The Rookie Tries: Baking for Christmas

Ho ho ho!

It's actually been ages since we put up a Christmas tree. So to make up for it, I baked a cake! A chocolate chiffon cake, to be exact. I iced it so, so that it may somehow look like those Christmassy door wreaths that people hang during Christmas.

It was fun and hard at the same time decorating the cake. Well what did I expect...I am a rookie at these kinds of things, after all. Or was. Haha! Just kidding. I made a lot of mistakes. Good thing I was able to cover them up pretty well ;)

I wanted the pink buttercream to be red, but the supermarket that we went to only had what they called 'rose red' and orange. Turns out that rose red was pink, but oh well. The green icing was bought from my Singapore trip, and when it sort of dried up, suprisingly went so well against the softness cake and the pink buttercream :9

Not-so-Christmas-themed cupcakes made from spare batter :9

(Clockwise from top left: little roses, heart, daisy-ish flower, star)

My Christmas Eve

Hello world!

It's a bit late, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May good tidings come to you and all your kin!

May there be joy and peace on Earth!

I wish this was my Christmas tree, but no.

We went ice-skating on Christmas Eve <3 

We don't have snow here, but we do have ice. Everyone wanted to get in the mood though, so it was really crowded. If you plan on visiting Sky Rink at Mall Taman Anggrek, you may want to come on a weekday, not on a big holiday or on weekends. The rink is always crowded, but chances are there will be less kids falling over, and less reckless people zooming in and out. We didn't have too much trouble with the crowd though. So if you're a pro (I'm not saying that we are in any way ;P), you'll have no trouble finding your path around the ice. There's always people-free spots on the ice. Teehee!

In the morning, we went to a local beauty parlor and got manicures together. This was my first time getting a manicure. We all picked our designs from my friend's iPod. I went for tribal designs partly because I'm fangirling over a tribal video game character these days I think tribal designs are cool.



 

The End of the World?

Hi!

It is widely known that December 21st, 2012 is the end of the Mayan calendar. Therefore people have been saying that in 2012, this wonderful world of ours will end (no sarcasm there; the world itself is really a wonderful place <3).

Of course, I felt scared. Petrified, actually. The first time I heard this, time froze for a few moments.

A million of thoughts floated around inside my mind. It was to be the end. Not just any end. It was the end of the world. When all life on Earth was to cease to exist. Including us humans. All the exotic floras and faunas that roam the face of our darling Earth. All coming to an end just like that. The world was to be forgotten (unless the Martians are willing to be witnesses of our existence later).

But witness to who else?

I was also wondering about HOW the world was going to end. Was I supposed to...I don't know...go poof? Perish while sitting on my desk? Fade away like a ghost? Disappear into thin air like a ninja? That would be cool though. I've always wanted to have ninja-like skills. So badass >;D

Why would it end in 2012? Why so soon? Because the Mayans said so, you say? That's okay, I won't argue against your beliefs. I would love to talk to King Pacal himself for his views on this topic. If only he's still alive...sigh.

But it's now December 21st, 2012. And I am still alive.

Singapore Getaway

Hello!

I haven't updated this blog in more than two weeks. Yes, I know that's bad, but I've a perfectly legitimate excuse. I went to Singapore for a week ;D This was my first trip to Singapore in the last two years.
 
Singapore is a really modern and attractive place. It's also widely known here as a shopper's paradise, especially its famous Orchard Road, which boasts a wide array of shops catering to many tastes. My friend declared the Gardens by the Bay a must-see, and surely it was.

Supertree :)

Language Learning - Listening by Ear

Hello again!

With this post, I begin my series of articles focusing on language learning tips. If you're in the process of learning or studying a language, whichever stage/level you may be in, I hope these tips may be of help!

This is my most effective method of picking up new vocabulary, sentence structures, common phrases said by the native speakers, and a few inside jokes - listening by ear.

What I mean is specifically the use of televised media (dramas, reality/variety shows and movies) and songs. I would never have gotten to my current levels (Japanese and Korean, especially) without them.

I would recommend learning the basics and pronunciation ways of the language first, so that the listening process may go more swimmingly. This way, when you listen and try to write the new word you picked up down, there will be less chances of misspelling it. Choose those with subs, because you will want to learn first, then test yourself with the raw (unsubbed) ones if you like.

Then at a certain point, cover the subs or simply don't look at them. Try to guess the topic of the conversation and then the point of each dialogue, even if the subs tempt you. Of course you don't have to do this for every dialogue you hear.

 

Drama: Seigi no Mikata (Episode 1)

Blog URL Change

Hi!

I've decided to change my blog's URL, because I feared that the previous one was too hard to remember and hard to spell out. So I've changed it to a much easier one. It's the same name as the title, and is simple as: The Linguist Rookie.

Well, I do hope I won't regret it. I do know I'll regret it if I don't do it now. Even now, I think it's a bit too late, since the search engines have already indexed my blog and the previous URL. Now I have to wait until the search engines realise my new URL :S

I'm sorry for being such a noob at this.

buuut...I believe this is easier for others to remember, so yeah. Fingers crossed that this change will bring me more readers.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy your visit to my blog. I will keep on updating (at least once a week, sometimes more often if I'm not too busy with my book).

Another post is coming up soon!

アリシア

Now listening: Back in Time (시간을 거슬러) - Lyn (How I wish I was back in time, then I could have made this change earlier :P)