Arrival of Rena

I was activated back home by Mabel on Thursday morning, while I was still in a busy state at work. Rushed home, ate early lunch, and headed for the hospital. After hours of waiting and walking up and down the stairways, Rena was finally delivered. Our angel has finally arrived.

The whole event was simply amazing. I'm still awed by the miracle of birth as I type this. It's an experience which words cannot imagine. In the end, Mabel and I are just glad everything is fine and we're thankful for the smooth and safe delivery.

These pics were taken minutes after Rena "popped" out, and she's still pretty dazed but definately facinated by her surrounding. She weighs 3.23kgs, and her exact birth date and time is 28th of November 2008, 12.53am. Expect another update soon!

益々緊張してくる～

This will most probably be the last blog entry before the big day comes. Mabel's officially full term now, in her 37th week, and will reach 38 weeks by mid week. She's also on leave now, so resting at home while I'm working will be her job now. For me I'm kinda going through a busy period with work, but thanks to an understanding boss, Mabel will have full priority whenever I'm activated to go home.

More time at home also means that Mabel gets more chances to prepare meals for me. What you see is a sample of the breakfast that I've been receiving for weekends. She cooks dinner too, though usually we tend to settle for simple things which require little preparation work. With more time now, perhaps I can request for a bento for breakfast to bring to work.... :)

Weekends have been pretty busy too, since we need to visit the gynae every week from now on. Most of the baby stuff have already been bought and even unwrapped for usage, so nothing more to worry about. I even got for myself my first set of Super Sentai candy toys in the form of Engine Sentai go-Onger. They're pretty neat, since they feature realistic poses and even detailed weapons. Somehow I got the feeling that this will not be my only sentai set.

From wiki: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験), or JLPT, is a standardized test to evaluate and certify the language proficiency of non-native Japanese speakers. It is held once every year, on the first Sunday of December. The JLPT has four levels beginning at level 4 and progressing to level 1 - the most difficult. -end wiki quote. Taking a break in between revision sessions, I chanced upon the above table: the passing rate of last year's test. 26.9% passing rate for JLPT 2? Not good. Time is running out.....

On other toy and figure stuff, I just payed for the upcoming Den-O SIC sets, which include the Axe and Rod forms shown above, as well as the Zeronos and Deneb set. I don't really kep SIC figures, and the only series which I have bought were those from Hibiki, which I thought were marvellous. Apart from those, I plan to keep the entire Den-O series, just because it's my favourite series so far.

This week saw the release of Berryz Koubou's 18th single, MADAYADE. This particular H!P unit has enjoyed tremendous success the past few years, with sell out concerts in many parts of Japan. They also marked a historical record in that the band officially became the first to perform in the Saitama arena whose members average age did not exceed 14 years. Yes, they are that young. But the songs are good, so.....

Another sub unit, Buono also has a new single. Spot a few familiar faces? Thats because 2 of the members are also from Berryz Koubou (Tsugunaga Momoko and Natsuyaki Miyabi). The new single is called "Rottara Rottara" (ロッタラ ロッタラ). Many of their songs get made into anime opening/ending songs, so I'm expecting to hear this on some show soon.

There are a few PS3 games out there which I really wanna get, but I'm not exactly too rich at this moment in time so I can most probably only expect to buy one when I go on leave. The few games which I'm looking at right now include Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Spider-man: Web of Shadows, Winning Eleven 2009, and Little Big Planet. It's a tough decision but ultimately I believe it'll either be Naruto or Little Big Planet. One features outstanding visuals, and the other creative space for lasting replayability. I'm still deciding.....

A kick ass promotional image for the Dragonball movie has been found on the net. Sure Goku looks like he's yawning, but I still like the picture very much. Can't wait for the trailer which is due next month. Well, this update is a chop chop one, taking me around 20 minutes to finish. I still gotta cram more Japanese grammar into my brain, and hopefully the paper this year will be a easy one. 26.9% isn't too motivating, but I gotta give it a decent shot! Still the next (major) update, ja!

準備完了しました

Sorry for the lack of posts the past month! I know, I promised more stuff since the last post but I've been busy with both work and as well as my JLPT preparations. I've only a month more to go, and I don't have the slightest bit of confidence at all, since I've been flunking the exercises in class. It's really difficult, and I would need to concentrate with whatever time I have left to give it a shot this year end. For Mabel, everything's pretty smooth sailing so far. Both she and Rena are growing well, and have good appetite for almost every meal. Just 1 more month to go, before you get to see her here!

Sometimes when we're sick of having meals outside or didn't have any appointments with family, Mabel will prepare some simple meals for us, such as the one you see above. It's really simple to prepare, and is also healthier than eating out. She also enjoys making breakfast for the both of us, so that I can bring my portion to work. Well, this equates to savings so it's good to spend lesser these days.

For me, I only got like 3 items for the past few weeks for my collection. Firstly, its the next set of SIC in the Kamen Rider Den-O series, this time of Ryuutaro and his gun form. Nice, but I'm really running out of room for the Den-O pieces. Next, are the 2 HG figures of Kamen Rider Kiva and also Kamen Rider Ikusa. They're my first candy toys for the Kiva series, so at least I have something to display for them. Will most probably be picking up my other reserved stuff such as the 1/60 Valkryie VF1J later in the month, and perhaps some of the other figures in the super sentai and the kamen rider line as well. Have already given up on a few select lines due to limited budget, so will only concentrate on those which I really fancy from now on. No more Gundam and Macross stuff from now too. Bad times ahead, although I'm not directly affected, we will still need to factor in the higher costs of living especially when our little one is almost here.

I've been listening to the albums from Maximum the Hormone (マキシマムザホルモン) lately. They are a four-member Japanese metal band. They write heavy music mixed with light pop, and that has gained them mainstream attention. They are also more popularly known for their ED single "Zetsubou Billy" for the Death Note anime. Check out the PV here, but do note that the first batch of people singing the song are not the band members! It's sort of a gimmick, since Kira, you know, hides his identity.....

Another song which I've really enjoyed from them is called "Koi no Megalover," which reached number nine on the Oricon charts during the summer of 2006; their first top-ten hit in Japan. It's a good mix of heavy metal and Jpop, and has a really awesome PV to boot. This song is currently my ringtone, so do give it a try:

I'm still hooked on Metal Gear Online, and will try to get a couple of rounds in before I go to bed daily. Most of the time I still get thrased by the expert players, but it's ok to be a noob since I got a life outside of games. I'm slowly improving, but I don't think I can ever get to the levels which the other players are on right on.

The official Konami Style websites have started to receive orders for MGO related goods, such as the 3 different kinds of t-shirt designs which I have shown here. They look really cool, and although the intended meanings will only be understood by MGO or Metal Gear Solid players, the abstract designs have appealed to me. So much so that I tried to registed a Konami account to have the shirts sent to Singapore, but sadly they also accept Japanese addresses and will not send overseas.

Nevertheless, this will be going to be on my to-get-list when I head for Japan the next time. No where soon of course due to Rena, but I'm sure we'll be heading back as soon as Rena can walk. Back to MGO, I'm anxiously waiting for the next expansion set, which can be purchased online through the PSN network. It'll include more characters, maps, items, and be definately be lots of fun. Here is the trailer for the Meme Expansion. It's nearly the end of the year, and that means we'll be getting teaser shots of next year's Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series. Next year's new rider series will be called Kamen Rider Decade, and will commemorate 10 years of Kamen Rider in the Heisei era, from Kuuga to Kiva. It is rumored that the new Rider will either get powers from the past riders, or even meet them and learn their techniques. This is really awesome, though I'm not sure if they can still get the actors to look good 10 years after their series have ended. No other news and images for now, except for the traditional silhouetted picture of the new Rider. With Kiva's finale episode in sight, we'll definately see glimpses of this new rider soon. Sousuke's expression never ceases to amaze. I'm still following the show, but it really needs to get a plot working out right now, instead of just shorts week after week. And 12 mecha to form a robot is really a little too many, no? I'll leave you with a scene from Engine Sentai Go-Onger, and hopefully the next update won't be as long a wait as this one. Ja!