THE HAPPII JOURNAL

Multilingual Gönenç Spermi!

2008-04-27T20:21:21Z

happii @ 2008-04-17T11:58:00

2008-04-17T09:03:36Z

Din yok, inanç var...
No religion but faith...
Pas de religion mais de conviction...
宗教でなく、信仰が有る・・・

Feride... Feride...

2008-03-19T21:25:11Z

Çalıkuşu olmak istiyorum!

A masterpiece by Eda!

2008-01-17T21:05:50Z

gonenç the bitch,
you are the one that no one would ditch,
you can be a witch,
but that doesn't mean that i'm bewitched,
but tell you what, you are the grinch,
that i would never switch

La Société "CHOCOLUCIEUX", productrice du chocolat

2007-11-21T18:56:48Z

En 1980, mon père a hérité une grande somme d'argent. Apres avoir beaucoup réfléchi sur comment l'utiliser, il a décidé de commencer une société de chocolat avec ma mère vue que ses enfant adoraient le chocolat fait main de ma mère. Il a appelé la société "Chocolucieux" fusionnant "Lucie," ma petite sœur qui est le plus friande du chocolat dans la famille et sa premier mot "choco."

Ma mère a appris sa recette spéciale "chocolat aux grains de menthe" aux premiers employés et donc "Menthe Chocolucieuse" est né. J'ai même dessiné une mante religieuse à la couleur de chocolat avec les grands yeux à la couleur de la menthe comme mascotte. Pour le promouvoir, on a d'abord envoyé des échantillons partout comme des sociétés de bus et d'avion pour qu'ils offrent notre chocolat dans leur menu. On a aussi contacté avec quelques cafés de leur convaincre à remplacer le biscuit qui vient à côté du café avec " Menthe Chocolucieuse" parce que mon père sait que le chocolat à la menthe va très bien avec le café.

Après quelques bonnes critiques, on a lancé notre première publicité à la TV. Le résultat était incroyable. La demande s'accroissant énormément, on a eu beaucoup plus de succès qu'on imaginait. Puis ma mère a mis ses autres recettes dans le marche et en a créé quelques d'autres. D'Ailleurs " Menthe Chocolucieuse," on a commencé a produire "Abricodisiac," chocolat à la garniture d'abricots; "Chocotier," chocolat à la garniture de noix de coco et "L'Amerique," chocolat amer pur.

L'Affaire était en plein essor. On distribuait déjà dans tout pays et on a vite étendu l'affaire à l'étranger. On a commencé à distribuer notre chocolat dans d'autres pays d'Europe (y compris la Belgique et la Suisse) et aujourd'hui "Chocolucieux" est une des marques du chocolat le plus vendues dans les magasins hors taxe aux aéroports.

Génocide ou calomnie? Nous ne saurons jamais.

2007-11-16T23:16:29Z

Il y a plusieurs moyens de définir le (soi-disant) génocide arménien. « Le massacre inoubliable », « le plus grand mensonge du XXème siècle », « la honte sanglante de la Turquie », « le jeu partial de l ‘Occident » y sont quelques exemples. Mais il y a toujours deux côtés d'opinion : Génocide et calomnie.

Aujourd'hui, cet événement historique est accepté comme « génocide » par l'Arménie et 19 autres pays (l'Uruguay, Chypre, l'Argentine, la Russie, le Canada, la Grèce, le Liban, la Belgique, l'Italie, le Vatican, la France, la Suisse, la Slovaquie, les Pays-Bas, la Pologne, l'Allemagne, le Venezuela, la Lituanie et le Chili) tandis que la Turquie refuse de reconnaître que c'était un génocide. Dès lors, en Turquie il est appelé « l'affaire » ou « la question » arménienne puisqu'on refuse d'utiliser le mot « génocide. » Au lieu de cela, on utilise l'expression « le soi-disant génocide arménien. »

Le sujet a repris sa place dans l'actualité à la suite de l'adoption de la résolution reconnaissant le (soi-disant) génocide arménien par la commission des Affaires étrangères de la Chambre des représentants aux Etats-Unis le 10 octobre 2007. Pourtant grâce à, ou bien, à cause de la pression du gouvernement Bush craignant que les relations entre les Etats-Unis et la Turquie puissent empirer compte tenu de l'opération militaire éventuelle en Irak du nord, les supporteurs de cette résolution dont le leader est la présidente de la Chambre des représentants, Nancy Pelosi, ont reculé de porter la résolution sur le Congrès.

Pour mieux comprendre la situation présente, il faut tout d'abord regarder dans l'histoire et dans les thèses turques et arméniennes sur ce sujet. Alors de quoi s'agit-il le (soi-disant) génocide arménien?

La thèse turque dit qu'avant la première guerre mondiale, les groupes arméniens ont commencé à s'engager dans les activités anti-turques. 517.955 Turcs ont été massacrés entre les années 1906-1922 par les Arméniens, une notion appelée la « terreur arménienne. » Provoqué par les Russes contre l'Empire Ottoman qui régnait sur l'Anatolie dans cette époque-là, ils ont obtenu des armes et ont fait des révoltes notamment dans plusieurs villes de l'est. Le gouvernement a donc décidé de passer une loi pour « déplacer » les Arméniens en 27 mai 1915 en deux parties : celle venant d'Erzurum, Van et Bitlis au sud de Moussul et à Urfa et Zor et celle venant d'Adana, Alep, Maraş à l'est de la Syrie et le sud-est d'Alep. Au cours du déplacement, les mesures pour garantir la sécurité des Arméniens ont été prises. Le déplacement a été arrêté le 8 février 1916.

Quant à la thèse arménienne, les atrocités commises contre les Arméniens de l'Empire Ottoman pendant la première guerre mondiale constituent la notion du « génocide arménien. » Il est exécuté par le parti au pouvoir à l'époque, CUP (Comité Union et Progrès) ou les « Jeunes-Turcs » qui a cédé le pas à une « Organisation spéciale » après la guerre. Jusqu'à 1915, les activités pour éradiquer systématiquement les Arméniens restaient en secret. La première mesure était le désarmement des soldats arméniens enrôlés dans l'armée Ottomane. Puis le 24 avril 1915, le gouvernement a arrêté plus de 200 leaders des communautés arméniens ce qui marque la « prise de conscience » des Arméniens. Ensuite les grandes populations arméniennes vivant dans des différentes villes de l'Anatolie ont était déportées, kidnappées, torturées, massacrées, violées et affamées au cours des années 1915-1918. Le but du génocide était de réaliser l'idéal de créer un empire turc comportant une grande espace de l'Anatolie à l'Asie Centrale.

Evidemment, il y a des différences profondes entre ces deux thèses, dont la plus grande est sur les chiffres donnés des morts. Une source de la côté turque présente un bilan très précis (56.610 morts entre 438.758 personnes déplacées) Quant à la côté arménienne, on parle de minimum 500.000 à 1.500.000 morts entre une population de 1.500.000 à 3.000.000 Arméniens. Mais pourquoi y a-t-il tellement de l'incertitude? Est-ce provient de l'insuffisance des documents ou est-ce qu'il y a des enjeux politiques qui se mêlent dans l'histoire? La bonne question à poser sur ce point est si les archives sont toutes ouvertes? Même sur ce sujet les deux pays ne peuvent pas se concerter.

A cause de cette ambiguïté historique, le (soi-disant) génocide arménien refait surface perpétuellement dans l'actualité. Plus de 30 diplomates turcs ont péri dans la terreur d'ASALA (Armée secrète de libération de l'Arménie) aux années 70. Orhan Pamuk, écrivain turc célèbre a reconnu le (soi-disant) génocide arménien et est attribué le Prix Nobel de littérature qu'il avait déjà mérité avec son talent en 2006. Et plus récemment, un mineur intoxiqué a assassiné le journaliste turco arménien, Hrant Dink parce qu'il était aveuglé par des idées fascistes pour comprendre ce qu'il voulait dire.

Tous ces événements nous incitent à chercher et trouver la vérité. Toutefois, le chemin aux faits est toujours bloqué. Le monde ne veut que ce casse-tête soit résolu. Il veut l'utiliser comme un atout pour se sauver des futures concurrences politiques comme, par exemple, une condition que la Turquie doit accepter pour s'avancer en voie de l'UE. Et qu'est-ce qu'il va arriver si la Turquie accepte le (soi-disant) génocide? Sans doute, il y aura une compensation à payer aux familles arméniennes dont personne ne parle. Un autre point à tenir en compte, c'est que les Turcs ne nient pas avoir tué les Arméniens. Beaucoup d'entre eux ne croit pas aux chiffres officiels acceptés par le gouvernement. Ce que les Turcs n'acceptent pas est l'affirmation du génocide qui est définit comme « l'extermination physique, intentionnelle, systématique et programmée d'un groupe ou d'une partie d'un groupe ethnique, national, religieux ou racial. » Selon eux, ces massacres étaient loin d'être exécutés « systématiquement. »

Même si les Arméniens ont plus d'influence dans le monde sur ce sujet, dont la plupart est grâce au fait qu'ils sont chrétiens, ils étaient les victimes au cours de derniers développements dans la politique américaine. Certains membres de la Chambre des représentants ont déclaré qu'ils reconnaissaient le (soi-disant) génocide mais juste pour l'intérêt des Etats-Unis, ils ne pourront pas accepter la résolution. C'est pour l'avantage de la Turquie mais imaginez le désespoir d'un Arménien grandi en écoutant des histoires de massacres par les Turcs.

Moi, étant turque et élevée avec les doctrines turques, n'accepte pas le (soi-disant) génocide. Cependant je ne le nie pas non plus. C'est pourquoi j'écris « soi-disant » en parenthèse et pas entre guillemets. Je voudrais bien qu'on sache la vérité mais je sais que les « grands pouvoirs » ne le permettront jamais. Donc, je suis pour commettre un génocide de ce qui font le vrai génocide comme ASALA et le meurtrier de Hrant Dink.

En plus, je veux vivre dans un monde sans racisme entre les Turcs et les Arméniens. Là, je voudrais évoquer sur les pancartes proclamant « nous sommes tous des Arméniens » à la funérailles de Hrant Dink. C'était une geste que je ne m'attendais pas du tout du peuple turc mais qui m'a rendue très heureuse. Le message derrière ce slogan que beaucoup de personnes ont manqué est de crier « si tu tues quelqu'un parce qu'il est arménien, tue-nous aussi parce qu'on est prêt à mourir comme lui. »

Pour conclure, j'ajoute un nouveau côté d'opinion d'ailleurs « génocide » et « calomnie » intitulée « Nous ne saurons jamais. » Tout le monde est bienvenu!

Les Sources:

- Génocide Arménien - Wikipédia

- Ermeni Soykırımı İddiaları – Vikipedi

- www.ermenisorunu.gen.tr

- Armenian National Institute - FAQ
- Armenianpedi

Mevlana Doğarken

2007-11-03T08:30:26Z

Last month I attended the celebration of Rumi's 800th birthday at Bilkent Concert Hall. The celebration consisted of three parts. Mevlana's life told by his poems (read in English and Turkish by Yıldız Kenter, the everfamous elegant actress, and Talat Halman, the first minister of culture in Turkey), a concert (consisting of Yunus Emre Ouverture and the world premiere of Mevlana Concerto) and a Sema ritual.

The tickets were sold out so me and my mom went there hoping that we could get in somehow. And miraculously, we did! But that's not all. We sat on the protocol row and I was wearing my bright green Converse All Star shoes!!! My knees started to hurt during breaks when I tried to hide them from view because all the important people were wandering around us. I was less than a meter close to Yıldız Kenter! *dies* X_X

Anyway, that was quite an adventure. Here are some of the memorial quotes from the first part telling theblife of Rumi:

"The lovers of God have no religion but of God's."
"Tanrı'nın aşıkları, Tanrı'nın dini dışında din tanımazlar."

"In the world of love, there can be no death."
"Sevgi dünyasında ölüm var olamaz."

"Woman is the light of God. She is not a creature; she is the creator."
"Kadın Tanrı'nın aydınlığıdır. Kadın bir yaratık değil, yaratıcıdır."

I hope I got them all right ^^ Besides these, I learned some trivia about the Dervish. The reason they turn from left to right is because the heart is on the left side. Cool, huh?

New layout!

2007-10-30T16:45:13Z

How's that for a journal style, huh? Now I'm off to write a dissertation on the Armenian genocide. I hope I'll make it to tomorrow X_X

BTW the background image is taken from Squidfingers and slightly modified by me :)

Some recent commercials

2007-10-26T21:41:41Z

I'm thinking of changing my journal style but it's such a tough decision considering how picky I am...

Meanwhile, here are some great commercials that pass on TV nodaways.

Covet - Sarah Jessica Parker
Philips Robotskin
Trakya Cam

Jouer le Dieu

2007-10-15T18:43:22Z

Après le clonage et la cellule souche, le chromosome artificiel "Microplasme Laboratorium" qui va rendre possible de créer un organisme vivante artificiel, est prêt a prendre la place du Dieu.

Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de l'humanité, l'homme a réussi à créer un nouveau chromosome avec l'utilisation des matières toutes chimiques. La prouesse a été accomplie par le scientifique américaine Craig Venter qui a déclaré à The Guardian qu'avec son équipe, ils vont transmettre le chromosome dans un noyau d'une bactérie dans un mois. Selon lui, le chromosome va envahir la bactérie et créer un nouvel organisme.

Ce dernier produit du génie humain donne à l'homme le pouvoir de créer une créature artificielle capable de tout. Guérir les maladies fatales comme le SIDA ou empêcher le réchauffement climatique sera dès lors possible. L'époque des robots sera fermée avant d'être commencée car l'homme pourra remplir ses besoins avec l'aide d'un organisme vivant au lieu des machines.

Néanmoins les conséquences de cet avancement scientifique innovant peuvent être aussi nuisible qu'utile. Dans ce cas là, l'époque des armes nucléaires céderait le pas à l'époque des armes biologiques. Comme le clonage et la cellule souche, le chromosome artificiel "Microplasme Laboratorium" enflamme le débat de "jouer le Dieu." ETC Group, une organisation de la bioéthique au Canada, a déjà désapprouvé des recherches du groupe de Venter.

Voilées de 7 à 77

2007-10-15T18:36:18Z

L'utilisation des enfants dans une manifestation pour la liberté du voile en Turquie "dévoile" à quelle mesure la propagande islamiste peut s'avancer.

Samedi dernier plusieurs manifestations pour la liberté du voile ont eu lieu dans des différentes villes de la Turquie. Pourtant, sans doute ce que la manifestation à Antalya nous a montré va rester dans les mémoires pour quelques temps. En dehors des adultes il y avait des enfants de l'âge de maternelle parmi les démonstrateurs. Des petites filles voilées, criant les slogans "Liberté au voile", portant des pancartes qui disaient "Mon voile est mon orgueil", "Liberté dans les quartiers", "Prétendons notre droit au voile."

Quand on regarde dans l'histoire de ce genre de manifestations, malheuresement on en voit des autres exemples. Sans besoin de creuser la mémoire, on peut se rappeler d'un cas relativement récent à Konya en 2005 ou une petite fille voilée de 5 ans avait fait chanter une chanson dont le titre était "Le Voile" devant une foule se rassemblant devant une lycée de filles.

Ce spectacle à Antalya va sans doute déchaîner les disputes sur l'influence croissante de l'Islam en Turquie. Cette dispute dormante avait été réveillé par le résultat des élections générales en Juillet, poursuit par la présidence d'Abdullah Gül et culminé avec le projet de nouvelle constitution par l'AKP dont l'abolition de l'interdiction du port du voile à l’Université est incluse.

Quant à l'éthique d'utilisation des enfants pour les intérêts des adultes, c'est toute une autre histoire. Cela va sans dire que la mise à profit de ces enfant innocents est une acte de bassesse mais il parait que l'aspect menaçant l'organisme laïc de la Turquie va avoir plus de couverture dans la presse turc.

N'oublions pas la dispute actuelle sur la comparaison de la Turquie avec la Malaisie, déclanchée après une déclaration par Richard Holbrooke, l'ancien ministre des affaires extérieures des Etats-Unis. Cela décrit très vivement la peur du peuple concerné de la sordidité de la laïcité de leur pays. Même si comparer ces deux pays ayant des histoires très différentes est absurde dans une certaine mesure, cela ne sera pas la première pensée dans la tête des gens voyant leurs propres enfants portant lu voile surtout après si peu de temps depuis la parution dans un certain journal turc d'une photo de petits enfants voilées au cours de gymnastique en Malaisie qui avait trouvé beaucoup d'écho dans le grand public. De même, la gravité que porte l'utilisation des enfants va rester dans l'ombre parce que les parents seront occuper de s'inquiéter de l'avenir de leur pays.

En conclusion, la situation en Turquie garde son sérieux. La lutte entre les côtés islamiste et les côtés laïcs place les enfants dans les côtés victimes.

日本夢 - Nippon Yume

2007-10-06T13:16:15Z

Here's my belated entry of my 7-week "mission" in Japan. While it was rather like a vacation I prefer calling it a mission because I was aiming to achieve various things: to live independently, to improve my Japanese and to satisfy my hunger for Japan were the foremost ones. I believe I achieved the first two to a certain degree but I failed really badly at the last one. Haha, too bad!

Home Sweet Home

The period of my stay was set according to the length of the Japanese course I would be attending while accommodation was arranged all according to my preferences. I stayed at one of the guesthouses of Sakura House but not just any guesthouse! I was right at the heart of Harajuku! My house was in one of the narrow streets full of Harajuku fashion boutiques in the Jingu district. It was a 7-minute walk from JR Harajuku Station walking through Takeshita Street and a 20-minute walk from Hachiko statue in front of Shibuya Station. In the neighborhood I had Yoyogi Park, the La Foret Mall and the fancy Omotesando Street. I was practically living the Japanese pop culture!

Although the location of the house was great, I think the house itself wasn't that attractive for many people. It was an old wooden Japanese house that shook every time a helicopter passed over and had no sound isolation at all. I would hear clinging of the keys of passerby's and the thud of a fallen bottle of drink bought at the vending machine just across. Inside there were 7 rooms various in sizes, a jam-packed kitchen with ants around the garbage, a messy common area (thanks to one of my flatmates!) and a bathroom with a leaking roof and a huge shower. Huge because apparently there used to be a bath (ofuro) and later it was tuned into a shower.

My flatmates were from the US, Italy, Germany, England, Lebanon and France. Surprisingly I was the only girl in the house but it was fun to live with guys. However, the house always seemed to accommodate more people than it already did. Take the entrance (genkan) for example. There were a dozen pairs of shoes (and even a couple of platform shoes!) that didn't belong to any of the tenants. They were left by the previous tenants who lived in the house. Similarly books, food, bathroom supplies and a whole lot of junk were left over. Some of them were actually pretty useful, like the stack of garbage bags and bottles of detergent as we never needed to buy then anew.

My room was very small – around 5 square meters. It had a window and a door to the backyard but I would rarely get some sunlight. There was a table, a chair, a couple of shelves, a mirror, a lamp and a futon set! Yeah, I slept on the floor and it was much more comfortable than I imagined.

On the whole, it wasn't the cleanest place on earth but who cares? I really liked living in an old house and about the messiness, that's how guesthouses are supposed to be. If I were to go to Japan, I would choose to stay at the same room at the same house.

Sendagaya Japanese Institute

…is the school I attended. Conveniently placed at Takadanobaba, 9 minutes away by train on JR Yamanote line. I was placed in Intermediate Level I class at the exam I took on the first day. Some people in my class were studying Japanese at university and obviously they were better than me at kanji. About speaking, however, I believe I'm very much at ease. The classes were so much fun, the teachers were very professional, the staff at the reception was very kind and the field trips were so convenient that they saved me a great deal from the burden of the places I needed to see.

My classmates were from all around the world which is perfect for me as you get to hear more languages, there is more stuff to discuss and people are automatically very interesting. There were a couple of Japanese pop culture fans like me but not as many as I expected. Still I had so much fun with all my classmates. What really touched me was that they really tried to speak Japanese outside of class like during break times. But with Asian people it worked out better as the more Western people got more English started to interfere with the conversation. I really don't like using discriminative terms or generalizing but that really is the case. The reason for it deserves another long entry so I'll pass.

I found the teachers very good at their job. They were fun, professional, highly experienced and too many! I particularly liked one of them. He was absolutely hilarious! He had a very weird way of giving class. He would give the same example about himself while explaining each linker of contrast ("Takahashi-sensei is a weird but kind person"). He would make a weird sound ("nyan nyao!") when reading the blanks in a sentence. One day he told us about toilets worldwide and how they worked. We were all gonna throw up as it was so gross!

Sights

I got to see Tokyo Disneyland, Edo Tokyo Museum, Kegon Falls and Toushougu Shrine in Nikko, Kaminarimon in Asakusa, Tokyo National Museum in Ueno and the famous Tokyo Tower with my school.

Tokyo Disneyland was pure nostalgia for me as it had been ages since I had been to a Disney theme park. However, for the first time I got to watch the famous Electrical Parade at night. There was more English than I expected and it seemed that everything from the straws at restaurants to the rides was imported from the US.

I wasn't so impressed by Edo Tokyo Museum because it was more like an exhibition consisting of models. However there was a special exhibition about trains in which you could see rail maps of Japan from the 1900s to present which I found quite interesting because you could clearly see the improvement.

Nikko is an ancient town flooding with tourists thanks to its short distance from Tokyo. There are signs that say "Warning against monkeys" XDDDD I would consider myself lucky if I ran across a monkey! Anyway, first we went to see the Kegon Falls. They were cool but I was freezing because the weather wasn't so hot that day and even though I had an umbrella with me, I got wet because the mist was just everywhere. Later we went to Toushougu Shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu which was simply A-MA-ZING! Japan is full of temples but this one was without a doubt the most beautiful of one I saw. With its gorgeously detailed wood carvings and glory it was simply unique. On the way back to Tokyo, we watched the first Harry Potter movie dubbed in Japanese which marked another memorable aspect of the trip.

Tokyo Tower is either the symbol of Tokyo or just a replica of the Eiffel Tower depending on how much you love Paris. For me I think it's the first one although I'm very much in love with Paris too. It's just, my obsession of Japan is stronger XP Anyway, it's still one of the top tourist attractions of Tokyo. The white and red paint makes it look like a modern temple rising among the skyscrapers of Tokyo. Apart from seeing the city from high up, it has a Wax Museum, very poor compared to its competitors, Trick Art Gallery, Guinness World

Records Museum and other attractions. On the whole, it's a nice place you'd go with your family on a bright weekend.

Kaminarimon in Asakusa is one of the landmarks that assure you that you're in Japan. It's basically a huge lantern that says "Kaminarimon" (Thunder Gate) on it. After you pass through the gate, you end up in a long shopping street called Nakamise. It's the number one souvenir corner in Tokyo, I think. At the end of the shops Sensou-ji temple appears with all its glory.

Since Ueno and Asakusa are close by, after seeing the Sensouji Temple, we went to the Tokyo National Museum in the Ueno Park. I thought the museum was far better than Edo-Tokyo museum because there were actually historical articles to see the oldest one I saw belonging to the 9^th century B.C.

As for places I went to see by myself, I can list Kamakura, Enoshima, Imperial Palace Gardens, Government Office Building in Shinjuku, Tsukiji Fish Market and Odaiba.

Kamakura is the rival of Nikko in "touristic spots close to Tokyo" category. It's most famous for the great Buddha statue, Daibutsu. After visiting Daibutsu and buying a small figure of it from the nearest souvenir shop for my mom, I set out to look for a hiking trail that would take me to Kita-Kamakura Station. I met Joe, an American from the state of Utah, when I was looking for the start of the hiking trail. It turned out that he was looking for it too so we decided to stick together and ended up as hiking buddies. Joe was a Mormon and a father of four kids. As far as I could gather from what he told me, he had the perfect American family. The funniest thing was that had learned about Mormonism just the night before at a party in Yoyogi Park. And the next day, I met a follower! We talked and talked about everything the whole way long. We were having such good conversation that I didn't realize how tired I got eventually. Besides I was wearing flip-flops think that hiking and walking mean the same thing. Thankfully, I didn't get very dirty and seeing a Japanese girl wearing high heels made me feel better.

After Joe and I said goodbye to each other, I took the train to Enoshima, a small island connected to the mainland with a broad bridge. It reminded me of touristic seaside towns in Turkey. I took a peek at the little temple at the end of a lively street that I tramped up and down several times to buy the ideal manekineko from the various souvenir shops. I ate some local snacks for dinner and headed back to the train station to Tokyo. In the train I made a mistake by sitting next to an old man who took great interest in me when he found out that I spoke some Japanese. He was a history teacher and a member of a political party. He talked on and on about history and at some point he even made a remark that Japan and Turkey were allies as both of them had fought against Russia which reminded me of the mentality of old Turkish people. I realized once again how similar we could be to the Japanese in some aspects such as this one.

Towards the middle of my stay, my classes were held in the afternoon and suddenly I ran short of time to visit places as school would consume my whole day. However, thank to the suggestions of a fellow flatmate, I visited the Imperial Palace Gardens and the Government Office Building in the skyscraper district of Shinjuku. The Gardens are a patch of Heaven in the middle of a busy metropolitan and the building offer a splendid view of the city, a toyshop and an expensive café on the top floor.

When a friend visiting one of my flatmates said he was going to see the Tsukiji Fish Market, I knew I had to tag along with him as there was no way I would raise my lazy ass and go there at the crack of dawn by myself. As the fish market closes around 8-9, we woke up at 4 am to go there. It was really freaky to see all the fish freshly caught from the ocean. Some of them were still alive! What I didn't like was that tourists were constantly on the way of the fishermen. They were blocking the narrow passages to take pictures and preventing the workers from doing their job. After we had finished seeing the market we went to the most popular sushi restaurant of that area. Boy, it was popular as we waited for ONE HOUR to get in!

One of the principle cultural summer entertainments of Japan is watching fireworks. And the best place to do that is no other than Tokyo's recent entertainment spot, Odaiba! It's an artificial island connected to the mainland with the famous Rainbow Bridge with huge fancy modern buildings, shopping centers, parks, a giant ferris wheel, a bath house and a beach. Plus you can get a breathtaking view of the city at anytime of the day. When I heard that there would be a fireworks festival (hanabi taikai) held in Odaiba, I decided to go right away. Moreover, I found myself buying a yukata to wear just like many Japanese people do! I don't know what possessed me to buy it, really. Maybe its cuteness? XP Anyway, I wore it and went to Odaiba. I tried to ignore all the staring but when a couple of girls screamed "Kawaii!" behind my back, I was glad ^^ I managed to find the flatmate and his friends I was meeting among the entire crowd at the beach and the fireworks started. They were so magnificent. I even saw one shaped like a cat face! They went on for about an hour then we stayed at the beach to wait for the crowd to disperse and went home later. On the whole, it was a wonderful experience.

Food

When it comes to food, I'm extremely picky. However, almost in an attempt to rebel against the conservative eating habits and tastes of my country, I'm in love with Japanese cuisine!

I had sushi a couple of times, one at a very touristic kaitenzushi place on Omotesando. Other than that I had soba, tempura, yakitori and shabu shabu for the first time. Soba is I think my favorite kind of noodle because I'm not a big fan of the vegetables in ramen. Tempura was delicious but it was so heavy and oily for me that I had to spend a couple of hours sleeping to digest it. Yakitori is close to what we call shish kebab but in a more Japanese way. Shabu shabu definitely deserves its high price. I never knew thin slices of meat could be so delicious when cooked only in boiling water.

My greatest gastronomical discovery during this trip was the "festival dish", okonomiyaki! It was absolutely delicious. It's kind of an omelet cook on a tin plate. In some restaurants, the waiter brings the ingredients and you cook it on your own, while in some the okonomiyaki is served on a plate already cooked.

Something I found really interesting is that I realized that I really loved some stuff that I was told many Japanese didn't like such as caviar or natto (fermented soybeans) Anyway, Japanese cuisine, like everything else in Japanese culture, is very unique.

Obsessions

Since I was living in Harajuku, I could pretty much satisfy my obsession of Japanese youth culture everyday by walking through Takeshita Street. But I also have interests that I can't satisfy in the cute and crazy shops of Harajuku.

Take the Rose of Versailles for example… The fandom of this old historical shoujo anime/manga series is the mothers of the youths you see walk around Harajuku and Shibuya. Purely, out of luck, I found a huge stand dedicated to it at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Shinjuku. But I had another place in mind to shop for RoV goods. Power Ambitions Showroom located in Nagayama which is an hour away from Shinjuku with the rapid train on Keio line, serves as a museum and shop for RoV merchandise. The saleswoman was quite surprised to see a foreigner coming all the way from Turkey to visit her shop. I spent a good one and half hours there and left with a huge smile on my face.

Another thing I had in mind was buying Kodemari's RoV doujinshi (fan written manga) I contacted her and asked her how I could pay her and receive her work. Seeing I was a foreigner, she was kind enough to give me easy instructions. A couple of days later, I received her doujinshi and started reading using my electronic dictionary as my Japanese wasn't so good to understand it. Though, speaking about Japanese language, I did something really amazing that I'm very proud of. I shopped at Yahoo Auctions Japan! Thanks to Jim Breen's WWW JDIC, I managed to read the instructions to bid and pay and bought a RoV CD and two gorgeous posters!

When I was in Kinokuniya bookstore, another surprise was waiting for me. While I was drooling over the RoV goods, I saw a notice announcing the special Harry Potter event in the honor of the release of the last book! So as the event said, I was ready in front of the bookstore on July 22 at 8am. Because of the time difference in between, it would be midnight in London. I got my copy, went back home and started reading. I finished the book in three days which is a record for me, for fear of spoilers. One of my flatmates had already downloaded one of the internet leaks and read the book but thankfully he didn't utter a word about it and I could finish my book in peace. It was the greatest happiness any devoted Harry Potter fan could ever reach.

When I was commuting from home to school, I always took the wonderfully useful JR Yamanote line. It was on the TV screens on the train that I saw the ad of Sanrio Puroland, a theme park of Sanrio characters (Cinnamoroll, My Melody, U*SA*HA*NA, Keroppi, etc. and of course Hello Kitty) for little kids. Guidebooks absolutely have no mention of this spot obviously as it would attract the attention of only the crazy cute-obsessed Japan fans like me ^^; So I decided to check it out. The place was roaming with toddlers accompanied with their mothers. And there was me still smelling of alcohol with a slight hangover from clubbing the night before. Now, that's one great contrast! But the park was so much fun and irresistibly cute. I watched several shows and one of them had a surprise for me. I had took my seat on the front row and looking at the pictures I took on my camera when a lady was giving the preliminary announcements about the show. The moment I heard the word 'Takarazuka' I automatically lifted my head. As much as my Japanese allowed me to understand she had said that the performers were Takarazuka actresses! So I ended up watching a Takarazuka performance by 'accident'!

Before I arrived in Japan, I had stumbled upon a site introducing two anime museums in Tokyo. Naturally, I decided to visit them. The first one was Toei Anime Museum, with a collection of Toei anime figures and other merchandise, a timeline of Toei anime history and a studio room to show how anime is put on TV. The second one, Suginami Animation Museum offered broader entertainment facilities. A library of anime DVDs and manga, a studio where you can draw and animate your own anime, a move theatre and a small shop made it a more worthy of being called a museum.

Of course the most famous anime related museum is without a doubt, the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Dedicated to the anime movies of Ghibli Studio which is best known for the masterpieces of the Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, this museum features a permanent exhibition area with sketches and storyboards, a special exhibition area, a playground with a life-size Cat Bus toy, a shop, a restaurant, a café, a movie theatre. It was a bit of a disappointment for me considering that the tickets run out months ago. Luckily, they save a certain amount for foreigners everyday. At the entrance to the museum, the staff asked me for my country. I think they ask that to all foreigners for statistics. That's how popular this museum is. But it's worth going there to see the yearly updated short anime movies. These movies are created for the Ghibli Museum alone and are not distributed in any other way. The one I watched was Mizugumo Monmon. It was simply adorable! I fell in love with the genius of Ghibli once again because who else would have thought about making a movie about the love story between a water spider and a water strider?

JPOP also got its share of this trip. I knew I had to see at least one of my favorite artists perform live and the date of the OLIVIA's 'Share your treats' concert was just perfect. I bought my ticket about ten days in advance and went to CLUB QUATTRO in Shibuya where the concert was going to be held on the big day. OLIVIA was simply gorgeous. She was wearing a white shirt and a grey skirt with blood stains on. She was so at ease on stage. She talked about her tour in Paris. I thought her speaking was a bit weird. She would insert a lot of English words and the weirdest of all was that she didn't pronounce their Japanese readings. Nevertheless, she was so cute! What I liked best about the concert was that her voice sounded exactly the same as in her records. And there was no playback really.

So that's all from my obsessions. Or… is it?

Osaka and Kyoto

I went to Osaka and Kyoto for one weekend shortly after I arrived. Reason? Simple: The Rose of Versailles.

I had read that a special exhibition about The Rose of Versailles was going to take place in Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka, Osaka. Since Takarazuka is also the hometown of the all-woman theatrical troupe, I knew I had to go there.

The distance between Osaka and Tokyo is around 550km which takes only 2 hours and a half by bullet train. I arrived there in the morning and went straight to Takarazuka. It looked like a cute little European town by a river to me. There was a path called Hana no Michi leading to Takarazuka Grand Theatre surrounded by shops that sell Takarazuka merchandise like mostly CDs and DVDs of performances, posters and postcards of top stars and other pretty decorative stuff. I took a peak at the theatre but didn't see any plays. It's a pity that they don't perform Rose of Versailles this year. When I was on my way on Hana no Michi to Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, I came across the famous RoV statue. It really was a great coincidence because I kept seeing pictures of it on the net but had no idea where it actually was so it practically appeared out of no where!

Later that day, I went to the Osaka Castle. I had been there before but my camera had broken down and I had to leave without taking a single picture. So this time, I went there to avenge myself. There was a music festival with amateur bands playing all kinds of music. I stopped by to listen to a couple of them. There was a huge publicity of EXILE so I gathered they would make an appearance there later but I couldn't stay that long. I took pictures of the Osaka Castle from every angle with my dearest Nikon COOLPIX P3 and headed to the SpaWorld.

Now, going to SpaWorld was a mistake. I got carried away by the lure of the description of the Lonely Planet guidebook and went there without considering certain things. SpaWorld is a huge indoor spa complex so it's supposed to be a very fun place if you go there with friends. But I'm a lonely traveler and the whole experience turned out to be awkward. First I wanted to try the outdoor pool. I needed to borrow a swimsuit as I hadn't brought one with me which was very uncool to begin with. I tried the slides and swam to the open air part of the pool. Then I wanted to try the onsen (public bath) at least once when I was in Japan but I just couldn't bring myself to be naked in front of everyone else although it's gender separated. I knew everyone would look at me which was okay if I was with someone else. But when alone, I knew I just wouldn't be able to take it. Ah well, stupid me!

My next stop would be Kyoto. I headed to Shin Osaka station, took a local train and was already in Kyoto in just half an hour. I walked to the ryokan (Japanese styled inn where you have your own room but share the bathroom) which I had made a reservation for that night. There I requested the host to prepare the ofuro (bath) for me. Although most non-Japanese find the idea of getting into the water somebody else had already used simply gross, I didn't mind and it turned out to be a much more pleasant experience than SpaWorld.

Next morning I left the inn and went to Kyoto station to take a bus to Kinkakuji Temple (Golden Pavillion) On the bus, I asked for directions to the girl sitting next to me and we started talking. She was a first year International Relations student at Ritsumeikan University which was right near Kinkakuji Temple. She offered me a tour of her university and I gladly accepted. Later she walked with me until the entrance of Kinkakuji. We said goodbye to each other and she went back to her university. I walked for 5 minutes into the temple and suddenly remembered that I hadn't taken any contact info of her. So I ran back to the university, found her department, asked people if they knew her and finally, unbelievably found her! Then I lingered a bit more at the university as she had lunch with her friends and set off to Kinkakuji for real!

Kinkakuji Temple was simply breathtaking. There are no words to describe its beauty. It's absolutely "the" landmark of Japan. I won't say anymore, go check at Wikipedia XPPPPP

Later I went to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It's famous with its hundreds of torii lined up one after another very densely, almost forming a tunnel. The shrine is also featured in the Memoirs of a Geisha movie.

Since I had some more time before gong back to Tokyo, I decided to go to the Costume Museum. Just like the title suggests, it was supposed to feature costumes from ancient Japan. Places like this always attract my attention but I find them disappointing almost always after visiting them. So this time it wasn't any different. Far from being a museum, I found a small "flat" with small Japanese dolls dressed up and put into a "doll house" that was meant to look like ancient Japan. There was a "fitting room" where we could try a princess outfit. I took pictures wearing the outfit, chatted with a very enthusiastic lady working in the museum and headed to Kyoto Station to go back home to Tokyo.

A trip is never a trip unless there are some mysterious and memorable things to tell the people when you come back. So before ending my already more-than-long enough entry, I want to list strange things that happened to me in Japan.

- I saw the same girl and the same dog 3 times
- I saw the same tourists twice - an old French lady and his son or grandson.

- I was asked directions by a Japanese girl

- I saw 2 old women with purple hair on the same day at different times.

- I was asked out 4 times by different old Japanese guys at different times.

- I found a Turkey stone Istanbul souvenir in my room when I moved in.

Weird, huh?

Like the title suggests my stay in Japan was like a dream. It's a bit disturbing to admit but I wouldn't be lying if I said I didn't miss Turkey even a bit. So someday I hope to go back, stay there for a good one or two years and return with a yearning to discover new places.

Photos can be viewed here -> http://picasaweb.google.com/gonenc.inal

"Connotation" is the magic word!

2007-06-03T20:02:03Z

Today I wrote a sentence wusing the word "connotation." I'm 100% sure that I never looked up this word from a dictionary yet it came out so naturally. Without realizing I had somewhat learned this word and was capable of using it in a sentence with the correct meaning. I love this feeling of learning a language naturally. And "connotation" isn't the only word which surprised me. It's like I possess magical powers and I discover them XP Cool, huh?

Religion is like a doctor's prescription

2007-05-18T20:54:25Z

Come to think of it, religion IS like a doctor's prescription. It's supposed to be something good that will "heal" you or make you feel good. But if you get the prescription wrong... You're fucked. As a matter of fact, you fuck everyone around you who has a different prescription written by a different doctor than yours. But why the hell do you care? If people are gonna die because of their false prescription or their "fake" doctors, let them die! You don't have to kill them yourself.

There are also people who have prescriptions but they simply can't "afford" the medicines listed or simply they just don't care. I agree with them mostly. The more medicine you take, the longer your disease gets even if you suffer less from it. Moreover, some medicines can have side-effects or might prove to be harmful rather than useful. But you still keep taking them even if they are confiscated and you "drug" yourself to the point that you can't think clearly and be a victim of the faulty product. And then, no one can cure you ever again. Not your doctor to medicine itself.

Yeniden Paskalya Geldi

2007-04-26T11:54:07Z

Bizi Hristiyan saymazlar onlar. Tenimiz kara diye. Ama onlara sorarsanız sonuna kadar Hristiyan'dırlar. Paskalya'yı yumurtaları renkli renkli boyayıp bahçeye gömüp besili çocuklarını onları bulmaları için bırakmak sanırlar. Oruç tutmaz onlar. Oruçtan haberleri bile yoktur onların. Orucu Müslüman teröristlerin âdeti bilirler. Tabaklarındaki koca kırmızı etten bir lokma alıp gerisi çöpe atarlar hiç tereddüt etmeden. Bizim bırakın kırmızı eti, o tavşanlı civcivli boyayıp ziyan ettikleri yumurtamız bile yok. O yediklerini kussalar bizim bütün kıtayı doyururlar, haberleri yok. Böylece bizi de yiyip bitiriyorlar.

Bizim açlıktan bitkin düşünce uzanacağımız bir yatağımız yok, üzerimize örteceğimiz örtümüz yok. Sadece kavurucu bir güneşimiz var örtü niyetine, mevsim niyetine. Paskalya baharı getirir derler. Çiçekler açar, ağaçlar yeşerir derler. Burada ağaç yok, çiçek yok. Burası çöl, burası Etiyopya.

Brother, Dear Brother...

2007-03-17T19:47:27Z

Here's my very late review of the anime series Oniisama e... by no other than Riyoko Ikeda, the author of my favorite anime of all times, The Rose of Versailles! It's been translated with the title "Brother, Dear Brother" by the wonderful fansub group, Techno Girls.

Oniisama e… tells the story of an ordinary girl, Misono Nanako who has just started high school in the prestigious all-girls Seiran Academy where she gets invited to the Sorority, an exclusive organization of elite members, selected by the wicked and beautiful leader Ichinomiya Fukiko, Miya-sama for short. Nanako becomes friends with a mysterious and terribly lonely girl called Mariko, also a member of the Sorority, who wants Nanako all to herself. While Nanako has to endure the horrible jealousy of other students who think that she wasn't qualified to enter the Sorority, she tries not to lose her best friend from middle school, Tomoko, to the pressures of this strange new life. Nanako meets with two other students, Asaka Rei, a.k.a. Saint Juste and Orihara Kaoru a.k.a. Kaoru no Kimi. Rei is a tormented soul, dependent on her pills, who shares a tragic past with Fukiko and Kaoru is a cheerful tomboy, full of life despite her life-threatening illness. Together with Miya-sama, Saint Juste and Kaoru no Kimi are the “magnificent ones”. They are the most popular, beautiful and talented girls who are looked up to by everyone in the school. As Nanako gets to know them and discovers their relations with each other, she finds peace in the letters she writes to her "brother" who is also keeping a secret from her.

This series explores the dark side of teenage girls. It shows to what extent their feelings can lead them to do unimaginable things. Being a genuine shoujo, it's notorious for being yuri, meaning containing girl-to-girl relationships. But I'm surprised that most people only care about this aspect of it. If you're going to avoid this anime do so because of its depressive athmospehere, not for the yuri content because, honestly, there's nothing to exaggerate. What can damage your psychology is the unexpected mood swings and suicidality of these troubled girls. But they are all great. Really, I love each character very much. They are not superficial. Some of them are very typical and some of them are very complex. Sometimes I really got frustrated because sometimes it's impossible to understand their motives but that's the beauty of this anime, the mystery of adolecence and that no one is pure good or evil.

Here you can watch a very cool clip of Oniisama e... and here is my favorite scene ^^

Discours d'accueil

2007-03-14T21:45:19Z

We're studying speeches in my Text and Composition class in French. The instructor was telling us that if we know the date, the subject and the public speaker of a speech we can more or less guess its contents too. To prove this he gave us an assignment to write a welcome speech for the orientation as the director of our department. I wrote something very ordinary pretty quick but I wasn't satisfied with it. It was then that I had this brilliant (and evil) idea: I would prepare a speech in my way as if I were the director of the department. I would have control over everything even on the structure of the department. So finally I came up with this...

Bienvenue à tous et à toutes ! Je m’appelle Gönenç İnal, le futur chef de département de traduction et d’interpretariat. Je suis très contente d’accueillir des jeunes enthousiastes d’apprendre des langues. Vous partagez une passion pour les langues et vous avez choisi cette institution pour la cultiver. Je vous assure que vous ne le regretterez pas ! Nous, les professeurs sommes à votre disposition pour partager notre passion des langues avec vous et nous sommes tous prêts à faire de vous de bons traducteurs. Dès maintenant nous formons une famille. Nous prêtons donc beaucoup d’importance à vos besoins et à vos idées. N’hésitez pas à poser des questions ou à présenter votre opinion.

Sans doute vous avez choisi notre département puisque nous sommes le seul qui offre la traduction dans des langues les plus parlées au monde, l’anglais et le français. Mais cette année, vous avez une autre raison pour faire le même choix. Je suis fière de vous annoncer que notre département vient de recevoir le certificat d’excellence par l’UE. *je montre le certificat* C’est-à-dire que l’Union va choisir ses traducteurs parmi vous. Vous pouvez toujours aller voir le certificat et lire les conditions d’admission sur le panneau gauche à l’entrée de notre bâtiment.

Maintenant, je vais faire un sommaire de notre programme de cours durant 6 ans. Vous allez avoir deux ans de préparatoire de français. Durant ces deux ans vous pouvez prendre des cours de licence sélectionnés pour vous. Dès la première année de licence vous prenez des cours de traduction. Dans la deuxième année vous avez deux cours de culture générale et vous commencez à vous orienter vers des différents types de traduction comme « à vue », c’est-à-dire traduire en lisant un texte. Dans la troisième année vous commencez la traduction consécutive qui veut dire prendre des notes quand l’orateur parle et faire la traduction en les consultant. Dans la quatrième année, vous vous séparez en deux groupes : « interprétation » et « traduction. » Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas la différence entre les deux, l’interprétation est orale alors que la traduction est écrite. Alors, si vous voulez vous spécialiser en interprétation vous allez commencez par la traduction simultanée *je tourne vers l’interpréteur* –c’est-à-dire, évidemment ce qu’on fait maintenant. Et même si vous choisissez le groupe de « traduction », vous pouvez suivre les cours d’ « interprétation » après votre 6ème année dans notre nouveau programme de maîtrise que nous venons d’ouvrir. Ce programme est ouvert à tous les diplômes de traductions et n’admet que les étudiants qui ont réussi l’examen d’entrée.

Ensuite nous allons vous dire au revoir avec un sourire très fier sur nos visages. Je suppose que maintenant vous vous dites que c’est très lointain d’ici mais le temps s’envole. Vous verrez vous-mêmes quand vous allez vous souvenir de mes paroles dans la cérémonie de la remise de diplômes.

Donc, maintenant, je suppose que vous êtes enthousiastes d’apprendre le français mais vous vous inquiétez de ne pas pouvoir tout apprendre en deux ans. Je vous promets qu’à la fin du premier semestre vous serez capable de comprendre ce discours sans traduction. Et à la fin du deuxième semestre vous serez capable d’en faire un vous-mêmes. C’est à vous d’imaginer votre niveau de français à la fin de la préparatoire ! En effet, vous avez beaucoup de chance car la plupart de vos professeurs dans la préparatoire sont francophones. Ils sont ici pour vous enseigner leur langue aussi bien que leur culture. Profitez bien de chaque opportunité de parler avec eux.

Pour conclure, cela va sans dire que notre département suit un programme qui mérite la gravité de son nom. « Traduction Interpretariat Anglais-Français-Turc » Vous êtes censés parler indifféremment ces trois langues et en plus vous devez être capable de faire de la traduction entre eux quand vous serez diplômés. Ceci exige beaucoup de travail, de patience et, bien sur le goût des langues.

Bienvenue encore une fois à notre famille polyglotte ! Nous espérons de grandes réussites de votre part !

In the end I got a "Bravo!" from my instructor ^^

More beautiful commercials!

2007-02-13T22:09:52Z

Two of the best commercials I've seen so far. I wonder if they are made in Turkey o_O?

Lipton Winter tea
Lipton Pommegranate tea

Sometimes I can't tell if a commercial is imported or not because they look too good to be Turkish. But I know that the 'don't buy pirate stuff' video that we see at the beginning of movies is international. I've seen French, Spanish and Turkish versions so far ^^

Introduction Paragraph

2007-02-06T12:43:48Z

I'm sick as a dog X_X But I went to school this morning anyway in order not to lose points for attendance. I finished a whole kleenex box I got from my car in two hours of Text & Composition in English class but I also wrote something! We had to choose one of the given thesis statements and to write an introduction paragraph with the selected thesis statement being the last sentence of it. Here's what I wrote...

"Don't we get shocked eveytime we listen to our parents' stories about school? They had no freedom and no option or opportunity to make a decision. The teacher had all the power. He could even beat them up. Now, things are different . There are no longer students called 'teacher's pet' because, especially in private institutions, teachers have become 'pets'. No discipline is left and the students get dimmer and dimmer each passing day. Take my high school. I can suggest several improvements needed at this corrupt cradle of education."

End of winter break

2007-01-29T13:59:36Z

So did I do any of the things I planned for the winter break? No! I mean, not really ^^;; I studied French a lot for TCF and the exam has been postponed T_T I worked a lot on my Oscar shrine and it's 85% complete. I started a French book and couldn't finish it because it was too hard. I'll start from the begining again. I didn't study Japanese and I didn't finish the 3rd HP game.

But did I do anything at all? Of course. I watched 5 movies: Blow, Eight Below, Stranger than Fiction, The Man of the Year and Happy Feet. My mom's cousin, Billur has come and she's been staying with us for almost one week. She's here for an interview with the US Embassy. I met with a couple of friends at a mall. We had a lot of fun bashing down our school and teachers :D And for the last three days I've been working on this and I'm damn proud of it!

I still don't understand how I can't manage my time. It doesn't look hard but I just CAN'T do it!!!! Anyway... As long as I don't feel like I'm wasting my time, it's ok.

'Meme', amusing for Turkish speakers XP

2007-01-19T09:54:52Z

    1. Elaborate on your default icon.
I made it myself about a week ago. I took the picture in the morning of the same day. You can't see it from here but I'm wearing my PJs. The doll was made as a new year's present by our neigbor who's very talented (more talented than my mom actually, shhh....) when it comes to cooking and arts and crafts. The kanji in 'ningyou' which means 'doll' in Japanese. It's one of my favorite words because if you omit the 'u' at the end it means 'mermaid'. Cool, huh?
    2. What's your current relationship status?
Sadly single...
    3. Ever have a near-death experience?
Three times I think. Once I was about to fall off a mountain while climbing with my grandpa, the other time I was nearly electrocuted to death and lastly I was about to get squeezed between the elevator doors of the UN. I didn't know that they didn't have sensors.
    4. Name an obvious quality you have.
Perfection.
    5. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
Songs don't get stuck in my head very often. But now I'm moving my legs rhythmically. Something I do very often while watching TV or in front of the computer screen. Does that count?
    6. Name a celebrity you would marry.
Jude Law *drools*
    7. Who will cut and paste this first?
No one because I got this from mawombat's journal and she's the only one who reads my journal XP
    8. Has anyone ever said you look like a celebrity?
Yes! Many times. Ever since I was little people say that I look like Arzum Onan, Miss Turkey of 1993. She is extremely pretty AND smart. I'm hoping to meet her one day.
    9. Do you wear a watch?
Yes, all the time.
    10. Do you have anything pierced?
Both ears, twice.
    11. Do you have any tattoos?
Nope.
    12. Do you like pain?
No.
    13. Do you like to shop?
Oh yeah, mostly for clothes as I'm never happy with how I dress.
    14. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Don't remember.
    15. What was the last thing you paid for with your credit debit card?
Movie ticket for The Prestige.
    16. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
Bertan, my high school crush.
    17. What is on your desktop background?
Two frozen cherries.
    18. What is the background on your cell phone?
Tarepanda!!!
    19. What was the last movie you watched?
The Prestige... rocked!
    20. What was the last book you read?
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Favorite music

2007-01-18T19:52:52Z

I love talking about myself to other people most of the time but who doesn't, right? When it comes to things that I'm very passionate about like anime, Harry Potter, j-music I can go on for hours but I don't because I don't want the person listening to me to get bored because I KNOW they'll get bored. So I try to keep it as short as possible.

But when I'm ASKED to talk about my favorite things in life, nothing comes out of my mouth. I don't understand it. For example, I'm signing up to a new community and I need to fill up my profile (which I love doing normally and don't let any section blank) it takes me hours to complete it. Why? Don't I know what I like?! Yes, actually I don't and also my tastes are still changing rapidly since I discover something new each day and I'm still a teenager :P So I made up my mind to make a favorite list of musicians as it takes me the longest to do.

Favorite Turkish musicians

- Teoman
- Şebnem Ferah
- Aylin Aslım
- Nil Karaibrahimgil (I adore her genious)
- Tarkan (yeah, I know...)
- Sertab Erener
- mor ve ötesi
- maNga
- Vega

Other favorite musicians

- Tori Amos
- Loreena McKennit
- System of a Down (yes, you read right, I like these guys no matter what they say!)
- Gwen Stefani
- Olivia Ruiz
- Indochine
- Emilie Simon
- Raphaël
- ORIGA

Favorite Asian musicians (Hehe, the easiest ;)

- Akino Arai
- Maaya Sakamoto
- Yoko Kanno
- Ayumi Hamasaki (However unlikely it might sound, she's one of my biggest obsessions)
- Tommy heavenly6
- OLIVIA
- Gackt
- Cocco
- Chihiro Onitsuka
- Shiina Ringo
- Youjeen
- MALICE MIZER

It took me some time again ^^; I'm not happy with the first two parts. I like a lot of songs from different people but I still don't know their music. These are musicians whose music style, I believe, I identified. But it appears to me that I still need to listen to them more to really appreciate their music.

LMAO!

2007-01-05T23:07:45Z

EVERYONE check this out! This is the most hilarious amv I've EVER seen! Of course it's Rose of Versailles related, hehehe. It's about Fersen, Marie Antoinette's lover. And the song is Rasputin by Bonnie M!!! I can't think of any other song that would fit Fersen better XDDDDD

Hans! Axel! Von! Fersen!

Winter break! Ya~~y!

2007-01-05T14:28:57Z

All right... Here's the list of stuff that I'm planning to do throughout the winter break since now I have all the time I need...

- Study French for TCF
- Study Japanese, especially some kanji T_T
- Open a shrine on Oscar
- Read at least two books
- Finish the 3rd HP game

That's a short list, isn't it? But I know how lazy I am so if I manage to do all these I'll be extremely happy ^^

And here's the other list I promised in one of my previous posts. My all-time favorite anime...

- Versailles no Bara (my baby, my only one... This one comes first. The rest is not in order)
- Rurouni Kenshin OVAs
- Sailormoon (Can't not like it... it's become a habit, an obsession)
- Tokyo Godfathers
- Tonari no Totoro (Ahh... Miyazaki love!)
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Fruits Basket
- Chobits
- Detective Conan
- Tonari no Yamada-kun
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Ah! My Goddess Movie
- You're Under Arrest

Finally 2007 resolutions...

- Getting a scholarship from my goddamn rich school.
- Going away from Turkey in the summer to Japan or France.
- Controlling my hate to everything around me.
- Making good and real friends
- Not spending the next new year's eve at home watching Madonna concert and Billboard music awards T_T

Yay!

2006-12-31T22:17:02Z

Happy new year~~!