My Christmas Present to me. :)

This is going to be a relatively short post because I spent most of my half day off at the wedding and with friends after that so I didn't really get started on my planned Japan Day 1 / Kalafina Museum / Kalafina After Eden Live Part 2 post till about 1 1/2 hours ago.  Unfortunately, I'm very verbose and although I have written quite a bit already, it'll still take a little while more before I complete writing it and uploading the photos etc.

Meanwhile, I really want to make a little note in my blog about a purchase I didn't think I should make but ended up making in the end.  After thinking about it for months, I finally decided to plunk some money down to buy myself a new pair of in-ear noise isolation headphones.  The headphones of my choice is the Creative Aurvana In-Ear3.  I used to own the first Aurvana which was a decent entry level in-ear earphones aimed at audiophiles.  What I liked about the Aurvana line was that they have so far all been very balanced earphones.  I prefer clarity and I don't like an over powering bass.

I, however, can be rather rough with my earphones and after I destroyed my first Aurvana, I decided to see if I could find a more sturdy earphone that gave me a similar performance.  So I got one of the ceramic Nakamichi earphones which had a really study housing but the connections weren't quite as sturdy and the nozzle is rather large and the ear tips kept slipping off and before long I was trying to find replacement tips after losing all the ones that came with the earphones.  After a while, I just got a little annoyed with it since it wasn't fitting in my ear properly so I wasn't getting enough noise isolation on it and because of that I was losing clarity too.  And although these phones were the most expensive ones I had gotten to date, it didn't sound that much better than my first Aurvana to me, hence, it was back to the Auvana line again for me.

After reading many reviews, click me, me, me... and because I've had good experiences with most of the Creative products that I have purchased previously, I decided to go back to what I was familiar with especially since there was also a SGD20 holiday discount at the brick and mortar store in Marina Square.

After test driving the earphones with some Kalafina music (flac compression on a Creative Zen X-fi Style without any software/hardware enhancements), I decided to go for it.  And I must say that after a day of using it, I am very pleased with my purchase.  The A3s are my favourite in-ear headphones to date.... they really sound extremely good.  Kajiura Yuki's music, FictionJunction, Kalafina, Utada Hikaru all sound wonderful to me.  I can hear Keiko quite nicely even in a song like Stone Cold where she's mainly in harmony and it's harder to pick her voice out.  And for some reason, symphonia sounds really good to me on this earphone, even without the more powerful bass some other earphones may give you, Keiko still comes across sounding quite powerful and the overall song sounds really epicly beautiful to me.  That said, the bass isn't going to wow anyone who wants and likes lots of bass but since I prefer more balance and clarity, I'm not bothered about it at all.  The noise isolation on the phones is quite exceptional and blocks out a lot of unwanted sound.  And although it looks a little awkward it is actually very comfortable to wear.  The design is also way better than the earlier Auvanas because I'm not really bothered by the sound of my own breathing and rustling of my clothes when I walk... of course it could also be possible that I'm so used to in-ears that I've learned to tune those sounds out. :)

I'm super happy with my present to myself. :)  Now, I just have to make sure I take better care of it. :p

K... time for bed... I'll continue working on my Japan / Kalafina After Eden Special Live post in the next two days and will hopefully have that up by the end of the week before Christmas.  My Christmas present to some of my friends. :)

Okay, that's it from me for now... good night everyone. :)

Japan Trip No 4 =D

Finally!!! I get to see
Kajiura Yuki live! :)

I decided to be crazy and asked Itsuko to get me a ticket to Kajiura Yuki LIVE Vol. 8 in March next year. :) I'm going to go to Japan again!!!! And this time... finally... I get to see Kajiura Yuki perform live. :) :)

My eyes are still bothering me. :(  This past week and the weekend has been crazy busy and I'm so tired... so tired that I don't even have enough energy to study for my Japanese test tomorrow or do my homework. But Itsuko just confirmed that I got the ticket and I'm so happy!!!! :)

Now I have to do some serious saving... I might travel quite a bit in the next year depending on schedules etc. Am excited now!!!!!

I'm on half day on Monday. Going to attend a friend's wedding... if I'm not too tired and my eyes aren't killing me... I will try and write my Kalafina After Eden Special Live - afterthought Part 2 post. :)

Now... need to drop eyedrops and rest my eyes again....but I'm happy... Kajiura Yuki Live... being in Japan again... how could I not be happy? :)

Red Moon

This evening, while on my way home with my niece and my mum, we saw a gloriously bright, orange and large moon low in the horizon.  Because we usually take the bus home, we've not been able to snap photos of moments like these on previous occasions.  So we stopped for a bit to take advantage of the rare opportunity to snap a shot of the moon amongst the cranes.

What I wasn't prepared for and didn't know was that this picturesque scene was actually just a little appetizer for the main course tonight.  Ignorant me had not been following the news and I had no idea that the last total lunar eclipse until 2014 would occur on the 10th Dec 2011 between approximately 10-11pm Singapore time.  Luckily, my sister sent me a text message and although I did see the message a little too late, I was still able to go down and view what would be my very first lunar eclipse and it was fantastic!!

I managed to catch the eclipse just a little before the total eclipse and continued watching it till after the total eclipse till it became a partial eclipse again. It was very, very, very cool and I shot a few crappy shots with my, of course less than adequate, Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. :)





partial eclipse, after the full eclipse

partial eclipse, aft. the full eclipse 2

What was kind of nice about this event, aside from the fact that I was viewing an eclipse for the very first time, was that Manami in Japan and several other Singaporean and Malaysian friends where also viewing the eclipse at the same time.  We were posting photos on FB and communicating with each other and really using social media as it was originally meant to be used.  We were using FB to come together and share with each other, not try and tear anyone apart, create conflict or force opinions on one another.  This shared experience was sort of moving for me and I enjoyed the fact that my friends, my family and I were able to enjoy a thing of beauty together tonight. :)

I think both my mum and I have yet to see a lunar eclipse till tonight.  My dad, however, has seen it before when he was a child.  He said that when he was a kid, during the moment when they were viewing the eclipse, he and his friends took out empty pails and started beating it to make noise. I asked him why and he told me that in the old days, when people didn't understand what an eclipse was, they thought that a creature was devouring the moon up and hence, they would make as much noise as possible to chase this creature away.  Of course when he was a child, they didn't really believe that any more but they were kids and any excuse to have fun and make noise was more than welcomed. :)

Red Moon - full eclipse, v grainy,
4x digital zoom

What I did find a tiny bit sad though was that while were we were watching the eclipse and marvelling at this beautiful natural phenomenon, people at a wedding celebration nearby didn't really care at all.  Seeing those these families and their children completely ignore the eclipse made me glad that before my little niece went home for the night, her parents and her took a little time out to view the eclipse and I was glad that I know that she would have viewed something uncommon and special at least once in her lifetime. :)

Lastly, before I go to bed... it would not do for a huge Kalafina / Kajiura Yuki fan not to mention RED MOON, both the album and the song since during a total lunar eclipse, the moon will take on a shade of red and just this alone should make any fan recall the song. :)  Sadly, my photos aren't able to represent the colours and how magical the moon looked tonight, luckily, a simple search on google should pull out several spectacular photos of the eclipse tonight. :)

Alrighty, that's it for now... I leave you guys with this... a youtube clip of the Kalafina Red Moon song sung live (not uploaded by me)... not sure how long it'll last on youtube... but here you go... enjoy...

Time to go drop the last dose of eye-drops for the day and hit the bed.  It's much better now... best I've felt it's been for a while so I'm somewhat relief and happy about it... but it's really late now and I don't want to push it.... good night and have a good weekend y'all. :)

Japan Trip - Kalafina After Eden Spec. Live - afterthoughts 1

I've been putting of posting this post for a while because of work and my continued slow recovery from my strange eye irritation problem.  Unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, I've still been unable to make a full recovery from this strange problem and tonight it's beginning to really annoy me again unfortunately, I'll have to make this post as quick as possible and may have to cut it short too. :( We'll see...

The Live on the 25th Nov was great... I really can't stress enough how much the four of us enjoyed it.  Last year, I attended the Live with Danielle who ended up enjoying it so much, she asked if we could come back again this year and so we did. :)  However, this year, Jessie also requested to come along.  And as usual, like last year when Danielle had no clue who Kalafina was, I worried about if Jessie would enjoy the concert of a vocal unit she knew virtually nothing about.  I was very happy that by the end of the Live, Jessie enjoyed it so much that if she had another opportunity to return for another Kalafina live, she would gladly do so again. :)

I'm convinced that there will be a dvd / blu-ray release. :)  This was a multi-camera shoot.  I don't know how many cameras there were.  I spotted at least two, one stationary and one moving on a rig but it's very possible there was at least one more camera on one of the higher balconies.  Anyway, I wasn't really paying attention to the cameras since really, if they were more interesting than the main act, then we have a really big problem. :)  Kalafina was easily more interesting than the cameras, so no problems there. :)  Also, the lighting design was more complex than I remember it to be at their previous lives, at least more so than I remembered it to be at the Lemon CC Hall last year and the Red Moon one on blu-ray and other bits and pieces from various sources.  The stage was also nicer and there was a lot more choreography than before.  And their costume changes were also nicer.  At an early part of the Live, they ripped off their long skirts to reveal shorter skirts and for the encore, they didn't appear in their concert t-shirts but re-appeared in another long dress. Seems to me like they were going all out to make this possible release a nice one.  I would of course definitely get it if it was released. :)

Okay... I think I'll have to cut it off for now... the eye irritation is making writing hard and I have to spend the whole day on the computer later today at work... I'm giving up for now.  But I will post up all the photos I shot of the Kalafina Paper which I picked up at the Live.  It has some nice photos and a good amount of text, all printed on nice enough paper.  It's called a paper I think because the sheets are all loose and are not held together by staples or any kind of binding... kind of newspaper style.

Here you go... enjoy. :)



p.s. once again not proof reading for now... need sleep.  Will fix any glaring errors another day. :)  Night :)

Christmas is coming

Here's a photo of the Christmas tree outside of Raffles City, opposite Chimes. I had to go and pick up a present for the office Secret Santa game this year. I didn't have to do it last year because the office party took place when I was in Japan. :)

I think i managed to find a pretty decent gift of the guy i m suppose to give the gift to so am quite happy about it. I really don't much like gift giving that much because i really am a bad gift buyer and am only good at buying toys. :p

It's back to earth today as i got another shot to work on in the afternoon. My heart and mind is still in Japan though and the bee in my bonnet is still buzzing ferociously. I actually checked the cost of plane tickets to Japan and once again i am unlucky in the sense that the march concerts take place during the march school hols in Singapore which means i automatically don't qualify for the cheaper rates on virtually all the airlines except the ones i really dislike flying on. :( Discount rates for April aren't out yet but the concert in Osaka is on Easter Sunday which means a long weekend and potentially more expensive tickets.

I don't know if i should be crazy and go to Japan again in March or April but i will need to decide soon.... So tempting.... And i have done crazier things. :)

i think i will need to decide by this weekend. whatever i decide doesn't change the fact that I will have to do some serious saving in the coming months. I think it is almost a certainty that I will travel to Japan again next year and hopefully for another concert, be it FictionJunction or Kalafina, depending on schedules and all. I am addicted... ever since I saw them last year in the Kagayaku Live, the desire to see them live again grows with each live i attend.

Oh.... It is almost my stop. time to post this and get ready to get off this train. :)

sick again :( ... japan withdrawal symptoms? :p

I'm sick again... it's frustrating.  In the last couple months, my overall health has taken a real beating and I've either been completely exhausted or ill half the time.

It really sucks because it means it hasn't been easy to concentrate at work and it's even harder to do anything constructive outside of work.  My Japanese homework has been the first to fall by the wayside... then blogging... even mobile blogging has been hard.

I was ill again before I left for Japan and just barely recovered, only to fall ill again on the second day I was in Japan and recovered enough to go to work on Thursday but ended the day feeling like complete crap and then finally saw the doctor again on Friday and took the day off from work.  I think I will need to make some major changes in my lifestyle to try and make a more complete recovery so I guess late night blogging is probably a really bad idea for a while. :p

Anyway... above is a photo of almost all the gachapon toys I bought in Japan.  Heh heh... Danielle, Jessie and I kind of went crazy and every time we saw a capsule toy machine we would want to just play it for fun.  If we had time to go to Gachapon Kaikan, I think we would have ended up with even more gachapons. :)  It was fun though and Danielle's luck at the gachapon machine is quite phenomenal... I ended up getting her to turn the knobs on more then one occasion. :)

I miss Japan... lots and lots actually.  Each time I return, the desire to go back there just keeps building in me till it becomes impossible not to go again.  Kajiura Yuki's latest Live is in Mar/Apr.  There will be two nights in Shibuya, Tokyo and one night in Osaka.  I'm toying with the idea of going to the one in Shibuya... but I'm not sure if I can still get tickets and if I do go... I will need to do some really serious saving up in the next two months.  But it is FictionJunction and there are 3 guest stars of which two are Itoh Eri and Tomaru Hanae... it's extremely tempting. :)  I have never seen FJ live which means I have yet to see Kajiura Yuki live and given that the biggest reasons for my Kalafina and FictionJuntion obsessions and the reasons for my 2 trips in 2 years to Tokyo is because of Kajiura Yuki's music... it almost seems sacrilegious not to at least go to one of the FJ Lives just to see her perform in person. :D

But we'll see... it generally fits better into my schedule to go later in the year, hence why most of my trips anywhere tend to take place later in the year... mostly from May onwards.  I have to think about this really seriously.

Anyway... I need to get off the computer again... my eye infection came back with a vengeance on Thursday... which makes it 3 times in 4 weeks... it's made me extremely tired and made me feel dizzy and given me a slight headache for most of the day... hence, I can't stay online for too long lately. :(

I have tons I would like to say and lots of photos I would like to put up about my 3rd Japan trip, about the Kalafina Live etc etc... but it'll all have to wait... this old bag of bones needs to go drop some eye drops and maybe take a nap. :)

That's it for now... later y'all. :)