Hi nanako and Juliah! *waves fervently* XD

First things first-- Omedetou Tanjoubi Nino-kun! Yupz, It's Arashi's Ninomiya Kazunari's 21st birthday today...(wondering what strange present Ohno will give him this time...)I wonder what the other members will give him? On his last birthday, it was a video of their greetings...Nino usually composes songs for the other members on their birthdays, but as nobody else can write songs as well as he does, he's the only one who doesn't get a birthday song. But the other guys give him their birthday greetings through other means!

Woke up at 6 a.m today to prepare for school...slept at 2am yesterday so I was really groggy all the way (nearly fell asleep in the shower... standing there almost asleep with the shower running...:P) My mind was in such a groggy daze that I nearly forgot it was Nino's birthday until my handphone's reminder went off (set it for 7 a.m). It was then that I suddenly remembered XD

Did nothing but Maths the whole study session...Amanda didn't come so it was only Jingchuan and I, and Mrs Tan was busy compiling stuff about the Nats in the staff room. We ended up slacking and chatting a lot, and exploring the Humanities Room. Actually, there's a lot of interesting stuff there--yup, even the old projects. If only they'd let us take a look at those old projects...some are on pretty interesting topics!

Arashi's releasing a new single in August-- HERO, the theme song for the NTV broadcast of the Olympics. Must be a really motivating song!! Just what I need this year, ne? XD Though I'm gonna end up really broke, with the ltd ed album and everything...

I dreamt of Tokyo yet AGAIN...sighz...maybe what Gwen said was right--maybe in my past life I lived there or something. It's as if I have this affinity with the place, the language and the culture.

When I was in P5 I tried to learn french and I never learnt more than a few common greetings...so why is it that when I learnt Japanese by myself i managed to pick up so much so fast? I really surprised myself too...I guess it's all thanks to Jpop XD and my trusty dictionaries (okay, maybe not TOO trusty)

Hope more ppl turn up for Monday's study session--it's not that much fun with just 2 ppl! Gwen, are u reading this? XD   ¶ 9:31:00 午後

  Was just wondering if I should take JLPT this year...if i do, I think I can manage only level 3. I am not as fluent as you think I am...:P My vocabulary is still limited and I'm better at reading than listening....gotta work on that! :) Vocab-wise, I've been trying to diversify my reading material but since I'm addicted to idol mags like Duet and they take up a huge part of my expenditure...sigh...guess i can afford Asahi Shimbun once in a while XD. I wish idol mags cost less...of course after a few months Kinokuniya would slash the price of the magazines, but only if they are any left, and Duet sells out so fast I just have to get to a copy asap. Even if I reserved a copy they hold it for at most 3 days :P.

I don't know what to do with that growing pile of mags. Can't bear to throw some issues away but I'm running out of space to put them! If I had a scanner and could scan in all the pages and covers I wanted to keep, and save them as image files, I'd be happy to get rid of the mags--but I don't have a scanner. Sigh.

Feel like writing another fan letter to Sho...maybe that will have to wait until their new album comes out? :) I wonder what will happen if I sent one letter with messages to every one of them, and address it to "Arashi"...

:D Maybe I'll write a letter to each of them! (and that's like, $3.50 in stamps?)

I feel really bad about it, but I really really wish Sho would reply to at least one of my letters (sigh)...but he's a busy person--they're all busy ppl--and even when they do have time to read fan mail, why would they choose mine over the tons of letters they get?

I'd like to think that at least one of my letters left an impression on him...even if he doesn't reply--even if they don't reply--as long as it touches their hearts and leaves a lasting impression on them, I'll be happy. :)

It's official...I'm taking 200m freestyle for the Nationals...and I have totally no confidence in myself. If I'm already lagging behind in 50m freestyle, how can i expect to do well in 200M? Face it, it's a fact that I was never meant to be a competitive swimmer, never will be. No matter how hard I try,others are still faster. If I slack and do badly, I'll be letting my team the school and mrs Tan down--I did promise I'd train for it, but what do I have to show? Nothing. I regret taking 200 free...but what else is there?

I'm more confident abt 50m backstroke, back is my pet stroke after all; yet this competition is just like another major time trial, not a competition, because i know I'll never reach Top 8. The most I can hope for is to better my own personal best. What am I doing in swimming anyway? I joined because I love the water, love swimming....but school swimming is more than that--it's COMPETITIVE--and I feel that it's sapping the spirit. The good ones get better and better, while weaker ones like me, though we do improve a bit, have nary the chance to catch up. Especially if you're a late starter. I just want to swim, and not bother about competing. But I have to. Why? This thing called CCA points. It skews the reasons why I joined swimming in the first place. Joined to be with the water, continues just for points. It's become so mechanical...the purpose isn't there any more...
just a month more to go and I'm free from training, and can swim freely all I want
Don't have to worry about speed, just the feel of the water...

Gotta get back to revision. I haven't even started on Higher Chinese yet! Better do so RIGHT NOW if I intent to get an A1 for that  ¶ 1:09:00 午前

  Was scanning through the iro forum...finally added a long post about my opinions on Ohno in the Readables research thread. It really got me to reflect on how much my opinion about him has changed, from the time when I was just a wide-eyed, blur fan who could hardly tell the guys apart to now, when I understand them more. I can't help but realize, "Wow, all of them have grown". And it's true. The guys have changed a lot, not just physically but in other aspects. I think the most major change is that they're definitely more close-knit now that they used to be.

Whenever I read what the others say on the thread about Ohno's mum buying all his clothes for him etc, I kind of recall something i read on a Japanese forum a couple of months back--someone said that she saw Ohno buying clothes with his girlfriend, and added that although he says on TV and in mags that his mother buys clothes for him, actually mother=girlfriend. I don't know how true it is, it'd be considered a rumour anyway, but it is possible isn't it? XD But if it's true that whenever Ohno mentions his mother he actually means his girlfriend--just some pondering. Don't even know for sure if he HAS a girlfriend

But I'm also wondering, whenever fans say they saw an idol with a girl at this place and that place, do they ever consider that the girl may be a relative? With the exception of Aiba, all the Arashi guys have sisters...The more I think of it, the more likely it seems that when someone on a forum makes a huge fuss about having seen so-and-so with a girl who's probably his girlfriend...there are such things as normal friends going out, or siblings on an outing together! 2 fans reported seeing Sho with his sister and younger brother in town XD.   ¶ 3:48:00 午後

  One measly friend? Oh really? Geez, whoever who said that must be really blind then. I'd rather have just a few close friends I can really trust and click with, than tons of friends, most of which can turn around and backstab me any time. So there. Not all the ppl arnd me have to be friends, some are just acquaintances, the "Hi bye" kinda thing. Nothing wrong with that.

Trying to catch up with revision, but somehow I've ended up ctaching up on translations instead. A bit outdated...but Iro babestas, look out for a translation of the Arashi QA session in Duet 05 2004 in the Iro Reads blog soon!! I'm doing Ohno now...

Can't wait till 6pm!!!! I MUST be on time this time...only 1h to spare b4 I have to rush off for tuition...:P have half a mind to skip it, it's a relief teacher today anyway....but on second thought, better not XD

Finally got my whole outfit for graduation nite (with exception of the shoes). I'm not gonna reveal it here...juz that I'm quite satisfied with it, though it didn't really fit what I wanted initially...It'll be unique, for sure. Ha. I hope nobody recognises me on that day.  ¶ 1:31:00 午後

  また久しぶりねみんなさん！最近とてもとても忙しかった…しょうがないよ、受験の勉強のためだから…このせいで“夏休み”なのに毎日学校へ行かなきゃ：P。なんて夏休み？ほとんど夏休みではないよ！：p　がんばります…っていってたけど…がんばる精神がいまあんまりない。
このあいだカネボウでメークオヴァーに行きました、グエンちゃんと一緒に。（彼女を行かせた…必死に引いて引いた〔笑〕）楽しかったけど…“私が本当にブスだ!”とすぐ覚えた。：P　でも卒業ナイトの時きっと美人になるよ！はい。あのとき水泳もやめるし美白もしたから肌絶対きれいになる。んん。  ¶ 9:37:00 午前