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That means, I do too.

Next time I travel to South Korea, I'll make a special trip to the Olympic stadium. I wasn't only born on the same general date, September 17, even the year is the same, 1988! XD

I had a blast last night celebrating. Drinks galore and just fun stuff. Movies and gifts will have to wait for the weekend though. That's okay. At this point in my life, I just need a TV and an Apple TV. Hah!

I'm not one to post pictures of drinks on my social media but seeing that it was my birthday last night, here you go...

Dave and Buster's has some awesome Kamikaze shots! ;-)

Belated Happy KCON 2014 weekend! I skipped it this year. My funds went elsewhere, namely a very pricey medical copay and... the best impulse purchase that my monies could buy.

The 3rd Annual Josh Hutcherson Celebrity Basketball Game. It kicks off the yearly Nike 3on3 basketball tournament. The event that I was going to fell on a Friday, also Roger Federer's birthday, which meant a half day at work. Some people have their after-work clubbing. I am willing to skip work all together for things that I love. Truth. This event benefits the Straight But Not Narrow organization, Josh's own.

AXS sent an email the day before the event with the schedules and rules and whatnot. That totally threw all my plans out the window. It broke my wee little heart to read "No cameras and no autographs at the Meet & Greet." Darn, I had something very special for Josh to sign. *sadface* And the times also meant an even shorter half day at work. Hey, at least I showed up.

I got to LA Live at around 2PM, a good hour before box office opened. Already there were girls lined up so I surrendered to the sun and baked. One good thing that happened while baking under said sun was meeting a fellow Filipina and fan, Alyson. I admit, I go to these events mostly alone but the best times I've had are always spent in good company of friends and fellow fans. I'm really happy that I met Alyson at this event. We had so much in common, it was creepy. BUT it made the whole experience so much more FUN.

I splurged on a Courtside VIP ticket. Hey, it's for a good cause. I attend free events all the time so I should pay for my fun once in a while, right? Anyway, I had no idea what to expect. I thought Courtside meant the first row of the bleachers behind some barricades but nooooo... the placement of our seats alone made the $260 price tag well worth it and so much more.

It also included a signed item. It's a small basketball. I forgot to bring my shopping tote so my poor - but large - shoulder bag was stuffed with said ball and two Straight But Not Narrow shirts that I got at the merch table. We received wristbands with "VIP" on them and I felt a bit nostalgic. Next day, Saturday would've been G-Dragon night at KCON 2014. I once said that I will not miss a Big Bang or GD appearance in Los Angeles but alas... priorities.

The line to the actual Meet & Greet was also under the hot sun. The struggle this time was not the risk of sunburn but in keeping both hair and makeup somewhat presentable. This is a difficult thing, people, especially knowing that at the end of that line, you'll be meeting one of your current obsessions. ~~(Note: Obsession is a rather strong word but give me this pass, willya? It's been a long, long while since I had a legit crush on someone, celebrity or no.)~~ It all held up okay, methinks. Thank, Yevon! (If you got that reference, we should be bffs.)

Cate-niss and Peeta, anyone?

Super-duper thanks to the professional photographers for making me look good beside this incredibly good-looking man. Look ma, he didn't have to stoop down for a pic! ^_^

KCON 2014 is next weekend and I'm still debating whether to go or not. I still don't have my ticket even after the announcement that G-Dragon will once again be attending/performing. Last year, I bought my ticket as soon as they made the announcement. So this year, what gives?

It's not that I've lost interest in K-pop. I mean, it's still there. I still enjoy all the YG and some non-YG stuff. My ears still catch even the slightest tune of K-pop in stores and whatnot. But something has been keeping me away from this year's biggest K-pop convention.

After my experience last year, I was 100% going to the next one. I enjoyed the convention floor and the concert so much. I was pretty much dead the next day but I had fun. This year's panels look great too. Since GD will be on for just one concert night, Saturday, I won't be dying on Sunday night and dead the next day. I'll show up for Sunday's panels and get to go home early and rest.

But... that weekend, August 8, 9, and 10, will be SO PACKED. On August 8, I have an event with Josh Hutcherson. Then, KCON for the next two days, one includes a concert. Then payroll the next day. I'd be lucky to be alive by Sunday.

And another thing that's getting in the way. My KCON monies are going somewhere else. As soon as I get the $200 I need, some other stuff comes up. Namely, IMATS 2015 and a Playstation Vita.

The year's not even over and yet I already have an event scheduled for next year! I don't remember tickets being sold this early last year. And they jacked up the price. It was $48 plus service charge last year. Now, it's $62 including the extra fees. Am I to expect better deals for this year? I sure hope so. I bought one for my mom as well.

As you know, PS Vitas are hard to come by. They've been sold out everywhere for the longest time. My brother and I have our eyes on one because we want to play Final Fantasy X and X-2 again. And other older PS games. Best Buy recently offered PSV online only as a package for $199. I was at a friend's house at 2 in the morning, trying to buy one using my phone, playing that my battery would hold up. I did it and now I'm just waiting for it to arrive.

So that's where my money is going. As much as I would love to go to KCON this year, so many forces are against me. I have two more weeks to decide. I really want to go, at least for the panels. We'll see...

About a month ago, I made a huge purchase from AXS. My Mythbusters tickets. That was pretty major, dropping $300 in one go. But like I said, it was for two tickets - $150 each.

Today, AXS has robbed me blind again. More like, I threw my monies at them. That's okay... tomorrow is payday lmao. And for what? Well...

I shied away from the first two The Hunger Games premieres because I saw people legit camp out days before the premiere. And LA Live is not my venue of choice. But I did want to see Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in person. I already saw Liam Hemsworth thanks to the Thor: The Dark World premiere. I swore to attend this year's Mockingjay Part 1 red carpet. Now... may not have to.

When I got home from work, I saw an interview posted on the Josh Hutcherson Facebook page. It was on Ryan Seacrest's radio show and Josh was talking about his annual charity basketball game. Now, I may have a free thrower's hand but I know nothing about basketball. But I've heard of these charity games, saw pics of the one he did last year, and I'm interested in going to the next one.

And guess what? I AM.

It'll be on August 8, 2014, Friday, 6:30PM at LA Live. Needless to say, I will be skipping work for this event. And why the hell not? I scored a COURTSIDE VIP ticket! It's not the Ultimate VIP package, it was sold out by the time I knew about ticket sales, but it did make my bank account cry a little bit. Are you one of those people who get the shakes when you make a large purchase? I definitely am. My hands started to shake once I saw how much the courtside VIP ticket was, $250. Man, and I was planning to buy a Keurig system. Guess that's not gonna happen yet.

The courtside VIP package includes:

o Courtside seats (the event starts at 6:30PM but I'll be there dead early, as with all events)
o Meet & Greet (!!!)
o One autographed JH item (this is the thing that made me get this deal instead of the bleacher seats)
o Chance to win signed JH jersey from game
o Nike 3ON3 Team Registration (I have no idea what this is lol. My knowledge of Nike exists in the world of tennis.)

I went into full blown fangirl mode when I secured my ticket. Hands shaking, jumping up and down, squeeing. OMG, JHutch is my brother's age... basically the first younger guy I went crazy for... oh man. Peeta (the character), I blame you! XD

I guess that leaves JLaw. But she's not going anywhere. There's a lot more biographical, book-to-film stuff where she can be miscast. (Trust me, I love her.)

We just need to find time and energy to do it.

안녕하세요, 여러분! 오렌만이다! 잘지내요?

See, I haven't forgotten my Korean. XD It was a HUGE help when my mom and I spent 2 16-hour days in Seoul back in April/May. Yeah, I know, it's been a month since our trip and I still haven't said anything about it. I'm lazy. Sue me.

But I do have a ton of stuff to say about the experience. And a lot of great pictures. Being able to read and sort of speak Korean was definitely an advantage while playing tourist in Seoul. It did give me a good deal of anxiety but we survived. If you ask me today, would I do an extended layover in Seoul again? Heck yeah, I would!

경복궁

It was awesome going back home to Manila as always but I don't think I can ever live there again. As much as I love the people, the food, and the malls... it's the heat that I can't stand. My first night there, I was reduced to TEARS. It was so hot that I cried in misery. That might sound over-the-top but I've never had that happen to me before. And I was raised there. It's ridiculous.

But going back to my childhood bedroom was quite magical. Even as a kid, I collected ORIGINAL CDs of my favorite groups, which at that time were Westlife and F4. I knew I had a VCD of F4's Hong Kong concert somewhere in there. It is now so hard to find, even online. I was glad to find it. I think I squealed out loud when I did. I also took with me my first Nancy Drew title, Sign of the Twisted Candles, as well as two of my absolute favorites, The Ringmaster's Secret and The Secret of Mirror Bay. How much do I love Mirror Bay? I dreamt about it.

The other books that made the trip were the CSI book tie-ins that I didn't know I had. I don't have them all but I've accumulated quite a bit. My brother gave me the whole collection of the original 56 Nancy Drew mysteries in mobi format but I still want to collect all of them. ;-)

Ever since my trip, I got a new job. It is literally walking distance from where I live. No joke. I now work at a medical management office. It's been good so far. I'm still learning to ropes and there are a LOT of ropes to learn. I don't have the same freedom to use the computer for pleasure as my previous job, thus the severe lack of posts on both blogs. *sadface* Therefore, the backlog is getting quite overwhelming. Although I haven't been reading a lot since the commute by public transport has been essentially taken out of my day. I've been missing out on a lot of book blog memes. *even sadder face*

I've also chopped off about 12 inches of hair while in the Philippines. Getting a hair cut here will cost you $25 plus but mine was a mere $3, converted. I just re-colored it Light Intense Auburn yesterday. It's going to stay that way for as long as I like it. I found that red hair suits me.

청계천

What else is new? Hmm... (I want to put as much stuff here as kind of a backlog list lol. A cheat sheet!)

Ah, for my final hurrah before going back to the workforce, we went to JPL, Jet Propulsion Laboratory here in Pasadena. I've been to the Kennedy Space Center years ago and JPL is like, just in my backyard and it took me this long to go there. It was awesome. I saw Space Shuttle Endeavour not too long ago and all this space goodness just takes me back to my childhood. I never read a single Sweet Valley High book but I could watch science shows about outer space for days.

Pasadena, we have a problem.

Two weeks ago, I went to my first book signing in a long time. (Probably my only one this year lol.) It was for Diana Gabaldon's new book in the Outlander series, Written in my Own Heart's Blood. If you've been following my book blog, you'd know that I'm a newbie fan of this series. The new book in the 8th in the series and I've barely made a dent in the second. I planned to do that during my trip but... the in-flight entertainment was just too good. But I live and work in the area so why the hell not. (I actually bought my ticket months before so this wasn't an impulse buy.)

I usually have great luck with these kinds of things. When I finished reading The Jane Austen Book Club, the author Karen Joy Fowler had a book signing about a week after that. I go through 6 seasons of Criminal Minds in one go and Joe Mantegna gets his Hollywood star the next month.

But the total opposite happened to me with Sherlock. But that's for another post.

I recently watched the latest Star Trek movie Into Darkness. I'm more of a Star Wars fan but I know more Trek characters by name. I was so-so with the first reboot so I wasn't really into watching the next one. Until I became a Benedict Cumberbatch fan. I won't go as far as calling myself a Cumber-bitch, no not yet, but dang... can that man act the shit out of anything. I know first hand how his VOICE sounds like when it's inches away from you (yes, and I survived). He wasn't the Khan I had in my head but his performance was breathtaking. And his hair was perfect. He just makes everything perfect. I did sort of live tweet the movie as I was watching it lol. Chekov is still my always favorite, btw.

And to complete this incoherent mishmash of a life update, I went to Raging Waters in San Dimas last week! I cannot remember the last time that I went swimming at a pool/place that is not my backyard. And it was a TON of fun! I really want to go again before the season ends!

So that is it. I think I'll do a couple of retro posts when inspiration strikes. My brother is coming back to the US on the 28th so I canNOT wait for that.

Life has been good lately. 2014 is just coasting by. It's finally, officially summer. Bring on the heat!

Okay. So. My co-worker and I were on break and we were talking about K-pop in general over lunch. All of a sudden, an 아저씨 walks up to us and starts preaching about how K-pop and K-drama are bad, that the Catholic doctrine is wrong and theirs is the only right thing, that all the popes are anti-Christ, and how Lee Hyori (yes, he singled some people out) are illuminati.

He said that Seo Taiji, SNSD, Hyori, and other famous K-pop acts are of the devil and their songs are words of the devil. That if we want our souls to be saved, we should not watch K-dramas and movies. He said that all K-pop songs and acts and whatnot are under the illuminati. That there are hidden meanings in their clothes, lyrics, and faces... I zoned him out within 3 minutes. And then he said he wanted us to quit our respective religions and "see the light". I don't even fcking know.

I'm the LAST person to talk about religion. As much as possible, I avoid it. That whole exchange which was definitely more than 20 minutes was just.... bizarre. My friend and I just threw out the rest of our uneaten sandwiches and went back to the office. (My co-worker was pretty pissed because she LOVES SNSD.) I still have no idea what happened.

The Seoul Summer Olympics turns 26.

The 3rd Annual Josh Hutcherson Celebrity Basketball Game | 20140808

KCON 2014

The odds are in AXS's favor.

We all have stuff to do. Like, a life update.

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