It’s the end of the year once again… to be honest, I’ve been too unmotivated to write anything lately, but writing my end-of-year reflections on this blog has been something that I’ve done for the past few years, and I don’t want to stop that tradition now, hence I’m making myself write.

2009 was a year full of changes, and it’s no different this year as well. From starting my PhD to setting a date for my wedding and many other smaller things as well… there are many new things that happened this year. As I’ve said many times before, I’m not very good at handling changes, and it took me some time to adapt after some of these events, but I hope that I’ve become better at accepting changes, even if it’s just a little bit.

Last Sunday was the last service I had in church, and as per my church’s tradition, a few people were asked to go up on stage to share about their year. As I listened to their sharing from where I was seated, my heart felt full, and I was reminded of the many things that I had been blessed with, and the many things I could give thanks for.

Dolly Wink was previously brought in at Watsons in January and June this year, but they were only sold for a limited time due to the low stock situation in Japan. It’s back at Watsons again now, and seeing that most of the larger Watsons are stocking it (compared to only the NAC branch last time), I’m guessing that it might be permanent now? The nail polishes are here as well. The retail price is marked up as always, but there’s always a price to pay for the convenience.

While I’ve never tried their false lashes (seen a number of good reviews though), I have their eyeliner and I like it! It goes on easily and the packaging is really cute as well. Seeing that the shelves are usually almost empty when I pass by, the range must be doing pretty well here, and perhaps that’s a chance that the new range of mascaras and eye shadows will be brought in in future?

Their brouchure is nicely done, and you can view it here, or download it. Since everything is in Japanese, I’ve translated the tutorial parts, and they’re included in the download as well. I can’t guarantee that the translations are very accurate though…

Someone uploaded the latest episode of Tousouchuu (2010年11月23日 「逃走中2010～激動明治の大事変～」) on YouTube, and I checked it out since I’ve heard good things about the show and recognised some of the people participating in the latest episode.

逃走中 (Run For Money) is essentially a massive game of tag, which goes on for about 90 minutes (the time, rules and setting vary with each episode, and I’ll base what I type here on the one that I watched, but they generally don’t differ too much). The players have to escape from the Hunters, and with each second that they survive in the game, the more money they can potentially get. All players are given a cell phone (which cannot be switched to silent mode), a watch and a map.

Before the actual game starts, the opening game is carried out. Boxes enclosing the hunters are placed a fixed distance before the contestants, and the contestants take turns to play the game. Once certain conditions are fulfilled, the hunter box opens and the game officially begins.

The participants get to interact with other characters in the game, and they might be asked to perform some jobs, which they then have the choice of accepting or declining. Accepting the job earns them some “money” which would come in useful during the game, but also puts them at a higher risk of getting caught while they are working. There are also missions along the way, which tie in with a story that’s related to the setting of the particular episode. As with the jobs, it is not compulsary for players to participate in the missions, but being successful in the mission means that all players would have a lower chance of being caught.

In this game, the longer the players survive, the more their winnings will be. However, once caught by the hunters, the game ends for them and they will go home empty-handed. One way that the players can ensure that they go home with some money is to surrender during the game, and the amount that they get is then determined by how long they have been in the game until the point they surrendered. The players that manage to survive until the game ends will get the maximum amount of prize money available.

The concept behind the game is fairly simple, but the creators of the show have executed it well, which makes it entertaining to watch, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s interesting to see how the participants behave under such a stressful situation, and the range of behaviours that you can see is reflective of what you see in real life as well. In a way, the feeling I get when I’m watching this is similar to when I’m watching The Amazing Race (which I really enjoy as well!).

First gown fitting at The Aisle last Saturday! I chose them because of the good reviews I read for various sites, and I liked the general feel of the gowns that they had on their website as well.

Basically, this is how the whole process goes:

1. First consultation, where you try on different gowns to see what style/cutting suits you.
2. Confirmation, where you get to try on more gowns and confirm which ones you want for the photoshoot. Would take a longer time that the first consultation, say 3-4 hours?
3. Photoshoot itself. I have a list of dos, don’ts, and things to bring given by the boutique. Pretty standard, but maybe I’ll write that out some other time.
4. Photo selection
5. Layout for wedding album, and collection some time after that.
6. Final fitting

When it comes to choosing wedding boutiques, it’s not just about getting one with good service, but one that has gowns that suit your taste as well, and that is something subjective. I’m glad that I liked a number of the dresses Eddie (the designer) chose for me to try. I have 5 studio outfits, and 3 outfits for the actual day, meaning that I can chose from a minimum of 5 outfits to a maximum of 8 outfits (assuming that I’m not going to use the actual day outfits in the photoshoot). Choices, choices… There are a couple of gowns I’ve tried on that I really like (and have gotten good feedback on as well), but let’s see what comes up during my confirmation next month before I make the decision. I do have my heart set on the very first gown I tried as the one I’ll be wearing for the church wedding though, unless I see something that I love even more the next time round.

AKB48 is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. Unlike other idol groups in Japan, AKB48 is theater-based and have their own theater in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform once every weekday, and more than once on both Saturday and Sunday. The theater is set up on the 8th floor of Don Quijote. The name derives from a shortened, Romanized representation of ‘Akihabara’. AKB48 is divided into three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Currently, there are 16 members in Team A, 16 members in Team K, and 16 members in Team B, getting to the total of 48 members in AKB48. (from Wikipedia)

They’re the top female idol group in Japan right now (their latest single has sold over 800K copies and still counting), and they’ll be here next week! They’ve been having overseas concerts quite a fair bit lately, and it’s a nice surprise that Singapore is one of the places they’re coming to. (I wonder if it has anything to do with this?)

The line up (subject to change) is as follows:

TEAM A: 岩佐美咲 Misaki Iwasa, 多田愛佳 Ota Aika, 片山陽加 Katayama Haruka, 仲川遥香 Nakagawa Haruka, 前田亜美 Maeda Ami. TEAM K: 秋元才加 Akimoto Sayaka, 菊地あやか Kikuchi Ayaka, 野中美郷 Nonaka Misato, 宮澤佐江 Miyazawa Sae. TEAM B: 河西智美 Kasai Tomomi, 小林香菜 Kobayashi Kana, 小森美果 Komori Mika, 佐藤亜美菜 Sato Amina, 佐藤夏希 Sato Natsuki, 鈴木まりや Suzuki Mariya, 渡辺麻友 Watanabe Mayu .

There seems to be more interest in K-pop than J-pop right now, and I wonder how many people know about them here, but I hope that they do manage to sell most of the tickets for their concert. They’ll be back on the 10th and 11th Dec for the STCC, but the line up and other details for the event have yet to be released.

More information: AFA site / AKB48 official site / ticketing