Ayumi~n's Happy Funtime!

Time to start saving

2012-01-30T07:52:00.001-06:00

Byebye weekend. You were fun. You were hectic. You ended with an unexpected dinner party. But now it's back to work and this is quite the perfect time for this topic.

I don't spend much, but sadly, I don't save much either. But that shall all change while I'm working. I don't know for how long I'll be doing this assignment (I hope until I get a better job) but I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be working there for at least the next 10 weeks.

Why? Well, I want to meet a crazy goal of saving $1000 :) That's more money than I've ever had at one time (well, I think I had that much during college from extra scholarship money, but that doesn't count) which feels like a big deal to me. But it kinda came easily to me once I realised that if I saved $100 for 10 weeks, that would quickly give me $1000 :D

Yeah, I'm a bit too excited about it. I already stashed away $100 the moment I saw my check appear in my account.

What do I want to do with $1k? I dunno. I don't plan on having this as an emergency fund. This is moreso a happy fund. Maybe I can use this to take a trip... Or I can use it to make some other dream come true. But it won't be touched unless I'm using it to make a dream come true. Even if I end up being jobless again and unable to make it the full 10 weeks, it's going to sit there and I'm just gonna forget about it until I can start it up again.

It's silly, but I want a goal that I can reach right now :) And right now, the big question is what will I do with it. I could let it sit in a special savings account or I could possibly start up a CD that I wouldn't be able to access for a while which would give me a bit more discipline with saving. A lot of choices, but I'm so gonna do it.

A weekend of wedding cakes and ponies

2012-01-28T16:10:00.001-06:00

I was gonna finalize one of my drafted posts, but this weekend got so busy and exciting that I ended up pushing that to the side for now... But my weekend has been nice so far.

I did not spend as much time goofing off on Friday as I had wanted to. I forgot that I had to do my hair which normally takes a whole day to do. I added just a little time to my hair styling by adding my color. I was a bit disappointed. I knew it would just tint my hair and it succeeded in that. However, it dried my hair out massively. I had to soup it up with some conditioner to return to my normal soft and supple texture.

It's still a little dry... So I think next time, I'll try another one or maybe do things a little more differently.

I also enjoyed pizza. Thin crust chicken pizza. With extra sauce. It was awesome.

Also yesterday, my mom had a wedding cake delivery. Ahhh, the place was small and a little run down, but they had it decorated so nicely.

This was the bride and groom cake that she had to deliver. Would you believe that less than an hour before I took this pic, this cake had literally fallen apart? It was an amazing occurrence. After my mom got home from work, she noticed that the original plate the bride's cake was on had cracked. She thought she could just reinforce it and everything would be okay.

However, when she lifted up the cake to examine the damage, she discovered that the plate had completely cracked into 3 pieces under the weight of about 20 pounds worth of cake. Not only that, but the cake was beginning to crack apart.

She had to quickly work a miracle because delivery time was less than an hour away. She took it apart, put it back together, re-icing'd it and everything was good as new. She had to reconfigure the setup for the cake, but thankfully, the room was dim so the flaws weren't very apparent. I was so relieved!

Afterwards, my friend and I went out for dinner. Went with my favorite chicken parmesan even though that's what I always have. It was soooo yummy~ Got half of it saved for tonight's dinner. Afterwards, went to her place to watch Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings while laughing at people on Facebook. We need to go out more often. It was fun even though I was dreading to go a little.

A few days ago, Espeon tipped me off that Walmart had the blind bag ponies. I had been to Walmart a few times since he mentioned it, but I just totally forgot until today. I looked for the pony section and there they were!!!!!

I was just so in shock. I almost didn't expect to see them as I usually miss out on stuff like this. And I used this handy cheat sheet to get the ponies I wanted (Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy).

Picked up 3 of them. The last one is a secret for Espeon <3

I was quite eager to open them to see which ones I got, even though I knew which ones I got.

Or I thought I knew. I had accidentally put back the Pinkie Pie and got an Applejack instead. But at least I got the Fluttershy as well as getting the right one I wanted as a gift <3 At only $1.98, they're not a bad price. I'm really sad that they got a special mold for the rest of the mane 6, but not my fav Fluttershy. These two stand on their hind legs and amazingly, they take little to no effort to stand upright.

For now, I have my two blindbag ponies up with my bigger Fluttershy. Her hair was nicely groomed at one point, but my nieces got to her and she looks like a poofy mess. Thinking of referring to this tutorial that was suggested to me by Espeon to get her hair back into Fluttershape!

Did I just make up a stupid word...

Well, gonna find something good on TV and enjoy the rest of my Saturday.

Spontaneous lunch ideas

2012-01-25T22:53:00.001-06:00

I've got SO many blog posts waiting in draft. It's amazing... I started out with strong ideas before and couldn't come up with any posts after losing steam. Now I have enough posts to last me until early next week :D

I left my room to get a cup of water and I started thinking about what I was going to do for lunch tomorrow. Went grocery shopping and got a few things I can enjoy for lunch at work (as well as food for home) but it's not a really full meal. Just needs something.

So suddenly, I spontaneously made sugar-free Jell-O!!!!!! But I went further than that. I put them into little containers. Accidentally overfilled one of them though (oops) but it ought to gel up by morning. It'll be the perfect lunch for my Friday.

And today's image was brought to you today by Pixlr which is a lovely online photo editor. I wanted to make a post tonight and I wanted to keep the images having the same look as the other ones that I've done recently rather than just posting images from my phone while I'm using my Chromebook. So, I "installed" this app and gave it a try. It's pretty nice, although I think I will only be using it when I have absolutely no access to my desktop computer. I did need some kind of program since Picnik is folding soon. It is a nice Picnik replacement because there' Pixlr Express which does a lot of the things Picnik did, but I think the effects are nicer.

Best of all, it's all free (unlike how Picnik was with some parts free, some parts pay)!!!

But one thing it does that Picnik never intended to do is provide a decent Photoshop clone experience so if you want to do more than add effects, you can edit pictures as if you had your real photo editing program. It's definitely a keeper!

That's it for today. One more morning of getting up and then FREEDOM!!!! Also gotta cross my fingers that the storms coming in won't be too bad so I'm hoping for that too.

Lunch break joys~

2012-01-23T20:23:00.000-06:00

It's really awesome working during the daytime. Just really adjusting to that whole making arrangements for lunch thing. It's just really awkward for me.

I did work during the day at one point. It wasn't very healthy. It was like Hot Pockets (back when they still used real cheese) and Pringles. And then there was the basement cafeteria. Oh yummy. They had the best chicken fingers and fries. It was like $5 or something? I'd buy that and sometimes go to the drink machine and get a Coke or Sprite or something. And there were the occasional days that we'd use our lunch hour (a whole full hour!!!) to go out to Pizza Hut for the buffet, Applebee's, or even the occasional Chinese buffet.

I was young and it was my first real job. I was just excited about the novelty of either bringing a lunch when I was low on money or going out for lunch with my co-workers when I did have money. Freakin' awesome.

However, for the past 6 years, I've been at home during noon time so lunch was never an issue for me during work. But now it is. It's 7 hours I'm at work and no size of breakfast will hold me over until quitting time nor do I want to be grazing all day at the snack machine. It's neither affordable for me nor healthy.

Plus, I only get 30 mins of break!!!!!!! It's so short!!!!! There's a Burger King down the street as well as a Taco Bell across and down the street.

Umm, no... Cost too much. I don't particularly fancy those two places for regular eating. Plus I'd have to drive to those places as traffic is unfriendly and lunch break is too short.

Hence bringing my own lunch FTW!!!!

I'm onto my 3rd week but I haven't quite gotten into the hang of it, but I'm hoping this week will change things for me. Today, I didn't plan well enough so all I had for lunch was a Granny Smith apple and a package of Nekot crackers/cookies that I nibbled on at my desk during my lunch break while I worked. It was yummy, but not satisfying.

So after work, I dropped in at my local grocery store where they seriously know me by name in hunt for some overpriced chicken that I would gladly pay the price for so that I would have something to cook for dinner and later lunch the next morning. I got lucky and found some 1.25lb packages of turkey breast fillets for $2 each. I grabbed the two left and took some things I found in the pantry and turned it into this:

Well, it's not the most beautiful lunch. Got a lovely half of a turkey breast fillet (those things were huge!), green beans cooked with little bits of bacon (I think I actually did it right this time) and some stuffing mix from a box (somehow I made this and it tasted awesome like the real thing). I tasted a small sampling of it for my supplementary dinner and it was all very delicious. Hopefully, that'll transfer over to 2 lunches that'll taste very good at work.

There's enough left that my mom could eat some for dinner and also possibly take some to work with her as a lunch as well. Friday, I'll have to figure out something new.

Bath & Body Works Pink Chiffon

2012-01-22T20:52:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I got a lovely little sample bottle of Bath & Body Works' newest fragrance Pink Chiffon. They describe it as "a light-as-air pairing of soft pink petals & vanilla chiffon icing."

Whatever that means, I thought. When I think of chiffon, I think the fabric and I'm very familiar with cakes so I was like "What kind of icing is chiffon icing?"

Then Google helped me out and reminded me of chiffon cake. Well, that makes a lot of sense now. That explains the sweetness of the fragrance.

It largely reminds me of another favorite fragrance of mine from there (Paris Amour) but much lighter and sweeter. It's fruity and floral and sugary all at the same time. As the scent fades, it feels as if I could nibble my hand as a yummy treat.

And the scent is as pure and sweet as you could imagine. It's a perfect scent for everyday wear. Heck, if I like the fragrance in other forms when it comes out next month, it may replace my current daily scent.

Sadly, not too much to say about it other than that I hate that I love it so much.

Item: Pink Chiffon 2oz Body Lotion Preview
Availability: Bath and Body Works (February 2012)
Price: Free (normally $3.50, discounted to $1)
Pros: Very sweet and lovely scent
Cons: I have another scent that I already love :(

Item was received free as a promotion without any obligation of review.

Weekend shopping and funtimes~

2012-01-21T18:04:00.001-06:00

I enjoyed my first Friday free from work yesterday~ It was so awesome. Ended up waking up early. I thought about going back to sleep, but I was like screw that and played Terraria for much of the morning.

It was a productive morning I must say. I learned I have a sadistic side as I watched enemy after enemy go into little pools of lava... Yes yes.

But other than that, I just enjoyed my day in anticipation of the shopping I would do later that afternoon with my mom. I even showered and put on makeup all for just going out doing everyday, pedestrian shopping. The makeup part was because I wanted to make sure I would buy makeup remover while I was out or else I'd be cursing myself spending hours in the mirror getting rid of my lovely lashes.

First stop was Bath and Body Works. It was disappointing because they were sold out of what I wanted. I had no idea they were redesigning the packaging for the body sprays as the reason they were selling them all at a deep discount.

So disappointing :(

Next stop was DSW with my mom. She just wanted to do a return. We hadn't long since been there and the shoes were the same ones there last time. Nothing exciting there.

Then the main attraction was Target :D I just had to attack the dollar section for some magazine files for my future bookcase (which was sadly not in stock).

Been wanting to get some forever to do something with all my old issues of Shojo Beat that were sitting on top of one of my chests of drawers. Because I couldn't get the bookcase yet, they're now neatly on top of my chest of drawers.

There was a lot of just looking around at stuff getting ideas in Target... <3 I'll be back later.

Got a few other little things (including that makeup remover) and I finally got the Vanilla Coke Zero of my dreams~

It's what my dreams are made of...

And today went back out shopping again in the next city. It was kinda a whim. We were halfway there and I kinda wanted to do more looking for stuff since yesterday I was a little disappointed...

And oddly, we made pretty much the same stops. First to B&BW where they had just what I wanted and plenty of it. Honestly, this store was more well-stocked and the sales staff was way more friendly.

Finally got a full-sized version of my fav scent from this summer, Paris Amour, plus a tiny bottle of a potential new fav scent for this spring, Pink Chiffon (more on that one later). Quite happy for the redesign because this was cheap and the new bottle looks much much better.

Then we went to Target and managed to not buy a single thing from the dollar section. But they had some sheet sets for 70% off. When you have a queen-sized bed, you DO NOT walk away from sheet sets that are under $10. They were just like $8 XD XD XD XD They're hot pink. I had a lot of colors to choose from but I have never had pink sheets before :)

And with that, I'm done spending. Next week on is saving. I'm a girl with dreams and dreams don't come true when you're broke.

And I'm done with this post... I can't think of a non-awkward way to end it...

Yay for working again!!!!

2012-01-18T23:39:00.001-06:00

This morning was particularly lovely... I left out the house early enough to make a stop at Chick-fil-A and have a very desired Spicy Chicken Biscuit. Why...?

Because I got paid!!!!!!!

Life was hectic for a little bit and this whole starting to work again thing just came suddenly. I got a call from one of my co-workers that works in the front office. She normally called me in when they had work that I could do (actually, I wasn't completely fired, I was restricted in what work I could do) so I was expecting to be called in to work that Friday. However, she told me that they were going to be doing some training the following Monday. I wanted to work, but I wasn't all that excited about the offer put before me.

But then she told me of another training class that would be early in the morning. I really hesitated... While I didn't really like working nights, I wasn't so crazy about having to come in early in the morning, but I agreed anyway.

Then of course that night/the next day life took an unexpected turn.

By Monday, I was unsure if I should go in. But I got up, got dressed, got a water bottle and headed in for training. Now the way it sounded, it seemed like I would go in for the training and if they needed me later on, they would call me and I would work.

No. It was nothing like that!!!!!

I would train and then I would be set loose to work!!!! OMG, it's like they told me nothing. They trained me and they were like "Do a good job." I was a little nervous, but after a few minutes, it became really easy and not that much of a great effort.

So now, I'm working from 10AM to 5PM with a 30 minute lunch break Monday through Thursday. It's agreeable to me. The only thing about it is that by the time I get home, I'm tired and ready to go to bed T_T But after a week of working last week, I was rewarded this week with a beautiful paycheck. It's not huge, but considering what I made before in a week, it was significantly more. I can buy nice things and also work again on saving :)

So right now, I'm pretty happy. It feels good to have a job.

But seriously, no more celebrating with fast food. One-time-only thing!!!!

A return to everyday life

2012-01-17T00:35:00.000-06:00

I'm happy to say that life is getting back to normal now :) This was just a little roadblock on my little road and I hope to continue on smoothly for a while.

During my little deviation from everyday life, my mom bought me a new bag. She had wanted me to get one forever. My old one was falling apart and since I'm so picky when it comes to bags, I could never settle on one I liked. Fast forward to me losing my job and the ability to buy anything and you have me with a majorly deteriorating bag and a mom trying desperately to put just about any other bag on my shoulder to replace it.

Well, she actually did well.

She found this lovely gem at Goodwill. A Goodwill that often gets practically new stuff from Target :) So I ended up getting this lovely Merona Quilted Chain Satchel in Mushroom (thank you power of Google) from this summer in excellent, unused condition. I saw it instore long long time ago and liked it so to get it now is awesome for me!!!

It's got this lovely pocket on the back which is just uber convenient for my phone and other little things.

And there's so much space on the inside that I don't have to fish around to find what I need inside.

But the sad thing about it, the zipper pull is broken :( I guess that's why Target couldn't sell it... But that's not bad for me. Once I get to a craft store, I'm totally picking up stuffs I need to make my own awesome zipper pull. But for now, I'm using an old jump ring I found laying around that really does the trick.

And while I'm at it, I might as well show you what's inside:

As you can see, this bag has room for ALL these notebooks. The bottom left one is pretty much exhausted and I only keep it around because I haven't digitized all of it. The mini composition notebook is just for scratch paper. The one next to it... It's kinda a secret. Then there's my pocket calendar... Totally getting a better/cuter one next you. Then there's my Moleskine. I reserve that for inspiration so there's not much in it. Then there's a receipt I found in my bag and a random writing that I kinda wanted to keep for some reason...

Need something? Chances are I have it. Tissue, regular lotion, those little Colgate Wisp thingies... My makeup bag (that I need to get unlazy and replace with my new one), a sample of Benefiber I picked up at my mom's doctor's office, a travel-sized bottle of B&BW's Paris Amour lotion (my fav scent), hand sanitizer, and store-brand Tylenol!

And last but not least, the useful stuff. Got my overstuffed pen case, an Aishiteruze Baby! case of some sorts, a little sock coin purse my sister-in-law gave to me, my Dior ID wallet, my Hello Kitty money wallet, my phone, and my house keys (which I keep separate from my car keys.

Yeah, I keep a lot in there.

I hope this bag lasts me long enough for me to get the bag that I really really want <3

And I'm sure you noticed the pictures are better :D I used my real camera for pictures rather than my cellphone. It's a rare event... What was I thinking XD

Life goes on

2012-01-10T08:08:00.002-06:00

Haven't been posting much lately. Things have been a little busy to say the least. On the good side, I have a new assignment at work so now I have a job again and that's been really exciting.

However, early this past Saturday morning, my grandmother died. She was 95. She had been going downhill for a while so I was emotionally prepared for this happening. I had a feeling it wouldn't be good when she had to be taken to the emergency room. Then my family got that late-night call. I was still in bed while my mother and brother went to the hospital and got to be there for the last hours she lived.

Then the following morning, my brother woke me up to tell me the news. I expected it all night. Thankfully, she died peacefully.

I'll be returning to the happiness as soon as life settles back down again.

15 Things You Didn't Know About Me

2012-01-06T07:36:00.002-06:00

This was going around on G+ last night when I got in from my busy day so before going to bed, I knocked these out. I was going to post these last night to use as a blog post wild card, but too sleepy...

But I'm awake now so here goes:

1. I am obsessed with notebooks. Currently have 3 in my bag (4 including the Moleskine) and who knows how many scattered around my room.
2. The reason for my notebook obsession is that I'm a writer, yet I share very little of my writing out of embarrassment.
3. I used to want to be a veterinarian until I learned that meant I would have to deal with dead/dying animals.
4. I could probably eat my weight in pizza every day and never get tired of it.
5. I'm afraid of older men for some unknown reason (no, I wasn't molested or anything).
6. I have to have the TV on for me to fall asleep at night.
7. I can tell when things in my room have been moved or touched.
8. When I was younger, I used to hate pink and Hello Kitty. Now I love pink and Hello Kitty.
9. I was also a tomboy to the point I refused to shop in the girls'/women's department.
10. When I watch Clueless, I quote the entire movie (well, at least the major lines).
11. Strong scents irritate me like no tomorrow.
12. I end up keeping little mementos and can't bear to toss away even the tiniest slip of paper if somehow I feel it has meaning to me.
13. If I could, I'd be barefoot all the time.
14. I'm so afraid of space (as in outer space) that when I was little, I would hide books about space and planets. When I was in 4th grade, I ended up being sick all the time while the class discussed space.
15. I'm shy <3

My new boots!!

2012-01-04T22:35:00.001-06:00

It's pretty cold here. This morning when I woke up, it was a lovely 22F. The frost on my car looked like little snowflakes. It was beautiful, but I had to get out in it. And what better way to enjoy the cold weather than by looking cute.

They're boots with little pom-poms on them!!!!

I'd always wanted a pair of boots like them but I never had the extra money to buy any. However, this past summer, my mom bought them while I was out shopping with her. They were probably 2 or 3 seasons old, but they were deeply discounted ($7) so I really don't care. I have warm, cute boots with pom-poms!

And they're so fuzzy on the inside. Like stepping on a baby bear... <3

But that proved to be a problem. When I tried them on, I must have not had socks on and I remembered them sliding on perfectly. Then today, I put on a thin pair of socks and try to put my foot in... and it doesn't fit!!!!!! I went into a mini panic wondering how I bought shoes that didn't fit. Amazingly, when I took my socks off, I didn't even have to force them in. They just slid in as if they were coated in butter.

But I'm happy. I have some cute little boots that can keep my tosies warm while this winter gets really crazy.

In other news, I've taken another attempt at Steam. I had only gotten into it because my #duckroll friends (or was it someone from #irowiki) that had encouraged me to try out Portal when they were giving it away for free :3 Well, my video card isn't the best so that wasn't always enjoyable. But someone got a Steam account and bough Terraria and gifted a copy to me. We've spent a good bit of time playing in each others' towns and in our own. He does beautiful masterpiece homes while I just make little shanties...

He's so much better at the game than I am but I'm really enjoying it. I wonder if I could enjoy playing stuff on Steam more one day...

Well, I'm tired and cold tonight so I'm going to get close and intimate with my blankets while I let my iPod entertain me tonight.

Still more organizing + plans for the week

2012-01-03T02:13:00.000-06:00

Someone has to work in the morning, so I'm up alone tonight not quite ready to go to sleep. What better to do than blog?

I dunno... I probably should really be sleeping.

My poor dresser was terribly disorganized. There's really not a lot of stuff (although you're probably looking at the picture thinking "LIES!!!!") but everything was so close to the edge that I couldn't set, say, my nightly cup of water there while I prep for bed. I feared so many times that just maybe I might put it too close to the edge and it would fall over.

No worries now!!!!!!!!

There's a lot of space for me to set not only my nightly cup of water, but possibly my keys, a small notebook... my phone? Who am I kidding. Those things are going on my bed if they come back to my room.

Don't have much that'll be going on this week. For one, I'm going to redesign my old website. Everything there is really broken and I do want people who happen on that website from old links to feel motivated to visit my new blog, or to feel like I'm still a current person and just not somebody just linking to something that may or may not be alive. I have the base design done, just gotta fill in the little details. Plus I want to make it look a little more polished than this.

Honestly, I do LOVE this design, but it's just too cute to point to potential clients off the top.

And for personal design improvements, I'm gonna color my hair~ I haven't seriously done it in years! I had a nice permanent color that I was in love with. It lightened my hair so well and looked so pretty. Then they discontinued it... And I was too scared to try a different color for fear of damaging my hair. Furthermore, I let my hair go from it's straightened state to its natural curly state so of course I lost all my pretty color getting rid of the straight parts. I did try it one more time after I went natural with my hair, but it just didn't take as well as it did before.

Running my fingers through my hair... Just to show color contrast.

However, since my hair has grown out, my tips are noticeably much lighter than the rest of my hair so I guess the color did take... I just couldn't tell.

And now, my hair is a bit different. I've started to get a little sprinkling of grey hairs T_T It's not a lot, but they just stand out in my dark hair. So, this weekend, when I do my two-strand twists again, I'm doing to do a semi-permanent color. Gonna try Bigen's Semi-Permanent hair color. It's from the same brand of permanent color I used before so I'm hoping to have a comfortable experience with it.

Maybe if I don't mind the hassle of a rinse, I may brave up and try out a permanent again to lighten back to the color I had before <3

Now it's way too late. Would be a good idea to sleep now.

Today's lunch with mom

2012-01-01T23:59:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, 2012 is here~ It's already kinda natural typing the year now~

I enjoyed the first day of the year in a busy manner. I woke up feeling quite ill. The night before, I had the world's best margarita (handmade by me) and I made sure to eat something. It really gave me a good buzz. It had worn off by bedtime and with the insistence of my mom, I tried some Mango Key Lime Pie. It was pretty yummy. The flavor kinda reminded me of something made with Kool-Aid. It was so terribly sweet that I attribute that to causing me tummy traumas in the morning.

Once the tummy settled down, my mom took me out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. It's one of the few chain restaurants in town that I've never been to so it was pleasant to try something new. Plus, it was free to us so I was prepared for what I would get. But I wasn't prepared for this:

The most glorious little nuggets of buttery, baked dough!!!!!!!!

They were so freakin' good. I swear. I felt like telling them to bring my meal out in a to-go box and I'd just keep eating rolls. And then there was this cinnamon butter substance stuff to spread on the rolls. When I put it on there, it tasted like I bit into a freakin' cinnamon roll. I licked up a little bit of the weird blob in the little cup to see what kind of magic it was made out of and it tasted like utter crap. It's a miracle substance I tell you.

After a while they brought our food. I went with the catfish. Don't know why, but that stood out most to me on the menu and made me want. My mom went with the ribs and we shared a baby bloom (a small blooming onion thingy) that said it was for two. OMG! It was SO much food! I had 4 pretty large-sized fillets of fish, a very large serving of fat steak fries, and a pitiful little bowl of green beans (I shoved them in my mouth just to get rid of them from my sight, so bland) on top of half of the baby bloom.

As usual, I shared my meal with my mom. I don't like BBQ sauce so I didn't have any of hers. She took one of the pieces of fish as well as a handful of fries. I made it through one piece and a quarter, maybe half of the remaining fries, the beans (of course), and a quarter of the baby bloom before I was begging for a to-go box. I don't think my mom ate more than a few bites of what she had before she was done.

So, I got 2 meals! A yummy lunch and a very lovely dinner that I was hungering for earlier this evening :9

Other than my epic big lunch, I walked off a bit of it shopping. First a stop at DSW. I tried on all the super high heels XD It's just a mini obsession of mine. I don't quite like wearing heels, but everytime I go to a shoe store, I go crazy putting on every hooker and drag queen heel in the store that's in my size. I did try on some sensible heels... I can't believe I actually had a longing for a pair of shoes...

After that, we ventured into Target. Since Christmas is out of the way, Valentine's stuff is starting to infiltrate the stores. It made me so freakin' excited!!!!! Pink and heart-printed stuff EVERYWHERE!!!! It's like the one time of year that the world actually looks like how I normally see it. I think this year, I'm gonna make a list of particular things I want for decorating my room so I can make sure to get the most practical cute I can.

That was about it for today. It was fun but the holidays are over and things start returning to normal tomorrow... I'm glad. I'll finally be able to tell what day it is without having to think too hard!

Goodbye 2011~

2011-12-31T14:32:00.000-06:00

I was going to have a lovely redesign to say hello to the new year, but I got lazy and decided I would devote my energies to another design coming up soon :)

Well, it's been a nice year. There were a lot of good things that happened (and of course the cliched bad things that happened too), but I would have to say I enjoyed myself for the most part.

And to look back, I decided to pull out a picture from my phone from each month of the year. And thanks to me getting a new phone earlier in the year, I had to hunt down my old phone XD

January was a normal month full of nothing too special. The previous month, I had gotten myself a Cr-48 which was awesome and I was still in the afterglow of that. I did make a very cute jewelry purchase. It was a fashion ring and didn't even cost me $10. I loved it and couldn't choose which finger I wanted to wear it on. However, I lost it in March... So... :(

Onto February! This was the month of Girl Scout cookies! These were the only ones I bought and it took me nearly a month to eat them. This month was special to me because events during it lead up to one of the best things happening to me <3

March was the month my friend and I went down to Panama City Beach for Spring Break (mind you we've been out of school forever) and that's when I finally went to Hooters for the first time ever. I liked it a lot and I was telling myself I would go there when I got back to town. Well, I got back to town in time enough to hear them announce they were shutting down our Hooters. I've never been back to one since.

April was mainly the month that I ate my weight in strawberries. I think this is literal XD But not only that, I attended the World Natural Hair Show in Atlanta for the second year in a row. It was so awesome again this year. My only complaint is that it was way more crowded than it was last year. The line to get in and get tickets was epic long and I heard that after we left, fire marshals had to step in to control the crowd. I didn't go back on the second day for some reason... Can't wait to go next year though! And on top of that... This month was... <3

May was the month that I ate my weight in one strawberry. This was the most delicious strawberry I ever had. And it was huge! It completely filled up my hand. Mind you I do have a typical small girl hand, but still! That was huge!!!!!!!!!! A lot actually happened that month. Took a little road trip to Auburn, AL with some friends of mine and while there, I feel in love with the Twilight Woods fragrance at Bath and Body Works. And sometime around then, I gave in and fell in love with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... So yeah, it was an epic month full of a lot of happiness.

Nothing special happened in June... So here's a silly pic of my little brother, my mom, and me.

In July, I babysat my nieces for the longest time ever. It was fun but chaotic a lot. And this was the month I was able to outwardly show that I was a brony as Target had tons and tons of Pony merchandise in the dollar section. I only wish I bought more. And this month, I ate my weight in tomatoes due to my mom growing them quite plentifully in the back yard.

August, I turned a lovely 28~ To celebrate the end of summer, my friends and I took a roadtrip back down to Panama City Beach. We ended up mostly shopping after going to the winery. It was there I feel in love with the Paris Amour fragrance from Bath and Body Works (which is now my #1 favorite fragrance period) <3 Then at Target, I ended up buying more Pony merchandise (it had been deeply discounted). We did the maze while we were on the beach too before we actually went out on the beach. It was totally empty and had more families compared to the young people during spring break. And we went to Margaritaville and had lunch there (after I nearly passed out due to dehydration on the beach). It was so yummy there. I'm sad that I was so woozy I didn't wanna risk having a Margarita. On our way back to the car, I had my first froyo experience~ After a leisurely stop at the dollar souvenir shop, we were on our way back home...

In September, I made my first ever lasagna. It was so good. I still gloat about it to this day. My mom and I ended up eating out together a few times this month. And I finally got to do endless shrimp at Red Lobster. I swear, I've wanted to do that ever since I was little! It wasn't as good as I'd hoped because the service sucked, but I still enjoyed it.

October didn't have anything particularly exciting... I did read The Help and it was good (and yeah, the picture sucks, my phone wouldn't send any of the others I wanted to share). Ended up losing my job that month too.

November feels like yesterday... Don't think anything of note happened. I did get gifted Ocarina of Time and I began playing it again.

December is today... This month has gone by so quickly and it's been so happy... So let me leave you with a pic of me getting Big Bang ranking in Lips after singing Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" with my friend during a party at her family's house.

I made a lot of memories this year. I hope to make a lot more next year. A lot of special ones. Very special ones <3

Remembering the good times...

2011-12-30T15:44:00.001-06:00

There was a time when I was really /really/ into webdesign. I poured my life into it. Heck, I actually did some pretty big freelance jobs. But as of late, I've fallen out of love with it, but I've recently gotten back into the swing of things.

But wow, I'm looking back on some of my older stuff that I did with NekoKoneko (my old blog) as well as Greywing (my Haibane Renmei fansite) and I was just totally blown away. This is oldschool webdesign from 5~6 years ago. With tables and not divs. I just didn't understand them back then... I just didn't. And now, I can't live without them. Looking back on them, it's still wow. Like I did that with tables. I designed it and it was pretty.

Content-wise, I was really surprised at the Haibane Renmei website. Had I continued working on it, it would have been completely and totally fleshed out. Like 100%. Although at its current state, it's nearly 95% which is not bad at all.

And my old blog was so precious. I can't believe I actually made a mini-site of my updates related to the Olympics in Torino. And it was actually nicely designed imo.

However, if you wanted to look through my blog, you'd be able to do it only through some of the archives. Due to neglect, a lot of spam comments got through and that broke the software for posting to the point I can do nothing with it.

And who can I thank for everything? Well, my good old friend AuldDragon. He gave me webspace some years ago, and even though we have fallen out of contact with each other... It still exists. He's one of the people I need to make contact with again even if it's just to say "OMFG!!! THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOREVER AND EVER!!!!!"

Finally got my iPod nano replacement

2011-12-28T11:51:00.001-06:00

It came! FedEx guy showed up this morning to bring me a lovely 8GB iPod nano 6G :3 It's so tiiiiiiiiiny~ I knew it was small, but I never imagined myself losing it in my pocket. I've named it Sugar Cookie <3

My iPod nano and I have a long history. I really wanted an iPod mini when they came out because they came in pink. Of course I had no money so I missed both generations of those. Then the iPod nano came out. I was so excited, but then I was like "It doesn't come in pink, I don't want it." But Thanksgiving came and went that year and the radio stations were going overboard playing Christmas music so I decided to keep my sanity in the car, I would get one. $250 (ouch) later, I had my beautiful 4GB nano. I was so careful with it that I did not touch it with my bare hands at all (I used gloves) and immediately shoved it into a case I earlier bought on eBay. Later on, I removed it from the case only to put a cute Hello Kitty wrap on it.

2 years later, it died (just in time for Christmas music) and I bought a new 3G nano ($149 for 4GB was a much better price) and threw the old 1G into a drawer. I never imagined I'd be sending it in for replacement.

Frankly, aside from it no longer working (the wheel only responded to the reset keypress combo), it was pretty pristine. And as you can see, the little wrap did more damage to it than anything else.

And the front was so brilliantly scratch-free including the screen. Instead of a screen protector, I kept the little "Do not pirate music" sticker on (I clipped off the bottom). And of course it was in my very pink silicone case so it was definitely well-protected. It was never even dropped. It was just often left in my car in the middle of winter and summer.

So a month ago (well, more than a month ago), I packed it up and said goodbye...

And this morning I said hello~

Hello world my beautiful new nano <3 All I've done so far is charge it. I'm waiting for getting a case and screen protector for it so that I can keep it protected. So far, I like the touch interface and using it, but I'm very much in love with my 3G nano. Very much in love. I'm gonna be sad when it dies, but I'll be glad to have this as backup.

This is definitely a surprise to reward me for being such an early adopter :)

Yay for stores being open again!

2011-12-27T00:05:00.000-06:00

I do love after-the-holiday candy sales. While after Christmas is not my fav (Valentine's is more of a win), I usually find a few gems. This one really intrigued me. In fact, it made me buy it. At just $1, I couldn't say no. And I heart cordial cherries... So cordial blueberries, just another chance to try something nice.

Why this photo didn't auto-rotate, I don't know!

Opening up the box, it's your normal cordial fruit appearance, but immediately, I smell blueberries. It's nice. Then I peel off the plastic, it's more blueberries!!!! Again, very lovely.

Upon further examination, everything is cordial. Normal, bite-sized. I'm expecting a jumbo blueberry inside.

It's a tiiiiiiiiiiny blueberry and a lot of cordial creme. And as you can guess, you taste more cordial creme than blueberry. Very sweet. Pretty nice. However, after thorough chewing and swallowing, my mouth was enveloped in lovely blueberry flavor. It was pretty blissful and the sweetness lingered in my mouth for a pretty long time. I wanted to go back and have another... But I have self-control.

Item: Queen Anne Cordial Blueberries
Availability: Grocery Stores, Mass Merchandisers (seasonal)
Price: $1.10 (on sale at Publix)
Pros: Intriguing, chocolate-y and blueberry-y... a combination I never expected
Cons: Tiny, tiny blueberry

Item was purchased by myself with no sponsorship by any company or retailer.

My week end

2011-12-24T23:08:00.000-06:00

Not so much the weekend but rather the end of my week. It was honestly very busy.

I was looking forward to just spending time at home doing absolutely nothing. Seems like the more I want to do that, the less likely it happens. Wednesday was a day of running all around town including a very exciting trip to the dollar store. That place is seriously addictive but I actually did get some useful stuff instead of just snacks. I got some little baskets for my samples drawer. At first it was just little packets all over the place but now it looks respectable and will hopefully encourage me to use more samples.

Thursday was yet another night of shopping. Mom needed a few things and she was like "Get these things and if you see anything on sale, get it. The sky's the limit." My initial thought was:

When I got to the store, I kinda did that but I restrained myself fearing it was a trap. My area of least restraint: the liquor store. It was my first time being in one. And of course the store was full of unsavories and I was just this sweet little girl buying tequila. I didn't know which kind to get so I nervously asked the clerk but she was no help. Then I got the giggle fits when I handed her my ID. But nervousness aside, I survived the liquor store.

Friday, I helped my mom with an anniversary cake delivery at this high-rise members only club thing downtown. It was my first real time there so like a kid, I ran out onto the terrace and stared and took pictures in awe. Downtown is so awesome! And I was able to locate both my highschool and my jr. highschool. It was a little tough to do so though. A lot of things, I couldn't recognize. I just had to guess.

I couldn't leave you without pics of the lovely cake my mom made. It was a 50th anniversary cake... It doesn't show up very well, but the cake was also sprinkled with star-shaped gold edible glitter. Quite possibly one of my favorite points.

Then Friday was movie night with my friend. Went to Zaxby's (as usual) and we watched Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses. Bridesmaids had its moments and they were really really good, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Horrible Bosses, on the other hand, had me dying inside. I just about died when I realised that the dentist was Jennifer Anniston. That was such a crazy character.

I'm writing this as I'm ending a semi-busy Saturday. Nothing really exciting... But I'm just settling in to bed now so everyone, enjoy your weekend <3

That awkward lonliness

2011-12-21T21:44:00.000-06:00

I was busy all day! I decided I wasn't going to blog because I didn't do anything special (although, I could geek out about my spazzing out in the dollar store today) and I didn't want to just write "I did blah blah blah today and it was so blah blah blah."

But suddenly, I got to thinking about some people who have been in my life A LOT that aren't really there anymore right now. I mean, we're still quite friendly, but it's just awkward talking to people after a long absence, y'know?

One person I really miss is my guild leader in RO. I affectionately call him Daddy behind his back :) He's a really kind guy and he always listens to me and forces out my problems. Sometimes I wonder if it's because I'm a girl... But he always wants to take care of the problems, and he's of an unknown age... I swear, I'm gonna get it out of him someday although it scares me to think that he's maybe like in his 50s. But our relationship became a tad awkward when he began spending more time playing WoW (something I totally loathe) and ended up getting a whole new set of friends and it seemed like we had less to talk about. It's been a while since I've last said anything to him...

And there's friends from a while ago. A very nice girl from IRC and I started exchanging letters. We exchanged quite a few, but then life got really hectic and I wrote a letter and all... but I never sent it. I ran across that letter while I was cleaning up and it made me a little sad that I never sent it. She was really nice to me. I still keep in contact with her boyfriend. I think I'll ask him for their address so I can finally send it.

And of course people from highschool... Well, I kinda discount those a little more. Highschool relationships are a little more... Well, honestly, I shouldn't do that. There were some fabulous people, but of course we all moved apart. Some of them I keep up with them on Facebook, but that's about it. Sad that it happened, but after growing up, things change and people change and so I'm kinda... Just a little not eager for those friendships as much as I am maintaining my adult friendships.

But I do have great friends. They help me get through a lot of tough times. They're great to have.

Happier post tomorrow <3

Much work to do!

2011-12-21T00:20:00.000-06:00

I guess working on my blog motivated me to do RL working... But I did get some work done in my room. I really need to clear the floor, but my thought process told me to clean out my drawers first.

Not my clothes drawers... I have a drawer in my room that has nothing but "stuff" in it. School stuff, hair stuff, stuff stuff. Well, I tackled the top 4 drawers that are really small.

The stuff that's on the floor plus the giant bag hanging from the door is pretty much the content of all those drawers. It really got to the point I couldn't open the drawers without shoving stuff down to be able to pull it open. Very good move I must say.

At one point, I was hurling stuff into the trash bag (mostly old papers and samples of stuff that had passed their prime and I knew I wasn't going to use) until I got to some items I wanted to keep. But then I looked at the items and I was like "Geez, no wonder I can't open my drawers." There were books from elementary school, CDs, really poor-quality stuffed animals...

Virtual pets :3 This was the hardest to work with. They're all very sentimental to me. Aside from the Tamagotchi that belonged to my brother and the Pokemon Pikachu, the packaging is in pretty much pristine condition. Opened carefully and kept safe while the pets were used in the wild. The people who find these at Goodwill will be very happy. Maybe someone on a nostalgia trip will get a smile.

However, I couldn't part with all of them <3

At the end of the day, I not only cleared out those drawers but also my bedside drawers. They're all perfectly organized and I must say, I feel very proud of myself.

I now have a hair accessory drawer!!!!!!! So excited! A nice and (semi) neat place to put my headbands and hair clips. I lined it with some cheap fake satin that I found in another drawer. It's kinda ghetto-rigged right now, but if i really like the setup, I think I'll make it more permanent.

After all of the cleaning, this is what I found out about myself:

I have WAY too many samples of shampoo, lotion, bodywash, deodorant, etc and I need to use all that up before I buy anymore.
Chanel N° 5 is not a scent I can live with right now and is really really really powerful and cannot be washed off or masked underneath other fragrances.
I miss writing letters to people.
I have too much stuff.
I had a lot of crushes and I have records of all the silly things those crushes have made me do.

Well, tomorrow, I think I'll begin on tidying up the rest of my room (maybe)

I feel so accomplished!

2011-12-19T20:36:00.001-06:00

The new design is here~ Minus a few tweaks I need to make, I would say that I'm done. Yes, it's overly cutesy. Yes, that bottom with the stuff is pretty big and empty (I have plans for that, I just need to reclaim my workspace first). Yes the post below this one is was of pancakes and delicious breakfast sausage. I don't care~

I'll keep updating this with the seasons... But for now, just enjoy~

*Edit* Found a few naggling bugs... I'll play with those tonight...

A preview of things to come

2011-12-18T19:05:00.001-06:00

Coming real soon is the new layout! It's one that I can customize with the seasons so I get to be lazy for an entire year (yay me!).

This shot is actually from the bottom of the page... Which I really could have (or should have) made the top... But the bottom is what I'm /really/ proud of. Now, all I need to do is finish tweaking some of the top as well as the code to make it look... decent (?) in IE. But still, I'm very very happy with it and I can't wait to debut it tomorrow and be more inclined to blog more!

And in other news, I might as well put this in. Think in a few posts back, I mentioned cutting back on RO. Well, it's a success~ I've achieved many of my goals... Well, all of them actually and I've run out of money to keep a VIP subscription so I'm all "Yay! I'm free!"

But you know what I'm doing with my free time...? Watching 16 and Pregnant. I have a feeling RO is better.

Redesign in progress

2011-12-17T18:01:00.003-06:00

There's nothing like a cold to get the creative juices flowing!!!!!!!!

Anyways, new redesign coming. Design work is almost done... Next comes the coding (hopefully I can do that from bed) and then voila! New design!

Really gotta clean this stuff up.

Whoa, what happened?

2011-12-15T14:29:00.002-06:00

Well, it appears that while I wasn't watching, my blog design became broken. Guess that's all the more motivation to make a move and fix it/make it better. Sorry for all the mess while I clean up the trouble.

A morning at Starbucks

2011-10-10T10:24:00.000-05:00

Long time no see indeed.

I keep having these ideas for posts, but I just never seem to have the time to get them out. But this morning, I was forced out of the house for a bit to take my mom someplace. So instead of riding all the way back home only to come back all the way across town, I decided to find a free wifi place (I have spent up most of my 3G for the month and I have a few days until it renews) and the only one that was agreeable to me was Starbucks.

So that's how I got to here. I must say I am freezing to death. But this is hat I've contemplated doing for some time. Just escaping in the morning or sometime during the day from my normal surroundings and pretend to be cool sitting in a Starbucks blogging on my Chromebook... Yeah, so that's what I'm forced to do this morning.

So how has my life been? Mmmm, if you've read my Twitter, it has had its moments. Work sucks of course. Still looking. Real life has its challenges, but of course I'm getting through them. I'm also getting myself more cultured. The other month (I can't remember if it was last month or August at this point), I went to the movies and saw The Help. It was an awesome movie. I knew I wanted to read the book but I'm of course lazy about going to a library or bookstore. But I kinda lucked out and got my own copy using my bank's reward points. I'm slowly reading it. I'm maybe 1/5th through with it now. It's a good book I gotta say, although it takes a bit of time establishing the characters. But I like how the story is unfolding.

And speaking of banks, I did one majorly adult thing: I switched banks! My bank is not a big, fancy Bank of America but they're starting to do that whole $5 a month thing for debit cards. I seriously don't have the constant funds for that. But more than that, I was upset over the lack of proactive notification from the bank. I found out after logging into my account. Every other change they made, they notified me via e-mail about the change. I really didn't like that. So now, I'm banking with a nice credit union. Got a few loose ends to tie up so that I can begin really using my new account rather than my old one, but I'm pretty much settled in now.

And I think that's just about it. Got 30 more minutes to kill before I leave this chilly chilly Starbucks!

So much to say!!!

2011-07-26T15:15:00.045-05:00

Yeah, my room is kinda dark, even during the daytime.

I'm just laying in my bed feeling a little exhausted... Thought I would randomly say a few things. I'm really feeling quite inspired to do stuff. I think I will soon move forward with changing up my room a little bit.

This is the main violator. A chest of drawers that has been a pitiful hand-me-down. The drawers have been overstuffed with clothing and other stuff and the main thing is that it holds up my TV. It's really expendable. What I was thinking was replacing it with a bookcase-like thing about the same width but much taller. Could dedicate one shelf for the TV then the rest of the shelves would be used for clothing lovingly stored in fabric bins as well as showcasing lovely things that could be placed in free spaces.

Pros to it would be easier access to clothes and having a place to put my fan (although, honestly, I could move it over to the chest of drawers right now) and to kinda store stuff.

Cons would be... Well, it's going to take some work to execute it to where it looks like it belongs in a bedroom. But I'm thinking of going for one of those wire shelving units in black since it would match my bed as well as the bookcase by my door. It would kinda fit in. But the fabric bins idea might be a little more awkward especially if I get the great idea that I'm going to mix and match.

But that's just one idea... I've been looking around and pricing the shelving although what I really should be doing it measuring to hope I find something that fits in about the same footprint of my current chest of drawers nor would be too tall for me to reach the top shelf.

Well, I was gonna talk about something else, but I believe I've talked myself silly for now!

I'm gonna blog without pictures!!!

2011-07-25T15:49:00.002-05:00

I swear, I've been so itching to blog, but I don't want to leave all my blog posts boring and bland without pictures... Oh well...

There's several projects that I'm into in my whole making my life better a bazillion things at a time plan. Usually, when I'm making changes in my life, I tackle them one at a time so that I can focus on them. I've done that in the past for getting over my shyness (I'm still an introverted mofo, but nowhere near as bad as it used to be), changing my hair from straight to natural (who knew I'd be a trendsetter) and of course that whole losing weight thing (XD), but now, I'm taking on several things at one time! I figure my life sucks so much right now I might as well change everything all at once.

So, what's on my plate:

Top secret plan: I'm already on my 2nd week. 1st week was moreso getting into the mindframe, this week I have to take action. I'll reveal what this is next month if I feel like it...
Room makeover: I can't move out just yet... So I'm going to change up my surroundings. Hopefully remove all the chests of drawers from my room and replace them with bookcases or stands where I can store stuff instead of having to have my room full of Amazon boxes holding my manga collection (or if that fails, I guess I could always sell it away to happy homes or donate some of the incomplete series or something). And maybe just girlify my room a little more...
Job hunt: Not even going to depress myself thinking about that.
Weaning myself off of Ragnarok Online: I'm losing a lot of reasons to play. I only toy around a little bit on it with my SO, but outside of it, it's a frustrating pit of lonliness and I guess I could remove that from my life some since it doesn't provide the same satisfaction it once did.

I think that's it as far as semi-concrete plans. If I fail everything else, I'm not letting myself quit my top secret plan!

And as far as other fun things, I managed to acquire a very cute metal mesh waste bin from Target for my computer room. Eventually, I'm gonna decorate it as part of hopefully sprucing up my computer room.

Well, that's all that's on my mind right now <3

My first visit to Five Guys

2011-07-23T21:14:00.001-05:00

I'm a little bored and want to blog, but I really don't have the energy to get together all the stuff I want to make a good blog post (no one's really reading this so oh well!) so I checked my phone for a few recent pictures... And I saw these:

My Five Guys visit!!! It was really random... I had a sucky night at work and I didn't get a chance to eat dinner before work nor did I have money for the snack machine at work so I was starving all night long. I just wanted to eat something... Didn't wanna do the normal McDonald's or Burger King... A lot of other things were out of the way... Or closed... And I wasn't really wanting to do sitdown 'cos it was after work, I was alone, and I needed to be at 2 stores that wold be closing in 2 hours. So, I was driving along and I was like "I'll go to Five Guys!"

I'd never actually been to the store before. My brother had bought me a burger from there a time or two so I did know what to expect. Thing is, I didn't know where the store was. It was nighttime and I there's no flashiness for Five Guys. It just says Five Guys in red letters at the storefront.

Well, I did find the store and it was completely empty. I stood looking at the menu forever trying to decide what toppings I would go with or if I would dare try a regular burger (which is double pattied) or just go with a little burger (which only has a single patty).

I decided to be safe and go for a little bacon cheeseburger with ketchup, lettuce, and grilled onions. I could have sworn I wanted something else on it...

There's a burger under there... Somewhere...

And of course I went for the fries. Yeah, I knew they overwhelmed you with fries to the point that ordering fries by yourself was ridiculous but I went for the fries anyways. It was really silly the way they do the fries. They gave me a nice size cup full then filled up another little trough and dumped those fries into the bag.

It ultimately proved to be too many fries for me. I took the rest of the fries with me on my way to Target, but I dumped them into the trash can outside knowing I couldn't handle that many fries.

And the burger... Ahhh. It was very nice being able to eat it hot in the store (yes, I was pitiful, eating by myself in an empty restaurant) and it was so good~ I was really hungry and feeling very little shame so I was like OM NOM NOM NOM eating all sloppily and shoving fries in my mouth and stuff. Ahhhh, it was so good.

The only sad thing was that it was almost $9 for the order. I was having regret over going there when I could have easily went to just about anywhere else (oh, if only there were a Zaxby's nearby, but I would have spent about the same price there anyways) but I enjoyed every little bit of it.

I'm totally not gonna make a habit of it and I hope that next time I go, I'll have someone to share my fries with.

And with that, hopefully I will get unlazy for my next blog post.

Shopping spree time!!

2011-07-19T22:23:00.001-05:00

I'm so in love with my recent gets that random posts on Twitter about it haven't been enough. Well, it's mostly just one get that I'm so in love with.

So, it's Sunday morning and while babies zoom around my head, I flip through the weekly Target ad and I see this:

It's a wicked cute messenger bag from the Harajuku Mini line at Target. It's one of 6 bags included in with the back-to-school collection in the Harajuku Mini line (apparently, there's more to come). There were some drawbacks to this... Harajuku Mini is pretty much Harajuku Lovers for kids which means things are gonna be kid-sized. Unfortunately, I'm adult-sized (and not small adult-sized) so I kinda didn't want to buy it for fear it would look awkward. But then someone said this:

So with that little bit of peer pressure, I was emboldened. Luckily, my family was going out that evening near Target so I had no reason not to. I was still wavering a little bit... I had just bought a crapload of My Little Pony stuff...

But then, I saw it!

It was so cute IRL!!!! I couldn't believe it. I could no longer care that it was child-sized or that I had like no money in my account. It was on sale so I totally bought it.

It's hanging up on the back of my door now. I haven't removed the tags from it or anything yet... Can't wait to actually bring it out live. Almost wanna replace my daily handbag with it right now since it has become worn out. However, my favorite thing is inside:

The lining is uber cute with the Harajuku Mini logo in white on pink.. And of course, a little message on the inside that reminds me as well as everyone else that nerds rule... I wonder if I fall into that category...

I can't wait to actually use it. I'm hoping it'll hold up for some time and hopefully there'll be other adult-friendly items in the Harajuku Mini line that debuts later this year.

Once again, it's been a while!

2011-07-11T23:04:00.002-05:00

Hi. Seriously not much to say.

I've gotten back into RO so I spend a good bit of time playing that. I'm in a relationship now <3 No details. This is between the two of us.

I can't say that I'm 100% happy. Life has been a little rough. I'm in need of a new job and life has caused me not to be able to save as much as I normally have been.

But I'm still keeping positive!!!

And yeah, I'm into Ponies now...

Just a little update to say that I'm alive and doing mostly well.

But I guess if you ever paid attention to my Twitter, you'd see that :3

I got a new phone~

2011-03-21T18:07:00.001-05:00

Again, been a while. Took some time to have myself a little spring break vacation and all and now life is back to normal except for one thing: I'm geeking out over a new phone! I got really upset with AT&T about a month ago. I have a pre-paid plan with them that I end up using mostly for texting. I mainly went to AT&T for the choice of phone.

I went with the Sony Ericsson z750a. It was my 2nd non-Nokia phone and I got it because it was pink and I really loved the hidden exterior display. And the look of it was much cuter and more feminine than the typical American cellphone so I was immediately drawn to it. And honestly, there's nothing really special about it anyways... other than that.

But AT&T has crappy coverage near my home and I wasn't notified that my balance was low and customer service kinda made me roll my eyes with their response... Anyways, long story short... I've been idly shopping around for a new cellphone (since I've had the SE for about 2 years when I normally switch it up every year) or maybe a better pre-paid plan. I don't know how I skipped over looking at T-Mobile ever since they've changed up their pre-paid options a bit. But I took one list at the list of phones and I fell head-over-heels in love with the LG dLite from the moment I saw it. I really wanted it, but I needed my money for vacation so I waited until the day I got home from vacation to buy it. And lucky me~

I got it for $39. It was much more expensive when I first saw it and a few days after I got it, the price went back up some so I had perfect timing!

It's no more special than my old phone. It's pretty much the same color with that same hidden exterior display. It's just a little bit bigger than my old phone but a good bit thinner. Same features pretty much... But it's pretty. This is the American version of the Korean Lollipop phone. I've seen a lot of people complaining that the phone is dumbed down since it's lacking the interior camera (who videocalls in the States anyway?) and the exterior matrix is smaller (a little sad about this) and the camera is of lesser quality (I have a real camera if I need /that/ good of quality) and it's lacking TV and radio and etc (seriously? I'd get a smartphone if I wanted all that) but for what it is (a stylish flip phone), I love it!

My only gripes so far are just getting used to the phone. It's bigger than what I'm used to and typing one-handed is sometimes a struggle with using T9. Also, I don't think I like the camera interface better. The SE's was much better. The secret lighting is cute but not impressive. The menus are REALLY cute on their own and there is a certain freedom to personalize the phone but I'm very sad that I can't load my own flash wallpapers.

I think that's it for my gripes. I love the phone. I haven't gotten a chance to experience the call quality since I mostly text... If call quality sucks, I'll live. I can text my heart out!

I'm also very happy with T-Mobile. There's a T-Mobile tower literally at the end of my street so I always have a good signal at home. Coverage in the city should be decent as well. So for now, I'm happy. I have a pretty phone, but I am upset that AT&T is gonna be buying T-Mobile USA just after I jumped ship. So lame... So lame... My time with T-Mobile may be limited if the new AT&T ends up having the same crap and high prices as the current AT&T, but I'm going to enjoy my phone until then... And I'll hope that either the new AT&T or whatever company I switch to later has an awesome fashion phone I can upgrade to.

On getting out of my comfort zone

2011-03-07T14:25:00.001-06:00

This past weekend, I had the chance to go to an International Food and Culture Festival that was held at the air force base in town. I was surprised when my brother called me up to get my driver's license number so that I could get on base and I was even going to just not go 'cos I wasn't feeling very good. But then I figured I would go and do it.

It was quite an experience. If I were in the right frame of mind, I would have been a good girl and at least brought my cellphone with me to take pictures. It was very very overwhelming for me. First thing when we got there, we just started at the beginning which had the Middle Eastern countries. Started with Israel with falafel and pita bread and some other stuff. Moved down a little further... Ahh, I wish I could remember the country... But I was given a big piece of meat that I couldn't tell what the guy said it was 'cos it was so noisy and some chicken meat of some sort... Yeah, my being overwhelmed was from the very very very very beginning. I sat down with my family and began eating some of my selections. Well, actually, I ran to the drink station where I got the only thing that was familiar to me: Sprite. And I needed it. I smelled, examined, smelled again, and took very small initial nibbles. Every bite was harder and harder to swallow. The only thing I ate to completion was the pita bread which was really good.

Verdict for the Middle East: I'm eating McDonald's there (if they have it there...)

I went to the other side after that and I saw the Central Europe section. Hungary had goulash with paprika which I ended up enjoying the most because 1, it was good and 2, it was one of the few things that were served hot. Next to it was Serbia which had a lot of desserts. They were pretty good, but I could barely get them down. There was some other country there, but my memory fails me and I don't think I got anything from there. The next section over was Scandinavia with only Denmark, Norway, and Finland represented (maybe meatballs would have been nice...). Denmark had some kind of pork balls that tasted a little too porky for me. Next was Norway... They had CHEEEEESE (good but my stomach was still saying no) as well as some really strong booze that had me giggling after a minute (I went back for another shot when I needed extra courage later). Then came Finland. There wasn't much there... Now this is where I wish I had my camera. Made me think of a Scandinavia and the World comic in which all the countries were displaying their foods while Finland only came out with something utterly horrible and was shunned. Well, all Finland had to show on their menu was Chocolate Cake with a hint of Coffee... and Vodka. That's seriously it. There was a cute little chocolate cake with sprinkles and icing to make it looks like a brown Finnish flag. And then a bottle of vodka. I couldn't help but to smile. Next to it was the rest of Europe. Surprisingly Germany had no sausage and my plate was pretty full that I walked away with only tasty vanilla pudding even though there was beer. England was next door and had tea sandwiches and iced tea being served by this cute British granny <3 Italy and Czech Republic were a little further down but I didn't get a chance to sample them.

Verdict for Europe: Booze and McDonalds in Scandinavia, local food in Central Europe, vanilla pudding in Germany.

Moving along, I went to Far East Asia. I made a stop at Japan and made sure to get some red bean jelly (good but the texture made my stomach mad at me). I got so stoked seeing Takoyaki and I really wanted to try it, but when I bit down on it, it had the texture of rubber and I almost lost it :( I tried again and took another bite... Can't say I liked it. I also got some sake... Wasn't exciting at all. Next to it was Taiwan, I had so many things put on my plate that I didn't have time to take in what they were but they were sweet little rice thingies that tasted pretty okay, but still, my stomach wouldn't let me enjoy it. The guy also gave me an onigiri like thing... I wish I could remember what it was. But I'm so sad I could not move myself to eat it. And darn, I forgot to try the shrimp chips from Japan... Darn my stomach!!! Next door was Korea. I initially skipped, but since I promised the lady I would come back, I did. There was ahhh, I've seen the name of this so much. Like big pile of thinly sliced beef... It was pretty okay. Still, my stomach. Did not want. And there were also these see-through noodles. I did not touch. Wanted to, but couldn't.

Verdict for Asia: Pocky and McDonalds onegai shimasu~

All that was left was South America, Africa, and linked together our hat and beard Canada and Mexico. No poutine was in sight at the Canadian booth which I guess is a good thing. Would not have liked. Mexico however had fried tortillas with beef, chicken, and pork as well as several different salsas. I had faith that I could handle Mexico. I went with beef on one side (had stuff in it I couldn't recognize but Taco Bell meat looked better) and chicken on the other (looked like cat puke) and I layered all the salsa I could on top. IT WAS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! I took initially tiny bites and sniffed the heck out of it because it was indeed weird, but I was well rewarded. My stomach said no but my mind said yes yes yes!!!! Sadly, my stomach was turning so much from everything else I couldn't put my plate out to the rest of the world, plus we were running out of time.

Verdict for Mexico: HECK YEAH!!!!!!

Verdict for the rest of the world: Next time guys...

I must say, it was a great experience for me. It felt so odd being totally out of my comfort zone, but I tried a lot of things I never would have before. I would have liked to have had more things served a little higher than room temperature, that probably would have helped me to enjoy some of the stuff better. But Coca-Cola is universal. There was plenty of that. I'm sure if I did leave the states I would be able to explore more food options (since of course everything was very limited) and I'd find something I'd love. I hope I will.

Having 3 computers is like having 3 lovers

2011-03-05T09:40:00.001-06:00

I'm a single gal (as people I know have been all out shocked to find out... read back a few tweets) and never in my life did I expect to think of myself as a player. But I have 3 great loves that fill that empty space left by the boys that are not regularly coming to my yard for milkshake.

They are my desktop computer, my netbook, and the new kid on the block my Cr-48 notebook.

Yes. The line that could only come out of the mouth of a girl so geeky she'd chose a new gadget over jewelry from Tiffany. Blasphemy I tell you, but Tiffany Blue has nothing on the smell of a brand-new device being pulled from anti-static packaging.

It's a raining morning and I was chilling in bed with my Cr-48, then I had to tend to some business elsewhere real quick. While the Cr-48 isn't very heavy, I don't like moving it out of my room unless I'm going to be using it for a long period of time (like longer than 10 mins) so I copied the address of the site I was looking at and sent it as a PM to my IRC alias on the netbook and moved myself elsewhere. Even in doing all that, I peeked at my desktop to check for new MSN and Ventrilo messages which I am often treated to when I wake up (not this morning though). Where's my cellphone in all of this? I dunno. I don't care about that. But it got me thinking of the interesting relationship I have with all my computers.

First up is Ice Cream Sundae, my lovely and reliable desktop PC running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. It's /THE/ computer I go to for everything. IRC, web browsing, word processing, image manipulation, and of course Ragnarok Online (and lots of it) among other things... It's my main lover. We're kinda like Oprah and Stedman. We're together all the time and have lots of private time together. But of course, you're gonna see me out and about with someone else a lot of the time.

And that's when you're seeing me with Mocha Milkshake, the Cr-48 running Chrome OS. You'll see me everywhere with it: in the bed, on the sofa, on the road, in a hotel room. People will go "Don't you have that big computer you can use? Why are you using that one?" But this one does almost everything the big computer does, but differently, and allows me to get away from the bigger things in my online life while retaining some connectivity. So we're like Oprah and Gayle.

Ahh, but you hear I'm having a third affair? Why yes... Lovely, my netbook which is using a very old version of Eeebuntu that needs to be updated. We're like Oprah and... well, John Tesh: former lovers. We used to spend lots and lots of time together, but not these days. My netbook chills under the foot of my bed, still plugged in, but rarely used.

Okay, that doesn't fit into Oprah's relationship now with John Tesh, but it's the only thing I could think of to keep comparing myself to Oprah Winfrey.

But that's my love affair with my computers. I was going to just abandon the netbook. In fact, it stayed unplugged for about a week, but then I decided that I did have a place for it in my life. It's a very very small place however. I could get rid of it, but then I wouldn't be able to brag about my 3 computers on silly little blog posts like this.

The Cr-48: It's just another computer

2011-01-03T10:11:00.000-06:00

It was almost a month ago that the UPS man delivered a mysterious package containing, of all things, a free laptop. I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm still in high disbelief this this actually happened to me by pure chance. Boy, was that a shiny moment. I wanted to tell the world, but I was a bit freaked out to tell just in case this was some crazy mistake. But 3 weeks (and some days) later and no men in black suits have arrived at my door to take my precious Mocha Milkshake (that's what I've named it) away from me.

So we've had nearly a month to get to know each other intimately and Ive come to the conclusion that the Cr-48 is just an everyday ordinary, pedestrian computer... that can only access the internet.Yep. The thine has worn off, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that Milkshake and I are BFFs. He fits perfectly in my lifestyle for what I need in a portable computer. He's nice and trim with just enough muscle and with 12 inches under his belt and stamina to match, what girl wouldn't be grinning after spending several hours with him! And yeah, I'm still talking about a computer here.

With my lovely oversized bag, I took some brief outings. I was able to use it a few times to access the internet using the included 3G service. It felt like being on my home network even when the signal was only half strength. I also found that my normal web browsing habits did not use up much bandwidth. I'm pretty confident that if I don't stream anything, I can make that 100MB last the entire month. That's mostly because wi-fi is free and plentiful locally and if I'm somewhere without wi-fi, it's because I'm somewhere to enjoy myself there. But it's nice to know that I won't have to worry about being without internet.

Another noteworthy thing is the battery life. To say it's awesome is an understatement. It is just amazing that I can spend hours using the system and barely make a dent in the remaining battery life.

Yeah, I don't have to say a lot about the battery life because it speaks for itself. It's just that good.

So now that I've said all that, I don't feel the need to say anything more about the Cr-48. It's amazing that I got it, it's amazing to use, it's amazing how it works... But it's not really all that amazing since now it's a part of my life just like any other computer.

Now if you don't mind me, I need to come up with some ideas to write about since I no longer have to discuss my new computer :D

My initial week with the Cr-48

2010-12-20T15:47:00.000-06:00

I'm late as promised <3 But better late than never. I want to tell you about my first week with that thingy I really need to give a better name to but for now, Cr-48... Oi...

The first few days were full of awe and amaze since it was the most pleasant surprise ever. Stuff like this never happens to me, so yeah. Big freakin' deal. I wanted to crack this baby open and see what I could make it do. But unfortunately, I could only sit back and see what it does. No big deal really. What it does is exactly what I want it to do: get me to the internet!

That's of course where the ChromeOS software shines. It's nothing but the internet. And today's internet isn't the same internet I grew up with. I had AOL and about the only thing you could do aside from looking at webpages (and occasionally making your own) was to go into chatrooms to be molested by pedophiles who would pounce on you when you replied 13/f to their A/S/L questions. Now, you can do so much more and all without needing any additional software installed on your computer. Need to make up a quick spreadsheet? Google Docs got you. Want to take a picture with your webcam? There's plenty of sites that can let you do that. What I didn't know for a while is that there are even sites out there where you can edit photos online.

But while you can do all that, it's not time to chuck your full-powered desktop or notebook computer. In my last post, I did all my stuff in the cloud including having fun manipulating the pictures. But... manipulating the pictures, that was really painful to do without my normal desktop software. Even getting the pictures off my SD card was a pain because as for now there is no preview function. I'm one of those people that takes a bunch of pictures and even when they suck, I don't delete them on the camera or even after I copy them to the computer. But I had to upload them one by one (or five by five once I realised I could do that) and try to remember which of the pictures I uploaded and which ones I wanted to actually use. It was a little painful and I was this close to saying screw it and going to my full-sized computer and do the last post. But with some improvements later on, this could really make it easier for me to enjoy blogging since my netbook really wasn't that great for doing that.

One of my favorite things about the Cr-48, which has made me almost abandon my netbook, (it's now under my bed rather than on top at the foot of my bed) is the battery life. I decided early on in the week to just wander away from the power lead and it took about 3 days before I desired to plug it back in. This was 3 days of moderate use. Mostly IRCing and forum trolling. I turned off the cellular radar and the battery life proved to be awesome. I'm really confident that if I went out of town for a weekend and forgot the charger, I wouldn't feel like my life was over. However, with my current netbook... Yes, my life would be over if I left the house for longer than 2 hours without my charger so this is a big improvement.

Connectivity is somewhat of an issue. I was able to hop onto my home network with no problem. Staying on however proves to be a challenge at times. Sometimes I don't know if it's my router or what, but I have some slight issues with losing connection and having to fall back on the built-in Verizon 3G, which I must say is awesome to have. It connects quickly and in my area, the coverage is fairly decent. However, activation was a long pain and I had to call up technical support. It was a pretty nice experience overall. The automated prompt was ready for the masses of Cr-48 owners calling in and the tech support girlie would be able to help out even the most inexperienced users. However as more of a power user, this process was painful... But worth it to get started on my 3G access. It would have been sucky to experience that while on the road.

Overall, I've had a great first week. Now, my tiny netbook which was just perfect for me is completely inadequate. When once I could type out entire novels in IRC, I can no longer type with the speed and accuracy I used to. And the screen on my netbook is impossibly small and painful to deal with, but the Cr-48 is huge and massive.

And the Cr-48 is dead sexy and makes friends and family envious.

The hardware is really all I need while the software needs tweaking. So far, there has been one update which provided changes I didn't even notice, but I'm looking forward to seeing what changes will be made in the future with ChromeOS.

Breaking the one bag rule

2010-12-19T12:37:00.000-06:00

Somewhere, some woman (or man, I dunno) decided that women are only allowed to carry one bag anywhere they go. I rather like this, as my handbag is my life and I only have to deal with one bag. But there's certain circumstances where I will break this rule... So in celebration of this, I bought 2 bags within the past week.

The first one is a replacement for my previous handbag. It too was an XOXO bag... I think I'm quite addicted to that brand, but I've been going towards the more everyday bag rather than the more cutesy bags they have.

It's a cute bag and as you can see, I've totally stuffed it. I can't quite fill it to the brim like my previous bag because of the little cinching thingy that's going on with the bag. I think that's a pretty good thing. I don't often snap my bag closed and I just kinda throw it down and so many times I have thrown it down only to find out my phone or my wallet or my iPod have fallen out. So far, haven't had that problem.

Bag #2 is a case for my Cr-48. I was really really torn between getting a rugged, but more masculine bag (with pockets and a shoulder strap) that was actually the perfect size for my Cr-48 and getting a barebones yet feminine case that was too big for the tiny-ish system.

Well, femininity won this round. As you can see, there's plenty of room for my computer in there. I don't want it to get scratched up so chances are I won't be carrying anything else in the bag (like my charger, which I will get to at a later time) so it's just fine.

And finally, my sweet little Cr-48 in all its glory... I carefully applied the free sticker that I wanted so badly to give the otherwise plain system a little jazz. There's a tiny corner of it that doesn't want to stay on properly so I don't know how long it'll last, but I'll be looking into other decorating options.

And I've had that thing for a little over a week now! I think celebrations are in order which I will do in a post at another time. Which prolly by then it will be 2 weeks, but oh well! And sadly, I had to hop on to my 3G connection to be able to post this. Seems like my router is so misbehaving right now!

And a little note: This entire post was made with the Cr-48 from editing the pictures to typing up the post. Happy funtimes, but my frustrations with it I'll have to save for later!

Time to talk about stuff

2010-12-16T00:50:00.000-06:00

Well, getting back into the swing of blogging again thanks to the novelty of my Cr-48 <3 But I'm not going to make this post about that.

I'm making this post about my life since I took an accidental break from blogging all those months ago. I know I know... Bad me. I could have totally been building up an audience and all that good stuff and I wouldn't be blogging just for me... But who cares. Blogging is fun and I love it and I'm wondering why I left it behind.

Well two words: Ragnarok Online. The game that somehow took up a lot of my time in the past once again takes up a lot of my time in the present. It's not the best or coolest or funnest game in the world [wait, funnest is a word...? whoa...] but I love the people I play with. I have a pretty decent guild right now. They're fun people. The guild is lead by this really ... indescribable Singaporean guy. Before meeting him, I thought Singapore was in China... Embarrassed to say so, but yes. I was that dumb. Now I know that Singapore is a tiny place where they have 24 hour McDonald's the delivers. When I'm not hearing his 3 fans on Vent, I hear him often bragging about delivery McDonald's.

[Note: there was a much longer blog post to come after this, but the heel of my palm landed on the clickpad while I was typing and I lost the rest of my post up to the end of the above paragraph and I couldn't undo before autosave kicked in. Depression hits so instead of a really good ending to the blog post, you're just gonna get a little snippet of stuff I wanted to say.]

I've also been writing a bit too. I finished the story I began writing about a year ago long long time ago. And I also finally started writing in the Moleskine I bought last December. I only save it for one page a day of inspired writings (mostly random thoughts or my feelings at the time) and everytime I look through what I've written, I almost want to cry because it doesn't even feel like it was me writing. Shame it took a $12 notebook to make me write meaningful stuff.

And I've been doing a lot in my personal life... Like my hair... And tackling weight-loss (I'm very self-conscious about this)... And just in general being awesome and junk.

So yeah, that's the past few months in a nutshell. A lot has happened... Nothing epic. But I hope this string of blogging continues more.

So that's what's under the hood!

2010-12-13T19:33:00.021-06:00

Just a little filler while I think of things to write, but I was excited to finally see the specs of my lovely little Cr-48 so I can have some idea what I'm working with. For being basically given a free netbook, I can't complain about any of it and I feel a lot of it is seriously more than adequate for what I want to do now and in the future long after the pilot program is over.

First of all, the size of the SSD. It a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny 16GB. Yeah... Not that much especially compared to modern netbooks, but even the smallest iPad has that much storage space. Plus considering everything is in "the cloud" that you will be using, running out of space should not become a problem. I'm used to working with a netbook that has 4GB space total (maybe just over 1GB free after the installation of the OS) and the biggest problem I've run into sadly is Chrome. I don't know if it's Chrome's natural hoarding-like behavior or just that I was using a very unstable version of Chrome back then, but Chrome's cache and history came to take up so much space that I barely had 10MB free at one point. Hopefully that won't happen.

Now the most surprising thing is that the Cr-48 has a Bluetooth radio o_o Completely blew my mind. I was thinking to myself that they kinda dropped the ball without including Bluetooth in a system that pretty much has everything else most netbooks come with. But, this person who sacrificed his system to find out what exactly was in this totally made my day. Totally looking forward to how well Bluetooth will work with the system once an update allows access to it...

Now the RAM... The Cr-48 comes with 2GB which is 4x what my netbook has. However, I'm sad to say "Really? That's what 2GB feels like?" Sure, it's not amazing as what I have on my main computer, but for such a lightweight OS and the lack of extreme multitasking, I would have expected things to feel... better all the time. May just be a shortcoming of the times. Could see some improvements on that later.

Well, that's about all I have to say about the specs. I'm loving working with this system every day when I'm not needing my main computer. So, let's see what I'll have to say later <3

Looking back on the weekend

2010-12-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

Just a quick little no-frills post about my lovely weekend with my Cr-48 (I'm gonna name it soon... calling it that sounds so cold...)!

I was just thinking about doing this post after I spent a good part of the day curled up in my Snuggie and looking endlessly at other peoples' impressions of the Cr-48 even though all I have to do is look down and closely examine my own. I've spent a lot of time with this baby. In fact, I've barely touched Lovely (my Eee 701) today. I just peeked into IRC quickly when I was having trouble making Mibbit work on this. So yeah, this has just about replaced my current netbook. It's got a bigger screen, more memory, better processor... What could I hate about it...

Well, I really really really do miss traditional applications a lot. Like I mentioned earlier, I have gripes with Mibbit. Sometimes, it's just plain unreliable. And when the computer goes into full sleep and I just so happen to leave the Mibbit tab open when that happens and I of course drop off the network, it doesn't immediately recognize that it's no longer connected and reconnect itself so I can just hop right back into chatting with my geeky friends... This computer has mad battery life even without going into sleep so I'm hoping later on the user will have some control over when and under what circumstances the system completely goes to sleep.

Moving on to another one of the gripes that I'm still having a bit of a struggle with: the clickpad... I think it's called that and not just a touchpad. Right clicking using a two-finger tap? I've mastered that~ However, the two-finger scrolling, I'm still working on that. Every now and then, I'm just curled up with my system and I'm just unconsciously scrolling with two fingers as if I were mindlessly stroking a kitten. And then it starts skipping and I've somehow scrolled past half of the webpage and I'm all "WTF..." and defaulting back to manually clicking on the scrollbar to move things around. I don't know how much of that can be fixed by OS tweaking, but I seriously hope for more scrolling options like the zones that I am used to even on my tiny postage stamp-sized touchpad on my Eee. I've seen other people totally disliking the tap-to-click feature, but I love it. I can't have it any other way.

Nothing else new to report. Really, there's not a lot to say about the experience other than it's pretty much the same old thing... Except I'm doing it all from within Chrome and I can't escape.

Well, that's my opinion for now. I'll post more when I get to have more experiences with it. I'm looking forward to what my second week with this will be like!

First 24 hours with the Cr-48

2010-12-11T00:36:00.001-06:00

It's been a while, but I finally have something to blog about. Something I can't fit into a tweet, but something I must talk about.

This box above was received by a certain number of special people... Including me. I was just chilling playing Ragnarok Online with my friend when I heard a knock at the door. No one was there, but to my left was a UPS box with my name on it. Maaaaan, I couldn't have imagined what it was, but when I picked it up, I was like "This is as heavy as a computer." Little did I know it was a computer.

Yeah. This whole thing was one very very big surprise. On top of everything in the box was a little note welcoming me to the Google Chrome Notebook Pilot Program. Basically meaning I get to test out Google's upcoming ChromeOS on hardware similar to what will be available next year. And for free.

What's funny, all I wanted was a laptop decal. I saw it on some freebie site and I was like "I love Chrome. I want a free sticker." Well, I got the free sticker. Did not know that I was going to get a laptop to go along with it.

I totally freaked so naturally I Googled and checked Twitter to see if I was the only one and to figure out how I lucked out like this. And it was my lure for the free sticker.

And here are my two netbooks side-by-side in bed (will do better pictures later, I'm kinda limited working on the Cr-48). As you can see, it's a good bit bigger than my Eee 701. It's more strictly a netbook than current netbooks. Without the internet, it's a useless paperweight as it relies on working in the cloud and various web apps that replace traditional programs.

So, since I've had over 24 hours to play with it, here's my impressions so far.

Things I like:

Starts up quickly (I mean seriously, you don't have time to get a snack or anything!)
Stays cool
Just the internet, just what I need
The hardware makes me seem like I sneaked out with some super secret prototype :3

Things I hate:

They keyboard is too big for my small hands
Two-finger scrolling... I can't do it
Too barebones for me to toss my old netbook aside

And that's my two cents for now. I hope to continue posting about my experiences with the Cr-48 and it's eventual trip outside my house. And thanks Google for giving me the biggest surprise ever and for saving me the trouble of having to buy a new netbook next year :3

Sooo... Did you miss me?

2010-04-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

So, I've been a little more than absent from the world of blogs... Ever wonder why?

Well, for once, it's not because I got a life. But it's because I'm back playing Ragnarok Online again. I played it a long time ago, and I quit. And now that the main servers have merged, I decided to play again so I could play with others. Soo... When will I fully be back?

Hopefully soon enough. Maybe I'll get tired again real soon and pick up blogging again. But for now, I'm going to have fun and blog when I can. But I still tweet like a mofo!

And it also sucks that all the other things going on in my life have been sucky... So not much interesting really to blog about :)

♥ of the moment: Little Bites Chocolate

2010-04-16T10:03:00.001-05:00

Very rarely do I feel the need to talk about the food I eat... I'm totally not a foodie and food reviews are definitely not my bag, baby... But today is an exception. I have experienced something so magical, I couldn't resist talking about it.

I had seen various reviews about Frosted Mini-Wheats Little Bites Chocolate around the Internet, but because of how expensive the cereal is coupled with me forgetting to drop by the cereal aisle during my trips to the store made me forget about this cereal. Until I saw it on sale :3

This cereal is a smaller version of the regular Frosted Mini-Wheats that's been thoroughly injected with chocolate. You may not be able to tell from the picture that that's one serving in a very small bowl. Here's something to help you with scale:

Better? Most likely not. But they're tiny. But each tiny bite tastes like... A chocolate dream. There's hardly any of that shredded what taste that I love (and I know some hate) and a bit of sweetness that is countered by the real little chunks of slightly bitter chocolate in each little biscuit. It's like eating a bowl full of crispy chocolate candies! I was really really surprised at how good the cereal is!

Item: Kellogg Frosted Mini-Wheats Little Bites Chocolate Cereal
Availability: Grocery Stores, Mass Merchandisers
Price: $2.08 (on sale at Publix)
Pros: Yummy, delicious, chocolate-y
Cons: Expensive at normally ~$4 a box
Love Meter: ♥♥♥♥♥

Item was purchased by myself with no sponsorship by any company or retailer.

Ayu sings Gaga!

2010-04-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

I really thought that I had blogged about this... But last week, I got in a bit of a recording bug. I am indeed a singer. It's prolly one of my best talents. Although, I lack a bit of confidence in myself at times... But I humored a friend of mine and recorded him some Gaga. I tweeted about this, but I'm gonna post it here for later.

First up, my fav: Speechless. It's such a powerful song to me. And I love it to death. Even though it's a bit of a sad song, I love singing it too.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Then one which was an epic exercise in mixing: Telephone! Yeah. I spent a long time getting all the vocals mixed properly... Initially, I planned just doing two recordings, but I'm so spacy, I couldn't remember which parts to sing for which track XD

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

And my least favorite: Poker Face. I'll let you guys listen to it anyways.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

I'll share more eventually :) I've got quite a few requests to fulfill so for now... That's it!

I wonder why I haven't been blogging...

2010-04-13T16:42:00.000-05:00

Especially when I have so much to say. Y'know, I actually did something this weekend. I was in Atlanta for the World Natural Hair Health and Beauty Show. For those who don't know, it's a big convention/show for black men and women who have natural hair or professionals or anybody who wants to learn more about working with, styling, and educating people about natural hair.

And by natural hair, I mean hair that is not chemically straightened (relaxed) styled in anything from loose curls to tight fros and dreadlocks. And even hair that's been pressed straight. I myself have been one enjoying natural hair for about 2 years now... But you're here for the pictures!

Just a shot of the hall. Part of it. It was a little chaotic and hard to take pictures at times.

Hair styling at the Miss Jessie's booth. I really wish I could have gotten up there and had them touching on my hair a little bit.

But these helpful workers from Miss Jessie's were very enthusiastic about the products they had to offer and even posed for a picture just 'cos I pulled out my camera.

Checking out the T-shirts at the Uncle Funky Daughter booth. The shirts were cute and all, but the service there was horrible. At all the other booths, everyone was overly enthusiastic about the products and they were open to answer questions and even just chit-chat a little. However, the girls at the Uncle Funky Daughter booth... No such thing. I was curious about one of the products and I was waiting for one of them to offer to answer questions. But neither did so I spoke up and asked about a product. One of the girls just restated the name of the product (which I could read off the label myself) and left it at that. I didn't stick around any longer.

There was of course lots of hair-touching. Kinda weird to be in a place with so many people whose hair is like mine when normally everyone else has straight hair.

Just a shot of the corridor...

One of many that I took of this guy... Wish I could have taken down his name.

And lastly, a sad little clown...?

Well, that was my weekend! I would type more, but honestly my hands are too tired right now. I got a whole lot of great products to try so... I'll be entertaining myself with that!

Long time no see!

2010-04-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

Phew, I think lately I'm busier than... ara... I don't know what to say about my busy-ness. A lot of it has to do with the new computer. It's been blissful. I'm buying all these cute things for it... Like a second keyboard like the one I already have (because they had a combo deal with the mouse I wanted that was actually cheaper than buying the mouse I wanted) and there's a few other things I need/want.

And that reminds me, I need to get out a thank you card to the builder. I should send out a thank you package to Splendypoo for helping me out with getting 7 <3

In other news, it's officially spring to me! It's so hot everyday now! It feels pretty good. I don't have to worry at all about having a sweater. I'm also pretty sure that I can totally retire my coat.

And since it's April, new anime season is beginning!!!! Well, it's not that exciting. I'm not as into anime as I was many years ago... And in fact, this current anime season is so meh to me...

The only series that I am remotely interested in is B-gata H-kei (B型H系)

Based on a 4-koma comic (so I'm told), our heroine at 15 wants to lose her cherry and have 100 partners. And by partners, I mean sexual ones. She's got everything going for her since she's like mad hot. But she's dumb. She thinks that her lady bits look weird so she wants to be with another virgin (or as she says, a cherry-kun) so that he doesn't get weirded out by her weird parts. She acts like she wants it, but when she's alone in a room with her targeted cherry-kun, she is weirded out when he starts *ahem* getting ready.

Well... It's pretty horrible. But I'm going to watch it. The protagonist reminds me a bit of the heroines in smutty shoujo manga. Eager to pop their cherries, but clueless and doing silly things like relying on magazines and manga to tell them how to do H things.

And then the failure anime Angel Beats!

Something about the afterlife and warring against angels and people here can't be killed and there's a lot of fighting. Frankly I was bored to death within the first 6 mins. I fastforwarded to see if anything else cool would happen. Well, it did. There was this awesome concert scene along with this battle scene that happened at the same time. It was so awesomely animated!!!!! But, meh. The subject looked more interesting in the trailers.

But I found something to help me retain my girliness: Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (会長はメイド様!)

Based off the manga, the heroine, Misaki, her family has fallen on hard times due to the debts left behind by her deadbeat dad and works at a maid cafe to help out. On the flip-side, she's an over-achiever in school with an unbreakable image of being strict as the first female student council president at a newly co-ed school. However, equally talented and super-popular Takumi finds out her secret. Of course, such a secret would ruin her perfect image. It's the shoujo love that I need right now...

I'll still be watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood until it ends. But not much anime I'll be enjoying this season. Maybe that could be a good thing... Oh, forgot about K-ON!! That'll begin airing in a little bit now :3

On dress shopping

2010-04-01T12:02:00.001-05:00

Just a few random thoughts here.

I just thought about the wedding I'll be attending next month. It'll be the first wedding I've attended in over a year! Yeah, everyone around me is already married. I remain one of the few single gals my age ;_; Weddings are very few and far between for me nowadays.

So, I'm looking through my closet... My dress choices are mostly casual or suited for going to worship. Nothing really dressy (except for this one red number... but it's such a long dress and I want a short one) and as for my other formal dresses, well... Do not want to wear. One is my old choral dress. I've been forced to wear it for many a special occasion. And I have an old bridesmaid dress that luckily I've only had to re-wear once. So happy.

So now, I just want a cute little party dress. But OMG. It's so shocking. The prices. A nice formal dress is easily $100+. I'm just used to buying everything on sale. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find something good on sale so that I don't have to wear the choral dress again.

But I guess if that fails, the red dress will be good enough.

This is the post in which I dote about my new computer!

2010-03-30T11:05:00.001-05:00

Whew! I'm back into the real world! Anyways~ I've got my new computer and I've had it for almost a week now. Was a very good week. Learning how to use Windows 7 was fun. I must say I'm in love. The installation was quite quick... And now...

My new computer! I call it Ice Cream Sundae! I made this lovely wallpaper for it <3 It's a bit pink overload, but I don't care :D So, I guess I'll run down the specs real quick (so I can have them for reference and stuff):

Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.80 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte M68M-S2P
Sound & Video: Integrated
RAM: 4GB DDR2
HD: Seagate Barracuda 750GB
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (thanks Splendypoo <3)
Case: Antec Three Hundred
Lovingly built by Merli-chan (an old site, but *shrug*)

I'm really really happy with it :) Much better than my old computer and I hope that it'll bring me years of happiness.

And with that, I shall return to my normal silliness!

Don't mind me

2010-03-25T18:00:00.002-05:00

I've just got my new computer! It's super lovely!!!!

After I got everything back loaded on it, I began to get to work on some webdesign for a real client :3

It's SO much better this way!

So... Don't mind me for a few days... I'll get a nice post about my computer :3

On no longer being inferior

2010-03-20T23:33:00.002-05:00

When I watch videos, I avoid high resolution videos because they stutter. I try to keep memory usage down because, with only 768MB to work with, I really need all I can get sometimes. I get paranoid at how nearly everything shoots my CPU usage to 100%. And most of all, I have specs that are embarrassing for the crowd I hang around with.

Yeah. Peer pressure is a pain. But that's not the reason I'm upgrading. For one thing, my computer is old. I've upgraded it a few times in the years since I've gotten it and it's just no longer practical to put money into something that is no longer adequate for my needs.

So, I'm starting over with something that is, while not the top of the line, not inferior. My current computer was inferior from the start: a Compaq Presario I purchased on sale from Circuit City oh-so-long ago. Now, it was not a bad computer. the only problem it gave me was the time when my memory upgrade was faulty. No other blue screens otherwise!

The new computer will definitely be much better. I let a friend of mine build one for me... since my weakness is hardware. I really hit a wall when it came to all the options. But he has more experience and I told him I'd let him build me a computer one day... Well, it's nice to have geeky friends who are helpful and friendly.

The specs? Well, he told me quad core. Not embarrassing at all. And 4GB of memory sounds like a dream. The rest is nice, but honestly, I don't care (I'll post the full specs later, I'm not that much of a showoff). I'm just happy to be having a computer that isn't old.

And with that, I'll be able to not feel like I have to work in a pre-defined box and be able to work a little more freely. I'm going to have to get used to not having to worry if I'm going to be able to run something properly :D

Take away my debit card!

2010-03-18T22:32:00.000-05:00

I'm buying too much. But these last few things were things that I kinda needed... Or wanted... Or something like that. They complete my life.

Like this lamp. I had a cute lamp. With a pull-chain. I got it from Home Depot after seeing it advertised shortly after I started college. Even though I was moving into the dorms, I had to have it for my room at home with my big brand-new bed (fact: I had the same twin-sized bed from about 3rd grade until I started college, then I got upgraded to a queen-sized bed that takes up all the space in my room!) :D Well... my bed is black... I've got my lovely multimedia shelving unit that's black... All that was missing was a black (and white?) lamp! Got it randomly during a trip to Goodwill. Mom cleaned out her closet and wanted to fill it back in so as I was trying to drag her out the store, I saw this lamp.

But it completes me?

And I'm a girl who's becoming a budding clotheswhore. I needed a full-length mirror. The one on my dresser is... okay (and in an improper feng shui position, not that I care) but I can't see how the hem on my skirt falls or if I really need to shave my legs without running for a step stool to the vanity in my bathroom. But now, I have a mirror (framed in black) for my room (which also cost $5) so I can preview myself! Just gotta find a proper place to mount it. I also want to decorate it. I plan on replacing my dresser mirror with some mirrors decorated with glitter and etching to fancy up the feel of my room so I feel this el cheapo could be good practice.

But you see, they make my life!

But coupled with stuff for my new computer, I'm spending way too much money lately. Hopefully... I'll stay in control!

♥ of the moment: i-rocks KR-6401-PK

2010-03-13T17:18:00.000-06:00

So, the UPS man dropped this box on my welcome mat 2 days ago... Oh? What's inside?

Well, something smaller than the box concealed in brown paper bag paper of course!!!

It's my brand new keyboard!!! After a mere 2 days, my order came from my fav online store, Newegg! First impressions from the box, it's pink! But then I was like, "Don't get so used to how pink it is. You are still looking at a picture."

But when I opened the box, it was pretty much just as pink as the packaging. However, it wasn't as pale as the pink on the picture of the keyboard on the box. But really, it's a brighter, creamier pink. Which I think is lovely. As you can likely tell from the pictures, it is a little difficult to see the letters on the keys since it's in such a light white. But in a well-lit room, the letters show up pretty decently. However, I'm not really one for looking at the keys, so this is no big deal for me. Any other color would have ruined the aesthetics of the keyboard. And I especially love the LEDs for the indicators. They're so cute.

And honestly, the main reason I bought this keyboard is because it was pink. So yeah, I'm all about aesthetics. I have wanted one of those Mac-style keyboards because I liked the way they looked, but most of them were quite expensive. I got this for $14.99+s&h (I just saw on Newegg's site this one is now $11.99) so I'm happy for the price I paid.

Beyond the aesthetics, I like the feel of it... Everything is soft... And the key travel is very comfortable. It's soothing to type with it. I had my hesitations with it considering reviews talked about the distance between keys and how they're not concave and also about how it's relatively flat compared to other keyboards. However, I was able to adjust to the keyboard from the moment I sat down to it! I just wish that the little guides on the keys were actually in the center rather than on the bottom edge of the F, J, and Numpad 5 keys so that I don't have to struggle to find them when I'm typing in the dark. My other keyboard had that kind of setup that I was a little frustrated with, but then again, I usually have the light on at the keyboard so it's no big deal!

While it's pink and I love it, it's not my /perfect/ keyboard. I'm used to multimedia keyboards with easy access to a mute button right at my fingertips. I'm getting used to not having it, but I just have to find another option for controlling the volume without having to find the volume icon or manually mess with the speaker volume. Also, the Windows key... There's only one and it's on the left side. It's kinda no big deal, but I'm used to doing Win+M with my right hand. I'll just have to get used to it.

But I'm with this keyboard for the long haul. I just need a pink mouse now... My current one is black and I just feel need to have a little pink... or maybe white little thing by my side now. That'll come later!

Item: i-rocks KR-6401-PK New Slimline Keyboard for PC
Availability: Online retailers
Price: $14.99 (at Newegg)
Pros: IT'S PINK! Aesthetically pleasing. Low travel.
Cons: ~~One Windows key and it's on the left :( No volume keys like I'm used to :(~~ None! It's freakin' PINK!!!
Love Meter: ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥∞

Item was purchased by myself with no sponsorship by any company or retailer.

Computer parts on the brain

2010-03-09T16:54:00.001-06:00

So, my new computer builder is almost done~

But on the home front here... Well, the space bar on my keyboard is busted. I was typing as normal and then suddenly I noticed the space bar wasn't responding properly. It felt like something had gotten under the key. This happens all the time. My current keyboard was somewhat lovely. I loved the low travel like my Eee's keyboard has, but I found that it would fall victim to stuff getting under the keys... Like my curly hair. And I'm not going to lie... Little chunks of Pringles would sometimes find their way under my keys. And as far as my Eee, I've gotten giant dust bunnies from under some of my keys.

Well, earlier in the week, I freed one of my hairs from under my tab key by physically removing the key cap and I thought "OMG, I can fix ANYTHING! that's wrong with my keyboard!"

Oh how wrong was I. There's something magically not understandable about the space bar. I popped it up halfway and I noticed something was weird. Then I popped it all the way off. There are little easily swallow-able pieces... Several of them. Plus some other things. I spent ages trying to get it to snap back in properly. Now, it's doable. I'm mostly typing in IRC so it's no big deal. People don't mind if I forget a space here and there every now and then.

But I slept on it, woke up this morning, and bought this pink keyboard.

It's pink! I love pink. And also I need a new mouse... They sell a pink wired one for girly hands... I maaaaaaay get it. But I really want wireless. But it would match my new keyboard.

I'll save the other one for experimental purposes!

Right now, my hand hurts from hitting the space bar so hard!

I love baking!

2010-03-04T13:17:00.000-06:00

It's not something I've been doing a lot of lately... but I do love baking! I live in a household with a mother who does wedding cakes on a pretty regular basis as well as all other sorts of cakes for people who want them.

Now, being in the house with a baker, it does indeed have its downsides. There's some weekends, every surface in the kitchen is covered in cake and icing. It smells pretty disgusting pretty much the entire month of June. However, there are times when someone requests something than a normal white cake with buttercream for a wedding cake and the house smells delicious and it's sad that I don't get to even sample cake.

But prolly the one best benefit of being in a house with a baker is that I always have at my disposal things to bake with :D I never have to wonder if we have baking powder and butter and vanilla. Although, it always seems we can never keep brown sugar in the house. Well, either that or we can't find it 'cos right now, there's like 3 opened packages of brown sugar around the house. I guess we just keep buying it expecting not to have it.

Today's baking was chocolate chip cookies made with milk chocolate chips :9 The milk chocolate chips was a bit of a goof. I'm a fan of semi-sweet chips in cookies... But... I'm sure happiness will come!

Yay yay computer upgrade!!!

2010-03-01T14:58:00.001-06:00

Little-known thing about me: I'm a little geeky. I have quite a few little ticks on my geek meter... Electronic devices make my heart pound, shopping for them is prolly the most exciting thing ever (although as of late, clothes shopping has provided some almost similar heart-pounding moments)! I've been addicted to IRC for about 10 years now! I own two computers.

One of them (as seen on the right) is my beloved EeePC 701 (in pink) I got 2 years ago... It's what keeps my bed warm at night (literally). It should be replaced, but its purpose is to get me on the internet and IRC while I'm in bed and sometimes when I actually leave my house. Replacing it isn't a high priority right now. It's what's making me want to move from Windows to Linux (maybe). Right now, it's running Eeebuntu, but I'm at the point I feel the need to stretch my legs more and try something a little different... But if I did like working in Wine, I would so abandon Windows for Linux in a heartbeat!

And the beast to be replaced is my desktop PC. I bought it when I had my first real job all those years ago. A lovely Compaq with some processor and 256MB of RAM. It was very cheap, very barebones, but after several upgrades and improvements, it became the computer that I know and love today. But... It's seen better days. I've upgraded the insides nearly to the max. I think for every component on the inside, there's been at least 2 better versions of it. Not only is it no longer practical to upgrade, it'll eventually become impossible-ish.

So after much saving, I decided to make this year's splurge without giving a crap what anybody says (as well as my six-month anniversary gift) a new computer! I decided to let a friend build it for me rather than me building it myself. As geeky as I may seem on the outside... I don't know where to begin when it comes to making a new computer from scratch.

That and I haven't seen Star Wars yet. Which is also why I've been permanently denied my geek card :(

Having a new computer means I have to actually think about the process of going from one computer to another. This will be the first time for me to get a new computer while having a computer that's actually still operating. So this is the first time I'm having to transfer old documents and music and pictures (OMG do I have a lot of pictures) from one computer to another. The task is a bit daunting, but it's probably more simple than I imagine. I've got my HD enclosure on the way to help me with that ever important task!

Then comes what to do with the old computer... Well, I think I'm going to end up dusting it out, streamlining it, and using it in my bedroom as an experimental Linux box. Did I also mention I'm geeky enough to have a personal computer room separate from my bedroom? Maybe it would be more geeky if I had my computer set up in my bedroom rather than in its own room.

Well, that's what's going on now that I'm on wave 2 of body-snatching sickness!

I'm such a bad blogger XD

2010-02-25T01:13:00.001-06:00

That's prolly what I get for having not only a personal blog (my LJ), a personal non-personal blog (this one), and another blog that'll be a secret to any viewers of this blog for 5 more months.

I kinda miss my snow. I can't believe that it will be 2 weeks since it happened. It was a pretty awesome weekend. I had all my brothers in town along with my sister(-in-law) and my nieces. Everybody got to enjoy snow. And on Friday, I thought I did have to go to work 'cos my super was all "Yeah, we're working tomorrow so come on in!" the night before. However, that morning, someone from my job called to say that work was cancelled. Several hours later, I called shaking in my boots thinking that I was going to be chastised for calling out of work for a little snow.

We did get a decent bit of snow. But it was no epic amount by far. But, for Alabama, even the threat of flurries is reason enough to shut down places. I did get teased a little by a friend in Finland. I was showing my 1~2 inches of snow on my car and he laughed at it and showed me pictures and videos of epic snow banks and one of his dogs enjoying a pee snow cone XD

This is me btw :)

Yes, it wasn't that much snow. But thank goodness. I was out in the snow for maybe 10 minutes or so taking pictures. I really was unable to feel my hands. And when I got inside, it took ages for my hands to rewarm. I gotta say... I'm in the south for a reason. I enjoy the freak snow showers, but I couldn't live with snow all the time... or having feet of snow every winter!!!

Well, it was still more than enough snow. Mom made a snowman which lasted about 2 days in the comfort shade of the front porch.

And my niece got to make the snow angel she so wanted to. The snow brought us a whole lot of happiness...

Now two weeks later, this morning we got some freak snow flurries (don't worry, those didn't shut down town) and I've had some crazy busy times... And of course I'm sick. I'm nursing the tail end of a cold of sorts. I had a fever for about 2 days or so. I nursed it as well as I could by myself. Got a little depressed. Very depressed actually. Being sick takes a lot out of you. Especially when you have no one to really take care of you or anything. But now, all I'm stuck with is a stuffy nose... And a lot of sneezing, so hopefully, I'll get over this soon.

Too much Olympics!

2010-02-17T15:31:00.000-06:00

Blog is seriously neglected again. Between last weekend's snow (and all the picutres I have to go through that I took) and the Olympics, I totally haven't had much time for anything else! Even with NBC having crappy coverage in the States, I've been able to find myself exhausted by midnight after the late-night coverage is over. Last night, I was quite physically exhausted from watching the men's figure skating. I have a new pretty boy I like to look at now:

American men's figure skater Johnny Weir. Something about a cocky, flamboyant boy I just love.

Not only does he look good (hmmm, I wouldn't say he's on the hot end of the spectrum, but I wouldn't mind gazing at him for a while), but he is a great skater who can put on a show. The crowd obviously loved him last night. They booed loudly over Pokerface when they gave his score. So awesome hearing so much Gaga at the Olympics during downtimes. Wow, I'm really babbling. But I honestly loved his routine. It was definitely the most entertaining even though it wasn't quite as medal-worthy as my current fav Russian with a mullet Plushenko <3 And Daiske Takahashi was so beautiful. Ahh, and I was amazed at how gorgeous the lines of Lysacek from the states were. He was just so fabulous...

I could go on and on about the prettiness.

I'm looking forward to another day of being exhausted... Got a lot of big events that NBC is going to cram into primetime tonight!

Snow Day!!!

2010-02-12T13:47:00.000-06:00

It's a happy snow day in Alabama! It's nothing like what they've gotten up the rest of the east coast, but it's significant to us here.

Our birds even enjoyed it too.

And this is my poor car as of now... Time to play now!

Happy Super Bowl Party~~~

2010-02-09T13:29:00.000-06:00

My first ever Super Bowl Party (first ever hosting a party period) went over very successfully!

It was very small. Just family members, but still, everything was just right. In addition to all the unhealthy snacks, (I had forgotten to put out the salsa for the pic) there were plenty of wings to go around. I had everything I wanted.

Earlier in the evening, I was so hyped about being a first-time host, I donned what I called my Super Bowl Party Dress. I bought a new skirt from Burlington's that also doubles as a tube dress (or it's a tube dress that doubles as a skirt) and I wore it as a dress. It was so much fun running around in something that flared out a bit when I caught a good bit of wind...

However, I discovered quickly why people don't wear dresses to Super Bowl parties. After eating /a lot/, I felt like I couldn't be bothered with a dress so I changed out to sweat pants... So I could stuff myself even more.

Well, there's not much more to it... I think I now have the confidence to host a real dinner party or something now!

Blogging about the Super Bowl Party

2010-02-03T15:20:00.000-06:00

Now I'm an American and everything so of course the one thing I'm looking forward to around this time of the year is a lovely Super Bowl Party.

Yes. The party.

I know absolutely nothing about football so I could care less about who's playing or what's going on. All I care about is the party. Although in my household, it's more just a bunch of family sitting around the TV eating chips and wings. The pic to the left shows my station from last year. All the way in the kitchen with my netbook watching the commercials (I do love those at least) from behind the chips while I ate my wings.

So this year, it's more of the same. After work, I'm going to finalize my shopping so I can have all the stuff I want.

Last week, I got Rotel and Velveeta for the dip. I know it's not really cheese, but I can't be a hater and say I don't like it. Tonight, I'm getting Doritos, regular tortilla chips, salsa, and wings. I've got a $20 budget and I'm not planning on catering to a large crowd. If a large crowd comes, I hope they're bringing their own stuff.

As for drinks, I think I'll prolly just be satisfied with water. The one day out of the year I'll consume chips and wings in mass quantities, I do not need soda. Buuuuuut... I always fancy a good Coke Zero. Everyone else will have to learn to love it if they don't bring anything else.

Well, that's it for that. Maybe afterwards if I get creative, I'll post pics.

Random thoughts of the moment

2010-01-25T13:13:00.000-06:00

It has indeed been a little while since I last blogged. So what's going on in my life?

Well, while it's still cold, I'm eagerly awaiting the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I'm not really a big fan of watching sports (I'd rather be playing them) but the Olympics are a totally different thing. Seeing athletes from all over the world perform... it feels really exciting. My favorite events always includes ski jumping, short track speed skating (Apolo ♥), and figure skating. Mainly the women's figure skating. I was just watching the US Champion thingy (can't be arsed to remember the name right now) and as usual, I'm mystified especially with the spins and how the girls hold their bodies so perfectly... It's worthy of envy.

I'm a bit sad that I'm going to be at work the night of the opening ceremonies and I'll be out of town for the first weekend of competition. But I'll still be able to watch all the good daytime stuffs. Plus, with the Olympics finally being over here again, I'll be able to watch some things live instead of in the middle of the night when I need my beauty sleep... But I do believe I will end up overwhelming my DVR. Oh well ^_^

And once the winter is over with, I will be so glad to get into the spring. I was recently gifted a Snuggie so I won't be so cold, but I'm tired of being under so many layers. And I'm tired of wearing a coat outside even though I live in the south. It's too much!

But I am looking forward to spring fashions. I'm trying to get a head start as far as what'll work for me. I'm really amazed to still see maxi dresses frequently in new magazines (namely ViVi and Ray). I thought they were on their way out and I would have to cry over my sweet sweet maxi dress (but I'd still wear it). That's one trendy thing I can keep in my otherwise not-really-trendy closet.

In cleaning my closet, I also took a nice inventory of the nice things I have to realise that I have very few basic items. I've learned that in having more variety with having a few clothes, you need to have basics. Right now, I have outfits with 0 to no flexibility that could be remedied with just a few basics:

Camisoles - I have only 3 but they're not in neutral colors.
Fitted tops with 3/4 length sleeves - Just need one in black and one in white for under layering.
Skirts - I really need a brown one plus some that are shorter than floor-length
Ballet flats - Only recently have I discovered how awesome these are!

I can make it work with the rest of my stuff. I recently had a cleaning spree of my room and I discovered some old clothes that I can still wear and use... Like leggings :D I've had them literally like forever, but I fell out of wearing them a long time ago so they've just been chilling out in my room all while the legging trend has been booming all over the place. I plan on putting them to use once I feel like exposing my legs to the elements again.

This whole shopping for clothes things feels pretty epic, especially for a girl who never liked to go clothes shopping. I'm just now learning about awesome things.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll discuss more later.

A little about me

2010-01-11T19:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I did do an introduction post a long time ago, but it was just a way to fill an empty space in a blog. But in order to get me to write more, I gotta say something... Anyways~

My name - Well, of course, my real name is not Ayumi. It has the same number of syllables and begins with the same letter as my first name. That prolly had something to do with it... Long long time ago, when I was really into the anime community and the like, I used the name Neko first offline, then online. About 10 years later, I found out that wasn't the best name plus I had become unattached from that identity so I just spontaneously chose Ayumi to replace that. Surprisingly, I'm not a very big Hamasaki Ayumi fan. I may have teased myself calling myself one, but I only adored a few of her songs from the late 90s like Boys & Girls and Fly High. Just that name was cute...

Of course, getting Ayumi as a username is like impossible so I didn't even try. So for the most part, I go with Ayumin. But that's also heavily taken so Ayumiin is it. Plus I have fun with spelling it as Ayumi~n so yeah.

The blog's name - It comes from my silliness. If something good is going on, I talk about having a happy funtime. So this blog is all about me having a good time.

My hobbies - It's a lot. I really have no idea how to really put them all down. I love singing and dancing. Foreign languages drive me crazy (I learned French in High School and College and I've been learning Japanese on my own forever and a day). I also enjoy video games (I own a Wii and a PS3). I absolutely enjoy ParaPara even though everybody tells me I look crazy. I also write quite a bit too. I totally can't find an end to the stuff I really enjoy doing.

Anything else? - Well, I had a lot of things I wanted to talk about, but maybe it might be a little bit much. Since this is totally separate from my personal blog, I do have to kinda re-introduce myself. But just enough.

This is prolly enough. I gotta have something to blog about down the road.

♥ of the moment: Vanilla Cupcake Body Mist

2010-01-10T20:21:00.002-06:00

Once upon a time, there was a silly girl that enjoyed cupcakes very much. Everytime there were vanilla cupcakes set out for the kids at a party, she'd grab them all before the little kids could even get close to the table. She adores an ice cream called Birthday Cake which just so happens to taste like a lovely cupcake. When some fast food restaurant came out with a Cupcake shake (complete with sprinkles on top) she thought all her dreams came true and slurped it down with no thought of what it would do to her thighs.

Then one day, this same girl was reading her monthly Glamour magazine and saw tucked in the corner of a spread of new products Bodycology Vanilla Cupcake lotion.

Well, that silly girl is of course me. Being a lover of vanilla scents and especially the smell of cake, I couldn't say no. However, for a while, there was no trace of any products in this scent at my local drugstore/grocery store/mass merchandiser. However, the forces barring me from having this scent lifted and I found the full-size body mist at my local Walmart.

The packaging is simple. A clear bottle decorated with what it's supposed to smell like. Just that is tempting enough.

The insides however were another story.

When I sniffed the bottle, I could definitely tell the insides were very vanilla-y, very creamy, very cupcake-y. But when I sprayed it, I was turned off by the very strong alcohol + vanilla scent. It was strong and so artificial-smelling that I immediately regretted my purchase. And that disgusting scent lingers on you for quite a bit.

However, once the alcohol evaporated, I was rewarded with the most realistic cupcake scent I've ever gotten without having to step inside a bakery or turn on an oven. It even fooled my nephew who swore I was hiding cupcakes in my room and my mom even asked if I had been baking. It's not an overpowering scent. It's very light and makes you feel like you belong on a shelf at a bakery.

For me, this is a (near) perfect item so it deserves 4 hearts!

Item: Bodycology Body Mist in Vanilla Cupcake
Availability: Drugstores/Mass Merchandisers (US)
Price: $4 (at Walmart)
Pros: Cheap, smells like cupcakes
Cons: Disgusting initial smell
Love Meter: ♥♥♥♥

Item was purchased by myself with no sponsorship by any company or retailer.

I can't believe it!!!!!!

2010-01-10T01:32:00.002-06:00

I got my first ever comment and someone actually notices my little non-personal personal blog. :O I'm absolutely shocked.

And then it hit me that the reason I got the comment is that it's been about 2 months since I updated. And for me, that's very very sad.

So, aside from Twitter, what has kept me from updating? Well, for one thing, I got my copy of We Cheer 2 and I've barely gone 2 or 3 days without playing it since I got it. I have a review partially typed up but because I got so indepth, I kept getting up to play the game so I could be sure of my observations. And those would turn into hour-long play sessions... But anyways, I'll finish the review hopefully shortly. Pros: The game is freakin' awesome. Cons: I'm so awesome at the game that I haven't gotten a score higher than I got the first night I played in any of the songs.

Secondly, I've been slowly but surely turning into a girl and that means spending lots of hours shopping for clothes. Just clothes. I've gotten so many new clothes and I've found so many awesome clothes in my closet that I realise I need shoes. So those will come next.

Third, it's freakin' cold. I live in the south, I'm not used to it. I spend a lot of time under a blanket in a warm bed. My poor netbook doesn't even put out enough heat to warm me up.

Fourth, I don't have a fourth.

And finally, I ended up spending a lot of time with the family... Y'know, with the holidays and stuff. They were around the house constantly and hanging out with them was indeed fun and I guess I lost my blogging spirit. Maybe I've been motivated now to do a little more.

Oh, and bonus thing. I did begin participating in NaNoWriMo... BUT because RL can suck at times, I didn't finish. But keeping myself not restricted to a certain time period has allowed me to relax a little bit and I've come up with some ideas to make my story better. I've been really busy with that too at times. So maybe I'll have it done well before this upcoming November.

K, that's it for now! I hope to continue to be inspired to post more!

We Cheer 2 site live!

2009-11-03T00:08:00.001-06:00

For some of us, it's already the 3rd. Release date of We Cheer 2 which only a few people seem to care about. Well, it doesn't matter. I've been waiting ever since May for my pre-order to go from not yet shipping to shipping soon, so yes. I am pretty hyped. And seems like Namco Bandai is as well because they've greatly improved the We Cheer site. Gone is the old and boring We Cheer site and up is the peppy and somewhat musically annoying We Cheer 2 site at http://www.wecheergame.com!

There's a few more gameplay videos including one for Higher Ground which I nearly forgot was in the game. Also, they really highlight the roster of playable characters allowing you to truly visualize that there are double the number of playable characters plus boys.

And they also have a listing of what I believe is all the stages (15 in total if so!). Returning stages, such as Toy Park and Aloha Beach, have gotten an extra coat of polish to fit in among the newer stages such as School Quad, Riverboat Ride, and California which is a Pac-Man themed stage.

The game drops today and I'm waiting in severe anticipation to shake my pom poms!

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo!

2009-10-31T23:31:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to do this for several years now and now I'm finally going to do it!!! I've got a little story that I've been trying to write for a while, but it has never blossomed further than a few ideas and some initial chapters. I'll rewrite the beginning ('cos honestly, it was really horrible) and hopefully I'll progress towards an ending of happiness!

In order not to clog this blog, I'll be posting it to another blog as I write it. I'll post the link later if anyone is curious.

But for now, gotta prepare for going out of the town so tomorrow evening, I'll have chapter 1!

1 week until We Cheer 2!

2009-10-27T15:39:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday, October 27 and that means it's only a week until We Cheer 2 comes out :D I was pretty much certain that they were done releasing any new stuff about We Cheer 2... That is until I came across this video from WiiNintendo a little earlier.

In this video, there's more gameplay including annoying announcer guy and more shots of the customization process which I feel is leaps and bounds better than the original. Namely, the addition of headgear. Girls get hats, ribbons, and tiaras. Boys get the same... minus tiaras and ribbons. But they do get headbands. Everybody gets face decals from your typical football and star emblems even to classic Pac-Man emblems. Well, that's at least what the video shows.

Other past videos have shown the extent you can customize uniforms and characters. You can take it as far as even tweaking the colors rather than just settling for the default set of colors (which other than the hair colors, caused some awful clashing at times).

And also, I've found out I'm not the only person eagerly awaiting this game. A blogger by the name of The Gel has also been eagerly awaiting the release.

So yeah, a week (and maybe a few extra days) from now, how will I be enjoying the game? We'll see~

I hate using reusable shopping bags

2009-10-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

Yes. I hate using reusable shopping bags (otherwise known as eco bags, but people get pretty confused when I call them that)! Seriously. Using them is the pain. I love the bags. I've massed a collection of over 5 of them in different sizes and colors and materials.

But using them! ARGH! It's seriously such a pain. Why? Well, it can be summed up in one reason: Stupid cashiers.

I've tried everything to make using the reusable bags pleasant. I put the bag first before my items, I put my items in the bag and unload them onto the belt where the cashier can see that I want to put my stuff in the bag, I even tell them before they begin scanning things that I have my own bag. Still, each of them do things that just make me want to bang my head and scream.

They spend forever trying to ring up the bag - This is what happened to me today. Actually, it didn't take them forever. I was in the checkout at Walmart with my newly purchased Walmart bag (at 50 cents, it's among the cheapest) and the chick scanned the barcode inside my bag! That's a reminder for me to clip it out... But yeah, she rung up my bag. The bag I came into the store with that didn't even have the original tag on it. Honest mistake... They do sell those bags at the store. But, when I go into Winn-Dixie with my Publix bag, they should have some sense to see "Ohhh, this isn't from our store, I shouldn't try to ring this up." Which brings me to another point...

They look at me like I'm crazy - Publix says "Don't forget your bag!" in reference to their bags. Walmart features them in all their commercials, have them near the check-outs, and even on the little bagging thing at the check-out. The other local stores, they do sell bags, but for the most part, they seem to be pretty clueless about the existence of the bags. My point is, they're selling these things pretty prominently in their stores, even encouraging you to use them instead of the plastic ones. I'm fine with that. But when I do try to use them, (in addition to trying to ring them up) act like I'm from another planet. Like "You want to do what with this bag? Put your stuff in it?" And that leads to yet another thing.

They put my bag in a plastic bag - This happens most commonly. They discover they can't ring up the bag or I tell them that it's my own bag I brought and they put it in a plastic bag and then proceed putting my groceries in the bag with my bag. The first time it happened. I just gave a good eyeroll and went about my business. The 50th time that happened, I retrieved my bag, dumped my groceries into the eco bag, balled up the plastic bag and tossed it back to the bagging area. In tandem with that is the following.

They hand the bag to me - No, I want my stuff to go in that bag. Seriously. And prolly what really irks me.

They put one or two things in the bag and put the rest into plastic bags - I understand. Cashiers are used to plastic bags. They're so cheap and thin that sometimes, if you do try to fill them up, they will break. And they really don't hold that much. Prolly the best thing about the reusable bags is that they hold a lot and quite stably I must add. But it's really upsetting, especially when I use my biggest bag and they still want to use several additional plastic bags. It's a pain to carry so many and I'd rather just one.

Well, it's annoying, but I'm a treehugger and and really just like the convenience of the bags. I'll continue to use them and hope that cashiers smart up someday...

We Cheer 2 Coverart

2009-10-05T11:21:00.001-05:00

Yay, the coverart for We Cheer 2 has finally seen the light of day. It's cute and peppy enough. I feel it's more properly illustrative than We Cheer's coverart. However, I am quite curious. Two of the girls from the previous games appear on this cover while in recent videos, they're nowhere to be seen... Hmmmmmmmmm~ I'm just making idle conversation at this point. There's only so much you can say for a coverart.

But the ESRB had a lot to say about the game:

This is a rhythm-based game that allows players to compete in various cheerleading competitions and perform their moves by matching rhythm cues (tracing lines) as they appear on screen. Players can participate in workout sessions, cheer along with friends, and listen to a variety of songs while performing their routines. Some song lyrics contain the expletives "a*s," "hell," and "damn"; other lyrics make references to alcohol (e.g., "He drinks a whisky drink, He drinks a vodka drink" and "Poppin' champagne, livin' the life"). Although the majority of cheer routines depict moves not uncommon in cheer choreography, a few of the moves may be considered provocative (e.g., girls turning their backs to the camera and grinding their hips; girls' undergarments exposed as they bend over, do the splits, or lie on the ground).

You heard it here! We Cheer 2 features undergarments and girls lying on the ground!

No date has officially been announced yet, but Amazon has had November 3 for ages now, so expect the game soon!

First Impressions: Katamari Forever

2009-10-05T10:35:00.000-05:00

My most recent obsession is this: Katamari Forever for the PS3. My very first PS3 game and my very first game in the Katamari Damacy series so yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

By now, most everybody has heard about Katamari Damacy. Basically, the King of all Cosmos in a drunken bout knocked all the stars and stuff out of the sky and, like a good dad, commissioned his son, The Prince, to roll up items on the junky Earth so he can recreate the celestial bodies in the sky. The original game was a pretty big hit thanks to its simple yet addictive gameplay and nearly unexplainable and odd story.

And that's how the series began. Now about 5 games and several years later, we come to Katamari Forever which is less brand-new game and more "Best of" collection. The story is brand-new though. The Prince who struggled to jump even the least little bit inspired his King of all Cosmos father to jump as well and he jumped hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh into the sky hitting his head. As he fell, again, all of the celestial bodies got knocked out of the sky. The hit on the head caused the king to sleep very deeply so The Prince decided to make RoboKing in place of his father... And RoboKing is even more bumbling than the original. Through the process of the game, you're making new stars with the RoboKing and making new stars with the real King to help restore his memories (since he apparently lost those too) and that's that...

The stages from the game come from the PS2's Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari and the XBOX360's Beautiful Katamari with 3 brand-new stages. Most everyone else talking about the game are ones that have played nearly all the other games in the series and their feeling is that it's just too much old stuff.

But I'm new to the series. I must say, I was very pleased with the selection. The gameplay is really awesome. I was really looking forward to rolling up humans in my katamari, but never did I imagine I would enjoy rolling up whole countries as much as I do.

Most reviews hyped up the cracked-out gameplay and story, but as much as I love the 1080p graphics and rolling up cousins, I think I love the music even more. There's such a nice variety from remixes of the Katamari theme to more pop-like songs to Japanese songs that remind me of songs like Osakana Tengoku (I don't know what type of song that is...). They just make the game just that much more fun. I don't think I've ever noticed the music so much in a non-rhythm/music game before.

Well, I've only had the game for under a week and even though I've been playing the game almost non-stop, I haven't beaten it yet (I really really suck at 3D games) and I'm working on changing that. So, after I've beaten it, I'll come back with my full opinions!

More We Cheer 2 goodies!

2009-09-18T23:08:00.002-05:00

Well well Namco Bandai, it looks like you're ready to finally show some more We Cheer 2 stuff. I can honestly say from this new video, I'm very very excited about what's to come.

This time, there's quite a few new songs highlighted that haven't been highlighted in other videos. Also, this video highlights the new way they're handling the Bonus Chance. Some cute cosmetic changes from the first game. Instead of lighting up stars, you bring up giant cards spelling out words, quite reminiscent of real cheering. And they got rid of those circular things that would tell you to shake your pompoms and have replaced them with a much more appropriate shake-what-your-momma-gave-ya-but-make-sure-you-don't-break-it-girl animation (kinda reminds me of the graphic they used in Happy Dance Collection for the same sort of motion I seem to have remembered it wrong, it's nothing like it really).

Also, it seems there's a new stunt mode too. They only show it once, but it looks like more Wiimote-shaking fun just like how I like it.

The one thing I'm concerned about is the voiceover guy? Seriously? I honestly hope that's just voiceover from Namco Bandai and not something that'll actually be in the game.

Well, seems like that's it for now!

Disappointed...

2009-09-11T09:09:00.000-05:00

Bah. Silly Apple. Putting a video camera into the new iPod nano and nothing to the iPod touch? Silly silly silly.

I think hardly anyone keeping up with rumors was not surprised. No camera is not a dealbreaker, I still want an iPod touch. But come on. The touch could have been refreshed a little more than that. Even the 8GB model is nothing but the 2G model at a lower price point while the more expensive ones get a slight slight slight upgrade.

I'm kinda holding out hope that possibly there might be a model with a camera on its way due to other technical difficulties preventing manufacturing in time for the event. It just really is crazy to give the nano a video camera. I was really expecting just still at most.

The other upgrades to the nano are really fabulous. I'm sure it's currently their much-beloved product that easily gets into the pockets of everybody from daily runners to kids of all ages, but I totally feel that whole "You should have gotten an iPhone if you wanted that feature!" vibe with the updates of the touch. I really don't want an iPhone. I want an iPhone without the phone functionality. AT&T sucks balls (I am with them, but just with a pre-paid plan) and I would be very disappointed to use them as my carrier with the iPhone.

Still, I do want a touch. I could use it and it wouldn't be a waste for me. But it's just not a priority right now.

Things I'm looking forward to: New iPods!

2009-09-08T17:20:00.001-05:00

It's that time of the year again. Time for Apple to release a new set of iPods (yay). It's pretty much a regular thing I've come to expect come this part of the year... For quite a few years now...

If you don't mind, I'm going to digress... I remember my first iPod... There were many years where I had seen the iPod just boom in popularity and it was quite out of my reach as I was poor, I really didn't have that much interest in music and listening to the radio was fine. Plus, I didn't like Apple. Hated Macs...

But then one fine day, they introduced the iPod minis and they came in PINK! So I was like "OMG, I need one!" But of course, the money wasn't really there and the honest desire wasn't there either... 2nd Generation came and when I heard they were discontinuing the mini, I felt a little sadness...

Until they pulled out the nano. A few weeks later after accepting it wouldn't come in pink, I bought one in white and put a pink skin on it. Two years later, and just in time for the iPod refresh, my 1G nano died and I replaced it with a 3G nano as an impulse buy when I got tired of hearing Christmas music on the radio.

Two years later (and two pink skins later), my 3G iPod nano is still golden and serving me well as mainly my car's main source of audio. I'm in love with it and I was really sad with the form factor change of the 4G nano so I'm hoping it'll last me for a while.

So, why am I excited about new iPods when my current one is working perfectly?

I want an iPod touch!

I've been wanting one for a while honestly... Well, at least since last year when apps just kinda exploded... And then there was a point in time I wanted an iPhone but I'd never use it... So yeah, iPod touch! But this year I really really do want one. Mainly because this year it's all but confirmed to have a camera. I really don't need another since I have a camera and a phone with a camera... but yeah. This is the year I want one.

It won't replace my nano. My nano's used almost exclusively to play music in my car (no CD player...) and to sneak and play Solitare at work since it's so small and can easily be concealed when supers come by.

So yeah, another gadget to carry around. I don't mind actually. So yeah, I'll see tomorrow how things go.

Things I'm looking forward to: Fall TV Season

2009-09-07T22:44:00.000-05:00

It's pretty much here... But still, I'm looking forward to a lot of TV watching. Since I'm living in the States, well, that means new programming on the TV for the fall. So yay for less reruns and very very bad reality TV... although there's some guilty pleasures in reality TV I'll still indulge in. So, what am I watching this fall?

Returning shows:

Heroes - Everyone says this show is going down the crapper, but I'm still loving it. When the show ended... I honestly don't remember what happened. I just remember Nathan dying and through some weird occurrence, Sylar became Nathan and WTF... Yeah, I really don't remember. But I'm sure there'll be a nice recap before the season begins.

Gossip Girl - The one guilty pleasure I'm not ashamed to admit. My inner 13-year-old adores this show, and honestly, so do I. All the kids of Constance Billard and St. Jude's (except Jenny and Eric of course) have moved on to their separate colleges and while they've moved on from high school, it seems like Gossip Girl will still follow their dirty deeds. I really want to go back and watch the past 2 seasons again for the ultimate refresher.

America's Next Top Model - Everybody hates Tyra and fake reality shows, but I love this show. It's yet another season with the same fake girls being catty and there because the title of the show is not "America's Next Top Best Friend" and stuff... I just keep coming back for the photoshoots and of course makeover day. Of course, the only thing different is that all the girls are under 5'7" which is kinda interesting. I'll see how this goes.

Dancing with the Stars - I actually only began really watching this show last season. I don't know why I passed it up all these past seasons. I love ballroom dancing. I love people who aren't really famous anymore. I love Bruno Tonioli! Well, the show's back again for the Fall and while I really don't know or care about too many of the "Stars," I'm sure I'll still love the show (and of course tweeting about it).

New shows:

Glee - Saw the preview for this back at the beginning of this summer. I must say, I instantly fell in love. It just looked so quirky and then I watched the show. It was like, "Wow, they're really just making this believably unbelievable!" (sorry, I just can't quite place the right words) Never before have I enjoyed listening to "Don't Stop Believin'" so much. I've had both that song and "Rehab" in my head all summer. I'm totally looking forward to what other songs I'll be humming all day long...

Community - It took only one thing to get me into this show: Joel McHale from The Soup. I am seriously in love with the comedy style of this man. I know NBC is really struggling and can barely hold onto a show so I'm really really crossing my fingers for this show to do well. I'm a little ashamed that I'm not already watching some of the comedy shows on NBC since they are pretty awesome, but this one, I'll def watch.

Sadly, I think that's all there is for me. There's no more ER since that finished last season. I almost can't believe it's actually over, although IMO, it was about time... And other shows... I used to follow them, but I began working and without a DVR (and this was before Hulu), I couldn't keep up with my shows so I kinda... fell out-of-touch with them. But for now, I'll just be concentrating on these shows. Not too many!

Site progress!

2009-09-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

Good news everybody! I do believe the site is quite near to its final form. Heck, it may very well be in its final form. You can stick a fork in it, and it just may be done to the way you like it!

That is, if I really had readers. Honestly, I don't know right now. If you're out there and want to make yourself known, drop a comment :D

But yeah, since the design is pretty much done and I think I'm finally comfortable with Blogger, I can put more effort into actually blogging instead of tweaking and fooling around. So... yeah. Welcome to Ayumi~n's Happy Funtime and hopefully, things will start to get interesting from now on!

My Life in Pictures: My bag

2009-09-03T14:10:00.002-05:00

It's my bag! My bag which is indeed my life. It's my recently-bought XOXO bag. I'm not really a fan of black bags, but I was in serious need and this one wouldn't let me leave the store without it. Outside is where I keep my car key. Also attached to the keyring is a souvenir keyring from Florida, a pink and white flip-flop keychain from Old Navy, key fob thingy so I can get in the door at work, and my Dior letter charms... whatever you call them.

So... what's inside?

Why, all this stuff is inside! I shall go through them now:

Cellphone - It's a Sony Ericsson Z750a. It was the phone of my dreams from the moment I saw it and after years of dreaming, eBay made it mine. I barely use it though...
Aishiteruze Baby! Case - It has held various things... Change, candy, nothing... It's there just in case.
Pens - I love the pens!
iPod Nano 3G (4GB capacity) - When my first Nano died, I ran out and bought this. Little did I know they would be coming out with a pink one about a month after I got mine... Oh well, the condom makes it pink anyways!
iPod earbuds - I'm still using the earbuds from my 1G Nano and I store them in this little Hello Kitty tin that used to have candy that my sister gave to me. It's the perfect size.
Money wallet - There's hardly ever any money in it. It holds my bank card and coupons and gift cards and the like.
Dior ID wallet - And I keep my ID in this wallet and a few other small rarely-used cards.
Weekly calendar - I'm still a little low-tech, plus it came in the mail for free!
Notebook - Another low-tech item, but sometimes, pen and paper work the best (this is where I write my smut!)
Mini Post-it notes - Took 'em from work.
Lotions - To keep my hands soft... They're like empty though...
Colgate Wisp - I rarely get to use them because I remember to brush my teeth.
Orbit Mist Gum (Watermelon Spring flavor) - I hate the flavor. I just got it to try it out. I normally chew Orbit Bubblemint, the ultimate in girly :9
Makeup bag - Overflowing with stuff!!!!

And you wonder what's in the makeup bag? Here we go again!

Again, it's a lot of stuff. Most of it is not daily use, but if I'm always prepared to look fabulous!

Clean & Clear Oil Blotting Sheets - Lifesavers at the end of the day :D
DiorKiss Lipgloss - The white one's fabulously sparkly and the purple one is a fav top gloss :D
Covergirl AmazeMint Lipgloss - Another fav top gloss. I really want to finish using it all so I can get rid of it!
Covergirl Outlast Lipstain - Love it! My new fav item for when I don't wanna bother with gloss and just worry about keeping Chapstick on.
Wet n' Wild Liquid Lipcolor - It's redder than I imagined!!!! I rarely ever use it... I wanna toss it...
Chapstick - Plain ol' Chapstick... A necessity!
Covergirl Exact Eyelights Mascara - My new fav, even though it's not really worth it for the sparklies even...
Exceptionnel De Chanel, Clinique, and DiorShow Mascara - They should really be tossed, but I just like having them in the bag.
Clean & Clear Soft Day Moisturizer - Because I always forget moisturizer!
Some e.l.f. 3-in-1 stick - It makes a great eyeshadow in a pinch!
Nailclippers - Useful for way more than just clipping nails.
Mirror - Was a tin of mints with a mirror, now it's just a mirror and darn handy too.
Quota tickets from work - We can exchange them in for lame prizes from the prize closet :D
Nina Ricci and Dior Addict 2 perfume samplers - Because you never know...

And that's my bag... It's a lot!

My Life in Pictures: My desk

2009-09-01T18:18:00.002-05:00

Here's another look into my life. This time, my desk in my computer room. The pics are a little old, but honestly, nothing has really changed. Let's go ahead and take a look!

Not much to see here. I've only really begun giving my desk a little personality after realising this is indeed my own personal space (I don't know why I didn't have that in mind before). I dug through some furoku goodies I got from a friend for the Shinshi Doumei+ card and I thought it would be cute enough. I also rigged up a little clip to hold all my coupons to remind me to use them. I always have a cup of water or something. And also on my desk, my little cheap microphone from DealExtreme and one of my speakers (part of a 2.1 setup).

So, the other side...

It's a little junkier. Got my cable modem, the other speaker and my brother's overpriced Monster Screen Cleaner kit. It's been rarely used since the top randomly broke off. I also put up my fav Nikon ad with Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick (Blair and Chuck from Gossip Girl) which I was just in love with from the moment I saw it. I scanned it several times before I ruined it with tape.

Junky!!!! Got my broken headset, some earbuds, notebooks, my Google business cards, and lots and lots of burned CD/DVD-R's.

There's a few other things on my desk... My newly-purchased cheap keyboard from NewEgg and wireless mouse. Also got my packet of makeup removing wipes as well as my cellphone (SE Z750a) and some other little junk.

Below the desk... My computer and the scanner/copier/printer thingy as well as some old HDs... And you can see the stuff I have stowed in the little pen tray right under my desk. I actually do have several pens there.

One last peek at my desk. After I got the new desk, that started a spree of upgrades including the monitor (Acer x193w+, 19" is plenty big for me tyvm), the keyboard, the video card...

And a bonus image... My camera cable and iPod cable are taped and hanging from the desk to keep them off the floor. Yes, it's ghetto. I haven't been motivated to find a better option for them. The free network cable dangles free... Forgot about taping that one.

And that's my desk in my computer room! The rest I won't show. As you can guess it's a bit junky. It was nice, but then it became a storage room since it was the only place void of junk. Oh well~

Things I'm looking forward to: We Cheer 2 (Part 2)

2009-08-31T22:45:00.003-05:00

If you couldn't tell by the last post, I am indeed overly excited about We Cheer 2. The first game was really awesome and the second one is pretty much going to be more of the same (which in the case of this game is a really good thing).

The best thing about the game is the music. 30 licensed songs, not covers, really make for a really fun experience. Before playing We Cheer, I had heard of 16 out of the 30 songs. A lot of them were by artists I'd never even heard of like Paramore (guess that's what the kids are into), Kinky, and The Go! Team. I was like seriously wondering where some of these artists have been all my life. By the time I finished the game, I had a special playlist with most of the songs from the game in it on my iPod. I'm already preparing one for We Cheer 2.

For We Cheer 2, I'm familiar with 18 our of 30 (much better than before). The soundtrack features cheer dance classics like "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited (hopefully not with the routine from Bring it On) and "The Power" by Snap as well as modern popular songs like Lady GaGa's "Just Dance" and The Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It." Paramore, The Go! Team, and Corbin Bleu return again with a song each. Possibly the two songs I'm most excited about are Tony Basil's "Mickey" (which shouldn't have been absent from the first game) and Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," two songs that just sound like cheer songs

A lot of the music is bubblegum pop, rock, and R&B that the kids are into these days, but it's a nice mix of songs that will be fun to dance to.

Other adjustments to the game include more customizations. With the original We Cheer, you already have a lot of control over your squad and how they looked. There's several mix and match tops and bottoms and shoes in several patterns with each part customizable with up to 3 colors. For each squad member, you can change the hair and skin color and you can freely switch out the girls to form your perfect 5-man squad. And if you want to cheer for the Sluts, you can change the logo on the uniform... if that's what you're into.

We Cheer 2, however, provides even more customization including hats, glasses, and other face decorations. Furthermore, you can change more than just the hair color for each squad member. You can now change hairstyles and facial features. You can play dress-up nearly forever (which I still enjoy doing in We Cheer).

There's a few other minor changes. There will be 3 levels of difficulty rather than 2. Also, you'll have the ability to take screenshots ingame (for what purpose is unknown to me, so I'm hoping it'll be for more than just storing on your Wii) and of course, the way you do bonuses has changed, you can now watch the routine before playing, and there have been a few other changes to make the game a little easier to pick up and play and to give a little more feedback to the player.

Graphics are probably the worst thing about the game IMO. They haven't improved and they're not fantastic. But they are bright, lively, and very eye-catching. The better you cheer, the more confetti and pyrotechnics you get going off in the background so when you do well, it gets pretty gosh-darn pretty.

What else can I say about the game...? Really, I could say more and I probably will. I'm looking forward to playing it more this fall!

Things I'm looking forward to: We Cheer 2 (Part 1)

2009-08-30T22:17:00.002-05:00

There's one game out there that I've been excited for ever since I finished the first one. I hadn't even 100%'d the game and I was wanting a sequel. What game could that be? Well, I kinda gave it away already, but it's We Cheer 2.

Haven't heard of it? Well, here's a quick intro:

Simply, you're the head cheerleader of a squad and in the lackluster "Championship" (Story) mode, you're bringing it to recruit new cheerleaders to your squad. To play, you follow the on-screen cues in time with the music with either one or two Wiimotes (one is easier but two is way more fun). The better you cheer, the more the megaphone fills up and once it's full, you've passed the song and you're rewarded with a new outfit and a new member to the squad! Pass all 10 stages and you'll get all the playable girls in the game and you've beat the game. However, you're not done playing. Keep playing Championship mode and help cheer on all sorts of creepy men who will give you more outfits and with each song passed, you unlock the Hard mode. It's that simple.

Or maybe not. Many people have complained that the game is just way too hard, the motion controls don't work, etc etc etc. It's a rhythm game where for the most part you have to use your whole body, or you can cheat with well-timed Wiimote shakes. But it's more fun flailing.

However, I ran into no such problems personally. The entire game was fun and well worth my time. Almost a year later and I'm still playing the game. I haven't quite perfected things, but I'm really good at it.

We Cheer 2 is more of the same thing: hot pom-pom shaking action with several gameplay modes for you and up to 3 friends (totaling 4 players) as well as a workout mode and several customization options for your squad and their outfits. Did I mention the 30 licensed tracks? Yeah, real songs, not cheap covers. However, the biggest change is this:

Boys. Boys!!!!

Now, boys (and men) that want to play the game aren't left out. If they so desire, they can play the game as a male cheerleader. No pom-poms, just lots and lots of spirit fingers.

Now that there's a little introduction, I'll be back later with part 2 to talk about more specific things in the game I'm looking forward to.

Renewal in progress!

2009-08-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

As you can see, the site is a bit in disorder. Just a little bit. I'm doing my first layout with Blogger and I'm feeling my way around as I adjust things for my needs. If you came looking for lyrics, they have been moved to Ayumiin's Lyrics for the reason that I'm changing the scope of this blog a little. It'll still be impersonally personal, but just less generic stuff, more feelings. I should be done soon!

My Life in Pictures: The view from my bed

2009-08-03T22:38:00.012-05:00

Finally I get around to getting personal with this blog. First, I'll begin with pictures of my surroundings taken so elegantly with my cellphone's camera. Yes, yes, not the best choice, but it's just so much more convenient and fun. But whatever.

So~ Welcome to my room. Well, welcome to what I see when I'm chilling out in my bed rather. A little creepy, maybe? But anyways, I have recently re-organized my room, so I've got a totally new feeling. I have a metal frame bed that I've had ever since I began college oh-so-long ago (yeah, I'm really over 20) and I love it. It's queen-sized which means lots of room to sprawl out. It takes up half the space in my room, but it's heavenly.

As there's no room in my room really, my bed is also my desk (kinda, my real desk will come later) and a near permanent fixture is my Asus EeePC 701 (in pink). It's the second time I was an early adopter. I love it to death, but I kinda wish I had waited a few more months for something with more than 4GB of space. Ahh well :D Also at the foot of my bed, the Hello Kitty blanket I never use and the Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls) pillow my friend gave to me as a graduation gift (been in my bed ever since she gave it to me).

Beyond the bed is my dresser and my chest of drawers. Believe it or not, there's absolutely no clothes in my dresser. It's full of my facial products, shampoos, makeups, old papers, old stuff from my K-12 days, random books... There's a lot of stuff in there. And of course on top even though you can't see are all my beauty products. Yeah, I'm an uber girl.

On top of my chest of drawers is my lovely 19" Vizio with the glowing logo. I can't express how creepy that thing is at night in my darkened room...

So, let's take a look to the right.

Akk! I'm right up against the wall! The only thing really of note is my little bedside stand thingy. I keep my tweezers and nail clippers nearby all the time. Hangnails keep me up at night. And in the drawers, I keep... like seriously everything. Lots of girlie stuffs... Cotton balls, cotton swabs, my vitamins :D I really don't know all of what's in there. It's just handy. On top, I've got my Hello Kitty alarm clock which has an annoying loud alarm that's pretty good at getting me up. Also, there's my beautiful lamp. I don't know how I lived with getting up to turn on the big light when I needed to see around my room in the middle of the night.

So, what's to the left?

Further off camera to the left is another chest of drawers (containing not-clothes mostly) and my closet (which holds all my pretty dresses). By the door is the pride and joy of my otaku days during college... My anime DVD collection with box sets in the shelving on the wall. Also got quite a few of my plushies (Hello Kitty, Hamtaro, some Sailormoon UFO Catcher plushies, Mickey and Minnie) and believe it or not, that shelf of manga is only a tiny selection of my manga. The rest are boxed up in boxes unseen (will show later).

As you can kinda see, there's a lot of crap on my walls. My mom's been nagging me to get it down, but I'm too lazy, there's too much nostalgia, and maybe I just don't wanna. You can also see my door. Long, long time ago, I named my room "Usagi Land" and I made a sign for my door that says no one can enter unless they are as "groovy" as I am. Yes. It's embarrassing to look at, but I love it and of course all the jokes about me taking people to "Usagi Land."

As you can guess, I'm proud of my room and love showing it off. So yeah, welcome to one part of my room!

Welcome to Ayumi~n's Happy Funtime!

2009-05-24T17:41:00.000-05:00

It's Ayumi~n!

I'm quite all over the internet with several social networking profiles and stuff like Twitter and LJ as well as other stuff, but I've never had a place to just put stuff publicly. So, here we go! Ayumi~n's Happy Funtime. You can call me Ayumi, but that's not my real name of course. That's somewhat a secret.

What's my audience...? Anyone really. But I must say, I like a lot of stuff. A lot of Japanese stuff, a lot of pop culture stuff. I love singing, I love video games, I love video games in which you sing (duh).

A little about me? Well, I have an inner 13-year old even though I'm much older (that's not really a secret). This blog will be sporadically updated and you won't really get to know me, but things should get pretty interesting at random times. So yeah, thanks for reading, whomever you are out there!