HobbySearch was Hacked!

I just found out today when I read it on Nekomagic. The source will be linked to after the jump.

The good news is that paypal users were unharmed but if you used a credit card on HobbySearch, you might want to check your statements or contact the card company. Just for safe measure, I will check my own card as well. Make sure theres nothing going wrong.

But on a side note, I haven't ordered from HobbySearch for a long time now. Amiami has all the stuff I need. And at a better price (most of the times).

Source: Here.

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Japan 111R Seventh Class

Today was probably exceeded the majority of the class' learning capability! I mean, its ALOT of new material ! Even I am worried. And I haven't worried before in class =(

To begin today's class, we had a quiz, about the days of the week and counting months, of course. Aced! YES!

Then we were reviewing the relative locations material, left, right, beside, etc

We did some other reviews, like asking where something is at an airport, or in someone's house, etc. All oral practice, professor says its important. And I agree.

Then came our break.

We were told that we were ahead of scheduel so I was expecting the class to be pretty relaxed for the time being. However, after the break, all h*ll broke loose !

Professor went on to the next lesson. About ordering foods. And what good is ordering food without first learning the verbs, "Tabemasu", right? RIGHT?!

You bet thats right! But she didn't stop there... Ohhh... no.... She went onto a list of 30 verbs. YES 30! Including what is known as the "u" verbs and "ru" verbs including the irregular verbs!

Holy crap! Thats too much. Seriously. But we were told we did have 2 weeks to cover it all. Thank goodness. Though, I bet most of the brains in the class already snapped.

But lets think of the good side. With these many verbs, we'll be able to engage in meaningful chatter in japanese! Right? Cause clearly verbs like migaku (to polish) is important... right...?

But seriously, on a plus side. The prof is going into the conjugation of verbs! YES ! I've been waiting for this day since day 1. I don't know how much she will teach, but any is better than none.

Yes, thats right, we're not just learning the -masu form for those 30 verbs ! but the -ru form as well. Isnt that cool? Thats like... 60 verbs! YAY!

We previously covered the negative and past tense and negative past tense also, so we'll put it all together now.

Oh, and for your interest, for "u" verbs, which are verbs not ending in "iru" or "eru" though there are exceptions where some "iru" and "eru" verbs fall into this category, but you will have to memorize those, the conjugation rule for -masu ending is:

Convert the _u to _i then add masu.

For example,
kaku -> kaki -> kakimasu
nomu -> nomi -> nomimasu

For the "ru" verbs, which are verbs that must end in "iru" or "eru", the conjugation rule for -masu ending is:

Drop the last "ru" then add masu.

For example,
miseru -> mise -> misemasu
neru -> ne -> nemasu

So we have a whole new bunch of words to practice in our free time. Of course we still have that presentation next week. Also we just got our final project today. Now I need to find some group members then decide what to do. Busy class... for a first year course =/

Heres what was learned today:
- Difference between "ya" and "to"
- "ya" is used for if there are many things more than just what you listed, for example, you use it when you want to say there are pencils and books on a desk with several other things as well. Tsukue no ue ni enpitsu ya hon ga arimasu.
- "to" is used if you are listing out everything on in that environment or system, for example, you use it when you want to say there are pencils and books on the desk which only has pencils and books.
Tsukue no ue ni enpitsu to hon ga arimasu.
- Verbs, 30 of them
- Learned their -masu form and -ru form
- Learned how to conjugate them between forms
- Learned the groups of verbs, 1 for "u", 2 for "ru", and 3 for irregular

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Interesting Video: Largest Gummy Worm

Heres an interesting video I found. The video is quite funny and the product is... well... a joke. At best. Read below for the source website.

The largest gummy worm!

It packs 4000 calories and a year long shelf life. I don't know if its real or not, but its quite an accomplishment. I don't think its practical though. We'll let you decide however.

Oh, it comes with different flavours !

Source: Here.

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Interesting Video: Crazy Accident

Crazy video I thought I would show, rather its real or not, I can't say for sure. But I will assume its real. Thank goodness he made it out ok.

I've never been in a serious accident myself. Got rear ended a few times while I was still a passenger. But nothing serious like that.

Remember kids, look both ways before crossing the road ! (or intersection)

Source: Here.

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Japan 111R Sixth Class

Today, we continue to learn verbs and nouns. We're up to 5 verbs now! And nouns just keep piling. I think we'll be able to carry out a proper conversation soon.

We were suppose to play bingo today but we missed it for some reason. It got pushed to the next class.

Surprisingly, there was no quiz today ! But there will be a quiz tomorrow. And the class after that, an oral quiz... Boooo!

The quiz we should have had but didn't was going to be about counting months and days, such as;
Nichiyoubi, Getsuyoubi, etc
Ichigatsu, Nigatsu, etc
Tsuitachi, Futsuka, etc

Tough stuff. I studied for it too. Oh well.

As for the presentation quiz in 2 weeks. We need to memorize a paragraph of about 8 sentences. Say it out properly, at a good speed and audible (can't say bengoshi as be-n-go-shi, gotta say it smoothly). Also we will be asked a question or two about the paragraph we read. Such as what certain things means (translation question).

I hope I don't mess up. I am terrible at presentation.

We learned quite a lot today, list below:
- Verbs imasu, arimasu
- Past tense of those words
- Negative tense of those words
- Difference between emphasis of subject and not
- Using "ha" and "ga"
- Ordering the sentence if there are many things like "_ de", "_ ni", etc
- Directional words
- ue, mae, soba, etc
- Location words
- book store, phamarmacy, station, etc
- How to ask what something is using "_tte nan desu ka"
- "yo" and "ne" and when they are used

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Japan 111R Fifth Class

Another day another dollar... another 50 cents after tax.

Uh... nevermind. We had a test on our 5th class. It was brutal. We did a bunch of other stuff too. Full listing below.

First thing we did when we got to class was write a test. It was called a quiz. But it was 1 page both sided. Whereas our normal quizzes were 1/3 or 1/2 a page, single sided. It wasn't too hard. I definitely, didn't get perfect. But it wasn't easy either. It was alot of writing for one thing. It was no wonder alot of people didn't finish.

I got out of that test first. Yep, was pretty confident too, but then I started noticing things I did wrong. Like for the hiragana "ru", I pierced the bottom... LOL damn. Amongst other errors. But that was the worst of them.

In terms of learning. It wasn't much different from any other day. We did sing some song though. Using the melody from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the lyrics were replaced with stuff like "a" "i" "o" "u", etc. It was about learning Hiragana.

Alot of stuff was learned today. Going to take a long time getting this stuff down. Especially the days of a month.

All the things learned today:
- more nouns (meeting, park, places, today, tomorrow, etc)
- Going to places
- first 3 verbs, ikimasu, kimasu, kaerimasu
- including present, past, present negative, past negative
- Time
- today, tomorrow, next week, last month, etc
- monday, tuesday, etc
- 1st day of the month, 2nd day, 31st day, etc
- particle "ni"

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Trip to the Cheltenham Badlands

Its a somewhat unique place in northern Toronto. Around the Brampton area. It was special because of the red soil and the rolling hills. We drove there by ourselves without any guides, other than a GPS. It was just on the side of the road, as you can see to the left side of the picture above. Its a nice scene. I'm not much of a guy for scenery but I do like looking at the sky. The vast sky makes me feel calm with the cloud cover and light diffused throughout the landscape. I would love to be able to star openly into the distance. Except school and work calls. And they take breaks for no one. Continue reading for the gallery link and other links.

Going there to the badlands, showed me something new. Although I personally didn't find it to be that interesting. There were alot of other people though. In the pictures in the gallery, its nearly impossible to not have someone photographed. There were THAT many people.

Since as you know, I photograph my pictures for figure reviews and what not. I am slowly picking up photography. Like going from auto mode of the camera to manual mode. Controlling aperture, shutter speed, etc. And one of the main skills I need to take pictures of figures is macrophotography. Since its important to show people the fine detail in any product to give it a thorough inspection so you may decide with lots of knowledge whether or not buying the product is worth it. And what are the pros and cons in doing so.

Yes, the overall product, is important, because you don't exactly stare at it closely 24/7. It just sits in your room somewhere. I fully understand that, but why would you buy something which has hidden flaws? So you can be disappointed later? That just cannot be right. Therefore, I want to be able to give fair assessments so the reader can benefit from my reviews. I know I don't do alot of them.

Two reasons for that.
1. I just don't have money to buy everything and give you a review.
2. I don't have the time either, nor am I ever at home. I am currently in university. Last year, research project. Its going to be tough and VERY BUSY. Sorry if updates slow up on the blog.

Anyway, thats my take on this issue. Whatever that may be. I lost track while I was writing it. Didn't want to erase what I wrote since then if you opened up this post to read on, you would only have 2 links. More information and gallery.

Information link: Here.
Gallery link: Here.

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[T's System] Kochiya Sanae Figurine Review

Recently, I bought another figurine from Amiami, I tend to use them more than HobbySearch or BeNippon (Previously shopped at, online retailers).

Its mainly because selection is good and I've only looked at some Touhou goods. But I like Amiami's service. Its quick and its done right. Not that I've had any problems at any retailer thus far. All I needed were a paypal account and an account for their website. Full review below.

Lets start like always with the box. Nothing too special there. Its a very plain box. By very plain, I mean, VERY PLAIN. As you can see below.

The front of the box. All there is, is the company which sells the product and a hole to see the front of the figure.

Same with the back, just a couple of words like where its made, who the sculptor is, and a couple of warnings.

Personally, I don't mind the box, since its just a box.
The insides are whats important.

The base wasn't that great. Like the box, it looks plain. Though that can be said for most figures. Atleast the Griffon Enterprises Touhou figures has a nice name tag on them. The T's System's figures doesn't have anything on the base. Oh well, thats just too bad.

As plain as you can get.

The 4 dots are there to make sure Sanae is nice and snug. Wouldn't want to be bumping left and right. Right? They fit nicely into the shoes of the figure. As expected. Though the leg had to bend slightly to fit. I don't think its a problem though.

Moving on.

The figure itself was well done. It felt like any other professionally made figures. I've never bought anything from T's System so that was my main worry when ordering this. I love the face on this Kochiya Sanae. Also, its not like Griffon Enterprises made any figures of her either.

Cutest/Bestest face ever!!

*Aside

Kochiya Sanae is a shrine maiden in the Touhou Project games, similar to the main character Hakurei Reimu, but the shrine they each belong to is different. Sanae serves as shrine maiden of
Moriya Shrine. Serving the gods Yasaka Kanako and Moriya Suwako. You can read more about her at the Touhou Wikia. Where you can get more information than you ever need. Thats not in the scopes of this review, so I will just give you a link.

Touhou Project is originally a shoot em up game made by Team Shanghai Alice. But has seen been expanded to include music, doujinshi, and doujin games. You can find them all over the web. Just search Touhou.

End of Aside*

I think the figure looks great. It was the reason why I bought it even though it costed quite a bit more than any Griffon Enterprises ones. It looks calm, a good representation of who Sanae is. Though in fan fic, shes seen to be excited with robots. Lol. I'm excited with robots myself. GUNDAMS ! Can't wait for PG Strike Freedom. Though thats completely irrelevant.

Love the face and pose. Its got a calm aura about it. Maybe it will make me feel less stress from school and work.

The figure feels heavy, atleast it feels like its a product for sale. The details on it seems appropriate and professional. There were few errors with paint or other things. Something completely different from Orchid Seed. The two figures I have from them both have some sort of imperfection. This one from T's System is much better. No scratches, no junk stuck on the figure.

The snake looks well painted.

As the shoes. Not to mention the nice details.

And on the hairpin.

Mmmm... I like this angle :P The wrinkles adds nice depth to the figure.

The paint and decals on the dress are well done as well.

I also love the hair. Long flowing hair is so alluring. Damn.

Long hair *_* !

Theres 2 things which I would have liked more. Because you know, nothing is perfect.

1. I wish the finish could be more transparent. Im not saying that its not good as it is. Because its pretty faint. The lines that shows the different PVC pieces used. Or whatever those lines are.

Weird lines? Or are these showing me that they used several pieces of PVC to make the dress? Either way, if it wasn't meant to be seen, I would like it if it didn't show up. But its great nonetheless.

2. I wish there were some things I could do with the figure, I don't mean moving hands, or legs like those figmas, but more in terms of castoffable or even some things you can put on and off, like the Marisa and Flandre figurines from Griffon Enterprises.

But I like the figurine alot as it is. Of course, more never hurts.

Oh, and the head comes off. I haven't figured out why it comes off, but it does. Here are some pictures. If you have any idea, feel free to express your opinion in the comments below. I'm guessing, maybe its for swapping heads of other T's System figurines. But that would be bizarre.

The headless Sanae O_O... Wah?

Finally, its a size comparison with something else I own. A 1/144 HG Double 0 Gundam. I never bothered measuring the figure, but it felt pretty big. Though when I put it with my other Touhou figurines, the size wasn't too much bigger. Maybe I should get real measurements someday. It is suppose to be a 1/6 scale figure though.

Notice the 00 Gundam's stance. (Hehe, no, Sanae is not that young, wikia says "mid-teen")

I quite like posing the HG gundam, because they balance easier and they have less parts. So even if they fell and broke apart (pieces still intact), its relatively easy to rebuild. While for the MG, they are difficult to pose and some of them (my ZZ and Unicorn) are extremely feeble.

In case you were wondering what Sanae wears underneath her skirt. Two NSFW pictures below.
Here and here.

I am very happy to have bought this figurine. One because I'm a Touhou fan. Two because its of high quality and looks nice to have on my display case.

After this instance, I can trust the quality of T's System. If you, the reader didn't think this post was any use to you, atleast know that theres one person who owns something from T's System and that their quality is comparable to other big name companies in this industry.

Gallery link: Here.

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Japan 111R Fourth Class

Another day. And another quiz. This one was about numbers and time. I think I aced it. I also got all my previous quizzes back. 100% YES ! Anywhere, heres what happened today.

A standard day, nothing out of the ordinary like the Japanese Bingo last week. Several presentations where I had to speak a few lines from the textbook. Other things are like following what the teacher says and repeat after them.

All in all, a normal day. So far now, we had a quiz every class. Next week will be different because it will be a TEST. Its called a quiz in the syllabus, but its going to be 30 mins instead of 5. Also, I hope I do well in it next week. I'll be studying and working on my other assignments. Busy busy.

Oh.. There is one thing special. We finally used our first verb ! Misete!
However, we did not talk about the word at all. In fact, the professor did not even say it was a verb. She just linked it with -kudasai and told us that was how you say "please show me". orz

FYI, misete is from the verb miseru (to show)

Anyway lets wrap it up here.

What we learned this week:
- More nouns
- "to" for saying one thing with another, watashi to isshou = "I with everyone"
- Learned counting, hitori, futari, hitotsu, futatsu, etc
- Learned the word "ikura" and how to ask how much something is
- Learned the word "kudasai" and how to use it
- Briefly learned "-demo ii desu ka?", we learned from the example, "'card' demo ii desu ka?" for can I use a card?, this phrase is used to ask whether or not you can do a certain thing.

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Interesting Video

This is an interesting video.

The source claims to be a Cebu Pacific airline. Instead of the standard boring safety lecture, they turned it into a dance.

If you didn't like that video, think about it this way.

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Writing on the go: Ancaster Gem Show Volunteer

Hello, today I got to school early to do volunteering. I was at school at 7:00 and there was no one!! More info below.

It was so amazing!

The volunteering work started at 8:30am but we left at UW at 7:38am.

The location was at Ancaster, close to Hamilton.

I was basically volunteered to be a tour guide for a group of 4th graders from a specific school. I was in charge of The Lady of Lourdes.

It was a great experience. The kids were great, so lively and happy. One kid wasn't so great though. Disturbing the class when a presenter was talking.

There was a shopping hall, I bought about 18 dollars of stuff. Pictures of the place below.


My job was to lead the kids around the building to the events and to make sure that they followed a preset schedule. Easy work. After the class left, it was all free time for me to shop.

We left at 2:38pm or so. In fact I am writing this on my iPhone while sitting in the bus.

PS. I bet my mom is real jealous.

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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