Weekly Slice

The week has been decent. Even the studying bit was okay, because there’s nothing I love more than taking my time to wake up. Morning skies are so much more glorious when my eyes are actually open to see them. During school days I’m usually up before the sunrise, so I’m having a good time lying in bed till 8 am now.

Anyway

I realised all the pictures in the last post were of me, so this time I’m just going to show some of the things I’ve gotten recently.

The new issue of ZipperI’ve always felt weird about how magazines are dated ahead every time. Like for this one—it’s still February but they’ve already got the April issue out! It’s like the year’s being forced to get ahead of time. But I’m glad because spring has finally arrivedAs far as the world of magazines is concerned, anyway.

I unexpectedly bought a Japanese romance novel. It’s by AKB48’s Uchida Mayumi, who’s just debuted as a writer with this title. I didn’t mean to get it, but I spotted it at the bookstore and started looking at it out of curiosity. And then I couldn’t stopSo I ended up buying it to slowly (very slowly) read at home. I think I’m kind of getting by okay, except I keep having to fish out kanji to check in the dictionary. Apart from that though, the novel’s written in a typical teenage style. That makes it relatively easier for me to read than say, a book on the political relations between Japan and America. Which was the book next to it on the shelf.

These! I got these new shoesThey come with silky white shoelaces which are adorable but make me paranoid about getting them dirty. I wonder how long all that white will last? At any rate, I’ll take good care of themAt least now I have something other than my black shoes (which I still love, but won’t have to keep repeating everyday now)

There are embroidered hearts peeking outI love little details like that.

I took out one of the last slices of mille crepe! Yum. It’s already been around for almost a year, but I kept it in the freezer so it should still be in good shape. That’s what the lady shopkeeper said to me last year, anyway. It was still deliciousWhen I eat cakes like these I can never decide between peeling off the layers one by one or spearing big chunks off. I ate this one neatly to take a good picture though

It’s 1 am now. When did it become 1 am?

I’m going to sleep

Valentine’s + Coordinates!

Study week has begun! Which means I can just study at home now until exams at the end of the month. School ended with little fanfare, save for some merry candy exchanging on Valentine’s Day. I got some nice chocolate

So I should get into the appropriate mood.

Flowers for youJust kidding, they’re really just the roses that Gillian was delivering to her flower shop. Please accept my heart instead.

Anyway, here’re some of my recent coordinates

This black dress was a present that Ju Eun got for me in Korea! It’s so cuteSince it’s a short one, I wore my lace shorts underneath. Some people said the get-up resembled Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, minus the red ribbon (and the broomstick).

So here’s the Kiki version

Still no broomstick. Never mind.

This was during a studio day (a.k.a Journey to the North Pole), so I was in one of my thick sweaters as usualBut I think it might’ve been the first time I wore tights to class. I don’t know why I waited till the last class to actually stay warm after a whole semester of wearing shorts. It’s a completely new level of self discovery I’m yet to attain.

A more relaxed coordinate this time! Everything becomes relaxed when you throw a hoodie on top. It’s my favourite white one tooI call it the marshmallow. Uniqlo makes the best parkas.

(Almost) two weeks for me to study! I’m already thinking of all the sleep I’m going to hoard when I don’t go to school. My holiday mood is inevitably premature. I can only hope I finish my notes in time, at leastMy usual study method is to copy out my school notes by hand; my hand starts to ache a lot but I don’t know…more pain, more gain? Just a couple of lectures to go

That’s all for today’s post, thank you for reading!

Music Monday ♬

HelloToday I just wanted to share some of the music I’ve been listening to recently! I listen to my song in phases—one week I’ll be listening to happy-sounding pop, the next week I’ll be repeating ℃-ute’s entire discography, and the week after it’ll be a whole playlist of Ghibli jazz. Something like that. It varies.

The past few days or so I’ve been playing the same stuff over and over again while I toil over my assignments because I’m too preoccupied to change up the songs

Partition Love — Tokyo Girls’ Style

TGS’s new single hasn’t been released yet, but I’m already hooked on their song. I’ve been listening to the previews on YouTube for the past few weeks! It’s supposed to be out on Wednesday, but it doesn’t make much difference because I keep going back to their channel for my daily listen.

The only thing is, I’m not sure I’m into the whole concept about forbidden love. The song is all about falling in love with a teacherThe MV follows this entire saga of the girls getting a crush on their new teacher—and then things escalate quickly when they start making lunch boxes and going out with him. Which makes me feel kind of weird when I watch the girls make romantic advances on this good-looking albeit significantly older man.

But! I still love the songThere was also a live performance that was put up, and it’s almost even better than the MV version because the members’ vocals are amazing.

Listen to it here! → http://youtu.be/QEojg0y70LQ

Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa — Morning Musume。’14

It’s been almost two weeks since it got number one on the charts. I’m still listening to it lotsOut of this single my favourite song is actually What is LOVE?, but the previews were out a long time ago so it’s not quite as catchy to me as it was two months ago. I like Egao no Kimi just as muchIt has this incredibly bouncy tune that just seems to pump out self-esteem and happiness.

Listen to it here! → http://youtu.be/fcQMPbbq_Fs

Kumori Nochi, Kaisei — Ohno Satoshi

A random old song! But Ohno is always relevant so that’s okayHe has one of my favourite male voices, and the song is also one of those that instantly cheers me up when I listen to it. I’ve been feeling down a lot in the last month or so—this is my go-to song. It’s my recommendation for a cloudy mood! How fitting.

Listen to it…after you’ve downloaded it or bought it I can’t find it on YouTube because it’s too old sorry

Those are the songs I’ve been playing lots recently

Here’s a picture of the steamed bun I ate.

With lotus seed paste! It’s so soft and springy. Yummm.

Chinese New Year ✿

The Chinese New Year is technically fifteen days long, but it’s long stopped being a holiday for us students. It’s the second last week of the entire semester and that means the final projects and exams are coming at us like a steamroller.

But I still had a good break during the New Year weekendThere was a spring cleaning as usual, so it was refreshing to have my home all cleaned up for the first time in a while.

While I cleaned up my room all my little friends moved up to my bookshelf. They needed to get out of the way while I tidied.

When all that was done (and it took a long time), we could properly relaxTruthfully, I love the Chinese New Year season because that’s when my whole family’s at home, rather than the actual traditions and stuff. Not that those aren’t cool, but I’m just grateful to get time off with my parents and brother for once. Everyone’s always so busy!

Of course we do have to do a lot of visiting, but that’s usually all on the first day. By the second day, we usually just stay at home and do nothingAlthough this year we went out for dinner near our house too.

New Year dinners are usually pretty special. There’re lots of meats and veggies and noodles and stuff that we usually eat only once a year. And lohei is this big salad with sauces and fish and crackers that everyone tosses together. Every year I do it with my extended family, so you get almost all twenty of us crowding over the table and mixing up the ingredients. Since young I’ve only liked eating the crackers, but somehow I’ve started liking the rest of the salad. Maybe this is my taste buds growing up with me?

My family also had lohei as just the four of us for the first time

But I still love the crackers best.

The fourth day was a Monday so the break was over for me and I went back to school as usualMy dad declared another day off at the office so his colleagues came to our house for another holiday lol. But when I came home from school there was leftover sushi from the gathering waiting for me

Of course I only ate a few.

Christmas is over, both New Years are over—the festive seasons have all wrapped up. But I’m not that sorry to see them go…because school vacation is starting soonI’ll be done with my second year of school by the end of the month!