JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

For the dinner party guests, for the plumber scheduled to fix your clogged toilet, for the male escort you hired, for Takeshi Kaneshiro, Adrien Brody, Josh Brolin and Johnny Depp ANYTIME:

Douzo ohairi kudasai= Please come in.

I can't sleep. Someone come and entertain me. Douzo ohairi kudasai!

Kakkooii Means COOL!

This is the most BADASS picture EVER! Thank you, Face Hunter, for showing me that guys in London exist like this, look as fucking cool as this, in statement gold shoes, and have their coats billowing with just the right amount of evil gusty wind, and yet still have adorable babies to make bottles for. I wonder what he looks like in the comfort of his home. I wonder how I can meet him and be his friend. ITEM OF THE DAY!

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!

JAPANESE PHRASE OF THE DAY

Hottoite! = Back off!

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)

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.

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.

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!

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*

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!

SUDDENLY SUNDAY

This week flew away a lot faster than my last, I must say. Very productive week all the same.

I went to that journalism workshop, which was brilliant, and expect to hear back from my one-day tutor with feedback on my breaking news story. I'm reasonably proud of the outcome.

I still haven't found a job or any work experience but I have a couple publications in mind to apply to in the Middle East so I can have something to do when I head back home for summer vacation. And when I say 'something', I mean other than swaddling myself in sheets, laptop to the left of me, ipod to the right and television straight ahead with 'Beaches' coming on next.

I'm in the middle of watching Stephen King's 'It' right now. I wish my brother was here to watch it with me. He is probably one of the few people I know who appreciate it because we welcomed it as our first horror movie experience back when we were 'chisai'(that's my japanese word of the day; 'small'. Just making sure I remember). None of the real scary bits have come up yet, however, minus the awesome beginning where the kid with the sailboat gets lured in by 'It', who is talking to him from the little drainage space in the road. HOW CREEPY!? Can't wait to post this sucker and see what happens next.

I've started using my window ledge as a mini fridge. My Brita and a can of coke are out there at the moment. It's a very seasonal mini-fridge though and I dread the summer day when it will no longer work. We're only allowed one 'chisai' shelf of space in the flat's fridge and I just did my groceries, so bare with me while I write about this small miracle. It means a lot to me. I'm sure you'll understand and appreciate this a lot more when you start living in dorms.

In other news, my mother says she's going to call me today! Another small miracle when you live on your own in a foreign country. It's a good thing too because I just pathetically signed myself up for a Stardoll account out of boredom, and have been decorating my suite and living in a 'chisai' virtual world with uber fabulous clothes. The people on there are 12!

For the record, I am not completely loser-ish, only in small doses. But I went to (*clears throat*), no, was specifically called up and cordially invited to, a house party last night and drank loads of cider in response to the popular drinking game 'Never Ever', so HA!