249. to the stars

Last week was pretty hectic because I was trying to juggle school, friends and going to shows. On Thursday I ran off right after class to go to lynch.'s show in Yokohama (I will write that in another entry), Friday was Nan's birthday and we went to celebrate with her boyfriend and son after class. Also, I had a test on Friday so I had to study everything in advance and because my memory is so bad, I have to study multiple times. Saturday was my only free day but I had so many chores and study for my kanji test on Monday, it didn't feel like I could relax.

So on Sunday night, I made my way down to Hachioji for Crystal Lake's The Sign tour. Sunday's line up was pretty good with Backdate November, NUMB and Swanky Dank opening up for CL. I met a couple of people before getting into the venue and since it was sold out, it was so packed I couldn't get in. I was stuck at the entrance but lucky me, I bumped into some more people there.

I missed the first half of Backdate November's set because of that. I wanted to see them since I saw them in April and thought they were pretty good. NUMB's set was good and it was fun with people moshing and crowdsurfing. I really liked their last song, T.H.C. = Tokyo Hardcore.

I managed to talk to Senta (vocals) before the show, we were both stuck in the elevator, haha. People seem to be more understanding towards me now because I'm still studying Japanese but a lot people have told me that I've improved since the first time they've met me. I really appreciate when people correct me straight up when I make a mistake because that way I learn faster.

After NUMB was Swanky Dank, I'm not a fan of their music but their set was fun as well. If I liked pop-punk, I would have enjoyed their set I think. Their songs seem fun to mosh and sing along to. Their crowd was pretty good as well, probably because they attract a younger (more energetic) audience. Man, I'm old.

I always forget to take photos at shows. I got so used to not taking photos because normally at lynch. or any other show, you can't but for small shows like this you can. I wish I took more photos. The main act was up next, and they played about close to 9pm opening with Astra and then Prometheus. Their setlist tonight was mostly new songs with their hits from CUBES EP but I'm glad they played Overcome! As usual, they delivered but not the best I have seen of them. I hope their tour final will be better.

Highlight of their set for me was them playing Dreamcatcher, it's my favourite song off their new album. I was pretty bummed they didn't play their cover of Beastie Boys' Body Movin'. 

It was really hot in the venue, so hot to the point the band started giving out water to the crowd. For some reason, it was really humid and it felt as if summer is still here. =__= They closed to The Fire Inside. Ryo's english has improved a lot as well since the first time I met him. I hung around the venue after the show ended for a little while. As always, it was nice seeing familiar faces again. Obviously a very atmosphere compared to when I go to see lynch. 

I enjoyed their show and can't wait to see them play with In Hearts Wake in December, more excited about In Hearts Wake actually. I don't know if I'm being biased because they're Australian, haha. Australia's concert atmosphere is still the best to me. I'm still missing Australia, I really want to go back for a while but it seems kind of impossible. Doesn't help that there's a new student in my class is Australian as well, everytime I talk to him, it makes me miss Melbourne even more.

248. apt. three-zero-two

My classes have began once again but my school has moved to Iidabashi. Everyone is pretty bummed we're not in Shibuya anymore but I try to think on the bright side and maybe being in Iidabashi will give me a chance to miss Shibuya and Harajuku. Also, even though today is a public holiday and my initial plans were to visit Mount Takao, I've caught a cold so I'll just stay home.

I finally finished (almost) decorating my apartment, there's still a few things to buy like a clock and mirror but I'm happy with how it is now.  

My living room is where I paint and study mostly. I always need to have the walls filled so I feel more at home. I bought a small shelf a couple of months ago and fixed it, it can be moved around easily since there's wheels attached to it. Basically, I dump all my art materials there. Marceline, My Vampire Queen guards my shelf, haha. I got lucky at the UFO Catcher last month and got her! 

I'm actually still looking for a couple of things to put up but I'm taking my time because there's no rush. I'm still looking for a nice clock, bird cage, some hanging lights and maybe buy a plant or two to sit next to my kitchen window. 

My bedroom is actually the most bare since I hardly spend time in there except for when I'm sleeping. Initially, I put up a ton of lynch. posters but took it all down. I didn't feel like it was very me anymore, I still love them but not as much or should I say crazy. Their new album proved me wrong though, I said I had my doubts but their new album is really good and I like that they're experimenting more now. It's refreshing to hear Hazuki sing differently on some tracks. Also, I hope AK does compose more songs with heavy bass lines in future. INVADER has so much tension in such a short song. 

This time, I have a balcony as well so I get to watch the sunrise sometimes. There are two cats with a litter of kittens living downstairs and I get to see them quite often, it makes me happy to come home and see little kittens running around. I will probably add some more stuff to my apartment since I have become addicted to furniture shopping. 

I can't believe it's autumn already. I'm happy though but I think back to last autumn and so much has changed. I don't know why people think summer is romantic, isn't autumn more romantic? In summer you have freakin' mosquitoes! How is that romantic? In Autumn you can snuggle with your boyfriend without feeling sweaty or gross. I still hate summer.

I also hate that I'm sick for probably the forth time this year. I don't get sick often so I'm annoyed I got sick so much this year, I guess all the stress is getting to me. This week looks like I'm going to be really busy. I'll be going to see lynch. and Crystal Lake and in between those shows, I have two tests. Joy. 

Speaking of those bands, I'm really happy both of their new albums are so good. I seriously thought lynch.'s new album wouldn't be that good but they still never fail to disappoint me. Emotionally, I really love FALLEN and MELANCHOLIC but GHOST, INVADER and MOON are really goood. Normally I don't really like so many tracks on their album. So I'm excited to see them play new songs.

I miss staying up and just painting. Recently, I have been missing Melbourne a lot. I wish I can go back just for a week or two. Things have been really nice lately, apart from being sick. There are a couple of festivals next month which I'm not sure if I'll be going. I want to see A Day To Remember at Ozzfest and that's about it. I've seen them so many times in Melbourne and I swear the crowd in Australia will be way better than Japan's but I still want to see them. I've been wanting to see more foreign bands lately again, I really miss Melbourne's concert atmosphere. I just miss Melbourne in general, especially the food. Someone take me home... just for a little while.

247. n n n

I just realised, for the last couple of days I have been meeting up with friends that names start with the letter N. Nika, Nana, Nan.

On Thursday, I met up with Nana in Kichijoji. It was her last day in Tokyo and I haven't seen her for a year so I decided to meet her for dinner. It was kind of funny because she arrived in Tokyo the day I flew back to Singapore. At least we found some way to meet up. I brought her to Cafe Zenon for dinner but I was the only one eating because she had a really heavy lunch.

This was my second time at Cafe Zenon, I found it online on my way home from class one day and decided to check it out. I really love the decor for the cafe. It's actually a manga cafe but I think most people don't really go there to read manga. The cafe is kind of huge too and the prices are affordable. I like their seafood pasta but I decided to try their Vietnamese Pad Thai that day and it was pretty good.

Nana and I decided to stay at the cafe a little longer because it was raining. I got hot chocolate and Yamanaka pudding for dessert! The pudding was good. We were just catching up on our lives and I'm glad she found a job because it's more difficult for her to. She's visually handicapped (not blind), so she's working at a company for the disabled and she gives speeches now in schools which I thought really suits her personality. I have known her for a long time, 11 years. All this time my friends and I have never treated her like a disabled person because she doesn't want us to. 

We walked around Kichijoji after, and she did some last minute shopping and we just talked as we roamed around. We parted ways at close to 10pm since she still had to pack her luggage. I don't know when I will see her again but I hope she does well at her new job.

On Friday, I met up with Nan. We actually planned to go to a Ghost themed izakaya called Ghost Bar Yurei Izakaya but once we got there, we were too freaked out by the music playing outside and there was a scary doll (think The Ring) hung at the entrance, we actually went in to look and walked out again because the stairs looked creepy as well. We both chickened out. 

Okay, I'm actually really scared of horror themed anything and even movies after watching The Tale of Two Sisters, I'm easily afraid of anything related to horror except games. We thought it'll be better if we went in a big group instead, which I think will never happen.

We both didn't know where to go so we decided to walk to Inokashira Park. There's an izakaya that always have a line but surprisingly this time it didn't so we decided to try it. We were seated immediately and we ordered sashimi, dumplings, grilled pork and yakitori. The food here was really good. I'm tired of always going to that one izakaya in Shibuya, so this was a really nice change. Also, we got the view of the park.

We just talked for a good two hours and after that went to walk off the food at the park and went home. 

Both days were short outings but I really enjoyed them. I only have 3 days left of my vacation so I'm going to spend it at home. This two week vacation was really well spent, I got to see my family, go to Osaka, see lynch. and spend time with friends. 

Looks like I will be busy for the rest of the year actually. There are a couple of things that I plan to do, a ton of shows to attend, not to forget I will be busy with school work again when classes begin. But I'm looking forward to the last 3 months of 2015, especially cooler weather.

P.S. All the halloween decorations and things they are selling in stores are killingggg me. Halloween is my favourite holiday (though, it's not really a holiday).

246. the versus, lynch.

September 30th, Wednesday was lynch.'s THE VERSUS show featuring sads. I was pretty excited about this show since I haven't seen lynch. in a long time. I met Nika in Shibuya to grab lunch and we made our way to Akasaka Blitz after.

It was my first time in Akasaka but there was nothing much to do so we just waited around the venue area till it was about time to go in. To our surprise, there weren't as many people as we expected at the show. Maybe the front part of the pit was only half filled with most people standing at the back.

sads was up first and the crowd went a little crazy. I've only listened to 7 Deadly Sins album, and they didn't play much from it except for Gothic Circus. I didn't really enjoy their set honestly, I was a little bored but Hazuki came out to sing the second last song with Kiyoharu and you could tell he was happy because he loves Kuroyume.

I was surprised there were people crowdsurfing for sads's set.

sads played for over an hour and lynch. took the stage at about 8.30pm, by now I thought they would have changed their SE music but it's still GALLOWS introduction music so I was a little... bored also. I've seen them on their GALLOWS album tour probably thrice. But they opened to EXODUS, and continued with all my favourite fast songs and also did a cover of sads' song HATE.

setlist

SE - GALLOWS Opening

1. EXODUS
2. GREED
3. DEVIL 
4. HATE (sads cover)
5. INVINCIBLE
6. GUILLOTINE
7. forgiven
8. the whirl
9. MIRRORS
10. THE FATAL HOUR HAS COME
11. THE BLASTED BACK BONE
12. ALL THIS I'LL GIVE YOU
13. pulse_ 
14. GALLOWS

encore

1. ADORE (feat. Kiyoharu)
2. EVOKE

photo : barks.jp

I only headbanged to a couple of songs, I didn't really feel that into the music. The crowd for lynch. was pretty bad actually. Normally at their shows, the crowd is pretty wild and you'll feel pumped up to headbang or mosh but this crowd was pretty dead for some reason. I was waiting for people to push me and get squeezed to the front but no one was moving. 

I wanted to see them play EVOKE but they played it last and by that time, the band was already tired and Hazuki was mostly out of breath. The only highlight of the show was probably AK looking better since he let his hair grow out. He's still cute but lately, I can't unsee that he really resembles someone. My mind was somewhere else throughout the later half of their set. 

Kiyoharu also came out to sing ADORE but honestly... brutally honest, he butchered the song and I didn't enjoy it at all. Hazuki seems to be happy though, so I'll just leave it at that. 

After the show, Nika and I went to get dinner in Shibuya again and we both agreed that dinner was more fun than the actual show. 

I don't know if I'm slowly losing interest in them or maybe this show just wasn't that good. I look forward to the next time I see them because by then, they will play new songs already. Hopefully the new album will be good, I have my own doubts though. 

I still love them, but I feel myself changing direction in my music taste. Again.

245. heat haze days

I've never been so happy to be back in Japan. Even though I really did want to spend more time with my family, there was a lot of stress I had to deal with at home and also did I mention how bad the haze was when I was there? It was hard to breathe, my eyes hurt, I couldn't stop sneezing and on some days, it was so hazy that buildings nearby were hardly visible. I'm glad to be back here to fresher air, honestly.

Also because of the haze, I didn't get to do a lot of things or go to places I wanted. The air was very unhealthy, so it was not practical to be out and about. On the first night I was back, little sis and I decided to go to our favourite bar for some choya martinis since we didn't get the chance to go last time I was back in July. We headed out to Orchard after dinner, my mom cooked!

As much as I like my drinks in Japan, I still prefer choya martinis here over anything. Since alcohol in Singapore is expensive, this bar ( I forgot the name) has one for one at SGD$18 for martinis from 9pm - 2am on weekdays. It's considered cheap and reasonable for this country, also the one reason why I love this bar so much is because they serve you a (huge) complimentary bowl of peanuts and you can just throw the peanuts shells away on the ground. I enjoy doing throwing the peanut shells away like that a lot, it's strange that something so simple can make you feel more relaxed almost instantly.

We ordered some nachos with salsa as well, and had 3 martinis each. Choya, peach and midori. We wanted to drink more but the Midori martini was so strong that we both were done after having that. We spent about close to two hours there just talking. Everyone knows how close I am to my sister and she is my favourite person in the world, so everytime I get to see her (for the first day at least), we would be stuck together like glue and stay up till really late just talking. I've missed her so much.

My dad came back on Wednesday and I went out shopping with my mom on Thursday. The haze was pretty bad on Thursday. I bought a red dress and a long skirt, got my bangs cut again and just spent time with mom on Thursday. It was so nice spending time with her again, the only difference now is that I have to take extra care of her when we are out because she tires easily and needs to be held most of the time. I don't mind though, I'd rather her be next to me than at the hospital. We went for dinner with dad at a Chinese Restaurant we've been going to since I was a kid. Little sis couldn't make it because she was still at work.

On Friday, the family went for lunch at Restaurant Andre. Little sis reserved a table from more than a month ago, and even had to pay a deposit of $50. It's almost impossible to get a table at this restaurant because (according to Google) it is the best restaurant in Singapore and top 50 in the world, ranking at number 46. 

Restaurant Andre is located at Bukit Pasoh's renovated shop houses, the houses has been there since 1928. I've never been to this part of Singapore and it was really picturesque. It's rare that I take photos of Singapore's architecture. The only other place I really like taking photos is at Tiong Bahru.

The restaurant itself is really classy and intimate, with only 30 tables. This is not one of those places that pretentious people go to "show off" that they are so ~classy~, if I could rant about how annoying people are when it comes to food and how much they think they know when they really don't, this post will never end. But let me just say, I hate overly pretentious people who post photos of food on Instagram and Facebook  and write a whole fucking essay about posted picture. 

The menu is chosen for you at Restaurant Andre, it was a six course meal and my mind was blown away. His creative culinary artwork brings the taste buds to another gastronomic journey. The service was also first class with the waiters explaining to you in clear detail what they're serving you. I really liked how they add at the beginning of every course " Now, we move to France." or "Back to Japan..." Chef Andre's food is a fusion of French, Japanese and Chinese cuisine. My whole family really enjoyed the meal, especially my dad.

This was called "snacking", the balls are made of duck meat.

my least favourite dish because the centre was made of celery (I hate celery)

baby eel broth with chicken skin.

my favourite one, I really liked the idea for this dish because t

he inspiration came from the New York Bagel.

it is bagel puree with salmon, seaweed and cream cheese on the side.

I was so bummed I'm allergic to prawns because the sauce for this dish was Prawn Noodle broth 

(a very famous Singaporean Hawker food dish I used to love to eat before getting allergic to prawns)

dessert, the inspiration for this was autumn.

speculoos, cream cheese ice sorbet, orange and honey comb.

My dad was really impressed with the food, I really enjoyed the experience. It was refreshing for all of us to go to somewhere new, instead of the usual restaurants we always go to. After lunch, we went to Orchard to catch Hotel Transylvania 2 because my mom loves it. I was kind of bored throughout the movie, and actually fell asleep. After the movie, we went for dinner and then went home.

I stayed home on Saturday and on Sunday, went out again with little sis to do some last minute shopping for souvenirs and stock up on some of my own stuff. We went to Benjamin Brown Bistro and Bakery at Forum for dinner just because I wanted to try the milkshake. 

 I got the tim tam milkshake, the milkshake was mocha flavoured. I should have gotten the "Old School" milkshake because it had cotton candy! Even though all the milkshakes look really pretty in photos, it's actually not very practical to drink or eat it? It was hard removing the tim tams from the whip cream and no matter what you do, you'll just make a mess. I would only recommend to go here if you really want an Instagram worthy photo, haha.

Little sis left for work after dinner and I took a bus back home and did some packing. On Monday, mom cooked dinner again because she knows how much I love her cooking. I left home for the airport at close to 8pm. It was hard saying goodbye to my mom again because she was crying. Hopefully, she recovers faster so she can come visit me in Japan.

I have no plans on going back to Singapore anytime soon. My sister is planning her trip here next year so I can't wait till she comes. I'm already back in Japan and life here is completely different. I love my life in Japan, I just hope that some people can see that and stop asking me when I'm going to come back to Singapore again.