purple tie fetish.

No, I will not be explaining the title of this post.

Anyway. This is going to be a fairly personal blog, so stop reading now if you get bored easily.

It took forever to fall asleep two nights ago. But for once, it wasn’t because of marks or exams or interviews. No, this was an entirely more complex dilemma.

What to wear on Tuesday.

My first thought was jeans and a shirt. But that’s what I usually wear… and this was kinda special. Maybe a nice shirt? But all the shirts I’ve bought (around interview time) are a bit too low cut down the middle. `twould probably make me look too desperate.

Maybe a skirt instead of jeans? But a black skirt is too formal. Besides, it’s a bit too long and probably gives off the ‘too much of a prude’ vibe. I suppose it’s better than a slutty look, but the other extreme isn’t that good either.

What about shoes? My Converses are definitely out; besides, they’ve been looking a little grotty. Heels would ruin the casual look – the thought of stacking it down stairs isn’t really appealing either. I mean, I wanted to make a good impression.

Hair up or down? It’s been a bit humid lately, so it would frizz in about ten minutes. But tying it up is out, since my fringe has reached that grown out stage. Maybe clipping it up? But that’s the receptionist look. Not really attractive.

Conclusion: go shopping on Monday. Maybe get sandals to look casual, but find a nice skirt.

The occasion, you ask?

Well… we were at Macquarie last Tuesday. And so, if I were to see sauceboy (as he shall now be known) at the Mcdonalds counter again, Tuesday’s the day to go back, right? And it never hurts to be well dressed when you ask for someone’s number.

… I honesty hope that none of you were thinking that. Actually, it was for a job offer. I’d say an ‘interview’, but I didn’t know if it was. I was invited to ‘tutor orientation day’, which sounded like I’d got the job already, sans interview.

Just got home from it now, actually. And yes, I am now employed Unfortunately, it doesn’t start `til next year, and I don’t know if I can keep it because it’ll clash with uni hours and my private tutoring job on Saturdays. But hopefully I’ll be able to negotiate.

Unfortunately, it seems to make going interstate impossible. I don’t want to give this job up… so fingers crossed for UNSW medicine, because I don’t think I could keep it with anything else, except maybe a Science degree.

For the record, turns out I did dress like everyone else there. I hate terms like ‘semiformal’ and ‘smart casual’. Urgh. I think I’ll stick with my new policy – just dress formally and change my shoes xD

I was thinking of doing a review of all the things I’d watched/read during/after the HSC sometime. If you’re bored and haven’t read it before, I strongly recommend Gone With the Wind. It’s the first book that I’ve loved hands down since The Picture of Dorian Grey. Sure, there have been other books I’ve thought that were good, but those two are the standouts for the last few years. Gone With the Wind is fairly long, but I loved it. Shouldn’t have got the eBook, because I want a hard copy now anyway xD

But I’ll save my thoughts on it for later – time to go back to きみはペット. The first episode was laced with so much innuendo xD. I’m halfway through it now, but I find some of the romance so cheesy that I laugh at the wrong moments. And I was disgusted with Matsujun here. Skip straight to 1:10. Looks like he’s eating her face off, doesn’t it? Eurgh.

Anyway! I’ll save all this fangirling for later. Christmas isn’t a big deal for me and my family, so I might not post around then. I’m also going away on the weekend… to some beach. Can’t remember where. So, Merry Christmas

I shall leave you with a moment that happened at a shop. Paraphrased, no names.

Female shop assistant: What size are you?
Guy: A large…
Assistant: (dismissively) Nah, you’re not large. Try medium.
*a minute later*
Assistant: Lift up your shirt.

You had to be there. Priceless.

ラスト·フレンズ

Yes, I’m flunking my HSC. But hey, might as well enjoy it. Again, a break from what I planned to blog about.

So today, I watched Last Friends, a J-drama that came out in 2008.

I wasn’t going to watch the whole thing, so I decided to start midway (because the fist eps weren’t up where I watch) and stop. But.. dang, it grabbed me.

Don’t Wikipedia it! The DramaWiki should do. But I don’t think it really sums it up.

I kind of regret watching it out of order.. but hey, I’ll watch it properly after exams. Basically… it’s about.. hmmm…. Well, a lot. Mainly friendships/relationships.. and domestic violence. There’s more, but I don’t want to ruin it.

The theme song is Utada’s ‘Prisoner of Love’, which pretty much sums it up. I quite liked the opening – all the shattering objects seemed to fit.

I don’t know how accurate its portrayal of DV (as they call it) is – maybe cliché, but I think it worked. I was honestly scared of Sousuke – even when he wasn’t in the scene. The clip below is the only one I could find without major spoilers – the first 50 seconds or so is him ‘teaching Michiru a lesson’ after his freaking out because Michiru was cutting guys’ hair at her hairdresser place and talking to her friends etc. Everything after 0:50 shows snippets of how crazy he gets in just the early eps, without spoiling the drama.

I guess the drama really worked for me because the characters aren’t 2D. Sousuke (Nishikido Ryo) was easily my favourite. Wait, that’s not quite right. Most interesting character, more like it – he freaked me out. I’m not good with breaking cutlery, let along actual violence -_-’

I think the creepiest bit was how everything went between ‘fine’ and creepy. And how Michiru walked back in the next morning and the lamp was all fixed again. The symbolism in the drama rocked.

Psychotic, violent, creepy… but somehow, I couldn’t hate Sousuke at the end. Even when he asked why Michiru was crying (well no sh*t, why wouldn’t she be?)… it was still hard to hate him. He’s described in the opening as ‘contradictory’, and that pretty much sums him up. Watch up to 1:30 (or start at 0:41 if you’re lazy). The whole video doesn’t have any major spoilers, really – pretty good at showing how impossible it is to categorise the characters.

It honestly seems like he loves her the whole time, and it’s impossible to just write him off as the evil son of a b*tch that he is. It’s tempting to just let him be a character ‘with a problem’ or ‘multiple personalities’ or someone who ‘loves someone too much’ (Othello, much?). And I did find myself hoping that he’d somehow change.

But if you really loved someone, you wouldn’t hit them. I guess the drama shows how difficult it is to actually live by that. It’s too easy to see why Michiru believes that ‘it hurts him too’. Gargh.

I’d highly recommend watching it. It’s also pretty awesome to watch Nishikido Ryo in a role that’s completely different to his loveable-angsty-awesome-Asou Haruto; I think the casting was perfect. Definitely deserved his ‘best supporting actor’. Ueno Juri’s acting was also pretty good. Probably better than Ryo’s, but hey, I’m a fangirl. And I loved Takeru (Eita). Someone get me a Takeru <3 Hey, a make-up artist sounds perfect, seeing that formal is coming up. I still haven't worked out how girls learn to put on their own makeup – I can only make myself look like an emo because I fail so badly with eyeliner.

The ending was pretty good. I think Sousuke was a chicken, but hated/loved him in the end anyway. And it kept all the shippers happy – well, if not happy, at least not disappointed.

I think the worst part of the drama is the way it messes with your head. I expected that I'd be thinking 'what the heck. Just leave him already and get an AVO' when Michiru calls him again/goes over/defends him. But I admit that I sat there and thought, 'yeah, I'd definitely go back to him'. Yeah. I think I proved that I'm pretty weak this year. I'd easily be the person who rationalises and justifies it all out.

This probably sounds like a very superficial post. Sorry. It was just a great series. Maybe it felt like there was too much packed in sometimes, but I think it pulled it off. I like dramas that mess with my mind.

Watch the first episode, if you have nothing to do in your post-HSC time. It's subbed up at Veoh, but you'll need to get their player thingy. The first 20mins or so is just introducing each character, but it gets quite creepy towards the end *shudder*

On a related note, White Ribbon Day is coming up – 25th November. Anyone up for volunteering?

EDIT: Wait, this might be the right link for just selling ribbons.

IWGP =D

I feel like I’ve neglected my blog a bit… even though I’ve blogged comparatively recently. Probably because I’ve had so much spare time since Trials.

Trials. So far I’ve been relatively happy with how I’ve went – not spectacular, but I’m not seriously complaining. A little grumpy that I dropped three marks on galvanic cells, but whatever. My fault for not managing time better so I could check.

But I’ve only gotten Chem and Bio back. Oh, and 2u maths. That was hilarious. My parents just laughed at my mark. I’m glad that they’ve finally realised it’s a complete waste of time for me to try and improve it at this stage.

I’m a little worried about 2u english, but I’ve got a whole weekend ahead and moping in advance just sounds lame. On a more positive note – handed in 4u english today! Done! Three units done for HSC! It feels good, even though 4u doesn’t count.

Anyway. Back to the title of my blog. Since it’s after Trials and all.. I’ve been relaxing a lot more. Fine, I did that all holidays and in exam week anyway. But it’s guilt free now^^

I’ve mainly been watching Law and Order reruns – I stayed up to catch the 1:30am Law and Order or whenever it’s on. But I also managed to watch Ikebukuro West Gate Park

What an awesome J-drama. I didn’t think much could match up to Hana Yori Dango and Nobuta wo Produce, but IWGP definitely does. It’s fairly old – aired in 2000, I think. Yeah, it was kind of weird to see the characters trying to look hardcore with brick phones and fat computers. Some of the camerawork feels a little strange – I almost felt nauseous in the first episode. 2000 doesn’t really feel that long ago… right?

Don’t Google it. You’ll ruin it for yourself. Here’s the start of the Wikipedia entry:

Ikebukuro West Gate Park (池袋ウエストゲートパーク, Ikebukuro Uesuto Gēto Pāku?) was a wildly popular, highly influential Japanese television drama by screenwriter Kankuro Kudo, based on a novel by Ira Ishida, that initially aired on the Tokyo Broadcasting System during the summer of 2000, and directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. The success of the television series would launch a manga adaptation the following year. In a break from traditional Japanese programming, the series used edgy graphics and scene breaks to highlight a story involving themes drawn from the underbelly of modern Japanese society: hip-hop youth gang warfare, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drug abuse, the Yakuza, rape and murder.

It was quite different from other dramas I’d watched. The middle of the series felt disconnected to the first episode, but it was tied together pretty nicely at the end. But overall.. it was an amazing series. It was nice to have a drama that didn’t shove its moral message down your throat in every episode. Overall… it felt like it delivered where Gokusen failed for me.

Argh, Gokusen. The idea was good, it had some pretty entertaining moments, but the repetitive episodes killed it for me. Student’s past –> student in trouble –> Yankumi saves the day –> police suck –> student learns something and is not a delinquent. Well from memory, it was something like that. Maybe it was because I watched Gokusen 1 and 2 together? Only Kame and Jin stopped me from giving up halfway through series #2. Random note – the guy who played Kuma in Gokusen was an extra in IWGP.

IWGP managed to get the ‘police vs. delinquent’ and ‘violence is not the answer’ concepts across without having it in your face. And it had the right balance of comedy and serious stuff. I’d recommend it for anyone who wasn’t quite satisfied with Gokusen.

It’s also interesting to see actors as they were about 10 years ago. The main character’s Nagase Tomoya, lead singer of TOKIO. It’s the first drama I’ve seen of his.. and he was impressive. I can imagine the outraged fangirls in episode #8 xD

I think Yamapi picked a lot up off him. Yamashita Tomohisa plays Shun, who has a pretty major part. This is back when he was about 14 and not that famous. Yamapi’s acting in NwP feels like it was influenced a lot by Nagase.. that or the writer of NwP wanted a character like Makoto.

Kubozuka Yosuke was pretty amazing. I don’t know how some crazy leader of a gang can be likeable, but he pulls it off. I might watch Go, since he was in it.

Ken Watanabe was awesome, as expected. I didn’t know whether to like or hate his character. `twas perfect =D Another person you might know is Koyuki, who played Kana in IWGP – she was in The Last Samurai. Oguri Shun (Hana Kimi, Hana Yori Dango) also turned up.

What else? The fake blood looked quite realistic. It was also made at a time where you could have a Middle Eastern guy on TV and joke about his background without it being sensitive issue. He spoke fluent Japanese, too.

Blergh. I don’t think I explained it well.. but it’s an awesome drama. Downloading the special now – 1gb *sigh*. Need to delete stuff from my laptop.

I’m really itching to watch Ryusei no Kizuna now. Written by the same guy who wrote IWGP, with Nishikido Ryo, Toda Erika and Ninomiya Kazunari… sounds good to me.

USyd Open Day tomorrow. I’ll probably camp out at the Science lecture. Doubt I’ll go there, but who knows. Maybe I should have a look at Law or something as well =\

I feel so different after exams. A little detached from everything.. maybe it’s because exams snap me out of daily routine or something. But maybe it’s not necessarily a bad thing – I spent most of today (Geo lesson turned into a double free) reading Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’ novel. Yup, the ex-Ruse guy’s Booker Prize novel. I was pleasantly surprised – Indian-themed literature usually sounds like crap to me. But this one was actually a good book, which is something I’d usually never admit for stuff with curry references.

23 minutes until my download finishes. Odd, my net isn’t capped yet and downloading the IWGP series took 4.1GB alone.

Only a few weeks of school left. Odd, isn’t it? We’ve spent more than twelve years at school… and it’s almost over. I guess I’m a little sad, because no matter what we say now, we’re going to drift apart a little. It’d be unrealistic to think otherwise, considering that we’re all going to different unis. Sure, there’s MSN and blogging, but it won’t be the same, right? ><' I guess I'm worried that in five years, I'll be the only one who's all for a reunion. I have every intention of honouring the 10-year doctor's pledge (MedEntry people know what I mean )

I don’t like how the future is so uncertain. It sounds ridiculous.. but I guess I like having a general overview of where I’m going. It all depends on marks and interviews now, I guess. I suppose I’m not good with change – I usually freak out if there’s a tiny change before an exam or assessment task xD Maybe I just like having an illusion of control?

Oh, and on a completely random note – kite flying was fun on the weekend. Got to fly a pretty decent kite – about 1.5 x 1m in size, I think. Sadly, there wasn’t much wind that day (unlike the rest of the week!) But I managed a few goes.. until I accidentally let out too much string and epically failed. Heh. The Asian parent next to me kept telling me to ‘pull string’. But yeah, it was fun.

Went to Westfield and had a look at some of the dresses. There was a $150 red dress that looked awesome on a coathanger, but didn’t seem to look quite right when I actually tried it on. I’m too chicken to post the photo I took of it up here though.

Does anyone know where to get formal dresses? I’d really prefer one without some super expensive designer label, considering that I’m probably only going to wear it once. Actually, anything that’s a reasonable price sounds fine. Definitely less than $300 would be good. But yeah, any place with a decent range of dresses sounds good.

Yay, download finished! Sorry this blog was possibly more random than the one before. Umm. I hope everyone’s having a good time after Trials