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Arancia
24 April 2009 @ 09:08 pm
Well. I think I'm finally just gonna switch to my other account. So that's where I'll be.

[info]pafiume 
 
 
Arancia
13 April 2009 @ 04:38 pm
Russiaaaaaa~

I had a looot of fun. :D Saw some amazing dancing, slept through some other amazing dancing, saw some amazing places, avoided eating some interesting food... It was all very nice.

The plane ride was nice. The first one was ten hours, but they had little personal TVs with recent movies and not so recent episodes of television shows. The best part of that was that there was an episode of 30 Rock that I watched a clip of the night or so before I left, but since the actual episode wasn't online I couldn't watch it. And that was the episode on the plane! There were also lots of different radio stations (two for japanese music) and some music video shows for different types of music (I could only stand like half of the japanese one).

After the around 20 hours of airport related matters, we finally got to St. Petersburg and obviously went straight to the hotel. It was a really nice hotel, but the problem, like a bit of Russia, was that it wasn't non-smoking. It was pretty much the opposite, and the lobby smelled sooo bad. Sometimes I enjoy cigarette smoke, but this was too much.

Got to room. It was tiny. The light switches were really odd too. There were two switches in the room that controlled the electricity (not just the lights), and two other switches, one for room lights and another for bathroom lights. But most of the lights in the room had individual switches to them anyway, and me and my roomate had them turned out. I could never remember which switch was which, or that the bathroom one wasn't actually in the bathroom.

Also, a little bad thing about the room. All of the electric outlets were made in little 3/4" thick circles in the wall. So, since one of the convertors I brought didn't fit into the circle I couldn't use it. Luckily the second one I had was tiny, and it fit.

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There were a few other groups who came to the festival. First of all, the largest group, next to us, was Bossov Ballet. They were really good. Long skinny dancers with lots of strength. Didn't talk to them a whole lot, but one of the girls was really nice~ Don't remember where they were from, but I think it was Maine.

Then there were two girls from Moscow. Last time, when one of my friends went and was the only person from our studio, she met them and supposedly made friends. They didn't speak much/any english, though, so I'm surprised she could. It's not like she speaks Russian. They were really good too.

Then there was another pair of girls, this time from Canada. They were okay, not sure if I'd say they were as good as those other people. I never really talked to them. Seemed kind of stuck up, but most dancers do.

Then there were two Italian ladies. They were pretty old, and not very good, but they took class with us, and, surprisingly, performed too.

Finally, there was some other woman who I didn't learn anything about, and a Polish boy. I thought he was kind of cute the first time I saw him, but as time went on he really wasn't very. Pretty tall though. Spoke english fluently, I assume, or at least enough to hold a conversation, but I don't know if he was from America. He was very flexible, but he looked like he had no idea what he was doing dancing. He was tripping trying to figure out what his feet should be doing, constantly ending up on the wrong foot... I don't know if he has a problem or something, but.. He surprised me at the gala reception on saturday when he was talking about dance and sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Until the last days, when the Canadians abducted him, he was pretty much a loner. He even went around Russia himself instead of staying with the group.

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Dancing was okay. The floor suuuuucked in the studio we used. First of all, the room was circular, and the bar went in a semicircle on the wall. It was cool, but it kind of confused me. And the floor sucked because the floorboards were all curved and uneven. Then, there wasn't a mirror in the room, so I felt kind of awkward.

There was another studio, and I heard it was a lot better, but it was for the lower class... I almost went, but that day we had the second teacher, and the next (also final) dayI wanted to have him again. Still, I did okay in the classes. The second teacher really seemed to like me.


The scariest thing happened to me, though. Through the first class, the Bossov teacher was watching and translating the Russian teacher's corrections. He was kind of scary, and I ended up right in front of him during center, so I was really afraid! Hahaha. Then, after class he calls me over. I was surprised he knew my name, first of all, but then he asks me if I'll be in the dance for his school in addition to the two for mine! And I said yes.

He taught me the steps quickly (I was still afraid, so I tried really hard to pick everything up really fast!), and by the end of the first rehearsal I knew all of it. Not that it was very long. I probably learned that much in regular rehearsals at home, he just knew what he wanted in advance and I was bothering to pick it up quickly.

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At Mariinsky theater we saw La Bayadere. I don't remember why, but I was sooo tired when we saw this, so I was drifting in and out of sleep. What I saw looked good. I got a nice shirt from the theater too.

I saw my friend Erica from summer here! I was so surprised we were at the same show, but it's not that surprising, I guess. A big theater like the Mariinsky. It was nice to see her.

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We went several places on field trips. The church of spilled blood, another church I forget the name of, the Hermitage museum, and Catherine's Palace. The churches were amazing. They had incredible mosaics lining every inch of the wall. I liked the palaces better, though. I want to live in the Hermitage. It's amazing. Even Catherine's Palace was nice. Really nice. I took loads of pictures at both of those. Not the churches, though, don't think I had my camera.

Then, after some of the excursions, we could go to nearby bazaars. There was soooo much nice stuff. The eggs were great. I didn't get any, but some of my friends did. Practically every stand had loads of Matryoshka dolls. Traditional ones, and then other types like celebrities, and cartoon characters. I got a nice 10 piece one that blue/white for my mom.

Other stuff I got from bazaar:
Mug for my dad
Snow globe for my little brother
A black/white checkered scarf
A really nice painting (on canvas!)

I didn't really haggle for stuff myself, most of my prices were fine.

Saturday I went with my group (which was just my friend and her parents) to buy the painting I wanted (because I didn't have time to buy it the first time I saw it, and I didn't have money anyway). I had my friend's dad get it down. I had to pay around $100 for it... Anyway, we rode the metro that day. They had really long, fast escalators to get down.

Before we got to the bazaar, we went to a book store to buy CDs. By accident, I found the Russian manga selection. Not much, but I picked up volume 1 or Battle Royale. I didn't realize how violant it is until i started flipping through it. Kind of regret buying it. XD But it's just five dollars, and it's cool.

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Pretty sure there's more, but I forget what. I'm tired and want to go watch The Office.

I remember on the first few days of being there, I thought that it was really weird and scary and dirty, and I could never live there. But as I stayed longer it got a lot nicer. I loved how pretty every building was. Some had really nice statues, or just ornate decorations. And they all had weird alleys leading into the center of the building. Like, each building was built like the outline of a square, and then cars could go in the middle.

It was really nice there. Maybe someday I can visit just on vacation and check out more. I ended up getting over 500 pictures. :)





Also. I've decided I need to live in a grand palace. Yes.
 
 
Arancia
04 April 2009 @ 06:32 pm
So. Tomorrow's the day~ I'm heading off to Russia for a week. So cool~~

I just got home from Barnes and Nobles, cause I thought it'd be good to get a book to read on the plane, when I get bored, whenever. My choice books weren't in. The choice books being The Ring and Parasite Eve. The guy said he could order them, but I'm leaving tomorrow, so there's really no point~ So I went to my backup, which was Christopher  Moore. The two books of his I've read I really enjoyed, so I bought another one that I'd wanted for a while. "Island of the Sequined Love Nun."

Then I found my dad in the magazine section, which prompted me to ask if I could get a magazine. I picked up Yen+, just to see how it was. I haven't bothered reading any of it yet, but I already know it's weird. Half of it goes left to right, and half goes right to left, and the next volume previews are in the middle... They have like twelve different series in it, though. I think the most they ever had in Shonen Jump was like, ten. But it isn't as thick as SJ used to be, which was one of my favorite things about it. :/ Also, they forgot to put pages explaining characters and plot summaries at least twice. And I don't remember

But um. Nabari no Ou is in it, which I tried to watch a few weeks ago. And Soul Eater is in it. And something by the lady who did Drama Con, that isn't Drama Con.

And. What is the deal with American book series' being turned into manga? Maximum Ride is in this Yen+ thing, Cirque du Freak is advertised in this, one of Meg Cabot's books got either turned into a manga or got a sequel in manga form. :/ I don't get it.

There's also an advertisement for Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya being translated. It looks like they're gonna give it an ugly cover in one ad, but then in another it's just an english version of the original. I hope they don't use the dumb one...

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I guess my choices in CDs sucks. I finally got around to listening to some of the songs on Morning Musume's "Cover You" album. I figured it was just a cover album, so it wouldn't be very good, but there are actually some songs that I liked! So, I was all set to go buy it if my dad said yes, and I go on iTunes to find it, but.. It's the only album that they don't have up. They even have their newest album up already!

The worse part is that the album is up on iTunes Japan. I tried buying something from there earlier this week, because it was the same situation, but it doesn't want to let me use the different country. So I just have to wait and hope it gets up. :/

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I've noticed my dreams are getting a lot closer connected to my daily life. @_@ Like, on Tuesday, I had to skip tap because my dad had a gig and nobody could pick me up. So that night, I had a dream about being late to tap (and some scary man tried to molest me in the class, but that's another story). And last night I had a dream that was kind of about stuff that happened yesterday. I already kind of forget, though...

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Anyway. Russia. For a week. Bye~

 
 
Current Music: Morning Musume album - Cover You
 
 
Arancia
31 March 2009 @ 06:49 pm
Tomorrrrooooowwww is April Fools day~! I'm sure in about twenty minutes there'll be a writer's block about it and my plans on it, but I'll just get ahead of that!

So far I only have two things planned. I told a few people, including the desk lady at dance so that she can help with it, that we're all going to be "sick" tomorrow for 12:30 class, and then sneak into the room after the teacher thinks no one is coming. :) It's kind of dumb, and will probably be badly executed, and I forgot to tell a few people, but that's okay.

Second thing, I made a CD with the song for one of the Russia dances. Because tomorrow we have an unusual week day Russia rehearsal. So, about a minute into the song it stops and goes into another song. Um, it's like, "Jitterbug," or something? I'm really excited about that one. :D And pretty much everyone but the teacher is in on that one, so we should be good. Hopefully she wont be too pissed, she's been on our case about professionalism and other stuff like that. So this is probably a step in the wrong direction, but, ya know, "it only comes once a year."

Haha. I remember last year, during the later class, we stole the remote and in the middle of class we'd stop the track, or hit some random button. The teacher didn't know what was going on all the way through class. :) We had to stop a while through, though, because she threatened to switch rooms if it kept going on. It was really good though.

Alsoooo, April means my birthday is soon! Yay~! I need to make a list. So far, I have Crono Trigger and Phantom Brave for Wii (preorder) for video games, and the Ring trilogy and Parasite Eve for books. I don't actually know much else that I want, besides maybe money, or a trip to the Uwajimaya in Seattle to buy CDs/manga. Mmhm.
 
 
Arancia
30 March 2009 @ 01:03 am
I'm so sad the Disgaea portables are going to PSP first. It makes sense, but I don't have a PSP. XD I actually own the PSP version, although I can't use it. I only have my DS, which from the videos I've seen on youtube turned Disgaea into crap. So the second one wont be much better... But it looks like it'll be pretty sweet with all the new stuff they're putting on it.

AND PERSONA IS COMING TO PSP. ASDLAHROIAJSDIOAHD. THAT'S WHAT I WANTED TO SAY. I'd totally forgotten. BUT YEAH. Fuck, I wanna play any of the Persona games. Or any of the Megami Tensei games. Wish it wasn't come to PSP. ://// Stupid brother and his not letting me use his PSP.

Speaking of new stuff, the thing I really like about the PS3 is that it makes it possible for new plots in Disgaea 3. Along with downloadable characters.. that are really cool... Not that I can get any of this stuff right now. But, I mean, Raspberyl plot? Sweet! Switching outfits? Super sweet! I never even thought of that...

My brother seems to be discovering technology. I'm not especially happy about it, because he's in fourth grade, but I can't stop it~ The better he figures it out the.. better.. I guess. But he was trying to hook his music player (some generic one with spongebob on it) into the PS3 just because he now knows what a USB port looks like. I was like, "Um, no.." I mean, dear god, if I lose all my Disgaea 3 data because he does something dumb again I'm going to be pissed.

I played the original Disgaea today. It's been a while. A looong while, I guess, because somehow a few of my characters are level 9999 already. So I got a little bit through the plot, got some cool unlockable charas, and defeated Baal for the first time in any of the three games. :) Oh, and I got to see all the Tera spells, finally. It all made me really nostolgic. And I realized that the english voice actors are actually pretty corny. But the main three characters still sound awesome. I miss that story.

Played Soul Nomad after Disgaea. I FINALLY am starting to get the game. I figured out how to choose the level of new characters, so they don't all start out level 1. I still don't get how to level up outside of battles, though. Those training rooms suck. Now, if only I can figure out how to frighten the people of the world, and get more gig edicts...

Also, Phantom Brave is coming to Wii! I'm so pumped. First of all, it'll be revamped (I'm assuming) to not look so inferior to their newer games, and also will have new plot! Second of all.. I'll finally have a game to play on the Wii!! I'm really excited for the different type of battle, doing it without the grid. I've been watching youtube videos. Looks cool~! The pre-order is going to be first thing on my birthday list.

I'm so glad that like, probably nobody on my friendlist pays special attention to NIS stuff. XD Nippon Ichi and Atlus are my major video game loves lately...

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Pretty sure that in exactly a week I'll be on a plane to Russia. I'm excited for that~ I'm rooming with my friend, luckily, which is kind of odd cause she's a girl. But it worked out, so I'm not complaining. Not sure what else to say about that.

Счастливого пути

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Oh, needless to say, I got no homework done today. I'm several weeks behind in several classes, I think. BAHHHH.

Watched Paprika last night, though!

 
 
 
 

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