Woot~ Woke up today feeling super fresh after a baby 8 hours sleep... and my brain is surprisingly clear and I actually had the motivation to start doing some real thinking and get some proper stuff done.. When i am ready and when I want to get things done, I will get them done.

Note 1:
Went to sleep last night at 2.30am, after finishing Mulung Partying at 1.50am.. The drag is because I was stuck reading Harry Potter.. lol

Note 2:
I sent in my resume to JAC finally, because of the pressure from home, when Mom walked into my room and asked me how much longer I'm going to parasite at home. ok no, she asked what I intended to do from now on, and whether I had applied for jobs and scholarship and I almost flipped when she asked me go learn Yoga and become a Yoga teacher. I think she just wants to have free Yoga classes. Yoga is no. I rather learn boxing and get the lights punched out of me. The brighter side is, she offered to pay for whatever course I want to take, so maybe now is the time to pick up the phone and call a driving instructor. Korean classes.. decided to find the cheap way out -->I'm going back to school to sit-in the lectures if I still haven found a job when school starts.

Back to the main topic. Not sure how long JAC will reply me.. Now thinking whether i should send in to Tempstaff too. The chances of CIR is way too long, if anyone is still asking me what happened to it. So got to face the light, face my new path and face my bankbook which is showing a very girigiri 4 digits. Withdraw one more time and it turns 3 digits.

Note3:
Application. yes I want go back to Hokkaido University if possible. Tenka has established that for me very very nicely. Just emailed the scholarship organization to clear some doubts and started thinking about my research proposal.. And that is when the years old question came up again.. What should I be writing about? I've always liked Linguistics, I still love linguistics - pragmatics, but the thing is, I don't really have the confidence to do a linguistics paper. Okay, I've done one for the previous semester under Morita Sensei, but I'm not too sure if I can write out a good Masters paper on Linguistics.. Not to say I haven really got a good research topic in mind -->A few, which needs to be explored.. wonder if I can still use the online library...

Then just now I was flipping though my old papers and Hokudai's booklet on Communication and media study (including Gender), i came across my old favourite topic again - yes gender. The topic which I've been writing on for 5 years... from male idols to Takarazuka girls to Male masculinity again. Gender is still my favourite comfort zone, a place so well-explored that Dr. Mac asked me to try something else maybe AInus.. lol *chuckle*.. and my heart still beats at the thought of writing up on those lovely young Japanese men, erm okay plus the boring old salarymen. The topic of masculinity is also still relatively new topic in the academic world which makes it a attractive research topic..

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Research proposals are much worse than writing the real paper... TwT

Finally the 6th installment!

*spoilers below*
Like most reviews said, it is not the best film of the 6 so far, but not too bad.. The 6th book has a alot of details and I guess the movie simply couldn't include all.. so alot of stuff were taken out.. but some of the scenes were really nice~ XD.. plus one damn freaky scene that reminded me of Exorcism of Emily Rose.. @_@ Many details and events taken out that made the movie not as eventful as the previous films and the original novel, but I really enjoyed the focus on the characters - the love, maturing, loneliness, misunderstanding, frustration that the characters face.. haha I kinda like Snape and Malfoy in this film more than the main characters.. >_< If anything, maybe this book is really for Snape -->the half blood prince afer all..

Young Voldemort aka Tom Ripple.. TwT i miss the handsome pretty boy from Secret Chambers.. but he's not coming back.. lol our new little boy looks like he came from The Omen. XD

Looking forward to the last book!!

*End of Spoiled*

Watched with Ros and her aunt @ Vivo City, which after that we dropped by where Milk was working~~ XD lol. wish I've met him 5 years ago when we first knew each online so I can make a comparison of how much Milk grew up (from 2 'e's to 4 'e's).

This marks the nice session of meeting most of my closer maple friends that I've known over the last few years - Fleur, nick and milk XD.

Every Gundam fan's dream!!!

Scale 1:1 Gundam statue!~ Will be up at Odaiba until 31 st August.. TwT.. no chance to see it..

Epic!

Paws up: All-pet airline hits skies

By SAMANTHA BOMKAMP,AP Transportation Writer AP - Wednesday, July 15

NEW YORK - One trip for their Jack Russell terrier in a plane's cargo hold was enough to convince Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel that owners needed a better option to get their pets from one city to another.

On Tuesday, the first flight for the husband-and-wife team's Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.

All commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin. Others must travel as checked bags or in the cargo hold _ a dark and sometimes dangerous place where temperatures can vary wildly.

Binder and Wiesel used their consulting backgrounds and business savvy to start Pet Airways in 2005. The last four years have been spent designing their fleet of five planes according to new four-legged requirements, dealing with FAA regulations and setting up airport schedules.

The two say they're overwhelmed with the response. Flights on Pet Airways are already booked up for the next two months.

Pet Airways will fly a pet between five major cities _ New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The $250 one-way fare is comparable to pet fees at the largest U.S. airlines.

For owners the big difference is service. Dogs and cats will fly in the main cabin of a Suburban Air Freight plane, retooled and lined with carriers in place of seats. Pets (about 50 on each flight) will be escorted to the plane by attendants that will check on the animals every 15 minutes during flight. The pets are also given pre-boarding walks and bathroom breaks. And at each of the five airports it serves, the company has created a "Pet Lounge" for future fliers to wait and sniff before flights.

The company will operate out of smaller, regional airports in the five launch cities, which will mean an extra trip for most owners dropping off their pets if they are flying too. Stops in cities along the way means the pets will take longer to reach a destination than their owners.

A trip from New York to Los Angeles, for example, will take about 24 hours. On that route, pets will stop in Chicago, have a bathroom break, play time, dinner, and bunk for the night before finishing the trip the next day.

Amanda Hickey of Portland, Ore. is one of the new airline's first customers. Her seven-year-old terrier-pinscher mix Mardi and 2-year-old puggle Penny are taking their first flight soon.

Hickey said the service was a welcome alternative to flying her dogs in cargo when she transplants them from her soon-to-be Denver home to Chicago to stay while she and her fiance travel to Aruba to get married.

"For a little bit more money, I have peace of mind," she said.

It was a stressful experience in a cargo hold that spurred Binder and Wiesel to start their airline. Their Jack Russell terrier, Zoe, flew once in cargo and Binder said they worried about how the dog was doing, but were unable to check on her or get information. The couple soon started looking for a better solution.

"One time in cargo was enough for us," Binder said, walking through an airplane hangar as Zoe trotted in front of her. "We wanted to do something better."

The company, which will begin with one flight in each of its five cities, is looking to add more flights and cities soon. In the next three years, Binder hopes to fly to 25 locations.

Among the big U.S. carriers that offer pet services, AirTran, Spirit, Southwest and JetBlue only allow pets to fly in the cabin. Most U.S. airlines charge between $100 and $125, but Delta and Northwest charge $150 for cabin trips. AirTran is the cheapest among big carriers at $69.

The charge is more to fly in the cargo or check-baggage holds. Delta and Northwest are the most expensive at $275. Alaska Airlines and Midwest charge the least, at $100. Frontier prices its checked pets fees between $100 and $200 and only takes pets as checked baggage.

Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com, questions the viability of an airline with such a specific niche.

"I'm not sure how sustainable it is," she said. "But if people are trying to go for a first-class service, it could make sense."

She said the service's popularity could spike in peak summer or winter months when airlines in some areas don't allow pets to travel.

Betsy Saul, co-founder of Petfinder.com, which has ranked the pet-friendliness of airlines for three years, said she's excited about the expected impact Pet Airways will have on pet travel across major airlines.

"The entire industry will stretch because of Pet Airways," she said. "It's a challenge that says 'let's make this (experience) better for pets.'"

_____________________________________

miya: We need more of these around!!

It is only unfortunate that sometimes some in my family and friends cannot understand the path I've chosen, but that is not going to stop me from walking on that path less trodden full of fog and unclear final destination, even when they continue to lure, threaten, nag me to 'return' to the normal life path.
The question really is, what is normal?
Who defines normal and who has the right to judge or stop others from walking down the path they label as 'abnormal' simply because few walked that path?
Should I fail to find my lighthouse at the end of that path, that would be my responsibility to bear, just as all the nagging, luring, quarrelling that I have to face now, because I know that it is because all of you love me that you do not want me to walk the dangerous and 'wrong' path.
But respect my decision as I respect yours.
It's my choice and my adventure to begin.

( 歌詞 )

Check out Vocaloid!

Vocaloids - a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.

Gakupoid, but non other than Gackt!

Movie on ski, love and courage. The love part was pretty boring.. the courage thing was just okay..

but the ski part was great!! lol.. powder!! and mountains!! off piste virgin powder!! *drool* No snowboard but I'll take skis as a wonderful replacement given that they still carve S off the face of the mountain.. just not as godly as snowboard S~ XDDD

Endless stretches of powder and mountains.. that's worth it... ^_^

Introed by Mayuko long long ago, when we were singing Country Road in 招き猫。。。 haiz.. miss the ktv days with Ros and Mayuko >_< and the wonderfully cheap price of susukino Manekineko..

Sweet little junior high school love story.. if only the ending too expectable~ i love the cats~~ ^O^ and the scenes of Japan... Granted that I never saw any of those nostalgic scenes of Japan since I was in Hokkaido -->In miya's world map, Hokkaido simply isn't part of Japan... I still liked those scenes because they remind me of Fukuoka and my travels around Japan mainland.

Finally watching the infamous もののけ姫!~ ^o^ Very enchanting~~~ XDDD

Next up, 耳をすませば～

One of the few Korean dramas that managed to catch my attention~~ XD

Hmm.. got to drop by Kino the next few days to pick up some beginner Korean texts.. since I'm so bored anyway~ ^O^