So September 14th marks a very momentous occasions ...it's Miyavi's 30th Birthday!

Now he was celebrating it with a live Nico-Nico broadcast ...which I missed due to the time difference and being at school ;_;

But being the awesome tech savvy Rockstar that he is he posted picture on twitter:

(umm...so am I the only one seeing - Happy 30th D-Day Miyavi ...instead of B-day?)






(Also have you ever noticed the difference in Japanese Vs American Birthday Cakes?)






Look It's a group Picture from the broadcast!!!





MYV was very thankful for all his Birthday messages ...it's funny seeing fellow musicians like Takanori Nishikawa, Teru from Glay, and Takumi from YFC tweeting him as well as his fans!

Speaking of T.M. Revolution ...his bday is approaching fast - it's September 19th and as usual he's throwing his Inazuma Rock Concert! (one day I hope to be just like him and have a big music festival to celebrate my Birthday! ...seriously how cool would that be!)

He posted a picture of the best cake ever:





It's adorable just like him!!!!

Any way this is just a quick post ...I'm not feeling so well tonight and couldn't sleep right away. I work in the AM ...hopfully I'll be able to rest.

Either way -I hope Miyavi has a rockin' Bday! With lots of cake and fun family time with Melody and the girls XD

I love Yoshiki Hayashi dearly ...really I do, he's the founder of Visual Kei - a Japanese rock Icon! But for the love of Kami-sama ...please stop jumping off/ into things!

He just posted more pics on twitter detailing his latest "scars" from diving off stage during his South American tour...and it just made me shake my head because honestly this man never seems to learn.

Let's recap ...everyone knows about his famous dive into his drums ...where he managed to get impaled by part of his drum set...I believe if I'm not mistaken - he actually did this twice. Although one time he seriously injured himself.

Then while diving off stage during X Japan's European Tour - I believe in London ...he hurt his back. At which point I believe all his fans though ..."please Yoshiki - stop diving off stage" ...but alas nothing would stop Yoshiki from leaping into the crowds during A-Nation and subsequently hurting his Knee...At which point I started thinking ...maybe there's something wrong with him ...no one can be that stubborn ...and yet there were the tweets from a few days ago at the start of X Japan's South American Tour ...

In a nut shell one of his fans tweeted him to apologize for ripping out chunks of his hair when Yoshiki dove in to the crowd ...to which Yoshiki said - Please don't do that again I got hurt...Yeah I seriously think that's where I'd throw the towel in ...I draw a line at my hair.

But No! Not Yoshiki - he soldiers on ...and jumped into the crowds again in Brazil ...which is how he got these scratches all over himself:






Now I know this maybe be a pointless rant ...and I'm not really upset and raving right now, just trying to figure out what in the world Yoshiki could possibly be thinking. I mean with the back and neck problems he has I really worry sometimes that he'll hurt himself so seriously that he won't be able to fully recover. I don't wish that upon him - I hope that he can continue playing for many years to come. (especially long enough for me to see X live once!)I just wonder if that will be possible with him continually tempting fate...

Then again he seems the irreverent type ...wears a neckbrace while drumming yet jumps off a stage...it's a whole knew meaning to throwing caution to the wind!

Yeah so I should totally be in bed right now ...and if not in bed I should be doing some American Government reading ...and instead I'm on the internet looking for pictures of U:zo...

Oh come on! He's adorable and you all love him I know it!!!

So the big news after I got home from work tonight was of course that YFC was releasing new goods ...complete with a vibrating cellphone strap...which incidentally talking about on twitter got me followed by my first sex toy bot ...yeah I'm sure that looks great to people following me!

Also G's releasing a new single from the anime Sket Dance - which he's been a voice actor for ...playing - yes you guessed it a visual kei singer XD

I love the description of him as randomly breaking into english now and then...it's so G-like! Character picture below (Dante) :




I'm thinking that Gackt really never sleeps because between Tempest, the Kenshin Festival, the YFC World Tour, and the DEARS trip - I have no fucking clue how he manged to fit voice acting and recording theme songs...seriously - props to G! The guy never stops and that's why we love him!

My facebook status currently reads :


"Dear 4C's math teacher -sending me a writing assignment 2 days before our 1st class makes me think I should test out of your class ...especially when A) you tell me it's not for a grade B) you express your belief in the importance of writing ...while using incorrect grammar ... and C) you're class itinerary states I'll only be getting through 5 chapters in half a year ...unless you mistakenly left out chapters 8 & 11 as opposed to purposely leaving it out which I'm currently crediting you with."

The unspoken words for the end of that are of course - Love, Ashlee ... which in this instance my better equate to "fuck off" ...seriously written assignments in math ...I get it ...it may be the highest level remedial math class but it's still remedial math ...sigh

I'd like to start by saying I'm actually fairly good at math ...it's simply been 10 years since I've had math. Since I was so good at math I finished all the credits I needed for high school by 10th grade...and since I had health problems during my junior and senior year I focused on getting enough credits to graduate ...not going above and beyond. Seriously I spent the last 2 years of H.S. being tutored and taking online courses.

Now I have always been a straight A student ... I've never failed anything in my life ...the first time I got a C was ... yes 10th grade right in the beginning of my health decline. Now I was so happy to graduate I took a year off from school to try and get my bearings ...and i got a job ...which I was good at and managed to get 2 promotions at ...which lead to 5 years of working full-time. Which means when i finally decided to start community college I had no time to study for assessment tests....

Now I happen to be naturally gifted when it comes to english so - I got 1 question wrong out of the assessment testing and they told me I could test out of english ...math ...I managed to suck at ...hence me being put into the highest level "remedial" math class - which I have to take to get to college math ...and doesn't even count towards my degree :(

I've spent the last 10 years training to be an opera singer ...can someone tell me why I need algebra...? Math is used in music ...but not in this capacity ...and come on this guy who's supposed to teach me put I'. and I', instead of I'm in the same sentence twice ...please sir tell me how important writing is in math!!!

My mom told me I should write him the longest essay he's ever received before ...detailing how this math course has nothing to do with my major...and is completely irrelevant. My Uncle on the other hand offered to pay for the test I need to take to test-out of the course ..."honey look at the book and test out of the damn thing ...I'll pay for it."


Yep - maybe it's what I get for not studying before the assessment test ...but I happened to be working full time back then ...perhaps it's what I get for having to drop out last semester after getting really ill with lung problems ...or maybe, just maybe this is what I get for going to a community college ...sigh You get what you pay for ...and it's really cheap! XD

P.S. - I think it was the Calvin & Hobbs cartoon and the talk of "collaborative learning activities" which sent me over the edge ...no thank you - I'll just re-teach myself Algebra XD

For those of you wondering the first two women are opera singers - Dame Joan Sutherland my favorite opera singer ever! And then Diana Daramau in costume as Queen of the Night - which she sings magnificently!

This is a copy of a message I posted on my blog about japanese relief efforts - it explains why I haven't been posting lately anywhere...I feel bad because I had planned to make this more of a personal blog with more visual kei info - and keep my wordpress blog for just Japanese relief effort information ... but with the recent illness I've had I'm to exhausted to do much of anything. My explaination is bellow - please read,and know that once I'm well I do plan to continue with my LJ journal.



So I’m once again posting a personal message somewhat unrelated to Japanese relief efforts since I just wanted my readers to be updated about the cause of my sporadic posting as of late. For the last 5 months I’ve been ill – initially I had bronchitis … then I was diagnosed with pleurisy … I ended up in the hospital twice with acute bronchitis and pleurisy … even after the bronchitis apparently cleared up and the pleurisy should have been gone I continued to feel exhausted and have pain in one of my sides where my lungs where. My doctor put me on anti-inflamatories but was puzzled as to why my pleurisy hadn’t cleared up since normally it goes away after 3 weeks or a month … I got sick with a cold, then strep … probably since my immune system was unbeknownst to me still fighting something else off.

I kept trying to blame how I was feeling on everything I could think of – poor diet … weight I had gained after being sick and on steroids for the bronchitis and pleurisy … the one thing though which concerned me the entire time was the fact that I could not and still can not sing … that has never happened to me before . My voice is gone … not tired, not out of shape … but gone – I try to sing and I start coughing so bad I almost throw up… there is sound which comes out – but there is no breath, not support, so it’s inevitably always flat or off pitch… I have near perfect pitch - I can tune instruments by ear … I can listen to a chorus and point out the one person singing off-key … not being able to sing along to a pop song I like on the radio means there is a serious problem … I have 4 octaves and 9 years of training – I should be able to sing along to a pop song.

While this concerned me I still didn’t think I could possibly be ill, the pain I was getting in my side went from occurring all the time to infrequently … to only when I tried to exercise, or walk, or lift things, or moved the wrong way … I felt that was an improvement. Unfortunately things suddenly began to get worse – the deep, painful cough I had come back, the pain in my side became more frequent. I started being winded from trying to have conversations, I stopped being able to sleep at night because of coughing fits. I just went back to the doctor on Tuesday - and was told that I still had pleurisy – 5 months later. I’m waiting to get a referral so I can see a pulmonary specialist for my lungs because something is clearly wrong.

The outcomes I’ve been given so far are scary – best case scenario is that I have developed asthma or asthmatic bronchitis … other possibilities are that the pleurisy has permanently damaged my lungs, that there may be scarring in my lungs, that the wall of my lung has adhered to my chest wall, or that there is a pocket of fluid which is between my lungs and the chest wall causing breathing difficulties. I honestly have to say I’m scared … I may need surgery depending upon the findings , I could lose part of my lung … even more frustrating is the thought that I may have been misdiagnosed this whole time and have something else wrong with me.

I am for the most part when not dragging myself to work in bed – I’m exhausted and in pain and find it hard to concentrate on doing much of anything – so that’s why these blog posts are becoming few and far between. I hate the thought of people thinking I’m not interested in helping Japan anymore … that I was one of those people who just jumped on a band wagon and then got off when the next thing came along…that’s not me… but I’ve come to the realization that I’m just too ill to push myself right now, the past five months have taken a toll on me …

I have a habit of always relying on music to make me feel better … I’ll listen to it for hours when I’m sick and it will just take me away to a place where I forget the pain I’m in or my physical weaknesses and can do and be anything I want to be. It’s my escape … and the most frustrating thing fo me is that all I want to do is sing along to the songs I’m listening to … I’ve never had an illness which took away my singing ability before … I forget sometimes and try to sing – then I have coughing attacks so strong it brings me to tears. I can’t even pretend to sing because I have a habit of breathing like I’m actually singing the song along with the musician … which is just as bad as actually singing along … this ends in fits again. To have my creative outlet taken away is heartbreaking … I’m trying very hard not to let it get to me… and most of the time failing in that endeavor.

Nevertheless I’m trying to stay positive, I’m trying to continue to blog and help support charity work in Japan because it’s important to me. And the thought that I may be making a small difference even while lying here in bed keeps me going. I’ve been lucky to make new friends all over the world through my blogging and via twitter. They have all been very supportive to me at this time and I will never forget that. When members of your own family don’t have faith in you – but people you’ve never met halfway around the world do – a little bit of your faith in humanity is restored. Sure it’s annoying that it took me going back to the doctors and them saying I’m still sick for certain people I’m related to, to believe I’m still ill… does that suck … sure … I was just as sick monday the day before I saw the doctor as I was Tuesday … but the fact that others who I’ve never met in person are sending me their good thoughts and prayers, and wishing for my good health gives me hope – makes me smile and think “It’s not so bad .. I can go on – because people care about me and I’m not alone”

I was working on a post about L’Arc~en~Ciel teaming up with Coca Cola for a recovery fund which would focus on rebuilding schools and education. I was also planning on posting about how the Leslie Kee photo book Love&Hope had sold out on Amazon … but I’m really not feeling well. I had a several coughing fits and am exhausted. So I wanted to post this explanation instead – perhaps after I rest and take more medication I’ll feel up to making more posts … if that doesn’t happen though at least you’ll all know why I’ve suddenly gone MIA.

I’ll let you all know the results of my doctors visit … in the mean time I urge you to continue doing your best to help others but spreading information, volunteering, and donating when you can. Small things add up and in the end make a difference- Ashlee

This is just a very quick post to let everyone know that the SYH International Forum has moved!! We are in the process of selecting leadership and organizing everything but have decided to move the forum we're using as a platform at the moment.

The new forum is at: http://xamuel.net/forum/index.php

Please join us! xoxo -Ashlee

ps - I'm about to pass out from exhaustion and I need to work in about 6 hours so here is a consolation picture of Gackt as Uesugi Kenshin ... got to love him!

pps - he cut his hair again ... after the USTREAM ... he tweeted about it today :(

• Thu, 18:39: @enjeru not to be nosey but what did you do in the music industry if you don't mind me asking ...?
• Thu, 18:45: @enjeru @SarahLGollum by the way did you guys becomemembers for the SYH forum ...?
• Thu, 18:50: @SarahLGollum @enjeru - actually we created a new forum here :http://j-bentley.com/SYH/index.php?board=1.0 we're (cont) http://tl.gd/9rjso9
• Thu, 19:04: @leggyron @GACKTsVanilla - who knows twitter is being odd in general - my app on my iphone isn't working well either
• Thu, 19:24: @enjeru yeah I've been classically training for 7 years now. I have 4 octaves and a very large voice. Although (cont) http://tl.gd/9rk5nc
• Thu, 19:28: @Giyuseki Hola! Como estas?
• Thu, 19:52: Sugizo talks about Ishinomaki - and releases new song "No More Nukes" http://wp.me/ptrwp-6Z
• Thu, 19:53: @Giyuseki Soy bueno! Aunque tengo que ir a trabajar a la brevedad. :)
• Thu, 20:00: @Giyuseki Thanks - that's about my extent though ... well and colors and numbers ... animals .. I had a couple (cont) http://tl.gd/9rkduq
• Fri, 03:12: Yoshiki is following me now!!!!!! :) YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

( Read more... )

• Wed, 21:17: Okay ... I'm back ... Did we figure out about voting and structuring for the SHY group...? Only a handful of ppl are on the forum so far...
• Thu, 00:42: @_Toxic_Girl_ Hey! Just wanted to let you know I found you on LJ and friended you :) My name on there is akuiku...
• Thu, 00:48: Ok -must get off twitter to do things! Remember SHY forum http://j-bentley.com/SYH/index.php - also friend me at LJ - there I'm akuiku
• Thu, 01:25: @girlandtheghost I mean with the humanitarian work he's doing now - they should really make one in his likeness!!!
• Thu, 01:27: SHY Forum! http://wp.me/ptrwp-6A
• Thu, 01:31: Ok people - project get #showyourheart as a twitter trend begins now!!!! Get at it people!
• Thu, 01:42: @cindysuzuki A bunch of us are trying to get a trend going for #showyourheart - please spread the word :)
• Thu, 01:43: @cindysuzuki we're also trying to get together with a forum to help spread information http://j-bentley.com/SYH/index.php #showyourheart
• Thu, 01:52: @andersoncooper Hey you might want to look into #showyourheart foundation and #yoshikifoundationmaerica - could use exposure to help Japan
• Thu, 01:53: Ok - now I'm going to start tweeting celebs about #showyourheart ...am I crazy ...? Maybe - but it could help people :)

( Read more... )

So last night I stayed up later then I had planned to because of a random tweet made by Gackt saying in one hour he's be giving a live talk about Show Your Heart and its future... SO naturally I wanted to see him live and decided that I had to wait up and watch- even if my Japanese is really rusty! Thank God I did!

First off - his short hair isn't that bad ... I almost expected him to be bald from his tweets. Second I have to admit I miss his longer hair ... sigh... it'll grow back.

Now on to the important thing - the talk was amazing and in it he unveiled the East Funbaro Project, a website he's established to make it easier to get supplies and volunteers into the stricken provinces of the north. Shelters can make lists of goods they need, and people can send in information on what they've donated to areas in hopes of keeping better track of what areas need most and already have. Volunteers can also be requested via the website for shelters - and people can apply to be sent into help. Maps and shelter information are also available along with the ability to send thank you letters to supporters. It is a great initiative and I hope it will be a success. He's also partnered with amazon.com so that people in Japan can have access to "wish lists" and purchase and donate goods which will be directly shipped to evacuation centers!

Here is the link to the Funbaro website: http://sites.google.com/site/fjm201104/

Also something amazing happened while we were watching the live stream - Gackt fans from around the world started talking about creating an international fan based initative to promote SHY! We're very excited about it and have been going back and forth via twitter over logistics! (if you're interested friend me on twitter to find out more! utahimesama)

We've set up a forum to help us organize - check it out!

http://j-bentley.com/SYH/index.php

And as always if you want info on efforts being made by gackt and other musicians in Japan check out my blog! I'm in the process of posting more info now!

http://www.thelittlediva.wordpress.com

We must spread the information to all fellow DEARS in the world! Hopefully - together we can make a difference :)