halloween(s)

sorry for the delay! as promised, my Chun-Li pictures! f(^_^;)

a triumphant moment: when it all was finally DONE

at my first of 6 Halloween parties... here's me and one of my favorite teachers, who i used to play badminton with every week

at party #3: Nishi Elementary School. check out my ghetto-rigged spikes!!

^^me trying to capture the impossible: a giant red apple hanging on a string

party #4: for the kids of my town. like last year, this is the first time all 8 of us are in the same place at the same time. historical, really. featured here are: Chun-Li, Waldo, a pirate, Anpanman, a mummy, 2 obachans, and Dracula.

so during this party, kids get a map and set off on what can only really be described as a scavenger hunt, but instead of finding objects, they're looking for people with bags of candy. all they have to do is say "Trick-or-Treat", and candy is as good as theirs.

here are some of the many cute kids that visited my post. please note: the Cinderella and Belle-like costumes were made by the SAME mother out of GARBAGE BAGS. incredible.

despite making a lot of kids happy that day, i have to say i look back on this experience rather unfondly.... i dont know if you can tell, but just to the left of where this picture was taken is the main road, which means EVERYONE passes through here, which also meant a LOT of people saw me in my chun-li outfit... including a lot of middle-aged men driving solo who slowed their cars down, gave me one long look, then suddenly had this sketchy look come across their faces.... *gross*. not to mention all the obachans who walked by and gave me this look like, "what's a prostitute doing in the middle of the morning in the middle of town?"

**sigh**


and finally, here's brian! as always, he was looking for a random adventure in japan, so he figured, why not go to an island right near korea? =P thanks again for coming out here! you're one of the few and the brave (^ ^)v

euphoria

three weeks, countless blood-drawing stabs, numerous trips to the 100yen shop, and thousands of hand-sewed stitches later, i'm FINALLY, finally done making my Chun-Li costume. *phew*. despite having no access to a sewing machine, that didn't stop me from making what is probably one of the most difficult outfits to be born from Street Fighter 2. and, despite everyone dropping out of doing the Street Fighter idea (about half of us were gung-ho about it in the beginning, but now i'm the ONLY one doing Street Fighter), i decided that after all the blood i've sacrificed making this outfit, i had no choice but push on till the very end.

last night, i finally decided that i was finished, and i have to say, what makes chun-li more than anything else, is the hair. if you have the hair accessories and the stray pieces of white cloth hanging down, in addition to being asian (especially... well, Chinese), you're halfway to looking like her.

thursday marks the beginning of my halloween marathon. i'll have THREE SOLID DAYS of halloween parties... 2 elementary schools on thursday, 1 up in the middle of tsushima on friday (where near all the ALTs are invited to host a day long party for the school), and 1 on saturday for my town, where theoretically all ALTs will be gathered in one place for the first time this year.

only twice before have i attempted to make a shirt for myself, and both times failing miserable. considering i just made a dress completely by hand, and what at least i feel looks halfway convincing, i'm very much in my happy place right now. once my parties are over, look out for pictures which will hopefully be posted this weekend.

now that this costume ordeal is done, i guess it's time to strap down for the JLPT.... *gulp*....

flags of the world

after being introduced recently to an add-on in facebook, i've been obsessed with upping my traveler's IQ. what the hell am i talking about, you say? it's an application offered through TravelPod (you can click on "Try the Traveler's IQ Challenge" at the top of the page). after many rounds of the "Original World Challenge", where you have to click on a world map as closely as possible to the place they're directing you. for example, if you get Washington DC, you have to be able to place where that is in the world. the more accurately and quickly you can place the location, the more points you get. this has singlehandedly improved my geography knowledge from practically nil to fairly decent in no time at all.

anyway, along with placing cities, capitals, and famous places, there are also other challenges, such as Asia, North America, and the one i've taken a particular interest in, Flags of the World.

after playing this flags of the world game several times, i've come to a new conclusion: some countries have some dumb flags. no offense or anything, but seriously. so many flags have similar colors and styles, or even the same colors but in different orders. what kind of symbolism is that? i'm sure those colors must have some particular meaning, but from just looking at it, it's hard to understand what kind of patriotic feelings they must instill in their people.

3 that have been truly making me angry are the following:

can you figure out which is which?...





















answers are: France, then Netherlands, then Russia. to think, horizontal vs. vertical lines make a dramatic difference. and then just the simple swapping of color order makes that drastic of a change. nuts, right?

so this is what my life has been about this past weekend (flags, the traveler's IQ game, and making my Chun-Li outfit). i know talking about flags won't do much to actually change anything, but i just thought i'd express my musings over them.

take a look at belgium and germany:

i dont know about you, but they look pretty similar to me. and to think, again, it's all about vertical vs. horizontal stripes. *sigh*

the one flag that i'm a very big fan of, though, is Cyprus:

it's so brilliant... it has a picture of itself on it!!

i guess what i'm getting at is that i admire flags with symbols on it.. makes them unique. not just bands of color, yanno? even the States has a unique pattern, which makes it so readily distinguishable. i even have to give Canada credit. the maple leaf -- so simple and yet so fitting, no?

another favorite flag would have to be macedonia. very unique pattern:

if i could go back to college and choose a random flag to hang on my wall, it'd hands down have to be macedonia. very bold colors.... maybe i'm just lame, but i find the design inspiring, and i think i'd have liked it hanging over my bed, encouraging me to not give up amidst studying for midterms and finals.

to see every flag of the world, check out this website.

so if you're bored and you feel like freshening up your geography and vexillology, go to facebook (where you kill most of your time anyway =P), and see what your traveler's IQ is!