吃驚した！妻のｘｘ歳誕生日パーテ！

We celebrated Mabel's xxth birthday this weekend by having a surprise party for her at our place. At around 11pm, our friends gathering near our place and prepared to raid our place with party poppers and balloons. And of course, Mabel got the surprise of her lifetime when they came over and popped confetti all over her. She was so overjoyed that she instantly took off to make herself more "presentable" to our guests.

Although her birthday falls on the public holiday that is Vesak day, most of her friends at work already celebrated it on the night before by going out for dinner. The actual celebrations didn't just begin the day before her birthday. Even during the lunch time her colleagues at work already planned a few surprises for her, including having a secret admirer sending her a birthday cake. She even called me to check, and at first I thought that my surprise party plan had been exposed, but luckily I managed to cover my tracks pretty well and didn't give myself away when she asked whether I had ordered any cakes.

Well, as a matter of fact, I did. I used an image of us and ordered a custom cake to be sent to William and Huiming's place, so that they can bring it over during the night. I almost thought that she found out through my credit card transactions or something, but luckily it was just her colleagues playing a prank on her.

I ordered around $50 worth of McDonald's food that night, as I was afraid of starving my guests. As for entertainment, I bought 2 new DVDs just in case we didn't have much to do. But luckily, one of the games I thought of was well received and we managed to play until the leftover food was just for punishment, after we had exhausted our supplies of drinks which the loser had to drink. The game we placed was based on bluff, and we had the idea from the Taiwanese variety shows. We splitted up into 3 teams and the objective is to catch teams which you think are bluffing based on a total of 12 dices. It was a fun game, and even better seeing each other trying to swallow nuggets and drumsticks.

On the actual day of Mabel's birthday, we headed over to Vivo city with some friends. It was a big place, but nothing to facinating. Had our dinner at one of the chinese restaurants there, and the dinner was a well deserved one after spending hours on our feet waiting for the girls to finish shopping for their cosmetics.

On the H!P and Morning Musume front, more sad and shocking news. Fujimoto Miki (藤本美貴)(pictured left with Matsuura Aya (松浦亜弥)on the left), current leader after Yoshizawa Hitomi's (吉澤ひとみ) graduation last month, has quit the popular girl group. The reason being the fact that she and Tomoharu Shoji have been dating has been revealed by the tabloid magazine Friday. According to Miki, she felt her action went against her role as the leader of the group. Therefore she made the request to resign from MM and UFA has accepted her decision. Miki said, "I've done something that violated the MM code and I feel deeply responsible. Effective immediately, MM will be led by Ai Takahashi and Risa Niigaki as the sub leader.

Friday magazine reveals news of the two leaving a sauna, and having a 3-day-long date. Both are seen entering Shouji's 4WD car, going for a 2-hour-long dinner to a Japanese-style dining bar, then stopping at Miki's apartment and leaving in less than one hour for a sauna salon. Just after midnight, they are seen going back to Shouji's apartment. It's sad that being a celebrity means paparazzi catching you with a date. And in the eyes of the Japanese, this is a no-go as the MM girls are portrayed as idols for the younger generation in Japan. This is the 2nd leader that MM have lost in recent years due to scandalous reports concerning boyfriends. The other was Yaguchi Mari.

"To all my fans and supporters. I, as leader of Morning Musume, have the role of a guide to the other members. I've violated one of the promises I made as a member of Morning Musume, and I feel a heavy responsibility. I'm very sorry for all the trouble I've caused with my actions. In this way, I cant continue on as leader, and I took it upon myself to resign from Morning Musume. I feel deeply apologetic towards the fans that have supported me up to now. I'm really sorry. I'd ask you to please support "Fujimoto Miki" in the future. " It's sad for all MM and Mikitty fans, but at least she's just leaving MM and not H!P. So, most probably she'll still be part of GAM together with Ayaya, since their album was just released very recently.

Moving on with happier news, Viyuden (美勇伝) has just released their new single called Koisuru Angel Heart (恋するエンジェルハート). It's a very lively song and I'm playing it most of the time in my car. Too bad I still don't really like their over sexy image, as shown in the PV they try a little too hard to have sex appeal, and it's a little bit over the top in my opinion. Rika and gang should just remain on the innocent but cute image profiles. Check out the PV here:

I've uploaded a clip from this week's episode of Kamen Rider Den-O. The most funny part of the show is how Momotaros loses his will to fight, and when called upon by Ryoutaro to take over his body, he does so with a cannot-care-less attitude. Even his famous line and pose for "Ore, Sanjyou!" is done in a half assed manner. Absoultely hillarious if you compare it to his previous styles. Another funny part is how he skips part 4 of his hissatsu waza (sure kill technique), and says it's great enough to skip a number. Check it out!
Momotaro's normal henshin pose + "ore sanjyou"

His half hearted pose + "ore sanjyou"

I've also uploaded a small clip from this week's Jyuuken Sentai Gekirangers. Story goes of how Jan (Geki Red) and Retsu (Geki Blue) becomes a kid and a baby respectively after having their kandou stolen. Ran (Geki Yellow) takes over as Ran Mama and tries to get the 2 back to their original forms. The clip shows Jan, still a kid, henshins into Geki Red and saves Ran. First time we get to see a kid in a ranger suit, and it's damn cute in a SD sort of way.

That's yet another week's posting. Been procrastinating about updating this week, even though I've got quite a few pictures. And yeah last I checked Misa's still leading the polls in the "Name our pet" polls. Keep those votes coming for those who's yet to vote. Till next week (again), ja!