You might recognize him too. ;-) He used to be that tubby toddler on the right.
But he's a tubby toddler no more.
... but he's still on the right! XD
I wanted him to recreate the top picture with me but apparently, he's too shy for that now. Heh. XD I'm not much for couple shirts but for family, I make exceptions. I won the Hunger Games while he's a tourist that got himself a measly Quarter Quell souvenir shirt for his troubles.
Congratulations for graduating top of your class. Valedictory speech and all! ;-) Ang sabi nga nila, "Nakaraos din!" I can't wait for you to come back here so we can have our painfully geeky conversations in person, in real time. I know you love it there, I do too, but I NEED YOU HERE or else I'll explode! XD Clingy much?
Also, a shoutout to UP LISSA... then, now, and the future. Thank you for being the one org where both of us felt loved and where we felt like we belonged. Personally, thank you for taking care of Jerico. It's not easy being oceans and continents apart from immediate family. He did have some family with him as well but based on his stories, UP LISSA is also part of that family.
This is a screenshot of a SMS conversation that I had with my Korean language teacher. Her messages are in yellow and mine's the blue in the middle. As you can see, it's in Hangul. Five months ago, those characters would mean nothing to me. Now, I was able to manage a conversation, albeit via text, in Korean.
It's during one of the few times when my phone is not within inches of my person. Imagine my surprise when I check my messages after a workday and find this message in my inbox. I paused. Challenge accepted! And it didn't take me that long to read and understand. Sure, my teacher might have dumbed it down a bit but still! It felt good to read something in Korean other than a textbook, signs, and menus. The next challenge was replying in Korean. It's kind of like reading between the lines; the teacher messaged you in Korean so she could be expecting a reply also in Korean. A test, if you may. XD
Never mind the 2-hour window between her first message and my reply. Like I said, my phone was MIA. Haha! ;-) But still, I cannot tell you how anxious I was when I was composing that message. It's dead simple but sentence construction is still very new to me. Not to mention Korean grammar and structure are so much different than English or Filipino. And she replied! So I must have done well, I'm guessing...? Hahaha... I had the dopiest smile on my face that walk home.
Basically, the exchange meant that I don't have Korean class this Saturday. Instead, it was moved to Wednesday evening just for this week. And it oh, it was scorching HOT yesterday.
I wasn't lying when I said my phone cover is 싸이 오빠 doing the dance. I got this little cutie and yes, I'm not ashamed to use it. I still like listening to 강남 스타일. Way better than that Harlem Shake thing, honestly.
This is like having a little friend with me all that time. A pocket Psy-oppa! Now if I can only find a BIGBANG one... ;-) I like these rubbery cases more than the harder ones. They're easier to locate in my bag and they make my phone easier to hold. Although I remove this whenever I have to pull out my phone in Koreatown... ㅋㅋㅋ...
As I've mentioned before, I do have a job. Money's money but my days are boring. I don't have anyone to talk to so sometimes, I end up talking to myself in English, Tagalog, Spanish, and Korean. If anyone was around to hear me, they might think I've lost it.
아이고... 나 심심해. Ano na naman kaya yan? Ah whatever. *co-worker comes in to check something* Si, muy bien. Gracias. Me gusta soda, por favor. Gracias. Okay. 진짜 피곤해요.
I would've added Japanese but everything gets muddled up in my head sometimes. Ah polyglotism.
Since I don't get to stay home all day anymore, I don't have much time to study much anymore. I've resorted to make notes and schedules in Hangul. Even passing time practicing my writing like so...
For me to do that, I must've been so incredibly bored. I even Instagrammed it. XD Yeah. I mean, I like that my job is so light; it didn't have the pressures of my previous one but still, I miss the company of other people whom I can easily talk to. The reason why I lasted long with that other job was the people. The pay on this other job is way better so I guess that's one good thing about that. I'll just take this to further build my Korean vocabulary so I can express myself a bit more and a lot better.
The highlight of my week is my Korean class. With work and school, I pretty much lost my time to rest - weekends - but I'm not going to give up my 한국어 크래스. 재미있어요. But yesterday, I met up with my VIP friends for some KBBQ at my favoritest place, Castle BBQ #2. It's the perfect place to take them because of the K-Pop MVs they play all day. And of course, they played a BIGBANG playlist while we were in the middle of our meal. And 2NE1. And GD&TOP. Funny, when they played Baby, Good Night, all of us got "affected" somewhat. Let's just say we were the loudest table during that song. LOL. I'm glad for the soju in front of me.
I mean, I dare you not to be affected by this. TOP's fully clothed but it's hotter than any nude guy. And the last part? Shoot me, I'm a GD&TOP shipper. ;-)
After food, we headed to Koreatown Galleria to burn more money. LOL. Gaaah, I just enjoy spending time with my VIP friends. It's kinda cool that I met them at the BIGBANG concert and yet we kept in touch. I don't know other people in my circle who like K-Pop and it's just so fun being with them; seeing how excited and how into it they are.
The Music Plaza at Koreatown Galleria is like my kryptonite. Sure, I only care about YG artists but whenever I see a YG artist's album, I make grabby hands at it. And mind you, I don't do CDs anymore but I love DVDs. I prepare to say goodbye to at least $120 every time I go there. 아이고, thankful for my boring job, ei? XD Last time, my damage was three items. This time, it wasn't so bad. ;-)
Fangirling is still an expensive hobby and when I'm older, I might laugh at my younger self. But I love it. No regrets. The 2011 BIGBANG BIG SHOW is one of my favorites. Plus it has Secret Big Bang. The 2011 YG Family Concert LIVE CD, I already have the songs but really, you pay for the photo book. I originally wanted to pick up the ALIVE Making Of... or something like that but it's in Region 3. Until I find a surefire way to bypass the DVD region BS, I'll skip that for now. Although I really really want that. Same story with the YG Family Concert DVD. Region 3. But I guess that's a blessing in disguise. If these are in no-region format, like the BIG SHOW is, I might end up broke. Hahaha... in moderation, as with all vices, right?
Today is St. Patrick's Day. I'm supposed to get my drink on but I already did that yesterday with 5 shots of soju. Give me vodka or soju any day and we'll be best friends.
On a side note: I've taken the LA Metro trains/bus every single day since Monday, March 11. I have a whole week of work next week so it looks like it's going to be a full 12 days straight. Who knows, I may have plans on Saturday after school also. ;)
My Saturdays often end up having a Korean theme. I start off my day at Korean language class and somehow, the rest of my day follows the same thread. Today, it was a KBBQ dinner out with my VIP friends followed by a splurge at Koreatown.
I love the ulzzang style of dress. I think I can get away with it. Hehehe... I think it's cute. And I've been loving sweaters, scarves, and boots. Spring is almost here and I have an excuse to wear eye-catching colors and designs again.
Outfit:
owl shirt from Santee Alley
long tank top from Ross
black footed leggings from Sears
boots from Charlotte Russe
Betsy Johnson tote
scarf from David & Young
Marc Jacobs watch
I try to make the ulzzang makeup look work on me but I don't feel I'm good at it. My eyes don't lend themselves to that particular style. Oh well. Bring on the corals then.
Face:
Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream No. 23
L'Oreal True Match powder in N3
ELF brow kit in Medium
NYC Big Bold mascara
Benefit Coralista
L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Amber Rush
Etude House Dear My Blooming Lips-talk OR 202
ELF brown creme liner
I need to do something with my hair. Really. I haven't done anything to that apart from cut it. Hahaha...
Have you tried non-permanent hair color? Like those dyes that wash off after 30 shampoos? I want to try those but I'm not sure about them yet.
My 한국어 클래스 was a bit different. We had a Skype session with my classmate who was on a business trip. It was fun doing it that way. But nothing beats being there in person. It was awesome of her to arrange something like that. I really admire that dedication to learn. It was our penultimate meeting for the Beginner A sessions and I've signed up for the Beginner B classes. You're not shaking me off that easily, oh dear language. ㅋㅋㅋ!
I wasn't having a good skin day yesterday though. So when I got home, I immediately took off my makeup and I wanted to sleep. But as I closed my eyes, my mom told me that we were going outlet shopping. Like... right then and there! Just when I took off my face for the day. Aissshh....
The looks aren't that different. I just changed the lip color. On the right, I'm wearing Maybelline Vivids in Electric Orange. On the right, Wet n Wild's Nouveau Pink. Yes, the $0.99 one. It's a bit washed out in the photo but in person, it's amazing. I also got another color and it's also great. Surely, not all shades in the dollar line are great. A lot of them are frosty but these two that I got are blowing my socks off right now! The oranges in the Vivids collection from Maybelline are awesome too. It brightens up the face instantly and they make me happy. LOL.
As for the rest of my face:
Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream in No. 23
L'Oreal True Match powder in N3
ELF baked blush in Rich Rose
WNW bronzer in Princess
WNW Silent Treatment trio
NYC Big Bold mascara
Physicians Formula black eyeliner for Nude Eyes
We then went to Camarillo Premium outlets and I got myself a few Spring sweaters. I have a thing for sweaters. Remember that cute panda sweater I was wearing some time ago? Yeah, I got that from Papaya and yesterday, I got a cute little owl one. Maybe you'll see it in an OOTD soon? ^o^ Then I went to town at my favorite clothing store, Cotton On. I stocked up on knit hats and ... notebooks. What? They were $1 to $3 with a 40% off on EVERYTHING. I'll find use for them eventually.
Orange is my favorite color. And I've been a bit orange-obsessed lately. Specifically with orange makeup. Most of my recent lip color purchases are in that color family. According to Pantone, I'm a whole year/season late but whatever. Those color "trends" are essentially the same every year - nudes, reds, brights, neons... it has been like that for years. But orange has always been that statement color. And I love it!
So I went on a little orange frenzy haulin' at both Target and Ulta after 한국어 class today. Speaking of that, it was extra fun today. We "studied" songs. I chose and 여자 이니 까 by 키스and 그 남자 by 백지영 from the K-Drama Secret Garden. Man, K-Pop has pretty sad as hell songs. These two are prime examples. It brings me so much joy to be able to actually read these lyrics in 한굴 and not just rely on the Romanized lyrics. I'll be able to understand them eventually. Fighting! Anyway, it was crazy cold last night and today so my OOTD is not that fancy. (Btw, sending warmth and love to y'all East Coasters! Stay safe!) But I did have my kitty hat!
lord of the rings. k-pop. marvel cinematic universe. the hunger games. sherlock. harry potter. csi. criminal minds. anime. fighting games. final fantasy. running man. jrpg. generation kill.
