Well, its been several days since the Anime Festival Asia 2009 has ended. Many people have posted their various experiences and encounters at the event. Now it’s my turn. What took me so long you say? Well I’ve had a few commitments impede my progress such as completely reworking the image hosting for the site. Instead of my blog using the standard image hosting that wordpress provides (which is slow, sluggish and inconvenient), I now use photobucket which makes uploading images and posting them on the site a lot easier as well as the images happen to load significantly faster. I also have been working on the site’s gallery and videos section which have been significantly updated with images from the AFA 2009 event, feel free to check them out. Now without any further delay I shall report my findings at this years Anime Festival Asia!

Early Arrival

For those that thought arriving early to avoid the hassle of the crowds was that simple, well you were wrong. The 4th level of the Suntec City building was full by 10am (which was the opening time). Thank god I had pre-ordered my tickets and didn’t have to stand in line for one as the queue for tickets was endless. Cosplayers could be seen standing around amongst the crowds.

The crowds on the second day were much lesser compared to the first day. Good thing for me, less people to accidentally bump into.

Danny Choo / Tokyo Figure Show

When the gates finally opened. I went straight to the Danny Choo/ Tokyo Figure Show booth, where I was surprised to find Danny Choo himself to be standing by himself (for the rest of the day people would be crowding around him). I managed to take a quick picture of him, swap name cards and shake his hand. That itself had already made my day. Later on in the day I managed to get him to sign my copy of The Otaku Encyclopedia by Patrick W. Galbraith. Another joyful moment.

The booth itself was amazing as it contained many discontinued figurines of all sorts which I never have been able to lay my hands on. This was a chance for me to see them up close. It also gave me a sneak preview of things to come such as the Black Rock Shooter figure that everyone has their eye on, plus the limited edition Mirai Figma which hopefully will be released soon. The ita-bike made by Kodomut was fantastic. I’ll only show a few pictures here as the rest can be viewed in the gallery.

Cosplay

For those of you who wondered the festival grounds might have noticed the various cosplayers showing off their costumes. I was able to take a few shots throughout the event. A few of my personal favourites are listed below. Once again there are many more pictures in the gallery.

Bandai / Gundam

For those take came, I doubt you would have missed the Bandai and Gundam exhibition that was close to the entrance. Some of them were seen earlier in the month at the BAKUC Exhibition in Orchard Road. Many of the ones seen earlier were placed on display here at the AFA. Looking them up close again allowed me to see the hard work and effort put into these masterpieces. Looking at them makes me feel like purchasing a gunpla kit and start building one. Perhaps I’ll leave that for another day.

Artwork

One of the exhibitions that I feel was underrated and less touched on was the artists corner where it displayed all the talented works of aspiring artists. Some artworks simply blew me away as the detail and colours were astounding. We truly have some talent people in Singapore. If only I could draw as half as good as them, I’d be happy already.

I personally found myself favouring the Saber picture as my she is one of my favourite characters. The picture shows her elegance and beauty in her normal combat attire as well as capturing an emotionless face that could be hiding sorrow and sadness of her past. Another favourite from me would be the Naruto Hearts picture which is a cross series parody of the Naruto and Kingdom Hearts series. Interesting combination that could work in the future. I found it interesting to see artworks from the Warhammer 40,000 series on display, but to me I was glad to see other genres of works there. I personally used to collect, assemble and battle with the model figures a long time ago. Anyway the two pictures below used a different style of painting which successfully captured the chaotic nature of the Marines locked into battle with the xenos.

I found the last two pictures to be very creative and amusing. It seems we have some members of Anonymous lurking around heh. I wonder who drew that Harley Danny Choo picture? Nonetheless it was very amusing. Excellent work.

Assorted Booths:

Moe Moe Kyun Cafe

The day 1 queue was so long I couldn’t even find where the queue ended. It would have been nice if me and my mates had gone inside but once again the queues were too long and I figured it would have been expensive to purchase food inside. I had run out of money by the time the queues had shortened. The queues on the second day were significantly shorter as there was less people at the festival. From the outside it seemed like a good place and sit down though,

Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise (KKnM)

The KKnM stalls was one of the earlier booths I visited at day 1. I figured all the good stuff would be gone at the end of the day, I decided to have a peek to see what exclusives I could bag. With a touch of luck, I was about to bring home a Figma Saber Lily as well as a Good Smile Company 1/8 Saber. The stall was packed all the way from morning to late afternoon. All the good stuff was gone by afternoon. I had managed to catch a glimpse of a Figma Product 01 Konata in a Haruhi Cosplay (for $150) early morning, however I was beaten to it by someone else. Lucky guy, oh well easy come easy go.

There were other figurine stalls also like RoboRobo and La Tendo but were just as full. Each shop had their own different set prices plus exclusives. I saw a discontinued Fate from the Nanoha series going for $500 and above. Jeez I wonder who would buy that.

Tactical Weapons

A small front was setup for these guys. They had their weapons on display. Cool looking weapons, movable and life-like. Pistol chambers would move if fired, foldable handgrips and so on. Of course all their weapons were replicas. Lots of their advertisements were people in an army uniform carrying their weapons, many of them could be seen around the place.

Cospa

Yup, even Cospa is setting up shop in Singapore now. About 1 week before the AFA, they already had started up their website which can be found here. They had all sorts of anime t-shirts, towels, mugs and other accessories. They even had a Jan-Ken-Pon (scissors paper rock) competition give away. The finalist would play against Danny Choo. I was somewhere behind the crowd at that point of time. The lucky guy eventually won a Black Mirai T-shirt. Congrats!

Credit goes to Mike Abundo for the video.

Besides clothing, they had HUGE Litter Buster’s towels at a whopping $150. Tempting but insanely expensive even for me. Adorable designs though.

Did I mention they had a wall scroll for the upcoming Nanoha movie? Well if not here’s the poster for it.

Too bad I ran out of funds to purchase one. Oh well I can still pick one up at the store or hopefully Sunshine Plaza.

Summer Wars

An upcoming anime movie, Summer Wars, had their own booth. I decided to snoop around to see what I could found up this anime. Apparently it was created by Madhouse who also created Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) which is one of my favourite anime movies of all time. Much hype of this movie is to be expected as the studio itself has earned a name for themselves. through their previous masterpieces. As I saw the preview, the artwork and animation seems extremely details and beautiful (like its previous movie), I’ll definitely be watching this movie when it is released. Hopefully I will have time to do a review on the movie when it comes out later on in the year.

Collateral Damage Studios

Mainly the K-ON and Ayanami Rei artwork caught my eye as I walked past it. I few things I managed to spot was a familiar piece of artwork I saw on figure.fm about 1 week before the AFA. I asked if the artist was there, however he was busy looking around the place. Damn I wanted to ask him for his name card. I saw a massive Mio Akiyama wall scroll which I wouldn’t have mind getting, but once again I was out of funds. Their website can be found here.

Takashimaya Store

As expected, they had their own store which was fairly huge compared to the rest. They were selling all kinds of thing, dakimakuras/body pillows, pillow cases, mugs, bags, wall scrolls, pretty much anything with an anime design on it. The place was a bit price but I still managed to pick up a Shakugan no Shana wall scroll for a good $40. Not bad considering the size. The place was packed like a can of tuna from morning to god knows when. Regardless there were people inside throughout the whole day. Something that caught my eyes was the Domo kun plushies they had out front. I couldn’t resist to take a picture as well as giving it a great big hug. Oh just so you know the biggest size of Domo kun costed $300. Big Domo costs big bucks.

Storm Lion Booth

They were advertising for a new movie coming out soon. Didn’t have time to look around there though. I saw a fantastic artist who used photoshop and a drawing tablet to draw a masterpiece throughout the whole day. He just ignored everyone and kept drawing. Absolutely amazing.

Animax Live Dubbing

Near the back of the exhibition was the Animax area which were promoting special deals for Starhub Cable television. Not bad deals but the contract for cable television is too long since I’ll only be here for a few more months. What was unique about the place was the live recording studio they had at the back. You could input your own voice as one of the main characters in the anime of your choice. Quite embarrassing however humourous for those watching like me. I was too shy to give it a try for myself.

Cosplay Weapons Stall

A small stall was setup by a bunch of mainland Chinese guys which sold weapons (mainly swords) from various anime. What I spotted was Uchiha Sasuke’s sword, Saber Alter and normal Saber, some sort of Final Fantasy sword which I think sold out fast, wooden bokkens, various swords from Bleach and many other Katanas. Each were about $40 and were mainly made of wood. Not bad but I’d prefer to make my own. If I had to buy one it would probably be the normal Saber or Saber Alter sword. Quite tempting to buy one though.

Dolfies Stalls

I’m not a Dolfie person but when I came across the stall, I was shock to see how elegant and beautiful these things were when I saw them up close. They truly are a masterpiece. I didn’t bother asking for the price as I already knew it was out of my range. Extremely beautiful dolls.

Weiss Schwarz Booth

Had a quick peek into their booths. They had all kinds of starter decks to choose from. I would have picked up a Fate/Stay Night starter deck but they didn’t have it in stock. The Nanoha deck was also quite tempting. Hopefully when it is released in the retail shops, I’ll be able to pick one up. Seems easy enough to learn. Anyway there were people playing the card game throughout the whole day. There was even a competition from what I was told.

Region Cosplay Championships

Since it was my first time being apart of an audience for a cosplay competition I had assumed the crowds wouldn’t have been so big. I was completely wrong when I had to make my way through the amount of people gathering for the on stage event. Due to the large crowds, awkward position and constant obstruction of view by the media and AFA crew, I was unable to get decent shots the whole time.

Anyway the finalists and anime skit chosen were:

ST Revolutions (Singapore) – Unknown Anime

00 Emotions (Singapore) – Gundam 00

Sekai no Gumi (Malaysia) – Code Geass

Endless Illusion (Indonesia) – Lineage II

Houshin Enqi (Thailand) – Unknown Anime

Witchblade (Philippines) – Witchblade

The skits for each team can be seen below (credit goes to Hexlord for taking these wonderful videos and Zh3us for finding them for his blog!):

Each contestant won a participating prize as well as a big hug from Kaname who was cosplaying as Kamina from Gurren Lagenn. The hug between the Gundam and Kaname was priceless.

Personally, I thought 00 Emotions and Endless Illusions had the best costumes and assume they took the longest to create. The Gundam costume doesn’t need any words to describe their costume. One look will explain everything. The costumes made for the Lineage II skit was simply beautiful especially under the stage lights where the armour and weapons truly shine (literally) with brilliance.

With the skit and their performance Sekai no Gumi have points from me for almost complete originality St Revolutions did provide a very emotional scene with outstanding acting.

Nonetheless congrats to 00 Emotions and their Gundam 00 skit for an excellent performance as well as taking home the Grand Prize for Go Singapore!

Moe Moe Kyun Girls Karoke Performance

On the second day of the festival the Moe Moe Kyun girls did a karoke session. Enjoyable to watch. Video captured below is done by other than yours truly.

Joysound Karoke Booth

Located near the Animax area, near the back of the hall was a karoke machine where people could chose and sing their favourite Japanese songs (not just anime openings and closings). Lots of people gathered waiting for others to try the machine. As for me, I’m generally a crap singer, plus I don’t know fluent Japanese. The more of a reason for me to completely avoid touching the microphone. Anyway a few people were courageous enough and delivered a wonderful performance whether their singing was good or bad. Either way I think they had fun, because I know I enjoyed watching them sing (or attempt to). A few of the singers can be viewed below, sorry for the crap sound quality.

K-ON Experience

Now here comes the highlight for the second day of the AFA. The K-ON stage live dubbing took place a few minutes after the karoke performance by the Moe Moe Kyun maids. I promised myself I’d get a seat just for this so I took the effort to come extra early. I managed to grab a seat near the front which I was content with. They decided to prohibit video and photography taking for the remaining of the onstage events so I was unable to take any photos or videos. I saw a few people get their gear confiscated eek.

For those who are unfamiliar with K-ON, you can find out all you need to know here.

Before the girls came onto the stage, Reiko (one of the MC’s) asked Danny Choo (being the other MC) was asked “What do you like about K-ON?”. He responded with pretty much what 99% of the audience was thinking which was “That they are beautiful little girls” or something along the lines of that. Majority of the people there had a chuckle including myself as we understood what he meant.

As the girls were introduced on stage, a familiar opening song and video played as they came out one by one. Right on cue as their individual characters were displayed on-screen they walked onto the stage. I think I partially lost my hearing due to the crowd cheering.The crowd roars as each of the seiyu’s come on to the stage. They introduce themselves to the audience in English (which wasn’t too shabby).It seems that Mio’s seiyu didn’t show which was a downer however it was still good that the rest had made it to the festival. From what I could recollect, the group of girls were a happy, energetic and lively bunch.

After introducing themselves they proceeded with the live dubbing. They did 3 scenes in total each one being as humorous and well performed as the previous.

Thanks to SP LifeArts for saving me the trouble of going through each episode to find the specific scenes as well as the accurate pictures for each scene.

1st Scene – Episode 9:

Azusa still being new to the club as well as the K-ON scene, comes back to the club house to find the rest of the girls slacking. Yui successfully tempts her weakness, which happens to be cake.

 

Caaakeee!

2nd Scene – Episode 11:

Yui’s guitar (Gitah as Yui has named it) is being sent for a maintenance at their local instrument store. What Yui doesn’t realize is that this is not free, however the shopkeeper see Mugi and weavers off the fee since her family owns the store.

 

Gitah is being sent for repairs

3rd Scene – Episode 13:

The 4 girls as seen walking home in the snow as they discuss where to hold their next club training session.

Overall, it was a wonderful performance I was amazed at how they recited their own lines with utmost precision and timing to the corresponding episode. They did it while enjoy themselves as well as pulling funny faces and poses. It was truly brilliant.

Their Question & Answer session followed shortly after where Danny Choo would pick questions (submitted by fans on the AFA website).

Once again I thank SP LifeArt & j1m0ne, as I couldn’t remember the exact questions and answers from the day itself.

Question 1: How similar are you to your character you voice in K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): She is air-headed and prone to daydreaming

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Before she became a seiyu she mention that she was a shy and quiet girl. When she took the role of Ritsu she became more lively and energetic due to her character’s personality. Similiar to Ritsu she encourages her fellow friends and teammate.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): She enjoys bringing gifts of sweet things like cake for her friends and teammate to eat.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She is not as serious as her character but she does enjoy eating sweet things. Thanks to her role, she now likes taiyaki.

Question 2: What are the challenges you face when voicing your character?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Since Yui has a high-pitched voice, she tries to prevent straining her voice.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Ritsu is known for a tomboyish nature, she triess to balance her voice in sounding like a boy as well as being harsh for certain scenes.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Mugi has a natural slow and peaceful speaking voice so when voicing her, she has to slow down when talking.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She often scolds her seniors, however she herself is still a junior in school, so she has to balance between how harsh she sounds.

Question 3: What is your favourite line from K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): “Un-tan Un-tan Un-tan”. Basically she made this sound.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): “Ano toki no yakusoku wa… uso datta no ka!?” – That promise we made…. was it all a lie!?

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): “Mo-ichido Moe” seen here in the first few seconds. Amusing video.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): “Nya” (Meow) When she puts on the Nekomimi cat ears seen here.

Question 4: What are the similarities of your own schooling life to your characters school life in K-ON?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Her clubs during her school days involved gathering and having fun rather than training or normal activities itself.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): She had a childhood friend, also if her friend befriended someone else or gave her less attention she would become jealous.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): If one of her friend in her group are sick, she is the one saying this can or cannot be done with that person.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): She was a member of the ‘going home’ club during her school life, similar to K-ON as the group of girls walk home together.

Question 5: If you were not a seiyu (voice actress), what would you be?

Aki Toyosaki (Yui): Someone who uses their voice like a singer.

Satomi Satō (Ritsu): Yet again, someone who uses their voice, a storyteller at the library or pet shop owner or childcare worker. She would probably keep changing jobs.

Minako Kotobuki (Mugi): Her dream was to use her voice and become a seiyu, but if she didn’t it would have been something creative like a stylist or make-up artist.

Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa): Someone that catches the bad guys, like a detective. Something like Detective Conan as she read the manga.

It was shortly after they announced that 4 lucky people would be walking away with signed boards of each of the seiyu’s autographs. 4 seats were called out. I-28, H-16, M-35, A-18 however no one was sitting there so C-31 was called again. When ‘H’ in H-16 was called I think I felt my heart stop beating for a few seconds. Sadly it was seat 16 in my row as I was sitting in seat 20. Close but no cigar.

After the Q & A, which proved to be very amusing as well as insightful, it ended off well with the seiyu’s saying their final words as they were all happy to be in Singapore and will be looking forward to coming back. They said their goodbyes and waved to the audience as they left the stage. Overall I found it to be very entertaining as I was very lucky to be there. I shall cherish this moment for the rest of my life.

I wish I knew Japanese so I could have done a better job of translation. I hopefully learn Japanese in the future.

Kaname Cosplay Panel Session – The Basics of Cosplay

The panel session was split into several parts consisting of introduction, character selection, costume selection, sewing and posing. He mainly gave his own tips and know-how on the topics at hand. His own personal life was included in some of the discussion, stuff like what he does when he is not cosplaying, what he does in his spare time, when did he start cosplaying and so on.

Conclusion

Overall, I had a fantastic time I had really enjoyed myself and di majority of the things I had wanted to do. There’s really much else to say other than I’ll be looking forward to next years Anime Festival Asia. There are still similar events remaining this year such as the Comic Fiesta in Sunway Pyramid, Malaysia (on the 19 to 20 December) as well as the End of Year 2009 (on the 26th December).

Now without further a due, I shall depart with none other than Danny Choo and his Tokyo Stormtrooper dance in Singapore to conclude this report. Enjoy.

Source:http://unlimitedotakuworks.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/late-anime-festival-asia-2009-report/

產品編號:226

產品名稱:蛋糕毛巾 – 玫瑰禮盒

 詳細資料: 11.5*11.5*9cm

OMGOMGOMG my KinKi you DVD finally arrived!!!!! 来た~~~!!!!!

This morning I was still checking today’s date and logging into YesAsia to see when they shipped the item. It has been 16 days and I was so worried that it got lost in transit ((

BUT IT’S NOW SAFE AND SOUND IN MY ROOM!!!! DDDDD

The package arrived in this gray parcel:

The address you see is the return address, not mine

The DVD box!!!

The towel is attached to the back of the box~

You slide the DVD case from the right...

Then you open it once...

And you open it again! 4 lovely DVDs staring at you! XD

And the towel's really nice!!! It says: "KinKi Kids Kinkyuu Zengoku Tour, KinKi you Concert". Kinkyuu sounds like KinKi you and means "emergency", and zengoku means "nationwide"

And it came with a folded poster too!

When I first opened it, I was greeted by this pretty pic of Tsuyo on the left!!!

The poster fully opened! Koichi's smile (top left) is kawaii~!

The other side of the poster with behind-the-scenes photos!!! There're pics of sleepy Tsuyo and Ko-chan XD

I’m so happy to receive this finally!!! But won’t have time until next week to watch though… ><

kami menjual berbagai kerajinan tangan berupa towel handuk yang sangat cocok buat sovenir pernikahan anda.harga yang murah dapat disesukan dengan kantong anda dan kami bisa sesuaikan selera anda

This revolutionary company is transforming the way America lives, one orGLAMic PeopleTowel at a time.  A chic throwback to the more eco-friendly days of handkerchiefs (and the way the Japanese have been living forever!), these 100% cotton, reusable personal towels are the wave of the future.  Instead of using paper towels throughout the day, it is a cinch to carry one of these well-designed towels along for the ride.  Actually, for each person that uses a PeopleTowel for a year, landfill waste is reduced by 23 lbs. and 250 gallons of water is conserved.  And if you hurry up and order a PeopleTowel before 11/30, you will receive a free EcoSak to carry your towel in! Click here to purchase the ultimate orGLAMic stocking stuffer.

And soon, you too can get in on the revolution, with the first ever People Towels’ Design Contest!  Yours truly (orGLAMic!) has been asked to be one of the judges on the panel, helping select the newest design to be printed on the next set of PeopleTowels.  With tons of cash prizes, and the chance for your creation to be the next PeopleTowel, the contest begins on February February 4th, 2010 so click here for all the orGLAMic details.

I guess we have babies on the brain this week here at orGLAMic, because the products by 3 Sprouts are simply irresistable.  Their Organic Storage Bins are made of 100% certified organic cotton canvas, and are adorably decorated with 100% eco-spun felt made from recycled water bottles and dyed with low-impact dyes.  In addition to the monkey design above, the bins come in elephant and owl options.  These cute bins can help kids keep their books and toys in order, be a place to store all of Fido’s treats, leashes, etc, or even act as a show bin to keep outside debris from getting past the front door.  3 Sprouts also offers hooded towels, place mats and smocks in equally bright and eco-conscious designs.  Click here to browse the orGLAMic website.

For an American, it is shocking to see how frequently all the Japanese transit lines advertise the lovely, and often seasonal places, they will take you. In the United States, taking transit almost always signifies necessity, poverty and routine. The JR station poster above shows happy urbanites and young workers (signified by their white towels) with the headline “I like the Chuo line.” In small print, they explain that you can take the Chuo to Mitaka in western Tokyo and participate in kiwi picking. On a cold day, this station ad seemed sunny and hopeful.

Many people do not buy bath towels very often. Good towels investment, but even replace conventional towels are expensive in difficult economic times.

Caring properly for bathroom towels will help to expand their use, and make them soft and comfortable for family use.

Wash bath towels before first use. When the towel is made of the special coated fabric softener to make the fabric soft and fluffy. These solutions interfere with the absorption of water, so wash towel, and add a cup of vinegar to the first cycle of washing.

Use only half the detergent recommended on the label, so the towels will stay soft. Soap residue will make the tissue difficult.

Do not wash towels with other articles of clothing. Notions such as buttons, zippers or Velcro can pull towels and intimidate them.

Hang dry towel after use in the shower or bath. Do not bunch them into the barriers. This can lead to mildew.
Follow the instructions on the care label.

Excess heat in the washing or drying towels can be reduced.
Do not use bleach. It will destroy the fiber faster and do wear out faster than a towel.
If the towels are very expensive, use a gentle detergent like Woolite.

This will protect your investment.
Liquid fabric softener may also weaken the ability of the towel to absorb water. Use only the drying sheets.

I could have quit when Miss Q declared she wasn’t going swimming; she wanted to go to the airport and have blueberry bagels with cream cheese and hot chocolate – um, have we done that too many times?

I could have quit when my bathing suit didn’t fit – dang polyester live-forever suit and 3-month postpartum bod.

And, I could have quit when Miss Q ran ahead of me, up the stairs, slamming the top door so hard that the mop popped off its hook; falling straight at me in the dark.  Thankfully I have lightning-fast Jedi reflexes.

But I kept pushing.

Two hours later, we were at the pool.  Two hours, for a thirty-minute activity.

Working in aquatics for 16 years, I’ve taken for granted the families who’ve come through the doors.  How much time do they spend getting ready for swims?  How on earth can they think it’s worth it?

When it was just me, I could be ready in 5-minutes flat.  One bathing-suit, one towel, dog downstairs, out the door.

When it was me and Miss Q, it took about an hour.  Two bathing-suits, three towels (one for me, two for her), diapers, wipes, extra clothes, dog downstairs, out the door.

Now, it’s me, Miss Q and Miss S, it takes two hours; one for each child.  Two bathing suits (Miss S is still too young for swimming); two towels (one for me, one for Miss Q); snacks for Miss Q; water for me and Miss Q; shampoo for me and Miss Q; diapers, wipes, extra clothes for Miss S and Miss Q; ‘top up’ Miss S; has Miss Q peed?; dog downstairs; out the door.

Once at the pool, the madness doesn’t stop.  We have to get from the minivan to the building in the rain.  I feel like a pack-horse with my two bags, and two girls.

Only after leaving Miss S with her daddy and the diaper bag, I breathe.

There is one thing I haven’t taken for granted in 16 years: the water.  There’s something about floating, splashing and submerging that whisks away stress, pregnancy symptoms, and hang-overs… though the latter comes from long-ago memories.

Miss Q and I frolicked for only forty-minutes – probably our shortest swim ever.  She put her face fully in the water for the first time today, and relaxed when doing a back float.  She chased after a purple ball and played with rubber chickens.

We laughed.  We sang.  We explored three of the six pools.  And you know what?  In the end, two-hours of prep-time was miniscule compared to the joy we experienced.  We can’t wait for Miss S to join us.

So, we’ve now had a Sunday build and a Tuesday evening build. Both were highly successful this November. 2 people who saw us at Gadgetoff, Ilya and Jullian both came on Sunday and Kit (as well as Jullian) made both build sessions.

Sunday was a great flying night and we destroyed 2 out of the 3 planes we brought out. Kit picked it up right away. He’s a natural.

We also flew the ducted fan motor towel on that first Sunday of the month. It flew rather strangely. Not a lot of lift until you put it into a bank and then it would zoom away. Any aerodynamic geeks out there want to propose an answer?

Anyways, I heard from Breck that the Tuesday night build was lots of fun as well.

Viva le’towel.

When I pulled out my box that contained the tip towels for baby bibs, I found that I had less tip towels remaining than I remembered. As I dug though the box to get an inventory of what I really had left, I found at the bottom of the box some towels I had purchased for another project that never happened. They are bigger than tip towels, about the size a large hand towel. As I laid a tip towel on them to see just how big they really were in comparison, I found that width wise they were exactly two tip towels wide. So, by cutting the towel in half, I would have two tip towels to use as bibs. This would have been perfect except for the decorative stripe on the ends of the towels that would then be on the left or right of the bibs once they were cut to size. I decided to give it a try anyway and see how the bibs turned out.

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I measured the towel into fourths and luckily on the 1/4 and 3/4 mark I had room to put a 4 X 4 embroidery design before the stripe got in the way. After embroidering the two designs, I cut the towel at the 1/2 mark, serged the edges, turned and stitched down, finishing the raw edge. I then measured for the neck. To center the neck, I had to cut into the stripe. I thought about moving the neck off center so the stripe was not involved, but I did not like that look. It was too far off. I decided to go ahead at cut into the stripe for the neck and just see how it turned out, and as you can see, it turned out just fine. In fact, I think that the bibs turned out pretty well on the half towel. The back side is not nearly as pretty as the bibs made with the tip towels, but the front look is all I really care about and I believe the functionality will still be the same, if not better. These are pretty nice towels and are thicker than most I use. Some of the tip towels I have used previously have been pretty thin.

Finding ribbing I liked with the green towel was a chore. I did not have any matching green so I tried to match with the embroidery designs colors. Snoopy was easy of course. I chose the red ribbing, but white would have worked as well. The dinosaur design was a little more difficult to pick a color. I  had no brown ribbing so I dug deep into the back of the closet for find this manufactured ribbing I had bought many years ago and never used. It matched well, but it definitely made the bib more masculine.

The 3rd bib I made is from a tip towel from the box. I wanted to use the cream towel with this design. I wanted to put brown ribbing on the neck, but as I already mentioned, I had no brown ribbing. (I know what I will be buying on my next trip to a real fabric store since Wal-mart does not have ribbing.) I tried pink ribbing but just did not like the look, so I settled for the cream ribbing, even though it is not my favorite. I think the bib turned out cute anyway.

I am excited now to make more bibs and will not hesitate so much in making them do to my lack of tip towels since I think the hand towels cut in half work out just fine.

Minimal pemesanan 100 pieces

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Ice Cream Cone @ IDR 5.000,-
Ice Cream Buah @ IDR 6.500,-
Plain Ice Cream @ IDR 5.000,-
Cup Cake Bulet @ IDR 5.500,-
Cup Cake Bunga @ IDR 5.500,-
Cup Cake Love @ IDR 5.500,-
Bolu Buah @ IDR 6.500,-
Bolu Lipat Meses @ IDR 5.500,-
Juice Buah @ IDR 6.500,-
Muffin @ IDR 5.000,-
Lolipop @ IDR 5.000,-
Lolipop Jumbo @ IDR 5.500,-
Tamago Sushi and Wasabi @ IDR 6.750,-
Avocado Crab Maki and Wasabi. @ IDR 6.750,-
Sushi Roll and Wasabi @ IDR 6.750,-
Tekka Maki and Wasabi @ IDR 6.750,-

As soon as I hear that cough and sneeze from the gym-goer next to me, I cringe. Thinking about their sick germs latching on to that treadmill makes me want to run right out of the gym for the entire cold and flu season. But, we all know that’s not an option. You have to find a way to fight the germs and keep your immune system up.

Towel, please! Any towel will do, but in there is a fancy new gym towel available just in time for the holiday season. What’s so special about it? Well, it is designed to help keep all of those funky gym germs off of you. One side of the towel says face and the other says gym. So you always know which side is mopping up your sweat and which side is mopping up everyone else’s. Very clever, but it’s also a little pricey. It comes in around $15 plus shipping. I’m not totally sold on this miracle towel, but it did make me think about how to avoid the dreaded gym-to-face contact.

Three solutions:
- Use the free towels you get in swag bags at races or conferences for your workouts. They usually feature the logo of a vendor on one side and have no writing on the other. Perfect for knowing which side is for your face.
- Mark your territory; summer camp meets your gym bag. Buy your gym towels on sale, and break out the Sharpie. Just write your initials on one side of the towel and you’ll be in good shape. You won’t have to worry about confusing one side from the other.
-Better yet, bring two different colored towels to the gym. One for the machines and the other for your body.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Since sickness-causing germs and bacteria can live on gym equipment several days, it’s very important to minimize your risk. In addition to the towel trick, keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your gym bag and always wash your hands thoroughly before and after a sweat session. This time of year instead of singing “Happy Birthday” in my mind while washing, I usually go for a Christmas tune. One verse of, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” will help you to get a good 20 second hand washing in and fill you with holiday cheer.

BYOB (water bottle, that is). Avoiding water fountains at the gym can help eliminate the spread of cold and flu germs, so please arrive armed with a water bottle of your own. You know how important it is to stay hydrated, and this allows you to do so while avoiding the germ-fest happening at the water fountain.
- Make sure you are washing your refillable water bottle after each use.
- Avoid refilling your water bottle at the water fountain.
- Don’t toss your water bottle in with your gym bag. Remember, that’s where you keep your shoes…

Do you have any tips/tricks you want to share about how you stay healthy during the winter workouts at the gym?

On a side note, my lettuce has sprouted! I’m a little concerned that it’s not getting enough sunshine, but I’m still hopeful that I’ll get a homegrown salad before we get snow in St. Louis.

-Sara

I don’t envy the drudgery of the mid-century suburban housewife, but they sure had pretty stuff!  Love, love, love the old Irish linen tea towels.  I imagine they brought a bit of cheer to many a woman as she dried the day’s dishes and perhaps wiped a tear or two.

They sure don’t make ‘em like this anymore and BuenaVintage has a bunch!

View in large here

• Skin: GeEs Design  - Tara Australia – Sydney Glos
• Shape: GeEs Design  - Lorely ( shape not inculde in skin folder )
• Eyes: Uzuri  - WaterMix Eyes
• Hair: fri.day  - Dylan – Jaded Blond
• SwimWear: VOGEL  - Bikini – Lines
• Necklace: Uzuri – Kizazi
• Towel: INDI  - Towel Cyan
• Pose: by Fleabite Beach ( No Shop )

I know, I know… It’s autumn… but it’s always summer on SL !!  

Have a good shopping !

Body Towel
Please note the rub too much. please do not use it when abnormality is found in one and the skin to which the allergic constitution and the skin are weak.
Produced by J. Thirty Four

I respect rubbing.

Submitted by: phoebz via Engrish Funny Submissions

Kourt arrived at Paul’s in the estimated fifteen minutes. Nothing exciting occurred on the drive; Kourt stopped at the red lights, she went at the green ones, kept her seat belt buckled and made certain to keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. She pulled into Paul’s driveway at exactly 5:00pm and made certain to put her tray-table in the upright and locked position. Once in his driveway she slowly shifted her car into park, unbuckled her seat belt and hesitantly pushed the car door open – a struggle against herself. With door open she hopped out, and headed up his driveway, to his wrap around sidewalk through his yard, across the stepping-stones to his front door.

From the driveway Paul’s house loomed in the distance. The walk from the car to his front door took around seven minutes, even though Kourt held a rather quick pace. Kourt’s pace, though quick, strayed far from intentional. Still a puppet she acted in rote, her mind running and her feet attempting to match, she raced herself to Paul’s front door. Half of her knew what her brother said earlier held the most clout and she should turn back when she the chance presented itself, while the other half just kept walking. Step, by step, over all the terrine in Paul’s front yard before she made up her mind she found herself at Paul’s front door. Her hand reached for the door knob centered on the large, frosted-glass, door. With knob in hand, her mind shut off. Kourt smiled. With her free hand she brushed the hair out of her face and pulled the door open.

It would be nice to say that Kourt let herself in simply because she knew Paul’s parents stayed at work late but, while that swayed some of her decision, it failed to act as the main reason she failed to make her presence known. The real reason though far less glorious presented itself as such: her hand grabbed the knob, twisted, and pulled; not to push the blame from Kourtney, but she failed to noticed until she heard, “Honey, I’m home!” The words escaped her lips and fell onto the cold, tile, surface of the entrance way to Paul’s house. Stepping inside, Kourt pulled the door closed behind her. In front of her stood a large statue, a bust of one of Paul’s distant relatives, next to the ivory bust a large spiral staircase took visitors and family members alike to the second of three floors in this great house. A final note of the house, at least at a first glance would highlight, was the large, glass, back wall. Odd as it seemed, due to the horseshoe shape of Paul’s house, the entire inner wall, stood a crystal glass from floor to ceiling. Panes ran ever few feet, squaring off the wall, making grand windows with intricate designs – the site stood stunning, especially at sunset, when the entire room lite up a beautiful orange-red hue.

Kourtney had been over many times in the past, so when she heard the shower running she headed to the entertainment room. She slid her shoes off by the front door and walked past the spiral staircase, through the common room, down a long, twisting hallway, toward the back of the house.

Paul’s house held the same grandiose image of Kourt’s. Both families made plenty of money and also felt it necessary to show off such wealth. As a matter of fact, Kourt and Paul met a year prior to the start of high school. Timothy, Paul’s dad, met Jeff through their work because he needed to get some money in and out of stocks and Jeff offered him a hand. Well, the father’s grew to rather close friends and introduced their kids to one another – both father thought of how perfect the children to come from that couple would be. When they met, Kourt found Paul immature and childish. Eighth grade year Paul held the captain’s position on the football team (he favored rugby, but did not know that until high school, since they did not offer rugby at Buffalo Ridge), and was an all around kid, fart jokes a plenty. When Kourt, Paul, and their fathers’ went to dinner, Kourt swore to never speak to Paul again, and she let her dad know, but her dad just dismissed it. He saw a budding relationship even in the minor bickering that the two held during dinner, but he kept his lips sealed and just let his girl spill her guts. Not to his surprise by the time high school started Paul grew up a bit and our little couple grew closer and closer until the relationship they hold currently.

Kourt made it to the entertainment room after her trip through less than half of Paul’s five, bedroom home. She threw her bag on the couch and sprawled out on the velvet, soft, sofa. The remote that operated the large plasma television sat on the end table and Kourt reached over to grab it. With remote in hand she lost herself in the great glory of the T.V.’s flickering glow, as she slowly eased into the overly comfortable couch. Before even deciding on a channel, Kourt heard steps from the hallway behind her. Due to the size of Paul’s house she never heard the shower shut off, or any noise he made while getting dressed or – suddenly Paul leaned forward over the couch, his face hung interrupting Kourtney’s view of the T.V. Kourt leaned forward and kissed Paul awkwardly, due to the differing positions of the couple the dynamics of the kiss failed to work out. While Kourt thought she just missed the noise of him getting dressed she soon realized her mistake when she sat up and turned around to face her man standing behind the couch – shirtless, holding a towel around his waist.

“Hey K, it’s nice to see you, you look quite comfortable laying here, sorry if I interrupted anything.” Paul said, with the remnants of water running down his toned six pack. Comparison of his abs to a washboard failed to fully reflect the muscular body Paul processed. A cut jaw, with short brown hair wet a top his head, the water dripping down his body – it was quite easy to see why so many girls swooned over him. Every part of Paul’s body was tight where supposed to be and lean where that fit, his body like that of an ancient Olympian athlete and he obviously felt just as comfortable as they did without clothing. “I didn’t actually hear you walk in, but when I got out of the shower, I figured you should be here and thought I may have heard the T.V. So I decided, why the hell not look for her, I mean, no harm right babe?” Paul said as he made his way around the couch and took a seat next to Kourtney. Still only with a towel covering him Paul got situated next to his girl, and then he look his free arm and put it around her. As if by instinct, or rote, Kourt immediately nuzzled into Paul’s masculine shoulder, careful not to lean too hard or pull her face on his bare skin since doing so certainly meant her make-up smearing and getting on her boyfriend perfectly masculine body.

“God Paul, sometimes I forget how strong you really are,” Kourt said as she used her hand to grasp Paul’s bare arm and squeeze, feeling his muscles and realizing the power of the man she currently lay upon. Kourt grew rather bothered, as her mind slowly came back to reality. Ever since she walked in, every action just occurred, without Kourtney’s control or influence she just – did. Opened his door, walked in his house, lay on his couch – cuddled close into him, squeezed his arm, played the needy, weak girlfriend she fit the prefect role of. As her mind slowly grew more aware Kourt wanted to scream, but she faltered. No matter how hard she tried, she failed to make herself act – all of her actions happened without her mind, and her mind tried without alterations to her actions, but the two seemed fully separate.

“K,” Paul stretched both of his hands up into the air, leaning back, no grip on his towel – not that he cared, “Want to go up to my room?”

Kourt sat up from Paul’s shoulder, remembering to lift slowly as to not smudge her face, “Uh, can’t we just stay here hun, it’s like super comfy.” For once her mind fought it’s way to the forefront and she didn’t just act, a small victory but her mind won nevertheless.

“Naw, my bed is a fuck load better then this,” Paul said, his hands readjusting the towel he wore “You should know that babe.” Paul turned to Kourt, gazing into her eyes and lifting his hand to her face. He brushed her blond bangs behind her ear. Then he grabbed her pony tail and pulled her in forcefully, once she was close, he kissed her deeply.

Kourtney silently protested. Screaming, she knew since the mockingly sincere action of brushing her bangs back, Paul made up his mind. His question played in Kourtney’s mind – though now it seemed much more a demand.

Paul broke the kiss and stood up, nimbly holding his towel to his waist, then began to walk down the hall, back to the spiral stairs that lead to the second floor, that lead to his room. As Paul made disappeared out of the entertainment room Kourt stood up from the couch she so much adored. She knew if Paul waited on her for any amount of time, she would have to suffer repercussions. With this in mind Kourt stretched and jogged down the hall, attempting to keep up with her half naked boyfriend. Paul rounded the top of the stairs and yelled to Kourt, “Come on babe, I’m waiting.” Kourt ran up the stairs, her mind racing, and losing – terribly.

Submitted By: Chuck S

Favorite Comment: Fixer PIku says, “It’s OK if it sets the toilet roll on fire, that’ll eventually burn down enough that the charger falls out the socket, disconnecting the electricity. Then the bits of flaming toilet paper and towel will fall harmlessly onto the floor. Where upon they’ll set the other towels alight, but since it’s a bathroom covered in tiles there won’t be much else to burn and it’ll all go out after a few hours. If you left the light on so the extractor fan worked, it’d prevent all that messy fire-alarm business which can be so inconvenient. Then you just wait until the maid brings more towels, hopefully before your batteries run out.”

I drew a wet dude in my sketchbook.