Thursday, January 31, 2013

Clothes

It is fun dressing up for work. It reminds me of the days of school uniform, except that I get to choose my very own. I've taken inspiration from the Japanese girls school uniform and prep school style (eg. Gossip Girl)



Pink blouse (Kmart for $12)
Gray sweatervest (from Lunatarius lol)
Black high waisted skirt (Kmart for $20)
Bowtie ($3 Japan store in Manukau for $3.50)

I haven't been shopping a lot lately, but I guess I have plenty clothes already~ One does not really need to wear a whole new outfit every day, really. Though, I'm not even one for too much variety. When I start liking a new item I bought, I wear it ALL THE TIME. Like my sailor jacket <3

Bought online for only $15US >u<
*loves cool bargains*

I feel like sometimes I tend to buy things just because they are really cheap and decent and not because I really really like them. There's that rare moment when an item is both amazing and a bargain at the same time. But its very rare, and would mostly occur in Dreamland cos people need to make profit .. or wholesale websites where you don't know what the item is really going to be like until it hits your doorstep haha. I'd go into the store, and think "ahhh looks so cute!" .. then look at the price tag and *slowly walk away*. I'm a bit of an internet splurger though despite the small risks on the quality >o< Action is required to fine-tune my formula of buy clothing, indeed...

Otherwise maybe I should stop being lazy, and feeling poop about sewing skills to sew and make my own clothes! Yup, actually I might just do that after I retrieve fabric from the family home next weekend haha. There's that gingham lolita skirt I have been meaning to make for a while now ;;

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Cute Go Launcher Ex Android Themes

A collection of cute Go Launcher Ex themes for your Android smartphone!
It's nice to be able to collect all these themes in one place for future reference, since the quality free themes are quite hard to find through the massloads of .. less-than-satisfactory ones.

All images are from the Google Play store and do not belong to me. To be able to use these themes, you will have to install "Go Launcher Ex" first.

Minimal





Character











And last, but not least .. all the Peperico Penguin themes~


   

     

     


If you are feeling creative, you can even create your own Go Launcher Ex theme with the Theme Factory that is available online! I have yet to try this feature, but I'm keen to do it sometime. Click here to check the website out~

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Headstart into Javascript

I thought I'd better get a headstart into coding before I go into the course. Who knows how fast we would have to to learn stuff, and I certainly do not want to be left behind with my limited knowledge. Thanks to the wonderful Codecademy, I have learned quite a bit in the past few days. Enough to create a *drumrollplease* Rock, Paper, Scissors game! Okay, okay it is pretty simple but its exciting that I was able to code something! I'll be looking forward to gaining the knowledge to create something more practical though~

Take a look at Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock! [link]
Nothing special at the moment, except that it works~ Hopefully I will learn how to integrate this with HTML and CSS soon, so it will be nice to look at as well haha.

It's a five gesture equivalent of the original game. You may recognise this as the one Sheldon (The Big Bang Theory) would rather play. It was invented by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla, but under the name of "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Spock, Lizard"

(image from Wikipedia)



It feels good to power-up my logical left brain to do things. It's been a while, and it it feels right. To study and write down notes to remember things to make things work. And its fun! Sure, a bit frustrating when you can't figure out what the problem was, but once its solved, oh what a magical feeling it is~ *shot*

Monday, January 14, 2013

Back to work

Back to work today, and oh boy I may need to adjust to being busy and productive again! I am going to work hard this year to create good designs and be a better student~ In my university years, I had dealt with self doubt in my designs and was prone to procrastination. I want to change that. It's come to the stage where none of that matters anymore - its all about learning new things and applying the skills the best I can. The one thing worse than failure, is not even trying right? Another quote to keep in my mind, hah.

Afterwards, I was so hungry and was too tired to cook so I bought a value pizza from Dominoes on the way home! Omnomnom >u< I forgot how I hungry I get at work, so tomorrow I shall stock up more snacks in my backpack.



Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Japan: Kingdom of Characters Exhibition

Went to the Japan: Kingdom of Characters Exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery on Shortland St, Auckland.  The exhibition is a showcase of the impact of characters, as they are integrated into Japanese society.  It is not uncommon for both children and adults to own something that pertains to the appreciation of characters.  It seems that this big boom for the love of characters began at the end of World War II, just when comic and animation also became increasingly popular in the Western world as well.  They say that the group that has been hit with most of this impact is the Japanese high school girl, and in the exhibition an example of a girl's room is presented.  Hmm, well it has a lot of pink and kitties that's for sure ^^

I want to make my room super cute too!  Started a few weeks ago with a bunch of posters that I acquired from the years of purchases from Doujin Overload and Armageddon.  Just some more renovation and can be done ohoho.

They also have spotlighted ordinary people of different dynamics and their experiences with this character culture.  I found it very cute that this middle aged man always dreamed of having a Kamen Rider belt when he was a young boy so when he could afford to buy it for himself as a man, he took the opportunity haha.  And there's the high school girls with accessories dangled excessively on their cellphones.  Haha, I think I have seen those around.  I have also had the temptation to do this myself, but then again its a bit impractical. All for sake of super cuteness! >u<




Go check out Japan: Kingdom of Characters in the Gus Fisher Gallery at 74 Shortland Street!
It runs from the 9th January to the 1st of February 2013~  More details about opening times here.



The grand opening will be this Friday at 5.30pm!

Also had an art jam with Keito this afternoon.  It's been a while since I drew pictures, and even better to draw with a friend.






Well, time for dinner now!  
Pasta salad tonight >u<


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Needle Felting a Bunny Head

Yesterday afternoon, I opened my needle felting kit that I bought a while ago from Daiso.  I am always curious about new crafts, and was keen to try it out.  At first it was quite difficult to get around the idea that this fluffy bit of unspun wool would turn into something solid, but with constant poking of the needle I ended up making the bunny head.  Hmm, not quite sure if it is my type of craft yet ;; I was pretty impatient when poking the wool that I ended up poking myself a few times and bled (derp).  

Tada~ I think the bunny could have been less fluffy and less lumpy haha.  But if I do want to come back to this craft, hopefully I will improve from this first attempt (^ω^).





Also, made myself a random pasta and veggies on nachos meal for dinner.  I so wanted to have another serving but I realise that my brain and stomach think differently in terms of hunger.  Brain (and possibly gluttony ;;) is like, "Mmm, delicious!  I want to eat more and more!" but stomach is like, "I've had enough now... if you serve me any more I am going to become way too bloated to do anything else but sleep".  Oh this conundrum.


It's fun cooking random new meals!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Anime Addiction Begins...

It's been a while since I watched anime!  I got recommended a few titles, so I started to watch Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun last night.  All I can say is that I am already hooked!  




It's a shoujo series about a girl called Mizutani Shizuku who has always been focussed on getting good grades, but doesn't have any friends.  One day, the teacher asks her to deliver lesson notes to Toshida Haru who doesn't come to school often, and then suddenly he is convinced they are friends.  This turn of events, begins the adventures of friendship and love.

The character's personalities are definitely interesting.  Shizuku has a "cold" personality, doesn't seemed to show much emotion and puts all her energy into studying.  Haru is quite eccentric, has a bad reputation at school, and has a habit of getting into fights because of some misunderstandings.  I think their relationship is quite endearing, and by forming a friendship they seem to learn about themselves, and about understanding other people as well.  Both of the main characters are "lonely" types so its fun to see their personalities develop to become more socially inclined and adapt more into society somewhat as the series moves forward.  I feel like this underlying message really touches a soft spot in my heart <3

Woke up early (for me) and watched 8 episodes non-stop ;; I might watch the rest of it tonight after dinner ^-^  Sometimes, I get a bit wary of starting a new series of drama or anime because if it gets really addictive it can be all I can think about all day until I watch a new episode.  But .. I will take a break and go for a walk now to get some fresh air ^-^

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I have been pretty busy in the last two months of 2012.  I acquired an internship, and then worked as a contractor until the holiday period for the company began.  It's been quite enjoyable playing a part in making projects happen through design.  In February this year, I am also starting a year long course in web development!  I am pretty excited about being able to acquire more knowledge in this area, so that I can up-skill and know about BOTH front end and back end sides of web design.  Unfortunately, due to me pretty much working full time I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted with Lunatarius, when he was finally on holiday!  But I feel like we made most of the time that we did have, and its always nice.

We watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Hulk, Captain America, The Hobbit and Wreck it Ralph. I finally understand the hype of the Avengers!  Superhero movies are always fun to watch.  The character that impacted me the most would probably be Steve Rogers though - he always had the fighting spirit, even though it was quite unwise to be fighting when he wasn't in shape to win before the experiment.  In the army training, he was very smart about the way he handled the false grenade alarm as well, despite being a "featherweight". He wanted to stand up for what he believed in, and his heart was still pure after the transformation.  Even with all the extra attention he had been receiving with his status as Captain America, he still stayed humble and true to himself.  Quite inspirational haha. 

As you can tell, I seem to be more interested in the psychological elements of the movies rather than the fighting scenes and all haha.  The Incredible Hulk was quite endearing too.  It's amazing how strong Bruce and Betty's relationship was.  Even though Betty found out about the "monster" Bruce turned into when he became too enraged, she still trusted him and it did not change the way she felt about him.  Bruce and Betty shipper here all the way *tear*

The Iron Man.  Let's say that Tony Stark has a very strong personality that is entertaining to watch!  He seems very witty and has a pretty carefree way of doing things, even though he is very serious about the results of his work.  Honestly, sometimes I thought he was a bit of a jerk but that adds to the interest of seeing the character develop as the storylines go on.  It's quite cute how Pepper Potts takes care of Tony, knowing all his personal details and stuff for important matters, and how she made Tony's temporary heart core into a trophy.

Sometimes through watching these movies, I want to know more about the Marvel characters.  But it is a bit frustrating working through the archives when there are multiple storylines and universes for each character haha.  Enough to get me super confused.  But, yeah very interesting to read the backstories, indeed!

And Wreck it Ralph was AWESOME!  I especially loved the world of Sugar Rush and all its sugary cuteness.  Man, it would be great to own figurines of little Venelope and the crew ... >o>
She's so adorable!  I love how she's so enthusiastic and cheerful, despite things.  It's become one of my favourite movies of all time!  But I'll leave that to another post~

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I'm hungry so I'm going to make lunch and eat.  Byebye!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Super Cute Android Apps

I have joined reign with the Android lovers!  Hail the smartphone era~ It helped that I played around with Lunatarius' phone to get a feel for how it worked, and I had my eye on the white Samsung Galaxy S2 for a while as well. After some pondering, influence and a bit of help I decided I would go and get my hands on this baby.




And I am very happy about this addition to my family of technology, ohoho!

I remember the first week, I was absolutely addicted to searching up new applications to add to my phone.  First the essential, and then the super cute ones!  (I believe cute apps are also essential though.. my personal opinion *cough*)

When I first booted up my phone, I was filled with glee of how shiny and new it was (as with all new technological devices) but the interface didn't please me so much.  I got introduced to the Theme apps to customise the phone to look prettier and oh boy did I go nuts!  I browsed for ages looking for the perfect (cute cute cute) interface to replace the original one with.

Here we go!

Friday, January 4, 2013

Persona 4 One Coin Figurines

Welcome to the unboxing of my first official one coin figurines that I bought from Amiami!

 They have been sitting many months locked up inside a SAL mail package waiting to breathe
 Until now!  Mm the smell of fresh packaging~


The box in all its wonderful glory!  It seemed so precious~


Close-ups of the front of the box.  On one side, there is an adorable close-up of Souji with his glasses, and on the other side are the other compilation of characters that are also included in this set.  Two of the figurines are secret, and are not revealed until the buyer opens it for themselves!


On the back, images of the tarot cards are shown.  The colour combinations are really nice, and I really like this muted stained glass window look.  Dark and mysterious~



Time to open it up!
o(≧∇≦o)

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The 2013 Reading Challenge

It's the time to document the reading challenge once again!   (⌒▽⌒)☆ 



Well, last year I didn't quite make it to 50 books but I was 4/5 of the way there.
Hopefully I will reach it this time around~  (No not just manga, but yes included!)

It's really easy to take a whole collection with books everywhere with the convenience storing digital books on a smart device nowadays. There was a time where I was a bit skeptical about the idea, since I still appreciate the good ol' bound book

For simplicity's sake I have become accustomed to reading on the Kindle app on the bus, or when I'm waiting around by myself and keen to kill some time. What better way than to read!  I feel its more brain stimulating than just listening to music all the time (even though that is nice too!)

Before I head on to this list, I recommend an awesome resource for the Kindle reader.

Free Kindle Books (http://fkb.meis a useful site that lists some limited free Kindle books of each day!

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Whenever I finish reading a book in 2013, I will add it to this list.

01) Why Good People Can't Get Jobs, by Peter Cappelli
02) Your Guardian Angel, by Skyla Madi
03) Love, Lies, and High Heels, by Debby Conrad
04) Death Note, Vol.1 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
05) Death Note, Vol.2 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
06) Death Note, Vol.3 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
07) Death Note, Vol.4 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
08) Death Note, Vol.5 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
09) Death Note, Vol.6 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
10) The Bro Code, by Barney Stinson
11) The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
12) Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr Brian Weiss
13) Peanut by Ayun Halliday
14) Festering Romance by Renee Lott
15) Drama by Raina Telgemeier
16) Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
17) Damn You Auto Correct by Jillian Madison
18) HTML Dog by Patrick Griffiths
19) Not Love But Delicious Foods by Fumi Yoshinaga
20) Nodame Cantabile, Vol.2 by Tomoko Ninomiya
21) Monster, Vol.1 by Naoki Urasawa
22) Monster, Vol.2 by Naoki Urasawa
23) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.1 by Keiko Tobe
24) Death Note, Vol.7 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
25) Death Note, Vol.8 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
26) Death Note, Vol.9 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
27) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.2 by Keiko Tobe
28) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.5 by Keiko Tobe
29) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.6 by Keiko Tobe
30) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.7 by Keiko Tobe
31) Within the Light: Raising an Austistic Child, Vol.8 by Keiko Tobe

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy 2013!

 ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆  HAPPY NEW YEAR !! ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆

We have made it to 2013 without the world ending, woopee doo!  I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve.  I certainly did.  Had a girls day out with Janelle and Angie (Lisa, Jen and Mo~ you were there in spirit!) window shopping, actual shopping, eating yummy ice-cream, and lastly a four hour karaoke session!  It was really enjoyable, even though at the end of the day we all lost our voices singing our hearts out ahaha.



Using the Line Camera app to take random purikura photos ^-^


Mmm, Rocket ice-cream from Wendys!  It's my default choice >o>
I love the combination of vanilla and thin layers of chocolate oho!


New Years Resolutions?
〆(・∀・@)

Well I have this habit of getting too ambitious with a zillion goals and only fulfilling one or two properly, and making a small dent in the others ^^;  This year I will make a few focussed goals and others that are more long term and require development over time.

1) Work hard towards my diploma, and absorb everything I can about web design and coding.
2) Work hard at my contract job, and to apply new skills I shall learn from my course.
3) Have a good LDR
4) Read at least 50 books in 2013!
5) Save up money for an overseas trip
6) Eat healthier, and drink more water
7) Blog more frequently

(most important > least important)

Yup I think I am set for the year to come~! <3