I had the chance to go on an escapade to my hometown together with my college classmates / barkada last December 28-30. Though to be exact, it�s like they dragged me to their planned escapade so I can be their host or something lol. Being the willing victim that I was, I had no complaints~! It�s been more than a year since we�ve had this get-together (well they had previous outings / team-building activities but I always end up not joining >_>;), so it was something I really looked forward to, not to mention it�s a chance for me to go back to my ojousama lifestyle where I simply sit and the meals get magically served onto my plate!

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I wish I could say “I’m confident I’m gonna pass JLPT1!!!11!!!”, but I’m afraid I can’t. I wish I could say “I did my best, but I guess my best wasn’t good enough~”, get over the exam and just try my luck next year, but I can’t either. Because if there’s something I realized as I was taking the exam, it’s that I can pass, right this year!!!! Then what the hell’s the problem, you ask?

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After more than a month, I finally caught a glimpse of ToshoSen author Hiro Arikawa�s interview in NHK�s Top Runner (this is actually the 3rd rerun already, the 1st and 2nd of which was way back September), thanks to the power of live Japanese TV streaming! Rawr! But one thing I realized after watching this is that my listening skill is still sucky, in the �I�m still likely to fail the JLPT1 listening section� sense. I don�t think I even got 50% of what they said >.> But since no one has bothered ripping this particular Top Runner episode (and I don�t think I�ve seen a detailed �report� about it in Japanese blogs either), I�m pretty much left with no choice but to rely on the measly �notes� I gathered as I was watching T__T;

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The lengthy Singapore Trip narrative continued! Also, it was not until later in Day 2 that I also regretted not contacting Stripey-nii for a meet-up� totally slipped my mind x__x;

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random picture taken inside the taxi

Finished up more tasks at work to finally wrap up our current project, and so I wasn�t able to take a �blogging break� at work Anyways, a few days has elapsed since I came back from my trip to Singapore, but the memories is still fresh in my mind. It was wonderful, having to meet some of the SG bloggers, on top of discovering �connections� or how small the world is (further reinforcing the �six degrees separation� theory), though bringing home the 7kg worth of omiyages I bought for my family (to give to 6 families, as well as my officemates) was exasperating. Almost 3/5 of my pocket money was spent on those omiyages ;__;

Anyways, I shall give a lengthy narrative of what has transpired throughout my 4-day stay in Singapore. So beware, this is gonna be really tl;dr. I decided to chop this post into two because it turned really really long.

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I somewhat had the motivation to translate this fun little interview of the Seiyuu cast (and later on, director Sayama herself), though I got tired not long after and just summarized some of the parts orz. I even asked help from my sensei for this because I fail a lot, even he said this is complicated o.O I know this translation is not really accurate, but alas, I don�t think anyone else has bothered translating this, so you�ve got no choice haha. If anyone of you knows if there�s a Chinese translation available for this, do tell� that�ll help enlighten me.

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This post is brought to you by GomPlayer, a wonderful media player, which is sadly, very much underrated kinda like Opera.

I’m not sure if we’re all aware of the hidden comments that reside in subtitles, because they’re not really meant for us leechers public viewers. They’re primarily useful for the fansub translators, QC people, etc –- aka the staff, for clarifying translation nuances, adding side-comments, etc. The moment they get encoded into the video, it’s supposed to be not rendered by the players. Or so people thought.

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I’m not sure how effective this little ad promotion can be, considering that I am neither a Singaporean nor an aspiring artist, but since there’s no harm in getting this word spread, why not, right?

As you can see in this vividly colourful poster here, NUS Comics and Animation Society is currently holding a manga art competition, eligible for all Singaporeans (sorry fellow countrymen). The prizes has yet to be disclosed, but is said to be pretty attractive. So if you hail from the land of SG and have l33t art skillz to show off, go and join!! You’ve got nothing to lose, and almost everything to gain by joining this competition, so what are you waiting for?!

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This news got past my TS radar, and was brought to my attention by fellow Toshokan Sensou evangelist fan haya5hi of Akiba-Station. Basically, Toshokan Sensou bags the stellar ?? (Seiun) award in the recently concluded Japan SF (sci-fi) convention Daicon7, an award whose awesomeness I won’t be able to fathom had I not read haya5hi’s post about it being a semi-illiterate and all lol. Congratulations to ToshoSen and of course, its author Hiro Arikawa, for bringing us this wonderful novel. I promise, I’ll get to reading ALL of it after I finish studying for JLPT1 also because I’m currently sidetracked with reading the Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu novels >.>

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While I’m still in a Toshokan Sensou novel reading slump mode, it looks like a group of enthusiastic TS fans finally decided to join forces and translate the awesome novels for other fans and cynics to see. Thanks to AniSuki member Kakulukiam for the heads up, otherwise I wouldn’t have known about this project which started out a month ago. Now you guys can read it and see the true Library War for yourself~ :3

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