Nostalgy : Marmalade Boy!

*O.M.G.*

I couldn’t sleep and suddenly felt SO nostalgic.

MARMALADE BOY! I watched it from summer 1997. Wow. 11 years ago!

It looks so old fashionned now. (wait…it did back then too XD)

Waaaaaaaaah. The voice actors…….

Miki… Mariko Kouda<3333333

Yuu…Ryoutarou Okiyasomething (???? ok, too lazy to look it up, haha!!)

Suzu…wasn’t that Sakura Tange’s voice acting debut role??! (same VA as Sakura in CCS)

Kei.. Akira Ishida <333333333 (Chrno from Chrno Crusade!!! ;0; <3 )

Arimi : Aya Hisakawa <3333333

Nacchan : The same person who does Mamoru’voice (Tuxedo Mask/Kamen)… Tohru Furuya? (I hope I didn’t mistake his name)

etc, etc…………

Wow. I am so in love again.

*wipes tears of joy*

Goodnight! <3

-HIMEKA

Contestant #7, Animax Anime Song Grand Prix finalist

*drum rolls*
It wasn’t easy, but I went through the Tokyo semi-finals and made it to the finals for the Animax contest.
We are 2 finalists from Tokyo, so there should be 2 finalists from each city. (The finals are on September 21st, so I’ll make sure to get ready!!)

I hope I can improve my nervousness level and control my voice better.
For the stage presence, I know I need to work harder…
And for the interviews…….I’m NO GOOD. T_T;;; Not just due to my level of japanese. I’m very camera-shy. I got completely insecure mostly cause of that. I don’t want to be interviewed… ;_; (lol) *runs away from the camera*

But hey! I was number 7! (nana-ban …hahaha…and my song was a NANA Mizuki song )
All the contestants were so serious about the contest. They all are aspiring anime singers, voice actors or idols… Some of them are really doing things on the side to try to achieve their dreams at the moment. They were all lovely people. Some of them were really nice. Some of them were cool. Some of them were so cute. *_* <3

I really had a great experience and I’m very grateful to have a chance to be in the finals.
Since everyone worked so hard, I want to do my best and not disappoint anyone.

Afterwards, I went to eat a very late dinner with Nano, Yuki and Phil (who’s not on the picture, he took it…sorry!! >_<)

The day after, I saw a parade on the street when I finished work. Waaaah! <3 It was awesome. But it was raining a bit.

I have to go get ready for some more singing practice today, since I don’t have work.
Gonna go do that now.
Then afterwards, I’m going to watch Nano perform at open mic tonight.
Go Nano!!! <333

Many thanks to all of you who give me support.
I do read all your comments.
I won’t let you down!!!

-HIMEKA

August 23rd, CONTEST TIME!

I’m alive!!!!!!!

No, seriously. I’ve been wanting to post, I swear.

Last week, I went to Asakusa to the temple and got an omikuji.
To my greatest surprise, I got the FIRST one. I mean, out of….how many? 100? I got number 1? Haha, that was funny. But the best thing was…. it was a GOOD fortune! (Best fortune). So all that was written on it was good. BRING IT ON, THE FUTURE! <3 (Wow, did I really become lucky now?)

I go watch Nano perform at open mic every week. Along with Yuki. Nano is awesome. I can’t believe how much she’s improved ever since she started doing this. *cheers for Nano*

The other day I walked around Shinjuku station and found a wonderful singer performing. I know I heard the song before…but not sure where. Maybe it was on TV. I can just say one thing : She was too amazing LIVE. She sounded perfect. I couldn’t believe my ears. It was very folk-ish, which is definitely not easy to sing. And despite that she was just one girl with a mic and standing on the ground with nothing else around her, she had so much passion and presence that it really mesmerized me.

Her name is Mika Kamita.
I bought the CD that included that one song…. and she offered to sign it for me!
I was so happy. XD

Tomorrow……..erm…TODAY now (wow, already 1am),
is the Animax Grand Prix contest.
It’s a bit hard for me to believe it. I still feel in my little everyday life. Am I really gonna sing tomorrow?? (er..today?) I don’t want to think about doing good. I don’t wanna think about anything.

I just want to think about singing. And feeling the song.
As much as I wish I could do everything perfectly, I think worrying too much about everything is just going to make it worse.
I’ve had some stage experience before, but pretty seldomly………
And now it’s been 2 years since the last time.
I don’t want to let the stage fright ruin my own enjoyment!!
I hope I meet a lot of formidable contestants who share the same passion and that I can enjoy the day with, since we have to be there starting 10am. I wish I could be in the audience to watch the show though!! It would be nice if we had a back screen….

Anyway, I’m singing ‘ETERNAL BLAZE’ by Nana Mizuki.
I admire her (Nana) so much.
Nana sounds incredible live. And this song is so difficult.
I think the hardest part is the ‘mirai e’. Somehow, ending high head voice notes in head voice is easy with ‘i (ee)’ and ‘u (oo)’ sounds…..but ‘e (eh)’ is really REALLY difficult. Even when I practice, I don’t do well on it half the time. I wanted to find a trick, but I wasn’t able to. Please cross your fingers that I don’t mess up there. XD I’ll do my best!! ^_^

YAY! Let’s all enjoy (what?)!

-HIMEKA

 

 

 

Giant…peanut? o_O;

My boss let me finish early tonight because there weren’t a lot of customers anymore.
I was really happy! Because before that, today was REALLY busy.

I treated myself to some ice cream.

And then I unexpectedly (previously unplanned) encountered a giant peanut (with arms and legs AKA Yuki), featured in this post’s picture. Haha. Okay, it wasn’t my idea to call her a peanut but HERS, but it’s funny!! XD

This upcoming week, I have more days off work.
Most of the people I knew in Japan have gone back to their own country, but I still have to say goodbye to a few. So I’m gonna hang out with them a little this week before they leave.

-HIMEKA

Karaoke practice, etc

I got my pay a little earlier than planned, so I was able to go practice at karaoke on friday night!

It has not been easy to keep money aside to go practice, but I think it will get easier now that I’m working a lot.

I have been partly practicing for the upcoming Animax anime song contest in 2 weeks.
I know that my weak points are stage presence and my incredible nervousness.
I still hope I’ll enjoy this experience as much as possible.
And hopefully meet new people.

Singing is always a fun thing to do, so I’m always doing my best to remember to enjoy doing it. Music shouldn’t be a duty. Music is about feeling and I’ll never change my mind on that, even if it becomes my work eventually.

I have a long shift tomorrow (now today…oops, it’s already passed midnight!). 10am until midnight. So I will go to bed now!
Goodnight!

No matter what, I won’t give up!

Thank you for reading.
And all the kind comments.
They mean a lot to me, especially these days.

-HIMEKA

Today is 8-8-8 (date).

Thank you for everything….
God, life, people….
For finding a way to let me be okay financially. And to be able to eat.
Even if I’m very tight with my budget, what matters the most is that I have enough to survive with.
I’m very grateful for that.
Thank you so much.

-HIMEKA