レナちゃんは天装戦隊ゴセイジャを見ています！

  

It has actually been quite an eventful week, but I've been really tired these days and hence I thought of postphoning this update till perhaps sometimes mid week. I was in the midst of just uploading the videos and calling it a day when I thought what the heck, might as well just add in more text and get the entry over. Haha yeah sometimes writing here can be a chore, especially when you've got tons of stuffs to do and can better utilise your time at home. But after maintaing my site for nearly 6 years I figure that updating my blog hasn't only become a habit nor a way of life. It has really become a commitment, and one which I see more benefits than nuisance. I don't always go through old entries but when I do, the memories which flow back always make me realise that they do need to be archived to be accurate. We tend to forget so much since time flies by so fast. So, here we go again :)

  

As you can see in the pictures scattered here, Mabel's been really into making Japanese cuisine of late. She has bought lotsa ingredients as well as equipment, particularly from Daiso, to make bento set lunches as part of the preparation for a picnic lunch with our friends. It's good for me of course, since I get to eat home cook meals during the weekends. Finally, the Japanese ryori books I bought for her a while ago can finally be put into good use. I hear from her that her next venture will be into making pasta or spaghetti, so hopefully I can get to taste some of her (experimental) work soon. More photos to come, either on Twitter or Facebook.

Here are a few videos I've took the past week. If you are reading this feed via Facebook, the video links are not embedded so visit http://www.seannosekai.blogspot.com/ instead. First up, Rena watching Tensou Sentai Goseigers with me at home.

Next, another similar video but you see her dancing to some of the steps during the ED theme. Yes, she is starting to pull off the henshin and roll call moves. As far as I can notice, she loves imitating Gosei Red and Gosei Pink. And she knows how to start and pause Youtube videos :p

And lastly, just a video I took today, of her running around the house and picking/wearing anything that she fancies. And yeah that's my beanie which I bought over a decade ago. Time to pass it down, I say.
  

    

And since Rena's been really into the Tensou Sentai Goseigers lately, I thought it would be nice to make her some home made toys from high resolution scans from magazines I found on the net. Especially great since they are free and don't cost a bomb. You'll be surprised at how expensive these toys are! Well Rena can't really appreciate them too much now, so making them from paper and cardboard seems to be made of win. Haha, at least until she grows up, or grows sick of Super Sentai. Till then, she's been putting both the OP/ED themes on repeat mode so much that even Mabel knows how to sing the songs. But it's a good way to keep her occupied :)

I also joined the Live Earth run last Sunday. It was only 6km, but it was for a good cause, and there was a nice Tee and a mini medal to be collected. It was fun, and I hope to sign up for more such events soon. The next one to look forward to would be the Sundown Marathon next month. Lastly, it's been a very eventful week for me mainly because I finally got my IPPT Gold award, after nearly 9 years of Silver. I must declare that I've been training for it, since it was one of my new year resolutions which I've set for myself earlier this year. This year marks my transition into CAT Y1, since my 30th birthday falls before April 1st. This gave me a real hope for the Gold award, since the running time has been extended by 15 seconds to 10:15. I've always falled to get gold because of the 2.4km run, so this was great for me. One of the few perks of reaching 30 I guess. Anyway, it took me 3 tries (2 actual tests), but I'm glad I made. Now to maintain it for the years to come. That's all for this entry, ja!

ファイナルファンタジーＸＩＩＩ，完成します！

It's been another busy 2 weeks hence the lack of blog entries. Though, I've been updating Twitter pretty regularly and in fact I've hit over 5500 posts since the past few weeks. It's so much more convenient and I guess micro blogging is the way to go. In fact, all the pictures you see here were originally posted on my Twitter page. I've got lots more up on my yfrog account but they're really more nonsense and not worthy to be posted up here. Still, it's pretty fun to have followers from all over the world and it's an excellent platform to practice my Japanese which hasn't seen much practice the past year. Having a dictionary on my phone helped a lot too, and it's been great making new friends particularly those from overseas.
          

     
Mabel was away this weekend, on her annual company sponsored trip to Taiwan. Yes, her company treats all employees to an all expenses paid vacation every year if the sales quota is met. All she needs to spend is on her additional snacking and shopping expenses. Sounds great but well she did put in a lot of effort in her daily work and sometimes she does even longer hours than me, which is wrong. Anyway, she bought lots of stuff for Rena and a single shirt for me. Not that I'm complaining, since I had the weekend to myself and even managed to complete FFXIII while she was away. Haha talk about being productive. Also did some reading on a book I bought recently about marathon training. Got 2 coming up this year but I've failed to commence training. Still trying to get my IPPT Gold so hopefully I can do it by this month.
           

   

On Final Fantasy XIII, I really wanted to write a full review for the game. I think I will, after I log in more hours perhaps this weekend. So right now, I'll just give my views on it, having logged around 55 hours and have completed the main story line. Completing the main events opens up new options and areas to play with, and so the game truly shines after you have cleared the last boss. The other optional monsters are the ones to really challenge your party, and there are lots of missions to hunt them down, additional weapons to level up, and of courses you'll need dozens of hours more to completely upgrade your characters. It's been a pretty deep game with respect to the combat system. It's really really different from the past FFs, and good or bad, it's still a pretty fun and engaging one. Changes are drastic, but it still retains the FF feel due to many returning elements. The only major complain is how linear the game is, but I'll come to that when I write the full review. Soon, I hope.

I also got some my outstanding stuff from my main supplier in Chinatown. New to my collection are 02 x Son Gokou figures, one from the Bandai Master Grade series, and the other my very first S.H.Figuarts figure, also of the same character. Well one needs to be assembled, and thanfully I got some new modelling gear because I also wanted to start on my 1/60 PG Gundam 00. Not much time to spend lately, particularly with great games like MW2 (online), and FFXIII sucking away my time. Weekends are reserved for Rena and Mabel, but I usually log a few hours in when they sleep. I'll eventually get started on those kits, but I'm hoping to get more trophies for FFXIII first. I'm also thinking whether to import some of the merchandise for FFXIII, so hopefully there's a discount coming soon. That's all for this update. Until next time, I'm returning to my fantasy. Ja!