orientation week at university

you might have had a similar notion as i did before starting a new chapter at a new place. if you happen to be a tertiary (college/university) student, rest assured today's digital world provides endless source of information - to the point of overload. if like me, you read a little too much and made a little more assumption than you should have about your new place, you would then drop your expectations and prepare to bear with it (for whatever circumstances you could not have chosen a different destination).

this week was the orientation week which spanned three days, and i do not regret my decision to attend only half of it. fortunately, with a lower expectation, i was able to feel content with myself, my choice, and my new university. i was rather skeptical from the beginning (from past experience) to participate in another community whose majority spoke different preferred language than i do, but this time it was different because most of them had different backgrounds than those i had experience previously.

Ninja Joe @ Sunway Pyramid

my days this october are so short despite the 31 days. so i met up with minori +1 for a short lunch yesterday before my worktime, the friday before september ended.

it is not a good idea to ignore a good craving for something you have not had in a good length of time, so we head off to Ninja Joe for 6 good saucy ninjas with a couple shuriken sets - yummy goodness!

did you think us girls met up for a couple fatty pork sandwich only? of course we had other agendas squeezed into 99 minutes: Liz Lisa, banking, makeup, chatting, and A-saloon.

girls make ends meet - we make time and this proves so!

Dong Cha @ IOI Mall

yeay~ this is my second everyday.com.my voucher redemption! quite a delicious treat at only rm4.75 each set.

earlier this week, after weeks and weeks of emailing and postponing, motr and terrasmark finally could meet up together with me on a weekday when i am off work. we went to IOI Mall to redeem three sets of bubble tea and jumbo wagashi at Dong Cha, one for each of us.

see, the boys fighting over who gets their Dong Cha serving first~

guess who got there first? i ninja-ed to the front of the queue!

the photo below shows a delicious large milk tea with black pearls and a belgium chocolate jumbo wagashi (see all that choco cream oozing from the center) - all mine!

movie, handicarft & tea times~

(considering it is past midnight, day before) yesterday, i had dinner at Papa Johns and then watched a movie with my family - it was Mr Popper Penguins starring Jim Carey. i guess it is only proper to say it was half family and half romcom type of movie. mummy said the penguin casts were probably remote-controlled because it would be difficult to train them to perform, but my sister said there are animal movie trainers who can, and i said we should have stayed for the credit roll to find out.

before the movie, i quickly walked into my favourite tee store, Brands Outlet to look at the current tee prints available. i immediately spotted a couple must-haves, and a couple more cute wants. i left empty-handed since i was penniless (though i vow to return soon for them!) but i did buy a pack of colourful heart-shaped beads at Daiso before making it juuuuust in time for the movie.

i am really happy to have made and wear these~

i made three sets of cute bracelets out of that pack of beads from Daiso, and added some white pearl beads and string them together with some leftover elastic thread (which are not exactly leftovers coz i still have a lot and never actually sew any shirring with it before).

cookie cutter craze!

last week i was browsing some unique cookie cutter designs, and decided i wanted to bake some cookies but the kitchen ran out of flour and i want new cookie cutter shapes. last tuesday, i took the chance to buy a packet of cookie flour at Daiso when minori and i were out for a lunch date. in the meantime, i fell hopelessly for the macaron gashapon, so i bought one as a phone accessory.

my new macaron handphone strap was randomly spat out from the gashapon machine, and i received the main character on my first and only try. i also bought two cabochon of (pirated) Sugarbunnies and DIY them into rings. it seems i still have one last plain undecorated ring - what should i stick on it?

souvenirs from japan! 「おみやげ！」

these are souvenirs from japan brought by friends and shared with colleagues two weeks ago~ the cookie boxes contains spicy cookies - i think is a great game idea (i do love spicy food too)! there is a bottle of oolong-cha (perhaps from a japanese convenience store, コンビニ) and the iconic Tokyo Tower keychain~ last but not least, a lot of yen coins (most likely enough for a few return train tickets).

*sigh* i wonder when will it be my turn to visit Japan?

Birthday cake! 「たんじょうびケーキ！」

since i enjoyed the Create Your Own Story cake from Bread Story, i decided to order the same cake again for my own birthday cake. it is actually vanilla sponge cake with fresh mixed fruits (not the yucky fruitcake type) covered with white icing.  you simply order the cake according to size (RM10 for 4inch, RM26 for 6inch) and decorate the cake with the provided coloured icing~

however, this time i bought the 4inch cake (previously i bought the 6inch cake) which now lacked space, so i could only squeeze the 'birthday number' on the top, instead of decorating something more elaborated.

plus, the icing piping bags edge had melted/liquid icing. when i lifted the piping bag over the cake, icing dripped on the white cake! luckily i could cover the 'stain' with coloured icing.

then, when i was drawing the chandelier strings, i realised i had gotten rusty and forgotten how i had decorated the cake previously, so it got messed up on the sides too.

yes, i know the sides looks terrible and you can still spot the dripping icing i tried to cover!

in the end, i added sugary stars and chocolate rice (which is sold separately from the cake at RM2 per pack). the result? i will only show you the one photo above... and leave the rest to your imagination!

Christmas of 2010 and New Year 2011

since i was so busy blogging about comic fiesta and maid cafes at the end of december, i shall have to write about my christmas day in january and throw in the new year post as well. XD i wonder what did you do for christmas and new year's eve?

christmas presents!

Animangaki 2010 - photostory

i shall keep text to a minimum and leave more space to share my photos from Animangaki!

i met up with the K-ON members in the changing room, fixed some wigs and makeup, and we were off to the hall. by noon, the hall was already super crowded but due to the size of the venue, we were still able to move in a group without losing each other or bumping/knocking/stepping/breaking into someone/armour/weapon/gown/wings.

after touring the doujin booths and hanging around to watch the stage activities, we had our lunch picnic in the female cosplayer's room, went to Hibiki Tokai Productions studio room for a photoshoot, and also laughed ourselves silly with an unguided tour in the Haunted House attraction. as the event continues, i stayed to watch cosplay performances while some have left. i also played WS at Little Akiba booth before i left for home.

sorry for the tl;dr text - i promise there will be only photos ahead!

Sawako-sensei guides the K-ON club trip to Animangaki!

happy day!

you would think with a title like the above, i had had a happy day today? your guess is right - yes, i was a very happy girl today!

let's highlight what were the little things that made my day:

• the arrival of a long-(nearly-)lost parcel to complete my Sawako costume
• the compliments about my new clothes which i received a day ago
• the fun lunch with my coursemates
• and an unexpected email!

it's sem break! day 8

it's meet-high-school-friends day! well, it only involved mine and nquowei's own cliques, but there could have been others who happen to be doing the same thing today. might you have planned the same too?

in the morning, i was at the post office to send several parcels at the post office. then kilmenyanne drove us to minori's place to fetch her, as we were carpooling to IOI mall. we met up with tharani, and then contemplated which movies to watch in replacement of the cancelled Expendables 12noon slot. we decided to skip it and went straight to the next agenda on today's to-do list: lunch!

blueberry birthday cake & home-made pan mee! (and some pizza..)

terrasmark's birthday was in february, and his best buddies were all hyped up about celebrating his birthday (albeit coming up with one too many foiled plans, haha~). so i volunteered to bake terra a birthday cake.

each one of us had our own ideas of how to celebrate it, and honestly, last minute arrangements were never far from our plans!

i nearly failed to bake the cake as i found out there was no more flour in the kitchen on the day! OH NO! luckily i had time to go out, buy some secret ingredient (okay, one of them was a jar of blueberry jam) and bake the cake - just before the guys arrive, and off we went with terra.

motr took the chance to hose out as much whipping cream as possible from the spray bottle, after terrasmark blew the candles out.

hi mel! bye mel! (lots of photos after the jump!)

the past fortnight, MelC took her time off to return for a stay in malaysia - mostly, to makan i think (since she went home with so many Maggi mee packets).hahaha~

anyway, i hope you had lots of fun and took back good memories to the states until next time, MelC! i managed to take a few days to kidnap her away with friends to hang out in the fortnight that was.

the Gardens: one of the places we went!

a K-ON inspired day out.

*refer to K-ON episode 2*

this morning i was at minori's place to watch her play the piano and her beloved ESP electric guitar. (black and glossy!) after that, we had a "test drive" around her housing area and back. if the car was mine, no prizes for guessing who was taking the test drive. XD

once we were in the carpark of mid valley, we went many many times around for a parking lot. strangely, we bumped (NOT physically, mind you!) into a big white car aka the same person. guess what? the third time we saw him, he was walking to the escalator - which means he found a parking lot first and we did not! and the fourth time... i'll save it for later.

akiko and minori were here!

our purpose in mid valley today was to:

• window shop for particular musical instruments and get the best (aka cheapest) price.
• shop for some unnecessary things to buy.
• have lunch.

to our surprise instead, our day went like this:

• make first purchase! (mine totalled RM2, hers RM2.50) lol.
  
• sweep floor by floor for any gashapon/figures and music instrument shops.
• take note of prices (for guitar, bass, and drums).
  
• withdraw money from ATM. (RM50~)
  
• have quick lunch. (onigiri bento and apple juice~)
  
• buy gashapons! (ultimate action evangelion 1.0 series)
  
• play taiko (my first)!
  

onigiri bento~ (the staff forced us to choose fork&spoon OR chopsticks)

for your information, we spend a splendid amount in jusco... both the supermarket (lunch actually) and arcade (gashapons and taiko). we went to McD for free tissue and straws (for our drinks). then, i managed to roll out the evangelion fourth angel (which probably contained the most parts i ever saw in a gashapon)!

its like fixing a gundam kit! how is the above to look like the below...!

Evangelion 4th Angel SACHIEL.

speaking of "fourth"... the fourth time we saw that man from the big white car (we noticed he was wearing a pinstriped white shirt too) was in Yamaha - while we were browsing for the prices, he was sitting in there testing a classic-looking electric guitar and repeated asked the Yamaha staff, "are you sure cannot give me another 5% discount ah?" i thought, mister you can drive a big fat car in the OPPOSITE direction at the P2 carpark, you want further discount at Yamaha?

anyway, that was our K-ON inspired day out. (except the number "4" which appeared a few times.)

Air Gear photoshoot (sneak preview)

event: air gear photoshoot (another outdoor version - first outdoor AG shoot here)

date: 9 may 2009 (last year was around june~)
time: 10am onwards
venue: putrajaya (exact location unknown lol)

cosplayers:
Ikki - Wen
Buccha - beatbox84
Onigiri - mamoru_sama
Ume - Akira
Ringo - Mizuki (not sure if i got your name right)
Agito/Akito - Space-chan
SpitFire - Reno-san
Simca - akiko.wolf (this time not a lame con makeup artist)
Nike - Rayray0211
Nue - sky_pegasus

*extra* - DeidaraGS (thank you so much for staying with our bags and whatnots while we shot at the location)

photographer: green (not sure if i got your name right)
extra cameras: sky_pegasus, DeidaraGS, mamoru_sama (whose photos are used in this preview)

*slap self* i forgot simca's hair has center parting at the back. (shhh... reno dating dei in the background. XD jk lah.)

anyway, although the shoot was in the morning, i went to bed half past 4am coz i was still coloring and printing the AG team emblems (which reminded me of those days nights chatting with guki until the crack of dawn).

i met up with rayray opposite IOI mall around 8.30am, and then joined by sky about 9am, and then convoy with beat and his fancy carful of boys around 9.30am, and reached alamanda putrajaya before 10am to meet space and the rest of the members. after we got changed in the toilet (where there was a curious male cleaner who stared at us girls changing into our colourful wigs) near parkson, we all continue the journey at 11am to our shoot location which was located at... somewhere after the landmark putrajaya bridge. which bridge? beats me.

wait. you have to listen to my explanation. simca's boobs were D-cup that day, but yours truly wore C-cup (coz i dont have D-cup bras). so the upper part of my costume may be *quite* tight (would explain the creases at the side seams).

since we were running short of time, and the camera gal was running out of shots, space kicked into her well-organized director mode. our shots had been pre-planned so no slip ups or "oops we forgot to shoot this character or that scene" or whatnot. for our final shot we had to skip the ever glorious "jump shot" as we were running out of shots, so nue/sky decided to do a "water shot" which half of us took a dip in a shallow pool of water! (my boots were bloody wetful of water going slosh slosh slosh.)

anyway, photos here are courtesy of mamoru who allowed us to take some funny photos with his camera. XD

all sticker emblems are proudly sponsored by yours truly.

make-up assistance was also proudly brought to you by yours truly.

wig styling by myself.
srsly. the wig kept falling back, so that explains why my fringe look so short. grr.

dei, why so cool at the back there!

*continues to wait patiently for the photoshoot pix from green*

a pair of two

since it takes forever for me to upload photos for two recent events (ACGC Tropicana and JRock no Tamashii) i think i'll just blog a teaser post before the actual ones.

ACGC 2009 @ Tropicana City Mall

here is a photo of two cute guys i met - their names will be withheld in case they are stalked for their likeliness. the left one is from sunway uni coll, the right one is from my college.

fraternal twins? brothers? dont they look alike?~

they have never met before ACGC, and even then i did not allow them to look at each other until they were close enough to get this photo. so you can see how their smile are almost similar naturally. (same hair parting too.) XD

JRock の Tamashii @ Republic Bar, Sunway

following the theme of this post, i shall share this with you too:

from left: me and minori at JRock~ (photo by dustyhawk)

in a totally unrelated event, here is someone who i resemble (but only when i have makeup, in a bar/club, and giving that full set of teef smile):

from right: amanda (coursemate) and her pwetty friend~ (photo by amanda)

*continues to edit photos and update the two events in draft*

2 wigs + 2 boys = birthday dinner

no, it wasnt a cannibal festival! yesterday, i just restyled my pink and maroon wigs, and celebrated reno and dante's birthday in TGIF's tradition!

thats reno-san and dante margera whose birthdays were in the month of march, along with space-chan and 9gems.

during last night's Earth Hour, we decided to bring out the cake for reno and dante just before 9.30pm (when the lights would come back on). gosh, i've never had a more fun dinner with funny staffs helping us to make the celebration more special. *applaud*

group photo at the table!

nobody knew my camera was on burst mode!

everybody tired of staying in the same pose for ten burst shots!

the TGIF waitress began to move away!

appetizer #1: mac and cheese! (really soft and melt-in-your-mouth~)

appertizer #2: boneless chicken wings with celery sticks and cheese dip (lots of vinegar flavour~)

final group photo before we parted~

reno, dante, beat, guki, clow, stardust, deidara, skypegasus, zyms, zend: i was really glad to meet you guys! reno: i hope you like the present and, happy 20th birthday! dante: gomen ne, i did not know it was your birthday too, but happy birthday yeah! *dances*

oh wait, i left out one guy. who was the guest behind beat in the last photo? ;_;

Happy Valentine's Day~

i wish to dedicate this post to everyone for a happy valentine's day! although i am not able to be with y'all today (as you are not for me.. ;-P), i hope you will have a good day ahead - filled with fun (happy moments) and laughter (disaster dates)!

friends
oh, you know i love y'all. i love you guys so much. i also know that if i publish your names here you will blush and so, you can thank me for not exposing names here. why, of course, you're welcomed! XD

best friends
melc, thanks for being my best friend for the longest time in my lifetime so far! minori, i appreciate all that you have been for me when there was nobody to be with! jerusha, its been forever since we done anything together but still, i remember you. to all my best friends (past, present and future) kept and lost, with or without me, your vday is gonna be sweet anyway.

girlfriends
when times were bad we stabbed their backs, when times were good we reaped our goods. its as good as it gets and i hope we all can share more gossips. most of you dont read my blog, except maybe kilmenyanne. fear not, after vday i'll find free time to pest you into reading my blog. may you resume complaining about my valentine date already?

boyfriend
you jumped to the end of the post to read this? c'mon, you know me better than that? *cough* will you be my valentine? けんじのばか。 same person, my second vday (i never did anything previously), two years in a row.

*throws heart-shaped confetti*

btw, this is a scheduled post. its around noon, so i should be going out for lunch now. (dont stalk me. i dont want flowers. or roses. maybe chocolates.) we're having japanese cuisine and going to the theatre. i'll be occupied over the weekends. (no stalking, and no flower stalks!) no two valentine should be the same. kthxbai.

The story about yours truly, as told by yours truly.

earlier this morning, i login to my secondary hotmail and sent a long email. (sorry melc and motr, next time i'll save you much longer ones than the already novel-length email to make it up to you.) anyway, it was addressed to as many of my coursemates as possible - about me, myself, and i. (there is only two of me.)

i hereby would like to welcome all you beloved coursemates of mine, to my reality-mixed-fantasy world. (that came out so cheesy.) i hope you enjoy your stay - because its not easy to google my life with only what you know in class about me. (plus i hardly ever blog about college or my coursemates.) here are two photos of me in music class (this is only half of my entire class coz the others took chinese writing):


the so-called press release i emailed to my coursemates:

There are those who only know me as Monica, friend and assistant course rep of m1.
There are those who only know me as Monica, crap and low-life biatch.

There are a few who only think of me as using-fake-name Monica, FBI/CIA/CSI trainee at night, TARCian at day.
There are a few who only think of me as using fake-name Monica, spy undercover as a student in TARC.

And, there are a few who know me as Monica, blogger and average teen-going-on-young-adult.

The truth is that i am also known as... Akiko Wolf.
Also, w*************89 is not my real MSN address but... m***********89@hotmail.com

Why do i want to keep myself shunned?
Because (like Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire play) i wanted to start a new life when i enter a new place - college. however, (like Blanche trying to be demure) one thing led to another, and i realised that i am who i am - i cannot change who i have becomed today, and will always be the same Monica.
Oh, also it is because i always keep to myself even when in high school (i can get two seats to myself because i dont want to sit with anybody). i did not severe ties, but i dont keep in touch with my high school friends except for several today.

Why am i so secretive about my life?
Because its exciting to know that i may actually lead a double life! its true, (like Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana show) i do have a double life.
First: its me as Monica - student, average, friend, part time model; basically very normal and boring.
Second: its me as Akiko - cosplayer, entrepreneur (businesswoman la), seamstress (commission by sewing), semi-artist (LOL), P.I. wannabe.

So why am i revealing my entire story now?
Because its not worth keeping something so exciting to myself! i know that when my double life is revealed, there is no more fun in it. but you know what? i have had my share of fun, and its time to let it go! also because once February holiday ends, we are in our 6th and Final semester - after this most (hopefully all) of us will be graduates - and the only way to keep in touch is to share blogs and chat on MSN? XD

So am i really a FBI/CIA/CSI (govt agent) trainee or spy?
I think i know how this idea came up - because a spy would have a double life, like i did! anyway, if i were one, did you really think i was going to tell you? (its okay, because somebody asked, i am actually very happy to hear that.) if you are worried that one of your parents hired me to spy on you, dont worry - we never bumped into each other when you went shopping, dating, hang out, clubbing, and others before, right?

So does this explain why i am late a lot, busy all the time, but somehow detached from society?
Yes, and i hope you understand too (or else i will have to tell you everything again). Monica is my primary life, Akiko is my secondary life. w*************89 is my secondary email, m***********89 is my primary email. but, i use my secondary email with my primary life, and my secondary life with my primary email. confusing? (nevermind, as long as you understand everything else.) basically, you dont see me online in MSN is because i always login to m***********89.

So is it forever i dont have FB/Friendster/etc social network profile?
Ever.

So i am a Gemini?
Duh.

[prepost] I'm leaving on a red plane..

ohayo, minna-tachi~ i am posting this in advance (12 nov, crack of dawn) because roughly now (assuming airasia does not delay) motr and i are awaiting my 10am flight to the uniquely singapore Singapore. (its a repetition, live with it.)

as of now, i hereby predict that i will have difficulties to access the internet as i do not have a laptop to travel with for the weekend (would love to try their broadband speed). so its going to be understandable that the following five posts are [preposts] because i am so kind to share with you my fictional prediction. ^____^;;

oh, where was i? yes, LCCT. status: still in malaysia. if you are reading this exactly NOW (refer to posted time and date), you can sms or call me as mobile phones are only required to be switched off on the flight. in fact, i would like to receive a phone call or sms at 10am just so you can check on airasia (whether i am still waiting in the departure hall, or staring at the silver right wing from the white oval window - coz i always sit there to watch the wing unfold).

also, i believe there will be too little visual items for posts made-in-advance as i am not there to publish it with photos. (i shall take along the usb cable for the camera so i can attempt uploading photos from singapore!) anyway, for now you will have to do with canned photos because i will bombard you with [image heavy] posts afterwards. (melc, its time for me to take the limelight for a while~ XD)

you will stare at this plane, and imagine i am in there (the window on this side next to the wing) flying to singapore.

curses. i just realised that the wing might be a blinding red. i also remembered that the last time i was in the plane, i accidentally sat next to the emergency exit - felt like i was going to.. not reach my destination and get semi-panic attacks. (most if not all times, i dont get travel sickness.) if its motr's first flight, pray for me that i wont need a change of clothes. T__T

last but not least, hello singapore and all friends (megamitensei, ywsmokona and friend/s, clow and emina members, deidara and stardust, aoshi and /as/ members)! see you guys there~ (how silly of me - if i have no internet, so dont they.)

look forward to my next post on auto-publish: 9.30pm, 21 november 2008!