D A I Y E

Hi to you all. Today was a glorious day for weather, although slightly chilly from the breeze, and so was the perfect day for going out on a day trip in. You may not know this but during my holidays I tend not to venture out of my hometown too much. I usually stay in my house or within my comfort regions despite my desire to see more of England, however today was a fab day for reaching out and trying something new for the day.

My friends and I decided a few days ago to have a trip out to the Safari park however after a few bumps in the road we realised it wasn't going to happen, so instead we went with a plan B and hopped on a (quite delayed) train to Bristol to go to the aquarium. I think what made this day as wonderful as it was would have definitely been the number of surprises which seemed to just churn out hourly! At first on the train we happened to sit behind a very loud, gravely, one legged and slightly intoxicated man who never really stopped talking for the entirety of the journey and at one point was topless singing verses from that 'Combine harvester(...)' song. However that was only a small part of the day. When we got off the train we had some lunch and met the sweetest little ginger haired toddler, who found it difficult to keep his trousers on... I'm not kidding. It proved that in his attempt to catch up with his father yet still wave goodbye to us all his little trousers could not take it and ended up round his ankles twice, which made my friend and I really chuckle to the point of tears.

Since our day was mainly planned for seeing the aquarium, our actual fish time was really not a high percentage in the grand scheme of the things. We had a quick whizz round and saw some pretty insane looking fishes. We decided to explore around Bristol because it really is a beautiful city and did make me feel quite close to home. We stopped by in a park/gardens area and a few minutes later a very slick and generally 'cool' dreadlocked man appeared by a table-tennis table near us looking a wee bit lost and hungry for some sportin' action. He really was just such a cool guy, I really cannot explain him in any other way he was just effortless. After my friends played a couple of rounds with him he decided to show us some magic with a pack of cards and tell us entertaining stories on how he managed to gain around two hundred pounds in under ten minutes by doing these tricks to others. He really put a smile on my face. Afterwards we just went up a tower to see the views, went into a few shops (one being a music shop where I have found a passion for instruments and also had a bit of astonishment at my friends' talent), then decided to head back to the train seeing as a lot of places were closing this time. Back on the train there were again some loud and tipsy men who made the journey more lively. What was most shocking was we saw the original homeless man on our train back home and, for me, it was just a moment of pure panic where I just didn't know where to put my body.

Anyway, I am still alive and very tired. I have guzzled down a cider, had a shower and settled into bed. I have a good day out with my friends and really only wanted to blog this so I could look back on it as a sort of diary entry and remember what a splendid time I had. Overall everyone really enjoy your time off and try to get out on some days to break away from routine! I will have photos with you shortly.

First Time

Summer is coming to a close very soon and I am going to miss my days of sitting in the sun and feeling that cool edge of the end to this all. I know I haven't really updated you all on what's been happening, but to be honest it's been a lot of the same thing. Aside from going on holiday a couple of weeks ago I have just been working through my reading list (which unfortunately has not gone as well as planned, however I'm still going to read the books after summer, so 'tis not all bad), drawing in my spare time and sitting with my friends in the park for days on end. A few other events have occurred such as a party, a day trip to Wales and going to a festival, however these are only things which have happened on rare occasions. I am excited to be starting my new art course this Autumn underneath the whole 'ugh school' façade. I do have moments where I am happy to be getting back to a routine and doing art on a very regular basis, however I know I'll just look back with favour at these lazy and non chaotic times.

Still, the day is halfway through and I have not even begun to move around and sort my plans out. I first need to clean up my room a little, research into a couple of things and then head off to see my friends for the afternoon. If you have any free time between now and your start to school/college/Uni/work then I recommend you watch Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle as I had an anime sleepover yesterday, and despite being a little groggy when I woke up, I had a fab time experiencing my two favourite Miyazaki films once again. He really is a true genius and even though I have and collected a lot of other Studio Ghibli films, those two (maybe along with Whisper of the Heart) will always be my top ones.

Now in the last spout of excitement Summer Camp will be releasing an album in the next couple of weeks and I am so excited about it. I've already listened to their song Fresh a few times and am loving their new groovy sound, as although they have altered their music slightly they still have that iconic nostalgic disco vibe:

I went somewhere

Oh 'sup, how are you all. I'm pretty chilled as the sun is shining outside and although it is getting a little nippier outside I can still wear my shorts and shirts out for the last few glorious days of summer. Even though my Jet-lag has been pretty extreme these past couple of days I'm finally settling back into the reality of my English life again. I got my photos developed a few days ago and oh my lordy are they lovely! They make me miss my holiday quite a lot and although I look at them with a warm glowing feeling within ma soul I can't help but have a wave of sadness wash over me, as my time there went so fast. Still I'm excited for the next time I go. The photos I took on my disposables are only a little snippet of what I did on my holiday, so I shall show you some digital ones as well, so you can dabble in the flavorsome culture that was my fortnight.

Really these photos are in no particular order, so I'ma just jump and swim around in all of the events:

So we went to a beach resort whilst we were there and the whole family went for the middle weekend we were staying. It was super hot and the view, especially at dusk, was beautiful. I had a lot of fun swimming with my cousins in the sea, and eatin' buns on da beach (literally). We also went out to eat a lot, I tell you now one of the main reasons I was so excited for our holiday was because of the food I knew I was going to eat. Whilst there my friend and I went to visit the cultural village which was on the resort, and that was one of the best parts of the trip there as I just loved seeing all of the traditional housing.

I know, so heavenly.

Das just my dad bein' groovy...

...And I found the toilet signs quite funny.

We saw some temples which were dotted around the town centre. I absolutely could've just cremated myself with the incense and candles because of the shock at how beautiful I found the buildings. I just love all of the ornate decoration on the walls, the hanging lanterns and tassels, all just so groovy.

 

Photo of da month...

Dad's hat no.2: wet flannel for when the weather gets a bit too hot.

 

My cousin 'Psy' looks just so much like the real Psy here, I was really happy when I took this toto.

 

My friend took a photo of the pool from an upstairs view... I know, it looks so insane

 

We had bubble tea in a shop in one of the shopping malls, the jelly was pretty interesting. They also made milk teas which I loved, I had a yam one which was not only lilac colour but tasted so delicious.

 

Han and I chillin' with the pussys

 

Breakfast was always incredibly good.

 

 

I also brought along an underwater camera with me on holiday, just incase there were any swimming opportunities (which were quite a lot actually). It was so fab testing it out and I will definitely be buying one in the near future just in case I happen to have another rad pool experience, as there is something so magical lookin' when you dive deep.

 

 

I love this one of my friend and I.

 

Took it in da sea

 

We also went to go and see Orang Utans for a little day out. It was so sweet seeing the mothers and their babies eating all the bananas and my cousin and I even followed some up the road since they came down to see what was going on. They looked a little suspicious but were just so adorable.

 

Look at this cheeky little baby, so beautiful!

So that was my trip, it was one of the absolute highlights of this year's summer holiday. Oh and despite getting a little sick of eating the food, I also had an alright plane journey back. I watched oh so many films and a huge majority of them were foreign (two Korean, one french, then one American) and I now have a new love for Korean films! Anyhow, this has been a loong post and I'm getting phalange cramp (kind of). 

Guess Who's Back

All the stuffs.

Bonjour to all. I am back from my holiday and am feeling a wee bit jet-lagged. Even though I've only been home for less than a day I already miss my fam who I went to go and visit for these last couple of weeks. I have a lot to update you all on and this is just a quick post to say 'Oh hai derr' really. I'm going to spend the day relaxing, eating and unpacking. Shall be postin' to yo soon.

Hyper '13

Why hello there. I'm sorry it took so long for me to make this post, however it called for a lot of preperation and time, which is something I've been very limited of recently... kind of. Anyway, I wanted to tell you all about the amazing Japanese cultural convention I went to last week on Saturday called Hyper Japan. You may not realise this but I am a big lover of oriental (especially Japanese) culture and so I was so excited for this. If you're wondering what it is, it's basically a huge hall decked out with stalls of plushies, food, books and clothes. There's also a gaming section and a mainstage which had loads of entertainment on it all day. So let me show dem shit I got:

Ah yeah, there were loads of snacks! I got so excited when I saw the Tofu Cute snack section. I bought cookies'n'cream pocky (which is a chocolate coated biscuit stick in case you didn't already know...), some strawberry chocolate drops, Panda biscuits, a variety of mini sweet boxes, strawberry and chocolate cream filled wafer biscuits and Matcha (green tea) pocky. Oh my G, green tea flavouring is so delicious, I consumed so many green tea flavoured things that I swear I went into a mini coma. On top of all this I also had multiple flavours of Doriyaki (which is a pancake filled with custard) and some green tea ice cream.  

I also had this incredible carbonated lychee drink which required you to push a marble into the bottle to actually get any drink out of it. This marble proved to be a difficult task for my tiny human brain, however I with my colossal amount of strength and wit I completed the quest with only a minor bit of perspiration... The drink tasted like pink lemonade. I have found new levels of love for lychees now. 

At the counter they had a basket filled with all of these charming badges of food characters, so I picked up a few. I think my favourite one is the pineapple 'hur-de-hur' which i bought for my friend. He just looks so mischievous.

I then went onto the Tofu Cute stall, which had clothes, accessories and stationary. I am a huge sucker for cute things, especially character like Rilakumma and so forth. So when I saw this Rilakkuma tape I was ecstatic. This reaction was the same for my plushie Panda case (I'm still thinking of a name), it was brilliant timing as my former make up case was broken and since Pandas are my favourite animals he just fit the description hands down. I also bought these plushie key rings, a green tea roll and this humurous evil pineapple man for my friend. 

The next of my incredibly adorable purchases was this Rilakkuma purse, I just I couldn't contain my inner fan girl appreciation when I saw this insanely endearing character sittin' on a stall. I just think it's too cute that tears well up in ma eyeballs whenever I look at it (hypothetically, of course)...

Or course, it wouldn't've been a successful convention if I didn't buy any anime whilst I was there. I bought the second season of The World God Only Knows since I enjoyed the first so much and I also bought Spice and Wolf since I've been meaning to watch it for so long. The only sadness I had for the stall is that it wasn't cheap. Everything was the usual retail price, meaning I had to control myself when it came to the stall (which was really hard, as I wanted everything).

Now moving onto the more traditional side of Japanese culture, you may remember in a post I wrote about my favoured housing types here that I wanted a Furin wind chime, similar to the ones I see in all of my animes. I just find the sound so tranquil, so I made a be line to the stall when I saw them all hanging in the entryway. I know you're meant to hang them during springtime, and by your windows, however I want mine with me all year round, and there's no space near my windows to hang it, so having it by my bed will have to do. 

Whilst I was there, I saw so many beautiful kimono's and jackets (which I have forgotten the name of) which I wanted to buy. However being teenager I tend to not splash out loads on unique items of clothing which I would hardly ever wear (as each outer kimono was over £100...), one day I know I'll own an amazing kimono, however for now I settled for an Obi tying scarf, which is the strip of fabric you tie round your waist to hold your obi in place, I think. I was going to buy an Obi, however they too were a little pricey for an item I would look at more than wear.

I also bought this tiny cat charm. There were many different colours which all had different meanings, i.e. pink was for love, green for health, however I ended up choosing the plain white one, which was for happiness. He now proudly sits on my sewing machine in the direct light of day, soaking up all the energy.

In comparison to my hand this is how weenie he is. It's just too eye-poppin' cute!

I decided also to buy a fan from one of the stalls, as they always have a lovely image painted on them, this one happened to be a geisha, and well, I think they give off such a nice aesthetic. I now have two on my wall, as my chummy Hannah gave me one a while back. All I need now is one more and my collection for now is complete.

Wow guys, we're halfway there. If you're still reading have cyber pocky as a congrats! This next item looks a little pointless and when my mum and I saw them on the stall we too were a bit unsure of the practicality of them. However it's an umbrella with a hard plastic case so you can keep all of da rain out of your bag when you're finished using it. I was happy with the choice I made because she looks like these dolls I used to collect when I was younger called Momiji. 

Now next to Tofu Cute, this next stall was one of my favourites. It was called Miwary (link to shop) and all the produce is hand made by a textile designer called Miwa Vicary. The most astonishing things about this shop was not only that it was all hand made, but Miwa was right infront of you the whole time sewing her tiny head pins and fabric tea cups. I honestly have so much love for her products and will definately be buying more. Whilst I was stood there in awe of her, I picked up a silk brooch for myself and a hand sewn panda grip for my friend. 

Beside her stall was another called Something Kawaii which sold unbelievably sweet stationary and other accessories. Even though I loved it all I was a little stunned by some of the prices, so I ended up only buying these wooden pins. I pinned my little Totoro to my dungarees and cannot wait to give the little panda man to my friend. 

As I mentioned previously there were also book stalls, which did not only sell manga but also sold more cultural orientated pieces as well. Being a huge fan of the fashion over in Japan, mainly for their courage to be so experimental, I picked up The Tokyo Lookbook and I cannot wait to read it. (it is also on my list of 'books to read after summer' next to my Bowie books).

That was all I bought there, I know not much right! I quickly also wanted to share some of the Polaroids I took during the day. Sadly I think there's something wrong with my Polaroid as I could never seem to get the subjects central:

This was a Geisha I met before she went on to do a performance and I also met the runner up for the fashion competition they had on the main stage. She was my favourite as her clothes were just so bright and colourful, I wish I had the guts to go out looking like that.

See, doesn't she just look so groovy. I also met the Japanese superstar Yun*chi who was wearing one of the most amazing outfits I have seen in a long time. It was basically a kimono which she had jazzed and moderned up with stripy tights and rocking horse shoes. She was so adorable, I just love Japanese people!

I had to take a photo of the shop assistant of the Tofu Cute stall as she was just oozing kawaii! 

Then for fun my mum and I went into a photo booth and got a few photos taken with the Alpacas, as for some reason they are the favoured animal amongst Japanese plushie and logos. Who knew? 

So even though very tiring and slightly crazy, I had a brilliant time overall and I can't wait to take my friends next year as I know they'll love it. And also thanks to my mama who came with me, even though I think she felt a little out of place when she saw all of the hardcore COS-players and Lolitas walking around. 

Wow, that was long. However you all deserved a long post, seeing as I have been a little sporadic with my posting regime. Also I shall be leaving you for a couple of weeks as I am off on holiday today for a fortnight. I may be able to post whilst I'm there, but don't be disappointed if I don't as we'll have a lot to catch up on when I get home. I hope you all are having a merry time as well since this weather is just so Tropicana right now!