Body Shop scam

Have you ever been asked to join the Body Shop membership? Always say no!

Unfortunately I've fallen for their trap. Membership used to be free. Now they charge $10 and say, oh, it's been reduced from $15. You do get 10% off purchases and stamps towards free stuff, but how often would I spend over $25? The stamp card is completely useless. The only reason I join is because they'll give you a birthday gift that worths up to $10. And if it goes over, you just need to pay the difference. Sounds like a shopping discount, right?

To make up for the $10 membership fee, I'll need to spend at least $100 within one year. The only thing I buy there is toner. That would be less than $60 annually. So normally I wouldn't buy membership unless it's guaranteed that I can recover the cost. That "birthday gift" seems to be the case.

Now, when I went to claim my gift today, guess what they gave me? A lip balm and a bar soap. Wouldn't even worth 5 bucks. (What? The soap is $4 and the lip balm is $6? You gotta be kidding me!) I bet these are left-over items that won't sell. And I don't think I can use them either. I stopped using soap 15 years ago. (Switched to gel because soap is too dry.) There're only 3 kinds of lip balm that won't make my lips peel, and this isn't one of them.

Cherry blossom

Spring is here! (Or is it?) Some trees in my neighbourhood are blooming. There's a Vancouver sakura festival with picnics and stuff, but they don't seem to make things public. I'd love to know where's a good area to see sakura. Well, afterall, they're charging a fee for the picnics. For $10, they'd better provide transportation too!

Pinky #10

Finally, she's here! Totally unexpected too! It was at a Japanese book store that I found her. Not toy store, but book store.

Now I can get back to my Pinky mutilation. Hehehehe......

Somehow her parts-fitting is looser than normal Pinky. I hope it won't screw things up down the road.

Slack off once and...

I had my eyes set on some expired magazine at a Japanese book store. Dengeki Daioh to be exact. (Last year's summer to fall issues came with Ichogo Mashimaro figurines.) There's been plenty lying around. Ever since I actually caught the second one on sale, I've been visiting that book store twice a week. The first one was already sold out.

It gets a bit boring after a month. There hasn't been many new stuff. So this week I only went there once, and then, and then!! (You probably guessed it.) The magazine were all gone! Oh dear... oh dear... what have I done... All my effort is wasted...

I bet the magazine are probably hidden at the back or something, but I didn't have the courage to ask... Sigh...

Snow in March?

It was 5:30 a.m. and felt kind of bright outside the curtains. Way too bright. Oh my god! It was snowing!! Isn't it spring already? Luckily the snow all melted except for a few patches in shaded areas. There were even tiny snow man here and there.

Perhaps it's this crazy weather that's been upseting my nose. It even gave me elevator ears 2 days before the snow! Hmm... probably some kind of sinus infection. Oh no... it came back? Hmm...

Ever since I started the FMA blog, I've been ignoring this one. Bad girl... (And yes, the Pinky project is still on hold.)

Pinky: Chun Li's secret

Nope, I didn't work on it the next night. I ran out of Oyumaru. After buying more, I realized I haven't been planning things too well. If this keeps up, I'll end up wasting more materials. At $1 a stick, and molding a face needs about 6 sticks of Oyumaru, the cost can add up very fast. So, until I get my hands on the part I really need, I'll wait. (That would be the posterior head with mid or low pony tail hole, plus the middle-part bangs. In other words, Pinky #10!)

BTW, the secret of Chun Li's hair construction is finally solved. It was too tight and I was afraid to break it. Unlike normal Pinkies, her hair is divided into left and right instead of front and back. The surprise is in the plug that goes into the back of the head. Technically speaking, such a peg can be divided into left and right too. But I guess the accuracy requirements exceed today's production abilities?