2 weeks, 3 papers, freedom! / Memories of Animeskies.

till then, i need to concentrate!!

Recently I did a search for my old anime graphics design website "Animeskies" and ended up on tumblr with tons of pretty pictures like the one above with the hashtag. It was a good decade ago when it was popular (or at least I think it was more so then, or perhaps it was just me who got out of it) to go to graphics sites to get your layouts (found one submission!) blogskins, neopet profile design (called lookups), wallpapers, animation sprites, downloaded calenders, midis, japanese lessons (someone kept a copy of some translations), photoshop tutorials, manga drawing tutorials etc, and such sites even give each other "awards" which are like graphics you can display on your site with an awarded title. 

Like this :P I gave out awards too! Essentially, sites ask you to judge them and you decide the category they receive  X)

Sigh nostalgia. Gone were the heydays! Haha, it was such a teenagish hobby all conjured up with photoshop and dreamweaver and ftps etc. That was around the time when the internet started taking off. I wasn't born into this millenium. u.u

We (I had a team of contributers! Friends, classmates) actually had a good amount of hits too! I had to deal with bandwidth problems and looking for hosts. Started off from angelfire, then to freewebs, then to  Jennifer who hosted us at our last address (animeskies.endlessrain.org) . I actually found an analysis of the website. There were the people back then who frequently comment on tagboards/chatboxes. But I guess now those individual design sites are superseeded by tumblr etc where people post their works directly onto the sharing sites. Oh man, I'm starting to feel old enough for reminscing! The little details from those few years are coming back to me now that I start looking at these things again. Its amazing how much you forget with time. Its only when you look back that you see the things that have changed. My writing 10 years ago was terrible lol. To be fair the graphic designs were very basic too! lol. Teenage hobbies.

Some screenshots of the oldest layouts (yes, it was fashionable to change layouts to version 1.0, 2.0 etc X) )

I don't have a screenshot of the last ever one. :( I could go on forever, but I've been distracted long enough today with 3 days to the exams so... Better get my butt off non-related tabs. :(

Haha, I'll end off with a blinkie from then as seen in the screenshot above! :p Till freedom!

Mitsukoshi restaurant

Just came back from dinner at Mitsukoshi restaurant near Piccadilly circus with A. We both had an interest in this mysterious and authentic looking japanese restaurant which is located in the basement of the same name departmental store which always has tons of japanese tourists in tour groups shopping there (its filled with branded goods). The prices for this establishment is expensive too. The meal for today would have cost us a total of 42pds but since we had a groupon voucher it was about 50% off.

 I like the shisamo smelt tempura. ししゃもの天婦羅山葵ディップ :) Also ordered the fried mochi お餅と野菜の揚げだし　柚子胡椒風味, and it was alright considering I'm not really a fan of savoury mochi, or even the korean rice cakes. :S

Kawaii~ ^u^ The chilli that came with the shishamo smelt tempura. The waitress warned us it was really hot and to be careful, but she ate it so nonchalantly! 

Dinner set with sashimi and tempura.

The food was nicely presented, and the taste is nothing to complain about, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary I think. But overall I'm happy (with the discount haha). I still think the sashimi from Atari-ya is better and maybe slightly more affordable.

Can't wait to eat japanese food in the origin country itself! Hopefully it will be cheaper and tastier than London's overpriced restaurants!

Today's coordinate:

New tights that I finally wore, and rings bought yesterday

OCSEs in less than a week! 

10 days to the first final exam

試験は十日後すぐ来ます。Grim I know.

Original artist: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=10315963

I've taken to visiting tumblr again after a long hiatus almost daily to fill my mind of pretty things such as the picture above (Not claiming credit!). I'm still taking things pretty easy everyday to be honest, which I'll probably regret very soon...:( Doing therapeutic frameworks just seem to be such slow, slow progress compared to reading lectures. :((

Depressing, looming things aside, I just booked tickets to Tokyo, Japan for 2 weeks in July with 2 pals woohoo! Time is going to fly really soon, during this exam period, and also the period after till September when I begin work. I shall be very sad bidding many things farewell.

Anyway until the 13th of June, I shall give it my best. 今から六月十三日まで、頑張ります！

Till then! xx

じゃまたね！

4th year's leaver's dinner

Had dinner at Royal Dragon Chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown yesterday with fellow Chinese course mates in my University's Chinese Society. It was the last event of the year, the leavers dinner which basically is a farewell for the year fours who are graduating this year aka. me. This year's committee was really good and the event was a nice gathering pre-exams. It's also another reminder that we will all part ways soon after. Since most of us are international students, for the past few years we've been somewhat like a mini family? Though over time everyone gets more busy with their own lives and activities and we see less of each other. I guess this is a natural transition in society where people gather and separate  But the memories remain and that's all it matters.

昨日の晩はチャイニーズ社会の最後の晩御飯イベントです。

On this night in the candlelight, I wonder what everyone's wishing for?
あの夜にキャンドルの光の中でみんなは何を願った？

Have faith in your dreams

「貴方の夢を

信じて。。。」

I've been eyeing Disney Couture Jewellery items for a while, ever since I knew of their existence. They always have very dreamy disney-inspired pieces, such as their multitude of bangles with pretty phrases like "a dream is a wish your heart makes" (which was the one I wanted initially!). The quality of the items are good (usually gold-plated or enamel etc), but also very pricey, which explains why I only decided to get one now when the price was somewhat discounted for a model I like!

ディズニークチュールのことを初めて見たときにとても綺麗で可愛いと思いますので、そのときから

もらいたい。ジュエリーの上によく夢のような言葉があります。例えば「夢は貴方の心の願いです」。

I really like this engraving, and its coincidentally my second blog's title. (Well, you know how teen's blogs in the days, and even now, always have names, and if the owner is a girl, its likely to be a combination of words like various flower names, colours etc...jk. The ones who don't subscribed to this formula have their hipster titles sometimes taken from song lyrics e.g. you are the one who got away.) X)

Anyway I should get back to my "high risk drugs" lecture. JP class tonight so better finish it asap. 

To end of in the spirit of things, "No time to say "Hello, Goodbye"!" says the White Rabbit. (and me)

P.s. the number of different image effects are done in Picasa! I downloaded the program recently, and its got alot of potential for linking to google related platforms on the internet (though I have yet to utilise it, and it has a range of effects including basic retouch so I would recommend it if you always have deal with photos!

Spring (summer?) in the UK

Today and tomorrow heralds the beginning of temperature reaching above 20 degree Celsius in the day in London. Its above my preferred range of 10-20 but hey I'm not complaining about the sunshine and long daylight hours (all the more to study with...or to aid trying at least). 

花見ることのために公園に行きたい。でも時間がないから、家へ帰ったときに小さい公園を入った。

Ideally I would have made a trip to a park like hyde park or regents to see all the new blooms, but since I haven't got the time to do so, decided to enter a small green space along the way home in bloomsbury. My obvious fixation with the lone pink tree in the compound:

Its just too gloriously outstanding even alone. Blue, pink and green (powerpuff girls colours) is such a nice combination.

Even the shrubs outside the window are starting to show their colours.

Departed from the usual potato mash cooking method by making a potato and leek gratin the other day. Probably would have tasted better with butter/cream etc but hey this light version with just milk and cheddar is great too! Just layer thinly sliced potatoes with stir-fried leeks and cheese, topped with milk in a gratin dish and oven for an hour or so.

Even a light jacket is too warm when the sun hits directly！

My fringe is inching towards a decent length finally gradually. (Can't pull off the above the eyebrow look.)

Ends random update さよなら！

[Cover] Princess Mononoke Theme

This is the latest addition to songs from Studio Ghibli movies that I have been covering. Recorded in the summer (no I don't have time to do that now lol.), but as usual, took awhile before I'm comfortable to upload it. Haven't used a reverb in a while, but for this song I think its only fitting! Its my first time uploaded something I sang in English (well for the 2nd half at least!) and I actually think its better than the Japanese part (Yes? No?). Didn't used to like singing cover songs cause I think the Singaporean accent kills it, though by now I'm a little better at hiding it so here it is!

「もののけ姫」テーマ (JP & ENG)　

Princess Mononoke Main Theme, in Japanese and English
Music composer: Joe Hisashi
－Vocal coverー

Lyrics:
張り詰めた弓の震える弦よ 

月の光にざわめくおまえの心 

研ぎ澄まされた刃の美しい 

その切っ先によく似たそなたの横顔 

悲しみと怒りに潜む誠の心を知るは森の精 

もののけたちだけ 

もののけたちだけ

In the moonlight I felt your heart 
Quiver like a bowstring's pulse 
In the moon's pure light, you looked at me 
Nobody knows your heart 

When the sun is gone I see you 
Beautiful and haunting, but cold 
Like the blade of a knife, so sharp and so sweet 
Nobody knows your heart 

All of your sorrow, grief and pain 
Locked away in the forest of the night 
Your secret heart belongs to the world 
Of the things that sigh in the dark 
Oh the things that cry in the dark

~*~

My other favourite song from this movie is "Legend of Ashitaka", an instrumental piece, which I have linked below. Enjoy! Heartwrenching would be an accurate descriptor.

The music from this movie is so good I actually heard it before watching the film lol. Click play for some epic, dramatic music! This is a collection of pieces, I like the first and later portion! The middle piece is more war/battle-like.