The Failed Attempts I Never Could Forget

(Motion City Soundtrack) 

Hey all! (I suddenly felt likes say-typing this. Welcome to the new year! It sure has been quite the adventure so far. I feel like I didn't close up 2010 well enough, though I really don't have the motivation to have a "recap" sort of post or thinking session. Yes, it should probably be more important to me that my grad year has passed... But I'm letting this New Year's slip by calmly without busting my brain about the past year in order to just leave it feeling relieved and at peace.

I feel like I need to write about that Tuesday before I do get into the past few days' events (why does this sound like it's so important a thing for me to be writing? Well. I don't know, haha. Maybe I can learn to blog better... In the sense that my posts aren't so... "this is what I did today"), so I shall do this (briefly) now.

While I did bring my camera along on the 28th, I didn't take any photos. Silly me. ):

Briana picked me up in the morning, and we drove up the mountains into Makakilo to pick up the oh-so-wonderful Justin, back from Oregon. It was slightly chilly and there was Taylor Swift playing, and silly back and forth and catching up on the ride to Stadium Mall. Upon arrival we payed our $8.90 each and then began the skating and the flying across the ice amongst tons of little kids with Jacky, Renee, and Sarah. Obstacle course indeed! Jacky and Sarah fell, hehe. We played Four Corners as a group and all got knocked out at once (yay corner 3! :P). Pepperoni pizza lunch and li hing mui covered gummy bears at lunch.

Afterward we headed to the bowling alley, Jacky driving with his "kthxbai"s, hahaha. We stopped at Starbucks, and Grace appeared to join us, and Jacky ran off drinking someone else's drink. XD Oooh. Upstairs we waited for a lane, and Maya appeared, and then we got lane 18, and the silliness began. Ohohoho Grandpa. I tied Sarah (yeahhhhh). Yay for light bowling balls. ^^ The people who came to be next to us were fast and a large group as well.... Oh silly us. It was fun.

I put my new Moleskine weekly planner to use beginning last Monday, and now that it has been 7 days, one week's page is filled. I am pleased, haha.

On Thursday I "pulled a Romee" and walked to Starbucks (instead of being picked up by Sam, haha). I bought a chocolate vivanno smoothie and her recommendation, which was yummy. As we were paying this lady came up to the register to pay for the man in uniform. I thought that was pretty cool and awesome a thing to do. She said "Thank you for your service." I smiled at that.

Sam and I talked for a quite a while. More catching up! How hard to believe that people have been more than an ocean away when they're sitting right in front of you. ):

I stopped by Longs on the way home 'cause my grandmother had asked for phone cards (which I ended up not buying). Yay for Chicken in a Biskit and Wheat Thins and Hichew being on sale! Also cotton pads for cleaning of the face were on sale.... Great timing.

I could not resist these ones that were on sale and RAINBOW. The color making no difference, really, but they all cost the same price on sale, and they were pretty, so HAHA.

Here is a random picture of Taylor in a box.

I love her haha. Notice the Gamecube and the Christmas garland. (: Cleaning up time...

The last day of the year wasn't going so well (let's just say my driving is terrible, especially for people who have to be in the car with me), BUT a good thing that came out of it was that we went to Best Buy and I got cheapy but colorful but decent earphones for Jaynie and I. Now my earphones match my iPod, hehe.

That evening we watched some Live from Lincoln Center until about 10, when we finally exited the home into the smoke-saturated air. So many aerials were going off, explosions. Also, those lanterns that the Star Advertiser were warning about safety made me think of the lanterns in Tangled, haha.

Jaynie built a tiny fire with the trash from boxes as usual. It slowly grew in size over the evening. XD

I like these kind of sparklers more than the Morning Glories... Though we had many more Morning Glories to use up that these kind of sparklers, haha. Both of them are pretty enough, though.

I do not know what that is on the ground by Jaynie's feet, haha! Also that bottle was used for holding the punks.

Mom cleaning up the pop-pop trash, Jaynie setting off the last of the fountains. ):

New Years was so different this year without our neighbors, and without any other family over. Also, no new boxes of fireworks were bought, so we only used leftovers, which were perfectly fine. The cul-de-sac was relatively empty. It's crazy because it's slowly becoming newer. The people in the "corner" across of us are relatively new, and they were the only others in our place setting off things, and even then, they were just the little kids fooling around. I hope none of them got hurt. Our two neighbors to our right just moved in over the course of this last semester (I do not know exactly when, sigh at not being home to see this happening). We met the ones right next door that evening after it hit 12, and they have two adorable little girls, haha.

Anyway, it kind of felt very normal. It also made me feel kind of sad. It was cool hearing the countdown exactly, though. ^^ After cleanup and everything, and showers, my sisters and I were still all wide awake, so we played some Brawl (which I failed extremely at, indeed). Then I was tired (of losing, jkjk) so sleep was in order.

When we woke up, we went to spend lunch at my grandfather's house (the "head of the family" on my father's side) for the annual New Year's/Birthday party. As usual, tons of relatives and lots of Filipino food. (: Our auntie's dogs kept fighting, though. And our cousins sword-fought, haha. After eating we went to hide inside the home, and played things like BS and Egyptian War (both of which I sucked at), and eventually, Spoons, which lasted for a while. We used little Lego men instead of spoons, though. It was pretty cool, because America's Funniest Home Videos (or whatever it is exactly; I always get mixed up) was on, and there was a clip of people really playing Spoons with spoons. XD

Yeahhhh cousin/sisterness yeahhhhh.

It was a decent New Year's day. (:

Then, today... was quite filled, I think. There was no room to write about it in my Moleskine, though. That's probably the only thing that bothers me; the weekends are squished in this weekly version.

We went to church int the morning. It was super packed, well over the 766 seating capacity. Still singing Christmas songs. It's been a while since we've been to a Sunday mass (and really, we don't go to Sunday masses often), and I really don't know how to sing the usual songs. Sigh.

Still lacking in jeans, I wore the black floralish American rag dress with my Converse, haha, YES. It also seems that I've been wearing the headbands from Grace on a daily basis, regardless of whether I am going anywhere or not. XD We headed to the newly opened Jollibee and stood in the ridiculously long line to buy a bucket Chickenjoy (with gravy) and halo halo. I like Ube ice cream a lot, haha. The chicken tasted normal. I guess I like gravy too! (:

When we were done with lunch.... I tried to make Milano-like cookies. I wanted some sort of cookie to use Nutella in, but the Nutella chocolate chip cookies just weren't seeming tolerable too me (it seemed like just too much chocolate D=). I cut the recipe online down to a third of what it originally was, which... Was probably a good idea, haha, seeing as how we were lacking in butter and powdered sugar. I spilled probably half a tablespoon of Jaynie's vanilla extract onto her chair, thinking when I poured it that it would have a thicker consistency...=_=;; (-fail-) Oh well. Here's how they turned out.

First half of the batter. I tried to make different shapes with the aid of a piping bag....

They turned out so thin! And half chewy and half crunchy and not at all substantial ;_;

To hide the weird taste of this first bunch, and to fulfill the original purpose of this batch, I put Nutella in the middle like the Milano cookies, haha. It did help hide it. ^^ And yay Nutella, haha.

Jaynie crashed after tasting one. D: Jkjk. She was tired.

The rest of the batter ("second batch"). I was lazy for making shapes so I just emptied the piping bag in the middle of the pan, haha. There's a cookie below the two small ones on the left that Mariah says looks like a bear.

 The second batch tasted much better. Though, they were still chewy. ): OH WELL. It was fun.

I helped roll "Shanghai Lumpia" after, which was then only possible after separating those thin pastry dough sheets haha. Yay for trying not to tear things. XD

It was probably the most eventful Sunday I've had in a while. Also, I think I've had enough chicken for a while, haha.

This week must also be busy! And I must try to do something! And get somewhere! And have fun with people before school starts again and I force myself to be okay with the fact that I have physics everyday for the rest of the semester... Can I cry yet, haha? Just kiddinggggggg.

I must plan for tomorrow's shopping the adventure, or something. Welcome 2011!

Fight Off the Lethargy, Don't Go Quietly (Metric)

I think this Christmas, people were trying to turn me more into a girl. Though, of course, I did ask for those headbands, so maybe I guess I was kind of doing that to myself, but I am slightly horrified and amused at how things turned out. I also seem super prepped now to go shopping at Ala Moana because of gift cards.

Christmas felt.... smaller this year. But it was a great day with family, as we had lunch together on Christmas day (including our Korean neighbor who brought us kimchee and tofu salad =D). My auntie didn't make any pumpkin crunch this year, haha, that's one thing I missed at this past gathering. At some point, Beatles Rock Band and the Wii came out and was set up downstairs in the living room, and we all played together, singing and trying instruments. Jaynie, Mariah and I all ended up battling for scores on instruments though. Quite a rush of entertainment. Also, it's so hard to sing the harmonies!

Since laundry hadn't finished being done or dried since I came back from the dorms, I was severely lacking in appropriate housewear, aka jeans/capris/shorts. Thus I resorted to wearing the dress pictured above under a normal t-shirt. A lazy appearance and a crazy appearance at the same time. I do like the colors of this dress, though. And the fact that it's kind of a giant bow at the top. American Rag <3

Ala Moana gift card, PINK water bottle (I must get into the habit of actually drinking water), Victoria's Secret Berry Kiss perfume

"I Just Want Someone to Share With" - it smelt like cookies.

While I don't have a photo of the lilac, dainty blouse thing I also received, I do have the one above. My sisters are so silly in finding these things. XD

SO MUCH HARDER and so much more detailed.
We are eternally grateful, Ray.

Speaking of Rock Band 3, as far as we are, we are enjoying Metric's Combat Baby, Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4, the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1, and Rilo Kiley's Portions for Foxes. I still want to play with people no matter what.

IT HAS A BOW. From Grace.

IT CHAINS MY HAIR TO MY HEAD. From Grace.

The card Grace included was so beautiful. I will always love her art!!!

Speaking of presents, I still have to give people theirs. Sigh. While this holiday break is great being with people important to me, I still haven't seen people that I was around so much during senior year and during summer. It leaves me feeling a little empty, realizing that things are always going to be a race against time and things are going to require so much effort to return things to the way they were before. Perhaps I was ill-prepared for this break, but I guess we just have to do what we can, and what emerges tells the truth.

If there's anything monumental that kept slapping me in the face this past semester and still slaps me this break, it's the knowing that relationships with people are hard to keep, even if effort is put in, because people change, and life keeps going, and nothing waits. But that's existence, anyway. So, thank you everyone for all the happiness you bring into my life. I'm sorry for all the trouble and pain I've caused in return.

I will write about yesterday's Ice Palace/Aiea Bowl adventure in time, hehe. I must now eat breakfast.

And we'll all be / Portions for foxes...

No Need for Sleep Powder

Though I have no pictures to illustrate the events of yesterday, I can, of course, write.

After one and half days of cleaning prep (because we totally know that my house is a home for packrats) guests entered my home not long after 10:30 am. Jaynie and I had already been playing Rock Band 2 for a while (and I had been playing by myself for even longer, singing all by my lonesome in the middle of the living room). Becca and Ken and Grace and Corey zoomed in under the guava tree in their tiny red car, bringing along an... amp?, real guitar, and Guitar Hero guitar. Teehee. So we played! Though... I ended up singing. Grace on Bass, Corey on guitar, Ken on drums being soooooooooooo pro.

It was a little while until Sarah and Rubin and Briana all appeared, sipping their drinks from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I don't remember how everything went down, but throughout the day we went through Rock Band 2, Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Cooking Mama on the Wii, Super Monkey Ball 2 and Mario Kart Double Dash on the GameCube, and even Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Street Fighter, and Super Mario World on the SNES. The Chowder Knishmas special and Pokemon even graced the television set for a while. Real pianos and guitars got tinkered around with, creating beautiful music. Hehe, children with the best toys you can have.

Rubin fell asleep first on my bed, and Sarah ended up sleeping with the bright orange bear on the rocking chair, and Rebecca fell asleep reading on the futon in the middle of upstairs. So silly. (: Chips and dip, donut holes, and other things were snacked on, and lunch included my mother's baked furikake salmon, salad and barbeque chicken wings from Costco, Bagel Bites, and pound cake and pineapple. Oh, and we also had lumpia. =D

Grace and Ken and Corey left around 3, sadly. Everyone else hung around until Briana headed out to the prayer vigil. Sighhhh.

It was a cooler day than the day before, but it was still a little hot. There was silly "Co-Op" smashing of hands in Cooking Mama (when pounding mochi), along with a lot of other frantic waving of hands in attempts to prepare other sorts of virtual food. Singing and... screaming was hardly scarce, and I think in general we were relaxed, which was good. So relaxed that people were falling asleep like THAT, haha. No need for sleep powder. So effective an atmosphere that they could even handle my crazed singing of weird songs, hehe.

After everyone was gone, I ended up playing Beatles Rock Band with my sisters. We completed one more chapter in the story (which we haven't played in such a long time!) and that was it for the night. I was so worn out, I gave up after two rounds of Blokus against Jaynie and ended up falling asleep texting in bed, ahahaha. I woke up two hours later sticky with sweat from the heat of the room, and in a panic because I didn't know where my phone was ('tis what happens when you fall asleep with it!). So I turned on the fan and searched the perimeter of the bed and made a =_= face at some texts and comforted myself and went back to sleep hoping for the room to cool down.

It was a good day. I think I never have problems with falling asleep... Mostly because it's always late and I'm tired. I'm glad for that. Especially since it's winter break... Sleep is necessary! However, it's been the same old poor sleep schedule as usual.

Today I woke up around 9 and eventually headed out around 11 with Briana to go to Yakiniku Camellia II by the Japanese Cultural Center to eat with Renee and Sarah. We had quite an adventure on the roadways there (ending up by Sarah's place, somehow, then heading back onto the freeway and getting off at Bingham towards the round building, haha!), fighting traffic. It was so sunny and hot.

The food was delicious. Kind of getting more used to the idea of having to be one's own judge of food and cooking, haa! I ended up eating a lot of that spicy pork, hehe. We watched Sarah eat her pork belly wrap things. And giggled at Renee's aversion to onions and spicy things. It was nice. I liked their jello. XD

Afterwards we were shocked by the intense rain and went on an adventure to retrieve umbrellas and get inside safely. Oh Hawaii and bipolar weather! Oh Manoa and heavy rain! With indecision we ended up at Toma Karaoke (instead of Bubbies, a shave ice place, or the snow [hair jk] place at McCully) and sang for an hour (yay $15 for 4 people!). I had fun singing the Written in the Stars duet with Briana (: All of us were disturbed by the women and their... appearances in the backgrounds, haha. We left around 3:30pm and had more wonderful road and traffic adventures dropping Sarah and Renee off, and then taking the side roads all the way back home. We listened to Lady Gaga and David Archuleta and finally Wicked, which Briana sang to and was amazing. I would very much like to watch! Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel! Yeah.

We got back around 6:15pm. Ridiculous, painful, sleep-inducing traffic. Sigh.

I opened the package that came in the mail: Rock Band 3 (game). Amazing. Ridiculous. Awesome. Cooooooool. Expensive. Why?! We're forever grateful.

Jaynie, Mariah, and I all practiced Christamas songs for tomorrow's pre-mass "talent show" for church. We had silly times with wrong counting, reading notes in the wrong clef, and missing of sharps and flats. It turned out well, though. Winter Wonderland, here we come, hoping you Have a Merry Little Christmas.

I'm sleepy now but I want to watch episode ten of Kuragehime. Hehe. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve! Excitement! With a sprinkle of sleep powder, I hope you go to sleep soon. To all a good night!

Please Realize That You're Beautiful

Kimi no Kirei ni Kizuite Okure - Sambomaster 

I love this song as the ending theme of Kuragehime.

It's beautiful. It makes me cry.

The ending animation's so cute and calm, too.

I really can't help but love this anime. 

(Thanks to Grace for finding it. And yay Funimation for having it.)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, maybe not "look" as much as "feel."

Exams last week Friday ended with an enormous sigh of relief, with Chemistry being my last, major hurdle to get my first semester of college over and done with! I can't say that I feel that I aced the exam (I know I got a few portions of the predicting reaction products portion wrong), but I did feel so much better than I felt after the math exam. What's great is looking at a problem, assessing it as one that will take long to solve, working at it for a while, and having everything suddenly click into clarity as if the whole map was unfurled ahead of you. Maybe that's what I love about Chemistry; I have such a fun time seeing how one thing turns into the next, and how it all makes sense. I'm pretty relieved that I did find solutions for the two synthesis problems for this exam.

Afterwards it was FREEDOM, and so began my adventures with Annie and Megan, before they left on Saturday. I had katsu curry for lunch (oh, that meal is just irresistible to me), and sadly had to use my debit card for the first time to pay because I foolishly forgot my UH ID, with all the meal blocks and points I needed to spend. I eventually went back to campus center with Megan and bought a ton of Naked bottled fruit smoothies, which effectively drained all of my meals left for the week and practically all of the points I had for the semester. We walked back to the dorms to drop off our purchases, and then we headed out again to go to Ala Moana for some Christmas shopping (and some waiting until Annie finished her final exam). When Annie appeared, we unsuccessfully attempted to get her to try on a pink dress at PacSun. Oh well.

For some reason, that reminds me, on Thursday I purchased little green men magnets that have joined the yellow fish and clear star magnets from Waikiki Aquarium upon our dorm room fridge. A bunch of us had been in the bookstore buying gifts. I also had rehearsal that night (after the stocking adventure recorded in an earlier post), which lasted pretty long and had me antsy for studying chemistry, haha.

Anyway. We had dinner in the food court (Annie ineffectively trying to dip skewers of chicken into a plastic cup of peanut sauce), and then walked our way to Ward Theaters where we watched Tangled! I cried once, when the king cried. And slapped Annie a bunch because she was not being serious at that part, haha. She shared her Kahala Nuts (I think it was?) with us. No popcorn at this movie experience, surprisingly. I loved Rapunzel's character, and the chameleon. The songs did not catch me as much... except "Mother Knows Best" is probably the only lyric I remember. Enjoyable, though.

We waited quite a while until the 6 arrived, seeing fireworks go off in the meantime. We got off and went to Walmart, passing by this woman who had a kitten on a leash. ;_; It was so adorable, but also so strange! I mean, kittens outside on leashes?! Preposterous. I also accidentally kept making Annie lose her slippers in mid-step as I kept poking the awesome dinosaurs on the back of her pink jacket, haha. Silly nights.

Annie and Megan got their chocolate souvenirs, plus a bottle of apple cider for our CELEBRATION OF COMPLETION of the fall semester! Yay! They packed more when we got back; I tried to stay awake (finals week really drained me of sleep).

Then it was time. We had our small fractions of Red Bull, and raised our cups of apple cider to the end! Yay!

We had our fun with Blokus, with the slight effects of the Red Bull showing through in time. Suffice to say, it was a good night.

Saturday meant goodbyes, defrosting of refrigerators, and another rehearsal for the Christmas concert. I turned off the refrigerator, emptied it of some contents (including the smoothies purchased on Thursday), and unplugged the refrigerator before I left for rehearsal at 7:45am. I got back and the water from the defrosting had leaked onto the table, and the ice tray underneath the "ice box" in the fridge was filled with water. I guess I should have put a larger towel in there in the first place, rather than just the small kitchen towel. I spent much time cleaning up the mess and drying everything up, finally putting the multitude of Shamwows that my mother had given me to use. After seeing Annie and Megan off, I ended up walking to campus to see if I could pick up my math exam, and to retrieve my second Ochem lab notebook. I successfully achieved the second task, but due to lack of the presence of Professor Csordas, the former wasn't.

I got back and the part under the "ice box" of the freezer was like this:

That entire section of ice had detached itself, making it incredibly handy to clean up. I just put the thing in the sink to melt (rather than have it melt all over the inside of the fridge. Yay, successful defrosting!

Fall commencement was also on Saturday, and this is what all the people looked like from our room:

Before concert time, all the stuff I was planning on bringing home for break got put into the car. However, I only finished closing up the dorm room on Sunday, and had to go back to get my phone charger on that day as well because I am a forgetful child, haha. They gave us dinner before Saturday's concert (spaghetti and salad and a roll and a chocolate dipped gingerbread man cookie), and I spent some time talking with Monica and Renee from Punahou, and met Jamie from Kamehameha. It was nice, and they were nice. I felt relieved. The concert involved a lot of rough areas, but it still went well and felt amazing. I couldn't help but smile at the youth choir's version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." Sooooooo adorable. The soloist for Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was pretty good, too. Very smiley and enthusiastic as well. Encouraging.

Sunday involved sleeping, lunch in the dorm room while my mother slept, reading of Deathnote vol. 1, the finishing of Back to the Future part III, and Christmas concert number two. It was a lot of fun the second time around, though I still didn't really talk to my stand partner and though everyone was tense trying to keep things together. The sudden changing of bows didn't cease from the previous night, however. My mother and father were there was well, which made me smile. We also saw Mufi Hanneman enter, wow.

The rain on Sunday was so relentless that when we were at the dorms, part of the road leading there was flooded, and the area in front of the lobby entrance was a giant pond that blocked part of the walkway. I was amazed at how close it was to the doorway, and was glad that it hadn't been designed so that the doorway would have been in that pond.

Also, R.I.P Zachary Manago. I did not know him well. I did not know his family well. I did not know his friends well. I cannot fathom his death, just the absence of a name and a body. However, this event keeps crossing my mind because it has only been 6 months since grad. It was a hit and run. It is thinking about how his parents must feel which hurts me, or keeps my mind looping around this knowledge. With Christmas coming up, this might lead to "Be thankful for what you have." rather than asking for more and more gifts. But I think it would also lead to, make the most of what you do have. Treasure it. And realize that we exist in fragile bodies and that the world is full of danger that we create.

Today was an amazing shopping adventure with Grace, in part due to the fact that it was over five hours long. We spent time in Starbucks planning our attack and sipping our hot lattes (Peppermint Mocha for Grace, Caramel Brulee for me). Excitement! I bought Christmas gifts and resisted buying items for myself. I spent money with my debit card and sobbed and felt guilty. I walked and spoke strangely and let Grace put things in my head as I was horrified and scared of the mirrors. Teehee.

It was interesting, and I ended up staying at Pearlridge until about 7. Very, very interesting.

I came home and cleaned. Or, more of like, I sorted music on top of the piano, and made things neat in the living room. I also ate my mother's chicken and papaya soup. Yum. Fine on another rainy day.

I have recorded these events in too much detail, but it has been a while. The days to Christmas are filled with urgency and people as my planning and cleaning and practicing are being crammed together due to time constraints.

Thumbs up for making the most out of seven hours at the mall. Well, maybe I could have done better. But it was fun. It also provided exercise, yay!

Goodnight!

LOL. Hacked.

Annie was here! :D

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP

Never gonna let you down / Never gonna run around and desert youuuuu (Rick Astley)

Customers 1, 2 & 3 make their demands from Ms. Bunny G-spot

If you're going "What did I just read?" and questioning your eyesight, worry not, you read that correctly. Sadly.

The dorms were having this sort of... Christmas-grams, or something. I can't remember what it was called. But you could send things to people if you paid (very much like Valentine's Day things in high school). Customers 1, 2 & 3 (otherwise known as Annie, Claire, and Megan - alphabetized), decided to show their, uh, love for me with this wonderful gift. Ha ha ha. The girl who knocked on the door to deliver them seemed both amused at and judging of me, holding their order paper... -shudder-

"Christmas stocking"

They wanted me to make a blog post, and I guess this is one of those crazier moments of college life, one of those moments where I go cry in the corner out of horror, haha, so it's an important learning situation to document. =____= I don't even know what to do about this. Crazy crazy crazy. But I love my customers (lol). They keep me up late at night... talking, of course. What was running through your brain?

Meanwhile, one more exam to go! Claire left this night to go on her wonderful winter break adventures D; It will be a very quiet and lonely rest of the weekend. -sigh- Oh well. Home soon!!!

OH CHEMISTRY, MY LOVE, trust me, I'm NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP.
Customers, this ain't love. It's just a business transaction. :P

(okay yes perhaps they are bad influences on me haha don't worry I haven't really changed)