Visual sonoro

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. La tierra vista desde una Tuba. [The Earth from a tuba]. Taken by i35mmporvida

Wedding

Wedding Photo on the Shek O Headlands, Hong Kong. I went there for ocean shots and lo and behold a wedding party! What luck! Taken by ROSS HONG KONG

Tuk Tuk Madness

Tuk Tuk, the motor vehicle par excellence in East Asia. Taken by Mazetta

Step Aside Rebecca B!

Listen to this amazing talent by a 12-year-old girl. Better than Rebecca Black!





Right? Right? Her voice is amazing! With a little polishing up, she could be as good as Charice!

Help recognize her talent and lets make her famous. After all, I think she is definitely worth it!

The Garden

"We have grown a small garden from seeds. We will be building a larger container so we can ditch the black pots soon :)". Taken by Martine

Vintage and Quirky Treasures FOR SALE!

NEW ETSY SHOP OPEN NOW!!"The Murder of Crows"

Vegetarian Gourmet Burgers

Glasgow, Scotland. Taken by Mazetta

Women at the Wall

Jerusalem. Taken by Alison Ryde

Beware the clattering behind you....

Illinois. Taken by Renee

Saturday Shopping And Eats

I was out shopping for doll clothes today and the place that I went to just happened to be closed, yet again! This is the second attempt at buying things at this place and the second time they closed on a Saturday without warning; well, except for a hand written sign on their door once you get there. But, that's too late! The trip there is over two hours if I went straight from home. Luckily, I usually plan other stops in the day.

Fate has decreed that I'm not supposed to shop at his place! If you are wondering what the place is, it's www.Dollmore.net. If you want to go there on a weekend, better phone them first. I don't know if I want to try them again after this.

Anyways, feeling a bit let down and disappointed, I ended up at this supposed Japanese style restaurant for a late lunch. I was waiting for my food to arrive when two little visitors arrived and started to eye my side dish of pink pickles.

They slowly approach from the both directions as if trying to use some misdirection to their advantage.

Eventually they converge in the middle and just eye the pink pickles.

One of them makes a grab for it! Well, that was the end of the pink pickles!

Random Readup #12

Wow, its been a long time since I've posted up my last Random Readup. But since my week has been... err... pretty uneventful, I might as well post some random s**ts.

Ok, so last Thursday was probably the LONGEST day of my life! It was the day I had to go for a... wait for it... a chess tournament.

Yes, I'm surprised myself. I never thought I was a chess person. And guess what? I had to represent my school for it too!

How did I get myself into that mess, I don't know. Last I remembered was that one day this guy came into my class asking who wants to play chess. Its been a long time since I last played chess and I thought it'd be fun to do something different.

Plus, I... was hoping I could skip class while I was at it too.

Anyway, turns out I had to stay back and play after school. Actually, I didn't want to stay back. But I don't like promising people that I'd turn up then bail them when the time comes without telling them. I dunno, I thought it'd be rude if I did that.

So I came, played, and lost. The next thing I knew was a week later, they come in my class telling me that I'm representing the school for a chess tournament!

Like WTF! That really took me by surprise!

At first, I didn't want to go and I'd thought of quitting. But on the other hand, if I go then I get to skip my exams, get a certificate, find out about the test later and resit for the test well prepared. What have I got to lose? So I chose to go!

After I told my parents about it, they were really supportive! Mom said that sending me to play chess is like sending Mr. Bean to go diffuse a bomb.

I told you this post is gonna be random!

As for dad, he said I was gonna lose. Thanks mom and dad! I feel a whole lot confident now!

In the end, I won 2 rounds. Out of 7.

We have to go against different opponents every round. Out of all 7 opponents I've faced, there was only one opponent I will remember for quite a while. And its not because her skills were extremely good or extremely bad, no.

It was her handshake.

I don't know if that is even possible, but her handshake is the grosses handshake I've ever come across! Like, the first thing that popped in my mind when I first shook her hands before the game was 'Eww...'.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but holding her hand was like holding a dead fish. Her hands were cold even on a hot day, they're small and soft. Too soft. Like a tofu. And her hands were wet. Cold and wet. Eww.

Most people I shook hands with were firm and warm. Even if its slightly damp, its still warm and firm. Shaking her hands was like shaking hands with a corpse or something like that.

After I shook her hands, I had to restrain myself from wiping my hands on my pinafore in front of her.

We came back from the tournament in the evening waay after our normal school hours. After that, I had to go for Kumon classes.

Yes, another interesting fact. I do take Kumon classes for maths. Its really hard, ok?

I'm currently doing Trigonometry, finding out the maxima and minimas of the given equations and graphs. It was so hard that I was the last student to leave and I was stuck with the math teacher sitting right next to me!

I was not used to this teacher (Mr. N) because he's new and my old teacher quit because of her church activities. But because I really didn't know how to do my work, I had to give him a chance. So far he's quite alright.

The only problem I have is that everytime he gets confused, he tends to stick his tongue out and wags it left and right. Which I found rather distracting and... disturbing.

By the time I was done, it was nearly midnight and the place was closing. Just as I was heading out, the 'boss' of the Kumon centre asked Mr. N if he was teaching Add maths and he said yes. Then she told him that she's looking for an add maths teacher for her daughter and so was I (for me) because my mom told her.

I didn't know what he said later because after that, I hurried out of the place. Untill now, I'm not sure why did I do that. Its not that I don't like this teacher, I think he's quite alright. I just dashed out before I could hear his reply.

But enough of my babbling.

HAPPY EASTER DAY my dear readers!! Jesus has risen from the dead and we must celebrate!! Here's my nail art for the occasion.

I was wearing clear nail polish to school to day to create this design quickly before mass. Luckily, nobody noticed. Hahaha!!

Flying Fox

Name- Pteropus dasymallus, threatened species. Fruit bat in cherry blossum - Kin-okinawa, Japan. Taken by Okinawa Nature Photography

Peace this Easter, please

A Lonely Easter Egg. Taken in Chengdu, China by Steven Dorgelo

The "Package"

I had just finished my last teaching period of the day at school. I was sitting at my desk, and relaxing on the internet for one more period before I could go home, when I received a message that I had a package waiting for me at the office.

Package? So soon? It was only one day before that it was shipped and only one day before that when it was bought. Wow! That's the fastest e(vil)bay transaction I had ever experienced. Unfortunately, I had to go out to dinner that evening and could not really go straight home with my package and stay there. All I could do was drop it off, change, and then leave again. While I was gone, Miu became very curious and could not wait till I got home again.

Me neither!

When I got home, the package was waiting near the door where I had left it. Miu did not try to open it, the good girl that she is. She just waited patiently for my return. Although, I think she was a bit apprehensive about the contents more than anything else. She gets a bit emotional sometimes. She doesn't handle change well. I can understand that. Poor little thing. I told her there was nothing to worry about.

Anyways, she became curious and helped me with the package after I got ready to open it. Here she is doing a bit of investigating first.

I got distracted a bit and she grabbed the knife and tried to open it all by herself. I had to move her away from the big knife, It's just too big and dangerous for her. I better tell not to play with big knives again. Anyways, she was unhurt. Good thing, too.

After I got the box open, Miu took a quick peek inside. I think she was a bit shocked by what she saw. Dunno. Hard to tell. It might have brought back some painful memories of when she was born; to be put into a body bag and tied up naked for who knows how long before being rescued kinda does things to you. She seems ok now though.

After I lifted the box out of the shipping carton, Miu gently knocked on the box to see if the girl inside was ok. The new girl didn't say much. I think she was very scared about what type of family she might end up with. But, Miu was there all the way being supportive and all. She's such a sweetie that way.

I gently pulled out the body tray she was resting on and laid her on my table in order to bring her into her new family. Miu sat back, held on to her Zlata, and just watched at this point. Sometimes she had a worried expression on her face. And, sometimes she had a happy expression. That's just Miu and all her moods. She needs a lot of love and affection.

For the sake of the new girl's privacy, I did not document the process whereby she was getting dressed and all. I don't think she would have appreciated having the whole world see that part. Sorry to all you voyeurs out there looking for a thrill. Shame on you!

Here she is. All dressed and ready to take on the world. She was born Mai Shiranui in Japan. I have always felt that one should keep the name one was born with. So, she will be known as Mai (May) from now on, as it should be. Isn't she cute and beautiful?

Mai

Well, the two sisters seem to like each other. Miu was apprehensive at first when I told her that she would be getting a new sister. But, she seemed ok with it after a while. Now that Mai is here, she seems to be happy and they seem to get along. I can already see that Mai is not as emotional as her big sister and is stronger willed, too. But, as she is the younger of the two, I think she will treat Miu well. I hope anyways. Time will tell.

Here they are siting and playing on the bed. Miu cannot go anywhere without her Zlata. It gives her security and comfort. Poor thing. Her experiences shortly after birth have emotionally scarred her a bit. I hope she heals in time. Maybe with her younger sister's love and help, she will.

Here they are sitting on my desk next to my computer. I like having them there as I work on it. They are a nice distraction because they are so CUTE!!! LOL

A better photo of my two girls together with more decent lighting and posing.

Mai

Miu

F A M I L Y

A couple giving their son the first holy bath in the Sacred tank of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India Taken by Claude Renault (Away).

Castle Tel Haar

Elf Fantasy Fair 2011, Haarzuilens, Netherlands. Taken by Rick Wezenaar

Street Life

Russia. Novosibirsk. Taken by Valery Titievsky

slow motion

"This shot was taken in the capitol hill area, several fountains with dozens of birds drinking from them. Austin, Texas". Taken by Dave_B_

The Family Grows!

Toko Amano

Mio Akiyama

Yui Hirasawa

Tsumugi Kotobuki

Azusa Nakano

Ritsu Tainaka

I went to the NonNo21 figure store at the Kukje Center again yesterday. Wow! What sensory overload. I still cannot get my senses straight when I am in there. There's just too much to process all at once.

Anyways, the family grows yet again. I ended up adding some new types of figures to my collection; Figma and Nendoroid. The Figma type of figures are actually posable as their major joints move and articulate. They also have changeable and spare option parts, too. I originally never really liked the Figmas because their joints are too visible and that used to bother me about them. But, after having my Volks Dollfie girl for a while, the joints don't seem to be all that noticeable anymore. Their cuteness factor overrides everything else and all you see are their adorable expressions and antics.

The second type of figures I started into are the Nendoroids. Yeah, I know. Funny sounding name. They are simply "baby" type figures with big heads and small little bodies styled after, well, babies. They are uber cute. Again, I originally did not like them. But, after photographing them and posing them, they grew on me. Their facial expressions are the cutest of the figure types. As well, they too, have changeable and spare option parts. Although they do not have fully movable joints, their arms and legs are posable to a limited extent.

So, I collected the full original series K-On! band set and a little Nendoroid. They are not as expensive as the fixed pose figures I have been collecting, though. About half the price per figure and not as large either. They are non-scale figures. My big cardboard box that I keep them all in is now full. I need to stop for now! LOL