The Secret: After I wrote the post about my birthday, my mother and my sister wanted to have dinner at OutBack, a famous Australian food restaurant here in Brazil. I wasn’t much in the mood to go, but I figured that there are only so many times I would celebrate my birthday, it doesn’t happen any day, so I’ll enjoy it to the fullest!
When we got there, I was looking through the bushes to see if it was too crowded because it’s usually filled with people. It was then that I saw a familiar little Korean face. I thought to myself “Nah, this can’t be Chris.” Then I saw Pam’s face, and it made it clear that it was her and Chris, not other random people. I thought to myself again: “Oh my gosh! This is such a coincidence! Maybe I can have lunch with them if they don’t mind!” And I waved. It’s then that I hear my sister scream “Surprise!” and I’m like “Seriously? Are you serious?” and my mom said I was red as a tomato.
I had my mouth opened as I greeted each one, channeling my joy into any expression. I had some gifts too, that I opened when I got home, and for the rest of the day, I was with the best company in the world. I didn’t have any knowledge about the other 2 people that were arriving, I only knew that Alice (One of my absolute dearest friends from another school) would be coming later, and I was overjoyed. Then, I see that Andrea, a new girl in our school, came, so I got even happier, because she proved to be so much fun (And so much cuteness all in one!). She’s from Mexico, so she taught Carol some Spanish tips. Of course, my classic friends, Sofy, Carol, Laura, Pam, Xy and my sister were there having a great time with me as well! They would never miss out on anything!
We spent the night eating and talking non-stop, everything was perfect, so wonderful and I had the best time of my life. Just thinking back on it makes me want to live it all over again, it was my first surprise party and I just loved it! Afterall, some spontaneity never hurts! We took many pictures and just had all the fun we could for a school night.
When I got home, I opened my gifts, and I discovered I had 100 reais of store credit in one of my favorite stores and an awesome Japanese book by an author I was familiar with! It’s just amazing how my friends know me!
The Pre-Secret: My friends were planning on buying me a cake at school and offered money to the Portuguese teacher, Regina, to buy one for me, and unfortunately, it wasn’t possible but I’m sure it would have been an amazing surprise! I’m so lucky that I have the greatest friends in the world. I guess they aren’t my friends, really. They’re my soulmates!
I’m not one to announce my birthday to the world… or at least I wasn’t.
Yesterday I mentioned during math class that today was my birthday, and surprisingly, many people seemed excited about it, but my friends were really excited! I was so happy because they really cared about my birthday! I got many FaceBook messages about my birthday, which I loved, and yesterday people were constantly reminding me of today, which made me smile the whole day. I guess being 15 is a pretty big thing!
I woke up to my father’s voice at 6:30 in the morning. He has a pretty original manner of celebrating birthdays. He wakes us up before we even stop dreaming with a loud happy birthday and surrounded by family members, all of them holding birthday presents. He was holding a little bag from a store I still haven’t visited. It looked like a bag from some kind of home decoration shop because of the orange letters, but it was way too small to have something home-related in it. My mom and sister come into the room with a bunch of muffins recently made and candles, singing the classic Happy Birthday, and my mom and sister each made really special cards for me, each filled with stickers and cute envelopes. It was the cutest thing.
My father was teasing me these days about my present, saying that I would love it, that it’d be an awesome birthday gift and of course, I was super excited! When I took a good look into it, I saw the new iPod classic, all inside of its beautiful box. I was super happy! I already had a case for it that I accidentally bought for another iPod and it didn’t fit, so it must have been fate.
After all the gift and cards-opening, it was time for school, and I happily walked up the stairs. I was really happy to know that all the class remembered it was my birthday and all my friends gave me hugs and wished me lots of happiness. More smiles to my face.
Throughout the day, many people came up to me and wished me a happy birthday, which made me really happy for the whole day. The teachers, other students, they were all informed through the morning bulletin that it was my birthday, so it made it a little more special that everyone knew. Some people forgot, but it was cute how they made up to it with sincere apologies. Birthdays are great, I should’ve celebrated my previous ones more and stop being so broody about them. Maybe it has to do with my phobia of getting older.
I got a really cute shirt from a friend, Carol, who took my love for Japan in consideration when she purchased it. It was really thoughtful. Of course, I also got cards from Laura and Carol that were the sweetest. Both taking my feelings into consideration and made me smile so much it hurt a little. A good pain.
January 27th is also the birthday of Lewis Carrol! Author of Alice in Wonderland (Who happened to come up in a conversation at lunch… curious) and my dear friend, EmpressOfDrac’s! congratulations to them!
Today is Utada Hikaru’s birthday! She’s turning 26 this year and I know that her birthday this year will be filled with pride because her new releases will be amazing! Come Back To Me is already an awesome single and I can’t wait to see what’s up ahead!
The cover of Come Back To Me has already been released and her upcoming English album is already available for pre-order and there will definitely be many updates as the days go by and the date of its release gets closer and closer.
Hikki looks and sounds amazing (Like always) and I’m really looking forward to previews of her new songs! We know that she’ll be getting some airplay on february and we can only hope that she gets the fame she deserves in the American market!
Favorite Culture To Read About On HEART STATION: All
I was very pleasantly surprised when I was informed that all cultures I write about are appreciated! I’m happy to be writing about my culture and others, and to know that the readers enjoy them all is a big thing to me! I personally love them all as well, and maybe it’s these types of common interests that make HEART STATION such a positive space when it comes to the sharing of ideas!
Readers: Maybe not customary readers, but every now and then, they pay visits
Also another answer I was so glad about. I didn’t get a single vote saying that the voter doesn’t read my blog at all, but that they check it out every now and then or even all the time. I’m really glad that HEART STATIONisn’t a one night stand-blog. I’m happy to know that some people take their time to bookmark my blog and to read it when they fish for something interesting!
Favorite HEART STATION Poem: Urban, Joker and Bamboo
I was also happy to know that all of my poems tied, representing how I try to keep them all at the same level and writing poetry is something that I love, it’s a way to put feelings, color, pictures and motion in a whole other way to writing. I’m really lucky to have friends and readers that support my poetry and it means a lot that all three of them tied.
2009 Edit: Bamboo, Urban and Joker have been removed from my published selection of poems.
Favorite Post Category: Utada Hikaru
It’s an honor to be appreciated for the posts that I love to write about, and honestly, I agree with 38% of the voters that picked the Utada Hikaru category as their favorite. I love reviewing her albums, posting up news and taking all this wonderful information off my chest while I make HEART STATIONa little more Hikki-centered for each of these posts. I think that the majority of my posts are about Hikki, so it’s great that people enjoy reading about her!
Favorite Japanese Artist Recommendation: Utada Hikaru
This one I agree 100%! Utada Hikaru truly is an awesome artist, and like I’ve mentioned before, I love writing about her! I’m glad people follow my recommendations or picked her over the other Japanese artists I’ve recommended. Something that I was also happy about is that right on second place is Koda Kumi! This might mean that her new album, TRICK, will be a pick for many people who are into Japanese music!
Favorite American/European Artist Recommendation: Britney Spears
Britney is back, and even though I’m a bigger fan of Christina Aguilera, I’m happy that Britney is the winner! She deserves it for being such a sweet girl in an international popstar’s body. Her music is evolving and taking shape after her stop a few years ago and her fans are really enjoying her work. She’s also keeping true to her roots, just evolving, while Christina Aguilera, for instance, is doing completely different work that I have to admit, I’m liking that much. I liked it better when she oversung her lyrics. Britney, though, is definitely on the right track.
I have just received an e-mail from Utada’s mailing list with the wonderful news that her new single, Come Back To Me is soon to be released. And better yet, it’s already available for fans to listen to! It even has cover art! I think that in it’s simplicity, it’s really sweet, and everyone knows how I love pink and gray together!
I couldn’t help but click the links to her MySpace page and her Island Records page, both of which contained the complete song.
I think the song is amazing. I felt that it would be a sweet R&B song, always with that lovely feeling that only Utada can offer. Her voice, the music, it’s all so addicting, so beautiful, so different.
The song starts off with the piano, really classic, but then Utada shows us that her R&B roots that were present through her debut album aren’t gone at all. With a beautiful, simple background, Utada sings with her beautiful voice, working with the vibrato so wonderfully. It’s a brand new catchy tune! When ever she says “I don’t wanna be alone,” I get a little shiver-y, because at the beginning, her voice is deeper and stronger, but then it gets a lot higher when she says “I don’t wanna be alone.” It’s so good, so fresh, I’m absolutely in love with it! Even 3 friends of mine said they liked the song, when 2 of them don’t like Japanese pop at all! Come Back To Me is surely going to be a hit and it’s just that type of song you would listen to while it’s being broadcasted through the radio.
This single is very different from her first try at the North American market, EXODUS. Unlike EXODUS, Come Back To Me is a lot closer to her Japanese work, an R&B ballad, and we all know that ballads are her area. EXODUS revealed an approach to the dance clubs, something new, while Come Back To Me is a more natural single to what she’s used to.
I’m so excited to see what’s coming next, but I know that if it started out with Come Back To Me, it can only get better!
To kick off the year with an interesting post about an interesting young lady, I present the one and only miss Koda Kumi, creator of the ero kawaii (Erotic cute) fashion style and the woman responsible for the rotten amniotic acid scandal. She will be releasing her 7th studio album, TRICK, on January the 28th, nearly one year after her 7th studio album.
Last year, on January the 30th, Kingdom was released, Koda Kumi’s 6th studio album. After the success of Black Cherry, Kingdom was expected to be quite promising, but unfortunately, while some fans loved it, others didn’t like it that much. I happen to love Kingdom for its variety of genres and Kumi’s vocals are amazing. It’s also less bubble gum than Black Cherry.
After the 2008 scandal, when Kuu-chan revealed that she wanted to have children before she was 35 because the amniotic fluid that surrounds ovaries of women above 35 is rotten, it got a lot more attention than anything else she would have said. This caused many of her fans to stop purchasing Kingdom and stop liking her. After this, Kumi had to pick herself up, and after many apologies, she came back to the studio and her first single since the scandal was Moon Crying, a sad ballad. Pretty appropriate for what was going on.
The single had lukewarm feelings from fans, but most listeners appreciated that she took her time to release a ballad, and not another single like BUT or FREAKY. From then, she started becoming her old self and released TABOO then another ballad, stay with me. Both these singles received very good fan responses and both are very good, distinct singles that show very different genres, but still connected by Kuu-chan’s awesome style. These singles originated a glimpse of TRICK.
Many listeners are curious for her new album and I believe she’s back and she’s rockin’! She looks wonderful (Especially with short hair), she sounds wonderful, and she talked about how TRICK will be promoted with a great tour, that she was thinking about how she would present herself on stage while recording each track.
For my birthday, I’m ordering her entire discography, just like last year with Utada Hikaru, but this time, I’m ordering it with expresso shipping so it won’t arrive 2 months after its actual planned arrival date. I’ll also pre-order TRICK (That will be released one day after my birthday) and be checking out her PVs (Music videos) and a few of her concerts. I’m really excited!
