Countdown-3 Days More...

Till JAPAN! (Nippon!)

Sooo excited. Beyond belief. Kida and I have been exchanging one plan after another. We just talked about this all-you-can-eat DESSERT BUFFET (aaah!) in Ginza (Tokyo).

It's called Sweets Paradise 90 Min. You get-you guessed it-ninety minutes for like 1500 yen to eat all you can! There are cakes galore...the pictures are crazy enough that I want to be there. I'm a little concerned as to when we'll have time. I was initally doubtful about going, but after reading more (http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/blog-261422.html) I'm sold.

There are literally lines and lines of cakes, pastries and other various sweets, not to mention ice cream. Of course, Kida wants to hit plenty of other sweets places, such as SweetBox (http://www.crepes.jp/). I want to try bento, okonomiyaki and any and all street food (especially kushiage, an Osaka specialty, which is basically like all the shish-kebab you could dream of, deep fried).

So yeah, food is obviously a big priority on our trip. But so is the sight-seeing (first priority) and of course just experiencing culture...food is culture...

I also plan to see some Geisha if I can in the historic districts (Kyoto's more famous for them, but Tokyo has them too behind Asakusa temple), go to 100 yen shops (like 99 cents....'cept better....), do plenty of shopping in general (don't know if it's a reality, but I sure as anything am going to TRY), go to at least one big department store, and buy beautiful hair ornaments (combs, pins, etc).

No pictures yet, but there will be once I get back, since photography is also a HUGE priority for me on this trip. And video, with the beauteous SDR-H40 videocamera Baba got me...thank you, Baba!!!

Speaking of photo, I'm going on an awesome field trip downtown tomorrow. So many gardens, museums, and overall beautiful places. I get to be with Angie the whole time, and be shooting photos the whole time! And miss school. Talk about fun. :)

For my fashion shoot, I'm considering doing a 1920s style shoot, with pale model, done up hair, super dark vamp-y lips, cloche hat and gorgeous long, draped, sinewy dress. I have a model in mind. Need to check the time period with Harris, and I really need to decide whether I don't want to do a more recent, cutting-edge style of fashion photography.

Bottom Left: Constance Bennett
Theda Barra style is good.

Vive la France

What a great day. France won against Germany (yes, yes, a first, you don't have to say it...), I got into the Shakespeare theater group (Abbey's) I auditioned for, watched a video (30 Days) that made me re-realize just how good I have it (really good).

I'm HOPING that Jenn and I can chill and watch My Girl (Korean dramas FTW! ...ok, super-geeky moment over...wait...that would be my life...no but seriously, I've never said ftw before. And never shall again.)
I've gotten accepted into some UCs! I'll know ALL the results by April 1st (oh, the irony...). That's less than two weeks, and I'll have written the chapter title for the next segment of my life.
It's sort of annoying how all they tell you as you go to gradeschool is that all that matters is college. And then you find out, oh college doesn't even care about middle school, and sometimes not even freshman year (or senior year for that matter). Of course, middle school and below prepares you--if you're a good student then chances are you will continue in high school. And senior year grades I think can do you more harm than good-keep doing what you're doing, and you're fun, but if you come down with too nasty a case of senioritis, you could get..wait for it...rescinded *collective gasp*.

THEN, they tell you, oh undergrad doesn't really matter anyway, since you can get a good education anywhere and it's grad school that matters. Then, "Oh, grad school doesn't even matter, it's your first job they look at and judge you on..." It's enough to drive you crazy. And deep inside me I do know it all matters, even this high school segment. It's all significant in the here and now--will I think differently 20 years from now? You bet, but in the famous words of Alice, I'll be a different person then anyway.

So that's my advice, once again, to you young'uns with all this to look forward to-this legacy of confusion and indecisiveness.

Sorry, that sounded really dramatic. I enjoy getting a little melodramatic every once in a while...it's healthy. Really, most of my peers are more fortunate than they can imagine. I'm grateful that despite the confusion and indecisiveness, I have a lifetime of opportunities to look forward to. I don't have to start from square one like some many less fortuante people do.

Ahhh, I can't wait for the weekend.

Time to find some creative, untraditional photography. I particularly remember this book of disturbing photography (NOBODY would feel comfortable with all the images in this book), commercial images and illustration from when I was in England. I love the front image and the title.

Let me, as They Say, Introduce You to a Few of My Friends

I think you can honestly tell a lot about a person from what they read. The most telling things, of course, are the books they liked.

That said, here are some of my favorites:

• The Dark Angel and its sequels, too by Meredith Ann Pierce
• Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
• The Chanters of Tremaris series (Tenth Power, Singer of all Songs, Waterless Sea) by Kate Constable
• Tithe by Holly Black
• Firegold, White Midnight by Dia Calhoun
• Certain poems by John Donne, Phillip Larkin (need to reread, really), and a few other poets I can't remember momentarily

There's much more at the tip of my tongue.

Stress

I need to write this down so I don't forget:

In the next three to four-ish days, I need to

• Make at least one A-Team practice


• Go to the match


• Get my passport picture taken


• Figure out exactly when and how I'm going to get my emergency passport renewed, when I'm about to travel in less than one month.


• Get 2 days' worth of long overdue TB shots


• Turn in late Physics stuff


• Work on my senior project


• Get birthday stuff ready for Kida


• Go shopping for a Japanse phrasebook


• Go to the author's/illustrator's club meeting


• Catch up on math homework


• Finish notes/research for AP Lit


• Pick a poem for the S&D banquet


• Pay for A-Team banquet


• Breathe.


• ...Sleep

Yeah, that last one's become a casualty of my senior year lifestyle. Sad and not wholly necessary (but at times like this you can see how it is). This is why I advise all you incoming seniors to proceed with caution. Don't overschedule yourself, because though I highly doubt that your schedule will regularly look like the one above (mine doesn't regularly...), you still want to account for the fact that life will get hectic at times, and you still want to have time for yourself, to do the things you love and want to do without letting them turn into stressful things of tediousness and habit!

I would do most of it over the same way, given the opportunity. I'm grateful to be able to do all this stuff and have freedom and love and health and bountiful opportunities. But I feel more tired than I'd like to, sometimes.

I Left out the Ninja.

I talk too much. I was a little too loose with my thoughts today. When that happens a) I get made a fool out of or b) I upset people. And myself.

Of course I'm intensely private. It's my culture, it's the way I've been raised, and it's what makes me feel comfortable. I'm suprised daily by the emotional openness of many people even at school. I couldn't leave myself vulnerable to that degree.

Sometimes I do, though. I'm less guarded, and sometimes the consequence is that I get hurt and draw closer in to myself...ugh, that makes me sound like an emotionally withdrawn turtle. Teenage mutant turtles, indeed. And sometimes there isn't a consequence. But there usually is. And it's common sense--you don't leave yourself unguarded. With anything. Emotions, wealth, war, you name it.

This is more serious than I intended, but it's nice to get my thoughts out.

P.S. I hope I am, in actuality, neither a sewer mouth or a jerk. At least not most of the time.

Burgundy is a Girl's Best Friend

We all went shopping today at the mall. I needed to find a nice dress for the gala. The letter said it was a "black tie" event; I honestly had to look up what exactly that meant.

We hit JCPenney's first: They had a rather small selection of mostly prom-ish gowns, none of which I didn't really find tacky or ill-fitting for myself. We left quickly.

Next we went to Macy's: They had a larger selection, and a variety, and I actually tried on a number of dresses there. For all of them, however, the prices were either a little too high or the fit was ill or the style was matronly or the neckline wasn't modest enough. We left there, too, a little more reluctantly.

Finally we hit Nordstrom's, with darkness having set in outside (how time flies when you're trying on dresses...), and I searched a bit. There was a yellow Maggy London dress I'd seen online that we all liked when I saw it, but I wanted to look a bit more before I picked something to try on...and then we saw it. A lovely crinkled silk, pleated dress in a rich, delicious shade of burgundy, right there. It was a winner even before I tried it on, but in the dressing room I got definite thumbs up from my toughest critics--my mom and aunt. It was definitely the dress.

It's very pretty, I'll admit. Not quite an evening gown, but it reminds me of a dress from times past--the 50s, maybe. I plan to wear it with a wrap we own, coincidentally in almost exactly the same shade of burgundy, portraying richly beaded peacocks, and then pair it off with some jewelry. I might post pictures afterward, or maybe of the dress alone.

I'm very excited!

Texturize

I can't wait for some free time. Then I shall make some yo-yo's. No, not the toy, but the kitchy little puff of fabric! Google them. I'd love to decorate a dress with these. When it comes to clothes, I've got a weak spot for texture.

I'd also like to make some of these surprisingly easy but beautiful fabric flowers:

First you burn the edges of synthetic fabric circles. They curl.

You have a plethora of pretty petals!

Sew concentric circles together w/ contrast color thread, decorative stitches, or even beads/sequins.

This awesome tutorial is by no means my creation, but found here: http://jo2308.typepad.com/blissedoutknitting/2008/07/hand-made-flowe.html Anybody want to try these with me? We could go thrift store shopping beforehand for manmade fabrics. I guarantee these would spruce up an otherwise plain dress.

Original link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=256776.0

And dress shopping this weekend, maybe?

I shouldn't be doing this...

This was originally at the end of the entry, but it's more visually interesting than white text, so while these photos are not a priority in my mind right now, they are on this entry. So... I finally got a copy of (one) of my photographs from Brittany...they were taken on her super studio camera with copious doses of megapixels, so the file sizes are big. They were for her AP Photo portfolio...her crazy, colorful themes. I was a fairy for this one; here it is.

I like it a lot. She's talented; she did great with the makeup (I got very interesting responses...) and the editing.

Maybe I'll add some of my own later.

Here's what I originally began with: I'm very excited. Some hard work has paid off at last; I found out yesterday that I won the $10,000 scholarship I applied for back in November '08. Interviews, applications, research...I applied in the Arts category, which this year was Ethics/Philosophy...I had no idea what hermeneutics and language-game theory (among other things) were...

So college should be easier to pay for...very nice...

Cue the audible groan, though. Colllege.....In less than one month, less than one little revolution of this earth, I will know where I've been accepted. Oh heavenly bodies...It freaks me out, to be plain and simple. I want to know now, and I feel as if I'm done with high school at times, but I also am scared of moving up and out, leaving all that I've known. It's a universal feeling, I'm sure, but in my egocentrism I feel as if no one could have ever felt this way before. Right...

One one last note, I'm a greedy girl. The following things are currently on my wishlist:

1.Books on beading/embroidery

2. An HD mini camcorder (Flip or Aiptex or Vado???) for when I go to Japan in April.

3. A bike. For now. For college. I can't drive, so I have to get around town somehow!

4. More time! DST starts again this Sunday. Which means...badminton!!!