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!