Infection

(I seem to have fallen to the level where all my titles are song names. :'D)

It’s time for apologies and explanations again. Sorry for the lack of updates. School is eating up all my free time and I haven’t slept nearly enough in the past four weeks or so. Also, my fever at the beginning of the month extended and I also caught an eye infection, so I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather. I’m already healing up, so there’s no need to be too worried.

I’ve failed a lot, due to the illness (I hope). On the 13th I managed to lose my phone. The next Monday I lost my bus card. I was so frustrated I can’t put it into words! I’d probably lose my own body if it were possible. -____-'' Well, the good news is I got a new phone! Here she is:

My new Nokia 5230. The Siren ~Redemption~ (No, I still haven’t got rid of my habit of giving names to my electronical devices.)

~♥~

On the 22nd I attended the much anticipated gig of D’espairsRay, without any make-up due to the eye infection. I had lessons until four o’clock, so I headed to Helsinki straight from school. I got my new bus card first and then went to grab a little something to eat and drink before the gig with Zara and Sami. Taitti joined us when we were already queuing inside. I started to panic about getting a right-sized tour shirt, as I always do, but in the end both me and Taitti got our shirts and found a good place to enjoy the gig from, right next to the mixing table.

The set list was amazing. No, I’m not just saying, it really was that good. The only song I still missed was Reddish, but other than that I was completely blown away. The first two songs, BORN and Marry of the blood, had me thinking I must have died and gone to heaven. The rest of the songs didn’t let me down either. Garnet, fuyuu shita risou and DEATH POINT kept the mood up, but when they played dope, 13 -thirteen-, Love Is Dead and Damned in a row I was on Cloud nine. I enjoyed in vain and Devils' Parade, but Abyss got me a little distracted from the show, as I hadn’t paid it all that much attention when listening to MONSTERS. Lost in re:birth wasn’t my favourite song either, but Hollow got me back on track again. I was more than happy listening to Human-clad monster and REDEEMER, and then Abel to Cain made me go wild. The encore with forbidden, TRICKSTeR and MIRROR was great, but I felt a bit unsatisfied with the lack of Reddish. Both me and Taitti were all “So when will we see D’espairsRay again?” afterwards and were sad to read about the break they are taking after this tour. But as long as Hizumi will get his vocal cords in shape again it’s all good. Thank you for the amazing show again, D’espairsRay!

~♥~

I’ve actually been a bit depressed lately, probably due to the shortening days of autumn. I’ve been forced to wake up at 5:40 a.m. for way too many mornings in a row and it’ll only get worse after the (heavenly!) autumn break of 11 days starting next Thursday. Technically we aren’t allowed to eat anything in our classroom at school, so I’ll have to start having breakfast at home rather than just taking my morning tea and sandwiches with me when I leave the house. This means that I’ll have to wake up at 5:20 practically every weekday morning. I do not approve of this! Well, I can’t really complain since I was the one to decide I’d go to school so far away from home, but still. >.<''

Okay, enough of that rant for now. If I won’t update my blog too frequently from now on it’s just that I’m depressed and tired, that’s all. But! On to nicer subjects!

Dad bought me the cutest bottle of champagne ever!

(Sorry for the bad photo – as always. x3) Look, my Nicolas Feuillatte is wearing a pink winter coat! Just how cute is that? :D Now all I need is a pink coat with white fur for myself and a chihuahua with a matching outfit and I’m all set for a very chic New Year’s party or something. xD

Also, I got a gorgeous pocket watch from my dad! He already had one that used to belong to his uncle or grandfather, so he gave the other one to me. :D

*____* I don’t know where I’m going to wear it, but its cool. A great piece of accessory for a gothic photo shoot, don’t you think? I just need a chain for it…

~♥~

Last Friday was an exciting one. ;) Zara totally got me a heart-attack by texting me that she had got this:

My Miki in Budokan! *q* I left the house in the morning thinking that my life would be complete once I would get my hands on my new baby in the evening. But before that, I had to visit two museums with the other first-year artisan students from our school and then spend the afternoon in Helsinki with Taitti. We were going to buy some new Neopikos from Stockmann, since they had the big sales (Hullut päivät), but decided against it in the end. I bought some stuff for school, the seventh volume of Vampire Knight manga and, you got it right, nail polish. *sigh* I was only going to get myself a new base coat, but then I got my eyes on this:

OPI Kinky in Helsinki! (VERY inaccurate photo colour-wise. It’s much more… not-red IRL, more like magenta. Go Google it, it’s a pain to capture on camera but I’ll try again tomorrow with natural light.) My face was probably something like this: O________________O when I spotted the display next to all the other OPI polishes. My limited-edition-obsessed mind forced me to buy a bottle without stopping to think about it for one second. Luckily I’m absolutely loving it on my nails. ♥__♥

Now on to the curious case of Miki in Budokan. I went to see Zara straight from Helsinki and had to do a lot of self-restraining in order not to drool all over the package during the ten-minute train trip to Sello where my parents picked me up on their way to the grocery store. Once I was finally home, I went straight upstairs and plugged in the VCR. It was at this point that I realized what a huge failure of a nerd I am. The Japanese have their videos in NTSC format whereas our VCR can only play PAL videos. All I saw on the TV screen was a white mess and the sound was too slow and overall weird. I must have flipped because at first I couldn’t do anything but laugh so hard at myself for being an idiot and then I started to frantically search the net for any information on how to get my hands on a VCR that can play NTSC videos. So far it has proven to be quite difficult, but I’ll try searching through flea markets and recycling centres when I find the time. Gosh I wish I had more intelligence in my brain…

~♥~

Well, I could keep on ranting about my angst for the whole night, but I guess it would be unhealthy for me and very unpleasant to my readers, so maybe I’ll just keep all the gory details of how the Tarja/Nightwish-deal still gets me depressed to myself. Hopefully I’ll have a nicer post for you next time. (There’ll probably be some major Mizu!fangirling, since I’ve ordered myself a few new things from Japan~ :D

Until then, dears! ♥

P.S. DAMNIT, if only I had waited for 21 more minutes to publish this… I didn’t realize 10/10/10 at 10:10 would happen twice if you’re using a.m./p.m. time format. >.<''

P.P.S. I’ve got to do this now so that I won’t forget…

I got this Beautiful Blogger Award from Zara. I have to share seven facts about myself and then tag seven people to do the same. I’ll tag all my readers, because I don’t like to spam people’s comment boxes with things like this, even though this is a nice award and everything. :'3

1. I feel like a failure. Mostly because, even though I’m studying to become an artisan, I feel like I have no direction in my life and I get absolutely nothing done.

2. I’ve inherited a tendency to get depressed during the darker months of the year from my mom.

3. I’ve also inherited her genes that allow me to eat practically anything and still stay thin.

4. I always try very hard to please other people and I sometimes get all worked up because I can’t please everyone at the same time.

5. I tend to get some sort of an identity crisis every other month or so, due to an obsession or the previous fact.

6. I feel like I’ve failed in English again in this post and it bothers me very much, as always.

7. I’m a procrastinator and a perfectionist. NOT a good combination, I can tell you. I always get depressed over things I haven’t done but it doesn’t make me do them any faster. *ahem* driving lessons, taiji and student card *ahem*

Ways to prevent brain death

The title is inspired by my overflowing fangirlism for everything that happens to cross my way. If you are a fandom magnet like me, I strongly suggest staying away from the computer, or at least limit the time per week (or per day) that you can spend in the net. But more about my mental problems later. I’ll do this chronologically.

~♥~

Let’s start with my Finland mini-rail I did last week with my friend Pia (who is clearly my senior, born one day before me). Just to annoy the life out of my readers, I managed to take the grand amount of zero photos during our five-day trip around Finland. Isn’t that just great? :D No need to worry though, I have got a few photos to show you anyway.

Our trip started with a two and a half-hours long travel by train from Helsinki to Mikkeli. We stayed at Pia’s father’s parent’s summer house (I probably could have put that in other words, but my English is completely failing me. Ah, this is going to be lovely.) for the first night, continuing through Pieksämäki to Jyväskylä in the morning. The Finnish summer was showing its best during the whole trip, so we were pretty much dead tired throughout the days, as the temperature kept staying above 30 Celsius degrees. Jyväskylä was an okay place, but as it is a student town and we were there in June, it was pretty quiet everywhere in the evening. We did buy a couple of drinks in the evening, though. ;)

From Jyväskylä we headed towards Tampere, where we stayed for two nights. Tampere was a positive experience, even though the restaurants closed down pretty early, at 11 p.m. usually. We had reserved a whole day for visiting the Särkänniemi amusement park, which turned out to be a good decision. Here’s the wristband/ticket to the park:

We really took everything… Mitä hiivattia on koko rahan edestä englanniksi?! Kohta luovutan! Ahem, sorry about that, my English is SERIOUSLY failing me. Must be the fandom… How could I say this simply… We went to Särkänniemi just before noon when it opened for the day and stayed there until 7 p.m. when it closed. Money well spent. :D

After Tampere we headed for Rauma, where we were going to see Semmarit (a.k.a. Seminaarinmäen mieslaulajat), a Finnish a cappella group. Pia is a big fan of theirs and she really got me into it, too. (Act surprised, everyone! xD) We actually saw them from the first row, can you believe it? Pia was over the moon for just that. But this isn’t where our good luck ended. After the gig, we headed to a restaurant to get some dessert and a drink or two. After we had finished eating, it just so happens that two Semmari singers came to sit in our table! We ended up heading to a small bar with them and spending the rest of the night chatting with various members of the group. We only headed to our hotel at 1:30 a.m., tired but tremendously happy.

The next day was our last, and we headed for Turku to see Pia’s other grandparents. I took a train back home, but Pia stayed for the night to see Semmarit again.

~♥~

Okay, that was our mini-rail in a nutshell. In a very small nutshell on my scale, I might add. ^^ Now, on to everyone’s favourite part, photos!

I bought these two rings at a flea market in Mikkeli.

When I got back home, these babies were waiting for me. *-* I bought GACKT’s new single collection from CDJapan and apparently the first press edition came with an awesome plastic pocket. 8D Now I feel like collecting all my fan stuff in one place, take lots of photos and do a huge blog post of fandom. Luckily I’ll be away from the computer for the next five days so you won’t have to suffer from my stupid ideas. x3

I felt like taking photos the other day…

And the results are crappy, as always. (Check my vampire blog for more nightly photos. ^__~)

~♥~

And then on to the problems of my mind… I can’t get over my fandoms for the time being. GACKT. Semmarit. Takara-freaking-zuka (is that the way I’m supposed to put it? :'D).

Zara is in Japan at the moment and that evil little thing (whom I tremendously love) is talking to me via MSN, telling about how she went to see a hanagumi show today. *______* I’m having a Zuka high just for listening to her (...reading what she’s writing…) and she, being the angel she is, has bought me a Zuka DVD, a magazine and who knows what for who knows how many yen. ;______;♥ I’ll be in eternal gratitude for her. If I won’t die of a heart attac when she gets back in Finland, that is. Well, I’ll be a gratefull dead person in that case. :D

…I’ve had such good luck with gigs this year, maybe I’ll win a trip to Japan to see Mizu’s last performance in Takarazuka?

~♥~

Well, I’m off to Denmark tomorrow, after having my last entrance exam, so I’ll see you all again next week. I’ll finally be continuing with my driving lessons, something I’m not all that excited about. D: And since I couldn’t make it last weekend, I’ll be going to my godparents’ summer house on the 13th. (Friday the 13th, by the way. O.O)

Until next time, honeys~! Let’s hope that my next post is going to be a less-failing one…

OMG! YFC~♥

If I was a person who swears, I’d put the f-word to Oh My Gackt. That’s exactly the kind of thing the man himself would probably do. Considering his tour goods, for example. And that’s exactly the first thing that came to my mind once I was able to find my ability to think on my way back to the hotel after the show. O M F G. But let’s not get ahead of things.

I hadn’t fully realized what a hardcore Gackt fan I really was until I saw him live and didn’t lol at his English. Or his anything. At all. Well, spending so much money on an artist, hyping so much, having his huge wall scroll in my room etc. might have told something about the fandom. But this man, this man has gotten way deeper under my skin that I had realized. Okay, end of random rambling. I know you’re just dying to get the whole story, so here goes!

My fandom, or rather my excitement for the gig, started to get to its full measure the night before my flight to Munich. Packing my things for the trip was, after actually getting my ticket, the first thing that really made it all feel real. But the real excitement, in worrying measures, started actually only when I was sitting in my hotel room on Thursday afternoon at two o’clock and realized that I was actually going to the venue. I thought about going there before three p.m. so that I would get a chance to see Gackt’s arrival, but decided against it after all. I was so nervous I thought I was going to faint, or probably throw up the Big Mac I had eaten just an hour ago, or maybe do both. I tried to relax as best as I could, but at three o’clock I decided to go and try to get myself to the venue, so that in case I was going to faint I’ would at least be somewhere where someone would be able to wake me up.

I didn’t have too much trouble getting to the venue. I had checked the site from Google Maps back at home and once I was walking on the Friedenstraße, I saw some people who looked like they could be going to the gig. (Thank Gackt for easily recognizeable j-rock fans. x3) As soon as I had gotten the words “Excuse me, Is this the way to…” out of my mouth, everyone was already telling me that I was in the right place and that if I just walked straight on, I couldn’t miss the venue. I tried to ask if there was already a long line, but they told me there wasn’t any line at all! Once I got to the place I noticed that it was true. People were just sitting around in any shadow they could find, or standing in groups under umbrellas. I went to sit by a wall and was glad for being able to get out of the direct sunlight. I only had a bit of water left in my bottle, so I couldn’t have survived in the sun.

At this point I was already quite relaxed, but my excitement rose when I could hear the sound check from inside. It was obviously cool to hear the drums and guitars, but when I could actually hear Gackt’s voice, everything was suddenly so much more real. *-* I could have sung along to Dybbuk, had I wanted to. When I heard him singing Kimi ga matteiru kara I was already grinning like crazy.

At some point I noticed a black-haired girl with a Kiroileva siili (=Swearing hedgehog) badge in her bag and realized that she had to be Finnish. I walked up to her and asked her, and she said that she indeed was Finnish. She was actually Myrf, a girl I had already chatted a bit with in Irc-Galleria. I spend the rest of the time waiting to get in with her and her German friend. It was so much better, not having to go to the gig alone. And I could actually speak Finnish! It was such a relief after all of the failing and mixing up English, Italian and German for the past 24 hours. It had gotten a bit cloudy by the time I walked up to the two girls, so standing in the crowd in front of the entrance wasn’t all that bad. Myrf had a self-made YFC fan, so she was able to make everyone around her slightly cooler.

The doors opened at 17.30 and this was when the things started to get hectic. Everyone was trying to get in at once, so there was quite a bit of pushing around. There were four security guys letting people in from two directions, and after seeing how much pushing there was on the right side, we decided to take the left line instead. Getting in wasn’t all that bad after all, but once we were in and wanted to buy some tour goods, we had to be up for a fight. Well, almost. People were really pushing eachother around near the goods table, but we managed to buy what we wanted in the end. I shoved all my goods to my bag and gave it to the staff at the cloakroom to keep it safe.

Here’s what I got: the headphones, the tie and the shirt (size M… typically, they had already run out of small shirts, but luckily this isn’t all too big anyway).

As you might know, I usually try to stay a bit further away from the stage, as I’m not a fan of crowds and I think that it’s usually easier to see if you don’t have anyone’s head in your face or the huge sea of hands right n front of your eyes. This time, however, I had decided that I’d take the whole gig experience. It was GACKT anyway. Luckily, I had Myrf and her friend as company and Myrf got us a place from some 20 meters or so from the stage, right in the middle. (I suck at guessing distances, so don’t take this too literally.) We thought we’d get a bit closer to the stage once the band would get on, but as it turned out, all it took was one staff member handing out water in the front and we suddenly found ourselves about ten meters from the stage. Myrf said that she would hold back the pushing crowds a bit, since she was the tallest one of us. She actually let me stand in front of her, since she was able to see above my head just fine. ♥

We heard “Gackt’s secretary” speaking to us twice before the concert, warning us not to take any photos, not to smoke, not to faint etc. and swearing a lot while he was at it. We lolled a lot at that. x3 The concert started pretty much in time, as far as I can tell. I was too excited to keep checking my watch to be sure. :'3

You could really tell when the GacktJOB entered the stage. The screaming really was something else. And when the man himself walked to the stage and set himself on the small podium in the front I thought that I would lose my hearing and my voice forever. He had a katana replica in his hands, left part of his hair braided, a white sleeveless shirt on with a black tie and a pair of black shorts. And he was hot. Totally hot. The sex. And he was right there, right in front of me, probably less than ten meters away. *_________*

At first I couldn’t really hear his voice through all the screaming and loud music, but when I did it was divine. I’m usually afraid that singers aren’t as good when you hear them live, and obviously even Gackt couldn’t sing as clearly and with as much finesse at a gig like this, but he was awesome anyway. He had such power in his voice, such charisma, such a show on stage. He’s a phenomenon, a force of nature, I’m telling you.

I think the set list was the same as on the other European gigs. Gackt started off with Zan (with the katana :3) and continued with Dybbuk. I was all hyped up by this point, jumping up and down with everyone and singing and shouting my lungs out. He kept us screaming pretty much through the whole show and I can’t for the life of me remember when we were shouting what. The gig went on with Nine Spiral, which I still don’t know by heart, and Speed Master, another one of my favourites. During the first four songs, or the short breaks between, Gackt was looking straight into my eyes. *________* I’m not sure when, because all I could think about was those ice blue eyes, piercing my heart. I know he probably didn’t see much from the stage and that it probably just felt like he was watching me, but I really felt like receiving the full Gackt treatment right there and then. I mean, I’ve seen those gorgeous eyes staring at me from the photos and videos, but seeing that look live was a hundred times better. *still dies at the memory*

I usually don’t like putting up photos that I don’t own the rights to, but I’ve got to make an exception when it’s about Gackt.

I mean, those eyes. Staring at me. Live. *______* For reaaaaaaaaaaal? I had officially died and gone to heaven called YFC. ♥

Gackt really put his everything to the show and by the time he was finishing Speed master, he was sweating like a pig. As the first notes of Lu:na started to play, people went even more crazy than before, if possible, for we all knew what was coming. And sure enough, Gackt- Oh, wait! I haven’t written anything about his fan service this far? I mean, we got the full Gackt treatment right from the start! He was rolling his hips, touching his body and raising the hem of his shirt, showing off his abs. Totally hot. But now, on to Lu:na and the striptease! Yes, you heard right. If you haven’t seen the YFC vids on YouTube yet, I strongly recommend them. During Lu:na, Gackt slowly and teasingly removed his tie and threw it to the audience. His shirt followed soon after, buttons flying off to all directions. There probably was a serious fight over his clothing, but I didn’t pay attention to the audience for obvious reasons. Gackt. Live. Without a shirt. HOT!

And next up was my absolute favourite of his songs; Kimi ga Matteiru Kara. ♥ I was a bit afraid beforehand, that people wouldn’t be all that into this song, since it’s a slightly slower one. To my pleasant surprise, everyone was singing their lungs out during the whole song. It was amazing. *____*

Next song was Mind Forest, and as we had read from the previous gig reviews, he sang the whole song in English. People couldn’t really sing along to the lyrics, but I guess we were all trying. I tried singing in Japanese at first, but it didn’t really work out, so I just sang the tune most of the time. (This coming from a person who couldn’t sing right if her life depended on it…) I didn’t know what he was singing most of the time, and what little I may have understood I can’t remember anymore. ^^''

Next songs were his brand new single Ever and Justified, both of which were great, even though I didn’t know the lyrics at all. I was totally partying up with everyone else and waving my hand the way Gackt wanted us to.

At this time, I think Gackt really made us shout a lot and talked about all of us being one big family. The next song was Jesus, which was another song that everyone was pretty much singing to and obviously shouting as Gackt wanted us to, again. After that he sang Flower and Kagero, but as Myrf was really feeling faint, going down a lot and actually passing out at some point, I couldn’t really concentrate with one hundred percent. Anyway, somewhere after Myrf had been carried away from behind me, I think this was during Flower, actually, Gackt passed out himself and fell off the stage. He had been looking a bit weak for the latter half of the show, but I think everyone thought it was just for show. Falling off the stage scared me pretty well, but we all know how Gackt is with his doings. He puts his everything to the show, so he was immediately lifted back on the stage and after holding on to You and Chahca, he continued with the performance. Everyone was screaming his name and clapping hands, showing their support.

After Kagero the band left the stage and everyone began southing for an encore. I don’t really remember how long it took for them to come back, but I think they didn’t take too long. Myrf was back behind me again when they started a remix of Uncontrol. The audience was almost desperate to show all its love for Gackt and the band and after the song ended, the man kept us all screaming for a good while. It was like he was getting his life force from his fans, enjoying the incredible energy that we all sent to him. ^^ The band members threw water bottles, plectrums and towels to the audience. Gackt’s towel was maybe about two meters in front of me, but I was actually happy I couldn’t get it, since the three people who had all grabbed it from some point were all clinging on to it for dear life, none of them willing to let it go. It was a fight I wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of.

The gig ended with Gackt’s secretary speaking to us again, telling us to get out of the venue. We stayed there for a little while longer, though, Myrf’s German friend buying us a glass of apple juice. I was so thankful, even though I hadn’t passed out I could feel that my legs were a bit shaky under me. Avoiding dehydration was a good idea.

When we left the venue, it was raining cats and dogs. A thunderstorm was really a great ending for the amazing day. I was soaked both from sweat and rain once I got to the hotel, but it was more of a blessing than a curse. I couldn’t get my shoes totally dry before the morning, though, but oh well. :3

When I left the hotel the next day, I was still on cloud nine. And I couldn’t help beaming every time I saw a Karate Kid poster, because it looked just like Gackt kicking the air at some point of his gig. Not to mention the KFC I saw on my way to the station. I mean, there’s got to be some sort of a joke in this:

 

Needless to say, I was grinning like a madman.

~♥~

Yesterday Gackt decided to almost scare the life out of me. He wrote in his blog that he had passed out 5-6 times during the gig, couldn’t remember much about how he managed to get away from the stage, slept for six hours (and I understood from other people’s comments that this was actually a lot for him!) and couldn’t stop bleeding from the throat once he woke up. SERIOUSLY, man, don’t kill yourself! We usually appreciate our idols even if they won’t kill themselves just to give a great show for us fans. T-T Luckily the blog translation I read sounded like he was already feeling better and was happy about the show overall. And according to the Bochum live reports I’ve read this far, he seemed to be alive and well for his final show in Europe. Here are some screencaps from the Bochum show streamed over the net by niconico.

All in all, arigatou gozaimasu Gakuto-sama! The gig was unbelievable and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. (Except for your health, though. ;__;) See you again soon in Europe, right? Please?!

~♥~

I’ve totally got to get some sleep now. We had my godparents and Stella here for a “crayfish party”. I had such a good time chatting with Stella after such a long time, especially since she was about the first person truly interested in the gig. ^^ We talked for the whole evening, up until one o’clock when the taxi came to get them home for the night. I still had half of this post to write, and now I should pack for my mini-Finland-rail we’re going to do with Pia. Starting tomorrow at 8:18 a.m. >_______>'' We are going to have a great time, no doubt, but right now I’m feeling like I could have taken another day off and just relax at home. I hope I’ll be able to sleep in the train and tomorrow night, since this night is going to be very short again. And I already almost managed to get myself yet another trip for next weekend (our mini-rail ends on Friday), when I pretty much invited myself to Stella’s summer house. Having a holiday is so busy!

Right, so I’m off to pack and get some sleep. See you around after a week or so, if I’ll have time to blog before leaving for Denmark… :_____D

♥ Hetha ♥

P.S. I almost forgot… I’ve got a photo of my gig attire, which ended up being the same as in the D’espairsRay gig last summer:

This is how fresh I looked after the gig. :'3 What a lovely way to push my hips/stomach forward, makes me look so wide. xD And my hair just goes curly by itself. Kinda cute. x3 Have got more close-ups about that, but it’s too late to start with any new photos. So bye!

The major fangirlism strikes back!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ASDFGH (sorry about this :__D) !!

You know what ‘tis all about, right? I’m really starting to feel the GACKTism here. I’ve dreamed of seeing him live ever since the 8th grade and even though I got the ticket to his concert and got the trip settled, the whole thing just seemed very surreal to me. Until today.

As you might have guessed, I read some gig reviews by the people who were at his concert in London yesterday and the fangirlism stroke me very hard. (The internet is such a dangerous place for a girl like me who easily takes influences from others. The *squeeeeee* mode spreads like nothing else when I read any fan reports.) Only five more days and I’m off to Munich all on my own. And after that, just one day before I’ll get to see the egoist of my life. ♥ x3 And this time I’m up for the whole lining up thing too, like a good fan. I’ve paid enough for this and I’m going to get the full experience of a great gig. What would I do alone in Munich anyway? I’ll just leave the hotel on Thursday morning, grab something to eat and head to the concert place to meet the other fans and wait for the Man with his crew to arrive. :'3 (I wish I had some information about the gig routine in Germany… Limits to the time we can stand in line, are there any extra fees we need to pay in Theaterfabrik etc.)

Oh well, I guess we’ll see how it goes. I’m just so excited about this whole trip, traveling alone, seeing GACKT etc. that I can’t even write anything understandable. (Wonder why I even started… I guess I just had to get all that ‘gah’ out of my system. :'D My apologies.)

~♥~

Ahem, let’s see if I’ve got anything comprehensible to the non-j-rock-loving readers… (A short pause in writing here, reading another review and almost crying already.)

It’s still Too Darn Hot here (and I can’t stop loving that song, btw), so I haven’t really been doing much. Or actually – I forgot it’s been two weeks since my last post. I was on a Saimaa cruise with my parents for four days the week before, and we’ve had about 30°C almost every day since then. Can’t complain, because we don’t really get warm weather often here in Finland, but I’ve got to say that this darn heat is eating me up.

Anyway, I forgot to take my camera with me to Saimaa and my dad has got his camera with him right now, so I haven’t got any photos from the cruise. The Saimaa Canal was amazing and I loved Olavinlinna, as I love all the old castles I visit, so the cruise was a success. I suffered from a slight lack of sleep from staying up ‘til four in the morning on a couple of nights before the cruise (MSN with Zara, obviously. Dad found out but hasn’t killed me yet.) and as we were going through the Canal from 3:15 to 8:15 in the morning, I was a bit tired and actually slept in the cabin whenever I could (I had to wake up to eat occasionally). :'3 The hot weather was unbearable, even when we were at the sea, but at least it wasn’t +15°C and raining.

~♥~

Before the cruise (yay, Heta, thanks for doing this chronologically), I surprised myself by sopping in Sello and actually managing to buy something! Bad for my wallet, I guess I won’t be eating much in Munich, but good for my mood. :3

I finally bought myself a new wallet! I was happily surprised that this one has actually got a good amount of card pockets in it. Now I won’t have to try to stuff all the cards on top of each other. Notice my French manicure in the photo, too. Mavala White and Lumene Dancing Waves.

I found these too from – surprise, surprise – Seppälä. Again, their size 34 is too big for me, so I have to buy from their ‘teenager line’, Link. I’m starting to feel like these shirts make me look like a child…

Well, this dress is actually from the women’s section. ^^' I actually really like this one, even though I never seem to get the collar right…

~♥~

Alrighty then, next a little something about nails! First I’d like to show you a wannabe summer-y manicure I did a while back.

Sorry for the messy. :'3 I wanted to try something a bit out of the ordinary (my ordinary, that is) and went for a nail art with summery colours. As you might know, my polish collection consists mostly of darker or flashy colours, not of the currently fashionable taupes or creamy pastels, so I went for the brighter shades. Mavala Gold, OPI DS Reflection and OPI Catch Me In Your Net. Due to the hot weather, the golden polish got extremely bubbly. For some reason, I could only stand this mani for a day or so before replacing it with the French one, shown earlier in this post.

Next, a new polish to my collection. I know what you must be thinking right now, but please let me explain! My little sister was in Barcelona for a week and she bought this to me as a souvenir. It’s not completely my fault that my polish collection just keeps growing!

Sorry for the crappy look. I was pleasantly surprised by this, because I had just read a review of a Kiko nail polish in someone’s blog when I got this. The review was very positive, so I couldn’t keep from trying this on right away. I first applied this on a fake nail and noticed immediately that this one could be the great one-coater. I was super excited and almost jumped up and down from the perfection of this polish when I first applied it to my nails. The excitement didn’t last long, however, because I noticed that the polish was getting very bubbly when it dried. I removed the polish in the evening, disappointed. But, as I reapplied it in the morning, in the basement where it’s cooler than elsewhere in the house, I noticed that the bubbliness (is that even a word?) was again mostly just caused by the warmth. My top coat, however, seems to have suffered more by the warmth, since it almost made this polish look worse than what it was by itself.

Kiko polishes cost only 1,90 € and it seems to me they are worth every cent. This colour, Midnight Blue, is a great example for me of the fact that darker polishes are actually harder to wear than the lighter ones. I should have cleaned the polish more around the cuticles, and the tip wear starts bothering me with these darker colours sooner than with the lighter polishes.

~♥~

I’ve been trying to take some photos of myself (narcissistic, much?) despite the heat we’re having. I’ve got a few okay inspirations and a couple of nightly bad-for-the-quality inspirations too. Here are some photos I’d like to show you:

A ballet-inspired piece. The concept was ‘Never the ballerina I longed to be’ or something similar. There are many things I don’t like in this one, but there always are. :'3

Here’s what my nightly inspiration looked like yesterday. I don’t know why but this photo somehow reminds me of some old paintings of noble ladies (except that they obviously looked better x3). Maybe it’s the serious look or the play of light and shadow… I don’t know. (By the way, corsets can really do wonders to one’s bust. >w<)

And here’s something very different again – me by the pool. Erm, lol?

And – well, another lol at me trying to look cool?

I could keep this on forever, but I’ve got to go to sleep soon. >.<'' 

~♥~

Just one more thing about what I’ve been up to.

I was in Helsinki with Zara today. She was hungry, so we went to eat. Here’s what I had:

A big ice-cream (strawberry, vanilla and salty licquorice) with heart-shaped pink waffels, whipped cream and sauce. And freshly juiced orange juice, the best drink you can get, after blood orange juice. ♥

And before I finish, I’d like to get your opinion on something. As you might or might not see in some of those photos, I have tried to keep my bangs off my face as much as possible lately. Yay or nay? I actually like the look more than I thought I would, but as I was searching through some old photos I came across this:

It tempts me to cut my bangs again! Why does it always have to be so hard to decide on a hairstyle? Last week I almost convinced myself to get a bob cut again… Gah!

~♥~

Okay, that was it! I’m sorry about the hugeism, the fangirlism, the failism and all the other isms in this post. :'3 And sorry for anything I might have forgotten to mention. And for the language. Excitement and tiredness isn’t a good combination – especially if you’ve had a two-week break in blogging.

Anyway, until next time, honeys!

♥ Hetha ♥

P.S. I want to make hats! :D

Bliss or depression – that is the question

As the title indicates – welcome back the rollercoaster of moodswings! –.-'' I don’t really know what to blame this on anymore, so I’ll just say it’s because of the heat. The weather has been positivelly hot for the past week and I’ve obviously enjoyed all the sunshine, but I guess my head’s not taking it as well as I had hoped it would. I konw that this time I’m not going mad for being alone too much, because I’ve seen Taitti every day this week except for Thursday. ^^

Anyways, let me fill you in on what’s been going on in my life recently.

My driving lessons are going on fine, except for the fact that I’ll have to sit on about three theory lessons in September. >___>'' I’m going to a cruise next Wednesday with my family and am thus going to miss two lessons just before the driving school’s office is closed for a summer break. Well, as my mom likes to say, I wouldn’t have this problem if I had started the driving school earlier.

Last weekend was the Midsummer party here in Finland called ‘Juhannus’. We had our traditional party, with a group of family friendds coming over and I had fun, even though the guests were mostly adults of the same age as my parents. I just love those people. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t feel slightly remorseful when Taitti informed me that she wouldn’t be around for the weekend.

The biggest thing this week was… *dum de dum*

The Versailles gig at Tavastia, Helsinki! Kamijo~ Hizaki~ *___* I was in a coma half of the time and the other half I drooled over the gorgeous men on the stage, felt the awesome music and tried to figure out what to do with my hands. The gig didn’t leave me as delirious as I had expected, though. I wonder if that was because I wish it would have lasted longer or if I started to feel jealous of Taitti, who managed to get a plectrum.

I went to the gig with Taitti and Zara, who didn’t really feel the need to line up with everybody else. I wish I would have had more time to hang around with sargonnas and some other people, but I guess I’ll have to do that some other time and with more time to actually talk etc. I wasn’t too anxious about the line myself, until the moment I remembered that i wanted to buy an S-sized tour t-shirt. After that I just couldn’t stay still and wait. :'3 Much to my surprise, I managed to get about the last S-sized shirt they had. Ah, bliss. I haven’t got a photo of it yet, as I haven’t really been on my most photographable mode these past few days. I haven’t got a photo of my gig outfit, either, but I wore the same black halter-neck top I had on D’espairsRay’s gig last year and a black tulle skirt. I had my graduation photos taken earlier that day (Tuesday, as I haven’t mentioned that before), so I had my hair on curls with a white rose pin in them.

I also bought a rose for our Street Team gig activity, which was to hold the roses up in the air during Serenade, as a tribute to the heavenly basist Jasmine You. I thought it looked wonderful. ♥

The setlist was great, in my opinion, but you couldn’t expect any less from a band like Versailles. They are just amazing.

As a tribute to Versailles, here’s a photo of a rose mom bought me for the graduation photo:

Red and big and beautiful~

I was going to make a new outfit for the gig, but I ran out of time, as usual. I managed, however, to sew a new red tulle petticoat, which I actually wore beneath my black skirt.

A bad nightly photo is bad. :'3 I made this following loosely Prinsessa Seinäruusunen’s tutorial for a basic tulle skirt (in Finnish only). It probably needs another layer of tulle and I’ll have to work on the lowest layer some more, but other than those two little things this came out quite alright. I feel like I’ll be sewing a lot of skirts in the future… :D

On with the show! I’ve got two new Blu-Rays this week!

The new Sherlock Holmes (I personally liked it very much, even though Jeremy Brett is the true Holmes to me) and Gone with the Wind. *-* I was watching the bonus materials of GwtW yesterday and today I watched Sherlock Holmes. I think I couldn’t handle the Wind at my current state of mind, but I just can’t my hands off it. It’s just pure love. But I can’t agree with all the people who call it a love story. To me it’s a tragey, first and foremost, however optimistically you might look at it. It’s a hundred times more tragic than Romeo and Juliet, for example. They at least got each other forever. ;__;

Well, enough with the rant about love. Here’s a bad-quality photo of my nails from last week:

I shortened my nails quite a bit but they still look quite long. Succes! I’m wearing OPI O’Hare & Nails Look Great and I must say that it is one of the most horrible-smelling nail polishes I’ve ever come across with. It looks really pretty though. :3

That’s probably all for now. I’m dead tired, so I guess I should go to sleep… I felt like I was going to faint when I woke up this morning, or rather every time my phone’s alarm went of. I just turned my head on the pillow and everything started to spin. ò.Ô I got pretty scared, because I don’t usually faint just like that, but I guess this heat is getting the best of me. Or maybe I just managed to tilt my balance censors in an atypical position somehow. (I won’t even write the proper term here, because I started to read the Wikipedia article about balance and the inner ear and it just sounded a tad bit too difficult and scientific for me.) ^^''

Just two links, and then I’m off. First, Yumiko’s new website is up! Her official fan club is called Precious. http://www.mao-ayabuki.jp/

And then, as I’m going with the flow, you can now ask me your questions in formspring! I’ve added the question form to the sidebar too. Here’s the link to my profile:

>>ASK ME!♥<<

Keep the questions coming! (Anonymous questions are allowed, too.) Until next time, dears~!

♥ Hetha ♥

Nerdier by the hour

As some of you might already know, I was in Tallin, Estonia for three days last week. As usual, I didn’t take any significant photos during the trip, and I think that neither my granny nor my cousin would have appreciated having their photos shown all over the internet. Not to mention my one-year-old godson. I guess we’ll just have to do with the things I bought and a very artistic (or not) blurry photo of a glass of rosé wine, from the first evening (that’d be Thursday), shown here:

We ate some Spanish food, my dish being some tasty beef. ♥ My mind is telling me to stop eating beef for environmental and ethic reasons, but my meat-loving mouth is making it impossible…

On to the things I bought!

This I actually bought on our way back home. A Snö of Sweden necklace with a red gemstone (or a wannabe, anyway). I wouldn’t really have the money for it, as I should be saving for my trip to Germany, but I simply couldn’t resist!

Other thing that I couldn’t resist was a discount on OPI polishes. :____D This brings a break to my mission of not buying any new nail polish, but OPIs were only 11€ in Estonia, and that, my friends, is a 4,90€ cheaper than the price in Finland. I considered getting two OPIs for just 22€ a bargain.

Here are my two new babies, O’Hare & Nails Look Great and Catch Me in Your Net. Apparently my brain told me that I haven’t got enough red polishes already. ^_________^''

Here’s a close-up of Catch Me in Your Net, a sparkly blueish turquoise polish from OPI’s Summer 2010 collection. A real eye-catcher, if you ask me.

I’m having a bit of nail crisis here. I’ve got a 5 mm crack on my right middle finger’s nail and I managed to burn the tip of my right thumbnail while lighting a candle. I’ll probably have to cut my nails soon… Do not want! ;__;

Ahem, back to the subject.

Here’s a crappy (and totally straight) toilet photo of the clothes I bought. The white jeans didn’t quite fit on the waist area, so I had to do a little sewing when I got back home. (A good chance to test my new sewing machine. :D I keep thinking the word computer instead of sewing machine, by the way… Strange. x3) I’ve been wanting to buy a lace t-shirt for some time and in Tallin I got the chance. I also got a black bolero, so now I can wear something else than my boring black hoodie if the weather is chilly. ♥

I also bought a new tea cup, as if I already didn’t have enough of those. :'D But it was Chinese porcelain and very pretty, and my granny actually paid for it, so… And I got a tea cup from Taitti too! As a graduation present. Thanks again~! ♥

That last photo was taken yesterday in the toilet of a local cinema. We went to see the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time with a couple of friends. I didn’t really have high expectations on the movie, so I was positively surprised. The movie was actually very good, in my opinion. The ending was a bit unfair, but I guess it couldn’t have been any other way. (Can’t say anything more specific if some of you haven’t seen it yet.)

Dum-de-dum, what else… I’m pretty tired already, so I won’t bother you for much longer. Tomorrow I’ll finally be getting behind the wheel, as I have my very first driving lesson. That’s one reason why I should be getting to bed; the lesson starts at 8:00 a.m.! :D I’m excited, as I’ve never even tried to start the car… My teacher seems funny but also slightly intimidating… When he’s joking I don’t know if I should laugh or cry! x3 I’ll also have an appointment with a doctor tomorrow, and a theory lesson, so calendar’s full for once! I’m thinking about going to Helsinki to buy an Ed Hardy t-shirt, as Hearts of Hollywood is having a 50% discount… There goes my money again! :'3

(Anyone willing to go to Germany with me, by the way? I’m getting three tickets to GACKT’s gig and I’ll probably be in Munich from the 21st to the 23rd. C’mon, anyone?)

That’s all for now. Until next time, my dears~

♥ Hetha ♥

P.S. …I realized I actually forgot to tell you what that title was all about. :__D So I’ve watched some 28 episodes of this Italian animation called ‘Angel’s Friends’ during these past three days… In Italian… Mind you my Italian vocabulary is probably less than a hundred words when it comes to speaking, although I understand Italian pretty well by the help of French and English etc. On good days I might be able to understand whole conversations, but sometimes everything just goes in from one ear and out from the other… And thanks to magical Italian animation, I’ve been reading some W.i.t.c.h. comics and even fanfiction… Nerdy, much? ~

Okay, that was it. Bye

The impossible is happening

I’m sorry if this post gets really random or over the top, because…

*DUM-DE-DUUUUUUUUM*

GACKT is coming to Europe! For real! Gaaaaah, I can’t get over this fact! And as I am a legal adult, it would technically be possible for me to go see his gig in Germany, for example. *_________* The problem is that he’s going to be playing in some relatively small clubs and thus the tickets are very limited… And I seriously don’t know who would go to, say Munich with me just to see GACKT’s gig… Plus I’d have to get a job to get the money, in case my friends and family aren’t too pleased with me spending my graduation present money all at once… But waaaaaah, I really want to go! I’ll have to get the tickets… *___* ♥ (Not that I wouldn’t be seeing my two favourite Japanese bands this year anyways…)

I’ve seen many Finnish people complaining in the net how unfair it is that GACKT’s not coming to Finland or even to Sweden or Russia, but I guess I’ll get to that when I’ve failed in getting the tickets to his concert in Germany. …Or the UK? I’m planning away here, without even discussing this over with my parents… I hope they won’t be totally against the idea. :3

…

Ahem, I was going to write about other things than GACKT too. (Man, it’s a pain to spell his name on capital letters every time…)

Um, so I’m obviously supposed to be studyin- erm, sewing right now, but instead I’m updating my blog! It really wouldn’t take too long to finish my graduation outfit, a couple of seams and a little something for the upper half, plus the underskirt… Which brings us to the topic of the day, my shopping trip to Helsinki with Zara from yesterday. (Is it just me or am I failing in English? Too long a break in blogging, plus a bad state of mind…) First, my outfit (sorry for the crappy mirror photo, as always. ^^)

(Why do mirrors always make me look wide? :'D And sorry for that vacuum cleaner. xD) Sooooo… I’m actually wearing my mom’s old pen skirt, which fits me better than the one I bought myself. o.O And you can also see my new pumps I bought for the graduation. They are redder than that in real life.

Other than the shoes, I was looking for a zipper for my graduation dress. I bought one that was slightly too long, but I guess I’ll manage… :'3 I also finally remembered my 40€ gift card to Tokyokan, so I got to shop for some Japanese goods.

Gothic&Lolita Bible, from 2004. Featuring Kamijo~ (Only two pages. ;_;)

Chocolate & strawberry pockies :D The Hello Kitty –ones were actually pretty good. I also bought a new pair of chopsticks and a hashioki, but I didn’t take a photo of them. ^^'

Well, next up are my new love, Promarkers! I just got six new ones from the mail. :'3 No need to wonder if I start complaining about being poor. x3

Here they are, with three Neopikos. :3

And here are my current nails, a simple and slightly failed French mani. My nails seem quite long… Should I cut them already?

I was also going to write about my resurfacing Takarazuka-fandom, which I should keep in the back of my mind for health reasons, but then the GACKT news blew that thought away. ^^' I watched Elisabeth for the six hundredth time (just slightly exaggerating) last Thursday and both Mizu Natsuki and Zuka overall have been occupying my mind ever since. I also listened it over once and yesterday I started trying to write out the script in Japanese. Otaku hobbies ♥

… And now I notice that I’ve promised to do a post about nails and how to repair them if they start to chip etc. ò.Ô Well, keep your hopes up, I’ve got it coming (some day)! :'3

♥Hetha♥

Mizu stole my spare time

…Yeah, I’m still seriously obsessed and there’s no sign of change in that on the horizon. It just gets stronger and stronger every day. Yes, I had big plans of how I would read to the upcoming matriculation exams every day throughout the summer but then along came Mizu and all the plans flew out the window. ^^’’ It seriously worries me… Last semester my school work was practically ruined by yaoi and this semester seems to fall into pieces before it has even started, all because of the perfect Mizu Natsuki. And my wallet/bank account is feeling the pain, too. 200,90€ for a DVD and a CD and I couldn’t be more eager to get rid of the money right now! But I’m trying to do my best to not upset my parents, so I’ve got to do it the hard way. I’ll have dad buy me AQUA5’s CD from CDJapan with Versailles’ single ASCENDEAD MASTER as soon as he’s willing to do it though. One CD per month is the best Christmas present of mine these days, I just wish it would apply to DVDs that cost over 100€ and CDs that cost 64,95€… Well, life isn’t life without a few hardships, right? My guess is that someone’s trying to make me study instead of watching Elisabeth and thus making it basically impossible for me to get the DVD before the exams. It isn’t working very well though; that someone hasn’t taken YouTube into account.

Hmm, considering the length of the first paragraph I’m writing another novel here. ^^’’

I actually had something to tell and show you other than just my Mizu fandom. I’ve been an unusually active shopper last week; I went to Sello on Wednesday to buy that scarf and belt (and a new bra, but I’m not posting photos of that :''D (I’m easily influenced, so now I’ve got myself addicted to using that :'''D smile all the time. Got that habit from Zara. ^^ I’m sorry for always copying my friends instead of coming up with something of my own. ;__;)), on Thursday I went to Helsinki with Zara and on Friday I went there again with Taitti and Niina. I didn’t buy anything yesterday, thank God for that.

So now let's go back a few days, to Thursday. In Helsinki with Zara. I had decided not to buy anything because I’m saving money for something. Well, surprise surprise, I totally failed on that. We were supposed to meet in Kamppi at 12 o’clock but I arrived about twenty minutes early and decided to go walk around a bit and maybe do some window shopping. As it happens, before Zara had even arrived at Kamppi I had already spent 90€ on a HerStyler. >_____>''

It’s pink! It’s really easy to use and I can both straighten my hair and create pretty curls. *Advertisement* Money well spent but why do I always have to buy something that costs a lot when I’m saving money for something even more expensive? >.<'' It’s a mystery.

I also bought Matenrou Opera’s new CD ANOMIE from Keltainen jäänsärkijä. I felt pretty good about that, since dad’s going to pay me back for it. ^^

Here’s my j-rock collection at the moment. ^^ I’m planning on buying more in the near future, as I’ve already mentioned.

I had a private photo shoot (why won’t I ever learn how to spell that? >.<) on Friday because I felt pretty. I straightened my hair in the morning obviously and got a bit of clothing inspiration from Mizu. ^^’’ Yesterday I didn’t feel pretty at all though, because I felt (and still feel) slightly sick and didn’t bother with a shower because I was going to sauna in the evening anyway. (I really hope that I haven’t got the swine flu… Don’t think so, anyway. Everyone just has to half-heartedly remind me of the possibility.)

Ermm… Where did all the good photos go? o.O Now I’m depressed 'cause I can’t be as beautiful as Mizu. –.-'' I tried to do Mizu’s pointed finger thing but I failed so bad I can’t show those photos to anyone. ^^’’ If you don’t know what I’m talking about:

Ittemiyo! *__________* Notice the most awesome Tooto-nails too. (Watch in YouTube for HQ)

Uwaah, this is the handiest thing! I’m posting with Windows Live Writer and all I need to do is paste the URL among the text and this thing automatically adds it as a video. *w*

Erm, back to subject… What was the subject again? My brain just poured out from my ear so it’s a bit hard to concentrate.

Well, maybe I’ve already said everything I meant to say… Maybe I could add that the combination of Mizu, Zara and Messenger has completely ruined my sleeping pattern. Today I will shut the computer at eleven p.m. at the very latest. It’s a promise. I’ve got to keep it.

P.S. I forgot to mention... I got a new conditioner with the HerStyler. It's like a mask so I can use it only once a week and it smells wonderful! *u* It's also quite effective compared to my other conditioners... Now I keep sniffing my hair every once in a while. x)