Filed under: Friends and Family
I’d like to shout-out to Haruka, my newest reader! She’s an Utada fan just like me and we have many interests in common, so I hope she’s enjoying my blog as much as I’m enjoying her company here!
She’s the sweetest, so I’m really happy she checks HEART STATION out every once in a while, I hope you keep coming back, Ruka! You’re always welcome! ♥
You’re a rocker!
Lots of care!
Alvy
Like I had announced before, Cary and I were planning to have a webchat with you guys! Cary seems like she really wants to use Stickam for this, so we’ll be on it tomorrow (August 21st) at around 5 p.m. (UTC -3 time)!
We hope to see you there! I hope you come up with some really interesting topics and questions for us! We’ll try to make it worth your while, but sometimes we might need some help because it is the first time we do this.
Webcams aren’t required, of course, but if you do stop by, be sure to chat with us through the text window so we know what you want to share with us or so we can answer any questions you might have. We plan on being on for 1 hour or so, but this can change depending on the topics and how many of you want to spend some time with us!
Keep up with the updates from my Twitter page, because I’ll be putting up the link for our space there, but I’ll put it here as well, as soon as we’re on.
Hope to see you there!
EDIT: WE’RE LIVE
EDIT: We had a lot of fun with the people that joined us. Thank you! We really appreciated your visits!
This is nothing new for Twitter users, but every friday, Twitterers from all over the world join in for the Follow Friday (#followfriday), where you recommend users you really enjoy to other users, but I’m really picky, so if I were to #followfriday, I’d keep recommending the same people, so this week I decided to work on something different and collect some of the best replies/tweets I’ve read recently from some of my favorite Twitterers, of course, the list is huge for my favorite Twitterers and some don’t show up now, but they’ll certainly show up later when I put more thought into older tweets and as time brings me some really hilarious moments to share with them.
Yesterday, a friend that used to live here in Brazil was online and we were talking and she brought up her project about food and asked me if I had any snacks. I thought my response was too random and awesome to be left out of Twitter, and this is how it went outside of the MSN window and onto the Twitter screen:
These random statements generate the best responses. @HeyCameron is a follower that I have since the Utada event and he’s always been helping me out and talking to me when I need someone to talk to. Utada fans are so the best. Lucky bitch.
Of course, it’s not all about the laughs, sometimes I get really sweet tweets from others that really make me happy, so it’s also about the smiles:
and I also get the sweetest compliments every once in a while, and it makes it so much better when they’re from people that I have a great time with but who I don’t know personally:
Here, @junniorkopke says:
I was checking out your blog, wow very cool, I drooled about your English. I wanted to write posts in English for my blog as well, but my English is awful
I thought that was so sweet of him. We have a bunch of random conversations every once in a while, he’s great!
Sometimes I also get people describing my tweets randomly, like @adoniasjunior:
#atoron is equivalent to ‘loves it’ in English, and #perigon is similar to ‘dangerous’. I love these ‘-n’ ending words, they’re hilarious to me in Portuguese.
The friendly shout-outs I receive are also the cutest things. Some of them make me smile so hard that I can’t even think about what to reply (Like in the case of @Raphachan’s tweet), they’re seriously just too cute for words.
Of course, there’s a bunch of sweet little friendship tweets around, but I’d go crazy if I were to post them all here. I’ll be getting to them on the next volumes, though, so be sure that if you’re really sweet and cute and you love me just as much as I love you, you’ll be up here in no time!
Speaking of love, every now and then I also get little ‘I love you’ tweets that I think are so cute as well. ‘I love yous’ do have a certain limit, but I love to read it, so if you wanna make me happy, tweet me something special!
So cute. But the first person to tell me something like this on Twitter caused a little bit of controversy between some of my friends, I thought it was so cute. Thank you, @TheDannyNoriega! It was so much fun looking at people’s reactions. I love you all, you know it.
And then, of course, are my lovely, super cute and fun random conversations with my boys:
That’s why #followfridays are so monotonous for me. I have the cutest people already! So happy #followfriday and be sure to check out some of these super awesome Twitterers!
Entrance to the festival
I loved to attend the 30th edition of the Tanabata Matsuri last year, which also celebrated the 100 years of Japanese immigration to Brazil, but we weren’t able to stay for too long and enjoy all that the festival had to offer, so this year, I wanted to bring my friends, and Sofy came with me!
We decided to attend the festival on the 12th, the day when HEART STATION completes its second anniversary. It was a lot better because the festival started on Saturday, so it was basically already initiated and we got to enjoy it more!
Bamboo charged with wishes
We arrived at the other end of the festival this time, behind the stage, and we walked through the tents to check out what they were selling while looking for some Japanese food. There were many gift shops around us, full of little Japanese goodies that ranged from traditional to just contemporary and adorable. We looked around for a while before we got to the sushi booth. We ordered some hot rolls and california rolls for us and after we were done eating, decided that it’s time for that yearly wish that we hang up on the bamboos distributed through Liberdade. Sofy and I went for the yellow scroll (Meaning money), and wished for success, money, and I wished for happiness as well. After some time trying to figure out what to write and how to write Mega-sena (I ended up telling Sofy it was written ‘Mega-cena’), we went to look for a bamboo to hang them up, and we decided to put them up in the bamboo with the most wishes because we figured it’d give our wishes more energy from the other wishes… If they’re getting granted, ours better be granted too!
Beautiful balloons decorated the whole festival
We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. The waitress basically attacked us with her eyes when my father was oblivious to the fact that it was a Chinese restaurant and asked for sushi. She looked really mad and she wasn’t even Chinese… She had a bit of an attitude, but she was fun. I felt embarrassed that my parents had no idea it was a Chinese restaurant and kept asking for Japanese food. The name of the restaurant was Shanghai! Of course they’d only serve Chinese food. We wandered around some more, looking at the little booths that covered the streets and it was a lot of fun because everything was really simple but very cute and adorable. We reached the stage again, and stood there, listening to the band that was playing. They had performed two songs and I had this feeling that I’d be listening to some
Man watching the show through his window
Utada soon because it is a Japanese festival. After they were done, the man took the microphone and said that they’d be performing a beautiful ballad. I already took out my camera and waited for them to start First Love. He said that the ballad was broadcasted several times in Brazil, and I remembered this from my research for Utada’s fanbook, so I was already jumping up and down. When he said First Love, I told everyone to start filming and filmed it myself as well. It was beautiful and I was so happy that they performed an Utada song! People were even watching the performance from their homes.
After the dose of Utada that was so happily injected into our ears, we went to look for little gifts for our friends who unfortunately, couldn’t be there. We returned to the little gift shop we were liked and I bought gifts for Cary, Chris, JUNIOR and Rapha-cat. 3 out of the 4, I’m going to have to ship off because Chris, JUNIOR and Rapha-cat live far from me, but I hope they appreciate what I bought them!
The weather was so good yesterday and we had so much fun. When we were leaving, I took my time to photograph 3 balloons that reminded me of JUNIOR’s famous quote, “eu gosto de estrelas”! (“I like stars”) In the car, ready to go home, we drove by a really odd church that seemed to be more of a gay pride church and a shop very much in the mood for HEART STATION’s second anniversary because it’s called Station! Here are the three masterpieces that caught our eyes while we left the city of São Paulo:
"Eu gosto de estrelas" - JUNIOR
Pride church
"Station" Shop
We had a lot of fun, and I got to read some really sweet comments about HEART STATION’s second anniversary when I got home. It was great to spend time with Sofy and the festival was delicious, beautiful and certainly inviting us to join in once again next year! Hopefully with a much bigger group!
One of my favorite songs in my music library and one of the best I’ve ever listened to is How Many Times, How Many Lies by The Pussycat Dolls. The instrumentals just seem to sing with the vocalist and the lyrics are beyond words!
How Many Times, How Many Lies
They would try to tell me something
Oh, but I was hearing nothing
When they said you was just playing me
I didn’t listen
I didn’t want to
You couldn’t find a blinder fool
I’m here
Searching through the wreckage
Wondering why the message never got through
And I found I misplaced all of my faith
How could I put my faith in you?How many times?
How many lies?
How long you been sneaking?
How long you been creeping around?
How many lies?
How many times?
Were you here deceiving
While I was here believing in youI got to put the blame on myself
Should’ve known with everyone else
Just knowing they knew you was just bad news
I should’ve walked out (I should’ve walked out)
I should’ve seen clear (I should’ve seen clear)
I’m glad your sad ass is out of here
I’ve gone and thrown out all the records
All the ones that ever reminded me of you
I’ve gone and tore up all the pictures
‘Cause there was not one shred of truthThere were so many times
There were so many lies
I don’t know why I stayed on you
There were so many days
There were so many games
I should’ve thrown your sad ass out
But now the game is through
I’ll never trust in you
I’ve finally got wise
I opened up my eyes
Your game is overI’ve gone and thrown out all the records
All the ones that ever reminded me of you
I’ve gone and tore up all the pictures
‘Cause there was not one shred of truth
Love the times, love the lies
Recently this song has taken a whole different meaning for me, and it made me love it so much more. My situation has nothing to do with love, though, especially now that it’s so far from that. I’m really upset about everything because it just reached a whole other level, it takes two to tango, and honestly, if you ask me out to dance, I’ll rock you out.
I’m a pretty honest person, lying isn’t my nature, and I like people to tell me the truth straightforward, with no hesitation. I don’t need to be protected from the ugly all the time, and if there’s something people have against me, I’d rather hear it right then and there. To be fooled is like building fake feelings off a true base, or vice versa, even, and I hate it. I don’t respect it one bit, especially in my case. It’s not like I didn’t see it coming, but it’s not like I ever wanted it to come.
Now that I look back, I went completely berserk. I guess it was just that if I didn’t do what I did, nobody would do it for me, and this type of argument did happen before, it brought me down, and I understand why these types of arguments come up, but if they do come up more than once, it’s because there’s some truth to what that certain person thought about me.
Maybe I should have stayed cool, just went along with it, but it was frustrating me. I guess now it’s too late, but let my pain be the reason of your pleasure (Isn’t that what blogs are for?) and enjoy the beautiful live version of How Many Times, How Many Lies!
I’ve been thinking a lot, especially now that our 4-day weekend began, and I’ve been so happy lately because of a balance I found between my personal life and my internet life! Our school has a shared values program and every quarter we get to meet up with other students and share our thoughts about a certain topic, and this time it’s what we have up on the internet about ourselves. I met some really amazing people online and I’ve had no problems with it so far, and even though I know that some people go through real trouble because of the internet, it’s not my case (I think…), and the conversation might get a bit heated if some hypocrites start saying that internet exposure is as bad as running around naked in a dark alley by a bar like they always pretend it’s like.
I’ve also been thinking about what’s becoming of me now that I began communicating with so many different people I don’t know personally, and I feel like I’m opening myself a lot more, breaking out of the rest of my shell and as much as it’s hard to admit, I’m getting a lot more friendly… No, maybe it’s just that “kawaii” side of me that awakens and makes me sound friendlier. I don’t know, since I’ve been labeled the “nice one” of Utada.com.br… I think it’s just because they don’t know me in real life and assume that I’m so sugar-coated.
One thing I also noticed is the fact that depending on the language I speak, I act a certain way. Portuguese is my cute-sugar-coated-friendly-guards-down language, while when I speak in English, I’m the I-don’t-care-about-that-bitch-so-talk-about-something-I’m-actually-interested-in language, which is really weird. Maybe I’ve been so exclusive to speaking English daily that the last time I spoke in Portuguese daily, I was in like 4th grade, and the 10-year old Alvy got trapped within the language and it’s being released now that I’m using it daily again to talk to my friends over at Utada.com.br. Or maybe I’m just over-thinking this and nobody understood what I’m trying to say.
Maybe I should start naming my alter-egos like Tila Tequila and her alter-ego, Jane. Any suggestions for good me and evil me? I’ll see if I can think of something and I’ll share it when I figure it out! But if you think of anything, let me know!
Okay, Now it’s time for some awesome quotes by our favorite generic Jessica Alba, Danny Noriega!
If you call me fat again, I’ll spray your ass with mace
I’m a purple, sexy, intense, vampire ninja pickle
I fell in front of one of my crushes and I turned red as a cute little tomato and I ran. THAT was TMTH!
These quotes have got to be my favorite ones out of any others in the world! They’re so cute! Well, maybe not the first one, but I feel like the first one is something I’d say.
Is it only me or is this post random and completely unlike other posts I’ve written? (With the number of bad names, going from my alter-egos to Danny Noriega and then to my bilingual disorder?) Uh-oh… Another alter-ego kicking in?
Some time back, I was talking to Mr. raphachan and he happened to make 3 great headers for me! Here they are:
They’re all really cute and show a lot of personality! The second one features Utada’s crush in her music video for Can You Keep A Secret?, and his name is Pino! Really cute, right?
Anyway, we were just talking over MSN, and a really fun moment was when we were commenting on Tommy February6’s song, Lonely In Gorgeous, when out of the blue, I said:
I feel like listening to the song now
and he said
I feel like listening to the remix now
and this is exactly what he told me in the first day we actually got to talk. I’m his defective alter ego/clone… We like the same things, only slightly differently… I like Womanizer, he likes Break The Ice, I like original songs, and he’s a remix addict… but this only makes things a lot more fun! It’s fun having a defective alter ego!
After our moment of defective synchrony, he sent me a few more headers that are also great:
Thanks, raphachan for the great headers! They’re great and it means a lot that you spent time on creating them for me!
I love being a blog-writer! I met many amazing people through my blog and many amazing people I know are/were blog-writers. Lately some people have been adding me to their blogroll, which is truly an honor to me! I’ve also been adding some people that I think have something really good going on with their own blogs. Some are no longer active, but others are active and lovin’ it!
Not only have I met incredible people on WordPress, but also in Utada.com.br, the fansite that I work for as a translator. I love both my jobs as a blog-writer and as a translator because I get to communicate with with people that share the same interests as me, only with different opinions! Blog-writers rock!
Adonias Junior: I don’t know if he’s an active or inactive blog-writer… Probably inactive, unfortunately. He’s the boss over at Utada.com.br and an amazing and charismatic writer! He’s certainly really good with his words and really friendly towards people! Mr. Boss is certainly really fun to talk to and I admire his skills as a writer and a web-designer!
cucupan: Owner of the best Japanese cover art website I know and a really fun and polite person. When I asked for some help with a²fiction, he was so supportive, and gave me really good suggestions for artists I could review! He has a really cute avatar picture and I loved to get to know him since I’m a great fan of his and he’s so friendly!
Arisa: My first blogspot link and also a new reader to my blog just like I’m a new reader to Aesthetic Rhapsody. We both have review blogs so it’s good to look at how the other one is doing and possibly receive good reviewing recommendations! Arisa covers music ranging from Ayumi Hamasaki to anime and the reviews are really clear!
.nodame: I’ve been reading her blog because I love everything about it! Her writing style is unique, clear, humorous and her opinions are so incredible! She’s also really sweet to her readers and takes opinions into consideration even if she’s against it! Her blog is certainly one of the best on Asian pop culture because of the uniqueness and everyone’s opinions on what she writes about! There’s a little bit of everything and I love to check it out! I mean, a girl who put up a picture of her wearing bunny ears certainly has style, edge and awesomeness!
chrisgg: One of my closest friends. She’s Korean and came to Brazil because of her father’s job, but completely won our hearts because of her cuteness, her hilarious quotes and absolutely cute way of speaking in English. She’s not an active blog-writer anymore, and all her posts are gone, basically, except for one she wrote in October of 2008. We still love her, even though she’s not showing us her writing talents anymore.
lsn2aki: The first review blog I added to my blogroll and the author has really good comments for each track reviewed. I usually agree with everything I read on Distant Kingdom and it’s an honor to have lsn2aki read my blog! Distant Kingdom is a really good review blog that mixes eastern and western music with really witty reviews!
heysup and Cinny: A pair of BFFs who I happen to know from school and that keep a really cute, organized blog with a warm group of friends that comment on each post! Their opinions can be quite unpredictable and a bit random sometimes, but that’s what makes them so hilarious and unique to read about! A couple of really creative, fun friends.
empress: How could I even write a post about my favorite blog-writers without mentioning my first contact with other blog-writers and the creator of my favorite gothic blog, Ms. EmpressOfDrac! A fun blog-writer with awesome writing skills and really creepy posts! I love them, though. She has really original points of view on many controversial topics and I love her honesty about them.
jenniferbq: My hilarious computer teacher who decided to become a blog-writer! Her blog is filled with sweetness, really hilarious moments and her point of view on those moments are so precious. She writes with wittiness, humor and warmth about her family and friends. She has an amazing personality and a joy to talk to and read about!
raphachan: I met him over at Utada.com.br and our conversations are just priceless! We started our review blogs almost at the same time, so I have a fellow blog-writer to share my opinions with! He calls me his defective alter ego, which I guess could be true, since we like the same type of music but different songs (Most of the time, by the same artist). He’s one hilarious writer.
sushiseaweed: One of my recent readers and I’m one of sushi’s recent readers too! sushi commented on my page and I noticed I had read Sushi’s Obsessions before and I had loved sushi’s opinion on Ayu’s Rule/Sparkle single. Straight to my blogroll.
Sofy: One of my best friends and also a blog-writer. Sofy has so much talent as a writer, and it’s too bad that she’s no longer an active blog-writer, because her posts are filled with personality and the topics she writes about are mostly trivial, but she mixes up humor with her cuteness and beautiful use of vocabulary to entertain the readers with lots of news about her favorite actress, Alyson Hannigan and about her life too! Her blog is honest, cute and witty!
annefisler and gina: Baby C (gina) is currently an inactive blog-writer, but her mother, annefisler is, but every once in a while, Baby C is featured in her mom’s blog as a guest writer and as a model! The blog is always really cute, full of personality and pumpkins! The posts are so sweet, and it’s about how annefisler is going through cancer and the wonderful moments she spends with friends and family! A heartwarming blog.
pamelagherini: I guess the title of her blog already gives you an image of the author! there was never a genius without a tincture of madness is a pretty good title in my opinion! Also a personal friend from school who mixes many different things in her writing. Brazilian culture, politics, music, her life, it’s a pretty random blog but with really interesting posts!
laulane: Laura is a romantic girl with a romantic blog. She has a really positive aura to her and her blog has that same quality. She’s still a beginner, but she writes really well, and a it’s a pleasure to read posts by her! Her blog is a mixture of reality with dance and lots of friendship. She’s also a friend from school.
carytelio: A Shakespeare fan and a girl that loves to laugh at anything. She’s also a friend from school who started her solo blog-writing before Sofy and I. She’s also the first one that quit, though… She writes occasionally and her posts are really cute and funny, so it’s always special when she does write.
It’s my pleasure to know so many awesome people over the internet and to know so many awesome people who decide to publish their lives on the internet!
Thank you anyone who has added HEART STATION or a²fiction to their blogroll or bookmarked it and to anyone that has contributed to the 30,000 views of HEART STATION!
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!
