虹の彼方へ

あたし・・・シャイな人かな？

eggchan — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:41:10 GMT

Last Friday marks the 6th time this one co-worker of mine has told me that there was a "discussion" about me with a group of my other co-workers. Nothing bad, but apparently they sometimes bring me up in conversation and I become the "hot topic" if you know what I mean.

Apparently, this is what I was told, a lot of them can't quite wrap their head around me. They can't figure out my personality so it's hard for them to get close to me. I am too shy, and they can't decide if I am a fun person or worth it to invite to gatherings outside of work. My co-worker who told me all this was telling me because he says he defended me, telling them that I just need to come out of my shell. He says I remind him of his son. He's quiet and shy until you get to know him... then his real personality comes out, and he's really fun to be around.

He's completely and utterly right, but it still hurt. In a way, I'm glad that he defended me, because I obviously wasn't there myself to do it. And it's true, when I first started I was extremely shy. I kept to myself, I interacted only with the people who started interacting with me first... but to tell you the truth, it's been almost 1 1/2 years since I started working there, and I was under the impression that I had come out of my shell at least 9 months ago. I don't think that I'm all that shy anymore.. I just try to be polite. Is that possibly construed as shy..? I feel like I worked really hard to try to let go and stop worrying about what they think of me. But maybe without even knowing it I am still the shy person that I was 1.5 years ago. Maybe this is why I'm so unapproachable?

How do I stop this? :\

In other news: Gong Yoo Gong Yoo Gong Yoo :)

New Icons! New Dresses! New Things In Life!

eggchan — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:18:59 GMT

New dresses!

♦ LIFE ♦

I got some new dresses! (I keep wanting to say "One pieces" because that's what they call them in Japanese, but no..) Was originally getting a dress for my sister's wedding but they had a sale so I ended up getting two (汗) but yay! If you are reading this now, sister, tell me if you prefer I wear one or the other!

I am not going to talk about work or anything really because there's really nothing different, special, or entertaining to talk about. Oh, except I got free lunch on Monday for doing some awesome IT stuff which was cool. Yay me :D

♥ ART ♥

God I am getting back into this finally. I have been putting it off way too long, but ever since I started my job it has just not been happening. BUT that is over from now on! /makes 真面目なface

So yeah, this little guy is a new design I am making. Since I made "Kisetsu Kitty", I thought that I should make another little animal mascot. This one shall be named "Ramen Rabbit" and he is going to have a giant bowl of ramen on his head. Yes. Because the things that I create make no sense but that is not the point here! The important point is that it is cute! That's all that matters!

♣ FANDOM ♣

I have been keeping up as best as possible. I feel really stupid but I was reading my f-list without having been logged in to LJ for about a week and a half or 2 weeks and so I got behind on shows.. I kept wondering, "Why haven't I seen Shiyagare or Himitsu or VSA in a while?? Maybe they are just busy .." LOL oh me.. but now that I've figured it out I am getting back to caught up.

THE 24 HR TV COMMERCIALS. I died on the inside when I saw them!! Oh god. So much love right over there. I am really excited to watch it, not only because of those commercials but I saw the preview for Nino's SP and it looks like it's gonna be goooood. Which, when is it ever NOT but you know.. ^_^;

Doing well on dramas as well.. just watched episode 8 of Mikeneko Holmes today, and episode 7 of KagiHeya yesterday. The day before that I started watching Rich Man, Poor Woman (I have heard many many good things about it) but I wanted to watch it without subs to 磨く my 日本語 and the main girl's character talks so damn fast in it x_x;; I understood the story and what was going on but there were a few little areas where I was just like, "??????" absolutely no idea what was going on.. even my Japanese friend told me that if she didn't pay very close attention to it she couldn't really catch everything she was saying. Yikes!

And of course I can't leave out the epic 嵐会 (Arashi Fanmeet!) that I hosted on Saturday. It was so fun to see everyone again and I am so glad that mynamelessname could come! She took off work and everything just to join us! ^__^

Anyway, we watched random videos, snacked on things, chatted, tried to open a wine bottle with a peeler, drank wine after we opened it properly with a corkscrew, ate cake, and so on and so on! We watched the Beautiful World con DVD (it's so good!) and everyone who hadn't seen it yet seemed to thoroughly enjoy it :D although there was a lot of screaming during Matsujun's solo (as there should be... /cringes&shudders) But really. Genuine screaming in terror. Thanks, Matsujun.

♠ OTHER THINGS ♠

I DUNNO I THINK THAT'S IT..? :(

I feel like most of my LJ friends have quit/become inactive. It's kind of lonely here~ :(

I GOT IT!!!

eggchan — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:47:32 GMT

I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!

So I ordered concert goods from my good friend who was doing a study abroad in Japan last year, she was SO SO SO kind to pick all my わがままなwishes up for me (T^T) I'm sooo happy. Yes, it's a year later, but I don't care!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! ホントにありがとう！！！

The goodies I got were:

Shopping Bag
Con Shirt
Pamphlet
Penlight(!!!!)
Nino Clearfile
Phone Strap (SO CUUUTE)
Hair band
Matsujun Jumbo Uchiwa

And with that Matsujun uchiwa I officially have at least 1 uchiwa for each member \(^___^)/ yeayyy!

I'm just so pumped to have these con goods in my hands now!! ♥

On another note, I'm going to be able to pick up some more Arashi goodies in the near future, so I'm really excited about that too. I don't know what will be available, but I'll be raiding the magazines like crazy ヾ(●⌒∇⌒●)ﾉわーい

By the way, to update you guys on the go karts, I really went crazy there. It was such a good stress reliever.. I thought it was going to be just drive around for a bit and then have pizza, but the place we went to made it like a tournament. I ended up being the fastest girl in the group, and I won 4th place out of everyone... (just under a placing spot! d'aww oh well.. XD) I really messed up my body though, and I did get into a bit of an accident due to one of my coworkers spinning out and I ended up getting some nasty bruises on my leg that I'm still healing from :x but because I was the fastest girl I got a $50 gift certificate to a massage place. I really need it!! haha can't wait to get my massage \(^^

You can literally see the steam coming from my body

eggchan — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 04:19:46 GMT

..you know sometimes it feels really good to just get out, let loose, and have some fun. I got to go dancing and have some girl time. It was great ^_^ Tomorrow I get to go-kart with my co-workers which will also be good to let some steam off, and possibly make the day go quicker. This week at work has been pretty difficult, mainly because I am in the midst of PMSing and my hormones are going bonkers right now >_<;; so I got super emotional on Tuesday, and today I feel bloated to the max. I mean, sometimes I get really bad bloating, but when it's bad it's just uncomfortable to SIT let alone do anything -- and especially eat. Ugh. I hope it goes away soon, though...

Anyway, I uploaded a video to my youtube channel about the posters that I put up on my wall recently. ^^ I made a post with a picture last time, but this time I have a video! And I also organized my magazines into our bookshelf, so.. :D enjoy!

Hey y'all!

eggchan — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 04:56:23 GMT

Quick update.... with pictures! :D

I got a haircut! ^_^

I got Ohno's An An!!

I purchased my very first hat ever! (Shocker, I know!)

I put my Arashi goodies on my wall finally and it feels great ^__^
I think I scared some people on Facebook, though.. I don't think they knew what extent of a fangirl we were talking.. XDD

This picture was an accident, but I thought it actually looked pretty cool

I also met a lot of people within the last couple of weeks, and a few of said encounters were... interesting to say the least including getting hit on a lot. I don't know what it is lately, am I just oozing some sort of pheromone that men want all of the sudden...? wtf.. But that's for another post.. x_x;;

I went to an Anime convention last week and wore my maid outfit again.
This isn't the greatest picture, but it shows the whole outfit at least ><; well, except for the shoes...

I just wanted to put this picture in because it's like a once in a lifetime shot.
Keep smiling, everyone ^_^

I listened to the preview of Arashi's new song. Arashi's olympic theme songs always make me want to get up and do something great. They are really good at doing that. So yeah, once again the lyrics have really moved me. よくやったね、嵐 (T_T *

それでは、またね！！

Not an Arashi post, but...

eggchan — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 05:16:09 GMT

So I came home today and needed to just relax for a bit before taking a shower.. I was derping around on Netflix instant watch when I saw there was that 30 Days TV show in our queue.. against better judgement (I guess), I decided to watch this episode where a lady who does not believe in gay couples adopting children joined a gay couple for 4 adopted sons in their home for 30 days. To say watching this episode infuriated me would be a huge understatement...

Now, I believe that people should be able to have their own opinions and those opinions should be respected. But the arguments that were happening with this lady was just... UGHHH.

First, there was a conversation between her and her "host families" dad's where they got onto the subject of morals and laws. The gay couple was trying to tell her that they don't care that she doesn't agree with gay couples with adopted children, but when the activists are trying to make it illegal for them to have a family that is then affecting them and then they are stepping on them and it becomes their problem. This lady came back saying, "Well isn't it also stepping on ME when you are allowed to do this when it is so obviously against my morals?"

UM. NO. Is the mere thought that there are gay couples out there with adopted children THAT upsetting to you that you cannot go about your daily routine? Is it making your life harder? Worse? Is it creating friction within your marriage or your children or your family?? HOW IS IT AFFECTING YOU? PLEASE TELL ME. She of course did not explain herself.

Second instance, she was being taken around by people from adoption agencies through their old shitty neighborhoods, people who were pushed around themselves between foster home and group homes, and showing her what it's like for kids out there. She was CRYING saying, "Oh how horrible! This is horrible! No child should have to go through this" ... and then within the same god damn breath, "I still believe that gay couples should not be allowed to adopt."

...........are. you. serious.

Then, one of her other arguments was that bringing children up in a gay household only creates an illusion that it is okay to be gay, therefore the OPTION to become gay arises.

What in the actual FUCK?? Apparently teaching your children that it is okay to be true to yourself, and loving and kind to all colors, races, genders, sexualities is horrible. Oh yeah, and you will probably become gay too.

And lastly, they actually went and talked with this lady who is an activist against gay parenting and even wrote a book about it. Her whole deal was that her father forced her to be open with her sexuality by taking her to sex shops and such, while he pranced around with his boy toys. I am not belittling her situation at all. I think that is a horrible thing to have to grown up with... HOWEVER just because she had a bad experience with her gay father does not mean that everyone is like that. THAT IS HOW IT WORKS IN THIS WORLD. We are all different. Her experience could have just as easily happened if she had a mother and father parenting her. In fact, I'm sure there are a lot of people who have had similar experiences as her, but because it was in a heterosexual relationship, NOBODY DID OR SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

Seriously. Just.. mad! But it's better that I just got this all out!!

Hellooo all

eggchan — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:41:11 GMT

Just a quick post from me today. I have lately been so busy trying to have a social life but at the moment it is turning into a bit of a stress factor. I am stretching myself too thin and I have had to cancel on a lot of plans because I am just getting too stressed, along with other things that I have committed to and working 40 hours a week.. Its just a bit too much right now.

I need to make sure that I make mystical_mayhem's birthday present and print, label, and send all the invites for my sister's bridal shower before the end of this week. This is what is mostly stressing me out right now. Who knows if I will have time to actually do all this... I really want to put more stuff on my website/store but it just hasn't happened lately and I feel like CRAP about that.. but I will admit it has been on the back burner, and not thinking about it just feels better than thinking about it...

Right now I just want to relax and not think about anything but I have to go to sleep so that I can get up tomorrow and go to work :(

There has been a lot of talking about Japan lately in random groups of my friends and talking about it more and more is making me feel kind of sad actually :((

I really miss Japan...

it's a ビューティフル・ワールド

eggchan — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:18:30 GMT

Hey everyone! So as you may know, I got my copy of the Beautiful World con DVD in the mail on Wednesday. It was quite ironic because that was the day that I finally got enough free time to even WATCH the concert, so I was planning on going home and watching the one I had gotten earlier, but lo and behold, there the DVD was, sitting and waiting for me ^_^ (along with my copy of Face Down :D)

Anyway, you know I promptly ripped that box open as fast as my grubby little hands could lol I haven't opened Face Down yet, for my vlog purposes, but that's ok!

I popped the DVD into my JPS2 and watched away :D woo!! So, without spoiling it for those of you who haven't seen it, a cut!!

So, I can safely say that it is definitely not one of my favorite concert DVDs... in fact, it's lower than a lot of my favorites. I still say that Kokuritsu is fun, but as a concert DVD it's too wide open and spacious so the guys are always separated a LOT and they need to cover a lot of space as well, because they want the fans to get the most out of it, but that cuts out on a lot of fun and silly interactions by the boys >_<;; so it was a little slower than usual for sure. Especially the first disc I thought.

I definitely still really love all of the songs on the Beautiful World album, though, so seeing them performed in concert was really quite enjoyable to me.

The second disc redeemed the first disc a little in my opinion, and made it a lot funner. There was more interaction, plus the little interlude in the middle where they did the dances and performance with the screen and such I thought was fun and something new (even though they've been doing that kind of performance since Jun saw it on Sekai Ichi no Show Time...) even though it's kind of a rip off of another person's idea, they went with it and I thought it was pretty fun -- and the music was nice and refreshing..

The encore was great as well, both of them. I love Gori Muchuu, I swear. And they sang a few songs during the concert that I really like but they don't sing during concerts very often so I was very pleased with that.

As for SOLOS... I think the solos were actually one of my favorite part of the DVD, but I definitely didn't like ALL of them. Let's talk about them one by one :3 (In order of the DVD!)

Jun: I was NOT a fan.. and yet I was so excited to see this one because I love the song :( Literally my first thought when seeing Jun come out for his solo was "WHAT. THE FUCK??!?"... because his outfit. His outfit omg I could just cry. I did not think that anything Jun wore could make him look gayer but.. this totally takes the cake. That and his attempts at doing seductive moves, I literally groaned when he did his little "kneel on the floor and spread your legs" move. It was just.. awkward, weird, and uncomfortable to watch. Really.

Aiba: I think Aiba's was next? I LOVE AIBA'S SOLO. Aiba always manages to blow me away somehow with his solos, even with such songs like Magical Song (which is still not a favorite of mine, but his solo performance IS...).. Janakute was something that I enjoyed listening to, much like Magical Song, but it wasn't something that I would strive to listen to whenever I could. BUT... omg his performance.. first of all, his outfit was AAAHHH!!! I don't understand how a man can pull off suspenders without looking like an idiot, but Aiba managed to do it not once but twice... aside from that, I'm not usually a chair dance person (*cough* can you say Ohno's solo for AAA 08?) but I really really loved this one :D It was so good it forced me to text mystical_mayhem who is an Aiba lover, and tell her just how good it was ||D

Sho: Meh. Sho's solo was seriously forgettable for me. Everything. His outfit was meh. His dancing was okay. The song was alright. Nothing really did it for me. I think the dancing was alright but his outfit was just so boring to me.. oh well :(

Ohno: I surprisingly liked this one a lot :O I've heard from some other fans that they were not impressed with Ohno's solo and feel like it was the same as all of his other ones. I definitely feel that way about the song itself but I was actually quite impressed by the performance of it. I feel like he had some really awesome choreography compared to his other ones lately, and.. I don't know I just really liked it. I felt like he was going back a little more to his roots of how his solos used to be.. which is the way that I like it. ^^

Nino: VERY impressed. I feel like he wasn't just going through the motions. There was actually something there this time.. for his AAA '08 performance of Niji, '09 performance of Kotoba Yori Taisetsu na Mono, and '10 performance of 1992*4##111 they all just felt like there was something missing.. or empty in those solos. After he finished his solo I honestly was just wowed by it. Really really enjoyed it.

And that's it for the actual con DVD!

As for the 3rd disc... WakuWaku Gakkou... it basically redeemed it as an amazing, amazing con DVD... I thoroughly THOROUGHLY enjoyed it, even if I am sad they took out the part where Nino squirts the other members in the crotch with a water gun, and Ohno calling a fan in the audience.. I hate when they cut things out :( but Johnny's is all about exclusivity. If you are in the fan club and go to the events you get the exclusive rights to see the extra, fun stuff. I loved Nino's, Jun's, Aiba's, and Ohno's presentations. Sho's was okay XD;; it was interesting at least lol..

I especially liked when Nino made them all do a baton race around the track and Jun had to run the longest and Aiba the shortest, but Jun started running waaaay before Aiba got to him, and he basically had to run the whole way XD he caught up to him right at the finish line! lol...

Aiba also was going all out on the bike things... while I was watching it I couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with his lung half collapsing last year.. :\\

And lastly!! I watched the full PV for Your Eyes today, and the Music Station performance as well. For Your Eyes being a slow song, I actually enjoyed the PV. It was visually interesting and had some really pretty shots. And I like the song :D at least somewhat! lol.. it's not a bad song.

The Music Station performance was good, Nino's hair stands out so much especially since Ohno has black hair now. Jun's brown hair looks pretty good on him, I like it lighter with that hairstyle.. and Aiba's hairstyle looks especially good right now..! I don't know why, but it does ^^;

Anything else..?? hmmm... I liked that they talked about their trips and stuff on the show. I remember reading on the jweb Matsujun was talking about his sudden trip to Spain, and it was interesting to hear more about that ^^

Okay, that's it!! I'll talk to you guys later!! ^_^

(P.S. I had homemade cinnamon apple crepes for breakfast today.. YUMMY YUMMY!! :D)

Life! Arashi! Nihongoz!

eggchan — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:00:30 GMT

Hey everyone!

So I've moved finally!

It has finally happened, I can't believe it sometimes. And it's hard to believe that it's MY place, not someone I'm living with etc. it's just...great :)

We're still settling in and there is a ton of stuff to do...but we're getting there. Our office is the most cluttered, and can't wait to get that nice and clean :)

I'm going to be perfectly honest and say that I have not been keeping up with lj. There is a lot I have missed. I have, however, been keeping up with the Arashi communities and news. But if we're talking Arama, I'm not even gonna try. Been thinking I might have to let that go, as much as I like reading about japanese pop culture news and such. It will be hard to let it go, honestly I think. On the other hand there is a lot of crap I have to sift through

Other than that, I LOVE THE FACE DOWN PV WHAT ABOUT YOU GUYS??? seriously, I mean, I should watch it a million more times based on how much I liked it, but the first view through I was just so excited, really. And Face Down as a song is super good, too! My copy and the Beautiful World Concert Dvd was shipped like 2 days ago and I cannot wait!!!

And lastly, I've been practicing my Japanese as much as possible, but I've been focusing a lot on speaking instead of vocab and I can already feel it slipping from me.. Vocab words, that is Σ(￣ﾛ￣lll) but it's great that in finally getting the speaking practice in! Yay!

So tell me what you guys have been up to! What's going on in your lives???

まだまだ生きているよー！

eggchan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:28:22 GMT

I'm back!!

So my computer went down for.. basically a week because I ~~wanted~~ had to upgrade it.. and then some other unavoidable things happen.. BUT the good news is -- I now have a quad-core processor with 8GB of RAM and a brand new shiny motherboard and HDD :D (In case some of you don't know, one of my side hobbies is poking around computers and doing fun geeky things to them)

Unfortunately I don't really have time to make a huge long post, but we're ALMOST moved out I am SO EXCITED!!!!. Only 1 more full day, then after work on Tuesday we are officially moved in.

This is how I feel right about now:

but I am SO TIRED T____T

We packed literally all day today and still not done.. I can see that this is gonna be a hectic next couple of days. But I'm doing my best. Once I get into the new place and then get our internet set up I think I will make a nice little post of me screaming my head off XD and hopefully I can make a video post of my new place! :D Yaayyy!!

So excited.

SO EXCITED

明日は明日の風

eggchan — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:16:16 GMT

お久しぶりですね

So, I realize it's been forever and a half since I last posted. Basically what's happened is this:

Went searching for a place to move

Worked a lot

Got frustrated with our apartment/townhouse search

Spent a lot of time with friends

Found the place!!

Signed the lease!!

WE ARE MOVING!

Went to an Anime Convention and dressed as a maid and it was really fun >_>; I should just go to Japan and work as a maid..

So, the short story is I'm moving really soon! We're packing and preparing as best we can but ugh..this is gonna be a long month lol

Also my birthday is next week and I'm trying to figure out what to do for it with my friends...help! What should I do!

This isn't a post about Arashi

eggchan — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:09:02 GMT

Not really sure why I wanted to write about this, but it's been something that I've been thinking about a lot in the past couple of weeks and so.. I thought I'd air it out, so to speak.

Sometimes when I'm driving home by myself from work, or even as a passenger in a car while it's dark out and there is a lull in a conversation, and the sun is half-way set, it's getting dark and everyone is starting to turn their lights on in their homes, I'll pass by houses, and you can see inside the windows.

Usually because I'm driving, I pass the house or apartment building in less than a second. It's just a glimpse, a really tiny, insignificant one second view, like a man and a woman standing in the kitchen, looking at each other while he has his hand on the cabinet door, or a woman pulling the curtains back to look outside while she holds a newspaper in the other hand, or a girl standing up from the floor while her friends sit aimlessly in the living room.

In that moment, I suddenly feel extremely small. I'm driving my car, while someone else is standing in a kitchen talking to someone else, or getting up off the floor, or reading a newspaper... or updating facebook, livejournal, cooking dinner, falling asleep, kissing someone, crying over someone, falling down, getting back up, slamming on their breaks, smelling something, tasting something....

That little tiny glimpse into someone else's life brings such an enormous perspective to my eyes... just for a second. For me, too, it's just a second. A second of this strange, unstoppable feeling. It makes me so curious. I want to know what everyone in the entire world is doing at that very second.

And yet, it also makes me feel very insignificant. What am I doing at this very moment that is making a difference in.. well, anything? What am I doing at this very moment that is any different than millions of other people?

もっと考えさせてください

It has been brought to my attention...

eggchan — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 23:01:04 GMT

...that I don't update LJ much anymore.

Obviously it hasn't REALLY been brought to my attention because, well honestly, I already knew that. I've been thinking about LJ a lot the last couple of weeks but was always interested in posting up something somewhere else, or busy with fandom things/duties/meetings, being social, and trying to keep my life together.

To be honest I don't really have much time now either, but I thought I'd try... at least to give you guys a bit of an update.

Why don't I go all 懐かしい on you guys and make it a bullet post!

First of all, this month has kind of started out suck-tastically. In between my last entry and now, I've been busy slowly (and I mean slowly) working on a translation job that I've accepted, as well as trying to be social with people and get as much Japanese speaking as possible. But once February hit, some really big life events happened.

Last Monday I went to the doctor's because of some medical things I've been going through for the past few months.. they ordered a CT scan, so the next day I had to drink that dye crap. God it was disgusting.. and then I somehow got through the scan. It's so scary, I hate crap like that. It turns out apparently that I have a partially ruptured cyst in my ovaries. Yippee.

I got sick last week, but luckily not for very long. Seemed like it was mostly one of those 1 day sicknesses. Pretty sure it was from stress and lack of sleep from a HORRIFIC night of sleep the night before.

I went to the Lion King theater production, which was exciting. I was looking forward to it for a long time. For the most part, it was great. But the last half... my mom called my cell phone multiple times in a row and left a really cryptic voice mail, so I began to get worried wondering if it was an emergency or something had happened. So I left the theater to call her, but.. turns out she just wanted to talk to me. But I couldn't get back in to watch the rest of it

The night of my CT scan, my beloved sweet kitty, Moppet, passed away...

sigh..

We are pretty sure that she had a stroke the first time that she got sick.. but she was getting so much better. In her last few days, she actually started walking again and was standing on all fours. I was so impressed. But... my parents think that she had another stroke Tuesday evening, and.. she passed away. I just.. I don't know what to even think. I'm going to my parents house tonight.. the first time going there EVER without a cat there to greet me. I'm not really sure how that is going to go...or what to think.

The ground is really hard to dig any kind of hole right now, so we actually ended up cremating her. For some reason it just seemed like the most fitting thing, anyway. Even if the ground wasn't hard... I think I would have opted for that.

My sweet cat.........

First Post of 2012!

eggchan — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:15:11 GMT

I actually wrote 2011 first.. still not used to it, I guess..

BUT yes. I have been wanting to make a post about the holidays for a while, and now I'm just sitting around watching some guys play football on the PS3 so I figured now is a better time than any.

My holidays were extremely drama free, but to be honest with you they weren't all that exciting either. No crazy New Year's Party or anything. Christmas went smoothly and had barely any family drama. Scratch that, I think there was no family drama.. (aside from my Grandpa's crazy wife -- who, no, is not my grandma :P more like a step-grandma but I don't really want to be associated with her)

ANYWAY, like I said it went pretty well. I was gonna take a picture of some of the gifts that I got, but I'm a bit too lazy, so maybe I'll just mention a few of the fun stuff I got :3

I got the Maru book and a pastry decorating kit from Lotion!! Maru is so cuuuuute I can't get enough of him. And I always wondered what it was about him that made him seem so different than other cats (aside from the fact that he slides around on the floor into boxes lol) but I found out from the book that he's actually a Scottish Fold with ears that stand up! I honestly don't like the way that Scottish Folds look, but they do have very large eyes.. so I think that's why I think Maru is such a cute kitty. He's got some really large, round eyes, without the folded ears that I really hate XD

I also got a nice lime green jacket/sweater thing from my aunt, and a bunch of nice things from my parents. They got me a pair of gloves that have reeeaally fuzzy and warm insides.. perfect for me! And also a really pretty purse hook.. thing! I dunno what those things are called haha but it just so happened that my sister got me one, too. So I have two now. The problem is that the one that my sister gave me collapses, so it's easier to take around, but the one my parents gave me I think is prettier XD;; so I am really 迷ってる over which one I should keep ^^;; or maybe I'll just keep both..

I got a bit of money as well, and some gift cards.. overall it was a pretty good Christmas.. and I feel I did pretty good on the present giving aspect this year, too! Since I have a big girl job now and can afford to give people nice presents loll

Anndddd! My Japanese friends sent me a Christmas package from the Nihonz, so sweet ;__; they sent me a bunch of yummy looking candies, and also the February issue of Non-No with Arashi on the cover!! :DD I read almost all of the interview it was really cuteee ;~; and somehow Nino looks really strange in almost all the pictures XD;; he just looked really tired, to be honest.. I'm sure he is tired. AND!! When I was in Japan in '09, Lotion and I went to Osaka and at the station they had a waffle store called Manniken with the greatest waffles we have ever tasted in our lives. They sent us a care package of their waffles. O.M.G. SO good.

As for New Year's, the day of New Year's I watched Kouhaku and JCD with a bunch of fangirls in that chatroom that I put together. It was really fun and pretty awesome because the stream we had was AWESOME quality :D Kouhaku was really fun and ARASHI'S PERFORMANCE. CAN I TALK ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND.

I missed the Disney one live, because they performed that early on in the show, but I watched it afterward and OMGWHATISTHISMAGICICANNOT.IJUSTCANNOT. I think if I ever went to Disney again and was able to see Arashi perform something with them my life would just be complete. Absolutely, complete ;_;

BUT, I did see the Furusato performance, and the main melody performance live. Furusato was just wonderful, of course.. seeing Sho play the piano again was a real treat.. and I love when they bring all the artists out to sing together on Kouhaku. For some reason it's really epic, probably because they have so many people there all singing together.

Their main medley performance was AWESOME -- albeit a little short, but really enjoyable. When they started doing the mid-performance thing with the projected video on the back all I could think was, "UM SEKAI ICHI NO SHOW TIME, PPL" because they totally jacked the idea from that.. but still, it was awesome and.. and... have I said that it was awesome?

Overall, like I sad it was really fun to be able to talk to fangirls, and ones from all over the world as we watched live. And a Matsujun penis tumbler was born from the chatroom LOL.. I think it's junis @ tumblr or something? (Junis = Jun + penis. I know, really.) A tumblr dedicated to Jun's wang... anything can happen with crazy fangirls, right? XD

Aaaand lastly, New Year's Eve. Like I said, there really wasn't any sort of crazy partying on my end. We lugged ourselves over to a friend's place and hunkered down there for the night. Played a few games of Dominion, Uno, etc.. baked way too many pizza rolls, gobbled up some homemade caramel brownies, and when the ball dropped had some bubbly juice (HA)

Not 20 minutes or so after the ball dropped I ended up falling asleep on the floor and that was that. My sleep pattern is so foreign to me since I've started my job..

And speaking of my job, it's going alright.

...not really much more to say about that XD

There are times when I like it. Times when I hate it. We are doing construction and my team will be moving to a different part of the building and I can't wait for that.. so that we can move away from the printing press room. It's really noisy and smells like ink. But I got to sledgehammer a wall out of that. How fun.

Hope you all are having a great 2012, and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me. Lots of really awesome plans this year, possibly including some travel if you know what I mean.. ^^

P.S. I finished reading the Ranma 1/2 manga finally...! I started reading it when I was like, 12.. and got only halfway through. But after watching the Ranma 1/2 SP it got me really curious about how the manga actually ends.. been reading the rest little by little over the last week and then powerhoused it today and spent like 4 hours reading it and I finished it! XD gah.. I still need a good shoujo manga to start reading again! will take suggestions!

Kouhaku/Johnny's Countdown Fan Chat

eggchan — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:43:57 GMT

For those of you who don't know, I'm hosting a Kouhaku/Johnny's Countdown fan chat, so if you are going to be up for it, you can join in with other fans in the chatroom :D

こっちで～す！

Here's the link! I'm excited

落ち着け、嵐！まだまだ愛してるよ＾＾

eggchan — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:46:21 GMT

I am going to make this a short, numbered entry, as all my thoughts are not correlated to one another, and I have no segue for any of them haha

1.

お誕生日おめでとう、
相葉ちゃん！！

2.

3. My Japanese partners that went back to Japan earlier this year sent me a big box for Christmas. They are sooooo sweet

They sent me all these really awesome sweets and OMG WAFFLES FROM OSAKA I MISS THEM SO MUCH. They also sent me the February issue of Non-no with Arashi on the cover!! It's.. it's so pretty! And it's got a reeeally lovely photoshoot that has theeesee pictures in it:

Also Nino looks really strange in almost all the pictures BUT, it looks like a good read and I'm gonna read through it when I can!!

4. I watched the Music Station performance. I tried to watch it live, but I had to leave for work before they came on but anyway, I just wanted to comment..

I really enjoyed the performance! Their outfits were wonderful, they did a great job performing and energizing the crowd.. it was one of those performances that makes me want to be Arashi

As daone_shh mentioned, Matsujun was sweating a LOT! A lot especially considering it was only like a 8 or 9 minute performance. But~! I think they were singing Happiness live.. that was really fun.

My very first reaction to the performance, though, was that they all looked kind of cautious, almost like kicked puppies, if I should call it that lol.. this was their first performance since FNS and they seemed really nervous that something similar was gonna happen again. Once they got about 1/2 way through Lotus, though, they really started opening up. It makes me really feel for them, I mean they must have been so embarrassed. I would feel humiliated if I had to go through something like that.. and all they do is try their very best, and work as hard as they can, every day.. then something like FNS happens and there is a huge uproar and backlash, even from their fans. I mean.. I guess I can't really imagine, but when I try to, it makes me feel awful..

But.. they are, of course, Arashi and they bounced back up. Quite 見事に if I might add.

Everyone, have a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate it. Otherwise have wonderful holidays ^^

Here it comes...

eggchan — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:52:11 GMT

Here comes another of those "I've been meaning to post, but..." blah dee blahdeeblah posts.

Well, yes. I HAVE been meaning to post, honestly I have. But it just hasn't been happening.. what with work and then trying to have a social life, and I have started translating (VIDEOS) again.. I know I'm behind on Otonoha and Jun's ENJOY.. I would like to still translate them but I might catch up and have it all come out on a giant post

Anyway, I've been just busy with work, trying to keep up with my vlogs, and yes, the translating. I also just started speaking Japanese again all of the sudden after like 2 or 3 months of not having a chance to speak it like.. hardly ever It's really weird.. my schedule is always just like.. completely empty for 2 weeks or so, then suddenly EVERYONE and their mother wants to do something in the same week. So literally 2 weeks ago I was going home from work and just relaxing and working on other things.. this week, though?

Monday I had a birthday party for my old boss, and there they had a new intern who just happens to be Japanese.. SO I spoke horrible HORRIBLE 片言 but.. it was good to get back into the swing of things I suppose.

Then on Wednesday I went out with mystical_mayhem and fairydustedhope to get some supplies for an Aiba Sugoroku game.

Thursday was another Japanese speaking event and I actually met 2 Japanese people who seemed very interested in hanging out, so.. I'm excited for that. I also met some アメリカ人 that seemed really nice so hopefully new friends in the making!

Then Friday was fairydustedhope's St. Nick party. Wow. I don't think I have laughed that hard for so long in a REALLY long time. I mean. Really. It was great. Amazing. Would love to do it again very soon We also exchanged some presents and.. I got so many cute things! I got a robot necklace with little wobbly legs! SO CUTE. And a really cute pen/pencil bag.. and one of those coin banks from Japan where it's like a little box and you put the coin down and a kitty pops up and takes the coin I also got this little egg shaped cat that meows when it wobbles about. Tears of joy!!

And today I sent off some Christmas presents and then went to the gym. In a little bit I'm gonna have to head off to the mall to meet up with Monday Japanese guy (lol I think I'm gonna have to keep them straight by calling them Monday Japanese guy [MJG] and Thursday Japanese guy [TJG] ;;)

Oh and speaking of Thursday Japanese guy.. I got hit on by him. The first time in my life a Japanese guy has openly hit on me lol. The event I went to was a 忘年会 and kind of a meet and mingle thing.. he came up to me and struck up a conversation with me (also a first. for Japanese people, at least. I think I have initiated the first conversation every time.. x_x;) and aside from the fact that he was totally ナンパする we hit it off really well and we seem to have a lot in common. When we got onto the topic of the fact that I have a boyfriend, he asked how long we have been seeing each other. A little later in the conversation he turned to the other girl I was talking to and said, "8年間彼氏と付き合ってるって言ったんだけど凄くない？...綺麗な人なのに.. she's taken" 返："残念" ("She's been going out with her boyfriend for 8 years, isn't that crazy? And just when I found a pretty girl... she's taken" Her: "Too bad" -- something of the sorts like that lol) I was actually quite surprised. Then we talked about how for some reason I don't really find white guys attractive.

When I told Lotion this story I shit you not he applauded me. Sometimes I don't understand guys lol.. but at the same time I think we have really good trust and so we don't really feel threatened by other people

ANYWAY. I've been trying to keep up with Arashi shows by watching them live. I've been doing a pretty good job with Nazodi, and for a while I was doing good with Shiyagare and Himitsu, but for the past couple weeks it's just been SO バラバラ that I don't even know where I'm at. Gonna try to catch up a little bit this weekend.

Otherwise, I did watch the FNS performance. And I talked a little about this in my vlog already but I will say this: I don't think it was THAT bad. I mean, I saw people's reactions to it before I saw the actual performance so maybe it was skewed for me, but people were just making it out to be like some sort of a train wreck.

My own personal opinion of it? Arashi are not amazing singers and we all know that. Given the circumstances, however, I think they did fucking fantastic. (And actually Ohno did pretty damn good still..) I mean I was expecting high pitched screeching and totally off-key, when in reality.. they really just weren't harmonizing correctly. When I first heard that they were speculating Fuji lost their earpieces I thought it was a little far-fetched. I mean, what? But at the same time, FNS apparently has a very long history of audio fuck ups. From what I recall, even if Arashi lip syncs they STILL wear headsets, right? I mean that just seems silly not to. What if something goes wrong? Like exactly what happened on FNS? They always have backups. So seeing them perform without headsets seems strange, and maybe the stories are true. I canNOT, however, believe that some people are blaming it on FNS as a SABOTAGE. WHAT? Why would they sabotage the group that brings in like 20% of their ratings..? That makes absolutely no sense to me, and there are really some fangirls that are way too protective.

I also want to mention..I've been hearing a lot of people outside of fandom complaining that Arashi fangirls are delusional and won't accept the fact that Arashi can't sing. Where are these fangirls..? Even on the post about it they made on arashi_on all I saw were comments like, "Ow my ears", etc. I literally have not come across a SINGLE fangirl that has said anything remotely like that. I mean, what?

Okay so that's my rant for now lol..

Now I have to go and try to finish up another episode of Shiyagare or HnA

[Translation] Sho's Otonoha Vol. 93

eggchan — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:03:27 GMT

I don't really have a lot to talk about what's going on with me right now, sadly.. but I would like to post up this translation of Sho's Otonoha! He posted it a while ago but I haven't had time to translate it until now...

Anyway, let's get to it!

Please don't take this out of my journal without my permission.
DO NOT claim these as your own. I spend a lot of time translating these, please be respectful.
My notes are in italic like usual (if I have notes at all)
Enjoy!

Hello.

It's me.

Kageyama.

Every day, we are filming.

There are seldom any days where we finish filming all of the "riddle solving" parts in one day.

In other words.

Way crazy riddles.

and way crazy lines.

I mean, it's an unthinkable amount of lines.

When I think of it like that

there are moments in which

a switch in my head suddenly goes off.

It's a feeling like my brain is making a churning sound and starts quickly turning.

An adrenaline explosion.

That happened to me during a really long scene I was dreading to do, and we got through the whole thing in one take...

...I couldn't say anything.

Well.
Anyway.

...it feels really good.

And that's what we're talking about. Now.

Well, well..

The other day, the guys from Kishidan (Kishidan means "The Knights" in Japanese, and they are a retro looking band. Their lead singer is (formerly known as) DJ Ozma) came on "Arashi ni Shiyagare".

I know them from when I did "Kisarazu Cat's Eye". That was a long time ago.

During that time, the guys from Kishidan sang "One Night Carnival" for us.

It was pretty epic. (actually Sho says something more along the lines of "It was a swirl of excitement", but I think "pretty epic" sums it up fairly well )

I'm playing the intro.

It's jumbled together with a vivid illumination.

The drums, bass, and guitar are rumbling louder and louder.

Wha...

What...

Huuuhh?

Strangely, I feel moved.

What's going on.

What's going on.

Wha-wha-wha

What's going on.

I think I've suddenly flashed back to "that time".

Because my memory of it has started fade, it was a brilliant time.

The more bright the song, the better.

Aren't there times when

you get that choked up feeling

waaaaay up in your nose?

That feeling.

Like when the other 4 of Arashi are getting pumped up with the fans

By myself.

I can't help but to stare lovingly.

Well then. I should get going.

Today's "Nazotoki".

I'll go after it.

2011年11月20日
櫻井翔

Magazine hauls, Ohno's Birthday, Thanksgiving... TOO MUCH??!

eggchan — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:28:41 GMT

First,

LOOK A THIS SHOP PHOTO ;A; LOOK AT IT.

It's it wonderful?? They are WATERING Ohno!! I got it from sociologique when she went to the V6 con in Sapporo a few months ago.. OMG IT IS SO ADORABLE I can't get over it..! I know I already talked to you about it on twitter, but THANK YOU SO MUCH T___T

Second,

お誕生日おめでとう大ちゃん！！
It's Ohno's birthday today! Well, it ended maybe a few minutes ago in Japan, but that's ok! It's his birthday in America now! ^__^

We're not really celebrating specifically for him, per se, but we are going to be making home-made sushi tonight! Also today is "clean all day" day.. CLEAN ALL OF THE THINGS ;A;

Third,

We went on a mini vacation over the weekend last week and got to get Japanese magazines! That I spent way too much money on! But,

First, I got Ray magazine with some pretty pictures of Sho in it. It also came with a really cute mini pouch bag thing so I was happy with that

Trumpet!Sho

Glasses!Sho

Then I got the issue of Cut with Ohno as Kaibutsu-kun!

Here he is all curled up and adorable ;~;b

PRETTY OHNO PLUS ACT ISSUE!!!

Aaand the Plus Act with Sho! I thought the photoshoot was really pretty, so I had to get it

Aaand I got Pict Up with Ohno.. this was also a very pretty photoshoot...

waaaahhhh pretty..

Aaaand lastly!

I ate my very first Japanese cake!!

It was reaaaally yummy. And not too frosted, like they seem to like to do in the states.. and yummy fruits and everything! Just sooo good! And cute! Makes me want to make one I also want to make more roll cake.. FOR EVERYONE!!

AND NOW I AM OFF TO LISTEN TO ENERGY SONG!!

[Translation] Sho's Otonoha Vol. 92

eggchan — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:30:42 GMT

I somehow didn't notice that Sho posted up on his Otonoha until today, but this is actually quite an amusing entry of his.. of course it has a lot to do with Nazodi!

Please don't take this out of my journal without my permission.
DO NOT claim these as your own. I spend a lot of time translating these, please be respectful.
My notes are in italic like usual (if I have notes at all)
Enjoy!

Hello.

It's me.

I am Kageyama right now.

Anyway, this happened the day before yesterday.

The five of us were on location for a photoshoot and interview.

The time was just past 9pm.
（oh! no!） (Yes, Sho wrote this out himself. In English. Because he almost said the lyrics of "Monster" to the T.. Oh Sho this is way too amusing..)

Just when there was some free time, Ohno-san and Aiba-san were watching "Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de"

Ohno:
"There's so many lines in this show..."

he whispered while he watched.

Right after that, the staff called back to us because the photoshoot for the two of them was about to start.

On the TV, Kageyama was speaking.

Kageyama:
"There are only 2 people that could make such a hidden room"

Ohno & Aiba:
"Who?"

Reiko
"Who?"

Ohno & Aiba:
"Ya~y! We were synchronized!"
(highfive)

They seemed to be really happy that they blurted out the same words, and with that they left the dressing room.

They left.

They left.

Huh..?

Aren't they interested at all who the criminal is?

We all finished the photoshoot, and returned once again to the dressing room.

It was right at the last scene.

Matsumoto:
"Huh? Did they already play Meikyuu Love Song?"

Ninomiya:
"Augh~! We didn't make it in time~!"

Aiba:
"Eh? Who was the culprit?"

...huh? Wasn't it Morimoto Leo-san? (Morimoto Leo is the name of an actor who guest starred in episode 4)

Auugh!! Then, who is it~??"

And then they left the dressing room.

They left.

They left.

...huh?

Aren't they interested at all who the criminal is?

And that's how it is.

It was an episode that everyone got really interested in.

I'm sorry for my incoherent ramblings of my daily life. (It's ok Sho, I like hearing about this kind of stuff Do it more~!)

I am Kageyama once again today~

If you have been watching,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

2011年11月10日
櫻井翔

No vlog this week.. I've got big plans this weekend and there's just too much to do.. ;; Sorry..! This translation took me like 10 minutes, which I think is a record for me. Starting to get good at cranking them out!!

The new job.. one week later

eggchan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:05:56 GMT

So it's been 1 week since I started my new job I'll tell you right now that it's definitely taken over life.. I usually get home around 5:15 and then from there I catch up on the fandom world, make some food, and then watch a little bit of TV and sleep. Definitely different than what I have been used to for the past couple of months.

But I will say this: I actually don't really hate it. In fact, so far I am liking it for the most part. Once I get to 2pm I start getting antsy to go home, although I still have 2 1/2 hours to work from then... so there are times when it feels like the day goes by so slow..

The only thing is that sometimes I feel like I'm not working.. because.. I mean.. I'm making websites and getting paid.. it's pretty awesome. The workplace is really friendly.. my boss guy is really nice.. and we have quite a bit in common. I haven't really made much friends, because actually the only people in my department (web design) is me and my boss.. ;; we are mixed together with the graphic design people, but there is only 4 other people there. Also, I think I'm at least 4 years younger than everyone else there. But at least that's not a big age gap. Although probably more like 10 years age gap with the people in customer service.. everyone there seems to be much older.

Anyway, like I said, it's going pretty well. I get to listen to my music all day (which of course you know what that consists of ) and the dress code is really lax, so I get to wear jeans all day. I even take my shoes off at my desk.. so comfy!

I suppose the only thing that's been going wrong is that I have a serious case of artist block. Which, granted, is not exactly the greatest thing to happen to me with a job like this... I am getting really frustrated with my own designs and just.. nothing is coming out right

After a few design options I sent to my boss guy, he finally came in with a design he quickly came up with and so I am going off that. I'm feeling quite a bit more creative with that, but it's just frustrating to not have any of your own designs go over well, you know? well, I'm figuring that it's really just the "new job jitters". at least that's what I'm hoping and praying it is.. ;

Anyway in fandom life, I've been watching Nazodi every Tuesday as it airs.. I actually get up at the same time it starts so I get to watch it as I get ready for the day because of the quality, though, I feel like there are some things that I miss from it.. but I don't think I really have time to watch it any other way Same with regular shows.. I've been trying to catch HnA and Shiyagare as they air. I feel like it's easier to carve out time.. especially since it airs super early in the morning

I've been loving all the commercials that have been coming out lately.. especially "Aibakun and the Throat Losenges" and "Ohno has a love affair with alien Nino, meanwhile human Nino catches him cheating" SO GOOD.

Alright well I'm going to try to record a video for my Youtube channel.. I've been meaning to film something for a long time now and it just hasn't happened!

Bye bye!!

[Translation] Jun ENJOY Vol.80

eggchan — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:23:49 GMT

Ahh.. I feel like all I ever post here nowadays are translations ;; but hey, that's really all I've had time for lately..

For those of you who are wondering, I had my 2nd day of work today.. so nerve wracking!! But it's really weird to actually get paid to do something that I used to sit around at home and do.. you know? There are parts of the day where it just starts to get.. tedious I guess. I'm hoping in the future I'll have more projects here and there and be able to bop around between them all so I don't get bored so easily.. I am a bit ADD when it comes to things that I'm working on..

Anyway! I'm not sure how I missed it, but Jun posted up on his j-web, ENJOY. It's actually quite a short entry, but that's good. Short and sweet, the way I like them He also used a lot of kaomoji in this one, which is surprising to me.. he doesn't really use emoji or kaomoji in his entries it seems

Please don't take this out of my journal without my permission.
DO NOT claim these as your own. I spend a lot of time translating these, please be respectful.
My notes are in italic like usual (if I have notes at all)
Enjoy!

It's the end of October~
The weather today isn't very nice.
But I'm not that bad myself.

I've been listening to a lot of music lately.
Because I've been doing stuff like going back and forth to Saitama, and sitting around in dressing rooms. The majority of my day is spent in places like that, so I want to make myself comfortable, for sure (^o^)
Listening to stuff like the Beatles, and jazz music.

I put together a playlist of just Beatles songs and I've been listening to it all the time. Somehow it seems to calm me down, and make me feel great.

Also, I've been listening to Canon. They even play it during the performance, but it gives you an indescribable feeling. That's great.

The play started yesterday.
It somehow went off without a hitch(^o^)

I haven't really talked much about it~
Because...

Today is the 2nd day, so I want to be really prepared and put on a great performance.

By the way, I am on my way to Saitama as we speak(^-^)/

Well then, I'll give my all today, too!

[Translation] Arashi ni Shiyagare Kouya Juunin Apple Rollcake Recipe

eggchan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:46:04 GMT

HI everyone!

This is something that I wanted to 挑戦 since I saw it on Shiyagare. Most of you will probably remember that a few weeks ago they had a segment called "Kouya Juunin" in which they had to combine their powers and make an apple roll cake.

I've wanted to do something like this for a long time.. not necessarily just make something and take pictures, but translate and then make an Arashi related recipe, and share it with the world! So I thought what better time than this! I've been craving roll cake anyway, and the apple in the recipe looked absolutely to die for

So here it is! I'll have both types of measurements in the text.. I converted it myself so there may be a little bit of a difference, but I did my best!

For the cake:

1 egg
60g / a rounded 1/4 cup granulated sugar
56g / 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
5g / 1 tsp honey
20ml / 1 1/2 tbsp milk
20g / 3/4 tsp unsalted butter

Put the egg and sugar in a metal bowl, and place it on top of another bowl with hot water in it. Mix the egg and sugar until it becomes warm.

Beat again with a hand mixer for about 3 to 4 minutes until it stands. Be careful not to beat it too long or too short as this will make the cake hard.

Fold in the flour.

Warm the honey, butter, and milk on top of the bowl with the warm water again until melted.

Take about 1/3rd of the egg mixture and put it in the milk mixture bowl and stir. Return the now mixed milk mixture to the large bowl of the rest of the egg mixture and stir again.

Pour onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and spread evenly.Bake for 9 minutes in a 210C (410F) degree pre-heated oven.

When finished, pull out the cake and allow it to cool.

For the Garnish:

1/2 of an apple
25g / 1 3/4 tbs granulated sugar
3g / 2/3 tsp unsalted butter
Vanilla leaves OR approx 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Sake/Cooking Wine (I did not do this part as I didn't have any cooking wine to flambe it

Core and peel the apple. Cut into 7 to 8 millimeter cubes. Remove the beans from the vanilla beans, and place on top of apples. (Since I was using vanilla extract instead, I put this on the apples after I cooked them for a bit)

Melt the sugar in a frying pan. Be sure that you don’t burn the sugar as it will become bitter.

Once the sugar becomes golden brown, add the butter and apples. Finally, add the cooking wine and flambé. When finished, put on a cooking sheet and cool on top of iced water. (I took the apples and placed them in a small bowl, then put them in the fridge until needed later)

For the Whipped Cream:

250ml / 1 cup of fresh whipping cream
20g / 2/3 tsp granulated sugar

Place the cream in a metal bowl and place it into a bowl with ice water. Add the sugar.

Whip for 2 to 3 minutes with a hand mixer until stands.

Make your Roll Cake Roll-y!

Take your finished and cooled sponge cake and flip it onto another piece of parchment paper. Remove the parchment paper on top. The lighter part of the sponge cake will be facing up. Flip it one more time so the dark side is now face up.

Add the whipped cream you just made and spread evenly on the entire top part of the cake. (I didn't add quite enough whipping cream, you may want to add more than what you see in this picture) You don’t want too much whipped cream, or too little.

Add the apple garnish about 1 inch up from the bottom part of the cake in a horizontal line. Use the parchment paper to lift the cake part and begin rolling it. Continue to roll it until it is complete. Cut off the ends to make it even, and you are finished!

Decorate the top with any leftover whipped cream and apples, adding other fruits such as strawberries, bananas, blueberries etc to the top. You can also top it with some powdered sugar.

出来上がった！(o^∇^)o

If you have any questions about the recipe, or there are confusing parts please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments!

[Translation] Arashi Round Table Talk

eggchan — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:53:34 GMT

I'm trying to get the most out of my free time while I still have it before my new job starts on the 7th.. yes, I'll be going in for my first day on the 7th.. eep!

Anyway, Johnny's Web sent me the Arashi mailing from the round table talk for Meikyuu Love Song last night so I thought I'd translate that!

Ok so let's get started!

Please don't take this out of my journal without my permission.
DO NOT claim these as your own. I spend a lot of time translating these, please be respectful.
My notes are in italic like usual (if I have notes at all)
Enjoy!

Sakurai: Today is the release of "Meikyuu Love Song"! We'd like to talk about the new single in a round-table style talk. Please listen, everyone!
Arashi: Plz listeeen~ lol

Sakurai: Well the title of the song has the word "Love Song" in it, but I feel the song is not strictly just about romance, it's a song that is about a broader sense of the word love.
Ninomiya: Of course you would read into it! Well it IS the theme song to the drama that Sakurai-san is starring in, "Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de".
Aiba: So, it makes you think there is a love story in the drama, right?
Sakurai: It's been just a little past 1 month since we started filming it, and I've gotten the script up to about the middle of the story.
Matsumoto: And?
Ohno: Is there a love story?

Sakurai: None!

Ninomiya: You've gotta be joking
Ohno: No waaaaay
Ninomiya: But you know it's only half-way so you don't know!
Aiba: I'm looking forward to the rest of it!
Sakurai: I don't know if I can live up to your expectations lol

Ohno: But the intro part is good. I like that it has this feeling like, "It's started!" (Ohno did a weird transition, but they are talking about the song again, not the drama lol..)
Matsumoto: I like the hook.
Ohno: Me too
Aiba: You're just going with whatever Matsujun says!!
Ninomiya: What a glutton lol
Matsumoto: At first when I listened to it I thought it had a very unique melody so I wondered if it would be better if we each sang it one at a time, but... can I just say that Arashi really did it!
Ninomiya: Let's say it lol
Matsumoto: It's really awesome how it sounds so in unison!

Ohno: The coupling song on the limited edition is a ballad, "Kienu Omoi".
Matsumoto: Isn't Leader's solo great!?
Sakurai: It's very carefree
Aiba: It feels great
Ohno: Everyone's solo is great! They each are a living thing, it feels like US!
Sakurai: So it's Arashi approved~! lol and "together, forever" on the regular edition is a very macho song. Well actually, you understand it when you sing it more than when you listen to it.
Ohno: The karaoke songs are included too
Sakurai: So you could do some training with those!
Matsumoto: It'd be really interesting if we all sang it together!

Ninomiya: "Utakata" (Regular Edition) is a really easy listen. It has a very intimate feeling.
Aiba: Certainly, it's probably pretty easy to sing. I was able to sing "wanna be..." (Regular Edition) lightheartedly! That's why when you want to feel refreshed at Karaoke, sing this song!

Matsumoto: There's so many different songs on one disc, so I think you will be able to really enjoy it! Also, we would be really grateful if you would watch "Nazodi" all the way to the end
Sakurai: Ah! Thank you! lol Please watch it!

omg i got to go shopping againnn マジでホッとする

eggchan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:39 GMT

A few things!

I did go shopping for my skinny jeans finally... first of all, I apologize for the really really crappy quality image.. half of the lights in my room don't work anymore (there is something wrong with the electrical connection.. so annoying ) so it's always too dark to take a picture..

Anyways.. I got them! Can someone please tell me why I have never gotten a pair before.. wtf me. I like them so much that I want to go out right this minute and get 2 more pairs!

I was planning on looking through Charlotte Russe to see if I could find some jeans.. all the nice jeans that I have are from there.. they are sturdy.. and very cheap (for good quality jeans, at least..) anyway.. it just so happened that Charlotte Russe was having a Happy Hour sale on Saturday.. so I went with Lotion to see if I could find something.. it was great! I actually got the entire outfit I am wearing (2 shirts ※ the blue cami underneath, and the striped top, plus 1 pair of jeans) for a grand total of $25. Yeah. Pretty awesome if you ask me. The jeans were on sale for $20 and both tops were $5 each. Then with the Happy Hour sale, the entire purchase was 15% off. やった！！よく出来ました、私

I really, really like Charlotte Russe. I did start getting into Forever 21 over the past year. I really like the patterns on their fabrics, but.. I've noticed that basically everything I've bought from there is hand wash only.. and that is really frustrating to me. Almost everything at Charlotte Russe is pretty maintenance free, so I think I'll be frequenting there a lot more again

I've also gotten waaay more requests than I thought I would from my "mutual friending" thing in my last post.. it's gonna take me a while to go through all of these, sorry everyone so if you haven't heard from me, or you don't hear from me for a while, I'm sorry I'll try to go through all of it as soon as I can..

I ended up watching the first episode of the K-Drama "Lie to Me" on Netflix (yes, Netflix has k-dramas on streaming now o_O) with mystical_mayhem and fairydustedhope when we were gonna have a movie night a week and a half ago. To make a long story short, I finished the show today ;; it was.. actually really good, although dragged out a bit in the last 4 or 5 episodes. I was curious about it because I noticed that it starred Yoon Eun Hye (my favorite actress) which is why I clicked on it, but I never thought I would get sucked in the way that I did.. aiyaaa.. (or should I say, "aigoo" ) and it was a 2011 drama! I was amazed they had it on there..