Kara Daijoubu

2008-07-21T01:03:00.009+01:00

Sigh...........

...........Sigh.

I appear to be in one of those doldrums at the moment where nothing seems right. It's not like there's anything particularly bad or depressing happening. But it just feels like there's something missing. I can't figure out what that 'something' is though. Everything I do to try and occupy myself doesn't seem to work for more than an hour or two. I can't watch TV or play games without getting bored after a short period of time. At least I seem to have got the motivation back to update this blog. I would be in quite a bit of trouble if I didn't.

I hope this is a short term lull and that I'll be more positive about things soon. I have got a sneaking suspicion that it could be something to do with my terrible sleep patterns. I just can't seem to get a good night's rest at the moment. I sometimes wake up more tired than when I went to bed. I've tried going to bed earlier but I just wake up again several hours later in the middle of the night. Maybe I should try drinking some Horlicks or something like that. It better fix itself soon, or I may end up going crazy!

.........Sigh.

Ayaka No Totsugeki Eikaiwa

2008-07-17T00:50:00.002+01:00

Great news! I'm only twenty miles away from an ex-member of Hello!Project! It's none other than Nagate Ayaka; formerly known as 'Kimura Ayaka' or just 'Ayaka'. She recently married a pro-golfer called Tanihara Hideto and they're over here in the UK for the Open Championship. The tournament started this morning but I don't know if she attended the first day due to the atrocious weather. It's awesome to know she's actually here in England. And so close to where I live too! If only I had some form of transportation I would go down there and try to get her autograph. Damn my non-transport status!

Ayaka was one of the earliest members of H!P and was one of the most recognised faces, thanks in part to her long-running English Lesson segments. She wasn't a member I particularly paid attention to but I was fond of her energetic personality. It was a big shock when she announced her graduation earlier this year. I wish her all the best in the future. I may start following golf tournaments in the hope of catching a glimpse of her! /laugh

Akai Freesia

2008-07-16T03:58:00.001+01:00

I had planned to do something outlandish and amazing for my 300th post, but after a week of brainstorming I still couldn't think of anything. So instead it's going to be business as usual. Just a normal post about trivial matters that no one really cares about.

First on the list is Final Fantasy XI. Don't worry, it's not another rant about how the world hates me. It's actually the complete opposite. I've recently managed to acquire some pieces of armour that I'd been dreaming about for years. I got both Byakko's Haidate and Shura Togi on the same night. I'm so happy! I still can't believe that I actually own these now. The stats are excellent, and more importantly, they look absolutely fantastic!

I've started watching a show called Code Blue. It's a medical drama that has some big name cast members in it and will no doubt be the programme to watch this season. From what I've seen of it so far it looks quite good. It's about a group of four new flight doctors-in-training and their experiences as they start their positions. It's a very serious medical drama more akin to Casualty or Holby City than something like House. The plot doesn't seem to be driving towards anything at the moment but then again I've only seen the first episode. I'm sure it will get more engrossing as the series progresses. Definitely one to keep watching.

It's now less than 60 days until I start university. It's getting more and more exciting as the time approaches. I'm eager to start my new life as a student. There is a little bit of anxiousness about how well I'll cope with intensive study again after all these years. I'm determined to give it 100% though and hopefully that will be enough. My long term goal is to achieve a First-Class Honours. Failing that, I guess I'd settle for an Upper Second-Class. I'd be severely disappointed with a Lower Second-Class that's for sure.

"Emo" Post? No Surprise There!

2008-07-03T06:07:00.003+01:00

I didn't realise being around me was so troublesome for people. I never go out of my way to make life hard for people but it just seems it just ends up like that. What is it about me that makes it so much work? Perhaps I've got some mental illness that I'm not aware of? One thing's for sure, I've found it very hard to get people to understand me. There aren't many people in this world who do. Ironically, the person that probably understood me most isn't around any more. Had I known my presence would cause so much distress to people I would have kept myself to myself more. Maybe I should just go back to being a social recluse?

Deja Vu?

2008-07-02T06:32:00.011+01:00

I don't know what it is but I seem to be getting very pissed off about things in my old age of 23. Case in point, this current palaver over Zeni Notorious Monsters on Final Fantasy XI. The members of the linkshell started the process of killing ZNMs a couple of weeks ago (even though it took considerable time for everyone to get interested in the concept). It was clear from after the first week that I wasn't going to be very happy with the way it was going.

It seemed to me that things were not completely equal when it came to deciding who got to use their item and when. I was completely left out of the first week while some got to use two items. Then this week half the people got to use yet another item while I still had to wait. It wasn't until the very end of the night (it was past 5:00AM for me by this point) that I finally got my chance.

It's not that I don't want people to get their rewards, I've been helping out with the fights haven't I? But I want there to be a fairer system for people who want to use their item. People that get to use more than one item a week and/or an item every week are clearly going to get more rewards than someone who doesn't. And every time they get to redo a fight because nothing dropped on the first try it delays things further. How is it fair that one person gets to do multiple fights and another person only gets time to do one?

I would much rather see a system where people got an equal number of chances to use an item. Someone wants to fight their ZNM again? Fine, but the other people get an extra fight to make up, ie. Person A spawns two ZNMs one night; Person A doesn't get to do another until the rest have also spawned two. Not a flawless system, but at least everyone gets the same number of chances. At the moment it's heavily biased. And I don't think I can carry on if that's the way it's going to be.

Handbags At Dawn

2008-07-01T04:19:00.005+01:00

It's only 74 days until I move into my student accommodation and, 76 days until I start university. On paper it's not very long to go but in real life, it's still miles away. I've been thinking about all the things I'm going to need when I get there. It's going to be a lot of fun buying supplies for my studies, as well as stuff for my new room. I should sit down and make a proper list of what I need to take, what I need to buy when I get there, etc. One thing I'll definitely need is a messenger bag of some sort to carry all my stuff in. I've grown tired of rucksacks so I'm looking for something that'll look a bit more trendy. I thought I'd found the ultimate bag only to find out that it costs over £200! I don't think I can afford to blow that sort of money /cry. Here's a picture of it in case you're interested:

Isn't it a beauty? I realise I sound like a woman obsessing over a bag, but it looks so damn good! It was the bag that Will Smith used in I Am Legend and Nicole Kidman used in The Interpreter. It's made by a company called Belstaff which makes really good quality gear for bikers. Unfortunately that also means their stuff costs an arm and a leg. I'll have to compromise and settle for a similar looking bag I found at Next. I'd love to get that Belstaff bag sometime in the future though. At least I know that's the sort of bag that will last a lifetime.

Did Someone Say Something?

2008-06-22T04:28:00.003+01:00

There's one thing that really, really gets on my nerves. And that's being ignored. For example, someone will ask a question, I'll try my best to answer it as correctly and succinctly as possible. But they'll just ignore it. Or I'll spend ages getting somewhere to help people out and they don't inform me that they no longer need my help. I don't know what it is about me that makes people not hear what I'm saying. Am I boring? Just not worth listening to? Because damned near everyone does it. Getting seriously pissed off about it.

Bad Wolf

2008-06-21T19:34:00.007+01:00

The last few episodes of Doctor Who have been absolutely incredible. In fact pretty much all of this whole series has been really entertaining to watch. I never used to like Doctor Who that much but I'm really hooked now. I think the producers of the show have created something really brilliant since David Tennant became the Doctor. Catherine Tate also makes a good companion, even though it did seem like an odd choice at the beginning.

The thing that really makes me love this series is the constant cameo appearances from old characters. Next week's episode is no exception, it's got everything and everyone in it: The Daleks, Torchwood, Sarah Jane, Rose Tyler, the list goes on. I really can't wait to see it. I have a feeling that there aren't many episodes of the current series left though. I don't know what I'm going to do without my weekly fix of Doctor Who /cry.

The current season of dramas in Japan is also drawing to a close. There's only been two dramas of interest to me this time. One is Zettai Kareshi which I absolutely love. It's got such a brilliant cast and story. Plenty of funny moments and heart-warming scenes. I'll be really sad to see it end. The second drama is Hokaben which I haven't seen much of yet. The subtitles are quite slow for this series and it has a rather heavy storyline. I'll probably still be watching through it slowly during the next couple of months.

As for the summer season, I've picked out a few series to try out when they're released. At first glance there aren't many that appeal to me but I'm hopeful that I'll find at least one that'll hook me. I've noticed that a lot of my favourite actors and actresses aren't in any of them so that may be a factor. There should be the special of Hanazakari no Kimitachi E to look forward to at least. We'll see how it goes.

Saki Toku

2008-06-15T01:10:00.006+01:00

Found this cute little advert for JAL on YouTube. It features Aibu Saki from Attention Please wearing her JAL uniform. I just found the song to be incredibly catchy. The dancing by the guy was pretty awesome too /laugh.

I think Japanese adverts are the best in the world. They're always so bright and jolly, it's great. I could watch them all day.

Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin

2008-06-07T21:51:00.002+01:00

After many months of hearing absolutely nothing from Student Finance Direct, I've finally received my Final Notification letter from them. I can't believe it took a whole week to get delivered to me. Seriously, Second Class post doesn't take that long does it? Oh well, I've got it now and that's all that matters. I was really happy to see that I'm getting the full loan and grant for university. All I have to do is sign the declaration and I'll get my money after enrolling in September.

That's one less thing to worry about now. I've still got to hear from the university about my accommodation. I've sent them the signed contract along with the reservation fee for the room. Hopefully, everything will be fine and I'll get news of my moving in day, key collection details, etc. quite soon. Once that's all sorted it'll be plain sailing to September.

I recently opened a bank account with Halifax. It's a really basic account. And when I say basic I really mean basic. You can't even use the branch counters to pay in money to your account. I don't really have much choice though as my credit rating is pretty bad and they rejected my application for a student account. I'm going to use this basic account for awhile and then see about upgrading at a later date.

Meanwhile, the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship has just started and I've been watching the opening matches. There aren't any teams from the UK or Ireland taking part this year due to our dire performances. The upside to this is that we won't have to worry about being disappointed by another crappy England team. My money is on Portugal to win the tournament. They looked very slick in their opening match against Turkey.

Kami-Sama, Kasa Wo In Sasete Kudasai

2008-05-30T19:14:00.006+01:00

This episode of Haromoni@ appears to follow directly on from last week's. In fact it's more like one episode cut into two parts than two separate episodes. They're wearing the same fairy dresses from earlier and there's only two segments to the whole show. The 'clips roll' even shows the same videos from last week. Should be quite a short review then!

The first clip features a GakiKame Theatre quiz. The members have to guess how many takes it took for Kamei Eri to throw an umbrella into a small basket. They were given the choice of 'big' - 50 takes or more; or 'small' - 49 takes or less. If anyone got the exact number of takes then there would be a prize. Everyone except Jun Jun and Takahashi Ai voted for 'big'.

They played the clip and it was clear from the first ten takes that we might be here for some time. By the 40th attempt Eri had been there for an hour. Eri was clearly starting to get frustrated by this point and started shouting random things to no one in particular. The neighbours must have wondered what the hell was going on. On the 49th attempt she got extremely close but it didn't go in so Jun Jun and Ai lost the quiz. In the end it took Eri 139 attempts to get the umbrella into the basket.

Because Jun Jun was the furthest away from the correct answer she would have to do a penalty game. They surprised her by suddenly popping a balloon right next to her and filmed it in super-slow motion. Seeing Jun Jun's shock in slow motion was quite funny but what made it even better was Kyabetsu's face in the background. One of the funniest things I've seen in awhile.

The second part of the show was taken up with the memory challenge to determine the most stupid person from the group. The members with the lowest scores from the previous rounds would compete. This meant Jun Jun, Lin Lin, Eri and Michishige Sayumi would be taking part. To make it easier they'd chosen thirty different things and places that only had two characters in their name.

Everyone got off to a flying start and clocked up three correct answers. All except Eri who didn't get any. It wasn't until the fourth round that she managed to get her first correct answer. Jun Jun was easily the strongest contestant this time and only got one incorrect. I really liked the bit when Jun Jun got the Monet card and they immediately cut to Sayumi who got the Manet card. That quick one-two cut was brilliant to watch, especially with Sayumi's smile as she held up the card.

What happened at the end was quite unbelievable. Sayumi, Eri and Lin Lin all got the same sequence of cards four times in a row and each time they couldn't get it right. Sayumi got Pele (Brazilian football player), Eri got Taka (a bird of prey) and Lin Lin got Mugi (wheat). Eri eventually got hers correct and Jun Jun had to answer Lin Lin's card. The Pele card would end up deciding the loser between Lin Lin and Eri. Eri failed to get it right and Lin Lin triumphantly held the card aloft and answered, "Pele!".

Final scores were - Jun Jun: 11, Sayumi: 7, Lin Lin: 7, Eri: 5, and thus Eri was declared the most stupid /laugh. They even gave her a new nickname - AhoKame. This episode was a lot of fun to watch. Next week's might be even funnier. They're having Satoda Mai as a guest and it looks like she'll be competing with Eri in another memory challenge. This time it will be things with a single character name. Should be very interesting to watch.