HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Five more minutes into the New Year......as cliche as it sounds, I can't believe how fast time flies. Just a few more minutes before the curtain falls on 2006 and booze spills, fireworks explode to usher in 2007 with a bang......
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Ciao, my dear netizens! Haha, no, that wasn't siao (mad in hokkien) but a form of greeting in Italian. As you all can see, I'm back from Italy & Switzerland (3 days ago actually)! Now, the other day I was blog-hopping and checked out Sui Ying's blog. In one post, SY said that according to some TV show, travel blogs are boring. No offence to anyone but that is rubbish. Otherwise, Discovery Travel and Living would have been a flop long ago. But I do agree ploughing through paragraphs of tedious, dry text would make the head spin. So instead of giving a blow-by-blow account of the trip, I'll do like one junior did and list the highlights and the shitty moments. A sprinkle of humour would be added of course. And since a picture tells a thousand words, I'll include photos as well.
Italy
Venice
Venice was once a great city state but started to decline in the 18th century and was finally catured by Napoleon of France (we did Venetian history in Social studies). Since then, the city has pretty much frozen in time.
One word to sum up my thoughts on Venice: surreal. You see, instead of roads and highways, Venice has an extensive system of canals. The absence of asphalt felt strange but the boat rides to and fro were lovely!
Venice is known for its Murano glass and intricately-designed carnival masks. Unfortunately, these 2 were caught in the centre of a storm brewing between my parents and a shopkeeper. You see, Mum accidently knocked down a Murano vase containing some masks at the shop. In the end, we parted with x euros and took home the broken vase and a mask (which I fixed).
In spite of this, the sojourn at Venice was lovely.
Florence
Florence looks like a big Orchard road to me. But unlike Orchard Road, there aren't any big malls. All shops in Italy are found at ground level. While at Florence, we took a train to Pisa to lay our eyes on one of the 7th wonders of the world:
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is easily my favourite Italian place-of-interest, though the Vatican in Rome is a close contender. Its X-factor: a breathtakingly-beautiful view on top.
Rome
The saying 'lightning never strikes twice on the same spot' certainly doesn't apply to my parents. Once again, they lost more euros. But this time, it was because a fuckwit pickpocket dipped his hand into my Dad's pocket during a Metro ride.
Singaporeans who complain about congested MRT trains should ride Rome's Metro during peak hours; it'll be so packed they'll have the wind squeezed out of their lungs. It was so packed that when I moved my hand forward to get out this guy mistook me for his girlfriend and held my hand! Anyway, we lost abou 2.5 times thge previous. My parents were hopping mad and made a police report. Along the way, we all cursed the asshole pickpocket and cooked up all sorts of bizarre punishments for the (inserts the very worst of swear words and obscenities)
May he get killed from the radiation emitted by his new handphone and may his new Ferrari fall off a cliff. All in all, may his 'windfall' bring him misfortune.
Other than the above-mentioned, Rome was pretty nice. I've always been interested in Ancient Rome so I enjoyed checking out the ruins and the Colosseum with its gladiators toting spears-and-handphone-and-credit-card:)
The Vatican was quite beautiful, especially its interiors. This is my favourite corner in the Vatican:
Switzerland.
We booked a hotel in Zurich but from Zurich, we travelled to many places via train. My favourite place is the summit Mount Pilatus which is in Luzern. There, we were surrounded by snow-cloaked mountains which protruded through a thick blanket of clouds. I call that layer the 'floating Antartica of heaven' because looking down from the summit, it really looked like a huge snowy landscape. All this, plus the glittering snow and azure blue sky was so breathtaking that I shed a few tears.
We got up Mt Pilatus via cable car.
My brother and I
What liked best about Switzerland was the villages. As Christmas was just round the corner, out comes the fairy lights, Santa Claus dolls, reindeers, ornaments etc. Coupled with the thick snow, the villages look extremely Christmas-card worthy.
Another thing I like about Switzerland is the warm and friendly people! Apart from Luzern and Zurich, we also visited Interlaken, Grindelwald, Bern etc. I've now decided that England, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore are my favourite countries.
Miscellaneous pics and funny moments:
Mini-Ritter Sport!!! So cute yeah?
We are The Wans. I told my Mum we looked like members of a rock band and she laughed:D
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Sunday, December 10, 2006
A follow up on the previous post before I get whisked off to Europe in about 6h 25mins time:)
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Hitsugaya Toushirou when he was young. Kawaii right? www.bleachportal.net
A ten-fold increase in cuteness as the uears go by xD http://www.animegalleries.net/
My favourite Bleach group pic. Clockwise from right: Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia, Abarai Renji, Hinamori Momo, Hitsugaya Toushirou (yay, my favourite couple in the same pic!) and Kuchiki Byakuya. www.finni.deviantart.com
Made excellent progress watching Bleach today. So much so that I'm now afraid I'll be left with nothing to watch! Not that the Bleach series are gonna end; the series is still growing and growing because the ultimate assholes have yet to be caught. But a Bleach episode a day keeps the blues away. I'm now left with about 15 episodes left. Great news: BLEACH EPISODE 106 IS OUT!!!!!!!!! GO CHECK OUT BLEACHPORTAL.NET!!!!!! I'm ecsataic because this latest episode was released faster than I thought (Bleach episode 105 came out a month ago). I reckon if it takes about a month to come up with an episode the wait would not be so bad.
In the end, all the bad guys will die whether the good ones live or not. A fact I derived from years of watching television and movies. The bad guys always pay no matter what. Oh, just go watch Bleach.
Will return in 2 weeks, I'll see if I can post anything whike abroad. Till then, EUROPE HERE I COME!!!
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Friday, December 08, 2006
What happens when the die-hard romantic, animaniac and music lover in me mix? This:
Songs to represent anime couples/charcters
- Hitsugaya Toushirou and Hinamori Momo (Bleach) : Chasing cars by Snow Patrol
- Diva (Blood+) : Flight of the Bumblebee by Maksim
- Tidus and Yuna (Final Fantasy 10) : She will be Loved by Maroon 5
- Saya and Hagi (Blood+) : Wherever you will go by The Calling
- All FF7AC characters (Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children): Dare you to Move by Switchfoot
******
As mentioned in the previous post, Bleach is my current obsession. To say it's brilliant would be an understatement. I think any anime-crazed person out there SHOULD NOT miss Bleach because it's super duper popular, making it an ideal topic of discussion when being with other animaniacs. Just go to any anime site. There's a 95% chance of finding a link dedicated to Bleach and the Bleach link is often the one that gets the most hits.
After watching loads of Bleach episodes at Youtube.com (80 to be exact) , I think I can answer to question that popped into my mind when I first started: Why does Bleach stand out? Here's my opinion: Firstly, it has the basic template of a great show, that is laughs + romance + action + likeable characters. Secondly, the dudes and gurls aren't just 2d characters on the screen. The producers did a wonderful job of injecting distinct personalities in each character (though not every single one of them) , bringing nearly every one to life. For example, Ichigo the main character is clearly a rather fast-talking, cocky guy but with a strong sense of justice and loyalty. Ishida, his friend, is an extreme sense of pride in being a Quincy. Thirdly, it's kinda fun to watch the different relationships among the characters e.g Ichigo and his Dad's is always hilarious.
One thing I haven't figured out though: Why is Bleach so called? I mean, the chemical doesn't come in anywhere in the series. Won't some Bleach expert kindly enlighten me on this? I've got a theory that probably isn't too far off the mark: the Shinigami(Death Gods) in Bleach are always wiping out the dangerous Hollows just as bleach is needed to whiten clothes.
Some random things regarding Bleach (WARNING, SOME SPOILERS!) :
Top 3 favourite guys (in order of preference):
- HITSUGAYA TOUSHIROU (aaarrgghh...adore him to bits!!!!)
- Abarai Renji
- Urahara Kisuke
Top 3 favourite girls (in order of preference):
- Shihouin Yoruichi (she's pretty and kicks ass)
- Kuchiki Rukia
- Inoue Orihime or Tsumigaya Ururu
Ultimate favourite character: HITSUGAYA!!!
Favourite couple: Hitsugaya Toushirou and Hinamori Momo
Favourite villian: Ichimaru Gin
Least favourite character: Aizen Sousuke
Weirdest pairing: Zaraki Kenpachi and Kusajishi Yachiru
You gotta watch about 50 episodes to understand my feelings for certain characters.
******
Oh yeah, my family and I will be off to Europe on Sunday. We're visiting Italy + Switzerland :D and will be back on Christmas day. Can't wait xD
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
YAY!!! I'M SOOO HAPPY:
You're Hitsugaya Toushirou, Captain of the Tenth Division! Even though you're young, your future already shows much promise, and you probably have already made a lot of progress in your area of interest. You also feel strongly about protecting your friends from any and all assaults, and don't mind getting dirty in the process.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to copy & paste the bar graph which tells me how I fared for the other 12 captains so I'll just type it all out:
Tousen Kaname, Hitsugaya Toushirou ~ 92%(The tie breaker gave me Hitusgaya xD)
Aizen Sousuke, Unohana Retsu, Yamamoto Genryuusai, Kuchiki Byakuya, Zaraki Kenpachi~ 75%
Komamura Sajin, Ukitake Jyuushiro ~ 67%
Kurotsuchi Mayuri ~ 58%
Soi Fong ~ 50%
Ichimaru Gin, Kyouraku Shunsui ~ 42%
Which of the Thirteen Division Captains (from Bleach) are you? From Quizfarm.com
Woohoo, I'm my favourite Bleach character + new eyecandy (dun worry I still cherish my old ones) HITSUGAYA TOUSHIROU!!! Yayness, he's cute right? Better agree with me or else...
BLEACH! BLEACH! I'm not suffering from severe Bleach addiction...I'M ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!
And I will always think of you as the sun*
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Because I need to revive my blog but have no defining moments to pen down:
| You Are 4% Slacker |
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Are You a Slacker?
| You Are Somewhat Honest |
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How Honest Are You?
| Your Learning Style: Unconventional and Insightful |
 You Should Study: ArtArt historyArchitectureComparative religionsEastern religionEducationMusicPhilosophy |
What Should You Study?
| You Belong in Summer |
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What Season Are You?
| What Your Black Outfit Means |
 Designer match: Dolce & Gabbana Signature accessory: Gold framed sunglasses |
What Does Your Favorite Outfit Say About You?
| You are White Chocolate |
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What Kind of Chocolate Are You?You Are a Lace Bra! 
What Kind of Bra Are You?
| You Are a Halter Bikini |
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What Kind of Bikini Are You?
| You Are Chocolat Orange Pocky |
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What Flavor Pocky Are You?
| Your Toes Should Be Blue |
 Your ideal guy: Zany, hilarious, and totally unpredictable. Stay away from: Anyone who has to get up for work in the morning |
What Color Should Your Toenails
It's been so long since I did such quizes. Obviously the results don't accurately reflect my personality but heck, they're still fun.
It's been so long since I did such quizes. Obviously the results don't accurately reflect my personality but heck, they're still fun.
And I will always think of you as the sun*
