4.22.2005


The cover of my glamour shots album. I wasn't so sure about the cowgirl outfit when they had me in it, but it looks really damn good.

The eyes here frighten me. This looks like my mother when she's irritated or about to blow her top. I think the relaxed pose helps it out, but...yikes.

It hurt to look at the camera, so a lot of the pictures having me not doing that. It looks more natural.

The background didn't look so good at the actual shoot, so I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.

They've got all the backgrounds in the studio. A lot of the pictures use the same one with different outfits, but it's amazing how different they look.

We'll always have Shanghai...

The background is actually not a wall, but a dangling wallscroll thing. With Chinese characters all in gold. So uber traditional.

Uh, ignore the arm.

I love this one. This is the closest I'll ever get to looking like a Disney princess. That said, the composition is utterly lovely.

I want a shirt like the one in that photo. Does anyone know where I could get something like it in the US?

I am so glad they put me in cool backgrounds instead of bright ones that looked like preschool. That would have been disastrous.

Miwa kept yelling, "SEXY!" every time she saw me dressed like that. That was scary, since she's so adorable and cute and doesn't seem to be the type to do that.

You'd probably see posters like this in the Tokyo train stations. With this layout.

Some people say this looks like a magazine ad for cosmetics. I can see that.

I look like a drag queen or a cavewoman dressed up. "Ogga see pretty orange thing. Touch."

This one is popular amongst friends, and I have no idea why. The page this one is on, by the way, looks like someone rolled their head on the keyboard in all eight directions.

I really don't like the smile on this one, for some reason. I can't do natural smiles on camera unless I'm thinking of something really funny, and considering I had a headache at the time, well...

This is also a classic shot for girls in Chinese dresses.

What you don't know; outside, it was raining.

The skirt, by the way, is mine.

I really like the lighting in this one.

I like the background. The background is nice. I'm not so sure about the wrinkles in the blouse, though.

This is also a favorite of mine. For one thing, it actually looks like me.

This is also one of the more popular shots. Reminds me of Hikaru Utada, which, I guess, was the look I was going after anyhow.

Oh, it's been BROUGHTEN.

(insert stupid-ass James Bond joke here)

This is one of my favorites. For some reason I can feel personality coming off of it.

This is the classic way to pose Chinese girls in the 1930s era. It's also one of the few times the photographer got me to look directly at the camera without my forehead wrinkling.

Apple took one look at this and said, "You look like your mom!" I had no idea what to say to that.

My mother is going to look at this album and ask me why I'm not smiling in any of these pictures. But if you're smiling with a pose like this, you look dumb. Well, I would.

I don't look like my mother here, do I?

I really couldn't choose between this one and the other one, even though they're pretty much the same. Maybe this is just a closeup of how tired/stressed/pissed I am at whatever. If it was a facepalm, it could be a dramatic reenactment of my reactions towards Tod in English 323 for the six weeks before I tried to lunge across the table and throttle him.

This one is actually true-to-life, if you take junior year of UM into account, because headaches were the norm.

This is one of the bigger pictures in the album, and I have no idea why.

This is also popular, for different reasons.

This is a popular one. Among BOTH genders, might I add.

This is a lot smaller in the album, and for that I am grateful.

Why can't I get my hair that straight in real life?

How YOU doin'?

This is on the last page of the album. I look so bad-ass.

4.21.2005


What the entire thing looks like. The police have stopped asking him if he stole it (though one has to admit that the flowers look kinda suspicious).

Mark's bike. Yes, those are flowers. They were there last year. I think he's actually proud of the way it looks.

The front. Notice the Hello Kitty ornament dangling inside.

The pink car I pass by every day to and from Mitaka-dai Station.

4.15.2005


Miwa, Mrs. Namba and Miwa's sister Risa started freaking out because the candles were melting all over the cake.

This is when the candles are all alight.

This is the second one. And yes, we lit them.

When we came back to Tokyo, Miwa made birthday cakes for Ming, this Chinese girl, and me both. She didn't have to for me at least--after all, she bought me a pretty bracelet when we were in Okinawa, but they went so far as to decorate it like this.

Kohi zenzai. The real McCoy, according to the guys at Monkey Guest House.

Last picture before I ran back to find Miwa.