The Body Shop Indian Gardenia

After wearing both the perfume oil and the eau de parfum, I give this fragrance a thumbs up.

Neither version lasts very long, but it's a warm, pretty perfume. So far it's the only thing I want to wear this very cold winter. I have built up rather a stock of samples and perfumes to retry during the spring and summer.

Now, I want to try some perfumes that smell like English teas with lemon and sugar. Green teas remind me too much of green tea ice cream.

I'm still addicted to almond scented bath products, but they're pretty hard to find. I can't stomach the 100% markup over U.S. prices in L'Occitane's Japanese stores, and Lush only has the winter season Snowcake soap available (now gone for the year). Maybe I'll try L'Occitane's almond hand soap.

The Body Shop Pink Pepper Eau de Parfum and Passion Fruit Eau de Parfum

Pink Pepper is peppery and sweet. I don't think I like pepper much.

Passion Fruit was initially sweet but turned into vegetables on me. Rather curious.

Pride and Prejudice

The movie just came to theatres in Japan a couple weeks ago. You know, I don't think I want to watch a version of Pride and Prejudice that doesn't have Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

He just had the perfect combination of natural arrogance and sensibility for the part.

I'll just have to buy the BBC miniseries. I wonder if my mother would like it. It's only $26.17 at overstock.com!

All the Slam Dunk english comic books

Did I mention that I bought the entire set of the Slam Dunk manga (a basketball masterpiece) in the Singapore English edition? All 31 books in one fell swoop at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku. I also got a set for my cousin, who is still waiting for the last 8 books (that I am being lazy about mailing). The U.S. edition only got up to volume 5 before the publisher folded.

The Kinokuniya staff must think I'm obsessed, heh. I wonder if the Singapore publisher is noticing high sales in Japan.

I still want the Slam Dunk Perfect Edition (Japanese only), which is 24 large format books with lovely covers and nice paper. But that would come to another $250 or so, when I already have the regular Japanese version (mostly used books) and now the English one. Maybe when I'm completely fluent in Japanese.

The life of a moderate otaku. (-_-;) I can say I'm moderate because:
a) I have savings. Every month even!
b) My conversation doesn't relate to Slam Dunk and Studio Ghibli (most of the time)
c) Reasons too innumerable to list.

Minus point:
a) I don't particularly care about college or pro basketball (but the women's teams rock!!) but I adore this comic
b) The need to defend myself against the label "otaku" is itself a little incriminating
c) Knowing what "otaku" means is also a little incriminating (Otaku is a Japanese colloquialism for fanatic [such as comic fanatic/video-game addict] according to my dictionary. I was going to say anime geek. In the U.S. it just means Japanese anime/manga fan, methinks).

I am apparently a nerd because I say "parse" to mean distinguishing individual words in a sentence.

collectibles

Today I succumbed to the lure of 8 varieties of little Hello Kitty figurines dressed up in various winter olympic sports outfits. They come as extras with Lipton's Limone lemon tea bottles. The drink itself is ok, but I wouldn't have bought it without the Hello Kitty figures. I don't normally like Hello Kitty, but these dressed up versions are cute. You should see the snowman version. I must get that one. I'll put a picture online sometime this month, haha.

movies that I am looking forward to

* "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (単騎、千里を走る。)," the new Zhang Yimou film starring Ken Takakura (revered Japanese actor)

* The Chronicles of Narnia movie (loved the books as a child)

* The new Wallace and Gromit movie

I'd like to see Narnia in the theatre, but I will see the Zhang Yimou film in the theatre if I have to go by myself.

have no will power

This month I bought Lanvin Eclat d'Arpege for about $15. It's very light and might be nice for summer. We'll see. So far, it's just ok. The top notes are lovely! Citrusy, bright, and a little sweet, but after fifteen minutes or so it turns powdery and soft and stays that way.

I also bought The Body Shop's Indian Gardenia eau de parfum. They're no longer carrying it in Japan (perhaps discontinuing it altogether?) and although I already have the perfume oil, I wanted the EDP also. It's nice! A bit lighter than the perfume oil, but lasts a little longer.