☆ names

I came across a link on Twitter the other day listing the Top 10 Baby Names in Japan for 2009. They are as follows:

boys 01. Hiroto 02. Shouta 03. Ren 04. Souta 05. Sora 06. Yuuto 07. Yuuto 08. Yuuma 09. Eita 10. Shou

girls 01. Rin 02. Sakura 03. Hina 04. Yua 05. Yuna 06. Miu 07. Yui 08. Aoi 09. Miyu 10. Misaki

(There are two Yuuto's because they're different kanji). To tell you the truth, I think most of these - especially the girls - sound a little weird. Miu and Yua sound especially strange to me. Who came up with them, and why are they popular?? O___o;; Maybe I'm just bitter because the more traditional names aren't so highly regarded anymore.

It does seem that the softer sounds are more in this year, even with the boys. Lots of vowels, Y's, R's and S's.

Actually, I do love a few of the boys' names from this list...especially Ren (lotus) and Sora (sky). I do like Hiroto, as I like any name that starts with "Hiro." Unfortunately, I immediately get the image of pointy hair a la Honda Hiroto from Yugioh...

I generally like verbs for boys' names, as it sounds very proactive, lol. (e.g. Satoru, Manabu, Ayumu, Susumu). Randomly, I love the name "Akira" in English, but I don't like it in Japanese...it sounds nerdy to me!

Anyway, there's your bit of random for today. XD;;


☆ morikubo showtaro album

Speaking of names, the name of Morikubo Showtaro's upcoming album has finally been revealed! It's called "Kyo", using the character for "shout." I'm so looking forward to hearing it! ♥

Thank you to the lovely kispexi2 for the snowflake, and also for your card, which I got in the mail yesterday! Loved it! ♥ xoxoxoxo

I love this panel from the latest "Are You Alice?" The Mad Hatter has just insisted on taking a shot that he's not going to miss, but he misfires. This is Cheshire Cat's "Oh...he missed" expression. XDD Love it.

The story is diverging quite a bit from the drama CD version. I like it, but I'm having some trouble following what exactly is going on. But then again, the drama CDs were quite confusing too, until all was (sort of) explained further along. We'll see how this shapes up!

Am hoping that my favorite character the White Rabbit makes a bigger appearance soon. We've only gotten a glimpse of him, so far.

These recent chapters did reveal Dormouse. I never knew what he looked like until now. I'm slightly relieved that they didn't draw him with mouse ears. ^__^;;; He looks as scruffy as I expected, though!

Hehe, final exam season makes Soto procrastinate like crazy. So! In lieu of doing anything school-related, I work on translating stuff. Here, finally, is the start of the Pafu Magazine excerpt. We've got the Saiyuki-related text from the cover, some fan messages, and a quick recap of the main story and characters. The rest shall follow as time allows XD

( Read more... )

☆ thank you!!

OMG, thank you so much, piccu, 7veilsphaedra, amai_kaminari, jedishampoo, red_squared, midnitemaraud_r and anonymous for the virtual snowflake cookies!! What did I do?? X) Really, it's quite lovely...thank you. ♥ *loves on*


☆ weekend

So wow...my friend's 30th bash was quite a bash indeed! He'd rented out a space, food, music and everything. So many people showed up! O____o It was definitely worth digging my car out of the snow and venturing out into the city. I actually haven't seen him in a while, so it was good to hang out, albeit he did have a lot of guests to attend to.

The afternoon tea came up way too fast the following day...mostly because I slept in rather late. I didn't have much productive time before I left, so was hoping to leave the tea exactly at the end of it (5 o'clock) so I could come home and get cards and shopping done. That did not happen. After sitting around chatting with my friends afterward, I looked at the clock and it was nearing 8 by the time I left. ^___^;; And then I ended up adding another 20 minutes probably to my trip back on the metro, because we were so busy chatting that we missed a connecting stop and had to double back. The trains run so slowly on the weekend, we had to wait 12 minutes on the platform, probably causing us to miss our connecting train at the previous station. XD;;

Good news is, at least I've got something to show for my weekend, aside from all the partying that's been had: cable guy came Sunday afternoon to install my digital TV thing (huzzah! TV working once again!) and I'm even prouder of this: a grand total of ONE Christmas card written!

Here's a photo of the snow coming down yesterday. The flakes were clumped together in huge batches, so it was quite lovely! I took my dog out to see it, and he was quite alarmed every time a huge flake bopped him on his tiny Chihuahua head.



Can't believe it's Monday already...work week begins once more!

☆ woot!

It's snowing!! This is practically unheard of, for snow to be coming down before Christmas here in D.C. It's absolutely GORGEOUS. Huge flakes that are already dusting the grass and shrubs in my backyard just outside my window. I love that my computer is situated right by the window, so I can watch the snow come down while typing away here. X)

So it's already 10 am this morning, and I still haven't brewed my morning coffee. Will do so in a moment, after I type up this post and gaze out the window a little more. ♥ This is such a welcome change to all the drizzle and rain we've been having all week! Much as snow makes us freak out in a bad way in this area, I do love it. Maybe there's a chance of a white Christmas, after all!

Meanwhile, this weekend is shaping up to be a busy one...a friend of mine is throwing himself a huge party for his 30th birthday, which should be quite fun! And tomorrow another friend is having her annual Christmas tea. We're going back to the Mandarin Oriental for their lovely buffet style afternoon tea, which I'm really excited about! I went quite camera happy the last time I was there, so maybe this time I can set aside the food blogger in me, and just have a chillaxing time over some excellent tea.

Speaking of tea, have any of you tried white tea before? I had some at a tea at the Willard last week, and I discovered that I didn't like it very much. =/ It was a high grade "silver needle" tea, so I thought it'd be delicate and lovely, but it tasted bitter and medicinal instead. Guess I'll just stick to what I know...


☆ holiday stuff..

I know people who are ALREADY FINISHED with their Christmas shopping, and I'm extremely envious of them!! I haven't even done my cards yet! But I'm determined to get a good chunk of them done this weekend. This snow is certainly putting me in the mood for it. XD My family can be pretty difficult to shop for, and they're all a little picky. Hey muscaevolitan, if you are reading this, give me a hint as to what you want, will you? Thanks.

I've been doing a lot of online shopping lately, but uh, it's all stuff for myself. XD;; One of my favorite recent buys has been my Coach bag, which looks...exactly the same as the one I'm using right now. I've been using my current one practically every day since last Christmas, and I was so afraid of wearing it down that I got one exactly like it, same color and everything. This one is a little dressier though, as it's patent leather. It's beautiful, comfortable and practical...I love it. It's so hard to really fall in love with a bag in all aspects. I have bags that I love the looks of, but simply cannot carry because it's too small or too big or too awkward.

It's like the majority of my favorite shoes - they look fabulous, but I can't walk in them. They're for dining out, where you can drive yourself to and from the place without much time on your feet. *g*


☆ ice cream machine tales

So my cranberry vanilla sorbet turned out a success, though a bit on the airy side in texture. I wanted my next go at the machine to be corn ice cream, but sadly, fresh corn is out of season at the moment, and can't be had. All the recipes called for corn on the cob, so that was out. I picked apple...but I think I failed in this one. It actually doesn't taste too bad, but it feels like I'm eating...frozen apple sauce.

I have no idea what to do with the nearly 2 quarts of apple ice cream I have now in the freezer. I guess I'll nibble at it, but from now on, I'll try to make smaller batches that have a hope of being completely consumed!


☆ random links!

Ahh...I haven't done any random links in a while. I haven't had much time to do miscellaneous browsing lately. But here are a few cool things I've come across:

♬ iconomicon: Stumbled across this great icon maker, who makes a lot of very random and quirky icons. Great if you're looking for something kind of different, and non-fannish.


♬ in_my_purse: And speaking of quirky, here's a funny little comm where people post pictures of the contents of their purse. *g*


♬ The Lego Matrix: I love it! It's the scene where Neo dodges bullets in slow motion, done in Lego.


♬ Umbrella for graffiti: This is kind of gorgeous...an umbrella made to resemble a calligraphy brush. I'd like to know where I can buy this! *___*


♬ Pictory: Beautiful captioned photographs that tell a story. The current theme is "Overseas and Overwhelmed," a series of photos that showcase people's moments of culture shock. I'm really looking forward to seeing more.


♬ Scene In: This is a series of videos done by Washington Post that I'm only NOW coming across. They go around to various neighborhoods in D.C. to see how people dress, and talk to them about their fashion choices. Very well filmed! You never really think of D.C. as a progressive fashion-forward town, so this was a refreshing viewpoint.


♬ How to Write Badly Well: A blogger who exposes bad writing techniques by posting examples of what not to do. X) I think I promised whymzycal a link to this blog, so there you have it!