Believe ♥

So, it seems to be the trend on vox to make a 'welcome' post, and I felt left out. Here we go...

My name... is of no consequence really, because my name does not define me. My likes (obsessions) are just one way to even begin to put a definition to the crazy, and they're pretty much all I ever talk about anyway.

Obsession # 1

Arashi

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This j-pop group was the first ever J-music I really listened to. They have always been my first real obsession with Japan and they will never be replaced in the top spot.
It all started when one of my besties made me sit down and watch Hana Yori Dango. I saw our dear Junjun-hime and was completely entranced. The theme song for the dorama was too cute and so I decided to look em up. 'Wish' was the first mv I saw (theme song: obvi) and from that moment on I was hooked. I was Jun-baited, but I consider Shochi my ichiban, even though I love them all for different reasons.


Obsession # 2

Big Bang

Big Bang <3

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Seung Ri::TOP::Tae Yang::Dae Sung:: G-Dragon

My friend tried to convince me that DBSK and Super Junior were better than Big Bang, and I wanted to beat her with a big stick. Luckily for her, she lives an hour away and we were talking on msn...
I'm not quite so far into this obsession yet, and I don't know the members' personalities as well as I know Arashi, but I've been an Arashi fan for a couple years and I've only been a Big Bang fan for a couple months. I don't think it'll take me long to get to know these boys.

Obsession # 3

DRAMAS!!! * ドラマ

Japanese and Korean Dramas are my favourite things to watch :D Among my most favourite titles are:
+ Hana Yori Dango - First drama I ever watched. My bestie insisted I watch it almost two years ago. Still makes me laugh, cry, and listen to Arashi for hours afterward every single time I watch it. Tsukasa luv <3
+ 1 Litre of Tears - Saddest, and possibly best drama I've ever seen. Made me cry at least 7 times. But it's so touching... plus Ryo makes it really hard not to love him in this drama, and Sawajiri Erika was brilliant in her role <3
+ Ryusei no Kizuna - Heehee Two JE boys for the price of one!! I bought the dvd set xD It's a really great, hilarious, dramatic, adorable drama... and OMG. Such a twist at the end!! Nino + Ryo + Erika = magic <3
+ Nobuta wo Produce - Hilarious... I saw it after I watched Stand Up!! with YamaPi and Hana Kimi with Horikita Maki, so I recognized a few familar faces and I loved the characters in this drama. Akira was deffo my fave <3 XD ahhh Kame.. *drool*
+ Hana Kimi - Recommended by the same friend who made me watch Hanadan, so I don't know why I didn't jump at the opportunity to watch it. I should have known that I would love it. It totally brightens up my day when I'm really stressed out. I bought the dvd set too, even though I had my suspicions about the subbing quality.... Episode 8 is my fave XD
+ Zettai Kareshi - Mizushima Hiro from Hana Kimi, so of course I had to check it out. Also, I'd read the manga Absolute Boyfriend and I loved it, so I was super excited for the drama. The storyline wasn't exaactly the same.. but it was close enough so I wasn't bothered. They made it their own, but still kept the original characters and such
+ Yamada Tarou Monogatari - Two of my favourite stormy boys, how could I resist? Really cute drama :3 Happiness is my all-time favourite Arashi song so of course... Air guitar + Happiness = perfect opening :D
+ Maou - Omg... Epic. This was the first drama that I watched that wasn't all fluffy and light and cute... it was twisted, and intelligent, and dark, and I loved it! >:D Brilliant acting on behalf of Toma-chan and Riida... the end made me cry though.. so sad. T-T
+ Goong (aka Princess Hours) - Pretty damn awesome :D It's almost like a period drama set in the present :D It's about the politics of the royal family in Korea, and it's hilarious, adorable, and a great first impression for the world of Korean dramas XD. It's so long though! 24 episodes! :P
+ The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince - Amazing <3 One of my favourite drama scenarios, very Hana Kimi-esque. Girl pretends to be a boy. Boy falls for girl, and starts to think he's gay XD Overall, cuteness and hilarity rules the screen and the product is one amazing drama. Watch it. And then watch Big Bang's parody: "Coffee Bangs Five" XD

Okayyy... sooooooo yeah. Let's throw in some Random Japanese :D
一らっしゃいませ！　
私のペンネームはキョウキですね。　よろしくおねがいします！

Heehee, the date I am using to keep this post up top is my 25th birthday :P But just for the record, today is actually October 2nd 2008....
*edit on Jan 28th/09*

Mysoju. Is a godsend. It is the most amazing, miraculous, saviour-of-my-sanity, that I have ever come across in my short 20 years. Okay, so maybe I am just basking in the glow of my new discovery, and am (extremely) over-exaggerating... nevertheless

I <3 Mysoju.com

The only setback is that they are only streaming, and I cannot download them. But that is no matter, since we upgraded our internet and I can actually watch streaming video without having to wait an hour for it to load first.

Therefore, my mysoju list is as follows:

Japanese:
+ Proposal Daisakusen // Yamashita Tomohisa
+ finish Yoiko no Mikata // Sakurai Sho
+ finish Attention Please // Ueto Aya, Nishikido Ryo
+ finish Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo suru // Matsumoto Jun
+ finish Kurosagi // Yamashita Tomohisa, Horikita Maki
+ finish First Kiss // Inoue Mao
+ Myu no Anyo Papa ni Ageru // Matsumoto Jun, Karina

Korean:
+ S Diary // Gong Yoo
+ Mawang // Joo Ji Hoon

Heehee... the Japanese list is totally pwning the Korean list right now.... sigh. someone else from Big Bang needs to be in a drama ><

That's about it for now. Oyasumi minna <3 ^ ^v
EDIT: May 19/09

Damn... it's been a while..

Haven't voxed in Forevaaa... </3 That shouldn't be happening...

Really, the only reson I'm here is (sorry vox) because of two things.

1) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was the best movie of my life.

2) Arashi is releasing a new compilation CD.

Let's get started ^^

1) HP+HBP was AMAZING. For those of you that haven't seen the movie yet, I won't spoil anything, except to say that I saw the midnight showing and.. wow. Amazing. Best of the 6. BEST of the 6. Hands down. Whoever wants to discuss it in depth or just fangirl about how Draco needs a hug and Ron needs to stop eating potion-filled chocolates.... PM me PLEEEEZE <3

2) All the Best! is going to be their 3rd compilation CD spanning over their entire 10 year run. I'm sure most of you will know this by now... just thought to announce it. August 19th people! Pre-order ASAP yo. <3 **EXCITEMENT**!!! ><

Okay, that's all that's interesting in my life. Later peoplezzzz.

Two songs I've been obsessed with lately.. Well... two of many...

Girls' Generation: Gee

Big Bang ft. 2NE1: Lollipop

Enjoy ^ ^v ☆　

It was so goooood!!!

I don't know why... but I seem to be drawn to the sort of dramas, wherein the main character has some sort of physical, medical condition, and yet inspires thousands of people. (ie: 1 litre)

They make me happy. And usualy sad, for part of it. But that's okay.

Door To Door is based on the life of American salesman Bill Porter. His struggle to be a self-sufficient working man with Cerebral Palsy is portrayed brilliantly by Ninomiya Kazunari as Kurasawa Hideo, in the Japanese version of this true story.

As usual, Nino's acting is just.. amazing. I think it takes something else to play a character with that kind of physical disability, and maintain that sort of stance throughout the entire drama... But Nino pulls it off with seemingly effortless ease. さっすが、ニノさん！！☆

BoA: The First Album

Bought it on an impulse. I was shopping at HMV for my brother's birthday, and I remembered that BoA's american debut cd was out, so I thought I'd check. Didn't actually expect it to be there, but it was!! So I bought it xD All the songs are upbeat and catchy and just the kind of music I prefer to listen to. I haven't really been a huge fan of BoA, but I liked every single track on this CD, so it was a really good buy at $14.99 ^ ^v

Tracklist: (* denotes favorites)

1) I Did It For Love
2) Energize
3) Did Ya*
4) Look Who's Talking*
5) Eat You Up*
6) Obsessed
7) Touched*
8) Scream*
9) Girls On Top
10) Dress Off
11) Hypnotic Dancefloor

Review:

"I Did It For Love"
     Catchy beat, could see it being played a million times on the radio. Not that exciting though....

"Energize"
     Perfect beat for walking. Good energy, good pace.

"Did Ya"
     LOVE this song. Totally addicted. One of four that have play counts in the triple digits. It's spunky xD. Love
     that "too damn bad" attitude in the lyrics.

"Look Who's Talking"
     "Damn right it's all about me." 'Nuff said. This song rocks.

"Eat You Up"
     This song has been out for a while... it was the song that introduced me to BoA and I played it a million times... It
     was a great song to break out with in the american music scene.

"Obsessed"
     Good beat, like all the others have. Also, I can relate to obsession xD... except for the "could get arrested" part....
     >_>

"Touched"
     I like this one too. For some reason it stood out for me. Maybe it was the slightly creepy 'music box-esque' tinkling
     at the beginning and end...  I love subtlely creepy things...

"Scream"
     Another "subtlely creepy" things xD This one attracted me initially because of the lyrics... seems a tad sadistic
     and vampiric... but maybe that's just because I've been on a Twilight splurge lately. Like all the songs, has a great
     beat. Inspired a random desktop (which of course was done in Paint -- with a screencap from her "Eat You Up"
     MV) Might post that as well.

"Girls On Top"
     This one was okay. Didn't really grab my attention. But it nonetheless is a good song for exercising.

"Dress Off"
     When I saw the title at first I thought "What, a dressing competition?" and then of course I heard the song and my
     original assumption was proven wrong. Very wrong. But it's a good song ^^

"Hypnotic Dancefloor"
     Really like the beat and the musical aspect of it. The lyrics are meh, but the music makes up for that.

The whole album is good for exercising XD. I'm glad I found it. Kinda suprised that there were no ballads on this album, or even anything without a baseline... but that's okay. Most of the slow songs I like are from Arashi, anyway >_>
Her accent is barely detectable. Every now and then it comes through, but every word is completely comprehensible. I am definitely going to be playing this one in my car. A lot.

My first ever youtube vid xD I chopped a couple of clips from the 20080824 episode of Oshareism with Sho-kun and did a bit of subbing and posted it ^^
I'm so happy, I already have comments, and ratings, and like 80-something views xD

Anyway, it's a really cute clip, so if you haven't seen it, please watch ^^ It's Sho-kun at the height of cuteness <3

A similar version of this was already on youtube, but the fascist Arashi-content-sweepers got it deleted... so I decided to find the episode, download it, chop it and then sub it for everyone else who hasn't seen it... but mostly for my own benefit XD

Hope you enjoy it,
Oyasumi ^^v

If you were sent to prison for an undefined amount of time, what would you miss most?
Sponsored by “Inside Guantanamo” on National Geographic Channel. Premieres Sunday at 9P et/pt.

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My family and friends... my laptop... and Arashi.

WARNING *** EXTREMELY LONG RANT AHEAD :: PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Soooooo.... my life is over. I haven't completed a single semester without failing at least one course. I've failed english 1100 twice, once first semester, and then again second semester because I only went to class for the first few weeks. I failed Introductory Algebra. And not for a lack of ability to do the material, I'd just rather watch dramas than do math homework. This semester, however... I'm going to fail two of the three classes I'm taking. The third class, the one I'm going to ace, is Japanese. That's where all my attention is going. I have no interest in Anthropology or Computer Science... and therefore, I skip class. When I skip class, I feel guilty about skipping class, and then I don't want to go back. But I also can't convince myself that I need these grades. That I need to pass, and not fail and be put on academic probation. Now, here are three reasons that have led to me realizing that I need to change:

1) My parents: They know about the first time I failed English. No way in hell can I ever tell them that I have failed/am going to fail 4 more classes since then. They would either murder me/kick me out/keep on my ass about my homework for the rest of my life and ban me from TV/Internet/Leaving the house in general... Hence, I have lied. And intend to lie about this semester too, because I don't want to die/be homeless/die. But what if they ask to see my grades? They've been asking me a lot about school lately, and I fear that they are starting to get suspicious.

2) I hate lying. The whole guilty conscience thing. What is more, I suck at it. Sure for little things like "my class got cancelled again" or "I slept in and missed my bus" I can do it, but "Oh yeah, I passed all my classes!" is a lot harder than just saying the words.

3) My friends are getting on my case. My bestie is totally disappointed in me, which is worse that it may seem. She's been my best friend for like 7 years, and she knows when something isn't right. She's also the only person I really talk to about this stuff. She's said that I need to see the career counsellor at my school, and I know that I should too, because I am having a really hard time trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, but as always, I am incredibly lazy and would rather watch dramas.

Japanese, Arashi, and dramas are my life. They are what keeps me going day in and day out. I don't know what my life would be like without them. For one, if I never knew about Arashi, I would never have taken Japanese, and I would not have that one class that I always ace. The only goal I have for my life is to go to Japan. (The sub-goal for that is to see an Arashi concert ^^)

Anyway, here is a summary of the sad state my life is in:
I'm a failure at university life, I am perpetually single, and my life revolves around 5 japanese boys I have never met. I am sitting in my pajamas on the couch, on my parents' laptop watching cartoons at 2:45 in the afternoon. I'm stuck in a job that I hate, but can't seem to leave, and I don't have the drive or resolve to get off the damn couch and look for a better job or book an appointment with my career counsellor. I keep my thoughts and notions in a journal that lives under my pillow so I can write something down at any time. Especially if I can't sleep because I'm having an anxiety attack, or if I can't shut my brain off.

I'm going to stop blogging now, because even I'm getting sick of talking about me.

Dakara, gomen ne minna ^...^" and sayounara.

If money didn't matter, what job would you most like to have?
Submitted by Rainbird.

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Fansubber. Or an actual movie subber... something that would allow me to utilize my language skills.