Can`t do a proper post today…am exhausted. There is a lot going on……still sick with migraines, move to new school and family stuff are making my down time seem non-existent.
But I at least found time to post this photo. Flowers I received from a student several weeks ago. I am not sure I had ever seen roses in such a pretty shade of pink.
What is your favourite flower? Mine actually isn`t roses but gerberas…and cherry blossoms of course!
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I saw a post on Amanda`s blog the other day and couldn’t`t wait to try it myself! You set your ipod to shuffle and write about the memories you have from each song….
I skipped two songs in the shuffle while doing this…Just thought I should let you all know I cheated a little! One was dialog though from a movie and the other song I don` think I had ever heard before and I still have no idea how it ended up on my ipod. You might notice that there is nothing really new on my ipod…This is because since my computer broke earlier this year (Late last year even?!) I haven`t been able to upload any new music to my ipod…I have to be content with listening it at home on Shumpei`s computer or on the cd player!
OK, here goes…
Sgt.Major- Jet
Don`t have any particular connection or memory with this song in particular but this album has been played over and over again. I know I got completely sick of the song Are you gonna be my girl….but even now when I listen to this album I still can`t help but think you can`t bet much better than Aussie rock (Most of my favourite bands are Australian!)
The way you make me feel- Michael Jackson
This comes from a number one hits album that my friend bought in Hong Kong! The first tape I ever got was Michael Jackson (after tapes with kids songs and nursery rhymes I mean) and it brings me back to a time when I had a little white tape deck….that I swear still worked until a couple of years ago….You could also record voices with it and my brother and I would sing and talk into it and send it to my grandparents in New Zealand. Michael Jackson always makes me think of primary school when we learnt `Heal the world` and sang it all the time in school….we even had actions. I know this song, `The way you make me feel` quite well but there are other Michael Jackson songs that I know better….I also have some Jackson five on my ipod somewhere.
Four Seasons in one day- Crowded House
Wow, I have had this CD for such a long time. My second ever CD after Tina Arena (Which strangely enough I do not have on my ipod :p) Any time I hear songs by crowded house now I can`t help but think of Paul Hester`s suicide….I had a cousin commit suicide when I was very young…I did not know him well but anything about suicide makes me think of him. I adore crowded house, it has been a love that started young and has lasted the long haul………When I think of the amount of music I have, some of which I might never listen to again, this is a song and band that I will always come back to, no matter what the trends in music bring.
Fly- Lenny Kravitz
On a mix Cd my brother sent me the first time i was in Japan. Lenny Kravitz was all the rage in high school and this is one of my favouirte songs by him I`d have to say. This song made me realize that I used to know all the words to this song and many others but now I have to be content with just humming along because I seem to have forgotten most of the words to the verses.
Paint the Silence-
I have no recollection of this song…but I really like it. At first when it came on I wondered if I had even heard it before but I realize now that I have….I have added it to my on-the-go list so that I can listen to it and develop memories of it for the future! (The memory will be discovering it while doing a meme for my blog!)…In fact I have no idea who the artist even is since it didn`t come up on my ipod. It is a mystery song!
Did you ever love somebody- Jessica Simpson
I would first like to point out that this is the only Jessica Simpson song on my ipod…I think! It brings me back to high school when Dawson’s`s Creek was my world and how I wanted to be just like Joey. This song comes off a Dawson`s Creek soundtrack and is one of two that I own. I can`t say that it was my favourite song on the album but I have listen to this album about 500 times or more so that means I have probably listened to this song that amount of times also….
Strawberry Sex- Ken Hirai
Japanese pop….This is the funniest song although I do not know the whole meaning of the Japanese lyrics…It starts of with the words love love love over again. This song reminds me of conbini music….some conbini`s have music playing in the background of their stores and it is always this kind of genki Japanese pop music. I fell in love with a singer called Ai Otsuka from listening to her music at the local conbini near my university when I studied here in Tokyo originally….I was given a mixed CD of Japanese pop from a friend before I returned to Australia in 2006 and this was on it.
From what I can tell strawberry sex refers to holding hands and hugs!
Weir- Killing Heidi
This brought back memories of BDO 2001 and receiving this CD for my birthday. I saw Killing Heidi live in 2001 amongst a bunch of other bands…It was my first BDO (and so far my first!). I had a crush on a younger boy at the time and he was at BDO with me that day…and my friend Clarie! We came home covered in mud…..
Til I hear it from you- Gin Blossoms
Empire Records how I love you so! This has got to be one of my favourite films ever…and this song is from the soundtrack…You might start to notice that I have a lot of soundtracks on my ipod…after Aussie Rock it is is probably my favourite genre of music….I love that on one CD from any film you can find music from all over! I can`t remember the exact first time I watched this film but I can remember the many numerous times I have seen it since. I love this soundtrack almost as much as the movie…
I used to have quotes from this movie scattered through my school diary at LHC….
Warren:: Who glued these quarters down?
A.J: I did.
Warren: What the hell for, man? A.J: I don’t feel that I need to explain my art to you, Warren.
Full Forever- Goo Goo Dolls
Every song on this CD reminds me on the kaikan at Cat K and the third floor kitchen. The kaikan is where I lived the first time I was in Japan…….Cat K had a copy of this CD and we played it over and over while sitting around in the third floor kitchen, cooking dinner, drinking wine, vodka, beer and anything else we could find and smoking cigarettes. There might have even been some dancing……One of my strongest memories of Cat K and this CD was Christmas Day 2004 in which we polished of several bottles of wine and champagne after breakfast and wrote to her friends in Britain to tell them her boyfriend of several years had dumped her on Christmas eve…….we were drunk by 9:30 in the morning and spent most of the day watching 24 and listening to music. Cat K and I are not in touch so much anymore….and I really regret this….but every time I hear any goo goo dolls song (Or Matchbox 20) I think of her….and every time Christmas rolls around I remember this day!
No Eleanor Rigby- B.B Seaton (Trojan Beatles Tribute)
A reggae cover of the this famous beatle song. I have a vague memory of buying this Cd and I remember that it was cheap and that I bought it hear in Japan. I love the Beatles and at the time I was going through a huge reggae period…The first time I was in Japan I made friends with some people that DJ`d reggae music and I went to a fair few gigs…This is going on my must listen to again sometime pile!
Waterloo- ABBA
What ipod is complete without something by Abba or The Beatles…Abba and this song remind me of three things….my fathers hate of ABBA, My high school friends Jen and Nicky dressing up as ABBA for a dress-up party because they love ABBA with a passion and a pub that used to called the Waterloo although hasn`t been called that in years….Although I doubt they every played ABBA there. At the old Waterloo was where poor Shumpei was refused entrance because he had no ID and he was so embarrassed because he was 24 at the time!
One Love- Bob Marley and the Wailers
Vivid memories of this song. Camping in Chichibu in Saitama three and a half years ago. First time camping in Japan and Ryomei played this CD non-stop for the whole time we were there….I woke up with one of the worst hangers of my life and it was also the weekend that I found out that in Japan camping food is curry…….and that in Japan GIANT bugs do exist. This is also a favourite Karaoke song……
Commerce.TX- Ben Kweller
I totally forgot I had this guy on my ipod. I guess that is what happens when you have 20GB…I got this CD from a good friend Anna. Her and I share a love for similar music (Including our biggest joint passions The Whitlams and Powderfinger. I have no recollection of this song whatsoever but I feel myself and Mr Kweller are going to be getting a lot more acquainted again over the next couple of weeks. He reminds me of another artist…I can`t quite put my finger on it. Ben Lee perhaps?
I`ll be Okay- Amanda Marshall- My Best Friends Wedding Soundtrack
Not my favourite song off this soundtrack but I like it all the same and the lyrics of the whole song fit the movie so well (`I want you to be happy…you`re my best friend). I got this CD when I was 12, the Christmas before I started high school and it has got to be one of my favourite CD`s of all time. The title always striked me as so simple but yet so perfect….
Big Brother- Stevie Wonder
Well I remember when I knew I loved Stevie Wonder and I have my friend Hiro to that for that……This song reminds me of a DJ event I went to by the afore mentioned Hiro. I owe Hiro a lot because the reason my Japanese got better over the summer that I was off from uni in Japan is because he spoke no English really and spoke only to me in Japanese. The DJ event was a mix of soul and RnB music. I love to raid Hiro`s record and CD collections too and this song is off a CD I got from there.
Stevie Wonder is someone I would really love to see live!
I Wish- Alex Llyod
I am noticing that I tend to have memories of artists or albums more that I do from particular songs. This if from my favourite Alex Lloyd album and I do love this song….I am a big believer in wishing and hoping and songs with words and lyrics like this.
I remember when I first discovered Alex Lloyd…summer of 2001/2002 December….Stradbroke Island with my high school girlfriends….camping for a week. I was 16 and it was the song `Amazing`…not sure if Straddie was the first time I heard it or if it is just the first time I remember hearing it….I could make a life soundtrack from that summer with a bunch of music from all over and this song would definitely feature on it. That was an amazing week. I met my first bf and first love that week and we were together for two years. This was one of the funnest weeks I ever had as a highschooler……I guess it had a lot to do with freedom. I was 16, going into my senior year and away for a week of fun, playing in the sun and drinking and I guess Alex Llyod and his song Amazing and his songs that followed remind me of that week!
Little Sister- Jewel
I heart Jewel…I am so glad she came up on this. This is off the first Jewel CD and my favourite song off the CD. I can`t explain it, but its the pace of this song that I like…….
It reminds me of a time when I was in Choir…I had never really met anybody else that liked Jewel much until I started singing for one of the really small choirs at school when I was 14. I made friends with two girls Lucy and Alana……both of which had these amazing voices. They both adored Jewel also and we used to sing some of the songs together…I only did choir for a year and a half but it was a fun time.
And it Stoned me- Van Morrison
I have some strong connections to Van Morrision and my love for him started in the summer of 2001/2002 that I mentioned earlier. If I listened to too much Van Morrison I would start to cry…..He was introduced to me by my ex-boyfriend and his father…….Him and The Eagles. I knew of him and the Eagles before this of course but when I told the ex`s father that I didn`t really know that many songs by them he made me listen to the cd`s over and over again. The ex once wrote a message about missing me with some lyrics taken from a Van Morrison song…
Thrillology- Powderfinger
I have seen Powderfinger live a couple of times and they are the most amazing band. I adore them! This song reminds me of my senior year when this CD was played so many times I could probably have sung the whole CD from beginning to end in my sleep….I am pretty sure that the song `My Kind Of Scene` featured on my senior video.
Any time I hear a Powderfinger song I think of a concert I went to near South Bank, I don`t remember the name of the place they had it but they have a lot of concerts there and it is an open stage. Lying on the grass waiting for them to come out (John Butler Trio was the start act) and when they came out and started…….and their encore. Amazing…
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This has taken me a long time to write out (I had most of it written in my diary….I wrote some of it on the train on the way home from work the other day)….but 20 songs is now finished. I loved doing this……..It is amazing to think how much music really does play a soundtrack to our lives….
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Yesterday and today are the first International iCiNG Day (Thank you to Sigsy for putting me on to this great blog!) which is a celebration of ourselves and what we hold dear to us. The theme for the first International iCiNG Day is `I Love…` Since I have only discovered this blog today (and it just happens to be international iCiNG Day) I haven`t had a lot of time to think about it, but I thought for the first one I would just write a list of things I love (Since I do not have the time before midnight to throw a party for all my friends and family who I love dearly!)
So here goes…things I love as of 11th of November 2007…Keep in mind I am going for more of a random list of things
And of course I love Shumpei, my family and my friends! I love you guys most of all!!!!!!!!!!
I am now going to devote the rest of my evening to doing things that I love…maybe some knitting, beading and cruising around on other people`s blogs!
What do you love?
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I missed my grandmothers (From here on refereed to as kiwi Nana) birthday on July 21st…she turned 83. I feel bad that I didn`t send a card so I am hoping to print some photos for her and send her a letter sometime soon. I will definitely remember next year as I have put a note in my phone already for ten days before so that I won`t forget! That reminder will be in there for at least another 20 years too because I know my kiwi Nana is waiting for her letter from the queen at 100, and she will make it too (Her mother made it to 97 if I remember correctly…Granny Foy!). She is my last surviving grandparent.
Why kiwi Nana you might ask? Well you see my mother was born in New Zealand and so while I grew up in Australia I had one set of grandparents in New Zealand and another set in Brisbane. The Australian grandparents were always nanny and poppy and the New Zealand set were always kiwi Nana and grand-pop. I do not know who originally gave her this name, it might have been me or it might have been my mum. But she has always been kiwi Nana….and when I post letters to her I address them to kiwi Nana on the envelope and everything.
I learned three very important life skills from my kiwi Nana (Among many other things!)
1. How to make awesome pikelets/pancakes. I still have the recipe written down in the back of one my childhood recipe books at home in Australia
2. How to knit (Although I am a bit rusty…although I do have an olive green scarf started last winter)
3. Lastly, how to lipread.
I was talking to a friend on Friday night about this because I have recently discovered that i can also lipread Japanese. My kiwi Nana is deaf, she went deaf at 18 and has lip read ever since. My mum can lip read and for some reason it is something that I can do too (Although I am not as proficient as my mum, and certainly not as proficient as my Nana). Apparently as a young child, even when I was as young as a year, I knew that to speak to my kiwi Nana that I had to tap her arm to get her attention before speaking…I also know that my mum and her used to speak to each other without talking so that my grandfather wouldn`t here or whoever else might have been trying to overhear their conversation…I guess that is how I picked up my lipreading skills.
You would be surprised how handy the skill lipreading is. I think that with my knitting, pikelet making and lipreading skills that I would make an excellent international spy!!!
Anyway, Happy Birthday Kiwi Nana! I am sorry it is late but I do hope you had a good one!I hope you are doing well! I will be sure to pass on my knitting skills, pikelet making talents and lipreading ability on to my children, your grandchildren, just like you passed them down to mum and me! Although I am sure you will be around to teach them yourself…
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Letter from the easter bunny. (On snoopy paper!)
`Hey Lulu, this is the Easter Bunny. Sorry I am a bit late but I had trouble getting the ceiling fan in the envelope so I decided to just send the eggs. You will just have to throw the eggs in the air. Lots of love, Bugs.`
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I received a package in the mail yesterday. Last week I asked my dad to send some easter chocolates for me to give the kids at school. We are actually studying Easter a bit late because the real easter was over Spring break. Plus I am pretty sure Orthodox churches celebrate a week later anyway..so we figured it was OK!!!
When I was younger (Actually technically until I was 17 and went to Japan!) my father hid about 200 eggs every year. Sure, when we were younger we thought it was the easter bunny but as we got older and no longer believed in the easter bunny he would still hid the eggs, bunnies, presents etc every year. (I am not exaggerating by saying 200 eggs, I swear sometimes it was more!) As he got older too he started to write down were he hid them so that we wouldn`t find any two weeks later when cleaning the house etc!!!
Before he had the great idea to write down where he hid eggs though one easter when I was about 10 or 11, my brother and I woke up early and started hunting. After finding about 180 eggs we thought…`yep that`s it, we have them all!` and Dad agreed. It was actually quite a hot easter that year. We were still using the ceiling fans during the day at least.
Well my mum, later on Easter Sunday (or possibly even the next day) turned on the fans only to be showered in easter eggs (solid ones!). Yep that is right, my father had had the brilliant idea to hide eggs on top of the fans. But then forgot he had done it.
Needless to say the next Easter the first thing we did on Easter Sunday when we woke up was turn on all the fans in the house, (And look under the bottoms of chairs, it was around that time that dad also started sticky taping eggs to the bottom of chairs trying to trick us!!)
I think my dad might still have hidden eggs this year, and might in fact be waiting for me to come home next week so that I can hunt for them all!!!!
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Do you keep a journal/diary? I have tried and tried over the years to keep a steady journal…I always have enough to say so I don`t know why I have trouble. Maybe it is because when I reread through what I wrote sometimes i think `Now that is just dumb` so I stop journalling…or rip out pages. But that isn`t the point is it.
I have a journal somewhere of my first year of highschool. I also have a couple of thick journals that I kept aged 14 and 15. Since then I have nothing that has been kept for more than a month or so. I have pages (Ripped out of a journal but still I have them) from when I was in Europe last year. They are in an envelope under my desk that is sealed and has my name and Europe 2006 on it.
I think perhaps I just love the idea of a journal. I never really stick with it. My blog is a bit like a journal but obviously i don`t go into my innermost thought or anything on-line. Nor do I write about every little thing. Is that what a journal is for though? To record every little thing?
What is a journal to you? Does it have only writing? Does it have colour? Does it have photos, pictures and random poems among other things? Your own original artwork?Does it record every moment of your life? Do you ever have a slump, write nothing for 2 weeks, a month, six months, then go back to it. Do you use the same journal then or do you use another one? A newer book? Do you ever show it to anyone? Would you ever show your kids or partner if you had either?These are all questions that are running through my head as I write this because yet again I have decided to start writing another journal.
I was partly-inspired ( to start another journal I mean) by this site which was linked from 52 projects. I have followed Keri Smith`s work on and off over the years…even if you don`t have a journal, and have no desire to keep one then you should still head over to the site and head to the flickr account she has set up because some of the photos of others journals are great!
I was also inspired by Phil over at Skinnylattegirl because she often refers to her journal in her posts and I love the way she writes so perhaps if I kept a steady journal I could write like her too!! I doubt that will happen though….
I was also inspired just by the fact that I love the idea of a journal ( I love the ideas of most things at first though!). I enjoy writing, I like books (and a journal is essentially a book with mainly blank pages…well in my case) and I really would like to keep something that tracks my thoughts and life.
Who keeps a journal? Who doesn`t? What do you use it for ? Or, why don`t you keep one? Share your thoughts? Am I crazy to think that keeping one this time will work for me and I won`t give up after like, three days?
I start a lot of things and never finish them…at least a journal, while it needs a start, could really end anywhere…
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Well Saturday`s hanami party is going ahead despite the fact that the cherry blossom god obviously didn`t hear my prayers when I asked for more blossoms (and no rain!)…since there aren`t many blossoms out yet and rain is expected for Saturday afternoon.
Oh well, I have joined forces with Sushizume and they will be holding there pink party for Tokyo Made right next to us. I invited them both a couple of weeks back and she emailed me back to say that they were having a pink party that weekend and could they set up next to us. As if i could say no to that!!!
So if a little bit of rain doesn`t bother you and you can live with lack of blossoms then you should definitely come join us in the park on Saturday!
We will be the ones with the fake cherry blossom tree (according to Sushi…not sure if it is true or not yet though?)…from about 12:00! I am still trying to come up with something pink to wear!
Now I just need to say another quick prayer…
Dear Cherry Blossom God,
Please make all the cherry blossoms, especially the pink ones, come out over night. I will be your best friend.
Thanks and peace out,
Lulu
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Things I am loving at the moment…
and just hanging out with friends and my boy in general!Things I am hating at the moment…
Things I am wanting at the moment…
I suppose it is a good sign that the things I am loving at the moment is a lot longer than that of the things I am hating and wanting!
Share your own!
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Love Japan and all the cute things it has to offer??
My lovely friends (blog friends turned RL friends!) Deanne and Masao have started up a fantastic online shop called TOKYOMADE which is supporting designers living in Japan, both Japanese and foreign!!! Congratulations to them both for making it all happen!!! I entered in their first competition for hinamatsuri or girls day and while I didn`t win, some other lucky person out there will be receiving the cute dolls below!!! Lucky thing!!
Everyone should go check it out as everything is just so adorable!!! Don`t forget to sign up for the mailing list to receive info about there other competitions!!!
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Well, this is my pinboard. I love pinboards. And while I have lots and lots of photos, and postcards, and paintings, and subway maps, and more postcards, and venetian masks, and other photos, and garbage explanation sheet all over my walls, the pinboard holds the most ecclectic range of things. (well despite the garbage explanation sheets…garbage here is complicated!). The pinboard includes some of my favourite photos (and definitely my favourite highland cow!) and while it doesn`t change that often, sometimes things are stuck over other things or out to the side making other things overlap. I was going to change it at the beggining of the year but I think I will leave it like this for a bit longer. Featured on other walls of the apartment are a family section, a europe section, a japan 2004 section plus other stuff like an aussie flag, some tinsel that really needs to come down and a mix of other things. I hate having blank walls!!
Like I said, I love pinboards, and I hope this will encourage others to post up their own!!
Ps: If you click on the photo it will take you to Flickr where you can see notes on everything that is on my pinboard!!! Explanations galore!
PPS: Yes, recently nothing that interesting has happened, except work and watching new season 24 and another cool drama called Men in Trees. So I didn`t want to bore you all with that so instead I decided to bore you with my piboard!!
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I am just an Aussie girl living in Tokyo (Now Brisbane until June 2009) with my Japanese fiance trying to make sense of the crazy but fun Japanese and Australian worlds I live in!
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