So, we're officially in the later half of 2010.

Let's see, out of the goals I've set for this year:
- Cooking: learnt 3 out of 10 recipes (sayur asem + tempe + perkedel) 2/10
- Piano: I'm getting there, but I can't practice here! Need to change the one at home with a proper electronic piano. Self-note to save $$.
- Toko: In progress, Sugi's designing the blueprint. *cross fingers* need to memorize the herb types noww 3/10
- Less than 3: A connection made? I hope, but there's still much to do in reality. 3/10
- Hangeul: need to get back on track now! 4/10
- S.U.R. : Have set down designs, need to get started next week! 4/10
- LS: All I can say is, efficiency! Let's start this Monday. 2 a week. 1/10
- Savings: Need more earnings! 3/10
- Others' wishes: Not sure how many of these I've helped, but I'd like to think I've at least helped :) 5/10
- JLPT - 5/10, awaiting results!

Aaargh! Seriously behind schedule. Need to catch up!! And of the more tangible ones, JLPT is actually one that I should've spent more time on (especially in terms of listening/oral)! This was taken moments before today's test. The youngest participant in this first batch of N1 was in my class, a mere tween! I think everyone struggled with the new choukai, and one of them said, "I just used my imagination". Because of this section, I just might have to take the December one, even if I pass this one. I want to get an Irie-kun worthy score!

Speaking of Irie-kun, Joe Cheng (who acted in the Taiwanese ver. of Itazura na Kiss) came to LMH's birthday event and said the latter would be a perfect Irie-kun. LMH said he wouldn't act in the drama even if they made the local version, since he wanted to focus on making films instead. Good choice, because I want to see Irie-kun in real-life, not in fiction :p

The rest of 2010 is looking really packed (with good happenings, I hope)! Fighting!

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So, everything seems to hinge on June. The World Cup (go Portugal!), idol projects (yes I've lain my finger into fangirldom, alas!), major campaign I'm handling at work, renovation works, studying for JLPT exam...(And playing FFXII)

Whew, I guess I could do with more productivity and effectiveness. But at the same time, all these activities are making me improve and hopefully, steps closer to my dream(s).

I joined this focus group study organised by the company (Ogilvy) that promises an iPad for one of the participants (selected at random)...well, I hope to get it so I could start sharing the joys of internet with my parents, and experience iPod Touch magnified.

In a way, June is all about groundwork and spreading the word, plus a time when people participate in events and share a bit of ourselves.

Which fits the work I'm doing. And so far, it's also all about doing ads for...just about everything.
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From xxxHolic by CLAMP (my new favourite manga!). Scanlation by Be With You scans.

In that, to pursue dreams, one needs to put dreams on hold, and work hard to make oneself better. Or so I'd like to think. Hopefully, even when I'm working for this agency (albeit only for a few months), I can manage my time well enough so that I can continue to do my best in pursuing those things that matter most to me. 

I hope these few months will enrich my wealth of experience, friends, network and whatever else I may need to fulfill my destiny and dreams! Wow, I almost sound idealistic.

That's a line from Jack Johnson's belle, by the way. Anyway, here's $300++ worth of language books to help me get closer to realising my dream(s). Or goals. For this year, at least. Fueling xenophile habits is expensive.

May and June's going to be cramming time for a gazillion word lists and grammar. I wonder how geniuses like WLH learn their stuff (granted, we speak about the same number of foreign languages. And I'm better at Japanese *cough*. But hello, 5+ musical instruments? Valedictorian/sports rep/<insert alpha feat here>?) Anyways, maybe I'm just finding ways to at least match up in some way lest I feel so inconsequential everytime I see or listen to stuff about that alpha of the alpha. This is so a result of Asian upbringing; but I'm thankful for it :p

The JLPT N1 test commences in early July, and it'll be a whole new (more difficult, I was told) format. I'm actually trying to do this through self-study after about 2 years of not learning Japanese - the folly. 

And as for 한글? 이바보는...let's just see. *Cross fingers* 세상에!

Oh, I'm actually, now, I'm on the same island as Jang Geun Seok. But no chance of meeting - 在前世我们之间的机遇也许少过3000次。If it was someone else, though, would I have been willing to go the extra mile? I'm trying. 

From Manga: Shiawase Kissa 3-Choume by Matsuzuki Kou

Seems like nothing I do is enough sometimes, and sometimes doing nothing is enough. Maybe it's just a matter of effectiveness. The cause is not effecting...yet? I very well know that I can't give up, and indeed I'm blessed, but sometimes I just feel disoriented. The world that welcomes me, is it the world that I want, or will it be a world I'm forced to accept because I won't change myself to fit the world I aspire to be in? People are so contradictory, and difficult, and I am guilty as charged...no?
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I wonder, if you live and work with actors/actresses/singers/idols, how would that change your perception of beauty or desirability? I know we often watch these people on screen but being in that world altogether is different, no? I'm talking specifically about the Japanese/Korean/Mandarin entertainment industry, where idols and looks make up the largest portion of the pie (I think). Errh, I'm having all these weird whims because I've been watching (and enjoying) many, many online videos of Japanese and Korean variety shows featuring idols (most of whom are at least a looker, talent or both, God bless them).