Sonia's Journal

Epic expo was epic. It was SOOOO wonderful to meet up with all my lovelies again - all the cute cosplay crowd (cosplay fever guys, kazz, granny, Ilpala, Mark, Uni, Kit, Fez, Ellie, Sephi, Monkey, GunstarVixen, Ailsa, Odangochan, Karen, Tab, Leena, WhiteLeviathan, Snap, Team Giblets, and guh, many more!!!), the lovely lolitas (Kyra, Wing, Ada, Alex, Pantheria, Marbles, Cecelia, Tania, and argh, again, many many more), the crazy comickers (Tony, Dan , Andie, Yishan, chamonkee, Daniel, IndieManga, Paul, Kate, John, Kuma, Gashu, and you guessed it, tons more!), the super sweatdrop forumers and other anime scenesters (dwinky, noodles, manga_girl, volker, yun_min, hel & scott, rik, robinimmortal, cowgirlem - OMG THANK YOU FOR FANART, marisa - OMG THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENT and maaaaany more) and everyone else in this insane industry (Andrew & Beez team, Wil, Leo, Andrew & Tokyopop, Mike McFarland you are LEGEND, Andy Foot, P-chan, and mooooooore).

Apologies to anyone who was anticipating great things from me and my Trinity Blood homies in the masquerade, we had to pull out last week when all of our cosplays suffered setbacks. Such a shame as Mike McFarland and Troy Baker were there (and you guys are awesome), but it is better if we perfect our costumes and our dance routine. So look out for it next May Expo, suitably in springtime (ohohohoho).

Saturday I wore the anime version of Isaak Fernand von Kampfer from Trinity Blood (as I just couldn't get all the embroidery done on time, the lead up to Expo was just too insane). Sunday I was in sweet/classical lolita, with a pink Innocent World jumperskirt. I thought I would make up for dressing as an evil male crypto-nazi lookalike by being ridiculously pink and frilly the next day.

Official photos from our mini shoot on Saturday to come (much windyness by the docks meant very epic photos of Ion, Abel and Isaak... and yes, much BL/yaoi/wrong photos too), but in the meantime I shall leave you all with this, as Joanna put it, SPECTACULARLY INNAPROPRIATE photo.



Credits: taken by Fehed with Joanna's camera phone.
Disclaimer: such antics are only encouraged on special occasions XD please view with a sense of humour

If you want live (and often dirty, utterly rude and non-pc) commentary from me about Eurovision, you may want to check out my Twitter account:
http://twitter.com/sonia_leong

Your results:
You are Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard 80% Mr. Sulu 75% James T. Kirk (Captain) 70% Will Riker 70% Worf 70% Deanna Troi 70% Spock 64% Uhura 60% Geordi LaForge 55% Data 53% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 45% Mr. Scott 40% Chekov 35% Beverly Crusher 30% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 20%

A lover of Shakespeare and other fine literature. You have a decisive mind and a firm hand in dealing with others.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...

Stolen from Nocturnal Blossom ^^

1.YOUR REAL NAME:
Sonia Leong

2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (father and mothers middle names)
Meng Choong (haha!)

3.NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's mum, father's mum)
Mary... (I dunno, I never knew her name :/)

4.STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Leoso (LOL, kinda African?)

5.DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Black Cat!

6.SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born)
Kum Petaling-Jaya (OMGHILARIOUS)

7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Red Margarita!!

8.FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Song. Awww.

9.ROCK STAR NAME: (current pets name, current street name)
Tiggy Haden XD

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
Bella Srinikarin! Ooo, kinky Azn pr0n.

11.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)
Sonizzle?? Sozzled.

12.YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name)
Ooku?? Sounds like a Final Fantasy monster XD

13.YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Bobby

14. STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume, fav candy)
Poeme Ferrero Rocher!! XD

15. FAKE ID NAME: (Last name of a male friend, Last name of a female friend)
Dean Scott-Baron :P

My mum emailed me this, saying that this was pretty much me in a nutshell:

---

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. "Five minutes" is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine".

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) *Loud Sigh*: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of "nothing".)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. "That's okay" means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (Additional clause - This is true, unless she says "Thanks a lot" - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say "you're welcome" .. that will bring on a "whatever").

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying F--K YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking "What's wrong?" For the woman's response refer to #3.

And I felt like doing this, because there was one page in a certain comic that sums up my current mood at work XD

Do you remember this LJ post of mine from last summer? Particularly the question: What song do you think sums up your personality and why? Well, it was this song and if you know me, you'll understand why. I finally found a youtube video so it's easy for you guys to listen to this song if you want to ^^

While the dying world re-defines the reasons we strive to exist
We feign control though we’re bound to learn the meaning of moments like this
'Cause in the peaceful hour, the quiet spell, seduced by the promise of bliss
We soon forget that nothing's happened yet, we're living for moments like this
So hold me, whisper gently this is what we live for, how we learn who we are
It defines us, ever reminding us that life never is more precious than this
From the dim light in the grayness, the aim of the soul tends to miss
When the clouds catch fire and the oceans pitch, we're made for the moments like this
So hold me, whisper gently that there's nothing to fear, you'll always be near
To remind me, to stand behind me, although life can be rough, we can never give up
It's in our power to face the storm with all its fury and madness
The flash of thunder roll behind us with a longing and sadness
The clouds will break.

LOLOLOLOLOL This is so silly XD

Heard about this from various people, but nabbed the template specifically from here



Steve from my romcom manga series, Love Stuffing! Enjoy. (I particularly enjoyed the good looking one).

As for the last one... I apologise for making it look so bad XD

You Are An INTP

The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. In love, you are an easy person to fall for. But you're not an easy person to stay in love with. Although you are quite flexible, you often come off as aloof or argumentative. At work, you are both a logical and creative thinker. You are great at solving problems. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor. How you see yourself: Creative, fair, and tough-minded When other people don't get you, they see you as: arrogant, cold, and robotic

Whilst I find the results on online quizzes funny or a little far-fetched in most cases, I never dismiss them totally either as there is a reason if a particular result happens - after all, they are based on your answers. Of course, it depends on how well written the questions/answers are, hehe. Whenever I've done this (either for fun, or back when I was issuing these Myers-Briggs things when working for Careers' services etc.) it's abit of a flip of a coin between this or INTJ. Although, I have mellowed slightly over the years, maybe that's why I'm testing INTP now :D

( Click if you really need to see them XD )

... that everyone seems to be doing.

XD



Well, true on a few points, hehe.

This guy is AMAZING at getting the nuances of cats absolutely right. I think all cat owners will love this.

Go to urban​dicti​onary​.​​​​​​​ com and type in your answer to each quest​ion in the searc​h box, then write​ the FIRST​ defin​ition​ it gives​ you. (Or in this case, I'm taking the second one if it's funnier or higher rated XD)

1. Your name?
Sonia is a gorgeous masterpiece created by God to bring beauty into this world and get rid of ugly people.
Gosh there's so many ugly people here, where's Sonia when you need Her.

2. Your age?

3. One of your friends?

4. What should you be doing​?

5. A color?

6. Hometown?
"Who are those guys?!"
"That's Cambridge"
"That guy's a novice?!?!?!?"
"He's 12 feet tall with biceps the size of my chest"
"No fuckin way he's a novice"

7. Month of your birthday?
8. Last person you talked to?

9. Your nickname?

10. Something that's annoying you right​ now?

LOL, I was reminded of it today because of Emma's upcoming wedding. XD I'm not trying to embarass anyone here, particularly if you've only ever made this mistake once, but this post is going up now because it's on my mind, and in case you never knew or assumed otherwise ^_^

Some of you may be confused about me, as I am always referred to as Sonia Leong, even though I am married, to an English man who has an English surname.

I always have a giggle whenever I receive a card that addresses me as "Sonia Bentham", or that is addressed to my husband and I as "Matthew and Sonia Bentham" etc. Because it is WRONG!! XD

Maybe some of you think I use my maiden name for business but officially I've taken on his name, or that for formal/etiquette purposes it is appropriate to use his name. BZZT!! Nope. Wrong on all counts. Okay, let's set the record straight.

My name, officially, is Sonia Leong.

My full name is Sonia Kum Yuen Leong - I incorporated my Chinese names as my middle names on my passport. So originally, my Chinese name would be spoken as Leong Kum Yuen, as the surname always comes first, followed by a middle, then the first name.

When I got married, I retained my maiden name. Traditionally, Chinese wives NEVER change their name, only the resulting children take on the husband's name (unless the wife's family is more prestigious, or other such exceptions). Furthermore, it made sense professionally for me to keep it.

So officially and on the record, for business and personal use, for casual/informal and for legislative/formal occasions, on the various council registries etc - I am still LEONG.

You can correctly/formally address me as:
Ms Sonia Leong
Ms Leong
Mrs Matthew Bentham
Mrs Bentham

The first two use "Ms" which indicates that I am not a "Miss". The last two are correct only when used with my husband's name because now the "Mrs" identifies me as his wife.

If addressing the two of us, these are all correct:
Mr and Mrs Matthew Bentham
Mr and Mrs Bentham
Mr Matthew Bentham and Ms Sonia Leong

But please do not use the following because they are INCORRECT:
Ms/Miss/Mrs etc. Sonia Bentham
Miss Sonia Leong
Ms/Miss Bentham
Matthew and Sonia Bentham
Mr and Mrs Leong (LOL XDDDDD)


So! Here finishes the guide to addressing women who retain their maiden name after marriage XD Have a pleasant day!

My sister found this just now. And the first thing I thought of was - this is the ultimate compromise for Laura and Andy XDDDD

I present Tonari no Totoro PARAPARA remix with ELECTRIC GUITAR ROCKU!!


This guitarist WINS.

Hello again. Back from Hawaii, with only a very very slight tan (thank goodness).

I am waaaaaaay too busy to be able to talk about it right now, but I shall say that much food was eaten, much bikinis were worn and ALOHA!! MAHALO NUI!! Pictures will come and detailed report and thank yous to lovely lovely Hawaiians to follow another time ^____^ (Ray and Alison, I love you guys...)

Anyway, wanted to bring your attention to an awesome pic I received whilst I was away - a lady informed me that she had one of my illustrations tattooed on her back - she saw it in a magazine a few years back (probably my NEO artist showcase). ZOMG!!! Wow!



Actual illustration:


^____^

Y'know, I've been thinking about getting some wings tattooed on my back for a little while now. Not teensy weensy little ones, or ginormous huge ones, but sort of shoulder blade sized, and semi tribal/abstract, but still pretty. The biggest issue with wings is how they look when you wear string tops and other things - sometimes they're placed awkwardly, or they get part obscured in a disappointing way, etc. Hmm, I should try designing some and test it with a temporary transfer first to see. But I'm the kind of person who doesn't do things by halves... so if I really like it...

This is me singing Let Me Hear by Tomoko Tane, from the Trinity Blood Ending single, Broken Wings. I used the official instrumental/karaoke backing track.

http://www.yousendit.com/download/TTdGanZrQXBBNkUwTVE9PQ

(MP3 file, 4.4 MB, available for 7 days via yousendit)

They think that they’ll see flowers
If only they give water
But the harvest season’s over
The time has past

Here in the dark I’m sittin’
The answer that soon I’m gettin’
How do I know where it comes from?
Just wanna feel safe with you

CHORUS
Now let me hear your voice
Just for once
‘Cause you’ve mixed all my bits
You grabbed all my soul
You’ve taken everything over
Now let me hear your voice
Just for once
You know you can make me smile
You can make me cry
And take me out from these nights of longing

You know how long I’ve waited
I wonder what has faded
The color of those petals
Just trod in mud

Give your hand, can you feel now
Close your eyes, then you’ll reach out
The feeling you have now
Should be all transformed to love

CHORUS x 2
---

Having done what work I could, singing while I work as usual, I picked up a nifty little program that allows me to tweak recordings made with my crappy microphone until they sound almost half decent, haha. So I had a go at recording me singing over a Jpop/anime karaoke instrumental track.

Now, my singing voice can be quite chameleon-like. It ranges from stratospheric opera through to fluttery jpop through to low, harsher rock music. When I karaoke, I have a habit of mimicking the original singer a little. So bear this in mind when you listen to this, this is just one way of singing, for me. I don't sound like this all the time!

If you want to know how the original song sounds like, there's an AMV which uses it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6_O5rt5--E

Do this meme if you want.

1. What are your reasons for having a LJ? Keep in touch with friends.
2. What do you do before bedtime? Read or draw or eat cake. Sex?
3. What will your dream wedding be like? Had two dream weddings already.
4. What is the city of your dreams and why? Cambridge. It's home, when most of my life I never belonged anywhere.
5. What song do you think sums up your personality and why?
While the dying world re-defines, the reasons we strive to exist
We feign control though we’re bound to learn the meaning of moments like this
Cause in the peaceful hour, the quiet spell, seduced by the promise of bliss
We soon forget that nothing's happened yet, we're living for moments like this
So hold me, whisper gently this is what we live for, how we learn who we are
It defines us, ever reminding us that life never is more precious than this
From the dim light in the grayness, the aim of the soul tends to miss
When the clouds catch fire and the oceans pitch, we're made for the moments like this
So hold me, whisper gently that there's nothing to fear, you'll always be near
To remind me, to stand behind me, although life can be rough, we can never give up
It's in our power to face the storm with all its fury and madness
The flash of thunder roll behind us with a longing and sadness
The clouds will break.
Alison Krauss & Union Station: Moments Like This (grab m4a within 7 days)

Why? Because when I sing it, my eyes start to well up - and I don't cry. Read the lyrics, listen to the song. If you're close to me, you'll understand.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone? Loving.
7. Do you trust easily? Definitely not.
8. If the person you like is already attached, what would you do? Try anyway, if attachment is fail.
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? So little time.
10. What is your best quality? Just "Dealing with it."
11. Is being tagged fun? I never listen anyway, I only do them if I feel like it.
12. How do you see yourself? Professional. Wry. Fury restrained. Cold. But honest.
13. Who are the most important people to you? Matthew. My close family. Sweatdrop.
14. What kind of person do you think your tagger is? Wasn't tagged.
15. Single and rich, or married but poor? Married but poor. Poor is a relative term.
16. How many children do you want to have, if any? 1-2, in a few years time.
17. What's better, to give or to receive? To give.
18. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick? The gentleman, always.
19. Would you have 100% safe sex with a stranger for $10,000,000? If Matt was happy to watch. Hehe.
20. What were your parents going to name you if you'd been born the opposite sex? Simon, probably.

Any MGS fans here on Gaia? I think you might like this month's collectibles, particularly the "Black Ops Gear":
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/announcements/june-s-monthly-collectibles-are-here/t.41023701/

XD