a rikkyo student named junko took me to my lovely dormitory at ASAKADAI. let me show you around! (with my things unpacked and after shopping at the suupaa.
first you enter room 204 and you will see the kitchen on your left.

it has a cupboards at the bottom.

and my not-so-little fridge.

and you will see the electricity panel cum my wardrobe (which i think is supposed to be a shoe rack? but who cares) on the right.

immediately after this 'wardrobe' is my little toilet. this toilet is so cool! its toilet seat is constantly warm and it has a bidet, and when you flush, water comes out from the basin on top for you to wash hands at the same time. it has EVERYTHING. well, except toilet paper. oh by the way i was told i'll be getting tons of tissues? but i still haven't received any??

and the bathroom.

and after the kitchen is another wardrobe, which is for hanging clothes... and storing my luggage haha.

adn then my desk and shelf!

finally my bed.

that's not all, of cos i have a balcony too!

and guess what you can see from here?

:D sakuras dayo!!

the plane ride was pretty horrible. the food is excellent, the service superb, but the seat SUCKS because i couldn't really push the seat down so i suffered neck-ache and backache and headache while trying to sleep. ah well. the best thing is the breakfst served at 330am. no matter what time, food is still food!
i swear this is the best porridge i've ever eaten. and it has this kakoi warmer at the bottom which i really wanted to take away but would have been too obvious. (huh? tray wa doko?)


so after 6 hours, it's welcome to japan! when we reached, it was about 600am (japan time from now on). there wasn't any health check-ups but they had this cool machine that takes your picture and scans your fingerprint. after that we collected our luggage and walked out - not knowing what to do.

but of cos, asking people is always the best way out so we figured out to take the KEISEI (not kenshin omg frank you almost killed me) line to NIPPORI (not nippo la) - which took 2hours instead of 1 hour like it said on the sschedule and i had to ren my pee for so long. then we got off and changed to the YAMANOTE sen, finally reaching at IKEBUKURO like 8 mins later after. poor ian had to change to another line at shinjuku to reach his destination.




so during the train ride with nothing to do...


this is like the only picture i have of ian and he has to close his eyes. lack of sleep perhaps. zzzzzz. haha.


i saw so much sakura on the train ride but i only managed to take this.

bleahss. i will take more.

finally found the time to blog!
thank you all for sending me off... and the gifts you guys brought were really really thoughtful. i appreciate it a lot, really. for the first time i was actually feeling sad about leaving singapore. sobs.
first was the ex-rikkyo students, alicia and frank. they are like my rikkyo consultants, or rather japan consultants heh. mata ao ne, frank!! can't wait till a guide comes over and bring me around. i'm kinda walking aimlessly now lo.

and then wini and denzyl. ahh my long lost friend since secondary 1. wini should really come japan. of cos now that i don't have my 'big sister' and my doting kare-san with me, i am less dependent on others. will be good for me! i love the kitty cat... it was what i wanted from long ago! and the furs are VERY me.

sore de, the relief ex-com of YSS. it's like made up of the world class slacker who never changes his clothes (HAHA) - hope you've found a job, and the idiotic-looking smart ass who is actually really thoughtful, as well as the jobless aka scum-of-the-earth-turns-photographer. hopefully your tripod stand is more useful somewhere else.

and my dear french colleague! it's really weird that i'm linking singapore to you now. have fun at greg's house!! 1 week of being alone. i'm feeling your loneliness now. hopefully you and wini will become good pals, eh!

and my dear dear family. the people i will miss the most, and the most important people to me in my life. MY SISTER IS COMING OVER!!! YAY. she takes the best pictures. and she'll help me take things back, and bring money over. most important person, you know? haha. i can't wait to show you around. i saw my daddy at the gates watching me go off too. and i hugged my mommy one last time. i love you all. *tears*

then it's byebye singapore.

lesson for jeong ho's costume: importance of tacking.
i virtually tacked all the pieces i have here, espcially those ribbon-like thingy (headbands, hair ties, belts, etc).
so here's his hair tie:





and his headband (can't find the jade yet). tried to make this double sided. the seams didn't get sewn on too well so i had to handsew them later on so the edges won't come out. handsew is still essential even with a machine!! (so you can have single sided stitches.)





and the gloves.





it's maroon, but no idea why they look so dark.

i bought the light blue cloth but i realised it was TOO light so at least i was able to use it at the back side. so i guess my blue leftover satin from gwendolyn works better here.
the tacking process was tedious because i had to fold the blue satin first, tacked it then fold the light blue ones, untack and retacking along the way. then i had to add an extra flap for the light blue ones cos i've underestimated (again). even with the extra cloth, i've cut it JUST right so it was nearly impossible to fold in and tack.
now i know why there should be sooo many tacks in a box.





the finished product





somehow the color lightens on a closer view.





the back looks so good. sighs. i wish it was the front.

managed to just about finish my navy robes for jeong ho with the velvet lining i bought. it is SUCH a pain to stitch the lining. i don't know why, but it just is. probably because i made terrible measurements. but oh well, it turns out fine. but i realised that my seams are starting to not work, the threads are coming loose. gotta think of another way out.
for now, enjoy the robes. it's NOT black, it's just my camera (phone). it's more of navy satin.







some hook buttons i've stitched on before i put the lining. there's like 6 or 7 there.

latest bible!
i'm so so so so so glad that i saw this book. it's like filled with colors, templates and detailed how-to steps... for only $27+! best thing is it teaches you how to make a large variety of clothings for cosplay, like tuxedo, kimono, jacket - don't think you can get such a good book at the same price anywhere!!





detailed how-to steps




with templates some more!!

and so with the first 2 items from chinatown i went to work on the inner top and pants. the white satin and inner tape are leftovers for the collar.





and i think my inner top has improved, no?





now the pants.








my only regret was not adding a zip... so i've to squeeze myself in now. but it's still doable. heh.

and now i have like 1 week to work on my next project: min jeong ho or jang geum's dream! or shoujo changumu no yume. (i'll stick to the jap name)
couldn't really find decent photos of him so i had to take screenshots from crunchyroll and youtube. the color and resolution differs so much though. here's how he looks like.














i've no idea why they are gay-ifying him but i can assure you that he is very manly in the show. like in dae jang geum of cos (only much cuter :D).

oki, stupid ball ball which i've repainted with acrylic (mix of pink and blue), then coated it with some translucent silver spray, and finally a shiny coat (forgot what it is called but it makes things shiny... duh). by the way spray paint FAILS on rubbery surface. it broke into pieces when i squeezed the ball. before the shiny coating, it looks black:





but after that, it looks bluish!





and with the straps. still can't figure out how to hook the straps...




and yes after washing, spraying and painting, the lighted thing inside still works. :D

and finally the finished choker for kureha.




have finished this long ago, just thought for completion's sake i'll put it up. see the added pearl? took me so long to find it. snipped it off from an earring heh.

a pretty similar pouch i made for my sister. the embroidery was horrendous. oh well.