Is Masha getting married?

Siew Chin msn during lunch and said she heard that Masha is getting married. I replied "I have heard this since few years back." ^.^

Frankly speaking, I will feel happy for Masha if he gets married and live happily with his wife and children.

Masha has a bad relationship with his dad when he was young. His dad passed away when he was in his teens. Masha talked about his dad in one TV programme last April, during the promotion of Tokyo Tower movie. It was the first time I saw him talking about his dad. He was in deep thoughts when he was asked to describe his dad. It was rather sad to see his expression. I think probably Masha would definitely not want his own children to have the same experience as him.

Exotic Dance

I attended my first Exotic dance lesson yesterday.

Basically the moves for the dance is simple but sensational. It's very challenging for me!!! I really cannot imagine why I signed up for this 8 week course. Why do I take up the dance? Because I want to learn other types of dances and hopefully it will help in my hip hop. Exotic dance will help in girls hip hop. I hate girls hip hop, I hate being sensational and sexy.... ><

Sheena told me something like if I dance (hip hop) too long, I may lost the sensational feeling. And this is why I have taken up Exotic dance. I have to challenge myself and improve my dance skills.

日本酒

I love to drink 日本酒.

Whenever I am in Japan, I will drink everynight. Be it 日本酒 or beer. I drink beer is to make myself cooler, as I will eat heaty food there. 日本酒 is different. I enjoyed drinking it at night, after one long day of shopping/moving around. It makes me feel so relax.

I prefer to take Japan Airlines because they serve 日本酒. I still remember there was once I asked for 日本酒 from the air-stewardess, she was stunned. Hehe.. I asked Su about this and he told me that not many females, especially foreigners like 日本酒.

There were times when I drink 日本酒 and beer, one after another. The alcohol level for 日本酒 is normally above 13% but I don't get drunk. There was only once I got hangover as I drank 日本酒 (about 15% alcohol level) and beer (about 7% alocohol level) very fast on the night before. That was the night at Toyama, when I need to depart for Tokyo the next day and I cannot carry the 日本酒 and beer along.

The feeling of hangover is terrible. I just feel like vomitting the whole morning. It's a good experience. A lesson learnt on not to drink too fast in future.

Perina said I am a 酒鬼 because I drink every night. I disagree. I drink everynight in Singapore too, be it a little bit of red wine (I don't like red wine!) or Choya. It's to make myself sleep better and relax my body. I do admit that I love to drink but not excessive.

Step Up 2 The Streets

Step Up 2 The Streets will be in theatres on 13 March!!!

Step Up was released in November 2006. The message from Step Up was "Every second chance begins with a first step." The movie gave a positive message and I really love it and the dancing scenes.

The cast and story for Step Up 2 The Streets are different from Step Up. I look forward to watching this movie.

The OST for Step UP was good and the songs from the OST were widely used. Be it in commercial or dancing classes. Needless to say, I bought the OST for Step UP 2. The songs are getting popular. Pat has been playing these songs ever since the last few classes. ^.^

Intermediate/Advance Hip Hop - Third Lesson

The song used at class was Picture Perfect by Chris Brown.

We learnt 9 eights again yesterday - first 3 eights choreo from the class at Dance Arts and 6 eights from Danz People. We learnt the latter 6 eights first than first 3 eights because latter 6 eights were much difficult.

The class was fun and there were laughters. I had a great time in class and forgot the troubles and unhappiness I faced at work yesterday. Dance is fantastic!!!

Pat is going to LA for dance lessons from 28 Feb to 14 Mar. Thus the class has to stopped. Hope he has a fun time there and he promised that he will teach us what he learnt when he comes back. Looking forward to it!

最近買ったのCD

Kobukuro
SoulJa
WaT

These are the 3 CDs that I bought at one go recently:

1) コブクロ(Kobukuro) ~ 5296
I like Kobukuro’s songs. Their songs are always so peaceful and quiet. Its kind of like folk songs. Kobukuro is made up of 2 guys – 小渕健太朗（Kobuchi Kentaro）and 黒田俊介(Kuroda Syunsuke). The name Kobukuro comes from their surname Kobuchi and Kuroda. They started out in streets live at Osaka and finally made their fame 2 years back. Most of the songs are composed by 小渕さん．The song I like most in this album is蕾 (つぼみ), which is the theme song for the drama Tokyo Tower. 小渕さん wrote this song for his mother who has passed away 9 years back. The lyrics are touching and can feel that he really loves his mother.

Why they named this album 5296? Because 52= year they are born (昭和52 = 1977), 9 = Kokuburo was formed for 9 years, 6 = this is their 6th album


2) SoulJa ~ Spriits
I noticed SoulJa from Oricon Magazine in Sept 07. The cover of his album caught my attention. It was an advertisement for his single ここにいるよ feat. 青山テルマ. I was wondering is this SoulJa, who is on the cover. He looks like a Eurasian. This song ここにいるよ is so popular in Japan now. I bought his first album Spirits because I am interested to find out his songs. Most of his songs are composed by him and he sings and raps in the songs. There are hip hop, latin and sentimental styles. SoulJa’s mum is a Belgium and dad is a Japanese. He has stayed in Belgium, America and Japan when he was young. His music shows his background and very different from the typical Japanese singers/composers.


3) WaT ~ WaT collection
Rus lent me this album and I bought it because it’s WaT’s collection. Just want to keep the CD. WaT’s songs are kind of influenced by Kobukuro (Teppei likes Kobukuro) but their styles are different. The name WaT originated from ウインツ瑛士 (Wentz Eiji) and 小池徹平 (Teppei Koike). Both are talented and compose good music. However, the setback is their voices. But still, I support them, though I don’t buy their singles.

Danz People Open House

I went for Danz People Open House last Saturday. My purpose is to try free trials and also take photos. Patrick give me the permission to be his photographer for the Open House and it also gives me the chance to practice my skills.

It was the first time I took photos for event and dance. It was a challenge. The dance studios were small and could be crowded, lightings not ideal. I cannot control the environment. I have to use flash to freeze the dance movements and apply appropriate settings when taking photos. It was tiring but fun. I have the access to walk into the studios and took any photos I like. ^.^

Frankly speaking, my works are disappointing. But it is alright, to me, it is the experience that I obtained. I hope Patrick can use at least one photo for the website.

I tried the Lyrical Hip Hop, Advance Hip Hop and Reggae Hip Hop. It was alright. I did not enjoyed it that much as the classes were too crowded and I was not concentrating. My mind was at taking photos - how to take good photos for this event.

Intermediate/Advance Hip Hop - Second Lesson

The participants yesterday night was lesser than the week before. Patrick taught us in slower pace. Justis and Rashidah were there... Oh gosh, imagine I attended the same class as my dance instructors!

We did 6 eights from one of the song from "Step Up 2 The Streets" (Yes!!! Step Up 2 will be in cinema in March!!!) I did a better job than last week. Managed to catch most of the steps except for last eights. However, there is still much room for improvement. I cannot believe I did about 9 eights choreo though...

I enjoyed the class so much that I kept on thinking about the choreo and can't get to sleep! I managed to catch my sleep at about 2am, but kept on waking up... sleepy now

Santana

I attended Satana's concert at Indoor Stadium on 18 Feb.

I am not a Santana fan, know nothing about his songs and yet I decided to attend his concert. Reasons being I knew he is one of Ryuichi's favorite musician and Santana is one of the greatest guitarist in the world. I want to see how good his guitar skills are.

There were times that my goose pimples popped up when he strummed his guitar. He is so good! He knows when to have a break, when to start strumming his guitar, without seeing any scores! His band is so so good too. They really enjoyed themselves on stage.

But the thing is I don't enjoyed that much watching Santana strummed the guitar as compared to Masha. Probably it's because I like Masha and the way Masha played guitar is so sexy.

The concert started around 8.20pm and ended 11.05pm. I think it is one of the longest concert, or if not the longest concert I watched at Indoor so far.

White - 玉木宏

I finally read 玉木宏 's first personal book [White]. I bought the book from Japan Yahoo Auction in 2005...

There are not much words as compared to a novel. Tamaki likes to use long sentences. It seems to me that he is a person who likes to think deep in his thoughts. Tamaki seems mysterious to me and it is hard for me to read his character from his TV interviews. One thing for sure is that he seems to have his own pace and kind of live in his own world. I am quite sure of this after I read [White] and know that he is a loner since young..

Tamaki did not mentioned too much about his feelings in this book. I guess he is one who likes to keep his feelings to himself.

I like to read such books written by artists. It makes me understand the artists better... Oh gosh, I need to start reading Masha's book which I bought in 2005. Haiz...

NUS Hip Hop Night 2008

I attended NUS Hip Hop Night last Friday, 15 Feb at UCC. This was my third year attending the event.

There were about 9 teams in this competition. Each team consists of 2 persons. This year is duet competition. The number of teams is not as many as compared to previous years as this year Hip Hop Night clashes with Chingay. Most of Pat’s students were involved in the Chingay.

Zaihar and Taufik formed one of the teams. Both were from “Styles from Beyond” in the Dance Floor. The rest are all new faces. This is a good sign. It’s good to see new faces in the dance scene.

6 shortlisted teams were asked to learn new 4 ‘eights’ choreo on the spot. The 2 choreo for the selection were difficult, especially the second one. There are so many ‘and’ count. Adil and the other gal (both host of the event) did the demo. I can see Adil’s perspired and his sweat dripped from his head. I was seated at the centre of the third row. So I could see the expression and dance so clearly. It was really exciting to sit in front.

Zaihar forgot the step of the choreo and his team still managed to get in the final battle as all the teams were given a second chance to perform the choreo. I guess without Zaihar, the competition would not be so nice. As expected, they won the competition. The runner up team was good. It consist of 2 young boys, probably around 13 or 14 years old. So we will expect much more of Singapore dance scene from this group of new blood.

I am looking forward to other dance competitions this year!

Lion Dance

There was lion dance near my office yesterday morning. I immediately grap the camera and rushed to take photos. I have wanted to take photos of lion dance during CNY this round and am glad that I have this chance.

It was the first time I watched the whole performance of a lion dance. It was so interesting! I stood so close to the lion and saw the different expressions of the lion. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the whole performance and is now keen to watch more lion dance performances and take photos.

It was a challenge to me to take the lion during the performance as it keeps on moving most of the time. I have decided to take photos of lion dance competition, which is held during CNY yearly at Ngee Ann Civic Plaza. Hmm, but there seems to be no news of the compeition this year... I shall wait for further news.

Intermediate/Advance Hip Hop

I survived Patrick's Intermediate/Advance Hip Hop at Danz People!

I attended Pat's first class at Danz People yesterday. He drove Eileen, Sharon and I to DP after our lesson at Dance Arts. When I reached DP and saw Awi at the reception, I was like "Oh gosh!" I saw the rest of Pat's students, and all are experts in dancing. I kept thinking "I am going to make a fool of myself today." Besides Awi, Mornin Feng, Rashidah, Alfred, one member from Platinum and other experts are there. I felt so pressurized! The three of us simply just chop the corner area at the back row...

Pat taught us the first choreo which he taught at Dance Arts. It took us one hour to learn at Dance Arts and it took the seniors about 15 minutes to learn at DP. Arghhh!!! When Pat taught us the second choreo, I was simply lost! He taught so fast. The music was fast too! So I could not catch the whole choreo. Perhaps only the first two eights.. Sigh.. So indeed, I made a fool of myself.

Eileen did not give up and simply whack. Sharon tried to struggle like me. But I think they both did better than me. I was really tired (mainly due to "da yi ma")and could not concentrate. Eileen said I looked pale. I really tried to stay focus and do my best. Just pray hard that I do not faint and not worry too much about the dance. Anyway, I expected to make a fool of myself when I saw the seniors.

Pat told the three of us at the end of the class that he wil teach slower in next lesson. He must have seen how hard we struggle and think we will probably give up.

Pat did say that he feel it is alright if the classmates are better. This means one will try to improve. In a way, what he said is true. Eileen and I signed up for a month course. This is his first class at DP, so probably his students all came to support him. I guess the numbers will decrease in the next classes. Anyway, I don't want to give up. I told myself this year is to challenge myself and improve on my dancing. If I try and fail, then I am probably an idot in dancing. If I don't try at all, then I am wasting my time and effort in dancing. So I must try!

I am still attending the Beginner Advance classes at Dance Arts. Tue class is from 7pm - 8pm, Fri class 6.30pm - 7.30pm. DP class will be from 8.30pm-10pm on Tue. Yesterday it ended at 10.10pm. My legs are so tired this morning!!!

When I told Pat I will die if I go for the Advance class, he said "Won't lah, you will survive." I do believe him now... I will survive, and try to improve and excel. Good Luck to me!

Long weekend of 2008

I just have a long weekend last week due to the Chinese New Year holidays. Let me recall what I have done for the past few days.

6 Feb 2008 (Chinese New Year Eve)
I reached home around 2pm after half day work and ate reunion dinner with my family. I wanted to go to gym but I was so sleepy that I took a nap. So in the end, I stayed at home the whole day.

I continue watching 寿司王子as I wanted to finish it and watch ガリレオ again. I wanted to sleep early (around 12am) but in the end I was addicted to watching Face Off. I watched the last quarter of this movie on TV few years back. So I wanted to watch the earlier parts. In the end, I watched almost the whole movie and slept at 1plus am.

7 Feb 2008 (Chinese New Year)
First day of Chinese New Year… I got “hangover” after sleeping so late. Anyway I managed to go gym and did Bodypump and Bodycombat during afternoon. I was rather tired so I did not use the usual weights that I did for Bodypump.

It was the first time I took Kristy’s class and I like her detail explanation on things to look out for in Bodypump. I enjoyed her class. Also first time for me to attend Christina’s Bodypump class. I kind of enjoy it too. She is abit crazy. Haha.

I went home to continue watching 寿司王子 after gym. It was really nice to have a great workout!

8 Feb 2008 (Second Day of Chinese New Year)
Our family has a lunch where our Cantonese called it 開年. It means to have an opening for a new year. It is an important event to Cantonese.

I went to Rus’s house and meet up with Rus and Sharon before we proceed to Kat & Irene’s house for Chinese New Year visit. Poor Siew Peng is sick and she can’t join us. So we chatted there for a few hours before coming back to Rus’s house. We continued with our chat and started cooking dinner. It has become a practice for this group of friends to meet up at Rus’s house during CNY and have 魚生. It was rather fun when we said good phrases during the preparation of魚生. We ran out of good phrases and kept repeating it.

The gathering ended around 11pm…

9 Feb 2008 (Third Day of Chinese New Year)
I started watching ホタルノヒカル and got addicted to it. The story is rather funny. I am a bit surprised that Nao can act in such comedy. His acting is abit still and it is strange to see him in comedy. Maybe I am not used to it.

I attended Collin’s Bodybalance class in the evening. It is the first time I attended his class and I kind of like him. His explanation is detailed and he is friendly. I asked him about the discomfort I feel in my kneecap when I did some action and he is patient enough to ask which action and explain to me. He warned me that my kneecap may be giving me signs and I really hate to hear it. I need strong kneecaps to dance!

I continued watching ホタルノヒカル back home and gosh, I was enjoying myself! Haha!

10 Feb 2008 (Fourth Day of Chinese New Year)
I went for JD’s Bodypump as usual and did a 20minutes Cross Trainer after the class. I planned to attend Collin’s Pilates and JD’s Bodycombat class in the evening but gave up the idea as I want to rest my kneecap.

In the end, I finished ホタルノヒカル the whole afternoon and took a nap. I started watching the first episode of ガリレオ without any subtitle. I played back to watch the parts with subtitle if I cannot catch it. I did that for ホタルノヒカル and I understood most of the conversation as most are daily conversation.

Anyway, this is how I spent my first long weekend for 2008. Sounds boring? I am quite satisfied with what I have done though.

『予知夢』

I finally finished reading 『予知夢』 (しる) novel. The novel consists of the following chapters/stories:

第一章
夢想る(ゆめみる)

第二章
霊視る(みえる)

第三章
騒霊ぐ(さわぐ)

第四章
絞殺る(しめる)

第五章
予知る(しる)

I didn’t feel so much excitement in reading 『予知夢』as I know the stories after watching the drama. But I still like the novel and I really admire東野さん’s writing skills in the detail description. His words enable me to imagine how the characters and situations are like.

Frankly speaking, I like the novel much more than the drama even though Masha acted in it. The drama has acted in more effects to make it entertaining. I don’t see the point of having 柴崎コウ’s role. Her role is more like a clown. I would prefer the drama to focus on the friendship between 湯川学 and 草薙, as in the novel.

東野さん did mentioned in interviews that when the TV station wanted to do a drama, he thought Masha would be the best person to play the role of 湯川学. Masha portrays the role well and he can really bring out 湯川学 as a 変人 (weird person). But of course to add on the charisma of 湯川学, 湯川 in the drama can play so many sports, rather than just playing badminton. Unlike in the drama, 湯川学 in the novel wears gold framed spectacles too.

I am taking a break from 東野さん works after reading two of his works and 湯川 stories. Will get back to湯川and read『容疑者Xの献身』 after I finished with other novels. Definitely before the movie shows in Japan.

Masha, Happy Birthday!

ましゃ,

お誕生日おめでどう！今日は３９才になりますね。

今年はまた逢うかな... あの日はお楽しみ！