::shattered.illusions::

This photo was taken at the local Natsu Matsuri (Japanese Summer Festival) at the Japanese school in Changi. :3 The Japanese Association (in conjuction with the school) organizes one each year!

As it's a Summer Festival, it typically takes place during August. Tickets are available through the Japanese association for members. You can also get tickets by queuing up in the school on the day itself! Go early, though, because the line is always very long.

You get a number of coupons with your ticket, and they can be used to redeem a meal (there is one main meal coupon) and various other food and beverage items. They have tradional/typical Japanese food items, and their drink selection covers the ordinary and goes off into less easily-found beverages such as ramune (a Japanese soft drink that comes in original or various fruit flavours). They also have Japanese beers like Asahi.

You can also use the coupons to play games! They have booths offering games traditionally found in Summer Festivals across Japan, such as the goldfish-catching game, and balloon fishing.

The goldfish game involves using a 'net' made out of rice paper stretched tightly over a circular plastic frame to scoop out goldfishes from a shallow pool into the bowl provided. You are given one 'net' per coupon, and allowed to catch as many fish as you can before the rice paper breaks. Scooping fish out using the bowl isn't allowed. =_= It's actually very possible to scoop out multiple goldfish before the rice paper breaks. I can only catch one each time, though. XD You're allowed to bring the caught fish home.

The balloon fishing game involves...fishing for balloons! XD You are given one aluminium (I think) hook attached to a strip of rice paper. There are many balloons floating in a pool similar to that used in the goldfish game, and each balloon has a rubber band loop tied to it. The aim o the game is to use your makeshift 'fishing line' to catch the balloons. The balloons have some water in them, however, which makes things a bit harder, especially if you've gotten the strip of paper wet. It's pretty easy to catch multiple balloons, though. The balloons can also be played with. Due to the water inside, they act like yo-yos. Slip a finger through the little rubber band ring and bounce it!

There are also 'lucky dip' booths where you can test your luck and win prizes from pencils and erasers and stickers to handheld and board games! I won 2 pencils. XD

Besides the game booths, they also have other booths, such as the fortune-telling booth. I've never tried that one personally (it requires so many coupons!) but I've heard that only women are allowed to have their fortunes told, or something like that...

This is me and my best friend at the Phillips Island visitors' centre! :3 We weren't allowed to take photos at the penguin-viewing areas because they're concerned that flash photography would scare the penguins.

We took this day trip during my 2006 visit. :3 It began in Melbourne, where we boarded the bus. They drove us to this ranch/farm where we stopped to have a tea of scones with jam and...tea. XD

There were many Australian animals in that ranch, including kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats, as well as less 'exotic' farm animals and poultry. While driving to and away from that place, we also saw many cows and bulls. XD

The bus brought us out of Victoria and to Phillips Island, home of the awesomely cute Fairy Penguins. I've heard that they've changed the name to a more politically-correct 'Little Penguins', but I think 'Fairy Penguins' sounds cuter. The island is so beautiful!!! I've got snapshots of the cliffs and shores in my Photos page--check them out!

The penguins only come out of the sea at dusk, which is why the tour is timed to bring us to the island near sunset. There's a special viewing area near the visitors' centre where tourists can watch the penguins making their way up from the shoreline! It's like a little arena with seats, and leads further back inland to platforms where the penguins can end up waddling by as close as just beyond touching distance!

These tiny penguins grow to about 8" or so as adults! That's so small! *__* And they're so wonderfully cute. X3 The visitors' centre, of course, has lots of exhibits featuring the penguins, as well as souvenir shops, where you can kill some of the time while waiting for nightfall. It's quite a good way to make sales--impulse-buying while waiting for the main attraction to begin. XD

This picture shows me and my best friend in the visitors' centre! If you squint a little, you might be able to make out vague penguin shapes in the background. ^^;; That's a huge diorama depicting penguins (stuffed ones, I believe) 'flying' around in their watery homes. :3 They really do look like their flying through the water when they swim!

After watching the Fairy Penguins, the tour bus took us to a nearby town for dinner, before dropping us back in the Melbourne city area. It's a good thing my best friend's apartment in within the city, because the tour ended rather late.

This was taken at Borders the last time Neil Gaiman came to Singapore! This was from the second day of his book-signing, the first having been at Kinokuniya in Ngee Ann City the night before (I went there too). XDDD I think he was autographing a friend's graphic novel at the time I took this. I was too enthralled at meeting him (again) to take one while he autographed mine. XD

I think he was in town promoting his new book "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish", or "Anansi Boys". Something like that.

I found out about the book-signing events after reading an article in the newspaper a few days before, and attended both days! XD I'm such a hardcore fan of his! He's a really cool guy.

I brought a few of my favourite volumes from my Sandman graphic novel collection to be signed. I think I managed to get 3 or 4 volumes in total autographed! *__* The lines were insanely long on both days. x_x I could only go down after class, so by the time I reached the bookstores, the queues were massive! The Kinokuniya line made a long, snaking line from Kinokuniya's usual author-feature area all the way through the travel and manga sections to end in the depths of the Japanese music scores area. And that was just where I joined the queue. I have no idea how long more it went on from there (likely though the rest of the Japanese sections).

It was supposed to have ended earlier, but Neil was a really great guy. He had a late dinner break, came back to autograph more books, and stayed back all the way past 11PM to finish the session. Dedicated guy, and really great to his fans! Even towards the end, he remained jovial and polite, if visibly fatigued, to the fans.

The second session was at Borders, at Wheelock Place. It was the same kind of madness, though if you asked me, I much preferred Kinokuniya's signing session. I was able to make it down a bit earlier to Borders, since my classes had ended earlier that day, but the line was even longer! I felt that Borders wasn't as effective at managing their crowd as Kinokuniya had been. There weren't staff on hand to prevent people from 'cutting queue', which many people, from JC students to working adults in their 30s, did. It also felt 'messier', as the line didn't move as quickly as it had the night before. Neither were the staff members stationed around Neil as polite as the Kinokuniya staff, but I've always felt that I received better service from Kinokuniya than Borders. Might just be because they're a Japanese company.

I met a group of Malaysians in the Borders queue. :3 They had come all the way down from Malaysia (I think theiy were from KL) just to meet him! ^^ He inspires such efforts in his fans. XD I was with a classmate that day, as he was a big fan of Neil too, and we spent the waiting time chatting with them.

We joined the queue when it was near the open-air entrance of Borders, near the bistro. I heard, later that night, that the queue at its longest circled Wheelock Place. O_O!!! Borders tried to end their session earlier by limiting the number of books per person that we were allowed to have him autograph, and restricted the number of pictures taken (and still, the line moved slower than the day before). The staff were also somewhat brusque when they instructed us on this. I like Kinokuniya's staff a lot more because they're always more personable.

He'll be back in town this October for the Singapore Writers' Festival, and whether or not I get tickets for his reading with Amanda Palmer, I am so going for his autograph session after the performance/reading. *_* Even if it rains (it's an outdoor session), although I hope it won't...