Christmas 2011

X-mas is at home, las weekend the natural Xmas tree arraived to my home. It is very big and tall, it reaches the roof of my house. So, I decided that I should start to decorate my house with X-mas things and well I passed all weekend doind that.

As all things for the Xmas tree where at boxes everywhere; first, I start to decorate the house, so I started with the snow men which have light and they are kind of decorating their Xmas tree.The pics show them with and without light





Next the puppets, initially they were 3 snow men practicing snow sports as skii and skating, but unfortunatelly, I lost two of them so there is only one now



My uncle give us angels, but they are too heavy for the Xmas tree so I decided to put them as a decoration, they also have light.





I have lots of things of pottery and well I put them to decorate the tables that I have at home. I have gift-boxes, the Nativity, and an ice-cream house.










Also we have a Xmas tree handicraft with ribons and lights I put it near the window, and talking about the window I put lights all around the window they have shooting stars form and light on blue.

LOL you can see my grandmother back the sofa xD







Well this decoration was found by my sister and well she put it of course. In Mexico we have demijohns for drinking water and well we always have two at home one inside which we use and the other outside and closed, well it is always living Xmas.



Well finally; the Xmas tree I decorate it in two days. The first day I just put lights on it and at the bottom I put, with my sister's help, some bells which also have light.On the second day I put the spheres.

I lost the cover foot of the tree, the thing that covers the wood X so now I need to buy another one or made it xD









I just wish that tree to be full of presents and one of them for me : DELUHI's last live DVD. xD

DELUHI is a japanese visual kei band xD

Merry X-mas

*Versailles in Mexico!!!!* 06-November-2011

So, Versailles came back to Mexico this year and I was at the show!!!!.......

I wake up on Sunday like at 6:00 am and prepare myself to go to receive my number at Circo Volador, the number is important because is the order in which you enter to the venue. At 6:30 I texted my little sister so we could go, we were having the visit from Beka who came to the concert, she lives in Tabasco, and well after some minutes my mother leave us at metro, train, and we arraived to the Circo with Sak, other friend, so at that moment we were 4 and we were waiting for other 3 who were my cousins and melissa. They arraived like at 7:30 and que received our number like at 9:00 am, I was 128, and all together were from 125 to 131 xD.





With our number and all of us together and complete, we went back to my home to have something to eat as breakfast, have a shower and get ready to go back to the Circo Volador to eat and to be in the waiting line. At 2:00 pm we were eating huaraches and drinking sodas and suddenly, my cousin start to make a puppet with a lemon that received the name of Camilo xD






Like about 4 pm we all were sitted on the ground listening to the sound check of the band and well I started to sing some of the songs and also I started to scream like a crazy when I heard the drums, yeah! I am THE drummer fan so I just went crazy xD. Later on, we went to the waiting line who was like to corners long xD and we were just saying stupidities and laughing about anything. We found some friends in the line and well we just had a very good time.



Like at 6 pm somebody was passing through the line giving some pubblicity, well we thought that things were pubblicity, but we were very wrong he gave each one of us a pass for a fanmeeting that was a: Hey you! after the show you will meet the band. Of course, my sister and I went crazy and we started to scream xD





Life 15 minutes later we enter to the venue I was not able to take pics because I was very excited and giving a look to my 3 friends and my 3 parents xD. So the show began!!!! the lights went down and we all star screaming and choring: We are Versailles! and suddenly the music from Prelude began and later Yuki appeared at the stage, people went crazy in that moment, secondly on the stage was Masashi, then Teru, Hizaki and finally Kamijo.

And well, the set list was:

1. Prelude
2. Masquerade
3. Ascendead Master
4. Judicial Noir
5. Thanatos
6. Libido
7. Destiny~The Lovers~ ---- I cried
8. Love will be born again ---- I cried again
9. Threshold
10. Dry Ice Scream
11. Flowery
12. Vampire
13. The Red Carpet Day
14. Faith & Decision ----- I just went crazy in this song
ENCORE
15. Remember Forever
16. Philia
ENCORE
17. The Revenant Choir

The concert end and we went to the top of the place to sit down and wait for our turn to pass to meet the band; when that time arraived I was like very very nervous and I just give them my hand and say thank you, gracias, arigatou, but I have to admit that when I arraived to Yuki I completed a dream and well he is just wow! I told him he was awsome and his face became red and well he laugh ans told me: "ooohh, thank you" making a reverence.... I accept I was so happy that night.

When we went out of the Circo Volador we went home and slept.

That was my adventure and my second time watching Versailles on a live I just love them!!!!

Here some pictures, which I do not own, of the show

Soushiki 葬式

Death is the only secure pathway that a human being has. It is known as the time to say goodbye, the end of the journey, the start of a new life on a better place. In almost all countries and cultures of the world, when a person dies his family and friends prepare a traditional ritual, according to culture and customs, commonly know as funeral. For this article, the Japanese funeral will be described, is important to understand that this kind of rituals are not the same for everybody, they change a little bit depending on the customs that the family has.
To clarify minds, it is important to know that Japan’s population is divided, mainly, in two religions: Buddhism with a 95 percent and Sintoism or Shintoism with 3 percent, the rest goes between Protestants and Catholics. However; almost all time, it does not matter if you are Shinto or Catholic, at the end the person or the family will choose a Buddhist funeral; so, the question is how does a Buddhist funeral take place?
People in Japan most of the time dies at hospitals, but also at homes that is why we need to explain what happens in each of these cases. When a person dies at a hospital, the nurse will clean the body, dress it and put make up on it. Later, people in charge of the funeral service will take the body into his home in order to start the funeral, Soushiki. On the other side, when a person dies at home the body is moved, as it was found, to the altar built to the occasion, usually the face of the person is covered with a white shawl and his head must point north. It is important to say that when the person is moribund the closest member of his family, moistens his lips waiting for his revival.
For reasons of mourning, the Butsudan, Buddhist altar that people has at home, is closed for 49 days, while the Kamidama, Shintoist altar, is closed until the end of the funeral. The importance of closing those altars is because the ancestors will also do mourning and they will suffer without water and food until the deceased joins them.
Once the body is in presence of the altar, people, usually friends and family, receive agents from the contracted funeral service company which will help them to transport the body after holding a wake over. Meanwhile, the family, usually leaded by the closest family member of the deceased, cleans the palms, soles and face of the body in order to clean his sins. After this action, the funeral agents clean the rest of the body, make up the face and put the last clothes to the body, commonly know as kyoukatabira, white kimono for women and black suit for men, in front of all family and friends who must be sited; afterwards, helped by male members of the family, the body is transported to his coffin.
Once in the coffin, family members say goodbye to the deceased and prepare him for his journey of 49 days before his arrival to Higan, “the other side”, before that he needs to leave Shigan,” this side”, crossing Sanzu no Kawa, “the divisor river” by paying Roku Bunsen, 6 Bunsen or coins, in order to avoid hell. So, the family, trying to help the deceased, will put inside the coffin a straw hat, Mugiwara Boushi, straw or wood sandals, Waraji or Geta, food usually onigiri or dangou, gloves, walking stick, if needed, and money. Nowadays, it is also common to put cigarettes, flowers, and the most prized object of the person.
At any moment of the process the priest will arrive in order to read the sutras, Buddhist prayers, after them, only the family, except if the guests are invited to do it, they burn incense and light a candle to illuminate the deceased while he is in his journey to Higan, supposedly, the deceased will visit his favorite places, and will go to say goodbye to all his love ones, he has 49 days to do this and travel to Higan. In the last step of the day, the family will hold a wake for the parent, and he will be accompanied all night by his closer; for example, mom, wife, son, etc.
Early morning, the coffin will be transported to the crematorium, it is important to clarify that only the main family can be at the crematorium while the rest of the people are on a living room having lunch; also it is very important to know that only main family can wear black clothes. The coffin is put on a drawer and the family, again, says goodbye, prayers, and wishes good luck to the deceased. Once the drawer is closed the family joins the other guests and has lunch, it is also common that the closest person stays at the drawer and watch the coffin burn. The action of burning the coffin is known as Okuribi “the last fire” which is repeated every year at Obon’s festival, which takes place in August in order to remember the ancestors.
The cremation process is known as Kasou, and it is different to the cremations from the western-world first, because they use less heat to burn the body (550°C-800°C) and because at the end of the process the ashes are collected on a tray and it is returned to the main room to the family. As they use less heat the body is not totally burn; so, it is common and natural to find large rests of bones especially from the legs and commonly the skull is just broken.
The family surrounds the tray and using chopsticks start passing one bye one the rest of the bones until they arrived to the closest family member of the deceased who put them in the urn which is known in Japan as Kotsutsubo. This, as everything in the Japanese culture has a process; the bones must be passed from the feet to the head, so the deceased will be complete and straight on his urn. Once the bones are in the urn, the ashes are emptied from the tray and are put into the urn, some suntras are read, and the urn is closed.
The Kotsutsubo is taken to the house of the closest family member and is put at the altar: later, the family has dinner with all the guests and thanks their presence. From that moment until 49 days the family will put rice and water everyday for his parent, also they will give offerings for Enma Dai-Ou, the god of hell, who is supposed to judge the deceased once every week for seven weeks.
Funerals in Japan are a little bit larger than in western countries, also they are a little bit harsh. Nevertheless, death is a process that all of us will have and it is good to know that in all countries and cultures our love ones will take care of our body and soul, so we can start that new and amazing voyage.

Kasou's main room


Collecting bonds and ashes