AULA K2 - one handed gaming keyboard

#AULA #AULAK2 #GamingKeybooard #Unboxing #Review

 

Am taking a break from writing long reviews / comments about Asian dramas and have decided to do a quick and short review of the AULA K2 gaming keyboard.  Although this is a gaming keyboard, I actually got this for a different purpose since I don't PC game much at all.  The only PC game I own is Civilization VI which I got for free from a game giveaway but I don't actually play it on the PC, I actually play that on my Nintendo Switch.  My two desktops and my Surface Pro 7 are all meant for work and I don't game on them, not even Minesweeper. 😅

I own a Surface Pro 7 with the Surface Pen and sometimes I like to use it like a cheap version of the Cintiq but when I lay it almost flat on the kickstand, the Surface Pro Type Cover gets in the way.  However, I can't really remove it because I want to use keyboard hotkeys in Photoshop and other programmes.  So I started looking for cheap solutions.  Some people recommended using a programmable keyboard or a number keypad and software like HID Macros and someone else recommended a programmable one handed gaming keyboard in the video below.

The 1byone single hand keyboard that I could not find. :(

Unboxing ~ Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower [Limited Edition]

I actually received the #ufotable #fatestayhf box-set months and months ago but I didn't do an unboxing post then because there were just too many things happening in my life and there was so much OT at work it was virtually impossible to do anything outside of work.  At first I thought that I wouldn't do the unboxing since it's been too long but I have decided to do it for two reasons.  Firstly, the Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - II. Lost Butterfly will be screening soon so its seems appropriate.  Secondly, I keep getting distracted from my review of Sun Li's Happiness as Flowers (幸福像花儿一样) drama because Legend of Condor Heroes 2017 (射雕英雄传) is so much better than I expected that I can't concentrate on the review. Hahaha!!  So I decided to do something easier.  This will be one of those photo heavy unboxing posts and I won't be doing any reviews or commentaries on the anime film or on Kajiura Yuki's (梶浦由記) soundtrack this time.

This is a truly beautiful release.  Few do such beautiful packaging as Japanese companies.  I ordered this from CDJapan and as usual they packed it nicely.

Unboxing ~ #孙俪 #SunLi #遇见你陪伴你 Meet You Accompany You - book

Sun Li (#孫儷) recently released a book called《遇见你，陪伴你》(Meet You Accompany You).  It's a book about Sun Li's love for animals and her life with them.  I think it's mostly about dogs and a little bit about cats.  Sun Li really likes dogs it seems and has quite a few of them in her home.  I think at one point she had up to six dogs but I'm not sure.  I happen to watch an interview of it some time ago and I've forgotten the exact number.  I've also not really read this book because I really don't have the time to do it yet.  I've only read a few lines and paragraphs so I won't be giving any comments or summaries on what was written because I can't just yet.

#Kalafina ~ 9+one at Tokyo International Forum Hall A - bluray unboxing

Well, looks like I'll be getting pretty busy again.  So I think I should get this simple unboxing out of the way.  I had to wait a while to do this even though I was pretty excited about getting this on the day it was released in Japan. :)  However, I forgot that my TV is busted and I can't play the BD in my room.  So I had to wait till I had the opportunity to play it on the telly in the living room.

Ahhhhhhh... the first song is one of my favourite songs to hear at a live.  The first time I heard Samidare ga Sugita Koro ni live was at the 8th Anniversary Live at Tsutaya O-East.  I managed to get tickets for both days of the live and this song was really memorable.  I LOVED IT to bits.  Everyone was singing "la la la" with them in a small hall.  The atmosphere then was electric and really unforgettable for me.

#ヒグチアイ #HiguchiAi - #百六十度 Hyaku Rokujuu Dou ~ unboxing + comments

Sometime this year, someone introduced Higuchi Ai to me and gave me one of her albums as a gift.  I really liked the album and her music and wanted to write about her for some time.  But lots of things happened in my life this year and I've only really just gotten back into blogging again.  So before work ramps up again and before I'm ready to do the new Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki unboxings, I thought that I would write about her first.

Since this isn't about Kajiura Yuki or Kalafina, I've written it for Okonomikaki's which is a collaborative blog by a few friends and I.  I hope that you'll go over to the blog and check out the post and check out Higuchi Ai's music as well.  You might like it. :)  Here's the link to the unboxing post which also talks a little about the music on her third album and also gives a  little introduction to the singer-songwriter herself. CLICK ME.

#梶浦由記 #KajiuraYuki ~ Princess Principal Soundtrack - unboxing + comments

It looks like work will be ramping up again pretty soon so I'll better get going on the unboxing of "Princess Principal" Original Soundtrack: Sound of Foggy London as well.  The Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregotozukai Sound Collection and the Kalafina 9+one at Tokyo International Forum Hall A BD have shipped but since I didn't pick Fedex this time, the earliest it'll get to me will probably be nearer the end of this week.  So I need to try and get this unboxing out of the way as soon as I can.

First up photos of the release:

#Kalafina - Hyakka Ryouran - unboxing + comments

Actually this single was released in August and I received it that very week itself.  Normally, I would not wait so long to unbox a Kalafina single.  I usually do it almost immediately but I am SUPER late this time.  :(

I was in the middle of a major crunch at work in August and was working very long hours including weekends for days on end.  In some ways, the work was exciting but in some ways it was exhausting both physically and emotionally so I think I still have mixed feelings about it right now. Haha! :)

Although crunch has ended a few weeks ago, it's taken me that long to recover.  Basically, I just didn't want to do ANYTHING at all and that included blogging.  Yes, even a much delayed Kalafina single couldn't move me.  Funnily enough, it wasn't music that made me finally move my butt to get back to blogging. :P It was actually Japanese dramas that did it.  I decided that I was just going to watch dramas and no tutorials because my brain just didn't want to work.  And one of the dramas I watched was Code Blue Season 3.  OMG!!! I forgot how much I liked Toda Erika till I watched her again in Code Blue.  I completely loved her performance and her character, Hiyama sensei.  That set me on another one of my obsessive quests and this time it was to watch everything she had ever done.  Well, for starters I re-watched SPEC, Liar Game and Shotenin Michiru no Mi no Uebanashi. And it filled me with a HUGE desire to write about them.  BUT BUT BUT, I can't because I need to do my Kalafina Hyakka Ryouran unboxing first. :P

#Kalafina ~ so I finally bought a turntable :)

The first vinyl record that I ever bought in my life was also Kalafina's first vinyl record release.  If I remember correctly, it should be ring your bell.  Since then, I have faithfully bought every vinyl release, including the far on the water album release on vinyl as well.  But I never had the means to play it.

So finally, I took the plunge and bought a turntable approximately two weeks ago.  It's an entry level player and according to the reviews, does a pretty good job for the price.  I can't afford to go into the high-end stuff. It would be pointless of me to do so as well since my amplifier is 20 years old and my speakers are also 20 year old bookshelf speakers.  The equipment is good enough of course but the contacts need cleaning and the RCA cables probably need to be replaced etc.  If I got a high-end player, I would need to buy new equipment as well.  I don't really need another expensive hobby and I really rather save the money for trips to Kalafina's and Kajiura Yuki's lives.

The player I got was the Audio Technica AT LP604d USB.  Here are some unboxing photos.

#Kalafina ~ into the world / メルヒェン - unboxing

I'm listening to the single on loop as I write this unboxing post and I must say, I quite like this single. :)  It has many things that I like about Kalafina in the songs.  But first, let's do the unboxing and then I'll write a few of my thoughts  (postpone till another day) about the single. :)

#Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR 2016 - "Keiko produce" unboxing

While we wait for the release of Kalafina's 20th single into the world / Marchen, I thought I should try and get more of the unboxing posts done.  I have already taken photos of them, so I shouldn't waste the effort. :)  My shipment of all versions of the single is already "in shipping process" at CDJapan and I picked Fedex as usual.  So when that comes, I'll do that first before all other unboxings.

This will be a relatively simple unboxing because it is kind of late and I worked pretty late today so am kinda tired.  Hence, I will attempt to be less verbose, hard though it may be for me. :P

#Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR 2016 - goods unboxing - pound cake & fork set

As promised, here is the first of a series of unboxing posts I hope to make before the release of the Kalafina "into the world / メルヒェン" single on the 4th April.  Because when that arrives, I hope to unbox that as soon as possible.

Actually, the "Kalafina with Strings ~ Christmas Premium LIVE TOUR" took place last year in December.  So you're probably wondering why it took me so long to do this.  Well, it's because I wasn't able to go for that series of lives too.  So I asked a friend who was going if she would do me a HUGE favour and help me buy some goods.  I only just managed to meet up with her recently and only just got my hands on the goods. YAY!!!! :)

#KajiuraYuki #梶浦由記 ~ Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale OST - unboxing / comments

I'm going to do a quick unboxing and writeup of this album just to keep my momentum going.  It looks like I might be getting very busy again but I really don't want to disappear from my blog for so many weeks. So maybe quick unboxings will help me keep at it. :)

Hence, here we go.  Photos. :)

#Kalafina ~ Arena Live 2016 BD - unboxing

It's really been a while since I last blogged.  Been very busy and there were some issues in the office that I had to deal with which were a little emotionally draining.  Office politics really suck. :( But it's cool. I stood my ground and it's mostly resolved for now.   And to make things even better, Kalafina's latest BD release arrived at my doorstep today. :)

I know there are three copies in that photo above.  I could pretend that I am a crazy rabid fan but, hahahahaha, I'm not that crazy. :P  The other copies belong to two other friends.  We shared shipping on this so it'll save us some money. :)

Kalafina ~ Winter Acoustic "Kalafina with Strings" - unboxing / comments

#Kalafina 's Winter Acoustics "Kalafina with Strings" arrived in the mail today!!!!! :)  And it's LOVELY!!!!!  I know what I'll be looping on my player on my way to work tomorrow.

I can't even concentrate on writing this post because I keep stopping to really listen to the album as it plays.  Yup......  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!

Hahahaha... this album really showcases their harmony and Kajiura Yuki's abilities at Chorus Arrangement.  A lot of it is VERY pretty and Kajiura Yuki knows just how to arrange it so that each song brings out the best of each of the vocalists in Kalafina.  In my opinion, if you love Kalafina's harmony, it's hard not to at the very least like this album.

First though, all the photos of the unboxing of this album.

Kalafina Arena LIVE 2016 ~ Keiko produced

Much as I wanted to, I was unable to go to Kalafina's Budokan lives this year.  BUT that doesn't mean that my love for their lives and their music has diminished.  :)  Since I could not go to the lives, I decided to show support by buying their concert merchandise. =D

I asked some friends for help and they helped me pick up a bunch of stuff. :)  THANK YOU!!!  I bought more than I usually would. :P

As they often do, they had the utahime produced again.  Hikaru's was a pretty useful looking pouch and Wakana's was a very cute neck pillow which sold out really fast.  I really did want to get one of the utahime produced but I didn't really have the budget for all three so I decided to get the cheapest of the three. :)

Well....in terms of the amount of yen it's the "cheapest" I guess.  But in terms of value for money.... let's just say that I am well aware that no concert merch is ever value for money. :)

Anyway... enough of that. :)  Photos first. :)

Kalafina - blaze (Arslan Senki S2 ED) - unboxing

Here it is, the unboxing of #Kalafina 's "blaze". :)

It's been a while since I've done one of these so I kept forgetting to shoot certain photos.  Ah well, this is a pretty simple release, so there's enough here to give you a very good idea of what all of it looks like. :)

First up, photos.

Regular Edition

Kalafina ~ blaze (Arslan Senki S2 ED) - unboxing tease

YAY! #Kalafina 's blaze CDs and LP has reached me. :) :) :)

I've shot all the photos and aim to write my unboxing post tomorrow night, probably after 10pm Singapore time. :)

It's late now and I have a full day of work tomorrow which requires my full attention.  So I can't sleep too late.  So I'll just leave you with two teaser photos and also say that once again, I really like the b-side song. :)

Check in tomorrow... or rather later today... since it's already past 1:45am in Singapore. :P

Good night!! :)

FictionJunction Club Live Best 20 2016 ~ goods unboxing

The FictionJunction Club Live was a live I would have loved to have gone to. Kajiura Yuki + FictionJunction vocalists + Kalafina + FBM all performing the Top 20 songs that were voted in by fans, sounds really awesome, yah? :)  Unfortunately, I cannot fly to Japan twice in a month. I can't afford that and I was already committed to going to my friend's wedding in Japan at the end of March.  Hence, best I could do was Yuki Kajiura Vol.13 in Osaka on the 27th March. And I am grateful that the gods of music at least made it possible for me to attend one live during my upcoming trip. :)

Kalafina x Tanimura Shinji ~ Alcira no Hoshi - unboxing

アルシラの星 is Kalafina's newest song and is a collaboration with Tanimura Shinji ( 谷村新司) who is a veteran singer-songwriter.  They collaborated with spectacular success on an episode of Music Fair in 2015.  Well, at least I thought they sounded great together. :)

This is a very simple release.  There are two versions, the RE and the LE.  The RE just comes with one CD and the LE comes with a CD+DVD which contains the music video.

Ieiri Leo ~ Hello to the World - LE (TypeB) unboxing

And finally, the unboxing for Ieiri Leo's (家入レオ) "Hello to the World". :)  I had hoped to get to this last night so that I could do the FictionJunction Club Live goods and maybe some ufotable related post today but that never happened.  I came back and crashed out after dinner so I think those will have to wait a bit.  First, I'll do Ieiri's CD first. :)