43...diy

Having spent the first half of my summer vacation travelling around (i will get around to uploading photos soon), i think it's time for me to sit down and sort out things in my room and start...well getting a move on with the next section of my life (way to go at being dramatic!). There are so many clusters of items i've collected over the years, which i can now only see as bits and bobs that take up the majority of the space on my bookshelf, causing the actual books that should be there to be piled up elsewhere in my room. So here i'm making a public announcement of things that i need to clear + do:

1. Sort out whatever it is i've jammed into these drawers.

2. Figure out what to do with these little things.

Too many stuffed animals - they're all too precious to throw away though

(i have too many keyholders hanging around in random places...)

Now that is a mess. 

3. Find a better way to store my bags.

i feel like this picture says it all ^^;

4. Think of a more practical way to store posters and fliers (since they sadly don't have a place on my wall)

5. Dig deep and find my creative mojo and diy this bag.

What're things you need to do over this summer:)?

42...music + art

Mini post: My sister has recently been on a roll and she's working on more artwork than ever, moving on to bigger projects and pieces - and i am so happy to see her back with her "creative juices" (as she likes to call it).

Some more artsy fun for you:
・I LOOK & MOVE
(Stop motion video)
・Ballet dancers in random situations
(From Lost At E Minor - i want to do this:)
・fuckyeahillustrativeart
(One of my favorite tumblr accounts)
・Minieco
(Cute craft blog)

41...tokyo rainbow pride

Yesterday, i was able to go to the Tokyo Rainbow Pride (held at Yoyogi park in Shibuya, Tokyo) for the first time - and as the little cloud on the banner stand says, "Happy Pride" was everywhere i turned. There were people from all sorts of backgrounds there, all gathered to support and share love with the LGBT community in Japan. For those of you who don't know what it's all about, you can go here (Japanese) or here (English) to check it out.

Quick background info: The first ever Tokyo Pride Parade was held in 1994, but due to lack of funding and organisation, it took over 8 years until it was held again. The TRP is currently an NPO run by volunteers and supporters and this year it was funded by the Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health in Tokyo, as well as the American, British and German embassies in Japan.

While walking along with the parade, i saw a few same-sex couples holding hands and supporting the parade from the sidewalk. Out of the 11 years i've lived in Japan, i don't remember seeing that while walking around everyday. I don't know how much people suffer just to be able to proudly hold hands with their loved ones all around the world, but if small things like this are going to help open more minds and create a safer and better place for everyone, i'd like to be a part of it.

Of course, i couldn't resist taking a ton of shots at such a colorful and wonderful event so without further ado:

Just two of the many glamorous people we bumped into

Since it was the 27th, we showed off some love by supporting #27GO,

a movement that began in January this year supporting LGBTs in Japan.

27 GO

People who turned up to the event that day could show their support by

joining in with one of the 15 floats in the parade. I joined in with Tokyo Diversity/東京大行進 

TOKYO NO H8, a group striving to lessen racial/sexual/social discrimination.

TOKYO DIVERSITY

40...yokohama

Intern/job hunting is tough & i have a ton of photos to upload - aiaiai, thank you Karin for reminding me to keep this up - i will be going to document bits of the lgbt rainbow parade tomorrow (@ Yoyogi park!) so will definitely have to blog about that which means see you in two days...i won't forget;)

39...its been a long week

The title of this post says it all!
Now, since it's March 11th, i know that i would have blogged about that if it weren't for something else that happened last week. Connecting this with all that's being posted and broadcasted about the 3/11 on the media, it makes me think about and reflect on everyone around me, my relation to them, and on myself. What are accomplishments and what do they mean in this ever-flowing indescribable thing called life? Usually (and in this case too) these thoughts are left unanswered inside me, and kind of just hang around in my head, waiting to be dealt with again, but the fogginess around them seems to be clearing.

Going back to the title of this post, sometimes i think "aiaiai, is this week ever going to end?" and then before i know it, a week and a day has gone by without me being able to process any of the events that went by. It took me a while to realise that time isn't being unkind by constantly flowing by; it's merely doing its job and letting us move on and face the day (literally) when we don't have the strength or courage to do so by ourselves. So for today, i'm really thankful for that.

38...there...and back again

First i need to apologise again for the lack of posts. It was lovely though that a friend i made through google+ had noticed my absence and said "welcome back" when she saw i came back. I think that its small things like this that make everything worth it all.
Now that my exams are over, and my papers carelessly done and tossed aside, i finally have more time to be a sloth and catch up on some long neglected books that i've piled on the floor.
Empty Cradles & The Dark Room are two of them but can't wait to tackle them.

ただいま!

37...same city?

Aiaiai, i've neglected this too long but i'll just wriggle out the situation by saying it's never too late to pick things up again & restart - so here is my long overdue post! With Valentines right around the corner, i was thinking of posting something on that, but love is such a difficult topic to tackle, i'll have to wrack my brain more before i post that. But in the meantime, some snapshots of Yokohama/Kannai last Saturday: (can you spot a cat somewhere?)