VIVA☆DREAMER

Happy Easter (・ω・)

2014-04-21T06:25:00.000+01:00

HAPPY EASTER

A day late, but we had a free day yesterday and while the weather was nice I didn't want to waste time blogging in front of my Mr.
The sakura season is already over, it doesn't last very long but we went to view the sakura during the evening and eat a lot of street food. We also played games and won some fish! Because of how busy the streets are during these events we didn't take Bug so unfortunately he missed out this year. Because sakura and cherry blossom viewing is so popular in Japan, a lot of themed items are released, all limited to the duration of the season. McDonald's is one franchise which hops on board the sakura theme market. The bun was pink - whether or not it was naturally coloured or artificially, I didn't really care. It had a super sweet taste and the bun itself was sweet.. oddly I wasn't very fond of it!

My Parents sent me a parcel, though it was full of goodies for Bug! He got a cute little hat and some shoes. My Mother also included some teething gel, though he is only a few months old he is starting to chomp down on EVERYTHING and gets very upset if he isn't chomping on his fingers - which leads to soggy hands, soggy clothes, soggy everything! Cute huh? I also don't know what products are available in Japan, ones that I can understand fully so we start to mix in a bit of English for my own sanity. On Saturday he reached his 100th Day after Birth which in Japan is a special milestone for Babies, so I will blog about it next time.

April Announcement!

2014-04-02T05:22:00.001+01:00

I missed the chance to create a blog on Mother's Day, and I was going to make a blog YESTERDAY, but after realising the date I thought it would be better to wait till after the Day of Fools. Right now I am full of cold, even though Spring has finally begun here in Japan and the cherry blossom are finally out! My area however does not have anything grand to look at, well nothing I have discovered -- yet.

So, Mother's Day is in March for us British folk, and even though I am in Japan I still sent my Mother something home, I sent her a custom card (thank you MoonPig) and she was delighted with them. Yesterday I managed to send her a little extra for Mother's Day, although it was late, it's been difficult preparing her something, however over the last 3 months I have managed to finally get it done.

Cute huh? Unfortunately for me, Japan doesn't celebrate Mother's Day until May (I believe, please correct me if I am wrong) and by now you are probably wondering where this is heading, with that strange assumption, you are probably right. ASIDE from the fact actually buying Mother's Day related items is difficult when Mother's Day is celebrated in different months, I couldn't actually celebrate it myself - yes myself. I have an announcement to make, thus the dates this blog is posted on needed to work right (ie; is she lying?). I have a Son, who is going on 12 weeks tomorrow. Those who follow Facebook/Instagram will have known about him since January a few weeks after his Birth. For our own privacy and personal reasons, his online alias is Bug or occasionally Lil Mix since his Daddy is Japanese. Why Bug? Because after awhile he was no longer a "Jellybean" and I was often feeling sick hence BUG.

My entire pregnancy was a secret until he arrived - only two Friends knew, and our Family. So yeah, no Facebook updates, nothing, the whole thing was a secret so many of my Friends were shocked! I did drop hints here and there, hospital visits were mentioned, my weight gain wasn't so efficient so I often complained about that, however people assumed I was sick - SORRY. I will in the future blog about my progress, and answer any questions in comments.

For now, my Motherhood duties are being taken one step at a time, and boy is it a big challenge in a country that is not my home, so there may be a few posts about how I cope with this, the differences (trust me, there are a LOT) and why I chose to have him in Japan away from my Family. But other than that the blog will remain it's usual non-existing consistency of nonsense, especially since cherry blossom season is out, I have a cute sakura blog in the making.

DOGinTheパラレルワールドオーケストラ

2014-03-26T05:06:00.000+00:00

At the start of March I had been invited to see DOGinTheパラレルワールドオーケストラ, or rather DOG in the PWO for short! It was my first time seeing them live in concert, and it was their final live of their Japan tour so as expected the Band gave it their very best and put on such a dramatic performance.
DOG in the PWO are such a creative band and I enjoyed seeing them live, I was also given the chance of meet and greet, or after show guest, which you could casually talk with the band after the show (and if you asked nicely had a photo opportunity with them).

The band announced the Live would be recorded and released later this year on DVD, so I look forward to watching that at some point. They also announced a few other release dates, tour dates and ended with "SECRET" which the crowd gave shocked and disgruntled responses.

I don't really follow DOG in the PWO however, but I have not been to a concert in a while now. Of course their Vocalist was crowded with Fans after the show, so a simple and small gesture was all I was bothered with rather than crawling through a mass of Fangirls. Their Drummer amusingly had a gathering of elderly Women, who I am wondering if they are Family Friends or relatives, but it was so sweet watching them fawn over him! I managed a photo oppertunity with one member, who completely trolled my photo, so I was given a second one. After we said our good byes we left to go home. Sadly we couldn't keep our passes, but I did get a photo of mine.

Happy White Day

2014-03-14T09:40:00.000+00:00

Ahh, I've not blog again in a long while, again. So I'm juggling my chores to quickly get a small blog out the way!

Today is White Day in Japan, my Partner got me this cute flask. I never have time to finish a hot cup of tea, so this flask is really handy! Do you celebrate White Day? This is my first because I'm in Japan, and honestly, I wouldn't have cared if I got nothing. HAH!

Yesterday we visited a British Pub - in Japan! However I am not disclosing the name, purely because of the bad attitude of the Bar man. They don't deserve the review. One comment almost tipped me over the edge for a reaction, I wanted to stand up and go 'Oi mate, I'm British, if you want me to act like a senseless drunk, I will.' But I decided against it but now I regret it because of his further attitude to my Friends made me wanna smash a bottle over his head - woo Britain.

I have a few more blogs to come, recently I only have web access by my phone, but I am doing a 100 Happy Days challenge on Instagram. It's kinda fun but seems so much like a chore and I'm bound to repeat what makes me happy, like nabe, I love nabe. I could do 50 photos on nabe, maybe I'm just too hungry right now?

I'm going to edit this later, I swear.

♪ Late new year ★

2014-02-19T07:38:00.001+00:00

It feels like an eternity since I last blogged here as I've been super-super busy. I actually lost a few readers during my unannounced hiatus, but oh well. Maybe now is a good time to update?

The New Year: I'm gonna mash together New Years eve-eve, New Years eve, and New Years day.
So it's not my first time in Japan to ring in the New Year, however it was my first time not as a concert hopper "celebrating" with visual-kei bands.
New Years eve-eve (is that the correct term?) I celebrated with my Japanese Family, however my Partner was celebrating with Work mates - which I wasn't told about until I arrived and he said he was leaving, which gave me no 'preparation' for an anxiety attack. Which left me a little shell shocked, oh if only I could have drank beer. It was fun, but everyone's name escaped me apart from one person, oops. There was a comment about my ring, which at the time my fingers were swollen and she said; "trapped and bound by strong love", which was rather cute.. even if she was mildly drunk.
New Years Eve I spent the day with a very hungover guy who didn't roll in until 2:00am. We spent the entire day moving furniture into the other room - which was meant to be our bedroom from the start only we stayed in the tatami floored room on a futon since moving in for some unknown reason. Anyway we purchased a kotatsu and Winter here is basically kotatsu season, so cosy and warm!! We (he) managed to stay awake to watch TV and see the New Year in. It was far too cold for me to be outside - even though I insisted I was fine, damn health worries, I wasn't to get 'too cold'. Anyway we opened the doors to listen to the people at the shrines surrounding us ring the bell, it was oddly soothing yet eerie? After I wished my Parents a Happy New Year from Japan we both went to bed.
New Years Day, SHOPPING. I was surprised to see people going about their daily life as normal? Actually my Partner had to go to work but certain things were possibly happening, and he called in to explain. Yeah I felt like I was dying, so much for insisting I was fine the previous day. We still oddly went shopping, and Japan is famous for it's LUCKY BAGS, which I purchased a couple, so finally, picture spam.

I love this brand "DIG DEEP" I previously purchased a long shirt from them and when I was this as a Lucky "Box" I couldn't resist. I was torn from many other sets, but I only liked one item from them, plus this came with a cute fuzzy room set. It came with 5 pieces and a badge accessory.

Fuzzy room wear set

2x t-shirts (blue + black)

1x long sweater (grey)

Of course they have random bits of English on them which always amuses me, the grey one reads "BUT HERE" and leaves me asking, "BUT WHERE?"

My second purchase was this bag, I have so much to carry at the moment that a shoulder bag hurts, and I hate wearing a bag where the strap crosses my chest and simply says: hey, I'm separating your boobs and making them look more noticeable.It came with a hat, not that I wear hats but it's cute and I did actually wear it on one of those QUICK WE HAVE TO GO OUT BUT YOUR HAIR IS AN AFRO moments.

It also has a purse which I have not transferred anything to. It took me 3+ years to change to the one I have now I am that fussy with certain changes. But anyone who has been in Japan long enough to be offered a point card and unknowingly says 'yes' you end up with thousand credit card sized cards overflowing your purse in no time! At the moment my count is: 10 since arrival, 11 if you count a train card, and 15 if you include business cards, it's not even an obsession!

During the New Year in Japan, Children are given these little envelopes as presents. It is probably the same as Chinese New Year - hence the Horse. However it's my first time here with a Japanese family keeping me under their wing, so they gave me an envelope too. Isn't it just cute!?

Bonus photo: Yokohama has a Krispy Kreme, this is my attempt at persuading my Family to visit. We only seem to have mini vendors in the UK, unless there are restaurants too, probably in London. Although we never went inside, I'm a fan of Mister Doughnut, yum.

Double Bonus Photo: My drip tried to kill me during my Hospital stay. I had to call (my wonderful) oba-chan nurse to unhook me at 4:00am, the tape was so hard to remove she basically pinned my arm to the bed to rip it off, uncomfortable when there is a needle wedged in your arm.

Stay tuned for more.........

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ Merry Christmas!!

2013-12-26T06:12:00.001+00:00

To all my lovely blog readers, Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I spent Christmas this year with my Boyfriend, so it is my first time being away from home; family and the UK. So I am not shy to admit, yes it's been emotional, and yes I do miss the Christmas festivities of my UK home. ~~Please excuse any emotional outbursts!~~

A couple weeks ago we went on a date to Yokohama because there was a Christmas Market - it was as usual German themed but mostly just food stalls which were identical to Oktoberfest. The tree however was magnificent! It's not exactly cold either, I'm pretty sure it's par-level with the UK right now.

Speaking of trees, it's not super common at all in Japan for households to own a Christmas Tree and thus some weird anxiety developed. It was quickly solved and we found a tree, after I refused several times; one for feeling guilty, and two -- we don't have space for a 5 foot + tree!!

We found an adorable Disney Mickey Mouse themed tree at Toys R Us, although I am not a super big fan of that Mouse, it was perfect non the less, (wow I sound so ungrateful).

We also purchased some silver and purple tinsel and once decorated at home I placed Stitch at the top! He fits perfectly, size and colour.

Christmas Cards from Home!

I eventually received my "surprise" Christmas parcel after WEEKS of it being sent from the UK. It had been stuck in Shanghai customs for some time and my Parents had been informed and asked to contact me, which lead to MORE complications. My Parents shipped with ParcelForce, who EVENTUALLY responded to me the same day I received my parcel to say; 'We got your e-mail and are sorry about your parcel being delayed. Please contact_____' TYPICAL? Thankfully before all this my Mother contacted them via phone with my details, which were then exchanged over to Japanese FedEx -- as a result, my Boyfriend had to respond because the e-mails were all in Japanese. BUT they were so quick at responding.

The parcel is definately worth it. I also FINALLY got my cheki camera back. I dumbly forgot it which is strange for me, it never used to leave my bag.

So much FOOD and CHOCOLATE and CALORIES. Yes there is a tub of gravy, I was sent two and WOW I think my Boyfriend was more happy to see a tub of gravy than he was the entire box!! When living abroad you do slowly start to miss such things that they do eventually become a luxury treat if - and if - you can find them. Cadbury does exist, in small and expensive quantities. Teabags obviously are easy to come across, but you cannot say no to a familiar British brand! Fact.

I also received mince pies, truth be told; I don't enjoy mince pies THAT much, but of course once you are in a land where things like mince pies (apparently) don't exist, you are going to end up craving it -- no doubt!! Of course they were a bit battered in transit but they taste just as sweet and sickly as I remember. Good! It was my Boyfriends first taste and he was surprised at the flavours as a lot of people expect a MINCE pie to be MEAT. No!

My Father keeps sending me photos of my Cat (even though this one is old) I can't resist decorating the photos I receive. WEH I do miss my Cat so much however. Next year I will celebrate with my Family again as a promise. It also saves me from cooking, but I enjoyed it with the help and support of my Boyfriend. We hosted a Christmas Eve party which I had to produce 'English Food' which weren't actually THAT English? But everyone enjoyed the food and no one died in the process - cooking and eating. So it has actually been a wonderful Christmas 2013. I look forward to 2014. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

Kamakura + Enoshima Cave

2013-12-06T05:30:00.000+00:00

Last Sunday I was taken on a 'surprise' date to the beach. Surprisingly, the weather was nice and being a thick skinned Brit I was confused at the amount of well wrapped up people in Winter clothing complaining it was cold. Well; it wasn't cold enough to stop the surfers. I love Yokohama, it reminds me often of Cornwall in the UK and it's Surfer theme. Yokohama has both Surfer and a Hawaiian take, (in the right areas).

It was my first time being at the coastline of Japan, so we wanted to make the most of it. After a few hours driving through a really nice town we arrived at Kamakura. Parked up the car and went on our way, well not so soon, I was stopped by Children screaming which made me look back to the car park. I saw two cats, and two boys; both with sticks. I'm not sure if it's the fact I'm some "scary foreigner", or the fact I shouted at them - I couldn't stop myself!!
(_ _|||) But they quickly evaded the scene like guilty little buggers and one cat remained.

Assuming she was a she, she was really tame and instantly approached us which made me wonder if the young boys used the same technique? Either way I got to stroke a cat before she happily went on her way to watch the people fishing close by.

We went on a boat ride to visit Enoshima Caves, which I swear was a mental test since I HATE open waters, I HATE boats like the one we traveled on and I just wanted to cry the entire journey.
My Partner is fully aware of my phobia of open waters - especially the ocean, but did nothing but record the journey and my (possibly) constipated and scared face full of dread and fear. To make matters worse, I was in charge of keeping all our belongings and my instant mindset was to panic and to clutch my bag till my knuckles turned white. (T A T)

Enoshima is a small island, aprox. 4km which we walked from one end to the next - including small touristy things like visiting the ACTUAL caves which was really fun and thankfully some of the signs were in English so it was educational too.
It was REALLY warm - despite this being the 1st of December, I really have not adjusted to this climate yet.

View from inside the caves.

After a long-long walk, and a halfway point for beer and a magic act we headed back to the car and stopped off halfway to pick sea shells on the beach. (Which I still need to clean, oops) Then we headed home; well I assumed so, but we stopped off at Toys R US to buy a Christmas Tree!!! Super happy, even if it is tiny-small-what. My Partner favoured purple over the traditional green and red decorations, so we got some purple tinsel to keep him satisfied.

☆ November in a Nutshell.

2013-11-28T04:28:00.001+00:00

Well, it is ALMOST December, so I'm going to round up November as a whole. It also prevents me leaving the apartment; and trust me, I do not wanna go outside in this weather. Hot and windy? UGGH. However I've not been outside in a few days now, totally a hermit!

Mt Fuji in the distance during sunset.

I am finally settled into our new home. Albeit a few things I am nitpicking at like storage boxes, and I avoid one room here like the plague, which I am basically leaving it up to my partner to rearrange. Men and their gizmos!! For someone who suffers from OCD it's rather difficult setting a new 'routine' with someone who just... likes to destroy any order I have created. (_ _ ||)

We celebrated D's Birthday a few weeks ago, actually D is the 'last' of the Birthdays this year - in Japan - because my Father's is next. So I hope to send him something back home on time! There was a large-ish earthquake during the celebrations, and everyone seemed keen to see my reaction. I'm strangely never phased?

My Partner and I have been congratulated endlessly over the month, and finally was the end of my visa application which had been granted! (*^ω^*) It was difficult, but not impossible? I will write a more detailed blog about the entire application etc soon!

Disney GOAL!! Christmas Stitch!

After finding out Yokohama has a Disney Store I pretty much demanded we went to find it. Traffic was insane for a Sunday which always seems to be deemed a holiday. I'm glad we have a car now.. even if I have to put up with One Direction. (￣□￣;) But the shopping center is full of Christmas spirit which I love! We visited a couple "Import Stores" as there is a current mission to find... gravy? We ended up with chocolate and C-R-I-S-P-S. It's (unwisely) agreed we learn British English and not American English, thus it's crisps not chips.

We also went out one evening and I was introduced to a couple more Friends and I was actually the youngest in the group. ( ´艸｀) We ate okonomiyaki which was my first time eating it and then we went to karaoke which was horrible because due to health reasons (another topic) I can't drink, so while EVERYONE else was drunk I was just so quiet and timidly on the verge of an anxiety attack.

I post photos often to my Instagram, however my account is currently private.

My ID: PINPIKO

★ DIY Memo Board！

2013-11-08T09:39:00.000+00:00

Being left home unattended, I often get 'itchy paws' and my creativity ideas/thoughts just seem to spew out uncontrollably. I had seen this DIY task before and since I had the free time I thought I would take the challenge in my own way!

( ´θ｀)ノ What I used:

♪ Memo board; cork is recommended.
♪ Decorative tape. I used two types of tape.
♪ Ribbon!
I also used:
♪ Black felt.
♪ Glue & Pins.

(*‘ω‘ *) Total cost:
★ 735 円
-- all items were purchased from 105円 shops making this a really cheap but creative craft.

First have a nice dedicated working area, usually a floor is best or large table depending on the size of your memo board. I first taped around the edges of the frame using a patterned masking tape. Any kind of tape will work obviously depending on your theme even electrical wire tape will work!

It is such an easy and simple task! So easy that anyone can do it. At this point I had a blank edge which bugged me and my OCD ways - so off to the store I went again and purchased another tape with a similar theme and some black felt.

I had some minor issues with purchasing glue - who knew it would have been THAT difficult? I settled for wood glue, considering cork and wood are similar. (´;ω;｀) RIGHT? Actually most of the products had pictograms of what the glue can be used on. Shoes. Plates. Car. Bike. MEMO BOARD?

(I forgot to rotate the picture, but) I finished the sides of the frame with ease and started to cut the felt to size. Yay! Using felt isn't actually necessary, many people leave the cork for show.

FINALLY; attach your chosen ribbon in whatever pattern you like. A lot of guides wrap the ribbon around the board and pin it that way but I cut the ribbon to size and then pinned them down. I used the remaining ribbon for the hanger, which isn't strong enough so my next mission is to find a sewing kit and sew the knot in place.

Bad point alert!! (╯⊙ A ⊙╰ ) The pins were too long for the board and as a result ended up sticking out the other side. Having thought the felt would help pad it out more and prevent this. I'm going to attempt to hammer/bend the pins around so it avoids damaging the wall when I go to hang it.

And there you have it!! A easy and simple creative task that anyone can do. If it wasn't for the second trip to the store (and the glue drying) this is easily accomplished within 30 minutes.

Happy Halloween!

2013-10-31T09:52:00.000+00:00

Happy Halloween!!

Just another cliche Halloween blog to join the rest posted today. So what did I do to celebrate? NOTHING. Unless I am suddenly dragged out within the next few hours remaining of this Halloween. Current time: 18:00. Woo!

Spooky GETS! -- okay so the SCREME EGGS are from the UK and don't count as actual GETS I suppose. But yum~ Cadbury. Seriously I am having withdrawals. The Cat is actually a tea-light holder, but I am behaving and resisting the urge to buy candles due to being pyromaniac and the apartment lacking ANY sort of extinguisher. Great.

I am actually not a huge fan of Choco Pie, it has such a bitter taste, but that is coming from a Brit who grew up on sweet chocolate. ANYWAY; Japan is always crazy with themes, so the usual Choco Pie packaging got a spooky design. (I actually can't remember what regular Choco Pie packaging looks like..) Japanese stores don't do horror like the UK does (even though we suck and copied American style) I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but my teeth are rotting from all the happy ghosties and pumpkins.

This was a cute purchase from a 100yen shop. I think the Boyfriend is relieved that I'm so cheap to shop with, although I don't believe it's right to call myself cheap either? To sum it up: I would rather have two felt coasters I will NEVER use for 100yen, than a bag of Halloween shaped pasta for 10x the price which I would HAVE to consume eventually with major regret.

Today I went on a walk, I was HOPING to get discounted items which I found nothing, apart from cake. Strangely all the stores have taken or moved aside most of the Halloween stuff and gradually replacing it with Christmas items. (Which BTW; in the UK Christmas items have been on the shelf in Tesco since September).

I did see a House which was really decorated for Halloween, buntings, Pumpkins, little swinging ghosts -- actually I was nervous about walking by it because I was partially expecting something to jump out at me!

Small confession: I'm a little anxious about being away from home this year. My Cat tends to freak out if the door is knocked on, and being Halloween it means door knockers every 10 minutes. Usually she stays out the way because I'm there with her. UGGH Pet problems.

Where have I been?

2013-10-23T06:04:00.000+01:00

I am becoming really bad at blogging again. ＼(°■。)／ But my excuse is it's mainly due to the fact the internet connection here is really bad some days! Also I have to upload photos from my phone so I encounter even more problems because hah I don't have the Godly amazing iPhone.

Quick catch up:
☆ My Boyfriend visited the UK around the end of September. Within the first hour this is what happened, yeah that lovely photo of my knees, (please ignore the filters as my legs are not my best asset) I threw myself on the floor at Heathrow Airport, in front of EVERYONE.
(´；ω；｀) Luckily, my Boyfriend didn't see me doing my Penguin impression.

☆ We did a lot of sightseeing, but not enough at the same time. There is a lot of the UK he wanted to see, but we couldn't cover it all. We did go to London with my Parents! My Parents had never been to the places I took them to but for me it felt a bit boring. But it was super fun, in fact the whole time my Boyfriend was here it was fun.

☆ There was also a lot of food to be eaten! I think some of the food we ate inspired him too. Either that or shocked his arteries. We also had a Party to welcome him, so he got to meet the rest of my Family, which was super nerve wrecking for us both.

< Cream Teas x Big Breakfast x Kebab x BBQ x Pizza x Chilli x Toad in the Hole >

☆ My Boyfriend finally bonded with my Cat! It actually took Mia some time to become convinced he was no danger to her (or me). It was heartbreaking that she wouldn't come into my room while he was there. But they eventually made Friends and it was super cute.

The days he spent in the UK were super fun and the weather was surprisingly good too! We did a lot of shopping and he even treated me to a couple things, b'aww. Traveling really knocks it out of you, we visited the seaside which was FREEZING. But it was so-so good to snuggle up with him again, and all that mushy stuff. Eventually my Cat decided to share the bed with us, which felt more like playing a game of Twister, but I wasn't complaining.

☆ September Start ☆

2013-09-02T16:59:00.000+01:00

It is already September, I am a little shocked how fast this year is passing by! Next month it is my Birthday month! As well as Halloween month! Yes! ＼(^Ｏ^)／

This post is going to be a little mish-mash, I have been meaning to post these things awhile ago but unfortunately, two other items are still in the post, and by the time they arrive I not have the motivation - and will probably have erased the photos from my phone.

Anyway a long-long time ago I went to visit my Friend, Sako. I am on a major hunt to find shorts, and NO WHERE is selling any within my price range. Even Primark are selling these odd 'carpet attachment pube tassle' shorts, gross. So we gave up, but I did spot one or two things but the queues in Primark are horrible and long, and full of Children and loud People, so no. I decided to go shopping in my home town and I found all the items I wanted, plus more, well - still no shorts.

Footless tights, which are slashed looking. I have similar leggings but maybe tights will be more comfortable. I also found 'knee high' socks. I've worn one pair, washed said pair, and they pretty much shrunk in the wash to mid-calf/ankle high, what the hell. (_ _ |||) Yeah I actually shouldn't be spending unwisely on items, but it's so difficult to resist anything with polka dots or cat faces. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

/insert iliterate keysmash and demonic sound

Isn't it so cute?! Okay so Primark are falling on that bandwagon of over using Cat faces, Unicorns.. WOT. There are so many pieces I want from Primark, and I'm just sat sniffling at my bank balance. Which is dead.

I did also buy myself a new book, which is really useful for anyone learning Japanese and can't quite grasp particles. Which within the first page I also learnt there are over 70 particles featured in this book. EH?! Luckily there are over 200 examples of how to use said particles. ‹‹\(´ω` )/››‹‹\( 　´)/›› ‹‹\( ´ω`)/››

What books do you find useful for studying Japanese?

[Personal] Oh and also, I am not dying! Σ（ﾟдﾟlll） I have good news after all! Aside from weight gain which I cannot gain because my metabolism is so.. good? I discovered there was a cyst near/on my ovary. Apparently these are really common in Women (well, who else?) and mine had become inflamed and rather angry. Apprently 'he' was 3CM, which sounds small, but dude it's scary!! I'm happy that it cured itself too without any operation, as they naturally come and go, a lot of women aren't even aware. So Girls, always consider going to your Doctor if you feel or think something is not quite right? (T 3 T) Weh~~

☆彡 Green Fingers! ♡

2013-08-05T13:48:00.000+01:00

I love home grown produce! This year I actually managed to persuade my Mum to agree to growing an organic garden. However with the typical British weather it was hard to find the correct time to plant as we don't own a protective shelter or green house. Meaning our seedlings were open to the elements. Luckily we managed to grow, peas, beans and an assortment of flowers, sunflowers and sweetpeas. But never managed to pot the chive, carrots or onions! I was sad because fresh carrots taste the best too.

Yesterday I harvested the last of my peas, they're super sweet to eat raw. We ended up eating them with a Sunday dinner. To feed a Family of four I need to grow more plants, we had eight plants in total but not enough! Of all the pods I have picked I found two bad-gross-eugh ones. But no wiggly friends, good job!

I recently managed to pot my Strawberry since they are.. multiplying? Each 'Parent' pot has two plants, and two of the 'Baby' pots have twins. I have ten Strawberry plants?! Actually I have fourteen in total but they aren't pictured. Everyone should love fresh strawberry! I adore them, and so do the birds. So luckily the plants not pictured were a good distraction as the birds seem to enjoy pecking those pots in particular. There was a good harvest this year, better than last year and had some really huge fat juicy berries! Yum.

Old Man!

I grew Sunflowers!! For the third year in a row! Although these were terrible, my first attempt was amazing, they grew so tall and the stems were thicker than two of my fingers. These ones are only a little taller than me, and I'm small. Boo! But the weather didn't help at all, they were slow to flower this year and the heads are tiny in comparison to the leaves, which bugs find yummy.

Oh yeah, and very typical as the rain snapped around half of the sunflowers, I have three others in jars of water. Once these die off I will hang the heads to dry out (unless it rains) and let the birds eat the seeds. Last year we had a squirrel visiting us, he was fun to watch.

My Mum really promotes a 'wild garden' that or she's a lazy gardener? Behind our shed is a wild garden, we had wild poppies growing with full pompom flowers which are beautiful and so delicate. Here's another gripe about the rain: it destroyed these within a matter of minutes.

I love my Garden, but I don't love rain, or bugs - especially spiders. So I suck majorly at actually Gardening once I see something move. I am also really excited because my Boyfriend agreed and said I could grow something for him back in Japan! I wonder if he will tend to them? So when I next go we will pick something fun and easy to grow! Do any of my readers grow anything in the Garden? Actually this post was slightly inspired by another Blogger who is growing so many things herself!

☆ Castles in the Sky ♬

2013-07-28T11:31:00.002+01:00

Because we haven't been on a traditional Family vacation this year, we decided to visit various locations in England, well, sticking mainly to the East of England. The weather is always better, okay? England is full of decent history, full of fairy tale scenery and -- as long as the weather permits, beautiful blue sky and greenery.

We went to visit Tatershall Castle, July 9th to be exact. I have been here once, but this was close enough to twenty years ago (gross, am I showing my age yet?) It's rather depressing that my first thought is: How many people died here? Thus giving you that spooky aura of walking over graves, being followed by spirits and BLAH. But the day was too nice to even have negative thoughts! Here is a photo:

Many people expect castles to look how they do in Disney movies, big and luxurious. Looks tiny from the outside in my photo, but it is HUGE inside with plenty of rooms inside that makes you wonder what happened in that room, and what it was used for. The first room I discovered was actually a toilet, which was just a hole in some brick-seating, I suspect the toilet seat had been removed and filled with cement to stop people actually using it!

We climbed the bazillion thousand hundred million steps to the top, well 150 steps to be roughly accurate, no I didn't count. The view from above was stunning! It shows how flat Lincoln is too, no tall concrete jungles, the only things piercing the skylines were Churches. This is one of the few things I miss while in Japan, is lush greenery of open fields with a skyline that rolls on forever with nothing blocking your view.

Then we walked all the way back down to the bottom again! I took a photo but to fit as much in I had to squat down and it still doesn't capture everything hoped for. Once we reached the bottom, we did venture into the cellar, which was just a rather large open space probably used as food storage - but also a prison during the Civil War. Creepy! It was eerily cold and not really a very happy place to be in. After escaping prison we went and had a picnic under some trees looking out across at the castle. It was so scenic and I really-really enjoyed it. Afterwards we headed to the coast, since Skegness is just a hop skip and jump away.

Yay! Blog extras: Mm, ancient graffiti, some graffiti was from the 1800's which was pretty impressive, especially the typeface they used! Even their graffiti was artistic back then, proudly signed and dated:

'H.Babington M.R Phillips 1849'.

I'm easily drawn and attracted by such things, it's almost mesmerising but then something always spoils it.. of course graffiti from 2000's, mainly consisting of a badly scrawled penis, and 'fuck off' by the lesser intelligent of society.

♪ 100th Birthday! ♪

2013-07-20T09:55:00.000+01:00

Oh Goodness, I haven't blogged in a few months now, but I did not vanish! I always read my followers blogs! Don't worry~ ヾ(*´・3・`*)ノ Actually this blog is a bit delayed itself, and a lot has happened between now and uhmm, when I last blogged. My life is rather hectic suddenly, with one thing or another but I will probably explain in another blog post! (o・ｖ・人)♪

On July 10th, my Great Grandma celebrated her 100th Birthday! We visited her on her actual Birthday, and had a party the following Sunday where we had Family from all over the UK and Europe (well, Italy) came to visit her! It's rare to celebrate such an occasion, and she even got a card from the Queen herself! Which was amazing to see in person, usually you only see it on the News, rarely!

On the following Sunday we had the Party! It was held in my Grandma's home, she lives with her Mum, so it was the best location too because her garden is super big! We had a huge gazebo and it was a bit like a Tea Party - with no tea.. and only one cake.

My Aunt and Uncle supplied the food, and we did the decorations. Sadly I don't have any photos of the decoration - or food. I actually didn't take many photos at all. (_ _ ||) It was difficult because I didn't want to seem rude by using my phone often.

YUM YUM WATER, due to personal reasons I shouldn't drink alcohol, even a low percent, well I lie my shandy at home is 0.05% alc so.. at the party I was limited to water and flat warm cola. Which I wasn't happy about considering my Family know my situation r00d.

Ta-da~ cake! We also supplied the cake, which was pretty amazing! I mailed a photo to my Boyfriend and he was impressed with the size alone because it was a three tier cake! Yummy and sickly sweet. The cake had "rolls of film" around it, to show my Great Grandma's 100 years of life, or ATTEMPTED to, granted cameras had not been so popular back in those days, and some film had more than likely been lost over the years. Anyway the cake had Family photos and photos of places my Great Grandma had visited all over the world. Hearing her stories is always great, even if her 'today memory' is fuzzy, she can remember something 60 years ago perfectly!!

It was a long day, and afterwards we helped clean up and move stuff back to the original place in the Garden. It was super tiring, so I had to sit back indoors and rest. This feeling of constant lethargic is really dragging me down.. until I get mounds of energy which just pisses people off HAH. It was a really fun day~ even if I didn't know 90% of the people, even though I may have met some of them, fifteen years ago.

『AWAY TIME』

2013-05-28T12:24:00.002+01:00

A pointless blog post; mainly because I have been absent on Blogger and every time I touch something electrical it flakes out on me. So I cannot retrieve the 300 odd photos from Japan right now either. Boo. Also the weather today (yet again) is raining, after a fab two/three days of sun and now I have a nice tan - well nothing compared to my Boyfriend, I'm still white as a ghost. So, here are 50 questions and my answers to pass time today.

As a question to those who follow/read my Blog; what would you like to know about me, or to read? I need something to motivate me and inspire me to write again. Thank you!

50 questions, 50 ways to get to know me.

1: What would you name your future daughter?
Knowing my luck, I will end up with a dozen sons. Lets go for unisex names.
2: Do you miss anyone?
At this very moment, my Boyfriend is whom I miss most.
3: What if I told you that you were pretty?
I feel gross at the moment, so I'd probably just ignore that comment for an eternity.
4: Ever been told “it’s not you, it’s me”?
Yup. It's such a lame excuse right?
5: What are you looking forward to in the next week?
Nothing. I have to take a blood test in two weeks however!
6: Did you go out or stay in last night?
Stay in, as always. Bank Holiday Monday = Sunday.
7: How late did you stay up last night?
Not late, I was in bed before Midnight but I sent my Boyfriend a message.
8: Honestly, has anyone seen you in your underwear in the past 3 months?
Yes, my Boyfriend.
9: What were you doing at 12:30 this afternoon?
... I'll come back in 29 minutes.
10: Have you ever told somebody you loved them and not actually meant it?
I always mean it. But I never have said 'I am in love with you'.
11: Could you go for the rest of your life without drinking alcohol?
Possibly. I sound alcohol reliant now don't I?
12: Have you pretended to like someone?
I have to pretend to like someone to be nice.
13: Could you go the rest of your life without smoking a cigarette?
Never have smoked, never will. So yes.
14: Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile?
My Boyfriend without a doubt.
15: Is it hard for you to get over someone?
Time is a great healer - for some.
16: Think back five months ago, were you single?
Nope.
17: Have you ever cried from being so mad?
I get mad often, but I mainly cry from a mad frustion.
18: Hold hands with anyone this week?
No, I have shaken hands however?
19: Did your last kiss take place in/on a bed?
No.
20: Who did you last see in person?
My Dad last night before I went to bed.
21: What is the last thing you said out loud?
........ "Did you lock the doors?"
22: Have you kissed three or more people in one night?
Back in the School Days when "Spin the bottle" was considered cool.
23: Have you ever been to Paris?
Nope. I don't plan to either.
24: Are you good at hiding your feelings?
Yeah, because I hate people prying into things.
25: Do you use chap stick?
Sometimes. I purchased lip gloss in Japan which is sparkly!
26: Who did you last share a bed with?
My Boyfriend, and I miss sleeping with him. WEH.
27: Are you listening to music right now?
I had the window open because the rain sounds calming.
28: What is something you currently want right now?
Too long to list. But I want to stop being sick..
29: Were your last three kisses from the same person?
Yes, they were!
30: How is your heart lately?
My heart is fine -- my stomach, nope. UGGH.
31: Do you wear the hood on your hoodie?
Sometimes if it's raining real bad.
32: When was the last time a member of the opposite sex hugged you?
Uhm, yesterday actually. My Uncle hugged me.
33: What do people call you?
Nothing creative actually. I get the whole 'chan' while I'm with my Boyfriend.
34: Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but didn’t?
Yeah, but I can move on and forget.
35: Are there any stressful situations in your life?
HA HA HA HA.
36: What are you listening to right now?
Nothing.
37: What is wrong with you right now?
I feel sick, and I want to sleep forever and McDonalds is far from home.
38: Love really is a beautiful thing huh?
It is if you make it beautiful.
39: Do you make wishes at 11:11?
Sometimes because I'm a faggot.
40: What is on your wrists right now?
A hair tie, two bracelets and a pair of motion sickness bracelets.
41: Are you single/taken/heartbroken/confused/waiting for the unexpected?
WAITING FOR THE UNEXPECTED + taken.
42: Where did you get the shirt/sweatshirt you’re wearing?
Christmas.. It's my pyjama top.
43: Have you ever regretted kissing someone?
Uhm, nope.. actually; one person! ICK.
44: Have you hugged someone within the last week?
My Uncle and my Aunty!
45: Have you kissed anyone in the last five days?
Nope, well I kissed my cat?
46: What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping.
47: Do you miss the way things were six months ago?
It was December, so uhm not a lot has changed.
48: Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone?
I would rather sleep with my Boyfriend.
49: Have you ever been to New York?
Nope~
50: Think of the last person who said I love you, do you think they meant it?
I would like to hope so! Otherwise someone is getting a punch!

★ Kanazawa Zoo ♫

2013-05-15T10:31:00.000+01:00

We went on a day trip to Kanazawa Zoo in Yokohama! Wehh~ Zoo! The weather was amazing for it too, and we went with my Boyfriend's Mother and his Sister, so it was a fun drive there. I realised that Kanazawa Zoo is situated in the same area as the BBQ we had last year. So it was nice to be in an area I was familiar with.

The Zoo itself is really scenic and to be honest, you wouldn't feel like you were in a Zoo with how green it was. Nothing like rows and rows of cages like some of the Zoos I have visited. The only disappointment; NO FISHES. I love aquariums and I was sad to not see one here. They did have a Bug section however, uggh those Japanese rhinoceros beetles will carry me away captive! Like most, if not all Zoos, they have a sign, naming the animal, where it is from originally as well as a couple fun facts. Thankfully they provide signs in Japanese and English too! It was fun learning the Japanese names, but sadly nothing has stuck; aside from 'Ramu' for Ram, uh.. Anyway! The Zoo itself was split into four areas: America - Eurasia - Oceania and Africa. It's pretty hilly, built in order to preserve a natural habitat for some of the Animals living there, but don't worry there are drinking water fountains on every corner and occasionally you come across a Cafe or food vendor. (I cried for shaved ice but Japanese eating + walking rules make me sob more)

Here is the link to the OHP in English! http://www2.kanazawa-zoo.org/english/
It gives you a full description of the Zoo itself! Location, travel and prices. It's super cheap, considering prices in the UK I've seen. Oh and because it was Golden week, and a bunch of other Festivals happening; there were giant fishes, or 'koinobori' which are used as decoration during Children's Day.

(´∀｀) Asakusa Date!

2013-05-09T08:21:00.001+01:00

My Boyfriend has always known that every time I come to Japan with Friends, that I will usually stay in Asakusa. It's cheaper than finding a place, say in the middle of Tokyo, plus the area of Asakusa is amazingly beautiful too! There are multiple things within walking distance of one another, so you don't spend much money on transport at all!

So during a holiday, we decided to go to Asakusa for the day! We first headed to Sensoji (浅草寺). Which is also known commonly as "Asakusa Kannon Temple". I thought that because my Boyfriend is Japanese, that he'd just shrug off the temple, having seen probably many in his lifetime anyway? But he was actually amazed and took plenty of photos to remember the day. We went for conveyor belt sushi, or くるくる寿司! Haha. It's delicious and my Boyfriend introduced me to engawa sushi previously and it's so tasty! I really recommend it for people who wanna try something different but are not too daring to try ika or tako.

I have continuously pointed out to him during my stays "Look! Tokyo Sky tree!" when watching TV. So now seeing it in person (in the distance) was even more surreal for him. So we decided to walk our way there. Mainly because we wanted to see more, and our feet weren't hurting yet. It was a pretty easy walk to be honest - so if anyone tells you to use public transport, don't! If you can see the tower, just keep walking towards it! It is not hard to miss.

The Tokyo Sky Tree is absolutely amazing inside, much like other tower views I seem to have a habit of visiting while in Japan? Sunshine City? Yokohama Sky Garden? Now Tokyo Sky Tree. Surprisingly, I have never visited Tokyo Tower, yet. I will write another blog at a later date with more photos from up inside Tokyo Tower.

☆Tokyo Disney Land☆

2013-04-22T09:01:00.000+01:00

Tokyo Disney Land

We headed to Tokyo Disney Land on the 12th! It is my second time here, but I enjoyed it a whole lot more this time because we went to parts of the park where I hadn't been before. We drove there this time, and arrived before the park even opened, and there were already large queues of people waiting! The weather was perfect too. I was glad to meet with Natsu again, she is super pretty and was really excited to go on every ride with me! We called our Boyfriends 'Grandpa' since they were always complaining.

Natsu's Boyfriend was telling us to buy 'churos' which, I have seen before but never been tempted to try one. Disney has different flavoured ones, but we settled on Mickey's Maple ones, and they are delicious!! I shared one with my Boyfriend however. They're cutely shaped as the world famous Disney Mickey logo.

We went on so many rides! I also made request to go and see Stitch's 3D show, so cute. (btw; Natsu's Boyfriend does an amazing Stitch impression!) We had such fun and took a lot of photos. We went to see a 3D movie -- or I think is the term now 4D? Because we had wind and water involved! But it was seriously such a surreal movie where everything DID actually leap out at you. I have never had such experience, even watching 3D movies, which sucks!

Many of the rides had such short queues! Which was amazing - our longest wait was 30 minutes! Which is nothing in comparison to the hour - two hour long waits in the past when I have visited Tokyo Disney. I got myself a little present to myself. I was torn however between a big Stitch or Stitch + Angel lover set. At the moment they are sat beside the TV.

We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and I realised that 90% of the ride is in English! It's really creative and tells you the story roughly. Jack is so realistic, which I think I covered in my last post about Tokyo Disney. I still insist that anyone who visits Japan should go to Disney Land or/and Sea!

ヽ(≧∀≦)ﾉ Amazing April!!

2013-04-08T09:24:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's April already.. a belated post. I have been on/off with my blogging lately, I'm sorry!
We had bad weather over the weekend, which is probably where I will start this long-ass blog and work backwards from it. Sunday we had 'typhoon' like winds, which were really strong, but it seemed the news over exaggerated nonetheless I resisted going out, nursing a slight hang over and a really bad injury, self inflicted but it will be explained later.

So skipping back two days now; my Boyfriend came home from work a little earlier than usual. Finally he announced he had 'big news' and explained he bumped into an old Friend. For personal reasons I can't go into details, but they hadn't spoken in over a year now and had a rather big spit. Anyway, long story short, they have made amends and decided to go drinking and he would introduce me to his Friend, Saturday night.
Saturday rolled around and we headed out to meet near the Game cen', oh yeah -- it was raining, like crazy. I hate rain, my hair was instant CURLS so, uggh. We met with another Friend, this one I know so I was okay. But everything was really well; Koko-chan (appropriately named by myself) is really amusing; his English is good too. He was shocked to hear about our relationship, but it was all later confirmed how it happened so we had more of an understanding. I unfortunately ended up drinking too much, again. This is my second time in my WHOLE lifetime that I have made myself sick from drinking. So now I've been demoted to soft drinks..
We ended up on the subject of piercings and tattoos, Ko has a micro dermal and I'm touchy when I'm drunk so I wanted to look. He wasn't wearing the gem, so he presented it me from his wallet --- only then my Boyfriend dumped it into Ko's drink which caused me to freak out and whine at him. Weh, I understand there is some tension left so I'm allowing my Boyfriend to vent it out. WHICH is how I ended up with my injuries.
Once I had stopped running back and forth from the bathroom, we ventured out into the RAIN and the COLD, we took shelter inside this little area to decide what to do next; but Ko was wearing a beanie hat which I thought would be smart to take it and wear it myself. I'm not even sure HOW I ended up on the floor, but the tiles were soaked and slippery and my boots aren't ideal since they too are slippery. So yeah, it was only the 'thud' of my head that made them notice I was on the floor, but BOY does my arm hurt. I've got a hefty bruise too. Fun. HAH so drunken antics over, we took purikura and went to do karaoke.
My Boyfriend and Ko did multiple duets, it was sweet ~~LOLGAY~~. The purikura is amusingly dumb too, I want more and I REALLY need to start learning to use my camera more, I have like, five photos on it! But I had a lot of fun; eventually I explained to my Boyfriend that I wanted to meet everyone again, and that Ko wasn't really that bad afterall -indepthmeaningfulconversation- and finally the puzzle pieces were put together.

So, thats the last two days which I can 'recall'. Today is Monday and we are eating yesterdays curry. My Boyfriend literally made like, 10 people worth of curry, we had two dishes yesterday EACH, and one dish today each. We still have half a pan left; I'm just SO glad it's not pork, UGGH.

Well, despite now being in Japan, I am still doing my 10 monthly goals, even though I forget most of them..

April Goals:
♥ Take more photos!!
♥ Grab more Friends eMails etc etc..
♥ Take videos, I might take a couple.
♥ Manage a stable conversation in Japanese with Friends.
♥ Take a walk longer than usual; seriously, this area is so scenic.
♥ Get the courage to sit in a Cafe to study.
♥ Enjoy my time here; I already am but I am letting others ruin it.
♥ MAYBE: Finish flash cards for my Boyfriend..
♥ Enjoy April: Live Live Live!!
♥ Finally cook something 'British'

Well, that's it. For the past few days I've been really motivated by my Friends here (yet again). My Boyfriend told Ko that he wants to go to England, since I have been here twice now. I guess once he goes to England it will make everything all the more official, ya'know?
Sorry for the lengthy post and no pictures to show for it.

（´▽｀） Double Date!

2013-03-30T08:31:00.002+00:00

今日：ダブルデート！！

本当に楽しみですよー！

My Friend suggested a double date, since my Boyfriend and her Boyfriend had a holiday. Well; I wasn't aware of it being a double date until I saw her tweets. ♥（ﾉ´∀`） Anyway, we met early in the Morning in order to fetch the Car before leaving.
We stopped off to get food, and I had curry~ which is a totally healthy breakfast, honest? My Japanese reading is improving, but I still stick to the same foods. (_ _ ||) The food next to mine is actually my Boyfriends and miso soup.. traditional!

We finally headed out to JJCLUB100 which is a fun building packed full of entertainment ranging from button smashing games, sports, karaoke and music rooms, and even manga reading and TV area!

It felt a lot like a "Youth House" but I don't think they even exist in the UK any more? You do have to become a member, which was difficult if you do not know Japanese, and you also require ID to become a member too. Although they allowed my membership under my Boyfriends family name and address, cute. (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
JJCLUB100 is such a relaxed place full of excitement and loud games battling among one another to attract your attention! Play me! Play me!! We did indeed spend some time playing a multi-player version of Pacman.

All the coin games are 'Free Play' which means you can play and play endlessly. ＼(*T▽T*)／(Excluded are the games you can win prizes from: UFO catcher etc!) My Friend and I took full advantage of: ポップンミュージック however I was surely pants at it because I had never played it before! (゜▽゜;) We also played ワニワニパニック which is a super-super retro game in the UK; Crocodile Panic!
Below is a popular game in Japan, you will find it in most arcades - I have played it on the DS, but never like this, but my Friend was amazing at it. Weh~

After hours we finally headed back to the 'tourist' area of Yokohama to take purikura and to do some shopping although I personally didn't buy anything - BUT I found so many Gachapin things, weh so I want to go back! ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／ SOON. We ventured into one shop, that was like, one 'shop' with multiple mini shops within it (regardless this shop was small enough already!) My Friend went to make cotton candy, it was amazing, why don't we have this in the UK?! Oh yeah, low level IQ bone heads who'd probably stick their head into this...

It was really tasty, as you would expect from cotton candy, I'm not sure what the Japanese is for it, however my Friend tried to explain to me what it was and I felt rude telling her I knew already. After a couple hours, again, we headed out to eat. I will also add at this point I actually saw a TESCO in Japan. I can't get away!! We went to eat traditional ramen, and well they were telling me how oily it would be, and if I was okay with pork since I don't really eat pork. I can honestly say it was delicious, although I didn't eat it all. (´｀;) ？

I had a really fun time, despite some of the language issues, but we are all trying! It makes me happy. (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ For my next blog I am going to post some photos of the cherry blossom. I noticed today they have added decoration under the blossom which look like lighting, so I'm going to check it out tonight!!

Food + Hauntings

2013-03-26T10:51:00.001+00:00

On the 19th March; we went out for a meal, though since the following day was a national holiday, most restaurants were packed full so it took a couple tries until we were finally seated at one restaurant, which I had been to in the past so we knew what to order with ease!! I really love 焼き鳥 (yakitori) so we ordered that along with スパイシーなポテト (spicy potato) - the choice of decoration Japanese use always amuses me. The resemblance of a hemp leaf. (I've also noticed my Boyfriend has similar air fresheners too)
At the restaurant you had 90 mins to drink drink drink; I think the drinks were half price, or you were given the chance to drink as much in a set price for the 90 mins, I wasn't sure. But I think we managed three rounds even before our food arrived -- uggh Japan will be the death of my liver for sure.

The following we day we went to help my Friend move house, well we basically had to move all her Boyfriends belongings too and he lives on the first floor so we were walking up and down a flight of stairs for maybe 3 hours? The area was really nice and seemed communal since it was rather out of the way, no buses, no cars, nothing. The house on the ground floor was supposedly haunted too, they never shut their windows and well I guess Japanese are really quite superstitious?

While waiting for the next Car to return, I managed to take a few photographs of the area. It was so peaceful and quiet, so I did get an eerie sensation finally that someone was watching from the 'haunted house'. Creepy. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was peaking 20 degree which totally puts to shame England's 10 degree or less.

After everything was removed and emptied from the old apartment, we all went to visit the new apartment, which looks so cosy and spacious - maybe because it was empty. We sat and ate snacks etc which was refreshing. I was rather envious of how nice the apartment looks, it's three times the size of my Boyfriends current apartment! But I enjoy staying here regardless, it's nice to be here with him.

Once we got back home we were seriously sleepy, well at least he was, and he seemed comfy sleeping on my legs for hours too. ヾ(ﾟεﾟ*)ﾉ

ただいまー！

2013-03-22T03:28:00.001+00:00

みなさんこんにちはー！

ε＝(ﾉﾟдﾟ)ﾉﾀﾀﾞｲﾏｰ

I've been in Japan officially a week today. It feels so good to be back. (* ^^ *) My flight was rather smooth, I managed to make use of my German language since the Airline I used was German. I made a stop over in Frankfurt too, although I didn't really plan to spend much time looking around, actually; Germany airport was hard to navigate and customs was INCREDIBLY slow? I had just come off your airline, why the hell did I need ANOTHER bag search? People went through one by one, literally and if it beeped, you had to wait until they had completed a pat down. UGGH annoying, it was by far worse than China.. I kinda have to add, the passengers in front of me were incredibly rude, even the Japanese sat beside me kept sighing. Basically they remained silent during German announcement - then incredibly fucking loud during English and Japanese announcements. Anyway I kind of ranted like hell then, but I probably not use this Airline again.. but I had no problems really, just I wasn't fond of them and the food was gross. Okay stop.

I arrived at Narita supposedly at 8:30am however we reached around 9:00 and horribly luggage was delayed by another hour or so?! (T__T) So I did panic and try to connect my phone to tell my Boyfriend I was late. I pretty much flew through customs after I filled out ANOTHER sheet (I was given a Japanese customs pass, logic.) Once I was through the gates I started to panic again because I was so late, but I spotted my Boyfriend and it was such a relief I wanted to scream. (T 3 T) He explained later he was late because of traffic, which sums up his parking ticket being so small this time haha!

We got stuck in traffic coming back, but we decided to play a game: 勉強GO!GO! basically I was pointing out kanji for him to translate.. since I can read some hiragana and katakana I was easily reading the back of trucks. Well it easily passed time and kept me awake. One word I learned that day: 引越のサカイ it was on the back of a moving truck with a cute Panda, although I haven't memorised the kanji.

It's really nice here, the temperature rarely dips below 10 degree, which is nice since England isn't even reaching close to 10! I will slowly update once I've finished the housework. I'm home alone today and I feel very poorly. (.___. ) Not fun.

I'm pretty sure my readers are like: eh? she's in Japan again? But of course. Where else would I be?

(｢･ω･)｢March Madness~☆

2013-03-03T13:27:00.000+00:00

We are 3 days into March, and 3 months into the year! Scary. I have a lot planned for March, but it's doing the things I planned which becomes the problem. I've also been looking into 'Life Insurance' once I get a steady-able job away from agency work. Because the amount I travel.. however I may just take that money and set it aside as my own 'insurance'. I mean I could be paying £30 a month and NEVER ever in my life time actually use it?! It would be interesting to see it build up and it'll always be accessible for emergency!

February is over and already this year has been horribly eventful, so I am glad to see the back of February. After one of our cats passing away and various other personal issues, yeah - the month of 'Love' was not so loving after all.
March is always a good month for me, last year was amazing since I spent a couple weeks in Japan and so many good things happened. So lets hope this year, March treats me even better!! My Friend Sako is visiting in the next two weeks (I hope!) and we will be going shopping before she goes to Korea. I'm a little envious, however we have a pact that together we will go to Korea and Japan! I can't wait.

My ten march goals:

☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ (´･ω･｀)？
☆ Last on my list -- find a reliable insurance company?

I really cannot think of ANYTHING right now that is not a repeat of February goals? I kinda did well and poorly at some. Kanji is a JOKE right now because of what is going on I can't focus clearly. I did pick up on a couple because of my Boyfriend teaching me however reading the kanji -- no no. I don't really get much support at home. So I try to study when everyone is away. I have ordered a book, which isn't anything to do with studying... but once I receive it and have read it I will probably write a small 'review' depending on how useful or up to date and reliable it is to people!

☆ LINE Play ☆

2013-02-26T11:42:00.001+00:00

I recently got hooked on a new mobile based game! It's called LINE Play and it's a lot like Ameba PIGG or Ameba PIGG life or those other PIGG games I fail to keep up to date with!
LINE Play is another game instalment from a Japanese based company called NAVER; which have released numerous games for users of LINE which is a messenger service enabling you free messages and calls; it's a bit like Skype however there isn't a video call option, but you are able to send a very small video as a message! LINE is massively expanding with plenty of games, cameras and more! o(≧▽≦)o

   LINE Play is an absolutely adorable game; you get to customise your Avatar to whatever your preference, you also can chose between beind a Human or "Anthro" (Human with Animal like qualities) Those who chose Anthro generally have no gender identity in the Game.
   Living in a virtual world means you also get to decorate your own house too!! I have come across a couple flaws when decorating the house, one major personal peeve would be the windows showing a changed scenery outside however the default lawn is still surrounding the house. Maybe in the future the game will expand? I hope so! (´ω｀;)
   LINE Play has it's own currency called 'gems' which are easily earned by giving (and receiving) hearts at a simple tap of another players avatar. Your avatar may also request certain functions: sleep, eat, bathe or sit. Which you can do within your own home, or visit others. But don't worry! The avatar you visit will not see you bathing in their chocolate drill bathtub, (yes it is actually an item, and yes you bathe in chocolate). The gems are a slow income and considering most items cost 500 gems or more it can be a major pain in the ass. You can however use real money to buy game gems - depending on how much of a keen Gamer you are. A little patience goes a long way.

My avatar; yes, she is always grumpy.

My LINE invite is: GR-1803-4306

   Please feel free to use my invite code! You will earn 1,000 gems for each code you input, remember how hard it is to earn gems? (｀・ω・´)=3
   In this little virtual world you are given a diary by default. You can upload your own personal photos; snapshots of your avatar and write as you would in a diary. When you visit other houses you can write in their diary and leave 'stickers' for how interesting you find the post! Cute. (∩・o・∩) You can communicate with other users in the Chat Rooms; but I avoid these because they are usually a spam chain of people posting their invite code in hopes of making some gems easily. Maybe sometimes it's successful?

   Overall, LINE Play is a cute little avatar based game which is fun and great to pass the time with! (*ノω＼*)♪ I want to introduce my Boyfriend to it, but I don't think he will have time for this game unless I force him to download it. (´Д` ) But for now, lets all play together.