The International Bellydance Congress and the launch of the H.M.S Cecil!

I've been meaning to write a post about the Congress for a week now, but before I go into that, I'm going to inform you of a slight change of plan.
I've been meaning to create a bellydance 'stuff' only blog for a while, so I've decided to keep this blog as it is, but only post stuff about bellydancing, eg. dvd reviews, info etc. Sooo, my new blog is going to be used for all my other stuff, but I'd appreciate it if you read both ^^ Also, if you know any bellydancers, it would be great to have more people to read this blog ^^ For updates about Cecil's random life, please go to:
http://theadventuresofsailorcecil.blogspot.com
Yay! Ok, now we can move onto the congress:

Saturday:
It's probably impossible to explain how ridiculously excited I was when we arrived. Seriously. No, srsly. Anyway, the queue to register didn't actually take as long as we were worried it was gonna (registration opened at 12, first workshop at one, about 1000 bellydancers attending the weekend to register etc etc.(...I use etc. too much...and these dots, I forget the name for them)), but we were done by about 12.15pm, which left 45mins to have a drink and try to quell my excitment before the first workshop: LST Signature moves with Les Soeurs Tribales.
LST are a trio of italian tribal bellydancers who are covered in tattoos, in the most awesome way possible. The one who spoke the most english sat at the front and translated what the others were saying. Another danced in the little patch of flooring in the middle of all the carpet and demonstrated moves, and the other stood towards the back, so that when we danced facing the back, we could watch her for what to do next. The workshop was great fun; we were taught combos that they as a group use, then we practiced using them in improvisation. Tribal bellydance is always done with at least one other person (as our translator put it; you can't be a tribe by yourself) and is all improvised. You follow a leader (the dancer in the front) and depending what little cues she does (a certain hand position, or a "yip!"), you all dance in near perfect synchronicity. Hard to begin with, but easier and lots of fun as we went on.
Next, we were going to go to another workshop, but I wasn't particularly interested and I managed to sufficiently distract my mum with the prospect of shopping.
Aw man, I don't even want to think about the shopping too much, cos it makes me wish I'd taken advantage of all the great stuff and spent more money. Baisically, there were three different shopping areas. In the first day, we spent...lets just say a lot. There was sooo much stuff for class wear and performance wear, casual wear and awesome props! But yes, must not think about it!.
After going back to our hotel to shower and change etc, we went back to the congress for the evening show. Of course, it didn't start at 7pm, but it definatly made up for it! The first show was put together by one of the women who had organsied the congress and who runs a bellydance company, which also provides qualified teachers to the masses. The theme of the show was elements, and in the first half we had water and earth, and in the second, air and fire. All 4 included different bellydance styles and performances by soloists and small groups.
After the main show, there was a smaller, tribal show. This was amazing and included tribal improv., tribal fusion, gothic bellydance and a performace with fan veils by Les Soeurs Tribales. There were a couple of intervals between the dances, in which a dj played fusion tracks and people were invited to dance. We didn't. Well, a few did, including what was obviously part of a Tribe who had all gone to the congress together. As I said before, tribal is all improvised, and upcoming combos are displayed through the use of subtle cues. It was amazing to watch, as every time I looked up, another member of the tribe got up from the table they were sitting at, and immediatly fell into sync with the other dancers. And I don't mean hesitating for a moment, stumbling and trying to follow what the leader is doing, I mean instantly falling into step with the rest of the tribe. I really wish that I'd gone up to them afterwards (or at the numerous other opportunities I had) to tell them how great I thought their dancing was and how seemless they were.
Anyway, to prevent boring you to death straight away with an account of teh whole weekend (and also cos I need to go shower before I go out...(omg there they are again!!!)), I've decided to write about the congress in three parts, a day in each. Part Deux shall be posted tomorrow (...possibly).
Sayonara!
(If you find any spelling errors, I'm sorry, I'm just feeling particularly lazy atm >< (=^.^=))

Fish

So

I've failed one of my modules by 4.marks. Now, I have to miss 4 days of work (about £250-£300) cos the flights are all fucked up. I emailed admin, explaining that I'm an international student, and that it's difficult for me to get to the exam, especially as I'm also working, and, as nice as the admin lady was, I was baisically told that I have no choice but to attend the exam, cos if i don't, I'll have to retake this one module next year along with all my other stuff. If I fail it again, I will be transferred to a degree without honours.
Honest to god,
I. Cannot. Take. The. Stress.

Mmm Sun...

...Would have been a nice beach day today.

Ta2

Yes! I finally got it done! Man, I'm sooo happy! The artist did such a good job! I didn't plan on it being this big tbh, but he put the transfer on, and took a pic for me to have a look at and I actually like it like this!

It took about an hour, roughly. Got there just before 3, then had to wait a lil' bit, then put the transfer on etc etc. The artist told me that the first tattoo always hurts the most, and that the first few mins would be the worst. It was ok actually, looking back. Some stars hurt more than others, but the line art was definatly worse the the shading in. The buzz of the needle before it touches your skin for the first time is pretty off putting as well, but it was ok.

I'd definatly recommend it though! Just make sure you have an artist that likes to chat! We talked about sooo much stuff! Everything from music tastes to traveling, including things like noisy students and what people thought about tattoos/piercings.

Also, make sure you go with someone who doesn't mind a semi-permenant loss of feeling in their hand! I took Scott with me and I hope that he soon regains the full use of his right hand ^_^

Anyway, picture time! Please comment Team Marmite!

Aaaahhhh...

As I'm typing this, I'm being spoken to by my freezer...apparently (Spotify adverts, yay ><). Just thought I'd mention it.
Anyways, I assumed the next thing I'd most on here would be pictures of my tattoo (which i'm getting tomorrow yay! ^_^) but after catching up on Marinas and Freddies blogs, I felt like posting somthing too. Unfortunatly, this means that I have no idea what I'm gonna post, but let's just see where it takes us, shall we?
Anyway, (man, I start lots of sentences like that don't I?)I'm kinda worried. I feel like i should be more panicked by the fact that I have a 2000 word report due on monday which i havnt started yet, an essay to type up and add 250 words to and I have exams coming up which i havn't started revising for either, but...I'm not. Atm, I'm really not fussed lol. I think it's the weather...
Going back to the start, has anyone else heard of Spotify? It's like this thing you download and you stream music from it. And you can search whatever you want (it has most stuff) so if you're craving a song which you don't have and can't download (we get banned from the internet if we do it here...) you can just listen to it whenever! Unfortunatly, it means you have to listen to adverts ><>
Hm...what else...Well I started using a bow in my violin lessons. It sounds like I'm skinning a live cat, it really does ><><
Oh, speaking of girls, what the hell is up with bitches going schizo for no reason?! Really, I did NOTHING! and I get called a wanker! Er hello! That's biologically impossible! Jeeeeezz, I think we need to keep SOMEONE away from the alcopops ><
On a closing note, if any of you are bored (you know, when you should be revising and stuffs), there's a reeeaaally cool drama on BBC iPlayer atm called 'All the small things', centers around a woman with 3 kids who's part of a choir that her husband conducts. It may sound a little boring, but I can't say much more or I'll give it away.
Anyways (there it is again) please watch even the first episode of it and let me know what you think!!!
Cya tomorrow with pics of my new tattoo!

And I'm feelin' good.

Summer! Yes, Summer! I don't care what people say, we're definatly moving into Summer weather now. The weather in Hull is amazing! It's been gorgeous since I've got back and I love it! As my new t-shirt says; "J'adore Sunshine!".
Doesn't everything seem better when it's sunny? For example, I did no uni work over the easter holidays. I have a report and an essay due on May 11th, as well as a load of revision cards to get through before my exams, but I'm not actually feeling that worried yet. I mean, obviously I know I should be (I'm not allowed to re-take anything ><) but it's just so hard to get worked up about stuff when the weather's this nice, you know? I'll probably try and do some later when it gets colder/darker, but I'm not making any promises! Right now, all I want to do is drink homemade lemonade and listen to Cat Power. Also, most likely due to the gorgeous weather, I have decided 2 things;

1) I'm dying my hair red again (hopefully on Friday)

And

2)I'm finally going to learn how to play the violin. I've found lessons and I'm checking prices of violins on Friday!

So what's the weather like with everyone else?

I'm a Tomato Box Fairy!

Kinda following on from my last post, I'm writing a post about another anime/manga.
This is a very funny historical web-manga called 'Hetalia' or 'Axis Powers Hetalia'. Hetalia is the Japanese way of spelling Italy, and this is the character we follow (specifically, Northern Italy). In this manga, different countries are actually represented by people ('Anthromorphic Personification' lolz :P).
The main 3 are Italy (Hetalia), Germany (Doitsu) and Japan (Nihon), as these were the 'Axis Powers'. Then of course you have the 'Allied Forces' or England (Igirisu), America (Amerika), France (Furansu), China (Chugoku) and Russia (Roshia). All the characters refer to each other as such, although occasionaly in the manga, we are told of their actual names (eg Japan is Honda Kiku). These aren't all the characters, obviously, but they're the main ones, and you get introduced to more as the manga goes on.
Anyways, I'll talk more about the Anime as the layout of each episode it actually easier to understand. Each episode is about 5 mins, and half is of 'storyline' and the other half is called 'Chibitalia' The storyline goes through in historical order, eg. we start off really in WW1, where Italy and Germany meet. In Chibitalia, it's like a flashback to when Italy was young. There, we're introduced to members of Italy's 'family', such as his grandfather, Roman Empire; his brother, Southern Italy; and his two older brothers, Spain and France. We also meet 'Holy Roman Empire', who keeps trying to get young Italy to go to his house (join him, baisically).
Because the Anime is new (started this year), there are only 4 episodes so far, which can be found on Veoh.
Although this manga/anime is quite silly most of the time, the events, such as the 'fights' and the fact that there is a Northern and Southern Italy character, are actually pretty accurate historically.
Anywho, i would definatly recommend this manga/anime. Like I said before, the manga is a little more confusing, but there's more of it than the anime so far. Go watch it! Each episode it only 5mins long!

Watch Hetalia 01 SUB ENG  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Come and save me

This blog probably isn't as exciting as the title suggests.I just wanted to write a quick blog about an anime I've been watching with Anime Society at University.

I'll start off by describing what a confusing anime it is. I missed a week or two of society, and it's taken a while to understand the story again...well as much as I can :P.

It's a kind sci-fi anime, which I thought would put me off, as I am sooo not into sci-fi, but oh my god, the art! It's just so well drawn, not your typical eyes-that-take-up-half-the-face and silly-side-charcters anime, it's actually very serious, but in a good way!

Anyway, storyline! It's kinda of...post-apocalyptic in a way. Baisically, it's mainly set in this big city called Romdo, which is inside this big dome. There is life outside the dome too, but it's all desolate, like after a disaster. Anyway, in this dome, humans have android (AutoReivs) servants, I guess you'd call them (it's all very confusing). Anyway, a virus (cogito) which causes beserk robots to commit murders threatens this very well ordered society.

The main characters are a girl called Lil (Real, Re-L, Rielle, you know, Japanese pronounciation of the letter 'R' and all that) Mayer, who is assigned to investigate these murders, and an immigrant called Vincent Law (Both pictured in pic at the top). There's also the adorable autoreiv called Pino, who was created as a surrogate child to a human couple.

However you're going to have to watch it to get more of the storyline. As confusing and strange as this anime is, I completely recommend it, even if you do just to appreciate the art.

Actually, even just for the opening music, watch it! Tell me what you think of the opening! (It's just below, no excuses :P)

Art? Yeh, er, I don't think so...

I seem to be on a roll with blogs about things that annoy me huh?
Okay, how many of you go on deviantart?
Okay, have you ever had a pic added to a 'collection'?
Or do you do it yourself with other peoples cool pics that you want to be able to quickly have a look at to sample some amazing art?
Cool!
How about having a look at the Most Popular Collections page?
Well, if you have, you surely will have noticed the sheer number of collections of photos of naked women, miscorrectly labeled as 'art'?
Honest. To. God! I mean, the majority of the time, it's not even tasteful! There are photos of women spreading their legs!!! I'm not even paraphrasing here, I mean LITERALLY spreading their legs!! Sometimes these pictures are given an arty look, like 'black and white' or 'sepia' or some airbrushed-shit, but even so, that takes 2 seconds to do on a simple programme. A lot of the time, these just appear to be photos of some guys gf taken in the bedroom.
The funniest part of this is the names of the collections. Some of them have misleading names, such as 'Tasteful Nudes' or, simply 'Nudes'. However, some are a lot last tasteful and accuratly describe what the photos in the collection are; 'Pussy', 'Wet Pussy', 'Damn Sexy' and, my personal favourite, 'OU YEAAH'. See what I mean?
Come on boys, you know that you'd all kick off if we all took photos of men revealling everything (e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g), posted them on Deviantart and made collections with names like 'Hot Nekkid Dudes' and 'Penis!Penis!Penis!'. It's called DeviantArt guys, go buy a topshelf magazine like everybody else...
...I'm not actually kidding, there is one called 'OU YEAAH'...I know *sweat drop*

Umbrella-ella-ella-ay-ay-NO!

Oh my God!!! What is with people and fucking umbrellas?! Seriously! I never really used them, cos their so annoying!!
Honestly, you walk past another person carrying an umbrella when you're walking and they knock together and throw you off balance!!!
And even if you don't have one, if you walk past someone else with one, they get stuck in your hair, your eye and god knows where else!!!
Anyway, the whole reason for me startin this rant was 'cos, I was waiting to go in for an exam the other day, and it was raining, and there was this girl was like right on top of me! And not in a good way! All I could feel were the fucking prongs of her demon umbrella hitting me in the back of the head!!
ARGH!!!

*sigh*

Well I'm back in Hull finally! I'm so glad to be back here, in my nice room with a balconey and my internet connection which I don't have to walk outside in the cold to get.
I would be feeling absolutly perfect at the moment if it wasn't for exams >< color="#ff0000">stressing me out. Yes, I know it's my own damn fault, but even when I revise now, i get so distracted by the fact that I won't have revised enough that it puts me off it...if this makes sense. I have all the info, but it's just...argh, you know?
I should also sort my room out. I got back here at about 11.30 this morning, and since then I have set my laptop and internet up, sorted out my iPod speakers, put some little trinkets and my Death Note manga set onto the book case and...that's all. There's just so much that I have to do that I can't really bring myself to start, you know? I mean, it won't actually take my that long to be honest, but it's like the revision, getting started is the hard bit.
Any way, enough about 'now', let's go back a little bit.
Christmas break was really good, it was nice to just hang out with my family again, go shopping with my mum, listening to crazy, upbeat music with her in the car and singing along so enthusiastically that people in the cars driving past us in teh opposite direction must have thought that we were having some sort of 'attack'. Good Times. I have also discovered, for future reference, that The Mandarin Room (Chinese Resturant) sells Dango as a desert!! :O If you don't know what this is, it is a Japanese desert made with glutinous rice flour and seseame seeds, and this particular one has chocolate in the middle. Mmmmmm. Go there, try it!
Speaking of going to cool places, Spiders on Sat! For the first time in ages! I miss it so much. The problem is, I got so many great clothes over Christmas that would be AWESOME to wear, that I'm going to have to go every weekend for the next few months :P this sat, I'm going to wear my new Vivienne Westwood top, with my tutu skirt, red tartan tights and either my boots, or cute little 'Lolita' style shoes. Can't wait! Im suffering from withdrawl symptoms.
Anyway, I think that I've procrastinated enough ><
To Do;
1)Sort room out (all of it)
2)Revise!