circumlocuto

of hort park pictures

2008-07-20T14:03:59Z

But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly,
Seeking with memories grown dim o'er night
Some resting flower of yesterday's delight.
-- Robert Frost

Found myself at the (newly opened?) Hort Park last Sunday after a most bewildering bus journey. Having had my camera with me, the picture above resulted, as did the following below:

CL's sinful peanut-butter-chocolate brownies. We have to make him bake these for us again. :D
(CL, I want your and YW's baking talent!)

The cookies which I just couldn't get enough of. :X Was it YW who baked these?

(MJ - none of my shots of your ginger cookies turned out well. Andrea - neither did my snaps of your doughnuts.)

Because I shall never tire of seeing sun rays cut through clouds.
(possibly my favourite shot after the butterfly)

One of the many interesting flowerpots spotted.

The panda bench at the wading pool. So. Darned. Cute. ♥
Love how there's bamboo in the background. 8D

P.S. Lit folk - I've pictures of Samuel ninja-ing flower seeds and Yii Wen wading in the pool; I'll pass you guys these through e-mail. Am also having some very unglam portraits of us eating, taken by Lester when he was playing with my camera (because I certainly don't recall taking them, and there's even one of me but none of him!) - do you guys want those?

of many a doll photo

2008-07-20T06:20:07Z

Have finished taking all sales pictures, hurrah. Though one suspects a few re-shots of certain items might be necessary, camera-shake and all, and the thought of editing the lot daunts me terribly. Ah well.

Anyway. Muchly behind dollery in general, time never being on my side. Have, however, become a convert of mohair wigs.

Case in point:

It does suit her, no? Methinks it achieves a certain level of realism in photos that synthetic wigs never do. Furthermore, it allow the brows to show whilst granting the benefit of a fringe - always a Good Thing since Shuui had done a gorgeous jobs with the brow, and I've always felt it an immense pity whenever they're covered up by the fringes of synthetic wigs. Got a similar one for the Yo, and the same about realism and showing of Yuki's beautifully-painted brows apply.

On the flip side, am pretty certain the stray hairs of mohair wigs are habouring a secret vendetta against me. No amount of taming eradicates them completely, and every new pose requires a brushing. Oh, the pain, the pain. At least stray mohair fibre looks less obvious than stray synthetic fibre... or so I hope.

Randomly, I'm immensely pleased with how well Serryl and Stelios look together. Shall have to take shots of them, with a dash of backstory thrown in, but in the meanwhile, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Slowly clearing the photo backlog now. Expect some non-doll ones relatively soon-ish.

of the new avengers screencaps - ending

2008-07-13T17:42:52Z

To be ignored by the F-list unless you're a fan of
a) Martin Shaw
b) Lewis Collins
c) The New Avengers
d) The Professionals
Though I rather doubt this since I think I'd know if any of you are. (go and be converted, ye ignorant masses! shoo!)

If, however, you do happen to be curious, 'tis just the final bit of a couple of screencap posts I did, background/explanation/details etc to be found in Part I and Part II. Now you know what I've been spending the past few nights doing, time permitting!

Kilner and Morgan escape in the truck. Unfortunately, Purdey's partner, Gambit, is on the scene. By standing in the path of their speeding vehicle, gun outstretched, he spooks them into swerving off the road and crashing. Kilner and Morgan are handcuffed to the steering wheel of their truck before Gambit rushes off after Purdey, the lady on her way to confront Larry.
115.

There is a confrontation between Purdey and Larry. Larry dares Purdey to shoot him, declaring that she wouldn't as shooting him would be like "shooting part of [her]self". Gambit shows up then, and solves (against her wishes, given her subsequent hysterics) Purdey's problem by shooting Larry instead. Steed then does a lovely bit of stuntwork, driving his car such that it covered the pit from where the missile was to be launched, stopping its path. The show ends with Larry's body against a burning wreckage.
116. </a>

And now, to bed I shall have to go. Bright and early in the office I must be come tomorrow morn, and I've been informed by a few parties that the dark circles I'm developing about my eyes have put me in good stead to audition as a panda-mascot for the Beijing Olympics. That a certain listless lethargy seems to have dogged my days these couple of weeks doesn't bode well either. Bah.

of not making much sense

2008-07-06T17:05:20Z

Have finally cleared the whole reply-comments backlog, hurrah. My apologies to those whose LJ-notify went crazy with my multiple replies. And now, for doll-meet photo backlog.

... or maybe not. Too busy by half these days (which explains the various backlogs), and I just can't find the proper motivation to browse and edit photos.

Haven't been feeling very inspired recently, be it in writing, photography, sewing, or dollery. Perhaps said inspiration would return when my schedule's no longer as sapping, but ah well. Still painfully snapping sales photos, 35% left to photograph, and 100% to edit. Woe.

Anyway, for the doll people on the f-list, one of the misc snaps from the badjillion sales pics -

A teaser, hoho. More to come when I actually have the time to do more than flop on my bed, dead from exhaustion, when I return home every day.

Also, I have a School C head for sale at USD$315, which is definitely below the market price of $350. Better pictures to come etc when I actually get the oppurtunity to take them etc.

Note: Nic - I have a couple of photos of your Ryu edited for you, so kindly poke me on MSN when you next see me online?

of a bee

2008-07-02T14:49:52Z

Have been busy as a bee these days/weeks - which rather explains my lack of an online presence - so do have a picture of a bee, taken whilst I was still in London.

His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!

-- Emily Dickionson

oh damn it.

2008-06-30T02:50:12Z

Am I the only one for whom Gmail is refusing to load?

A state most mortifying, really, given the sheer number of Important Emails I need to access.

Also, ambientlight & rost - seeing as how I obviously can't email, how I'm swallowed by real life, and how the rest aren't on LJ, could you guys help me check with the rest whether meeting at 7.30 is fine (i.e. I reserve the place for 8.15 - though please tell Xixun 8! :X). Plus, meet at City Hall and take bus, or walk from Clarke Quay - majority vote? Thanks!

does anyone reading this speak russian?

2008-06-19T13:28:27Z

When one has friends who believe (rightly so) that something as pictured below would be an entertaining omiyage for one, one cannot help but wonder just how one's friends view one.

The above is a postcard featuring WWII Russian propoganda poster - a gift from the newly-returned-from-Russia kuuumo. "It would make you raise both your eyebrows!" said she last night, and raise both my eyebrows I did when she handed it to me this afternoon. ^^;;

It reads:

Hаша армия ёсць армия
бызбапння працоуных

and Babelfish is being singularly unhelpful. Of course, this might have something to do with my inability to match and copy & paste Russian alphabets.

I'd be immensely grateful if anyone could translate this (if you want an enlarged picture of the text, just tell me). ~~otherwise, i'll just fall back on the secondary school joke of a-chan x sta-chan = historical dictatorship otp.~~ Is this some strange Russian depiction of brotherly love? All I'm getting is some sort of army of some sort of army, which sounds sort of kinky. *_* A pity I'm not in contact with my Russian-phile of a secondary school history teacher.

By the by, the second part of my Russian omiyage was this gorgeous lacquered box.

Thanks, Fei!

of much savile spam

2008-06-18T06:37:45Z

Not quite the introduction post I was intending to do for her - and I will get down to doing said post, complete with some backstory, once I get the props and clothing settled - but I figured this silly little impromptu thing will have to do as anything this cute has to be shared.

There was once a girl who had a llama

With whom she decided to ride to Panama.

She was halfway there when it became clear

That she'd rather have a bear beside her!

The End!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Finally rescued my Yo from customs yesterday. I find it alarming how both the EMS guy and the customs people know my face. By a stroke of luck, her wigs came yesterday too, rendering her finally complete.

Savile's face-up was done by the ever-talented Yuki / lovelycoconuts (I keep saying it over and over again, but I shall never tire of it - Thank you, Molly dear! ♥). Everyone go commission her!

Her dress was a gift from tookumade (Thank you, Claudia! It's adorable on her. :3).

Thanks must also be extended to gearcheim, who helped in making both Savile in her new form and the llama possible.

THIS is the llama in question. I have named it Drama. :D;;

[EDIT] I have suddenly noticed that these photos are coming up very dark and a little over-contrasty? :X Ah well. I'm sorry for the poor quality! D: But I am, alas, too lazy to re-edit them all over again. ._.

of gakuen meet photos (fashionably late?)

2008-06-16T13:20:33Z

It seemed like any other ordinary day on the school campus...

There was the teacher whose inscrutable smile and unflappable calm were legendary.
(antiquarianism's Raphale [Volks Alain])

And the teacher's teaching assistant, who looks as though he has something of his own to hide.
(antiquarianism's Akatsuki [Souldoll Haughty Paris])

There was the obligatory (emotastic) mugger* who emo-ed in a corner when his grades weren't up to par.
crucifixation_'s Seth [Volks School A])

* Singapore slang for a nerd, i.e. one who Studies A Lot and Neglects Everything Else

And even the resident and quite clueless exchange student, hailing from a London public school.
(my Stefan [Volks Cecile])

Like any other school, one even spies narcolepsy-sufferers whose dreams remain unfathomable to the masses,
(gothiquelolita's Yuki [Volks SwD Lucas])

fist-ready bad boys whose scrapes and bruises only add to their wayward charms,
(lightlybattered's Anon [Volks SwD School A, modded)]

and, of course, charismatic seniors more than willing to lead their impresisonable juniors astray.
(yagamijo's Qi with a spanking new face-up [Volks Reisner])

Really charismatic seniors.
(thereif's Jiu Yue [Volks Williams)]

Needless to say, not everything is ~~as school-ishly innocent~~ as they seem...

... Especially if a Posing Broodily Anon is anything to go by.

One wonders what he was waiting for...?

Because, you see, these two young gentlemen, being Very Impressionable, have long been Led Astray by Charismatic Seniors. They are, so one discovers -

Members of The Swing Club.
(Really Bad Photo #1)

The point of which is to lounge around school corridors -

And to make ~~not quite~~ unsuspecting, er, friends.

Though it must be observed that the friends made -

Do tend to swing around some.
(Really Bad Photo #2)

(There are, of course, the final two ~~hair-sniffing~~ combinations. Unfortunately, sloth prevailed, resulting in lack of said photos on my part. For a glimpse of these, and better photos in general, do allow me to refer you to those posted lightlybattered and yagamijo, and gothiquelolita when she gets around to posting them.

Misc

A Volks-made SD17 shoe and a Volks SD17 foot.
To say that the disparity in size amueses me would indeed
be something of an understatement.

yagamijo's Ayase, a Volks Yo-SD Sara
and the (very small) rose amongst the thorns.
Also the only spot of colour in the very monochromatic male line-up.

My thanks to yagamijo for organising yesterday's gakuen meet!
And a thousand apologies for my craptasic photos.

of today's dinner

2008-06-15T15:59:18Z

Hokkaido Ramen @ Sun with Moon Japanese Fine Dining and Café

With buttered corn, said the menu. Frankly, methinks I could have done without the slab of butter melted in my soup, for I find it made the soup too rich for an already rather rich dish. Then again, this just might be my preference for lighter foods speaking. All the same, 'twas nevertheless a nice bowl of noodles, though I think my favourite place for ramen in Singapore is still Marutama Ramen @ Clarke Quay's The Central.

I have doll meet photos to edit, but I'm afraid laziness seems to have conquered any inclination to tinker (quite lousily) around Photoshop. Bah.

of a singapore sighting!

2008-06-09T12:26:35Z

And so, was busy watching The Pros when I couldn't help but notice...

Is that a Singapore tourism poster I spy?! :D;;

Yep, no doubt about it. A poster with "SINGAPORE" emblazoned above a picture of a Chinese Opera singer. Come to think of it, I think STB was still using a Chinese Opera Singer image to promote tourism in 2006. Not sure if they're doing it now, though.

What amuses me, really, is that the episode in question had to have been filmed in Britain 1979.

Fancy something like that in a place where the lads have bunked down for a surveilliance job. :D;;

of the takoyaki love

2008-06-07T16:21:35Z

Takoyaki! ♥

Oh, takoyaki! *_* For an addict to these squishy dough balls stuffed with octopus, the agony of takoyaki-withdrawal in takoyaki-less London was almost too painful to bear. I was thus filled with great joy when I discovered that Meidi-ya had set up a temporary takoyaki stall. At $5 for 6 ($2.80 for 3), something tells me I'll be going down to Clarke Quay as often as possible these few days. ♥

Very randomly, I thereby proclaim starsthatshine, raydance, ivoryfox, blue_meddy, and sassystrawberry very evil enablers indeed. The things they're able to talk me into...!

(And night_child80 - we miss you terribly! ;_;)

Alas, for the advent of takoyaki cannot bode well, what with me needing to lose weight for the ____________ shoot.

Speaking of which, am quite indecisive about what I ought to do for Cosfest. A part of me longs to do Mrs Lovett, but time's quite a limiting factor. Also, the older I grow, the less sure I am as to how worthwhile weeks of slogging on a single costume that would cost quite a bit materials-wise to wear for just one day is...? D:

school c, anyone?

2008-06-06T11:12:24Z

April was a month of impulse buys. I blame exam-induced stress. While said buys were by and large confined (as my impulse buys always are) to novels, it galls me to admit that some fall under the BJD category too. Which explains this post, really.

Yes, a School C. Which brings me to my point - Does anyone want to buy a School C?
It'd be great if I could sell it at USD$315, which would allow me to just break even. However, I'm open for negotiation.
If no one on the f-list bites, I'll probably put this up on DoA come July/August after the NY Dolpa flood.

And if pressed for excuses, I'm afraid the usual suspects of London living expenses and deciding that I want another girl head more (provided I manage to meet my London rent) will have to suffice.

It dismays me, really, just how uncreatively and technically crap my photos are (and how the likes of other SGcafe denizens are catching up... speaking of which, is it me, or is sd_sg having a flood of SGcafe folk now?). The problem, though, is that despite knowing it, I still can't seem to overcome this state of inertia to start practising/reading/improving. :X

of a tale of two ceciles

2008-05-24T23:06:32Z

And so, what's better than one Cecile?

TWO Ceciles!

Isn't he just gorgeous?
His owner made his really spiffy red pea-coat.

Close-up of the scarred eye.
I must admit this is my first time closely examining it,
and I've been blown away by the level of detail.
I mean, they even did the creases of skin lying across a sunken eyehole!

Don't normally take pictures of Stefan,
so I guess this makes up for it?

Peaceful garden squares in summer just make everyone lazy. :D;;

Similar, yet different.
The Cecile family is truly a most fascinating one.

Met up with thomasvye on Friday, and spent a lovely afternoon oggling her newest resin accquisition - Flynn, a tanned Scarface Cecile. And since I myself have a Cecile too, it seemed most apt for both Ceciles to meet.

As for what the Tale of the Two Ceciles is about? They're two hosts from rival clubs who are actually friends and are meeting each other on their day-off on neutral ground! :D;;

of being sneaky with a camera :D;;

2008-05-24T19:22:20Z

Am inordinately proud of this picture, really (though the rose could have been better positioned). It was one of those spur-of-the-moment things taken yesterday wherein the framing and my angle happened to be just so. Almost the perfect picture to kickstart an m/m story, methinks, though I do assure the viewer that the behaviour of the two men in the background was most chaste. Ah, these lazy days of summer.

On an unrelated note, am suitably mortified by how my time online seems to have been consumed by Pros fanfiction. ._. Back to editing photos now.

of good omens central london tour report

2008-05-22T02:26:38Z

And so, after months of procastination, I bring you... the Good Omens Central London Tour Report.

Some time (meaning months) ago, geek-in-crime ambientlight and I had, for Certain Inexplicable Reasons, decided to go on a Good Omens Central London Tour. My living a stone throw's from the British Museum in London and her being a coach-ride away in Oxford (speaking of which, Tadfield's supposedly in Oxfordshire per p.271) just seemed to good an oppurtunity to waste.

The point of the tour was to visit as many places mentioned in the book that were located in Central London as possible. I must stress Central London, because while mentions are made of Crowley speeding past London-ish places such as the Heathrow as well as of some highways (most notably the M25, sign of "odegra" in the language of the Black Priesthood of Ancient Mu), these are located on the edges of London and thus not exactly convenient.

Unfortunately, we had embarked on our tour before quantum_witch had posted her Very Useful Entry with as-closely-exact-as-possible locations of Aziraphale's and Crowley's apartments, so while Jan and I had gone in search for aforementioned venues, we never quite achieved that high a level of accuracy.

A list of all the Central London locations found in the book, as well as the abbreviated list of our itinerary, may be found on the lower_tadfield community here.

The necessities of the tour - tartan scarf as a token symbol of Aziraphale (Jan's), sunglasses in honour of Crowley (mine), Central London Guidebook should maps be needed, and a copy of Good Omens*

* please note that all page references made in this entry will be as per to the book in the picture

We left my place at Warren Street at approximately 9.30-ish on the morning of the 9th of March, grabbing the tube to St James Park Station. Our first stop being, of course, St James Park.

The entrance to St James Park.

With specific interest in, of course, the ducks. Preferably eating bread. Though, alas, we weren't about to feed them black bread or soggy Hovis with marmite (p.46).

And lo, there were ducks eating bread.
No Secret Agents Meeting Clandestinely were, unfortunately, spotted.

For more pictures of the flora and fauna of the Park, do visit this entry.

'twas at the park that we stopped for a picnic-breakfast. I had gotten this strange idea to attempt eating some of the food mentioned in the book whilst on our tour, resulting in an early-morning pre-tour culinary effort of...

Deviled Eggs (eaten by Aziraphale at the British Museum; p69) and Gravlax with Dill Sauce (mentioned by Crowley as one of the things Heaven doesn't have; p.48).

And yes, salt was added to the eggs during preperation, in honour of such mentions on pp.47-48.

And, er, tuna and cucumber sandwiches. Just because.
In my defence, that's no store-bought pre-canned tuna sandwich filling, but filling I had made from scratch the morning itself.

After the Park, we trotted our way vaguely North-ish to the long road of Picadilly where, quite close to Green Park Station, the ever-famous Ritz sat.

The Ritz. [official website]

Nice as it would have been to have tea at the Ritz, it was a) not quite the time of the day and b) at almost £40 far too expensive for our student pockets. And so, as a ~~tragic~~ token substitute, we ended up feasting...

on Hello Panda biscuits outside the Ritz. ^^;;

Our next stop was Berkeley Square next, said place being mentioned on p.374 as where a nightingale started singing (which is in itself a pun).

We walked through Mayfair Street on our way to the Square, and we considered this our bit in attempting to find Crowley's apartment in Mayfair (p.297). However, as stated at the beginning, we know better now.

I must admit that I had a secondary purpose for visiting Berkeley Square - to check out what is famously touted as the most haunted house in London. Nothing paranormal was seen, nor was a nightingale spotted. However, we did see something quite unexpected -

A Bentley showroom!

Coincidence or something more, given how Crowley drives a Bentley and we had to walk down (or up) Mayfair Street just to get there?

Obviously, attempts had to be made to get a picture of a black Bentley.
Not quite the right model, alas, but it's the thought that counts. (you can see our reflections in the glass.)

Just for record's sake - no. 50 Berkeley Square.
No. 44 is supposedly also haunted. Yes, I'm a supernatural buff. Shush.

We then made our merry way down the Picadilly for Picadilly Circus, and the lovely Japan Centre situated there, for lunch. Sushi was our choice, given how Heaven supposedly has no sushi restaurants (p.57) and so as not to waste the "ten billion sushi dinners [that] cry out for vengeance". Special mention must be made for the o-toro sushi. No pictures were taken for, hungry university students that we are, we had finished the lot before Jan stared at me in horror, exclaiming "You forgot to take a picture of the sushi!" We drank fruit-flavoured Japanese sake too, symbolic of the various alcohols drunk in the book (we had a bottle of red wine too, but we lacked a cork opener).

Thus refreshed, we walked from Picadilly Circus up Shaftesbury Avenue, Aziraphale's shop being next on our agenda. From the book, one could conclude that it was probably located in one of the streets branching out from Wardour Street (Crowley "reversed from Aziraphale's shop back into the road, and swung round a fire truck into Wardour Street"; p. 256), and had a narrow road before it graced with double yellow no-parking lines that are most obliging where Crowley's car is concerned (p.111). It would have had a sex shop of sorts next to it.

The mouth of Wardour Street.

We walked the entire length of Wardour Street, peering into the streets that branched out from it. Sex shops we saw plenty, but no antiquarian book shops. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to us to look into the even smaller streets that branched from the not-as-small streets that branched from Wardour, or we might have found it.

Our final stop was the British Museum, where our favourite angel and demon sat discussing Warlock's normal-ness (pp.69-71). We exited Wardour onto Oxford Street (a place Crowley is quite noted for disregarding speed limits), and headed for Tottenham Court Road and thus the museum, with a side-trip to the SoHo square.

They had apparently eaten at the Cafeteria, but we had no idea which of the eating establishments this was. We ended up going to two out of three, eschewing the rather expensive-looking restaurant. Given the Qin Shihuang's terracotta army being there, I'm afraid the museum went rather oriental in its food choices (chinese food with supposedly exotic names, really) and decor (red lanterns in cafes, I ask you), leaving us quite unable to match what they had eaten. Devilled eggs were already consumed, so I drank coffee to match Aziraphale (p.69). No angel cake was found (p.70), and we had a (rather dry) chocolate truffle one instead. No vinegary Beaujoblais (or surprised Chateau Lafitte 1875 that the former turns into) either, I regret to say.

The (rather disappointing) cake.
Judge not a book by its cover, or as applicable here, a cake by its topping.

You get my point about the lanterns.

All this done and museum rooms explored, we retired to my place and had, amongst other things, cocoa. The entire journey couldn't have lasted more than half the day. I believe we reached the museum at about 1+ in the afternoon, though I might be wrong.

The end. One hopes 'twas enjoyable/informative.

of risotto

2008-05-13T16:10:37Z

My dear kiradyn_rhiode,

Look what all your talk about risotto last night made me cook today --

Seafood & Mushroom Risotto! ♥

What prompted this was Nic's entry last night giving me an immense craving for seafood risotto. Thus, after bidding my friends farewell earlier this afternoon, I trundled down to the market to get some fresh food so as to whip up that very dish.

Cheated a little on the rice, since I wasn't about to spend money or travelling-time just to get a sack of rice. Besides, a student palate is, alas, not as discerning as that of a true food connoisseur's. The seafood component consists of shrimp, mussels, and squid. Portobello and shitake make up the the mushroom bit. Stock was essentially a mix of prawn heads, chicken bones, mussel shells, and mushroom-soaking water (if you decide to follow my recipe - which is really less of a recipe and more of an impromptu culinary experiment employing much common sense - be careful not to use the last bit of soaking water as that'd be rather 'dirty').

The lovely thing about having finished one's exams is that one can actually afford to stand by the stove and pour in the stock bit by bit as one watches the rice cook. Am rather pleased with the rice, actually. I do believe I managed to get the right texture - soft with that al dente bite. Hurrah. :3

Yay, food. Now, I wonder if I've some white wine spared to go with it...?

of a couple of random pictures

2008-04-28T10:09:54Z

It is, I think, all forms of mortifying that the more stressed I am, the more I post on LJ... when it should be the precise opposite.

Am hearing death knells a-tollin' for me in the distance. Listening to happy-jangly 1980s music with lyrics of a homosexual undertone and possible thought-provoking social commentary is doing nothing to alleviate my anxiety. Tomorrow shall be the day I walk into the academic lion's proverbial den for slaughter, but in the meanwhile, I cannot help but feel like one of those Assyrian prisoners hoisted for a long and painful death. Staked to the ground and baking in the sun, covered with honey to feed the insects etc etc.

Rather like these poor chocolate rabbits, really -

Bunny carnage!

Or rather, why one should never put chocolate rabbits up for display at a glass window that is in direct line of the sun. Poor rabbits. They never stood a chance.

And just one more, taken some time in March before I went home for spring. London had experienced these really strong winds (80mph, I do believe), and with the windows of my dorm being poorly secured and all, a number on my floor, the highest of the lot, cracked.

Cracks in the glass of a window pane.

A better view of said window here. The panes were (finally!) changed yesterday, so all's well, I suppose?

And now, back to work. :X Tugging out of the internet cable and all that jazz. Here's hoping tomorrow's paper wouldn't be too bad. Singing of Gracie Fields' "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye" entirely optional.

of a tribute to shakespeare and to spring

2008-04-23T16:55:29Z

Harken to the merry birdsong thither,
Sweet thrills to herald an old friend's return;
Beneath spreading trees the schoolgirls linger -
Like them, thou canst not a robin's vest spurn.

Sir George the Brave bows to his lady fair,
His white mail bright swathe against heavens blue;
On earth, a tribute to Titania's gold hair,
Faeries to Oberon giveth blooms of sunlight hue.

Cast off thy coats, all ye lads and lasses,
For 'tis a fine day with the wind unchill;
On the sun's lasting waste not thy guesses,
His face will linger for a while more still.

As with Spring's coming is the world less grim,
Like cup overfloweth doth joy in heart brim.

and now you know why i don't post my poetry, ahahaha. ^^;; the above was written in shakespearean sonnet style because...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAKESPEARE! :D

also a small mention of st. george, today being st. george's day too ^^;;

A glorious afternoon today, despite the rather dismal rainy start. Spring be here at last! 'twas warm enough for me to go coat-less about half the time, and the afternoon was spent sprawled on the green, green grass of Regent's Park with friends cloud-watching. The flowers be in full bloom too, and 'tis a glorious sight to behold. Finished everything off with a mountain of an ice-cream cone - double-scoop sticky toffee and mint choc chip. Hurrah.

And now, to work, to work.

MJ, Jan - Globe Theatre season opens today. Might you guys be game to come down to London after 9th May to catch anything? :3

of stress-induced culinary exploits

2008-04-23T00:56:07Z

The problem with me, I find, is that when I'm stressed I tend to want to eat. And when there isn't pre-cooked/processed food readily available, I begin to cook so that I can eat. And the more stressed I am, the fancier the culinary effort.

Which probably explains how and why I ended up cooking gluttinous rice with mushrooms and peanuts at 1am. ._.

And why I fried (there being oil left after frying the rice) up an egg (in my defence, the lot's near expiry) and some cheese (fried cheese being a guilty pleasure of mine, and because I had no meat) to go with it. Terribly healthy, yes. D:

gluttinous rice in the pot

on the plate - rice (with peanut and mushroom), fried egg, fried cheese.

Apologies for the appalling photos. Only remembered mid-meal that friends had wanted me to document my culinary exploits, something I barely do as it is. This probably explains why the food isn't nicely presented, and the cheese and egg mostly gone. You might be able to make them out in the second picture if you squint, though. ^^;;

Room now smells of mushrooms. ._. Shall eat an apple to assuage my caloric guilt, I think, before packing up the remainder rice. To think I cooked two cups, and have already finished a third of it. Bah. I disgust myself at times. Least this leaves food for tomorrow and mayhap the day after covered.

ponytails, hurrah!

2008-04-16T11:21:52Z

evidently, i am unable to keep a hiatus of any sort. but we'll see how well it goes when i return to london on friday and emulate the great hermits of the ages. >:/

Was supposed to send Savile's head out ~~on Monday~~ today for a new face-up, but as is always the case, I procastinated. 'twas just as well, actually, because the postman came 'round but some minutes ago (and here I wonder why postmen work at 6.30pm, but ah well), dropping off this burgundy Bittenbefore fur wig I had gotten for her.

Hurrah for no longer having to wear Serryl's too-large wig.

And even better - hurrah, for it has ponytails. :D

Yes, the face-up doesn't match. Now shush. You know that'll get rectified soon enough. ~~she needs new eyes here now. D:~~ Methinks this will be the closest to wine she'll get, since I rather dislike how artificial the Leekeworld shade might be. Just left with a Leekeworld carrot one to go, and for her pink ones to come, and we'll be set. Maybe a Tinybear one, but we'll see how that goes. :3

Gah, but she's just so cute.

of some stefan

2008-04-14T13:29:02Z

Because I feel like it, and I can. >:/

Taken while over at Nic's house with Kyoru last Friday, using Gareth (my old 3.2mgpx A330). Which probably explains why they look quite different from my normal photos, but well. Have been trying to use said older camera these days in a bid to stop treating photography as "srz biz" and thus stressing out so much about it when I actually have better things to stress over. If nothing else, was struck rather off-balance by how... different it feels with my lil' one. Simpler, lesser control, different ways of framing as limited by its capabilities... Interesting, definitely.

Love the lighting for this. :3

I call this his "wrrry are you doing this to meeee?!" traumatised face. ^^;;

As some of you might have noticed, have switched his eyes to a lighter shade of blue. Methinks I rather like this pair more, though it seems that opinions amongst friends vary as to which pair looks better. An additional plus would be that its 16mm-ness makes him look less wide-eyed and more thoughtful, though the gaps (as you can see in the second picture) do drive me nuts quite a bit. ._.

of thanks and amethyst collezione

2008-04-13T18:25:46Z

Firstly, I really wish to thank all of you who replied to this entry and left invaluable feedback. Have read everything and taken them to heart, though I've yet to reply to any. I'll get about it soon, I promise! Have just been incredibly busy these days.

The Saki set of photos below were edited before aforementioned entry had come up (but I was trying a new method of editing, so, er, yes), and the Serryl set after. One common piece of feedback I received was to tone down the contrast. Strangely enough, my photos never look over-contrasty on my screen. Did make a conscious effort to cut whatever it was I did down, and even went the opposite direction when adjusting curves etc, when doing the Serryl set, but I wonder if I'm just too used to seeing contrasty things on my photoshop. I keep feeling as though the Serryl pictures are unfinished. Which is rather bizarre, since some of you do have low-contrast pictures which I adore. But, er. C'est la vie?

Critique, feedback, opinions, advice etc would be good? Also, I'm going to have to ask you guys to tell me if any of the photos are blur. I seem to have lost my sensitivity for such. ._.

---------------------------------------

Anyway! Bought a while back a pair of gorgeous necklaces from Mikan and Crystal, the very lovely and talented pair of ladies behind Amethyst Collezione. Finally had the oppurtunity to try them on my crew and snap a few shots, albeit rather hurriedly...

Which probably explains the poor quality of the photos. Unfortunately, I simply don't have the time to do a re-shoot, and I really want photos out for Mikan and Crystal now, so you guys will just have to put up with these eye-scarring trainwrecks. Sorry! ><

On a very irrelevant note, I find myself missing Saki something fierce, now that he isn't with me. Which might be a good thing since I'm actually giving Stefan some long-deserved attention, but still. ._. Consider this a very unsubtle hint to all F17 owners on my list to start posting more of their F17s.

of dolls of a different sort :3;;

2008-04-07T19:02:16Z

Because I may as well get all doll photos out in one day, hey?

As I've mentioned before in previous entries, a friend and I had, in a moment of geek-dom, embarked on a Good Omens London tour - an account of which I still have yet to put up. (in the next two days, i promise!)

Our tour happened to be about the same time as the Japanese Hina Matsuri (Girls' Day or Doll Festival), and so, as we trotted down Piccadilly Road, we happened to notice the gorgeous doll display in the London's Minamoto Kitchoan. Grabbed a few shots, just because.

By the way - Minamoto Kitchoan prices are cheaper in Singapore than in London, so Singaporeans, do get your stuff from the Takashimaya branch instead.

of doll meet photos, part 1

2008-04-07T16:51:07Z

Thanks for attending Saturday's meet, guys! I was actually half-afraid that no one would turn up, so... *feels very honoured and very touched* It was fantastic seeing everyone again.

Seeing as how people have started posting photos already, here be mine. Got everyone's except for Adeline's, Lilian's, Kitty's and Mori's. Split into two sections so as not to kill your internet. This post contains all the SDs. The MSDs/Yos/Puki ones can be found here.

Another because I'm very much charmed by her. She's so totally a Pre-Raphaelite beauty.
I swear she resembles Mary in Rosetti's Ecce Ancilla Domini and she reminds me strongly of Elizabeth Siddal.
Methinks I want a Souldoll Hye too. D:

Madoka! <3

And double Madoka love, yes. *_*

Williams! <3

This is where I admit to harbouring a vague hope of trying for Anais this coming Dolpa, finances aside.

And this is where I admit to wanting a School C very badly.
Anyone willing to help me snag one at the NY Dolpa?