Well, I've finally finished "Wicked"! I'd originally wanted to finish reading it before going with Connor and Jiaxin to watch the musical in December, but sadly, I got distracted by a lot of other reading material during that time and didn't finish it by then. Only got halfway through. Really, quite literally. My bookmark was stuck in the very middle of the book in late Dec.

But anyway, it's finished now!

1. Wicked by Gergory Maguire, completed on 28th January 2012.
(Trivia: Ever wonder how the main protagonist in the book, Elphaba, came by her name? She was named as such for the author of "The Wizard of Oz", Lyman Frank Baum, whose initials are L.F.B.; El-Fa-Ba. ^-^ )

Connor has also since enlightened me that "Wicked" is actually only the first of a series of four books. If nothing else, this provides me with more reading material to hunt down and add to my bookshelf and this list of one hundred books. I really do need more shelves.

Book number 4 for the year shall thus be:

4. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Fitting, innit? Book number 4, number 4, y'know? :D

I bought it on a bit of a lark, really; I saw my cousin watching the movie on his computer, and it seemed quite a cliched thing, but then I heard that the book was really much better than the movie. So since I had vouchers for Page One which were already over a year old around the middle of last year, I decided to see what was there and I happened to see it.

So, since I had vouchers, I figured I wasn't technically paying for it, and decided to give it a shot. :)

More pretty-boy blogposts with funny faces for titles... I wonder if he's ever reused any "faces" or if he will reuse them, if he hasn't already....

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2012年01月22日

 

今日は、明日の撮影のために、美容室行って、カラーとちょびっとカットもしてきましたよ〜☆

カラーは、ちょっと色が抜けてきてたので、被せに行ってきました！！今回もマットとベージュを基本に色々混ぜてもらって、いい色になりました☆

若干暗くはなったかな！！

カットも結構伸びてたので、スッキリしてもらいました！！

基本あんまりカラーもカットも変わってないけど（笑）

そして、今から友達の誕生会☆

ホンマに誕生日プレゼントって迷うわ〜(>_<)

みんな、プレゼント買う時どうやって決めてる？？

あ〜！難しい（笑）

よし、今から楽しんで、明日に向けて、いつもより早めに寝よう☆

じゃ、bye bye☆

投稿者:與真司郎

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Good lord. That picture of himself makes him look like a 12-year-old.

But oh, it's so CUTE. *squeee.* XD

Almost forgot to mention that I'd finished "Alice in Wonderland" (and "Through the Looking Glass", included in the same book) tonight. :)

Weiquan says that it's actually a very dark book - I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case; sometimes children's books do have grim themes hidden in all that happy language - but I haven't been reading too much into it. I do find, however, that the prose is very oddly lyrical in some way. It just... flows. I can't think of any other word to describe it, but it does read a bit like a very long poem. Although the meter might be a little odd at times, but the prose really is very flowing and lovely. :)

So:

2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (which, if you didn't know, is really a pseudonym for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was completed on 16th January.

Book number 3 for the year shall be:
After the Quake by Murakami Haruki

Shin-chan's newest blogpost. Good grief, this is a wordy one.

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2012年01月15日

 

こんばんは〜☆

もう今年入って三回目のblog！！

はやっ！！

毎回数えてしまう（笑）

(No, Shin-chan, please don't count your blogposts...)

ってか、寒いよ〜！！家も寒すぎて、嫌いな暖房をちょっとつけては、消しての繰り返し！！

でも、できるだけつけたくないから、めっちゃ着込んでる（笑）

(I kind of understand that.... being warm in winter is nice, but heating just makes the room have this muggy sort of feeling that I can't stand.)

みんな、風邪はひいてない？？

俺は今のところvery fine！！（笑）

正月の休みをもらってて、大好きな海外に行ってきました☆

今回はロンドン！！

友達もロンドンにいっぱいいて、色んなところに連れてってもらいました！もちろん、一人でも色々行ったけど☆

それにしても、街も人もみんなオシャレ！いちいちオシャレ（笑）

(Only he would get so excited over the way people on the street are dressed... lol.)

どこで写真を撮っても絵になる！！

(Honestly, I think that's more true about Japan; maybe Kyoto - and that's his hometown!! - specifically. Lol. Must be a case of the grass being greener on the other side.)

ロンドンで、またまた色んな夢ができ、帰ってきました！！

自分にとって、海外にいくことは、勉強でもあるので、色んなことを学んで帰ってきました！

(...and only he would make a holiday sound like some student exchange trip...)

ファッションについても、また燃えてきた（笑）

よし！夢が叶うように、がんばらないと！！

ビンテージショップにもいっぱい行って、服とか買っちゃった〜！！

今日の写真は、俺の一眼レフカメラで撮った、Camdenって言う街と俺！休憩中に友達が撮ってくれた一枚！！

(Holy cow, he was in Camden...??! Damn, I was staying there with my sister when we went to London in Dec 2009.)

写真めっちゃ撮りまくったから、またblogや色んなところで見せるな☆

あと、3月7日に前川紘毅のシングルにfeaturingとして参加することになりました！！作詞もさせていただきました！！

(...!!! Really! Another collaboration with Maekawa Hiroki! And Shin-chan writes song lyrics! (*o*) )

初めてやったけど、ストレートな歌詞なので、曲とともに聞いて、何か感じてもらえたらいいなって思います！！

(Hmm, yeah, I think that straightforward lyrics suit him. Doesn't seem like he'd be the type to write flowery, poetic things.)

PVもロンドンから帰ってきて撮ったよ！お楽しみに！

また詳しいことは後々発表します！

じゃまた来週！

投稿者:與真司郎

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He just surprises at almost every turn; right about when the fan community seems to be getting excited over Nishi starting his own solo projects like Naoya and Hidaka (I honestly have no idea where that news comes from, though), he comes out of nowhere to announce that he's writing song lyrics. Unbelievable. LOL. But this should be fun.

Another Shinjiro blogpost, the second of the year!
Okay, yes, the first week of the year *did* pass kinda fast, but I don't get why he's already worried about 2013 coming too soon... 無駄な事はしないよ、真ちゃん。。。(-_-)

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(。・∀・。)ノ

2012年01月08日

みなさん、良いお正月は過ごせましたか〜？？

俺は、最高に良いお正月を過ごしました☆

でも、正月ってなんでこんなに、落ち着くんかなぁ〜？？（笑）

ってか、もう2012年入って、一週間ったぁ〜！！

早い早い早い〜！！

このままやと、すぐ2013年になってしまう！

今年は、一日一日無駄のない人生を送りたい☆

ちょっとした目標（笑）

もう学校や仕事は始まってるかな？

みんな、がんばろうぜ〜！！

今日は、レコード大賞の時の写真を載せます！！

全身がこれ！！

軽い、トレンチコートにしてもらったよ！！で、シャツにベストに、ブーツはもちろんロングブーツ（笑）

そして、髪型はこれ！

じゃまた来週！！

投稿者:與真司郎

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Another pretty outfit, this one from their 53rd Japan Record Awards performance!

I remember he was asking for opinions on Twitter the night before on how he should style his hair. Hahaha.

One hundred books in a year.

Literature fans, bookworms and reading enthusiasts in general, any one of you who is a lover of the printed word, clicky over HERE!

This is the blog of a dad who aspires to read one hundred books in this year (2012) alone, and by so doing, setting a good example for his kids, and giving to charity at the same time (if he accomplishes his goal, he'll donate $1 for every book read to a reading-related charity; if he doesn't accomplish it, it'll be $3 for every book he's read).

Do support him by commenting and giving him some recommendations as to what to read.

And then, start your own list, okay? :)

Here's mine for now:
1. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
2. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Just had my first Intermediate-3 lesson this evening.

It was a really small class; just Philyn, Kai and me, plus one student from another class, who was taking a make-up session. Terry and Trena are still away on their respective holidays, and Germaine didn't come for class.

So, just four people, but it was fun!

It's really a whole different level though. More kanji in our written text, and Yamamoto-sensei was writing a lot of kanji for us on the board. Or maybe that was just because there were only four of us today, so he entertained a lot of questions that we had. He *did* say, "Please ask a lot of questions", after all. :D

It's kind of nostalgic. My Intermediate lessons are in classroom C, which is the same classroom where I started with Elementary-1.

Around this time last year (mid-February, I think) I was halfway through Elementary-1, and when class was over, I saw a group of students leaving their class as well. When it's the first day of a class, the teacher always hangs a small sign outside which says, "New Class!!" with the class level below it.

On that day, when I was an Elementary-1 student, it was an Intermediate-3 class which I saw leaving their classroom. And I thought, "Whoa, Intermediate-3." It seemed so high-level then.

And here I am now. :)

去年二月、私はまだ Ele-1 の生徒ですよ。
今年もう Int-3 レベルになってきました。
早いのに、すごく楽しみです。
今年もう頑張ります！

Happy New Year! 新年快乐！Selamat Tahun Baru! 明けましておめでとう！
(Unfortunately, I'm not so sure how it should be said in French. :p)

Stayed up late coz of Japan's Kouhaku Utagassen. Unfortunately, I don't know where you can watch it online or anything like that, but I knew that someone on the lovely fan community that I'm part of was bound to upload a copy of AAA's performance fairly quickly. XD

And I was right! Their outfits were all so pretty this year as well! :D

But unfortunately, the White team (which they were on) didn't get their seventh consecutive win this year; Red won, after seven years. I blame AKB48 and the two K-pop girl bands who were on the Red team this year. I thought there was Lady Gaga too actually, since I saw some articles about it, but apparently she wasn't there.

Not even the presence of the revived Tohoshinki could save the White team, it seems. Maybe it was coz they've lost three of their original five members.

But their team not winning on Kouhaku didn't matter all that much to me really; Kouhaku is really much more like a singing show rather than much of a competition to me.

It was AAA's loss at the 53rd Japan Record Awards the day before (30th Dec) which really pissed me off.

Every other nominee for Best Song deserved to win more than AKB48 did. Everyone who knows me well enough probably already knows how much I hate AKB48 - really, they probably win all those popularity-type contests purely because of their numbers. With 48 members, all you need is for each one of them to appeal to a different fetish and you instantly have thousands of fans. And their singing irritates me. They sing like a substandard choir; you can't really tell apart individual voices, and in large groups, everyone sounds like they can sing passably enough, even if they can't. Honestly, I have no idea what the hell the judges this year were thinking - or if they were even thinking at all.

But enough about that, let's not start the new year on such a terrible note by talking about such annoying things.

Shinjiro gets first blogpost of the year because it's a Sunday!

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［ ゜● ゜］

2012年01月01日

明けましておめでとうございます☆

2012年の初blogが俺とか、なんか緊張する〜（笑）

今年は、年男やから、なんかいいことあるかなぁ〜？（笑）

(Yeah, it's "his" year and everything, since it's the Dragon year this year. But someone once told me that there's some Chinese belief that "your" year will never be a very good year for you... or something like that. Hmm.)

ってか、みなさん、レコード大賞と紅白歌合戦は見てくれたかなぁ〜？？

ホンマに、あんな素晴らしいステージで歌えたこと、パフォーマンスできたこと、改めて、ファンのみなさんに感謝です！ありがとうございます！！

今年も、がんばりますので、是非応援してください(^O^)

みんなどんな正月を過ごす予定ですか〜？？

俺は、ちょっくら、あるところへ行ってきます☆

楽しみ〜！！！

みなさん、良いお正月を過ごしてくださいね〜☆

今日の写真は、紅白歌合戦の時のです！それにしても、緊張した〜(>_<)でも、いい緊張感だったので、楽しくやることができました！！来年もでれるように、七人力を合わせて、がんばろう！！まずは、ツアーを一つ一つ大事に回りたい☆

来週は、レコード大賞の時のやつを載せますね！！

では、改めて楽しいお正月を！！

投稿者:與真司郎

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Oh, the pictures. His lovely outfit from their Kouhaku performance. Good lord. Shinjiro. Why SO CUTE. *dies*  XD

I especially like the subtle sparkles on his jacket. The dark blue velvet material is very pretty. :)