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holy crap. i just slept for 11 hours. wtf ahahahaha. i haven't done that since college.
wow, where to start? it feels like i just went through summer vacation and one looooong wednesday haha.
got my hair cut two days before i set out to japan and taiwan. not too short...but def shorter than it was before haha. trying out layers again. maybe i wont be so lazy this time and actually take care of my hair -.-;;;
taiwan and japan. kick ass. of course haha. though we were busy like hell everyday (tour in japan, relatives/family in taiwan), it actually wasn't tiring at all for the most part ;] the weather though. killer! managed to live through it all ahaha. extreme ac indoors, hot muggy air outdoors. gotta love asian summers ;] took a ton of pics. once i resize em all...and grab pics from thy and tom, they shall be up! ;D
came back on monday at 11am. pretty much sorted through luggage, washed laundry, did chores to keep ourselves awake until nighttime haha.
tues rolled around and all four of us went straight back to work. i was hoping for a lax day or two since i had been gone for so long, but noooo...BAM "hey louise! so glad you're back! so we're gonna do a film or two for bugaboo...write scripts? pretty please?" hahaha. sasuga 72andsunny. good news...one of the partners recommended me to go on the shoot. yeeehaw! can't wait! nervous though hehe. though it's not a huge film or anything...for a stroller trade convention in europe...but hey! first time on set! ;]
so that basically ment wed was busy. managed to get out around 7pmish though. drove home, met up w/ brian and cam to practice for our group karaoke contest on thurs. and this is where my long wednesday started haha.
the two came over to spend the night since we were driving to anime expo at the la convention center the next day. practiced till 2am, picked out our wardrobe, polished moves, etc. i couldn't sleep that night due to anxiety (memorized 2 songs + a bit of choreography + a tad bit of jetlag) so i only got an hour's worth of sleep.
got up at 6:45am on thurs to go back to work (conference call at 8am i couldn't miss). luckily the call didn't drag on like it usual does, so i managed to get out of work around 10ish. cam, bri, and russ drove to pick me up. we dropped by chipotle down the street to pick up lunch (didn't wanna get food at ax)...waited outside their doors for like 15 mins because they weren't open yet haha. got our food, booked off to ax.
ax this year...was actually pretty nice. the convention hall was huge enough to accommodate everything. we met up with patty and steven (from my jpns class wayyy back when) and kinda wandered around for a bit before our competition started. was super nervous the entire day hahaha. ate lunch...kicked it until we were up...changed...and went on stage.
sang "river" for the first song (gundam seed ending song # whoknowswhichone) we did alright. i kinda messed up in some parts, but i think overall, it went well haha. scoped out our competition sorta. there were only 5 groups that showed up for the group contest hahaha. so by default, all 5 of us made it into finals (top 5 groups make it to finals...and then they rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd place) we decided not to sit through the solo singing competition (all what? 50 of them? ahaha) so we took off to the convention hall.
i dunno. being in japan has jaded me to the point where i no longer want to buy anything at anime conventions (or even to go to them hahaha). i guess it's like..."dude, i could get that for about 60% cheaper. and what am i going to do with it?" haha. but it was still fun to see what booths were up selling what. my one hour of sleep caught up to me at that point, and i was zoning out on my feet, so i borrowed cam's car keys and went to nap in his car while they went to check out who got into the finals.
woke up at around 7:30pm (finals for us was at 9pm). cam and bri came back and we practiced our second song (kobukuro x ayaka's "winding road") went back to the contest room, and kinda sat for the next few hours watching how disorganized everything was. blah. ax never fails to let us down on their organization (or lack thereof) we should've known. didnt actually get to go on and sing until around 10:30pm? good thing i took that nap! ;]
so we went up...we were supposed to go third, but ended up going first. went up, sang. honestly, i look back at it...and cringe slightly ahaha. it wasn't anywhere near our best run...we were too fast, off pitch in a lot of parts, etc. but man. did pretty well for the first time performing i guess haha. everyone was clapping/cheering at the end of the song, which was nice considering that the crowd was pretty dead overall hahaha. sat through everyone else's performances. then the single's competition. then the single's finals. and FINALLY at around 11:30/12amish, they announced the winners.
so yeah. we won the group event hahaha. got some (interesting) dvds (hey guys! wanna watch a movie? how about two?), a laptop bag (jigoku shoujo), some random anime paraphernalia, hats, shirts, and a trophy!!!. xpt they messed up on it and it said "individuals" instead of "group", so they're getting it fixed for us haha.
after that, we promptly booked it out of there to grab some dinner at 1am. wanted to hit up this ramen place in la, but it was closed when we got there! tried to go to asa ramen in torrence, but it was closed too. ended up going back to my work in el segundo so i could pick up my car and driving back to my house to see what was open around the area. being that it was basically 2:30am when we got back and the night before july 4th, NOTHING was open haha.
we were so tired at that point. tried guppies, taco bell, del taco, and finally landed in a long drive through line of burger king's. ate burgers w/ cider/beer, then booked off to bed finally.
woke up the next day at around 2pmish. bri went home, cam, russ, and i had some pasta at home for lunch. then xtine came over and i showed them pics from our trip before we headed out to hungtington beach for some mo's ribs!!!
got there around 6pm and man was it crowded. being that it was july 4th, everyone was there to hang out and check out the fireworks on the beach at night. we drove around for a while...went into a parking structure and the man let us in even though it was "full" because he saw a couple cars leave earlier. $20 for parking. ouuuch. found a spot on the roof of the parking structure and went to eat. xtine and cam had a mini contest to eat a full rack of ribs. russ and i shared one ahaha. that, + garlic fries = win!
walked around after that, they had closed off the streets so people could frolic around and do their thing. basically swam through a lot of people hahah. headed down to the boardwalk/beach. found out a lot of people were camping out on the beach for the fireworks show, so xtine summoned her jesus phone to see what time it was. it was 8:30pm at the time and the show started at 9. so we decided, why not, stick around and watch it. russ and i headed off to the public bathrooms...lined up for like 20mins hahha.
got back, sat down, shared xtine's jacket...and watched the 30min fireworks extravaganza. it was pretty awesome! america's "fuck you" to earth and globalwarming. very american. nice. i must say, it was my first time eating bbq (real bbq! not just grilling!) AND watching fireworks on the beach on the 4th of july. we're so patriotic! ::sniffle::
went back to our car, and sat in it waiting for the traffic to subside for about an hour hahha. finally made it out of the parking structure and onto the freeway...managed to make it home. cam and xtine stuck around for an hour or so just chatting. then xtine went to her friend's house in newport (learning to surf the next day) and cam took off shorty after.
slept at around 4am for one reason or another, and ended up waking up today at 3:15pm. i feel like i just did some reverse jetlag ahaha. oh man. just finished up watching honey and clover (the jdrama series) i liked it ahaha. but i'm a sucker for honey and clover in general. i guess i should watch the movie next. feels weird that it's a sat. i have one more day to mess around?! grreeeaat-o desu!
uh yeah. and tis all! time to bum around some more ;] hope everyone's having an awesome 4th of july break. have fun, don't die! ;]
wow, where to start? it feels like i just went through summer vacation and one looooong wednesday haha.
got my hair cut two days before i set out to japan and taiwan. not too short...but def shorter than it was before haha. trying out layers again. maybe i wont be so lazy this time and actually take care of my hair -.-;;;
taiwan and japan. kick ass. of course haha. though we were busy like hell everyday (tour in japan, relatives/family in taiwan), it actually wasn't tiring at all for the most part ;] the weather though. killer! managed to live through it all ahaha. extreme ac indoors, hot muggy air outdoors. gotta love asian summers ;] took a ton of pics. once i resize em all...and grab pics from thy and tom, they shall be up! ;D
came back on monday at 11am. pretty much sorted through luggage, washed laundry, did chores to keep ourselves awake until nighttime haha.
tues rolled around and all four of us went straight back to work. i was hoping for a lax day or two since i had been gone for so long, but noooo...BAM "hey louise! so glad you're back! so we're gonna do a film or two for bugaboo...write scripts? pretty please?" hahaha. sasuga 72andsunny. good news...one of the partners recommended me to go on the shoot. yeeehaw! can't wait! nervous though hehe. though it's not a huge film or anything...for a stroller trade convention in europe...but hey! first time on set! ;]
so that basically ment wed was busy. managed to get out around 7pmish though. drove home, met up w/ brian and cam to practice for our group karaoke contest on thurs. and this is where my long wednesday started haha.
the two came over to spend the night since we were driving to anime expo at the la convention center the next day. practiced till 2am, picked out our wardrobe, polished moves, etc. i couldn't sleep that night due to anxiety (memorized 2 songs + a bit of choreography + a tad bit of jetlag) so i only got an hour's worth of sleep.
got up at 6:45am on thurs to go back to work (conference call at 8am i couldn't miss). luckily the call didn't drag on like it usual does, so i managed to get out of work around 10ish. cam, bri, and russ drove to pick me up. we dropped by chipotle down the street to pick up lunch (didn't wanna get food at ax)...waited outside their doors for like 15 mins because they weren't open yet haha. got our food, booked off to ax.
ax this year...was actually pretty nice. the convention hall was huge enough to accommodate everything. we met up with patty and steven (from my jpns class wayyy back when) and kinda wandered around for a bit before our competition started. was super nervous the entire day hahaha. ate lunch...kicked it until we were up...changed...and went on stage.
sang "river" for the first song (gundam seed ending song # whoknowswhichone) we did alright. i kinda messed up in some parts, but i think overall, it went well haha. scoped out our competition sorta. there were only 5 groups that showed up for the group contest hahaha. so by default, all 5 of us made it into finals (top 5 groups make it to finals...and then they rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd place) we decided not to sit through the solo singing competition (all what? 50 of them? ahaha) so we took off to the convention hall.
i dunno. being in japan has jaded me to the point where i no longer want to buy anything at anime conventions (or even to go to them hahaha). i guess it's like..."dude, i could get that for about 60% cheaper. and what am i going to do with it?" haha. but it was still fun to see what booths were up selling what. my one hour of sleep caught up to me at that point, and i was zoning out on my feet, so i borrowed cam's car keys and went to nap in his car while they went to check out who got into the finals.
woke up at around 7:30pm (finals for us was at 9pm). cam and bri came back and we practiced our second song (kobukuro x ayaka's "winding road") went back to the contest room, and kinda sat for the next few hours watching how disorganized everything was. blah. ax never fails to let us down on their organization (or lack thereof) we should've known. didnt actually get to go on and sing until around 10:30pm? good thing i took that nap! ;]
so we went up...we were supposed to go third, but ended up going first. went up, sang. honestly, i look back at it...and cringe slightly ahaha. it wasn't anywhere near our best run...we were too fast, off pitch in a lot of parts, etc. but man. did pretty well for the first time performing i guess haha. everyone was clapping/cheering at the end of the song, which was nice considering that the crowd was pretty dead overall hahaha. sat through everyone else's performances. then the single's competition. then the single's finals. and FINALLY at around 11:30/12amish, they announced the winners.
so yeah. we won the group event hahaha. got some (interesting) dvds (hey guys! wanna watch a movie? how about two?), a laptop bag (jigoku shoujo), some random anime paraphernalia, hats, shirts, and a trophy!!!. xpt they messed up on it and it said "individuals" instead of "group", so they're getting it fixed for us haha.
after that, we promptly booked it out of there to grab some dinner at 1am. wanted to hit up this ramen place in la, but it was closed when we got there! tried to go to asa ramen in torrence, but it was closed too. ended up going back to my work in el segundo so i could pick up my car and driving back to my house to see what was open around the area. being that it was basically 2:30am when we got back and the night before july 4th, NOTHING was open haha.
we were so tired at that point. tried guppies, taco bell, del taco, and finally landed in a long drive through line of burger king's. ate burgers w/ cider/beer, then booked off to bed finally.
woke up the next day at around 2pmish. bri went home, cam, russ, and i had some pasta at home for lunch. then xtine came over and i showed them pics from our trip before we headed out to hungtington beach for some mo's ribs!!!
got there around 6pm and man was it crowded. being that it was july 4th, everyone was there to hang out and check out the fireworks on the beach at night. we drove around for a while...went into a parking structure and the man let us in even though it was "full" because he saw a couple cars leave earlier. $20 for parking. ouuuch. found a spot on the roof of the parking structure and went to eat. xtine and cam had a mini contest to eat a full rack of ribs. russ and i shared one ahaha. that, + garlic fries = win!
walked around after that, they had closed off the streets so people could frolic around and do their thing. basically swam through a lot of people hahah. headed down to the boardwalk/beach. found out a lot of people were camping out on the beach for the fireworks show, so xtine summoned her jesus phone to see what time it was. it was 8:30pm at the time and the show started at 9. so we decided, why not, stick around and watch it. russ and i headed off to the public bathrooms...lined up for like 20mins hahha.
got back, sat down, shared xtine's jacket...and watched the 30min fireworks extravaganza. it was pretty awesome! america's "fuck you" to earth and globalwarming. very american. nice. i must say, it was my first time eating bbq (real bbq! not just grilling!) AND watching fireworks on the beach on the 4th of july. we're so patriotic! ::sniffle::
went back to our car, and sat in it waiting for the traffic to subside for about an hour hahha. finally made it out of the parking structure and onto the freeway...managed to make it home. cam and xtine stuck around for an hour or so just chatting. then xtine went to her friend's house in newport (learning to surf the next day) and cam took off shorty after.
slept at around 4am for one reason or another, and ended up waking up today at 3:15pm. i feel like i just did some reverse jetlag ahaha. oh man. just finished up watching honey and clover (the jdrama series) i liked it ahaha. but i'm a sucker for honey and clover in general. i guess i should watch the movie next. feels weird that it's a sat. i have one more day to mess around?! grreeeaat-o desu!
uh yeah. and tis all! time to bum around some more ;] hope everyone's having an awesome 4th of july break. have fun, don't die! ;]