Ich bin krank...

German meaning "I am sick..." and while on annual leave! What bad luck! And I had so many plans - yoga, drawing, etc. but I'm stuck at home!!! It's not fair! [sob] So the only thing I can do is sleep, eat, watch TV and go on the internet! Well, at least something made my day today - Skip Beat! chapter 153 is out already... but didn't the last chapter say that it'll be out on 20 Feb?! Ah well, I'm not complaining... and the chapter's all scanlated, happy days! A scene from the latest chapter: Kyoko-chan, runnnnnnn!

Okay, resting time now... Hope I'll feel better in time for my trip! Amin!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

2010: Year of the Tiger - Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Ooh, tomorrow's Chinese New Year! Angpow galore, hahaha! Anyway, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all those celebrating. Coincidentally, it's also St Valentine's Day, so much love to all, hehe! ;D

Oh yeah, lots of February birthdays - 03 Feb (Nynna), 02 Feb (Dad) and 08 Feb (Laupan); HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I'm currently on annual leave at the mo, so lots of plans - going to start yoga again from next Tuesday onwards (William, your studio is open then?), more drawing (I promise, Pip!) and catching up on work (unfortunately, hehe!).

Last night, I caught a movie called "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" with my niece, Pip! It was cool, I love mythological stuff, the effects were awesome, lots of familiar faces - I'd give it an 8.5! XD

Finally, a quick scene from the latest Skip Beat chapter (152) - can you guess who that guy is? Hehe, it's getting more and more interesting! >;) Can't wait for the next installment on 20 February 2010!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Happy Christmas 2009!

Just a quick message to wish everyone celebrating a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope you all had a brilliant day with lots and lots of pressies! Well, I didn't have lots, hehe - only one but its totally kawaii!!! A huge domou arigatou to the one who gave it to me, you know who you are! [big hug] I'll post a picture of the gift later! For now, here's an artwork I did this week to celebrate the occasion (Thanks for encouraging me, Pip!):

Oh yeah, Adeline celebrated her birthday on Christmas Eve, so ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG, ADS!!!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Greetings from Oz!

Haha... well, I'm definitely not in Kansas! ;) Finally taking some leave and decided to spend it visiting my cousin in Melbourne. But guess what, I'm still working on my holidays!!! My friend was right, I shouldn't plan my holidays too much in advance, especially when one has such a busy work schedule.. but what can I do? It's the only way to get good prices on flights! :( Anyway, since it turned out this way, I had to compromise - day time for holidaying and night time for working. Now it's well after 3 am, I should rest but still have work to do... luckily tomorrow is an easy day, not like this morning, where we had to catch a bus at 7.35 a.m. for the Great Ocean Road Tour. It was great, very scenic, saw The Twelve Apostles (though there are only 8 now, haha!) both on land and by helicopter (not included in the tour package!), Lock Ard Gorge, etc. Oh yeah, I saw kangaroos and ONE curled up koala on a tree (they're hard to see, very well camourflaged!), it was sooo kawaii! Hmmm, okay, I think I'd better go... I'm supposed to be working! Later! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

New look for Christmas!

Hehe, a quick post before I go off for lunch. I decided to change the design of the blog a little. It's Christmas in a few weeks, a holiday celebrated by many of my friends so I wanted to mark the occasion with an appropriate design. Just something simple... and the image of the snowflake isn't mine! XD

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Photos: Anime Festival Asia 2008

If you didn't know, I was in Singapore with my two cousins (Pinah and Nurul) over the weekend, flew over Saturday morning and back Sunday night, and if you don't think that's enough time to do much, think again - it is possible to do anything if you plan ahead and don't dawdle! Singapore is small with an extremely efficient transport system! I did 95% of the shopping I planned (which was actually a lot!) as well as attend the anime convention that was on in Suntec City!

Anyway, below are some photos taken at the anime convention (AFA '8) - it's been a while since I went to one. This one wasn't as big as the ones in UK but it was good fun! I have to say, cosplayers in Singapore can really pull it off. XD The coolest one of the lot is a Mobile Suit Gundam cosplayer - hats off to the guy! He even got on our local paper, the Borneo Bulletin! I didn't buy anything at the convention, though there was something that is on my wishlist - a Wacom Cintiq tablet! My god, the smallest one (A4 size, I think) cost almost $2000! I think it'll be quite a loooong while before I even dream of getting this one. Thank goodness I already have a tablet! One other plus at the convention was that I got to take a photo with a huge poster of my favourite manga/anime series, Skip Beat! I want that poster for my room!!!

All in all, it was a good break last weekend! Thank god for Sat+Sun weekends (as oppose to Fri+Sun ones, hehe!).

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Best wishes to all...

It is almost the end of the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. I think it was a good day, albeit a bit tiring. Tomorrow will be even more hectic, I think, but oh well... Right, just wishing every Muslim out there:

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!!!
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Singapore Shopping Spree!

Online at my hotel room in Singapore! Very swish, hehe! Anyway, I arrived in Singapore just after 6 am this morning, surprisingly not too jetlagged. It's one of the advantages of flying Business Class, haha (yes, I'm rubbing it in! ;p)! Anyway, the temperature in Singapore upon arrival was 26 deg C, which was lower than in Berlin, but I found it felt hotter in Singapore, could be the high humidity! :(

Anyway, intention in Singapore? Shopping, of course! Main attraction? Kinokuniya, haha! The biggest and bestest (I know, this is grammatically incorrect! ;p) bookstore in the whole entire universe (I think this could be erroneous, too, haha!). But anyway... I did most of my shopping in Kinokuniya, bought several manga, a book for Aniki, something cool for Rozi (not telling her. It's small but cool!), a recipe book for Aunty Linda (I wonder if I could bribe her to make me a cake with this... haha!) and something to read up on for a possible interview. Then I went upstairs to Art Friends (became a member for 10 SGD - I get 10% discount on all products!) and indulged myself by buying a 72-piece set of Copic Ciao markers! What an extravagance... but who knows when I'll be back in Singapore, so best to plan ahead, right?

I then had an early dinner at Sushi Tei in Takashimaya - wonderful! But not before I got some green tea ice cream and a cream cheese steamed cake! Then off to Far East Plaza beside my hotel to visit a small bookstore - got my romance fix, haha. And I also found something cool for Aniki (I hope it's cool... fingers crossed!). All in all, a VERY productive trip! XD

Right, time to say Tschuss! Bis Morgen, Brunei!!! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: Lin in Linz!

On the second last day in Bonn, we all went for a drive to Linz am Rhein (hehe, love the name of this village - can you guess why? ;p). By the way, this should not be mistaken for Linz in Austria! Before reaching Linz, we passed by the remains of the Ludendorff Bridge (a.k.a. Bridge of Remagen), which was of significance during World War II. The bridge was taken over by the Allied Forces since it was of strategic advantage, but several days after its capture, the bridge collapsed!

Anyway, Linz is really pretty, though I can't imagine living there - it's too small! XD I don't mind small cities, but small villages and towns are a bit too much for me to handle, haha! Anyway, my favourite part of Linz were the two armours of different sizes! The small one is sooo cute, hehe! Right, that's it about my trip! Now I should really get back to packing and whatnot! Bis spaeter!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: Break in Bonn!

We stayed in Bonn for two nights, but I didn't take many photos. Bonn's smaller than I expected, not in a bad way. Since it was the capital of Germany before Berlin, I just expected something larger and more industrial. Instead, Bonn reminds me more of a university city, like Cambridge and even Dublin - hence, I love it! And what's more, it is served by a brilliant public transport service, which was really lacking in Dublin, hehe! The size of the city is just right, I think and very green! I got a chance to see the University of Bonn in some detail, thanks to long2! I love the university, it reminds me so much of Trinity College Dublin, it's making me miss it a lot! Along the river, we came across a sundial which had the names of major cities on it and Dublin was there, so I reminisced yet again! Our stay in Bonn was both fun and tiring. Why tiring? Because we had to move hotels. The first night we stayed at the Dorint Hotel, up on a hill somewhere and near a forest! It was far from the city centre but so very relaxing, despite the "altmodisch" environment! The second night we stayed in the Maritim Hotel, fancier but extremely hectic as there was a huge UN convention being hosted there. So much security and thousands of people around! Along with Si long, I met up with Maarten and Nadine, so happy! Well, a little sad as well, since it's become obvious that my German has deteriorated! Ich muss wiederholen!!! I'll hit the books once I'm back in Brunei! Anyway, it was great seeing them again, will try my best to keep in touch with them! Nadine and I are online tandem partners. She'll help me with German and I'll help her with English, hehe! Well, onto my last post about my short holiday! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: Second day in Frankfurt!

Just arrived back in Berlin several hours ago! Arrived home to the new manga I ordered from Amazon and we also went to Al-Reda for an early dinner (yummy!). Anyway, back to the original topic, here are some photos taken on the second day in Frankfurt. My mum, Auntie Zaiton, her son and I went for a walk. None of us did any research as to what was there to visit, but fortunately, there were quite a number of interesting sights along the route we took! Started from the hotel we were staying in (The Westin Grand - very niceee!), walked towards the river, there was a cool looking church across from where we were walking - not sure which church it is. Strolled along the river till we got to a huge pedestrian bridge going over it. Didn't go over it, though. Decided to go back towards the hotel, using a different route. On the way, we came across Roemer (the city hall), the Archaeological Garden (on Domhuegel) and finally, the famous Frankfurt Cathedral (a.k.a. St Bartholomeus' Cathedral). Unfortunately, part of the cathedral was under renovation so I only got a photo of the top section! :( Anyway, I like Frankfurt, but I'm a bit of a city girl. It feels a bit different from Berlin, more huge modern buildings, more cosmopolitan... but I still like Berlin a lot, haha! Well, that's it about Berlin.

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: A little trip to Ruedesheim am Rhein

We decided to drive to the riverside town of Ruedesheim am Rhein this morning. But before that, we enjoyed the delights of Sunday brunch in the hotel we're staying in! I ate a lot, so there goes my diet, haha! ;p But it was worth it! And tonight will be sushi! Anyway, back to the original story, we set off to Ruedesheim, a quaint little town, though not so quaint today since it was hosting some motorcycle convention hosted by Harley-Davidson, haha!

Anyway, we parked beside the river and went for a walk towards Market Square, where the St Jacob's Catholic Parish Church is located. The architecture of the church is quite suited for the town. There were too many touristic souvenir shops for my liking, but ah well...

After the walk, we drove up to see the Niederwalddenkmal, which is located on a hill overlooking the town. It is a statue of Germania, which was built to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1871. One can get a wonderful view of the town and the Rhein River.

It really is a beautiful monument to behold. Unfortunately, some visitors who weren't very good at reading their own language ruined the beauty of it all. If you look closely on the second step in the second photo, there are the words "NICHT BESTEIGEN" carved into the monument, which means "DO NOT CLIMB". Even someone like me who only knows "nur ein bisschen Deutsch" could tell what it means. These lovely kids obviously took it literally, they weren't climbing after all, they were ONLY sitting. Well, dearies, how do you think you got to sit there in the first place?! Argggggh!!! And what's more, the adults who were with them ALLOWED them to do it! I remember when I and the SAT members (see two posts before) were told off (and almost reported to the Polizei!) for signing on the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery. There were NO signs telling us that we weren't allowed to do so, and lots... millions of signatures and graffiti already on it. It was an honest mistake on our part! But this... this obvious act of not following the rules irritates the hell out of me. I mean, it looked like the monument was currently being restored and they SIT on it! In Berlin, you get told off for doing something like what these kids are doing! Oh, a possibility may be that they don't speak German... Oh wait, what's that I hear... ohhh, they're speaking German! Grrrr! [takes a deep breath] Okay, I'd better stop ranting now, or else I'll ruin my mood for sushi tonight! So ja ne, minna-san!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: First day in Frankfurt!

Yayyy, I have interweb access in the hotel room in Frankfurt, and damn fast connection too! XD Anyway, felt like blogging so instead of doing a huge post about this trip, I'll do so in sections, so here's a recap of today's events!

We left Berlin at 9.30 am, though Dad said we were meant to leave at 9 am sharp. I actually was ready on the dot (though it caused me to forget to bring my camera! Hence, photos taken on this trip will not be of great quality since I'm using Dad's 2 Megapixel camera phone!) but the parents were dragging their feet! :p The drive from Berlin to Frankfurt took almost 8 hours! O.O It's not meant to take THAT long! [sigh] We had to make an important stop as well as an important detour... well, important in my parents' eyes, anyway, haha! Let me explain...

First important stop was in the form of... well, what is something Bruneians always think of... that's right, FOOD! XD My parents, especially my dear mother, are in love with this pastry called "Apfeltasche", literally translated as "apple bag", I think! They kind of look like little triangular bags, hehe. Extremely yummy when fresh! Anyway, Mum kept going on and on about it, even went on to say that the ones you get on the way to Austria were even better! I bet you she'd drive to Austria not to see the place but to get these pastries, haha! XD Hehe, doesn't my mum look so happy with her Apfeltasche!

Okay, that next important detour has to do with... what else, FOOD! Seriously! When we met the Bruneian students in Germany a few years back, it was in Mannheim, where my parents discovered a Turkish restaurant called Istanbul (unique name, isn't it... NOT!). They love the place sooo much, they would take a 2-hour detour from their destination just to go there! Not joking! So when they knew that it wasn't too far from Frankfurt by car, they decided once again to make that detour, arrggggh! However, they were a little disappointed this time, it seems the food was no longer as good as before. Ah well, I think that'll stop their little detouring habit, hehe! ;p

Well, not much else happened today. Oh wait, two things worth mentioning, but I might not mention one of them in this post because it's far too disgusting! Thinking about it just makes me want to gag! Anyway, the other thing was that the extra bed (for me!) that was meant to be placed in the living room of my parents' suite - reservations thought the daughter (i.e. yours truly) happened to be less than a year old, hehe. You can imagine the bed they set up for us, haha! XD Anyway, that's it for today's adventure! Will update again hopefully tomorrow! Gute Nacht!

Please note: Learning German has definitely caused problems in my English grammar! I've changed three errors so far, of which I will not mention in order to save me from the embarrassment, haha!

Second note: I just made AND fixed a grammatical error in my first memo! XD The situation's far worse than I thought!!!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."