the magic of pretty little things

white crocuses on a rainy spring day

when i was taking the picture, sugawara sensei walked toward me . “crocus,” he said. “one of the first flowers to bloom in spring.”

but by the time i got home, i have forgotten the name, like i always do. so i flipped open my illustrated nature almanac for children, which i coveted for months and received as a present from the boyfriend, and found a little hand-drawn picture of purple crocuses in full bloom with a little description:

“チューリップのように、夜や雨の日に花びるをとじます。”
(like tulip, the petals close in the evening and on a rainy day.)

spring is my new beginning. i want to learn about the types of flowers that bloom in this season, and differentiate between cherry and plum blossoms. i want to start noticing the little things around me that i have taken for granted, know their names and their characteristics, and not forget them.

for me, magic comes in small packages.

 

three pigs are dancing in my room. they are very excited.

i’ve decided to try packing my own lunches when school reopens this april. i think i enjoy the idea of arranging colourful things into a box more than the idea of packing lunch.

colours have surreptitiously crept into my life-my clothes, the pictures i draw, my thought bubbles, my lunch…i have now even acquired the taste (and liking) for tomato and celery, the ‘natto’ of my childhood. somehow, i have also lost the embarrassment of buying things i like. i mean, i would have never bought something that says ‘Three pigs are dancing in my room. They are very excited’ three years ago. i know i’m a person who is easily influenced by my environment- for better or for worse; though at the same time, i am terribly resistant to change especially when it is forced upon me. somewhere in my mind, i’m wondering how should i decide between the person i can be and the person i fundamentally am. when people say ‘be true to yourself’, i’m not really sure what to think.

but anyway, talking about pigs…

プヒ ❤

 

i actually prefer the cold. not really, but yes.

things always crop up when i need time to do my own things. my headaches are coming back and i half attribute it to japanese heaters blasting away in unventilated staff rooms. if you see me loitering in the chilly corridor, it’s just me trying to catch a breath of air…

 

being creative with filling in the blanks

student a:
“What do you want to be in the future?”

student b:
“I want to be Rebekah’s husband.”

student a:
“Why do you want to be Rebekah’s husband?”

student b:
(turns around and looks at ALT)
“Because I love you.“

 

ふふふ ^_^

the weather got cold all of a sudden and my mood took a similar plunge around the same time. but i’m glad that the last two times i found myself breaking out in gigantic blobs of tears, he was there to hold me.

so i got my lazy ass out of the house and met up with my friends in aizu, and i also chatted with a few of my dear old friends online. i drew, cooked, lazed around, and thought about getting an imac, a printer, and going wireless.

other than having dutifully caught the cold i’m bound to catch with each change of weather and thus coughing my guts out every morning, i’m feeling so much better.

it was pouring buckets the whole of yesterday because of the typhoon and my socks got all squishy. but today is bright and sunny and all is good. i’m happy and so is my new heart cactus. i hope my hammies feel warmer today and come out and play. i need to wash their cages before they start to smell. somehow the grass bedding my hammies use smells like rain in autumn, which is nice. i just hope it’s not because something’s rotting.

and i also told my vice-principal i’d stay on for the 4th year. wow.

 

my room is in need of a bumble bee

.

1. i’ve developed a liking for colourful vegetables swimming in my soup.
2. i went to the “river mouth” high school up on a hill yesterday.
3. there was a disproportionately large number of nice people in that very small school.
4. i still find it difficult to grade things. or people.
5. i think i’m better at “i like” and “i no like”.
5. i’m coming to accept that some “judo players” “play judo”.
6. but “play aikido” just sounds terribly terribly wrong.
7. i miss vivian and lynn very much
8. autumn day is the next best thing to spring.
9. i’m still wearing my sandals everywhere.
10. i want to make cabbage rolls.

 

made of clay and my thoughts stay within.

i made them in school today. the school nurse showed me her collection and asked me if i wanted to try making one. this was at one of my vist schools and i went to school not knowing that it was sports day today. since i had no classes, i was in the counselling room pinching and pressing little birds out of clay while chatting with the nurse all morning. mind you, they are not just ordinary clay birds. when they are done, i shall reveal their secret function found where some people say the sun doesn’t shine.

 

ゴロゴロ週末

the final weekend before school reopens. and i’ve got nothing planned. the apartment feels much cooler now that it’s not so hot outside. clothes strewned all over the place. unwashed dishes in the sink. and 2 hamster cages waiting. my thoughts like a room full of soap bubbles all floating around. but poke ‘em and they pop. so i’m just gonna lie in bed this weekend, with my 2 fat novels, and morph into a tare panda.

 

so yummy

this is officially the next new thing i’m lusting after. not kimura takuya, though he’s pretty yummy too. japanese boys are usually quite cute. even if they are not, their hairstyles kinda make up for it. but that’s until uncle-dom strikes when they are in their late 20s. kimutaku is already in his 30s and still looking dishy.

back to the other delicious looking thing. the nikon d40x. i’d have easily settled for the original d40 since 10 megapixels means nothing to me when a good quality 6.1 can do the same job. i’ve never really been the more/bigger-the-better type. but over here, they are bundling the d40x lens kit and an additional VR 55-200mm zoom lens for an attractive price.

i love my d70 and the best thing is that it’s still working really well after 3 years. the only gripe i have is the size and the weight. d70 is not something i want to lug around on a casual day out. the d40 looks perfect. and if it’s as light as people claim it is, i can totally do away with the need for an extra compact camera.

i’m really tempted to buy it. like right away. just as i was tempted to buy the scanner-printer combi and a macbook pro right away. but i’m taking some time to think it through. and with time, i realised that some things, like the 超 expensive macbook pro, can wait. i guess a newer and better equipment doesn’t mean anything, just like an expensive, big-ass camera doesn’t necessary make a good picture. anyway, photography, illustration, graphics are still just hobbies for me. i could as easily spend time making rubber stamps with the carving set i bought for a 100 yen and feel just as satisfied.

 

and summer starts with spring cleaning

it’s here. and i was just whining about rain when summer smacked me with a 36 degrees the very next day the rainy season was reported to have ended.

my hamsters have become quite lethargic in this heat, preferring to stay in the cage and pretend to be hamster rugs then to come out to play. but strangely, i feel like i’m stirring out of some kind of hibernation.

so my summer is starting with 大掃除. this time, i don’t have the usual urge to throw away or arrange stuff. i just want to wipe all the dust away.

i’ve been thinking of buying myself a scanner and printer combi (canon pixus mp600) so i can start digitising my drawings and work on them. i’ve always been an impulsive buyer, thinking that a new something would motivate me to do things. i guess that’s how i always end up with piles of unread books and dusty equipments.

so this time i’m reversing the order. i have been drawing much more to justify myself a scanner (then i can stop taking crappy photos of my drawings). and if i turn my doodles into illustrations of some sort, consistently, a macbook pro will be next in line. maybe as a birthday present to myself. yay.

and i’m also going to learn how to sew myself and H new tie-pants. and make more cute rubber stamps. and some more squashable toys. and study for my japanese language proficiency test. and improve my english >_< (笑）

理由が特にないけど。ただ楽しいから。

summer vacation is too short.