.Amani
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Japan Day NYC 2014 -- JERO
Finally doing an actual update (with pictures! Ahhhh!)
This year has been really trying for me, mentally, emotionally.. and May is proving itself to be one of the WORST months so far.
But~ that didn't mean I didn't have at least ONE good day where I managed to go out and enjoy myself for once!
Japan Day NYC is an annual event that happens every May/June, right at the end of cherry blossom season. It's a pretty huge event, drawing thousands of people from all across that wants a bit of Japanese culture. From kimono/yukata dressing, to kabuki facepaint, to Hello Kitty, and then of course all of the Japanese street food stands.
I usually never go to Japan Day because of the crowds and because how early everything ends compared to other festivals. BUT the one thing that did draw me was the fact that the special performance for this year was going to be Jero. If you don't know him, he is from Pittsburgh PA, and is the first black Enka (Japanese blues) singer in Japanese music history. He is very handsome, and is known for bringing a more 'contemporary, worldly' look to enka music, which is usually old-fashionded down to the stage outfits. For some reason or another it's a bit difficult to really pull up his activity online, so that is the main reason why I wanted to go this year.
So as always, I pulled out my yukata, put my face on, got my hair together, and went out. I met up with one of the local gals Hannah who was donning her new yukata oiran-style like I was.
I didn't get too many pictures asides from a few of us that I have reserved for later, and then the performance photos, but enjoy them anyways!
Jero prepping to go on stage.
Brief introduction
Jero prepping to go on stage.
Brief introduction
I also uploaded some clips from Jero's performance onto my Youtube channel~
I'm not too keen on Japanese music (it's the way a lot of people sing, especially with their pop genres), enka is definitely for people with an acquired taste! But the slightly contemporary feel of Jero's music helps me warm up to it a bit more.
(I also like Jero's outfit of choice--- is it weird to mention that? xD The pinkish color with the blue? It's kind of like a cobalt blue, it was a pretty combination. Keeping that color scheme in mind for later~)
Once he was done with his own songs, he quickly got changed for the NY bon odori (which the song made for Japan Day was pretty corny, but heh). The group that was singing with him were the Japanese club/class from LaGuardia High School.. when they mentioned that, I had painful flashbacks from my time there, aha x ___x
The beginning of the dance. I have -some- video but not a lot. We were in the middle of the sun and the heat started to become a little unbearable!
Unfortunately we couldn't get a picture with him, which would've been so cool! But of course he was tired (and all that sun beaming down while he was performing), plus a crowd was kind of forming so if he took a picture with us, then he would have to do take a picture with everyone. But he was super sweet in person! And he had such good skin = w= the best of both worlds I bet~ so handsome
After the festival was pretty much over, I brought Hannah and her boyfriend to Village Yokocho in St. Mark's for some grilled and fried goodness. As usual, I got my pumpkin and onion kushiage, along with a spicy tuna bowl. Then I also split some okonomiyaki with Hannah and her boyfriend. Needless to say we could barely eat it all..
All that goodness..
At the end of all that walking, standing, and eating pretty much killed us but Hannah got this nice photo of us at the end, which came out pretty nice!
Hoping for a super cool summer!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
A Celebration of Long-Lasting Friendship
Sorry I haven't been updating lately! I've only just started getting out of my depressed hermit status this weekend. I'm kind of not over my negative feelings yet, but just enough to be a bit motivated to start working again. I ended up losing my HDD (hopefully somewhere in my house) and that's pretty much why I haven't went into detail about my 2nd mission trip to Guyana or anything. I also got some new things (like a new phone, which I'm typing from now!) But I'm in no real rush to make a post on it right now.
I just wanted to talk about a recent outing with my best friend, where we celebrated 9 years of friendship! It may seem a bit silly, but when you go through so much like deceiving friends, friends' deaths, and other life situations, it feels really good to recognize the length of a close friendship.
I remember we became friends on the very first day of high school~ we were both in the same Math class during period 2, and that was how we met.
Since freshman year we were inseparable; friends came and gone, drama with birdlike chicks, through my own HS love-drama b.s., and her struggles with her family and her hood in Spanish Harlem. I started dressing lolita and she was the only one who didn't reject me; when she gave birth to her daughter I was there with her. And then even more recently, me finding myself in God, and her following and seeking the same relationship with God, having been baptized a month ago during a conference revival.
I can say I never really lived life up until the point where we started hanging out. So much happened around us but we made it out of everything together. We never fought and broke our friendship. We cussed at each other, told truth to each other, cried with each other, and acted plain retarded together. We were always mistaken for sisters, cousins, and lol lesbians because we were together that much.
God has kept us through 9 years and there's been so much growth between us.. we had to recognize it.
So, we went to Gyukaku for some serious grubbing.. like 125 dollars worth of grub. LOL
A little collage of not even everything we got... that we took as we talked about other issues going on. Miso soup, sweet potato tempura sticks, shrimp dumplings, miso-bbq chicken wings.. sukiyaki bimbimbap, spinach garlic, grilled onion, and what probably ended up being a pound+ of different meats LOL and then a buttload of pina colada-mojitos and caramelized banana splits. .. yeah, it was pretty intense.
Obligatory bathroom selfies
Outfit shot~ F21, Strawberry, Rainbow's.
I would never trade my friendship with her for anything. I've had too many fakes, d*ckriders, "underlings", flaky insecure people, flame starters, you name it. I'm over most people that try to interact with me. One of the only relationships I'll truly care for is my friendship with Muffy.
My general advice on friendship?
Don't base your friendships on location or hobby or fashion. Get deeper than just that, when you know its safe to. Be able to discern people's personalities and habits and determine whether or not they're good for you, or toxic.
Always value someone who tell or receive things like it is, even if it hurts. Who aren't afraid to level you down for long-term benefits, someone who you know aren't up in people's business over trying to sort themselves out and live their life.
Be receptive to their thoughts and concerns, and criticisms. Don't be selfish about your own interests.
Together, be able to pick each other off the ground and support each other.
And be prepared to lift each other up to higher ground. Be prepared to sacrifice.
Most of all, have fun every minute of it.
~
Sunday, July 28, 2013
BFF's graduation~ + Omi's birthday
At the end of May my best friend Muffy graduated from Queens College, and she wanted me to be there for her ceremony.
Told her to pose and then she gave me this. Ok fine e___e
We met on the very first day of High School and since then we've been pretty much inseparable. She's been through a lot in her lifetime, including having a child during the first year or so of college. Despite the odds, she was able to work fulltime, and do school full-time and FINISH with her SECOND bachelor's degree. Even though I told her to chill and take a break from school for a while, she's now looking at graduate schools e_e before she drives herself crazy.
But she's very inspirational.. I need her motivation and her strength.
Her daughter Jasmine ♥ Who's exactly like her in looks (except being milky skinned hah) and in personality. Her little twin.
Since her ceremony was really early in the morning I had ended up staying the night before~ when it was time to get up everyone else came over-- her father, her baby's father, her two other close friends, and all of us including her daughter, her sister and her mom went out to the ceremony.
My makeup. "Au naturale" since the weather was ridiculously hot that day and I had no time e-e
The crowd of family and friends, the graduates in the distance. By this time pretty much everyone left except myself, baby's father and then her friend Kita because it was pretty much heat-stroke weather.
The graduate
After that we all headed back towards the city~ me and Muffy split from the other two who had to work, to go to Gyukaku for celebratory lunch.
Sup, hat hair
She had herself one of the lunch specials, meanwhile I got my usual yakishabu + kalbi chuck, and the both of us got some nice cocktail drinks as well - u-
I also had this "Salmon vegetable bulgogi". Or the name was close to that. It was goooood
The waiter was also nice enough to give her some free ice cream with chocolate~
~~~~~
The day or so after was also my oma's 81st birthday. We don't really do anything for her birthday since my grandparents are generally to themselves and stuff, plus her legs are really bad so she can't really travel outside the home.
Not too long ago I found a photo from when she was young...
My great-grandmother (me and my siblings actually called her "Oma"), my Omi, and then the little angel is my Tante Ursula... (who's the complete opposite in personality but I woooon't get into that, hah)
This was when she was still in Germany around World War II.. I think it was a while after it. Don't ask me where she's from... it was a village near Stuttgart... everytime she says the name my mind explodes and don't know how to even begin to spell it xD Seriously my brain farts and it translates it to something between 'weiner' and 'hamburger'. If only Omi bothered to teach me German as a kid... xD
This is her now... lol excuse her snaggletooth xD
I really appreciate my grandmother, even though at times especially now she's at that age where she can't hear well or she's a bit derpy.. it's kind of annoying at times xD But she was one of the main people in my life who raised me. I always enjoy her stories about her past and coming to America, dealing with having an interracial relationship in both worlds. And of course all her salats, pfaankuchen, and other food = u= yis
I need to cherish time with her more, and learn everything she knows while I still have time with her.. ♥
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Pre-Lent nomming
Two weeks ago I went with my loli bbys Chris, Laura, and Rune for some noms before Chris started Lent and before Laura left off to Katsucon for the weekend~ I was still recovering from bronchitis, but I felt well enough to eat (being me, of course, nothing can make me turn down food ♥)
We went to Gyu-kaku near Times Square--
Pork belly, yakishabu, kalbi chuck on the grill~
Some of my meat, along with some garlic rice which is really good~
And then I found out they recently added taiyaki with ice cream to their dessert menu... and I had to get it. Had to.
My poor fishy, after being warmed on the grill~
My outfit for the day~
♥
Michi in NYC~
During the week of my birthday my gyaru mommy Michi came to town from California ; w;!!!
I was so excited. Michi was one of the main western gyaru I looked up to when I first started the style~
I know she used to be in some of the older gyaru circles from before I got into the style, and then she was a part of Diamond which was one of the biggest, most active gyaru circles in the USA.
Anyways I followed her since Myspace and Ricoche days... that's how long LOL
I had to work all the days she was here, but I made sure that I had to meet her at some point! Even if it meant being exhausted from work. Which is what happened xD I brought some spare clothes to slip into from my work uniform, did my makeup and hair (which was a wonder to watch for my co-workers LOL) and then met her in Times Square~
She is so gorgeous in real life ; w; ♥
I showed her and her boyfriend around 34th street mostly, and took them to places like Midtown Comics, the Herald Sq Victoria's Secret and Uniqlo and stuff. They shopped around in Uniqlo and we had pretty cool discussions when we strolled around Midtown.
After that we were gonna go to Izakaya Riki to eat.. to find out it was all booked up ; A; and then the nearby Gyu-kaku had some sort of technical issues that knocked out half the store or something... it was really bad. So then we roamed until we found this one Japanese spot within the area. It was called Nippon? I think? It was pretty expensive! But we had a good time.
I wish I took pictures of the inside, which looked very business-like. You can tell a lot of business people went there, as well as the older Japanese crowd. The waitresses were older Japanese women and they were dressed in kimono. While we were looking at the menu to feel the place out, we found that Michael Jackson was a visitor there when he was still alive~ that was pretty cool o:
Their menu was totally strange to me... a lot of the things I did not recognize. I'm so used to my Japanese places that cooks a lot of fried food and stuff, but this place was more proper I guess. More high-scale.
I was so excited. Michi was one of the main western gyaru I looked up to when I first started the style~I know she used to be in some of the older gyaru circles from before I got into the style, and then she was a part of Diamond which was one of the biggest, most active gyaru circles in the USA.
Anyways I followed her since Myspace and Ricoche days... that's how long LOL
I had to work all the days she was here, but I made sure that I had to meet her at some point! Even if it meant being exhausted from work. Which is what happened xD I brought some spare clothes to slip into from my work uniform, did my makeup and hair (which was a wonder to watch for my co-workers LOL) and then met her in Times Square~
She is so gorgeous in real life ; w; ♥
I showed her and her boyfriend around 34th street mostly, and took them to places like Midtown Comics, the Herald Sq Victoria's Secret and Uniqlo and stuff. They shopped around in Uniqlo and we had pretty cool discussions when we strolled around Midtown.
After that we were gonna go to Izakaya Riki to eat.. to find out it was all booked up ; A; and then the nearby Gyu-kaku had some sort of technical issues that knocked out half the store or something... it was really bad. So then we roamed until we found this one Japanese spot within the area. It was called Nippon? I think? It was pretty expensive! But we had a good time.
I wish I took pictures of the inside, which looked very business-like. You can tell a lot of business people went there, as well as the older Japanese crowd. The waitresses were older Japanese women and they were dressed in kimono. While we were looking at the menu to feel the place out, we found that Michael Jackson was a visitor there when he was still alive~ that was pretty cool o:
Their menu was totally strange to me... a lot of the things I did not recognize. I'm so used to my Japanese places that cooks a lot of fried food and stuff, but this place was more proper I guess. More high-scale.
My tempura platter...
and chicken teriyaki as my main dish.
That chicken teriyaki... I could not.
It was so soft. Like heavenly-kind of soft. I had to be careful and chew because I knew if I had been my usual piggish self, I probably would've inhaled everything and choked xD But it was so delicious. I was never really fond of chicken plates at some restaurants because the texture would vary, but they made this teriyaki dish so well...
If I have money to splurge on in the future I'd definitely be back to this place! My gosh @ w@
Michi also had a little gift bag for me ; w; for meeting up with her.
I had so many feels~ I wish I had something for her! ; o;
Everything is all pink and black... just how I like it ; w; ♥
She gave me fingerless gloves~ I need to find out the material because it is so soft. I'm glad I have something cute to wear if I ever have my nails done again~ :3
a cute little pouch!
and an lash case ; A;
Michi and her bby invited me to stay with them if I'm ever in California... I will certainly take up that offer one day! Hopefully soon~ so we can go out to eat and take tons of purikura together and crap. ahhhhhh and so I can meet Valentine and hang with all my other cali friends too ; w; like my loli sister Misa
There's something about meeting people you looked up to. whether it's style, or professional, or what have you.. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet Michi. It reminded me of when I met Xiao for the first time.
I wonder how some people feel when they meet me in person for the first time...? ♥
(Probably intimidated as hell. lolololo)
Monday, February 18, 2013
Kawaii International recording~ 1/10/13-1/21/2013
Since I run the local NYC Lolitas group on facebook and livejournal, they asked me if I can gather a handful of my friends for the recording as well~ it was difficult because it required people to stay up all night on a weekday-- but somehow we were able to get enough people, and we managed to stay up through a 7-hour, latenight recording! Craziness!
A week or so before the actual recording, we gathered near 42nd street to record outfit shots and introductions~ luckily one of the girls had a college friend who was a videographer, who was willing to give us some pretty awesome videos for our intro!
My OOTD real quick:
Headbow: Baby the Stars Shine Bright, JSK: Innocent World, Cardigan: Liz Lisa, jewelry and stuff you'll see later on. Coat (not seen): Angelic Pretty~
Some shots from some of our videos that I screencapped~
Jovon and Lexie during filming ~This was actually two shots, the second being part of Lexie's full body coord shot, but it's so interesting how this came out when I uploaded it xD haa
Yaniseee
Myself....
...And myself reacting to my derp LOL
Laura derpin' like a qt~
A shot of us taking strolling shots~
I had this idea to get our pictures on the billboard for it but it didn't come out as we expected, plus we had to wait an extra long time in the cold for it to even pop up on the screen. The photo was still super cute though! Just wouldn't do it again.
Group shot!
And more camwhoring sessions:
Susan and Yani~
burand shots
Laura and Nina~
The billboard shot when it did pop up... we expected it to be fullscreen...
Some last candid shots in Times Square....
Afterwards we walked Midtown East to my favorite spot Izakaya Riki for some beer, curry, and okonomi goodness
I think we were all too hungry at that point for any good foodnom shots lol.
Then maybe 10 days later was the actual Skype recording~
NHK graciously provided us with a studio to film in, with a recording crew to assist us and providing us with multiple laptops to Skype with, and a camera in case any connection problems occured.
My camwhore shots off my camera~
Outfit rundown:
Bow: Angelic Pretty, OP was the LaPafait OP I won, Denim Jacket: Yumetenbo, Necklace Jesus Diamante, Tights were from F21, and the shoes I modded myself! I'll have a post about that specifically in a bit...
The last of my camho shots~
That bathroom... was perfect. LOL In every way.
Since we were in there for almost 7 hours... they also provided us with a lot of good ; w; In between tests and stuff we were running around, doing hair, doing makeup, and then sitting, eating, being silly.
There were a couple of times when they were doing video/audio tests and left us on the screen...
the producer and director of the show were sitting in the hosts seats chilling and all you saw was us... on the TV screen behind them.... doing Gangnam style and dancing to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu LOL
They didn't notice at all... until minutes later someone pointed us out to them and they turned and looked like wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut the hell is going on lololo
I wish we had video of that xD Man oh man..
lol Laura and Yani
Laura and Nina
Grace
Lexie
LOL Susan
At this point we were staring at the screen while the Japanese were practicing their segments...
You can probably recognize Moco, I think Re:No? and whomever else.
Our main idol focus was with Himena Ousaki!!! We were dying inside.
Originally it was going to be Himena and Midori Fukasawa as Hime(gyaru) and lolita model representatives, respectively, but then Midori dropped out suddenly and so it was only Himena ; u; but we still had our fill of cuteness.
At that time she couldn't see us, even though we could see her. Eventually it was revealed to us that we were a "surprise" to the models who were there!
I won't go into detail about the filming and what was said... but I wasn't too nervous talking to/about Himena. I was more nervous about the fact that I was being recorded!
I derped and I messed up once... and I covered my face in embarrassment and Himena was just sitting there giggling ; u; but then she also had her derpy times and we were just sort of laughing at each other's mistakes~
I wish we had more time to ask questions, because of time we didn't follow the script to the T, but it was so good to be able to talk to Himena, as well as the other models.
EGG model Yun was there representing gyaru, but there was also a French gal group that focused on her. Also Pikarin, but she was mainly talking about her new music and stuff.
After filming was done, the Kawaii.i team did a little something for us and brought their laptop to Himena so we were seeing her and interacting with her on Skype!!! We totally freaked. Like a box of kittens were dumped all over us.
Death by kawaii.
Episode #09 Kawaii Summit: ～Tokyo's DOKUMO Models & You!～
Airing February 22, Fri. 23:10 (UTC)
February 23, Sat. 3:10/ 7:10/ 11:10/ 15:10/ 19:10 (UTC)
Make sure to watch our episode ; A; It'll be the most cutest-filled yet! Look up time conversions to find out the timing in your area.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
