I LOVE YOU

Because it was Ed's birthday and they had mistakenly put the Gu brownies in the fridge which you're not supposed to do and that made them hard, not gooey, and we were making a sundae, together, in the kitchen, with two flavours of ice cream that I chopped a banana into and you took a hard brownie, standing next to me with your sleeve grazing my arm, and grated it all over the ice cream and it looked meant to be.

SHOPPING BAN UPDATE

HEY EVERYONE, look at these kirei (beautiful/pretty in Japanese)Doc Martens that I can't buy. My awesome Elle Daily Buy Facebook Application says they're around £99 but this website has them for £60. Weird, but a good weird. Spring is cominggggg!Also, I think I will have to cheat with this Lenten Shopping ban thing because, on the Facebook Marketplace, this guy is offering brand new GHD hair straighteners for £75 each! DO YOU KNOW HOW HOLISTIC A GHD STRAIGHTENER IS WITH YOUR HAIR? My stylist, back when I could afford him, in Fulham, swears by them and they are originally priced at £120. ALSO, this guy has 5 of them, so...if you're in London and you want one, he says he'll sell all of them for 70 each if I find people for the other 4. They're brand new too. Get back to me people or snooze and lose.

*PHEW* Had to get all that out before bed because I've been feeling guilty about not posting any Japanese Phrase of the Day or Item of the Day recently, which should be daily. I'm kind of OCD about my blog. OKAY! G'NITE!

SHEPHERD'S BUSH ADVENTURE

So, if it wasn't for my most amazing London friend Sherel calling me around noon saying she had problems and needed to talk to someone, I would not have gotten out of bed at all and had a 3 hour majorly productive writing session that harboured some raw and exciting bits of prose, and even some poetry, which I tend not to tamper with.

I sat in Starbucks waiting for her naturally fashionably late ass to show, with my Venti (I upsized expecting to be there ages, good call) Iced White Caffe Mocha, with which I customized by chucking the usual white chocolate syrup and replacing it with half cinnamon and half vanilla syrup. Yes, I know, it is genius. The word of the blogger. Thanks be to Kara.

I think I wrote about 6 A4 page sides of my notebook, which included planning out my next short story for my portfolio, a few Beat Generation-esque poems about love, descriptions of the people around me, and luckily there are a vast number of weird people lurking in Shepherd's Bush, and just general thoughts. I also decided that one of my interests is crab migrations on Christmas Island; ever since I was a little girl. I know. Leave me be. I've always wanted to go there and since I can't organize that anytime soon, I have decided to write a short story on it. Okay, you think I'm weird. Check it out for yourself.

I bet you're thinking, "Don't fricking tell us about your stories, show us!" My lecturers always say that, "SHOW, DON'T TELL!" Trust me, as time passes, and when they are finished being re-drafted and edited many times, I will let them go, release my babies, let them grow up in your minds. I promise.

For now, you can just have a look at my suicidal memory in my last post. And thank you, lovely Guerreira for commenting on my piece. It really made an already great day extra better, and who would've thought more joy could come to a day minutes to midnight?

After listening to the inspirational words of wisdom that my friend Sherel had to say about not giving up on being a writer and killing myself, we went to Chop Chop, where a plate the size of a hubcab of good Chinese food costs roughly £3. Go there. Nuff said. Then, we decided to catch a movie at the Vue. And we met a man.

"Sherel, what should we see? Jumper was shit, and sorry but I've seen Cloverfield, Sweeney Todd, Juno and Be Kind Rewind already."
"Well, hahahaha oh look! They finally brought out that movie with the ugly girl running from a car in underwear, 'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane."
"Well, do you wanna see that?"
"NO! Can I please spend my money wisely for once?"
"Well, I heard No Country for Old Men is wicked. It won best picture. Oh sorry, we're blocking this man."
"No Country is definitely a must-see girls, unless you're looking for a chick flick. No Country's a drama."
"I thought it was a thriller."
"Well, yes, both." Sherel gets scared. "It's not a spilling guts type of movie, it's pretty fucking weird...and brilliant. It's like a 'what the fuck' movie, yuh know?"

Well, yes, it is a 'what the fuck' movie, and What the fuck. It was brilliant. I didn't realise how hot Josh Brolin can be when he's not in a funny movie like Grindhouse. Apparently he wasn't even the one casted for the movie. It was his 67 yr old father actor James Brolin, but Josh showed up by mistake (HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? HOW EMBARASSING!) Maybe I'm creepy for thinking I could have hot people sex with him, but Sherel liked him too, and we are pretty bipolar when it comes to guys. I mean, I helped her pick out a huge purple fake diamond 'bling' ear stud for her boyf today. Here are some other 'off' guys that I find attractive.

Anyway, unusually hot guys aside, this guy we met ('Call me Anthony, or Doctor Voice') was old+british+unattractive=not my type, but I REALLY liked him, in a 'I want to have awesome conversations with you' type of way. We talked to him for about 20 more minutes, well I did, not Sherel. She listened to us go on about movies and screenplays and movie scores (he writes movie scores and is actually quite famous) and how we secretly LOVED Cloverfield but didn't want anyone to know that (I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!) and he was impressed with my movie knowledge and I was just so excited with HIM! Has anyone ever felt like that about someone? Like you just HAD to be friends with that person? I suppose it is sort of like Juno befriending Jennifer Garner's husband in the movie, or the relationship in Lost in Translation, minus the 'Ohmygod, I love you' bits in both. I was really sad that he just turned around and left the theatre after talking to us, and wanted him to join us. Is that weird? Sherel had to listen to me talk about him over tea for 30 minutes. Anyway, be sure to see his movie 'Prison Ship' when it comes out. I don't know anything about it or if it's any good but he claims people are calling it the Die Hard 5. Okay that probably doesn't make you want to watch it so I'll scope it out for you guys and report back.

DEPRESSION AND OTHER WEDNESDAY DEALINGS

Everytime I read Natalie Goldberg's 'Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within' I am continuously amazed at how spot on she is about the writing self and the living self at the same time. They are these two friends walking together down a summery street, hand in hand, in battered Chuck's in Minnesota. And every word, the more times my finger brushes over them in the pale lamplight, has correlated with my life, in the most tight-knit of ways, too eerie for me to comprehend. Over the last two days, I have been hanging on her every word. I have been particularly working with this one exercise of hers called 'I Remember...' You can guess what you're meant to do. And after I tell you a little bit about me, just to set the scene, I will share with you one of my memories.

ABOUT ME
You don't know much about me but you've been reading my blog so I thought I would share a little. It's a healthy writing practice to share, Natalie says. So, my name is Kara Richelle Martin. I am now unfavourably 19 years old living in London and studying Creative Writing. I hail from Trinidad and Tobago, and a very comfortable yet unravelling childhood(I am still a child), with uncalculated levels of preteen alcoholism, journal entries, distance, misunderstandings and haziness. In 2006 my parents shipped us out of a criminally escalating homeland and put us to sit in an air-conditioned world of swirling dust, cigarettes, Hummers and hypocritical culture; Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. I live back and forth between there and the UK. I am an aspiring magazine journalist and novelist propped up on nothing but Starbucks and yoga, and in love with someone I cannot reach. I sleep. I write. Period. Ever since I was 14 I have had clinical depression. It has not been easy.

THE EXERCISE
I remember hearing my mother's heavy footfalls up and down the corridor, the crashing of a drawer full of keys as she rifled through it, looking for the spare one to my door. I lay in a ball under a yellow sheet whose fibers I was examining millimetres from my eyeball. I waited for her as she banged and shouldered my little white door with its chain locks, latches and keyholes. I waited for her to burst through it and save me as I slid between my sheets slowly to see the effect of it rising and falling, of the fabric gently caressing the little hairs on my body. It made me shiver throughout. Eventually, she did and I heard the wood and lock snap and fall away and knew of the lime green paint chips that fluttered to the ground where the door handle had smashed against the wall. I told her I was sleeping while I studied her throat; all the swallowing it was doing. She swallowed many things. The new rule was to never close my door again. I nodded, still wrapped in my sheets.
"Did you take your thing?"
"What's my thing?" I forced her to admit it; the truth of me.
"Your pill, Kara!"
"Yes, I took my Prozac; my lovely Lilly" I always wondered why each capsule said Lilly on it.
Helplessly, she left. She really had tried it all.

That is why I kept quiet, for her sake. I was free to ruminate now over my glazed wound; the volcanic spill. I never cleaned them; just watched, for days. I liked the way the curdled, hardened blood pulled my skin when I used my arm muscles, to lift a fork to my mouth, clench my fist, to write this. I liked the way it stuck to some of my clothes' fabrics, and got wisps of cotton tangled in it, that had to be unwound really slowly. They had set in like a maze, and CLUNG!

That movie Gigli taught me how to do it right, make it count, along the thick green cordy vein, where the blue blood swims, from the wrist all the way up. But to me, it wasn't about direction, or technique, poise or design, quantity of strokes, intensity of insanity or level of mental illness, number of vials of tears produced. It was about glorious blood flow. Red. I liked the way the cuts were pathetically never deep enough, but if you gave it a minute or two, the skin would blush madly, and through microscopic perforations, the blood would squeeze forth and bubble like a little chain of shiny beads.

During the scabbing stage they looked like stitches. Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and I, had the same falling apart limbs full of tally marks, like on prison walls. "How many more days of this? Let me count." And oh, how these railroad tracks itched and made me want to scratch them to hell and back and make them burst open all over again. You could be mistaken for a heroin junkie with all that itching and scratching.

My scars usually faded away pretty well, but sometimes it was almost sickly refreshing to see the scars raised on my skin, like fresh plots in a cemetary; buried things, at least buried as far as they could go, still somewhat protruding from the fleshy ground.

10 THINGS ABOUT TODAY

1. Uncle Ben's is doing Risotto in a bag, y'all! And it tastes great! Uncle Ben is really saving students, man. The rice in a microwaveable bag thing is totally boss. You guys go ahead and lug your grandma's rice cookers along with you for college orientation. Not me, thanks.


2. Went to Sainsbury's today and while unloading and stuffing my one shelf in the fridge and having my flatmates go 'you eat that?', I realised how un-collegiate and chic my food buys make me look. Here is my shopping list:

Smoked Scottish Salmon

Brie

Red Wine

Green Seedless Grapes

Grated Mozarella and Cheddar Cheese

Grapefruit Juice

Lemon, Ginger and Honey Juice (experiment. Is this good?)

Brown Sugar

Green Tea

Whole Grain Tortillas

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Mushrooms

Uncle Ben's Risotto(not so chic but no one has to know it's origin, which then makes it chic!)

Gü Brownies (Have you ever had anything by Gü? FREAKISHLY AMAZING!)

3. Somestimes it's fun to wear heels and dress up a little just to do groceries a bus ride away. Cars stop for you in free-flowing traffic. Damsel in Distress! It reminds me of THE coolest line in Steve Buscemi's latest movie 'Interview', which he wrote the script for too:


Katya: Do you like fishnet stockings, Pierre? Wait. Let me rephrase. Why do you think it is that men like fishnet stockings so much?
Pierre Peders: They look good on women.
Katya: Fishnet stockings are a net, and the woman is imprisoned in this net like a fish. Do you get it?
Pierre Peders: Yeah, and what about high heels?
Katya: Well, high heels make walking very, very difficult. So you see, nothing would be more attractive to a man than a woman wearing fishnet stockings and high heels because she has trouble walking and she's imprisoned within this net and therefore he thinks she's easy prey. I know everything.


4. IT KILLS ME how spot on Trendinista always is. She's great. This. Is a cigarette case. I don't know about you, but it makes me want to die of severe Lung Cancer.




5. These headphones take the cake compared to the ones I rustled up. GREAT colours. Stolen from The Cobra Snake. I'm so lame. (I don't think you can be snapped on that website if you don't smoke cigarettes or own a pair of geeky glasses. I love watching those people but do they have missions in life? They're always having fun! *pout*)

6. I'm sick. On the one day I have classes this week. And am P.O'd that my Writing Fiction lecturer is once again flaking on me for my one-on-one tutorial. I understand that people get sick because...I just SAID I'm sick lol but my short stories need guidance. Help a lead character out!

7. I gave my room a thorough scrape out. HEY! I actually did a Spring Cleaning in time for Spring. Never did that before. Anyways, the reason I decided to turn up the Trance music and tackle my room today is because I did a swamp load of laundry and coming back to my room, resting my happy face on my warm scented hippie blanket, I was faced with the realization that I had too much clothes for an international student. I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE A STUDENT, GEEZ! IT'S DAWNING ON ME! So I started sifting the Charity shop give-aways from the dump-me-already's, then reasoned that I would have more space if I actually FOLDED the remainder of the good stuff; which I was right!

8. Things I found while cleaning:

an over-the-top Afro for a 70's/80's party I didn't go to

my pale pink bob wig a la Natalie Portman in Closer that I wore with other slutty stuff because I was some fetish fantasy for a Halloween party, and made my pinoy boytoy ex a meek and mild Heroes geek, and dragged him around on a leash

About a dozen tubs of old hair products

My Hello Kitty! adult crayon set

Enough Emirates money to buy myself something new at Forever 21 when I head back to the U.A.E.

A short pleated red skirt I wore to a 'Hired Help' party as a Prostitute (I had a condom and a wad of cash in my bustiered cleavage and everything!)

Some great handed down vintage jewelry

9. I DID NOT use any plastic bags while shopping today because over-sized handbags work just as well, AND BETTER! Say yes to big bags and make the world a greener place!

10. I might be bi.

WRITING RETREAT

I'm on a writing retreat todayyyy!
It seems The Craft is coming to me more and more frequently these days, the more material I read. WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT?! lol j/k. So...since my lecturer has once again cancelled a session with her this week I must tutorialize myself!
I'm sure I'll be itching later and feel the need to write a post but for now, while I go sit in Starbucks penning and papering and timing my laundry cycle in the campus laundromat (since people like to throw your intimates out to use the machines), I'll leave you with this THING:

With Sincerest Regrets

Like a white snail the toilet slides into the living room, demanding to be loved.

It is impossible, and we tender our sincerest regrets.

In the book of the heart there is no mention made of plumbing.

And though we have spent our intimacy many times with you,

You belong to an unfortunate reference, which we would rather not embrace....

The toilet slides out of the living room like a white snail, flushing with grief....

-Russell Edson

Personally, I love the toilet, Apparently I like taking pictures with him around. Here we are having a moment:

ITEM OF THE DAY

Something terrible just happened. I finished the entire DVD series of My So Called Life. It was better than I expected, better than I remembered, better than anything on TV anymore. And there was WAY too much plaid.

The IOTD is plaid, because for me, it is not yet over-plaid (get it?). You know how some girls get really embarassed when they spot another girl wearing what they're wearing? Well, this weekend I went to Walkabout with some friends in the above outfit. Although there was a girl in an awesome over-sized blue plaid one she wore as a dress, I bumped into a GUY at the bar wearing my shirt. I don't get embarassed by those things. We just laughed and high-fived each other. Now being caught in the same thing as a guy makes me OFFICIALLY AWESOME! I just wish I had gotten a pic of the two of us together.

If you have 9 minutes to spare, here's a clip from an episode of My So Called Life. See if you can spot the plaid. What's funny is...this is JUST A CLIP and the number of plaid sightings in this clip is consistent throughout the entire show!

JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

Hottoite! = Back off!

YOUTUBE WEEKEND

While I'm working on my short stories, eating leftover pizza and reading 'What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers' I thought I'd leave you with this barrage of youtube stuffs that somehow may or may not have been related to my weekend's events.

First,the lovely CSS(Cansei de Ser Sexy) and their 'Alala' music video which I'm crushing on. I remember passing over it ages ago somewhere on Myspace(I think my ex came across the make-up artist's page). I thought, Oh my, I would sex Lovefoxxx, the asian looking Brazilian lead-singer. But according to the band's name, she's tired of being sexy. Oh well. PS. Who wants her prom dress?? Smitten.


Then, Vampire Weekend. A just as awesome video. Don't you think if the OC did a season 5 (PLEASE, GOD, PLEASE!) that this band would be on the mix and be featured playing at their one hangout 'The Bait Shop'? The OC mixes are too cool for school. Buy em. ALL! And Vampire Weekend's album too. They're so...Seth Cohen's friends!


After coming home drunk from the bars last night and inexplicably ordering a LARGE feta cheese, barbecue sauce, mushrooms and meat pizza for my vegetarian self, I sat down to watch 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU with more wine. Here's Heath singing *cringe*. It's the part with the intense eyes! Look at when he sits down and sings the last line "Let me love yoooooouuuuu". *sighs miserably* SUCH A GREAT MOVIE, YOU GUYS! I know the entire script.


My asian ex boyfriend likes sharing asian things with me (OTHER than what you're thinking), like boba tea and unagiyaki (my loves), filipino food (I know this is weird because pinoy food is 90% meat, the remaining 10 being the rice of course, but I made an exception because he threw a flip fit. You know those pinoys and their food...), and the Filipeanut blog, which is HILARIOUS! He sent me the quiz 'How Filipino are you?' on Facebook the other day, which I of course failed, because I AM TRINIDADIAN! lol Anyway, he wrote on my wall to say, "Awww Not Flip?..don't worry...you've had so much you're like an honorary Filipino". How embarassing can he be? Anyways, here's Beau Sia, a famous asian spoken word performer. Great. Stuff.


SON OF RAMBOW. I saw the trailer for this on Friday night when I went to see the awesome Be Kind Rewind (Jack Black is God and Mos Def's voice is annoying). Son of Rambow just looks so fun and is such a great idea. It also reminded me of Be Kind Rewind actually because this kid is making his own movie with the help of some strangers.



Speaking of Be Kind Rewind, they're featuring the movies Jack Black and Mos Def had to make in the movie itself on their website. Does that make sense? Ya. Okay. They 'sweded' Rush Hour 2, Ghostbusters, Driving Miss Daisy, La Lettre, LOTR, Boyz in the Hood...Here's the trailer but even better is the website. It's so interactive and fun. Go Swede yourself into a movie!

HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEKEND

So, I fell in love with a place called Shunt, had AMAZINGLY CHEAP AND ALWAYS GOOD vegetable curry w/ rice at Chop Chop, enjoyed myself thoroughly alone, just me and a cuppa hot chocolate at the cinema for Be Kind Rewind, which is actually a pretty sad flick, as well as laugh at loud, got my yoga fix and did a substantial amount of creative writing and reading this weekend. But the highlight of it all would have to be my 17 year old brother's joke (he's home in Dubai now IMing me):

Brother: KNOCK KNOCK
Me: Who's there?
Brother: It's me, your brother, and I'll always be there for you.

He's not really that lame, he just says corny things like that to make me smile, and it works! He's coming to Manchester, UK soon with my dad for a football match. I'm thinking of meeting them. HOTEL ROOM FUN! ...As in room service and things like that...

JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

Because I woke to my flatmates having a music war (think Oasis vs. Trinidadian Carnival music).
Because I ended up scouring Facebook's iLike application for the last three hours for new songs.
Because I just bought March's issue of Dazed and Confused and fell in love with Lovefoxxx, the brazilian lead singer of Cansei de Ser Sexy, in her many jumpsuits.
Because my previous post was on desirable headphones and equally desirable downloads.
This will be music-related.

Ongaku o kikitai = I want to listen to music.
Ongaku o kikimashou = Let's listen to music.
CD o kaimasu = I will buy a CD (because we are NOT internet music thieves *smirk*)
Watashi wa (music artist) ga suki desu = I like (music artist)

PIMP MY EARS

So, my lamely regular, black £2 Philips headphones are approaching their end, a year or so after the plight of my pathetic white iPod ones. It's time to find something a little more "WHOA!" (and durable) to wear on my head when grooving to CSS. I've always wanted a pair of those ridiculously large headphones that scenester kids wear around their necks like accessories. So, I'm on the lookout from now, so that when that shopping ban lifts, I'm ready like Freddy; slicing cash registers in half with my HSBC debit card.


There are these Urban Warfare ones at $69.95. The second one (Desert), I thought would be awesome for a un-named friend of mine. I'd have bullets in my hair. COOL!

Of course we can't forget Swarovski's in the mix; for all the Paris Hiltons at heart (ear, whatev).

Let 'Kawaiiness' embrace your mind, literally- $39.99, at, I'm assuming, the Hello Kitty store or probably down any street in Harajuku.
There are these Zumreed headphones from I don't know where. I am just posting these pictures. I'm too tired this morning to go name-hunting.

These ones are just so simply sleek.

PINK!- from Skull Candy
Also check out http://www.headphoneshop.co.kr/ for a great stylish variety.

And then, when we've all bought our respective fashionable headphones, we should try to download:
Alala- Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS)
The Dull Flame of Desire- Bjork
A-Punk- Vampire Weekend
Sea of Love- Cat Power
To Be Alone With You- Sufjan Stevens
Call the Shots- Girls Aloud
Love is a Losing Game- Amy Winehouse
Their Cell- Girl in a Coma
You're So Gay- Katy Perry
Konichiwa Bitches!- Robyn
Innocence(Simian Mobile Disco Twelve Inch Remix)- Bjork
Superstar- Sonic Youth
Anyone Else But You- The Moldy Peaches
Monsoon- Tokio Hotel
Anything else listed in my feeble 'SONG OF THE WEEK' section to the right, or maybe Said the Gramaphone will have something for you. KEEP KEEPING YOUR EARS PEELED! CIAO!

THE LOFT PROBLEM: NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO vs LONDON

I told you in the last post I had another Polyvore set to show you on the luscious things that my anti-humble abode would hold, but the website was down that day so here it is. I also said I would be owning a loft in the States but after going to this vast canopying brick tunnel place under London Bridge called Shunt, I am having second thoughts about where I should apply for residency come 2009.

Shunt is the lost metaphor for my life! I can't believe it took me 6 seconds to completely turn the tables on my hatred for the UK. Grazia was right, Britain does rock again. According to Jane Bruton, the Grazia editor, London is officially the coolest place on the planet again, and this was stated in the February 18th issue. I'm pretty sure it's because the night before writing that she had an eclectic moment at Shunt.

When I walked in, I already knew it would be the place they'd describe as my official hangout and muse in the 'About the Author' section of my best sellers. They'd say that I would sit there buried in the leopard print sofa, my feet propped up on the pink hallogen light inserted glass table, sipping on my 6th Corona and bursting forth my craft onto page after page after page...There'd be a sign over the door: "Award winning novelist Kara Martin was here. She wrote, she drank, she wrote some more, she swooned and she died."

THE PASSION OF A THOUSAND PASSION FRUITS!

*Isn't that the loveliest thing you've ever heard? It is my friend Sian's Facebook status update. Sian has the passion of a thousand passion fruits!

* Jiinzu o kaitai. Translation: I want to buy jeans. Actually, I want to buy ANYTHING, because I can't. I am only 2 weeks in with my Lenten shopping ban (40 days). It all ends March 23rd. That's before Spring Break, right? RIGHT?! In case you didn't catch it, that was also your Japanese Phrase of the Day (object + o kaitai = I want to buy (object). Love it or leave it.

* Have you chosen yet? Your book, I mean. You know, for World Book Day. 6th of March. World Book Day traditionally took place on 23 April (Shakespeare's birthday and St George's Day). From 2001 this was changed to the first Thursday in March to avoid clashes with Easter holidays and allow schools to take part. If you haven't yet chosen, and can't choose, I found this really cool website that challenges to find the right book for you. Check it out. There are actual metres where you can click on the level of funny/sad, safe/disturbing, easy/demanding, short/long, you would like in your book.

I've actually chosen to read lots of Hanif Kureishi, as he is my author of choice at the mo, so I ordered, and just received, two of his books 'Midnight All Day' and 'Love in a Blue Time' from Amazon; which is also great because I've chosen to do my Editorial Analysis Essay on his story Four Blue Chairs. I STRESS, READ IT! Or, find your own book on that link up there. What will you be reading? SEND ME COMMENTS! I like.

* ITEM OF THE DAY (Yes, I'm doing everything on one ridiculously long post, because I can, and I really hated being absent but I was fulfilling my yogi duties).

These, I found bookmarked on my laptop from maybe a year ago; the GeeWaWa Hip distressed leather boots in silver. Order them from zappos now for the reduced price of $178 (was $223.95). Smitten.

* BJORK IN APRIL! Are you going? You are?! Oh, fab! Get me tickets. Let's go together. It's just a 72 bus ride away from my flat, in Hammersmith. What is so funny about my Lenten shopping ban, is that I can't tell whether or not I can buy these tickets for a show in April, LONG AFTER my ban has been lifted. You understand the urgency of buying concert tickets months beforehand, right? So, would that be cheating?

* BIG UP TO MY TRINI SALLY! My girl is now officially blogging on her intern escapades at Teen Vogue. Aint she cute? She doesn't like the picture, but we should all let her know how adorable we think she is.P.S. WOW! I just saw that Jazzi is 18. Totally hasn't registered, and never will. She is at least 22 to me.

* Yesterday, my wee little Sony Vaio TR3A Series Notebook nearly died. If you don't know what it's like to have an electronic friend's life flash before your very eyes, I want everyone reading this to take a moment and JUST THINK about what your life would be like if we were still in a world where we had to put pen to paper and shell out 3,000 word literary essays, could not read or write cool blogs like this, or communicate with the world at large by picking at a keyboard. Yes, we are all considerably lazier because of it, but can we really live without computers? Do you know how valuable Skype is to an International student? *Sigh* That really shook me.

* I'm a Neo Polyvorist, by the way. Did you know? If you missed out on my Greenery set, which you shouldn't have, because it's the post right under this one, then, as soon as the bloody website is done with its conveniently scheduled maintenance at this hour, I will post another set I did one 6AM on things my future NYC loft will be wearing. I hope my future husband is a blog reader.

* Diesel likes quirky cool advertising. The last set of ads they did were 'Global Warming Ready'. Now there are these interesting Live Fast ones. You know that phrase "Live Fast, Die Young"? Well, I think this is sort of a secret gesture/message to us. Diesel scares me. They like telling us we're going to die soon. And that last ad reminds me of the ever-lovely and all stitched up Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas; also a very gloomy subject (but at least it's in a fun way.)

* You know that Mika song 'Big Girl'(You Are Beautiful)? And how they had that great video shoot in London with all those curvaceous beautiful women (who weren't really all that big, a mon avie) dancing around him in fabulous shiny get-ups? Well, I started making small talk with my new co-workers at the bikram yoga centre, and, my new friend there, from Canada, is a West End theatre actress, currently casting for High School Musical and Hairspray and the like. She's done some other great shows I sadly can't remember. She also told me, she was in that video! AND DON'T YOU JUST HATE IT WHEN YOU INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE THE FACE UPON HEARING THAT? YOU JUST CLICK? It really was her! I remember! Here she is on set in the orange glittery dress. Although she's not that big anymore and the yoga is making her lose weight (5 lbs in 2 weeks!). SO EXCITING! Maybe I should start looking into theatre shows now...*cough*DISCOUNTS*cough*

* Speaking of yoga, I just want to point out how proud I am of yesterday's class. I got a REALLY deep energizing stretch and executed fabulous pro-level postures, ESPECIALLY my Dandayamana-Janushirasana pose. I actually gasped in the middle of performing it because my head had finally touched my knee lol.

*PHEW! I think I'll leave it at that for now, don't ya think that should last you guys for a while? My work here is done. Have a great Thursday everyone.

GREENERY

Well, I started thinking about the trip to Ireland my friends and I were gonna make in April for St. Patrick's Day. So far, we don't really have the money, or at least, haven't started planning. I thought I would just have a little Paddy's fun on Polyvore. Enjoy.

OH, I'M SORRY!

I forgot to give you dolls my Japanese Phrase of the Day. It's a good one. Well, pointless for me as I'm an alcoholic and drink everything. OOH! Remind me to do a post on interesting alcoholic beverages I've come across. There have been many *haw haw haw*

Without further ado:

Word of the day: Nomimasen- don't drink.

Phrase: Biiru o nomimasen- I don't drink beer

(don't forget the pronunciation guys. Japanese pronounce 'r' as 'l' and don't pronounce our u's at the end of 'biiru'!)

This phrase works really well with my last bar phrase. If your japanese friend is asking the bartender for 'six beers please' and you're a cocktail kinda girl, you can tap him and with your best manga voice, tell him what's up!

Sadly, I can't yet tell you how to say 'I want an Adios Motherfucker', but you can always say. 'Biiru o nomimasen. Adios Motherfucker' and nod your pretty little head. Because THAT would be REALLY funny.

P.S. Some alcoholic has a site that tells you how to say 'cheers!' in different languages.

I KNOW WHO KILLED MARILYN MONROE

UGH! Who does she think she is?!

There's a revealing slideshow on there as well.

*cringe* LET ME REMIND MYSELF:

"I've been trying to go to Iraq with Hillary Clinton for so long. Hillary was trying to work it out, but it seemed too dangerous," Lohan said in an interview in the September issue of Elle magazine, to be released Wednesday.
The 20-year old actress and pop singer said she hoped to emulate Marilyn Monroe, who performed shows for about 100,000 troops stationed in Korea in 1954. "It's so amazing seeing that one woman just going somewhere, this beautiful sex kitten, who's basically a pinup, which is what I've always aspired to be," Lohan said, adding that she would prepare for her trip to Iraq by taking shooting lessons with her security guard.

MONDAY MORNING STUFF

As you know, after taking a hint by my classmates rejoicing on facebook, I HAVE NO CLASS THIS WEEK! So here is how my Monday has started.

I went through my blogroll and naturally was excited about what iCing darling Gala had to say last. She did a post on Neogoth, which has re-inspired me. Yes, I was a goth. I listened to, and still do in small doses, Lacuna Coil, Cradle of Filth, Nightwish, Paradise Lost, yadda yadda...And I remember long ago, shopping with my mother, seeing a large dripping black chandalier and saying, 'Mark my gothic words, Mother, when I get my own place and become a full-blown adult, THAT chanadalier will be hanging over my large clawfoot bathtub.' (I didn't really say it like that, but I can dream). She chuckled and said to me, 'Honey, you're not going to be a goth forever. You'll grow out of it.' But I didn't want to..I worried about that constantly. I wanted to still follow gothic values but I didn't want to look ridiculous picking up my kids from school in platform combat boots, Manson contact lenses and PVC.

So only God knows how much I rejoiced when the Neogoth trend came into being. This morning, thanks to Gala, I decided to have a brief stint of random fun. I put on a Neogoth-esque look just to go to the campus main office and inquire about a package I was expecting from Amazon; the office is 20 paces diagonally from my dorm room. That's how fun it was. I made a stop at the vending machine for Peanut M&M's too just so I could stay a little longer in my outfit. THANK YOU GALA, FOR RE-INSTILLING THE GOTHIC FAITH!

Average Everyday Sane/Psycho Supergoddess! No, not the Liz Phair song but the blog. It is hilarious, ESPECIALLY the latest post ('because the best way to get over someone who's not that into you...') on rolling around drunkenly in bed with her gay friend Marquis. This is officially my blog of the week, even though I do no such category on here. Proceed and Read.

And OMG, If I were kinky to the core, and were a fiancee and had a hen night, I would request that my girlies got me these as gifts. I found them in a post on my new favourite blog, above. Notice I said IF I was a hardcore sex-maniac. Personally, I would like to receive the bunny and peacock tail ones. LOL I feel so embarassed posting this. If you're a Frenzied Fucker, here's the website with a WIDE range of sex crazies.

hehehehe if you don't like rabbits or birds, there are fox tails, blonde and red ponytails...*smirks*

NO CLASS THIS WEEK!

Why did I have to be the one to procrastinate and yet still manage to complete a classic short story, copy out 500 words of text and read four short stories and analyse them ALL in one day (yesterday) to find out from my friends, and much later, my lecturer, that class was cancelled tomorrow?? It is so ironic how after writing out word number 500 onto my page, which was the last bit of homework I had left doing, that I would receive a Facebook wall post from a classmate saying how happy she was that we had no class.

I'm not mad that we have no class but it's definitely something I look forward to in the week, seeing as my week consists of two classes and two 3 hr shifts at the yoga studio; C'EST TOUT! Now I'm probably going to have to just sit home reading core and secondary fiction texts, cast a spell somehow on my brain in order to create at LEAST 3,000 words of very damn good prose and go to yoga everyday. I was thinking of taking a class tomorrow though. Hmm.

Here's the email I got a few hours ago from my awesome lecturer (she says 'lol', and bad words! hehe):

Hi Kara, Don't worry: I realise that I didn't have you in my email addresses because you weren't there first class, so you weren't on the list I took. This is the email I just sent out. So sorry for the confusion. Thanks for double checking.

Dear All,I believe that many of you have been sitting and praying for class tomorrow to be put off, despite my saying it's on. Well, believe it or not, tomorrow's class, the 18th, IS NOW CANCELLED. I believe the prayers have worked. My voice is now non-existent and any effort I might have made to talk is a joke.
Oh dear. I am so very sorry. It would have been a good class too! This means something very important, and I really need you all to pay attention to this: We miss TWO classes, now. No class tomorrow because of my voice; no class on the 25th because I'm doing tutorials. And I am not messing any more people around! THE NEXT TIME WE MEET WILL BE MARCH 3RD.Sigh. But never fear. I am a fab teacher and you are all fab students, so we will make up for it, and nothing will be lost, I promise.Except perhaps a little patience with the blasted teacher that keeps sending you emails.
Ironic, I think Alanis Morisette would say. But then she thinks everything's ironic.

PS: Those of you who've been putting spells on me can stop now :-)Leone

ITEM OF THE DAY

SUMMER, HERE I COME!

These are from ASOS for £25

JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

I'm doing some long-awaited homework so I don't have much time to elaborate on anything today. I'm taking advantage of this 'good mood moment' when my mind is clear and fresh from my yoga class to get in as much writing as I possibly can before I crash and burn again with demotivation and depression. Nevertheless, here is today's Japanese Phrase of the Day.

O genki desu ka? - How are you?

JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

It's the weekend. Maybe you found yourself in Japan...somehow. You're at a bar and you're doing the next round. You say to the bartender:

Biiru roppon kudasai- six beers please. Yes, may recognize the 'biiru' and how it sounds slightly similar to the english word. There are a lot of words in Japanese that are just taken straight from the westernized one, except pronounced reaaaalllllyyyyy....slllloooowwwww
e.g. Finrando(Finland), foku(fork), kafe(cafe), jiinzu(jeans).

I am aware that I am going to have to explain a few things now that I have gone there. First off, the japanese replace the sound for 'r' with the sound for 'l'...They can't pronounce 'r'. To me, when they say it, it sounds like a mixture of the two. But basically you are lightly tapping the roof of your mouth with your tongue when you pronounce 'r'. Try it. So, the Finrando example should make more sense. Also, you should know now how to pronounce the 'biiru' and 'roppon' in the above sentence.

Also, usually when there is a 'u' at the end of a word, like my 'foku' example, they don't really pronounce the 'u'. In this case it should sound like you are over-pronouncing the 'k' in fork. This way, 'jiinzu' as jeans should make more sense too, I hope.

With other things like the last phrase I gave you (Doko e ikimasu ka?- Where are you going?), the same dont-pronounce-the-u rule applies for the 'ikimasu', therefore making it e-kee-mass.

And LASTLY, (sigh), 'roppon' means six only when it is referring to objects, otherwise, when counting 6 in japanese numbers, it is 'loku' (anyone remember how to pronounce that?). Okay, I should stop there and hope, biting my nails that anyone reading and trying to learn understands my explanations so far. GOOD LUCK!

INTERNSHIPS

My internship is still months away (by 2.5) but it's always a good thing to start preparing from early. I am almost clueless as to what to expect. I have never done anything like this in my life! Nothing else I've achieved comes to mind anymore in comparison to this.

I've been following Jazzi Mc G's (Thanks for finding her blog back for me Sally!) progress as a Fashionista.com intern for a little while and she's got some good tips; so does Miss Couturable, can't argue with that. Jazzi is a Teen Vogue contributor, and Miss Couturable, or Noel, is going to be a Teen Vogue intern this summer I think. Oh! And the very same helpful Sally has interned at Cosmopolitan, Cookie Magazine and is now an intern at Teen Vogue as well! WHAT IS IT WITH TEEN VOGUE?! Anyway, she's been giving me such great insider information too, about being backstage for her first fashion show and what her daily schedule is like.

So I've pocketed some advice and would like to share it with you because I know people who read this blog (and not many of you do yet), although it is not solely fashion, there are many aspects of it involved in my posts, so you, my readers may be interested in the fashion industry and possibly trying to smash your way into it.

Here's advice from 17 yr old over-acheiver Miss Couturable on how to grab an internship, along with other links for intern tips at the bottom of her post, and
Here's what Jazzi has to say on her little notebook, and why keeping one is so useful.

It's never too late to be an intern, or too early, apparently. SO GET CRACKALACKIN'! (Chris Rock's words, not mine)

GOOD GIRL GONE BAD!

BAD GIRL! *slaps Rihanna*

I would prefer not to do posts on Rihanna because apart from Heath Ledger's passing, this is not a celebrity-idolizing blog; having said that, I do not think much of Rihanna at all. I will not post why because I am not here to talk about that.

How bad were her fashion choices for the Grammy's though?

She normally looks pleasantly fashionable, not my style, but good enough for the public eye. I don't mind so much the middle nude coloured dress but...she needs to take it down a notch for her age, especially on stage. The girl is my age- 19! S&M stage outfits? I suggest not, unless she wants her camera crew to rape her backstage or something. Okay, I need to stop. I am getting heated.

Having said all that, I actually am also SMITTEN with her James Dean hairstyle in the second picture. If I still had short hair, that's what I would be doing with it right now. ABSOLUTELY. *pats Rihanna LIGHTLY on the back*

Here are some of her past performance outfits and a naughty photoshoot with Robin Thicke, to his enjoyment, I'm sure. Although his partner, who I think is half black, is pretty darn hot enough. I'm itching just posting these. LITTLE GIRL, WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?!

ITEM OF THE DAY

Doko e ikimasu ka? (Where are you going?) Well, it certainly won't be to Topshop because I am ON A BAN FROM SHOPPING FOR LENT! The many regrets in my life! I am ABSOLUTELY SMITTEN over these Johnathan Saunders dresses; luckily not £75 smitten.

See how I skilfully added in the japanese phrase of the day? *chuckles*

MY VALENTINE'S DAY WILL BE THE 15th

I GOT THE CALL! Remember how I said different countries celebrate V-day on different days? And that if you weren't ready to celebrate it just yet, for lack of a significant other/dinner date/fuck buddy/valentine then it was okay to wait until you acquired one to then take on la Jour d'Amour? WEEEELLLLLL My ex called me all the way from San Jose, CA at 11pm on the 14th, while I was busy sleeping away the day (by accident. I went to bed at noon), to ask me to be his valentine! AND I SAID NO!

Just kidding, dorks! I got giggly and hyper after that and decided to arrange some surprises for him out there. I put on some Britney and had a photoshoot. Above is one of the LESS personal in the bunch/stack/heap *giggles*. WHAT? I'M SMITTEN, OKAY? I really got carried away and must've taken like 8 dozen!

I also had the great fortune of hearing my neighbours on my left scream in ecstasy while they thought their sexual epiphanies were being drowned out by their R&B/Slow jams CD. While to the right of my wall, my other neighbours were having a serious fight. I heard a girl crying like a mouse with its tail cut off, and she was running away in distress clattering down the hall, then coming back in love; back and forth, back and forth while I tried to slide down the corridor out of her way with my plate of rice and korma, and my best comforting smile. *sigh* Tis Valentine's Day in halls of residence.

I also gathered together all the old emails since April 2007 that my valentine and I have had and sent them to him all in a pretty little document. I'm about to go over them now, which could take a good 45 minutes so I thought I would blog first. I tried to write him a new sonnet but I encountered something that I wouldn't exactly call Writer's Block; more like Lover's Block. BUT, IT'S NEVER TOO LATE FOR LOVE. I'll try again another day. Hope everyone had a splendid day yesterday. I'm going to enjoy mine today! :)

ITEM OF THE DAY

Once again, I'm letting things get a little crazy around here just because it's Valentine's Day. What else am I supposed to do if everyone keeps reminding me about it? Even my mother called me from Dubai to wish me a happy v-day. *Sigh*

So, if there ever was a way to describe love, I think this sonnet by William Shakespeare would be it. Yes; the two S's of love- sonnets (which are a type of poem traditionally on the topic of love) and Shakespeare, the tragic lover himself.

SONNET 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

It's basically about a woman who looks NOTHING like Angelina Jolie but he has the hots for her anyway, to put it quite frankly.
P.S. WRITE YOUR LOVER A SONNET! I've done many, but they were because I had to for homework and he was the easiest thing to write about. BUT, I still sent them to him anyway. He was completely flattered and smitten. :D

QUIT BEING A SOGGY-FACED EMO ABOUT VALENTINE'S DAY!

I meant to say in my last post, before I got so excited about it, that from now on I will be trying to remember to post a Japanese phrase everyday, that should help me on my way to striking up a convo with Takeshi Kaneshiro if I ever see him, as well as teaching you guys a little sumthin-sumthin interesting.

And as today is Valentine's day, which I have, by the way, Superpoked my friends on Facebook to boycott, I will give you a love-related phrase:

ai- love

ai shiteru- I love you

Also, here's an interesting link on how the Japanese celebrate Valentine's day and what the colour red symbolizes for them.

If you're not fond of Japanese and want to show your significant other how many languages you can express your love to him/her in then here's how to do that. From Spanish to Maltese to Borat's native tongue.

And if you're simply not ready to face the 'holiday' just yet, did you know different countries celebrate it different days? Different months even!(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine). September in Colombia, June in Brazil, ALL the way back around in January for Wales, or just like...a week later in Romania (in case you have 'the bitchy fits' A.K.A. your period that week or something. I mean, you can totally wait 'til you find a love interest first then choose the nearest V-date after that, instead of O.D.ing on Rockie Road on the 14th. (I hope people don't actually do that in real life)

What are your plans for V-day, or as my friends are calling it, S.A. Day (Singles Awareness Day)? As I don't have a valentine this time around and have never really celebrated it, I plan to catch a movie with a dear friend, who just so happens to be male, and maybe I may treat myself to some long-desired okonomiyaki and mochi ice cream; maybe even some Asahi (japanese) beer. There's also an Anti-Valentine's Day celebration on tonight at one of the campus bars, held by the Deviant Society, which I supposedly am a member of. But I went to that last year and decided that if I felt lonely and shitty in the evening, when I knew across the globe my ex-boyfriend was preparing to host a V-day singles party at his flat, I would check out this cool underground lounge/club called Ginglik in Shepherd's Bush that is having a small V-day tribute with live bands etc. So I am set! HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE!