Thursday, March 31, 2011

1/4 Of The Way Through

Hello dear readers! Today is the last day of March! I can't believe March is already over!! That means that we are already 1/4 of the way through 2011!! Holy Cow does time sure fly!! Well, a lot happened this month! So, let's get to it! XD


First off, I'll start with Spring Break! I work for 2/3rds of Spring Break, but I was able to spend a few days up at my Dad's house in the end! It was relaxing and I wish I could have stayed more. I really had a blast. I helped my Dad make bullets for the new rifles he got for his birthday! I always learn so much when I go up to my Dad's house, and this time was no exception! It was a lot of fun just chatting with my Dad in his workshop while working on the bullets! Then, before my brother and I left, we got to shoot them! Truthfully, I sucked with the .22! I felt like I did pretty good with his Winchester Savage rifle. It was A LOT more powerful than the .22 and I enjoyed shooting it! Plus, I feel like I was better with it compared to the .22. I also played with Jack, did a little bit of four-wheeling, and made Brownies for my Dad's birthday. Unfortunately we had to leave the day before his Birthday, but I'm just glad I was able to make it up!! Hopefully I'll get the chance before the summer shifts start!! XD


As for other happenings in March, there's not really much else to report on. I started having my family (Mom and little Sister) watch Super Adonis Camp! It just made me miss Kangin. And since my family is new to the fandom, they don't really know Kangin (since he entered the army last June). My Mom didn't realize how good his voice was (they all sing Miracle & a couple other songs in one of the first few episodes) and I feel glad that they are starting to get to know Kangin!

Sungmin trying to keep Leeteuk away from the food in Super Adonis Camp! The best way: to pick him up & carry him out!

Well, I guess since I'm onto the whole fandom thing, I'll just combine my two usual updates!! Donghae & Siwon have started filming the Taiwanese Drama Skip Beat!!! I'm sooooo excited! Not only does the new chapter come out withing the week, but the drama is filming which means we/I won't have to wait too much longer!! The only thing I'm disappointed about though is that I heard Siwon plays Ren and Donghae will be playing Shou. I would rather it have the other way around. I don't know much about the person who is playing Kyoko, but I hope she really pulls off her character! A lot of my friends in the fandom are starting to read the manga and watch the anime now, but I feel I'll be a little bit more critical compared to them. Skip Beat! has been my favorite manga since the first few chapters were published and I am a HUGE fan of Kyoko! I really hope it turns out good! But, at least I know there will be eye candy in the series!! XD

 The main cast for the Taiwanese drama adaptation of Skip Beat!

Well, I think that's all I have to update on! I will update within a week (most likely) when the new Skip Beat! chapter comes out! As always, I bring you a customary gif!! XD


Ja ne~~
Stasi

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Springy Snow

Good Afternoon my dear readers!! So, this is the customary (what I'm trying to make customary) post after the newest chapter of Skip Beat! I'll just start of with this, and then move on. So the latest chapter was released on the 5th, and (as always) I felt it was too short. The latest chapter is 172, and is the continuation of the Dark Moon Season Finale party! Although it was a shorter chapter (at least if felt like it), there actually a surprising event. The person that helped Kyoko get dressed up for the party, ended up asking to go out with him! O_O Of course Kyoko was her typical naive self, so she played it off as a joke. The person (I can't remember his name for the life of me. Sumimasen!) asked her again, but made it clear he was serious. Ren heard (to quote The Big Bang Theory, "Damn his Vulcan hearing!") and of course led Kyoko away. He led her away with the reasoning of her having to do her interview. We also find out that Ren has requested to not be interviewed first, but fourth, which means he gets interviewed either right before or right after Kyoko! While they were waiting, Ren tells Kyoko he's changed his spot and led her away early to keep her from doing something that could damage LME's reputation. LME, for those who don't know, is the company that Kyoko and Ren have both signed contracts with. Ren also tells Kyoko that if she has issues, to come and talk to him about it first. Since I don't know if you guys have read it or not, he is referring to the fact that this other person found out about Kyoko's "reason" to not come to the party and took care of it. Kyoko of course (in her head) doesn't really know how to answer since the real reason she didn't want to attend the party was because of Ren himself. It ended on an interesting point, with Kyoko asking Ren if it was something she needed to do no matter what. April 5th is so long away, which is when the next chapter is released! I can't wait!!

 This is from a couple chapters ago, but I love LME's president!

What else has happened since my last post? Oh, yesterday I finally got my car towed to the mechanic. He said he was pretty booked for the few days, but hopefully my car will be looked at and fixed before the end of next week. Next week is Spring Break, so I was hoping that I would get the chance to go up to my Dad's house during the last few days. Unfortunately, my Dad's birthday is the 20th, and this year it's the Sunday right before school starts again. The only thing that would keep me from going up there (besides the fact my car is out of commission right now) is if it plans to snow. March is the snowiest month in Colorado and most Spring Breaks have huge snow storms. I'm just worried that if a storm does come in, I'll be stuck up at my Dad's house. Although, I would love to be stuck up there because I love going to my Dad's house! The downside would be losing those hours at work, and I kind of need to get paid my full hours. I guess we'll see!

At the bus stop a few days ago when it was snowing!

This past weekend, my good friend Billy had her birthday party! It was a lot of fun. I actually made her cakes, and wanted to do really well because it was the first time she was being made a home-made one! What makes it odd is that someone in her family owned or worked in a bakery; something like that. But, anyways, she wanted a confetti cake and a chocolate cake. I made both, the confetti cake being a white cake that has sprinkles added to the batter. She also wanted me to decorate it. I didn't do anything special for the chocolate cake, but I made a rainbow and heart on the confetti one, as well as the customary "Happy Birthday" message. I didn't try any of the chocolate cake (due my general dislike of chocolate cake, especially with chocolate icing), but there was some leftovers of the confetti cake so I had a couple pieces of that. It turned out better than I though, but for me the confetti added a weird flavor and texture to the cake. Billy was also her odd self as usual, not having us bring presents for her, but her buy presents for everyone else. Last year (right before I went to Japan), we ate at Old Chicago's and she brought party favors. She was going to do that this year, but opted out because I had never played White Elephant before. She ended up buying over 30 presents and doing White Elephant for her birthday. In other words, she bought presents for everyone else. It's a little backwards, but then again Billy is an odd one herself. Anyways, because I had never played before, I got to go first! The first bag I picked had a stuffed duck. Everyone was giving me a look like "That sucks." Honestly though, I was really happy with it. Not only do I love stuffed animals, but Teukie's animal is a duck! It was perfect! I ended up keeping it (no body else wanted it)! There were a few presents left over, so in the end I also ended up with some sidewalk chalk and those huge sunglasses that are like made for an elephant! We also played Pictionary ROFLMAO!

Amateur cake decorating skillz FTW!

I guess the last thing that I really have to rant about, is a fandom thing, so for those of you that care to ignore my fangirl sections, now would be a good time to skip to the end. I'm not planning on ranting for too long because the issue has been talked a lot about lately and kindly been asked to be put to rest. I just thought I would share, with those that might not be as active in the fanverse, that there were some incidents with Super Junior since the last time I posted. First of all, they boys got into another car accident when leaving Shanghai. Thankfully, no one was hurt (again)! The more major issue that happened though, was a fan threw a sign on the stage during SS3 Shanghai encore concert and hit Heechul in the face. It cut him and he left the stage bleeding. He has reassured fans that he is fine, but of course a lot of petals and ELFs freaked out. From what I know, not too many people hated on the poor girl. She has publicly apologized. I actually can't comprehend what she's feeling. In her message she stated how Heechul is her bias, it was her first time going to their concert, and how she feels like she has done wrong to so many people that she caused an accident to him. Anyways, the reason for my rant is that many ELFs as well as the members have asked that fans try to put safety first for everybody. It's an unfortunate accident (I'm quite positive it wasn't done on purpose) that just shows that our boys (or girls depending on your fandom) ARE human and easily hurt just as we are. I am among the many ELFs that believe that we need to try to keep our boys as safe as possible, and am urging others to please think of their safety. It has come to the attention of many that SS3 has seen a lot of accidents and injuries or almost injuries come to our boys. I just want everyone to stay safe and healthy.

 Heechul at the airport after SS3 Shanghai with the injury clearly visible.

As always, the customary gif!! Until I write again (hopefully near the end of March)!!

 Heechul at an earlier SS3! ROFL (Ryeowook in the bg)

Ja Ne~~
Stasi XD

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

March Madness

Good Morning my dear readers!! So I only posted once in February, but I'm going to make excuses and blame it on the fact that there's only 28 days! Technically, if February were 30 or 31 days long, today would be the 30th. But anyway, to make up for it I'll post at least three times this month. So the title for today's post has nothing to do with Basketball. A lot always happens in March, so I'm just doing a little bit of foreshadowing!! XD


So to say a little bit about March, most of my family's birthdays are in this month. My dad's, brother's, grandfathers, aunt's, uncles, step-aunt's, and I'm sure there are a couple of other people who I can't think of right now. Yeah, so March is also the snowiest month of Colorado, so we'll either be getting humongous amounts of snow or spring will actually come somewhat on time. Also this month is Spring Break! If I get the chance, I would love to head up to my Dad's house! Also, if it doesn't snow that week (it usually does), I'm definitely going to ride the four wheelers!! Ooooh, maybe I'll convince my Dad to have a campfire in our pit! Oooh, I really hope I don't end up working near the end of the week!!

Looking at deer from the back door at my Dad's house. They were only like 20 feet away!

In my last post I said I would post my fangirl rantings from February, so here they are!! The new Skip Beat! chapter doesn't come out until the fifth, so from here on out there will be fangirl rants! So, I'm going to start off with Japan (since I've been there before, and have a little less ranting to do)!! Arashi's new single "Lotus" came out on February 23rd!! I really love the song, plus it features a lot of Aiba-chan. Aiba-chan hasn't really been the main person of a single before. Yes, "My Girl" was for his drama, but the mv was a drama pv, so it didn't really focus on Aiba-chan like this single has! As Aiba-chan is one of my biases from Arashi (the other being Sakurai Sho-san)!! The pv is beautiful! I love them in all white (I think it's the first time) and I really enjoy the dance too! For those who might not know, this single is for Aiba-chan's new drama called "Bartender." I haven't started it yet, but I am planning on watching it. I just prefer to wait until most of the episodes have come out and then marathon a series (especially Japanese ones because they usually only have 10~11 episodes)!! I'm excited that Aiba-chan is starting to do more dramas now! He's done a few musicals before, but I can't really see those considering I'm all the way here in America. So to end my Arashi rant, here's the mv for Arashi's "Lotus!" Enjoy!!




The second part of my fangirl rantings, goes to my number one band, Super Junior!! There's been a lot in the fanverse lately. Super Junior M has made their comeback!! I'm really happy to see Henry and Zhoumi active again, but I'm a little sad I won't be seeing as much of our leader Leeteuk! Anyways, for those of you that are a little less in tune to the Kpop scene, or don't really follow the happenings of Super Junior, a lot has changed for Super Junior M! With the loss of M's leader Hankyung, SM has added Eunhyuk and Sungmin to the subgroup. At first I was a little weirded out, especially with Eunhyuk joining, but I love the new song. It has quickly became my favorite Super Junior M song! I'm a little sad that Sungmin in a little hidden throughout the mv and doesn't have too many lines. On the other hand, Asia's Anchovy (as well as our Henry "Mochi") rap in English!! Plus, Zhoumi has a lot of lines. I really love Zhoumi's voice! He's in my top five Super Junior members +2!! A little sad that Donghae doesn't have a lot of lines either, but I love his and Henry's cravat!! Gives them both a princely feel. I also really love the lyrics to the song and the meaning. I had to help explain it to my Mom and little Sister, but my interpretation of the lyrics is that they are obsessed with someone (the listener) and they want them to become just as obsessed as they are with them. I hope that made sense. Oh, and I should mention, the boys are HAWT in the video!! Oh, and a little side note, the choreographer is from Colorado!! Not many people realize this, but Colorado has given out a lot of really talented people. There just isn't as many as California or New York or other huge places for entertainment. So, before I continue on to other Super Junior rantings, here is Version 1 of Super Junior M's new single, "Too Perfect!!" (Side note: there are three version. The second is the Taiwanese version where the subs are in traditional Chinese characters and smaller. The third is the Korean version. I'm posting the first.)




As for other Super Junior rantings, I'll continue on with a little more about Super Junior M. Because they will be promoting throughout China and Taiwan, Eunhyuk has temporarily left Sukira! T_T For those that don't know, Sukira (abbreviation for Super Junior Kiss the Radio) is a 2 hour radio show hosted every night by Leeteuk and EunhyukEunhyuk's last broadcast occured the other night (although it was early morning for me) and it was sooooo sad! They were crying. The only thing I couldn't really understand was that they were acting like he wasn't coming back, even though he said that it was only going to be for three months. Also there that night was Yesung, who is going to be taking Eunhyuk's place. He used to have a radio show a couple years ago and substitutes every once in a while, so I'm excited to see more of Yesung. It'll also be a different dynamic having YeTeuk running Sukira instead of EunTeuk! But overall, I just wish all of the Super Junior members well in their endeavors and hope that their promotions and all types of shows are successful!


Continuing on with a little bit more of Super Junior ranting, I'm sure you've heard my rant about my favorite manga Skip Beat! before. I think I've mentioned this before, but there has been a Taiwanese drama adaptation of this manga in the works for a while now called "Extravagant Challenge." Unfortunately, Ariel Lin has stepped down from playing Kyoko's character. A few months ago, it was released that the two male characters were going to be played by Super Junior's Choi Siwon and Lee Donghae!! (I really hope that Donghae plays Ren's character!!) Unfortunately, a little bit ago there was a statement saying that they may be dropping out, partly because Ariel did as well. This makes me sad, but I honestly just hope that they start producing this drama because I would love to see it! Most of the Taiwanese dramas I've seen are based off Japanese manga, and I've thoroughly enjoyed most of them. (Especially ISWAK & TKA!!) Hopefully though these are just rumors (I don't believe the Ariel one is a rumor though) and they start actually starting filming soon. I'll just have to keep getting as much information as I can about this drama. Honestly though, I hope they do the drama really well. I don't want to see anything ruin Skip Beat! Oh, maybe if it doesn't work when I get my degree in Production I can try to produce a Skip Beat! drama adaptation!! Hmmmm...

Ariel Lin with Donghae & Siwon during the filming of her MV "Fireflies"

Finally, my last fangirl ranting (kind of) doesn't really have to deal with one specific fandom. I bought a region free DVD player finally and it has already come!! I'm really excited that I don't have to watch my Japanese and Korean DVDs (although all of them are concert DVDs right now XD) on a computer!! It's so nice!! Now I just need to wait for Black Friday again and maybe I'll be able to by an HDTV so the resolutions is better. I'm still using my cathode-ray tube TV. It's a nice and big TV, but sometimes I wish the widescreen options would look better on it. That and it would have better resolution (especially when compared to the TV my mom has). So anyways, thanks for reading once again! And if you've made it this far, I hope you aren't completely turned off by my excessive fangirl ranting and excitement!! As always, I'll leave you with a customary gif!!

 
Lee Donghae!! XD

Ja Ne~
Stasi