This journal is mostly friends-only, but certain things will not be locked.
If you are interested in lolita please check out my lolita blog, yumemiru.

Thank you :)

Today is everyone's favourite most adorable asexual robot drummer's birthday :D

Dear Shinya, please always be a huge loveable dork.

Also, keep kicking ass and taking names.

and wearing shiny underpants :B


and, somewhat unrelatedly, a meme:
Guilty Pleasures
Culinary: Americanized Asian food. I love Panda Express, for example, and California Rolls!
Literary: Twilight, of course. I would read it again if I hadn't given my set to Yoshie before coming back to the States.
Audiovisual: Hmmm... probably cartoons. Not anime, but actual cartoons. Like I watch Avatar the Last Airbender a lot, and X-men and stuff.
Musical: KAT-TUN xD Actually I have a soft-spot for really upbeat pop.
Celebrity: honestly I don't really care about celebrities in the least. I can't think of a guilty pleasure >_>

tagging valkyrie_chan, rephemeral, obscure, moviemakerpirat aaaaand anyone else who wants to do it xD

day 7, Saturday: wrapping packages!

day 8, Sunday: Going to The Nutcracker! It was really beautiful. The Arabian dancers were especially good (that's my favourite part of the whole ballet, though, so I'm biased) and the Russians as well. Also, it was a really racially-diverse production, moreso than I've ever seen before at least-- Clara was Chinese! Maybe I've just lived for too long in a single-race nation, or something, but I was impressed by that xD The costumes and sets were gorgeous, as well.
I splurged on the tickets and ordered them like 4 months in advance so we got great seats, and the new performing arts center (the Long Center) in Austin is awesome and served cookies and cocoa during the intermission (well, they also served champagne and stuff, but we went to the matinee so it was a little early in the day for that).
I love going to out to the theater and stuff. There are so many shows that I want to see, provided I can find someone to come with me of course! I'd like to see Cinderella at the ballet, and broadway productions of both RENT and Wicked are coming to Austin this season. I want to go to the opera because I've never been, but it's too expensive. I want to see the Chinese acrobats coming to the Long Center too! They're like Circue du Soleil-goes-Shaolin. Cool! *ahem* Anyway.

I wore lolita! :D Yay! I had an outfit planned for months, but it turned out to be too cold (and also I've gained several pounds off these Christmas cookies, so it's not as flattering as it once was), so I went with my old favourite: the Virgin. Sorry if you already saw the pics on d_l, here they are again:

( +1 moreCollapse )

LOL, Kyo is so Johnny's. Since when is anyone under 30 wearing those headbands? Or rather, under about 27? xD I mean. It's cute. And he definitely LOOKS young enough to dress like that. He just ISN'T xD

Anyway though I am so in love with this guy's work :O I mean just look at Shinya's coy little smile!


(these are from here, of course: http://ishootshows.com/2008/12/07/portraits-dir-en-grey/ )

I swear to GOD I have got to fix my sleeping schedule D: I mean being awake at 4 is fine if I don't have to get up the next day, but the fact that I have been asleep already and then woken up is pretty screwed up.

I haven't updated about Dir because I didn't keep a setlist and I didn't want to update without knowing it. But then I forgot that no one in America keeps setlists ~_~ I tried really hard but without writing them down I just can't remember that much in order xD But I want to at least get something down. If someone comes up with a setlist that I think is right I can edit.

So: The story of my 15th Dir live :D

Anyway though so rephemeral and I set out on Tuesday morning for Dallas and spent Tuesday just hanging out. We had dinner with Sara and her boyfriend and oshima... it was like being in college again. Except, like, with Sly and without a lot of excess drama xD That's the way it should be.


( Report'n'stuffCollapse )

Anyway, the fruit of the labor:

They got my cd booklet all fingerprinty D: But I forgive them xD

Rachel and I parted with Sly and ended up at IHOP for late-night tea. All together a well-balanced day xD

So! That's my really belated report. I wish I could go on another stop of the tour TAT It's a nice way to escape reality >_> But why is it soooo expensive to travel, argh. Or rather, why is everything so far apart. *sigh*
Anyway if anyone got a complete setlist, gimme! ...Or at least wants to work together organizing one, I would be glad to help xD

I think the coupling thing Dir did with Slipknot is *adorable*, and best of all it's easy to understand! Yey. Anyway WHAT'S IN was released today. I didn't intend to buy it but the photos are priceless so I did. I'm sure someone has already translated it, but I'm going to try to do it anyway.

( large but crappy photos. if it still needs to be scanned next week I'll do it thenCollapse )

http://www.mtvjapan.com/special/feature/slipdir/
This is also entertaining. Die says, "when we first met Slipknot they were only saying "Fuck!" I was like, why are they continuously saying "fuck!" like that?!" And the answer: "It's our favourite word" LMFAO

Also they brought up touring together and Die was like "Yes. Absolutely. Next year." xD That's where the "Write that down!" at the end came from.

I tried hard to translate this email from Kyo, but it's just too difficult for me. I could get the idea, but a line-by-line was impossible. I translated the first part, the most important part, as best I could.

In reality, there are various unavoidable, unforseen problems that arise every day
About our feelings, keeping true to the human's capacity for common sense*, there is something that I want to say to all the honest fans who waited until the release of the album

thank you, from the bottom of my heart

*yeah idk either
Kyo doesn't use punctuation. He also uses crazy Japanese, as we all know-- even with the help of my Japanese coworker we couldn't get a good translation for the whole email. The rest of the mail states that they are really proud of the album and that they are blessed to have such "righteous" fans. He says that "even in America his emotions are attacking" but I have no clue what that means and neither did my coworker.
And he signed it, "in darkness. Kyo" LOL.


Also, I'm disappointed with the Vinushka pv-- I don't like the "radio edit" of the song. It sort of meanders about and then randomly changes for like 3 seconds and then it's over. It seems like a really strange way to have chopped it up. Sure, 9 minutes is too long for the pv version, but I think there must have been a better way to work the song without losing its essence.... However, Megahage has now been captured in PV form and can never be forgotten xD

I hauled to HMV today to pick up my ridiculously expensive deluxe gold-plated limited edition UROBOROS today. I was worried they'd give it away if I didn't get there soon enough :P But anyway what better way to start the day than with a HUGE ass 10lb Dir album? xD

It's so epic I took keitai pics when I got to work...


the outer shell lol


the lyrics booklet is hardcover and epic in its own right.


the vinyl cover. It comes with a matching sticker... that is also 12"x12" >_> wtf are you supposed to do with a sticker that big xD

I had a few minutes after picking it up so I went upstairs to Angelic Pretty (lol the entry to the escalators was covered with life-size Dir posters that I wanted to steal, which was hilarious because it makes sense that the barrier between a music shop and lolita clothes OUGHT to be Dir. If you ask me. But anyway this story gets better-- I went to AP and the girl I hate, the ringleader of the AP bitches, was actually talking to me for some reason. Maybe cuz I was the only customer? But anyway like, I was carrying my Dozing Green bag and she was like "Oh, do you like Dir?"
>_> Why yes, AP girl, and why are you asking?
So we talked about Dir for a while xD And it was awkward and hilarious. I told her that the huge HMV bag contained the limited version of the album and she was like "woooooooow that's so expensive!" and I mentally giggled because that's sort of like someone carrying a brand new Louis Vuitton whining about a Hello Kitty wallet costing 500 yen (which I have seen, it's a very Nagoya thing).

Anyway I bought some socks (I now have the stupid Wonder Party socks in pink AND black) and I got the cookie ring in white x pink because its adorable. I wish the necklace and bracelet hadn't sold out so fast. When I was checking out I used my point card (win for both items totaling 840 yen!) and told the staff girls that I'm leaving next week, and they were really shocked. The queen was like "please wear lolita in America!!" and gave me a novelty towel just for the sake of being nice >_> Hell hath frozen over.

And then I went to work. My students are all determined to give me gifts also. Its sweet but I wonder where I'm going to put them all >_> Today one of my students gave me a Jay Chou CD, which is hilarious.
Shigeo came back after a several-month absence and was shocked to hear that I'm leaving, and he was like "I'm going to bring you a present! I'll be back! I swear, before Saturday!"
A present from Shigeo is a little scary xD

Ugh. I have to pack. That's all I do anymore :( And I can't even listen to UROBOROS because this computer is such a piece of shit.

edit: Woo, go dying computer. I managed to rip the cds and I even got the DVD to play and LOLed at Shinya's voice for a while. I love my little robot. I wish there'd been an actual PV for Toguro, but they'd already let on that Vinushka will be the next PV so I'm not surprised.
But I have to say this to the "unplugged" Inconvenient Ideal: ._O


Also, I do not understand the moderated posting at the Dir comm ~_~ Like, if people post the same thing several times into the queue-- unknowingly, because you have no way of knowing what has been posted till they are accepted-- WHY do the mods let all of them through?? D: I wouldn't not get my feelings hurt if my post was denied because someone posted the same info before me. Either read the posts before you accept/deny them, or get more mods in more timezones so they don't back up for days at a time ~_~;


okok... really going to bed this time...

Kaoru finally completed the list of songs played as BGM during the tour, so I though I'd share:

( long alphabetical list, go Kaoru!Collapse )

Also, the message he added to the second list (mailed this evening):
"Days are passing, huh.
Before going to America I sent a sample [of song titles] but this is the complete list! You were expecting it!
I'm writing this on 11/9, but yesterday we did a crazy violent show in Atlanta.
The print on this t-shirt is really retarded. [insert image of one of the American tour shirts]
There's still a ways to go before the end, but everyone is in good spirits.
At any rate, our off days are too boring."

... THAT was random. Thanks, Kaoru.


In other news, I think I broke my big toe because I slipped on the floor and smashed it into the bathroom door TAT Or at least stubbed it. OW.
... NOW it's bedtime. I shoulda gone while I was ahead.