The One About Inori

I was browsing through Eunice’s website one day and clicked on the link to Playasia.com.

I’ve been coveting for the game “Wanda to Kyozou” (Shadow of the Colossus) ever since I heard about it. This game is from the makers of ICO, which I loved so much.

As this game is pretty old, the game shops around do not stock it anymore. They did have a couple of 2nd hand ones which cost almost the same price as a brand new one on Playasia. So I decided to just buy a brand new one.

And along tagged and .

Cooking mama has been a hit amongst my friends who have NDS and I have always been the slow one (Heck, Cooking Mama 2 is already out!). I’ve played a few games on Cooking Mama already and I can see where it got its popularity from! (I think I’m going to be hooked…. and be very very hungry and have weird cravings…. poor Nad…….)

The other Anpanman game is great for learning Japanese. (Or so Eunice says.. ) Well since I already know basic Japanese, this game would be great for Sunshine next time. (And also for myself to brush up…. )

I’ve already played a little of Wanda to Kyozou and since this game is narrated in a fictional language (which, by the way, sounds very creepy) and is subtitled in !!!!!JAPANESE!!!!!!! I have printed for myself a small translated guide (NOT A WALKTHROUGH!!!) to help me at least understand WTH they are babbling on about.

All in all, Playasia.com has a very comprehensive and user friendly website. Shipping is fast and it even comes with shipment tracking. All you need to do is to log into your account and check the status of your parcel. My package actually went through Singapore. Hehehehe. One of the best feature is that they accept Paypal payments! It’s great because not everyone owns or wants to own a credit card you know?

I’ve written them a positive feedback and will definitely be returning to their store should I feel any urge to buy more games. Which is a rare urge, thank God. We can’t feed both yarn and game cravings at the same time, can we?

Now the dilemma… to play or to knit???? Hmmmmm?

I’ve been tagged by Librarylass for this Meme… I’ve also been tagged by a Sash and Lisa but I will get to their memes later. Since they haven’t done MINE meme which I tagged so long ago. Hrrummmpphh!

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

1. Tagged by Librarylass, my mentor in spinning.
2. See above paragraph.

3.1: I have an OCD that is I cannot stand seeing crumpled paper/ used tissues/ anything that looks like it’s about to be tossed into a bin sitting on tables. I will have the urge to just toss it out there and then. Imagine this: Nad blowing his nose while using the computer. Leaves tissue lying around. I come in, sweep them all into the bin. Repeat many many many times.

3.2: Another quirk is that I’m very anal about reading novels. If I start reading one, I HAVE to finish it. No matter how boring it is, as long as I understand what the novel is saying. I said the last bit because there is no way I can understand fantasy books such as Tolkien’s. I am not fond of Harry Potter too so those are pretty much the only books I started but didn’t finish. Other than that, I’ve sit through countless mindless love stories or predictable stupid mystery books. So I choose my books VERY VERY VERY carefully.

3.3: I love shitting. OHHH the satisfaction… I just did one, akshully.

3.4: I have another mild OCD which is if I tap my finger on the right hand 2 times, my left hand has to do the same. If I tapped 3 times, the left has to do so too. It doesn’t happen very often, thank God.

3.5: As a kid, I used to step EITHER on the lines in the concrete or avoid the lines altogether. I will race my sister to “Whoever steps on the cracks or grouts will lose.” When at home, I avoid stepping on the grouts altogether and will only step on the tiles. I’ve outgrown that now. (Ok ok.. only occasionally when I’m in the mood, ok?)

3.6: I will not allow myself to have more than 5 WIPs at any one time. It usually goes like this: 1 to 2 baby jackets/ sweaters, 1 small portable project to bring to work (such as socks/ scarves), 1 intricate lace to work at bed time and 1 adult sized jacket/ sweaters. Hibernating ones (not touched for more than 3 months/ not planned to finish for a long time) do not count. I will panic if I have more than these 5 on hand. It somehow makes me think that I’m relinquishing control over my knitting life. However, I do allow myself to have the occasional small project that only takes up a couple of days at most to complete to slip into the WIP party. Such as the latest Pixie hat for Sunshine.

4.

- Peewee

- Sasha

- Lisa

- Salihan

- Coffeejelly

- I’ve run out of people to tag.

5. Lalalalala.

Yep… we’ve given it a lot of thought. That $20k is a huge sum of money to pay for my first year in Animal Sc. Here is the gist of my study plans:
I initially wanted to enroll into Animal Science for my first year in Uni and then transfer to Vet Science (well, if I worked hard enough) for another 5 years of study (Total 6 years). But because I will only receive my residency status next May, I have to fork out $10k for my first semester in Animal Sc. What makes things worse is, I may have to fork out another $10k for the 2nd semester should the residency status not come through in time. So that would $20k as I’m not yet recognised as a ‘domestic student’.
I’ve thought over this and as much as I would reeeally like to get a move on with my life (academically), $20k is a lot to spend on something I can get at a much more affordable price if I were to wait for 1 more year. It is just not fair to the person I have to borrow the money from, not fair for my family who can use this money for other life’s essentials.

It’s a hard decision for me to make because I’ve been wanting to go back to school for like ever. But I know it’s for the best.

Meanwhile, we will be executing plan ‘B’. Buahahhahahaha.

Sunshine will be turning one in about 3 weeks time. Time surely flies. One moment she is in my tummy doing acrobatic stunts and another moment she is out of my tummy, still doing acrobatic stunts. *Shrugs*.

She is teh kool!

The sunlight coming through my window can have such an angelic effect on her photos.

To date, Sunshine has:

- No teeth although I suspect she will cut 4 teeth at the same time. Because she has 4 white ’squares’ visible under the gums. Not sprouted yet though. She is also starting to drool a little.

- Since 9 months old, when we ask her, “Where are your toes?”, she would point to her toes.

- Then she learned where her ears are.

- Around the same month, she learned to wave. But her waving looks more like a beckoning gesture. I.e, waving upside down.

- She’s recently learned the word ‘ball’ and would crawl off to find her ball, retrieve it and throw it to us when we ask her to. (We are very tempted to call this ‘fetch’ but we won’t.)

- “Clap” is one of her favourite actions now. She learned this just a week ago.

- She also shakes her head ‘no’ and nods her head ‘yes’. However, the head movements are usually quite violent so she sometimes loses her balance while doing either movement. This morning, she shook her head and fell off the bed. I caught her in mid air. She got a shock though so she cried for a little while.

- She can shuffle a couple of steps without support but prefers to crawl as it is faster. She will hold on to furniture to crab sideways.

- She loves food. We usually give her fruits such as apples, bananas, oranges, blueberries, avocados, kiwis etc… Dinner comprises of mostly fish, chicken, potato, veges such as broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. We also give her sweet potatoes. She occasionally takes wholemeal bread. Her main diet is still formula milk though. We should start giving her more food now.

She loves her showers and baths. As it’s still winter now, she bathes or showers only once in 2 or 3 days depending on how smelly she is. (Don’t worry, we still wash her buttocks at least 3 times a day!)

“Huh?”

She’s rather sticky to us but has improved quite a bit. She used to not want to play alone but now she compromises by playing with her toys for a a couple of hours before whining for cuddles. She waves at strangers and smiles at them but if we were to pass her to them, she would scream. :S

It really is very hard to imagine how tiny she used to be! Soon she will be walking and running around, babbling non stop.

Then she’ll soon be a teenager.

AaaaaaaaagggghhhhHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you like this little update about her. Especially for her Grannies and Grandpas and auntie lulu far away. And for Sash-quatch who is also very far away from us now. (And I blame her for the fall of the KFAGs.)

Nad wants socks for his birthday. Okay, I offered to knit socks for Nad’s birthday. (He’s hovering behind me and saying that “You don’t want your post to be lying, right?”)

And he initially wanted a stupid green, orange, red, purple, yellow vomit colour. I was rather disgusted. Then I asked him if the theme ‘SUNSET’ would be better and he agreed.

So off I went to dye some wool!!!

First I strung 2 skeins of Hot Socks (I bought this sock weight yarn when I was in Singapore last December and haven’t got any chance to use it yet) around two chairs about 6 to 7 meters apart. Then I soaked them overnight in vinegar.

This is my work space – out beside my carport because there isn’t any space in my teeny little house.

From left to right: 3 huge syringes I recycled from work, pot with 2 skeins of yarn soaking in vinegar, separated with a plastic cover, 3 glass bottles of acid dye and a roll of toilet paper to soak up any splatters. I was also wearing rubber gloves.

Both skeins laid out on the floor. (Bad move I tell you and I will tell you why later.)

Orange coloured in.

The red and a little bit of purple coloured in.

All coloured in!

I wrapped the yarn up in cling wrap to prevent the colours from running. Put them in a pot and popped it on the stove on low heat.

When I was sure that the colours were fast, I took the skeins out to wash in the sink. I added some wool wash to it. If you haven’t noticed by now, that is a tangled mess.

And this, is what I wish to tell you. To be careful not to tangle your yarn. Especially if you string it 6 or 7 meters apart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARGHHH. It took me 4 days to untangle both skeins. I didn’t take any pictures of it because I was too devastated. 4 days.. I didn’t knit for 4 days. All because I was busy untangling yarn.

Anyway, here’s the yarn (finally) in a skein:

I’ve named the colourway “Hurry Sundown” after one of our favourite country songs by McBride and The Ride (and incidentally, the song I think of most whenever I’m at work…..). Yes I know, we are country bumpkins. (We hate the music that plays over the radio these days.)

Anyway, Nad says that socks that stripe horizontally (which is how most socks stripe anyway), are not ‘natural’ looking. He wants socks that stripe VERTICALLY. So I’ve started on the one and only vertical striped sock pattern available, Sidewinders, and am a few rows into it now.

And he is complaining that it’s not long enough and blah blah blah.

This is my first time knitting socks and since it’s a non-conformist pattern, I wouldn’t know how to make adjustments! So I said to him, “If you don’t like it, I WILL wear it for myself okay?”

Only then did he say, “Noooo! It’s mine!!! Okay okay I won’t complain!” Hehehehe.

Men… tsk.