Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theatre. Show all posts

End of 2013 Survey

I could not find an "End of 2014" survey that is not about books.  So I might as well use the one I filled up last year.  It should be interesting to compare answers.

What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
Dyed my hair! And I'm keeping it red.  And KCON! 


Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I made good with one: to start formally learning a foreign language.  I did that for roughly six months then I plan to continue on my own.  I've acquired a couple of books.  Especially next year... we're going to South Korea!
 
Did anyone close to you give birth?

I won't say "close" but some school friends had babies this year.

Did anyone close to you die?
Again, not close but some people that I knew.

What countries did you visit?
None.  I will remedy that in 2014.

What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A better-paying job.  Again.  But to be fair, my job in 2013 paid better than the one I had in 2012.  If it follows the pattern, I hope to get a better job in 2014 with all the benefits.

What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 2, 2013.  Not just because it's my brother's birthday.  It was the red carpet premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  I cannot gush about that event enough.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hmm... being able to have short but straight conversations in Korean. :)  It was a once-a-week, two hours per day class in a span of six months but I did okay in that short amount of time.

What was your biggest failure?
I try not to think of those.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
It seems that my voice is not going with me in 2014.  At least, it's going to be late.

What was the best thing you bought?
 The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey 5-disc extended DVD set.  This brings me so much joy.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
Pope Francis, I guess.

Whose behavior made you appalled?
If I answer this truthfully, I'll get a lot of hate.  It's not a fandom thing... it's a real life thing for a change.  I guess I'll just keep that to myself.

Where did most of your money go?
DVDs.  Bath and Body Works.  Hot Topic.  Especially around the Black Friday weekend. And yeah, KCON.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premiere.  I never saw this coming.  LOTR events were always either NYC or NZ.  Finally they have something for LA and I dropped everything just to be a part of it.  Twelve years is a long time to wait.  No more.

What song will always remind you of 2013?
2013 is more about movies for me.  I listened to the same bunch of songs and even the 2013 releases didn't stand out to me that much.

Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) Happier or sadder? Happier.
b) Thinner or fatter? About the same.
c) Richer or poorer? Richer.

What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish I wrote more.  Even fan fiction.  Especially fan fiction. ;-)  And crochet.  My stash of yarn is growing faster than I can stitch.  The season for crocheted goods isn't that long.  And oh yeah, watch more movies.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
As always, spend.  But no regrets!
crocheted good season is not very long. 

How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it up at the Hollywood sign!

What was your favorite TV program?
Storage Wars.  I'm not even kidding. XD  I could watch HOURS of this show.  The original one, not the Texas spinoff.
 
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

I actually scratched a name or two off that list this year.  Improvement!

What was the best book you read?
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card.  And I have to say, The Maze Runner by James Dashner.  Serena by Ron Rash is a contender but I didn't breeze through that as easily as the other two.

What was your greatest musical discovery?

I'm still very much in my K-pop bubble but I'm slowly coming back to indie, folk-y music, thanks to Spotify.  Sophie Madeleine is one of those finds. 

What did you want and get?
An Amazon Kindle Fire HD!  Don't get me wrong, I love real books and my nook isn't bad.  But I really wanted a Kindle for the longest time.  I have Kindle apps on my phone and iPad but being the dedicated tech person that I am, I needed a separate Kindle.  And I fulfilled last year's answer to the next question, a new MacBook Pro!

What did you want and not get?
A new iPod.  Still debating whether to get the Touch with the camera on the back or the Classic.  Leaning more towards the Touch though.  It's an extra camera for events and whatnot.

What was your favourite film of this year?
I have a list.  In no particular order:
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
  • Pacific Rim
  • Catching Fire
  •  Thor: The Dark World
  • Gravity
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25 and I was at work. I planned to go to NYC and watch Orlando Bloom in Romeo and Juliet but no dice.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Sweaters and boots.  I finally got one of those Converse boots.  And some very cute white Doc Marten-looking pair from Forever 21.

What kept you sane?
Fandom.  Lately, I cannot stop talking about either The Hunger Games and/or The Hobbit/LOTR.  And good books.  I've been using the hell out of my Kindle Fire HD since I got it and I'm lucky that my picks have been good ones.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Josh Hutcherson.  Shoot me.  He's younger than me but hot DAMN, when he's in Peeta mode.... he's hot as hell.  He's cute as himself too but add my automatic sympathy for Peeta, I can't handle it.  And yes, I have a pillowcase with his face on it.  Two of them.

What political issue stirred you the most?
That Napoles debacle in the Philippines.  Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago PWNED!

Who did you miss?
My dad.  And my brother.  It's times like this when I need someone to geek out with.

Who was the best new person you met?
Our red carpet premiere group is growing.  :)

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Just have fun.  And acknowledge the signs.  -- ditto!

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:



Liebster Award!


Thanks, Angeli, for the nomination/award thingy.  And I'm so sorry it took me this long to get this up.  It's tough to think up 11 facts lol.  I know this is not a Wordpress blog but all the love is appreciated!  (Psst people, I do have a Wordpress. I may or may not be resurrecting it but we'll see.)

I love these survey things as blog fillers or just to pass the time.  And I love finding out stuff about other people through this.  It's interesting to read and compare answers.  It's also a good way to learn the small things about a person.  I know there's a K-Pop version of this but I don't want to bore you with YG-ness more than I am already.  ;-)

Rules:
1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the questions left by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate five (or more) bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Make sure to notify them.
4. Make up questions for those you have nominated.
5. Display the Liebster Award badge on your blog.


January 2013 Favorites

Oh boy!  I haven't had a proper favorites post since September last year.  I have been diligent with listing down possible favorites per month but I haven't posted them for some reason.  And since my trip last November, I had no energy to do much.  But a New Year's resolution is writing/blogging more so here we go.


1. Rurouni Kenshin

The live-action film has been a favorite since I first saw it on JAL Entertainment last November.  And you know what, it still is up to this day!  I still watch it and it has become one of my "when all else fails" movies together with LOTR and The Avengers.   And because I love the movie so much, I decided to go on a rewatch of the anime series.  Tears in my eyes when I got to the Kyoto Arc... probably the best season of anime ever.  And can I have more Sanosuke/Megumi fanfiction?  I'm pretty obsessed with the two of them right now.  Sure, I am studying Korean but once I got home, my entertainment was in Japanese.  There even was a time while practicing introducing myself in Korean, I automatically finish my sentences with -desu instead of -ibnida.  *oro*

2.-3. The Hobbit and Thorin's Key
Every single thing about it.  Everything.  I bought The Hobbit Chronicles art and design book and I flip through it from time to and and it still wows me.  It has the Map of Thorin and Bilbo's Contract.  I also have Thorin's Key.  I pretty much geeked out when I saw that at Hot Topic.  So cool!  I also have the movie companion by Brian Sibley.  I remember buying the one for The Fellowship of the Ring all those years ago.  Speaking of years, after 10 of them, I finally purchased the bestiary by David Day.  Yes, it took me 10 years to decide whether to pick it up or not.  Now I have it and Day's other Tolkien guide.  I lose all reason when it comes to Tolkien.  Forgive me.

4.-6. Yelp!, Instagram, ColorNote Apps
Ever since switching to a smartphone with an actual data plan, I've been obsessed with these three apps.  Yelp has been very helpful when finding places to eat and checking in is fun.  Dukedom, anyone? I've been Instagramming a storm since November.  I'm still too lazy to watermark but hey, everything I post on my 'gram is mine.  If I didn't take it, I put it on the twitter picture thing.  ColorNote App proved to be so helpful when I was in my Etude House binge.  It is both a note/memo and a checklist.  In fact, my favorites are listed on that very same app right now.

7. Whatsername arm warmers
You can see a bit of them here.  If you know the musical American Idiot, you'd know what I'm talking about.  Basically, as the women of the show are preparing to go full on FU mode during the song Whatsername, they put on these red and black striped arm warmers.  While they're not the very same ones, I found these at Hot Topic about two-three years ago.  I now have two pairs of this.

8. ELF Essential Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in Movie Star
This is huge hit from ELF.  I love red lips and this is buildable and comfortable on the lips.  Such a great wearable red.  And for $2?  You cannot beat that.

9. Etude House Happy Tea Time Cleansing Cream in Lemon Tea
Funny how this is in a favorites list.  Basically, this is a makeup remover cream that smells like tea.  I haven't written a review for this yet but it is coming up.  Now, when I bought this in the Philippines, I got all 3 kinds: Lemon Tea, Green Tea, and Milk Tea.  Out of the three, I liked Lemon Tea the least because I thought it smelled like car freshener.  And it does.  So I decided to use it up first.  But I ended up liking it.  I'll save some for the review post but what I love best about it is it leaves your skin so soft and I grew to like the smell.

10. Orange lipsticks
Especially the Kate Moss for Rimmel #12.  I'm on the search for more orange lipsticks.  Not peach or coral but straight up orange.  Hehe, okay more on the reddish orange to be more wearable.  I have a couple of finds but this is the only one in the LOVE column.  My Etude House Dear My Blooming Lips-talk OR202 is getting there but I have more Etude House lipsticks waiting in the wings.  I just like bright lip colors in general.

11. Korean messy bun
And of course, I cannot do it now with my hair.  But when my hair was still waist-length, this was my go-to hair.  So easy and very sturdy.  And it looks good!  It's very put-together and elegant.  I will try to make it work with my medium-length hair.  I just love it.

For my last two, I'm going to kill two birds with one stone.  Or picture.

Annyeong haseyo! I am Catrina. My Korean name is Haru. Nice to meet you.

12. - 13. Writing in Hangul and the name "Haru".
Yes, Haru.  Just like Tablo's uber adorable daughter.  In my Korean language class, my teacher asked us if we wanted Korean names.  And duh, of course!  We got to pick and I chose "Haru".  I think it's cute as a name.  By the way, it means day in Korean.  Haru Haru, anybody?

First half of 2012: The Avengers


It is the last day of 2012.  What are your favorite memories of this year?

To me, 2012 has been the best year of my life so far.  I had the most fun, met a lot of great people, saw many famous ones (lol), crossed out a lot from my bucket list.  I did so much this year and it was tough to fit them in one photo.  So I split them into two.

The first half of my 2012 can be represented by The Avengers.  It was by far, THE BEST red carpet premiere I've attended.  I was with good friends and I was able to share it with my brother.  To me, that was the most important thing.  Not to mention, The Avengers is my favorite movie of 2012 (sorry, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).  I could not stop thinking, talking about it.  But yeah, like I mentioned, I was thrilled to share that moment with my brother.  It was a long and uncomfortable wait but I'm glad he soldiered on with me and saw/met the likes of Stan Lee, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Alexander and Stellan Skarsgard, and even Dominic Monaghan of LOTR!

Speaking of Alexander Skarsgard, I saw the guy three times this year.  No joke!  All at premieres: True Blood (I don't watch it anymore but I go to the red carpet every year for three years now), Battleship (come on... how many people can say they watched a movie with ASkars, Rihanna, Andy Roddick, and Liam Neeson in the audience with them lol), and when he went with his dad Stellan at The Avengers premiere.  I think he recognizes me now... yeah, I'm pretty sure he does.  I know that smile he gives me when he sees me and my GK stuff amongst the sea of True Blood.

Also speaking of LOTR, my starstruck moment of 2012 is meeting Craig Parker at the Spartacus: Vengeance premiere.  I've talked about that moment in a previous post.  I don't know how I held it together when he stopped by my spot, talked to me, took a photo (asking if we were doing a serious or wacky face even), and coming back after he'd moved on to tell me "not to enjoy the naughty bits (of the episode) too much".  OMG.  I've talked with a lot of celebrities but this one takes the cake.  That night, I also saw Manu Bennett who had a small part in The Hobbit.  And I shook hands with Lucy Lawless.  I win.

One of the prouder moments of my life was taking my mom and brother to see American Idiot.  Yes, I'm not a huge fan of the tour but I am a huge fan of the show.  To be able to have both of them there on the 2nd anniversary of the first time I've seen the show (April 19) was priceless.  I had my brother beside me at front row center and my mom got to see it for the second time from a distance.  And they both enjoyed it!  It was a full circle, seeing it for the first time on 19 April 2010 and then again two years later, 19 April 2012.  It was special.

And I also added to my Generation Kill list.  This blog knows nothing of my love for this amazing HBO mini series and I will remedy that soon.  I met Benjamin Busch at his book signing at my local Vroman's Bookstore.  I had him sign both his book and my very very special GK copy.  And then I had the opportunity to talk to him.  Again, no idea how I kept it together haha. 

My first event of the year proved to be a foreshadowing of how awesome 2012 would be for me.  Mythbusters: Behind the Myths tour.  After yeeeeaaaars of watching and loving Mythbusters, there they were in front of me in the flesh.  Adam and Jamie proved to be as interesting and entertaining in person as on TV.  Then less than a week later, I was at the Spartacus: Vengeance red carpet premiere.  How cool was my January?  XD

This year, I also learned to appreciate having friends.  I know this sounds rather sentimental but I didn't have a lot of friends that I meet in person at a regular basis.  But these group of people that I met at work... they're great.  I mean, the place we worked at wasn't the best of places but they were the ones that made it worthwhile.  I may not be working there anymore but I will definitely keep those ties no matter what happens in the future.

January to June was pretty eventful.  It only got better from there...

I AM VIP!

That's it!  I took the plunge and charged head first into the 2nd bloodbath.  It was as brutal as the first one, as expected.  For the LA concert, at least.  I got on at 10AM and what do you know, a few seconds after... VIP tickets were all gone.  I tried checking for plazas again and kept getting 209s and then 214s within the first ten minutes of sale.  I admit, I was tempted to move a bit closer in the plaza level but I went for VIP and I didn't get it... on Ticketmaster.

However, as the post title says... I AM VIP!  I managed to score a VIP ticket to the November 2 show! 

bingu dance ~~ ^^,


No thanks to Ticketmaster and their exorbitant service charges!  The main ticket issuer, Powerhouse Live had a number of VIP tickets on sale.  So when people were pushing and shoving at Ticketmaster, I sauntered over to Powerhouse and calmly purchased that coveted VIP ticket.

That's right... no $30 service charge.  Instead, it's $3.79!  And I opted for will call so no extra mailing cost.  And the guy at Powerhouse customer service was nice (and funny) for a change.  I've heard horror stories about their customer service so I was a bit hesitant to call them up.  But he was helpful and patient with me.

I kept telling myself that I'm going to regret this one way or another.  But then again, I watched a Broadway show 25 times, 31 if you count the tour.  I saw The Avengers multiple times at the cinema, even going to the red carpet premiere.  I read both Jane Eyre and Generation Kill at least once every year.  These are the things that I like - that I love; that I'm passionate about... that I obsess over.  Yes, it's a huge expense but it's not like it happens everyday.  (In comparison, I would gladly skip a Green Day concert even though I love them to bits.  I don't think I'll lose sleep over missing shows from US acts.)

So that's that.  Now, I have to plan two outfits!  XD

(Also, notice that nifty little countdown on the bottom of this page?  Yeah.)

PS: As of 5PM PST, there are still tickets for the November 2 show.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

I already used that song as a song of the day when September began.  Now that it's ending, I'll just use a different version! 


Aaah, my boys.  <3

Also, that guy in the middle?  Stark Sands.  Yeah, it's his birthday today.


And he happens to be one of my favorite actors.  Especially as Lt. Nathaniel Fick in Generation Kill.  He's just... ah, the nicest ever!

Happy birthday, Stark!  Good luck with everything!