Sei-jin-shiki [Coming of Age Day]

Sei-jin-no-hi (成人の日), or the Coming of Age Day as translated to English in Wikipedia, is a day when those who have reached the age of 20 (or hatachi, in Japanese) in the previous year are celebrated and recognised as adults in the community and the nation. The ceremony is called Sei-jin-shiki (成人式), where all the newly-turned adults share the festivity together, along with their family and friends too.

The reason I’m writing about Seijinshiki today, well, is because I am turning 20 this year, which means that I would be attending the ceremony next year in January. That’s about a year from now, but most people start preparing for the event a couple of years before, and at least a year before the ceremony at the latest. This is mainly because getting the kimono ready could be time consuming, let alone finding the right one. And once you have chosen the kimono, you’re going to need to find the appropriate accessories for that kimono, blah blah blah. And it doesn’t end there, but I’m not really too sure about the other details. I don’t really think I can do anything about all these stuff from overseas, so I’m just going to see if I can visit Japan in June to get everything in place. Now you might think it’s just way too much trouble to go through just to attend an event, but it is kind of a big deal, and I don’t think Mum would have it otherwise. It will probably be the biggest event in your life, well, before marriage, I guess. But I really don’t know about how that would go, so yeah, huge chance that this Seijinshiki might be the biggest deal for me.

Okay so I think I’ve rambled on about how much work this might all be, but that’s not saying that I am not excited about this whole thing. Believe me, I am really psyched about this. The only pity being that I won’t be able to share the moment with my grandparents, who have passed away. But I know they would just be so happy for me, and I’m happy enough to know that.

Now, most girls wear a “furisode”, which is basically a kimono with longer sleeves that drape all the way down toward the calf. Furisode is a lot fancier than the usual kimono because of that reason, and it’s typically only worn by young females. The most quintessential furisode for Seijinshiki are red or pink, but there are lots of other colours and designs ranging from traditional to contemporary styles these days. I thought I’d just go for red in the beginning, you know, the safer option. But after talking to Mum about it a bit more, we decided to get a purple/violet/lavender one, since that was my grandmother’s favourite colour (and my favourite colour was also lavender when I was in kindergarten; I loved her so much that I had to have the same favourites as her). Anyway, the biggest reason that made me write this was not because I wanted to go on and on about an endless topic, but I kind of wanted to share the beauty of kimono with all of you. So here are a couple of photos of beautiful kimono, some of which I think may be close to what I might get eventually.

Lavender-on-black is pretty chic…lavender as the base would be too pale and not really fancy enough for the occasion. I think it would kind of make me looked washed out or something. So yeah, black. But as you can see, the obi (belt) is kind of bright, standing out of the black. I think I really like this one:

And this one here below is the bright red fancy typical furisode for Seijinshiki. Pretty, but not me:

If I actually went for red though, I’d want it to be something a bit toned down, like this:

And never would I dare to go for this one below:

If something of a modern design, at least something like this:

But I think I’m more into a traditional style:

I do think this one is beautiful too, but probably not for Seijinshiki for me:

Oh, and by the way, when I said purple, I didn’t mean this kind of a hue, but something a bit more toned down:

And though this one over here is red, I actually really like it too (and the model, Cecil Kishimoto from Okinawa, is one of my favourite Japanese models too):

Well I guess I could just go on showing you photos after photos, but there’s got to be a limit to everything so I’m going to cut it out around here for now. I will probably show some of these to Mum and see what she thinks about them. I could really do with some experienced eyes here to help me out.

Adriana Lima – Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2011

Fine, I know it’s already 2012 and all, but watching the VS fashion show on YouTube kind of made me want to make a post about it now, so here it is. First I thought I’d cover some other angels too, but for today I’m just going to stick to this amazing angel, and dare I say, one of the best VS has had….

Adriana Lima

I’m usually not the type to claim just one favourite in anything, but when it comes to VS angels, oh my Adriana Lima beats it to the top. She’s a hardcore and has said many times that boxing is her passion. And not the girlie aerobic exercise kinds, I guess, judging from those scarred knuckles on her hands, and that’s awesome. Also, I’m not stereotyping here, but she doesn’t really sound like an idiot in interviews…yeah, I’m not saying all models are dumb but really, you’ve got to admit that some of them are, or even if they are not, they sure do sound like it when put infront of the camera. Adriana looks strong and beautiful, no other angels can beat that.

Look. At. That. She’s absolutely fierce.

Anyway, here are some of her photos from the 2011 show.

This one’s from the Superwoman collection…

She totally rocks red with her skin tone too…loved what they did with her bangs, making her stand out from the other angels…

And Adriana being goofy backstage….

I wish I could get those wings for Halloween…

Kind of like some of her unique poses too – most angels tend to do winks, and they’re great too, really. But Adriana’s strong poses stand out amongst those, just saying.

Anyway, that’s pretty much I’ve got to say…apart from the obvious, like…her legs…piercing eyes…hard abs…super hot accent…yeah, that.

Let’s Bring It All Out

So I went to see my GP yesterday to collect the blood test report.

Long story short, I’m basically fine. No problems identified. LFT was normal, negative result for Coeliac, no allergies, normal vitamin-D level. I guess this is good news, but like said earlier too, this just kind of puts me back to the darkness in finding out what’s really causing the issues I’ve been having lately (well, for the last year or so). Well, they aren’t really life-threatening so I’m not too worried right now, but I know that it could help me a lot if I could just get to the root of it all and make changes around it.

We did talk about other issues that may be causing my health problems though, and although I used to take some very mild anti-depressants and they didn’t really help me much (also because I kind of quit after it made my mouth so dry and thirsty I literally had to drink water every 5 minutes), my GP thought it may or may not have something to do with that. As in depression. Honestly, I am not that severely clinically depressed but I can somewhat relate to it. Just looking at the number of posts I made about how I was feeling portrays how it has affected my life since I moved to Sydney. I don’t really want to emphasise on this much, I don’t want anyone around me to be too worried about this at all. It may sound like I’m in denial if I just say that I have not reached the point where the level of depression or anxiety or whatever it is that I’m dealing with has become clinical, but I’m just trying to be honest here. On the other hand, I’m not an expert so I can only say so much from what I think about myself. The doctor did recommend me to visit a clinic for mental health to discuss about my depression and also see a dietician there, and wrote a letter of reference for me, so we’ll see how that goes.

I guess I’m sort of happy with my current GP like that, that he doesn’t shove away my problems just like that. My previous one just talked to me once (and she also looked like she could not care less as I was speaking), gave me a possible reason for what I was experiencing and that was it. The doctor that I am seeing now kind of takes his time to go through all of my problems, even encourages me to talk about things that I don’t even consider as an issue myself. He does some routine tests, but doesn’t end it there and gives me different suggestions for how I could approach what I’m encountering right now. Also, every time I visit him, he never forgets to ask me how my studies are going, how I am feeling about university right now, about my family, my friends, basically everything about my life. From what I have learnt in my first year at uni, that’s exactly how a doctor should be while talking to a patient but in reality, not all medical practitioners are actually like that. Sort of makes me look up to him. Who knew visiting my own GP could be a lesson for me like that? Well good for me, I need all the inspiration I can get to motivate myself right now. I have an exam coming up in less than 2 weeks…I cannot emphasise enough on how horrible I am under pressure, but I guess all I can do right now is just kind of do whatever I can to prepare myself and at least try to remain calm. Anyway, enough rambling and time to put those words into practise now.

Such A Funk

Well for one thing, I’ve always thought the word “funk” is kind of funny…funk…funk…fuuuunk, I could keep saying it and it just keeps getting wierder.

Anyhow, so I’ve been in a blog-funk lately (not that I am not in one in real life too), but I couldn’t really think of anything to break the ice with. So maybe I’ll randomly just talk about stuff I’ve been doing lately.

1. This is the newest thing for me…I dyed my hair red. Well, not exactly bright red, but I think it was called red mahogany brown or something. It’s still a big thing for me though, because I’ve never coloured my hair before, ever. I guess it kind of made my hair darker in a way.

2. Sherlock Holmes 2. I just cannot say enough about how LOL this movie was. I’m not going to talk about the plot of the story itself, but seriously, it just made me love RDJ more than ever.

3. Gym. As in, no gym. Like I said, I’ve been in this huge funk and I haven’t really been hitting the gym as much as I used to. So it is sort of a new change in a way, not working out as much as I used to.

4. I went to my GP last week to get a blood test done for Coeliac and LFT, and I’m getting the report back tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed there isn’t anything majorly wrong with my liver (since I had Hepatitis-E in 2010), but then again, if I don’t find anything wrong, that would mean that I’d be put back in square-1 again in working out what’s causing the GI problems I’ve been having. Well I guess I’ll just have to see and hope for the best.

Oh, and to end this post in a positive note, my internet is kind of working again, so yay to that! Hope it keeps working like this from now on.

Sweet Potato Microwave Bake

A little something Mum baked on a microwave during her stay here in Sydney.

Okay, not the most appetising photo of the century, but as you can see, it had diced sweet potatoes in it (don’t know what I would do without sweet potatoes in my life).

Basically, the sweet potato was mixed in with wholemeal flour, baking powder, cane sugar and egg, and zapped in the microwave for 6 minutes (our oven is 1200W).

It tasted alright for something so simple, but I thought it could be improved with a slight alteration:

• Making it in smaller containers – that way it could be a bit fluffier and also easier to cook. Simpler storage too.
• Add cinnamon!!! Everything tastes better with cinnamon in it
• Vanilla extract.
• Top with cottage cheese before serving.
• It could also be made with shredded potatoes rather than diced, if you want a more cake-like texture.

But this was still pretty good!!! Simplicity is best

Sleeping Once in Two Days

So I’m up again at 5:30 am, though I couldn’t really sleep till 2…this habit of only being able to have a decent sleep once in two days is creeping up to me. Maybe I should just give up on the whole idea, because now I feel like trying to sleep and not being able to is just adding to the stress. Austvina tells me it’s the summer…maybe it is, but understanding the cause of it isn’t making the situation any better for me at the moment. Plus, the temperature hasn’t even reached 30 degrees (Celsius) yet. Guess I’m going to pretend like I’m not hating this at all.

Oh, so, today is finally the day for Mum and Hikaru to leave Sydney (so yesterday was not the last day yet). The day creeping up on me was sort of worse than it’s actual arrival, and I’m not really feeling too dramatic about it anymore. It’s funny how things somehow fall into place in the end, and nothing is truly as bad as it seems in the beginning. I’ll see them again in summer (I mean, the Australian winter) again anyway! For now, I’ll just go back to the single girl life (no more help from brother for heavy lifting & DIY home improvements & grocery shopping = say hello again to chronic shoulder ache…gosh).

< This Billy bookcase from Ikea would have never happened if it weren’t for the bro…couldn’t even carry it up to my apartment myself! >

On a different note, this is something that happened yesterday when I was out with Mum and Hikaru the bro, I stopped at the ATM machine…and when I tried to use it, my card wouldn’t go in. And this other person’s card came out. Obviously, I took it into the bank to return it immediately, but some of my friends (rather, acquaintances?) that I was talking about the event to later yesterday commented that they would have “tried to take advantage” (their exact words) of the situation. Now, I’m not that naive a person; I know that this world is not a perfect rosy place where everybody loves each other, but it was really sad to hear this. I just hope that these friends of mine do not represent the majority of the population. Really, do these people really want to put an innocent person in trouble, take what does not belong to them and feel terribly guilty, just to get a few extra wads of cash? And I’m not even that righteous a person. I honestly don’t like judging people, but I just couldn’t help myself in this case. Or am I the one that’s wierd? I hope not.

Last Day with Mum&Bro

So today was my last day with Mum and Hikaru this holiday.

The first 10 days seemed to go pretty slow, but after the New Years, time practically flew away like the wind.

I was sort of upset about them leaving and being alone again several days ago; my alter ego (the emo one) was totally dominating over my mind.

But now I’m sort of okay about the whole thing – probably also because now Mum got all teary and I had to be the optimistic one.

Telling her how everything will still be the same, that we’ll still text each other everyday like we used to and we can talk to each other any time we want, made me realise how some families may only see each other once in a couple of years even if they live in the next town, while you could be living in different continents and still visit each other more often than that.

Also, being apart from each other will also make you see things that you would not be able to by living under the same roof, and appreciate the existence of the other.

I don’t want to be too wordy here, all I know is that everything’s going to be just fine.

Today, we finished putting up the curtain rails in my apartment (I only used to have blinds), so now all I need to do is go over to Austvina’s place once she comes back from Queensland, and sew the hems of the fabric I got for the curtains from Ikea.

Speaking of which, I went to Ikea like three times (including today) over the course of a month, since Mum was here and we could just drive and get there in about 15 minutes!!!

Love that we have such a huge Ikea (bigger than the one in Rhodes) so close now.

I could easily bike to Tempe, unless I have something huge to buy.

I’ll probably go there just to chill and eat their Princess Cake anyway, like I did today.

<Shared these treats with Mum and Hikaru at Ikea, Tempe today>

Although, the cake tasted so much sweeter than I remembered…almost too sweet…sad, I know. But it was still good. And pretty.

But hey, I can still get free coffee/tea for the win!!! I love having my Ikea Family card.

So we just came back from Ikea without getting anything much, apart from the curtain hooks.

They’re clip-on, so I don’t have to make any holes in the curtain itself. Easy peasy.

Anyhow, since we reaaaallly didn’t do much today, apart from listening to LOL songs and the forgotten favourites, I’ll just leave it at that.

WIAW After Forever

So this is my first What I Ate Wednesday this year (and the only third or fourth one ever).

Courtesy to the lovely blog Peas and Crayons for hosting this weekly fun!!

Breakfast: I didn’t feel much for anything this morning since I woke up later than usual, so just a cup of French Vanilla and Rose Tea (in my usual “The World’s Greatest Sister” mug).

Lunch: Tomato oatmeal soup with chinese cabbage and chicken.

Mum made the tomato soup in the morning, and all I had to do was add some oatmeal and reheat it.

Dinner: Austvina and Julz came over to meet Mum today, so I fixed up some easy dishes for dinner.

From top right – buckwheat pancakes, red cabbage coleslaw with tahini and mixed beans, guacamole, baked sweet potatoes and egg&cucumber sushi rolls.

Okay, so I didn’t really make the sushi all on my own…would have been a mess without Mum’s help!! But the other stuff turned out fine.

And for dessert, we had this box of chocolate that Austvina got for us from happy lab.

Orchard, vine and spice palettinos…premium handcrafted chocolate pralines, more fruity than carmen miranda’s headpiece, more flavour than a freshly squeezed juice.

Ah…too cute to be eaten!!! But tasted great This one was my favourite (and the only white piece), and it tasted just like a peach. The filling was not too sweet either and just perfect.

So that’s all for this week’s WIAW!!!

Prepping For Living Alone Once Again

I feel like I have gotten used to living around Mum way too much now to turn back into living alone once again.

It was only mid-December that she arrived in Sydney, and it’s already time for her to leave in several days.

I try not to be too pessimistic about it though; sometimes it’s really hard to accept that it’s just going to be me alone at home again, but I try to remind myself that I can talk to her any time I want.

After all, we’re still living on the same planet, and nobody’s dying.

I can see her any time if I really want to.

I don’t really mind having to do all chores on my own again, it’s just that they’re going to remind me of her each time, at least for a while.

But before all these thoughts begin to get to me, I tell myself how she’s just right there, and that I’m never truly alone.

Plus, I’ve got some amazing people around me over here in Sydney too.

Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without them.

I also think a lot about my best friend slash sister slash soul mate slash only true b*tch to my heart, who is in Canada right now.

Don’t really know how to express the way I feel about her, it’s all the best feelings of love and respect.

She really inspires me to do the best I can and not give up. Love you loads, Sanjida (wanted to call you Sanju baby, but I’d rather not deal with the consequences of making that mistake)!!

Anyway, so I’ve done a bit of work in the kitchen to prep for my single girl life after Mum and Hikaru leave.

Cooked 500g of hi-fibre and another 500g of wholewheat spaghetti.

Packed them into 16 zip-lock bags to store them in the freezer to be used for those lazy night dinners.

Mum and I also marinaded some chicken breast pieces in miso&white wine to be frozen for easy access in the future.

Chopped up carrots and boiled them lightly, zip-locked and frozen.

Same with raw onions and grated ginger.

Took quite a while, but all these prep work will surely make life so much easier in the future!!!

Being A Bad Blogger That I Am…

Being a bad blogger that I am, this is only my second post this year.

But I don’t care.

I haven’t really been partaking in the online world since Mum and Hikaru (my little brother) came to visit me over here in Sydney anyway, so might just as well go with the flow and get full-on lazy.

Being a bad blogger that I am, the first post of this year mainly just consisted of photos of food.

And those photos had such bad lighting too.

Being a bad blogger that I am, I forgot to take photos of so many other things I enjoyed with Hikaru and Mum.

Again, I don’t care; the memory will live.

Being a bad blogger that I am, I am not going to post the most embarrassing photos I took with my brother this holiday.

But then again, I might as well in the future when my thinking is compromised with alcohol. Just not today.

And yet, being a bad blogger that I am, I am not going to include a photo of my new Batgirl undie amongst those…that’s just TMI.

Being a bad blogger that I am, I will not unveil how complicated and wierd I am feeling today as a sore loser self.

But I will distract myself by posting some photos I managed to take over the past week.

Scored these comic books at Kinokuniya yesterday!!!

 

I had Una-ju (eel on rice) at Ichiban-Boshi for lunch when I went out with Mum and Hikaru

Mum and Hikaru both ordered Miso Ramen at Ichiban-Boshi

Mum said really enjoyed her bowl

 Being a bad blogger that I am, that’s all for today…my eyes are way too puffy to stare at the monitor any longer without wanting to stab a fork into my eye sockets and replace the eyeballs with ice cubes.